Comparison of Analysis Results Between 2D/1D Synthesis and RAPTOR-M3G in the Korea Standard Nuclear Plant (KSNP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joung Lim, Mi; Maeng, Young Jae; Fero, Arnold H.; Anderson, Stanwood L.

2016-02-01

The 2D/1D synthesis methodology has been used to calculate the fast neutron (E > 1.0 MeV) exposure to the beltline region of the reactor pressure vessel. This method uses the DORT 3.1 discrete ordinates code and the BUGLE-96 cross-section library based on ENDF/B-VI. RAPTOR-M3G (RApid Parallel Transport Of Radiation-Multiple 3D Geometries) which performs full 3D calculations was developed and is based on domain decomposition algorithms, where the spatial and angular domains are allocated and processed on multi-processor computer architecture. As compared to traditional single-processor applications, this approach reduces the computational load as well as the memory requirement per processor. Both methods are applied to surveillance test results for the Korea Standard Nuclear Plant (KSNP)-OPR (Optimized Power Reactor) 1000 MW. The objective of this paper is to compare the results of the KSNP surveillance program between 2D/1D synthesis and RAPTOR-M3G. Each operating KSNP has a reactor vessel surveillance program consisting of six surveillance capsules located between the core and the reactor vessel in the downcomer region near the reactor vessel wall. In addition to the In-Vessel surveillance program, an Ex-Vessel Neutron Dosimetry (EVND) program has been implemented. In order to estimate surveillance test results, cycle-specific forward transport calculations were performed by 2D/1D synthesis and by RAPTOR-M3G. The ratio between measured and calculated (M/C) reaction rates will be discussed. The current plan is to install an EVND system in all of the Korea PWRs including the new reactor type, APR (Advanced Power Reactor) 1400 MW. This work will play an important role in establishing a KSNP-specific database of surveillance test results and will employ RAPTOR-M3G for surveillance dosimetry location as well as positions in the KSNP reactor vessel.

A Numerical Investigation of the Extinction of Low Strain Rate Diffusion Flames by an Agent in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Puri, Ishwar K.

2004-01-01

Our goal has been to investigate the influence of both dilution and radiation on the extinction process of nonpremixed flames at low strain rates. Simulations have been performed by using a counterflow code and three radiation models have been included in it, namely, the optically thin, the narrowband, and discrete ordinate models. The counterflow flame code OPPDIFF was modified to account for heat transfer losses by radiation from the hot gases. The discrete ordinate method (DOM) approximation was first suggested by Chandrasekhar for solving problems in interstellar atmospheres. Carlson and Lathrop developed the method for solving multi-dimensional problem in neutron transport. Only recently has the method received attention in the field of heat transfer. Due to the applicability of the discrete ordinate method for thermal radiation problems involving flames, the narrowband code RADCAL was modified to calculate the radiative properties of the gases. A non-premixed counterflow flame was simulated with the discrete ordinate method for radiative emissions. In comparison with two other models, it was found that the heat losses were comparable with the optically thin and simple narrowband model. The optically thin model had the highest heat losses followed by the DOM model and the narrow-band model.

Spatial coding of ordinal information in short- and long-term memory.

PubMed

Ginsburg, Véronique; Gevers, Wim

2015-01-01

The processing of numerical information induces a spatial response bias: Faster responses to small numbers with the left hand and faster responses to large numbers with the right hand. Most theories agree that long-term representations underlie this so called SNARC effect (Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes; Dehaene et al., 1993). However, a spatial response bias was also observed with the activation of temporary position-space associations in working memory (ordinal position effect; van Dijck and Fias, 2011). Items belonging to the beginning of a memorized sequence are responded to faster with the left hand side while items at the end of the sequence are responded to faster with the right hand side. The theoretical possibility was put forward that the SNARC effect is an instance of the ordinal position effect, with the empirical consequence that the SNARC effect and the ordinal position effect cannot be observed simultaneously. In two experiments we falsify this claim by demonstrating that the SNARC effect and the ordinal position effect are not mutually exclusive. Consequently, this suggests that the SNARC effect and the ordinal position effect result from the activation of different representations. We conclude that spatial response biases can result from the activation of both pre-existing positions in long-term memory and from temporary space associations in working memory at the same time.

A Deep Penetration Problem Calculation Using AETIUS:An Easy Modeling Discrete Ordinates Transport Code UsIng Unstructured Tetrahedral Mesh, Shared Memory Parallel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

KIM, Jong Woon; LEE, Young-Ouk

2017-09-01

As computing power gets better and better, computer codes that use a deterministic method seem to be less useful than those using the Monte Carlo method. In addition, users do not like to think about space, angles, and energy discretization for deterministic codes. However, a deterministic method is still powerful in that we can obtain a solution of the flux throughout the problem, particularly as when particles can barely penetrate, such as in a deep penetration problem with small detection volumes. Recently, a new state-of-the-art discrete-ordinates code, ATTILA, was developed and has been widely used in several applications. ATTILA provides the capabilities to solve geometrically complex 3-D transport problems by using an unstructured tetrahedral mesh. Since 2009, we have been developing our own code by benchmarking ATTILA. AETIUS is a discrete ordinates code that uses an unstructured tetrahedral mesh such as ATTILA. For pre- and post- processing, Gmsh is used to generate an unstructured tetrahedral mesh by importing a CAD file (*.step) and visualizing the calculation results of AETIUS. Using a CAD tool, the geometry can be modeled very easily. In this paper, we describe a brief overview of AETIUS and provide numerical results from both AETIUS and a Monte Carlo code, MCNP5, in a deep penetration problem with small detection volumes. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of AETIUS for such calculations.

76 FR 77549 - Colorado River Indian Tribes-Amendment to Health & Safety Code, Article 2. Liquor

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-13

... Health & Safety Code, Article 2. Liquor AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice publishes the amendment to the Colorado River Tribal Health and Safety Code, Article... Code, Article 2, Liquor by Ordinance No. 10-03 on December 13, 2010. This notice is published in...

28 CFR 36.601 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES Certification of State Laws or Local Building Codes § 36.601... means a State law or local building code or similar ordinance, or part thereof, that establishes... designee. Certification of equivalency means a final certification that a code meets or exceeds the minimum...

28 CFR 36.601 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES Certification of State Laws or Local Building Codes § 36.601... means a State law or local building code or similar ordinance, or part thereof, that establishes... designee. Certification of equivalency means a final certification that a code meets or exceeds the minimum...

28 CFR 36.601 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES Certification of State Laws or Local Building Codes § 36.601... means a State law or local building code or similar ordinance, or part thereof, that establishes... designee. Certification of equivalency means a final certification that a code meets or exceeds the minimum...

The underlying number-space mapping among kindergarteners and its relation with early numerical abilities.

PubMed

Chan, Winnie Wai Lan; Wong, Terry Tin-Yau

2016-08-01

People map numbers onto space. The well-replicated SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect indicates that people have a left-sided bias when responding to small numbers and a right-sided bias when responding to large numbers. This study examined whether such spatial codes were tagged to the ordinal or magnitude information of numbers among kindergarteners and whether it was related to early numerical abilities. Based on the traditional magnitude judgment task, we developed two variant tasks-namely the month judgment task and dot judgment task-to elicit ordinal and magnitude processing of numbers, respectively. Results showed that kindergarteners oriented small numbers toward the left side and large numbers toward the right side when processing the ordinal information of numbers in the month judgment task but not when processing the magnitude information in the number judgment task and dot judgment task, suggesting that the left-to-right spatial bias was probably tagged to the ordinal but not magnitude property of numbers. Moreover, the strength of the SNARC effect was not related to early numerical abilities. These findings have important implications for the early spatial representation of numbers and its role in numerical performance among kindergarteners. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

a New ENDF/B-VII.0 Based Multigroup Cross-Section Library for Reactor Dosimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alpan, F. A.; Anderson, S. L.

2009-08-01

The latest of the ENDF/B libraries, ENDF/B-VII.0 was released in December 2006. In this paper, the ENDF/B-VII.O evaluations were used in generating a new coupled neutron/gamma multigroup library having the same group structure of VITAMIN-B6, i.e., the 199-neutron, 42-gamma group library. The new library was generated utilizing NJOY99.259 for pre-processing and the AMPX modules for post-processing of cross sections. An ENDF/B-VI.3 based VITAMIN-B6-like library was also generated. The fine-group libraries and the ENDF/B-VI.3 based 47-neutron, 20-gamma group BUGLE-96 library were used with the discrete ordinates code DORT to obtain a three-dimensional synthesized flux distribution from r, r-θ, and r-z models for a standard Westinghouse 3-loop design reactor. Reaction rates were calculated for ex-vessel neutron dosimetry containing 63Cu(n,α)60Co, 46Ti(n,p)46Sc, 54Fe(n,P)54Mn, 58Ni(n,P)58Co, 238U(n,f)137Cs, 237Np(n,f)137Cs, and 59Co(n,γ)60Co (bare and cadmium covered) reactions. Results were compared to measurements. In comparing the 199-neutron, 42-gamma group ENDF/B-VI.3 and ENDF/B-VII.O libraries, it was observed that the ENDF/B-VI.3 based library results were in better agreement with measurements. There is a maximum difference of 7% (for the 63Cu(n,α)60Co reaction rate calculation) between ENDF/B-VI.3 and ENDF/B-VII.O. Differences between ENDF/B-VI.3 and ENDF/B-VII.O libraries are due to 16O, 1H, 90Zr, 91Zr, 92Zr, 238U, and 239Pu evaluations. Both ENDF/B-VI.3 and ENDF/B-VII.O library calculated reaction rates are within 20% of measurement and meet the criterion specified in the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide 1.190, "Calculational and Dosimetry Methods for Determining Pressure Vessel Neutron Fluence."

40 CFR 21.10 - Utilization of the statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Utilization of the statement. 21.10 Section 21.10 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL SMALL BUSINESS § 21.10... law, statute, ordinance, or code (including building, health, or zoning codes). (g) An amended...

College and University Speech Codes in the Aftermath of R.A.V v. City of St. Paul.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fraleigh, Douglas

In the case of RAV v. City of St. Paul, a teenager was charged with violating the city's Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance after being accused of burning a cross inside the fenced yard of a black family. In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court struck down the St. Paul ordinance, a decision which raised a question as to whether many college and…

Co-ordinated action between youth-care and sports: facilitators and barriers.

PubMed

Hermens, Niels; de Langen, Lisanne; Verkooijen, Kirsten T; Koelen, Maria A

2017-07-01

In the Netherlands, youth-care organisations and community sports clubs are collaborating to increase socially vulnerable youths' participation in sport. This is rooted in the idea that sports clubs are settings for youth development. As not much is known about co-ordinated action involving professional care organisations and community sports clubs, this study aims to generate insight into facilitators of and barriers to successful co-ordinated action between these two organisations. A cross-sectional study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured qualitative interview data. In total, 23 interviews were held at five locations where co-ordinated action between youth-care and sports takes place. Interviewees were youth-care workers, representatives from community sports clubs, and Care Sport Connectors who were assigned to encourage and manage the co-ordinated action. Using inductive coding procedures, this study shows that existing and good relationships, a boundary spanner, care workers' attitudes, knowledge and competences of the participants, organisational policies and ambitions, and some elements external to the co-ordinated action were reported to be facilitators or barriers. In addition, the participants reported that the different facilitators and barriers influenced the success of the co-ordinated action at different stages of the co-ordinated action. Future research is recommended to further explore the role of boundary spanners in co-ordinated action involving social care organisations and community sports clubs, and to identify what external elements (e.g. events, processes, national policies) are turning points in the formation, implementation and continuation of such co-ordinated action. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Parallelization of PANDA discrete ordinates code using spatial decomposition

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

Humbert, P.

2006-07-01

We present the parallel method, based on spatial domain decomposition, implemented in the 2D and 3D versions of the discrete Ordinates code PANDA. The spatial mesh is orthogonal and the spatial domain decomposition is Cartesian. For 3D problems a 3D Cartesian domain topology is created and the parallel method is based on a domain diagonal plane ordered sweep algorithm. The parallel efficiency of the method is improved by directions and octants pipelining. The implementation of the algorithm is straightforward using MPI blocking point to point communications. The efficiency of the method is illustrated by an application to the 3D-Ext C5G7more » benchmark of the OECD/NEA. (authors)« less

MCNP (Monte Carlo Neutron Photon) capabilities for nuclear well logging calculations

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

Forster, R.A.; Little, R.C.; Briesmeister, J.F.

The Los Alamos Radiation Transport Code System (LARTCS) consists of state-of-the-art Monte Carlo and discrete ordinates transport codes and data libraries. The general-purpose continuous-energy Monte Carlo code MCNP (Monte Carlo Neutron Photon), part of the LARTCS, provides a computational predictive capability for many applications of interest to the nuclear well logging community. The generalized three-dimensional geometry of MCNP is well suited for borehole-tool models. SABRINA, another component of the LARTCS, is a graphics code that can be used to interactively create a complex MCNP geometry. Users can define many source and tally characteristics with standard MCNP features. The time-dependent capabilitymore » of the code is essential when modeling pulsed sources. Problems with neutrons, photons, and electrons as either single particle or coupled particles can be calculated with MCNP. The physics of neutron and photon transport and interactions is modeled in detail using the latest available cross-section data. A rich collections of variance reduction features can greatly increase the efficiency of a calculation. MCNP is written in FORTRAN 77 and has been run on variety of computer systems from scientific workstations to supercomputers. The next production version of MCNP will include features such as continuous-energy electron transport and a multitasking option. Areas of ongoing research of interest to the well logging community include angle biasing, adaptive Monte Carlo, improved discrete ordinates capabilities, and discrete ordinates/Monte Carlo hybrid development. Los Alamos has requested approval by the Department of Energy to create a Radiation Transport Computational Facility under their User Facility Program to increase external interactions with industry, universities, and other government organizations. 21 refs.« less

7 CFR 1924.4 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... (available in any FmHA or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354 office). (e) Date of commencement of... accordance with any contract documents and applicable State or local codes and ordinances, and the FmHA or... development. (h) Development standards. Any of the following codes and standards: (1) A standard adopted by Fm...

7 CFR 1924.4 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... (available in any FmHA or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354 office). (e) Date of commencement of... accordance with any contract documents and applicable State or local codes and ordinances, and the FmHA or... development. (h) Development standards. Any of the following codes and standards: (1) A standard adopted by Fm...

7 CFR 1924.4 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... (available in any FmHA or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354 office). (e) Date of commencement of... accordance with any contract documents and applicable State or local codes and ordinances, and the FmHA or... development. (h) Development standards. Any of the following codes and standards: (1) A standard adopted by Fm...

7 CFR 1924.4 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... (available in any FmHA or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354 office). (e) Date of commencement of... accordance with any contract documents and applicable State or local codes and ordinances, and the FmHA or... development. (h) Development standards. Any of the following codes and standards: (1) A standard adopted by Fm...

75 FR 9434 - Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section; Agency Information Collection Activities Under...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-02

... Rights (or his or her designee) may certify that a State or local building code or similar ordinance that establishes accessibility requirements (Code) meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the ADA for..., Policy and Planning Staff, Justice Management Division, Patrick Henry Building, Suite 1600, 601 D Street...

75 FR 27816 - Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section; Agency Information Collection Activities Under...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-18

... certify that a State or local building code or similar ordinance that establishes accessibility requirements (Code) meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the ADA for accessibility and usability of... Management Division, Patrick Henry Building, Suite 1600, 601 D Street, NW., Washington, DC 20530. Dated: May...

Monte Carlo and discrete-ordinate simulations of spectral radiances in a coupled air-tissue system.

PubMed

Hestenes, Kjersti; Nielsen, Kristian P; Zhao, Lu; Stamnes, Jakob J; Stamnes, Knut

2007-04-20

We perform a detailed comparison study of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and discrete-ordinate radiative-transfer (DISORT) calculations of spectral radiances in a 1D coupled air-tissue (CAT) system consisting of horizontal plane-parallel layers. The MC and DISORT models have the same physical basis, including coupling between the air and the tissue, and we use the same air and tissue input parameters for both codes. We find excellent agreement between radiances obtained with the two codes, both above and in the tissue. Our tests cover typical optical properties of skin tissue at the 280, 540, and 650 nm wavelengths. The normalized volume scattering function for internal structures in the skin is represented by the one-parameter Henyey-Greenstein function for large particles and the Rayleigh scattering function for small particles. The CAT-DISORT code is found to be approximately 1000 times faster than the CAT-MC code. We also show that the spectral radiance field is strongly dependent on the inherent optical properties of the skin tissue.

Experimental detection and focusing in shallow water by decomposition of the time reversal operator.

PubMed

Prada, Claire; de Rosny, Julien; Clorennec, Dominique; Minonzio, Jean-Gabriel; Aubry, Alexandre; Fink, Mathias; Berniere, Lothar; Billand, Philippe; Hibral, Sidonie; Folegot, Thomas

2007-08-01

A rigid 24-element source-receiver array in the 10-15 kHz frequency band, connected to a programmable electronic system, was deployed in the Bay of Brest during spring 2005. In this 10- to 18-m-deep environment, backscattered data from submerged targets were recorded. Successful detection and focusing experiments in very shallow water using the decomposition of the time reversal operator (DORT method) are shown. The ability of the DORT method to separate the echo of a target from reverberation as well as the echo from two different targets at 250 m is shown. An example of active focusing within the waveguide using the first invariant of the time reversal operator is presented, showing the enhanced focusing capability. Furthermore, the localization of the scatterers in the water column is obtained using a range-dependent acoustic model.

Building Code Compliance and Enforcement: The Experience of SanFrancisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinanace and California'sBuildign Standards for New Construction

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

Vine, E.

1990-11-01

As part of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's (LBL) technical assistance to the Sustainable City Project, compliance and enforcement activities related to local and state building codes for existing and new construction were evaluated in two case studies. The analysis of the City of San Francisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) showed that a limited, prescriptive energy conservation ordinance for existing residential construction can be enforced relatively easily with little administrative costs, and that compliance with such ordinances can be quite high. Compliance with the code was facilitated by extensive publicity, an informed public concerned with the cost of energy and knowledgeablemore » about energy efficiency, the threat of punishment (Order of Abatement), the use of private inspectors, and training workshops for City and private inspectors. The analysis of California's Title 24 Standards for new residential and commercial construction showed that enforcement of this type of code for many climate zones is more complex and requires extensive administrative support for education and training of inspectors, architects, engineers, and builders. Under this code, prescriptive and performance approaches for compliance are permitted, resulting in the demand for alternative methods of enforcement: technical assistance, plan review, field inspection, and computer analysis. In contrast to existing construction, building design and new materials and construction practices are of critical importance in new construction, creating a need for extensive technical assistance and extensive interaction between enforcement personnel and the building community. Compliance problems associated with building design and installation did occur in both residential and nonresidential buildings. Because statewide codes are enforced by local officials, these problems may increase over time as energy standards change and become more complex and as other standards (eg, health and safety codes) remain a higher priority. The California Energy Commission realizes that code enforcement by itself is insufficient and expects that additional educational and technical assistance efforts (eg, manuals, training programs, and toll-free telephone lines) will ameliorate these problems.« less

Green Building Standards

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Many organizations have developed model codes or rating systems that communities may use to develop green building programs or revise building ordinances. Some of the major options are listed on this page.

34 CFR 395.35 - Terms of permit.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... health, sanitation, and building codes or ordinances. (e) The permit shall further provide that... to the State licensing agency for normal cleaning, maintenance, and repair of the building structure...

34 CFR 395.35 - Terms of permit.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... health, sanitation, and building codes or ordinances. (e) The permit shall further provide that... to the State licensing agency for normal cleaning, maintenance, and repair of the building structure...

Green Infrastructure Barriers and Opportunities in Dallas, Texas

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This report will assist other municipalities with recognizing barriers and inconsistencies in municipal codes and ordinances which may be impeding the implementation of green infrastructure practices in their communities.

Implementation of radiation shielding calculation methods. Volume 1: Synopsis of methods and summary of results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Capo, M. A.; Disney, R. K.

1971-01-01

The work performed in the following areas is summarized: (1) Analysis of Realistic nuclear-propelled vehicle was analyzed using the Marshall Space Flight Center computer code package. This code package includes one and two dimensional discrete ordinate transport, point kernel, and single scatter techniques, as well as cross section preparation and data processing codes, (2) Techniques were developed to improve the automated data transfer in the coupled computation method of the computer code package and improve the utilization of this code package on the Univac-1108 computer system. (3) The MSFC master data libraries were updated.

APC: A New Code for Atmospheric Polarization Computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Korkin, Sergey V.; Lyapustin, Alexei I.; Rozanov, Vladimir V.

2014-01-01

A new polarized radiative transfer code Atmospheric Polarization Computations (APC) is described. The code is based on separation of the diffuse light field into anisotropic and smooth (regular) parts. The anisotropic part is computed analytically. The smooth regular part is computed numerically using the discrete ordinates method. Vertical stratification of the atmosphere, common types of bidirectional surface reflection and scattering by spherical particles or spheroids are included. A particular consideration is given to computation of the bidirectional polarization distribution function (BPDF) of the waved ocean surface.

Associations between county and municipality zoning ordinances and access to fruit and vegetable outlets in rural North Carolina, 2012.

PubMed

Mayo, Mariel Leah; Pitts, Stephanie B Jilcott; Chriqui, Jamie F

2013-12-05

Zoning ordinances and land-use plans may influence the community food environment by determining placement and access to food outlets, which subsequently support or hinder residents' attempts to eat healthfully. The objective of this study was to examine associations between healthful food zoning scores as derived from information on local zoning ordinances, county demographics, and residents' access to fruit and vegetable outlets in rural northeastern North Carolina. From November 2012 through March 2013, county and municipality zoning ordinances were identified and double-coded by using the Bridging the Gap food code/policy audit form. A healthful food zoning score was derived by assigning points for the allowed use of fruit and vegetable outlets. Pearson coefficients were calculated to examine correlations between the healthful food zoning score, county demographics, and the number of fruit and vegetable outlets. In March and April 2013, qualitative interviews were conducted among county and municipal staff members knowledgeable about local zoning and planning to ascertain implementation and enforcement of zoning to support fruit and vegetable outlets. We found a strong positive correlation between healthful food zoning scores and the number of fruit and vegetable outlets in 13 northeastern North Carolina counties (r = 0.66, P = .01). Major themes in implementation and enforcement of zoning to support fruit and vegetable outlets included strict enforcement versus lack of enforcement of zoning regulations. Increasing the range of permitted uses in zoning districts to include fruit and vegetable outlets may increase access to healthful fruit and vegetable outlets in rural communities.

Associations Between County and Municipality Zoning Ordinances and Access to Fruit And Vegetable Outlets in Rural North Carolina, 2012

PubMed Central

Mayo, Mariel Leah; Chriqui, Jamie F.

2013-01-01

Introduction Zoning ordinances and land-use plans may influence the community food environment by determining placement and access to food outlets, which subsequently support or hinder residents’ attempts to eat healthfully. The objective of this study was to examine associations between healthful food zoning scores as derived from information on local zoning ordinances, county demographics, and residents’ access to fruit and vegetable outlets in rural northeastern North Carolina. Methods From November 2012 through March 2013, county and municipality zoning ordinances were identified and double-coded by using the Bridging the Gap food code/policy audit form. A healthful food zoning score was derived by assigning points for the allowed use of fruit and vegetable outlets. Pearson coefficients were calculated to examine correlations between the healthful food zoning score, county demographics, and the number of fruit and vegetable outlets. In March and April 2013, qualitative interviews were conducted among county and municipal staff members knowledgeable about local zoning and planning to ascertain implementation and enforcement of zoning to support fruit and vegetable outlets. Results We found a strong positive correlation between healthful food zoning scores and the number of fruit and vegetable outlets in 13 northeastern North Carolina counties (r = 0.66, P = .01). Major themes in implementation and enforcement of zoning to support fruit and vegetable outlets included strict enforcement versus lack of enforcement of zoning regulations. Conclusion Increasing the range of permitted uses in zoning districts to include fruit and vegetable outlets may increase access to healthful fruit and vegetable outlets in rural communities. PMID:24309091

Order information in verbal working memory shifts the subjective midpoint in both the line bisection and the landmark tasks.

PubMed

Antoine, Sophie; Ranzini, Mariagrazia; Gebuis, Titia; van Dijck, Jean-Philippe; Gevers, Wim

2017-10-01

A largely substantiated view in the domain of working memory is that the maintenance of serial order is achieved by generating associations of each item with an independent representation of its position, so-called position markers. Recent studies reported that the ordinal position of an item in verbal working memory interacts with spatial processing. This suggests that position markers might be spatial in nature. However, these interactions were so far observed in tasks implying a clear binary categorization of space (i.e., with left and right responses or targets). Such binary categorizations leave room for alternative interpretations, such as congruency between non-spatial categorical codes for ordinal position (e.g., begin and end) and spatial categorical codes for response (e.g., left and right). Here we discard this interpretation by providing evidence that this interaction can also be observed in a task that draws upon a continuous processing of space, the line bisection task. Specifically, bisections are modulated by ordinal position in verbal working memory, with lines bisected more towards the right after retrieving items from the end compared to the beginning of the memorized sequence. This supports the idea that position markers are intrinsically spatial in nature.

77 FR 15122 - Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone- Ordinance Pursuant to United States Code, Legalizing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-14

... alcoholic beverage business is seeking to be licensed. (e) No such license shall be transferred without the..., Chairman, Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone ATTEST: /s/ Vera Johnny, Acting Recording Secretary Te-Moak...

24 CFR 880.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... State and local laws, codes, ordinances and regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement... smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm system, designed for hearing-impaired persons...

24 CFR 880.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... State and local laws, codes, ordinances and regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement... smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm system, designed for hearing-impaired persons...

24 CFR 880.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... State and local laws, codes, ordinances and regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement... smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm system, designed for hearing-impaired persons...

24 CFR 880.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... State and local laws, codes, ordinances and regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement... smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm system, designed for hearing-impaired persons...

24 CFR 880.207 - Property standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... State and local laws, codes, ordinances and regulations. (g) Smoke detectors—(1) Performance requirement... smoke detector, in proper working condition, on each level of the unit. If the unit is occupied by hearing-impaired persons, smoke detectors must have an alarm system, designed for hearing-impaired persons...

44 CFR 206.118 - Disposal of housing units.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY DISASTER ASSISTANCE FEDERAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE Federal Assistance to..., has a site that complies with local codes and ordinances and part 9 of this Title. (ii) Adjustment to... providing temporary housing to disaster victims in major disasters and emergencies. As a condition of the...

Los Alamos radiation transport code system on desktop computing platforms

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

Briesmeister, J.F.; Brinkley, F.W.; Clark, B.A.

The Los Alamos Radiation Transport Code System (LARTCS) consists of state-of-the-art Monte Carlo and discrete ordinates transport codes and data libraries. These codes were originally developed many years ago and have undergone continual improvement. With a large initial effort and continued vigilance, the codes are easily portable from one type of hardware to another. The performance of scientific work-stations (SWS) has evolved to the point that such platforms can be used routinely to perform sophisticated radiation transport calculations. As the personal computer (PC) performance approaches that of the SWS, the hardware options for desk-top radiation transport calculations expands considerably. Themore » current status of the radiation transport codes within the LARTCS is described: MCNP, SABRINA, LAHET, ONEDANT, TWODANT, TWOHEX, and ONELD. Specifically, the authors discuss hardware systems on which the codes run and present code performance comparisons for various machines.« less

3D unstructured-mesh radiation transport codes

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

Morel, J.

1997-12-31

Three unstructured-mesh radiation transport codes are currently being developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The first code is ATTILA, which uses an unstructured tetrahedral mesh in conjunction with standard Sn (discrete-ordinates) angular discretization, standard multigroup energy discretization, and linear-discontinuous spatial differencing. ATTILA solves the standard first-order form of the transport equation using source iteration in conjunction with diffusion-synthetic acceleration of the within-group source iterations. DANTE is designed to run primarily on workstations. The second code is DANTE, which uses a hybrid finite-element mesh consisting of arbitrary combinations of hexahedra, wedges, pyramids, and tetrahedra. DANTE solves several second-order self-adjoint forms of the transport equation including the even-parity equation, the odd-parity equation, and a new equation called the self-adjoint angular flux equation. DANTE also offers three angular discretization options:more » $$S{_}n$$ (discrete-ordinates), $$P{_}n$$ (spherical harmonics), and $$SP{_}n$$ (simplified spherical harmonics). DANTE is designed to run primarily on massively parallel message-passing machines, such as the ASCI-Blue machines at LANL and LLNL. The third code is PERICLES, which uses the same hybrid finite-element mesh as DANTE, but solves the standard first-order form of the transport equation rather than a second-order self-adjoint form. DANTE uses a standard $$S{_}n$$ discretization in angle in conjunction with trilinear-discontinuous spatial differencing, and diffusion-synthetic acceleration of the within-group source iterations. PERICLES was initially designed to run on workstations, but a version for massively parallel message-passing machines will be built. The three codes will be described in detail and computational results will be presented.« less

Implementation of radiation shielding calculation methods. Volume 2: Seminar/Workshop notes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Capo, M. A.; Disney, R. K.

1971-01-01

Detailed descriptions are presented of the input data for each of the MSFC computer codes applied to the analysis of a realistic nuclear propelled vehicle. The analytical techniques employed include cross section data, preparation, one and two dimensional discrete ordinates transport, point kernel, and single scatter methods.

77 FR 39731 - Swinomish Indian Tribal Community-Title 15, Chapter 4: Liquor Legalization, Regulation and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-05

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs Swinomish Indian Tribal Community--Title 15.... ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice publishes Title 15, Chapter 4: Liquor Legalization, Regulation and... Indian Tribal Community Senate adopted Ordinance No. 296, Enacting Swinomish Tribal Code Title 15...

Discrete ordinates solutions of nongray radiative transfer with diffusely reflecting walls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menart, J. A.; Lee, Haeok S.; Kim, Tae-Kuk

1993-01-01

Nongray gas radiation in a plane parallel slab bounded by gray, diffusely reflecting walls is studied using the discrete ordinates method. The spectral equation of transfer is averaged over a narrow wavenumber interval preserving the spectral correlation effect. The governing equations are derived by considering the history of multiple reflections between two reflecting wails. A closure approximation is applied so that only a finite number of reflections have to be explicitly included. The closure solutions express the physics of the problem to a very high degree and show relatively little error. Numerical solutions are obtained by applying a statistical narrow-band model for gas properties and a discrete ordinates code. The net radiative wail heat fluxes and the radiative source distributions are obtained for different temperature profiles. A zeroth-degree formulation, where no wall reflection is handled explicitly, is sufficient to predict the radiative transfer accurately for most cases considered, when compared with increasingly accurate solutions based on explicitly tracing a larger number of wail reflections without any closure approximation applied.

Advances in Engineering Software for Lift Transportation Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazakoff, Alexander Borisoff

2012-03-01

In this paper an attempt is performed at computer modelling of ropeway ski lift systems. The logic in these systems is based on a travel form between the two terminals, which operates with high capacity cabins, chairs, gondolas or draw-bars. Computer codes AUTOCAD, MATLAB and Compaq-Visual Fortran - version 6.6 are used in the computer modelling. The rope systems computer modelling is organized in two stages in this paper. The first stage is organization of the ground relief profile and a design of the lift system as a whole, according to the terrain profile and the climatic and atmospheric conditions. The ground profile is prepared by the geodesists and is presented in an AUTOCAD view. The next step is the design of the lift itself which is performed by programmes using the computer code MATLAB. The second stage of the computer modelling is performed after the optimization of the co-ordinates and the lift profile using the computer code MATLAB. Then the co-ordinates and the parameters are inserted into a program written in Compaq Visual Fortran - version 6.6., which calculates 171 lift parameters, organized in 42 tables. The objective of the work presented in this paper is an attempt at computer modelling of the design and parameters derivation of the rope way systems and their computer variation and optimization.

Combustion chamber analysis code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Przekwas, A. J.; Lai, Y. G.; Krishnan, A.; Avva, R. K.; Giridharan, M. G.

1993-01-01

A three-dimensional, time dependent, Favre averaged, finite volume Navier-Stokes code has been developed to model compressible and incompressible flows (with and without chemical reactions) in liquid rocket engines. The code has a non-staggered formulation with generalized body-fitted-coordinates (BFC) capability. Higher order differencing methodologies such as MUSCL and Osher-Chakravarthy schemes are available. Turbulent flows can be modeled using any of the five turbulent models present in the code. A two-phase, two-liquid, Lagrangian spray model has been incorporated into the code. Chemical equilibrium and finite rate reaction models are available to model chemically reacting flows. The discrete ordinate method is used to model effects of thermal radiation. The code has been validated extensively against benchmark experimental data and has been applied to model flows in several propulsion system components of the SSME and the STME.

The detection of flaws in austenitic welds using the decomposition of the time-reversal operator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cunningham, Laura J.; Mulholland, Anthony J.; Tant, Katherine M. M.; Gachagan, Anthony; Harvey, Gerry; Bird, Colin

2016-04-01

The non-destructive testing of austenitic welds using ultrasound plays an important role in the assessment of the structural integrity of safety critical structures. The internal microstructure of these welds is highly scattering and can lead to the obscuration of defects when investigated by traditional imaging algorithms. This paper proposes an alternative objective method for the detection of flaws embedded in austenitic welds based on the singular value decomposition of the time-frequency domain response matrices. The distribution of the singular values is examined in the cases where a flaw exists and where there is no flaw present. A lower threshold on the singular values, specific to austenitic welds, is derived which, when exceeded, indicates the presence of a flaw. The detection criterion is successfully implemented on both synthetic and experimental data. The datasets arising from welds containing a flaw are further interrogated using the decomposition of the time-reversal operator (DORT) method and the total focusing method (TFM), and it is shown that images constructed via the DORT algorithm typically exhibit a higher signal-to-noise ratio than those constructed by the TFM algorithm.

The detection of flaws in austenitic welds using the decomposition of the time-reversal operator

PubMed Central

Cunningham, Laura J.; Mulholland, Anthony J.; Gachagan, Anthony; Harvey, Gerry; Bird, Colin

2016-01-01

The non-destructive testing of austenitic welds using ultrasound plays an important role in the assessment of the structural integrity of safety critical structures. The internal microstructure of these welds is highly scattering and can lead to the obscuration of defects when investigated by traditional imaging algorithms. This paper proposes an alternative objective method for the detection of flaws embedded in austenitic welds based on the singular value decomposition of the time-frequency domain response matrices. The distribution of the singular values is examined in the cases where a flaw exists and where there is no flaw present. A lower threshold on the singular values, specific to austenitic welds, is derived which, when exceeded, indicates the presence of a flaw. The detection criterion is successfully implemented on both synthetic and experimental data. The datasets arising from welds containing a flaw are further interrogated using the decomposition of the time-reversal operator (DORT) method and the total focusing method (TFM), and it is shown that images constructed via the DORT algorithm typically exhibit a higher signal-to-noise ratio than those constructed by the TFM algorithm. PMID:27274683

Goal Attainment Scaling as an Outcome Measure in Randomized Controlled Trials of Psychosocial Interventions in Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruble, Lisa; McGrew, John H.; Toland, Michael D.

2012-01-01

Goal attainment scaling (GAS) holds promise as an idiographic approach for measuring outcomes of psychosocial interventions in community settings. GAS has been criticized for untested assumptions of scaling level (i.e., interval or ordinal), inter-individual equivalence and comparability, and reliability of coding across different behavioral…

75 FR 39960 - Alcoholic Beverage Control Ordinance, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-13

... beverages at certain restaurants within the community. DATES: Effective Date: This Code is effective as of... Initiative Vote of the People Regarding the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages at Certain Restaurants Within the... Premises, regardless of whether the sales of Alcoholic Beverages are made under a Restaurant License issued...

Project Fever - Fostering Electric Vehicle Expansion in the Rockies

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

Swalnick, Natalia

2013-06-30

Project FEVER (Fostering Electric Vehicle Expansion in the Rockies) is a part of the Clean Cities Community Readiness and Planning for Plug-in Electric Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure Funding Opportunity funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the state of Colorado. Tasks undertaken in this project include: Electric Vehicle Grid Impact Assessment; Assessment of Electrical Permitting and Inspection for EV/EVSE (electric vehicle/electric vehicle supply equipment); Assessment of Local Ordinances Pertaining to Installation of Publicly Available EVSE;Assessment of Building Codes for EVSE; EV Demand and Energy/Air Quality Impacts Assessment; State and Local Policy Assessment; EV Grid Impact Minimization Efforts; Unificationmore » and Streamlining of Electrical Permitting and Inspection for EV/EVSE; Development of BMP for Local EVSE Ordinances; Development of BMP for Building Codes Pertaining to EVSE; Development of Colorado-Specific Assessment for EV/EVSE Energy/Air Quality Impacts; Development of State and Local Policy Best Practices; Create Final EV/EVSE Readiness Plan; Develop Project Marketing and Communications Elements; Plan and Schedule In-person Education and Outreach Opportunities.« less

Skyshine radiation from a pressurized water reactor containment dome

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

Peng, W.H.

1986-06-01

The radiation dose rates resulting from airborne activities inside a postaccident pressurized water reactor containment are calculated by a discrete ordinates/Monte Carlo combined method. The calculated total dose rates and the skyshine component are presented as a function of distance from the containment at three different elevations for various gamma-ray source energies. The one-dimensional (ANISN code) is used to approximate the skyshine dose rates from the hemisphere dome, and the results are compared favorably to more rigorous results calculated by a three-dimensional Monte Carlo code.

Collaborative research and action to control the geographic placement of outdoor advertising of alcohol and tobacco products in Chicago.

PubMed

Hackbarth, D P; Schnopp-Wyatt, D; Katz, D; Williams, J; Silvestri, B; Pfleger, M

2001-01-01

Community activists in Chicago believed their neighborhoods were being targeted by alcohol and tobacco outdoor advertisers, despite the Outdoor Advertising Association of America's voluntary code of principles, which claims to restrict the placement of ads for age-restricted products and prevent billboard saturation of urban neighborhoods. A research and action plan resulted from a 10-year collaborative partnership among Loyola University Chicago, the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago (ALAMC), and community activists from a predominately African American church, St. Sabina Parish. In 1997 Loyola University and ALAMC researchers conducted a cross-sectional prevalence survey of alcohol and tobacco outdoor advertising. Computer mapping was used to locate all 4,247 licensed billboards in Chicago that were within 500- and 1,000-foot radiuses of schools, parks, and playlots. A 50% sample of billboards was visually surveyed and coded for advertising content. The percentage of alcohol and tobacco billboards within the 500- and 1,000-foot zones ranged from 0% to 54%. African American and Hispanic neighborhoods were disproportionately targeted for outdoor advertising of alcohol and tobacco. Data were used to convince the Chicago City Council to pass one of the nation's toughest anti-alcohol and tobacco billboard ordinances, based on zoning rather than advertising content. The ordinance was challenged in court by advertisers. Recent Supreme Court rulings made enactment of local billboard ordinances problematic. Nevertheless, the research, which resulted in specific legislative action, demonstrated the importance of linkages among academic, practice, and grassroots community groups in working together to diminish one of the social causes of health disparities.

Proximity Analysis and the Structure of Organization in Free Recall.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friendly, Michael L.

A method for assessing the structure of organization was developed on the basis of the ordinal separation, or proximity, between pairs ot items in recall protocols over a series of trials. The proximity measure is based on the assumption, common to all indices of organization, that items which are coded together in subjective memory units will…

Radiative transfer code SHARM for atmospheric and terrestrial applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyapustin, A. I.

2005-12-01

An overview of the publicly available radiative transfer Spherical Harmonics code (SHARM) is presented. SHARM is a rigorous code, as accurate as the Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer (DISORT) code, yet faster. It performs simultaneous calculations for different solar zenith angles, view zenith angles, and view azimuths and allows the user to make multiwavelength calculations in one run. The Δ-M method is implemented for calculations with highly anisotropic phase functions. Rayleigh scattering is automatically included as a function of wavelength, surface elevation, and the selected vertical profile of one of the standard atmospheric models. The current version of the SHARM code does not explicitly include atmospheric gaseous absorption, which should be provided by the user. The SHARM code has several built-in models of the bidirectional reflectance of land and wind-ruffled water surfaces that are most widely used in research and satellite data processing. A modification of the SHARM code with the built-in Mie algorithm designed for calculations with spherical aerosols is also described.

Radiative transfer code SHARM for atmospheric and terrestrial applications.

PubMed

Lyapustin, A I

2005-12-20

An overview of the publicly available radiative transfer Spherical Harmonics code (SHARM) is presented. SHARM is a rigorous code, as accurate as the Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer (DISORT) code, yet faster. It performs simultaneous calculations for different solar zenith angles, view zenith angles, and view azimuths and allows the user to make multiwavelength calculations in one run. The Delta-M method is implemented for calculations with highly anisotropic phase functions. Rayleigh scattering is automatically included as a function of wavelength, surface elevation, and the selected vertical profile of one of the standard atmospheric models. The current version of the SHARM code does not explicitly include atmospheric gaseous absorption, which should be provided by the user. The SHARM code has several built-in models of the bidirectional reflectance of land and wind-ruffled water surfaces that are most widely used in research and satellite data processing. A modification of the SHARM code with the built-in Mie algorithm designed for calculations with spherical aerosols is also described.

Class Acts: How Teachers Awaken Potential = Docentes al habla: Revelar a los alumnos el tesoro de su potencial = Performances d'enseignants: Comment eveiller un potential qui dort.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (France).

This publication presents portraits of nine teachers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Jordan, Myanmar, New Zealand, Senegal, and Trinidad and Tobago who are opening up young minds and nurturing their potential. The portraits describe how these teachers created an educational situation in which students could thrive and grow. Some of the…

Ist da jemand? Wie Außerirdische uns entdecken können

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heller, R.

2016-06-01

Astronomen schlagen vor, sich bei der Suche nach Signalen außerirdischer Zivilisationen auf einen schmalen Bereich am Himmel zu konzentrieren. Von Planeten um Sterne, die in diesem Streifen liegen, würde sich die Erde vergleichsweise leicht entdecken lassen. Sollte es dort intelligentes Leben geben, könnte uns dieses schon längst aufgespürt und eine Botschaft Richtung Erde geschickt haben.

Multitasking TORT under UNICOS: Parallel performance models and measurements

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

Barnett, A.; Azmy, Y.Y.

1999-09-27

The existing parallel algorithms in the TORT discrete ordinates code were updated to function in a UNICOS environment. A performance model for the parallel overhead was derived for the existing algorithms. The largest contributors to the parallel overhead were identified and a new algorithm was developed. A parallel overhead model was also derived for the new algorithm. The results of the comparison of parallel performance models were compared to applications of the code to two TORT standard test problems and a large production problem. The parallel performance models agree well with the measured parallel overhead.

Community-level policy responses to state marijuana legalization in Washington State.

PubMed

Dilley, Julia A; Hitchcock, Laura; McGroder, Nancy; Greto, Lindsey A; Richardson, Susan M

2017-04-01

Washington State (WA) legalized a recreational marijuana market - including growing, processing and retail sales - through voter initiative 502 in November 2012. Legalized recreational marijuana retail sales began in July 2014. In response to state legalization of recreational marijuana, some cities and counties within the state have passed local ordinances that either further regulated marijuana markets, or banned them completely. The purpose of this study is to describe local-level marijuana regulations on recreational retail sales within the context of a state that had legalized a recreational marijuana market. Marijuana-related ordinances were collected from all 142 cities in the state with more than 3000 residents and from all 39 counties. Policies that were in place as of June 30, 2016 - two years after the state's recreational market opening - to regulate recreational marijuana retail sales within communities were systematically coded. A total of 125 cities and 30 counties had passed local ordinances to address recreational marijuana retail sales. Multiple communities implemented retail market bans, including some temporary bans (moratoria) while studying whether to pursue other policy options. As of June 30, 2016, 30% of the state population lived in places that had temporarily or permanently banned retail sales. Communities most frequently enacted zoning policies explicitly regulating where marijuana businesses could be established. Other policies included in ordinances placed limits on business hours and distance requirements (buffers) between marijuana businesses and youth-related land use types or other sensitive areas. State legalization does not necessarily result in uniform community environments that regulate recreational marijuana markets. Local ordinances vary among communities within Washington following statewide legalization. Further study is needed to describe how such local policies affect variation in public health and social outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Community-level policy responses to state marijuana legalization in Washington State

PubMed Central

Dilley, Julia A.; Hitchcock, Laura; McGroder, Nancy; Greto, Lindsey A.; Richardson, Susan M.

2017-01-01

Background Washington State (WA) legalized a recreational marijuana market -- including growing, processing and retail sales -- through voter initiative 502 in November 2012. Legalized recreational marijuana retail sales began in July 2014. In response to state legalization of recreational marijuana, some cities and counties within the state have passed local ordinances that either further regulated marijuana markets, or banned them completely. The purpose of this study is to describe local-level marijuana regulations on recreational retail sales within the context of a state that had legalized a recreational marijuana market. Methods Marijuana-related ordinances were collected from all 142 cities in the state with more than 3,000 residents and from all 39 counties. Policies that were in place as of June 30, 2016 - two years after the state’s recreational market opening - to regulate recreational marijuana retail sales within communities were systematically coded. Results A total of 125 cities and 30 counties had passed local ordinances to address recreational marijuana retail sales. Multiple communities implemented retail market bans, including some temporary bans (moratoria) while studying whether to pursue other policy options. As of June 30, 2016, 30% of the state population lived in places that had temporarily or permanently banned retail sales. Communities most frequently enacted zoning policies explicitly regulating where marijuana businesses could be established. Other policies included in ordinances placed limits on business hours and distance requirements (buffers) between marijuana businesses and youth-related land use types or other sensitive areas. Conclusions State legalization does not necessarily result in uniform community environments that regulate recreational marijuana markets. Local ordinances vary among communities within Washington following statewide legalization. Further study is needed to describe how such local policies affect variation in public health and social outcomes. PMID:28365192

Ex-vessel neutron dosimetry analysis for westinghouse 4-loop XL pressurized water reactor plant using the RadTrack{sup TM} Code System with the 3D parallel discrete ordinates code RAPTOR-M3G

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

Chen, J.; Alpan, F. A.; Fischer, G.A.

2011-07-01

Traditional two-dimensional (2D)/one-dimensional (1D) SYNTHESIS methodology has been widely used to calculate fast neutron (>1.0 MeV) fluence exposure to reactor pressure vessel in the belt-line region. However, it is expected that this methodology cannot provide accurate fast neutron fluence calculation at elevations far above or below the active core region. A three-dimensional (3D) parallel discrete ordinates calculation for ex-vessel neutron dosimetry on a Westinghouse 4-Loop XL Pressurized Water Reactor has been done. It shows good agreement between the calculated results and measured results. Furthermore, the results show very different fast neutron flux values at some of the former plate locationsmore » and elevations above and below an active core than those calculated by a 2D/1D SYNTHESIS method. This indicates that for certain irregular reactor internal structures, where the fast neutron flux has a very strong local effect, it is required to use a 3D transport method to calculate accurate fast neutron exposure. (authors)« less

Managing the Reputation of DHS and its Components

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

Neutral Reputations,” 129. 70 Ibid., 125. 71 Hans Krause Hansen, Roy Langer, and Dorte Salskov-Iversen, “Managing Political Communications...Rossow, “The Delphi Process in Marketing Decision Making,” Journal of Marketing Research 8, no. 4 (1971): 444. 153 Ibid. 154 Wolfgang Scholl...May 8, 2006): 45. Santoli, Michael. “They’ve Got Class.” Barron’s 87, no. 37 (September 10, 2007): 33-36. Scholl, Wolfgang , Christine Konig, Bertolt

Comparison of alternate scoring of variables on the performance of the frailty index

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The frailty index (FI) is used to measure the health status of ageing individuals. An FI is constructed as the proportion of deficits present in an individual out of the total number of age-related health variables considered. The purpose of this study was to systematically assess whether dichotomizing deficits included in an FI affects the information value of the whole index. Methods Secondary analysis of three population-based longitudinal studies of community dwelling individuals: Nova Scotia Health Survey (NSHS, n = 3227 aged 18+), Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, n = 37546 aged 50+), and Yale Precipitating Events Project (Yale-PEP, n = 754 aged 70+). For each dataset, we constructed two FIs from baseline data using the deficit accumulation approach. In each dataset, both FIs included the same variables (23 in NSHS, 70 in SHARE, 33 in Yale-PEP). One FI was constructed with only dichotomous values (marking presence or absence of a deficit); in the other FI, as many variables as possible were coded as ordinal (graded severity of a deficit). Participants in each study were followed for different durations (NSHS: 10 years, SHARE: 5 years, Yale PEP: 12 years). Results Within each dataset, the difference in mean scores between the ordinal and dichotomous-only FIs ranged from 0 to 1.5 deficits. Their ability to predict mortality was identical; their absolute difference in area under the ROC curve ranged from 0.00 to 0.02, and their absolute difference between Cox Hazard Ratios ranged from 0.001 to 0.009. Conclusions Analyses from three diverse datasets suggest that variables included in an FI can be coded either as dichotomous or ordinal, with negligible impact on the performance of the index in predicting mortality. PMID:24559204

Factor associated with self-reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders in Brazilian adults.

PubMed

Assunção, Ada Ávila; Abreu, Mery Natali Silva

2017-06-01

To describe the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) and analyze the factors associated with this outcome in the Brazilian population. In this cross-sectional, population-based study, we use data from the National Survey on Health (PNS) of 2013. The sample was composed of 60,202 Brazilians aged 18 years or older. The outcome variable was the occurrence of self-reported WMSD. Sociodemographic and occupational characteristics, personal resources, and health conditions were investigated as explanatory variables. Analyses were performed with the software Stata 12.0 and considered the weighting imposed by the sampling design of the study. Then, univariate and multivariate binary logistic models were carried out, considering a significance level of 5%. The results obtained indicated that the prevalence of WMSD in the Brazilian population was of 2.5%, ranging from 0.2% (Acre) to 4.2% (Santa Catarina). The factors associated with a greater chance of occurrence of WMSD were: female sex (OR = 2.33; 95%CI 1.72-3.15); be temporarily away from work (OR = 2.44; 95%CI 1.41-4.23); be exposed to noise at the workplace (OR = 2.16; 95%CI 1.68-2.77); seniority equal to or greater than 4.5 years at the current job (OR = 1.37; 95%CI 1.09-1.72); participate in volunteer work (OR = 1.65; 95%CI 1.25-2.17); report medical diagnosis of arthritis or rheumatism (OR = 2.40; 95%CI 1.68-3.44); and depression (OR = 2.48; 95%CI 1.86-3.31). On the other hand, factors associated with less chance of WMSD were: not having a partner (OR = 0.73; 95%CI 0.37-0.71) and working in an open environment (OR = 0.51; 95%CI 0.37-0.71). The associated factors and the prevalence found indicate regional and gender differences. Special attention to comorbidities and environmental noise monitoring would benefit the health of workers in the Country. Descrever a prevalência de distúrbio osteomuscular relacionado ao trabalho (Dort) e analisar os fatores associados com esse desfecho na população brasileira. Neste estudo transversal, de base populacional, utilizamos dados da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde (PNS) de 2013. A amostra foi composta por 60.202 brasileiros com 18 anos ou mais de idade. A variável desfecho foi a ocorrência de Dort autorreferida. Como variáveis explicativas, foram investigadas características sociodemográficas, ocupacionais, recursos pessoais e condições de saúde. As análises foram realizadas com o software Stata 12.0 e levaram em consideração as ponderações impostas pelo delineamento amostral do estudo. Foi realizado, então, um modelo logístico binário uni e multivariado, considerando o nível de significância de 5%. Os resultados obtidos indicaram que a prevalência de Dort na população brasileira foi de 2,5%, variando de 0,2% (Acre) a 4,2% (Santa Catarina). Os fatores associados à maior chance de ocorrência de Dort foram: sexo feminino (OR = 2,33; IC95% 1,72-3,15); estar afastado temporariamente do trabalho (OR = 2,44; IC95% 1,41-4,23); estar exposto a ruído no local de trabalho (OR = 2,16; IC95% 1,68-2,77); antiguidade igual ou superior a 4,5 anos no trabalho atual (OR = 1,37; IC95% 1,09-1,72); participar de trabalho voluntário (OR = 1,65; IC95% 1,25-2,17); relatar diagnóstico médico de artrite ou reumatismo (OR = 2,40; IC95% 1,68-3,44) e de depressão (OR = 2,48; IC95% 1,86-3,31). Por outro lado, foram associados à menor chance de diagnóstico de Dort: não ter parceiro (OR = 0,73; IC95% 0,37-0,71) e trabalhar em ambiente aberto (OR = 0,51; IC95% 0,37-0,71). Os fatores associados e a prevalência encontrada indicam diferenças regionais e de gênero. Especial atenção às comorbidades e monitoramento do ruído ambiental beneficiariam a saúde dos trabalhadores no país.

GPU accelerated simulations of 3D deterministic particle transport using discrete ordinates method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Chunye; Liu, Jie; Chi, Lihua; Huang, Haowei; Fang, Jingyue; Gong, Zhenghu

2011-07-01

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), originally developed for real-time, high-definition 3D graphics in computer games, now provides great faculty in solving scientific applications. The basis of particle transport simulation is the time-dependent, multi-group, inhomogeneous Boltzmann transport equation. The numerical solution to the Boltzmann equation involves the discrete ordinates ( Sn) method and the procedure of source iteration. In this paper, we present a GPU accelerated simulation of one energy group time-independent deterministic discrete ordinates particle transport in 3D Cartesian geometry (Sweep3D). The performance of the GPU simulations are reported with the simulations of vacuum boundary condition. The discussion of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the GPU implementation, the simulation on multi GPUs, the programming effort and code portability are also reported. The results show that the overall performance speedup of one NVIDIA Tesla M2050 GPU ranges from 2.56 compared with one Intel Xeon X5670 chip to 8.14 compared with one Intel Core Q6600 chip for no flux fixup. The simulation with flux fixup on one M2050 is 1.23 times faster than on one X5670.

