Dual protection: more needed than practised or understood.

Science.gov (United States)

Berer, Marge

2006-11-01

Although non-barrier contraceptive use has become a global norm, unprotected sex in relation to sexually transmitted infections remains the norm almost everywhere. Dual protection is protection from unwanted pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and is a form of safer sex for heterosexual couples that is more needed than practised or understood. This paper draws on a review of the literature in family planning, obstetrics and gynaecology, and AIDS-related journals from 1998 to early 2005. Definitions of dual protection, found mainly in family planning literature, are very narrow. Condoms remain the mainstay of dual protection, but the aim of this paper is to provide an expanded list of dual protection methods to show that there is a range of options. These include non-penetrative sex and the increasing use of condoms with the back-up of emergency contraception on the part of young people. The fact that people may fail to use dual protection consistently and correctly is not a valid reason not to promote it. It is never too late for those providing family planning and STI/HIV prevention services to start promoting condoms and dual protection. In the long-term, the development of highly efficacious and highly acceptable methods of dual protection is an urgent research priority, starting with a wider range of condoms that will appeal to more people.

An easily regenerable enzyme reactor prepared from polymerized high internal phase emulsions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruan, Guihua; Wu, Zhenwei; Huang, Yipeng; Wei, Meiping; Su, Rihui; Du, Fuyou

2016-01-01

A large-scale high-efficient enzyme reactor based on polymerized high internal phase emulsion monolith (polyHIPE) was prepared. First, a porous cross-linked polyHIPE monolith was prepared by in-situ thermal polymerization of a high internal phase emulsion containing styrene, divinylbenzene and polyglutaraldehyde. The enzyme of TPCK-Trypsin was then immobilized on the monolithic polyHIPE. The performance of the resultant enzyme reactor was assessed according to the conversion ability of N_α-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester to N_α-benzoyl-L-arginine, and the protein digestibility of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and cytochrome (Cyt-C). The results showed that the prepared enzyme reactor exhibited high enzyme immobilization efficiency and fast and easy-control protein digestibility. BSA and Cyt-C could be digested in 10 min with sequence coverage of 59% and 78%, respectively. The peptides and residual protein could be easily rinsed out from reactor and the reactor could be regenerated easily with 4 M HCl without any structure destruction. Properties of multiple interconnected chambers with good permeability, fast digestion facility and easily reproducibility indicated that the polyHIPE enzyme reactor was a good selector potentially applied in proteomics and catalysis areas. - Graphical abstract: Schematic illustration of preparation of hypercrosslinking polyHIPE immobilized enzyme reactor for on-column protein digestion. - Highlights: • A reactor was prepared and used for enzyme immobilization and continuous on-column protein digestion. • The new polyHIPE IMER was quite suit for protein digestion with good properties. • On-column digestion revealed that the IMER was easy regenerated by HCl without any structure destruction.

An easily regenerable enzyme reactor prepared from polymerized high internal phase emulsions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruan, Guihua, E-mail: guihuaruan@hotmail.com [Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical and Magnetochemical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guangxi 541004 (China); Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center for Water Pollution Control and Water Safety in Karst Area, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004 (China); Wu, Zhenwei; Huang, Yipeng; Wei, Meiping; Su, Rihui [Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical and Magnetochemical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guangxi 541004 (China); Du, Fuyou, E-mail: dufu2005@126.com [Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical and Magnetochemical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guangxi 541004 (China); Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center for Water Pollution Control and Water Safety in Karst Area, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004 (China)

2016-04-22

A large-scale high-efficient enzyme reactor based on polymerized high internal phase emulsion monolith (polyHIPE) was prepared. First, a porous cross-linked polyHIPE monolith was prepared by in-situ thermal polymerization of a high internal phase emulsion containing styrene, divinylbenzene and polyglutaraldehyde. The enzyme of TPCK-Trypsin was then immobilized on the monolithic polyHIPE. The performance of the resultant enzyme reactor was assessed according to the conversion ability of N{sub α}-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester to N{sub α}-benzoyl-L-arginine, and the protein digestibility of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and cytochrome (Cyt-C). The results showed that the prepared enzyme reactor exhibited high enzyme immobilization efficiency and fast and easy-control protein digestibility. BSA and Cyt-C could be digested in 10 min with sequence coverage of 59% and 78%, respectively. The peptides and residual protein could be easily rinsed out from reactor and the reactor could be regenerated easily with 4 M HCl without any structure destruction. Properties of multiple interconnected chambers with good permeability, fast digestion facility and easily reproducibility indicated that the polyHIPE enzyme reactor was a good selector potentially applied in proteomics and catalysis areas. - Graphical abstract: Schematic illustration of preparation of hypercrosslinking polyHIPE immobilized enzyme reactor for on-column protein digestion. - Highlights: • A reactor was prepared and used for enzyme immobilization and continuous on-column protein digestion. • The new polyHIPE IMER was quite suit for protein digestion with good properties. • On-column digestion revealed that the IMER was easy regenerated by HCl without any structure destruction.

