On the incremental validity of irrational beliefs to predict subjective well-being while controlling for personality factors.

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Spörrle, Matthias; Strobel, Maria; Tumasjan, Andranik

2010-11-01

This research examines the incremental validity of irrational thinking as conceptualized by Albert Ellis to predict diverse aspects of subjective well-being while controlling for the influence of personality factors. Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) argues that irrational beliefs result in maladaptive emotions leading to reduced well-being. Although there is some early scientific evidence for this relation, it has never been investigated whether this connection would still persist when statistically controlling for the Big Five personality factors, which were consistently found to be important determinants of well-being. Regression analyses revealed significant incremental validity of irrationality over personality factors when predicting life satisfaction, but not when predicting subjective happiness. Results are discussed with respect to conceptual differences between these two aspects of subjective well-being.

Incremental Validity of the WJ III COG: Limited Predictive Effects beyond the GIA-E

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McGill, Ryan J.; Busse, R. T.

2015-01-01

This study is an examination of the incremental validity of Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) broad clusters from the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ III COG) for predicting scores on the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH). The participants were children and adolescents, ages 6-18 (n = 4,722), drawn from the WJ…

Reliability and validity of the test of incremental respiratory endurance measures of inspiratory muscle performance in COPD

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Formiga MF

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Magno F Formiga,1,2 Kathryn E Roach,1 Isabel Vital,3 Gisel Urdaneta,3 Kira Balestrini,3 Rafael A Calderon-Candelario,3,4 Michael A Campos,3,4,* Lawrence P Cahalin1,* 1Department of Physical Therapy, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Coral Gables, FL, USA; 2CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, Brasilia, Brazil; 3Pulmonary Section, Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA; 4Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA *These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: The Test of Incremental Respiratory Endurance (TIRE provides a comprehensive assessment of inspiratory muscle performance by measuring maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP over time. The integration of MIP over inspiratory duration (ID provides the sustained maximal inspiratory pressure (SMIP. Evidence on the reliability and validity of these measurements in COPD is not currently available. Therefore, we assessed the reliability, responsiveness and construct validity of the TIRE measures of inspiratory muscle performance in subjects with COPD. Patients and methods: Test–retest reliability, known-groups and convergent validity assessments were implemented simultaneously in 81 male subjects with mild to very severe COPD. TIRE measures were obtained using the portable PrO2 device, following standard guidelines. Results: All TIRE measures were found to be highly reliable, with SMIP demonstrating the strongest test–retest reliability with a nearly perfect intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC of 0.99, while MIP and ID clustered closely together behind SMIP with ICC values of about 0.97. Our findings also demonstrated known-groups validity of all TIRE measures, with SMIP and ID yielding larger effect sizes when compared to MIP in distinguishing between subjects of different COPD status. Finally, our analyses confirmed convergent validity for both SMIP

Structural and incremental validity of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition with a clinical sample.

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Nelson, Jason M; Canivez, Gary L; Watkins, Marley W

2013-06-01

Structural and incremental validity of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008a) was examined with a sample of 300 individuals referred for evaluation at a university-based clinic. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the WAIS-IV structure was best represented by 4 first-order factors as well as a general intelligence factor in a direct hierarchical model. The general intelligence factor accounted for the most common and total variance among the subtests. Incremental validity analyses indicated that the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) generally accounted for medium to large portions of academic achievement variance. For all measures of academic achievement, the first-order factors combined accounted for significant achievement variance beyond that accounted for by the FSIQ, but individual factor index scores contributed trivial amounts of achievement variance. Implications for interpreting WAIS-IV results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Incremental Validity of the MMPI-2 PSY-5 Scales in Assessing Self-Reported Personality Disorder Criteria

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Wygant, Dustin B.; Sellbom, Martin; Graham, John R.; Schenk, Paul W.

2006-01-01

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) Personality Psychopathology-Five (PSY-5) scales were developed to measure abnormal personality symptomatology. The present study examines the incremental validity of the PSY-5 scales beyond the clinical and content scales in assessing criteria associated with personality disorders. The…

Hardiness scales in Iranian managers: evidence of incremental validity in relationships with the five factor model and with organizational and psychological adjustment.

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Ghorbani, Nima; Watson, P J

2005-06-01

This study examined the incremental validity of Hardiness scales in a sample of Iranian managers. Along with measures of the Five Factor Model and of Organizational and Psychological Adjustment, Hardiness scales were administered to 159 male managers (M age = 39.9, SD = 7.5) who had worked in their organizations for 7.9 yr. (SD=5.4). Hardiness predicted greater Job Satisfaction, higher Organization-based Self-esteem, and perceptions of the work environment as being less stressful and constraining. Hardiness also correlated positively with Assertiveness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and negatively with Depression, Anxiety, Perceived Stress, Chance External Control, and a Powerful Others External Control. Evidence of incremental validity was obtained when the Hardiness scales supplemented the Five Factor Model in predicting organizational and psychological adjustment. These data documented the incremental validity of the Hardiness scales in a non-Western sample and thus confirmed once again that Hardiness has a relevance that extends beyond the culture in which it was developed.

Incremental Validity of the DSM-5 Section III Personality Disorder Traits With Respect to Psychosocial Impairment.

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Simms, Leonard J; Calabrese, William R

2016-02-01

Traditional personality disorders (PDs) are associated with significant psychosocial impairment. DSM-5 Section III includes an alternative hybrid personality disorder (PD) classification approach, with both type and trait elements, but relatively little is known about the impairments associated with Section III traits. Our objective was to study the incremental validity of Section III traits--compared to normal-range traits, traditional PD criterion counts, and common psychiatric symptomatology--in predicting psychosocial impairment. To that end, 628 current/recent psychiatric patients completed measures of PD traits, normal-range traits, traditional PD criteria, psychiatric symptomatology, and psychosocial impairments. Hierarchical regressions revealed that Section III PD traits incrementally predicted psychosocial impairment over normal-range personality traits, PD criterion counts, and common psychiatric symptomatology. In contrast, the incremental effects for normal-range traits, PD symptom counts, and common psychiatric symptomatology were substantially smaller than for PD traits. These findings have implications for PD classification and the impairment literature more generally.

Predicting DMS-IV cluster B personality disorder criteria from MMPI-2 and Rorschach data: a test of incremental validity.

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Blais, M A; Hilsenroth, M J; Castlebury, F; Fowler, J C; Baity, M R

2001-02-01

Despite their frequent conjoint clinical use, the incremental validity of Rorschach (Rorschach, 1921/1942) and MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) data has not been adequately established, nor has any study to date explored the incremental validity of these tests for predicting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) personality disorders (PDs). In a reanalysis of existing data, we used select Rorschach variables and the MMPI PD scales to predict DSM-IV antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic PD criteria in a sample of treatment-seeking outpatients. The correlational findings revealed alimited relation between Rorschach and MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) variables, with only 5 of 30 correlations reaching significance (p psychological characteristics of the DSM-IV Cluster B PDs.

Incremental Validity of Test Session and Classroom Observations in a Multimethod Assessment of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

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McConaughy, Stephanie H.; Harder, Valerie S.; Antshel, Kevin M.; Gordon, Michael; Eiraldi, Ricardo; Dumenci, Levent

2010-01-01

This study tested the incremental validity of behavioral observations, over and above parent and teacher reports, for assessing symptoms of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children ages 6 to 12, using the Test Observation Form (TOF) and Direct Observation Form (DOF) from the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment. The…

Incremental Criterion Validity of the WJ-III COG Clinical Clusters: Marginal Predictive Effects beyond the General Factor

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McGill, Ryan J.

2015-01-01

The current study examined the incremental validity of the clinical clusters from the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III COG) for predicting scores on the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III ACH). All participants were children and adolescents (N = 4,722) drawn from the nationally representative WJ-III…

Incremental validity of positive orientation: predictive efficiency beyond the five-factor model

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Łukasz Roland Miciuk

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Background The relation of positive orientation (a basic predisposition to think positively of oneself, one’s life and one’s future and personality traits is still disputable. The purpose of the described research was to verify the hypothesis that positive orientation has predictive efficiency beyond the five-factor model. Participants and procedure One hundred and thirty participants (at the mean age M = 24.84 completed the following questionnaires: the Self-Esteem Scale (SES, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS, the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R, the Positivity Scale (P-SCALE, the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI, the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCC, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES and the Life Engagement Test (LET. Results The introduction of positive orientation as an additional predictor in the second step of regression analyses led to better prediction of the following variables: purpose in life, self-concept clarity and generalized self-efficacy. This effect was the strongest for predicting purpose in life (i.e. 14% increment of the explained variance. Conclusions The results confirmed our hypothesis that positive orientation can be characterized by incremental validity – its inclusion in the regression model (in addition to the five main factors of personality increases the amount of explained variance. These findings may provide further evidence for the legitimacy of measuring positive orientation and personality traits separately.

The Personality Assessment Inventory as a proxy for the Psychopathy Checklist Revised: testing the incremental validity and cross-sample robustness of the Antisocial Features Scale.

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Douglas, Kevin S; Guy, Laura S; Edens, John F; Boer, Douglas P; Hamilton, Jennine

2007-09-01

The Personality Assessment Inventory's (PAI's) ability to predict psychopathic personality features, as assessed by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), was examined. To investigate whether the PAI Antisocial Features (ANT) Scale and subscales possessed incremental validity beyond other theoretically relevant PAI scales, optimized regression equations were derived in a sample of 281 Canadian federal offenders. ANT, or ANT-Antisocial Behavior (ANT-A), demonstrated unique variance in regression analyses predicting PCL-R total and Factor 2 (Lifestyle Impulsivity and Social Deviance) scores, but only the Dominance (DOM) Scale was retained in models predicting Factor 1 (Interpersonal and Affective Deficits). Attempts to cross-validate the regression equations derived from the first sample on a sample of 85 U.S. sex offenders resulted in considerable validity shrinkage, with the ANT Scale in isolation performing comparably to or better than the statistical models for PCL-R total and Factor 2 scores. Results offer limited evidence of convergent validity between the PAI and the PCL-R.

Marketing Plan for Demonstration and Validation Assets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2008-05-30

The National Security Preparedness Project (NSPP), is to be sustained by various programs, including technology demonstration and evaluation (DEMVAL). This project assists companies in developing technologies under the National Security Technology Incubator program (NSTI) through demonstration and validation of technologies applicable to national security created by incubators and other sources. The NSPP also will support the creation of an integrated demonstration and validation environment. This report documents the DEMVAL marketing and visibility plan, which will focus on collecting information about, and expanding the visibility of, DEMVAL assets serving businesses with national security technology applications in southern New Mexico.

Daily growth increments in otoliths of juvenile black rockfish, Sebastes melanops: an evaluation of autoradiography as a new method of validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1988-01-01

This study evaluates the commonly used oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC) and an alternate chemical, the radioisotope calcium-45, in terms of their success as time-markers to validate daily growth increment formation in the otoliths of juvenile black rockfish, Sebastes melanops

Incremental Validity and Informant Effect from a Multi-Method Perspective: Assessing Relations between Parental Acceptance and Children's Behavioral Problems.

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Izquierdo-Sotorrío, Eva; Holgado-Tello, Francisco P; Carrasco, Miguel Á

2016-01-01

This study examines the relationships between perceived parental acceptance and children's behavioral problems (externalizing and internalizing) from a multi-informant perspective. Using mothers, fathers, and children as sources of information, we explore the informant effect and incremental validity. The sample was composed of 681 participants (227 children, 227 fathers, and 227 mothers). Children's (40% boys) ages ranged from 9 to 17 years (M = 12.52, SD = 1.81). Parents and children completed both the Parental Acceptance Rejection/Control Questionnaire (PARQ/Control) and the check list of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA). Statistical analyses were based on the correlated uniqueness multitrait-multimethod matrix (model MTMM) by structural equations and different hierarchical regression analyses. Results showed a significant informant effect and a different incremental validity related to which combination of sources was considered. A multi-informant perspective rather than a single one increased the predictive value. Our results suggest that mother-father or child-father combinations seem to be the best way to optimize the multi-informant method in order to predict children's behavioral problems based on perceived parental acceptance.

Original article Sense of coherence: big five correlates, spirituality, and incremental validity

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Ralph L. Piedmont

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Background Antonovsky (1987 developed the Sense of Coherence (SOC scale to measure the “life orientation” that promotes an individual’s ability to recognize life stressors and then effectively utilize coping resources to adjust and maintain health. Although theoretically appealing, little empirical work has been conducted to isolate the qualities of the scale that facilitate health. Participants and procedure The present study examined the factor structure of the SOC scale, as well as its incremental validity over measures of personality, spirituality, and psychological meaning in the prediction of psychosocial outcomes (e.g., hope death anxiety, life satisfaction, well-being, social support, world view. Participants consisted of 298 adults living in the United States; 98 men and 195 women (5 individuals did not disclose their gender ages 18 to 72 (mean: 36.77 years. Results Principal components analysis indicated that a single factor best represented the structure of the 13-item SOC scale, although this one factor explained only 31% of the total variance. The scale contained a diverse item content that was challenging to interpret personologically. The SOC scale added little explanatory variance over and above the selected covariates in the prediction of psychosocial outcomes. Conclusions It appears that the SOC scale represents one aspect of a larger dimension that already has other valid indicators.

Validation of daily increments periodicity in otoliths of spotted gar

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Snow, Richard A.; Long, James M.; Frenette, Bryan D.

2017-01-01

Accurate age and growth information is essential in successful management of fish populations and for understanding early life history. We validated daily increment deposition, including the timing of first ring formation, for spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) through 127 days post hatch. Fry were produced from hatchery-spawned specimens, and up to 10 individuals per week were sacrificed and their otoliths (sagitta, lapillus, and asteriscus) removed for daily age estimation. Daily age estimates for all three otolith pairs were significantly related to known age. The strongest relationships existed for measurements from the sagitta (r2 = 0.98) and the lapillus (r2 = 0.99) with asteriscus (r2 = 0.95) the lowest. All age prediction models resulted in a slope near unity, indicating that ring deposition occurred approximately daily. Initiation of ring formation varied among otolith types, with deposition beginning 3, 7, and 9 days for the sagitta, lapillus, and asteriscus, respectively. Results of this study suggested that otoliths are useful to estimate daily age of spotted gar juveniles; these data may be used to back calculate hatch dates, estimate early growth rates, and correlate with environmental factor that influence spawning in wild populations. is early life history information will be valuable in better understanding the ecology of this species. 

Thermomechanical simulations and experimental validation for high speed incremental forming

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Ambrogio, Giuseppina; Gagliardi, Francesco; Filice, Luigino; Romero, Natalia

2016-10-01

Incremental sheet forming (ISF) consists in deforming only a small region of the workspace through a punch driven by a NC machine. The drawback of this process is its slowness. In this study, a high speed variant has been investigated from both numerical and experimental points of view. The aim has been the design of a FEM model able to perform the material behavior during the high speed process by defining a thermomechanical model. An experimental campaign has been performed by a CNC lathe with high speed to test process feasibility. The first results have shown how the material presents the same performance than in conventional speed ISF and, in some cases, better material behavior due to the temperature increment. An accurate numerical simulation has been performed to investigate the material behavior during the high speed process confirming substantially experimental evidence.

Brief implicit association test: Validity and utility in prediction of voting behavior

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Pavlović Maša D.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We employed the Brief Implicit Association Test (a recently developed short version of IAT to measure implicit political attitudes toward four political parties running for Serbian parliament. To test its criterion validity, we measured voting intention and actual voting behavior. In addition, we introduced political involvement as a potential moderator of the BIAT’s predictive and incremental validity. The BIAT demonstrated good internal and predictive validity, but lacked incremental validity over self-report measures. Predictive power of the BIAT was moderated by political involvement - the BIAT scores were stronger predictors of voting intention and behavior among voters highly involved in politics. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179018

Incremental inverse kinematics based vision servo for autonomous robotic capture of non-cooperative space debris

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Dong, Gangqi; Zhu, Z. H.

2016-04-01

This paper proposed a new incremental inverse kinematics based vision servo approach for robotic manipulators to capture a non-cooperative target autonomously. The target's pose and motion are estimated by a vision system using integrated photogrammetry and EKF algorithm. Based on the estimated pose and motion of the target, the instantaneous desired position of the end-effector is predicted by inverse kinematics and the robotic manipulator is moved incrementally from its current configuration subject to the joint speed limits. This approach effectively eliminates the multiple solutions in the inverse kinematics and increases the robustness of the control algorithm. The proposed approach is validated by a hardware-in-the-loop simulation, where the pose and motion of the non-cooperative target is estimated by a real vision system. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed estimation approach for the target and the incremental control strategy for the robotic manipulator.

Testing the relations between impulsivity-related traits, suicidality, and nonsuicidal self-injury: a test of the incremental validity of the UPPS model.

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Lynam, Donald R; Miller, Joshua D; Miller, Drew J; Bornovalova, Marina A; Lejuez, C W

2011-04-01

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has received significant attention as a predictor of suicidal behavior (SB) and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Despite significant promise, trait impulsivity has received less attention. Understanding the relations between impulsivity and SB and NSSI is confounded, unfortunately, by the heterogeneous nature of impulsivity. This study examined the relations among 4 personality pathways to impulsive behavior studied via the UPPS model of impulsivity and SB and NSSI in a residential sample of drug abusers (N = 76). In this study, we tested whether these 4 impulsivity-related traits (i.e., Negative Urgency, Sensation Seeking, Lack of Premeditation, and Lack of Perseverance) provide incremental validity in the statistical prediction of SB and NSSI above and beyond BPD; they do. We also tested whether BPD symptoms provide incremental validity in the prediction of SB and NSSI above and beyond these impulsivity-related traits; they do not. In addition to the main effects of Lack of Premeditation and Negative Urgency, we found evidence of a robust interaction between these 2 personality traits. The current results argue strongly for the consideration of these 2 impulsivity-related domains--alone and in interaction--when attempting to understand and predict SB and NSSI.

Design of methodology for incremental compiler construction

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Pavel Haluza

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with possibilities of the incremental compiler construction. It represents the compiler construction possibilities for languages with a fixed set of lexical units and for languages with a variable set of lexical units, too. The methodology design for the incremental compiler construction is based on the known algorithms for standard compiler construction and derived for both groups of languages. Under the group of languages with a fixed set of lexical units there belong languages, where each lexical unit has its constant meaning, e.g., common programming languages. For this group of languages the paper tries to solve the problem of the incremental semantic analysis, which is based on incremental parsing. In the group of languages with a variable set of lexical units (e.g., professional typographic system TEX, it is possible to change arbitrarily the meaning of each character on the input file at any time during processing. The change takes effect immediately and its validity can be somehow limited or is given by the end of the input. For this group of languages this paper tries to solve the problem case when we use macros temporarily changing the category of arbitrary characters.

The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI): a test of the convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of FFNI scores in clinical and community samples.

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Miller, Joshua D; Few, Lauren R; Wilson, Lauren; Gentile, Brittany; Widiger, Thomas A; Mackillop, James; Keith Campbell, W

2013-09-01

The five-factor narcissism inventory (FFNI) is a new self-report measure that was developed to assess traits associated with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), as well as grandiose and vulnerable narcissism from a five-factor model (FFM) perspective. In the current study, the FFNI was examined in relation to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) NPD, DSM-5 (http://www.dsm5.org) NPD traits, grandiose narcissism, and vulnerable narcissism in both community (N = 287) and clinical samples (N = 98). Across the samples, the FFNI scales manifested good convergent and discriminant validity such that FFNI scales derived from FFM neuroticism were primarily related to vulnerable narcissism scores, scales derived from FFM extraversion were primarily related to grandiose scores, and FFNI scales derived from FFM agreeableness were related to both narcissism dimensions, as well as the DSM-IV and DSM-5 NPD scores. The FFNI grandiose and vulnerable narcissism composites also demonstrated incremental validity in the statistical prediction of these scores, above and beyond existing measures of DSM NPD, grandiose narcissism, and vulnerable narcissism, respectively. The FFNI is a promising measure that provides a comprehensive assessment of narcissistic pathology while maintaining ties to the significant general personality literature on the FFM.

Initial interpretation and evaluation of a profile-based classification system for the anxiety and mood disorders: Incremental validity compared to DSM-IV categories.

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Rosellini, Anthony J; Brown, Timothy A

2014-12-01

Limitations in anxiety and mood disorder diagnostic reliability and validity due to the categorical approach to classification used by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) have been long recognized. Although these limitations have led researchers to forward alternative classification schemes, few have been empirically evaluated. In a sample of 1,218 outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders, the present study examined the validity of Brown and Barlow's (2009) proposal to classify the anxiety and mood disorders using an integrated dimensional-categorical approach based on transdiagnostic emotional disorder vulnerabilities and phenotypes. Latent class analyses of 7 transdiagnostic dimensional indicators suggested that a 6-class (i.e., profile) solution provided the best model fit and was the most conceptually interpretable. Interpretation of the classes was further supported when compared with DSM diagnoses (i.e., within-class prevalence of diagnoses, using diagnoses to predict class membership). In addition, hierarchical multiple regression models were used to demonstrate the incremental validity of the profiles; class probabilities consistently accounted for unique variance in anxiety and mood disorder outcomes above and beyond DSM diagnoses. These results provide support for the potential development and utility of a hybrid dimensional-categorical profile approach to anxiety and mood disorder classification. In particular, the availability of dimensional indicators and corresponding profiles may serve as a useful complement to DSM diagnoses for both researchers and clinicians. (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Testing the Relations Between Impulsivity-Related Traits, Suicidality, and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: A Test of the Incremental Validity of the UPPS Model

Science.gov (United States)

Lynam, Donald R.; Miller, Joshua D.; Miller, Drew J.; Bornovalova, Marina A.; Lejuez, C. W.

2011-01-01

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has received significant attention as a predictor of suicidal behavior (SB) and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Despite significant promise, trait impulsivity has received less attention. Understanding the relations between impulsivity and SB and NSSI is confounded, unfortunately, by the heterogeneous nature of impulsivity. This study examined the relations among 4 personality pathways to impulsive behavior studied via the UPPS model of impulsivity and SB and NSSI in a residential sample of drug abusers (N = 76). In this study, we tested whether these 4 impulsivity-related traits (i.e., Negative Urgency, Sensation Seeking, Lack of Premeditation, and Lack of Perseverance) provide incremental validity in the statistical prediction of SB and NSSI above and beyond BPD; they do. We also tested whether BPD symptoms provide incremental validity in the prediction of SB and NSSI above and beyond these impulsivity-related traits; they do not. In addition to the main effects of Lack of Premeditation and Negative Urgency, we found evidence of a robust interaction between these 2 personality traits. The current results argue strongly for the consideration of these 2 impulsivity-related domains—alone and in interaction—when attempting to understand and predict SB and NSSI. PMID:21833346

Resilience or hope? Incremental and convergent validity of the resilience scale for adults (RSA and the Herth hope scale (HHS in the prediction of anxiety and depression

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Roxanna Morote

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Hope and resilience protect against inner vulnerabilities or harsh life circumstances; they explain individual differences in physical or mental health outcomes under high stress. They have been studied in complementary or competing theoretical frameworks; therefore, the study of measures of hope and resilience should be undertaken prior to explore if they are truly value-added for research. This study investigates the convergent and incremental validity of the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA and the Herth Hope Scale (HHS, in the prediction of anxiety and depression (HSCL-25. Methods Participants in this community-based sample are 762 adults from 18 to 74 years old. They answered the RSA, HHS, Spanish Language Stressful Life-Events Checklist (SL-SLE, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25. Incremental validity analyses combined hierarchical regression and structural equation models (SEM. First, hierarchical regression models were compared based on three criteria (R 2 Diff., ΔF, and semi-partial r, then the direct effect of resilience on affective symptoms was compared with the mediated effect of resilience on affective symptoms through hope. Results The hierarchical models showed that (1 hope and resilience account significantly for the variance of affective symptoms above age, sex, and life-stress; (2 Resilience Total score has greater incremental validity than positive scales of HHS Hope; and (3 RSA Total score, HHS Optimism/Spiritual support, Stressful life-events and sex are unique predictors of affective symptoms. The SEM analyses verified a stronger direct effect of resilience in the prediction of affective symptoms above the significant partial mediated effect of resilience through hope. Additionally, results show that age and better educational opportunities were associated with protection (i.e. resilience and hope and emotional well-being (i.e. affective symptoms and hopelessness. Women showed higher scores

Resilience or hope? Incremental and convergent validity of the resilience scale for adults (RSA) and the Herth hope scale (HHS) in the prediction of anxiety and depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Morote, Roxanna; Hjemdal, Odin; Krysinska, Karolina; Martinez Uribe, Patricia; Corveleyn, Jozef

2017-10-27

Hope and resilience protect against inner vulnerabilities or harsh life circumstances; they explain individual differences in physical or mental health outcomes under high stress. They have been studied in complementary or competing theoretical frameworks; therefore, the study of measures of hope and resilience should be undertaken prior to explore if they are truly value-added for research. This study investigates the convergent and incremental validity of the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) and the Herth Hope Scale (HHS), in the prediction of anxiety and depression (HSCL-25). Participants in this community-based sample are 762 adults from 18 to 74 years old. They answered the RSA, HHS, Spanish Language Stressful Life-Events Checklist (SL-SLE), and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25). Incremental validity analyses combined hierarchical regression and structural equation models (SEM). First, hierarchical regression models were compared based on three criteria (R 2 Diff., ΔF, and semi-partial r), then the direct effect of resilience on affective symptoms was compared with the mediated effect of resilience on affective symptoms through hope. The hierarchical models showed that (1) hope and resilience account significantly for the variance of affective symptoms above age, sex, and life-stress; (2) Resilience Total score has greater incremental validity than positive scales of HHS Hope; and (3) RSA Total score, HHS Optimism/Spiritual support, Stressful life-events and sex are unique predictors of affective symptoms. The SEM analyses verified a stronger direct effect of resilience in the prediction of affective symptoms above the significant partial mediated effect of resilience through hope. Additionally, results show that age and better educational opportunities were associated with protection (i.e. resilience and hope) and emotional well-being (i.e. affective symptoms and hopelessness). Women showed higher scores in social competences and resources (RSA

Incremental validity of positive and negative valence in predicting personality disorder.

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Simms, Leonard J; Yufik, Tom; Gros, Daniel F

2010-04-01

The Big Seven model of personality includes five dimensions similar to the Big Five model as well as two evaluative dimensions—Positive Valence (PV) and Negative Valence (NV)—which reflect extremely positive and negative person descriptors, respectively. Recent theory and research have suggested that PV and NV predict significant variance in personality disorder (PD) above that predicted by the Big Five, but firm conclusions have not been possible because previous studies have been limited to only single measures of PV, NV, and the Big Five traits. In the present study, we replicated and extended previous findings using three markers of all key constructs—including PV, NV, and the Big Five—in a diverse sample of 338 undergraduates. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that PV incrementally predicted Narcissistic and Histrionic PDs above the Big Five and that NV nonspecifically incremented the prediction of most PDs. Implications for dimensional models of personality pathology are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

SP-100 from ground demonstration to flight validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buden, D.

1989-01-01

The SP-100 program is in the midst of developing and demonstrating the technology of a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor using thermoelectric thermal-to-electric conversion devices for space power applications in the range of tens to hundreds of kilowatts. The current ground engineering system (GES) design and development phase will demonstrate the readiness of the technology building blocks and the system to proceed to flight system validation. This phase includes the demonstration of a 2.4-MW(thermal) reactor in the nuclear assembly test (NAT) and aerospace subsystem in the integrated assembly test (IAT). The next phase in the SP-100 development, now being planned, is to be a flight demonstration of the readiness of the technology to be incorporated into future military and civilian missions. This planning will answer questions concerning the logical progression of the GES to the flight validation experiment. Important issues in planning the orderly transition include answering the need to plan for a second reactor ground test, the method to be used to test the SP-100 for acceptance for flight, the need for the IAT prior to the flight-test configuration design, the efficient use of facilities for GES and the flight experiment, and whether the NAT should be modified based on flight experiment planning

Implementing Kernel Methods Incrementally by Incremental Nonlinear Projection Trick.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwak, Nojun

2016-05-20

Recently, the nonlinear projection trick (NPT) was introduced enabling direct computation of coordinates of samples in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. With NPT, any machine learning algorithm can be extended to a kernel version without relying on the so called kernel trick. However, NPT is inherently difficult to be implemented incrementally because an ever increasing kernel matrix should be treated as additional training samples are introduced. In this paper, an incremental version of the NPT (INPT) is proposed based on the observation that the centerization step in NPT is unnecessary. Because the proposed INPT does not change the coordinates of the old data, the coordinates obtained by INPT can directly be used in any incremental methods to implement a kernel version of the incremental methods. The effectiveness of the INPT is shown by applying it to implement incremental versions of kernel methods such as, kernel singular value decomposition, kernel principal component analysis, and kernel discriminant analysis which are utilized for problems of kernel matrix reconstruction, letter classification, and face image retrieval, respectively.

Validity and reliability of the look Keo power pedal system for measuring power output during incremental and repeated sprint cycling.

Science.gov (United States)

Sparks, S Andy; Dove, Benjamin; Bridge, Craig A; Midgely, Adrian W; McNaughton, Lars R

2015-01-01

Power meters have traditionally been integrated into the crank set, but several manufacturers have designed new systems located elsewhere on the bike, such as inside the pedals. This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the Keo power pedals during several laboratory cycling tasks. Ten active male participants (mean ± SD age 34.0 ± 10.6 y, height 1.77 ± 0.04 m, body mass 76.5 ± 10.7 kg) familiar with laboratory cycling protocols completed this study. Each participant was required to complete 2 laboratory cycling trials on an SRM ergometer (SRM, Germany) that was also fitted with the Keo power pedals (Look, France). The trials consisted of an incremental test to exhaustion followed by 10 min rest and then three 10-s sprint tests separated by 3 min of cycling at 100 W. Over power ranges of 75 to 1147 W, the Keo power-pedal system produced typical error values of 0.40, 0.21, and 0.21 for the incremental, sprint, and combined trials, respectively, compared with the SRM. Mean differences of 21.0 and 18.6 W were observed between trials 1 and 2 with the Keo system in the incremental and combined protocols, respectively. In contrast, the SRM produced differences of 1.3 and 0.6 W for the same protocols. The power data from the Keo power pedals should be treated with some caution given the presence of mean differences between them and the SRM. Furthermore, this is exacerbated by poorer reliability than that of the SRM power meter.

Incremental Tensor Principal Component Analysis for Handwritten Digit Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available To overcome the shortcomings of traditional dimensionality reduction algorithms, incremental tensor principal component analysis (ITPCA based on updated-SVD technique algorithm is proposed in this paper. This paper proves the relationship between PCA, 2DPCA, MPCA, and the graph embedding framework theoretically and derives the incremental learning procedure to add single sample and multiple samples in detail. The experiments on handwritten digit recognition have demonstrated that ITPCA has achieved better recognition performance than that of vector-based principal component analysis (PCA, incremental principal component analysis (IPCA, and multilinear principal component analysis (MPCA algorithms. At the same time, ITPCA also has lower time and space complexity.

Short-term load forecasting with increment regression tree

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Jingfei; Stenzel, Juergen [Darmstadt University of Techonology, Darmstadt 64283 (Germany)

2006-06-15

This paper presents a new regression tree method for short-term load forecasting. Both increment and non-increment tree are built according to the historical data to provide the data space partition and input variable selection. Support vector machine is employed to the samples of regression tree nodes for further fine regression. Results of different tree nodes are integrated through weighted average method to obtain the comprehensive forecasting result. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through its application to an actual system. (author)

Validade incremental do Zulliger e do Pfister no contexto da toxicomania Validez incremental del Zulliger y del Pfister en el contexto de la toxicomania Incremental validity of the Zulliger and Pfister in the contexto of drug addiction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renata da Rocha Campos Franco

2012-04-01

écnicas proyectivas de Zulliger y Pfister. Los resultados demostraron coherencia entre las informaciones generadas por los instrumentos, probando que el Zulliger y el Pfister, cuando aplicados de forma asociada e interpretados por el método fenómeno-estructural, se muestran eficientes para conocer las vivencias de espacio y tiempo de los sujetos.The aim of this study was to verify the incremental validity of two projective techniques used to assess the personality traits of 20 addict patients. An assessment of the personality of ten Brazilian addict of alcohol and ten French heroin addicts who were experiencing the process of drug detoxification in specialized centers in Brazil or France was performed by the Phenomenon- structural Psychopathology perspective - a French theoretical approach that understands the mental functioning of the individual through the way it lives the space and time dimensions. The spatio-temporal relationship and the personality were understood by the verbal or pictured expression of the self and through the way images of projective techniques Zulliger and Pfister are built. The analysis showed consistency between the information generated by both instruments, demonstrating that Zulliger and Pfister, when applied in combination and interpreted by the phenomenon-structural method, are efficient to reveal the experiences of space and time of the subjects.

Limitations of Spectral Electromyogramic Analysis to Determine the Onset of Neuromuscular Fatigue Threshold during Incremental Ergometer Cycling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iban Latasa, Alfredo Cordova, Armando Malanda, Javier Navallas, Ana Lavilla-Oiz, Javier Rodriguez-Falces

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Recently, a new method has been proposed to detect the onset of neuromuscular fatigue during an incremental cycling test by assessing the changes in spectral electromyographic (sEMG frequencies within individual exercise periods of the test. The method consists on determining the highest power output that can be sustained without a significant decrease in spectral frequencies. This study evaluated the validity of the new approach by assessing the changes in spectral indicators both throughout the whole test and within individual exercise periods of the test. Fourteen cyclists performed incremental cycle ergometer rides to exhaustion with bipolar surface EMG signals recorded from the vastus lateralis. The mean and median frequencies (Fmean and Fmedian, respectively of the sEMG power spectrum were calculated. The main findings were: (1 Examination of spectral indicators within individual exercise periods of the test showed that neither Fmean nor Fmedian decreased significantly during the last (most fatiguing exercise periods. (2 Examination of the whole incremental test showed that the behaviour of Fmean and Fmedian with increasing power output was highly inconsistent and varied greatly among subjects. (3 Over the whole incremental test, half of the participants exhibited a positive relation between spectral indicators and workload, whereas the other half demonstrated the opposite behavior. Collectively, these findings indicate that spectral sEMG indexes do not provide a reliable measure of the fatigue state of the muscle during an incremental cycling test. Moreover, it is concluded that it is not possible to determine the onset of neuromuscular fatigue during an incremental cycling test by examining spectral indicators within individual exercise periods of the test.

Validation of Growth Layer Group (GLG depositional rate using daily incremental growth lines in the dentin of beluga (Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas, 1776 teeth.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David A Waugh

Full Text Available Counts of Growth Layer Groups (GLGs in the dentin of marine mammal teeth are widely used as indicators of age. In most marine mammals, observations document that GLGs are deposited yearly, but in beluga whales, some studies have supported the view that two GLGs are deposited each year. Our understanding of beluga life-history differs substantially depending on assumptions regarding the timing of GLG deposition; therefore, resolving this issue has important considerations for population assessments. In this study, we used incremental lines that represent daily pulses of dentin mineralization to test the hypothesis that GLGs in beluga dentin are deposited on a yearly basis. Our estimate of the number of daily growth lines within one GLG is remarkably close to 365 days within error, supporting the hypothesis that GLGs are deposited annually in beluga. We show that measurement of daily growth increments can be used to validate the time represented by GLGs in beluga. Furthermore, we believe this methodology may have broader applications to age estimation in other taxa.

Public Key Infrastructure Increment 2 (PKI Inc 2)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

across the Global Information Grid (GIG) and at rest. Using authoritative data, obtained via face-to-face identity proofing, PKI creates a credential ...operating on a network by provision of assured PKI-based credentials for any device on that network. ​​​​PKI Increment One made significant...provide assured/secure validation of revocation of an electronic/ digital credential . 2.DoD PKI shall support assured revocation status requests of

Single point incremental forming: Formability of PC sheets

Science.gov (United States)

Formisano, A.; Boccarusso, L.; Carrino, L.; Lambiase, F.; Minutolo, F. Memola Capece

2018-05-01

Recent research on Single Point Incremental Forming of polymers has slightly covered the possibility of expanding the materials capability window of this flexible forming process beyond metals, by demonstrating the workability of thermoplastic polymers at room temperature. Given the different behaviour of polymers compared to metals, different aspects need to be deepened to better understand the behaviour of these materials when incrementally formed. Thus, the aim of the work is to investigate the formability of incrementally formed polycarbonate thin sheets. To this end, an experimental investigation at room temperature was conducted involving formability tests; varying wall angle cone and pyramid frusta were manufactured by processing polycarbonate sheets with different thicknesses and using tools with different diameters, in order to draw conclusions on the formability of polymer sheets through the evaluation of the forming angles and the observation of the failure mechanisms.

Validation of Sizewell ''B'' ultrasonic inspections -- Messages for performance demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conroy, P.J.; Leyland, K.S.; Waites, C.

1994-01-01

At the time that the decisions leading to the construction of the Sizewell ''B'' plant were being made, public concern over the potential hazards of nuclear power was increasing. This concern was heightened by the accident at USA's Three Mile Island plant. The result of this and public pressure was that an extensive public inquiry was held in addition to the UK's normal licensing process. Part of the evidence to the inquiry supporting the safety case relied upon the ability of ultrasonic inspections to demonstrate that the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) and other key components were free from defects that could threaten structural integrity. Evidence from a variety of trials designed to investigate the performance capability of ultrasonic inspection revealed that although ultrasonic inspection had the potential to satisfy this requirement its performance in practice was heavily dependent upon the details of application. It was therefore generally recognized that some form of inspection validation was required to provide assurance that the equipment, procedures and operators to be employed were adequate for purpose. The concept of inspection validation was therefore included in the safety case for the licensing of Sizewell ''B''. The UK validation trials covering the ultrasonic inspections of the Sizewell ''B'' PWR Reactor Pressure Vessel are now nearing completion. This paper summarizes the results of the RPV validations and considers some of the implications for ASME 11 Appendix 8 the US code covering performance demonstration

Further Validation of the IDAS: Evidence of Convergent, Discriminant, Criterion, and Incremental Validity

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, David; O'Hara, Michael W.; Chmielewski, Michael; McDade-Montez, Elizabeth A.; Koffel, Erin; Naragon, Kristin; Stuart, Scott

2008-01-01

The authors explicated the validity of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS; D. Watson et al., 2007) in 2 samples (306 college students and 605 psychiatric patients). The IDAS scales showed strong convergent validity in relation to parallel interview-based scores on the Clinician Rating version of the IDAS; the mean convergent…

Effectively Coping With Task Stress: A Study of the Validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF).

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, Peter; Nguyen, Jessica; Anglim, Jeromy

2017-01-01

In this study, we investigated the validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF; Petrides, 2009) in the context of task-induced stress. We used a total sample of 225 volunteers to investigate (a) the incremental validity of the TEIQue-SF over other predictors of coping with task-induced stress, and (b) the construct validity of the TEIQue-SF by examining the mechanisms via which scores from the TEIQue-SF predict coping outcomes. Results demonstrated that the TEIQue-SF possessed incremental validity over the Big Five personality traits in the prediction of emotion-focused coping. Results also provided support for the construct validity of the TEIQue-SF by demonstrating that this measure predicted adaptive coping via emotion-focused channels. Specifically, results showed that, following a task stressor, the TEIQue-SF predicted low negative affect and high task performance via high levels of emotion-focused coping. Consistent with the purported theoretical nature of the trait emotional intelligence (EI) construct, trait EI as assessed by the TEIQue-SF primarily enhances affect and performance in stressful situations by regulating negative emotions.

Validation of a Maximal Incremental Skating Test Performed on a Slide Board: Comparison With Treadmill Skating.

Science.gov (United States)

Piucco, Tatiane; Diefenthaeler, Fernando; Soares, Rogério; Murias, Juan M; Millet, Guillaume Y

2017-11-01

To investigate the criterion validity of a maximal incremental skating test performed on a slide board (SB). Twelve subelite speed skaters performed a maximal skating test on a treadmill and on a SB. Gas exchange threshold (GET), respiratory compensation point (RCP), and maximal variables were determined. Oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]) (31.0 ± 3.2 and 31.4 ± 4.1 mL·min -1 ·kg -1 ), percentage of maximal [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) (66.3 ± 4 and 67.7 ± 7.1%), HR (153 ± 14 and 150 ±12 bpm), and ventilation (59.8 ± 11.8 and 57.0 ± 10.7 L·min -1 ) at GET, and [Formula: see text] (42.5 ± 4.4 and 42.9 ± 4.8 mL·min -1 ·kg -1 ), percentage of [Formula: see text] (91.1 ± 3.3 and 92.4 ± 2.1%), heart rate (HR) (178 ± 9 and 178 ± 6 bpm), and ventilation (96.5 ± 19.2 and 92.1 ± 12.7 L·min -1 ) at RCP were not different between skating on a treadmill and on a SB. [Formula: see text] (46.7 ± 4.4 vs 46.4 ±6.1 mL·min -1 ·kg -1 ) and maximal HR (195 ± 6 vs 196 ± 10 bpm) were not significantly different and correlated (r = .80 and r = .87, respectively; P  .8) with athletes' best times on 1500 m. The incremental skating test on a SB was capable to distinguish maximal ([Formula: see text] and HR) and submaximal ([Formula: see text], % [Formula: see text], HR, and ventilation) parameters known to determine endurance performance. Therefore, the SB test can be considered as a specific and practical alternative to evaluate speed skaters.

The General Assessment of Personality Disorder (GAPD): factor structure, incremental validity of self-pathology, and relations to DSM-IV personality disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Hentschel, Annett G; Livesley, W John

2013-01-01

Recent developments in the classification of personality disorder, especially moves toward more dimensional systems, create the need to assess general personality disorder apart from individual differences in personality pathology. The General Assessment of Personality Disorder (GAPD) is a self-report questionnaire designed to evaluate general personality disorder. The measure evaluates 2 major components of disordered personality: self or identity problems and interpersonal dysfunction. This study explores whether there is a single factor reflecting general personality pathology as proposed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.), whether self-pathology has incremental validity over interpersonal pathology as measured by GAPD, and whether GAPD scales relate significantly to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]) personality disorders. Based on responses from a German psychiatric sample of 149 participants, parallel analysis yielded a 1-factor model. Self Pathology scales of the GAPD increased the predictive validity of the Interpersonal Pathology scales of the GAPD. The GAPD scales showed a moderate to high correlation for 9 of 12 DSM-IV personality disorders.

The National Institute of Education and Incremental Budgeting.

Science.gov (United States)

Hastings, Anne H.

1979-01-01

The National Institute of Education's (NIE) history demonstrates that the relevant criteria for characterizing budgeting as incremental are not the predictability and stability of appropriations but the conditions of complexity, limited information, multiple factors, and imperfect agreement on ends; NIE's appropriations were dominated by political…

Validity of the alcohol purchase task: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiselica, Andrew M; Webber, Troy A; Bornovalova, Marina A

2016-05-01

Behavioral economists assess alcohol consumption as a function of unit price. This method allows construction of demand curves and demand indices, which are thought to provide precise numerical estimates of risk for alcohol problems. One of the more commonly used behavioral economic measures is the Alcohol Purchase Task (APT). Although the APT has shown promise as a measure of risk for alcohol problems, the construct validity and incremental utility of the APT remain unclear. This paper presents a meta-analysis of the APT literature. Sixteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. Studies were gathered via searches of the PsycInfo, PubMed, Web of Science and EconLit research databases. Random-effects meta-analyses with inverse variance weighting were used to calculate summary effect sizes for each demand index-drinking outcome relationship. Moderation of these effects by drinking status (regular versus heavy drinkers) was examined. Additionally, tests of the incremental utility of the APT indices in predicting drinking problems above and beyond measuring alcohol consumption were performed. The APT indices were correlated in the expected directions with drinking outcomes, although many effects were small in size. These effects were typically not moderated by the drinking status of the samples. Additionally, the intensity metric demonstrated incremental utility in predicting alcohol use disorder symptoms beyond measuring drinking. The Alcohol Purchase Task appears to have good construct validity, but limited incremental utility in estimating risk for alcohol problems. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Laboratory Validation and Demonstrations of Non-Hexavalent Chromium Conversion Coatings for Steel Substrates (Briefing Charts)

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-01

UNCLASSIFIED: Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. Laboratory Validation and Demonstrations of Non- Hexavalent Chromium Conversion...00-00-2011 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Laboratory Validation and Demonstrations of Non- Hexavalent Chromium Conversion Coatings for Steel Substrates 5a...to MRAP II Acquisition Pretreatment /conversion coatings omitted: • Hex- chrome pretreatments prohibited for new ground vehicles • Hydrogen

Deep Incremental Boosting

OpenAIRE

Mosca, Alan; Magoulas, George D

2017-01-01

This paper introduces Deep Incremental Boosting, a new technique derived from AdaBoost, specifically adapted to work with Deep Learning methods, that reduces the required training time and improves generalisation. We draw inspiration from Transfer of Learning approaches to reduce the start-up time to training each incremental Ensemble member. We show a set of experiments that outlines some preliminary results on some common Deep Learning datasets and discuss the potential improvements Deep In...

On excursion increments in heartbeat dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guzmán-Vargas, L.; Reyes-Ramírez, I.; Hernández-Pérez, R.

2013-01-01

We study correlation properties of excursion increments of heartbeat time series from healthy subjects and heart failure patients. We construct the excursion time based on the original heartbeat time series, representing the time employed by the walker to return to the local mean value. Next, the detrended fluctuation analysis and the fractal dimension method are applied to the magnitude and sign of the increments in the time excursions between successive excursions for the mentioned groups. Our results show that for magnitude series of excursion increments both groups display long-range correlations with similar correlation exponents, indicating that large (small) increments (decrements) are more likely to be followed by large (small) increments (decrements). For sign sequences and for both groups, we find that increments are short-range anti-correlated, which is noticeable under heart failure conditions

Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stottler, Gary

2012-02-08

General Motors, LLC and energy partner Shell Hydrogen, LLC, deployed a system of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles integrated with a hydrogen fueling station infrastructure to operate under real world conditions as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Validation and Demonstration Project. This technical report documents the performance and describes the learnings from progressive generations of vehicle fuel cell system technology and multiple approaches to hydrogen generation and delivery for vehicle fueling.

Drive: Theory and Construct Validation.

Science.gov (United States)

Siegling, Alex B; Petrides, K V

2016-01-01

This article explicates the theory of drive and describes the development and validation of two measures. A representative set of drive facets was derived from an extensive corpus of human attributes (Study 1). Operationalised using an International Personality Item Pool version (the Drive:IPIP), a three-factor model was extracted from the facets in two samples and confirmed on a third sample (Study 2). The multi-item IPIP measure showed congruence with a short form, based on single-item ratings of the facets, and both demonstrated cross-informant reliability. Evidence also supported the measures' convergent, discriminant, concurrent, and incremental validity (Study 3). Based on very promising findings, the authors hope to initiate a stream of research in what is argued to be a rather neglected niche of individual differences and non-cognitive assessment.

Sustained change blindness to incremental scene rotation: a dissociation between explicit change detection and visual memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Hollingworth, Andrew; Henderson, John M

2004-07-01

In a change detection paradigm, the global orientation of a natural scene was incrementally changed in 1 degree intervals. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants demonstrated sustained change blindness to incremental rotation, often coming to consider a significantly different scene viewpoint as an unchanged continuation of the original view. Experiment 3 showed that participants who failed to detect the incremental rotation nevertheless reliably detected a single-step rotation back to the initial view. Together, these results demonstrate an important dissociation between explicit change detection and visual memory. Following a change, visual memory is updated to reflect the changed state of the environment, even if the change was not detected.

OXYGEN UPTAKE KINETICS DURING INCREMENTAL- AND DECREMENTAL-RAMP CYCLE ERGOMETRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fadıl Özyener

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The pulmonary oxygen uptake (VO2 response to incremental-ramp cycle ergometry typically demonstrates lagged-linear first-order kinetics with a slope of ~10-11 ml·min-1·W-1, both above and below the lactate threshold (ӨL, i.e. there is no discernible VO2 slow component (or "excess" VO2 above ӨL. We were interested in determining whether a reverse ramp profile would yield the same response dynamics. Ten healthy males performed a maximum incremental -ramp (15-30 W·min-1, depending on fitness. On another day, the work rate (WR was increased abruptly to the incremental maximum and then decremented at the same rate of 15-30 W.min-1 (step-decremental ramp. Five subjects also performed a sub-maximal ramp-decremental test from 90% of ӨL. VO2 was determined breath-by-breath from continuous monitoring of respired volumes (turbine and gas concentrations (mass spectrometer. The incremental-ramp VO2-WR slope was 10.3 ± 0.7 ml·min-1·W-1, whereas that of the descending limb of the decremental ramp was 14.2 ± 1.1 ml·min-1·W-1 (p < 0.005. The sub-maximal decremental-ramp slope, however, was only 9. 8 ± 0.9 ml·min-1·W-1: not significantly different from that of the incremental-ramp. This suggests that the VO2 response in the supra-ӨL domain of incremental-ramp exercise manifest not actual, but pseudo, first-order kinetics

Legislative Bargaining and Incremental Budgeting

OpenAIRE

Dhammika Dharmapala

2002-01-01

The notion of 'incrementalism', formulated by Aaron Wildavsky in the 1960's, has been extremely influential in the public budgeting literature. In essence, it entails the claim that legislators engaged in budgetary policymaking accept past allocations, and decide only on the allocation of increments to revenue. Wildavsky explained incrementalism with reference to the cognitive limitations of lawmakers and their desire to reduce conflict. This paper uses a legislative bargaining framework to u...

State-of-health monitoring of lithium-ion battery modules and packs via incremental capacity peak tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weng, Caihao; Feng, Xuning; Sun, Jing; Peng, Huei

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A new framework based on ICA is used to monitor SOH on-board for battery packs. • The applicability of the framework is validated through simulation and experiment. • The method can monitor SOH for pack consisting of cells with various aging paths. • On-board incremental capacity analysis is realized by support vector regression. - Abstract: Incremental capacity analysis (ICA) is a widely used technique for lithium-ion battery state-of-health (SOH) evaluation. The effectiveness and robustness of ICA for single cell diagnostics have been reported in many published work. In this study, we extend the ICA based SOH monitoring approach from single cells to battery modules, which consist of battery cells with various aging conditions. In order to achieve on-board implementation, an IC peak tracking approach based on the ICA principles is proposed. Analytical, numerical and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the utility of the IC peak tracking framework on multi-cell battery SOH monitoring and the effects of cell non-uniformity on the proposed method. Results show that the methods developed for single cell capacity estimation can also be used for a module or pack that has parallel-connected cells.

Construct redundancy within the Five-Factor Model as measured by the NEO PI-R: Implications for emotional intelligence and incremental coherence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

GILLES E. GIGNAC

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Self-report measures of emotional intelligence (EI have been criticized for not being associated with unique validity, independently of comprehensive measures of personality such as the NEO PI-R. In this investigation, the issue of unique validity was re-directed at personality as measured by the facets of the NEO PI-R. Specifically, based on three samples, the personality facet of Depression within the NEO PI-R was found to be so substantially predicted by ten other NEO PI-R facets as to suggest construct redundancy within the NEO PI-R (i.e., R = .93, R = .99, R = .96. Because mixed-models of EI tend to be associated with clearer construct boundaries than personality, it is suggested that EI may be associated with some scientific utility (i.e., ‘incremental coherence’, even in the total absence of any empirically demonstrable unique validity.

Incremental Support Vector Machine Framework for Visual Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuichi Motai

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Motivated by the emerging requirements of surveillance networks, we present in this paper an incremental multiclassification support vector machine (SVM technique as a new framework for action classification based on real-time multivideo collected by homogeneous sites. The technique is based on an adaptation of least square SVM (LS-SVM formulation but extends beyond the static image-based learning of current SVM methodologies. In applying the technique, an initial supervised offline learning phase is followed by a visual behavior data acquisition and an online learning phase during which the cluster head performs an ensemble of model aggregations based on the sensor nodes inputs. The cluster head then selectively switches on designated sensor nodes for future incremental learning. Combining sensor data offers an improvement over single camera sensing especially when the latter has an occluded view of the target object. The optimization involved alleviates the burdens of power consumption and communication bandwidth requirements. The resulting misclassification error rate, the iterative error reduction rate of the proposed incremental learning, and the decision fusion technique prove its validity when applied to visual sensor networks. Furthermore, the enabled online learning allows an adaptive domain knowledge insertion and offers the advantage of reducing both the model training time and the information storage requirements of the overall system which makes it even more attractive for distributed sensor networks communication.

Validation of Solar Sail Simulations for the NASA Solar Sail Demonstration Project

Science.gov (United States)

Braafladt, Alexander C.; Artusio-Glimpse, Alexandra B.; Heaton, Andrew F.

2014-01-01

NASA's Solar Sail Demonstration project partner L'Garde is currently assembling a flight-like sail assembly for a series of ground demonstration tests beginning in 2015. For future missions of this sail that might validate solar sail technology, it is necessary to have an accurate sail thrust model. One of the primary requirements of a proposed potential technology validation mission will be to demonstrate solar sail thrust over a set time period, which for this project is nominally 30 days. This requirement would be met by comparing a L'Garde-developed trajectory simulation to the as-flown trajectory. The current sail simulation baseline for L'Garde is a Systems Tool Kit (STK) plug-in that includes a custom-designed model of the L'Garde sail. The STK simulation has been verified for a flat plate model by comparing it to the NASA-developed Solar Sail Spaceflight Simulation Software (S5). S5 matched STK with a high degree of accuracy and the results of the validation indicate that the L'Garde STK model is accurate enough to meet the potential future mission requirements. Additionally, since the L'Garde sail deviates considerably from a flat plate, a force model for a non-flat sail provided by L'Garde sail was also tested and compared to a flat plate model in S5. This result will be used in the future as a basis of comparison to the non-flat sail model being developed for STK.

Adapting social neuroscience measures for schizophrenia clinical trials, part 3: fathoming external validity.

Science.gov (United States)

Olbert, Charles M; Penn, David L; Kern, Robert S; Lee, Junghee; Horan, William P; Reise, Steven P; Ochsner, Kevin N; Marder, Stephen R; Green, Michael F

2013-11-01

It is unknown whether measures adapted from social neuroscience linked to specific neural systems will demonstrate relationships to external variables. Four paradigms adapted from social neuroscience were administered to 173 clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia to determine their relationships to functionally meaningful variables and to investigate their incremental validity beyond standard measures of social and nonsocial cognition. The 4 paradigms included 2 that assess perception of nonverbal social and action cues (basic biological motion and emotion in biological motion) and 2 that involve higher level inferences about self and others' mental states (self-referential memory and empathic accuracy). Overall, social neuroscience paradigms showed significant relationships to functional capacity but weak relationships to community functioning; the paradigms also showed weak correlations to clinical symptoms. Evidence for incremental validity beyond standard measures of social and nonsocial cognition was mixed with additional predictive power shown for functional capacity but not community functioning. Of the newly adapted paradigms, the empathic accuracy task had the broadest external validity. These results underscore the difficulty of translating developments from neuroscience into clinically useful tasks with functional significance.

First UHF Implementation of the Incremental Scheme for Open-Shell Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Anacker, Tony; Tew, David P; Friedrich, Joachim

2016-01-12

The incremental scheme makes it possible to compute CCSD(T) correlation energies to high accuracy for large systems. We present the first extension of this fully automated black-box approach to open-shell systems using an Unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) wave function, extending the efficient domain-specific basis set approach to handle open-shell references. We test our approach on a set of organic and metal organic structures and molecular clusters and demonstrate standard deviations from canonical CCSD(T) values of only 1.35 kJ/mol using a triple ζ basis set. We find that the incremental scheme is significantly more cost-effective than the canonical implementation even for relatively small systems and that the ease of parallelization makes it possible to perform high-level calculations on large systems in a few hours on inexpensive computers. We show that the approximations that make our approach widely applicable are significantly smaller than both the basis set incompleteness error and the intrinsic error of the CCSD(T) method, and we further demonstrate that incremental energies can be reliably used in extrapolation schemes to obtain near complete basis set limit CCSD(T) reaction energies for large systems.

