Use of partial order in environmental pollution studies demonstrated by urban BTEX air pollution in 20 major cities worldwide.

PubMed

Carlsen, Lars; Bruggemann, Rainer; Kenessov, Bulat

2018-01-01

Urban air pollution with benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX) is a common phenomenon in major cities where the pollution mainly originates from traffic as well as from residential heating. An attempt to rank cities according to their BTEX air pollution is not necessarily straight forward as we are faced with several individual pollutants simultaneously. A typical procedure is based on aggregation of data for the single compounds, a process that not only hides important information but is also subject to compensation effects. The present study applies a series of partial ordering tools to circumvent the aggregation. Based on partial ordering, most important indicators are disclosed, and an average ranking of the cities included in the study is derived. Since air pollution measurements are often subject to significant uncertainties, special attention has been given to the possible effect of uncertainty and/or data noise. Finally, the effect of introducing weight regimes is studied. In a concluding section the gross national income per person (GNI) is brought into play, demonstrating a positive correlation between BTEX air pollution and GNI. The results are discussed in terms of the ability/willingness to combat air pollution in the cities studied. The present study focuses on Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan and compares the data from Almaty to another 19 major cities around the world. It is found that the benzene for Almaty appears peculiar high. Overall Almaty appears ranked as the 8th most BTEX polluted city among the 20 cities included in the study. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Semi-quantitative spectrographic analysis and rank correlation in geochemistry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Flanagan, F.J.

1957-01-01

The rank correlation coefficient, rs, which involves less computation than the product-moment correlation coefficient, r, can be used to indicate the degree of relationship between two elements. The method is applicable in situations where the assumptions underlying normal distribution correlation theory may not be satisfied. Semi-quantitative spectrographic analyses which are reported as grouped or partly ranked data can be used to calculate rank correlations between elements. ?? 1957.

Periodic Limb Movements and White Matter Hyperintensities in First-Ever Minor Stroke or High-Risk Transient Ischemic Attack.

PubMed

Boulos, Mark I; Murray, Brian J; Muir, Ryan T; Gao, Fuqiang; Szilagyi, Gregory M; Huroy, Menal; Kiss, Alexander; Walters, Arthur S; Black, Sandra E; Lim, Andrew S; Swartz, Richard H

2017-03-01

Emerging evidence suggests that periodic limb movements (PLMs) may contribute to the development of cerebrovascular disease. White matter hyperintensities (WMHs), a widely accepted biomarker for cerebral small vessel disease, are associated with incident stroke and death. We evaluated the association between increased PLM indices and WMH burden in patients presenting with stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), while controlling for vascular risk factors and stroke severity. Thirty patients presenting within 2 weeks of a first-ever minor stroke or high-risk TIA were prospectively recruited. PLM severity was measured with polysomnography. WMH burden was quantified using the Age Related White Matter Changes (ARWMC) scale based on neuroimaging. Partial Spearman's rank-order correlations and multiple linear regression models tested the association between WMH burden and PLM severity. Greater WMH burden was correlated with elevated PLM index and stroke volume. Partial Spearman's rank-order correlations demonstrated that the relationship between WMH burden and PLM index persisted despite controlling for vascular risk factors. Multivariate linear regression models revealed that PLM index was a significant predictor of an elevated ARWMC score while controlling for age, stroke volume, stroke severity, hypertension, and apnea-hypopnea index. The quantity of PLMs was associated with WMH burden in patients with first-ever minor stroke or TIA. PLMs may be a risk factor for or marker of WMH burden, even after considering vascular risk factors and stroke severity. These results invite further investigation of PLMs as a potentially useful target to reduce WMH and stroke burden. © Sleep Research Society (SRS) 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Character strengths and well-being across the life span: data from a representative sample of German-speaking adults living in Switzerland

PubMed Central

Martínez-Martí, María L.; Ruch, Willibald

2014-01-01

Character strengths are positive, morally valued traits of personality. This study aims at assessing the relationship between character strengths and subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive and negative affect) in a representative sample of German-speaking adults living in Switzerland (N = 945). We further test whether this relationship is consistent at different stages in life. Results showed that hope, zest, love, social intelligence and perseverance yielded the highest positive correlations with life satisfaction. Hope, zest, humor, gratitude and love presented the highest positive correlations with positive affect. Hope, humor, zest, honesty, and open-mindedness had the highest negative correlations with negative affect. When examining the relationship between strengths and well-being across age groups, in general, hope, zest and humor consistently yielded the highest correlations with well-being. Additionally, in the 27–36 years group, strengths that promote commitment and affiliation (i.e., kindness and honesty) were among the first five positions in the ranking of the relationship between strengths and well-being. In the 37–46 years group, in addition to hope, zest and humor, strengths that promote the maintenance of areas such as family and work (i.e., love, leadership) were among the first five positions in the ranking. Finally, in the 47–57 years group, in addition to hope, zest and humor, strengths that facilitate integration and a vital involvement with the environment (i.e., gratitude, love of learning) were among the first five positions in the ranking. This study partially supports previous findings with less representative samples on the association between character strengths and well-being, and sheds light on the relative importance of some strengths over others for well-being across the life span. PMID:25408678

Memory Efficient Ranking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moffat, Alistair; And Others

1994-01-01

Describes an approximate document ranking process that uses a compact array of in-memory, low-precision approximations for document length. Combined with another rule for reducing the memory required by partial similarity accumulators, the approximation heuristic allows the ranking of large document collections using less than one byte of memory…

Daily Interpersonal Experience Partially Explains the Association Between Social Rank and Physical Health.

PubMed

Cundiff, Jenny M; Kamarck, Thomas W; Manuck, Stephen B

2016-12-01

Socioeconomic position is a well-established risk factor for poor physical health. This study examines whether the effects of lower social rank on physical health may be accounted for by differences in daily social experience. In a large community sample (N = 475), we examined whether subjective social rank is associated with self-rated health, in part, through positive and negative perceptions of daily interpersonal interactions, assessed using ecological momentary assessment. Higher social rank was associated with higher average perceived positivity of social interactions in daily life (e.g., B = .18, p < .001), but not with perceived negativity of social interactions. Further, the association between social rank and self-rated physical health was partially accounted for by differences in perceived positivity of social interactions. This effect was independent of well-characterized objective markers of SES and personality traits. Differences in the quality of day-to-day social interactions is a viable pathway linking lower social rank to poorer physical health.

A 12-Day Course of Imiquimod 5% for the Treatment of Actinic Keratosis: Effectiveness and Local Reactions.

PubMed

Serra-Guillén, C; Nagore, E; Llombart, B; Sanmartín, O; Requena, C; Calomarde, L; Guillén, C

2018-04-01

Imiquimod is an excellent option for patients with actinic keratosis, although its use may be limited by the long course of treatment required (4 weeks) and the likelihood of local skin reactions. The objectives of the present study were to demonstrate the effectiveness of a 12-day course of imiquimod 5% for the treatment of actinic keratosis and to examine the association between treatment effectiveness and severity of local reactions. We included patients with at least 8 actinic keratoses treated with imiquimod 5% cream for 12 consecutive days. Local reactions were classified as mild, moderate, or severe. The statistical analysis of the association between local reactions and clinical response was based on the Pearson χ 2 test and the Spearman rank correlation test. Sixty-five patients completed the study. Complete response was recorded in 52.3% and partial response in 75.4%. We found a statistically significant association between severity of the local reaction and response to treatment in both the Pearson χ 2 test and the Spearman rank correlation test. A 12-day course of imiquimod 5% proved effective for the treatment of actinic keratosis. Severity of local reactions during treatment was correlated with clinical response. Copyright © 2017 AEDV. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Improving the clinical correlation of multiple sclerosis black hole volume change by paired-scan analysis.

PubMed

Tam, Roger C; Traboulsee, Anthony; Riddehough, Andrew; Li, David K B

2012-01-01

The change in T 1-hypointense lesion ("black hole") volume is an important marker of pathological progression in multiple sclerosis (MS). Black hole boundaries often have low contrast and are difficult to determine accurately and most (semi-)automated segmentation methods first compute the T 2-hyperintense lesions, which are a superset of the black holes and are typically more distinct, to form a search space for the T 1w lesions. Two main potential sources of measurement noise in longitudinal black hole volume computation are partial volume and variability in the T 2w lesion segmentation. A paired analysis approach is proposed herein that uses registration to equalize partial volume and lesion mask processing to combine T 2w lesion segmentations across time. The scans of 247 MS patients are used to compare a selected black hole computation method with an enhanced version incorporating paired analysis, using rank correlation to a clinical variable (MS functional composite) as the primary outcome measure. The comparison is done at nine different levels of intensity as a previous study suggests that darker black holes may yield stronger correlations. The results demonstrate that paired analysis can strongly improve longitudinal correlation (from -0.148 to -0.303 in this sample) and may produce segmentations that are more sensitive to clinically relevant changes.

Improved dynamic MRI reconstruction by exploiting sparsity and rank-deficiency.

PubMed

Majumdar, Angshul

2013-06-01

In this paper we address the problem of dynamic MRI reconstruction from partially sampled K-space data. Our work is motivated by previous studies in this area that proposed exploiting the spatiotemporal correlation of the dynamic MRI sequence by posing the reconstruction problem as a least squares minimization regularized by sparsity and low-rank penalties. Ideally the sparsity and low-rank penalties should be represented by the l(0)-norm and the rank of a matrix; however both are NP hard penalties. The previous studies used the convex l(1)-norm as a surrogate for the l(0)-norm and the non-convex Schatten-q norm (0

World University Ranking Systems: An Alternative Approach Using Partial Least Squares Path Modelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jajo, Nethal K.; Harrison, Jen

2014-01-01

University rankings are key drivers in national and institutional strategic planning. The increase in the number of university ranking systems and the diversity of methods and indicators used by these systems necessitate the development of an index that can measure a university's performance in all these systems at once. This article presents…

Population models and simulation methods: The case of the Spearman rank correlation.

PubMed

Astivia, Oscar L Olvera; Zumbo, Bruno D

2017-11-01

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a population model in guiding the design and interpretation of simulation studies used to investigate the Spearman rank correlation. The Spearman rank correlation has been known for over a hundred years to applied researchers and methodologists alike and is one of the most widely used non-parametric statistics. Still, certain misconceptions can be found, either explicitly or implicitly, in the published literature because a population definition for this statistic is rarely discussed within the social and behavioural sciences. By relying on copula distribution theory, a population model is presented for the Spearman rank correlation, and its properties are explored both theoretically and in a simulation study. Through the use of the Iman-Conover algorithm (which allows the user to specify the rank correlation as a population parameter), simulation studies from previously published articles are explored, and it is found that many of the conclusions purported in them regarding the nature of the Spearman correlation would change if the data-generation mechanism better matched the simulation design. More specifically, issues such as small sample bias and lack of power of the t-test and r-to-z Fisher transformation disappear when the rank correlation is calculated from data sampled where the rank correlation is the population parameter. A proof for the consistency of the sample estimate of the rank correlation is shown as well as the flexibility of the copula model to encompass results previously published in the mathematical literature. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Low-rank coal oil agglomeration

DOEpatents

Knudson, Curtis L.; Timpe, Ronald C.

1991-01-01

A low-rank coal oil agglomeration process. High mineral content, a high ash content subbituminous coals are effectively agglomerated with a bridging oil which is partially water soluble and capable of entering the pore structure, and usually coal derived.

Sex-reversed correlation between stress levels and dominance rank in a captive non-breeder flock of crows.

PubMed

Ode, Minami; Asaba, Akari; Miyazawa, Eri; Mogi, Kazutaka; Kikusui, Takefumi; Izawa, Ei-Ichi

2015-07-01

Group living has both benefits and costs to individuals; benefits include efficient acquisition of resources, and costs include stress from social conflicts among group members. Such social challenges result in hierarchical dominance ranking among group members as a solution to avoid escalating conflict that causes different levels of basal stress between individuals at different ranks. Stress-associated glucocorticoid (corticosterone in rodents and birds; CORT) levels are known to correlate with dominance rank in diverse taxa and to covary with various social factors, such as sex and dominance maintenance styles. Although there is much evidence for sex differences in the basal levels of CORT in various species, the correlation of sex differences in basal CORT with dominance rank is poorly understood. We investigated the correlation between CORT metabolites (CM) in the droppings and social factors, including rank and sex, in a captive non-breeder group of crows. In this group, all the single males dominated all the single females, and dominance ranks were stable among single males but relatively unstable among single females. CM levels and rank were significantly correlated in a sex-reversed fashion: males at higher rank (i.e., more dominant) had higher CM, whereas females at higher rank exhibited lower CM. This is the first evidence of sex-reversed patterns of CM-rank correlation in birds. The results suggest that different mechanisms of stress-dominance relationships operate on the sexes in non-breeder crow aggregations; in males, stress is associated with the cost of aggressive displays, whereas females experience subordination stress due to males' overt aggression. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A combined QSAR and partial order ranking approach to risk assessment.

PubMed

Carlsen, L

2006-04-01

QSAR generated data appear as an attractive alternative to experimental data as foreseen in the proposed new chemicals legislation REACH. A preliminary risk assessment for the aquatic environment can be based on few factors, i.e. the octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow), the vapour pressure (VP) and the potential biodegradability of the compound in combination with the predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) and the actual tonnage in which the substance is produced. Application of partial order ranking, allowing simultaneous inclusion of several parameters leads to a mutual prioritisation of the investigated substances, the prioritisation possibly being further analysed through the concept of linear extensions and average ranks. The ranking uses endpoint values (log Kow and log VP) derived from strictly linear 'noise-deficient' QSAR models as input parameters. Biodegradation estimates were adopted from the BioWin module of the EPI Suite. The population growth impairment of Tetrahymena pyriformis was used as a surrogate for fish lethality.

Extension of latin hypercube samples with correlated variables.

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

Hora, Stephen Curtis; Helton, Jon Craig; Sallaberry, Cedric J. PhD.

2006-11-01

A procedure for extending the size of a Latin hypercube sample (LHS) with rank correlated variables is described and illustrated. The extension procedure starts with an LHS of size m and associated rank correlation matrix C and constructs a new LHS of size 2m that contains the elements of the original LHS and has a rank correlation matrix that is close to the original rank correlation matrix C. The procedure is intended for use in conjunction with uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of computationally demanding models in which it is important to make efficient use of a necessarily limited number ofmore » model evaluations.« less

Low-rank coal oil agglomeration

DOEpatents

Knudson, C.L.; Timpe, R.C.

1991-07-16

A low-rank coal oil agglomeration process is described. High mineral content, a high ash content subbituminous coals are effectively agglomerated with a bridging oil which is partially water soluble and capable of entering the pore structure, and is usually coal-derived.

An integration of external information for foreign stallions into the Belgian genetic evaluation for jumping horses.

PubMed

Vandenplas, J; Janssens, S; Buys, N; Gengler, N

2013-06-01

The aim of this study was to test the integration of external information, i.e. foreign estimated breeding values (EBV) and the associated reliabilities (REL), for stallions into the Belgian genetic evaluation for jumping horses. The Belgian model is a bivariate repeatability Best Linear Unbiased Prediction animal model only based on Belgian performances, while Belgian breeders import horses from neighbouring countries. Hence, use of external information is needed as prior to achieve more accurate EBV. Pedigree and performance data contained 101382 horses and 712212 performances, respectively. After conversion to the Belgian trait, external information of 98 French and 67 Dutch stallions was integrated into the Belgian evaluation. Resulting Belgian rankings of the foreign stallions were more similar to foreign rankings according to the increase of the rank correlations of at least 12%. REL of their EBV were improved of at least 2% on average. External information was partially to totally equivalent to 4 years of contemporary horses' performances or to all the stallions' own performances. All these results showed the interest to integrate external information into the Belgian evaluation. © 2012 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

PageRank and rank-reversal dependence on the damping factor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Son, S.-W.; Christensen, C.; Grassberger, P.; Paczuski, M.

2012-12-01

PageRank (PR) is an algorithm originally developed by Google to evaluate the importance of web pages. Considering how deeply rooted Google's PR algorithm is to gathering relevant information or to the success of modern businesses, the question of rank stability and choice of the damping factor (a parameter in the algorithm) is clearly important. We investigate PR as a function of the damping factor d on a network obtained from a domain of the World Wide Web, finding that rank reversal happens frequently over a broad range of PR (and of d). We use three different correlation measures, Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall, to study rank reversal as d changes, and we show that the correlation of PR vectors drops rapidly as d changes from its frequently cited value, d0=0.85. Rank reversal is also observed by measuring the Spearman and Kendall rank correlation, which evaluate relative ranks rather than absolute PR. Rank reversal happens not only in directed networks containing rank sinks but also in a single strongly connected component, which by definition does not contain any sinks. We relate rank reversals to rank pockets and bottlenecks in the directed network structure. For the network studied, the relative rank is more stable by our measures around d=0.65 than at d=d0.

The rank correlated FSK model for prediction of gas radiation in non-uniform media, and its relationship to the rank correlated SLW model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solovjov, Vladimir P.; Webb, Brent W.; Andre, Frederic

2018-07-01

Following previous theoretical development based on the assumption of a rank correlated spectrum, the Rank Correlated Full Spectrum k-distribution (RC-FSK) method is proposed. The method proves advantageous in modeling radiation transfer in high temperature gases in non-uniform media in two important ways. First, and perhaps most importantly, the method requires no specification of a reference gas thermodynamic state. Second, the spectral construction of the RC-FSK model is simpler than original correlated FSK models, requiring only two cumulative k-distributions. Further, although not exhaustive, example problems presented here suggest that the method may also yield improved accuracy relative to prior methods, and may exhibit less sensitivity to the blackbody source temperature used in the model predictions. This paper outlines the theoretical development of the RC-FSK method, comparing the spectral construction with prior correlated spectrum FSK method formulations. Further the RC-FSK model's relationship to the Rank Correlated Spectral Line Weighted-sum-of-gray-gases (RC-SLW) model is defined. The work presents predictions using the Rank Correlated FSK method and previous FSK methods in three different example problems. Line-by-line benchmark predictions are used to assess the accuracy.

Nongeneric positive partial transpose states of rank five in 3×3 dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Leif Ove; Myrheim, Jan

In 3×3 dimensions, entangled mixed states that are positive under partial transposition (PPT states) must have rank at least four. These rank four states are completely understood. We say that they have rank (4,4) since both a state ρ and its partial transpose ρP have rank four. The next problem is to understand the extremal PPT states of rank (5,5). We call two states SL⊗SL-equivalent if they are related by a product transformation. A generic rank (5,5) PPT state ρ is extremal, and both ρ and ρP have six product vectors in their ranges, and no product vectors in their kernels. The three numbers {6,6;0} are SL⊗SL-invariants that help us classify the state. There is no analytical understanding of such states. We have studied numerically a few types of nongeneric rank five PPT states, in particular, states with one or more product vectors in their kernels. We find an interesting new analytical construction of all rank four extremal PPT states, up to SL⊗SL-equivalence, where they appear as boundary states on one single five-dimensional face on the set of normalized PPT states. The interior of the face consists of rank (5,5) states with four common product vectors in their kernels, it is a simplex of separable states surrounded by entangled PPT states. We say that a state ρ is SL⊗SL-symmetric if ρ and ρP are SL⊗SL-equivalent, and is genuinely SL⊗SL-symmetric if it is SL⊗SL-equivalent to a state τ with τ=τP. Genuine SL⊗SL-symmetry implies a special form of SL⊗SL-symmetry. We have produced numerically, by a special method, a random sample of rank (5,5) SL⊗SL-symmetric states. About 50 of these are of type {6,6;0}, among those all are extremal and about half are genuinely SL⊗SL-symmetric. All these genuinely SL⊗SL-symmetric states can be transformed to have a circulant form. We find however that this is not a generic property of genuinely SL⊗SL-symmetric states. The remaining SL⊗SL-symmetric states found in the search have product vectors in their kernels, and they inspired us to study such states without regard to SL⊗SL-symmetry.

Model of Decision Making through Consensus in Ranking Case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarigan, Gim; Darnius, Open

2018-01-01

The basic problem to determine ranking consensus is a problem to combine some rankings those are decided by two or more Decision Maker (DM) into ranking consensus. DM is frequently asked to present their preferences over a group of objects in terms of ranks, for example to determine a new project, new product, a candidate in a election, and so on. The problem in ranking can be classified into two major categories; namely, cardinal and ordinal rankings. The objective of the study is to obtin the ranking consensus by appying some algorithms and methods. The algorithms and methods used in this study were partial algorithm, optimal ranking consensus, BAK (Borde-Kendal)Model. A method proposed as an alternative in ranking conssensus is a Weighted Distance Forward-Backward (WDFB) method, which gave a little difference i ranking consensus result compare to the result oethe example solved by Cook, et.al (2005).

Excitation Patterns of Standard and Steered Partial Tripolar Stimuli in Cochlear Implants.

PubMed

Wu, Ching-Chih; Luo, Xin

2016-04-01

Current steering in partial tripolar (pTP) mode has been shown to improve pitch perception and spectral resolution with cochlear implants (CIs). In this mode, a fraction (σ) of the main electrode current is returned within the cochlea and steered between the basal and apical flanking electrodes (with a proportion of α and 1 - α, respectively). Pitch generally decreases when α increases from 0 to 1, although the salience of pitch change varies across CI users. This study aimed to identify the mechanism of pitch changes with pTP-mode current steering and the factors contributing to the intersubject variability in pitch-ranking sensitivity. The electrical fields were measured for steered pTP stimuli on the same main electrode with α = 0, 0.5, and 1 in five implanted ears using electrical field imaging (EFI). The related excitation patterns were also measured physiologically using evoked compound action potential (ECAP) and psychophysically using psychophysical forward masking (PFM). Consistent with the pitch-ranking results in this study, the EFI, ECAP, and PFM centroids shifted apically with increasing α. An apical shift was also observed for the PFM peak but not for the EFI or ECAP peak. The pattern width was similar with different α values within a given measure (e.g., EFI, ECAP, or PFM), but the ECAP patterns were broader than the EFI and PFM patterns, possibly because ECAP was measured with smaller σ values than EFI and PFM. The amount of pattern shift with α depended on σ (i.e., the total amount of current used for steering) but was not correlated with the pitch-ranking sensitivity across subjects. The results revealed that the pitch changes elicited by pTP-mode current steering were not only driven by the shifts of excitation centroid.

Volumetric evaluation of pharyngeal segments in obstructive sleep apnea patients.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Marcos Marques; Pereira Filho, Valfrido Antonio; Gabrielli, Mário Francisco Real; Oliveira, Talles Fernando Medeiros de; Batatinha, Júlio Américo Pereira; Passeri, Luis Augusto

2017-01-30

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs by recurrent collapse of the upper airway during sleep, resulting in total (apnea) or partial (hypopnea) reduction of the airflow and has intimate relation with changes in the upper airway. Cone Beam CT allows the analysis of the upper airway and its volume by three-dimensional reconstruction. To evaluate a possible correlation between the volume of the upper airway and the severity of the obstructive sleep apnea. A retrospective study was performed reviewing polysomnographic data and Cone Beam CT records of 29 patients (13 males and 16 females). The correlation between the volume of the nasopharynx, the oropharynx and the total superior pharynx with the AHI was assessed by Pearson's rank correlation coefficient. The obstructive sleep apnea severity division was: ten patients had severe, 7 had moderate, 6 had mild and 6 of them were healthy. The correlation between the nasopharynx, the oropharynx and the total superior pharynx volumes and the Apnea-Hypopnea-Index was respectively: -0.415 (p=0.025), 0.186 (p=0.334) and -0329 (p=0.089). The Spearman's rank controlled by the Body Mass Index, the age and the gender was: -0.206 (p=0.304), -0.155 (p=0.439) and 0.242 (p=0.284). There is no correlation between the volume of the airway and the obstructive sleep apnea, assessed by Apnea-Hypopnea-Index and controlled by the Body Mass Index, the age and the gender. The volume of the upper airways as an isolated parameter did not correlate to the severity of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and should be evaluated together with other factors. Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

A comparison of different strategies in multivariate regression models for the direct determination of Mn, Cr, and Ni in steel samples using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luna, Aderval S.; Gonzaga, Fabiano B.; da Rocha, Werickson F. C.; Lima, Igor C. A.

2018-01-01

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis was carried out on eleven steel samples to quantify the concentrations of chromium, nickel, and manganese. LIBS spectral data were correlated to known concentrations of the samples using different strategies in partial least squares (PLS) regression models. For the PLS analysis, one predictive model was separately generated for each element, while different approaches were used for the selection of variables (VIP: variable importance in projection and iPLS: interval partial least squares) in the PLS model to quantify the contents of the elements. The comparison of the performance of the models showed that there was no significant statistical difference using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. The elliptical joint confidence region (EJCR) did not detect systematic errors in these proposed methodologies for each metal.

Index of stations: surface-water data-collection network of Texas, September 1999

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gandara, Susan C.; Barbie, Dana L.

2001-01-01

As of September 30, 1999, the surface-water data-collection network of Texas (table 1) included 321 continuous-record streamflow stations (D), 20 continuous-record gage-height only stations (G), 24 crest-stage partial-record stations (C), 40 floodhydrograph partial-record stations (H), 25 low-flow partial-record stations (L), 1 continuous-record temperature station (M1), 25 continuous-record temperature and specific conductance stations (M2), 17 continuous-record temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, and pH stations (M4), 4 daily water-quality stations (Qd), 115 periodic water-quality stations (Qp), 17 reservoir/lake surveys for water quality stations (Qs), 85 continuous or daily reservoircontent stations (R), and 10 daily precipitation stations (Pd). Plate 1 identifies the major river basins in Texas and shows the location of the stations listed in table 1. Table 1 shows the station number and name, latitude and longitude, type of station, and office responsible for the collection of the data and maintenance of the record. An 8-digit permanent numerical designation for all gaging stations has been adopted on a nationwide basis; stations are numbered and listed in downstream order. In the downstream direction along the main stem, all stations on a tributary entering between two main-stem stations are listed between these two stations. A similar order is followed in listing stations by first rank, second rank, and other ranks of tributaries. The rank of any tributary, with respect to the stream to which it is an immediate tributary, is indicated by an indention in the table. Each indention represents one rank. This downstream order and system of indention shows which gaging stations are on tributaries between any two stations on a main stem and the rank of the tributary on which each gaging station is situated.

Frequency-Rank Distributions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brookes, Bertram C.; Griffiths, Jose M.

1978-01-01

Frequency, rank, and frequency rank distributions are defined. Extensive discussion on several aspects of frequency rank distributions includes the Poisson process as a means of exploring the stability of ranks; the correlation of frequency rank distributions; and the transfer coefficient, a new measure in frequency rank distribution. (MBR)

Low-rank coal oil agglomeration product and process

DOEpatents

Knudson, Curtis L.; Timpe, Ronald C.; Potas, Todd A.; DeWall, Raymond A.; Musich, Mark A.

1992-01-01

A selectively-sized, raw, low-rank coal is processed to produce a low ash and relative water-free agglomerate with an enhanced heating value and a hardness sufficient to produce a non-decrepitating, shippable fuel. The low-rank coal is treated, under high shear conditions, in the first stage to cause ash reduction and subsequent surface modification which is necessary to facilitate agglomerate formation. In the second stage the treated low-rank coal is contacted with bridging and binding oils under low shear conditions to produce agglomerates of selected size. The bridging and binding oils may be coal or petroleum derived. The process incorporates a thermal deoiling step whereby the bridging oil may be completely or partially recovered from the agglomerate; whereas, partial recovery of the bridging oil functions to leave as an agglomerate binder, the heavy constituents of the bridging oil. The recovered oil is suitable for recycling to the agglomeration step or can serve as a value-added product.

Low-rank coal oil agglomeration product and process

DOEpatents

Knudson, C.L.; Timpe, R.C.; Potas, T.A.; DeWall, R.A.; Musich, M.A.

1992-11-10

A selectively-sized, raw, low-rank coal is processed to produce a low ash and relative water-free agglomerate with an enhanced heating value and a hardness sufficient to produce a non-degradable, shippable fuel. The low-rank coal is treated, under high shear conditions, in the first stage to cause ash reduction and subsequent surface modification which is necessary to facilitate agglomerate formation. In the second stage the treated low-rank coal is contacted with bridging and binding oils under low shear conditions to produce agglomerates of selected size. The bridging and binding oils may be coal or petroleum derived. The process incorporates a thermal deoiling step whereby the bridging oil may be completely or partially recovered from the agglomerate; whereas, partial recovery of the bridging oil functions to leave as an agglomerate binder, the heavy constituents of the bridging oil. The recovered oil is suitable for recycling to the agglomeration step or can serve as a value-added product.

Urinary testosterone-metabolite levels and dominance rank in male and female bonobos (Pan paniscus).

PubMed

Sannen, Adinda; Van Elsacker, Linda; Heistermann, Michael; Eens, Marcel

2004-04-01

The correlation between testosterone (T) and dominance rank may vary among species, and is expected to become stronger as the importance of aggressive competition for rank increases. However, it may also vary among social situations within a species, showing a stronger correlation during socially unstable periods. Knowledge on this topic in great apes, especially in females, is scant. This study presents the first data on the relationship between T and dominance rank in both sexes of the bonobo ( Pan paniscus). For each period (four socially unstable and two stable ones), linear rank orders were determined and subsequently correlated with the accompanying mean urinary T-metabolite concentrations (measured as immunoreactive 5alpha-androstan-17alpha-ol-3-one). No correlation between these two variables was found for either sex among individuals during socially unstable or stable periods. Also, within an individual over the six periods, no relationship of T with rank could be demonstrated. These results suggest that either the outcomes of aggressions have no influence on T levels, or such clear outcomes appear insufficiently frequent to affect T levels over longer periods. Even during the unstable periods, the rate of aggressions was not higher than during stable periods, suggesting that frequencies of aggression have little effect on rank. Further analyses indeed demonstrated no correlation between frequencies of overall aggressions or any type of aggressive behavior separately, or rank. Perhaps factors other than the frequency of displayed aggressions alone have a marked influence on a bonobo's rank, for example, coalition partners. Overall, in bonobos, T apparently does not form a physiological reflection of social status.

Optimal body balance disturbance tolerance skills as a methodological basis for selection of firefighters to solve difficult rescue tasks.

PubMed

Jagiełło, Władysław; Wójcicki, Zbigniew; Barczyński, Bartłomiej J; Litwiniuk, Artur; Kalina, Roman Maciej

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is the methodology of optimal choice of firefighters to solve difficult rescue tasks. 27 firefighters were analyzed: aged from 22-50 years of age, and with 2-27 years of work experience. Body balance disturbance tolerance skills (BBDTS) measured by the 'Rotational Test' (RT) and time of transition (back and forth) on a 4 meter beam located 3 meters above the ground, was the criterion for simulation of a rescue task (SRT). RT and SRT were carried out first in a sports tracksuit and then in protective clothing. A total of 4 results of the RT and SRT is the substantive base of the 4 rankings. The correlation of the RT and SRT results with 3 criteria for estimating BBDTS and 2 categories ranged from 0.478 (p<0.01) - 0.884 (p<0.01) and the results of SRT 0.911 (p<0.01). The basic ranking very highly correlated indicators of SRT (0.860 and 0.844), while the 6 indicators of RT only 2 (0.396 and 0.381; p<0.05). There was no correlation between the results of the RT and SRT, but there was an important partial correlation of these variables, but only then was the effect stabilized. The Rotational Test is a simple and easy to use tool for measuring body balance disturbance tolerance skills. However, the BBDTS typology is an accurate criteria for forecasting on this basis, including the results of accurate motor simulations, and the periodic ability of firefighters to solve the most difficult rescue tasks.

Positive surgical margins in robot-assisted partial nephrectomy: a multi-institutional analysis of oncologic outcomes (leave no tumor behind).

PubMed

Khalifeh, Ali; Kaouk, Jihad H; Bhayani, Sam; Rogers, Craig; Stifelman, Michael; Tanagho, Youssef S; Kumar, Ramesh; Gorin, Michael A; Sivarajan, Ganesh; Samarasekera, Dinesh; Allaf, Mohamad E

2013-11-01

Expanding indications for robot-assisted partial nephrectomy raise major oncologic concerns for positive surgical margins. Previous reports showed no correlation between positive surgical margins and oncologic outcomes. We report a multi-institutional experience with the oncologic outcomes of positive surgical margins on robot-assisted partial nephrectomy. Pathological and clinical followup data were reviewed from an institutional review board approved, prospectively maintained joint database from 5 institutions. Tumors with malignant pathology were isolated and statistically analyzed for demographics and oncologic followup. The log rank test was used to compare recurrence-free and metastasis-free survival between patients with positive and negative surgical margins. The proportional hazards method was used to assess the influence of multiple factors, including positive surgical margins, on recurrence and metastasis. A total of 943 robot-assisted partial nephrectomies for malignant tumors were successfully completed. Of the patients 21 (2.2%) had positive surgical margins on final pathological assessment, resulting in 2 groups, including the 21 with positive surgical margins and 922 with negative surgical margins. Positive surgical margin cases had higher recurrence and metastasis rates (p<0.001). As projected by the Kaplan-Meier method in the population as a whole at followup out to 63.6 months, 5-year recurrence-free and metastasis-free survival was 94.8% and 97.5%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in recurrence-free and metastasis-free survival between patients with positive and negative surgical margins (log rank test<0.001), which favored negative surgical margins. Positive surgical margins showed an 18.4-fold higher HR for recurrence when adjusted for multiple tumors, tumor size, tumor growth pattern and pathological stage. Positive surgical margins on final pathological evaluation increase the HR of recurrence and metastasis. In addition to pathological and molecular tumor characteristics, this should be considered to plan appropriate management. Copyright © 2013 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of unfavourable and favourable social comparisons on paranoid ideation: An experimental study.

PubMed

Ascone, Leonie; Jaya, Edo S; Lincoln, Tania M

2017-09-01

Low social rank is associated with paranoia, but there is a lack of evidence for causality. We tested the effects of social comparisons on negative affect and paranoia with an online social rank paradigm, and whether striving to avoid inferiority or fears of social rejection moderated paranoid reactions. Female students (N = 172) were randomly exposed to one of two validated online profiles depicting a same-aged, high (unfavourable comparison) vs. low rank (favourable comparison) female student. Moderators were assessed at baseline. Social rank, anxiety, sadness and paranoia were assessed pre and post profile-exposure. There was a large effect of the experimental manipulation on social rank (p < 0.001, η 2 partial  = 0.191). The manipulations had no effects on anxiety and paranoia (p > 0.38). Sadness was significantly altered (p = 0.016, η 2 partial  = 0.033). There were significant moderation effects between the experimental conditions and insecure striving (trend-level) as well as fears of rejection. Our findings may be biased (overestimation of effects) as students are likely to be more competitive compared to the general population. Our rank manipulations did not alter paranoia. This suggests that changes in the cognitive representation of social rank alone - without triggering a strong emotional response - do not suffice to evoke paranoia. Although our results do not support the notion that threats to social rank cause paranoid symptoms, they suggest that threats to social rank are more likely to trigger paranoid states in those who are insecure in regard to their social position. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ranking Surgical Residency Programs: Reputation Survey or Outcomes Measures?

PubMed

Wilson, Adam B; Torbeck, Laura J; Dunnington, Gary L

2015-01-01

The release of general surgery residency program rankings by Doximity and U.S. News & World Report accentuates the need to define and establish measurable standards of program quality. This study evaluated the extent to which program rankings based solely on peer nominations correlated with familiar program outcomes measures. Publicly available data were collected for all 254 general surgery residency programs. To generate a rudimentary outcomes-based program ranking, surgery programs were rank-ordered according to an average percentile rank that was calculated using board pass rates and the prevalence of alumni publications. A Kendall τ-b rank correlation computed the linear association between program rankings based on reputation alone and those derived from outcomes measures to validate whether reputation was a reasonable surrogate for globally judging program quality. For the 218 programs with complete data eligible for analysis, the mean board pass rate was 72% with a standard deviation of 14%. A total of 60 programs were placed in the 75th percentile or above for the number of publications authored by program alumni. The correlational analysis reported a significant correlation of 0.428, indicating only a moderate association between programs ranked by outcomes measures and those ranked according to reputation. Seventeen programs that were ranked in the top 30 according to reputation were also ranked in the top 30 based on outcomes measures. This study suggests that reputation alone does not fully capture a representative snapshot of a program's quality. Rather, the use of multiple quantifiable indicators and attributes unique to programs ought to be given more consideration when assigning ranks to denote program quality. It is advised that the interpretation and subsequent use of program rankings be met with caution until further studies can rigorously demonstrate best practices for awarding program standings. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ranking structures and rank-rank correlations of countries: The FIFA and UEFA cases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ausloos, Marcel; Cloots, Rudi; Gadomski, Adam; Vitanov, Nikolay K.

2014-04-01

Ranking of agents competing with each other in complex systems may lead to paradoxes according to the pre-chosen different measures. A discussion is presented on such rank-rank, similar or not, correlations based on the case of European countries ranked by UEFA and FIFA from different soccer competitions. The first question to be answered is whether an empirical and simple law is obtained for such (self-) organizations of complex sociological systems with such different measuring schemes. It is found that the power law form is not the best description contrary to many modern expectations. The stretched exponential is much more adequate. Moreover, it is found that the measuring rules lead to some inner structures in both cases.

A Perceptually Weighted Rank Correlation Indicator for Objective Image Quality Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Qingbo; Li, Hongliang; Meng, Fanman; Ngan, King N.

2018-05-01

In the field of objective image quality assessment (IQA), the Spearman's $\\rho$ and Kendall's $\\tau$ are two most popular rank correlation indicators, which straightforwardly assign uniform weight to all quality levels and assume each pair of images are sortable. They are successful for measuring the average accuracy of an IQA metric in ranking multiple processed images. However, two important perceptual properties are ignored by them as well. Firstly, the sorting accuracy (SA) of high quality images are usually more important than the poor quality ones in many real world applications, where only the top-ranked images would be pushed to the users. Secondly, due to the subjective uncertainty in making judgement, two perceptually similar images are usually hardly sortable, whose ranks do not contribute to the evaluation of an IQA metric. To more accurately compare different IQA algorithms, we explore a perceptually weighted rank correlation indicator in this paper, which rewards the capability of correctly ranking high quality images, and suppresses the attention towards insensitive rank mistakes. More specifically, we focus on activating `valid' pairwise comparison towards image quality, whose difference exceeds a given sensory threshold (ST). Meanwhile, each image pair is assigned an unique weight, which is determined by both the quality level and rank deviation. By modifying the perception threshold, we can illustrate the sorting accuracy with a more sophisticated SA-ST curve, rather than a single rank correlation coefficient. The proposed indicator offers a new insight for interpreting visual perception behaviors. Furthermore, the applicability of our indicator is validated in recommending robust IQA metrics for both the degraded and enhanced image data.

Plus Disease in Retinopathy of Prematurity: Improving Diagnosis by Ranking Disease Severity and Using Quantitative Image Analysis.

PubMed

Kalpathy-Cramer, Jayashree; Campbell, J Peter; Erdogmus, Deniz; Tian, Peng; Kedarisetti, Dharanish; Moleta, Chace; Reynolds, James D; Hutcheson, Kelly; Shapiro, Michael J; Repka, Michael X; Ferrone, Philip; Drenser, Kimberly; Horowitz, Jason; Sonmez, Kemal; Swan, Ryan; Ostmo, Susan; Jonas, Karyn E; Chan, R V Paul; Chiang, Michael F

2016-11-01

To determine expert agreement on relative retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) disease severity and whether computer-based image analysis can model relative disease severity, and to propose consideration of a more continuous severity score for ROP. We developed 2 databases of clinical images of varying disease severity (100 images and 34 images) as part of the Imaging and Informatics in ROP (i-ROP) cohort study and recruited expert physician, nonexpert physician, and nonphysician graders to classify and perform pairwise comparisons on both databases. Six participating expert ROP clinician-scientists, each with a minimum of 10 years of clinical ROP experience and 5 ROP publications, and 5 image graders (3 physicians and 2 nonphysician graders) who analyzed images that were obtained during routine ROP screening in neonatal intensive care units. Images in both databases were ranked by average disease classification (classification ranking), by pairwise comparison using the Elo rating method (comparison ranking), and by correlation with the i-ROP computer-based image analysis system. Interexpert agreement (weighted κ statistic) compared with the correlation coefficient (CC) between experts on pairwise comparisons and correlation between expert rankings and computer-based image analysis modeling. There was variable interexpert agreement on diagnostic classification of disease (plus, preplus, or normal) among the 6 experts (mean weighted κ, 0.27; range, 0.06-0.63), but good correlation between experts on comparison ranking of disease severity (mean CC, 0.84; range, 0.74-0.93) on the set of 34 images. Comparison ranking provided a severity ranking that was in good agreement with ranking obtained by classification ranking (CC, 0.92). Comparison ranking on the larger dataset by both expert and nonexpert graders demonstrated good correlation (mean CC, 0.97; range, 0.95-0.98). The i-ROP system was able to model this continuous severity with good correlation (CC, 0.86). Experts diagnose plus disease on a continuum, with poor absolute agreement on classification but good relative agreement on disease severity. These results suggest that the use of pairwise rankings and a continuous severity score, such as that provided by the i-ROP system, may improve agreement on disease severity in the future. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ranking Specific Sets of Objects.

PubMed

Maly, Jan; Woltran, Stefan

2017-01-01

Ranking sets of objects based on an order between the single elements has been thoroughly studied in the literature. In particular, it has been shown that it is in general impossible to find a total ranking - jointly satisfying properties as dominance and independence - on the whole power set of objects. However, in many applications certain elements from the entire power set might not be required and can be neglected in the ranking process. For instance, certain sets might be ruled out due to hard constraints or are not satisfying some background theory. In this paper, we treat the computational problem whether an order on a given subset of the power set of elements satisfying different variants of dominance and independence can be found, given a ranking on the elements. We show that this problem is tractable for partial rankings and NP-complete for total rankings.

Estimation of citation-based scholarly activity among radiation oncology faculty at domestic residency-training institutions: 1996-2007.

PubMed

Choi, Mehee; Fuller, Clifton D; Thomas, Charles R

2009-05-01

Advancement in academic radiation oncology is largely contingent on research productivity and the perceived external influence of an individual's scholarly work. The purpose of this study was to use the Hirsch index (h-index) to estimate the research productivity of current radiation oncology faculty at U.S. academic institutions between 1996 and 2007. We performed bibliometric citation database searches for available radiation oncology faculty at domestic residency-training institutions (n = 826). The outcomes analyzed included the total number of manuscripts, total number of citations, and the h-index between 1996 and 2007. Analysis of overall h-index rankings with stratification by academic ranking, junior vs. senior faculty status, and gender was performed. Of the 826 radiation oncologists, the mean h-index was 8.5. Of the individuals in the top 10% by the h-index, 34% were chairpersons, 88% were senior faculty, and 13% were women. A greater h-index was associated with a higher academic ranking and senior faculty status. Recursive partitioning analysis revealed an h-index threshold of 15 (p <0.0001) as an identified breakpoint between the senior and junior faculty. Overall, women had lower h-indexes compared with men (mean, 6.4 vs. 9.4); however, when stratified by academic ranking, the gender differential all but disappeared. Using the h-index as a partial surrogate for research productivity, it appears that radiation oncologists in academia today comprise a prolific group, however, with a highly skewed distribution. According to the present analysis, the h-index correlated with academic ranking. Thus, it potentially has utility in the process of promotion decisions. Overall, women in radiation oncology were less academically productive than men; the possible reasons for the gender differential are discussed.

SU-E-T-654: Quantifying Plan Quality Can Effectively Distinguish Between Competing Equivocal IMRT Prostate Plans

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

Price, A; Lo, J; Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

2015-06-15

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to create a prostate IMRT plan quality index (PQI) that may be used to quantitatively compare competing plans using a methodology that mimics physician preference. This methodology allows planners to choose between plans with equivocal characteristics, prior to physician scrutiny. Methods: An observer study was conducted to gather data from 3 radiation oncology physicians who ranked a set of 20 patients (each with 5 plans). The rankings were used to optimize a PQI that combined weighted portions of the rectum, bladder, and planning target volume DVHs, such that the relative PQI mimicked physicianmore » rankings as best as possible. Once optimized, a test study assessed the PQI by comparison to physician rankings in a new set of 25 patients (each with 4 plans). The physician group in the test study included 6 physicians, 5 of whom were not included in the modeling study. PQI scores were evaluated against the physicians’ rank list using Spearman rank correlation. Results: The optimized plan quality index combined the following DVH features: high dose regions above 40Gy/60Gy (rectum/bladder), organ weightings, and PTV shoulder coverage. Mean correlation of the PQI vs. physicians’ rankings in the modeling study was 0.507 (range: 0.345–0.706). By comparison, the mean correlation between physicians was 0.301 (range: 0.242–0.334). The mean correlation of the PQI vs. physician rankings in test study was 0.726 (range: 0.416–0.936), indicating robustness of the PQI by virtue of producing similar results to the modeling study. Intra-physician correlation was 0.564 (range: 0.398–0.689). Conclusion: The correlation coefficients of the PQI vs. physicians were similar to the correlation coefficients of the physicians with each other, implying that the PQI developed in this work shows promise in reflecting physician clinical preference when selecting between competing, dosimetrically equivocal plans.« less

Chronotype correlates with developmental index, intelligence and academic achievement: A study based on nationwide indicators.

PubMed

Randler, Christoph

2017-01-01

Chronotype or morningness-eveningness (M/E) is an individual trait with a biological basis. In this study, I analysed the relationship between M/E and nationwide available data, such as economic variables, school achievement, intelligence and conscientiousness, which is a personality trait. These variables have been chosen because, first, they are linked on the individual level with circadian preference, and, second these associations have been found based on meta-analyses, which gives these findings a high plausibility. In addition, economic status has also been proposed to be related to M/E. Higher developed countries showed a lower morningness, based on both, the ranking of countries as well as on the HDI value. Similarly, GNI was related to morningness, while higher intelligence and performance in PISA were related to eveningness. Conscientiousness was related to morningness, although the results failed the significance level marginally. When using IQ as a control variable in partial correlations, the relationship between GNI and morningness disappeared, as did the correlation between eveningness and PISA results.

An intertwined method for making low-rank, sum-of-product basis functions that makes it possible to compute vibrational spectra of molecules with more than 10 atoms

PubMed Central

Thomas, Phillip S.

2017-01-01

We propose a method for solving the vibrational Schrödinger equation with which one can compute spectra for molecules with more than ten atoms. It uses sum-of-product (SOP) basis functions stored in a canonical polyadic tensor format and generated by evaluating matrix-vector products. By doing a sequence of partial optimizations, in each of which the factors in a SOP basis function for a single coordinate are optimized, the rank of the basis functions is reduced as matrix-vector products are computed. This is better than using an alternating least squares method to reduce the rank, as is done in the reduced-rank block power method. Partial optimization is better because it speeds up the calculation by about an order of magnitude and allows one to significantly reduce the memory cost. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the new method by computing vibrational spectra of two molecules, ethylene oxide (C2H4O) and cyclopentadiene (C5H6), with 7 and 11 atoms, respectively. PMID:28571348

An intertwined method for making low-rank, sum-of-product basis functions that makes it possible to compute vibrational spectra of molecules with more than 10 atoms.

PubMed

Thomas, Phillip S; Carrington, Tucker

2017-05-28

We propose a method for solving the vibrational Schrödinger equation with which one can compute spectra for molecules with more than ten atoms. It uses sum-of-product (SOP) basis functions stored in a canonical polyadic tensor format and generated by evaluating matrix-vector products. By doing a sequence of partial optimizations, in each of which the factors in a SOP basis function for a single coordinate are optimized, the rank of the basis functions is reduced as matrix-vector products are computed. This is better than using an alternating least squares method to reduce the rank, as is done in the reduced-rank block power method. Partial optimization is better because it speeds up the calculation by about an order of magnitude and allows one to significantly reduce the memory cost. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the new method by computing vibrational spectra of two molecules, ethylene oxide (C 2 H 4 O) and cyclopentadiene (C 5 H 6 ), with 7 and 11 atoms, respectively.

Efficiency of including first-generation information in second-generation ranking and selection: results of computer simulation.

Treesearch

T.Z. Ye; K.J.S. Jayawickrama; G.R. Johnson

2006-01-01

Using computer simulation, we evaluated the impact of using first-generation information to increase selection efficiency in a second-generation breeding program. Selection efficiency was compared in terms of increase in rank correlation between estimated and true breeding values (i.e., ranking accuracy), reduction in coefficient of variation of correlation...

Bayesian Inference of Natural Rankings in Incomplete Competition Networks

PubMed Central

Park, Juyong; Yook, Soon-Hyung

2014-01-01

Competition between a complex system's constituents and a corresponding reward mechanism based on it have profound influence on the functioning, stability, and evolution of the system. But determining the dominance hierarchy or ranking among the constituent parts from the strongest to the weakest – essential in determining reward and penalty – is frequently an ambiguous task due to the incomplete (partially filled) nature of competition networks. Here we introduce the “Natural Ranking,” an unambiguous ranking method applicable to a round robin tournament, and formulate an analytical model based on the Bayesian formula for inferring the expected mean and error of the natural ranking of nodes from an incomplete network. We investigate its potential and uses in resolving important issues of ranking by applying it to real-world competition networks. PMID:25163528

Bayesian Inference of Natural Rankings in Incomplete Competition Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Juyong; Yook, Soon-Hyung

2014-08-01

Competition between a complex system's constituents and a corresponding reward mechanism based on it have profound influence on the functioning, stability, and evolution of the system. But determining the dominance hierarchy or ranking among the constituent parts from the strongest to the weakest - essential in determining reward and penalty - is frequently an ambiguous task due to the incomplete (partially filled) nature of competition networks. Here we introduce the ``Natural Ranking,'' an unambiguous ranking method applicable to a round robin tournament, and formulate an analytical model based on the Bayesian formula for inferring the expected mean and error of the natural ranking of nodes from an incomplete network. We investigate its potential and uses in resolving important issues of ranking by applying it to real-world competition networks.

Measures of health sciences journal use: a comparison of vendor, link-resolver, and local citation statistics.

PubMed

De Groote, Sandra L; Blecic, Deborah D; Martin, Kristin

2013-04-01

Libraries require efficient and reliable methods to assess journal use. Vendors provide complete counts of articles retrieved from their platforms. However, if a journal is available on multiple platforms, several sets of statistics must be merged. Link-resolver reports merge data from all platforms into one report but only record partial use because users can access library subscriptions from other paths. Citation data are limited to publication use. Vendor, link-resolver, and local citation data were examined to determine correlation. Because link-resolver statistics are easy to obtain, the study library especially wanted to know if they correlate highly with the other measures. Vendor, link-resolver, and local citation statistics for the study institution were gathered for health sciences journals. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were calculated. There was a high positive correlation between all three data sets, with vendor data commonly showing the highest use. However, a small percentage of titles showed anomalous results. Link-resolver data correlate well with vendor and citation data, but due to anomalies, low link-resolver data would best be used to suggest titles for further evaluation using vendor data. Citation data may not be needed as it correlates highly with other measures.

The relationship of cranial, orbital and nasal cavity size with the morphology of the supraorbital region in modern Homo sapiens.

PubMed

Nowaczewska, Wioletta; Łapicka, Urszula; Cieślik, Agata; Biecek, Przemysław

2017-09-01

Morphological variation of the supraorbital region (SR) in human crania has been investigated and its potential sources suggested, along with the importance of the size of the facial skeleton, neurocranium, and orbit for the formation of this region. However, previous studies have not indicated whether facial size exhibits a stronger association with SR robusticity than neurocranial size or sex; moreover, the association between orbital volume and SR robusticity has been analysed only in non-human primate skulls. In this study we investigate whether the size of the facial skeleton, neurocranium, two measures of relative orbital size (orbital volume and estimated orbital aperture area), the relative size of the nasal cavity, and the relative estimated area of the anterior nasal cavity opening are related to SR robusticity; we also examine which of these analysed relationships is strongest, as well as independent of the influence of the other traits, in a geographically diverse modern human cranial sample. The results of Spearman's rank and partial rank correlations (encompassing models including or excluding sex and geographic origin) show a relationship between most of the above-mentioned variables and SR robusticity, with the exception of the estimated relative area of the orbital opening (in the case of the results of Spearman's rank correlations) and the traits of the nasal cavity. Of all the analysed traits, sex appears to be the most important for the formation of SR robusticity and, of two measures of cranial size, neurocranial size was the most significant. The strong relationship between SR robusticity and relative orbital volume was observed in models without the geographic origin factor. The results concerning analysed models suggest the influence of this factor on this relationship; however, to explain this influence, further studies are needed.

Dynamical Analysis of an SEIT Epidemic Model with Application to Ebola Virus Transmission in Guinea.

PubMed

Li, Zhiming; Teng, Zhidong; Feng, Xiaomei; Li, Yingke; Zhang, Huiguo

2015-01-01

In order to investigate the transmission mechanism of the infectious individual with Ebola virus, we establish an SEIT (susceptible, exposed in the latent period, infectious, and treated/recovery) epidemic model. The basic reproduction number is defined. The mathematical analysis on the existence and stability of the disease-free equilibrium and endemic equilibrium is given. As the applications of the model, we use the recognized infectious and death cases in Guinea to estimate parameters of the model by the least square method. With suitable parameter values, we obtain the estimated value of the basic reproduction number and analyze the sensitivity and uncertainty property by partial rank correlation coefficients.

Thalamo-Sensorimotor Functional Connectivity Correlates with World Ranking of Olympic, Elite, and High Performance Athletes.

PubMed

Huang, Zirui; Davis, Henry Hap; Wolff, Annemarie; Northoff, Georg

2017-01-01

Brain plasticity studies have shown functional reorganization in participants with outstanding motor expertise. Little is known about neural plasticity associated with exceptionally long motor training or of its predictive value for motor performance excellence. The present study utilised resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in a unique sample of world-class athletes: Olympic, elite, and internationally ranked swimmers ( n = 30). Their world ranking ranged from 1st to 250th: each had prepared for participation in the Olympic Games. Combining rs-fMRI graph-theoretical and seed-based functional connectivity analyses, it was discovered that the thalamus has its strongest connections with the sensorimotor network in elite swimmers with the highest world rankings (career best rank: 1-35). Strikingly, thalamo-sensorimotor functional connections were highly correlated with the swimmers' motor performance excellence, that is, accounting for 41% of the individual variance in best world ranking. Our findings shed light on neural correlates of long-term athletic performance involving thalamo-sensorimotor functional circuits.

Airway morphometry in the lungs as depicted in chest CT examinations variability of measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leader, J. K.; Zheng, Bin; Scuirba, Frank C.; Coxson, Harvey O.; Weissfeld, Joel L.; Fuhrman, Carl R.; Maitz, Glenn S.; Gur, David

2006-03-01

The purpose of the study was to decrease the variability of computed tomographic airway measurements. We to developed and evaluated a novel computer scheme to automatically segment airways depicted on chest CT examinations at the level of the lobar and segmental bronchi and to decrease. The computer scheme begins with manual selection of a seed point within the airway from which the airway wall and lumen are automatically segmented and airway pixels were assigned full or partial membership to the lumen or wall. Airway pixels not assigned full membership to the lumen (< -900 HU) or wall (> 0 HU) were assigned partial membership to the lumen and wall. In fifteen subjects with no visible signs of emphysema and a range of pulmonary obstruction from none to severe, airway measures were compared to pulmonary function parameters in a rank order analysis to evaluate measuring a single airway versus multiple airways. The quality of the automated airway segmentation was visually acceptable. The Pearson Correlation coefficients for the ranking of FEV I versus wall area percent (percent of total airway size) and FVC versus wall area percent were 0.164 and 0.175 for a single measurement, respectively, and were 0.243 and 0.239 for multiple measurements, respectively. Our preliminary results suggest that averaging the measurements from multiple airways may improve the relation between airway measures and lung function compared to measurement from a single airway, which improve quantification of airway remodeling in COPD patients.

Cross ranking of cities and regions: population versus income

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cerqueti, Roy; Ausloos, Marcel

2015-07-01

This paper explores the relationship between the inner economical structure of communities and their population distribution through a rank-rank analysis of official data, along statistical physics ideas within two techniques. The data is taken on Italian cities. The analysis is performed both at a global (national) and at a more local (regional) level in order to distinguish ‘macro’ and ‘micro’ aspects. First, the rank-size rule is found not to be a standard power law, as in many other studies, but a doubly decreasing power law. Next, the Kendall τ and the Spearman ρ rank correlation coefficients which measure pair concordance and the correlation between fluctuations in two rankings, respectively,—as a correlation function does in thermodynamics, are calculated for finding rank correlation (if any) between demography and wealth. Results show non only global disparities for the whole (country) set, but also (regional) disparities, when comparing the number of cities in regions, the number of inhabitants in cities and that in regions, as well as when comparing the aggregated tax income of the cities and that of regions. Different outliers are pointed out and justified. Interestingly, two classes of cities in the country and two classes of regions in the country are found. ‘Common sense’ social, political, and economic considerations sustain the findings. More importantly, the methods show that they allow to distinguish communities, very clearly, when specific criteria are numerically sound. A specific modeling for the findings is presented, i.e. for the doubly decreasing power law and the two phase system, based on statistics theory, e.g. urn filling. The model ideas can be expected to hold when similar rank relationship features are observed in fields. It is emphasized that the analysis makes more sense than one through a Pearson Π value-value correlation analysis

JOINT AND INDIVIDUAL VARIATION EXPLAINED (JIVE) FOR INTEGRATED ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE DATA TYPES.

PubMed

Lock, Eric F; Hoadley, Katherine A; Marron, J S; Nobel, Andrew B

2013-03-01

Research in several fields now requires the analysis of datasets in which multiple high-dimensional types of data are available for a common set of objects. In particular, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) includes data from several diverse genomic technologies on the same cancerous tumor samples. In this paper we introduce Joint and Individual Variation Explained (JIVE), a general decomposition of variation for the integrated analysis of such datasets. The decomposition consists of three terms: a low-rank approximation capturing joint variation across data types, low-rank approximations for structured variation individual to each data type, and residual noise. JIVE quantifies the amount of joint variation between data types, reduces the dimensionality of the data, and provides new directions for the visual exploration of joint and individual structure. The proposed method represents an extension of Principal Component Analysis and has clear advantages over popular two-block methods such as Canonical Correlation Analysis and Partial Least Squares. A JIVE analysis of gene expression and miRNA data on Glioblastoma Multiforme tumor samples reveals gene-miRNA associations and provides better characterization of tumor types.

Evaluating the nutrition intake of U.S. military service members in garrison.

PubMed

Ramsey, Casside B; Hostetler, Cheryl; Andrews, Anne

2013-12-01

Sparse information exists on the nutrition intake of U.S. military service members in a garrison setting. The purpose of this study was to assess the eating habits of a small group of service members who had not deployed in the preceding 12 months. Nutrition intake was measured using an online food frequency questionnaire and anthropometric measurements taken. Correlations were used to assess relationships between total caloric intake and sex, age, weight, waist circumference, body mass index, rank, marital status, history in a service-specific weight control program, and time in service. There were 39 subjects (18 males, 21 females) enrolled. There was a significant difference in total caloric intake between males and females (p = 0.040). The relationships of total caloric intake to both weight and waist circumference were significant (r = 0.425, p = 0.007 and r = 0.393, p = 0.013). There was a modest relationship between total caloric intake and sex (r = 0.331, p = 0.040) and history in a weight control program (r = -0.313, p = 0.052). There was no significant correlation between body mass index, age, rank, marital status, time in service, and total caloric intake. These relationships may partially explain the eating habits of service members in garrison. Future studies should further assess intake and influential additional factors, such as deployments. Reprint & Copyright © 2013 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Interspecific aggression in hermatypic corals from Bermuda

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Logan, A.

1984-11-01

Interspecific aggression between hermatypic corals on Bermudian reefs has been investigated by aquarium and field studies, the latter involving induced interactions, observations from 30 m-2 transects and random SCUBA traverses. Resultant hierarchies, constructed by ranking the abilities of species to damage competitors, show close similarities with each other and with the Jamaican hierarchy at the family level, notwithstanding some differences in the ranking of some species. Only 11% of natural-occurring interactions depart from the aquarium-derived results; in terms of species-pair combinations, 30% show partial or complete inversions from aquarium to field, with most changes involving species close together in the field hierarchy. Circular (intransitive) interactions occur mostly within a network of weakly-aggressive species in both aquarium- and fieldderived hierarchies. While number of potential interactions m-2 varies directly with density, frequency of aggression is positively correlated with coral diversity (species richness), while frequency of “no reactions” and conspecific fusion (combined) shows a correspondingly negative correlation with diversity. Frequency of aggression does not appear to be depth related. Comparison of aquarium and field hierarchies suggest that digestion by mesenterial filaments is the most important mechanism of aggression under natural conditions. Sweeper tentacle activity is the most likely cause of field reversals involving Madracis mirabilis and Montastrea cavernosa. Other factors, such as stress caused by seasonal environmental extremes, may be responsible for reversals or inconsistent behaviour in other species.

CoMSIA and Docking Study of Rhenium Based Estrogen Receptor Ligand Analogs

PubMed Central

Wolohan, Peter; Reichert, David E.

2007-01-01

OPLS all atom force field parameters were developed in order to model a diverse set of novel rhenium based estrogen receptor ligands whose relative binding affinities (RBA) to the estrogen receptor alpha isoform (ERα) with respect to 17β-Estradiol were available. The binding properties of these novel rhenium based organometallic complexes were studied with a combination of Comparative Molecular Similarity Indices Analysis (CoMSIA) and docking. A total of 29 estrogen receptor ligands consisting of 11 rhenium complexes and 18 organic ligands were docked inside the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of ERα utilizing the program Gold. The top ranked pose was used to construct CoMSIA models from a training set of 22 of the estrogen receptor ligands which were selected at random. In addition scoring functions from the docking runs and the polar volume (PV) were also studied to investigate their ability to predict RBA ERα. A partial least-squares analysis consisting of the CoMSIA steric, electrostatic and hydrophobic indices together with the polar volume proved sufficiently predictive having a correlation coefficient, r2, of 0.94 and a cross-validated correlation coefficient, q2, utilizing the leave one out method of 0.68. Analysis of the scoring functions from Gold showed particularly poor correlation to RBA ERα which did not improve when the rhenium complexes were extracted to leave the organic ligands. The combined CoMSIA and polar volume model ranked correctly the ligands in order of increasing RBA ERα, illustrating the utility of this method as a prescreening tool in the development of novel rhenium based estrogen receptor ligands. PMID:17280694

A novel iris transillumination grading scale allowing flexible assessment with quantitative image analysis and visual matching.

PubMed

Wang, Chen; Brancusi, Flavia; Valivullah, Zaheer M; Anderson, Michael G; Cunningham, Denise; Hedberg-Buenz, Adam; Power, Bradley; Simeonov, Dimitre; Gahl, William A; Zein, Wadih M; Adams, David R; Brooks, Brian

2018-01-01

To develop a sensitive scale of iris transillumination suitable for clinical and research use, with the capability of either quantitative analysis or visual matching of images. Iris transillumination photographic images were used from 70 study subjects with ocular or oculocutaneous albinism. Subjects represented a broad range of ocular pigmentation. A subset of images was subjected to image analysis and ranking by both expert and nonexpert reviewers. Quantitative ordering of images was compared with ordering by visual inspection. Images were binned to establish an 8-point scale. Ranking consistency was evaluated using the Kendall rank correlation coefficient (Kendall's tau). Visual ranking results were assessed using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (Kendall's W) analysis. There was a high degree of correlation among the image analysis, expert-based and non-expert-based image rankings. Pairwise comparisons of the quantitative ranking with each reviewer generated an average Kendall's tau of 0.83 ± 0.04 (SD). Inter-rater correlation was also high with Kendall's W of 0.96, 0.95, and 0.95 for nonexpert, expert, and all reviewers, respectively. The current standard for assessing iris transillumination is expert assessment of clinical exam findings. We adapted an image-analysis technique to generate quantitative transillumination values. Quantitative ranking was shown to be highly similar to a ranking produced by both expert and nonexpert reviewers. This finding suggests that the image characteristics used to quantify iris transillumination do not require expert interpretation. Inter-rater rankings were also highly similar, suggesting that varied methods of transillumination ranking are robust in terms of producing reproducible results.

A Ranking Approach to Genomic Selection.

PubMed

Blondel, Mathieu; Onogi, Akio; Iwata, Hiroyoshi; Ueda, Naonori

2015-01-01

Genomic selection (GS) is a recent selective breeding method which uses predictive models based on whole-genome molecular markers. Until now, existing studies formulated GS as the problem of modeling an individual's breeding value for a particular trait of interest, i.e., as a regression problem. To assess predictive accuracy of the model, the Pearson correlation between observed and predicted trait values was used. In this paper, we propose to formulate GS as the problem of ranking individuals according to their breeding value. Our proposed framework allows us to employ machine learning methods for ranking which had previously not been considered in the GS literature. To assess ranking accuracy of a model, we introduce a new measure originating from the information retrieval literature called normalized discounted cumulative gain (NDCG). NDCG rewards more strongly models which assign a high rank to individuals with high breeding value. Therefore, NDCG reflects a prerequisite objective in selective breeding: accurate selection of individuals with high breeding value. We conducted a comparison of 10 existing regression methods and 3 new ranking methods on 6 datasets, consisting of 4 plant species and 25 traits. Our experimental results suggest that tree-based ensemble methods including McRank, Random Forests and Gradient Boosting Regression Trees achieve excellent ranking accuracy. RKHS regression and RankSVM also achieve good accuracy when used with an RBF kernel. Traditional regression methods such as Bayesian lasso, wBSR and BayesC were found less suitable for ranking. Pearson correlation was found to correlate poorly with NDCG. Our study suggests two important messages. First, ranking methods are a promising research direction in GS. Second, NDCG can be a useful evaluation measure for GS.

A rotation-translation invariant molecular descriptor of partial charges and its use in ligand-based virtual screening

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Measures of similarity for chemical molecules have been developed since the dawn of chemoinformatics. Molecular similarity has been measured by a variety of methods including molecular descriptor based similarity, common molecular fragments, graph matching and 3D methods such as shape matching. Similarity measures are widespread in practice and have proven to be useful in drug discovery. Because of our interest in electrostatics and high throughput ligand-based virtual screening, we sought to exploit the information contained in atomic coordinates and partial charges of a molecule. Results A new molecular descriptor based on partial charges is proposed. It uses the autocorrelation function and linear binning to encode all atoms of a molecule into two rotation-translation invariant vectors. Combined with a scoring function, the descriptor allows to rank-order a database of compounds versus a query molecule. The proposed implementation is called ACPC (AutoCorrelation of Partial Charges) and released in open source. Extensive retrospective ligand-based virtual screening experiments were performed and other methods were compared with in order to validate the method and associated protocol. Conclusions While it is a simple method, it performed remarkably well in experiments. At an average speed of 1649 molecules per second, it reached an average median area under the curve of 0.81 on 40 different targets; hence validating the proposed protocol and implementation. PMID:24887178

Interval-Valued Rank in Finite Ordered Sets

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

Joslyn, Cliff; Pogel, Alex; Purvine, Emilie

We consider the concept of rank as a measure of the vertical levels and positions of elements of partially ordered sets (posets). We are motivated by the need for algorithmic measures on large, real-world hierarchically-structured data objects like the semantic hierarchies of ontolog- ical databases. These rarely satisfy the strong property of gradedness, which is required for traditional rank functions to exist. Representing such semantic hierarchies as finite, bounded posets, we recognize the duality of ordered structures to motivate rank functions which respect verticality both from the bottom and from the top. Our rank functions are thus interval-valued, and alwaysmore » exist, even for non-graded posets, providing order homomorphisms to an interval order on the interval-valued ranks. The concept of rank width arises naturally, allowing us to identify the poset region with point-valued width as its longest graded portion (which we call the “spindle”). A standard interval rank function is naturally motivated both in terms of its extremality and on pragmatic grounds. Its properties are examined, including the relation- ship to traditional grading and rank functions, and methods to assess comparisons of standard interval-valued ranks.« less

Job-related diseases and occupations within a large workers' compensation data set.

PubMed

Leigh, J P; Miller, T R

1998-03-01

The objective of this report is to describe workers' job-related diseases and the occupations associated with those diseases. The methods include aggregation and analysis of job-related disease and occupation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Supplementary Data System (SDS) for 1985 and 1986--the last years of data available with workers' compensation categories: death, permanent total, permanent partial, and temporary total and partial. Diseases are ranked according to their contribution to the four workers' compensation (WC) categories and also ranked within occupations according to the number of cases. Occupations are ranked according to their contribution to specific diseases within one of the four categories. The following diseases comprise the greatest numbers of deaths: heart attacks, asbestosis, silicosis, and stroke. Within the permanent total category, the diseases with the greatest contributions are heart attack, silicosis, strokes, and inflammation of the joints. For the permanent partial category, they are hearing loss, inflammation of joints, carpal tunnel syndrome, and heart attacks. For the temporary total and partial category, they are: inflammation of joints, carpal tunnel syndrome, dermatitis, and toxic poisoning. Hearing loss or inflammation of joints are associated with more than 300 occupations. Circulatory diseases comprise a larger share of job-related diseases than is generally acknowledged. Occupations contributing the most heart attack deaths are truck drivers, managers, janitors, supervisors, firefighters, and laborers. Ratios of numbers of deaths to numbers of disabilities are far higher for illnesses than injuries. Occupations that are consistent in their high ranking on most lists involving a variety of conditions include nonconstruction laborers, janitors, and construction laborers. The large SDS, though dated, provides a tentative national look at the broad spectrum of occupational diseases as defined by WC and the occupations associated with those diseases in 1985 and 1986. Some description of the spectrum of diseases encountered today is possible especially for occupations, such as those mentioned above for which employment has expanded in the 1990s.

Measures of health sciences journal use: a comparison of vendor, link-resolver, and local citation statistics*

PubMed Central

De Groote, Sandra L.; Blecic, Deborah D.; Martin, Kristin

2013-01-01

Objective: Libraries require efficient and reliable methods to assess journal use. Vendors provide complete counts of articles retrieved from their platforms. However, if a journal is available on multiple platforms, several sets of statistics must be merged. Link-resolver reports merge data from all platforms into one report but only record partial use because users can access library subscriptions from other paths. Citation data are limited to publication use. Vendor, link-resolver, and local citation data were examined to determine correlation. Because link-resolver statistics are easy to obtain, the study library especially wanted to know if they correlate highly with the other measures. Methods: Vendor, link-resolver, and local citation statistics for the study institution were gathered for health sciences journals. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were calculated. Results: There was a high positive correlation between all three data sets, with vendor data commonly showing the highest use. However, a small percentage of titles showed anomalous results. Discussion and Conclusions: Link-resolver data correlate well with vendor and citation data, but due to anomalies, low link-resolver data would best be used to suggest titles for further evaluation using vendor data. Citation data may not be needed as it correlates highly with other measures. PMID:23646026

Evaluation of facial attractiveness from end-of-treatment facial photographs.

PubMed

Shafiee, Roxanne; Korn, Edward L; Pearson, Helmer; Boyd, Robert L; Baumrind, Sheldon

2008-04-01

Orthodontists typically make judgments of facial attractiveness by examining groupings of profile, full-face, and smiling photographs considered together as a "triplet." The primary objective of this study was to determine the relative contributions of the 3 photographs-each considered separately-to the overall judgment a clinician forms by examining the combination of the 3. End-of-treatment triplet orthodontic photographs of 45 randomly selected orthodontic patients were duplicated. Copies of the profile, full-face, and smiling images were generated, and the images were separated and then pooled by image type for all subjects. Ten judges ranked the 45 photographs of each image type for facial attractiveness in groups of 9 to 12, from "most attractive" to "least attractive." Each judge also ranked the triplet groupings for the same 45 subjects. The mean attractiveness rankings for each type of photograph were then correlated with the mean rankings of each other and the triplets. The rankings of the 3 image types correlated highly with each other and the rankings of the triplets (P <.0001). The rankings of the smiling photographs were most predictive of the rankings of the triplets (r = 0.93); those of the profile photographs were the least predictive (r = 0.76). The difference between these correlations was highly statistically significant (P = .0003). It was also possible to test the extent to which the judges' rankings were influenced by sex, original Angle classification, and extraction status of each patient. No statistically significant preferences were found for sex or Angle classification, and only 1 marginally significant preference was found for extraction pattern. Clinician judges demonstrated a high level of agreement in ranking the facial attractiveness of profile, full-face, and smiling photographs of a group of orthodontically treated patients whose actual differences in physical dimensions were relatively small. The judges' rankings of the smiling photographs were significantly better predictors of their rankings of the triplet of each patient than were their rankings of the profile photographs.

MO-DE-207A-05: Dictionary Learning Based Reconstruction with Low-Rank Constraint for Low-Dose Spectral CT

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

Xu, Q; Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; Liu, H

Purpose: Spectral CT enabled by an energy-resolved photon-counting detector outperforms conventional CT in terms of material discrimination, contrast resolution, etc. One reconstruction method for spectral CT is to generate a color image from a reconstructed component in each energy channel. However, given the radiation dose, the number of photons in each channel is limited, which will result in strong noise in each channel and affect the final color reconstruction. Here we propose a novel dictionary learning method for spectral CT that combines dictionary-based sparse representation method and the patch based low-rank constraint to simultaneously improve the reconstruction in each channelmore » and to address the inter-channel correlations to further improve the reconstruction. Methods: The proposed method has two important features: (1) guarantee of the patch based sparsity in each energy channel, which is the result of the dictionary based sparse representation constraint; (2) the explicit consideration of the correlations among different energy channels, which is realized by patch-by-patch nuclear norm-based low-rank constraint. For each channel, the dictionary consists of two sub-dictionaries. One is learned from the average of the images in all energy channels, and the other is learned from the average of the images in all energy channels except the current channel. With average operation to reduce noise, these two dictionaries can effectively preserve the structural details and get rid of artifacts caused by noise. Combining them together can express all structural information in current channel. Results: Dictionary learning based methods can obtain better results than FBP and the TV-based method. With low-rank constraint, the image quality can be further improved in the channel with more noise. The final color result by the proposed method has the best visual quality. Conclusion: The proposed method can effectively improve the image quality of low-dose spectral CT. This work is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61302136), and the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (No. 2014JQ8317).« less

Health-Related Quality of Life and Functional Ability of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Thailand.

PubMed

Munchey, Ratree; Pongmesa, Tipaporn

2018-05-01

To assess the health-related quality of life and functional ability of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using the Thai EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D) and the Thai Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and to analyze correlations between the scores from both questionnaires. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 221 patients with RA aged 18 years or older at a tertiary care hospital in Thailand. Data collection methods included individual patient interviews and data gathering from medical records. The correlations between the EQ-5D and HAQ scores were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. Most patients were female (78.3%), aged 41 to 60 years (57.0%), having had RA for 12 to 60 months (43.0%), and being in an active disease state (60.6%). From the EQ-5D, most patients reported no problems in each dimension, except for mobility and pain/discomfort. For the HAQ, most patients reported no difficulty for almost all activities, except for arising. The medians (interquartile ranges) for the EQ-5D utility, EuroQol visual analogue scale (EQ VAS), and HAQ scores were 0.65 (0.55-0.73), 70 (50-80), and 0.25 (0.00-0.81), respectively. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were 0.42 for the EQ-5D utility and EQ VAS scores (P = 0.01), -0.65 for the EQ-5D utility and HAQ scores (P < 0.001), and -0.39 for the EQ VAS and HAQ scores (P < 0.001). The health-related quality of life and functional ability of most patients in our study were partially affected by the disease. The EQ-5D and HAQ scores significantly correlated at a moderate to strong level. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Correlations between cephalometric and photographic measurements of facial attractiveness in Chinese and US patients after orthodontic treatment.

