Test Equality between Three Treatments under an Incomplete Block Crossover Design.

PubMed

Lui, Kung-Jong

2015-01-01

Under a random effects linear additive risk model, we compare two experimental treatments with a placebo in continuous data under an incomplete block crossover trial. We develop three test procedures for simultaneously testing equality between two experimental treatments and a placebo, as well as interval estimators for the mean difference between treatments. We apply Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the performance of these test procedures and interval estimators in a variety of situations. We note that the bivariate test procedure accounting for the dependence structure based on the F-test is preferable to the other two procedures when there is only one of the two experimental treatments has a non-zero effect vs. the placebo. We note further that when the effects of the two experimental treatments vs. a placebo are in the same relative directions and are approximately of equal magnitude, the summary test procedure based on a simple average of two weighted-least-squares (WLS) estimators can outperform the other two procedures with respect to power. When one of the two experimental treatments has a relatively large effect vs. the placebo, the univariate test procedure with using Bonferroni's equality can be still of use. Finally, we use the data about the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) readings taken from a double-blind crossover trial comparing two different doses of formoterol with a placebo to illustrate the use of test procedures and interval estimators proposed here.

Development of test procedure for the design of black base : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-01-01

There is no standard design procedure available for black base mixes containing aggregates larger than 1" (25.4 mm) This investigation dealt with the use of stability testing equipment similar to that used in the design of surface mixes and developme...

Notes on testing equality and interval estimation in Poisson frequency data under a three-treatment three-period crossover trial.

PubMed

Lui, Kung-Jong; Chang, Kuang-Chao

2016-10-01

When the frequency of event occurrences follows a Poisson distribution, we develop procedures for testing equality of treatments and interval estimators for the ratio of mean frequencies between treatments under a three-treatment three-period crossover design. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we evaluate the performance of these test procedures and interval estimators in various situations. We note that all test procedures developed here can perform well with respect to Type I error even when the number of patients per group is moderate. We further note that the two weighted-least-squares (WLS) test procedures derived here are generally preferable to the other two commonly used test procedures in the contingency table analysis. We also demonstrate that both interval estimators based on the WLS method and interval estimators based on Mantel-Haenszel (MH) approach can perform well, and are essentially of equal precision with respect to the average length. We use a double-blind randomized three-treatment three-period crossover trial comparing salbutamol and salmeterol with a placebo with respect to the number of exacerbations of asthma to illustrate the use of these test procedures and estimators. © The Author(s) 2014.

A mixture gatekeeping procedure based on the Hommel test for clinical trial applications.

PubMed

Brechenmacher, Thomas; Xu, Jane; Dmitrienko, Alex; Tamhane, Ajit C

2011-07-01

When conducting clinical trials with hierarchically ordered objectives, it is essential to use multiplicity adjustment methods that control the familywise error rate in the strong sense while taking into account the logical relations among the null hypotheses. This paper proposes a gatekeeping procedure based on the Hommel (1988) test, which offers power advantages compared to other p value-based tests proposed in the literature. A general description of the procedure is given and details are presented on how it can be applied to complex clinical trial designs. Two clinical trial examples are given to illustrate the methodology developed in the paper.

Direct structural parameter identification by modal test results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, J.-C.; Kuo, C.-P.; Garba, J. A.

1983-01-01

A direct identification procedure is proposed to obtain the mass and stiffness matrices based on the test measured eigenvalues and eigenvectors. The method is based on the theory of matrix perturbation in which the correct mass and stiffness matrices are expanded in terms of analytical values plus a modification matrix. The simplicity of the procedure enables real time operation during the structural testing.

A Statistical Analysis of Brain Morphology Using Wild Bootstrapping

PubMed Central

Ibrahim, Joseph G.; Tang, Niansheng; Rowe, Daniel B.; Hao, Xuejun; Bansal, Ravi; Peterson, Bradley S.

2008-01-01

Methods for the analysis of brain morphology, including voxel-based morphology and surface-based morphometries, have been used to detect associations between brain structure and covariates of interest, such as diagnosis, severity of disease, age, IQ, and genotype. The statistical analysis of morphometric measures usually involves two statistical procedures: 1) invoking a statistical model at each voxel (or point) on the surface of the brain or brain subregion, followed by mapping test statistics (e.g., t test) or their associated p values at each of those voxels; 2) correction for the multiple statistical tests conducted across all voxels on the surface of the brain region under investigation. We propose the use of new statistical methods for each of these procedures. We first use a heteroscedastic linear model to test the associations between the morphological measures at each voxel on the surface of the specified subregion (e.g., cortical or subcortical surfaces) and the covariates of interest. Moreover, we develop a robust test procedure that is based on a resampling method, called wild bootstrapping. This procedure assesses the statistical significance of the associations between a measure of given brain structure and the covariates of interest. The value of this robust test procedure lies in its computationally simplicity and in its applicability to a wide range of imaging data, including data from both anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Simulation studies demonstrate that this robust test procedure can accurately control the family-wise error rate. We demonstrate the application of this robust test procedure to the detection of statistically significant differences in the morphology of the hippocampus over time across gender groups in a large sample of healthy subjects. PMID:17649909

A Simulation Comparison of Parametric and Nonparametric Dimensionality Detection Procedures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mroch, Andrew A.; Bolt, Daniel M.

2006-01-01

Recently, nonparametric methods have been proposed that provide a dimensionally based description of test structure for tests with dichotomous items. Because such methods are based on different notions of dimensionality than are assumed when using a psychometric model, it remains unclear whether these procedures might lead to a different…

Development of a personal computer-based secondary task procedure as a surrogate for a driving simulator

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-08-01

This research was conducted to develop and test a personal computer-based study procedure (PCSP) with secondary task loading for use in human factors laboratory experiments in lieu of a driving simulator to test reading time and understanding of traf...

40 CFR 86.1430 - Certification Short Test sequence; general requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... test procedure. Fuel tank drain and fill is performed or a transient test procedure is performed, as... sets of test conditions identified in this subpart are based on the test fuel type present in the vehicle fuel tank and the ambient temperature during the test. Tables O-96-1 and O-96-2 outline the...

40 CFR 86.1430 - Certification Short Test sequence; general requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... test procedure. Fuel tank drain and fill is performed or a transient test procedure is performed, as... sets of test conditions identified in this subpart are based on the test fuel type present in the vehicle fuel tank and the ambient temperature during the test. Tables O-96-1 and O-96-2 outline the...

40 CFR 86.1430 - Certification Short Test sequence; general requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... test procedure. Fuel tank drain and fill is performed or a transient test procedure is performed, as... sets of test conditions identified in this subpart are based on the test fuel type present in the vehicle fuel tank and the ambient temperature during the test. Tables O-96-1 and O-96-2 outline the...

40 CFR 86.1430 - Certification Short Test sequence; general requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... test procedure. Fuel tank drain and fill is performed or a transient test procedure is performed, as... sets of test conditions identified in this subpart are based on the test fuel type present in the vehicle fuel tank and the ambient temperature during the test. Tables O-96-1 and O-96-2 outline the...

Monitoring Items in Real Time to Enhance CAT Security

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Jinming; Li, Jie

2016-01-01

An IRT-based sequential procedure is developed to monitor items for enhancing test security. The procedure uses a series of statistical hypothesis tests to examine whether the statistical characteristics of each item under inspection have changed significantly during CAT administration. This procedure is compared with a previously developed…

76 FR 18645 - Third Party Testing for Certain Children's Products; Notice of Requirements for Accreditation of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-05

... referenced: The existing CPSC Standard Operating Procedure for Determining Lead (Pb) in Paint and Other... explicitly require the use of a particular standard operating procedure. Additionally, the following....'' It is still based on standard test procedures, such as ASTM International (formerly the American...

Bon-EV: an improved multiple testing procedure for controlling false discovery rates.

PubMed

Li, Dongmei; Xie, Zidian; Zand, Martin; Fogg, Thomas; Dye, Timothy

2017-01-03

Stability of multiple testing procedures, defined as the standard deviation of total number of discoveries, can be used as an indicator of variability of multiple testing procedures. Improving stability of multiple testing procedures can help to increase the consistency of findings from replicated experiments. Benjamini-Hochberg's and Storey's q-value procedures are two commonly used multiple testing procedures for controlling false discoveries in genomic studies. Storey's q-value procedure has higher power and lower stability than Benjamini-Hochberg's procedure. To improve upon the stability of Storey's q-value procedure and maintain its high power in genomic data analysis, we propose a new multiple testing procedure, named Bon-EV, to control false discovery rate (FDR) based on Bonferroni's approach. Simulation studies show that our proposed Bon-EV procedure can maintain the high power of the Storey's q-value procedure and also result in better FDR control and higher stability than Storey's q-value procedure for samples of large size(30 in each group) and medium size (15 in each group) for either independent, somewhat correlated, or highly correlated test statistics. When sample size is small (5 in each group), our proposed Bon-EV procedure has performance between the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure and the Storey's q-value procedure. Examples using RNA-Seq data show that the Bon-EV procedure has higher stability than the Storey's q-value procedure while maintaining equivalent power, and higher power than the Benjamini-Hochberg's procedure. For medium or large sample sizes, the Bon-EV procedure has improved FDR control and stability compared with the Storey's q-value procedure and improved power compared with the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure. The Bon-EV multiple testing procedure is available as the BonEV package in R for download at https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=BonEV .

Item Selection for the Development of Parallel Forms from an IRT-Based Seed Test Using a Sampling and Classification Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Pei-Hua; Chang, Hua-Hua; Wu, Haiyan

2012-01-01

Two sampling-and-classification-based procedures were developed for automated test assembly: the Cell Only and the Cell and Cube methods. A simulation study based on a 540-item bank was conducted to compare the performance of the procedures with the performance of a mixed-integer programming (MIP) method for assembling multiple parallel test…

The use of by-products from metallurgical and mineral industries as filler in cement-based materials.

PubMed

Moosberg, Helena; Lagerblad, Björn; Forssberg, Eric

2003-02-01

This investigation has been made in order to make it possible to increase the use of by-products in cement-based materials. Use of by-products requires a screening procedure that will reliably determine their impact on concrete. A test procedure was developed. The most important properties were considered to be strength development, shrinkage, expansion and workability. The methods used were calorimetry, flow table tests, F-shape measurements, measurements of compressive and flexural strength and shrinkage/expansion measurements. Scanning electron microscopy was used to verify some results. Twelve by-products were collected from Swedish metallurgical and mineral industries and classified according to the test procedure. The investigation showed that the test procedure clearly screened out the materials that can be used in the production of concrete from the unsuitable ones.

Monitor for Sterilization Procedures

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-10-25

were tested using ampules of Bacillus stearothermophilus spores commercially manufactured by Barnstead/Thermolyne for testing sterilization procedures...Monitor for Sterilization Procedures F. Cleary1,2, H.-Y. Mason2, C. Estes2, A. Duncan2, W. Ellis, Jr.2 and L. Powers2 1Moses Brown High School...accurate determination of the efficacy of sterilization procedures is demonstrated using a hand-held instrument based on the intrinsic fluorescence of

On a problematic procedure to manipulate response biases in recognition experiments: the case of "implied" base rates.

PubMed

Bröder, Arndt; Malejka, Simone

2017-07-01

The experimental manipulation of response biases in recognition-memory tests is an important means for testing recognition models and for estimating their parameters. The textbook manipulations for binary-response formats either vary the payoff scheme or the base rate of targets in the recognition test, with the latter being the more frequently applied procedure. However, some published studies reverted to implying different base rates by instruction rather than actually changing them. Aside from unnecessarily deceiving participants, this procedure may lead to cognitive conflicts that prompt response strategies unknown to the experimenter. To test our objection, implied base rates were compared to actual base rates in a recognition experiment followed by a post-experimental interview to assess participants' response strategies. The behavioural data show that recognition-memory performance was estimated to be lower in the implied base-rate condition. The interview data demonstrate that participants used various second-order response strategies that jeopardise the interpretability of the recognition data. We thus advice researchers against substituting actual base rates with implied base rates.

Test and evaluation of 23 electric vehicles for state-of-the-art assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dustin, M. O.; Denington, R. J.

1978-01-01

Eleven of the electric vehicles were passenger cars and 12 were commercial vans. Tests were conducted in accordance with an ERDS test procedure which is based on the SAE J227a Test Procedure. Tests included range, acceleration, coast-down, and braking. The results of the tests are presented, and comments on reliability are made.

Specific test and evaluation plan

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

Hays, W.H.

1998-03-20

The purpose of this Specific Test and Evaluation Plan (STEP) is to provide a detailed written plan for the systematic testing of modifications made to the 241-AX-B Valve Pit by the W-314 Project. The STEP develops the outline for test procedures that verify the system`s performance to the established Project design criteria. The STEP is a lower tier document based on the W-314 Test and Evaluation Plan (TEP). Testing includes Validations and Verifications (e.g., Commercial Grade Item Dedication activities), Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs), installation tests and inspections, Construction Acceptance Tests (CATs), Acceptance Test Procedures (ATPs), Pre-Operational Test Procedures (POTPs), andmore » Operational Test Procedures (OTPs). It should be noted that POTPs are not required for testing of the transfer line addition. The STEP will be utilized in conjunction with the TEP for verification and validation.« less

Slice-thickness evaluation in CT and MRI: an alternative computerised procedure.

PubMed

Acri, G; Tripepi, M G; Causa, F; Testagrossa, B; Novario, R; Vermiglio, G

2012-04-01

The efficient use of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment necessitates establishing adequate quality-control (QC) procedures. In particular, the accuracy of slice thickness (ST) requires scan exploration of phantoms containing test objects (plane, cone or spiral). To simplify such procedures, a novel phantom and a computerised LabView-based procedure have been devised, enabling determination of full width at half maximum (FWHM) in real time. The phantom consists of a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) box, diagonally crossed by a PMMA septum dividing the box into two sections. The phantom images were acquired and processed using the LabView-based procedure. The LabView (LV) results were compared with those obtained by processing the same phantom images with commercial software, and the Fisher exact test (F test) was conducted on the resulting data sets to validate the proposed methodology. In all cases, there was no statistically significant variation between the two different procedures and the LV procedure, which can therefore be proposed as a valuable alternative to other commonly used procedures and be reliably used on any CT and MRI scanner.

Item Selection and Ability Estimation Procedures for a Mixed-Format Adaptive Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Tsung-Han; Dodd, Barbara G.

2012-01-01

In this study we compared five item selection procedures using three ability estimation methods in the context of a mixed-format adaptive test based on the generalized partial credit model. The item selection procedures used were maximum posterior weighted information, maximum expected information, maximum posterior weighted Kullback-Leibler…

Effect of non-normality on test statistics for one-way independent groups designs.

PubMed

Cribbie, Robert A; Fiksenbaum, Lisa; Keselman, H J; Wilcox, Rand R

2012-02-01

The data obtained from one-way independent groups designs is typically non-normal in form and rarely equally variable across treatment populations (i.e., population variances are heterogeneous). Consequently, the classical test statistic that is used to assess statistical significance (i.e., the analysis of variance F test) typically provides invalid results (e.g., too many Type I errors, reduced power). For this reason, there has been considerable interest in finding a test statistic that is appropriate under conditions of non-normality and variance heterogeneity. Previously recommended procedures for analysing such data include the James test, the Welch test applied either to the usual least squares estimators of central tendency and variability, or the Welch test with robust estimators (i.e., trimmed means and Winsorized variances). A new statistic proposed by Krishnamoorthy, Lu, and Mathew, intended to deal with heterogeneous variances, though not non-normality, uses a parametric bootstrap procedure. In their investigation of the parametric bootstrap test, the authors examined its operating characteristics under limited conditions and did not compare it to the Welch test based on robust estimators. Thus, we investigated how the parametric bootstrap procedure and a modified parametric bootstrap procedure based on trimmed means perform relative to previously recommended procedures when data are non-normal and heterogeneous. The results indicated that the tests based on trimmed means offer the best Type I error control and power when variances are unequal and at least some of the distribution shapes are non-normal. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

Confidence Intervals for Weighted Composite Scores under the Compound Binomial Error Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Kyung Yong; Lee, Won-Chan

2018-01-01

Reporting confidence intervals with test scores helps test users make important decisions about examinees by providing information about the precision of test scores. Although a variety of estimation procedures based on the binomial error model are available for computing intervals for test scores, these procedures assume that items are randomly…

Homogeneity tests of clustered diagnostic markers with applications to the BioCycle Study

PubMed Central

Tang, Liansheng Larry; Liu, Aiyi; Schisterman, Enrique F.; Zhou, Xiao-Hua; Liu, Catherine Chun-ling

2014-01-01

Diagnostic trials often require the use of a homogeneity test among several markers. Such a test may be necessary to determine the power both during the design phase and in the initial analysis stage. However, no formal method is available for the power and sample size calculation when the number of markers is greater than two and marker measurements are clustered in subjects. This article presents two procedures for testing the accuracy among clustered diagnostic markers. The first procedure is a test of homogeneity among continuous markers based on a global null hypothesis of the same accuracy. The result under the alternative provides the explicit distribution for the power and sample size calculation. The second procedure is a simultaneous pairwise comparison test based on weighted areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves. This test is particularly useful if a global difference among markers is found by the homogeneity test. We apply our procedures to the BioCycle Study designed to assess and compare the accuracy of hormone and oxidative stress markers in distinguishing women with ovulatory menstrual cycles from those without. PMID:22733707

Randomization Procedures Applied to Analysis of Ballistic Data

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-01

test,;;15. NUMBER OF PAGES data analysis; computationally intensive statistics ; randomization tests; permutation tests; 16 nonparametric statistics ...be 0.13. 8 Any reasonable statistical procedure would fail to support the notion of improvement of dynamic over standard indexing based on this data ...AD-A238 389 TECHNICAL REPORT BRL-TR-3245 iBRL RANDOMIZATION PROCEDURES APPLIED TO ANALYSIS OF BALLISTIC DATA MALCOLM S. TAYLOR BARRY A. BODT - JUNE

Resampling-Based Empirical Bayes Multiple Testing Procedures for Controlling Generalized Tail Probability and Expected Value Error Rates: Focus on the False Discovery Rate and Simulation Study

PubMed Central

Dudoit, Sandrine; Gilbert, Houston N.; van der Laan, Mark J.

2014-01-01

Summary This article proposes resampling-based empirical Bayes multiple testing procedures for controlling a broad class of Type I error rates, defined as generalized tail probability (gTP) error rates, gTP(q, g) = Pr(g(Vn, Sn) > q), and generalized expected value (gEV) error rates, gEV(g) = E[g(Vn, Sn)], for arbitrary functions g(Vn, Sn) of the numbers of false positives Vn and true positives Sn. Of particular interest are error rates based on the proportion g(Vn, Sn) = Vn/(Vn + Sn) of Type I errors among the rejected hypotheses, such as the false discovery rate (FDR), FDR = E[Vn/(Vn + Sn)]. The proposed procedures offer several advantages over existing methods. They provide Type I error control for general data generating distributions, with arbitrary dependence structures among variables. Gains in power are achieved by deriving rejection regions based on guessed sets of true null hypotheses and null test statistics randomly sampled from joint distributions that account for the dependence structure of the data. The Type I error and power properties of an FDR-controlling version of the resampling-based empirical Bayes approach are investigated and compared to those of widely-used FDR-controlling linear step-up procedures in a simulation study. The Type I error and power trade-off achieved by the empirical Bayes procedures under a variety of testing scenarios allows this approach to be competitive with or outperform the Storey and Tibshirani (2003) linear step-up procedure, as an alternative to the classical Benjamini and Hochberg (1995) procedure. PMID:18932138

POWER-ENHANCED MULTIPLE DECISION FUNCTIONS CONTROLLING FAMILY-WISE ERROR AND FALSE DISCOVERY RATES.

PubMed

Peña, Edsel A; Habiger, Joshua D; Wu, Wensong

2011-02-01

Improved procedures, in terms of smaller missed discovery rates (MDR), for performing multiple hypotheses testing with weak and strong control of the family-wise error rate (FWER) or the false discovery rate (FDR) are developed and studied. The improvement over existing procedures such as the Šidák procedure for FWER control and the Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) procedure for FDR control is achieved by exploiting possible differences in the powers of the individual tests. Results signal the need to take into account the powers of the individual tests and to have multiple hypotheses decision functions which are not limited to simply using the individual p -values, as is the case, for example, with the Šidák, Bonferroni, or BH procedures. They also enhance understanding of the role of the powers of individual tests, or more precisely the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) functions of decision processes, in the search for better multiple hypotheses testing procedures. A decision-theoretic framework is utilized, and through auxiliary randomizers the procedures could be used with discrete or mixed-type data or with rank-based nonparametric tests. This is in contrast to existing p -value based procedures whose theoretical validity is contingent on each of these p -value statistics being stochastically equal to or greater than a standard uniform variable under the null hypothesis. Proposed procedures are relevant in the analysis of high-dimensional "large M , small n " data sets arising in the natural, physical, medical, economic and social sciences, whose generation and creation is accelerated by advances in high-throughput technology, notably, but not limited to, microarray technology.

Notes on testing non-inferiority under the partial verification design with a confirmatory procedure limited to screen positives.

PubMed

Lui, Kung-Jong

2012-05-01

When a new test with fewer invasions or less expenses to administer than the traditional test is developed, we may be interested in testing whether the former is non-inferior to the latter with respect to test accuracy. We define non-inferiority via both the odds ratio (OR) of correctly identifying a case and the OR of correctly identifying a non-case between two tests under comparison. We focus our discussion on testing the non-inferiority of a new screening test to a traditional screening test when a confirmatory procedure is performed only on patients with screen positives. On the basis of well-established methods for paired-sample data, we derive an asymptotic test procedure and an exact test procedure with respect to the two ORs defined here. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we evaluate the performance of these test procedures in a variety of situations. We note that the test procedures proposed here can also be applicable if we are interested in testing non-inferiority with respect to the ratio of sensitivities and the ratio of specificities. We discuss interval estimation of these ORs and sample size calculation based on the asymptotic test procedure considered here. We use the data taken from a study of the prostate-specific-antigen (PSA) test and the digital rectal examination (DRE) test to illustrate the practical use of these test procedures, interval estimators and sample size calculation formula. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 60.44c - Compliance and performance test methods and procedures for sulfur dioxide.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... and procedures for sulfur dioxide. 60.44c Section 60.44c Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... Compliance and performance test methods and procedures for sulfur dioxide. (a) Except as provided in... operator seeks to demonstrate compliance with the fuel oil sulfur limits under § 60.42c based on shipment...

40 CFR 60.44c - Compliance and performance test methods and procedures for sulfur dioxide.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... and procedures for sulfur dioxide. 60.44c Section 60.44c Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... Compliance and performance test methods and procedures for sulfur dioxide. (a) Except as provided in... operator seeks to demonstrate compliance with the fuel oil sulfur limits under § 60.42c based on shipment...

40 CFR 60.44c - Compliance and performance test methods and procedures for sulfur dioxide.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... and procedures for sulfur dioxide. 60.44c Section 60.44c Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... Compliance and performance test methods and procedures for sulfur dioxide. (a) Except as provided in... operator seeks to demonstrate compliance with the fuel oil sulfur limits under § 60.42c based on shipment...

40 CFR 60.44c - Compliance and performance test methods and procedures for sulfur dioxide.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... and procedures for sulfur dioxide. 60.44c Section 60.44c Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... Compliance and performance test methods and procedures for sulfur dioxide. (a) Except as provided in... operator seeks to demonstrate compliance with the fuel oil sulfur limits under § 60.42c based on shipment...

MATLAB-implemented estimation procedure for model-based assessment of hepatic insulin degradation from standard intravenous glucose tolerance test data.

PubMed

Di Nardo, Francesco; Mengoni, Michele; Morettini, Micaela

2013-05-01

Present study provides a novel MATLAB-based parameter estimation procedure for individual assessment of hepatic insulin degradation (HID) process from standard frequently-sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (FSIGTT) data. Direct access to the source code, offered by MATLAB, enabled us to design an optimization procedure based on the alternating use of Gauss-Newton's and Levenberg-Marquardt's algorithms, which assures the full convergence of the process and the containment of computational time. Reliability was tested by direct comparison with the application, in eighteen non-diabetic subjects, of well-known kinetic analysis software package SAAM II, and by application on different data. Agreement between MATLAB and SAAM II was warranted by intraclass correlation coefficients ≥0.73; no significant differences between corresponding mean parameter estimates and prediction of HID rate; and consistent residual analysis. Moreover, MATLAB optimization procedure resulted in a significant 51% reduction of CV% for the worst-estimated parameter by SAAM II and in maintaining all model-parameter CV% <20%. In conclusion, our MATLAB-based procedure was suggested as a suitable tool for the individual assessment of HID process. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Project W-314 specific test and evaluation plan for AZ tank farm upgrades

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

Hays, W.H.

1998-08-12

The purpose of this Specific Test and Evaluation Plan (STEP) is to provide a detailed written plan for the systematic testing of modifications made by the addition of the SN-631 transfer line from the AZ-O1A pit to the AZ-02A pit by the W-314 Project. The STEP develops the outline for test procedures that verify the system`s performance to the established Project design criteria. The STEP is a lower tier document based on the W-314 Test and Evaluation P1 an (TEP). Testing includes Validations and Verifications (e.g., Commercial Grade Item Dedication activities, etc), Factory Tests and Inspections (FTIs), installation tests andmore » inspections, Construction Tests and Inspections (CTIs), Acceptance Test Procedures (ATPs), Pre-Operational Test Procedures (POTPs), and Operational Test Procedures (OTPs). The STEP will be utilized in conjunction with the TEP for verification and validation.« less

Security Considerations and Recommendations in Computer-Based Testing

PubMed Central

Al-Saleem, Saleh M.

2014-01-01

Many organizations and institutions around the globe are moving or planning to move their paper-and-pencil based testing to computer-based testing (CBT). However, this conversion will not be the best option for all kinds of exams and it will require significant resources. These resources may include the preparation of item banks, methods for test delivery, procedures for test administration, and last but not least test security. Security aspects may include but are not limited to the identification and authentication of examinee, the risks that are associated with cheating on the exam, and the procedures related to test delivery to the examinee. This paper will mainly investigate the security considerations associated with CBT and will provide some recommendations for the security of these kinds of tests. We will also propose a palm-based biometric authentication system incorporated with basic authentication system (username/password) in order to check the identity and authenticity of the examinee. PMID:25254250

Security considerations and recommendations in computer-based testing.

PubMed

Al-Saleem, Saleh M; Ullah, Hanif

2014-01-01

Many organizations and institutions around the globe are moving or planning to move their paper-and-pencil based testing to computer-based testing (CBT). However, this conversion will not be the best option for all kinds of exams and it will require significant resources. These resources may include the preparation of item banks, methods for test delivery, procedures for test administration, and last but not least test security. Security aspects may include but are not limited to the identification and authentication of examinee, the risks that are associated with cheating on the exam, and the procedures related to test delivery to the examinee. This paper will mainly investigate the security considerations associated with CBT and will provide some recommendations for the security of these kinds of tests. We will also propose a palm-based biometric authentication system incorporated with basic authentication system (username/password) in order to check the identity and authenticity of the examinee.

PREDICTING CHRONIC LETHALITY OF CHEMICALS TO FISHES FROM ACUTE TOXICITY TEST DATA: THEORY OF ACCELERATED LIFE TESTING

EPA Science Inventory

A method for modeling aquatic toxicity date based on the theory of accelerated life testing and a procedure for maximum likelihood fitting the proposed model is presented. he procedure is computerized as software, which can predict chronic lethality of chemicals using data from a...

A unified framework for weighted parametric multiple test procedures.

PubMed

Xi, Dong; Glimm, Ekkehard; Maurer, Willi; Bretz, Frank

2017-09-01

We describe a general framework for weighted parametric multiple test procedures based on the closure principle. We utilize general weighting strategies that can reflect complex study objectives and include many procedures in the literature as special cases. The proposed weighted parametric tests bridge the gap between rejection rules using either adjusted significance levels or adjusted p-values. This connection is made by allowing intersection hypotheses of the underlying closed test procedure to be tested at level smaller than α. This may be also necessary to take certain study situations into account. For such cases we introduce a subclass of exact α-level parametric tests that satisfy the consonance property. When the correlation is known only for certain subsets of the test statistics, a new procedure is proposed to fully utilize this knowledge within each subset. We illustrate the proposed weighted parametric tests using a clinical trial example and conduct a simulation study to investigate its operating characteristics. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Estimating the Minimum Number of Judges Required for Test-Centred Standard Setting on Written Assessments. Do Discussion and Iteration Have an Influence?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fowell, S. L.; Fewtrell, R.; McLaughlin, P. J.

2008-01-01

Absolute standard setting procedures are recommended for assessment in medical education. Absolute, test-centred standard setting procedures were introduced for written assessments in the Liverpool MBChB in 2001. The modified Angoff and Ebel methods have been used for short answer question-based and extended matching question-based papers,…

Reverberation Chamber Uniformity Validation and Radiated Susceptibility Test Procedures for the NASA High Intensity Radiated Fields Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koppen, Sandra V.; Nguyen, Truong X.; Mielnik, John J.

2010-01-01

The NASA Langley Research Center's High Intensity Radiated Fields Laboratory has developed a capability based on the RTCA/DO-160F Section 20 guidelines for radiated electromagnetic susceptibility testing in reverberation chambers. Phase 1 of the test procedure utilizes mode-tuned stirrer techniques and E-field probe measurements to validate chamber uniformity, determines chamber loading effects, and defines a radiated susceptibility test process. The test procedure is segmented into numbered operations that are largely software controlled. This document is intended as a laboratory test reference and includes diagrams of test setups, equipment lists, as well as test results and analysis. Phase 2 of development is discussed.

Continuing challenges for computer-based neuropsychological tests.

PubMed

Letz, Richard

2003-08-01

A number of issues critical to the development of computer-based neuropsychological testing systems that remain continuing challenges to their widespread use in occupational and environmental health are reviewed. Several computer-based neuropsychological testing systems have been developed over the last 20 years, and they have contributed substantially to the study of neurologic effects of a number of environmental exposures. However, many are no longer supported and do not run on contemporary personal computer operating systems. Issues that are continuing challenges for development of computer-based neuropsychological tests in environmental and occupational health are discussed: (1) some current technological trends that generally make test development more difficult; (2) lack of availability of usable speech recognition of the type required for computer-based testing systems; (3) implementing computer-based procedures and tasks that are improvements over, not just adaptations of, their manually-administered predecessors; (4) implementing tests of a wider range of memory functions than the limited range now available; (5) paying more attention to motivational influences that affect the reliability and validity of computer-based measurements; and (6) increasing the usability of and audience for computer-based systems. Partial solutions to some of these challenges are offered. The challenges posed by current technological trends are substantial and generally beyond the control of testing system developers. Widespread acceptance of the "tablet PC" and implementation of accurate small vocabulary, discrete, speaker-independent speech recognition would enable revolutionary improvements to computer-based testing systems, particularly for testing memory functions not covered in existing systems. Dynamic, adaptive procedures, particularly ones based on item-response theory (IRT) and computerized-adaptive testing (CAT) methods, will be implemented in new tests that will be more efficient, reliable, and valid than existing test procedures. These additional developments, along with implementation of innovative reporting formats, are necessary for more widespread acceptance of the testing systems.

An Empirical Comparison of Selected Two-Sample Hypothesis Testing Procedures Which Are Locally Most Powerful Under Certain Conditions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoover, H. D.; Plake, Barbara

The relative power of the Mann-Whitney statistic, the t-statistic, the median test, a test based on exceedances (A,B), and two special cases of (A,B) the Tukey quick test and the revised Tukey quick test, was investigated via a Monte Carlo experiment. These procedures were compared across four population probability models: uniform, beta, normal,…

A close examination of double filtering with fold change and t test in microarray analysis

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Many researchers use the double filtering procedure with fold change and t test to identify differentially expressed genes, in the hope that the double filtering will provide extra confidence in the results. Due to its simplicity, the double filtering procedure has been popular with applied researchers despite the development of more sophisticated methods. Results This paper, for the first time to our knowledge, provides theoretical insight on the drawback of the double filtering procedure. We show that fold change assumes all genes to have a common variance while t statistic assumes gene-specific variances. The two statistics are based on contradicting assumptions. Under the assumption that gene variances arise from a mixture of a common variance and gene-specific variances, we develop the theoretically most powerful likelihood ratio test statistic. We further demonstrate that the posterior inference based on a Bayesian mixture model and the widely used significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) statistic are better approximations to the likelihood ratio test than the double filtering procedure. Conclusion We demonstrate through hypothesis testing theory, simulation studies and real data examples, that well constructed shrinkage testing methods, which can be united under the mixture gene variance assumption, can considerably outperform the double filtering procedure. PMID:19995439

Estimation procedures to measure and monitor failure rates of components during thermal-vacuum testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, R. E.; Kruger, R.

1980-01-01

Estimation procedures are described for measuring component failure rates, for comparing the failure rates of two different groups of components, and for formulating confidence intervals for testing hypotheses (based on failure rates) that the two groups perform similarly or differently. Appendix A contains an example of an analysis in which these methods are applied to investigate the characteristics of two groups of spacecraft components. The estimation procedures are adaptable to system level testing and to monitoring failure characteristics in orbit.

An introduction to testing techniques in the Intelsat TDMA/DSI system. II - Satellite system operations guide (SSOG) tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colby, R. J.; Parthasarathy, R.; Stimson, A. L.

1983-12-01

The test methods and procedures of the Intelsat TDMA/DSI SSOG are summarized. The overall structure of the SSOG is outlined, and the operational procedures to be followed for joining a new terminal to the system and for normal operations are reviewed, with an emphasis on the roles of the IOC and the TDMA reference and monitoring stations. The testing philosophy (based on minimal interruptions) and the star-test method are explained and illustrated with diagrams, and the test procedures are examined, including modem tests, electrical-path-length equalization, RF/IF downchain tests, protocol tests, nontransmitting protocol tests, IF/RF upchain tests, transmitting protocol tests, baseband tests, and orderwire lineups. The fundamental access discipline of the TDMA system is presented in an appendix.

A Space Acquisition Leading Indicator Based on System Interoperation Maturity

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

delivered hardware, improper use of soldering materials, improper installation of thermal blankets , and missing test procedure documentation A poor...office, the first GEO integrated payload and spacecraft successfully completed thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing in November 2009. Program officials...contamination in delivered hardware, improper use of soldering materials, improper installation of thermal blankets , and missing test procedure

Practical Procedures for Constructing Mastery Tests to Minimize Errors of Classification and to Maximize or Optimize Decision Reliability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byars, Alvin Gregg

The objectives of this investigation are to develop, describe, assess, and demonstrate procedures for constructing mastery tests to minimize errors of classification and to maximize decision reliability. The guidelines are based on conditions where item exchangeability is a reasonable assumption and the test constructor can control the number of…

Evaluation of standardized sample collection, packaging, and decontamination procedures to assess cross-contamination potential during Bacillus anthracis incident response operations

PubMed Central

Calfee, M. Worth; Tufts, Jenia; Meyer, Kathryn; McConkey, Katrina; Mickelsen, Leroy; Rose, Laura; Dowell, Chad; Delaney, Lisa; Weber, Angela; Morse, Stephen; Chaitram, Jasmine; Gray, Marshall

2016-01-01

Sample collection procedures and primary receptacle (sample container and bag) decontamination methods should prevent contaminant transfer between contaminated and non-contaminated surfaces and areas during bio-incident operations. Cross-contamination of personnel, equipment, or sample containers may result in the exfiltration of biological agent from the exclusion (hot) zone and have unintended negative consequences on response resources, activities and outcomes. The current study was designed to: (1) evaluate currently recommended sample collection and packaging procedures to identify procedural steps that may increase the likelihood of spore exfiltration or contaminant transfer; (2) evaluate the efficacy of currently recommended primary receptacle decontamination procedures; and (3) evaluate the efficacy of outer packaging decontamination methods. Wet- and dry-deposited fluorescent tracer powder was used in contaminant transfer tests to qualitatively evaluate the currently-recommended sample collection procedures. Bacillus atrophaeus spores, a surrogate for Bacillus anthracis, were used to evaluate the efficacy of spray- and wipe-based decontamination procedures. Both decontamination procedures were quantitatively evaluated on three types of sample packaging materials (corrugated fiberboard, polystyrene foam, and polyethylene plastic), and two contamination mechanisms (wet or dry inoculums). Contaminant transfer results suggested that size-appropriate gloves should be worn by personnel, templates should not be taped to or removed from surfaces, and primary receptacles should be selected carefully. The decontamination tests indicated that wipe-based decontamination procedures may be more effective than spray-based procedures; efficacy was not influenced by material type but was affected by the inoculation method. Incomplete surface decontamination was observed in all tests with dry inoculums. This study provides a foundation for optimizing current B. anthracis response procedures to minimize contaminant exfiltration. PMID:27362274

Evaluation of standardized sample collection, packaging, and decontamination procedures to assess cross-contamination potential during Bacillus anthracis incident response operations.

PubMed

Calfee, M Worth; Tufts, Jenia; Meyer, Kathryn; McConkey, Katrina; Mickelsen, Leroy; Rose, Laura; Dowell, Chad; Delaney, Lisa; Weber, Angela; Morse, Stephen; Chaitram, Jasmine; Gray, Marshall

2016-12-01

Sample collection procedures and primary receptacle (sample container and bag) decontamination methods should prevent contaminant transfer between contaminated and non-contaminated surfaces and areas during bio-incident operations. Cross-contamination of personnel, equipment, or sample containers may result in the exfiltration of biological agent from the exclusion (hot) zone and have unintended negative consequences on response resources, activities and outcomes. The current study was designed to: (1) evaluate currently recommended sample collection and packaging procedures to identify procedural steps that may increase the likelihood of spore exfiltration or contaminant transfer; (2) evaluate the efficacy of currently recommended primary receptacle decontamination procedures; and (3) evaluate the efficacy of outer packaging decontamination methods. Wet- and dry-deposited fluorescent tracer powder was used in contaminant transfer tests to qualitatively evaluate the currently-recommended sample collection procedures. Bacillus atrophaeus spores, a surrogate for Bacillus anthracis, were used to evaluate the efficacy of spray- and wipe-based decontamination procedures. Both decontamination procedures were quantitatively evaluated on three types of sample packaging materials (corrugated fiberboard, polystyrene foam, and polyethylene plastic), and two contamination mechanisms (wet or dry inoculums). Contaminant transfer results suggested that size-appropriate gloves should be worn by personnel, templates should not be taped to or removed from surfaces, and primary receptacles should be selected carefully. The decontamination tests indicated that wipe-based decontamination procedures may be more effective than spray-based procedures; efficacy was not influenced by material type but was affected by the inoculation method. Incomplete surface decontamination was observed in all tests with dry inoculums. This study provides a foundation for optimizing current B. anthracis response procedures to minimize contaminant exfiltration.

Performance and Health Test Procedure for Grid Energy Storage Systems

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

Baggu, Murali M; Smith, Kandler A; Friedl, Andrew

A test procedure to evaluate the performance and health of field installations of grid-connected battery energy storage systems (BESS) is described. Performance and health metrics captured in the procedures are: round-trip efficiency, standby losses, response time/accuracy, and useable energy/state of charge at different discharge/charge rates over the system's lifetime. The procedures are divided into reference performance tests, which require the system to be put in a test mode and are to be conducted in intervals, and real-time monitoring tests, which collect data during normal operation without interruption. The procedures can be applied on a wide array of BESS with littlemore » modification and can thus support BESS operators in the management of BESS field installations with minimal interruption and expenditure. Simulated results based on a detailed system simulation of a prototype system are provided as guideline.« less

Bootstrap-based procedures for inference in nonparametric receiver-operating characteristic curve regression analysis.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Álvarez, María Xosé; Roca-Pardiñas, Javier; Cadarso-Suárez, Carmen; Tahoces, Pablo G

2018-03-01

Prior to using a diagnostic test in a routine clinical setting, the rigorous evaluation of its diagnostic accuracy is essential. The receiver-operating characteristic curve is the measure of accuracy most widely used for continuous diagnostic tests. However, the possible impact of extra information about the patient (or even the environment) on diagnostic accuracy also needs to be assessed. In this paper, we focus on an estimator for the covariate-specific receiver-operating characteristic curve based on direct regression modelling and nonparametric smoothing techniques. This approach defines the class of generalised additive models for the receiver-operating characteristic curve. The main aim of the paper is to offer new inferential procedures for testing the effect of covariates on the conditional receiver-operating characteristic curve within the above-mentioned class. Specifically, two different bootstrap-based tests are suggested to check (a) the possible effect of continuous covariates on the receiver-operating characteristic curve and (b) the presence of factor-by-curve interaction terms. The validity of the proposed bootstrap-based procedures is supported by simulations. To facilitate the application of these new procedures in practice, an R-package, known as npROCRegression, is provided and briefly described. Finally, data derived from a computer-aided diagnostic system for the automatic detection of tumour masses in breast cancer is analysed.

Use of Low-Fidelity Simulation Laboratory Training for Teaching Radiology Residents CT-Guided Procedures.

PubMed

Picard, Melissa; Nelson, Rachel; Roebel, John; Collins, Heather; Anderson, M Bret

2016-11-01

To determine the benefit of the addition of low-fidelity simulation-based training to the standard didactic-based training in teaching radiology residents common CT-guided procedures. This was a prospective study involving 24 radiology residents across all years in a university program. All residents underwent standard didactic lecture followed by low-fidelity simulation-based training on three common CT-guided procedures: random liver biopsy, lung nodule biopsy, and drain placement. Baseline knowledge, confidence, and performance assessments were obtained after the didactic session and before the simulation training session. Approximately 2 months later, all residents participated in a simulation-based training session covering all three of these procedures. Knowledge, confidence, and performance data were obtained afterward. These assessments covered topics related to preprocedure workup, intraprocedure steps, and postprocedure management. Knowledge data were collected based on a 15-question assessment. Confidence data were obtained based on a 5-point Likert-like scale. Performance data were obtained based on successful completion of predefined critical steps. There was significant improvement in knowledge (P = .005), confidence (P < .008), and tested performance (P < .043) after the addition of simulation-based training to the standard didactic curriculum for all procedures. This study suggests that the addition of low-fidelity simulation-based training to a standard didactic-based curriculum is beneficial in improving resident knowledge, confidence, and tested performance of common CT-guided procedures. Copyright © 2016 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of an automated ultrasonic testing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuxiang, Jiao; Wong, Brian Stephen

2005-04-01

Non-Destructive Testing is necessary in areas where defects in structures emerge over time due to wear and tear and structural integrity is necessary to maintain its usability. However, manual testing results in many limitations: high training cost, long training procedure, and worse, the inconsistent test results. A prime objective of this project is to develop an automatic Non-Destructive testing system for a shaft of the wheel axle of a railway carriage. Various methods, such as the neural network, pattern recognition methods and knowledge-based system are used for the artificial intelligence problem. In this paper, a statistical pattern recognition approach, Classification Tree is applied. Before feature selection, a thorough study on the ultrasonic signals produced was carried out. Based on the analysis of the ultrasonic signals, three signal processing methods were developed to enhance the ultrasonic signals: Cross-Correlation, Zero-Phase filter and Averaging. The target of this step is to reduce the noise and make the signal character more distinguishable. Four features: 1. The Auto Regressive Model Coefficients. 2. Standard Deviation. 3. Pearson Correlation 4. Dispersion Uniformity Degree are selected. And then a Classification Tree is created and applied to recognize the peak positions and amplitudes. Searching local maximum is carried out before feature computing. This procedure reduces much computation time in the real-time testing. Based on this algorithm, a software package called SOFRA was developed to recognize the peaks, calibrate automatically and test a simulated shaft automatically. The automatic calibration procedure and the automatic shaft testing procedure are developed.

Measurement of impulsive choice in rats: Same and alternate form test-retest reliability and temporal tracking

PubMed Central

Peterson, Jennifer R.; Hill, Catherine C.; Kirkpatrick, Kimberly

2016-01-01

Impulsive choice is typically measured by presenting smaller-sooner (SS) versus larger-later (LL) rewards, with biases towards the SS indicating impulsivity. The current study tested rats on different impulsive choice procedures with LL delay manipulations to assess same-form and alternate-form test-retest reliability. In the systematic-GE procedure (Green & Estle, 2003), the LL delay increased after several sessions of training; in the systematic-ER procedure (Evenden & Ryan, 1996), the delay increased within each session; and in the adjusting-M procedure (Mazur, 1987), the delay changed after each block of trials within a session based on each rat’s choices in the previous block. In addition to measuring choice behavior, we also assessed temporal tracking of the LL delays using the median times of responding during LL trials. The two systematic procedures yielded similar results in both choice and temporal tracking measures following extensive training, whereas the adjusting procedure resulted in relatively more impulsive choices and poorer temporal tracking. Overall, the three procedures produced acceptable same form test-retest reliability over time, but the adjusting procedure did not show significant alternate form test-retest reliability with the other two procedures. The results suggest that systematic procedures may supply better measurements of impulsive choice in rats. PMID:25490901

A procedure for testing the quality of LANDSAT atmospheric correction algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dias, L. A. V. (Principal Investigator); Vijaykumar, N. L.; Neto, G. C.