Plasmonic Films Can Easily Be Better: Rules and Recipes

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

High-quality materials are critical for advances in plasmonics, especially as researchers now investigate quantum effects at the limit of single surface plasmons or exploit ultraviolet- or CMOS-compatible metals such as aluminum or copper. Unfortunately, due to inexperience with deposition methods, many plasmonics researchers deposit metals under the wrong conditions, severely limiting performance unnecessarily. This is then compounded as others follow their published procedures. In this perspective, we describe simple rules collected from the surface-science literature that allow high-quality plasmonic films of aluminum, copper, gold, and silver to be easily deposited with commonly available equipment (a thermal evaporator). Recipes are also provided so that films with optimal optical properties can be routinely obtained. PMID:25950012

An AAA-DDD triply hydrogen-bonded complex easily accessible for supramolecular polymers.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Yi-Fei; Chen, Wen-Qiang; Wang, Hong-Bo; Yuan, Ying-Xue; Wu, Na-Na; Song, Xiang-Zhi; Yang, Lan

2014-12-15

For a complementary hydrogen-bonded complex, when every hydrogen-bond acceptor is on one side and every hydrogen-bond donor is on the other, all secondary interactions are attractive and the complex is highly stable. AAA-DDD (A=acceptor, D=donor) is considered to be the most stable among triply hydrogen-bonded sequences. The easily synthesized and further derivatized AAA-DDD system is very desirable for hydrogen-bonded functional materials. In this case, AAA and DDD, starting from 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, were synthesized with the Hantzsch pyridine synthesis and Friedländer annulation reaction. The association constant determined by fluorescence titration in chloroform at room temperature is 2.09×10(7)  M(-1) . The AAA and DDD components are not coplanar, but form a V shape in the solid state. Supramolecular polymers based on AAA-DDD triply hydrogen bonded have also been developed. This work may make AAA-DDD triply hydrogen-bonded sequences easily accessible for stimuli-responsive materials. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Teaching the Assessment of Normality Using Large Easily-Generated Real Data Sets

Science.gov (United States)

Kulp, Christopher W.; Sprechini, Gene D.

2016-01-01

A classroom activity is presented, which can be used in teaching students statistics with an easily generated, large, real world data set. The activity consists of analyzing a video recording of an object. The colour data of the recorded object can then be used as a data set to explore variation in the data using graphs including histograms,…

LAMINAR FLOW THROUGH A TUBE WITH AN EASILY PENETRABLE ROUGHNESS NEAR AXIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Є.О. Гаєв

2012-12-01

Full Text Available  Mathematical model has been suggested and investigation carried out of laminar flow through a round tube with a porous insertion (easily penetrable roughness, EPR in its middle along the axis. Velocity and shear fields have been found analytically for stable flow region, as well as hydraulic resistance as functions of EPR density and its height.

The Sclerotic Scatter Limbal Arc Is More Easily Elicited under Mesopic Rather Than Photopic Conditions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric Denion

Full Text Available We aimed to determine the limbal lighting illuminance thresholds (LLITs required to trigger perception of sclerotic scatter at the opposite non-illuminated limbus (i.e. perception of a light limbal scleral arc under different levels of ambient lighting illuminance (ALI.Twenty healthy volunteers were enrolled. The iris shade (light or dark was graded by retrieving the median value of the pixels of a pre-determined zone of a gray-level iris photograph. Mean keratometry and central corneal pachymetry were recorded. Each subject was asked to lie down, and the ALI at eye level was set to mesopic values (10, 20, 40 lux, then photopic values (60, 80, 100, 150, 200 lux. For each ALI level, a light beam of gradually increasing illuminance was applied to the right temporal limbus until the LLIT was reached, i.e. the level required to produce the faint light arc that is characteristic of sclerotic scatter at the nasal limbus.After log-log transformation, a linear relationship between the logarithm of ALI and the logarithm of the LLIT was found (p<0.001, a 10% increase in ALI being associated with an average increase in the LLIT of 28.9%. Higher keratometry values were associated with higher LLIT values (p = 0.008 under low ALI levels, but the coefficient of the interaction was very small, representing a very limited effect. Iris shade and central corneal thickness values were not significantly associated with the LLIT. We also developed a censored linear model for ALI values ≤ 40 lux, showing a linear relationship between ALI and the LLIT, in which the LLIT value was 34.4 times greater than the ALI value.Sclerotic scatter is more easily elicited under mesopic conditions than under photopic conditions and requires the LLIT value to be much higher than the ALI value, i.e. it requires extreme contrast.

Design of two easily-testable VLSI array multipliers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferguson, J.; Shen, J.P.

1983-01-01

Array multipliers are well-suited to VLSI implementation because of the regularity in their iterative structure. However, most VLSI circuits are very difficult to test. This paper shows that, with appropriate cell design, array multipliers can be designed to be very easily testable. An array multiplier is called c-testable if all its adder cells can be exhaustively tested while requiring only a constant number of test patterns. The testability of two well-known array multiplier structures are studied. The conventional design of the carry-save array multipler is shown to be not c-testable. However, a modified design, using a modified adder cell, is generated and shown to be c-testable and requires only 16 test patterns. Similar results are obtained for the baugh-wooley two's complement array multiplier. A modified design of the baugh-wooley array multiplier is shown to be c-testable and requires 55 test patterns. The implementation of a practical c-testable 16*16 array multiplier is also presented. 10 references.