PubMed

Oh, Hee Soo; Korn, Edward L; Zhang, Xiaoyun; Liu, Yan; Xu, Tianmin; Boyd, Robert; Baumrind, Sheldon

2009-12-01

Orthodontists rely on esthetic judgments from facial photographs. Concordance between estimates of facial attractiveness made from lateral cephalograms and those made from clinical photographs has not been determined. We conducted a preliminary examination to correlate clinicians' rankings of facial attractiveness from standardized end-of-treatment facial photographs (Photo Attractiveness Rank) with cephalometric measurements of facial attractiveness made for the same subjects at the same time. Forty-five Chinese and US orthodontic clinicians ranked end-of-treatment photographs of separate samples of 45 US and 48 Chinese adolescent patients for facial attractiveness. Separately for each sample, the photographic rankings were correlated with the values of 21 conventional hard- and soft-tissue measures from lateral cephalograms taken at the same visits as the photographs. Among US patients, higher rank for facial attractiveness on the photographs was strongly associated with higher values for profile angle, chin prominence, lower lip prominence, and Z-angle, and also with lower values for angle of convexity, H-angle, and ANB. Among Chinese patients, higher rank for facial attractiveness on the photographs was strongly associated with higher values for Z-angle and chin prominence, and also with lower values for angle of convexity, H-angle, B-line to upper lip, and mandibular plane angle. Chinese patients whose %lower face height values approximated the ethnic "ideal" (54%) tended to rank higher for facial attractiveness than patients with either higher or lower values for %lower face height. The absolute values of the correlations for the 7 US measures noted above ranged from 0.41 to 0.59; those of the 7 Chinese measures ranged from 0.39 to 0.49.The P value of the least statistically significant of these 14 correlations was 0.006, unadjusted for multiple comparisons. On the other hand, many cephalometric measures believed by clinicians to be indicators of facial attractiveness failed to correlate with facial attractiveness rank for either ethnicity at even the P <0.05 level, including SN-pogonion angle, lower incisor to mandibular plane angle, and Wits appraisal. In general, there was less association than expected or desired between objective measurements on the lateral cephalograms and clinicians' rankings of facial attractiveness on sets of clinical photographs.

RANK Expression and Osteoclastogenesis in Human Monocytes in Peripheral Blood from Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients.

PubMed

Nanke, Yuki; Kobashigawa, Tsuyoshi; Yago, Toru; Kawamoto, Manabu; Yamanaka, Hisashi; Kotake, Shigeru

2016-01-01

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) appears as inflammation of synovial tissue and joint destruction. Receptor activator of NF- κ B (RANK) is a member of the TNF receptor superfamily and a receptor for the RANK ligand (RANKL). In this study, we examined the expression of RANK high and CCR6 on CD14 + monocytes from patients with RA and healthy volunteers. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from both the RA patients and the healthy volunteers. Osteoclastogenesis from monocytes was induced by RANKL and M-CSF in vitro . To study the expression of RANK high and CCR6 on CD14 + monocytes, two-color flow cytometry was performed. Levels of expression of RANK on monocytes were significantly correlated with the level of osteoclastogenesis in the healthy volunteers. The expression of RANK high on CD14 + monocyte in RA patients without treatment was elevated and that in those receiving treatment was decreased. In addition, the high-level expression of RANK on CD14 + monocytes was correlated with the high-level expression of CCR6 in healthy volunteers. Monocytes expressing both RANK and CCR6 differentiate into osteoclasts. The expression of CD14 + RANK high in untreated RA patients was elevated. RANK and CCR6 expressed on monocytes may be novel targets for the regulation of bone resorption in RA and osteoporosis.

Comparing a 7-day diary vs. 24 h-recall for estimating fluid consumption in overweight and obese Mexican women.

PubMed

Hernández-Cordero, Sonia; López-Olmedo, Nancy; Rodríguez-Ramírez, Sonia; Barquera-Cervera, Simón; Rivera-Dommarco, Juan; Popkin, Barry

2015-10-07

High intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is linked to increased weight, energy intake, and diabetes. Even though the increasing interest on beverages and water intake, there are few dietary tools carefully validated. The purpose of this paper is to compare a fluid intake 7-day diary against a 24-h recall questionnaire to estimate the fluid consumption in overweight and obese women participating in a randomized controlled trial in Mexico. This cross-sectional study explored the correlation of reported fluid consumption between two methods: 3-day 24-hr recalls and 7-day diary beverage registry in overweight and obese Mexican women aged 18-45 y (n = 190). There was no difference on median estimated volume (mL/d), nor the median estimated energy (kcal/d) from total beverage consumption registered by the two dietary tools. The crude and rank correlation among the two dietary instruments was high for total fluid consumption in mL/d r = 0.7, p < 0.001 (crude and rank correlation) and for fluid consumption measured as energy intake: r = 0.7; p < 0.001 crude, and r = 0.5; p < 0.001 rank correlation. By type of beverage, the more meaningful rank correlations were for fluid intake in: mL/d, water, alcohol beverages, and SSB; and in kcal/d, alcohol beverages and SSBs (rank correlation ≥ 0.6). Overall, the 7-day diary showed high and strong rank correlations with that reported in the 24-h recall, suggesting that the diary method is a valid dietary tool to evaluate total fluid, water and SSB intake in this population.

Inflammatory Biomarkers Predict Heart Failure Severity and Prognosis in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Holistic Proteomic Approach.

PubMed

Hage, Camilla; Michaëlsson, Erik; Linde, Cecilia; Donal, Erwan; Daubert, Jean-Claude; Gan, Li-Ming; Lund, Lars H

2017-02-01

Underlying mechanisms in heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction remain unknown. We investigated cardiovascular plasma biomarkers in HF with preserved ejection fraction and their correlation to diastolic dysfunction, functional class, pathophysiological processes, and prognosis. In 86 stable patients with HF and EF ≥45% in the Karolinska Rennes (KaRen) biomarker substudy, biomarkers were quantified by a multiplex immunoassay. Orthogonal projection to latent structures by partial least square analysis was performed on 87 biomarkers and 240 clinical variables, ranking biomarkers associated with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional class and the composite outcome (all-cause mortality and HF hospitalization). Biomarkers significantly correlated with outcome were analyzed by multivariable Cox regression and correlations with echocardiographic measurements performed. The orthogonal partial least square outcome-predicting biomarker pattern was run against the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) database, containing annotated data from the public domain. The orthogonal partial least square analyses identified 32 biomarkers correlated with NYHA class and 28 predicting outcomes. Among outcome-predicting biomarkers, growth/differentiation factor-15 was the strongest and an additional 7 were also significant in Cox regression analyses when adjusted for age, sex, and N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide: adrenomedullin (hazard ratio per log increase 2.53), agouti-related protein; (1.48), chitinase-3-like protein 1 (1.35), C-C motif chemokine 20 (1.35), fatty acid-binding protein (1.33), tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (2.29), and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (0.34). Twenty-three of them correlated with diastolic dysfunction (E/e') and 5 with left atrial volume index. The IPA suggested that increased inflammation, immune activation with decreased necrosis and apoptosis preceded poor outcome. In HF with preserved ejection fraction, novel biomarkers of inflammation predict HF severity and prognosis that may complement or even outperform traditional markers, such as N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide. These findings lend support to a hypothesis implicating global systemic inflammation in HF with preserved ejection fraction. URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT00774709. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Implication of correlations among some common stability statistics - a Monte Carlo simulations.

PubMed

Piepho, H P

1995-03-01

Stability analysis of multilocation trials is often based on a mixed two-way model. Two stability measures in frequent use are the environmental variance (S i (2) )and the ecovalence (W i). Under the two-way model the rank orders of the expected values of these two statistics are identical for a given set of genotypes. By contrast, empirical rank correlations among these measures are consistently low. This suggests that the two-way mixed model may not be appropriate for describing real data. To check this hypothesis, a Monte Carlo simulation was conducted. It revealed that the low empirical rank correlation amongS i (2) and W i is most likely due to sampling errors. It is concluded that the observed low rank correlation does not invalidate the two-way model. The paper also discusses tests for homogeneity of S i (2) as well as implications of the two-way model for the classification of stability statistics.

Citation Ranking versus Peer Evaluation of Senior Faculty Research Performance: A Case Study of Kurdish Scholarship.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meho, Lokman I.; Sonnenwald, Diane H.

2000-01-01

Analyzes the relationship between citation ranking and peer evaluation in assessing senior faculty research performance. Describes a study of faculty specializing in Kurdish studies that investigated to what degree citation ranking correlates with data from citation content analysis, book reviews, and peer ranking. (Contains 72 references.)…

Role of RANK and Akt1 activation in human osteosarcoma progression: A clinicopathological study.

PubMed

Zhu, Jianxi; Liu, Yuwei; Zhu, Yong; Zeng, Min; Xie, Jie; Lei, Pengfei; Li, Kanghua; Hu, Yihe

2017-06-01

The receptor activator of nuclear factor κB (RANK) axis is the fundamental signaling pathway in bone formation as well as bone tumor pathophysiology. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of the expression of RANK and its downstream signaling molecule Akt1 on tumor progression in patients with osteosarcoma. Expression of RANK and Akt1 was examined in 78 human osteosarcoma samples by immunohistochemistry using formalin-fixed samples. Following this, each graded immunohistochemistry result was correlated with clinicopathological parameters and patient survival. In total, 60 osteosarcomas (76.9%) expressed RANK and 58 cases (74.4%) showed expression of Akt1. In addition, expression of RANK was negatively correlated with disease-free survival by Kaplan-Meier analysis. A resistance was observed to chemotherapy in RANK-expressing cases, which was statistically significant (P<0.05). In addition, chemotherapy and staging of the tumor were found to independent factors that have an effect on patient survival (P<0.05). Thus, RANK was identified as a negative prognostic factor of osteosarcoma survival.

Resident selection: how we are doing and why?

PubMed

Thordarson, David B; Ebramzadeh, Edward; Sangiorgio, Sophia N; Schnall, Stephen B; Patzakis, Michael J

2007-06-01

Selection of the best applicants for orthopaedic residency programs remains a difficult problem. Most quantifiable factors for residency selection evaluate test-taking ability and grades rather than other aspects, such as patient care, professionalism, moral reasoning, and integrity. Four current department members on our resident selection committee ranked four consecutive classes of orthopaedic residents interviewed for residency. We ranked incoming residents in order of best to least qualified and compared those rankings with rank lists by the same faculty on completion of residency. Rankings also were compared with the residents' United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Part I scores, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) Part I scores, and fourth-year Orthopaedic-in-Training Examination (OITE) scores. We found fair or poor correlations between the residents' initial rankings, rankings on graduation, and their USMLE, ABOS, and OITE scores. The only relatively strong correlation found was between the OITE and ABOS scores. Despite the faculty's consensus regarding selection criteria, interviewers did not agree in their rankings of residents on graduation. Additional work is necessary to refine the inexact yet important science of selecting residency applicants.

Text mining by Tsallis entropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamaati, Maryam; Mehri, Ali

2018-01-01

Long-range correlations between the elements of natural languages enable them to convey very complex information. Complex structure of human language, as a manifestation of natural languages, motivates us to apply nonextensive statistical mechanics in text mining. Tsallis entropy appropriately ranks the terms' relevance to document subject, taking advantage of their spatial correlation length. We apply this statistical concept as a new powerful word ranking metric in order to extract keywords of a single document. We carry out an experimental evaluation, which shows capability of the presented method in keyword extraction. We find that, Tsallis entropy has reliable word ranking performance, at the same level of the best previous ranking methods.

. Facial attractiveness: ranking of end-of-treatment facial photographs by pairs of Chinese and US orthodontists.

PubMed

Xu, Tian-Min; Korn, Edward L; Liu, Yan; Oh, Hee Soo; Lee, Ki Heon; Boyd, Robert L; Baumrind, Sheldon

2008-07-01

In this study, we assessed agreement and disagreement among pairs of Chinese and US orthodontists in the ranking for "facial attractiveness" of end-of-treatment photographs of growing Chinese and white orthodontic patients. Two groups of orthodontist-judges participated: from the University of the Pacific, School of Dentistry, in California and from Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology in China. Each judge independently ranked standard clinical sets of profile, frontal, and frontal-smiling photographs of 43 white patients and 48 Chinese patients. Pearson correlations were generated for a total of 1980 rankings by pairs of judges. The resulting correlations ranged from +0.004 to +0.96 with a median of +0.54. Of these, 18.7% were lower than 0.4; 41.0% were lower than 0.5; 68.8% were lower than 0.6; 91.6% were lower than 0.7; and only 8.4% were greater than 0.7. As had been anticipated, correlations between judges were higher when they ranked patients of their own ethnicity than when they ranked patients of different ethnicity, but the differences were smaller than had been expected. The rankings of no pair of judges correlated negatively. This is to say that no pair of judges, whether of the same or different ethnicity, ranked the patients so that those 1 judge tended to find attractive were consistently found unattractive by the other. The distribution of levels of agreement between pairs of orthodontists did not differ substantially whether the pairs included 2 US orthodontists, 2 Chinese orthodontists, or 1 US and 1 Chinese orthodontist. As might be expected, the pairs of Chinese orthodontists agreed with each other slightly better on average when ranking Chinese patients, and the pairs of US orthodontists agreed with each other slightly better on average when ranking white American patients, but the overall differences were small. These findings appear consistent with the inference that, on average, judgments of "facial attractiveness" by orthodontists at the 2 venues are more similar than had been expected for patients of Chinese and white ethnicity.

A Ranking Approach on Large-Scale Graph With Multidimensional Heterogeneous Information.

PubMed

Wei, Wei; Gao, Bin; Liu, Tie-Yan; Wang, Taifeng; Li, Guohui; Li, Hang

2016-04-01

Graph-based ranking has been extensively studied and frequently applied in many applications, such as webpage ranking. It aims at mining potentially valuable information from the raw graph-structured data. Recently, with the proliferation of rich heterogeneous information (e.g., node/edge features and prior knowledge) available in many real-world graphs, how to effectively and efficiently leverage all information to improve the ranking performance becomes a new challenging problem. Previous methods only utilize part of such information and attempt to rank graph nodes according to link-based methods, of which the ranking performances are severely affected by several well-known issues, e.g., over-fitting or high computational complexity, especially when the scale of graph is very large. In this paper, we address the large-scale graph-based ranking problem and focus on how to effectively exploit rich heterogeneous information of the graph to improve the ranking performance. Specifically, we propose an innovative and effective semi-supervised PageRank (SSP) approach to parameterize the derived information within a unified semi-supervised learning framework (SSLF-GR), then simultaneously optimize the parameters and the ranking scores of graph nodes. Experiments on the real-world large-scale graphs demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms the algorithms that consider such graph information only partially.

PageRank as a method to rank biomedical literature by importance.

PubMed

Yates, Elliot J; Dixon, Louise C

2015-01-01

Optimal ranking of literature importance is vital in overcoming article overload. Existing ranking methods are typically based on raw citation counts, giving a sum of 'inbound' links with no consideration of citation importance. PageRank, an algorithm originally developed for ranking webpages at the search engine, Google, could potentially be adapted to bibliometrics to quantify the relative importance weightings of a citation network. This article seeks to validate such an approach on the freely available, PubMed Central open access subset (PMC-OAS) of biomedical literature. On-demand cloud computing infrastructure was used to extract a citation network from over 600,000 full-text PMC-OAS articles. PageRanks and citation counts were calculated for each node in this network. PageRank is highly correlated with citation count (R = 0.905, P < 0.01) and we thus validate the former as a surrogate of literature importance. Furthermore, the algorithm can be run in trivial time on cheap, commodity cluster hardware, lowering the barrier of entry for resource-limited open access organisations. PageRank can be trivially computed on commodity cluster hardware and is linearly correlated with citation count. Given its putative benefits in quantifying relative importance, we suggest it may enrich the citation network, thereby overcoming the existing inadequacy of citation counts alone. We thus suggest PageRank as a feasible supplement to, or replacement of, existing bibliometric ranking methods.

ppcor: An R Package for a Fast Calculation to Semi-partial Correlation Coefficients.

PubMed

Kim, Seongho

2015-11-01

Lack of a general matrix formula hampers implementation of the semi-partial correlation, also known as part correlation, to the higher-order coefficient. This is because the higher-order semi-partial correlation calculation using a recursive formula requires an enormous number of recursive calculations to obtain the correlation coefficients. To resolve this difficulty, we derive a general matrix formula of the semi-partial correlation for fast computation. The semi-partial correlations are then implemented on an R package ppcor along with the partial correlation. Owing to the general matrix formulas, users can readily calculate the coefficients of both partial and semi-partial correlations without computational burden. The package ppcor further provides users with the level of the statistical significance with its test statistic.

The Correlation of Media Ranking's "Best" Hospitals and Surgical Outcomes Following Radical Cystectomy for Urothelial Cancer.

PubMed

Lascano, Danny; Finkelstein, Julia B; Barlow, LaMont J; Kabat, Daniel; RoyChoudhury, Arindam; Caso, Jorge R; DeCastro, G Joel; Gold, William; McKiernan, James M

2015-12-01

To evaluate whether there is a correlation between publicized health ranking systems and surgical outcomes after radical cystectomy (RC) in New York State (NYS). Using the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System, data were collected in an aggregated fashion per hospital for the 20 hospitals with the highest RC volume in NYS from 2009 to 2012. Hospital characteristics were obtained from the publicly available sources such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Publicized ranking systems evaluated included the US News & World Health Report for Urology ranking (USHR), Healthgrades (HG) score, and Consumer Reports (CR) safety ranking. Outcomes measured included mortality, readmissions, and causes of readmissions. CR safety scores were inversely associated with overall death at 90 days after surgery (R = -0.527, P = .030), number of readmissions (R = -0.608, P = .030), and readmissions because of surgical complications (R = -0.523, P = .031) on a Pearson correlation test. On Kendall rank tau test, USHR and HG were not associated with any outcome of interest, although the scores correlated with increasing RC volume. In our analysis of 20 hospitals with the highest RC volume in NYS, USHR and HG scores were not strongly associated with any clinical outcome after RC. CR performed well in comparison with USHR and HG. Nevertheless, better metrics are needed to compare hospitals and to incorporate curative rates for morbid surgeries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Selecting the Best and Brightest: A Structured Approach to Orthopedic Resident Selection.

PubMed

Schenker, Mara L; Baldwin, Keith D; Israelite, Craig L; Levin, L Scott; Mehta, Samir; Ahn, Jaimo

2016-01-01

Resident selection is integral to the graduate medical educational process and the future of our profession. There is no consensus among residency directors as to how to systematically and consistently screen and select applicants who would perform well as residents. The purpose of this study was to introduce and assess a high volume application screening tool and semistructured interview process. This study took place in an academic orthopedic surgery department over 2 years (2013-2014). Overall, 1382 applications were screened in 7 categories, with a maximum score of 100. A total of 14 faculty reviewed applications; 218 interviews were offered; 165 applicants accepted the interview. Overall, 4 interview domains (cognitive, affective, activities, and theme), and an impression score were ranked from 1 (Exceptional) to 6 (Concern). Each room had an assigned "theme" (ethics, affective, cognitive, research, and "fit") with standardized questions. A summary score was generated of all scores to determine the preliminary rank list; the final rank list was determined after group discussion. Correlation between preliminary rank, final rank, and screening scores were assessed. The average screening score was 62.5 (range: 0-100, median = 64). The average interview score was 69.5 (range: 32.24-95.0). Final rank lists correlated most highly with initial rank (0.912, p < 0.001), impression (0.847, p < 0.001), and affective domain (0.834, p < 0.001). Cognitive domain (0.628, p < 0.001) and screening scores (0.264, p < 0.001) less highly correlated with final rank position. A systematic approach was used to screen and evaluate a large number of orthopedic surgery applicants. Our system demonstrated excellent feasibility, reliability, and predictability for the final rank list. Copyright © 2016 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How Many Alternatives Can Be Ranked? A Comparison of the Paired Comparison and Ranking Methods.

PubMed

Ock, Minsu; Yi, Nari; Ahn, Jeonghoon; Jo, Min-Woo

2016-01-01

To determine the feasibility of converting ranking data into paired comparison (PC) data and suggest the number of alternatives that can be ranked by comparing a PC and a ranking method. Using a total of 222 health states, a household survey was conducted in a sample of 300 individuals from the general population. Each respondent performed a PC 15 times and a ranking method 6 times (two attempts of ranking three, four, and five health states, respectively). The health states of the PC and the ranking method were constructed to overlap each other. We converted the ranked data into PC data and examined the consistency of the response rate. Applying probit regression, we obtained the predicted probability of each method. Pearson correlation coefficients were determined between the predicted probabilities of those methods. The mean absolute error was also assessed between the observed and the predicted values. The overall consistency of the response rate was 82.8%. The Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.789, 0.852, and 0.893 for ranking three, four, and five health states, respectively. The lowest mean absolute error was 0.082 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.074-0.090) in ranking five health states, followed by 0.123 (95% CI 0.111-0.135) in ranking four health states and 0.126 (95% CI 0.113-0.138) in ranking three health states. After empirically examining the consistency of the response rate between a PC and a ranking method, we suggest that using five alternatives in the ranking method may be superior to using three or four alternatives. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On the hierarchy of partially invariant submodels of differential equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Golovin, Sergey V.

2008-07-01

It is noted that the partially invariant solution (PIS) of differential equations in many cases can be represented as an invariant reduction of some PISs of the higher rank. This introduces a hierarchic structure in the set of all PISs of a given system of differential equations. An equivalence of the two-step and the direct ways of construction of PISs is proved. The hierarchy simplifies the process of enumeration and analysis of partially invariant submodels to the given system of differential equations. In this framework, the complete classification of regular partially invariant solutions of ideal MHD equations is given.

Use of a handheld low-cost sensor to explore the effect of urban design features on local-scale spatial and temporal air quality variability.

PubMed

Miskell, Georgia; Salmond, Jennifer A; Williams, David E

2018-04-01

Portable low-cost instruments have been validated and used to measure ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) at multiple sites over a small urban area with 20min time resolution. We use these results combined with land use regression (LUR) and rank correlation methods to explore the effects of traffic, urban design features, and local meteorology and atmosphere chemistry on small-scale spatio-temporal variations. We measured NO 2 at 45 sites around the downtown area of Vancouver, BC, in spring 2016, and constructed four different models: i) a model based on averaging concentrations observed at each site over the whole measurement period, and separate temporal models for ii) morning, iii) midday, and iv) afternoon. Redesign of the temporal models using the average model predictors as constants gave three 'hybrid' models that used both spatial and temporal variables. These accounted for approximately 50% of the total variation with mean absolute error±5ppb. Ranking sites by concentration and by change in concentration across the day showed a shift of high NO 2 concentrations across the central city from morning to afternoon. Locations could be identified in which NO 2 concentration was determined by the geography of the site, and others as ones in which the concentration changed markedly from morning to afternoon indicating the importance of temporal controls. Rank correlation results complemented LUR in identifying significant urban design variables that impacted NO 2 concentration. High variability across a relatively small space was partially described by predictor variables related to traffic (bus stop density, speed limits, traffic counts, distance to traffic lights), atmospheric chemistry (ozone, dew point), and environment (land use, trees). A high-density network recording continuously would be needed fully to capture local variations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ranking of concern, based on environmental indexes, for pharmaceutical and personal care products: an application to the Spanish case.

PubMed

Ortiz de García, Sheyla; Pinto, Gilberto Pinto; García-Encina, Pedro A; Irusta Mata, Rubén I

2013-11-15

A wide range of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) are present in the environment, and many of their adverse effects are unknown. The emergence of new compounds or changes in regulations have led to dynamical studies of occurrence, impact and treatment, which consider geographical areas and trends in consumption and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. A Quantitative study of Structure-Activity Relationship ((Q)SAR) was performed to assess the possible adverse effects of ninety six PPCPs and metabolites with negligible experimental data and establish a ranking of concern, which was supported by the EPA EPI Suite™ interface. The environmental and toxicological indexes, the persistence (P), the bioaccumulation (B), the toxicity (T) (extensive) and the occurrence in Spanish aquatic environments (O) (intensive) were evaluated. The most hazardous characteristics in the largest number of compounds were generated by the P index, followed by the T and B indexes. A high number of metabolites has a concern score equal to or greater than their parent compounds. Three PBT and OPBT rankings of concern were proposed using the total and partial ranking method (supported by a Hasse diagram) by the Decision Analysis by Ranking Techniques (DART) tool, which was recently recommended by the European Commission. An analysis of the sensibility of the relative weights of these indexes has been conducted. Hormones, antidepressants (and their metabolites), blood lipid regulators and all of the personal care products considered in this study were at the highest levels of risk according to the PBT and OPBT total rankings. Furthermore, when the OPBT partial ranking was performed, X-ray contrast media, H2 blockers and some antibiotics were included at the highest level of concern. It is important to improve and incorporate useful indexes for the predicted environmental impact of PPCPs and metabolites and thus focus experimental analysis on the compounds that require urgent attention. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Species-Specific Serological Detection for Schistosomiasis by Serine Protease Inhibitor (SERPIN) in Multiplex Assay.

PubMed

Tanigawa, Chihiro; Fujii, Yoshito; Miura, Masashi; Nzou, Samson Muuo; Mwangi, Anne Wanjiru; Nagi, Sachiyo; Hamano, Shinjiro; Njenga, Sammy M; Mbanefo, Evaristus Chibunna; Hirayama, Kenji; Mwau, Matilu; Kaneko, Satoshi

2015-01-01

Both Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium cause schistosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa. We assessed the diagnostic value of selected Schistosoma antigens for the development of a multiplex serological immunoassay for sero-epidemiological surveillance. Diagnostic ability of recombinant antigens from S. mansoni and S. haematobium was assessed by Luminex multiplex immunoassay using plasma from school children in two areas of Kenya, endemic for different species of schistosomiasis. S. mansoni serine protease inhibitor (SERPIN) and Sm-RP26 showed significantly higher reactivity to patient plasma as compared to the control group. Sm-Filamin, Sm-GAPDH, Sm-GST, Sm-LAP1, Sm-LAP2, Sm-Sm31, Sm-Sm32 and Sm-Tropomyosin did not show difference in reactivity between S. mansoni infected and uninfected pupils. Sm-RP26 was cross-reactive to plasma from S. haematobium patients, whereas Sm-SERPIN was species-specific. Sh-SEPRIN was partially cross-reactive to S. mansoni infected patients. ROC analysis for Sm-RP26, Sm-SERPIN and Sh-SERPIN showed AUC values of 0.833, 0.888 and 0.947, respectively. Using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient analysis, we also found significant positive correlation between the number of excreted eggs and median fluorescence intensity (MFI) from the multiplex immunoassays for Sm-SERPIN (ρ = 0.430, p-value = 0.003) and Sh-SERPIN (ρ = 0.433, p-value = 0.006). Sm-SERPIN is a promising species-specific diagnostic antigen. Sh-SEPRIN was partially cross-reactive to S. mansoni infected patients. SERPINs showed correlation with the number of excreted eggs. These indicate prospects for inclusion of SERPINs in the multiplex serological immunoassay system.

Diversity rankings among bacterial lineages in soil.

PubMed

Youssef, Noha H; Elshahed, Mostafa S

2009-03-01

We used rarefaction curve analysis and diversity ordering-based approaches to rank the 11 most frequently encountered bacterial lineages in soil according to diversity in 5 previously reported 16S rRNA gene clone libraries derived from agricultural, undisturbed tall grass prairie and forest soils (n=26,140, 28 328, 31 818, 13 001 and 53 533). The Planctomycetes, Firmicutes and the delta-Proteobacteria were consistently ranked among the most diverse lineages in all data sets, whereas the Verrucomicrobia, Gemmatimonadetes and beta-Proteobacteria were consistently ranked among the least diverse. On the other hand, the rankings of alpha-Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi varied widely in different soil clone libraries. In general, lineages exhibiting largest differences in diversity rankings also exhibited the largest difference in relative abundance in the data sets examined. Within these lineages, a positive correlation between relative abundance and diversity was observed within the Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi, and a negative diversity-abundance correlation was observed within the Bacteroidetes. The ecological and evolutionary implications of these results are discussed.

Visualizing Rank Time Series of Wikipedia Top-Viewed Pages.

PubMed

Xia, Jing; Hou, Yumeng; Chen, Yingjie Victor; Qian, Zhenyu Cheryl; Ebert, David S; Chen, Wei

2017-01-01

Visual clutter is a common challenge when visualizing large rank time series data. WikiTopReader, a reader of Wikipedia page rank, lets users explore connections among top-viewed pages by connecting page-rank behaviors with page-link relations. Such a combination enhances the unweighted Wikipedia page-link network and focuses attention on the page of interest. A set of user evaluations shows that the system effectively represents evolving ranking patterns and page-wise correlation.

Correlation Between Cephalometric Measures and End-of-Treatment Facial Attractiveness.

PubMed

Yu, Xiao-nan; Bai, Ding; Feng, Xue; Liu, Yue-hua; Chen, Wen-jing; Li, Song; Han, Guang-li; Jiang, Ruo-ping; Xu, Tian-min

2016-03-01

Sixty-nine experienced Chinese orthodontists evaluated 108 Chinese patients' facial attractiveness from set of photographs (frontal, lateral, and frontal smiling photos) taken at the end of orthodontic treatment. These 108 patients, which contained an equal number of patients with Class I, II, and III malocclusion, were randomly selected from 6 orthodontic treatment centers throughout China. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients (rs) analyses were performed to examine agreement in ranking between all judge pairs. Pearson correlation and multivariate regression were performed to examine the correlation between cephalometric measures and end-of-treatment Photo Attractiveness Rank.96.68% judge pairs showed moderate correlated (+0.4 ≤ rs < +0.7) subjective rankings. Cephalometric measures significantly correlated with end-of-treatment Photo Attractiveness Rank included interincisal angle (r = 0.330, P < 0.05), L1/MP° (r = 0.386, P < 0.05), L1-NBmm (r = 0.451, P < 0.01), L1/NB° (r = 0.374, P < 0.05), and profile angle (r = 0.353, P < 0.05) in Class I patients with an explained variance of 32.8%, and ANB angle (r = 0.432, P < 0.01), angle of convexity (r = 0.448, P < 0.01), profile angle (r = 0.488, P < 0.01), Li to E-line (r = 0.374, P < 0.05), Li to B-line (r = 0.543, P < 0.01), and Z angle (r = 0.543, P < 0.01) in Class II patient with an explained variance of 43.3%.There was less association than expected between objective measurements on the lateral cephalograms and clinicians' rankings of facial attractiveness on clinical photography in Chinese patients. Straight-stand lower incisor was desired for facial attractiveness of Class I malocclusion; and sagittal relationship and lip prominence influence the esthetics of Class II malocclusion in Chinese population.

Large Scale Data Analysis and Knowledge Extraction in Communication Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-31

this purpose, we developed a novel method the " Correlation Density Ran!C’ which finds probability density distribution of related frequent event on all...which is called " Correlation Density Rank", is developed to derive the community tree from the network. As in the real world, where a network is...Community Structure in Dynamic Social Networks using the Correlation Density Rank," 2014 ASE BigData/SocialCom/Cybersecurity Conference, Stanford

Multicenter Validation of a Customizable Scoring Tool for Selection of Trainees for a Residency or Fellowship Program. The EAST-IST Study.

PubMed

Bosslet, Gabriel T; Carlos, W Graham; Tybor, David J; McCallister, Jennifer; Huebert, Candace; Henderson, Ashley; Miles, Matthew C; Twigg, Homer; Sears, Catherine R; Brown, Cynthia; Farber, Mark O; Lahm, Tim; Buckley, John D

2017-04-01

Few data have been published regarding scoring tools for selection of postgraduate medical trainee candidates that have wide applicability. The authors present a novel scoring tool developed to assist postgraduate programs in generating an institution-specific rank list derived from selected elements of the U.S. Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS) application. The authors developed and validated an ERAS and interview day scoring tool at five pulmonary and critical care fellowship programs: the ERAS Application Scoring Tool-Interview Scoring Tool. This scoring tool was then tested for intrarater correlation versus subjective rankings of ERAS applications. The process for development of the tool was performed at four other institutions, and it was performed alongside and compared with the "traditional" ranking methods at the five programs and compared with the submitted National Residency Match Program rank list. The ERAS Application Scoring Tool correlated highly with subjective faculty rankings at the primary institution (average Spearman's r = 0.77). The ERAS Application Scoring Tool-Interview Scoring Tool method correlated well with traditional ranking methodology at all five institutions (Spearman's r = 0.54, 0.65, 0.72, 0.77, and 0.84). This study validates a process for selecting and weighting components of the ERAS application and interview day to create a customizable, institution-specific tool for ranking candidates to postgraduate medical education programs. This scoring system can be used in future studies to compare the outcomes of fellowship training.

Similarity analysis between chromosomes of Homo sapiens and monkeys with correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient and cosine similarity measures

PubMed Central

Someswara Rao, Chinta; Viswanadha Raju, S.

2016-01-01

In this paper, we consider correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient and cosine similarity measures for evaluating similarity between Homo sapiens and monkeys. We used DNA chromosomes of genome wide genes to determine the correlation between the chromosomal content and evolutionary relationship. The similarity among the H. sapiens and monkeys is measured for a total of 210 chromosomes related to 10 species. The similarity measures of these different species show the relationship between the H. sapiens and monkey. This similarity will be helpful at theft identification, maternity identification, disease identification, etc. PMID:26981409

Similarity analysis between chromosomes of Homo sapiens and monkeys with correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient and cosine similarity measures.

PubMed

Someswara Rao, Chinta; Viswanadha Raju, S

2016-03-01

In this paper, we consider correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient and cosine similarity measures for evaluating similarity between Homo sapiens and monkeys. We used DNA chromosomes of genome wide genes to determine the correlation between the chromosomal content and evolutionary relationship. The similarity among the H. sapiens and monkeys is measured for a total of 210 chromosomes related to 10 species. The similarity measures of these different species show the relationship between the H. sapiens and monkey. This similarity will be helpful at theft identification, maternity identification, disease identification, etc.

Do Quantitative Measures of Research Productivity Correlate with Academic Rank in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery?

PubMed

Susarla, Srinivas M; Dodson, Thomas B; Lopez, Joseph; Swanson, Edward W; Calotta, Nicholas; Peacock, Zachary S

2015-08-01

Academic promotion is linked to research productivity. The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation between quantitative measures of academic productivity and academic rank among academic oral and maxillofacial surgeons. This was a cross-sectional study of full-time academic oral and maxillofacial surgeons in the United States. The predictor variables were categorized as demographic (gender, medical degree, research doctorate, other advanced degree) and quantitative measures of academic productivity (total number of publications, total number of citations, maximum number of citations for a single article, I-10 index [number of publications with ≥ 10 citations], and h-index [number of publications h with ≥ h citations each]). The outcome variable was current academic rank (instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor, or endowed professor). Descriptive, bivariate, and multiple regression statistics were computed to evaluate associations between the predictors and academic rank. Receiver-operator characteristic curves were computed to identify thresholds for academic promotion. The sample consisted of 324 academic oral and maxillofacial surgeons, of whom 11.7% were female, 40% had medical degrees, and 8% had research doctorates. The h-index was the most strongly correlated with academic rank (ρ = 0.62, p < 0.001). H-indexes of ≥ 4, ≥ 8, and ≥ 13 were identified as thresholds for promotion to associate professor, professor, and endowed professor, respectively (p < 0.001). This study found that the h-index was strongly correlated with academic rank among oral and maxillofacial surgery faculty members and thus suggests that promotions committees should consider using the h-index as an additional method to assess research activity.

Business Students' Ranking of Reasons for Assessment: Gender Differences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Carl; Thomas, Richard; King, Karen

2000-01-01

Describes an explorative study to investigate the purposes of assessment as seen from the student perspective. Results showed strong correlation in the ranked reasons for assessment across gender and between the two institutions involved. Some significant differences in gender were observed in the top ranked reasons. Discusses possible extensions…

Dominance hierarchy and social relationships in a group of captive black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti).

PubMed

Cui, Liang-Wei; Sun, Qing-Lei; Li, Bao-Guo

2014-05-01

Different types of dominance hierarchies reflect different social relationships in primates. In this study, we clarified the hierarchy and social relationships in a one-male unit of captive Rhinopithecus bieti observed between August 1998 and March 1999. Mean frequency of agonistic behaviour among adult females was 0.13 interactions per hour. Adult females exhibited a linear hierarchy with a reversal of 10.9%, indicating an unstable relationship; therefore, R. bieti appears to be a relaxed/tolerant species. The lack of a relationship between the agonistic ratio of the adult male towards adult females and their ranks indicated that males did not show increased aggression towards low-ranking females. Differentiated female affiliative relationships were loosely formed in terms of the male, and to some extent influenced by female estrus, implying that relationships between the male and females is influenced by estrus and not rank alone. A positive correlation between the agonistic ratio of adult females and their ranks showed that the degree to which one female negatively impacted others decreased with reduction in rank. Similarly, a positive correlation between the agonistic ratio of females and differences in rank suggests that a female had fewer negative effects on closely ranked individuals than distantly ranked ones. These data indicate that rank may influence relationships between females. A steeper slope of regression between the agonistic ratio and inter-female rank differences indicated that the extent of the power difference in high-ranking females exerting negative effects on low-ranking ones was larger during the mating season than the birth season, suggesting that rank may influence the mating success of females.

Dominance hierarchy and social relationships in a group of Captive black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti)

PubMed Central

CUI, Liang-Wei; SUN, Qing-Lei; LI, Bao-Guo

2014-01-01

Different types of dominance hierarchies reflect different social relationships in primates. In this study, we clarified the hierarchy and social relationships in a one-male unit of captive Rhinopithecus bieti observed between August 1998 and March 1999. Mean frequency of agonistic behaviour among adult females was 0.13 interactions per hour. Adult females exhibited a linear hierarchy with a reversal of 10.9%, indicating an unstable relationship; therefore, R. bieti appears to be a relaxed/tolerant species. The lack of a relationship between the agonistic ratio of the adult male towards adult females and their ranks indicated that males did not show increased aggression towards low-ranking females. Differentiated female affiliative relationships were loosely formed in terms of the male, and to some extent influenced by female estrus, implying that relationships between the male and females is influenced by estrus and not rank alone. A positive correlation between the agonistic ratio of adult females and their ranks showed that the degree to which one female negatively impacted others decreased with reduction in rank. Similarly, a positive correlation between the agonistic ratio of females and differences in rank suggests that a female had fewer negative effects on closely ranked individuals than distantly ranked ones. These data indicate that rank may influence relationships between females. A steeper slope of regression between the agonistic ratio and inter-female rank differences indicated that the extent of the power difference in high-ranking females exerting negative effects on low-ranking ones was larger during the mating season than the birth season, suggesting that rank may influence the mating success of females. PMID:24866491

Rank-based testing of equal survivorship based on cross-sectional survival data with or without prospective follow-up.

PubMed

Chan, Kwun Chuen Gary; Qin, Jing

2015-10-01

Existing linear rank statistics cannot be applied to cross-sectional survival data without follow-up since all subjects are essentially censored. However, partial survival information are available from backward recurrence times and are frequently collected from health surveys without prospective follow-up. Under length-biased sampling, a class of linear rank statistics is proposed based only on backward recurrence times without any prospective follow-up. When follow-up data are available, the proposed rank statistic and a conventional rank statistic that utilizes follow-up information from the same sample are shown to be asymptotically independent. We discuss four ways to combine these two statistics when follow-up is present. Simulations show that all combined statistics have substantially improved power compared with conventional rank statistics, and a Mantel-Haenszel test performed the best among the proposal statistics. The method is applied to a cross-sectional health survey without follow-up and a study of Alzheimer's disease with prospective follow-up. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Response Assessment in Paediatric Phase I Trials According to RECIST Guidelines: Survival Outcomes, Patterns of Progression and Relevance of Changes in Tumour Measurements.

PubMed

Carceller, Fernando; Bautista, Francisco J; Fowkes, Lucy A; Marshall, Lynley V; Sirvent, Sara I; Chisholm, Julia C; Pearson, Andrew D J; Koh, Dow-Mu; Moreno, Lucas

2016-08-01

RECIST guidelines constitute the reference for radiological response assessment in most paediatric trials of anticancer agents. However, these criteria have not been validated in children. We evaluated the outcomes and patterns of progression of children/adolescents enrolled in phase I trials in two paediatric drug development units. Patients aged ≤21 assessed with RECIST (v1.0 or v1.1) were eligible. Clinico-radiological data were analysed using Mann-Whitney U and log-rank tests to correlate response categories and sum of longest diameters (SLD) with time-to-event variables and overall survival (OS). Sixty-one patients (71 enrolments) were evaluated; median age: 12.7 years (range, 3.1-20.9). Overall, 7% achieved complete/partial response (n = 5) and 31% disease stabilisation (n = 22). Median (95% CI) OS (in months) was 29.1 (27.6-30.6) with complete/partial response, 8.9 (2.0-15.8) with stable disease and 2.8 (2.3-3.3) with disease progression (P < 0.001); 32.6% patients with measurable disease presented exclusive progression of existing non-target lesions and/or new lesions. The change in SLD at best response showed a linear correlation with duration of response (r = -0.605; P = 0.004) and time on trial (r = -0.61; P = 0.003), but the change in SLD at progression did not correlate with time to progression (r = -0.219; P = 0.206). Response assessment according to RECIST correlated with OS in children/adolescents treated on phase I trials. The reduction in SLD at best response correlated with more prolonged responses. Tumour size did not constitute an optimal method to assess disease progression in one third of patients with measurable disease. Further refinement of current response assessment guidelines will enable the development of paediatric-specific radiological criteria. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Social correlates of variation in urinary cortisol in wild male bonobos (Pan paniscus).

PubMed

Surbeck, Martin; Deschner, Tobias; Weltring, Anja; Hohmann, Gottfried

2012-06-01

Cortisol excretion in males of group living species is often associated with social rank and competition for oestrous females. Rank-related patterns of cortisol levels can be used to study mechanisms of rank maintenance and costs associated with mate competition. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are interesting because males form a linear dominance hierarchy but are not dominant over females and therefore aggressive male-male competition over access to females alone is not considered to be a successful reproductive strategy. In this study on social correlates of urinary cortisol in wild male bonobos, we investigated the relationship between cortisol levels and several aspects of mate competition, including male rank, aggression rates, and association time with oestrous females. We found that cortisol levels correlated positively with dominance rank when oestrous females were present, but not when they were absent. This result is consistent with the idea that aggressive behaviour plays a minor role in maintenance of high rank. While aggression received from males and females explained within-individual variation in cortisol levels, it was the time spent in association with oestrous females that best explained between-individual variation in male cortisol levels. The observed increase in male cortisol may be associated with spatial proximity to oestrous females and could result from anticipated aggression from other group members, reduced feeding time in the males, or a combination of both. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On VLSI Design of Rank-Order Filtering using DCRAM Architecture

PubMed Central

Lin, Meng-Chun; Dung, Lan-Rong

2009-01-01

This paper addresses on VLSI design of rank-order filtering (ROF) with a maskable memory for real-time speech and image processing applications. Based on a generic bit-sliced ROF algorithm, the proposed design uses a special-defined memory, called the dual-cell random-access memory (DCRAM), to realize major operations of ROF: threshold decomposition and polarization. Using the memory-oriented architecture, the proposed ROF processor can benefit from high flexibility, low cost and high speed. The DCRAM can perform the bit-sliced read, partial write, and pipelined processing. The bit-sliced read and partial write are driven by maskable registers. With recursive execution of the bit-slicing read and partial write, the DCRAM can effectively realize ROF in terms of cost and speed. The proposed design has been implemented using TSMC 0.18 μm 1P6M technology. As shown in the result of physical implementation, the core size is 356.1 × 427.7μm2 and the VLSI implementation of ROF can operate at 256 MHz for 1.8V supply. PMID:19865599

Rank-based estimation in the {ell}1-regularized partly linear model for censored outcomes with application to integrated analyses of clinical predictors and gene expression data.

PubMed

Johnson, Brent A

2009-10-01

We consider estimation and variable selection in the partial linear model for censored data. The partial linear model for censored data is a direct extension of the accelerated failure time model, the latter of which is a very important alternative model to the proportional hazards model. We extend rank-based lasso-type estimators to a model that may contain nonlinear effects. Variable selection in such partial linear model has direct application to high-dimensional survival analyses that attempt to adjust for clinical predictors. In the microarray setting, previous methods can adjust for other clinical predictors by assuming that clinical and gene expression data enter the model linearly in the same fashion. Here, we select important variables after adjusting for prognostic clinical variables but the clinical effects are assumed nonlinear. Our estimator is based on stratification and can be extended naturally to account for multiple nonlinear effects. We illustrate the utility of our method through simulation studies and application to the Wisconsin prognostic breast cancer data set.

Introduction to Psychology and Leadership. Rank-Biserial Correlation as an Item Discrimination.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westinghouse Learning Corp., Annapolis, MD.

Written as a technical report for the leadership course of the United States Naval Academy (see the final reports which summarize the course development project, EM 010 418, EM 010 419, and EM 010 484), this paper examines the use and interpretation of the rank-biserial correlation as an index of item discrimination. The advantages and…

The Marketing of Canadian University Rankings: A Misadventure Now 24 Years Old

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cramer, Kenneth M.; Page, Stewart; Burrows, Vanessa; Lamoureux, Chastine; Mackay, Sarah; Pedri, Victoria; Pschibul, Rebecca

2016-01-01

Based on analyses of Maclean's ranking data pertaining to Canadian universities published over the last 24 years, we present a summary of statistical findings of annual ranking exercises, as well as discussion about their current status and the effects upon student welfare. Some illustrative tables are also presented. Using correlational and…

Validity of Other-Gender-Normed Scales on the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zytowski, Donald G.; Laing, Joan

1978-01-01

Investigated the relationship between KOIS twin scales normed separately on males and females for occupations and college majors. Rankings on own- and other-gender-normed scales correlated highly. The scales were approximately equal in predictive validity. Rankings on other-gender-normed scales provided an accurate estimate of expected rankings on…

Relationship between the Temporal Changes in Positron-Emission-Tomography-Imaging-Based Textural Features and Pathologic Response and Survival in Esophageal Cancer Patients.

PubMed

Yip, Stephen S F; Coroller, Thibaud P; Sanford, Nina N; Mamon, Harvey; Aerts, Hugo J W L; Berbeco, Ross I

2016-01-01

Although change in standardized uptake value (SUV) measures and PET-based textural features during treatment have shown promise in tumor response prediction, it is unclear which quantitative measure is the most predictive. We compared the relationship between PET-based features and pathologic response and overall survival with the SUV measures in esophageal cancer. Fifty-four esophageal cancer patients received PET/CT scans before and after chemoradiotherapy. Of these, 45 patients underwent surgery and were classified into complete, partial, and non-responders to the preoperative chemoradiation. SUVmax and SUVmean, two cooccurrence matrix (Entropy and Homogeneity), two run-length matrix (RLM) (high-gray-run emphasis and Short-run high-gray-run emphasis), and two size-zone matrix (high-gray-zone emphasis and short-zone high-gray emphasis) textures were computed. The relationship between the relative difference of each measure at different treatment time points and the pathologic response and overall survival was assessed using the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC) and Kaplan-Meier statistics, respectively. All Textures, except Homogeneity, were better related to pathologic response than SUVmax and SUVmean. Entropy was found to significantly distinguish non-responders from the complete (AUC = 0.79, p = 1.7 × 10(-4)) and partial (AUC = 0.71, p = 0.01) responders. Non-responders can also be significantly differentiated from partial and complete responders by the change in the run-length and size-zone matrix textures (AUC = 0.71-0.76, p ≤ 0.02). Homogeneity, SUVmax, and SUVmean failed to differentiate between any of the responders (AUC = 0.50-0.57, p ≥ 0.46). However, none of the measures were found to significantly distinguish between complete and partial responders with AUC <0.60 (p = 0.37). Median Entropy and RLM textures significantly discriminated patients with good and poor survival (log-rank p < 0.02), while all other textures and survival were poorly related (log-rank p > 0.25). For the patients studied, temporal changes in Entropy and all RLM were better correlated with pathological response and survival than the SUV measures. The hypothesis that these metrics can be used as clinical predictors of better patient outcomes will be tested in a larger patient dataset in the future.

Rank restriction for the variational calculation of two-electron reduced density matrices of many-electron atoms and molecules

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

Naftchi-Ardebili, Kasra; Hau, Nathania W.; Mazziotti, David A.

2011-11-15

Variational minimization of the ground-state energy as a function of the two-electron reduced density matrix (2-RDM), constrained by necessary N-representability conditions, provides a polynomial-scaling approach to studying strongly correlated molecules without computing the many-electron wave function. Here we introduce a route to enhancing necessary conditions for N representability through rank restriction of the 2-RDM. Rather than adding computationally more expensive N-representability conditions, we directly enhance the accuracy of two-particle (2-positivity) conditions through rank restriction, which removes degrees of freedom in the 2-RDM that are not sufficiently constrained. We select the rank of the particle-hole 2-RDM by deriving the ranks associatedmore » with model wave functions, including both mean-field and antisymmetrized geminal power (AGP) wave functions. Because the 2-positivity conditions are exact for quantum systems with AGP ground states, the rank of the particle-hole 2-RDM from the AGP ansatz provides a minimum for its value in variational 2-RDM calculations of general quantum systems. To implement the rank-restricted conditions, we extend a first-order algorithm for large-scale semidefinite programming. The rank-restricted conditions significantly improve the accuracy of the energies; for example, the percentages of correlation energies recovered for HF, CO, and N{sub 2} improve from 115.2%, 121.7%, and 121.5% without rank restriction to 97.8%, 101.1%, and 100.0% with rank restriction. Similar results are found at both equilibrium and nonequilibrium geometries. While more accurate, the rank-restricted N-representability conditions are less expensive computationally than the full-rank conditions.« less

Validation of the "Quality of Life related to function, aesthetics, socialization, and thoughts about health-behavioural habits (QoLFAST-10)" scale for wearers of implant-supported fixed partial dentures.

PubMed

Castillo-Oyagüe, Raquel; Perea, Carmen; Suárez-García, María-Jesús; Río, Jaime Del; Lynch, Christopher D; Preciado, Arelis

2016-12-01

To validate the 'Quality of Life related to function, aesthetics, socialization, and thoughts about health-behavioural habits (QoLFAST-10)' questionnaire for assessing the whole concept of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of implant-supported fixed partial denture (FPD) wearers. 107 patients were assigned to: Group 1 (HP; n=37): fixed-detachable hybrid prostheses (control); Group 2 (C-PD, n=35): cemented partial dentures; and Group 3 (S-PD, n=35): screwed partial dentures. Patients answered the QoLFAST-10 and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14sp) scales. Information on global oral satisfaction, socio-demographic, prosthetic, and clinical data was gathered. The psychometric capacity of the QoLFAST-10 was investigated. The correlations between both indices were explored by the Spearman's rank test. The effect of the study variables on the OHRQoL was evaluated by descriptive and non-parametric probes (α=0.05). The QoLFAST-10 was reliable and valid for implant-supported FPD wearers, who attained comparable results regardless of the connection system being cement or screws. Both fixed partial groups demonstrated significantly better social, functional, and total satisfaction than did HP wearers with this index. All groups revealed similar aesthetic-related well-being and consciousness about the importance of health-behavioural habits. Several study variables modulated the QoLFAST-10 scores. Hybrid prostheses represent the least predictable treatment option, while cemented and screwed FPDs supplied equal OHRQoL as estimated by the QoLFAST-10 scale. The selection of cemented or screwed FPDs should mainly rely on clinical factors, since no differences in patient satisfaction may be expected between both types of implant rehabilitations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Building gene co-expression networks using transcriptomics data for systems biology investigations: Comparison of methods using microarray data

PubMed Central

Kadarmideen, Haja N; Watson-haigh, Nathan S

2012-01-01

Gene co-expression networks (GCN), built using high-throughput gene expression data are fundamental aspects of systems biology. The main aims of this study were to compare two popular approaches to building and analysing GCN. We use real ovine microarray transcriptomics datasets representing four different treatments with Metyrapone, an inhibitor of cortisol biosynthesis. We conducted several microarray quality control checks before applying GCN methods to filtered datasets. Then we compared the outputs of two methods using connectivity as a criterion, as it measures how well a node (gene) is connected within a network. The two GCN construction methods used were, Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) and Partial Correlation and Information Theory (PCIT) methods. Nodes were ranked based on their connectivity measures in each of the four different networks created by WGCNA and PCIT and node ranks in two methods were compared to identify those nodes which are highly differentially ranked (HDR). A total of 1,017 HDR nodes were identified across one or more of four networks. We investigated HDR nodes by gene enrichment analyses in relation to their biological relevance to phenotypes. We observed that, in contrast to WGCNA method, PCIT algorithm removes many of the edges of the most highly interconnected nodes. Removal of edges of most highly connected nodes or hub genes will have consequences for downstream analyses and biological interpretations. In general, for large GCN construction (with > 20000 genes) access to large computer clusters, particularly those with larger amounts of shared memory is recommended. PMID:23144540

Characterizing Microseismicity at the Newberry Volcano Geothermal Site using PageRank

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguiar, A. C.; Myers, S. C.

2015-12-01

The Newberry Volcano, within the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon, has been designated as a candidate site for the Department of Energy's Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) program. This site was stimulated using high-pressure fluid injection during the fall of 2012, which generated several hundred microseismic events. Exploring the spatial and temporal development of microseismicity is key to understanding how subsurface stimulation modifies stress, fractures rock, and increases permeability. We analyze Newberry seismicity using both surface and borehole seismometers from the AltaRock and LLNL seismic networks. For our analysis we adapt PageRank, Google's initial search algorithm, to evaluate microseismicity during the 2012 stimulation. PageRank is a measure of connectivity, where higher ranking represents highly connected windows. In seismic applications connectivity is measured by the cross correlation of 2 time windows recorded on a common seismic station and channel. Aguiar and Beroza (2014) used PageRank based on cross correlation to detect low-frequency earthquakes, which are highly repetitive but difficult to detect. We expand on this application by using PageRank to define signal-correlation topology for micro-earthquakes, including the identification of signals that are connected to the largest number of other signals. We then use this information to create signal families and compare PageRank families to the spatial and temporal proximity of associated earthquakes. Studying signal PageRank will potentially allow us to efficiently group earthquakes with similar physical characteristics, such as focal mechanisms and stress drop. Our ultimate goal is to determine whether changes in the state of stress and/or changes in the generation of subsurface fracture networks can be detected using PageRank topology. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-675613.

Unextendible product bases and extremal density matrices with positive partial transpose

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

Oyvind Sollid, Per; Magne Leinaas, Jon; Myrheim, Jan

2011-10-15

In bipartite quantum systems of dimension 3x3, entangled states that are positive under partial transposition (PPT) can be constructed with the use of unextendible product bases (UPBs). As discussed in a previous publication, all the lowest rank entangled PPT states of this system seem to be equivalent, under SL x SL transformations, to states that are constructed in this way. Here we consider a possible generalization of the UPB constuction to low-rank entangled PPT states in higher dimensions. The idea is to give up the condition of orthogonality of the product vectors, while keeping the relation between the density matrixmore » and the projection on the subspace defined by the UPB. We examine first this generalization for the 3x3 system where numerical studies indicate that one-parameter families of such generalized states can be found. Similar numerical searches in higher dimensional systems show the presence of extremal PPT states of similar form. Based on these results we suggest that the UPB construction of the lowest rank entangled states in the 3x3 system can be generalized to higher dimensions, with the use of nonorthogonal UPBs.« less

Effect of wheat stem sawfly damage on yield and quality of selected Canadian spring wheat.

PubMed

Beres, B L; Cárcamo, H A; Byers, J R

2007-02-01

The wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae), has reached outbreak status at most locations in the southern Canadian prairies. Solid-stemmed wheat, Triticum aestivum L., cultivars, which are less susceptible to damage, remain the primary management option. This article quantifies the effect of wheat stem sawfly damage on grain yield and quality at harvest and determines how cultivar selection affects harvest losses. Solid-stemmed cultivars were compared with hollow-stemmed cultivars and with blends of a 1:1 ratio of each. The hollow-stemmed cultivars with the exception of'McKenzie', which had intermediate levels of stem cutting, were all significantly more susceptible to stem cutting than solid-stemmed cultivars. Cultivar blends had lower damage but were still significantly higher than the solid-stemmed cultivars. The solid-stemmed 'AC Eatonia' and 'AC Abbey' had the lowest levels of stem cutting and ranked second and third overall for yield in 2001 and 2002. McKenzie ranked first, which reflects its yield potential in combination with its partial resistance to stem cutting. Lower cutting in AC Eatonia, AC Abbey, McKenzie, and the blend of AC Abbey/ McKenzie was significantly correlated with lower grain losses. Grain lost at harvest has major economic implications if sawfly pressure is moderate to high and susceptible cultivars predominate.

FitEM2EM—Tools for Low Resolution Study of Macromolecular Assembly and Dynamics

PubMed Central

Frankenstein, Ziv; Sperling, Joseph; Sperling, Ruth; Eisenstein, Miriam

2008-01-01

Studies of the structure and dynamics of macromolecular assemblies often involve comparison of low resolution models obtained using different techniques such as electron microscopy or atomic force microscopy. We present new computational tools for comparing (matching) and docking of low resolution structures, based on shape complementarity. The matched or docked objects are represented by three dimensional grids where the value of each grid point depends on its position with regard to the interior, surface or exterior of the object. The grids are correlated using fast Fourier transformations producing either matches of related objects or docking models depending on the details of the grid representations. The procedures incorporate thickening and smoothing of the surfaces of the objects which effectively compensates for differences in the resolution of the matched/docked objects, circumventing the need for resolution modification. The presented matching tool FitEM2EMin successfully fitted electron microscopy structures obtained at different resolutions, different conformers of the same structure and partial structures, ranking correct matches at the top in every case. The differences between the grid representations of the matched objects can be used to study conformation differences or to characterize the size and shape of substructures. The presented low-to-low docking tool FitEM2EMout ranked the expected models at the top. PMID:18974836

Exploratory factor analysis of signalment and conformational measurements in Thoroughbred horses with and without recurrent laryngeal neuropathy.

PubMed

McGivney, C L; Gough, K F; McGivney, B A; Farries, G; Hill, E W; Katz, L M

2018-06-23

Conflicting results have been reported for risk factors for recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) based on resting endoscopic evaluation and comparison of single conformation traits, with many traits correlated to one another. To simplify identification of signalment and conformation traits (i.e. variables) associated with RLN cases and controls diagnosed with exercising overground endoscopy (OGE) using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Prospective cohort. Pearson's rank correlation was used to establish significance and association between variables collected from n = 188 Thoroughbreds from one stable by observers blinded to OGE results. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on 9 variables for cases and controls; common elements between variables developed a factor, with variables grouped into 3 factors for cases and controls, respectively. Correlation (loading) between each variable and factor was calculated to rank relationships between variables and cases/controls, with factors retrospectively named based on their underlying correlations with variables. Numerous inter-correlations were present between variables. Most strongly correlated in cases were wither height with body weight (r = 0.70) and ventral neck length (r = 0.68) and in controls body weight with rostral neck circumference (r = 0.58). Wither height (r = 0.61) significantly loaded the top-ranked factor for cases ('height RLN '), explaining 25% of conformational variance. Ventral neck length (r = 0.69) and age (r = 0.57) significantly loaded the second-ranked factor for cases ('neck length RLN '), explaining 16% of conformational variance. Rostral neck circumference (r = 0.86) and body weight (r = 0.6) significantly loaded the top-ranked factor for controls ('body size CON '), explaining 19% of the variance. Wither height (r = 0.84) significantly loaded the second-ranked factor for controls ('height CON '), explaining 13% of the variance. Horses had not reached skeletal maturity. Exploratory factor analysis allowed weightings to be determined for each variable. Wither height was the predominant conformational feature associated with RLN. Exploratory factor analysis confirms aggregated conformational differences exist between RLN cases and controls, suitable for future evaluations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Significant impact of R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score on changes in postoperative renal function early after robot-assisted partial nephrectomy.

PubMed

Miyake, Hideaki; Furukawa, Junya; Hinata, Nobuyuki; Muramaki, Mototsugu; Tanaka, Kazushi; Fujisawa, Masato

2015-06-01

Our objective was to evaluate the significance of the R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score (RNS)--developed to quantitatively evaluate the complexity of renal tumors in a reproducible manner--in perioperative and renal functional outcomes following robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN). This study assessed 48 consecutive patients with renal tumors who underwent RAPN. Preoperative RNS for each patient was calculated, and its impact on several parameters associated with perioperative outcomes, including postoperative renal function, was investigated with Spearman's rank correlation test. Mean RNS in the 48 patients was 6.8; of these 48 patients, 21 (43.7%), 24 (50.0%), and three (6.3%) were classified into low-, moderate-, and high-complexity groups, respectively. The RNS was significantly correlated with resected tumor weight and postoperative changes in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at both 1 and 4 weeks--but not age, body mass index (BMI), preoperative eGFR, operative time, warm ischemia time, estimated blood loss, postoperative complications, or eGFR-- after RAPN. No component of the RNS (R: radius; E: exophytic/endophytic properties; N: nearness of tumor to the collecting system or sinus; A: anterior/posterior; L: location relative to polar lines) alone had a significant impact on postoperative changes in eGFR at 1 and 4 weeks, whereas resected tumor weight was significantly associated with the R and E subcategories. Measurement of total RNS is useful for predicting renal functional outcomes early after RAPN.

Michigan's Top-to-Bottom Ranking: A Measure of School Quality or Student Poverty?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spalding, Audrey

2013-01-01

This study examines the state's "Top-to-Bottom" ranking, which has been repeatedly criticized by educators for appearing to be correlated with school poverty rates. Mackinac Center research finds that schools that serve more lower-income students tend to receive lower scores on the TTB list. These results matters because TTB rankings are…

Removing Size as a Determinant of Quality: A Per Capita Approach to Ranking Doctoral Programs in Finance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Roger McNeill; White, John Bryan; Barth, Michael M.

2011-01-01

Rankings of finance doctoral programs generally fall into two categories: a qualitative opinion survey or a quantitative analysis of research productivity. The consistency of these rankings suggests either the best programs have the most productive faculty, or that the university affiliations most often seen in publications are correlated with…

Conservation threats and the phylogenetic utility of IUCN Red List rankings in Incilius toads.

PubMed

Schachat, Sandra R; Mulcahy, Daniel G; Mendelson, Joseph R

2016-02-01

Phylogenetic analysis of extinction threat is an emerging tool in the field of conservation. However, there are problems with the methods and data as commonly used. Phylogenetic sampling usually extends to the level of family or genus, but International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) rankings are available only for individual species, and, although different species within a taxonomic group may have the same IUCN rank, the species may have been ranked as such for different reasons. Therefore, IUCN rank may not reflect evolutionary history and thus may not be appropriate for use in a phylogenetic context. To be used appropriately, threat-risk data should reflect the cause of extinction threat rather than the IUCN threat ranking. In a case study of the toad genus Incilius, with phylogenetic sampling at the species level (so that the resolution of the phylogeny matches character data from the IUCN Red List), we analyzed causes of decline and IUCN threat rankings by calculating metrics of phylogenetic signal (such as Fritz and Purvis' D). We also analyzed the extent to which cause of decline and threat ranking overlap by calculating phylogenetic correlation between these 2 types of character data. Incilius species varied greatly in both threat ranking and cause of decline; this variability would be lost at a coarser taxonomic resolution. We found far more phylogenetic signal, likely correlated with evolutionary history, for causes of decline than for IUCN threat ranking. Individual causes of decline and IUCN threat rankings were largely uncorrelated on the phylogeny. Our results demonstrate the importance of character selection and taxonomic resolution when extinction threat is analyzed in a phylogenetic context. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Chromatographic and computational assessment of lipophilicity using sum of ranking differences and generalized pair-correlation.

PubMed

Andrić, Filip; Héberger, Károly

2015-02-06

Lipophilicity (logP) represents one of the most studied and most frequently used fundamental physicochemical properties. At present there are several possibilities for its quantitative expression and many of them stems from chromatographic experiments. Numerous attempts have been made to compare different computational methods, chromatographic methods vs. computational approaches, as well as chromatographic methods and direct shake-flask procedure without definite results or these findings are not accepted generally. In the present work numerous chromatographically derived lipophilicity measures in combination with diverse computational methods were ranked and clustered using the novel variable discrimination and ranking approaches based on the sum of ranking differences and the generalized pair correlation method. Available literature logP data measured on HILIC, and classical reversed-phase combining different classes of compounds have been compared with most frequently used multivariate data analysis techniques (principal component and hierarchical cluster analysis) as well as with the conclusions in the original sources. Chromatographic lipophilicity measures obtained under typical reversed-phase conditions outperform the majority of computationally estimated logPs. Oppositely, in the case of HILIC none of the many proposed chromatographic indices overcomes any of the computationally assessed logPs. Only two of them (logkmin and kmin) may be selected as recommended chromatographic lipophilicity measures. Both ranking approaches, sum of ranking differences and generalized pair correlation method, although based on different backgrounds, provides highly similar variable ordering and grouping leading to the same conclusions. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Are Quantitative Measures of Academic Productivity Correlated with Academic Rank in Plastic Surgery? A National Study.

PubMed

Susarla, Srinivas M; Lopez, Joseph; Swanson, Edward W; Miller, Devin; O'Brien-Coon, Devin; Zins, James E; Serletti, Joseph M; Yaremchuk, Michael J; Manson, Paul N; Gordon, Chad R

2015-09-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between quantitative measures of academic productivity and academic rank among full-time academic plastic surgeons. Bibliometric indices were computed for all full-time academic plastic surgeons in the United States. The primary study variable was academic rank. Bibliometric predictors included the Hirsch index, I-10 index, number of publications, number of citations, and highest number of citations for a single publication. Descriptive, bivariate, and correlation analyses were computed. Multiple comparisons testing was used to calculate adjusted associations for subgroups. For all analyses, a value of p < 0.05 was considered significant. The cohort consisted of 607 plastic surgeons across 91 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved programs. Of them, 4.1 percent were instructors/lecturers, 43.7 percent were assistant professors, 22.1 percent were associate professors, 25.7 percent were professors, and 4.4 percent were endowed professors. Mean values were as follows: Hirsch index, 10.2 ± 9.0; I-10 index, 17.2 ± 10.2; total number of publications, 45.5 ± 69.4; total number of citations, 725.0 ± 1448.8; and highest number of citations for a single work, 117.8 ± 262.4. Correlation analyses revealed strong associations of the Hirsch index, I-10 index, number of publications, and number of citations with academic rank (rs = 0.62 to 0.64; p < 0.001). Academic rank in plastic surgery is strongly correlated with several quantitative metrics of research productivity. Although academic promotion is the result of success in multiple different areas, bibliometric measures may be useful adjuncts for assessment of research productivity.

Predictors and long-term reproducibility of urinary phthalate metabolites in middle-aged men and women living in urban Shanghai

PubMed Central

Starling, Anne P.; Engel, Lawrence S.; Calafat, Antonia M.; Koutros, Stella; Satagopan, Jaya M.; Yang, Gong; Matthews, Charles E.; Cai, Qiuyin; Buckley, Jessie P.; Ji, Bu-Tian; Cai, Hui; Chow, Wong-Ho; Zheng, Wei; Gao, Yu-Tang; Rothman, Nathaniel; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Shu, Xiao-Ou

2015-01-01

Phthalate esters are man-made chemicals commonly used as plasticizers and solvents, and humans may be exposed through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption. Little is known about predictors of phthalate exposure, particularly in Asian countries. Because phthalates are rapidly metabolized and excreted from the body following exposure, it is important to evaluate whether phthalate metabolites measured at a single point in time can reliably rank exposures to phthalates over a period of time. We examined the concentrations and predictors of phthalate metabolite concentrations among 50 middle-aged women and 50 men from two Shanghai cohorts, enrolled in 1997-2000 and 2002-2006, respectively. We assessed the reproducibility of urinary concentrations of phthalate metabolites in three spot samples per participant taken several years apart (mean interval between first and third sample was 7.5 years [women] or 2.9 years [men]), using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients and intra-class correlation coefficients. We detected ten phthalate metabolites in at least 50% of individuals for two or more samples. Participant sex, age, menopausal status, education, income, body mass index, consumption of bottled water, recent intake of medication, and time of day of collection of the urine sample were associated with concentrations of certain phthalate metabolites. The reproducibility of an individual's urinary concentration of phthalate metabolites across several years was low, with all intra-class correlation coefficients and most Spearman rank correlation coefficients ≤ 0.3. Only mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, a metabolite of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, had a Spearman rank correlation coefficient ≥ 0.4 among men, suggesting moderate reproducibility. These findings suggest that a single spot urine sample is not sufficient to rank exposures to phthalates over several years in an adult urban Chinese population. PMID:26255822

RANK Expression and Osteoclastogenesis in Human Monocytes in Peripheral Blood from Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

PubMed Central

Kobashigawa, Tsuyoshi

2016-01-01

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) appears as inflammation of synovial tissue and joint destruction. Receptor activator of NF-κB (RANK) is a member of the TNF receptor superfamily and a receptor for the RANK ligand (RANKL). In this study, we examined the expression of RANKhigh and CCR6 on CD14+ monocytes from patients with RA and healthy volunteers. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from both the RA patients and the healthy volunteers. Osteoclastogenesis from monocytes was induced by RANKL and M-CSF in vitro. To study the expression of RANKhigh and CCR6 on CD14+ monocytes, two-color flow cytometry was performed. Levels of expression of RANK on monocytes were significantly correlated with the level of osteoclastogenesis in the healthy volunteers. The expression of RANKhigh on CD14+ monocyte in RA patients without treatment was elevated and that in those receiving treatment was decreased. In addition, the high-level expression of RANK on CD14+ monocytes was correlated with the high-level expression of CCR6 in healthy volunteers. Monocytes expressing both RANK and CCR6 differentiate into osteoclasts. The expression of CD14+RANKhigh in untreated RA patients was elevated. RANK and CCR6 expressed on monocytes may be novel targets for the regulation of bone resorption in RA and osteoporosis. PMID:27822475

The Manifest Association Structure of the Single-Factor Model: Insights from Partial Correlations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salgueiro, Maria de Fatima; Smith, Peter W. F.; McDonald, John W.

2008-01-01

The association structure between manifest variables arising from the single-factor model is investigated using partial correlations. The additional insights to the practitioner provided by partial correlations for detecting a single-factor model are discussed. The parameter space for the partial correlations is presented, as are the patterns of…

Bedside interprofessional rounds: perceptions of benefits and barriers by internal medicine nursing staff, attending physicians, and housestaff physicians.

PubMed

Gonzalo, Jed D; Kuperman, Ethan; Lehman, Erik; Haidet, Paul

2014-10-01

Interprofessional collaboration improves the quality of care, but integration into workflow is challenging. Although a shared conceptualization regarding bedside interprofessional rounds may enhance implementation, little work has investigated providers' perceptions of this activity. To evaluate the perceptions of nurses, attending physicians, and housestaff physicians regarding the benefits/barriers to bedside interprofessional rounds. Observational, cross-sectional survey of hospital-based medicine nurses, attending physicians, and housestaff physicians. Descriptive, nonparametric Wilcoxon rank sum and nonparametric correlation were used. Bedside interprofessional rounds were defined as "encounters including 2 physicians plus a nurse or other care provider discussing the case at the patient's bedside." Eighteen items related to "benefits" and 21 items related to "barriers" associated with bedside interprofessional rounds. Of 171 surveys sent, 149 were completed (87%). Highest-ranked benefits were related to communication/coordination, including "improves communication between nurses-physicians;" lowest-ranked benefits were related to efficiency, process, and outcomes, including "decreases length-of-stay" and "improves timeliness of consultations." Nurses reported most favorable ratings for all items (P < 0.05). Rank order for 3 provider groups showed high correlation (r = 0.92, P < 0.001). Highest-ranked barriers were related to time, including "nursing staff have limited time;" lowest-ranked barriers were related to provider- and patient-related factors, including "patient lack of comfort." Rank order of barriers among all groups showed moderate correlation (r = 0.62-0.82). Although nurses perceived greater benefit for bedside interprofessional rounds than physicians, all providers perceived coordination/teamwork benefits higher than outcomes. To the extent the results are generalizable, these findings lay the foundation for facilitating meaningful patient-centered interprofessional collaboration. © 2014 Society of Hospital Medicine.

Academic Surgical Oncologists' Productivity Correlates with Gender, Grant Funding, and Institutional NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center Affiliation.

PubMed

Nguyen, Vi; Marmor, Rebecca A; Ramamoorthy, Sonia L; Blair, Sarah L; Clary, Bryan M; Sicklick, Jason K

2018-07-01

A scholar's h-index is defined as the number of h papers published, each of which has been cited at least h times. We hypothesized that the h-index strongly correlates with the academic rank of surgical oncologists. We utilized the National Cancer Institute (NCI) website to identify NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCC) and Doximity to identify the 50 highest-ranked general surgery residency programs with surgical oncology divisions. Demographic data of respective academic surgical oncologists were collected from departmental websites and Grantome. Bibliometric data were obtained from Web of Science. We identified 544 surgical oncologists from 64 programs. Increased h-index was associated with academic rank (p < 0.001), male gender (p < 0.001), number of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants (p < 0.001), and affiliation with an NCI CCC (p = 0.018) but not number of additional degrees (p = 0.661) or Doximity ranking (p = 0.102). H-index was a stronger predictor of academic rank (r = 0.648) than total publications (r = 0.585) or citations (r = 0.450). This is the first report to assess the h-index within academic surgical oncology. H-index is a bibliometric predictor of academic rank that correlates with NIH grant funding and NCI CCC affiliation. We also highlight a previously unexpected and unappreciated gender disparity in the academic productivity of US surgical oncologists. When academic rank was accounted for, female surgical oncologists had lower h-indices compared with their male colleagues. Evaluation of the etiologies of this gender disparity is needed to address barriers to academic productivity faced by female surgical oncologists as they progress through their careers.

Keyword extraction by nonextensivity measure.

PubMed

Mehri, Ali; Darooneh, Amir H

2011-05-01

The presence of a long-range correlation in the spatial distribution of a relevant word type, in spite of random occurrences of an irrelevant word type, is an important feature of human-written texts. We classify the correlation between the occurrences of words by nonextensive statistical mechanics for the word-ranking process. In particular, we look at the nonextensivity parameter as an alternative metric to measure the spatial correlation in the text, from which the words may be ranked in terms of this measure. Finally, we compare different methods for keyword extraction. © 2011 American Physical Society

Flexibility of internal and external glenohumeral rotation of junior female tennis players and its correlation with performance ranking.

PubMed

Chiang, Ching-Cheng; Hsu, Chih-Chia; Chiang, Jinn-Yen; Chang, Weng-Cheng; Tsai, Jong-Chang

2016-12-01

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to compare the internal and external rotation of the dominant and nondominant shoulders of adolescent female tennis players. The correlation between the shoulder rotation range of motion and the player's ranking was also analyzed. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty-one female junior tennis players who were 13 to 18 years old participated in this study. A standard goniometer was used to measure the internal and external rotation of both glenohumeral joints. The difference in internal and external rotation was calculated as the glenohumeral rotation deficit. The year-end ranking of each player was obtained from the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association. [Results] The internal rotation of the dominant shoulder was significantly smaller than that of the nondominant shoulder. Moreover, player ranking was significantly and negatively correlated with the internal rotation range of motion of both shoulders. On the other hand, the correlations of the internal and external rotation ranges of motion with the age, height, and weight were not significant. [Conclusion] The flexibility of the glenohumeral internal rotation is smaller in the dominant shoulder than of the nondominant shoulder in these junior female tennis players. Flexibility of the glenohumeral internal rotation may be a factor affecting performance in junior female tennis players.