Application of the first collision source method to CSNS target station shielding calculation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Ying; Zhang, Bin; Chen, Meng-Teng; Zhang, Liang; Cao, Bo; Chen, Yi-Xue; Yin, Wen; Liang, Tian-Jiao

2016-04-01

Ray effects are an inherent problem of the discrete ordinates method. RAY3D, a functional module of ARES, which is a discrete ordinates code system, employs a semi-analytic first collision source method to mitigate ray effects. This method decomposes the flux into uncollided and collided components, and then calculates them with an analytical method and discrete ordinates method respectively. In this article, RAY3D is validated by the Kobayashi benchmarks and applied to the neutron beamline shielding problem of China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) target station. The numerical results of the Kobayashi benchmarks indicate that the solutions of DONTRAN3D with RAY3D agree well with the Monte Carlo solutions. The dose rate at the end of the neutron beamline is less than 10.83 μSv/h in the CSNS target station neutron beamline shutter model. RAY3D can effectively mitigate the ray effects and obtain relatively reasonable results. Supported by Major National S&T Specific Program of Large Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant (2011ZX06004-007), National Natural Science Foundation of China (11505059, 11575061), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (13QN34).

Source Contributions at Regional Distances

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-05-14

Reston, VA 22091 Pasadena, CA 91125 Mr. William J. Best Prof. F. A. Dahlen 907 Westwood Drive Geological and Geophysical Sciences Vienna, VA 22180...PL-TR-91-2130 AD-A240 859 SOURCE CONTRIBUTIONS AT REGIONAL DISTANCES Karl Koch William Soroka Brian Stump Southern Methodist University Department of... William Soroka. Brian Stumo 13a. TYPE OF REPORT 13b. TIME COVERED 114 DATE OF REPORT (Year, Month, Day) 115. PAGE COUNT Final ReDort I FROM09AUG88

MCNP capabilities for nuclear well logging calculations

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

Forster, R.A.; Little, R.C.; Briesmeister, J.F.

The Los Alamos Radiation Transport Code System (LARTCS) consists of state-of-the-art Monte Carlo and discrete ordinates transport codes and data libraries. This paper discusses how the general-purpose continuous-energy Monte Carlo code MCNP ({und M}onte {und C}arlo {und n}eutron {und p}hoton), part of the LARTCS, provides a computational predictive capability for many applications of interest to the nuclear well logging community. The generalized three-dimensional geometry of MCNP is well suited for borehole-tool models. SABRINA, another component of the LARTCS, is a graphics code that can be used to interactively create a complex MCNP geometry. Users can define many source and tallymore » characteristics with standard MCNP features. The time-dependent capability of the code is essential when modeling pulsed sources. Problems with neutrons, photons, and electrons as either single particle or coupled particles can be calculated with MCNP. The physics of neutron and photon transport and interactions is modeled in detail using the latest available cross-section data.« less

An Intensive Cultural Resource Survey for the Bank Stabilization Project: A Late 19th Century Stoneware Manufacturing Site, Bonaparte, Iowa.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-11-01

in New England where this type of mass production got underway to any extent was Bennington , Vermont . The famous works there was the brain child of...4 2 Landform Regions of Iowa ...................... 7 3 Schematic of Van Buren County Geology ................. 7 4 Soils Within...Changes. In "Pleistocene and Recent Environments of the Central Great Plains," edited by W. Dort and J. Jones, University of Kansas, Department of Geology

Neutron skyshine from intense 14-MeV neutron source facility

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

Nakamura, T.; Hayashi, K.; Takahashi, A.

1985-07-01

The dose distribution and the spectrum variation of neutrons due to the skyshine effect have been measured with the high-efficiency rem counter, the multisphere spectrometer, and the NE-213 scintillator in the environment surrounding an intense 14-MeV neutron source facility. The dose distribution and the energy spectra of neutrons around the facility used as a skyshine source have also been measured to enable the absolute evaluation of the skyshine effect. The skyshine effect was analyzed by two multigroup Monte Carlo codes, NIMSAC and MMCR-2, by two discrete ordinates S /sub n/ codes, ANISN and DOT3.5, and by the shield structure designmore » code for skyshine, SKYSHINE-II. The calculated results show good agreement with the measured results in absolute values. These experimental results should be useful as benchmark data for shyshine analysis and for shielding design of fusion facilities.« less

Filtrage Lineaire par Morceaux Avec Petit Bruit d’Observation (Piecewise Linear Filtering with Small Observation Noise)

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-11-19

stir divers exemple-s le comportement des filtres l)r0pose5 par ra.)pDort ceux du processus estliner et dti filtre optimal obtenu de fa~on approch6e...Piecewise monotone filtering with small observation noise, Siam J., Control Optim. 20, 261-285, 1989 . Vii [10 W.ll. Fleming and R.W. Rishel...Milbeiro, de Oliveira : Filtres approch~s pour un probl~me de filtrage non lin~aire discret avec petit bruit d’observation,rapport INVRIA, 1142. 1989

Quasi-heterogeneous efficient 3-D discrete ordinates CANDU calculations using Attila

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

Preeti, T.; Rulko, R.

2012-07-01

In this paper, 3-D quasi-heterogeneous large scale parallel Attila calculations of a generic CANDU test problem consisting of 42 complete fuel channels and a perpendicular to fuel reactivity device are presented. The solution method is that of discrete ordinates SN and the computational model is quasi-heterogeneous, i.e. fuel bundle is partially homogenized into five homogeneous rings consistently with the DRAGON code model used by the industry for the incremental cross-section generation. In calculations, the HELIOS-generated 45 macroscopic cross-sections library was used. This approach to CANDU calculations has the following advantages: 1) it allows detailed bundle (and eventually channel) power calculationsmore » for each fuel ring in a bundle, 2) it allows the exact reactivity device representation for its precise reactivity worth calculation, and 3) it eliminates the need for incremental cross-sections. Our results are compared to the reference Monte Carlo MCNP solution. In addition, the Attila SN method performance in CANDU calculations characterized by significant up scattering is discussed. (authors)« less

Recent Local and State Action in Arizona to Maintain Sky Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Jeffrey C.; Shankland, P. D.; Green, R. F.; Jannuzi, B.

2014-01-01

The large number of observatories in Arizona has led to the development of a number of lighting control ordinances around the state, some quite strict. Several factors are now contributing to an increased need for active effort at the local, County, and State levels in maintaining the quality of these codes; these factors include an expansion of competing interests in the state, the increasing use of LED lighting, and the potential for major new investments through projects such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and enhancements to the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer. I will review recent strategies Arizona's observatories have used to effect maintenance of ordinances and preserve sky quality; cases include (1) a statewide effort in 2012 to curb a proliferation of electronic billboards and (2) engagement of a broad group of local, County, and State officials, as well as individuals from the private sector, in support of projects like CTA, including awareness of and support for dark-sky preservation.

Emergence of spike correlations in periodically forced excitable systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reinoso, José A.; Torrent, M. C.; Masoller, Cristina

2016-09-01

In sensory neurons the presence of noise can facilitate the detection of weak information-carrying signals, which are encoded and transmitted via correlated sequences of spikes. Here we investigate the relative temporal order in spike sequences induced by a subthreshold periodic input in the presence of white Gaussian noise. To simulate the spikes, we use the FitzHugh-Nagumo model and to investigate the output sequence of interspike intervals (ISIs), we use the symbolic method of ordinal analysis. We find different types of relative temporal order in the form of preferred ordinal patterns that depend on both the strength of the noise and the period of the input signal. We also demonstrate a resonancelike behavior, as certain periods and noise levels enhance temporal ordering in the ISI sequence, maximizing the probability of the preferred patterns. Our findings could be relevant for understanding the mechanisms underlying temporal coding, by which single sensory neurons represent in spike sequences the information about weak periodic stimuli.

Criticality Calculations with MCNP6 - Practical Lectures

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

Brown, Forrest B.; Rising, Michael Evan; Alwin, Jennifer Louise

2016-11-29

These slides are used to teach MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particle) usage to nuclear criticality safety analysts. The following are the lecture topics: course information, introduction, MCNP basics, criticality calculations, advanced geometry, tallies, adjoint-weighted tallies and sensitivities, physics and nuclear data, parameter studies, NCS validation I, NCS validation II, NCS validation III, case study 1 - solution tanks, case study 2 - fuel vault, case study 3 - B&W core, case study 4 - simple TRIGA, case study 5 - fissile mat. vault, criticality accident alarm systems. After completion of this course, you should be able to: Develop an input modelmore » for MCNP; Describe how cross section data impact Monte Carlo and deterministic codes; Describe the importance of validation of computer codes and how it is accomplished; Describe the methodology supporting Monte Carlo codes and deterministic codes; Describe pitfalls of Monte Carlo calculations; Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Monte Carlo and Discrete Ordinants codes; The diffusion theory model is not strictly valid for treating fissile systems in which neutron absorption, voids, and/or material boundaries are present. In the context of these limitations, identify a fissile system for which a diffusion theory solution would be adequate.« less

Common radiation analysis model for 75,000 pound thrust NERVA engine (1137400E)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warman, E. A.; Lindsey, B. A.

1972-01-01

The mathematical model and sources of radiation used for the radiation analysis and shielding activities in support of the design of the 1137400E version of the 75,000 lbs thrust NERVA engine are presented. The nuclear subsystem (NSS) and non-nuclear components are discussed. The geometrical model for the NSS is two dimensional as required for the DOT discrete ordinates computer code or for an azimuthally symetrical three dimensional Point Kernel or Monte Carlo code. The geometrical model for the non-nuclear components is three dimensional in the FASTER geometry format. This geometry routine is inherent in the ANSC versions of the QAD and GGG Point Kernal programs and the COHORT Monte Carlo program. Data are included pertaining to a pressure vessel surface radiation source data tape which has been used as the basis for starting ANSC analyses with the DASH code to bridge into the COHORT Monte Carlo code using the WANL supplied DOT angular flux leakage data. In addition to the model descriptions and sources of radiation, the methods of analyses are briefly described.

Hybrid discrete ordinates and characteristics method for solving the linear Boltzmann equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yi, Ce

With the ability of computer hardware and software increasing rapidly, deterministic methods to solve the linear Boltzmann equation (LBE) have attracted some attention for computational applications in both the nuclear engineering and medical physics fields. Among various deterministic methods, the discrete ordinates method (SN) and the method of characteristics (MOC) are two of the most widely used methods. The SN method is the traditional approach to solve the LBE for its stability and efficiency. While the MOC has some advantages in treating complicated geometries. However, in 3-D problems requiring a dense discretization grid in phase space (i.e., a large number of spatial meshes, directions, or energy groups), both methods could suffer from the need for large amounts of memory and computation time. In our study, we developed a new hybrid algorithm by combing the two methods into one code, TITAN. The hybrid approach is specifically designed for application to problems containing low scattering regions. A new serial 3-D time-independent transport code has been developed. Under the hybrid approach, the preferred method can be applied in different regions (blocks) within the same problem model. Since the characteristics method is numerically more efficient in low scattering media, the hybrid approach uses a block-oriented characteristics solver in low scattering regions, and a block-oriented SN solver in the remainder of the physical model. In the TITAN code, a physical problem model is divided into a number of coarse meshes (blocks) in Cartesian geometry. Either the characteristics solver or the SN solver can be chosen to solve the LBE within a coarse mesh. A coarse mesh can be filled with fine meshes or characteristic rays depending on the solver assigned to the coarse mesh. Furthermore, with its object-oriented programming paradigm and layered code structure, TITAN allows different individual spatial meshing schemes and angular quadrature sets for each coarse mesh. Two quadrature types (level-symmetric and Legendre-Chebyshev quadrature) along with the ordinate splitting techniques (rectangular splitting and PN-TN splitting) are implemented. In the S N solver, we apply a memory-efficient 'front-line' style paradigm to handle the fine mesh interface fluxes. In the characteristics solver, we have developed a novel 'backward' ray-tracing approach, in which a bi-linear interpolation procedure is used on the incoming boundaries of a coarse mesh. A CPU-efficient scattering kernel is shared in both solvers within the source iteration scheme. Angular and spatial projection techniques are developed to transfer the angular fluxes on the interfaces of coarse meshes with different discretization grids. The performance of the hybrid algorithm is tested in a number of benchmark problems in both nuclear engineering and medical physics fields. Among them are the Kobayashi benchmark problems and a computational tomography (CT) device model. We also developed an extra sweep procedure with the fictitious quadrature technique to calculate angular fluxes along directions of interest. The technique is applied in a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) phantom model to simulate the SPECT projection images. The accuracy and efficiency of the TITAN code are demonstrated in these benchmarks along with its scalability. A modified version of the characteristics solver is integrated in the PENTRAN code and tested within the parallel engine of PENTRAN. The limitations on the hybrid algorithm are also studied.

Geschichtlicher Überblick

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bölke, Klaus-Peter

Die Nachweise einer schadlosen Ableitung von Abwässern lassen sich bis weit in die Vergangenheit zurückverfolgen. Sie waren bereits zur damaligen Zeit eine Forderung zur Pflege der öffentlichen Reinlichkeit. Der Kanalisationsbau ist auch immer ein Ausdruck der Kultur eines Volkes gewesen. So kann festgestellt werden, dass im Zusammenhang mit der Hochkultur eines Volkes auch der Kanalbau ein vorherrschendes Thema war. Der Kanalbau steht auch in einem engen Zusammenhang mit dem Wasserleitungsbau. Es ist nur logisch, dass dort wo Wasser teilweise aus großer Entfernung herangeführt worden ist, dieses dann nach Gebrauch auch wieder schadlos beseitigt werden musste.

Tycho 2: A Proxy Application for Kinetic Transport Sweeps

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

Garrett, Charles Kristopher; Warsa, James S.

2016-09-14

Tycho 2 is a proxy application that implements discrete ordinates (SN) kinetic transport sweeps on unstructured, 3D, tetrahedral meshes. It has been designed to be small and require minimal dependencies to make collaboration and experimentation as easy as possible. Tycho 2 has been released as open source software. The software is currently in a beta release with plans for a stable release (version 1.0) before the end of the year. The code is parallelized via MPI across spatial cells and OpenMP across angles. Currently, several parallelization algorithms are implemented.

Ray Effect Mitigation Through Reference Frame Rotation

DOE PAGES

Tencer, John

2016-05-01

The discrete ordinates method is a popular and versatile technique for solving the radiative transport equation, a major drawback of which is the presence of ray effects. Mitigation of ray effects can yield significantly more accurate results and enhanced numerical stability for combined mode codes. Moreover, when ray effects are present, the solution is seen to be highly dependent upon the relative orientation of the geometry and the global reference frame. It is an undesirable property. A novel ray effect mitigation technique of averaging the computed solution for various reference frame orientations is proposed.

Flow of rarefied gases over two-dimensional bodies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jeng, Duen-Ren; De Witt, Kenneth J.; Keith, Theo G., Jr.; Chung, Chan-Hong

1989-01-01

A kinetic-theory analysis is made of the flow of rarefied gases over two-dimensional bodies of arbitrary curvature. The Boltzmann equation simplified by a model collision integral is written in an arbitrary orthogonal curvilinear coordinate system, and solved by means of finite-difference approximation with the discrete ordinate method. A numerical code is developed which can be applied to any two-dimensional submerged body of arbitrary curvature for the flow regimes from free-molecular to slip at transonic Mach numbers. Predictions are made for the case of a right circular cylinder.

Posterior Predictive Bayesian Phylogenetic Model Selection

PubMed Central

Lewis, Paul O.; Xie, Wangang; Chen, Ming-Hui; Fan, Yu; Kuo, Lynn

2014-01-01

We present two distinctly different posterior predictive approaches to Bayesian phylogenetic model selection and illustrate these methods using examples from green algal protein-coding cpDNA sequences and flowering plant rDNA sequences. The Gelfand–Ghosh (GG) approach allows dissection of an overall measure of model fit into components due to posterior predictive variance (GGp) and goodness-of-fit (GGg), which distinguishes this method from the posterior predictive P-value approach. The conditional predictive ordinate (CPO) method provides a site-specific measure of model fit useful for exploratory analyses and can be combined over sites yielding the log pseudomarginal likelihood (LPML) which is useful as an overall measure of model fit. CPO provides a useful cross-validation approach that is computationally efficient, requiring only a sample from the posterior distribution (no additional simulation is required). Both GG and CPO add new perspectives to Bayesian phylogenetic model selection based on the predictive abilities of models and complement the perspective provided by the marginal likelihood (including Bayes Factor comparisons) based solely on the fit of competing models to observed data. [Bayesian; conditional predictive ordinate; CPO; L-measure; LPML; model selection; phylogenetics; posterior predictive.] PMID:24193892

Processing Ordinality and Quantity: The Case of Developmental Dyscalculia

PubMed Central

Rubinsten, Orly; Sury, Dana

2011-01-01

In contrast to quantity processing, up to date, the nature of ordinality has received little attention from researchers despite the fact that both quantity and ordinality are embodied in numerical information. Here we ask if there are two separate core systems that lie at the foundations of numerical cognition: (1) the traditionally and well accepted numerical magnitude system but also (2) core system for representing ordinal information. We report two novel experiments of ordinal processing that explored the relation between ordinal and numerical information processing in typically developing adults and adults with developmental dyscalculia (DD). Participants made “ordered” or “non-ordered” judgments about 3 groups of dots (non-symbolic numerical stimuli; in Experiment 1) and 3 numbers (symbolic task: Experiment 2). In contrast to previous findings and arguments about quantity deficit in DD participants, when quantity and ordinality are dissociated (as in the current tasks), DD participants exhibited a normal ratio effect in the non-symbolic ordinal task. They did not show, however, the ordinality effect. Ordinality effect in DD appeared only when area and density were randomized, but only in the descending direction. In the symbolic task, the ordinality effect was modulated by ratio and direction in both groups. These findings suggest that there might be two separate cognitive representations of ordinal and quantity information and that linguistic knowledge may facilitate estimation of ordinal information. PMID:21935374

Processing ordinality and quantity: the case of developmental dyscalculia.

PubMed

Rubinsten, Orly; Sury, Dana

2011-01-01

In contrast to quantity processing, up to date, the nature of ordinality has received little attention from researchers despite the fact that both quantity and ordinality are embodied in numerical information. Here we ask if there are two separate core systems that lie at the foundations of numerical cognition: (1) the traditionally and well accepted numerical magnitude system but also (2) core system for representing ordinal information. We report two novel experiments of ordinal processing that explored the relation between ordinal and numerical information processing in typically developing adults and adults with developmental dyscalculia (DD). Participants made "ordered" or "non-ordered" judgments about 3 groups of dots (non-symbolic numerical stimuli; in Experiment 1) and 3 numbers (symbolic task: Experiment 2). In contrast to previous findings and arguments about quantity deficit in DD participants, when quantity and ordinality are dissociated (as in the current tasks), DD participants exhibited a normal ratio effect in the non-symbolic ordinal task. They did not show, however, the ordinality effect. Ordinality effect in DD appeared only when area and density were randomized, but only in the descending direction. In the symbolic task, the ordinality effect was modulated by ratio and direction in both groups. These findings suggest that there might be two separate cognitive representations of ordinal and quantity information and that linguistic knowledge may facilitate estimation of ordinal information.

Calculations of the skyshine gamma-ray dose rates from independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSI) under worst case accident conditions

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

Pace, J.V. III; Cramer, S.N.; Knight, J.R.

1980-09-01

Calculations of the skyshine gamma-ray dose rates from three spent fuel storage pools under worst case accident conditions have been made using the discrete ordinates code DOT-IV and the Monte Carlo code MORSE and have been compared to those of two previous methods. The DNA 37N-21G group cross-section library was utilized in the calculations, together with the Claiborne-Trubey gamma-ray dose factors taken from the same library. Plots of all results are presented. It was found that the dose was a strong function of the iron thickness over the fuel assemblies, the initial angular distribution of the emitted radiation, and themore » photon source near the top of the assemblies. 16 refs., 11 figs., 7 tabs.« less

The effect of ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants and bars on revenues: a follow-up.

PubMed Central

Glantz, S A; Smith, L R

1997-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to extend an earlier evaluation of the economic effects of ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants and bars. METHODS: Sales tax data for 15 cities with smoke-free restaurant ordinances, 5 cities and 2 counties with smoke-free bar ordinances, and matched comparison locations were analyzed by multiple regression, including time and a dummy variable for the ordinance. RESULTS: Ordinances had no significant effect on the fraction of total retail sales that went to eating and drinking places or on the ratio between sales in communities with ordinances and sales in comparison communities. Ordinances requiring smoke-free bars had no significant effect on the fraction of revenues going to eating and drinking places that serve all types of liquor. CONCLUSIONS: Smoke-free ordinances do not adversely affect either restaurant or bar sales. PMID:9357356

Wie die Sonne ins Kraftwerk kommt: Solarthermische Kraftwerke

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitz-Paal, Robert

2004-01-01

Solarthermische Kraftwerke sammeln wie riesige Brenngläser die Sonnenstrahlung und treiben damit eine Wärmekraftmaschine an. Drei Konstruktionsprinzipien haben sich heute durchgesetzt. Bereits im kommerziellen Einsatz sind Systeme mit schwenkbaren, verspiegelten Parabolrinnen, die das Sonnenlicht auf ein zentrales Absorberrohr konzentrieren. Durch dieses fließt ein Wärmetransportmedium. Beim Zentral-Receiver-System fokussiert ein Feld verstellbarer Spiegel das Sonnenlicht auf die Spitze eines Turms. Dort sitzt ein Receiver, den ein Wärmetransportmedium durchströmt. Für kleine, dezentrale Anlagen eignen sich Dish-Stirling-Systeme. Das sind schwenkbare, paraboloide Spiegelschüsseln mit einem Stirling-Motor im Brennpunkt. Zentral-Receiver- und Dish-Stirling-Systeme sind noch im Entwicklungsstadium.

Validation of the WIMSD4M cross-section generation code with benchmark results

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

Leal, L.C.; Deen, J.R.; Woodruff, W.L.

1995-02-01

The WIMSD4 code has been adopted for cross-section generation in support of the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test (RERTR) program at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Subsequently, the code has undergone several updates, and significant improvements have been achieved. The capability of generating group-collapsed micro- or macroscopic cross sections from the ENDF/B-V library and the more recent evaluation, ENDF/B-VI, in the ISOTXS format makes the modified version of the WIMSD4 code, WIMSD4M, very attractive, not only for the RERTR program, but also for the reactor physics community. The intent of the present paper is to validate the procedure to generatemore » cross-section libraries for reactor analyses and calculations utilizing the WIMSD4M code. To do so, the results of calculations performed with group cross-section data generated with the WIMSD4M code will be compared against experimental results. These results correspond to calculations carried out with thermal reactor benchmarks of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory(ORNL) unreflected critical spheres, the TRX critical experiments, and calculations of a modified Los Alamos highly-enriched heavy-water moderated benchmark critical system. The benchmark calculations were performed with the discrete-ordinates transport code, TWODANT, using WIMSD4M cross-section data. Transport calculations using the XSDRNPM module of the SCALE code system are also included. In addition to transport calculations, diffusion calculations with the DIF3D code were also carried out, since the DIF3D code is used in the RERTR program for reactor analysis and design. For completeness, Monte Carlo results of calculations performed with the VIM and MCNP codes are also presented.« less

Squeezing Interval Change From Ordinal Panel Data: Latent Growth Curves With Ordinal Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehta, Paras D.; Neale, Michael C.; Flay, Brian R.

2004-01-01

A didactic on latent growth curve modeling for ordinal outcomes is presented. The conceptual aspects of modeling growth with ordinal variables and the notion of threshold invariance are illustrated graphically using a hypothetical example. The ordinal growth model is described in terms of 3 nested models: (a) multivariate normality of the…

Correlation of ground motion and intensity for the 17 January 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake

USGS Publications Warehouse

Boatwright, J.; Thywissen, K.; Seekins, L.C.

2001-01-01

We analyze the correlations between intensity and a set of groundmotion parameters obtained from 66 free-field stations in Los Angeles County that recorded the 1994 Northridge earthquake. We use the tagging intensities from Thywissen and Boatwright (1998) because these intensities are determined independently on census tracts, rather than interpolated from zip codes, as are the modified Mercalli isoseismals from Dewey et al. (1995). The ground-motion parameters we consider are the peak ground acceleration (PGA), the peak ground velocity (PGV), the 5% damped pseudovelocity response spectral (PSV) ordinates at 14 periods from 0.1 to 7.5 sec, and the rms average of these spectral ordinates from 0.3 to 3 sec. Visual comparisons of the distribution of tagging intensity with contours of PGA, PGV, and the average PSV suggest that PGV and the average PSV are better correlated with the intensity than PGA. The correlation coefficients between the intensity and the ground-motion parameters bear this out: r = 0.75 for PGA, 0.85 for PGV, and 0.85 for the average PSV. Correlations between the intensity and the PSV ordinates, as a function of period, are strongest at 1.5 sec (r = 0.83) and weakest at 0.2 sec (r = 0.66). Regressing the intensity on the logarithms of these ground-motion parameters yields relations I ?? mlog?? with 3.0 ??? m ??? 5.2 for the parameters analyzed, where m = 4.4 ?? 0.7 for PGA, 3.4 ?? 0.4 for PGV, and 3.6 ?? 0.5 for the average PSV.

Validation of the WIMSD4M cross-section generation code with benchmark results

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

Deen, J.R.; Woodruff, W.L.; Leal, L.E.

1995-01-01

The WIMSD4 code has been adopted for cross-section generation in support of the Reduced Enrichment Research and Test Reactor (RERTR) program at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Subsequently, the code has undergone several updates, and significant improvements have been achieved. The capability of generating group-collapsed micro- or macroscopic cross sections from the ENDF/B-V library and the more recent evaluation, ENDF/B-VI, in the ISOTXS format makes the modified version of the WIMSD4 code, WIMSD4M, very attractive, not only for the RERTR program, but also for the reactor physics community. The intent of the present paper is to validate the WIMSD4M cross-section librariesmore » for reactor modeling of fresh water moderated cores. The results of calculations performed with multigroup cross-section data generated with the WIMSD4M code will be compared against experimental results. These results correspond to calculations carried out with thermal reactor benchmarks of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) unreflected HEU critical spheres, the TRX LEU critical experiments, and calculations of a modified Los Alamos HEU D{sub 2}O moderated benchmark critical system. The benchmark calculations were performed with the discrete-ordinates transport code, TWODANT, using WIMSD4M cross-section data. Transport calculations using the XSDRNPM module of the SCALE code system are also included. In addition to transport calculations, diffusion calculations with the DIF3D code were also carried out, since the DIF3D code is used in the RERTR program for reactor analysis and design. For completeness, Monte Carlo results of calculations performed with the VIM and MCNP codes are also presented.« less

Multitasking TORT Under UNICOS: Parallel Performance Models and Measurements

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

Azmy, Y.Y.; Barnett, D.A.

1999-09-27

The existing parallel algorithms in the TORT discrete ordinates were updated to function in a UNI-COS environment. A performance model for the parallel overhead was derived for the existing algorithms. The largest contributors to the parallel overhead were identified and a new algorithm was developed. A parallel overhead model was also derived for the new algorithm. The results of the comparison of parallel performance models were compared to applications of the code to two TORT standard test problems and a large production problem. The parallel performance models agree well with the measured parallel overhead.

Computational analysis of Variable Thrust Engine (VTE) performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giridharan, M. G.; Krishnan, A.; Przekwas, A. J.

1993-01-01

The Variable Thrust Engine (VTE) of the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) uses a hypergolic propellant combination of Monomethyl Hydrazine (MMH) and Nitrogen Tetroxide (NTO) as fuel and oxidizer, respectively. The performance of the VTE depends on a number of complex interacting phenomena such as atomization, spray dynamics, vaporization, turbulent mixing, convective/radiative heat transfer, and hypergolic combustion. This study involved the development of a comprehensive numerical methodology to facilitate detailed analysis of the VTE. An existing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code was extensively modified to include the following models: a two-liquid, two-phase Eulerian-Lagrangian spray model; a chemical equilibrium model; and a discrete ordinate radiation heat transfer model. The modified code was used to conduct a series of simulations to assess the effects of various physical phenomena and boundary conditions on the VTE performance. The details of the models and the results of the simulations are presented.

The DANTE Boltzmann transport solver: An unstructured mesh, 3-D, spherical harmonics algorithm compatible with parallel computer architectures

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

McGhee, J.M.; Roberts, R.M.; Morel, J.E.

1997-06-01

A spherical harmonics research code (DANTE) has been developed which is compatible with parallel computer architectures. DANTE provides 3-D, multi-material, deterministic, transport capabilities using an arbitrary finite element mesh. The linearized Boltzmann transport equation is solved in a second order self-adjoint form utilizing a Galerkin finite element spatial differencing scheme. The core solver utilizes a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm. Other distinguishing features of the code include options for discrete-ordinates and simplified spherical harmonics angular differencing, an exact Marshak boundary treatment for arbitrarily oriented boundary faces, in-line matrix construction techniques to minimize memory consumption, and an effective diffusion based preconditioner formore » scattering dominated problems. Algorithm efficiency is demonstrated for a massively parallel SIMD architecture (CM-5), and compatibility with MPP multiprocessor platforms or workstation clusters is anticipated.« less

Automated variance reduction for MCNP using deterministic methods.

PubMed

Sweezy, J; Brown, F; Booth, T; Chiaramonte, J; Preeg, B

2005-01-01

In order to reduce the user's time and the computer time needed to solve deep penetration problems, an automated variance reduction capability has been developed for the MCNP Monte Carlo transport code. This new variance reduction capability developed for MCNP5 employs the PARTISN multigroup discrete ordinates code to generate mesh-based weight windows. The technique of using deterministic methods to generate importance maps has been widely used to increase the efficiency of deep penetration Monte Carlo calculations. The application of this method in MCNP uses the existing mesh-based weight window feature to translate the MCNP geometry into geometry suitable for PARTISN. The adjoint flux, which is calculated with PARTISN, is used to generate mesh-based weight windows for MCNP. Additionally, the MCNP source energy spectrum can be biased based on the adjoint energy spectrum at the source location. This method can also use angle-dependent weight windows.

An approach to solve group-decision-making problems with ordinal interval numbers.

PubMed

Fan, Zhi-Ping; Liu, Yang

2010-10-01

The ordinal interval number is a form of uncertain preference information in group decision making (GDM), while it is seldom discussed in the existing research. This paper investigates how the ranking order of alternatives is determined based on preference information of ordinal interval numbers in GDM problems. When ranking a large quantity of ordinal interval numbers, the efficiency and accuracy of the ranking process are critical. A new approach is proposed to rank alternatives using ordinal interval numbers when every ranking ordinal in an ordinal interval number is thought to be uniformly and independently distributed in its interval. First, we give the definition of possibility degree on comparing two ordinal interval numbers and the related theory analysis. Then, to rank alternatives, by comparing multiple ordinal interval numbers, a collective expectation possibility degree matrix on pairwise comparisons of alternatives is built, and an optimization model based on this matrix is constructed. Furthermore, an algorithm is also presented to rank alternatives by solving the model. Finally, two examples are used to illustrate the use of the proposed approach.

Clean Indoor Air Ordinance Coverage in the Appalachian Region of the United States

PubMed Central

Liber, Alex; Pennell, Michael; Nealy, Darren; Hammer, Jana; Berman, Micah

2010-01-01

Objectives. We sought to quantitatively examine the pattern of, and socioeconomic factors associated with, adoption of clean indoor air ordinances in Appalachia. Methods. We collected and reviewed clean indoor air ordinances in Appalachian communities in 6 states and rated the ordinances for completeness of coverage in workplaces, restaurants, and bars. Additionally, we computed a strength score to measure coverage in 7 locations. We fit mixed-effects models to determine whether the presence of a comprehensive ordinance and the ordinance strength were related to community socioeconomic disadvantage. Results. Of the 332 communities included in the analysis, fewer than 20% had adopted a comprehensive workplace, restaurant, or bar ordinance. Most ordinances were weak, achieving on average only 43% of the total possible points. Communities with a higher unemployment rate were less likely and those with a higher education level were more likely to have a strong ordinance. Conclusions. The majority of residents in these communities are not protected from secondhand smoke. Efforts to pass strong statewide clean indoor air laws should take priority over local initiatives in these states. PMID:20466957

City curfew ordinances and teenage motor vehicle injury.

PubMed

Preusser, D F; Williams, A F; Lund, A K; Zador, P L

1990-08-01

Several U.S. cities have curfew ordinances that limit the late night activities of minor teenagers in public places including highways. Detroit, Cleveland, and Columbus, which have curfew ordinances, were compared to Cincinnati, which does not have such an ordinance. The curfew ordinances were associated with a 23% reduction in motor vehicle related injury for 13- to 17-year-olds as passengers, drivers, pedestrians, or bicyclists during the curfew hours. It was concluded that city curfew ordinances, like the statewide driving curfews studied in other states, can reduce motor vehicle injury to teenagers during the particularly hazardous late night hours.

Two centuries of masting data for European beech and Norway spruce across the European continent.

PubMed

Ascoli, Davide; Maringer, Janet; Hacket-Pain, Andy; Conedera, Marco; Drobyshev, Igor; Motta, Renzo; Cirolli, Mara; Kantorowicz, Władysław; Zang, Christian; Schueler, Silvio; Croisé, Luc; Piussi, Pietro; Berretti, Roberta; Palaghianu, Ciprian; Westergren, Marjana; Lageard, Jonathan G A; Burkart, Anton; Gehrig Bichsel, Regula; Thomas, Peter A; Beudert, Burkhard; Övergaard, Rolf; Vacchiano, Giorgio

2017-05-01

Tree masting is one of the most intensively studied ecological processes. It affects nutrient fluxes of trees, regeneration dynamics in forests, animal population densities, and ultimately influences ecosystem services. Despite a large volume of research focused on masting, its evolutionary ecology, spatial and temporal variability, and environmental drivers are still matter of debate. Understanding the proximate and ultimate causes of masting at broad spatial and temporal scales will enable us to predict tree reproductive strategies and their response to changing environment. Here we provide broad spatial (distribution range-wide) and temporal (century) masting data for the two main masting tree species in Europe, European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.). We collected masting data from a total of 359 sources through an extensive literature review and from unpublished surveys. The data set has a total of 1,747 series and 18,348 yearly observations from 28 countries and covering a time span of years 1677-2016 and 1791-2016 for beech and spruce, respectively. For each record, the following information is available: identification code; species; year of observation; proxy of masting (flower, pollen, fruit, seed, dendrochronological reconstructions); statistical data type (ordinal, continuous); data value; unit of measurement (only in case of continuous data); geographical location (country, Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics NUTS-1 level, municipality, coordinates); first and last record year and related length; type of data source (field survey, peer reviewed scientific literature, gray literature, personal observation); source identification code; date when data were added to the database; comments. To provide a ready-to-use masting index we harmonized ordinal data into five classes. Furthermore, we computed an additional field where continuous series with length >4 yr where converted into a five classes ordinal index. To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive published database on species-specific masting behavior. It is useful to study spatial and temporal patterns of masting and its proximate and ultimate causes, to refine studies based on tree-ring chronologies, to understand dynamics of animal species and pests vectored by these animals affecting human health, and it may serve as calibration-validation data for dynamic forest models. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Gap-minimal systems of notations and the constructible hierarchy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lucian, M. L.

1972-01-01

If a constructibly countable ordinal alpha is a gap ordinal, then the order type of the set of index ordinals smaller than alpha is exactly alpha. The gap ordinals are the only points of discontinuity of a certain ordinal-valued function. The notion of gap minimality for well ordered systems of notations is defined, and the existence of gap-minimal systems of notations of arbitrarily large constructibly countable length is established.

78 FR 54670 - Miami Tribe of Oklahoma-Liquor Control Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-05

... Tribe of Oklahoma--Liquor Control Ordinance AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice publishes the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma--Liquor Control Ordinance. This Ordinance... Oklahoma, increases the ability of the tribal government to control the distribution and possession of...

Tax revenue in Mississippi communities following implementation of smoke-free ordinances: an examination of tourism and economic development tax revenues.

PubMed

McMillen, Robert; Shackelford, Signe

2012-10-01

There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. More than 60 Mississippi communities have passed smoke-free ordinances in the past six years. Opponents claim that these ordinances harm local businesses. Mississippi law allows municipalities to place a tourism and economic development (TED) tax on local restaurants and hotels/motels. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of these ordinances on TED tax revenues. This study applies a pre/post quasi-experimental design to compare TED tax revenue before and after implementing ordinances. Descriptive analyses indicated that inflation-adjusted tax revenues increased during the 12 months following implementation of smoke-free ordinances while there was no change in aggregated control communities. Multivariate fixed-effects analyses found no statistically significant effect of smoke-free ordinances on hospitality tax revenue. No evidence was found that smoke-free ordinances have an adverse effect on the local hospitality industry.

Recession, debt and mental health: challenges and solutions

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background During the economic downturn, the link between recession and health has featured in many countries' media, political, and medical debate. This paper focuses on the previously neglected relationship between personal debt and mental health. Aims Using the UK as a case study, this paper considers the public health challenges presented by debt to mental health. We then propose solutions identified in workshops held during the UK Government's Foresight Review of Mental Capital and Wellbeing. Results Within their respective sectors, health professionals should receive basic ‘debt first aid’ training, whilst all UK financial sector codes of practice should – as a minimum – recognise the existence of customers with mental health problems. Further longitudinal research is also needed to ‘unpack’ the relationship between debt and mental health. Across sectors, a lack of co-ordinated activity across health, money advice, and creditor organisations remains a weakness. A renewed emphasis on co-ordinated ‘debt care pathways’ and better communication between local health and advice services is needed. Discussion The relationship between debt and mental health presents a contemporary public health challenge. Solutions exist, but will require action and investment at a time of competition for funds. PMID:22477896

Penal Code (Ordinance No. 12 of 1983), 1 July 1984.

PubMed

1987-01-01

This document contains provisions of the 1984 Penal Code of Montserrat relating to sexual offenses, abortion, offenses relating to marriage, homicide and other offenses against the person, and neglect endangering life or health. Part 8 of the Code holds that a man found guilty of raping a woman is liable to life imprisonment. Rape is deemed to involve unlawful (extramarital) sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent (this is determined if the rape involved force, threats, administration of drugs, or false representation). The Code also defines offenses in cases of incest, child abuse, prostitution, abduction, controlling the actions and finances of a prostitute, and having unlawful sexual intercourse with a mentally defective woman. Part 9 of the Code outlaws abortion unless it is conducted in an approved establishment after two medical practitioners have determined that continuing the pregnancy would risk the life or physical/mental health of the pregnant woman or if a substantial risk exists that the child would have serious abnormalities. Part 10 outlaws bigamy, and part 12 holds that infanticide performed by a mother suffering postpartum imbalances can be prosecuted as manslaughter. This part also outlaws concealment of the body of a newborn, whether that child died before, at, or after birth, and aggravated assault on any child not more than 14 years old. Part 12 makes it an offense to subject any child to neglect endangering its life or health.

75 FR 65373 - Klamath Tribes Liquor Control Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-22

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs Klamath Tribes Liquor Control Ordinance AGENCY... certification of the amendment to the Klamath Tribes Liquor Control Ordinance. The first Ordinance was published... and controls the sale, possession and distribution of liquor within the tribal lands. The tribal lands...

Ordinal probability effect measures for group comparisons in multinomial cumulative link models.

PubMed

Agresti, Alan; Kateri, Maria

2017-03-01

We consider simple ordinal model-based probability effect measures for comparing distributions of two groups, adjusted for explanatory variables. An "ordinal superiority" measure summarizes the probability that an observation from one distribution falls above an independent observation from the other distribution, adjusted for explanatory variables in a model. The measure applies directly to normal linear models and to a normal latent variable model for ordinal response variables. It equals Φ(β/2) for the corresponding ordinal model that applies a probit link function to cumulative multinomial probabilities, for standard normal cdf Φ and effect β that is the coefficient of the group indicator variable. For the more general latent variable model for ordinal responses that corresponds to a linear model with other possible error distributions and corresponding link functions for cumulative multinomial probabilities, the ordinal superiority measure equals exp(β)/[1+exp(β)] with the log-log link and equals approximately exp(β/2)/[1+exp(β/2)] with the logit link, where β is the group effect. Another ordinal superiority measure generalizes the difference of proportions from binary to ordinal responses. We also present related measures directly for ordinal models for the observed response that need not assume corresponding latent response models. We present confidence intervals for the measures and illustrate with an example. © 2016, The International Biometric Society.

Ordinality and the nature of symbolic numbers.

PubMed

Lyons, Ian M; Beilock, Sian L

2013-10-23

The view that representations of symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers are closely tied to one another is widespread. However, the link between symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers is almost always inferred from cardinal processing tasks. In the current work, we show that considering ordinality instead points to striking differences between symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers. Human behavioral and neural data show that ordinal processing of symbolic numbers (Are three Indo-Arabic numerals in numerical order?) is distinct from symbolic cardinal processing (Which of two numerals represents the greater quantity?) and nonsymbolic number processing (ordinal and cardinal judgments of dot-arrays). Behaviorally, distance-effects were reversed when assessing ordinality in symbolic numbers, but canonical distance-effects were observed for cardinal judgments of symbolic numbers and all nonsymbolic judgments. At the neural level, symbolic number-ordering was the only numerical task that did not show number-specific activity (greater than control) in the intraparietal sulcus. Only activity in left premotor cortex was specifically associated with symbolic number-ordering. For nonsymbolic numbers, activation in cognitive-control areas during ordinal processing and a high degree of overlap between ordinal and cardinal processing networks indicate that nonsymbolic ordinality is assessed via iterative cardinality judgments. This contrasts with a striking lack of neural overlap between ordinal and cardinal judgments anywhere in the brain for symbolic numbers, suggesting that symbolic number processing varies substantially with computational context. Ordinal processing sheds light on key differences between symbolic and nonsymbolic number processing both behaviorally and in the brain. Ordinality may prove important for understanding the power of representing numbers symbolically.

Social Host Ordinances and Policies. Prevention Update

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention, 2011

2011-01-01

Social host liability laws (also known as teen party ordinances, loud or unruly gathering ordinances, or response costs ordinances) target the location in which underage drinking takes place. Social host liability laws hold noncommercial individuals responsible for underage drinking events on property they own, lease, or otherwise control. They…

25 CFR 522.8 - Publication of class III ordinance and approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Section 522.8 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.8 Publication of class III ordinance and approval. The Chairman shall publish a class III tribal gaming...

27 CFR 478.24 - Compilation of State laws and published ordinances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... and published ordinances. 478.24 Section 478.24 Alcohol, Tobacco Products, and Firearms BUREAU OF... published ordinances. (a) The Director shall annually revise and furnish Federal firearms licensees with a compilation of State laws and published ordinances which are relevant to the enforcement of this part. The...

Hybrid parallel code acceleration methods in full-core reactor physics calculations

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

Courau, T.; Plagne, L.; Ponicot, A.

2012-07-01

When dealing with nuclear reactor calculation schemes, the need for three dimensional (3D) transport-based reference solutions is essential for both validation and optimization purposes. Considering a benchmark problem, this work investigates the potential of discrete ordinates (Sn) transport methods applied to 3D pressurized water reactor (PWR) full-core calculations. First, the benchmark problem is described. It involves a pin-by-pin description of a 3D PWR first core, and uses a 8-group cross-section library prepared with the DRAGON cell code. Then, a convergence analysis is performed using the PENTRAN parallel Sn Cartesian code. It discusses the spatial refinement and the associated angular quadraturemore » required to properly describe the problem physics. It also shows that initializing the Sn solution with the EDF SPN solver COCAGNE reduces the number of iterations required to converge by nearly a factor of 6. Using a best estimate model, PENTRAN results are then compared to multigroup Monte Carlo results obtained with the MCNP5 code. Good consistency is observed between the two methods (Sn and Monte Carlo), with discrepancies that are less than 25 pcm for the k{sub eff}, and less than 2.1% and 1.6% for the flux at the pin-cell level and for the pin-power distribution, respectively. (authors)« less

Using ordinal partition transition networks to analyze ECG data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulp, Christopher W.; Chobot, Jeremy M.; Freitas, Helena R.; Sprechini, Gene D.

2016-07-01

Electrocardiogram (ECG) data from patients with a variety of heart conditions are studied using ordinal pattern partition networks. The ordinal pattern partition networks are formed from the ECG time series by symbolizing the data into ordinal patterns. The ordinal patterns form the nodes of the network and edges are defined through the time ordering of the ordinal patterns in the symbolized time series. A network measure, called the mean degree, is computed from each time series-generated network. In addition, the entropy and number of non-occurring ordinal patterns (NFP) is computed for each series. The distribution of mean degrees, entropies, and NFPs for each heart condition studied is compared. A statistically significant difference between healthy patients and several groups of unhealthy patients with varying heart conditions is found for the distributions of the mean degrees, unlike for any of the distributions of the entropies or NFPs.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Ordinal Variables with Misspecified Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang-Wallentin, Fan; Joreskog, Karl G.; Luo, Hao

2010-01-01

Ordinal variables are common in many empirical investigations in the social and behavioral sciences. Researchers often apply the maximum likelihood method to fit structural equation models to ordinal data. This assumes that the observed measures have normal distributions, which is not the case when the variables are ordinal. A better approach is…

75 FR 51102 - Liquor Ordinance of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes; Correction

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-18

... Tribes; Correction AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior ACTION: Notice; correction SUMMARY: The... Liquor Ordinance of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. The notice refers to an amended ordinance of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes when in fact the Liquor Ordinance adopted by Resolution No. WT-10-31 on May...

Estimating Ordinal Reliability for Likert-Type and Ordinal Item Response Data: A Conceptual, Empirical, and Practical Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gadermann, Anne M.; Guhn, Martin; Zumbo, Bruno D.

2012-01-01

This paper provides a conceptual, empirical, and practical guide for estimating ordinal reliability coefficients for ordinal item response data (also referred to as Likert, Likert-type, ordered categorical, or rating scale item responses). Conventionally, reliability coefficients, such as Cronbach's alpha, are calculated using a Pearson…

The effect of ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants on restaurant sales.

PubMed Central

Glantz, S A; Smith, L R

1994-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The effect on restaurant revenues of local ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants is an important consideration for restauranteurs themselves and the cities that depend on sales tax revenues to provide services. METHODS: Data were obtained from the California State Board of Equalization and Colorado State Department of Revenue on taxable restaurant sales from 1986 (1982 for Aspen) through 1993 for all 15 cities where ordinances were in force, as well as for 15 similar control communities without smoke-free ordinances during this period. These data were analyzed using multiple regression, including time and a dummy variable for whether an ordinance was in force. Total restaurant sales were analyzed as a fraction of total retail sales and restaurant sales in smoke-free cities vs the comparison cities similar in population, median income, and other factors. RESULTS. Ordinances had no significant effect on the fraction of total retail sales that went to restaurants or on the ratio of restaurant sales in communities with ordinances compared with those in the matched control communities. CONCLUSIONS. Smoke-free restaurant ordinances do not adversely affect restaurant sales. PMID:8017529

Ordinal measures for iris recognition.

PubMed

Sun, Zhenan; Tan, Tieniu

2009-12-01

Images of a human iris contain rich texture information useful for identity authentication. A key and still open issue in iris recognition is how best to represent such textural information using a compact set of features (iris features). In this paper, we propose using ordinal measures for iris feature representation with the objective of characterizing qualitative relationships between iris regions rather than precise measurements of iris image structures. Such a representation may lose some image-specific information, but it achieves a good trade-off between distinctiveness and robustness. We show that ordinal measures are intrinsic features of iris patterns and largely invariant to illumination changes. Moreover, compactness and low computational complexity of ordinal measures enable highly efficient iris recognition. Ordinal measures are a general concept useful for image analysis and many variants can be derived for ordinal feature extraction. In this paper, we develop multilobe differential filters to compute ordinal measures with flexible intralobe and interlobe parameters such as location, scale, orientation, and distance. Experimental results on three public iris image databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ordinal feature models.

Food marketing to children through toys: response of restaurants to the first U.S. toy ordinance.

PubMed

Otten, Jennifer J; Hekler, Eric B; Krukowski, Rebecca A; Buman, Matthew P; Saelens, Brian E; Gardner, Christopher D; King, Abby C

2012-01-01

On August 9, 2010, Santa Clara County CA became the first U.S. jurisdiction to implement an ordinance that prohibits the distribution of toys and other incentives to children in conjunction with meals, foods, or beverages that do not meet minimal nutritional criteria. Restaurants had many different options for complying with this ordinance, such as introducing more healthful menu options, reformulating current menu items, or changing marketing or toy distribution practices. To assess how ordinance-affected restaurants changed their child menus, marketing, and toy distribution practices relative to non-affected restaurants. Children's menu items and child-directed marketing and toy distribution practices were examined before and at two time points after ordinance implementation (from July through November 2010) at ordinance-affected fast-food restaurants compared with demographically matched unaffected same-chain restaurants using the Children's Menu Assessment tool. Affected restaurants showed a 2.8- to 3.4-fold improvement in Children's Menu Assessment scores from pre- to post-ordinance with minimal changes at unaffected restaurants. Response to the ordinance varied by restaurant. Improvements were seen in on-site nutritional guidance; promotion of healthy meals, beverages, and side items; and toy marketing and distribution activities. The ordinance appears to have positively influenced marketing of healthful menu items and toys as well as toy distribution practices at ordinance-affected restaurants, but did not affect the number of healthful food items offered. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

25 CFR 522.7 - Disapproval of a class III ordinance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Disapproval of a class III ordinance. 522.7 Section 522.7 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.7 Disapproval of a class III...

25 CFR 522.5 - Disapproval of a class II ordinance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Disapproval of a class II ordinance. 522.5 Section 522.5 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.5 Disapproval of a class II...

Ordinary Least Squares Estimation of Parameters in Exploratory Factor Analysis with Ordinal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chun-Ting; Zhang, Guangjian; Edwards, Michael C.

2012-01-01

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is often conducted with ordinal data (e.g., items with 5-point responses) in the social and behavioral sciences. These ordinal variables are often treated as if they were continuous in practice. An alternative strategy is to assume that a normally distributed continuous variable underlies each ordinal variable.…

Local Area Co-Ordination: Strengthening Support for People with Learning Disabilities in Scotland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stalker, Kirsten Ogilvie; Malloch, Margaret; Barry, Monica Anne; Watson, June Ann

2008-01-01

This paper reports the findings of a study commissioned by the Scottish Executive which examined the introduction and implementation of local area co-ordination (LAC) in Scotland. A questionnaire about their posts was completed by 44 local area co-ordinators, interviews were conducted with 35 local area co-ordinators and 14 managers and case…

[Status of law-making on animal welfare].

PubMed

Polten, B

2007-03-01

Since the last report there have been major revisions of laws and ordinances. Deliberations on rules of Community law were also continued. On national level, the Act on the Shoeing of Horses amending the Animal Welfare Act and amendments of animal welfare provisions as well as the Deregulation Act were prepared, some of which have meanwhile entered into force. At legislative level, the work on the ratification laws for the Council of Europe conventions (Strasbourg) was concluded in order to enable Germany to adopt the revisions. They include (1) the European Convention for the protection of animals used for experimental purposes and (2) the European Convention for the protection of animals during international transport. At the level of ordinances, the amendment and extension of the Animal Welfare -Farm Animal Husbandry Ordinance are of vital importance for the sections on pig farming and laying hen husbandry. Another section refers to the husbandry of fur animals, on which an ordinance has been submitted to the Bundesrat (German upper house of Parliament). Deliberations on this issue have been adjourned. Drafts of a circus register were prepared to amend the Animal Welfare Act and to adopt a separate ordinance, and they are being discussed with the federal states and associations. Previously,the rules of Community law in the area of animal welfare were adopted as EC directives which the member states had to transfer in national law. This was done by incorporating them into national laws or ordinances, with non-compliance having to be sanctioned. It is the member states' responsibility to establish sanctions. Yet the Commission has introduced a directly operative animal welfare legislation by adopting EC Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport. This means that a national implementation is not required. Nevertheless, the establishment of sanctions continues to be the responsibility of the member states. A special authorisation by the legislator is required to be able to impose sanctions based on directly applicable EC law. This is done via the already mentioned Act on the Shoeing of Horses and amendment. To establish sanctions for this Community legislation, a "Sanctions Ordinance" is currently being discussed by the different departments. This way, a link between directly applicable Community legislation and national sanctions is established. At EC level there are currently discussed (1) the "Animal Welfare Action Plan", (2) a draft directive laying down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production and (3) preparations for a revision of the directive on the protection of animals used for experimental purposes have become known due to the preparation of a related impact assessment. At the level of international law, the Council of Europe has concluded its work on Annex A of the convention for the protection of animals used for experimental purposes. With regard to the European Convention for the protection of animals kept for farming purposes, the deliberations on fish and fattening rabbits are being continued. There is a discussion on the technical details of the Transport Convention. Since the first animal welfare conference of the International Office of epizootics (OlE) in February 2004 in Paris, two very comprehensive codes on slaughter of animals and on animal transport were adopted. The inclusion of further animal welfare issues into the OIE work programme will be discussed in the next future.

Tourism and hotel revenues before and after passage of smoke-free restaurant ordinances.