1982-01-01

There are two basic methods for testing the quality of an algorithm to minimize atmospheric effects on LANDSAT imagery: (1) test the results a posteriori, using ground truth or control points; (2) use a method based on image data plus estimation of additional ground and/or atmospheric parameters. A procedure based on the second method is described. In order to select the parameters, initially the image contrast is examined for a series of parameter combinations. The contrast improves for better corrections. In addition the correlation coefficient between two subimages, taken at different times, of the same scene is used for parameter's selection. The regions to be correlated should not have changed considerably in time. A few examples using this proposed procedure are presented.

78 FR 7939 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Microwave Ovens (Active Mode)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-04

...The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to revise its test procedures for microwave ovens established under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The proposed amendments would add provisions for measuring the active mode energy use for microwave ovens, including both microwave-only ovens and convection microwave ovens. Specifically, DOE is proposing provisions for measuring the energy use of the microwave-only cooking mode for both microwave-only ovens and convection microwave ovens based on the testing methods in the latest draft version of the International Electrotechnical Commission Standard 60705, ``Household microwave ovens--Methods for measuring performance.'' DOE is proposing provisions for measuring the energy use of the convection-only cooking mode for convection microwave ovens based on the DOE test procedure for conventional ovens in our regulations. DOE is also proposing to calculate the energy use of the convection-microwave cooking mode for convection microwave ovens by apportioning the microwave-only mode and convection-only mode energy consumption measurements based on typical consumer use.

Benefits of computer screen-based simulation in learning cardiac arrest procedures.

PubMed

Bonnetain, Elodie; Boucheix, Jean-Michel; Hamet, Maël; Freysz, Marc

2010-07-01

What is the best way to train medical students early so that they acquire basic skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation as effectively as possible? Studies have shown the benefits of high-fidelity patient simulators, but have also demonstrated their limits. New computer screen-based multimedia simulators have fewer constraints than high-fidelity patient simulators. In this area, as yet, there has been no research on the effectiveness of transfer of learning from a computer screen-based simulator to more realistic situations such as those encountered with high-fidelity patient simulators. We tested the benefits of learning cardiac arrest procedures using a multimedia computer screen-based simulator in 28 Year 2 medical students. Just before the end of the traditional resuscitation course, we compared two groups. An experiment group (EG) was first asked to learn to perform the appropriate procedures in a cardiac arrest scenario (CA1) in the computer screen-based learning environment and was then tested on a high-fidelity patient simulator in another cardiac arrest simulation (CA2). While the EG was learning to perform CA1 procedures in the computer screen-based learning environment, a control group (CG) actively continued to learn cardiac arrest procedures using practical exercises in a traditional class environment. Both groups were given the same amount of practice, exercises and trials. The CG was then also tested on the high-fidelity patient simulator for CA2, after which it was asked to perform CA1 using the computer screen-based simulator. Performances with both simulators were scored on a precise 23-point scale. On the test on a high-fidelity patient simulator, the EG trained with a multimedia computer screen-based simulator performed significantly better than the CG trained with traditional exercises and practice (16.21 versus 11.13 of 23 possible points, respectively; p<0.001). Computer screen-based simulation appears to be effective in preparing learners to use high-fidelity patient simulators, which present simulations that are closer to real-life situations.

Catalase measurement: A new field procedure for rapidly estimating microbial loads in fuels and water-bottoms

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

Passman, F.J.; Daniels, D.A.; Chesneau, H.F.

1995-05-01

Low-grade microbial infections of fuel and fuel systems generally go undetected until they cause major operational problems. Three interdependent factors contribute to this: mis-diagnosis, incorrect or inadequate sampling procedures and perceived complexity of microbiological testing procedures. After discussing the first two issues, this paper describes a rapid field test for estimating microbial loads in fuels and associated water. The test, adapted from a procedure initially developed to measure microbial loads in metalworking fluids, takes advantage of the nearly universal presence of the enzyme catalase in the microbes that contaminated fuel systems. Samples are reacted with a peroxide-based reagent; liberating oxygenmore » gas. The gas generates a pressure-head in a reaction tube. At fifteen minutes, a patented, electronic pressure-sensing device is used to measure that head-space pressure. The authors present both laboratory and field data from fuels and water-bottoms, demonstrating the excellent correlation between traditional viable test data (acquired after 48-72 hours incubation) and catalase test data (acquired after 15 min.-4 hours). We conclude by recommending procedures for developing a failure analysis data-base to enhance our industry`s understanding of the relationship between uncontrolled microbial contamination and fuel performance problems.« less

40 CFR 1065.715 - Natural gas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... PROCEDURES Engine Fluids, Test Fuels, Analytical Gases and Other Calibration Standards § 1065.715 Natural gas... specifications in the following table: Table 1 of § 1065.715—Test Fuel Specifications for Natural Gas Property....051 mol/mol. 1 Demonstrate compliance with fuel specifications based on the reference procedures in...

Experiments with Cloze Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Gordon; Haastrup, Kirsten

1976-01-01

The Nordic Test Development Group prepared proficiency tests of English designed to provide reliable information on which to base decisions as to whether a candidate would be able to function in a job as described or whether he could be trained to do so. Two subtests used a modified cloze procedure. (Author/CFM)

Chemotherapy-Induced Cognitive Impairment: A Novel Prospective Study of the Cognitive Effects of Platinum Taxane-Based Chemotherapy in Ovarian Cancer Patients

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-01

post chemotherapy testing , completing all protocol-defined tests and procedures and are now off study. Two patients are currently undergoing treatment...and will complete post treatment testing within the upcoming weeks. The first patient enrolled onto this trial was unable to complete post treatment...completed post chemotherapy testing , completing all protocol-defined tests and procedures and are now off study. Two patients are currently

Antimicrobial Testing Methods & Procedures: MB-09-06

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Describes the methodology used to determine the efficacy of towelette-based disinfectants against microbes on hard surfaces. The test is based on AOAC Method 961.02 (Germicidal Spray Products as Disinfectants).

Finite element procedures for time-dependent convection-diffusion-reaction systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tezduyar, T. E.; Park, Y. J.; Deans, H. A.

1988-01-01

New finite element procedures based on the streamline-upwind/Petrov-Galerkin formulations are developed for time-dependent convection-diffusion-reaction equations. These procedures minimize spurious oscillations for convection-dominated and reaction-dominated problems. The results obtained for representative numerical examples are accurate with minimal oscillations. As a special application problem, the single-well chemical tracer test (a procedure for measuring oil remaining in a depleted field) is simulated numerically. The results show the importance of temperature effects on the interpreted value of residual oil saturation from such tests.

Accounting for Proof Test Data in a Reliability Based Design Optimization Framework

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ventor, Gerharad; Scotti, Stephen J.

2012-01-01

This paper investigates the use of proof (or acceptance) test data during the reliability based design optimization of structural components. It is assumed that every component will be proof tested and that the component will only enter into service if it passes the proof test. The goal is to reduce the component weight, while maintaining high reliability, by exploiting the proof test results during the design process. The proposed procedure results in the simultaneous design of the structural component and the proof test itself and provides the designer with direct control over the probability of failing the proof test. The procedure is illustrated using two analytical example problems and the results indicate that significant weight savings are possible when exploiting the proof test results during the design process.

Network-Based Method for Identifying Co-Regeneration Genes in Bone, Dentin, Nerve and Vessel Tissues

PubMed Central

Pan, Hongying; Zhang, Yu-Hang; Feng, Kaiyan; Kong, XiangYin; Cai, Yu-Dong

2017-01-01

Bone and dental diseases are serious public health problems. Most current clinical treatments for these diseases can produce side effects. Regeneration is a promising therapy for bone and dental diseases, yielding natural tissue recovery with few side effects. Because soft tissues inside the bone and dentin are densely populated with nerves and vessels, the study of bone and dentin regeneration should also consider the co-regeneration of nerves and vessels. In this study, a network-based method to identify co-regeneration genes for bone, dentin, nerve and vessel was constructed based on an extensive network of protein–protein interactions. Three procedures were applied in the network-based method. The first procedure, searching, sought the shortest paths connecting regeneration genes of one tissue type with regeneration genes of other tissues, thereby extracting possible co-regeneration genes. The second procedure, testing, employed a permutation test to evaluate whether possible genes were false discoveries; these genes were excluded by the testing procedure. The last procedure, screening, employed two rules, the betweenness ratio rule and interaction score rule, to select the most essential genes. A total of seventeen genes were inferred by the method, which were deemed to contribute to co-regeneration of at least two tissues. All these seventeen genes were extensively discussed to validate the utility of the method. PMID:28974058

Network-Based Method for Identifying Co- Regeneration Genes in Bone, Dentin, Nerve and Vessel Tissues.

PubMed

Chen, Lei; Pan, Hongying; Zhang, Yu-Hang; Feng, Kaiyan; Kong, XiangYin; Huang, Tao; Cai, Yu-Dong

2017-10-02

Bone and dental diseases are serious public health problems. Most current clinical treatments for these diseases can produce side effects. Regeneration is a promising therapy for bone and dental diseases, yielding natural tissue recovery with few side effects. Because soft tissues inside the bone and dentin are densely populated with nerves and vessels, the study of bone and dentin regeneration should also consider the co-regeneration of nerves and vessels. In this study, a network-based method to identify co-regeneration genes for bone, dentin, nerve and vessel was constructed based on an extensive network of protein-protein interactions. Three procedures were applied in the network-based method. The first procedure, searching, sought the shortest paths connecting regeneration genes of one tissue type with regeneration genes of other tissues, thereby extracting possible co-regeneration genes. The second procedure, testing, employed a permutation test to evaluate whether possible genes were false discoveries; these genes were excluded by the testing procedure. The last procedure, screening, employed two rules, the betweenness ratio rule and interaction score rule, to select the most essential genes. A total of seventeen genes were inferred by the method, which were deemed to contribute to co-regeneration of at least two tissues. All these seventeen genes were extensively discussed to validate the utility of the method.

Considering Horn's Parallel Analysis from a Random Matrix Theory Point of View.

PubMed

Saccenti, Edoardo; Timmerman, Marieke E

2017-03-01

Horn's parallel analysis is a widely used method for assessing the number of principal components and common factors. We discuss the theoretical foundations of parallel analysis for principal components based on a covariance matrix by making use of arguments from random matrix theory. In particular, we show that (i) for the first component, parallel analysis is an inferential method equivalent to the Tracy-Widom test, (ii) its use to test high-order eigenvalues is equivalent to the use of the joint distribution of the eigenvalues, and thus should be discouraged, and (iii) a formal test for higher-order components can be obtained based on a Tracy-Widom approximation. We illustrate the performance of the two testing procedures using simulated data generated under both a principal component model and a common factors model. For the principal component model, the Tracy-Widom test performs consistently in all conditions, while parallel analysis shows unpredictable behavior for higher-order components. For the common factor model, including major and minor factors, both procedures are heuristic approaches, with variable performance. We conclude that the Tracy-Widom procedure is preferred over parallel analysis for statistically testing the number of principal components based on a covariance matrix.

A simple test of association for contingency tables with multiple column responses.

PubMed

Decady, Y J; Thomas, D R

2000-09-01

Loughin and Scherer (1998, Biometrics 54, 630-637) investigated tests of association in two-way tables when one of the categorical variables allows for multiple-category responses from individual respondents. Standard chi-squared tests are invalid in this case, and they developed a bootstrap test procedure that provides good control of test levels under the null hypothesis. This procedure and some others that have been proposed are computationally involved and are based on techniques that are relatively unfamiliar to many practitioners. In this paper, the methods introduced by Rao and Scott (1981, Journal of the American Statistical Association 76, 221-230) for analyzing complex survey data are used to develop a simple test based on a corrected chi-squared statistic.

An Integrated Analysis-Test Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaufman, Daniel

2003-01-01

This viewgraph presentation provides an overview of a project to develop a computer program which integrates data analysis and test procedures. The software application aims to propose a new perspective to traditional mechanical analysis and test procedures and to integrate pre-test and test analysis calculation methods. The program also should also be able to be used in portable devices and allows for the 'quasi-real time' analysis of data sent by electronic means. Test methods reviewed during this presentation include: shaker swept sine and random tests, shaker shock mode tests, shaker base driven model survey tests and acoustic tests.

40 CFR 1066.610 - Mass-based and molar-based exhaust emission calculations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Mass-based and molar-based exhaust... (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS VEHICLE-TESTING PROCEDURES Calculations § 1066.610 Mass-based and molar-based exhaust emission calculations. (a) Calculate your total mass of emissions over a test cycle as...

40 CFR 1066.610 - Mass-based and molar-based exhaust emission calculations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Mass-based and molar-based exhaust... (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS VEHICLE-TESTING PROCEDURES Calculations § 1066.610 Mass-based and molar-based exhaust emission calculations. (a) Calculate your total mass of emissions over a test cycle as...

Unscaled Bayes factors for multiple hypothesis testing in microarray experiments.

PubMed

Bertolino, Francesco; Cabras, Stefano; Castellanos, Maria Eugenia; Racugno, Walter

2015-12-01

Multiple hypothesis testing collects a series of techniques usually based on p-values as a summary of the available evidence from many statistical tests. In hypothesis testing, under a Bayesian perspective, the evidence for a specified hypothesis against an alternative, conditionally on data, is given by the Bayes factor. In this study, we approach multiple hypothesis testing based on both Bayes factors and p-values, regarding multiple hypothesis testing as a multiple model selection problem. To obtain the Bayes factors we assume default priors that are typically improper. In this case, the Bayes factor is usually undetermined due to the ratio of prior pseudo-constants. We show that ignoring prior pseudo-constants leads to unscaled Bayes factor which do not invalidate the inferential procedure in multiple hypothesis testing, because they are used within a comparative scheme. In fact, using partial information from the p-values, we are able to approximate the sampling null distribution of the unscaled Bayes factor and use it within Efron's multiple testing procedure. The simulation study suggests that under normal sampling model and even with small sample sizes, our approach provides false positive and false negative proportions that are less than other common multiple hypothesis testing approaches based only on p-values. The proposed procedure is illustrated in two simulation studies, and the advantages of its use are showed in the analysis of two microarray experiments. © The Author(s) 2011.

Hearing disability and communication handicap for compensation purposes based on self-assessment and audiometric testing.

PubMed

Salomon, G; Parving, A

1985-01-01

It is reasoned that for compensation or epidemiological studies an evaluation of hearing disability and the concomitant handicap must include the ability to perceive visual cues. A scaling procedure for hearing- and audiovisual communication handicap is presented. The procedure deviates in two ways from previous handicap assessments: (1) It is based on individual self-assessment of semantic speech perception but can be implemented by means of professional audiological test procedures. (2) The system does not make use of pure-tone auditory thresholds as a predominant audiological principle, but is based on speech perception. The interrelationship between auditory and audiovisual handicap is evaluated. A total score including audio- and audiovisual perception handicap is proposed and a suggestion for disability percentages is presented.

Project W-314 specific test and evaluation plan for transfer line SN-633 (241-AX-B to 241-AY-02A)

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

Hays, W.H.

1998-03-20

The purpose of this Specific Test and Evaluation Plan (STEP) is to provide a detailed written plan for the systematic testing of modifications made by the addition of the SN-633 transfer line by the W-314 Project. The STEP develops the outline for test procedures that verify the system`s performance to the established Project design criteria. The STEP is a lower tier document based on the W-314 Test and Evaluation Plan (TEP). This STEP encompasses all testing activities required to demonstrate compliance to the project design criteria as it relates to the addition of transfer line SN-633. The Project Design Specificationsmore » (PDS) identify the specific testing activities required for the Project. Testing includes Validations and Verifications (e.g., Commercial Grade Item Dedication activities), Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs), installation tests and inspections, Construction Acceptance Tests (CATs), Acceptance Test Procedures (ATPs), Pre-Operational Test Procedures (POTPs), and Operational Test Procedures (OTPs). It should be noted that POTPs are not required for testing of the transfer line addition. The STEP will be utilized in conjunction with the TEP for verification and validation.« less

An Approach to a Comprehensive Test Framework for Analysis and Evaluation of Text Line Segmentation Algorithms

PubMed Central

Brodic, Darko; Milivojevic, Dragan R.; Milivojevic, Zoran N.

2011-01-01

The paper introduces a testing framework for the evaluation and validation of text line segmentation algorithms. Text line segmentation represents the key action for correct optical character recognition. Many of the tests for the evaluation of text line segmentation algorithms deal with text databases as reference templates. Because of the mismatch, the reliable testing framework is required. Hence, a new approach to a comprehensive experimental framework for the evaluation of text line segmentation algorithms is proposed. It consists of synthetic multi-like text samples and real handwritten text as well. Although the tests are mutually independent, the results are cross-linked. The proposed method can be used for different types of scripts and languages. Furthermore, two different procedures for the evaluation of algorithm efficiency based on the obtained error type classification are proposed. The first is based on the segmentation line error description, while the second one incorporates well-known signal detection theory. Each of them has different capabilities and convenience, but they can be used as supplements to make the evaluation process efficient. Overall the proposed procedure based on the segmentation line error description has some advantages, characterized by five measures that describe measurement procedures. PMID:22164106

An approach to a comprehensive test framework for analysis and evaluation of text line segmentation algorithms.

PubMed

Brodic, Darko; Milivojevic, Dragan R; Milivojevic, Zoran N

2011-01-01

The paper introduces a testing framework for the evaluation and validation of text line segmentation algorithms. Text line segmentation represents the key action for correct optical character recognition. Many of the tests for the evaluation of text line segmentation algorithms deal with text databases as reference templates. Because of the mismatch, the reliable testing framework is required. Hence, a new approach to a comprehensive experimental framework for the evaluation of text line segmentation algorithms is proposed. It consists of synthetic multi-like text samples and real handwritten text as well. Although the tests are mutually independent, the results are cross-linked. The proposed method can be used for different types of scripts and languages. Furthermore, two different procedures for the evaluation of algorithm efficiency based on the obtained error type classification are proposed. The first is based on the segmentation line error description, while the second one incorporates well-known signal detection theory. Each of them has different capabilities and convenience, but they can be used as supplements to make the evaluation process efficient. Overall the proposed procedure based on the segmentation line error description has some advantages, characterized by five measures that describe measurement procedures.

What does an MRI scan cost?

PubMed

Young, David W

2015-11-01

Historically, hospital departments have computed the costs of individual tests or procedures using the ratio of cost to charges (RCC) method, which can produce inaccurate results. To determine a more accurate cost of a test or procedure, the activity-based costing (ABC) method must be used. Accurate cost calculations will ensure reliable information about the profitability of a hospital's DRGs.

The child's perspective on discomfort during medical research procedures: a descriptive study.

PubMed

Staphorst, Mira S; Benninga, Marc A; Bisschoff, Margriet; Bon, Irma; Busschbach, Jan J V; Diederen, Kay; van Goudoever, Johannes B; Haarman, Eric G; Hunfeld, Joke A M; Jaddoe, Vincent V W; de Jong, Karin J M; de Jongste, Johan C; Kindermann, Angelika; Königs, Marsh; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Passchier, Jan; Pijnenburg, Mariëlle W; Reneman, Liesbeth; Ridder, Lissy de; Tamminga, Hyke G; Tiemeier, Henning W; Timman, Reinier; van de Vathorst, Suzanne

2017-08-01

The evaluation of discomfort in paediatric research is scarcely evidence-based. In this study, we make a start in describing children's self-reported discomfort during common medical research procedures and compare this with discomfort during dental check-ups which can be considered as a reference level of a 'minimal discomfort' medical procedure. We exploratory study whether there are associations between age, anxiety-proneness, gender, medical condition, previous experiences and discomfort. We also describe children's suggestions for reducing discomfort. Cross-sectional descriptive study. Paediatric research at three academic hospitals. 357 children with and without illnesses (8-18 years, mean=10.6 years) were enrolled: 307 from paediatric research studies and 50 from dental care. We measured various generic forms of discomfort (nervousness, annoyance, pain, fright, boredom, tiredness) due to six common research procedures: buccal swabs, MRI scans, pulmonary function tests, skin prick tests, ultrasound imaging and venepunctures. Most children reported limited discomfort during the research procedures (means: 1-2.6 on a scale from 1 to 5). Compared with dental check-ups, buccal swab tests, skin prick tests and ultrasound imaging were less discomforting, while MRI scans, venepunctures and pulmonary function tests caused a similar degree of discomfort. 60.3% of the children suggested providing distraction by showing movies to reduce discomfort. The exploratory analyses suggested a positive association between anxiety-proneness and discomfort. The findings of this study support the acceptability of participation of children in the studied research procedures, which stimulates evidence-based research practice. Furthermore, the present study can be considered as a first step in providing benchmarks for discomfort of procedures in paediatric research. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

The child's perspective on discomfort during medical research procedures: a descriptive study

PubMed Central

Staphorst, Mira S; Benninga, Marc A; Bisschoff, Margriet; Bon, Irma; Busschbach, Jan J V; Diederen, Kay; van Goudoever, Johannes B; Haarman, Eric G; Hunfeld, Joke A M; Jaddoe, Vincent V W; de Jong, Karin J M; de Jongste, Johan C; Kindermann, Angelika; Königs, Marsh; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Passchier, Jan; Pijnenburg, Mariëlle W; Reneman, Liesbeth; de Ridder, Lissy; Tamminga, Hyke G; Tiemeier, Henning W; Timman, Reinier; van de Vathorst, Suzanne

2017-01-01

Objective The evaluation of discomfort in paediatric research is scarcely evidence-based. In this study, we make a start in describing children's self-reported discomfort during common medical research procedures and compare this with discomfort during dental check-ups which can be considered as a reference level of a ‘minimal discomfort’ medical procedure. We exploratory study whether there are associations between age, anxiety-proneness, gender, medical condition, previous experiences and discomfort. We also describe children's suggestions for reducing discomfort. Design Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting Paediatric research at three academic hospitals. Patients 357 children with and without illnesses (8–18 years, mean=10.6 years) were enrolled: 307 from paediatric research studies and 50 from dental care. Main outcome measures We measured various generic forms of discomfort (nervousness, annoyance, pain, fright, boredom, tiredness) due to six common research procedures: buccal swabs, MRI scans, pulmonary function tests, skin prick tests, ultrasound imaging and venepunctures. Results Most children reported limited discomfort during the research procedures (means: 1–2.6 on a scale from 1 to 5). Compared with dental check-ups, buccal swab tests, skin prick tests and ultrasound imaging were less discomforting, while MRI scans, venepunctures and pulmonary function tests caused a similar degree of discomfort. 60.3% of the children suggested providing distraction by showing movies to reduce discomfort. The exploratory analyses suggested a positive association between anxiety-proneness and discomfort. Conclusions The findings of this study support the acceptability of participation of children in the studied research procedures, which stimulates evidence-based research practice. Furthermore, the present study can be considered as a first step in providing benchmarks for discomfort of procedures in paediatric research. PMID:28765130

Inverse finite-size scaling for high-dimensional significance analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yingying; Puranen, Santeri; Corander, Jukka; Kabashima, Yoshiyuki

2018-06-01

We propose an efficient procedure for significance determination in high-dimensional dependence learning based on surrogate data testing, termed inverse finite-size scaling (IFSS). The IFSS method is based on our discovery of a universal scaling property of random matrices which enables inference about signal behavior from much smaller scale surrogate data than the dimensionality of the original data. As a motivating example, we demonstrate the procedure for ultra-high-dimensional Potts models with order of 1010 parameters. IFSS reduces the computational effort of the data-testing procedure by several orders of magnitude, making it very efficient for practical purposes. This approach thus holds considerable potential for generalization to other types of complex models.

Test Area C-62 Final Range Environmental Assessment at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-05

requirements to submit with EPCRA reports. Federal agencies must comply. Air Armament Center Plan 32-3; January 2004; Asbestos Management Plan; This...plan establishes procedures for the Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) facility asbestos management program. It contains the policies and procedures used in...controlling the health hazards created by asbestos containing materials (ACM), and the procedures used in ACM removal required to protect the health

Conditional Monte Carlo randomization tests for regression models.

PubMed

Parhat, Parwen; Rosenberger, William F; Diao, Guoqing

2014-08-15

We discuss the computation of randomization tests for clinical trials of two treatments when the primary outcome is based on a regression model. We begin by revisiting the seminal paper of Gail, Tan, and Piantadosi (1988), and then describe a method based on Monte Carlo generation of randomization sequences. The tests based on this Monte Carlo procedure are design based, in that they incorporate the particular randomization procedure used. We discuss permuted block designs, complete randomization, and biased coin designs. We also use a new technique by Plamadeala and Rosenberger (2012) for simple computation of conditional randomization tests. Like Gail, Tan, and Piantadosi, we focus on residuals from generalized linear models and martingale residuals from survival models. Such techniques do not apply to longitudinal data analysis, and we introduce a method for computation of randomization tests based on the predicted rate of change from a generalized linear mixed model when outcomes are longitudinal. We show, by simulation, that these randomization tests preserve the size and power well under model misspecification. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improvement of structural models using covariance analysis and nonlinear generalized least squares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glaser, R. J.; Kuo, C. P.; Wada, B. K.

1992-01-01

The next generation of large, flexible space structures will be too light to support their own weight, requiring a system of structural supports for ground testing. The authors have proposed multiple boundary-condition testing (MBCT), using more than one support condition to reduce uncertainties associated with the supports. MBCT would revise the mass and stiffness matrix, analytically qualifying the structure for operation in space. The same procedure is applicable to other common test conditions, such as empty/loaded tanks and subsystem/system level tests. This paper examines three techniques for constructing the covariance matrix required by nonlinear generalized least squares (NGLS) to update structural models based on modal test data. The methods range from a complicated approach used to generate the simulation data (i.e., the correct answer) to a diagonal matrix based on only two constants. The results show that NGLS is very insensitive to assumptions about the covariance matrix, suggesting that a workable NGLS procedure is possible. The examples also indicate that the multiple boundary condition procedure more accurately reduces errors than individual boundary condition tests alone.

Test of association: which one is the most appropriate for my study?

PubMed

Gonzalez-Chica, David Alejandro; Bastos, João Luiz; Duquia, Rodrigo Pereira; Bonamigo, Renan Rangel; Martínez-Mesa, Jeovany

2015-01-01

Hypothesis tests are statistical tools widely used for assessing whether or not there is an association between two or more variables. These tests provide a probability of the type 1 error (p-value), which is used to accept or reject the null study hypothesis. To provide a practical guide to help researchers carefully select the most appropriate procedure to answer the research question. We discuss the logic of hypothesis testing and present the prerequisites of each procedure based on practical examples.

Investigation of lightweight designs and materials for LO2 and LH2 propellant tanks for space vehicles, phase 2 and phase 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

Full size Tug LO2 and LH2 tank configurations were defined, based on selected tank geometries. These configurations were then locally modeled for computer stress analysis. A large subscale test tank, representing the selected Tug LO2 tank, was designed and analyzed. This tank was fabricated using procedures which represented production operations. An evaluation test program was outlined and a test procedure defined. The necessary test hardware was also fabricated.

40 CFR 79.50 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... mixture resulting when a fuel additive is added in specified proportion to the base fuel of the fuel... Procedure (FTP) means the body of exhaust and evaporative emissions test procedures described in 40 CFR 86...

40 CFR 79.50 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... mixture resulting when a fuel additive is added in specified proportion to the base fuel of the fuel... Procedure (FTP) means the body of exhaust and evaporative emissions test procedures described in 40 CFR 86...

40 CFR 79.50 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... mixture resulting when a fuel additive is added in specified proportion to the base fuel of the fuel... Procedure (FTP) means the body of exhaust and evaporative emissions test procedures described in 40 CFR 86...

41 CFR 60-3.9 - No assumption of validity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... general reputation of a test or other selection procedures, its author or its publisher, or casual reports... of validity based on a procedure's name or descriptive labels; all forms of promotional literature...

41 CFR 60-3.9 - No assumption of validity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... general reputation of a test or other selection procedures, its author or its publisher, or casual reports... of validity based on a procedure's name or descriptive labels; all forms of promotional literature...

Validation of a Video-based Game-Understanding Test Procedure in Badminton.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blomqvist, Minna T.; Luhtanen, Pekka; Laakso, Lauri; Keskinen, Esko

2000-01-01

Reports the development and validation of video-based game-understanding tests in badminton for elementary and secondary students. The tests included different sequences that simulated actual game situations. Players had to solve tactical problems by selecting appropriate solutions and arguments for their decisions. Results suggest that the test…

Performance-based quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) acceptance procedures for in-place soil testing phase 3.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-01-01

One of the objectives of this study was to evaluate soil testing equipment based on its capability of measuring in-place stiffness or modulus values. : As design criteria transition from empirical to mechanistic-empirical, soil test methods and equip...

Small scale photo probability sampling and vegetation classification in southeast Arizona as an ecological base for resource inventory. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, J. R. (Principal Investigator)

1974-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. The broad scale vegetation classification was developed for a 3,200 sq mile area in southeastern Arizona. The 31 vegetation types were derived from association tables which contained information taken at about 500 ground sites. The classification provided an information base that was suitable for use with small scale photography. A procedure was developed and tested for objectively comparing photo images. The procedure consisted of two parts, image groupability testing and image complexity testing. The Apollo and ERTS photos were compared for relative suitability as first stage stratification bases in two stage proportional probability sampling. High altitude photography was used in common at the second stage.

Validity evidence for procedural competency in virtual reality robotic simulation, establishing a credible pass/fail standard for the vaginal cuff closure procedure.

PubMed

Hovgaard, Lisette Hvid; Andersen, Steven Arild Wuyts; Konge, Lars; Dalsgaard, Torur; Larsen, Christian Rifbjerg

2018-03-30

The use of robotic surgery for minimally invasive procedures has increased considerably over the last decade. Robotic surgery has potential advantages compared to laparoscopic surgery but also requires new skills. Using virtual reality (VR) simulation to facilitate the acquisition of these new skills could potentially benefit training of robotic surgical skills and also be a crucial step in developing a robotic surgical training curriculum. The study's objective was to establish validity evidence for a simulation-based test for procedural competency for the vaginal cuff closure procedure that can be used in a future simulation-based, mastery learning training curriculum. Eleven novice gynaecological surgeons without prior robotic experience and 11 experienced gynaecological robotic surgeons (> 30 robotic procedures) were recruited. After familiarization with the VR simulator, participants completed the module 'Guided Vaginal Cuff Closure' six times. Validity evidence was investigated for 18 preselected simulator metrics. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and a composite score was calculated based on metrics with significant discriminative ability between the two groups. Finally, a pass/fail standard was established using the contrasting groups' method. The experienced surgeons significantly outperformed the novice surgeons on 6 of the 18 metrics. The internal consistency was 0.58 (Cronbach's alpha). The experienced surgeons' mean composite score for all six repetitions were significantly better than the novice surgeons' (76.1 vs. 63.0, respectively, p < 0.001). A pass/fail standard of 75/100 was established. Four novice surgeons passed this standard (false positives) and three experienced surgeons failed (false negatives). Our study has gathered validity evidence for a simulation-based test for procedural robotic surgical competency in the vaginal cuff closure procedure and established a credible pass/fail standard for future proficiency-based training.

Testing a potential alternative to traditional identification procedures: Reaction time-based concealed information test does not work for lineups with cooperative witnesses.

PubMed

Sauerland, Melanie; Wolfs, Andrea C F; Crans, Samantha; Verschuere, Bruno

2017-11-27

Direct eyewitness identification is widely used, but prone to error. We tested the validity of indirect eyewitness identification decisions using the reaction time-based concealed information test (CIT) for assessing cooperative eyewitnesses' face memory as an alternative to traditional lineup procedures. In a series of five experiments, a total of 401 mock eyewitnesses watched one of 11 different stimulus events that depicted a breach of law. Eyewitness identifications in the CIT were derived from longer reaction times as compared to well-matched foil faces not encountered before. Across the five experiments, the weighted mean effect size d was 0.14 (95% CI 0.08-0.19). The reaction time-based CIT seems unsuited for testing cooperative eyewitnesses' memory for faces. The careful matching of the faces required for a fair lineup or the lack of intent to deceive may have hampered the diagnosticity of the reaction time-based CIT.

Multiple testing with discrete data: Proportion of true null hypotheses and two adaptive FDR procedures.

PubMed

Chen, Xiongzhi; Doerge, Rebecca W; Heyse, Joseph F

2018-05-11

We consider multiple testing with false discovery rate (FDR) control when p values have discrete and heterogeneous null distributions. We propose a new estimator of the proportion of true null hypotheses and demonstrate that it is less upwardly biased than Storey's estimator and two other estimators. The new estimator induces two adaptive procedures, that is, an adaptive Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) procedure and an adaptive Benjamini-Hochberg-Heyse (BHH) procedure. We prove that the adaptive BH (aBH) procedure is conservative nonasymptotically. Through simulation studies, we show that these procedures are usually more powerful than their nonadaptive counterparts and that the adaptive BHH procedure is usually more powerful than the aBH procedure and a procedure based on randomized p-value. The adaptive procedures are applied to a study of HIV vaccine efficacy, where they identify more differentially polymorphic positions than the BH procedure at the same FDR level. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Organic Experiments for Introductory Chemistry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rayner-Canham, Geoff

1985-01-01

Describes test-tube organic chemistry procedures (using comparatively safe reagents) for the beginning student. These procedures are used to: examine differences between saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons; compare structural isomers; and compare organic and inorganic acids and bases. (DH)

Investigations of the pushability behavior of cardiovascular angiographic catheters.

PubMed

Bloss, Peter; Rothe, Wolfgang; Wünsche, Peter; Werner, Christian; Rothe, Alexander; Kneissl, Georg Dieter; Burger, Wolfram; Rehberg, Elisabeth

2003-01-01

The placement of angiographic catheters into the vascular system is a routine procedure in modern clinical business. The definition of objective but not yet available evaluation protocols based on measurable physical quantities correlated to the empirical clinical findings is of utmost importance for catheter manufacturers for in-house product screening and optimization. In this context, we present an assessment of multiple mechanical and surface catheter properties such as static and kinetic friction, bending stiffness, microscopic surface topology, surface roughness, surface free energy and their interrelation. Theoretical framework, description of experimental methods and extensive data measured on several different catheters are provided and in conclusion a testing procedure is defined. Although this procedure is based on the measurement of several physical quantities it can be easily implemented by commercial laboratories testing catheters as it is based on relatively low-cost standard methods.

30 CFR 253.28 - What financial test procedures must I use to evaluate the amount of self-insurance allowed as...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What financial test procedures must I use to evaluate the amount of self-insurance allowed as OSFR evidence based on unencumbered assets? 253.28 Section 253.28 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE OIL SPILL...

30 CFR 253.25 - What financial test procedures must I use to determine the amount of self-insurance allowed as...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What financial test procedures must I use to determine the amount of self-insurance allowed as OSFR evidence based on net worth? 253.25 Section 253.25 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE OIL SPILL FINANCIAL...

Evaluation of Hardware and Procedures for Astronaut Assembly and Repair of Large Precision Reflectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lake, Mark S.; Heard, Walter L., Jr.; Watson, Judith J.; Collins, Timothy J.

2000-01-01

A detailed procedure is presented that enables astronauts in extravehicular activity (EVA) to efficiently assemble and repair large (i.e., greater than 10m-diameter) segmented reflectors, supported by a truss, for space-based optical or radio-frequency science instruments. The procedure, estimated timelines, and reflector hardware performance are verified in simulated 0-g (neutral buoyancy) assembly tests of a 14m-diameter, offset-focus, reflector test article. The test article includes a near-flight-quality, 315-member, doubly curved support truss and 7 mockup reflector panels (roughly 2m in diameter) representing a portion of the 37 total panels needed to fully populate the reflector. Data from the tests indicate that a flight version of the design (including all reflector panels) could be assembled in less than 5 hours - less than the 6 hours normally permitted for a single EVA. This assembly rate essentially matches pre-test predictions that were based on a vast amount of historical data on EVA assembly of structures produced by NASA Langley Research Center. Furthermore, procedures and a tool for the removal and replacement of a damaged reflector panel were evaluated, and it was shown that EVA repair of this type of reflector is feasible with the use of appropriate EVA crew aids.

What Do You Think You Are Measuring? A Mixed-Methods Procedure for Assessing the Content Validity of Test Items and Theory-Based Scaling

PubMed Central

Koller, Ingrid; Levenson, Michael R.; Glück, Judith

2017-01-01

The valid measurement of latent constructs is crucial for psychological research. Here, we present a mixed-methods procedure for improving the precision of construct definitions, determining the content validity of items, evaluating the representativeness of items for the target construct, generating test items, and analyzing items on a theoretical basis. To illustrate the mixed-methods content-scaling-structure (CSS) procedure, we analyze the Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory, a self-report measure of wisdom (ASTI, Levenson et al., 2005). A content-validity analysis of the ASTI items was used as the basis of psychometric analyses using multidimensional item response models (N = 1215). We found that the new procedure produced important suggestions concerning five subdimensions of the ASTI that were not identifiable using exploratory methods. The study shows that the application of the suggested procedure leads to a deeper understanding of latent constructs. It also demonstrates the advantages of theory-based item analysis. PMID:28270777

The Evaluation of Foreign-Language-Teacher Education Programmes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peacock, Matthew

2009-01-01

This article presents a new procedure for the evaluation of EFL teacher-training programmes based on principles of programme evaluation and foreign-language-teacher (FLT) education. The procedure focuses on programme strengths and weaknesses and how far the programme meets the needs of students. I tested the procedure through an evaluation of a…

Analysis of Slug Tests in Formations of High Hydraulic Conductivity

USGS Publications Warehouse

Butler, J.J.; Garnett, E.J.; Healey, J.M.

2003-01-01

A new procedure is presented for the analysis of slug tests performed in partially penetrating wells in formations of high hydraulic conductivity. This approach is a simple, spreadsheet-based implementation of existing models that can be used for analysis of tests from confined or unconfined aquifers. Field examples of tests exhibiting oscillatory and nonoscillatory behavior are used to illustrate the procedure and to compare results with estimates obtained using alternative approaches. The procedure is considerably simpler than recently proposed methods for this hydrogeologic setting. Although the simplifications required by the approach can introduce error into hydraulic-conductivity estimates, this additional error becomes negligible when appropriate measures are taken in the field. These measures are summarized in a set of practical field guidelines for slug tests in highly permeable aquifers.

Analysis of slug tests in formations of high hydraulic conductivity.

PubMed

Butler, James J; Garnett, Elizabeth J; Healey, John M

2003-01-01

A new procedure is presented for the analysis of slug tests performed in partially penetrating wells in formations of high hydraulic conductivity. This approach is a simple, spreadsheet-based implementation of existing models that can be used for analysis of tests from confined or unconfined aquifers. Field examples of tests exhibiting oscillatory and nonoscillatory behavior are used to illustrate the procedure and to compare results with estimates obtained using alternative approaches. The procedure is considerably simpler than recently proposed methods for this hydrogeologic setting. Although the simplifications required by the approach can introduce error into hydraulic-conductivity estimates, this additional error becomes negligible when appropriate measures are taken in the field. These measures are summarized in a set of practical field guidelines for slug tests in highly permeable aquifers.

13th Meeting of the Scientific Group on Methodologies for the Safety Evaluation of Chemicals (SGOMSEC): alternative testing methodologies for ecotoxicity.

PubMed Central

Walker, C; Kaiser, K; Klein, W; Lagadic, L; Peakall, D; Sheffield, S; Soldan, T; Yasuno, M

1998-01-01

There is growing public pressure to minimize the use of vertebrates in ecotoxicity testing; therefore, effective alternatives to toxicity tests causing suffering are being sought. This report discusses alternatives and differs in some respects from the reports of the other three groups because the primary concern is with harmful effects of chemicals at the level of population and above rather than with harmful effects upon individuals. It is concluded that progress toward the objective of minimizing testing that causes suffering would be served by the following initiatives--a clearer definition of goals and strategies when undertaking testing procedures; development of alternative assays, including in vitro test systems, that are based on new technology; development of nondestructive assays for vertebrates (e.g., biomarkers) that do not cause suffering; selection of most appropriate species, strains, and developmental stages for testing procedures (but no additional species for basic testing); better integrated and more flexible testing procedures incorporating biomarker responses, ecophysiological concepts, and ecological end points (progress in this direction depends upon expert judgment). In general, testing procedures could be made more realistic, taking into account problems with mixtures, and with volatile or insoluble chemicals. PMID:9599690

Effect of in-office bleaching agents on physical properties of dental composite resins.

PubMed

Mourouzis, Petros; Koulaouzidou, Elisabeth A; Helvatjoglu-Antoniades, Maria

2013-04-01

The physical properties of dental restorative materials have a crucial effect on the longevity of restorations and moreover on the esthetic demands of patients, but they may be compromised by bleaching treatments. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of in-office bleaching agents on the physical properties of three composite resin restorative materials. The bleaching agents used were hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide at high concentrations. Specimens of each material were prepared, cured, and polished. Measurements of color difference, microhardness, and surface roughness were recorded before and after bleaching and data were examined statistically by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey HSD post-hoc test at P < .05. The measurements showed that hue and chroma of silorane-based composite resin altered after the bleaching procedure (P < .05). No statistically significant differences were found when testing the microhardness and surface roughness of composite resins tested (P > .05). The silorane-based composite resin tested showed some color alteration after bleaching procedures. The bleaching procedure did not alter the microhardness and the surface roughness of all composite resins tested.

Evidence-based severity assessment: Impact of repeated versus single open-field testing on welfare in C57BL/6J mice.

PubMed

Bodden, Carina; Siestrup, Sophie; Palme, Rupert; Kaiser, Sylvia; Sachser, Norbert; Richter, S Helene

2018-01-15

According to current guidelines on animal experiments, a prospective assessment of the severity of each procedure is mandatory. However, so far, the classification of procedures into different severity categories mainly relies on theoretic considerations, since it is not entirely clear which of the various procedures compromise the welfare of animals, or, to what extent. Against this background, a systematic empirical investigation of the impact of each procedure, including behavioral testing, seems essential. Therefore, the present study was designed to elucidate the effects of repeated versus single testing on mouse welfare, using one of the most commonly used paradigms for behavioral phenotyping in behavioral neuroscience, the open-field test. In an independent groups design, laboratory mice (Mus musculus f. domestica) experienced either repeated, single, or no open-field testing - procedures that are assigned to different severity categories. Interestingly, testing experiences did not affect fecal corticosterone metabolites, body weights, elevated plus-maze or home cage behavior differentially. Thus, with respect to the assessed endocrinological, physical, and behavioral outcome measures, no signs of compromised welfare could be detected in mice that were tested in the open-field repeatedly, once, or, not at all. These findings challenge current classification guidelines and may, furthermore, stimulate systematic research on the severity of single procedures involving living animals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An adaptive embedded mesh procedure for leading-edge vortex flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Powell, Kenneth G.; Beer, Michael A.; Law, Glenn W.

1989-01-01

A procedure for solving the conical Euler equations on an adaptively refined mesh is presented, along with a method for determining which cells to refine. The solution procedure is a central-difference cell-vertex scheme. The adaptation procedure is made up of a parameter on which the refinement decision is based, and a method for choosing a threshold value of the parameter. The refinement parameter is a measure of mesh-convergence, constructed by comparison of locally coarse- and fine-grid solutions. The threshold for the refinement parameter is based on the curvature of the curve relating the number of cells flagged for refinement to the value of the refinement threshold. Results for three test cases are presented. The test problem is that of a delta wing at angle of attack in a supersonic free-stream. The resulting vortices and shocks are captured efficiently by the adaptive code.

A rule-based software test data generator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deason, William H.; Brown, David B.; Chang, Kai-Hsiung; Cross, James H., II

1991-01-01

Rule-based software test data generation is proposed as an alternative to either path/predicate analysis or random data generation. A prototype rule-based test data generator for Ada programs is constructed and compared to a random test data generator. Four Ada procedures are used in the comparison. Approximately 2000 rule-based test cases and 100,000 randomly generated test cases are automatically generated and executed. The success of the two methods is compared using standard coverage metrics. Simple statistical tests showing that even the primitive rule-based test data generation prototype is significantly better than random data generation are performed. This result demonstrates that rule-based test data generation is feasible and shows great promise in assisting test engineers, especially when the rule base is developed further.

An Assessment Program Designed To Improve Communication Instruction through a Competency-Based Core Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aitken, Joan E.; Neer, Michael R.

This paper provides an example procedure used to design and install a program of assessment to improve communication instruction through a competency-based core curriculum at a mid-sized, urban university. The paper models the various steps in the process, and includes specific tests, forms, memos, course description, sources, and procedures which…

Hypothesis testing for band size detection of high-dimensional banded precision matrices.