Ranking Disciplinary Journals with the Google Scholar H-Index: A New Tool for Constructing Cases for Tenure, Promotion, and Other Professional Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodge, David R.; Lacasse, Jeffrey R.

2011-01-01

Given the importance of journal rankings to tenure, promotion, and other professional decisions, this study examines a new method for ranking social work journals. The Google Scholar h-index correlated highly with the current gold standard for measuring journal quality, Thomson Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) impact factors, but…

Modeling Area-Level Health Rankings.

PubMed

Courtemanche, Charles; Soneji, Samir; Tchernis, Rusty

2015-10-01

Rank county health using a Bayesian factor analysis model. Secondary county data from the National Center for Health Statistics (through 2007) and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (through 2009). Our model builds on the existing county health rankings (CHRs) by using data-derived weights to compute ranks from mortality and morbidity variables, and by quantifying uncertainty based on population, spatial correlation, and missing data. We apply our model to Wisconsin, which has comprehensive data, and Texas, which has substantial missing information. The data were downloaded from www.countyhealthrankings.org. Our estimated rankings are more similar to the CHRs for Wisconsin than Texas, as the data-derived factor weights are closer to the assigned weights for Wisconsin. The correlations between the CHRs and our ranks are 0.89 for Wisconsin and 0.65 for Texas. Uncertainty is especially severe for Texas given the state's substantial missing data. The reliability of comprehensive CHRs varies from state to state. We advise focusing on the counties that remain among the least healthy after incorporating alternate weighting methods and accounting for uncertainty. Our results also highlight the need for broader geographic coverage in health data. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Microseismic Event Relocation and Focal Mechanism Estimation Based on PageRank Linkage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguiar, A. C.; Myers, S. C.

2017-12-01

Microseismicity associated with enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) is key in understanding how subsurface stimulation can modify stress, fracture rock, and increase permeability. Large numbers of microseismic events are commonly associated with hydroshearing an EGS, making data mining methods useful in their analysis. We focus on PageRank, originally developed as Google's search engine, and subsequently adapted for use in seismology to detect low-frequency earthquakes by linking events directly and indirectly through cross-correlation (Aguiar and Beroza, 2014). We expand on this application by using PageRank to define signal-correlation topology for micro-earthquakes from the Newberry Volcano EGS in Central Oregon, which has been stimulated two times using high-pressure fluid injection. We create PageRank signal families from both data sets and compare these to the spatial and temporal proximity of associated earthquakes. PageRank families are relocated using differential travel times measured by waveform cross-correlation (CC) and the Bayesloc approach (Myers et al., 2007). Prior to relocation events are loosely clustered with events at a distance from the cluster. After relocation, event families are found to be tightly clustered. Indirect linkage of signals using PageRank is a reliable way to increase the number of events confidently determined to be similar, suggesting an efficient and effective grouping of earthquakes with similar physical characteristics (ie. location, focal mechanism, stress drop). We further explore the possibility of using PageRank families to identify events with similar relative phase polarities and estimate focal mechanisms following Shelly et al. (2016) method, where CC measurements are used to determine individual polarities within event clusters. Given a positive result, PageRank might be a useful tool in adaptive approaches to enhance production at well-instrumented geothermal sites. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-722404.

Cross-validation analysis for genetic evaluation models for ranking in endurance horses.

PubMed

García-Ballesteros, S; Varona, L; Valera, M; Gutiérrez, J P; Cervantes, I

2018-01-01

Ranking trait was used as a selection criterion for competition horses to estimate racing performance. In the literature the most common approaches to estimate breeding values are the linear or threshold statistical models. However, recent studies have shown that a Thurstonian approach was able to fix the race effect (competitive level of the horses that participate in the same race), thus suggesting a better prediction accuracy of breeding values for ranking trait. The aim of this study was to compare the predictability of linear, threshold and Thurstonian approaches for genetic evaluation of ranking in endurance horses. For this purpose, eight genetic models were used for each approach with different combinations of random effects: rider, rider-horse interaction and environmental permanent effect. All genetic models included gender, age and race as systematic effects. The database that was used contained 4065 ranking records from 966 horses and that for the pedigree contained 8733 animals (47% Arabian horses), with an estimated heritability around 0.10 for the ranking trait. The prediction ability of the models for racing performance was evaluated using a cross-validation approach. The average correlation between real and predicted performances across genetic models was around 0.25 for threshold, 0.58 for linear and 0.60 for Thurstonian approaches. Although no significant differences were found between models within approaches, the best genetic model included: the rider and rider-horse random effects for threshold, only rider and environmental permanent effects for linear approach and all random effects for Thurstonian approach. The absolute correlations of predicted breeding values among models were higher between threshold and Thurstonian: 0.90, 0.91 and 0.88 for all animals, top 20% and top 5% best animals. For rank correlations these figures were 0.85, 0.84 and 0.86. The lower values were those between linear and threshold approaches (0.65, 0.62 and 0.51). In conclusion, the Thurstonian approach is recommended for the routine genetic evaluations for ranking in endurance horses.

Development of reliable predictive heat transfer correlations for low-rank coal-fired fluid bed combustors. Final report

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

Grewal, N.S.

(1) The proposed correlation of Equation (5) is recommended to predict the maximum value of heat transfer coefficient between a horzontal tube and a gas-solid fluidized bed of small particles under the conditions given. For high temperature applications (T/sub B/ > 600/sup 0/C), the radiative component is important and was estimated following Baskakov et al. (2) The proposed correlation of Equation (8) was found reliable to predict the existing data on the maximum value of heat transfer coefficient between a horizontal tube bundle and a gas-solid fluidized bed of small particles under the conditions given. At high temperatures, the radiativemore » component was estimated from the experimental data of Baskakov et al. (3) The correlation of Equation (8) predicted the GFETC data taken during the combustion of low-rank coal very well, when the contribution due to radiation was estimated following Baskakov et al. (4) The correlations proposed by Grewal and Bansal et al. were found to predict the data taken during low-rank coal combustion within +-25%, when the contribution due to radiation was included and estimated following Baskakov et al. (5) Finally, the correlations for large particles (anti d/sub p/ > 1mm) as proposed by Glicksman and Decker, Catipovic et al., Xavier and Davidson, and Zabrodsky et al. also predicted the data for low-rank coal fluidized bed combustor quite well, when the radiative component was estimated from the data of Baskakov et al. 64 references, 19 figures, 10 tables.« less

American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale: A cross-cultural adaptation and validation study from Iran.

PubMed

Vosoughi, Amir Reza; Roustaei, Narges; Mahdaviazad, Hamideh

2018-06-01

The use of valid and reliable outcome rating scales is essential for evaluating the result of different treatments and interventions. The purposes of this study were to translate and culturally adapt the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale (AOFAS-AHFS) into Persian languages and evaluate its psychometric properties. Forward-backward translation and cultural adaptation method were used to develop Persian version of AOFAS-AHFS. From March to July 2016, one hundred consecutive patients with ankle and hindfoot injuries were included. Internal consistency and reproducibility were evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) respectively. Construct validity reported which compare the outcome rating scale measurements with Short Form-36 (SF-36), also convergent and discriminant validity evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Mean age (SD) of the patients was 41.95±13.45years. Cronbach's α coefficient, Spearman's rho and ICC values were 0.71, 0.89 and 0.90 respectively. Total score of AOFAS-AHFS and SF-36 domains has a correlation ranged between 0.17-0.55. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of 0.4 was exceeded by all items with the exception of stability. The Spearman's rank correlation between each item in functional subscales with its own subscales was higher than the correlation between these items and other subscales. Persian version of AOFAS-AHFS provides additional reliable and valid instrument which can be used to assess broad range of patients with foot and ankle disorders that speaking in Persian. However, it seems that the original version of AOFAS-AHFS needs some revisions. Copyright © 2017 European Foot and Ankle Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimation and Testing of Partial Covariances, Correlations, and Regression Weights Using Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

And Others; Werts, Charles E.

1979-01-01

It is shown how partial covariance, part and partial correlation, and regression weights can be estimated and tested for significance by means of a factor analytic model. Comparable partial covariance, correlations, and regression weights have identical significance tests. (Author)

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Fermi/GBM GRB time-resolved spectral catalog (Yu+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, H.-F.; Preece, R. D.; Greiner, J.; Bhat, P. N.; Bissaldi, E.; Briggs, M. S.; Cleveland, W. H.; Connaughton, V.; Goldstein, A.; von Kienlin; A.; Kouveliotou, C.; Mailyan, B.; Meegan, C. A.; Paciesas, W. S.; Rau, A.; Roberts, O. J.; Veres, P.; Wilson-Hodge, C.; Zhang, B.-B.; van Eerten, H. J.

2016-01-01

Time-resolved spectral analysis results of BEST models: for each spectrum GRB name using the Fermi GBM trigger designation, spectrum number within individual burst, start time Tstart and end time Tstop for the time bin, BEST model, best-fit parameters of the BEST model, value of CSTAT per degrees of freedom, 10keV-1MeV photon and energy flux are given. Ep evolutionary trends: for each burst GRB name, number of spectra with Ep, Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients between Ep_ and photon flux and 90%, 95%, and 99% confidence intervals, Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients between Ep and energy flux and 90%, 95%, and 99% confidence intervals, Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient between Ep and time and 90%, 95%, and 99% confidence intervals, trends as determined by computer for 90%, 95%, and 99% confidence intervals, trends as determined by human eyes are given. (2 data files).

Do Standard Bibliometric Measures Correlate with Academic Rank of Full-Time Pediatric Dentistry Faculty Members?

PubMed

Susarla, Harlyn K; Dhar, Vineet; Karimbux, Nadeem Y; Tinanoff, Norman

2017-04-01

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the relationship between quantitative measures of research productivity and academic rank for full-time pediatric dentistry faculty members in accredited U.S. and Canadian residency programs. For each pediatric dentist in the study group, academic rank and bibliometric factors derived from publicly available databases were recorded. Academic ranks were lecturer/instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. Bibliometric factors were mean total number of publications, mean total number of citations, maximum number of citations for a single work, and h-index (a measure of the impact of publications, determined by total number of publications h that had at least h citations each). The study sample was comprised of 267 pediatric dentists: 4% were lecturers/instructors, 44% were assistant professors, 30% were associate professors, and 22% were professors. The mean number of publications for the sample was 15.4±27.8. The mean number of citations was 218.4±482.0. The mean h-index was 4.9±6.6. The h-index was strongly correlated with academic rank (r=0.60, p=0.001). For this sample, an h-index of ≥3 was identified as a threshold for promotion to associate professor, and an h-index of ≥6 was identified as a threshold for promotion to professor. The h-index was strongly correlated with the academic rank of these pediatric dental faculty members, suggesting that this index may be considered a measure for promotion, along with a faculty member's quality and quantity of research, teaching, service, and clinical activities.

Feeding ecology of subyearling Chinook salmon in riverine and reservoir habitats of the Columbia River

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rondorf, Dennis W.; Gray, Gerard A.; Fairley, Robert B.

1990-01-01

In the Columbia River, we found the diet of subyearling chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha to be predominately caddisflies (Trichoptera; 64% by weight) in riverine nursery habitats, but mostly Daphnia spp. and terrestrial insects in reservoir habitats. A preference analysis indicated that subyearlings did not eat food items in proportion to food availability; they preferred small zooplankters least and terrestrial insects most. Rank in preference of food items was correlated positively with rank in size of available food items, but not with rank in number in the diet. Only rank in number of prey items available in the habitat was consistently correlated with rank in number in the diet. The shift in diet to Daphnia spp. and terrestrial insects in the reservoir was due primarily to the high availability of those food items and the low availability of others. The switch to food items abundant in reservoirs enabled subyearling chinook salmon to use the reservoirs as nursery areas. However, the use of Daphnia spp. may entail a higher foraging cost per energy unit gained because of the small size of the prey.

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for two-phase flow in the vicinity of the repository in the 1996 performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Undisturbed conditions

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

HELTON,JON CRAIG; BEAN,J.E.; ECONOMY,K.

2000-05-19

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis results obtained in the 1996 performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant are presented for two-phase flow the vicinity of the repository under undisturbed conditions. Techniques based on Latin hypercube sampling, examination of scatterplots, stepwise regression analysis, partial correlation analysis and rank transformation are used to investigate brine inflow, gas generation repository pressure, brine saturation and brine and gas outflow. Of the variables under study, repository pressure is potentially the most important due to its influence on spallings and direct brine releases, with the uncertainty in its value being dominated by the extent to whichmore » the microbial degradation of cellulose takes place, the rate at which the corrosion of steel takes place, and the amount of brine that drains from the surrounding disturbed rock zone into the repository.« less

Differences in hemispherical thalamo-cortical causality analysis during resting-state fMRI.

PubMed

Anwar, Abdul Rauf; Muthalib, Makii; Perrey, Stephane; Wolff, Stephan; Deuschl, Guunther; Heute, Ulrich; Muthuraman, Muthuraman

2014-01-01

Thalamus is a very important part of the human brain. It has been reported to act as a relay for the messaging taking place between the cortical and sub-cortical regions of the brain. In the present study, we analyze the functional network between both hemispheres of the brain with the focus on thalamus. We used conditional Granger causality (CGC) and time-resolved partial directed coherence (tPDC) to investigate the functional connectivity. Results of CGC analysis revealed the asymmetry between connection strengths of the bilateral thalamus. Upon testing the functional connectivity of the default-mode network (DMN) at low-frequency fluctuations (LFF) and comparing coherence vectors using Spearman's rank correlation, we found that thalamus is a better source for the signals directed towards the contralateral regions of the brain, however, when thalamus acts as sink, it is a better sink for signals generated from ipsilateral regions of the brain.

Deriving preference order of post-mining land-uses through MLSA framework: application of an outranking technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soltanmohammadi, Hossein; Osanloo, Morteza; Aghajani Bazzazi, Abbas

2009-08-01

This study intends to take advantage of a previously developed framework for mined land suitability analysis (MLSA) consisted of economical, social, technical and mine site factors to achieve a partial and also a complete pre-order of feasible post-mining land-uses. Analysis by an outranking multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) technique, called PROMETHEE (preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation), was taken into consideration because of its clear advantages on the field of MLSA as compared with MADM ranking techniques. Application of the proposed approach on a mined land can be completed through some successive steps. First, performance of the MLSA attributes is scored locally by each individual decision maker (DM). Then the assigned performance scores are normalized and the deviation amplitudes of non-dominated alternatives are calculated. Weights of the attributes are calculated by another MADM technique namely, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in a separate procedure. Using the Gaussian preference function beside the weights, the preference indexes of the land-use alternatives are obtained. Calculation of the outgoing and entering flows of the alternatives and one by one comparison of these values will lead to partial pre-order of them and calculation of the net flows, will lead to a ranked preference for each land-use. At the final step, utilizing the PROMETHEE group decision support system which incorporates judgments of all the DMs, a consensual ranking can be derived. In this paper, preference order of post-mining land-uses for a hypothetical mined land has been derived according to judgments of one DM to reveal applicability of the proposed approach.

Model assessment using a multi-metric ranking technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitzpatrick, P. J.; Lau, Y.; Alaka, G.; Marks, F.

2017-12-01

Validation comparisons of multiple models presents challenges when skill levels are similar, especially in regimes dominated by the climatological mean. Assessing skill separation will require advanced validation metrics and identifying adeptness in extreme events, but maintain simplicity for management decisions. Flexibility for operations is also an asset. This work postulates a weighted tally and consolidation technique which ranks results by multiple types of metrics. Variables include absolute error, bias, acceptable absolute error percentages, outlier metrics, model efficiency, Pearson correlation, Kendall's Tau, reliability Index, multiplicative gross error, and root mean squared differences. Other metrics, such as root mean square difference and rank correlation were also explored, but removed when the information was discovered to be generally duplicative to other metrics. While equal weights are applied, weights could be altered depending for preferred metrics. Two examples are shown comparing ocean models' currents and tropical cyclone products, including experimental products. The importance of using magnitude and direction for tropical cyclone track forecasts instead of distance, along-track, and cross-track are discussed. Tropical cyclone intensity and structure prediction are also assessed. Vector correlations are not included in the ranking process, but found useful in an independent context, and will be briefly reported.

A Kernel-Based Low-Rank (KLR) Model for Low-Dimensional Manifold Recovery in Highly Accelerated Dynamic MRI.

PubMed

Nakarmi, Ukash; Wang, Yanhua; Lyu, Jingyuan; Liang, Dong; Ying, Leslie

2017-11-01

While many low rank and sparsity-based approaches have been developed for accelerated dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI), they all use low rankness or sparsity in input space, overlooking the intrinsic nonlinear correlation in most dMRI data. In this paper, we propose a kernel-based framework to allow nonlinear manifold models in reconstruction from sub-Nyquist data. Within this framework, many existing algorithms can be extended to kernel framework with nonlinear models. In particular, we have developed a novel algorithm with a kernel-based low-rank model generalizing the conventional low rank formulation. The algorithm consists of manifold learning using kernel, low rank enforcement in feature space, and preimaging with data consistency. Extensive simulation and experiment results show that the proposed method surpasses the conventional low-rank-modeled approaches for dMRI.

Laparoscopic skills assessment: an additional modality for pediatric surgery fellowship selection.

PubMed

Hazboun, Rajaie; Rodriguez, Samuel; Thirumoorthi, Arul; Baerg, Joanne; Moores, Donald; Tagge, Edward P

2017-12-01

The Pediatric Surgery fellow selection is a multi-layered process which has not included assessment of surgical dexterity. Data was collected prospectively as part of the 2016 Pediatric Surgery Match interview process. Applicants completed a questionnaire to document laparoscopic experience and fine motor skills activities. Actual laparoscopic skills were assessed using a simulator. Time to complete an intracorporeal knot was tabulated. An initial rank list was formulated based only on the ERAS application and interview scores. The rank list was re-formulated following the laparoscopic assessment. Un-paired T-test and regression were utilized to analyze the data. Forty applicants were interviewed with 18 matched (45%). The mean knot tying time was 201.31s for matched and 202.35s for unmatched applicants. Playing a musical instrument correlated with faster knot tying (p=0.03). No correlation was identified between knot tying time and either video game experience (p=0.4) or passing the FLS exam (p=0.78). Laparoscopic skills assessment lead to significant reordering of rank list (p=0.01). Laparoscopic skills performance significantly impacted ranking. Playing a musical instrument correlated with faster knot tying. No correlation was identified between laparoscopic performance and passing the FLS exam or other activities traditionally believed to improve technical ability. Prospective study. Level II. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trachomatous Scar Ranking: A Novel Outcome for Trachoma Studies.

PubMed

Baldwin, Angela; Ryner, Alexander M; Tadesse, Zerihun; Shiferaw, Ayalew; Callahan, Kelly; Fry, Dionna M; Zhou, Zhaoxia; Lietman, Thomas M; Keenan, Jeremy D

2017-06-01

AbstractWe evaluated a new trachoma scarring ranking system with potential use in clinical research. The upper right tarsal conjunctivas of 427 individuals from Ethiopian villages with hyperendemic trachoma were photographed. An expert grader first assigned a scar grade to each photograph using the 1981 World Health Organization (WHO) grading system. Then, all photographs were ranked from least (rank = 1) to most scarring (rank = 427). Photographic grading found 79 (18.5%) conjunctivae without scarring (C0), 191 (44.7%) with minimal scarring (C1), 105 (24.6%) with moderate scarring (C2), and 52 (12.2%) with severe scarring (C3). The ranking method demonstrated good internal validity, exhibiting a monotonic increase in the median rank across the levels of the 1981 WHO grading system. Intrarater repeatability was better for the ranking method (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.74-0.94). Exhibiting better internal and external validity, this ranking method may be useful for evaluating the difference in scarring between groups of individuals.

Sparsity-Based Representation for Classification Algorithms and Comparison Results for Transient Acoustic Signals

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-01

large but correlated noise and signal interference (i.e., low -rank interference). Another contribution is the implementation of deep learning...representation, low rank, deep learning 52 Tung-Duong Tran-Luu 301-394-3082Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU ii Approved for public release; distribution...Classification of Acoustic Transients 6 3.2 Joint Sparse Representation with Low -Rank Interference 7 3.3 Simultaneous Group-and-Joint Sparse Representation

Pitch ranking, electrode discrimination, and physiological spread-of-excitation using Cochlear's dual-electrode mode.

PubMed

Goehring, Jenny L; Neff, Donna L; Baudhuin, Jacquelyn L; Hughes, Michelle L

2014-08-01

This study compared pitch ranking, electrode discrimination, and electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) spatial excitation patterns for adjacent physical electrodes (PEs) and the corresponding dual electrodes (DEs) for newer-generation Cochlear devices (Cochlear Ltd., Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia). The first goal was to determine whether pitch ranking and electrode discrimination yield similar outcomes for PEs and DEs. The second goal was to determine if the amount of spatial separation among ECAP excitation patterns (separation index, Σ) between adjacent PEs and the PE-DE pairs can predict performance on the psychophysical tasks. Using non-adaptive procedures, 13 subjects completed pitch ranking and electrode discrimination for adjacent PEs and the corresponding PE-DE pairs (DE versus each flanking PE) from the basal, middle, and apical electrode regions. Analysis of d' scores indicated that pitch-ranking and electrode-discrimination scores were not significantly different, but rather produced similar levels of performance. As expected, accuracy was significantly better for the PE-PE comparison than either PE-DE comparison. Correlations of the psychophysical versus ECAP Σ measures were positive; however, not all test/region correlations were significant across the array. Thus, the ECAP separation index is not sensitive enough to predict performance on behavioral tasks of pitch ranking or electrode discrimination for adjacent PEs or corresponding DEs.

Pitch ranking, electrode discrimination, and physiological spread-of-excitation using Cochlear's dual-electrode mode

PubMed Central

Goehring, Jenny L.; Neff, Donna L.; Baudhuin, Jacquelyn L.; Hughes, Michelle L.

2014-01-01

This study compared pitch ranking, electrode discrimination, and electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) spatial excitation patterns for adjacent physical electrodes (PEs) and the corresponding dual electrodes (DEs) for newer-generation Cochlear devices (Cochlear Ltd., Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia). The first goal was to determine whether pitch ranking and electrode discrimination yield similar outcomes for PEs and DEs. The second goal was to determine if the amount of spatial separation among ECAP excitation patterns (separation index, Σ) between adjacent PEs and the PE-DE pairs can predict performance on the psychophysical tasks. Using non-adaptive procedures, 13 subjects completed pitch ranking and electrode discrimination for adjacent PEs and the corresponding PE-DE pairs (DE versus each flanking PE) from the basal, middle, and apical electrode regions. Analysis of d′ scores indicated that pitch-ranking and electrode-discrimination scores were not significantly different, but rather produced similar levels of performance. As expected, accuracy was significantly better for the PE-PE comparison than either PE-DE comparison. Correlations of the psychophysical versus ECAP Σ measures were positive; however, not all test/region correlations were significant across the array. Thus, the ECAP separation index is not sensitive enough to predict performance on behavioral tasks of pitch ranking or electrode discrimination for adjacent PEs or corresponding DEs. PMID:25096106

Clustering stocks using partial correlation coefficients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Sean S.; Chang, Woojin

2016-11-01

A partial correlation analysis is performed on the Korean stock market (KOSPI). The difference between Pearson correlation and the partial correlation is analyzed and it is found that when conditioned on the market return, Pearson correlation coefficients are generally greater than those of the partial correlation, which implies that the market return tends to drive up the correlation between stock returns. A clustering analysis is then performed to study the market structure given by the partial correlation analysis and the members of the clusters are compared with the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). The initial hypothesis is that the firms in the same GICS sector are clustered together since they are in a similar business and environment. However, the result is inconsistent with the hypothesis and most clusters are a mix of multiple sectors suggesting that the traditional approach of using sectors to determine the proximity between stocks may not be sufficient enough to diversify a portfolio.

A temporal and spatial analysis of ground-water levels for effective monitoring in Huron County, Michigan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Holtschlag, David J.; Sweat, M.J.

1999-01-01

Quarterly water-level measurements were analyzed to assess the effectiveness of a monitoring network of 26 wells in Huron County, Michigan. Trends were identified as constant levels and autoregressive components were computed at all wells on the basis of data collected from 1993 to 1997, using structural time series analysis. Fixed seasonal components were identified at 22 wells and outliers were identified at 23 wells. The 95- percent confidence intervals were forecast for water-levels during the first and second quarters of 1998. Intervals in the first quarter were consistent with 92.3 percent of the measured values. In the second quarter, measured values were within the forecast intervals only 65.4 percent of the time. Unusually low precipitation during the second quarter is thought to have contributed to the reduced reliability of the second-quarter forecasts. Spatial interrelations among wells were investigated on the basis of the autoregressive components, which were filtered to create a set of innovation sequences that were temporally uncorrelated. The empirical covariance among the innovation sequences indicated both positive and negative spatial interrelations. The negative covariance components are considered to be physically implausible and to have resulted from random sampling error. Graphical modeling, a form of multivariate analysis, was used to model the covariance structure. Results indicate that only 29 of the 325 possible partial correlations among the water-level innovations were statistically significant. The model covariance matrix, corresponding to the model partial correlation structure, contained only positive elements. This model covariance was sequentially partitioned to compute a set of partial covariance matrices that were used to rank the effectiveness of the 26 monitoring wells from greatest to least. Results, for example, indicate that about 50 percent of the uncertainty of the water-level innovations currently monitored by the 26- well network could be described by the 6 most effective wells.

A New Direction of Cancer Classification: Positive Effect of Low-Ranking MicroRNAs.

PubMed

Li, Feifei; Piao, Minghao; Piao, Yongjun; Li, Meijing; Ryu, Keun Ho

2014-10-01

Many studies based on microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles showed a new aspect of cancer classification. Because one characteristic of miRNA expression data is the high dimensionality, feature selection methods have been used to facilitate dimensionality reduction. The feature selection methods have one shortcoming thus far: they just consider the problem of where feature to class is 1:1 or n:1. However, because one miRNA may influence more than one type of cancer, human miRNA is considered to be ranked low in traditional feature selection methods and are removed most of the time. In view of the limitation of the miRNA number, low-ranking miRNAs are also important to cancer classification. We considered both high- and low-ranking features to cover all problems (1:1, n:1, 1:n, and m:n) in cancer classification. First, we used the correlation-based feature selection method to select the high-ranking miRNAs, and chose the support vector machine, Bayes network, decision tree, k-nearest-neighbor, and logistic classifier to construct cancer classification. Then, we chose Chi-square test, information gain, gain ratio, and Pearson's correlation feature selection methods to build the m:n feature subset, and used the selected miRNAs to determine cancer classification. The low-ranking miRNA expression profiles achieved higher classification accuracy compared with just using high-ranking miRNAs in traditional feature selection methods. Our results demonstrate that the m:n feature subset made a positive impression of low-ranking miRNAs in cancer classification.

A Structured Implicit Abstraction Method to Evaluate whether Content of Counseling before Prostate Cancer Screening is Consistent with Recommendations by Experts

PubMed Central

Farrell, Michael H.; Chan, Evelyn C.Y.; Ladouceur, Lynnea K.; Stein, Jeffrey M.

2009-01-01

Objective To assess the content of counseling about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. Guidelines recommend informed consent before screening because of concerns about benefits versus risks. As part of the professional practice standard for informed consent, clinicians should include content customarily provided by experts. Methods 40 transcripts of conversations between medicine residents and standardized patients were abstracted using an instrument derived from an expert Delphi panel that ranked 10 “facts that experts believe men ought to know.” Results Transcripts contained definite criteria for an average of 1.7 facts, and either definite or partial criteria for 5.1 facts. Second- and third-year residents presented more facts than interns (p=0.01). The most common facts were “false positive PSA tests can occur” and “use of the PSA test as a screening test is controversial.” There was an r=0.88 correlation between inclusion by residents and the experts’ ranking. Conclusion Counseling varied but most transcripts included some expert-recommended facts. The absence of other facts could be a quality deficit or an effort to prioritize messages and lessen cognitive demands on the patient. Practice implications Clinicians should adapt counseling for each patient, but our abstraction approach may help to assess the quality of informed consent over larger populations. PMID:19837527

Partial Correlation-Based Retinotopically Organized Resting-State Functional Connectivity Within and Between Areas of the Visual Cortex Reflects More Than Cortical Distance

PubMed Central

Dawson, Debra Ann; Lam, Jack; Lewis, Lindsay B.; Carbonell, Felix; Mendola, Janine D.

2016-01-01

Abstract Numerous studies have demonstrated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between cortical areas. Recent evidence suggests that synchronous fluctuations in blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI reflect functional organization at a scale finer than that of visual areas. In this study, we investigated whether RSFCs within and between lower visual areas are retinotopically organized and whether retinotopically organized RSFC merely reflects cortical distance. Subjects underwent retinotopic mapping and separately resting-state fMRI. Visual areas V1, V2, and V3, were subdivided into regions of interest (ROIs) according to quadrants and visual field eccentricity. Functional connectivity (FC) was computed based on Pearson's linear correlation (correlation), and Pearson's linear partial correlation (correlation between two time courses after the time courses from all other regions in the network are regressed out). Within a quadrant, within visual areas, all correlation and nearly all partial correlation FC measures showed statistical significance. Consistently in V1, V2, and to a lesser extent in V3, correlation decreased with increasing eccentricity separation. Consistent with previously reported monkey anatomical connectivity, correlation/partial correlation values between regions from adjacent areas (V1-V2 and V2-V3) were higher than those between nonadjacent areas (V1-V3). Within a quadrant, partial correlation showed consistent significance between regions from two different areas with the same or adjacent eccentricities. Pairs of ROIs with similar eccentricity showed higher correlation/partial correlation than pairs distant in eccentricity. Between dorsal and ventral quadrants, partial correlation between common and adjacent eccentricity regions within a visual area showed statistical significance; this extended to more distant eccentricity regions in V1. Within and between quadrants, correlation decreased approximately linearly with increasing distances separating the tested ROIs. Partial correlation showed a more complex dependence on cortical distance: it decreased exponentially with increasing distance within a quadrant, but was best fit by a quadratic function between quadrants. We conclude that RSFCs within and between lower visual areas are retinotopically organized. Correlation-based FC is nonselectively high across lower visual areas, even between regions that do not share direct anatomical connections. The mechanisms likely involve network effects caused by the dense anatomical connectivity within this network and projections from higher visual areas. FC based on partial correlation, which minimizes network effects, follows expectations based on direct anatomical connections in the monkey visual cortex better than correlation. Last, partial correlation-based retinotopically organized RSFC reflects more than cortical distance effects. PMID:26415043

Partial Correlation-Based Retinotopically Organized Resting-State Functional Connectivity Within and Between Areas of the Visual Cortex Reflects More Than Cortical Distance.

PubMed

Dawson, Debra Ann; Lam, Jack; Lewis, Lindsay B; Carbonell, Felix; Mendola, Janine D; Shmuel, Amir

2016-02-01

Numerous studies have demonstrated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between cortical areas. Recent evidence suggests that synchronous fluctuations in blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI reflect functional organization at a scale finer than that of visual areas. In this study, we investigated whether RSFCs within and between lower visual areas are retinotopically organized and whether retinotopically organized RSFC merely reflects cortical distance. Subjects underwent retinotopic mapping and separately resting-state fMRI. Visual areas V1, V2, and V3, were subdivided into regions of interest (ROIs) according to quadrants and visual field eccentricity. Functional connectivity (FC) was computed based on Pearson's linear correlation (correlation), and Pearson's linear partial correlation (correlation between two time courses after the time courses from all other regions in the network are regressed out). Within a quadrant, within visual areas, all correlation and nearly all partial correlation FC measures showed statistical significance. Consistently in V1, V2, and to a lesser extent in V3, correlation decreased with increasing eccentricity separation. Consistent with previously reported monkey anatomical connectivity, correlation/partial correlation values between regions from adjacent areas (V1-V2 and V2-V3) were higher than those between nonadjacent areas (V1-V3). Within a quadrant, partial correlation showed consistent significance between regions from two different areas with the same or adjacent eccentricities. Pairs of ROIs with similar eccentricity showed higher correlation/partial correlation than pairs distant in eccentricity. Between dorsal and ventral quadrants, partial correlation between common and adjacent eccentricity regions within a visual area showed statistical significance; this extended to more distant eccentricity regions in V1. Within and between quadrants, correlation decreased approximately linearly with increasing distances separating the tested ROIs. Partial correlation showed a more complex dependence on cortical distance: it decreased exponentially with increasing distance within a quadrant, but was best fit by a quadratic function between quadrants. We conclude that RSFCs within and between lower visual areas are retinotopically organized. Correlation-based FC is nonselectively high across lower visual areas, even between regions that do not share direct anatomical connections. The mechanisms likely involve network effects caused by the dense anatomical connectivity within this network and projections from higher visual areas. FC based on partial correlation, which minimizes network effects, follows expectations based on direct anatomical connections in the monkey visual cortex better than correlation. Last, partial correlation-based retinotopically organized RSFC reflects more than cortical distance effects.

Combining partially ranked data in plant breeding and biology: II. Analysis with Rasch model.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Many years of breeding experiments, germplasm screening, and molecular biologic experimentation have generated volumes of sequence, genotype, and phenotype information that have been stored in public data repositories. These resources afford genetic and genomic researchers the opportunity to handle ...

Ranking and averaging independent component analysis by reproducibility (RAICAR).

PubMed

Yang, Zhi; LaConte, Stephen; Weng, Xuchu; Hu, Xiaoping

2008-06-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) is a data-driven approach that has exhibited great utility for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Standard ICA implementations, however, do not provide the number and relative importance of the resulting components. In addition, ICA algorithms utilizing gradient-based optimization give decompositions that are dependent on initialization values, which can lead to dramatically different results. In this work, a new method, RAICAR (Ranking and Averaging Independent Component Analysis by Reproducibility), is introduced to address these issues for spatial ICA applied to fMRI. RAICAR utilizes repeated ICA realizations and relies on the reproducibility between them to rank and select components. Different realizations are aligned based on correlations, leading to aligned components. Each component is ranked and thresholded based on between-realization correlations. Furthermore, different realizations of each aligned component are selectively averaged to generate the final estimate of the given component. Reliability and accuracy of this method are demonstrated with both simulated and experimental fMRI data. Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Feature Genes Selection Using Supervised Locally Linear Embedding and Correlation Coefficient for Microarray Classification

PubMed Central

Wang, Yun; Huang, Fangzhou

2018-01-01

The selection of feature genes with high recognition ability from the gene expression profiles has gained great significance in biology. However, most of the existing methods have a high time complexity and poor classification performance. Motivated by this, an effective feature selection method, called supervised locally linear embedding and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (SLLE-SC2), is proposed which is based on the concept of locally linear embedding and correlation coefficient algorithms. Supervised locally linear embedding takes into account class label information and improves the classification performance. Furthermore, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient is used to remove the coexpression genes. The experiment results obtained on four public tumor microarray datasets illustrate that our method is valid and feasible. PMID:29666661

Feature Genes Selection Using Supervised Locally Linear Embedding and Correlation Coefficient for Microarray Classification.

PubMed

Xu, Jiucheng; Mu, Huiyu; Wang, Yun; Huang, Fangzhou

2018-01-01

The selection of feature genes with high recognition ability from the gene expression profiles has gained great significance in biology. However, most of the existing methods have a high time complexity and poor classification performance. Motivated by this, an effective feature selection method, called supervised locally linear embedding and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (SLLE-SC 2 ), is proposed which is based on the concept of locally linear embedding and correlation coefficient algorithms. Supervised locally linear embedding takes into account class label information and improves the classification performance. Furthermore, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient is used to remove the coexpression genes. The experiment results obtained on four public tumor microarray datasets illustrate that our method is valid and feasible.

Optimal affinity ranking for automated virtual screening validated in prospective D3R grand challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wingert, Bentley M.; Oerlemans, Rick; Camacho, Carlos J.

2018-01-01

The goal of virtual screening is to generate a substantially reduced and enriched subset of compounds from a large virtual chemistry space. Critical in these efforts are methods to properly rank the binding affinity of compounds. Prospective evaluations of ranking strategies in the D3R grand challenges show that for targets with deep pockets the best correlations (Spearman ρ 0.5) were obtained by our submissions that docked compounds to the holo-receptors with the most chemically similar ligand. On the other hand, for targets with open pockets using multiple receptor structures is not a good strategy. Instead, docking to a single optimal receptor led to the best correlations (Spearman ρ 0.5), and overall performs better than any other method. Yet, choosing a suboptimal receptor for crossdocking can significantly undermine the affinity rankings. Our submissions that evaluated the free energy of congeneric compounds were also among the best in the community experiment. Error bars of around 1 kcal/mol are still too large to significantly improve the overall rankings. Collectively, our top of the line predictions show that automated virtual screening with rigid receptors perform better than flexible docking and other more complex methods.

Are your covariates under control? How normalization can re-introduce covariate effects.

PubMed

Pain, Oliver; Dudbridge, Frank; Ronald, Angelica

2018-04-30

Many statistical tests rely on the assumption that the residuals of a model are normally distributed. Rank-based inverse normal transformation (INT) of the dependent variable is one of the most popular approaches to satisfy the normality assumption. When covariates are included in the analysis, a common approach is to first adjust for the covariates and then normalize the residuals. This study investigated the effect of regressing covariates against the dependent variable and then applying rank-based INT to the residuals. The correlation between the dependent variable and covariates at each stage of processing was assessed. An alternative approach was tested in which rank-based INT was applied to the dependent variable before regressing covariates. Analyses based on both simulated and real data examples demonstrated that applying rank-based INT to the dependent variable residuals after regressing out covariates re-introduces a linear correlation between the dependent variable and covariates, increasing type-I errors and reducing power. On the other hand, when rank-based INT was applied prior to controlling for covariate effects, residuals were normally distributed and linearly uncorrelated with covariates. This latter approach is therefore recommended in situations were normality of the dependent variable is required.

Applicant Characteristics Associated With Selection for Ranking at Independent Surgery Residency Programs.

PubMed

Dort, Jonathan M; Trickey, Amber W; Kallies, Kara J; Joshi, Amit R T; Sidwell, Richard A; Jarman, Benjamin T

2015-01-01

This study evaluated characteristics of applicants selected for interview and ranked by independent general surgery residency programs and assessed independent program application volumes, interview selection, rank list formation, and match success. Demographic and academic information was analyzed for 2014-2015 applicants. Applicant characteristics were compared by ranking status using univariate and multivariable statistical techniques. Characteristics independently associated with whether or not an applicant was ranked were identified using multivariable logistic regression modeling with backward stepwise variable selection and cluster-correlated robust variance estimates to account for correlations among individuals who applied to multiple programs. The Electronic Residency Application Service was used to obtain applicant data and program match outcomes at 33 independent surgery programs. All applicants selected to interview at 33 participating independent general surgery residency programs were included in the study. Applicants were 60% male with median age of 26 years. Birthplace was well distributed. Most applicants (73%) had ≥1 academic publication. Median United States Medical Licensing Exams (USMLE) Step 1 score was 228 (interquartile range: 218-240), and median USMLE Step 2 clinical knowledge score was 241 (interquartile range: 231-250). Residency programs in some regions more often ranked applicants who attended medical school within the same region. On multivariable analysis, significant predictors of ranking by an independent residency program were: USMLE scores, medical school region, and birth region. Independent programs received an average of 764 applications (range: 307-1704). On average, 12% interviews, and 81% of interviewed applicants were ranked. Most programs (84%) matched at least 1 applicant ranked in their top 10. Participating independent programs attract a large volume of applicants and have high standards in the selection process. This information can be used by surgery residency applicants to gauge their candidacy at independent programs. Independent programs offer a select number of interviews, rank most applicants that they interview, and successfully match competitive applicants. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pearson's chi-square test and rank correlation inferences for clustered data.

PubMed

Shih, Joanna H; Fay, Michael P

2017-09-01

Pearson's chi-square test has been widely used in testing for association between two categorical responses. Spearman rank correlation and Kendall's tau are often used for measuring and testing association between two continuous or ordered categorical responses. However, the established statistical properties of these tests are only valid when each pair of responses are independent, where each sampling unit has only one pair of responses. When each sampling unit consists of a cluster of paired responses, the assumption of independent pairs is violated. In this article, we apply the within-cluster resampling technique to U-statistics to form new tests and rank-based correlation estimators for possibly tied clustered data. We develop large sample properties of the new proposed tests and estimators and evaluate their performance by simulations. The proposed methods are applied to a data set collected from a PET/CT imaging study for illustration. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

5-D interpolation with wave-front attributes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Yujiang; Gajewski, Dirk

2017-11-01

Most 5-D interpolation and regularization techniques reconstruct the missing data in the frequency domain by using mathematical transforms. An alternative type of interpolation methods uses wave-front attributes, that is, quantities with a specific physical meaning like the angle of emergence and wave-front curvatures. In these attributes structural information of subsurface features like dip and strike of a reflector are included. These wave-front attributes work on 5-D data space (e.g. common-midpoint coordinates in x and y, offset, azimuth and time), leading to a 5-D interpolation technique. Since the process is based on stacking next to the interpolation a pre-stack data enhancement is achieved, improving the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of interpolated and recorded traces. The wave-front attributes are determined in a data-driven fashion, for example, with the Common Reflection Surface (CRS method). As one of the wave-front-attribute-based interpolation techniques, the 3-D partial CRS method was proposed to enhance the quality of 3-D pre-stack data with low S/N. In the past work on 3-D partial stacks, two potential problems were still unsolved. For high-quality wave-front attributes, we suggest a global optimization strategy instead of the so far used pragmatic search approach. In previous works, the interpolation of 3-D data was performed along a specific azimuth which is acceptable for narrow azimuth acquisition but does not exploit the potential of wide-, rich- or full-azimuth acquisitions. The conventional 3-D partial CRS method is improved in this work and we call it as a wave-front-attribute-based 5-D interpolation (5-D WABI) as the two problems mentioned above are addressed. Data examples demonstrate the improved performance by the 5-D WABI method when compared with the conventional 3-D partial CRS approach. A comparison of the rank-reduction-based 5-D seismic interpolation technique with the proposed 5-D WABI method is given. The comparison reveals that there are significant advantages for steep dipping events using the 5-D WABI method when compared to the rank-reduction-based 5-D interpolation technique. Diffraction tails substantially benefit from this improved performance of the partial CRS stacking approach while the CPU time is comparable to the CPU time consumed by the rank-reduction-based method.

Setting health research priorities using the CHNRI method: VI. Quantitative properties of human collective opinion

PubMed Central

Yoshida, Sachiyo; Rudan, Igor; Cousens, Simon

2016-01-01

Introduction Crowdsourcing has become an increasingly important tool to address many problems – from government elections in democracies, stock market prices, to modern online tools such as TripAdvisor or Internet Movie Database (IMDB). The CHNRI method (the acronym for the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative) for setting health research priorities has crowdsourcing as the major component, which it uses to generate, assess and prioritize between many competing health research ideas. Methods We conducted a series of analyses using data from a group of 91 scorers to explore the quantitative properties of their collective opinion. We were interested in the stability of their collective opinion as the sample size increases from 15 to 90. From a pool of 91 scorers who took part in a previous CHNRI exercise, we used sampling with replacement to generate multiple random samples of different size. First, for each sample generated, we identified the top 20 ranked research ideas, among 205 that were proposed and scored, and calculated the concordance with the ranking generated by the 91 original scorers. Second, we used rank correlation coefficients to compare the ranks assigned to all 205 proposed research ideas when samples of different size are used. We also analysed the original pool of 91 scorers to to look for evidence of scoring variations based on scorers' characteristics. Results The sample sizes investigated ranged from 15 to 90. The concordance for the top 20 scored research ideas increased with sample sizes up to about 55 experts. At this point, the median level of concordance stabilized at 15/20 top ranked questions (75%), with the interquartile range also generally stable (14–16). There was little further increase in overlap when the sample size increased from 55 to 90. When analysing the ranking of all 205 ideas, the rank correlation coefficient increased as the sample size increased, with a median correlation of 0.95 reached at the sample size of 45 experts (median of the rank correlation coefficient = 0.95; IQR 0.94–0.96). Conclusions Our analyses suggest that the collective opinion of an expert group on a large number of research ideas, expressed through categorical variables (Yes/No/Not Sure/Don't know), stabilises relatively quickly in terms of identifying the ideas that have most support. In the exercise we found a high degree of reproducibility of the identified research priorities was achieved with as few as 45–55 experts. PMID:27350874

Setting health research priorities using the CHNRI method: VI. Quantitative properties of human collective opinion.

PubMed

Yoshida, Sachiyo; Rudan, Igor; Cousens, Simon

2016-06-01

Crowdsourcing has become an increasingly important tool to address many problems - from government elections in democracies, stock market prices, to modern online tools such as TripAdvisor or Internet Movie Database (IMDB). The CHNRI method (the acronym for the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative) for setting health research priorities has crowdsourcing as the major component, which it uses to generate, assess and prioritize between many competing health research ideas. We conducted a series of analyses using data from a group of 91 scorers to explore the quantitative properties of their collective opinion. We were interested in the stability of their collective opinion as the sample size increases from 15 to 90. From a pool of 91 scorers who took part in a previous CHNRI exercise, we used sampling with replacement to generate multiple random samples of different size. First, for each sample generated, we identified the top 20 ranked research ideas, among 205 that were proposed and scored, and calculated the concordance with the ranking generated by the 91 original scorers. Second, we used rank correlation coefficients to compare the ranks assigned to all 205 proposed research ideas when samples of different size are used. We also analysed the original pool of 91 scorers to to look for evidence of scoring variations based on scorers' characteristics. The sample sizes investigated ranged from 15 to 90. The concordance for the top 20 scored research ideas increased with sample sizes up to about 55 experts. At this point, the median level of concordance stabilized at 15/20 top ranked questions (75%), with the interquartile range also generally stable (14-16). There was little further increase in overlap when the sample size increased from 55 to 90. When analysing the ranking of all 205 ideas, the rank correlation coefficient increased as the sample size increased, with a median correlation of 0.95 reached at the sample size of 45 experts (median of the rank correlation coefficient = 0.95; IQR 0.94-0.96). Our analyses suggest that the collective opinion of an expert group on a large number of research ideas, expressed through categorical variables (Yes/No/Not Sure/Don't know), stabilises relatively quickly in terms of identifying the ideas that have most support. In the exercise we found a high degree of reproducibility of the identified research priorities was achieved with as few as 45-55 experts.

Beyond classic risk adjustment: Socioeconomic status and hospital performance in urologic oncology surgery.

PubMed

Odisho, Anobel Y; Etzioni, Ruth; Gore, John L

2018-06-15

Safety-net hospitals (SNHs) care for more patients of low socioeconomic status (SES) than non-SNHs and are disproportionately punished under SES-naive Medicare readmission risk-adjustment models. This study was designed to develop a risk-adjustment framework that incorporates SES and to assess the impact on readmission rates. California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development data from 2007 to 2011 were used to identify patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer (n = 3771) or partial nephrectomy (PN; n = 5556) or radical nephrectomy (RN; n = 13,136) for kidney cancer. Unadjusted hospital rankings and predicted rankings under models simulating the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program were compared with predicted rankings under models incorporating SES and hospital factors. SES, derived from a multifactorial neighborhood score, was calculated from US Census data. The 30-day readmission rate was 26.1% for RC, 8.3% for RN, and 9.5% for PN. The addition of SES, geographic, and hospital factors changed hospital rankings significantly in comparison with the base model (P < .01) except for SES for RC (P = .07) and SES and rural factors for PN (P = .12). For RN and PN, the addition of SES predicted lower percentile ranks for SNHs and thus improved observed-to-expected rankings (P < .01). For RC, there were no changes in hospital rankings. SES is important for risk adjustments for complex surgical procedures such as RC. Patient SES affects overall hospital rankings across cohorts, and critically, it differentially and punitively affects rankings for SNHs for some procedures. Cancer 2018. © 2018 American Cancer Society. © 2018 American Cancer Society.

Impact factor, eigenfactor, article influence, scopus SNIP, and SCImage journal rank of occupational therapy journals.

PubMed

Brown, Ted; Gutman, Sharon A

2018-05-18

Journals are currently assessed and ranked using a number of different quantitative performance metrics. To compare and correlate the publication metrics of English-language occupational therapy journals published in 2015. Bibliometric data was sourced for 14 English-language occupational therapy journals including the Journal Citations Report (JCR) 2-year impact factor (IF), Eigenfactor Score (EFS), Article Influence Score (AIS), Scopus Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), Scopus Citescore, and SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) score. The JCR, Scopus, and SJR 2015 bibliometric data were correlated. The top six English-language occupational therapy journals in relation to JCR IF, EFS, AIS, SNIP, Citescore, SJR score, and SJR IIF were AJOT, AOTJ, POPT, CJOT, SJOT, and BJOT. JCR IF, EFS, JCR AIS, SNIP, Citescore, SJR score and SJR IIF were all significantly correlated with coefficients ranging from 0.751 to 0.961 (p < 0.05; p < 0.01). The calculated SJR IIF was on average 0.335 larger than the JCR IFs reported. The findings indicate that the range of available bibliometric measures should be used collectively to yield a more comprehensive assessment of journal and article rankings rather than the singular use of IF scores that currently and frequently occurs in many jurisdictions.

Synchronous correlation matrices and Connes’ embedding conjecture

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

Dykema, Kenneth J., E-mail: kdykema@math.tamu.edu; Paulsen, Vern, E-mail: vern@math.uh.edu

In the work of Paulsen et al. [J. Funct. Anal. (in press); preprint arXiv:1407.6918], the concept of synchronous quantum correlation matrices was introduced and these were shown to correspond to traces on certain C*-algebras. In particular, synchronous correlation matrices arose in their study of various versions of quantum chromatic numbers of graphs and other quantum versions of graph theoretic parameters. In this paper, we develop these ideas further, focusing on the relations between synchronous correlation matrices and microstates. We prove that Connes’ embedding conjecture is equivalent to the equality of two families of synchronous quantum correlation matrices. We prove thatmore » if Connes’ embedding conjecture has a positive answer, then the tracial rank and projective rank are equal for every graph. We then apply these results to more general non-local games.« less

Global network centrality of university rankings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Weisi; Del Vecchio, Marco; Pogrebna, Ganna

2017-10-01

Universities and higher education institutions form an integral part of the national infrastructure and prestige. As academic research benefits increasingly from international exchange and cooperation, many universities have increased investment in improving and enabling their global connectivity. Yet, the relationship of university performance and its global physical connectedness has not been explored in detail. We conduct, to our knowledge, the first large-scale data-driven analysis into whether there is a correlation between university relative ranking performance and its global connectivity via the air transport network. The results show that local access to global hubs (as measured by air transport network betweenness) strongly and positively correlates with the ranking growth (statistical significance in different models ranges between 5% and 1% level). We also found that the local airport's aggregate flight paths (degree) and capacity (weighted degree) has no effect on university ranking, further showing that global connectivity distance is more important than the capacity of flight connections. We also examined the effect of local city economic development as a confounding variable and no effect was observed suggesting that access to global transportation hubs outweighs economic performance as a determinant of university ranking. The impact of this research is that we have determined the importance of the centrality of global connectivity and, hence, established initial evidence for further exploring potential connections between university ranking and regional investment policies on improving global connectivity.

Global network centrality of university rankings

PubMed Central

Del Vecchio, Marco; Pogrebna, Ganna

2017-01-01

Universities and higher education institutions form an integral part of the national infrastructure and prestige. As academic research benefits increasingly from international exchange and cooperation, many universities have increased investment in improving and enabling their global connectivity. Yet, the relationship of university performance and its global physical connectedness has not been explored in detail. We conduct, to our knowledge, the first large-scale data-driven analysis into whether there is a correlation between university relative ranking performance and its global connectivity via the air transport network. The results show that local access to global hubs (as measured by air transport network betweenness) strongly and positively correlates with the ranking growth (statistical significance in different models ranges between 5% and 1% level). We also found that the local airport’s aggregate flight paths (degree) and capacity (weighted degree) has no effect on university ranking, further showing that global connectivity distance is more important than the capacity of flight connections. We also examined the effect of local city economic development as a confounding variable and no effect was observed suggesting that access to global transportation hubs outweighs economic performance as a determinant of university ranking. The impact of this research is that we have determined the importance of the centrality of global connectivity and, hence, established initial evidence for further exploring potential connections between university ranking and regional investment policies on improving global connectivity. PMID:29134105

Do in-training evaluation reports deserve their bad reputations? A study of the reliability and predictive ability of ITER scores and narrative comments.

PubMed

Ginsburg, Shiphra; Eva, Kevin; Regehr, Glenn

2013-10-01

Although scores on in-training evaluation reports (ITERs) are often criticized for poor reliability and validity, ITER comments may yield valuable information. The authors assessed across-rotation reliability of ITER scores in one internal medicine program, ability of ITER scores and comments to predict postgraduate year three (PGY3) performance, and reliability and incremental predictive validity of attendings' analysis of written comments. Numeric and narrative data from the first two years of ITERs for one cohort of residents at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine (2009-2011) were assessed for reliability and predictive validity of third-year performance. Twenty-four faculty attendings rank-ordered comments (without scores) such that each resident was ranked by three faculty. Mean ITER scores and comment rankings were submitted to regression analyses; dependent variables were PGY3 ITER scores and program directors' rankings. Reliabilities of ITER scores across nine rotations for 63 residents were 0.53 for both postgraduate year one (PGY1) and postgraduate year two (PGY2). Interrater reliabilities across three attendings' rankings were 0.83 for PGY1 and 0.79 for PGY2. There were strong correlations between ITER scores and comments within each year (0.72 and 0.70). Regressions revealed that PGY1 and PGY2 ITER scores collectively explained 25% of variance in PGY3 scores and 46% of variance in PGY3 rankings. Comment rankings did not improve predictions. ITER scores across multiple rotations showed decent reliability and predictive validity. Comment ranks did not add to the predictive ability, but correlation analyses suggest that trainee performance can be measured through these comments.

Can streamlined multi-criteria decision analysis be used to implement shared decision making for colorectal cancer screening?

PubMed Central

Dolan, James G.; Boohaker, Emily; Allison, Jeroan; Imperiale, Thomas F.

2013-01-01

Background Current US colorectal cancer screening guidelines that call for shared decision making regarding the choice among several recommended screening options are difficult to implement. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is an established methodology well suited for supporting shared decision making. Our study goal was to determine if a streamlined form of MCDA using rank order based judgments can accurately assess patients’ colorectal cancer screening priorities. Methods We converted priorities for four decision criteria and three sub-criteria regarding colorectal cancer screening obtained from 484 average risk patients using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in a prior study into rank order-based priorities using rank order centroids. We compared the two sets of priorities using Spearman rank correlation and non-parametric Bland-Altman limits of agreement analysis. We assessed the differential impact of using the rank order-based versus the AHP-based priorities on the results of a full MCDA comparing three currently recommended colorectal cancer screening strategies. Generalizability of the results was assessed using Monte Carlo simulation. Results Correlations between the two sets of priorities for the seven criteria ranged from 0.55 to 0.92. The proportions of absolute differences between rank order-based and AHP-based priorities that were more than ± 0.15 ranged from 1% to 16%. Differences in the full MCDA results were minimal and the relative rankings of the three screening options were identical more than 88% of the time. The Monte Carlo simulation results were similar. Conclusion Rank order-based MCDA could be a simple, practical way to guide individual decisions and assess population decision priorities regarding colorectal cancer screening strategies. Additional research is warranted to further explore the use of these methods for promoting shared decision making. PMID:24300851

Comparison and ranking of superelasticity of different austenite active nickel-titanium orthodontic archwires using mechanical tensile testing and correlating with its electrical resistivity

PubMed Central

Nagarajan, D.; Baskaranarayanan, Balashanmugam; Usha, K.; Jayanthi, M. S.; Vijjaykanth, M.

2016-01-01

Introduction: The application of light and continuous forces for optimum physiological response and the least damage to the tooth supporting structures should be the primary aim of an orthodontist. Nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloys with their desirable properties are one of the natural choices of the clinicians. Aim: This study was aimed to compare and rank them based on its tensile strength and electrical resistivity. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of eight groups of 0.017 inch × 0.025 inch rectangular archwires from eight different manufacturers, and five samples from each group for tensile testing and nine samples for electrical resistivity tests were used. Data for stress at 10% strain and the initial slope were statistically analyzed with an analysis of variance and Scheffe tests with P < 0.05. The stress/strain plots of each product were ranked for superelastic behavior. The rankings of the wires tested were based primarily on the unloading curve's slope which is indicative of the magnitude of the deactivation force and secondarily on the length of the horizontal segment which is indicative of continuous forces during deactivation. For calculating the electric resistivity, the change in resistance after inducing strain in the wires was taken into account for the calculation of degree of martensite transformation and for ranking. Results: In tensile testing Ortho Organizers wires ranked first and GAC Lowland NiTi wires ranked last. For resistivity tests Ormco A wires were found superior and Morelli remained last. Conclusion: these rankings should be correlated clinically and need further studies. PMID:27829751

Association between tumour infiltrating lymphocytes, histotype and clinical outcome in epithelial ovarian cancer.

PubMed

James, Fiona R; Jiminez-Linan, Mercedes; Alsop, Jennifer; Mack, Marie; Song, Honglin; Brenton, James D; Pharoah, Paul D P; Ali, H Raza

2017-09-20

There is evidence that some ovarian tumours evoke an immune response, which can be assessed by tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). To facilitate adoption of TILs as a clinical biomarker, a standardised method for their H&E visual evaluation has been validated in breast cancer. We sought to investigate the prognostic significance of TILs in a study of 953 invasive epithelial ovarian cancer tumour samples, both primary and metastatic, from 707 patients from the prospective population-based SEARCH study. TILs were analysed using a standardised method based on H&E staining producing a percentage score for stromal and intratumoral compartments. We used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios of the association between TILs and survival. The extent of stromal and intra-tumoral TILs were correlated in the primary tumours (n = 679, Spearman's rank correlation = 0.60, P < 0.001) with a similar correlation in secondary tumours (n = 224, Spearman's rank correlation = 0.62, P < 0.001). There was a weak correlation between stromal TIL levels in primary and secondary tumour samples (Spearman's rank correlation = 0.29, P < 0.001) and intra-tumoral TIL levels in primary and secondary tumour samples (Spearman's rank correlation = 0.19, P = 0.0094). The extent of stromal TILs differed between histotypes (Pearson chi2 (12d.f.) 54.1, P < 0.0001) with higher levels of stromal infiltration in the high-grade serous and endometriod cases. A significant association was observed for higher intratumoral TIL levels and a favourable prognosis (HR 0.74 95% CI 0.55-1.00 p = 0.047). This study is the largest collection of epithelial ovarian tumour samples evaluated for TILs. We have shown that stromal and intratumoral TIL levels are correlated and that their levels correlate with clinical variables such as tumour histological subtype. We have also shown that increased levels of both intratumoral and stromal TILs are associated with a better prognosis; however, this is only statistically significant for intratumoral TILs. This study suggests that a clinically useful immune prognostic indicator in epithelial ovarian cancer could be developed using this technique.

Systematic Differences in Signal Emitting and Receiving Revealed by PageRank Analysis of a Human Protein Interactome

PubMed Central

Li, Xiu-Qing

2012-01-01

Most protein PageRank studies do not use signal flow direction information in protein interactions because this information was not readily available in large protein databases until recently. Therefore, four questions have yet to be answered: A) What is the general difference between signal emitting and receiving in a protein interactome? B) Which proteins are among the top ranked in directional ranking? C) Are high ranked proteins more evolutionarily conserved than low ranked ones? D) Do proteins with similar ranking tend to have similar subcellular locations? In this study, we address these questions using the forward, reverse, and non-directional PageRank approaches to rank an information-directional network of human proteins and study their evolutionary conservation. The forward ranking gives credit to information receivers, reverse ranking to information emitters, and non-directional ranking mainly to the number of interactions. The protein lists generated by the forward and non-directional rankings are highly correlated, but those by the reverse and non-directional rankings are not. The results suggest that the signal emitting/receiving system is characterized by key-emittings and relatively even receivings in the human protein interactome. Signaling pathway proteins are frequent in top ranked ones. Eight proteins are both informational top emitters and top receivers. Top ranked proteins, except a few species-related novel-function ones, are evolutionarily well conserved. Protein-subunit ranking position reflects subunit function. These results demonstrate the usefulness of different PageRank approaches in characterizing protein networks and provide insights to protein interaction in the cell. PMID:23028653

Rankings of International Achievement Test Performance and Economic Strength: Correlation or Conjecture?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tienken, Christopher H.

2008-01-01

Examining a popular political notion, this article presents results from a series of Spearman Rho calculations conducted to investigate relationships between countries' rankings on international tests of mathematics and science and future economic competitiveness as measured by the 2006 World Economic Forum's Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI).…

Selecting Pesticides and Nonchemical Alternatives: Green Thumbs' Rules of Thumb Decision Tools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grieshop, James I.; And Others

1992-01-01

A sample of 78 (of 320) home gardeners use rules of thumb (heuristics) to choose between chemical pesticides and nonchemical alternatives. Pesticides rank low in 24 choice attributes where alternatives rank high, and vice versa. Gender, age, and years of pesticide use correlate with pesticide selection. (SK)

Cathepsin D in normal and neoplastic thyroid tissues.

PubMed

Kraimps, J L; Métayé, T; Millet, C; Margerit, D; Ingrand, P; Goujon, J M; Levillain, P; Babin, P; Begon, F; Barbier, J

1995-12-01

Cathepsin D is a widely distributed lysosomal acidic endopeptidase. It is an estrogen-regulated protein that is a prognostic factor in breast cancer. The aim of this study was to measure cathepsin D concentrations in thyroid tissues and to correlate these concentrations with clinical and pathologic parameters. Cathepsin D and thyroglobulin concentrations were measured in the cytosol of normal thyroid tissues (n = 14), benign nodules (n = 6), and thyroid carcinomas (n = 32) with an immunoradiometric assay. Statistical analysis was based on the Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon tests and on the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The mean level of cathepsin D, expressed as picomoles per milligram protein minus thyroglobulin, was higher in the 32 carcinomas, 29.1 +/- 15.5, than in the 14 normal thyroid tissues, 8.4 +/- 2.5 (p < 0.001) or in the 6 benign nodules, 11.2 +/- 7.3 (p = 0.003). Cathepsin D concentrations correlated with tumor size; Spearman rank correlation coefficient was rs = 0.44 (p = 0.012). No significant difference was found regarding histologic type. Cathepsin D concentrations were inversely correlated with the thyroglobulin level in the tumor; Spearman rank correlation coefficient was rs = -0.60 (p < 0.001). Cathepsin D concentration is higher in thyroid carcinoma than in normal thyroid tissue. Increased cathepsin D concentrations correlate with thyroid tumor size but not with histologic type. Further studies should be done to confirm the potential prognostic value of cathepsin D in patients with thyroid carcinomas.

The Publication Ranking Score for pediatric urology: quantifying thought leadership within the subspecialty.

PubMed

Lloyd, Jessica C; Madden-Fuentes, Ramiro J; Nelson, Caleb P; Kokorowski, Paul J; Wiener, John S; Ross, Sherry S; Kutikov, Alexander; Routh, Jonathan C

2013-12-01

Clinical care parameters are frequently assessed by national ranking systems. However, these rankings do little to comment on institutions' academic contributions. The Publication Ranking Score (PRS) was developed to allow for objective comparisons of scientific thought-leadership at various pediatric urology institutions. Faculty lists were compiled for each of the US News & World Report (USNWR) top-50 pediatric urology hospitals. A list of all faculty publications (2006-2011) was then compiled, after adjusting for journal impact factor, and summed to derive a Publication Ranking Score (PRS). PRS rankings were then compared to the USNWR pediatric urology top-50 hospital list. A total of 1811 publications were indexed. PRS rankings resulted in a mean change in rank of 12 positions, compared to USNWR ranks. Of the top-10 USNWR hospitals, only 4 were ranked in the top-10 by the PRS. There was little correlation between the USNWR and PRS ranks for either top-10 (r = 0.42, p = 0.23) or top-50 (r = 0.48, p = 0.0004) hospitals. PRS institutional ranking differs significantly from the USNWR top-50 hospital list in pediatric urology. While not a replacement, we believe the PRS to be a useful adjunct to the USNWR rankings of pediatric urology hospitals. Copyright © 2013 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applications of singular value analysis and partial-step algorithm for nonlinear orbit determination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryne, Mark S.; Wang, Tseng-Chan

1991-01-01

An adaptive method in which cruise and nonlinear orbit determination problems can be solved using a single program is presented. It involves singular value decomposition augmented with an extended partial step algorithm. The extended partial step algorithm constrains the size of the correction to the spacecraft state and other solve-for parameters. The correction is controlled by an a priori covariance and a user-supplied bounds parameter. The extended partial step method is an extension of the update portion of the singular value decomposition algorithm. It thus preserves the numerical stability of the singular value decomposition method, while extending the region over which it converges. In linear cases, this method reduces to the singular value decomposition algorithm with the full rank solution. Two examples are presented to illustrate the method's utility.

Accelerated High-Dimensional MR Imaging with Sparse Sampling Using Low-Rank Tensors

PubMed Central

He, Jingfei; Liu, Qiegen; Christodoulou, Anthony G.; Ma, Chao; Lam, Fan

2017-01-01

High-dimensional MR imaging often requires long data acquisition time, thereby limiting its practical applications. This paper presents a low-rank tensor based method for accelerated high-dimensional MR imaging using sparse sampling. This method represents high-dimensional images as low-rank tensors (or partially separable functions) and uses this mathematical structure for sparse sampling of the data space and for image reconstruction from highly undersampled data. More specifically, the proposed method acquires two datasets with complementary sampling patterns, one for subspace estimation and the other for image reconstruction; image reconstruction from highly undersampled data is accomplished by fitting the measured data with a sparsity constraint on the core tensor and a group sparsity constraint on the spatial coefficients jointly using the alternating direction method of multipliers. The usefulness of the proposed method is demonstrated in MRI applications; it may also have applications beyond MRI. PMID:27093543

Extremes in ecology: Avoiding the misleading effects of sampling variation in summary analyses

USGS Publications Warehouse

Link, W.A.; Sauer, J.R.

1996-01-01

Surveys such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) produce large collections of parameter estimates. One's natural inclination when confronted with lists of parameter estimates is to look for the extreme values: in the BBS, these correspond to the species that appear to have the greatest changes in population size through time. Unfortunately, extreme estimates are liable to correspond to the most poorly estimated parameters. Consequently, the most extreme parameters may not match up with the most extreme parameter estimates. The ranking of parameter values on the basis of their estimates are a difficult statistical problem. We use data from the BBS and simulations to illustrate the potential misleading effects of sampling variation in rankings of parameters. We describe empirical Bayes and constrained empirical Bayes procedures which provide partial solutions to the problem of ranking in the presence of sampling variation.

Combustion and gasification characteristics of chars from four commercially significant coals of different rank. Final report

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

Nsakala, N.Y.; Patel, R.L.; Lao, T.C.

1982-09-01

The combustion and gasification kinetics of four size graded coal chars were investigated experimentally in Combustion Engineering's Drop Tube Furnace System (DTFS). The chars were prepared in the DTFS from commercially significant coals representing a wide range of rank; these included a Pittsburgh No. 8 Seam hvAb coal, an Illinois No. 6 Seam hvCb coal, a Wyoming Sub C, and a Texas Lignite A. Additionally, a number of standard ASTM and special bench scale tests were performed on the coals and chars to characterize their physicochemical properties. Results showed that the lower rank coal chars were more reactive than themore » higher rank coal chars and that combustion reactions of chars were much faster than the corresponding gasification reactions. Fuel properties, temperature, and reactant gas partial pressure had a significant influence on both combustion and gasification, and particle size had a mild but discernible influence on gasification. Fuel reactivities were closely related to pore structure. Computer simulation of the combustion and gasification performances of the subject samples in the DTFS supported the experimental findings.« less

Course fees and academic ranking: insights from the IMI EMTRAIN on-course® database.

PubMed

Payton, Antony; Dallakian, Pavel; Fitton, Alexander; Payton, Anna; Hardman, Mike; Yuille, Martin

2014-07-01

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded project on-course® (http://www.on-course.eu/) lists postgraduate biomedical courses in Europe and is comprehensive for all taught and research master's courses. Using on-course®, new insights into education and training in Europe can be delivered; and here we investigate the relationship between master's course fees and university ranking. We hypothesise that higher master's course fees would be associated with higher university ranking. This was indeed the case for research master's courses and for taught master's courses for non-EU students. However, we observed no correlation between taught master's course fees for EU students and university ranking, meaning EU students are paying on average as much for courses at lower ranked universities as they are for courses at higher ranked universities. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-modal learning to rank via latent joint representation.

PubMed

Wu, Fei; Jiang, Xinyang; Li, Xi; Tang, Siliang; Lu, Weiming; Zhang, Zhongfei; Zhuang, Yueting

2015-05-01

Cross-modal ranking is a research topic that is imperative to many applications involving multimodal data. Discovering a joint representation for multimodal data and learning a ranking function are essential in order to boost the cross-media retrieval (i.e., image-query-text or text-query-image). In this paper, we propose an approach to discover the latent joint representation of pairs of multimodal data (e.g., pairs of an image query and a text document) via a conditional random field and structural learning in a listwise ranking manner. We call this approach cross-modal learning to rank via latent joint representation (CML²R). In CML²R, the correlations between multimodal data are captured in terms of their sharing hidden variables (e.g., topics), and a hidden-topic-driven discriminative ranking function is learned in a listwise ranking manner. The experiments show that the proposed approach achieves a good performance in cross-media retrieval and meanwhile has the capability to learn the discriminative representation of multimodal data.

Laser Induced Hydrogen Generation from Coal in Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seyitliyev, Dovletgeldi; Kholikov, Khomidkhodzha; Er, Ali

We report an alternative way of obtaining hydrogen using nanosecond laser pulses and various ranks of coal and coke. SEM-EDS analysis shows the atomic concentrations of elements on each of the powders which also is in good agreement with calorimeter analysis. Coal and coke powders were irradiated with 1064nm IR and 532 nm green Nd:YAG pulsed laser beam for 45 minutes. The volume of the total gas generated after irradiation of each rank was measured using the water displacement method. The amount of gas generated increased when using 532 nm compared to 1064 nm. Post-irradiation SEM images show structural differences with samples before irradiation. The amount of gas generation with respect to laser energy density shows nonlinear correlation. Generated gas concentrations were then analyzed using gas chromatography (GC). Hydrogen and carbon monoxide were the two most highly generated gases, and the efficiency of each rank of coal was determined by analyzing the hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio. The highest efficiency rank was anthracite, with hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio of 1.4. GC analysis also showed that the maximum hydrogen generation occurs at 100 mJ/pulse laser energy. The efficiency of each rank of coal was observed to correlate with carbon content. American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund.

Beyond Low Rank + Sparse: Multi-scale Low Rank Matrix Decomposition

PubMed Central

Ong, Frank; Lustig, Michael

2016-01-01

We present a natural generalization of the recent low rank + sparse matrix decomposition and consider the decomposition of matrices into components of multiple scales. Such decomposition is well motivated in practice as data matrices often exhibit local correlations in multiple scales. Concretely, we propose a multi-scale low rank modeling that represents a data matrix as a sum of block-wise low rank matrices with increasing scales of block sizes. We then consider the inverse problem of decomposing the data matrix into its multi-scale low rank components and approach the problem via a convex formulation. Theoretically, we show that under various incoherence conditions, the convex program recovers the multi-scale low rank components either exactly or approximately. Practically, we provide guidance on selecting the regularization parameters and incorporate cycle spinning to reduce blocking artifacts. Experimentally, we show that the multi-scale low rank decomposition provides a more intuitive decomposition than conventional low rank methods and demonstrate its effectiveness in four applications, including illumination normalization for face images, motion separation for surveillance videos, multi-scale modeling of the dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and collaborative filtering exploiting age information. PMID:28450978

Assessment of factors influencing preservation of dignity at life's end: creation and the cross-cultural validation of the preservation of dignity card-sort tool.

PubMed

Periyakoil, Vyjeyanthi S; Noda, Arthur M; Kraemer, Helena Chmura

2010-05-01

Preserving patient dignity is a sentinel premise of palliative care. This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of factors influencing preservation of dignity in the last chapter of life. We conducted an open-ended written survey of 100 multidisciplinary providers (69% response rate) and responses were categorized to identify 2 main themes, 5 subthemes, and 10 individual factors that were used to create the preservation of dignity card-sort tool (p-DCT). The 10-item rank order tool was administered to a cohort of community dwelling Filipino Americans (n = 140, age mean = 61.3, 45% male and 55% female). A Spearman correlation matrix was constructed for all the 10 individual factors as well as the themes and subthemes based on the data generated by the subjects. The individual factors were minimally correlated with each other indicating that each factor was an independent stand-alone factor. The median, 25th and 75th percentile ranks were calculated and "s/he has self-respect" (intrinsic theme, self-esteem subtheme) emerged as the most important factor (mean rank 3.0 and median rank 2.0) followed by "others treat her/him with respect" (extrinsic theme, respect subtheme) with a mean rank = 3.6 and median = 3.0. The p-DCT is a simple, rank order card-sort tool that may help clinicians identify patients' perceptions of key factors influencing the preservation of their dignity in the last chapter of life.

Publication Productivity and Experience: Factors Associated with Academic Rank Among Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty in the United States.

PubMed

Ence, Andrew K; Cope, Seth R; Holliday, Emma B; Somerson, Jeremy S

2016-05-18

Many factors play a role in academic promotion among orthopaedic surgeons. This study specifically examined the importance of publication productivity metrics, career duration, and sex on academic rank in orthopaedic surgery programs in the United States. Faculty at 142 civilian academic orthopaedic surgery departments in 2014 were identified. Geographic region, department size, and 3 specific faculty characteristics (sex, career duration, and academic position) were recorded. The Hirsch index (h-index), defined as the number (h) of an investigator's publications that have been cited at least h times, was recorded for each surgeon. The m-index was also calculated by dividing the h-index by career duration in years. Thresholds for the h-index and the m-index were identified between junior and senior academic ranks. Multivariate analysis was used to determine whether the 3 physician factors correlated independently with academic rank. The analysis included 4,663 orthopaedic surgeons at 142 academic institutions (24.7% clinical faculty and 75.3% academic faculty). Among academic faculty, the median h-index was 5, the median career duration was 15 years, and the median m-index was 0.37. Thresholds between junior and senior faculty status were 12 for the h-index and 0.51 for the m-index. Female academic faculty had a lower median h-index (3 compared with 5; p < 0.001) and career duration (10 years compared with 16 years; p < 0.001) than male academic faculty, but had a similar median m-index (0.33 compared with 0.38; p = 0.103). A higher h-index and longer career duration correlated independently with an increased probability of senior academic rank (p < 0.001), but sex did not (p = 0.217). This analysis demonstrates that a higher h-index and m-index correlate with a higher academic orthopaedic faculty rank. Although female surgeons had a lower median h-index and a shorter median career duration than male surgeons, their m-index was not significantly different, and thus sex was not an independent predictor for senior academic rank. The identified thresholds (h-index of 12 and m-index of 0.51) between junior and senior academic ranks may be considered as factors in promotion considerations. Copyright © 2016 by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Incorporated.