PubMed

Glantz, S A; Charlesworth, A

1999-05-26

Claims that ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants will adversely affect tourism have been used to argue against passing such ordinances. Data exist regarding the validity of these claims. To determine the changes in hotel revenues and international tourism after passage of smoke-free restaurant ordinances in locales where the effect has been debated. Comparison of hotel revenues and tourism rates before and after passage of 100% smoke-free restaurant ordinances and comparison with US hotel revenue overall. Three states (California, Utah, and Vermont) and 6 cities (Boulder, Colo; Flagstaff, Ariz; Los Angeles, Calif; Mesa, Ariz; New York, NY; and San Francisco, Calif) in which the effect on tourism of smoke-free restaurant ordinances had been debated. Hotel room revenues and hotel revenues as a fraction of total retail sales compared with preordinance revenues and overall US revenues. In constant 1997 dollars, passage of the smoke-free restaurant ordinance was associated with a statistically significant increase in the rate of change of hotel revenues in 4 localities, no significant change in 4 localities, and a significant slowing in the rate of increase (but not a decrease) in 1 locality. There was no significant change in the rate of change of hotel revenues as a fraction of total retail sales (P=.16) or total US hotel revenues associated with the ordinances when pooled across all localities (P = .93). International tourism was either unaffected or increased following implementation of the smoke-free ordinances. Smoke-free ordinances do not appear to adversely affect, and may increase, tourist business.

Survey of local forestry-related ordinances and regulations in the south

Treesearch

Jonathan J. Spink; Karry L. Haney; John L. Greene

2000-01-01

A survey of the 13 southern states was conducted in 1999-2000 to obtain a comprehensive list of forestry-related ordinances enacted by various local governments. Each ordinance was examined to determine the date of adoption, regulatory objective, and its regu1atory provisions. Based on the regulatory objective, the ordinances were categorized into five general types:...

Knowledge of the ordinal position of list items in pigeons.

PubMed

Scarf, Damian; Colombo, Michael

2011-10-01

Ordinal knowledge is a fundamental aspect of advanced cognition. It is self-evident that humans represent ordinal knowledge, and over the past 20 years it has become clear that nonhuman primates share this ability. In contrast, evidence that nonprimate species represent ordinal knowledge is missing from the comparative literature. To address this issue, in the present experiment we trained pigeons on three 4-item lists and then tested them with derived lists in which, relative to the training lists, the ordinal position of the items was either maintained or changed. Similar to the findings with human and nonhuman primates, our pigeons performed markedly better on the maintained lists compared to the changed lists, and displayed errors consistent with the view that they used their knowledge of ordinal position to guide responding on the derived lists. These findings demonstrate that the ability to acquire ordinal knowledge is not unique to the primate lineage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).

[Ordinance No. 91-240 of 25 February 1991 relating to the Labor Code applicable to the Territory of Mayotte].

PubMed

1991-03-06

This Law sets forth the Labor Code for the French territory of Mayotte. The Code contains the following provisions relating to sex discrimination, maternity leave, night work, and the employment of foreigners: a) employers are prohibited from discriminating against women who are pregnant; b) women are entitled to fully paid maternity leave of 14 weeks, 8 weeks before and 6 weeks after giving birth; c) the employer and the Government will each pay for half of the worker's salary during this leave; d) discrimination on the basis of sex or family situation is prohibited in advertisements, offers of employment, hiring, firing, pay, training, job classification, and promotion; e) retaliation for instituting an action for sex discrimination is prohibited; f) men and women are guaranteed equal pay for equal work or work of an equivalent value; g) women may not perform work at night in factories, mines, building sites, workshops, public or ministerial offices, places of professional work, companies, unions, or associations of any sort, unless they are in management positions; and h) a foreigner may not engage in a professional activity in Mayotte without authorization. The Law prescribes penalties for violations of these provisions.

Urban Runoff: Model Ordinances for Erosion and Sediment Control

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The model ordinance in this section borrows language from the erosion and sediment control ordinance features that might help prevent erosion and sedimentation and protect natural resources more fully.

Glycans: bioactive signals decoded by lectins.

PubMed

Gabius, Hans-Joachim

2008-12-01

The glycan part of cellular glycoconjugates affords a versatile means to build biochemical signals. These oligosaccharides have an exceptional talent in this respect. They surpass any other class of biomolecule in coding capacity within an oligomer (code word). Four structural factors account for this property: the potential for variability of linkage points, anomeric position and ring size as well as the aptitude for branching (first and second dimensions of the sugar code). Specific intermolecular recognition is favoured by abundant potential for hydrogen/co-ordination bonds and for C-H/pi-interactions. Fittingly, an array of protein folds has developed in evolution with the ability to select certain glycans from the natural diversity. The thermodynamics of this reaction profits from the occurrence of these ligands in only a few energetically favoured conformers, comparing favourably with highly flexible peptides (third dimension of the sugar code). Sequence, shape and local aspects of glycan presentation (e.g. multivalency) are key factors to regulate the avidity of lectin binding. At the level of cells, distinct glycan determinants, a result of enzymatic synthesis and dynamic remodelling, are being defined as biomarkers. Their presence gains a functional perspective by co-regulation of the cognate lectin as effector, for example in growth regulation. The way to tie sugar signal and lectin together is illustrated herein for two tumour model systems. In this sense, orchestration of glycan and lectin expression is an efficient means, with far-reaching relevance, to exploit the coding potential of oligosaccharides physiologically and medically.

Strömende Flüssigkeiten und Gase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heintze, Joachim

Die Bemerkung über die Probleme eines allgemeingültigen Ansatzes, die wir zu Anfang von Kap. 1 machten, gilt in noch höherem Maße für die Mechanik von strömenden Flüssigkeiten; dort erreicht man sogar ziemlich rasch die Grenze der Leistungsfähigkeit der heutigen Mathematik, d. h. wir können zwar - ausgehend von den Newtonschen Gesetzen (Bd. I/3) - eine Differentialgleichung für die Strömung von Flüssigkeiten aufstellen, die sog. Navier-Stokes-Gleichung, es sind aber keine allgemein anwendbaren Lösungsverfahren für diese Gleichung bekannt. Ein Blick in die Natur und auf die vielfältigen Strömungsphänomene zeigt, dass diese Tatsache nicht verwunderlich ist.

Zeitspiel ist keine Alternative - Warum der Wandel zur Pflicht wird

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dieper, Stephan

"Wege entstehen dadurch, dass man sie geht." (Franz Kafka) Die Welt der Digitalisierung ist voll von Wegen, die jemand gegangen ist, bevor dort ein Weg war. Manche dieser Wege stellten sich als Sackgasse heraus, manche als Abkürzung und aus anderen wurden ganze Wegenetze und Städte. Die Energiewelt wird durch den digitalen Wandel nicht verschont bleiben. Durch die intelligenten Messsysteme und die zugehörigen, neuen Strukturen werden energiefremden Wettbewerbern Chancen zum Markteintritt eröffnet. EVUs müssen sich darauf einstellen, dass der permanente Wandel nicht mehr enden wird. Doch auch den EVUs eröffnen sich Optionen. Um erfolgreich zu sein, müssen sie lernen loszugehen, ohne das genaue Ziel zu kennen.

Deep generative learning of location-invariant visual word recognition.

PubMed

Di Bono, Maria Grazia; Zorzi, Marco

2013-01-01

It is widely believed that orthographic processing implies an approximate, flexible coding of letter position, as shown by relative-position and transposition priming effects in visual word recognition. These findings have inspired alternative proposals about the representation of letter position, ranging from noisy coding across the ordinal positions to relative position coding based on open bigrams. This debate can be cast within the broader problem of learning location-invariant representations of written words, that is, a coding scheme abstracting the identity and position of letters (and combinations of letters) from their eye-centered (i.e., retinal) locations. We asked whether location-invariance would emerge from deep unsupervised learning on letter strings and what type of intermediate coding would emerge in the resulting hierarchical generative model. We trained a deep network with three hidden layers on an artificial dataset of letter strings presented at five possible retinal locations. Though word-level information (i.e., word identity) was never provided to the network during training, linear decoding from the activity of the deepest hidden layer yielded near-perfect accuracy in location-invariant word recognition. Conversely, decoding from lower layers yielded a large number of transposition errors. Analyses of emergent internal representations showed that word selectivity and location invariance increased as a function of layer depth. Word-tuning and location-invariance were found at the level of single neurons, but there was no evidence for bigram coding. Finally, the distributed internal representation of words at the deepest layer showed higher similarity to the representation elicited by the two exterior letters than by other combinations of two contiguous letters, in agreement with the hypothesis that word edges have special status. These results reveal that the efficient coding of written words-which was the model's learning objective-is largely based on letter-level information.

On the ordinality of numbers: A review of neural and behavioral studies.

PubMed

Lyons, I M; Vogel, S E; Ansari, D

2016-01-01

The last several years have seen steady growth in research on the cognitive and neuronal mechanisms underlying how numbers are represented as part of ordered sequences. In the present review, we synthesize what is currently known about numerical ordinality from behavioral and neuroimaging research, point out major gaps in our current knowledge, and propose several hypotheses that may bear further investigation. Evidence suggests that how we process ordinality differs from how we process cardinality, but that this difference depends strongly on context-in particular, whether numbers are presented symbolically or nonsymbolically. Results also reveal many commonalities between numerical and nonnumerical ordinal processing; however, the degree to which numerical ordinality can be reduced to domain-general mechanisms remains unclear. One proposal is that numerical ordinality relies upon more general short-term memory mechanisms as well as more numerically specific long-term memory representations. It is also evident that numerical ordinality is highly multifaceted, with symbolic representations in particular allowing for a wide range of different types of ordinal relations, the complexity of which appears to increase over development. We examine the proposal that these relations may form the basis of a richer set of associations that may prove crucial to the emergence of more complex math abilities and concepts. In sum, ordinality appears to be an important and relatively understudied facet of numerical cognition that presents substantial opportunities for new and ground-breaking research. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Blanket activation and afterheat for the Compact Reversed-Field Pinch Reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidson, J. W.; Battat, M. E.

A detailed assessment has been made of the activation and afterheat for a Compact Reversed-Field Pinch Reactor (CRFPR) blanket using a two-dimensional model that included the limiter, the vacuum ducts, and the manifolds and headers for cooling the limiter and the first and second walls. Region-averaged, multigroup fluxes and prompt gamma-ray/neutron heating rates were calculated using the two-dimensional, discrete-ordinates code TRISM. Activation and depletion calculations were performed with the code FORIG using one-group cross sections generated with the TRISM region-averaged fluxes. Afterheat calculations were performed for regions near the plasma, i.e., the limiter, first wall, etc. assuming a 10-day irradiation. Decay heats were computed for decay periods up to 100 minutes. For the activation calculations, the irradiation period was taken to be one year and blanket activity inventories were computed for decay times to 4 x 10 years. These activities were also calculated as the toxicity-weighted biological hazard potential (BHP).

Multidimensional Modeling of Atmospheric Effects and Surface Heterogeneities on Remote Sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gerstl, S. A. W.; Simmer, C.; Zardecki, A. (Principal Investigator)

1985-01-01

The overall goal of this project is to establish a modeling capability that allows a quantitative determination of atmospheric effects on remote sensing including the effects of surface heterogeneities. This includes an improved understanding of aerosol and haze effects in connection with structural, angular, and spatial surface heterogeneities. One important objective of the research is the possible identification of intrinsic surface or canopy characteristics that might be invariant to atmospheric perturbations so that they could be used for scene identification. Conversely, an equally important objective is to find a correction algorithm for atmospheric effects in satellite-sensed surface reflectances. The technical approach is centered around a systematic model and code development effort based on existing, highly advanced computer codes that were originally developed for nuclear radiation shielding applications. Computational techniques for the numerical solution of the radiative transfer equation are adapted on the basis of the discrete-ordinates finite-element method which proved highly successful for one and two-dimensional radiative transfer problems with fully resolved angular representation of the radiation field.

Verification of ARES transport code system with TAKEDA benchmarks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Liang; Zhang, Bin; Zhang, Penghe; Chen, Mengteng; Zhao, Jingchang; Zhang, Shun; Chen, Yixue

2015-10-01

Neutron transport modeling and simulation are central to many areas of nuclear technology, including reactor core analysis, radiation shielding and radiation detection. In this paper the series of TAKEDA benchmarks are modeled to verify the critical calculation capability of ARES, a discrete ordinates neutral particle transport code system. SALOME platform is coupled with ARES to provide geometry modeling and mesh generation function. The Koch-Baker-Alcouffe parallel sweep algorithm is applied to accelerate the traditional transport calculation process. The results show that the eigenvalues calculated by ARES are in excellent agreement with the reference values presented in NEACRP-L-330, with a difference less than 30 pcm except for the first case of model 3. Additionally, ARES provides accurate fluxes distribution compared to reference values, with a deviation less than 2% for region-averaged fluxes in all cases. All of these confirms the feasibility of ARES-SALOME coupling and demonstrate that ARES has a good performance in critical calculation.

Semi-supervised learning for ordinal Kernel Discriminant Analysis.

PubMed

Pérez-Ortiz, M; Gutiérrez, P A; Carbonero-Ruz, M; Hervás-Martínez, C

2016-12-01

Ordinal classification considers those classification problems where the labels of the variable to predict follow a given order. Naturally, labelled data is scarce or difficult to obtain in this type of problems because, in many cases, ordinal labels are given by a user or expert (e.g. in recommendation systems). Firstly, this paper develops a new strategy for ordinal classification where both labelled and unlabelled data are used in the model construction step (a scheme which is referred to as semi-supervised learning). More specifically, the ordinal version of kernel discriminant learning is extended for this setting considering the neighbourhood information of unlabelled data, which is proposed to be computed in the feature space induced by the kernel function. Secondly, a new method for semi-supervised kernel learning is devised in the context of ordinal classification, which is combined with our developed classification strategy to optimise the kernel parameters. The experiments conducted compare 6 different approaches for semi-supervised learning in the context of ordinal classification in a battery of 30 datasets, showing (1) the good synergy of the ordinal version of discriminant analysis and the use of unlabelled data and (2) the advantage of computing distances in the feature space induced by the kernel function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Robust image region descriptor using local derivative ordinal binary pattern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Jun; Chen, Chuanbo; Pei, Xiaobing; Liang, Hu; Tang, He; Sarem, Mudar

2015-05-01

Binary image descriptors have received a lot of attention in recent years, since they provide numerous advantages, such as low memory footprint and efficient matching strategy. However, they utilize intermediate representations and are generally less discriminative than floating-point descriptors. We propose an image region descriptor, namely local derivative ordinal binary pattern, for object recognition and image categorization. In order to preserve more local contrast and edge information, we quantize the intensity differences between the central pixels and their neighbors of the detected local affine covariant regions in an adaptive way. These differences are then sorted and mapped into binary codes and histogrammed with a weight of the sum of the absolute value of the differences. Furthermore, the gray level of the central pixel is quantized to further improve the discriminative ability. Finally, we combine them to form a joint histogram to represent the features of the image. We observe that our descriptor preserves more local brightness and edge information than traditional binary descriptors. Also, our descriptor is robust to rotation, illumination variations, and other geometric transformations. We conduct extensive experiments on the standard ETHZ and Kentucky datasets for object recognition and PASCAL for image classification. The experimental results show that our descriptor outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods.

The use of generalized linear models and generalized estimating equations in bioarchaeological studies.

PubMed

Nikita, Efthymia

2014-03-01

The current article explores whether the application of generalized linear models (GLM) and generalized estimating equations (GEE) can be used in place of conventional statistical analyses in the study of ordinal data that code an underlying continuous variable, like entheseal changes. The analysis of artificial data and ordinal data expressing entheseal changes in archaeological North African populations gave the following results. Parametric and nonparametric tests give convergent results particularly for P values <0.1, irrespective of whether the underlying variable is normally distributed or not under the condition that the samples involved in the tests exhibit approximately equal sizes. If this prerequisite is valid and provided that the samples are of equal variances, analysis of covariance may be adopted. GLM are not subject to constraints and give results that converge to those obtained from all nonparametric tests. Therefore, they can be used instead of traditional tests as they give the same amount of information as them, but with the advantage of allowing the study of the simultaneous impact of multiple predictors and their interactions and the modeling of the experimental data. However, GLM should be replaced by GEE for the study of bilateral asymmetry and in general when paired samples are tested, because GEE are appropriate for correlated data. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Reduction from cost-sensitive ordinal ranking to weighted binary classification.

PubMed

Lin, Hsuan-Tien; Li, Ling

2012-05-01

We present a reduction framework from ordinal ranking to binary classification. The framework consists of three steps: extracting extended examples from the original examples, learning a binary classifier on the extended examples with any binary classification algorithm, and constructing a ranker from the binary classifier. Based on the framework, we show that a weighted 0/1 loss of the binary classifier upper-bounds the mislabeling cost of the ranker, both error-wise and regret-wise. Our framework allows not only the design of good ordinal ranking algorithms based on well-tuned binary classification approaches, but also the derivation of new generalization bounds for ordinal ranking from known bounds for binary classification. In addition, our framework unifies many existing ordinal ranking algorithms, such as perceptron ranking and support vector ordinal regression. When compared empirically on benchmark data sets, some of our newly designed algorithms enjoy advantages in terms of both training speed and generalization performance over existing algorithms. In addition, the newly designed algorithms lead to better cost-sensitive ordinal ranking performance, as well as improved listwise ranking performance.

Multivariate normal maximum likelihood with both ordinal and continuous variables, and data missing at random.

PubMed

Pritikin, Joshua N; Brick, Timothy R; Neale, Michael C

2018-04-01

A novel method for the maximum likelihood estimation of structural equation models (SEM) with both ordinal and continuous indicators is introduced using a flexible multivariate probit model for the ordinal indicators. A full information approach ensures unbiased estimates for data missing at random. Exceeding the capability of prior methods, up to 13 ordinal variables can be included before integration time increases beyond 1 s per row. The method relies on the axiom of conditional probability to split apart the distribution of continuous and ordinal variables. Due to the symmetry of the axiom, two similar methods are available. A simulation study provides evidence that the two similar approaches offer equal accuracy. A further simulation is used to develop a heuristic to automatically select the most computationally efficient approach. Joint ordinal continuous SEM is implemented in OpenMx, free and open-source software.

Comparison of Ordinal and Nominal Classification Trees to Predict Ordinal Expert-Based Occupational Exposure Estimates in a Case–Control Study

PubMed Central

Wheeler, David C.; Archer, Kellie J.; Burstyn, Igor; Yu, Kai; Stewart, Patricia A.; Colt, Joanne S.; Baris, Dalsu; Karagas, Margaret R.; Schwenn, Molly; Johnson, Alison; Armenti, Karla; Silverman, Debra T.; Friesen, Melissa C.

2015-01-01

Objectives: To evaluate occupational exposures in case–control studies, exposure assessors typically review each job individually to assign exposure estimates. This process lacks transparency and does not provide a mechanism for recreating the decision rules in other studies. In our previous work, nominal (unordered categorical) classification trees (CTs) generally successfully predicted expert-assessed ordinal exposure estimates (i.e. none, low, medium, high) derived from occupational questionnaire responses, but room for improvement remained. Our objective was to determine if using recently developed ordinal CTs would improve the performance of nominal trees in predicting ordinal occupational diesel exhaust exposure estimates in a case–control study. Methods: We used one nominal and four ordinal CT methods to predict expert-assessed probability, intensity, and frequency estimates of occupational diesel exhaust exposure (each categorized as none, low, medium, or high) derived from questionnaire responses for the 14983 jobs in the New England Bladder Cancer Study. To replicate the common use of a single tree, we applied each method to a single sample of 70% of the jobs, using 15% to test and 15% to validate each method. To characterize variability in performance, we conducted a resampling analysis that repeated the sample draws 100 times. We evaluated agreement between the tree predictions and expert estimates using Somers’ d, which measures differences in terms of ordinal association between predicted and observed scores and can be interpreted similarly to a correlation coefficient. Results: From the resampling analysis, compared with the nominal tree, an ordinal CT method that used a quadratic misclassification function and controlled tree size based on total misclassification cost had a slightly better predictive performance that was statistically significant for the frequency metric (Somers’ d: nominal tree = 0.61; ordinal tree = 0.63) and similar performance for the probability (nominal = 0.65; ordinal = 0.66) and intensity (nominal = 0.65; ordinal = 0.65) metrics. The best ordinal CT predicted fewer cases of large disagreement with the expert assessments (i.e. no exposure predicted for a job with high exposure and vice versa) compared with the nominal tree across all of the exposure metrics. For example, the percent of jobs with expert-assigned high intensity of exposure that the model predicted as no exposure was 29% for the nominal tree and 22% for the best ordinal tree. Conclusions: The overall agreements were similar across CT models; however, the use of ordinal models reduced the magnitude of the discrepancy when disagreements occurred. As the best performing model can vary by situation, researchers should consider evaluating multiple CT methods to maximize the predictive performance within their data. PMID:25433003

Forward Monte Carlo Computations of Polarized Microwave Radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Battaglia, A.; Kummerow, C.

2000-01-01

Microwave radiative transfer computations continue to acquire greater importance as the emphasis in remote sensing shifts towards the understanding of microphysical properties of clouds and with these to better understand the non linear relation between rainfall rates and satellite-observed radiance. A first step toward realistic radiative simulations has been the introduction of techniques capable of treating 3-dimensional geometry being generated by ever more sophisticated cloud resolving models. To date, a series of numerical codes have been developed to treat spherical and randomly oriented axisymmetric particles. Backward and backward-forward Monte Carlo methods are, indeed, efficient in this field. These methods, however, cannot deal properly with oriented particles, which seem to play an important role in polarization signatures over stratiform precipitation. Moreover, beyond the polarization channel, the next generation of fully polarimetric radiometers challenges us to better understand the behavior of the last two Stokes parameters as well. In order to solve the vector radiative transfer equation, one-dimensional numerical models have been developed, These codes, unfortunately, consider the atmosphere as horizontally homogeneous with horizontally infinite plane parallel layers. The next development step for microwave radiative transfer codes must be fully polarized 3-D methods. Recently a 3-D polarized radiative transfer model based on the discrete ordinate method was presented. A forward MC code was developed that treats oriented nonspherical hydrometeors, but only for plane-parallel situations.

Impact of San Francisco's toy ordinance on restaurants and children's food purchases, 2011-2012.

PubMed

Otten, Jennifer J; Saelens, Brian E; Kapphahn, Kristopher I; Hekler, Eric B; Buman, Matthew P; Goldstein, Benjamin A; Krukowski, Rebecca A; O'Donohue, Laura S; Gardner, Christopher D; King, Abby C

2014-07-17

In 2011, San Francisco passed the first citywide ordinance to improve the nutritional standards of children's meals sold at restaurants by preventing the giving away of free toys or other incentives with meals unless nutritional criteria were met. This study examined the impact of the Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance at ordinance-affected restaurants on restaurant response (eg, toy-distribution practices, change in children's menus), and the energy and nutrient content of all orders and children's-meal-only orders purchased for children aged 0 through 12 years. Restaurant responses were examined from January 2010 through March 2012. Parent-caregiver/child dyads (n = 762) who were restaurant customers were surveyed at 2 points before and 1 seasonally matched point after ordinance enactment at Chain A and B restaurants (n = 30) in 2011 and 2012. Both restaurant chains responded to the ordinance by selling toys separately from children's meals, but neither changed their menus to meet ordinance-specified nutrition criteria. Among children for whom children's meals were purchased, significant decreases in kilocalories, sodium, and fat per order were likely due to changes in children's side dishes and beverages at Chain A. Although the changes at Chain A did not appear to be directly in response to the ordinance, the transition to a more healthful beverage and default side dish was consistent with the intent of the ordinance. Study results underscore the importance of policy wording, support the concept that more healthful defaults may be a powerful approach for improving dietary intake, and suggest that public policies may contribute to positive restaurant changes.

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

Zardecki, A.

The effect of multiple scattering on the validity of the Beer-Lambert law is discussed for a wide range of particle-size parameters and optical depths. To predict the amount of received radiant power, appropriate correction terms are introduced. For particles larger than or comparable to the wavelength of radiation, the small-angle approximation is adequate; whereas for small densely packed particles, the diffusion theory is advantageously employed. These two approaches are used in the context of the problem of laser-beam propagation in a dense aerosol medium. In addition, preliminary results obtained by using a two-dimensional finite-element discrete-ordinates transport code are described. Multiple-scatteringmore » effects for laser propagation in fog, cloud, rain, and aerosol cloud are modeled.« less

Developing a Game Interface to Assess Risk Perception with Respect to Two Key Dimensions of Risk (Frequency and Severity) in Contexts Where Risks Are Elevated from Their Accepted, "Typical" Values.

PubMed

Goodman, William M; Ma, Zhenfeng; Andrade, Angie

2015-06-01

This four-stage study culminated in a game interface designed to calibrate people's perceptions of net risk (combining frequency and severity), in contexts where risks are elevated from their accepted, "typical" values, as when avalanche threats elevate the risks of "skiing" above levels skiers normally accept. Risk prompts are displayed dynamically, in naturalistic language, and not, for example, as static displays of dollar amounts or probabilities. Individual differences are measured. In Stage 1 (pilot), focus groups (n=9) piloted procedures, visual prompts, and examples of contexts where risks elevated from the "usual," for use in upcoming stages. In Stage 2 (exploratory), participants (primarily students; n=119; mean age, 20.1 years; 64 percent male) were assigned to risk contexts, answered demographic and risk-history questions, and then matched risk-description prompts to perceived "appropriate" levels along an ordinal risk scale. Descriptive measures and graphs showed response distributions; chi-squared analyses compared responses for different demographics. In Stage 3 (manipulating "cards"), participants (n=80; mean age, 37 years; 60 percent male) matched naturalistic risk prompts with ordinal risk positions. Regressions compared cards' placements with their "expected" (per exploratory Stage 2) placements. In Stage 4, the interface was coded in the Unity(®) (implemented at Business and IT Capstone, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada) development environment. In Stage 1, ambiguities in draft wordings/displays for Stage 2 were identified and corrected. Three risk contexts emerged: traffic/hidden intersection; skiing/avalanche; and swimming/drowning. In Stage 2, for traffic and skiing contexts, responses relating ordinal risk categories to realistic examples were observed to cluster around values potentially usable as markers. No associations appeared with demographic variables. In Stage 3, actual and "expected" ordinal-risk-category assignments for naturalistic risk markers were well correlated. "Approximate mappings" between markers and categories appeared stable. In Stage 4, the interface design incorporated the "approximate mappings"-yet also incorporated a "tuning phase," for measuring and recording individual differences. The interface can capture individual differences in risk perception on two key dimensions (frequency and severity)-viewed in dynamic, naturalistic scenarios, where risk levels are increased.

Overstatement in happiness reporting with ordinal, bounded scale.

PubMed

Tanaka, Saori C; Yamada, Katsunori; Kitada, Ryo; Tanaka, Satoshi; Sugawara, Sho K; Ohtake, Fumio; Sadato, Norihiro

2016-02-18

There are various methods by which people can express subjective evaluations quantitatively. For example, happiness can be measured on a scale from 1 to 10, and has been suggested as a measure of economic policy. However, there is resistance to these types of measurement from economists, who often regard welfare to be a cardinal, unbounded quantity. It is unclear whether there are differences between subjective evaluation reported on ordinal, bounded scales and on cardinal, unbounded scales. To answer this question, we developed functional magnetic resonance imaging experimental tasks for reporting happiness from monetary gain and the perception of visual stimulus. Subjects tended to report higher values when they used ordinal scales instead of cardinal scales. There were differences in neural activation between ordinal and cardinal reporting scales. The posterior parietal area showed greater activation when subjects used an ordinal scale instead of a cardinal scale. Importantly, the striatum exhibited greater activation when asked to report happiness on an ordinal scale than when asked to report on a cardinal scale. The finding that ordinal (bounded) scales are associated with higher reported happiness and greater activation in the reward system shows that overstatement bias in happiness data must be considered.

75 FR 75694 - Klamath Tribes Liquor Control Ordinance Correction

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-06

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs Klamath Tribes Liquor Control Ordinance... Control Ordinance of the Klamath Tribes. This correction removes incorrect references to an amended... follows: SUMMARY: This notice publishes the Secretary's certification of the Klamath Tribes Liquor Control...

Development of a computer program to obtain ordinates for NACA 4-digit, 4-digit modified, 5-digit, and 16 series airfoils

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ladson, C. L.; Brooks, Cuyler W., Jr.

1975-01-01

A computer program developed to calculate the ordinates and surface slopes of any thickness, symmetrical or cambered NACA airfoil of the 4-digit, 4-digit modified, 5-digit, and 16-series airfoil families is presented. The program produces plots of the airfoil nondimensional ordinates and a punch card output of ordinates in the input format of a readily available program for determining the pressure distributions of arbitrary airfoils in subsonic potential viscous flow.

The added value of ordinal analysis in clinical trials: an example in traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Roozenbeek, Bob; Lingsma, Hester F; Perel, Pablo; Edwards, Phil; Roberts, Ian; Murray, Gordon D; Maas, Andrew Ir; Steyerberg, Ewout W

2011-01-01

In clinical trials, ordinal outcome measures are often dichotomized into two categories. In traumatic brain injury (TBI) the 5-point Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) is collapsed into unfavourable versus favourable outcome. Simulation studies have shown that exploiting the ordinal nature of the GOS increases chances of detecting treatment effects. The objective of this study is to quantify the benefits of ordinal analysis in the real-life situation of a large TBI trial. We used data from the CRASH trial that investigated the efficacy of corticosteroids in TBI patients (n = 9,554). We applied two techniques for ordinal analysis: proportional odds analysis and the sliding dichotomy approach, where the GOS is dichotomized at different cut-offs according to baseline prognostic risk. These approaches were compared to dichotomous analysis. The information density in each analysis was indicated by a Wald statistic. All analyses were adjusted for baseline characteristics. Dichotomous analysis of the six-month GOS showed a non-significant treatment effect (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.21, P = 0.096). Ordinal analysis with proportional odds regression or sliding dichotomy showed highly statistically significant treatment effects (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.25, P = 0.0007 and 1.19, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.30, P = 0.0002), with 2.05-fold and 2.56-fold higher information density compared to the dichotomous approach respectively. Analysis of the CRASH trial data confirmed that ordinal analysis of outcome substantially increases statistical power. We expect these results to hold for other fields of critical care medicine that use ordinal outcome measures and recommend that future trials adopt ordinal analyses. This will permit detection of smaller treatment effects.

Impact of San Francisco’s Toy Ordinance on Restaurants and Children’s Food Purchases, 2011–2012

PubMed Central

Saelens, Brian E.; Kapphahn, Kristopher I.; Hekler, Eric B.; Buman, Matthew P.; Goldstein, Benjamin A.; Krukowski, Rebecca A.; O’Donohue, Laura S.; Gardner, Christopher D.; King, Abby C.

2014-01-01

Introduction In 2011, San Francisco passed the first citywide ordinance to improve the nutritional standards of children’s meals sold at restaurants by preventing the giving away of free toys or other incentives with meals unless nutritional criteria were met. This study examined the impact of the Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance at ordinance-affected restaurants on restaurant response (eg, toy-distribution practices, change in children’s menus), and the energy and nutrient content of all orders and children’s-meal–only orders purchased for children aged 0 through 12 years. Methods Restaurant responses were examined from January 2010 through March 2012. Parent–caregiver/child dyads (n = 762) who were restaurant customers were surveyed at 2 points before and 1 seasonally matched point after ordinance enactment at Chain A and B restaurants (n = 30) in 2011 and 2012. Results Both restaurant chains responded to the ordinance by selling toys separately from children’s meals, but neither changed their menus to meet ordinance-specified nutrition criteria. Among children for whom children’s meals were purchased, significant decreases in kilocalories, sodium, and fat per order were likely due to changes in children’s side dishes and beverages at Chain A. Conclusion Although the changes at Chain A did not appear to be directly in response to the ordinance, the transition to a more healthful beverage and default side dish was consistent with the intent of the ordinance. Study results underscore the importance of policy wording, support the concept that more healthful defaults may be a powerful approach for improving dietary intake, and suggest that public policies may contribute to positive restaurant changes. PMID:25032837

Multivariate decoding of brain images using ordinal regression.

PubMed

Doyle, O M; Ashburner, J; Zelaya, F O; Williams, S C R; Mehta, M A; Marquand, A F

2013-11-01

Neuroimaging data are increasingly being used to predict potential outcomes or groupings, such as clinical severity, drug dose response, and transitional illness states. In these examples, the variable (target) we want to predict is ordinal in nature. Conventional classification schemes assume that the targets are nominal and hence ignore their ranked nature, whereas parametric and/or non-parametric regression models enforce a metric notion of distance between classes. Here, we propose a novel, alternative multivariate approach that overcomes these limitations - whole brain probabilistic ordinal regression using a Gaussian process framework. We applied this technique to two data sets of pharmacological neuroimaging data from healthy volunteers. The first study was designed to investigate the effect of ketamine on brain activity and its subsequent modulation with two compounds - lamotrigine and risperidone. The second study investigates the effect of scopolamine on cerebral blood flow and its modulation using donepezil. We compared ordinal regression to multi-class classification schemes and metric regression. Considering the modulation of ketamine with lamotrigine, we found that ordinal regression significantly outperformed multi-class classification and metric regression in terms of accuracy and mean absolute error. However, for risperidone ordinal regression significantly outperformed metric regression but performed similarly to multi-class classification both in terms of accuracy and mean absolute error. For the scopolamine data set, ordinal regression was found to outperform both multi-class and metric regression techniques considering the regional cerebral blood flow in the anterior cingulate cortex. Ordinal regression was thus the only method that performed well in all cases. Our results indicate the potential of an ordinal regression approach for neuroimaging data while providing a fully probabilistic framework with elegant approaches for model selection. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The Outlier Detection for Ordinal Data Using Scalling Technique of Regression Coefficients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adnan, Arisman; Sugiarto, Sigit

2017-06-01

The aims of this study is to detect the outliers by using coefficients of Ordinal Logistic Regression (OLR) for the case of k category responses where the score from 1 (the best) to 8 (the worst). We detect them by using the sum of moduli of the ordinal regression coefficients calculated by jackknife technique. This technique is improved by scalling the regression coefficients to their means. R language has been used on a set of ordinal data from reference distribution. Furthermore, we compare this approach by using studentised residual plots of jackknife technique for ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and OLR. This study shows that the jackknifing technique along with the proper scaling may lead us to reveal outliers in ordinal regression reasonably well.

25 CFR 522.2 - Submission requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.2 Submission requirements. A tribe... officials and key employees; (d) Copies of all tribal gaming regulations; (e) When an ordinance or...

Cable Television Report and Suggested Ordinance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

League of California Cities, Sacramento.

Guidelines and suggested ordinances for cable television regulation by local governments are comprehensively discussed in this report. The emphasis is placed on franchising the cable operator. Seventeen legal aspects of franchising are reviewed, and an exemplary ordinance is presented. In addition, current statistics about cable franchising in…

An account of co-ordination mechanisms for humanitarian assistance during the international response to the 1994 crisis in Rwanda.

PubMed

Borton, J

1996-12-01

This paper examines the co-ordination strategies developed to respond to the Great Lakes crisis following the events of April 1994. It analyses the different functions and mechanisms which sought to achieve a co-ordinated response--ranging from facilitation at one extreme to management and direction at the other. The different regimes developed to facilitate co-ordination within Rwanda and neighbouring countries, focusing on both inter-agency and inter-country co-ordination issues, are then analysed. Finally, the paper highlights the absence of mechanisms to achieve coherence between the humanitarian, political and security domains. It concludes that effective co-ordination is critical not only to achieve programme efficiency, but to ensure that the appropriate instruments and strategies to respond to complex political emergencies are in place. It proposes a radical re-shaping of international humanitarian, political and security institutions, particularly the United Nations, to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian and political responses to crises such as that in the Great Lakes.

No toy for you! The healthy food incentives ordinance: paternalism or consumer protection?

PubMed

Etow, Alexis M

2012-01-01

The newest approach to discouraging children's unhealthy eating habits, amidst increasing rates of childhood obesity and other diet-related diseases, seeks to ban something that is not even edible. In 2010, San Francisco enacted the Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance, which prohibits toys in kids' meals if the meals do not meet certain nutritional requirements. Notwithstanding the Ordinance's impact on interstate commerce or potential infringement on companies' commercial speech rights and on parents' rights to determine what their children eat, this Comment argues that the Ordinance does not violate the dormant Commerce Clause, the First Amendment, or substantive due process. The irony is that although the Ordinance likely avoids the constitutional hurdles that hindered earlier measures aimed at childhood obesity, it intrudes on civil liberties more than its predecessors. This Comment analyzes the legality of the Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance to understand its implications on subsequent legislation aimed at combating childhood obesity and on the progression of public health law.

Review of Hybrid (Deterministic/Monte Carlo) Radiation Transport Methods, Codes, and Applications at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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

Wagner, John C; Peplow, Douglas E.; Mosher, Scott W

2011-01-01

This paper provides a review of the hybrid (Monte Carlo/deterministic) radiation transport methods and codes used at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and examples of their application for increasing the efficiency of real-world, fixed-source Monte Carlo analyses. The two principal hybrid methods are (1) Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (CADIS) for optimization of a localized detector (tally) region (e.g., flux, dose, or reaction rate at a particular location) and (2) Forward Weighted CADIS (FW-CADIS) for optimizing distributions (e.g., mesh tallies over all or part of the problem space) or multiple localized detector regions (e.g., simultaneous optimization of two or moremore » localized tally regions). The two methods have been implemented and automated in both the MAVRIC sequence of SCALE 6 and ADVANTG, a code that works with the MCNP code. As implemented, the methods utilize the results of approximate, fast-running 3-D discrete ordinates transport calculations (with the Denovo code) to generate consistent space- and energy-dependent source and transport (weight windows) biasing parameters. These methods and codes have been applied to many relevant and challenging problems, including calculations of PWR ex-core thermal detector response, dose rates throughout an entire PWR facility, site boundary dose from arrays of commercial spent fuel storage casks, radiation fields for criticality accident alarm system placement, and detector response for special nuclear material detection scenarios and nuclear well-logging tools. Substantial computational speed-ups, generally O(102-4), have been realized for all applications to date. This paper provides a brief review of the methods, their implementation, results of their application, and current development activities, as well as a considerable list of references for readers seeking more information about the methods and/or their applications.« less

77 FR 34981 - Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians-Liquor Control Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-12

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians--Liquor Control... publishes the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians' Liquor Control Ordinance. The Ordinance regulates and controls... of the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, will increase the ability of the tribal government to control...

7 CFR 1901.204 - Compliance reviews.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Administrator, Community and Business Programs, for each recipient. (4) Mandatory hook-up ordinance. Compliance... under the provisions of a mandatory hook-up ordinance will consist of a certification by the borrower or grantee that the ordinance is still in effect and is being enforced. (5) Forwarding noncompliance report...

7 CFR 1901.204 - Compliance reviews.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Administrator, Community and Business Programs, for each recipient. (4) Mandatory hook-up ordinance. Compliance... under the provisions of a mandatory hook-up ordinance will consist of a certification by the borrower or grantee that the ordinance is still in effect and is being enforced. (5) Forwarding noncompliance report...

7 CFR 1901.204 - Compliance reviews.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Administrator, Community and Business Programs, for each recipient. (4) Mandatory hook-up ordinance. Compliance... under the provisions of a mandatory hook-up ordinance will consist of a certification by the borrower or grantee that the ordinance is still in effect and is being enforced. (5) Forwarding noncompliance report...

7 CFR 1901.204 - Compliance reviews.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Administrator, Community and Business Programs, for each recipient. (4) Mandatory hook-up ordinance. Compliance... under the provisions of a mandatory hook-up ordinance will consist of a certification by the borrower or grantee that the ordinance is still in effect and is being enforced. (5) Forwarding noncompliance report...

Non invasive transcostal focusing based on the decomposition of the time reversal operator: in vitro validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cochard, Étienne; Prada, Claire; Aubry, Jean-François; Fink, Mathias

2010-03-01

Thermal ablation induced by high intensity focused ultrasound has produced promising clinical results to treat hepatocarcinoma and other liver tumors. However skin burns have been reported due to the high absorption of ultrasonic energy by the ribs. This study proposes a method to produce an acoustic field focusing on a chosen target while sparing the ribs, using the decomposition of the time-reversal operator (DORT method). The idea is to apply an excitation weight vector to the transducers array which is orthogonal to the subspace of emissions focusing on the ribs. The ratio of the energies absorbed at the focal point and on the ribs has been enhanced up to 100-fold as demonstrated by the measured specific absorption rates.

Anisotropic reflectance from turbid media. II. Measurements.

PubMed

Neuman, Magnus; Edström, Per

2010-05-01

The anisotropic reflectance from turbid media predicted using the radiative transfer based DORT2002 model is experimentally verified through goniophotometric measurements. A set of paper samples with varying amounts of dye and thickness is prepared, and their angle resolved reflectance is measured. An alleged perfect diffusor is also included. The corresponding simulations are performed. A complete agreement between the measurements and model predictions is seen regarding the characteristics of the anisotropy. They show that relatively more light is reflected at large polar angles when the absorption or illumination angle is increased or when the medium thickness is decreased. This is due to the relative amount of near-surface bulk scattering increasing in these cases. This affects the application of the Kubelka-Munk model as well as standards for reflectance measurements and calibration routines.

Energie aus der Tiefe: Geothermische Stromerzeugung

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huenges, Ernst

2004-11-01

Die Erde birgt überall genug Wärme für die geothermische Erzeugung elektrischen Stroms, die allerdings Wassertemperaturen von über 150 °C braucht. So warme Gesteinsschichten liegen in Mitteleuropa in mindestens 4 km Tiefe. Ein Kraftwerk muss also beim Betrieb über tiefe Bohrungen Wasser durch das Tiefengestein zirkulieren und dort erhitzen. Von Natur aus ist das Gestein jedoch dafür meist zu wenig porös. Deshalb soll das Einpressen von Fluiden unter hohem Druck die natürlichen Risse im Reservoirgestein künstlich vergrößern. Diese Stimulationstechnik erprobte das GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam erfolgreich an einer 4309 m tiefen Bohrung im Geothermielabor Groß Schönebeck. Eine zweite Bohrung soll nun eine langfristige Wasserzirkulation im Untergrund erforschen. Funktioniert sie stabil, dann soll eine Demonstrationsanlage Strom erzeugen.

National evaluation of the benefits and risks of greater structuring and coding of the electronic health record: exploratory qualitative investigation.

PubMed

Morrison, Zoe; Fernando, Bernard; Kalra, Dipak; Cresswell, Kathrin; Sheikh, Aziz

2014-01-01

We aimed to explore stakeholder views, attitudes, needs, and expectations regarding likely benefits and risks resulting from increased structuring and coding of clinical information within electronic health records (EHRs). Qualitative investigation in primary and secondary care and research settings throughout the UK. Data were derived from interviews, expert discussion groups, observations, and relevant documents. Participants (n=70) included patients, healthcare professionals, health service commissioners, policy makers, managers, administrators, systems developers, researchers, and academics. Four main themes arose from our data: variations in documentation practice; patient care benefits; secondary uses of information; and informing and involving patients. We observed a lack of guidelines, co-ordination, and dissemination of best practice relating to the design and use of information structures. While we identified immediate benefits for direct care and secondary analysis, many healthcare professionals did not see the relevance of structured and/or coded data to clinical practice. The potential for structured information to increase patient understanding of their diagnosis and treatment contrasted with concerns regarding the appropriateness of coded information for patients. The design and development of EHRs requires the capture of narrative information to reflect patient/clinician communication and computable data for administration and research purposes. Increased structuring and/or coding of EHRs therefore offers both benefits and risks. Documentation standards within clinical guidelines are likely to encourage comprehensive, accurate processing of data. As data structures may impact upon clinician/patient interactions, new models of documentation may be necessary if EHRs are to be read and authored by patients.

National evaluation of the benefits and risks of greater structuring and coding of the electronic health record: exploratory qualitative investigation

PubMed Central

Morrison, Zoe; Fernando, Bernard; Kalra, Dipak; Cresswell, Kathrin; Sheikh, Aziz

2014-01-01

Objective We aimed to explore stakeholder views, attitudes, needs, and expectations regarding likely benefits and risks resulting from increased structuring and coding of clinical information within electronic health records (EHRs). Materials and methods Qualitative investigation in primary and secondary care and research settings throughout the UK. Data were derived from interviews, expert discussion groups, observations, and relevant documents. Participants (n=70) included patients, healthcare professionals, health service commissioners, policy makers, managers, administrators, systems developers, researchers, and academics. Results Four main themes arose from our data: variations in documentation practice; patient care benefits; secondary uses of information; and informing and involving patients. We observed a lack of guidelines, co-ordination, and dissemination of best practice relating to the design and use of information structures. While we identified immediate benefits for direct care and secondary analysis, many healthcare professionals did not see the relevance of structured and/or coded data to clinical practice. The potential for structured information to increase patient understanding of their diagnosis and treatment contrasted with concerns regarding the appropriateness of coded information for patients. Conclusions The design and development of EHRs requires the capture of narrative information to reflect patient/clinician communication and computable data for administration and research purposes. Increased structuring and/or coding of EHRs therefore offers both benefits and risks. Documentation standards within clinical guidelines are likely to encourage comprehensive, accurate processing of data. As data structures may impact upon clinician/patient interactions, new models of documentation may be necessary if EHRs are to be read and authored by patients. PMID:24186957

Are family-centred principles, functional goal setting and transition planning evident in therapy services for children with cerebral palsy?

PubMed

Darrah, J; Wiart, L; Magill-Evans, J; Ray, L; Andersen, J

2012-01-01

Family-centred service, functional goal setting and co-ordination of a child's move between programmes are important concepts of rehabilitation services for children with cerebral palsy identified in the literature. We examined whether these three concepts could be objectively identified in programmes providing services to children with cerebral palsy in Alberta, Canada. Programme managers (n= 37) and occupational and physical therapists (n= 54) representing 59 programmes participated in individual 1-h semi-structured interviews. Thirty-nine parents participated in eleven focus groups or two individual interviews. Evidence of family-centred values in mission statements and advisory boards was evaluated. Therapists were asked to identify three concepts of family-centred service and to complete the Measures of Process of Care for Service Providers. Therapists also identified therapy goals for children based on clinical case scenarios. The goals were coded using the components of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health. Programme managers and therapists discussed the processes in their programmes for goal setting and for preparing children and their families for their transition to other programmes. Parents reflected on their experiences with their child's rehabilitation related to family-centredness, goal setting and co-ordination between programmes. All respondents expressed commitment to the three concepts, but objective indicators of family-centred processes were lacking in many programmes. In most programmes, the processes to implement the three concepts were informal rather than standardized. Both families and therapists reported limited access to general information regarding community supports. Lack of formal processes for delivery of family-centred service, goal-setting and co-ordination between children's programmes may result in inequitable opportunities for families to participate in their children's rehabilitation despite attending the same programme. Standardized programme processes and policies may provide a starting point to ensure that all families have equitable opportunities to participate in their child's rehabilitation programme. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Safety belt usage before and after enactment of a mandatory usage ordinance (Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1990-10-01

In the absence of a statewide law, a local ordinance was passed by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government mandating use of safety belts. The objective of this study was to conduct surveys before the ordinance was passed, during the implementat...

Introducing Students to Plant Geography: Polar Ordination Applied to Hanging Gardens.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malanson, George P.; And Others

1993-01-01

Reports on a research study in which college students used a statistical ordination method to reveal relationships among plant community structures and physical, disturbance, and spatial variables. Concludes that polar ordination helps students understand the methodology of plant geography and encourages further student research. (CFR)

Cardination and Ordination Learning in Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stock, William; Flora, June

This paper analyzes Brainerd's work in assessing the developmental sequence or ordination and cardination concepts of number, and describes a study which investigated the hypothesis that task-specific difficulty could explain Brainers's data. Three new tasks were designed for the assessment of ordination and cardination and administered to a…

25 CFR 522.6 - Approval requirements for class III ordinances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Section 522.6 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.6 Approval...) The tribe shall have the sole proprietary interest in and responsibility for the conduct of any gaming...

36 CFR 28.15 - Approval of local zoning ordinances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Approval of local zoning ordinances. 28.15 Section 28.15 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FIRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE: ZONING STANDARDS Federal Standards and Approval of Local Ordinances...

Simulating Ordinal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrari, Pier Alda; Barbiero, Alessandro

2012-01-01

The increasing use of ordinal variables in different fields has led to the introduction of new statistical methods for their analysis. The performance of these methods needs to be investigated under a number of experimental conditions. Procedures to simulate from ordinal variables are then required. In this article, we deal with simulation from…

Bayesian Adaptive Lasso for Ordinal Regression with Latent Variables

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feng, Xiang-Nan; Wu, Hao-Tian; Song, Xin-Yuan

2017-01-01

We consider an ordinal regression model with latent variables to investigate the effects of observable and latent explanatory variables on the ordinal responses of interest. Each latent variable is characterized by correlated observed variables through a confirmatory factor analysis model. We develop a Bayesian adaptive lasso procedure to conduct…

36 CFR 28.15 - Approval of local zoning ordinances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Approval of local zoning ordinances. 28.15 Section 28.15 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FIRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE: ZONING STANDARDS Federal Standards and Approval of Local Ordinances...

25 CFR 900.136 - Do tribal employment rights ordinances apply to construction contracts and subcontracts?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Do tribal employment rights ordinances apply to... OF THE INTERIOR, AND INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES CONTRACTS UNDER... rights ordinances apply to construction contracts and subcontracts? Yes. Tribal employment rights...

The Duluth Clean Indoor Air Ordinance: Problems and Success in Fighting the Tobacco Industry at the Local Level in the 21st Century

PubMed Central

Tsoukalas, Theodore; Glantz, Stanton A.

2003-01-01

Case study methodology was used to investigate the tobacco industry’s strategies to fight local tobacco control efforts in Duluth, Minn. The industry opposed the clean indoor air ordinance indirectly through allies and front groups and directly in a referendum. Health groups failed to win a strong ordinance because they framed it as a youth issue rather than a workplace issue and failed to engage the industry’s economic claims. Opponents’ overexploitation of weaknesses in the ordinance allowed health advocates to construct a stronger version. Health advocates should assume that the tobacco industry will oppose all local tobacco control measures indirectly, directly, or both. Clean indoor air ordinances should be framed as workplace safety issues. PMID:12893598

Ordinal feature selection for iris and palmprint recognition.

PubMed

Sun, Zhenan; Wang, Libin; Tan, Tieniu

2014-09-01

Ordinal measures have been demonstrated as an effective feature representation model for iris and palmprint recognition. However, ordinal measures are a general concept of image analysis and numerous variants with different parameter settings, such as location, scale, orientation, and so on, can be derived to construct a huge feature space. This paper proposes a novel optimization formulation for ordinal feature selection with successful applications to both iris and palmprint recognition. The objective function of the proposed feature selection method has two parts, i.e., misclassification error of intra and interclass matching samples and weighted sparsity of ordinal feature descriptors. Therefore, the feature selection aims to achieve an accurate and sparse representation of ordinal measures. And, the optimization subjects to a number of linear inequality constraints, which require that all intra and interclass matching pairs are well separated with a large margin. Ordinal feature selection is formulated as a linear programming (LP) problem so that a solution can be efficiently obtained even on a large-scale feature pool and training database. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed LP formulation is advantageous over existing feature selection methods, such as mRMR, ReliefF, Boosting, and Lasso for biometric recognition, reporting state-of-the-art accuracy on CASIA and PolyU databases.

Reactor Dosimetry Applications Using RAPTOR-M3G:. a New Parallel 3-D Radiation Transport Code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longoni, Gianluca; Anderson, Stanwood L.

2009-08-01

The numerical solution of the Linearized Boltzmann Equation (LBE) via the Discrete Ordinates method (SN) requires extensive computational resources for large 3-D neutron and gamma transport applications due to the concurrent discretization of the angular, spatial, and energy domains. This paper will discuss the development RAPTOR-M3G (RApid Parallel Transport Of Radiation - Multiple 3D Geometries), a new 3-D parallel radiation transport code, and its application to the calculation of ex-vessel neutron dosimetry responses in the cavity of a commercial 2-loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). RAPTOR-M3G is based domain decomposition algorithms, where the spatial and angular domains are allocated and processed on multi-processor computer architectures. As compared to traditional single-processor applications, this approach reduces the computational load as well as the memory requirement per processor, yielding an efficient solution methodology for large 3-D problems. Measured neutron dosimetry responses in the reactor cavity air gap will be compared to the RAPTOR-M3G predictions. This paper is organized as follows: Section 1 discusses the RAPTOR-M3G methodology; Section 2 describes the 2-loop PWR model and the numerical results obtained. Section 3 addresses the parallel performance of the code, and Section 4 concludes this paper with final remarks and future work.

Microdosimetric investigation of the spectra from YAYOI by use of the Monte Carlo code PHITS.

PubMed

Nakao, Minoru; Baba, Hiromi; Oishi, Ayumu; Onizuka, Yoshihiko

2010-07-01

The purpose of this study was to obtain the neutron energy spectrum on the surface of the moderator of the Tokyo University reactor YAYOI and to investigate the origins of peaks observed in the neutron energy spectrum by use of the Monte Carlo Code PHITS for evaluating biological studies. The moderator system was modeled with the use of details from an article that reported a calculation result and a measurement result for a neutron spectrum on the surface of the moderator of the reactor. Our calculation results with PHITS were compared to those obtained with the discrete ordinate code ANISN described in the article. In addition, the changes in the neutron spectrum at the boundaries of materials in the moderator system were examined with PHITS. Also, microdosimetric energy distributions of secondary charged particles from neutron recoil or reaction were calculated by use of PHITS and compared with a microdosimetric experiment. Our calculations of the neutron energy spectrum with PHITS showed good agreement with the results of ANISN in terms of the energy and structure of the peaks. However, the microdosimetric dose distribution spectrum with PHITS showed a remarkable discrepancy with the experimental one. The experimental spectrum could not be explained by PHITS when we used neutron beams of two mono-energies.

[Penal treatment and rehabilitation of the convict in the new Penal Code of San Marino. Juridical and criminological aspects].