76 FR 81991 - National Spectrum Sharing Research Experimentation, Validation, Verification, Demonstration and...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-29

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION National Spectrum Sharing Research Experimentation, Validation... requirements of national level spectrum research, development, demonstration, and field trial facilities... to determine the optimal way to manage and use the radio spectrum. During Workshop I held at Boulder...

Validation of the Physician Teaching Motivation Questionnaire (PTMQ).

Science.gov (United States)

Dybowski, Christoph; Harendza, Sigrid

2015-10-02

Physicians play a major role as teachers in undergraduate medical education. Studies indicate that different forms and degrees of motivation can influence work performance in general and that teachers' motivation to teach can influence students' academic achievements in particular. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and to validate an instrument measuring teaching motivations in hospital-based physicians. We chose self-determination theory as a theoretical framework for item and scale development. It distinguishes between different dimensions of motivation depending on the amount of self-regulation and autonomy involved and its empirical evidence has been demonstrated in other areas of research. To validate the new instrument (PTMQ = Physician Teaching Motivation Questionnaire), we used data from a sample of 247 physicians from internal medicine and surgery at six German medical faculties. Structural equation modelling was conducted to confirm the factorial structure, correlation analyses and linear regressions were performed to examine concurrent and incremental validity. Structural equation modelling confirmed a good global fit for the factorial structure of the final instrument (RMSEA = .050, TLI = .957, SRMR = .055, CFI = .966). Cronbach's alphas indicated good internal consistencies for all scales (α = .75 - .89) except for the identified teaching motivation subscale with an acceptable internal consistency (α = .65). Tests of concurrent validity with global work motivation, perceived teaching competence, perceived teaching involvement and voluntariness of lesson allocation delivered theory-consistent results with slight deviations for some scales. Incremental validity over global work motivation in predicting perceived teaching involvement was also confirmed. Our results indicate that the PTMQ is a reliable, valid and therefore suitable instrument for assessing physicians' teaching motivation.

Discriminating Malingered from Genuine Civilian Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Validation of Three MMPI-2 Infrequency Scales (F, Fp, and Fptsd)

Science.gov (United States)

Elhai, Jon D.; Naifeh, James A.; Zucker, Irene S.; Gold, Steven N.; Deitsch, Sarah E.; Frueh, B. Christopher

2004-01-01

The Infrequency-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder scale (Fptsd), recently created for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), has demonstrated incremental validity over other MMPI-2 scales in malingered posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) detection. Fptsd was developed with combat-exposed PTSD patients, potentially limiting its…

Unmanned Maritime Systems Incremental Acquisition Approach

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-01

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED MBA professional report 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE UNMANNED MARITIME SYSTEMS INCREMENTAL ACQUISITION APPROACH 5. FUNDING...Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. UNMANNED MARITIME SYSTEMS INCREMENTAL ACQUISITION APPROACH Thomas Driscoll, Lieutenant...UNMANNED MARITIME SYSTEMS INCREMENTAL ACQUISITION APPROACH ABSTRACT The purpose of this MBA report is to explore and understand the issues

Towards Reliable and Energy-Efficient Incremental Cooperative Communication for Wireless Body Area Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Yousaf, Sidrah; Javaid, Nadeem; Qasim, Umar; Alrajeh, Nabil; Khan, Zahoor Ali; Ahmed, Mansoor

2016-02-24

In this study, we analyse incremental cooperative communication for wireless body area networks (WBANs) with different numbers of relays. Energy efficiency (EE) and the packet error rate (PER) are investigated for different schemes. We propose a new cooperative communication scheme with three-stage relaying and compare it to existing schemes. Our proposed scheme provides reliable communication with less PER at the cost of surplus energy consumption. Analytical expressions for the EE of the proposed three-stage cooperative communication scheme are also derived, taking into account the effect of PER. Later on, the proposed three-stage incremental cooperation is implemented in a network layer protocol; enhanced incremental cooperative critical data transmission in emergencies for static WBANs (EInCo-CEStat). Extensive simulations are conducted to validate the proposed scheme. Results of incremental relay-based cooperative communication protocols are compared to two existing cooperative routing protocols: cooperative critical data transmission in emergencies for static WBANs (Co-CEStat) and InCo-CEStat. It is observed from the simulation results that incremental relay-based cooperation is more energy efficient than the existing conventional cooperation protocol, Co-CEStat. The results also reveal that EInCo-CEStat proves to be more reliable with less PER and higher throughput than both of the counterpart protocols. However, InCo-CEStat has less throughput with a greater stability period and network lifetime. Due to the availability of more redundant links, EInCo-CEStat achieves a reduced packet drop rate at the cost of increased energy consumption.

Development and demonstration of a validation methodology for vehicle lateral dynamics simulation models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kutluay, Emir

2013-02-01

In this thesis a validation methodology to be used in the assessment of the vehicle dynamics simulation models is presented. Simulation of vehicle dynamics is used to estimate the dynamic responses of existing or proposed vehicles and has a wide array of applications in the development of vehicle technologies. Although simulation environments, measurement tools and mathematical theories on vehicle dynamics are well established, the methodical link between the experimental test data and validity analysis of the simulation model is still lacking. The developed validation paradigm has a top-down approach to the problem. It is ascertained that vehicle dynamics simulation models can only be validated using test maneuvers although they are aimed for real world maneuvers. Test maneuvers are determined according to the requirements of the real event at the start of the model development project and data handling techniques, validation metrics and criteria are declared for each of the selected maneuvers. If the simulation results satisfy these criteria, then the simulation is deemed ''not invalid''. If the simulation model fails to meet the criteria, the model is deemed invalid, and model iteration should be performed. The results are analyzed to determine if the results indicate a modeling error or a modeling inadequacy; and if a conditional validity in terms of system variables can be defined. Three test cases are used to demonstrate the application of the methodology. The developed methodology successfully identified the shortcomings of the tested simulation model, and defined the limits of application. The tested simulation model is found to be acceptable but valid only in a certain dynamical range. Several insights for the deficiencies of the model are reported in the analysis but the iteration step of the methodology is not demonstrated. Utilizing the proposed methodology will help to achieve more time and cost efficient simulation projects with

Phase retrieval via incremental truncated amplitude flow algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Quanbing; Wang, Zhifa; Wang, Linjie; Cheng, Shichao

2017-10-01

This paper considers the phase retrieval problem of recovering the unknown signal from the given quadratic measurements. A phase retrieval algorithm based on Incremental Truncated Amplitude Flow (ITAF) which combines the ITWF algorithm and the TAF algorithm is proposed. The proposed ITAF algorithm enhances the initialization by performing both of the truncation methods used in ITWF and TAF respectively, and improves the performance in the gradient stage by applying the incremental method proposed in ITWF to the loop stage of TAF. Moreover, the original sampling vector and measurements are preprocessed before initialization according to the variance of the sensing matrix. Simulation experiments verified the feasibility and validity of the proposed ITAF algorithm. The experimental results show that it can obtain higher success rate and faster convergence speed compared with other algorithms. Especially, for the noiseless random Gaussian signals, ITAF can recover any real-valued signal accurately from the magnitude measurements whose number is about 2.5 times of the signal length, which is close to the theoretic limit (about 2 times of the signal length). And it usually converges to the optimal solution within 20 iterations which is much less than the state-of-the-art algorithms.

FEM Simulation of Incremental Shear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosochowski, Andrzej; Olejnik, Lech

2007-01-01

A popular way of producing ultrafine grained metals on a laboratory scale is severe plastic deformation. This paper introduces a new severe plastic deformation process of incremental shear. A finite element method simulation is carried out for various tool geometries and process kinematics. It has been established that for the successful realisation of the process the inner radius of the channel as well as the feeding increment should be approximately 30% of the billet thickness. The angle at which the reciprocating die works the material can be 30 deg. . When compared to equal channel angular pressing, incremental shear shows basic similarities in the mode of material flow and a few technological advantages which make it an attractive alternative to the known severe plastic deformation processes. The most promising characteristic of incremental shear is the possibility of processing very long billets in a continuous way which makes the process more industrially relevant

The incremental role of trait emotional intelligence on perceived cervical screening barriers.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Sebastiano; Barberis, Nadia; Larcan, Rosalba; Cuzzocrea, Francesca

2018-02-13

Researchers have become increasingly interested in investigating the role of the psychological aspects related to the perception of cervical screening barriers. This study investigates the influence of trait EI on perceived cervical screening barriers. Furthermore, this study investigates the incremental validity of trait EI beyond the Big Five, as well as emotion regulation in the perceived barrier towards the Pap test as revealed in a sample of 206 Italian women that were undergoing cervical screening. Results have shown that trait EI is negatively related to cervical screening barriers. Furthermore, trait EI can be considered as a strong incremental predictor of a woman's perception of screening over and above the Big Five, emotion regulation, age, sexual intercourse experience and past Pap test. Detailed information on the study findings and future research directions are discussed.

Identifying the Academic Rising Stars via Pairwise Citation Increment Ranking

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Chuxu

2017-08-02

Predicting the fast-rising young researchers (the Academic Rising Stars) in the future provides useful guidance to the research community, e.g., offering competitive candidates to university for young faculty hiring as they are expected to have success academic careers. In this work, given a set of young researchers who have published the first first-author paper recently, we solve the problem of how to effectively predict the top k% researchers who achieve the highest citation increment in Δt years. We explore a series of factors that can drive an author to be fast-rising and design a novel pairwise citation increment ranking (PCIR) method that leverages those factors to predict the academic rising stars. Experimental results on the large ArnetMiner dataset with over 1.7 million authors demonstrate the effectiveness of PCIR. Specifically, it outperforms all given benchmark methods, with over 8% average improvement. Further analysis demonstrates that temporal features are the best indicators for rising stars prediction, while venue features are less relevant.

Analytic description of the frictionally engaged in-plane bending process incremental swivel bending (ISB)

Science.gov (United States)

Frohn, Peter; Engel, Bernd; Groth, Sebastian

2018-05-01

Kinematic forming processes shape geometries by the process parameters to achieve a more universal process utilizations regarding geometric configurations. The kinematic forming process Incremental Swivel Bending (ISB) bends sheet metal strips or profiles in plane. The sequence for bending an arc increment is composed of the steps clamping, bending, force release and feed. The bending moment is frictionally engaged by two clamping units in a laterally adjustable bending pivot. A minimum clamping force hindering the material from slipping through the clamping units is a crucial criterion to achieve a well-defined incremental arc. Therefore, an analytic description of a singular bent increment is developed in this paper. The bending moment is calculated by the uniaxial stress distribution over the profiles' width depending on the bending pivot's position. By a Coulomb' based friction model, necessary clamping force is described in dependence of friction, offset, dimensions of the clamping tools and strip thickness as well as material parameters. Boundaries for the uniaxial stress calculation are given in dependence of friction, tools' dimensions and strip thickness. The results indicate that changing the bending pivot to an eccentric position significantly affects the process' bending moment and, hence, clamping force, which is given in dependence of yield stress and hardening exponent. FE simulations validate the model with satisfactory accordance.

On conditional scalar increment and joint velocity-scalar increment statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Hengbin; Wang Danhong; Tong Chenning

2004-01-01

Conditional velocity and scalar increment statistics are usually studied in the context of Kolmogorov's refined similarity hypotheses and are considered universal (quasi-Gaussian) for inertial-range separations. In such analyses the locally averaged energy and scalar dissipation rates are used as conditioning variables. Recent studies have shown that certain local turbulence structures can be captured when the local scalar variance (φ 2 ) r and the local kinetic energy k r are used as the conditioning variables. We study the conditional increments using these conditioning variables, which also provide the local turbulence scales. Experimental data obtained in the fully developed region of an axisymmetric turbulent jet are used to compute the statistics. The conditional scalar increment probability density function (PDF) conditional on (φ 2 ) r is found to be close to Gaussian for (φ 2 ) r small compared with its mean and is sub-Gaussian and bimodal for large (φ 2 ) r , and therefore is not universal. We find that the different shapes of the conditional PDFs are related to the instantaneous degree of non-equilibrium (production larger than dissipation) of the local scalar. There is further evidence of this from the conditional PDF conditional on both (φ 2 ) r and χ r , which is largely a function of (φ 2 ) r /χ r , a measure of the degree of non-equilibrium. The velocity-scalar increment joint PDF is close to joint Gaussian and quad-modal for equilibrium and non-equilibrium local velocity and scalar, respectively. The latter shape is associated with a combination of the ramp-cliff and plane strain structures. Kolmogorov's refined similarity hypotheses also predict a dependence of the conditional PDF on the degree of non-equilibrium. Therefore, the quasi-Gaussian (joint) PDF, previously observed in the context of Kolmogorov's refined similarity hypotheses, is only one of the conditional PDF shapes of inertial range turbulence. The present study suggests that

Maximum photovoltaic power tracking for the PV array using the fractional-order incremental conductance method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Chia-Hung; Huang, Cong-Hui; Du, Yi-Chun; Chen, Jian-Liung

2011-01-01

Highlights: → The FOICM can shorten the tracking time less than traditional methods. → The proposed method can work under lower solar radiation including thin and heavy clouds. → The FOICM algorithm can achieve MPPT for radiation and temperature changes. → It is easy to implement in a single-chip microcontroller or embedded system. -- Abstract: This paper proposes maximum photovoltaic power tracking (MPPT) for the photovoltaic (PV) array using the fractional-order incremental conductance method (FOICM). Since the PV array has low conversion efficiency, and the output power of PV array depends on the operation environments, such as various solar radiation, environment temperature, and weather conditions. Maximum charging power can be increased to a battery using a MPPT algorithm. The energy conversion of the absorbed solar light and cell temperature is directly transferred to the semiconductor, but electricity conduction has anomalous diffusion phenomena in inhomogeneous material. FOICM can provide a dynamic mathematical model to describe non-linear characteristics. The fractional-order incremental change as dynamic variable is used to adjust the PV array voltage toward the maximum power point. For a small-scale PV conversion system, the proposed method is validated by simulation with different operation environments. Compared with traditional methods, experimental results demonstrate the short tracking time and the practicality in MPPT of PV array.

Incremental value of the CT coronary calcium score for the prediction of coronary artery disease

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Genders, Tessa S.S. [Erasmus University Medical Center, Department of Epidemiology, P.O. Box 2040, CA, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Erasmus University Medical Center, Department of Radiology, P.O. Box 2040, CA, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Pugliese, Francesca; Mollet, Nico R.; Meijboom, W. Bob; Weustink, Annick C.; Mieghem, Carlos A.G. van; Feyter, Pim J. de [Erasmus University Medical Center, Department of Radiology, P.O. Box 2040, CA, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Erasmus University Medical Center, Department of Cardiology, P.O. Box 2040, CA, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Hunink, M.G.M. [Erasmus University Medical Center, Department of Epidemiology, P.O. Box 2040, CA, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Erasmus University Medical Center, Department of Radiology, P.O. Box 2040, CA, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Harvard University, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston (United States)

2010-10-15

To validate published prediction models for the presence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with new onset stable typical or atypical angina pectoris and to assess the incremental value of the CT coronary calcium score (CTCS). We searched the literature for clinical prediction rules for the diagnosis of obstructive CAD, defined as {>=}50% stenosis in at least one vessel on conventional coronary angiography. Significant variables were re-analysed in our dataset of 254 patients with logistic regression. CTCS was subsequently included in the models. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated to assess diagnostic performance. Re-analysing the variables used by Diamond and Forrester yielded an AUC of 0.798, which increased to 0.890 by adding CTCS. For Pryor, Morise 1994, Morise 1997 and Shaw the AUC increased from 0.838 to 0.901, 0.831 to 0.899, 0.840 to 0.898 and 0.833 to 0.899. CTCS significantly improved model performance in each model. Validation demonstrated good diagnostic performance across all models. CTCS improves the prediction of the presence of obstructive CAD, independent of clinical predictors, and should be considered in its diagnostic work-up. (orig.)

Incremental value of the CT coronary calcium score for the prediction of coronary artery disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Genders, Tessa S.S.; Pugliese, Francesca; Mollet, Nico R.; Meijboom, W. Bob; Weustink, Annick C.; Mieghem, Carlos A.G. van; Feyter, Pim J. de; Hunink, M.G.M.

2010-01-01

To validate published prediction models for the presence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with new onset stable typical or atypical angina pectoris and to assess the incremental value of the CT coronary calcium score (CTCS). We searched the literature for clinical prediction rules for the diagnosis of obstructive CAD, defined as ≥50% stenosis in at least one vessel on conventional coronary angiography. Significant variables were re-analysed in our dataset of 254 patients with logistic regression. CTCS was subsequently included in the models. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated to assess diagnostic performance. Re-analysing the variables used by Diamond and Forrester yielded an AUC of 0.798, which increased to 0.890 by adding CTCS. For Pryor, Morise 1994, Morise 1997 and Shaw the AUC increased from 0.838 to 0.901, 0.831 to 0.899, 0.840 to 0.898 and 0.833 to 0.899. CTCS significantly improved model performance in each model. Validation demonstrated good diagnostic performance across all models. CTCS improves the prediction of the presence of obstructive CAD, independent of clinical predictors, and should be considered in its diagnostic work-up. (orig.)

Acquaintance ratings of the Big Five personality traits: incremental validity beyond and interactive effects with self-reports in the prediction of workplace deviance.

Science.gov (United States)

Kluemper, Donald H; McLarty, Benjamin D; Bing, Mark N

2015-01-01

It is widely established that the Big Five personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability are antecedents to workplace deviance (Berry, Ones, & Sackett, 2007). However, these meta-analytic findings are based on self-reported personality traits. A recent meta-analysis by Oh, Wang, and Mount (2011) identified the value of acquaintance-reported personality in the prediction of job performance. The current investigation extends prior work by comparing the validities of self- and acquaintance-reported personality in the prediction of workplace deviance across 2 studies. We also hypothesized and tested an interactive, value-added integration of self- with acquaintance-reported personality using socioanalytic personality theory (R. T. Hogan, 1991). Both studies assessed self- and acquaintance-rated Big Five traits, along with supervisor-rated workplace deviance. However, the studies varied the measures of workplace deviance, and the 2nd study also included a self-rated workplace deviance criterion for additional comparison. Across both studies, the traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness were strong predictors of workplace deviance, and acquaintance-reported personality provided incremental validity beyond self-reports. Additionally, acquaintance-reported conscientiousness and agreeableness moderated the prediction of workplace deviance by interacting with the corresponding self-reported traits. Implications for personality theory and measurement are discussed along with applications for practice. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Parallel Algorithm for Incremental Betweenness Centrality on Large Graphs

KAUST Repository

Jamour, Fuad Tarek

2017-10-17

Betweenness centrality quantifies the importance of nodes in a graph in many applications, including network analysis, community detection and identification of influential users. Typically, graphs in such applications evolve over time. Thus, the computation of betweenness centrality should be performed incrementally. This is challenging because updating even a single edge may trigger the computation of all-pairs shortest paths in the entire graph. Existing approaches cannot scale to large graphs: they either require excessive memory (i.e., quadratic to the size of the input graph) or perform unnecessary computations rendering them prohibitively slow. We propose iCentral; a novel incremental algorithm for computing betweenness centrality in evolving graphs. We decompose the graph into biconnected components and prove that processing can be localized within the affected components. iCentral is the first algorithm to support incremental betweeness centrality computation within a graph component. This is done efficiently, in linear space; consequently, iCentral scales to large graphs. We demonstrate with real datasets that the serial implementation of iCentral is up to 3.7 times faster than existing serial methods. Our parallel implementation that scales to large graphs, is an order of magnitude faster than the state-of-the-art parallel algorithm, while using an order of magnitude less computational resources.

Quasi-static incremental behavior of granular materials: Elastic-plastic coupling and micro-scale dissipation

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhn, Matthew R.; Daouadji, Ali

2018-05-01

The paper addresses a common assumption of elastoplastic modeling: that the recoverable, elastic strain increment is unaffected by alterations of the elastic moduli that accompany loading. This assumption is found to be false for a granular material, and discrete element (DEM) simulations demonstrate that granular materials are coupled materials at both micro- and macro-scales. Elasto-plastic coupling at the macro-scale is placed in the context of thermomechanics framework of Tomasz Hueckel and Hans Ziegler, in which the elastic moduli are altered by irreversible processes during loading. This complex behavior is explored for multi-directional loading probes that follow an initial monotonic loading. An advanced DEM model is used in the study, with non-convex non-spherical particles and two different contact models: a conventional linear-frictional model and an exact implementation of the Hertz-like Cattaneo-Mindlin model. Orthotropic true-triaxial probes were used in the study (i.e., no direct shear strain), with tiny strain increments of 2 ×10-6 . At the micro-scale, contact movements were monitored during small increments of loading and load-reversal, and results show that these movements are not reversed by a reversal of strain direction, and some contacts that were sliding during a loading increment continue to slide during reversal. The probes show that the coupled part of a strain increment, the difference between the recoverable (elastic) increment and its reversible part, must be considered when partitioning strain increments into elastic and plastic parts. Small increments of irreversible (and plastic) strain and contact slipping and frictional dissipation occur for all directions of loading, and an elastic domain, if it exists at all, is smaller than the strain increment used in the simulations.

Two-Point Incremental Forming with Partial Die: Theory and Experimentation

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, M. B.; Martins, P. A. F.

2013-04-01

This paper proposes a new level of understanding of two-point incremental forming (TPIF) with partial die by means of a combined theoretical and experimental investigation. The theoretical developments include an innovative extension of the analytical model for rotational symmetric single point incremental forming (SPIF), originally developed by the authors, to address the influence of the major operating parameters of TPIF and to successfully explain the differences in formability between SPIF and TPIF. The experimental work comprised the mechanical characterization of the material and the determination of its formability limits at necking and fracture by means of circle grid analysis and benchmark incremental sheet forming tests. Results show the adequacy of the proposed analytical model to handle the deformation mechanics of SPIF and TPIF with partial die and demonstrate that neck formation is suppressed in TPIF, so that traditional forming limit curves are inapplicable to describe failure and must be replaced by fracture forming limits derived from ductile damage mechanics. The overall geometric accuracy of sheet metal parts produced by TPIF with partial die is found to be better than that of parts fabricated by SPIF due to smaller elastic recovery upon unloading.

48 CFR 3432.771 - Provision for incremental funding.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Provision for incremental funding. 3432.771 Section 3432.771 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION..., Incremental Funding, in a solicitation if a cost-reimbursement contract using incremental funding is...

Measuring achievement goal motivation, mindsets and cognitive load: validation of three instruments' scores.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, David A; Castillo, Richmond M; Gas, Becca; Artino, Anthony R

2017-10-01

Measurement of motivation and cognitive load has potential value in health professions education. Our objective was to evaluate the validity of scores from Dweck's Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITIS), Elliot's Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Revised (AGQ-R) and Leppink's cognitive load index (CLI). This was a validity study evaluating internal structure using reliability and factor analysis, and relationships with other variables using the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Two hundred and thirty-two secondary school students participated in a medical simulation-based training activity at an academic medical center. Pre-activity ITIS (implicit theory [mindset] domains: incremental, entity) and AGQ-R (achievement goal domains: mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, performance-avoidance), post-activity CLI (cognitive load domains: intrinsic, extrinsic, germane) and task persistence (self-directed repetitions on a laparoscopic surgery task) were measured. Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha) was > 0.70 for all domain scores except AGQ-R performance-avoidance (alpha 0.68) and CLI extrinsic load (alpha 0.64). Confirmatory factor analysis of ITIS and CLI scores demonstrated acceptable model fit. Confirmatory factor analysis of AGQ-R scores demonstrated borderline fit, and exploratory factor analysis suggested a three-domain model for achievement goals (mastery-approach, performance and avoidance). Correlations among scores from conceptually-related domains generally aligned with expectations, as follows: ITIS incremental and entity, r = -0.52; AGQ-R mastery-avoidance and performance-avoidance, r = 0.71; mastery-approach and performance-approach, r = 0.55; performance-approach and performance-avoidance, r = 0.43; mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance, r = 0.36; CLI germane and extrinsic, r = -0.35; ITIS incremental and AGQ-R mastery-approach, r = 0.34; ITIS incremental and CLI germane, r = 0.44; AGQ-R mastery

Increment memory module for spectrometric data recording

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhuchkov, A.A.; Myagkikh, A.I.

1988-01-01

Incremental memory unit designed to input differential energy spectra of nuclear radiation is described. ROM application as incremental device has allowed to reduce the number of elements and do simplify information readout from the unit. 12-bit 2048 channels present memory unit organization. The device is connected directly with the bus of microprocessor systems similar to KR 580. Incrementation maximal time constitutes 3 mks. It is possible to use this unit in multichannel counting mode

Small Diameter Bomb Increment II (SDB II)

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-01

Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) RCS: DD-A&T(Q&A)823-439 Small Diameter Bomb Increment II (SDB II) As of FY 2017 President’s Budget Defense... Bomb Increment II (SDB II) DoD Component Air Force Joint Participants Department of the Navy Responsible Office References SAR Baseline (Production...Mission and Description Small Diameter Bomb Increment II (SDB II) is a joint interest United States Air Force (USAF) and Department of the Navy

Numerical simulation of pseudoelastic shape memory alloys using the large time increment method

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Xiaojun; Zhang, Weihong; Zaki, Wael; Moumni, Ziad

2017-04-01

The paper presents a numerical implementation of the large time increment (LATIN) method for the simulation of shape memory alloys (SMAs) in the pseudoelastic range. The method was initially proposed as an alternative to the conventional incremental approach for the integration of nonlinear constitutive models. It is adapted here for the simulation of pseudoelastic SMA behavior using the Zaki-Moumni model and is shown to be especially useful in situations where the phase transformation process presents little or lack of hardening. In these situations, a slight stress variation in a load increment can result in large variations of strain and local state variables, which may lead to difficulties in numerical convergence. In contrast to the conventional incremental method, the LATIN method solve the global equilibrium and local consistency conditions sequentially for the entire loading path. The achieved solution must satisfy the conditions of static and kinematic admissibility and consistency simultaneously after several iterations. 3D numerical implementation is accomplished using an implicit algorithm and is then used for finite element simulation using the software Abaqus. Computational tests demonstrate the ability of this approach to simulate SMAs presenting flat phase transformation plateaus and subjected to complex loading cases, such as the quasi-static behavior of a stent structure. Some numerical results are contrasted to those obtained using step-by-step incremental integration.

Annual ring validation of the south african sardine Sardinops sagax ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A total of 21 sardine Sardinops sagax otoliths, collected in winter and spring 1994, were examined with a scanning electron microscope to validate growth zones using daily growth increments. Increment numbers and widths for the first, second and third annual growth zones served to back-calculate hatching dates and to ...

Comparison of different incremental analysis update schemes in a realistic assimilation system with Ensemble Kalman Filter

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Y.; Barth, A.; Beckers, J. M.; Brankart, J. M.; Brasseur, P.; Candille, G.

2017-07-01

In this paper, three incremental analysis update schemes (IAU 0, IAU 50 and IAU 100) are compared in the same assimilation experiments with a realistic eddy permitting primitive equation model of the North Atlantic Ocean using the Ensemble Kalman Filter. The difference between the three IAU schemes lies on the position of the increment update window. The relevance of each IAU scheme is evaluated through analyses on both thermohaline and dynamical variables. The validation of the assimilation results is performed according to both deterministic and probabilistic metrics against different sources of observations. For deterministic validation, the ensemble mean and the ensemble spread are compared to the observations. For probabilistic validation, the continuous ranked probability score (CRPS) is used to evaluate the ensemble forecast system according to reliability and resolution. The reliability is further decomposed into bias and dispersion by the reduced centred random variable (RCRV) score. The obtained results show that 1) the IAU 50 scheme has the same performance as the IAU 100 scheme 2) the IAU 50/100 schemes outperform the IAU 0 scheme in error covariance propagation for thermohaline variables in relatively stable region, while the IAU 0 scheme outperforms the IAU 50/100 schemes in dynamical variables estimation in dynamically active region 3) in case with sufficient number of observations and good error specification, the impact of IAU schemes is negligible. The differences between the IAU 0 scheme and the IAU 50/100 schemes are mainly due to different model integration time and different instability (density inversion, large vertical velocity, etc.) induced by the increment update. The longer model integration time with the IAU 50/100 schemes, especially the free model integration, on one hand, allows for better re-establishment of the equilibrium model state, on the other hand, smooths the strong gradients in dynamically active region.

Planning Through Incrementalism

Science.gov (United States)

Lasserre, Ph.

1974-01-01

An incremental model of decisionmaking is discussed and compared with the Comprehensive Rational Approach. A model of reconciliation between the two approaches is proposed, and examples are given in the field of economic development and educational planning. (Author/DN)

FDTD Stability: Critical Time Increment

OpenAIRE

Z. Skvor; L. Pauk

2003-01-01

A new approach suitable for determination of the maximal stable time increment for the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) algorithm in common curvilinear coordinates, for general mesh shapes and certain types of boundaries is presented. The maximal time increment corresponds to a characteristic value of a Helmholz equation that is solved by a finite-difference (FD) method. If this method uses exactly the same discretization as the given FDTD method (same mesh, boundary conditions, order of ...

Incremental Visualizer for Visible Objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bukauskas, Linas; Bøhlen, Michael Hanspeter

This paper discusses the integration of database back-end and visualizer front-end into a one tightly coupled system. The main aim which we achieve is to reduce the data pipeline from database to visualization by using incremental data extraction of visible objects in a fly-through scenarios. We...... also argue that passing only relevant data from the database will substantially reduce the overall load of the visualization system. We propose the system Incremental Visualizer for Visible Objects (IVVO) which considers visible objects and enables incremental visualization along the observer movement...... path. IVVO is the novel solution which allows data to be visualized and loaded on the fly from the database and which regards visibilities of objects. We run a set of experiments to convince that IVVO is feasible in terms of I/O operations and CPU load. We consider the example of data which uses...

Darcy Tools version 3.4. Verification, validation and demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Svensson, Urban

2010-12-01

DarcyTools is a computer code for simulation of flow and transport in porous and/or fractured media. The fractured media in mind is a fractured rock and the porous media the soil cover on the top of the rock; it is hence groundwater flows, which is the class of flows in mind. A number of novel methods and features form the present version of DarcyTools. In the verification studies, these methods are evaluated by comparisons with analytical solutions for idealized situations. The five verification groups (see Table 3-1 below), thus reflect the scope of DarcyTools. The present report will focus on the Verification, Validation and Demonstration of DarcyTools. Two accompanying reports cover other aspects: - Concepts, Methods and Equations, /Svensson et al. 2010/ (Hereafter denoted Report 1). - User's Guide, /Svensson and Ferry 2010/ (Hereafter denoted Report 2)

Darcy Tools version 3.4. Verification, validation and demonstration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Svensson, Urban (Computer-aided Fluid Engineering AB, Lyckeby (Sweden))

2010-12-15

DarcyTools is a computer code for simulation of flow and transport in porous and/or fractured media. The fractured media in mind is a fractured rock and the porous media the soil cover on the top of the rock; it is hence groundwater flows, which is the class of flows in mind. A number of novel methods and features form the present version of DarcyTools. In the verification studies, these methods are evaluated by comparisons with analytical solutions for idealized situations. The five verification groups (see Table 3-1 below), thus reflect the scope of DarcyTools. The present report will focus on the Verification, Validation and Demonstration of DarcyTools. Two accompanying reports cover other aspects: - Concepts, Methods and Equations, /Svensson et al. 2010/ (Hereafter denoted Report 1). - User's Guide, /Svensson and Ferry 2010/ (Hereafter denoted Report 2)

Power variation for Gaussian processes with stationary increments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barndorff-Nielsen, Ole Eiler; Corcuera, J.M.; Podolskij, Mark

2009-01-01

We develop the asymptotic theory for the realised power variation of the processes X=•G, where G is a Gaussian process with stationary increments. More specifically, under some mild assumptions on the variance function of the increments of G and certain regularity conditions on the path of the pr......We develop the asymptotic theory for the realised power variation of the processes X=•G, where G is a Gaussian process with stationary increments. More specifically, under some mild assumptions on the variance function of the increments of G and certain regularity conditions on the path...... a chaos representation....

Incremental passivity and output regulation for switched nonlinear systems

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Hongbo; Zhao, Jun

2017-10-01

This paper studies incremental passivity and global output regulation for switched nonlinear systems, whose subsystems are not required to be incrementally passive. A concept of incremental passivity for switched systems is put forward. First, a switched system is rendered incrementally passive by the design of a state-dependent switching law. Second, the feedback incremental passification is achieved by the design of a state-dependent switching law and a set of state feedback controllers. Finally, we show that once the incremental passivity for switched nonlinear systems is assured, the output regulation problem is solved by the design of global nonlinear regulator controllers comprising two components: the steady-state control and the linear output feedback stabilising controllers, even though the problem for none of subsystems is solvable. Two examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

EEG Eye State Identification Using Incremental Attribute Learning with Time-Series Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ting Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Eye state identification is a kind of common time-series classification problem which is also a hot spot in recent research. Electroencephalography (EEG is widely used in eye state classification to detect human's cognition state. Previous research has validated the feasibility of machine learning and statistical approaches for EEG eye state classification. This paper aims to propose a novel approach for EEG eye state identification using incremental attribute learning (IAL based on neural networks. IAL is a novel machine learning strategy which gradually imports and trains features one by one. Previous studies have verified that such an approach is applicable for solving a number of pattern recognition problems. However, in these previous works, little research on IAL focused on its application to time-series problems. Therefore, it is still unknown whether IAL can be employed to cope with time-series problems like EEG eye state classification. Experimental results in this study demonstrates that, with proper feature extraction and feature ordering, IAL can not only efficiently cope with time-series classification problems, but also exhibit better classification performance in terms of classification error rates in comparison with conventional and some other approaches.

Theory of Single Point Incremental Forming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martins, P.A.F.; Bay, Niels; Skjødt, Martin

2008-01-01

This paper presents a closed-form theoretical analysis modelling the fundamentals of single point incremental forming and explaining the experimental and numerical results available in the literature for the past couple of years. The model is based on membrane analysis with bi-directional in-plan......-plane contact friction and is focused on the extreme modes of deformation that are likely to be found in single point incremental forming processes. The overall investigation is supported by experimental work performed by the authors and data retrieved from the literature.......This paper presents a closed-form theoretical analysis modelling the fundamentals of single point incremental forming and explaining the experimental and numerical results available in the literature for the past couple of years. The model is based on membrane analysis with bi-directional in...

Efficiency of Oral Incremental Rehearsal versus Written Incremental Rehearsal on Students' Rate, Retention, and Generalization of Spelling Words

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Dru; Joseph, Laurice M.; Alber-Morgan, Sheila; Konrad, Moira

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficiency of an incremental rehearsal oral versus an incremental rehearsal written procedure on a sample of primary grade children's weekly spelling performance. Participants included five second and one first grader who were in need of help with their spelling according to their teachers. An…

Partial and incremental PCMH practice transformation: implications for quality and costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Paustian, Michael L; Alexander, Jeffrey A; El Reda, Darline K; Wise, Chris G; Green, Lee A; Fetters, Michael D

2014-02-01

To examine the associations between partial and incremental implementation of the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model and measures of cost and quality of care. We combined validated, self-reported PCMH capabilities data with administrative claims data for a diverse statewide population of 2,432 primary care practices in Michigan. These data were supplemented with contextual data from the Area Resource File. We measured medical home capabilities in place as of June 2009 and change in medical home capabilities implemented between July 2009 and June 2010. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate the mean effect of these PCMH measures on total medical costs and quality of care delivered in physician practices between July 2009 and June 2010, while controlling for potential practice, patient cohort, physician organization, and practice environment confounders. Based on the observed relationships for partial implementation, full implementation of the PCMH model is associated with a 3.5 percent higher quality composite score, a 5.1 percent higher preventive composite score, and $26.37 lower per member per month medical costs for adults. Full PCMH implementation is also associated with a 12.2 percent higher preventive composite score, but no reductions in costs for pediatric populations. Incremental improvements in PCMH model implementation yielded similar positive effects on quality of care for both adult and pediatric populations but were not associated with cost savings for either population. Estimated effects of the PCMH model on quality and cost of care appear to improve with the degree of PCMH implementation achieved and with incremental improvements in implementation. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Performance Evaluation of Incremental K-means Clustering Algorithm

OpenAIRE

Chakraborty, Sanjay; Nagwani, N. K.

2014-01-01

The incremental K-means clustering algorithm has already been proposed and analysed in paper [Chakraborty and Nagwani, 2011]. It is a very innovative approach which is applicable in periodically incremental environment and dealing with a bulk of updates. In this paper the performance evaluation is done for this incremental K-means clustering algorithm using air pollution database. This paper also describes the comparison on the performance evaluations between existing K-means clustering and i...

Finite element simulation and Experimental verification of Incremental Sheet metal Forming

Science.gov (United States)

Kaushik Yanamundra, Krishna; Karthikeyan, R., Dr.; Naranje, Vishal, Dr

2018-04-01

Incremental sheet metal forming is now a proven manufacturing technique that can be employed to obtain application specific, customized, symmetric or asymmetric shapes that are required by automobile or biomedical industries for specific purposes like car body parts, dental implants or knee implants. Finite element simulation of metal forming process is being performed successfully using explicit dynamics analysis of commercial FE software. The simulation is mainly useful in optimization of the process as well design of the final product. This paper focuses on simulating the incremental sheet metal forming process in ABAQUS, and validating the results using experimental methods. The shapes generated for testing are of trapezoid, dome and elliptical shapes whose G codes are written and fed into the CNC milling machine with an attached forming tool with a hemispherical bottom. The same pre-generated coordinates are used to simulate a similar machining conditions in ABAQUS and the tool forces, stresses and strains in the workpiece while machining are obtained as the output data. The forces experimentally were recorded using a dynamometer. The experimental and simulated results were then compared and thus conclusions were drawn.

Quantum independent increment processes

CERN Document Server

Franz, Uwe

2005-01-01

This volume is the first of two volumes containing the revised and completed notes lectures given at the school "Quantum Independent Increment Processes: Structure and Applications to Physics". This school was held at the Alfried-Krupp-Wissenschaftskolleg in Greifswald during the period March 9 – 22, 2003, and supported by the Volkswagen Foundation. The school gave an introduction to current research on quantum independent increment processes aimed at graduate students and non-specialists working in classical and quantum probability, operator algebras, and mathematical physics. The present first volume contains the following lectures: "Lévy Processes in Euclidean Spaces and Groups" by David Applebaum, "Locally Compact Quantum Groups" by Johan Kustermans, "Quantum Stochastic Analysis" by J. Martin Lindsay, and "Dilations, Cocycles and Product Systems" by B.V. Rajarama Bhat.

Incremental short daily home hemodialysis: a case series.

Science.gov (United States)

Toth-Manikowski, Stephanie M; Mullangi, Surekha; Hwang, Seungyoung; Shafi, Tariq

2017-07-05

Patients starting dialysis often have substantial residual kidney function. Incremental hemodialysis provides a hemodialysis prescription that supplements patients' residual kidney function while maintaining total (residual + dialysis) urea clearance (standard Kt/Vurea) targets. We describe our experience with incremental hemodialysis in patients using NxStage System One for home hemodialysis. From 2011 to 2015, we initiated 5 incident hemodialysis patients on an incremental home hemodialysis regimen. The biochemical parameters of all patients remained stable on the incremental hemodialysis regimen and they consistently achieved standard Kt/Vurea targets. Of the two patients with follow-up >6 months, residual kidney function was preserved for ≥2 years. Importantly, the patients were able to transition to home hemodialysis without automatically requiring 5 sessions per week at the outset and gradually increased the number of treatments and/or dialysate volume as the residual kidney function declined. An incremental home hemodialysis regimen can be safely prescribed and may improve acceptability of home hemodialysis. Reducing hemodialysis frequency by even one treatment per week can reduce the number of fistula or graft cannulations or catheter connections by >100 per year, an important consideration for patient well-being, access longevity, and access-related infections. The incremental hemodialysis approach, supported by national guidelines, can be considered for all home hemodialysis patients with residual kidney function.

A maximal incremental effort alters tear osmolarity depending on the fitness level in military helicopter pilots.

Science.gov (United States)

Vera, Jesús; Jiménez, Raimundo; Madinabeitia, Iker; Masiulis, Nerijus; Cárdenas, David

2017-10-01

Fitness level modulates the physiological responses to exercise for a variety of indices. While intense bouts of exercise have been demonstrated to increase tear osmolarity (Tosm), it is not known if fitness level can affect the Tosm response to acute exercise. This study aims to compare the effect of a maximal incremental test on Tosm between trained and untrained military helicopter pilots. Nineteen military helicopter pilots (ten trained and nine untrained) performed a maximal incremental test on a treadmill. A tear sample was collected before and after physical effort to determine the exercise-induced changes on Tosm. The Bayesian statistical analysis demonstrated that Tosm significantly increased from 303.72 ± 6.76 to 310.56 ± 8.80 mmol/L after performance of a maximal incremental test. However, while the untrained group showed an acute Tosm rise (12.33 mmol/L of increment), the trained group experienced a stable Tosm physical effort (1.45 mmol/L). There was a significant positive linear association between fat indices and Tosm changes (correlation coefficients [r] range: 0.77-0.89), whereas the Tosm changes displayed a negative relationship with the cardiorespiratory capacity (VO2 max; r = -0.75) and performance parameters (r = -0.75 for velocity, and r = -0.67 for time to exhaustion). The findings from this study provide evidence that fitness level is a major determinant of Tosm response to maximal incremental physical effort, showing a fairly linear association with several indices related to fitness level. High fitness level seems to be beneficial to avoid Tosm changes as consequence of intense exercise. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quantum independent increment processes

CERN Document Server

Franz, Uwe

2006-01-01

This is the second of two volumes containing the revised and completed notes of lectures given at the school "Quantum Independent Increment Processes: Structure and Applications to Physics". This school was held at the Alfried-Krupp-Wissenschaftskolleg in Greifswald in March, 2003, and supported by the Volkswagen Foundation. The school gave an introduction to current research on quantum independent increment processes aimed at graduate students and non-specialists working in classical and quantum probability, operator algebras, and mathematical physics. The present second volume contains the following lectures: "Random Walks on Finite Quantum Groups" by Uwe Franz and Rolf Gohm, "Quantum Markov Processes and Applications in Physics" by Burkhard Kümmerer, Classical and Free Infinite Divisibility and Lévy Processes" by Ole E. Barndorff-Nielsen, Steen Thorbjornsen, and "Lévy Processes on Quantum Groups and Dual Groups" by Uwe Franz.

Broad Learning System: An Effective and Efficient Incremental Learning System Without the Need for Deep Architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, C L Philip; Liu, Zhulin

2018-01-01

Broad Learning System (BLS) that aims to offer an alternative way of learning in deep structure is proposed in this paper. Deep structure and learning suffer from a time-consuming training process because of a large number of connecting parameters in filters and layers. Moreover, it encounters a complete retraining process if the structure is not sufficient to model the system. The BLS is established in the form of a flat network, where the original inputs are transferred and placed as "mapped features" in feature nodes and the structure is expanded in wide sense in the "enhancement nodes." The incremental learning algorithms are developed for fast remodeling in broad expansion without a retraining process if the network deems to be expanded. Two incremental learning algorithms are given for both the increment of the feature nodes (or filters in deep structure) and the increment of the enhancement nodes. The designed model and algorithms are very versatile for selecting a model rapidly. In addition, another incremental learning is developed for a system that has been modeled encounters a new incoming input. Specifically, the system can be remodeled in an incremental way without the entire retraining from the beginning. Satisfactory result for model reduction using singular value decomposition is conducted to simplify the final structure. Compared with existing deep neural networks, experimental results on the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology database and NYU NORB object recognition dataset benchmark data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed BLS.

Incremental learning for automated knowledge capture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benz, Zachary O. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Basilico, Justin Derrick [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Davis, Warren Leon [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Dixon, Kevin R. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Jones, Brian S. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Martin, Nathaniel [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Wendt, Jeremy Daniel [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2013-12-01

People responding to high-consequence national-security situations need tools to help them make the right decision quickly. The dynamic, time-critical, and ever-changing nature of these situations, especially those involving an adversary, require models of decision support that can dynamically react as a situation unfolds and changes. Automated knowledge capture is a key part of creating individualized models of decision making in many situations because it has been demonstrated as a very robust way to populate computational models of cognition. However, existing automated knowledge capture techniques only populate a knowledge model with data prior to its use, after which the knowledge model is static and unchanging. In contrast, humans, including our national-security adversaries, continually learn, adapt, and create new knowledge as they make decisions and witness their effect. This artificial dichotomy between creation and use exists because the majority of automated knowledge capture techniques are based on traditional batch machine-learning and statistical algorithms. These algorithms are primarily designed to optimize the accuracy of their predictions and only secondarily, if at all, concerned with issues such as speed, memory use, or ability to be incrementally updated. Thus, when new data arrives, batch algorithms used for automated knowledge capture currently require significant recomputation, frequently from scratch, which makes them ill suited for use in dynamic, timecritical, high-consequence decision making environments. In this work we seek to explore and expand upon the capabilities of dynamic, incremental models that can adapt to an ever-changing feature space.

A mechanistic model for electricity consumption on dairy farms: Definition, validation, and demonstration

OpenAIRE

Upton, J.R.; Murphy, M.; Shallo, L.; Groot Koerkamp, P.W.G.; Boer, de, I.J.M.

2014-01-01

Our objective was to define and demonstrate a mechanistic model that enables dairy farmers to explore the impact of a technical or managerial innovation on electricity consumption, associated CO2 emissions, and electricity costs. We, therefore, (1) defined a model for electricity consumption on dairy farms (MECD) capable of simulating total electricity consumption along with related CO2 emissions and electricity costs on dairy farms on a monthly basis; (2) validated the MECD using empirical d...

Growth increments in teeth of Diictodon (Therapsida

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Francis Thackeray

1991-09-01

Full Text Available Growth increments circa 0.02 mm in width have been observed in sectioned tusks of Diictodon from the Late Permian lower Beaufort succession of the South African Karoo, dated between about 260 and 245 million years ago. Mean growth increments show a decline from relatively high values in the Tropidostoma/Endothiodon Assemblage Zone, to lower values in the Aulacephalodon/Cistecephaluszone, declining still further in the Dicynodon lacerficeps/Whaitsia zone at the end of the Permian. These changes coincide with gradual changes in carbon isotope ratios measured from Diictodon tooth apatite. It is suggested that the decline in growth increments is related to environmental changes associated with a decline in primary production which contributed to the decline in abundance and ultimate extinction of Diictodon.

Incremental Integrity Checking: Limitations and Possibilities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Henning; Martinenghi, Davide

2005-01-01

Integrity checking is an essential means for the preservation of the intended semantics of a deductive database. Incrementality is the only feasible approach to checking and can be obtained with respect to given update patterns by exploiting query optimization techniques. By reducing the problem...... to query containment, we show that no procedure exists that always returns the best incremental test (aka simplification of integrity constraints), and this according to any reasonable criterion measuring the checking effort. In spite of this theoretical limitation, we develop an effective procedure...

A Batch-Incremental Video Background Estimation Model using Weighted Low-Rank Approximation of Matrices

KAUST Repository

Dutta, Aritra

2017-07-02

Principal component pursuit (PCP) is a state-of-the-art approach for background estimation problems. Due to their higher computational cost, PCP algorithms, such as robust principal component analysis (RPCA) and its variants, are not feasible in processing high definition videos. To avoid the curse of dimensionality in those algorithms, several methods have been proposed to solve the background estimation problem in an incremental manner. We propose a batch-incremental background estimation model using a special weighted low-rank approximation of matrices. Through experiments with real and synthetic video sequences, we demonstrate that our method is superior to the state-of-the-art background estimation algorithms such as GRASTA, ReProCS, incPCP, and GFL.

A Batch-Incremental Video Background Estimation Model using Weighted Low-Rank Approximation of Matrices

KAUST Repository

Dutta, Aritra; Li, Xin; Richtarik, Peter

2017-01-01

Principal component pursuit (PCP) is a state-of-the-art approach for background estimation problems. Due to their higher computational cost, PCP algorithms, such as robust principal component analysis (RPCA) and its variants, are not feasible in processing high definition videos. To avoid the curse of dimensionality in those algorithms, several methods have been proposed to solve the background estimation problem in an incremental manner. We propose a batch-incremental background estimation model using a special weighted low-rank approximation of matrices. Through experiments with real and synthetic video sequences, we demonstrate that our method is superior to the state-of-the-art background estimation algorithms such as GRASTA, ReProCS, incPCP, and GFL.

Approaches to Demonstrating the Reliability and Validity of Core Diagnostic Criteria for Chronic Pain.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruehl, Stephen; Ohrbach, Richard; Sharma, Sonia; Widerstrom-Noga, Eva; Dworkin, Robert H; Fillingim, Roger B; Turk, Dennis C

2016-09-01

The Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks-American Pain Society Pain Taxonomy (AAPT) is designed to be an evidence-based multidimensional chronic pain classification system that will facilitate more comprehensive and consistent chronic pain diagnoses, and thereby enhance research, clinical communication, and ultimately patient care. Core diagnostic criteria (dimension 1) for individual chronic pain conditions included in the initial version of AAPT will be the focus of subsequent empirical research to evaluate and provide evidence for their reliability and validity. Challenges to validating diagnostic criteria in the absence of clear and identifiable pathophysiological mechanisms are described. Based in part on previous experience regarding the development of evidence-based diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders, headache, and specific chronic pain conditions (fibromyalgia, complex regional pain syndrome, temporomandibular disorders, pain associated with spinal cord injuries), several potential approaches for documentation of the reliability and validity of the AAPT diagnostic criteria are summarized. The AAPT is designed to be an evidence-based multidimensional chronic pain classification system. Conceptual and methodological issues related to demonstrating the reliability and validity of the proposed AAPT chronic pain diagnostic criteria are discussed. Copyright © 2016 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Decision Support System to Choose Optimal Release Cycle Length in Incremental Software Development Environments

OpenAIRE

Suman, Avnish Chandra; Mishra, Saraswati; Anand, Abhinav

2016-01-01

In the last few years it has been seen that many software vendors have started delivering projects incrementally with very short release cycles. Best examples of success of this approach has been Ubuntu Operating system that has a 6 months release cycle and popular web browsers such as Google Chrome, Opera, Mozilla Firefox. However there is very little knowledge available to the project managers to validate the chosen release cycle length. We propose a decision support system that...

Principles of validation of diagnostic assays for infectious diseases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobson, R.H.

1998-01-01

Assay validation requires a series of inter-related processes. Assay validation is an experimental process: reagents and protocols are optimized by experimentation to detect the analyte with accuracy and precision. Assay validation is a relative process: its diagnostic sensitivity and diagnostic specificity are calculated relative to test results obtained from reference animal populations of known infection/exposure status. Assay validation is a conditional process: classification of animals in the target population as infected or uninfected is conditional upon how well the reference animal population used to validate the assay represents the target population; accurate predictions of the infection status of animals from test results (PV+ and PV-) are conditional upon the estimated prevalence of disease/infection in the target population. Assay validation is an incremental process: confidence in the validity of an assay increases over time when use confirms that it is robust as demonstrated by accurate and precise results; the assay may also achieve increasing levels of validity as it is upgraded and extended by adding reference populations of known infection status. Assay validation is a continuous process: the assay remains valid only insofar as it continues to provide accurate and precise results as proven through statistical verification. Therefore, the work required for validation of diagnostic assays for infectious diseases does not end with a time-limited series of experiments based on a few reference samples rather, to assure valid test results from an assay requires constant vigilance and maintenance of the assay, along with reassessment of its performance characteristics for each unique population of animals to which it is applied. (author)

21 CFR 874.1070 - Short increment sensitivity index (SISI) adapter.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Short increment sensitivity index (SISI) adapter. 874.1070 Section 874.1070 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN... increment sensitivity index (SISI) adapter. (a) Identification. A short increment sensitivity index (SISI...

A Syntactic-Semantic Approach to Incremental Verification

OpenAIRE

Bianculli, Domenico; Filieri, Antonio; Ghezzi, Carlo; Mandrioli, Dino

2013-01-01

Software verification of evolving systems is challenging mainstream methodologies and tools. Formal verification techniques often conflict with the time constraints imposed by change management practices for evolving systems. Since changes in these systems are often local to restricted parts, an incremental verification approach could be beneficial. This paper introduces SiDECAR, a general framework for the definition of verification procedures, which are made incremental by the framework...

Shredder: GPU-Accelerated Incremental Storage and Computation

OpenAIRE

Bhatotia, Pramod; Rodrigues, Rodrigo; Verma, Akshat

2012-01-01

Redundancy elimination using data deduplication and incremental data processing has emerged as an important technique to minimize storage and computation requirements in data center computing. In this paper, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of Shredder, a high performance content-based chunking framework for supporting incremental storage and computation systems. Shredder exploits the massively parallel processing power of GPUs to overcome the CPU bottlenecks of content-ba...

Estimating the clinical and economic benefit associated with incremental improvements in sustained virologic response in chronic hepatitis C.

Science.gov (United States)

McEwan, Phil; Ward, Thomas; Bennett, Hayley; Kalsekar, Anupama; Webster, Samantha; Brenner, Michael; Yuan, Yong

2015-01-01

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the principle causes of chronic liver disease. Successful treatment significantly decreases the risk of hepatic morbidity and mortality. Current standard of care achieves sustained virologic response (SVR) rates of 40-80%; however, the HCV therapy landscape is rapidly evolving. The objective of this study was to quantify the clinical and economic benefit associated with increasing levels of SVR. A published Markov model (MONARCH) that simulates the natural history of hepatitis C over a lifetime horizon was used. Discounted and non-discounted life-years (LYs), quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and cost of complication management were estimated for various plausible SVR rates. To demonstrate the robustness of projections obtained, the model was validated to ten UK-specific HCV studies. QALY estimates ranged from 18.0 years for those treated successfully in fibrosis stage F0 to 7.5 years (discounted) for patients in fibrosis stage F4 who remain untreated. Predicted QALY gains per 10% improvement in SVR ranged from 0.23 (F0) to 0.64 (F4) and 0.58 (F0) to 1.35 (F4) in 40 year old patients (discounted and non-discounted results respectively). In those aged 40, projected discounted HCV-related costs are minimised with successful treatment in F0/F1 (at approximately £ 300), increasing to £ 49,300 in F4 patients who remain untreated. Validation of the model to published UK cost-effectiveness studies produce R2 goodness of fit statistics of 0.988, 0.978 and of 0.973 for total costs, QALYs and incremental cost effectiveness ratios, respectively. Projecting the long-term clinical and economic consequences associated with chronic hepatitis C is a necessary requirement for the evaluation of new treatments. The principle analysis demonstrates the significant impact on expected costs, LYs and QALYs associated with increasing SVR. A validation analysis demonstrated the robustness of the results reported.

Optimized Basis Sets for the Environment in the Domain-Specific Basis Set Approach of the Incremental Scheme.

Science.gov (United States)

Anacker, Tony; Hill, J Grant; Friedrich, Joachim

2016-04-21

Minimal basis sets, denoted DSBSenv, based on the segmented basis sets of Ahlrichs and co-workers have been developed for use as environmental basis sets for the domain-specific basis set (DSBS) incremental scheme with the aim of decreasing the CPU requirements of the incremental scheme. The use of these minimal basis sets within explicitly correlated (F12) methods has been enabled by the optimization of matching auxiliary basis sets for use in density fitting of two-electron integrals and resolution of the identity. The accuracy of these auxiliary sets has been validated by calculations on a test set containing small- to medium-sized molecules. The errors due to density fitting are about 2-4 orders of magnitude smaller than the basis set incompleteness error of the DSBSenv orbital basis sets. Additional reductions in computational cost have been tested with the reduced DSBSenv basis sets, in which the highest angular momentum functions of the DSBSenv auxiliary basis sets have been removed. The optimized and reduced basis sets are used in the framework of the domain-specific basis set of the incremental scheme to decrease the computation time without significant loss of accuracy. The computation times and accuracy of the previously used environmental basis and that optimized in this work have been validated with a test set of medium- to large-sized systems. The optimized and reduced DSBSenv basis sets decrease the CPU time by about 15.4% and 19.4% compared with the old environmental basis and retain the accuracy in the absolute energy with standard deviations of 0.99 and 1.06 kJ/mol, respectively.