PubMed

An, Baiguo; Guo, Jianhua; Liu, Yufeng

2014-06-01

Many statistical analysis procedures require a good estimator for a high-dimensional covariance matrix or its inverse, the precision matrix. When the precision matrix is banded, the Cholesky-based method often yields a good estimator of the precision matrix. One important aspect of this method is determination of the band size of the precision matrix. In practice, crossvalidation is commonly used; however, we show that crossvalidation not only is computationally intensive but can be very unstable. In this paper, we propose a new hypothesis testing procedure to determine the band size in high dimensions. Our proposed test statistic is shown to be asymptotically normal under the null hypothesis, and its theoretical power is studied. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of our testing procedure.

A SAS(®) macro implementation of a multiple comparison post hoc test for a Kruskal-Wallis analysis.

PubMed

Elliott, Alan C; Hynan, Linda S

2011-04-01

The Kruskal-Wallis (KW) nonparametric analysis of variance is often used instead of a standard one-way ANOVA when data are from a suspected non-normal population. The KW omnibus procedure tests for some differences between groups, but provides no specific post hoc pair wise comparisons. This paper provides a SAS(®) macro implementation of a multiple comparison test based on significant Kruskal-Wallis results from the SAS NPAR1WAY procedure. The implementation is designed for up to 20 groups at a user-specified alpha significance level. A Monte-Carlo simulation compared this nonparametric procedure to commonly used parametric multiple comparison tests. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving the performance of computer color matching procedures.

PubMed

Karbasi, A; Moradian, S; Asiaban, S

2008-09-01

A premise was set up entailing the possibility of a synergistical combination of advantages of spectrophotometric and colorimetric matching procedures. Attempts were therefore made to test the performances of fifteen matching procedures, all based on the Kubelka-Munk theory, including two procedures utilizing the fundamental color stimulus R(FCS) of the spectral decomposition theory. Color differences CIE DeltaE(00) as well as concentration differences DeltaC(AVE) were used to theoretically rank the fifteen color matching procedures. Results showed that procedures based on R(FCS) were superior in accurately predicting colors and concentrations. Additionally, the metameric black component R(MB) of the decomposition theory also showed promise in predicting degrees of metamerism. This preliminary study, therefore, provides evidence for the premise of this investigation.

Sealing of Base Wells, McClellan Air Force Base, California

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-02-15

Slurry 111-16 Equipment Requirement 111-17 Inspection of the Well 111-18 Turbine Pump Repairs 111-18 Testing of the Well 111-19 Wells to be Sealed 111...hydrogeology underlying the Base, reviews the ES groundwater testing procedures and the conclusions reached by ES as a result of those tests , reviews...perform proper sealing, LSCE proposes that a preliminary engineering site investigation be conducted which would include test drilling and installation

Limited electromagnetic interference testing of evidential breath testers

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-05-06

This report summarizes a limited test program conducted to determine the susceptibility of evidential breath testers (EBTs) to radio frequency interference (RFI). Several comprehensive test protocols were prepared based on procedures developed by the...

Expected p-values in light of an ROC curve analysis applied to optimal multiple testing procedures.

PubMed

Vexler, Albert; Yu, Jihnhee; Zhao, Yang; Hutson, Alan D; Gurevich, Gregory

2017-01-01

Many statistical studies report p-values for inferential purposes. In several scenarios, the stochastic aspect of p-values is neglected, which may contribute to drawing wrong conclusions in real data experiments. The stochastic nature of p-values makes their use to examine the performance of given testing procedures or associations between investigated factors to be difficult. We turn our focus on the modern statistical literature to address the expected p-value (EPV) as a measure of the performance of decision-making rules. During the course of our study, we prove that the EPV can be considered in the context of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, a well-established biostatistical methodology. The ROC-based framework provides a new and efficient methodology for investigating and constructing statistical decision-making procedures, including: (1) evaluation and visualization of properties of the testing mechanisms, considering, e.g. partial EPVs; (2) developing optimal tests via the minimization of EPVs; (3) creation of novel methods for optimally combining multiple test statistics. We demonstrate that the proposed EPV-based approach allows us to maximize the integrated power of testing algorithms with respect to various significance levels. In an application, we use the proposed method to construct the optimal test and analyze a myocardial infarction disease dataset. We outline the usefulness of the "EPV/ROC" technique for evaluating different decision-making procedures, their constructions and properties with an eye towards practical applications.

40 CFR 1065.1 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... regulated under vehicle-based, equipment-based, or vessel-based standards, use good engineering judgment to...) For additional information regarding these test procedures, visit our Web site at http://www.epa.gov...

40 CFR 1065.1 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... regulated under vehicle-based, equipment-based, or vessel-based standards, use good engineering judgment to...) For additional information regarding these test procedures, visit our Web site at http://www.epa.gov...

An Evaluation of One- and Three-Parameter Logistic Tailored Testing Procedures for Use with Small Item Pools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKinley, Robert L.; Reckase, Mark D.

A two-stage study was conducted to compare the ability estimates yielded by tailored testing procedures based on the one-parameter logistic (1PL) and three-parameter logistic (3PL) models. The first stage of the study employed real data, while the second stage employed simulated data. In the first stage, response data for 3,000 examinees were…

30 CFR 553.25 - What financial test procedures must I use to determine the amount of self-insurance allowed as...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false What financial test procedures must I use to determine the amount of self-insurance allowed as OSFR evidence based on net worth? 553.25 Section 553.25 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE OIL SPILL...

30 CFR 553.25 - What financial test procedures must I use to determine the amount of self-insurance allowed as...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false What financial test procedures must I use to determine the amount of self-insurance allowed as OSFR evidence based on net worth? 553.25 Section 553.25 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE OIL SPILL...

30 CFR 553.25 - What financial test procedures must I use to determine the amount of self-insurance allowed as...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false What financial test procedures must I use to determine the amount of self-insurance allowed as OSFR evidence based on net worth? 553.25 Section 553.25 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE OIL SPILL...

Use of power analysis to develop detectable significance criteria for sea urchin toxicity tests

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, R.S.; Biedenbach, J.M.

1999-01-01

When sufficient data are available, the statistical power of a test can be determined using power analysis procedures. The term “detectable significance” has been coined to refer to this criterion based on power analysis and past performance of a test. This power analysis procedure has been performed with sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata) fertilization and embryological development data from sediment porewater toxicity tests. Data from 3100 and 2295 tests for the fertilization and embryological development tests, respectively, were used to calculate the criteria and regression equations describing the power curves. Using Dunnett's test, a minimum significant difference (MSD) (β = 0.05) of 15.5% and 19% for the fertilization test, and 16.4% and 20.6% for the embryological development test, for α ≤ 0.05 and α ≤ 0.01, respectively, were determined. The use of this second criterion reduces type I (false positive) errors and helps to establish a critical level of difference based on the past performance of the test.

Laparoscopic Stephen-Fowler stage procedure: appropriate management for high intra-abdominal testes.

PubMed

Agrawal, Amit; Joshi, Milind; Mishra, Pankaj; Gupta, Rahul; Sanghvi, Beejal; Parelkar, Sandesh

2010-03-01

The length of testicular vessels is the main length-limiting factor to bring down the testes in the scrotum. Fowler and Stephen proposed the division of testicular vessels, high and as far from the testes as possible to maintain collateral blood supply, to treat high intra-abdominal testes. Cortesi introduced the diagnostic laparoscopy and Jorden first did the laparoscopic orchiopexy for nonpalpable testes. We had done Fowler-Stephen staged orchiopexy for high intra-abdominal testes, in which both stages were done laparoscopically. In total, 17 testes of 13 patients had undergone laparoscopic staged Fowler-Stephen orchiopexy. The decision to perform a staged Fowler-Stephen orchiopexy was based on the distance of the testis from the deep inguinal ring on laparoscopy. If distance was more than 2.5 cm, then we proceeded to a laparoscopic staged Fowler-Stephen orchiopexy. In the first stage, testicular vessels were cauterized by bipolar diathermy. Laparoscopic second-stage Fowler-Stephen procedure was done 6 months after the first stage. Patients were regularly followed, and the success of the procedure was assessed by the size of the testes and the position in the scrotum. Testicular vascularity was assessed by color Doppler ultrasonography. There was no testicular atrophy on second stage and on follow-up. All testes were in the scrotum with good size on follow-up. There was no complication related to laparoscopy. In cases of high intra-abdominal testes, the staged Fowler-Stephen procedure should be the procedure of choice. This procedure yields a high success rate. Transaction of vessels by bipolar diathermy is a very safe, cost-effective method.

An Examination of Two Procedures for Identifying Consequential Item Parameter Drift

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wells, Craig S.; Hambleton, Ronald K.; Kirkpatrick, Robert; Meng, Yu

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to develop and evaluate two procedures flagging consequential item parameter drift (IPD) in an operational testing program. The first procedure was based on flagging items that exhibit a meaningful magnitude of IPD using a critical value that was defined to represent barely tolerable IPD. The second procedure…

Runway Rubber Removal Specification Development: Field Evaluation Procedures Development.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-07-01

removal was sufficient enough to restore full pave- ment skid resistance (based on tests with a DBV). With regard to high-pressure water rubber ...over a test surface, the rubber slider resists motion-. The force, parallel to the test surface, which acts on the slider registers an output on a dial...PROCEDURE 1. Check rubber shoe for wear . Replace when the edge is worn by more than 3/16 in as measured with a rule laid flat across the slider width. 2

The presence-absence coliform test for monitoring drinking water quality.

PubMed Central

Rice, E W; Geldreich, E E; Read, E J

1989-01-01

The concern for improved monitoring of the sanitary quality of drinking water has prompted interest in alternative methods for the detection of total coliform bacteria. A simplified qualitative presence-absence test has been proposed as an alternate procedure for detecting coliform bacteria in potable water. In this paper data from four comparative studies were analyzed to compare the recovery of total coliform bacteria from drinking water using the presence-absence test, the multiple fermentation tube procedure, and the membrane filter technique. The four studies were of water samples taken from four different geographic areas of the United States: Hawaii, New England (Vermont and New Hampshire), Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Analysis of the results of these studies were compared, based upon the number of positive samples detected by each method. Combined recoveries showed the presence-absence test detected significantly higher numbers of samples with coliforms than either the fermentation tube or membrane filter methods, P less than 0.01. The fermentation tube procedure detected significantly more positive samples than the membrane filter technique, P less than 0.01. Based upon the analysis of the combined data base, it is clear that the presence-absence test is as sensitive as the current coliform methods for the examination of potable water. The presence-absence test offers a viable alternative to water utility companies that elect to use the frequency-of-occurrence approach for compliance monitoring. PMID:2493663

Model of Procedure Usage – Results from a Qualitative Study to Inform Design of Computer-Based Procedures

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

Johanna H Oxstrand; Katya L Le Blanc

The nuclear industry is constantly trying to find ways to decrease the human error rate, especially the human errors associated with procedure use. As a step toward the goal of improving procedure use performance, researchers, together with the nuclear industry, have been looking at replacing the current paper-based procedures with computer-based procedure systems. The concept of computer-based procedures is not new by any means; however most research has focused on procedures used in the main control room. Procedures reviewed in these efforts are mainly emergency operating procedures and normal operating procedures. Based on lessons learned for these previous efforts wemore » are now exploring a more unknown application for computer based procedures - field procedures, i.e. procedures used by nuclear equipment operators and maintenance technicians. The Idaho National Laboratory, the Institute for Energy Technology, and participants from the U.S. commercial nuclear industry are collaborating in an applied research effort with the objective of developing requirements and specifications for a computer-based procedure system to be used by field operators. The goal is to identify the types of human errors that can be mitigated by using computer-based procedures and how to best design the computer-based procedures to do this. The underlying philosophy in the research effort is “Stop – Start – Continue”, i.e. what features from the use of paper-based procedures should we not incorporate (Stop), what should we keep (Continue), and what new features or work processes should be added (Start). One step in identifying the Stop – Start – Continue was to conduct a baseline study where affordances related to the current usage of paper-based procedures were identified. The purpose of the study was to develop a model of paper based procedure use which will help to identify desirable features for computer based procedure prototypes. Affordances such as note taking, markups, sharing procedures between fellow coworkers, the use of multiple procedures at once, etc. were considered. The model describes which affordances associated with paper based procedures should be transferred to computer-based procedures as well as what features should not be incorporated. The model also provides a means to identify what new features not present in paper based procedures need to be added to the computer-based procedures to further enhance performance. The next step is to use the requirements and specifications to develop concepts and prototypes of computer-based procedures. User tests and other data collection efforts will be conducted to ensure that the real issues with field procedures and their usage are being addressed and solved in the best manner possible. This paper describes the baseline study, the construction of the model of procedure use, and the requirements and specifications for computer-based procedures that were developed based on the model. It also addresses how the model and the insights gained from it were used to develop concepts and prototypes for computer based procedures.« less

Investigation of laboratory test procedures for assessing the structural capacity of geogrid-reinforced aggregate base materials.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-04-01

The objective of this research was to identify a laboratory test method that can be used to quantify improvements in structural capacity of aggregate base materials reinforced with geogrid. For this research, National Cooperative Highway Research Pro...

Collecting Samples for Testing

MedlinePlus

... one or more hours to avoid a potential post-test spinal headache. The lumbar puncture procedure usually takes ... View sources NOTE: This article is based on research that ... of the Lab Tests Online Editorial Review Board . This article is periodically ...

A quantitative investigation of the fracture pump-in/flowback test

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

Plahn, S.V.; Nolte, K.G.; Miska, S.

1995-12-31

Fracture closure pressure is an important parameter for fracture treatment design and evaluation. The pump-in/flowback (PIFB) test is frequently used to estimate its magnitude. The test is attractive because bottomhole pressures during flowback develop a distinct and repeatable signature. This is in contrast to the pump-in/shut-in test where strong indications of fracture closure are rarely seen. Various techniques exist for extracting closure pressure from the flowback pressure response. Unfortunately, these procedures give different estimates for closure pressure and their theoretical bases are not well established. We present results that place the PIFB test on a more solid foundation. A numericalmore » model is used to simulate the PIFB test and glean physical mechanisms contributing to the response. Based on our simulation results, we propose an interpretation procedure which gives better estimates for closure pressure than existing techniques.« less

A Proposal on the Validation Model of Equivalence between PBLT and CBLT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Huilin

2014-01-01

The validity of the computer-based language test is possibly affected by three factors: computer familiarity, audio-visual cognitive competence, and other discrepancies in construct. Therefore, validating the equivalence between the paper-and-pencil language test and the computer-based language test is a key step in the procedure of designing a…

Problems and Procedures in Planning a Situation Based Video Test on Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masonis, Edward J.

This paper briefly outlines some problems one must solve when developing a video-based test to evaluate what a teacher knows about learning and instruction. Consideration is given to the effect the use of videotapes of actual classroom behavior have on test planning. Two methods of incorporating such situational material into the test…

Logistical Consideration in Computer-Based Screening of Astronaut Applicants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galarza, Laura

2000-01-01

This presentation reviews the logistical, ergonomic, and psychometric issues and data related to the development and operational use of a computer-based system for the psychological screening of astronaut applicants. The Behavioral Health and Performance Group (BHPG) at the Johnson Space Center upgraded its astronaut psychological screening and selection procedures for the 1999 astronaut applicants and subsequent astronaut selection cycles. The questionnaires, tests, and inventories were upgraded from a paper-and-pencil system to a computer-based system. Members of the BHPG and a computer programmer designed and developed needed interfaces (screens, buttons, etc.) and programs for the astronaut psychological assessment system. This intranet-based system included the user-friendly computer-based administration of tests, test scoring, generation of reports, the integration of test administration and test output to a single system, and a complete database for past, present, and future selection data. Upon completion of the system development phase, four beta and usability tests were conducted with the newly developed system. The first three tests included 1 to 3 participants each. The final system test was conducted with 23 participants tested simultaneously. Usability and ergonomic data were collected from the system (beta) test participants and from 1999 astronaut applicants who volunteered the information in exchange for anonymity. Beta and usability test data were analyzed to examine operational, ergonomic, programming, test administration and scoring issues related to computer-based testing. Results showed a preference for computer-based testing over paper-and -pencil procedures. The data also reflected specific ergonomic, usability, psychometric, and logistical concerns that should be taken into account in future selection cycles. Conclusion. Psychological, psychometric, human and logistical factors must be examined and considered carefully when developing and using a computer-based system for psychological screening and selection.

[Procedure of seed quality testing and seed grading standard of Prunus humilis].

PubMed

Wen, Hao; Ren, Guang-Xi; Gao, Ya; Luo, Jun; Liu, Chun-Sheng; Li, Wei-Dong

2014-11-01

So far there exists no corresponding quality test procedures and grading standards for the seed of Prunus humilis, which is one of the important source of base of semen pruni. Therefor we set up test procedures that are adapt to characteristics of the P. humilis seed through the study of the test of sampling, seed purity, thousand-grain weight, seed moisture, seed viability and germination percentage. 50 cases of seed specimens of P. humilis tested. The related data were analyzed by cluster analysis. Through this research, the seed quality test procedure was developed, and the seed quality grading standard was formulated. The seed quality of each grade should meet the following requirements: for first grade seeds, germination percentage ≥ 68%, thousand-grain weight 383 g, purity ≥ 93%, seed moisture ≤ 5%; for second grade seeds, germination percentage ≥ 26%, thousand-grain weight ≥ 266 g, purity ≥ 73%, seed moisture ≤9%; for third grade seeds, germination percentage ≥ 10%, purity ≥ 50%, thousand-grain weight ≥ 08 g, seed moisture ≤ 13%.

Accelerated test design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcdermott, P. P.

1980-01-01

The design of an accelerated life test program for electric batteries is discussed. A number of observations and suggestions on the procedures and objectives for conducting an accelerated life test program are presented. Equations based on nonlinear regression analysis for predicting the accelerated life test parameters are discussed.

Classifying the Indication for Colonoscopy Procedures: A Comparison of NLP Approaches in a Diverse National Healthcare System.

PubMed

Patterson, Olga V; Forbush, Tyler B; Saini, Sameer D; Moser, Stephanie E; DuVall, Scott L

2015-01-01

In order to measure the level of utilization of colonoscopy procedures, identifying the primary indication for the procedure is required. Colonoscopies may be utilized not only for screening, but also for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. To determine whether a colonoscopy was performed for screening, we created a natural language processing system to identify colonoscopy reports in the electronic medical record system and extract indications for the procedure. A rule-based model and three machine-learning models were created using 2,000 manually annotated clinical notes of patients cared for in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Performance of the models was measured and compared. Analysis of the models on a test set of 1,000 documents indicates that the rule-based system performance stays fairly constant as evaluated on training and testing sets. However, the machine learning model without feature selection showed significant decrease in performance. Therefore, rule-based classification system appears to be more robust than a machine-learning system in cases when no feature selection is performed.

Recent Achievements of the Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jordan, T. H.; Liukis, M.; Werner, M. J.; Schorlemmer, D.; Yu, J.; Maechling, P. J.; Jackson, D. D.; Rhoades, D. A.; Zechar, J. D.; Marzocchi, W.

2016-12-01

The Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability (CSEP) supports a global program to conduct prospective earthquake forecasting experiments. CSEP testing centers are now operational in California, New Zealand, Japan, China, and Europe with 442 models under evaluation. The California testing center, started by SCEC, Sept 1, 2007, currently hosts 30-minute, 1-day, 3-month, 1-year and 5-year forecasts, both alarm-based and probabilistic, for California, the Western Pacific, and worldwide. Our tests are now based on the hypocentral locations and magnitudes of cataloged earthquakes, but we plan to test focal mechanisms, seismic hazard models, ground motion forecasts, and finite rupture forecasts as well. We have increased computational efficiency for high-resolution global experiments, such as the evaluation of the Global Earthquake Activity Rate (GEAR) model, introduced Bayesian ensemble models, and implemented support for non-Poissonian simulation-based forecasts models. We are currently developing formats and procedures to evaluate externally hosted forecasts and predictions. CSEP supports the USGS program in operational earthquake forecasting and a DHS project to register and test external forecast procedures from experts outside seismology. We found that earthquakes as small as magnitude 2.5 provide important information on subsequent earthquakes larger than magnitude 5. A retrospective experiment for the 2010-2012 Canterbury earthquake sequence showed that some physics-based and hybrid models outperform catalog-based (e.g., ETAS) models. This experiment also demonstrates the ability of the CSEP infrastructure to support retrospective forecast testing. Current CSEP development activities include adoption of the Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat) as an authorized data source, retrospective testing of simulation-based forecasts, and support for additive ensemble methods. We describe the open-source CSEP software that is available to researchers as they develop their forecast models. We also discuss how CSEP procedures are being adapted to intensity and ground motion prediction experiments as well as hazard model testing.

Estimating times of surgeries with two component procedures: comparison of the lognormal and normal models.

PubMed

Strum, David P; May, Jerrold H; Sampson, Allan R; Vargas, Luis G; Spangler, William E

2003-01-01

Variability inherent in the duration of surgical procedures complicates surgical scheduling. Modeling the duration and variability of surgeries might improve time estimates. Accurate time estimates are important operationally to improve utilization, reduce costs, and identify surgeries that might be considered outliers. Surgeries with multiple procedures are difficult to model because they are difficult to segment into homogenous groups and because they are performed less frequently than single-procedure surgeries. The authors studied, retrospectively, 10,740 surgeries each with exactly two CPTs and 46,322 surgical cases with only one CPT from a large teaching hospital to determine if the distribution of dual-procedure surgery times fit more closely a lognormal or a normal model. The authors tested model goodness of fit to their data using Shapiro-Wilk tests, studied factors affecting the variability of time estimates, and examined the impact of coding permutations (ordered combinations) on modeling. The Shapiro-Wilk tests indicated that the lognormal model is statistically superior to the normal model for modeling dual-procedure surgeries. Permutations of component codes did not appear to differ significantly with respect to total procedure time and surgical time. To improve individual models for infrequent dual-procedure surgeries, permutations may be reduced and estimates may be based on the longest component procedure and type of anesthesia. The authors recommend use of the lognormal model for estimating surgical times for surgeries with two component procedures. Their results help legitimize the use of log transforms to normalize surgical procedure times prior to hypothesis testing using linear statistical models. Multiple-procedure surgeries may be modeled using the longest (statistically most important) component procedure and type of anesthesia.

A novel gel based vehicle for the delivery of acetylcholine in quantitative sudomotor axon reflex testing.

PubMed

Sletten, David M; Kimpinski, Kurt; Weigand, Stephen D; Low, Phillip A

2009-10-05

This study describes a novel gel based vehicle for the delivery of acetylcholine (ACh) during quantitative sudomotor axon reflex testing (QSART). A dose and current response study were undertaken on 20 healthy control participants to characterize the efficiency of a gel based vehicle for the delivery of ACh. Values obtained for total sweat volume and latency to sweat onset with gel iontophoresis of ACh during QSART were comparable to previously published normative data using solution based vehicles. Patient discomfort, utilizing the gel based vehicle during the QSART procedure, was minimal. Improvement in iontophoresis using the gel formulation as a vehicle for ACh delivery has the potential to lower the voltage required to overcome skin resistance during QSART and may result in improved patient comfort during the procedure.

Test Operations Procedure (TOP) 1-1-062 Environmental Effects Data Collection

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-12

this procedure. 11. ESTIMATION DESCRIPTION The prime example of an empirically based model is the Universal Soil Loss Equation ( USLE ) developed...impacts to human health and welfare and to the natural environment. The type of data collected might include noise levels, soil erosion, and...uptake relevant to flora/fauna and the soil erosion effects of proposed testing. c. Plan to identify any modifications/alternatives implemented

40 CFR 1051.501 - What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... production-line testing requirements. (a) Snowmobiles. For snowmobiles, use the equipment and procedures for.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. Use the duty cycle specified in § 1051.505. (b.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. If we allow you to certify ATVs based on engine...

40 CFR 1051.501 - What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... production-line testing requirements. (a) Snowmobiles. For snowmobiles, use the equipment and procedures for.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. Use the duty cycle specified in § 1051.505. (b.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. If we allow you to certify ATVs based on engine...

40 CFR 1051.501 - What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... production-line testing requirements. (a) Snowmobiles. For snowmobiles, use the equipment and procedures for.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. Use the duty cycle specified in § 1051.505. (b.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. If we allow you to certify ATVs based on engine...

40 CFR 1051.501 - What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... production-line testing requirements. (a) Snowmobiles. For snowmobiles, use the equipment and procedures for.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. Use the duty cycle specified in § 1051.505. (b.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. If we allow you to certify ATVs based on engine...

40 CFR 1051.501 - What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... production-line testing requirements. (a) Snowmobiles. For snowmobiles, use the equipment and procedures for.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. Use the duty cycle specified in § 1051.505. (b.... Measure CO2, N2O, and CH4 as described in § 1051.235. If we allow you to certify ATVs based on engine...

Steepest descent method implementation on unconstrained optimization problem using C++ program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Napitupulu, H.; Sukono; Mohd, I. Bin; Hidayat, Y.; Supian, S.

2018-03-01

Steepest Descent is known as the simplest gradient method. Recently, many researches are done to obtain the appropriate step size in order to reduce the objective function value progressively. In this paper, the properties of steepest descent method from literatures are reviewed together with advantages and disadvantages of each step size procedure. The development of steepest descent method due to its step size procedure is discussed. In order to test the performance of each step size, we run a steepest descent procedure in C++ program. We implemented it to unconstrained optimization test problem with two variables, then we compare the numerical results of each step size procedure. Based on the numerical experiment, we conclude the general computational features and weaknesses of each procedure in each case of problem.

Performance-based quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) acceptance procedures for in-place soil testing phase 3 : [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-01-01

Acceptance of earthwork construction by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) : requires in-place testing conducted with a nuclear density gauge (NDG) to determine : dry density, which must obtain a required percent compaction based upon a ...

A field test of procedures for evaluating and scheduling white-pine weevil control

Treesearch

Robert P. Ford; Robert L. Talerico; D. Gordon Mott

1965-01-01

Procedures have recently been developed that permit economic and biological information to be integrated in making decisions about the need for control against the white-pine weevil, and in scheduling control in young white pine plantations. The procedures are based upon studies of the magnitude of economic losses that result from weevil attack in white pine and upon...

Criterion-Referenced Test Items for Small Engines.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herd, Amon

This notebook contains criterion-referenced test items for testing students' knowledge of small engines. The test items are based upon competencies found in the Missouri Small Engine Competency Profile. The test item bank is organized in 18 sections that cover the following duties: shop procedures; tools and equipment; fasteners; servicing fuel…

Testing 40 Predictions from the Transtheoretical Model Again, with Confidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Velicer, Wayne F.; Brick, Leslie Ann D.; Fava, Joseph L.; Prochaska, James O.

2013-01-01

Testing Theory-based Quantitative Predictions (TTQP) represents an alternative to traditional Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) procedures and is more appropriate for theory testing. The theory generates explicit effect size predictions and these effect size estimates, with related confidence intervals, are used to test the predictions.…

Optimal use of colonoscopy and fecal immunochemical test for population-based colorectal cancer screening: a cost-effectiveness analysis using Japanese data.

PubMed

Sekiguchi, Masau; Igarashi, Ataru; Matsuda, Takahisa; Matsumoto, Minori; Sakamoto, Taku; Nakajima, Takeshi; Kakugawa, Yasuo; Yamamoto, Seiichiro; Saito, Hiroshi; Saito, Yutaka

2016-02-01

There have been few cost-effectiveness analyses of population-based colorectal cancer screening in Japan, and there is no consensus on the optimal use of total colonoscopy and the fecal immunochemical test for colorectal cancer screening with regard to cost-effectiveness and total colonoscopy workload. The present study aimed to examine the cost-effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening using Japanese data to identify the optimal use of total colonoscopy and fecal immunochemical test. We developed a Markov model to assess the cost-effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening offered to an average-risk population aged 40 years or over. The cost, quality-adjusted life-years and number of total colonoscopy procedures required were evaluated for three screening strategies: (i) a fecal immunochemical test-based strategy; (ii) a total colonoscopy-based strategy; (iii) a strategy of adding population-wide total colonoscopy at 50 years to a fecal immunochemical test-based strategy. All three strategies dominated no screening. Among the three, Strategy 1 was dominated by Strategy 3, and the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-years gained for Strategy 2 against Strategies 1 and 3 were JPY 293 616 and JPY 781 342, respectively. Within the Japanese threshold (JPY 5-6 million per QALY gained), Strategy 2 was the most cost-effective, followed by Strategy 3; however, Strategy 2 required more than double the number of total colonoscopy procedures than the other strategies. The total colonoscopy-based strategy could be the most cost-effective for population-based colorectal cancer screening in Japan. However, it requires more total colonoscopy procedures than the other strategies. Depending on total colonoscopy capacity, the strategy of adding total colonoscopy for individuals at a specified age to a fecal immunochemical test-based screening may be an optimal solution. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

US EPA BASE Study Standard Operating Procedure for Sampling of Particulates

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The objective of the procedure described is to collect a sample of particles of respirable and inhalable size (approx. 0.1 to 10 microns in diameter) from indoor air and from the outdoor air supplied to the indoor space tested.

Application of empirical and mechanistic-empirical pavement design procedures to Mn/ROAD concrete pavement test sections

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-05-01

Current pavement design procedures are based principally on empirical approaches. The current trend toward developing more mechanistic-empirical type pavement design methods led Minnesota to develop the Minnesota Road Research Project (Mn/ROAD), a lo...

NASA DOE POD NDE Capabilities Data Book

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Generazio, Edward R.

2015-01-01

This data book contains the Directed Design of Experiments for Validating Probability of Detection (POD) Capability of NDE Systems (DOEPOD) analyses of the nondestructive inspection data presented in the NTIAC, Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Capabilities Data Book, 3rd ed., NTIAC DB-97-02. DOEPOD is designed as a decision support system to validate inspection system, personnel, and protocol demonstrating 0.90 POD with 95% confidence at critical flaw sizes, a90/95. The test methodology used in DOEPOD is based on the field of statistical sequential analysis founded by Abraham Wald. Sequential analysis is a method of statistical inference whose characteristic feature is that the number of observations required by the procedure is not determined in advance of the experiment. The decision to terminate the experiment depends, at each stage, on the results of the observations previously made. A merit of the sequential method, as applied to testing statistical hypotheses, is that test procedures can be constructed which require, on average, a substantially smaller number of observations than equally reliable test procedures based on a predetermined number of observations.

Least-squares/parabolized Navier-Stokes procedure for optimizing hypersonic wind tunnel nozzles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Korte, John J.; Kumar, Ajay; Singh, D. J.; Grossman, B.

1991-01-01

A new procedure is demonstrated for optimizing hypersonic wind-tunnel-nozzle contours. The procedure couples a CFD computer code to an optimization algorithm, and is applied to both conical and contoured hypersonic nozzles for the purpose of determining an optimal set of parameters to describe the surface geometry. A design-objective function is specified based on the deviation from the desired test-section flow-field conditions. The objective function is minimized by optimizing the parameters used to describe the nozzle contour based on the solution to a nonlinear least-squares problem. The effect of the changes in the nozzle wall parameters are evaluated by computing the nozzle flow using the parabolized Navier-Stokes equations. The advantage of the new procedure is that it directly takes into account the displacement effect of the boundary layer on the wall contour. The new procedure provides a method for optimizing hypersonic nozzles of high Mach numbers which have been designed by classical procedures, but are shown to produce poor flow quality due to the large boundary layers present in the test section. The procedure is demonstrated by finding the optimum design parameters for a Mach 10 conical nozzle and a Mach 6 and a Mach 15 contoured nozzle.

Building and Supporting a Case for Test Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bachman, Lyle F.

2005-01-01

The fields of language testing and educational and psychological measurement have not, as yet, developed a set of principles and procedures for linking test scores and score-based inferences to test use and the consequences of test use. Although Messick (1989) discusses test use and consequences, his framework provides virtually no guidance on how…

Rapid identification of illegal synthetic adulterants in herbal anti-diabetic medicines using near infrared spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Yanchun; Lei, Deqing; Hu, Changqin

We created a rapid detection procedure for identifying herbal medicines illegally adulterated with synthetic drugs using near infrared spectroscopy. This procedure includes a reverse correlation coefficient method (RCCM) and comparison of characteristic peaks. Moreover, we made improvements to the RCCM based on new strategies for threshold settings. Any tested herbal medicine must meet two criteria to be identified with our procedure as adulterated. First, the correlation coefficient between the tested sample and the reference must be greater than the RCCM threshold. Next, the NIR spectrum of the tested sample must contain the same characteristic peaks as the reference. In this study, four pure synthetic anti-diabetic drugs (i.e., metformin, gliclazide, glibenclamide and glimepiride), 174 batches of laboratory samples and 127 batches of herbal anti-diabetic medicines were used to construct and validate the procedure. The accuracy of this procedure was greater than 80%. Our data suggest that this protocol is a rapid screening tool to identify synthetic drug adulterants in herbal medicines on the market.

[Determination of blood alcohol among aviation personnel: proposed operative protocol].

PubMed

Lopez, A; Cardoni, F; Bova, M; Simonazzi, S; Romolo, F S; Ricciardi Tenore, G

2003-01-01

The problems of the use/abuse of alcohol need a special attention by the Public Authorities, based on the scientific evidences related to the subject. We would like to define in the present paper the procedures for alcohol testing (and drug testing) in the sailors, following the international aviation authorities (ICAO, JAR-OPS-1, FAA) recommendations. A Working Group was established to study both the scientific and the legal aspects of the problems related to alcohol testing in Italy. Experts from the Università "La Sapienza" and from Alitalia studied the alcohol testing issues abroad to set out criteria, guidelines and procedures for random testing in Italy.

Finite-sample and asymptotic sign-based tests for parameters of non-linear quantile regression with Markov noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sirenko, M. A.; Tarasenko, P. F.; Pushkarev, M. I.

2017-01-01

One of the most noticeable features of sign-based statistical procedures is an opportunity to build an exact test for simple hypothesis testing of parameters in a regression model. In this article, we expanded a sing-based approach to the nonlinear case with dependent noise. The examined model is a multi-quantile regression, which makes it possible to test hypothesis not only of regression parameters, but of noise parameters as well.

Ground Training Devices in Job Sample Approach to UPT [Undergraduate Pilot Training] Selection and Screening. Final Report, September 1972-August 1974.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeMaster, W. Dean; Gray, Thomas H.

The purpose of this study was to develop a screening procedure for undergraduate pilot training (UPT). This procedure was based upon the use of ground-based instrument trainers in which UPT candidates, naive to flying, were evaluated in their performance of job sample tasks; i.e., basic instrument flying. Training and testing sessions were…

Benchmarking an operational procedure for rapid flood mapping and risk assessment in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dottori, Francesco; Salamon, Peter; Kalas, Milan; Bianchi, Alessandra; Feyen, Luc

2016-04-01

The development of real-time methods for rapid flood mapping and risk assessment is crucial to improve emergency response and mitigate flood impacts. This work describes the benchmarking of an operational procedure for rapid flood risk assessment based on the flood predictions issued by the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS). The daily forecasts produced for the major European river networks are translated into event-based flood hazard maps using a large map catalogue derived from high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations, based on the hydro-meteorological dataset of EFAS. Flood hazard maps are then combined with exposure and vulnerability information, and the impacts of the forecasted flood events are evaluated in near real-time in terms of flood prone areas, potential economic damage, affected population, infrastructures and cities. An extensive testing of the operational procedure is carried out using the catastrophic floods of May 2014 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The reliability of the flood mapping methodology is tested against satellite-derived flood footprints, while ground-based estimations of economic damage and affected population is compared against modelled estimates. We evaluated the skill of flood hazard and risk estimations derived from EFAS flood forecasts with different lead times and combinations. The assessment includes a comparison of several alternative approaches to produce and present the information content, in order to meet the requests of EFAS users. The tests provided good results and showed the potential of the developed real-time operational procedure in helping emergency response and management.

10 CFR 430.25 - Laboratory Accreditation Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Procedures § 430.25 Laboratory Accreditation Program. The testing for general service fluorescent lamps... Appendix R to this subpart. The testing for medium base compact fluorescent lamps shall be performed in accordance with Appendix W of this subpart. This testing shall be conducted by test laboratories accredited...

10 CFR 430.25 - Laboratory Accreditation Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Procedures § 430.25 Laboratory Accreditation Program. The testing for general service fluorescent lamps... Appendix R to this subpart. The testing for medium base compact fluorescent lamps shall be performed in accordance with Appendix W of this subpart. This testing shall be conducted by test laboratories accredited...

Development of electrical test procedures for qualification of spacecraft against EID. Volume 1: The CAN test and other relevant data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkenfeld, J. M.; Judge, R. J. R.; Harlacher, B. L.

1982-01-01

A combined experimental and analytical program to develop system electrical test procedures for the qualification of spacecraft against damage produced by space-electron-induced discharges (EID) occurring on spacecraft dielectric outer surfaces is described. The data on the response of a simple satellite model, called CAN, to electron-induced discharges is presented. The experimental results were compared to predicted behavior and to the response of the CAN to electrical injection techniques simulating blowoff and arc discharges. Also included is a review of significant results from other ground tests and the P78-2 program to form a data base from which is specified those test procedures which optimally simulate the response of spacecraft to EID. The electrical and electron spraying test data were evaluated to provide a first-cut determination of the best methods for performance of electrical excitation qualification tests from the point of view of simulation fidelity.

Operator procedure verification with a rapidly reconfigurable simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iwasaki, Yumi; Engelmore, Robert; Fehr, Gary; Fikes, Richard

1994-01-01

Generating and testing procedures for controlling spacecraft subsystems composed of electro-mechanical and computationally realized elements has become a very difficult task. Before a spacecraft can be flown, mission controllers must envision a great variety of situations the flight crew may encounter during a mission and carefully construct procedures for operating the spacecraft in each possible situation. If, despite extensive pre-compilation of control procedures, an unforeseen situation arises during a mission, the mission controller must generate a new procedure for the flight crew in a limited amount of time. In such situations, the mission controller cannot systematically consider and test alternative procedures against models of the system being controlled, because the available simulator is too large and complex to reconfigure, run, and analyze quickly. A rapidly reconfigurable simulation environment that can execute a control procedure and show its effects on system behavior would greatly facilitate generation and testing of control procedures both before and during a mission. The How Things Work project at Stanford University has developed a system called DME (Device Modeling Environment) for modeling and simulating the behavior of electromechanical devices. DME was designed to facilitate model formulation and behavior simulation of device behavior including both continuous and discrete phenomena. We are currently extending DME for use in testing operator procedures, and we have built a knowledge base for modeling the Reaction Control System (RCS) of the space shuttle as a testbed. We believe that DME can facilitate design of operator procedures by providing mission controllers with a simulation environment that meets all these requirements.

A compendium of controlled diffusion blades generated by an automated inverse design procedure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanz, Jose M.

1989-01-01

A set of sample cases was produced to test an automated design procedure developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center for the design of controlled diffusion blades. The range of application of the automated design procedure is documented. The results presented include characteristic compressor and turbine blade sections produced with the automated design code as well as various other airfoils produced with the base design method prior to the incorporation of the automated procedure.

Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF) for Assessment of Risks of Military Training and Testing to Natural Resources

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

Suter II, G.W.

2003-06-18

The objective of this research is to provide the DoD with a framework based on a systematic, risk-based approach to assess impacts for management of natural resources in an ecosystem context. This risk assessment framework is consistent with, but extends beyond, the EPA's ecological risk assessment framework, and specifically addresses DoD activities and management needs. MERAF is intended to be consistent with existing procedures for environmental assessment and planning with DoD testing and training. The intention is to supplement these procedures rather than creating new procedural requirements. MERAF is suitable for use for training and testing area assessment and management.more » It does not include human health risks nor does it address specific permitting or compliance requirements, although it may be useful in some of these cases. Use of MERAF fits into the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process by providing a consistent and rigorous way of organizing and conducting the technical analysis for Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) (Sigal 1993; Carpenter 1995; Canter and Sadler 1997). It neither conflicts with, nor replaces, procedural requirements within the NEPA process or document management processes already in place within DoD.« less

Examining the Validity of GED[R] Tests Scores with Scheduling and Setting Accommodations. GED Testing Service Research Studies, 2004-1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

George-Ezzelle, Carol E.; Skaggs, Gary

2004-01-01

Current testing standards call for test developers to provide evidence that testing procedures and test scores, and the inferences made based on the test scores, show evidence of validity and are comparable across subpopulations (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association [APA], & National Council on…

Optimal False Discovery Rate Control for Dependent Data

PubMed Central

Xie, Jichun; Cai, T. Tony; Maris, John; Li, Hongzhe

2013-01-01

This paper considers the problem of optimal false discovery rate control when the test statistics are dependent. An optimal joint oracle procedure, which minimizes the false non-discovery rate subject to a constraint on the false discovery rate is developed. A data-driven marginal plug-in procedure is then proposed to approximate the optimal joint procedure for multivariate normal data. It is shown that the marginal procedure is asymptotically optimal for multivariate normal data with a short-range dependent covariance structure. Numerical results show that the marginal procedure controls false discovery rate and leads to a smaller false non-discovery rate than several commonly used p-value based false discovery rate controlling methods. The procedure is illustrated by an application to a genome-wide association study of neuroblastoma and it identifies a few more genetic variants that are potentially associated with neuroblastoma than several p-value-based false discovery rate controlling procedures. PMID:23378870

The Simplified Aircraft-Based Paired Approach With the ALAS Alerting Algorithm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perry, Raleigh B.; Madden, Michael M.; Torres-Pomales, Wilfredo; Butler, Ricky W.

2013-01-01

This paper presents the results of an investigation of a proposed concept for closely spaced parallel runways called the Simplified Aircraft-based Paired Approach (SAPA). This procedure depends upon a new alerting algorithm called the Adjacent Landing Alerting System (ALAS). This study used both low fidelity and high fidelity simulations to validate the SAPA procedure and test the performance of the new alerting algorithm. The low fidelity simulation enabled a determination of minimum approach distance for the worst case over millions of scenarios. The high fidelity simulation enabled an accurate determination of timings and minimum approach distance in the presence of realistic trajectories, communication latencies, and total system error for 108 test cases. The SAPA procedure and the ALAS alerting algorithm were applied to the 750-ft parallel spacing (e.g., SFO 28L/28R) approach problem. With the SAPA procedure as defined in this paper, this study concludes that a 750-ft application does not appear to be feasible, but preliminary results for 1000-ft parallel runways look promising.

A competency based selection procedure for Dutch postgraduate GP training: a pilot study on validity and reliability.

PubMed

Vermeulen, Margit I; Tromp, Fred; Zuithoff, Nicolaas P A; Pieters, Ron H M; Damoiseaux, Roger A M J; Kuyvenhoven, Marijke M

2014-12-01

Abstract Background: Historically, semi-structured interviews (SSI) have been the core of the Dutch selection for postgraduate general practice (GP) training. This paper describes a pilot study on a newly designed competency-based selection procedure that assesses whether candidates have the competencies that are required to complete GP training. The objective was to explore reliability and validity aspects of the instruments developed. The new selection procedure comprising the National GP Knowledge Test (LHK), a situational judgement tests (SJT), a patterned behaviour descriptive interview (PBDI) and a simulated encounter (SIM) was piloted alongside the current procedure. Forty-seven candidates volunteered in both procedures. Admission decision was based on the results of the current procedure. Study participants did hardly differ from the other candidates. The mean scores of the candidates on the LHK and SJT were 21.9 % (SD 8.7) and 83.8% (SD 3.1), respectively. The mean self-reported competency scores (PBDI) were higher than the observed competencies (SIM): 3.7(SD 0.5) and 2.9(SD 0.6), respectively. Content-related competencies showed low correlations with one another when measured with different instruments, whereas more diverse competencies measured by a single instrument showed strong to moderate correlations. Moreover, a moderate correlation between LHK and SJT was found. The internal consistencies (intraclass correlation, ICC) of LHK and SJT were poor while the ICC of PBDI and SIM showed acceptable levels of reliability. Findings on content validity and reliability of these new instruments are promising to realize a competency based procedure. Further development of the instruments and research on predictive validity should be pursued.

Robust estimation of the proportion of treatment effect explained by surrogate marker information.

PubMed

Parast, Layla; McDermott, Mary M; Tian, Lu

2016-05-10

In randomized treatment studies where the primary outcome requires long follow-up of patients and/or expensive or invasive obtainment procedures, the availability of a surrogate marker that could be used to estimate the treatment effect and could potentially be observed earlier than the primary outcome would allow researchers to make conclusions regarding the treatment effect with less required follow-up time and resources. The Prentice criterion for a valid surrogate marker requires that a test for treatment effect on the surrogate marker also be a valid test for treatment effect on the primary outcome of interest. Based on this criterion, methods have been developed to define and estimate the proportion of treatment effect on the primary outcome that is explained by the treatment effect on the surrogate marker. These methods aim to identify useful statistical surrogates that capture a large proportion of the treatment effect. However, current methods to estimate this proportion usually require restrictive model assumptions that may not hold in practice and thus may lead to biased estimates of this quantity. In this paper, we propose a nonparametric procedure to estimate the proportion of treatment effect on the primary outcome that is explained by the treatment effect on a potential surrogate marker and extend this procedure to a setting with multiple surrogate markers. We compare our approach with previously proposed model-based approaches and propose a variance estimation procedure based on a perturbation-resampling method. Simulation studies demonstrate that the procedure performs well in finite samples and outperforms model-based procedures when the specified models are not correct. We illustrate our proposed procedure using a data set from a randomized study investigating a group-mediated cognitive behavioral intervention for peripheral artery disease participants. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Development of a full-scale transmission testing procedure to evaluate advanced lubricants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewicki, David G.; Decker, Harry J.; Shimski, John T.