Feeling Heard & Understood in the Hospital Environment: Benchmarking Communication Quality Among Patients with Advanced Cancer Before and After Palliative Care Consultation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingersoll, Luke T; Saeed, Fahad; Ladwig, Susan; Norton, Sally A; Anderson, Wendy; Alexander, Stewart C; Gramling, Robert

2018-05-02

Maximizing value in palliative care requires continued development and standardization of communication quality indicators. To describe the basic epidemiology of a newly-adopted patient-centered communication quality indicator for hospitalized palliative care patie9nts with advanced cancer. Cross-sectional analysis of 207 advanced cancer patients who received palliative care consultation at two medical centers in the United States. Participants completed the Heard & Understood quality indicator immediately before and the day following the initial palliative care consultation: "Over the past two days ["24 hours" for the post-consultation version], how much have you felt heard and understood by the doctors, nurses and hospital staff? Completely/Quite a Bit/Moderately/Slightly/Not at All". We categorized "Completely" as indicating ideal quality. Approximately one-third indicated ideal Heard & Understood quality before palliative care consultation. Age, financial security, emotional distress, preferences for comfort-longevity tradeoffs at end-of-life, and prognosis expectations were associated with pre-consultation quality. Among those with less-than-ideal quality at baseline, 56% rated feeling more Heard & Understood the day following palliative care consultation. The greatest pre-post improvement was among people who had unformed end-of-life treatment preferences or who reported having "no idea" about their prognosis at baseline. Most patients felt incompletely heard and understood at the time of referral to palliative care consultation and more than half improved following consultation. Feeling heard and understood is an important quality indicator sensitive to interventions to improve care and key variations in the patient experience. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

An easily Prepared Fluorescent pH Probe Based on Dansyl.

Science.gov (United States)

Sha, Chunming; Chen, Yuhua; Chen, Yufen; Xu, Dongmei

2016-09-01

A novel fluorescent pH probe from dansyl chloride and thiosemicarbazide was easily prepared and fully characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, LC-MS, Infrared spectra and elemental analysis. The probe exhibited high selectivity and sensitivity to H(+) with a pK a value of 4.98. The fluorescence intensity at 510 nm quenched 99.5 % when the pH dropped from 10.88 to 1.98. In addition, the dansyl-based probe could respond quickly and reversibly to the pH variation and various common metal ions showed negligible interference. The recognition could be ascribed to the intramolecular charge transfer caused by the protonation of the nitrogen in the dimethylamino group.

Changes in sport and physical activity behavior after participation in easily accessible sporting programs.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ooms, L.; Veenhof, C.

2014-01-01

Introduction: The Dutch government stimulates sport and physical activity opportunities in the neighborhood to make it easier for people to adopt a physically active lifestyle. Seven National Sports Federations (NSFs) were funded to develop easily accessible sporting programs, targeted at groups

Crying without a cause and being easily upset in two-year-olds: heritability and predictive power of behavioral problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Groen-Blokhuis, Maria M; Middeldorp, Christel M; M van Beijsterveldt, Catharina E; Boomsma, Dorret I

2011-10-01

In order to estimate the influence of genetic and environmental factors on 'crying without a cause' and 'being easily upset' in 2-year-old children, a large twin study was carried out. Prospective data were available for ~18,000 2-year-old twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register. A bivariate genetic analysis was performed using structural equation modeling in the Mx software package. The influence of maternal personality characteristics and demographic and lifestyle factors was tested to identify specific risk factors that may underlie the shared environment of twins. Furthermore, it was tested whether crying without a cause and being easily upset were predictive of later internalizing, externalizing and attention problems. Crying without a cause yielded a heritability estimate of 60% in boys and girls. For easily upset, the heritability was estimated at 43% in boys and 31% in girls. The variance explained by shared environment varied between 35% and 63%. The correlation between crying without a cause and easily upset (r = .36) was explained both by genetic and shared environmental factors. Birth cohort, gestational age, socioeconomic status, parental age, parental smoking behavior and alcohol use during pregnancy did not explain the shared environmental component. Neuroticism of the mother explained a small proportion of the additive genetic, but not of the shared environmental effects for easily upset. Crying without a cause and being easily upset at age 2 were predictive of internalizing, externalizing and attention problems at age 7, with effect sizes of .28-.42. A large influence of shared environmental factors on crying without a cause and easily upset was detected. Although these effects could be specific to these items, we could not explain them by personality characteristics of the mother or by demographic and lifestyle factors, and we recognize that these effects may reflect other maternal characteristics. A substantial influence of genetic factors

Evaluation of easily measured risk factors in the prediction of osteoporotic fractures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brown Jacques P