Sensory and cognitive neurophysiology in rats. Part 2: Validation and demonstration.

Science.gov (United States)

Dimitriadis, George; Fransen, Anne M M; Maris, Eric

2014-07-30

We have developed a novel setup for rats that allows for controlled sensory input to an animal engaged in a task while recording both electrophysiological signals and behavioral output. Our setup is described in a companion paper. We validate our setup by replicating (1) the functionally nonspecific spread of neural activity following tactile stimulation, and (2) the effects of anesthesia on the tactile evoked responses. We also demonstrate for the first time that the ECoG can be used to record evoked responses in a signal that reflects neural output (spiking activity), and illustrate the usefulness of our setup by demonstrating that these evoked responses are modulated by both the phase of pre-stimulus oscillations and by expectation. Compared with high-density wire recordings, micro-ECoG offers a much more stable signal without readjustments, and a much better scalability. Compared with extracranial and regular ECoG recordings, micro-ECoG allows us to measure signals that reflect both neural input and neural output. For sensory and cognitive research, our setup provides a unique combination of possibilities that cannot be achieved in other setups for rodents. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Incremental Type-2 Meta-Cognitive Extreme Learning Machine.

Science.gov (United States)

Pratama, Mahardhika; Zhang, Guangquan; Er, Meng Joo; Anavatti, Sreenatha

2017-02-01

Existing extreme learning algorithm have not taken into account four issues: 1) complexity; 2) uncertainty; 3) concept drift; and 4) high dimensionality. A novel incremental type-2 meta-cognitive extreme learning machine (ELM) called evolving type-2 ELM (eT2ELM) is proposed to cope with the four issues in this paper. The eT2ELM presents three main pillars of human meta-cognition: 1) what-to-learn; 2) how-to-learn; and 3) when-to-learn. The what-to-learn component selects important training samples for model updates by virtue of the online certainty-based active learning method, which renders eT2ELM as a semi-supervised classifier. The how-to-learn element develops a synergy between extreme learning theory and the evolving concept, whereby the hidden nodes can be generated and pruned automatically from data streams with no tuning of hidden nodes. The when-to-learn constituent makes use of the standard sample reserved strategy. A generalized interval type-2 fuzzy neural network is also put forward as a cognitive component, in which a hidden node is built upon the interval type-2 multivariate Gaussian function while exploiting a subset of Chebyshev series in the output node. The efficacy of the proposed eT2ELM is numerically validated in 12 data streams containing various concept drifts. The numerical results are confirmed by thorough statistical tests, where the eT2ELM demonstrates the most encouraging numerical results in delivering reliable prediction, while sustaining low complexity.

Simulation and comparison of perturb and observe and incremental ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Perturb and Observe (P & O) algorithm and Incremental conductance algorithm. ... Keywords. Solar array; insolation; MPPT; modelling, P & O; incremental conductance. 1. .... voltage level. It is also ..... Int. J. Advances in Eng. Technol. 133–148.

Efficient incremental relaying

KAUST Repository

Fareed, Muhammad Mehboob

2013-07-01

We propose a novel relaying scheme which improves the spectral efficiency of cooperative diversity systems by utilizing limited feedback from destination. Our scheme capitalizes on the fact that relaying is only required when direct transmission suffers deep fading. We calculate the packet error rate for the proposed efficient incremental relaying scheme with both amplify and forward and decode and forward relaying. Numerical results are also presented to verify their analytical counterparts. © 2013 IEEE.

Entity versus incremental theories predict older adults' memory performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Plaks, Jason E; Chasteen, Alison L

2013-12-01

The authors examined whether older adults' implicit theories regarding the modifiability of memory in particular (Studies 1 and 3) and abilities in general (Study 2) would predict memory performance. In Study 1, individual differences in older adults' endorsement of the "entity theory" (a belief that one's ability is fixed) or "incremental theory" (a belief that one's ability is malleable) of memory were measured using a version of the Implicit Theories Measure (Dweck, 1999). Memory performance was assessed with a free-recall task. Results indicated that the higher the endorsement of the incremental theory, the better the free recall. In Study 2, older and younger adults' theories were measured using a more general version of the Implicit Theories Measure that focused on the modifiability of abilities in general. Again, for older adults, the higher the incremental endorsement, the better the free recall. Moreover, as predicted, implicit theories did not predict younger adults' memory performance. In Study 3, participants read mock news articles reporting evidence in favor of either the entity or incremental theory. Those in the incremental condition outperformed those in the entity condition on reading span and free-recall tasks. These effects were mediated by pretask worry such that, for those in the entity condition, higher worry was associated with lower performance. Taken together, these studies suggest that variation in entity versus incremental endorsement represents a key predictor of older adults' memory performance. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Tracking and recognition face in videos with incremental local sparse representation model

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chao; Wang, Yunhong; Zhang, Zhaoxiang

2013-10-01

This paper addresses the problem of tracking and recognizing faces via incremental local sparse representation. First a robust face tracking algorithm is proposed via employing local sparse appearance and covariance pooling method. In the following face recognition stage, with the employment of a novel template update strategy, which combines incremental subspace learning, our recognition algorithm adapts the template to appearance changes and reduces the influence of occlusion and illumination variation. This leads to a robust video-based face tracking and recognition with desirable performance. In the experiments, we test the quality of face recognition in real-world noisy videos on YouTube database, which includes 47 celebrities. Our proposed method produces a high face recognition rate at 95% of all videos. The proposed face tracking and recognition algorithms are also tested on a set of noisy videos under heavy occlusion and illumination variation. The tracking results on challenging benchmark videos demonstrate that the proposed tracking algorithm performs favorably against several state-of-the-art methods. In the case of the challenging dataset in which faces undergo occlusion and illumination variation, and tracking and recognition experiments under significant pose variation on the University of California, San Diego (Honda/UCSD) database, our proposed method also consistently demonstrates a high recognition rate.

Lifetime costs of lung transplantation : Estimation of incremental costs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

VanEnckevort, PJ; Koopmanschap, MA; Tenvergert, EM; VanderBij, W; Rutten, FFH

1997-01-01

Despite an expanding number of centres which provide lung transplantation, information about the incremental costs of lung transplantation is scarce. From 1991 until 1995, in The Netherlands a technology assessment was performed which provided information about the incremental costs of lung

Scalable, incremental learning with MapReduce parallelization for cell detection in high-resolution 3D microscopy data

KAUST Repository

Sung, Chul

2013-08-01

Accurate estimation of neuronal count and distribution is central to the understanding of the organization and layout of cortical maps in the brain, and changes in the cell population induced by brain disorders. High-throughput 3D microscopy techniques such as Knife-Edge Scanning Microscopy (KESM) are enabling whole-brain survey of neuronal distributions. Data from such techniques pose serious challenges to quantitative analysis due to the massive, growing, and sparsely labeled nature of the data. In this paper, we present a scalable, incremental learning algorithm for cell body detection that can address these issues. Our algorithm is computationally efficient (linear mapping, non-iterative) and does not require retraining (unlike gradient-based approaches) or retention of old raw data (unlike instance-based learning). We tested our algorithm on our rat brain Nissl data set, showing superior performance compared to an artificial neural network-based benchmark, and also demonstrated robust performance in a scenario where the data set is rapidly growing in size. Our algorithm is also highly parallelizable due to its incremental nature, and we demonstrated this empirically using a MapReduce-based implementation of the algorithm. We expect our scalable, incremental learning approach to be widely applicable to medical imaging domains where there is a constant flux of new data. © 2013 IEEE.

Biomedical Titanium alloy prostheses manufacturing by means of Superplastic and Incremental Forming processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piccininni Antonio

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present work collects some results of the three-years Research Program “BioForming“, funded by the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR and aimed to investigate the possibility of using flexible sheet forming processes, i.e. Super Plastic Forming (SPF and Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF, for the manufacturing of patient-oriented titanium prostheses. The prosthetic implants used as case studies were from the skull; in particular, two different Ti alloys and geometries were considered: one to be produced in Ti-Gr23 by SPF and one to be produced in Ti-Gr2 by SPIF. Numerical simulations implementing material behaviours evaluated by characterization tests were conducted in order to design both the manufacturing processes. Subsequently, experimental tests were carried out implementing numerical results in terms of: (i gas pressure profile able to determine a constant (and optimal strain rate during the SPF process; (ii tool path able to avoid rupture during the SPIF process. Post forming characteristics of the prostheses in terms of thickness distributions were measured and compared to data from simulations for validation purposes. A good correlation between numerical and experimental thickness distributions has been obtained; in addition, the possibility of successfully adopting both the SPF and the SPIF processes for the manufacturing of prostheses has been demonstrated.

Defense Agencies Initiative Increment 2 (DAI Inc 2)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

module. In an ADM dated September 23, 2013, the MDA established Increment 2 as a MAIS program to include budget formulation; grants financial...2016 Major Automated Information System Annual Report Defense Agencies Initiative Increment 2 (DAI Inc 2) Defense Acquisition Management...President’s Budget RDT&E - Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation SAE - Service Acquisition Executive TBD - To Be Determined TY - Then

Biometrics Enabling Capability Increment 1 (BEC Inc 1)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

modal biometrics submissions to include iris, face, palm and finger prints from biometrics collection devices, which will support the Warfighter in...2016 Major Automated Information System Annual Report Biometrics Enabling Capability Increment 1 (BEC Inc 1) Defense Acquisition Management...Phone: 227-3119 DSN Fax: Date Assigned: July 15, 2015 Program Information Program Name Biometrics Enabling Capability Increment 1 (BEC Inc 1) DoD

Statistically Controlling for Confounding Constructs Is Harder than You Think.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacob Westfall

Full Text Available Social scientists often seek to demonstrate that a construct has incremental validity over and above other related constructs. However, these claims are typically supported by measurement-level models that fail to consider the effects of measurement (unreliability. We use intuitive examples, Monte Carlo simulations, and a novel analytical framework to demonstrate that common strategies for establishing incremental construct validity using multiple regression analysis exhibit extremely high Type I error rates under parameter regimes common in many psychological domains. Counterintuitively, we find that error rates are highest--in some cases approaching 100%--when sample sizes are large and reliability is moderate. Our findings suggest that a potentially large proportion of incremental validity claims made in the literature are spurious. We present a web application (http://jakewestfall.org/ivy/ that readers can use to explore the statistical properties of these and other incremental validity arguments. We conclude by reviewing SEM-based statistical approaches that appropriately control the Type I error rate when attempting to establish incremental validity.

76 FR 53763 - Immigration Benefits Business Transformation, Increment I

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-29

..., 100, et al. Immigration Benefits Business Transformation, Increment I; Final Rule #0;#0;Federal... Benefits Business Transformation, Increment I AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, DHS... USCIS is engaged in an enterprise-wide transformation effort to implement new business processes and to...

Shakedown analysis by finite element incremental procedures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borkowski, A.; Kleiber, M.

1979-01-01

It is a common occurence in many practical problems that external loads are variable and the exact time-dependent history of loading is unknown. Instead of it load is characterized by a given loading domain: a convex polyhedron in the n-dimensional space of load parameters. The problem is then to check whether a structure shakes down, i.e. responds elastically after a few elasto-plastic cycles, or not to a variable loading as defined above. Such check can be performed by an incremental procedure. One should reproduce incrementally a simple cyclic process which consists of proportional load paths that connect the origin of the load space with the corners of the loading domain. It was proved that if a structure shakes down to such loading history then it is able to adopt itself to an arbitrary load path contained in the loading domain. The main advantage of such approach is the possibility to use existing incremental finite-element computer codes. (orig.)

Variational formulation for dissipative continua and an incremental J-integral

Science.gov (United States)

Rahaman, Md. Masiur; Dhas, Bensingh; Roy, D.; Reddy, J. N.

2018-01-01

Our aim is to rationally formulate a proper variational principle for dissipative (viscoplastic) solids in the presence of inertia forces. As a first step, a consistent linearization of the governing nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) is carried out. An additional set of complementary (adjoint) equations is then formed to recover an underlying variational structure for the augmented system of linearized balance laws. This makes it possible to introduce an incremental Lagrangian such that the linearized PDEs, including the complementary equations, become the Euler-Lagrange equations. Continuous groups of symmetries of the linearized PDEs are computed and an analysis is undertaken to identify the variational groups of symmetries of the linearized dissipative system. Application of Noether's theorem leads to the conservation laws (conserved currents) of motion corresponding to the variational symmetries. As a specific outcome, we exploit translational symmetries of the functional in the material space and recover, via Noether's theorem, an incremental J-integral for viscoplastic solids in the presence of inertia forces. Numerical demonstrations are provided through a two-dimensional plane strain numerical simulation of a compact tension specimen of annealed mild steel under dynamic loading.

Obtaining incremental multigroup cross sections for CANDU super cells with reactivity devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balaceanu, V.; Constantin, M.

2001-01-01

In the last 20 years a multigroup methodology WIMS - PIJXYZ (WP) was developed and validated at INR Pitesti for obtaining incremental cross sections for reactivity devices in CANDU reactors. This is an alternate methodology to the CANDU classic methodology (experimentally adjusted) based on the POWDERPUFS and MULTICELL computer codes. The 2D supercell calculation performed with the WIMS code, that is a NEA Data Bank transport code, and which produces multigroup cross sections (on 18 energy groups) for CANDU supercell material (standard and perturbed, with and without reactivity devices). To obtain an as correct as possible 3D modelling for the CANDU supercells containing reactivity devices, the WIMS cross sections are used as input data for the PIJXYZ code, thus obtaining homogenized cross sections for CANDU supercells. PIJXYZ is an integral transport code based on the formalism of the first collision probabilities. It is analogue to the SHETAN code and it was created for neutron analyzes at cell level for CANDU type reactors were the reactivity devices are perpendicular to the fuel channels. The coordinate system used in PIJXYZ is a mixed one, namely a rectangular-cylindrical system. The geometric model used in PIJXYZ is presented. The fuel beam is represented by a horizontal cylinder and the reactivity device by a vertical one both cylinders being immersed in the moderator. Two supercell types were considered: a perturbed supercell (containing a reactivity device) and the standard supercell were the place of reactivity device is occupied by the moderator. The incremental cross sections for reactivity device are obtained as differences between the homogenized over supercell cross sections (with reactivity device) and homogenized over standards supercell (without device) cross sections. The PIJXYZ computation may be done on an energy cutting with 2 up to 18 groups. The validation of VIMS - PIJXYZ was done on the basis of several benchmark and by comparison with

Automatic incrementalization of Prolog based static analyses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eichberg, Michael; Kahl, Matthias; Saha, Diptikalyan

2007-01-01

Modem development environments integrate various static analyses into the build process. Analyses that analyze the whole project whenever the project changes are impractical in this context. We present an approach to automatic incrementalization of analyses that are specified as tabled logic...... programs and evaluated using incremental tabled evaluation, a technique for efficiently updating memo tables in response to changes in facts and rules. The approach has been implemented and integrated into the Eclipse IDE. Our measurements show that this technique is effective for automatically...

Mission Planning System Increment 5 (MPS Inc 5)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

2016 Major Automated Information System Annual Report Mission Planning System Increment 5 (MPS Inc 5) Defense Acquisition Management Information...President’s Budget RDT&E - Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation SAE - Service Acquisition Executive TBD - To Be Determined TY - Then Year...Phone: 845-9625 DSN Fax: Date Assigned: May 19, 2014 Program Information Program Name Mission Planning System Increment 5 (MPS Inc 5) DoD

MRI: Modular reasoning about interference in incremental programming

OpenAIRE

Oliveira, Bruno C. D. S; Schrijvers, Tom; Cook, William R

2012-01-01

Incremental Programming (IP) is a programming style in which new program components are defined as increments of other components. Examples of IP mechanisms include: Object-oriented programming (OOP) inheritance, aspect-oriented programming (AOP) advice and feature-oriented programming (FOP). A characteristic of IP mechanisms is that, while individual components can be independently defined, the composition of components makes those components become tightly coupled, sh...

Incremental short daily home hemodialysis: a case series

OpenAIRE

Toth-Manikowski, Stephanie M.; Mullangi, Surekha; Hwang, Seungyoung; Shafi, Tariq

2017-01-01

Background Patients starting dialysis often have substantial residual kidney function. Incremental hemodialysis provides a hemodialysis prescription that supplements patients? residual kidney function while maintaining total (residual + dialysis) urea clearance (standard Kt/Vurea) targets. We describe our experience with incremental hemodialysis in patients using NxStage System One for home hemodialysis. Case presentation From 2011 to 2015, we initiated 5 incident hemodialysis patients on an ...

Volatilities, Traded Volumes, and Price Increments in Derivative Securities

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kyungsik; Lim, Gyuchang; Kim, Soo Yong; Scalas, Enrico

2007-03-01

We apply the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to the statistics of the Korean treasury bond (KTB) futures from which the logarithmic increments, volatilities, and traded volumes are estimated over a specific time lag. For our case, the logarithmic increment of futures prices has no long-memory property, while the volatility and the traded volume exhibit the existence of long-memory property. To analyze and calculate whether the volatility clustering is due to the inherent higher-order correlation not detected by applying directly the DFA to logarithmic increments of the KTB futures, it is of importance to shuffle the original tick data of futures prices and to generate the geometric Brownian random walk with the same mean and standard deviation. It is really shown from comparing the three tick data that the higher-order correlation inherent in logarithmic increments makes the volatility clustering. Particularly, the result of the DFA on volatilities and traded volumes may be supported the hypothesis of price changes.

Space-time quantitative source apportionment of soil heavy metal concentration increments.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yong; Christakos, George; Guo, Mingwu; Xiao, Lu; Huang, Wei

2017-04-01

Assessing the space-time trends and detecting the sources of heavy metal accumulation in soils have important consequences in the prevention and treatment of soil heavy metal pollution. In this study, we collected soil samples in the eastern part of the Qingshan district, Wuhan city, Hubei Province, China, during the period 2010-2014. The Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations in soils exhibited a significant accumulation during 2010-2014. The spatiotemporal Kriging technique, based on a quantitative characterization of soil heavy metal concentration variations in terms of non-separable variogram models, was employed to estimate the spatiotemporal soil heavy metal distribution in the study region. Our findings showed that the Cd, Cu, and Zn concentrations have an obvious incremental tendency from the southwestern to the central part of the study region. However, the Pb concentrations exhibited an obvious tendency from the northern part to the central part of the region. Then, spatial overlay analysis was used to obtain absolute and relative concentration increments of adjacent 1- or 5-year periods during 2010-2014. The spatial distribution of soil heavy metal concentration increments showed that the larger increments occurred in the center of the study region. Lastly, the principal component analysis combined with the multiple linear regression method were employed to quantify the source apportionment of the soil heavy metal concentration increments in the region. Our results led to the conclusion that the sources of soil heavy metal concentration increments should be ascribed to industry, agriculture and traffic. In particular, 82.5% of soil heavy metal concentration increment during 2010-2014 was ascribed to industrial/agricultural activities sources. Using STK and SOA to obtain the spatial distribution of heavy metal concentration increments in soils. Using PCA-MLR to quantify the source apportionment of soil heavy metal concentration increments. Copyright © 2017

A mechanistic model for electricity consumption on dairy farms: definition, validation, and demonstration.

Science.gov (United States)

Upton, J; Murphy, M; Shalloo, L; Groot Koerkamp, P W G; De Boer, I J M

2014-01-01

Our objective was to define and demonstrate a mechanistic model that enables dairy farmers to explore the impact of a technical or managerial innovation on electricity consumption, associated CO2 emissions, and electricity costs. We, therefore, (1) defined a model for electricity consumption on dairy farms (MECD) capable of simulating total electricity consumption along with related CO2 emissions and electricity costs on dairy farms on a monthly basis; (2) validated the MECD using empirical data of 1yr on commercial spring calving, grass-based dairy farms with 45, 88, and 195 milking cows; and (3) demonstrated the functionality of the model by applying 2 electricity tariffs to the electricity consumption data and examining the effect on total dairy farm electricity costs. The MECD was developed using a mechanistic modeling approach and required the key inputs of milk production, cow number, and details relating to the milk-cooling system, milking machine system, water-heating system, lighting systems, water pump systems, and the winter housing facilities as well as details relating to the management of the farm (e.g., season of calving). Model validation showed an overall relative prediction error (RPE) of less than 10% for total electricity consumption. More than 87% of the mean square prediction error of total electricity consumption was accounted for by random variation. The RPE values of the milk-cooling systems, water-heating systems, and milking machine systems were less than 20%. The RPE values for automatic scraper systems, lighting systems, and water pump systems varied from 18 to 113%, indicating a poor prediction for these metrics. However, automatic scrapers, lighting, and water pumps made up only 14% of total electricity consumption across all farms, reducing the overall impact of these poor predictions. Demonstration of the model showed that total farm electricity costs increased by between 29 and 38% by moving from a day and night tariff to a flat

Technological aspects regarding machining the titanium alloys by means of incremental forming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bologa Octavian

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Titanium alloys are materials with reduced formability, due to their low plasticity. However, today there are high demands regarding their use in the automotive industry and in bio-medical industry, for prosthetic devices. This paper presents some technological aspects regarding the machinability of titanium alloys by means of incremental forming. The research presented in this paper aimed to demonstrate that the parts made from these materials could be machined at room temperature, in certain technological conditions.

Was the Conconi test validated by sporting success, expert opinion ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Was the Conconi test validated by sporting success, expert opinion or good science? ... Open Access DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ... Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, a popular incremental field test for endurance athletes (Conconi Test) ...

Support vector machine incremental learning triggered by wrongly predicted samples

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Ting-long; Guan, Qiu; Wu, Yi-rong

2018-05-01

According to the classic Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) theorem, at every step of incremental support vector machine (SVM) learning, the newly adding sample which violates the KKT conditions will be a new support vector (SV) and migrate the old samples between SV set and non-support vector (NSV) set, and at the same time the learning model should be updated based on the SVs. However, it is not exactly clear at this moment that which of the old samples would change between SVs and NSVs. Additionally, the learning model will be unnecessarily updated, which will not greatly increase its accuracy but decrease the training speed. Therefore, how to choose the new SVs from old sets during the incremental stages and when to process incremental steps will greatly influence the accuracy and efficiency of incremental SVM learning. In this work, a new algorithm is proposed to select candidate SVs and use the wrongly predicted sample to trigger the incremental processing simultaneously. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve good performance with high efficiency, high speed and good accuracy.

Average-case analysis of incremental topological ordering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ajwani, Deepak; Friedrich, Tobias

2010-01-01

Many applications like pointer analysis and incremental compilation require maintaining a topological ordering of the nodes of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) under dynamic updates. All known algorithms for this problem are either only analyzed for worst-case insertion sequences or only evaluated...... experimentally on random DAGs. We present the first average-case analysis of incremental topological ordering algorithms. We prove an expected runtime of under insertion of the edges of a complete DAG in a random order for the algorithms of Alpern et al. (1990) [4], Katriel and Bodlaender (2006) [18], and Pearce...

Motion-Induced Blindness Using Increments and Decrements of Luminance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stine Wm Wren

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Motion-induced blindness describes the disappearance of stationary elements of a scene when other, perhaps non-overlapping, elements of the scene are in motion. We measured the effects of increment (200.0 cd/m2 and decrement targets (15.0 cd/m2 and masks presented on a grey background (108.0 cd/m2, tapping into putative ON- and OFF-channels, on the rate of target disappearance psychophysically. We presented two-frame motion, which has coherent motion energy, and dynamic Glass patterns and dynamic anti-Glass patterns, which do not have coherent motion energy. Using the method of constant stimuli, participants viewed stimuli of varying durations (3.1 s, 4.6 s, 7.0 s, 11 s, or 16 s in a given trial and then indicated whether or not the targets vanished during that trial. Psychometric function midpoints were used to define absolute threshold mask duration for the disappearance of the target. 95% confidence intervals for threshold disappearance times were estimated using a bootstrap technique for each of the participants across two experiments. Decrement masks were more effective than increment masks with increment targets. Increment targets were easier to mask than decrement targets. Distinct mask pattern types had no effect, suggesting that perceived coherence contributes to the effectiveness of the mask. The ON/OFF dichotomy clearly carries its influence to the level of perceived motion coherence. Further, the asymmetry in the effects of increment and decrement masks on increment and decrement targets might lead one to speculate that they reflect the ‘importance’ of detecting decrements in the environment.

Logistics Modernization Program Increment 2 (LMP Inc 2)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

Sections 3 and 4 of the LMP Increment 2 Business Case, ADM), key functional requirements, Critical Design Review (CDR) Reports, and Economic ...from the 2013 version of the LMP Increment 2 Economic Analysis and replace it with references to the Economic Analysis that will be completed...of ( inbound /outbound) IDOCs into the system. LMP must be able to successfully process 95% of ( inbound /outbound) IDOCs into the system. Will meet

Creating Helical Tool Paths for Single Point Incremental Forming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjødt, Martin; Hancock, Michael H.; Bay, Niels

2007-01-01

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) is a relatively new sheet forming process. A sheet is clamped in a rig and formed incrementally using a rotating single point tool in the form of a rod with a spherical end. The process is often performed on a CNC milling machine and the tool movement...

Martingales, nonstationary increments, and the efficient market hypothesis

Science.gov (United States)

McCauley, Joseph L.; Bassler, Kevin E.; Gunaratne, Gemunu H.

2008-06-01

We discuss the deep connection between nonstationary increments, martingales, and the efficient market hypothesis for stochastic processes x(t) with arbitrary diffusion coefficients D(x,t). We explain why a test for a martingale is generally a test for uncorrelated increments. We explain why martingales look Markovian at the level of both simple averages and 2-point correlations. But while a Markovian market has no memory to exploit and cannot be beaten systematically, a martingale admits memory that might be exploitable in higher order correlations. We also use the analysis of this paper to correct a misstatement of the ‘fair game’ condition in terms of serial correlations in Fama’s paper on the EMH. We emphasize that the use of the log increment as a variable in data analysis generates spurious fat tails and spurious Hurst exponents.

Adaptive Functional-Based Neuro-Fuzzy-PID Incremental Controller Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashraf Ahmed Fahmy

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an adaptive functional-based Neuro-fuzzy-PID incremental (NFPID controller structure that can be tuned either offline or online according to required controller performance. First, differential membership functions are used to represent the fuzzy membership functions of the input-output space of the three term controller. Second, controller rules are generated based on the discrete proportional, derivative, and integral function for the fuzzy space. Finally, a fully differentiable fuzzy neural network is constructed to represent the developed controller for either offline or online controller parameter adaptation.  Two different adaptation methods are used for controller tuning, offline method based on controller transient performance cost function optimization using Bees Algorithm, and online method based on tracking error minimization using back-propagation with momentum algorithm. The proposed control system was tested to show the validity of the controller structure over a fixed PID controller gains to control SCARA type robot arm.

Incremental Learning for Place Recognition in Dynamic Environments

OpenAIRE

Luo, Jie; Pronobis, Andrzej; Caputo, Barbara; Jensfelt, Patric

2007-01-01

This paper proposes a discriminative approach to template-based Vision-based place recognition is a desirable feature for an autonomous mobile system. In order to work in realistic scenarios, visual recognition algorithms should be adaptive, i.e. should be able to learn from experience and adapt continuously to changes in the environment. This paper presents a discriminative incremental learning approach to place recognition. We use a recently introduced version of the incremental SVM, which ...

On the instability increments of a stationary pinch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bud'ko, A.B.

1989-01-01

The stability of stationary pinch to helical modes is numerically studied. It is shown that in the case of a rather fast plasma pressure decrease to the pinch boundary, for example, for an isothermal diffusion pinch with Gauss density distribution instabilities with m=0 modes are the most quickly growing. Instability increments are calculated. A simple analytical expression of a maximum increment of growth of sausage instability for automodel Gauss profiles is obtained

A strategy for developing representative germplasm sets for systematic QTL validation, demonstrated for apple, peach, and sweet cherry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peace, C.P.; Luby, J.; Weg, van de W.E.; Bink, M.C.A.M.; Iezzoni, A.F.

2014-01-01

Horticultural crop improvement would benefit from a standardized, systematic, and statistically robust procedure for validating quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in germplasm relevant to breeding programs. Here, we describe and demonstrate a strategy for developing reference germplasm sets of

Incremental elongation or ratchetting - Experimental tests and practical method of analysis (on stainless steel 304L and 306L)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cousseran, Pierre; Lebey, Jacques; Roche, Roland; Clement, Gerard; Moulin, Didier.

1980-12-01

Ratchetting, or incremental elongation can be considered as a creep enhancement when cyclic deformations are added to a primary constant load. Under examination, it appears that theoretical models proposed till now do not fit correctly the actual behavior of materials. From experimental tests results performed in Saclay, a simplified method for prevention of ratcheting is proposed. A validation was made by using experimental data from various sources [fr

Incremental Trust in Grid Computing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brinkløv, Michael Hvalsøe; Sharp, Robin

2007-01-01

This paper describes a comparative simulation study of some incremental trust and reputation algorithms for handling behavioural trust in large distributed systems. Two types of reputation algorithm (based on discrete and Bayesian evaluation of ratings) and two ways of combining direct trust and ...... of Grid computing systems....

Convergent systems vs. incremental stability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rüffer, B.S.; Wouw, van de N.; Mueller, M.

2013-01-01

Two similar stability notions are considered; one is the long established notion of convergent systems, the other is the younger notion of incremental stability. Both notions require that any two solutions of a system converge to each other. Yet these stability concepts are different, in the sense

Simple Moving Voltage Average Incremental Conductance MPPT Technique with Direct Control Method under Nonuniform Solar Irradiance Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amjad Ali

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A new simple moving voltage average (SMVA technique with fixed step direct control incremental conductance method is introduced to reduce solar photovoltaic voltage (VPV oscillation under nonuniform solar irradiation conditions. To evaluate and validate the performance of the proposed SMVA method in comparison with the conventional fixed step direct control incremental conductance method under extreme conditions, different scenarios were simulated. Simulation results show that in most cases SMVA gives better results with more stability as compared to traditional fixed step direct control INC with faster tracking system along with reduction in sustained oscillations and possesses fast steady state response and robustness. The steady state oscillations are almost eliminated because of extremely small dP/dV around maximum power (MP, which verify that the proposed method is suitable for standalone PV system under extreme weather conditions not only in terms of bus voltage stability but also in overall system efficiency.

Power calculation of linear and angular incremental encoders

Science.gov (United States)

Prokofev, Aleksandr V.; Timofeev, Aleksandr N.; Mednikov, Sergey V.; Sycheva, Elena A.

2016-04-01

Automation technology is constantly expanding its role in improving the efficiency of manufacturing and testing processes in all branches of industry. More than ever before, the mechanical movements of linear slides, rotary tables, robot arms, actuators, etc. are numerically controlled. Linear and angular incremental photoelectric encoders measure mechanical motion and transmit the measured values back to the control unit. The capabilities of these systems are undergoing continual development in terms of their resolution, accuracy and reliability, their measuring ranges, and maximum speeds. This article discusses the method of power calculation of linear and angular incremental photoelectric encoders, to find the optimum parameters for its components, such as light emitters, photo-detectors, linear and angular scales, optical components etc. It analyzes methods and devices that permit high resolutions in the order of 0.001 mm or 0.001°, as well as large measuring lengths of over 100 mm. In linear and angular incremental photoelectric encoders optical beam is usually formulated by a condenser lens passes through the measuring unit changes its value depending on the movement of a scanning head or measuring raster. Past light beam is converting into an electrical signal by the photo-detecter's block for processing in the electrical block. Therefore, for calculating the energy source is a value of the desired value of the optical signal at the input of the photo-detecter's block, which reliably recorded and processed in the electronic unit of linear and angular incremental optoelectronic encoders. Automation technology is constantly expanding its role in improving the efficiency of manufacturing and testing processes in all branches of industry. More than ever before, the mechanical movements of linear slides, rotary tables, robot arms, actuators, etc. are numerically controlled. Linear and angular incremental photoelectric encoders measure mechanical motion and

Making context explicit for explanation and incremental knowledge acquisition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brezillon, P. [Univ. Paris (France)

1996-12-31

Intelligent systems may be improved by making context explicit in problem solving. This is a lesson drawn from a study of the reasons why a number of knowledge-based systems (KBSs) failed. We discuss the interest to make context explicit in explanation generation and incremental knowledge acquisition, two important aspects of intelligent systems that aim to cooperate with users. We show how context can be used to better explain and incrementally acquire knowledge. The advantages of using context in explanation and incremental knowledge acquisition are discussed through SEPIT, an expert system for supporting diagnosis and explanation through simulation of power plants. We point out how the limitations of such systems may be overcome by making context explicit.

Validation of DRAGON side-step method for Bruce-A restart Phase-B physics tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, W.; Ngo-Trong, C.; Davis, R.S.

2004-01-01

The DRAGON side-step method, developed at AECL, has a number of advantages over the all-DRAGON method that was used before. It is now the qualified method for reactivity-device calculations. Although the side-step-method-generated incremental cross sections have been validated against those previously calculated with the all-DRAGON method, it is highly desirable to validate the side-step method against device-worth measurements in power reactors directly. In this paper, the DRAGON side-step method was validated by comparison with the device-calibration measurements made in Bruce-A NGS Unit 4 restart Phase-B commissioning in 2003. The validation exercise showed excellent results, with the DRAGON code overestimating the measured ZCR worth by ∼5%. A sensitivity study was also performed in this paper to assess the effect of various DRAGON modelling techniques on the incremental cross sections. The assessment shows that the refinement of meshes in 3-D and the use of the side-step method are two major reasons contributing to the improved agreement between the calculated ZCR worths and the measurements. Use of different DRAGON versions, DRAGON libraries, local-parameter core conditions, and weighting techniques for the homogenization of tube clusters inside the ZCR have a very small effect on the ZCR incremental thermal absorption cross section and ZCR reactivity worth. (author)

Multiobjective memetic estimation of distribution algorithm based on an incremental tournament local searcher.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kaifeng; Mu, Li; Yang, Dongdong; Zou, Feng; Wang, Lei; Jiang, Qiaoyong

2014-01-01

A novel hybrid multiobjective algorithm is presented in this paper, which combines a new multiobjective estimation of distribution algorithm, an efficient local searcher and ε-dominance. Besides, two multiobjective problems with variable linkages strictly based on manifold distribution are proposed. The Pareto set to the continuous multiobjective optimization problems, in the decision space, is a piecewise low-dimensional continuous manifold. The regularity by the manifold features just build probability distribution model by globally statistical information from the population, yet, the efficiency of promising individuals is not well exploited, which is not beneficial to search and optimization process. Hereby, an incremental tournament local searcher is designed to exploit local information efficiently and accelerate convergence to the true Pareto-optimal front. Besides, since ε-dominance is a strategy that can make multiobjective algorithm gain well distributed solutions and has low computational complexity, ε-dominance and the incremental tournament local searcher are combined here. The novel memetic multiobjective estimation of distribution algorithm, MMEDA, was proposed accordingly. The algorithm is validated by experiment on twenty-two test problems with and without variable linkages of diverse complexities. Compared with three state-of-the-art multiobjective optimization algorithms, our algorithm achieves comparable results in terms of convergence and diversity metrics.

Multiobjective Memetic Estimation of Distribution Algorithm Based on an Incremental Tournament Local Searcher

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaifeng Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A novel hybrid multiobjective algorithm is presented in this paper, which combines a new multiobjective estimation of distribution algorithm, an efficient local searcher and ε-dominance. Besides, two multiobjective problems with variable linkages strictly based on manifold distribution are proposed. The Pareto set to the continuous multiobjective optimization problems, in the decision space, is a piecewise low-dimensional continuous manifold. The regularity by the manifold features just build probability distribution model by globally statistical information from the population, yet, the efficiency of promising individuals is not well exploited, which is not beneficial to search and optimization process. Hereby, an incremental tournament local searcher is designed to exploit local information efficiently and accelerate convergence to the true Pareto-optimal front. Besides, since ε-dominance is a strategy that can make multiobjective algorithm gain well distributed solutions and has low computational complexity, ε-dominance and the incremental tournament local searcher are combined here. The novel memetic multiobjective estimation of distribution algorithm, MMEDA, was proposed accordingly. The algorithm is validated by experiment on twenty-two test problems with and without variable linkages of diverse complexities. Compared with three state-of-the-art multiobjective optimization algorithms, our algorithm achieves comparable results in terms of convergence and diversity metrics.

Otolith development in larval and juvenile Schizothorax davidi: ontogeny and growth increment characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Taiming; Hu, Jiaxiang; Cai, Yueping; Xiong, Sen; Yang, Shiyong; Wang, Xiongyan; He, Zhi

2017-09-01

Laboratory-reared Schizothorax davidi larvae and juveniles were examined to assess the formation and characteristics of David's schizothoracin otoliths. Otolith development was observed and their formation period was verified by monitoring larvae and juveniles of known age. The results revealed that lapilli and sagittae developed before hatching, and the first otolith increment was identified at 2 days post hatching in both. The shape of lapilli was relatively stable during development compared with that of sagittae; however, growth of four sagittae and lapilli areas was consistent, but the posterior area grew faster than the anterior area and the ventral surface grew faster than the dorsal surface. Similarly, the sum length of the radius of the anterior and posterior areas on sagittae and lapilli were linearly and binomially related to total fish length, respectively. Moreover, daily deposition rates were validated by monitoring knownage larvae and juveniles. The increase in lapilli width was 1.88±0.080 0 μm at the ninth increment, which reached a maximum and the decreased gradually toward the otolith edge, whereas that of sagittae increased more slowly. These results illustrate the developmental biology of S. davidi, which will aid in population conservation and fish stock management.

Three routes forward for biofuels: Incremental, leapfrog, and transitional

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrison, Geoff M.; Witcover, Julie; Parker, Nathan C.; Fulton, Lew

2016-01-01

This paper examines three technology routes for lowering the carbon intensity of biofuels: (1) a leapfrog route that focuses on major technological breakthroughs in lignocellulosic pathways at new, stand-alone biorefineries; (2) an incremental route in which improvements are made to existing U.S. corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel biorefineries; and (3) a transitional route in which biotechnology firms gain experience growing, handling, or chemically converting lignocellulosic biomass in a lower-risk fashion than leapfrog biorefineries by leveraging existing capital stock. We find the incremental route is likely to involve the largest production volumes and greenhouse gas benefits until at least the mid-2020s, but transitional and leapfrog biofuels together have far greater long-term potential. We estimate that the Renewable Fuel Standard, California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and federal tax credits provided an incentive of roughly $1.5–2.5 per gallon of leapfrog biofuel between 2012 and 2015, but that regulatory elements in these policies mostly incentivize lower-risk incremental investments. Adjustments in policy may be necessary to bring a greater focus on transitional technologies that provide targeted learning and cost reduction opportunities for leapfrog biofuels. - Highlights: • Three technological pathways are compared that lower carbon intensity of biofuels. • Incremental changes lead to faster greenhouse gas reductions. • Leapfrog changes lead to greatest long-term potential. • Two main biofuel policies (RFS and LCFS) are largely incremental in nature. • Transitional biofuels offer medium-risk, medium reward pathway.

Incrementality in naming and reading complex numerals: Evidence from eyetracking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Korvorst, M.H.W.; Roelofs, A.P.A.; Levelt, W.J.M.

2006-01-01

Individuals speak incrementally when they interleave planning and articulation. Eyetracking, along with the measurement of speech onset latencies, can be used to gain more insight into the degree of incrementality adopted by speakers. In the current article, two eyetracking experiments are reported

Atmospheric response to Saharan dust deduced from ECMWF reanalysis increments

Science.gov (United States)

Kishcha, P.; Alpert, P.; Barkan, J.; Kirchner, I.; Machenhauer, B.

2003-04-01

This study focuses on the atmospheric temperature response to dust deduced from a new source of data - the European Reanalysis (ERA) increments. These increments are the systematic errors of global climate models, generated in reanalysis procedure. The model errors result not only from the lack of desert dust but also from a complex combination of many kinds of model errors. Over the Sahara desert the dust radiative effect is believed to be a predominant model defect which should significantly affect the increments. This dust effect was examined by considering correlation between the increments and remotely-sensed dust. Comparisons were made between April temporal variations of the ERA analysis increments and the variations of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer aerosol index (AI) between 1979 and 1993. The distinctive structure was identified in the distribution of correlation composed of three nested areas with high positive correlation (> 0.5), low correlation, and high negative correlation (Forecast(ECMWF) suggests that the PCA (NCA) corresponds mainly to anticyclonic (cyclonic) flow, negative (positive) vorticity, and downward (upward) airflow. These facts indicate an interaction between dust-forced heating /cooling and atmospheric circulation. The April correlation results are supported by the analysis of vertical distribution of dust concentration, derived from the 24-hour dust prediction system at Tel Aviv University (website: http://earth.nasa.proj.ac.il/dust/current/). For other months the analysis is more complicated because of the essential increasing of humidity along with the northward progress of the ITCZ and the significant impact on the increments.

Incremental predictive validity of the Addiction Severity Index psychiatric composite score in a consecutive cohort of patients in residential treatment for drug use disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Thylstrup, Birgitte; Bloomfield, Kim; Hesse, Morten

2018-01-01

The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) is a widely used assessment instrument for substance abuse treatment that includes scales reflecting current status in seven potential problem areas, including psychiatric severity. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of the psychiatric composite score to predict suicide and psychiatric care after residential treatment for drug use disorders after adjusting for history of psychiatric care. All patients treated for drug use disorders in residential treatment centers in Denmark during the years 2000-2010 with complete ASI data were followed through national registers of psychiatric care and causes of death (N=5825). Competing risks regression analyses were used to assess the incremental predictive validity of the psychiatric composite score, controlling for previous psychiatric care, length of intake, and other ASI composite scores, up to 12years after discharge. A total of 1769 patients received psychiatric care after being discharged from residential treatment (30.3%), and 27 (0.5%) committed suicide. After adjusting for all covariates, psychiatric composite score was associated with a higher risk of receiving psychiatric care after residential treatment (subhazard ratio [SHR]=3.44, psuicide (SHR=11.45, pdrug use disorders who could benefit from additional mental health treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transferability and accuracy by combining dispersionless density functional and incremental post-Hartree-Fock theories: Noble gases adsorption on coronene/graphene/graphite surfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lara-Castells, María Pilar de, E-mail: Pilar.deLara.Castells@csic.es; Bartolomei, Massimiliano [Instituto de Física Fundamental (C.S.I.C.), Serrano 123, E-28006 Madrid (Spain); Mitrushchenkov, Alexander O. [Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle, Université Paris-Est, MSME UMR 8208 CNRS, 5 bd Descartes, 77454 Marne-la-Vallée (France); Stoll, Hermann [Institut für Theoretische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, D-70550 Stuttgart (Germany)

2015-11-21

The accuracy and transferability of the electronic structure approach combining dispersionless density functional theory (DFT) [K. Pernal et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 263201 (2009)] with the method of increments [H. Stoll, J. Chem. Phys. 97, 8449 (1992)], are validated for the interaction between the noble-gas Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe atoms and coronene/graphene/graphite surfaces. This approach uses the method of increments for surface cluster models to extract intermonomer dispersion-like (2- and 3-body) correlation terms at coupled cluster singles and doubles and perturbative triples level, while periodic dispersionless density functionals calculations are performed to estimate the sum of Hartree-Fock and intramonomer correlation contributions. Dispersion energy contributions are also obtained using DFT-based symmetry-adapted perturbation theory [SAPT(DFT)]. An analysis of the structure of the X/surface (X = Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) interaction energies shows the excellent transferability properties of the leading intermonomer correlation contributions across the sequence of noble-gas atoms, which are also discussed using the Drude oscillator model. We further compare these results with van der Waals-(vdW)-corrected DFT-based approaches. As a test of accuracy, the energies of the low-lying nuclear bound states supported by the laterally averaged X/graphite potentials (X = {sup 3}He, {sup 4}He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) are calculated and compared with the best estimations from experimental measurements and an atom-bond potential model using the ab initio-assisted fine-tuning of semiempirical parameters. The bound-state energies determined differ by less than 6–7 meV (6%) from the atom-bond potential model. The crucial importance of including incremental 3-body dispersion-type terms is clearly demonstrated, showing that the SAPT(DFT) approach effectively account for these terms. With the deviations from the best experimental-based estimations smaller than 2.3 meV (1.9%), the

Finance for incremental housing: current status and prospects for expansion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ferguson, B.; Smets, P.G.S.M.

2010-01-01

Appropriate finance can greatly increase the speed and lower the cost of incremental housing - the process used by much of the low/moderate-income majority of most developing countries to acquire shelter. Informal finance continues to dominate the funding of incremental housing. However, new sources

One Step at a Time: SBM as an Incremental Process.

Science.gov (United States)

Conrad, Mark

1995-01-01

Discusses incremental SBM budgeting and answers questions regarding resource equity, bookkeeping requirements, accountability, decision-making processes, and purchasing. Approaching site-based management as an incremental process recognizes that every school system engages in some level of site-based decisions. Implementation can be gradual and…

History Matters: Incremental Ontology Reasoning Using Modules

Science.gov (United States)

Cuenca Grau, Bernardo; Halaschek-Wiener, Christian; Kazakov, Yevgeny

The development of ontologies involves continuous but relatively small modifications. Existing ontology reasoners, however, do not take advantage of the similarities between different versions of an ontology. In this paper, we propose a technique for incremental reasoning—that is, reasoning that reuses information obtained from previous versions of an ontology—based on the notion of a module. Our technique does not depend on a particular reasoning calculus and thus can be used in combination with any reasoner. We have applied our results to incremental classification of OWL DL ontologies and found significant improvement over regular classification time on a set of real-world ontologies.

76 FR 73475 - Immigration Benefits Business Transformation, Increment I; Correction

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-29

... Benefits Business Transformation, Increment I, 76 FR 53764 (Aug. 29, 2011). The final rule removed form... [CIS No. 2481-09; Docket No. USCIS-2009-0022] RIN 1615-AB83 Immigration Benefits Business Transformation, Increment I; Correction AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, DHS. ACTION: Final...

Beyond anxious predisposition: do padecer de nervios and ataque de nervios add incremental validity to predictions of current distress among Mexican mothers?

Science.gov (United States)

Alcántara, Carmela; Abelson, James L; Gone, Joseph P

2012-01-01

Nervios (PNRV) and ataque de nervios (ATQ) are culture-bound syndromes with overlapping symptoms of anxiety, depression, and dissociation, shown to have inconsistent associations to psychiatric disorder. Few studies test the basic assumption that PNRV and ATQ are uniformly linked to distress outcomes across Latina/o immigrant groups. This study examined: (a) the extent to which acculturative stress, Latino/US American acculturation, and anxious predisposition were associated with lifetime history of ATQ and PNRV, and (b) the extent to which ATQ and PNRV add incremental validity in explaining acculturative stress and psychological distress beyond measures of anxious predisposition. Participants (n = 82) included Mexican mothers who completed surveys on acculturation, trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, lifetime ATQ/PNRV, psychological distress, and acculturative stress. Lifetime PNRV, but not lifetime ATQ, was significantly predictive of psychological distress. PNRV was also linked to trait anxiety. Psychometric measures of anxious predisposition (trait anxiety and anxiety sensitivity) were more robust predictors of distress outcomes than lifetime history of ATQ/PNRV. Inquiry into lifetime history of nervios may be a useful point of entry in talking to Mexican immigrant mothers about stress and distress. However, standard tools for assessing anxiety sensitivity and trait anxiety appear most useful in identifying and explaining the presence of psychological distress. Further research is needed to determine the cross-cultural relevance of trait anxiety and anxiety sensitivity, and its implications for the development of anxiety treatments that are effective across cultures. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Testing relations of crystallized and fluid intelligence and the incremental predictive validity of conscientiousness and its facets on career success in a small sample of German and Swiss workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priska eHagmann-von Arx

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This study examined the relation of fluid and crystallized intelligence with extrinsic (occupational skill level, income and intrinsic (job satisfaction career success as well as the incremental predictive validity of conscientiousness and its facets. Participants (N = 121 completed the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R and reported their occupational skill level, income and job satisfaction. Results revealed that crystallized intelligence was positively related to occupational skill level, but not to income. The association of crystallized intelligence and job satisfaction was negative and stronger for the lowest occupational skill level, whereas it was non-significant for higher levels. Fluid intelligence showed no association with career success. Beyond intelligence, conscientiousness and its facet self-discipline were associated with income, whereas conscientiousness and its facets competence and achievement striving were associated with job satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the assessment process as well as for future research to adequately predict career success.

The Time Course of Incremental Word Processing during Chinese Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Junyi; Ma, Guojie; Li, Xingshan; Taft, Marcus

2018-01-01

In the current study, we report two eye movement experiments investigating how Chinese readers process incremental words during reading. These are words where some of the component characters constitute another word (an embedded word). In two experiments, eye movements were monitored while the participants read sentences with incremental words…

Switch-mode High Voltage Drivers for Dielectric Electro Active Polymer (DEAP) Incremental Actuators

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thummala, Prasanth

voltage DC-DC converters for driving the DEAP based incremental actuators. The DEAP incremental actuator technology has the potential to be used in various industries, e.g., automotive, space and medicine. The DEAP incremental actuator consists of three electrically isolated and mechanically connected...

Efficient Incremental Checkpointing of Java Programs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lawall, Julia Laetitia; Muller, Gilles

2000-01-01

This paper investigates the optimization of language-level checkpointing of Java programs. First, we describe how to systematically associate incremental checkpoints with Java classes. While being safe, the genericness of this solution induces substantial execution overhead. Second, to solve...

Single-point incremental forming and formability-failure diagrams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Silva, M.B.; Skjødt, Martin; Atkins, A.G.

2008-01-01

In a recent work [1], the authors constructed a closed-form analytical model that is capable of dealing with the fundamentals of single point incremental forming and explaining the experimental and numerical results published in the literature over the past couple of years. The model is based...... of deformation that are commonly found in general single point incremental forming processes; and (ii) to investigate the formability limits of SPIF in terms of ductile damage mechanics and the question of whether necking does, or does not, precede fracture. Experimentation by the authors together with data...

Performance and delay analysis of hybrid ARQ with incremental redundancy over double rayleigh fading channels

KAUST Repository

Chelli, Ali

2014-11-01

In this paper, we study the performance of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) with incremental redundancy over double Rayleigh channels, a common model for the fading amplitude of vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems. We investigate the performance of HARQ from an information theoretic perspective. Analytical expressions are derived for the \\\\epsilon-outage capacity, the average number of transmissions, and the average transmission rate of HARQ with incremental redundancy assuming a maximum number of HARQ rounds. Moreover, we evaluate the delay experienced by Poisson arriving packets for HARQ with incremental redundancy. We provide analytical expressions for the expected waiting time, the packet\\'s sojourn time in the queue, the average consumed power, and the energy efficiency. In our study, the communication rate per HARQ round is adjusted to the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) such that a target outage probability is not exceeded. This setting conforms with communication systems in which a quality of service is expected regardless of the channel conditions. Our analysis underscores the importance of HARQ in improving the spectral efficiency and reliability of communication systems. We demonstrate as well that the explored HARQ scheme achieves full diversity. Additionally, we investigate the tradeoff between energy efficiency and spectral efficiency.

Reliability, construct and criterion-related validity of the Serbian adaptation of the trait emotional intelligence questionnaire (TEIQue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jolić-Marjanović Zorana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents evidence on the reliability and validity of the Serbian adaptation of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue, an instrument designed to comprehensively assess emotional intelligence conceived as a constellation of emotionrelated self-perceptions. Study participants were 254 adults, who completed the Serbian TEIQue, NEO-FFI, MSCEIT, EQ-short, and RSPWB. The results indicate that the adapted TEIQue is a psychometrically sound assessment tool: internal consistencies were mostly acceptable at facet, generally good at factor, and excellent at whole-scale level; the fourfactor structure was confirmed by means of CFA; convergent-discriminant validity was established through meaningful associations with related constructs, indicating that trait EI is closely aligned with affect and self-efficacy related constructs from the realm of personality (i.e., E, N, C, and Empathy, but shows only moderate overlap with ability EI; finally, incremental validity was demonstrated in the prediction of psychological wellbeing, over and above the Big Five. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179018

Complex Incremental Product Innovation in Established Service Firms: A Micro Institutional Perspective

OpenAIRE

Vermeulen, Patrick; Bosch, Frans; Volberda, Henk

2007-01-01

textabstractMany product innovation studies have described key determinants that should lead to successful incremental product innovation. Despite numerous studies suggesting how incremental product innovation should be successfully undertaken, many firms still struggle with this type of innovation. In this paper, we use an institutional perspective to investigate why established firms in the financial services industry struggle with their complex incremental product innovation efforts. We ar...

Incremental Innovation and Competitive Pressure in the Presence of Discrete Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ghosh, Arghya; Kato, Takao; Morita, Hodaka

2017-01-01

Technical progress consists of improvements made upon the existing technology (incremental innovation) and innovative activities aiming at entirely new technology (discrete innovation). Incremental innovation is often of limited relevance to the new technology invented by successful discrete...

The Selective Mutism Questionnaire: Measurement Structure and Validity

Science.gov (United States)

Letamendi, Andrea M.; Chavira, Denise A.; Hitchcock, Carla A.; Roesch, Scott C.; Shipon-Blum, Elisa; Stein, Murray B.; Roesch, Scott C.

2010-01-01

Objective To evaluate the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the 17-item Selective Mutism Questionnaire. Method Diagnostic interviews were administered via telephone to 102 parents of children identified with selective mutism (SM) and 43 parents of children without SM from varying U.S. geographic regions. Children were between the ages of 3 and 11 inclusive and comprised 58% girls and 42% boys. SM diagnoses were determined using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children - Parent Version (ADIS-C/P); SM severity was assessed using the 17-item Selective Mutism Questionnaire (SMQ); and behavioral and affective symptoms were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to investigate the dimensionality of the SMQ and a modified parallel analysis procedure was used to confirm EFA results. Internal consistency, construct validity, and incremental validity were also examined. Results The EFA yielded a 13-item solution consisting of three factors: a) Social Situations Outside of School, b) School Situations, and c) Home and Family Situations. Internal consistency of SMQ factors and total scale ranged from moderate to high. Convergent and incremental validity were also well supported. Conclusions Measure structure findings are consistent with the 3-factor solution found in a previous psychometric evaluation of the SMQ. Results also suggest that the SMQ provides useful and unique information in the prediction of SM phenomenon beyond other child anxiety measures. PMID:18698268

Development and initial validation of the volition in exercise questionnaire (VEQ)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Elsborg, Peter; Wikman, Johan Michael; Nielsen, Glen

2017-01-01

The present study describes the development and validation of an instrument to measure volition in the exercise context. Volition describes an individual’s self-regulatory mental processes that are responsible for taking and maintaining a desirable action (e.g., exercising regularly). The scale...... questionnaire with strong model fit and good internal consistency. In addition, the Volition in Exercise Questionnaire showed convergent validity because it was able to predict exercise participation. It showed incremental validity by explaining additional variance to the Sport Motivation Scale’s well...

Calculation of the increment reduction in spruce stands by charcoal smoke

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guede, J

1954-01-01

Chronic damage to spruce trees by charcoal smoke, often hardly noticeable from outward appearance but causing marked reductions of wood increment can be determined by means of a calculation by increment cores. Sulfurous acid anhydride causes the closure of the stomates of needles by which the circulation of water is checked. The assimilation and the wood increment are reduced. The cores are taken from uninjured trees belonging to the dominant class. These trees are liable to irregular variations in the trend of growth only by atmospheric influences and disturbances in the circulation of water. The decrease of increment of a stand can be judged by the trend of growth of the basal area of sample trees. Two methods are applied: in the first method, the difference between the mean total increment before the damage has been caused and that after it is calculated by the yield table in deriving the site quality classes from the basal area growth of dominant stems. This is possible by using the mean diameter of each age class and the frequency curve of basal area for each site class. In the other method, the reduction of basal area increment of sample trees is measured directly. The total reduction of a stand can be judged by the share of the dominant class of stem in the total current growth of the basal area of a sound stand and by the percent of reduction of the sample trees.