1992-01-01

Experimental tests were performed on the OH-58A helicopter main rotor transmission in the NASA Lewis 500-hp Helicopter Transmission Test Stand. The testing was part of a joint Navy/NASA/Army lubrication program. The objective of the program was to develop a separate lubricant for gearboxes and demonstrate an improved performance in life and load-carrying capacity. The goal of the experiments was to develop a testing procedure to fail certain transmission components using a MIL-L-23699 base reference oil, then run identical tests with improved lubricants and demonstrate performance. The tests were directed at failing components that the Navy has had problems with due to marginal lubrication. These failures included mast shaft bearing micropitting, sun gear and planet bearing fatigue, and spiral bevel gear scoring. A variety of tests were performed and over 900 hours of total run time accumulated for these tests. Some success was achieved in developing a testing procedure to produce sun gear and planet bearing fatigue failures. Only marginal success was achieved in producing mast shaft bearing micropitting and spiral bevel gear scoring.

Tests de langues vivantes: tests, tests de savoir, tests de savoir-faire (On Language Testing; Testing, Testing Knowledge, Testing Communicative Competence).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwarz, Michel P.M.

1981-01-01

Discusses general principles of language testing, stressing objectivity and reliability as the key terms. However, maintains that it is impossible to obtain a direct measure of linguistic competence and consequently questions the value of standard grading procedures. Instead, proposes an evaluation system based on the achievement of specific…

Validation of biological activity testing procedure of recombinant human interleukin-7.

PubMed

Lutsenko, T N; Kovalenko, M V; Galkin, O Yu

2017-01-01

Validation procedure for method of monitoring the biological activity of reсombinant human interleukin-7 has been developed and conducted according to the requirements of national and international recommendations. This method is based on the ability of recombinant human interleukin-7 to induce proliferation of T lymphocytes. It has been shown that to control the biological activity of recombinant human interleukin-7 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from blood or cell lines can be used. Validation charac­teristics that should be determined depend on the method, type of product or object test/measurement and biological test systems used in research. The validation procedure for the method of control of biological activity of recombinant human interleukin-7 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells showed satisfactory results on all parameters tested such as specificity, accuracy, precision and linearity.

Biology Procedural Knowledge at Eleventh Grade of Senior High School in West Lampung Based on Curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sari, T. M.; Paidi; Mercuriani, I. S.

2018-03-01

This study was aim to determine Biology procedural knowledge of senior high school in West Lampung based on curriculum at 11th grade in even semester. This research was descriptive research. The population was all students of senior high school in West Lampung. The sampling technique in this research used purposive sampling technique, so the researcher obtained 3 schools using K13 and 3 schools using KTSP. Data collecting technique used instrument test. Data analysis technique used U-Mann Whitney test. The result showed that p=0.028 (p<0.05), so there was significant differences between school using K13 and KTSP. The procedural knowledge of schools which using K13 is higher than school which using KTSP, with the mean score K13=4.35 and KTSP=4.00

IMBLMS phase B4, additional tasks 5.0. Microbial identification system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1971-01-01

A laboratory study was undertaken to provide simplified procedures leading to the presumptive identification (I/D) of defined microorganisms on-board an orbiting spacecraft. Identifications were to be initiated by nonprofessional bacteriologists, (crew members) on a contingency basis only. Key objectives/constraints for this investigation were as follows:(1) I/D procedures based on limited, defined diagnostic tests, (2) testing oriented about ten selected microorganisms, (3) provide for definitive I/D key and procedures per selected organism, (4) define possible occurrences of false positives for the resulting I/D key by search of the appropriate literature, and (5) evaluation of the I/D key and procedure through a limited field trial on randomly selected subjects using the I/D key.

Does Test Preparation Mean Low-Quality Instruction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blazar, David; Pollard, Cynthia

2017-01-01

Critics of test-based accountability warn that test preparation has a negative influence on teachers' instruction due to a focus on procedural skills. Others advocate that the adoption of more rigorous assessments may be a way to incentivize more ambitious test preparation instruction. Drawing on classroom observations and teacher surveys, we do…

Virtual Reality for Pediatric Sedation: A Randomized Controlled Trial Using Simulation.

PubMed

Zaveri, Pavan P; Davis, Aisha B; O'Connell, Karen J; Willner, Emily; Aronson Schinasi, Dana A; Ottolini, Mary

2016-02-09

Team training for procedural sedation for pediatric residents has traditionally consisted of didactic presentations and simulated scenarios using high-fidelity mannequins. We assessed the effectiveness of a virtual reality module in teaching preparation for and management of sedation for procedures. After developing a virtual reality environment in Second Life® (Linden Lab, San Francisco, CA) where providers perform and recover patients from procedural sedation, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of the virtual reality module versus a traditional web-based educational module. A 20 question pre- and post-test was administered to assess knowledge change. All subjects participated in a simulated pediatric procedural sedation scenario that was video recorded for review and assessed using a 32-point checklist. A brief survey elicited feedback on the virtual reality module and the simulation scenario. The median score on the assessment checklist was 75% for the intervention group and 70% for the control group (P = 0.32). For the knowledge tests, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (P = 0.14). Users had excellent reviews of the virtual reality module and reported that the module added to their education. Pediatric residents performed similarly in simulation and on a knowledge test after a virtual reality module compared with a traditional web-based module on procedural sedation. Although users enjoyed the virtual reality experience, these results question the value virtual reality adds in improving the performance of trainees. Further inquiry is needed into how virtual reality provides true value in simulation-based education.

Virtual Reality for Pediatric Sedation: A Randomized Controlled Trial Using Simulation

PubMed Central

Davis, Aisha B; O'Connell, Karen J; Willner, Emily; Aronson Schinasi, Dana A; Ottolini, Mary

2016-01-01

Introduction: Team training for procedural sedation for pediatric residents has traditionally consisted of didactic presentations and simulated scenarios using high-fidelity mannequins. We assessed the effectiveness of a virtual reality module in teaching preparation for and management of sedation for procedures. Methods: After developing a virtual reality environment in Second Life® (Linden Lab, San Francisco, CA) where providers perform and recover patients from procedural sedation, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of the virtual reality module versus a traditional web-based educational module. A 20 question pre- and post-test was administered to assess knowledge change. All subjects participated in a simulated pediatric procedural sedation scenario that was video recorded for review and assessed using a 32-point checklist. A brief survey elicited feedback on the virtual reality module and the simulation scenario. Results: The median score on the assessment checklist was 75% for the intervention group and 70% for the control group (P = 0.32). For the knowledge tests, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (P = 0.14). Users had excellent reviews of the virtual reality module and reported that the module added to their education. Conclusions: Pediatric residents performed similarly in simulation and on a knowledge test after a virtual reality module compared with a traditional web-based module on procedural sedation. Although users enjoyed the virtual reality experience, these results question the value virtual reality adds in improving the performance of trainees. Further inquiry is needed into how virtual reality provides true value in simulation-based education. PMID:27014520

ROC and Loss Function Analysis in Sequential Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muijtjens, Arno M. M.; Van Luijk, Scheltus J.; Van Der Vleuten, Cees P. M.

2006-01-01

Sequential testing is applied to reduce costs in SP-based tests (OSCEs). Initially, all candidates take a screening test consisting of a part of the OSCE. Candidates who fail the screen sit the complete test, whereas those who pass the screen are qualified as a pass of the complete test. The procedure may result in a reduction of testing…

10 CFR 431.372 - Sampling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Sampling. 431.372 Section 431.372 Energy DEPARTMENT OF... Certification and Enforcement § 431.372 Sampling. For purposes of a certification of compliance, the... standard shall be based upon the testing and sampling procedures, and other applicable rating procedures...

Personality Assessment in the Schools: Issues and Procedures for School Psychologists.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knoff, Howard M.

1983-01-01

A conceptual model for school-based personality assessment, methods to integrate behavioral and projective assessment procedures, and issues surrounding the use of projective tests are presented. Ways to maximize the personality assessment process for use in placement and programing decisions are suggested. (Author/DWH)

Interprofessional and interdisciplinary simulation-based training leads to safe sedation procedures in the emergency department.

PubMed

Sauter, Thomas C; Hautz, Wolf E; Hostettler, Simone; Brodmann-Maeder, Monika; Martinolli, Luca; Lehmann, Beat; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K; Haider, Dominik G

2016-08-02

Sedation is a procedure required for many interventions in the Emergency department (ED) such as reductions, surgical procedures or cardioversions. However, especially under emergency conditions with high risk patients and rapidly changing interdisciplinary and interprofessional teams, the procedure caries important risks. It is thus vital but difficult to implement a standard operating procedure for sedation procedures in any ED. Reports on both, implementation strategies as well as their success are currently lacking. This study describes the development, implementation and clinical evaluation of an interprofessional and interdisciplinary simulation-based sedation training concept. All physicians and nurses with specialised training in emergency medicine at the Berne University Department of Emergency Medicine participated in a mandatory interdisciplinary and interprofessional simulation-based sedation training. The curriculum consisted of an individual self-learning module, an airway skill training course, three simulation-based team training cases, and a final practical learning course in the operating theatre. Before and after each training session, self-efficacy, awareness of emergency procedures, knowledge of sedation medication and crisis resource management were assessed with a questionnaire. Changes in these measures were compared via paired tests, separately for groups formed based on experience and profession. To assess the clinical effect of training, we collected patient and team satisfaction as well as duration and complications for all sedations in the ED within the year after implementation. We further compared time to beginning of procedure, time for duration of procedure and time until discharge after implementation with the one year period before the implementation. Cohen's d was calculated as effect size for all statistically significant tests. Fifty staff members (26 nurses and 24 physicians) participated in the training. In all subgroups, there is a significant increase in self-efficacy and knowledge with high effect size (d z  = 1.8). The learning is independent of profession and experience level. In the clinical evaluation after implementation, we found no major complications among the sedations performed. Time to procedure significantly improved after the introduction of the training (d = 0.88). Learning is independent of previous working experience and equally effective in raising the self-efficacy and knowledge in all professional groups. Clinical outcome evaluation confirms the concepts safety and feasibility. An interprofessional and interdisciplinary simulation-based sedation training is an efficient way to implement a conscious sedation concept in an ED.

Analytic Validation of Immunohistochemistry Assays: New Benchmark Data From a Survey of 1085 Laboratories.

PubMed

Stuart, Lauren N; Volmar, Keith E; Nowak, Jan A; Fatheree, Lisa A; Souers, Rhona J; Fitzgibbons, Patrick L; Goldsmith, Jeffrey D; Astles, J Rex; Nakhleh, Raouf E

2017-09-01

- A cooperative agreement between the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was undertaken to measure laboratories' awareness and implementation of an evidence-based laboratory practice guideline (LPG) on immunohistochemical (IHC) validation practices published in 2014. - To establish new benchmark data on IHC laboratory practices. - A 2015 survey on IHC assay validation practices was sent to laboratories subscribed to specific CAP proficiency testing programs and to additional nonsubscribing laboratories that perform IHC testing. Specific questions were designed to capture laboratory practices not addressed in a 2010 survey. - The analysis was based on responses from 1085 laboratories that perform IHC staining. Ninety-six percent (809 of 844) always documented validation of IHC assays. Sixty percent (648 of 1078) had separate procedures for predictive and nonpredictive markers, 42.7% (220 of 515) had procedures for laboratory-developed tests, 50% (349 of 697) had procedures for testing cytologic specimens, and 46.2% (363 of 785) had procedures for testing decalcified specimens. Minimum case numbers were specified by 85.9% (720 of 838) of laboratories for nonpredictive markers and 76% (584 of 768) for predictive markers. Median concordance requirements were 95% for both types. For initial validation, 75.4% (538 of 714) of laboratories adopted the 20-case minimum for nonpredictive markers and 45.9% (266 of 579) adopted the 40-case minimum for predictive markers as outlined in the 2014 LPG. The most common method for validation was correlation with morphology and expected results. Laboratories also reported which assay changes necessitated revalidation and their minimum case requirements. - Benchmark data on current IHC validation practices and procedures may help laboratories understand the issues and influence further refinement of LPG recommendations.

Effects of an Activity-Based Anorexia Procedure on Within-Session Changes in Nose-Poke Responding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aoyama, Kenjiro

2012-01-01

This study tested the effects of an activity-based anorexia (ABA) procedure on within-session changes in responding. In the ABA group (N = 8), rats were given a 60-min feeding session and allowed to run in a running wheel for the remainder of each day. During the daily 60-min feeding session, each nose-poke response was reinforced by a food…

Ambulatory Surgery Centers and Their Intended Effects on Outpatient Surgery.

PubMed

Hollenbeck, Brent K; Dunn, Rodney L; Suskind, Anne M; Strope, Seth A; Zhang, Yun; Hollingsworth, John M

2015-10-01

To assess the impact of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) on rates of hospital-based outpatient procedures and adverse events. Twenty percent national sample of Medicare beneficiaries. A retrospective study of beneficiaries undergoing outpatient surgery between 2001 and 2010. Health care markets were sorted into three groups-those with ASCs, those without ASCs, and those where one opened for the first time. Generalized linear mixed models were used to assess the impact of ASC opening on rates of hospital-based outpatient surgery, perioperative mortality, and hospital admission. Adjusted hospital-based outpatient surgery rates declined by 7 percent, or from 2,333 to 2,163 procedures per 10,000 beneficiaries, in markets where an ASC opened for the first time (p < .001 for test between slopes). Within these markets, procedure use at ASCs outpaced the decline observed in the hospital setting. Perioperative mortality and admission rates remained flat after ASC opening (both p > .4 for test between slopes). The opening of an ASC in a Hospital Service Area resulted in a decline in hospital-based outpatient surgery without increasing mortality or admission. In markets where facilities opened, procedure growth at ASCs was greater than the decline in outpatient surgery use at their respective hospitals. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Automated array assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, B. F.

1976-01-01

Manufacturing techniques are evaluated using expenses based on experience and studying basic cost factors for each step to evaluate expenses from a first-principles point of view. A formal cost accounting procedure is developed which is used throughout the study for cost comparisons. The first test of this procedure is a comparison of its predicted costs for array module manufacturing with costs from a study which is based on experience factors. A manufacturing cost estimate for array modules of $10/W is based on present-day manufacturing techniques, expenses, and materials costs.

Gene Polymorphism Studies in a Teaching Laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shultz, Jeffry

2009-02-01

I present a laboratory procedure for illustrating transcription, post-transcriptional modification, gene conservation, and comparative genetics for use in undergraduate biology education. Students are individually assigned genes in a targeted biochemical pathway, for which they design and test polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers. In this example, students used genes annotated for the steroid biosynthesis pathway in soybean. The authoritative Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) interactive database and other online resources were used to design primers based first on soybean expressed sequence tags (ESTs), then on ESTs from an alternate organism if soybean sequence was unavailable. Students designed a total of 50 gene-based primer pairs (37 soybean, 13 alternative) and tested these for polymorphism state and similarity between two soybean and two pea lines. Student assessment was based on acquisition of laboratory skills and successful project completion. This simple procedure illustrates conservation of genes and is not limited to soybean or pea. Cost per student estimates are included, along with a detailed protocol and flow diagram of the procedure.

Surgical motion characterization in simulated needle insertion procedures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holden, Matthew S.; Ungi, Tamas; Sargent, Derek; McGraw, Robert C.; Fichtinger, Gabor

2012-02-01

PURPOSE: Evaluation of surgical performance in image-guided needle insertions is of emerging interest, to both promote patient safety and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of training. The purpose of this study was to determine if a Markov model-based algorithm can more accurately segment a needle-based surgical procedure into its five constituent tasks than a simple threshold-based algorithm. METHODS: Simulated needle trajectories were generated with known ground truth segmentation by a synthetic procedural data generator, with random noise added to each degree of freedom of motion. The respective learning algorithms were trained, and then tested on different procedures to determine task segmentation accuracy. In the threshold-based algorithm, a change in tasks was detected when the needle crossed a position/velocity threshold. In the Markov model-based algorithm, task segmentation was performed by identifying the sequence of Markov models most likely to have produced the series of observations. RESULTS: For amplitudes of translational noise greater than 0.01mm, the Markov model-based algorithm was significantly more accurate in task segmentation than the threshold-based algorithm (82.3% vs. 49.9%, p<0.001 for amplitude 10.0mm). For amplitudes less than 0.01mm, the two algorithms produced insignificantly different results. CONCLUSION: Task segmentation of simulated needle insertion procedures was improved by using a Markov model-based algorithm as opposed to a threshold-based algorithm for procedures involving translational noise.

Standard intelligence tests are valid instruments for measuring the intellectual potential of urban children: comments on pitfalls in the measurement of intelligence.

PubMed

Sattler, J M

1979-05-01

Hardy, Welcher, Mellitis, and Kagan altered standard WISC administrative and scoring procedures and, from the resulting higher subtest scores, concluded that IQs based on standardized tests are inappropriate measures for inner-city children. Careful examination of their study reveals many methodological inadequacies and problematic interpretations. Three of these are as follows: (a) failure to use any external criterion to evaluate the validity of their testing-of-limits procedures; (b) the possibility of examiner and investigator bias; and (c) lack of any comparison group that might demonstrate that poor children would be helped more than others by the probes recommended. Their report creates misleading doubts about existing intelligence tests and does a disservice to inner-city children who need the benefits of the judicious use of diagnostic procedures, which include standardized intelligence tests. Consequently, their assertion concerning the inappropriateness of standardized test results for inner-city children is not only premature and misleading, but it is unwarranted as well.

Battery Test Manual For Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

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

Jeffrey R. Belt

2010-09-01

This battery test procedure manual was prepared for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Program. It is based on technical targets established for energy storage development projects aimed at meeting system level DOE goals for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). The specific procedures defined in this manual support the performance and life characterization of advanced battery devices under development for PHEV’s. However, it does share some methods described in the previously published battery test manual for power-assist hybrid electric vehicles. Due to the complexity of some of the proceduresmore » and supporting analysis, a revision including some modifications and clarifications of these procedures is expected. As in previous battery and capacitor test manuals, this version of the manual defines testing methods for full-size battery systems, along with provisions for scaling these tests for modules, cells or other subscale level devices.« less

Battery Test Manual For Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

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

Jeffrey R. Belt

2010-12-01

This battery test procedure manual was prepared for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Program. It is based on technical targets established for energy storage development projects aimed at meeting system level DOE goals for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). The specific procedures defined in this manual support the performance and life characterization of advanced battery devices under development for PHEV’s. However, it does share some methods described in the previously published battery test manual for power-assist hybrid electric vehicles. Due to the complexity of some of the proceduresmore » and supporting analysis, a revision including some modifications and clarifications of these procedures is expected. As in previous battery and capacitor test manuals, this version of the manual defines testing methods for full-size battery systems, along with provisions for scaling these tests for modules, cells or other subscale level devices.« less

Apollo-Soyuz test project: Composite of MSFC final science report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

Experimental procedures of nine experiments conducted during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission from July 15th to July 24th, 1975 are presented. Conclusions and recommendations based on these experiments are given.

Air Traffic Management Technology Demostration: 1 Research and Procedural Testing of Routes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, Sara R.; Kibler, Jennifer L.; Hubbs, Clay E.; Smail, James W.

2015-01-01

NASA's Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1 (ATD-1) will operationally demonstrate the feasibility of efficient arrival operations combining ground-based and airborne NASA technologies. The ATD-1 integrated system consists of the Traffic Management Advisor with Terminal Metering which generates precise time-based schedules to the runway and merge points; Controller Managed Spacing decision support tools which provide controllers with speed advisories and other information needed to meet the schedule; and Flight deck-based Interval Management avionics and procedures which allow flight crews to adjust their speed to achieve precise relative spacing. Initial studies identified air-ground challenges related to the integration of these three scheduling and spacing technologies, and NASA's airborne spacing algorithm was modified to address some of these challenges. The Research and Procedural Testing of Routes human-in-the-loop experiment was then conducted to assess the performance of the new spacing algorithm. The results of this experiment indicate that the algorithm performed as designed, and the pilot participants found the airborne spacing concept, air-ground procedures, and crew interface to be acceptable. However, the researchers concluded that the data revealed issues with the frequency of speed changes and speed reversals.

Testing coordinate measuring arms with a geometric feature-based gauge: in situ field trials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuesta, E.; Alvarez, B. J.; Patiño, H.; Telenti, A.; Barreiro, J.

2016-05-01

This work describes in detail the definition of a procedure for calibrating and evaluating coordinate measuring arms (AACMMs or CMAs). CMAs are portable coordinate measuring machines that have been widely accepted in industry despite their sensitivity to the skill and experience of the operator in charge of the inspection task. The procedure proposed here is based on the use of a dimensional gauge that incorporates multiple geometric features, specifically designed for evaluating the measuring technique when CMAs are used, at company facilities (workshops or laboratories) and by the usual operators who handle these devices in their daily work. After establishing the procedure and manufacturing the feature-based gauge, the research project was complemented with diverse in situ field tests performed with the collaboration of companies that use these devices in their inspection tasks. Some of the results are presented here, not only comparing different operators but also comparing different companies. The knowledge extracted from these experiments has allowed the procedure to be validated, the defects of the methodologies currently used for in situ inspections to be detected, and substantial improvements for increasing the reliability of these portable instruments to be proposed.

CAT Procedures for Passage-Based Tests.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Tony D.; Davey, Tim

Methods to control the test construct and the efficiency of a computerized adaptive test (CAT) were studied in the context of a reading comprehension test given as a part of a battery of tests for college admission. A goal of the study was to create test scores that were interchangeable with those from a fixed form paper and pencil test. The first…

Expertise sensitive item selection.

PubMed

Chow, P; Russell, H; Traub, R E

2000-12-01

In this paper we describe and illustrate a procedure for selecting items from a large pool for a certification test. The proposed procedure, which is intended to improve the alignment of the certification test with on-the-job performance, is based on an expertise sensitive index. This index for an item is the difference between the item's p values for experts and novices. An example is provided of the application of the index for selecting items to be used in certifying bakers.

A Manual Control Test for the Detection and Deterrence of Impaired Drivers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stein, A. C.; Allen, R. W.; Jex, H. R.

1984-01-01

A brief manual control test and a decision strategy were developed, laboratory tested, and field validated which provide a means for detecting human operator impairment from alcohol or other drugs. The test requires the operator to stabilize progressively unstable controlled element dynamics. Control theory and experimental data verify that the human operator's control ability on this task is constrained by basic cybernetic characteristics, and that task performance is reliably affected by impairment effects on these characteristics. Assessment of human operator control ability is determined by a statistically based decision strategy. The operator is allowed several chances to exceed a preset pass criterion. Procedures are described for setting the pass criterion based on individual ability and a desired unimpaired failure rate. These procedures were field tested with apparatus installed in automobiles that were designed to discourage drunk drivers from operating their vehicles. This test program demonstrated that the control task and detection strategy could be applied in a practical setting to screen human operators for impairment in their basic cybernetic skills.

Gas electron multiplier (GEM) foil test, repair and effective gain calculation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tahir, Muhammad; Zubair, Muhammad; Khan, Tufail A.; Khan, Ashfaq; Malook, Asad

2018-06-01

The focus of my research is based on the gas electron multiplier (GEM) foil test, repairing and effective gain calculation of GEM detector. During my research work define procedure of GEM foil testing short-circuit, detection short-circuits in the foil. Study different ways to remove the short circuits in the foils. Set and define the GEM foil testing procedures in the open air, and with nitrogen gas. Measure the leakage current of the foil and applying different voltages with specified step size. Define the Quality Control (QC) tests and different components of GEM detectors before assembly. Calculate the effective gain of GEM detectors using 109Cd and 55Fe radioactive source.

Validated Test Method 1315: Mass Transfer Rates of Constituents in Monolithic or Compacted Granular Materials Using a Semi-Dynamic Tank Leaching Procedure

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Describes procedures written based on the assumption that they will be performed by analysts who are formally trained in at least the basic principles of chemical analysis and in the use of the subject technology.

Inferential Procedures for Correlation Coefficients Corrected for Attenuation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hakstian, A. Ralph; And Others

1988-01-01

A model and computation procedure based on classical test score theory are presented for determination of a correlation coefficient corrected for attenuation due to unreliability. Delta and Monte Carlo method applications are discussed. A power analysis revealed no serious loss in efficiency resulting from correction for attentuation. (TJH)

US EPA Base Study Standard Operating Procedure for Sampling and Characterization of Viable and Non-Viable Bioaerosols in Indoor Air

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The objective of the procedure is to collect a representative sample concentration of total airborne fungal spores (viable and non-viable) that may be present in indoor air and in the outdoor air supplied to the space tested.

Validated Test Method 1316: Liquid-Solid Partitioning as a Function of Liquid-to-Solid Ratio in Solid Materials Using a Parallel Batch Procedure

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Describes procedures written based on the assumption that they will be performed by analysts who are formally trained in at least the basic principles of chemical analysis and in the use of the subject technology.

Incorporating Comorbidity Within Risk Adjustment for UK Pediatric Cardiac Surgery.

PubMed

Brown, Katherine L; Rogers, Libby; Barron, David J; Tsang, Victor; Anderson, David; Tibby, Shane; Witter, Thomas; Stickley, John; Crowe, Sonya; English, Kate; Franklin, Rodney C; Pagel, Christina

2017-07-01

When considering early survival rates after pediatric cardiac surgery it is essential to adjust for risk linked to case complexity. An important but previously less well understood component of case mix complexity is comorbidity. The National Congenital Heart Disease Audit data representing all pediatric cardiac surgery procedures undertaken in the United Kingdom and Ireland between 2009 and 2014 was used to develop and test groupings for comorbidity and additional non-procedure-based risk factors within a risk adjustment model for 30-day mortality. A mixture of expert consensus based opinion and empiric statistical analyses were used to define and test the new comorbidity groups. The study dataset consisted of 21,838 pediatric cardiac surgical procedure episodes in 18,834 patients with 539 deaths (raw 30-day mortality rate, 2.5%). In addition to surgical procedure type, primary cardiac diagnosis, univentricular status, age, weight, procedure type (bypass, nonbypass, or hybrid), and era, the new risk factor groups of non-Down congenital anomalies, acquired comorbidities, increased severity of illness indicators (eg, preoperative mechanical ventilation or circulatory support) and additional cardiac risk factors (eg, heart muscle conditions and raised pulmonary arterial pressure) all independently increased the risk of operative mortality. In an era of low mortality rates across a wide range of operations, non-procedure-based risk factors form a vital element of risk adjustment and their presence leads to wide variations in the predicted risk of a given operation. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Guidelines for testing and release procedures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molari, R.; Conway, M.

1984-01-01

Guidelines and procedures are recommended for the testing and release of the types of computer software efforts commonly performed at NASA/Ames Research Center. All recommendations are based on the premise that testing and release activities must be specifically selected for the environment, size, and purpose of each individual software project. Guidelines are presented for building a Test Plan and using formal Test Plan and Test Care Inspections on it. Frequent references are made to NASA/Ames Guidelines for Software Inspections. Guidelines are presented for selecting an Overall Test Approach and for each of the four main phases of testing: (1) Unit Testing of Components, (2) Integration Testing of Components, (3) System Integration Testing, and (4) Acceptance Testing. Tools used for testing are listed, including those available from operating systems used at Ames, specialized tools which can be developed, unit test drivers, stub module generators, and the use of format test reporting schemes.

Computational study of engine external aerodynamics as a part of multidisciplinary optimization procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savelyev, Andrey; Anisimov, Kirill; Kazhan, Egor; Kursakov, Innocentiy; Lysenkov, Alexandr

2016-10-01

The paper is devoted to the development of methodology to optimize external aerodynamics of the engine. Optimization procedure is based on numerical solution of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. As a method of optimization the surrogate based method is used. As a test problem optimal shape design of turbofan nacelle is considered. The results of the first stage, which investigates classic airplane configuration with engine located under the wing, are presented. Described optimization procedure is considered in the context of multidisciplinary optimization of the 3rd generation, developed in the project AGILE.

Wavelet-based identification of rotor blades in passage-through-resonance tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carassale, Luigi; Marrè-Brunenghi, Michela; Patrone, Stefano

2018-01-01

Turbine blades are critical components in turbo engines and their design process usually includes experimental tests in order to validate and/or update numerical models. These tests are generally carried out on full-scale rotors having some blades instrumented with strain gauges and usually involve a run-up or a run-down phase. The quantification of damping in these conditions is rather challenging for several reasons. In this work, we show through numerical simulations that the usual identification procedures lead to a systematic overestimation of damping due both to the finite sweep velocity, as well as to the variation of the blade natural frequencies with the rotation speed. To overcome these problems, an identification procedure based on the continuous wavelet transform is proposed and validated through numerical simulation.

Specialty Payment Model Opportunities and Assessment

PubMed Central

Mulcahy, Andrew W.; Chan, Chris; Hirshman, Samuel; Huckfeldt, Peter J.; Kofner, Aaron; Liu, Jodi L.; Lovejoy, Susan L.; Popescu, Ioana; Timbie, Justin W.; Hussey, Peter S.

2015-01-01

Abstract Gastroenterology and cardiology services are common and costly among Medicare beneficiaries. Episode-based payment, which aims to create incentives for high-quality, low-cost care, has been identified as a promising alternative payment model. This article describes research related to the design of episode-based payment models for ambulatory gastroenterology and cardiology services for possible testing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The authors analyzed Medicare claims data to describe the frequency and characteristics of gastroenterology and cardiology index procedures, the practices that delivered index procedures, and the patients that received index procedures. The results of these analyses can help inform CMS decisions about the definition of episodes in an episode-based payment model; payment adjustments for service setting, multiple procedures, or other factors; and eligibility for the payment model. PMID:28083363

Finite element design procedure for correcting the coining die profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexandrino, Paulo; Leitão, Paulo J.; Alves, Luis M.; Martins, Paulo A. F.

2018-05-01

This paper presents a new finite element based design procedure for correcting the coining die profiles in order to optimize the distribution of pressure and the alignment of the resultant vertical force at the end of the die stroke. The procedure avoids time consuming and costly try-outs, does not interfere with the creative process of the sculptors and extends the service life of the coining dies by significantly decreasing the applied pressure and bending moments. The numerical simulations were carried out in a computer program based on the finite element flow formulation that is currently being developed by the authors in collaboration with the Portuguese Mint. A new experimental procedure based on the stack compression test is also proposed for determining the stress-strain curve of the materials directly from the coin blanks.

In vitro biofilm formation on resin-based composites after different finishing and polishing procedures.

PubMed

Cazzaniga, Gloria; Ottobelli, Marco; Ionescu, Andrei C; Paolone, Gaetano; Gherlone, Enrico; Ferracane, Jack L; Brambilla, Eugenio

2017-12-01

To evaluate the influence of surface treatments of different resin-based composites (RBCs) on S. mutans biofilm formation. 4 RBCs (microhybrid, nanohybrid, nanofilled, bulk-filled) and 6 finishing-polishing (F/P) procedures (open-air light-curing, light-curing against Mylar strip, aluminum oxide discs, one-step rubber point, diamond bur, multi-blade carbide bur) were evaluated. Surface roughness (SR) (n=5/group), gloss (n=5/group), scanning electron microscopy morphological analysis (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) (n=3/group), and S. mutans biofilm formation (n=16/group) were assessed. EDS analysis was repeated after the biofilm assay. A morphological evaluation of S. mutans biofilm was also performed using confocal laser-scanning microscopy (CLSM) (n=2/group). The data were analyzed using Wilcoxon (SR, gloss) and two-way ANOVA with Tukey as post-hoc tests (EDS, biofilm formation). F/P procedures as well as RBCs significantly influenced SR and gloss. While F/P procedures did not significantly influence S. mutans biofilm formation, a significant influence of RBCs on the same parameter was found. Different RBCs showed different surface elemental composition. Both F/P procedures and S. mutans biofilm formation significantly modified this parameter. The tested F/P procedures significantly influenced RBCs surface properties but did not significantly affect S. mutans biofilm formation. The significant influence of the different RBCs tested on S. mutans biofilm formation suggests that material characteristics and composition play a greater role than SR. F/P procedures of RBCs may unexpectedly play a minor role compared to that of the restoration material itself in bacterial colonization. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparative Analyses of Zebrafish Anxiety-Like Behavior Using Conflict-Based Novelty Tests.

PubMed

Kysil, Elana V; Meshalkina, Darya A; Frick, Erin E; Echevarria, David J; Rosemberg, Denis B; Maximino, Caio; Lima, Monica Gomes; Abreu, Murilo S; Giacomini, Ana C; Barcellos, Leonardo J G; Song, Cai; Kalueff, Allan V

2017-06-01

Modeling of stress and anxiety in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is increasingly utilized in neuroscience research and central nervous system (CNS) drug discovery. Representing the most commonly used zebrafish anxiety models, the novel tank test (NTT) focuses on zebrafish diving in response to potentially threatening stimuli, whereas the light-dark test (LDT) is based on fish scototaxis (innate preference for dark vs. bright areas). Here, we systematically evaluate the utility of these two tests, combining meta-analyses of published literature with comparative in vivo behavioral and whole-body endocrine (cortisol) testing. Overall, the NTT and LDT behaviors demonstrate a generally good cross-test correlation in vivo, whereas meta-analyses of published literature show that both tests have similar sensitivity to zebrafish anxiety-like states. Finally, NTT evokes higher levels of cortisol, likely representing a more stressful procedure than LDT. Collectively, our study reappraises NTT and LDT for studying anxiety-like states in zebrafish, and emphasizes their developing utility for neurobehavioral research. These findings can help optimize drug screening procedures by choosing more appropriate models for testing anxiolytic or anxiogenic drugs.

Recommendations for Evaluating Multiple Filters in Ballast Water Management Systems for US Type Approval

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-01

is extremely unlikely to be practicable . A second approach is to conduct a full suite of TA testing on a BWMS with a “base filter” configuration...that of full TA testing. Here, three land-based tests would be conducted, and O&M and component testing would also occur. If time or practicality ... Practical salinity units SAE Society of Automotive Engineers SDI Silt density index SOP Standard operating procedure STEP Shipboard Technology

To t-Test or Not to t-Test? A p-Values-Based Point of View in the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Framework.

PubMed

Vexler, Albert; Yu, Jihnhee

2018-04-13

A common statistical doctrine supported by many introductory courses and textbooks is that t-test type procedures based on normally distributed data points are anticipated to provide a standard in decision-making. In order to motivate scholars to examine this convention, we introduce a simple approach based on graphical tools of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, a well-established biostatistical methodology. In this context, we propose employing a p-values-based method, taking into account the stochastic nature of p-values. We focus on the modern statistical literature to address the expected p-value (EPV) as a measure of the performance of decision-making rules. During the course of our study, we extend the EPV concept to be considered in terms of the ROC curve technique. This provides expressive evaluations and visualizations of a wide spectrum of testing mechanisms' properties. We show that the conventional power characterization of tests is a partial aspect of the presented EPV/ROC technique. We desire that this explanation of the EPV/ROC approach convinces researchers of the usefulness of the EPV/ROC approach for depicting different characteristics of decision-making procedures, in light of the growing interest regarding correct p-values-based applications.

Fire Safety Tests for Spherical Resorcinol Formaldehyde Resin: Data Summary Report

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

Kim, Dong-Sang; Peterson, Reid A.; Schweiger, Michael J.

2012-07-30

A draft safety evaluation of the scenario for spherical resorcinol-formaldehyde (SRF) resin fire inside the ion exchange column was performed by the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Fire Safety organization. The result of this draft evaluation suggested a potential change of the fire safety classification for the Cesium Ion Exchange Process System (CXP) emergency elution vessels, equipment, and piping, which may be overly bounding based on the fire performance data from the manufacturer of the ion exchange resin selected for use at the WTP. To resolve this question, the fire properties of the SRF resin were measuredmore » by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), following the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard procedures, through a subcontract managed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). For some tests, the ASTM standard procedures were not entirely appropriate or practical for the SRF resin material, so the procedures were modified and deviations from the ASTM standard procedures were noted. This report summarizes the results of fire safety tests performed and reported by SwRI. The efforts by PNNL were limited to summarizing the test results provided by SwRI into one consolidated data report. All as-received SwRI reports are attached to this report in the Appendix. Where applicable, the precision and bias of each test method, as given by each ASTM standard procedure, are included and compared with the SwRI test results of the SRF resin.« less

Regents Examinations, Regents Competency Tests, & Proficiency Examinations: School Administrator's Manual. 1989 Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York State Education Dept., Albany. Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Testing Programs.

This manual contains the general information on Regents Examinations, Regents Competency tests, occupational education proficiency examinations, and second language proficiency examinations, as well as the regulations and procedures for ordering, administering, and rating these examinations. The Regents Examinations are achievement tests based on…

Performance assessment of solid state actuators through a common procedure and comparison criteria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reithler, Livier; Guedra-Degeorges, Didier

1998-07-01

The design of systems based on smart structure technologies for active shape and vibration control and high precision positioning requires a good knowledge of the behavior of the active materials (electrostrictive and piezoelectric ceramics and polymers, magnetostrictive and shape memory alloys...) and of commercially available actuators. Extensive theoretical studies have been made on the behavior of active materials during the past decades but there are only a few developments on experimental comparisons between different kinds of commercially available actuators. The purpose of this study is to find out the pertinent parameters for the design of such systems, to set up a common static test procedure for all types of actuators and to define comparison criteria in terms of output force and displacement, mechanical and electrical energy, mass and dimensions. After having define the pertinent parameters of the characterization and having described the resulting testing procedure, test results are presented for different types of actuators based on piezoceramics and magnetostrictive alloys. The performances of each actuator are compared through both the test results and the announced characteristics: to perform this comparison absolute and relative criteria are chosen considering aeronautical and space applications.

Isolation of Microarray-Grade Total RNA, MicroRNA, and DNA from a Single PAXgene Blood RNA Tube

PubMed Central

Kruhøffer, Mogens; Dyrskjøt, Lars; Voss, Thorsten; Lindberg, Raija L.P.; Wyrich, Ralf; Thykjaer, Thomas; Orntoft, Torben F.

2007-01-01

We have developed a procedure for isolation of microRNA and genomic DNA in addition to total RNA from whole blood stabilized in PAXgene Blood RNA tubes. The procedure is based on automatic extraction on a BioRobot MDx and includes isolation of DNA from a fraction of the stabilized blood and recovery of small RNA species that are otherwise lost. The procedure presented here is suitable for large-scale experiments and is amenable to further automation. Procured total RNA and DNA was tested using Affymetrix Expression and single-nucleotide polymorphism GeneChips, respectively, and isolated microRNA was tested using spotted locked nucleic acid-based microarrays. We conclude that the yield and quality of total RNA, microRNA, and DNA from a single PAXgene blood RNA tube is sufficient for downstream microarray analysis. PMID:17690207

Real-air data reduction procedures based on flow parameters measured in the test section of supersonic and hypersonic facilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, C. G., III; Wilder, S. E.

1972-01-01

Data-reduction procedures for determining free stream and post-normal shock kinetic and thermodynamic quantities are derived. These procedures are applicable to imperfect real air flows in thermochemical equilibrium for temperatures to 15 000 K and a range of pressures from 0.25 N/sq m to 1 GN/sq m. Although derived primarily to meet the immediate needs of the 6-inch expansion tube, these procedures are applicable to any supersonic or hypersonic test facility where combinations of three of the following flow parameters are measured in the test section: (1) Stagnation pressure behind normal shock; (2) freestream static pressure; (3) stagnation point heat transfer rate; (4) free stream velocity; (5) stagnation density behind normal shock; and (6) free stream density. Limitations of the nine procedures and uncertainties in calculated flow quantities corresponding to uncertainties in measured input data are discussed. A listing of the computer program is presented, along with a description of the inputs required and a sample of the data printout.

Checkout and Standard Use Procedures for the Mark III Space Suit Assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Valish, Dana J.

2012-01-01

The operational pressure range is the range to which the suit can be nominally operated for manned testing. The top end of the nominal operational pressure range is equivalent to 1/2 the proof pressure. Structural pressure is 1.5 times the specified test pressure for any given test. Proof pressure is the maximum unmanned pressure to which the suit was tested by the vendor prior to delivery. The maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP) is 90% of the proof pressure. The pressure systems RVs are set to keep components below their MAWPs. If the suit is pressurized over its MAWP, the suit will be taken out of service and an in-depth inspection/review of the suit will be performed before the suit is put back in service. The procedures outlined in this document should be followed as written. However, the suit test engineer (STE) may make redline changes real-time, provided those changes are recorded in the anomaly section of the test data sheet. If technicians supporting suit build-up, check-out, and/or test execution believe that a procedure can be improved, they should notify their lead. If procedures are incorrect to the point of potentially causing hardware damage or affecting safety, bring the problem to the technician lead and/or STE s attention and stop work until a solution (temporary or permanent) is authorized. Certain steps in the procedure are marked with a DV , for Designated Verifier. The Designated Verifier for this procedure is an Advanced Space Suit Technology Development Laboratory technician, not directly involved in performing the procedural steps, who will verify that the step was performed as stated. The steps to be verified by the DV were selected based on one or more of the following criteria: the step was deemed significant in ensuring the safe performance of the test, the data recorded in the step is of specific interest in monitoring the suit system operation, or the step has a strong influence on the successful completion of test objectives. Prior to all manned test activities, Advanced Suit Test Data Sheet (TDS) Parts A-E shall be completed to verify system and team are ready for test. Advanced Suit TDS Parts F-G shall be completed at the end of the suited activity. Appendix B identifies tha appropriate Mark III suit emergency event procedures.

40 CFR 1066.250 - Base inertia verification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Base inertia verification. 1066.250... CONTROLS VEHICLE-TESTING PROCEDURES Dynamometer Specifications § 1066.250 Base inertia verification. (a) Overview. This section describes how to verify the dynamometer's base inertia. (b) Scope and frequency...

40 CFR 1066.250 - Base inertia verification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Base inertia verification. 1066.250... CONTROLS VEHICLE-TESTING PROCEDURES Dynamometer Specifications § 1066.250 Base inertia verification. (a) Overview. This section describes how to verify the dynamometer's base inertia. (b) Scope and frequency...

40 CFR 1066.250 - Base inertia verification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Base inertia verification. 1066.250... CONTROLS VEHICLE-TESTING PROCEDURES Dynamometer Specifications § 1066.250 Base inertia verification. (a) Overview. This section describes how to verify the dynamometer's base inertia. (b) Scope and frequency...

Computer versus paper--does it make any difference in test performance?

PubMed

Karay, Yassin; Schauber, Stefan K; Stosch, Christoph; Schüttpelz-Brauns, Katrin

2015-01-01

CONSTRUCT: In this study, we examine the differences in test performance between the paper-based and the computer-based version of the Berlin formative Progress Test. In this context it is the first study that allows controlling for students' prior performance. Computer-based tests make possible a more efficient examination procedure for test administration and review. Although university staff will benefit largely from computer-based tests, the question arises if computer-based tests influence students' test performance. A total of 266 German students from the 9th and 10th semester of medicine (comparable with the 4th-year North American medical school schedule) participated in the study (paper = 132, computer = 134). The allocation of the test format was conducted as a randomized matched-pair design in which students were first sorted according to their prior test results. The organizational procedure, the examination conditions, the room, and seating arrangements, as well as the order of questions and answers, were identical in both groups. The sociodemographic variables and pretest scores of both groups were comparable. The test results from the paper and computer versions did not differ. The groups remained within the allotted time, but students using the computer version (particularly the high performers) needed significantly less time to complete the test. In addition, we found significant differences in guessing behavior. Low performers using the computer version guess significantly more than low-performing students in the paper-pencil version. Participants in computer-based tests are not at a disadvantage in terms of their test results. The computer-based test required less processing time. The reason for the longer processing time when using the paper-pencil version might be due to the time needed to write the answer down, controlling for transferring the answer correctly. It is still not known why students using the computer version (particularly low-performing students) guess at a higher rate. Further studies are necessary to understand this finding.

Exact intervals and tests for median when one sample value possibly an outliner

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keller, G. J.; Walsh, J. E.

1973-01-01

Available are independent observations (continuous data) that are believed to be a random sample. Desired are distribution-free confidence intervals and significance tests for the population median. However, there is the possibility that either the smallest or the largest observation is an outlier. Then, use of a procedure for rejection of an outlying observation might seem appropriate. Such a procedure would consider that two alternative situations are possible and would select one of them. Either (1) the n observations are truly a random sample, or (2) an outlier exists and its removal leaves a random sample of size n-1. For either situation, confidence intervals and tests are desired for the median of the population yielding the random sample. Unfortunately, satisfactory rejection procedures of a distribution-free nature do not seem to be available. Moreover, all rejection procedures impose undesirable conditional effects on the observations, and also, can select the wrong one of the two above situations. It is found that two-sided intervals and tests based on two symmetrically located order statistics (not the largest and smallest) of the n observations have this property.