Genetic parameter estimation for long endurance trials in the Uruguayan Criollo horse.

PubMed

López-Correa, R D; Peñagaricano, F; Rovere, G; Urioste, J I

2018-06-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters of performance in a 750-km, 15-day ride in Criollo horses. Heritability (h 2 ) and maternal lineage effects (mt 2 ) were obtained for rank, a relative placing measure of performance. Additive genetic and maternal lineage (rmt) correlations among five medium-to-high intensity phase ranks (pRK) and final rank (RK) were also estimated. Individual records from 1,236 Criollo horses from 1979 to 2012 were used. A multivariate threshold animal model was applied to the pRK and RK. Heritability was moderate to low (0.156-0.275). Estimates of mt 2 were consistently low (0.04-0.06). Additive genetic correlations between individual pRK and RK were high (0.801-0.924), and the genetic correlations between individual pRKs ranged from 0.763 to 0.847. The pRK heritabilities revealed that some phases were explained by a greater additive component, whereas others showed stronger genetic relationships with RK. Thus, not all pRK may be considered as similar measures of performance in competition. © 2018 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Research on the Fusion of Dependent Evidence Based on Rank Correlation Coefficient.

PubMed

Shi, Fengjian; Su, Xiaoyan; Qian, Hong; Yang, Ning; Han, Wenhua

2017-10-16

In order to meet the higher accuracy and system reliability requirements, the information fusion for multi-sensor systems is an increasing concern. Dempster-Shafer evidence theory (D-S theory) has been investigated for many applications in multi-sensor information fusion due to its flexibility in uncertainty modeling. However, classical evidence theory assumes that the evidence is independent of each other, which is often unrealistic. Ignoring the relationship between the evidence may lead to unreasonable fusion results, and even lead to wrong decisions. This assumption severely prevents D-S evidence theory from practical application and further development. In this paper, an innovative evidence fusion model to deal with dependent evidence based on rank correlation coefficient is proposed. The model first uses rank correlation coefficient to measure the dependence degree between different evidence. Then, total discount coefficient is obtained based on the dependence degree, which also considers the impact of the reliability of evidence. Finally, the discount evidence fusion model is presented. An example is illustrated to show the use and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Research on the Fusion of Dependent Evidence Based on Rank Correlation Coefficient

PubMed Central

Su, Xiaoyan; Qian, Hong; Yang, Ning; Han, Wenhua

2017-01-01

In order to meet the higher accuracy and system reliability requirements, the information fusion for multi-sensor systems is an increasing concern. Dempster–Shafer evidence theory (D–S theory) has been investigated for many applications in multi-sensor information fusion due to its flexibility in uncertainty modeling. However, classical evidence theory assumes that the evidence is independent of each other, which is often unrealistic. Ignoring the relationship between the evidence may lead to unreasonable fusion results, and even lead to wrong decisions. This assumption severely prevents D–S evidence theory from practical application and further development. In this paper, an innovative evidence fusion model to deal with dependent evidence based on rank correlation coefficient is proposed. The model first uses rank correlation coefficient to measure the dependence degree between different evidence. Then, total discount coefficient is obtained based on the dependence degree, which also considers the impact of the reliability of evidence. Finally, the discount evidence fusion model is presented. An example is illustrated to show the use and effectiveness of the proposed method. PMID:29035341

Monograph On Tensor Notations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sirlin, Samuel W.

1993-01-01

Eight-page report describes systems of notation used most commonly to represent tensors of various ranks, with emphasis on tensors in Cartesian coordinate systems. Serves as introductory or refresher text for scientists, engineers, and others familiar with basic concepts of coordinate systems, vectors, and partial derivatives. Indicial tensor, vector, dyadic, and matrix notations, and relationships among them described.

How IRT Can Solve Problems of Ipsative Data in Forced-Choice Questionnaires

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Anna; Maydeu-Olivares, Alberto

2013-01-01

In multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) questionnaires, items measuring different attributes are presented in blocks, and participants have to rank order the items within each block (fully or partially). Such comparative formats can reduce the impact of numerous response biases often affecting single-stimulus items (aka rating or Likert scales).…

MIrExpress: A Database for Gene Coexpression Correlation in Immune Cells Based on Mutual Information and Pearson Correlation

PubMed Central

Wang, Luman; Mo, Qiaochu; Wang, Jianxin

2015-01-01

Most current gene coexpression databases support the analysis for linear correlation of gene pairs, but not nonlinear correlation of them, which hinders precisely evaluating the gene-gene coexpression strengths. Here, we report a new database, MIrExpress, which takes advantage of the information theory, as well as the Pearson linear correlation method, to measure the linear correlation, nonlinear correlation, and their hybrid of cell-specific gene coexpressions in immune cells. For a given gene pair or probe set pair input by web users, both mutual information (MI) and Pearson correlation coefficient (r) are calculated, and several corresponding values are reported to reflect their coexpression correlation nature, including MI and r values, their respective rank orderings, their rank comparison, and their hybrid correlation value. Furthermore, for a given gene, the top 10 most relevant genes to it are displayed with the MI, r, or their hybrid perspective, respectively. Currently, the database totally includes 16 human cell groups, involving 20,283 human genes. The expression data and the calculated correlation results from the database are interactively accessible on the web page and can be implemented for other related applications and researches. PMID:26881263

MIrExpress: A Database for Gene Coexpression Correlation in Immune Cells Based on Mutual Information and Pearson Correlation.

PubMed

Wang, Luman; Mo, Qiaochu; Wang, Jianxin

2015-01-01

Most current gene coexpression databases support the analysis for linear correlation of gene pairs, but not nonlinear correlation of them, which hinders precisely evaluating the gene-gene coexpression strengths. Here, we report a new database, MIrExpress, which takes advantage of the information theory, as well as the Pearson linear correlation method, to measure the linear correlation, nonlinear correlation, and their hybrid of cell-specific gene coexpressions in immune cells. For a given gene pair or probe set pair input by web users, both mutual information (MI) and Pearson correlation coefficient (r) are calculated, and several corresponding values are reported to reflect their coexpression correlation nature, including MI and r values, their respective rank orderings, their rank comparison, and their hybrid correlation value. Furthermore, for a given gene, the top 10 most relevant genes to it are displayed with the MI, r, or their hybrid perspective, respectively. Currently, the database totally includes 16 human cell groups, involving 20,283 human genes. The expression data and the calculated correlation results from the database are interactively accessible on the web page and can be implemented for other related applications and researches.

SBML-SAT: a systems biology markup language (SBML) based sensitivity analysis tool

PubMed Central

Zi, Zhike; Zheng, Yanan; Rundell, Ann E; Klipp, Edda

2008-01-01

Background It has long been recognized that sensitivity analysis plays a key role in modeling and analyzing cellular and biochemical processes. Systems biology markup language (SBML) has become a well-known platform for coding and sharing mathematical models of such processes. However, current SBML compatible software tools are limited in their ability to perform global sensitivity analyses of these models. Results This work introduces a freely downloadable, software package, SBML-SAT, which implements algorithms for simulation, steady state analysis, robustness analysis and local and global sensitivity analysis for SBML models. This software tool extends current capabilities through its execution of global sensitivity analyses using multi-parametric sensitivity analysis, partial rank correlation coefficient, SOBOL's method, and weighted average of local sensitivity analyses in addition to its ability to handle systems with discontinuous events and intuitive graphical user interface. Conclusion SBML-SAT provides the community of systems biologists a new tool for the analysis of their SBML models of biochemical and cellular processes. PMID:18706080

SBML-SAT: a systems biology markup language (SBML) based sensitivity analysis tool.

PubMed

Zi, Zhike; Zheng, Yanan; Rundell, Ann E; Klipp, Edda

2008-08-15

It has long been recognized that sensitivity analysis plays a key role in modeling and analyzing cellular and biochemical processes. Systems biology markup language (SBML) has become a well-known platform for coding and sharing mathematical models of such processes. However, current SBML compatible software tools are limited in their ability to perform global sensitivity analyses of these models. This work introduces a freely downloadable, software package, SBML-SAT, which implements algorithms for simulation, steady state analysis, robustness analysis and local and global sensitivity analysis for SBML models. This software tool extends current capabilities through its execution of global sensitivity analyses using multi-parametric sensitivity analysis, partial rank correlation coefficient, SOBOL's method, and weighted average of local sensitivity analyses in addition to its ability to handle systems with discontinuous events and intuitive graphical user interface. SBML-SAT provides the community of systems biologists a new tool for the analysis of their SBML models of biochemical and cellular processes.

Interuser Interference Analysis for Direct-Sequence Spread-Spectrum Systems Part I: Partial-Period Cross-Correlation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ni, Jianjun (David)

2012-01-01

This presentation discusses an analysis approach to evaluate the interuser interference for Direct-Sequence Spread-Spectrum (DSSS) Systems for Space Network (SN) Users. Part I of this analysis shows that the correlation property of pseudo noise (PN) sequences is the critical factor which determines the interuser interference performance of the DSSS system. For non-standard DSSS systems in which PN sequence s period is much larger than one data symbol duration, it is the partial-period cross-correlation that determines the system performance. This study reveals through an example that a well-designed PN sequence set (e.g. Gold Sequence, in which the cross-correlation for a whole-period is well controlled) may have non-controlled partial-period cross-correlation which could cause severe interuser interference for a DSSS system. Since the analytical derivation of performance metric (bit error rate or signal-to-noise ratio) based on partial-period cross-correlation is prohibitive, the performance degradation due to partial-period cross-correlation will be evaluated using simulation in Part II of this analysis in the future.

Relative validity of an FFQ to estimate daily food and nutrient intakes for Chilean adults.

PubMed

Dehghan, Mahshid; Martinez, Solange; Zhang, Xiaohe; Seron, Pamela; Lanas, Fernando; Islam, Shofiqul; Merchant, Anwar T

2013-10-01

FFQ are commonly used to rank individuals by their food and nutrient intakes in large epidemiological studies. The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate an FFQ to rank individuals participating in an ongoing Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study in Chile. An FFQ and four 24 h dietary recalls were completed over 1 year. Pearson correlation coefficients, energy-adjusted and de-attenuated correlations and weighted kappa were computed between the dietary recalls and the FFQ. The level of agreement between the two dietary assessment methods was evaluated by Bland-Altman analysis. Temuco, Chile. Overall, 166 women and men enrolled in the present study. One hundred men and women participated in FFQ development and sixty-six individuals participated in FFQ validation. The FFQ consisted of 109 food items. For nutrients, the crude correlation coefficients between the dietary recalls and FFQ varied from 0.14 (protein) to 0.44 (fat). Energy adjustment and de-attenuation improved correlation coefficients and almost all correlation coefficients exceeded 0.40. Similar correlation coefficients were observed for food groups; the highest de-attenuated energy adjusted correlation coefficient was found for margarine and butter (0.75) and the lowest for potatoes (0.12). The FFQ showed moderate to high agreement for most nutrients and food groups, and can be used to rank individuals based on energy, nutrient and food intakes. The validation study was conducted in a unique setting and indicated that the tool is valid for use by adults in Chile.

Partial budget of the discounted annual benefit of mastitis control strategies.

PubMed

Allore, H G; Erb, H N

1998-08-01

The objective of this study was to rank the benefits associated with various mastitis control strategies in simulated herds with intramammary infections caused by Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus spp. other than Strep. agalactiae, Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci, and Escherichia coli. The control strategies tested were prevention, vaccination for E. coli, lactation therapy, and dry cow antibiotic therapy. Partial budgets were based on changes caused by mastitis control strategies from the mean values for milk, fat, and protein yields of the control herd and the number of cows that were culled under a fixed mastitis culling criterion. Each annual benefit (dollars per cow per year) of a mastitis control strategy was compared with the revenue for the control herd and was calculated under two different milk pricing plans (3.5% milk fat and multiple-component pricing), three net replacement costs, and three prevalences of pathogen-specific intramammary infection. Twenty replicates of each control strategy were run with SIMMAST (a dynamic discrete event stochastic simulation model) for 5 simulated yr. Rankings of discounted annual benefits differed only slightly according to milk pricing plans within a pathogen group but differed among the pathogen groups. Differences in net replacement costs for cows culled because of mastitis did not change the ranking of control strategies within a pathogen group. Both prevention and dry cow therapy were important mastitis control strategies. For herds primarily infected with environmental pathogens, strategies that included vaccination for mastitis caused by E. coli dominated strategies that did not include vaccination against this microorganism.

Evaluating the relative environmental impact of countries.

PubMed

Bradshaw, Corey J A; Giam, Xingli; Sodhi, Navjot S

2010-05-03

Environmental protection is critical to maintain ecosystem services essential for human well-being. It is important to be able to rank countries by their environmental impact so that poor performers as well as policy 'models' can be identified. We provide novel metrics of country-specific environmental impact ranks - one proportional to total resource availability per country and an absolute (total) measure of impact - that explicitly avoid incorporating confounding human health or economic indicators. Our rankings are based on natural forest loss, habitat conversion, marine captures, fertilizer use, water pollution, carbon emissions and species threat, although many other variables were excluded due to a lack of country-specific data. Of 228 countries considered, 179 (proportional) and 171 (absolute) had sufficient data for correlations. The proportional index ranked Singapore, Korea, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Thailand, Bahrain, Malaysia, Philippines and Netherlands as having the highest proportional environmental impact, whereas Brazil, USA, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, India, Russia, Australia and Peru had the highest absolute impact (i.e., total resource use, emissions and species threatened). Proportional and absolute environmental impact ranks were correlated, with mainly Asian countries having both high proportional and absolute impact. Despite weak concordance among the drivers of environmental impact, countries often perform poorly for different reasons. We found no evidence to support the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis of a non-linear relationship between impact and per capita wealth, although there was a weak reduction in environmental impact as per capita wealth increases. Using structural equation models to account for cross-correlation, we found that increasing wealth was the most important driver of environmental impact. Our results show that the global community not only has to encourage better environmental performance in less-developed countries, especially those in Asia, there is also a requirement to focus on the development of environmentally friendly practices in wealthier countries.

[Establishment of simultaneous measurement method of 8 salivary components using urinary test paper and clinical evaluation of oral environment].

PubMed

Yuuki, Kenji; Tsukasaki, Hiroaki; Kawawa, Tadaharu; Shiba, Akihiko; Shiba, Kiyoko

2008-07-01

Clinical findings were compared with glucose, protein, albumin, bilirubin, creatinine, pH, occult blood, ketone body, nitrite, and white blood cells contained in whole saliva to investigate the components that most markedly reflect the periodontal condition. The subjects were staff of the Prosthodontics Department, Showa University, and patients who visited for dental treatments (57 subjects in total). At the first time, saliva samples were gargled with 1.5 ml of distilled water for 15 seconds and collected by spitting out into a paper cup. At the second time, saliva samples were collected by the same method. At the third time, saliva samples after chewing paraffin gum for 60 seconds were collected by spitting out into a paper cup. Thus whole saliva collecting that was divided on three times. After sampling, 8 mul of the saliva sample was dripped in reagent sticks for the 10 items of urinary test paper and the reflectance was measured using a specific reflectometer. In the periodontal tissue evaluation, the degree of alveolar bone resorption, probing value, and tooth mobility and the presence or absence of lesions in the root furcation were examined and classified into 4 ranks. The mean values in each periodontal disease rank and correlation between the periodontal disease ranks and the components were statistically analyzed. Bilirubin and ketone body were not measurable. The components density of the 8 items was increased as the periodontal disease rank increased. Regarding the correlation between the periodontal disease ranks and the components, high correlations were noted for protein, albumin, creatinine, pH, and white blood cells. The simultaneous measurement method of 8 salivary components using test paper may be very useful for the diagnosis of periodontal disease of abutment teeth.

A test for patterns of modularity in sequences of developmental events.

PubMed

Poe, Steven

2004-08-01

This study presents a statistical test for modularity in the context of relative timing of developmental events. The test assesses whether sets of developmental events show special phylogenetic conservation of rank order. The test statistic is the correlation coefficient of developmental ranks of the N events of the hypothesized module across taxa. The null distribution is obtained by taking correlation coefficients for randomly sampled sets of N events. This test was applied to two datasets, including one where phylogenetic information was taken into account. The events of limb development in two frog species were found to behave as a module.

Green analytical chemistry introduction to chloropropanols determination at no economic and analytical performance costs?

PubMed

Jędrkiewicz, Renata; Orłowski, Aleksander; Namieśnik, Jacek; Tobiszewski, Marek

2016-01-15

In this study we perform ranking of analytical procedures for 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol determination in soy sauces by PROMETHEE method. Multicriteria decision analysis was performed for three different scenarios - metrological, economic and environmental, by application of different weights to decision making criteria. All three scenarios indicate capillary electrophoresis-based procedure as the most preferable. Apart from that the details of ranking results differ for these three scenarios. The second run of rankings was done for scenarios that include metrological, economic and environmental criteria only, neglecting others. These results show that green analytical chemistry-based selection correlates with economic, while there is no correlation with metrological ones. This is an implication that green analytical chemistry can be brought into laboratories without analytical performance costs and it is even supported by economic reasons. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Functional network connectivity analysis based on partial correlation in Alzheimer's disease

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Nan; Guan, Xiaoting; Zhang, Yumei; Li, Jingjing; Chen, Hongyan; Chen, Kewei; Fleisher, Adam; Yao, Li; Wu, Xia

2009-02-01

Functional network connectivity (FNC) measures the temporal dependency among the time courses of functional networks. However, the marginal correlation between two networks used in the classic FNC analysis approach doesn't separate the FNC from the direct/indirect effects of other networks. In this study, we proposed an alternative approach based on partial correlation to evaluate the FNC, since partial correlation based FNC can reveal the direct interaction between a pair of networks, removing dependencies or influences from others. Previous studies have demonstrated less task-specific activation and less rest-state activity in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We applied present approach to contrast FNC differences of resting state network (RSN) between AD and normal controls (NC). The fMRI data under resting condition were collected from 15 AD and 16 NC. FNC was calculated for each pair of six RSNs identified using Group ICA, thus resulting in 15 (2 out of 6) pairs for each subject. Partial correlation based FNC analysis indicated 6 pairs significant differences between groups, while marginal correlation only revealed 2 pairs (involved in the partial correlation results). Additionally, patients showed lower correlation than controls among most of the FNC differences. Our results provide new evidences for the disconnection hypothesis in AD.

Rank-dependent deactivation in network evolution.

PubMed

Xu, Xin-Jian; Zhou, Ming-Chen

2009-12-01

A rank-dependent deactivation mechanism is introduced to network evolution. The growth dynamics of the network is based on a finite memory of individuals, which is implemented by deactivating one site at each time step. The model shows striking features of a wide range of real-world networks: power-law degree distribution, high clustering coefficient, and disassortative degree correlation.

English Language Use at the Internationalised Universities of Northern Europe: Is There a Correlation between Englishisation and World Rank?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hultgren, Anna Kristina

2014-01-01

European universities have, since the late 1990s, undergone dramatic changes centred on internationalisation, harmonisation and competition. This paper is concerned with two specific consequences of these changes and their interrelationship: rankings and Englishisation, the latter defined as an increase in the use of English at universities of…

Reduced basis ANOVA methods for partial differential equations with high-dimensional random inputs

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

Liao, Qifeng, E-mail: liaoqf@shanghaitech.edu.cn; Lin, Guang, E-mail: guanglin@purdue.edu

2016-07-15

In this paper we present a reduced basis ANOVA approach for partial deferential equations (PDEs) with random inputs. The ANOVA method combined with stochastic collocation methods provides model reduction in high-dimensional parameter space through decomposing high-dimensional inputs into unions of low-dimensional inputs. In this work, to further reduce the computational cost, we investigate spatial low-rank structures in the ANOVA-collocation method, and develop efficient spatial model reduction techniques using hierarchically generated reduced bases. We present a general mathematical framework of the methodology, validate its accuracy and demonstrate its efficiency with numerical experiments.

Basic principles of Hasse diagram technique in chemistry.

PubMed

Brüggemann, Rainer; Voigt, Kristina

2008-11-01

Principles of partial order applied to ranking are explained. The Hasse diagram technique (HDT) is the application of partial order theory based on a data matrix. In this paper, HDT is introduced in a stepwise procedure, and some elementary theorems are exemplified. The focus is to show how the multivariate character of a data matrix is realized by HDT and in which cases one should apply other mathematical or statistical methods. Many simple examples illustrate the basic theoretical ideas. Finally, it is shown that HDT is a useful alternative for the evaluation of antifouling agents, which was originally performed by amoeba diagrams.

Genetic diversity and reproductive success in mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx).

PubMed

Charpentier, M; Setchell, J M; Prugnolle, F; Knapp, L A; Wickings, E J; Peignot, P; Hossaert-McKey, M

2005-11-15

Recent studies of wild animal populations have shown that estimators of neutral genetic diversity, such as mean heterozygosity, are often correlated with various fitness traits, such as survival, disease susceptibility, or reproductive success. We used two estimators of genetic diversity to explore the relationship between heterozygosity and reproductive success in male and female mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) living in a semifree ranging setting in Gabon. Because social rank is known to influence reproductive success in both sexes, we also examined the correlation between genetic diversity and social rank in females, and acquisition of alpha status in males, as well as length of alpha male tenure. We found that heterozygous individuals showed greater reproductive success, with both females and males producing more offspring. However, heterozygosity influenced reproductive success only in dominant males, not in subordinates. Neither the acquisition of alpha status in males, nor social rank in females, was significantly correlated with heterozygosity, although more heterozygous alpha males showed longer tenure than homozygous ones. We also tested whether the benefits of greater genetic diversity were due mainly to a genome-wide effect of inbreeding depression or to heterosis at one or a few loci. Multilocus effects best explained the correlation between heterozygosity and reproductive success and tenure, indicating the occurrence of inbreeding depression in this mandrill colony.

The rank correlated SLW model of gas radiation in non-uniform media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solovjov, Vladimir P.; Andre, Frederic; Lemonnier, Denis; Webb, Brent W.

2017-08-01

A comprehensive theoretical development of possible reference approaches in modelling of radiation transfer in non-uniform gaseous media is developed within the framework of the Generalized SLW Model. The notion of absorption spectrum ;correlation; adopted currently for global methods in gas radiation is critically revisited and replaced by a less restrictive concept of rank correlated spectrum. Within this framework it is shown that eight different reference approaches are possible, of which only three have been reported in the literature. Among the approaches presented is a novel Rank Correlated SLW Model, which is distinguished by the fact that i) it does not require the specification of a reference gas thermodynamic state, and ii) it preserves the emission term in the spectrally integrated Radiative Transfer Equation. Construction of this reference model requires only two absorption line blackbody distribution functions, and subdivision into gray gases can be performed using standard quadratures. Consequently, this new reference approach appears to have significant advantages over all other methods, and is, in general, a significant improvement in the global modelling of gas radiation. All reference approaches are summarized in the present work, and their use in radiative transfer prediction is demonstrated for simple example cases. Further, a detailed rigorous theoretical development of the improved methods is provided.

Coexpression of aPKCλ/ι and IL-6 in prostate cancer tissue correlates with biochemical recurrence.

PubMed

Ishiguro, Hitoshi; Akimoto, Kazunori; Nagashima, Yoji; Kagawa, Eriko; Sasaki, Takeshi; Sano, Jin-yu; Takagawa, Ryo; Fujinami, Kiyoshi; Sasaki, Kazunori; Aoki, Ichiro; Ohno, Shigeo; Kubota, Yoshinobu; Uemura, Hiroji

2011-08-01

Atypical protein kinase C λ/ι (aPKCλ/ι) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) have been implicated in prostate cancer progression, the mechanisms of which have been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. However, the clinical significance of the correlation between the expressions of these factors remains to be clarified. In the present study, we report a significant correlation between aPKCλ/ι and IL-6 proteins in prostate cancer tissue by immunohistochemical staining. We evaluated the association of both proteins by analyzing clinicopathological parameters using chi-square test, Kaplan-Meier with log-rank test, and a Cox proportional hazard regression model in univariate and multivariate analyses. The results again showed that the expression of aPKCλ/ι and IL-6 correlates in prostate cancer tissue (P < 0.001). Atypical protein kinase C λ/ι was also found to correlate with the Gleason score (P < 0.001) and with biochemical recurrence after prostatectomy (P = 0.02). Furthermore, aPKCλ/ι correlated with biochemical recurrence in a Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test (P = 0.01) and Cox analysis (P = 0.02 in the univariate analysis, P = 0.02 in the multivariate analysis). The coexpression of aPKCλ/ι and IL-6 also correlated with biochemical recurrence by Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test (P = 0.005) and Cox analysis (P = 0.01 in the univariate analysis, P = 0.03 in the multivariate analysis). These results indicate a strong correlation between aPKCλ/ι and IL-6 in prostate tumors, and that the aPKCλ/ι-IL-6 axis is a reliable prognostic factor for the biochemical recurrence of this cancer. © 2011 Japanese Cancer Association.

Super-resolution reconstruction in frequency, image, and wavelet domains to reduce through-plane partial voluming in MRI.

PubMed

Gholipour, Ali; Afacan, Onur; Aganj, Iman; Scherrer, Benoit; Prabhu, Sanjay P; Sahin, Mustafa; Warfield, Simon K

2015-12-01

To compare and evaluate the use of super-resolution reconstruction (SRR), in frequency, image, and wavelet domains, to reduce through-plane partial voluming effects in magnetic resonance imaging. The reconstruction of an isotropic high-resolution image from multiple thick-slice scans has been investigated through techniques in frequency, image, and wavelet domains. Experiments were carried out with thick-slice T2-weighted fast spin echo sequence on the Academic College of Radiology MRI phantom, where the reconstructed images were compared to a reference high-resolution scan using peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity image metric (SSIM), mutual information (MI), and the mean absolute error (MAE) of image intensity profiles. The application of super-resolution reconstruction was then examined in retrospective processing of clinical neuroimages of ten pediatric patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) to reduce through-plane partial voluming for improved 3D delineation and visualization of thin radial bands of white matter abnormalities. Quantitative evaluation results show improvements in all evaluation metrics through super-resolution reconstruction in the frequency, image, and wavelet domains, with the highest values obtained from SRR in the image domain. The metric values for image-domain SRR versus the original axial, coronal, and sagittal images were PSNR = 32.26 vs 32.22, 32.16, 30.65; SSIM = 0.931 vs 0.922, 0.924, 0.918; MI = 0.871 vs 0.842, 0.844, 0.831; and MAE = 5.38 vs 7.34, 7.06, 6.19. All similarity metrics showed high correlations with expert ranking of image resolution with MI showing the highest correlation at 0.943. Qualitative assessment of the neuroimages of ten TSC patients through in-plane and out-of-plane visualization of structures showed the extent of partial voluming effect in a real clinical scenario and its reduction using SRR. Blinded expert evaluation of image resolution in resampled out-of-plane views consistently showed the superiority of SRR compared to original axial and coronal image acquisitions. Thick-slice 2D T2-weighted MRI scans are part of many routine clinical protocols due to their high signal-to-noise ratio, but are often severely affected by through-plane partial voluming effects. This study shows that while radiologic assessment is performed in 2D on thick-slice scans, super-resolution MRI reconstruction techniques can be used to fuse those scans to generate a high-resolution image with reduced partial voluming for improved postacquisition processing. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation showed the efficacy of all SRR techniques with the best results obtained from SRR in the image domain. The limitations of SRR techniques are uncertainties in modeling the slice profile, density compensation, quantization in resampling, and uncompensated motion between scans.

Dosimetric Improvements with a Novel Breast Stereotactic Radiotherapy Device for Delivery of Preoperative Partial-Breast Irradiation.

PubMed

Snider, James W; Mutaf, Yildirim; Nichols, Elizabeth; Hall, Andrea; Vadnais, Patrick; Regine, William F; Feigenberg, Steven J

2017-01-01

Partial-breast irradiation (PBI) with external-beam radiotherapy has produced higher than expected rates of fair-to-poor cosmesis. Worsened outcomes have been correlated with larger volumes of breast tissue exposed to radiation. A novel breast-specific stereotactic radiotherapy (BSRT) device (BSRTD) has been developed at our institution and has shown promise in delivering highly conformal dose distributions. We compared normal tissue sparing with this device with that achieved with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)-PBI. Fifteen women previously treated with breast conservation therapy were enrolled on an institutional review board-approved protocol. Each of them underwent CT simulation in the prone position using the BSRTD-specific immobilization system. Simulated postoperative and preoperative treatment volumes were generated based on surgical bed/clip position. Blinded planners generated IMRT-PBI plans and BSRT plans for each set of volumes. These plans were compared based on clinically validated markers for cosmetic outcome and toxicity using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The BSRT plans consistently reduced the volumes receiving each of several dose levels (Vx) to breast tissue, the chest wall, the lung, the heart, and the skin in both preoperative and postoperative settings (p < 0.05). Preoperative BSRT yielded particularly dramatic improvements. The novel BSRTD has demonstrated significant dosimetric benefits over IMRT-PBI. Further investigation is currently proceeding through initial clinical trials. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Dominating clasp of the financial sector revealed by partial correlation analysis of the stock market.

PubMed

Kenett, Dror Y; Tumminello, Michele; Madi, Asaf; Gur-Gershgoren, Gitit; Mantegna, Rosario N; Ben-Jacob, Eshel

2010-12-20

What are the dominant stocks which drive the correlations present among stocks traded in a stock market? Can a correlation analysis provide an answer to this question? In the past, correlation based networks have been proposed as a tool to uncover the underlying backbone of the market. Correlation based networks represent the stocks and their relationships, which are then investigated using different network theory methodologies. Here we introduce a new concept to tackle the above question--the partial correlation network. Partial correlation is a measure of how the correlation between two variables, e.g., stock returns, is affected by a third variable. By using it we define a proxy of stock influence, which is then used to construct partial correlation networks. The empirical part of this study is performed on a specific financial system, namely the set of 300 highly capitalized stocks traded at the New York Stock Exchange, in the time period 2001-2003. By constructing the partial correlation network, unlike the case of standard correlation based networks, we find that stocks belonging to the financial sector and, in particular, to the investment services sub-sector, are the most influential stocks affecting the correlation profile of the system. Using a moving window analysis, we find that the strong influence of the financial stocks is conserved across time for the investigated trading period. Our findings shed a new light on the underlying mechanisms and driving forces controlling the correlation profile observed in a financial market.

Correlation singularities in a partially coherent electromagnetic beam with initially radial polarization.

PubMed

Zhang, Yongtao; Cui, Yan; Wang, Fei; Cai, Yangjian

2015-05-04

We have investigated the correlation singularities, coherence vortices of two-point correlation function in a partially coherent vector beam with initially radial polarization, i.e., partially coherent radially polarized (PCRP) beam. It is found that these singularities generally occur during free space propagation. Analytical formulae for characterizing the dynamics of the correlation singularities on propagation are derived. The influence of the spatial coherence length of the beam on the evolution properties of the correlation singularities and the conditions for creation and annihilation of the correlation singularities during propagation have been studied in detail based on the derived formulae. Some interesting results are illustrated. These correlation singularities have implication for interference experiments with a PCRP beam.

Unidimensional factor models imply weaker partial correlations than zero-order correlations.

PubMed

van Bork, Riet; Grasman, Raoul P P P; Waldorp, Lourens J

2018-06-01

In this paper we present a new implication of the unidimensional factor model. We prove that the partial correlation between two observed variables that load on one factor given any subset of other observed variables that load on this factor lies between zero and the zero-order correlation between these two observed variables. We implement this result in an empirical bootstrap test that rejects the unidimensional factor model when partial correlations are identified that are either stronger than the zero-order correlation or have a different sign than the zero-order correlation. We demonstrate the use of the test in an empirical data example with data consisting of fourteen items that measure extraversion.

A new method for comparing rankings through complex networks: Model and analysis of competitiveness of major European soccer leagues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Criado, Regino; García, Esther; Pedroche, Francisco; Romance, Miguel

2013-12-01

In this paper, we show a new technique to analyze families of rankings. In particular, we focus on sports rankings and, more precisely, on soccer leagues. We consider that two teams compete when they change their relative positions in consecutive rankings. This allows to define a graph by linking teams that compete. We show how to use some structural properties of this competitivity graph to measure to what extend the teams in a league compete. These structural properties are the mean degree, the mean strength, and the clustering coefficient. We give a generalization of the Kendall's correlation coefficient to more than two rankings. We also show how to make a dynamic analysis of a league and how to compare different leagues. We apply this technique to analyze the four major European soccer leagues: Bundesliga, Italian Lega, Spanish Liga, and Premier League. We compare our results with the classical analysis of sport ranking based on measures of competitive balance.

Partial scan artifact reduction (PSAR) for the assessment of cardiac perfusion in dynamic phase-correlated CT.

PubMed

Stenner, Philip; Schmidt, Bernhard; Bruder, Herbert; Allmendinger, Thomas; Haberland, Ulrike; Flohr, Thomas; Kachelriess, Marc

2009-12-01

Cardiac CT achieves its high temporal resolution by lowering the scan range from 2pi to pi plus fan angle (partial scan). This, however, introduces CT-value variations, depending on the angular position of the pi range. These partial scan artifacts are of the order of a few HU and prevent the quantitative evaluation of perfusion measurements. The authors present the new algorithm partial scan artifact reduction (PSAR) that corrects a dynamic phase-correlated scan without a priori information. In general, a full scan does not suffer from partial scan artifacts since all projections in [0, 2pi] contribute to the data. To maintain the optimum temporal resolution and the phase correlation, PSAR creates an artificial full scan pn(AF) by projectionwise averaging a set of neighboring partial scans pn(P) from the same perfusion examination (typically N approximately 30 phase-correlated partial scans distributed over 20 s and n = 1, ..., N). Corresponding to the angular range of each partial scan, the authors extract virtual partial scans pn(V) from the artificial full scan pn(AF). A standard reconstruction yields the corresponding images fn(P), fn(AF), and fn(V). Subtracting the virtual partial scan image fn(V) from the artificial full scan image fn(AF) yields an artifact image that can be used to correct the original partial scan image: fn(C) = fn(P) - fn(V) + fn(AF), where fn(C) is the corrected image. The authors evaluated the effects of scattered radiation on the partial scan artifacts using simulated and measured water phantoms and found a strong correlation. The PSAR algorithm has been validated with a simulated semianthropomorphic heart phantom and with measurements of a dynamic biological perfusion phantom. For the stationary phantoms, real full scans have been performed to provide theoretical reference values. The improvement in the root mean square errors between the full and the partial scans with respect to the errors between the full and the corrected scans is up to 54% for the simulations and 90% for the measurements. The phase-correlated data now appear accurate enough for a quantitative analysis of cardiac perfusion.

Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor Kappa B (RANK) and Clinicopathological Variables in Endometrial Cancer: A Study at Protein and Gene Level.

PubMed

Gómez, Raúl; Castro, Ana; Martínez, Jessica; Rodríguez-García, Víctor; Burgués, Octavio; Tarín, Juan J; Cano, Antonio

2018-06-22

The system integrated by the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B (RANK) and its ligand, RANKL, modulates the role of hormones in the genesis and progression of breast tumors. We investigated whether the expression of RANK was related with clinicopathological features of primary endometrial tumors. Immunohistochemistry was used in an endometrial cancer tissue array containing samples from 36 tumors. The amount of RANK mRNA was examined in a tissue scan cDNA array containing cDNA from 40 tumors. Normal endometrium was examined for comparison. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that RANK expression was higher in malignant than in normal endometrium ( p < 0.05). RANK expression was related to histological grade (Pearson correlation index = 0.484, p < 0.001), but not to tumor stage or to age of the women. The gene expression was similar in malignant and normal endometrium. The study of RANK isoforms confirmed that the overall relative abundance of the three clearly identified transcripts was similar in normal and pathological endometrium. RANK protein expression increased from normal to malignant endometrium, and the expression level was related with tumor grade but not with stage or the age of subjects in endometrial cancer. In contrast, similar comparisons showed no change in RANK gene expression.

Composite multi-parameter ranking of real and virtual compounds for design of MC4R agonists: renaissance of the Free-Wilson methodology.

PubMed

Nilsson, Ingemar; Polla, Magnus O

2012-10-01

Drug design is a multi-parameter task present in the analysis of experimental data for synthesized compounds and in the prediction of new compounds with desired properties. This article describes the implementation of a binned scoring and composite ranking scheme for 11 experimental parameters that were identified as key drivers in the MC4R project. The composite ranking scheme was implemented in an AstraZeneca tool for analysis of project data, thereby providing an immediate re-ranking as new experimental data was added. The automated ranking also highlighted compounds overlooked by the project team. The successful implementation of a composite ranking on experimental data led to the development of an equivalent virtual score, which was based on Free-Wilson models of the parameters from the experimental ranking. The individual Free-Wilson models showed good to high predictive power with a correlation coefficient between 0.45 and 0.97 based on the external test set. The virtual ranking adds value to the selection of compounds for synthesis but error propagation must be controlled. The experimental ranking approach adds significant value, is parameter independent and can be tuned and applied to any drug discovery project.

A method for the design and development of medical or health care information websites to optimize search engine results page rankings on Google.

PubMed

Dunne, Suzanne; Cummins, Niamh Maria; Hannigan, Ailish; Shannon, Bill; Dunne, Colum; Cullen, Walter

2013-08-27

The Internet is a widely used source of information for patients searching for medical/health care information. While many studies have assessed existing medical/health care information on the Internet, relatively few have examined methods for design and delivery of such websites, particularly those aimed at the general public. This study describes a method of evaluating material for new medical/health care websites, or for assessing those already in existence, which is correlated with higher rankings on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). A website quality assessment (WQA) tool was developed using criteria related to the quality of the information to be contained in the website in addition to an assessment of the readability of the text. This was retrospectively applied to assess existing websites that provide information about generic medicines. The reproducibility of the WQA tool and its predictive validity were assessed in this study. The WQA tool demonstrated very high reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.95) between 2 independent users. A moderate to strong correlation was found between WQA scores and rankings on Google SERPs. Analogous correlations were seen between rankings and readability of websites as determined by Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores. The use of the WQA tool developed in this study is recommended as part of the design phase of a medical or health care information provision website, along with assessment of readability of the material to be used. This may ensure that the website performs better on Google searches. The tool can also be used retrospectively to make improvements to existing websites, thus, potentially enabling better Google search result positions without incurring the costs associated with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals or paid promotion.

WaterlooClarke: TREC 2015 Clinical Decision Support Track

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-20

questions (diagnosis, test and treatment articles). The two different full-text search engines we adopted in order to search over the collection of articles...two different search engines using reciprocal rank fusion. The evaluation of the submitted runs using partially marked results of Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) from the previous year shows that the methodologies are promising.

New Features for Neuron Classification.

PubMed

Hernández-Pérez, Leonardo A; Delgado-Castillo, Duniel; Martín-Pérez, Rainer; Orozco-Morales, Rubén; Lorenzo-Ginori, Juan V

2018-04-28

This paper addresses the problem of obtaining new neuron features capable of improving results of neuron classification. Most studies on neuron classification using morphological features have been based on Euclidean geometry. Here three one-dimensional (1D) time series are derived from the three-dimensional (3D) structure of neuron instead, and afterwards a spatial time series is finally constructed from which the features are calculated. Digitally reconstructed neurons were separated into control and pathological sets, which are related to three categories of alterations caused by epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease (long and local projections), and ischemia. These neuron sets were then subjected to supervised classification and the results were compared considering three sets of features: morphological, features obtained from the time series and a combination of both. The best results were obtained using features from the time series, which outperformed the classification using only morphological features, showing higher correct classification rates with differences of 5.15, 3.75, 5.33% for epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease (long and local projections) respectively. The morphological features were better for the ischemia set with a difference of 3.05%. Features like variance, Spearman auto-correlation, partial auto-correlation, mutual information, local minima and maxima, all related to the time series, exhibited the best performance. Also we compared different evaluators, among which ReliefF was the best ranked.

Econophysics of a ranked demand and supply resource allocation problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Priel, Avner; Tamir, Boaz

2018-01-01

We present a two sided resource allocation problem, between demands and supplies, where both parties are ranked. For example, in Big Data problems where a set of different computational tasks is divided between a set of computers each with its own resources, or between employees and employers where both parties are ranked, the employees by their fitness and the employers by their package benefits. The allocation process can be viewed as a repeated game where in each iteration the strategy is decided by a meta-rule, based on the ranks of both parties and the results of the previous games. We show the existence of a phase transition between an absorbing state, where all demands are satisfied, and an active one where part of the demands are always left unsatisfied. The phase transition is governed by the ratio between supplies and demand. In a job allocation problem we find positive correlation between the rank of the workers and the rank of the factories; higher rank workers are usually allocated to higher ranked factories. These all suggest global emergent properties stemming from local variables. To demonstrate the global versus local relations, we introduce a local inertial force that increases the rank of employees in proportion to their persistence time in the same factory. We show that such a local force induces non trivial global effects, mostly to benefit the lower ranked employees.

Status, Power, and Intergroup Relations: The Personal Is the Societal

PubMed Central

Fiske, Susan T.; Dupree, Cydney H.; Nicolas, Gandalf; Swencionis, Jillian K.

2016-01-01

Hierarchies in the correlated forms of power (resources) and status (prestige) are constants that organize human societies. This article reviews relevant social psychological literature and identifies several converging results concerning power and status. Whether rank is chronically possessed or temporarily embodied, higher ranks create psychological distance from others, allow agency by the higher ranked, and exact deference from the lower ranked. Beliefs that status entails competence are essentially universal. Interpersonal interactions create warmth-competence compensatory tradeoffs. Along with societal structures (enduring inequality), these tradeoffs reinforce status-competence beliefs. Race, class, and gender further illustrate these dynamics. Although status systems are resilient, they can shift, and understanding those change processes is an important direction for future research, as global demographic changes disrupt existing hierarchies. PMID:27453923

Status, Power, and Intergroup Relations: The Personal Is the Societal.

PubMed

Fiske, Susan T; Dupree, Cydney H; Nicolas, Gandalf; Swencionis, Jillian K

2016-10-01

Hierarchies in the correlated forms of power (resources) and status (prestige) are constants that organize human societies. This article reviews relevant social psychological literature and identifies several converging results concerning power and status. Whether rank is chronically possessed or temporarily embodied, higher ranks create psychological distance from others, allow agency by the higher ranked, and exact deference from the lower ranked. Beliefs that status entails competence are essentially universal. Interpersonal interactions create warmth-competence compensatory tradeoffs. Along with societal structures (enduring inequality), these tradeoffs reinforce status-competence beliefs. Race, class, and gender further illustrate these dynamics. Although status systems are resilient, they can shift, and understanding those change processes is an important direction for future research, as global demographic changes disrupt existing hierarchies.

Comparison of Chinese and US orthodontists' averaged evaluations of "facial attractiveness" from end-of-treatment facial photographs.

PubMed

Liu, Yan; Korn, Edward L; Oh, Hee Soo; Pearson, Helmer; Xu, Tian-Min; Baumrind, Sheldon

2009-05-01

This study continues our assessment of agreement and disagreement among 25 Chinese and 20 US orthodontists in the ranking for facial attractiveness of end-of-treatment photographs of randomly sampled growing Chinese and white orthodontic patients. The main aims of this article were to (1) measure the overall pattern of agreement between the mean rankings of US and Chinese orthodontists, and (2) measure the strength of agreement between the rankings of the US and Chinese orthodontists for each patient. Each judge independently ranked standard clinical sets of profile, frontal, and frontal-smiling photographs of 43 US patients and 48 Chinese patients. For each patient, a separate mean rank was computed from the responses of each group of judges. Pearson correlations between the mean ranks of the 2 groups of judges were used to measure their overall agreement. Paired and unpaired t tests were used to measure the agreement between the judges of the 2 groups for each patient. The overall agreement between the mean rankings of the US and Chinese judges was very high. For the US patients, the correlation between the Chinese and US judges means was r = 0.92, P <0.0001. For the Chinese patients, the analogous value was r = 0.86, P <0.0001. Agreement between the 2 groups of judges concerning each patient was also generally strong. For two thirds of the patients, the mean ranks of the US and Chinese judges differed by less than 1 unit in a scale of 12. However, for 6 patients considered individually (5 Chinese and 1 US), the assessment of the 2 groups of judges was statistically significantly different at P values ranging from 0.02 to less than 0.0001, even after the Bonferroni correction. These findings demonstrate that orthodontic clinicians can reliably identify and rank subtle differences between patients, and that differences between judges and between patients can be distinguished at a high level of statistical significance, given appropriate study designs. However, the reasons clinicians give for the differences in their judgments are more difficult to investigate and will require further study.

Color correction with blind image restoration based on multiple images using a low-rank model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dong; Xie, Xudong; Lam, Kin-Man

2014-03-01

We present a method that can handle the color correction of multiple photographs with blind image restoration simultaneously and automatically. We prove that the local colors of a set of images of the same scene exhibit the low-rank property locally both before and after a color-correction operation. This property allows us to correct all kinds of errors in an image under a low-rank matrix model without particular priors or assumptions. The possible errors may be caused by changes of viewpoint, large illumination variations, gross pixel corruptions, partial occlusions, etc. Furthermore, a new iterative soft-segmentation method is proposed for local color transfer using color influence maps. Due to the fact that the correct color information and the spatial information of images can be recovered using the low-rank model, more precise color correction and many other image-restoration tasks-including image denoising, image deblurring, and gray-scale image colorizing-can be performed simultaneously. Experiments have verified that our method can achieve consistent and promising results on uncontrolled real photographs acquired from the Internet and that it outperforms current state-of-the-art methods.

AUPress: A Comparison of an Open Access University Press with Traditional Presses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGreal, Rory; Chen, Nian-Shing

2011-01-01

This study is a comparison of AUPress with three other traditional (non-open access) Canadian university presses. The analysis is based on the rankings that are correlated with book sales on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Statistical methods include the sampling of the sales ranking of randomly selected books from each press. The results of one-way…

The feasibility of ranking material fracture toughness by ultrasonic attenuation measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vary, A.

1975-01-01

A preliminary study was conducted to assess the feasibility of ultrasonically ranking material fracture toughness. Specimens of two grades of maraging steel for which fracture toughness values were measured were subjected to ultrasonic probing. The slope of the attenuation coefficient vs frequency curve was empirically correlated with the plane strain fracture toughness value for each grade of steel.

The feasibility of ranking material fracture toughness by ultrasonic attenuation measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vary, A.

1975-01-01

A preliminary study was conducted to assess the feasibility of ultrasonically ranking material fracture toughness. Specimens of two grades of maraging steel for which fracture toughness values were measured were subjected to ultrasonic probing. The slope of the attenuation coefficient versus frequency curve was empirically correlated with the plane strain fracture toughness value for each grade of steel.

The role of global economic policy uncertainty in long-run volatilities and correlations of U.S. industry-level stock returns and crude oil.

PubMed

Yu, Honghai; Fang, Libing; Sun, Boyang

2018-01-01

We investigate how Global Economic Policy Uncertainty (GEPU) drives the long-run components of volatilities and correlations in crude oil and U.S. industry-level stock markets. Using the modified generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity mixed data sampling (GARCH-MIDAS) and dynamic conditional correlation mixed data sampling (DCC-MIDAS) specifications, we find that GEPU is positively related to the long-run volatility of Financials and Consumer Discretionary industries; however, it is negatively related to Information Technology, Materials, Telecommunication Services and Energy. Unlike the mixed role of GEPU in the long-run volatilities, the long-run correlations are all positively related to GEPU across the industries. Additionally, the rankings of the correlations of Energy and Materials are time-invariant and classified as high, with the little exception of the latter. The Consumer Staples industry is time-invariant in the low-ranking group. Our results are helpful to policy makers and investors with long-term concerns.

The role of global economic policy uncertainty in long-run volatilities and correlations of U.S. industry-level stock returns and crude oil

PubMed Central

Yu, Honghai; Sun, Boyang

2018-01-01

We investigate how Global Economic Policy Uncertainty (GEPU) drives the long-run components of volatilities and correlations in crude oil and U.S. industry-level stock markets. Using the modified generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity mixed data sampling (GARCH-MIDAS) and dynamic conditional correlation mixed data sampling (DCC-MIDAS) specifications, we find that GEPU is positively related to the long-run volatility of Financials and Consumer Discretionary industries; however, it is negatively related to Information Technology, Materials, Telecommunication Services and Energy. Unlike the mixed role of GEPU in the long-run volatilities, the long-run correlations are all positively related to GEPU across the industries. Additionally, the rankings of the correlations of Energy and Materials are time-invariant and classified as high, with the little exception of the latter. The Consumer Staples industry is time-invariant in the low-ranking group. Our results are helpful to policy makers and investors with long-term concerns. PMID:29420645

Comparison Between Impact Factor, Eigenfactor Metrics, and SCimago Journal Rank Indicator of Pediatric Neurology Journals.

PubMed

Kianifar, Hamidreza; Sadeghi, Ramin; Zarifmahmoudi, Leili

2014-04-01

Impact Factor (IF) as a major journal quality indicator has a series of shortcomings including effect of self-citation, review articles, total number of articles, etc. In this study, we compared 4 journals quality indices ((IF), Eigenfactor Score (ES), Article Influence Score (AIS) and SCImago Journal Rank indicator (SJR)) in the specific Pediatric Neurology journals. All ISI and Scopus indexed specific Pediatric Neurology journals were compared regarding their 2011 IF, ES, AIS and SJR. Fourteen pediatric Neurology journals were identified, 3 of which were only Scopus indexed and the others were both ISI and Scopus indexed. High correlation was found between IF and AIS (0.850). Correlations between IF and other indices were not that high. Self-citation, total article number and review articles were related to the IF and other indices as well as their ranks. English language and citation to non citable item didn't have any effect on pediatric neurology journals ranks. Although all the above mentioned indicators can be used interchangeably, using all considered indices is a more appropriate way than using only IF for quality assessment of pediatric neurology journals.

Comparison Between Impact Factor, Eigenfactor Metrics, and SCimago Journal Rank Indicator of Pediatric Neurology Journals

PubMed Central

Kianifar, Hamidreza; Sadeghi, Ramin; Zarifmahmoudi, Leili

2014-01-01

Background: Impact Factor (IF) as a major journal quality indicator has a series of shortcomings including effect of self-citation, review articles, total number of articles, etc. In this study, we compared 4 journals quality indices ((IF), Eigenfactor Score (ES), Article Influence Score (AIS) and SCImago Journal Rank indicator (SJR)) in the specific Pediatric Neurology journals. Methods: All ISI and Scopus indexed specific Pediatric Neurology journals were compared regarding their 2011 IF, ES, AIS and SJR. Results: Fourteen pediatric Neurology journals were identified, 3 of which were only Scopus indexed and the others were both ISI and Scopus indexed. High correlation was found between IF and AIS (0.850). Correlations between IF and other indices were not that high. Self-citation, total article number and review articles were related to the IF and other indices as well as their ranks. English language and citation to non citable item didn’t have any effect on pediatric neurology journals ranks. Conclusion: Although all the above mentioned indicators can be used interchangeably, using all considered indices is a more appropriate way than using only IF for quality assessment of pediatric neurology journals. PMID:24825934

Association of macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 with nutritional status, body composition and bone mineral density in patients with anorexia nervosa: the influence of partial realimentation.

PubMed

Dostálová, Ivana; Kaválková, Petra; Papežová, Hana; Domluvilová, Daniela; Zikán, Vít; Haluzík, Martin

2010-04-23

Macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1) is a key inducer of cancer-related anorexia and weight loss. However, its possible role in the etiopathogenesis of nutritional disorders of other etiology such as anorexia nervosa (AN) is currently unknown. We measured fasting serum concentrations of MIC-1 in patients with AN before and after 2-month nutritional treatment and explored its relationship with nutritional status, metabolic and biochemical parameters. Sixteen previously untreated women with AN and twenty-five normal-weight age-matched control women participated in the study. We measured serum concentrations of MIC-1 and leptin by ELISA, free fatty acids by enzymatic colorimetric assay, and biochemical parameters by standard laboratory methods; determined resting energy expenditure by indirect calorimetry; and assessed bone mineral density and body fat content by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. ANOVA, unpaired t-test or Mann-Whitney test were used for groups comparison as appropriate. The comparisons of serum MIC-1 levels and other studied parameters in patients with AN before and after partial realimentation were assessed by paired t-test or Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test as appropriate. At baseline, fasting serum MIC-1 concentrations were significantly higher in patients with AN relative to controls. Partial realimentation significantly reduced serum MIC-1 concentrations in patients with AN but it still remained significantly higher compared to control group. In AN group, serum MIC-1 was inversely related to Buzby nutritional risk index, serum insulin-like growth factor-1, serum glucose, serum total protein, serum albumin, and lumbar bone mineral density and it significantly positively correlated with the duration of AN and age. MIC-1 concentrations in AN patients are significantly higher relative to healthy women. Partial realimentation significantly decreased MIC-1 concentration in AN group. Clinical significance of these findings needs to be further clarified.

Max-margin multiattribute learning with low-rank constraint.

PubMed

Zhang, Qiang; Chen, Lin; Li, Baoxin

2014-07-01

Attribute learning has attracted a lot of interests in recent years for its advantage of being able to model high-level concepts with a compact set of midlevel attributes. Real-world objects often demand multiple attributes for effective modeling. Most existing methods learn attributes independently without explicitly considering their intrinsic relatedness. In this paper, we propose max margin multiattribute learning with low-rank constraint, which learns a set of attributes simultaneously, using only relative ranking of the attributes for the data. By learning all the attributes simultaneously through low-rank constraint, the proposed method is able to capture their intrinsic correlation for improved learning; by requiring only relative ranking, the method avoids restrictive binary labels of attributes that are often assumed by many existing techniques. The proposed method is evaluated on both synthetic data and real visual data including a challenging video data set. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Improved Estimation and Interpretation of Correlations in Neural Circuits

PubMed Central

Yatsenko, Dimitri; Josić, Krešimir; Ecker, Alexander S.; Froudarakis, Emmanouil; Cotton, R. James; Tolias, Andreas S.

2015-01-01

Ambitious projects aim to record the activity of ever larger and denser neuronal populations in vivo. Correlations in neural activity measured in such recordings can reveal important aspects of neural circuit organization. However, estimating and interpreting large correlation matrices is statistically challenging. Estimation can be improved by regularization, i.e. by imposing a structure on the estimate. The amount of improvement depends on how closely the assumed structure represents dependencies in the data. Therefore, the selection of the most efficient correlation matrix estimator for a given neural circuit must be determined empirically. Importantly, the identity and structure of the most efficient estimator informs about the types of dominant dependencies governing the system. We sought statistically efficient estimators of neural correlation matrices in recordings from large, dense groups of cortical neurons. Using fast 3D random-access laser scanning microscopy of calcium signals, we recorded the activity of nearly every neuron in volumes 200 μm wide and 100 μm deep (150–350 cells) in mouse visual cortex. We hypothesized that in these densely sampled recordings, the correlation matrix should be best modeled as the combination of a sparse graph of pairwise partial correlations representing local interactions and a low-rank component representing common fluctuations and external inputs. Indeed, in cross-validation tests, the covariance matrix estimator with this structure consistently outperformed other regularized estimators. The sparse component of the estimate defined a graph of interactions. These interactions reflected the physical distances and orientation tuning properties of cells: The density of positive ‘excitatory’ interactions decreased rapidly with geometric distances and with differences in orientation preference whereas negative ‘inhibitory’ interactions were less selective. Because of its superior performance, this ‘sparse+latent’ estimator likely provides a more physiologically relevant representation of the functional connectivity in densely sampled recordings than the sample correlation matrix. PMID:25826696

Age and gender differences in correlations of leisure-time, household, and work-related physical activity with physical performance in older Japanese adults.

PubMed

Tsunoda, Kenji; Soma, Yuki; Kitano, Naruki; Tsuji, Taishi; Mitsuishi, Yasuhiro; Yoon, Ji-Yeong; Okura, Tomohiro

2013-10-01

This study aimed to compare relationships of leisure-time, household, and work-related physical activity (PA) with physical performance by age and gender in older Japanese adults. This cross-sectional study included 525 community-dwelling older adults (73.3 ± 5.2 years) recruited in 2009-2011 in Kasama City, rural Japan. We used the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly to assess PA variables. Physical performance was evaluated by 11 performance tests: grip strength, single-leg balance, functional reach, sit-and-reach, standing time from long sitting position, sit-to-stand, timed up and go, habitual walk, hand working, and simple and choice reaction times. After adjusting for potential confounders, leisure-time PA in young-old (≤ 74 years) men correlated significantly with eight performance tests (absolute value of Spearman's partial rank correlation coefficient: r = 0.18-0.39), whereas in old-old (≥ 75 years) men it correlated with three performance tests (r = 0.20-0.23). Although leisure-time PA correlated with six performance tests (r = 0.19-0.22) in young-old women, there were no significant correlations between leisure-time PA and performance tests in old-old women. Household PA of young-old men (r = 0.20-0.23) and old-old women (r = 0.26-0.34) correlated with four performance tests. In old-old men and young-old women, no significant correlation was found between household PA and performance tests. Work-related PA did not relate significantly to any performance tests in any groups. This study showed that leisure-time PA is related to physical performance, especially in young-old men and women, and household PA is especially related in young-old men and old-old women. Our findings suggest that supporting strategies for maintaining physical functions would differ by gender and age. © 2013 Japan Geriatrics Society.

An Efficient and Reliable Statistical Method for Estimating Functional Connectivity in Large Scale Brain Networks Using Partial Correlation

PubMed Central

Wang, Yikai; Kang, Jian; Kemmer, Phebe B.; Guo, Ying

2016-01-01

Currently, network-oriented analysis of fMRI data has become an important tool for understanding brain organization and brain networks. Among the range of network modeling methods, partial correlation has shown great promises in accurately detecting true brain network connections. However, the application of partial correlation in investigating brain connectivity, especially in large-scale brain networks, has been limited so far due to the technical challenges in its estimation. In this paper, we propose an efficient and reliable statistical method for estimating partial correlation in large-scale brain network modeling. Our method derives partial correlation based on the precision matrix estimated via Constrained L1-minimization Approach (CLIME), which is a recently developed statistical method that is more efficient and demonstrates better performance than the existing methods. To help select an appropriate tuning parameter for sparsity control in the network estimation, we propose a new Dens-based selection method that provides a more informative and flexible tool to allow the users to select the tuning parameter based on the desired sparsity level. Another appealing feature of the Dens-based method is that it is much faster than the existing methods, which provides an important advantage in neuroimaging applications. Simulation studies show that the Dens-based method demonstrates comparable or better performance with respect to the existing methods in network estimation. We applied the proposed partial correlation method to investigate resting state functional connectivity using rs-fMRI data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC) study. Our results show that partial correlation analysis removed considerable between-module marginal connections identified by full correlation analysis, suggesting these connections were likely caused by global effects or common connection to other nodes. Based on partial correlation, we find that the most significant direct connections are between homologous brain locations in the left and right hemisphere. When comparing partial correlation derived under different sparse tuning parameters, an important finding is that the sparse regularization has more shrinkage effects on negative functional connections than on positive connections, which supports previous findings that many of the negative brain connections are due to non-neurophysiological effects. An R package “DensParcorr” can be downloaded from CRAN for implementing the proposed statistical methods. PMID:27242395

An Efficient and Reliable Statistical Method for Estimating Functional Connectivity in Large Scale Brain Networks Using Partial Correlation.

PubMed

Wang, Yikai; Kang, Jian; Kemmer, Phebe B; Guo, Ying

2016-01-01

Currently, network-oriented analysis of fMRI data has become an important tool for understanding brain organization and brain networks. Among the range of network modeling methods, partial correlation has shown great promises in accurately detecting true brain network connections. However, the application of partial correlation in investigating brain connectivity, especially in large-scale brain networks, has been limited so far due to the technical challenges in its estimation. In this paper, we propose an efficient and reliable statistical method for estimating partial correlation in large-scale brain network modeling. Our method derives partial correlation based on the precision matrix estimated via Constrained L1-minimization Approach (CLIME), which is a recently developed statistical method that is more efficient and demonstrates better performance than the existing methods. To help select an appropriate tuning parameter for sparsity control in the network estimation, we propose a new Dens-based selection method that provides a more informative and flexible tool to allow the users to select the tuning parameter based on the desired sparsity level. Another appealing feature of the Dens-based method is that it is much faster than the existing methods, which provides an important advantage in neuroimaging applications. Simulation studies show that the Dens-based method demonstrates comparable or better performance with respect to the existing methods in network estimation. We applied the proposed partial correlation method to investigate resting state functional connectivity using rs-fMRI data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC) study. Our results show that partial correlation analysis removed considerable between-module marginal connections identified by full correlation analysis, suggesting these connections were likely caused by global effects or common connection to other nodes. Based on partial correlation, we find that the most significant direct connections are between homologous brain locations in the left and right hemisphere. When comparing partial correlation derived under different sparse tuning parameters, an important finding is that the sparse regularization has more shrinkage effects on negative functional connections than on positive connections, which supports previous findings that many of the negative brain connections are due to non-neurophysiological effects. An R package "DensParcorr" can be downloaded from CRAN for implementing the proposed statistical methods.

Partial Edentulism and its Correlation to Age, Gender, Socio-economic Status and Incidence of Various Kennedy’s Classes– A Literature Review

PubMed Central

Krishnan, Chitra Shankar

2015-01-01

Partial edentulism, one or more teeth missing is an indication of healthy behaviour of dental practices in the society and attitude towards dental and oral care. The pattern of partial edentulism has been evaluated in many selected populations in different countries by different methods. Most of the studies have evaluated partial edentulism by surveying of Removable Partial Dentures (RPDs), patients visiting clinics, clinical records and population in particular locality. The objective of the study is to review the prevalence of partial edentulousness and its correlation to age,gender, arch predominance, socio economic factors and incidence of various Kennedy’s Classes. Key observations drawn from the review are as below. There is no gender correlation for partial edentulism.Prevalence of partial edentulism is more common in mandibular arch than maxillary arch.Younger adults have more Class III and IV RPDs. Elders have more distal extension RPDs Class I and II. PMID:26266237

Partial Edentulism and its Correlation to Age, Gender, Socio-economic Status and Incidence of Various Kennedy's Classes- A Literature Review.

PubMed

Jeyapalan, Vidhya; Krishnan, Chitra Shankar

2015-06-01

Partial edentulism, one or more teeth missing is an indication of healthy behaviour of dental practices in the society and attitude towards dental and oral care. The pattern of partial edentulism has been evaluated in many selected populations in different countries by different methods. Most of the studies have evaluated partial edentulism by surveying of Removable Partial Dentures (RPDs), patients visiting clinics, clinical records and population in particular locality. The objective of the study is to review the prevalence of partial edentulousness and its correlation to age,gender, arch predominance, socio economic factors and incidence of various Kennedy's Classes. Key observations drawn from the review are as below. There is no gender correlation for partial edentulism.Prevalence of partial edentulism is more common in mandibular arch than maxillary arch.Younger adults have more Class III and IV RPDs. Elders have more distal extension RPDs Class I and II.

Basic research for the geodynamics program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The mathematical models of space very long base interferometry (VLBI) observables suitable for least squares covariance analysis were derived and estimatability problems inherent in the space VLBI system were explored, including a detailed rank defect analysis and sensitivity analysis. An important aim is to carry out a comparative analysis of the mathematical models of the ground-based VLBI and space VLBI observables in order to describe the background in detail. Computer programs were developed in order to check the relations, assess errors, and analyze sensitivity. In order to investigate the estimatability of different geodetic and geodynamic parameters from the space VLBI observables, the mathematical models for time delay and time delay rate observables of space VLBI were analytically derived along with the partial derivatives with respect to the parameters. Rank defect analysis was carried out both by analytical and numerical testing of linear dependencies between the columns of the normal matrix thus formed. Definite conclusions were formed about the rank defects in the system.

Processing of Antenna-Array Signals on the Basis of the Interference Model Including a Rank-Deficient Correlation Matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodionov, A. A.; Turchin, V. I.

2017-06-01

We propose a new method of signal processing in antenna arrays, which is called the Maximum-Likelihood Signal Classification. The proposed method is based on the model in which interference includes a component with a rank-deficient correlation matrix. Using numerical simulation, we show that the proposed method allows one to ensure variance of the estimated arrival angle of the plane wave, which is close to the Cramer-Rao lower boundary and more efficient than the best-known MUSIC method. It is also shown that the proposed technique can be efficiently used for estimating the time dependence of the useful signal.

Determining the perceived value of information when combining supporting and conflicting data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanratty, Timothy; Heilman, Eric; Richardson, John; Mittrick, Mark; Caylor, Justine

2017-05-01

Modern military intelligence operations involves a deluge of information from a large number of sources. A data ranking algorithm that enables the most valuable information to be reviewed first may improve timely and effective analysis. This ranking is termed the value of information (VoI) and its calculation is a current area of research within the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL). ARL has conducted an experiment to correlate the perceptions of subject matter experts with the ARL VoI model and additionally to construct a cognitive model of the ranking process and the amalgamation of supporting and conflicting information.

Distributional fold change test – a statistical approach for detecting differential expression in microarray experiments

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Because of the large volume of data and the intrinsic variation of data intensity observed in microarray experiments, different statistical methods have been used to systematically extract biological information and to quantify the associated uncertainty. The simplest method to identify differentially expressed genes is to evaluate the ratio of average intensities in two different conditions and consider all genes that differ by more than an arbitrary cut-off value to be differentially expressed. This filtering approach is not a statistical test and there is no associated value that can indicate the level of confidence in the designation of genes as differentially expressed or not differentially expressed. At the same time the fold change by itself provide valuable information and it is important to find unambiguous ways of using this information in expression data treatment. Results A new method of finding differentially expressed genes, called distributional fold change (DFC) test is introduced. The method is based on an analysis of the intensity distribution of all microarray probe sets mapped to a three dimensional feature space composed of average expression level, average difference of gene expression and total variance. The proposed method allows one to rank each feature based on the signal-to-noise ratio and to ascertain for each feature the confidence level and power for being differentially expressed. The performance of the new method was evaluated using the total and partial area under receiver operating curves and tested on 11 data sets from Gene Omnibus Database with independently verified differentially expressed genes and compared with the t-test and shrinkage t-test. Overall the DFC test performed the best – on average it had higher sensitivity and partial AUC and its elevation was most prominent in the low range of differentially expressed features, typical for formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sample sets. Conclusions The distributional fold change test is an effective method for finding and ranking differentially expressed probesets on microarrays. The application of this test is advantageous to data sets using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples or other systems where degradation effects diminish the applicability of correlation adjusted methods to the whole feature set. PMID:23122055

Black Toenail Sign in MELAS Syndrome.

PubMed

Whitehead, Matthew T; Wien, Michael; Lee, Bonmyong; Bass, Nancy; Gropman, Andrea

2017-10-01

Mitochondrial encephalopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome is a mitochondrial disorder often causing progressive brain injury that is not confined to large arterial territories. Severe insults ultimately lead to gyral necrosis affecting the cortex and juxtacortical white matter; the neuroimaging correlate is partial gyral signal suppression on T2/FLAIR sequences that resemble black toenails. We aimed to characterize the imaging features and the natural history of MELAS-related gyral necrosis. Databases at two children's hospitals were searched for brain magnetic resonance imaging studies of individuals with MELAS. Examinations with motion artifact and those lacking T2/FLAIR sequences were excluded. The location, the cumulative number, and the maximum transverse diameter of necrotic gyral lesions were assessed using T2-weighted images and T2/FLAIR sequences. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was employed to evaluate the relationship between disease duration and the number of necrotic lesions. One hundred twenty-four examinations from patients with 14 unique MELAS patients (16 ± 3 years) were evaluated. Six of the eight patients who developed brain lesions also developed gyral necroses (mean 13, range 0 to 44). Necrotic lesions varied in maximal diameter from 4 to 25 mm. Cumulative necrotic lesions correlated with disease duration (P < 0.001). The black toenail sign signifying gyral necrosis is a common imaging feature in individuals with MELAS syndrome. The extent of gyral necrosis correlates with disease duration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The design and content of orthodontic practise websites in the UK is suboptimal and does not correlate with search ranking.

PubMed

Patel, Annika; Cobourne, Martyn T

2015-08-01

This study investigated standards of ethical advertising; design and content; and information quality associated with UK dental practice websites offering orthodontic treatment. The World Wide Web was searched from a UK-based computer using the Google search engine combined with the term 'orthodontic braces'. The first 100 UK-based dental practice websites were pooled and saved following duplicate removal. Websites were evaluated for compliance with current General Dental Council ethical advertising guidelines; accessibility, usability, and reliability using the LIDA instrument (a validated outcome tool for healthcare website design and content evaluation); and quality of information using the DISCERN toolkit (a validated method of quality assessment for online written patient information). Nine per cent of websites demonstrated full compliance with current guidelines on ethical advertising. Mean total LIDA score was 110/144 (76%) [range: 51-135; 35-94%]. Eleven websites reached a gold standard of 90% or more for total LIDA score. Mean total DISCERN score was 48/75 (64%) [range: 19-73; 25-97%]. Five websites achieved a total DISCERN score above 90%. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients demonstrated no significant correlations between LIDA (0.1669; P = 0.4252, confidence interval [CI]: -0.2560 to 0.5362) or DISCERN (0.3572; P = 0.0796, CI: -0.0565 to 0.663) score and ranking amongst the 25 highest ranked websites. Most UK websites offering orthodontic services are not fully compliant with national guidelines relating to ethical advertising. Validated measures of website design (LIDA) and information quality (DISCERN) showed wide variation amongst sites. No correlation existed between ranking amongst the highest 25 sites and either of these measures. This investigation was limited to a subsample of UK-only websites; and whilst not representative of European-wide sites, it does suggest that in the UK at least website quality can be improved. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Orthodontic Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Farmers' breeding practices and traits of economic importance for indigenous chicken in RWANDA.

PubMed

Mahoro, J; Muasya, T K; Mbuza, F; Mbuthia, J; Kahi, A K

2018-01-01

Data on breeding practices and traits of economic importance for the indigenous chicken (IC) were collected through personal interviews using structured questionnaires and direct observations of chicken management practices. The study was conducted from November 2015 to January 2016 in Rwamagana, Rulindo, Ruhango, Kicukiro and Muhanga districts of Rwanda. Data were collected and analysed through computation of indices, which represented a weighted average of all rankings of a specific trait. Spearman's non-parametric rank correlation was calculated for ranking of traits of economic importance to indicate the directional effects. The results on chicken ecotypes and their attributes showed that prolificacy, mature weight, disease tolerance, egg number and heat tolerance were highly preferred. The dwarf ecotype was most abundantly reared (38.84%) and considered to be significantly smaller and to have poorer growth rate, but to have better prolificacy than other indigenous chicken ecotypes. Selection of breeding cock and hen was based on disease tolerance, body weight at sexual maturity, body size and growth rate. In addition, for hen, mothering ability and egg fertility (Fer) were considered. Indices for the traits perceived by farmers as of primary economic importance were egg yield (0.093), disease tolerance (0.091), high growth rate (0.089), prolificacy (0.088), high body weight (0.087) and egg fertility (0.083). The most important traits considered by the marketers were body weight (BW), disease tolerance (Dtol), plumage colour (Pcol), egg yolk colour (EYC), meat quality (MQ), growth rate (GR) and egg yield (EY) whereas for consumers, meat quality, egg yolk colour, egg yield, body weight and growth rate were considered. Among traits perceived as important by farmers, a positive and significant correlation was found between BW and GR and Fer. Correlation was moderate for BW and prolificacy, drought tolerance (Drtol), Dtol and EYC. BW was negatively correlated with temperament (Temp), heat tolerance, Pcol and egg shell colour (ESC). Regarding marketers and consumers' preference rank correlation, positive and significant correlation was between BW and GR and MQ. As such, appropriate ecotypes (indigenous chicken) which have these characteristics need to be identified and utilised more based on their performance and adaption to the environment conditions to ensure efficient IC production.

Does resident ranking during recruitment accurately predict subsequent performance as a surgical resident?

PubMed

Fryer, Jonathan P; Corcoran, Noreen; George, Brian; Wang, Ed; Darosa, Debra

2012-01-01

While the primary goal of ranking applicants for surgical residency training positions is to identify the candidates who will subsequently perform best as surgical residents, the effectiveness of the ranking process has not been adequately studied. We evaluated our general surgery resident recruitment process between 2001 and 2011 inclusive, to determine if our recruitment ranking parameters effectively predicted subsequent resident performance. We identified 3 candidate ranking parameters (United States Medical Licensing Examination [USMLE] Step 1 score, unadjusted ranking score [URS], and final adjusted ranking [FAR]), and 4 resident performance parameters (American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination [ABSITE] score, PGY1 resident evaluation grade [REG], overall REG, and independent faculty rating ranking [IFRR]), and assessed whether the former were predictive of the latter. Analyses utilized Spearman correlation coefficient. We found that the URS, which is based on objective and criterion based parameters, was a better predictor of subsequent performance than the FAR, which is a modification of the URS based on subsequent determinations of the resident selection committee. USMLE score was a reliable predictor of ABSITE scores only. However, when we compared our worst residence performances with the performances of the other residents in this evaluation, the data did not produce convincing evidence that poor resident performances could be reliably predicted by any of the recruitment ranking parameters. Finally, stratifying candidates based on their rank range did not effectively define a ranking cut-off beyond which resident performance would drop off. Based on these findings, we recommend surgery programs may be better served by utilizing a more structured resident ranking process and that subsequent adjustments to the rank list generated by this process should be undertaken with caution. Copyright © 2012 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research Productivity of Sports Medicine Fellowship Faculty.

PubMed

Cvetanovich, Gregory L; Saltzman, Bryan M; Chalmers, Peter N; Frank, Rachel M; Cole, Brian J; Bach, Bernard R

2016-12-01

Research productivity is considered an important factor in academic advancement in sports medicine. No study to date has evaluated academic productivity and correlates of academic rank for sports medicine fellowship faculty. To describe the academic productivity of American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) fellowship program faculty and to determine the association between academic productivity, fellowship characteristics, and academic rank. Descriptive epidemiology study. Characteristics of orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship programs were obtained from the AOSSM and program websites. Metrics of academic productivity (Hirsch index [ h index], I-10 index, publications, citations, and number of publications in several journals) were obtained from Scopus. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine whether academic productivity differs with fellowship attributes and academic rank. A total of 90 AOSSM sports medicine fellowship programs with 610 associated faculty members were identified. Faculty were predominantly male (94%), at academic medical centers (74%), members of AOSSM (71%), and sports medicine-fellowship trained (84%). Faculty had a median of 18 (range, 0-684) publications overall, including a median of 3 (range, 0-161) publications since 2012. All measures of academic productivity were significantly higher among faculty employed at academic medical centers compared with those not employed at academic centers ( P < .05 in all cases). On multivariate ordinal regression analysis, the best correlates of higher academic rank were higher cumulative h index (1.22; P < .001) and longer time in practice since fellowship (1.14; P < .001), which predicted 63.8% of the variance in academic rank. Fellowships with a larger number of fellows had more publications and citations per faculty member, higher faculty cumulative h index, and more publications in the American Journal of Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy per faculty member ( P < .017). Regional differences were present, with the Northeast fellowship faculty the most productive, followed by the Midwest. Higher cumulative h index and more years in practice were the best correlates of higher academic rank among AOSSM sports medicine fellowship faculty. Research productivity was higher among faculty employed at academic centers in the Northeast and Midwest regions and at programs with a larger number of fellows.

[Rating and ranking of medical journals: a randomised controlled evaluation of impact factor and number of listed journals].