Do other-reports of counterproductive work behavior provide an incremental contribution over self-reports? A meta-analytic comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Christopher M; Carpenter, Nichelle C; Barratt, Clare L

2012-05-01

Much of the recent research on counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) has used multi-item self-report measures of CWB. Because of concerns over self-report measurement, there have been recent calls to collect ratings of employees' CWB from their supervisors or coworkers (i.e., other-raters) as alternatives or supplements to self-ratings. However, little is still known about the degree to which other-ratings of CWB capture unique and valid incremental variance beyond self-report CWB. The present meta-analysis investigates a number of key issues regarding the incremental contribution of other-reports of CWB. First, self- and other-ratings of CWB were moderately to strongly correlated with each other. Second, with some notable exceptions, self- and other-report CWB exhibited very similar patterns and magnitudes of relationships with a set of common correlates. Third, self-raters reported engaging in more CWB than other-raters reported them engaging in, suggesting other-ratings capture a narrower subset of CWBs. Fourth, other-report CWB generally accounted for little incremental variance in the common correlates beyond self-report CWB. Although many have viewed self-reports of CWB with skepticism, the results of this meta-analysis support their use in most CWB research as a viable alternative to other-reports. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Do otolith increments allow correct inferences about age and growth of coral reef fishes?

Science.gov (United States)

Booth, D. J.

2014-03-01

Otolith increment structure is widely used to estimate age and growth of marine fishes. Here, I test the accuracy of the long-term otolith increment analysis of the lemon damselfish Pomacentrus moluccensis to describe age and growth characteristics. I compare the number of putative annual otolith increments (as a proxy for actual age) and widths of these increments (as proxies for somatic growth) with actual tagged fish-length data, based on a 6-year dataset, the longest time course for a coral reef fish. Estimated age from otoliths corresponded closely with actual age in all cases, confirming annual increment formation. However, otolith increment widths were poor proxies for actual growth in length [linear regression r 2 = 0.44-0.90, n = 6 fish] and were clearly of limited value in estimating annual growth. Up to 60 % of the annual growth variation was missed using otolith increments, suggesting the long-term back calculations of otolith growth characteristics of reef fish populations should be interpreted with caution.

The Dark Side of Malleability: Incremental Theory Promotes Immoral Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Niwen; Zuo, Shijiang; Wang, Fang; Cai, Pan; Wang, Fengxiang

2017-01-01

Implicit theories drastically affect an individual's processing of social information, decision making, and action. The present research focuses on whether individuals who hold the implicit belief that people's moral character is fixed (entity theorists) and individuals who hold the implicit belief that people's moral character is malleable (incremental theorists) make different choices when facing a moral decision. Incremental theorists are less likely to make the fundamental attribution error (FAE), rarely make moral judgment based on traits and show more tolerance to immorality, relative to entity theorists, which might decrease the possibility of undermining the self-image when they engage in immoral behaviors, and thus we posit that incremental beliefs facilitate immorality. Four studies were conducted to explore the effect of these two types of implicit theories on immoral intention or practice. The association between implicit theories and immoral behavior was preliminarily examined from the observer perspective in Study 1, and the results showed that people tended to associate immoral behaviors (including everyday immoral intention and environmental destruction) with an incremental theorist rather than an entity theorist. Then, the relationship was further replicated from the actor perspective in Studies 2-4. In Study 2, implicit theories, which were measured, positively predicted the degree of discrimination against carriers of the hepatitis B virus. In Study 3, implicit theories were primed through reading articles, and the participants in the incremental condition showed more cheating than those in the entity condition. In Study 4, implicit theories were primed through a new manipulation, and the participants in the unstable condition (primed incremental theory) showed more discrimination than those in the other three conditions. Taken together, the results of our four studies were consistent with our hypotheses.

The Dark Side of Malleability: Incremental Theory Promotes Immoral Behaviors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niwen Huang

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Implicit theories drastically affect an individual’s processing of social information, decision making, and action. The present research focuses on whether individuals who hold the implicit belief that people’s moral character is fixed (entity theorists and individuals who hold the implicit belief that people’s moral character is malleable (incremental theorists make different choices when facing a moral decision. Incremental theorists are less likely to make the fundamental attribution error (FAE, rarely make moral judgment based on traits and show more tolerance to immorality, relative to entity theorists, which might decrease the possibility of undermining the self-image when they engage in immoral behaviors, and thus we posit that incremental beliefs facilitate immorality. Four studies were conducted to explore the effect of these two types of implicit theories on immoral intention or practice. The association between implicit theories and immoral behavior was preliminarily examined from the observer perspective in Study 1, and the results showed that people tended to associate immoral behaviors (including everyday immoral intention and environmental destruction with an incremental theorist rather than an entity theorist. Then, the relationship was further replicated from the actor perspective in Studies 2–4. In Study 2, implicit theories, which were measured, positively predicted the degree of discrimination against carriers of the hepatitis B virus. In Study 3, implicit theories were primed through reading articles, and the participants in the incremental condition showed more cheating than those in the entity condition. In Study 4, implicit theories were primed through a new manipulation, and the participants in the unstable condition (primed incremental theory showed more discrimination than those in the other three conditions. Taken together, the results of our four studies were consistent with our hypotheses.

Rapid Prototyping by Single Point Incremental Forming of Sheet Metal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjødt, Martin

2008-01-01

. The process is incremental forming since plastic deformation takes place in a small local zone underneath the forming tool, i.e. the sheet is formed as a summation of the movement of the local plastic zone. The process is slow and therefore only suited for prototypes or small batch production. On the other...... in the plastic zone. Using these it is demonstrated that the growth rate of accumulated damage in SPIF is small compared to conventional sheet forming processes. This combined with an explanation why necking is suppressed is a new theory stating that SPIF is limited by fracture and not necking. The theory...... SPIF. A multi stage strategy is presented which allows forming of a cup with vertical sides in about half of the depth. It is demonstrated that this results in strain paths which are far from straight, but strains are still limited by a straight fracture line in the principal strain space. The multi...

Dental caries increments and related factors in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Science.gov (United States)

Siudikiene, J; Machiulskiene, V; Nyvad, B; Tenovuo, J; Nedzelskiene, I

2008-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyse possible associations between caries increments and selected caries determinants in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and their age- and sex-matched non-diabetic controls, over 2 years. A total of 63 (10-15 years old) diabetic and non-diabetic pairs were examined for dental caries, oral hygiene and salivary factors. Salivary flow rates, buffer effect, concentrations of mutans streptococci, lactobacilli, yeasts, total IgA and IgG, protein, albumin, amylase and glucose were analysed. Means of 2-year decayed/missing/filled surface (DMFS) increments were similar in diabetics and their controls. Over the study period, both unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rates remained significantly lower in diabetic children compared to controls. No differences were observed in the counts of lactobacilli, mutans streptococci or yeast growth during follow-up, whereas salivary IgA, protein and glucose concentrations were higher in diabetics than in controls throughout the 2-year period. Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that children with higher 2-year DMFS increments were older at baseline and had higher salivary glucose concentrations than children with lower 2-year DMFS increments. Likewise, higher 2-year DMFS increments in diabetics versus controls were associated with greater increments in salivary glucose concentrations in diabetics. Higher increments in active caries lesions in diabetics versus controls were associated with greater increments of dental plaque and greater increments of salivary albumin. Our results suggest that, in addition to dental plaque as a common caries risk factor, diabetes-induced changes in salivary glucose and albumin concentrations are indicative of caries development among diabetics. Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Life-history characteristics of an age-validated established invasive ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

By counting post-fluorescent mark increments on otoliths from 21 chemically tagged wild fish recaptured 244–537 days later, the deposition of growth zones, comprising alternating opaque and translucent bands, was validated as annual. Examination of sectioned otoliths from 175 fish revealed that the oldest fish, two males ...

Validation of the Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale (AIS) among treatment-seeking smokers.

Science.gov (United States)

Farris, Samantha G; Zvolensky, Michael J; DiBello, Angelo M; Schmidt, Norman B

2015-06-01

The Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale (AIS; Gifford et al., 2004) was derived as a smoking-specific measure of experiential avoidance. However, there has been little investigation of the psychometric proprieties of the AIS and no published work on the topic. The current study aimed to test the reliability and validity of the AIS among a sample of adult treatment-seeking daily smokers (n = 465; 48.2% female, 17.8 [SD = 9.60] cigarettes per day). The AIS was administered at 3 time points (baseline, quit-day, and 1 month postquit) as part of a larger smoking cessation trial. An exploratory factor analysis indicated a 2-factor solution, described by inflexibility and avoidance because of smoking related "thoughts/feelings" (9 items) and "somatic sensations" (4 items). Results revealed that the AIS-total and factor scores demonstrated high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The AIS total and factor scores also displayed high convergent, discriminant, and incremental predictive validity with theoretically relevant smoking and affective variables. The present data suggest that the AIS measure appears to be a valid and reliable smoking-specific index of experiential avoidance. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Validation of the Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale (AIS) among Treatment-Seeking Smoker

Science.gov (United States)

Farris, Samantha G.; Zvolensky, Michael J.; DiBello, Angelo M.; Schmidt, Norman B.

2015-01-01

The Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale (AIS; Gifford et al., 2004) was derived as smoking-specific measure of experiential avoidance. However, there has been little investigation of the psychometric proprieties of the AIS and no published work on the topic. The current study aimed to test the reliability and validity of the AIS among a sample of adult treatment-seeking daily smokers (n = 465; 48.1% female, 17.8 [SD = 9.60] cigarettes per day). The AIS was administered at three time points (Baseline, Quit day, 1 month post-quit) as part of a larger smoking cessation trial. An exploratory factor analysis indicated a two-factor solution, described by inflexibility and avoidance due to smoking related “thoughts/feelings” (9 items) and “somatic sensations” (4 items). Results revealed that the AIS-total and factor scores demonstrated high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The AIS total and factor scores also displayed high convergent, discriminant, and incremental predictive validity with theoretically-relevant smoking and affective variables. The present data suggest that the AIS measure appears to be a valid and reliable smoking-specific index of experiential avoidance. PMID:25642937

An Improved Incremental Learning Approach for KPI Prognosis of Dynamic Fuel Cell System.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Shen; Xie, Xiaochen; Lam, James; Cheung, Kie Chung; Gao, Huijun

2016-12-01

The key performance indicator (KPI) has an important practical value with respect to the product quality and economic benefits for modern industry. To cope with the KPI prognosis issue under nonlinear conditions, this paper presents an improved incremental learning approach based on available process measurements. The proposed approach takes advantage of the algorithm overlapping of locally weighted projection regression (LWPR) and partial least squares (PLS), implementing the PLS-based prognosis in each locally linear model produced by the incremental learning process of LWPR. The global prognosis results including KPI prediction and process monitoring are obtained from the corresponding normalized weighted means of all the local models. The statistical indicators for prognosis are enhanced as well by the design of novel KPI-related and KPI-unrelated statistics with suitable control limits for non-Gaussian data. For application-oriented purpose, the process measurements from real datasets of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell system are employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of KPI prognosis. The proposed approach is finally extended to a long-term voltage prediction for potential reference of further fuel cell applications.

An approach to robot SLAM based on incremental appearance learning with omnidirectional vision

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Hua; Qin, Shi-Yin

2011-03-01

Localisation and mapping with an omnidirectional camera becomes more difficult as the landmark appearances change dramatically in the omnidirectional image. With conventional techniques, it is difficult to match the features of the landmark with the template. We present a novel robot simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) algorithm with an omnidirectional camera, which uses incremental landmark appearance learning to provide posterior probability distribution for estimating the robot pose under a particle filtering framework. The major contribution of our work is to represent the posterior estimation of the robot pose by incremental probabilistic principal component analysis, which can be naturally incorporated into the particle filtering algorithm for robot SLAM. Moreover, the innovative method of this article allows the adoption of the severe distorted landmark appearances viewed with omnidirectional camera for robot SLAM. The experimental results demonstrate that the localisation error is less than 1 cm in an indoor environment using five landmarks, and the location of the landmark appearances can be estimated within 5 pixels deviation from the ground truth in the omnidirectional image at a fairly fast speed.

Tent Preservation Project - Demonstration/Validation for Replacement of Aqueous Copper 8 Quinolinolate Treatment of Cotton Webbing With RO-59-WP

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bosselman, Suzanne E

2008-01-01

.... This report describes a demonstration/validation study of an alternative coating, RO-59-WP, as a potential additive to or replacement for Copper 8, which has been taken off the market several times...

Reliability and validity of heart rate variability threshold assessment during an incremental shuttle-walk test in middle-aged and older adults

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dourado, V.Z.; Guerra, R.L.F. [Laboratório de Estudos da Motricidade Humana, Departamento de Ciências do Movimento Humano, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, SP (Brazil)

2013-02-01

Studies on the assessment of heart rate variability threshold (HRVT) during walking are scarce. We determined the reliability and validity of HRVT assessment during the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) in healthy subjects. Thirty-one participants aged 57 ± 9 years (17 females) performed 3 ISWTs. During the 1st and 2nd ISWTs, instantaneous heart rate variability was calculated every 30 s and HRVT was measured. Walking velocity at HRVT in these tests (WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2) was registered. During the 3rd ISWT, physiological responses were assessed. The ventilatory equivalents were used to determine ventilatory threshold (VT) and the WV at VT (WV-VT) was recorded. The difference between WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2 was not statistically significant (median and interquartile range = 4.8; 4.8 to 5.4 vs 4.8; 4.2 to 5.4 km/h); the correlation between WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2 was significant (r = 0.84); the intraclass correlation coefficient was high (0.92; 0.82 to 0.96), and the agreement was acceptable (-0.08 km/h; -0.92 to 0.87). The difference between WV-VT and WV-HRVT2 was not statistically significant (4.8; 4.8 to 5.4 vs 4.8; 4.2 to 5.4 km/h) and the agreement was acceptable (0.04 km/h; -1.28 to 1.36). HRVT assessment during walking is a reliable measure and permits the estimation of VT in adults. We suggest the use of the ISWT for the assessment of exercise capacity in middle-aged and older adults.

Reliability and validity of heart rate variability threshold assessment during an incremental shuttle-walk test in middle-aged and older adults

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dourado, V.Z.; Guerra, R.L.F.

2013-01-01

Studies on the assessment of heart rate variability threshold (HRVT) during walking are scarce. We determined the reliability and validity of HRVT assessment during the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) in healthy subjects. Thirty-one participants aged 57 ± 9 years (17 females) performed 3 ISWTs. During the 1st and 2nd ISWTs, instantaneous heart rate variability was calculated every 30 s and HRVT was measured. Walking velocity at HRVT in these tests (WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2) was registered. During the 3rd ISWT, physiological responses were assessed. The ventilatory equivalents were used to determine ventilatory threshold (VT) and the WV at VT (WV-VT) was recorded. The difference between WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2 was not statistically significant (median and interquartile range = 4.8; 4.8 to 5.4 vs 4.8; 4.2 to 5.4 km/h); the correlation between WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2 was significant (r = 0.84); the intraclass correlation coefficient was high (0.92; 0.82 to 0.96), and the agreement was acceptable (-0.08 km/h; -0.92 to 0.87). The difference between WV-VT and WV-HRVT2 was not statistically significant (4.8; 4.8 to 5.4 vs 4.8; 4.2 to 5.4 km/h) and the agreement was acceptable (0.04 km/h; -1.28 to 1.36). HRVT assessment during walking is a reliable measure and permits the estimation of VT in adults. We suggest the use of the ISWT for the assessment of exercise capacity in middle-aged and older adults

Reliability and validity of heart rate variability threshold assessment during an incremental shuttle-walk test in middle-aged and older adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.Z. Dourado

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Studies on the assessment of heart rate variability threshold (HRVT during walking are scarce. We determined the reliability and validity of HRVT assessment during the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT in healthy subjects. Thirty-one participants aged 57 ± 9 years (17 females performed 3 ISWTs. During the 1st and 2nd ISWTs, instantaneous heart rate variability was calculated every 30 s and HRVT was measured. Walking velocity at HRVT in these tests (WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2 was registered. During the 3rd ISWT, physiological responses were assessed. The ventilatory equivalents were used to determine ventilatory threshold (VT and the WV at VT (WV-VT was recorded. The difference between WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2 was not statistically significant (median and interquartile range = 4.8; 4.8 to 5.4 vs 4.8; 4.2 to 5.4 km/h; the correlation between WV-HRVT1 and WV-HRVT2 was significant (r = 0.84; the intraclass correlation coefficient was high (0.92; 0.82 to 0.96, and the agreement was acceptable (-0.08 km/h; -0.92 to 0.87. The difference between WV-VT and WV-HRVT2 was not statistically significant (4.8; 4.8 to 5.4 vs 4.8; 4.2 to 5.4 km/h and the agreement was acceptable (0.04 km/h; -1.28 to 1.36. HRVT assessment during walking is a reliable measure and permits the estimation of VT in adults. We suggest the use of the ISWT for the assessment of exercise capacity in middle-aged and older adults.

Enabling Incremental Query Re-Optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Mengmeng; Ives, Zachary G; Loo, Boon Thau

2016-01-01

As declarative query processing techniques expand to the Web, data streams, network routers, and cloud platforms, there is an increasing need to re-plan execution in the presence of unanticipated performance changes. New runtime information may affect which query plan we prefer to run. Adaptive techniques require innovation both in terms of the algorithms used to estimate costs , and in terms of the search algorithm that finds the best plan. We investigate how to build a cost-based optimizer that recomputes the optimal plan incrementally given new cost information, much as a stream engine constantly updates its outputs given new data. Our implementation especially shows benefits for stream processing workloads. It lays the foundations upon which a variety of novel adaptive optimization algorithms can be built. We start by leveraging the recently proposed approach of formulating query plan enumeration as a set of recursive datalog queries ; we develop a variety of novel optimization approaches to ensure effective pruning in both static and incremental cases. We further show that the lessons learned in the declarative implementation can be equally applied to more traditional optimizer implementations.

RBANS memory percentage retention: No evidence of incremental validity beyond RBANS scores for diagnostic classification of mild cognitive impairment and dementia and for prediction of daily function.

Science.gov (United States)

Jodouin, Kara A; O'Connell, Megan E; Morgan, Debra G

2017-01-01

RBANS percentage retention scores may be useful for diagnosis, but their incremental validity is unclear. Percentage retention versus RBANS immediate and delayed memory subtests and delayed index scores were compared for diagnostic classification and for prediction of function. Data from 173 memory clinic patients with an interdisciplinary diagnosis (no cognitive impairment, amnestic mild cognitive impairment [aMCI], and dementia due to Alzheimer's disease [AD]) and complete RBANS data were analyzed. Across diagnostic contrasts, list percentage retention classification accuracy was similar to List Learning delayed recall, but below the Delayed Memory Index (DMI). Similarly, for classifying no cognitive impairment versus aMCI or dementia due to AD, story percentage retention was similar to Story Memory subtests and below the DMI. For classifying aMCI versus AD; however, Story Memory exceeded the DMI, but was similar to Story Memory subtest scores. Similarly, for prediction of function percentage retention measures did not predict variance beyond that predicted by the RBANS subtest or index scores. In sum, there is no evidence that calculation of percentage retention for RBANS adds clinical utility beyond those provided by the standard RBANS scores.

Context-dependent incremental timing cells in the primate hippocampus.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakon, John J; Naya, Yuji; Wirth, Sylvia; Suzuki, Wendy A

2014-12-23

We examined timing-related signals in primate hippocampal cells as animals performed an object-place (OP) associative learning task. We found hippocampal cells with firing rates that incrementally increased or decreased across the memory delay interval of the task, which we refer to as incremental timing cells (ITCs). Three distinct categories of ITCs were identified. Agnostic ITCs did not distinguish between different trial types. The remaining two categories of cells signaled time and trial context together: One category of cells tracked time depending on the behavioral action required for a correct response (i.e., early vs. late release), whereas the other category of cells tracked time only for those trials cued with a specific OP combination. The context-sensitive ITCs were observed more often during sessions where behavioral learning was observed and exhibited reduced incremental firing on incorrect trials. Thus, single primate hippocampal cells signal information about trial timing, which can be linked with trial type/context in a learning-dependent manner.

Reliability and validity of a brief method to assess nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) threshold.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhudy, Jamie L; France, Christopher R

2011-07-01

The nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) is a physiological tool to study spinal nociception. However, NFR assessment can take several minutes and expose participants to repeated suprathreshold stimulations. The 4 studies reported here assessed the reliability and validity of a brief method to assess NFR threshold that uses a single ascending series of stimulations (Peak 1 NFR), by comparing it to a well-validated method that uses 3 ascending/descending staircases of stimulations (Staircase NFR). Correlations between the NFR definitions were high, were on par with test-retest correlations of Staircase NFR, and were not affected by participant sex or chronic pain status. Results also indicated the test-retest reliabilities for the 2 definitions were similar. Using larger stimulus increments (4 mAs) to assess Peak 1 NFR tended to result in higher NFR threshold estimates than using the Staircase NFR definition, whereas smaller stimulus increments (2 mAs) tended to result in lower NFR threshold estimates than the Staircase NFR definition. Neither NFR definition was correlated with anxiety, pain catastrophizing, or anxiety sensitivity. In sum, a single ascending series of electrical stimulations results in a reliable and valid estimate of NFR threshold. However, caution may be warranted when comparing NFR thresholds across studies that differ in the ascending stimulus increments. This brief method to assess NFR threshold is reliable and valid; therefore, it should be useful to clinical pain researchers interested in quickly assessing inter- and intra-individual differences in spinal nociceptive processes. Copyright © 2011 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Statistics of wind direction and its increments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doorn, Eric van; Dhruva, Brindesh; Sreenivasan, Katepalli R.; Cassella, Victor

2000-01-01

We study some elementary statistics of wind direction fluctuations in the atmosphere for a wide range of time scales (10 -4 sec to 1 h), and in both vertical and horizontal planes. In the plane parallel to the ground surface, the direction time series consists of two parts: a constant drift due to large weather systems moving with the mean wind speed, and fluctuations about this drift. The statistics of the direction fluctuations show a rough similarity to Brownian motion but depend, in detail, on the wind speed. This dependence manifests itself quite clearly in the statistics of wind-direction increments over various intervals of time. These increments are intermittent during periods of low wind speeds but Gaussian-like during periods of high wind speeds. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics

Incremental Beliefs of Ability, Achievement Emotions and Learning of Singapore Students

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Wenshu; Lee, Kerry; Ng, Pak Tee; Ong, Joanne Xiao Wei

2014-01-01

This study investigated the relationships of students' incremental beliefs of math ability to their achievement emotions, classroom engagement and math achievement. A sample of 273 secondary students in Singapore were administered measures of incremental beliefs of math ability, math enjoyment, pride, boredom and anxiety, as well as math classroom…

The Cognitive Underpinnings of Incremental Rehearsal

Science.gov (United States)

Varma, Sashank; Schleisman, Katrina B.

2014-01-01

Incremental rehearsal (IR) is a flashcard technique that has been developed and evaluated by school psychologists. We discuss potential learning and memory effects from cognitive psychology that may explain the observed superiority of IR over other flashcard techniques. First, we propose that IR is a form of "spaced practice" that…

Development and preliminary validation of a self-report measure of psychopathic personality traits in noncriminal populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lilienfeld, S O; Andrews, B P

1996-06-01

Research on psychopathology has been hindered by persisting difficulties and controversies regarding its assessment. The primary goals of this set of studies were to (a) develop, and initiate the construct validation of, a self-report measure that assesses the major personality traits of psychopathy in noncriminal populations and (b) clarify the nature of these traits via an exploratory approach to test construction. This measure, the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI), was developed by writing items to assess a large number of personality domains relevant to psychopathy and performing successive item-level factor analyses and revisions on three undergraduate samples. The PPI total score and its eight subscales were found to possess satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In four studies with undergraduates, the PPI and its subscales exhibited a promising pattern of convergent and discriminant validity with self-report, psychiatric interview, observer rating, and family history data. In addition, the PPI total score demonstrated incremental validity relative to several commonly used self-report psychopathy-related measures. Future construct validation studies, unresolved conceptual issues regarding the assessment of psychopathy, and potential research uses of the PPI are outlined.

Ventilatory threshold during incremental running can be estimated using EMG shorts.

Science.gov (United States)

Tikkanen, Olli; Hu, Min; Vilavuo, Toivo; Tolvanen, Pekka; Cheng, Sulin; Finni, Taija

2012-04-01

The present study examined whether shorts with textile electromyographic (EMG) electrodes can be used to detect second ventilatory threshold (V(T2)) during incremental treadmill running. Thirteen recreationally active (REC) and eight endurance athletes were measured for EMG, heart rate, blood lactate and respiratory gases during VO(2max) test (3 min ramps, 1 km·h(-1) increments). V(T)(2), onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) and EMG threshold (EMG(T)) were determined. In athletes, OBLA occurred at 56 ± 6 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1), V(T2) occurred at 59 ± 6 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1), and EMG(T) at 62 ± 6 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1) without significant differences between methods (analysis of variance: ANOVA). In REC participants, OBLA occurred at 40 ± 10 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1), V(T2) occurred at 43 ± 7 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1), and EMG(T) at 41 ± 9 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1) without significant differences between methods (ANOVA). For the entire group, correlation between EMG(T) and V(T2) was 0.86 (P < 0.001) and 0.84 (P < 0.001) between EMG(T) and OBLA. Limits of agreement between EMG(T) and V(T2) were narrower in athletes than in REC participants. Thus, it is concluded that estimation of V(T2) using EMG(T) in athletes is more valid than in REC participants. In practice, experienced runners could use online feedback from EMG garments to monitor whether their running intensity is near V(T2). © 2012 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine

Development and validation of the Alcohol Myopia Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Lac, Andrew; Berger, Dale E

2013-09-01

Alcohol myopia theory conceptualizes the ability of alcohol to narrow attention and how this demand on mental resources produces the impairments of self-inflation, relief, and excess. The current research was designed to develop and validate a scale based on this framework. People who were alcohol users rated items representing myopic experiences arising from drinking episodes in the past month. In Study 1 (N = 260), the preliminary 3-factor structure was supported by exploratory factor analysis. In Study 2 (N = 289), the 3-factor structure was substantiated with confirmatory factor analysis, and it was superior in fit to an empirically indefensible 1-factor structure. The final 14-item scale was evaluated with internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity, criterion validity, and incremental validity. The alcohol myopia scale (AMS) illuminates conceptual underpinnings of this theory and yields insights for understanding the tunnel vision that arises from intoxication.

The Dark Side of Malleability: Incremental Theory Promotes Immoral Behaviors

OpenAIRE

Huang, Niwen; Zuo, Shijiang; Wang, Fang; Cai, Pan; Wang, Fengxiang

2017-01-01

Implicit theories drastically affect an individual’s processing of social information, decision making, and action. The present research focuses on whether individuals who hold the implicit belief that people’s moral character is fixed (entity theorists) and individuals who hold the implicit belief that people’s moral character is malleable (incremental theorists) make different choices when facing a moral decision. Incremental theorists are less likely to make the fundamental attribution err...

Organization Strategy and Structural Differences for Radical Versus Incremental Innovation

OpenAIRE

John E. Ettlie; William P. Bridges; Robert D. O'Keefe

1984-01-01

The purpose of this study was to test a model of the organizational innovation process that suggests that the strategy-structure causal sequence is differentiated by radical versus incremental innovation. That is, unique strategy and structure will be required for radical innovation, especially process adoption, while more traditional strategy and structure arrangements tend to support new product introduction and incremental process adoption. This differentiated theory is strongly supported ...

Incremental deformation: A literature review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nasulea Daniel

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Nowadays the customer requirements are in permanent changing and according with them the tendencies in the modern industry is to implement flexible manufacturing processes. In the last decades, metal forming gained attention of the researchers and considerable changes has occurred. Because for a small number of parts, the conventional metal forming processes are expensive and time-consuming in terms of designing and manufacturing preparation, the manufacturers and researchers became interested in flexible processes. One of the most investigated flexible processes in metal forming is incremental sheet forming (ISF. ISF is an advanced flexible manufacturing process which allows to manufacture complex 3D products without expensive dedicated tools. In most of the cases it is needed for an ISF process the following: a simple tool, a fixing device for sheet metal blank and a universal CNC machine. Using this process it can be manufactured axis-symmetric parts, usually using a CNC lathe but also complex asymmetrical parts using CNC milling machines, robots or dedicated equipment. This paper aim to present the current status of incremental sheet forming technologies in terms of process parameters and their influences, wall thickness distribution, springback effect, formability, surface quality and the current main research directions.

Complex Incremental Product Innovation in Established Service Firms: A Micro Institutional Perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

P.A.M. Vermeulen (Patrick); F.A.J. van den Bosch (Frans); H.W. Volberda (Henk)

2006-01-01

textabstractMany product innovation studies have described key determinants that should lead to successful incremental product innovation. Despite numerous studies suggesting how incremental product innovation should be successfully undertaken, many firms still struggle with this type of innovation.

Complex Incremental Product Innovation in Established Service Firms: A Micro Institutional Perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

P.A.M. Vermeulen (Patrick); F.A.J. van den Bosch (Frans); H.W. Volberda (Henk)

2007-01-01

textabstractMany product innovation studies have described key determinants that should lead to successful incremental product innovation. Despite numerous studies suggesting how incremental product innovation should be successfully undertaken, many firms still struggle with this type of innovation.

An innovative privacy preserving technique for incremental datasets on cloud computing.

Science.gov (United States)

Aldeen, Yousra Abdul Alsahib S; Salleh, Mazleena; Aljeroudi, Yazan

2016-08-01

Cloud computing (CC) is a magnificent service-based delivery with gigantic computer processing power and data storage across connected communications channels. It imparted overwhelming technological impetus in the internet (web) mediated IT industry, where users can easily share private data for further analysis and mining. Furthermore, user affable CC services enable to deploy sundry applications economically. Meanwhile, simple data sharing impelled various phishing attacks and malware assisted security threats. Some privacy sensitive applications like health services on cloud that are built with several economic and operational benefits necessitate enhanced security. Thus, absolute cyberspace security and mitigation against phishing blitz became mandatory to protect overall data privacy. Typically, diverse applications datasets are anonymized with better privacy to owners without providing all secrecy requirements to the newly added records. Some proposed techniques emphasized this issue by re-anonymizing the datasets from the scratch. The utmost privacy protection over incremental datasets on CC is far from being achieved. Certainly, the distribution of huge datasets volume across multiple storage nodes limits the privacy preservation. In this view, we propose a new anonymization technique to attain better privacy protection with high data utility over distributed and incremental datasets on CC. The proficiency of data privacy preservation and improved confidentiality requirements is demonstrated through performance evaluation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Teraflop-scale Incremental Machine Learning

OpenAIRE

Özkural, Eray

2011-01-01

We propose a long-term memory design for artificial general intelligence based on Solomonoff's incremental machine learning methods. We use R5RS Scheme and its standard library with a few omissions as the reference machine. We introduce a Levin Search variant based on Stochastic Context Free Grammar together with four synergistic update algorithms that use the same grammar as a guiding probability distribution of programs. The update algorithms include adjusting production probabilities, re-u...

A Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network based on local distribution learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Youlu; Shi, Xiaofeng; Shen, Furao; Zhou, Ke; Zhao, Jinxi

2016-12-01

In this paper, we propose an unsupervised incremental learning neural network based on local distribution learning, which is called Local Distribution Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network (LD-SOINN). The LD-SOINN combines the advantages of incremental learning and matrix learning. It can automatically discover suitable nodes to fit the learning data in an incremental way without a priori knowledge such as the structure of the network. The nodes of the network store rich local information regarding the learning data. The adaptive vigilance parameter guarantees that LD-SOINN is able to add new nodes for new knowledge automatically and the number of nodes will not grow unlimitedly. While the learning process continues, nodes that are close to each other and have similar principal components are merged to obtain a concise local representation, which we call a relaxation data representation. A denoising process based on density is designed to reduce the influence of noise. Experiments show that the LD-SOINN performs well on both artificial and real-word data. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incremental Reconstruction of Urban Environments by Edge-Points Delaunay Triangulation

OpenAIRE

Romanoni, Andrea; Matteucci, Matteo

2016-01-01

Urban reconstruction from a video captured by a surveying vehicle constitutes a core module of automated mapping. When computational power represents a limited resource and, a detailed map is not the primary goal, the reconstruction can be performed incrementally, from a monocular video, carving a 3D Delaunay triangulation of sparse points; this allows online incremental mapping for tasks such as traversability analysis or obstacle avoidance. To exploit the sharp edges of urban landscape, we ...

A Dutch translation and validation of the Body Appreciation Scale-2: An investigation with female university students in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Alleva, Jessica M; Martijn, Carolien; Veldhuis, Jolanda; Tylka, Tracy L

2016-12-01

This paper describes a Dutch translation and validation of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2; Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015a), an instrument for assessing key components of positive body image. Dutch-speaking female university students (N=310, M age =21.31, SD=3.04) completed the Dutch BAS-2. To assess its construct validity, participants also completed measures of appearance satisfaction, functionality satisfaction, self-objectification, self-esteem, and optimistic life orientation. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a one-dimensional factor structure of the Dutch BAS-2, substantiating the BAS-2 factor structure found in samples of U.S., Chinese, and Iranian university students and community adults. Dutch BAS-2 scores also demonstrated good internal consistency (α=.90), convergent validity, and incremental validity. In addition, lower body mass indices were associated with higher Dutch BAS-2 scores. The present findings support the cross-cultural equivalence of the BAS-2 and thus its promise in enabling research on positive body image in diverse cultural contexts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Indexing Density Models for Incremental Learning and Anytime Classification on Data Streams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seidl, Thomas; Assent, Ira; Kranen, Philipp

2009-01-01

Classification of streaming data faces three basic challenges: it has to deal with huge amounts of data, the varying time between two stream data items must be used best possible (anytime classification) and additional training data must be incrementally learned (anytime learning) for applying...... to the individual object to be classified) a hierarchy of mixture densities that represent kernel density estimators at successively coarser levels. Our probability density queries together with novel classification improvement strategies provide the necessary information for very effective classification at any...... point of interruption. Moreover, we propose a novel evaluation method for anytime classification using Poisson streams and demonstrate the anytime learning performance of the Bayes tree....

Validity of the Draw-a-Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance (DAP:SPED) in Strengths-Based Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Matto, Holly C.; Naglieri, Jack A.; Clausen, Cinny

2005-01-01

Objective: This is the first validity study to date to examine the relationship between the Draw-A-Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance (DAP:SPED) and strengths-based emotional and behavioral measures. The incremental predictive validity of the DAP:SPED relative to the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale was examined. Method:…

Abnormal Gait Behavior Detection for Elderly Based on Enhanced Wigner-Ville Analysis and Cloud Incremental SVM Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Luo

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A cloud based health care system is proposed in this paper for the elderly by providing abnormal gait behavior detection, classification, online diagnosis, and remote aid service. Intelligent mobile terminals with triaxial acceleration sensor embedded are used to capture the movement and ambulation information of elderly. The collected signals are first enhanced by a Kalman filter. And the magnitude of signal vector features is then extracted and decomposed into a linear combination of enhanced Gabor atoms. The Wigner-Ville analysis method is introduced and the problem is studied by joint time-frequency analysis. In order to solve the large-scale abnormal behavior data lacking problem in training process, a cloud based incremental SVM (CI-SVM learning method is proposed. The original abnormal behavior data are first used to get the initial SVM classifier. And the larger abnormal behavior data of elderly collected by mobile devices are then gathered in cloud platform to conduct incremental training and get the new SVM classifier. By the CI-SVM learning method, the knowledge of SVM classifier could be accumulated due to the dynamic incremental learning. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is feasible and can be applied to aged care, emergency aid, and related fields.

Automatic incrementalization of Prolog based static analyses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eichberg, Michael; Kahl, Matthias; Saha, Diptikalyan

2007-01-01

Modem development environments integrate various static analyses into the build process. Analyses that analyze the whole project whenever the project changes are impractical in this context. We present an approach to automatic incrementalization of analyses that are specified as tabled logic prog...

A new recursive incremental algorithm for building minimal acyclic deterministic finite automata

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Watson, B.W.; Martin-Vide, C.; Mitrana, V.

2003-01-01

This chapter presents a new algorithm for incrementally building minimal acyclic deterministic finite automata. Such minimal automata are a compact representation of a finite set of words (e.g. in a spell checker). The incremental aspect of such algorithms (where the intermediate automaton is

Incremental Structured Dictionary Learning for Video Sensor-Based Object Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Ming; Yang, Hua; Zheng, Shibao; Zhou, Yi; Yu, Zhenghua

2014-01-01

To tackle robust object tracking for video sensor-based applications, an online discriminative algorithm based on incremental discriminative structured dictionary learning (IDSDL-VT) is presented. In our framework, a discriminative dictionary combining both positive, negative and trivial patches is designed to sparsely represent the overlapped target patches. Then, a local update (LU) strategy is proposed for sparse coefficient learning. To formulate the training and classification process, a multiple linear classifier group based on a K-combined voting (KCV) function is proposed. As the dictionary evolves, the models are also trained to timely adapt the target appearance variation. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations on challenging image sequences compared with state-of-the-art algorithms demonstrate that the proposed tracking algorithm achieves a more favorable performance. We also illustrate its relay application in visual sensor networks. PMID:24549252

Atmospheric response to Saharan dust deduced from ECMWF reanalysis (ERA) temperature increments

Science.gov (United States)

Kishcha, P.; Alpert, P.; Barkan, J.; Kirchner, I.; Machenhauer, B.

2003-09-01

This study focuses on the atmospheric temperature response to dust deduced from a new source of data the European Reanalysis (ERA) increments. These increments are the systematic errors of global climate models, generated in the reanalysis procedure. The model errors result not only from the lack of desert dust but also from a complex combination of many kinds of model errors. Over the Sahara desert the lack of dust radiative effect is believed to be a predominant model defect which should significantly affect the increments. This dust effect was examined by considering correlation between the increments and remotely sensed dust. Comparisons were made between April temporal variations of the ERA analysis increments and the variations of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer aerosol index (AI) between 1979 and 1993. The distinctive structure was identified in the distribution of correlation composed of three nested areas with high positive correlation (>0.5), low correlation and high negative correlation (Forecast (ECMWF) suggest that the PCA (NCA) corresponds mainly to anticyclonic (cyclonic) flow, negative (positive) vorticity and downward (upward) airflow. These findings are associated with the interaction between dust-forced heating/cooling and atmospheric circulation. This paper contributes to a better understanding of dust radiative processes missed in the model.

Global Combat Support System - Army Increment 2 (GCSS-A Inc 2)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

2016 Major Automated Information System Annual Report Global Combat Support System - Army Increment 2 (GCSS-A Inc 2) Defense Acquisition...Secretary of Defense PB - President’s Budget RDT&E - Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation SAE - Service Acquisition Executive TBD - To Be...Date Assigned: Program Information Program Name Global Combat Support System - Army Increment 2 (GCSS-A Inc 2) DoD Component Army Responsible

The balanced scorecard: an incremental approach model to health care management.

Science.gov (United States)

Pineno, Charles J

2002-01-01

The balanced scorecard represents a technique used in strategic management to translate an organization's mission and strategy into a comprehensive set of performance measures that provide the framework for implementation of strategic management. This article develops an incremental approach for decision making by formulating a specific balanced scorecard model with an index of nonfinancial as well as financial measures. The incremental approach to costs, including profit contribution analysis and probabilities, allows decisionmakers to assess, for example, how their desire to meet different health care needs will cause changes in service design. This incremental approach to the balanced scorecard may prove to be useful in evaluating the existence of causality relationships between different objective and subjective measures to be included within the balanced scorecard.

Test and Demonstration Assets of New Mexico

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2008-03-31

This document was developed by the Arrowhead Center of New Mexico State University as part of the National Security Preparedness Project (NSPP), funded by a DOE/NNSA grant. The NSPP has three primary components: business incubation, workforce development, and technology demonstration and validation. The document contains a survey of test and demonstration assets in New Mexico available for external users such as small businesses with security technologies under development. Demonstration and validation of national security technologies created by incubator sources, as well as other sources, are critical phases of technology development. The NSPP will support the utilization of an integrated demonstration and validation environment.

Volatilities, traded volumes, and the hypothesis of price increments in derivative securities

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Gyuchang; Kim, SooYong; Scalas, Enrico; Kim, Kyungsik

2007-08-01

A detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is applied to the statistics of Korean treasury bond (KTB) futures from which the logarithmic increments, volatilities, and traded volumes are estimated over a specific time lag. In this study, the logarithmic increment of futures prices has no long-memory property, while the volatility and the traded volume exhibit the existence of the long-memory property. To analyze and calculate whether the volatility clustering is due to a inherent higher-order correlation not detected by with the direct application of the DFA to logarithmic increments of KTB futures, it is of importance to shuffle the original tick data of future prices and to generate a geometric Brownian random walk with the same mean and standard deviation. It was found from a comparison of the three tick data that the higher-order correlation inherent in logarithmic increments leads to volatility clustering. Particularly, the result of the DFA on volatilities and traded volumes can be supported by the hypothesis of price changes.

Software designs of image processing tasks with incremental refinement of computation.

Science.gov (United States)

Anastasia, Davide; Andreopoulos, Yiannis

2010-08-01

Software realizations of computationally-demanding image processing tasks (e.g., image transforms and convolution) do not currently provide graceful degradation when their clock-cycles budgets are reduced, e.g., when delay deadlines are imposed in a multitasking environment to meet throughput requirements. This is an important obstacle in the quest for full utilization of modern programmable platforms' capabilities since worst-case considerations must be in place for reasonable quality of results. In this paper, we propose (and make available online) platform-independent software designs performing bitplane-based computation combined with an incremental packing framework in order to realize block transforms, 2-D convolution and frame-by-frame block matching. The proposed framework realizes incremental computation: progressive processing of input-source increments improves the output quality monotonically. Comparisons with the equivalent nonincremental software realization of each algorithm reveal that, for the same precision of the result, the proposed approach can lead to comparable or faster execution, while it can be arbitrarily terminated and provide the result up to the computed precision. Application examples with region-of-interest based incremental computation, task scheduling per frame, and energy-distortion scalability verify that our proposal provides significant performance scalability with graceful degradation.

Ventilatory threshold during incremental running can be estimated using EMG shorts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tikkanen, Olli; Vilavuo, Toivo; Finni, Taija; Hu, Min; Cheng, Sulin; Tolvanen, Pekka

2012-01-01

The present study examined whether shorts with textile electromyographic (EMG) electrodes can be used to detect second ventilatory threshold (V T2 ) during incremental treadmill running. Thirteen recreationally active (REC) and eight endurance athletes were measured for EMG, heart rate, blood lactate and respiratory gases during VO 2max test (3 min ramps, 1 km ⋅ h −1 increments). V T2 , onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) and EMG threshold (EMG T ) were determined. In athletes, OBLA occurred at 56 ± 6 mL ⋅ kg −1  ⋅ min −1 , V T2 occurred at 59 ± 6 mL ⋅ kg −1  ⋅ min −1 , and EMG T at 62 ± 6 mL ⋅ kg −1  ⋅ min −1 without significant differences between methods (analysis of variance: ANOVA). In REC participants, OBLA occurred at 40 ± 10 mL ⋅ kg −1  ⋅ min −1 , V T2 occurred at 43 ± 7 mL ⋅ kg −1  ⋅ min −1 , and EMG T at 41 ± 9 mL ⋅ kg −1  ⋅ min −1 without significant differences between methods (ANOVA). For the entire group, correlation between EMG T and V T2 was 0.86 (P < 0.001) and 0.84 (P < 0.001) between EMG T and OBLA. Limits of agreement between EMG T and V T2 were narrower in athletes than in REC participants. Thus, it is concluded that estimation of V T2 using EMG T in athletes is more valid than in REC participants. In practice, experienced runners could use online feedback from EMG garments to monitor whether their running intensity is near V T2 . (paper)

Taking PROs and patient-centered care seriously: incremental and disruptive ideas for incorporating PROs in oncology practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Donaldson, Molla Sloane

2008-12-01

Using patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical practice poses challenges for health care teams and organizations to respond to individual patient needs in a timely fashion. Well-validated tools and feasibility studies are available, but successful spread will require knowledge of effective technology dissemination in complex health delivery systems. Given what has been learned about effective implementation, it is reasonable to ask whether the broad adoption of PROs can occur incrementally using current models of care to apply PRO technology. Another approach is to start with patient needs and focus on how to meet those needs most effectively using PROs in new ways of organizing health care.

Modeling stem increment in individual Pinus occidentalis Sw. trees in La Sierra, Dominican Republic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bueno, S.; Bevilacqua, E.

2010-07-01

One of the most common and important tree characteristics used in forest management decision-making is tree diameter-at-breast height (DBH). This paper presents results on an evaluation of two growth functions developed to model stem diameter increases in individual Pinus occidentalis Sw. trees in La Sierra, Dominican Republic. The first model was developed in order to predict future DBH (FDM) at different intervals of time and the other for predicting growth, that is, periodic annual diameter increment (PADIM). Each model employed two statistical techniques for fitting model parameters: stepwise ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and mixed models. The two statistical approaches varied in how they accounted for the repeated measurements on individual trees over time, affecting standard error estimates and statistical inference of model parameters. Each approach was evaluated based on six goodness of- fit statistics, using both calibration and validation data sets. The objectives were 1) to determine the best model for predicting future tree DBH; 2) to determine the best model for predicting periodic annual diameter increment, both models using tree size, age, site index and different indices of competitive status; and 3) compare which of these two modeling approaches predicts better the future DBH. OLS provided a better fit for both of the growth functions, especially in regards to bias. Both models showed advantages and disadvantages when they were used to predict growth and future diameter. For the prediction of future diameter with FDM, accuracy of predictions were within one centimeter for a five-year projection interval. The PADIM presented negligible bias in estimating future diameter, although there was a small increase in bias as time of prediction increased. As expected, each model was the best in estimating the response variable it was developed for.. However, a closer examination of the distribution of errors showed a slight advantage of the FDM

Evidence combination for incremental decision-making processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berrada, Ghita; van Keulen, Maurice; de Keijzer, Ander

The establishment of a medical diagnosis is an incremental process highly fraught with uncertainty. At each step of this painstaking process, it may be beneficial to be able to quantify the uncertainty linked to the diagnosis and steadily update the uncertainty estimation using available sources of

Incremental Nonnegative Matrix Factorization for Face Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Sheng Chen

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF is a promising approach for local feature extraction in face recognition tasks. However, there are two major drawbacks in almost all existing NMF-based methods. One shortcoming is that the computational cost is expensive for large matrix decomposition. The other is that it must conduct repetitive learning, when the training samples or classes are updated. To overcome these two limitations, this paper proposes a novel incremental nonnegative matrix factorization (INMF for face representation and recognition. The proposed INMF approach is based on a novel constraint criterion and our previous block strategy. It thus has some good properties, such as low computational complexity, sparse coefficient matrix. Also, the coefficient column vectors between different classes are orthogonal. In particular, it can be applied to incremental learning. Two face databases, namely FERET and CMU PIE face databases, are selected for evaluation. Compared with PCA and some state-of-the-art NMF-based methods, our INMF approach gives the best performance.

Apparatus for electrical-assisted incremental forming and process thereof

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, John; Cao, Jian

2018-04-24

A process and apparatus for forming a sheet metal component using an electric current passing through the component. The process can include providing an incremental forming machine, the machine having at least one arcuate tipped tool and at least electrode spaced a predetermined distance from the arcuate tipped tool. The machine is operable to perform a plurality of incremental deformations on the sheet metal component using the arcuate tipped tool. The machine is also operable to apply an electric direct current through the electrode into the sheet metal component at the predetermined distance from the arcuate tipped tool while the machine is forming the sheet metal component.

Existing School Buildings: Incremental Seismic Retrofit Opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC.

The intent of this document is to provide technical guidance to school district facility managers for linking specific incremental seismic retrofit opportunities to specific maintenance and capital improvement projects. The linkages are based on logical affinities, such as technical fit, location of the work within the building, cost saving…

Testing the construct validity of willingness to pay valuations using objective information about risk and health benefit.

Science.gov (United States)

Philips, Zoë; Whynes, David K; Avis, Mark

2006-02-01

This paper describes an experiment to test the construct validity of contingent valuation, by eliciting women's valuations for the NHS cervical cancer screening programme. It is known that, owing to low levels of knowledge of cancer and screening in the general population, women both over-estimate the risk of disease and the efficacy of screening. The study is constructed as a randomised experiment, in which one group is provided with accurate information about cervical cancer screening, whilst the other is not. The first hypothesis supporting construct validity, that controls who perceive greater benefits from screening will offer higher valuations, is substantiated. Both groups are then provided with objective information on an improvement to the screening programme, and are asked to value the improvement as an increment to their original valuations. The second hypothesis supporting construct validity, that controls who perceive the benefits of the programme to be high already will offer lower incremental valuations, is also substantiated. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Development and validation of the Body and Appearance Self-Conscious Emotions Scale (BASES).

Science.gov (United States)

Castonguay, Andrée L; Sabiston, Catherine M; Crocker, Peter R E; Mack, Diane E

2014-03-01

The purpose of these studies was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of shame, guilt, authentic pride, and hubristic pride for use in body and appearance contexts. In Study 1, 41 potential items were developed and assessed for item quality and comprehension. In Study 2, a panel of experts (N=8; M=11, SD=6.5 years of experience) reviewed the scale and items for evidence of content validity. Participants in Study 3 (n=135 males, n=300 females) completed the BASES and various body image, personality, and emotion scales. A separate sample (n=155; 35.5% male) in Study 3 completed the BASES twice using a two-week time interval. The BASES subscale scores demonstrated evidence for internal consistency, item-total correlations, concurrent, convergent, incremental, and discriminant validity, and 2-week test-retest reliability. The 4-factor solution was a good fit in confirmatory factor analysis, reflecting body-related shame, guilt, authentic and hubristic pride subscales of the BASES. The development and validation of the BASES may help advance body image and self-conscious emotion research by providing a foundation to examine the unique antecedents and outcomes of these specific emotional experiences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incremental Structured Dictionary Learning for Video Sensor-Based Object Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming Xue

2014-02-01

Full Text Available To tackle robust object tracking for video sensor-based applications, an online discriminative algorithm based on incremental discriminative structured dictionary learning (IDSDL-VT is presented. In our framework, a discriminative dictionary combining both positive, negative and trivial patches is designed to sparsely represent the overlapped target patches. Then, a local update (LU strategy is proposed for sparse coefficient learning. To formulate the training and classification process, a multiple linear classifier group based on a K-combined voting (KCV function is proposed. As the dictionary evolves, the models are also trained to timely adapt the target appearance variation. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations on challenging image sequences compared with state-of-the-art algorithms demonstrate that the proposed tracking algorithm achieves a more favorable performance. We also illustrate its relay application in visual sensor networks.

Incremental fold tests of remagnetized carbonate rocks

Science.gov (United States)

Van Der Voo, R.; van der Pluijm, B.

2017-12-01

Many unmetamorphosed carbonates all over the world are demonstrably remagnetized, with the age of the secondary magnetizations typically close to that of the nearest orogeny in space and time. This observation did not become compelling until the mid-1980's, when the incremental fold test revealed the Appalachian carbonates to carry a syn-deformational remanence of likely Permian age (Scotese et al., 1982, Phys. Earth Planet. Int., v. 30, p. 385-395; Cederquist et al., 2006, Tectonophysics v. 422, p. 41-54). Since that time scores of Appalachian and Rocky Mountain carbonate rocks have added results to the growing database of paleopoles representing remagnetizations. Late Paleozoic remagnetizations form a cloud of results surrounding the reference poles of the Laurentian APWP. Remagnetizations in other locales and with inferred ages coeval with regional orogenies (e.g., Taconic, Sevier/Laramide, Variscan, Indosinian) are also ubiquitous. To be able to transform this cornucopia into valuable anchor-points on the APWP would be highly desirable. This may indeed become feasible, as will be explained next. Recent studies of faulted and folded carbonate-shale sequences have shown that this deformation enhances the illitization of smectite (Haines & van der Pluijm, 2008, Jour. Struct. Geol., v. 30, p. 525-538; Fitz-Diaz et al., 2014, International Geol. Review, v. 56, p. 734-755). 39Ar-40Ar dating of the authigenic illite (neutralizing any detrital illite contribution by taking the intercept of a mixing line) yields, therefore, the age of the deformation. We know that this date is also the age of the syndeformational remanence; thus we have the age of the corresponding paleopole. Results so far are obtained for the Canadian and U.S. Rocky Mountains and for the Spanish Cantabrian carbonates (Tohver et al., 2008, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., v. 274, p. 524-530) and make good sense in accord with geological knowledge. Incremental fold tests are the tools used for this

Future launcher demonstrator. Challenge and pathfinder

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinau, W.; Guerra, L.; Parkinson, R. C.; Lieberherr, J. F.

1996-02-01

For future and advanced launch vehicles emphasis is focused on single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) concepts and on completely reusable versions with the goal to reduce the recurrent launch cost, to improve the mission success probability and also safety for the space transportation of economically attractive payloads into Low Earth Orbit. Both issues, the SSTO launcher and the low cost reusability are extremely challenging and cannot be proven by studies and on-ground tests alone. In-flight demonstration tests are required to verify the assumptions and the new technologies, and to justify the new launcher-and operations-concepts. Because a number of SSTO launch vehicles are currently under discussion in terms of configurations and concepts such as winged vehicles for vertical or horizontal launch and landing (from ground or a flying platform), or wingless vehicles for vertical take-off and landing, and also in terms of propulsion (pure rockets or a combination of air breathing and rocket engines), an experimental demonstrator vehicle appears necessary in order to serve as a pathfinder in this area of multiple challenges. A suborbital Reusable Rocket Launcher Demonstrator (RRLD) has been studied recently by a European industrial team for ESA. This is a multipurpose, evolutionary demonstrator, conceived around a modular approach of incremental improvements of subsystems and materials, to achieve a better propellant mass fraction i.e. a better performance, and specifically for the accomplishment of an incremental flight test programme. While the RRLD basic test programme will acquire knowledge about hypersonic flight, re-entry and landing of a cryogenic rocket propelled launcher — and the low cost reusability (short turnaround on ground) in the utilization programme beyond basic testing, the RRLD will serve as a test bed for generic testing of technologies required for the realization of an SSTO launcher. This paper will present the results of the European RRLD study which

Attitude Determination Algorithm based on Relative Quaternion Geometry of Velocity Incremental Vectors for Cost Efficient AHRS Design

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Byungjin; Lee, Young Jae; Sung, Sangkyung

2018-05-01

A novel attitude determination method is investigated that is computationally efficient and implementable in low cost sensor and embedded platform. Recent result on attitude reference system design is adapted to further develop a three-dimensional attitude determination algorithm through the relative velocity incremental measurements. For this, velocity incremental vectors, computed respectively from INS and GPS with different update rate, are compared to generate filter measurement for attitude estimation. In the quaternion-based Kalman filter configuration, an Euler-like attitude perturbation angle is uniquely introduced for reducing filter states and simplifying propagation processes. Furthermore, assuming a small angle approximation between attitude update periods, it is shown that the reduced order filter greatly simplifies the propagation processes. For performance verification, both simulation and experimental studies are completed. A low cost MEMS IMU and GPS receiver are employed for system integration, and comparison with the true trajectory or a high-grade navigation system demonstrates the performance of the proposed algorithm.

Application of CalME incremental-recursive method to the evaluation of the structural condition as asphalt pavements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mateos Moreno, A.; Perez Ayuso, J.; Cadavid Jauregui, B.; Marron Fernandez, J. O.

2011-01-01

CalME procedure represents one of the most advanced tools for the design, of flexible pavements world-wide. IT is an incremental-recursive method, which means that pavements service life must be divided into many time intervals where both structural integrity and environmental conditions can be regarded as constants. It also means that the damage calculated at the end of each interval must be considered as initial condition for the next one. The goal of this type of models is the prediction of the evolution of the different distress mechanisms. The advantages of incremental-recursive procedures versus classical analytical design are shown in this paper. Advantages are shown not only in terms of design, but also as a tool in order to support structural evaluation. In particular, the potential of asphalt fatigue model incorporated in CalME is presented. this model is initially calibrated in the laboratory, and it is then re-calibrated based on the actual performance observed from field deflection testing. The model provides a reliable prediction of the future evolution of the damage of the asphalt mixture. Fatigue model validation has been conducted based on the performance from several flexible sections evaluated in CEDEX full-scale pavements test track. (Author) 14 refs.