Assessment of Differential Item Functioning in Testlet-Based Items Using the Rasch Testlet Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Wen-Chung; Wilson, Mark

2005-01-01

This study presents a procedure for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) for dichotomous and polytomous items in testlet-based tests, whereby DIF is taken into account by adding DIF parameters into the Rasch testlet model. Simulations were conducted to assess recovery of the DIF and other parameters. Two independent variables, test type…

A harmonic pulse testing method for leakage detection in deep subsurface storage formations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Alexander Y.; Lu, Jiemin; Hovorka, Susan

2015-06-01

Detection of leakage in deep geologic storage formations (e.g., carbon sequestration sites) is a challenging problem. This study investigates an easy-to-implement frequency domain leakage detection technology based on harmonic pulse testing (HPT). Unlike conventional constant-rate pressure interference tests, HPT stimulates a reservoir using periodic injection rates. The fundamental principle underlying HPT-based leakage detection is that leakage modifies a storage system's frequency response function, thus providing clues of system malfunction. During operations, routine HPTs can be conducted at multiple pulsing frequencies to obtain experimental frequency response functions, using which the possible time-lapse changes are examined. In this work, a set of analytical frequency response solutions is derived for predicting system responses with and without leaks for single-phase flow systems. Sensitivity studies show that HPT can effectively reveal the presence of leaks. A search procedure is then prescribed for locating the actual leaks using amplitude and phase information obtained from HPT, and the resulting optimization problem is solved using the genetic algorithm. For multiphase flows, the applicability of HPT-based leakage detection procedure is exemplified numerically using a carbon sequestration problem. Results show that the detection procedure is applicable if the average reservoir conditions in the testing zone stay relatively constant during the tests, which is a working assumption under many other interpretation methods for pressure interference tests. HPT is a cost-effective tool that only requires periodic modification of the nominal injection rate. Thus it can be incorporated into existing monitoring plans with little additional investment.

Development of a High Resolution 3D Infant Stomach Model for Surgical Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaudry, Qaiser; Raza, S. Hussain; Lee, Jeonggyu; Xu, Yan; Wulkan, Mark; Wang, May D.

Medical surgical procedures have not changed much during the past century due to the lack of accurate low-cost workbench for testing any new improvement. The increasingly cheaper and powerful computer technologies have made computer-based surgery planning and training feasible. In our work, we have developed an accurate 3D stomach model, which aims to improve the surgical procedure that treats the infant pediatric and neonatal gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). We generate the 3-D infant stomach model based on in vivo computer tomography (CT) scans of an infant. CT is a widely used clinical imaging modality that is cheap, but with low spatial resolution. To improve the model accuracy, we use the high resolution Visible Human Project (VHP) in model building. Next, we add soft muscle material properties to make the 3D model deformable. Then we use virtual reality techniques such as haptic devices to make the 3D stomach model deform upon touching force. This accurate 3D stomach model provides a workbench for testing new GERD treatment surgical procedures. It has the potential to reduce or eliminate the extensive cost associated with animal testing when improving any surgical procedure, and ultimately, to reduce the risk associated with infant GERD surgery.

Certification of highly complex safety-related systems.

PubMed

Reinert, D; Schaefer, M

1999-01-01

The BIA has now 15 years of experience with the certification of complex electronic systems for safety-related applications in the machinery sector. Using the example of machining centres this presentation will show the systematic procedure for verifying and validating control systems using Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and microcomputers for safety functions. One section will describe the control structure of machining centres with control systems using "integrated safety." A diverse redundant architecture combined with crossmonitoring and forced dynamization is explained. In the main section the steps of the systematic certification procedure are explained showing some results of the certification of drilling machines. Specification reviews, design reviews with test case specification, statistical analysis, and walk-throughs are the analytical measures in the testing process. Systematic tests based on the test case specification, Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI), and environmental testing, and site acceptance tests on the machines are the testing measures for validation. A complex software driven system is always undergoing modification. Most of the changes are not safety-relevant but this has to be proven. A systematic procedure for certifying software modifications is presented in the last section of the paper.

Provision of specific dental procedures by general dentists in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network: questionnaire findings.

PubMed

Gilbert, Gregg H; Gordan, Valeria V; Korelitz, James J; Fellows, Jeffrey L; Meyerowitz, Cyril; Oates, Thomas W; Rindal, D Brad; Gregory, Randall J

2015-01-22

Objectives were to: (1) determine whether and how often general dentists (GDs) provide specific dental procedures; and (2) test the hypothesis that provision is associated with key dentist, practice, and patient characteristics. GDs (n = 2,367) in the United States National Dental Practice-Based Research Network completed an Enrollment Questionnaire that included: (1) dentist; (2) practice; and (3) patient characteristics, and how commonly they provide each of 10 dental procedures. We determined how commonly procedures were provided and tested the hypothesis that provision was substantively related to the three sets of characteristics. Two procedure categories were classified as "uncommon" (orthodontics, periodontal surgery), three were "common" (molar endodontics; implants; non-surgical periodontics), and five were "very common" (restorative; esthetic procedures; extractions; removable prosthetics; non-molar endodontics). Dentist, practice, and patient characteristics were substantively related to procedure provision; several characteristics seemed to have pervasive effects, such as dentist gender, training after dental school, full-time/part-time status, private practice vs. institutional practice, presence of a specialist in the same practice, and insurance status of patients. As a group, GDs provide a comprehensive range of procedures. However, provision by individual dentists is substantively related to certain dentist, practice, and patient characteristics. A large number and broad range of factors seem to influence which procedures GDs provide. This may have implications for how GDs respond to the ever-changing landscape of dental care utilization, patient population demography, scope of practice, delivery models and GDs' evolving role in primary care.

40 CFR 600.111-80 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 29 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Test procedures. 600.111-80 Section... Model Year Automobiles-Test Procedures § 600.111-80 Test procedures. (a) The test procedures to be...-78 of this chapter, as applicable. (The evaporative and refueling loss portions of the test procedure...

40 CFR 600.111-93 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 29 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Test procedures. 600.111-93 Section... Model Year Automobiles-Test Procedures § 600.111-93 Test procedures. (a) The test procedures to be... loss portion of the test procedure may be omitted unless specifically required by the Administrator...

Computer-Based and Paper-Based Measurement of Recognition Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Federico, Pat-Anthony

To determine the relative reliabilities and validities of paper-based and computer-based measurement procedures, 83 male student pilots and radar intercept officers were administered computer and paper-based tests of aircraft recognition. The subject matter consisted of line drawings of front, side, and top silhouettes of aircraft. Reliabilities…

A Battery Certification Testbed for Small Satellite Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cameron, Zachary; Kulkarni, Chetan S.; Luna, Ali Guarneros; Goebel, Kai; Poll, Scott

2015-01-01

A battery pack consisting of standard cylindrical 18650 lithium-ion cells has been chosen for small satellite missions based on previous flight heritage and compliance with NASA battery safety requirements. However, for batteries that transit through the International Space Station (ISS), additional certification tests are required for individual cells as well as the battery packs. In this manuscript, we discuss the development of generalized testbeds for testing and certifying different types of batteries critical to small satellite missions. Test procedures developed and executed for this certification effort include: a detailed physical inspection before and after experiments; electrical cycling characterization at the cell and pack levels; battery-pack overcharge, over-discharge, external short testing; battery-pack vacuum leak and vibration testing. The overall goals of these certification procedures are to conform to requirements set forth by the agency and identify unique safety hazards. The testbeds, procedures, and experimental results are discussed for batteries chosen for small satellite missions to be launched from the ISS.

Water Quality: A Field-Based Quality Testing Program for Middle Schools and High Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massachusetts State Water Resources Authority, Boston.

This manual contains background information, lesson ideas, procedures, data collection and reporting forms, suggestions for interpreting results, and extension activities to complement a water quality field testing program. Information on testing water temperature, water pH, dissolved oxygen content, biochemical oxygen demand, nitrates, total…

40 CFR 86.1824-08 - Durability demonstration procedures for evaporative emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... for evaporative emissions. Eligible small-volume manufacturers or small-volume test groups may...-based measurements except the bleed emission test. The standard for bleed emissions applies for the full... manufacturer must conduct at least one evaporative emission test at each of the five different mileage points...

10 CFR 71.73 - Hypothetical accident conditions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Hypothetical accident conditions. 71.73 Section 71.73... Package, Special Form, and LSA-III Tests 2 § 71.73 Hypothetical accident conditions. (a) Test procedures. Evaluation for hypothetical accident conditions is to be based on sequential application of the tests...

10 CFR 430.25 - Laboratory Accreditation Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Procedures § 430.25 Laboratory Accreditation Program. Testing for fluorescent lamp ballasts performed in accordance with appendix Q1 to this subpart shall comply with this § 430.25. The testing for general service... accordance with Appendix R to this subpart. The testing for medium base compact fluorescent lamps shall be...

10 CFR 430.25 - Laboratory Accreditation Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Procedures § 430.25 Laboratory Accreditation Program. Testing for fluorescent lamp ballasts performed in accordance with appendix Q1 to this subpart shall comply with this section § 430.25. The testing for general... performed in accordance with appendix R to this subpart. The testing for medium base compact fluorescent...

10 CFR 430.25 - Laboratory Accreditation Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Procedures § 430.25 Laboratory Accreditation Program. Testing for fluorescent lamp ballasts performed in accordance with appendix Q1 to this subpart shall comply with this § 430.25. The testing for general service... accordance with Appendix R to this subpart. The testing for medium base compact fluorescent lamps shall be...

Southwest electronic one-stop shopping, motor carrier test report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-12-22

The Electronic One-Stop System (EOSS) used in this credential test was designed to replace current normal credentialling procedures with a personal computer-based electronic method that allows users to prepare, apply for, and obtain certain types of ...

Southwest electronic one-stop shopping, state agency test report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-12-22

The Electronic One-Stop System (EOSS) used in this credential test was designed to replace current normal credentialling procedures with a personal computer-based electronic method that allows users to prepare, apply for, and obtain certain types of ...

A Procedural Electroencephalogram Simulator for Evaluation of Anesthesia Monitors.

PubMed

Petersen, Christian Leth; Görges, Matthias; Massey, Roslyn; Dumont, Guy Albert; Ansermino, J Mark

2016-11-01

Recent research and advances in the automation of anesthesia are driving the need to better understand electroencephalogram (EEG)-based anesthesia end points and to test the performance of anesthesia monitors. This effort is currently limited by the need to collect raw EEG data directly from patients. A procedural method to synthesize EEG signals was implemented in a mobile software application. The application is capable of sending the simulated signal to an anesthesia depth of hypnosis monitor. Systematic sweeps of the simulator generate functional monitor response profiles reminiscent of how network analyzers are used to test electronic components. Three commercial anesthesia monitors (Entropy, NeuroSENSE, and BIS) were compared with this new technology, and significant response and feature variations between the monitor models were observed; this includes reproducible, nonmonotonic apparent multistate behavior and significant hysteresis at light levels of anesthesia. Anesthesia monitor response to a procedural simulator can reveal significant differences in internal signal processing algorithms. The ability to synthesize EEG signals at different anesthetic depths potentially provides a new method for systematically testing EEG-based monitors and automated anesthesia systems with all sensor hardware fully operational before human trials.

Experimental evaluation of tool run-out in micro milling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Attanasio, Aldo; Ceretti, Elisabetta

2018-05-01

This paper deals with micro milling cutting process focusing the attention on tool run-out measurement. In fact, among the effects of the scale reduction from macro to micro (i.e., size effects) tool run-out plays an important role. This research is aimed at developing an easy and reliable method to measure tool run-out in micro milling based on experimental tests and an analytical model. From an Industry 4.0 perspective this measuring strategy can be integrated into an adaptive system for controlling cutting forces, with the objective of improving the production quality, the process stability, reducing at the same time the tool wear and the machining costs. The proposed procedure estimates the tool run-out parameters from the tool diameter, the channel width, and the phase angle between the cutting edges. The cutting edge phase measurement is based on the force signal analysis. The developed procedure has been tested on data coming from micro milling experimental tests performed on a Ti6Al4V sample. The results showed that the developed procedure can be successfully used for tool run-out estimation.

Chewability testing in the development of a chewable tablet for hyperphosphatemia.

PubMed

Lanz, Michael; Baldischweiler, Jan; Kriwet, Burkhard; Schill, Jutta; Stafford, John; Imanidis, Georgios

2014-12-01

The official Pharmacopeia does not include a test procedure for the in vitro estimation of the chewability of tablets and publications in the scientific literature on this subject are rare. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a number of different test procedures for assessing chewability, starting from standard breaking force and strength testing and progressing to develop new procedures that simulate the actual chewing action on tablets. A further goal was to apply these test procedures to characterize the chewability of the novel phosphate binder PA21 in comparison with a commercially available phosphate binder chewable tablet product based on lanthanum (Fosrenol®) and a chewable tablet product containing calcium (Calcimagon®) - the latter being used as a standard for its very good chewability. For this purpose, a number of development formulations (different batches of PA21) were tested. The radial or diametrical tablet breaking force offers a poor means of assessing chewability while the axial breaking force was concluded to better reflect the effect of chewing on the tablet. Measurement of tablet behavior upon repeated loading afforded the best simulation of the actual chewing action and was found to have a good discriminating power with respect to chewability of the tested tablets, especially when the tablet was moistened with artificial saliva. The developed tests are shown to be more suitable for evaluating chewing properties of tablets than currently used Pharmacopeial tests. Following ICHQ6, which calls for specification of hardness for chewable tablets, these test procedures enabled the optimal chewability features of PA21 tablets in development to be confirmed whilst still maintaining capabilities for robust production and transportation processes.

qPR: An adaptive partial-report procedure based on Bayesian inference.

PubMed

Baek, Jongsoo; Lesmes, Luis Andres; Lu, Zhong-Lin

2016-08-01

Iconic memory is best assessed with the partial report procedure in which an array of letters appears briefly on the screen and a poststimulus cue directs the observer to report the identity of the cued letter(s). Typically, 6-8 cue delays or 600-800 trials are tested to measure the iconic memory decay function. Here we develop a quick partial report, or qPR, procedure based on a Bayesian adaptive framework to estimate the iconic memory decay function with much reduced testing time. The iconic memory decay function is characterized by an exponential function and a joint probability distribution of its three parameters. Starting with a prior of the parameters, the method selects the stimulus to maximize the expected information gain in the next test trial. It then updates the posterior probability distribution of the parameters based on the observer's response using Bayesian inference. The procedure is reiterated until either the total number of trials or the precision of the parameter estimates reaches a certain criterion. Simulation studies showed that only 100 trials were necessary to reach an average absolute bias of 0.026 and a precision of 0.070 (both in terms of probability correct). A psychophysical validation experiment showed that estimates of the iconic memory decay function obtained with 100 qPR trials exhibited good precision (the half width of the 68.2% credible interval = 0.055) and excellent agreement with those obtained with 1,600 trials of the conventional method of constant stimuli procedure (RMSE = 0.063). Quick partial-report relieves the data collection burden in characterizing iconic memory and makes it possible to assess iconic memory in clinical populations.

qPR: An adaptive partial-report procedure based on Bayesian inference

PubMed Central

Baek, Jongsoo; Lesmes, Luis Andres; Lu, Zhong-Lin

2016-01-01

Iconic memory is best assessed with the partial report procedure in which an array of letters appears briefly on the screen and a poststimulus cue directs the observer to report the identity of the cued letter(s). Typically, 6–8 cue delays or 600–800 trials are tested to measure the iconic memory decay function. Here we develop a quick partial report, or qPR, procedure based on a Bayesian adaptive framework to estimate the iconic memory decay function with much reduced testing time. The iconic memory decay function is characterized by an exponential function and a joint probability distribution of its three parameters. Starting with a prior of the parameters, the method selects the stimulus to maximize the expected information gain in the next test trial. It then updates the posterior probability distribution of the parameters based on the observer's response using Bayesian inference. The procedure is reiterated until either the total number of trials or the precision of the parameter estimates reaches a certain criterion. Simulation studies showed that only 100 trials were necessary to reach an average absolute bias of 0.026 and a precision of 0.070 (both in terms of probability correct). A psychophysical validation experiment showed that estimates of the iconic memory decay function obtained with 100 qPR trials exhibited good precision (the half width of the 68.2% credible interval = 0.055) and excellent agreement with those obtained with 1,600 trials of the conventional method of constant stimuli procedure (RMSE = 0.063). Quick partial-report relieves the data collection burden in characterizing iconic memory and makes it possible to assess iconic memory in clinical populations. PMID:27580045

A two-step hierarchical hypothesis set testing framework, with applications to gene expression data on ordered categories

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background In complex large-scale experiments, in addition to simultaneously considering a large number of features, multiple hypotheses are often being tested for each feature. This leads to a problem of multi-dimensional multiple testing. For example, in gene expression studies over ordered categories (such as time-course or dose-response experiments), interest is often in testing differential expression across several categories for each gene. In this paper, we consider a framework for testing multiple sets of hypothesis, which can be applied to a wide range of problems. Results We adopt the concept of the overall false discovery rate (OFDR) for controlling false discoveries on the hypothesis set level. Based on an existing procedure for identifying differentially expressed gene sets, we discuss a general two-step hierarchical hypothesis set testing procedure, which controls the overall false discovery rate under independence across hypothesis sets. In addition, we discuss the concept of the mixed-directional false discovery rate (mdFDR), and extend the general procedure to enable directional decisions for two-sided alternatives. We applied the framework to the case of microarray time-course/dose-response experiments, and proposed three procedures for testing differential expression and making multiple directional decisions for each gene. Simulation studies confirm the control of the OFDR and mdFDR by the proposed procedures under independence and positive correlations across genes. Simulation results also show that two of our new procedures achieve higher power than previous methods. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to a microarray dose-response study, to identify 17 β-estradiol sensitive genes in breast cancer cells that are induced at low concentrations. Conclusions The framework we discuss provides a platform for multiple testing procedures covering situations involving two (or potentially more) sources of multiplicity. The framework is easy to use and adaptable to various practical settings that frequently occur in large-scale experiments. Procedures generated from the framework are shown to maintain control of the OFDR and mdFDR, quantities that are especially relevant in the case of multiple hypothesis set testing. The procedures work well in both simulations and real datasets, and are shown to have better power than existing methods. PMID:24731138

40 CFR 600.111-08 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Test procedures. 600.111-08 Section... Emission Test Procedures § 600.111-08 Test procedures. This section describes test procedures for the FTP, highway fuel economy test (HFET), US06, SC03, and the cold temperature FTP tests. Perform testing...

New Mexico Standards Based Assessment (NMSBA) Technical Report: 2006 Spring Administration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griph, Gerald W.

2006-01-01

The purpose of the NMSBA technical report is to provide users and other interested parties with a general overview of and technical characteristics of the 2006 NMSBA. The 2006 technical report contains the following information: (1) Test development; (2) Scoring procedures; (3) Calibration, scaling, and equating procedures; (4) Standard setting;…

Introducing Statistical Inference to Biology Students through Bootstrapping and Randomization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lock, Robin H.; Lock, Patti Frazer

2008-01-01

Bootstrap methods and randomization tests are increasingly being used as alternatives to standard statistical procedures in biology. They also serve as an effective introduction to the key ideas of statistical inference in introductory courses for biology students. We discuss the use of such simulation based procedures in an integrated curriculum…

Group Comparisons in the Presence of Missing Data Using Latent Variable Modeling Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raykov, Tenko; Marcoulides, George A.

2010-01-01

A latent variable modeling approach for examining population similarities and differences in observed variable relationship and mean indexes in incomplete data sets is discussed. The method is based on the full information maximum likelihood procedure of model fitting and parameter estimation. The procedure can be employed to test group identities…

Validated Test Method 1314: Liquid-Solid Partitioning as a Function of Liquid-Solid Ratio for Constituents in Solid Materials Using An Up-Flow Percolation Column Procedure

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Describes procedures written based on the assumption that they will be performed by analysts who are formally trained in at least the basic principles of chemical analysis and in the use of the subject technology.

Improving the Crossing-SIBTEST Statistic for Detecting Non-uniform DIF.

PubMed

Chalmers, R Philip

2018-06-01

This paper demonstrates that, after applying a simple modification to Li and Stout's (Psychometrika 61(4):647-677, 1996) CSIBTEST statistic, an improved variant of the statistic could be realized. It is shown that this modified version of CSIBTEST has a more direct association with the SIBTEST statistic presented by Shealy and Stout (Psychometrika 58(2):159-194, 1993). In particular, the asymptotic sampling distributions and general interpretation of the effect size estimates are the same for SIBTEST and the new CSIBTEST. Given the more natural connection to SIBTEST, it is shown that Li and Stout's hypothesis testing approach is insufficient for CSIBTEST; thus, an improved hypothesis testing procedure is required. Based on the presented arguments, a new chi-squared-based hypothesis testing approach is proposed for the modified CSIBTEST statistic. Positive results from a modest Monte Carlo simulation study strongly suggest the original CSIBTEST procedure and randomization hypothesis testing approach should be replaced by the modified statistic and hypothesis testing method.

40 CFR 1033.315 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Test procedures. 1033.315 Section 1033... Programs § 1033.315 Test procedures. (a) Test procedures. Use the test procedures described in subpart F of this part, except as specified in this section. (1) You may ask to use other test procedures. We will...

40 CFR 1033.315 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Test procedures. 1033.315 Section 1033... Programs § 1033.315 Test procedures. (a) Test procedures. Use the test procedures described in subpart F of this part, except as specified in this section. (1) You may ask to use other test procedures. We will...

40 CFR 1033.315 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Test procedures. 1033.315 Section 1033... Programs § 1033.315 Test procedures. (a) Test procedures. Use the test procedures described in subpart F of this part, except as specified in this section. (1) You may ask to use other test procedures. We will...

Development of a Contact Permeation Test Fixture and Method

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

direct contact with the skin, indicates the need for a quantitative contact test method. Comparison tests were conducted with VX on a standardized...Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (8th ed.; National Research Council: Washington, DC, 2011). This test was also performed in...1 1.2 Development of a Contact-Based Permeation Test Method ........................................ 1 2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

Language Testing: An Overview and Language Testing in Educational Institutions of Bangladesh

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hossain, Md. Mahroof; Ahmed, Md. Kawser

2015-01-01

Test is procedures for measuring ability, knowledge or performance. Testing can be defined as a method of assessment and improvement of the students. Language testing in any point is an extremely multifarious task that ought to be based on method as well as exercise. The results of assessments are used for one or more purposes. So they have an…

A step-up test procedure to find the minimum effective dose.

PubMed

Wang, Weizhen; Peng, Jianan

2015-01-01

It is of great interest to find the minimum effective dose (MED) in dose-response studies. A sequence of decreasing null hypotheses to find the MED is formulated under the assumption of nondecreasing dose response means. A step-up multiple test procedure that controls the familywise error rate (FWER) is constructed based on the maximum likelihood estimators for the monotone normal means. When the MED is equal to one, the proposed test is uniformly more powerful than Hsu and Berger's test (1999). Also, a simulation study shows a substantial power improvement for the proposed test over four competitors. Three R-codes are provided in Supplemental Materials for this article. Go to the publishers online edition of Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics to view the files.

OPATs: Omnibus P-value association tests.

PubMed

Chen, Chia-Wei; Yang, Hsin-Chou

2017-07-10

Combining statistical significances (P-values) from a set of single-locus association tests in genome-wide association studies is a proof-of-principle method for identifying disease-associated genomic segments, functional genes and biological pathways. We review P-value combinations for genome-wide association studies and introduce an integrated analysis tool, Omnibus P-value Association Tests (OPATs), which provides popular analysis methods of P-value combinations. The software OPATs programmed in R and R graphical user interface features a user-friendly interface. In addition to analysis modules for data quality control and single-locus association tests, OPATs provides three types of set-based association test: window-, gene- and biopathway-based association tests. P-value combinations with or without threshold and rank truncation are provided. The significance of a set-based association test is evaluated by using resampling procedures. Performance of the set-based association tests in OPATs has been evaluated by simulation studies and real data analyses. These set-based association tests help boost the statistical power, alleviate the multiple-testing problem, reduce the impact of genetic heterogeneity, increase the replication efficiency of association tests and facilitate the interpretation of association signals by streamlining the testing procedures and integrating the genetic effects of multiple variants in genomic regions of biological relevance. In summary, P-value combinations facilitate the identification of marker sets associated with disease susceptibility and uncover missing heritability in association studies, thereby establishing a foundation for the genetic dissection of complex diseases and traits. OPATs provides an easy-to-use and statistically powerful analysis tool for P-value combinations. OPATs, examples, and user guide can be downloaded from http://www.stat.sinica.edu.tw/hsinchou/genetics/association/OPATs.htm. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

75 FR 2591 - Petition for Waiver of Compliance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-15

... on vital microprocessor-based systems. CSXT proposes to verify and test signal locking systems controlled by microprocessor-based equipment by use of alternative procedures every 4 years after initial... vital microprocessor-based systems. These systems utilize programmed logic equations in lieu of relays...

The Essay Scoring and Scorer Reliability in TOEFL CBT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Yong-Won

An essay test is now an integral part of the computer based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL-CBT). This paper provides a brief overview of the current TOEFL-CBT essay test, describes the operational procedures for essay scoring, including the Online Scoring Network (OSN) of the Educational Testing Service (ETS), and discusses major…

A Measurement Plane for Optical Networks to Manage Emergency Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tego, E.; Carciofi, C.; Grazioso, P.; Petrini, V.; Pompei, S.; Matera, F.; Attanasio, V.; Nastri, E.; Restuccia, E.

2017-11-01

In this work, we show a wide geographical area optical network test bed, adopting the mPlane measurement plane for monitoring its performance and to manage software defined network approaches, with some specific tests and procedures dedicated to respond to disaster events and to support emergency networks. Such a test bed includes FTTX accesses, and it is currently implemented to support future 5G wireless services with slicing procedures based on Carrier Ethernet. The characteristics of this platform have been experimentally tested in the case of a damage-causing link failure and traffic congestion, showing a fast reactions to these disastrous events, allowing the user to recharge the initial QoS parameters.

Bioaccumulation of toxic substances associated with dredging and dredged material disposal: a literature review

USGS Publications Warehouse

Seelye, James G.; Mac, Michael J.

1984-01-01

A literature review of sediment bioassessment was conducted as the first step in the development of a more standardized and ecologically sound test procedure for evaluating sediment quality. Based on the review, the authors concluded that 1) a standardized laboratory bioassessment test should consist of flowthrough exposure of at least 10 days duration using more than one aquatic organism including at least an infaunal benthic invertebrate and a fish species. 2) Before adoption of a laboratory sediment bioassessment procedure, the laboratory results should be evaluated by comparison with field conditions. 3) Most current sediment bioassessment regulatory tests measure acute toxicity or bioaccumulation. Development of tests to evaluate chronic, sublethal effects is needed.

40 CFR 600.111-08 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 31 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Test procedures. 600.111-08 Section... Emission Test Procedures § 600.111-08 Test procedures. This section provides test procedures for the FTP, highway, US06, SC03, and the cold temperature FTP tests. Testing shall be performed according to test...

New techniques for test development for tactical auto-pilots using microprocessors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shemeta, E. H.

1980-07-01

This paper reports on a demonstration of the application of the method to generate system level tests for a typical tactical missile autopilot. The test algorithms are based on the autopilot control law. When loaded on the tester with appropriate control information, the complete autopilot is tested to establish if the specified control law requirements are met. Thus, the test procedure not only checks to see if the hardware is functional, but also checks the operational software. The technique also uses a 'learning' mode to allow minor timing or functional deviations from the expected responses to be incorporated in the test procedures. A potential application of this test development technique is the extraction of production test data for the various subassemblies. The technique will 'learn' the input-output patterns forming the basis for developement and production tests. If successful, these new techniques should allow the test development process to keep pace with semiconductor progress.

Transonic wind tunnel tests of a .015 scale space shuttle booster model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dennis, R. J.

1972-01-01

Details of the test program, an outline of the test procedure, and results of the investigation in tabular form are presented. The base drag reduction potential was determined at cruise conditions (M = .40) of a modified base region, with and without base bleed flow. Transonic effects and cruise control effectiveness of the new base region were also obtained. The tests were performed at Mach numbers from 0.40 to 1.10, at angles of attack from -4 to +20 degrees and at angles of sideslip from -6 to +6 degrees, all at a Reynolds number of 6.56 million per meter (2.0 million per foot).

Model-based local density sharpening of cryo-EM maps

PubMed Central

Jakobi, Arjen J; Wilmanns, Matthias

2017-01-01

Atomic models based on high-resolution density maps are the ultimate result of the cryo-EM structure determination process. Here, we introduce a general procedure for local sharpening of cryo-EM density maps based on prior knowledge of an atomic reference structure. The procedure optimizes contrast of cryo-EM densities by amplitude scaling against the radially averaged local falloff estimated from a windowed reference model. By testing the procedure using six cryo-EM structures of TRPV1, β-galactosidase, γ-secretase, ribosome-EF-Tu complex, 20S proteasome and RNA polymerase III, we illustrate how local sharpening can increase interpretability of density maps in particular in cases of resolution variation and facilitates model building and atomic model refinement. PMID:29058676

A Permutation Approach for Selecting the Penalty Parameter in Penalized Model Selection

PubMed Central

Sabourin, Jeremy A; Valdar, William; Nobel, Andrew B

2015-01-01

Summary We describe a simple, computationally effcient, permutation-based procedure for selecting the penalty parameter in LASSO penalized regression. The procedure, permutation selection, is intended for applications where variable selection is the primary focus, and can be applied in a variety of structural settings, including that of generalized linear models. We briefly discuss connections between permutation selection and existing theory for the LASSO. In addition, we present a simulation study and an analysis of real biomedical data sets in which permutation selection is compared with selection based on the following: cross-validation (CV), the Bayesian information criterion (BIC), Scaled Sparse Linear Regression, and a selection method based on recently developed testing procedures for the LASSO. PMID:26243050

40 CFR 600.111-08 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 29 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Test procedures. 600.111-08 Section... Model Year Automobiles-Test Procedures § 600.111-08 Test procedures. This section provides test procedures for the FTP, highway, US06, SC03, and the cold temperature FTP tests. Testing shall be performed...

Teaching and assessing procedural skills using simulation: metrics and methodology.

PubMed

Lammers, Richard L; Davenport, Moira; Korley, Frederick; Griswold-Theodorson, Sharon; Fitch, Michael T; Narang, Aneesh T; Evans, Leigh V; Gross, Amy; Rodriguez, Elliot; Dodge, Kelly L; Hamann, Cara J; Robey, Walter C

2008-11-01

Simulation allows educators to develop learner-focused training and outcomes-based assessments. However, the effectiveness and validity of simulation-based training in emergency medicine (EM) requires further investigation. Teaching and testing technical skills require methods and assessment instruments that are somewhat different than those used for cognitive or team skills. Drawing from work published by other medical disciplines as well as educational, behavioral, and human factors research, the authors developed six research themes: measurement of procedural skills; development of performance standards; assessment and validation of training methods, simulator models, and assessment tools; optimization of training methods; transfer of skills learned on simulator models to patients; and prevention of skill decay over time. The article reviews relevant and established educational research methodologies and identifies gaps in our knowledge of how physicians learn procedures. The authors present questions requiring further research that, once answered, will advance understanding of simulation-based procedural training and assessment in EM.

Specialty Payment Model Opportunities and Assessment: Gastroenterology and Cardiology Model Design Report.

PubMed

Mulcahy, Andrew W; Chan, Chris; Hirshman, Samuel; Huckfeldt, Peter J; Kofner, Aaron; Liu, Jodi L; Lovejoy, Susan L; Popescu, Ioana; Timbie, Justin W; Hussey, Peter S

2015-07-15

Gastroenterology and cardiology services are common and costly among Medicare beneficiaries. Episode-based payment, which aims to create incentives for high-quality, low-cost care, has been identified as a promising alternative payment model. This article describes research related to the design of episode-based payment models for ambulatory gastroenterology and cardiology services for possible testing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The authors analyzed Medicare claims data to describe the frequency and characteristics of gastroenterology and cardiology index procedures, the practices that delivered index procedures, and the patients that received index procedures. The results of these analyses can help inform CMS decisions about the definition of episodes in an episode-based payment model; payment adjustments for service setting, multiple procedures, or other factors; and eligibility for the payment model.

Evaluation of ride quality measurement procedures by subjective experiments using simulators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klauder, L. T., Jr.; Clevenson, S. A.

1975-01-01

Since ride quality is, by definition, a matter of passenger response, there is need for a qualification procedure (QP) for establishing the degree to which any particular ride quality measurement procedure (RQMP) does correlate with passenger responses. Once established, such a QP will provide very useful guidance for optimal adjustment of the various parameters which any given RQMP contains. A QP is proposed based on use of a ride motion simulator and on test subject responses to recordings of actual vehicle motions. Test subject responses are used to determine simulator gain settings for the individual recordings such as to make all of the simulated rides equally uncomfortable to the test subjects. Simulator platform accelerations vs. time are recorded with each ride at its equal discomfort gain setting. The equal discomfort platform acceleration recordings are then digitzed.

Identifying reprioritization response shift in a stroke caregiver population: a comparison of missing data methods.

PubMed

Sajobi, Tolulope T; Lix, Lisa M; Singh, Gurbakhshash; Lowerison, Mark; Engbers, Jordan; Mayo, Nancy E

2015-03-01

Response shift (RS) is an important phenomenon that influences the assessment of longitudinal changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) studies. Given that RS effects are often small, missing data due to attrition or item non-response can contribute to failure to detect RS effects. Since missing data are often encountered in longitudinal HRQOL data, effective strategies to deal with missing data are important to consider. This study aims to compare different imputation methods on the detection of reprioritization RS in the HRQOL of caregivers of stroke survivors. Data were from a Canadian multi-center longitudinal study of caregivers of stroke survivors over a one-year period. The Stroke Impact Scale physical function score at baseline, with a cutoff of 75, was used to measure patient stroke severity for the reprioritization RS analysis. Mean imputation, likelihood-based expectation-maximization imputation, and multiple imputation methods were compared in test procedures based on changes in relative importance weights to detect RS in SF-36 domains over a 6-month period. Monte Carlo simulation methods were used to compare the statistical powers of relative importance test procedures for detecting RS in incomplete longitudinal data under different missing data mechanisms and imputation methods. Of the 409 caregivers, 15.9 and 31.3 % of them had missing data at baseline and 6 months, respectively. There were no statistically significant changes in relative importance weights on any of the domains when complete-case analysis was adopted. But statistical significant changes were detected on physical functioning and/or vitality domains when mean imputation or EM imputation was adopted. There were also statistically significant changes in relative importance weights for physical functioning, mental health, and vitality domains when multiple imputation method was adopted. Our simulations revealed that relative importance test procedures were least powerful under complete-case analysis method and most powerful when a mean imputation or multiple imputation method was adopted for missing data, regardless of the missing data mechanism and proportion of missing data. Test procedures based on relative importance measures are sensitive to the type and amount of missing data and imputation method. Relative importance test procedures based on mean imputation and multiple imputation are recommended for detecting RS in incomplete data.

The Next Step in Deployment of Computer Based Procedures For Field Workers: Insights And Results From Field Evaluations at Nuclear Power Plants

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

Oxstrand, Johanna; Le Blanc, Katya L.; Bly, Aaron

The paper-based procedures currently used for nearly all activities in the commercial nuclear power industry have a long history of ensuring safe operation of the plants. However, there is potential to greatly increase efficiency and safety by improving how the human operator interacts with the procedures. One way to achieve these improvements is through the use of computer-based procedures (CBPs). A CBP system offers a vast variety of improvements, such as context driven job aids, integrated human performance tools (e.g., placekeeping, correct component verification, etc.), and dynamic step presentation. The latter means that the CBP system could only display relevantmore » steps based on operating mode, plant status, and the task at hand. A dynamic presentation of the procedure (also known as context-sensitive procedures) will guide the operator down the path of relevant steps based on the current conditions. This feature will reduce the operator’s workload and inherently reduce the risk of incorrectly marking a step as not applicable and the risk of incorrectly performing a step that should be marked as not applicable. The research team at the Idaho National Laboratory has developed a prototype CBP system for field workers, which has been evaluated from a human factors and usability perspective in four laboratory studies. Based on the results from each study revisions were made to the CBP system. However, a crucial step to get the end users' (e.g., auxiliary operators, maintenance technicians, etc.) acceptance is to put the system in their hands and let them use it as a part of their everyday work activities. In the spring 2014 the first field evaluation of the INL CBP system was conducted at a nuclear power plant. Auxiliary operators conduct a functional test of one out of three backup air compressors each week. During the field evaluation activity, one auxiliary operator conducted the test with the paper-based procedure while a second auxiliary operator followed along with the computer-based procedure. After each conducted functional test the operators were asked a series of questions designed to provide feedback on the feasibility to use a CBP system in the plant and the general user experience of the CBP system. This paper will describe the field evaluation and its results in detail. For example, the result shows that the context driven job aids and the incorporated human performance tools are much liked by the auxiliary operators. The paper will describe and present initial findings from a second field evaluation conducted at second nuclear utility. For this field evaluation a preventive maintenance work order for the HVAC system was used. In addition, there will be a description of the method and objective of two field evaluations planned to be conducted late 2014 or early 2015.« less

Sidewalk undermining studies : phase III, field and model studies.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-01-01

The results of the early studies of the undermining problems are summarized in the initial portion of this report. Additionally, the design and use of a model sidewalk for testing procedures for preventing undermining are described. Based upon tests ...

GENERIC VERIFICATION PROTOCOL FOR AQUEOUS CLEANER RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES

EPA Science Inventory

This generic verification protocol has been structured based on a format developed for ETV-MF projects. This document describes the intended approach and explain plans for testing with respect to areas such as test methodology, procedures, parameters, and instrumentation. Also ...

Determination of frontal offset test conditions based on crash data

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-01-01

This paper reports on the test procedure development : phase of the agencys Improved Frontal Protection : research program. It is anticipated that even after all cars : and light trucks have air bags for drivers and front seat : passengers there w...

Robust Approach to Verifying the Weak Form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Střelec, Luboš

2011-09-01

The weak form of the efficient markets hypothesis states that prices incorporate only past information about the asset. An implication of this form of the efficient markets hypothesis is that one cannot detect mispriced assets and consistently outperform the market through technical analysis of past prices. One of possible formulations of the efficient market hypothesis used for weak form tests is that share prices follow a random walk. It means that returns are realizations of IID sequence of random variables. Consequently, for verifying the weak form of the efficient market hypothesis, we can use distribution tests, among others, i.e. some tests of normality and/or some graphical methods. Many procedures for testing the normality of univariate samples have been proposed in the literature [7]. Today the most popular omnibus test of normality for a general use is the Shapiro-Wilk test. The Jarque-Bera test is the most widely adopted omnibus test of normality in econometrics and related fields. In particular, the Jarque-Bera test (i.e. test based on the classical measures of skewness and kurtosis) is frequently used when one is more concerned about heavy-tailed alternatives. As these measures are based on moments of the data, this test has a zero breakdown value [2]. In other words, a single outlier can make the test worthless. The reason so many classical procedures are nonrobust to outliers is that the parameters of the model are expressed in terms of moments, and their classical estimators are expressed in terms of sample moments, which are very sensitive to outliers. Another approach to robustness is to concentrate on the parameters of interest suggested by the problem under this study. Consequently, novel robust testing procedures of testing normality are presented in this paper to overcome shortcomings of classical normality tests in the field of financial data, which are typical with occurrence of remote data points and additional types of deviations from normality. This study also discusses some results of simulation power studies of these tests for normality against selected alternatives. Based on outcome of the power simulation study, selected normality tests were consequently used to verify weak form of efficiency in Central Europe stock markets.

Fine-motor skills testing and prediction of endovascular performance.

PubMed

Bech, Bo; Lönn, Lars; Schroeder, Torben V; Ringsted, Charlotte

2013-12-01

Performing endovascular procedures requires good control of fine-motor digital movements and hand-eye coordination. Objective assessment of such skills is difficult. Trainees acquire control of catheter/wire movements at various paces. However, little is known to what extent talent plays for novice candidates at entry to practice. To study the association between performance in a novel aptitude test of fine-motor skills and performance in simulated procedures. The test was based on manual course-tracking using a proprietary hand-operated roller-bar device coupled to a personal computer with monitor view rotation. A total of 40 test repetitions were conducted separately with each hand. Test scores were correlated with simulator performance. Group A (n = 14), clinicians with various levels of endovascular experience, performed a simulated procedure of contralateral iliac artery stenting. Group B (n = 19), medical students, performed 10 repetitions of crossing a challenging aortic bifurcation in a simulator. The test score differed markedly between the individuals in both groups, in particular with the non-dominant hand. Group A: the test score with the non-dominant hand correlated significantly with simulator performance assessed with the global rating scale SAVE (R = -0.69, P = 0.007). There was no association observed from performances with the dominant hand. Group B: there was no significant association between the test score and endovascular skills acquisition neither with the dominant nor with the non-dominant hand. Clinicians with increasing levels of endovascular technical experience had developed good fine-motor control of the non-dominant hand, in particular, that was associated with good procedural performance in the simulator. The aptitude test did not predict endovascular skills acquisition among medical students, thus, cannot be suggested for selection of novice candidates. Procedural experience and practice probably supplant the influence of innate abilities (talent) over time.

Development of an in vitro Assay, Based on the BioFilm Ring Test®, for Rapid Profiling of Biofilm-Growing Bacteria

PubMed Central

Di Domenico, Enea G.; Toma, Luigi; Provot, Christian; Ascenzioni, Fiorentina; Sperduti, Isabella; Prignano, Grazia; Gallo, Maria T.; Pimpinelli, Fulvia; Bordignon, Valentina; Bernardi, Thierry; Ensoli, Fabrizio

2016-01-01

Microbial biofilm represents a major virulence factor associated with chronic and recurrent infections. Pathogenic bacteria embedded in biofilms are highly resistant to environmental and chemical agents, including antibiotics and therefore difficult to eradicate. Thus, reliable tests to assess biofilm formation by bacterial strains as well as the impact of chemicals or antibiotics on biofilm formation represent desirable tools for a most effective therapeutic management and microbiological risk control. Current methods to evaluate biofilm formation are usually time-consuming, costly, and hardly applicable in the clinical setting. The aim of the present study was to develop and assess a simple and reliable in vitro procedure for the characterization of biofilm-producing bacterial strains for future clinical applications based on the BioFilm Ring Test® (BRT) technology. The procedure developed for clinical testing (cBRT) can provide an accurate and timely (5 h) measurement of biofilm formation for the most common pathogenic bacteria seen in clinical practice. The results gathered by the cBRT assay were in agreement with the traditional crystal violet (CV) staining test, according to the κ coefficient test (κ = 0.623). However, the cBRT assay showed higher levels of specificity (92.2%) and accuracy (88.1%) as compared to CV. The results indicate that this procedure offers an easy, rapid and robust assay to test microbial biofilm and a promising tool for clinical microbiology. PMID:27708625

An operational procedure for rapid flood risk assessment in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dottori, Francesco; Kalas, Milan; Salamon, Peter; Bianchi, Alessandra; Alfieri, Lorenzo; Feyen, Luc

2017-07-01

The development of methods for rapid flood mapping and risk assessment is a key step to increase the usefulness of flood early warning systems and is crucial for effective emergency response and flood impact mitigation. Currently, flood early warning systems rarely include real-time components to assess potential impacts generated by forecasted flood events. To overcome this limitation, this study describes the benchmarking of an operational procedure for rapid flood risk assessment based on predictions issued by the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS). Daily streamflow forecasts produced for major European river networks are translated into event-based flood hazard maps using a large map catalogue derived from high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations. Flood hazard maps are then combined with exposure and vulnerability information, and the impacts of the forecasted flood events are evaluated in terms of flood-prone areas, economic damage and affected population, infrastructures and cities.An extensive testing of the operational procedure has been carried out by analysing the catastrophic floods of May 2014 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The reliability of the flood mapping methodology is tested against satellite-based and report-based flood extent data, while modelled estimates of economic damage and affected population are compared against ground-based estimations. Finally, we evaluate the skill of risk estimates derived from EFAS flood forecasts with different lead times and combinations of probabilistic forecasts. Results highlight the potential of the real-time operational procedure in helping emergency response and management.