PubMed

Sclafani, F; Starace, A

1978-01-01

The Republic of San Marino adopted a new Penal Code which came into force on Ist January 1975; it replaced the former one of 15th Sept. 1865. After having stated the typical aspects of the Penal Procedure System therein enforceable, the Authors examine the rules concerning criminal responsibility and the danger of committing new crimes. They point out and criticize the relevant contradictions. In explaining the measures regarding punishment and educational rehabilitation provided for by the San Marino's legal system, the Authors later consider them from a juridical and criminological viewpoint. If some reforms must be approved (for example: biopsychical inquiry on the charged person, probation, week-end imprisonments, fines according to the incomes of the condemned, etc.). the Authors stress that some legal provisions may appear useless and unrealistic when one considers the environmental conditions of the little Republic. The Authors conclude that Penal Procedure Law is not in accordance with Penal Law and, consequently, they hope that a new reform will be grounded on the needs arising from the crimes perpetrated in loco. It shall be, however, necessary to plan a co-ordination among the two Codes within a framework of de-criminalization of many acts which are now punishable as crime.

Ordinal preference elicitation methods in health economics and health services research: using discrete choice experiments and ranking methods.

PubMed

Ali, Shehzad; Ronaldson, Sarah

2012-09-01

The predominant method of economic evaluation is cost-utility analysis, which uses cardinal preference elicitation methods, including the standard gamble and time trade-off. However, such approach is not suitable for understanding trade-offs between process attributes, non-health outcomes and health outcomes to evaluate current practices, develop new programmes and predict demand for services and products. Ordinal preference elicitation methods including discrete choice experiments and ranking methods are therefore commonly used in health economics and health service research. Cardinal methods have been criticized on the grounds of cognitive complexity, difficulty of administration, contamination by risk and preference attitudes, and potential violation of underlying assumptions. Ordinal methods have gained popularity because of reduced cognitive burden, lower degree of abstract reasoning, reduced measurement error, ease of administration and ability to use both health and non-health outcomes. The underlying assumptions of ordinal methods may be violated when respondents use cognitive shortcuts, or cannot comprehend the ordinal task or interpret attributes and levels, or use 'irrational' choice behaviour or refuse to trade-off certain attributes. CURRENT USE AND GROWING AREAS: Ordinal methods are commonly used to evaluate preference for attributes of health services, products, practices, interventions, policies and, more recently, to estimate utility weights. AREAS FOR ON-GOING RESEARCH: There is growing research on developing optimal designs, evaluating the rationalization process, using qualitative tools for developing ordinal methods, evaluating consistency with utility theory, appropriate statistical methods for analysis, generalizability of results and comparing ordinal methods against each other and with cardinal measures.

Numerical and Non-Numerical Ordinality Processing in Children with and without Developmental Dyscalculia: Evidence from fMRI

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaufmann, L.; Vogel, S. E.; Starke, M.; Kremser, C.; Schocke, M.

2009-01-01

Ordinality is--beyond numerical magnitude (i.e., quantity)--an important characteristic of the number system. There is converging empirical evidence that (intra)parietal brain regions mediate number magnitude processing. Furthermore, recent findings suggest that the human intraparietal sulcus (IPS) supports magnitude and ordinality in a…

25 CFR 522.1 - Scope of this part.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.1 Scope of this part. This part applies to any gaming ordinance or resolution adopted by a tribe after February 22, 1993. Part 523 of this chapter...

Land and Liberty: The Ordinances of the 1780s.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheehan, Bernard W.

The U.S. Constitution established the broad legal frame for the U.S. political order; the ordinances provided the indispensable means for the expansion of that order across the continent. The first effort at organizing the northwest occurred in 1784. Written by Thomas Jefferson, the Ordinance of 1784 defined the stages through which territories…

Educational Legislation in Colonial Zimbabwe (1899-1979)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, Kimberly; Govere, Ephraim

2003-01-01

This article focuses on a historical series of education acts that impacted on education in Rhodesia. These Acts are the: (1) 1899 Education Ordinance; (2) 1903 Education Ordinance; (3) 1907 Education Ordinance; (4) 1929 Department of Native Development Act; (5) 1930 Compulsory Education Act; (6) 1959 African Education Act; (7) 1973 Education Act;…

The new immigration contestation: social movements and local immigration policy making in the United States, 2000-2011.

PubMed

Steil, Justin Peter; Vasi, Ion Bogdan

2014-01-01

Analyzing oppositional social movements in the context of municipal immigration ordinances, the authors examine whether the explanatory power of resource mobilization, political process, and strain theories of social movements' impact on policy outcomes differs when considering proactive as opposed to reactive movements. The adoption of pro-immigrant (proactive) ordinances was facilitated by the presence of immigrant community organizations and of sympathetic local political allies. The adoption of anti-immigrant (reactive) ordinances was influenced by structural social changes, such as rapid increases in the local Latino population, that were framed as threats. The study also finds that pro-immigrant protest events can influence policy in two ways, contributing both to the passage of pro-immigrant ordinances in the locality where protests occur and also inhibiting the passage of anti-immigrant ordinances in neighboring cities.

Estimated breeding values for canine hip dysplasia radiographic traits in a cohort of Australian German Shepherd dogs.

PubMed

Wilson, Bethany J; Nicholas, Frank W; James, John W; Wade, Claire M; Thomson, Peter C

2013-01-01

Canine hip dysplasia (CHD) is a serious and common musculoskeletal disease of pedigree dogs and therefore represents both an important welfare concern and an imperative breeding priority. The typical heritability estimates for radiographic CHD traits suggest that the accuracy of breeding dog selection could be substantially improved by the use of estimated breeding values (EBVs) in place of selection based on phenotypes of individuals. The British Veterinary Association/Kennel Club scoring method is a complex measure composed of nine bilateral ordinal traits, intended to evaluate both early and late dysplastic changes. However, the ordinal nature of the traits may represent a technical challenge for calculation of EBVs using linear methods. The purpose of the current study was to calculate EBVs of British Veterinary Association/Kennel Club traits in the Australian population of German Shepherd Dogs, using linear (both as individual traits and a summed phenotype), binary and ordinal methods to determine the optimal method for EBV calculation. Ordinal EBVs correlated well with linear EBVs (r = 0.90-0.99) and somewhat well with EBVs for the sum of the individual traits (r = 0.58-0.92). Correlation of ordinal and binary EBVs varied widely (r = 0.24-0.99) depending on the trait and cut-point considered. The ordinal EBVs have increased accuracy (0.48-0.69) of selection compared with accuracies from individual phenotype-based selection (0.40-0.52). Despite the high correlations between linear and ordinal EBVs, the underlying relationship between EBVs calculated by the two methods was not always linear, leading us to suggest that ordinal models should be used wherever possible. As the population of German Shepherd Dogs which was studied was purportedly under selection for the traits studied, we examined the EBVs for evidence of a genetic trend in these traits and found substantial genetic improvement over time. This study suggests the use of ordinal EBVs could increase the rate of genetic improvement in this population.

3D-radiative transfer in terrestrial atmosphere: An efficient parallel numerical procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bass, L. P.; Germogenova, T. A.; Nikolaeva, O. V.; Kokhanovsky, A. A.; Kuznetsov, V. S.

2003-04-01

Light propagation and scattering in terrestrial atmosphere is usually studied in the framework of the 1D radiative transfer theory [1]. However, in reality particles (e.g., ice crystals, solid and liquid aerosols, cloud droplets) are randomly distributed in 3D space. In particular, their concentrations vary both in vertical and horizontal directions. Therefore, 3D effects influence modern cloud and aerosol retrieval procedures, which are currently based on the 1D radiative transfer theory. It should be pointed out that the standard radiative transfer equation allows to study these more complex situations as well [2]. In recent year the parallel version of the 2D and 3D RADUGA code has been developed. This version is successfully used in gammas and neutrons transport problems [3]. Applications of this code to radiative transfer in atmosphere problems are contained in [4]. Possibilities of code RADUGA are presented in [5]. The RADUGA code system is an universal solver of radiative transfer problems for complicated models, including 2D and 3D aerosol and cloud fields with arbitrary scattering anisotropy, light absorption, inhomogeneous underlying surface and topography. Both delta type and distributed light sources can be accounted for in the framework of the algorithm developed. The accurate numerical procedure is based on the new discrete ordinate SWDD scheme [6]. The algorithm is specifically designed for parallel supercomputers. The version RADUGA 5.1(P) can run on MBC1000M [7] (768 processors with 10 Gb of hard disc memory for each processor). The peak productivity is equal 1 Tfl. Corresponding scalar version RADUGA 5.1 is working on PC. As a first example of application of the algorithm developed, we have studied the shadowing effects of clouds on neighboring cloudless atmosphere, depending on the cloud optical thickness, surface albedo, and illumination conditions. This is of importance for modern satellite aerosol retrieval algorithms development. [1] Sobolev, V. V., 1972: Light scattering in planetary atmosphere, M.:Nauka. [2] Evans, K. F., 1998: The spherical harmonic discrete ordinate method for three dimensional atmospheric radiative transfer, J. Atmos. Sci., 55, 429 446. [3] L.P. Bass, T.A. Germogenova, V.S. Kuznetsov, O.V. Nikolaeva. RADUGA 5.1 and RADUGA 5.1(P) codes for stationary transport equation solution in 2D and 3D geometries on one and multiprocessors computers. Report on seminar “Algorithms and Codes for neutron physical of nuclear reactor calculations” (Neutronica 2001), Obninsk, Russia, 30 October 2 November 2001. [4] T.A. Germogenova, L.P. Bass, V.S. Kuznetsov, O.V. Nikolaeva. Mathematical modeling on parallel computers solar and laser radiation transport in 3D atmosphere. Report on International Symposium CIS countries “Atmosphere radiation”, 18 21 June 2002, St. Peterburg, Russia, p. 15 16. [5] L.P. Bass, T.A. Germogenova, O.V. Nikolaeva, V.S. Kuznetsov. Radiative Transfer Universal 2D 3D Code RADUGA 5.1(P) for Multiprocessor Computer. Abstract. Poster report on this Meeting. [6] L.P. Bass, O.V. Nikolaeva. Correct calculation of Angular Flux Distribution in Strongly Heterogeneous Media and Voids. Proc. of Joint International Conference on Mathematical Methods and Supercomputing for Nuclear Applications, Saratoga Springs, New York, October 5 9, 1997, p. 995 1004. [7] http://www/jscc.ru

Using Cognitive Interviews to Assess the Cultural Validity of State and Trait Measures of Mindfulness among Zen Buddhists

PubMed Central

Woodrich, Lisa E.; Tiernan, Kristin A.

2012-01-01

Although Western psychological mindfulness shares many common features with Buddhist mindfulness, subtle differences in the way in which it is practiced and assessed may have important implications. Therefore, the primary goal of this qualitative study was to evaluate the cultural validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS) by using cognitive interviews among a sample of Buddhist clergy and laypersons to assess their perceptions of these two scales. Participants were 14 Zen Buddhists (7 laypersons, 6 Zen priests, and 1 in priest the ordination process) recruited from a monastery in the Pacific Northwestern U.S. Each participant completed a cognitive interview using the FFMQ and TMS. We developed a coding schema to identify and categorize participant responses, and then applied the final coding framework to all 14 interviews. Results revealed perceived concerns and strengths of each scale, as well as concerns regarding content deemed missing from both scales and general issues related to mindfulness self-assessment. These findings suggest that Buddhist and Western psychological conceptualizations of mindfulness may have important differences. PMID:24976872

Visualization of nuclear particle trajectories in nuclear oil-well logging

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

Case, C.R.; Chiaramonte, J.M.

Nuclear oil-well logging measures specific properties of subsurface geological formations as a function of depth in the well. The knowledge gained is used to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of the surrounding oil field. The measurements are made by lowering an instrument package into an oil well and slowly extracting it at a constant speed. During the extraction phase, neutrons or gamma rays are emitted from the tool, interact with the formation, and scatter back to the detectors located within the tool. Even though only a small percentage of the emitted particles ever reach the detectors, mathematical modeling has been verymore » successful in the accurate prediction of these detector responses. The two dominant methods used to model these devices have been the two-dimensional discrete ordinates method and the three-dimensional Monte Carlo method has routinely been used to investigate the response characteristics of nuclear tools. A special Los Alamos National Laboratory version of their standard MCNP Monte carlo code retains the details of each particle history of later viewing within SABRINA, a companion three-dimensional geometry modeling and debugging code.« less

Correlational Analysis of Ordinal Data: From Pearson's "r" to Bayesian Polychoric Correlation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Jaehwa; Peters, Michelle; Mueller, Ralph O.

2010-01-01

Correlational analyses are one of the most popular quantitative methods, yet also one of the mostly frequently misused methods in social and behavioral research, especially when analyzing ordinal data from Likert or other rating scales. Although several correlational analysis options have been developed for ordinal data, there seems to be a lack…

Reliability of Total Test Scores When Considered as Ordinal Measurements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biswas, Ajoy Kumar

2006-01-01

This article studies the ordinal reliability of (total) test scores. This study is based on a classical-type linear model of observed score (X), true score (T), and random error (E). Based on the idea of Kendall's tau-a coefficient, a measure of ordinal reliability for small-examinee populations is developed. This measure is extended to large…

Economic Analysis of a Living Wage Ordinance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tolley, George; Bernstein, Peter

A study estimated the costs of the "Chicago Jobs and Living Wage Ordinance" that would require firms that receive assistance from the city of Chicago to pay their workers an hourly wage of at least $7.60. An estimate of the additional labor cost that would result from the proposed Ordinance was calculated. Results of a survey of…

Dyslexia and Developmental Co-Ordination Disorder in Further and Higher Education--Similarities and Differences. Does the "Label" Influence the Support Given?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirby, Amanda; Sugden, David; Beveridge, Sally; Edwards, Lisa; Edwards, Rachel

2008-01-01

Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) is a developmental disorder affecting motor co-ordination. The "Diagnostics Statistics Manual"--IV classification for DCD describes difficulties across a range of activities of daily living, impacting on everyday skills and academic performance in school. Recent evidence has shown that…

The Development and Standardization of the Adult Developmental Co-Ordination Disorders/Dyspraxia Checklist (ADC)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirby, Amanda; Edwards, Lisa; Sugden, David; Rosenblum, Sara

2010-01-01

Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD), also known as Dyspraxia in the United Kingdom (U.K.), is a developmental disorder affecting motor co-ordination. In the past this was regarded as a childhood disorder, however there is increasing evidence that a significant number of children will continue to have persistent difficulties into adulthood.…

How to Plan an Ordinance: An Outline and Some Examples.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cable Television Information Center, Washington, DC.

Designed for public officials who must make policy decisions concerning cable television, this booklet forms a checklist to ensure that all basic questions have been considered in drafting an ordinance. The purpose of a cable television ordinance is to develop a law listing the specifications and obligations that will govern the franchising of a…

Proposed Ordinance for the Regulation of Cable Television. Working Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chicago City Council, IL.

A model ordinance is proposed for the regulation of cable television in the city of Chicago. It defines the language of the ordinance, sets forth the method of granting franchises, and describes the terms of the franchises. The duties of a commission to regulate cable television are listed and the method of selecting commission members is…

An Algorithm for Converting Ordinal Scale Measurement Data to Interval/Ratio Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Granberg-Rademacker, J. Scott

2010-01-01

The extensive use of survey instruments in the social sciences has long created debate and concern about validity of outcomes, especially among instruments that gather ordinal-level data. Ordinal-level survey measurement of concepts that could be measured at the interval or ratio level produce errors because respondents are forced to truncate or…

Case management for high-intensity service users: towards a relational approach to care co-ordination.

PubMed

McEvoy, Phil; Escott, Diane; Bee, Penny

2011-01-01

This study is based on a formative evaluation of a case management service for high-intensity service users in Northern England. The evaluation had three main purposes: (i) to assess the quality of the organisational infrastructure; (ii) to obtain a better understanding of the key influences that played a role in shaping the development of the service; and (iii) to identify potential changes in practice that may help to improve the quality of service provision. The evaluation was informed by Gittell's relational co-ordination theory, which focuses upon cross-boundary working practices that facilitate task integration. The Assessment of Chronic Illness Care Survey was used to assess the organisational infrastructure and qualitative interviews with front line staff were conducted to explore the key influences that shaped the development of the service. A high level of strategic commitment and political support for integrated working was identified. However, the quality of care co-ordination was variable. The most prominent operational factor that appeared to influence the scope and quality of care co-ordination was the pattern of interaction between the case managers and their co-workers. The co-ordination of patient care was much more effective in integrated co-ordination networks. Key features included clearly defined, task focussed, relational workspaces with interactive forums where case managers could engage with co-workers in discussions about the management of interdependent care activities. In dispersed co-ordination networks with fewer relational workspaces, the case managers struggled to work as effectively. The evaluation concluded that the creation of flexible and efficient task focused relational workspaces that are systemically managed and adequately resourced could help to improve the quality of care co-ordination, particularly in dispersed networks. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Projected health impact of the Los Angeles City living wage ordinance

PubMed Central

Cole, B.; Shimkhada, R.; Morgenstern, H.; Kominski, G.; Fielding, J.; Wu, S.

2005-01-01

Study objective: To estimate the relative health effects of the income and health insurance provisions of the Los Angeles City living wage ordinance. Setting and participants: About 10 000 employees of city contractors are subject to the Los Angeles City living wage ordinance, which establishes an annually adjusted minimum wage ($7.99 per hour in July 2002) and requires employers to contribute $1.25 per hour worked towards employees' health insurance, or, if health insurance is not provided, to add this amount to wages. Design: As part of a comprehensive health impact assessment (HIA), we used estimates of the effects of health insurance and income on mortality from the published literature to construct a model to estimate and compare potential reductions in mortality attributable to the increases in wage and changes in health insurance status among workers covered by the Los Angeles City living wage ordinance. Results: The model predicts that the ordinance currently reduces mortality by 1.4 deaths per year per 10 000 workers at a cost of $27.5 million per death prevented. If the ordinance were modified so that all uninsured workers received health insurance, mortality would be reduced by eight deaths per year per 10 000 workers at a cost of $3.4 million per death prevented. Conclusions: The health insurance provisions of the ordinance have the potential to benefit the health of covered workers far more cost effectively than the wage provisions of the ordinance. This analytical model can be adapted and used in other health impact assessments of related policy actions that might affect either income or access to health insurance in the affected population. PMID:16020640

Projected health impact of the Los Angeles City living wage ordinance.

PubMed

Cole, Brian L; Shimkhada, Riti; Morgenstern, Hal; Kominski, Gerald; Fielding, Jonathan E; Wu, Sheng

2005-08-01

To estimate the relative health effects of the income and health insurance provisions of the Los Angeles City living wage ordinance. About 10 000 employees of city contractors are subject to the Los Angeles City living wage ordinance, which establishes an annually adjusted minimum wage (7.99 US dollars per hour in July 2002) and requires employers to contribute 1.25 US dollars per hour worked towards employees' health insurance, or, if health insurance is not provided, to add this amount to wages. As part of a comprehensive health impact assessment (HIA), we used estimates of the effects of health insurance and income on mortality from the published literature to construct a model to estimate and compare potential reductions in mortality attributable to the increases in wage and changes in health insurance status among workers covered by the Los Angeles City living wage ordinance. The model predicts that the ordinance currently reduces mortality by 1.4 deaths per year per 10,000 workers at a cost of 27.5 million US dollars per death prevented. If the ordinance were modified so that all uninsured workers received health insurance, mortality would be reduced by eight deaths per year per 10,000 workers at a cost of 3.4 million US dollars per death prevented. The health insurance provisions of the ordinance have the potential to benefit the health of covered workers far more cost effectively than the wage provisions of the ordinance. This analytical model can be adapted and used in other health impact assessments of related policy actions that might affect either income or access to health insurance in the affected population.

Overview of Existing Wind Energy Ordinances

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

Oteri, F.

2008-12-01

Due to increased energy demand in the United States, rural communities with limited or no experience with wind energy now have the opportunity to become involved in this industry. Communities with good wind resources may be approached by entities with plans to develop the resource. Although these opportunities can create new revenue in the form of construction jobs and land lease payments, they also create a new responsibility on the part of local governments to ensure that ordinances will be established to aid the development of safe facilities that will be embraced by the community. The purpose of this reportmore » is to educate and engage state and local governments, as well as policymakers, about existing large wind energy ordinances. These groups will have a collection of examples to utilize when they attempt to draft a new large wind energy ordinance in a town or county without existing ordinances.« less

Penalized Ordinal Regression Methods for Predicting Stage of Cancer in High-Dimensional Covariate Spaces.

PubMed

Gentry, Amanda Elswick; Jackson-Cook, Colleen K; Lyon, Debra E; Archer, Kellie J

2015-01-01

The pathological description of the stage of a tumor is an important clinical designation and is considered, like many other forms of biomedical data, an ordinal outcome. Currently, statistical methods for predicting an ordinal outcome using clinical, demographic, and high-dimensional correlated features are lacking. In this paper, we propose a method that fits an ordinal response model to predict an ordinal outcome for high-dimensional covariate spaces. Our method penalizes some covariates (high-throughput genomic features) without penalizing others (such as demographic and/or clinical covariates). We demonstrate the application of our method to predict the stage of breast cancer. In our model, breast cancer subtype is a nonpenalized predictor, and CpG site methylation values from the Illumina Human Methylation 450K assay are penalized predictors. The method has been made available in the ordinalgmifs package in the R programming environment.

Young Children's Ability to Use Ordinal Labels in a Spatial Search Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Stephanie E.; Marcovitch, Stuart; Boseovski, Janet J.; Lewkowicz, David J.

2015-01-01

The use and understanding of ordinal terms (e.g., "first" and "second") is a developmental milestone that has been relatively unexplored in the preschool age range. In the present study, 4- and 5-year-olds watched as a reward was placed in one of three train cars labeled by the experimenter with an ordinal (e.g.,…

75 FR 39969 - Liquor Control Ordinance for the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester-Point Arena...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-13

... land. The tribal land is located on trust land and this Ordinance allows for the possession and sale of alcoholic beverages. This Ordinance will increase the ability of the tribal government to control the distribution and possession of liquor within their tribal land, and at the same time will provide an important...

The assignment of scores procedure for ordinal categorical data.

PubMed

Chen, Han-Ching; Wang, Nae-Sheng

2014-01-01

Ordinal data are the most frequently encountered type of data in the social sciences. Many statistical methods can be used to process such data. One common method is to assign scores to the data, convert them into interval data, and further perform statistical analysis. There are several authors who have recently developed assigning score methods to assign scores to ordered categorical data. This paper proposes an approach that defines an assigning score system for an ordinal categorical variable based on underlying continuous latent distribution with interpretation by using three case study examples. The results show that the proposed score system is well for skewed ordinal categorical data.

Regenerating time series from ordinal networks.

PubMed

McCullough, Michael; Sakellariou, Konstantinos; Stemler, Thomas; Small, Michael

2017-03-01

Recently proposed ordinal networks not only afford novel methods of nonlinear time series analysis but also constitute stochastic approximations of the deterministic flow time series from which the network models are constructed. In this paper, we construct ordinal networks from discrete sampled continuous chaotic time series and then regenerate new time series by taking random walks on the ordinal network. We then investigate the extent to which the dynamics of the original time series are encoded in the ordinal networks and retained through the process of regenerating new time series by using several distinct quantitative approaches. First, we use recurrence quantification analysis on traditional recurrence plots and order recurrence plots to compare the temporal structure of the original time series with random walk surrogate time series. Second, we estimate the largest Lyapunov exponent from the original time series and investigate the extent to which this invariant measure can be estimated from the surrogate time series. Finally, estimates of correlation dimension are computed to compare the topological properties of the original and surrogate time series dynamics. Our findings show that ordinal networks constructed from univariate time series data constitute stochastic models which approximate important dynamical properties of the original systems.

Regenerating time series from ordinal networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCullough, Michael; Sakellariou, Konstantinos; Stemler, Thomas; Small, Michael

2017-03-01

Recently proposed ordinal networks not only afford novel methods of nonlinear time series analysis but also constitute stochastic approximations of the deterministic flow time series from which the network models are constructed. In this paper, we construct ordinal networks from discrete sampled continuous chaotic time series and then regenerate new time series by taking random walks on the ordinal network. We then investigate the extent to which the dynamics of the original time series are encoded in the ordinal networks and retained through the process of regenerating new time series by using several distinct quantitative approaches. First, we use recurrence quantification analysis on traditional recurrence plots and order recurrence plots to compare the temporal structure of the original time series with random walk surrogate time series. Second, we estimate the largest Lyapunov exponent from the original time series and investigate the extent to which this invariant measure can be estimated from the surrogate time series. Finally, estimates of correlation dimension are computed to compare the topological properties of the original and surrogate time series dynamics. Our findings show that ordinal networks constructed from univariate time series data constitute stochastic models which approximate important dynamical properties of the original systems.

Visual grading characteristics and ordinal regression analysis during optimisation of CT head examinations.

PubMed

Zarb, Francis; McEntee, Mark F; Rainford, Louise

2015-06-01

To evaluate visual grading characteristics (VGC) and ordinal regression analysis during head CT optimisation as a potential alternative to visual grading assessment (VGA), traditionally employed to score anatomical visualisation. Patient images (n = 66) were obtained using current and optimised imaging protocols from two CT suites: a 16-slice scanner at the national Maltese centre for trauma and a 64-slice scanner in a private centre. Local resident radiologists (n = 6) performed VGA followed by VGC and ordinal regression analysis. VGC alone indicated that optimised protocols had similar image quality as current protocols. Ordinal logistic regression analysis provided an in-depth evaluation, criterion by criterion allowing the selective implementation of the protocols. The local radiology review panel supported the implementation of optimised protocols for brain CT examinations (including trauma) in one centre, achieving radiation dose reductions ranging from 24 % to 36 %. In the second centre a 29 % reduction in radiation dose was achieved for follow-up cases. The combined use of VGC and ordinal logistic regression analysis led to clinical decisions being taken on the implementation of the optimised protocols. This improved method of image quality analysis provided the evidence to support imaging protocol optimisation, resulting in significant radiation dose savings. • There is need for scientifically based image quality evaluation during CT optimisation. • VGC and ordinal regression analysis in combination led to better informed clinical decisions. • VGC and ordinal regression analysis led to dose reductions without compromising diagnostic efficacy.

Sacramento's parking lot shading ordinance: environmental and economic costs of compliance

Treesearch

E.G. McPherson

2001-01-01

A survey of 15 Sacramento parking lots and computer modeling were used to evaluate parking capacity and compliance with the 1983 ordinance requiring 50% shade of paved areas (PA) 15 years after development. There were 6% more parking spaces than required by ordinance, and 36% were vacant during peak use periods. Current shade was 14% with 44% of this amount provided by...

41 CFR 102-74.351 - If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities... REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 74-FACILITY MANAGEMENT Facility Management Smoking § 102-74.351 If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities...

41 CFR 102-74.351 - If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities... REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 74-FACILITY MANAGEMENT Facility Management Smoking § 102-74.351 If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities...

41 CFR 102-74.351 - If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities... REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 74-FACILITY MANAGEMENT Facility Management Smoking § 102-74.351 If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities...

41 CFR 102-74.351 - If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities... REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 74-FACILITY MANAGEMENT Facility Management Smoking § 102-74.351 If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities...

41 CFR 102-74.351 - If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities... REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 74-FACILITY MANAGEMENT Facility Management Smoking § 102-74.351 If a state or local government has a smoke-free ordinance that is more strict than the smoking policy for Federal facilities...

The relationship between temperamental traits and the level of performance of an eye-hand co-ordination task in jet pilots.

PubMed

Biernacki, Marcin; Tarnowski, Adam

2008-01-01

When assessing the psychological suitability for the profession of a pilot, it is important to consider personality traits and psychomotor abilities. Our study aimed at estimating the role of temperamental traits as components of pilots' personality in eye-hand co-ordination. The assumption was that differences in the escalation of the level of temperamental traits, as measured with the Formal Characteristic of Behaviour-Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI), will significantly influence eye-hand co-ordination. At the level of general scores, enhanced briskness proved to be the most important trait for eye-hand co-ordination. An analysis of partial scores additionally underlined the importance of sensory sensitivity, endurance and activity. The application of eye-hand co-ordination tasks, which involve energetic and temporal dimensions of performance, helped to disclose the role of biologically-based personality traits in psychomotor performance. The implication of these findings for selecting pilots is discussed.

Genomic-Enabled Prediction of Ordinal Data with Bayesian Logistic Ordinal Regression.

PubMed

Montesinos-López, Osval A; Montesinos-López, Abelardo; Crossa, José; Burgueño, Juan; Eskridge, Kent

2015-08-18

Most genomic-enabled prediction models developed so far assume that the response variable is continuous and normally distributed. The exception is the probit model, developed for ordered categorical phenotypes. In statistical applications, because of the easy implementation of the Bayesian probit ordinal regression (BPOR) model, Bayesian logistic ordinal regression (BLOR) is implemented rarely in the context of genomic-enabled prediction [sample size (n) is much smaller than the number of parameters (p)]. For this reason, in this paper we propose a BLOR model using the Pólya-Gamma data augmentation approach that produces a Gibbs sampler with similar full conditional distributions of the BPOR model and with the advantage that the BPOR model is a particular case of the BLOR model. We evaluated the proposed model by using simulation and two real data sets. Results indicate that our BLOR model is a good alternative for analyzing ordinal data in the context of genomic-enabled prediction with the probit or logit link. Copyright © 2015 Montesinos-López et al.

Factor Models for Ordinal Variables With Covariate Effects on the Manifest and Latent Variables: A Comparison of LISREL and IRT Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moustaki, Irini; Joreskog, Karl G.; Mavridis, Dimitris

2004-01-01

We consider a general type of model for analyzing ordinal variables with covariate effects and 2 approaches for analyzing data for such models, the item response theory (IRT) approach and the PRELIS-LISREL (PLA) approach. We compare these 2 approaches on the basis of 2 examples, 1 involving only covariate effects directly on the ordinal variables…

Legislations combating counterfeit drugs in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Lai, C W; Chan, W K

2013-08-01

To understand legislation combating counterfeit drugs in Hong Kong. This study consisted of two parts. In part I, counterfeit drugs–related ordinances and court cases were reviewed. In part II, indepth interviews of the stakeholders were described. Hong Kong. All Hong Kong ordinances were screened manually to identify those combating counterfeit drugs. Court cases were searched for each of the identified cases. Then, the relevant judgement justifications were analysed to identify sentencing issues. Indepth interviews with the stakeholders were conducted to understand their perceptions about such legislation. Trade Marks Ordinance, Patents Ordinance, Trade Descriptions Ordinance, and Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance were current legislative items combating counterfeit drugs. Sentencing criteria depended on: intention to deceive, quantity of seized drugs, presence of expected therapeutic effect or toxic ingredients, previous criminal records, cooperativeness with Customs officers, honest confessions, pleas of guilty, types of drugs, and precautionary measures to prevent sale of counterfeit drugs. Stakeholders’ perceptions were explored with respect to legislation regarding the scale and significance of the counterfeit drug problem, penalties and deterrents, drug-specific legislation and authority, and inspections and enforcement. To plug the loopholes, a specific law with heavy penalties should be adopted. This could be supplemented by non-legal measures like education of judges, lawyers, and the public; publishing the names of offending pharmacies; and emphasising the role of pharmacists to the public.

Care co-ordination for older people in the third sector: scoping the evidence.

PubMed

Abendstern, Michele; Hughes, Jane; Jasper, Rowan; Sutcliffe, Caroline; Challis, David

2018-05-01

The third sector has played a significant role internationally in the delivery of adult social care services for many years. Its contribution to care co-ordination activities for older people, however, in England and elsewhere, is relatively unknown. A scoping review was therefore conducted to ascertain the character of the literature, the nature and extent of third sector care co-ordination activity, and to identify evidence gaps. It was undertaken between autumn 2013 and summer 2014 and updated with additional searches in 2016. Electronic and manual searches of international literature using distinct terms for different approaches to care co-ordination were undertaken. From a total of 835 papers, 26 met inclusion criteria. Data were organised in relation to care co-ordination approaches, types of third sector organisation and care recipients. Papers were predominantly from the UK and published this century. Key findings included that: a minority of literature focused specifically on older people and that those doing so described only one care co-ordination approach; third sector services tended to be associated with independence and person-centred practice; and working with the statutory sector, a prerequisite of care co-ordination, was challenging and required a range of features to be in place to support effective partnerships. Strengths and weaknesses of care co-ordination practice in the third sector according to key stakeholder groups were also highlighted. Areas for future research included the need for: a specific focus on older people's experiences; an investigation of workforce issues; detailed examination of third sector practices, outcomes and costs; interactions with the statutory sector; and an examination of quality assurance systems and their appropriateness to third sector practice. The main implication of the findings is a need to nurture variety within the third sector in order to provide older people and other adults with the range of service options desired. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Thick-target transmission method for excitation functions of interaction cross sections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aikawa, M.; Ebata, S.; Imai, S.

2016-09-01

We propose a method, called as thick-target transmission (T3) method, to obtain an excitation function of interaction cross sections. In an ordinal experiment to measure the excitation function of interaction cross sections by the transmission method, we need to change the beam energy for each cross section. In the T3 method, the excitation function is derived from the beam attenuations measured at the targets of different thicknesses without changing the beam energy. The advantage of the T3 method is the simplicity and availability for radioactive beams. To confirm the availability, we perform a simulation for the 12C + 27Al system with the PHITS code instead of actual experiments. Our results have large uncertainties but well reproduce the tendency of the experimental data.

The finite element model for the propagation of light in scattering media: a direct method for domains with nonscattering regions.

PubMed

Arridge, S R; Dehghani, H; Schweiger, M; Okada, E

2000-01-01

We present a method for handling nonscattering regions within diffusing domains. The method develops from an iterative radiosity-diffusion approach using Green's functions that was computationally slow. Here we present an improved implementation using a finite element method (FEM) that is direct. The fundamental idea is to introduce extra equations into the standard diffusion FEM to represent nondiffusive light propagation across a nonscattering region. By appropriate mesh node ordering the computational time is not much greater than for diffusion alone. We compare results from this method with those from a discrete ordinate transport code, and with Monte Carlo calculations. The agreement is very good, and, in addition, our scheme allows us to easily model time-dependent and frequency domain problems.

Progress in Dark Sky Protection in Southern Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, Richard F.; Allen, L.; Alvarez Del Castillo, E. M.; Brocious, D. K.; Corbally, C. J.; Davis, D. R.; Falco, E. E.; Gabor, P.; Hall, J. C.; Jannuzi, B.; Larson, S. M.; Mighell, K. J.; Nance, C.; Shankland, P. D.; Walker, C. E.; Williams, G.; Zaritsky, D. F.

2014-01-01

Arizona has many observatories dedicated to scientific research and a rapidly growing population. Continuous interaction with governmental entities and education of the public are required to take advantage of the good intentions of lighting control ordinances in place around the state. We give several recent examples of active engagement of observatories: * Interaction of Mt. Graham International Observatory with the State prison and major copper mine. * Interaction of Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, acting on behalf of MMT Observatory and Steward Observatory, with the US Forest Service on the prospects of developing the Rosemont Copper Mine * Defense of the Outdoor Lighting and Sign Codes in Pima County and the City of Tucson * Coordinated observatory approach to statewide issues, including the establishment of radial zones of protection from LED billboards around observatory sites.

An Interrupted Time Series Analysis of the State College Nuisance Property Ordinance and an Assessment of Rental Property Managers as Place Manager/Intimate Handler of Offender

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koehle, Gregory M.

2011-01-01

This research involves a legal impact study of the State College Nuisance Property Ordinance and an assessment of State College Rental Property Managers in the role of place manager/intimate handler of offender. The impact of the Ordinance was assessed by employing an interrupted time series design which examined five years of pre-ordinance…

Continuous Coordination Tools and their Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarma, Anita; Al-Ani, Ban; Trainer, Erik; Silva Filho, Roberto S.; da Silva, Isabella A.; Redmiles, David; van der Hoek, André

This chapter discusses a set of co-ordination tools (the Continuous Co-ordination (CC) tool suite that includes Ariadne, Workspace Activity Viewer (WAV), Lighthouse, Palantír, and YANCEES) and details of our evaluation framework for these tools. Specifically, we discuss how we assessed the usefulness and the usability of these tools within the context of a predefined evaluation framework called DESMETDESMET . For example, for visualization tools we evaluated the suitability of the level of abstraction and the mode of displaying information of each tool. Whereas for an infrastructure tool we evaluate the effort required to implement co-ordination tools based on the given tool. We conclude with pointers on factors to consider when evaluating co-ordination tools in general.

GIS insulation co-ordination: On-site tests and dielectric diagnostic techniques, a utility point of view

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

Sabot, A.; Petit, A.; Taillebois, J.P.

1996-07-01

This paper summarizes the Electricite de France experience with insulation co-ordination of GIS. After a review of the insulation co-ordination practice mainly dealing with fast front overvoltage and the one minute AC test, some results of the on-site test procedure applied since 30 years are presented and related to the insulation co-ordination practice. The in-service return of experience dealing with dielectric failures is analyzed then the dielectric diagnostic techniques now available are briefly presented with their possibilities and limitations. According to this survey, the expectations of EDF from these diagnostic techniques as well as the new on-site test and on-linemore » monitoring tendencies at EDF are presented.« less

Review of Hybrid (Deterministic/Monte Carlo) Radiation Transport Methods, Codes, and Applications at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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

Wagner, John C; Peplow, Douglas E.; Mosher, Scott W

2010-01-01

This paper provides a review of the hybrid (Monte Carlo/deterministic) radiation transport methods and codes used at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and examples of their application for increasing the efficiency of real-world, fixed-source Monte Carlo analyses. The two principal hybrid methods are (1) Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (CADIS) for optimization of a localized detector (tally) region (e.g., flux, dose, or reaction rate at a particular location) and (2) Forward Weighted CADIS (FW-CADIS) for optimizing distributions (e.g., mesh tallies over all or part of the problem space) or multiple localized detector regions (e.g., simultaneous optimization of two or moremore » localized tally regions). The two methods have been implemented and automated in both the MAVRIC sequence of SCALE 6 and ADVANTG, a code that works with the MCNP code. As implemented, the methods utilize the results of approximate, fast-running 3-D discrete ordinates transport calculations (with the Denovo code) to generate consistent space- and energy-dependent source and transport (weight windows) biasing parameters. These methods and codes have been applied to many relevant and challenging problems, including calculations of PWR ex-core thermal detector response, dose rates throughout an entire PWR facility, site boundary dose from arrays of commercial spent fuel storage casks, radiation fields for criticality accident alarm system placement, and detector response for special nuclear material detection scenarios and nuclear well-logging tools. Substantial computational speed-ups, generally O(10{sup 2-4}), have been realized for all applications to date. This paper provides a brief review of the methods, their implementation, results of their application, and current development activities, as well as a considerable list of references for readers seeking more information about the methods and/or their applications.« less

Radiative Transfer Modeling of a Large Pool Fire by Discrete Ordinates, Discrete Transfer, Ray Tracing, Monte Carlo and Moment Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jensen, K. A.; Ripoll, J.-F.; Wray, A. A.; Joseph, D.; ElHafi, M.

2004-01-01

Five computational methods for solution of the radiative transfer equation in an absorbing-emitting and non-scattering gray medium were compared on a 2 m JP-8 pool fire. The temperature and absorption coefficient fields were taken from a synthetic fire due to the lack of a complete set of experimental data for fires of this size. These quantities were generated by a code that has been shown to agree well with the limited quantity of relevant data in the literature. Reference solutions to the governing equation were determined using the Monte Carlo method and a ray tracing scheme with high angular resolution. Solutions using the discrete transfer method, the discrete ordinate method (DOM) with both S(sub 4) and LC(sub 11) quadratures, and moment model using the M(sub 1) closure were compared to the reference solutions in both isotropic and anisotropic regions of the computational domain. DOM LC(sub 11) is shown to be the more accurate than the commonly used S(sub 4) quadrature technique, especially in anisotropic regions of the fire domain. This represents the first study where the M(sub 1) method was applied to a combustion problem occurring in a complex three-dimensional geometry. The M(sub 1) results agree well with other solution techniques, which is encouraging for future applications to similar problems since it is computationally the least expensive solution technique. Moreover, M(sub 1) results are comparable to DOM S(sub 4).

Spritzgießen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bürkle, Erwin; Ammer, Daniel; Würtele, Martin

Kunststoffe zu spritzgießen ist eine der fortschrittlichsten Verarbeitungstechnologien. Durch Spritzgießen, ein Verfahren der Urformtechnik werden Formteile in der Regel mit komplexer Geometrie vollautomatisch hergestellt. Ausgehend vom Verfahrensablauf werden Thermoplaste, Duroplaste oder Kautschuk in einer Spritzgießmaschine aus dem Feststoffzustand heraus aufgeschmolzen, in einen formgebenden Hohlraum (Werkzeug) eingespritzt, dort verdichtet, abgekühlt oder zur Reaktion gebracht und dann als Formteil aus dem Werkzeug ausgeworfen. Etwa 60 % aller Kunststoffverarbeitungsmaschinen sind Spritzgießmaschinen (Abb. 26.1). Auf ihnen werden Formteile mit sehr niedrigen Massen im mg-Bereich bis hin zu großen Massen in zwei - z. T. sogar auch dreistelligen kg-Bereich hergestellt. Der Prozess des Spritzgießens nutzt in idealer Weise das besondere physikalische Verhalten der Kunststoffe. In einem verhältnismäßig einfachen Prozess werden durch Erwärmen des Kunststoffes und der nachfolgenden Formgebung im Schmelzezustand mit abschließender Abkühlung in einem formgebenden Werkzeug direkt gebrauchsfertige Formteile hergestellt [1, 31].

Preventing homicide: an evaluation of the efficacy of a Detroit gun ordinance.

PubMed Central

O'Carroll, P W; Loftin, C; Waller, J B; McDowall, D; Bukoff, A; Scott, R O; Mercy, J A; Wiersema, B

1991-01-01

BACKGROUND: In November 1986, a Detroit, Michigan city ordinance requiring mandatory jail sentences for illegally carrying a firearm in public was passed to preserve "the public peace, health, safety, and welfare of the people." METHODS: We conducted a set of interrupted time-series analyses to evaluate the impact of the law on the incidence of homicides, hypothesizing that the ordinance, by its nature, would affect only firearm homicides and homicides committed outside (e.g., on the street). RESULTS: The incidence of homicide in general increased after the law was passed, but the increases in non-firearm homicides and homicides committed inside (e.g., in a home) were either statistically significant or approached statistical significance (p = .006 and p = .070, respectively), whereas changes in the incidence of firearm homicides and homicides committed outside were not statistically significant (p = .238 and p = .418, respectively). We also determined that the ordinance was essentially unenforced, apparently because of a critical shortage of jail space. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are consistent with a model in which the ordinance had a dampening effect on firearm homicides occurring in public in Detroit. The apparent preventive effect evident in the time series analyses may have been due to publicity about the ordinance, whereas the small nature of the effect may have been due to the lack of enforcement. PMID:2014857

Restaurant volatility and the Iowa City, Iowa, smoke-free restaurant ordinance.

PubMed

Sheffer, Megan A; Squier, Christopher A; Gilmore, Gary D

2013-01-01

To determine the economic impact of the Iowa City, Iowa, smoke-free restaurant ordinance (IC-SFRO) using an immediate and novel approach. In this retrospective study, food permit licensure served as the measure to assess the IC-SFRO impact. The Iowa City experience provided an excellent experimental setting, as the ordinance was enacted March 1, 2002, and repealed May 7, 2003, because of preemption. The city of Coralville served as a natural control, as it is contiguous to Iowa City, has similar population demographics, and has never enacted a smoke-free restaurant ordinance. Food permit licensure data for all Iowa City and Coralville restaurants were obtained from the Johnson County Health Department. Differences in restaurant volatility were assessed using Fisher's exact probability test. The number of restaurants increased in both Iowa City and Coralville throughout the ordinance period. The ratio of the total number of restaurants in Iowa City to the total number of restaurants in the Iowa City-Coralville metropolitan area remained stable. The proportion of restaurants for each city did not differ significantly during the preordinance, ordinance, and postordinance periods. The IC-SFRO did not adversely impact the restaurant industry in terms of restaurant closures. The Iowa legislature was urged to draft evidence-based legislation, such as amending preemption of the IC-SFRO, to protect and promote the health of its communities.

The impact of ordinate scaling on the visual analysis of single-case data.

PubMed

Dart, Evan H; Radley, Keith C

2017-08-01

Visual analysis is the primary method for detecting the presence of treatment effects in graphically displayed single-case data and it is often referred to as the "gold standard." Although researchers have developed standards for the application of visual analysis (e.g., Horner et al., 2005), over- and underestimation of effect size magnitude is not uncommon among analysts. Several characteristics have been identified as potential contributors to these errors; however, researchers have largely focused on characteristics of the data itself (e.g., autocorrelation), paying less attention to characteristics of the graphic display which are largely in control of the analyst (e.g., ordinate scaling). The current study investigated the impact that differences in ordinate scaling, a graphic display characteristic, had on experts' accuracy in judgments regarding the magnitude of effect present in single-case percentage data. 32 participants were asked to evaluate eight ABAB data sets (2 each presenting null, small, moderate, and large effects) along with three iterations of each (32 graphs in total) in which only the ordinate scale was manipulated. Results suggest that raters are less accurate in their detection of treatment effects as the ordinate scale is constricted. Additionally, raters were more likely to overestimate the size of a treatment effect when the ordinate scale was constricted. Copyright © 2017 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimation of the latent mediated effect with ordinal data using the limited-information and Bayesian full-information approaches.

PubMed

Chen, Jinsong; Zhang, Dake; Choi, Jaehwa

2015-12-01

It is common to encounter latent variables with ordinal data in social or behavioral research. Although a mediated effect of latent variables (latent mediated effect, or LME) with ordinal data may appear to be a straightforward combination of LME with continuous data and latent variables with ordinal data, the methodological challenges to combine the two are not trivial. This research covers model structures as complex as LME and formulates both point and interval estimates of LME for ordinal data using the Bayesian full-information approach. We also combine weighted least squares (WLS) estimation with the bias-corrected bootstrapping (BCB; Efron Journal of the American Statistical Association, 82, 171-185, 1987) method or the traditional delta method as the limited-information approach. We evaluated the viability of these different approaches across various conditions through simulation studies, and provide an empirical example to illustrate the approaches. We found that the Bayesian approach with reasonably informative priors is preferred when both point and interval estimates are of interest and the sample size is 200 or above.

A model for regulation of mammalian ribosomal DNA transcription. Co-ordination of initiation and termination.

PubMed Central

Nashimoto, M; Mishima, Y

1988-01-01

Based on recent experimental data about transcription initiation and termination, a model for regulation of mammalian ribosomal DNA transcription is developed using a simple kinetic scheme. In this model, the existence of the transition pathway from the terminator to the promoter increases the rate of ribosomal RNA precursor synthesis. In addition to this 'non-transcribed spacer' traverse of RNA polymerase I, the co-ordination of initiation and termination allows a rapid on/off switch transition from the minimum to the maximum rate of ribosomal RNA precursor synthesis. Furthermore, taking account of the participation of two factors in the termination event, we propose a plausible molecular mechanism for the co-ordination of initiation and termination. This co-ordination is emphasized by repetition of the terminator unit. PMID:3223915

MONET: multidimensional radiative cloud scene model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chervet, Patrick

1999-12-01

All cloud fields exhibit variable structures (bulge) and heterogeneities in water distributions. With the development of multidimensional radiative models by the atmospheric community, it is now possible to describe horizontal heterogeneities of the cloud medium, to study these influences on radiative quantities. We have developed a complete radiative cloud scene generator, called MONET (French acronym for: MOdelisation des Nuages En Tridim.) to compute radiative cloud scene from visible to infrared wavelengths for various viewing and solar conditions, different spatial scales, and various locations on the Earth. MONET is composed of two parts: a cloud medium generator (CSSM -- Cloud Scene Simulation Model) developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, and a multidimensional radiative code (SHDOM -- Spherical Harmonic Discrete Ordinate Method) developed at the University of Colorado by Evans. MONET computes images for several scenario defined by user inputs: date, location, viewing angles, wavelength, spatial resolution, meteorological conditions (atmospheric profiles, cloud types)... For the same cloud scene, we can output different viewing conditions, or/and various wavelengths. Shadowing effects on clouds or grounds are taken into account. This code is useful to study heterogeneity effects on satellite data for various cloud types and spatial resolutions, and to determine specifications of new imaging sensor.

A Kinetics Model for KrF Laser Amplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giuliani, J. L.; Kepple, P.; Lehmberg, R.; Obenschain, S. P.; Petrov, G.

1999-11-01

A computer kinetics code has been developed to model the temporal and spatial behavior of an e-beam pumped KrF laser amplifier. The deposition of the primary beam electrons is assumed to be spatially uniform and the energy distribution function of the nascent electron population is calculated to be near Maxwellian below 10 eV. For an initial Kr/Ar/F2 composition, the code calculates the densities of 24 species subject to over 100 reactions with 1-D spatial resolution (typically 16 zones) along the longitudinal lasing axis. Enthalpy accounting for each process is performed to partition the energy into internal, thermal, and radiative components. The electron as well as the heavy particle temperatures are followed for energy conservation and excitation rates. Transport of the lasing photons is performed along the axis on a dense subgrid using the method of characteristics. Amplified spontaneous emission is calculated using a discrete ordinates approach and includes contributions to the local intensity from the whole amplifier volume. Specular reflection off side walls and the rear mirror are included. Results of the model will be compared with data from the NRL NIKE laser and other published results.

A Procedure for Extending Input Selection Algorithms to Low Quality Data in Modelling Problems with Application to the Automatic Grading of Uploaded Assignments

PubMed Central

Otero, José; Palacios, Ana; Suárez, Rosario; Junco, Luis

2014-01-01

When selecting relevant inputs in modeling problems with low quality data, the ranking of the most informative inputs is also uncertain. In this paper, this issue is addressed through a new procedure that allows the extending of different crisp feature selection algorithms to vague data. The partial knowledge about the ordinal of each feature is modelled by means of a possibility distribution, and a ranking is hereby applied to sort these distributions. It will be shown that this technique makes the most use of the available information in some vague datasets. The approach is demonstrated in a real-world application. In the context of massive online computer science courses, methods are sought for automatically providing the student with a qualification through code metrics. Feature selection methods are used to find the metrics involved in the most meaningful predictions. In this study, 800 source code files, collected and revised by the authors in classroom Computer Science lectures taught between 2013 and 2014, are analyzed with the proposed technique, and the most relevant metrics for the automatic grading task are discussed. PMID:25114967

Numerically modelling the large scale coronal magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panja, Mayukh; Nandi, Dibyendu

2016-07-01

The solar corona spews out vast amounts of magnetized plasma into the heliosphere which has a direct impact on the Earth's magnetosphere. Thus it is important that we develop an understanding of the dynamics of the solar corona. With our present technology it has not been possible to generate 3D magnetic maps of the solar corona; this warrants the use of numerical simulations to study the coronal magnetic field. A very popular method of doing this, is to extrapolate the photospheric magnetic field using NLFF or PFSS codes. However the extrapolations at different time intervals are completely independent of each other and do not capture the temporal evolution of magnetic fields. On the other hand full MHD simulations of the global coronal field, apart from being computationally very expensive would be physically less transparent, owing to the large number of free parameters that are typically used in such codes. This brings us to the Magneto-frictional model which is relatively simpler and computationally more economic. We have developed a Magnetofrictional Model, in 3D spherical polar co-ordinates to study the large scale global coronal field. Here we present studies of changing connectivities between active regions, in response to photospheric motions.

Numerical investigations of low-density nozzle flow by solving the Boltzmann equation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deng, Zheng-Tao; Liaw, Goang-Shin; Chou, Lynn Chen

1995-01-01

A two-dimensional finite-difference code to solve the BGK-Boltzmann equation has been developed. The solution procedure consists of three steps: (1) transforming the BGK-Boltzmann equation into two simultaneous partial differential equations by taking moments of the distribution function with respect to the molecular velocity u(sub z), with weighting factors 1 and u(sub z)(sup 2); (2) solving the transformed equations in the physical space based on the time-marching technique and the four-stage Runge-Kutta time integration, for a given discrete-ordinate. The Roe's second-order upwind difference scheme is used to discretize the convective terms and the collision terms are treated as source terms; and (3) using the newly calculated distribution functions at each point in the physical space to calculate the macroscopic flow parameters by the modified Gaussian quadrature formula. Repeating steps 2 and 3, the time-marching procedure stops when the convergent criteria is reached. A low-density nozzle flow field has been calculated by this newly developed code. The BGK Boltzmann solution and experimental data show excellent agreement. It demonstrated that numerical solutions of the BGK-Boltzmann equation are ready to be experimentally validated.

Ordinal convolutional neural networks for predicting RDoC positive valence psychiatric symptom severity scores.