Incremental projection approach of regularization for inverse problems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Souopgui, Innocent, E-mail: innocent.souopgui@usm.edu [The University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Marine Science (United States); Ngodock, Hans E., E-mail: hans.ngodock@nrlssc.navy.mil [Naval Research Laboratory (United States); Vidard, Arthur, E-mail: arthur.vidard@imag.fr; Le Dimet, François-Xavier, E-mail: ledimet@imag.fr [Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann (France)

2016-10-15

This paper presents an alternative approach to the regularized least squares solution of ill-posed inverse problems. Instead of solving a minimization problem with an objective function composed of a data term and a regularization term, the regularization information is used to define a projection onto a convex subspace of regularized candidate solutions. The objective function is modified to include the projection of each iterate in the place of the regularization. Numerical experiments based on the problem of motion estimation for geophysical fluid images, show the improvement of the proposed method compared with regularization methods. For the presented test case, the incremental projection method uses 7 times less computation time than the regularization method, to reach the same error target. Moreover, at convergence, the incremental projection is two order of magnitude more accurate than the regularization method.

Incremental Frequent Subgraph Mining on Large Evolving Graphs

KAUST Repository

Abdelhamid, Ehab; Canim, Mustafa; Sadoghi, Mohammad; Bhatta, Bishwaranjan; Chang, Yuan-Chi; Kalnis, Panos

2017-01-01

, such as social networks, utilize large evolving graphs. Mining these graphs using existing techniques is infeasible, due to the high computational cost. In this paper, we propose IncGM+, a fast incremental approach for continuous frequent subgraph mining problem

Estimation of incremental reactivities for multiple day scenarios: an application to ethane and dimethyoxymethane

Science.gov (United States)

Stockwell, William R.; Geiger, Harald; Becker, Karl H.

Single-day scenarios are used to calculate incremental reactivities by definition (Carter, J. Air Waste Management Assoc. 44 (1994) 881-899.) but even unreactive organic compounds may have a non-negligible effect on ozone concentrations if multiple-day scenarios are considered. The concentration of unreactive compounds and their products may build up over a multiple-day period and the oxidation products may be highly reactive or highly unreactive affecting the overall incremental reactivity of the organic compound. We have developed a method for calculating incremental reactivities for multiple days based on a standard scenario for polluted European conditions. This method was used to estimate maximum incremental reactivities (MIR) and maximum ozone incremental reactivities (MOIR) for ethane and dimethyoxymethane for scenarios ranging from 1 to 6 days. It was found that the incremental reactivities increased as the length of the simulation period increased. The MIR of ethane increased faster than the value for dimethyoxymethane as the scenarios became longer. The MOIRs of ethane and dimethyoxymethane increased but the change was more modest for scenarios longer than 3 days. MOIRs of both volatile organic compounds were equal within the uncertainties of their chemical mechanisms by the 5 day scenario. These results show that dimethyoxymethane has an ozone forming potential on a per mass basis that is only somewhat greater than ethane if multiple-day scenarios are considered.

[Spatiotemporal variation of Populus euphratica's radial increment at lower reaches of Tarim River after ecological water transfer].

Science.gov (United States)

An, Hong-Yan; Xu, Hai-Liang; Ye, Mao; Yu, Pu-Ji; Gong, Jun-Jun

2011-01-01

Taking the Populus euphratica at lower reaches of Tarim River as test object, and by the methods of tree dendrohydrology, this paper studied the spatiotemporal variation of P. euphratic' s branch radial increment after ecological water transfer. There was a significant difference in the mean radial increment before and after ecological water transfer. The radial increment after the eco-water transfer was increased by 125%, compared with that before the water transfer. During the period of ecological water transfer, the radial increment was increased with increasing water transfer quantity, and there was a positive correlation between the annual radial increment and the total water transfer quantity (R2 = 0.394), suggesting that the radial increment of P. euphratica could be taken as the performance indicator of ecological water transfer. After the ecological water transfer, the radial increment changed greatly with the distance to the River, i.e. , decreased significantly along with the increasing distance to the River (P = 0.007). The P. euphratic' s branch radial increment also differed with stream segment (P = 0.017 ), i.e. , the closer to the head-water point (Daxihaizi Reservoir), the greater the branch radial increment. It was considered that the limited effect of the current ecological water transfer could scarcely change the continually deteriorating situation of the lower reaches of Tarim River.

[Incremental cost effectiveness of multifocal cataract surgery].

Science.gov (United States)

Pagel, N; Dick, H B; Krummenauer, F

2007-02-01

Supplementation of cataract patients with multifocal intraocular lenses involves an additional financial investment when compared to the corresponding monofocal supplementation, which usually is not funded by German health care insurers. In the context of recent resource allocation discussions, however, the cost effectiveness of multifocal cataract surgery could become an important rationale. Therefore an evidence-based estimation of its cost effectiveness was carried out. Three independent meta-analyses were implemented to estimate the gain in uncorrected near visual acuity and best corrected visual acuity (vision lines) as well as the predictability (fraction of patients without need for reading aids) of multifocal supplementation. Study reports published between 1995 and 2004 (English or German language) were screened for appropriate key words. Meta effects in visual gain and predictability were estimated by means and standard deviations of the reported effect measures. Cost data were estimated by German DRG rates and individual lens costs; the cost effectiveness of multifocal cataract surgery was then computed in terms of its marginal cost effectiveness ratio (MCER) for each clinical benefit endpoint; the incremental costs of multifocal versus monofocal cataract surgery were further estimated by means of their respective incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER). An independent meta-analysis estimated the complication profiles to be expected after monofocal and multifocal cataract surgery in order to evaluate expectable complication-associated additional costs of both procedures; the marginal and incremental cost effectiveness estimates were adjusted accordingly. A sensitivity analysis comprised cost variations of +/- 10 % and utility variations alongside the meta effect estimate's 95 % confidence intervals. Total direct costs from the health care insurer's perspective were estimated 3363 euro, associated with a visual meta benefit in best corrected visual

Lactate and ammonia concentration in blood and sweat during incremental cycle ergometer exercise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ament, W; Huizenga, [No Value; Mook, GA; Gips, CH; Verkerke, GJ

It is known that the concentrations of ammonia and lactate in blood increase during incremental exercise. Sweat also contains lactate and ammonia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the physiological response of lactate and ammonia in plasma and sweat during a stepwise incremental cycle

Potential stocks and increments of woody biomass in the European Union under different management and climate scenarios.

Science.gov (United States)

Kindermann, Georg E; Schörghuber, Stefan; Linkosalo, Tapio; Sanchez, Anabel; Rammer, Werner; Seidl, Rupert; Lexer, Manfred J

2013-02-01

Forests play an important role in the global carbon flow. They can store carbon and can also provide wood which can substitute other materials. In EU27 the standing biomass is steadily increasing. Increments and harvests seem to have reached a plateau between 2005 and 2010. One reason for reaching this plateau will be the circumstance that the forests are getting older. High ages have the advantage that they typical show high carbon concentration and the disadvantage that the increment rates are decreasing. It should be investigated how biomass stock, harvests and increments will develop under different climate scenarios and two management scenarios where one is forcing to store high biomass amounts in forests and the other tries to have high increment rates and much harvested wood. A management which is maximising standing biomass will raise the stem wood carbon stocks from 30 tC/ha to 50 tC/ha until 2100. A management which is maximising increments will lower the stock to 20 tC/ha until 2100. The estimates for the climate scenarios A1b, B1 and E1 are different but there is much more effect by the management target than by the climate scenario. By maximising increments the harvests are 0.4 tC/ha/year higher than in the management which maximises the standing biomass. The increments until 2040 are close together but around 2100 the increments when maximising standing biomass are approximately 50 % lower than those when maximising increments. Cold regions will benefit from the climate changes in the climate scenarios by showing higher increments. The results of this study suggest that forest management should maximise increments, not stocks to be more efficient in sense of climate change mitigation. This is true especially for regions which have already high carbon stocks in forests, what is the case in many regions in Europe. During the time span 2010-2100 the forests of EU27 will absorb additional 1750 million tC if they are managed to maximise increments compared

Why and how Mastering an Incremental and Iterative Software Development Process

Science.gov (United States)

Dubuc, François; Guichoux, Bernard; Cormery, Patrick; Mescam, Jean Christophe

2004-06-01

One of the key issues regularly mentioned in the current software crisis of the space domain is related to the software development process that must be performed while the system definition is not yet frozen. This is especially true for complex systems like launchers or space vehicles.Several more or less mature solutions are under study by EADS SPACE Transportation and are going to be presented in this paper. The basic principle is to develop the software through an iterative and incremental process instead of the classical waterfall approach, with the following advantages:- It permits systematic management and incorporation of requirements changes over the development cycle with a minimal cost. As far as possible the most dimensioning requirements are analyzed and developed in priority for validating very early the architecture concept without the details.- A software prototype is very quickly available. It improves the communication between system and software teams, as it enables to check very early and efficiently the common understanding of the system requirements.- It allows the software team to complete a whole development cycle very early, and thus to become quickly familiar with the software development environment (methodology, technology, tools...). This is particularly important when the team is new, or when the environment has changed since the previous development. Anyhow, it improves a lot the learning curve of the software team.These advantages seem very attractive, but mastering efficiently an iterative development process is not so easy and induces a lot of difficulties such as:- How to freeze one configuration of the system definition as a development baseline, while most of thesystem requirements are completely and naturally unstable?- How to distinguish stable/unstable and dimensioning/standard requirements?- How to plan the development of each increment?- How to link classical waterfall development milestones with an iterative approach: when

PCA/INCREMENT MEMORY interface for analog processors on-line with PC-XT/AT IBM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biri, S.; Buttsev, V.S.; Molnar, J.; Samojlov, V.N.

1989-01-01

The functional and operational descriptions on PCA/INCREMENT MEMORY interface are discussed. The following is solved with this unit: connection between the analogue signal processor and PC, nuclear spectrum acquisition up to 2 24 -1 counts/channel using increment or decrement method, data read/write from or to memory via data bus PC during the spectrum acquisition. Dual ported memory organization is 4096x24 bit, increment cycle time at 4.77 MHz system clock frequency is 1.05 μs. 6 refs.; 2 figs

Playing by the rules? Analysing incremental urban developments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Karnenbeek, van Lilian; Janssen-Jansen, Leonie

2018-01-01

Current urban developments are often considered outdated and static, and the argument follows that they should become more adaptive. In this paper, we argue that existing urban development are already adaptive and incremental. Given this flexibility in urban development, understanding changes in the

Validation of annual growth rings in freshwater mussel shells using cross dating .Can

Science.gov (United States)

Andrew L. Rypel; Wendell R. Haag; Robert H. Findlay

2009-01-01

We examined the usefulness of dendrochronological cross-dating methods for studying long-term, interannual growth patterns in freshwater mussels, including validation of annual shell ring formation. Using 13 species from three rivers, we measured increment widths between putative annual rings on shell thin sections and then removed age-related variation by...

A program for the numerical control of a pulse increment system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gray, D.C.

1963-08-21

This report will describe the important features of the development of magnetic tapes for the numerical control of a pulse-increment system consisting of a modified Gorton lathe and its associated control unit developed by L. E. Foley of Equipment Development Service, Engineering Services, General Electric Co., Schenectady, N.Y. Included is a description of CUPID (Control and Utilization of Pulse Increment Devices), a FORTRAN program for the design of these tapes on the IBM 7090 computer, and instructions for its operation.

BMI and BMI SDS in childhood: annual increments and conditional change

OpenAIRE

Brannsether-Ellingsen, Bente; Eide, Geir Egil; Roelants, Mathieu; Bjerknes, Robert; Juliusson, Petur Benedikt

2016-01-01

Background: Early detection of abnormal weight gain in childhood may be important for preventive purposes. It is still debated which annual changes in BMI should warrant attention. Aim: To analyse 1-year increments of Body Mass Index (BMI) and standardised BMI (BMI SDS) in childhood and explore conditional change in BMI SDS as an alternative method to evaluate 1-year changes in BMI. Subjects and methods: The distributions of 1-year increments of BMI (kg/m2) and BMI SDS are summarised by...

Decoupled Simulation Method For Incremental Sheet Metal Forming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sebastiani, G.; Brosius, A.; Tekkaya, A. E.; Homberg, W.; Kleiner, M.

2007-01-01

Within the scope of this article a decoupling algorithm to reduce computing time in Finite Element Analyses of incremental forming processes will be investigated. Based on the given position of the small forming zone, the presented algorithm aims at separating a Finite Element Model in an elastic and an elasto-plastic deformation zone. Including the elastic response of the structure by means of model simplifications, the costly iteration in the elasto-plastic zone can be restricted to the small forming zone and to few supporting elements in order to reduce computation time. Since the forming zone moves along the specimen, an update of both, forming zone with elastic boundary and supporting structure, is needed after several increments.The presented paper discusses the algorithmic implementation of the approach and introduces several strategies to implement the denoted elastic boundary condition at the boundary of the plastic forming zone

The influence of the immediate visual context on incremental thematic role-assignment: evidence from eye-movements in depicted events.

Science.gov (United States)

Knoeferle, Pia; Crocker, Matthew W; Scheepers, Christoph; Pickering, Martin J

2005-02-01

Studies monitoring eye-movements in scenes containing entities have provided robust evidence for incremental reference resolution processes. This paper addresses the less studied question of whether depicted event scenes can affect processes of incremental thematic role-assignment. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants inspected agent-action-patient events while listening to German verb-second sentences with initial structural and role ambiguity. The experiments investigated the time course with which listeners could resolve this ambiguity by relating the verb to the depicted events. Such verb-mediated visual event information allowed early disambiguation on-line, as evidenced by anticipatory eye-movements to the appropriate agent/patient role filler. We replicated this finding while investigating the effects of intonation. Experiment 3 demonstrated that when the verb was sentence-final and thus did not establish early reference to the depicted events, linguistic cues alone enabled disambiguation before people encountered the verb. Our results reveal the on-line influence of depicted events on incremental thematic role-assignment and disambiguation of local structural and role ambiguity. In consequence, our findings require a notion of reference that includes actions and events in addition to entities (e.g. Semantics and Cognition, 1983), and argue for a theory of on-line sentence comprehension that exploits a rich inventory of semantic categories.

Automobile sheet metal part production with incremental sheet forming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

İsmail DURGUN

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, effect of global warming is increasing drastically so it leads to increased interest on energy efficiency and sustainable production methods. As a result of adverse conditions, national and international project platforms, OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers, SMEs (Small and Mid-size Manufacturers perform many studies or improve existing methodologies in scope of advanced manufacturing techniques. In this study, advanced manufacturing and sustainable production method "Incremental Sheet Metal Forming (ISF" was used for sheet metal forming process. A vehicle fender was manufactured with or without die by using different toolpath strategies and die sets. At the end of the study, Results have been investigated under the influence of method and parameters used.Keywords: Template incremental sheet metal, Metal forming

Conservation of wildlife populations: factoring in incremental disturbance.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Abbie; Komers, Petr E

2017-06-01

Progressive anthropogenic disturbance can alter ecosystem organization potentially causing shifts from one stable state to another. This potential for ecosystem shifts must be considered when establishing targets and objectives for conservation. We ask whether a predator-prey system response to incremental anthropogenic disturbance might shift along a disturbance gradient and, if it does, whether any disturbance thresholds are evident for this system. Development of linear corridors in forested areas increases wolf predation effectiveness, while high density of development provides a safe-haven for their prey. If wolves limit moose population growth, then wolves and moose should respond inversely to land cover disturbance. Using general linear model analysis, we test how the rate of change in moose ( Alces alces ) density and wolf ( Canis lupus ) harvest density are influenced by the rate of change in land cover and proportion of land cover disturbed within a 300,000 km 2 area in the boreal forest of Alberta, Canada. Using logistic regression, we test how the direction of change in moose density is influenced by measures of land cover change. In response to incremental land cover disturbance, moose declines occurred where 43% of land cover was disturbed and wolf density declined. Wolves and moose appeared to respond inversely to incremental disturbance with the balance between moose decline and wolf increase shifting at about 43% of land cover disturbed. Conservation decisions require quantification of disturbance rates and their relationships to predator-prey systems because ecosystem responses to anthropogenic disturbance shift across disturbance gradients.

Incremental net social benefit associated with using nuclear-fueled power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maoz, I.

1976-12-01

The incremental net social benefit (INSB) resulting from nuclear-fueled, rather than coal-fired, electric power generation is assessed. The INSB is defined as the difference between the 'incremental social benefit' (ISB)--caused by the cheaper technology of electric power generation, and the 'incremental social cost' (ISC)--associated with an increased power production, which is induced by cheaper technology. Section 2 focuses on the theoretical and empirical problems associated with the assessment of the long-run price elasticity of the demand for electricity, and the theoretical-econometric considerations that lead to the reasonable estimates of price elasticities of demand from those provided by recent empirical studies. Section 3 covers the theoretical and empirical difficulties associated with the construction of the long-run social marginal cost curves (LRSMC) of electricity. Sections 4 and 5 discuss the assessment methodology and provide numerical examples for the calculation of the INSB resulting from nuclear-fueled power generation

Single Point Incremental Forming to increase material knowledge and production flexibility

Science.gov (United States)

Habraken, A. M.

2016-08-01

Nowadays, manufactured pieces can be divided into two groups: mass production and production of low volume number of parts. Within the second group (prototyping or small batch production), an emerging solution relies on Incremental Sheet Forming or ISF. ISF refers to processes where the plastic deformation occurs by repeated contact with a relatively small tool. More specifically, many publications over the past decade investigate Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) where the final shape is determined only by the tool movement. This manufacturing process is characterized by the forming of sheets by means of a CNC controlled generic tool stylus, with the sheets clamped by means of a non-workpiece-specific clamping system and in absence of a partial or a full die. The advantage is no tooling requirements and often enhanced formability, however it poses a challenge in term of process control and accuracy assurance. Note that the most commonly used materials in incremental forming are aluminum and steel alloys however other alloys are also used especially for medical industry applications, such as cobalt and chromium alloys, stainless steel and titanium alloys. Some scientists have applied incremental forming on PVC plates and other on sandwich panels composed of propylene with mild steel and aluminum metallic foams with aluminum sheet metal. Micro incremental forming of thin foils has also been developed. Starting from the scattering of the results of Finite Element (FE) simulations, when one tries to predict the tool force (see SPIF benchmark of 2014 Numisheet conference), we will see how SPIF and even micro SPIF (process applied on thin metallic sheet with a few grains within the thickness) allow investigating the material behavior. This lecture will focus on the identification of constitutive laws, on the SPIF forming mechanisms and formability as well as the failure mechanism. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain SPIF formability, they will be

Single Point Incremental Forming to increase material knowledge and production flexibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Habraken, A.M.

2016-01-01

Nowadays, manufactured pieces can be divided into two groups: mass production and production of low volume number of parts. Within the second group (prototyping or small batch production), an emerging solution relies on Incremental Sheet Forming or ISF. ISF refers to processes where the plastic deformation occurs by repeated contact with a relatively small tool. More specifically, many publications over the past decade investigate Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) where the final shape is determined only by the tool movement. This manufacturing process is characterized by the forming of sheets by means of a CNC controlled generic tool stylus, with the sheets clamped by means of a non-workpiece-specific clamping system and in absence of a partial or a full die. The advantage is no tooling requirements and often enhanced formability, however it poses a challenge in term of process control and accuracy assurance. Note that the most commonly used materials in incremental forming are aluminum and steel alloys however other alloys are also used especially for medical industry applications, such as cobalt and chromium alloys, stainless steel and titanium alloys. Some scientists have applied incremental forming on PVC plates and other on sandwich panels composed of propylene with mild steel and aluminum metallic foams with aluminum sheet metal. Micro incremental forming of thin foils has also been developed. Starting from the scattering of the results of Finite Element (FE) simulations, when one tries to predict the tool force (see SPIF benchmark of 2014 Numisheet conference), we will see how SPIF and even micro SPIF (process applied on thin metallic sheet with a few grains within the thickness) allow investigating the material behavior. This lecture will focus on the identification of constitutive laws, on the SPIF forming mechanisms and formability as well as the failure mechanism. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain SPIF formability, they will be

Bipower variation for Gaussian processes with stationary increments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barndorff-Nielsen, Ole Eiler; Corcuera, José Manuel; Podolskij, Mark

2009-01-01

Convergence in probability and central limit laws of bipower variation for Gaussian processes with stationary increments and for integrals with respect to such processes are derived. The main tools of the proofs are some recent powerful techniques of Wiener/Itô/Malliavin calculus for establishing...

Validity and reproducibility of the ErgomoPro power meter compared with the SRM and Powertap power meters.

Science.gov (United States)

Duc, Sebastien; Villerius, Vincent; Bertucci, William; Grappe, Frederic

2007-09-01

The ErgomoPro (EP) is a power meter that measures power output (PO) during outdoor and indoor cycling via 2 optoelectronic sensors located in the bottom bracket axis. The aim of this study was to determine the validity and the reproducibility of the EP compared with the SRM crank set and Powertap hub (PT). The validity of the EP was tested in the laboratory during 8 submaximal incremental tests (PO: 100 to 400 W), eight 30-min submaximal constant-power tests (PO = 180 W), and 8 sprint tests (PO > 750 W) and in the field during 8 training sessions (time: 181 +/- 73 min; PO: approximately 140 to 160 W). The reproducibility was assessed by calculating the coefficient of PO variation (CV) during the submaximal incremental and constant tests. The EP provided a significantly higher PO than the SRM and PT during the submaximal incremental test: The mean PO differences were +6.3% +/- 2.5% and +11.1% +/- 2.1% respectively. The difference was greater during field training sessions (+12.0% +/- 5.7% and +16.5% +/- 5.9%) but lower during sprint tests (+1.6% +/- 2.5% and +3.2% +/- 2.7%). The reproducibility of the EP is lower than those of the SRM and PT (CV = 4.1% +/- 1.8%, 1.9% +/- 0.4%, and 2.1% +/- 0.8%, respectively). The EP power meter appears less valid and reliable than the SRM and PT systems.

The Utility and Comparative Incremental Validity of the MMPI-2 and Trauma Symptom Inventory Validity Scales in the Detection of Feigned PTSD

Science.gov (United States)

Efendov, Adele A.; Sellbom, Martin; Bagby, R. Michael

2008-01-01

The authors examined the comparative predictive capacity of the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) Atypical Response Scale (ATR) and the standard set of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) fake-bad validity scales (i.e., F, F[subscript B[prime

A comparative study of velocity increment generation between the rigid body and flexible models of MMET

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ismail, Norilmi Amilia, E-mail: aenorilmi@usm.my [School of Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang (Malaysia)

2016-02-01

The motorized momentum exchange tether (MMET) is capable of generating useful velocity increments through spin–orbit coupling. This study presents a comparative study of the velocity increments between the rigid body and flexible models of MMET. The equations of motions of both models in the time domain are transformed into a function of true anomaly. The equations of motion are integrated, and the responses in terms of the velocity increment of the rigid body and flexible models are compared and analysed. Results show that the initial conditions, eccentricity, and flexibility of the tether have significant effects on the velocity increments of the tether.

Evolving effective incremental SAT solvers with GP

OpenAIRE

Bader, Mohamed; Poli, R.

2008-01-01

Hyper-Heuristics could simply be defined as heuristics to choose other heuristics, and it is a way of combining existing heuristics to generate new ones. In a Hyper-Heuristic framework, the framework is used for evolving effective incremental (Inc*) solvers for SAT. We test the evolved heuristics (IncHH) against other known local search heuristics on a variety of benchmark SAT problems.

Real Time Implementation of Incremental Fuzzy Logic Controller for Gas Pipeline Corrosion Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gopalakrishnan Jayapalan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A robust virtual instrumentation based fuzzy incremental corrosion controller is presented to protect metallic gas pipelines. Controller output depends on error and change in error of the controlled variable. For corrosion control purpose pipe to soil potential is considered as process variable. The proposed fuzzy incremental controller is designed using a very simple control rule base and the most natural and unbiased membership functions. The proposed scheme is tested for a wide range of pipe to soil potential control. Performance comparison between the conventional proportional integral type and proposed fuzzy incremental controller is made in terms of several performance criteria such as peak overshoot, settling time, and rise time. Result shows that the proposed controller outperforms its conventional counterpart in each case. Designed controller can be taken in automode without waiting for initial polarization to stabilize. Initial startup curve of proportional integral controller and fuzzy incremental controller is reported. This controller can be used to protect any metallic structures such as pipelines, tanks, concrete structures, ship, and offshore structures.

Minimizing System Modification in an Incremental Design Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pop, Paul; Eles, Petru; Pop, Traian

2001-01-01

In this paper we present an approach to mapping and scheduling of distributed embedded systems for hard real-time applications, aiming at minimizing the system modification cost. We consider an incremental design process that starts from an already existing sys-tem running a set of applications. We...

EFFECT OF COST INCREMENT DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF JIT SUPPLY CHAIN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayu Bidiawati J.R

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Cost is an important consideration in supply chain (SC optimisation. This is due to emphasis placed on cost reduction in order to optimise profit. Some researchers use cost as one of their performance measures and others propose ways of accurately calculating cost. As product moves across SC, the product cost also increases. This paper studied the effect of cost increment distribution patterns on the performance of a JIT Supply Chain. In particular, it is necessary to know if inventory allocation across SC needs to be modified to accommodate different cost increment distribution patterns. It was found that funnel is still the best card distribution pattern for JIT-SC regardless the cost increment distribution patterns used.

BMI and BMI SDS in childhood: annual increments and conditional change.

Science.gov (United States)

Brannsether, Bente; Eide, Geir Egil; Roelants, Mathieu; Bjerknes, Robert; Júlíusson, Pétur Benedikt

2017-02-01

Background Early detection of abnormal weight gain in childhood may be important for preventive purposes. It is still debated which annual changes in BMI should warrant attention. Aim To analyse 1-year increments of Body Mass Index (BMI) and standardised BMI (BMI SDS) in childhood and explore conditional change in BMI SDS as an alternative method to evaluate 1-year changes in BMI. Subjects and methods The distributions of 1-year increments of BMI (kg/m 2 ) and BMI SDS are summarised by percentiles. Differences according to sex, age, height, weight, initial BMI and weight status on the BMI and BMI SDS increments were assessed with multiple linear regression. Conditional change in BMI SDS was based on the correlation between annual BMI measurements converted to SDS. Results BMI increments depended significantly on sex, height, weight and initial BMI. Changes in BMI SDS depended significantly only on the initial BMI SDS. The distribution of conditional change in BMI SDS using a two-correlation model was close to normal (mean = 0.11, SD = 1.02, n = 1167), with 3.2% (2.3-4.4%) of the observations below -2 SD and 2.8% (2.0-4.0%) above +2 SD. Conclusion Conditional change in BMI SDS can be used to detect unexpected large changes in BMI SDS. Although this method requires the use of a computer, it may be clinically useful to detect aberrant weight development.

Relating annual increments of the endangered Blanding's turtle plastron growth to climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Richard, Monik G; Laroque, Colin P; Herman, Thomas B

2014-05-01

This research is the first published study to report a relationship between climate variables and plastron growth increments of turtles, in this case the endangered Nova Scotia Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii). We used techniques and software common to the discipline of dendrochronology to successfully cross-date our growth increment data series, to detrend and average our series of 80 immature Blanding's turtles into one common chronology, and to seek correlations between the chronology and environmental temperature and precipitation variables. Our cross-dated chronology had a series intercorrelation of 0.441 (above 99% confidence interval), an average mean sensitivity of 0.293, and an average unfiltered autocorrelation of 0.377. Our master chronology represented increments from 1975 to 2007 (33 years), with index values ranging from a low of 0.688 in 2006 to a high of 1.303 in 1977. Univariate climate response function analysis on mean monthly air temperature and precipitation values revealed a positive correlation with the previous year's May temperature and current year's August temperature; a negative correlation with the previous year's October temperature; and no significant correlation with precipitation. These techniques for determining growth increment response to environmental variables should be applicable to other turtle species and merit further exploration.

Distributed Trust Management for Validating SLA Choreographies

Science.gov (United States)

Haq, Irfan Ul; Alnemr, Rehab; Paschke, Adrian; Schikuta, Erich; Boley, Harold; Meinel, Christoph

For business workflow automation in a service-enriched environment such as a grid or a cloud, services scattered across heterogeneous Virtual Organizations (VOs) can be aggregated in a producer-consumer manner, building hierarchical structures of added value. In order to preserve the supply chain, the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) corresponding to the underlying choreography of services should also be incrementally aggregated. This cross-VO hierarchical SLA aggregation requires validation, for which a distributed trust system becomes a prerequisite. Elaborating our previous work on rule-based SLA validation, we propose a hybrid distributed trust model. This new model is based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and reputation-based trust systems. It helps preventing SLA violations by identifying violation-prone services at service selection stage and actively contributes in breach management at the time of penalty enforcement.

Learning in Different Modes: The Interaction Between Incremental and Radical Change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Anders Hedegaard; Boer, Harry; Gertsen, Frank

2004-01-01

The objective of the study presented in this article is to contribute to the development of theory on continuous innovation, i.e. the combination of operationally effective exploitation and strategically flexible exploration. A longitudinal case study is presented of the interaction between...... incremental and radical change in Danish company, observed through the lens of organizational learning. The radical change process is described in five phases, each of which had its own effects on incremental change initiatives in the company. The research identified four factors explaining these effects, all...

Incremental Approach to the Technology of Test Design for Industrial Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. D. Drobintsev

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an approach to effort reduction in developing test suites for industrial software products based on the incremental technology. The main problems to be solved by the incremental technology are full automation design of test scenarios and significant reducing of test explosion. The proposed approach provides solutions to the mentioned problems through joint co-working of a designer and a customer, through the integration of symbolic verification with the automatic generation of test suites; through the usage of an efficient technology with the toolset VRS/TAT.

Two models of minimalist, incremental syntactic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Stabler, Edward P

2013-07-01

Minimalist grammars (MGs) and multiple context-free grammars (MCFGs) are weakly equivalent in the sense that they define the same languages, a large mildly context-sensitive class that properly includes context-free languages. But in addition, for each MG, there is an MCFG which is strongly equivalent in the sense that it defines the same language with isomorphic derivations. However, the structure-building rules of MGs but not MCFGs are defined in a way that generalizes across categories. Consequently, MGs can be exponentially more succinct than their MCFG equivalents, and this difference shows in parsing models too. An incremental, top-down beam parser for MGs is defined here, sound and complete for all MGs, and hence also capable of parsing all MCFG languages. But since the parser represents its grammar transparently, the relative succinctness of MGs is again evident. Although the determinants of MG structure are narrowly and discretely defined, probabilistic influences from a much broader domain can influence even the earliest analytic steps, allowing frequency and context effects to come early and from almost anywhere, as expected in incremental models. Copyright © 2013 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Traditional Masculinity and Femininity: Validation of a New Scale Assessing Gender Roles

Science.gov (United States)

Kachel, Sven; Steffens, Melanie C.; Niedlich, Claudia

2016-01-01

Gender stereotype theory suggests that men are generally perceived as more masculine than women, whereas women are generally perceived as more feminine than men. Several scales have been developed to measure fundamental aspects of gender stereotypes (e.g., agency and communion, competence and warmth, or instrumentality and expressivity). Although omitted in later version, Bem's original Sex Role Inventory included the items “masculine” and “feminine” in addition to more specific gender-stereotypical attributes. We argue that it is useful to be able to measure these two core concepts in a reliable, valid, and parsimonious way. We introduce a new and brief scale, the Traditional Masculinity-Femininity (TMF) scale, designed to assess central facets of self-ascribed masculinity-femininity. Studies 1–2 used known-groups approaches (participants differing in gender and sexual orientation) to validate the scale and provide evidence of its convergent validity. As expected the TMF reliably measured a one-dimensional masculinity-femininity construct. Moreover, the TMF correlated moderately with other gender-related measures. Demonstrating incremental validity, the TMF predicted gender and sexual orientation in a superior way than established adjective-based measures. Furthermore, the TMF was connected to criterion characteristics, such as judgments as straight by laypersons for the whole sample, voice pitch characteristics for the female subsample, and contact to gay men for the male subsample, and outperformed other gender-related scales. Taken together, as long as gender differences continue to exist, we suggest that the TMF provides a valuable methodological addition for research into gender stereotypes. PMID:27458394

Traditional Masculinity and Femininity: Validation of a New Scale Assessing Gender Roles.

Science.gov (United States)

Kachel, Sven; Steffens, Melanie C; Niedlich, Claudia

2016-01-01

Gender stereotype theory suggests that men are generally perceived as more masculine than women, whereas women are generally perceived as more feminine than men. Several scales have been developed to measure fundamental aspects of gender stereotypes (e.g., agency and communion, competence and warmth, or instrumentality and expressivity). Although omitted in later version, Bem's original Sex Role Inventory included the items "masculine" and "feminine" in addition to more specific gender-stereotypical attributes. We argue that it is useful to be able to measure these two core concepts in a reliable, valid, and parsimonious way. We introduce a new and brief scale, the Traditional Masculinity-Femininity (TMF) scale, designed to assess central facets of self-ascribed masculinity-femininity. Studies 1-2 used known-groups approaches (participants differing in gender and sexual orientation) to validate the scale and provide evidence of its convergent validity. As expected the TMF reliably measured a one-dimensional masculinity-femininity construct. Moreover, the TMF correlated moderately with other gender-related measures. Demonstrating incremental validity, the TMF predicted gender and sexual orientation in a superior way than established adjective-based measures. Furthermore, the TMF was connected to criterion characteristics, such as judgments as straight by laypersons for the whole sample, voice pitch characteristics for the female subsample, and contact to gay men for the male subsample, and outperformed other gender-related scales. Taken together, as long as gender differences continue to exist, we suggest that the TMF provides a valuable methodological addition for research into gender stereotypes.

Effect of multiple forming tools on geometrical and mechanical properties in incremental sheet forming

Science.gov (United States)

Wernicke, S.; Dang, T.; Gies, S.; Tekkaya, A. E.

2018-05-01

The tendency to a higher variety of products requires economical manufacturing processes suitable for the production of prototypes and small batches. In the case of complex hollow-shaped parts, single point incremental forming (SPIF) represents a highly flexible process. The flexibility of this process comes along with a very long process time. To decrease the process time, a new incremental forming approach with multiple forming tools is investigated. The influence of two incremental forming tools on the resulting mechanical and geometrical component properties compared to SPIF is presented. Sheets made of EN AW-1050A were formed to frustums of a pyramid using different tool-path strategies. Furthermore, several variations of the tool-path strategy are analyzed. A time saving between 40% and 60% was observed depending on the tool-path and the radii of the forming tools while the mechanical properties remained unchanged. This knowledge can increase the cost efficiency of incremental forming processes.

Using Top-down and Bottom-up Costing Approaches in LMICs: The Case for Using Both to Assess the Incremental Costs of New Technologies at Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Cunnama, Lucy; Sinanovic, Edina; Ramma, Lebogang; Foster, Nicola; Berrie, Leigh; Stevens, Wendy; Molapo, Sebaka; Marokane, Puleng; McCarthy, Kerrigan; Churchyard, Gavin; Vassall, Anna

2016-02-01

Estimating the incremental costs of scaling-up novel technologies in low-income and middle-income countries is a methodologically challenging and substantial empirical undertaking, in the absence of routine cost data collection. We demonstrate a best practice pragmatic approach to estimate the incremental costs of new technologies in low-income and middle-income countries, using the example of costing the scale-up of Xpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)/resistance to riframpicin (RIF) in South Africa. We estimate costs, by applying two distinct approaches of bottom-up and top-down costing, together with an assessment of processes and capacity. The unit costs measured using the different methods of bottom-up and top-down costing, respectively, are $US16.9 and $US33.5 for Xpert MTB/RIF, and $US6.3 and $US8.5 for microscopy. The incremental cost of Xpert MTB/RIF is estimated to be between $US14.7 and $US17.7. While the average cost of Xpert MTB/RIF was higher than previous studies using standard methods, the incremental cost of Xpert MTB/RIF was found to be lower. Costs estimates are highly dependent on the method used, so an approach, which clearly identifies resource-use data collected from a bottom-up or top-down perspective, together with capacity measurement, is recommended as a pragmatic approach to capture true incremental cost where routine cost data are scarce. © 2016 The Authors. Health Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Parallel Algorithm for Incremental Betweenness Centrality on Large Graphs

KAUST Repository

Jamour, Fuad Tarek; Skiadopoulos, Spiros; Kalnis, Panos

2017-01-01

: they either require excessive memory (i.e., quadratic to the size of the input graph) or perform unnecessary computations rendering them prohibitively slow. We propose iCentral; a novel incremental algorithm for computing betweenness centrality in evolving

Incremental principal component pursuit for video background modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriquez-Valderrama, Paul A.; Wohlberg, Brendt

2017-03-14

An incremental Principal Component Pursuit (PCP) algorithm for video background modeling that is able to process one frame at a time while adapting to changes in background, with a computational complexity that allows for real-time processing, having a low memory footprint and is robust to translational and rotational jitter.

Geometry of finite deformations and time-incremental analysis

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Fiala, Zdeněk

2016-01-01

Roč. 81, May (2016), s. 230-244 ISSN 0020-7462 Institutional support: RVO:68378297 Keywords : solid mechanics * finite deformations * time-incremental analysis * Lagrangian system * evolution equation of Lie type Subject RIV: BE - Theoretical Physics Impact factor: 2.074, year: 2016 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020746216000330

Investigation of the deformation stability in the incremental sheet forming process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ai S.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Incremental sheet forming (ISF is a highly versatile and flexible process for rapid manufacturing of complex sheet metal parts. One of the unique characters of the ISF process is the improved formability comparing to conventional sheet forming process. This may be due to the localized deformation nature, which increases the deformation stability in the ISF process. Although many hypotheses have been proposed, there is no direct modelling and calculation of the ISF deformation stability. Aiming to obtain a better understanding of the ISF process, an analytical model was developed to investigate and analyse the material deformation stability in this work. Based on the analytical evaluation of stress variations and force equilibrium, a mathematical relationship between the maximum forming angle and the process stability condition was established. To validate the developed model, experiments were carried out by forming a hyperbolic part made of AA1100 material. The maximum forming angle, as an indicator to the ISF formability, was employed compare the analytical evaluation and experimental result. It was found that the ISF deformation stability is one of the key factors that affect the ISF formability.

Incremental View Maintenance for Deductive Graph Databases Using Generalized Discrimination Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Beyhl

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, graph databases are employed when relationships between entities are in the scope of database queries to avoid performance-critical join operations of relational databases. Graph queries are used to query and modify graphs stored in graph databases. Graph queries employ graph pattern matching that is NP-complete for subgraph isomorphism. Graph database views can be employed that keep ready answers in terms of precalculated graph pattern matches for often stated and complex graph queries to increase query performance. However, such graph database views must be kept consistent with the graphs stored in the graph database. In this paper, we describe how to use incremental graph pattern matching as technique for maintaining graph database views. We present an incremental maintenance algorithm for graph database views, which works for imperatively and declaratively specified graph queries. The evaluation shows that our maintenance algorithm scales when the number of nodes and edges stored in the graph database increases. Furthermore, our evaluation shows that our approach can outperform existing approaches for the incremental maintenance of graph query results.

Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) for Building 332, Increment III

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Odell, B. N.; Toy, Jr., A. J.

1977-08-31

This Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) supplements the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR), dated January 18, 1974, for Building 332, Increment III of the Plutonium Materials Engineering Facility located at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL). The FSAR, in conjunction with the PSAR, shows that the completed increment provides facilities for safely conducting the operations as described. These documents satisfy the requirements of ERDA Manual Appendix 6101, Annex C, dated April 8, 1971. The format and content of this FSAR complies with the basic requirements of the letter of request from ERDA San to LLL, dated March 10, 1972. Included as appendices in support of th FSAR are the Building 332 Operational Safety Procedure and the LLL Disaster Control Plan.

Health level seven interoperability strategy: big data, incrementally structured.

Science.gov (United States)

Dolin, R H; Rogers, B; Jaffe, C

2015-01-01

Describe how the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA), a foundational standard in US Meaningful Use, contributes to a "big data, incrementally structured" interoperability strategy, whereby data structured incrementally gets large amounts of data flowing faster. We present cases showing how this approach is leveraged for big data analysis. To support the assertion that semi-structured narrative in CDA format can be a useful adjunct in an overall big data analytic approach, we present two case studies. The first assesses an organization's ability to generate clinical quality reports using coded data alone vs. coded data supplemented by CDA narrative. The second leverages CDA to construct a network model for referral management, from which additional observations can be gleaned. The first case shows that coded data supplemented by CDA narrative resulted in significant variances in calculated performance scores. In the second case, we found that the constructed network model enables the identification of differences in patient characteristics among different referral work flows. The CDA approach goes after data indirectly, by focusing first on the flow of narrative, which is then incrementally structured. A quantitative assessment of whether this approach will lead to a greater flow of data and ultimately a greater flow of structured data vs. other approaches is planned as a future exercise. Along with growing adoption of CDA, we are now seeing the big data community explore the standard, particularly given its potential to supply analytic en- gines with volumes of data previously not possible.

A fast implementation of the incremental backprojection algorithms for parallel beam geometries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, C.M.; Wang, C.Y.; Cho, Z.H.

1996-01-01

Filtered-backprojection algorithms are the most widely used approaches for reconstruction of computed tomographic (CT) images, such as X-ray CT and positron emission tomographic (PET) images. The Incremental backprojection algorithm is a fast backprojection approach based on restructuring the Shepp and Logan algorithm. By exploiting interdependency (position and values) of adjacent pixels, the Incremental algorithm requires only O(N) and O(N 2 ) multiplications in contrast to O(N 2 ) and O(N 3 ) multiplications for the Shepp and Logan algorithm in two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) backprojections, respectively, for each view, where N is the size of the image in each dimension. In addition, it may reduce the number of additions for each pixel computation. The improvement achieved by the Incremental algorithm in practice was not, however, as significant as expected. One of the main reasons is due to inevitably visiting pixels outside the beam in the searching flow scheme originally developed for the Incremental algorithm. To optimize implementation of the Incremental algorithm, an efficient scheme, namely, coded searching flow scheme, is proposed in this paper to minimize the overhead caused by searching for all pixels in a beam. The key idea of this scheme is to encode the searching flow for all pixels inside each beam. While backprojecting, all pixels may be visited without any overhead due to using the coded searching flow as the a priori information. The proposed coded searching flow scheme has been implemented on a Sun Sparc 10 and a Sun Sparc 20 workstations. The implementation results show that the proposed scheme is 1.45--2.0 times faster than the original searching flow scheme for most cases tested

Peak oxygen uptake in a sprint interval testing protocol vs. maximal oxygen uptake in an incremental testing protocol and their relationship with cross-country mountain biking performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Hebisz, Rafał; Hebisz, Paulina; Zatoń, Marek; Michalik, Kamil

2017-04-01

In the literature, the exercise capacity of cyclists is typically assessed using incremental and endurance exercise tests. The aim of the present study was to confirm whether peak oxygen uptake (V̇O 2peak ) attained in a sprint interval testing protocol correlates with cycling performance, and whether it corresponds to maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O 2max ) determined by an incremental testing protocol. A sample of 28 trained mountain bike cyclists executed 3 performance tests: (i) incremental testing protocol (ITP) in which the participant cycled to volitional exhaustion, (ii) sprint interval testing protocol (SITP) composed of four 30 s maximal intensity cycling bouts interspersed with 90 s recovery periods, (iii) competition in a simulated mountain biking race. Oxygen uptake, pulmonary ventilation, work, and power output were measured during the ITP and SITP with postexercise blood lactate and hydrogen ion concentrations collected. Race times were recorded. No significant inter-individual differences were observed in regards to any of the ITP-associated variables. However, 9 individuals presented significantly increased oxygen uptake, pulmonary ventilation, and work output in the SITP compared with the remaining cyclists. In addition, in this group of 9 cyclists, oxygen uptake in SITP was significantly higher than in ITP. After the simulated race, this group of 9 cyclists achieved significantly better competition times (99.5 ± 5.2 min) than the other cyclists (110.5 ± 6.7 min). We conclude that mountain bike cyclists who demonstrate higher peak oxygen uptake in a sprint interval testing protocol than maximal oxygen uptake attained in an incremental testing protocol demonstrate superior competitive performance.

Increment and mortality in a virgin Douglas-fir forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Robert W. Steele; Norman P. Worthington

1955-01-01

Is there any basis to the forester's rule of thumb that virgin forests eventually reach an equilibrium where increment and mortality approximately balance? Are we wasting potential timber volume by failing to salvage mortality in old-growth stands?

Diagnostic value of triphasic incremental helical CT in early and progressive gastric carcinoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao Jianbo; Yan Xuehua; Li Mengtai; Guo Hua; Chen Xuejun; Guan Sheng; Zhang Xiefu; Li Shuxin; Yang Xiaopeng

2001-01-01

Objective: To investigate helical CT enhancement characteristics of gastric carcinoma, and the diagnostic value and preoperative staging of gastric carcinoma with triphasic incremental helical CT of the stomach with water-filling method. Methods: Both double-contrast barium examination and triphasic incremental helical CT of the stomach with water-filling method were performed in 46 patients with gastric carcinoma. Results: (1) Among these patients, normal gastric wall exhibited one layered structure in 18 patients, two or three layered structure in 28 patients in the arterial and portal venous phase. (2) Two cases of early stomach cancer showed marked enhancement in the arterial and portal venous phase and obvious attenuation of enhancement in the equilibrium phase. On the contrary, 32 of the 44 advanced gastric carcinoma was showed marked enhancement in the venous phase compared with the arterial phase ( t = 4.226, P < 0.05). (3) The total accuracy of triphasic incremental helical CT in determining TNM-staging was 81.0%. Conclusion: Different types of gastric carcinoma have different enhancement features. Triphases incremental helical CT is more accurate than conventional CT in the preoperative staging of gastric carcinoma

A System to Derive Optimal Tree Diameter Increment Models from the Eastwide Forest Inventory Data Base (EFIDB)

Science.gov (United States)

Don C. Bragg

2002-01-01

This article is an introduction to the computer software used by the Potential Relative Increment (PRI) approach to optimal tree diameter growth modeling. These DOS programs extract qualified tree and plot data from the Eastwide Forest Inventory Data Base (EFIDB), calculate relative tree increment, sort for the highest relative increments by diameter class, and...

Urethral dose and increment of international prostate symptom score (IPSS) in transperineal permanent interstitial implant (TPI) of prostate cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, N.; Itami, J.; Okuma, K.; Marino, H.; Ban, T.; Nakazato, M.; Kanai, K.; Naoi, K.; Fuse, M.; Nakagawa, K.

2008-01-01

Purpose: to find the factors which influence the acute increment of international prostate symptom score (IPSS) after transperineal permanent interstitial implant (TPI) using 125 I seeds. Patients and methods: from April 2004 through September 2006, 104 patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer underwent TPI without external-beam irradiation. Median patient age was 70 years with a median follow-up of 13.0 months. 73 patients (70%) received neoadjuvant hormone therapy. The increment of IPSS was defined as the difference between pre- and postimplant maximal IPSS. Clinical, treatment, and dosimetric parameters evaluated included age, initial prostate-specific antigen, Gleason Score, neoadjuvant hormone therapy, initial IPSS, post-TPI prostatic volume, number of implanted seeds, prostate V 100 , V 150 , D 90 , urethral D max , and urethral D 90 . In order to further evaluate detailed urethral doses, the base and apical urethra were defined and the dosimetric parameters were calculated. Results: the IPSS peaked 3 months after TPI and returned to baseline at 12-15 months. Multivariate analysis demonstrated a statistically significant correlation of post-TPI prostatic volume, number of implanted seeds, and the dosimetric parameters of the base urethra with IPSS increment. Conclusion: the base urethra appears to be susceptible to radiation and the increased dose to this region deteriorates IPSS. It remains unclear whether the base urethral dose relates to the incidence of late urinary morbidities. (orig.)

Annual increments, specific gravity and energy of Eucalyptus grandis by gamma-ray attenuation technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rezende, M.A.; Guerrini, I.A.; Ferraz, E.S.B.

1990-01-01

Specific gravity annual increments in volume, mass and energy of Eucalyptus grandis at thirteen years of age were made taking into account measurements of the calorific value for wood. It was observed that the calorific value for wood decrease slightly, while the specific gravity increase significantly with age. The so-called culmination age for the Annual Volume Increment was determined to be around fourth year of growth while for the Annual Mass and Energy Increment was around the eighty year. These results show that a tree in a particular age may not have a significant growth in volume, yet one is mass and energy. (author)

Stem analysis program (GOAP for evaluating of increment and growth data at individual tree

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gafura Aylak Özdemir

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Stem analysis is a method evaluating in a detailed way data of increment and growth of individual tree at the past periods and widely used in various forestry disciplines. Untreated data of stem analysis consist of annual ring count and measurement procedures performed on cross sections taken from individual tree by section method. The evaluation of obtained this untreated data takes quite some time. Thus, a computer software was developed in this study to quickly and efficiently perform stem analysis. This computer software developed to evaluate untreated data of stem analysis as numerical and graphical was programmed as macro by utilizing Visual Basic for Application feature of MS Excel 2013 program currently the most widely used. In developed this computer software, growth height model is formed from two different approaches, individual tree volume depending on section method, cross-sectional area, increments of diameter, height and volume, volume increment percent and stem form factor at breast height are calculated depending on desired period lengths. This calculated values are given as table. Development of diameter, height, volume, increments of these variables, volume increment percent and stem form factor at breast height according to periodic age are given as chart. Stem model showing development of diameter, height and shape of individual tree in the past periods also can be taken from computer software as chart.

Incremental exercise test performance with and without a respiratory ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Incremental exercise test performance with and without a respiratory gas collection system. ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... Industrial- type mask wear is thought to impair exercise performance through increased respiratory dead space, flow ... EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT

Generation of Referring Expressions: Assessing the Incremental Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

van Deemter, Kees; Gatt, Albert; van der Sluis, Ielka; Power, Richard

2012-01-01

A substantial amount of recent work in natural language generation has focused on the generation of "one-shot" referring expressions whose only aim is to identify a target referent. Dale and Reiter's Incremental Algorithm (IA) is often thought to be the best algorithm for maximizing the similarity to referring expressions produced by people. We…

Demonstration of automated proximity and docking technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Robert L.; Tsugawa, Roy K.; Bryan, Thomas C.

An autodock was demonstrated using straightforward techniques and real sensor hardware. A simulation testbed was established and validated. The sensor design was refined with improved optical performance and image processing noise mitigation techniques, and the sensor is ready for production from off-the-shelf components. The autonomous spacecraft architecture is defined. The areas of sensors, docking hardware, propulsion, and avionics are included in the design. The Guidance Navigation and Control architecture and requirements are developed. Modular structures suitable for automated control are used. The spacecraft system manager functions including configuration, resource, and redundancy management are defined. The requirements for autonomous spacecraft executive are defined. High level decisionmaking, mission planning, and mission contingency recovery are a part of this. The next step is to do flight demonstrations. After the presentation the following question was asked. How do you define validation? There are two components to validation definition: software simulation with formal and vigorous validation, and hardware and facility performance validated with respect to software already validated against analytical profile.

Modeling of Photovoltaic System with Modified Incremental Conductance Algorithm for Fast Changes of Irradiance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saad Motahhir

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The first objective of this work is to determine some of the performance parameters characterizing the behavior of a particular photovoltaic (PV panels that are not normally provided in the manufacturers’ specifications. These provide the basis for developing a simple model for the electrical behavior of the PV panel. Next, using this model, the effects of varying solar irradiation, temperature, series and shunt resistances, and partial shading on the output of the PV panel are presented. In addition, the PV panel model is used to configure a large photovoltaic array. Next, a boost converter for the PV panel is designed. This converter is put between the panel and the load in order to control it by means of a maximum power point tracking (MPPT controller. The MPPT used is based on incremental conductance (INC, and it is demonstrated here that this technique does not respond accurately when solar irradiation is increased. To investigate this, a modified incremental conductance technique is presented in this paper. It is shown that this system does respond accurately and reduces the steady-state oscillations when solar irradiation is increased. Finally, simulations of the conventional and modified algorithm are compared, and the results show that the modified algorithm provides an accurate response to a sudden increase in solar irradiation.

Incremental exposure facilitates adaptation to sensory rearrangement. [vestibular stimulation patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Lackner, J. R.; Lobovits, D. N.

1978-01-01

Visual-target pointing experiments were performed on 24 adult volunteers in order to compare the relative effectiveness of incremental (stepwise) and single-step exposure conditions on adaptation to visual rearrangement. The differences between the preexposure and postexposure scores served as an index of the adaptation elicited during the exposure period. It is found that both single-step and stepwise exposure to visual rearrangement elicit compensatory changes in sensorimotor coordination. However, stepwise exposure, when compared to single-step exposur in terms of the average magnitude of visual displacement over the exposure period, clearly enhances the rate of adaptation. It seems possible that the enhancement of adaptation to unusual patterns of sensory stimulation produced by incremental exposure reflects a general principle of sensorimotor function.

Weighted tunable clustering in local-world networks with increment behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Ying-Hong; Li, Huijia; Zhang, Xiao-Dong

2010-01-01

Since some realistic networks are influenced not only by increment behavior but also by the tunable clustering mechanism with new nodes to be added to networks, it is interesting to characterize the model for those actual networks. In this paper, a weighted local-world model, which incorporates increment behavior and the tunable clustering mechanism, is proposed and its properties are investigated, such as degree distribution and clustering coefficient. Numerical simulations are fitted to the model and also display good right-skewed scale-free properties. Furthermore, the correlation of vertices in our model is studied which shows the assortative property. The epidemic spreading process by weighted transmission rate on the model shows that the tunable clustering behavior has a great impact on the epidemic dynamic

On kinematical minimum principles for rates and increments in plasticity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zouain, N.

1984-01-01

The optimization approach for elastoplastic analysis is discussed showing that some minimum principles related to numerical methods can be derived by means of duality and penalization procedures. Three minimum principles for velocity and plastic multiplier rate fields are presented in the framework of perfect plasticity. The first one is the classical Greenberg formulation. The second one, due to Capurso, is developed here with different motivation, and modified by penalization of constraints so as to arrive at a third principle for rates. The counterparts of these optimization formulations in terms of discrete increments of displacements of displacements and plastic multipliers are discussed. The third one of these minimum principles for finite increments is recognized to be closely related to Maier's formulation of holonomic plasticity. (Author) [pt

Examination of the Structural, Convergent, and Incremental Validity of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS) with a Clinical Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Jason M.; Canivez, Gary L.

2012-01-01

Empirical examination of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS; C. R. Reynolds & R. W. Kamphaus, 2003a) has produced mixed results regarding its internal structure and convergent validity. Various aspects of validity of RIAS scores with a sample (N = 521) of adolescents and adults seeking psychological evaluations at a university-based…

Variance-optimal hedging for processes with stationary independent increments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hubalek, Friedrich; Kallsen, J.; Krawczyk, L.

We determine the variance-optimal hedge when the logarithm of the underlying price follows a process with stationary independent increments in discrete or continuous time. Although the general solution to this problem is known as backward recursion or backward stochastic differential equation, we...

FDTD Stability: Critical Time Increment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Skvor

2003-06-01

Full Text Available A new approach suitable for determination of the maximal stable timeincrement for the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD algorithm incommon curvilinear coordinates, for general mesh shapes and certaintypes of boundaries is presented. The maximal time incrementcorresponds to a characteristic value of a Helmholz equation that issolved by a finite-difference (FD method. If this method uses exactlythe same discretization as the given FDTD method (same mesh, boundaryconditions, order of precision etc., the maximal stable time incrementis obtained from the highest characteristic value. The FD system issolved by an iterative method, which uses only slightly alteredoriginal FDTD formulae. The Courant condition yields a stable timeincrement, but in certain cases the maximum increment is slightlygreater [2].

Analysis of residual stress state in sheet metal parts processed by single point incremental forming

Science.gov (United States)

Maaß, F.; Gies, S.; Dobecki, M.; Brömmelhoff, K.; Tekkaya, A. E.; Reimers, W.