2005-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Fracture represents the single most important clinical event in patients with osteoporosis, yet remains under-predicted. As few premonitory symptoms for fracture exist, it is of critical importance that physicians effectively and efficiently identify individuals at increased fracture risk. Methods Of 3426 postmenopausal women in CANDOO, 40, 158, 99, and 64 women developed a new hip, vertebral, wrist or rib fracture, respectively. Seven easily measured risk factors predictive of fracture in research trials were examined in clinical practice including: age (, 65–69, 70–74, 75–79, 80+ years, rising from a chair with arms (yes, no, weight (≥ 57kg, maternal history of hip facture (yes, no, prior fracture after age 50 (yes, no, hip T-score (>-1, -1 to >-2.5, ≤-2.5, and current smoking status (yes, no. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results The inability to rise from a chair without the use of arms (3.58; 95% CI: 1.17, 10.93 was the most significant risk factor for new hip fracture. Notable risk factors for predicting new vertebral fractures were: low body weight (1.57; 95% CI: 1.04, 2.37, current smoking (1.95; 95% CI: 1.20, 3.18 and age between 75–79 years (1.96; 95% CI: 1.10, 3.51. New wrist fractures were significantly identified by low body weight (1.71, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.90 and prior fracture after 50 years (1.96; 95% CI: 1.19, 3.22. Predictors of new rib fractures include a maternal history of a hip facture (2.89; 95% CI: 1.04, 8.08 and a prior fracture after 50 years (2.16; 95% CI: 1.20, 3.87. Conclusion This study has shown that there exists a variety of predictors of future fracture, besides BMD, that can be easily assessed by a physician. The significance of each variable depends on the site of incident fracture. Of greatest interest is that an inability to rise from a chair is perhaps the most readily identifiable significant risk factor for hip fracture and can be easily incorporated

OntologyWidget – a reusable, embeddable widget for easily locating ontology terms

OpenAIRE

Beauheim, Catherine C; Wymore, Farrell; Nitzberg, Michael; Zachariah, Zachariah K; Jin, Heng; Skene, JH Pate; Ball, Catherine A; Sherlock, Gavin

2007-01-01

Abstract Background Biomedical ontologies are being widely used to annotate biological data in a computer-accessible, consistent and well-defined manner. However, due to their size and complexity, annotating data with appropriate terms from an ontology is often challenging for experts and non-experts alike, because there exist few tools that allow one to quickly find relevant ontology terms to easily populate a web form. Results We have produced a tool, OntologyWidget, which allows users to r...

COMPARISON OF PYTHON (AN OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE) WITH OTHER PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

OpenAIRE

Sushil Kumar*1 & Richa Aggarwal2

2018-01-01

Language is a communication tool through which we can communicate with each other like Hindi, English etc any other language. So if we want to communicate with computer, we need computer programming languages. So in computer we have two types of languages, one is low level language which is easily understood by computer but difficult to learn. Second is high level language which is same like English language, not understood by computer but easy to learn. Python is a high level language. This...

Making On-line Science Course Materials Easily Translatable and Accessible Worldwide: Challenges and Solutions

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Wendy K.; Alhadlaq, Hisham; Malley, Christopher V.; Perkins, Katherine K.; Olson, Jonathan; Alshaya, Fahad; Alabdulkareem, Saleh; Wieman, Carl E.

2012-02-01

The PhET Interactive Simulations Project partnered with the Excellence Research Center of Science and Mathematics Education at King Saud University with the joint goal of making simulations useable worldwide. One of the main challenges of this partnership is to make PhET simulations and the website easily translatable into any language. The PhET project team overcame this challenge by creating the Translation Utility. This tool allows a person fluent in both English and another language to easily translate any of the PhET simulations and requires minimal computer expertise. In this paper we discuss the technical issues involved in this software solution, as well as the issues involved in obtaining accurate translations. We share our solutions to many of the unexpected problems we encountered that would apply generally to making on-line scientific course materials available in many different languages, including working with: languages written right-to-left, different character sets, and different conventions for expressing equations, variables, units and scientific notation.

The Late Ordovician Extinction: How it became the best understood of the five major extinctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheehan, P.

2003-04-01

The end Ordovician extinction has become arguably the best-understood major extinction event in Earth History. A plethora of workers have established the pattern of faunal change and causes of the extinction with remarkably little disagreement. The first indication of increased extinction at the end of the Ordovician was a graph of global diversity patterns by Norman Newell in 1967, although he did not recognize it as a major event. The presence of a major extinction event became clear as William Berry and Art Boucot assembled data for Silurian correlation charts in the late 1960s. The first reports of North African glaciation in the late 1960s provided a cause for the extinction and study of the event snowballed. It was no accident that recognition of the extinction began in North America, because it was there that the extinction completely overturned faunas in the epicontinental seas. Glacio-eustatic regression of shallow seaway coincided with the disappearance of endemic Laurentian faunas and replacement by a highly cosmopolitan fauna in the Silurian. Once the event was established in North America, paleontologists soon found evidence of the event around the globe. The well-documented Hirnantia Fauna was found to correspond to the glacial interval, and Pat Brenchley soon recognized that there were two pulses of extinction, at the beginning and end of the glaciation. At the same time that the faunal changes were being documented geologic studies of the glaciation provided information on the environmental changes associated with the extinction. The timing of the glacial maximum was established in Africa and by the presence of dropstones in high latitude marine rocks. The 1990s saw geochemical techniques employed that allowed examination of atmospheric CO2 and temperature changes. In many places carbonate deposition declined. Glacio-eustatic regression was obvious in many areas, and a sea-level decline in the range of 50-100 m was established. Shallow

Can yeast glycolysis be understood in terms of in vitro kinetics of the constituent enxymes? Testing biochemistry.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Teusink, B.; Passarge, J.R.; Reijenga, C.A.; Esgalhado, M.E.L.M.; van der Weijden, C.C.; Schepper, M.; Walsh, M.C.; Bakker, B.M.; van Dam, K.; Westerhoff, H.V.; Snoep, J.L.