PubMed

Rios, Anthony; Kavuluru, Ramakanth

2017-11-01

The CEGS N-GRID 2016 Shared Task in Clinical Natural Language Processing (NLP) provided a set of 1000 neuropsychiatric notes to participants as part of a competition to predict psychiatric symptom severity scores. This paper summarizes our methods, results, and experiences based on our participation in the second track of the shared task. Classical methods of text classification usually fall into one of three problem types: binary, multi-class, and multi-label classification. In this effort, we study ordinal regression problems with text data where misclassifications are penalized differently based on how far apart the ground truth and model predictions are on the ordinal scale. Specifically, we present our entries (methods and results) in the N-GRID shared task in predicting research domain criteria (RDoC) positive valence ordinal symptom severity scores (absent, mild, moderate, and severe) from psychiatric notes. We propose a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) model designed to handle ordinal regression tasks on psychiatric notes. Broadly speaking, our model combines an ordinal loss function, a CNN, and conventional feature engineering (wide features) into a single model which is learned end-to-end. Given interpretability is an important concern with nonlinear models, we apply a recent approach called locally interpretable model-agnostic explanation (LIME) to identify important words that lead to instance specific predictions. Our best model entered into the shared task placed third among 24 teams and scored a macro mean absolute error (MMAE) based normalized score (100·(1-MMAE)) of 83.86. Since the competition, we improved our score (using basic ensembling) to 85.55, comparable with the winning shared task entry. Applying LIME to model predictions, we demonstrate the feasibility of instance specific prediction interpretation by identifying words that led to a particular decision. In this paper, we present a method that successfully uses wide features and an ordinal loss function applied to convolutional neural networks for ordinal text classification specifically in predicting psychiatric symptom severity scores. Our approach leads to excellent performance on the N-GRID shared task and is also amenable to interpretability using existing model-agnostic approaches. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Underage alcohol policies across 50 California cities: an assessment of best practices

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background We pursue two primary goals in this article: (1) to test a methodology and develop a dataset on U.S. local-level alcohol policy ordinances, and (2) to evaluate the presence, comprehensiveness, and stringency of eight local alcohol policies in 50 diverse California cities in relationship to recommended best practices in both public health literature and governmental recommendations to reduce underage drinking. Methods Following best practice recommendations from a wide array of authoritative sources, we selected eight local alcohol policy topics (e.g., conditional use permits, responsible beverage service training, social host ordinances, window/billboard advertising ordinances), and determined the presence or absence as well as the stringency (restrictiveness) and comprehensiveness (number of provisions) of each ordinance in each of the 50 cities in 2009. Following the alcohol policy literature, we created scores for each city on each type of ordinance and its associated components. We used these data to evaluate the extent to which recommendations for best practices to reduce underage alcohol use are being followed. Results (1) Compiling datasets of local-level alcohol policy laws and their comprehensiveness and stringency is achievable, even absent comprehensive, on-line, or other legal research tools. (2) We find that, with some exceptions, most of the 50 cities do not have high scores for presence, comprehensiveness, or stringency across the eight key policies. Critical policies such as responsible beverage service and deemed approved ordinances are uncommon, and, when present, they are generally neither comprehensive nor stringent. Even within policies that have higher adoption rates, central elements are missing across many or most cities’ ordinances. Conclusion This study demonstrates the viability of original legal data collection in the U.S. pertaining to local ordinances and of creating quantitative scores for each policy type to reflect comprehensiveness and stringency. Analysis of the resulting dataset reveals that, although the 50 cities have taken important steps to improve public health with regard to underage alcohol use and abuse, there is a great deal more that needs to be done to bring these cities into compliance with best practice recommendations. PMID:22734468

Experimental evaluation of boron neutron capture therapy of human breast carcinoma implanted on nude mice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bose, Satya Ranjan

2000-06-01

An in-pool small animal irradiation neutron tube (SAINT) facility was designed, constructed and installed at the University of Virginia Nuclear Research Reactor (UVAR). Thermal neutron flux profiles were measured by foil activation analysis (gold) and verified with DORT and MCNP computer code models. The gamma-ray absorbed dose in the neutron-gamma mixed field was determined from TLD measurements. The SAINT thermal neutron flux was used to investigate the well characterized human breast cancer cell line MCF-7B on both in-vitro samples and in- vivo animal subjects. Boronophenylalanine (BPA enriched in 95% 10B) was used as a neutron capturing agent. The in-vitro response of MCF-7B human breast carcinoma cells to BPA in a mixed field of neutron-gamma radiation or pure 60Co gamma radiation was investigated. The best result (lowest surviving fraction) was observed in cell cultures pre-incubated with BPA and given the neutron irradiation. The least effective treatment consisted of 60Co irradiation only. Immunologically deficient nude mice were inoculated subcutaneously with human breast cancer MCF-7B cells and estradiol pellets (to support tumor growth). The tumor volume in the mouse control group increased over time, as expected. The group of mice exposed only to neutron treatment exhibited initial tumor volume reduction lasting until 35 days following the treatment, followed by renewed tumor growth. Both groups given BPA plus neutron treatment showed continuous reduction in tumor volume over the 55-day observation period. The group given the higher BPA concentration showed the best tumor reduction response. The results on both in-vitro and in-vivo studies showed increased cell killing with BPA, substantiating the incorporation of BPA into the tumor or cell line. Therefore, BNCT may be a possible choice for the treatment of human breast carcinoma. However, prior to the initiation of any clinical studies, it is necessary to determine the therapeutic efficacy in a large animal model.

Ordinal Position, Sex of Sibling, Sex, and Personal Preferences in a Group of Eighteen Year Olds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oberlander, Mark I.; And Others

1970-01-01

Investigates three hypotheses derived from previous research, that different ordinal position groups manifest differential personal preference patterns, as measured by the Kuder Preference Record. (Author)

Ordinal regression models to describe tourist satisfaction with Sintra's world heritage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mouriño, Helena

2013-10-01

In Tourism Research, ordinal regression models are becoming a very powerful tool in modelling the relationship between an ordinal response variable and a set of explanatory variables. In August and September 2010, we conducted a pioneering Tourist Survey in Sintra, Portugal. The data were obtained by face-to-face interviews at the entrances of the Palaces and Parks of Sintra. The work developed in this paper focus on two main points: tourists' perception of the entrance fees; overall level of satisfaction with this heritage site. For attaining these goals, ordinal regression models were developed. We concluded that tourist's nationality was the only significant variable to describe the perception of the admission fees. Also, Sintra's image among tourists depends not only on their nationality, but also on previous knowledge about Sintra's World Heritage status.

Modeling Personalized Email Prioritization: Classification-based and Regression-based Approaches

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

Yoo S.; Yang, Y.; Carbonell, J.

2011-10-24

Email overload, even after spam filtering, presents a serious productivity challenge for busy professionals and executives. One solution is automated prioritization of incoming emails to ensure the most important are read and processed quickly, while others are processed later as/if time permits in declining priority levels. This paper presents a study of machine learning approaches to email prioritization into discrete levels, comparing ordinal regression versus classier cascades. Given the ordinal nature of discrete email priority levels, SVM ordinal regression would be expected to perform well, but surprisingly a cascade of SVM classifiers significantly outperforms ordinal regression for email prioritization. Inmore » contrast, SVM regression performs well -- better than classifiers -- on selected UCI data sets. This unexpected performance inversion is analyzed and results are presented, providing core functionality for email prioritization systems.« less

Infants' development of object permanence: a refined methodology and new evidence of Piaget's hypothesized ordinality.

PubMed

Kramer, J A; Hill, K T; Cohen, L B

1975-03-01

To investigate Piaget's theory of object concept development, a series of 6 tasks was administered in a combined longitudinal/cross-sectional design incorporating a number of methodological controls. The tasks spanned the entire sensorimotor period and included single versus sequential displacements combined with visible or invisible hidings. 36 infants from 5 to 32 months of age at initial testing were drawn equally from day-care and home settings. All infants received the 6 tasks during each of 3 testing sessions over a 6-month period. Clear evidence was obtained for task ordinality as proposed by Piaget, with ordinality coefficients ranging from .71 to .82 for the 3 testing sessions. Performance changes across the 3 sessions were also ordinal in 80% of the cases. Expected age, task, and session effects and accompanying interactions were also obtained.

Multiple Ordinal Regression by Maximizing the Sum of Margins

PubMed Central

Hamsici, Onur C.; Martinez, Aleix M.

2016-01-01

Human preferences are usually measured using ordinal variables. A system whose goal is to estimate the preferences of humans and their underlying decision mechanisms requires to learn the ordering of any given sample set. We consider the solution of this ordinal regression problem using a Support Vector Machine algorithm. Specifically, the goal is to learn a set of classifiers with common direction vectors and different biases correctly separating the ordered classes. Current algorithms are either required to solve a quadratic optimization problem, which is computationally expensive, or are based on maximizing the minimum margin (i.e., a fixed margin strategy) between a set of hyperplanes, which biases the solution to the closest margin. Another drawback of these strategies is that they are limited to order the classes using a single ranking variable (e.g., perceived length). In this paper, we define a multiple ordinal regression algorithm based on maximizing the sum of the margins between every consecutive class with respect to one or more rankings (e.g., perceived length and weight). We provide derivations of an efficient, easy-to-implement iterative solution using a Sequential Minimal Optimization procedure. We demonstrate the accuracy of our solutions in several datasets. In addition, we provide a key application of our algorithms in estimating human subjects’ ordinal classification of attribute associations to object categories. We show that these ordinal associations perform better than the binary one typically employed in the literature. PMID:26529784

Lanthanide co-ordination frameworks: Opportunities and diversity

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

Hill, Robert J.; Long, De-Liang; Hubberstey, Peter

2005-08-15

Significant successes have been made over recent years in preparing co-ordination framework polymers that show macroscopic material properties, but in the vast majority of cases this has been achieved with d-block metal-based systems. Lanthanide co-ordination frameworks also offer attractive properties in terms of their potential applications as luminescent, non-linear optical and porous materials. However, lanthanide-based systems have been far less studied to date than their d-block counterparts. One possible reason for this is that the co-ordination spheres of lanthanide cations are more difficult to control and, in the absence of design strategies for lanthanide co-ordination frameworks, it is significantly moremore » difficult to target materials with specific properties. However, this article highlights some of the exciting possibilities that have emerged from the earliest investigations in this field with new topological families of compounds being discovered from relatively simple framework components, including unusual eight, seven and five-connected framework systems. Our own research, as well as others, is leading to a much greater appreciation of the factors that control framework formation and the resultant observed topologies of these polymers. As this understanding develops targeting particular framework types will become more straightforward and the development of designed polyfunctional materials more accessible. Thus, it can be seen that lanthanide co-ordination frameworks have the potential to open up previously unexplored directions for materials chemistry. This article focuses on the underlying concepts for the construction of these enticing and potentially highly important materials.« less

Active Solution Space and Search on Job-shop Scheduling Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watanabe, Masato; Ida, Kenichi; Gen, Mitsuo

In this paper we propose a new searching method of Genetic Algorithm for Job-shop scheduling problem (JSP). The coding method that represent job number in order to decide a priority to arrange a job to Gannt Chart (called the ordinal representation with a priority) in JSP, an active schedule is created by using left shift. We define an active solution at first. It is solution which can create an active schedule without using left shift, and set of its defined an active solution space. Next, we propose an algorithm named Genetic Algorithm with active solution space search (GA-asol) which can create an active solution while solution is evaluated, in order to search the active solution space effectively. We applied it for some benchmark problems to compare with other method. The experimental results show good performance.

Functional impact of splice isoform diversity in individual cells

PubMed Central

Yap, Karen; Makeyev, Eugene V.

2016-01-01

Alternative pre-mRNA splicing provides an effective means for expanding coding capacity of eukaryotic genomes. Recent studies suggest that co-expression of different splice isoforms may increase diversity of RNAs and proteins at a single-cell level. A pertinent question in the field is whether such co-expression is biologically meaningful or, rather, represents insufficiently stringent splicing regulation. Here we argue that isoform co-expression may produce functional outcomes that are difficult and sometimes impossible to achieve using other regulation strategies. Far from being a ‘splicing noise’, co-expression is often established through co-ordinated activity of specific cis-elements and trans-acting factors. Further work in this area may uncover new biological functions of alternative splicing (AS) and generate important insights into mechanisms allowing different cell types to attain their unique molecular identities. PMID:27528755

Functional impact of splice isoform diversity in individual cells.

PubMed

Yap, Karen; Makeyev, Eugene V

2016-08-15

Alternative pre-mRNA splicing provides an effective means for expanding coding capacity of eukaryotic genomes. Recent studies suggest that co-expression of different splice isoforms may increase diversity of RNAs and proteins at a single-cell level. A pertinent question in the field is whether such co-expression is biologically meaningful or, rather, represents insufficiently stringent splicing regulation. Here we argue that isoform co-expression may produce functional outcomes that are difficult and sometimes impossible to achieve using other regulation strategies. Far from being a 'splicing noise', co-expression is often established through co-ordinated activity of specific cis-elements and trans-acting factors. Further work in this area may uncover new biological functions of alternative splicing (AS) and generate important insights into mechanisms allowing different cell types to attain their unique molecular identities. © 2016 The Author(s).

Measured and calculated fast neutron spectra in a depleted uranium and lithium hydride shielded reactor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lahti, G. P.; Mueller, R. A.

1973-01-01

Measurements of MeV neutron were made at the surface of a lithium hydride and depleted uranium shielded reactor. Four shield configurations were considered: these were assembled progressively with cylindrical shells of 5-centimeter-thick depleted uranium, 13-centimeter-thick lithium hydride, 5-centimeter-thick depleted uranium, 13-centimeter-thick lithium hydride, 5-centimeter-thick depleted uranium, and 3-centimeter-thick depleted uranium. Measurements were made with a NE-218 scintillation spectrometer; proton pulse height distributions were differentiated to obtain neutron spectra. Calculations were made using the two-dimensional discrete ordinates code DOT and ENDF/B (version 3) cross sections. Good agreement between measured and calculated spectral shape was observed. Absolute measured and calculated fluxes were within 50 percent of one another; observed discrepancies in absolute flux may be due to cross section errors.

EMA assessment of tongue-jaw co-ordination during speech in dysarthria following traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Bartle, Carly J; Goozée, Justine V; Scott, Dion; Murdoch, Bruce E; Kuruvilla, Mili

2006-05-01

To investigate the spatio-timing aspects of tongue-jaw co-ordination during speech in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). It was hypothesized that both timing and spatial co-ordination would be affected by TBI. A group comparison design wherein Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to compare non-neurologically impaired individuals with individuals with TBI. Nine non-neurologically impaired adults and nine adults with TBI were involved in the study. Electromagnetic articulography (EMA) was used to track tongue and jaw movement during /t/ and /k/, embedded in sentence and syllable stimuli. Analysis of group data did not reveal a significant difference in spatio-timing tongue-jaw co-ordination between the control group and TBI group. On an individual basis, a proportion of individuals with TBI differed from non-neurologically impaired participants with regard to articulatory order and percentage of jaw contribution to /t/. EMA assessment results supported perceptual data; those adults who presented with severe articulatory disturbances exhibited the most deviant spatio-timing tongue-jaw co-ordination patterns. This finding could provide a new and specific direction for treatment, directed at combined movement patterns.

No association of smoke-free ordinances with profits from bingo and charitable games in Massachusetts.

PubMed

Glantz, S A; Wilson-Loots, R

2003-12-01

Because it is widely played, claims that smoking restrictions will adversely affect bingo games is used as an argument against these policies. We used publicly available data from Massachusetts to assess the impact of 100% smoke-free ordinances on profits from bingo and other gambling sponsored by charitable organisations between 1985 and 2001. We conducted two analyses: (1) a general linear model implementation of a time series analysis with net profits (adjusted to 2001 dollars) as the dependent variable, and community (as a fixed effect), year, lagged net profits, and the length of time the ordinance had been in force as the independent variables; (2) multiple linear regression of total state profits against time, lagged profits, and the percentage of the entire state population in communities that allow charitable gaming but prohibit smoking. The general linear model analysis of data from individual communities showed that, while adjusted profits fell over time, this effect was not related to the presence of an ordinance. The analysis in terms of the fraction of the population living in communities with ordinances yielded the same result. Policymakers can implement smoke-free policies without concern that these policies will affect charitable gaming.

Radiation shielding quality assurance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Um, Dallsun

For the radiation shielding quality assurance, the validity and reliability of the neutron transport code MCNP, which is now one of the most widely used radiation shielding analysis codes, were checked with lot of benchmark experiments. And also as a practical example, follows were performed in this thesis. One integral neutron transport experiment to measure the effect of neutron streaming in iron and void was performed with Dog-Legged Void Assembly in Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in 1991. Neutron flux was measured six different places with the methane detectors and a BF-3 detector. The main purpose of the measurements was to provide benchmark against which various neutron transport calculation tools could be compared. Those data were used in verification of Monte Carlo Neutron & Photon Transport Code, MCNP, with the modeling for that. Experimental results and calculation results were compared in both ways, as the total integrated value of neutron fluxes along neutron energy range from 10 KeV to 2 MeV and as the neutron spectrum along with neutron energy range. Both results are well matched with the statistical error +/-20%. MCNP results were also compared with those of TORT, a three dimensional discrete ordinates code which was developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. MCNP results are superior to the TORT results at all detector places except one. This means that MCNP is proved as a very powerful tool for the analysis of neutron transport through iron & air and further it could be used as a powerful tool for the radiation shielding analysis. For one application of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to neutron and gamma transport problems, uncertainties for the calculated values of critical K were evaluated as in the ANOVA on statistical data.

The effect of small variations in profile of airfoils

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ward, Kenneth E

1931-01-01

This report deals with the effect of small variations in ordinates specified by different laboratories for the airfoil section. This study was made in connection with a more general investigation of the effect of small irregularities of the airfoil surface on the aerodynamic characteristics of an airfoil. These tests show that small changes in airfoil contours, resulting from variations in the specified ordinates, have a sufficiently large effect upon the airfoil characteristics to justify the taking of great care in the specification of ordinates for the construction of models.

Effective communication and teamwork promotes patient safety.

PubMed

Gluyas, Heather

2015-08-05

Teamwork requires co-operation, co-ordination and communication between members of a team to achieve desired outcomes. In industries with a high degree of risk, such as health care, effective teamwork has been shown to achieve team goals successfully and efficiently, with fewer errors. This article introduces behaviours that support communication, co-operation and co-ordination in teams. The central role of communication in enabling co-operation and co-ordination is explored. A human factors perspective is used to examine tools to improve communication and identify barriers to effective team communication in health care.

Guidelines and incentives for conservation development in local land-use regulations.

PubMed

Reed, Sarah E; Hilty, Jodi A; Theobald, David M

2014-02-01

Effective conservation of biological diversity on private lands will require changes in land-use policy and development practice. Conservation development (CD) is an alternative form of residential development in which homes are built on smaller lots and clustered together and the remainder of the property is permanently protected for conservation purposes. We assessed the degree to which CD is permitted and encouraged by local land-use regulations in 414 counties in the western United States. Thirty-two percent of local planning jurisdictions have adopted CD ordinances, mostly within the past 10 years. CD ordinances were adopted in counties with human population densities that were 3.0 times greater and in counties with 2.5 times more land use at urban, suburban, and exurban densities than counties without CD ordinances. Despite strong economic incentives for CD (e.g., density bonuses, which allow for a mean of 66% more homes to be built per subdivision area), several issues may limit the effectiveness of CD for biological diversity conservation. Although most CD ordinances required a greater proportion of the site area be protected than in a typical residential development, just 13% (n = 17) of the ordinances required an ecological site analysis to identify and map features that should be protected. Few CD ordinances provided guidelines regarding the design and configuration of the protected lands, including specifying a minimum size for protected land parcels or encouraging contiguity with other protected lands within or near to the site. Eight percent (n =11) of CD ordinances encouraged consultation with a biological expert or compliance with a conservation plan. We recommend that conservation scientists help to improve the effectiveness of CD by educating planning staff and government officials regarding biological diversity conservation, volunteering for their local planning boards, or consulting on development reviews. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

DIE BEWERTUNG VON OZONREAKTOREN

EPA Science Inventory

Evaluation of Ozone Reactors
The use of lake water as drinking water resource involves a multistage treatment procedure. Food-related laws and regulations, in particular the food ordinance and the hygiene ordinance, require the identification and assessment of health risks, ...

47 CFR 73.186 - Establishment of effective field at one kilometer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... coordinate paper, plot field strengths as ordinate and distance as abscissa. (ii) Using semi-log coordinate paper, plot field strength times distance as ordinate on the log scale and distance as abscissa on the...

Dissimilarity measure based on ordinal pattern for physiological signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jing; Shang, Pengjian; Shi, Wenbin; Cui, Xingran

2016-08-01

Complex physiologic signals may carry information of their underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we introduce a dissimilarity measure to capture the features of underlying dynamics from various types of physiologic signals based on rank order statistics of ordinal patterns. Simulated 1/f noise and white noise are used to evaluate the effect of data length, embedding dimension and time delay on this measure. We then apply this measure to different physiologic signals. The method can successfully characterize the unique underlying patterns of subjects at similar physiologic states. It can also serve as a good discriminative tool for the healthy young, healthy elderly, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrilation and white noise groups. Furthermore, when investigated into the details of underlying ordinal patterns for each group, it is found that the distributions of ordinal patterns varies significantly for healthy and pathologic states, as well as aging.

Transcripts of sulphur metabolic genes are co-ordinately regulated in developing seeds of common bean lacking phaseolin and major lectins

PubMed Central

Marsolais, Frédéric

2012-01-01

The lack of phaseolin and phytohaemagglutinin in common bean (dry bean, Phaseolus vulgaris) is associated with an increase in total cysteine and methionine concentrations by 70% and 10%, respectively, mainly at the expense of an abundant non-protein amino acid, S-methyl-cysteine. Transcripts were profiled between two genetically related lines differing for this trait at four stages of seed development using a high density microarray designed for common bean. Transcripts of multiple sulphur-rich proteins were elevated, several previously identified by proteomics, including legumin, basic 7S globulin, albumin-2, defensin, albumin-1, the Bowman–Birk type proteinase inhibitor, the double-headed trypsin inhibitor, and the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor. A co-ordinated regulation of transcripts coding for sulphate transporters, sulphate assimilatory enzymes, serine acetyltransferases, cystathionine β-lyase, homocysteine S-methyltransferase and methionine gamma-lyase was associated with changes in cysteine and methionine concentrations. Differential gene expression of sulphur-rich proteins preceded that of sulphur metabolic enzymes, suggesting a regulation by demand from the protein sink. Up-regulation of SERAT1;1 and -1;2 expression revealed an activation of cytosolic O-acetylserine biosynthesis. Down-regulation of SERAT2;1 suggested that cysteine and S-methyl-cysteine biosynthesis may be spatially separated in different subcellular compartments. Analysis of free amino acid profiles indicated that enhanced cysteine biosynthesis was correlated with a depletion of O-acetylserine. These results contribute to our understanding of the regulation of sulphur metabolism in developing seed in response to a change in the composition of endogenous proteins. PMID:23066144

Transcripts of sulphur metabolic genes are co-ordinately regulated in developing seeds of common bean lacking phaseolin and major lectins.

PubMed

Liao, Dengqun; Pajak, Agnieszka; Karcz, Steven R; Chapman, B Patrick; Sharpe, Andrew G; Austin, Ryan S; Datla, Raju; Dhaubhadel, Sangeeta; Marsolais, Frédéric

2012-10-01

The lack of phaseolin and phytohaemagglutinin in common bean (dry bean, Phaseolus vulgaris) is associated with an increase in total cysteine and methionine concentrations by 70% and 10%, respectively, mainly at the expense of an abundant non-protein amino acid, S-methyl-cysteine. Transcripts were profiled between two genetically related lines differing for this trait at four stages of seed development using a high density microarray designed for common bean. Transcripts of multiple sulphur-rich proteins were elevated, several previously identified by proteomics, including legumin, basic 7S globulin, albumin-2, defensin, albumin-1, the Bowman-Birk type proteinase inhibitor, the double-headed trypsin inhibitor, and the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor. A co-ordinated regulation of transcripts coding for sulphate transporters, sulphate assimilatory enzymes, serine acetyltransferases, cystathionine β-lyase, homocysteine S-methyltransferase and methionine gamma-lyase was associated with changes in cysteine and methionine concentrations. Differential gene expression of sulphur-rich proteins preceded that of sulphur metabolic enzymes, suggesting a regulation by demand from the protein sink. Up-regulation of SERAT1;1 and -1;2 expression revealed an activation of cytosolic O-acetylserine biosynthesis. Down-regulation of SERAT2;1 suggested that cysteine and S-methyl-cysteine biosynthesis may be spatially separated in different subcellular compartments. Analysis of free amino acid profiles indicated that enhanced cysteine biosynthesis was correlated with a depletion of O-acetylserine. These results contribute to our understanding of the regulation of sulphur metabolism in developing seed in response to a change in the composition of endogenous proteins.

Accelerated solution of discrete ordinates approximation to the Boltzmann transport equation via model reduction

DOE PAGES

Tencer, John; Carlberg, Kevin; Larsen, Marvin; ...

2017-06-17

Radiation heat transfer is an important phenomenon in many physical systems of practical interest. When participating media is important, the radiative transfer equation (RTE) must be solved for the radiative intensity as a function of location, time, direction, and wavelength. In many heat-transfer applications, a quasi-steady assumption is valid, thereby removing time dependence. The dependence on wavelength is often treated through a weighted sum of gray gases (WSGG) approach. The discrete ordinates method (DOM) is one of the most common methods for approximating the angular (i.e., directional) dependence. The DOM exactly solves for the radiative intensity for a finite numbermore » of discrete ordinate directions and computes approximations to integrals over the angular space using a quadrature rule; the chosen ordinate directions correspond to the nodes of this quadrature rule. This paper applies a projection-based model-reduction approach to make high-order quadrature computationally feasible for the DOM for purely absorbing applications. First, the proposed approach constructs a reduced basis from (high-fidelity) solutions of the radiative intensity computed at a relatively small number of ordinate directions. Then, the method computes inexpensive approximations of the radiative intensity at the (remaining) quadrature points of a high-order quadrature using a reduced-order model constructed from the reduced basis. Finally, this results in a much more accurate solution than might have been achieved using only the ordinate directions used to compute the reduced basis. One- and three-dimensional test problems highlight the efficiency of the proposed method.« less

Bayesian inference for joint modelling of longitudinal continuous, binary and ordinal events.

PubMed

Li, Qiuju; Pan, Jianxin; Belcher, John

2016-12-01

In medical studies, repeated measurements of continuous, binary and ordinal outcomes are routinely collected from the same patient. Instead of modelling each outcome separately, in this study we propose to jointly model the trivariate longitudinal responses, so as to take account of the inherent association between the different outcomes and thus improve statistical inferences. This work is motivated by a large cohort study in the North West of England, involving trivariate responses from each patient: Body Mass Index, Depression (Yes/No) ascertained with cut-off score not less than 8 at the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Pain Interference generated from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short-form health survey with values returned on an ordinal scale 1-5. There are some well-established methods for combined continuous and binary, or even continuous and ordinal responses, but little work was done on the joint analysis of continuous, binary and ordinal responses. We propose conditional joint random-effects models, which take into account the inherent association between the continuous, binary and ordinal outcomes. Bayesian analysis methods are used to make statistical inferences. Simulation studies show that, by jointly modelling the trivariate outcomes, standard deviations of the estimates of parameters in the models are smaller and much more stable, leading to more efficient parameter estimates and reliable statistical inferences. In the real data analysis, the proposed joint analysis yields a much smaller deviance information criterion value than the separate analysis, and shows other good statistical properties too. © The Author(s) 2014.

Accelerated solution of discrete ordinates approximation to the Boltzmann transport equation via model reduction

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

Tencer, John; Carlberg, Kevin; Larsen, Marvin

Radiation heat transfer is an important phenomenon in many physical systems of practical interest. When participating media is important, the radiative transfer equation (RTE) must be solved for the radiative intensity as a function of location, time, direction, and wavelength. In many heat-transfer applications, a quasi-steady assumption is valid, thereby removing time dependence. The dependence on wavelength is often treated through a weighted sum of gray gases (WSGG) approach. The discrete ordinates method (DOM) is one of the most common methods for approximating the angular (i.e., directional) dependence. The DOM exactly solves for the radiative intensity for a finite numbermore » of discrete ordinate directions and computes approximations to integrals over the angular space using a quadrature rule; the chosen ordinate directions correspond to the nodes of this quadrature rule. This paper applies a projection-based model-reduction approach to make high-order quadrature computationally feasible for the DOM for purely absorbing applications. First, the proposed approach constructs a reduced basis from (high-fidelity) solutions of the radiative intensity computed at a relatively small number of ordinate directions. Then, the method computes inexpensive approximations of the radiative intensity at the (remaining) quadrature points of a high-order quadrature using a reduced-order model constructed from the reduced basis. Finally, this results in a much more accurate solution than might have been achieved using only the ordinate directions used to compute the reduced basis. One- and three-dimensional test problems highlight the efficiency of the proposed method.« less

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

PubMed

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

2018-05-10

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

77 FR 4720 - Appeal Proceedings Before the Commission

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-31

... ordinance disapprovals, management contract approvals and disapprovals, appeals before a presiding official... governs appeals of ordinance actions; part 539 addresses appeals of management contract actions; and part... management contract. The Commission believes that consolidating all appellate procedures in a new subchapter...

78 FR 49283 - Chicken Ranch Rancheria-Chicken Ranch Liquor Licensing Ordinance, Ordinance No. 12-10-03

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-13

... obtained by the fermentation of any infusion of decoction of barley, malt, hops, or any other similar... from the normal alcoholic fermentation of the juice of the grapes or other agricultural products...

78 FR 15970 - Cedarville Rancheria-Liquor Licensing Ordinance of the Cedarville Rancheria, Ordinance No. 2012-05

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-13

.... Beer means any alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of any infusion or decoction of barley... Cedarville Rancheria. 03.150--Wine. Wine means the product obtained from the normal alcoholic fermentation of...

Three-Dimensional Orthogonal Co-ordinates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Astin, J.

1974-01-01

A systematic approach to general orthogonal co-ordinates, suitable for use near the end of a beginning vector analysis course, is presented. It introduces students to tensor quantities and shows how equations and quantities needed in classical problems can be determined. (Author/LS)

Quantitative characterisation of audio data by ordinal symbolic dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aschenbrenner, T.; Monetti, R.; Amigó, J. M.; Bunk, W.

2013-06-01

Ordinal symbolic dynamics has developed into a valuable method to describe complex systems. Recently, using the concept of transcripts, the coupling behaviour of systems was assessed, combining the properties of the symmetric group with information theoretic ideas. In this contribution, methods from the field of ordinal symbolic dynamics are applied to the characterisation of audio data. Coupling complexity between frequency bands of solo violin music, as a fingerprint of the instrument, is used for classification purposes within a support vector machine scheme. Our results suggest that coupling complexity is able to capture essential characteristics, sufficient to distinguish among different violins.

A novel, kinetically stable, catalytically active, all-ferric, nitrite-bound complex of Paracoccus pantotrophus cytochrome cd1.

PubMed Central

Allen, James W A; Higham, Christopher W; Zajicek, Richard S; Watmough, Nicholas J; Ferguson, Stuart J

2002-01-01

The oxidized form of Paracoccus pantotrophus cytochrome cd(1) nitrite reductase, as isolated, has bis-histidinyl co-ordination of the c haem and His/Tyr co-ordination of the d(1) haem. On reduction, the haem co-ordinations change to His/Met and His/vacant respectively. If the latter form of the enzyme is reoxidized, a conformer is generated in which the ferric c haem is His/Met co-ordinated; this can revert to the 'as isolated' state of the enzyme over approx. 20 min at room temperature. However, addition of nitrite to the enzyme after a cycle of reduction and reoxidation produces a kinetically stable, all-ferric complex with nitrite bound to the d(1) haem and His/Met co-ordination of the c haem. This complex is catalytically active with the physiological electron donor protein pseudoazurin. The effective dissociation constant for nitrite is 2 mM. Evidence is presented that d(1) haem is optimized to bind nitrite, as opposed to other anions that are commonly good ligands to ferric haem. The all-ferric nitrite bound state of the enzyme could not be generated stoichiometrically by mixing nitrite with the 'as isolated' conformer of cytochrome cd(1) without redox cycling. PMID:12086580

No association of smoke-free ordinances with profits from bingo and charitable games in Massachusetts

PubMed Central

Glantz, S; Wilson-Loots, R

2003-01-01

Background: Because it is widely played, claims that smoking restrictions will adversely affect bingo games is used as an argument against these policies. We used publicly available data from Massachusetts to assess the impact of 100% smoke-free ordinances on profits from bingo and other gambling sponsored by charitable organisations between 1985 and 2001. Methods: We conducted two analyses: (1) a general linear model implementation of a time series analysis with net profits (adjusted to 2001 dollars) as the dependent variable, and community (as a fixed effect), year, lagged net profits, and the length of time the ordinance had been in force as the independent variables; (2) multiple linear regression of total state profits against time, lagged profits, and the percentage of the entire state population in communities that allow charitable gaming but prohibit smoking. Results: The general linear model analysis of data from individual communities showed that, while adjusted profits fell over time, this effect was not related to the presence of an ordinance. The analysis in terms of the fraction of the population living in communities with ordinances yielded the same result. Conclusion: Policymakers can implement smoke-free policies without concern that these policies will affect charitable gaming. PMID:14660778

Optimizing the maximum reported cluster size in the spatial scan statistic for ordinal data.

PubMed

Kim, Sehwi; Jung, Inkyung

2017-01-01

The spatial scan statistic is an important tool for spatial cluster detection. There have been numerous studies on scanning window shapes. However, little research has been done on the maximum scanning window size or maximum reported cluster size. Recently, Han et al. proposed to use the Gini coefficient to optimize the maximum reported cluster size. However, the method has been developed and evaluated only for the Poisson model. We adopt the Gini coefficient to be applicable to the spatial scan statistic for ordinal data to determine the optimal maximum reported cluster size. Through a simulation study and application to a real data example, we evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. With some sophisticated modification, the Gini coefficient can be effectively employed for the ordinal model. The Gini coefficient most often picked the optimal maximum reported cluster sizes that were the same as or smaller than the true cluster sizes with very high accuracy. It seems that we can obtain a more refined collection of clusters by using the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient developed specifically for the ordinal model can be useful for optimizing the maximum reported cluster size for ordinal data and helpful for properly and informatively discovering cluster patterns.

Optimizing the maximum reported cluster size in the spatial scan statistic for ordinal data

PubMed Central

Kim, Sehwi

2017-01-01

The spatial scan statistic is an important tool for spatial cluster detection. There have been numerous studies on scanning window shapes. However, little research has been done on the maximum scanning window size or maximum reported cluster size. Recently, Han et al. proposed to use the Gini coefficient to optimize the maximum reported cluster size. However, the method has been developed and evaluated only for the Poisson model. We adopt the Gini coefficient to be applicable to the spatial scan statistic for ordinal data to determine the optimal maximum reported cluster size. Through a simulation study and application to a real data example, we evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. With some sophisticated modification, the Gini coefficient can be effectively employed for the ordinal model. The Gini coefficient most often picked the optimal maximum reported cluster sizes that were the same as or smaller than the true cluster sizes with very high accuracy. It seems that we can obtain a more refined collection of clusters by using the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient developed specifically for the ordinal model can be useful for optimizing the maximum reported cluster size for ordinal data and helpful for properly and informatively discovering cluster patterns. PMID:28753674

A Large Sample Procedure for Testing Coefficients of Ordinal Association: Goodman and Kruskal's Gamma and Somers' d ba and d ab

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Kenneth J.; And Others

1977-01-01

A FORTRAN program, GAMMA, computes Goodman and Kruskal's coefficient of ordinal association, gamma, and Somer's coefficient. The program also provides associated standard errors, standard scores, and probability values. (Author/JKS)

Ordination of breeding birds in relation to environmental gradients in three southeastern United States floodplain forests

Treesearch

James S. Wakeley; Michael P. Guilfoyle; Terry J. Antrobus; Richard A. Fischer; Wylie C. Jr. Barrow; Paul B. Hamel

2007-01-01

We used an ordination approach to identify factors important to the organization of breeding bird communities in three floodplains: Cache River, Arkansas (AR), Iatt Creek, Louisiana '(LA), and the Coosawhatchie River, South Carolina (SC), USA.

49 CFR 397.3 - State and local laws, ordinances, and regulations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY REGULATIONS TRANSPORTATION OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS; DRIVING AND PARKING RULES General § 397.3 State and local laws, ordinances, and regulations. Every motor vehicle containing hazardous materials must be driven...

PROTEUS-SN User Manual

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

Shemon, Emily R.; Smith, Micheal A.; Lee, Changho

2016-02-16

PROTEUS-SN is a three-dimensional, highly scalable, high-fidelity neutron transport code developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The code is applicable to all spectrum reactor transport calculations, particularly those in which a high degree of fidelity is needed either to represent spatial detail or to resolve solution gradients. PROTEUS-SN solves the second order formulation of the transport equation using the continuous Galerkin finite element method in space, the discrete ordinates approximation in angle, and the multigroup approximation in energy. PROTEUS-SN’s parallel methodology permits the efficient decomposition of the problem by both space and angle, permitting large problems to run efficiently on hundredsmore » of thousands of cores. PROTEUS-SN can also be used in serial or on smaller compute clusters (10’s to 100’s of cores) for smaller homogenized problems, although it is generally more computationally expensive than traditional homogenized methodology codes. PROTEUS-SN has been used to model partially homogenized systems, where regions of interest are represented explicitly and other regions are homogenized to reduce the problem size and required computational resources. PROTEUS-SN solves forward and adjoint eigenvalue problems and permits both neutron upscattering and downscattering. An adiabatic kinetics option has recently been included for performing simple time-dependent calculations in addition to standard steady state calculations. PROTEUS-SN handles void and reflective boundary conditions. Multigroup cross sections can be generated externally using the MC2-3 fast reactor multigroup cross section generation code or internally using the cross section application programming interface (API) which can treat the subgroup or resonance table libraries. PROTEUS-SN is written in Fortran 90 and also includes C preprocessor definitions. The code links against the PETSc, METIS, HDF5, and MPICH libraries. It optionally links against the MOAB library and is a part of the SHARP multi-physics suite for coupled multi-physics analysis of nuclear reactors. This user manual describes how to set up a neutron transport simulation with the PROTEUS-SN code. A companion methodology manual describes the theory and algorithms within PROTEUS-SN.« less

Wind Powering America State Outreach. Final Technical Report: Washington State

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

Stearns, Tim

2013-09-30

The Washington Department of Commerce, via a U.S. Department of Energy grant, supported research into siting and permitting processes for wind projects by Skagit County, Washington. The goal was to help a local government understand key issues, consider how other areas have addressed wind siting, and establish a basis for enacting permitting and zoning ordinances that provided a more predictable permitting path and process for landowners, citizens, government and developers of small and community wind projects. The County?s contractor developed a report that looked at various approaches to wind siting, interviewed stakeholders, and examined technology options. The contractor outlined keymore » issues and recommended the adoption of a siting process. The Skagit County Commission considered the report and directed the Skagit County Planning & Development Services Department to add development of wind guidelines to its work plan for potential changes to development codes.« less

Rarefied gas flow through two-dimensional nozzles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

De Witt, Kenneth J.; Jeng, Duen-Ren; Keith, Theo G., Jr.; Chung, Chan-Hong

1989-01-01

A kinetic theory analysis is made of the flow of a rarefied gas from one reservoir to another through two-dimensional nozzles with arbitrary curvature. The Boltzmann equation simplified by a model collision integral is solved by means of finite-difference approximations with the discrete ordinate method. The physical space is transformed by a general grid generation technique and the velocity space is transformed to a polar coordinate system. A numerical code is developed which can be applied to any two-dimensional passage of complicated geometry for the flow regimes from free-molecular to slip. Numerical values of flow quantities can be calculated for the entire physical space including both inside the nozzle and in the outside plume. Predictions are made for the case of parallel slots and compared with existing literature data. Also, results for the cases of convergent or divergent slots and two-dimensional nozzles with arbitrary curvature at arbitrary knudsen number are presented.

Some Remarks on GMRES for Transport Theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patton, Bruce W.; Holloway, James Paul

2003-01-01

We review some work on the application of GMRES to the solution of the discrete ordinates transport equation in one-dimension. We note that GMRES can be applied directly to the angular flux vector, or it can be applied to only a vector of flux moments as needed to compute the scattering operator of the transport equation. In the former case we illustrate both the delights and defects of ILU right-preconditioners for problems with anisotropic scatter and for problems with upscatter. When working with flux moments we note that GMRES can be used as an accelerator for any existing transport code whose solver is based on a stationary fixed-point iteration, including transport sweeps and DSA transport sweeps. We also provide some numerical illustrations of this idea. We finally show how space can be traded for speed by taking multiple transport sweeps per GMRES iteration. Key Words: transport equation, GMRES, Krylov subspace

Adopting a Patient-Centered Approach to Primary Outcome Analysis of Acute Stroke Trials by Use of a Utility-Weighted Modified Rankin Scale

PubMed Central

Chaisinanunkul, Napasri; Adeoye, Opeolu; Lewis, Roger J.; Grotta, James C.; Broderick, Joseph; Jovin, Tudor G.; Nogueira, Raul G.; Elm, Jordan; Graves, Todd; Berry, Scott; Lees, Kennedy R.; Barreto, Andrew D.; Saver, Jeffrey L.

2015-01-01

Background and Purpose Although the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) is the most commonly employed primary endpoint in acute stroke trials, its power is limited when analyzed in dichotomized fashion and its indication of effect size challenging to interpret when analyzed ordinally. Weighting the seven Rankin levels by utilities may improve scale interpretability while preserving statistical power. Methods A utility weighted mRS (UW-mRS) was derived by averaging values from time-tradeoff (patient centered) and person-tradeoff (clinician centered) studies. The UW-mRS, standard ordinal mRS, and dichotomized mRS were applied to 11 trials or meta-analyses of acute stroke treatments, including lytic, endovascular reperfusion, blood pressure moderation, and hemicraniectomy interventions. Results Utility values were: mRS 0–1.0; mRS 1 - 0.91; mRS 2 - 0.76; mRS 3 - 0.65; mRS 4 - 0.33; mRS 5 & 6 - 0. For trials with unidirectional treatment effects, the UW-mRS paralleled the ordinal mRS and outperformed dichotomous mRS analyses. Both the UW-mRS and the ordinal mRS were statistically significant in six of eight unidirectional effect trials, while dichotomous analyses were statistically significant in two to four of eight. In bidirectional effect trials, both the UW-mRS and ordinal tests captured the divergent treatment effects by showing neutral results whereas some dichotomized analyses showed positive results. Mean utility differences in trials with statistically significant positive results ranged from 0.026 to 0.249. Conclusion A utility-weighted mRS performs similarly to the standard ordinal mRS in detecting treatment effects in actual stroke trials and ensures the quantitative outcome is a valid reflection of patient-centered benefits. PMID:26138130

Skyshine at neutron energies less than or equal to 400 MeV

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

Alsmiller, A.G. Jr.; Barish, J.; Childs, R.L.

1980-10-01

The dose equivalent at an air-ground interface as a function of distance from an assumed azimuthally symmetric point source of neutrons can be calculated as a double integral. The integration is over the source strength as a function of energy and polar angle weighted by an importance function that depends on the source variables and on the distance from the source to the filed point. The neutron importance function for a source 15 m above the ground emitting only into the upper hemisphere has been calculated using the two-dimensional discrete ordinates code, DOT, and the first collision source code, GRTUNCL,more » in the adjoint mode. This importance function is presented for neutron energies less than or equal to 400 MeV, for source cosine intervals of 1 to .8, .8 to .6 to .4, .4 to .2 and .2 to 0, and for various distances from the source to the field point. As part of the adjoint calculations a photon importance function is also obtained. This importance function for photon energies less than or equal to 14 MEV and for various source cosine intervals and source-to-field point distances is also presented. These importance functions may be used to obtain skyshine dose equivalent estimates for any known source energy-angle distribution.« less

A novel risk classification system for 30-day mortality in children undergoing surgery

PubMed Central

Walter, Arianne I.; Jones, Tamekia L.; Huang, Eunice Y.; Davis, Robert L.

2018-01-01

A simple, objective and accurate way of grouping children undergoing surgery into clinically relevant risk groups is needed. The purpose of this study, is to develop and validate a preoperative risk classification system for postsurgical 30-day mortality for children undergoing a wide variety of operations. The National Surgical Quality Improvement Project-Pediatric participant use file data for calendar years 2012–2014 was analyzed to determine preoperative variables most associated with death within 30 days of operation (D30). Risk groups were created using classification tree analysis based on these preoperative variables. The resulting risk groups were validated using 2015 data, and applied to neonates and higher risk CPT codes to determine validity in high-risk subpopulations. A five-level risk classification was found to be most accurate. The preoperative need for ventilation, oxygen support, inotropic support, sepsis, the need for emergent surgery and a do not resuscitate order defined non-overlapping groups with observed rates of D30 that vary from 0.075% (Very Low Risk) to 38.6% (Very High Risk). When CPT codes where death was never observed are eliminated or when the system is applied to neonates, the groupings remained predictive of death in an ordinal manner. PMID:29351327

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

Favorite, Jeffrey A.

SENSMG is a tool for computing first-order sensitivities of neutron reaction rates, reaction-rate ratios, leakage, k eff, and α using the PARTISN multigroup discrete-ordinates code. SENSMG computes sensitivities to all of the transport cross sections and data (total, fission, nu, chi, and all scattering moments), two edit cross sections (absorption and capture), and the density for every isotope and energy group. It also computes sensitivities to the mass density for every material and derivatives with respect to all interface locations. The tool can be used for one-dimensional spherical (r) and two-dimensional cylindrical (r-z) geometries. The tool can be used formore » fixed-source and eigenvalue problems. The tool implements Generalized Perturbation Theory (GPT) as discussed by Williams and Stacey. Section II of this report describes the theory behind adjoint-based sensitivities, gives the equations that SENSMG solves, and defines the sensitivities that are output. Section III describes the user interface, including the input file and command line options. Section IV describes the output. Section V gives some notes about the coding that may be of interest. Section VI discusses verification, which is ongoing. Section VII lists needs and ideas for future work. Appendix A lists all of the input files whose results are presented in Sec. VI.« less

Functional differentiation of macaque visual temporal cortical neurons using a parametric action space.

PubMed

Vangeneugden, Joris; Pollick, Frank; Vogels, Rufin

2009-03-01

Neurons in the rostral superior temporal sulcus (STS) are responsive to displays of body movements. We employed a parametric action space to determine how similarities among actions are represented by visual temporal neurons and how form and motion information contributes to their responses. The stimulus space consisted of a stick-plus-point-light figure performing arm actions and their blends. Multidimensional scaling showed that the responses of temporal neurons represented the ordinal similarity between these actions. Further tests distinguished neurons responding equally strongly to static presentations and to actions ("snapshot" neurons), from those responding much less strongly to static presentations, but responding well when motion was present ("motion" neurons). The "motion" neurons were predominantly found in the upper bank/fundus of the STS, and "snapshot" neurons in the lower bank of the STS and inferior temporal convexity. Most "motion" neurons showed strong response modulation during the course of an action, thus responding to action kinematics. "Motion" neurons displayed a greater average selectivity for these simple arm actions than did "snapshot" neurons. We suggest that the "motion" neurons code for visual kinematics, whereas the "snapshot" neurons code for form/posture, and that both can contribute to action recognition, in agreement with computation models of action recognition.

Multiprocessing MCNP on an IBM RS/6000 cluster

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

McKinney, G.W.; West, J.T.

1993-01-01

The advent of high-performance computer systems has brought to maturity programming concepts like vectorization, multiprocessing, and multitasking. While there are many schools of thought as to the most significant factor in obtaining order-of-magnitude increases in performance, such speedup can only be achieved by integrating the computer system and application code. Vectorization leads to faster manipulation of arrays by overlapping instruction CPU cycles. Discrete ordinates codes, which require the solving of large matrices, have proved to be major benefactors of vectorization. Monte Carlo transport, on the other hand, typically contains numerous logic statements and requires extensive redevelopment to benefit from vectorization.more » Multiprocessing and multitasking provide additional CPU cycles via multiple processors. Such systems are generally designed with either common memory access (multitasking) or distributed memory access. In both cases, theoretical speedup, as a function of the number of processors (P) and the fraction of task time that multiprocesses (f), can be formulated using Amdahl's Law S ((f,P) = 1 f + f/P). However, for most applications this theoretical limit cannot be achieved, due to additional terms not included in Amdahl's Law. Monte Carlo transport is a natural candidate for multiprocessing, since the particle tracks are generally independent and the precision of the result increases as the square root of the number of particles tracked.« less

Development of an atmospheric infrared radiation model with high clouds for target detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bellisario, Christophe; Malherbe, Claire; Schweitzer, Caroline; Stein, Karin

2016-10-01

In the field of target detection, the simulation of the camera FOV (field of view) background is a significant issue. The presence of heterogeneous clouds might have a strong impact on a target detection algorithm. In order to address this issue, we present here the construction of the CERAMIC package (Cloudy Environment for RAdiance and MIcrophysics Computation) that combines cloud microphysical computation and 3D radiance computation to produce a 3D atmospheric infrared radiance in attendance of clouds. The input of CERAMIC starts with an observer with a spatial position and a defined FOV (by the mean of a zenithal angle and an azimuthal angle). We introduce a 3D cloud generator provided by the French LaMP for statistical and simplified physics. The cloud generator is implemented with atmospheric profiles including heterogeneity factor for 3D fluctuations. CERAMIC also includes a cloud database from the French CNRM for a physical approach. We present here some statistics developed about the spatial and time evolution of the clouds. Molecular optical properties are provided by the model MATISSE (Modélisation Avancée de la Terre pour l'Imagerie et la Simulation des Scènes et de leur Environnement). The 3D radiance is computed with the model LUCI (for LUminance de CIrrus). It takes into account 3D microphysics with a resolution of 5 cm-1 over a SWIR bandwidth. In order to have a fast computation time, most of the radiance contributors are calculated with analytical expressions. The multiple scattering phenomena are more difficult to model. Here a discrete ordinate method with correlated-K precision to compute the average radiance is used. We add a 3D fluctuations model (based on a behavioral model) taking into account microphysics variations. In fine, the following parameters are calculated: transmission, thermal radiance, single scattering radiance, radiance observed through the cloud and multiple scattering radiance. Spatial images are produced, with a dimension of 10 km x 10 km and a resolution of 0.1 km with each contribution of the radiance separated. We present here the first results with examples of a typical scenarii. A 1D comparison in results is made with the use of the MATISSE model by separating each radiance calculated, in order to validate outputs. The code performance in 3D is shown by comparing LUCI to SHDOM model, referency code which uses the Spherical Harmonic Discrete Ordinate Method for 3D Atmospheric Radiative Transfer model. The results obtained by the different codes present a strong agreement and the sources of small differences are considered. An important gain in time is observed for LUCI versus SHDOM. We finally conclude on various scenarios for case analysis.

Ordinal logistic regression analysis on the nutritional status of children in KarangKitri village

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohyver, Margaretha; Yongharto, Kimmy Octavian

2015-09-01

Ordinal logistic regression is a statistical technique that can be used to describe the relationship between ordinal response variable with one or more independent variables. This method has been used in various fields including in the health field. In this research, ordinal logistic regression is used to describe the relationship between nutritional status of children with age, gender, height, and family status. Nutritional status of children in this research is divided into over nutrition, well nutrition, less nutrition, and malnutrition. The purpose for this research is to describe the characteristics of children in the KarangKitri Village and to determine the factors that influence the nutritional status of children in the KarangKitri village. There are three things that obtained from this research. First, there are still children who are not categorized as well nutritional status. Second, there are children who come from sufficient economic level which include in not normal status. Third, the factors that affect the nutritional level of children are age, family status, and height.

Causal mediation analysis with a binary outcome and multiple continuous or ordinal mediators: Simulations and application to an alcohol intervention.

PubMed

Nguyen, Trang Quynh; Webb-Vargas, Yenny; Koning, Ina M; Stuart, Elizabeth A

We investigate a method to estimate the combined effect of multiple continuous/ordinal mediators on a binary outcome: 1) fit a structural equation model with probit link for the outcome and identity/probit link for continuous/ordinal mediators, 2) predict potential outcome probabilities, and 3) compute natural direct and indirect effects. Step 2 involves rescaling the latent continuous variable underlying the outcome to address residual mediator variance/covariance. We evaluate the estimation of risk-difference- and risk-ratio-based effects (RDs, RRs) using the ML, WLSMV and Bayes estimators in Mplus. Across most variations in path-coefficient and mediator-residual-correlation signs and strengths, and confounding situations investigated, the method performs well with all estimators, but favors ML/WLSMV for RDs with continuous mediators, and Bayes for RRs with ordinal mediators. Bayes outperforms WLSMV/ML regardless of mediator type when estimating RRs with small potential outcome probabilities and in two other special cases. An adolescent alcohol prevention study is used for illustration.

Normal co-ordinate analysis of 1, 8-dibromooctane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Devinder; Jaggi, Neena; Singh, Nafa

2010-02-01

The organic compound 1,8-dibromooctane (1,8-DBO) exists in liquid phase at ambient temperatures and has versatile synthetic applications. In its liquid phase 1,8-DBO has been expected to exist in four most probable conformations, with all its carbon atoms in the same plane, having symmetries C 2h , C i , C 2 and C 1 . In the present study a detailed vibrational analysis in terms of assignment of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman bands of this molecule using normal co-ordinate calculations has been done. A systematic set of symmetry co-ordinates has been constructed for this molecule and normal co-ordinate analysis is carried out using the computer program MOLVIB. The force-field transferred from already studied lower chain bromo-alkanes is subjected to refinement so as to fit the observed infrared and Raman frequencies with those of calculated ones. The potential energy distribution (PED) has also been calculated for each mode of vibration of the molecule for the assumed conformations.

PRIM versus CART in subgroup discovery: when patience is harmful.

PubMed

Abu-Hanna, Ameen; Nannings, Barry; Dongelmans, Dave; Hasman, Arie

2010-10-01

We systematically compare the established algorithms CART (Classification and Regression Trees) and PRIM (Patient Rule Induction Method) in a subgroup discovery task on a large real-world high-dimensional clinical database. Contrary to current conjectures, PRIM's performance was generally inferior to CART's. PRIM often considered "peeling of" a large chunk of data at a value of a relevant discrete ordinal variable unattractive, ultimately missing an important subgroup. This finding has considerable significance in clinical medicine where ordinal scores are ubiquitous. PRIM's utility in clinical databases would increase when global information about (ordinal) variables is better put to use and when the search algorithm keeps track of alternative solutions.

Discrete ordinates-Monte Carlo coupling: A comparison of techniques in NERVA radiation analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindstrom, D. G.; Normand, E.; Wilcox, A. D.

1972-01-01

In the radiation analysis of the NERVA nuclear rocket system, two-dimensional discrete ordinates calculations are sufficient to provide detail in the pressure vessel and reactor assembly. Other parts of the system, however, require three-dimensional Monte Carlo analyses. To use these two methods in a single analysis, a means of coupling was developed whereby the results of a discrete ordinates calculation can be used to produce source data for a Monte Carlo calculation. Several techniques for producing source detail were investigated. Results of calculations on the NERVA system are compared and limitations and advantages of the coupling techniques discussed.