PubMed

Göbel, U; Niem, V

2012-01-01

The impact factor is a purely bibliometric parameter built on a number of publications and their citations that occur within clearly defined periods. Appropriate interpretation of the impact factor is important as it is also used worldwide for the evaluation of research performance. It is assumed that the number of medical journals reflects the extent of diseases and patient populations involved and that the number is correlated with the level of the impact factor. 174 category lists (Subject Categories) are included in the area Health Sciences of the ISI Web of Knowledge of Thomson Reuters, 71 of which belong to the field of medicine and 50 of which have a clinical and/or application-oriented focus. These alphabetically arranged 50 category lists were consecutively numbered, randomized by odd and even numbers, respectively, into 2 equal-sized groups and then grouped according to organ specialities, sub-specialities and cross-disciplinary fields. By tossing up a coin it was decided which group should be evaluated first. Only then the category lists were downloaded and the number of journals, as well as the impact factors of journals ranking number 1 and 2, as well as the impact factors of journals at the end of the first third and at the end of the first half of each category list were compared. The number of journals per category list varies considerably between 5 and 252. The lists of organ specialties and cross-disciplinary fields include more than three times as many journals as those of the sub-specialities; the highest numbers of journals are listed for the cross-disciplinary fields. The level of impact factor of journals that rank number 1 in the lists varies considerably and ranges from 3,058 to 94,333; a similar variability exists for the journals at rank 2. On the other hand, the impact factor of journals at the end of the first third of the lists varies from 1,214 and 3,953, and for those journals at the end of the first half of a respective category list it varies from 0,609 and 2,872. The slope of the straight correlation line between the level of impact factors of journals at rank 1 and 2 with the number of listed journals varies from 0,0756 and 0,2651 (correlation coefficients between 0,49 and 0,96). For the journals ranking further down in the lists the straight correlation lines run almost horizontally or with inverse slope. This current analysis adds to the knowledge for an appropriate interpretation of the impact factor. Generally, greater importance should be given to the ranking of a journal within a corresponding category list. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

RANK rewires energy homeostasis in lung cancer cells and drives primary lung cancer

PubMed Central

Rao, Shuan; Sigl, Verena; Wimmer, Reiner Alois; Novatchkova, Maria; Jais, Alexander; Wagner, Gabriel; Handschuh, Stephan; Uribesalgo, Iris; Hagelkruys, Astrid; Kozieradzki, Ivona; Tortola, Luigi; Nitsch, Roberto; Cronin, Shane J.; Orthofer, Michael; Branstetter, Daniel; Canon, Jude; Rossi, John; D'Arcangelo, Manolo; Botling, Johan; Micke, Patrick; Fleur, Linnea La; Edlund, Karolina; Bergqvist, Michael; Ekman, Simon; Lendl, Thomas; Popper, Helmut; Takayanagi, Hiroshi; Kenner, Lukas; Hirsch, Fred R.; Dougall, William

2017-01-01

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. Besides smoking, epidemiological studies have linked female sex hormones to lung cancer in women; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we report that the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB (RANK), the key regulator of osteoclastogenesis, is frequently expressed in primary lung tumors, an active RANK pathway correlates with decreased survival, and pharmacologic RANK inhibition reduces tumor growth in patient-derived lung cancer xenografts. Clonal genetic inactivation of KRasG12D in mouse lung epithelial cells markedly impairs the progression of KRasG12D-driven lung cancer, resulting in a significant survival advantage. Mechanistically, RANK rewires energy homeostasis in human and murine lung cancer cells and promotes expansion of lung cancer stem-like cells, which is blocked by inhibiting mitochondrial respiration. Our data also indicate survival differences in KRasG12D-driven lung cancer between male and female mice, and we show that female sex hormones can promote lung cancer progression via the RANK pathway. These data uncover a direct role for RANK in lung cancer and may explain why female sex hormones accelerate lung cancer development. Inhibition of RANK using the approved drug denosumab may be a therapeutic drug candidate for primary lung cancer. PMID:29118048

Validation of an image-based technique to assess the perceptual quality of clinical chest radiographs with an observer study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yuan; Choudhury, Kingshuk R.; McAdams, H. Page; Foos, David H.; Samei, Ehsan

2014-03-01

We previously proposed a novel image-based quality assessment technique1 to assess the perceptual quality of clinical chest radiographs. In this paper, an observer study was designed and conducted to systematically validate this technique. Ten metrics were involved in the observer study, i.e., lung grey level, lung detail, lung noise, riblung contrast, rib sharpness, mediastinum detail, mediastinum noise, mediastinum alignment, subdiaphragm-lung contrast, and subdiaphragm area. For each metric, three tasks were successively presented to the observers. In each task, six ROI images were randomly presented in a row and observers were asked to rank the images only based on a designated quality and disregard the other qualities. A range slider on the top of the images was used for observers to indicate the acceptable range based on the corresponding perceptual attribute. Five boardcertificated radiologists from Duke participated in this observer study on a DICOM calibrated diagnostic display workstation and under low ambient lighting conditions. The observer data were analyzed in terms of the correlations between the observer ranking orders and the algorithmic ranking orders. Based on the collected acceptable ranges, quality consistency ranges were statistically derived. The observer study showed that, for each metric, the averaged ranking orders of the participated observers were strongly correlated with the algorithmic orders. For the lung grey level, the observer ranking orders completely accorded with the algorithmic ranking orders. The quality consistency ranges derived from this observer study were close to these derived from our previous study. The observer study indicates that the proposed image-based quality assessment technique provides a robust reflection of the perceptual image quality of the clinical chest radiographs. The derived quality consistency ranges can be used to automatically predict the acceptability of a clinical chest radiograph.

Personality correlates (BAS-BIS), self-perception of social ranking, and cortical (alpha frequency band) modulation in peer-group comparison.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Pagani, Silvia

2014-06-22

The perception and interpretation of social hierarchies are a key part of our social life. In the present research we considered the activation of cortical areas, mainly the prefrontal cortex, related to social ranking perception in conjunction with some personality components (BAS - Behavioral Activation System - and BIS - Behavioral Inhibition System). In two experiments we manipulated the perceived superior/inferior status during a competitive cognitive task. Indeed, we created an explicit and strongly reinforced social hierarchy based on incidental rating in an attentional task. Specifically, a peer group comparison was undertaken and improved (Experiment 1) or decreased (Experiment 2) performance was artificially manipulated by the experimenter. For each experiment two groups were compared, based on a BAS and BIS dichotomy. Alpha band modulation in prefrontal cortex, behavioral measures (performance: error rate, ER; response times, RTs), and self-perceived ranking were considered. Repeated measures ANOVAs and regression analyses showed in Experiment 1 a significant improved cognitive performance (decreased ER and RTs) and higher self-perceived ranking in high-BAS participants. Moreover, their prefrontal activity was increased within the left side (alpha band decreasing). Conversely, in Experiment 2 a significant decreased cognitive performance (increased ER and RTs) and lower self-perceived ranking was observed in higher-BIS participants. Their prefrontal right activity was increased in comparison with higher BAS. The regression analyses confirmed the significant predictive role of alpha band modulation with respect of subjects' performance and self-perception of social ranking, differently for BAS/BIS components. The present results suggest that social status perception is directly modulated by cortical activity and personality correlates. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Covariation in individuals' sensitivities to bitter compounds: evidence supporting multiple receptor/transduction mechanisms.

PubMed

Delwiche, J F; Buletic, Z; Breslin, P A

2001-07-01

People vary widely in their sensitivities to bitter compounds, but the intercorrelation of these sensitivities is unknown. Our goal was to investigate correlations as a function of individual sensitivities to several bitter compounds representative of different chemical classes and, from these correlations, infer the number and variety of potential bitterness transduction systems for these compounds. Twenty-six subjects rated and ranked quinine HCl, caffeine, (-)-epicatechin, tetralone, L-phenylalanine, L-tryptophan, magnesium sulfate, urea, sucrose octaacetate (SOA), denatonium benzoate, and n-propylthiouracil (PROP) for bitterness. By examining individual differences, ratings and rankings could be grouped into two general clusters--urea/phenylalanine/tryptophan/epicatechin, and quinine/caffeine/SOA/denatonium benzoate/tetralone/magnesium sulfate-none of which contained PROP. When subjects were grouped into the extremes of sensitivity to PROP, a significant difference was found in the bitterness ratings, but not in the rankings. Therefore, there are also subjects who possess diminished absolute sensitivity to bitter stimuli but do not differ from other subjects in their relative sensitivities to these compounds.

Test of Von Baer's law of the conservation of early development.

PubMed

Poe, Steven

2006-11-01

One of the oldest and most pervasive ideas in comparative embryology is the perceived evolutionary conservation of early ontogeny relative to late ontogeny. Karl Von Baer first noted the similarity of early ontogeny across taxa, and Ernst Haeckel and Charles Darwin gave evolutionary interpretation to this phenomenon. In spite of a resurgence of interest in comparative embryology and the development of mechanistic explanations for Von Baer's law, the pattern itself has been largely untested. Here, I use statistical phylogenetic approaches to show that Von Baer's law is an unnecessarily complex explanation of the patterns of ontogenetic timing in several clades of vertebrates. Von Baer's law suggests a positive correlation between ontogenetic time and amount of evolutionary change. I compare ranked position in ontogeny to frequency of evolutionary change in rank for developmental events and find that these measures are not correlated, thus failing to support Von Baer's model. An alternative model that postulates that small changes in ontogenetic rank are evolutionarily easier than large changes is tentatively supported.

What's wrong with hazard-ranking systems? An expository note.

PubMed

Cox, Louis Anthony Tony

2009-07-01

Two commonly recommended principles for allocating risk management resources to remediate uncertain hazards are: (1) select a subset to maximize risk-reduction benefits (e.g., maximize the von Neumann-Morgenstern expected utility of the selected risk-reducing activities), and (2) assign priorities to risk-reducing opportunities and then select activities from the top of the priority list down until no more can be afforded. When different activities create uncertain but correlated risk reductions, as is often the case in practice, then these principles are inconsistent: priority scoring and ranking fails to maximize risk-reduction benefits. Real-world risk priority scoring systems used in homeland security and terrorism risk assessment, environmental risk management, information system vulnerability rating, business risk matrices, and many other important applications do not exploit correlations among risk-reducing opportunities or optimally diversify risk-reducing investments. As a result, they generally make suboptimal risk management recommendations. Applying portfolio optimization methods instead of risk prioritization ranking, rating, or scoring methods can achieve greater risk-reduction value for resources spent.

Changes in the dominance hierarchy of captive female Japanese macaques as a consequence of merging two previously established groups.

PubMed

Anderson, Emily J; Weladji, Robert B; Paré, Patrick

2016-11-01

Dominance hierarchies play an important role in reducing competition and aggression in social animals. In zoos, changes in group composition are often required due to management protocols, but these changes may have long lasting effects on dominance hierarchies, and, consequently, the wellbeing of the animals. We studied the changes in the female dominance hierarchy that occurred both during and after the formation of a group of 10 adult Japanese macaques at the Zoo de Granby by combining members from two previously established groups. There was no significant correlation between individual ranks in the old groups (groups A and B) and their ranks in the new group (group AB), indicating a significant change in the hierarchy. Alliances between kin appeared to be important in determining rank; when the sister of the dominant female was removed from group AB, the hierarchy changed significantly a second time. The average standardized rank of individuals added later in the formation process of group AB was not different from those added earlier. Ranks in the group AB did correlate with age of individual at the beginning of the field season, but not at the end, after the shift in hierarchy occurred. Zoo management must be aware of the consequences small changes in a social group can have when removing and transferring individuals in both primates and in other social species. Zoo Biol. 35:505-512, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Suppression pheromone and cockroach rank formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kou, Rong; Chang, Huan-Wen; Chen, Shu-Chun; Ho, Hsiao-Yung

2009-06-01

Although agonistic behaviors in the male lobster cockroach ( Nauphoeta cinerea) are well known, the formation of an unstable hierarchy has long been a puzzle. In this study, we investigate how the unstable dominance hierarchy in N. cinerea is maintained via a pheromone signaling system. In agonistic interactions, aggressive posture (AP) is an important behavioral index of aggression. This study showed that, during the formation of a governing hierarchy, thousands of nanograms of 3-hydroxy-2-butanone (3H-2B) were released by the AP-adopting dominant in the first encounter fight, then during the early domination period and that this release of 3H-2B was related to rank maintenance, but not to rank establishment. For rank maintenance, 3H-2B functioned as a suppression pheromone, which suppressed the fighting capability of rivals and kept them in a submissive state. During the period of rank maintenance, as the dominant male gradually decreased his 3H-2B release, the fighting ability of the subordinate gradually developed, as shown by the increasing odds of a subordinate adopting an AP (OSAP). The OSAP was negatively correlated with the amount of 3H-2B released by the dominant and positively correlated with the number of domination days. The same OSAP could be achieved earlier by reducing the amount of 3H-2B released by the dominant indicates that whether the subordinate adopts an offensive strategy depends on what the dominant is doing.

Comparative study on DuPont analysis and DEA models for measuring stock performance using financial ratio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arsad, Roslah; Shaari, Siti Nabilah Mohd; Isa, Zaidi

2017-11-01

Determining stock performance using financial ratio is challenging for many investors and researchers. Financial ratio can indicate the strengths and weaknesses of a company's stock performance. There are five categories of financial ratios namely liquidity, efficiency, leverage, profitability and market ratios. It is important to interpret the ratio correctly for proper financial decision making. The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of listed companies in Bursa Malaysia using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and DuPont analysis Models. The study is conducted in 2015 involving 116 consumer products companies listed in Bursa Malaysia. The estimation method of Data Envelopment Analysis computes the efficiency scores and ranks the companies accordingly. The Alirezaee and Afsharian's method of analysis based Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) where Constant Return to Scale (CRS) is employed. The DuPont analysis is a traditional tool for measuring the operating performance of companies. In this study, DuPont analysis is used to evaluate three different aspects such as profitability, efficiency of assets utilization and financial leverage. Return on Equity (ROE) is also calculated in DuPont analysis. This study finds that both analysis models provide different rankings of the selected samples. Hypothesis testing based on Pearson's correlation, indicates that there is no correlation between rankings produced by DEA and DuPont analysis. The DEA ranking model proposed by Alirezaee and Asharian is unstable. The method cannot provide complete ranking because the values of Balance Index is equal and zero.

Informativeness of Self-Reports of ADHD Symptoms in Monitoring Response to Stimulant Treatment in Clinically Referred Adults With ADHD.

PubMed

Biederman, Joseph; Fitzgerald, Maura; Spencer, Thomas J; Adler, Lenard A; Abrams, Jessica; Biederman, Itai; Faraone, Stephen V

2018-05-01

To investigate the informativeness of self-reports of ADHD symptoms in adults with ADHD in the clinical setting. Subjects were clinically referred adults aged 19 years to 67 years of age of both sexes ( N = 54). All subjects were on stable doses of stimulant and were considered responders to treatment. ADHD symptoms were assessed using the ADHD Investigator Symptom Rating Scale (AISRS) and the ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS). Spearman's rank correlations were used to assess the correlations between clinician-assessed ADHD and patients' self-reports. Spearman's rank correlation analysis found evidence of a strong, positive association between total scores on the AISRS and the ASRS ( rs = .65, df = 52, p< .001). Results have important implications for the management and monitoring of treatment response in the clinical setting through patients' self-report.

Ultrasonic ranking of toughness of tungsten carbide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vary, A.; Hull, D. R.

1983-01-01

The feasibility of using ultrasonic attenuation measurements to rank tungsten carbide alloys according to their fracture toughness was demonstrated. Six samples of cobalt-cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) were examined. These varied in cobalt content from approximately 2 to 16 weight percent. The toughness generally increased with increasing cobalt content. Toughness was first determined by the Palmqvist and short rod fracture toughness tests. Subsequently, ultrasonic attenuation measurements were correlated with both these mechanical test methods. It is shown that there is a strong increase in ultrasonic attenuation corresponding to increased toughness of the WC-Co alloys. A correlation between attenuation and toughness exists for a wide range of ultrasonic frequencies. However, the best correlation for the WC-Co alloys occurs when the attenuation coefficient measured in the vicinity of 100 megahertz is compared with toughness as determined by the Palmqvist technique.

The Wilcoxon signed rank test for paired comparisons of clustered data.

PubMed

Rosner, Bernard; Glynn, Robert J; Lee, Mei-Ling T

2006-03-01

The Wilcoxon signed rank test is a frequently used nonparametric test for paired data (e.g., consisting of pre- and posttreatment measurements) based on independent units of analysis. This test cannot be used for paired comparisons arising from clustered data (e.g., if paired comparisons are available for each of two eyes of an individual). To incorporate clustering, a generalization of the randomization test formulation for the signed rank test is proposed, where the unit of randomization is at the cluster level (e.g., person), while the individual paired units of analysis are at the subunit within cluster level (e.g., eye within person). An adjusted variance estimate of the signed rank test statistic is then derived, which can be used for either balanced (same number of subunits per cluster) or unbalanced (different number of subunits per cluster) data, with an exchangeable correlation structure, with or without tied values. The resulting test statistic is shown to be asymptotically normal as the number of clusters becomes large, if the cluster size is bounded. Simulation studies are performed based on simulating correlated ranked data from a signed log-normal distribution. These studies indicate appropriate type I error for data sets with > or =20 clusters and a superior power profile compared with either the ordinary signed rank test based on the average cluster difference score or the multivariate signed rank test of Puri and Sen. Finally, the methods are illustrated with two data sets, (i) an ophthalmologic data set involving a comparison of electroretinogram (ERG) data in retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients before and after undergoing an experimental surgical procedure, and (ii) a nutritional data set based on a randomized prospective study of nutritional supplements in RP patients where vitamin E intake outside of study capsules is compared before and after randomization to monitor compliance with nutritional protocols.

Social ranking effects on tooth-brushing behaviour.

PubMed

Maltby, John; Paterson, Kevin; Day, Liz; Jones, Ceri; Kinnear, Hayley; Buchanan, Heather

2016-05-01

A tooth-brushing social rank hypothesis is tested suggesting tooth-brushing duration is influenced when individuals position their behaviour in a rank when comparing their behaviour with other individuals. Study 1 used a correlation design, Study 2 used a semi-experimental design, and Study 3 used a randomized intervention design to examine the tooth-brushing social rank hypothesis in terms of self-reported attitudes, cognitions, and behaviour towards tooth-brushing duration. Study 1 surveyed participants to examine whether the perceived health benefits of tooth-brushing duration could be predicted from the ranking of each person's tooth-brushing duration. Study 2 tested whether manipulating the rank position of the tooth-brushing duration influenced participant-perceived health benefits of tooth-brushing duration. Study 3 used a longitudinal intervention method to examine whether messages relating to the rank positions of tooth-brushing durations causally influenced the self-report tooth-brushing duration. Study 1 demonstrates that perceptions of the health benefits from tooth-brushing duration are predicted by the perceptions of how that behaviour ranks in comparison to other people's behaviour. Study 2 demonstrates that the perceptions of the health benefits of tooth-brushing duration can be manipulated experimentally by changing the ranked position of a person's tooth-brushing duration. Study 3 experimentally demonstrates the possibility of increasing the length of time for which individuals clean their teeth by focusing on how they rank among their peers in terms of tooth-brushing duration. The effectiveness of interventions using social-ranking methods relative to those that emphasize comparisons made against group averages or normative guidelines are discussed. What is already known on this subject? Individual make judgements based on social rank information. Social rank information has been shown to influence positive health behaviours such as exercise. What does this study add? The health benefits of tooth-brushing are predicted by how tooth-brushing duration ranks within a distribution. Focussing on how teeth-cleaning duration ranks among others produces longer teeth-cleaning durations. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

How to Rank Journals

PubMed Central

Bradshaw, Corey J. A.; Brook, Barry W.

2016-01-01

There are now many methods available to assess the relative citation performance of peer-reviewed journals. Regardless of their individual faults and advantages, citation-based metrics are used by researchers to maximize the citation potential of their articles, and by employers to rank academic track records. The absolute value of any particular index is arguably meaningless unless compared to other journals, and different metrics result in divergent rankings. To provide a simple yet more objective way to rank journals within and among disciplines, we developed a κ-resampled composite journal rank incorporating five popular citation indices: Impact Factor, Immediacy Index, Source-Normalized Impact Per Paper, SCImago Journal Rank and Google 5-year h-index; this approach provides an index of relative rank uncertainty. We applied the approach to six sample sets of scientific journals from Ecology (n = 100 journals), Medicine (n = 100), Multidisciplinary (n = 50); Ecology + Multidisciplinary (n = 25), Obstetrics & Gynaecology (n = 25) and Marine Biology & Fisheries (n = 25). We then cross-compared the κ-resampled ranking for the Ecology + Multidisciplinary journal set to the results of a survey of 188 publishing ecologists who were asked to rank the same journals, and found a 0.68–0.84 Spearman’s ρ correlation between the two rankings datasets. Our composite index approach therefore approximates relative journal reputation, at least for that discipline. Agglomerative and divisive clustering and multi-dimensional scaling techniques applied to the Ecology + Multidisciplinary journal set identified specific clusters of similarly ranked journals, with only Nature & Science separating out from the others. When comparing a selection of journals within or among disciplines, we recommend collecting multiple citation-based metrics for a sample of relevant and realistic journals to calculate the composite rankings and their relative uncertainty windows. PMID:26930052

How to Rank Journals.

PubMed

Bradshaw, Corey J A; Brook, Barry W

2016-01-01

There are now many methods available to assess the relative citation performance of peer-reviewed journals. Regardless of their individual faults and advantages, citation-based metrics are used by researchers to maximize the citation potential of their articles, and by employers to rank academic track records. The absolute value of any particular index is arguably meaningless unless compared to other journals, and different metrics result in divergent rankings. To provide a simple yet more objective way to rank journals within and among disciplines, we developed a κ-resampled composite journal rank incorporating five popular citation indices: Impact Factor, Immediacy Index, Source-Normalized Impact Per Paper, SCImago Journal Rank and Google 5-year h-index; this approach provides an index of relative rank uncertainty. We applied the approach to six sample sets of scientific journals from Ecology (n = 100 journals), Medicine (n = 100), Multidisciplinary (n = 50); Ecology + Multidisciplinary (n = 25), Obstetrics & Gynaecology (n = 25) and Marine Biology & Fisheries (n = 25). We then cross-compared the κ-resampled ranking for the Ecology + Multidisciplinary journal set to the results of a survey of 188 publishing ecologists who were asked to rank the same journals, and found a 0.68-0.84 Spearman's ρ correlation between the two rankings datasets. Our composite index approach therefore approximates relative journal reputation, at least for that discipline. Agglomerative and divisive clustering and multi-dimensional scaling techniques applied to the Ecology + Multidisciplinary journal set identified specific clusters of similarly ranked journals, with only Nature & Science separating out from the others. When comparing a selection of journals within or among disciplines, we recommend collecting multiple citation-based metrics for a sample of relevant and realistic journals to calculate the composite rankings and their relative uncertainty windows.

Selection for family medicine residency training in Canada: How consistently are the same students ranked by different programs?

PubMed

Wycliffe-Jones, Keith; Hecker, Kent G; Schipper, Shirley; Topps, Maureen; Robinson, Jeanine; Abedin, Tasnima

2018-02-01

To examine the consistency of the ranking of Canadian and US medical graduates who applied to Canadian family medicine (FM) residency programs between 2007 and 2013. Descriptive cross-sectional study. Family medicine residency programs in Canada. All 17 Canadian medical schools allowed access to their anonymized program rank-order lists of students applying to FM residency programs submitted to the first iteration of the Canadian Resident Matching Service match from 2007 to 2013. The rank position of medical students who applied to more than 1 FM residency program on the rank-order lists submitted by the programs. Anonymized ranking data submitted to the Canadian Resident Matching Service from 2007 to 2013 by all 17 FM residency programs were used. Ranking data of eligible Canadian and US medical graduates were analyzed to assess the within-student and between-student variability in rank score. These covariance parameters were then used to calculate the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for all programs. Program descriptions and selection criteria were also reviewed to identify sites with similar profiles for subset ICC analysis. Between 2007 and 2013, the consistency of ranking by all programs was fair at best (ICC = 0.34 to 0.39). The consistency of ranking by larger urban-based sites was weak to fair (ICC = 0.23 to 0.36), and the consistency of ranking by sites focusing on training for rural practice was weak to moderate (ICC = 0.16 to 0.55). In most cases, there is a low level of consistency of ranking of students applying for FM training in Canada. This raises concerns regarding fairness, particularly in relation to expectations around equity and distributive justice in selection processes. Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Ranking Causal Anomalies via Temporal and Dynamical Analysis on Vanishing Correlations.

PubMed

Cheng, Wei; Zhang, Kai; Chen, Haifeng; Jiang, Guofei; Chen, Zhengzhang; Wang, Wei

2016-08-01

Modern world has witnessed a dramatic increase in our ability to collect, transmit and distribute real-time monitoring and surveillance data from large-scale information systems and cyber-physical systems. Detecting system anomalies thus attracts significant amount of interest in many fields such as security, fault management, and industrial optimization. Recently, invariant network has shown to be a powerful way in characterizing complex system behaviours. In the invariant network, a node represents a system component and an edge indicates a stable, significant interaction between two components. Structures and evolutions of the invariance network, in particular the vanishing correlations, can shed important light on locating causal anomalies and performing diagnosis. However, existing approaches to detect causal anomalies with the invariant network often use the percentage of vanishing correlations to rank possible casual components, which have several limitations: 1) fault propagation in the network is ignored; 2) the root casual anomalies may not always be the nodes with a high-percentage of vanishing correlations; 3) temporal patterns of vanishing correlations are not exploited for robust detection. To address these limitations, in this paper we propose a network diffusion based framework to identify significant causal anomalies and rank them. Our approach can effectively model fault propagation over the entire invariant network, and can perform joint inference on both the structural, and the time-evolving broken invariance patterns. As a result, it can locate high-confidence anomalies that are truly responsible for the vanishing correlations, and can compensate for unstructured measurement noise in the system. Extensive experiments on synthetic datasets, bank information system datasets, and coal plant cyber-physical system datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

How Much Will My Child's Operation Cost? Availability of Consumer Prices From US Hospitals for a Common Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgical Procedure.

PubMed

Racimo, Allison R; Talathi, Nakul S; Zelenski, Nicole A; Wells, Lawrence; Shah, Apurva S

2018-05-02

Price transparency allows patients to make value-based health care decisions and is particularly important for individuals who are uninsured or enrolled in high-deductible health care plans. The availability of consumer prices for children undergoing orthopaedic surgery has not been previously investigated. We aimed to determine the availability of price estimates from hospitals in the United States for an archetypal pediatric orthopaedic surgical procedure (closed reduction and percutaneous pinning of a distal radius fracture) and identify variations in price estimates across hospitals. This prospective investigation utilized a scripted telephone call to obtain price estimates from 50 "top-ranked hospitals" for pediatric orthopaedics and 1 "non-top-ranked hospital" from each state and the District of Columbia. Price estimates were requested using a standardized script, in which an investigator posed as the mother of a child with a displaced distal radius fracture that needed closed reduction and pinning. Price estimates (complete or partial) were recorded for each hospital. The number of calls and the duration of time required to obtain the pricing information was also recorded. Variation was assessed, and hospitals were compared on the basis of ranking, teaching status, and region. Less than half (44%) of the 101 hospitals provided a complete price estimate. The mean price estimate for top-ranked hospitals ($17,813; range, $2742 to $49,063) was 50% higher than the price estimate for non-top-ranked hospitals ($11,866; range, $3623 to $22,967) (P=0.020). Differences in price estimates were attributable to differences in hospital fees (P=0.003), not surgeon fees. Top-ranked hospitals required more calls than non-top-ranked hospitals (4.4±2.9 vs. 2.8±2.3 calls, P=0.003). A longer duration of time was required to obtain price estimates from top-ranked hospitals than from non-top-ranked hospitals (8.2±9.4 vs. 4.1±5.1 d, P=0.024). Price estimates for pediatric orthopaedic procedures are difficult to obtain. Top-ranked hospitals are more expensive and less likely to provide price information than non-top-ranked hospitals, with price differences primarily caused by variation in hospital fees, not surgeon fees. Level II-economic and decision analyses.

Ease of articulation: A replication.

PubMed

Shuster, Linda I; Cottrill, Claire

2015-01-01

Researchers, as well as the lay public and the popular press, have become increasingly concerned about the lack of reproducibility of research findings. Despite this concern, research has shown that replications of previously published work comprise a very small proportion of published studies. Moreover, there are fewer published direct replications of research studies by independent investigators, and this type of replication is much less likely to confirm the results of the original research than are replications by the original investigator or conceptual replications. A search of the communication disorders research literature reveals that direct replications by independent investigators are virtually non-existent. The purpose of this project was to describe the major issues related to research reproducibility and report the results of a direct replication of a study by Locke (1972) regarding ease of articulation. Two methods for rating ease of articulation were employed. We were able to reproduce the results of the original study for the first method, obtaining a moderate positive correlation between our rankings of phoneme difficulty and Locke's rankings. We obtained a very high positive correlation between our phoneme rankings and rankings obtained in the original study for the second method. Moreover, we found a higher correlation between difficulty rankings and order of speech sound acquisition for American English than was found in the original study. Direct replication is not necessary for all studies in communication disorders, but should be considered for high impact studies, treatment studies, and those that provide data to support models and theories. The reader will be able to: (1) describe the major concerns related to the replicability of research findings; (2) describe the status of research replications in communication disorders; (3) describe how ease of articulation may relate to the order of speech sound acquisition in children; (4) list some types/areas of research that might be candidates for replication in the field of communication disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries

PubMed Central

Bradshaw, Corey J. A.; Giam, Xingli; Sodhi, Navjot S.

2010-01-01

Environmental protection is critical to maintain ecosystem services essential for human well-being. It is important to be able to rank countries by their environmental impact so that poor performers as well as policy ‘models’ can be identified. We provide novel metrics of country-specific environmental impact ranks – one proportional to total resource availability per country and an absolute (total) measure of impact – that explicitly avoid incorporating confounding human health or economic indicators. Our rankings are based on natural forest loss, habitat conversion, marine captures, fertilizer use, water pollution, carbon emissions and species threat, although many other variables were excluded due to a lack of country-specific data. Of 228 countries considered, 179 (proportional) and 171 (absolute) had sufficient data for correlations. The proportional index ranked Singapore, Korea, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Thailand, Bahrain, Malaysia, Philippines and Netherlands as having the highest proportional environmental impact, whereas Brazil, USA, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, India, Russia, Australia and Peru had the highest absolute impact (i.e., total resource use, emissions and species threatened). Proportional and absolute environmental impact ranks were correlated, with mainly Asian countries having both high proportional and absolute impact. Despite weak concordance among the drivers of environmental impact, countries often perform poorly for different reasons. We found no evidence to support the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis of a non-linear relationship between impact and per capita wealth, although there was a weak reduction in environmental impact as per capita wealth increases. Using structural equation models to account for cross-correlation, we found that increasing wealth was the most important driver of environmental impact. Our results show that the global community not only has to encourage better environmental performance in less-developed countries, especially those in Asia, there is also a requirement to focus on the development of environmentally friendly practices in wealthier countries. PMID:20454670

Application of the h-Index in Academic Plastic Surgery.

PubMed

Therattil, Paul J; Hoppe, Ian C; Granick, Mark S; Lee, Edward S

2016-05-01

The h-index is a measure designed to assess the quantity and significance of an individual's academic contributions. The objective of this study was to determine whether the h-index of plastic surgeons correlates with academic rank and whether there is a difference based on academic rank, residency training model, sex, geographic region, faculty size, and departmental status. A database of all US academic plastic surgeons was created. The rank and sex of each surgeon were obtained, as were characteristics of their plastic surgery program. The Scopus database was queried to determine each surgeon's h-index. The 592 plastic surgeons in our database had a mean h-index of 8.97. The h-index increased with academic rank: 4.59 for assistant professors, 9.10 for associate professors, and 15.30 for professors. There was no significant difference in the h-index between chairpersons and chiefs. Plastic surgeons on faculty in integrated plastic surgery programs had significantly higher h-indices (9.64) than those at traditional programs (6.28). Those who were on faculty at larger programs also had higher h-indices. Male plastic surgeons had higher h-indices (9.57) than did female plastic surgeons (6.07), although this was insignificant when taking other variables into account. There was no correlation between the h-index and location or departmental status. The h-index of plastic surgeons seems to correlate with academic rank and has potential as a tool to measure academic productivity within plastic surgery. Plastic surgeons on faculty in integrated plastic surgery programs, those at larger programs, and male plastic surgeons tend to have higher h-indices. The difference between sexes seems to be, at least in part, due to the higher number of men in high academic positions. There does not seem to be a regional difference with regard to h-indices or a difference with regard to departmental status.

Market Correlation Structure Changes Around the Great Crash: A Random Matrix Theory Analysis of the Chinese Stock Market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Rui-Qi; Xie, Wen-Jie; Xiong, Xiong; Zhang, Wei; Zhou, Wei-Xing

The correlation structure of a stock market contains important financial contents, which may change remarkably due to the occurrence of financial crisis. We perform a comparative analysis of the Chinese stock market around the occurrence of the 2008 crisis based on the random matrix analysis of high-frequency stock returns of 1228 Chinese stocks. Both raw correlation matrix and partial correlation matrix with respect to the market index in two time periods of one year are investigated. We find that the Chinese stocks have stronger average correlation and partial correlation in 2008 than in 2007 and the average partial correlation is significantly weaker than the average correlation in each period. Accordingly, the largest eigenvalue of the correlation matrix is remarkably greater than that of the partial correlation matrix in each period. Moreover, each largest eigenvalue and its eigenvector reflect an evident market effect, while other deviating eigenvalues do not. We find no evidence that deviating eigenvalues contain industrial sectorial information. Surprisingly, the eigenvectors of the second largest eigenvalues in 2007 and of the third largest eigenvalues in 2008 are able to distinguish the stocks from the two exchanges. We also find that the component magnitudes of the some largest eigenvectors are proportional to the stocks’ capitalizations.

The significance of the choice of radiobiological (NTCP) models in treatment plan objective functions.

PubMed

Miller, J; Fuller, M; Vinod, S; Suchowerska, N; Holloway, L

2009-06-01

A Clinician's discrimination between radiation therapy treatment plans is traditionally a subjective process, based on experience and existing protocols. A more objective and quantitative approach to distinguish between treatment plans is to use radiobiological or dosimetric objective functions, based on radiobiological or dosimetric models. The efficacy of models is not well understood, nor is the correlation of the rank of plans resulting from the use of models compared to the traditional subjective approach. One such radiobiological model is the Normal Tissue Complication Probability (NTCP). Dosimetric models or indicators are more accepted in clinical practice. In this study, three radiobiological models, Lyman NTCP, critical volume NTCP and relative seriality NTCP, and three dosimetric models, Mean Lung Dose (MLD) and the Lung volumes irradiated at 10Gy (V10) and 20Gy (V20), were used to rank a series of treatment plans using, harm to normal (Lung) tissue as the objective criterion. None of the models considered in this study showed consistent correlation with the Radiation Oncologists plan ranking. If radiobiological or dosimetric models are to be used in objective functions for lung treatments, based on this study it is recommended that the Lyman NTCP model be used because it will provide most consistency with traditional clinician ranking.

Statistical analysis of latent generalized correlation matrix estimation in transelliptical distribution.

PubMed

Han, Fang; Liu, Han

2017-02-01

Correlation matrix plays a key role in many multivariate methods (e.g., graphical model estimation and factor analysis). The current state-of-the-art in estimating large correlation matrices focuses on the use of Pearson's sample correlation matrix. Although Pearson's sample correlation matrix enjoys various good properties under Gaussian models, its not an effective estimator when facing heavy-tail distributions with possible outliers. As a robust alternative, Han and Liu (2013b) advocated the use of a transformed version of the Kendall's tau sample correlation matrix in estimating high dimensional latent generalized correlation matrix under the transelliptical distribution family (or elliptical copula). The transelliptical family assumes that after unspecified marginal monotone transformations, the data follow an elliptical distribution. In this paper, we study the theoretical properties of the Kendall's tau sample correlation matrix and its transformed version proposed in Han and Liu (2013b) for estimating the population Kendall's tau correlation matrix and the latent Pearson's correlation matrix under both spectral and restricted spectral norms. With regard to the spectral norm, we highlight the role of "effective rank" in quantifying the rate of convergence. With regard to the restricted spectral norm, we for the first time present a "sign subgaussian condition" which is sufficient to guarantee that the rank-based correlation matrix estimator attains the optimal rate of convergence. In both cases, we do not need any moment condition.

Educational Background and Academic Rank of Faculty Members within US Schools of Pharmacy.

PubMed

Assemi, Mitra; Hudmon, Karen Suchanek; Sowinski, Kevin M; Corelli, Robin L

2016-05-25

Objective. To characterize the educational background and academic rank of faculty members in US schools of pharmacy, estimate the extent to which they are employed by institutions where they received previous training, and determine whether differences in degree origin and rank exist between faculty members in established (≤1995) vs newer programs. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) faculty database and demographic information from the public domain. Results. Among 5516 faculty members, 50.3% held two or more types of degrees. Established schools had a higher median number of faculty members and a higher mean faculty rank than did newer schools. Conclusion. The difference in mean faculty rank highlights the shortage of experienced faculty members in newer schools. Future research efforts should investigate educational attainment in correlation to other faculty and school characteristics and prospectively track and report trends related to pharmacy faculty members composition.

Socially dominant mice in C57BL6 background show increased social motivation.

PubMed

Kunkel, Thaddeus; Wang, Hongbing

2018-01-15

A series of behavioral tests measuring social dominance, social motivation, and non-social motivation are examined in adult male C57BL6 mice. By using the well-known tube dominance test to determine social dominance and rank, we find that, in the absence of competition for resource and mating, group-housed mouse cage-mates display stable and mostly linear and transitive social hierarchies. Mice with top and bottom social ranks are subjected to a three-chamber social interaction test to measure social motivation. The top ranked mice spend more time interacting with a stranger mouse than the bottom ranked mice, suggesting that social dominance may positively influence social motivation. When subjected to a novel environment, mice with different social ranks show similar locomotion and exploring activity in the open field test, suggesting no detectable difference in certain aspects of non-social motivation. These results demonstrate a behavioral correlation between social dominance and social motivation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding perceived availability and importance of tobacco control interventions to inform European adoption of a UK economic model: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Kulchaitanaroaj, Puttarin; Kaló, Zoltán; West, Robert; Cheung, Kei Long; Evers, Silvia; Vokó, Zoltán; Hiligsmann, Mickael; de Vries, Hein; Owen, Lesley; Trapero-Bertran, Marta; Leidl, Reiner; Pokhrel, Subhash

2018-02-14

The evidence on the extent to which stakeholders in different European countries agree with availability and importance of tobacco-control interventions is limited. This study assessed and compared stakeholders' views from five European countries and compared the perceived ranking of interventions with evidence-based ranking using cost-effectiveness data. An interview survey (face-to-face, by phone or Skype) was conducted between April and July 2014 with five categories of stakeholders - decision makers, service purchasers, service providers, evidence generators and health promotion advocates - from Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. A list of potential stakeholders drawn from the research team's contacts and snowballing served as the sampling frame. An email invitation was sent to all stakeholders in this list and recruitment was based on positive replies. Respondents were asked to rate availability and importance of 30 tobacco control interventions. Kappa coefficients assessed agreement of stakeholders' views. A mean importance score for each intervention was used to rank the interventions. This ranking was compared with the ranking based on cost-effectiveness data from a published review. Ninety-three stakeholders (55.7% response rate) completed the survey: 18.3% were from Germany, 17.2% from Hungary, 30.1% from the Netherlands, 19.4% from Spain, and 15.1% from the UK. Of those, 31.2% were decision makers, 26.9% evidence generators, 19.4% service providers, 15.1% health-promotion advocates, and 7.5% purchasers of services/pharmaceutical products. Smoking restrictions in public areas were rated as the most important intervention (mean score = 1.89). The agreement on availability of interventions between the stakeholders was very low (kappa = 0.098; 95% CI = [0.085, 0.111] but the agreement on the importance of the interventions was fair (kappa = 0.239; 95% CI = [0.208, 0.253]). A correlation was found between availability and importance rankings for stage-based interventions. The importance ranking was not statistically concordant with the ranking based on published cost-effectiveness data (Kendall rank correlation coefficient = 0.40; p-value = 0.11; 95% CI = [- 0.09, 0.89]). The intrinsic differences in stakeholder views must be addressed while transferring economic evidence Europe-wide. Strong engagement with stakeholders, focussing on better communication, has a potential to mitigate this challenge.

Evaluation of Classifier Performance for Multiclass Phenotype Discrimination in Untargeted Metabolomics.

PubMed

Trainor, Patrick J; DeFilippis, Andrew P; Rai, Shesh N

2017-06-21

Statistical classification is a critical component of utilizing metabolomics data for examining the molecular determinants of phenotypes. Despite this, a comprehensive and rigorous evaluation of the accuracy of classification techniques for phenotype discrimination given metabolomics data has not been conducted. We conducted such an evaluation using both simulated and real metabolomics datasets, comparing Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), Sparse PLS-DA, Random Forests, Support Vector Machines (SVM), Artificial Neural Network, k -Nearest Neighbors ( k -NN), and Naïve Bayes classification techniques for discrimination. We evaluated the techniques on simulated data generated to mimic global untargeted metabolomics data by incorporating realistic block-wise correlation and partial correlation structures for mimicking the correlations and metabolite clustering generated by biological processes. Over the simulation studies, covariance structures, means, and effect sizes were stochastically varied to provide consistent estimates of classifier performance over a wide range of possible scenarios. The effects of the presence of non-normal error distributions, the introduction of biological and technical outliers, unbalanced phenotype allocation, missing values due to abundances below a limit of detection, and the effect of prior-significance filtering (dimension reduction) were evaluated via simulation. In each simulation, classifier parameters, such as the number of hidden nodes in a Neural Network, were optimized by cross-validation to minimize the probability of detecting spurious results due to poorly tuned classifiers. Classifier performance was then evaluated using real metabolomics datasets of varying sample medium, sample size, and experimental design. We report that in the most realistic simulation studies that incorporated non-normal error distributions, unbalanced phenotype allocation, outliers, missing values, and dimension reduction, classifier performance (least to greatest error) was ranked as follows: SVM, Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, sPLS-DA, Neural Networks, PLS-DA and k -NN classifiers. When non-normal error distributions were introduced, the performance of PLS-DA and k -NN classifiers deteriorated further relative to the remaining techniques. Over the real datasets, a trend of better performance of SVM and Random Forest classifier performance was observed.

Long Term Association of Tropospheric Trace gases over Pakistan by exploiting satellite observations and development of Econometric Regression based Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeb, Naila; Fahim Khokhar, Muhammad; Khan, Saud Ahmed; Noreen, Asma; Murtaza, Rabbia

2017-04-01

Air pollution is the expected key environmental issue of Pakistan as it is ranked among top polluted countries in the region. Ongoing rapid economic growth without any adequate measures is leading to worst air quality over time. The study aims to monitor long term atmospheric composition and association of trace gases over Pakistan. Tropospheric concentrations of CO, TOC, NO2 and HCHO derived from multiple satellite instruments are used for study from year 2005 to 2014. The study will provide first database for tropospheric trace gases over Pakistan. Spatio-temporal assessment identified hotspots and possible sources of trace gases over the Pakistan. High concentrations of trace gases are mainly observed over Punjab region, which may be attributed to its metropolitan importance. It is the major agricultural, industrialized and urbanized (nearly 60 % of the Pakistan's population) sector of the country. The expected sources are the agricultural fires, biomass/fossil fuel burning for heating purposes, urbanization, industrialization and meteorological variations. Seasonal variability is observed to explore seasonal patterns over the decade. Well defined seasonal cycles of trace gases are observed over the whole study period. The observed seasonal patterns also showed some noteworthy association among trace gases, which is further explored by different statistical tests. Seasonal Mann Kendall test is applied to test the significance of trend in series whereas correlation is carried out to measure the strength of association among trace gases. Strong correlation is observed for trace gases especially between CO and TOC. Partial Mann Kendall test is used to ideally identify the impact of each covariate on long term trend of CO and TOC by partialling out each correlating trace gas (covariate). It is observed that TOC, NO2 and HCHO has significant impact on long term trend of CO whereas, TOC critically depends on NO2 concentrations for long term increase over the region. Furthermore to explore causal relation, regression analysis is employed to estimate model for CO and TOC. This model numerically estimated the long term association of trace gases over the region.

Partial Thermalization of Correlations in pA and AA collisionss

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gavin, Sean; Moschelli, George; Zin, Christopher

2017-09-01

Correlations born before the onset of hydrodynamic flow can leave observable traces on the final state particles. Measurement of these correlations can yield important information on the isotropization and thermalization process. Starting with Israel-Stewart hydrodynamics and Boltzmann-like kinetic theory in the presence of dynamic Langevin noise, we derive new partial differential equations for two-particle correlation functions. To illustrate how these equations can be used, we study the effect of thermalization on long range correlations. We show quite generally that two particle correlations at early times depend on S, the average probability that a parton suffers no interactions. We extract S from transverse momentum fluctuations measured in Pb+Pb collisions and predict the degree of partial thermalization in pA experiments. NSF-PHY-1207687.

Bidirectional control of social hierarchy by synaptic efficacy in medial prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Wang, Fei; Zhu, Jun; Zhu, Hong; Zhang, Qi; Lin, Zhanmin; Hu, Hailan

2011-11-04

Dominance hierarchy has a profound impact on animals' survival, health, and reproductive success, but its neural circuit mechanism is virtually unknown. We found that dominance ranking in mice is transitive, relatively stable, and highly correlates among multiple behavior measures. Recording from layer V pyramidal neurons of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) showed higher strength of excitatory synaptic inputs in mice with higher ranking, as compared with their subordinate cage mates. Furthermore, molecular manipulations that resulted in an increase and decrease in the synaptic efficacy in dorsal mPFC neurons caused an upward and downward movement in the social rank, respectively. These results provide direct evidence for mPFC's involvement in social hierarchy and suggest that social rank is plastic and can be tuned by altering synaptic strength in mPFC pyramidal cells.

An Automated Approach for Ranking Journals to Help in Clinician Decision Support

PubMed Central

Jonnalagadda, Siddhartha R.; Moosavinasab, Soheil; Nath, Chinmoy; Li, Dingcheng; Chute, Christopher G.; Liu, Hongfang

2014-01-01

Point of care access to knowledge from full text journal articles supports decision-making and decreases medical errors. However, it is an overwhelming task to search through full text journal articles and find quality information needed by clinicians. We developed a method to rate journals for a given clinical topic, Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Our method enables filtering of journals and ranking of journal articles based on source journal in relation to CHF. We also obtained a journal priority score, which automatically rates any journal based on its importance to CHF. Comparing our ranking with data gathered by surveying 169 cardiologists, who publish on CHF, our best Multiple Linear Regression model showed a correlation of 0.880, based on five-fold cross validation. Our ranking system can be extended to other clinical topics. PMID:25954382

Super-resolution reconstruction in frequency, image, and wavelet domains to reduce through-plane partial voluming in MRI

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

Gholipour, Ali, E-mail: ali.gholipour@childrens.harvard.edu; Afacan, Onur; Scherrer, Benoit

Purpose: To compare and evaluate the use of super-resolution reconstruction (SRR), in frequency, image, and wavelet domains, to reduce through-plane partial voluming effects in magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: The reconstruction of an isotropic high-resolution image from multiple thick-slice scans has been investigated through techniques in frequency, image, and wavelet domains. Experiments were carried out with thick-slice T2-weighted fast spin echo sequence on the Academic College of Radiology MRI phantom, where the reconstructed images were compared to a reference high-resolution scan using peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity image metric (SSIM), mutual information (MI), and the mean absolute error (MAE) ofmore » image intensity profiles. The application of super-resolution reconstruction was then examined in retrospective processing of clinical neuroimages of ten pediatric patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) to reduce through-plane partial voluming for improved 3D delineation and visualization of thin radial bands of white matter abnormalities. Results: Quantitative evaluation results show improvements in all evaluation metrics through super-resolution reconstruction in the frequency, image, and wavelet domains, with the highest values obtained from SRR in the image domain. The metric values for image-domain SRR versus the original axial, coronal, and sagittal images were PSNR = 32.26 vs 32.22, 32.16, 30.65; SSIM = 0.931 vs 0.922, 0.924, 0.918; MI = 0.871 vs 0.842, 0.844, 0.831; and MAE = 5.38 vs 7.34, 7.06, 6.19. All similarity metrics showed high correlations with expert ranking of image resolution with MI showing the highest correlation at 0.943. Qualitative assessment of the neuroimages of ten TSC patients through in-plane and out-of-plane visualization of structures showed the extent of partial voluming effect in a real clinical scenario and its reduction using SRR. Blinded expert evaluation of image resolution in resampled out-of-plane views consistently showed the superiority of SRR compared to original axial and coronal image acquisitions. Conclusions: Thick-slice 2D T2-weighted MRI scans are part of many routine clinical protocols due to their high signal-to-noise ratio, but are often severely affected by through-plane partial voluming effects. This study shows that while radiologic assessment is performed in 2D on thick-slice scans, super-resolution MRI reconstruction techniques can be used to fuse those scans to generate a high-resolution image with reduced partial voluming for improved postacquisition processing. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation showed the efficacy of all SRR techniques with the best results obtained from SRR in the image domain. The limitations of SRR techniques are uncertainties in modeling the slice profile, density compensation, quantization in resampling, and uncompensated motion between scans.« less

Super-resolution reconstruction in frequency, image, and wavelet domains to reduce through-plane partial voluming in MRI

PubMed Central

Gholipour, Ali; Afacan, Onur; Aganj, Iman; Scherrer, Benoit; Prabhu, Sanjay P.; Sahin, Mustafa; Warfield, Simon K.

2015-01-01

Purpose: To compare and evaluate the use of super-resolution reconstruction (SRR), in frequency, image, and wavelet domains, to reduce through-plane partial voluming effects in magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: The reconstruction of an isotropic high-resolution image from multiple thick-slice scans has been investigated through techniques in frequency, image, and wavelet domains. Experiments were carried out with thick-slice T2-weighted fast spin echo sequence on the Academic College of Radiology MRI phantom, where the reconstructed images were compared to a reference high-resolution scan using peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity image metric (SSIM), mutual information (MI), and the mean absolute error (MAE) of image intensity profiles. The application of super-resolution reconstruction was then examined in retrospective processing of clinical neuroimages of ten pediatric patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) to reduce through-plane partial voluming for improved 3D delineation and visualization of thin radial bands of white matter abnormalities. Results: Quantitative evaluation results show improvements in all evaluation metrics through super-resolution reconstruction in the frequency, image, and wavelet domains, with the highest values obtained from SRR in the image domain. The metric values for image-domain SRR versus the original axial, coronal, and sagittal images were PSNR = 32.26 vs 32.22, 32.16, 30.65; SSIM = 0.931 vs 0.922, 0.924, 0.918; MI = 0.871 vs 0.842, 0.844, 0.831; and MAE = 5.38 vs 7.34, 7.06, 6.19. All similarity metrics showed high correlations with expert ranking of image resolution with MI showing the highest correlation at 0.943. Qualitative assessment of the neuroimages of ten TSC patients through in-plane and out-of-plane visualization of structures showed the extent of partial voluming effect in a real clinical scenario and its reduction using SRR. Blinded expert evaluation of image resolution in resampled out-of-plane views consistently showed the superiority of SRR compared to original axial and coronal image acquisitions. Conclusions: Thick-slice 2D T2-weighted MRI scans are part of many routine clinical protocols due to their high signal-to-noise ratio, but are often severely affected by through-plane partial voluming effects. This study shows that while radiologic assessment is performed in 2D on thick-slice scans, super-resolution MRI reconstruction techniques can be used to fuse those scans to generate a high-resolution image with reduced partial voluming for improved postacquisition processing. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation showed the efficacy of all SRR techniques with the best results obtained from SRR in the image domain. The limitations of SRR techniques are uncertainties in modeling the slice profile, density compensation, quantization in resampling, and uncompensated motion between scans. PMID:26632048

Experienced stigma and its impacts in psychosis: The role of social rank and external shame.

PubMed

Wood, Lisa; Irons, Chris

2017-09-01

Experienced stigma is detrimental to those who experience psychosis and can cause emotional distress and hinder recovery. This study aimed to explore the relationship between experienced stigma with emotional distress and recovery in people with psychosis. It explored the role of external shame and social rank as mediators in these relationships. A cross-sectional design was implemented. Fifty-two service users were administered a battery of questionnaires examining experienced stigma, external shame, social rank, personal recovery, positive symptoms, depression, and anxiety. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were conducted on the data. Where appropriate, mediation analysis was employed to explore social rank and external shame as mediatory variables. Experienced stigma was significantly related to shame (social rank and external shame), positive symptoms, emotional distress (depression and anxiety), and personal recovery. The impact of experienced stigma on depression was mediated by external shame. Social rank was a mediator between experienced stigma and personal recovery only. People with psychosis who have experienced stigma are likely to experience emotional distress and be inhibited in their recovery. This was found to be partly mediated by external shame and low social rank. Clinical approaches to stigma need to target these as potential maintenance factors. Experienced stigma is significantly related to shame (social rank and external shame) emotional distress, and reduced personal recovery. External shame mediated the relationship between experienced stigma and depression in psychosis. Social rank mediated the relationship between experienced stigma and personal recovery. Clinical approaches to stigma should include the assessment of external shame and low social rank. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Relationships between nurse- and physician-to-population ratios and state health rankings.

PubMed

Bigbee, Jeri L

2008-01-01

To evaluate the relationship between nurse-to-population ratios and population health, as indicated by state health ranking, and to compare the findings with physician-to-population ratios. Secondary analysis correlational design. The sample consisted of all 50 states in the United States. Data sources included the United Health Foundation's 2006 state health rankings, the 2004 National Sample Survey for Registered Nurses, and the U.S. Health Workforce Profile from the New York Center for Health Workforce Studies. Significant relationships between nurse-to-population ratio and overall state health ranking (rho=-.446, p tf?>=.001) and 11 of the 18 components of that ranking were found. Significant components included motor vehicle death rate, high school graduation rate, violent crime rate, infectious disease rate, percentage of children in poverty, percentage of uninsured residents, immunization rate, adequacy of prenatal care, number of poor mental health days, number of poor physical health days, and premature death rate, with higher nurse-to-population ratios associated with higher health rankings. Specialty (public health and school) nurse-to-population ratios were not as strongly related to state health ranking. Physician-to-population ratios were also significantly related to state health ranking, but were associated with different components than nurses. These findings suggest that greater nurses per capita may be uniquely associated with healthier communities; however, further multivariate research is needed.

RANK rewires energy homeostasis in lung cancer cells and drives primary lung cancer.

PubMed

Rao, Shuan; Sigl, Verena; Wimmer, Reiner Alois; Novatchkova, Maria; Jais, Alexander; Wagner, Gabriel; Handschuh, Stephan; Uribesalgo, Iris; Hagelkruys, Astrid; Kozieradzki, Ivona; Tortola, Luigi; Nitsch, Roberto; Cronin, Shane J; Orthofer, Michael; Branstetter, Daniel; Canon, Jude; Rossi, John; D'Arcangelo, Manolo; Botling, Johan; Micke, Patrick; Fleur, Linnea La; Edlund, Karolina; Bergqvist, Michael; Ekman, Simon; Lendl, Thomas; Popper, Helmut; Takayanagi, Hiroshi; Kenner, Lukas; Hirsch, Fred R; Dougall, William; Penninger, Josef M

2017-10-15

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. Besides smoking, epidemiological studies have linked female sex hormones to lung cancer in women; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we report that the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB (RANK), the key regulator of osteoclastogenesis, is frequently expressed in primary lung tumors, an active RANK pathway correlates with decreased survival, and pharmacologic RANK inhibition reduces tumor growth in patient-derived lung cancer xenografts. Clonal genetic inactivation of KRas G12D in mouse lung epithelial cells markedly impairs the progression of KRas G12D -driven lung cancer, resulting in a significant survival advantage. Mechanistically, RANK rewires energy homeostasis in human and murine lung cancer cells and promotes expansion of lung cancer stem-like cells, which is blocked by inhibiting mitochondrial respiration. Our data also indicate survival differences in KRas G12D -driven lung cancer between male and female mice, and we show that female sex hormones can promote lung cancer progression via the RANK pathway. These data uncover a direct role for RANK in lung cancer and may explain why female sex hormones accelerate lung cancer development. Inhibition of RANK using the approved drug denosumab may be a therapeutic drug candidate for primary lung cancer. © 2017 Rao et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Responses of Reactive Oxygen Scavenging Enzymes, Proline and Malondialdehyde to Water Deficits among Six Secondary Successional Seral Species in Loess Plateau

PubMed Central

Du, Feng; Shi, Huijun; Zhang, Xingchang; Xu, Xuexuan

2014-01-01

Drought can impact local vegetation dynamics in a long term. In order to predict the possible successional pathway of local community under drought, the responses of some drought resistance indices of six successional seral species in the semi-arid Loss Hilly Region of China were illustrated and compared on three levels of soil water deficits along three growing months (7, 8 and 9). The results showed that: 1) the six species had significant differences in SOD, POD activities and MDA content. The rank correlations between SOD, POD activities and the successional niche positions of the six species were positive, and the correlation between MDA content and the niche positions was negative; 2) activities of SOD, CAT and POD, and content of proline and MDA had significant differences among the three months; 3) there existed significant interactions of SOD, CAT, POD activities and MDA content between months and species. With an exception, no interaction of proline was found. Proline in leaves had a general decline in reproductive month; 4) SOD, CAT, POD activities and proline content had negative correlations with MDA content. Among which, the correlation between SOD activity and MDA content was significant. The results implied that, in arid or semiarid region, the species at later successional stage tend to have strong drought resistance than those at early stage. Anti-drought indices can partially interpret the pathway of community succession in the drought impacted area. SOD activity is more distinct and important on the scope of protecting membrane damage through the scavenging of ROS on exposure to drought. PMID:24914928

Structured learning for robotic surgery utilizing a proficiency score: a pilot study.

PubMed

Hung, Andrew J; Bottyan, Thomas; Clifford, Thomas G; Serang, Sarfaraz; Nakhoda, Zein K; Shah, Swar H; Yokoi, Hana; Aron, Monish; Gill, Inderbir S

2017-01-01

We evaluated feasibility and benefit of implementing structured learning in a robotics program. Furthermore, we assessed validity of a proficiency assessment tool for stepwise graduation. Teaching cases included robotic radical prostatectomy and partial nephrectomy. Procedure steps were categorized: basic, intermediate, and advanced. An assessment tool ["proficiency score" (PS)] was developed to evaluate ability to safely and autonomously complete a step. Graduation required a passing PS (PS ≥ 3) on three consecutive attempts. PS and validated global evaluative assessment of robotic skills (GEARS) were evaluated for completed steps. Linear regression was utilized to determine postgraduate year/PS relationship (construct validity). Spearman's rank correlation coefficient measured correlation between PS and GEARS evaluations (concurrent validity). Intraclass correlation (ICC) evaluated PS agreement between evaluator classes. Twenty-one robotic trainees participated within the pilot program, completing a median of 14 (2-69) cases each. Twenty-three study evaluators scored 14 (1-60) cases. Over 4 months, 229/294 (78 %) cases were designated "teaching" cases. Residents completed 91 % of possible evaluations; faculty completed 78 %. Verbal and quantitative feedback received by trainees increased significantly (p = 0.002, p < 0.001, respectively). Average PS increased with PGY (post-graduate year) for basic and intermediate steps (regression slopes: 0.402 (p < 0.0001), 0.323 (p < 0.0001), respectively) (construct validation). Overall, PS correlated highly with GEARS (ρ = 0.81, p < 0.0001) (concurrent validity). ICC was 0.77 (95 % CI 0.61-0.88) for resident evaluations. Structured learning can be implemented in an academic robotic program with high levels of trainee and evaluator participation, encouraging both quantitative and verbal feedback. A proficiency assessment tool developed for step-specific proficiency has construct and concurrent validity.

Left/right judgement does not influence the effect of mirror therapy after stroke.

PubMed

Lundquist, Camilla B; Nielsen, Jørgen F

2014-01-01

To investigate the correlation between left/right judgement and the effect of mirror therapy (MT). A partial aim was to describe adverse effects of MT. This prospective follow-up study included 36 stroke patients, mean time since stroke was 33 d, SD 23. Left/right judgement is the ability to judge a pictured hand as belonging to one side of the body or the other. In this study, left/right judgement was established before the onset of MT by asking the patient to recognise left and right hands in photographs. Patients were tested before and after the intervention with the motor assessment scale (MAS) and two-point discrimination (2PD). The correlation between left/right judgement and the change of effect measured on the MAS and 2PD were tested by Spearman's rank correlation. The ability to perform left/right judgement before the onset of MT had no significant correlation with change of effect measured on the MAS and 2PD (rho -0.169, p = 0.363 and rho = -0.227, p = 0.219). Thirty-one patients completed the intervention without adverse effects. Left/right judgement does not influence the effect of MT. There seems to be no reason to test the ability to perform left/right judgement before the onset of MT. MT is an intervention without major adverse effects. Implications for Rehabilitation Mirror therapy (MT) is a method for treating sensory and motor disturbances post-stroke. It is important to clarify whether the ability to perform left/right judgement influences the effect of MT. In this study, left/right judgement does not influence the effect of MT. Based on the results of this study, testing and training left/right judgement before commencing MT cannot be recommended.

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for two-phase flow in the vicinity of the repository in the 1996 performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Disturbed conditions

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

HELTON,JON CRAIG; BEAN,J.E.; ECONOMY,K.

2000-05-22

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis results obtained in the 1996 performance assessment (PA) for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) are presented for two-phase flow in the vicinity of the repository under disturbed conditions resulting from drilling intrusions. Techniques based on Latin hypercube sampling, examination of scatterplots, stepwise regression analysis, partial correlation analysis and rank transformations are used to investigate brine inflow, gas generation repository pressure, brine saturation and brine and gas outflow. Of the variables under study, repository pressure and brine flow from the repository to the Culebra Dolomite are potentially the most important in PA for the WIPP. Subsequentmore » to a drilling intrusion repository pressure was dominated by borehole permeability and generally below the level (i.e., 8 MPa) that could potentially produce spallings and direct brine releases. Brine flow from the repository to the Culebra Dolomite tended to be small or nonexistent with its occurrence and size also dominated by borehole permeability.« less

Riemannian multi-manifold modeling and clustering in brain networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slavakis, Konstantinos; Salsabilian, Shiva; Wack, David S.; Muldoon, Sarah F.; Baidoo-Williams, Henry E.; Vettel, Jean M.; Cieslak, Matthew; Grafton, Scott T.

2017-08-01

This paper introduces Riemannian multi-manifold modeling in the context of brain-network analytics: Brainnetwork time-series yield features which are modeled as points lying in or close to a union of a finite number of submanifolds within a known Riemannian manifold. Distinguishing disparate time series amounts thus to clustering multiple Riemannian submanifolds. To this end, two feature-generation schemes for brain-network time series are put forth. The first one is motivated by Granger-causality arguments and uses an auto-regressive moving average model to map low-rank linear vector subspaces, spanned by column vectors of appropriately defined observability matrices, to points into the Grassmann manifold. The second one utilizes (non-linear) dependencies among network nodes by introducing kernel-based partial correlations to generate points in the manifold of positivedefinite matrices. Based on recently developed research on clustering Riemannian submanifolds, an algorithm is provided for distinguishing time series based on their Riemannian-geometry properties. Numerical tests on time series, synthetically generated from real brain-network structural connectivity matrices, reveal that the proposed scheme outperforms classical and state-of-the-art techniques in clustering brain-network states/structures.

Revisiting the European sovereign bonds with a permutation-information-theory approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández Bariviera, Aurelio; Zunino, Luciano; Guercio, María Belén; Martinez, Lisana B.; Rosso, Osvaldo A.

2013-12-01

In this paper we study the evolution of the informational efficiency in its weak form for seventeen European sovereign bonds time series. We aim to assess the impact of two specific economic situations in the hypothetical random behavior of these time series: the establishment of a common currency and a wide and deep financial crisis. In order to evaluate the informational efficiency we use permutation quantifiers derived from information theory. Specifically, time series are ranked according to two metrics that measure the intrinsic structure of their correlations: permutation entropy and permutation statistical complexity. These measures provide the rectangular coordinates of the complexity-entropy causality plane; the planar location of the time series in this representation space reveals the degree of informational efficiency. According to our results, the currency union contributed to homogenize the stochastic characteristics of the time series and produced synchronization in the random behavior of them. Additionally, the 2008 financial crisis uncovered differences within the apparently homogeneous European sovereign markets and revealed country-specific characteristics that were partially hidden during the monetary union heyday.

Low injury rate strongly correlates with team success in Qatari professional football.

PubMed

Eirale, Cristiano; Tol, J L; Farooq, Abdulaziz; Smiley, Faten; Chalabi, Hakim

2013-08-01

Although the incidence of football injuries should relate to team success there is little empirical evidence. We investigated the relationship between injury incidence and team success in Qatar first-division football clubs. Using a prospective cohort study design, we captured exposure and injuries in Qatar male elite football for a season. Club performance was measured by total league points, ranking, goal scored, goals conceded and number of matches won, drawn or lost. Lower injury incidence was strongly correlated with team ranking position (r=0.929, p=0.003), more games won (r=0.883, p=0.008), more goals scored (r=0.893, p=0.007), greater goal difference (r=0.821, p=0.003) and total points (r=0.929, p=0.003). Lower incidence rate was strongly correlated with team success. Prevention of injuries may contribute to team success.

Asymptotic properties of Pearson's rank-variate correlation coefficient under contaminated Gaussian model.

PubMed

Ma, Rubao; Xu, Weichao; Zhang, Yun; Ye, Zhongfu

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the robustness properties of Pearson's rank-variate correlation coefficient (PRVCC) in scenarios where one channel is corrupted by impulsive noise and the other is impulsive noise-free. As shown in our previous work, these scenarios that frequently encountered in radar and/or sonar, can be well emulated by a particular bivariate contaminated Gaussian model (CGM). Under this CGM, we establish the asymptotic closed forms of the expectation and variance of PRVCC by means of the well known Delta method. To gain a deeper understanding, we also compare PRVCC with two other classical correlation coefficients, i.e., Spearman's rho (SR) and Kendall's tau (KT), in terms of the root mean squared error (RMSE). Monte Carlo simulations not only verify our theoretical findings, but also reveal the advantage of PRVCC by an example of estimating the time delay in the particular impulsive noise environment.

Testing the significance of a correlation with nonnormal data: comparison of Pearson, Spearman, transformation, and resampling approaches.

PubMed

Bishara, Anthony J; Hittner, James B

2012-09-01

It is well known that when data are nonnormally distributed, a test of the significance of Pearson's r may inflate Type I error rates and reduce power. Statistics textbooks and the simulation literature provide several alternatives to Pearson's correlation. However, the relative performance of these alternatives has been unclear. Two simulation studies were conducted to compare 12 methods, including Pearson, Spearman's rank-order, transformation, and resampling approaches. With most sample sizes (n ≥ 20), Type I and Type II error rates were minimized by transforming the data to a normal shape prior to assessing the Pearson correlation. Among transformation approaches, a general purpose rank-based inverse normal transformation (i.e., transformation to rankit scores) was most beneficial. However, when samples were both small (n ≤ 10) and extremely nonnormal, the permutation test often outperformed other alternatives, including various bootstrap tests.

A Method for the Design and Development of Medical or Health Care Information Websites to Optimize Search Engine Results Page Rankings on Google

PubMed Central

Cummins, Niamh Maria; Hannigan, Ailish; Shannon, Bill; Dunne, Colum; Cullen, Walter

2013-01-01

Background The Internet is a widely used source of information for patients searching for medical/health care information. While many studies have assessed existing medical/health care information on the Internet, relatively few have examined methods for design and delivery of such websites, particularly those aimed at the general public. Objective This study describes a method of evaluating material for new medical/health care websites, or for assessing those already in existence, which is correlated with higher rankings on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Methods A website quality assessment (WQA) tool was developed using criteria related to the quality of the information to be contained in the website in addition to an assessment of the readability of the text. This was retrospectively applied to assess existing websites that provide information about generic medicines. The reproducibility of the WQA tool and its predictive validity were assessed in this study. Results The WQA tool demonstrated very high reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.95) between 2 independent users. A moderate to strong correlation was found between WQA scores and rankings on Google SERPs. Analogous correlations were seen between rankings and readability of websites as determined by Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores. Conclusions The use of the WQA tool developed in this study is recommended as part of the design phase of a medical or health care information provision website, along with assessment of readability of the material to be used. This may ensure that the website performs better on Google searches. The tool can also be used retrospectively to make improvements to existing websites, thus, potentially enabling better Google search result positions without incurring the costs associated with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals or paid promotion. PMID:23981848

Multiple Citation Indicators and Their Composite across Scientific Disciplines

PubMed Central

Ioannidis, John P.A.; Klavans, Richard; Boyack, Kevin W.

2016-01-01

Many fields face an increasing prevalence of multi-authorship, and this poses challenges in assessing citation metrics. Here, we explore multiple citation indicators that address total impact (number of citations, Hirsch H index [H]), co-authorship adjustment (Schreiber Hm index [Hm]), and author order (total citations to papers as single; single or first; or single, first, or last author). We demonstrate the correlation patterns between these indicators across 84,116 scientists (those among the top 30,000 for impact in a single year [2013] in at least one of these indicators) and separately across 12 scientific fields. Correlation patterns vary across these 12 fields. In physics, total citations are highly negatively correlated with indicators of co-authorship adjustment and of author order, while in other sciences the negative correlation is seen only for total citation impact and citations to papers as single author. We propose a composite score that sums standardized values of these six log-transformed indicators. Of the 1,000 top-ranked scientists with the composite score, only 322 are in the top 1,000 based on total citations. Many Nobel laureates and other extremely influential scientists rank among the top-1,000 with the composite indicator, but would rank much lower based on total citations. Conversely, many of the top 1,000 authors on total citations have had no single/first/last-authored cited paper. More Nobel laureates of 2011–2015 are among the top authors when authors are ranked by the composite score than by total citations, H index, or Hm index; 40/47 of these laureates are among the top 30,000 by at least one of the six indicators. We also explore the sensitivity of indicators to self-citation and alphabetic ordering of authors in papers across different scientific fields. Multiple indicators and their composite may give a more comprehensive picture of impact, although no citation indicator, single or composite, can be expected to select all the best scientists. PMID:27367269

Multiple Citation Indicators and Their Composite across Scientific Disciplines.

PubMed

Ioannidis, John P A; Klavans, Richard; Boyack, Kevin W

2016-07-01

Many fields face an increasing prevalence of multi-authorship, and this poses challenges in assessing citation metrics. Here, we explore multiple citation indicators that address total impact (number of citations, Hirsch H index [H]), co-authorship adjustment (Schreiber Hm index [Hm]), and author order (total citations to papers as single; single or first; or single, first, or last author). We demonstrate the correlation patterns between these indicators across 84,116 scientists (those among the top 30,000 for impact in a single year [2013] in at least one of these indicators) and separately across 12 scientific fields. Correlation patterns vary across these 12 fields. In physics, total citations are highly negatively correlated with indicators of co-authorship adjustment and of author order, while in other sciences the negative correlation is seen only for total citation impact and citations to papers as single author. We propose a composite score that sums standardized values of these six log-transformed indicators. Of the 1,000 top-ranked scientists with the composite score, only 322 are in the top 1,000 based on total citations. Many Nobel laureates and other extremely influential scientists rank among the top-1,000 with the composite indicator, but would rank much lower based on total citations. Conversely, many of the top 1,000 authors on total citations have had no single/first/last-authored cited paper. More Nobel laureates of 2011-2015 are among the top authors when authors are ranked by the composite score than by total citations, H index, or Hm index; 40/47 of these laureates are among the top 30,000 by at least one of the six indicators. We also explore the sensitivity of indicators to self-citation and alphabetic ordering of authors in papers across different scientific fields. Multiple indicators and their composite may give a more comprehensive picture of impact, although no citation indicator, single or composite, can be expected to select all the best scientists.

Association of periodontal disease with systemic health indices in dogs and the systemic response to treatment of periodontal disease.

PubMed

Rawlinson, Jennifer E; Goldstein, Richard E; Reiter, Alexander M; Attwater, Daniel Z; Harvey, Colin E

2011-03-01

To determine whether severity of periodontal disease (PD) was associated with systemic health indices in dogs and whether treatment of PD altered systemic health indices. Prospective cohort study. 38 dogs. Healthy dogs with clinical signs of PD were included in the study. Physical examination, serum biochemical analysis, a CBC, urine evaluation, measurement of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration, and a microalbuminuria test were performed prior to treatment of PD. All tooth roots were scored for gingivitis and attachment loss, and appropriate treatment of PD was performed. Laboratory data were obtained 4 weeks after treatment. The Spearman rank correlation and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for statistical analysis. Analyses of the correlation of several variables with attachment loss or gingivitis or of differences before and after treatment revealed significant results for several variables. After applying Bonferroni corrections for family-wise error rate, significant rank correlations were found between attachment loss and platelet number (r = 0.54), creatinine concentration (r = -0.49), and the within-dog difference in CRP concentrations before and after treatment (r = 0.40). The BUN concentration was significantly higher after treatment than before treatment. Increasing severity of attachment loss was associated with changes in systemic inflammatory variables and renal indices. A decrease in CRP concentration after treatment was correlated with the severity of PD. The BUN concentration increased significantly after treatment of PD. There is a need for continued research into the systemic impact of PD.

Correlation singularities in partially coherent electromagnetic beams.

PubMed

Raghunathan, Shreyas B; Schouten, Hugo F; Visser, Taco D

2012-10-15

We demonstrate that coherence vortices, singularities of the correlation function, generally occur in partially coherent electromagnetic beams. In successive cross sections of Gaussian Schell-model beams, their locus is found to be a closed string. These coherence singularities have implications for both interference experiments and correlation of intensity fluctuation measurements performed with such beams.

Pacing Behavior and Tactical Positioning in 1500-m Short-Track Speed Skating.

PubMed

Konings, Marco J; Noorbergen, Olaf S; Parry, David; Hettinga, Florentina J

2016-01-01

To gain more insight in pacing behavior and tactical positioning in 1500-m short-track speed skating, a sport in which several athletes directly compete in the same race. Lap times and intermediate rankings of elite 1500-m short-track- skating competitors were collected over the season 2012-13 (N = 510, 85 races). Two statistical approaches were used to assess pacing behavior and tactical positioning. First, lap times were analyzed using a MANOVA, and for each lap differences between sex, race type, final rankings, and stage of competition were determined. Second, Kendall tau b correlations were used to assess relationships between intermediate and final rankings. In addition, intermediate rankings of the winner of each race were examined. In 1500 m (13.5 laps of 111.12 m), correlations between intermediate and final ranking gradually increased throughout the race (eg, lap 1, r = .05; lap 7, r = .26; lap 13, r = .85). Moreover, the percentage of race winners skating in the leading position was over 50% during the last 3 laps. Top finishers were faster than bottom-place finishers only during the last 5 laps, with on average 0.1- to 1.5-s faster lap times of the race winners compared with the others during the last 5 laps. Although a fast start led to faster finishing times, top finishers were faster than bottom-placed finishers only during the last 5 laps. Moreover, tactical positioning at 1 of the foremost positions during the latter phase of the race appeared to be a strong determinant of finishing position.

Pacing Behavior and Tactical Positioning in 500- and 1000-m Short-Track Speed Skating.