2018-05-01

The mechanical properties of formed metal components are highly affected by the prevailing residual stress state. A selective induction of residual compressive stresses in the component, can improve the product properties such as the fatigue strength. By means of single point incremental forming (SPIF), the residual stress state can be influenced by adjusting the process parameters during the manufacturing process. To achieve a fundamental understanding of the residual stress formation caused by the SPIF process, a valid numerical process model is essential. Within the scope of this paper the significance of kinematic hardening effects on the determined residual stress state is presented based on numerical simulations. The effect of the unclamping step after the manufacturing process is also analyzed. An average deviation of the residual stress amplitudes in the clamped and unclamped condition of 18 % reveals, that the unclamping step needs to be considered to reach a high numerical prediction quality.

Incremental cryptography and security of public hash functions ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

An investigation of incremental algorithms for crytographic functions was initiated. The problem, for collision-free hashing, is to design a scheme for which there exists an efficient “update” algorithm: this algorithm is given the hash function H, the hash h = H(M) of message M and the “replacement request” (j, m), and outputs ...

The development and validation of the Body-Image Ideals Questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Cash, T F; Szymanski, M L

1995-06-01

The Body-Image Ideals Questionnaire (BIQ) was developed as a unique attitudinal body-image assessment that considers one's perceived discrepancy from and degree of investment in personal ideals on multiple physical attributes. Reliability and validity of the 20-item instrument were examined for a sample of 284 college women. The results indicated that the BIQ consists of two relatively distinct and internally consistent Discrepancy and Importance subscales, as well as their multiplicative composite. The subscales' respective convergent validities vis-à-vis extant body-image measures and specific facets of personality (i.e., public self-consciousness and perfectionism) and psychosocial adjustment (i.e., social anxiety, depression, and eating disturbance) were confirmed. Evidence also supported the incremental validity of multiple self-ideal discrepancies. Effects due to socially desirable responding were inconsequential. Directions for needed basic and clinical research were identified.

Product Quality Modelling Based on Incremental Support Vector Machine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, J; Zhang, W; Qin, B; Shi, W

2012-01-01

Incremental Support vector machine (ISVM) is a new learning method developed in recent years based on the foundations of statistical learning theory. It is suitable for the problem of sequentially arriving field data and has been widely used for product quality prediction and production process optimization. However, the traditional ISVM learning does not consider the quality of the incremental data which may contain noise and redundant data; it will affect the learning speed and accuracy to a great extent. In order to improve SVM training speed and accuracy, a modified incremental support vector machine (MISVM) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the margin vectors are extracted according to the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) condition; then the distance from the margin vectors to the final decision hyperplane is calculated to evaluate the importance of margin vectors, where the margin vectors are removed while their distance exceed the specified value; finally, the original SVs and remaining margin vectors are used to update the SVM. The proposed MISVM can not only eliminate the unimportant samples such as noise samples, but also can preserve the important samples. The MISVM has been experimented on two public data and one field data of zinc coating weight in strip hot-dip galvanizing, and the results shows that the proposed method can improve the prediction accuracy and the training speed effectively. Furthermore, it can provide the necessary decision supports and analysis tools for auto control of product quality, and also can extend to other process industries, such as chemical process and manufacturing process.

Pornographic image recognition and filtering using incremental learning in compressed domain

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jing; Wang, Chao; Zhuo, Li; Geng, Wenhao

2015-11-01

With the rapid development and popularity of the network, the openness, anonymity, and interactivity of networks have led to the spread and proliferation of pornographic images on the Internet, which have done great harm to adolescents' physical and mental health. With the establishment of image compression standards, pornographic images are mainly stored with compressed formats. Therefore, how to efficiently filter pornographic images is one of the challenging issues for information security. A pornographic image recognition and filtering method in the compressed domain is proposed by using incremental learning, which includes the following steps: (1) low-resolution (LR) images are first reconstructed from the compressed stream of pornographic images, (2) visual words are created from the LR image to represent the pornographic image, and (3) incremental learning is adopted to continuously adjust the classification rules to recognize the new pornographic image samples after the covering algorithm is utilized to train and recognize the visual words in order to build the initial classification model of pornographic images. The experimental results show that the proposed pornographic image recognition method using incremental learning has a higher recognition rate as well as costing less recognition time in the compressed domain.

A design of LED adaptive dimming lighting system based on incremental PID controller

Science.gov (United States)

He, Xiangyan; Xiao, Zexin; He, Shaojia

2010-11-01

As a new generation energy-saving lighting source, LED is applied widely in various technology and industry fields. The requirement of its adaptive lighting technology is more and more rigorous, especially in the automatic on-line detecting system. In this paper, a closed loop feedback LED adaptive dimming lighting system based on incremental PID controller is designed, which consists of MEGA16 chip as a Micro-controller Unit (MCU), the ambient light sensor BH1750 chip with Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C), and constant-current driving circuit. A given value of light intensity required for the on-line detecting environment need to be saved to the register of MCU. The optical intensity, detected by BH1750 chip in real time, is converted to digital signal by AD converter of the BH1750 chip, and then transmitted to MEGA16 chip through I2C serial bus. Since the variation law of light intensity in the on-line detecting environment is usually not easy to be established, incremental Proportional-Integral-Differential (PID) algorithm is applied in this system. Control variable obtained by the incremental PID determines duty cycle of Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM). Consequently, LED's forward current is adjusted by PWM, and the luminous intensity of the detection environment is stabilized by self-adaptation. The coefficients of incremental PID are obtained respectively after experiments. Compared with the traditional LED dimming system, it has advantages of anti-interference, simple construction, fast response, and high stability by the use of incremental PID algorithm and BH1750 chip with I2C serial bus. Therefore, it is suitable for the adaptive on-line detecting applications.

An incremental anomaly detection model for virtual machines.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hancui Zhang

Full Text Available Self-Organizing Map (SOM algorithm as an unsupervised learning method has been applied in anomaly detection due to its capabilities of self-organizing and automatic anomaly prediction. However, because of the algorithm is initialized in random, it takes a long time to train a detection model. Besides, the Cloud platforms with large scale virtual machines are prone to performance anomalies due to their high dynamic and resource sharing characters, which makes the algorithm present a low accuracy and a low scalability. To address these problems, an Improved Incremental Self-Organizing Map (IISOM model is proposed for anomaly detection of virtual machines. In this model, a heuristic-based initialization algorithm and a Weighted Euclidean Distance (WED algorithm are introduced into SOM to speed up the training process and improve model quality. Meanwhile, a neighborhood-based searching algorithm is presented to accelerate the detection time by taking into account the large scale and high dynamic features of virtual machines on cloud platform. To demonstrate the effectiveness, experiments on a common benchmark KDD Cup dataset and a real dataset have been performed. Results suggest that IISOM has advantages in accuracy and convergence velocity of anomaly detection for virtual machines on cloud platform.

An incremental anomaly detection model for virtual machines

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hancui; Chen, Shuyu; Liu, Jun; Zhou, Zhen; Wu, Tianshu

2017-01-01

Self-Organizing Map (SOM) algorithm as an unsupervised learning method has been applied in anomaly detection due to its capabilities of self-organizing and automatic anomaly prediction. However, because of the algorithm is initialized in random, it takes a long time to train a detection model. Besides, the Cloud platforms with large scale virtual machines are prone to performance anomalies due to their high dynamic and resource sharing characters, which makes the algorithm present a low accuracy and a low scalability. To address these problems, an Improved Incremental Self-Organizing Map (IISOM) model is proposed for anomaly detection of virtual machines. In this model, a heuristic-based initialization algorithm and a Weighted Euclidean Distance (WED) algorithm are introduced into SOM to speed up the training process and improve model quality. Meanwhile, a neighborhood-based searching algorithm is presented to accelerate the detection time by taking into account the large scale and high dynamic features of virtual machines on cloud platform. To demonstrate the effectiveness, experiments on a common benchmark KDD Cup dataset and a real dataset have been performed. Results suggest that IISOM has advantages in accuracy and convergence velocity of anomaly detection for virtual machines on cloud platform. PMID:29117245

Incremental Learning of Perceptual Categories for Open-Domain Sketch Recognition

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Lovett, Andrew; Dehghani, Morteza; Forbus, Kenneth

2007-01-01

.... This paper describes an incremental learning technique for opendomain recognition. Our system builds generalizations for categories of objects based upon previous sketches of those objects and uses those generalizations to classify new sketches...

Right Heart End-Systolic Remodeling Index Strongly Predicts Outcomes in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Comparison With Validated Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Amsallem, Myriam; Sweatt, Andrew J; Aymami, Marie C; Kuznetsova, Tatiana; Selej, Mona; Lu, HongQuan; Mercier, Olaf; Fadel, Elie; Schnittger, Ingela; McConnell, Michael V; Rabinovitch, Marlene; Zamanian, Roham T; Haddad, Francois

2017-06-01

Right ventricular (RV) end-systolic dimensions provide information on both size and function. We investigated whether an internally scaled index of end-systolic dimension is incremental to well-validated prognostic scores in pulmonary arterial hypertension. From 2005 to 2014, 228 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension were prospectively enrolled. RV end-systolic remodeling index (RVESRI) was defined by lateral length divided by septal height. The incremental values of RV free wall longitudinal strain and RVESRI to risk scores were determined. Mean age was 49±14 years, 78% were female, 33% had connective tissue disease, 52% were in New York Heart Association class ≥III, and mean pulmonary vascular resistance was 11.2±6.4 WU. RVESRI and right atrial area were strongly connected to the other right heart metrics. Three zones of adaptation (adapted, maladapted, and severely maladapted) were identified based on the RVESRI to RV systolic pressure relationship. During a mean follow-up of 3.9±2.4 years, the primary end point of death, transplant, or admission for heart failure was reached in 88 patients. RVESRI was incremental to risk prediction scores in pulmonary arterial hypertension, including the Registry to Evaluate Early and Long-Term PAH Disease Management score, the Pulmonary Hypertension Connection equation, and the Mayo Clinic model. Using multivariable analysis, New York Heart Association class III/IV, RVESRI, and log NT-proBNP (N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide) were retained (χ 2 , 62.2; P right heart metrics, RVESRI demonstrated the best test-retest characteristics. RVESRI is a simple reproducible prognostic marker in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Detection of overreported psychopathology with the MMPI-2-RF [corrected] validity scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Sellbom, Martin; Bagby, R Michael

2010-12-01

We examined the utility of the validity scales on the recently released Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2 RF; Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008) to detect overreported psychopathology. This set of validity scales includes a newly developed scale and revised versions of the original MMPI-2 validity scales. We used an analogue, experimental simulation in which MMPI-2 RF responses (derived from archived MMPI-2 protocols) of undergraduate students instructed to overreport psychopathology (in either a coached or noncoached condition) were compared with those of psychiatric inpatients who completed the MMPI-2 under standardized instructions. The MMPI-2 RF validity scale Infrequent Psychopathology Responses best differentiated the simulation groups from the sample of patients, regardless of experimental condition. No other validity scale added consistent incremental predictive utility to Infrequent Psychopathology Responses in distinguishing the simulation groups from the sample of patients. Classification accuracy statistics confirmed the recommended cut scores in the MMPI-2 RF manual (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008).

Revisiting the fundamentals of single point incremental forming by

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Silva, Beatriz; Skjødt, Martin; Martins, Paulo A.F.

2008-01-01

Knowledge of the physics behind the fracture of material at the transition between the inclined wall and the corner radius of the sheet is of great importance for understanding the fundamentals of single point incremental forming (SPIF). How the material fractures, what is the state of strain...

Will Incremental Hemodialysis Preserve Residual Function and Improve Patient Survival?

Science.gov (United States)

Davenport, Andrew

2015-01-01

The progressive loss of residual renal function in peritoneal dialysis patients is associated with increased mortality. It has been suggested that incremental dialysis may help preserve residual renal function and improve patient survival. Residual renal function depends upon both patient related and dialysis associated factors. Maintaining patients in an over-hydrated state may be associated with better preservation of residual renal function but any benefit comes with a significant risk of cardiovascular consequences. Notably, it is only observational studies that have reported an association between dialysis patient survival and residual renal function; causality has not been established for dialysis patient survival. The tenuous connections between residual renal function and outcomes and between incremental hemodialysis and residual renal function should temper our enthusiasm for interventions in this area. PMID:25385441

Object class hierarchy for an incremental hypertext editor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Colesnicov

1995-02-01

Full Text Available The object class hierarchy design is considered due to a hypertext editor implementation. The following basic classes were selected: the editor's coordinate system, the memory manager, the text buffer executing basic editing operations, the inherited hypertext buffer, the edit window, the multi-window shell. Special hypertext editing features, the incremental hypertext creation support and further generalizations are discussed.

Incremental Learning of Skill Collections based on Intrinsic Motivation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Hendrik Metzen

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Life-long learning of reusable, versatile skills is a key prerequisite forembodied agents that act in a complex, dynamic environment and are faced withdifferent tasks over their lifetime. We address the question of how an agentcan learn useful skills efficiently during a developmental period,i.e., when no task is imposed on him and no external reward signal is provided.Learning of skills in a developmental period needs to be incremental andself-motivated. We propose a new incremental, task-independent skill discoveryapproach that is suited for continuous domains. Furthermore, the agent learnsspecific skills based on intrinsic motivation mechanisms thatdetermine on which skills learning is focused at a given point in time. Weevaluate the approach in a reinforcement learning setup in two continuousdomains with complex dynamics. We show that an intrinsically motivated, skilllearning agent outperforms an agent which learns task solutions from scratch.Furthermore, we compare different intrinsic motivation mechanisms and howefficiently they make use of the agent's developmental period.

Efficient incremental relaying for packet transmission over fading channels

KAUST Repository

Fareed, Muhammad Mehboob

2014-07-01

In this paper, we propose a novel relaying scheme for packet transmission over fading channels, which improves the spectral efficiency of cooperative diversity systems by utilizing limited feedback from the destination. Our scheme capitalizes on the fact that relaying is only required when direct transmission suffers deep fading. We calculate the packet error rate for the proposed efficient incremental relaying (EIR) scheme with both amplify and forward and decode and forward relaying. We compare the performance of the EIR scheme with the threshold-based incremental relaying (TIR) scheme. It is shown that the efficiency of the TIR scheme is better for lower values of the threshold. However, the efficiency of the TIR scheme for higher values of threshold is outperformed by the EIR. In addition, three new threshold-based adaptive EIR are devised to further improve the efficiency of the EIR scheme. We calculate the packet error rate and the efficiency of these new schemes to provide the analytical insight. © 2014 IEEE.

Table incremental slow injection CE-CT in lung cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Shoji; Maeda, Tomoho; Morita, Masaru

1988-01-01

The purpose of this study is to evaluate tumor enhancement in lung cancer under the table incremental study with slow injection of contrast media. The early serial 8 sliced images during the slow injection (1.5 ml/sec) of contrant media were obtained. Following the early images, delayed 8 same sliced images were taken in 2 minutes later. Chacteristic enhanced patterns of the primary cancer and metastatic mediastinal lymphnode were recognized in this study. Enhancement of the primary lesion was classified in 4 patterns, irregular geographic pattern, heterogeneous pattern, homogeneous pattern and rim-enhanced pattern. In mediastinal metastatic lymphadenopathy, three enhanced patterns were obtained, heterogeneous, homogeneous and ring enhanced pattern. Some characteristic enhancement patterns according to the histopathological finding of the lung cancer were obtained. With using this incremental slow injection CE-CT, precise information about the relationship between lung cancer and adjacent mediastinal structure, and obvious staining patterns of the tumor and mediastinal lymphnode were recognized. (author)

Five-Kilometers Time Trial: Preliminary Validation of a Short Test for Cycling Performance Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Dantas, Jose Luiz; Pereira, Gleber; Nakamura, Fabio Yuzo

2015-09-01

The five-kilometer time trial (TT5km) has been used to assess aerobic endurance performance without further investigation of its validity. This study aimed to perform a preliminary validation of the TT5km to rank well-trained cyclists based on aerobic endurance fitness and assess changes of the aerobic endurance performance. After the incremental test, 20 cyclists (age = 31.3 ± 7.9 years; body mass index = 22.7 ± 1.5 kg/m(2); maximal aerobic power = 360.5 ± 49.5 W) performed the TT5km twice, collecting performance (time to complete, absolute and relative power output, average speed) and physiological responses (heart rate and electromyography activity). The validation criteria were pacing strategy, absolute and relative reliability, validity, and sensitivity. Sensitivity index was obtained from the ratio between the smallest worthwhile change and typical error. The TT5km showed high absolute (coefficient of variation 0.95) reliability of performance variables, whereas it presented low reliability of physiological responses. The TT5km performance variables were highly correlated with the aerobic endurance indices obtained from incremental test (r > 0.70). These variables showed adequate sensitivity index (> 1). TT5km is a valid test to rank the aerobic endurance fitness of well-trained cyclists and to differentiate changes on aerobic endurance performance. Coaches can detect performance changes through either absolute (± 17.7 W) or relative power output (± 0.3 W.kg(-1)), the time to complete the test (± 13.4 s) and the average speed (± 1.0 km.h(-1)). Furthermore, TT5km performance can also be used to rank the athletes according to their aerobic endurance fitness.

A practical approach to assess leg muscle oxygenation during ramp-incremental cycle ergometry in heart failure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.C. Barroco

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Heart failure is characterized by the inability of the cardiovascular system to maintain oxygen (O2 delivery (i.e., muscle blood flow in non-hypoxemic patients to meet O2 demands. The resulting increase in fractional O2 extraction can be non-invasively tracked by deoxygenated hemoglobin concentration (deoxi-Hb as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS. We aimed to establish a simplified approach to extract deoxi-Hb-based indices of impaired muscle O2 delivery during rapidly-incrementing exercise in heart failure. We continuously probed the right vastus lateralis muscle with continuous-wave NIRS during a ramp-incremental cardiopulmonary exercise test in 10 patients (left ventricular ejection fraction <35% and 10 age-matched healthy males. Deoxi-Hb is reported as % of total response (onset to peak exercise in relation to work rate. Patients showed lower maximum exercise capacity and O2 uptake-work rate than controls (P<0.05. The deoxi-Hb response profile as a function of work rate was S-shaped in all subjects, i.e., it presented three distinct phases. Increased muscle deoxygenation in patients compared to controls was demonstrated by: i a steeper mid-exercise deoxi-Hb-work rate slope (2.2±1.3 vs 1.0±0.3% peak/W, respectively; P<0.05, and ii late-exercise increase in deoxi-Hb, which contrasted with stable or decreasing deoxi-Hb in all controls. Steeper deoxi-Hb-work rate slope was associated with lower peak work rate in patients (r=–0.73; P=0.01. This simplified approach to deoxi-Hb interpretation might prove useful in clinical settings to quantify impairments in O2 delivery by NIRS during ramp-incremental exercise in individual heart failure patients.

A simple extension of contraction theory to study incremental stability properties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jouffroy, Jerome

Contraction theory is a recent tool enabling to study the stability of nonlinear systems trajectories with respect to one another, and therefore belongs to the class of incremental stability methods. In this paper, we extend the original definition of contraction theory to incorporate...... in an explicit manner the control input of the considered system. Such an extension, called universal contraction, is quite analogous in spirit to the well-known Input-to-State Stability (ISS). It serves as a simple formulation of incremental ISS, external stability, and detectability in a differential setting....... The hierarchical combination result of contraction theory is restated in this framework, and a differential small-gain theorem is derived from results already available in Lyapunov theory....

Incremental online object learning in a vehicular radar-vision fusion framework

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ji, Zhengping [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Weng, Juyang [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Luciw, Matthew [IEEE; Zeng, Shuqing [IEEE

2010-10-19

In this paper, we propose an object learning system that incorporates sensory information from an automotive radar system and a video camera. The radar system provides a coarse attention for the focus of visual analysis on relatively small areas within the image plane. The attended visual areas are coded and learned by a 3-layer neural network utilizing what is called in-place learning, where every neuron is responsible for the learning of its own signal processing characteristics within its connected network environment, through inhibitory and excitatory connections with other neurons. The modeled bottom-up, lateral, and top-down connections in the network enable sensory sparse coding, unsupervised learning and supervised learning to occur concurrently. The presented work is applied to learn two types of encountered objects in multiple outdoor driving settings. Cross validation results show the overall recognition accuracy above 95% for the radar-attended window images. In comparison with the uncoded representation and purely unsupervised learning (without top-down connection), the proposed network improves the recognition rate by 15.93% and 6.35% respectively. The proposed system is also compared with other learning algorithms favorably. The result indicates that our learning system is the only one to fit all the challenging criteria for the development of an incremental and online object learning system.

System incremental cost calculations using the participation factor load-flow formulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meisel, J.

1993-01-01

The load-flow problem is reformulated such that the use of a slack-bus generator is included only as a special case. This reformulation, known as the participation factor load-flow, includes a total mismatch variable and a defined participation vector, which, in general, distributes this mismatch to all system buses. The slack-bus constraint can still be obtained by defining a particular participation vector. In using the participation factor load-flow in the transpose Jacobian approach to the economic optimal dispatch problem, the paper shows that the value of the system-λ can be controlled such that this value represents the minimal incremental change in generation costs per unit change in system total demand with this demand distributed according to the specified participation vector. Methods using the conventional B-coefficient loss formulas or slack-bus load-flows give system-λ values whereby the unit change in demand must be placed on a fictitious single load-bus or on the slack-bus, respectively. Having a system-λ value which more accurately represents a proposed energy interchange between interconnected systems is very important in developing valid costs for each system. An extensive 28-bus, 8-generator system is included to illustrate these results

Implementation of WirelessHART in the NS-2 Simulator and Validation of Its Correctness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pouria Zand

2014-05-01

Full Text Available One of the first standards in the wireless sensor networks domain,WirelessHART (HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer, was introduced to address industrial process automation and control requirements. This standard can be used as a reference point to evaluate other wireless protocols in the domain of industrial monitoring and control. This makes it worthwhile to set up a reliable WirelessHART simulator in order to achieve that reference point in a relatively easy manner. Moreover, it offers an alternative to expensive testbeds for testing and evaluating the performance of WirelessHART. This paper explains our implementation of WirelessHART in the NS-2 network simulator. According to our knowledge, this is the first implementation that supports the WirelessHART network manager, as well as the whole stack (all OSI (Open Systems Interconnection model layers of the WirelessHART standard. It also explains our effort to validate the correctness of our implementation, namely through the validation of the implementation of the WirelessHART stack protocol and of the network manager. We use sniffed traffic from a realWirelessHART testbed installed in the Idrolab plant for these validations. This confirms the validity of our simulator. Empirical analysis shows that the simulated results are nearly comparable to the results obtained from real networks. We also demonstrate the versatility and usability of our implementation by providing some further evaluation results in diverse scenarios. For example, we evaluate the performance of the WirelessHART network by applying incremental interference in a multi-hop network.

Development and validation of the Relaxation-Mindfulness Scale for Adolescents (EREMIND-A).

Science.gov (United States)

López-González, Luis; Amutio, Alberto; Oriol, Xavier; Gázquez, José J; Pérez-Fuentes, Mª C; Molero, Mª M

2018-05-01

The aim of this investigation was to validate the Relaxation-Mindfulness Scale for Adolescents (EREMIND-A), consisting of 18 items and three factors (Attention-Concentration in the present moment; Relaxation (abilities and attitudes); and Sensory awareness/Contemplation/Interiority). The validation was done with a sample of Secondary Education and Baccalaureate students from four different centres in Spain (n = 1.120). EFA and CFA of the EREMIND-A were performed and construct and incremental validities calculated. Initial results confirm the validity and reliability of the scale. There is a need for a broader conceptualization of mindfulness, as well as the inclusion and analysis of other related and cross-cutting concepts. The research in this sense will propitiate the adaptation of the Mindfulness-Based Interventions to the reality of the adolescents in the educational centers, where relaxation and the interiority are aspects to be taken into consideration.

Size, Stability and Incremental Budgeting Outcomes in Public Universities.

Science.gov (United States)

Schick, Allen G.; Hills, Frederick S.

1982-01-01

Examined the influence of relative size in the analysis of total dollar and workforce budgets, and changes in total dollar and workforce budgets when correlational/regression methods are used. Data suggested that size dominates the analysis of total budgets, and is not a factor when discretionary dollar increments are analyzed. (JAC)

Performance of hybrid-ARQ with incremental redundancy over relay channels

KAUST Repository

Chelli, Ali; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2012-01-01

In this paper, we consider a relay network consisting of a source, a relay, and a destination. The source transmits a message to the destination using hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) with incremental redundancy (IR). The relay overhears

Introductory Guide for Conducting ASVAB Validation/Standards Studies in the U.S. Navy

Science.gov (United States)

2014-10-16

for navigator training, that job knowledge component of the AFOQT was not specific enough to provide incremental validity. Thorndike (1985, 1986...University Press. Thorndike , R. L. (1985). The central role of general ability in prediction. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 20, 241-254. Thorndike , R...variance that is due to the construct of interest; cf. Thorndike , 1949). In addition, the interpretation of the composite criterion is questionable if

Electromagnetic scattering problems -Numerical issues and new experimental approaches of validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geise, Robert; Neubauer, Bjoern; Zimmer, Georg [University of Braunschweig, Institute for Electromagnetic Compatibility, Schleinitzstrasse 23, 38106 Braunschweig (Germany)

2015-03-10

Electromagnetic scattering problems, thus the question how radiated energy spreads when impinging on an object, are an essential part of wave propagation. Though the Maxwell’s differential equations as starting point, are actually quite simple,the integral formulation of an object’s boundary conditions, respectively the solution for unknown induced currents can only be solved numerically in most cases.As a timely topic of practical importance the scattering of rotating wind turbines is discussed, the numerical description of which is still based on rigorous approximations with yet unspecified accuracy. In this context the issue of validating numerical solutions is addressed, both with reference simulations but in particular with the experimental approach of scaled measurements. For the latter the idea of an incremental validation is proposed allowing a step by step validation of required new mathematical models in scattering theory.

Incremental Volumetric Remapping Method: Analysis and Error Evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baptista, A. J.; Oliveira, M. C.; Rodrigues, D. M.; Menezes, L. F.; Alves, J. L.

2007-01-01

In this paper the error associated with the remapping problem is analyzed. A range of numerical results that assess the performance of three different remapping strategies, applied to FE meshes that typically are used in sheet metal forming simulation, are evaluated. One of the selected strategies is the previously presented Incremental Volumetric Remapping method (IVR), which was implemented in the in-house code DD3TRIM. The IVR method fundaments consists on the premise that state variables in all points associated to a Gauss volume of a given element are equal to the state variable quantities placed in the correspondent Gauss point. Hence, given a typical remapping procedure between a donor and a target mesh, the variables to be associated to a target Gauss volume (and point) are determined by a weighted average. The weight function is the Gauss volume percentage of each donor element that is located inside the target Gauss volume. The calculus of the intersecting volumes between the donor and target Gauss volumes is attained incrementally, for each target Gauss volume, by means of a discrete approach. The other two remapping strategies selected are based in the interpolation/extrapolation of variables by using the finite element shape functions or moving least square interpolants. The performance of the three different remapping strategies is address with two tests. The first remapping test was taken from a literature work. The test consists in remapping successively a rotating symmetrical mesh, throughout N increments, in an angular span of 90 deg. The second remapping error evaluation test consists of remapping an irregular element shape target mesh from a given regular element shape donor mesh and proceed with the inverse operation. In this second test the computation effort is also measured. The results showed that the error level associated to IVR can be very low and with a stable evolution along the number of remapping procedures when compared with the

A process improvement model for software verification and validation

Science.gov (United States)

Callahan, John; Sabolish, George

1994-01-01

We describe ongoing work at the NASA Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility to establish a process improvement model for software verification and validation (V&V) organizations. This model, similar to those used by some software development organizations, uses measurement-based techniques to identify problem areas and introduce incremental improvements. We seek to replicate this model for organizations involved in V&V on large-scale software development projects such as EOS and space station. At the IV&V Facility, a university research group and V&V contractors are working together to collect metrics across projects in order to determine the effectiveness of V&V and improve its application. Since V&V processes are intimately tied to development processes, this paper also examines the repercussions for development organizations in large-scale efforts.

Validated sampling strategy for assessing contaminants in soil stockpiles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lame, Frank; Honders, Ton; Derksen, Giljam; Gadella, Michiel

2005-01-01

Dutch legislation on the reuse of soil requires a sampling strategy to determine the degree of contamination. This sampling strategy was developed in three stages. Its main aim is to obtain a single analytical result, representative of the true mean concentration of the soil stockpile. The development process started with an investigation into how sample pre-treatment could be used to obtain representative results from composite samples of heterogeneous soil stockpiles. Combining a large number of random increments allows stockpile heterogeneity to be fully represented in the sample. The resulting pre-treatment method was then combined with a theoretical approach to determine the necessary number of increments per composite sample. At the second stage, the sampling strategy was evaluated using computerised models of contaminant heterogeneity in soil stockpiles. The now theoretically based sampling strategy was implemented by the Netherlands Centre for Soil Treatment in 1995. It was applied to all types of soil stockpiles, ranging from clean to heavily contaminated, over a period of four years. This resulted in a database containing the analytical results of 2570 soil stockpiles. At the final stage these results were used for a thorough validation of the sampling strategy. It was concluded that the model approach has indeed resulted in a sampling strategy that achieves analytical results representative of the mean concentration of soil stockpiles. - A sampling strategy that ensures analytical results representative of the mean concentration in soil stockpiles is presented and validated

Methods of determining incremental energy costs for economic dispatch and inter-utility interchange in Canadian utilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Hawary, M.E.; El-Hawary, F.; Mbamalu, G.A.N.

1991-01-01

A questionnaire was mailed to ten Canadian utilities to determine the methods the utilities use in determining the incremental cost of delivering energy at any time. The questionnaire was divided into three parts: generation, transmission and general. The generation section dealt with heat rates, fuel, operation and maintenance, startup and shutdown, and method of prioritizing and economic evaluation of interchange transactions. Transmission dealt with inclusion of transmission system incremental maintenance costs, and transmission losses determination. The general section dealt with incremental costs aspects, and various other economic considerations. A summary is presented of responses to the questionnaire

Demonstration Exercise of a Validated Sample Collection Method for Powders Suspected of Being Biological Agents in Georgia 2006

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marsh, B.

2007-01-01

August 7, 2006 the state of Georgia conducted a collaborative sampling exercise between the Georgia National Guard 4th Civil Support Team Weapons of Mass Destruction (CST-WMD) and the Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health demonstrating a recently validated bulk powder sampling method. The exercise was hosted at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) at Glynn County, Georgia and involved the participation of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), Georgia National Guard, Georgia Public Health Laboratories, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Atlanta Office, Georgia Coastal Health District, and the Glynn County Fire Department. The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate a recently validated national sampling standard developed by the American Standards and Test Measures (ASTM) International; ASTM E2458 S tandard Practice for Bulk Sample Collection and Swab Sample Collection of Visible Powders Suspected of Being Biological Agents from Nonporous Surfaces . The intent of the exercise was not to endorse the sampling method, but to develop a model for exercising new sampling methods in the context of existing standard operating procedures (SOPs) while strengthening operational relationships between response teams and analytical laboratories. The exercise required a sampling team to respond real-time to an incident cross state involving a clandestine bio-terrorism production lab found within a recreational vehicle (RV). Sample targets consisted of non-viable gamma irradiated B. anthracis Sterne spores prepared by Dugway Proving Ground. Various spore concentration levels were collected by the ASTM method, followed by on- and off-scene analysis utilizing the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Laboratory Response Network (LRN) and National Guard Bureau (NGB) CST mobile Analytical Laboratory Suite (ALS) protocols. Analytical results were compared and detailed surveys of participant evaluation comments were examined. I will

Endogenous-cue prospective memory involving incremental updating of working memory: an fMRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Halahalli, Harsha N; John, John P; Lukose, Ammu; Jain, Sanjeev; Kutty, Bindu M

2015-11-01

Prospective memory paradigms are conventionally classified on the basis of event-, time-, or activity-based intention retrieval. In the vast majority of such paradigms, intention retrieval is provoked by some kind of external event. However, prospective memory retrieval cues that prompt intention retrieval in everyday life are commonly endogenous, i.e., linked to a specific imagined retrieval context. We describe herein a novel prospective memory paradigm wherein the endogenous cue is generated by incremental updating of working memory, and investigated the hemodynamic correlates of this task. Eighteen healthy adult volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed a prospective memory task where the delayed intention was triggered by an endogenous cue generated by incremental updating of working memory. Working memory and ongoing task control conditions were also administered. The 'endogenous-cue prospective memory condition' with incremental working memory updating was associated with maximum activations in the right rostral prefrontal cortex, and additional activations in the brain regions that constitute the bilateral fronto-parietal network, central and dorsal salience networks as well as cerebellum. In the working memory control condition, maximal activations were noted in the left dorsal anterior insula. Activation of the bilateral dorsal anterior insula, a component of the central salience network, was found to be unique to this 'endogenous-cue prospective memory task' in comparison to previously reported exogenous- and endogenous-cue prospective memory tasks without incremental working memory updating. Thus, the findings of the present study highlight the important role played by the dorsal anterior insula in incremental working memory updating that is integral to our endogenous-cue prospective memory task.

An Incremental Time-delay Neural Network for Dynamical Recurrent Associative Memory

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2002-01-01

An incremental time-delay neural network based on synapse growth, which is suitable for dynamic control and learning of autonomous robots, is proposed to improve the learning and retrieving performance of dynamical recurrent associative memory architecture. The model allows steady and continuous establishment of associative memory for spatio-temporal regularities and time series in discrete sequence of inputs. The inserted hidden units can be taken as the long-term memories that expand the capacity of network and sometimes may fade away under certain condition. Preliminary experiment has shown that this incremental network may be a promising approach to endow autonomous robots with the ability of adapting to new data without destroying the learned patterns. The system also benefits from its potential chaos character for emergence.

Translation of incremental talk test responses to steady-state exercise training intensity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyon, Ellen; Menke, Miranda; Foster, Carl; Porcari, John P; Gibson, Mark; Bubbers, Terresa

2014-01-01

The Talk Test (TT) is a submaximal, incremental exercise test that has been shown to be useful in prescribing exercise training intensity. It is based on a subject's ability to speak comfortably during exercise. This study defined the amount of reduction in absolute workload intensity from an incremental exercise test using the TT to give appropriate absolute training intensity for cardiac rehabilitation patients. Patients in an outpatient rehabilitation program (N = 30) performed an incremental exercise test with the TT given every 2-minute stage. Patients rated their speech comfort after reciting a standardized paragraph. Anything other than a "yes" response was considered the "equivocal" stage, while all preceding stages were "positive" stages. The last stage with the unequivocally positive ability to speak was the Last Positive (LP), and the preceding stages were (LP-1 and LP-2). Subsequently, three 20-minute steady-state training bouts were performed in random order at the absolute workload at the LP, LP-1, and LP-2 stages of the incremental test. Speech comfort, heart rate (HR), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded every 5 minutes. The 20-minute exercise training bout was completed fully by LP (n = 19), LP-1 (n = 28), and LP-2 (n = 30). Heart rate, RPE, and speech comfort were similar through the LP-1 and LP-2 tests, but the LP stage was markedly more difficult. Steady-state exercise training intensity was easily and appropriately prescribed at intensity associated with the LP-1 and LP-2 stages of the TT. The LP stage may be too difficult for patients in a cardiac rehabilitation program.

Some theoretical aspects of capacity increment in gaseous diffusion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coates, J. H.; Guais, J. C.; Lamorlette, G.

1975-09-01

Facing to the sharply growing needs of enrichment services, the problem of implementing new capacities must be included in an optimized scheme spread out in time. In this paper the alternative solutions will be studied first for an unique increment decision, and then in an optimum schedule. The limits of the analysis will be discussed.

How to Perform Precise Soil and Sediment Sampling? One solution: The Fine Increment Soil Collector (FISC)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mabit, L.; Toloza, A. [Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Laboratory, IAEA, Seibersdorf (Austria); Meusburger, K.; Alewell, C. [Environmental Geosciences, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel (Switzerland); Iurian, A-R. [Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Cluj-Napoca (Romania); Owens, P. N. [Environmental Science Program and Quesnel River Research Centre, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia (Canada)

2014-07-15

Soil and sediment related research for terrestrial agrienvironmental assessments requires accurate depth incremental sampling to perform detailed analysis of physical, geochemical and biological properties of soil and exposed sediment profiles. Existing equipment does not allow collecting soil/sediment increments at millimetre resolution. The Fine Increment Soil Collector (FISC), developed by the SWMCN Laboratory, allows much greater precision in incremental soil/sediment sampling. It facilitates the easy recovery of collected material by using a simple screw-thread extraction system (see Figure 1). The FISC has been designed specifically to enable standardized scientific investigation of shallow soil/sediment samples. In particular, applications have been developed in two IAEA Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs): CRP D1.20.11 on “Integrated Isotopic Approaches for an Area-wide Precision Conservation to Control the Impacts of Agricultural Practices on Land Degradation and Soil Erosion” and CRP D1.50.15 on “Response to Nuclear Emergencies Affecting Food and Agriculture.”.

How to Perform Precise Soil and Sediment Sampling? One solution: The Fine Increment Soil Collector (FISC)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mabit, L.; Toloza, A.; Meusburger, K.; Alewell, C.; Iurian, A-R.; Owens, P.N.

2014-01-01

Soil and sediment related research for terrestrial agrienvironmental assessments requires accurate depth incremental sampling to perform detailed analysis of physical, geochemical and biological properties of soil and exposed sediment profiles. Existing equipment does not allow collecting soil/sediment increments at millimetre resolution. The Fine Increment Soil Collector (FISC), developed by the SWMCN Laboratory, allows much greater precision in incremental soil/sediment sampling. It facilitates the easy recovery of collected material by using a simple screw-thread extraction system (see Figure 1). The FISC has been designed specifically to enable standardized scientific investigation of shallow soil/sediment samples. In particular, applications have been developed in two IAEA Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs): CRP D1.20.11 on “Integrated Isotopic Approaches for an Area-wide Precision Conservation to Control the Impacts of Agricultural Practices on Land Degradation and Soil Erosion” and CRP D1.50.15 on “Response to Nuclear Emergencies Affecting Food and Agriculture.”

Respiratory ammonia output and blood ammonia concentration during incremental exercise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ament, W; Huizenga, [No Value; Kort, E; van der Mark, TW; Grevink, RG; Verkerke, GJ

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the increase of ammonia concentration and lactate concentration in blood was accompanied by an increased expiration of ammonia during graded exercise. Eleven healthy subjects performed an incremental cycle ergometer test. Blood ammonia, blood lactate

Identifying the Academic Rising Stars via Pairwise Citation Increment Ranking

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Chuxu; Liu, Chuang; Yu, Lu; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhou, Tao

2017-01-01

success academic careers. In this work, given a set of young researchers who have published the first first-author paper recently, we solve the problem of how to effectively predict the top k% researchers who achieve the highest citation increment in Δt

Incremental concept learning with few training examples and hierarchical classification

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouma, H.; Eendebak, P.T.; Schutte, K.; Azzopardi, G.; Burghouts, G.J.

2015-01-01

Object recognition and localization are important to automatically interpret video and allow better querying on its content. We propose a method for object localization that learns incrementally and addresses four key aspects. Firstly, we show that for certain applications, recognition is feasible

Incremental learning of skill collections based on intrinsic motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Metzen, Jan H.; Kirchner, Frank

2013-01-01

Life-long learning of reusable, versatile skills is a key prerequisite for embodied agents that act in a complex, dynamic environment and are faced with different tasks over their lifetime. We address the question of how an agent can learn useful skills efficiently during a developmental period, i.e., when no task is imposed on him and no external reward signal is provided. Learning of skills in a developmental period needs to be incremental and self-motivated. We propose a new incremental, task-independent skill discovery approach that is suited for continuous domains. Furthermore, the agent learns specific skills based on intrinsic motivation mechanisms that determine on which skills learning is focused at a given point in time. We evaluate the approach in a reinforcement learning setup in two continuous domains with complex dynamics. We show that an intrinsically motivated, skill learning agent outperforms an agent which learns task solutions from scratch. Furthermore, we compare different intrinsic motivation mechanisms and how efficiently they make use of the agent's developmental period. PMID:23898265

The Boundary Between Planning and Incremental Budgeting: Empirical Examination in a Publicly-Owned Corporation

OpenAIRE

S. K. Lioukas; D. J. Chambers

1981-01-01

This paper is a study within the field of public budgeting. It focuses on the capital budget, and it attempts to model and analyze the capital budgeting process using a framework previously developed in the literature of incremental budgeting. Within this framework the paper seeks to determine empirically whether the movement of capital expenditure budgets can be represented as the routine application of incremental adjustments over an existing base of allocations and whether further, forward...

Maximal power output during incremental exercise by resistance and endurance trained athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakthivelavan, D S; Sumathilatha, S

2010-01-01

This study was aimed at comparing the maximal power output by resistance trained and endurance trained athletes during incremental exercise. Thirty male athletes who received resistance training (Group I) and thirty male athletes of similar age group who received endurance training (Group II) for a period of more than 1 year were chosen for the study. Physical parameters were measured and exercise stress testing was done on a cycle ergometer with a portable gas analyzing system. The maximal progressive incremental cycle ergometer power output at peak exercise and carbon dioxide production at VO2max were measured. Highly significant (P biofeedback and perk up the athlete's performance.

Enthalpy-increment measurements for CsI(s) and Cs2CrO4(s) by high-temperature Calvet calorimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Venugopal, V.; Agarwal, R.; Roy, K.N.; Prasad, R.; Sood, D.D.

1987-01-01

Molar thermodynamic properties of CsI(s) and Cs 2 Cr O 4 (s) have been evaluated by enthalpy-increment measurements, using a Calvet high-temperature calorimeter. Least squares analyses were performed on the enthalpy increment results. Data is presented in tabular form for the dependence of enthalpy increments on temperature, in the range 333 to 822 K, for both caesium compounds, along with the thermal properties of the compounds. Good agreement is found between the present data and previously reported results on reduced enthalpy increments of CsI(s) and Cs 2 CrO 4 (s). (U.K.)

On the calculation of complete dissociation curves of closed-shell pseudo-onedimensional systems via the complete active space method of increments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fertitta, E.; Paulus, B. [Institut für Chemie und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustr. 3, 14195 Berlin (Germany); Barcza, G.; Legeza, Ö. [Strongly Correlated Systems “Lendület” Research Group, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, P.O. Box 49, Budapest (Hungary)

2015-09-21

The method of increments (MoI) has been employed using the complete active space formalism in order to calculate the dissociation curve of beryllium ring-shaped clusters Be{sub n} of different sizes. Benchmarks obtained through different quantum chemical methods including the ab initio density matrix renormalization group were used to verify the validity of the MoI truncation which showed a reliable behavior for the whole dissociation curve. Moreover we investigated the size dependence of the correlation energy at different interatomic distances in order to extrapolate the values for the periodic chain and to discuss the transition from a metal-like to an insulator-like behavior of the wave function through quantum chemical considerations.

Toward translational incremental similarity-based reasoning in breast cancer grading

Science.gov (United States)

Tutac, Adina E.; Racoceanu, Daniel; Leow, Wee-Keng; Müller, Henning; Putti, Thomas; Cretu, Vladimir

2009-02-01

One of the fundamental issues in bridging the gap between the proliferation of Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems in the scientific literature and the deficiency of their usage in medical community is based on the characteristic of CBIR to access information by images or/and text only. Yet, the way physicians are reasoning about patients leads intuitively to a case representation. Hence, a proper solution to overcome this gap is to consider a CBIR approach inspired by Case-Based Reasoning (CBR), which naturally introduces medical knowledge structured by cases. Moreover, in a CBR system, the knowledge is incrementally added and learned. The purpose of this study is to initiate a translational solution from CBIR algorithms to clinical practice, using a CBIR/CBR hybrid approach. Therefore, we advance the idea of a translational incremental similarity-based reasoning (TISBR), using combined CBIR and CBR characteristics: incremental learning of medical knowledge, medical case-based structure of the knowledge (CBR), image usage to retrieve similar cases (CBIR), similarity concept (central for both paradigms). For this purpose, three major axes are explored: the indexing, the cases retrieval and the search refinement, applied to Breast Cancer Grading (BCG), a powerful breast cancer prognosis exam. The effectiveness of this strategy is currently evaluated over cases provided by the Pathology Department of Singapore National University Hospital, for the indexing. With its current accuracy, TISBR launches interesting perspectives for complex reasoning in future medical research, opening the way to a better knowledge traceability and a better acceptance rate of computer-aided diagnosis assistance among practitioners.

Evaluation of incremental reactivity and its uncertainty in Southern California.

Science.gov (United States)

Martien, Philip T; Harley, Robert A; Milford, Jana B; Russell, Armistead G

2003-04-15

The incremental reactivity (IR) and relative incremental reactivity (RIR) of carbon monoxide and 30 individual volatile organic compounds (VOC) were estimated for the South Coast Air Basin using two photochemical air quality models: a 3-D, grid-based model and a vertically resolved trajectory model. Both models include an extended version of the SAPRC99 chemical mechanism. For the 3-D modeling, the decoupled direct method (DDM-3D) was used to assess reactivities. The trajectory model was applied to estimate uncertainties in reactivities due to uncertainties in chemical rate parameters, deposition parameters, and emission rates using Monte Carlo analysis with Latin hypercube sampling. For most VOC, RIRs were found to be consistent in rankings with those produced by Carter using a box model. However, 3-D simulations show that coastal regions, upwind of most of the emissions, have comparatively low IR but higher RIR than predicted by box models for C4-C5 alkenes and carbonyls that initiate the production of HOx radicals. Biogenic VOC emissions were found to have a lower RIR than predicted by box model estimates, because emissions of these VOC were mostly downwind of the areas of primary ozone production. Uncertainties in RIR of individual VOC were found to be dominated by uncertainties in the rate parameters of their primary oxidation reactions. The coefficient of variation (COV) of most RIR values ranged from 20% to 30%, whereas the COV of absolute incremental reactivity ranged from about 30% to 40%. In general, uncertainty and variability both decreased when relative rather than absolute reactivity metrics were used.

Cost of Incremental Expansion of an Existing Family Medicine Residency Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Ashkin, Evan A; Newton, Warren P; Toomey, Brian; Lingley, Ronald; Page, Cristen P

2017-07-01

Expanding residency training programs to address shortages in the primary care workforce is challenged by the present graduate medical education (GME) environment. The Medicare funding cap on new GME positions and reductions in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Teaching Health Center (THC) GME program require innovative solutions to support primary care residency expansion. Sparse literature exists to assist in predicting the actual cost of incremental expansion of a family medicine residency program without federal or state GME support. In 2011 a collaboration to develop a community health center (CHC) academic medical partnership (CHAMP), was formed and created a THC as a training site for expansion of an existing family medicine residency program. The cost of expansion was a critical factor as no Federal GME funding or HRSA THC GME program support was available. Initial start-up costs were supported by a federal grant and local foundations. Careful financial analysis of the expansion has provided actual costs per resident of the incremental expansion of the residencyRESULTS: The CHAMP created a new THC and expanded the residency from eight to ten residents per year. The cost of expansion was approximately $72,000 per resident per year. The cost of incremental expansion of our residency program in the CHAMP model was more than 50% less than that of the recently reported cost of training in the HRSA THC GME program.

78 FR 22770 - Immigration Benefits Business Transformation, Increment I; Correction

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-17

...-2009-0022] RIN 1615-AB83 Immigration Benefits Business Transformation, Increment I; Correction AGENCY...: Background On August 29, 2011, DHS issued a final rule titled, Immigration Benefits Business Transformation... business processes. In this notice, we are correcting three technical errors. DATES: The effective date of...

Predictive Validity of the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale for Short-Term Suicidal Behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Conway, Paul Maurice; Erlangsen, Annette; Teasdale, Thomas William

2017-01-01

adolescents (90.6% females) who participated at follow-up (85.9%) out of the 99 (49.7%) baseline respondents. All adolescents were recruited from a specialized suicide-prevention clinic in Denmark. Through multivariate logistic regression analyses, we examined whether baseline suicidal behavior predicted......Using the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), we examined the predictive and incremental predictive validity of past-month suicidal behavior and ideation for short-term suicidal behavior among adolescents at high risk of suicide. The study was conducted in 2014 on a sample of 85...... subsequent suicidal behavior (actual attempts and suicidal behavior of any type, including preparatory acts, aborted, interrupted and actual attempts; mean follow-up of 80.8 days, SD = 52.4). Furthermore, we examined whether suicidal ideation severity and intensity incrementally predicted suicidal behavior...

Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS): Development, reliability, validity, and comparison with the ATSPPH-SF and IASMHS-PO.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Joseph H; Parent, Mike C; Spiker, Douglas A

2018-01-01

Attitudes is a key help-seeking construct that influences treatment seeking behavior via intention to seek help, per the theory of planned behavior (TPB). This article presents the development and psychometric evaluation of the Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS), designed to measure respondents' overall evaluation (unfavorable vs. favorable) of their seeking help from a mental health professional. In Study 1 (N = 857 United States adults), exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item response theory (IRT) analysis were used to identify an optimal set of 9 items that demonstrated initial evidence of internal consistency, unidimensionality, and strong measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I) across gender, past help-seeking experience, and psychological distress. Initial convergent evidence of validity was demonstrated via theoretically anticipated relationships between the MHSAS and key variables in the help-seeking nomological network (e.g., subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intention, public stigma, self-stigma, anticipated risks and benefits, gender, previous help seeking). Initial incremental evidence of validity was demonstrated when the MHSAS demonstrated the ability to account for unique variance in help-seeking intention, beyond that accounted for by the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help-Short Form scale (ATSPPH-SF) and the Psychological Openness subscale of the Inventory of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS-PO). Study 2 (N = 207 United States adults at Times 1 and 2) provided initial evidence of test-retest reliability over a 3-week period. The MHSAS offers mental health professionals a new tool for measuring attitudes that may avoid limitations of current help seeking-attitudes measures (e.g., construct-irrelevant variance). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Fasting Lipoprotein Lipase Protein Levels Can Predict a Postmeal Increment of Triglyceride Levels in Fasting Normohypertriglyceridemic Subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuzaki, Kokoro; Kotani, Kazuhiko; Yamada, Kazunori; Sakane, Naoki

2016-09-01

Although a postprandial increment in triglyceride (TG) levels is considered to be a risk factor for atherogenesis, tests (e.g., fat load) to assess postprandial changes in TG levels cannot be easily applied to clinical practice. Therefore, fasting markers that predict postprandial TG states are needed to be developed. One current candidate is lipoprotein lipase (LPL) protein, a molecule that hydrides TGs. This study investigated whether fasting LPL levels could predict postprandial TG levels. A total of 17 subjects (11 men, 6 women, mean age 52 ± 11 years) with normotriglyceridemia during fasting underwent the meal test. Several fasting parameters, including LPL, were measured for the area under the curve of postprandial TGs (AUC-TG). The subjects' mean fasting TG level was 1.30 mmol/l, and their mean LPL level was 41.6 ng/ml. The subjects' TG levels increased after loading (they peaked after two postprandial hours). Stepwise multiple regression analysis demonstrated that fasting TG levels were a predictor of the AUC-TG. In addition, fasting LPL mass levels were found to be a predictor of the AUC-TG (β = 0.65, P fasting TG levels. Fasting LPL levels may be useful to predict postprandial TG increment in this population. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A meta-analytic investigation of conscientiousness in the prediction of job performance: examining the intercorrelations and the incremental validity of narrow traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Dudley, Nicole M; Orvis, Karin A; Lebiecki, Justin E; Cortina, José M

2006-01-01

Researchers of broad and narrow traits have debated whether narrow traits are important to consider in the prediction of job performance. Because personality-performance relationship meta-analyses have focused almost exclusively on the Big Five, the predictive power of narrow traits has not been adequately examined. In this study, the authors address this question by meta-analytically examining the degree to which the narrow traits of conscientiousness predict above and beyond global conscientiousness. Results suggest that narrow traits do incrementally predict performance above and beyond global conscientiousness, yet the degree to which they contribute depends on the particular performance criterion and occupation in question. Overall, the results of this study suggest that there are benefits to considering the narrow traits of conscientiousness in the prediction of performance. (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

Analysis of single-degree-of-freedom piezoelectric energy harvester with stopper by incremental harmonic balance method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Dan; Wang, Xiaoman; Cheng, Yuan; Liu, Shaogang; Wu, Yanhong; Chai, Liqin; Liu, Yang; Cheng, Qianju

2018-05-01

Piecewise-linear structure can effectively broaden the working frequency band of the piezoelectric energy harvester, and improvement of its research can promote the practical process of energy collection device to meet the requirements for powering microelectronic components. In this paper, the incremental harmonic balance (IHB) method is introduced for the complicated and difficult analysis process of the piezoelectric energy harvester to solve these problems. After obtaining the nonlinear dynamic equation of the single-degree-of-freedom piecewise-linear energy harvester by mathematical modeling and the equation is solved based on the IHB method, the theoretical amplitude-frequency curve of open-circuit voltage is achieved. Under 0.2 g harmonic excitation, a piecewise-linear energy harvester is experimentally tested by unidirectional frequency-increasing scanning. The results demonstrate that the theoretical and experimental amplitudes have the same trend, and the width of the working band with high voltage output are 4.9 Hz and 4.7 Hz, respectively, and the relative error is 4.08%. The open-output peak voltage are 21.53 V and 18.25 V, respectively, and the relative error is 15.23%. Since the theoretical value is consistent with the experimental results, the theoretical model and the incremental harmonic balance method used in this paper are suitable for solving single-degree-of-freedom piecewise-linear piezoelectric energy harvester and can be applied to further parameter optimized design.

Effects of frequency and duration on psychometric functions for detection of increments and decrements in sinusoids in noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, B C; Peters, R W; Glasberg, B R

1999-12-01

Psychometric functions for detecting increments or decrements in level of sinusoidal pedestals were measured for increment and decrement durations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 ms and for frequencies of 250, 1000, and 4000 Hz. The sinusoids were presented in background noise intended to mask spectral splatter. A three-interval, three-alternative procedure was used. The results indicated that, for increments, the detectability index d' was approximately proportional to delta I/I. For decrements, d' was approximately proportional to delta L. The slopes of the psychometric functions increased (indicating better performance) with increasing frequency for both increments and decrements. For increments, the slopes increased with increasing increment duration up to 200 ms at 250 and 1000 Hz, but at 4000 Hz they increased only up to 50 ms. For decrements, the slopes increased for durations up to 50 ms, and then remained roughly constant, for all frequencies. For a center frequency of 250 Hz, the slopes of the psychometric functions for increment detection increased with duration more rapidly than predicted by a "multiple-looks" hypothesis, i.e., more rapidly than the square root of duration, for durations up to 50 ms. For center frequencies of 1000 and 4000 Hz, the slopes increased less rapidly than predicted by a multiple-looks hypothesis, for durations greater than about 20 ms. The slopes of the psychometric functions for decrement detection increased with decrement duration at a rate slightly greater than the square root of duration, for durations up to 50 ms, at all three frequencies. For greater durations, the increase in slope was less than proportional to the square root of duration. The results were analyzed using a model incorporating a simulated auditory filter, a compressive nonlinearity, a sliding temporal integrator, and a decision device based on a template mechanism. The model took into account the effects of both the external noise and an assumed internal

Systematic Luby Transform codes as incremental redundancy scheme

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Grobler, TL

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Transform Codes as Incremental Redundancy Scheme T. L. Grobler y, E. R. Ackermann y, J. C. Olivier y and A. J. van Zylz Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa Email: trienkog...@gmail.com, etienne.ackermann@ieee.org yDefence, Peace, Safety and Security (DPSS) Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria 0001, South Africa zDepartment of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South...

Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments Increment 2A (DCAPES Inc 2A)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

2016 Major Automated Information System Annual Report Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments Increment 2A (DCAPES Inc 2A...Program Name Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments Increment 2A (DCAPES Inc 2A) DoD Component Air Force Responsible Office Program...APB) dated March 9, 2015 DCAPES Inc 2A 2016 MAR UNCLASSIFIED 4 Program Description Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments

Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments Increment 2B (DCAPES Inc 2B)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

2016 Major Automated Information System Annual Report Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments Increment 2B (DCAPES Inc 2B...Information Program Name Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments Increment 2B (DCAPES Inc 2B) DoD Component Air Force Responsible Office...been established. DCAPES Inc 2B 2016 MAR UNCLASSIFIED 4 Program Description Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments (DCAPES) is

Blood flow patterns during incremental and steady-state aerobic exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Coovert, Daniel; Evans, LeVisa D; Jarrett, Steven; Lima, Carla; Lima, Natalia; Gurovich, Alvaro N

2017-05-30

Endothelial shear stress (ESS) is a physiological stimulus for vascular homeostasis, highly dependent on blood flow patterns. Exercise-induced ESS might be beneficial on vascular health. However, it is unclear what type of ESS aerobic exercise (AX) produces. The aims of this study are to characterize exercise-induced blood flow patterns during incremental and steady-state AX. We expect blood flow pattern during exercise will be intensity-dependent and bidirectional. Six college-aged students (2 males and 4 females) were recruited to perform 2 exercise tests on cycleergometer. First, an 8-12-min incremental test (Test 1) where oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and blood lactate (La) were measured at rest and after each 2-min step. Then, at least 48-hr. after the first test, a 3-step steady state exercise test (Test 2) was performed measuring VO2, HR, BP, and La. The three steps were performed at the following exercise intensities according to La: 0-2 mmol/L, 2-4 mmol/L, and 4-6 mmol/L. During both tests, blood flow patterns were determined by high-definition ultrasound and Doppler on the brachial artery. These measurements allowed to determine blood flow velocities and directions during exercise. On Test 1 VO2, HR, BP, La, and antegrade blood flow velocity significantly increased in an intensity-dependent manner (repeated measures ANOVA, pflow velocity did not significantly change during Test 1. On Test 2 all the previous variables significantly increased in an intensity-dependent manner (repeated measures ANOVA, pflow patterns during incremental and steady-state exercises include both antegrade and retrograde blood flows.

Mejora de los Test de Planificabilidad para Asignación Incremental de Tareas en Sistemas Multiprocesadores de Tiempo Real

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio Sáez

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Resumen: Durante la etapa de diseño de un sistema multiprocesador de tiempo real, los test de planificabilidad son una parte clave de los algoritmos de asignación de tareas. El uso de test de planificabilidad exactos permite aumentar la eficiencia de los algoritmos de asignación a costa de un incremento en el tiempo de computo necesario para validar una partición. Aunque existen varios estudios que mejoran el rendimiento de dichos test de planificabilidad, ninguno se ha centrado en el contexto en que dichos test se utilizan. Este trabajo presenta diversas mejoras en los test de planificabilidad exactos basándose en la naturaleza incremental del proceso de asignación. Abstract: During the design of a Real-Time Multiprocessor System, schedulability tests are a key component of the task allocation algorithms. Using exact schedulability tests increases the efficiency of these allocation algorithms, but the execution cost to validate a task partition is also greatly increased. Although several improvement to these schedulability test have been recently published, their use in the multiprocessor context is still unaddressed. This work presents several improvements to execution costs of the schedulability test when they are used by task allocation algorithms taking advantage of the incremental nature of this allocation process. Palabras clave: Sistema Multiprocesadores, Análisis de Planificabilidad, Sistema de Tiempo Real, Keywords: Multiprocessor Systems, Schedulability Analysis, Real-Time Systems

Optimization and design of an aircraft's morphing wing-tip demonstrator for drag reduction at low speeds, Part II - Experimental validation using Infra-Red transition measurement from Wind Tunnel tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreea Koreanschi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In the present paper, an ‘in-house’ genetic algorithm was numerically and experimentally validated. The genetic algorithm was applied to an optimization problem for improving the aerodynamic performances of an aircraft wing tip through upper surface morphing. The optimization was performed for 16 flight cases expressed in terms of various combinations of speeds, angles of attack and aileron deflections. The displacements resulted from the optimization were used during the wind tunnel tests of the wing tip demonstrator for the actuators control to change the upper surface shape of the wing. The results of the optimization of the flow behavior for the airfoil morphing upper-surface problem were validated with wind tunnel experimental transition results obtained with infra-red Thermography on the wing-tip demonstrator. The validation proved that the 2D numerical optimization using the ‘in-house’ genetic algorithm was an appropriate tool in improving various aspects of a wing’s aerodynamic performances.

Incremental Observer Relative Data Extraction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bukauskas, Linas; Bøhlen, Michael Hanspeter

2004-01-01

The visual exploration of large databases calls for a tight coupling of database and visualization systems. Current visualization systems typically fetch all the data and organize it in a scene tree that is then used to render the visible data. For immersive data explorations in a Cave...... or a Panorama, where an observer is data space this approach is far from optimal. A more scalable approach is to make the observer-aware database system and to restrict the communication between the database and visualization systems to the relevant data. In this paper VR-tree, an extension of the R......-tree, is used to index visibility ranges of objects. We introduce a new operator for incremental Observer Relative data Extraction (iORDE). We propose the Volatile Access STructure (VAST), a lightweight main memory structure that is created on the fly and is maintained during visual data explorations. VAST...

Influence of increment thickness on dentin bond strength and light transmission of composite base materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Omran, Tarek A; Garoushi, Sufyan; Abdulmajeed, Aous A; Lassila, Lippo V; Vallittu, Pekka K

2017-06-01

Bulk-fill resin composites (BFCs) are gaining popularity in restorative dentistry due to the reduced chair time and ease of application. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of increment thickness on dentin bond strength and light transmission of different BFCs and a new discontinuous fiber-reinforced composite. One hundred eighty extracted sound human molars were prepared for a shear bond strength (SBS) test. The teeth were divided into four groups (n = 45) according to the resin composite used: regular particulate filler resin composite: (1) G-ænial Anterior [GA] (control); bulk-fill resin composites: (2) Tetric EvoCeram Bulk Fill [TEBF] and (3) SDR; and discontinuous fiber-reinforced composite: (4) everX Posterior [EXP]. Each group was subdivided according to increment thickness (2, 4, and 6 mm). The irradiance power through the material of all groups/subgroups was quantified (MARC® Resin Calibrator; BlueLight Analytics Inc.). Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test. SBS and light irradiance decreased as the increment's height increased (p composite used. EXP presented the highest SBS in 2- and 4-mm-thick increments when compared to other composites, although the differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Light irradiance mean values arranged in descending order were (p composites. Discontinuous fiber-reinforced composite showed the highest value of curing light transmission, which was also seen in improved bonding strength to the underlying dentin surface. Discontinuous fiber-reinforced composite can be applied safely in bulks of 4-mm increments same as other bulk-fill composites, although, in 2-mm thickness, the investigated composites showed better performance.

LINEAR MIXED MODEL TO DESCRIBE THE BASAL AREA INCREMENT FOR INDIVUDUAL CEDRO (Cedrela odorata L.TREES IN OCCIDENTAL AMAZON, BRAZIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thiago Augusto da Cunha

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Reliable growth data from trees are important to establish a rational forest management. Characteristics from trees, like the size, crown architecture and competition indices have been used to mathematically describe the increment efficiently when associated with them. However, the precise role of these effects in the growth-modeling destined to tropical trees needs to be further studied. Here it is reconstructed the basal area increment (BAI of individual Cedrela odorata trees, sampled at Amazon forest, to develop a growth- model using potential-predictors like: (1 classical tree size; (2 morphometric data; (3 competition and (4 social position including liana loads. Despite the large variation in tree size and growth, we observed that these kinds of predictor variables described well the BAI in level of individual tree. The fitted mixed model achieve a high efficiency (R2=92.7 % and predicted 3-years BAI over bark for trees of Cedrela odorata ranging from 10 to 110 cm at diameter at breast height. Tree height, steam slenderness and crown formal demonstrated high influence in the BAI growth model and explaining most of the growth variance (Partial R2=87.2%. Competition variables had negative influence on the BAI, however, explained about 7% of the total variation. The introduction of a random parameter on the regressions model (mixed modelprocedure has demonstrated a better significance approach to the data observed and showed more realistic predictions than the fixed model.

Incrementally Detecting Change Types of Spatial Area Object: A Hierarchical Matching Method Considering Change Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanhui Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Detecting and extracting the change types of spatial area objects can track area objects’ spatiotemporal change pattern and provide the change backtracking mechanism for incrementally updating spatial datasets. To respond to the problems of high complexity of detection methods, high redundancy rate of detection factors, and the low automation degree during incrementally update process, we take into account the change process of area objects in an integrated way and propose a hierarchical matching method to detect the nine types of changes of area objects, while minimizing the complexity of the algorithm and the redundancy rate of detection factors. We illustrate in details the identification, extraction, and database entry of change types, and how we achieve a close connection and organic coupling of incremental information extraction and object type-of-change detection so as to characterize the whole change process. The experimental results show that this method can successfully detect incremental information about area objects in practical applications, with the overall accuracy reaching above 90%, which is much higher than the existing weighted matching method, making it quite feasible and applicable. It helps establish the corresponding relation between new-version and old-version objects, and facilitate the linked update processing and quality control of spatial data.

STS-102 Expedition 2 Increment and Science Briefing

Science.gov (United States)

2001-01-01

Merri Sanchez, Expedition 2 Increment Manager, John Uri, Increment Scientist, and Lybrease Woodard, Lead Payload Operations Director, give an overview of the upcoming activities and objectives of the Expedition 2's (E2's) mission in this prelaunch press conference. Ms. Sanchez describes the crew rotation of Expedition 1 to E2, the timeline E2 will follow during their stay on the International Space Station (ISS), and the various flights going to the ISS and what each will bring to ISS. Mr. Uri gives details on the on-board experiments that will take place on the ISS in the fields of microgravity research, commercial, earth, life, and space sciences (such as radiation characterization, H-reflex, colloids formation and interaction, protein crystal growth, plant growth, fermentation in microgravity, etc.). He also gives details on the scientific facilities to be used (laboratory racks and equipment such as the human torso facsimile or 'phantom torso'). Ms. Woodard gives an overview of Marshall Flight Center's role in the mission. Computerized simulations show the installation of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) onto the ISS and the installation of the airlock using SSRMS. Live footage shows the interior of the ISS, including crew living quarters, the Progress Module, and the Destiny Laboratory. The three then answer questions from the press.

MUNIX and incremental stimulation MUNE in ALS patients and control subjects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Furtula, Jasna; Johnsen, Birger; Christensen, Peter Broegger

2013-01-01

This study compares the new Motor Unit Number Estimation (MUNE) technique, MUNIX, with the more common incremental stimulation MUNE (IS-MUNE) with respect to reproducibility in healthy subjects and as potential biomarker of disease progression in patients with ALS....

Validity of Lactate Thresholds in Inline Speed Skating.

Science.gov (United States)

Hecksteden, Anne; Heinze, Tobias; Faude, Oliver; Kindermann, Wilfried; Meyer, Tim

2015-09-01

Lactate thresholds are commonly used as estimates of the highest workload where lactate production and elimination are in equilibrium (maximum lactate steady state [MLSS]). However, because of the high static load on propulsive muscles, lactate kinetics in inline speed skating may differ significantly from other endurance exercise modes. Therefore, the discipline-specific validity of lactate thresholds has to be verified. Sixteen competitive inline-speed skaters (age: 30 ± 10 years; training per week: 10 ± 4 hours) completed an exhaustive stepwise incremental exercise test (start 24 km·h, step duration 3 minutes, increment 2 km·h) to determine individual anaerobic threshold (IAT) and the workload corresponding to a blood lactate concentration of 4 mmol·L (LT4) and 2-5 continuous load tests of (up to) 30 minutes to determine MLSS. The IAT and LT4 correlated significantly with MLSS, and the mean differences were almost negligible (MLSS 29.5 ± 2.5 km·h; IAT 29.2 ± 2.0 km·h; LT4 29.6 ± 2.3 km·h; p > 0.1 for all differences). However, the variability of differences was considerable resulting in 95% limits of agreement in the upper range of values known from other endurance disciplines (2.6 km·h [8.8%] for IAT and 3.1 km·h [10.3%] for LT4). Consequently, IAT and LT4 may be considered as valid estimates of the MLSS in inline speed skating, but verification by means of a constant load test should be considered in cases of doubt or when optimal accuracy is needed (e.g., in elite athletes or scientific studies).

Validation and psychometric properties of the Alcohol Positive and Negative Affect Schedule: Are drinking emotions distinct from general emotions?

Science.gov (United States)

Lac, Andrew; Donaldson, Candice D

2018-02-01

People vary in experiences of positive and negative emotions from consuming alcohol, but no validated measurement instrument exclusively devoted to assessing drinking emotions exists in the literature. The current research validated and evaluated the psychometric properties of an alcohol affect scale based on adjectives from the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and tested the extent that emotions incurred from drinking were distinct from general trait-based emotions. Three studies tested independent samples of adult alcohol users. In Study 1 (N = 494), exploratory factor analyses of the Alcohol PANAS revealed that both the 20-item model and the 9-parcel model (represented by similar mood content) supported the 2-factor dimensionality of alcohol positive and negative affect. In Study 2 (N = 302), confirmatory factor analyses corroborated the measurement structure of alcohol positive and negative affect, and both constructs evidenced statistical independence from general positive and negative affect. In Study 3 (N = 452), alcohol positive and negative affect exhibited discriminant, convergent, and criterion validity with established alcohol scales. Incremental validity tests demonstrated that alcohol positive and negative affect uniquely contributed (beyond general positive and negative affect) to alcohol expectancies, use, and problems. Findings support that alcohol emotions are conceptually distinct from trait emotions, and underscore the necessity of an assessment instrument tailored to the former to examine associations with alcohol beliefs and behaviors. The Alcohol PANAS confers theoretical and practical applications to understand the emotional consequences of drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Dynamic Risk Assessment of Sexual Offenders: Validity and Dimensional Structure of the Stable-2007.

Science.gov (United States)

Etzler, Sonja; Eher, Reinhard; Rettenberger, Martin

2018-02-01

In this study, the predictive and incremental validity of the Stable-2007 beyond the Static-99 was evaluated in an updated sample of N = 638 adult male sexual offenders followed-up for an average of M = 8.2 years. Data were collected at the Federal Evaluation Center for Violent and Sexual Offenders (FECVSO) in Austria within a prospective-longitudinal research design. Scores and risk categories of the Static-99 (AUC = .721; p risk categories contributed incrementally to the prediction of sexual recidivism beyond the Static-99. Analyzing the dimensional structure of the Stable-2007 yielded three factors, named Antisociality, Sexual Deviance, and Hypersexuality. Antisociality and Sexual Deviance were significant predictors for sexual recidivism. Sexual Deviance was negatively associated with non-sexual violent recidivism. Comparisons with latent dimensions of other risk assessment instruments are made and implications for applied risk assessment are discussed.

Fault-tolerant incremental diagnosis with limited historical data

OpenAIRE

Gillblad, Daniel; Holst, Anders; Steinert, Rebecca

2006-01-01

In many diagnosis situations it is desirable to perform a classification in an iterative and interactive manner. All relevant information may not be available initially and must be acquired manually or at a cost. The matter is often complicated by very limited amounts of knowledge and examples when a new system to be diagnosed is initially brought into use. Here, we will describe how to create an incremental classification system based on a statistical model that is trained from empirical dat...

Improved incremental conductance method for maximum power point tracking using cuk converter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Saad Saoud

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The Algerian government relies on a strategy focused on the development of inexhaustible resources such as solar and uses to diversify energy sources and prepare the Algeria of tomorrow: about 40% of the production of electricity for domestic consumption will be from renewable sources by 2030, Therefore it is necessary to concentrate our forces in order to reduce the application costs and to increment their performances, Their performance is evaluated and compared through theoretical analysis and digital simulation. This paper presents simulation of improved incremental conductance method for maximum power point tracking (MPPT using DC-DC cuk converter. This improved algorithm is used to track MPPs because it performs precise control under rapidly changing Atmospheric conditions, Matlab/ Simulink were employed for simulation studies.

Statistics of a mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian velocity increment in fully developed turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Friedrich, R; Kamps, O; Grauer, R; Homann, H

2009-01-01

We investigate the relationship between Eulerian and Lagrangian probability density functions obtained from numerical simulations of two-dimensional as well as three-dimensional turbulence. We show that in contrast to the structure functions of the Lagrangian velocity increment δ τ v(y)=u(x(y, τ), τ)- u(y, 0), where u(x, t) denotes the Eulerian velocity and x(y, t) the particle path initially starting at x(y, 0)=y, the structure functions of the velocity increment δ τ w(y)=u(x(y, τ), τ)- u(y, τ) exhibit a wide range of scaling behavior. Similar scaling indices are detected for the structure functions for particles diffusing in frozen turbulent fields. Furthermore, we discuss a connection to the scaling of Eulerian transversal structure functions.

Factors for Radical Creativity, Incremental Creativity, and Routine, Noncreative Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Madjar, Nora; Greenberg, Ellen; Chen, Zheng

2011-01-01

This study extends theory and research by differentiating between routine, noncreative performance and 2 distinct types of creativity: radical and incremental. We also use a sensemaking perspective to examine the interplay of social and personal factors that may influence a person's engagement in a certain level of creative action versus routine,…

Development of the Nonstationary Incremental Analysis Update Algorithm for Sequential Data Assimilation System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoo-Geun Ham

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study introduces a modified version of the incremental analysis updates (IAU, called the nonstationary IAU (NIAU method, to improve the assimilation accuracy of the IAU while keeping the continuity of the analysis. Similar to the IAU, the NIAU is designed to add analysis increments at every model time step to improve the continuity in the intermittent data assimilation. However, unlike the IAU, the NIAU procedure uses time-evolved forcing using the forward operator as corrections to the model. The solution of the NIAU is superior to that of the forward IAU, of which analysis is performed at the beginning of the time window for adding the IAU forcing, in terms of the accuracy of the analysis field. It is because, in the linear systems, the NIAU solution equals that in an intermittent data assimilation method at the end of the assimilation interval. To have the filtering property in the NIAU, a forward operator to propagate the increment is reconstructed with only dominant singular vectors. An illustration of those advantages of the NIAU is given using the simple 40-variable Lorenz model.

Adaptive scallop height tool path generation for robot-based incremental sheet metal forming

Science.gov (United States)

Seim, Patrick; Möllensiep, Dennis; Störkle, Denis Daniel; Thyssen, Lars; Kuhlenkötter, Bernd

2016-10-01

Incremental sheet metal forming is an emerging process for the production of individualized products or prototypes in low batch sizes and with short times to market. In these processes, the desired shape is produced by the incremental inward motion of the workpiece-independent forming tool in depth direction and its movement along the contour in lateral direction. Based on this shape production, the tool path generation is a key factor on e.g. the resulting geometric accuracy, the resulting surface quality, and the working time. This paper presents an innovative tool path generation based on a commercial milling CAM package considering the surface quality and working time. This approach offers the ability to define a specific scallop height as an indicator of the surface quality for specific faces of a component. Moreover, it decreases the required working time for the production of the entire component compared to the use of a commercial software package without this adaptive approach. Different forming experiments have been performed to verify the newly developed tool path generation. Mainly, this approach serves to solve the existing conflict of combining the working time and the surface quality within the process of incremental sheet metal forming.

Stable isotope time series and dentin increments elucidate Pleistocene proboscidean paleobiology

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Daniel; Rountrey, Adam; Smith, Kathlyn; Fox, David

2010-05-01

Investigations of stable isotope composition of mineralized tissues have added greatly to our knowledge of past climates and dietary behaviors of organisms, even when they are implemented through 'bulk sampling', in which a single assay yields a single, time-averaged value. Likewise, the practice of 'sclerochronology', which documents periodic structural increments comprising a growth record for accretionary tissues, offers insights into rates of growth and age data at a scale of temporal resolution permitted by the nature of structural increments. We combine both of these approaches to analyze dental tissues of late Pleistocene proboscideans. Tusk dentin typically preserves a record of accretionary growth consisting of histologically distinct increments on daily, approximately weekly, and yearly time scales. Working on polished transverse or longitudinal sections, we mill out a succession of temporally controlled dentin samples bounded by clear structural increments with a known position in the sequence of tusk growth. We further subject each sample (or an aliquot thereof) to multiple compositional analyses - most frequently to assess δ18O and δ13C of hydroxyapatite carbonate, and δ13C and δ15N of collagen. This yields, for each animal and each series of years investigated, a set of parallel compositional time series with a temporal resolution of 1-2 months (or finer if we need additional precision). Patterns in variation of thickness of periodic sub-annual increments yield insight into intra-annual and inter-annual variation of tusk growth rate. This is informative even by itself, but it is still more valuable when coupled with compositional time series. Further, the controls on different stable isotope systems are sufficiently different that the data ensemble yields 'much more than the sum of its parts.' By assessing how compositions and growth rates covary, we monitor with greater confidence changes in local climate, diet, behavior, and health status. We

Differential incremental value of ultrasound carotid intima-media thickness, carotid plaque, and cardiac calcium to predict angiographic coronary artery disease across Framingham risk score strata in the APRES multicentre study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaibazzi, Nicola; Rigo, Fausto; Facchetti, Rita; Carerj, Scipione; Giannattasio, Cristina; Moreo, Antonella; Mureddu, Gian Francesco; Salvetti, Massimo; Grolla, Elisabetta; Faden, Giacomo; Cesana, Francesca; Faggiano, Pompilio

2016-09-01

According to recent data, more accurate selection of patients undergoing coronary angiography for suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) is needed. From the Active PREvention Study multicentre prospective study, we further analyse whether carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), carotid plaques (cPL), and echocardiographic cardiac calcium score (eCS) have incremental discriminatory and reclassification predictive value for CAD over clinical risk score in subjects undergoing coronary angiography, specifically depending on their low, intermediate, or high class of clinical risk. In eight centres, 445 subjects without history of prior CAD but with chest pain of recent onset and/or a positive/inconclusive stress test for ischaemia prospectively underwent clinically indicated elective coronary angiography after cardiac and carotid ultrasound assessments with measurements of cIMT, cPL, and eCS. The study population was divided into subjects at low (10%), intermediate (10-20%), and high (>20%) Framingham risk score (FRS). Ultrasound parameters were tested for their incremental value to predict CAD over FRS, in each pre-test risk category. No significant difference could be appreciated between the discrimination value of FRS and Diagnostic Imaging for Coronary Artery Disease score for the presence of CAD. eCS or cPL demonstrated significant incremental prediction over FRS, consistently in the three FRS categories (P risk subjects, in whom cPL was apparently not incremental over FRS, and eCS was only of borderline significance for better discrimination. Ultrasound eCS and cPL assessments were significant predictors of angiographic CAD in patients without prior CAD but with signs or symptoms suspect for CAD, independently and incrementally to FRS, across all pre-test risk probability strata, although in high-risk subjects, only eCS maintained an incremental value. The use of cIMT was not significantly incrementally useful in any FRS risk category. Published on behalf of the

Hybrid Life Support System Technology Demonstrations

Science.gov (United States)

Morrow, R. C.; Wetzel, J. P.; Richter, R. C.

2018-02-01

Demonstration of plant-based hybrid life support technologies in deep space will validate the function of these technologies for long duration missions, such as Mars transit, while providing dietary variety to improve habitability.

Enthalpy increment measurements of Sr3Zr2O7(s) and Sr4Zr3O10(s)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banerjee, A.; Dash, S.; Prasad, R.; Venugopal, V.

1998-01-01

Enthalpy increment measurements on Sr 3 Zr 2 O 7 (s) and Sr 4 Zr 3 O 10 (s) were carried out using a Calvet micro-calorimeter. The enthalpy increment values were least squares analyzed with the constraints that H 0 (T)-H 0 (298.15 K) at 298.15 K equals to zero and C p 0 (298.15 K) equals to the estimated value. The dependence of enthalpy increment with temperature is given. (orig.)

Influence of the selection from incremental stages on lactate minimum intensity: a pilot study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Willian Eiji Miyagi

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The purposes of this study were to assess the influence of stage selection from the incremental phase and the use of peak lactate after hyperlactatemia induction on the determination of the lactate minimum intensity (iLACmin. Twelve moderately active university students (23±5 years, 78.3±14.1 kg, 175.3±5.1 cm performed a maximal incremental test to determine the respiratory compensation point (RCP (initial intensity at 70 W and increments of 17.5 W every 2 minutes and a lactate minimum test (induction with the Wingate test, the incremental test started at 30 W below RCP with increments of 10 W every 3 minutes on a cycle ergometer. The iLACmin was determined using second order polynomial adjustment applying five exercise stage selection: 1 using all stages (iLACmin P; 2 using all stages below and two stages above iLACminP (iLACminA; 3 using two stages below and all stages above iLACminP (iLACminB; 4 using the largest and same possible number of stages below and above the iLACminP (iLACminI; 5 using all stages and peak lactate after hyperlactatemia induction (iLACminD. No differences were found between the iLACminP (138.2±30.2 W, iLACminA (139.1±29.1 W, iLACminB (135.3±14.2 W, iLACminI (138.6±20.5 W and iLACmiD (136.7±28.5 W protocols, and a high level of agreement between these intensities and iLACminP was observed. Oxygen uptake, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion and lactate corresponding to these intensities was not different and was strongly correlated. However, the iLACminB presented the lowest success rate (66.7%. In conclusion, stage selection did not influence the determination of iLACmin but modified the success rate

Incremental Prognostic Value of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Histogram Analysis in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaoxia; Yuan, Ying; Ren, Jiliang; Shi, Yiqian; Tao, Xiaofeng

2018-03-26

We aimed to investigate the incremental prognostic value of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram analysis in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and integrate it into a multivariate prognostic model. A retrospective review of magnetic resonance imaging findings was conducted in patients with pathologically confirmed HNSCC between June 2012 and December 2015. For each tumor, six histogram parameters were derived: the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentiles of ADC (ADC 10 , ADC 50 , and ADC 90 ); mean ADC values (ADC mean ); kurtosis; and skewness. The clinical variables included age, sex, smoking status, tumor volume, and tumor node metastasis stage. The association of these histogram and clinical variables with overall survival (OS) was determined. Further validation of the histogram parameters as independent biomarkers was performed using multivariate Cox proportional hazard models combined with clinical variables, which was compared to the clinical model. Models were assessed with C index and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses for the 12- and 36-month OS. Ninety-six patients were eligible for analysis. Median follow-up was 877 days (range, 54-1516 days). A total of 29 patients died during follow-up (30%). Patients with higher ADC values (ADC 10  > 0.958 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s, ADC 50  > 1.089 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s, ADC 90  > 1.152 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s, ADC mean  > 1.047 × 10 -3 mm 2 /s) and lower kurtosis (≤0.967) were significant predictors of poor OS (P histogram analysis has incremental prognostic value in patients with HNSCC and increases the performance of a multivariable prognostic model in addition to clinical variables. Copyright © 2018 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Validity And Reliability Of The Stages Cycling Power Meter.

Science.gov (United States)

Granier, Cyril; Hausswirth, Christophe; Dorel, Sylvain; Yann, Le Meur

2017-09-06

This study aimed to determine the validity and the reliability of the Stages power meter crank system (Boulder, United States) during several laboratory cycling tasks. Eleven trained participants completed laboratory cycling trials on an indoor cycle fitted with SRM Professional and Stages systems. The trials consisted of an incremental test at 100W, 200W, 300W, 400W and four 7s sprints. The level of pedaling asymmetry was determined for each cycling intensity during a similar protocol completed on a Lode Excalibur Sport ergometer. The reliability of Stages and SRM power meters was compared by repeating the incremental test during a test-retest protocol on a Cyclus 2 ergometer. Over power ranges of 100-1250W the Stages system produced trivial to small differences compared to the SRM (standardized typical error values of 0.06, 0.24 and 0.08 for the incremental, sprint and combined trials, respectively). A large correlation was reported between the difference in power output (PO) between the two systems and the level of pedaling asymmetry (r=0.58, p system according to the level of pedaling asymmetry provided only marginal improvements in PO measures. The reliability of the Stages power meter at the sub-maximal intensities was similar to the SRM Professional model (coefficient of variation: 2.1 and 1.3% for Stages and SRM, respectively). The Stages system is a suitable device for PO measurements, except when a typical error of measurement power ranges of 100-1250W is expected.

Radical and Incremental Innovation Preferences in Information Technology: An Empirical Study in an Emerging Economy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tarun K. Sen

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Radical and Incremental Innovation Preferences in Information Technology: An Empirical Study in an Emerging Economy Abstract Innovation in information technology is a primary driver for growth in developed economies. Research indicates that countries go through three stages in the adoption of innovation strategies: buying innovation through global trade, incremental innovation from other countries by enhancing efficiency, and, at the most developed stage, radically innovating independently for competitive advantage. The first two stages of innovation maturity depend more on cross-border trade than the third stage. In this paper, we find that IT professionals in in an emerging economy such as India believe in radical innovation over incremental innovation (adaptation as a growth strategy, even though competitive advantage may rest in adaptation. The results of the study report the preference for innovation strategies among IT professionals in India and its implications for other rapidly growing emerging economies.

Adults with initial metabolic syndrome have altered muscle deoxygenation during incremental exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Machado, Alessandro da Costa; Barbosa, Thales Coelho; Kluser Sales, Allan Robson; de Souza, Marcio Nogueira; da Nóbrega, Antonio Claudio Lucas; Silva, Bruno Moreira

2017-02-01

Reduced aerobic power is independently associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS) incidence and prevalence in adults. This study investigated whether muscle deoxygenation (proxy of microvascular O 2 extraction) during incremental exercise is altered in MetS and associated with reduced oxygen consumption ( V˙O 2peak ). Twelve men with initial MetS (no overt diseases and medication-naive; mean ± SD, age 38 ± 7 years) and 12 healthy controls (HCs) (34 ± 7 years) completed an incremental cycling test to exhaustion, in which pulmonary ventilation and gas exchange (metabolic analyzer), as well as vastus lateralis deoxygenation (near infrared spectroscopy), were measured. Subjects with MetS, in contrast to HCs, showed lower V˙O 2peak normalized to total lean mass, similar V˙O 2 response to exercise, and earlier break point (BP) in muscle deoxygenation. Consequently, deoxygenation slope from BP to peak exercise was greater. Furthermore, absolute V˙O 2peak was positively associated with BP in correlations adjusted for total lean mass. MetS, without overt diseases, altered kinetics of muscle deoxygenation during incremental exercise, particularly at high-intensity exercise. Therefore, the balance between utilization and delivery of O 2 within skeletal muscle is impaired early in MetS natural history, which may contribute to the reduction in aerobic power. © 2017 The Obesity Society.

Incremental Query Rewriting with Resolution

Science.gov (United States)

Riazanov, Alexandre; Aragão, Marcelo A. T.

We address the problem of semantic querying of relational databases (RDB) modulo knowledge bases using very expressive knowledge representation formalisms, such as full first-order logic or its various fragments. We propose to use a resolution-based first-order logic (FOL) reasoner for computing schematic answers to deductive queries, with the subsequent translation of these schematic answers to SQL queries which are evaluated using a conventional relational DBMS. We call our method incremental query rewriting, because an original semantic query is rewritten into a (potentially infinite) series of SQL queries. In this chapter, we outline the main idea of our technique - using abstractions of databases and constrained clauses for deriving schematic answers, and provide completeness and soundness proofs to justify the applicability of this technique to the case of resolution for FOL without equality. The proposed method can be directly used with regular RDBs, including legacy databases. Moreover, we propose it as a potential basis for an efficient Web-scale semantic search technology.

An Incremental Weighted Least Squares Approach to Surface Lights Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Coombe, Greg; Lastra, Anselmo

An Image-Based Rendering (IBR) approach to appearance modelling enables the capture of a wide variety of real physical surfaces with complex reflectance behaviour. The challenges with this approach are handling the large amount of data, rendering the data efficiently, and previewing the model as it is being constructed. In this paper, we introduce the Incremental Weighted Least Squares approach to the representation and rendering of spatially and directionally varying illumination. Each surface patch consists of a set of Weighted Least Squares (WLS) node centers, which are low-degree polynomial representations of the anisotropic exitant radiance. During rendering, the representations are combined in a non-linear fashion to generate a full reconstruction of the exitant radiance. The rendering algorithm is fast, efficient, and implemented entirely on the GPU. The construction algorithm is incremental, which means that images are processed as they arrive instead of in the traditional batch fashion. This human-in-the-loop process enables the user to preview the model as it is being constructed and to adapt to over-sampling and under-sampling of the surface appearance.

Incremental Ontology-Based Extraction and Alignment in Semi-structured Documents

Science.gov (United States)

Thiam, Mouhamadou; Bennacer, Nacéra; Pernelle, Nathalie; Lô, Moussa

SHIRIis an ontology-based system for integration of semi-structured documents related to a specific domain. The system’s purpose is to allow users to access to relevant parts of documents as answers to their queries. SHIRI uses RDF/OWL for representation of resources and SPARQL for their querying. It relies on an automatic, unsupervised and ontology-driven approach for extraction, alignment and semantic annotation of tagged elements of documents. In this paper, we focus on the Extract-Align algorithm which exploits a set of named entity and term patterns to extract term candidates to be aligned with the ontology. It proceeds in an incremental manner in order to populate the ontology with terms describing instances of the domain and to reduce the access to extern resources such as Web. We experiment it on a HTML corpus related to call for papers in computer science and the results that we obtain are very promising. These results show how the incremental behaviour of Extract-Align algorithm enriches the ontology and the number of terms (or named entities) aligned directly with the ontology increases.

Validation Techniques of network harmonic models based on switching of a series linear component and measuring resultant harmonic increments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wiechowski, Wojciech Tomasz; Lykkegaard, Jan; Bak, Claus Leth

2007-01-01

In this paper two methods of validation of transmission network harmonic models are introduced. The methods were developed as a result of the work presented in [1]. The first method allows calculating the transfer harmonic impedance between two nodes of a network. Switching a linear, series network......, as for example a transmission line. Both methods require that harmonic measurements performed at two ends of the disconnected element are precisely synchronized....... are used for calculation of the transfer harmonic impedance between the nodes. The determined transfer harmonic impedance can be used to validate a computer model of the network. The second method is an extension of the fist one. It allows switching a series element that contains a shunt branch...

Lines of Evidence–Incremental Markings in Molar Enamel of Soay Sheep as Revealed by a Fluorochrome Labeling and Backscattered Electron Imaging Study

Science.gov (United States)

Kierdorf, Horst; Kierdorf, Uwe; Frölich, Kai; Witzel, Carsten

2013-01-01

We studied the structural characteristics and periodicities of regular incremental markings in sheep enamel using fluorochrome injections for vital labeling of forming enamel and backscattered electron imaging in the scanning electron microscope. Microscopic analysis of mandibular first molars revealed the presence of incremental markings with a daily periodicity (laminations) that indicated successive positions of the forming front of interprismatic enamel. In addition to the laminations, incremental markings with a sub-daily periodicity were discernible both in interprismatic enamel and in enamel prisms. Five sub-daily increments were present between two consecutive laminations. Backscattered electron imaging revealed that each sub-daily growth increment consisted of a broader and more highly mineralized band and a narrower and less mineralized band (line). The sub-daily markings in the prisms of sheep enamel morphologically resembled the (daily) prisms cross striations seen in primate enamel. Incremental markings with a supra-daily periodicity were not observed in sheep enamel. Based on the periodicity of the incremental markings, maximum mean daily apposition rates of 17.0 µm in buccal enamel and of 13.4 µm in lingual enamel were recorded. Enamel extension rates were also high, with maximum means of 180 µm/day and 217 µm/day in upper crown areas of buccal and lingual enamel, respectively. Values in more cervical crown portions were markedly lower. Our results are in accordance with previous findings in other ungulate species. Using the incremental markings present in primate enamel as a reference could result in a misinterpretation of the incremental markings in ungulate enamel. Thus, the sub-daily growth increments in the prisms of ungulate enamel might be mistaken as prism cross striations with a daily periodicity, and the laminations misidentified as striae of Retzius with a supra-daily periodicity. This would lead to a considerable overestimation of

A parallel ILP algorithm that incorporates incremental batch learning

OpenAIRE

Nuno Fonseca; Rui Camacho; Fernado Silva

2003-01-01

In this paper we tackle the problems of eciency and scala-bility faced by Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) systems. We proposethe use of parallelism to improve eciency and the use of an incrementalbatch learning to address the scalability problem. We describe a novelparallel algorithm that incorporates into ILP the method of incremen-tal batch learning. The theoretical complexity of the algorithm indicatesthat a linear speedup can be achieved.

Development, Demonstration and Validation of the Deep Space Orbit Determination Software Using Lunar Prospector Tracking Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eunji Lee

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The deep space orbit determination software (DSODS is a part of a flight dynamic subsystem (FDS for the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO, a lunar exploration mission expected to launch after 2018. The DSODS consists of several sub modules, of which the orbit determination (OD module employs a weighted least squares algorithm for estimating the parameters related to the motion and the tracking system of the spacecraft, and subroutines for performance improvement and detailed analysis of the orbit solution. In this research, DSODS is demonstrated and validated at lunar orbit at an altitude of 100 km using actual Lunar Prospector tracking data. A set of a priori states are generated, and the robustness of DSODS to the a priori error is confirmed by the NASA planetary data system (PDS orbit solutions. Furthermore, the accuracy of the orbit solutions is determined by solution comparison and overlap analysis as about tens of meters. Through these analyses, the ability of the DSODS to provide proper orbit solutions for the KPLO are proved.

A concise, content valid, gender invariant measure of workplace incivility.

Science.gov (United States)

Matthews, Russell A; Ritter, Kelsey-Jo

2016-07-01

The authors present a short, valid, gender invariant measure of workplace incivility that should have a high degree of utility in a variety of research designs, especially those concerned with reducing participant burden such as experience sampling and multiwave longitudinal designs. Given ongoing concerns about the psychometric properties of workplace mistreatment constructs, they validated a 4-item measure of experienced incivility based on series of 3 independent field studies (N = 2,636). In addition to retaining items on the basis of employee rated conceptual alignment (i.e., judgmental criteria) with a standard incivility definition (i.e., ambiguous intent to harm), items were also chosen based on external criteria in terms of their ability to explain incremental variance in outcomes of interest (e.g., role overload, interpersonal deviance). Items with large systematic relationships with other mistreatment constructs (i.e., abusive supervision, supervisor undermining) were excluded. In turn, the authors demonstrated that the 4-item measure is gender invariant, a critical issue that has received limited attention in the literature to date. They also experimentally investigated the effect of recall window (2 weeks, 1 month, 1 year) and found a differential pattern of effect sizes for various outcomes of interest. A fourth independent field study was conducted as a practical application of the measure within a longitudinal framework. An autoregressive model examining experienced incivility and counterproductive work behaviors was tested. Data was collected from a sample of 278 respondents at 3 time points with 1 month between assessments. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A contextual approach to social skills assessment in the peer group: who is the best judge?

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Kyongboon; Kim, Elizabeth Moorman; Sheridan, Susan M

2012-09-01

Using a contextual approach to social skills assessment in the peer group, this study examined the criterion-related validity of contextually relevant social skills and the incremental validity of peers and teachers as judges of children's social skills. Study participants included 342 (180 male and 162 female) students and their classroom teachers (N = 22) from rural communities. As expected, contextually relevant social skills were significantly related to a variety of social status indicators (i.e., likability, peer- and teacher-assessed popularity, reciprocated friendships, clique centrality) and positive school functioning (i.e., school liking and academic competence). Peer-assessed social skills, not teacher-assessed social skills, demonstrated consistent incremental validity in predicting various indicators of social status outcomes; peer- and teacher-assessed social skills alike showed incremental validity in predicting positive school functioning. The relation between contextually relevant social skills and study outcomes did not vary by child gender. Findings are discussed in terms of the significance of peers in the assessment of children's social skills in the peer group as well as the usefulness of a contextual approach to social skills assessment.

An Empirical Analysis of Incremental Capital Structure Decisions Under Managerial Entrenchment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, A.; Veld, C.H.

1998-01-01

We study incremental capital structure decisions of Dutch companies. From 1977 to 1996 these companies have made 110 issues of public and private seasoned equity and 137 public issues of straight debt. Managers of Dutch companies are entrenched. For this reason a discrepancy exists between

The effects of the pine processionary moth on the increment of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

STORAGESEVER

2009-05-18

May 18, 2009 ... sycophanta L. (Coleoptera: Carabidae) used against the pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa Den. & Schiff.) (Lepidoptera: Thaumetopoeidae) in biological control. T. J. Zool. 30:181-185. Kanat M, Sivrikaya F (2005). Effect of the pine processionary moth on diameter increment of Calabrian ...

Substructuring in the implicit simulation of single point incremental sheet forming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hadoush, A.; van den Boogaard, Antonius H.

2009-01-01

This paper presents a direct substructuring method to reduce the computing time of implicit simulations of single point incremental forming (SPIF). Substructuring is used to divide the finite element (FE) mesh into several non-overlapping parts. Based on the hypothesis that plastic deformation is

The scope of application of incremental rapid prototyping methods in foundry engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Stankiewicz

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents the scope of application of selected incremental Rapid Prototyping methods in the process of manufacturing casting models, casting moulds and casts. The Rapid Prototyping methods (SL, SLA, FDM, 3DP, JS are predominantly used for the production of models and model sets for casting moulds. The Rapid Tooling methods, such as: ZCast-3DP, ProMetalRCT and VoxelJet, enable the fabrication of casting moulds in the incremental process. The application of the RP methods in cast production makes it possible to speed up the prototype preparation process. This is particularly vital to elements of complex shapes. The time required for the manufacture of the model, the mould and the cast proper may vary from a few to several dozen hours.

Incremental learning of concept drift in nonstationary environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Elwell, Ryan; Polikar, Robi

2011-10-01

We introduce an ensemble of classifiers-based approach for incremental learning of concept drift, characterized by nonstationary environments (NSEs), where the underlying data distributions change over time. The proposed algorithm, named Learn(++). NSE, learns from consecutive batches of data without making any assumptions on the nature or rate of drift; it can learn from such environments that experience constant or variable rate of drift, addition or deletion of concept classes, as well as cyclical drift. The algorithm learns incrementally, as other members of the Learn(++) family of algorithms, that is, without requiring access to previously seen data. Learn(++). NSE trains one new classifier for each batch of data it receives, and combines these classifiers using a dynamically weighted majority voting. The novelty of the approach is in determining the voting weights, based on each classifier's time-adjusted accuracy on current and past environments. This approach allows the algorithm to recognize, and act accordingly, to the changes in underlying data distributions, as well as to a possible reoccurrence of an earlier distribution. We evaluate the algorithm on several synthetic datasets designed to simulate a variety of nonstationary environments, as well as a real-world weather prediction dataset. Comparisons with several other approaches are also included. Results indicate that Learn(++). NSE can track the changing environments very closely, regardless of the type of concept drift. To allow future use, comparison and benchmarking by interested researchers, we also release our data used in this paper. © 2011 IEEE

Classifier-ensemble incremental-learning procedure for nuclear transient identification at different operational conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baraldi, Piero, E-mail: piero.baraldi@polimi.i [Dipartimento di Energia - Sezione Ingegneria Nucleare, Politecnico di Milano, via Ponzio 34/3, 20133 Milano (Italy); Razavi-Far, Roozbeh [Dipartimento di Energia - Sezione Ingegneria Nucleare, Politecnico di Milano, via Ponzio 34/3, 20133 Milano (Italy); Zio, Enrico [Dipartimento di Energia - Sezione Ingegneria Nucleare, Politecnico di Milano, via Ponzio 34/3, 20133 Milano (Italy); Ecole Centrale Paris-Supelec, Paris (France)

2011-04-15

An important requirement for the practical implementation of empirical diagnostic systems is the capability of classifying transients in all plant operational conditions. The present paper proposes an approach based on an ensemble of classifiers for incrementally learning transients under different operational conditions. New classifiers are added to the ensemble where transients occurring in new operational conditions are not satisfactorily classified. The construction of the ensemble is made by bagging; the base classifier is a supervised Fuzzy C Means (FCM) classifier whose outcomes are combined by majority voting. The incremental learning procedure is applied to the identification of simulated transients in the feedwater system of a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) under different reactor power levels.

Classifier-ensemble incremental-learning procedure for nuclear transient identification at different operational conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baraldi, Piero; Razavi-Far, Roozbeh; Zio, Enrico

2011-01-01

An important requirement for the practical implementation of empirical diagnostic systems is the capability of classifying transients in all plant operational conditions. The present paper proposes an approach based on an ensemble of classifiers for incrementally learning transients under different operational conditions. New classifiers are added to the ensemble where transients occurring in new operational conditions are not satisfactorily classified. The construction of the ensemble is made by bagging; the base classifier is a supervised Fuzzy C Means (FCM) classifier whose outcomes are combined by majority voting. The incremental learning procedure is applied to the identification of simulated transients in the feedwater system of a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) under different reactor power levels.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Managing Radical and Incremental Creativity

Science.gov (United States)

Gilson, Lucy L.; Lim, Hyoun Sook; D'Innocenzo, Lauren; Moye, Neta

2012-01-01

This research extends creativity theory by re-conceptualizing creativity as a two-dimensional construct (radical and incremental) and examining the differential effects of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic rewards, and supportive supervision on perceptions of creativity. We hypothesize and find two distinct types of creativity that are associated…

The intermetallic ThRh5: microstructure and enthalpy increments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banerjee, Aparna; Joshi, A.R.; Kaity, Santu; Mishra, R.; Roy, S.B.

2013-01-01

Actinide intermetallics are one of the most interesting and important series of compounds. Thermochemistry of these compounds play significant role in understand the nature of bonding in alloys and nuclear fuel performance. In the present paper we report synthesis and characterization of thorium based intermetallic compound ThRh 5 (s) by SEM/EDX technique. The mechanical properties and enthalpy increment as a function of temperature of the alloy has been measured. (author)

Efficient Incremental Garbage Collection for Workstation/Server Database Systems

OpenAIRE

Amsaleg , Laurent; Gruber , Olivier; Franklin , Michael

1994-01-01

Projet RODIN; We describe an efficient server-based algorithm for garbage collecting object-oriented databases in a workstation/server environment. The algorithm is incremental and runs concurrently with client transactions, however, it does not hold any locks on data and does not require callbacks to clients. It is fault tolerant, but performs very little logging. The algorithm has been designed to be integrated into existing OODB systems, and therefore it works with standard implementation ...

Design of Incremental Conductance Sliding Mode MPPT Control Applied by Integrated Photovoltaic and Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell System under Various Operating Conditions for BLDC Motor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jehun Hahm

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes an integrated photovoltaic (PV and proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC system for continuous energy harvesting under various operating conditions for use with a brushless DC motor. The proposed scheme is based on the incremental conductance (IncCond algorithm combined with the sliding mode technique. Under changing atmospheric conditions, the energy conversion efficiency of a PV array is very low, leading to significant power losses. Consequently, increasing efficiency by means of maximum power point tracking (MPPT is particularly important. To manage such a hybrid system, control strategies need to be established to achieve the aim of the distributed system. Firstly, a Matlab/Simulink based model of the PV and PEMFC is developed and validated, as well as the incremental conductance sliding (ICS MPPT technique; then, different MPPT algorithms are employed to control the PV array under nonuniform temperature and insolation conditions, to study these algorithms effectiveness under various operating conditions. Conventional techniques are easy to implement but produce oscillations at MPP. Compared to these techniques, the proposed technique is more efficient; it produces less oscillation at MPP in the steady state and provides more precise tracking.

Validation of morphing wing methodologies on an unmanned aerial system and a wind tunnel technology demonstrator

Science.gov (United States)

Gabor, Oliviu Sugar

To increase the aerodynamic efficiency of aircraft, in order to reduce the fuel consumption, a novel morphing wing concept has been developed. It consists in replacing a part of the wing upper and lower surfaces with a flexible skin whose shape can be modified using an actuation system placed inside the wing structure. Numerical studies in two and three dimensions were performed in order to determine the gains the morphing system achieves for the case of an Unmanned Aerial System and for a morphing technology demonstrator based on the wing tip of a transport aircraft. To obtain the optimal wing skin shapes in function of the flight condition, different global optimization algorithms were implemented, such as the Genetic Algorithm and the Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm. To reduce calculation times, a hybrid method was created by coupling the population-based algorithm with a fast, gradient-based local search method. Validations were performed with commercial state-of-the-art optimization tools and demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed methods. For accurately determining the aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing, two new methods were developed, a nonlinear lifting line method and a nonlinear vortex lattice method. Both use strip analysis of the span-wise wing section to account for the airfoil shape modifications induced by the flexible skin, and can provide accurate results for the wing drag coefficient. The methods do not require the generation of a complex mesh around the wing and are suitable for coupling with optimization algorithms due to the computational time several orders of magnitude smaller than traditional three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics methods. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional optimizations of the Unmanned Aerial System wing equipped with the morphing skin were performed, with the objective of improving its performances for an extended range of flight conditions. The chordwise positions of the internal actuators

Predictive validity of the Biomedical Admissions Test: an evaluation and case study.

Science.gov (United States)

McManus, I C; Ferguson, Eamonn; Wakeford, Richard; Powis, David; James, David

2011-01-01

There has been an increase in the use of pre-admission selection tests for medicine. Such tests need to show good psychometric properties. Here, we use a paper by Emery and Bell [2009. The predictive validity of the Biomedical Admissions Test for pre-clinical examination performance. Med Educ 43:557-564] as a case study to evaluate and comment on the reporting of psychometric data in the field of medical student selection (and the comments apply to many papers in the field). We highlight pitfalls when reliability data are not presented, how simple zero-order associations can lead to inaccurate conclusions about the predictive validity of a test, and how biases need to be explored and reported. We show with BMAT that it is the knowledge part of the test which does all the predictive work. We show that without evidence of incremental validity it is difficult to assess the value of any selection tests for medicine.

Dynamic modeling and experimental validation for direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process

KAUST Repository

Eleiwi, Fadi

2016-02-01

This work proposes a mathematical dynamic model for the direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process. The model is based on a 2D Advection–Diffusion Equation (ADE), which describes the heat and mass transfer mechanisms that take place inside the DCMD module. The model studies the behavior of the process in the time varying and the steady state phases, contributing to understanding the process performance, especially when it is driven by intermittent energy supply, such as the solar energy. The model is experimentally validated in the steady state phase, where the permeate flux is measured for different feed inlet temperatures and the maximum absolute error recorded is 2.78 °C. Moreover, experimental validation includes the time variation phase, where the feed inlet temperature ranges from 30 °C to 75 °C with 0.1 °C increment every 2min. The validation marks relative error to be less than 5%, which leads to a strong correlation between the model predictions and the experiments.

Dynamic modeling and experimental validation for direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process

KAUST Repository

Eleiwi, Fadi; Ghaffour, NorEddine; Alsaadi, Ahmad Salem; Francis, Lijo; Laleg-Kirati, Taous-Meriem

2016-01-01

This work proposes a mathematical dynamic model for the direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process. The model is based on a 2D Advection–Diffusion Equation (ADE), which describes the heat and mass transfer mechanisms that take place inside the DCMD module. The model studies the behavior of the process in the time varying and the steady state phases, contributing to understanding the process performance, especially when it is driven by intermittent energy supply, such as the solar energy. The model is experimentally validated in the steady state phase, where the permeate flux is measured for different feed inlet temperatures and the maximum absolute error recorded is 2.78 °C. Moreover, experimental validation includes the time variation phase, where the feed inlet temperature ranges from 30 °C to 75 °C with 0.1 °C increment every 2min. The validation marks relative error to be less than 5%, which leads to a strong correlation between the model predictions and the experiments.

An incremental DPMM-based method for trajectory clustering, modeling, and retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Weiming; Li, Xi; Tian, Guodong; Maybank, Stephen; Zhang, Zhongfei

2013-05-01

Trajectory analysis is the basis for many applications, such as indexing of motion events in videos, activity recognition, and surveillance. In this paper, the Dirichlet process mixture model (DPMM) is applied to trajectory clustering, modeling, and retrieval. We propose an incremental version of a DPMM-based clustering algorithm and apply it to cluster trajectories. An appropriate number of trajectory clusters is determined automatically. When trajectories belonging to new clusters arrive, the new clusters can be identified online and added to the model without any retraining using the previous data. A time-sensitive Dirichlet process mixture model (tDPMM) is applied to each trajectory cluster for learning the trajectory pattern which represents the time-series characteristics of the trajectories in the cluster. Then, a parameterized index is constructed for each cluster. A novel likelihood estimation algorithm for the tDPMM is proposed, and a trajectory-based video retrieval model is developed. The tDPMM-based probabilistic matching method and the DPMM-based model growing method are combined to make the retrieval model scalable and adaptable. Experimental comparisons with state-of-the-art algorithms demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm.

The Validation of the Mixedwood Growth Model (MGM for Use in Forest Management Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mike Bokalo

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We evaluated the Mixedwood Growth Model (MGM at a whole model scale for pure and mixed species stands of aspen and white spruce in the western boreal forest. MGM is an individual tree-based, distance-independent growth model, designed to evaluate growth and yield implications relating to the management of white spruce, black spruce, aspen, lodgepole pine, and mixedwood stands in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Our validation compared stand-level model predictions against re-measured data (volume, basal area, diameter at breast height (DBH, average and top height and density from permanent sample plots using combined analysis of residual plots, bias statistics, efficiency and an innovative application of the equivalence test. For state variables, the model effectively simulated juvenile and mature stages of stand development for both pure and mixed species stands of aspen and white spruce in Alberta. MGM overestimates increment in older stands likely due to age-related pathology and weather-related stand damage. We identified underestimates of deciduous density and volume in Saskatchewan. MGM performs well for increment in postharvest stands less than 30 years of age. These results illustrate the comprehensive application of validation metrics to evaluate a complex model, and provide support for the use of MGM in management planning.

Development and validation of makeup and sexualized clothing questionnaires.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Haylie; Perez, Marisol; Sladek, Michael R; Becker, Carolyn Black; Ohrt, Tara K; Bruening, Amanda B

2017-01-01

Body acceptance programs on college campuses indicated that collegiate women often report feeling pressure to dress in a sexualized manner, and use makeup to enhance beauty. Currently, no quantitative measures exist to assess attitudes and daily behaviors that may arise in response to perceived pressure to wear makeup or dress in a provocative manner. The goal of the current studies was to develop brief self-report questionnaires aimed at assessing makeup and sexualized clothing use and attitudes in young women. An exploratory factor analysis in a sample of 403 undergraduate women was used in Study 1 to create items to measure the pressure women feel to wear makeup and sexualized clothing. A confirmatory factor analysis ( N  = 153) was used in Study 2 to confirm the factor structure found in Study 1. An incremental validity analysis was also conducted in Study 2. Across both studies, participants completed online questionnaires. In Study 1, items were developed for two questionnaires to assess perceived pressure to wear makeup and discomfort when not wearing makeup, and perceived pressure to wear sexualized clothing, and body image concerns with regards to sexualized clothing. The exploratory factor analyses revealed Unconfident and Unease scales for the Makeup Questionnaire (MUQ) and Body Dissatisfaction and Pressure scales for the Sexualized Clothing Questionnaire (SCQ). In Study 2, the confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the factor structure for the MUQ and SCQ. The incremental validity analysis revealed that these measures can be used to predict self-objectification and shape and weight concern in women. These studies provide preliminary support for the factor structure of two novel questionnaires aimed at assessing perceived pressure to wear makeup and sexualized clothing.

An Environment for Incremental Development of Distributed Extensible Asynchronous Real-time Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ames, Charles K.; Burleigh, Scott; Briggs, Hugh C.; Auernheimer, Brent

1996-01-01

Incremental parallel development of distributed real-time systems is difficult. Architectural techniques and software tools developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL's) Flight System Testbed make feasible the integration of complex systems in various stages of development.