2000-01-01

This paper examines whether the in vivo behavior of yeast glycolysis can be understood in terms of the in vitro kinetic properties of the constituent enzymes. In nongrowing, anaerobic, compressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae the values of the kinetic parameters of most glycolytic enzymes were

Cellulose with a High Fractal Dimension Is Easily Hydrolysable under Acid Catalysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariana Díaz

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The adsorption of three diverse amino acids couples onto the surface of microcrystalline cellulose was studied. Characterisation of modified celluloses included changes in the polarity and in roughness. The amino acids partially break down the hydrogen bonding network of the cellulose structure, leading to more reactive cellulose residues that were easily hydrolysed to glucose in the presence of hydrochloric acid or tungstophosphoric acid catalysts. The conversion of cellulose and selectivity for glucose was highly dependent on the self-assembled amino acids adsorbed onto the cellulose and the catalyst.

Comparison of energy performance requirements levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spiekman, Marleen; Thomsen, Kirsten Engelund; Rose, Jørgen

This summary report provides a synthesis of the work within the EU SAVE project ASIEPI on developing a method to compare the energy performance (EP) requirement levels among the countries of Europe. Comparing EP requirement levels constitutes a major challenge. From the comparison of for instance...... the present Dutch requirement level (EPC) of 0,8 with the present Flemish level of E80, it can easily be seen that direct comparison is not possible. The conclusions and recommendations of the study are presented in part A. These constitute the most important result of the project. Part B gives an overview...... of all other project material related to that topic, which allows to easily identify the most pertinent information. Part C lists the project partners and sponsors....

Is restlessness best understood as a process? Reflecting on four boys’ restlessness during music therapy in kindergarten

Science.gov (United States)

Helle-Valle, Anna; Binder, Per-Einar; Anderssen, Norman; Stige, Brynjulf

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT ADHD can be considered an internationally recognized framework for understanding children’s restlessness. In this context, children’s restlessness is understood as a symptom of neurodevelopmental disorder. However, there are other possible understandings of children’s restlessness. In this article, we explore four boys’ collaborative and creative process as it is described and understood by three adults. The process is framed by a community music therapy project in a Norwegian kindergarten, and we describe four interrelated phases of this process: Exploring musical vitality and cooperation, Consolidating positions, Performing together, and Discovering ripple effects. We discuss these results in relation to seven qualities central to a community music therapy approach: participation, resource orientation, ecology, performance, activism, reflexivity and ethics. We argue that in contrast to a diagnostic approach that entails a focus on individual problems, a community music therapy approach can shed light on adult and systemic contributions to children’s restlessness. PMID:28532331

Can four-quark states be easily detected in baryon-antibaryon scattering?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, W.; Silvestre-Brac, B.; Gignoux, C.

1990-01-01

We attempt to explain the experimental sparsity of diquonia candidates given the theoretical abundance of such states. We do this by investigating the lowest-order contributions of such states as intermediates in p bar p scattering into exclusive baryon-antibaryon final states. We find that the contributions depend on the partial widths for the meson-meson decays of the diquonia, and that resonant effects can be easily made to disappear. We conclude that if the meson-meson widths of diquonia are larger than about 50 MeV, most of these states will be extremely difficult to observe in p bar p scattering, for instance. We note that diquonia may offer a convenient means of describing some aspects of the dynamics of baryon-antibaryon scattering

[The Brumory test, an incidental long-term memory task designed for foreign, non-French-speaking people with low educational level].

Science.gov (United States)

Vanderaspoilden, V; Nury, D; Frisque, J; Peigneux, P

2015-12-01

Cognitive assessment among foreign patients is a growing need for several reasons: foreign patients have a different culture, they have an insufficient command of the language of the consulting center, and the available cognitive tools are largely unsuitable. For these reasons, we developed a non-verbal test of long-term memory called the Brumory test. This test is based on incident encoding of 48 colored images followed by retrieval by recognition. We compared the performance of indigenous participants with that of immigrant participants (mainly from Morocco). Immigrant participants did not speak French properly and had a low educational level. The results indicate no significant difference in memory performance between the two groups of participants. Moreover, the instructions were easily understood by immigrant participants, despite the fact they do not master French. We conclude that the Brumory test is an appropriate test to assess memory among foreign non-French-speaking patients people with low educational level. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Scalability of Robotic Controllers: Effects of Progressive Levels of Autonomy on Robotic Reconnaissance Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-01

facility. 2.2.4 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) The NASA-TLX is a subjective workload assessment tool ...No 6 NR If so, what type? Davinci (1) 14. Please describe the conditions under which you used the robotic system. Surgical (1) 15...2 Fantastic tool . Can see how this will save more lives by using the robot as the recon tool . 1 Interesting and fun. 3 Easily understood what to