PubMed

Noorbergen, Olaf S; Konings, Marco J; Micklewright, Dominic; Elferink-Gemser, Marije T; Hettinga, Florentina J

2016-09-01

To explore pacing behavior and tactical positioning during the shorter 500- and 1000-m short-track competitions. Lap times and intermediate rankings of elite 500- and 1000-m short-track-skating competitors were collected over the 2012-13 season. First, lap times were analyzed using a MANOVA, and for each lap, differences between sex, race type, final ranking, and stage of competition were determined. Second, Kendall tau-b correlations were used to assess relationships between intermediate and final rankings. In addition, intermediate rankings of the winner of each race were examined. Top-placed athletes appeared faster than bottom-placed athletes in every lap in the 500-m, while in the 1000-m no differences were found until the final 4 laps (P < .05). Correlations between intermediate and final rankings were already high at the beginning stages of the 50-m (lap 1: r = .59) but not for the 1000-m (lap 1: r = .21). Although 500- and 1000-m short-track races are both relatively short, fundamental differences in pacing behavior and tactical positioning were found. A fast-start strategy seems to be optimal for 500-m races, while the crucial segment in 1000-m races seems to be from the 6th lap to the finish line (ie, after ± 650 m). These findings provide evidence to suggest that athletes balance between choosing an energetically optimal profile and the tactical and positional benefits that play a role when riding against an opponent, as well as contributing to developing novel insights in exploring athletic behavior when racing against opponents.

Assessment of obesity stigmatization in children and adolescents: modernizing a standard measure.

PubMed

Latner, Janet D; Simmonds, Murray; Rosewall, Juliet K; Stunkard, Albert J

2007-12-01

Stigmatization of overweight children is highly prevalent. However, the measurement of stigma has varied widely across studies. An up-to-date version of a commonly used measure of weight-related stigma is needed. Poser 5 (DAZ software) was used to develop 12 modernized figures, using three-dimensional models rendered as high-resolution images. They depicted one overweight, one non-overweight, and four disabled children of each sex. Children recruited from public and private schools (N = 261; mean age, 11.3 years; median BMI z-score = 0.33; 77.0% white, 11.5% Asian, and 7.7% Maori) ranked these figures in order of liking. Participants also ranked traditionally used line drawings depicting comparable images. Participants rated each new figure on measures of liking and stereotypical attributes on 100-mm visual analog scales (VASs). Rankings of liking of the new figures were highly correlated with rankings of corresponding old figures, especially for overweight figures [boys: rho (77) = 0.72, p < 0.001; girls: rho (153) = 0.68, p < 0.001]. Rankings of overweight and other figures were also highly correlated with VAS assessment of liking and with a composite, internally consistent VAS measure of liking and stereotypical attributes. Only negative stereotypes about the intelligence of overweight boys and girls contributed significantly to the variance in liking. An updated and modernized tool for assessing children's weight stigma was developed and its construct validity supported. The present findings suggest that stereotypes about low intelligence may contribute to weight stigma among children. More research is needed on the causes and components of weight stigma so that it can be effectively reduced.

Gender differences in publication productivity, academic position, career duration, and funding among U.S. academic radiation oncology faculty.

PubMed

Holliday, Emma B; Jagsi, Reshma; Wilson, Lynn D; Choi, Mehee; Thomas, Charles R; Fuller, Clifton D

2014-05-01

This study aimed to analyze gender differences in rank, career duration, publication productivity, and research funding among radiation oncologists at U.S. academic institutions. For 82 domestic academic radiation oncology departments, the authors identified current faculty and recorded their academic rank, degree, and gender. The authors recorded bibliographic metrics for physician faculty from a commercially available database (Scopus, Elsevier BV), including numbers of publications from 1996 to 2012 and h-indices. The authors then concatenated these data with National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding per Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools. The authors performed descriptive and correlative analyses, stratifying by gender and rank. Of 1,031 faculty, 293 (28%) women and 738 (72%) men, men had a higher median m-index, 0.58 (range 0-3.23) versus 0.47 (0-2.5) (P < .05); h-index, 8 (0-59) versus 5 (0-39) (P < .05); and publication number, 26 (0-591) versus 13 (0-306) (P < .05). Men were more likely to be senior faculty and receive NIH funding. After stratifying for rank, these differences were largely nonsignificant. On multivariate analysis, there were correlations between gender, career duration and academic position, and h-index (P < .01). Determinants of a successful career in academic medicine are multifactorial. Data from radiation oncologists show a systematic gender association, with fewer women achieving senior faculty rank. However, women achieving seniority have productivity metrics comparable to those of male counterparts. This suggests that early career development and mentorship of female faculty may narrow productivity disparities.

Assessment of Factors Influencing Preservation of Dignity at Life's End: Creation and the Cross-Cultural Validation of the Preservation of Dignity Card-Sort Tool

PubMed Central

Noda, Arthur M.; Chmura Kraemer, Helena

2010-01-01

Abstract Background Preserving patient dignity is a sentinel premise of palliative care. This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of factors influencing preservation of dignity in the last chapter of life. Methods We conducted an open-ended written survey of 100 multidisciplinary providers (69% response rate) and responses were categorized to identify 2 main themes, 5 subthemes, and 10 individual factors that were used to create the preservation of dignity card-sort tool (p-DCT). The 10-item rank order tool was administered to a cohort of community dwelling Filipino Americans (n = 140, age mean = 61.3, 45% male and 55% female). A Spearman correlation matrix was constructed for all the 10 individual factors as well as the themes and subthemes based on the data generated by the subjects. Results The individual factors were minimally correlated with each other indicating that each factor was an independent stand-alone factor. The median, 25th and 75th percentile ranks were calculated and “s/he has self-respect” (intrinsic theme, self-esteem subtheme) emerged as the most important factor (mean rank 3.0 and median rank 2.0) followed by “others treat her/him with respect” (extrinsic theme, respect subtheme) with a mean rank = 3.6 and median = 3.0. Conclusion The p-DCT is a simple, rank order card-sort tool that may help clinicians identify patients' perceptions of key factors influencing the preservation of their dignity in the last chapter of life. PMID:20420549

Multicriteria decision analysis in ranking of analytical procedures for aldrin determination in water.

PubMed

Tobiszewski, Marek; Orłowski, Aleksander

2015-03-27

The study presents the possibility of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) application when choosing analytical procedures with low environmental impact. A type of MCDA, Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE), was chosen as versatile tool that meets all the analytical chemists--decision makers requirements. Twenty five analytical procedures for aldrin determination in water samples (as an example) were selected as input alternatives to MCDA analysis. Nine different criteria describing the alternatives were chosen from different groups--metrological, economical and the most importantly--environmental impact. The weights for each criterion were obtained from questionnaires that were sent to experts, giving three different scenarios for MCDA results. The results of analysis show that PROMETHEE is very promising tool to choose the analytical procedure with respect to its greenness. The rankings for all three scenarios placed solid phase microextraction and liquid phase microextraction--based procedures high, while liquid-liquid extraction, solid phase extraction and stir bar sorptive extraction--based procedures were placed low in the ranking. The results show that although some of the experts do not intentionally choose green analytical chemistry procedures, their MCDA choice is in accordance with green chemistry principles. The PROMETHEE ranking results were compared with more widely accepted green analytical chemistry tools--NEMI and Eco-Scale. As PROMETHEE involved more different factors than NEMI, the assessment results were only weakly correlated. Oppositely, the results of Eco-Scale assessment were well-correlated as both methodologies involved similar criteria of assessment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantitative Assessment of Fat Infiltration in the Rotator Cuff Muscles using water-fat MRI

PubMed Central

Nardo, Lorenzo; Karampinos, Dimitrios C.; Lansdown, Drew A.; Carballido-Gamio, Julio; Lee, Sonia; Maroldi, Roberto; Ma, C. Benjamin; Link, Thomas M.; Krug, Roland

2013-01-01

Purpose To evaluate a chemical shift-based fat quantification technique in the rotator cuff muscles in comparison with the semi-quantitative Goutallier fat infiltration classification (GC) and to assess their relationship with clinical parameters. Materials and Methods The shoulders of 57 patients were imaged using a 3T MR scanner. The rotator cuff muscles were assessed for fat infiltration using GC by two radiologists and an orthopedic surgeon. Sequences included oblique-sagittal T1-, T2- and proton density-weighted fast spin echo, and six-echo gradient echo. The iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL) was used to measure fat fraction. Pain and range of motion of the shoulder were recorded. Results Fat fraction values were significantly correlated with GC grades (p< 0.0001, kappa>0.9) showing consistent increase with GC grades (grade=0, 0%–5.59%; grade=1, 1.1%–9.70%; grade=2, 6.44%–14.86%; grade=3, 15.25%–17.77%; grade=4, 19.85%–29.63%). A significant correlation between fat infiltration of the subscapularis muscle quantified with IDEAL versus a) deficit in internal rotation (Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient=0.39, 95% CI 0.13–0.60, p<0.01) and b) pain (Spearman Rank Correlation coefficient=0.313, 95% CI 0.049–0.536, p=0.02) was found but was not seen between the clinical parameters and GC grades. Additionally, only quantitative fat infiltration measures of the supraspinatus muscle were significantly correlated with a deficit in abduction (Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient=0.45, 95% CI 0.20–0.60, p<0.01). Conclusion We concluded that an accurate and highly reproducible fat quantification in the rotator cuff muscles using water-fat MRI techniques is possible and significantly correlates with shoulder pain and range of motion. PMID:24115490

On an additive partial correlation operator and nonparametric estimation of graphical models.

PubMed

Lee, Kuang-Yao; Li, Bing; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-09-01

We introduce an additive partial correlation operator as an extension of partial correlation to the nonlinear setting, and use it to develop a new estimator for nonparametric graphical models. Our graphical models are based on additive conditional independence, a statistical relation that captures the spirit of conditional independence without having to resort to high-dimensional kernels for its estimation. The additive partial correlation operator completely characterizes additive conditional independence, and has the additional advantage of putting marginal variation on appropriate scales when evaluating interdependence, which leads to more accurate statistical inference. We establish the consistency of the proposed estimator. Through simulation experiments and analysis of the DREAM4 Challenge dataset, we demonstrate that our method performs better than existing methods in cases where the Gaussian or copula Gaussian assumption does not hold, and that a more appropriate scaling for our method further enhances its performance.

On an additive partial correlation operator and nonparametric estimation of graphical models

PubMed Central

Li, Bing; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-01-01

Abstract We introduce an additive partial correlation operator as an extension of partial correlation to the nonlinear setting, and use it to develop a new estimator for nonparametric graphical models. Our graphical models are based on additive conditional independence, a statistical relation that captures the spirit of conditional independence without having to resort to high-dimensional kernels for its estimation. The additive partial correlation operator completely characterizes additive conditional independence, and has the additional advantage of putting marginal variation on appropriate scales when evaluating interdependence, which leads to more accurate statistical inference. We establish the consistency of the proposed estimator. Through simulation experiments and analysis of the DREAM4 Challenge dataset, we demonstrate that our method performs better than existing methods in cases where the Gaussian or copula Gaussian assumption does not hold, and that a more appropriate scaling for our method further enhances its performance. PMID:29422689

Molecular recognition in a diverse set of protein-ligand interactions studied with molecular dynamics simulations and end-point free energy calculations.

PubMed

Wang, Bo; Li, Liwei; Hurley, Thomas D; Meroueh, Samy O

2013-10-28

End-point free energy calculations using MM-GBSA and MM-PBSA provide a detailed understanding of molecular recognition in protein-ligand interactions. The binding free energy can be used to rank-order protein-ligand structures in virtual screening for compound or target identification. Here, we carry out free energy calculations for a diverse set of 11 proteins bound to 14 small molecules using extensive explicit-solvent MD simulations. The structure of these complexes was previously solved by crystallography and their binding studied with isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) data enabling direct comparison to the MM-GBSA and MM-PBSA calculations. Four MM-GBSA and three MM-PBSA calculations reproduced the ITC free energy within 1 kcal·mol(-1) highlighting the challenges in reproducing the absolute free energy from end-point free energy calculations. MM-GBSA exhibited better rank-ordering with a Spearman ρ of 0.68 compared to 0.40 for MM-PBSA with dielectric constant (ε = 1). An increase in ε resulted in significantly better rank-ordering for MM-PBSA (ρ = 0.91 for ε = 10), but larger ε significantly reduced the contributions of electrostatics, suggesting that the improvement is due to the nonpolar and entropy components, rather than a better representation of the electrostatics. The SVRKB scoring function applied to MD snapshots resulted in excellent rank-ordering (ρ = 0.81). Calculations of the configurational entropy using normal-mode analysis led to free energies that correlated significantly better to the ITC free energy than the MD-based quasi-harmonic approach, but the computed entropies showed no correlation with the ITC entropy. When the adaptation energy is taken into consideration by running separate simulations for complex, apo, and ligand (MM-PBSAADAPT), there is less agreement with the ITC data for the individual free energies, but remarkably good rank-ordering is observed (ρ = 0.89). Interestingly, filtering MD snapshots by prescoring protein-ligand complexes with a machine learning-based approach (SVMSP) resulted in a significant improvement in the MM-PBSA results (ε = 1) from ρ = 0.40 to ρ = 0.81. Finally, the nonpolar components of MM-GBSA and MM-PBSA, but not the electrostatic components, showed strong correlation to the ITC free energy; the computed entropies did not correlate with the ITC entropy.

Molecular Recognition in a Diverse Set of Protein-Ligand Interactions Studied with Molecular Dynamics Simulations and End-Point Free Energy Calculations

PubMed Central

Wang, Bo; Li, Liwei; Hurley, Thomas D.; Meroueh, Samy O.

2014-01-01

End-point free energy calculations using MM-GBSA and MM-PBSA provide a detailed understanding of molecular recognition in protein-ligand interactions. The binding free energy can be used to rank-order protein-ligand structures in virtual screening for compound or target identification. Here, we carry out free energy calculations for a diverse set of 11 proteins bound to 14 small molecules using extensive explicit-solvent MD simulations. The structure of these complexes was previously solved by crystallography and their binding studied with isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) data enabling direct comparison to the MM-GBSA and MM-PBSA calculations. Four MM-GBSA and three MM-PBSA calculations reproduced the ITC free energy within 1 kcal•mol−1 highlighting the challenges in reproducing the absolute free energy from end-point free energy calculations. MM-GBSA exhibited better rank-ordering with a Spearman ρ of 0.68 compared to 0.40 for MM-PBSA with dielectric constant (ε = 1). An increase in ε resulted in significantly better rank-ordering for MM-PBSA (ρ = 0.91 for ε = 10). But larger ε significantly reduced the contributions of electrostatics, suggesting that the improvement is due to the non-polar and entropy components, rather than a better representation of the electrostatics. SVRKB scoring function applied to MD snapshots resulted in excellent rank-ordering (ρ = 0.81). Calculations of the configurational entropy using normal mode analysis led to free energies that correlated significantly better to the ITC free energy than the MD-based quasi-harmonic approach, but the computed entropies showed no correlation with the ITC entropy. When the adaptation energy is taken into consideration by running separate simulations for complex, apo and ligand (MM-PBSAADAPT), there is less agreement with the ITC data for the individual free energies, but remarkably good rank-ordering is observed (ρ = 0.89). Interestingly, filtering MD snapshots by pre-scoring protein-ligand complexes with a machine learning-based approach (SVMSP) resulted in a significant improvement in the MM-PBSA results (ε = 1) from ρ = 0.40 to ρ = 0.81. Finally, the non-polar components of MM-GBSA and MM-PBSA, but not the electrostatic components, showed strong correlation to the ITC free energy; the computed entropies did not correlate with the ITC entropy. PMID:24032517

Adsorption isotherms and kinetics of activated carbons produced from coals of different ranks.

PubMed

Purevsuren, B; Lin, Chin-Jung; Davaajav, Y; Ariunaa, A; Batbileg, S; Avid, B; Jargalmaa, S; Huang, Yu; Liou, Sofia Ya-Hsuan

2015-01-01

Activated carbons (ACs) from six coals, ranging from low-rank lignite brown coal to high-rank stone coal, were utilized as adsorbents to remove basic methylene blue (MB) from an aqueous solution. The surface properties of the obtained ACs were characterized via thermal analysis, N2 isothermal sorption, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Boehm titration. As coal rank decreased, an increase in the heterogeneity of the pore structures and abundance of oxygen-containing functional groups increased MB coverage on its surface. The equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir model, and adsorption capacity of MB ranged from 51.8 to 344.8 mg g⁻¹. Good correlation coefficients were obtained using the intra-particle diffusion model, indicating that the adsorption of MB onto ACs is diffusion controlled. The values of the effective diffusion coefficient ranged from 0.61 × 10⁻¹⁰ to 7.1 × 10⁻¹⁰ m² s⁻¹, indicating that ACs from lower-rank coals have higher effective diffusivities. Among all the ACs obtained from selected coals, the AC from low-rank lignite brown coal was the most effective in removing MB from an aqueous solution.

Specific Features of Executive Dysfunction in Alzheimer-Type Mild Dementia Based on Computerized Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) Test Results.

PubMed

Kuzmickienė, Jurgita; Kaubrys, Gintaras

2016-10-08

BACKGROUND The primary manifestation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is decline in memory. Dysexecutive symptoms have tremendous impact on functional activities and quality of life. Data regarding frontal-executive dysfunction in mild AD are controversial. The aim of this study was to assess the presence and specific features of executive dysfunction in mild AD based on Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) results. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty newly diagnosed, treatment-naïve, mild, late-onset AD patients (MMSE ≥20, AD group) and 25 control subjects (CG group) were recruited in this prospective, cross-sectional study. The CANTAB tests CRT, SOC, PAL, SWM were used for in-depth cognitive assessment. Comparisons were performed using the t test or Mann-Whitney U test, as appropriate. Correlations were evaluated by Pearson r or Spearman R. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS AD and CG groups did not differ according to age, education, gender, or depression. Few differences were found between groups in the SOC test for performance measures: Mean moves (minimum 3 moves): AD (Rank Sum=2227), CG (Rank Sum=623), p<0.001. However, all SOC test time measures differed significantly between groups: SOC Mean subsequent thinking time (4 moves): AD (Rank Sum=2406), CG (Rank Sum=444), p<0.001. Correlations were weak between executive function (SOC) and episodic/working memory (PAL, SWM) (R=0.01-0.38) or attention/psychomotor speed (CRT) (R=0.02-0.37). CONCLUSIONS Frontal-executive functions are impaired in mild AD patients. Executive dysfunction is highly prominent in time measures, but minimal in performance measures. Executive disorders do not correlate with a decline in episodic and working memory or psychomotor speed in mild AD.

Two-year changes in anthropometric and motor ability values as talent identification indexes in youth soccer players.

PubMed

Hirose, Norikazu; Seki, Taigo

2016-02-01

The present study examined 2-year changes in anthropometric variables and motor abilities in elite male youth soccer players to identify potential talent identification indexes. This was a cross-sequential study examining two different age groups at two time points. Height, weight, 40-m sprint speed, muscular power (5-step bounding), and change of direction (COD) ability (10 m×5 COD) were measured in 12- and 14-year-old soccer players and repeated after 2 years (at 14 and 16 years of age). Correlations and changes in ranking between the two measurements were determined. Both groups had small ranking changes in height (12-14-year-olds: r=0.80, 14-16-year-olds: r=0.89; p<0.01), weight (r=0.94, r=0.80; p<0.01), 40-m sprint speed (r=0.81, r=0.90; p<0.01), and muscular power (r=0.48, r=0.64; p<0.05), with a statistically significant correlation between the initial values and those obtained 2 years later. However, 10m×5 COD ability had a large ranking change, with no statistically significant correlation observed between the first- and second-year values. Because of the minimal ranking change in sprint speed in normal circumstances of soccer practice, linear sprint speed has the potential to be a useful talent identification index for youth soccer players. On the other hand, muscular power and COD ability is changeable during growth period suggests that these parameters is not useful for talent identification index. Copyright © 2015 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Albanian National Question and the Myth of Greater Albania

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

This manuscript is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Strategic Studies Degree. The views expressed in this student ...accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The views expressed in this student ...school students , conducted by the Greek National Centre of Social Research, who were asked to rank nations according to their preferences showed

The Impact of Operations Tempo (OPTEMPO) on Intentions to Depart the Military. Does the Increase of OPTEMPO Cause Action

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

was introduced, Vroom (1964) performed a partial review of the turnover literature. His modest review of the literature found a consistent...for the moderators job satisfaction and organizational commitment while controlling for rank and gender. Linear regressions were used to determine...if the relationship between OPTEMPO and turnover intentions were significant. When accounting for job satisfaction and organizational commitment the

The preferred traits of mates in a cross-national study of heterosexual and homosexual men and women: an examination of biological and cultural influences.

PubMed

Lippa, Richard A

2007-04-01

BBC Internet survey participants (119,733 men and 98,462 women) chose from a list of 23 traits those they considered first, second, and third most important in a relationship partner. Across all participants, the traits ranked most important were: intelligence, humor, honesty, kindness, overall good looks, face attractiveness, values, communication skills, and dependability. On average, men ranked good looks and facial attractiveness more important than women did (d = 0.55 and 0.36, respectively), whereas women ranked honesty, humor, kindness, and dependability more important than men did (ds = 0.23, 0.22, 0.18, and 0.15). Sexual orientation differences were smaller than sex differences in trait rankings, but some were meaningful; for example, heterosexual more than homosexual participants assigned importance to religion, fondness for children, and parenting abilities. Multidimensional scaling analyses showed that trait preference profiles clustered by participant sex, not by sexual orientation, and by sex more than by nationality. Sex-by-nation ANOVAs of individuals' trait rankings showed that sex differences in rankings of attractiveness, but not of character traits, were extremely consistent across 53 nations and that nation main effects and sex-by-nation interactions were stronger for character traits than for physical attractiveness. United Nations indices of gender equality correlated, across nations, with men's and women's rankings of character traits but not with their rankings of physical attractiveness. These results suggest that cultural factors had a relatively greater impact on men's and women's rankings of character traits, whereas biological factors had a relatively greater impact on men's and women's rankings of physical attractiveness.

Comparison of Anthropometry and Lower Limb Power Qualities According to Different Levels and Ranking Position of Competitive Surfers.

PubMed

Fernandez-Gamboa, Iosu; Yanci, Javier; Granados, Cristina; Camara, Jesus

2017-08-01

Fernandez-Gamboa, I, Yanci, J, Granados, C, and Camara, J. Comparison of anthropometry and lower limb power qualities according to different levels and ranking position of competitive surfers. J Strength Cond Res 31(8): 2231-2237, 2017-The aim of this study was to compare competitive surfers' lower limb power output depending on their competitive level, and to evaluate the association between competition rankings. Twenty competitive surfers were divided according to the competitive level as follows: international (INT) or national (NAT), and competitive ranking (RANK1-50 or RANK51-100). Vertical jump and maximal peak power of the lower limbs were measured. No differences were found between INT and NAT surfers in the anthropometric variables, in the vertical jump, or in lower extremity power; although the NAT group had higher levels on the elasticity index, squat jumps (SJs), and counter movement jumps (CMJs) compared with the INT group. The RANK1-50 group had a lower biceps skinfold (p < 0.01), lower skinfolds in the legs (Front thigh: p ≤ 0.05; medial calf: p < 0.01), lower sum of skinfolds (p ≤ 0.05), higher SJ (p < 0.01), CMJ (p < 0.01), and 15 seconds vertical CMJ (p ≤ 0.05); also, maximal peak power of the right leg (MPPR) and left leg (MPPL) were higher in the RANK1-50 group. Moderate to large significant correlations were obtained between the surfers' ranking position and some skinfolds, the sum of skinfolds, and vertical jump. Results demonstrate that surfers' physical performance seems to be an accurate indicator of ranking positioning, also revealing that vertical jump capacity and anthropometric variables play an important role in their competitive performance, which may be important when considering their power training.

Validation of the CNS Penetration-Effectiveness Rank for Quantifying Antiretroviral Penetration Into the Central Nervous System

PubMed Central

Letendre, Scott; Marquie-Beck, Jennifer; Capparelli, Edmund; Best, Brookie; Clifford, David; Collier, Ann C.; Gelman, Benjamin B.; McArthur, Justin C.; McCutchan, J. Allen; Morgello, Susan; Simpson, David; Grant, Igor; Ellis, Ronald J.

2009-01-01

Objective To evaluate whether penetration of a combination regimen into the central nervous system (CNS), as estimated by the CNS Penetration-Effectiveness (CPE) rank, is associated with lower cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) viral load. Design Data were analyzed from 467 participants who were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositive and who reported antiretroviral (ARV) drug use. Individual ARV drugs were assigned a penetration rank of 0 (low), 0.5 (intermediate), or 1 (high) based on their chemical properties, concentrations in CSF, and/or effectiveness in the CNS in clinical studies. The CPE rank was calculated by summing the individual penetration ranks for each ARV in the regimen. Results The median CPE rank was 1.5 (interquartile range, 1–2). Lower CPE ranks correlated with higher CSF viral loads. Ranks less than 2 were associated with an 88% increase in the odds of detectable CSF viral load. In multivariate regression, lower CPE ranks were associated with detectable CSF viral loads even after adjusting for total number of ARV drugs, ARV drug adherence, plasma viral load, duration and type of the current regimen, and CD4 count. Conclusions Poorer penetration of ARV drugs into the CNS appears to allow continued HIV replication in the CNS as indicated by higher CSF HIV viral loads. Because inhibition of HIV replication in the CNS is probably critical in treating patients who have HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, ARV treatment strategies that account for CNS penetration should be considered in consensus treatment guidelines and validated in clinical studies. PMID:18195140

Ranking Businesses and Municipal Locations by Spatiotemporal Cardiac Arrest Risk to Guide Public Defibrillator Placement.

PubMed

Sun, Christopher L F; Brooks, Steven C; Morrison, Laurie J; Chan, Timothy C Y

2017-03-21

Efforts to guide automated external defibrillator placement for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) treatment have focused on identifying broadly defined location categories without considering hours of operation. Broad location categories may be composed of many businesses with varying accessibility. Identifying specific locations for automated external defibrillator deployment incorporating operating hours and time of OHCA occurrence may improve automated external defibrillator accessibility. We aim to identify specific businesses and municipal locations that maximize OHCA coverage on the basis of spatiotemporal assessment of OHCA risk in the immediate vicinity of franchise locations. This study was a retrospective population-based cohort study using data from the Toronto Regional RescuNET Epistry cardiac arrest database. We identified all nontraumatic public OHCAs occurring in Toronto, ON, Canada, from January 2007 through December 2015. We identified 41 unique businesses and municipal location types with ≥20 locations in Toronto from the YellowPages, Canadian Franchise Association, and the City of Toronto Open Data Portal. We obtained their geographic coordinates and hours of operation from Web sites, by phone, or in person. We determined the number of OHCAs that occurred within 100 m of each location when it was open (spatiotemporal coverage) for Toronto overall and downtown. The businesses and municipal locations were then ranked by spatiotemporal OHCA coverage. To evaluate temporal stability of the rankings, we calculated intraclass correlation of the annual coverage values. There were 2654 nontraumatic public OHCAs. Tim Hortons ranked first in Toronto, covering 286 OHCAs. Starbucks ranked first in downtown, covering 110 OHCAs. Coffee shops and bank machines from the 5 largest Canadian banks occupied 8 of the top 10 spots in both Toronto and downtown. The rankings exhibited high temporal stability with intraclass correlation values of 0.88 (95% confidence interval, 0.83-0.93) in Toronto and 0.79 (95% confidence interval, 0.71-0.86) in downtown. We identified and ranked businesses and municipal locations by spatiotemporal OHCA risk in their immediate vicinity. This approach may help policy makers and funders to identify and prioritize potential partnerships for automated external defibrillator deployment in public-access defibrillator programs. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Influences for Gender Disparity in Academic Psychiatry in the United States.

PubMed

Sheikh, Muhammad H; Chaudhary, Amna Mohyud Din; Khan, Anum S; Tahir, Muhammad A; Yahya, Hafiz A; Naveed, Sadiq; Khosa, Faisal

2018-04-22

Introduction Academic undertakings, including research, lead to career progression. However, the career paths of female psychiatrists appear to diverge significantly from that of their male counterparts. This article reviews the pervasiveness of the trend of women being less likely to pursue active research in psychiatry. In addition, we examine the correlation between academic rank and research productivity. Methods We searched the American Medical Association's (AMA) Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA) to identify training programs for psychiatry. A total of 5234 psychiatrists met our inclusion criteria. The gender, academic rank, research work, and h-index of faculty members were compared. The ratio of women reaching senior ranks as compared to men was also calculated. The Scopus database was used to determine the h-index of the individuals included in this study. Data analysis was done with SPSS 22.0 Release 2013 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used where required, with the P-value set at less than 0.05. Results In our study sample, 2181 (42%) of the psychiatrists were women. However, according to the information obtained from the websites of 23 programs, few women reached higher ranks, full professorship, or positions such as the chairperson of a program, and only 9% of women achieved the designation of chairperson of the psychiatry department, with men representing the other 91%. Higher academic rank correlated with higher h-index. A statistically-significant difference between the genders in terms of h-index was found for the assistant professor rank as well. However, this difference was not observed at the level of an associate professor. Conclusions Despite adequate representation of women in the academic workforce in psychiatry, there appears to be a discrepancy in the research productivity of the two genders. This study highlights the need for targeted interventions to address gender disparities in academic psychiatry.

Prediction of Tennis Performance in Junior Elite Tennis Players

PubMed Central

Kramer, Tamara; Huijgen, Barbara C.H.; Elferink-Gemser, Marije T.; Visscher, Chris

2017-01-01

Predicting current and future tennis performance can lead to improving the development of junior tennis players. The aim of this study is to investigate whether age, maturation, or physical fitness in junior elite tennis players in U13 can explain current and future tennis performance. The value of current tennis performance for future tennis performance is also investigated. A total of 86 junior elite tennis players (boys, n = 44; girls, n = 42) U13 (aged: 12.5 ± 0.3 years), and followed to U16, took part in this study. All players were top-30 ranked on the Dutch national ranking list at U13, and top-50 at U16. Age, maturation, and physical fitness, were measured at U13. A principal component analysis was used to extract four physical components from eight tests (medicine ball throwing overhead and reverse, ball throwing, SJ, CMJas, Sprint 5 and 10 meter, and the spider test). The possible relationship of age, maturation, and the physical components; “upper body power”, “lower body power”, “speed”, and “agility” with tennis performance at U13 and U16 was analyzed. Tennis performance was measured by using the ranking position on the Dutch national ranking list at U13 and U16. Regression analyses were conducted based on correlations between variables and tennis performance for boys and girls, separately. In boys U13, positive correlations were found between upper body power and tennis performance (R2 is 25%). In girls, positive correlations between maturation and lower body power with tennis performance were found at U13. Early maturing players were associated with a better tennis performance (R2 is 15%). In girls U16, only maturation correlated with tennis performance (R2 is 13%); later-maturing girls at U13 had better tennis performances at U16. Measuring junior elite tennis players at U13 is important for monitoring their development. These measurements did not predict future tennis performance of junior elite tennis players three years later. Future research should focus on other aspects in order to predict tennis performance better. Key points In boys, tennis performance can be partly explained by upper body power at U13, it is not a predictor for performance at U16. In girls, APHV is of influence for tennis performance at U13 and U16. At younger age earlier-matured girls were ranked higher, however at U16 later-matured girls were ranked higher. Overall, physical fitness in junior tennis is important for monitoring physical fitness development however this should not solely be used for selection criteria in a homogenous group of junior elite players. PMID:28344446

Correlation of Fin Buffet Pressures on an F/A-18 with Scaled Wind-Tunnel Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moses, Robert W.; Shah, Gautam H.

1999-01-01

Buffeting is an aeroelastic phenomenon occurring at high angles of attack that plagues high performance aircraft, especially those with twin vertical tails. Previous wind-tunnel and flight tests were conducted to characterize the buffet loads on the vertical tails by measuring surface pressures, bending moments, and accelerations. Following these tests, buffeting responses were computed using the measured buffet pressures and compared to the measured buffeting responses. The calculated results did not match the measured data because the assumed spatial correlation of the buffet pressures was not correct. A better understanding of the partial (spatial) correlation of the differential buffet pressures on the tail was necessary to improve the buffeting predictions. Several wind-tunnel investigations were conducted for this purpose. When compared, the results of these tests show that the partial correlation scales with flight conditions. One of the remaining questions is whether the wind-tunnel data is consistent with flight data. Presented herein, cross-spectra and coherence functions calculated from pressures that were measured on the High Alpha Research Vehicle indicate that the partial correlation of the buffet pressures in flight agrees with the partial correlation observed in the wind tunnel.

Network-Based Analysis of Software Change Propagation

PubMed Central

Wang, Rongcun; Qu, Binbin

2014-01-01

The object-oriented software systems frequently evolve to meet new change requirements. Understanding the characteristics of changes aids testers and system designers to improve the quality of softwares. Identifying important modules becomes a key issue in the process of evolution. In this context, a novel network-based approach is proposed to comprehensively investigate change distributions and the correlation between centrality measures and the scope of change propagation. First, software dependency networks are constructed at class level. And then, the number of times of cochanges among classes is minded from software repositories. According to the dependency relationships and the number of times of cochanges among classes, the scope of change propagation is calculated. Using Spearman rank correlation analyzes the correlation between centrality measures and the scope of change propagation. Three case studies on java open source software projects Findbugs, Hibernate, and Spring are conducted to research the characteristics of change propagation. Experimental results show that (i) change distribution is very uneven; (ii) PageRank, Degree, and CIRank are significantly correlated to the scope of change propagation. Particularly, CIRank shows higher correlation coefficient, which suggests it can be a more useful indicator for measuring the scope of change propagation of classes in object-oriented software system. PMID:24790557

Network-based analysis of software change propagation.

PubMed

Wang, Rongcun; Huang, Rubing; Qu, Binbin

2014-01-01

The object-oriented software systems frequently evolve to meet new change requirements. Understanding the characteristics of changes aids testers and system designers to improve the quality of softwares. Identifying important modules becomes a key issue in the process of evolution. In this context, a novel network-based approach is proposed to comprehensively investigate change distributions and the correlation between centrality measures and the scope of change propagation. First, software dependency networks are constructed at class level. And then, the number of times of cochanges among classes is minded from software repositories. According to the dependency relationships and the number of times of cochanges among classes, the scope of change propagation is calculated. Using Spearman rank correlation analyzes the correlation between centrality measures and the scope of change propagation. Three case studies on java open source software projects Findbugs, Hibernate, and Spring are conducted to research the characteristics of change propagation. Experimental results show that (i) change distribution is very uneven; (ii) PageRank, Degree, and CIRank are significantly correlated to the scope of change propagation. Particularly, CIRank shows higher correlation coefficient, which suggests it can be a more useful indicator for measuring the scope of change propagation of classes in object-oriented software system.

Interrater Reliability Estimators Commonly Used in Scoring Language Assessments: A Monte Carlo Investigation of Estimator Accuracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, Grant B.; Zhu, Min; Johnson, Robert L.; Hodge, Kari J.

2014-01-01

Common estimators of interrater reliability include Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, Spearman rank-order correlations, and the generalizability coefficient. The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of estimators of interrater reliability when varying the true reliability, number of scale categories, and number of…

Correlates of Depression in First-Year College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villatte, Aude; Marcotte, Diane; Potvin, Alexandra

2017-01-01

This study aimed to identify and rank the personal, family-related, social, and academic correlates of depressive symptoms in first-year college students. A questionnaire that included the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was administered to 389 first-year college students (mean age = 18.9; SD = 3.38; 59.4% female). Eight variables…

Capture of complexity of specialty care in pediatric cardiology by work RVU measures.

PubMed

Bergersen, Lisa; Gauvreau, Kimberlee; McElhinney, Doff; Fenwick, Sandra; Kirshner, David; Harding, Julie; Hickey, Patricia; Mayer, John; Marshall, Audrey

2013-02-01

We sought to determine the relationship between relative value units (RVUs) and intended measures of work in catheterization for congenital heart disease. RVU was determined by matching RVU values to Current Procedural Terminology codes generated for cases performed at a single institution. Differences in median case duration, radiation exposure, adverse events, and RVU values by risk category and cases were assessed. Interventional case types were ranked from lowest to highest median RVU value, and correlations with case duration, radiation dose, and a cases-predicted probability of an adverse event were quantified with the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Between January 2008 and December 2010, 3557 of 4011 cases were identified with an RVU and risk category designation, of which 2982 were assigned a case type. Median RVU values, radiation dose, and case duration increased with procedure risk category. Although all diagnostic cases had similar RVU values (median 10), adverse event rates ranged from 6% to 21% by age group (P < .001). Median RVU values ranged from 9 to 54 with the lowest in diagnostic and biopsy cases and increasing with isolated and then multiple interventions. Among interventional cases, no correlation existed between ranked RVU value and case duration, radiation dose, or adverse event probability (P = .13, P = .62, and P = .43, respectively). Time, skill, and stress inherent to performing catheterization procedures for congenital heart disease are not captured by measurement of RVU alone.

The Association Between Scholarly Impact and National Institutes of Health Funding in Orthopaedic Surgery.

PubMed

Zhu, Elizabeth; Shemesh, Shai; Iatridis, James; Moucha, Calin

2017-12-01

The assessment of scholarly productivity assumes a strong role in evaluating faculty in academic orthopaedic surgery. The investigators examine the association between scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in orthopaedic surgery. Orthopaedic surgery faculty from 20 randomly chosen departments that received NIH-funding were compared to non-NIH funded faculty from the same departments. Faculty members in orthopaedic surgery departments who received NIH funding had higher scholarly impact as measured by h-index than their non-funded peers (h = 11.98 versus 4.45; p < 0.0001). This relationship holds across academic ranks, terminal degrees, and institutions. Investigators with higher academic rank had higher scholarly impact (h = assistant 3.29 versus associate 5.12 versus full professor 7.94; p < 1 x 10-7) as well as higher NIH-funding (assistant $16,580 versus associate $26,368 versus full professor $113,129; p < 1 x 10-7). Increasing individual NIH funding is correlated with elevated scholarly impact (β = 4.64; p < 0.0001). Increasing total departmental NIH funding is correlated to increased departmental scholarly impact (β = 1.04; p < 0.0001). The h-index is strongly associated with NIH funding, academic rank, and sole PhD holding faculty. Increasing scholarly impact is also correlated with higher NIH funding. The h-index is an objective and easily calculable measure of assessing individual research productivity.

Simultaneous 3D MR elastography of the in vivo mouse brain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kearney, Steven P.; Majumdar, Shreyan; Royston, Thomas J.; Klatt, Dieter

2017-10-01

The feasibility of sample interval modulation (SLIM) magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) for the in vivo mouse brain is assessed, and an alternative SLIM-MRE encoding method is introduced. In SLIM-MRE, the phase accumulation for each motion direction is encoded simultaneously by varying either the start time of the motion encoding gradient (MEG), SLIM-phase constant (SLIM-PC), or the initial phase of the MEG, SLIM-phase varying (SLIM-PV). SLIM-PC provides gradient moment nulling, but the mutual gradient shift necessitates increased echo time (TE). SLIM-PV requires no increased TE, but exhibits non-uniform flow compensation. Comparison was to conventional MRE using six C57BL/6 mice. For SLIM-PC, the Spearman’s rank correlation to conventional MRE for the shear storage and loss modulus images were 80% and 76%, respectively, and likewise for SLIM-PV, 73% and 69%, respectively. The results of the Wilcoxon rank sum test showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the spatially averaged shear moduli derived from conventional-MRE, SLIM-PC, and SLIM-PV acquisitions. Both SLIM approaches were comparable to conventional MRE scans with Spearman’s rank correlation of 69%-80% and with 3 times reduction in scan time. The SLIM-PC method had the best correlation, and SLIM-PV may be a useful tool in experimental conditions, where both measurement time and T2 relaxation is critical.

Simultaneous 3D MR elastography of the in vivo mouse brain

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

Kearney, Steven P.; Majumdar, Shreyan; Royston, Thomas J.

The feasibility of sample interval modulation (SLIM) magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) for the in vivo mouse brain is assessed, and an alternative SLIM-MRE encoding method is introduced. In SLIMMRE, the phase accumulation for each motion direction is encoded simultaneously by varying either the start time of the motion encoding gradient (MEG), SLIM-phase constant (SLIM-PC), or the initial phase of the MEG, SLIM-phase varying (SLIM-PV). SLIM-PC provides gradient moment nulling, but the mutual gradient shift necessitates increased echo time (TE). SLIM-PV requires no increased TE, but exhibits nonuniform flow compensation. Comparison was to conventional MRE using six C57BL/6 mice. For SLIMPC,more » the Spearman’s rank correlation to conventional MRE for the shear storage and loss modulus images were 80% and 76%, respectively, and likewise for SLIM-PV, 73% and 69%, respectively. The results of the Wilcoxon rank sum test showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the spatially averaged shear moduli derived from conventional-MRE, SLIM-PC, and SLIM-PV acquisitions. Both SLIM approaches were comparable to conventional MRE scans with Spearman’s rank correlation of 69%-80% and with 3 times reduction in scan time. As a result, the SLIM-PC method had the best correlation, and SLIM-PV may be a useful tool in experimental conditions, where both measurement time and T2 relaxation is critical.« less

Simultaneous 3D MR elastography of the in vivo mouse brain

DOE PAGES

Kearney, Steven P.; Majumdar, Shreyan; Royston, Thomas J.; ...

2017-09-15

The feasibility of sample interval modulation (SLIM) magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) for the in vivo mouse brain is assessed, and an alternative SLIM-MRE encoding method is introduced. In SLIMMRE, the phase accumulation for each motion direction is encoded simultaneously by varying either the start time of the motion encoding gradient (MEG), SLIM-phase constant (SLIM-PC), or the initial phase of the MEG, SLIM-phase varying (SLIM-PV). SLIM-PC provides gradient moment nulling, but the mutual gradient shift necessitates increased echo time (TE). SLIM-PV requires no increased TE, but exhibits nonuniform flow compensation. Comparison was to conventional MRE using six C57BL/6 mice. For SLIMPC,more » the Spearman’s rank correlation to conventional MRE for the shear storage and loss modulus images were 80% and 76%, respectively, and likewise for SLIM-PV, 73% and 69%, respectively. The results of the Wilcoxon rank sum test showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the spatially averaged shear moduli derived from conventional-MRE, SLIM-PC, and SLIM-PV acquisitions. Both SLIM approaches were comparable to conventional MRE scans with Spearman’s rank correlation of 69%-80% and with 3 times reduction in scan time. As a result, the SLIM-PC method had the best correlation, and SLIM-PV may be a useful tool in experimental conditions, where both measurement time and T2 relaxation is critical.« less

[Cost-effectiveness of two hospital care schemes for psychiatric disorders].

PubMed

Nevárez-Sida, Armando; Valencia-Huarte, Enrique; Escobedo-Islas, Octavio; Constantino-Casas, Patricia; Verduzco-Fragoso, Wázcar; León-González, Guillermo

2013-01-01

In Mexico, six of every twenty Mexicans suffer psychiatric disorders at some time in their lives. This disease ranks fifth in the country. The objective was to determine and compare the cost-effectiveness of two models for hospital care (partial and traditional) at a psychiatric hospital of Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS). a multicenter study with a prospective cohort of 374 patients was performed. We made a cost-effectiveness analysis from an institutional viewpoint with a six-month follow-up. Direct medical costs were analyzed, with quality of life gains as outcome measurement. A decision tree and a probabilistic sensitivity analysis were used. patient care in the partial model had a cost 50 % lower than the traditional one, with similar results in quality of life. The cost per successful unit in partial hospitalization was 3359 Mexican pesos while in the traditional it increased to 5470 Mexican pesos. treating patients in the partial hospitalization model is a cost-effective alternative compared with the traditional model. Therefore, the IMSS should promote the infrastructure that delivers the psychiatric services to the patient attending to who requires it.

Gröbner Bases and Generation of Difference Schemes for Partial Differential Equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerdt, Vladimir P.; Blinkov, Yuri A.; Mozzhilkin, Vladimir V.

2006-05-01

In this paper we present an algorithmic approach to the generation of fully conservative difference schemes for linear partial differential equations. The approach is based on enlargement of the equations in their integral conservation law form by extra integral relations between unknown functions and their derivatives, and on discretization of the obtained system. The structure of the discrete system depends on numerical approximation methods for the integrals occurring in the enlarged system. As a result of the discretization, a system of linear polynomial difference equations is derived for the unknown functions and their partial derivatives. A difference scheme is constructed by elimination of all the partial derivatives. The elimination can be achieved by selecting a proper elimination ranking and by computing a Gröbner basis of the linear difference ideal generated by the polynomials in the discrete system. For these purposes we use the difference form of Janet-like Gröbner bases and their implementation in Maple. As illustration of the described methods and algorithms, we construct a number of difference schemes for Burgers and Falkowich-Karman equations and discuss their numerical properties.

Distribution of aquatic macrophytes in contrasting river systems: a critique of compositional-based assessment of water quality.

PubMed

Demars, Benoît O L; Edwards, Anthony C

2009-01-01

A brief summary of the historical developments relating to plant distribution and aquatic macrophyte-nutrient indices provided a means of assessing the general context and validity of previous assumptions. This has particular current relevance because of the prominent use of bioindicators for defining nutrient enrichment. A survey of 161 sites distributed across two broadly contrasting groups of rivers (circum-neutral versus alkaline) recorded 110 species of aquatic macrophytes and these have been statistically analyzed to (i) rank and separate the individual effects of local environmental conditions and spatial isolation on species distribution in the two contrasting groups of sites; (ii) calculate a macrophyte index based on plant cover and species indicator values (Mean Trophic Rank, MTR); and finally (iii) investigate the implications for biomonitoring. Chemical, physical and hydrological site attributes together with spatial isolation, each explained a significant and at least partially independent influence over plant species distribution. It was extremely difficult, however, to separate the single effects of different site attributes on plant distribution. While some plant species are more restricted to certain environmental conditions, many appeared indifferent to the range of those being tested. The role played by nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) were either mostly indistinguishable from other site attributes (e.g., nitrate from conductivity) or subordinate (e.g., soluble reactive phosphorus, ammonium). It is therefore very unlikely that macrophyte species composition could provide a reliable bioindicator of the surrounding nutrient (N, P) status. The calculation of the plant index illustrated this unreliability by showing that strong correlations existed with many environmental variables, not just inorganic N and P.

Association Between Dietary-related Risk Factors and Ischemic Stroke Using Reduced Rank Regression: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), USA.

PubMed

Nazari, Seyed Saeed Hashemi; Mokhayeri, Yaser; Mansournia, Mohammad Ali; Khodakarim, Soheila; Soori, Hamid

2018-05-21

Some studies shed light on the association between dietary patterns and stroke, though, none of them applied reduced rank regression (RRR). Therefore, we sought to extract dietary patterns using RRR, and showed how well the extracted scores by RRR predict stroke in comparison to those scores produced by partial least squares (PLS) and principal components regression (PCR). Diet data at baseline with four response variables including body mass index (BMI), fibrinogen, IL-6, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were used to extract dietary patterns. Analyses were based on 5468 men and women aged 45-84 y who had no clinical cardiovascular diseases (CVD) from Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Dietary patterns were created by three methods RRR, PLS, and PCR. The RRR1 was positively associated with stroke incidence in both models (for model 1 hazard ratio (HR): 7.49; 95% CI: 1.66, 33.69 P for trend = 0.01 and for model 2 HR: 6.83; 95% CI: 1.51, 30.87 for quintile 5 compared with the reference category P for trend = 0.02). The RRR1, PLS1, and PCR1 were high in fats and oils, poultry, tomatoes, fried potato and processed meat. Additionally, RRR1 and PLS1 were high in dark-yellow and cruciferous vegetables which negatively were correlated with the first dietary pattern. Mainly according to the RRR, we identified that a dietary pattern high in fats and oil, poultry, non-diet soda, processed meat, tomatoes, legumes, chicken, tuna and egg salad, fried potato and low in dark-yellow and cruciferous vegetables may increase the incidence of stroke.

The Impact of Shame, Self-Criticism and Social Rank on Eating Behaviours in Overweight and Obese Women Participating in a Weight Management Programme

PubMed Central

Duarte, Cristiana; Matos, Marcela; Stubbs, R. James; Gale, Corinne; Morris, Liam; Gouveia, Jose Pinto; Gilbert, Paul

2017-01-01

Recent research has suggested that obesity is a stigmatised condition. Concerns with personal inferiority (social rank), shame and self-criticism may impact on weight management behaviours. The current study examined associations between social comparison (shame, self-criticism), negative affect and eating behaviours in women attending a community based weight management programme focused on behaviour change. 2,236 participants of the programme completed an online survey using measures of shame, self-criticism, social comparison, and weight-related affect, which were adapted to specifically address eating behaviour, weight and body shape perceptions. Correlation analyses showed that shame, self-criticism and social comparison were associated with negative affect. All of these variables were related to eating regulation and weight control (p < 0.001). Path analysis revealed that the association of shame, hated-self, and low self-reassurance on disinhibition and susceptibility to hunger was fully mediated by weight-related negative affect, even when controlling for the effect of depressive symptoms (p < 0.050 to p < 0.010). In addition, feelings of inadequacy and unfavourable social comparisons were associated with higher disinhibition and susceptibility to hunger, partially mediated through weight-related negative affect (p = 0.001). These variables were negatively associated with extent of weight loss during programme attendance prior to the survey, while self-reassurance and positive social comparisons were positively associated with the extent of weight loss prior to the survey (p < .050). Shame, self-criticism, and perceptions of inferiority may play a significant role in self-regulation of eating behaviour in overweight people trying to manage their weight. PMID:28107449

Reliability assessment and correlation analysis of evaluating orthodontic treatment outcome in Chinese patients.

PubMed

Song, Guang-Ying; Zhao, Zhi-He; Ding, Yin; Bai, Yu-Xing; Wang, Lin; He, Hong; Shen, Gang; Li, Wei-Ran; Baumrind, Sheldon; Geng, Zhi; Xu, Tian-Min

2014-03-01

This study aimed to assess the reliability of experienced Chinese orthodontists in evaluating treatment outcome and to determine the correlations between three diagnostic information sources. Sixty-nine experienced Chinese orthodontic specialists each evaluated the outcome of orthodontic treatment of 108 Chinese patients. Three different information sources: study casts (SC), lateral cephalometric X-ray images (LX) and facial photographs (PH) were generated at the end of treatment for 108 patients selected randomly from six orthodontic treatment centers throughout China. Six different assessments of treatment outcome were made by each orthodontist using data from the three information sources separately and in combination. Each assessment included both ranking and grading for each patient. The rankings of each of the 69 judges for the 108 patients were correlated with the rankings of each of the other judges yielding 13 873 Spearman rs values, ranging from -0.08 to +0.85. Of these, 90% were greater than 0.4, showing moderate-to-high consistency among the 69 orthodontists. In the combined evaluations, study casts were the most significant predictive component (R(2)=0.86, P<0.000 1), while the inclusion of lateral cephalometric films and facial photographs also contributed to a more comprehensive assessment (R(2)=0.96, P<0.000 1). Grading scores for SC+LX and SC+PH were highly significantly correlated with those for SC+LX+PH (r(SC+LX)vs.(SC+LX+PH)=0.96, r(SC+PH)vs.(SC+LX+PH)=0.97), showing that either SC+LX or SC+PH is an excellent substitute for all three combined assessment.

Reliability assessment and correlation analysis of evaluating orthodontic treatment outcome in Chinese patients

PubMed Central

Song, Guang-Ying; Zhao, Zhi-He; Ding, Yin; Bai, Yu-Xing; Wang, Lin; He, Hong; Shen, Gang; Li, Wei-Ran; Baumrind, Sheldon; Geng, Zhi; Xu, Tian-Min

2014-01-01

This study aimed to assess the reliability of experienced Chinese orthodontists in evaluating treatment outcome and to determine the correlations between three diagnostic information sources. Sixty-nine experienced Chinese orthodontic specialists each evaluated the outcome of orthodontic treatment of 108 Chinese patients. Three different information sources: study casts (SC), lateral cephalometric X-ray images (LX) and facial photographs (PH) were generated at the end of treatment for 108 patients selected randomly from six orthodontic treatment centers throughout China. Six different assessments of treatment outcome were made by each orthodontist using data from the three information sources separately and in combination. Each assessment included both ranking and grading for each patient. The rankings of each of the 69 judges for the 108 patients were correlated with the rankings of each of the other judges yielding 13 873 Spearman rs values, ranging from –0.08 to +0.85. Of these, 90% were greater than 0.4, showing moderate-to-high consistency among the 69 orthodontists. In the combined evaluations, study casts were the most significant predictive component (R2=0.86, P<0.000 1), while the inclusion of lateral cephalometric films and facial photographs also contributed to a more comprehensive assessment (R2=0.96, P<0.000 1). Grading scores for SC+LX and SC+PH were highly significantly correlated with those for SC+LX+PH (r(SC+LX)vs.(SC+LX+PH)=0.96, r(SC+PH)vs.(SC+LX+PH)=0.97), showing that either SC+LX or SC+PH is an excellent substitute for all three combined assessment. PMID:24136673

Market Powers Predict Reciprocal Grooming in Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana)

PubMed Central

Guo, Song-Tao; Zhao, Da-Peng; Zhang, Peng; Huang, Kang; Li, Bao-Guo

2012-01-01

Social grooming is a common form of affiliative behavior in primates. Biological market theory suggests that grooming can be traded either for grooming or other social commodities and services. When no other services are exchanged, grooming is predicted to be approximately reciprocated within a dyad. In contrast, the amount of reciprocal grooming should decrease as other offered services increase. We studied grooming patterns between polygamous male and female in golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) from the Qinling Mountains of central China and found that about 29.7% of grooming bouts were reciprocated. However, the durations of grooming bouts offered and returned was asymmetrical within dyads. In bisexual dyads, more grooming was initiated by females than males, which became more pronounced as the number of females per one-male unit increased. The rate of copulation per day for each female was positively correlated with the total duration of grooming time females invested in males.. Females without an infant (non-mothers) directed more grooming towards females with an infant (mothers) and were significantly more likely to be non-reciprocated. There was a significant negative relationship between non-mother and mother grooming duration and the rate of infants per female in each one-male unit. High-ranking females also received more grooming from low-ranking females than vice versa. The rate of food-related aggressive interactions was per day for low-ranking females was negatively correlated with the duration of grooming that low-ranking females gave to high-ranking females. Our results showed that grooming reciprocation in R. roxellana was discrepancy. This investment-reciprocity rate could be explained by the exchange of other social services in lieu of grooming. PMID:22590611

Risk-adjusted models for adverse obstetric outcomes and variation in risk-adjusted outcomes across hospitals.

PubMed

Bailit, Jennifer L; Grobman, William A; Rice, Madeline Murguia; Spong, Catherine Y; Wapner, Ronald J; Varner, Michael W; Thorp, John M; Leveno, Kenneth J; Caritis, Steve N; Shubert, Phillip J; Tita, Alan T; Saade, George; Sorokin, Yoram; Rouse, Dwight J; Blackwell, Sean C; Tolosa, Jorge E; Van Dorsten, J Peter

2013-11-01

Regulatory bodies and insurers evaluate hospital quality using obstetrical outcomes, however meaningful comparisons should take preexisting patient characteristics into account. Furthermore, if risk-adjusted outcomes are consistent within a hospital, fewer measures and resources would be needed to assess obstetrical quality. Our objective was to establish risk-adjusted models for 5 obstetric outcomes and assess hospital performance across these outcomes. We studied a cohort of 115,502 women and their neonates born in 25 hospitals in the United States from March 2008 through February 2011. Hospitals were ranked according to their unadjusted and risk-adjusted frequency of venous thromboembolism, postpartum hemorrhage, peripartum infection, severe perineal laceration, and a composite neonatal adverse outcome. Correlations between hospital risk-adjusted outcome frequencies were assessed. Venous thromboembolism occurred too infrequently (0.03%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.02-0.04%) for meaningful assessment. Other outcomes occurred frequently enough for assessment (postpartum hemorrhage, 2.29%; 95% CI, 2.20-2.38, peripartum infection, 5.06%; 95% CI, 4.93-5.19, severe perineal laceration at spontaneous vaginal delivery, 2.16%; 95% CI, 2.06-2.27, neonatal composite, 2.73%; 95% CI, 2.63-2.84). Although there was high concordance between unadjusted and adjusted hospital rankings, several individual hospitals had an adjusted rank that was substantially different (as much as 12 rank tiers) than their unadjusted rank. None of the correlations between hospital-adjusted outcome frequencies was significant. For example, the hospital with the lowest adjusted frequency of peripartum infection had the highest adjusted frequency of severe perineal laceration. Evaluations based on a single risk-adjusted outcome cannot be generalized to overall hospital obstetric performance. Copyright © 2013 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gender Differences in Publication Productivity, Academic Position, Career Duration and Funding Among U.S. Academic Radiation Oncology Faculty

PubMed Central

Holliday, Emma B.; Jagsi, Reshma; Wilson, Lynn D.; Choi, Mehee; Thomas, Charles R.; Fuller, Clifton. D.

2015-01-01

Purpose There has been much recent interest in promoting gender equality in academic medicine. This study aims to analyze gender differences in rank, career duration, publication productivity and research funding among radiation oncologists at U.S. academic institutions. Methods For 82 domestic academic radiation oncology departments, the authors identified current faculty and recorded their academic rank, degree and gender. The authors recorded bibliographic metrics for physician faculty from a commercially available database (SCOPUS, Elsevier BV, Amsterdam, NL), including numbers of publications and h-indices. The authors then concatenated this data with National Institute of Health funding for each individual per Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (REPORTer). The authors performed descriptive and correlative analyses, stratifying by gender and rank. Results Of 1031 faculty, 293 (28%) women and 738 (72%) men, men had a higher median h-index (8 (0-59) versus 5 (0-39); P<.05) and publication number (26 (0-591) versus 13 (0-306); P<.05) overall, and were more likely to be senior faculty and receive NIH funding. However, after stratifying for rank, these differences were largely non-significant. On multivariate analysis, there were significant correlations between gender, career duration and academic position, and h-index (P<.01). Conclusions The determinants of a successful career in academic medicine are certainly multi-factorial, particularly in traditionally male-dominated fields. However, data from radiation oncologists show a systematic gender association withfewer women achieving senior faculty rank. However, women who achieve senior status have productivity metrics comparable to their male counterparts. This suggests early career development and mentorship of female faculty may narrow productivity disparities. PMID:24667510

The link between obesity and the built environment. Evidence from an ecological analysis of obesity and vehicle miles of travel in California.

PubMed

Lopez-Zetina, Javier; Lee, Howard; Friis, Robert

2006-12-01

Obesity and physical inactivity are known to be risk factors for many chronic diseases including hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, and cancer. We sought to explore the association between an indicator of transportation data (Vehicle Miles of Travel, VMT) at the county level as it relates to obesity and physical inactivity in California. Data from the California Health Interview Survey 2001 (CHIS 2001), the US 2000 Census, and the California Department of Transportation were merged to examine ecological correlations between vehicle miles of travel, population density, commute time, and county indicators of obesity and physical inactivity. Obesity was measured by body mass index (BMI). Physical inactivity was based on self-reported behaviors including walking, bicycling, and moderate to vigorous activity. The unit of analysis was the county. Thirty-three counties in California with population size greater than 100,000 persons per county were retained in the analyses. CHIS 2001 statewide obesity prevalence ranged from 11.2% to 28.5% by county. Physical inactivity ranged from 13.4% to 35.7%. Daily vehicle miles of travel ranged from 3.3 million to 183.8 million per county. By rank bivariate correlation, obesity and physical inactivity were significantly associated (p<0.01). Furthermore, by rank analysis of variance, the highest mean rank obesity was associated with the highest rank of VMT (p<0.01). Similar rank patterns were observed between obesity and physical inactivity and commute time. Associations between VMT and physical inactivity were examined but failed to reach statistical significance. This analysis adds to the growing evidence supporting the association between VMT (a measure of automobile transportation) and obesity. An urban design characterized by over dependence on motorized transportation may be related to adverse health effects.

RANKL/RANK/OPG cytokine receptor system: mRNA expression pattern in BPH, primary and metastatic prostate cancer disease.

PubMed

Christoph, Frank; König, Frank; Lebentrau, Steffen; Jandrig, Burkhard; Krause, Hans; Strenziok, Romy; Schostak, Martin

2018-02-01

The cytokine system RANKL (receptor activator of NF-κB ligand), its receptor RANK and the antagonist OPG (osteoprotegerin) play a critical role in bone turnover. Our investigation was conducted to describe the gene expression at primary tumour site in prostate cancer patients and correlate the results with Gleason Score and PSA level. Seventy-one samples were obtained from prostate cancer patients at the time of radical prostatectomy and palliative prostate resection (n = 71). Patients with benign prostate hyperplasia served as controls (n = 60). We performed real-time RT-PCR after microdissection of the samples. The mRNA expression of RANK was highest in tumour tissue from patients with bone metastases (p < 0.001) as compared to BPH or locally confined tumours, also shown in clinical subgroups distinguished by Gleason Score (< 7 or ≥ 7, p = 0.028) or PSA level (< 10 or ≥ 10 µg/l, p = 0.004). RANKL and OPG mRNA expression was higher in tumour tissue from patients with metastatic compared to local disease. The RANKL/OPG ratio was low in normal prostate tissue and high tumours with bone metastases (p < 0.05). Expression of all three cytokines was high in BPH tissue but did not exceed as much as in the tumour tissue. We demonstrated that RANK, RANKL and OPG are directly expressed by prostate cancer cells at the primary tumour site and showed a clear correlation with Gleason Score, serum PSA level and advanced disease. In BPH, mRNA expression is also detectable, but RANK expression does not exceed as much as compared to tumour tissue.

Single shot multi-wavelength phase retrieval with coherent modulation imaging.

PubMed

Dong, Xue; Pan, Xingchen; Liu, Cheng; Zhu, Jianqiang

2018-04-15

A single shot multi-wavelength phase retrieval method is proposed by combining common coherent modulation imaging (CMI) and a low rank mixed-state algorithm together. A radiation beam consisting of multi-wavelength is illuminated on the sample to be observed, and the exiting field is incident on a random phase plate to form speckle patterns, which is the incoherent superposition of diffraction patterns of each wavelength. The exiting complex amplitude of the sample including both the modulus and phase of each wavelength can be reconstructed simultaneously from the recorded diffraction intensity using a low rank mixed-state algorithm. The feasibility of this proposed method was verified with visible light experimentally. This proposed method not only makes CMI realizable with partially coherent illumination but also can extend its application to various traditionally unrelated fields, where several wavelengths should be considered simultaneously.

A Passive Method for Detecting Vegetation Stress from Orbit: Chlorophyll Fluorescence Spectra from Fraunhofer Lines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Theisen, Arnold F.

2000-01-01

Solar-stimulated chlorophyll fluorescence measured with the Fraunhofer line depth method has correlated well with vegetation stress in previous studies. However, the instruments used in those studies were limited to a single solar absorption line (e.g. 656.3 nm), obviating the red/far-red ratio (R/FR) method. Optics and detector technology have reached the level whereby multiple, very narrow Fraunhofer lines are resolvable. Thirteen such lines span the visible spectrum in the red to far-red region where chlorophyll fluorescence occurs. Fluorescence intensities at the 13 Fraunhofer line wavelengths were used to model emission spectra. The source data were collected for summer and fall bean crops (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) subjected to various levels of nitrogen fertilization. The intensities were adjusted to account for Fraunhofer line depth and atmospheric transmittance. Multiple R/FR fluorescence ratios, calculated from the modeled fluorescence spectra, correlated strongly with leaf chlorophyll concentration and well with applied nitrogen. The ratio yielding the best correlation with chlorophyll utilized red fluorescence at the 694.5 nm Fraunhofer line and farred fluorescence at the 755.6 nm Fraunhofer line. Twenty R/FR ratios, each evaluated for the maximum differential between low and high (optimal) nitrogen treatments, ranked higher in some cases and lower in others, possibly related to the time of year the crops were grown and the stage of growth of the crops. Ratios with 728.9 nm and 738.9 nm in the denominator consistently ranked in the lowest and next lowest quartile, respectively. Ratios of the 656.3 nm Fraunhofer line and the 755.6 nm line consistently ranked highest for the summer crop. Ratios with 755.6 nm in the denominator ranked in the upper quartile for 10 out of 12 measurement dates. Differences in ratio ranking indicate that physiological conditions may be estimated using selected ratios of Fraunhofer lines within the context of R/FR analysis. A passive instrument designed to monitor R/FR chlorophyll fluorescence (i.e. vegetation stress) from orbit could be built today.

Decrease in lean body mass in men with prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy: mechanism and biomarkers.

PubMed

Hara, Noboru; Ishizaki, Fumio; Saito, Toshihiro; Nishiyama, Tsutomu; Kawasaki, Takashi; Takahashi, Kota

2013-02-01

To elucidate the mechanism of the androgen deprivation therapy (ADT)-related decrease in lean body mass (LBM). The LBM and blood samples were studied before and after 6 months of ADT in 72 patients with localized prostate cancer. The LBM was assessed using a foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance analyzer. Before ADT, the LBM correlated with none of the serum sex steroid levels; however, it correlated closely with serum 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol glucuronide (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient = 0.409, P = .001) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-I, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient = 0.329, P = .005). After ADT, the LBM decreased by 0.9% (P = .036), and the serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone had decreased by 96.8% and 94.3%, respectively (P <.001 for both), and the IGF-I had increased by 11.6% (from 19.9 to 22.2 nmol/L, P = .001). The serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D] levels decreased after ADT by 9.8% (from 66.2 to 59.7 pg/mL, P = .008), and the post-treatment LBM correlated inversely with 1,25(OH)2D (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient = -0.343, P = .003). The post-treatment LBM was dissociated with 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol glucuronide and IGF-I. The pretreatment and post-treatment LBMs both correlated inversely with serum sex hormone-binding globulin (P = .024 and P = .016, respectively). The deficiency in androgen levels was suggested to be a link to the ADT-related decrease in LBM; the androgen metabolite 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol glucuronide has a potential value for assessing the LBM in untreated men. IGF-I also promotes muscle building and is positively regulated during ADT. Sex hormone-binding globulin possibly accelerates the ADT-related decrease in LBM. Although the mechanism for the decrease in 1,25(OH)2D and its inverse correlation with LBM during ADT is unclear, 1,25(OH)2D might be a biomarker reflecting the ADT-related decrease in LBM. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predicting Resident Performance from Preresidency Factors: A Systematic Review and Applicability to Neurosurgical Training.

PubMed

Zuckerman, Scott L; Kelly, Patrick D; Dewan, Michael C; Morone, Peter J; Yengo-Kahn, Aaron M; Magarik, Jordan A; Baticulon, Ronnie E; Zusman, Edie E; Solomon, Gary S; Wellons, John C

2018-02-01

Neurosurgical educators strive to identify the best applicants, yet formal study of resident selection has proved difficult. We conducted a systematic review to answer the following question: What objective and subjective preresidency factors predict resident success? PubMed, ProQuest, Embase, and the CINAHL databases were queried from 1952 to 2015 for literature reporting the impact of preresidency factors (PRFs) on outcomes of residency success (RS), among neurosurgery and all surgical subspecialties. Due to heterogeneity of specialties and outcomes, a qualitative summary and heat map of significant findings were constructed. From 1489 studies, 21 articles met inclusion criteria, which evaluated 1276 resident applicants across five surgical subspecialties. No neurosurgical studies met the inclusion criteria. Common objective PRFs included standardized testing (76%), medical school performance (48%), and Alpha Omega Alpha (43%). Common subjective PRFs included aggregate rank scores (57%), letters of recommendation (38%), research (33%), interviews (19%), and athletic or musical talent (19%). Outcomes of RS included faculty evaluations, in-training/board exams, chief resident status, and research productivity. Among objective factors, standardized test scores correlated well with in-training/board examinations but poorly correlated with faculty evaluations. Among subjective factors, aggregate rank scores, letters of recommendation, and athletic or musical talent demonstrated moderate correlation with faculty evaluations. Standardized testing most strongly correlated with future examination performance but correlated poorly with faculty evaluations. Moderate predictors of faculty evaluations were aggregate rank scores, letters of recommendation, and athletic or musical talent. The ability to predict success of neurosurgical residents using an evidence-based approach is limited, and few factors have correlated with future resident performance. Given the importance of recruitment to the greater field of neurosurgery, these data provide support for a national, prospective effort to improve the study of neurosurgery resident selection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction teachers, practice characteristics, cancer incidence, and health: a nationwide ecological description.

PubMed

Robb, Sara Wagner; Benson, Kelsey; Middleton, Lauren; Meyers, Christine; Hébert, James R

2015-02-14

Studies have demonstrated the potential of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program to improve the condition of individuals with health outcomes such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic pain; improve psychological well-being; reduce stress levels; and increase survival among cancer patients. To date, only one study has focused on the effect of long-term meditation on stress, showing a positive protective relationship. However, the relationship between meditation and cancer incidence remains unexplored. The objective of this study was to describe the state-level relationship between MBSR instructors and their practices and county-level health outcomes, including cancer incidence, in the United States. This ecologic study was performed using geospatial mapping and descriptive epidemiology of statewide MBSR characteristics and overall health, mental health state rankings, and age-adjusted cancer incidence rates. Weak to moderate state-level correlations between meditation characteristics and colorectal and cervical cancer incidence were detected, with states with more meditation (e.g., more MBSR teachers per population) correlated with a decreased cancer incidence. A negative correlation was detected between lung & bronchus cancer and years teaching MBSR only. Moderate positive correlations were detected between Hodgkin's Lymphoma and female breast cancer in relation to all meditation characteristics. Statistically significant correlations with moderate coefficients were detected for overall health ranks and all meditation characteristics, most strongly for total number of years teaching MBSR and total number of years of general meditation practice. Our analyses might suggest that a relationship exists between the total number of MBSR teachers per state and the total number of years of general meditation practice per state, and colorectal and cervical cancer incidence. Positive correlations were observed with overall health rankings. Despite this study's limitations, its findings could serve to generate hypotheses and to inform and motivate a new focus on meditation and stress reduction in relation to cancer incidence, with specific relevance to colorectal and cervical cancer.

Spectral properties of Google matrix of Wikipedia and other networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ermann, Leonardo; Frahm, Klaus M.; Shepelyansky, Dima L.

2013-05-01

We study the properties of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Google matrix of the Wikipedia articles hyperlink network and other real networks. With the help of the Arnoldi method, we analyze the distribution of eigenvalues in the complex plane and show that eigenstates with significant eigenvalue modulus are located on well defined network communities. We also show that the correlator between PageRank and CheiRank vectors distinguishes different organizations of information flow on BBC and Le Monde web sites.

Anatomic features involved in technical complexity of partial nephrectomy.

PubMed

Hou, Weibin; Yan, Weigang; Ji, Zhigang

2015-01-01

Nephrometry score systems, including RENAL nephrometry, preoperative aspects and dimensions used for an anatomical classification system, C-index, diameter-axial-polar nephrometry, contact surface area score, calculating resected and ischemized volume, renal tumor invasion index, surgical approach renal ranking score, zonal NePhRO score, and renal pelvic score, have been reviewed. Moreover, salient anatomic features like the perinephric fat and vascular variants also have been discussed. We then extract 7 anatomic characteristics, namely tumor size, spatial location, adjacency, exophytic/endophytic extension, vascular variants, pelvic anatomy, and perinephric fat as important features for partial nephrectomy. For novice surgeons, comprehensive and adequate anatomic consideration may help them in their early clinical practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The celebrity appeal questionnaire: sex, entertainment, or leadership.

PubMed

Stever, Gayle S

2008-08-01

The Celebrity Appeal Questionnaire was constructed to operationalize constructs related to why fans are attracted to their favorite celebrities and was developed for use with fan bases for specific celebrities. This revised version asked fans of a specific celebrity to rank order three roles they might see the target celebrity playing in society with an option to not rank them at all. Of 409 respondents attending Josh Groban fan club meetings, 75% said Groban's most important role in society was as a leader and role model in trying to make the world a better place. A factor analysis of correlations of Likert-type scale ratings and an analysis relating those factors back to the rank orderings support the internal reliability and validity of the questionnaire.

Prestige versus citation volume as journal indices in cognitive neuroscience.

PubMed

Ward, Jamie

2014-01-01

In recent years, alternative measures of a journal's influence have been developed to those based on citation metrics (such as Impact Factor). This includes the Scimago Journal Rank (SJR) which is adapted from algorithms used to prioritize webpages in search engines. It is considered a measure of "prestige" insofar as it takes into account the importance of links/citations and not just their total number. Taking a sample of 38 journals from within the field of cognitive neuroscience, it is shown that SJR and Impact Factor correlate highly (r = .83) but with a few large discrepancies in rankings. This journal, Cognitive Neuroscience, fares better on the prestige-based measure than might otherwise be expected from its citation-based rank.

Characteristics of fundamental combustion and NOx emission using various rank coals.

PubMed

Kim, Sung Su; Kang, Youn Suk; Lee, Hyun Dong; Kim, Jae-Kwan; Hong, Sung Chang

2011-03-01

Eight types of coals of different rank were selected and their fundamental combustion characteristics were examined along with the conversion of volatile nitrogen (N) to nitrogen oxides (NOx)/fuel N to NOx. The activation energy, onset temperature, and burnout temperature were obtained from the differential thermogravimetry curve and Arrhenius plot, which were derived through thermo-gravimetric analysis. In addition, to derive the combustion of volatile N to NOx/fuel N to NOx, the coal sample, which was pretreated at various temperatures, was burned, and the results were compared with previously derived fundamental combustion characteristics. The authors' experimental results confirmed that coal rank was highly correlated with the combustion of volatile N to NOx/fuel N to NOx.

Early play may predict later dominance relationships in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris).

PubMed

Blumstein, Daniel T; Chung, Lawrance K; Smith, Jennifer E

2013-05-22

Play has been defined as apparently functionless behaviour, yet since play is costly, models of adaptive evolution predict that it should have some beneficial function (or functions) that outweigh its costs. We provide strong evidence for a long-standing, but poorly supported hypothesis: that early social play is practice for later dominance relationships. We calculated the relative dominance rank by observing the directional outcome of playful interactions in juvenile and yearling yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) and found that these rank relationships were correlated with later dominance ranks calculated from agonistic interactions, however, the strength of this relationship attenuated over time. While play may have multiple functions, one of them may be to establish later dominance relationships in a minimally costly way.

Different actuarial risk measures produce different risk rankings for sexual offenders.

PubMed

Barbaree, Howard E; Langton, Calvin M; Peacock, Edward J

2006-10-01

Percentile ranks were computed for N=262 sex offenders using each of 5 actuarial risk instruments commonly used with adult sex offenders (RRASOR, Static-99, VRAG, SORAG, and MnSOST-R). Mean differences between percentile ranks obtained by different actuarial measures were found to vary inversely with the correlation between the actuarial scores. Following studies of factor analyses of actuarial items, we argue that the discrepancies among actuarial instruments can be substantially accounted for by the way in which the factor Antisocial Behavior and various factors reflecting sexual deviance are represented among the items contained in each instrument. In the discussion, we provide guidance to clinicians in resolving discrepancies between instruments and we discuss implications for future developments in sex offender risk assessment.

Comparison of rankings for lean meat based on results from a CT scanner and a video image analysis system.