Incremental growth of therizinosaurian dental tissues: implications for dietary transitions in Theropoda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khai Button

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Previous investigations document functional and phylogenetic signals in the histology of dinosaur teeth. In particular, incremental lines in dentin have been used to determine tooth growth and replacement rates in several dinosaurian clades. However, to date, few studies have investigated the dental microstructure of theropods in the omnivory/herbivory spectrum. Here we examine dental histology of Therizinosauria, a clade of large-bodied theropods bearing significant morphological evidence for herbivory, by examining the teeth of the early-diverging therizinosaurian Falcarius utahensis, and an isolated tooth referred to Suzhousaurus megatherioides, a highly specialized large-bodied representative. Despite attaining some of the largest body masses among maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs, therizinosaurian teeth are diminutive, measuring no more than 0.90 cm in crown height (CH and 0.38 cm in crown base length (CBL. Comparisons with other theropods and non-theropodan herbivorous dinosaurs reveals that when controlling for estimated body mass, crown volume in therizinosaurians plots most closely with dinosaurs of similar dietary strategy as opposed to phylogenetic heritage. Analysis of incremental growth lines in dentin, observed in thin sections of therizinosaurian teeth, demonstrates that tooth growth rates fall within the range of other archosaurs, conforming to hypothesized physiological limitations on the production of dental tissues. Despite dietary differences between therizinosaurians and hypercarnivorous theropods, the types of enamel crystallites present and their spatial distribution—i.e., the schmelzmuster of both taxa—is limited to parallel enamel crystallites, the simplest form of enamel and the plesiomorphic condition for Theropoda. This finding supports previous hypotheses that dental microstructure is strongly influenced by phylogeny, yet equally supports suggestions of reduced reliance on oral processing in omnivorous

A gradient surface produced by combined electroplating and incremental frictional sliding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yu, Tianbo; Hong, Chuanshi; Kitamura, K.

2017-01-01

A Cu plate was first electroplated with a Ni layer, with a thickness controlled to be between 1 and 2 mu m. The coated surface was then deformed by incremental frictional sliding with liquid nitrogen cooling. The combined treatment led to a multifunctional surface with a gradient in strain...

The more you learn, the less you store : Memory-controlled incremental SVM for visual place recognition

OpenAIRE

Pronobis, Andrzej; Jie, Luo; Caputo, Barbara

2010-01-01

The capability to learn from experience is a key property for autonomous cognitive systems working in realistic settings. To this end, this paper presents an SVM-based algorithm, capable of learning model representations incrementally while keeping under control memory requirements. We combine an incremental extension of SVMs [43] with a method reducing the number of support vectors needed to build the decision function without any loss in performance [15] introducing a parameter which permit...

Development and validation of the Emotional Self-Awareness Questionnaire: a measure of emotional intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Killian, Kyle D

2012-07-01

This study examined the psychometric characteristics of the Emotional Self-Awareness Questionnaire (ESQ), a self-report measure of emotional intelligence. The ESQ, Emotional Intelligence Scale, and measures of alexithymia, positive negative affect, personality, cognitive ability, life satisfaction, and leadership aspirations were administered to 1,406 undergraduate psychology students. The ESQ was reduced from 118 to 60 items via factor and reliability analyses, retaining 11 subscales and a normal score distribution with a reliability of .92. The ESQ had significant positive correlations with the Emotional Intelligence Test and positive affect, significant negative correlations with alexithymia and negative affect, and an insignificant correlation with cognitive ability. The ESQ accounted for 35% of the variance in life satisfaction over and above the Big Five, cognitive ability, and self-esteem, and demonstrated incremental validity in explaining GPA and leadership aspirations. The significance of emotional intelligence as a unique contributor to psychological well-being and performance, and applications for the ESQ in assessment and outcome research in couple and family therapy are discussed. © 2011 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Incremental health care utilization and costs for acute otitis media in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Sameer; Shapiro, Nina L; Bhattacharyya, Neil

2014-01-01

Determine the incremental health care costs associated with the diagnosis and treatment of acute otitis media (AOM) in children. Cross-sectional analysis of a national health-care cost database. Pediatric patients (age children with and without a diagnosis of AOM, adjusting for age, sex, region, race, ethnicity, insurance coverage, and Charlson comorbidity Index. A total of 8.7 ± 0.4 million children were diagnosed with AOM (10.7 ± 0.4% annually, mean age 5.3 years, 51.3% male) among 81.5 ± 2.3 million children sampled (mean age 8.9 years, 51.3% male). Children with AOM manifested an additional +2.0 office visits, +0.2 emergency department visits, and +1.6 prescription fills (all P <0.001) per year versus those without AOM, adjusting for demographics and medical comorbidities. Similarly, AOM was associated with an incremental increase in outpatient health care costs of $314 per child annually (P <0.001) and an increase of $17 in patient medication costs (P <0.001), but was not associated with an increase in total prescription expenses ($13, P = 0.766). The diagnosis of AOM confers a significant incremental health-care utilization burden on both patients and the health care system. With its high prevalence across the United States, pediatric AOM accounts for approximately $2.88 billion in added health care expense annually and is a significant health-care utilization concern. © 2013 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Predicting Relapse among Young Adults: Psychometric Validation of the Advanced Warning of Relapse (AWARE) Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, John F.; Hoeppner, Bettina B.; Urbanoski, Karen A.; Slaymaker, Valerie

2011-01-01

Objective Failure to maintain abstinence despite incurring severe harm is perhaps the key defining feature of addiction. Relapse prevention strategies have been developed to attenuate this propensity to relapse, but predicting who will, and who will not, relapse has stymied attempts to more efficiently tailor treatments according to relapse risk profile. Here we examine the psychometric properties of a promising relapse risk measure - the Advance WArning of RElapse scale (AWARE) scale (Miller and Harris, 2000) in an understudied but clinically important sample of young adults. Method Inpatient youth (N=303; Age 18-24; 26% female) completed the AWARE scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI) at the end of residential treatment, and at 1-, 3-, and 6-months following discharge. Internal and convergent validity was tested for each of these four timepoints using confirmatory factor analysis and correlations (with BSI scores). Predictive validity was tested for relapse 1, 3, and 6 months following discharge, as was incremental utility, where AWARE scores were used as predictors of any substance use while controlling for treatment entry substance use severity and having spent time in a controlled environment following treatment. Results Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a single, internally consistent, 25-item factor that demonstrated convergent validity and predicted subsequent relapse alone and when controlling for other important relapse risk predictors. Conclusions The AWARE scale may be a useful and efficient clinical tool for assessing short-term relapse risk among young people and, thus, could serve to enhance the effectiveness of relapse prevention efforts. PMID:21700396

Predicting relapse among young adults: psychometric validation of the Advanced WArning of RElapse (AWARE) scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, John F; Hoeppner, Bettina B; Urbanoski, Karen A; Slaymaker, Valerie

2011-10-01

Failure to maintain abstinence despite incurring severe harm is perhaps the key defining feature of addiction. Relapse prevention strategies have been developed to attenuate this propensity to relapse, but predicting who will, and who will not, relapse has stymied attempts to more efficiently tailor treatments according to relapse risk profile. Here we examine the psychometric properties of a promising relapse risk measure-the Advance WArning of RElapse (AWARE) scale (Miller & Harris, 2000) in an understudied but clinically important sample of young adults. Inpatient youth (N=303; Ages 18-24; 26% female) completed the AWARE scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI) at the end of residential treatment, and at 1-, 3-, and 6-months following discharge. Internal and convergent validity was tested for each of these four timepoints using confirmatory factor analysis and correlations (with BSI scores). Predictive validity was tested for relapse 1, 3, and 6 months following discharge, as was incremental utility, where AWARE scores were used as predictors of any substance use while controlling for treatment entry substance use severity and having spent time in a controlled environment following treatment. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a single, internally consistent, 25-item factor that demonstrated convergent validity and predicted subsequent relapse alone and when controlling for other important relapse risk predictors. The AWARE scale may be a useful and efficient clinical tool for assessing short-term relapse risk among young people and, thus, could serve to enhance the effectiveness of relapse prevention efforts. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Robust flight control using incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion and angular acceleration prediction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sieberling, S.; Chu, Q.P.; Mulder, J.A.

2010-01-01

This paper presents a flight control strategy based on nonlinear dynamic inversion. The approach presented, called incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion, uses properties of general mechanical systems and nonlinear dynamic inversion by feeding back angular accelerations. Theoretically, feedback of

On the search for an appropriate metric for reaction time to suprathreshold increments and decrements.

Science.gov (United States)

Vassilev, Angel; Murzac, Adrian; Zlatkova, Margarita B; Anderson, Roger S

2009-03-01

Weber contrast, DeltaL/L, is a widely used contrast metric for aperiodic stimuli. Zele, Cao & Pokorny [Zele, A. J., Cao, D., & Pokorny, J. (2007). Threshold units: A correct metric for reaction time? Vision Research, 47, 608-611] found that neither Weber contrast nor its transform to detection-threshold units equates human reaction times in response to luminance increments and decrements under selective rod stimulation. Here we show that their rod reaction times are equated when plotted against the spatial luminance ratio between the stimulus and its background (L(max)/L(min), the larger and smaller of background and stimulus luminances). Similarly, reaction times to parafoveal S-cone selective increments and decrements from our previous studies [Murzac, A. (2004). A comparative study of the temporal characteristics of processing of S-cone incremental and decremental signals. PhD thesis, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Murzac, A., & Vassilev, A. (2004). Reaction time to S-cone increments and decrements. In: 7th European conference on visual perception, Budapest, August 22-26. Perception, 33, 180 (Abstract).], are better described by the spatial luminance ratio than by Weber contrast. We assume that the type of stimulus detection by temporal (successive) luminance discrimination, by spatial (simultaneous) luminance discrimination or by both [Sperling, G., & Sondhi, M. M. (1968). Model for visual luminance discrimination and flicker detection. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 58, 1133-1145.] determines the appropriateness of one or other contrast metric for reaction time.

Validation of DRAGON code in connection with WIMS-AECL/RFSP code system based on ENDF/B-VI library and two group model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, In Seob; Suk, Ho Chun; Kim, Soon Young; Jo, Chang Keun

2002-06-01

The major objective of this research is to validate the incremental cross section property of DRAGON code in connection with WIMS-AECL/DRAGON/RFSP code system with ENDF/B-VI library and full 2G calculation model. The direct comparison between the incremental cross section results calculated by DRAGON with ENDF/B-VI and ENDF/B-V and MULTICELL with ENDF/B-V indicate that there are not much differences between the incremental cross sections of DRAGON with ENDF/B-V and ENDF/B-VI, but there exists large discrepancies between the results of DRAGON and those of MULTICELL. In the analysis of the difference between calculated and measured reactivity worths of various types of control devices during Phase-B Post-Simulation of Wolsong Units 2, 3 and 4, WIMS-AECL/DRAGON/RFSP analysis well agrees with those of previous WIMS-AECL /MULTICELL/RFSP analysis within very small differences. From those results, we can conclude that DRAGON code can be used as a general purpose incremental cross section generation tool for not only the natural uranium fuel but also slightly enriched fuel such as RU or SEU, to cover the shortcomings of natural uranium based MULTICELL code

Status of the Visible Nulling Coronagraph Technology Demonstration Program

Science.gov (United States)

Clampin, M.; Lyon, R.

2012-01-01

We report on the development, sensing and control of the Vacuum Nuller Testbed to realize a Visible Nulling Coronagraphy (VNC) for exoplanet detection and characterization. The VNC is one of the few approaches that works with filled, segmented and sparse or diluted-aperture telescope systems. It thus spans a range of potential future NASA telescopes and could be flown as a separate instrument on such a future mission. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center has an established effort to develop VNC technologies, and an incremental sequence of testbeds to advance this approach and its critical technologies. We will highlight results demonstrating the achievement of our TDEM contrast milestones, and highlight the performance of our wavefront sensing and control concept.

A power-driven increment borer for sampling high-density tropical wood

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Krottenthaler, S.; Pitsch, P.; Helle, G.; Locosselli, G. M.; Ceccantini, G.; Altman, Jan; Svoboda, M.; Doležal, Jiří; Schleser, G.; Anhuf, D.

2015-01-01

Roč. 36, November (2015), s. 40-44 ISSN 1125-7865 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP504/12/1952; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-12262S Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : tropical dendrochronology * tree sampling methods * increment cores Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 2.107, year: 2015

Scalability of a Methodology for Generating Technical Trading Rules with GAPs Based on Risk-Return Adjustment and Incremental Training

Science.gov (United States)

de La Cal, E. A.; Fernández, E. M.; Quiroga, R.; Villar, J. R.; Sedano, J.

In previous works a methodology was defined, based on the design of a genetic algorithm GAP and an incremental training technique adapted to the learning of series of stock market values. The GAP technique consists in a fusion of GP and GA. The GAP algorithm implements the automatic search for crisp trading rules taking as objectives of the training both the optimization of the return obtained and the minimization of the assumed risk. Applying the proposed methodology, rules have been obtained for a period of eight years of the S&P500 index. The achieved adjustment of the relation return-risk has generated rules with returns very superior in the testing period to those obtained applying habitual methodologies and even clearly superior to Buy&Hold. This work probes that the proposed methodology is valid for different assets in a different market than previous work.

Applying CLSM to increment core surfaces for histometric analyses: A novel advance in quantitative wood anatomy

OpenAIRE

Wei Liang; Ingo Heinrich; Gerhard Helle; I. Dorado Liñán; T. Heinken

2013-01-01

A novel procedure has been developed to conduct cell structure measurements on increment core samples of conifers. The procedure combines readily available hardware and software equipment. The essential part of the procedure is the application of a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) which captures images directly from increment cores surfaced with the advanced WSL core-microtome. Cell wall and lumen are displayed with a strong contrast due to the monochrome black and green nature of th...

Just-in-Time Technology to Encourage Incremental, Dietary Behavior Change

OpenAIRE

Intille, Stephen S.; Kukla, Charles; Farzanfar, Ramesh; Bakr, Waseem

2003-01-01

Our multi-disciplinary team is developing mobile computing software that uses “just-in-time” presentation of information to motivate behavior change. Using a participatory design process, preliminary interviews have helped us to establish 10 design goals. We have employed some to create a prototype of a tool that encourages better dietary decision making through incremental, just-in-time motivation at the point of purchase.

Just-in-Time Technology to Encourage Incremental, Dietary Behavior Change

Science.gov (United States)

Intille, Stephen S.; Kukla, Charles; Farzanfar, Ramesh; Bakr, Waseem

2003-01-01

Our multi-disciplinary team is developing mobile computing software that uses “just-in-time” presentation of information to motivate behavior change. Using a participatory design process, preliminary interviews have helped us to establish 10 design goals. We have employed some to create a prototype of a tool that encourages better dietary decision making through incremental, just-in-time motivation at the point of purchase. PMID:14728379

Measuring Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation: The Emotion Regulation Profile-Revised (ERP-R

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delphine Nelis

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this study was to validate a new instrument aimed to assess emotion regulation: the Emotion Regulation Profile-Revised (ERP-R. Exploratory factor analyses yielded two theoretically meaningful factors: down-regulation of negative emotions and up-regulation of positive emotions. Internal reliability scores of the two factors were good. Findings showed evidence of convergent/discriminant validity, with ERP-R scores being independent of non verbal reasoning and verbal skills while positively related to emotional intelligence and to relevant personality dimensions. There was also preliminary evidence of criterion validity. ERP-R scores also demonstrated incremental validity to predict a number of criteria over and above emotional intelligence and emotional stability. Overall, the results show a clear 2 factors solution for the ERP-R and high correlations with convergent and divergent scales as well as good criterion and incremental validities.

Incremental support vector machines for fast reliable image recognition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Makili, L.; Vega, J.; Dormido-Canto, S.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► A conformal predictor using SVM as the underlying algorithm was implemented. ► It was applied to image recognition in the TJ–II's Thomson Scattering Diagnostic. ► To improve time efficiency an approach to incremental SVM training has been used. ► Accuracy is similar to the one reached when standard SVM is used. ► Computational time saving is significant for large training sets. -- Abstract: This paper addresses the reliable classification of images in a 5-class problem. To this end, an automatic recognition system, based on conformal predictors and using Support Vector Machines (SVM) as the underlying algorithm has been developed and applied to the recognition of images in the Thomson Scattering Diagnostic of the TJ–II fusion device. Using such conformal predictor based classifier is a computationally intensive task since it implies to train several SVM models to classify a single example and to perform this training from scratch takes a significant amount of time. In order to improve the classification time efficiency, an approach to the incremental training of SVM has been used as the underlying algorithm. Experimental results show that the overall performance of the new classifier is high, comparable to the one corresponding to the use of standard SVM as the underlying algorithm and there is a significant improvement in time efficiency

Incremental support vector machines for fast reliable image recognition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Makili, L., E-mail: makili_le@yahoo.com [Instituto Superior Politécnico da Universidade Katyavala Bwila, Benguela (Angola); Vega, J. [Asociación EURATOM/CIEMAT para Fusión, Madrid (Spain); Dormido-Canto, S. [Dpto. Informática y Automática – UNED, Madrid (Spain)

2013-10-15

Highlights: ► A conformal predictor using SVM as the underlying algorithm was implemented. ► It was applied to image recognition in the TJ–II's Thomson Scattering Diagnostic. ► To improve time efficiency an approach to incremental SVM training has been used. ► Accuracy is similar to the one reached when standard SVM is used. ► Computational time saving is significant for large training sets. -- Abstract: This paper addresses the reliable classification of images in a 5-class problem. To this end, an automatic recognition system, based on conformal predictors and using Support Vector Machines (SVM) as the underlying algorithm has been developed and applied to the recognition of images in the Thomson Scattering Diagnostic of the TJ–II fusion device. Using such conformal predictor based classifier is a computationally intensive task since it implies to train several SVM models to classify a single example and to perform this training from scratch takes a significant amount of time. In order to improve the classification time efficiency, an approach to the incremental training of SVM has been used as the underlying algorithm. Experimental results show that the overall performance of the new classifier is high, comparable to the one corresponding to the use of standard SVM as the underlying algorithm and there is a significant improvement in time efficiency.

Mammography image quality and evidence based practice: Analysis of the demonstration of the inframammary angle in the digital setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Spuur, Kelly; Webb, Jodi; Poulos, Ann; Nielsen, Sharon; Robinson, Wayne

2018-03-01

The aim of this study is to determine the clinical rates of the demonstration of the inframammary angle (IMA) on the mediolateral oblique (MLO) view of the breast on digital mammograms and to compare the outcomes with current accreditation standards for compliance. Relationships between the IMA, age, the posterior nipple line (PNL) and compressed breast thickness will be identified and the study outcomes validated using appropriate analyses of inter-reader and inter-rater reliability and variability. Differences in left versus right data were also investigated. A quantitative retrospective study of 2270 randomly selected paired digital mammograms performed by BreastScreen NSW was undertaken. Data was collected by direct measurement and visual analysis. Intra-class correlation analyses were used to evaluate inter- and intra-rater reliability. The IMA was demonstrated on 52.4% of individual and 42.6% of paired mammograms. A linear relationship was found between the posterior nipple line (PNL) and age (p-value PNL was predicted to increase by 0.48 mm for every one year increment in age. The odds of demonstrating the IMA reduced by 2% for every one year increase in age (p-value = 0.001); are 0.4% higher for every 1 mm increase in PNL (p-value = 0.001) and 1.6% lower for every 1 mm increase in compressed breast thickness, (p-valuePNL while there was 100% agreement for the demonstration of the IMA. Analysis of the demonstration of the IMA indicates clinically achievable rates (42.6%) well below that required for compliance (50%-75%) to known worldwide accreditation standards for screening mammography. These standards should be aligned to the reported evidence base. Visualisation of the IMA is impacted negatively by increasing age and compressed breast thickness but positively by breast size (PNL). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development and Validation of the Sexual Contingent Self-Worth Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Glowacka, Maria; Rosen, Natalie O; Vannier, Sarah; MacLellan, Margaret C

2017-01-01

Sexual contingent self-worth (CSW) refers to self-worth that is dependent on maintaining a sexual relationship, and has not been studied previously. This novel construct may have implications for sexual, relationship, and psychological well-being, because it could affect the cognitions, affect, and behaviors of individuals in sexual relationships. The purpose of this study was to develop the Sexual Contingent Self-Worth Scale and examine its reliability and validity in community samples. Two separate online studies (N = 329 and N = 282) included men and women who were in committed, sexually active relationships. The Sexual CSW Scale was adapted from a validated measure of relationship CSW. In Study 1, participants completed the Sexual CSW Scale, whereas in Study 2, participants also responded to standardized measures of related constructs. In addition, participants completed the Sexual CSW Scale again two weeks later in Study 2. Factor analysis yielded two subscales: (a) sexual CSW dependent on positive sexual events in the relationship and (b) sexual CSW dependent on negative sexual events. Results indicated good construct validity, incremental validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability for the Sexual CSW Scale. This research contributes to the fields of both CSW and sexuality by introducing a novel domain of CSW.

DYNAMIC AND INCREMENTAL EXPLORATION STRATEGY IN FUSION ADAPTIVE RESONANCE THEORY FOR ONLINE REINFORCEMENT LEARNING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Budhitama Subagdja

2016-06-01

Full Text Available One of the fundamental challenges in reinforcement learning is to setup a proper balance between exploration and exploitation to obtain the maximum cummulative reward in the long run. Most protocols for exploration bound the overall values to a convergent level of performance. If new knowledge is inserted or the environment is suddenly changed, the issue becomes more intricate as the exploration must compromise the pre-existing knowledge. This paper presents a type of multi-channel adaptive resonance theory (ART neural network model called fusion ART which serves as a fuzzy approximator for reinforcement learning with inherent features that can regulate the exploration strategy. This intrinsic regulation is driven by the condition of the knowledge learnt so far by the agent. The model offers a stable but incremental reinforcement learning that can involve prior rules as bootstrap knowledge for guiding the agent to select the right action. Experiments in obstacle avoidance and navigation tasks demonstrate that in the configuration of learning wherein the agent learns from scratch, the inherent exploration model in fusion ART model is comparable to the basic E-greedy policy. On the other hand, the model is demonstrated to deal with prior knowledge and strike a balance between exploration and exploitation.

Single Point Incremental Forming using a Dummy Sheet

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skjødt, Martin; Silva, Beatriz; Bay, Niels

2007-01-01

A new version of single point incremental forming (SPIF) is presented. This version includes a dummy sheet on top of the work piece, thus forming two sheets instead of one. The dummy sheet, which is in contact with the rotating tool pin, is discarded after forming. The new set-up influences....... The possible influence of friction between the two sheets is furthermore investigated. The results show that the use of a dummy sheet reduces wear of the work piece to almost zero, but also causes a decrease in formability. Bulging of the planar sides of the pyramid is reduced and surface roughness...

Combining Compact Representation and Incremental Generation in Large Games with Sequential Strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bosansky, Branislav; Xin Jiang, Albert; Tambe, Milind

2015-01-01

representation of sequential strategies and linear programming, or by incremental strategy generation of iterative double-oracle methods. In this paper, we present novel hybrid of these two approaches: compact-strategy double-oracle (CS-DO) algorithm that combines the advantages of the compact representation...

From incremental to fundamental substitution in chemical alternatives assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fantke, Peter; Weber, Roland; Scheringer, Martin

2015-01-01

to similarity in chemical structures and, hence, similar hazard profiles between phase-out and substitute chemicals, leading to a rather incremental than fundamental substitution. A hampered phase-out process, the lack of implementing Green Chemistry principles in chemicals design, and lack of Sustainable...... an integrated approach of all stakeholders involved toward more fundamental and function-based substitution by greener and more sustainable alternatives. Our recommendations finally constitute a starting point for identifying further research needs and for improving current alternatives assessment practice....

Diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma by incremental dynamic CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uchida, Masafumi; Kumabe, Tsutomu; Edamitsu, Osamu

1993-01-01

Thirty cases of pathologically confirmed small hepatocellular carcinoma were examined by Incremental Dynamic CT (ICT). ICT scanned the whole liver with single-breath-hold technique; therefore, effective early contrast enhancement could be obtained for diagnosis. Among the 30 tumors, 26 were detected. The detection rate was 87%. A high detection rate was obtained in tumors more than 20 mm in diameter. Twenty-two of 26 tumors could be diagnosed correctly. ICT examination was useful for detection of small hepatocellular carcinoma. (author)

Observers for a class of systems with nonlinearities satisfying an incremental quadratic inequality

Science.gov (United States)

Acikmese, Ahmet Behcet; Martin, Corless

2004-01-01

We consider the problem of state estimation from nonlinear time-varying system whose nonlinearities satisfy an incremental quadratic inequality. Observers are presented which guarantee that the state estimation error exponentially converges to zero.

ETV/ESTCP Demonstration Plan - Demonstration and Verification of a Turbine Power Generation System Utilizing Renewable Fuel: Landfill Gas

Science.gov (United States)

This Test and Quality Assurance Plan (TQAP) provides data quality objections for the success factors that were validated during this demonstration include energy production, emissions and emission reductions compared to alternative systems, economics, and operability, including r...

Unified performance analysis of hybrid-ARQ with incremental redundancy over free-space optical channels

KAUST Repository

Zedini, Emna

2014-09-01

In this paper, we carry out a unified performance analysis of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) with incremental redundancy (IR) from an information theoretic perspective over a point-to-point free-space optical (FSO) system. First, we introduce a novel unified expression for the distribution of a single FSO link modeled by the Gamma fading that accounts for pointing errors subject to both types of detection techniques at the receiver side (i.e. heterodyne detection and intensity modulation with direct detection (IM/DD)). Then, we provide analytical expressions for the outage probability, the average number of transmissions, and the average transmission rate for HARQ with IR, assuming a maximum number of rounds for the HARQ protocol. In our study, the communication rate per HARQ round is constant. Our analysis demonstrates the importance of HARQ in improving the performance and reliability of FSO communication systems. All the given results are verified via computer-based Monte-Carlo simulations.

Dynamic physiological responses to the incremental shuttle walk test in adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evandro Fornias Sperandio

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: Understanding the normal dynamic physiological responses to the incremental shuttle walk test might enhance the interpretation of walking performance in clinical settings. Objective: To assess dynamic physiological responses to the incremental shuttle walk test and its predictors in healthy adults. Methods: We assessed the simultaneous rates of changes of Δoxygen uptake/Δwalking velocity (ΔVO 2 /ΔWV, Δheart rate/Δoxygen uptake (ΔHR/ΔVO 2 , Δventilation/Δcarbon dioxide production (ΔVE/ΔVCO 2 , and Δtidal volume/Δlinearized ventilation (ΔVT/ΔlnVE during the incremental shuttle walk test in 100 men and women older than 40 years. Fat and lean body masses (bioimpedance were also evaluated. Results: We found that the dynamic relationships were not sex-dependent. Participants aged ≥ 70 presented declines in ΔVO 2 /ΔWV slope compared to those aged 40-49 (215 ± 69 vs. 288 ± 84 mL.min-1.km.h-1. Obese participants presented shallower slopes for ΔVO 2 /ΔWV (2.94 ± 0.90 vs. 3.84 ± 1.21 mL.min-1.kg-1.km.h-1 and ΔVT/ΔlnVE (0.57 ± 0.20 vs. 0.67 ± 0.26. We found negative influence of fat body mass on ΔVT/ΔlnVE (R2 = 0.20 and positive influence of lean body mass on ΔVO 2 /ΔWV (R2 = 0.31, ΔHR/ΔVO2 (R2 = 0.25, and ΔVT/ΔlnVE (R2 = 0.44. Conclusion: Dynamic relationships during walking were slightly influenced by age, but not sex-dependent. Body composition played an important role in these indices. Our results may provide better interpretation of walking performance in patients with chronic diseases.

An electromyographic-based test for estimating neuromuscular fatigue during incremental treadmill running

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Camic, Clayton L; Kovacs, Attila J; Hill, Ethan C; Calantoni, Austin M; Yemm, Allison J; Enquist, Evan A; VanDusseldorp, Trisha A

2014-01-01

The purposes of the present study were two fold: (1) to determine if the model used for estimating the physical working capacity at the fatigue threshold (PWC FT ) from electromyographic (EMG) amplitude data during incremental cycle ergometry could be applied to treadmill running to derive a new neuromuscular fatigue threshold for running, and (2) to compare the running velocities associated with the PWC FT , ventilatory threshold (VT), and respiratory compensation point (RCP). Fifteen college-aged subjects (21.5  ±  1.3 y, 68.7  ±  10.5 kg, 175.9  ±  6.7 cm) performed an incremental treadmill test to exhaustion with bipolar surface EMG signals recorded from the vastus lateralis. There were significant (p < 0.05) mean differences in running velocities between the VT (11.3  ±  1.3 km h −1 ) and PWC FT (14.0  ±  2.3 km h −1 ), VT and RCP (14.0  ±  1.8 km h −1 ), but not the PWC FT and RCP. The findings of the present study indicated that the PWC FT model could be applied to a single continuous, incremental treadmill test to estimate the maximal running velocity that can be maintained prior to the onset of neuromuscular fatigue. In addition, these findings suggested that the PWC FT , like the RCP, may be used to differentiate the heavy from severe domains of exercise intensity. (paper)

Stable Myoelectric Control of a Hand Prosthesis using Non-Linear Incremental Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arjan eGijsberts

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Stable myoelectric control of hand prostheses remains an open problem. The only successful human-machine interface is surface electromyography, typically allowing control of a few degrees of freedom. Machine learning techniques may have the potential to remove these limitations, but their performance is thus far inadequate: myoelectric signals change over time under the influence of various factors, deteriorating control performance. It is therefore necessary, in the standard approach, to regularly retrain a new model from scratch.We hereby propose a non-linear incremental learning method in which occasional updates with a modest amount of novel training data allow continual adaptation to the changes in the signals. In particular, Incremental Ridge Regression and an approximation of the Gaussian Kernel known as Random Fourier Features are combined to predict finger forces from myoelectric signals, both finger-by-finger and grouped in grasping patterns.We show that the approach is effective and practically applicable to this problem by first analyzing its performance while predicting single-finger forces. Surface electromyography and finger forces were collected from 10 intact subjects during four sessions spread over two different days; the results of the analysis show that small incremental updates are indeed effective to maintain a stable level of performance.Subsequently, we employed the same method on-line to teleoperate a humanoid robotic arm equipped with a state-of-the-art commercial prosthetic hand. The subject could reliably grasp, carry and release everyday-life objects, enforcing stable grasping irrespective of the signal changes, hand/arm movements and wrist pronation and supination.

Lithium-Ion Cell Fault Detection by Single-Point Impedance Diagnostic and Degradation Mechanism Validation for Series-Wired Batteries Cycled at 0 °C

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corey T. Love

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The utility of a single-point impedance-based technique to monitor the state-of-health of a pack of four 18650 lithium-ion cells wired in series (4S was demonstrated in a previous publication. This work broadens the applicability of the single-point monitoring technique to identify temperature induced faults within 4S packs at 0 °C by two distinct discharge cut-off thresholds: individual cell cut-off and pack voltage cut-off. The results show how the single-point technique applied to a 4S pack can identify cell faults induced by low temperature degradation when plotted on a unique state-of-health map. Cell degradation is validated through an extensive incremental capacity technique to quantify capacity loss due to low temperature cycling and investigate the underpinnings of cell failure.

An Incremental Classification Algorithm for Mining Data with Feature Space Heterogeneity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Feature space heterogeneity often exists in many real world data sets so that some features are of different importance for classification over different subsets. Moreover, the pattern of feature space heterogeneity might dynamically change over time as more and more data are accumulated. In this paper, we develop an incremental classification algorithm, Supervised Clustering for Classification with Feature Space Heterogeneity (SCCFSH, to address this problem. In our approach, supervised clustering is implemented to obtain a number of clusters such that samples in each cluster are from the same class. After the removal of outliers, relevance of features in each cluster is calculated based on their variations in this cluster. The feature relevance is incorporated into distance calculation for classification. The main advantage of SCCFSH lies in the fact that it is capable of solving a classification problem with feature space heterogeneity in an incremental way, which is favorable for online classification tasks with continuously changing data. Experimental results on a series of data sets and application to a database marketing problem show the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Determining frustum depth of 304 stainless steel plates with various diameters and thicknesses by incremental forming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Golabi, Sa' id [University of Kashan, Kashan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Khazaali, Hossain [Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2014-08-15

Nowadays incremental forming is more popular because of its flexibility and cost saving. However, no engineering data is available for manufacturers for forming simple shapes like a frustum by incremental forming, and either expensive experimental tests or finite element analysis (FEA) should be employed to determine the depth of a frustum considering: thickness, material, cone diameter, wall angle, feed rate, tool diameter, etc. In this study, finite element technique, confirmed by experimental study, was employed for developing applicable curves for determining the depth of frustums made from 304 stainless steel (SS304) sheet with various cone angles, thicknesses from 0.3 to 1 mm and major diameters from 50 to 200 mm using incremental forming. Using these curves, the frustum angle and its depth knowing its thickness and major diameter can be predicted. The effects of feed rate, vertical pitch and tool diameter on frustum depth and surface quality were also addressed in this study.

Desarrollo de una marcaproducto para Gesta Diseño. Un caso de innovación incremental

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ANDRÉS JULIÁN HURTADO RUIZ

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Este caso tiene el objetivo de guiar al lector en el proceso de innovación incremental de un producto. La guía hacia la innovación comienza con la revisión de tendencias de diseño y finaliza con la elaboración de un brief de diseño. El caso toma el ejemplo de la empresa Gesta Diseño® como medio para guiar un proceso de innovación que permita a la empresa apoyar la representación de su marca. En el marco de la innovación incremental, Gesta Diseño® supone una innovación pequeña pero constante que, apoyada en su imagen de marca, permita a la empresa obtener una ventaja competitiva en el mercado. La principal recomendación del caso es usar la estrategia de innovación incremental como herramienta para el fortalecimiento de marca de una pequeña empresa.

How to set the stage for a full-fledged clinical trial testing 'incremental haemodialysis'.

Science.gov (United States)

Casino, Francesco Gaetano; Basile, Carlo

2017-07-21

Most people who make the transition to maintenance haemodialysis (HD) therapy are treated with a fixed dose of thrice-weekly HD (3HD/week) regimen without consideration of their residual kidney function (RKF). The RKF provides an effective and naturally continuous clearance of both small and middle molecules, plays a major role in metabolic homeostasis, nutritional status and cardiovascular health, and aids in fluid management. The RKF is associated with better patient survival and greater health-related quality of life. Its preservation is instrumental to the prescription of incremental (1HD/week to 2HD/week) HD. The recently heightened interest in incremental HD has been hindered by the current limitations of the urea kinetic model (UKM), which tend to overestimate the needed dialysis dose in the presence of a substantial RKF. A recent paper by Casino and Basile suggested a variable target model (VTM), which gives more clinical weight to the RKF and allows less frequent HD treatments at lower RKF as opposed to the fixed target model, based on the wrong concept of the clinical equivalence between renal and dialysis clearance. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) enrolling incident patients and comparing incremental HD (prescribed according to the VTM) with the standard 3HD/week schedule and focused on hard outcomes, such as survival and health-related quality of life of patients, is urgently needed. The first step in designing such a study is to compute the 'adequacy lines' and the associated fitting equations necessary for the most appropriate allocation of the patients in the two arms and their correct and safe follow-up. In conclusion, the potentially important clinical and financial implications of the incremental HD render it highly promising and warrant RCTs. The UKM is the keystone for conducting such studies. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved.

Cross-correlation of instantaneous phase increments in pressure-flow fluctuations: Applications to cerebral autoregulation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhi; Hu, Kun; Stanley, H. Eugene; Novak, Vera; Ivanov, Plamen Ch.

2006-03-01

We investigate the relationship between the blood flow velocities (BFV) in the middle cerebral arteries and beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP) recorded from a finger in healthy and post-stroke subjects during the quasisteady state after perturbation for four different physiologic conditions: supine rest, head-up tilt, hyperventilation, and CO2 rebreathing in upright position. To evaluate whether instantaneous BP changes in the steady state are coupled with instantaneous changes in the BFV, we compare dynamical patterns in the instantaneous phases of these signals, obtained from the Hilbert transform, as a function of time. We find that in post-stroke subjects the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV exhibit well-pronounced patterns that remain stable in time for all four physiologic conditions, while in healthy subjects these patterns are different, less pronounced, and more variable. We propose an approach based on the cross-correlation of the instantaneous phase increments to quantify the coupling between BP and BFV signals. We find that the maximum correlation strength is different for the two groups and for the different conditions. For healthy subjects the amplitude of the cross-correlation between the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV is small and attenuates within 3-5 heartbeats. In contrast, for post-stroke subjects, this amplitude is significantly larger and cross-correlations persist up to 20 heartbeats. Further, we show that the instantaneous phase increments of BP and BFV are cross-correlated even within a single heartbeat cycle. We compare the results of our approach with three complementary methods: direct BP-BFV cross-correlation, transfer function analysis, and phase synchronization analysis. Our findings provide insight into the mechanism of cerebral vascular control in healthy subjects, suggesting that this control mechanism may involve rapid adjustments (within a heartbeat) of the cerebral vessels, so that BFV remains steady in

Ductility, strength and hardness relation after prior incremental deformation (ratcheting) of austenitic steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kussmaul, K.; Diem, H.K.; Wachter, O.

1993-01-01

Experimental investigations into the stress/strain behavior of the niobium stabilized austenitic material with the German notation X6 CrNiNb 18 10 proved that a limited incrementally applied prior deformation will reduce the total deformation capability only by the amount of the prior deformation. It could especially be determined on the little changes in the reduction of area that the basically ductile deformation behavior will not be changed by the type of the prior loading. There is a correlation between the amount of deformation and the increase in hardness. It is possible to correlate both the changes in hardness and the material properties. In the case of low cycle fatigue tests with alternating temperature an incremental increase in total strain (ratcheting) was noted to depend on the strain range applied

Sufficient conditions for a period incrementing big bang bifurcation in one-dimensional maps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avrutin, V; Granados, A; Schanz, M

2011-01-01

Typically, big bang bifurcation occurs for one (or higher)-dimensional piecewise-defined discontinuous systems whenever two border collision bifurcation curves collide transversely in the parameter space. At that point, two (feasible) fixed points collide with one boundary in state space and become virtual, and, in the one-dimensional case, the map becomes continuous. Depending on the properties of the map near the codimension-two bifurcation point, there exist different scenarios regarding how the infinite number of periodic orbits are born, mainly the so-called period adding and period incrementing. In our work we prove that, in order to undergo a big bang bifurcation of the period incrementing type, it is sufficient for a piecewise-defined one-dimensional map that the colliding fixed points are attractive and with associated eigenvalues of different signs

Sufficient conditions for a period incrementing big bang bifurcation in one-dimensional maps

Science.gov (United States)

Avrutin, V.; Granados, A.; Schanz, M.

2011-09-01

Typically, big bang bifurcation occurs for one (or higher)-dimensional piecewise-defined discontinuous systems whenever two border collision bifurcation curves collide transversely in the parameter space. At that point, two (feasible) fixed points collide with one boundary in state space and become virtual, and, in the one-dimensional case, the map becomes continuous. Depending on the properties of the map near the codimension-two bifurcation point, there exist different scenarios regarding how the infinite number of periodic orbits are born, mainly the so-called period adding and period incrementing. In our work we prove that, in order to undergo a big bang bifurcation of the period incrementing type, it is sufficient for a piecewise-defined one-dimensional map that the colliding fixed points are attractive and with associated eigenvalues of different signs.

Incremental electrohydraulic forming - A new approach for the manufacture of structured multifunctional sheet metal blanks

Science.gov (United States)

Djakow, Eugen; Springer, Robert; Homberg, Werner; Piper, Mark; Tran, Julian; Zibart, Alexander; Kenig, Eugeny

2017-10-01

Electrohydraulic Forming (EHF) processes permit the production of complex, sharp-edged geometries even when high-strength materials are used. Unfortunately, the forming zone is often limited as compared to other sheet metal forming processes. The use of a special industrial-robot-based tool setup and an incremental process strategy could provide a promising solution for this problem. This paper describes such an innovative approach using an electrohydraulic incremental forming machine, which can be employed to manufacture the large multifunctional and complex part geometries in steel, aluminium, magnesium and reinforced plastic that are employed in lightweight constructions or heating elements.

The impact of weather conditions on dynamics of Hylocomium splendens annual increment and net production in forest communities of forest-steppe zone in Khakassia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. A. Goncharova

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Dynamics of annual increments of green moss Hylocomium splendens (Hedw. Schimp. in B.S.G. in the Khakassia forest-steppe zone has been studied. The values of the moss linear and phytomass increments were investigated in different habitats for 6 years. The aboveground annual production of the H. splendens in phytocenosis was estimated. Linear increments of the H. splendens growing under the tree canopy and opening between trees were not significantly different. Phytomass increments under the tree canopy are significantly higher than in the openings between trees. The density of moss mats, proportion between leaves and stems were calculated. It was revealed that climatic factors have a different degree and duration influence on the moss increments in different habitats. Linear increments of H. splendens in different habitats synchronously respond to weather factor changes. The air temperature was the most important at the beginning and the end of the vegetation period; the amount of precipitation was more important in the middle of the growth period. Phytomass increments of H. splendens in different habitats respond differently to influence of weather conditions. Phytomass increments under the tree canopy are not sensitive to air temperature, and more sensitive to precipitations in the middle of growth period than one of opening between trees. The specificity of the climatic factors’ influence on the biomass growth depends on habitat conditions.

Development and application of incrementally complex tools for wind turbine aerodynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Gundling, Christopher H.

Advances and availability of computational resources have made wind farm design using simulation tools a reality. Wind farms are battling two issues, affecting the cost of energy, that will make or break many future investments in wind energy. The most significant issue is the power reduction of downstream turbines operating in the wake of upstream turbines. The loss of energy from wind turbine wakes is difficult to predict and the underestimation of energy losses due to wakes has been a common problem throughout the industry. The second issue is a shorter lifetime of blades and past failures of gearboxes due to increased fluctuations in the unsteady loading of waked turbines. The overall goal of this research is to address these problems by developing a platform for a multi-fidelity wind turbine aerodynamic performance and wake prediction tool. Full-scale experiments in the field have dramatically helped researchers understand the unique issues inside a large wind farm, but experimental methods can only be used to a limited extent due to the cost of such field studies and the size of wind farms. The uncertainty of the inflow is another inherent drawback of field experiments. Therefore, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions, strategically validated using carefully performed wind farm field campaigns, are becoming a more standard design practice. The developed CFD models include a blade element model (BEM) code with a free-vortex wake, an actuator disk or line based method with large eddy simulations (LES) and a fully resolved rotor based method with detached eddy simulations (DES) and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). To create more realistic simulations, performance of a one-way coupling between different mesoscale atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) models and the three microscale CFD solvers is tested. These methods are validated using data from incrementally complex test cases that include the NREL Phase VI wind tunnel test, the Sexbierum wind farm and the

Distance-independent individual tree diameter-increment model for Thuya [Tetraclinis articulata (VAHL.) MAST.] stands in Tunisia

OpenAIRE

T. Sghaier; M. Tome; J. Tome; M. Sanchez-Gonzalez; I. Cañellas; R. Calama

2013-01-01

Aim of study: The aim of the work was to develop an individual tree diameter-increment model for Thuya (Tetraclinis articulata) in Tunisia.Area of study: The natural Tetraclinis articulata stands at Jbel Lattrech in north-eastern of Tunisia.Material and methods:  Data came from 200 trees located in 50 sample plots. The diameter at age t and the diameter increment for the last five years obtained from cores taken at breast height were measured for each tree. Four difference equations derived f...

The limit distribution of the maximum increment of a random walk with dependent regularly varying jump sizes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikosch, Thomas Valentin; Moser, Martin

2013-01-01

We investigate the maximum increment of a random walk with heavy-tailed jump size distribution. Here heavy-tailedness is understood as regular variation of the finite-dimensional distributions. The jump sizes constitute a strictly stationary sequence. Using a continuous mapping argument acting...... on the point processes of the normalized jump sizes, we prove that the maximum increment of the random walk converges in distribution to a Fréchet distributed random variable....

A nationwide survey of patient centered medical home demonstration projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Bitton, Asaf; Martin, Carina; Landon, Bruce E

2010-06-01

The patient centered medical home has received considerable attention as a potential way to improve primary care quality and limit cost growth. Little information exists that systematically compares PCMH pilot projects across the country. Cross-sectional key-informant interviews. Leaders from existing PCMH demonstration projects with external payment reform. We used a semi-structured interview tool with the following domains: project history, organization and participants, practice requirements and selection process, medical home recognition, payment structure, practice transformation, and evaluation design. A total of 26 demonstrations in 18 states were interviewed. Current demonstrations include over 14,000 physicians caring for nearly 5 million patients. A majority of demonstrations are single payer, and most utilize a three component payment model (traditional fee for service, per person per month fixed payments, and bonus performance payments). The median incremental revenue per physician per year was $22,834 (range $720 to $91,146). Two major practice transformation models were identified--consultative and implementation of the chronic care model. A majority of demonstrations did not have well-developed evaluation plans. Current PCMH demonstration projects with external payment reform include large numbers of patients and physicians as well as a wide spectrum of implementation models. Key questions exist around the adequacy of current payment mechanisms and evaluation plans as public and policy interest in the PCMH model grows.

An application of the J-integral to an incremental analysis of blunting crack behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merkle, J.G.

1989-01-01

This paper describes an analytical approach to estimating the elastic-plastic stresses and strains near the tip of a blunting crack with a finite root radius. Rice's original derivation of the path independent J-integral considered the possibility of a finite crack tip root radius. For this problem Creager's elastic analysis gives the relation between the stress intensity factor K I and the near tip stresses. It can be shown that the relation K I 2 = E'J holds when the root radius is finite. Recognizing that elastic-plastic behavior is incrementally linear then allows a derivation to be performed for a bielastic specimen having a crack tip region of reduced modulus, and the result differentiated to estimate elastic-plastic behavior. The result is the incremental form of Neuber's equation. This result does not require the assumption of any particular stress-strain relation. However by assuming a pure power law stress-strain relation and using Ilyushin's principle, the ordinary deformation theory form of Neuber's equation, K σ K var epsilon = K t 2 , is obtained. Applications of the incremental form of Neuber's equation have already been made to fatigue and fracture analysis. This paper helps to provide a theoretical basis for these methods previously considered semiempirical. 26 refs., 4 figs

Exploiting Outage and Error Probability of Cooperative Incremental Relaying in Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hina Nasir

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper embeds a bi-fold contribution for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs; performance analysis of incremental relaying in terms of outage and error probability, and based on the analysis proposition of two new cooperative routing protocols. Subject to the first contribution, a three step procedure is carried out; a system model is presented, the number of available relays are determined, and based on cooperative incremental retransmission methodology, closed-form expressions for outage and error probability are derived. Subject to the second contribution, Adaptive Cooperation in Energy (ACE efficient depth based routing and Enhanced-ACE (E-ACE are presented. In the proposed model, feedback mechanism indicates success or failure of data transmission. If direct transmission is successful, there is no need for relaying by cooperative relay nodes. In case of failure, all the available relays retransmit the data one by one till the desired signal quality is achieved at destination. Simulation results show that the ACE and E-ACE significantly improves network performance, i.e., throughput, when compared with other incremental relaying protocols like Cooperative Automatic Repeat reQuest (CARQ. E-ACE and ACE achieve 69% and 63% more throughput respectively as compared to CARQ in hard underwater environment.

Performance Analysis of Selective Decode-and-Forward Multinode Incremental Relaying with Maximal Ratio Combining

KAUST Repository

Hadjtaieb, Amir

2013-09-12

In this paper, we propose an incremental multinode relaying protocol with arbitrary N-relay nodes that allows an efficient use of the channel spectrum. The destination combines the received signals from the source and the relays using maximal ratio Combining (MRC). The transmission ends successfully once the accumulated signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) exceeds a predefined threshold. The number of relays participating in the transmission is adapted to the channel conditions based on the feedback from the destination. The use of incremental relaying allows obtaining a higher spectral efficiency. Moreover, the symbol error probability (SEP) performance is enhanced by using MRC at the relays. The use of MRC at the relays implies that each relay overhears the signals from the source and all previous relays and combines them using MRC. The proposed protocol differs from most of existing relaying protocol by the fact that it combines both incremental relaying and MRC at the relays for a multinode topology. Our analyses for a decode-and-forward mode show that: (i) compared to existing multinode relaying schemes, the proposed scheme can essentially achieve the same SEP performance but with less average number of time slots, (ii) compared to schemes without MRC at the relays, the proposed scheme can approximately achieve a 3 dB gain.

On the performance of hybrid ARQ with incremental redundancy over amplify-and-forward dual-hop relay networks

KAUST Repository

Hadjtaieb, Amir

2014-09-01

In this paper, we consider a three node relay network comprising a source, a relay, and a destination. The source transmits the message to the destination using hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) with incremental redundancy (IR). The relay overhears the transmitted message, amplifies it using a variable gain amplifier, and then forwards the message to the destination. This latter combines both the source and the relay message and tries to decode the information. In case of decoding failure, the destination sends a negative acknowledgement. A new replica of the message containing new parity bits is then transmitted in the subsequent HARQ round. This process continues until successful decoding occurs at the destination or a maximum number M of rounds is reached. We study the performance of HARQ-IR over the considered relay channel from an information theoretic perspective. We derive for instance exact expressions and bounds for the information outage probability, the average number of transmissions, and the average transmission rate. The derived exact expressions are validated by Monte Carlo simulations.

Lactate minimum in a ramp protocol and its validity to estimate the maximal lactate steady state

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emerson Pardono

2009-01-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2009v11n2p174   The objectives of this study were to evaluate the validity of the lactate minimum (LM using a ramp protocol for the determination of LM intensity (LMI, and to estimate the exercise intensity corresponding to maximal blood lactate steady state (MLSS. In addition, the possibility of determining aerobic and anaerobic fitness was investigated. Fourteen male cyclists of regional level performed one LM protocol on a cycle ergometer (Excalibur–Lode consisting of an incremental test at an initial workload of 75 Watts, with increments of 1 Watt every 6 seconds. Hyperlactatemia was induced by a 30-second Wingate anaerobic test (WAT (Monark–834E at a workload corresponding to 8.57% of the volunteer’s body weight. Peak power (11.5±2 Watts/kg, mean power output (9.8±1.7 Watts/kg, fatigue index (33.7±2.3% and lactate 7 min after WAT (10.5±2.3 mmol/L were determined. The incremental test identified LMI (207.8±17.7 Watts and its respective blood lactate concentration (2.9±0.7 mmol/L, heart rate (153.6±10.6 bpm, and also maximal aerobic power (305.2±31.0 Watts. MLSS intensity was identified by 2 to 4 constant exercise tests (207.8±17.7 Watts, with no difference compared to LMI and good agreement between the two parameters. The LM test using a ramp protocol seems to be a valid method for the identification of LMI and estimation of MLSS intensity in regional cyclists. In addition, both anaerobic and aerobic fitness parameters were identified during a single session.

Spacecraft Fire Safety Demonstration

Science.gov (United States)

Urban, David L.; Ruff, Gary A.

2016-01-01

A presentation of the Saffire Experiment goals and scientific objectives for the Joint CSA/ESA/JAXA/NASA Increments 47 and 48 Science Symposium. The purpose of the presentation is to inform the ISS Cadre and the other investigators of the Saffire goals and objectives to enable them to best support a successful Saffire outcome.

Individualized 6-mercaptopurine increments in consolidation treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tulstrup, Morten; Frandsen, Thomas L; Abrahamsson, Jonas

2018-01-01

increments of additional 25 mg/m2 /day beginning on days 50 and/or 71 unless dose-limiting myelosuppression had occurred. RESULTS: In the experimental arm, 166 patients (42%) received one dose increment, and 62 (16%) received two. Fifty-seven of 387 (15%) patients in the experimental arm were MRD positive...... minimal residual disease (MRD) positivity and event-free survival. METHODS: 392 patients were randomized to experimental and 396 to standard therapy. Patients allocated to standard therapy received oral 6-mercaptopurine (25 mg/m2 /day) from days 30 to 85, while the experimental arm received stepwise...... at end of consolidation vs 77 of 389 (20%) in the control arm (P = .08). Five-year probability of event-free survival was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.85-0.93) in the experimental arm vs 0.93 (0.90-0.96) in the control arm (P = .13). The median accumulated length of 6-mercaptopurine treatment interruptions was 7 (IQR...

Ecological validity of cost-effectiveness models of universal HPV vaccination: A systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Favato, Giampiero; Easton, Tania; Vecchiato, Riccardo; Noikokyris, Emmanouil

2017-05-09

The protective (herd) effect of the selective vaccination of pubertal girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) implies a high probability that one of the two partners involved in intercourse is immunised, hence preventing the other from this sexually transmitted infection. The dynamic transmission models used to inform immunisation policy should include consideration of sexual behaviours and population mixing in order to demonstrate an ecological validity, whereby the scenarios modelled remain faithful to the real-life social and cultural context. The primary aim of this review is to test the ecological validity of the universal HPV vaccination cost-effectiveness modelling available in the published literature. The research protocol related to this systematic review has been registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO: CRD42016034145). Eight published economic evaluations were reviewed. None of the studies showed due consideration of the complexities of human sexual behaviour and the impact this may have on the transmission of HPV. Our findings indicate that all the included models might be affected by a different degree of ecological bias, which implies an inability to reflect the natural demographic and behavioural trends in their outcomes and, consequently, to accurately inform public healthcare policy. In particular, ecological bias have the effect to over-estimate the preference-based outcomes of selective immunisation. A relatively small (15-20%) over-estimation of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained with selective immunisation programmes could induce a significant error in the estimate of cost-effectiveness of universal immunisation, by inflating its incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) beyond the acceptability threshold. The results modelled here demonstrate the limitations of the cost-effectiveness studies for HPV vaccination, and highlight the concern that public healthcare policy might have been

Incremental first pass technique to measure left ventricular ejection fraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kocak, R.; Gulliford, P.; Hoggard, C.; Critchley, M.

1980-01-01

An incremental first pass technique was devised to assess the acute effects of any drug on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) with or without a physiological stress. In particular, the effects of the vasodilater isosorbide dinitrate on LVEF before and after exercise were studied in 11 patients who had suffered cardiac failure. This was achieved by recording the passage of sup(99m)Tc pertechnetate through the heart at each stage of the study using a gamma camera computer system. Consistent values for four consecutive first pass values without exercise or drug in normal subjects illustrated the reproducibility of the technique. There was no significant difference between LVEF values obtained at rest and exercise before or after oral isosorbide dinitrate with the exception of one patient with gross mitral regurgitation. The advantages of the incremental first pass technique are that the patient need not be in sinus rhythm, the effects of physiological intervention may be studied and tests may also be repeated at various intervals during long term follow-up of patients. A disadvantage of the method is the limitation in the number of sequential measurements which can be carried out due to the amount of radioactivity injected. (U.K.)

Successive 1-Month Weight Increments in Infancy Can Be Used to Screen for Faltering Linear Growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Onyango, Adelheid W; Borghi, Elaine; de Onis, Mercedes; Frongillo, Edward A; Victora, Cesar G; Dewey, Kathryn G; Lartey, Anna; Bhandari, Nita; Baerug, Anne; Garza, Cutberto

2015-12-01

Linear growth faltering in the first 2 y contributes greatly to a high stunting burden, and prevention is hampered by the limited capacity in primary health care for timely screening and intervention. This study aimed to determine an approach to predicting long-term stunting from consecutive 1-mo weight increments in the first year of life. By using the reference sample of the WHO velocity standards, the analysis explored patterns of consecutive monthly weight increments among healthy infants. Four candidate screening thresholds of successive increments that could predict stunting were considered, and one was selected for further testing. The selected threshold was applied in a cohort of Bangladeshi infants to assess its predictive value for stunting at ages 12 and 24 mo. Between birth and age 12 mo, 72.6% of infants in the WHO sample tracked within 1 SD of their weight and length. The selected screening criterion ("event") was 2 consecutive monthly increments below the 15th percentile. Bangladeshi infants were born relatively small and, on average, tracked downward from approximately age 6 to strategy is effective, the estimated preventable proportion in the group who experienced the event would be 34% at 12 mo and 24% at 24 mo. This analysis offers an approach for frontline workers to identify children at risk of stunting, allowing for timely initiation of preventive measures. It opens avenues for further investigation into evidence-informed application of the WHO growth velocity standards. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.