Ordinal pattern statistics for the assessment of heart rate variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graff, G.; Graff, B.; Kaczkowska, A.; Makowiec, D.; Amigó, J. M.; Piskorski, J.; Narkiewicz, K.; Guzik, P.

2013-06-01

The recognition of all main features of a healthy heart rhythm (the so-called sinus rhythm) is still one of the biggest challenges in contemporary cardiology. Recently the interesting physiological phenomenon of heart rate asymmetry has been observed. This phenomenon is related to unbalanced contributions of heart rate decelerations and accelerations to heart rate variability. In this paper we apply methods based on the concept of ordinal pattern to the analysis of electrocardiograms (inter-peak intervals) of healthy subjects in the supine position. This way we observe new regularities of the heart rhythm related to the distribution of ordinal patterns of lengths 3 and 4.

Graphical Models for Ordinal Data

PubMed Central

Guo, Jian; Levina, Elizaveta; Michailidis, George; Zhu, Ji

2014-01-01

A graphical model for ordinal variables is considered, where it is assumed that the data are generated by discretizing the marginal distributions of a latent multivariate Gaussian distribution. The relationships between these ordinal variables are then described by the underlying Gaussian graphical model and can be inferred by estimating the corresponding concentration matrix. Direct estimation of the model is computationally expensive, but an approximate EM-like algorithm is developed to provide an accurate estimate of the parameters at a fraction of the computational cost. Numerical evidence based on simulation studies shows the strong performance of the algorithm, which is also illustrated on data sets on movie ratings and an educational survey. PMID:26120267

77 FR 5183 - Review and Approval of Existing Ordinances or Resolutions; Repeal

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-02

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Indian Gaming Commission 25 CFR Part 523 RIN 3141-AA45 Review and Approval of Existing Ordinances or Resolutions; Repeal AGENCY: National Indian Gaming Commission. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The National Indian Gaming Commission is repealing obsolete regulations...

32 CFR 510.1 - Private ministrations, sacraments, and ordinances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Private ministrations, sacraments, and ordinances. 510.1 Section 510.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAPLAINS § 510.1 Private ministrations, sacraments, and...

Evaluation of a county enforcement program with a primary seat belt ordinance : St. Louis County, Missouri.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-05-01

In March 2007, St. Louis County implemented a seat belt ordinance that allowed for traditional : enforcement procedures. In order to increase usage on St. Louis County roads, particularly on roadways : with fatal or disabling injury crashes, the St. ...

76 FR 63236 - Review and Approval of Existing Ordinances or Resolutions

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-12

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Indian Gaming Commission 25 CFR Part 523 RIN 3141-AA45 Review and Approval of Existing Ordinances or Resolutions AGENCY: National Indian Gaming Commission, Interior. ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. SUMMARY: On November 18, 2010, the National Indian Gaming...

32 CFR 510.1 - Private ministrations, sacraments, and ordinances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2012-07-01 2009-07-01 true Private ministrations, sacraments, and ordinances. 510.1 Section 510.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAPLAINS § 510.1 Private ministrations, sacraments, and...

32 CFR 510.1 - Private ministrations, sacraments, and ordinances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Private ministrations, sacraments, and ordinances. 510.1 Section 510.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAPLAINS § 510.1 Private ministrations, sacraments, and...

Leadership: Its Genealogy, Configuration and Trajectory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gronn, Peter

2010-01-01

This article provides a longitudinal analysis of leadership. In the first section of the article, the evidence reviewed indicates how, historically, leadership has been significant in various societal arrangements in the co-ordination of actions for collective purposes. Such co-ordination may also be facilitated through self-organisation, except…

40 CFR 35.2208 - Adoption of sewer use ordinance and user charge system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... works is placed in operation. Further, the grantee shall implement the user charge system and sewer use ordinance for the useful life of the treatment works. ... GRANTS AND OTHER FEDERAL ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works...

[The construction of the "sick-subject" in RSI].

PubMed

Verthein, M A; Minayo-Gomez, C

2000-01-01

There is a running debate over the relationship between work and disease, namely the disease known as repetitive strain injury (RSI), or else work-related osteomuscular disturbances (in Portuguese DORT), as it was renamed in 1997 by the Instituto Nacional de Seguridade Social (INSS) in accordance with the Disability Assessment Norms. Standing out among the signs brought about by this new infirmity process is its restricted focus on the subjective aspects in the analysis of the disease. Underlying the INSS stance is the view of a sickness-prone subject and the notion of health as capacity for work. This paper analyzes the historical context which characterizes these health/work and body/disease notions. It also discusses the construction of the 'sick-subject' and the way in which such a subjectivizing process entraps the subject itself. Finally, we show the way in which the INSS in Rio de Janeiro has managed to stop this disease of its work-related characteristics, fighting and reducing the occurrences of RSI as well as the costs with work compensation claims.

Zero inflation in ordinal data: Incorporating susceptibility to response through the use of a mixture model

PubMed Central

Kelley, Mary E.; Anderson, Stewart J.

2008-01-01

Summary The aim of the paper is to produce a methodology that will allow users of ordinal scale data to more accurately model the distribution of ordinal outcomes in which some subjects are susceptible to exhibiting the response and some are not (i.e., the dependent variable exhibits zero inflation). This situation occurs with ordinal scales in which there is an anchor that represents the absence of the symptom or activity, such as “none”, “never” or “normal”, and is particularly common when measuring abnormal behavior, symptoms, and side effects. Due to the unusually large number of zeros, traditional statistical tests of association can be non-informative. We propose a mixture model for ordinal data with a built-in probability of non-response that allows modeling of the range (e.g., severity) of the scale, while simultaneously modeling the presence/absence of the symptom. Simulations show that the model is well behaved and a likelihood ratio test can be used to choose between the zero-inflated and the traditional proportional odds model. The model, however, does have minor restrictions on the nature of the covariates that must be satisfied in order for the model to be identifiable. The method is particularly relevant for public health research such as large epidemiological surveys where more careful documentation of the reasons for response may be difficult. PMID:18351711

Bayesian Nonparametric Ordination for the Analysis of Microbial Communities.

PubMed

Ren, Boyu; Bacallado, Sergio; Favaro, Stefano; Holmes, Susan; Trippa, Lorenzo

2017-01-01

Human microbiome studies use sequencing technologies to measure the abundance of bacterial species or Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) in samples of biological material. Typically the data are organized in contingency tables with OTU counts across heterogeneous biological samples. In the microbial ecology community, ordination methods are frequently used to investigate latent factors or clusters that capture and describe variations of OTU counts across biological samples. It remains important to evaluate how uncertainty in estimates of each biological sample's microbial distribution propagates to ordination analyses, including visualization of clusters and projections of biological samples on low dimensional spaces. We propose a Bayesian analysis for dependent distributions to endow frequently used ordinations with estimates of uncertainty. A Bayesian nonparametric prior for dependent normalized random measures is constructed, which is marginally equivalent to the normalized generalized Gamma process, a well-known prior for nonparametric analyses. In our prior, the dependence and similarity between microbial distributions is represented by latent factors that concentrate in a low dimensional space. We use a shrinkage prior to tune the dimensionality of the latent factors. The resulting posterior samples of model parameters can be used to evaluate uncertainty in analyses routinely applied in microbiome studies. Specifically, by combining them with multivariate data analysis techniques we can visualize credible regions in ecological ordination plots. The characteristics of the proposed model are illustrated through a simulation study and applications in two microbiome datasets.

A Detailed Comparison of Multidimensional Boltzmann Neutrino Transport Methods in Core-collapse Supernovae

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

Richers, Sherwood; Nagakura, Hiroki; Ott, Christian D.

The mechanism driving core-collapse supernovae is sensitive to the interplay between matter and neutrino radiation. However, neutrino radiation transport is very difficult to simulate, and several radiation transport methods of varying levels of approximation are available. We carefully compare for the first time in multiple spatial dimensions the discrete ordinates (DO) code of Nagakura, Yamada, and Sumiyoshi and the Monte Carlo (MC) code Sedonu, under the assumptions of a static fluid background, flat spacetime, elastic scattering, and full special relativity. We find remarkably good agreement in all spectral, angular, and fluid interaction quantities, lending confidence to both methods. The DOmore » method excels in determining the heating and cooling rates in the optically thick region. The MC method predicts sharper angular features due to the effectively infinite angular resolution, but struggles to drive down noise in quantities where subtractive cancellation is prevalent, such as the net gain in the protoneutron star and off-diagonal components of the Eddington tensor. We also find that errors in the angular moments of the distribution functions induced by neglecting velocity dependence are subdominant to those from limited momentum-space resolution. We briefly compare directly computed second angular moments to those predicted by popular algebraic two-moment closures, and we find that the errors from the approximate closures are comparable to the difference between the DO and MC methods. Included in this work is an improved Sedonu code, which now implements a fully special relativistic, time-independent version of the grid-agnostic MC random walk approximation.« less

A Detailed Comparison of Multidimensional Boltzmann Neutrino Transport Methods in Core-collapse Supernovae

DOE PAGES

Richers, Sherwood; Nagakura, Hiroki; Ott, Christian D.; ...

2017-10-03

The mechanism driving core-collapse supernovae is sensitive to the interplay between matter and neutrino radiation. However, neutrino radiation transport is very difficult to simulate, and several radiation transport methods of varying levels of approximation are available. In this paper, we carefully compare for the first time in multiple spatial dimensions the discrete ordinates (DO) code of Nagakura, Yamada, and Sumiyoshi and the Monte Carlo (MC) code Sedonu, under the assumptions of a static fluid background, flat spacetime, elastic scattering, and full special relativity. We find remarkably good agreement in all spectral, angular, and fluid interaction quantities, lending confidence to bothmore » methods. The DO method excels in determining the heating and cooling rates in the optically thick region. The MC method predicts sharper angular features due to the effectively infinite angular resolution, but struggles to drive down noise in quantities where subtractive cancellation is prevalent, such as the net gain in the protoneutron star and off-diagonal components of the Eddington tensor. We also find that errors in the angular moments of the distribution functions induced by neglecting velocity dependence are subdominant to those from limited momentum-space resolution. We briefly compare directly computed second angular moments to those predicted by popular algebraic two-moment closures, and we find that the errors from the approximate closures are comparable to the difference between the DO and MC methods. Finally, included in this work is an improved Sedonu code, which now implements a fully special relativistic, time-independent version of the grid-agnostic MC random walk approximation.« less

A Detailed Comparison of Multidimensional Boltzmann Neutrino Transport Methods in Core-collapse Supernovae

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

Richers, Sherwood; Nagakura, Hiroki; Ott, Christian D.

The mechanism driving core-collapse supernovae is sensitive to the interplay between matter and neutrino radiation. However, neutrino radiation transport is very difficult to simulate, and several radiation transport methods of varying levels of approximation are available. In this paper, we carefully compare for the first time in multiple spatial dimensions the discrete ordinates (DO) code of Nagakura, Yamada, and Sumiyoshi and the Monte Carlo (MC) code Sedonu, under the assumptions of a static fluid background, flat spacetime, elastic scattering, and full special relativity. We find remarkably good agreement in all spectral, angular, and fluid interaction quantities, lending confidence to bothmore » methods. The DO method excels in determining the heating and cooling rates in the optically thick region. The MC method predicts sharper angular features due to the effectively infinite angular resolution, but struggles to drive down noise in quantities where subtractive cancellation is prevalent, such as the net gain in the protoneutron star and off-diagonal components of the Eddington tensor. We also find that errors in the angular moments of the distribution functions induced by neglecting velocity dependence are subdominant to those from limited momentum-space resolution. We briefly compare directly computed second angular moments to those predicted by popular algebraic two-moment closures, and we find that the errors from the approximate closures are comparable to the difference between the DO and MC methods. Finally, included in this work is an improved Sedonu code, which now implements a fully special relativistic, time-independent version of the grid-agnostic MC random walk approximation.« less

Can color-coded parametric maps improve dynamic enhancement pattern analysis in MR mammography?

PubMed

Baltzer, P A; Dietzel, M; Vag, T; Beger, S; Freiberg, C; Herzog, A B; Gajda, M; Camara, O; Kaiser, W A

2010-03-01

Post-contrast enhancement characteristics (PEC) are a major criterion for differential diagnosis in MR mammography (MRM). Manual placement of regions of interest (ROIs) to obtain time/signal intensity curves (TSIC) is the standard approach to assess dynamic enhancement data. Computers can automatically calculate the TSIC in every lesion voxel and combine this data to form one color-coded parametric map (CCPM). Thus, the TSIC of the whole lesion can be assessed. This investigation was conducted to compare the diagnostic accuracy (DA) of CCPM with TSIC for the assessment of PEC. 329 consecutive patients with 469 histologically verified lesions were examined. MRM was performed according to a standard protocol (1.5 T, 0.1 mmol/kgbw Gd-DTPA). ROIs were drawn manually within any lesion to calculate the TSIC. CCPMs were created in all patients using dedicated software (CAD Sciences). Both methods were rated by 2 observers in consensus on an ordinal scale. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to compare both methods. The area under the curve (AUC) was significantly (p=0.026) higher for CCPM (0.829) than TSIC (0.749). The sensitivity was 88.5% (CCPM) vs. 82.8% (TSIC), whereas equal specificity levels were found (CCPM: 63.7%, TSIC: 63.0%). The color-coded parametric maps (CCPMs) showed a significantly higher DA compared to TSIC, in particular the sensitivity could be increased. Therefore, the CCPM method is a feasible approach to assessing dynamic data in MRM and condenses several imaging series into one parametric map. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Estimation of the behavior factor of existing RC-MRF buildings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vona, Marco; Mastroberti, Monica

2018-01-01

In recent years, several research groups have studied a new generation of analysis methods for seismic response assessment of existing buildings. Nevertheless, many important developments are still needed in order to define more reliable and effective assessment procedures. Moreover, regarding existing buildings, it should be highlighted that due to the low knowledge level, the linear elastic analysis is the only analysis method allowed. The same codes (such as NTC2008, EC8) consider the linear dynamic analysis with behavior factor as the reference method for the evaluation of seismic demand. This type of analysis is based on a linear-elastic structural model subject to a design spectrum, obtained by reducing the elastic spectrum through a behavior factor. The behavior factor (reduction factor or q factor in some codes) is used to reduce the elastic spectrum ordinate or the forces obtained from a linear analysis in order to take into account the non-linear structural capacities. The behavior factors should be defined based on several parameters that influence the seismic nonlinear capacity, such as mechanical materials characteristics, structural system, irregularity and design procedures. In practical applications, there is still an evident lack of detailed rules and accurate behavior factor values adequate for existing buildings. In this work, some investigations of the seismic capacity of the main existing RC-MRF building types have been carried out. In order to make a correct evaluation of the seismic force demand, actual behavior factor values coherent with force based seismic safety assessment procedure have been proposed and compared with the values reported in the Italian seismic code, NTC08.

[Medicolegal aspects of doping in sports].

PubMed

Pruvost, J; Depiesse, F

2004-08-01

To investigate the medico-legal aspects of national and international procedures for monitoring prescription drug use by competing athletes. We studied the French law No. 99-223 of March 23, 1999, relating to the protection of the health of athletes? We also studied annual statistics from the Ministry of Sports concerning anti-doping controls, substances detected by the National Doping Control Laboratory and penalties applied since 2000, as well as the World Anti-Doping Code, which came into effect on January 1, 2004, and should be universally applied by 2006. Athletes registered with a federation or unregistered athletes taking part in competitions approved by sporting federations can use prescription drugs but must follow strict rules. Athletes under investigation for drug use must declare all drugs or products recently taken. The use of prescription drugs not on the list of the prohibited substances is allowed, but evidence of the use of such drugs is the responsibility of the prescriber. A medical practitioner in France who considers it essential to prescribe prohibited drugs or drugs under certain restrictions must systematically inform the athlete about the regulations by providing various certificates and forms. For international athletes, a form authorizing therapeutic use must be submitted to the validation committee of the applicable international federation. Disciplinary, ordinal and penal sanctions are also described. Prescription drug use by an athlete is never a light matter and always engages the responsibility of the doctor. Anti-doping controls and sanctions encourage physicians to comply scrupulously with the medico-legal rules set forth by the public health code and the world anti-doping code.

Automated Weight-Window Generation for Threat Detection Applications Using ADVANTG

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

Mosher, Scott W; Miller, Thomas Martin; Evans, Thomas M

2009-01-01

Deterministic transport codes have been used for some time to generate weight-window parameters that can improve the efficiency of Monte Carlo simulations. As the use of this hybrid computational technique is becoming more widespread, the scope of applications in which it is being applied is expanding. An active source of new applications is the field of homeland security--particularly the detection of nuclear material threats. For these problems, automated hybrid methods offer an efficient alternative to trial-and-error variance reduction techniques (e.g., geometry splitting or the stochastic weight window generator). The ADVANTG code has been developed to automate the generation of weight-windowmore » parameters for MCNP using the Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling method and employs the TORT or Denovo 3-D discrete ordinates codes to generate importance maps. In this paper, we describe the application of ADVANTG to a set of threat-detection simulations. We present numerical results for an 'active-interrogation' problem in which a standard cargo container is irradiated by a deuterium-tritium fusion neutron generator. We also present results for two passive detection problems in which a cargo container holding a shielded neutron or gamma source is placed near a portal monitor. For the passive detection problems, ADVANTG obtains an O(10{sup 4}) speedup and, for a detailed gamma spectrum tally, an average O(10{sup 2}) speedup relative to implicit-capture-only simulations, including the deterministic calculation time. For the active-interrogation problem, an O(10{sup 4}) speedup is obtained when compared to a simulation with angular source biasing and crude geometry splitting.« less

A Detailed Comparison of Multidimensional Boltzmann Neutrino Transport Methods in Core-collapse Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richers, Sherwood; Nagakura, Hiroki; Ott, Christian D.; Dolence, Joshua; Sumiyoshi, Kohsuke; Yamada, Shoichi

2017-10-01

The mechanism driving core-collapse supernovae is sensitive to the interplay between matter and neutrino radiation. However, neutrino radiation transport is very difficult to simulate, and several radiation transport methods of varying levels of approximation are available. We carefully compare for the first time in multiple spatial dimensions the discrete ordinates (DO) code of Nagakura, Yamada, and Sumiyoshi and the Monte Carlo (MC) code Sedonu, under the assumptions of a static fluid background, flat spacetime, elastic scattering, and full special relativity. We find remarkably good agreement in all spectral, angular, and fluid interaction quantities, lending confidence to both methods. The DO method excels in determining the heating and cooling rates in the optically thick region. The MC method predicts sharper angular features due to the effectively infinite angular resolution, but struggles to drive down noise in quantities where subtractive cancellation is prevalent, such as the net gain in the protoneutron star and off-diagonal components of the Eddington tensor. We also find that errors in the angular moments of the distribution functions induced by neglecting velocity dependence are subdominant to those from limited momentum-space resolution. We briefly compare directly computed second angular moments to those predicted by popular algebraic two-moment closures, and we find that the errors from the approximate closures are comparable to the difference between the DO and MC methods. Included in this work is an improved Sedonu code, which now implements a fully special relativistic, time-independent version of the grid-agnostic MC random walk approximation.

77 FR 34975 - Seminole Nation of Oklahoma-Alcohol Control and Enforcement Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-12

... government and the delivery of tribal services. DATES: Effective Date: This Ordinance is effective 30 days...) 781-4685; Fax: (918) 781-4649: or De Springer, Office of Indian Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs... Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the delivery of important governmental services. Section 704. Application...

Ordination of Woody Vegetation in a Ouachita National Forest Watershed

Treesearch

Denise Marion; George Malanson

2004-01-01

Abstract - Species response to competition and other environmental gradients has important implications for forest ecosystem managers who desire to both maintain diversity and provide a sustained flow of forest goods and services. Woody species on a 140-acre watershed in the Ouachita National Forest are ordinated with detrended correspondence...

25 CFR 522.9 - Substitute approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Substitute approval. 522.9 Section 522.9 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.9 Substitute approval. If the Chairman fails to...

25 CFR 522.3 - Amendment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Amendment. 522.3 Section 522.3 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.3 Amendment. (a) Within 15 days after adoption...

ANOVA with Rasch Measures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linacre, John Michael

Various methods of estimating main effects from ordinal data are presented and contrasted. Problems discussed include: (1) at what level to accumulate ordinal data into linear measures; (2) how to maintain scaling across analyses; and (3) the inevitable confounding of within cell variance with measurement error. An example shows three methods of…

75 FR 32813 - St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin Alcoholic Beverage Control Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-09

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin...: This notice publishes the Secretary's certification of the amended St. Croix Chippewa Indians of... Country. The St. Croix Tribal Council of the adopted this amended Liquor Ordinance on December 3, 2009...

A Composite Likelihood Inference in Latent Variable Models for Ordinal Longitudinal Responses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vasdekis, Vassilis G. S.; Cagnone, Silvia; Moustaki, Irini

2012-01-01

The paper proposes a composite likelihood estimation approach that uses bivariate instead of multivariate marginal probabilities for ordinal longitudinal responses using a latent variable model. The model considers time-dependent latent variables and item-specific random effects to be accountable for the interdependencies of the multivariate…

Signing for the "No Smoking' ordinance in Southern California

Treesearch

William S. Folkman

1966-01-01

Symbolic signs, especially designed to aid enforcement of "no smoking" ordinances, had high visibility and were correctly interpreted by most travelers. Signs with words "NO" and "OK"' were superior to signs without these words. Observation and interpretation of the signs were greater among the younger persons and among those who...

75 FR 23280 - Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Alcohol Control Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-03

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Alcohol Control... Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's Alcohol Control Ordinance, which was adopted by the Tribal Council of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma under Council Bill CB-64-2010 enacted on March 13, 2010. The Alcohol Control...

Roadside Judgments in Children with Developmental Co-ordination Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purcell, Catherine; Wann, John P.; Wilmut, Kate; Poulter, Damian

2011-01-01

As pedestrians, the perceptual ability to accurately judge the relative rate of approaching vehicles and select a suitable crossing gap requires sensitivity to looming. It also requires that crossing judgments are synchronized with motoric capabilities. Previous research has suggested that children with Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD)…

4. PROPOSED C1 ASSEMBLY AND TESTING FACILITIES FOR THE ORDINANCE ...

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

4. PROPOSED C-1 ASSEMBLY AND TESTING FACILITIES FOR THE ORDINANCE GUIDED MISSILE CENTER AT REDSTONE ARSENAL, NEAR THE SOUTH END OF MADKIN MOUNTAIN. OCTOBER 1950, HANNES LUEHRSEN COLLECTION, MSFC MASTER PLANNING OFFICE. - Marshall Space Flight Center, East Test Area, Dodd Road, Huntsville, Madison County, AL

Co-Ordinating Education during Emergencies and Reconstruction: Challenges and Responsibilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sommers, Marc

2004-01-01

While co-ordination is essentially a method of getting institutions to work together, it is clearly not synonymous with togetherness. Undercurrents of suspicion and distrust between individuals and institutional actors can affect important relationships and give rise to enduring misunderstandings and perplexing challenges. Turf battles involving…

78 FR 22425 - Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; State of Nevada; Total Suspended Particulate

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-16

... carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen dioxide, photochemical oxidant, sulfur dioxide, and particulate... rely on local dust ordinances, completion of local road paving projects, and regulation of emissions from industrial processing activities. Among the local dust ordinances referred to in these four plans...

75 FR 62853 - Reno-Sparks Indian Colony Liquor Control Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-13

... alcohol, hydrated oxide or ethyl, or spirit or wine, which is commonly produced by the fermentation or... ordinance. (iii) ``Beer'' shall mean any beverage obtained by the alcoholic fermentation of any infusion or.... (xix) ``Wine'' shall mean any alcoholic beverage obtained by fermentation of fruits (grapes, berries...

40 CFR 35.2130 - Sewer use ordinance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... integrity of the treatment works; cause violation of effluent or water quality limitations; or preclude the... STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2130 Sewer use ordinance. The... any new connections from inflow sources into the treatment works and require that new sewers and...

40 CFR 35.2130 - Sewer use ordinance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... integrity of the treatment works; cause violation of effluent or water quality limitations; or preclude the... STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2130 Sewer use ordinance. The... any new connections from inflow sources into the treatment works and require that new sewers and...

Using missing ordinal patterns to detect nonlinearity in time series data.

PubMed

Kulp, Christopher W; Zunino, Luciano; Osborne, Thomas; Zawadzki, Brianna

2017-08-01

The number of missing ordinal patterns (NMP) is the number of ordinal patterns that do not appear in a series after it has been symbolized using the Bandt and Pompe methodology. In this paper, the NMP is demonstrated as a test for nonlinearity using a surrogate framework in order to see if the NMP for a series is statistically different from the NMP of iterative amplitude adjusted Fourier transform (IAAFT) surrogates. It is found that the NMP works well as a test statistic for nonlinearity, even in the cases of very short time series. Both model and experimental time series are used to demonstrate the efficacy of the NMP as a test for nonlinearity.

Medical image registration based on normalized multidimensional mutual information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Qi; Ji, Hongbing; Tong, Ming

2009-10-01

Registration of medical images is an essential research topic in medical image processing and applications, and especially a preliminary and key step for multimodality image fusion. This paper offers a solution to medical image registration based on normalized multi-dimensional mutual information. Firstly, affine transformation with translational and rotational parameters is applied to the floating image. Then ordinal features are extracted by ordinal filters with different orientations to represent spatial information in medical images. Integrating ordinal features with pixel intensities, the normalized multi-dimensional mutual information is defined as similarity criterion to register multimodality images. Finally the immune algorithm is used to search registration parameters. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed registration scheme.

Collaboration, Communication and Co-ordination in Agile Software Development Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, Hugh; Sharp, Helen

This chapter analyses the results of a series of observational studies of agile software developmentagile software development teams, identifying commonalities in collaboration, co-ordination and communication activities. Pairing and customer collaborationcustomer collaboration are focussed on to illustrate the nature of collaboration and communication, as are two simple physical artefacts that emerged through analysis as being an information-rich focal point for the co-ordination of collaboration and communication activities. The analysis shows that pairingpairing has common characteristics across all teams, while customer collaboration differs between the teams depending on the application and organisational context of development.

Effect of Cassava on motor co-ordination and neurotransmitter level in the albino rat.

PubMed

Mathangi, D C; Mohan, V; Namasivayam, A

1999-01-01

The root of Cassava, a tropical plant, is consumed in the tropics and has been attributed as the cause for various tropical neuropathies. This study aims to discover the neurotoxic effects of chronic cassava consumption of Indian origin and the effect of malnutrition. The assessment is based on the motor co-ordination and brain neurotransmitters in rats. Cassava consumption reduced the motor co-ordination, but the changes in neurotransmitter levels due to cassava consumption (except for 5HT in corpus striatum) was identical with malnutrition-induced changes, indicating that the toxicity of chronic cassava consumption (of Indian origin) is mainly due to the associated protein calorie malnutrition (PCM).

Dark Sky Collaborators: Arizona (AZ) Observatories, Communities, and Businesses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Del Castillo, Elizabeth Alvarez; Corbally, Christopher; Falco, Emilio E.; Green, Richard F.; Hall, Jeffrey C.; Williams, G. Grant

2015-03-01

With outdoor lighting ordinances in Arizona first in place around observatories in 1958 and 1972, then throughout the state since 1986, Arizonans have extensive experience working with communities and businesses to preserve our dark skies. Though communities are committed to the astronomy sector in our state, astronomers must collaborate with other stakeholders to implement solutions. Ongoing education and public outreach is necessary to enable ordinance updates as technology changes. Despite significant population increases, sky brightness measurements over the last 20 years show that ordinance updates are worth our efforts as we seek to maintain high quality skies around our observatories. Collaborations are being forged and actions taken to promote astronomy for the longer term in Arizona.

25 CFR 522.12 - Revocation of class III gaming.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Revocation of class III gaming. 522.12 Section 522.12 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.12 Revocation of class III...

Consistent Small-Sample Variances for Six Gamma-Family Measures of Ordinal Association

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woods, Carol M.

2009-01-01

Gamma-family measures are bivariate ordinal correlation measures that form a family because they all reduce to Goodman and Kruskal's gamma in the absence of ties (1954). For several gamma-family indices, more than one variance estimator has been introduced. In previous research, the "consistent" variance estimator described by Cliff and…

The Standards Agenda: Reflections of a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glazzard, Jonathan

2014-01-01

This study is a life history account of Bev, a special educational needs co-ordinator who works in a primary school in England. The research examines how, within Bev's experiences, the discourses of integration and inclusion have affected learners with special educational needs. Additionally, the study examines the impact of the…

Counseling in a Medical Setting as Part of an HMO Team.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fenton, Mary R.; Alvarez, Cheryl

A Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) clinic on Chicago's Near North Side is currently offering physical and mental health care to Public Aid recipients. Psychological services are provided by a mental health co-ordinator (Ph.D. level) who supervises one or two counselors of M.A. status. The co-ordinator's other responsibilities include…

Economic incentives for oak woodland preservation and conservation

Treesearch

Rosi Dagit; Cy Carlberg; Christy Cuba; Thomas Scott

2015-01-01

Numerous ordinances and laws recognize the value of oak trees and woodlands, and dictate serious and expensive consequences for removing or harming them. Unfortunately, the methods used to calculate these values are equally numerous and often inconsistent. More important, these ordinances typically lack economic incentives to avoid impacts to oak woodland values...

Empirical Histograms in Item Response Theory with Ordinal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woods, Carol M.

2007-01-01

The purpose of this research is to describe, test, and illustrate a new implementation of the empirical histogram (EH) method for ordinal items. The EH method involves the estimation of item response model parameters simultaneously with the approximation of the distribution of the random latent variable (theta) as a histogram. Software for the EH…

Contributions to the Underlying Bivariate Normal Method for Factor Analyzing Ordinal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xi, Nuo; Browne, Michael W.

2014-01-01

A promising "underlying bivariate normal" approach was proposed by Jöreskog and Moustaki for use in the factor analysis of ordinal data. This was a limited information approach that involved the maximization of a composite likelihood function. Its advantage over full-information maximum likelihood was that very much less computation was…

Emerging Adulthood in Developmental Co-Ordination Disorder: Parent and Young Adult Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirby, A.; Edwards, L.; Sugden, D.

2011-01-01

Recent research widely acknowledges that developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) is a pervasive and enduring disorder, which persists into adolescence and adulthood ([Cousins and Smyth, 2003] and [Kirby et al., 2008]). However, few studies have given detailed consideration to the range and level of functioning difficulties in emerging adults…

Change Management and the SENCo Role: Developing Key Performance Indicators of Inclusivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Done, Elizabeth; Murphy, Mike; Bedford, Clare

2016-01-01

This article highlights the changing role of special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCos) in England. SENCos are now required to manage change strategically and deliver inclusive school cultures. A school-based evaluative study undertaken by a teacher who is studying for the postgraduate National Award for SEN Co-ordination (NASENCO) for…

A weighted-means ordination of riparian birds in southeastern Wyoming

Treesearch

Deborah M. Finch

1985-01-01

Variation among habitat associations of 31 riparian bird species in southeastern Wyoming was analyzed using a weighted-means ordination. Three principal components explained 86.7% of the variation among habitat associations of bird species. The components showed high positive loadings for variables associated with canopy, shrub size, and vegetation height.

Finite Mixture Multilevel Multidimensional Ordinal IRT Models for Large Scale Cross-Cultural Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Jong, Martijn G.; Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict E. M.

2010-01-01

We present a class of finite mixture multilevel multidimensional ordinal IRT models for large scale cross-cultural research. Our model is proposed for confirmatory research settings. Our prior for item parameters is a mixture distribution to accommodate situations where different groups of countries have different measurement operations, while…

Constrained and Unconstrained Partial Adjacent Category Logit Models for Ordinal Response Variables

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fullerton, Andrew S.; Xu, Jun

2018-01-01

Adjacent category logit models are ordered regression models that focus on comparisons of adjacent categories. These models are particularly useful for ordinal response variables with categories that are of substantive interest. In this article, we consider unconstrained and constrained versions of the partial adjacent category logit model, which…

When Can Information from Ordinal Scale Variables Be Integrated?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemp, Simon; Grace, Randolph C.

2010-01-01

Many theoretical constructs of interest to psychologists are multidimensional and derive from the integration of several input variables. We show that input variables that are measured on ordinal scales cannot be combined to produce a stable weakly ordered output variable that allows trading off the input variables. Instead a partial order is…

Evaluation of community and organizational characteristics of smoke-free ordinance campaigns in 15 Wisconsin cities.

PubMed

Ahrens, David; Uebelher, Paul; Remington, Patrick L

2005-07-01

Smoke-free restaurant ordinance campaigns were conducted in 15 Wisconsin cities during 1992 through 2002. Community and health coalition organizational characteristics varied with each campaign; nine campaigns were successful in enacting ordinances, and six campaigns failed. Data on community and coalition characteristics were analyzed. Community characteristics included adjusted gross income, percentage of Democratic voters in recent elections, and county smoking prevalence. Coalition characteristics included the number of supporters identified, leadership experience, level of print news media coverage, and editorial position of local newspaper. Successful campaigns were more likely to have leadership with high levels of political experience; eight of nine successful campaigns had leadership with high levels of experience, and two of six unsuccessful campaigns had leadership with high levels of experience. Every successful campaign had high levels of newspaper coverage and strong editorial support. None of the unsuccessful campaigns had high levels of news coverage or strong editorial support. Characteristics controlled or influenced by coalitions are associated with successful outcomes. Community characteristics were not associated with outcomes. These results should assist communities planning to implement smoke-free ordinances or other health policy campaigns.

The role of the DNA sliding clamp in Okazaki fragment maturation in archaea and eukaryotes.

PubMed

Beattie, Thomas R; Bell, Stephen D

2011-01-01

Efficient processing of Okazaki fragments generated during discontinuous lagging-strand DNA replication is critical for the maintenance of genome integrity. In eukaryotes, a number of enzymes co-ordinate to ensure the removal of initiating primers from the 5'-end of each fragment and the generation of a covalently linked daughter strand. Studies in eukaryotic systems have revealed that the co-ordination of DNA polymerase δ and FEN-1 (Flap Endonuclease 1) is sufficient to remove the majority of primers. Other pathways such as that involving Dna2 also operate under certain conditions, although, notably, Dna2 is not universally conserved between eukaryotes and archaea, unlike the other core factors. In addition to the catalytic components, the DNA sliding clamp, PCNA (proliferating-cell nuclear antigen), plays a pivotal role in binding and co-ordinating these enzymes at sites of lagging-strand replication. Structural studies in eukaryotic and archaeal systems have revealed that PCNA-binding proteins can adopt different conformations when binding PCNA. This conformational malleability may be key to the co-ordination of these enzymes' activities.

Tobacco industry litigation to deter local public health ordinances: the industry usually loses in court

PubMed Central

Nixon, M; Mahmoud, L; Glantz, S

2004-01-01

Background: The tobacco industry uses claims of state preemption or violations of the US Constitution in litigation to overturn local tobacco control ordinances. Methods: Collection of lawsuits filed or threatened against local governments in the USA; review of previously secret tobacco industry documents; interviews with key informants. Results: The industry is most likely to prevail when a court holds that there is explicit preemption language by the state legislature to exclusively regulate tobacco. The industry has a much weaker record on claims of implied preemption and has lost all challenges brought under equal protection claims in the cases we located. Although the tobacco industry is willing to spend substantial amounts of money on these lawsuits, it never won on constitutional equal protection grounds and lost or dropped 60% (16/27) of the cases it brought claiming implied state preemption. Conclusions: Municipalities should continue to pass ordinances and be prepared to defend them against claims of implied preemption or on constitutional grounds. If the ordinance is properly prepared they will likely prevail. Health advocates should be prepared to assist in this process. PMID:14985600

Causal mediation analysis with a binary outcome and multiple continuous or ordinal mediators: Simulations and application to an alcohol intervention

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Trang Quynh; Webb-Vargas, Yenny; Koning, Ina M.; Stuart, Elizabeth A.

2016-01-01

We investigate a method to estimate the combined effect of multiple continuous/ordinal mediators on a binary outcome: 1) fit a structural equation model with probit link for the outcome and identity/probit link for continuous/ordinal mediators, 2) predict potential outcome probabilities, and 3) compute natural direct and indirect effects. Step 2 involves rescaling the latent continuous variable underlying the outcome to address residual mediator variance/covariance. We evaluate the estimation of risk-difference- and risk-ratio-based effects (RDs, RRs) using the ML, WLSMV and Bayes estimators in Mplus. Across most variations in path-coefficient and mediator-residual-correlation signs and strengths, and confounding situations investigated, the method performs well with all estimators, but favors ML/WLSMV for RDs with continuous mediators, and Bayes for RRs with ordinal mediators. Bayes outperforms WLSMV/ML regardless of mediator type when estimating RRs with small potential outcome probabilities and in two other special cases. An adolescent alcohol prevention study is used for illustration. PMID:27158217

Oxygen and evolutionary patterns in the sea: onshore/offshore trends and recent recruitment of deep-sea faunas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jacobs, D. K.; Lindberg, D. R.

1998-01-01

Over the last 15 years a striking pattern of diversification has been documented in the fossil record of benthic marine invertebrates. Higher taxa (orders) tend to originate onshore, diversify offshore, and retreat into deep-water environments. Previous studies attribute this macroevolutionary pattern to a variety of causes, foremost among them the role of nearshore disturbance in providing opportunities for the evolution of novel forms accorded ordinal rank. Our analysis of the post-Paleozoic record of ordinal first appearances indicates that the onshore preference of ordinal origination occurred only in the Mesozoic prior to the Turonian stage of the Cretaceous, a period characterized by relatively frequent anoxic/dysoxic bottom conditions in deeper marine environments. Later, in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic, ordinal origination of benthic organisms did not occur exclusively, or even preferentially, in onshore environments. This change in environmental pattern of ordinal origination roughly correlates with Late Cretaceous: (i) decline in anoxia/dysoxia in offshore benthic environments; (ii) extinction of faunas associated with dysoxic conditions; (iii) increase in bioturbation with the expansion of deep burrowing forms into offshore environments; and (iv) offshore expansion of bryozoan diversity. We also advance a separate argument that the Cenomanian/Turonian and latest Paleocene global events eliminated much of the deep-water benthos. This requires a more recent origin of modern vent and deep-sea faunas, from shallower water refugia, than the Paleozoic or early Mesozoic origin of these faunas suggested by other workers.

Regulation of tattooing in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota: tattooists' attitudes and relationship between regulation and practice.

PubMed

Raymond, Monica J; Halcón, Linda L; Pirie, Phyllis L

2003-01-01

This study investigated tattooists' attitudes regarding government regulation and the relationship between existing tattooing regulation and tattooists' knowledge and practice of infection control. Self-reported and observational data were collected in a cross-sectional study of professional tattooists. A written survey was used to investigate knowledge and practice of infection control and attitudes toward government regulation. Infection control practice was also examined through direct observation of tattooing. Rating scales were used to compare tattoo artists subject to local tattooing ordinances with those in areas without ordinances. Sixty-one tattooists (45 regulated, 16 unregulated) completed surveys and 25 (17 regulated, 8 unregulated) were observed. Attitudes toward regulation were generally positive. Most participants supported health department inspections and training requirements. The presence of local tattooing ordinances was not associated with tattooists' knowledge (p=0.53), but was associated with self-reported practices (p=0.05). A more positive attitude toward regulation was associated with the use of more self-reported infection control procedures (p<0.01). Tattoo artists in areas with local tattooing ordinances may implement more bloodborne pathogen precautions than those in areas without ordinances, despite working from a similar knowledge base. Tattooists most in need of improvement may be difficult to reach due to opposition to government intrusion. Federal guidelines, clarification of OSHA rules applying to tattooists, and statewide regulation are needed. Tattooists should be involved in the development of regulations.

Differential item functioning analysis with ordinal logistic regression techniques. DIFdetect and difwithpar.

PubMed

Crane, Paul K; Gibbons, Laura E; Jolley, Lance; van Belle, Gerald

2006-11-01

We present an ordinal logistic regression model for identification of items with differential item functioning (DIF) and apply this model to a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) dataset. We employ item response theory ability estimation in our models. Three nested ordinal logistic regression models are applied to each item. Model testing begins with examination of the statistical significance of the interaction term between ability and the group indicator, consistent with nonuniform DIF. Then we turn our attention to the coefficient of the ability term in models with and without the group term. If including the group term has a marked effect on that coefficient, we declare that it has uniform DIF. We examined DIF related to language of test administration in addition to self-reported race, Hispanic ethnicity, age, years of education, and sex. We used PARSCALE for IRT analyses and STATA for ordinal logistic regression approaches. We used an iterative technique for adjusting IRT ability estimates on the basis of DIF findings. Five items were found to have DIF related to language. These same items also had DIF related to other covariates. The ordinal logistic regression approach to DIF detection, when combined with IRT ability estimates, provides a reasonable alternative for DIF detection. There appear to be several items with significant DIF related to language of test administration in the MMSE. More attention needs to be paid to the specific criteria used to determine whether an item has DIF, not just the technique used to identify DIF.

Detection of illegal transfer of videos over the Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaisorn, Lekha; Sainui, Janya; Manders, Corey

2010-07-01

In this paper, a method for detecting infringements or modifications of a video in real-time is proposed. The method first segments a video stream into shots, after which it extracts some reference frames as keyframes. This process is performed employing a Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) technique developed in this work. Next, for each input video (represented by its keyframes), ordinal-based signature and SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) descriptors are generated. The ordinal-based method employs a two-level bitmap indexing scheme to construct the index for each video signature. The first level clusters all input keyframes into k clusters while the second level converts the ordinal-based signatures into bitmap vectors. On the other hand, the SIFT-based method directly uses the descriptors as the index. Given a suspect video (being streamed or transferred on the Internet), we generate the signature (ordinal and SIFT descriptors) then we compute similarity between its signature and those signatures in the database based on ordinal signature and SIFT descriptors separately. For similarity measure, besides the Euclidean distance, Boolean operators are also utilized during the matching process. We have tested our system by performing several experiments on 50 videos (each about 1/2 hour in duration) obtained from the TRECVID 2006 data set. For experiments set up, we refer to the conditions provided by TRECVID 2009 on "Content-based copy detection" task. In addition, we also refer to the requirements issued in the call for proposals by MPEG standard on the similar task. Initial result shows that our framework is effective and robust. As compared to our previous work, on top of the achievement we obtained by reducing the storage space and time taken in the ordinal based method, by introducing the SIFT features, we could achieve an overall accuracy in F1 measure of about 96% (improved about 8%).

Adopting a Patient-Centered Approach to Primary Outcome Analysis of Acute Stroke Trials Using a Utility-Weighted Modified Rankin Scale.

PubMed

Chaisinanunkul, Napasri; Adeoye, Opeolu; Lewis, Roger J; Grotta, James C; Broderick, Joseph; Jovin, Tudor G; Nogueira, Raul G; Elm, Jordan J; Graves, Todd; Berry, Scott; Lees, Kennedy R; Barreto, Andrew D; Saver, Jeffrey L

2015-08-01

Although the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) is the most commonly used primary end point in acute stroke trials, its power is limited when analyzed in dichotomized fashion and its indication of effect size challenging to interpret when analyzed ordinally. Weighting the 7 Rankin levels by utilities may improve scale interpretability while preserving statistical power. A utility-weighted mRS (UW-mRS) was derived by averaging values from time-tradeoff (patient centered) and person-tradeoff (clinician centered) studies. The UW-mRS, standard ordinal mRS, and dichotomized mRS were applied to 11 trials or meta-analyses of acute stroke treatments, including lytic, endovascular reperfusion, blood pressure moderation, and hemicraniectomy interventions. Utility values were 1.0 for mRS level 0; 0.91 for mRS level 1; 0.76 for mRS level 2; 0.65 for mRS level 3; 0.33 for mRS level 4; 0 for mRS level 5; and 0 for mRS level 6. For trials with unidirectional treatment effects, the UW-mRS paralleled the ordinal mRS and outperformed dichotomous mRS analyses. Both the UW-mRS and the ordinal mRS were statistically significant in 6 of 8 unidirectional effect trials, whereas dichotomous analyses were statistically significant in 2 to 4 of 8. In bidirectional effect trials, both the UW-mRS and ordinal tests captured the divergent treatment effects by showing neutral results, whereas some dichotomized analyses showed positive results. Mean utility differences in trials with statistically significant positive results ranged from 0.026 to 0.249. A UW-mRS performs similar to the standard ordinal mRS in detecting treatment effects in actual stroke trials and ensures the quantitative outcome is a valid reflection of patient-centered benefits. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

Local co-ordination and case management can enhance Indigenous eye care – a qualitative study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Indigenous adults suffer six times more blindness than other Australians but 94% of this vision loss is unnecessary being preventable or treatable. We have explored the barriers and solutions to improve Indigenous eye health and proposed significant system changes required to close the gap for Indigenous eye health. This paper aims to identify the local co-ordination and case management requirements necessary to improve eye care for Indigenous Australians. Methods A qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, stakeholder workshops and meetings was conducted in community, private practice, hospital, non-government organisation and government settings. Data were collected at 21 sites across Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 289 people working in Indigenous health and eye care; focus group discussions with 81 community members; stakeholder workshops involving 86 individuals; and separate meetings with 75 people. 531 people participated in the consultations. Barriers and issues were identified through thematic analysis and policy solutions developed through iterative consultation. Results Poorly co-ordinated eye care services for Indigenous Australians are inefficient and costly and result in poorer outcomes for patients, communities and health care providers. Services are more effective where there is good co-ordination of services and case management of patients along the pathway of care. The establishment of clear pathways of care, development local and regional partnerships to manage services and service providers and the application of sufficient workforce with clear roles and responsibilities have the potential to achieve important improvements in eye care. Conclusions Co-ordination is a key to close the gap in eye care for Indigenous Australians. Properly co-ordinated care and support along the patient pathway through case management will save money by preventing dropout of patients who haven’t received treatment and a successfully functioning system will encourage more people to enter for care. PMID:23822115

Economic impacts of the Pueblo Smoke-Free Air Act.

PubMed

Young, Walter F; Szychowski, Jeffery; Karp, Shelley; Liu, Lucia; Diedrich, Robert T

2010-03-01

On July 1, 2003, the city of Pueblo CO enacted a smokefree ordinance (Pueblo Smoke-Free Air Act [PSFAA]) that prohibited smoking in public places and workplaces, including taverns and restaurants. Opponents to this ordinance argued that it would have a negative impact on tavern and restaurant sales. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the PSFAA had a negative economic impact on tavern and restaurant sales tax revenues. With data gathered in 2007, this study implemented an interrupted time-series model in 2008, using 42 months of pre- and post-intervention sales tax revenue data for Pueblo to determine whether implementation of this ordinance had an effect on tavern and restaurant sales tax revenues. Ratios of tavern and restaurant openings to closings were also computed for the pre- and post-intervention periods. Pre-post sales tax revenue data showed slight losses in sales tax revenue for taverns, and gains for restaurants, which more than offset the tavern losses. After adjusting for the consumer price index, the city of Pueblo experienced a 20.3% gain in combined tavern and restaurant sales tax revenues from the pre-ordinance period to the post-ordinance period. The ratio of tavern openings to closings improved from 1:1 pre-period to 3.3:1 post-period and the restaurant ratio remained unchanged at approximately 1.78:1 from pre- to post-period. There is no evidence that the PSFAA had a negative economic impact on consumer price index-adjusted tavern and restaurant sales tax revenues. From a fiscal policy perspective, this ordinance may have contributed to a net increase in sales tax revenues for the city of Pueblo. The business openings/closings data suggest that the confidence Pueblo's business sector had in the local hospitality industry was not negatively influenced by the PSFAA. Copyright (c) 2010 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of high-fidelity multiphysics system for light water reactor analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magedanz, Jeffrey W.

There has been a tendency in recent years toward greater heterogeneity in reactor cores, due to the use of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, burnable absorbers, and longer cycles with consequently higher fuel burnup. The resulting asymmetry of the neutron flux and energy spectrum between regions with different compositions causes a need to account for the directional dependence of the neutron flux, instead of the traditional diffusion approximation. Furthermore, the presence of both MOX and high-burnup fuel in the core increases the complexity of the heat conduction. The heat transfer properties of the fuel pellet change with irradiation, and the thermal and mechanical expansion of the pellet and cladding strongly affect the size of the gap between them, and its consequent thermal resistance. These operational tendencies require higher fidelity multi-physics modeling capabilities, and this need is addressed by the developments performed within this PhD research. The dissertation describes the development of a High-Fidelity Multi-Physics System for Light Water Reactor Analysis. It consists of three coupled codes -- CTF for Thermal Hydraulics, TORT-TD for Neutron Kinetics, and FRAPTRAN for Fuel Performance. It is meant to address these modeling challenges in three ways: (1) by resolving the state of the system at the level of each fuel pin, rather than homogenizing entire fuel assemblies, (2) by using the multi-group Discrete Ordinates method to account for the directional dependence of the neutron flux, and (3) by using a fuel-performance code, rather than a Thermal Hydraulics code's simplified fuel model, to account for the material behavior of the fuel and its feedback to the hydraulic and neutronic behavior of the system. While the first two are improvements, the third, the use of a fuel-performance code for feedback, constitutes an innovation in this PhD project. Also important to this work is the manner in which such coupling is written. While coupling involves combining codes into a single executable, they are usually still developed and maintained separately. It should thus be a design objective to minimize the changes to those codes, and keep the changes to each code free of dependence on the details of the other codes. This will ease the incorporation of new versions of the code into the coupling, as well as re-use of parts of the coupling to couple with different codes. In order to fulfill this objective, an interface for each code was created in the form of an object-oriented abstract data type. Object-oriented programming is an effective method for enforcing a separation between different parts of a program, and clarifying the communication between them. The interfaces enable the main program to control the codes in terms of high-level functionality. This differs from the established practice of a master/slave relationship, in which the slave code is incorporated into the master code as a set of subroutines. While this PhD research continues previous work with a coupling between CTF and TORT-TD, it makes two major original contributions: (1) using a fuel-performance code, instead of a thermal-hydraulics code's simplified built-in models, to model the feedback from the fuel rods, and (2) the design of an object-oriented interface as an innovative method to interact with a coupled code in a high-level, easily-understandable manner. The resulting code system will serve as a tool to study the question of under what conditions, and to what extent, these higher-fidelity methods will provide benefits to reactor core analysis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Injury Severity Score coding: Data analyst v. emerging m-health technology.

PubMed

Spence, R T; Zargaran, E; Hameed, M; Fong, D; Shangguan, E; Martinez, R; Navsaria, P; Nicol, A

2016-09-08

The cost of Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) coding has limited its utility in areas of the world with the highest incidence of trauma. We hypothesised that emerging mobile health (m-health) technology could offer a cost-effective alternative to the current gold-standard AIS mechanism in a high-volume trauma centre in South Africa. A prospectively collected sample of consecutive patients admitted following a traumatic injury that required an operation during a 1-month period was selected for the study. AISs and Injury Severity Scores (ISSs) were generated by clinician-entered data using an m-health application (ISS eTHR) as well as by a team of AIS coders at Vancouver General Hospital, Canada (ISS VGH). Rater agreements for ISSs were analysed using Bland-Altman plots with 95% limits of agreement (LoA) and kappa statistics of the ISSs grouped into ordinal categories. Reliability was analysed using a two-way mixed-model intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Calibration and discrimination of univariate logistic regression models built to predict in-hospital complications using ISSs coded by the two methods were also compared. Fifty-seven patients were managed operatively during the study period. The mean age of the cohort was 27.2 years (range 14 - 62), and 96.3% were male. The mechanism of injury was penetrating in 93.4% of cases, of which 52.8% were gunshot injuries. The LoA fell within -8.6 - 9.4. The mean ISS difference was 0.4 (95% CI -0.8 - 1.6). The kappa statistic was 0.53. The ICC of the individual ISS was 0.88 (95% CI 0.81 - 0.93) and the categorical ISS was 0.81 (95% CI 0.68 - 0.87). Model performance to predict in-hospital complications using either the ISS eTHR or the ISS VGH was equivalent. ISSs calculated by the eTHR and gold-standard coding were comparable. Emerging m-health technology provides a cost-effective alternative for injury severity scoring.

CSAF Reading List 2013

Science.gov Websites

"Imperial Wild Eagles" of Japan and in turn won immortality as the Flying Tigers. One of --one of the first postwar films out of Hollywood to treat the war on emotionally complex terms. Framed release. Read More... Ordinance Group Loading GBU-24B Ordinance Group Loading GBU-24B by Douglas Smith

Educating Leaders for Social Justice: The Case of Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liasidou, Anastasia; Svensson, Cathy

2014-01-01

In the light of policy imperatives to initiate and maintain inclusive education reforms, the role of special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) in England and Wales should be reconceptualised with a view to their leading school reforms commensurate with the principles of an inclusive discourse. The article concentrates on the social justice…

Freddie Fish. A Primary Environmental Study of Basic Numerals, Sets, Ordinals and Shapes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kraynak, Ola

This teacher's guide and study guide are an environmental approach to mathematics education in the primary grades. The mathematical studies of the numerals 0-10, ordinals, number sets, and basic shapes - diamond, circle, square, rectangle, and triangle - are developed through the story of Freddie Fish and his search for clean water. The…

Detecting DIF in Polytomous Items Using MACS, IRT and Ordinal Logistic Regression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elosua, Paula; Wells, Craig

2013-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to compare the Type I error rate and power of two model-based procedures, the mean and covariance structure model (MACS) and the item response theory (IRT), and an observed-score based procedure, ordinal logistic regression, for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) in polytomous items. A simulation…

Infants Use Different Mechanisms to Make Small and Large Number Ordinal Judgments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

vanMarle, Kristy

2013-01-01

Previous research has shown indirectly that infants may use two different mechanisms-an object tracking system and an analog magnitude mechanism--to represent small (less than 4) and large (greater than or equal to 4) numbers of objects, respectively. The current study directly tested this hypothesis in an ordinal choice task by presenting 10- to…

Communicating Risk with Parents: Exploring the Methods and Beliefs of Outdoor Education Coordinators in Victoria, Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dallat, Clare

2009-01-01

This paper examines the risk communication strategies currently being employed by seven outdoor education co-ordinators in Government schools in Victoria, Australia. Of particular interest are the beliefs and assumptions held by these co-ordinators in relation to communicating risk with parents. Current policy stipulates that parents must be…

Evaluation of a weighted test in the analysis of ordinal gait scores in an additivity model for five OP pesticides.