The use of easily debondable orthodontic adhesives with ceramic brackets.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryu, Chiyako; Namura, Yasuhiro; Tsuruoka, Takashi; Hama, Tomohiko; Kaji, Kaori; Shimizu, Noriyoshi

2011-01-01

We experimentally produced an easily debondable orthodontic adhesive (EDA) containing heat-expandable microcapsules. The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the best debondable condition when EDA was used for ceramic brackets. Shear bond strengths were measured before and after heating and were compared statistically. Temperatures of the bracket base and pulp wall were also examined during heating. Bond strengths of EDA containing 30 wt% and 40 wt% heat-expandable microcapsules were 13.4 and 12.9 MPa, respectively and decreased significantly to 3.8 and 3.7 MPa, respectively, after heating. The temperature of the pulp wall increased 1.8-3.6°C after heating, less than that required to induce pulp damage. Based on the results, we conclude that heating for 8 s during debonding of ceramic brackets bonded using EDA containing 40 wt% heat-expandable microcapsules is the most effective and safest method for the enamel and pulp.

The study on development of easily chewable and swallowable foods for elderly.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Soojeong; Joo, Nami

2015-08-01

When the functions involved in the ingestion of food occurs failure, not only loss of enjoyment of eating, it will be faced with protein-energy malnutrition. Dysmasesis and difficulty of swallowing occurs in various diseases, but it may be a major cause of aging, and elderly people with authoring and dysmasesis and difficulty of swallowing in the aging society is expected to increase rapidly. In this study, we carried out a survey targeting nutritionists who work in elderly care facilities, and examined characteristics of offering of foods for elderly and the degree of demand of development of easily chewable and swallowable foods for the elderly who can crush foods and take that by their own tongues, and sometimes have difficulty in drinking water and tea. In elderly care facilities, it was found to provide a finely chopped food or ground food that was ground with water in a blender for elderly with dysmasesis. Elderly satisfaction of provided foods is appeared overall low. Results of investigating the applicability of foods for elderly and the reflection will of menus, were showed the highest response rate in a gelification method in molecular gastronomic science technics, and results of investigating the frequent food of the elderly; representative menu of beef, pork, white fish, anchovies and spinach, were showed Korean barbecue beef, hot pepper paste stir fried pork, pan fried white fish, stir fried anchovy, seasoned spinach were the highest offer frequency. This study will provide the fundamentals of the development of easily chewable and swallowable foods, gelification, for the elderly. The study will also illustrate that, in the elderly, food undergone gelification will reduce the risk of swallowing down to the wrong pipe and improve overall food preference.

Effects of easily ionizable elements on the liquid sampling-atmospheric pressure glow discharge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Venzie, Jacob L.; Marcus, R. Kenneth

2006-01-01

A series of studies has been undertaken to determine the susceptibility of the liquid sampling-atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) atomic emission source to easily ionizable element (EIE) effects. The initial portions of the study involved monitoring the voltage drop across the plasma as a function of the pH to ascertain whether or not the conductivity of the liquid eluent alters the plasma energetics and subsequently the analyte signal strength. It was found that altering the pH (0.0 to 2.0) in the sample matrix did not significantly change the discharge voltage. The emission signal intensities for Cu(I) 327.4 nm, Mo(I) 344.7 nm, Sc(I) 326.9 nm and Hg(I) 253.6 nm were measured as a function of the easily ionizable element (sodium and calcium) concentration in the injection matrix. A range of 0.0 to 0.1% (w/v) EIE in the sample matrix did not cause a significant change in the Cu, Sc, and Mo signal-to-background ratios, with only a slight change noted for Hg. In addition to this test of analyte response, the plasma energetics as a function of EIE concentration are assessed using the ratio of Mg(II) to Mg(I) (280.2 nm and 285.2 nm, respectively) intensities. The Mg(II)/Mg(I) ratio showed that the plasma energetics did not change significantly over the same range of EIE addition. These results are best explained by the electrolytic nature of the eluent acting as an ionic (and perhaps spectrochemical) buffer

System level traffic shaping in disk servers with heterogeneous protocols

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cano, Eric; Kruse, Daniele Francesco

2014-01-01

Disk access and tape migrations compete for network bandwidth in CASTORs disk servers, over various protocols: RFIO, Xroot, root and GridFTP. As there are a limited number of tape drives, it is important to keep them busy all the time, at their nominal speed. With potentially 100s of user read streams per server, the bandwidth for the tape migrations has to be guaranteed to a controlled level, and not the fair share the system gives by default. Xroot provides a prioritization mechanism, but using it implies moving exclusively to the Xroot protocol, which is not possible in short to mid-term time frame, as users are equally using all protocols. The greatest commonality of all those protocols is not more than the usage of TCP/IP. We investigated the Linux kernel traffic shaper to control TCP/ IP bandwidth. The performance and limitations of the traffic shaper have been understood in test environment, and satisfactory working point has been found for production. Notably, TCP offload engines' negative impact on traffic shaping, and the limitations of the length of the traffic shaping rules were discovered and measured. A suitable working point has been found and the traffic shaping is now successfully deployed in the CASTOR production systems at CERN. This system level approach could be transposed easily to other environments.