Models and analysis for multivariate failure time data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shih, Joanna Huang

The goal of this research is to develop and investigate models and analytic methods for multivariate failure time data. We compare models in terms of direct modeling of the margins, flexibility of dependency structure, local vs. global measures of association, and ease of implementation. In particular, we study copula models, and models produced by right neutral cumulative hazard functions and right neutral hazard functions. We examine the changes of association over time for families of bivariate distributions induced from these models by displaying their density contour plots, conditional density plots, correlation curves of Doksum et al, and local cross ratios of Oakes. We know that bivariate distributions with same margins might exhibit quite different dependency structures. In addition to modeling, we study estimation procedures. For copula models, we investigate three estimation procedures. the first procedure is full maximum likelihood. The second procedure is two-stage maximum likelihood. At stage 1, we estimate the parameters in the margins by maximizing the marginal likelihood. At stage 2, we estimate the dependency structure by fixing the margins at the estimated ones. The third procedure is two-stage partially parametric maximum likelihood. It is similar to the second procedure, but we estimate the margins by the Kaplan-Meier estimate. We derive asymptotic properties for these three estimation procedures and compare their efficiency by Monte-Carlo simulations and direct computations. For models produced by right neutral cumulative hazards and right neutral hazards, we derive the likelihood and investigate the properties of the maximum likelihood estimates. Finally, we develop goodness of fit tests for the dependency structure in the copula models. We derive a test statistic and its asymptotic properties based on the test of homogeneity of Zelterman and Chen (1988), and a graphical diagnostic procedure based on the empirical Bayes approach. We study the performance of these two methods using actual and computer generated data.

Application of historical mobility testing to sensor-based robotic performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willoughby, William E.; Jones, Randolph A.; Mason, George L.; Shoop, Sally A.; Lever, James H.

2006-05-01

The USA Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has conducted on-/off-road experimental field testing with full-sized and scale-model military vehicles for more than fifty years. Some 4000 acres of local terrain are available for tailored field evaluations or verification/validation of future robotic designs in a variety of climatic regimes. Field testing and data collection procedures, as well as techniques for quantifying terrain in engineering terms, have been developed and refined into algorithms and models for predicting vehicle-terrain interactions and resulting forces or speeds of military-sized vehicles. Based on recent experiments with Matilda, Talon, and Pacbot, these predictive capabilities appear to be relevant to most robotic systems currently in development. Utilization of current testing capabilities with sensor-based vehicle drivers, or use of the procedures for terrain quantification from sensor data, would immediately apply some fifty years of historical knowledge to the development, refinement, and implementation of future robotic systems. Additionally, translation of sensor-collected terrain data into engineering terms would allow assessment of robotic performance a priori deployment of the actual system and ensure maximum system performance in the theater of operation.

Microstructure based procedure for process parameter control in rolling of aluminum thin foils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johannes, Kronsteiner; Kabliman, Evgeniya; Klimek, Philipp-Christoph

2018-05-01

In present work, a microstructure based procedure is used for a numerical prediction of strength properties for Al-Mg-Sc thin foils during a hot rolling process. For this purpose, the following techniques were developed and implemented. At first, a toolkit for a numerical analysis of experimental stress-strain curves obtained during a hot compression testing by a deformation dilatometer was developed. The implemented techniques allow for the correction of a temperature increase in samples due to adiabatic heating and for the determination of a yield strength needed for the separation of the elastic and plastic deformation regimes during numerical simulation of multi-pass hot rolling. At the next step, an asymmetric Hot Rolling Simulator (adjustable table inlet/outlet height as well as separate roll infeed) was developed in order to match the exact processing conditions of a semi-industrial rolling procedure. At each element of a finite element mesh the total strength is calculated by in-house Flow Stress Model based on evolution of mean dislocation density. The strength values obtained by numerical modelling were found in a reasonable agreement with results of tensile tests for thin Al-Mg-Sc foils. Thus, the proposed simulation procedure might allow to optimize the processing parameters with respect to the microstructure development.

Development of Standardized Material Testing Protocols for Prosthetic Liners

PubMed Central

Cagle, John C.; Reinhall, Per G.; Hafner, Brian J.; Sanders, Joan E.

2017-01-01

A set of protocols was created to characterize prosthetic liners across six clinically relevant material properties. Properties included compressive elasticity, shear elasticity, tensile elasticity, volumetric elasticity, coefficient of friction (CoF), and thermal conductivity. Eighteen prosthetic liners representing the diverse range of commercial products were evaluated to create test procedures that maximized repeatability, minimized error, and provided clinically meaningful results. Shear and tensile elasticity test designs were augmented with finite element analysis (FEA) to optimize specimen geometries. Results showed that because of the wide range of available liner products, the compressive elasticity and tensile elasticity tests required two test maxima; samples were tested until they met either a strain-based or a stress-based maximum, whichever was reached first. The shear and tensile elasticity tests required that no cyclic conditioning be conducted because of limited endurance of the mounting adhesive with some liner materials. The coefficient of friction test was based on dynamic coefficient of friction, as it proved to be a more reliable measurement than static coefficient of friction. The volumetric elasticity test required that air be released beneath samples in the test chamber before testing. The thermal conductivity test best reflected the clinical environment when thermal grease was omitted and when liner samples were placed under pressure consistent with load bearing conditions. The developed procedures provide a standardized approach for evaluating liner products in the prosthetics industry. Test results can be used to improve clinical selection of liners for individual patients and guide development of new liner products. PMID:28233885

Diagnostic procedures for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC): recommendations of the European Expert Group

PubMed Central

Dietel, Manfred; Bubendorf, Lukas; Dingemans, Anne-Marie C; Dooms, Christophe; Elmberger, Göran; García, Rosa Calero; Kerr, Keith M; Lim, Eric; López-Ríos, Fernando; Thunnissen, Erik; Van Schil, Paul E; von Laffert, Maximilian

2016-01-01

Background There is currently no Europe-wide consensus on the appropriate preanalytical measures and workflow to optimise procedures for tissue-based molecular testing of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). To address this, a group of lung cancer experts (see list of authors) convened to discuss and propose standard operating procedures (SOPs) for NSCLC. Methods Based on earlier meetings and scientific expertise on lung cancer, a multidisciplinary group meeting was aligned. The aim was to include all relevant aspects concerning NSCLC diagnosis. After careful consideration, the following topics were selected and each was reviewed by the experts: surgical resection and sampling; biopsy procedures for analysis; preanalytical and other variables affecting quality of tissue; tissue conservation; testing procedures for epidermal growth factor receptor, anaplastic lymphoma kinase and ROS proto-oncogene 1, receptor tyrosine kinase (ROS1) in lung tissue and cytological specimens; as well as standardised reporting and quality control (QC). Finally, an optimal workflow was described. Results Suggested optimal procedures and workflows are discussed in detail. The broad consensus was that the complex workflow presented can only be executed effectively by an interdisciplinary approach using a well-trained team. Conclusions To optimise diagnosis and treatment of patients with NSCLC, it is essential to establish SOPs that are adaptable to the local situation. In addition, a continuous QC system and a local multidisciplinary tumour-type-oriented board are essential. PMID:26530085

Probability and Visual Aids for Assessing Intervention Effectiveness in Single-Case Designs: A Field Test.

PubMed

Manolov, Rumen; Jamieson, Matthew; Evans, Jonathan J; Sierra, Vicenta

2015-09-01

Single-case data analysis still relies heavily on visual inspection, and, at the same time, it is not clear to what extent the results of different quantitative procedures converge in identifying an intervention effect and its magnitude when applied to the same data; this is the type of evidence provided here for two procedures. One of the procedures, included due to the importance of providing objective criteria to visual analysts, is a visual aid fitting and projecting split-middle trend while taking into account data variability. The other procedure converts several different metrics into probabilities making their results comparable. In the present study, we expore to what extend these two procedures coincide in the magnitude of intervention effect taking place in a set of studies stemming from a recent meta-analysis. The procedures concur to a greater extent with the values of the indices computed and with each other and, to a lesser extent, with our own visual analysis. For distinguishing smaller from larger effects, the probability-based approach seems somewhat better suited. Moreover, the results of the field test suggest that the latter is a reasonably good mechanism for translating different metrics into similar labels. User friendly R code is provided for promoting the use of the visual aid, together with a quantification based on nonoverlap and the label provided by the probability approach. © The Author(s) 2015.

Assessment of in-situ test technology for construction control of base courses and embankments.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-05-01

With the coming move from an empirical to mechanistic-empirical pavement design, it is essential to improve the quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) procedures of compacted materials from a density-based criterion to a stiffness/strength-based c...

Semi-automatic classification of glaciovolcanic landforms: An object-based mapping approach based on geomorphometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pedersen, G. B. M.

2016-02-01

A new object-oriented approach is developed to classify glaciovolcanic landforms (Procedure A) and their landform elements boundaries (Procedure B). It utilizes the principle that glaciovolcanic edifices are geomorphometrically distinct from lava shields and plains (Pedersen and Grosse, 2014), and the approach is tested on data from Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland. The outlined procedures utilize slope and profile curvature attribute maps (20 m/pixel) and the classified results are evaluated quantitatively through error matrix maps (Procedure A) and visual inspection (Procedure B). In procedure A, the highest obtained accuracy is 94.1%, but even simple mapping procedures provide good results (> 90% accuracy). Successful classification of glaciovolcanic landform element boundaries (Procedure B) is also achieved and this technique has the potential to delineate the transition from intraglacial to subaerial volcanic activity in orthographic view. This object-oriented approach based on geomorphometry overcomes issues with vegetation cover, which has been typically problematic for classification schemes utilizing spectral data. Furthermore, it handles complex edifice outlines well and is easily incorporated into a GIS environment, where results can be edited or fused with other mapping results. The approach outlined here is designed to map glaciovolcanic edifices within the Icelandic neovolcanic zone but may also be applied to similar subaerial or submarine volcanic settings, where steep volcanic edifices are surrounded by flat plains.

Scoring Yes-No Vocabulary Tests: Reaction Time vs. Nonword Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pellicer-Sanchez, Ana; Schmitt, Norbert

2012-01-01

Despite a number of research studies investigating the Yes-No vocabulary test format, one main question remains unanswered: What is the best scoring procedure to adjust for testee overestimation of vocabulary knowledge? Different scoring methodologies have been proposed based on the inclusion and selection of nonwords in the test. However, there…

Performance of DIMTEST-and NOHARM-Based Statistics for Testing Unidimensionality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finch, Holmes; Habing, Brian

2007-01-01

This Monte Carlo study compares the ability of the parametric bootstrap version of DIMTEST with three goodness-of-fit tests calculated from a fitted NOHARM model to detect violations of the assumption of unidimensionality in testing data. The effectiveness of the procedures was evaluated for different numbers of items, numbers of examinees,…

40 CFR 98.464 - Monitoring and QA/QC requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) Determine DOC value of a waste stream by either using at least a 60-day anaerobic biodegradation test as... biodegradation test and determine the DOC value of a waste stream following the procedures and requirements in...-based standards organization to conduct a minimum of a 60-day anaerobic biodegradation test. Consensus...

Integrated Testlets: A New Form of Expert-Student Collaborative Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shiell, Ralph C.; Slepkov, Aaron D.

2015-01-01

Integrated testlets are a new assessment tool that encompass the procedural benefits of multiple-choice testing, the pedagogical advantages of free-response-based tests, and the collaborative aspects of a viva voce or defence examination format. The result is a robust assessment tool that provides a significant formative aspect for students.…

Model-based analysis of costs and outcomes of non-invasive prenatal testing for Down's syndrome using cell free fetal DNA in the UK National Health Service.

PubMed

Morris, Stephen; Karlsen, Saffron; Chung, Nancy; Hill, Melissa; Chitty, Lyn S

2014-01-01

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for Down's syndrome (DS) using cell free fetal DNA in maternal blood has the potential to dramatically alter the way prenatal screening and diagnosis is delivered. Before NIPT can be implemented into routine practice, information is required on its costs and benefits. We investigated the costs and outcomes of NIPT for DS as contingent testing and as first-line testing compared with the current DS screening programme in the UK National Health Service. We used a pre-existing model to evaluate the costs and outcomes associated with NIPT compared with the current DS screening programme. The analysis was based on a hypothetical screening population of 10,000 pregnant women. Model inputs were taken from published sources. The main outcome measures were number of DS cases detected, number of procedure-related miscarriages and total cost. At a screening risk cut-off of 1∶150 NIPT as contingent testing detects slightly fewer DS cases, has fewer procedure-related miscarriages, and costs the same as current DS screening (around UK£280,000) at a cost of £500 per NIPT. As first-line testing NIPT detects more DS cases, has fewer procedure-related miscarriages, and is more expensive than current screening at a cost of £50 per NIPT. When NIPT uptake increases, NIPT detects more DS cases with a small increase in procedure-related miscarriages and costs. NIPT is currently available in the private sector in the UK at a price of £400-£900. If the NHS cost was at the lower end of this range then at a screening risk cut-off of 1∶150 NIPT as contingent testing would be cost neutral or cost saving compared with current DS screening. As first-line testing NIPT is likely to produce more favourable outcomes but at greater cost. Further research is needed to evaluate NIPT under real world conditions.

Comparing preference assessments: selection- versus duration-based preference assessment procedures.

PubMed

Kodak, Tiffany; Fisher, Wayne W; Kelley, Michael E; Kisamore, April

2009-01-01

In the current investigation, the results of a selection- and a duration-based preference assessment procedure were compared. A Multiple Stimulus With Replacement (MSW) preference assessment [Windsor, J., Piché, L. M., & Locke, P. A. (1994). Preference testing: A comparison of two presentation methods. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 15, 439-455] and a variation of a Free-Operant (FO) preference assessment procedure [Roane, H. S., Vollmer, T. R., Ringdahl, J. E., & Marcus, B. A. (1998). Evaluation of a brief stimulus preference assessment. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 31, 605-620] were conducted with four participants. A reinforcer assessment was conducted to determine which preference assessment procedure identified the item that produced the highest rates of responding. The items identified as most highly preferred were different across preference assessment procedures for all participants. Results of the reinforcer assessment showed that the MSW identified the item that functioned as the most effective reinforcer for two participants.

Development of Cold-Formed Steel Seismic Design Recommendations

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-01

applied loads, so the impact on design would be minimal. However, had the test been carried out to larger panel deformations without loss of capacity... test shear panels and development of preliminary design recommendations 6. Definition of material properties and coupon test results 7. Pretest of...predicted panel response based on preliminary design model and coupon test results 8. Definition of test configuration, procedures, and

Acquiring, Representing, and Evaluating a Competence Model of Diagnostic Strategy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clancey, William J.

This paper describes NEOMYCIN, a computer program that models one physician's diagnostic reasoning within a limited area of medicine. NEOMYCIN's knowledge base and reasoning procedure constitute a model of how human knowledge is organized and how it is used in diagnosis. The hypothesis is tested that such a procedure can be used to simulate both…

Conditional Covariance-Based Nonparametric Multidimensionality Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stout, William; And Others

1996-01-01

Three nonparametric procedures that use estimates of covariances of item-pair responses conditioned on examinee trait level for assessing dimensionality of a test are described. The HCA/CCPROX, DIMTEST, and DETECT are applied to a dimensionality study of the Law School Admission Test. (SLD)

Solderability test system

DOEpatents

Yost, Fred; Hosking, Floyd M.; Jellison, James L.; Short, Bruce; Giversen, Terri; Reed, Jimmy R.

1998-01-01

A new test method to quantify capillary flow solderability on a printed wiring board surface finish. The test is based on solder flow from a pad onto narrow strips or lines. A test procedure and video image analysis technique were developed for conducting the test and evaluating the data. Feasibility tests revealed that the wetted distance was sensitive to the ratio of pad radius to line width (l/r), solder volume, and flux predry time.

Forensic analysis of Salvia divinorum using multivariate statistical procedures. Part I: discrimination from related Salvia species.

PubMed

Willard, Melissa A Bodnar; McGuffin, Victoria L; Smith, Ruth Waddell

2012-01-01

Salvia divinorum is a hallucinogenic herb that is internationally regulated. In this study, salvinorin A, the active compound in S. divinorum, was extracted from S. divinorum plant leaves using a 5-min extraction with dichloromethane. Four additional Salvia species (Salvia officinalis, Salvia guaranitica, Salvia splendens, and Salvia nemorosa) were extracted using this procedure, and all extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Differentiation of S. divinorum from other Salvia species was successful based on visual assessment of the resulting chromatograms. To provide a more objective comparison, the total ion chromatograms (TICs) were subjected to principal components analysis (PCA). Prior to PCA, the TICs were subjected to a series of data pretreatment procedures to minimize non-chemical sources of variance in the data set. Successful discrimination of S. divinorum from the other four Salvia species was possible based on visual assessment of the PCA scores plot. To provide a numerical assessment of the discrimination, a series of statistical procedures such as Euclidean distance measurement, hierarchical cluster analysis, Student's t tests, Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, and Pearson product moment correlation were also applied to the PCA scores. The statistical procedures were then compared to determine the advantages and disadvantages for forensic applications.

Experimental Assessment and Enhancement of Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence Measurements of Nitric Oxide in an Inverse Diffusion Flame

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Partridge, William P.; Laurendeau, Normand M.

1997-01-01

We have experimentally assessed the quantitative nature of planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) measurements of NO concentration in a unique atmospheric pressure, laminar, axial inverse diffusion flame (IDF). The PLIF measurements were assessed relative to a two-dimensional array of separate laser saturated fluorescence (LSF) measurements. We demonstrated and evaluated several experimentally-based procedures for enhancing the quantitative nature of PLIF concentration images. Because these experimentally-based PLIF correction schemes require only the ability to make PLIF and LSF measurements, they produce a more broadly applicable PLIF diagnostic compared to numerically-based correction schemes. We experimentally assessed the influence of interferences on both narrow-band and broad-band fluorescence measurements at atmospheric and high pressures. Optimum excitation and detection schemes were determined for the LSF and PLIF measurements. Single-input and multiple-input, experimentally-based PLIF enhancement procedures were developed for application in test environments with both negligible and significant quench-dependent error gradients. Each experimentally-based procedure provides an enhancement of approximately 50% in the quantitative nature of the PLIF measurements, and results in concentration images nominally as quantitative as LSF point measurements. These correction procedures can be applied to other species, including radicals, for which no experimental data are available from which to implement numerically-based PLIF enhancement procedures.

Learning the facts in medical school is not enough: which factors predict successful application of procedural knowledge in a laboratory setting?

PubMed

Schmidmaier, Ralf; Eiber, Stephan; Ebersbach, Rene; Schiller, Miriam; Hege, Inga; Holzer, Matthias; Fischer, Martin R

2013-02-22

Medical knowledge encompasses both conceptual (facts or "what" information) and procedural knowledge ("how" and "why" information). Conceptual knowledge is known to be an essential prerequisite for clinical problem solving. Primarily, medical students learn from textbooks and often struggle with the process of applying their conceptual knowledge to clinical problems. Recent studies address the question of how to foster the acquisition of procedural knowledge and its application in medical education. However, little is known about the factors which predict performance in procedural knowledge tasks. Which additional factors of the learner predict performance in procedural knowledge? Domain specific conceptual knowledge (facts) in clinical nephrology was provided to 80 medical students (3rd to 5th year) using electronic flashcards in a laboratory setting. Learner characteristics were obtained by questionnaires. Procedural knowledge in clinical nephrology was assessed by key feature problems (KFP) and problem solving tasks (PST) reflecting strategic and conditional knowledge, respectively. Results in procedural knowledge tests (KFP and PST) correlated significantly with each other. In univariate analysis, performance in procedural knowledge (sum of KFP+PST) was significantly correlated with the results in (1) the conceptual knowledge test (CKT), (2) the intended future career as hospital based doctor, (3) the duration of clinical clerkships, and (4) the results in the written German National Medical Examination Part I on preclinical subjects (NME-I). After multiple regression analysis only clinical clerkship experience and NME-I performance remained independent influencing factors. Performance in procedural knowledge tests seems independent from the degree of domain specific conceptual knowledge above a certain level. Procedural knowledge may be fostered by clinical experience. More attention should be paid to the interplay of individual clinical clerkship experiences and structured teaching of procedural knowledge and its assessment in medical education curricula.

Meta-Analysis of Inquiry-Based Instruction Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasanah, N.; Prasetyo, A. P. B.; Rudyatmi, E.

2017-04-01

Inquiry-based instruction in biology has been the focus of educational research conducted by Unnes biology department students in collaboration with their university supervisors. This study aimed to describe the methodological aspects, inquiry teaching methods critically, and to analyse the results claims, of the selected four student research reports, grounded in inquiry, based on the database of Unnes biology department 2014. Four experimental quantitative research of 16 were selected as research objects by purposive sampling technique. Data collected through documentation study was qualitatively analysed regarding methods used, quality of inquiry syntax, and finding claims. Findings showed that the student research was still the lack of relevant aspects of research methodology, namely in appropriate sampling procedures, limited validity tests of all research instruments, and the limited parametric statistic (t-test) not supported previously by data normality tests. Their consistent inquiry syntax supported the four mini-thesis claims that inquiry-based teaching influenced their dependent variables significantly. In other words, the findings indicated that positive claims of the research results were not fully supported by good research methods, and well-defined inquiry procedures implementation.

Optical scanning tests of complex CMOS microcircuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levy, M. E.; Erickson, J. J.

1977-01-01

The new test method was based on the use of a raster-scanned optical stimulus in combination with special electrical test procedures. The raster-scanned optical stimulus was provided by an optical spot scanner, an instrument that combines a scanning optical microscope with electronic instrumentation to process and display the electric photoresponse signal induced in a device that is being tested.

Does Solving Insight-Based Problems Differ from Solving Learning-Based Problems? Some Evidence from an ERP Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leikin, Roza; Waisman, Ilana; Leikin, Mark

2016-01-01

We asked: "What are the similarities and differences in mathematical processing associated with solving learning-based and insight-based problems?" To answer this question, the ERP research procedure was employed with 69 male adolescent subjects who solved specially designed insight-based and learning-based tests. Solutions of…

10 CFR 431.154 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Test procedures. 431.154 Section 431.154 Energy DEPARTMENT... EQUIPMENT Commercial Clothers Washers Test Procedures § 431.154 Test procedures. The test procedures for residential clothes washers in Appendix J1 to subpart B of part 430 of this title shall be used to test...

Comparison of design strategies for a three-arm clinical trial with time-to-event endpoint: Power, time-to-analysis, and operational aspects.

PubMed

Asikanius, Elina; Rufibach, Kaspar; Bahlo, Jasmin; Bieska, Gabriele; Burger, Hans Ulrich

2016-11-01

To optimize resources, randomized clinical trials with multiple arms can be an attractive option to simultaneously test various treatment regimens in pharmaceutical drug development. The motivation for this work was the successful conduct and positive final outcome of a three-arm randomized clinical trial primarily assessing whether obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil in patients with chronic lympocytic lymphoma and coexisting conditions is superior to chlorambucil alone based on a time-to-event endpoint. The inference strategy of this trial was based on a closed testing procedure. We compare this strategy to three potential alternatives to run a three-arm clinical trial with a time-to-event endpoint. The primary goal is to quantify the differences between these strategies in terms of the time it takes until the first analysis and thus potential approval of a new drug, number of required events, and power. Operational aspects of implementing the various strategies are discussed. In conclusion, using a closed testing procedure results in the shortest time to the first analysis with a minimal loss in power. Therefore, closed testing procedures should be part of the statistician's standard clinical trials toolbox when planning multiarm clinical trials. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Evaluation of Bias-Variance Trade-Off for Commonly Used Post-Summarizing Normalization Procedures in Large-Scale Gene Expression Studies

PubMed Central

Qiu, Xing; Hu, Rui; Wu, Zhixin

2014-01-01

Normalization procedures are widely used in high-throughput genomic data analyses to remove various technological noise and variations. They are known to have profound impact to the subsequent gene differential expression analysis. Although there has been some research in evaluating different normalization procedures, few attempts have been made to systematically evaluate the gene detection performances of normalization procedures from the bias-variance trade-off point of view, especially with strong gene differentiation effects and large sample size. In this paper, we conduct a thorough study to evaluate the effects of normalization procedures combined with several commonly used statistical tests and MTPs under different configurations of effect size and sample size. We conduct theoretical evaluation based on a random effect model, as well as simulation and biological data analyses to verify the results. Based on our findings, we provide some practical guidance for selecting a suitable normalization procedure under different scenarios. PMID:24941114

Engineering calculations for communications satellite systems planning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, C. H.; Gonsalvez, D. J.; Levis, C. A.; Wang, C. W.

1983-01-01

Progress is reported on a computer code to improve the efficiency of spectrum and orbit utilization for the Broadcasting Satellite Service in the 12 GHz band for Region 2. It implements a constrained gradient search procedure using an exponential objective function based on aggregate signal to noise ratio and an extended line search in the gradient direction. The procedure is tested against a manually generated initial scenario and appears to work satisfactorily. In this test it was assumed that alternate channels use orthogonal polarizations at any one satellite location.

Evaluation of Second-Level Inference in fMRI Analysis

PubMed Central

Roels, Sanne P.; Loeys, Tom; Moerkerke, Beatrijs

2016-01-01

We investigate the impact of decisions in the second-level (i.e., over subjects) inferential process in functional magnetic resonance imaging on (1) the balance between false positives and false negatives and on (2) the data-analytical stability, both proxies for the reproducibility of results. Second-level analysis based on a mass univariate approach typically consists of 3 phases. First, one proceeds via a general linear model for a test image that consists of pooled information from different subjects. We evaluate models that take into account first-level (within-subjects) variability and models that do not take into account this variability. Second, one proceeds via inference based on parametrical assumptions or via permutation-based inference. Third, we evaluate 3 commonly used procedures to address the multiple testing problem: familywise error rate correction, False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction, and a two-step procedure with minimal cluster size. Based on a simulation study and real data we find that the two-step procedure with minimal cluster size results in most stable results, followed by the familywise error rate correction. The FDR results in most variable results, for both permutation-based inference and parametrical inference. Modeling the subject-specific variability yields a better balance between false positives and false negatives when using parametric inference. PMID:26819578

A study of graphite-epoxy laminate failures due to high transverse shear strains using the multi-span-beam shear test procedure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jegley, Dawn C.

1989-01-01

The multi-span-beam shear test procedure is used to study failure mechanisms in graphite-epoxy laminates due to high transverse shear strains induced by severe local bending deformations in test specimens. Results of a series of tests on specimens with a variety of stacking sequences, including some with adhesive interleaving, are presented. These results indicate that laminates with stacking sequences with several + or - 45 and 90 deg plies next to each other are more susceptible to failures due to high transverse shear strains than laminates with + or - 45 and 0 deg plies next to each other or with + or - 45 deg plies next to layers of adhesive interleaving. Results of these tests are compared with analytical results based on finite elements.

Screening tests for pathogenic corynebacteria.

PubMed Central

Colman, G; Weaver, E; Efstratiou, A

1992-01-01

AIM: To provide simple tests that would help in the identification of corynebacteria that produce diphtheria toxin. METHODS: A collection of 99 freshly isolated corynebacteria was assembled and the cultures identified by conventional tests confirmed by an identification kit. Modifications were made to procedures for preparation of the culture medium for the Elek test and to the test for detection of pyrazinamidase (pyrazine carboxylamidase) activity. These two together with an indicator medium for cystinase activity were applied to the collection of organisms. RESULTS: Cystinase was detected in all 61 members of the toxigenic species and none produced pyrazinamidase. In contrast, all but two of the 38 representatives of non-toxigenic species yielded pyrazinamidase and none formed cystinase. Of the 61 cystinase producing cultures (which were also pyrazinamidase negative), 21 gave a positive Elek test with the modified culture medium. A total of 30 of these 61 were tested for toxigenicity in guinea pigs and the results of the animal and plate tests concorded. At least seven cultures could have been reported as non-toxigenic if Elek tests based on media prepared in the conventional way had been the only test available. CONCLUSION: The three procedures described go some way towards meeting the needs of diagnostic laboratories for efficient procedures for distinguishing pathogenic corynebacteria. PMID:1740514

Inference for High-dimensional Differential Correlation Matrices.

PubMed

Cai, T Tony; Zhang, Anru

2016-01-01

Motivated by differential co-expression analysis in genomics, we consider in this paper estimation and testing of high-dimensional differential correlation matrices. An adaptive thresholding procedure is introduced and theoretical guarantees are given. Minimax rate of convergence is established and the proposed estimator is shown to be adaptively rate-optimal over collections of paired correlation matrices with approximately sparse differences. Simulation results show that the procedure significantly outperforms two other natural methods that are based on separate estimation of the individual correlation matrices. The procedure is also illustrated through an analysis of a breast cancer dataset, which provides evidence at the gene co-expression level that several genes, of which a subset has been previously verified, are associated with the breast cancer. Hypothesis testing on the differential correlation matrices is also considered. A test, which is particularly well suited for testing against sparse alternatives, is introduced. In addition, other related problems, including estimation of a single sparse correlation matrix, estimation of the differential covariance matrices, and estimation of the differential cross-correlation matrices, are also discussed.

Spatial regression test for ensuring temperature data quality in southern Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estévez, J.; Gavilán, P.; García-Marín, A. P.

2018-01-01

Quality assurance of meteorological data is crucial for ensuring the reliability of applications and models that use such data as input variables, especially in the field of environmental sciences. Spatial validation of meteorological data is based on the application of quality control procedures using data from neighbouring stations to assess the validity of data from a candidate station (the station of interest). These kinds of tests, which are referred to in the literature as spatial consistency tests, take data from neighbouring stations in order to estimate the corresponding measurement at the candidate station. These estimations can be made by weighting values according to the distance between the stations or to the coefficient of correlation, among other methods. The test applied in this study relies on statistical decision-making and uses a weighting based on the standard error of the estimate. This paper summarizes the results of the application of this test to maximum, minimum and mean temperature data from the Agroclimatic Information Network of Andalusia (southern Spain). This quality control procedure includes a decision based on a factor f, the fraction of potential outliers for each station across the region. Using GIS techniques, the geographic distribution of the errors detected has been also analysed. Finally, the performance of the test was assessed by evaluating its effectiveness in detecting known errors.

The multicategory case of the sequential Bayesian pixel selection and estimation procedure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pore, M. D.; Dennis, T. B. (Principal Investigator)

1980-01-01

A Bayesian technique for stratified proportion estimation and a sampling based on minimizing the mean squared error of this estimator were developed and tested on LANDSAT multispectral scanner data using the beta density function to model the prior distribution in the two-class case. An extention of this procedure to the k-class case is considered. A generalization of the beta function is shown to be a density function for the general case which allows the procedure to be extended.

The impact of justice climate and justice orientation on work outcomes: a cross-level multifoci framework.

PubMed

Liao, Hui; Rupp, Deborah E

2005-03-01

In this article, which takes a person-situation approach, the authors propose and test a cross-level multifoci model of workplace justice. They crossed 3 types of justice (procedural, informational, and interpersonal) with 2 foci (organization and supervisor) and aggregated to the group level to create 6 distinct justice climate variables. They then tested for the effects of these variables on either organization-directed or supervisor-directed commitment, satisfaction, and citizenship behavior. The authors also tested justice orientation as a moderator of these relationships. The results, based on 231 employees constituting 44 work groups representing multiple organizations and occupations, revealed that 4 forms of justice climate (organization-focused procedural and informational justice climate and supervisor-focused procedural and interpersonal justice climate) were significantly related to various work outcomes after controlling for corresponding individual-level justice perceptions. In addition, some moderation effects were found. Implications for organizations and future research are discussed.

On the efficacy of procedures to normalize Ex-Gaussian distributions.

PubMed

Marmolejo-Ramos, Fernando; Cousineau, Denis; Benites, Luis; Maehara, Rocío

2014-01-01

Reaction time (RT) is one of the most common types of measure used in experimental psychology. Its distribution is not normal (Gaussian) but resembles a convolution of normal and exponential distributions (Ex-Gaussian). One of the major assumptions in parametric tests (such as ANOVAs) is that variables are normally distributed. Hence, it is acknowledged by many that the normality assumption is not met. This paper presents different procedures to normalize data sampled from an Ex-Gaussian distribution in such a way that they are suitable for parametric tests based on the normality assumption. Using simulation studies, various outlier elimination and transformation procedures were tested against the level of normality they provide. The results suggest that the transformation methods are better than elimination methods in normalizing positively skewed data and the more skewed the distribution then the transformation methods are more effective in normalizing such data. Specifically, transformation with parameter lambda -1 leads to the best results.

40 CFR 63.694 - Testing methods and procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 11 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Testing methods and procedures. 63.694....694 Testing methods and procedures. (a) This section specifies the testing methods and procedures... this subpart, the testing methods and procedures are specified in paragraph (b) of this section. (2) To...

40 CFR 86.425-78 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Test procedures. 86.425-78 Section 86... Later New Motorcycles, General Provisions § 86.425-78 Test procedures. (a) Motorcycle emission test procedures are found in subpart F. (b) The Administrator may prescribe emission test procedures for any...

40 CFR 86.425-78 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Test procedures. 86.425-78 Section 86... Later New Motorcycles, General Provisions § 86.425-78 Test procedures. (a) Motorcycle emission test procedures are found in subpart F. (b) The Administrator may prescribe emission test procedures for any...

40 CFR 86.425-78 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Test procedures. 86.425-78 Section 86... Later New Motorcycles, General Provisions § 86.425-78 Test procedures. (a) Motorcycle emission test procedures are found in subpart F. (b) The Administrator may prescribe emission test procedures for any...

40 CFR 600.111-93 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Test procedures. 600.111-93 Section... Emission Regulations for 1978 and Later Model Year Automobiles-Test Procedures § 600.111-93 Test procedures. (a) The test procedures to be followed for generation of the city fuel economy data are those...

40 CFR 90.508 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Test procedures. 90.508 Section 90.508....508 Test procedures. (a) For nonroad engines subject to the provisions of this subpart, the prescribed test procedures are the appropriate small SI engine test procedures as described in subpart E of this...

40 CFR 89.508 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Test procedures. 89.508 Section 89.508... Test procedures. (a)(1) For nonroad engines subject to the provisions of this subpart, the prescribed test procedures are the nonroad engine 8-mode test procedure as described in subpart E of this part...

40 CFR 600.111-80 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Test procedures. 600.111-80 Section... Emission Regulations for 1978 and Later Model Year Automobiles-Test Procedures § 600.111-80 Test procedures. (a) The test procedures to be followed for generation of the city fuel economy data are those...

21 CFR 355.70 - Testing procedures for fluoride dentifrice drug products.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Testing procedures for fluoride dentifrice drug... Procedures § 355.70 Testing procedures for fluoride dentifrice drug products. (a) A fluoride dentifrice drug... tests: Enamel solubility reduction or fluoride enamel uptake. The testing procedures for these...

21 CFR 355.70 - Testing procedures for fluoride dentifrice drug products.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 5 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Testing procedures for fluoride dentifrice drug... Procedures § 355.70 Testing procedures for fluoride dentifrice drug products. (a) A fluoride dentifrice drug... tests: Enamel solubility reduction or fluoride enamel uptake. The testing procedures for these...

Evaluation of boundary lubricants using steady-state wear and friction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loomis, W. R.; Jones, W. R., Jr.

1981-01-01

A friction and wear study was made at 20 C to establish operating limits and procedures for obtaining improved reproducibility and reliability in boundary lubrication testing. Ester base and C-other base fluids were used to lubricate a pure iron rider in sliding contact with a rotating M-50 steel disk in a pin-on-disk apparatus. Results of a parametric study with varying loads and speeds slowed that satisfactory test conditions for studying the direction and wear characteristics in the boundary lubrication regime with this test device were found to be 1 kilogram load; 7 to 9 meters-per-minute (50 rpm) surface speed; dry air test atmosphere (less than 100 ppm H2O); and use of a time stepwise procedure for measuring wear. Highly reproducible steady-state wear rates resulted from the two fluid studies which had a linearity of about 99 percent after initially higher wear rates and friction coefficients during run-in periods of 20 to 40 minutes.

New procedure for the determination of Hansen solubility parameters by means of inverse gas chromatography.

PubMed

Adamska, K; Bellinghausen, R; Voelkel, A

2008-06-27

The Hansen solubility parameter (HSP) seems to be a useful tool for the thermodynamic characterization of different materials. Unfortunately, estimation of the HSP values can cause some problems. In this work different procedures by using inverse gas chromatography have been presented for calculation of pharmaceutical excipients' solubility parameter. The new procedure proposed, based on the Lindvig et al. methodology, where experimental data of Flory-Huggins interaction parameter are used, can be a reasonable alternative for the estimation of HSP values. The advantage of this method is that the values of Flory-Huggins interaction parameter chi for all test solutes are used for further calculation, thus diverse interactions between test solute and material are taken into consideration.

Doing More for More: Unintended Consequences of Financial Incentives for Oncology Specialty Care.

PubMed

O'Neil, Brock; Graves, Amy J; Barocas, Daniel A; Chang, Sam S; Penson, David F; Resnick, Matthew J

2016-02-01

Specialty care remains a significant contributor to health care spending but largely unaddressed in novel payment models aimed at promoting value-based delivery. Bladder cancer, chiefly managed by subspecialists, is among the most costly. In 2005, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) dramatically increased physician payment for office-based interventions for bladder cancer to shift care from higher cost facilities, but the impact is unknown. This study evaluated the effect of financial incentives on patterns of fee-for-service (FFS) bladder cancer care. Data from a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries from 2001-2013 were evaluated using interrupted time-series analysis with segmented regression. Primary outcomes were the effects of CMS fee modifications on utilization and site of service for procedures associated with the diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer. Rates of related bladder cancer procedures that were not affected by the fee change were concurrent controls. Finally, the effect of payment changes on both diagnostic yield and need for redundant procedures were studied. All statistical tests were two-sided. Utilization of clinic-based procedures increased by 644% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 584% to 704%) after the fee change, but without reciprocal decline in facility-based procedures. Procedures unaffected by the fee incentive remained unchanged throughout the study period. Diagnostic yield decreased by 17.0% (95% CI = 12.7% to 21.3%), and use of redundant office-based procedures increased by 76.0% (95% CI = 59% to 93%). Financial incentives in bladder cancer care have unintended and costly consequences in the current FFS environment. The observed price sensitivity is likely to remain a major issue in novel payment models failing to incorporate procedure-based specialty physicians. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Discontinuous categories affect information-integration but not rule-based category learning.

PubMed

Maddox, W Todd; Filoteo, J Vincent; Lauritzen, J Scott; Connally, Emily; Hejl, Kelli D

2005-07-01

Three experiments were conducted that provide a direct examination of within-category discontinuity manipulations on the implicit, procedural-based learning and the explicit, hypothesis-testing systems proposed in F. G. Ashby, L. A. Alfonso-Reese, A. U. Turken, and E. M. Waldron's (1998) competition between verbal and implicit systems model. Discontinuous categories adversely affected information-integration but not rule-based category learning. Increasing the magnitude of the discontinuity did not lead to a significant decline in performance. The distance to the bound provides a reasonable description of the generalization profile associated with the hypothesis-testing system, whereas the distance to the bound plus the distance to the trained response region provides a reasonable description of the generalization profile associated with the procedural-based learning system. These results suggest that within-category discontinuity differentially impacts information-integration but not rule-based category learning and provides information regarding the detailed processing characteristics of each category learning system. ((c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).

Reliability-based econometrics of aerospace structural systems: Design criteria and test options. Ph.D. Thesis - Georgia Inst. of Tech.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas, J. M.; Hanagud, S.

1974-01-01

The design criteria and test options for aerospace structural reliability were investigated. A decision methodology was developed for selecting a combination of structural tests and structural design factors. The decision method involves the use of Bayesian statistics and statistical decision theory. Procedures are discussed for obtaining and updating data-based probabilistic strength distributions for aerospace structures when test information is available and for obtaining subjective distributions when data are not available. The techniques used in developing the distributions are explained.

CT and MRI slice separation evaluation by LabView developed software.

PubMed

Acri, Giuseppe; Testagrossa, Barbara; Sestito, Angela; Bonanno, Lilla; Vermiglio, Giuseppe

2018-02-01

The efficient use of Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment necessitates establishing adequate quality-control (QC) procedures. In particular, the accuracy of slice separation, during multislices acquisition, requires scan exploration of phantoms containing test objects. To simplify such procedures, a novel phantom and a computerised LabView-based procedure have been devised, enabling determination the midpoint of full width at half maximum (FWHM) in real time while the distance from the profile midpoint of two progressive images is evaluated and measured. The results were compared with those obtained by processing the same phantom images with commercial software. To validate the proposed methodology the Fisher test was conducted on the resulting data sets. In all cases, there was no statistically significant variation between the commercial procedure and the LabView one, which can be used on any CT and MRI diagnostic devices. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Recommended procedures for measuring aircraft noise and associated parameters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marsh, A. H.

1977-01-01

Procedures are recommended for obtaining experimental values of aircraft flyover noise levels (and associated parameters). Specific recommendations are made for test criteria, instrumentation performance requirements, data-acquisition procedures, and test operations. The recommendations are based on state-of-the-art measurement capabilities available in 1976 and are consistent with the measurement objectives of the NASA Aircraft Noise Prediction Program. The recommendations are applicable to measurements of the noise produced by an airplane flying subsonically over (or past) microphones located near the surface of the ground. Aircraft types covered by the recommendations are fixed-wing airplanes powered by turbojet or turbofan engines and using conventional aerodynamic means for takeoff and landing. Various assumptions with respect to subsequent data processing and analysis were made (and are described) and the recommended measurement procedures are compatible with the assumptions. Some areas where additional research is needed relative to aircraft flyover noise measurement techniques are also discussed.

Toddler test or procedure preparation

MedlinePlus

Preparing toddler for test/procedure; Test/procedure preparation - toddler; Preparing for a medical test or procedure - toddler ... Before the test, know that your child will probably cry. Even if you prepare, your child may feel some discomfort or ...

European type-approval test procedure for evaporative emissions from passenger cars against real-world mobility data from two Italian provinces.

PubMed

Martini, Giorgio; Paffumi, Elena; De Gennaro, Michele; Mellios, Giorgos

2014-07-15

This paper presents an evaluation of the European type-approval test procedure for evaporative emissions from passenger cars based on real-world mobility data. The study relies on two large databases of driving patterns from conventional fuel vehicles collected by means of on-board GPS systems in the Italian provinces of Modena and Firenze. Approximately 28,000 vehicles were monitored, corresponding to approximately 36 million kilometres over a period of one month. The driving pattern of each vehicle was processed to derive the relation between trip length and parking duration, and the rate of occurrence of parking events against multiple evaporative cycles, defined on the basis of the type-approval test procedure as 12-hour diurnal time windows. These results are used as input for an emission simulation model, which calculates the total evaporative emissions given the characteristics of the evaporative emission control system of the vehicle and the ambient temperature conditions. The results suggest that the evaporative emission control system, fitted to the vehicles from Euro 3 step and optimised for the current type-approval test procedure, could not efficiently work under real-world conditions, resulting in evaporative emissions well above the type-approval limit, especially for small size vehicles and warm climate conditions. This calls for a revision of the type-approval test procedure in order to address real-world evaporative emissions. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Using expert knowledge for test linking.

PubMed

Bolsinova, Maria; Hoijtink, Herbert; Vermeulen, Jorine Adinda; Béguin, Anton

2017-12-01

Linking and equating procedures are used to make the results of different test forms comparable. In the cases where no assumption of random equivalent groups can be made some form of linking design is used. In practice the amount of data available to link the two tests is often very limited due to logistic and security reasons, which affects the precision of linking procedures. This study proposes to enhance the quality of linking procedures based on sparse data by using Bayesian methods which combine the information in the linking data with background information captured in informative prior distributions. We propose two methods for the elicitation of prior knowledge about the difference in difficulty of two tests from subject-matter experts and explain how these results can be used in the specification of priors. To illustrate the proposed methods and evaluate the quality of linking with and without informative priors, an empirical example of linking primary school mathematics tests is presented. The results suggest that informative priors can increase the precision of linking without decreasing the accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

40 CFR 600.207-12 - Calculation and use of vehicle-specific 5-cycle-based fuel economy and CO2 emission values for...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... economy and CO2 emission values from the tests performed using gasoline or diesel test fuel. (ii) Calculate the 5-cycle city and highway fuel economy and CO2 emission values from the tests performed using alcohol or natural gas test fuel, if 5-cycle testing has been performed. Otherwise, the procedure in § 600...

40 CFR 600.207-12 - Calculation and use of vehicle-specific 5-cycle-based fuel economy and CO2 emission values for...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... economy and CO2 emission values from the tests performed using gasoline or diesel test fuel. (ii) Calculate the 5-cycle city and highway fuel economy and CO2 emission values from the tests performed using alcohol or natural gas test fuel, if 5-cycle testing has been performed. Otherwise, the procedure in § 600...

40 CFR 600.207-12 - Calculation and use of vehicle-specific 5-cycle-based fuel economy and CO2 emission values for...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... economy and CO2 emission values from the tests performed using gasoline or diesel test fuel. (ii) Calculate the 5-cycle city and highway fuel economy and CO2 emission values from the tests performed using alcohol or natural gas test fuel, if 5-cycle testing has been performed. Otherwise, the procedure in § 600...

A Manual for Teachers to Aid the Understanding and Implementation of Statewide Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Mexico State Dept. of Education, Santa Fe.

A manual is presented to familiarize the teacher with the two major components of the New Mexico evaluation effort: (1) the objective-based procedure and the tests used to measure a school and district's progress toward those objectives, and (2) the statewide testing program which utilizes norm-referenced tests and provides both individual and…

Timber rivet connections in US domestic species

Treesearch

Marshall Begel; Ronald W. Wolfe; Douglas C. Stahl

2004-01-01

This paper discusses results of tests conducted to expand the data base on the performance of timber rivet connections in U.S. domestic species to verify existing and proposed design procedures. Eight-, 80-, and 200-rivet connections were tested. The 8-rivet joint tests illustrate the effects of material type, rivet length, and load direction on the behavior of rivet...