EPA Science Inventory

Appropriate statistical analyses are critical for evaluating interactions of mixtures with a common mode of action, as is often the case for cumulative risk assessments. Our objective is to develop analyses for use when a response variable is ordinal, and to test for interaction...

The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church? New Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grey, Mary

2016-01-01

This article responds to the two articles by Sister Catherine Droste and Roy Bourgeois ("ISCE" Vol 7. No. 1 2015) by putting the issue of the Ordination of Women into a wider ecclesial context. Building on Pope Francis's bringing Liberation Theology into central focus, seeking justice for the poorest and vulnerable people, the article…

Rate My Stake: Interpretation of Ordinal Stake Ratings

Treesearch

Patricia Lebow; Grant Kirker

2014-01-01

Ordinal rating systems are commonly employed to evaluate biodeterioration of wood exposed outdoors over long periods of time. The purpose of these ratings is to compare the durability of test systems to nondurable wood products or known durable wood products. There are many reasons why these systems have evolved as the chosen method of evaluation, including having an...

The Music Co-ordinator in the Primary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Button, Stuart; Potter, Allison

2006-01-01

This article reports on the results of a study which investigated teachers' and head teachers' perceptions of the role of the music co-ordinator in the primary school, and provides insight into how the role might be made more effective. The teachers participating in this project were chosen from twenty primary schools from one local educational…

77 FR 10547 - Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas-First Amended Beer and Liquor Tax Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-22

... which a person licensed to sell alcoholic beverages under this ordinance carries on such business, and... licensed premises, outlet or liquor outlet. Moreover, where a Licensee's business is carried on as part of... a person of good moral character; (b) That applicant has never been convicted of violating any of...

Measuring information interactions on the ordinal pattern of stock time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Xiaojun; Shang, Pengjian; Wang, Jing

2013-02-01

The interactions among time series as individual components of complex systems can be quantified by measuring to what extent they exchange information among each other. In many applications, one focuses not on the original series but on its ordinal pattern. In such cases, trivial noises appear more likely to be filtered and the abrupt influence of extreme values can be weakened. Cross-sample entropy and inner composition alignment have been introduced as prominent methods to estimate the information interactions of complex systems. In this paper, we modify both methods to detect the interactions among the ordinal pattern of stock return and volatility series, and we try to uncover the information exchanges across sectors in Chinese stock markets.

Sexual and intimacy health of Roman Catholic priests.

PubMed

McDevitt, Patrick J

2012-01-01

This study explores the sexual experiences and sexual health of Roman Catholic priests. The qualitative research design looked at priests' responses to the question, "Please share one or more sexual experiences in your lifetime." The qualitative responses were analyzed and categorized into seven groupings: (a) Childhood and adolescent homosexual experiences; (b) Childhood and adolescent heterosexual experiences; (c) Both homosexual and heterosexual childhood and adolescent experiences; (d) Adult sexual experiences before ordination to the priesthood; (e) Adult sexual experiences since ordination to the priesthood; (f) Masturbation; and (g) Other sexual experiences. The data were analyzed by frequency of responses and percentages within each of the seven categories. The results indicate the need for early intervention and education during seminary, ongoing education after ordination, and psychotherapy support for priests.

Non-proportional odds multivariate logistic regression of ordinal family data.

PubMed

Zaloumis, Sophie G; Scurrah, Katrina J; Harrap, Stephen B; Ellis, Justine A; Gurrin, Lyle C

2015-03-01

Methods to examine whether genetic and/or environmental sources can account for the residual variation in ordinal family data usually assume proportional odds. However, standard software to fit the non-proportional odds model to ordinal family data is limited because the correlation structure of family data is more complex than for other types of clustered data. To perform these analyses we propose the non-proportional odds multivariate logistic regression model and take a simulation-based approach to model fitting using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, such as partially collapsed Gibbs sampling and the Metropolis algorithm. We applied the proposed methodology to male pattern baldness data from the Victorian Family Heart Study. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Gender discrimination may be worse than you think: testing ordinal interactions in power research.

PubMed

Elias, Steven M; Cropanzano, Russell

2006-04-01

The authors reanalyze the data of a study by S. M. Elias and R. J. Loomis (2004), which aimed to determine how an instructor's gender may influence his or her ability to gain student compliance. S. M. Elias and R. J. Loomis observed few significant gender effects using traditional multivariate analyses of variance. The authors reanalyze this data using the more appropriate statistical techniques for detecting ordinal interactions recommended by M. J. Strube and P. Bobko (1989) and S. M. Elias (2004). An ordinal interaction occurs when 1 cell of a 2 x 2 design is responsible for a significant interaction (e.g., female instructors suffering only when rated by male students). Reanalysis of the data resulted in more robust findings.

Measurement equivalence: A non-technical primer on categorical multi-group confirmatory factor analysis in school psychology.

PubMed

Pendergast, Laura L; von der Embse, Nathaniel; Kilgus, Stephen P; Eklund, Katie R

2017-02-01

Evidence-based interventions (EBIs) have become a central component of school psychology research and practice, but EBIs are dependent upon the availability and use of evidence-based assessments (EBAs) with diverse student populations. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) is an analytical tool that can be used to examine the validity and measurement equivalence/invariance of scores across diverse groups. The objective of this article is to provide a conceptual and procedural overview of categorical MG-CFA, as well as an illustrated example based on data from the Social and Academic Behavior Risk Screener (SABRS) - a tool designed for use in school-based interventions. This article serves as a non-technical primer on the topic of MG-CFA with ordinal (rating scale) data and does so through the framework of examining equivalence of measures used for EBIs within multi-tiered models - an understudied topic. To go along with the illustrated example, we have provided supplementary files that include sample data, Mplus input code, and an annotated guide for understanding the input code (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2016.11.002). Data needed to reproduce analyses in this article are available as supplemental materials (online only) in the Appendix of this article. Copyright © 2016 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

AMPX: a modular code system for generating coupled multigroup neutron-gamma libraries from ENDF/B

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

Greene, N.M.; Lucius, J.L.; Petrie, L.M.

1976-03-01

AMPX is a modular system for producing coupled multigroup neutron-gamma cross section sets. Basic neutron and gamma cross-section data for AMPX are obtained from ENDF/B libraries. Most commonly used operations required to generate and collapse multigroup cross-section sets are provided in the system. AMPX is flexibly dimensioned; neutron group structures, and gamma group structures, and expansion orders to represent anisotropic processes are all arbitrary and limited only by available computer core and budget. The basic processes provided will (1) generate multigroup neutron cross sections; (2) generate multigroup gamma cross sections; (3) generate gamma yields for gamma-producing neutron interactions; (4) combinemore » neutron cross sections, gamma cross sections, and gamma yields into final ''coupled sets''; (5) perform one-dimensional discrete ordinates transport or diffusion theory calculations for neutrons and gammas and, on option, collapse the cross sections to a broad-group structure, using the one-dimensional results as weighting functions; (6) plot cross sections, on option, to facilitate the ''evaluation'' of a particular multigroup set of data; (7) update and maintain multigroup cross section libraries in such a manner as to make it not only easy to combine new data with previously processed data but also to do it in a single pass on the computer; and (8) output multigroup cross sections in convenient formats for other codes. (auth)« less

Separate mechanisms for magnitude and order processing in the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect: The strange case of musical note values.

PubMed

Prpic, Valter; Fumarola, Antonia; De Tommaso, Matteo; Luccio, Riccardo; Murgia, Mauro; Agostini, Tiziano

2016-08-01

The spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect is considered an evidence of the association between numbers and space, with faster left key-press responses to small numbers and faster right key-press responses to large numbers. We examined whether visually presented note values produce a SNARC-like effect. Differently from numbers, note values are represented as a decreasing left-to-right progression, allowing us to disambiguate the contribution of order and magnitude in determining the direction of the effect. Musicians with formal education performed a note value comparison in Experiment 1 (direct task), a line orientation judgment in Experiment 2 (indirect task), and a detection task in Experiment 3 (indirect task). When note values were task relevant (direct task), participants responded faster to large note values with the left key-press, and vice versa. Conversely, when note values were task irrelevant (indirect tasks), the direction of this association was reversed. This evidence suggests the existence of separate mechanisms underlying the SNARC effect. Namely, an Order-Related Mechanism (ORM) and a Magnitude-Related Mechanism (MRM) that are revealed by different task demands. Indeed, according to a new model we proposed, ordinal and magnitude related information appears to be preferentially involved in direct and indirect tasks, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Multiprocessing MCNP on an IBN RS/6000 cluster

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

McKinney, G.W.; West, J.T.

1993-01-01

The advent of high-performance computer systems has brought to maturity programming concepts like vectorization, multiprocessing, and multitasking. While there are many schools of thought as to the most significant factor in obtaining order-of-magnitude increases in performance, such speedup can only be achieved by integrating the computer system and application code. Vectorization leads to faster manipulation of arrays by overlapping instruction CPU cycles. Discrete ordinates codes, which require the solving of large matrices, have proved to be major benefactors of vectorization. Monte Carlo transport, on the other hand, typically contains numerous logic statements and requires extensive redevelopment to benefit from vectorization.more » Multiprocessing and multitasking provide additional CPU cycles via multiple processors. Such systems are generally designed with either common memory access (multitasking) or distributed memory access. In both cases, theoretical speedup, as a function of the number of processors P and the fraction f of task time that multiprocesses, can be formulated using Amdahl's law: S(f, P) =1/(1-f+f/P). However, for most applications, this theoretical limit cannot be achieved because of additional terms (e.g., multitasking overhead, memory overlap, etc.) that are not included in Amdahl's law. Monte Carlo transport is a natural candidate for multiprocessing because the particle tracks are generally independent, and the precision of the result increases as the square Foot of the number of particles tracked.« less

Multiprocessing MCNP on an IBM RS/6000 cluster

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

McKinney, G.W.; West, J.T.

1993-03-01

The advent of high-performance computer systems has brought to maturity programming concepts like vectorization, multiprocessing, and multitasking. While there are many schools of thought as to the most significant factor in obtaining order-of-magnitude increases in performance, such speedup can only be achieved by integrating the computer system and application code. Vectorization leads to faster manipulation of arrays by overlapping instruction CPU cycles. Discrete ordinates codes, which require the solving of large matrices, have proved to be major benefactors of vectorization. Monte Carlo transport, on the other hand, typically contains numerous logic statements and requires extensive redevelopment to benefit from vectorization.more » Multiprocessing and multitasking provide additional CPU cycles via multiple processors. Such systems are generally designed with either common memory access (multitasking) or distributed memory access. In both cases, theoretical speedup, as a function of the number of processors (P) and the fraction of task time that multiprocesses (f), can be formulated using Amdahl`s Law S ((f,P) = 1 f + f/P). However, for most applications this theoretical limit cannot be achieved, due to additional terms not included in Amdahl`s Law. Monte Carlo transport is a natural candidate for multiprocessing, since the particle tracks are generally independent and the precision of the result increases as the square root of the number of particles tracked.« less

Oscillatory networks of high-level mental alignment: A perspective-taking MEG study.

PubMed

Seymour, R A; Wang, H; Rippon, G; Kessler, K

2018-08-15

Mentally imagining another's perspective is a high-level social process, reliant on manipulating internal representations of the self in an embodied manner. Recently Wang et al. (2016) showed that theta-band (3-7 Hz) brain oscillations within the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) and brain regions coding for motor/body schema contribute to the process of perspective-taking. Using a similar paradigm, we set out to unravel the extended functional brain network in detail. Increasing the angle between self and other perspective was accompanied by longer reaction times and increases in theta power within rTPJ, right lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Using Granger-causality, we showed that lateral PFC and ACC exert top-down influence over rTPJ, indicative of executive control processes required for managing conflicts between self and other perspectives. Finally, we quantified patterns of whole-brain phase coupling in relation to the rTPJ. Results suggest that rTPJ increases its theta-band phase synchrony with brain regions involved in mentalizing and regions coding for motor/body schema; whilst decreasing synchrony to visual regions. Implications for neurocognitive models are discussed, and it is proposed that rTPJ acts as a 'hub' to route bottom-up visual information to internal representations of the self during perspective-taking, co-ordinated by theta-band oscillations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of Community Newspaper Coverage of Tobacco Control and Its Relationship to the Passage of Tobacco Ordinances.

PubMed

Eckler, Petya; Rodgers, Shelly; Everett, Kevin

2016-10-01

To answer the call for more systematic surveillance, analysis and evaluation of tobacco news coverage, a 6-year content analysis of newspaper stories from Missouri was conducted to evaluate the presence of public health facts and characteristics of stories framed for or against tobacco control. The method was a content analysis of all Missouri newspapers (N = 381) from September 2006 to November 2011 for a total sample of 4711. Results were connected to the larger, societal context within which newspaper stories reside, i.e., towns that passed or did not pass a smoke-free ordinance during the project intervention. Results showed the majority of news stories were about tobacco control, which were mostly written at the local level, were episodic, and carried a positive slant toward tobacco control. However, there were more negative than positive headlines, and more negative editorials than non-editorials. Tobacco control stories used fewer public health facts than non-tobacco control stories. Towns with existing smoke-free ordinances had more tobacco control stories, and towns without smoke-free ordinances had fewer tobacco control stories and more non-tobacco control stories, suggesting a connection between news media coverage and the passage of smoke-free policies. We conclude that the tobacco industry may have had success in impacting news stories in no-ordinance cities by diverting attention from tobacco control to secondary topics, such as youth smoking, which meant stories had fewer public health facts and fewer positive health benefits in towns that may have needed these details most.

A Framework to Reduce Infectious Disease Risk from Urban Poultry in the United States

PubMed Central

Tobin, Molly R.; Goldshear, Jesse L.; Price, Lance B.; Graham, Jay P.

2015-01-01

Objectives Backyard poultry ownership is increasingly common in U.S. cities and is regulated at the local level. Human contact with live poultry is a well-known risk for infection with zoonotic pathogens, notably Salmonella, yet the ability of local jurisdictions to reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission from poultry to humans is unstudied. We reviewed urban poultry ordinances in the United States and reported Salmonella outbreaks from backyard poultry to identify regulatory gaps in preventing zoonotic pathogen transmission. Based on this analysis, we propose regulatory guidelines for U.S. cities to reduce infectious disease risk from backyard poultry ownership. Methods We assessed local ordinances in the 150 most populous U.S. jurisdictions for content related to noncommercial poultry ownership using online resources and communications with government officials. We also performed a literature review using publicly available data sources to identify human infectious disease outbreaks caused by contact with backyard poultry. Results Of the cities reviewed, 93% (n=139) permit poultry in some capacity. Most urban poultry ordinances share common characteristics focused on reducing nuisance to neighbors. Ordinances do not address many pathways of transmission relevant to poultry-to-human transmission of pathogens, such as manure management. Conclusions To reduce the risk of pathogen exposure from backyard poultry, urban ordinances should incorporate the following seven components: limited flock size, composting of manure in sealed containers, prohibition of slaughter, required veterinary care to sick birds, appropriate disposal of dead birds, annual permits linked to consumer education, and a registry of poultry owners. PMID:26346104

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

Haghighat, A.; Sjoden, G.E.; Wagner, J.C.

In the past 10 yr, the Penn State Transport Theory Group (PSTTG) has concentrated its efforts on developing accurate and efficient particle transport codes to address increasing needs for efficient and accurate simulation of nuclear systems. The PSTTG's efforts have primarily focused on shielding applications that are generally treated using multigroup, multidimensional, discrete ordinates (S{sub n}) deterministic and/or statistical Monte Carlo methods. The difficulty with the existing public codes is that they require significant (impractical) computation time for simulation of complex three-dimensional (3-D) problems. For the S{sub n} codes, the large memory requirements are handled through the use of scratchmore » files (i.e., read-from and write-to-disk) that significantly increases the necessary execution time. Further, the lack of flexible features and/or utilities for preparing input and processing output makes these codes difficult to use. The Monte Carlo method becomes impractical because variance reduction (VR) methods have to be used, and normally determination of the necessary parameters for the VR methods is very difficult and time consuming for a complex 3-D problem. For the deterministic method, the authors have developed the 3-D parallel PENTRAN (Parallel Environment Neutral-particle TRANsport) code system that, in addition to a parallel 3-D S{sub n} solver, includes pre- and postprocessing utilities. PENTRAN provides for full phase-space decomposition, memory partitioning, and parallel input/output to provide the capability of solving large problems in a relatively short time. Besides having a modular parallel structure, PENTRAN has several unique new formulations and features that are necessary for achieving high parallel performance. For the Monte Carlo method, the major difficulty currently facing most users is the selection of an effective VR method and its associated parameters. For complex problems, generally, this process is very time consuming and may be complicated due to the possibility of biasing the results. In an attempt to eliminate this problem, the authors have developed the A{sup 3}MCNP (automated adjoint accelerated MCNP) code that automatically prepares parameters for source and transport biasing within a weight-window VR approach based on the S{sub n} adjoint function. A{sup 3}MCNP prepares the necessary input files for performing multigroup, 3-D adjoint S{sub n} calculations using TORT.« less

Results of the Simulation of the HTR-Proteus Core 4.2 Using PEBBED-COMBINE: FY10 Report

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

Hans Gougar

2010-07-01

ABSTRACT The Idaho National Laboratory’s deterministic neutronics analysis codes and methods were applied to the computation of the core multiplication factor of the HTR-Proteus pebble bed reactor critical facility. This report is a follow-on to INL/EXT-09-16620 in which the same calculation was performed but using earlier versions of the codes and less developed methods. In that report, results indicated that the cross sections generated using COMBINE-7.0 did not yield satisfactory estimates of keff. It was concluded in the report that the modeling of control rods was not satisfactory. In the past year, improvements to the homogenization capability in COMBINE havemore » enabled the explicit modeling of TRIS particles, pebbles, and heterogeneous core zones including control rod regions using a new multi-scale version of COMBINE in which the 1-dimensional discrete ordinate transport code ANISN has been integrated. The new COMBINE is shown to yield benchmark quality results for pebble unit cell models, the first step in preparing few-group diffusion parameters for core simulations. In this report, the full critical core is modeled once again but with cross sections generated using the capabilities and physics of the improved COMBINE code. The new PEBBED-COMBINE model enables the exact modeling of the pebbles and control rod region along with better approximation to structures in the reflector. Initial results for the core multiplication factor indicate significant improvement in the INL’s tools for modeling the neutronic properties of a pebble bed reactor. Errors on the order of 1.6-2.5% in keff are obtained; a significant improvement over the 5-6% error observed in the earlier This is acceptable for a code system and model in the early stages of development but still too high for a production code. Analysis of a simpler core model indicates an over-prediction of the flux in the low end of the thermal spectrum. Causes of this discrepancy are under investigation. New homogenization techniques and assumptions were used in this analysis and as such, they require further confirmation and validation. Further refinement and review of the complex Proteus core model are likely to reduce the errors even further.« less

Oak Tree Preservation in Thousand Oaks, California

Treesearch

William F. Elmendorf

1991-01-01

The City of Thousand Oaks over the last 20 years has taken aggressive steps to preserve and protect the City's namesake, the oak tree. First adopted in 1972 as an Emergency City Council Proclamation, the City's Oak Tree Ordinance has been considered by some, to be one of the first and toughest municipal native tree preservation ordinances within the State of...

25 CFR 522.10 - Individually owned class II and class III gaming operations other than those operating on...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Individually owned class II and class III gaming... GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.10 Individually owned class II and class III...

A New Statistic for Evaluating Item Response Theory Models for Ordinal Data. CRESST Report 839

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cai, Li; Monroe, Scott

2014-01-01

We propose a new limited-information goodness of fit test statistic C[subscript 2] for ordinal IRT models. The construction of the new statistic lies formally between the M[subscript 2] statistic of Maydeu-Olivares and Joe (2006), which utilizes first and second order marginal probabilities, and the M*[subscript 2] statistic of Cai and Hansen…

Shielding analyses: the rabbit vs the turtle?

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

Broadhead, B.L.

1996-12-31

This paper compares solutions using Monte Carlo and discrete- ordinates methods applied to two actual shielding situations in order to make some general observations concerning the efficiency and advantages/disadvantages of the two approaches. The discrete- ordinates solutions are performed using two-dimensional geometries, while the Monte Carlo approaches utilize three-dimensional geometries with both multigroup and point cross-section data.

Secondhand Tobacco Smoke and Municipal Smokefree Ordinances: Attitudes of Restaurant and Bar Owners and Managers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hays, Scott P.

2006-01-01

Understanding the attitudes of restaurant and bar owners and managers toward a smokefree city ordinance can contribute greatly to the success of a smokefree policy campaign. While local opposition to a smokefree policy always arises from restaurant and bar owners, this study of restaurant and bar owners and managers in two Midwestern cities…

Developmental Co-Ordination Disorder (DCD) in Adolescents and Adults in Further and Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirby, Amanda; Sugden, David; Beveridge, Sally; Edwards, Lisa

2008-01-01

Few studies have looked at the strengths and weaknesses and needs of students with developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD). This paper describes a cohort of 93 UK students currently studying at further or higher education and who have reported motor difficulties present since childhood. The study group consisted of 21 reporting to have DCD…

Ordinal symbolic analysis and its application to biomedical recordings

PubMed Central

Amigó, José M.; Keller, Karsten; Unakafova, Valentina A.

2015-01-01

Ordinal symbolic analysis opens an interesting and powerful perspective on time-series analysis. Here, we review this relatively new approach and highlight its relation to symbolic dynamics and representations. Our exposition reaches from the general ideas up to recent developments, with special emphasis on its applications to biomedical recordings. The latter will be illustrated with epilepsy data. PMID:25548264

On Enactivism and Language: Towards a Methodology for Studying Talk in Mathematics Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coles, Alf

2015-01-01

This article is an early step in the development of a methodological approach to the study of language deriving from an enactivist theoretical stance. Language is seen as a co-ordination of co-ordinations of action. Meaning and intention cannot easily be interpreted from the actions and words of others; instead, careful attention can be placed in…

Numerical Order Processing in Children: From Reversing the Distance-Effect to Predicting Arithmetic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyons, Ian M.; Ansari, Daniel

2015-01-01

Recent work has demonstrated that how we process the relative order--ordinality--of numbers may be key to understanding how we represent numbers symbolically, and has proven to be a robust predictor of more sophisticated math skills in both children and adults. However, it remains unclear whether numerical ordinality is primarily a by-product of…

Ordinal Expressions in Japanese. Papers in Japanese Linguistics, Vol. 2, No. 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Backus, Robert L.

The varied forms and semantic factors of Japanese ordinal expressions are related to one another in a coherent system. In Japanese, the cardinal number form is a numeral compound in construction with a referent. The numeral compound consists of a number and a numeral adjunct. Numeral adjuncts are derived from bound forms, or numeral suffixes, and…

Unified Least Squares Methods for the Evaluation of Diagnostic Tests With the Gold Standard

PubMed Central

Tang, Liansheng Larry; Yuan, Ao; Collins, John; Che, Xuan; Chan, Leighton

2017-01-01

The article proposes a unified least squares method to estimate the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) parameters for continuous and ordinal diagnostic tests, such as cancer biomarkers. The method is based on a linear model framework using the empirically estimated sensitivities and specificities as input “data.” It gives consistent estimates for regression and accuracy parameters when the underlying continuous test results are normally distributed after some monotonic transformation. The key difference between the proposed method and the method of Tang and Zhou lies in the response variable. The response variable in the latter is transformed empirical ROC curves at different thresholds. It takes on many values for continuous test results, but few values for ordinal test results. The limited number of values for the response variable makes it impractical for ordinal data. However, the response variable in the proposed method takes on many more distinct values so that the method yields valid estimates for ordinal data. Extensive simulation studies are conducted to investigate and compare the finite sample performance of the proposed method with an existing method, and the method is then used to analyze 2 real cancer diagnostic example as an illustration. PMID:28469385

Perceived freedom in leisure and physical co-ordination ability: impact on out-of-school activity participation and life satisfaction.

PubMed

Poulsen, A A; Ziviani, J M; Cuskelly, M

2007-07-01

Perceived freedom in leisure (PFL) is explored as a potential mechanism mediating relationships between physical co-ordination ability and both global life satisfaction and leisure-time physical activity participation for boys with differing levels of physical co-ordination ability. Understanding psychological mechanisms contributing to low rates of participation in physical activities for boys with developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) is a clinical and research priority with potential to inform clinical interventions and preventive health initiatives. Sixty boys aged 10-13 years with DCD and 113 boys without DCD completed self-report measures of PFL and life satisfaction. Seven-day leisure-time activity diaries and 12-month retrospective recall questionnaires were completed by parents. Lower self-appraisals of PFL and overall life satisfaction were found for boys with DCD compared with boys without DCD. PFL mediated relationships between physical ability and both life satisfaction and team sport participation. Perceived freedom in leisure, comprising self-appraisals of leisure needs satisfaction and competence, depth of involvement and perceived control over leisure outcomes, was a significant mechanism influencing leisure-time participation and life satisfaction for boys. The implications for effective intervention and preventive health programmes are discussed.

Ordinal patterns in epileptic brains: Analysis of intracranial EEG and simultaneous EEG-fMRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rummel, C.; Abela, E.; Hauf, M.; Wiest, R.; Schindler, K.

2013-06-01

Epileptic seizures are associated with high behavioral stereotypy of the patients. In the EEG of epilepsy patients characteristic signal patterns can be found during and between seizures. Here we use ordinal patterns to analyze EEGs of epilepsy patients and quantify the degree of signal determinism. Besides relative signal redundancy and the fraction of forbidden patterns we introduce the fraction of under-represented patterns as a new measure. Using the logistic map, parameter scans are performed to explore the sensitivity of the measures to signal determinism. Thereafter, application is made to two types of EEGs recorded in two epilepsy patients. Intracranial EEG shows pronounced determinism peaks during seizures. Finally, we demonstrate that ordinal patterns may be useful for improving analysis of non-invasive simultaneous EEG-fMRI.

Multilevel acceleration of scattering-source iterations with application to electron transport

DOE PAGES

Drumm, Clif; Fan, Wesley

2017-08-18

Acceleration/preconditioning strategies available in the SCEPTRE radiation transport code are described. A flexible transport synthetic acceleration (TSA) algorithm that uses a low-order discrete-ordinates (S N) or spherical-harmonics (P N) solve to accelerate convergence of a high-order S N source-iteration (SI) solve is described. Convergence of the low-order solves can be further accelerated by applying off-the-shelf incomplete-factorization or algebraic-multigrid methods. Also available is an algorithm that uses a generalized minimum residual (GMRES) iterative method rather than SI for convergence, using a parallel sweep-based solver to build up a Krylov subspace. TSA has been applied as a preconditioner to accelerate the convergencemore » of the GMRES iterations. The methods are applied to several problems involving electron transport and problems with artificial cross sections with large scattering ratios. These methods were compared and evaluated by considering material discontinuities and scattering anisotropy. Observed accelerations obtained are highly problem dependent, but speedup factors around 10 have been observed in typical applications.« less

Normalization of a collimated 14.7 MeV neutron source in a neutron spectrometry system for benchmark experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ofek, R.; Tsechanski, A.; Shani, G.

1988-05-01

In the present study a method used to normalize a collimated 14.7 MeV neutron beam is introduced. It combined a measurement of the fast neutron scalar flux passing through the collimator, using a copper foil activation, with a neutron transport calculation of the foil activation per unit source neutron, carried out by the discrete-ordinates transport code DOT 4.2. The geometry of the collimated neutron beam is composed of a D-T neutron source positioned 30 cm in front of a 6 cm diameter collimator, through a 120 cm thick paraffin wall. The neutron flux emitted from the D-T source was counted by an NE-213 scintillator, simultaneously with the irradiation of the copper foil. Thus, the determination of the normalization factor of the D-T source is used for an absolute flux calibration of the NE-213 scintillator. The major contributions to the uncertainty in the determination of the normalization factor, and their origins, are discussed.

Changes in the Ability to Detect Ordinal Numerical Relationships between 9 and 11 Months of Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suanda, Sumarga H.; Tompson, Whitney; Brannon, Elizabeth M.

2008-01-01

When are the precursors of ordinal numerical knowledge first evident in infancy? Brannon (2002) argued that by 11 months of age, infants possess the ability to appreciate the greater than and less than relations between numerical values but that this ability experiences a sudden onset between 9 and 11 months of age. Here we present 5 experiments…

The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church: Arguments for Teachers and Students in Catholic Schools to Consider--Part 2 the Case For

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bourgeois, Roy

2015-01-01

Vatican authority is being challenged as Roman Catholic women act upon their vocations to the priesthood, receive ordination, and openly serve their faith communities. Since 2002--when seven women were ordained by male Roman Catholic bishops--190 women have been ordained to the priesthood, including a dozen women bishops. Vatican officials dismiss…

From Exclusion to Inclusion; Supporting Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinators to Keep Children in Mainstream Education: A Qualitative Psychoanalytic Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Angela

2013-01-01

This paper draws on my doctoral research study based on consulting work with three primary school Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCos) that took place in 2008. The study examined the interactions that arose in the consultations with the SENCos and their staff. The findings that emerged from the application of Grounded Theory research…

Fitting Proportional Odds Models to Educational Data in Ordinal Logistic Regression Using Stata, SAS and SPSS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xing

2008-01-01

The proportional odds (PO) model, which is also called cumulative odds model (Agresti, 1996, 2002 ; Armstrong & Sloan, 1989; Long, 1997, Long & Freese, 2006; McCullagh, 1980; McCullagh & Nelder, 1989; Powers & Xie, 2000; O'Connell, 2006), is one of the most commonly used models for the analysis of ordinal categorical data and comes from the class…

An Exploratory Study of Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinators' Knowledge and Experience of Working with Children Who Have Sustained a Brain Injury

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howe, Julia; Ball, Heather

2017-01-01

This research aimed to measure Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators' knowledge of the educational implications of acquired brain injury in children and young people and whether experience of working with pupils with a brain injury or additional training impacts upon this knowledge. Data was collected within one local authority in England using…

The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church: Arguments for Teachers and Students in Schools to Consider--Part 1 the Case Against

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Droste, Catherine Joseph

2015-01-01

Though the Catholic Church explicitly teaches that women cannot receive priestly ordination, opposition from within and outside the Church continues. The magisterium relies heavily upon the argument from Tradition, claiming that the action and teaching of Christ and his successors verify that he did not bestow upon the Church the power to ordain…

A Difference-In-Differences Study of the Effects of a New Abandoned Building Remediation Strategy on Safety

Treesearch

Michelle C. Kondo; Danya Keene; Bernadette C. Hohl; John M. MacDonald; Charles C. Branas

2015-01-01

Vacant and abandoned buildings pose significant challenges to the health and safety of communities. In 2011 the City of Philadelphia began enforcing a Doors and Windows Ordinance that required property owners of abandoned buildings to install working doors and windows in all structural openings or face significant fines. We tested the effects of the new ordinance on...

A comparison of bivariate, multivariate random-effects, and Poisson correlated gamma-frailty models to meta-analyze individual patient data of ordinal scale diagnostic tests.

PubMed

Simoneau, Gabrielle; Levis, Brooke; Cuijpers, Pim; Ioannidis, John P A; Patten, Scott B; Shrier, Ian; Bombardier, Charles H; de Lima Osório, Flavia; Fann, Jesse R; Gjerdingen, Dwenda; Lamers, Femke; Lotrakul, Manote; Löwe, Bernd; Shaaban, Juwita; Stafford, Lesley; van Weert, Henk C P M; Whooley, Mary A; Wittkampf, Karin A; Yeung, Albert S; Thombs, Brett D; Benedetti, Andrea

2017-11-01

Individual patient data (IPD) meta-analyses are increasingly common in the literature. In the context of estimating the diagnostic accuracy of ordinal or semi-continuous scale tests, sensitivity and specificity are often reported for a given threshold or a small set of thresholds, and a meta-analysis is conducted via a bivariate approach to account for their correlation. When IPD are available, sensitivity and specificity can be pooled for every possible threshold. Our objective was to compare the bivariate approach, which can be applied separately at every threshold, to two multivariate methods: the ordinal multivariate random-effects model and the Poisson correlated gamma-frailty model. Our comparison was empirical, using IPD from 13 studies that evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire depression screening tool, and included simulations. The empirical comparison showed that the implementation of the two multivariate methods is more laborious in terms of computational time and sensitivity to user-supplied values compared to the bivariate approach. Simulations showed that ignoring the within-study correlation of sensitivity and specificity across thresholds did not worsen inferences with the bivariate approach compared to the Poisson model. The ordinal approach was not suitable for simulations because the model was highly sensitive to user-supplied starting values. We tentatively recommend the bivariate approach rather than more complex multivariate methods for IPD diagnostic accuracy meta-analyses of ordinal scale tests, although the limited type of diagnostic data considered in the simulation study restricts the generalization of our findings. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Prescribing joint co-ordinates during model preparation to improve inverse kinematic estimates of elbow joint angles.

PubMed

Wells, D J M; Alderson, J A; Dunne, J; Elliott, B C; Donnelly, C J

2017-01-25

To appropriately use inverse kinematic (IK) modelling for the assessment of human motion, a musculoskeletal model must be prepared 1) to match participant segment lengths (scaling) and 2) to align the model׳s virtual markers positions with known, experimentally derived kinematic marker positions (marker registration). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether prescribing joint co-ordinates during the marker registration process (within the modelling framework OpenSim) will improve IK derived elbow kinematics during an overhead sporting task. To test this, the upper limb kinematics of eight cricket bowlers were recorded during two testing sessions, with a different tester each session. The bowling trials were IK modelled twice: once with an upper limb musculoskeletal model prepared with prescribed participant specific co-ordinates during marker registration - MR PC - and once with the same model prepared without prescribed co-ordinates - MR; and by an established direct kinematic (DK) upper limb model. Whilst both skeletal model preparations had strong inter-tester repeatability (MR: Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM1D)=0% different; MR PC : SPM1D=0% different), when compared with DK model elbow FE waveform estimates, IK estimates using the MR PC model (RMSD=5.2±2.0°, SPM1D=68% different) were in closer agreement than the estimates from the MR model (RMSD=44.5±18.5°, SPM1D=100% different). Results show that prescribing participant specific joint co-ordinates during the marker registration phase of model preparation increases the accuracy and repeatability of IK solutions when modelling overhead sporting tasks in OpenSim. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rethinking Residue: Determining the Perceptual Continuum of Residue on FEES to Enable Better Measurement.

PubMed

Pisegna, Jessica M; Kaneoka, Asako; Leonard, Rebecca; Langmore, Susan E

2018-02-01

The goal of this work was to better understand perceptual judgments of pharyngeal residue on flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and the influence of a visual analog scale (VAS) versus an ordinal scale on clinician ratings. The intent was to determine if perceptual judgments of residue were more accurately described by equal or unequal intervals. Thirty-three speech language pathologists rated pharyngeal residue from 75 FEES videos representing a wide range of residue severities for thin liquid, applesauce, and cracker boluses. Clinicians rated their impression of the overall residue amount in each video on a VAS and, in a different session, on a five-point ordinal scale. Residue ratings were made in two separate sessions separated by several weeks. Statistical correlations of the two rating methods were carried out and best-fit models were determined for each bolus type. A total of 2475 VAS ratings and 2473 ordinal ratings were collected. Residue ratings from both methods (VAS and ordinal) were strongly correlated for all bolus types. The best fit for the data was a quadratic model representing unequal intervals, which significantly improved the r 2 values for each bolus type (cracker r 2  = 0.98, applesauce r 2  = 0.99, thin liquid r 2  = 0.98, all p < 0.0001). Perceptual ratings of pharyngeal residue demonstrated a statistical relationship consistent with unequal intervals. The present findings support the use of a VAS to rate residue on FEES, allowing for greater precision as compared to traditional ordinal rating scales. Perceptual judgments of pharyngeal residue reflected unequal intervals, an important concept that should be considered in future rating scales.

Weight loss and improved gross motor coordination in children as a result of multidisciplinary residential obesity treatment.

PubMed

D'Hondt, Eva; Gentier, Ilse; Deforche, Benedicte; Tanghe, Ann; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Lenoir, Matthieu

2011-10-01

This study evaluated the short-term effectiveness of a multidisciplinary residential obesity treatment program by describing changes in body weight, related measures, and gross motor co-ordination. Secondarily, it was examined to what extent the amount of relative weight loss achieved by overweight and obese (OW/OB) participants explained the projected improvement in gross motor co-ordination. Thirty-six OW/OB children (aged 10.5 ± 1.4 years, 12 girls and 24 boys) were recruited at the Zeepreventorium VZW (De Haan, Belgium), where they followed a specific program consisting of moderate dietary restriction, psychological support, and physical activity. For reference purposes, an additional group of 36 age- and gender-matched healthy-weight (HW) children was included in the study. Anthropometric measures were recorded and gross motor co-ordination was assessed using the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK) on two occasions with an interval of 4 months. Regardless of the test moment, OW/OB participants displayed significantly poorer KTK performances (P < 0.001). However, treatment was found to be efficacious in decreasing body weight (Δ 17.9 ± 3.1%, P < 0.001) and generating a significant progress in gross motor co-ordination performance, with a greater increase in KTK score(s) from baseline to re-test as compared to HW peers (P < 0.01). Within the OW/OB group, the amount of relative weight loss explained 26.9% of the variance in improvement in overall KTK performance. Therefore, multidisciplinary residential treatment and concomitant weight loss can be considered an important means to upgrade OW/OB children's level of gross motor co-ordination, which in turn may promote physical activity participation.

An innovative statistical approach for analysing non-continuous variables in environmental monitoring: assessing temporal trends of TBT pollution.

PubMed

Santos, José António; Galante-Oliveira, Susana; Barroso, Carlos

2011-03-01

The current work presents an innovative statistical approach to model ordinal variables in environmental monitoring studies. An ordinal variable has values that can only be compared as "less", "equal" or "greater" and it is not possible to have information about the size of the difference between two particular values. The example of ordinal variable under this study is the vas deferens sequence (VDS) used in imposex (superimposition of male sexual characters onto prosobranch females) field assessment programmes for monitoring tributyltin (TBT) pollution. The statistical methodology presented here is the ordered logit regression model. It assumes that the VDS is an ordinal variable whose values match up a process of imposex development that can be considered continuous in both biological and statistical senses and can be described by a latent non-observable continuous variable. This model was applied to the case study of Nucella lapillus imposex monitoring surveys conducted in the Portuguese coast between 2003 and 2008 to evaluate the temporal evolution of TBT pollution in this country. In order to produce more reliable conclusions, the proposed model includes covariates that may influence the imposex response besides TBT (e.g. the shell size). The model also provides an analysis of the environmental risk associated to TBT pollution by estimating the probability of the occurrence of females with VDS ≥ 2 in each year, according to OSPAR criteria. We consider that the proposed application of this statistical methodology has a great potential in environmental monitoring whenever there is the need to model variables that can only be assessed through an ordinal scale of values.

Reducing single-use plastic shopping bags in the USA.

PubMed

Wagner, Travis P

2017-12-01

In the USA, local governments have the primary responsibility to manage MSW. However, local governments lack the authority to explicitly shift costs or responsibility back onto the producer for specific problem wastes. A particularly problematic waste for local governments is the single-use plastic bag. In 2014, in the USA, 103.465 billion single-use plastic shopping bags were consumed. Because of their extremely low recyclability rate, plastic bags remain a significant source of land-based litter and marine debris and impair stormwater management systems. They also reduce the effectiveness of automated recycling systems. In response, local governments increasingly have adopted a variety of measures specifically intended to reduce the store-level consumption of single-use shopping bags in 5 major categories: bans, imposition of fees and taxes, establishing minimum product design of bags, requiring consumer education, and mandating retailer take-back programs. As of September 2017, there were 271 local governments in the USA with plastic bag ordinances covering 9.7% of the nation's population. The majority (95%) of the ordinances is a ban on single-use plastic bags; 56.9% of these bans also include a mandatory fee on paper and/or reusable bags. For the fee-based ordinances, the mode is $0.10 per bag; every tax/fee ordinance allows retailers to retain some or all the collected fee. As local governments continue to increase their actions on plastic bags, 11 states have enacted laws to prohibit local governments from regulating single-use plastic bags. Because of the success with single-use bags, local governments are also enacting similar ordinances on single-use expanded polystyrene consumer products and other single-use plastic products. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Multi-Year Study of Tobacco Control in Newspaper Editorials Using Community Characteristic Data and Content Analysis Findings.

PubMed

Stanfield, Kellie; Rodgers, Shelly

2018-07-01

We content analyzed 1,473 newspaper editorials for topic, tone, and slant, and connected the results to community characteristic data: clean indoor air ordinance status for cities, and official smoking rates for counties. The analysis occurred during a multi-year project aimed at prompting communities to adopt clean indoor air policies. The results showed that most editorials were about tobacco restrictions or ordinances, were neutral in tone, and provided factual information about tobacco control. More editorials were negatively slanted vs. positively slanted toward tobacco control. Most editorials with positive tones were published in newspapers in towns that already had clean indoor air policies. We concluded that editorials might hold increased weight in spurring change, as the percentage of smokers in a city is unrelated to the town enacting a clean indoor air ordinance.

Parameters Estimation of Geographically Weighted Ordinal Logistic Regression (GWOLR) Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuhdi, Shaifudin; Retno Sari Saputro, Dewi; Widyaningsih, Purnami

2017-06-01

A regression model is the representation of relationship between independent variable and dependent variable. The dependent variable has categories used in the logistic regression model to calculate odds on. The logistic regression model for dependent variable has levels in the logistics regression model is ordinal. GWOLR model is an ordinal logistic regression model influenced the geographical location of the observation site. Parameters estimation in the model needed to determine the value of a population based on sample. The purpose of this research is to parameters estimation of GWOLR model using R software. Parameter estimation uses the data amount of dengue fever patients in Semarang City. Observation units used are 144 villages in Semarang City. The results of research get GWOLR model locally for each village and to know probability of number dengue fever patient categories.

Earth's rotation irregularities derived from UTIBLI by method of multi-composing of ordinates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Segan, S.; Damjanov, I.; Surlan, B.

Using the method of multi-composing of ordinates we have identified in Earth's rotation a long-periodic term with a period similar to the relaxation time of Chandler nutation. There was not enough information to assess its origin. We demonstrate that the method can be used even in the case when the data time span is comparable to the period of harmonic component.

Is Teacher Value Added a Matter of Scale? The Practical Consequences of Treating an Ordinal Scale as Interval for Estimation of Teacher Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soland, James

2017-01-01

Research shows that assuming a test scale is equal-interval can be problematic, especially when the assessment is being used to achieve a policy aim like evaluating growth over time. However, little research considers whether teacher value added is sensitive to the underlying test scale, and in particular whether treating an ordinal scale as…

"Are We Being De-Gifted, Miss?" Primary School Gifted and Talented Co-Ordinators' Responses to the Gifted and Talented Education Policy in England

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koshy, Valsa; Pinheiro-Torres, Catrin

2013-01-01

Over a decade ago the UK government launched its gifted and talented education policy in England, yet there has been very little published research which considers how schools and teachers are interpreting and implementing the policy. By seeking the views of the gifted and talented co-ordinators (For ease of reference, the term gifted and talented…

Functional traits, convergent evolution, and periodic tables of niches.

PubMed

Winemiller, Kirk O; Fitzgerald, Daniel B; Bower, Luke M; Pianka, Eric R

2015-08-01

Ecology is often said to lack general theories sufficiently predictive for applications. Here, we examine the concept of a periodic table of niches and feasibility of niche classification schemes from functional trait and performance data. Niche differences and their influence on ecological patterns and processes could be revealed effectively by first performing data reduction/ordination analyses separately on matrices of trait and performance data compiled according to logical associations with five basic niche 'dimensions', or aspects: habitat, life history, trophic, defence and metabolic. Resultant patterns then are integrated to produce interpretable niche gradients, ordinations and classifications. Degree of scheme periodicity would depend on degrees of niche conservatism and convergence causing species clustering across multiple niche dimensions. We analysed a sample data set containing trait and performance data to contrast two approaches for producing niche schemes: species ordination within niche gradient space, and niche categorisation according to trait-value thresholds. Creation of niche schemes useful for advancing ecological knowledge and its applications will depend on research that produces functional trait and performance datasets directly related to niche dimensions along with criteria for data standardisation and quality. As larger databases are compiled, opportunities will emerge to explore new methods for data reduction, ordination and classification. © 2015 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Media advocacy, tobacco control policy change and teen smoking in Florida

PubMed Central

Niederdeppe, Jeff; Farrelly, Matthew C; Wenter, Dana

2007-01-01

Objective To assess whether media advocacy activities implemented by the Florida Tobacco Control Program contributed to increased news coverage, policy changes and reductions in youth smoking. Methods A content analysis of news coverage appearing in Florida newspapers between 22 April 1998 and 31 December 2001 was conducted, and patterns of coverage before and after the implementation of media advocacy efforts to promote tobacco product placement ordinances were compared. Event history analysis was used to assess whether news coverage increased the probability of enacting these ordinances in 23 of 67 Florida counties and ordinary least square (OLS) regression was used to gauge the effect of these policies on changes in youth smoking prevalence. Results The volume of programme‐related news coverage decreased after the onset of media advocacy efforts, but the ratio of coverage about Students Working Against Tobacco (the Florida Tobacco Control Program's youth advocacy organisation) relative to other topics increased. News coverage contributed to the passage of tobacco product placement ordinances in Florida counties, but these ordinances did not lead to reduced youth smoking. Conclusion This study adds to the growing literature supporting the use of media advocacy as a tool to change health‐related policies. However, results suggest caution in choosing policy goals that may or may not influence health behaviour. PMID:17297073

Probabilistic measurement of non-physical constructs during early childhood: Epistemological implications for advancing psychosocial science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bezruczko, N.; Fatani, S. S.

2010-07-01

Social researchers commonly compute ordinal raw scores and ratings to quantify human aptitudes, attitudes, and abilities but without a clear understanding of their limitations for scientific knowledge. In this research, common ordinal measures were compared to higher order linear (equal interval) scale measures to clarify implications for objectivity, precision, ontological coherence, and meaningfulness. Raw score gains, residualized raw gains, and linear gains calculated with a Rasch model were compared between Time 1 and Time 2 for observations from two early childhood learning assessments. Comparisons show major inconsistencies between ratings and linear gains. When gain distribution was dense, relatively compact, and initial status near item mid-range, linear measures and ratings were indistinguishable. When Time 1 status was distributed more broadly and magnitude of change variable, ratings were unrelated to linear gain, which emphasizes problematic implications of ordinal measures. Surprisingly, residualized gain scores did not significantly improve ordinal measurement of change. In general, raw scores and ratings may be meaningful in specific samples to establish order and high/low rank, but raw score differences suffer from non-uniform units. Even meaningfulness of sample comparisons, as well as derived proportions and percentages, are seriously affected by rank order distortions and should be avoided.

Confidence intervals for distinguishing ordinal and disordinal interactions in multiple regression.

PubMed

Lee, Sunbok; Lei, Man-Kit; Brody, Gene H

2015-06-01

Distinguishing between ordinal and disordinal interaction in multiple regression is useful in testing many interesting theoretical hypotheses. Because the distinction is made based on the location of a crossover point of 2 simple regression lines, confidence intervals of the crossover point can be used to distinguish ordinal and disordinal interactions. This study examined 2 factors that need to be considered in constructing confidence intervals of the crossover point: (a) the assumption about the sampling distribution of the crossover point, and (b) the possibility of abnormally wide confidence intervals for the crossover point. A Monte Carlo simulation study was conducted to compare 6 different methods for constructing confidence intervals of the crossover point in terms of the coverage rate, the proportion of true values that fall to the left or right of the confidence intervals, and the average width of the confidence intervals. The methods include the reparameterization, delta, Fieller, basic bootstrap, percentile bootstrap, and bias-corrected accelerated bootstrap methods. The results of our Monte Carlo simulation study suggest that statistical inference using confidence intervals to distinguish ordinal and disordinal interaction requires sample sizes more than 500 to be able to provide sufficiently narrow confidence intervals to identify the location of the crossover point. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The Trend Odds Model for Ordinal Data‡

PubMed Central

Capuano, Ana W.; Dawson, Jeffrey D.

2013-01-01

Ordinal data appear in a wide variety of scientific fields. These data are often analyzed using ordinal logistic regression models that assume proportional odds. When this assumption is not met, it may be possible to capture the lack of proportionality using a constrained structural relationship between the odds and the cut-points of the ordinal values (Peterson and Harrell, 1990). We consider a trend odds version of this constrained model, where the odds parameter increases or decreases in a monotonic manner across the cut-points. We demonstrate algebraically and graphically how this model is related to latent logistic, normal, and exponential distributions. In particular, we find that scale changes in these potential latent distributions are consistent with the trend odds assumption, with the logistic and exponential distributions having odds that increase in a linear or nearly linear fashion. We show how to fit this model using SAS Proc Nlmixed, and perform simulations under proportional odds and trend odds processes. We find that the added complexity of the trend odds model gives improved power over the proportional odds model when there are moderate to severe departures from proportionality. A hypothetical dataset is used to illustrate the interpretation of the trend odds model, and we apply this model to a Swine Influenza example where the proportional odds assumption appears to be violated. PMID:23225520

The trend odds model for ordinal data.

PubMed

Capuano, Ana W; Dawson, Jeffrey D

2013-06-15

Ordinal data appear in a wide variety of scientific fields. These data are often analyzed using ordinal logistic regression models that assume proportional odds. When this assumption is not met, it may be possible to capture the lack of proportionality using a constrained structural relationship between the odds and the cut-points of the ordinal values. We consider a trend odds version of this constrained model, wherein the odds parameter increases or decreases in a monotonic manner across the cut-points. We demonstrate algebraically and graphically how this model is related to latent logistic, normal, and exponential distributions. In particular, we find that scale changes in these potential latent distributions are consistent with the trend odds assumption, with the logistic and exponential distributions having odds that increase in a linear or nearly linear fashion. We show how to fit this model using SAS Proc NLMIXED and perform simulations under proportional odds and trend odds processes. We find that the added complexity of the trend odds model gives improved power over the proportional odds model when there are moderate to severe departures from proportionality. A hypothetical data set is used to illustrate the interpretation of the trend odds model, and we apply this model to a swine influenza example wherein the proportional odds assumption appears to be violated. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Technical Note: The Initial Stages of Statistical Data Analysis

PubMed Central

Tandy, Richard D.

1998-01-01

Objective: To provide an overview of several important data-related considerations in the design stage of a research project and to review the levels of measurement and their relationship to the statistical technique chosen for the data analysis. Background: When planning a study, the researcher must clearly define the research problem and narrow it down to specific, testable questions. The next steps are to identify the variables in the study, decide how to group and treat subjects, and determine how to measure, and the underlying level of measurement of, the dependent variables. Then the appropriate statistical technique can be selected for data analysis. Description: The four levels of measurement in increasing complexity are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Nominal data are categorical or “count” data, and the numbers are treated as labels. Ordinal data can be ranked in a meaningful order by magnitude. Interval data possess the characteristics of ordinal data and also have equal distances between levels. Ratio data have a natural zero point. Nominal and ordinal data are analyzed with nonparametric statistical techniques and interval and ratio data with parametric statistical techniques. Advantages: Understanding the four levels of measurement and when it is appropriate to use each is important in determining which statistical technique to use when analyzing data. PMID:16558489

A comparison of three methods of assessing differential item functioning (DIF) in the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale: ordinal logistic regression, Rasch analysis and the Mantel chi-square procedure.

PubMed

Cameron, Isobel M; Scott, Neil W; Adler, Mats; Reid, Ian C

2014-12-01

It is important for clinical practice and research that measurement scales of well-being and quality of life exhibit only minimal differential item functioning (DIF). DIF occurs where different groups of people endorse items in a scale to different extents after being matched by the intended scale attribute. We investigate the equivalence or otherwise of common methods of assessing DIF. Three methods of measuring age- and sex-related DIF (ordinal logistic regression, Rasch analysis and Mantel χ(2) procedure) were applied to Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) data pertaining to a sample of 1,068 patients consulting primary care practitioners. Three items were flagged by all three approaches as having either age- or sex-related DIF with a consistent direction of effect; a further three items identified did not meet stricter criteria for important DIF using at least one method. When applying strict criteria for significant DIF, ordinal logistic regression was slightly less sensitive. Ordinal logistic regression, Rasch analysis and contingency table methods yielded consistent results when identifying DIF in the HADS depression and HADS anxiety scales. Regardless of methods applied, investigators should use a combination of statistical significance, magnitude of the DIF effect and investigator judgement when interpreting the results.

Bringing Healthy Retail to Urban "Food Swamps": a Case Study of CBPR-Informed Policy and Neighborhood Change in San Francisco.

PubMed

Minkler, Meredith; Estrada, Jessica; Thayer, Ryan; Juachon, Lisa; Wakimoto, Patricia; Falbe, Jennifer

2018-04-09

In urban "food swamps" like San Francisco's Tenderloin, the absence of full-service grocery stores and plethora of corner stores saturated with tobacco, alcohol, and processed food contribute to high rates of chronic disease. We explore the genesis of the Tenderloin Healthy Corner Store Coalition, its relationship with health department and academic partners, and its contributions to the passage and implementation of a healthy retail ordinance through community-based participatory research (CBPR), capacity building, and advocacy. The healthy retail ordinance incentivizes small stores to increase space for healthy foods and decrease tobacco and alcohol availability. Through Yin's multi-method case study analysis, we examined the partnership's processes and contributions to the ordinance within the framework of Kingdon's three-stage policymaking model. We also assessed preliminary outcomes of the ordinance, including a 35% increase in produce sales and moderate declines in tobacco sales in the first four stores participating in the Tenderloin, as well as a "ripple effect," through which non-participating stores also improved their retail environments. Despite challenges, CBPR partnerships led by a strong community coalition concerned with bedrock issues like food justice and neighborhood inequities in tobacco exposure may represent an important avenue for health equity-focused research and its translation into practice.