PubMed

Jay, N P; van de Ven, R J; Hopkins, D L

2014-10-01

Coopworth cross lambs born over three years were examined in this study. Differences between two machines; a computer tomography (CT) scanner and a VIAScan® system for the estimation of carcase lean weight in lamb carcases was examined. The CT scanner provided a significantly higher estimate of carcase lean. The rank correlation (0.84) between the CT scanner and the VIAScan® system for the prediction of carcase lean was significant, but there was a different ranking for carcase lean depending on which machine was used. This has important ramifications for the use of VIAScan® data in the New Zealand Sheep Improvement Ltd genetic programme. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical ranked-order filtering using threshold decomposition

DOEpatents

Allebach, Jan P.; Ochoa, Ellen; Sweeney, Donald W.

1990-01-01

A hybrid optical/electronic system performs median filtering and related ranked-order operations using threshold decomposition to encode the image. Threshold decomposition transforms the nonlinear neighborhood ranking operation into a linear space-invariant filtering step followed by a point-to-point threshold comparison step. Spatial multiplexing allows parallel processing of all the threshold components as well as recombination by a second linear, space-invariant filtering step. An incoherent optical correlation system performs the linear filtering, using a magneto-optic spatial light modulator as the input device and a computer-generated hologram in the filter plane. Thresholding is done electronically. By adjusting the value of the threshold, the same architecture is used to perform median, minimum, and maximum filtering of images. A totally optical system is also disclosed.

Health information on internet: quality, importance, and popularity of persian health websites.

PubMed

Samadbeik, Mahnaz; Ahmadi, Maryam; Mohammadi, Ali; Mohseni Saravi, Beniamin

2014-04-01

The Internet has provided great opportunities for disseminating both accurate and inaccurate health information. Therefore, the quality of information is considered as a widespread concern affecting the human life. Despite the increasingly substantial growth in the number of users, Persian health websites and the proportion of internet-using patients, little is known about the quality of Persian medical and health websites. The current study aimed to first assess the quality, popularity and importance of websites providing Persian health-related information, and second to evaluate the correlation of the popularity and importance ranking with quality score on the Internet. The sample websites were identified by entering the health-related keywords into four most popular search engines of Iranian users based on the Alexa ranking at the time of study. Each selected website was assessed using three qualified tools including the Bomba and Land Index, Google PageRank and the Alexa ranking. The evaluated sites characteristics (ownership structure, database, scope and objective) really did not have an effect on the Alexa traffic global rank, Alexa traffic rank in Iran, Google PageRank and Bomba total score. Most websites (78.9 percent, n = 56) were in the moderate category (8 ≤ x ≤ 11.99) based on their quality levels. There was no statistically significant association between Google PageRank with Bomba index variables and Alexa traffic global rank (P > 0.05). The Persian health websites had better Bomba quality scores in availability and usability guidelines as compared to other guidelines. The Google PageRank did not properly reflect the real quality of evaluated websites and Internet users seeking online health information should not merely rely on it for any kind of prejudgment regarding Persian health websites. However, they can use Iran Alexa rank as a primary filtering tool of these websites. Therefore, designing search engines dedicated to explore accredited Persian health-related Web sites can be an effective method to access high-quality Persian health websites.

[Correlation between the inspired fraction of oxygen, maternal partial oxygen pressure, and fetal partial oxygen pressure during cesarean section of normal pregnancies].

PubMed

Castro, Carlos Henrique Viana de; Cruvinel, Marcos Guilherme Cunha; Carneiro, Fabiano Soares; Silva, Yerkes Pereira; Cabral, Antônio Carlos Vieira; Bessa, Roberto Cardoso

2009-01-01

Despite changes in pulmonary function, maternal oxygenation is maintained during obstetric regional blocks. But in those situations, the administration of supplementary oxygen to parturients is a common practice. Good fetal oxygenation is the main justification; however, this has not been proven. The objective of this randomized, prospective study was to test the hypothesis of whether maternal hyperoxia is correlated with an increase in fetal gasometric parameters in elective cesarean sections. Arterial blood gases of 20 parturients undergoing spinal block with different inspired fractions of oxygen were evaluated and correlated with fetal arterial blood gases. An increase in maternal inspired fraction of oxygen did not show any correlation with an increase of fetal partial oxygen pressure. Induction of maternal hyperoxia by the administration of supplementary oxygen did not increase fetal partial oxygen pressure. Fetal gasometric parameters did not change even when maternal parameters changed, induced by hyperoxia, during cesarean section under spinal block.

Application of the Simplified Dow Chemical Company Relative Ranking Hazard Assessment Method for Air Combat Command Bases

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-01

Chiras , Daniel D. Environmental Science . Redwood City, California: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1991. Cummings-Saxton, J., L...Engineering of the Air Force Institute of Technology Air University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in...Engineering and Environmental Management Raymond A. Sable, B. Architecture Captain, USAF, R.A. September 1993 Approved for public release; distribution

Schmidt-number witnesses and bound entanglement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanpera, Anna; Bruß, Dagmar; Lewenstein, Maciej

2001-05-01

The Schmidt number of a mixed state characterizes the minimum Schmidt rank of the pure states needed to construct it. We investigate the Schmidt number of an arbitrary mixed state by studying Schmidt-number witnesses that detect it. We present a canonical form of such witnesses and provide constructive methods for their optimization. Finally, we present strong evidence that all bound entangled states with positive partial transpose in C3⊗C3 have Schmidt number 2.

Similarity preserving low-rank representation for enhanced data representation and effective subspace learning.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhao; Yan, Shuicheng; Zhao, Mingbo

2014-05-01

Latent Low-Rank Representation (LatLRR) delivers robust and promising results for subspace recovery and feature extraction through mining the so-called hidden effects, but the locality of both similar principal and salient features cannot be preserved in the optimizations. To solve this issue for achieving enhanced performance, a boosted version of LatLRR, referred to as Regularized Low-Rank Representation (rLRR), is proposed through explicitly including an appropriate Laplacian regularization that can maximally preserve the similarity among local features. Resembling LatLRR, rLRR decomposes given data matrix from two directions by seeking a pair of low-rank matrices. But the similarities of principal and salient features can be effectively preserved by rLRR. As a result, the correlated features are well grouped and the robustness of representations is also enhanced. Based on the outputted bi-directional low-rank codes by rLRR, an unsupervised subspace learning framework termed Low-rank Similarity Preserving Projections (LSPP) is also derived for feature learning. The supervised extension of LSPP is also discussed for discriminant subspace learning. The validity of rLRR is examined by robust representation and decomposition of real images. Results demonstrated the superiority of our rLRR and LSPP in comparison to other related state-of-the-art algorithms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Treating Sample Covariances for Use in Strongly Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Data Assimilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Polly J.; Lawless, Amos S.; Nichols, Nancy K.

2018-01-01

Strongly coupled data assimilation requires cross-domain forecast error covariances; information from ensembles can be used, but limited sampling means that ensemble derived error covariances are routinely rank deficient and/or ill-conditioned and marred by noise. Thus, they require modification before they can be incorporated into a standard assimilation framework. Here we compare methods for improving the rank and conditioning of multivariate sample error covariance matrices for coupled atmosphere-ocean data assimilation. The first method, reconditioning, alters the matrix eigenvalues directly; this preserves the correlation structures but does not remove sampling noise. We show that it is better to recondition the correlation matrix rather than the covariance matrix as this prevents small but dynamically important modes from being lost. The second method, model state-space localization via the Schur product, effectively removes sample noise but can dampen small cross-correlation signals. A combination that exploits the merits of each is found to offer an effective alternative.

Correlation between dental maturity and cervical vertebral maturity.

PubMed

Chen, Jianwei; Hu, Haikun; Guo, Jing; Liu, Zeping; Liu, Renkai; Li, Fan; Zou, Shujuan

2010-12-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between dental and skeletal maturity. Digital panoramic radiographs and lateral skull cephalograms of 302 patients (134 boys and 168 girls, ranging from 8 to 16 years of age) were examined. Dental maturity was assessed by calcification stages of the mandibular canines, first and second premolars, and second molars, whereas skeletal maturity was estimated by the cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) stages. The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient was used to measure the association between CVM stage and dental calcification stage of individual teeth. The mean chronologic age of girls was significantly lower than that of boys in each CVM stage. The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients between dental maturity and cervical vertebral maturity ranged from 0.391 to 0.582 for girls and from 0.464 to 0.496 for boys (P < 0.05). In girls, the mandibular second molar had the highest and the canine the lowest correlation. In boys, the canine had the highest and the first premolar the lowest correlation. Tooth calcification stage was significantly correlated with cervical vertebral maturation stage. The development of the mandibular second molar in females and that of the mandibular canine in males had the strongest correlations with cervical vertebral maturity. Therefore, it is practical to consider the relationship between dental and skeletal maturity when planning orthodontic treatment. Copyright © 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Scale-Free Nonparametric Factor Analysis: A User-Friendly Introduction with Concrete Heuristic Examples.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mittag, Kathleen Cage

Most researchers using factor analysis extract factors from a matrix of Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. A method is presented for extracting factors in a non-parametric way, by extracting factors from a matrix of Spearman rho (rank correlation) coefficients. It is possible to factor analyze a matrix of association such that…

Correlation-coefficient-based fast template matching through partial elimination.

PubMed

Mahmood, Arif; Khan, Sohaib

2012-04-01

Partial computation elimination techniques are often used for fast template matching. At a particular search location, computations are prematurely terminated as soon as it is found that this location cannot compete with an already known best match location. Due to the nonmonotonic growth pattern of the correlation-based similarity measures, partial computation elimination techniques have been traditionally considered inapplicable to speed up these measures. In this paper, we show that partial elimination techniques may be applied to a correlation coefficient by using a monotonic formulation, and we propose basic-mode and extended-mode partial correlation elimination algorithms for fast template matching. The basic-mode algorithm is more efficient on small template sizes, whereas the extended mode is faster on medium and larger templates. We also propose a strategy to decide which algorithm to use for a given data set. To achieve a high speedup, elimination algorithms require an initial guess of the peak correlation value. We propose two initialization schemes including a coarse-to-fine scheme for larger templates and a two-stage technique for small- and medium-sized templates. Our proposed algorithms are exact, i.e., having exhaustive equivalent accuracy, and are compared with the existing fast techniques using real image data sets on a wide variety of template sizes. While the actual speedups are data dependent, in most cases, our proposed algorithms have been found to be significantly faster than the other algorithms.

Agile Combat Support Doctrine and Logistics Officer Training: Do We Need an Integrated Logistics School for the Expeditionary Air and Space Force?

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-02-01

Rank-Order Correlation Coefficients statistical analysis via SPSS 8.0. Interview informants’ perceptions and perspec­ tives are combined with...logistics training in facilitating the em­ ployment of doctrinal tenets in a deployed environment. Statistical Correlations: Confirmed Relationships...integration of technology and cross-func­ tional training for the tactical practitioners. Statistical Correlations: Confirmed Relationships on the Need

Determining the Number of Components from the Matrix of Partial Correlations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Velicer, Wayne F.

1976-01-01

A method is presented for determining the number of components to retain in a principal components or image components analysis which utilizes a matrix of partial correlations. Advantages and uses of the method are discussed and a comparison of the proposed method with existing methods is presented. (JKS)

Pilot evaluation of isolation patients' perceptions on ability to identify types of health care workers when wearing isolation gowns.

PubMed

Roderick, Mickey; Speroni, Karen Gabel; Stafford, Amy; Seibert, Dorothy J

2017-03-01

In a survey research study, perceptions of 50 hospitalized patients on contact isolation were evaluated regarding their ability to identify health care worker (HCW) type in isolation gowns with no hospital badge under or on the gown, in isolation gowns with the hospital badge partially visible through the gown, and in isolation gowns with a preprinted large font Registered Nurse and Nursing Technician sticker badge on the outside of the gown. Patients ranked their ability to identify HCWs when entering their hospital room as important (average ranking, 8.0, where 0 was not at all important and 10 was very important); 28 patients (56%) specified all HCWs entering their hospital room should wear a preprinted large font sticker badge on the outside of their isolation gowns. Patients found little difficulty identifying HCW type with the large font preprinted sticker badge (average difficulty ranking, 1.0, where 0 is not at all difficult and 10 is very difficult), a simplistic method to improve HCW type identification. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reliability and Validity of Food Frequency Questions to Assess Beverage and Food Group Intakes among Low-Income 2- to 4-Year-Old Children.

PubMed

Koleilat, Maria; Whaley, Shannon E

2016-06-01

Fruits, vegetables, sweetened foods, and beverages have been found to have positive and negative associations with obesity in early childhood, yet no rapid assessment tools are available to measure intake of these foods among preschoolers. This study examines the test-retest reliability and validity of a 10-item Child Food and Beverage Intake Questionnaire designed to assess fruits, vegetables, and sweetened foods and beverages intake among 2- to 4-year-old children. The Child Food and Beverage Intake Questionnaire was developed for use in periodic phone surveys conducted with low-income families with preschool-aged children. Seventy primary caregivers of 2- to 4-year-old children completed two Child Food and Beverage Intake Questionnaires within a 2-week period for test-retest reliability. Participants also completed three 24-hour recalls to allow assessment of validity. Intraclass correlations were used to examine test-retest reliability. Spearman rank correlation coefficients, Bland-Altman plots, and linear regression analyses were used to examine validity of the Child Food and Beverage Intake Questionnaire compared with three 24-hour recalls. Intraclass correlations between Child Food and Beverage Intake Questionnaire administrations ranged from 0.48 for sweetened drinks to 0.87 for regular sodas. Intraclass correlations for fruits, vegetables, and sweetened food were 0.56, 0.49, and 0.56, respectively. Spearman rank correlation coefficients ranged from 0.15 to 0.59 for beverages, with 0.46 for sugar-sweetened beverages. Spearman rank correlation coefficients for fruits, vegetables, and sweetened food were 0.30, 0.33, and 0.30, respectively. Although observation of the Bland-Altman plots and linear regression analyses showed a slight upward trend in mean differences, with increasing mean intake for five beverage groups, at least 90% of data plots fell within the limits of agreement for all food/beverage groups. The Child Food and Beverage Intake Questionnaire exhibited fair to substantial test-retest reliability and moderate to strong validity in ranking fruits, vegetables, sweetened food, and the majority of beverages consumed by children aged 2 to 4 years old. Although the Child Food and Beverage Intake Questionnaire might not be able to assess the absolute intake of foods and beverages, given the scarcity of an easily administered, valid, and reliable questionnaire to assess nutritional intake among 2- to 4-year-old low-income children, this tool is a useful means for measuring trends in dietary intake among low-income preschoolers. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rank order scaling of pictorial depth

PubMed Central

van Doorn, Andrea; Koenderink, Jan; Wagemans, Johan

2011-01-01

We address the topic of “pictorial depth” in cases of pictures that are unlike photographic renderings. The most basic measure of “depth” is no doubt that of depth order. We establish depth order through the pairwise depth-comparison method, involving all pairs from a set of 49 fiducial points. The pictorial space for this study was evoked by a capriccio (imaginary landscape) by Francesco Guardi (1712–1793). In such a drawing pictorial space is suggested by the artist through a small set of conventional depth cues. As a result typical Western observers tend to agree largely in their visual awareness when looking at such art. We rank depths for locations that are not on a single surface and far apart in pictorial space. We find that observers resolve about 40 distinct depth layers and agree largely in this. From a previous experiment we have metrical data for the same observers. The rank correlations between the results are high. Perhaps surprisingly, we find no correlation between the number of distinct depth layers and the total metrical depth range. Thus, the relation between subjective magnitude and discrimination threshold fails to hold for pictorial depth. PMID:23145256

"If it bleeds it leads"? Attributes of TV health news stories that drive viewer attention.

PubMed Central

Cooper, C P; Roter, D L

2000-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Health advocates increasing y use the news media to educate the public. However, little is known about what motivates individuals to pay attention to health news. This study investigated which characteristics of TV health news stories attract viewer interest. METHODS: The authors surveyed airport patrons, the audience of a public health symposium, and municipal jurors, asking which attributes of TV heath news stories encouraged interest and which attributes discouraged interest. The authors ranked mean responses and compared them using Spearman rank correlations, RESULTS: The rankings assigned by the three samples were highly correlated. Respondents reported being most attracted to health stories about personally relevant topics. Interestingly, they also reported that sensational story elements such as "showing a bloody or injured person" and "being action packed" did not substantially influence their attention. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that viewers, regardless of their level of health knowledge, value the same attributes in TV health news stories. Emphasizing the personal relevance of health topics appears to be a viable strategy to capture viewer interest. Conversely, the tendency of broadcast news to sensationalize stories may be distracting in the case of health news. PMID:11059426

A framework for automatic information quality ranking of diabetes websites.

PubMed

Belen Sağlam, Rahime; Taskaya Temizel, Tugba

2015-01-01

Objective: When searching for particular medical information on the internet the challenge lies in distinguishing the websites that are relevant to the topic, and contain accurate information. In this article, we propose a framework that automatically identifies and ranks diabetes websites according to their relevance and information quality based on the website content. Design: The proposed framework ranks diabetes websites according to their content quality, relevance and evidence based medicine. The framework combines information retrieval techniques with a lexical resource based on Sentiwordnet making it possible to work with biased and untrusted websites while, at the same time, ensuring the content relevance. Measurement: The evaluation measurements used were Pearson-correlation, true positives, false positives and accuracy. We tested the framework with a benchmark data set consisting of 55 websites with varying degrees of information quality problems. Results: The proposed framework gives good results that are comparable with the non-automated information quality measuring approaches in the literature. The correlation between the results of the proposed automated framework and ground-truth is 0.68 on an average with p < 0.001 which is greater than the other proposed automated methods in the literature (r score in average is 0.33).

"If it bleeds it leads"? Attributes of TV health news stories that drive viewer attention.

PubMed

Cooper, C P; Roter, D L

2000-01-01

Health advocates increasing y use the news media to educate the public. However, little is known about what motivates individuals to pay attention to health news. This study investigated which characteristics of TV health news stories attract viewer interest. The authors surveyed airport patrons, the audience of a public health symposium, and municipal jurors, asking which attributes of TV heath news stories encouraged interest and which attributes discouraged interest. The authors ranked mean responses and compared them using Spearman rank correlations, The rankings assigned by the three samples were highly correlated. Respondents reported being most attracted to health stories about personally relevant topics. Interestingly, they also reported that sensational story elements such as "showing a bloody or injured person" and "being action packed" did not substantially influence their attention. This study suggests that viewers, regardless of their level of health knowledge, value the same attributes in TV health news stories. Emphasizing the personal relevance of health topics appears to be a viable strategy to capture viewer interest. Conversely, the tendency of broadcast news to sensationalize stories may be distracting in the case of health news.

Basic Psychiatric Literature: I. Books*†

PubMed Central

Woods, Joan B.; Pieper, Sam; Frazier, Shervert H.

1968-01-01

Widely varying recommended reading lists for psychiatry residents were obtained from 140 AMA-approved training programs. Approximately 4,000 articles, 2,800 books, and 200 serials were listed. The number of recommendations for each book was counted, and a rank-order determined. A second rank-order was determined from the lists of those eighty-seven programs which indicated that their material covered the “basic” literature; a third rank-order was determined from the number of residents using the lists. All rank-orders agreed on the “most recommended” book and the first eighteen books; there was a 92 percent correlation through the first 453 books. One-third of the “basic” recommendations were for the first 104 books; one-third for the next 349 books, and one-third for the remaining 1,994 books. The subject matter of the first 104 books indicated that the currently most popular subjects in psychiatry are psychoanalytic theories of personality, schizophrenia, psychotherapy, and child psychiatry. A list of the 104 most recommended books is appended. PMID:4874980

Reliability evaluation of hermetic dual in-line flat microcircuit packages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, G. M.; Conaway, L. K.

1977-01-01

The relative strengths and weaknesses of 35 commonly used hermetic flat and dual in-line packages were determined and used to rank each of the packages according to a numerical weighting scheme for package attributes. The list of attributes included desirable features in five major areas: lead and lead seal, body construction, body materials, lid and lid seal, and marking. The metal flat pack and multilayer integral ceramic flat pack and DIP received the highest rankings, and the soft glass Cerdip and Cerpak types received the lowest rankings. Loss of package hermeticity due to lead and lid seal problems was found to be the predominant failure mode from the literature/data search. However, environmental test results showed that lead and lid seal failures due to thermal stressing was only a problem with the hard glass (Ceramic) body DIP utilizing a metal lid and/or bottom. Insufficient failure data were generated for the other package types tested to correlate test results with the package ranking.

Learning to Rank the Severity of Unrepaired Cleft Lip Nasal Deformity on 3D Mesh Data.

PubMed

Wu, Jia; Tse, Raymond; Shapiro, Linda G

2014-08-01

Cleft lip is a birth defect that results in deformity of the upper lip and nose. Its severity is widely variable and the results of treatment are influenced by the initial deformity. Objective assessment of severity would help to guide prognosis and treatment. However, most assessments are subjective. The purpose of this study is to develop and test quantitative computer-based methods of measuring cleft lip severity. In this paper, a grid-patch based measurement of symmetry is introduced, with which a computer program learns to rank the severity of cleft lip on 3D meshes of human infant faces. Three computer-based methods to define the midfacial reference plane were compared to two manual methods. Four different symmetry features were calculated based upon these reference planes, and evaluated. The result shows that the rankings predicted by the proposed features were highly correlated with the ranking orders provided by experts that were used as the ground truth.

Spatial Characteristics of F/A-18 Vertical Tail Buffet Pressures Measured in Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moses, Robert W.; Shah, Gautam H.

1998-01-01

Buffeting is an aeroelastic phenomenon which plagues high performance aircraft, especially those with twin vertical tails, at high angles of attack. Previous wind-tunnel and flight tests were conducted to characterize the buffet loads on the vertical tails by measuring surface pressures, bending moments, and accelerations. Following these tests, buffeting estimates were computed using the measured buffet pressures and compared to the measured responses. The estimates did not match the measured data because the assumed spatial correlation of the buffet pressures was not correct. A better understanding of the partial (spatial) correlation of the differential buffet pressures on the tail was necessary to improve the buffeting estimates. Several wind-tunnel investigations were conducted for this purpose. When combined and compared, the results of these tests show that the partial correlation depends on and scales with flight conditions. One of the remaining questions is whether the windtunnel data is consistent with flight data. Presented herein, cross-spectra and coherence functions calculated from pressures that were measured on the high alpha research vehicle (HARV) indicate that the partial correlation of the buffet pressures in flight agrees with the partial correlation observed in the wind tunnel.

Comparing the rankings obtained from two biodiversity indices: the Fair Proportion Index and the Shapley Value.

PubMed

Wicke, Kristina; Fischer, Mareike

2017-10-07

The Shapley Value and the Fair Proportion Index of phylogenetic trees have been frequently discussed as prioritization tools in conservation biology. Both indices rank species according to their contribution to total phylogenetic diversity, allowing for a simple conservation criterion. While both indices have their specific advantages and drawbacks, it has recently been shown that both values are closely related. However, as different authors use different definitions of the Shapley Value, the specific degree of relatedness depends on the specific version of the Shapley Value - it ranges from a high correlation index to equality of the indices. In this note, we first give an overview of the different indices. Then we turn our attention to the mere ranking order provided by either of the indices. We compare the rankings obtained from different versions of the Shapley Value for a phylogenetic tree of European amphibians and illustrate their differences. We then undertake further analyses on simulated data and show that even though the chance of two rankings being exactly identical (when obtained from different versions of the Shapley Value) decreases with an increasing number of taxa, the distance between the two rankings converges to zero, i.e., the rankings are becoming more and more alike. Moreover, we introduce our freely available software package FairShapley, which was implemented in Perl and with which all calculations have been performed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated Assessment of the Quality of Depression Websites

PubMed Central

Tang, Thanh Tin; Hawking, David; Christensen, Helen

2005-01-01

Background Since health information on the World Wide Web is of variable quality, methods are needed to assist consumers to identify health websites containing evidence-based information. Manual assessment tools may assist consumers to evaluate the quality of sites. However, these tools are poorly validated and often impractical. There is a need to develop better consumer tools, and in particular to explore the potential of automated procedures for evaluating the quality of health information on the web. Objective This study (1) describes the development of an automated quality assessment procedure (AQA) designed to automatically rank depression websites according to their evidence-based quality; (2) evaluates the validity of the AQA relative to human rated evidence-based quality scores; and (3) compares the validity of Google PageRank and the AQA as indicators of evidence-based quality. Method The AQA was developed using a quality feedback technique and a set of training websites previously rated manually according to their concordance with statements in the Oxford University Centre for Evidence-Based Mental Health’s guidelines for treating depression. The validation phase involved 30 websites compiled from the DMOZ, Yahoo! and LookSmart Depression Directories by randomly selecting six sites from each of the Google PageRank bands of 0, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. Evidence-based ratings from two independent raters (based on concordance with the Oxford guidelines) were then compared with scores derived from the automated AQA and Google algorithms. There was no overlap in the websites used in the training and validation phases of the study. Results The correlation between the AQA score and the evidence-based ratings was high and significant (r=0.85, P<.001). Addition of a quadratic component improved the fit, the combined linear and quadratic model explaining 82 percent of the variance. The correlation between Google PageRank and the evidence-based score was lower than that for the AQA. When sites with zero PageRanks were included the association was weak and non-significant (r=0.23, P=.22). When sites with zero PageRanks were excluded, the correlation was moderate (r=.61, P=.002). Conclusions Depression websites of different evidence-based quality can be differentiated using an automated system. If replicable, generalizable to other health conditions and deployed in a consumer-friendly form, the automated procedure described here could represent an important advance for consumers of Internet medical information. PMID:16403723

The use of TCP based EUD to rank and compare lung radiotherapy plans: in-silico study to evaluate the correlation between TCP with physical quality indices.

PubMed

Chaikh, Abdulhamid; Balosso, Jacques

2017-06-01

To apply the equivalent uniform dose (EUD) radiobiological model to estimate the tumor control probability (TCP) scores for treatment plans using different radiobiological parameter settings, and to evaluate the correlation between TCP and physical quality indices of the treatment plans. Ten radiotherapy treatment plans for lung cancer were generated. The dose distributions were calculated using anisotropic analytical algorithm (AAA). Dose parameters and quality indices derived from dose volume histograms (DVH) for target volumes were evaluated. The predicted TCP was computed using EUD model with tissue-specific parameter (a=-10). The assumed radiobiological parameter setting for adjuvant therapy [tumor dose to control 50% of the tumor (TCD 50 ) =36.5 Gy and γ 50 =0.72] and curative intent (TCD 50 =51.24 Gy and γ 50 =0.83) were used. The bootstrap method was used to estimate the 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The coefficients (ρ) from Spearman's rank test were calculated to assess the correlation between quality indices with TCP. Wilcoxon paired test was used to calculate P value. The 95% CI of TCP were 70.6-81.5 and 46.6-64.7, respectively, for adjuvant radiotherapy and curative intent. The TCP outcome showed a positive and good correlation with calculated dose to 95% of the target volume (D95%) and minimum dose (Dmin). Consistently, TCP correlate negatively with heterogeneity indices. This study confirms that more relevant and robust radiobiological parameters setting should be integrated according to cancer type. The positive correlation with quality indices gives chance to improve the clinical out-come by optimizing the treatment plans to maximize the Dmin and D95%. This attempt to increase the TCP should be carried out with the respect of dose constraints for organs at risks. However, the negative correlation with heterogeneity indices shows that the optimization of beam arrangements could be also useful. Attention should be paid to obtain an appropriate optimization of initial plans, when comparing and ranking radiotherapy plans using TCP models, to avoid over or underestimated for TCP outcome.

LORAKS Makes Better SENSE: Phase-Constrained Partial Fourier SENSE Reconstruction without Phase Calibration

PubMed Central

Kim, Tae Hyung; Setsompop, Kawin; Haldar, Justin P.

2016-01-01

Purpose Parallel imaging and partial Fourier acquisition are two classical approaches for accelerated MRI. Methods that combine these approaches often rely on prior knowledge of the image phase, but the need to obtain this prior information can place practical restrictions on the data acquisition strategy. In this work, we propose and evaluate SENSE-LORAKS, which enables combined parallel imaging and partial Fourier reconstruction without requiring prior phase information. Theory and Methods The proposed formulation is based on combining the classical SENSE model for parallel imaging data with the more recent LORAKS framework for MR image reconstruction using low-rank matrix modeling. Previous LORAKS-based methods have successfully enabled calibrationless partial Fourier parallel MRI reconstruction, but have been most successful with nonuniform sampling strategies that may be hard to implement for certain applications. By combining LORAKS with SENSE, we enable highly-accelerated partial Fourier MRI reconstruction for a broader range of sampling trajectories, including widely-used calibrationless uniformly-undersampled trajectories. Results Our empirical results with retrospectively undersampled datasets indicate that when SENSE-LORAKS reconstruction is combined with an appropriate k-space sampling trajectory, it can provide substantially better image quality at high-acceleration rates relative to existing state-of-the-art reconstruction approaches. Conclusion The SENSE-LORAKS framework provides promising new opportunities for highly-accelerated MRI. PMID:27037836

Improving the residency admissions process by integrating a professionalism assessment: a validity and feasibility study.

PubMed

Bajwa, Nadia M; Yudkowsky, Rachel; Belli, Dominique; Vu, Nu Viet; Park, Yoon Soo

2017-03-01

The purpose of this study was to provide validity and feasibility evidence in measuring professionalism using the Professionalism Mini-Evaluation Exercise (P-MEX) scores as part of a residency admissions process. In 2012 and 2013, three standardized-patient-based P-MEX encounters were administered to applicants invited for an interview at the University of Geneva Pediatrics Residency Program. Validity evidence was gathered for P-MEX content (item analysis); response process (qualitative feedback); internal structure (inter-rater reliability with intraclass correlation and Generalizability); relations to other variables (correlations); and consequences (logistic regression to predict admission). To improve reliability, Kane's formula was used to create an applicant composite score using P-MEX, structured letter of recommendation (SLR), and structured interview (SI) scores. Applicant rank lists using composite scores versus faculty global ratings were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Seventy applicants were assessed. Moderate associations were found between pairwise correlations of P-MEX scores and SLR (r = 0.25, P = .036), SI (r = 0.34, P = .004), and global ratings (r = 0.48, P < .001). Generalizability of the P-MEX using three cases was moderate (G-coefficient = 0.45). P-MEX scores had the greatest correlation with acceptance (r = 0.56, P < .001), were the strongest predictor of acceptance (OR 4.37, P < .001), and increased pseudo R-squared by 0.20 points. Including P-MEX scores increased composite score reliability from 0.51 to 0.74. Rank lists of applicants using composite score versus global rating differed significantly (z = 5.41, P < .001). Validity evidence supports the use of P-MEX scores to improve the reliability of the residency admissions process by improving applicant composite score reliability.

Female orgasm rate increases with male dominance in Japanese macaques.

PubMed

Troisi; Carosi

1998-11-01

Under specific circumstances, nonhuman primate females may experience orgasm. The occurrence of female copulatory orgasm appears to be highly variable, however, and its proximate causation is poorly understood. We investigated the proximate mechanisms that control orgasmic response in female macaques. During 238 h of observation of sexual behaviour in a large captive group of Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata, 240 copulations were recorded involving 68 different heterosexual pairs formed by 16 males and 26 females. Female orgasmic responses were observed in 80 of 240 copulations (33%). The frequency of orgasms was not correlated with female age or dominance rank, but it was higher for copulations lasting longer and involving a higher number of mounts and pelvic thrusts. When the level of physical stimulation experienced by females during copulation was statistically controlled, the highest frequency of female orgasms was found among pairs formed by high-ranking males and low-ranking females and the lowest frequency among pairs formed by low-ranking males and high-ranking females. These findings suggest that the proximate mechanisms that control orgasmic threshold in female macaques are more responsive to social stimuli and less constrained by physiological limitations than previously thought. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

A discrepancy in objective and subjective measures of knowledge: do some medical students with learning problems delude themselves?

PubMed

Anthoney, T R

1986-01-01

In general, the rankings of first-year medical students on a written test of long-term neuroscience retention (RET) correlated strongly with how many of three neuroscience research presentations given within the following 2 days the students reported understanding. The lowest-ranking sixth of the class on RET, however, reported understanding almost every lecture, even more than the highest-ranking RET students did. Some of these low-ranking students were aware that they had areas of weakness, but simply tolerated more of them without reporting overall lack of understanding. Other low-ranking students, however, seemed genuinely unaware that they had any areas of weakness. This interpretation was further supported by data on small-group problem-solving performance during the first-year neuroscience course, on use of human resources during the final first-year neuroscience take-home examination, and on performance during the third-year clinical clerkships. Persistence of the problem, even after 5 months of instruction specifically designed to improve such information-processing skills, suggests that correction may be difficult to achieve. The need for specific valid evaluative instruments and effective correctional techniques is noted.

Early play may predict later dominance relationships in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris)

PubMed Central

Blumstein, Daniel T.; Chung, Lawrance K.; Smith, Jennifer E.

2013-01-01

Play has been defined as apparently functionless behaviour, yet since play is costly, models of adaptive evolution predict that it should have some beneficial function (or functions) that outweigh its costs. We provide strong evidence for a long-standing, but poorly supported hypothesis: that early social play is practice for later dominance relationships. We calculated the relative dominance rank by observing the directional outcome of playful interactions in juvenile and yearling yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) and found that these rank relationships were correlated with later dominance ranks calculated from agonistic interactions, however, the strength of this relationship attenuated over time. While play may have multiple functions, one of them may be to establish later dominance relationships in a minimally costly way. PMID:23536602

Optical ranked-order filtering using threshold decomposition

DOEpatents

Allebach, J.P.; Ochoa, E.; Sweeney, D.W.

1987-10-09

A hybrid optical/electronic system performs median filtering and related ranked-order operations using threshold decomposition to encode the image. Threshold decomposition transforms the nonlinear neighborhood ranking operation into a linear space-invariant filtering step followed by a point-to-point threshold comparison step. Spatial multiplexing allows parallel processing of all the threshold components as well as recombination by a second linear, space-invariant filtering step. An incoherent optical correlation system performs the linear filtering, using a magneto-optic spatial light modulator as the input device and a computer-generated hologram in the filter plane. Thresholding is done electronically. By adjusting the value of the threshold, the same architecture is used to perform median, minimum, and maximum filtering of images. A totally optical system is also disclosed. 3 figs.

Exploiting Data Sparsity in Parallel Matrix Powers Computations

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-03

2013 Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour...matrices of the form A = D+USV H, where D is sparse and USV H has low rank but may be dense. Matrices of this form arise in many practical applications...methods numerical partial di erential equation solvers, and preconditioned iterative methods. If A has this form , our algorithm enables a communication

The interplay between QSAR/QSPR studies and partial order ranking and formal concept analyses.

PubMed

Carlsen, Lars

2009-04-17

The often observed scarcity of physical-chemical and well as toxicological data hampers the assessment of potentially hazardous chemicals released to the environment. In such cases Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships/Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships (QSAR/QSPR) constitute an obvious alternative for rapidly, effectively and inexpensively generatng missing experimental values. However, typically further treatment of the data appears necessary, e.g., to elucidate the possible relations between the single compounds as well as implications and associations between the various parameters used for the combined characterization of the compounds under investigation. In the present paper the application of QSAR/QSPR in combination with Partial Order Ranking (POR) methodologies will be reviewed and new aspects using Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) will be introduced. Where POR constitutes an attractive method for, e.g., prioritizing a series of chemical substances based on a simultaneous inclusion of a range of parameters, FCA gives important information on the implications associations between the parameters. The combined approach thus constitutes an attractive method to a preliminary assessment of the impact on environmental and human health by primary pollutants or possibly by a primary pollutant well as a possible suite of transformation subsequent products that may be both persistent in and bioaccumulating and toxic. The present review focus on the environmental - and human health impact by residuals of the rocket fuel 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (heptyl) and its transformation products as an illustrative example.

Inferring genetic interactions from comparative fitness data

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Darwinian fitness is a central concept in evolutionary biology. In practice, however, it is hardly possible to measure fitness for all genotypes in a natural population. Here, we present quantitative tools to make inferences about epistatic gene interactions when the fitness landscape is only incompletely determined due to imprecise measurements or missing observations. We demonstrate that genetic interactions can often be inferred from fitness rank orders, where all genotypes are ordered according to fitness, and even from partial fitness orders. We provide a complete characterization of rank orders that imply higher order epistasis. Our theory applies to all common types of gene interactions and facilitates comprehensive investigations of diverse genetic interactions. We analyzed various genetic systems comprising HIV-1, the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium vivax, the fungus Aspergillus niger, and the TEM-family of β-lactamase associated with antibiotic resistance. For all systems, our approach revealed higher order interactions among mutations. PMID:29260711

Inferring genetic interactions from comparative fitness data.

PubMed

Crona, Kristina; Gavryushkin, Alex; Greene, Devin; Beerenwinkel, Niko

2017-12-20

Darwinian fitness is a central concept in evolutionary biology. In practice, however, it is hardly possible to measure fitness for all genotypes in a natural population. Here, we present quantitative tools to make inferences about epistatic gene interactions when the fitness landscape is only incompletely determined due to imprecise measurements or missing observations. We demonstrate that genetic interactions can often be inferred from fitness rank orders, where all genotypes are ordered according to fitness, and even from partial fitness orders. We provide a complete characterization of rank orders that imply higher order epistasis. Our theory applies to all common types of gene interactions and facilitates comprehensive investigations of diverse genetic interactions. We analyzed various genetic systems comprising HIV-1, the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium vivax , the fungus Aspergillus niger , and the TEM-family of β-lactamase associated with antibiotic resistance. For all systems, our approach revealed higher order interactions among mutations.

Quantum Google in a Complex Network

PubMed Central

Paparo, Giuseppe Davide; Müller, Markus; Comellas, Francesc; Martin-Delgado, Miguel Angel

2013-01-01

We investigate the behaviour of the recently proposed Quantum PageRank algorithm, in large complex networks. We find that the algorithm is able to univocally reveal the underlying topology of the network and to identify and order the most relevant nodes. Furthermore, it is capable to clearly highlight the structure of secondary hubs and to resolve the degeneracy in importance of the low lying part of the list of rankings. The quantum algorithm displays an increased stability with respect to a variation of the damping parameter, present in the Google algorithm, and a more clearly pronounced power-law behaviour in the distribution of importance, as compared to the classical algorithm. We test the performance and confirm the listed features by applying it to real world examples from the WWW. Finally, we raise and partially address whether the increased sensitivity of the quantum algorithm persists under coordinated attacks in scale-free and random networks. PMID:24091980

Rutgers University Subcontract B611610 Final Report

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

Soundarajan, Sucheta; Eliassi-Rad, Tina; Gallagher, Brian

Given an incomplete (i.e., partially-observed) network, which nodes should we actively probe in order to achieve the highest accuracy for a given network feature? For example, consider a cyber-network administrator who observes only a portion of the network at time t and wants to accurately identify the most important (e.g., highest PageRank) nodes in the complete network. She has a limited budget for probing the network. Of all the nodes she has observed, which should she probe in order to most accurately identify the important nodes? We propose a novel and scalable algorithm, MaxOutProbe, and evaluate it w.r.t. four networkmore » features (largest connected component, PageRank, core-periphery, and community detection), five network sampling strategies, and seven network datasets from different domains. Across a range of conditions, MaxOutProbe demonstrates consistently high performance relative to several baseline strategies« less

Aspects of decision support in water management--example Berlin and Potsdam (Germany) I--spatially differentiated evaluation.

PubMed

Simon, Ute; Brüggemann, Rainer; Pudenz, Stefan

2004-04-01

Decisions about sustainable development demand spatially differentiated evaluations. As an example, we demonstrate the evaluation of water management strategies in the cities of Berlin and Potsdam (Germany) with respect to their ecological effects in 14 sections of the surface water system. Two decision support systems were compared, namely PROMETHEE, which is designed to obtain a clear decision (linear ranking), and Hasse Diagram Technique (HDT), normally providing more than one favourable solution (partial order). By PROMETHEE, the spatial differentiation had unwanted effects on the result, negating the stakeholders determined weighting of indicators. Therefore, the stakeholder can barely benefit from the convenience of obtaining a clear decision (linear ranking). In contrast, the result obtained by HDT was not influenced by spatial differentiation. Furthermore, HDT provided helpful tools to analyse the evaluation result, such as the concept of antagonistic indicators to discover conflicts in the evaluation process.

The Impact of National Institutes of Health Funding on Scholarly Productivity in Academic Plastic Surgery.

PubMed

Silvestre, Jason; Abbatematteo, Joseph M; Chang, Benjamin; Serletti, Joseph M; Taylor, Jesse A

2016-02-01

The h-index is an objective measure of an investigator's scholarly impact. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the association between scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, and the procurement of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding among academic plastic surgeons. This was a case-control study of NIH-funded plastic surgery faculty identified on the RePORTER database. Non-NIH-funded faculty from the top 10 NIH-funded programs served as a control group. The mean h-index was calculated from Scopus (Elsevier, London, United Kingdom) and compared by funding status, academic rank, and terminal degree(s). The relationship between h-index and career NIH funding was elucidated via Spearman's correlation coefficient. NIH-funded faculty had higher h-indices than nonNIH-funded faculty (23.9 versus 9.9, p < 0.001), an effect that persisted when controlling for academic rank. Higher rank correlated with higher h-indices and predicted greater NIH funding (p < 0.05). The h-index did not vary by terminal degree (p > 0.05), but investigators with a master's degree exhibited a trend toward greater NIH funding. Higher h-indices correlated with greater NIH funding (r = 0.481, p < 0.001). A strong relationship exists between scholarly impact and the procurement of NIH funding. Faculty with greater funding had greater scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, which suggests that this tool may have utility during the NIH grant application process.

The Decanal Divide: Women in Decanal Roles at U.S. Medical Schools.

PubMed

Schor, Nina F

2018-02-01

To test the hypotheses that women in medical school dean-level (decanal) positions occupy lower-rank and more image- and education-focused positions than men, and that state and woman-led schools have more women in decanal positions. Data were collected on September 10-18, 2016, from Web sites of 136 allopathic, U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and represented on the roster of accredited MD programs in the United States with full accreditation as of June 22, 2016. Statistical significance of differences between comparison groups was assessed using Student t test with P < .05 indicating significance. Correlation between parameters was determined by Spearman rank correlation test with P < .05 indicating significant correlation. Findings demonstrate that only 15% (22/149) of deans and interim deans are women, and the prevalence of women in decanal positions decreases with ascending professional rank (R = 0.93; P < .05). Women are most prevalent in decanal positions focusing on education and mentoring or institutional public image and least prevalent in those focusing on corporate strategy and policy, finance, or government relations. Schools with a woman as dean or interim dean have a higher percentage of decanal positions occupied by women than those with a man as dean or interim dean (P < .05). State and private medical schools do not differ from one another in this regard. Gender stereotypes and models appear to continue to drive the number and roles of women in decanal positions.

Sparse brain network using penalized linear regression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hyekyoung; Lee, Dong Soo; Kang, Hyejin; Kim, Boong-Nyun; Chung, Moo K.

2011-03-01

Sparse partial correlation is a useful connectivity measure for brain networks when it is difficult to compute the exact partial correlation in the small-n large-p setting. In this paper, we formulate the problem of estimating partial correlation as a sparse linear regression with a l1-norm penalty. The method is applied to brain network consisting of parcellated regions of interest (ROIs), which are obtained from FDG-PET images of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children and the pediatric control (PedCon) subjects. To validate the results, we check their reproducibilities of the obtained brain networks by the leave-one-out cross validation and compare the clustered structures derived from the brain networks of ASD and PedCon.

Understanding selective molecular recognition in integrated carbon nanotube-polymer sensors by simulating physical analyte binding on carbon nanotube-polymer scaffolds.

PubMed

Lin, Shangchao; Zhang, Jingqing; Strano, Michael S; Blankschtein, Daniel

2014-08-28

Macromolecular scaffolds made of polymer-wrapped single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been explored recently (Zhang et al., Nature Nanotechnology, 2013) as a new class of molecular-recognition motifs. However, selective analyte recognition is still challenging and lacks the underlying fundamental understanding needed for its practical implementation in biological sensors. In this report, we combine coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) simulations, physical adsorption/binding theories, and photoluminescence (PL) experiments to provide molecular insight into the selectivity of such sensors towards a large set of biologically important analytes. We find that the physical binding affinities of the analytes on a bare SWCNT partially correlate with their distribution coefficients in a bulk water/octanol system, suggesting that the analyte hydrophobicity plays a key role in determining the binding affinities of the analytes considered, along with the various specific interactions between the analytes and the polymer anchor groups. Two distinct categories of analytes are identified to demonstrate a complex picture for the correlation between optical sensor signals and the simulated binding affinities. Specifically, a good correlation was found between the sensor signals and the physical binding affinities of the three hormones (estradiol, melatonin, and thyroxine), the neurotransmitter (dopamine), and the vitamin (riboflavin) to the SWCNT-polymer scaffold. The four amino acids (aspartate, glycine, histidine, and tryptophan) and the two monosaccharides (fructose and glucose) considered were identified as blank analytes which are unable to induce sensor signals. The results indicate great success of our physical adsorption-based model in explaining the ranking in sensor selectivities. The combined framework presented here can be used to screen and select polymers that can potentially be used for creating synthetic molecular recognition motifs.

Brain perfusion evaluated by regional tissue oxygenation as a possible quality indicator of ongoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An experimental porcine cardiac arrest study.

PubMed

Bouček, Tomáš; Mlček, Mikuláš; Krupičková, Petra; Huptych, Michal; Belza, Tomáš; Kittnar, Otomar; Linhart, Aleš; Bělohlávek, Jan

2018-05-01

Relationship between regional tissue oxygenation (rSO 2 ) and microcirculatory changes during cardiac arrest (CA) are still unclear. Therefore, we designed an experimental study to correlate rSO 2 , microcirculation and systemic hemodynamic parameters in a porcine model of CA. Ventricular fibrillation was induced in 24 female pigs (50±3kg) and left for three minutes untreated followed by five minutes of mechanical CPR. Regional and peripheral saturations were assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy, sublingual microcirculation by Sidestream Dark Field technology and continuous hemodynamic parameters, including systemic blood pressure (MAP) and carotid blood flow (CF), during baseline, CA and CPR periods. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test, the Friedman test and the partial correlation method were used to compare these parameters. Brain and peripheral rSO 2 showed a gradual decrease during CA and only an increase of brain rSO 2 during mechanical CPR (34.5 to 42.5; p=0.0001), reflected by a rapid decrease of microcirculatory and hemodynamic parameters during CA and a slight increase during CPR. Peripheral rSO 2 was not changed significantly during CPR (38 to 38.5; p=0.09). We only found a moderate correlation of cerebral/peripheral rSO 2 to microcirculatory parameters (PVD: r=0.53/0.46; PPV: r=0.6/0.5 and MFI: r=0.64/0.52) and hemodynamic parameters (MAP: r=0.64/0.71 and CF: 0.71/0.67). Our experimental study confirmed that monitoring brain and peripheral rSO 2 is an easy-to-use method, well reflecting the hemodynamics during CA. However, only brain rSO 2 reflects the CPR efforts and might be used as a potential quality indicator for CPR.

Missing Value Imputation Approach for Mass Spectrometry-based Metabolomics Data.

PubMed

Wei, Runmin; Wang, Jingye; Su, Mingming; Jia, Erik; Chen, Shaoqiu; Chen, Tianlu; Ni, Yan

2018-01-12

Missing values exist widely in mass-spectrometry (MS) based metabolomics data. Various methods have been applied for handling missing values, but the selection can significantly affect following data analyses. Typically, there are three types of missing values, missing not at random (MNAR), missing at random (MAR), and missing completely at random (MCAR). Our study comprehensively compared eight imputation methods (zero, half minimum (HM), mean, median, random forest (RF), singular value decomposition (SVD), k-nearest neighbors (kNN), and quantile regression imputation of left-censored data (QRILC)) for different types of missing values using four metabolomics datasets. Normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE) and NRMSE-based sum of ranks (SOR) were applied to evaluate imputation accuracy. Principal component analysis (PCA)/partial least squares (PLS)-Procrustes analysis were used to evaluate the overall sample distribution. Student's t-test followed by correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects on univariate statistics. Our findings demonstrated that RF performed the best for MCAR/MAR and QRILC was the favored one for left-censored MNAR. Finally, we proposed a comprehensive strategy and developed a public-accessible web-tool for the application of missing value imputation in metabolomics ( https://metabolomics.cc.hawaii.edu/software/MetImp/ ).

Sensitivity analysis of infectious disease models: methods, advances and their application

PubMed Central

Wu, Jianyong; Dhingra, Radhika; Gambhir, Manoj; Remais, Justin V.

2013-01-01

Sensitivity analysis (SA) can aid in identifying influential model parameters and optimizing model structure, yet infectious disease modelling has yet to adopt advanced SA techniques that are capable of providing considerable insights over traditional methods. We investigate five global SA methods—scatter plots, the Morris and Sobol’ methods, Latin hypercube sampling-partial rank correlation coefficient and the sensitivity heat map method—and detail their relative merits and pitfalls when applied to a microparasite (cholera) and macroparasite (schistosomaisis) transmission model. The methods investigated yielded similar results with respect to identifying influential parameters, but offered specific insights that vary by method. The classical methods differed in their ability to provide information on the quantitative relationship between parameters and model output, particularly over time. The heat map approach provides information about the group sensitivity of all model state variables, and the parameter sensitivity spectrum obtained using this method reveals the sensitivity of all state variables to each parameter over the course of the simulation period, especially valuable for expressing the dynamic sensitivity of a microparasite epidemic model to its parameters. A summary comparison is presented to aid infectious disease modellers in selecting appropriate methods, with the goal of improving model performance and design. PMID:23864497

The relationship between tort reform and medical utilization.

PubMed

Kavanagh, Kevin T; Calderon, Lindsay E; Saman, Daniel M

2014-12-01

The hidden cost of defensive medicine has been cited by policymakers as a significant driving force in the increase of our nation's health-care costs. If this hypothesis is correct, one would expect that states with higher levels of tort reform will have a decrease in Medicare utilization and that medical utilization will decrease after tort reform is enacted. State-level reimbursement data for years 1999 to 2010 (the last year available) was obtained from the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. Medical tort rankings for the 50 states were obtained from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and correlated with state medical utilization for the year 2010. In 3 states, Mississippi, Nevada, and Texas, data were available to make pretort and posttort reform comparisons. Data analysis between total state Medicare Reimbursements and the PRI's tort rankings showed no significant observed correlation. In 6 Medicare utilization categories (total Medicare, hospital and skilled nursing facility, physician, home health agency, hospice, and durable medical equipment), a negative trend was observed when correlated with PRI tort rankings. This trend does not support the hypothesis that defensive medicine is a major driver of health-care expenditures. Tracking expenditures in the states of Texas, Nevada, and Mississippi, before and after passage of comprehensive medical tort reform gave inconsistent results and did not demonstrate substantial or meaningful total Medicare savings. In Mississippi, there was a trend of decreased expenditures after medical tort reform was passed. However, in Texas, where 80% of the analyzed enrollees resided, there was a trend of progressive increasing expenditures after tort reform was passed. The comparison of the Dartmouth Atlas Medicare Reimbursement Data with Malpractice Reform State Rankings, which are used by the PRI, did not support the hypothesis that defensive medicine is a driver of rising health-care costs. Additionally, comparing Medicare reimbursements, premedical and postmedical tort reform, we found no consistent effect on health-care expenditures. Together, these data indicate that medical tort reform seems to have little to no effect on overall Medicare cost savings.

Feature Selection Using Information Gain for Improved Structural-Based Alert Correlation

PubMed Central

Siraj, Maheyzah Md; Zainal, Anazida; Elshoush, Huwaida Tagelsir; Elhaj, Fatin

2016-01-01

Grouping and clustering alerts for intrusion detection based on the similarity of features is referred to as structurally base alert correlation and can discover a list of attack steps. Previous researchers selected different features and data sources manually based on their knowledge and experience, which lead to the less accurate identification of attack steps and inconsistent performance of clustering accuracy. Furthermore, the existing alert correlation systems deal with a huge amount of data that contains null values, incomplete information, and irrelevant features causing the analysis of the alerts to be tedious, time-consuming and error-prone. Therefore, this paper focuses on selecting accurate and significant features of alerts that are appropriate to represent the attack steps, thus, enhancing the structural-based alert correlation model. A two-tier feature selection method is proposed to obtain the significant features. The first tier aims at ranking the subset of features based on high information gain entropy in decreasing order. The‏ second tier extends additional features with a better discriminative ability than the initially ranked features. Performance analysis results show the significance of the selected features in terms of the clustering accuracy using 2000 DARPA intrusion detection scenario-specific dataset. PMID:27893821

A performance analysis in AF full duplex relay selection network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngoc, Long Nguyen; Hong, Nhu Nguyen; Loan, Nguyen Thi Phuong; Kieu, Tam Nguyen; Voznak, Miroslav; Zdralek, Jaroslav

2018-04-01

This paper studies on the relaying selective matter in amplify-and-forward (AF) cooperation communication with full-duplex (FD) activity. Various relay choice models supposing the present of different instant information are investigated. We examine a maximal relaying choice that optimizes the instant FD channel capacity and asks for global channel state information (CSI) as well as partial CSI learning. To make comparison easy, accurate outage probability clauses and asymptote form of these strategies that give a diversity rank are extracted. From that, we can see clearly that the number of relays, noise factor, the transmittance coefficient as well as the information transfer power had impacted on their performance. Besides, the optimal relay selection (ORS) model can promote than that of the partial relay selection (PRS) model.

Ranking methodology for determining the relative favorability for commercial development of US tar-sand deposits

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

Aamodt, P.L.; Freiwald, J.G.

1983-03-01

As a part of the DOE's program to stimulate petroleum production from unconventional sources, the Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a methodology to compare and rank tar sand deposits, based on their suitability for commercial development. Major categories influencing favorability were identified and evaluated to determine their individual and collective impacts. To facilitate their evaluation, deposit characteristics, extraction technologies, environmental controls, and institutional constraints were broken down into their elements. The elements were assessed singly and in interactive groups to determine their influence on favorability for commercial development. A numerical value was assigned each element to signify its estimatedmore » importance relative to the other elements. Eight tar sand deposits were evaluated using only one major category, deposit characteristics. This initial, and only partial favorability assessment, was solely a test of the methodology, and it was considered successful. Because only one of the four major categories was used for this initial favorability ranking, and also because the available deposit characteristic data were barely adequate for the test, these first results should be used only as an example of how the methodology is to be applied when more complete data are available. The eight deposits and their relative favorability rankings for commercial development, based only on the deposit characteristics, are Sunnyside, Utah; Asphalt Ridge, Utah; Edna, California; Santa Rosa, New Mexico; Tar Sand Triangle, Utah; PR Spring, Utah; Uvalde, Texas; and circle cliffs, Utah.« less

Campylobacter contamination in broiler carcasses and correlation with slaughterhouses operational hygiene inspection.

PubMed

Habib, Ihab; Berkvens, Dirk; De Zutter, Lieven; Dierick, Katelijne; Van Huffel, Xavier; Speybroeck, Niko; Geeraerd, Annemie H; Uyttendaele, Mieke

2012-02-01

This study investigates factors associated with Campylobacter contamination of broiler carcasses, using survey data collected from nine Belgian slaughterhouses in 2008 in accordance with a European Union baseline study. Campylobacter were detected in 51.9% (202/389) (95% confidence interval, 46.8%-56.9%) of broiler carcasses. Campylobacter concentration was <10 CFU/g in 49.6% of carcasses, while 20.6% were contaminated with ≥ 1000 CFU/g. The mean Campylobacter concentration, as calculated by maximum likelihood estimation for left-censored data, was 1.8 log(10) CFU/g, with a standard deviation of 1.9 log(10) CFU/g. There was statistically significant variation among slaughterhouses in prevalence and concentrations of Campylobacter in their sampled carcasses. Campylobacter prevalence (but not concentrations) was positively associated with increase in broilers age. Both Campylobacter prevalence and concentration were significantly higher in carcasses sampled during June and September (but not in July and August) than carcasses sampled in January. We also investigated the correlation (Spearman's rank correlation test) between the scores of official control inspections and Campylobacter prevalence for eight out of the nine slaughterhouses. The control inspections were routinely performed by the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, and the concluded inspection scores were used as a general numerical indicator for the status of operational hygiene and quality of management in the slaughterhouses. Ranking of slaughterhouses based on their inspection scores was statistically correlated (Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.857) with their ranking based on prevalence of Campylobacter. In the present study we demonstrate how the outcomes from a routine baseline survey could be coupled with other readily available data from national control authorities in order to enable a better insight over Campylobacter contamination status in broiler slaughterhouses. Findings from this work call for subsequent in-depth investigations on technical and hygiene management factors that could impact Campylobacter contamination across broiler slaughterhouses. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Metal-organic complexes in geochemical processes: Estimation of standard partial molal thermodynamic properties of aqueous complexes between metal cations and monovalent organic acid ligands at high pressures and temperatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shock, Everetr L.; Koretsky, Carla M.

1995-04-01

Regression of standard state equilibrium constants with the revised Helgeson-Kirkham-Flowers (HKF) equation of state allows evaluation of standard partial molal entropies ( overlineSo) of aqueous metal-organic complexes involving monovalent organic acid ligands. These values of overlineSo provide the basis for correlations that can be used, together with correlation algorithms among standard partial molal properties of aqueous complexes and equation-of-state parameters, to estimate thermodynamic properties including equilibrium constants for complexes between aqueous metals and several monovalent organic acid ligands at the elevated pressures and temperatures of many geochemical processes which involve aqueous solutions. Data, parameters, and estimates are given for 270 formate, propanoate, n-butanoate, n-pentanoate, glycolate, lactate, glycinate, and alanate complexes, and a consistent algorithm is provided for making other estimates. Standard partial molal entropies of association ( Δ -Sro) for metal-monovalent organic acid ligand complexes fall into at least two groups dependent upon the type of functional groups present in the ligand. It is shown that isothermal correlations among equilibrium constants for complex formation are consistent with one another and with similar correlations for inorganic metal-ligand complexes. Additional correlations allow estimates of standard partial molal Gibbs free energies of association at 25°C and 1 bar which can be used in cases where no experimentally derived values are available.

The structure of first-ranked cluster galaxies and the radius-magnitude relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lugger, P. M.

1984-11-01

To investigate theoretical predictions for the dynamical evolution of first-ranked galaxies, a quantitative study of their properties, as a function of cluster morphology, has been carried out using photographic plates obtained with the Palomar 48 inch (1.2 m) Schmidt telescope. Surface brightness profiles to radii of several hundred kpc for 35 first-ranked cluster galaxies have been analyzed. The dispersion in the metric magnitudes of first-ranked galaxies is quite small (about 0.4 mag), which is consistent with the results of Kristian, Sandage, and Westphal (1978) as well as those of Hoessel, Gunn, and Thuan (1980) and the recent work of Schneider, Gunn, and Hoessel (1983). For the cD (supergiant elliptical) galaxy sample, the mean metric magnitude is about 0.5 mag brighter than for the non-cD galaxies. The mean de Vaucouleurs effective radius for the cD galaxy sample is 80 percent larger than that of the non-cD sample. The relation between de Vaucouleurs effective radius and magnitude determined in the present study for first-ranked galaxies, log r(e) equal to about -0.26 M + constant is consistent with the relations found for fainter galaxies by Strom and Strom (1978) as well as Wirth (1982). The residuals in radius from the mean radius-magnitude relation for first-ranked galaxies do not correlate with the Bautz-Morgan (1970) type of the cluster.

Classification of multipartite entanglement via negativity fonts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, S. Shelly; Sharma, N. K.

2012-04-01

Partial transposition of state operator is a well-known tool to detect quantum correlations between two parts of a composite system. In this paper, the global partial transpose (GPT) is linked to conceptually multipartite underlying structures in a state—the negativity fonts. If K-way negativity fonts with nonzero determinants exist, then selective partial transposition of a pure state, involving K of the N qubits (K⩽N), yields an operator with negative eigenvalues, identifying K-body correlations in the state. Expansion of GPT in terms of K-way partially transposed (KPT) operators reveals the nature of intricate intrinsic correlations in the state. Classification criteria for multipartite entangled states based on the underlying structure of global partial transpose of canonical state are proposed. The number of N-partite entanglement types for an N-qubit system is found to be 2N-1-N+2, while the number of major entanglement classes is 2N-1-1. Major classes for three- and four-qubit states are listed. Subclasses are determined by the number and type of negativity fonts in canonical states.

Deep Multimodal Distance Metric Learning Using Click Constraints for Image Ranking.

PubMed

Yu, Jun; Yang, Xiaokang; Gao, Fei; Tao, Dacheng

2017-12-01

How do we retrieve images accurately? Also, how do we rank a group of images precisely and efficiently for specific queries? These problems are critical for researchers and engineers to generate a novel image searching engine. First, it is important to obtain an appropriate description that effectively represent the images. In this paper, multimodal features are considered for describing images. The images unique properties are reflected by visual features, which are correlated to each other. However, semantic gaps always exist between images visual features and semantics. Therefore, we utilize click feature to reduce the semantic gap. The second key issue is learning an appropriate distance metric to combine these multimodal features. This paper develops a novel deep multimodal distance metric learning (Deep-MDML) method. A structured ranking model is adopted to utilize both visual and click features in distance metric learning (DML). Specifically, images and their related ranking results are first collected to form the training set. Multimodal features, including click and visual features, are collected with these images. Next, a group of autoencoders is applied to obtain initially a distance metric in different visual spaces, and an MDML method is used to assign optimal weights for different modalities. Next, we conduct alternating optimization to train the ranking model, which is used for the ranking of new queries with click features. Compared with existing image ranking methods, the proposed method adopts a new ranking model to use multimodal features, including click features and visual features in DML. We operated experiments to analyze the proposed Deep-MDML in two benchmark data sets, and the results validate the effects of the method.

Reconsidering the use of rankings in the valuation of health states: a model for estimating cardinal values from ordinal data

PubMed Central

Salomon, Joshua A

2003-01-01

Background In survey studies on health-state valuations, ordinal ranking exercises often are used as precursors to other elicitation methods such as the time trade-off (TTO) or standard gamble, but the ranking data have not been used in deriving cardinal valuations. This study reconsiders the role of ordinal ranks in valuing health and introduces a new approach to estimate interval-scaled valuations based on aggregate ranking data. Methods Analyses were undertaken on data from a previously published general population survey study in the United Kingdom that included rankings and TTO values for hypothetical states described using the EQ-5D classification system. The EQ-5D includes five domains (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression) with three possible levels on each. Rank data were analysed using a random utility model, operationalized through conditional logit regression. In the statistical model, probabilities of observed rankings were related to the latent utilities of different health states, modeled as a linear function of EQ-5D domain scores, as in previously reported EQ-5D valuation functions. Predicted valuations based on the conditional logit model were compared to observed TTO values for the 42 states in the study and to predictions based on a model estimated directly from the TTO values. Models were evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between predictions and mean observations, and the root mean squared error of predictions at the individual level. Results Agreement between predicted valuations from the rank model and observed TTO values was very high, with an ICC of 0.97, only marginally lower than for predictions based on the model estimated directly from TTO values (ICC = 0.99). Individual-level errors were also comparable in the two models, with root mean squared errors of 0.503 and 0.496 for the rank-based and TTO-based predictions, respectively. Conclusions Modeling health-state valuations based on ordinal ranks can provide results that are similar to those obtained from more widely analyzed valuation techniques such as the TTO. The information content in aggregate ranking data is not currently exploited to full advantage. The possibility of estimating cardinal valuations from ordinal ranks could also simplify future data collection dramatically and facilitate wider empirical study of health-state valuations in diverse settings and population groups. PMID:14687419

An extension of the receiver operating characteristic curve and AUC-optimal classification.

PubMed

Takenouchi, Takashi; Komori, Osamu; Eguchi, Shinto

2012-10-01

While most proposed methods for solving classification problems focus on minimization of the classification error rate, we are interested in the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, which provides more information about classification performance than the error rate does. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) is a natural measure for overall assessment of a classifier based on the ROC curve. We discuss a class of concave functions for AUC maximization in which a boosting-type algorithm including RankBoost is considered, and the Bayesian risk consistency and the lower bound of the optimum function are discussed. A procedure derived by maximizing a specific optimum function has high robustness, based on gross error sensitivity. Additionally, we focus on the partial AUC, which is the partial area under the ROC curve. For example, in medical screening, a high true-positive rate to the fixed lower false-positive rate is preferable and thus the partial AUC corresponding to lower false-positive rates is much more important than the remaining AUC. We extend the class of concave optimum functions for partial AUC optimality with the boosting algorithm. We investigated the validity of the proposed method through several experiments with data sets in the UCI repository.

Associations of erythrocyte membrane fatty acids with the concentrations of C-reactive protein, interleukin 1 receptor antagonist and adiponectin in 1373 men.

PubMed

Takkunen, M J; de Mello, V D F; Schwab, U S; Ågren, J J; Kuusisto, J; Uusitupa, M I J

2014-10-01

Dietary and endogenous fatty acids could play a role in low-grade inflammation. In this cross-sectional study the proportions of erythrocyte membrane fatty acids (EMFA) and the concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) and adiponectin were measured and their confounder-adjusted associations examined in 1373 randomly selected Finnish men aged 45-70 years participating in the population based Metsim study in Eastern Finland. The sum of n-6 EMFAs, without linoleic acid (LA), was positively associated with concentrations of CRP and IL-1Ra (r partial=0.139 and r partial=0.115, P<0.001). These associations were especially strong among lean men (waist circumference <94 cm; r partial=0.156 and r partial=0.189, P<0.001). Total n-3 EMFAs correlated inversely with concentrations of CRP (r partial=-0.098, P<0.001). Palmitoleic acid (16:1n-7) correlated positively with CRP (r partial=0.096, P<0.001). Cis-vaccenic acid (18:1n-7) was associated with high concentrations of adiponectin (r partial=0.139, P<0.001). In conclusion, n-6 EMFAs, except for LA, correlated positively with the inflammatory markers. Palmitoleic acid was associated with CRP, whereas, interestingly, its elongation product, cis-vaccenic acid, associated with anti-inflammatory adiponectin. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Health Information on Internet: Quality, Importance, and Popularity of Persian Health Websites

PubMed Central

Samadbeik, Mahnaz; Ahmadi, Maryam; Mohammadi, Ali; Mohseni Saravi, Beniamin

2014-01-01

Background: The Internet has provided great opportunities for disseminating both accurate and inaccurate health information. Therefore, the quality of information is considered as a widespread concern affecting the human life. Despite the increasingly substantial growth in the number of users, Persian health websites and the proportion of internet-using patients, little is known about the quality of Persian medical and health websites. Objectives: The current study aimed to first assess the quality, popularity and importance of websites providing Persian health-related information, and second to evaluate the correlation of the popularity and importance ranking with quality score on the Internet. Materials and Methods: The sample websites were identified by entering the health-related keywords into four most popular search engines of Iranian users based on the Alexa ranking at the time of study. Each selected website was assessed using three qualified tools including the Bomba and Land Index, Google PageRank and the Alexa ranking. Results: The evaluated sites characteristics (ownership structure, database, scope and objective) really did not have an effect on the Alexa traffic global rank, Alexa traffic rank in Iran, Google PageRank and Bomba total score. Most websites (78.9 percent, n = 56) were in the moderate category (8 ≤ x ≤ 11.99) based on their quality levels. There was no statistically significant association between Google PageRank with Bomba index variables and Alexa traffic global rank (P > 0.05). Conclusions: The Persian health websites had better Bomba quality scores in availability and usability guidelines as compared to other guidelines. The Google PageRank did not properly reflect the real quality of evaluated websites and Internet users seeking online health information should not merely rely on it for any kind of prejudgment regarding Persian health websites. However, they can use Iran Alexa rank as a primary filtering tool of these websites. Therefore, designing search engines dedicated to explore accredited Persian health-related Web sites can be an effective method to access high-quality Persian health websites. PMID:24910795

Relationship of age and body mass index to the expression of obesity and osteoarthritis-related genes in human meniscus.

PubMed

Rai, M F; Sandell, L J; Cheverud, J M; Brophy, R H

2013-09-01

Aging and obesity contribute to the initiation and progression of osteoarthritis with little information on their relation to gene expression in joint tissues, particularly the meniscus. Here, we test the hypothesis that patient age and body mass index (BMI) correlate with the expression of osteoarthritis- and obesity-related gene signatures in the meniscus. Meniscus was obtained from patients (N=68) undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. The mRNA expression of 24 osteoarthritis-related and 4 obesity-related genes in meniscus was assessed by quantitative real-time PCR. The relationship between gene expression and patient age and BMI was analyzed using Spearman's rank-order correlation. Hierarchical cluster dendrogram and heat map were generated to study inter-gene associations. Age was negatively correlated (P<0.05) with the expression of MMP-1 (r=-0.447), NFκB2 (r=-0.361), NFκBIA (r=-0.312), IκBA (r=-0.308), IL-8 (r=-0.305), ADAMTS-4 (r=-0.294), APLN (apelin) (r=-0.250) and IL-6 (r=-0.244). Similarly, BMI was negatively correlated with the expression of APLN (r=-0.328), ACAN (r=-0.268) and MMP-1 (r=-0.261). After adjusting for the correlation between age and BMI (r=0.310; P=0.008), the only independent effect of BMI on gene expression was for APLN (r=-0.272). However, age had an independent effect on the expression on ADAMTS-4 (r=-0.253), MMP-1 (r=-0.399), IL-8 (r=-0.327), COL1A1 (r=-0.287), NFκBIA (r=-0.278), NFκB2 (r=-0.312) and IκBA (r=-0.299). The gene correlation analysis identified four clusters of potentially relevant genes: transcription factors, matrix-degrading enzymes, cytokines and chemokines, and obesity genes. Age and BMI were negatively correlated with several osteoarthritis- and obesity-related genes. Although the bulk of these changes appeared to be driven by age, expression of APLN was related to BMI. Inter-gene correlation analysis implicated a common role for strongly correlated genes. Although age-related variations in gene expression appear to be more relevant than obesity-related differences for the role of the meniscus in osteoarthritis development, further investigation into the role of APLN in meniscus and joint health is warranted.

Are breast density and bone mineral density independent risk factors for breast cancer?

PubMed

Kerlikowske, Karla; Shepherd, John; Creasman, Jennifer; Tice, Jeffrey A; Ziv, Elad; Cummings, Steve R

2005-03-02

Mammographic breast density and bone mineral density (BMD) are markers of cumulative exposure to estrogen. Previous studies have suggested that women with high mammographic breast density or high BMD are at increased risk of breast cancer. We determined whether mammographic breast density and BMD of the hip and spine are correlated and independently associated with breast cancer risk. We conducted a cross-sectional study (N = 15,254) and a nested case-control study (of 208 women with breast cancer and 436 control subjects) among women aged 28 years or older who had a screening mammography examination and hip BMD measurement within 2 years. Breast density for 3105 of the women was classified using the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) categories, and percentage mammographic breast density among the case patients and control subjects was quantified with a computer-based threshold method. Spearman rank partial correlation coefficient and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used to examine correlations between BI-RADS breast density and BMD and between percentage mammographic breast density and BMD, respectively, in women without breast cancer. Logistic regression was used to examine the association of breast cancer with percentage mammographic breast density and BMD. All statistical tests were two-sided. Neither BI-RADS breast density nor percentage breast density was correlated with hip or spine BMD (correlation coefficient = -.02 and -.01 for BI-RADS, respectively, and -.06 and .01 for percentage breast density, respectively). Neither hip BMD nor spine BMD had a statistically significant relationship with breast cancer risk. Women with breast density in the highest sextile had an approximately threefold increased risk of breast cancer compared with women in the lowest sextile (odds ratio = 2.7, 95% confidence interval = 1.4 to 5.4); adjusting for hip or spine BMD did not change the association between breast density and breast cancer risk. Breast density is strongly associated with increased risk of breast cancer, even after taking into account reproductive and hormonal risk factors, whereas BMD, although a possible marker of lifetime exposure to estrogen, is not. Thus, a component of breast density that is independent of estrogen-mediated effects may contribute to breast cancer risk.

Comparison of Superelasticity of Nickel Titanium Orthodontic Arch wires using Mechanical Tensile Testing and Correlating with Electrical Resistivity

PubMed Central

Sivaraj, Aravind

2013-01-01

Background: Application of light and continuous forces for optimum physiological response and least damage to the tooth supporting structures should be the primary aim of the orthodontist. Nickel titanium alloys with the properties of excellent spring back, super elasticity and wide range of action is one of the natural choices for the clinicians to achieve this goal. In recent periods, various wire manufacturers have come with a variety of wires exhibiting different properties. It is the duty of the clinician to select appropriate wires during various stages of treatment for excellent results. For achieving this evaluation of the properties of these wires is essential. Materials & Methods: This study is focussed on evaluating the super elastic property of eight groups of austenite active nickel titanium wires. Eight groups of archwires bought from eight different manufacturers were studied. These wires were tested through mechanical tensile testing and electrical resistivity methods. Results: Unloading curves were carefully assessed for superelastic behaviour on deactivation. Rankings of the wires tested were based primarily upon the unloading curve’s slope Conclusion: Ortho organisers wires ranked first and superior, followed by American Orthodontics and Ormco A wires. Morelli and GAClowland NiTi wires were ranked last. It can be concluded that the performance of these wires based on rankings should be further evaluated by clinical studies. How to cite this article: Sivaraj A. Comparison of Superelasticity of Nickel Titanium Orthodontic Arch wires using Mechanical Tensile Testing and Correlating with Electrical Resistivity. J Int Oral Health 2013; 5(3):1-12. PMID:24155596

Leadership, infrastructure and capacity to support child injury prevention: can these concepts help explain differences in injury mortality rankings between 18 countries in Europe?

PubMed

MacKay, J Morag; Vincenten, Joanne A

2012-02-01

Mortality and morbidity rates, traditionally used indicators for child injury, are limited in their ability to explain differences in child injury between countries, are inadequate in capturing actions to address the problem of child injury and do not adequately identify progress made within countries. There is a need for a broader set of indicators to help better understand the success of countries with low rates of child injury, provide guidance and benchmarks for policy makers looking to make investments to reduce their rates of fatal and non-fatal child injury and allow monitoring of progress towards achieving these goals. This article describes an assessment of national leadership, infrastructure and capacity in the context of child injury prevention in 18 countries in Europe and explores the potential of these to be used as additional indicators to support child injury prevention practice. Partners in 18 countries coordinated data collection on 21 items relating to leadership, infrastructure and capacity. Responses were coded into an overall score and scores for each of the three areas and were compared with child injury mortality rankings using Spearman's rank correlation. Overall score and scores for leadership and capacity were significantly negatively correlated to child injury mortality ranking. Findings of this preliminary work suggest that these three policy areas may provide important guidance for the types of commitments that are needed in the policy arena to support advances in child safety and their assessment a way to measure progress.

Assessing diets of 3-year-old children: evaluation of an FFQ.