Medicare patients' use of overpriced procedures before and after the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987.

PubMed Central

Escarce, J J

1993-01-01

OBJECTIVES. Under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, Medicare reduced physician fees for 12 procedures identified as overprices. This paper describes trends in the use of these procedures and other physician services by Medicare patients during the 4-year period surrounding the implementation of the 1987 budget act. METHODS. Medicare physician claims files were used to develop trends in physician-services use from 1986 to 1989. Services were grouped into four categories: overpriced procedures, other surgery, medical care, and ancillary tests. RESULTS. Growth in the volume of overpriced procedures slowed substantially after the 1987 budget act was implemented. Moreover, the reduction in the rate of volume growth for these procedures differed little among specialities or areas. In comparison, the rate of volume growth fell modestly for other surgery, was unchanged for medical care, and increased for ancillary tests. CONCLUSIONS. Increases do not necessarily occur in the volume of surgical procedures whose Medicare fees are reduced. Although the conclusions that may be drawn from a descriptive analysis are limited, these findings suggest that concerns that the resource-based Medicare fee schedule will lead to higher surgery rates may be unwarranted. PMID:8438971

Advancing Autonomous Operations for Deep Space Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haddock, Angie T.; Stetson, Howard K.

2014-01-01

Starting in Jan 2012, the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Autonomous Mission Operations (AMO) Project began to investigate the ability to create and execute "single button" crew initiated autonomous activities [1]. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) designed and built a fluid transfer hardware test-bed to use as a sub-system target for the investigations of intelligent procedures that would command and control a fluid transfer test-bed, would perform self-monitoring during fluid transfers, detect anomalies and faults, isolate the fault and recover the procedures function that was being executed, all without operator intervention. In addition to the development of intelligent procedures, the team is also exploring various methods for autonomous activity execution where a planned timeline of activities are executed autonomously and also the initial analysis of crew procedure development. This paper will detail the development of intelligent procedures for the NASA MSFC Autonomous Fluid Transfer System (AFTS) as well as the autonomous plan execution capabilities being investigated. Manned deep space missions, with extreme communication delays with Earth based assets, presents significant challenges for what the on-board procedure content will encompass as well as the planned execution of the procedures.

Solderability test system

DOEpatents

Yost, F.; Hosking, F.M.; Jellison, J.L.; Short, B.; Giversen, T.; Reed, J.R.

1998-10-27

A new test method to quantify capillary flow solderability on a printed wiring board surface finish. The test is based on solder flow from a pad onto narrow strips or lines. A test procedure and video image analysis technique were developed for conducting the test and evaluating the data. Feasibility tests revealed that the wetted distance was sensitive to the ratio of pad radius to line width (l/r), solder volume, and flux predry time. 11 figs.

40 CFR 86.884-5 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Test procedures. 86.884-5 Section 86... New Diesel Heavy-Duty Engines; Smoke Exhaust Test Procedure § 86.884-5 Test procedures. The procedures described in this and subsequent sections will be the test program to determine the conformity of engines...

40 CFR 86.608-98 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Test procedures. 86.608-98 Section 86... New Light-Duty Vehicles, Light-Duty Trucks, and Heavy-Duty Vehicles § 86.608-98 Test procedures. (a) The prescribed test procedures are the Federal Test Procedure, as described in subpart B of this part...

40 CFR 86.608-98 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Test procedures. 86.608-98 Section 86... Auditing of New Light-Duty Vehicles, Light-Duty Trucks, and Heavy-Duty Vehicles § 86.608-98 Test procedures. (a) The prescribed test procedures are the Federal Test Procedure, as described in subpart B and/or...

14 CFR Appendix F to Part 23 - Test Procedure

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Test Procedure F Appendix F to Part 23...—Test Procedure Part I—Acceptable Test Procedure for Self-Extinguishing Materials for Showing Compliance With §§ 23.853, 23.855, and 23.1359 Acceptable test procedure for self-extinguishing materials for...

40 CFR 600.111-08 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Test procedures. 600.111-08 Section... Emission Regulations for 1978 and Later Model Year Automobiles-Test Procedures § 600.111-08 Test procedures. This section provides test procedures for the FTP, highway, US06, SC03, and the cold temperature FTP...

14 CFR Appendix F to Part 23 - Test Procedure

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Test Procedure F Appendix F to Part 23...—Test Procedure Part I—Acceptable Test Procedure for Self-Extinguishing Materials for Showing Compliance With §§ 23.853, 23.855, and 23.1359 Acceptable test procedure for self-extinguishing materials for...

40 CFR 86.884-5 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Test procedures. 86.884-5 Section 86... Heavy-Duty Engines; Smoke Exhaust Test Procedure § 86.884-5 Test procedures. The procedures described in this and subsequent sections will be the test program to determine the conformity of engines with the...

40 CFR 51.357 - Test procedures and standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Test procedures and standards. 51.357... Requirements § 51.357 Test procedures and standards. Written test procedures and pass/fail standards shall be established and followed for each model year and vehicle type included in the program. (a) Test procedure...

The limited use of the fluency heuristic: Converging evidence across different procedures.

PubMed

Pohl, Rüdiger F; Erdfelder, Edgar; Michalkiewicz, Martha; Castela, Marta; Hilbig, Benjamin E

2016-10-01

In paired comparisons based on which of two objects has the larger criterion value, decision makers could use the subjectively experienced difference in retrieval fluency of the objects as a cue. According to the fluency heuristic (FH) theory, decision makers use fluency-as indexed by recognition speed-as the only cue for pairs of recognized objects, and infer that the object retrieved more speedily has the larger criterion value (ignoring all other cues and information). Model-based analyses, however, have previously revealed that only a small portion of such inferences are indeed based on fluency alone. In the majority of cases, other information enters the decision process. However, due to the specific experimental procedures, the estimates of FH use are potentially biased: Some procedures may have led to an overestimated and others to an underestimated, or even to actually reduced, FH use. In the present article, we discuss and test the impacts of such procedural variations by reanalyzing 21 data sets. The results show noteworthy consistency across the procedural variations revealing low FH use. We discuss potential explanations and implications of this finding.

Small Schools Science Curriculum, K-3: Reading, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies. Scope, Objectives, Activities, Resources, Monitoring Procedures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartl, David, Ed.; And Others

Learning objectives and suggested activities, monitoring procedures and resources for the Washington K-3 Small Schools Science Curriculum are based on the rationale that "young children need the opportunity to observe, classify, predict, test ideas again and again in a variety of contexts, ask questions, explain, discuss ideas, fail, and succeed.…

40 CFR Appendix E to Part 63 - Monitoring Procedure for Nonthoroughly Mixed Open Biological Treatment Systems at Kraft Pulp...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... for each data set that is collected during the initial performance test. A single composite value of... Multiple Zone Concentrations Calculations Procedure based on inlet and outlet concentrations (Column A of... composite value of Ks discussed in section III.C of this appendix. This value of Ks is calculated during the...

Designing seasonal initial attack resource deployment and dispatch rules using a two-stage stochastic programming procedure

Treesearch

Yu Wei; Michael Bevers; Erin J. Belval

2015-01-01

Initial attack dispatch rules can help shorten fire suppression response times by providing easy-to-follow recommendations based on fire weather, discovery time, location, and other factors that may influence fire behavior and the appropriate response. A new procedure is combined with a stochastic programming model and tested in this study for designing initial attack...

A methodological, task-based approach to Procedure-Specific Simulations training.

PubMed

Setty, Yaki; Salzman, Oren

2016-12-01

Procedure-Specific Simulations (PSS) are 3D realistic simulations that provide a platform to practice complete surgical procedures in a virtual-reality environment. While PSS have the potential to improve surgeons' proficiency, there are no existing standards or guidelines for PSS development in a structured manner. We employ a unique platform inspired by game design to develop virtual reality simulations in three dimensions of urethrovesical anastomosis during radical prostatectomy. 3D visualization is supported by a stereo vision, providing a fully realistic view of the simulation. The software can be executed for any robotic surgery platform. Specifically, we tested the simulation under windows environment on the RobotiX Mentor. Using urethrovesical anastomosis during radical prostatectomy simulation as a representative example, we present a task-based methodological approach to PSS training. The methodology provides tasks in increasing levels of difficulty from a novice level of basic anatomy identification, to an expert level that permits testing new surgical approaches. The modular methodology presented here can be easily extended to support more complex tasks. We foresee this methodology as a tool used to integrate PSS as a complementary training process for surgical procedures.

A Comparison of Item Selection Procedures Using Different Ability Estimation Methods in Computerized Adaptive Testing Based on the Generalized Partial Credit Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Tsung-Han

2010-01-01

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) provides a highly efficient alternative to the paper-and-pencil test. By selecting items that match examinees' ability levels, CAT not only can shorten test length and administration time but it can also increase measurement precision and reduce measurement error. In CAT, maximum information (MI) is the most…

Laboratory Characterization of White Masonry Concrete

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-01

procedures given in American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D 2216 (ASTM 2002e). Based on the appropriate values of posttest water content...properties of the material. All of the mechanical property tests were conducted quasi -statically with axial strain rates on the order of 10-4 to 10...mechanical property tests, nondestructive pulse-velocity measurements were performed on each specimen. The TXC tests exhibited a continuous increase

Lumbar puncture simulation in pediatric residency training: improving procedural competence and decreasing anxiety.

PubMed

McMillan, Hugh J; Writer, Hilary; Moreau, Katherine A; Eady, Kaylee; Sell, Erick; Lobos, Anna-Theresa; Grabowski, Jenny; Doja, Asif

2016-08-08

Pediatric residents must become proficient with performing a lumbar puncture (LP) during training. Residents have traditionally acquired LP skills by observing the procedure performed by a more senior resident or staff physician and then attempting the procedure themselves. This process can result in variable procedural skill acquisition and trainee discomfort. This study assessed changes in resident procedural skill and self-reported anxiety when residents were provided with an opportunity to participate in an interactive training session and practice LPs using a simulator. All pediatric residents at our institution were invited to participate. Residents were asked to report their post-graduate year (PGY), prior LP attempts and self-reported anxiety scores as measured by the standardized State-Trait Anxiety Inventory - State Anxiety Scale (STAI-S) prior to completing an observed pre-test using an infant-sized LP simulator. Staff physicians observed and scored each resident's procedural skill using a previously published 21-point scoring system. Residents then participated in an interactive lecture on LP technique and were given an opportunity for staff-supervised, small group simulator-based practice within 1 month of the pre-test. Repeat post-test was performed within 4 months. Of the pediatric residents who completed the pre-test (N = 20), 16/20 (80 %) completed both the training session and post-test. Their PGY training level was: PGY1 (38 %), PGY2 (25 %), PGY3 (25 %) or PGY4 (12 %). Procedural skill improved in 15/16 residents (paired t-test; p < 0.001), driven by a significant improvement in skill for residents in PGY1 (P = 0.015) and PGY2 (p = 0.003) but not PGY3 or PGY4. Overall anxiety scores were higher at baseline than at post testing (mean ± SD; 44.8 ± 12.1 vs 39.7 ± 9.4; NS) however only PGY1 residents experienced a significant reduction in anxiety (paired t-test, p = 0.04). LP simulation training combined with an interactive training session may be a useful tool for improving procedural competence and decreasing anxiety levels, particularly among those at an earlier stage of residency training.

Aspheric surface testing by irradiance transport equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shomali, Ramin; Darudi, Ahmad; Nasiri, Sadollah; Asgharsharghi Bonab, Armir

2010-10-01

In this paper a method for aspheric surface testing is presented. The method is based on solving the Irradiance Transport Equation (ITE).The accuracy of ITE normally depends on the amount of the pick to valley of the phase distribution. This subject is investigated by a simulation procedure.

Lorazepam reinstates punishment-suppressed remifentanil self-administration in rats.

PubMed

Panlilio, Leigh V; Thorndike, Eric B; Schindler, Charles W

2005-05-01

We recently described a reinstatement procedure that models relapse to drug abuse in cases where abstinence results from aversive consequences of drug use. The potential value of this punishment-based model of relapse depends on its sensitivity to relapse-inducing events that are ineffective in the widely used extinction-based model. It is known that certain drugs can have anti-punishment effects, but these drugs have not been tested in the punishment-based reinstatement procedure. Therefore, the effects of the benzodiazepine, lorazepam, were examined using punishment-based and extinction-based reinstatement procedures. Rats self-administered the opioid, remifentanil (4 microg/kg per infusion). Two punishment groups were trained with response-contingent footshock that suppressed baseline rates of responding to zero. In an extinction group, remifentanil delivery was discontinued, and baseline responding stabilized at a low rate (mean=0.06 responses/min). Lorazepam (0.08-10 mg/kg, IP) was given during test sessions with the shock contingency discontinued for both punishment groups. Remifentanil delivery was maintained during testing in one punishment group but not the other. Lorazepam reinstated self-administration responding in both punishment groups but not in the extinction group. Priming injections of heroin reinstated responding in both the punishment and extinction groups, but combining heroin and lorazepam did not enhance reinstatement. This is the first demonstration that a trigger for relapse may have different effects depending on whether aversive conditioning contributed to the achievement of abstinence. It may be important to consider potential anti-punishment effects of both abused drugs and therapeutic agents in the treatment of individuals with a history of drug abuse.

SWI 1.10 Testing Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stokes, LeBarian

2009-01-01

This procedure establishes a system for performing testing in the Six-Degree-Of-Freedom Dynamic Test System (SDTS). Testing includes development and verification testing of customer supplied Test Articles (TAs) and other testing requirements, as requested. This procedure applies to all SDTS testing operations and equipment. The procedure provides an overview of testing performed in the SDTS including test identification requirements, test planning and procedure development, test and performance inspection, test data analysis, and test report generation.

Experimental performance and acoustic investigation of modern, counterrotating blade concepts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoff, G. E.

1990-01-01

The aerodynamic, acoustic, and aeromechanical performance of counterrotating blade concepts were evaluated both theoretically and experimentally. Analytical methods development and design are addressed. Utilizing the analytical methods which evolved during the conduct of this work, aerodynamic and aeroacoustic predictions were developed, which were compared to NASA and GE wind tunnel test results. The detailed mechanical design and fabrication of five different composite shell/titanium spar counterrotating blade set configurations are presented. Design philosophy, analyses methods, and material geometry are addressed, as well as the influence of aerodynamics, aeromechanics, and aeroacoustics on the design procedures. Blade fabrication and quality control procedures are detailed; bench testing procedures and results of blade integrity verification are presented; and instrumentation associated with the bench testing also is identified. Additional hardware to support specialized testing is described, as are operating blade instrumentation and the associated stress limits. The five counterrotating blade concepts were scaled to a tip diameter of 2 feet, so they could be incorporated into MPS (model propulsion simulators). Aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance testing was conducted in the NASA Lewis 8 x 6 supersonic and 9 x 15 V/STOL (vertical or short takeoff and landing) wind tunnels and in the GE freejet anechoic test chamber (Cell 41) to generate an experimental data base for these counterrotating blade designs. Test facility and MPS vehicle matrices are provided, and test procedures are presented. Effects on performance of rotor-to-rotor spacing, angle-of-attack, pylon proximity, blade number, reduced-diameter aft blades, and mismatched rotor speeds are addressed. Counterrotating blade and specialized aeromechanical hub stability test results are also furnished.

Evaluation and refinement of a field-portable drinking water toxicity sensor utilizing electric cell-substrate impedance sensing and a fluidic biochip.

PubMed

Widder, Mark W; Brennan, Linda M; Hanft, Elizabeth A; Schrock, Mary E; James, Ryan R; van der Schalie, William H

2015-07-01

The US Army's need for a reliable and field-portable drinking water toxicity sensor was the catalyst for the development and evaluation of an electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) device. Water testing technologies currently available to soldiers in the field are analyte-specific and have limited capabilities to detect broad-based water toxicity. The ECIS sensor described here uses rainbow trout gill epithelial cells seeded on fluidic biochips to measure changes in impedance for the detection of possible chemical contamination of drinking water supplies. Chemicals selected for testing were chosen as representatives of a broad spectrum of toxic industrial compounds. Results of a US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)-sponsored evaluation of the field portable device were similar to previously published US Army testing results of a laboratory-based version of the same technology. Twelve of the 18 chemicals tested following USEPA Technology Testing and Evaluation Program procedures were detected by the ECIS sensor within 1 h at USEPA-derived human lethal concentrations. To simplify field-testing methods further, elimination of a procedural step that acclimated cells to serum-free media streamlined the test process with only a slight loss of chemical sensitivity. For field use, the ECIS sensor will be used in conjunction with an enzyme-based sensor that is responsive to carbamate and organophosphorus pesticides. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

75 FR 47817 - Notice of Availability: Test Tools and Test Procedures Approved for the Office of the National...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-09

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Notice of Availability: Test Tools and Test Procedures.... SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of test tools and test procedures approved by the National... certification program. The approved test tools and test procedures are identified on the ONC Web site at: http...

77 FR 64343 - Notice of Availability: Test Tools and Test Procedures Approved for the Office of the National...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-19

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Notice of Availability: Test Tools and Test Procedures.... SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of test tools and test procedures approved by the National... test tools and test procedures are identified on the ONC Web site at: http://www.healthit.gov/policy...

Field Test Evaluation of Conservation Retrofits of Low-Income, Single-Family Buildings in Wisconsin: Blower-Door-Directed Infiltration Reduction Procedure, Field Test Implementation and Results

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

Gettings, M.B.

A blower-door-directed infiltration retrofit procedure was field tested on 18 homes in south central Wisconsin. The procedure, developed by the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation, includes recommended retrofit techniques as well as criteria for estimating the amount of cost-effective work to be performed on a house. A recommended expenditure level and target air leakage reduction, in air changes per hour at 50 Pascal (ACH50), are determined from the initial leakage rate measured. The procedure produced an average 16% reduction in air leakage rate. For the 7 houses recommended for retrofit, 89% of the targeted reductions were accomplished with 76% of themore » recommended expenditures. The average cost of retrofits per house was reduced by a factor of four compared with previous programs. The average payback period for recommended retrofits was 4.4 years, based on predicted energy savings computed from achieved air leakage reductions. Although exceptions occurred, the procedure's 8 ACH50 minimum initial leakage rate for advising retrofits to be performed appeared a good choice, based on cost-effective air leakage reduction. Houses with initial rates of 7 ACH50 or below consistently required substantially higher costs to achieve significant air leakage reductions. No statistically significant average annual energy savings was detected as a result of the infiltration retrofits. Average measured savings were -27 therm per year, indicating an increase in energy use, with a 90% confidence interval of 36 therm. Measured savings for individual houses varied widely in both positive and negative directions, indicating that factors not considered affected the results. Large individual confidence intervals indicate a need to increase the accuracy of such measurements as well as understand the factors which may cause such disparity. Recommendations for the procedure include more extensive training of retrofit crews, checks for minimum air exchange rates to insure air quality, and addition of the basic cost of determining the initial leakage rate to the recommended expenditure level. Recommendations for the field test of the procedure include increasing the number of houses in the sample, more timely examination of metered data to detect anomalies, and the monitoring of indoor air temperature. Though not appropriate in a field test of a procedure, further investigation into the effects of air leakage rate reductions on heating loads needs to be performed.« less

Static and Dynamic Model Update of an Inflatable/Rigidizable Torus Structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horta, Lucas G.; Reaves, mercedes C.

2006-01-01

The present work addresses the development of an experimental and computational procedure for validating finite element models. A torus structure, part of an inflatable/rigidizable Hexapod, is used to demonstrate the approach. Because of fabrication, materials, and geometric uncertainties, a statistical approach combined with optimization is used to modify key model parameters. Static test results are used to update stiffness parameters and dynamic test results are used to update the mass distribution. Updated parameters are computed using gradient and non-gradient based optimization algorithms. Results show significant improvements in model predictions after parameters are updated. Lessons learned in the areas of test procedures, modeling approaches, and uncertainties quantification are presented.

Rapid diagnosis of tinea incognito using handheld reflectance confocal microscopy: a paradigm shift in dermatology?

PubMed

Navarrete-Dechent, Cristián; Bajaj, Shirin; Marghoob, Ashfaq A; Marchetti, Michael A

2015-06-01

Dermatophytoses are common skin infections. Traditional diagnostic tests such as skin scrapings for light microscopy examination, fungal cultures and biopsies remain imperfect due to false-negative test results, cost, time required to perform the procedure, time delays in test results and/or a requirement for an invasive procedure. Herein, we present a case of an 80-year-old female whose tinea incognito was non-invasively diagnosed within seconds using handheld reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM). As non-invasive skin imaging continues to improve, we expect light-based office microscopy to be replaced with technologies such as RCM, which has multiple and continually expanding diagnostic applications. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Preschooler test or procedure preparation

MedlinePlus

Preparing preschoolers for test/procedure; Test/procedure preparation - preschooler ... Preparing children for medical tests can reduce their anxiety. It can also make them less likely to cry and resist the procedure. Research shows that ...

Full-depth reclamation : new test procedures and recommended updates to specifications.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-07-01

Rehabilitating an old pavement by pulverizing and stabilizing the existing pavement is a process referred to : as Full Depth Reclamation (FDR). The stabilized layer becomes either the base or sub-base of the new : pavement structure. This process has...

North Dakota implementation of mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG).

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

North Dakota currently designs roads based on the AASHTO Design Guide procedure, which is based on : the empirical findings of the AASHTO Road Test of the late 1950s. However, limitations of the current : empirical approach have prompted AASHTO to mo...

40 CFR 63.5997 - How do I conduct tests and procedures for tire cord production affected sources?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... must be based on coatings prior to any cross-linking reactions, i.e., curing. However, you may account for differences in HAP emissions resulting from chemical reactions based on the conversion rates of...

40 CFR 63.5997 - How do I conduct tests and procedures for tire cord production affected sources?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... must be based on coatings prior to any cross-linking reactions, i.e., curing. However, you may account for differences in HAP emissions resulting from chemical reactions based on the conversion rates of...

Full-scale transmission testing to evaluate advanced lubricants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewicki, David G.; Decker, Harry J.; Shimski, John T.

1992-01-01

Experimental tests were performed on the OH-58A helicopter main rotor transmission in the NASA Lewis 500 hp helicopter transmission test stand. The testing was part of a lubrication program. The objectives are to develop and show a separate lubricant for gearboxes with improved performance in life and load carrying capacity. The goal was to develop a testing procedure to fail certain transmission components using a MIL-L-23699 based reference oil and then to run identical tests with improved lubricants and show improved performance. The tests were directed at parts that failed due to marginal lubrication from Navy field experience. These failures included mast shaft bearing micropitting, sun gear and planet bearing fatigue, and spiral bevel gear scoring. A variety of tests were performed and over 900 hrs of total run time accumulated for these tests. Some success was achieved in developing a testing procedure to produce sun gear and planet bearing fatigue failures. Only marginal success was achieved in producing mast shaft bearing micropitting and spiral bevel gear scoring.

Test Operations Procedure (TOP) 03-2-827 Test Procedures for Video Target Scoring Using Calibration Lights

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-04

Final 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Test Operations Procedure (TOP) 03-2-827 Test Procedures for Video Target Scoring Using...ABSTRACT This Test Operations Procedure (TOP) describes typical equipment and procedures to setup and operate a Video Target Scoring System (VTSS) to...lights. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Video Target Scoring System, VTSS, witness screens, camera, target screen, light pole 16. SECURITY

A Browser-Server-Based Tele-audiology System That Supports Multiple Hearing Test Modalities

PubMed Central

Yao, Daoyuan; Givens, Gregg

2015-01-01

Abstract Introduction: Millions of global citizens suffering from hearing disorders have limited or no access to much needed hearing healthcare. Although tele-audiology presents a solution to alleviate this problem, existing remote hearing diagnosis systems support only pure-tone tests, leaving speech and other test procedures unsolved, due to the lack of software and hardware to enable communication required between audiologists and their remote patients. This article presents a comprehensive remote hearing test system that integrates the two most needed hearing test procedures: a pure-tone audiogram and a speech test. Materials and Methods: This enhanced system is composed of a Web application server, an embedded smart Internet-Bluetooth® (Bluetooth SIG, Kirkland, WA) gateway (or console device), and a Bluetooth-enabled audiometer. Several graphical user interfaces and a relational database are hosted on the application server. The console device has been designed to support the tests and auxiliary communication between the local site and the remote site. Results: The study was conducted at an audiology laboratory. Pure-tone audiogram and speech test results from volunteers tested with this tele-audiology system are comparable with results from the traditional face-to-face approach. Conclusions: This browser-server–based comprehensive tele-audiology offers a flexible platform to expand hearing services to traditionally underserved groups. PMID:25919376

A Browser-Server-Based Tele-audiology System That Supports Multiple Hearing Test Modalities.

PubMed

Yao, Jianchu Jason; Yao, Daoyuan; Givens, Gregg

2015-09-01

Millions of global citizens suffering from hearing disorders have limited or no access to much needed hearing healthcare. Although tele-audiology presents a solution to alleviate this problem, existing remote hearing diagnosis systems support only pure-tone tests, leaving speech and other test procedures unsolved, due to the lack of software and hardware to enable communication required between audiologists and their remote patients. This article presents a comprehensive remote hearing test system that integrates the two most needed hearing test procedures: a pure-tone audiogram and a speech test. This enhanced system is composed of a Web application server, an embedded smart Internet-Bluetooth(®) (Bluetooth SIG, Kirkland, WA) gateway (or console device), and a Bluetooth-enabled audiometer. Several graphical user interfaces and a relational database are hosted on the application server. The console device has been designed to support the tests and auxiliary communication between the local site and the remote site. The study was conducted at an audiology laboratory. Pure-tone audiogram and speech test results from volunteers tested with this tele-audiology system are comparable with results from the traditional face-to-face approach. This browser-server-based comprehensive tele-audiology offers a flexible platform to expand hearing services to traditionally underserved groups.

Design of a testing strategy using non-animal based test methods: lessons learnt from the ACuteTox project.

PubMed

Kopp-Schneider, Annette; Prieto, Pilar; Kinsner-Ovaskainen, Agnieszka; Stanzel, Sven

2013-06-01

In the framework of toxicology, a testing strategy can be viewed as a series of steps which are taken to come to a final prediction about a characteristic of a compound under study. The testing strategy is performed as a single-step procedure, usually called a test battery, using simultaneously all information collected on different endpoints, or as tiered approach in which a decision tree is followed. Design of a testing strategy involves statistical considerations, such as the development of a statistical prediction model. During the EU FP6 ACuteTox project, several prediction models were proposed on the basis of statistical classification algorithms which we illustrate here. The final choice of testing strategies was not based on statistical considerations alone. However, without thorough statistical evaluations a testing strategy cannot be identified. We present here a number of observations made from the statistical viewpoint which relate to the development of testing strategies. The points we make were derived from problems we had to deal with during the evaluation of this large research project. A central issue during the development of a prediction model is the danger of overfitting. Procedures are presented to deal with this challenge. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fuel Burn Estimation Using Real Track Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chatterji, Gano B.

2011-01-01

A procedure for estimating fuel burned based on actual flight track data, and drag and fuel-flow models is described. The procedure consists of estimating aircraft and wind states, lift, drag and thrust. Fuel-flow for jet aircraft is determined in terms of thrust, true airspeed and altitude as prescribed by the Base of Aircraft Data fuel-flow model. This paper provides a theoretical foundation for computing fuel-flow with most of the information derived from actual flight data. The procedure does not require an explicit model of thrust and calibrated airspeed/Mach profile which are typically needed for trajectory synthesis. To validate the fuel computation method, flight test data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration were processed. Results from this method show that fuel consumed can be estimated within 1% of the actual fuel consumed in the flight test. Next, fuel consumption was estimated with simplified lift and thrust models. Results show negligible difference with respect to the full model without simplifications. An iterative takeoff weight estimation procedure is described for estimating fuel consumption, when takeoff weight is unavailable, and for establishing fuel consumption uncertainty bounds. Finally, the suitability of using radar-based position information for fuel estimation is examined. It is shown that fuel usage could be estimated within 5.4% of the actual value using positions reported in the Airline Situation Display to Industry data with simplified models and iterative takeoff weight computation.

An improved filter elution and cell culture assay procedure for evaluating public groundwater systems for culturable enteroviruses.

PubMed

Dahling, Daniel R

2002-01-01

Large-scale virus studies of groundwater systems require practical and sensitive procedures for both sample processing and viral assay. Filter adsorption-elution procedures have traditionally been used to process large-volume water samples for viruses. In this study, five filter elution procedures using cartridge filters were evaluated for their effectiveness in processing samples. Of the five procedures tested, the third method, which incorporated two separate beef extract elutions (one being an overnight filter immersion in beef extract), recovered 95% of seeded poliovirus compared with recoveries of 36 to 70% for the other methods. For viral enumeration, an expanded roller bottle quantal assay was evaluated using seeded poliovirus. This cytopathic-based method was considerably more sensitive than the standard plaque assay method. The roller bottle system was more economical than the plaque assay for the evaluation of comparable samples. Using roller bottles required less time and manipulation than the plaque procedure and greatly facilitated the examination of large numbers of samples. The combination of the improved filter elution procedure and the roller bottle assay for viral analysis makes large-scale virus studies of groundwater systems practical. This procedure was subsequently field tested during a groundwater study in which large-volume samples (exceeding 800 L) were processed through the filters.

Current Performance Characteristics of NASA Langley Research Center's Cockpit Motion Base and Standardized Test Procedure for Future Performance Characterization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowen, Brandon; Stringer, Mary T.; Hutchinson, Brian K.; Davidson, Paul C.; Gupton, Lawrence E.

2014-01-01

This report documents the updated performance characteristics of NASA Langley Research Center's (LaRC) Cockpit Motion Base (CMB) after recent revisions that were made to its inner-loop, feedback control law. The modifications to the control law will be briefly described. The performance of the Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF) will be presented. A short graphical comparison to the previous control law can be found in the appendix of this report. The revised controller will be shown to yield reduced parasitic accelerations with respect to the previous controller. Metrics based on the AGARD Advisory Report No. 144 are used to assess the overall system performance due to its recent control algorithm modification. This report also documents the standardized simulator test procedure which can be used in the future to evaluate potential updates to the control law.

Performance characterization of structured light-based fingerprint scanner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassebrook, Laurence G.; Wang, Minghao; Daley, Raymond C.

2013-05-01

Our group believes that the evolution of fingerprint capture technology is in transition to include 3-D non-contact fingerprint capture. More specifically we believe that systems based on structured light illumination provide the highest level of depth measurement accuracy. However, for these new technologies to be fully accepted by the biometric community, they must be compliant with federal standards of performance. At present these standards do not exist for this new biometric technology. We propose and define a set of test procedures to be used to verify compliance with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's image quality specification for Personal Identity Verification single fingerprint capture devices. The proposed test procedures include: geometric accuracy, lateral resolution based on intensity or depth, gray level uniformity and flattened fingerprint image quality. Several 2-D contact analogies, performance tradeoffs and optimization dilemmas are evaluated and proposed solutions are presented.

A function-based approach to cockpit procedure aids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phatak, Anil V.; Jain, Parveen; Palmer, Everett

1990-01-01

The objective of this research is to develop and test a cockpit procedural aid that can compose and present procedures that are appropriate for the given flight situation. The procedure would indicate the status of the aircraft engineering systems, and the environmental conditions. Prescribed procedures already exist for normal as well as for a number of non-normal and emergency situations, and can be presented to the crew using an interactive cockpit display. However, no procedures are prescribed or recommended for a host of plausible flight situations involving multiple malfunctions compounded by adverse environmental conditions. Under these circumstances, the cockpit procedural aid must review the prescribed procedures for the individual malfunction (when available), evaluate the alternatives or options, and present one or more composite procedures (prioritized or unprioritized) in response to the given situation. A top-down function-based conceptual approach towards composing and presenting cockpit procedures is being investigated. This approach is based upon the thought process that an operating crew must go through while attempting to meet the flight objectives given the current flight situation. In order to accomplish the flight objectives, certain critical functions must be maintained during each phase of the flight, using the appropriate procedures or success paths. The viability of these procedures depends upon the availability of required resources. If resources available are not sufficient to meet the requirements, alternative procedures (success paths) using the available resources must be constructed to maintain the critical functions and the corresponding objectives. If no success path exists that can satisfy the critical functions/objectives, then the next level of critical functions/objectives must be selected and the process repeated. Information is given in viewgraph form.

Operational Based Vision Assessment Cone Contrast Test: Description and Operation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-02

Jun 2016. Report contains color . 14. ABSTRACT The work detailed in this report was conducted by the Operational Based Vision Assessment (OBVA...currently used by the Air Force for aircrew color vision screening. The new OBVA CCT is differentiated from the Rabin device primarily by hardware...test procedures, and analysis techniques. Like the Rabin CCT, the OBVA CCT uses colors that selectively stimulate the cone photoreceptors of the

Biodegradability study of high-erucic-acid-rapeseed-oil-based lubricant additives

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

Zhou, E.; Crawford, R.L.; Shanahan, A.

1995-12-31

A variety of high-erucic-acid-rapeseed (HEAR)-oil-based lubricants, lubricant additives, and greases were examined for biodegradability at the University of Idaho Center for Hazardous Waste Remediation Research. Two standard biodegradability tests were employed, a currently accepted US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocol and the Sturm Test. As is normal for tests that employ variable inocula such as sewage as a source of microorganisms, these procedures yielded variable results from one repetition to another. However, a general trend of rapid and complete biodegradability of the HEAR-oil-based materials was observed.

Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children

PubMed Central

Magallón, Sara; Narbona, Juan; Crespo-Eguílaz, Nerea

2016-01-01

Background Procedural memory allows acquisition, consolidation and use of motor skills and cognitive routines. Automation of procedures is achieved through repeated practice. In children, improvement in procedural skills is a consequence of natural neurobiological development and experience. Methods The aim of the present research was to make a preliminary evaluation and description of repetition-based improvement of procedures in typically developing children (TDC). Ninety TDC children aged 6–12 years were asked to perform two procedural learning tasks. In an assembly learning task, which requires predominantly motor skills, we measured the number of assembled pieces in 60 seconds. In a mirror drawing learning task, which requires more cognitive functions, we measured time spent and efficiency. Participants were tested four times for each task: three trials were consecutive and the fourth trial was performed after a 10-minute nonverbal interference task. The influence of repeated practice on performance was evaluated by means of the analysis of variance with repeated measures and the paired-sample test. Correlation coefficients and simple linear regression test were used to examine the relationship between age and performance. Results TDC achieved higher scores in both tasks through repetition. Older children fitted more pieces than younger ones in assembling learning and they were faster and more efficient at the mirror drawing learning task. Conclusions These findings indicate that three consecutive trials at a procedural task increased speed and efficiency, and that age affected basal performance in motor-cognitive procedures. PMID:27384671

Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children.

PubMed

Magallón, Sara; Narbona, Juan; Crespo-Eguílaz, Nerea

2016-01-01

Procedural memory allows acquisition, consolidation and use of motor skills and cognitive routines. Automation of procedures is achieved through repeated practice. In children, improvement in procedural skills is a consequence of natural neurobiological development and experience. The aim of the present research was to make a preliminary evaluation and description of repetition-based improvement of procedures in typically developing children (TDC). Ninety TDC children aged 6-12 years were asked to perform two procedural learning tasks. In an assembly learning task, which requires predominantly motor skills, we measured the number of assembled pieces in 60 seconds. In a mirror drawing learning task, which requires more cognitive functions, we measured time spent and efficiency. Participants were tested four times for each task: three trials were consecutive and the fourth trial was performed after a 10-minute nonverbal interference task. The influence of repeated practice on performance was evaluated by means of the analysis of variance with repeated measures and the paired-sample test. Correlation coefficients and simple linear regression test were used to examine the relationship between age and performance. TDC achieved higher scores in both tasks through repetition. Older children fitted more pieces than younger ones in assembling learning and they were faster and more efficient at the mirror drawing learning task. These findings indicate that three consecutive trials at a procedural task increased speed and efficiency, and that age affected basal performance in motor-cognitive procedures.

40 CFR 92.506 - Test procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Test procedures. 92.506 Section 92.506... and Audit Programs § 92.506 Test procedures. (a)(1) For locomotives and locomotive engines subject to the provisions of this subpart, the prescribed test procedures are those procedures described in...

On-ground tests of the NISP infrared spectrometer instrument for Euclid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jomni, Cyril; Ealet, Anne; Gillard, William; Prieto, Éric; Grupp, Frank U.

2017-09-01

Euclid is an ESA mission dedicated to understand the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe. The mission will measure hundred of millions of galaxies in spectrophotometry and photometry in the near infrared thanks to a spectro-photometer called NISP. This instrument will be assembled and tested in Marseille. To prepare the on-ground test plan and develop the test procedure, we have used simulated PSF images, based on a Zemax optical design of the instrument. We have developed the analysis tools that will be further used to build the procedure verification. We present here the method and analysis results to adjust the focus of the instrument. We will in particular show that because of the sampling of the PSF, a dithering strategy should be adapted and will constraint the development of the test plan.

75 FR 56489 - Separation Distances of Ammonium Nitrate and Blasting Agents From Explosives or Blasting Agents...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-16

... combustible, organic material calculated as carbon, or (3) ammonium nitrate-based fertilizers containing... that passes the insensitivity test prescribed in the definition of ammonium nitrate fertilizer issued by the Fertilizer Institute'' in its ``Definition and Test Procedures for Ammonium Nitrate Fertilizer...

14 CFR 36.1501 - Procedures, noise levels and other information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... airplane (rotorcraft) flight manual. (b) Where supplemental test data are approved for modification or extension of an existing flight data base, such as acoustic data from engine static tests used in the..., weights, configurations, and other information or data employed for obtaining the certified noise levels...

14 CFR 36.1501 - Procedures, noise levels and other information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... airplane (rotorcraft) flight manual. (b) Where supplemental test data are approved for modification or extension of an existing flight data base, such as acoustic data from engine static tests used in the..., weights, configurations, and other information or data employed for obtaining the certified noise levels...

14 CFR 36.1501 - Procedures, noise levels and other information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... airplane (rotorcraft) flight manual. (b) Where supplemental test data are approved for modification or extension of an existing flight data base, such as acoustic data from engine static tests used in the..., weights, configurations, and other information or data employed for obtaining the certified noise levels...

14 CFR 36.1501 - Procedures, noise levels and other information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... airplane (rotorcraft) flight manual. (b) Where supplemental test data are approved for modification or extension of an existing flight data base, such as acoustic data from engine static tests used in the..., weights, configurations, and other information or data employed for obtaining the certified noise levels...

14 CFR 36.1501 - Procedures, noise levels and other information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... airplane (rotorcraft) flight manual. (b) Where supplemental test data are approved for modification or extension of an existing flight data base, such as acoustic data from engine static tests used in the..., weights, configurations, and other information or data employed for obtaining the certified noise levels...

Simultaneous Inference Procedures for Means.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krishnaiah, P. R.

Some aspects of simultaneous tests for means are reviewed. Specifically, the comparison of univariate or multivariate normal populations based on the values of the means or mean vectors when the variances or covariance matrices are equal is discussed. Tukey's and Dunnett's tests for multiple comparisons of means, Scheffe's method of examining…

Testing Based on Understanding: Implications from Studies of Spatial Ability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Egan, Dennis E.

1979-01-01

The information-processing approach and results of research on spatial ability are analyzed. Performance consists of a sequence of distinct mental operations that seem general across subjects, and can be individually measured. New interpretations for some classical concepts in psychological testing and procedures for abilities are suggested.…

Quest: The Interactive Test Analysis System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Raymond J.; Khoo, Siek-Toon

The Quest program offers a comprehensive test and questionnaire analysis environment by providing a data analyst (a computer program) with access to the most recent developments in Rasch measurement theory, as well as a range of traditional analysis procedures. This manual helps the user use Quest to construct and validate variables based on…

IMPROVED METHODS FOR HEPATITIS A VIRUS AND ROTAVIRUS CONCENTRATION AND DETECTION IN RECREATIONAL, RAW POTABLE, AND FINISHED WATERS

EPA Science Inventory

The report contains procedures for detecting rotaviruses based upon an immunofluorescence test using a monoclonal antibody and fluorescein-isothiocyanate-conjugated antibody staining method to visualize virus-infected cells. Also contained in the report are test methods for detec...

PLAN-TA9-2443(U), Rev. B Remediated Nitrate Salt (RNS) Surrogate Formulation and Testing Standard Procedure

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

Brown, Geoffrey Wayne

2016-03-16

This document identifies scope and some general procedural steps for performing Remediated Nitrate Salt (RNS) Surrogate Formulation and Testing. This Test Plan describes the requirements, responsibilities, and process for preparing and testing a range of chemical surrogates intended to mimic the energetic response of waste created during processing of legacy nitrate salts. The surrogates developed are expected to bound1 the thermal and mechanical sensitivity of such waste, allowing for the development of process parameters required to minimize the risk to worker and public when processing this waste. Such parameters will be based on the worst-case kinetic parameters as derived frommore » APTAC measurements as well as the development of controls to mitigate sensitivities that may exist due to friction, impact, and spark. This Test Plan will define the scope and technical approach for activities that implement Quality Assurance requirements relevant to formulation and testing.« less

The GSFC Combined Approach of ODC Stockpiling and Tribological Testing to Mitigate the Risks of ODC Elimination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Predmore, Roamer; Woods, Claudia; Hovanec, Andrew

1997-01-01

In response to the elimination of production of several Ozone Depleting Chemicals (ODCs) which have been widely used in successful space flight mechanism cleaning and lubricating procedures, GSFC developed and implemented an overall philosophy of mitigating the risks to flight hardware during the transition phase to ODC-Free cleaning procedures. One leg of that philosophy is the initiation of a several tier testing program which will deliver increasing amounts of information over the next few years, starting with original surface analysis comparisons between ODC and various ODC-Free cleaning technologies. The other leg is the stockpiling of an appropriate amount of ODC solvents such that all short term GSFC missions will be able to stay with or revert to heritage cleaning and lubricating procedures in the face of life issues. While tribological testing, mechanism life testing and space-flight experience will ultimately bring us into the 21st century with environmentally friendly means of cleaning long-life precision mechanism components, many satellites will be launched over the next few years with a number of important tribological questions unanswered. In order to prepare for this challenge, the Materials Engineering Branch in cooperation with the Electromechanical Branch launched an intensive review of all ongoing missions. The failure risk was determined for each long-life mechanism based on a number of parameters, including a comparison of flight solvents used to clean the heritage/life test hardware. Also studied was the ability of the mechanism manufacturers to stockpile ODCs based on state laws and company policies. A stockpiling strategy was constructed based on this information and subsequently implemented. This paper provides an overview of the GSFC ODC elimination risk mitigation philosophy as well as a detailed examination of the development of the ODC stockpiling plan.

Model-Based Development of Automotive Electronic Climate Control Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kakade, Rupesh; Murugesan, Mohan; Perugu, Bhupal; Nair, Mohanan

With increasing complexity of software in today's products, writing and maintaining thousands of lines of code is a tedious task. Instead, an alternative methodology must be employed. Model-based development is one candidate that offers several benefits and allows engineers to focus on the domain of their expertise than writing huge codes. In this paper, we discuss the application of model-based development to the electronic climate control software of vehicles. The back-to-back testing approach is presented that ensures flawless and smooth transition from legacy designs to the model-based development. Simulink report generator to create design documents from the models is presented along with its usage to run the simulation model and capture the results into the test report. Test automation using model-based development tool that support the use of unique set of test cases for several testing levels and the test procedure that is independent of software and hardware platform is also presented.

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses.

PubMed

Bonino, Angela Yarnell; Leibold, Lori J

2017-01-23

Collecting reliable behavioral data from toddlers and preschoolers is challenging. As a result, there are significant gaps in our understanding of human auditory development for these age groups. This paper describes an observer-based procedure for measuring hearing sensitivity with a two-interval, two-alternative forced-choice paradigm. Young children are trained to perform a play-based, motor response (e.g., putting a block in a bucket) whenever they hear a target signal. An experimenter observes the child's behavior and makes a judgment about whether the signal was presented during the first or second observation interval; the experimenter is blinded to the true signal interval, so this judgment is based solely on the child's behavior. These procedures were used to test 2 to 4 year-olds (n = 33) with no known hearing problems. The signal was a 1,000 Hz warble tone presented in quiet, and the signal level was adjusted to estimate a threshold corresponding to 71%-correct detection. A valid threshold was obtained for 82% of children. These results indicate that the two-interval procedure is both feasible and reliable for use with toddlers and preschoolers. The two-interval, observer-based procedure described in this paper is a powerful tool for evaluating hearing in young children because it guards against response bias on the part of the experimenter.

40 CFR 92.125 - Pre-test procedures and preconditioning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Pre-test procedures and... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM LOCOMOTIVES AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES Test Procedures § 92.125 Pre-test procedures and preconditioning. (a) Locomotive testing. (1) Determine engine lubricating...