Towards a Generic Method of Evaluating Game Levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liapis, Antonios; Yannakakis, Georgios N.; Togelius, Julian

2013-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of evaluating the quality of game levels across different games and even genres, which is of key importance for making procedural content generation and assisted game design tools more generally applicable. Three game design patterns are identified for having high...... generality while being easily quantifiable: area control, exploration and balance. Formulas for measuring the extent to which a level includes these concepts are proposed, and evaluation functions are derived for levels in two different game genres: multiplayer strategy game maps and single-player roguelike...... dungeons. To illustrate the impact of these evaluation functions, and the similarity of impact across domains, sets of levels for each function are generated using a constrained genetic algorithm. The proposed measures can easily be extended to other game genres....

On being understood: clarity and jargon in radiation protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Strom, Daniel J; Watson, Charles R

2002-03-01

While much of the language used to express the concepts of radiation protection works effectively, there are many ill-chosen names and phrases and much jargon that permeate our professional speech and writing. From the oxymoron "internal exposure" to the "snarl word" "decay," there is much room for improvement. This essay identifies many of the problems and suggests solutions. We examine the kinds of confusions that can result from using familiar words with unfamiliar meanings and the need for neology. We offer insights into specific and unambiguous naming of physical quantities and explore the seemingly unlimited kinds of "dose." We disaggregate exposure from irradiation following intakes, and unmask units like "gram rad per microcurie hour." We call for a definition of radiation weighting factor that doesn't result in a violation of the law of conservation of energy. We examine the subtleties of distinguishing between radiation and radioactive materials. Some words, such as "exposure," have multiple meanings, while at other times there are different words or phrases with the same meaning, such as "critical level" and "decision level" or "detection level" and "minimum detectable amount." Sometimes phrases are used whose meaning is unclear or not agreed upon, such as "lower limit of detection." Sometimes there are words that are simply not apt, such as "disintegration" applied to the emission of a subatomic particle from a nucleus.

Solving block linear systems with low-rank off-diagonal blocks is easily parallelizable

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Menkov, V. [Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)

1996-12-31

An easily and efficiently parallelizable direct method is given for solving a block linear system Bx = y, where B = D + Q is the sum of a non-singular block diagonal matrix D and a matrix Q with low-rank blocks. This implicitly defines a new preconditioning method with an operation count close to the cost of calculating a matrix-vector product Qw for some w, plus at most twice the cost of calculating Qw for some w. When implemented on a parallel machine the processor utilization can be as good as that of those operations. Order estimates are given for the general case, and an implementation is compared to block SSOR preconditioning.

TRANSALPINA CAN EASILY BE CONSIDERED THE DIAMOND COUNTRY LANDSCAPES, ADVENTURE AND MYSTERY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constanta ENEA

2014-05-01

Full Text Available If Transfăgărăşan is pearl Romanian mountains, the road easily qill be considered the diamond country landscapes, adventure and mystery. Hell 's Kitchen has developed and evolved naturally. Have no certainty of success and money required to carry out the infrastructure first and then see if investors come, so we can not blame the local authorities find here. The difficulties encountered in implementing funding programs made for funds to obtain hard enough. In this paper, I will briefly mention some ideas that could make the two cities, the holder of administratively to Rancière, the burgeoning tourist development area of Gorj County. I sincerely hope uhat there is among us and other people with vision who want to stand up and take action to provide a decent future for our children.

Learning Vue.js 2 learn how to build amazing and complex reactive web applications easily with Vue.js

CERN Document Server

Filipova, Olga

2016-01-01

About This Book Learn how to propagate DOM changes across the website without writing extensive jQuery callbacks code. Learn how to achieve reactivity and easily compose views with Vue.js and understand what it does behind the scenes. Explore the core features of Vue.js with small examples, learn how to build dynamic content into preexisting web applications, and build Vue.js applications from scratch. Who This Book Is For This book is perfect for novice web developer seeking to learn new technologies or frameworks and also for webdev gurus eager to enrich their experience. Whatever your level of expertise, this book is a great introduction to the wonderful world of reactive web apps. What You Will Learn Build a fully functioning reactive web application in Vue.js from scratch. The importance of the MVVM architecture and how Vue.js compares with other frameworks such as Angular.js and React.js. How to bring reactivity to an existing static application using Vue.js. How to use p...