PubMed

Jarman, Megan; Fisk, Catherine M; Ntani, Georgia; Crozier, Sarah R; Godfrey, Keith M; Inskip, Hazel M; Cooper, Cyrus; Robinson, Sian M

2014-05-01

To evaluate the use of an administered eighty-item FFQ to assess nutrient intake and diet quality in 3-year-old children. Frequency of consumption and portion size of the foods listed on the FFQ during the 3 months preceding the interview were reported by the child's main caregiver; after the interview a 2 d prospective food diary (FD) was completed on behalf of the child. Nutrient intakes from the FFQ and FD were estimated using UK food composition data. Diet quality was assessed from the FFQ and FD according to the child's scores for a principal component analysis-defined dietary pattern ('prudent' pattern), characterised by high consumption of fruit, vegetables, water and wholemeal cereals. Southampton, UK. Children (n 892) aged 3 years in the Southampton Women's Survey. Intakes of all nutrients assessed by the FFQ were higher than FD estimates, but there was reasonable agreement in terms of ranking of children (range of Spearman rank correlations for energy-adjusted nutrient intakes, r s = 0·41 to 0·59). Prudent diet scores estimated from the FFQ and FD were highly correlated (r = 0·72). Some family and child characteristics appeared to influence the ability of the FFQ to rank children, most notably the number of child's meals eaten away from home. The FFQ provides useful information to allow ranking of children at this age with respect to nutrient intake and quality of diet, but may overestimate absolute intakes. Dietary studies of young children need to consider family and child characteristics that may impact on reporting error associated with an FFQ.

Multireference configuration interaction theory using cumulant reconstruction with internal contraction of density matrix renormalization group wave function.

PubMed

Saitow, Masaaki; Kurashige, Yuki; Yanai, Takeshi

2013-07-28

We report development of the multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) method that can use active space scalable to much larger size references than has previously been possible. The recent development of the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method in multireference quantum chemistry offers the ability to describe static correlation in a large active space. The present MRCI method provides a critical correction to the DMRG reference by including high-level dynamic correlation through the CI treatment. When the DMRG and MRCI theories are combined (DMRG-MRCI), the full internal contraction of the reference in the MRCI ansatz, including contraction of semi-internal states, plays a central role. However, it is thought to involve formidable complexity because of the presence of the five-particle rank reduced-density matrix (RDM) in the Hamiltonian matrix elements. To address this complexity, we express the Hamiltonian matrix using commutators, which allows the five-particle rank RDM to be canceled out without any approximation. Then we introduce an approximation to the four-particle rank RDM by using a cumulant reconstruction from lower-particle rank RDMs. A computer-aided approach is employed to derive the exceedingly complex equations of the MRCI in tensor-contracted form and to implement them into an efficient parallel computer code. This approach extends to the size-consistency-corrected variants of MRCI, such as the MRCI+Q, MR-ACPF, and MR-AQCC methods. We demonstrate the capability of the DMRG-MRCI method in several benchmark applications, including the evaluation of single-triplet gap of free-base porphyrin using 24 active orbitals.

Five radiographic methods for assessing skeletal maturity in a Spanish population: is there a correlation?

PubMed

Camacho-Basallo, Paula; Yáñez-Vico, Rosa-María; Solano-Reina, Enrique; Iglesias-Linares, Alejandro

2017-03-01

The need for accurate techniques of estimating age has sharply increased in line with the rise in illegal migration and the political, economic and socio-demographic problems that this poses in developed countries today. The methods routinely employed for determining chronological age are mainly based on determining skeletal maturation using radiological techniques. The objective of this study was to correlate five different methods for assessing skeletal maturation. 606 radiographs of growing patients were analyzed, and each patient was classified according to two cervical vertebral-based methods, two hand-wrist-based methods and one tooth-based method. Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient was applied to assess the relationship between chronological age and the five methods of assessing maturation, as well as correlations between the five methods (p < 0.05). Spearman's rank correlation coefficients for chronological age and cervical vertebral maturation stage using both methods were 0.656/0.693 (p < 0.001), respectively, for males. For females, the correlation was stronger for both methods. The correlation coefficients for chronological age against the two hand-wrist assessment methods were statistically significant only for Fishman's method, 0.722 (p < 0.001) and 0.839 (p < 0.001), respectively for males and females. The cervical vertebral, hand-wrist and dental maturation methods of assessment were all found to correlate strongly with each other, irrespective of gender, except for Grave and Brown's method. The results found the strongest correlation between the second molars and females, and the second premolar and males. This study sheds light on and correlates with the five radiographic methods most commonly used for assessing skeletal maturation in a Spanish population in southern Europe.

Accountability for U.S. Equipment Provided to Pakistani Security Forces in the Western Frontier Needs to Be Improved

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-15

Honorable Adam Smith Ranking Member Committee on Armed Services House of Representatives The Honorable Ileana Ros -Lehtinen Chairman The Honorable...fully addrc~s all of DSCA ’s 2008 recommendations. 000 REs rO ,""St:: Partially Concur. The repon incorrectly implies thal DSCA did no1 follow up in...provided defense equipment. the GAO recommends tMt the Secretary of Defeose should direclthe Di rector of DSCA to conduct a compliance

Treatment resistant non-catatonic mutism in schizophrenia responding to a combination of continuation electroconvulsive therapy and neuroleptics

PubMed Central

Grover, Sandeep; Dutt, Alakananda; Chakrabarty, Kaustav; Kumar, Vineet

2012-01-01

Non-catatonic mutism in schizophrenia has been described less frequently in literature. We describe the case of a young male who presented with non-catatonic mutism, secondary to first rank symptoms, which was refractory to adequate antipsychotic trials (quetiapine, risperidone, aripiprazole, ziprasidone, and trifluperazine) and responded to a combination of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and neuroleptics partially. However, when the ECT was continued in the continuation phase, the patient started speaking. PMID:23766583

Two-Way Gene Interaction From Microarray Data Based on Correlation Methods.

PubMed

Alavi Majd, Hamid; Talebi, Atefeh; Gilany, Kambiz; Khayyer, Nasibeh

2016-06-01

Gene networks have generated a massive explosion in the development of high-throughput techniques for monitoring various aspects of gene activity. Networks offer a natural way to model interactions between genes, and extracting gene network information from high-throughput genomic data is an important and difficult task. The purpose of this study is to construct a two-way gene network based on parametric and nonparametric correlation coefficients. The first step in constructing a Gene Co-expression Network is to score all pairs of gene vectors. The second step is to select a score threshold and connect all gene pairs whose scores exceed this value. In the foundation-application study, we constructed two-way gene networks using nonparametric methods, such as Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and Blomqvist's measure, and compared them with Pearson's correlation coefficient. We surveyed six genes of venous thrombosis disease, made a matrix entry representing the score for the corresponding gene pair, and obtained two-way interactions using Pearson's correlation, Spearman's rank correlation, and Blomqvist's coefficient. Finally, these methods were compared with Cytoscape, based on BIND, and Gene Ontology, based on molecular function visual methods; R software version 3.2 and Bioconductor were used to perform these methods. Based on the Pearson and Spearman correlations, the results were the same and were confirmed by Cytoscape and GO visual methods; however, Blomqvist's coefficient was not confirmed by visual methods. Some results of the correlation coefficients are not the same with visualization. The reason may be due to the small number of data.

Using dreams to assess clinical change during treatment.

PubMed

Glucksman, Myron L; Kramer, Milton

2004-01-01

This article describes several studies that examine the relationship between the manifest content of selected dreams reported by patients and their clinical progress during psychoanalytic and psychodynamically oriented treatment. There are a number of elements that dreaming and psychotherapy have in common: affect regulation; conflict resolution; problem-solving; self-awareness; mastery and adaptation. Four different studies examined the relationship between the manifest content of selected dreams and clinical progress during treatment. In each study, the ratings of manifest content and clinical progress by independent observers were rank-ordered and compared. In three of the four studies there was a significant correlation between the rankings of manifest content and the rankings of clinical progress. This finding suggests that the manifest content of dreams can be used as an independent variable to assess clinical progress during psychoanalytic and psychodynamically oriented treatment.

A Ranking Analysis/An Interlinking Approach of New Triangular Fuzzy Cognitive Maps and Combined Effective Time Dependent Matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adiga, Shreemathi; Saraswathi, A.; Praveen Prakash, A.

2018-04-01

This paper aims an interlinking approach of new Triangular Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (TrFCM) and Combined Effective Time Dependent (CETD) matrix to find the ranking of the problems of Transgenders. Section one begins with an introduction that briefly describes the scope of Triangular Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (TrFCM) and CETD Matrix. Section two provides the process of causes of problems faced by Transgenders using Fuzzy Triangular Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (TrFCM) method and performs the calculations using the collected data among the Transgender. In Section 3, the reasons for the main causes for the problems of the Transgenders. Section 4 describes the Charles Spearmans coefficients of rank correlation method by interlinking of Triangular Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (TrFCM) Method and CETD Matrix. Section 5 shows the results based on our study.

Symptom Frequencies and Intensities in Hospitalized Patients With Advanced Cancer Having Depressive Disorder.

PubMed

Liu, Yong; Liu, Fei; Yu, Yang; Li, Qing; Jin, Xin; Li, Jin

2017-06-01

To explore the frequencies and intensities of depressive symptoms associated with hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. A total of 196 hospitalized patients with advanced cancer were surveyed with the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). The χ 2 test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to compare the frequency and intensity of symptoms between patients with and without depressive disorders. Spearman rank correlation was used to test the correlation between depression and symptoms. Of the 196 enrolled patients, 115 (59%) were males. The median age of the patients was 58 (19-80) years. Seventy-six (39%) patients were diagnosed with depression (SDS ≥ 53). Patients with depressive disorders exhibited pain, drowsiness, and nausea along with a higher frequency and intensity of poor self-perception, appetite loss, anxiety, dyspnea, and fatigue. Depressive symptoms were positively correlated with the symptoms. Depressive disorders are very common and severe in hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. Identifying the frequencies and intensities of the symptoms enables early intervention to improve patients' quality of life.

Relationship between depression with FEV1 percent predicted and BODE index in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunawan, H.; Hanum, H.; Abidin, A.; Hanida, W.

2018-03-01

WHO reported more than 3 million people die from COPD in 2012 and are expected to rank third after cardiovascular and cancer diseases in the future. Recent studies reported the prevalence of depression in COPD patients was higher than in control group. So, it’s important for clinicians to understand the relationship of depression symptoms with clinical aspects of COPD. For determining the association of depression symptoms with lung function and BODE index in patients with stable COPD, a cross-sectional study was in 98 stable COPD outpatients from January to June 2017. Data were analyzed using Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney test, and Spearman’s rank correlation. COPD patients with depression had higher mMRC scores, and lower FEV1 percent predicted, and then 6-Minutes Walk Test compared to those without depression. There was a moderate strength of correlation (r=-0.43) between depression symptoms and FEV1 percent predicted, and strong correlation (r=0.614) between depression symptoms and BODE index. It indicates that BODE index is more accurate to describe symptoms of depression in COPD patients.

Strategies for increasing the feasibility of performance assessments during competency-based education: Subjective and objective evaluations correlate in the operating room.

PubMed

Szasz, Peter; Louridas, Marisa; Harris, Kenneth A; Grantcharov, Teodor P

2017-08-01

Competency-based education necessitates assessments that determine whether trainees have acquired specific competencies. The evidence on the ability of internal raters (staff surgeons) to provide accurate assessments is mixed; however, this has not yet been directly explored in the operating room. This study's objective is to compare the ratings given by internal raters vs an expert external rater (independent to the training process) in the operating room. Raters assessed general surgery residents during a laparoscopic cholecystectomy for their technical and nontechnical performance. Fifteen cases were observed. There was a moderately positive correlation (r s = .618, P = .014) for technical performance and a strong positive correlation (r s = .731, P = .002) for nontechnical performance. The internal raters were less stringent for technical (mean rank 3.33 vs 8.64, P = .007) and nontechnical (mean rank 3.83 vs 8.50, P = .01) performances. This study provides evidence to help operationalize competency-based assessments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Partially massless fields during inflation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumann, Daniel; Goon, Garrett; Lee, Hayden; Pimentel, Guilherme L.

2018-04-01

The representation theory of de Sitter space allows for a category of partially massless particles which have no flat space analog, but could have existed during inflation. We study the couplings of these exotic particles to inflationary perturbations and determine the resulting signatures in cosmological correlators. When inflationary perturbations interact through the exchange of these fields, their correlation functions inherit scalings that cannot be mimicked by extra massive fields. We discuss in detail the squeezed limit of the tensor-scalar-scalar bispectrum, and show that certain partially massless fields can violate the tensor consistency relation of single-field inflation. We also consider the collapsed limit of the scalar trispectrum, and find that the exchange of partially massless fields enhances its magnitude, while giving no contribution to the scalar bispectrum. These characteristic signatures provide clean detection channels for partially massless fields during inflation.

IL-17A-mediated sRANK ligand elevation involved in postmenopausal osteoporosis.

PubMed

Molnár, I; Bohaty, I; Somogyiné-Vári, É

2014-02-01

The role of proinflammatory IL-17 cytokine was studied in postmenopausal bone loss between 31 osteopenic and 41 osteoporotic women. The effect of serum IL-17A, soluble receptor activator of NF-κB (sRANK) ligand, and osteoprotegerin (OPG) levels on lumbar bone mineral densities was measured. The results demonstrated an increased IL-17A-mediated sRANK ligand elevation in postmenopausal osteoporotic bone loss. IL-17 proinflammatory cytokine is a new inducer of bone loss. Postmenopausal osteoporosis represents a cross talk between estrogen deprivation and increased immune reactivity. The role of IL-17 was studied in the bone loss of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Serum IL-17A, sRANK ligand, and OPG levels were investigated on bone mineral densities (BMDs) in the total lumbar (L1-L4) region in 18 pre- and 72 postmenopausal women. IL-17A, sRANK ligand, OPG levels, and BMDs were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Increased serum IL-17A, sRANK ligand, and OPG levels were demonstrated in postmenopausal osteoporotic women compared to osteopenic women (3.65 ± 0.61 vs 3.31 ± 0.43 ng/ml for IL-17A, P < 0.007; 2.88 ± 0.84 vs 2.49 ± 0.61 ng/ml for sRANK ligand, P < 0.027; and 1.43 ± 0.07 vs 1.39 ± 0.07 ng/ml for OPG, P < 0.038). In postmenopausal women, IL-17A levels correlated inversely with total lumbar BMDs (P < 0.008, r = -0.279) and positively with sRANK ligand levels (P < 0.0001, r = 0.387) or the ratio of sRANK ligand and OPG (P < 0.013, r = 0.261), but did not with OPG levels alone. Increased IL-17A levels are involved in postmenopausal osteoporosis, playing a role in the bone-resorpting processes.

RRCRank: a fusion method using rank strategy for residue-residue contact prediction.

PubMed

Jing, Xiaoyang; Dong, Qiwen; Lu, Ruqian

2017-09-02

In structural biology area, protein residue-residue contacts play a crucial role in protein structure prediction. Some researchers have found that the predicted residue-residue contacts could effectively constrain the conformational search space, which is significant for de novo protein structure prediction. In the last few decades, related researchers have developed various methods to predict residue-residue contacts, especially, significant performance has been achieved by using fusion methods in recent years. In this work, a novel fusion method based on rank strategy has been proposed to predict contacts. Unlike the traditional regression or classification strategies, the contact prediction task is regarded as a ranking task. First, two kinds of features are extracted from correlated mutations methods and ensemble machine-learning classifiers, and then the proposed method uses the learning-to-rank algorithm to predict contact probability of each residue pair. First, we perform two benchmark tests for the proposed fusion method (RRCRank) on CASP11 dataset and CASP12 dataset respectively. The test results show that the RRCRank method outperforms other well-developed methods, especially for medium and short range contacts. Second, in order to verify the superiority of ranking strategy, we predict contacts by using the traditional regression and classification strategies based on the same features as ranking strategy. Compared with these two traditional strategies, the proposed ranking strategy shows better performance for three contact types, in particular for long range contacts. Third, the proposed RRCRank has been compared with several state-of-the-art methods in CASP11 and CASP12. The results show that the RRCRank could achieve comparable prediction precisions and is better than three methods in most assessment metrics. The learning-to-rank algorithm is introduced to develop a novel rank-based method for the residue-residue contact prediction of proteins, which achieves state-of-the-art performance based on the extensive assessment.

Internalization of rituximab and the efficiency of B Cell depletion in rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

PubMed

Reddy, Venkat; Cambridge, Geraldine; Isenberg, David A; Glennie, Martin J; Cragg, Mark S; Leandro, Maria

2015-05-01

Rituximab, a type I anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (mAb), induces incomplete B cell depletion in some patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), thus contributing to a poor clinical response. The mechanisms of this resistance remain elusive. The purpose of this study was to determine whether type II mAb are more efficient than type I mAb at depleting B cells from RA and SLE patients, whether internalization influences the efficiency of depletion, and whether Fcγ receptor type IIb (FcγRIIb) and the B cell receptor regulate this internalization process. We used an in vitro whole blood B cell-depletion assay to assess the efficiency of depletion, flow cytometry to study cell surface protein expression, and surface fluorescence-quenching assays to assess rituximab internalization, in samples from patients with RA and patients with SLE. Paired t-test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare groups, and Spearman's rank correlation test was used to assess correlation. We found that type II mAb internalized significantly less rituximab than type I mAb and depleted B cells from patients with RA and SLE at least 2-fold more efficiently than type I mAb. Internalization of rituximab was highly variable between patients, was regulated by FcγRIIb, and inversely correlated with cytotoxicity in whole blood B cell-depletion assays. The lowest levels of internalization were seen in IgD- B cells, including postswitched (IgD-CD27+) memory cells. Internalization of type I anti-CD20 mAb was also partially inhibited by anti-IgM stimulation. Variability in internalization of rituximab was observed and was correlated with impaired B cell depletion. Therefore, slower-internalizing type II mAb should be considered as alternative B cell-depleting agents for the treatment of RA and SLE. © 2015 The Authors. Arthritis & Rheumatology is published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

Internalization of Rituximab and the Efficiency of B Cell Depletion in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

PubMed Central

Cambridge, Geraldine; Isenberg, David A.; Glennie, Martin J.; Cragg, Mark S.; Leandro, Maria

2015-01-01

Objective Rituximab, a type I anti‐CD20 monoclonal antibody (mAb), induces incomplete B cell depletion in some patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), thus contributing to a poor clinical response. The mechanisms of this resistance remain elusive. The purpose of this study was to determine whether type II mAb are more efficient than type I mAb at depleting B cells from RA and SLE patients, whether internalization influences the efficiency of depletion, and whether Fcγ receptor type IIb (FcγRIIb) and the B cell receptor regulate this internalization process. Methods We used an in vitro whole blood B cell–depletion assay to assess the efficiency of depletion, flow cytometry to study cell surface protein expression, and surface fluorescence–quenching assays to assess rituximab internalization, in samples from patients with RA and patients with SLE. Paired t‐test or Mann‐Whitney U test was used to compare groups, and Spearman's rank correlation test was used to assess correlation. Results We found that type II mAb internalized significantly less rituximab than type I mAb and depleted B cells from patients with RA and SLE at least 2‐fold more efficiently than type I mAb. Internalization of rituximab was highly variable between patients, was regulated by FcγRIIb, and inversely correlated with cytotoxicity in whole blood B cell–depletion assays. The lowest levels of internalization were seen in IgD– B cells, including postswitched (IgD–CD27+) memory cells. Internalization of type I anti‐CD20 mAb was also partially inhibited by anti‐IgM stimulation. Conclusion Variability in internalization of rituximab was observed and was correlated with impaired B cell depletion. Therefore, slower‐internalizing type II mAb should be considered as alternative B cell–depleting agents for the treatment of RA and SLE. PMID:25916583

A method for deterministic statistical downscaling of daily precipitation at a monsoonal site in Eastern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yonghe; Feng, Jinming; Liu, Xiu; Zhao, Yadi

2017-12-01

Statistical downscaling (SD) is a method that acquires the local information required for hydrological impact assessment from large-scale atmospheric variables. Very few statistical and deterministic downscaling models for daily precipitation have been conducted for local sites influenced by the East Asian monsoon. In this study, SD models were constructed by selecting the best predictors and using generalized linear models (GLMs) for Feixian, a site in the Yishu River Basin and Shandong Province. By calculating and mapping Spearman rank correlation coefficients between the gridded standardized values of five large-scale variables and daily observed precipitation, different cyclonic circulation patterns were found for monsoonal precipitation in summer (June-September) and winter (November-December and January-March); the values of the gridded boxes with the highest absolute correlations for observed precipitation were selected as predictors. Data for predictors and predictands covered the period 1979-2015, and different calibration and validation periods were divided when fitting and validating the models. Meanwhile, the bootstrap method was also used to fit the GLM. All the above thorough validations indicated that the models were robust and not sensitive to different samples or different periods. Pearson's correlations between downscaled and observed precipitation (logarithmically transformed) on a daily scale reached 0.54-0.57 in summer and 0.56-0.61 in winter, and the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency between downscaled and observed precipitation reached 0.1 in summer and 0.41 in winter. The downscaled precipitation partially reflected exact variations in winter and main trends in summer for total interannual precipitation. For the number of wet days, both winter and summer models were able to reflect interannual variations. Other comparisons were also made in this study. These results demonstrated that when downscaling, it is appropriate to combine a correlation-based predictor selection across a spatial domain with GLM modeling.

[Study on commercial specification of atractylodes based on Delphi method].

PubMed

Wang, Hao; Chen, Li-Xiao; Huang, Lu-Qi; Zhang, Tian-Tian; Li, Ying; Zheng, Yu-Guang

2016-03-01

This research adopts "Delphi method" to evaluate atractylodes traditional traits and rank correlation. By using methods of mathematical statistics the relationship of the traditional identification indicators and atractylodes goods rank correlation was analyzed, It is found that the main characteristics affectingatractylodes commodity specifications and grades of main characters wereoil points of transaction,color of transaction,color of surface,grain of transaction,texture of transaction andspoilage. The study points out that the original "seventy-six kinds of medicinal materials commodity specification standards of atractylodes differentiate commodity specification" is not in conformity with the actual market situation, we need to formulate corresponding atractylodes medicinal products specifications and grades.This study combined with experimental results "Delphi method" and the market actual situation, proposed the new draft atractylodes commodity specifications and grades, as the new atractylodes commodity specifications and grades standards. It provides a reference and theoretical basis. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Rhythm and amplitude of rhythmic masticatory muscle activity during sleep in bruxers - comparison with gum chewing.

PubMed

Matsuda, Shinpei; Yamaguchi, Taihiko; Mikami, Saki; Okada, Kazuki; Gotouda, Akihito; Sano, Kazuo

2016-07-01

The aim of this study was to elucidate characteristics of rhythmic masticatory muscle activity (RMMA) during sleep by comparing masseteric EMG (electromyogram) activities of RMMA with gum chewing. The parts of five or more consecutive phasic bursts in RMMA of 23 bruxers were analyzed. Wilcoxon signed-rank test for matched pairs and Spearman's correlation coefficient by the rank test were used for statistical analysis. Root mean square value of RMMA phasic burst was smaller than that during gum chewing, but correlates to that of gum chewing. The cycle of RMMA was longer than that of gum chewing due to the longer burst duration of RMMA, and variation in the cycles of RMMA was wider. These findings suggest that the longer but smaller EMG burst in comparison with gum chewing is one of the characteristics of RMMA. The relation between size of RMMA phasic bursts and gum chewing is also suggested.

An Improved Rank Correlation Effect Size Statistic for Single-Case Designs: Baseline Corrected Tau.

PubMed

Tarlow, Kevin R

2017-07-01

Measuring treatment effects when an individual's pretreatment performance is improving poses a challenge for single-case experimental designs. It may be difficult to determine whether improvement is due to the treatment or due to the preexisting baseline trend. Tau- U is a popular single-case effect size statistic that purports to control for baseline trend. However, despite its strengths, Tau- U has substantial limitations: Its values are inflated and not bound between -1 and +1, it cannot be visually graphed, and its relatively weak method of trend control leads to unacceptable levels of Type I error wherein ineffective treatments appear effective. An improved effect size statistic based on rank correlation and robust regression, Baseline Corrected Tau, is proposed and field-tested with both published and simulated single-case time series. A web-based calculator for Baseline Corrected Tau is also introduced for use by single-case investigators.

Heat transfer to horizontal tubes in a pilot-scale fluidized-bed combustor burning low-rank coals

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

Grewal, N.S.; Goblirsch, G.

Experimental data are obtained for the heat transfer coefficient between immersed horizontal tube bundles and an atmospheric-fluidized-bed combustor burning low-rank coals. Silica sand and limestone are used as bed material. The tests are conducted, with and without limestone addition and ash recycle, at average bed temperatures ranging from 1047 to 1125 K, superficial fluidizing velocity of 1.66 to 2.04 m/s, and excess air levels of 15 to 40 percent. The experimental data are examined in the light of the existing correlations for the heat transfer coefficient. The predicted values of heat transfer coefficient from the correlations proposed by Grewal andmore » Bansal et al. are found to be within + or - 25 percent of the experimental values of heat transfer coefficient, when the contribution due to radiation is also included.« less

A rapid food screener ranks potential renal acid load of renal stone formers similarly to a diet history questionnaire.

PubMed

Trinchieri, Alberto

2013-02-01

Dietary acid load was reported to be inversely related to urinary citrate excretion. The calcium renal stone formers (RSFs) should be recommended to lower their dietary potential renal acid load (PRAL) to reduce stone recurrence. Reduction of dietary PRAL also showed a promising role for the prevention of other metabolic diseases. However, clinicians often fail to provide nutritional screening and counseling due to lack of simple tools to obtain a reliable dietary history. A one-page food screener (LAKE score) was recently designed to obtain a reliable measure of dietary PRAL in short time. We report the testing of such an instrument in the evaluation of PRAL: in a population of 135 healthy subjects (60 males, 75 females; age range 18-73), living in the area of Milan, Italy. Each participant received both the one-page LAKE food screener and an extensive 24-h dietary questionnaire. We examined agreement between the LAKE food screener scores, and estimates of PRAL and other nutrients produced by the computerized processing of thorough 24-h dietary histories. Spearman rank order correlation coefficient (r > 0.50) showed that LAKE score ranked subjects quite well with respect to dietary PRAL. LAKE positive subscore ranked patients with respect to dietary intake of total protein (r = 0.642) and phosphate (r = 0.648). We also obtained an excellent correlation of LAKE negative subscore with potassium intake (r = -0.531) and vitamin C (r = -0.554) as estimated by 24 h recalls. The LAKE score ranked patients similar to the estimates of 24-h dietary recalls, used as the "gold standard" for the evaluation of dietary PRAL. This rapid, simple and inexpensive food screener for the evaluation of dietary PRAL could provide a "snapshot" of the diet of the RSFs to allow an immediate feedback to the patient during office consultation.

Sensitivity analysis of gene ranking methods in phenotype prediction.

PubMed

deAndrés-Galiana, Enrique J; Fernández-Martínez, Juan L; Sonis, Stephen T

2016-12-01

It has become clear that noise generated during the assay and analytical processes has the ability to disrupt accurate interpretation of genomic studies. Not only does such noise impact the scientific validity and costs of studies, but when assessed in the context of clinically translatable indications such as phenotype prediction, it can lead to inaccurate conclusions that could ultimately impact patients. We applied a sequence of ranking methods to damp noise associated with microarray outputs, and then tested the utility of the approach in three disease indications using publically available datasets. This study was performed in three phases. We first theoretically analyzed the effect of noise in phenotype prediction problems showing that it can be expressed as a modeling error that partially falsifies the pathways. Secondly, via synthetic modeling, we performed the sensitivity analysis for the main gene ranking methods to different types of noise. Finally, we studied the predictive accuracy of the gene lists provided by these ranking methods in synthetic data and in three different datasets related to cancer, rare and neurodegenerative diseases to better understand the translational aspects of our findings. In the case of synthetic modeling, we showed that Fisher's Ratio (FR) was the most robust gene ranking method in terms of precision for all the types of noise at different levels. Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM) provided slightly lower performance and the rest of the methods (fold change, entropy and maximum percentile distance) were much less precise and accurate. The predictive accuracy of the smallest set of high discriminatory probes was similar for all the methods in the case of Gaussian and Log-Gaussian noise. In the case of class assignment noise, the predictive accuracy of SAM and FR is higher. Finally, for real datasets (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Inclusion Body Myositis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) we found that FR and SAM provided the highest predictive accuracies with the smallest number of genes. Biological pathways were found with an expanded list of genes whose discriminatory power has been established via FR. We have shown that noise in expression data and class assignment partially falsifies the sets of discriminatory probes in phenotype prediction problems. FR and SAM better exploit the principle of parsimony and are able to find subsets with less number of high discriminatory genes. The predictive accuracy and the precision are two different metrics to select the important genes, since in the presence of noise the most predictive genes do not completely coincide with those that are related to the phenotype. Based on the synthetic results, FR and SAM are recommended to unravel the biological pathways that are involved in the disease development. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Multivariate Regression Statistics Strategy to Investigate Content-Effect Correlation of Multiple Components in Traditional Chinese Medicine Based on a Partial Least Squares Method.

PubMed

Peng, Ying; Li, Su-Ning; Pei, Xuexue; Hao, Kun

2018-03-01

Amultivariate regression statisticstrategy was developed to clarify multi-components content-effect correlation ofpanaxginseng saponins extract and predict the pharmacological effect by components content. In example 1, firstly, we compared pharmacological effects between panax ginseng saponins extract and individual saponin combinations. Secondly, we examined the anti-platelet aggregation effect in seven different saponin combinations of ginsenoside Rb1, Rg1, Rh, Rd, Ra3 and notoginsenoside R1. Finally, the correlation between anti-platelet aggregation and the content of multiple components was analyzed by a partial least squares algorithm. In example 2, firstly, 18 common peaks were identified in ten different batches of panax ginseng saponins extracts from different origins. Then, we investigated the anti-myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury effects of the ten different panax ginseng saponins extracts. Finally, the correlation between the fingerprints and the cardioprotective effects was analyzed by a partial least squares algorithm. Both in example 1 and 2, the relationship between the components content and pharmacological effect was modeled well by the partial least squares regression equations. Importantly, the predicted effect curve was close to the observed data of dot marked on the partial least squares regression model. This study has given evidences that themulti-component content is a promising information for predicting the pharmacological effects of traditional Chinese medicine.

Confidence intervals for correlations when data are not normal.

PubMed

Bishara, Anthony J; Hittner, James B

2017-02-01

With nonnormal data, the typical confidence interval of the correlation (Fisher z') may be inaccurate. The literature has been unclear as to which of several alternative methods should be used instead, and how extreme a violation of normality is needed to justify an alternative. Through Monte Carlo simulation, 11 confidence interval methods were compared, including Fisher z', two Spearman rank-order methods, the Box-Cox transformation, rank-based inverse normal (RIN) transformation, and various bootstrap methods. Nonnormality often distorted the Fisher z' confidence interval-for example, leading to a 95 % confidence interval that had actual coverage as low as 68 %. Increasing the sample size sometimes worsened this problem. Inaccurate Fisher z' intervals could be predicted by a sample kurtosis of at least 2, an absolute sample skewness of at least 1, or significant violations of normality hypothesis tests. Only the Spearman rank-order and RIN transformation methods were universally robust to nonnormality. Among the bootstrap methods, an observed imposed bootstrap came closest to accurate coverage, though it often resulted in an overly long interval. The results suggest that sample nonnormality can justify avoidance of the Fisher z' interval in favor of a more robust alternative. R code for the relevant methods is provided in supplementary materials.

Validation of a patient-level medication regimen complexity index as a possible tool to identify patients for medication therapy management intervention.

PubMed

Hirsch, Jan D; Metz, Kelli R; Hosokawa, Patrick W; Libby, Anne M

2014-08-01

The Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI) is a 65-item instrument that can be used to quantify medication regimen complexity at the patient level, capturing all prescribed and over-the-counter medications. Although the MRCI has been used in several studies, the narrow scope of the initial validation limits application at a population or clinical practice level. To conduct a MRCI validation pertinent to the desired clinical use to identify patients for medication therapy management interventions. An expert panel of clinical pharmacists ranked medication regimen complexity for two samples of cases: a single-disease cohort (diabetes mellitus) and a multiple-disease cohort (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, human immunodeficiency virus infection, geriatric depression). Cases for expert panel review were selected from 400 ambulatory clinic patients, and each case description included data that were available via claims or electronic medical records (EMRs). Construct validity was assessed using patient-level MRCI scores, medication count, and additional patient data. Concordance was evaluated using weighted κ agreement statistic, and correlations were determined using Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (ρ) or Kendall τ. Moderate to good concordance between patient-level MRCI scores and expert medication regimen complexity ranking was observed (claims data, consensus ranking: single-disease cohort 0.55, multiple disease cohort 0.63). In contrast, only fair to moderate concordance was observed for medication count (single-disease cohort 0.33, multiple-disease cohort 0.48). Adding more-detailed administration directions from EMR data did not improve concordance. MRCI convergent validity was supported by strong correlations with medication count (all cohorts 0.90) and moderate correlations with morbidity measures (e.g., all cohorts; number of comorbidities 0.46, Chronic Disease Score 0.46). Nonsignificant correlation of MRCI scores with age and gender (all cohorts 0.08 and 0.06, respectively) supported MRCI divergent validity. This study used cross-sectional, retrospective patient data for a small number of patients and clinical pharmacists from only two universities; therefore, results may have limited generalizability. The patient-level MRCI is a valid tool for assessing medication regimen complexity that can be applied by using data commonly found in claims and EMR databases and could be useful to identify patients who may benefit from medication therapy management. © 2014 The Authors Pharmacotherapy published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

The application of low-rank and sparse decomposition method in the field of climatology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Nitika; Bhaskaran, Prasad K.

2018-04-01

The present study reports a low-rank and sparse decomposition method that separates the mean and the variability of a climate data field. Until now, the application of this technique was limited only in areas such as image processing, web data ranking, and bioinformatics data analysis. In climate science, this method exactly separates the original data into a set of low-rank and sparse components, wherein the low-rank components depict the linearly correlated dataset (expected or mean behavior), and the sparse component represents the variation or perturbation in the dataset from its mean behavior. The study attempts to verify the efficacy of this proposed technique in the field of climatology with two examples of real world. The first example attempts this technique on the maximum wind-speed (MWS) data for the Indian Ocean (IO) region. The study brings to light a decadal reversal pattern in the MWS for the North Indian Ocean (NIO) during the months of June, July, and August (JJA). The second example deals with the sea surface temperature (SST) data for the Bay of Bengal region that exhibits a distinct pattern in the sparse component. The study highlights the importance of the proposed technique used for interpretation and visualization of climate data.

A sampling-based method for ranking protein structural models by integrating multiple scores and features.

PubMed

Shi, Xiaohu; Zhang, Jingfen; He, Zhiquan; Shang, Yi; Xu, Dong

2011-09-01

One of the major challenges in protein tertiary structure prediction is structure quality assessment. In many cases, protein structure prediction tools generate good structural models, but fail to select the best models from a huge number of candidates as the final output. In this study, we developed a sampling-based machine-learning method to rank protein structural models by integrating multiple scores and features. First, features such as predicted secondary structure, solvent accessibility and residue-residue contact information are integrated by two Radial Basis Function (RBF) models trained from different datasets. Then, the two RBF scores and five selected scoring functions developed by others, i.e., Opus-CA, Opus-PSP, DFIRE, RAPDF, and Cheng Score are synthesized by a sampling method. At last, another integrated RBF model ranks the structural models according to the features of sampling distribution. We tested the proposed method by using two different datasets, including the CASP server prediction models of all CASP8 targets and a set of models generated by our in-house software MUFOLD. The test result shows that our method outperforms any individual scoring function on both best model selection, and overall correlation between the predicted ranking and the actual ranking of structural quality.

Socioecological predictors of immune defences in wild spotted hyenas

PubMed Central

Flies, Andrew S.; Mansfield, Linda S.; Flies, Emily J.; Grant, Chris K.; Holekamp, Kay E.

2016-01-01

Summary Social rank can profoundly affect many aspects of mammalian reproduction and stress physiology, but little is known about how immune function is affected by rank and other socio-ecological factors in free-living animals.In this study we examine the effects of sex, social rank, and reproductive status on immune function in long-lived carnivores that are routinely exposed to a plethora of pathogens, yet rarely show signs of disease.Here we show that two types of immune defenses, complement-mediated bacterial killing capacity (BKC) and total IgM, are positively correlated with social rank in wild hyenas, but that a third type, total IgG, does not vary with rank.Female spotted hyenas, which are socially dominant to males in this species, have higher BKC, and higher IgG and IgM concentrations, than do males.Immune defenses are lower in lactating than pregnant females, suggesting the immune defenses may be energetically costly.Serum cortisol and testosterone concentrations are not reliable predictors of basic immune defenses in wild female spotted hyenas.These results suggest that immune defenses are costly and multiple socioecological variables are important determinants of basic immune defenses among wild hyenas. Effects of these variables should be accounted for when attempting to understand disease ecology and immune function. PMID:27833242

Robust Visual Tracking via Online Discriminative and Low-Rank Dictionary Learning.

PubMed

Zhou, Tao; Liu, Fanghui; Bhaskar, Harish; Yang, Jie

2017-09-12

In this paper, we propose a novel and robust tracking framework based on online discriminative and low-rank dictionary learning. The primary aim of this paper is to obtain compact and low-rank dictionaries that can provide good discriminative representations of both target and background. We accomplish this by exploiting the recovery ability of low-rank matrices. That is if we assume that the data from the same class are linearly correlated, then the corresponding basis vectors learned from the training set of each class shall render the dictionary to become approximately low-rank. The proposed dictionary learning technique incorporates a reconstruction error that improves the reliability of classification. Also, a multiconstraint objective function is designed to enable active learning of a discriminative and robust dictionary. Further, an optimal solution is obtained by iteratively computing the dictionary, coefficients, and by simultaneously learning the classifier parameters. Finally, a simple yet effective likelihood function is implemented to estimate the optimal state of the target during tracking. Moreover, to make the dictionary adaptive to the variations of the target and background during tracking, an online update criterion is employed while learning the new dictionary. Experimental results on a publicly available benchmark dataset have demonstrated that the proposed tracking algorithm performs better than other state-of-the-art trackers.

Ranking fluctuating asymmetry in a dot figure and the significant impact of imagining a face.

PubMed

Neby, Magne; Ivar, Folstad

2013-01-01

Fluctuating asymmetry and averageness is correlated with our perception of beauty in human faces. Yet, whether deviations of centrality in the positioning of the eyes, the nose, and the mouth have different effects on our perception of asymmetry in a holistic human face, is still uncertain. In this study we aimed to test the relative effect of decentralising the horizontal position of three sets of paired dots representing eyes, nostrils, or mouth from the vertical midline of ambiguous dot figures, vaguely resembling a face. The figures were ranked according to perceived asymmetry by human observers. When associating the figures with non-facial objects (eg a butterfly), none of the figures' rank distribution differed from each other. However, when observers imagined the figures to represent a human face, the figure with the decentralised pair of dots representing the nostrils was significantly ranked as more asymmetric than the other figures. This result provides indications that the brain may deal with information about facial asymmetry and averageness heavily depending on the centrality of the nasal region.

Social brains and divides: the interplay between social dominance orientation and the neural sensitivity to hierarchical ranks

PubMed Central

Ligneul, Romain; Girard, Romuald; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2017-01-01

Ubiquitous in the animal kingdom, dominance hierarchies emerge through social competition and underlie the control of resources. Confronting the disruptive influence of socioeconomic inequalities, human populations tend to split into groups who legitimize existing dominance hierarchies and groups who condemn them. Here, we hypothesized that variations in the neural sensitivity to dominance ranks partly underpins this ideological split, as measured by the social dominance orientation scale (SDO). Following a competitive task used to induce dominance representations about three opponents (superior, equal and inferior), subjects were passively presented the faces of these opponents while undergoing fMRI. Analyses demonstrated that two key brain regions, the superior temporal sulcus (STS) and anterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (aDLPFC) were sensitive to social ranks. Confirming our hypothesis, the sensitivity of the right aDLPFC to social ranks correlated positively with the SDO scale, which is known to predict behaviors and political attitudes associated with the legitimization of dominance hierarchies. This study opens new perspectives for the neurosciences of political orientation and social dominance. PMID:28378784

Anthropometry and somatotypes of competitive DanceSport participants: a comparison of three different styles.

PubMed

Liiv, H; Wyon, M; Jürimäe, T; Purge, P; Saar, M; Mäestu, J; Jürimäe, J

2014-04-01

Anthropometry in dance and aesthetic sports has been shown to play an important role in selection and performance criteria. The aim of the present study was to examine variations in somatotype and anthropometry in three different competitive dance styles: DanceSport Standard, Latin American and Ten Dance. Anthropometry and somatotype data were collected from thirty couples competing in Standard (n=24 individuals), Latin American (n=14) and Ten Dance (n=22) styles. A single tester (ISAK Level 1) carried out all anthropometric measurements using the Heath-Carter protocol and somatotypes were calculated using the Heath-Carter's decimal equations. Results indicated that the mean somatotype for the male dancers was 2.4-3.9-3.2, whilst for females it was 2.7-2.7-3.5. Factorial analysis reported Standard dancers scored significantly higher for ectomorphy, sitting height and arm span than Latin dancers (p<0.05). Correlation analysis with the Standard dancer's International Ranking highlighted moderate positive correlation with mesomorphy (r=0.434, p<0.05) and negative correlation with ectomorphy (r=-0.546, p<0.001). The findings of this study show that somatotypes differ among DanceSport participants by dance style. Compared with other aesthetic sports, male and female dancers were less mesomorphic and more ectomorphic. Standard dancers tend to be more ectomorphic with greater height, longer arm span and greater sitting height compared with Latin American dancers. Although Standard dancers were ectomorphic, those dancers who had higher mesomorphic ranking had higher places in the dancers' international ranking. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Expression of receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) in neoplasms of dogs and cats.

PubMed

Barger, Anne M; Fan, Timothy M; de Lorimier, Louis-Philippe; Sprandel, Ian T; O'Dell-Anderson, Kristen

2007-01-01

Receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B (RANK), RANK-ligand (RANKL), and the soluble decoy receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG) form a key axis modulating osteoclastogenesis. In health, RANKL-expressing bone stromal cells and osteoblasts activate osteoclasts through RANK ligation, resulting in homeostatic bone resorption. Skeletal tumors of dogs and cats, whether primary or metastatic, may express RANKL and directly induce malignant osteolysis. Bone malignancies of dogs and cats may express RANKL, thereby contributing to pathologic bone resorption and pain. Furthermore, relative RANKL expression in bone tumors may correlate with radiographic characteristics of bone pathology. Forty-two dogs and 6 cats with spontaneously-occurring tumors involving bones or soft tissues were evaluated. A polyclonal anti-human RANKL antibody was validated for use in canine and feline cells by flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry. Fifty cytologic specimens were collected from bone and soft tissue tumors of 48 tumor-bearing animals and assessed for RANKL expression. In 15 canine osteosarcoma (OSA) samples, relative RANKL expression was correlated with radiographic characteristics of bone pathology. Expression of RANKL by neoplastic cells was identified in 32/44 canine and 5/6 feline tumor samples. In 15 dogs with OSA, relative RANKL expression did not correlate with either radiographic osteolysis or bone mineral density as assessed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. In dogs and cats, tumors classically involving bone and causing pain, often may express RANKL. Confirming RANKL expression in tumors is a necessary step toward the rational institution of novel therapies targeting malignant osteolysis via RANKL antagonism.

The Plastic Surgery Match: A Quantitative Analysis of Applicant Impressions From the Interview Visit.

PubMed

Frojo, Gianfranco; Tadisina, Kashyap Komarraju; Pressman, Zachary; Chibnall, John T; Lin, Alexander Y; Kraemer, Bruce A

2016-12-01

The integrated plastic surgery match is a competitive process not only for applicants but also for programs vying for highly qualified candidates. Interactions between applicants and program constituents are limited to a single interview visit. The authors aimed to identify components of the interview visit that influence applicant decision making when determining a final program rank list. Thirty-six applicants who were interviewed (100% response) completed the survey. Applicants rated the importance of 20 elements of the interview visit regarding future ranking of the program on a 1 to 5 Likert scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, hierarchical cluster analysis, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlations. A literature review was performed regarding the plastic surgery integrated residency interview process. Survey questions were categorized into four groups based on mean survey responses:1. Interactions with faculty and residents (mean response > 4),2. Information about the program (3.5-4),3. Ancillaries (food, amenities, stipends) (3-3.5),4. Hospital tour, hotel (<3).Hierarchical item cluster analysis and analysis of variance testing validated these groupings. Average summary scores were calculated for the items representing Interactions, Information, and Ancillaries. Correlation analysis between clusters yielded no significant correlations. A review of the literature yielded a paucity of data on analysis of the interview visit. The interview visit consists of a discrete hierarchy of perceived importance by applicants. The strongest independent factor in determining future program ranking is the quality of interactions between applicants and program constituents on the interview visit. This calls for further investigation and optimization of the interview visit experience.

Automated characterization of perceptual quality of clinical chest radiographs: Validation and calibration to observer preference

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

Samei, Ehsan, E-mail: samei@duke.edu; Lin, Yuan; Choudhury, Kingshuk R.

Purpose: The authors previously proposed an image-based technique [Y. Lin et al. Med. Phys. 39, 7019–7031 (2012)] to assess the perceptual quality of clinical chest radiographs. In this study, an observer study was designed and conducted to validate the output of the program against rankings by expert radiologists and to establish the ranges of the output values that reflect the acceptable image appearance so the program output can be used for image quality optimization and tracking. Methods: Using an IRB-approved protocol, 2500 clinical chest radiographs (PA/AP) were collected from our clinical operation. The images were processed through our perceptual qualitymore » assessment program to measure their appearance in terms of ten metrics of perceptual image quality: lung gray level, lung detail, lung noise, rib–lung contrast, rib sharpness, mediastinum detail, mediastinum noise, mediastinum alignment, subdiaphragm–lung contrast, and subdiaphragm area. From the results, for each targeted appearance attribute/metric, 18 images were selected such that the images presented a relatively constant appearance with respect to all metrics except the targeted one. The images were then incorporated into a graphical user interface, which displayed them into three panels of six in a random order. Using a DICOM calibrated diagnostic display workstation and under low ambient lighting conditions, each of five participating attending chest radiologists was tasked to spatially order the images based only on the targeted appearance attribute regardless of the other qualities. Once ordered, the observer also indicated the range of image appearances that he/she considered clinically acceptable. The observer data were analyzed in terms of the correlations between the observer and algorithmic rankings and interobserver variability. An observer-averaged acceptable image appearance was also statistically derived for each quality attribute based on the collected individual acceptable ranges. Results: The observer study indicated that, for each image quality attribute, the averaged observer ranking strongly correlated with the algorithmic ranking (linear correlation coefficient R > 0.92), with highest correlation (R = 1) for lung gray level and the lowest (R = 0.92) for mediastinum noise. There was a strong concordance between the observers in terms of their rankings (i.e., Kendall’s tau agreement > 0.84). The observers also generally indicated similar tolerance and preference levels in terms of acceptable ranges, as 85% of the values were close to the overall tolerance or preference levels and the differences were smaller than 0.15. Conclusions: The observer study indicates that the previously proposed technique provides a robust reflection of the perceptual image quality in clinical images. The results established the range of algorithmic outputs for each metric that can be used to quantitatively assess and qualify the appearance quality of clinical chest radiographs.« less

Relationship between plethysmographic waveform changes and hemodynamic variables in anesthetized, mechanically ventilated patients undergoing continuous cardiac output monitoring.

PubMed

Thiele, Robert H; Colquhoun, Douglas A; Patrie, James; Nie, Sarah H; Huffmyer, Julie L

2011-12-01

To assess the relation between photoplethysmographically-derived parameters and invasively-determined hemodynamic variables. After induction of anesthesia and placement of a Swan-Ganz CCOmbo catheter, a Nonin OEM III probe was placed on each patient's earlobe. Photoplethysmographic signals were recorded in conjunction with cardiac output. Photoplethysmographic metrics (amplitude of absorbance waveform, maximal slope of absorbance waveform, area under the curve, and width) were calculated offline and compared with invasively determined hemodynamic variables. Subject-specific associations between each dependent and independent variable pair were summarized on a per-subject basis by the nonparametric Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The bias-corrected accelerated bootstrap resampling procedure of Efron and Tibshirani was used to obtain a 95% confidence interval for the median subject-specific correlation coefficient, and Wilcoxon sign-rank tests were conducted to test the null hypothesis that the median of the subject-specific correlation coefficients were equal to 0. University hospital. Eighteen patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Placement of a Swan-Ganz CCOmbo catheter and a Nonin OEM III pulse oximetry probe. There was a positive, statistically significant correlation between stroke volume and width (median correlation coefficient, 0.29; confidence interval, 0.01-0.46; p = 0.034). The concordance between changes in stroke volume and changes in width was 53%. No other correlations achieved statistical significance. This study was unable to reproduce the results of prior studies. Only stroke volume and photoplethysmographic width were correlated in this study; however, the correlation and concordance (based on analysis of a 4-quadrant plot) were too weak to be clinically useful. Future studies in patients undergoing low-to-moderate risk surgery may result in improved correlations and clinical utility. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Correlations of π N partial waves for multireaction analyses

DOE PAGES

Doring, M.; Revier, J.; Ronchen, D.; ...

2016-06-15

In the search for missing baryonic resonances, many analyses include data from a variety of pion- and photon-induced reactions. For elastic πN scattering, however, usually the partial waves of the SAID (Scattering Analysis Interactive Database) or other groups are fitted, instead of data. We provide the partial-wave covariance matrices needed to perform correlated χ 2 fits, in which the obtained χ 2 equals the actual χ 2 up to nonlinear and normalization corrections. For any analysis relying on partial waves extracted from elastic pion scattering, this is a prerequisite to assess the significance of resonance signals and to assign anymore » uncertainty on results. Lastly, the influence of systematic errors is also considered.« less

A chemical risk ranking and scoring method for the selection of harmful substances to be specially controlled in occupational environments.

PubMed

Shin, Saemi; Moon, Hyung-Il; Lee, Kwon Seob; Hong, Mun Ki; Byeon, Sang-Hoon

2014-11-20

This study aimed to devise a method for prioritizing hazardous chemicals for further regulatory action. To accomplish this objective, we chose appropriate indicators and algorithms. Nine indicators from the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals were used to identify categories to which the authors assigned numerical scores. Exposure indicators included handling volume, distribution, and exposure level. To test the method devised by this study, sixty-two harmful substances controlled by the Occupational Safety and Health Act in Korea, including acrylamide, acrylonitrile, and styrene were ranked using this proposed method. The correlation coefficients between total score and each indicator ranged from 0.160 to 0.641, and those between total score and hazard indicators ranged from 0.603 to 0.641. The latter were higher than the correlation coefficients between total score and exposure indicators, which ranged from 0.160 to 0.421. Correlations between individual indicators were low (-0.240 to 0.376), except for those between handling volume and distribution (0.613), suggesting that each indicator was not strongly correlated. The low correlations between each indicator mean that the indicators and independent and were well chosen for prioritizing harmful chemicals. This method proposed by this study can improve the cost efficiency of chemical management as utilized in occupational regulatory systems.

Assessing the Relevance of in vitro Studies in Nanotoxicology by Examining Correlations between in vitro and in vivo Data

PubMed Central

Han, Xianglu; Corson, Nancy; Wade-Mercer, Pamela; Gelein, Robert; Jiang, Jingkun; Sahu, Manoranjan; Biswas, Pratim; Finkelstein, Jacob N.; Elder, Alison; Oberdörster, Günter

2012-01-01

There is an urgent need for in vitro screening assays to evaluate nanoparticle (NP) toxicity. However, the relevance of in vitro assays is still disputable. We administered doses of TiO2 NPs of different sizes to alveolar epithelial cells in vitro and the same NPs by intratracheal instillation in rats in vivo to examine the correlation between in vitro and in vivo responses. The correlations were based on toxicity rankings of NPs after adopting NP surface area as dose metric, and response per unit surface area as response metric. Sizes of the anatase TiO2 NPs ranged from 3 to 100 nm. A cell-free assay for measuring reactive oxygen species (ROS) was used, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, and protein oxidation induction were the in vitro cellular assays using a rat lung Type I epithelial cell line (R3/1) following 24 hr incubation. The in vivo endpoint was number of PMNs in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) after exposure of rats to the NPs via intratracheal instillation. Slope analyses of the dose response curves shows that the in vivo and in vitro responses were well correlated. We conclude that using the approach of steepest slope analysis offers a superior method to correlate in vitro with in vivo results of NP toxicity and for ranking their toxic potency. PMID:22487507

Judging in Rhythmic Gymnastics at Different Levels of Performance.

PubMed

Leandro, Catarina; Ávila-Carvalho, Lurdes; Sierra-Palmeiro, Elena; Bobo-Arce, Marta

2017-12-01

This study aimed to analyse the quality of difficulty judging in rhythmic gymnastics, at different levels of performance. The sample consisted of 1152 difficulty scores concerning 288 individual routines, performed in the World Championships in 2013. The data were analysed using the mean absolute judge deviation from the final difficulty score, a Cronbach's alpha coefficient and intra-class correlations, for consistency and reliability assessment. For validity assessment, mean deviations of judges' difficulty scores, the Kendall's coefficient of concordance W and ANOVA eta-squared values were calculated. Overall, the results in terms of consistency (Cronbach's alpha mostly above 0.90) and reliability (intra-class correlations for single and average measures above 0.70 and 0.90, respectively) were satisfactory, in the first and third parts of the ranking on all apparatus. The medium level gymnasts, those in the second part of the ranking, had inferior reliability indices and highest score dispersion. In this part, the minimum of corrected item-total correlation of individual judges was 0.55, with most values well below, and the matrix for between-judge correlations identified remarkable inferior correlations. These findings suggest that the quality of difficulty judging in rhythmic gymnastics may be compromised at certain levels of performance. In future, special attention should be paid to the judging analysis of the medium level gymnasts, as well as the Code of Points applicability at this level.

Judging in Rhythmic Gymnastics at Different Levels of Performance

PubMed Central

Ávila-Carvalho, Lurdes; Sierra-Palmeiro, Elena; Bobo-Arce, Marta

2017-01-01

Abstract This study aimed to analyse the quality of difficulty judging in rhythmic gymnastics, at different levels of performance. The sample consisted of 1152 difficulty scores concerning 288 individual routines, performed in the World Championships in 2013. The data were analysed using the mean absolute judge deviation from the final difficulty score, a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and intra-class correlations, for consistency and reliability assessment. For validity assessment, mean deviations of judges’ difficulty scores, the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance W and ANOVA eta-squared values were calculated. Overall, the results in terms of consistency (Cronbach’s alpha mostly above 0.90) and reliability (intra-class correlations for single and average measures above 0.70 and 0.90, respectively) were satisfactory, in the first and third parts of the ranking on all apparatus. The medium level gymnasts, those in the second part of the ranking, had inferior reliability indices and highest score dispersion. In this part, the minimum of corrected item-total correlation of individual judges was 0.55, with most values well below, and the matrix for between-judge correlations identified remarkable inferior correlations. These findings suggest that the quality of difficulty judging in rhythmic gymnastics may be compromised at certain levels of performance. In future, special attention should be paid to the judging analysis of the medium level gymnasts, as well as the Code of Points applicability at this level. PMID:29339996

Determinants of career structure and advancement among Italian cardiologists. An example of segregation and discrimination against women? SCIC Group. Studio Condizione Italiana Cardiologi.

PubMed

Modena, M G; Lalla, M; Molinari, R

1999-09-01

The aim of this study was to analyse the processes through which job, career and research-related choices are determined in Italian cardiology, focusing on characteristics such as productivity, gender and family. In June 1996, a questionnaire surveying individual and career-related data was mailed to all members (8000) of the Italian societies of cardiology. Returned questionnaires numbered 1715 (21.4% of the total mailed), 83% were completed by men and 17% by women. For both hospital and academic careers, advancement in rank was influenced by variables denoting productivity, family and individual characteristics. However, men and women showed slightly different patterns. Promotion to the upper ranks of the hierarchy was highly dependent upon time (once the effects of the covariates were eliminated). This situation is typical of the internal labour market, that is, in institutions in which staff members are ranked on a hierarchical scale according to formal criteria that are 'rigid' and institutionalized, partially sheltered from competition. Therefore, once a member has gained access to the bottom of the hierarchy, the professional career is 'pre-determined' and seniority has an appreciable influence on promotion decisions; in this context, women appear to be at a disadvantage. Copyright 1999 The European Society of Cardiology.

Testing the robustness of optimal access vessel fleet selection for operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms

DOE PAGES

Sperstad, Iver Bakken; Stålhane, Magnus; Dinwoodie, Iain; ...

2017-09-23

Optimising the operation and maintenance (O&M) and logistics strategy of offshore wind farms implies the decision problem of selecting the vessel fleet for O&M. Different strategic decision support tools can be applied to this problem, but much uncertainty remains regarding both input data and modelling assumptions. Our paper aims to investigate and ultimately reduce this uncertainty by comparing four simulation tools, one mathematical optimisation tool and one analytic spreadsheet-based tool applied to select the O&M access vessel fleet that minimizes the total O&M cost of a reference wind farm. The comparison shows that the tools generally agree on the optimalmore » vessel fleet, but only partially agree on the relative ranking of the different vessel fleets in terms of total O&M cost. The robustness of the vessel fleet selection to various input data assumptions was tested, and the ranking was found to be particularly sensitive to the vessels' limiting significant wave height for turbine access. Also the parameter with the greatest discrepancy between the tools, implies that accurate quantification and modelling of this parameter is crucial. The ranking is moderately sensitive to turbine failure rates and vessel day rates but less sensitive to electricity price and vessel transit speed.« less

Testing the robustness of optimal access vessel fleet selection for operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms

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

Sperstad, Iver Bakken; Stålhane, Magnus; Dinwoodie, Iain

Optimising the operation and maintenance (O&M) and logistics strategy of offshore wind farms implies the decision problem of selecting the vessel fleet for O&M. Different strategic decision support tools can be applied to this problem, but much uncertainty remains regarding both input data and modelling assumptions. Our paper aims to investigate and ultimately reduce this uncertainty by comparing four simulation tools, one mathematical optimisation tool and one analytic spreadsheet-based tool applied to select the O&M access vessel fleet that minimizes the total O&M cost of a reference wind farm. The comparison shows that the tools generally agree on the optimalmore » vessel fleet, but only partially agree on the relative ranking of the different vessel fleets in terms of total O&M cost. The robustness of the vessel fleet selection to various input data assumptions was tested, and the ranking was found to be particularly sensitive to the vessels' limiting significant wave height for turbine access. Also the parameter with the greatest discrepancy between the tools, implies that accurate quantification and modelling of this parameter is crucial. The ranking is moderately sensitive to turbine failure rates and vessel day rates but less sensitive to electricity price and vessel transit speed.« less

Binding affinity toward human prion protein of some anti-prion compounds - Assessment based on QSAR modeling, molecular docking and non-parametric ranking.

PubMed

Kovačević, Strahinja; Karadžić, Milica; Podunavac-Kuzmanović, Sanja; Jevrić, Lidija

2018-01-01

The present study is based on the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis of binding affinity toward human prion protein (huPrP C ) of quinacrine, pyridine dicarbonitrile, diphenylthiazole and diphenyloxazole analogs applying different linear and non-linear chemometric regression techniques, including univariate linear regression, multiple linear regression, partial least squares regression and artificial neural networks. The QSAR analysis distinguished molecular lipophilicity as an important factor that contributes to the binding affinity. Principal component analysis was used in order to reveal similarities or dissimilarities among the studied compounds. The analysis of in silico absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) parameters was conducted. The ranking of the studied analogs on the basis of their ADMET parameters was done applying the sum of ranking differences, as a relatively new chemometric method. The main aim of the study was to reveal the most important molecular features whose changes lead to the changes in the binding affinities of the studied compounds. Another point of view on the binding affinity of the most promising analogs was established by application of molecular docking analysis. The results of the molecular docking were proven to be in agreement with the experimental outcome. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Orthogonal bases of invariants in tensor models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diaz, Pablo; Rey, Soo-Jong

2018-02-01

Representation theory provides an efficient framework to count and classify invariants in tensor models of (gauge) symmetry G d = U( N 1) ⊗ · · · ⊗ U( N d ) . We show that there are two natural ways of counting invariants, one for arbitrary G d and another valid for large rank of G d . We construct basis of invariant operators based on the counting, and compute correlators of their elements. The basis associated with finite rank of G d diagonalizes two-point function. It is analogous to the restricted Schur basis used in matrix models. We comment on future directions for investigation.

LORAKS makes better SENSE: Phase-constrained partial fourier SENSE reconstruction without phase calibration.

PubMed

Kim, Tae Hyung; Setsompop, Kawin; Haldar, Justin P

2017-03-01

Parallel imaging and partial Fourier acquisition are two classical approaches for accelerated MRI. Methods that combine these approaches often rely on prior knowledge of the image phase, but the need to obtain this prior information can place practical restrictions on the data acquisition strategy. In this work, we propose and evaluate SENSE-LORAKS, which enables combined parallel imaging and partial Fourier reconstruction without requiring prior phase information. The proposed formulation is based on combining the classical SENSE model for parallel imaging data with the more recent LORAKS framework for MR image reconstruction using low-rank matrix modeling. Previous LORAKS-based methods have successfully enabled calibrationless partial Fourier parallel MRI reconstruction, but have been most successful with nonuniform sampling strategies that may be hard to implement for certain applications. By combining LORAKS with SENSE, we enable highly accelerated partial Fourier MRI reconstruction for a broader range of sampling trajectories, including widely used calibrationless uniformly undersampled trajectories. Our empirical results with retrospectively undersampled datasets indicate that when SENSE-LORAKS reconstruction is combined with an appropriate k-space sampling trajectory, it can provide substantially better image quality at high-acceleration rates relative to existing state-of-the-art reconstruction approaches. The SENSE-LORAKS framework provides promising new opportunities for highly accelerated MRI. Magn Reson Med 77:1021-1035, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Prediction of survival with multi-scale radiomic analysis in glioblastoma patients.

PubMed

Chaddad, Ahmad; Sabri, Siham; Niazi, Tamim; Abdulkarim, Bassam

2018-06-19

We propose a multiscale texture features based on Laplacian-of Gaussian (LoG) filter to predict progression free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients newly diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM). Experiments use the extracted features derived from 40 patients of GBM with T1-weighted imaging (T1-WI) and Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images that were segmented manually into areas of active tumor, necrosis, and edema. Multiscale texture features were extracted locally from each of these areas of interest using a LoG filter and the relation between features to OS and PFS was investigated using univariate (i.e., Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier estimator) and multivariate analyses (i.e., Random Forest classifier). Three and seven features were statistically correlated with PFS and OS, respectively, with absolute correlation values between 0.32 and 0.36 and p < 0.05. Three features derived from active tumor regions only were associated with OS (p < 0.05) with hazard ratios (HR) of 2.9, 3, and 3.24, respectively. Combined features showed an AUC value of 85.37 and 85.54% for predicting the PFS and OS of GBM patients, respectively, using the random forest (RF) classifier. We presented a multiscale texture features to characterize the GBM regions and predict he PFS and OS. The efficiency achievable suggests that this technique can be developed into a GBM MR analysis system suitable for clinical use after a thorough validation involving more patients. Graphical abstract Scheme of the proposed model for characterizing the heterogeneity of GBM regions and predicting the overall survival and progression free survival of GBM patients. (1) Acquisition of pretreatment MRI images; (2) Affine registration of T1-WI image with its corresponding FLAIR images, and GBM subtype (phenotypes) labelling; (3) Extraction of nine texture features from the three texture scales fine, medium, and coarse derived from each of GBM regions; (4) Comparing heterogeneity between GBM regions by ANOVA test; Survival analysis using Univariate (Spearman rank correlation between features and survival (i.e., PFS and OS) based on each of the GBM regions, Kaplan-Meier estimator and log-rank test to predict the PFS and OS of patient groups that grouped based on median of feature), and multivariate (random forest model) for predicting the PFS and OS of patients groups that grouped based on median of PFS and OS.

Concurrent Validity Between a Shared Curriculum, the Internal Medicine In-Training Examination, and the American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination.

PubMed

Sisson, Stephen D; Bertram, Amanda; Yeh, Hsin-Chieh

2015-03-01

A core objective of residency education is to facilitate learning, and programs need more curricula and assessment tools with demonstrated validity evidence. We sought to demonstrate concurrent validity between performance on a widely shared, ambulatory curriculum (the Johns Hopkins Internal Medicine Curriculum), the Internal Medicine In-Training Examination (IM-ITE), and the American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination (ABIM-CE). A cohort study of 443 postgraduate year (PGY)-3 residents at 22 academic and community hospital internal medicine residency programs using the curriculum through the Johns Hopkins Internet Learning Center (ILC). Total and percentile rank scores on ILC didactic modules were compared with total and percentile rank scores on the IM-ITE and total scores on the ABIM-CE. The average score on didactic modules was 80.1%; the percentile rank was 53.8. The average IM-ITE score was 64.1% with a percentile rank of 54.8. The average score on the ABIM-CE was 464. Scores on the didactic modules, IM-ITE, and ABIM-CE correlated with each other (P < .05). Residents completing greater numbers of didactic modules, regardless of scores, had higher IM-ITE total and percentile rank scores (P < .05). Resident performance on modules covering back pain, hypertension, preoperative evaluation, and upper respiratory tract infection was associated with IM-ITE percentile rank. Performance on a widely shared ambulatory curriculum is associated with performance on the IM-ITE and the ABIM-CE.

Local Functional Connectivity as a Pre-Surgical Tool for Seizure Focus Identification in Non-Lesion, Focal Epilepsy

PubMed Central

Weaver, K. E.; Chaovalitwongse, W. A.; Novotny, E. J.; Poliakov, A.; Grabowski, T. G.; Ojemann, J. G.

2013-01-01

Successful resection of cortical tissue engendering seizure activity is efficacious for the treatment of refractory, focal epilepsy. The pre-operative localization of the seizure focus is therefore critical to yielding positive, post-operative outcomes. In a small proportion of focal epilepsy patients presenting with normal MRI, identification of the seizure focus is significantly more challenging. We examined the capacity of resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) to identify the seizure focus in a group of four non-lesion, focal (NLF) epilepsy individuals. We predicted that computing patterns of local functional connectivity in and around the epileptogenic zone combined with a specific reference to the corresponding region within the contralateral hemisphere would reliably predict the location of the seizure focus. We first averaged voxel-wise regional homogeneity (ReHo) across regions of interest (ROIs) from a standardized, probabilistic atlas for each NLF subject as well as 16 age- and gender-matched controls. To examine contralateral effects, we computed a ratio of the mean pair-wise correlations of all voxels within a ROI with the corresponding contralateral region (IntraRegional Connectivity – IRC). For each subject, ROIs were ranked (from lowest to highest) on ReHo, IRC, and the mean of the two values. At the group level, we observed a significant decrease in the rank for ROI harboring the seizure focus for the ReHo rankings as well as for the mean rank. At the individual level, the seizure focus ReHo rank was within bottom 10% lowest ranked ROIs for all four NLF epilepsy patients and three out of the four for the IRC rankings. However, when the two ranks were combined (averaging across ReHo and IRC ranks and scalars), the seizure focus ROI was either the lowest or second lowest ranked ROI for three out of the four epilepsy subjects. This suggests that rsfMRI may serve as an adjunct pre-surgical tool, facilitating the identification of the seizure focus in focal epilepsy. PMID:23641233

Evidence of quantum correlations in the H/D-transfer dynamics in the hydrogen bonds in partially deuterated benzoic acid crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takeda, Sadamu; Tsuzumitani, Akihiko; Chatzidimitriou-Dreismann, C. A.

1992-10-01

A precise investigation of spin—lattice relaxation rates for protons and deuterons of partially deuterated benzoic acid crystals showed a remarkable quenching of the transfer rate of an HD pair in hydrogen-bonded dimeric units of carboxyl groups with increasing concentration of D in the surrounding hydrogen bonds. A similar effect was also observed for partially deuterated crystals of acetylenedicarboxylic acid. This finding supports recent theoretical predictions of thermally activated protonic quantum correlation in condensed matter and proposes a new mechanism for the proton transfer in hydrogen bonds in condensed matter.

Recovering task fMRI signals from highly under-sampled data with low-rank and temporal subspace constraints.

PubMed

Chiew, Mark; Graedel, Nadine N; Miller, Karla L

2018-07-01

Recent developments in highly accelerated fMRI data acquisition have employed low-rank and/or sparsity constraints for image reconstruction, as an alternative to conventional, time-independent parallel imaging. When under-sampling factors are high or the signals of interest are low-variance, however, functional data recovery can be poor or incomplete. We introduce a method for improving reconstruction fidelity using external constraints, like an experimental design matrix, to partially orient the estimated fMRI temporal subspace. Combining these external constraints with low-rank constraints introduces a new image reconstruction model that is analogous to using a mixture of subspace-decomposition (PCA/ICA) and regression (GLM) models in fMRI analysis. We show that this approach improves fMRI reconstruction quality in simulations and experimental data, focusing on the model problem of detecting subtle 1-s latency shifts between brain regions in a block-design task-fMRI experiment. Successful latency discrimination is shown at acceleration factors up to R = 16 in a radial-Cartesian acquisition. We show that this approach works with approximate, or not perfectly informative constraints, where the derived benefit is commensurate with the information content contained in the constraints. The proposed method extends low-rank approximation methods for under-sampled fMRI data acquisition by leveraging knowledge of expected task-based variance in the data, enabling improvements in the speed and efficiency of fMRI data acquisition without the loss of subtle features. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Numerical analysis of inter-specific relationships in the estuary salt marsh plant community of southern Chongming Dongtan, Shanghai.

PubMed

Ding, Wen Hui; Li, Xiu Zhen; Jiang, Jun Yan; Huang, Xing; Zhang, Yun Qing; Zhang, Qian; Zhou, Yun Xuan

2016-05-01

The salt marsh plant communities were investigated with quadrats in the southern Chongming Dongtan. Based on the vegetation coverage and the 2×2 contingency table, 8 common species among the 17 higher plants recorded were analyzed. The variance ratio of overall association, Chi-square test and Spearman rank correlation coefficient were used to describe the relevance and correlations between species pairs. The results showed that W (48.61), a statistical index to test the variance ratio (VR=0.61), fell outside of the range of Chi-square test, indicating that the overall correlation of all vegetation species was significantly negative. According to the environment adaptation mode of dominant species and the main influencing factors, the species were divided into 4 ecological groups, i.e., Phragmites australis, Carex scabrifolia-Scirpus triqueter - Juncellus serotinus, Spartina alterniflora - Scirpus mariqueter, Echinochloa crusgalli - Imperata cylindrica, based on the ranking of Spearman correlation coefficient. The inter-specific relationships in the salt marsh plant community of southern Chongming Dongtan were complicated and extremely unstable with species sensitive to environmental impacts. According to the analysis of relationships between the species and their pre-sent distribution, we suggested using S. mariqueter as target species to provide strategies for protecting native species based habitats.

Reliability and validity of a quantitative color scale to evaluate masticatory performance using color-changeable chewing gum.

PubMed

Hama, Yohei; Kanazawa, Manabu; Minakuchi, Shunsuke; Uchida, Tatsuro; Sasaki, Yoshiyuki

2014-03-19

In the present study, we developed a novel color scale for visual assessment, conforming to theoretical color changes of a gum, to evaluate masticatoryperformance; moreover, we investigated the reliability and validity of this evaluation method using the color scale. Ten participants (aged 26.30 years) with natural dentition chewed the gum at several chewing strokes. Changes in color were measured using a colorimeter, and then, linearregression expressions that represented changes in gum color were derived. The color scale was developed using these regression expressions. Thirty-two chewed gums were evaluated using colorimeter and were assessed three times using the color scale by six dentists aged 25.27 (mean, 25.8) years, six preclinical dental students aged 21.23 (mean, 22.2) years, and six elderly individuals aged 68.84 (mean, 74.0) years. The intrarater and interrater reliability of evaluations was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients. Validity of the method compared with a colorimeter was assessed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. All intraclass correlation coefficients were > 0.90, and Spearman's rank-correlation coefficients were > 0.95 in all groups. These results indicated that the evaluation method of the color-changeable chewing gum using the newly developed color scale is reliable and valid.

[Correlation between red blood cell count and liver function status].

PubMed

Xie, Xiaomeng; Wang, Leijie; Yao, Mingjie; Wen, Xiajie; Chen, Xiangmei; You, Hong; Jia, Jidong; Zhao, Jingmin; Lu, Fengmin

2016-02-01

To investigate the changes in red blood cell count in patients with different liver diseases and the correlation between red blood cell count and degree of liver damage. The clinical data of 1427 patients with primary liver cancer, 172 patients with liver cirrhosis, and 185 patients with hepatitis were collected, and the Child-Pugh class was determined for all patients. The differences in red blood cell count between patients with different liver diseases were retrospectively analyzed, and the correlation between red blood cell count and liver function status was investigated. The Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, rank sum test, Spearman rank sum correlation test, and chi-square test were performed for different types of data. Red blood cell count showed significant differences between patients with chronic hepatitis, liver cancer, and liver cirrhosis and was highest in patients with chronic hepatitis and lowest in patients with liver cirrhosis (P < 0.05). In the patients with liver cirrhosis, red blood cell count tended to decrease in patients with a higher Child-Pugh class (P < 0.05). For patients with liver cirrhosis, red blood cell count can reflect the degree of liver damage, which may contribute to an improved liver function prediction model for these patients.

Multi-Target Regression via Robust Low-Rank Learning.

PubMed

Zhen, Xiantong; Yu, Mengyang; He, Xiaofei; Li, Shuo

2018-02-01

Multi-target regression has recently regained great popularity due to its capability of simultaneously learning multiple relevant regression tasks and its wide applications in data mining, computer vision and medical image analysis, while great challenges arise from jointly handling inter-target correlations and input-output relationships. In this paper, we propose Multi-layer Multi-target Regression (MMR) which enables simultaneously modeling intrinsic inter-target correlations and nonlinear input-output relationships in a general framework via robust low-rank learning. Specifically, the MMR can explicitly encode inter-target correlations in a structure matrix by matrix elastic nets (MEN); the MMR can work in conjunction with the kernel trick to effectively disentangle highly complex nonlinear input-output relationships; the MMR can be efficiently solved by a new alternating optimization algorithm with guaranteed convergence. The MMR leverages the strength of kernel methods for nonlinear feature learning and the structural advantage of multi-layer learning architectures for inter-target correlation modeling. More importantly, it offers a new multi-layer learning paradigm for multi-target regression which is endowed with high generality, flexibility and expressive ability. Extensive experimental evaluation on 18 diverse real-world datasets demonstrates that our MMR can achieve consistently high performance and outperforms representative state-of-the-art algorithms, which shows its great effectiveness and generality for multivariate prediction.

On the Possibility of Ill-Conditioned Covariance Matrices in the First-Order Two-Step Estimator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garrison, James L.; Axelrod, Penina; Kasdin, N. Jeremy

1997-01-01

The first-order two-step nonlinear estimator, when applied to a problem of orbital navigation, is found to occasionally produce first step covariance matrices with very low eigenvalues at certain trajectory points. This anomaly is the result of the linear approximation to the first step covariance propagation. The study of this anomaly begins with expressing the propagation of the first and second step covariance matrices in terms of a single matrix. This matrix is shown to have a rank equal to the difference between the number of first step states and the number of second step states. Furthermore, under some simplifying assumptions, it is found that the basis of the column space of this matrix remains fixed once the filter has removed the large initial state error. A test matrix containing the basis of this column space and the partial derivative matrix relating first and second step states is derived. This square test matrix, which has dimensions equal to the number of first step states, numerically drops rank at the same locations that the first step covariance does. It is formulated in terms of a set of constant vectors (the basis) and a matrix which can be computed from a reference trajectory (the partial derivative matrix). A simple example problem involving dynamics which are described by two states and a range measurement illustrate the cause of this anomaly and the application of the aforementioned numerical test in more detail.