40 CFR 92.125 - Pre-test procedures and preconditioning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Pre-test procedures and... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM LOCOMOTIVES AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES Test Procedures § 92.125 Pre-test procedures and preconditioning. (a) Locomotive testing. (1) Determine engine lubricating...

40 CFR 92.125 - Pre-test procedures and preconditioning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Pre-test procedures and... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM LOCOMOTIVES AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES Test Procedures § 92.125 Pre-test procedures and preconditioning. (a) Locomotive testing. (1) Determine engine lubricating...

40 CFR 92.125 - Pre-test procedures and preconditioning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Pre-test procedures and... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM LOCOMOTIVES AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES Test Procedures § 92.125 Pre-test procedures and preconditioning. (a) Locomotive testing. (1) Determine engine lubricating...

Biosensor technology for the detection of illegal drugs II: antibody development and detection techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hilpert, Reinhold; Bauer, Christian; Binder, Florian; Grol, Michael; Hallermayer, Klaus; Josel, Hans-Peter; Klein, Christian; Maier, Josef; Makower, Alexander; Oberpriller, Helmut; Ritter, Josef

1994-10-01

In a joint project of Deutsche Aerospace, Boehringer Mannheim and the University of Potsdam portable devices for the detection of illegal drugs, based on biosensor technology, are being developed. The concept enrichment of the drug from the gas phase and detection by immunological means. This publication covers the development of specific antibodies and various detection procedures. Antibodies with a high affinity for cocaine have been developed with the aid of specially synthesized immunogens. A competitive detection procedure with biosensors based on optical grating couplers and applying particulate labels has been established, showing a lower detection limit of 10-10 mol/l for cocaine. Additionally, a combination of a displacement-immunoreactor and an enzymatically amplified electrode was investigated, which at present still suffers from insufficient sensitivity of the immunoreactor. An alternative, fleece-matrix based test procedure, where enrichment and detection steps are integrated in a single unit, is promising in terms of simplicity and sensitivity. A simple swab-test for the detection of cocaine at surfaces has been developed, which has a lower detection limit of about 10 ng and which can be performed within one minute.

Control of large flexible structures - An experiment on the NASA Mini-Mast facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hsieh, Chen; Kim, Jae H.; Liu, Ketao; Zhu, Guoming; Skelton, Robert E.

1991-01-01

The output variance constraint controller design procedure is integrated with model reduction by modal cost analysis. A procedure is given for tuning MIMO controller designs to find the maximal rms performance of the actual system. Controller designs based on a finite-element model of the system are compared with controller designs based on an identified model (obtained using the Q-Markov Cover algorithm). The identified model and the finite-element model led to similar closed-loop performance, when tested in the Mini-Mast facility at NASA Langley.

DNA-testing for BRCA1/2 prior to genetic counselling in patients with breast cancer: design of an intervention study, DNA-direct.

PubMed

Sie, Aisha S; Spruijt, Liesbeth; van Zelst-Stams, Wendy A G; Mensenkamp, Arjen R; Ligtenberg, Marjolijn J; Brunner, Han G; Prins, Judith B; Hoogerbrugge, Nicoline

2012-05-08

Current practice for patients with breast cancer referred for genetic counseling, includes face-to-face consultations with a genetic counselor prior to and following DNA-testing. This is based on guidelines regarding Huntington's disease in anticipation of high psychosocial impact of DNA-testing for mutations in BRCA1/2 genes. The initial consultation covers generic information regarding hereditary breast cancer and the (im)possibilities of DNA-testing, prior to such testing. Patients with breast cancer may see this information as irrelevant or unnecessary because individual genetic advice depends on DNA-test results. Also, verbal information is not always remembered well by patients. A different format for this information prior to DNA-testing is possible: replacing initial face-to-face genetic counseling (DNA-intake procedure) by telephone, written and digital information sent to patients' homes (DNA-direct procedure). In this intervention study, 150 patients with breast cancer referred to the department of Clinical Genetics of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre are given the choice between two procedures, DNA-direct (intervention group) or DNA-intake (usual care, control group). During a triage telephone call, patients are excluded if they have problems with Dutch text, family communication, or of psychological or psychiatric nature. Primary outcome measures are satisfaction and psychological distress. Secondary outcome measures are determinants for the participant's choice of procedure, waiting and processing times, and family characteristics. Data are collected by self-report questionnaires at baseline and following completion of genetic counseling. A minority of participants will receive an invitation for a 30 min semi-structured telephone interview, e.g. confirmed carriers of a BRCA1/2 mutation, and those who report problems with the procedure. This study compares current practice of an intake consultation (DNA-intake) to a home informational package of telephone, written and digital information (DNA-direct) prior to DNA-testing in patients with breast cancer. The aim is to determine whether DNA-direct is an acceptable procedure for BRCA1/2 testing, in order to provide customized care to patients with breast cancer, cutting down on the period of uncertainty during this diagnostic process.

33 CFR 104.215 - Vessel Security Officer (VSO).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... procedures, including scenario-based response training; (4) Crowd management and control techniques; (5) Operations of security equipment and systems; and (6) Testing and calibration of security equipment and...

Efficient airport detection using region-based fully convolutional neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xin, Peng; Xu, Yuelei; Zhang, Xulei; Ma, Shiping; Li, Shuai; Lv, Chao

2018-04-01

This paper presents a model for airport detection using region-based fully convolutional neural networks. To achieve fast detection with high accuracy, we shared the conv layers between the region proposal procedure and the airport detection procedure and used graphics processing units (GPUs) to speed up the training and testing time. For lack of labeled data, we transferred the convolutional layers of ZF net pretrained by ImageNet to initialize the shared convolutional layers, then we retrained the model using the alternating optimization training strategy. The proposed model has been tested on an airport dataset consisting of 600 images. Experiments show that the proposed method can distinguish airports in our dataset from similar background scenes almost real-time with high accuracy, which is much better than traditional methods.

Generating Nonnormal Multivariate Data Using Copulas: Applications to SEM.

PubMed

Mair, Patrick; Satorra, Albert; Bentler, Peter M

2012-07-01

This article develops a procedure based on copulas to simulate multivariate nonnormal data that satisfy a prespecified variance-covariance matrix. The covariance matrix used can comply with a specific moment structure form (e.g., a factor analysis or a general structural equation model). Thus, the method is particularly useful for Monte Carlo evaluation of structural equation models within the context of nonnormal data. The new procedure for nonnormal data simulation is theoretically described and also implemented in the widely used R environment. The quality of the method is assessed by Monte Carlo simulations. A 1-sample test on the observed covariance matrix based on the copula methodology is proposed. This new test for evaluating the quality of a simulation is defined through a particular structural model specification and is robust against normality violations.

Diagnosis of food allergies: the impact of oral food challenge testing.

PubMed

Ito, Komei

2013-01-01

A diagnosis of food allergies should be made based on the observation of allergic symptoms following the intake of suspected foods and the presence of allergen-specific IgE antibodies. The oral food challenge (OFC) test is the most reliable clinical procedure for diagnosing food allergies. Specific IgE testing of allergen components as well as classical crude allergen extracts helps to make a more specific diagnosis of food allergies. The Japanese Society of Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology issued the 'Japanese Pediatric Guideline for Food Allergy 2012' to provide information regarding the standardized diagnosis and management of food allergies. This review summarizes recent progress in the diagnosis of food allergies, focusing on the use of specific IgE tests and the OFC procedure in accordance with the Japanese guidelines.

Description of the testing process for the Automated Residential Energy Standard (ARES) in support of proposed interim energy conservation voluntary performance standards for new non-federal residential buildings: Volume 5

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

NONE

In this report, the scope of the tests, the method of analysis, the results, and the conclusions are discussed. The first test indicated that the requirements generated by the Standard procedures and formulae appear to yield reasonable results, although some of the cost data provided as defaults in the Standard should be reevaluated. The second test provided experience that was useful in modifying the points compliance format, but did not uncover any procedural issues that would lead to unreasonable results. These conclusions are based on analysis using the Automated Residential Energy Standard (ARES) computer program, developed to simplify the processmore » of standards generation.« less

16 CFR 1610.6 - Test procedure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Test procedure. 1610.6 Section 1610.6... FLAMMABILITY OF CLOTHING TEXTILES The Standard § 1610.6 Test procedure. The test procedure is divided into two... according to paragraph (b)(1) of this section. (a) Step 1—Testing in the original state. (1) Tests shall be...

16 CFR 1610.6 - Test procedure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Test procedure. 1610.6 Section 1610.6... FLAMMABILITY OF CLOTHING TEXTILES The Standard § 1610.6 Test procedure. The test procedure is divided into two... according to paragraph (b)(1) of this section. (a) Step 1—Testing in the original state. (1) Tests shall be...

16 CFR 1610.6 - Test procedure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Test procedure. 1610.6 Section 1610.6... FLAMMABILITY OF CLOTHING TEXTILES The Standard § 1610.6 Test procedure. The test procedure is divided into two... according to paragraph (b)(1) of this section. (a) Step 1—Testing in the original state. (1) Tests shall be...

Teaching procedural skills to medical students: A pilot procedural skills lab.

PubMed

Katz, Laurence M; Finch, Alexander; McKinnish, Tyler; Gilliland, Kurt; Tolleson-Rinehart, Sue; Marks, Bonita L

2017-01-01

Medical students have limited confidence in performing procedural skills. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a multifaceted Procedural Skills Lab (PSL) on the confidence of medical students to perform procedural skills. Twelve 2nd year medical students were randomly selected to participate in a pilot PSL. The PSL students met with an instructor for 2 h once a week for 4 weeks. Students participated in a flipped classroom and spaced education program before laboratory sessions that included a cadaver laboratory. Procedural skills included a focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) scan, cardiac echocardiogram, lumbar puncture, arthrocentesis, and insertion of intraosseous and intravenous catheters. Students in the PSL were asked to rank their confidence in performing procedural skills before and after completion of the laboratory sessions (Wilcoxon ranked-sum test). A web-based questionnaire was also emailed to all 2nd year medical students to establish a baseline frequency for observing, performing, and confidence performing procedural skills (Mann-Whitney U-test). Fifty-nine percent (n = 106) of 180 2nd year medical students (n = 12 PSL students [treatment group], n = 94 [control group]) completed the survey. Frequency of observation, performance, and confidence in performing procedural skills was similar between the control and treatment groups at baseline. There was an increased confidence level (p < 0.001) for performing all procedural skills for the treatment group after completion of the PSL. An innovative PSL may increase students' confidence to perform procedural skills. Future studies will examine competency after a PSL.

Man-rated flight software for the F-8 DFBW program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bairnsfather, R. R.

1976-01-01

The design, implementation, and verification of the flight control software used in the F-8 DFBW program are discussed. Since the DFBW utilizes an Apollo computer and hardware, the procedures, controls, and basic management techniques employed are based on those developed for the Apollo software system. Program assembly control, simulator configuration control, erasable-memory load generation, change procedures and anomaly reporting are discussed. The primary verification tools are described, as well as the program test plans and their implementation on the various simulators. Failure effects analysis and the creation of special failure generating software for testing purposes are described.

76 FR 24945 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Amex LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-03

... Termination of the Short Sale Price Test Restrictions of Rule 201 of Regulation SHO Based on a Triggering... the Exchange's procedures for early termination of the short sale price test restrictions of Rule 201... determine that the short sale price test restrictions of Rule 201 have been triggered for a covered security...

76 FR 24943 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; New York Stock Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-03

... Termination of the Short Sale Price Test Restrictions of Rule 201 of Regulation SHO Based on a Triggering... procedures for early termination of the short sale price test restrictions of Rule 201 of Regulation SHO... short sale price test restrictions of Rule 201 have been triggered for a covered security, (2) establish...

76 FR 24954 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-03

... Termination of the Short Sale Price Test Restrictions of Rule 201 of Regulation SHO Based on a Triggering... the Exchange's procedures for early termination of the short sale price test restrictions of Rule 201..., as a listing market, to determine that the short sale price test restrictions of Rule 201 have been...

Item Review and the Rearrangement Procedure: Its Process and Its Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papanastasiou, Elena C.

2005-01-01

Permitting item review is to the benefit of the examinees who typically increase their test scores with item review. However, testing companies do not prefer item review since it does not follow the logic on which adaptive tests are based, and since it is prone to cheating strategies. Consequently, item review is not permitted in many adaptive…

Prefabricated Roof Beams for Hardened Shelters

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-08-01

beam with a composite concrete slab. Based on the results of the concept evaluation, a test program was designed and conducted to validate the steel...ultimaw, strength. The results of these tests showed that the design procedure accurately predicts the response of the ste,-confined concrete composite...BENDING OF EXTERNALLY REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS ........ 67 TABLE 9. SINGLE POINT LOAD BEAM TEST RESULTS

Item Parameter Invariance of the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test across Male and Female Samples

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Immekus, Jason C.; Maller, Susan J.

2009-01-01

The Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT[TM]) is an individually administered test of intelligence for individuals ranging in age from 11 to 85+ years. The item response theory-likelihood ratio procedure, based on the two-parameter logistic model, was used to detect differential item functioning (DIF) in the KAIT across males and…

Exact and Monte carlo resampling procedures for the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.

PubMed

Berry, K J; Mielke, P W

2000-12-01

Exact and Monte Carlo resampling FORTRAN programs are described for the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney rank sum test and the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance for ranks test. The program algorithms compensate for tied values and do not depend on asymptotic approximations for probability values, unlike most algorithms contained in PC-based statistical software packages.

40 CFR 93.159 - Procedures for conformity determinations of general Federal actions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... based on the applicable air quality models, data bases, and other requirements specified in the most... applicable air quality models, data bases, and other requirements specified in the most recent version of the... data are available, such as actual stack test data from stationary sources which are part of the...

Measuring Attitudes Toward Reading. An Annotated ERIC Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hahn, Christine T., Comp.

This 30-item annotated bibliography provides access to information concerning the development and use of tests and procedures for evaluating student attitudes toward reading. Based upon a computer search of five data bases--Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), Psychological Abstracts, Exceptional Child Education Abstracts, Sociological…

Alternative Strategies in Assessing Special Education Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dykeman, Bruce F.

2006-01-01

The conventional use of standardized testing within a discrepancy analysis model is reviewed. The Response-to-Intervention (RTI) process is explained, along with descriptions of assessment procedures within RTI: functional assessment, authentic assessment, curriculum-based measurement, and play-based assessment. Psychometric issues relevant to RTI…

Test Area C-74 Complex Final Range Environmental Assessment at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-21

LAWS, REGULATIONS, AND POLICIES ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ACHP Advisory Council on Historic Preservation ACM asbestos -containing materials...agencies must comply. Air Armament Center Plan 32-3; January 2004; Asbestos Management Plan; This plan establishes procedures for the Eglin AFB...facility asbestos management program. It contains the policies and procedures used in controlling the health hazards created by asbestos containing

40 CFR 63.945 - Test methods and procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 11 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Test methods and procedures. 63.945...) National Emission Standards for Surface Impoundments § 63.945 Test methods and procedures. (a) Procedure...) The test shall be conducted in accordance with the procedures specified in Method 21 of 40 CFR part 60...

77 FR 24341 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Residential Clothes Washers; Correction

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-24

... Program: Test Procedures for Residential Clothes Washers; Correction AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency... final rule establishing new and amended test procedures for residential clothes washers, published in... Energy (DOE) erroneously referenced the new test procedure, rather than the currently effective test...

40 CFR 92.125 - Pre-test procedures and preconditioning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Pre-test procedures and preconditioning... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM LOCOMOTIVES AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES Test Procedures § 92.125 Pre-test procedures and preconditioning. (a) Locomotive testing. (1) Determine engine lubricating...

Setup in a clinical workflow and impact on radiotherapy routine of an in vivo dosimetry procedure with an electronic portal imaging device

PubMed Central

Piermattei, Angelo; Kang, Shengwei; Xiao, Mingyong; Tang, Bin; Liao, Xiongfei; Xin, Xin; Grusio, Mattia

2018-01-01

High conformal techniques such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy and volumetric-modulated arc therapy are widely used in overloaded radiotherapy departments. In vivo dosimetric screening is essential in this environment to avoid important dosimetric errors. This work examines the feasibility of introducing in vivo dosimetry (IVD) checks in a radiotherapy routine. The causes of dosimetric disagreements between delivered and planned treatments were identified and corrected during the course of treatment. The efficiency of the corrections performed and the added workload needed for the entire procedure were evaluated. The IVD procedure was based on an electronic portal imaging device. A total of 3682 IVD tests were performed for 147 patients who underwent head and neck, abdomen, pelvis, breast, and thorax radiotherapy treatments. Two types of indices were evaluated and used to determine if the IVD tests were within tolerance levels: the ratio R between the reconstructed and planned isocentre doses and a transit dosimetry based on the γ-analysis of the electronic portal images. The causes of test outside tolerance level were investigated and corrected and IVD test was repeated during subsequent fraction. The time needed for each step of the IVD procedure was registered. Pelvis, abdomen, and head and neck treatments had 10% of tests out of tolerance whereas breast and thorax treatments accounted for up to 25%. The patient setup was the main cause of 90% of the IVD tests out of tolerance and the remaining 10% was due to patient morphological changes. An average time of 42 min per day was sufficient to monitor a daily workload of 60 patients in treatment. This work shows that IVD performed with an electronic portal imaging device is feasible in an overloaded department and enables the timely realignment of the treatment quality indices in order to achieve a patient’s final treatment compliant with the one prescribed. PMID:29432473

Methodological aspects of an adaptive multidirectional pattern search to optimize speech perception using three hearing-aid algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franck, Bas A. M.; Dreschler, Wouter A.; Lyzenga, Johannes

2004-12-01

In this study we investigated the reliability and convergence characteristics of an adaptive multidirectional pattern search procedure, relative to a nonadaptive multidirectional pattern search procedure. The procedure was designed to optimize three speech-processing strategies. These comprise noise reduction, spectral enhancement, and spectral lift. The search is based on a paired-comparison paradigm, in which subjects evaluated the listening comfort of speech-in-noise fragments. The procedural and nonprocedural factors that influence the reliability and convergence of the procedure are studied using various test conditions. The test conditions combine different tests, initial settings, background noise types, and step size configurations. Seven normal hearing subjects participated in this study. The results indicate that the reliability of the optimization strategy may benefit from the use of an adaptive step size. Decreasing the step size increases accuracy, while increasing the step size can be beneficial to create clear perceptual differences in the comparisons. The reliability also depends on starting point, stop criterion, step size constraints, background noise, algorithms used, as well as the presence of drifting cues and suboptimal settings. There appears to be a trade-off between reliability and convergence, i.e., when the step size is enlarged the reliability improves, but the convergence deteriorates. .

A TOTP-based enhanced route optimization procedure for mobile IPv6 to reduce handover delay and signalling overhead.

PubMed

Shah, Peer Azmat; Hasbullah, Halabi B; Lawal, Ibrahim A; Aminu Mu'azu, Abubakar; Tang Jung, Low

2014-01-01

Due to the proliferation of handheld mobile devices, multimedia applications like Voice over IP (VoIP), video conferencing, network music, and online gaming are gaining popularity in recent years. These applications are well known to be delay sensitive and resource demanding. The mobility of mobile devices, running these applications, across different networks causes delay and service disruption. Mobile IPv6 was proposed to provide mobility support to IPv6-based mobile nodes for continuous communication when they roam across different networks. However, the Route Optimization procedure in Mobile IPv6 involves the verification of mobile node's reachability at the home address and at the care-of address (home test and care-of test) that results in higher handover delays and signalling overhead. This paper presents an enhanced procedure, time-based one-time password Route Optimization (TOTP-RO), for Mobile IPv6 Route Optimization that uses the concepts of shared secret Token, time based one-time password (TOTP) along with verification of the mobile node via direct communication and maintaining the status of correspondent node's compatibility. The TOTP-RO was implemented in network simulator (NS-2) and an analytical analysis was also made. Analysis showed that TOTP-RO has lower handover delays, packet loss, and signalling overhead with an increased level of security as compared to the standard Mobile IPv6's Return-Routability-based Route Optimization (RR-RO).

40 CFR 1066.840 - Highway fuel economy test procedure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Highway fuel economy test procedure... Highway fuel economy test procedure. This section describes the procedure for the highway fuel economy test (HFET). This test involves emission sampling and fuel economy measurement for certain vehicles as...

76 FR 65631 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Microwave Ovens

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-24

... Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Microwave Ovens AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable... (DOE) has initiated a test procedure rulemaking to develop active mode testing methodologies for... Federal Register a final rule for the microwave oven test procedure rulemaking (July TP repeal final rule...

78 FR 63823 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Television Sets

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-25

... Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Television Sets AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable... Energy (DOE) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to establish a new test procedure for... additional testing and proposed amendments to the TV test procedure in its March 12, 2013 supplemental notice...

78 FR 38455 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Electric Motors

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-26

... Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Electric Motors; Proposed Rule #0;#0;Federal Register / Vol. 78, No... 431 [Docket No. EERE-2012-BT-TP-0043] RIN 1904-AC89 Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for... establishing definitions, specifying testing set-up procedures necessary to test, and extending DOE's existing...

76 FR 50145 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Residential Clothes Dryers

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-12

... EERE-2011-BT-TP-0054] RIN 1904-AC63 Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Residential...: Request for information. SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has initiated a test procedure... clothes dryer test procedure. DOE will address the issues surrounding testing of automatic cycle...

78 FR 62488 - Energy Conservation Program: Compliance Date for the Dehumidifier Test Procedure

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-22

... Conservation Program: Compliance Date for the Dehumidifier Test Procedure AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency.... Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to revise the compliance date for the dehumidifier test procedures... manufacturers to test using only the active mode provisions in the test procedure for dehumidifiers currently...

40 CFR 61.304 - Test methods and procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 9 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Test methods and procedures. 61.304... Emissions From Benzene Transfer Operations § 61.304 Test methods and procedures. (a) The procedures for... testing equipment shall be prepared and installed as specified in the appropriate test methods. (2) The...

40 CFR 61.304 - Test methods and procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 8 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Test methods and procedures. 61.304... Emissions From Benzene Transfer Operations § 61.304 Test methods and procedures. (a) The procedures for... testing equipment shall be prepared and installed as specified in the appropriate test methods. (2) The...

40 CFR 61.304 - Test methods and procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 9 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Test methods and procedures. 61.304... Emissions From Benzene Transfer Operations § 61.304 Test methods and procedures. (a) The procedures for... testing equipment shall be prepared and installed as specified in the appropriate test methods. (2) The...

40 CFR 61.304 - Test methods and procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 8 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Test methods and procedures. 61.304... Emissions From Benzene Transfer Operations § 61.304 Test methods and procedures. (a) The procedures for... testing equipment shall be prepared and installed as specified in the appropriate test methods. (2) The...

40 CFR 61.304 - Test methods and procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 9 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Test methods and procedures. 61.304... Emissions From Benzene Transfer Operations § 61.304 Test methods and procedures. (a) The procedures for... testing equipment shall be prepared and installed as specified in the appropriate test methods. (2) The...

40 CFR 86.1227-96 - Test procedures; overview.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Test procedures; overview. 86.1227-96... Emission Test Procedures for New Gasoline-Fueled, Natural Gas-Fueled, Liquefied Petroleum Gas-Fueled and Methanol-Fueled Heavy-Duty Vehicles § 86.1227-96 Test procedures; overview. (a) The overall test consists...

Asymptotic formulae for likelihood-based tests of new physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowan, Glen; Cranmer, Kyle; Gross, Eilam; Vitells, Ofer

2011-02-01

We describe likelihood-based statistical tests for use in high energy physics for the discovery of new phenomena and for construction of confidence intervals on model parameters. We focus on the properties of the test procedures that allow one to account for systematic uncertainties. Explicit formulae for the asymptotic distributions of test statistics are derived using results of Wilks and Wald. We motivate and justify the use of a representative data set, called the "Asimov data set", which provides a simple method to obtain the median experimental sensitivity of a search or measurement as well as fluctuations about this expectation.

40 CFR 90.411 - Post-test analyzer procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Post-test analyzer procedures. 90.411... Test Procedures § 90.411 Post-test analyzer procedures. (a) Perform a HC hang-up check within 60...), the test is void. (d) Read and record the post-test data specified in § 90.405(e). (e) For a valid...

40 CFR 90.411 - Post-test analyzer procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Post-test analyzer procedures. 90.411... Test Procedures § 90.411 Post-test analyzer procedures. (a) Perform a HC hang-up check within 60...), the test is void. (d) Read and record the post-test data specified in § 90.405(e). (e) For a valid...

40 CFR 90.411 - Post-test analyzer procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Post-test analyzer procedures. 90.411... Test Procedures § 90.411 Post-test analyzer procedures. (a) Perform a HC hang-up check within 60...), the test is void. (d) Read and record the post-test data specified in § 90.405(e). (e) For a valid...

40 CFR 90.411 - Post-test analyzer procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Post-test analyzer procedures. 90.411... Test Procedures § 90.411 Post-test analyzer procedures. (a) Perform a HC hang-up check within 60...), the test is void. (d) Read and record the post-test data specified in § 90.405(e). (e) For a valid...

40 CFR 90.411 - Post-test analyzer procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Post-test analyzer procedures. 90.411... Test Procedures § 90.411 Post-test analyzer procedures. (a) Perform a HC hang-up check within 60...), the test is void. (d) Read and record the post-test data specified in § 90.405(e). (e) For a valid...

Development of a nucleic Acid extraction procedure for simultaneous recovery of DNA and RNA from diverse microbes in water.

PubMed

Hill, Vincent R; Narayanan, Jothikumar; Gallen, Rachel R; Ferdinand, Karen L; Cromeans, Theresa; Vinjé, Jan

2015-05-26

Drinking and environmental water samples contain a diverse array of constituents that can interfere with molecular testing techniques, especially when large volumes of water are concentrated to the small volumes needed for effective molecular analysis. In this study, a suite of enteric viruses, bacteria, and protozoan parasites were seeded into concentrated source water and finished drinking water samples, in order to investigate the relative performance of nucleic acid extraction techniques for molecular testing. Real-time PCR and reverse transcription-PCR crossing threshold (CT) values were used as the metrics for evaluating relative performance. Experimental results were used to develop a guanidinium isothiocyanate-based lysis buffer (UNEX buffer) that enabled effective simultaneous extraction and recovery of DNA and RNA from the suite of study microbes. Procedures for bead beating, nucleic acid purification, and PCR facilitation were also developed and integrated in the protocol. The final lysis buffer and sample preparation procedure was found to be effective for a panel of drinking water and source water concentrates when compared to commercial nucleic acid extraction kits. The UNEX buffer-based extraction protocol enabled PCR detection of six study microbes, in 100 L finished water samples from four drinking water treatment facilities, within three CT values (i.e., within 90% difference) of the reagent-grade water control. The results from this study indicate that this newly formulated lysis buffer and sample preparation procedure can be useful for standardized molecular testing of drinking and environmental waters.

Development of a Nucleic Acid Extraction Procedure for Simultaneous Recovery of DNA and RNA from Diverse Microbes in Water

PubMed Central

Hill, Vincent R.; Narayanan, Jothikumar; Gallen, Rachel R.; Ferdinand, Karen L.; Cromeans, Theresa; Vinjé, Jan

2015-01-01

Drinking and environmental water samples contain a diverse array of constituents that can interfere with molecular testing techniques, especially when large volumes of water are concentrated to the small volumes needed for effective molecular analysis. In this study, a suite of enteric viruses, bacteria, and protozoan parasites were seeded into concentrated source water and finished drinking water samples, in order to investigate the relative performance of nucleic acid extraction techniques for molecular testing. Real-time PCR and reverse transcription-PCR crossing threshold (CT) values were used as the metrics for evaluating relative performance. Experimental results were used to develop a guanidinium isothiocyanate-based lysis buffer (UNEX buffer) that enabled effective simultaneous extraction and recovery of DNA and RNA from the suite of study microbes. Procedures for bead beating, nucleic acid purification, and PCR facilitation were also developed and integrated in the protocol. The final lysis buffer and sample preparation procedure was found to be effective for a panel of drinking water and source water concentrates when compared to commercial nucleic acid extraction kits. The UNEX buffer-based extraction protocol enabled PCR detection of six study microbes, in 100 L finished water samples from four drinking water treatment facilities, within three CT values (i.e., within 90% difference) of the reagent-grade water control. The results from this study indicate that this newly formulated lysis buffer and sample preparation procedure can be useful for standardized molecular testing of drinking and environmental waters. PMID:26016775

Vibration Testing Procedures for Bone Stiffness Assessment in Fractures Treated with External Fixation.

PubMed

Mattei, Lorenza; Longo, Antonia; Di Puccio, Francesca; Ciulli, Enrico; Marchetti, Stefano

2017-04-01

A bone healing assessment is crucial for the successful treatment of fractures, particularly in terms of the timing of support devices. However, in clinical practice, this assessment is only made qualitatively through bone manipulation and X-rays, and hence cannot be repeated as often as might be required. The present study reconsiders the quantitative method of frequency response analysis for healing assessments, and specifically for fractures treated with an external fixator. The novelty consists in the fact that bone excitation and response are achieved through fixator pins, thus overcoming the problem of transmission through soft-tissues and their damping effect. The main objective was to develop and validate a test procedure in order to characterize the treated bone. More than 80 tests were performed on a tibia phantom alone, a phantom with pins, and a phantom with a complete fixator. Different excitation techniques and input-output combinations were compared. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of a procedure based on impact tests using a micro-hammer. Pins and fixator were demonstrated to influence the frequency response of the phantom by increasing the number of resonant frequencies. This procedure will be applied in future studies to monitor healing both in in vitro and in vivo conditions.

Miscoding and other user errors: importance of ongoing education for proper blood glucose monitoring procedures.

PubMed

Schrock, Linda E

2008-07-01

This article reviews the literature to date and reports on a new study that documented the frequency of manual code-requiring blood glucose (BG) meters that were miscoded at the time of the patient's initial appointment in a hospital-based outpatient diabetes education program. Between January 1 and May 31, 2007, the type of BG meter and the accuracy of the patient's meter code (if required) and procedure for checking BG were checked during the initial appointment with the outpatient diabetes educator. If indicated, reeducation regarding the procedure for the BG meter code entry and/or BG test was provided. Of the 65 patients who brought their meter requiring manual entry of a code number or code chip to the initial appointment, 16 (25%) were miscoded at the time of the appointment. Two additional problems, one of dead batteries and one of improperly stored test strips, were identified and corrected at the first appointment. These findings underscore the importance of checking the patient's BG meter code (if required) and procedure for testing BG at each encounter with a health care professional or providing the patient with a meter that does not require manual entry of a code number or chip to match the container of test strips (i.e., an autocode meter).

A sup-score test for the cure fraction in mixture models for long-term survivors.

PubMed

Hsu, Wei-Wen; Todem, David; Kim, KyungMann

2016-12-01

The evaluation of cure fractions in oncology research under the well known cure rate model has attracted considerable attention in the literature, but most of the existing testing procedures have relied on restrictive assumptions. A common assumption has been to restrict the cure fraction to a constant under alternatives to homogeneity, thereby neglecting any information from covariates. This article extends the literature by developing a score-based statistic that incorporates covariate information to detect cure fractions, with the existing testing procedure serving as a special case. A complication of this extension, however, is that the implied hypotheses are not typical and standard regularity conditions to conduct the test may not even hold. Using empirical processes arguments, we construct a sup-score test statistic for cure fractions and establish its limiting null distribution as a functional of mixtures of chi-square processes. In practice, we suggest a simple resampling procedure to approximate this limiting distribution. Our simulation results show that the proposed test can greatly improve efficiency over tests that neglect the heterogeneity of the cure fraction under the alternative. The practical utility of the methodology is illustrated using ovarian cancer survival data with long-term follow-up from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results registry. © 2016, The International Biometric Society.

Simulation-based hypothesis testing of high dimensional means under covariance heterogeneity.

PubMed

Chang, Jinyuan; Zheng, Chao; Zhou, Wen-Xin; Zhou, Wen

2017-12-01

In this article, we study the problem of testing the mean vectors of high dimensional data in both one-sample and two-sample cases. The proposed testing procedures employ maximum-type statistics and the parametric bootstrap techniques to compute the critical values. Different from the existing tests that heavily rely on the structural conditions on the unknown covariance matrices, the proposed tests allow general covariance structures of the data and therefore enjoy wide scope of applicability in practice. To enhance powers of the tests against sparse alternatives, we further propose two-step procedures with a preliminary feature screening step. Theoretical properties of the proposed tests are investigated. Through extensive numerical experiments on synthetic data sets and an human acute lymphoblastic leukemia gene expression data set, we illustrate the performance of the new tests and how they may provide assistance on detecting disease-associated gene-sets. The proposed methods have been implemented in an R-package HDtest and are available on CRAN. © 2017, The International Biometric Society.

False discovery rate control incorporating phylogenetic tree increases detection power in microbiome-wide multiple testing.

PubMed

Xiao, Jian; Cao, Hongyuan; Chen, Jun

2017-09-15

Next generation sequencing technologies have enabled the study of the human microbiome through direct sequencing of microbial DNA, resulting in an enormous amount of microbiome sequencing data. One unique characteristic of microbiome data is the phylogenetic tree that relates all the bacterial species. Closely related bacterial species have a tendency to exhibit a similar relationship with the environment or disease. Thus, incorporating the phylogenetic tree information can potentially improve the detection power for microbiome-wide association studies, where hundreds or thousands of tests are conducted simultaneously to identify bacterial species associated with a phenotype of interest. Despite much progress in multiple testing procedures such as false discovery rate (FDR) control, methods that take into account the phylogenetic tree are largely limited. We propose a new FDR control procedure that incorporates the prior structure information and apply it to microbiome data. The proposed procedure is based on a hierarchical model, where a structure-based prior distribution is designed to utilize the phylogenetic tree. By borrowing information from neighboring bacterial species, we are able to improve the statistical power of detecting associated bacterial species while controlling the FDR at desired levels. When the phylogenetic tree is mis-specified or non-informative, our procedure achieves a similar power as traditional procedures that do not take into account the tree structure. We demonstrate the performance of our method through extensive simulations and real microbiome datasets. We identified far more alcohol-drinking associated bacterial species than traditional methods. R package StructFDR is available from CRAN. chen.jun2@mayo.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Statistical analysis and digital processing of the Mössbauer spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prochazka, Roman; Tucek, Pavel; Tucek, Jiri; Marek, Jaroslav; Mashlan, Miroslav; Pechousek, Jiri

2010-02-01

This work is focused on using the statistical methods and development of the filtration procedures for signal processing in Mössbauer spectroscopy. Statistical tools for noise filtering in the measured spectra are used in many scientific areas. The use of a pure statistical approach in accumulated Mössbauer spectra filtration is described. In Mössbauer spectroscopy, the noise can be considered as a Poisson statistical process with a Gaussian distribution for high numbers of observations. This noise is a superposition of the non-resonant photons counting with electronic noise (from γ-ray detection and discrimination units), and the velocity system quality that can be characterized by the velocity nonlinearities. The possibility of a noise-reducing process using a new design of statistical filter procedure is described. This mathematical procedure improves the signal-to-noise ratio and thus makes it easier to determine the hyperfine parameters of the given Mössbauer spectra. The filter procedure is based on a periodogram method that makes it possible to assign the statistically important components in the spectral domain. The significance level for these components is then feedback-controlled using the correlation coefficient test results. The estimation of the theoretical correlation coefficient level which corresponds to the spectrum resolution is performed. Correlation coefficient test is based on comparison of the theoretical and the experimental correlation coefficients given by the Spearman method. The correctness of this solution was analyzed by a series of statistical tests and confirmed by many spectra measured with increasing statistical quality for a given sample (absorber). The effect of this filter procedure depends on the signal-to-noise ratio and the applicability of this method has binding conditions.

Vdrive Evaluation of Remote Steering and Testing in Lasso Electrophysiology Procedures Study: The VERSATILE Study in Atrial Fibrillation Ablation.

PubMed

Nölker, Georg; Schwagten, Bruno; Deville, J Brian; Burkhardt, J David; Horton, Rodney P; Sha, Qun; Tomassoni, Gery

2016-03-01

Circular mapping catheters (CMC) are an essential tool in most atrial fibrillation ablation procedures. The Vdrive™ with V-Loop™ system enables a physician to remotely manipulate a CMC during electrophysiology studies. Our aim was to compare the clinical performance of the system to conventional CMC navigation according to efficiency and safety endpoints. A total of 120 patients scheduled to undergo a CMC study followed by pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) were included. Treatment allocation was randomized 2:1, remote navigation:manual navigation. The primary effectiveness endpoint was assessed based on both successful navigation to the targeted pulmonary vein (PV) and successful recording of PV electrograms. All PVs were treated independently within and between patients. The primary safety endpoint was assessed based on the occurrence of major adverse events (MAEs) through seven days after the study procedure. Primary effectiveness endpoints were achieved in 295/302 PVs in the Vdrive arm (97.7%) and 167/167 PVs in the manual arm (100%). Effectiveness analysis indicates Vdrive non-inferiority (pnon-inferiority = 0.0405; δ = -0.05) per the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test adjusted for PV correlation. Five MAEs related to the ablation procedure occurred (three in the Vdrive arm-3.9%; two in the manual arm-2.33%). No device-related MAEs were observed; safety analysis indicates Vdrive non-inferiority (pnon-inferiority = 0.0441; δ = 0.07) per the normal Z test. Remote navigation of a CMC is equivalent to manual in PVI in terms of safety and effectiveness. This allows for single-operator procedures in conjunction with a magnetically guided ablation catheter. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of training students to identify the semantic base of prose materials

PubMed Central

Glover, John A.; Zimmer, John W.; Filbeck, Robert W.; Plake, Barbara S.

1980-01-01

Feedback and feedback plus points toward a course grade were applied to the attentional behaviors (defined as the ability to identify the semantic base of text passages) of 30 undergraduate students participating in a reading comprehension development program. Correct underlining was increased, extraneous underlining was decreased, and postreading comprehension test scores improved as a result of the procedures. Scores on a standardized test of reading comprehension also increased significantly. PMID:16795637

Use of a national continuing medical education meeting to provide simulation-based training in temporary hemodialysis catheter insertion skills: a pre-test post-test study.

PubMed

Clark, Edward G; Paparello, James J; Wayne, Diane B; Edwards, Cedric; Hoar, Stephanie; McQuillan, Rory; Schachter, Michael E; Barsuk, Jeffrey H

2014-01-01

Simulation-based-mastery-learning (SBML) is an effective method to train nephrology fellows to competently insert temporary, non-tunneled hemodialysis catheters (NTHCs). Previous studies of SBML for NTHC-insertion have been conducted at a local level. Determine if SBML for NTHC-insertion can be effective when provided at a national continuing medical education (CME) meeting. Describe the correlation of demographic factors, prior experience with NTHC-insertion and procedural self-confidence with simulated performance of the procedure. Pre-test - post-test study. 2014 Canadian Society of Nephrology annual meeting. Nephrology fellows, internal medicine residents and medical students. Participants were surveyed regarding demographics, prior NTHC-insertion experience, procedural self-confidence and attitudes regarding the training they received. NTHC-insertion skills were assessed using a 28-item checklist. Participants underwent a pre-test of their NTHC-insertion skills at the internal jugular site using a realistic patient simulator and ultrasound machine. Participants then had a training session that included a didactic presentation and 2 hours of deliberate practice using the simulator. On the following day, trainees completed a post-test of their NTHC-insertion skills. All participants were required to meet or exceed a minimum passing score (MPS) previously set at 79%. Trainees who did not reach the MPS were required to perform more deliberate practice until the MPS was achieved. Twenty-two individuals participated in SBML training. None met or exceeded the MPS at baseline with a median checklist score of 20 (IQR, 7.25 to 21). Seventeen of 22 participants (77%) completed post-testing and improved their scores to a median of 27 (IQR, 26 to 28; p < 0.001). All met or exceeded the MPS on their first attempt. There were no significant correlations between demographics, prior experience or procedural self-confidence with pre-test performance. Small sample-size and self-selection of participants. Costs could limit the long-term feasibility of providing this type of training at a CME conference. Despite most participants reporting having previously inserted NTHCs in clinical practice, none met the MPS at baseline; this suggests their prior training may have been inadequate.

Field test of a new procedure for removing lead-based paint from bridges.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-01-01

According to the National Bridge Inventory, of the more than 200,000 steel bridges listed, between 80 and 90 percent were painted with lead-based paint. Of the approximately 7,000 bridges in Virginia with steel superstructures, well over half were pa...

Fracture characterization of human cortical bone under mode II loading using the end-notched flexure test.

PubMed

Silva, F G A; de Moura, M F S F; Dourado, N; Xavier, J; Pereira, F A M; Morais, J J L; Dias, M I R; Lourenço, P J; Judas, F M

2017-08-01

Fracture characterization of human cortical bone under mode II loading was analyzed using a miniaturized version of the end-notched flexure test. A data reduction scheme based on crack equivalent concept was employed to overcome uncertainties on crack length monitoring during the test. The crack tip shear displacement was experimentally measured using digital image correlation technique to determine the cohesive law that mimics bone fracture behavior under mode II loading. The developed procedure was validated by finite element analysis using cohesive zone modeling considering a trapezoidal with bilinear softening relationship. Experimental load-displacement curves, resistance curves and crack tip shear displacement versus applied displacement were used to validate the numerical procedure. The excellent agreement observed between the numerical and experimental results reveals the appropriateness of the proposed test and procedure to characterize human cortical bone fracture under mode II loading. The proposed methodology can be viewed as a novel valuable tool to be used in parametric and methodical clinical studies regarding features (e.g., age, diseases, drugs) influencing bone shear fracture under mode II loading.

Inference for High-dimensional Differential Correlation Matrices *

PubMed Central

Cai, T. Tony; Zhang, Anru

2015-01-01

Motivated by differential co-expression analysis in genomics, we consider in this paper estimation and testing of high-dimensional differential correlation matrices. An adaptive thresholding procedure is introduced and theoretical guarantees are given. Minimax rate of convergence is established and the proposed estimator is shown to be adaptively rate-optimal over collections of paired correlation matrices with approximately sparse differences. Simulation results show that the procedure significantly outperforms two other natural methods that are based on separate estimation of the individual correlation matrices. The procedure is also illustrated through an analysis of a breast cancer dataset, which provides evidence at the gene co-expression level that several genes, of which a subset has been previously verified, are associated with the breast cancer. Hypothesis testing on the differential correlation matrices is also considered. A test, which is particularly well suited for testing against sparse alternatives, is introduced. In addition, other related problems, including estimation of a single sparse correlation matrix, estimation of the differential covariance matrices, and estimation of the differential cross-correlation matrices, are also discussed. PMID:26500380

Learning the facts in medical school is not enough: which factors predict successful application of procedural knowledge in a laboratory setting?

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Medical knowledge encompasses both conceptual (facts or “what” information) and procedural knowledge (“how” and “why” information). Conceptual knowledge is known to be an essential prerequisite for clinical problem solving. Primarily, medical students learn from textbooks and often struggle with the process of applying their conceptual knowledge to clinical problems. Recent studies address the question of how to foster the acquisition of procedural knowledge and its application in medical education. However, little is known about the factors which predict performance in procedural knowledge tasks. Which additional factors of the learner predict performance in procedural knowledge? Methods Domain specific conceptual knowledge (facts) in clinical nephrology was provided to 80 medical students (3rd to 5th year) using electronic flashcards in a laboratory setting. Learner characteristics were obtained by questionnaires. Procedural knowledge in clinical nephrology was assessed by key feature problems (KFP) and problem solving tasks (PST) reflecting strategic and conditional knowledge, respectively. Results Results in procedural knowledge tests (KFP and PST) correlated significantly with each other. In univariate analysis, performance in procedural knowledge (sum of KFP+PST) was significantly correlated with the results in (1) the conceptual knowledge test (CKT), (2) the intended future career as hospital based doctor, (3) the duration of clinical clerkships, and (4) the results in the written German National Medical Examination Part I on preclinical subjects (NME-I). After multiple regression analysis only clinical clerkship experience and NME-I performance remained independent influencing factors. Conclusions Performance in procedural knowledge tests seems independent from the degree of domain specific conceptual knowledge above a certain level. Procedural knowledge may be fostered by clinical experience. More attention should be paid to the interplay of individual clinical clerkship experiences and structured teaching of procedural knowledge and its assessment in medical education curricula. PMID:23433202

Laboratory Study on Macro-Features of Wave Breaking Over Bars and Artificial Reefs

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-07-01

Prototype and Model Conditions of Case CE400 ( Pilot Test ) . 72 7 List of Design Parameters for Base Tests ... ........... . 72 8 List of Design Parameters...bar configurations, and the procedure was repeated. Pilot test 112. A pilot test was performed as a trial of the methodology and vali- dation of the...criterion on bar depth given by Larson and Kraus (1989) prior to actual testing . In this pilot test , the wave conditions and equilibrium bar formed in a