Development of a Laser for Landmine Destruction Final Report CRADA No. TC02126.0

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

Yamamoto, R.; Sheppard, C.

2017-08-31

This was one of two CRADAs between Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC as manager and operator of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and First Alliance Technologies, LLC (First Alliance), to conduct research and development activity toward an integrated system for the detecting, locating, and destroying of landmines and unexploded ordinance using a laser to destroy landmines and unexploded ordinance and First Alliance’s Land Mine Locator (LML) system.

Analysis of early life influences on cognitive development in childhood using multilevel ordinal models

PubMed Central

Li, Leah

2012-01-01

Summary Studies of cognitive development in children are often based on tests designed for specific ages. Examination of the changes of these scores over time may not be meaningful. This paper investigates the influence of early life factors on cognitive development using maths and reading test scores at ages 7, 11, and 16 years in a British birth cohort born in 1958. The distributions of these test scores differ between ages, for example, 20% participants scored the top mark in the reading test at 7 and the distribution of reading score at 16 is heavily skewed. In this paper, we group participants into 5 ordered categories, approximately 20% in each category according to their test scores at each age. Multilevel models for a repeated ordinal outcome are applied to relate the ordinal scale of maths and reading ability to early life factors. PMID:22661923

MIXOR: a computer program for mixed-effects ordinal regression analysis.

PubMed

Hedeker, D; Gibbons, R D

1996-03-01

MIXOR provides maximum marginal likelihood estimates for mixed-effects ordinal probit, logistic, and complementary log-log regression models. These models can be used for analysis of dichotomous and ordinal outcomes from either a clustered or longitudinal design. For clustered data, the mixed-effects model assumes that data within clusters are dependent. The degree of dependency is jointly estimated with the usual model parameters, thus adjusting for dependence resulting from clustering of the data. Similarly, for longitudinal data, the mixed-effects approach can allow for individual-varying intercepts and slopes across time, and can estimate the degree to which these time-related effects vary in the population of individuals. MIXOR uses marginal maximum likelihood estimation, utilizing a Fisher-scoring solution. For the scoring solution, the Cholesky factor of the random-effects variance-covariance matrix is estimated, along with the effects of model covariates. Examples illustrating usage and features of MIXOR are provided.

A mixed-effects regression model for longitudinal multivariate ordinal data.

PubMed

Liu, Li C; Hedeker, Donald

2006-03-01

A mixed-effects item response theory model that allows for three-level multivariate ordinal outcomes and accommodates multiple random subject effects is proposed for analysis of multivariate ordinal outcomes in longitudinal studies. This model allows for the estimation of different item factor loadings (item discrimination parameters) for the multiple outcomes. The covariates in the model do not have to follow the proportional odds assumption and can be at any level. Assuming either a probit or logistic response function, maximum marginal likelihood estimation is proposed utilizing multidimensional Gauss-Hermite quadrature for integration of the random effects. An iterative Fisher scoring solution, which provides standard errors for all model parameters, is used. An analysis of a longitudinal substance use data set, where four items of substance use behavior (cigarette use, alcohol use, marijuana use, and getting drunk or high) are repeatedly measured over time, is used to illustrate application of the proposed model.

Matrix management in a rehabilitation centre.

PubMed

Eldar, R; Ring, H

1989-01-01

This paper considers an old topic from a newer perspective, that of current management theory. A high degree of differentiation is intrinsic to most rehabilitation inpatient facilities. At Loewenstein, patients are accommodated according to medical categories in purpose departments, of which medical and nursing staff are a part. Allied health professionals are organized in functional departments. Care is provided by a team derived from both types of department. A matrix organization is thus established, superimposing a patient care team (for lateral horizontal co-ordination) on the organization of functional departments (for vertical hierarchical co-ordination) and built around a temporary project, the individual patient. This organizational structure maximizes the advantages and minimizes the disadvantages of both types of department in solving the conflict between specialization and integration. It has facilitated effective and efficient vertical and horizontal co-ordination and enhanced the provision of care by a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team.

VVER-440 and VVER-1000 reactor dosimetry benchmark - BUGLE-96 versus ALPAN VII.0

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

Duo, J. I.

2011-07-01

Document available in abstract form only, full text of document follows: Analytical results of the vodo-vodyanoi energetichesky reactor-(VVER-) 440 and VVER-1000 reactor dosimetry benchmarks developed from engineering mockups at the Nuclear Research Inst. Rez LR-0 reactor are discussed. These benchmarks provide accurate determination of radiation field parameters in the vicinity and over the thickness of the reactor pressure vessel. Measurements are compared to calculated results with two sets of tools: TORT discrete ordinates code and BUGLE-96 cross-section library versus the newly Westinghouse-developed RAPTOR-M3G and ALPAN VII.0. The parallel code RAPTOR-M3G enables detailed neutron distributions in energy and space in reducedmore » computational time. ALPAN VII.0 cross-section library is based on ENDF/B-VII.0 and is designed for reactor dosimetry applications. It uses a unique broad group structure to enhance resolution in thermal-neutron-energy range compared to other analogous libraries. The comparison of fast neutron (E > 0.5 MeV) results shows good agreement (within 10%) between BUGLE-96 and ALPAN VII.O libraries. Furthermore, the results compare well with analogous results of participants of the REDOS program (2005). Finally, the analytical results for fast neutrons agree within 15% with the measurements, for most locations in all three mockups. In general, however, the analytical results underestimate the attenuation through the reactor pressure vessel thickness compared to the measurements. (authors)« less

Deterministic absorbed dose estimation in computed tomography using a discrete ordinates method

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

Norris, Edward T.; Liu, Xin, E-mail: xinliu@mst.edu; Hsieh, Jiang

Purpose: Organ dose estimation for a patient undergoing computed tomography (CT) scanning is very important. Although Monte Carlo methods are considered gold-standard in patient dose estimation, the computation time required is formidable for routine clinical calculations. Here, the authors instigate a deterministic method for estimating an absorbed dose more efficiently. Methods: Compared with current Monte Carlo methods, a more efficient approach to estimating the absorbed dose is to solve the linear Boltzmann equation numerically. In this study, an axial CT scan was modeled with a software package, Denovo, which solved the linear Boltzmann equation using the discrete ordinates method. Themore » CT scanning configuration included 16 x-ray source positions, beam collimators, flat filters, and bowtie filters. The phantom was the standard 32 cm CT dose index (CTDI) phantom. Four different Denovo simulations were performed with different simulation parameters, including the number of quadrature sets and the order of Legendre polynomial expansions. A Monte Carlo simulation was also performed for benchmarking the Denovo simulations. A quantitative comparison was made of the simulation results obtained by the Denovo and the Monte Carlo methods. Results: The difference in the simulation results of the discrete ordinates method and those of the Monte Carlo methods was found to be small, with a root-mean-square difference of around 2.4%. It was found that the discrete ordinates method, with a higher order of Legendre polynomial expansions, underestimated the absorbed dose near the center of the phantom (i.e., low dose region). Simulations of the quadrature set 8 and the first order of the Legendre polynomial expansions proved to be the most efficient computation method in the authors’ study. The single-thread computation time of the deterministic simulation of the quadrature set 8 and the first order of the Legendre polynomial expansions was 21 min on a personal computer. Conclusions: The simulation results showed that the deterministic method can be effectively used to estimate the absorbed dose in a CTDI phantom. The accuracy of the discrete ordinates method was close to that of a Monte Carlo simulation, and the primary benefit of the discrete ordinates method lies in its rapid computation speed. It is expected that further optimization of this method in routine clinical CT dose estimation will improve its accuracy and speed.« less

Spectral amplification models for response spectrum addressing the directivity effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moghimi, Saed; Akkar, Sinan

2017-04-01

Ground motions with forward directivity effects are known with their significantly large spectral ordinates in medium-to-long periods. The large spectral ordinates stem from the impulsive characteristics of the forward directivity ground motions. The quantification of these spectral amplifications requires the identification of major seismological parameters that play a role in their generation. After running a suite of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, Moghimi and Akkar (2016) have shown that fault slip rate, fault characteristic magnitude, fault-site geometry as well as mean annual exceedance rate are important parameters that determine the level of spectral amplification due to directivity. These parameters are considered to develop two separate spectral amplification equations in this study. The proposed equations rely on Shahi and Baker (SHB11; 2011) and Chiou and Spudich (CHS13; Spudic et al., 2013) narrow-band forward directivity models. The presented equations only focus on the estimation of maximum spectral amplifications that occur at the ends of the fault segments. This way we eliminate the fault-site parameter in our equations for simplification. The proposed equations show different trends due to differences in the narrow-band directivity models of SHB11 and CHS13. The equations given in this study can form bases for describing forward directivity effects in seismic design codes. REFERENCES Shahi. S., Baker, J.W. (2011), "An Empirically Calibrated Framework for Including the Effects of Near-Fault Directivity in Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis", Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 101(2): 742-755. Spudich, P., Watson-Lamprey, J., Somerville, P., Bayless, J., Shahi, S. K., Baker, J. W., Rowshandel, B., and Chiou, B. (2013), "Final Report of the NGA-West2 Directivity Working Group", PEER Report 2013/09. Moghimi. S., Akkar, S. (2016), "Implications of Forward Directivity Effects on Design Ground Motions", Seismological Society of America, Annual meeting, 2016, Reno, Nevada, 87:2B Pg. 464

Deterministic Modeling of the High Temperature Test Reactor

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

Ortensi, J.; Cogliati, J. J.; Pope, M. A.

2010-06-01

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is tasked with the development of reactor physics analysis capability of the Next Generation Nuclear Power (NGNP) project. In order to examine INL’s current prismatic reactor deterministic analysis tools, the project is conducting a benchmark exercise based on modeling the High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR). This exercise entails the development of a model for the initial criticality, a 19 column thin annular core, and the fully loaded core critical condition with 30 columns. Special emphasis is devoted to the annular core modeling, which shares more characteristics with the NGNP base design. The DRAGON code is usedmore » in this study because it offers significant ease and versatility in modeling prismatic designs. Despite some geometric limitations, the code performs quite well compared to other lattice physics codes. DRAGON can generate transport solutions via collision probability (CP), method of characteristics (MOC), and discrete ordinates (Sn). A fine group cross section library based on the SHEM 281 energy structure is used in the DRAGON calculations. HEXPEDITE is the hexagonal z full core solver used in this study and is based on the Green’s Function solution of the transverse integrated equations. In addition, two Monte Carlo (MC) based codes, MCNP5 and PSG2/SERPENT, provide benchmarking capability for the DRAGON and the nodal diffusion solver codes. The results from this study show a consistent bias of 2–3% for the core multiplication factor. This systematic error has also been observed in other HTTR benchmark efforts and is well documented in the literature. The ENDF/B VII graphite and U235 cross sections appear to be the main source of the error. The isothermal temperature coefficients calculated with the fully loaded core configuration agree well with other benchmark participants but are 40% higher than the experimental values. This discrepancy with the measurement stems from the fact that during the experiments the control rods were adjusted to maintain criticality, whereas in the model, the rod positions were fixed. In addition, this work includes a brief study of a cross section generation approach that seeks to decouple the domain in order to account for neighbor effects. This spectral interpenetration is a dominant effect in annular HTR physics. This analysis methodology should be further explored in order to reduce the error that is systematically propagated in the traditional generation of cross sections.« less

[Predictive quality of the injury severity score in the systematic use of cranial MRI].

PubMed

Woischneck, D; Lerch, K; Kapapa, T; Skalej, M; Firsching, R

2010-09-01

The ABBREVIATED INJURY SCORE (AIS) for the head is mostly coded on the basis of cranial computed tomography (CT). It defines, to a large extent, the predictive potency of the INJURY SEVERITY SCORE (ISS). The present study investigates whether the predictive capacity of the ISS can be improved by the systematic use of data from cranial MRI. 167 patients, who had been in a coma for at least 24 hours following trauma, underwent an MRI examination within 8 days. All had been found to have an intracranial injury on initial CT. 49 % had also suffered extracranial injuries. The GLASGOW OUTCOME SCALE (GOS) was determined 6 months post trauma. AIS, ISS and GOS values were rated as ordinal measurements. A contingency table was used as the statistical method of analysis, with a significance assumed as p < 0.05 (Chi (2) test). The median ISS based on CT was 16 and did not correlate with the GOS. 63 % of the patients revealed brain stem lesions on MRI. If these were coded with an AIS of 5, the median ISS increased significantly to 29. Thus, the correlation to the GOS was now significant. At ISS scores of 5-9, 18 % of the patients died; at scores of 50-54 the rate of favourable treatment outcomes still amounted to 50 %. Since it is now known that brain stem lesions can also have a favourable prognosis, the AIS coding was modified and adapted to the mortality of the singular types of lesion. Hence the median ISS again decreased to 16. The correlation to the GOS was significant, and the predictive potency of the ISS further improved. The prognostic potency of the REVISED INJURY SEVERITY CLASSIFICATION (RISC) score was improved by use of adapted MRI data. If visible brain stem lesions on MRI were coded according to the AIS guidelines, there was a significant increase in the ISS which correlated significantly to the GOS. If the AIS coding was adjusted to the prognostic significance of individual brain stem lesions, there was a further improvement in the prognostic potency of the ISS. The study encourages the inclusion of data obtained from MRI diagnostics in the ISS calculation. There are alternative ways. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Summary measures of agreement and association between many raters' ordinal classifications.

PubMed

Mitani, Aya A; Freer, Phoebe E; Nelson, Kerrie P

2017-10-01

Interpretation of screening tests such as mammograms usually require a radiologist's subjective visual assessment of images, often resulting in substantial discrepancies between radiologists' classifications of subjects' test results. In clinical screening studies to assess the strength of agreement between experts, multiple raters are often recruited to assess subjects' test results using an ordinal classification scale. However, using traditional measures of agreement in some studies is challenging because of the presence of many raters, the use of an ordinal classification scale, and unbalanced data. We assess and compare the performances of existing measures of agreement and association as well as a newly developed model-based measure of agreement to three large-scale clinical screening studies involving many raters' ordinal classifications. We also conduct a simulation study to demonstrate the key properties of the summary measures. The assessment of agreement and association varied according to the choice of summary measure. Some measures were influenced by the underlying prevalence of disease and raters' marginal distributions and/or were limited in use to balanced data sets where every rater classifies every subject. Our simulation study indicated that popular measures of agreement and association are prone to underlying disease prevalence. Model-based measures provide a flexible approach for calculating agreement and association and are robust to missing and unbalanced data as well as the underlying disease prevalence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Compliance to two city convenience store ordinance requirements

PubMed Central

Menéndez, Cammie K Chaumont; Amandus, Harlan E; Wu, Nan; Hendricks, Scott A

2015-01-01

Background Robbery-related homicides and assaults are the leading cause of death in retail businesses. Robbery reduction approaches focus on compliance to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) guidelines. Purpose We evaluated the level of compliance to CPTED guidelines specified by convenience store safety ordinances effective in 2010 in Dallas and Houston, Texas, USA. Methods Convenience stores were defined as businesses less than 10 000 square feet that sell grocery items. Store managers were interviewed for store ordinance requirements from August to November 2011, in a random sample of 594 (289 in Dallas, 305 in Houston) convenience stores that were open before and after the effective dates of their city’s ordinance. Data were collected in 2011 and analysed in 2012–2014. Results Overall, 9% of stores were in full compliance, although 79% reported being registered with the police departments as compliant. Compliance was consistently significantly higher in Dallas than in Houston for many requirements and by store type. Compliance was lower among single owner-operator stores compared with corporate/franchise stores. Compliance to individual requirements was lowest for signage and visibility. Conclusions Full compliance to the required safety measures is consistent with industry ‘best practices’ and evidence-based workplace violence prevention research findings. In Houston and Dallas compliance was higher for some CPTED requirements but not the less costly approaches that are also the more straightforward to adopt. PMID:26337569

A new indicator for the measurement of change with ordinal scores.

PubMed

Ferreira, Mario Luiz Pinto; Almeida, Renan Moritz V R; Luiz, Ronir Raggio

2013-10-01

Studies on how to better measure change have been published at least since the third decade of the last century, but no general indicator or strategy of measurement is currently agreed upon. The aim of this study is to propose a new indicator, the indicator of positive change, as an option for the assessment of change when ordinal scores are used in pretest and posttest designs. The basic idea is to measure the proportion of possible (positive) change inside a group that can be attributed to an intervention. The approach is based on the joint distribution of the before and after scores (differences), represented by the cells (i, j) of a contingency table m × m (m is the number of classes of the ordinal measurement scale; i and j are the lines and columns of the table, respectively). By convention, higher classes are the most unfavorable on the scale such that subjects that improve "migrate" from the higher to the lower classes as a result of an intervention and vice versa. The introduced indicator offers a new strategy for the analysis of change when dealing with repeated measurements of the same subject, assuming that the measured variable is ordinal (e.g., clinician-rating scales). The presented approach is easily interpretable and avoids the problems that arise, for instance, in those cases where a large concentration of high/low scores is present at the baseline.

Head eye co-ordination and gaze stability in subjects with persistent whiplash associated disorders.

PubMed

Treleaven, Julia; Jull, Gwendolen; Grip, Helena

2011-06-01

Symptoms of dizziness, unsteadiness and visual disturbances are frequent complaints in persons with persistent whiplash associated disorders. This study investigated eye, head co-ordination and gaze stability in subjects with persistent whiplash (n = 20) and asymptomatic controls (n = 20). Wireless motion sensors and electro-oculography were used to measure: head rotation during unconstrained head movement, head rotation during gaze stability and sequential head and eye movements. Ten control subjects participated in a repeatability study (two occasions one week apart). Between-day repeatability was acceptable (ICC > 0.6) for most measures. The whiplash group had significantly less maximal eye angle to the left, range of head movement during the gaze stability task and decreased velocity of head movement in head eye co-ordination and gaze stability tasks compared to the control group (p < 0.01). There were significant correlations (r > 0.55) between both unrestrained neck movement and neck pain and head movement and velocity in the whiplash group. Deficits in gaze stability and head eye co-ordination may be related to disturbed reflex activity associated with decreased head range of motion and/or neck pain. Further research is required to explore the mechanisms behind these deficits, the nature of changes over time and the tests' ability to measure change in response to rehabilitation. Crown Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The reconstruction of atomic co-ordinates from a protein stereo ribbon diagram when additional information for sufficient sidechain positions is available

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopes de Oliveira, Paulo Sérgio; Garratt, Richard Charles

1998-11-01

We describe the application of a method for the reconstruction of three-dimensional atomic co-ordinates from a stereo ribbon diagram of a protein when additional information for some of the sidechain positions is available. The method has applications in cases where the 3D co-ordinates have not been made available by any means other than the original publication and are of interest as models for molecular replacement, homology modelling etc. The approach is, on the one hand, more general than other methods which are based on stereo figures which present specific atomic positions, but on the other hand relies on input from a specialist. Its exact implementation will depend on the figure of interest. We have applied the method to the case of the α-d-galactose-binding lectin jacalin with a resultant RMS deviation, compared to the crystal structure, of 1.5 Å for the 133 Cα positions of the α-chain and 2.6 Å for the less regular β-chain. The success of the method depends on the secondary structure of the protein under consideration and the orientation of the stereo diagram itself but can be expected to reproduce the mainchain co-ordinates more accurately than the sidechains. Some ways in which the method may be generalised to other cases are discussed.

A Cross-Sectional Comparison of Perceived Quality of Primary Care by Hypertensive Patients in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China

PubMed Central

Li, Haitao; Wei, Xiaolin; Wong, Martin Chi-Sang; Wong, Samuel Yeung-Shan; Yang, Nan; Griffiths, Sian M.

2015-01-01

Abstract Hypertension should be best managed under primary care settings. This study aimed to compare, between Shanghai and Shenzhen, the perceived quality of primary care in terms of accessibility, continuity, co-ordination, and comprehensiveness among hypertensive patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China. Multistage random sampling method was used to select 8 community health centers. Data from primary care users were collected through on-site face-to-face interviews using the primary care assessment tool. Good quality standard was set as a value of 3 for each attribute and a value of 18 for total score. We included 568 patients in Shanghai and 128 patients in Shenzhen. Compared with those in Shenzhen, hypertensive patients in Shanghai reported a higher score in co-ordination of information (3.37 vs 3.66; P < 0.001), but lower scores in continuity of care (3.36 vs 3.27; P < 0.001), and comprehensiveness-service provision (3.26 vs 2.79; P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in total scores between the 2 cities (18.19 vs 18.15). Over 3-quarters of hypertensive patients in both cities reported accessibility (97.2% vs 91.4%) and co-ordination of services (76.1% vs 80.5%) under good quality standard, while <1-quarter of them rated continuity of care (23.6% vs 22.7%), co-ordination of information (4.8% vs 21.1%), and comprehensiveness-service availability (15.1% vs 25.0%) under that standard. Compared with Shenzhen, the perceived quality of primary care for hypertensive patients in Shanghai was better in terms of co-ordination of information, but poorer on continuity of care and comprehensiveness-service provision. Our study suggests that there is room for quality improvement in both cities. PMID:26313780

Frisby v. Schultz, 27 June 1988.

PubMed

1988-01-01

The plaintiffs, anti-abortion protesters, challenged a Brookfield Wisconsin ordinance making it "unlawful for any person to engage in picketing before or about the residence or dwelling of any individual" and declaring that the primary purpose of the ban is to "protec[t] and preserv[e] the home" through assurance "that members of the community enjoy in their homes . . . a feeling of well-being, tranquillity, and privacy." They claimed that the ordinance violated their First Amendment rights of free speech. The Court reversed lower court rulings finding the ordinance unconstitutional. It held that the ban on picketing did not ban all picketing in residential areas, but, rather, only "focused picketing" taking place solely in front of a specific residence, and that the ordinance left ample means of alternative channels of communication. It concluded that the ordinance served a significant government interest of protecting residential privacy and that there was no constitutional right to force speech into the home of an unwilling listener. In 1988, US courts reached the following decisions with respect to the activities of anti-abortion protesters: 1) action charging anti-abortionists with conspiracy under federal laws is allowed (Portland Feminist Women's Health Center vs. Advocates for Life, US District Court, D. Oregon, 28 June 1988 [712 F.Supp. 165]); 2) action charging anti-abortionists with conspiracy under federal laws not allowed, but action charging anti-abortionists with violation of racketeering laws allowed (Feminist Women's Health Center vs. Roberts, US District Court, W.D. Washington, 11 March 1988 [1988 US Dist. Lexis 16325]); 3) action charging anti-abortionists with violation of racketeering laws allowed (Northeast Women's Center, Inc. vs. McMonagle, US District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania, 31 March 1988 [689 F.Supp. 465]); and 4) action charging anti-abortionists with conspiracy under federal laws and with violation of racketeering laws is allowed (Roe vs. Operation Rescue, US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 19 December 1988 [1988 US District Lexis 14484]). full text

Minimization of annotation work: diagnosis of mammographic masses via active learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yu; Zhang, Jingyang; Xie, Hongzhi; Zhang, Shuyang; Gu, Lixu

2018-06-01

The prerequisite for establishing an effective prediction system for mammographic diagnosis is the annotation of each mammographic image. The manual annotation work is time-consuming and laborious, which becomes a great hindrance for researchers. In this article, we propose a novel active learning algorithm that can adequately address this problem, leading to the minimization of the labeling costs on the premise of guaranteed performance. Our proposed method is different from the existing active learning methods designed for the general problem as it is specifically designed for mammographic images. Through its modified discriminant functions and improved sample query criteria, the proposed method can fully utilize the pairing of mammographic images and select the most valuable images from both the mediolateral and craniocaudal views. Moreover, in order to extend active learning to the ordinal regression problem, which has no precedent in existing studies, but is essential for mammographic diagnosis (mammographic diagnosis is not only a classification task, but also an ordinal regression task for predicting an ordinal variable, viz. the malignancy risk of lesions), multiple sample query criteria need to be taken into consideration simultaneously. We formulate it as a criteria integration problem and further present an algorithm based on self-adaptive weighted rank aggregation to achieve a good solution. The efficacy of the proposed method was demonstrated on thousands of mammographic images from the digital database for screening mammography. The labeling costs of obtaining optimal performance in the classification and ordinal regression task respectively fell to 33.8 and 19.8 percent of their original costs. The proposed method also generated 1228 wins, 369 ties and 47 losses for the classification task, and 1933 wins, 258 ties and 185 losses for the ordinal regression task compared to the other state-of-the-art active learning algorithms. By taking the particularities of mammographic images, the proposed AL method can indeed reduce the manual annotation work to a great extent without sacrificing the performance of the prediction system for mammographic diagnosis.

Development and preliminary validation of a questionnaire to measure satisfaction with home care in Greece: an exploratory factor analysis of polychoric correlations

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background The primary aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a Greek-language instrument for measuring satisfaction with home care. The first empirical evidence about the level of satisfaction with these services in Greece is also provided. Methods The questionnaire resulted from literature search, on-site observation and cognitive interviews. It was applied in 2006 to a sample of 201 enrollees of five home care programs in the city of Thessaloniki and contains 31 items that measure satisfaction with individual service attributes and are expressed on a 5-point Likert scale. The latter has been usually considered in practice as an interval scale, although it is in principle ordinal. We thus treated the variable as an ordinal one, but also employed the traditional approach in order to compare the findings. Our analysis was therefore based on ordinal measures such as the polychoric correlation, Kendall's Tau b coefficient and ordinal Cronbach's alpha. Exploratory factor analysis was followed by an assessment of internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, construct validity and sensitivity. Results Analyses with ordinal and interval scale measures produced in essence very similar results and identified four multi-item scales. Three of these were found to be reliable and valid: socioeconomic change, staff skills and attitudes and service appropriateness. A fourth dimension -service planning- had lower internal consistency reliability and yet very satisfactory test-retest reliability, construct validity and floor and ceiling effects. The global satisfaction scale created was also quite reliable. Overall, participants were satisfied -yet not very satisfied- with home care services. More room for improvement seems to exist for the socio-economic and planning aspects of care and less for staff skills and attitudes and appropriateness of provided services. Conclusions The methods developed seem to be a promising tool for the measurement of home care satisfaction in Greece. PMID:20602759

Minimization of annotation work: diagnosis of mammographic masses via active learning.

PubMed

Zhao, Yu; Zhang, Jingyang; Xie, Hongzhi; Zhang, Shuyang; Gu, Lixu

2018-05-22

The prerequisite for establishing an effective prediction system for mammographic diagnosis is the annotation of each mammographic image. The manual annotation work is time-consuming and laborious, which becomes a great hindrance for researchers. In this article, we propose a novel active learning algorithm that can adequately address this problem, leading to the minimization of the labeling costs on the premise of guaranteed performance. Our proposed method is different from the existing active learning methods designed for the general problem as it is specifically designed for mammographic images. Through its modified discriminant functions and improved sample query criteria, the proposed method can fully utilize the pairing of mammographic images and select the most valuable images from both the mediolateral and craniocaudal views. Moreover, in order to extend active learning to the ordinal regression problem, which has no precedent in existing studies, but is essential for mammographic diagnosis (mammographic diagnosis is not only a classification task, but also an ordinal regression task for predicting an ordinal variable, viz. the malignancy risk of lesions), multiple sample query criteria need to be taken into consideration simultaneously. We formulate it as a criteria integration problem and further present an algorithm based on self-adaptive weighted rank aggregation to achieve a good solution. The efficacy of the proposed method was demonstrated on thousands of mammographic images from the digital database for screening mammography. The labeling costs of obtaining optimal performance in the classification and ordinal regression task respectively fell to 33.8 and 19.8 percent of their original costs. The proposed method also generated 1228 wins, 369 ties and 47 losses for the classification task, and 1933 wins, 258 ties and 185 losses for the ordinal regression task compared to the other state-of-the-art active learning algorithms. By taking the particularities of mammographic images, the proposed AL method can indeed reduce the manual annotation work to a great extent without sacrificing the performance of the prediction system for mammographic diagnosis.

Experimental Analysis of Team Performance Effectiveness: Incentive and Training Factors.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-06-30

E 1.0 ~ .3 Mir 5 (,,CPY RESOLUTirN TEST CHART J.3- FILE C"OP? THE -- JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 1 DTIC SI ELECTE I EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF TEAM...34 is bound bv arrow’s on the ordinate, and the ordinate w’as extended downward to sho," sle ., periods that persisted across the boundary between...talopoin monkeys. Hormones and 4I 123 Behavior, 1980, 14, 247-266. Elias, M. Serum cortisol, testosterone, and testosterone-binding globulin responese

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

Larsen, E.W.

A class of Projected Discrete-Ordinates (PDO) methods is described for obtaining iterative solutions of discrete-ordinates problems with convergence rates comparable to those observed using Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration (DSA). The spatially discretized PDO solutions are generally not equal to the DSA solutions, but unlike DSA, which requires great care in the use of spatial discretizations to preserve stability, the PDO solutions remain stable and rapidly convergent with essentially arbitrary spatial discretizations. Numerical results are presented which illustrate the rapid convergence and the accuracy of solutions obtained using PDO methods with commonplace differencing methods.

Gamma-Weighted Discrete Ordinate Two-Stream Approximation for Computation of Domain Averaged Solar Irradiance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kato, S.; Smith, G. L.; Barker, H. W.

2001-01-01

An algorithm is developed for the gamma-weighted discrete ordinate two-stream approximation that computes profiles of domain-averaged shortwave irradiances for horizontally inhomogeneous cloudy atmospheres. The algorithm assumes that frequency distributions of cloud optical depth at unresolved scales can be represented by a gamma distribution though it neglects net horizontal transport of radiation. This algorithm is an alternative to the one used in earlier studies that adopted the adding method. At present, only overcast cloudy layers are permitted.

[Epidemiology of occupational skin cancer due to UV-irradiation].

PubMed

Diepgen, T L; Drexler, H; Schmitt, J

2012-10-01

Skin cancer induced by occupational UV-irradiation is not an official occupational disease number in the appendix of the German ordinance on occupational diseases (Berufskrankheitenverordnung (BKV) but can be recognized as a "virtually" occupational disease according to § 9 (2) of the 7th book of the German Social Code (SGB VII). Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a positive, statistically significant and relevant association between occupational UV-irradiation and the risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and actinic keratoses (AK). Outdoor workers have on average a 100% higher risk to develop SCC compared to the general population. Therefore, the prerequisites for a new occupational disease are fulfilled and SCC and AK should be reported as an occupational disease if an additional 40% occupationally-related UV-irradiation is documented and the clinical criteria are typical for work- related skin cancer. Epidemiologic evidence also indicates a significant association between work-related UV-irradiation and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) risk: however the results are less consistent and the association is weaker than with SCC. There is an urgent need for further studies in outdoor workers on BCC and lentigo maligna melanoma.

A transcription factor links growth rate and metabolism in the hypersaline adapted archaeon Halobacterium salinarum.

PubMed

Todor, Horia; Dulmage, Keely; Gillum, Nicholas; Bain, James R; Muehlbauer, Michael J; Schmid, Amy K

2014-09-01

Co-ordinating metabolism and growth is a key challenge for all organisms. Despite fluctuating environments, cells must produce the same metabolic outputs to thrive. The mechanisms underlying this 'growth homeostasis' are known in bacteria and eukaryotes, but remain unexplored in archaea. In the model archaeon Halobacterium salinarum, the transcription factor TrmB regulates enzyme-coding genes in diverse metabolic pathways in response to glucose. However, H. salinarum is thought not to catabolize glucose. To resolve this discrepancy, we demonstrate that TrmB regulates the gluconeogenic production of sugars incorporated into the cell surface S-layer glycoprotein. Additionally, we show that TrmB-DNA binding correlates with instantaneous growth rate, likely because S-layer glycosylation is proportional to growth. This suggests that TrmB transduces a growth rate signal to co-regulated metabolic pathways including amino acid, purine, and cobalamin biosynthesis. Remarkably, the topology and function of this growth homeostatic network appear conserved across domains despite extensive alterations in protein components. © 2014 The Authors. Molecular Microbiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Transport analysis of measured neutron leakage spectra from spheres as tests of evaluated high energy cross sections

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bogart, D. D.; Shook, D. F.; Fieno, D.

1973-01-01

Integral tests of evaluated ENDF/B high-energy cross sections have been made by comparing measured and calculated neutron leakage flux spectra from spheres of various materials. An Am-Be (alpha,n) source was used to provide fast neutrons at the center of the test spheres of Be, CH2, Pb, Nb, Mo, Ta, and W. The absolute leakage flux spectra were measured in the energy range 0.5 to 12 MeV using a calibrated NE213 liquid scintillator neutron spectrometer. Absolute calculations of the spectra were made using version 3 ENDF/B cross sections and an S sub n discrete ordinates multigroup transport code. Generally excellent agreement was obtained for Be, CH2, Pb, and Mo, and good agreement was observed for Nb although discrepancies were observed for some energy ranges. Poor comparative results, obtained for Ta and W, are attributed to unsatisfactory nonelastic cross sections. The experimental sphere leakage flux spectra are tabulated and serve as possible benchmarks for these elements against which reevaluated cross sections may be tested.

Bounded influence function based inference in joint modelling of ordinal partial linear model and accelerated failure time model.

PubMed

Chakraborty, Arindom

2016-12-01

A common objective in longitudinal studies is to characterize the relationship between a longitudinal response process and a time-to-event data. Ordinal nature of the response and possible missing information on covariates add complications to the joint model. In such circumstances, some influential observations often present in the data may upset the analysis. In this paper, a joint model based on ordinal partial mixed model and an accelerated failure time model is used, to account for the repeated ordered response and time-to-event data, respectively. Here, we propose an influence function-based robust estimation method. Monte Carlo expectation maximization method-based algorithm is used for parameter estimation. A detailed simulation study has been done to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. As an application, a data on muscular dystrophy among children is used. Robust estimates are then compared with classical maximum likelihood estimates. © The Author(s) 2014.

Item response theory and structural equation modelling for ordinal data: Describing the relationship between KIDSCREEN and Life-H.

PubMed

Titman, Andrew C; Lancaster, Gillian A; Colver, Allan F

2016-10-01

Both item response theory and structural equation models are useful in the analysis of ordered categorical responses from health assessment questionnaires. We highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the item response theory and structural equation modelling approaches to modelling ordinal data, from within a community health setting. Using data from the SPARCLE project focussing on children with cerebral palsy, this paper investigates the relationship between two ordinal rating scales, the KIDSCREEN, which measures quality-of-life, and Life-H, which measures participation. Practical issues relating to fitting models, such as non-positive definite observed or fitted correlation matrices, and approaches to assessing model fit are discussed. item response theory models allow properties such as the conditional independence of particular domains of a measurement instrument to be assessed. When, as with the SPARCLE data, the latent traits are multidimensional, structural equation models generally provide a much more convenient modelling framework. © The Author(s) 2013.

Accidental spills at sea--risk, impact, mitigation and the need for co-ordinated post-incident monitoring.

PubMed

Kirby, Mark F; Law, Robin J

2010-06-01

A fully integrated and effective response to an oil or chemical spill at sea must include a well planned and executed post-incident assessment of environmental contamination and damage. While salvage, rescue and clean-up operations are generally well considered, including reviews and exercises, the expertise, resources, networks and logistical planning required to achieve prompt and effective post-spill impact assessment and monitoring are not generally well established. The arrangement and co-ordination of post-incident monitoring and impact assessment need to consider sampling design, biological effects, chemical analysis and collection/interpretation of expert local knowledge. This paper discusses the risks, impacts and mitigation options associated with accidental spills and considers the importance of pre-considered impact assessment and monitoring programmes in the wider response cycle. The PREMIAM (Pollution Response in Emergencies: Marine Impact Assessment and Monitoring; www.premiam.org) project is considered as an example of an improved approach to the planning, co-ordination and conduct of post-incident monitoring.

Human embryo cloning prohibited in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Liu, Athena

2005-12-01

Since the birth of Dolly (the cloned sheep) in 1997, debates have arisen on the ethical and legal questions of cloning-for-biomedical-research (more commonly termed "therapeutic cloning") and of reproductive cloning using human gametes. Hong Kong enacted the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance (Cap 561) in 2000. Section 15(1)(e) of this Ordinance prohibits the "replacing of the nucleus of a cell of an embryo with a nucleus taken from any other cell," i.e., nucleus substitution. Section 15(1)(f) prohibits the cloning of any embryo. The scope of the latter, therefore, is arguably the widest, prohibiting all cloning techniques such as cell nucleus replacement, embryo splitting, parthenogenesis, and cloning using stem cell lines. Although the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance is not yet fully operative, this article examines how these prohibitions may adversely impact on basic research and the vision of the Hong Kong scientific community. It concludes that in light of recent scientific developments, it is time to review if the law offers a coherent set of policies in this area.

Analysis of noise-induced temporal correlations in neuronal spike sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reinoso, José A.; Torrent, M. C.; Masoller, Cristina

2016-11-01

We investigate temporal correlations in sequences of noise-induced neuronal spikes, using a symbolic method of time-series analysis. We focus on the sequence of time-intervals between consecutive spikes (inter-spike-intervals, ISIs). The analysis method, known as ordinal analysis, transforms the ISI sequence into a sequence of ordinal patterns (OPs), which are defined in terms of the relative ordering of consecutive ISIs. The ISI sequences are obtained from extensive simulations of two neuron models (FitzHugh-Nagumo, FHN, and integrate-and-fire, IF), with correlated noise. We find that, as the noise strength increases, temporal order gradually emerges, revealed by the existence of more frequent ordinal patterns in the ISI sequence. While in the FHN model the most frequent OP depends on the noise strength, in the IF model it is independent of the noise strength. In both models, the correlation time of the noise affects the OP probabilities but does not modify the most probable pattern.

Nonlinear stochastic interacting dynamics and complexity of financial gasket fractal-like lattice percolation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Wang, Jun

2018-05-01

A novel nonlinear stochastic interacting price dynamics is proposed and investigated by the bond percolation on Sierpinski gasket fractal-like lattice, aim to make a new approach to reproduce and study the complexity dynamics of real security markets. Fractal-like lattices correspond to finite graphs with vertices and edges, which are similar to fractals, and Sierpinski gasket is a well-known example of fractals. Fractional ordinal array entropy and fractional ordinal array complexity are introduced to analyze the complexity behaviors of financial signals. To deeper comprehend the fluctuation characteristics of the stochastic price evolution, the complexity analysis of random logarithmic returns and volatility are preformed, including power-law distribution, fractional sample entropy and fractional ordinal array complexity. For further verifying the rationality and validity of the developed stochastic price evolution, the actual security market dataset are also studied with the same statistical methods for comparison. The empirical results show that this stochastic price dynamics can reconstruct complexity behaviors of the actual security markets to some extent.

Using forbidden ordinal patterns to detect determinism in irregularly sampled time series.

PubMed

Kulp, C W; Chobot, J M; Niskala, B J; Needhammer, C J

2016-02-01

It is known that when symbolizing a time series into ordinal patterns using the Bandt-Pompe (BP) methodology, there will be ordinal patterns called forbidden patterns that do not occur in a deterministic series. The existence of forbidden patterns can be used to identify deterministic dynamics. In this paper, the ability to use forbidden patterns to detect determinism in irregularly sampled time series is tested on data generated from a continuous model system. The study is done in three parts. First, the effects of sampling time on the number of forbidden patterns are studied on regularly sampled time series. The next two parts focus on two types of irregular-sampling, missing data and timing jitter. It is shown that forbidden patterns can be used to detect determinism in irregularly sampled time series for low degrees of sampling irregularity (as defined in the paper). In addition, comments are made about the appropriateness of using the BP methodology to symbolize irregularly sampled time series.

Compliance to two city convenience store ordinance requirements.

PubMed

Chaumont Menéndez, Cammie K; Amandus, Harlan E; Wu, Nan; Hendricks, Scott A

2016-04-01

Robbery-related homicides and assaults are the leading cause of death in retail businesses. Robbery reduction approaches focus on compliance to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) guidelines. We evaluated the level of compliance to CPTED guidelines specified by convenience store safety ordinances effective in 2010 in Dallas and Houston, Texas, USA. Convenience stores were defined as businesses less than 10 000 square feet that sell grocery items. Store managers were interviewed for store ordinance requirements from August to November 2011, in a random sample of 594 (289 in Dallas, 305 in Houston) convenience stores that were open before and after the effective dates of their city's ordinance. Data were collected in 2011 and analysed in 2012-2014. Overall, 9% of stores were in full compliance, although 79% reported being registered with the police departments as compliant. Compliance was consistently significantly higher in Dallas than in Houston for many requirements and by store type. Compliance was lower among single owner-operator stores compared with corporate/franchise stores. Compliance to individual requirements was lowest for signage and visibility. Full compliance to the required safety measures is consistent with industry 'best practices' and evidence-based workplace violence prevention research findings. In Houston and Dallas compliance was higher for some CPTED requirements but not the less costly approaches that are also the more straightforward to adopt. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Order-constrained linear optimization.

PubMed

Tidwell, Joe W; Dougherty, Michael R; Chrabaszcz, Jeffrey S; Thomas, Rick P

2017-11-01

Despite the fact that data and theories in the social, behavioural, and health sciences are often represented on an ordinal scale, there has been relatively little emphasis on modelling ordinal properties. The most common analytic framework used in psychological science is the general linear model, whose variants include ANOVA, MANOVA, and ordinary linear regression. While these methods are designed to provide the best fit to the metric properties of the data, they are not designed to maximally model ordinal properties. In this paper, we develop an order-constrained linear least-squares (OCLO) optimization algorithm that maximizes the linear least-squares fit to the data conditional on maximizing the ordinal fit based on Kendall's τ. The algorithm builds on the maximum rank correlation estimator (Han, 1987, Journal of Econometrics, 35, 303) and the general monotone model (Dougherty & Thomas, 2012, Psychological Review, 119, 321). Analyses of simulated data indicate that when modelling data that adhere to the assumptions of ordinary least squares, OCLO shows minimal bias, little increase in variance, and almost no loss in out-of-sample predictive accuracy. In contrast, under conditions in which data include a small number of extreme scores (fat-tailed distributions), OCLO shows less bias and variance, and substantially better out-of-sample predictive accuracy, even when the outliers are removed. We show that the advantages of OCLO over ordinary least squares in predicting new observations hold across a variety of scenarios in which researchers must decide to retain or eliminate extreme scores when fitting data. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

An Integrated Model of Co-ordinated Community-Based Care.

PubMed

Scharlach, Andrew E; Graham, Carrie L; Berridge, Clara

2015-08-01

Co-ordinated approaches to community-based care are a central component of current and proposed efforts to help vulnerable older adults obtain needed services and supports and reduce unnecessary use of health care resources. This study examines ElderHelp Concierge Club, an integrated community-based care model that includes comprehensive personal and environmental assessment, multilevel care co-ordination, a mix of professional and volunteer service providers, and a capitated, income-adjusted fee model. Evaluation includes a retrospective study (n = 96) of service use and perceived program impact, and a prospective study (n = 21) of changes in participant physical and social well-being and health services utilization. Over the period of this study, participants showed greater mobility, greater ability to meet household needs, greater access to health care, reduced social isolation, reduced home hazards, fewer falls, and greater perceived ability to obtain assistance needed to age in place. This study provides preliminary evidence that an integrated multilevel care co-ordination approach may be an effective and efficient model for serving vulnerable community-based elders, especially low and moderate-income elders who otherwise could not afford the cost of care. The findings suggest the need for multisite controlled studies to more rigorously evaluate program impacts and the optimal mix of various program components. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Comparison of approximate solutions to the phonon Boltzmann transport equation with the relaxation time approximation: Spherical harmonics expansions and the discrete ordinates method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christenson, J. G.; Austin, R. A.; Phillips, R. J.

2018-05-01

The phonon Boltzmann transport equation is used to analyze model problems in one and two spatial dimensions, under transient and steady-state conditions. New, explicit solutions are obtained by using the P1 and P3 approximations, based on expansions in spherical harmonics, and are compared with solutions from the discrete ordinates method. For steady-state energy transfer, it is shown that analytic expressions derived using the P1 and P3 approximations agree quantitatively with the discrete ordinates method, in some cases for large Knudsen numbers, and always for Knudsen numbers less than unity. However, for time-dependent energy transfer, the PN solutions differ qualitatively from converged solutions obtained by the discrete ordinates method. Although they correctly capture the wave-like behavior of energy transfer at short times, the P1 and P3 approximations rely on one or two wave velocities, respectively, yielding abrupt, step-changes in temperature profiles that are absent when the angular dependence of the phonon velocities is captured more completely. It is shown that, with the gray approximation, the P1 approximation is formally equivalent to the so-called "hyperbolic heat equation." Overall, these results support the use of the PN approximation to find solutions to the phonon Boltzmann transport equation for steady-state conditions. Such solutions can be useful in the design and analysis of devices that involve heat transfer at nanometer length scales, where continuum-scale approaches become inaccurate.

Standard Anatomic Terminologies: Comparison for Use in a Health Information Exchange–Based Prior Computed Tomography (CT) Alerting System

PubMed Central

Lowry, Tina; Vreeman, Daniel J; Loo, George T; Delman, Bradley N; Thum, Frederick L; Slovis, Benjamin H; Shapiro, Jason S

2017-01-01

Background A health information exchange (HIE)–based prior computed tomography (CT) alerting system may reduce avoidable CT imaging by notifying ordering clinicians of prior relevant studies when a study is ordered. For maximal effectiveness, a system would alert not only for prior same CTs (exams mapped to the same code from an exam name terminology) but also for similar CTs (exams mapped to different exam name terminology codes but in the same anatomic region) and anatomically proximate CTs (exams in adjacent anatomic regions). Notification of previous same studies across an HIE requires mapping of local site CT codes to a standard terminology for exam names (such as Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes [LOINC]) to show that two studies with different local codes and descriptions are equivalent. Notifying of prior similar or proximate CTs requires an additional mapping of exam codes to anatomic regions, ideally coded by an anatomic terminology. Several anatomic terminologies exist, but no prior studies have evaluated how well they would support an alerting use case. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the fitness of five existing standard anatomic terminologies to support similar or proximate alerts of an HIE-based prior CT alerting system. Methods We compared five standard anatomic terminologies (Foundational Model of Anatomy, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms, RadLex, LOINC, and LOINC/Radiological Society of North America [RSNA] Radiology Playbook) to an anatomic framework created specifically for our use case (Simple ANatomic Ontology for Proximity or Similarity [SANOPS]), to determine whether the existing terminologies could support our use case without modification. On the basis of an assessment of optimal terminology features for our purpose, we developed an ordinal anatomic terminology utility classification. We mapped samples of 100 random and the 100 most frequent LOINC CT codes to anatomic regions in each terminology, assigned utility classes for each mapping, and statistically compared each terminology’s utility class rankings. We also constructed seven hypothetical alerting scenarios to illustrate the terminologies’ differences. Results Both RadLex and the LOINC/RSNA Radiology Playbook anatomic terminologies ranked significantly better (P<.001) than the other standard terminologies for the 100 most frequent CTs, but no terminology ranked significantly better than any other for 100 random CTs. Hypothetical scenarios illustrated instances where no standard terminology would support appropriate proximate or similar alerts, without modification. Conclusions LOINC/RSNA Radiology Playbook and RadLex’s anatomic terminologies appear well suited to support proximate or similar alerts for commonly ordered CTs, but for less commonly ordered tests, modification of the existing terminologies with concepts and relations from SANOPS would likely be required. Our findings suggest SANOPS may serve as a framework for enhancing anatomic terminologies in support of other similar use cases. PMID:29242174

Ultrasonic Imaging Techniques for Breast Cancer Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goulding, N. R.; Marquez, J. D.; Prewett, E. M.; Claytor, T. N.; Nadler, B. R.

2008-02-01

Improving the resolution and specificity of current ultrasonic imaging technology is needed to enhance its relevance to breast cancer detection. A novel ultrasonic imaging reconstruction method is described that exploits classical straight-ray migration. This novel method improves signal processing for better image resolution and uses novel staging hardware options using a pulse-echo approach. A breast phantom with various inclusions is imaged using the classical migration method and is compared to standard computed tomography (CT) scans. These innovative ultrasonic methods incorporate ultrasound data acquisition, beam profile characterization, and image reconstruction. For an ultrasonic frequency of 2.25 MHz, imaged inclusions of approximately 1 cm are resolved and identified. Better resolution is expected with minor modifications. Improved image quality and resolution enables earlier detection and more accurate diagnoses of tumors thus reducing the number of biopsies performed, increasing treatment options, and lowering remission percentages. Using these new techniques the inclusions in the phantom are resolved and compared to the results of standard methods. Refinement of this application using other imaging techniques such as time-reversal mirrors (TRM), synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT), decomposition of the time reversal operator (DORT), and factorization methods is also discussed.

Causal analysis of ordinal treatments and binary outcomes under truncation by death.

PubMed

Wang, Linbo; Richardson, Thomas S; Zhou, Xiao-Hua

2017-06-01

It is common that in multi-arm randomized trials, the outcome of interest is "truncated by death," meaning that it is only observed or well-defined conditioning on an intermediate outcome. In this case, in addition to pairwise contrasts, the joint inference for all treatment arms is also of interest. Under a monotonicity assumption we present methods for both pairwise and joint causal analyses of ordinal treatments and binary outcomes in presence of truncation by death. We illustrate via examples the appropriateness of our assumptions in different scientific contexts.

Graphical aids for visualizing and interpreting patterns in departures from agreement in ordinal categorical observer agreement data.

PubMed

Bangdiwala, Shrikant I

2017-01-01

When studying the agreement between two observers rating the same n units into the same k discrete ordinal categories, Bangdiwala (1985) proposed using the "agreement chart" to visually assess agreement. This article proposes that often it is more interesting to focus on the patterns of disagreement and visually understanding the departures from perfect agreement. The article reviews the use of graphical techniques for descriptively assessing agreement and disagreements, and also reviews some of the available summary statistics that quantify such relationships.

Comparison of delinquents and nondelinquents in ethnicity, ordinal position, and self-perception.

PubMed

Calhoun, G; Connley, S; Bolton, J A

1984-01-01

Compared three groups of black, white, and Mexican-American delinquent and nondelinquent males, aged 11 to 18, on measures of self-concept, self-esteem, and ordinal position by groups (N = 135). Data were analyzed with analysis of variance and Chi-square test. Significant main effects were found with respect to delinquency, self-concept, and self-esteem. A significant interaction was present for delinquency and ethnicity for both self-concept and self-esteem. Chi-square results found birth-order and ethnicity to be related significantly.

Biclustering Models for Two-Mode Ordinal Data.

PubMed

Matechou, Eleni; Liu, Ivy; Fernández, Daniel; Farias, Miguel; Gjelsvik, Bergljot

2016-09-01

The work in this paper introduces finite mixture models that can be used to simultaneously cluster the rows and columns of two-mode ordinal categorical response data, such as those resulting from Likert scale responses. We use the popular proportional odds parameterisation and propose models which provide insights into major patterns in the data. Model-fitting is performed using the EM algorithm, and a fuzzy allocation of rows and columns to corresponding clusters is obtained. The clustering ability of the models is evaluated in a simulation study and demonstrated using two real data sets.

(U) Second-Order Sensitivity Analysis of Uncollided Particle Contributions to Radiation Detector Responses Using Ray-Tracing

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

Favorite, Jeffrey A.

The Second-Level Adjoint Sensitivity System (2nd-LASS) that yields the second-order sensitivities of a response of uncollided particles with respect to isotope densities, cross sections, and source emission rates is derived in Refs. 1 and 2. In Ref. 2, we solved problems for the uncollided leakage from a homogeneous sphere and a multiregion cylinder using the PARTISN multigroup discrete-ordinates code. In this memo, we derive solutions of the 2nd-LASS for the particular case when the response is a flux or partial current density computed at a single point on the boundary, and the inner products are computed using ray-tracing. Both themore » PARTISN approach and the ray-tracing approach are implemented in a computer code, SENSPG. The next section of this report presents the equations of the 1st- and 2nd-LASS for uncollided particles and the first- and second-order sensitivities that use the solutions of the 1st- and 2nd-LASS. Section III presents solutions of the 1st- and 2nd-LASS equations for the case of ray-tracing from a detector point. Section IV presents specific solutions of the 2nd-LASS and derives the ray-trace form of the inner products needed for second-order sensitivities. Numerical results for the total leakage from a homogeneous sphere are presented in Sec. V and for the leakage from one side of a two-region slab in Sec. VI. Section VII is a summary and conclusions.« less

a New Approach for the Semi-Automatic Texture Generation of the Buildings Facades, from Terrestrial Laser Scanner Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oniga, E.

2012-07-01

The result of the terrestrial laser scanning is an impressive number of spatial points, each of them being characterized as position by the X, Y and Z co-ordinates, by the value of the laser reflectance and their real color, expressed as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values. The color code for each LIDAR point is taken from the georeferenced digital images, taken with a high resolution panoramic camera incorporated in the scanner system. In this article I propose a new algorithm for the semiautomatic texture generation, using the color information, the RGB values of every point that has been taken by terrestrial laser scanning technology and the 3D surfaces defining the buildings facades, generated with the Leica Cyclone software. The first step is when the operator defines the limiting value, i.e. the minimum distance between a point and the closest surface. The second step consists in calculating the distances, or the perpendiculars drawn from each point to the closest surface. In the third step we associate the points whose 3D coordinates are known, to every surface, depending on the limiting value. The fourth step consists in computing the Voronoi diagram for the points that belong to a surface. The final step brings automatic association between the RGB value of the color code and the corresponding polygon of the Voronoi diagram. The advantage of using this algorithm is that we can obtain, in a semi-automatic manner, a photorealistic 3D model of the building.