A highly versatile and easily configurable system for plant electrophysiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunsé, Benet; Poschenrieder, Charlotte; Rankl, Simone; Schröeder, Peter; Rodrigo-Moreno, Ana; Barceló, Juan

2016-01-01

In this study we present a highly versatile and easily configurable system for measuring plant electrophysiological parameters and ionic flow rates, connected to a computer-controlled highly accurate positioning device. The modular software used allows easy customizable configurations for the measurement of electrophysiological parameters. Both the operational tests and the experiments already performed have been fully successful and rendered a low noise and highly stable signal. Assembly, programming and configuration examples are discussed. The system is a powerful technique that not only gives precise measuring of plant electrophysiological status, but also allows easy development of ad hoc configurations that are not constrained to plant studies. •We developed a highly modular system for electrophysiology measurements that can be used either in organs or cells and performs either steady or dynamic intra- and extracellular measurements that takes advantage of the easiness of visual object-oriented programming.•High precision accuracy in data acquisition under electrical noisy environments that allows it to run even in a laboratory close to electrical equipment that produce electrical noise.•The system makes an improvement of the currently used systems for monitoring and controlling high precision measurements and micromanipulation systems providing an open and customizable environment for multiple experimental needs.

Some issues that easily to be overlooked during the environmental impact assessment of medical electrical accelerators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fu Jie; Zhou Qifu; Chen Dongliang

2011-01-01

This paper mainly introduces the contents of shielding design in the No. 151 report of NCRP published in 2005, discusses some issues that easily to be overlooked during the environmental impact assessment of medical electrical accelerators in China. Some references will be provided in the medical electrical accelerators' shielding design and assessment to achieved the purpose of scientific, reasonable, feasible and economical radiation shielding protection. (authors)

GoCxx: a tool to easily leverage C++ legacy code for multicore-friendly Go libraries and frameworks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Binet, Sébastien

2012-01-01

Current HENP libraries and frameworks were written before multicore systems became widely deployed and used. From this environment, a ‘single-thread’ processing model naturally emerged but the implicit assumptions it encouraged are greatly impairing our abilities to scale in a multicore/manycore world. Writing scalable code in C++ for multicore architectures, while doable, is no panacea. Sure, C++11 will improve on the current situation (by standardizing on std::thread, introducing lambda functions and defining a memory model) but it will do so at the price of complicating further an already quite sophisticated language. This level of sophistication has probably already strongly motivated analysis groups to migrate to CPython, hoping for its current limitations with respect to multicore scalability to be either lifted (Grand Interpreter Lock removal) or for the advent of a new Python VM better tailored for this kind of environment (PyPy, Jython, …) Could HENP migrate to a language with none of the deficiencies of C++ (build time, deployment, low level tools for concurrency) and with the fast turn-around time, simplicity and ease of coding of Python? This paper will try to make the case for Go - a young open source language with built-in facilities to easily express and expose concurrency - being such a language. We introduce GoCxx, a tool leveraging gcc-xml's output to automatize the tedious work of creating Go wrappers for foreign languages, a critical task for any language wishing to leverage legacy and field-tested code. We will conclude with the first results of applying GoCxx to real C++ code.

Conflict Prevalence in Primary School and How It Is Understood to Affect Teaching and Learning in Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nana Afia Amponsaa Opoku-Asare

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Verbal and non-verbal interactions that occur daily between teachers and headteachers, teachers and pupils, and among pupils can generate conflict that may adversely affect teaching, learning, and schooling effectiveness. Little attention is, however, paid to the quality of relationships that exists between teachers and pupils, among teachers, among pupils, between teachers and their school heads, and between schools and their local communities. This study sought to investigate conflict prevalence in Ghana’s primary schools, and how relationship conflict is understood to affect teaching and learning at the level of headteachers as administrators, teachers as classroom managers, and pupils as learners, and direct beneficiaries of primary education. Using data gathered via interview, questionnaire administration, and observation in 30 public primary schools in 10 circuits of one district of Ashanti Region, the findings revealed a high prevalence of fighting, heckling, bullying, and other forms of relationship conflict among pupils; strained teacher–pupil relations due to insolence, indiscipline, and use of offensive language; and teacher–parent arguments and quarrels due to harsh punishment and verbal assault of pupils. Teacher–pupil conflicts may extend to teachers excluding the affected pupils from teaching and learning activities, denying them the rights to ask and answer questions, and have their class exercises marked, leading to lowered pupil self-esteem, reduced concentration during lessons, and passive involvement in learning activities, which could result in truancy and school dropout. Strengthening guidance mechanisms and encouraging peer mediation could significantly curb conflict in school environments and thereby raise educational standards in the district.

Application of simple approximate system analysis methods for reliability and availability improvement of reactor WWER-1000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manchev, B.; Marinova, B.; Nenkova, B.

2001-01-01

The method described on this report provides a set of simple, easily understood 'approximate' models applicable to a large class of system architectures. Constructing a Markov model of each redundant subsystem and its replacement after that by a pseudo-component develops the approximation models. Of equal importance, the models can be easily understood even of non-experts, including managers, high-level decision-makers and unsophisticated consumers. A necessary requirement for their application is the systems to be repairable and the mean time to repair to be much smaller than the mean time to failure. This ia a case most often met in the real practice. Results of the 'approximate' model application on a technological system of Kozloduy NPP are also presented. The results obtained can be compared quite favorably with the results obtained by using SAPHIRE software

Highly efficient tandem organic light-emitting devices employing an easily fabricated charge generation unit

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Huishan; Yu, Yaoyao; Wu, Lishuang; Qu, Biao; Lin, Wenyan; Yu, Ye; Wu, Zhijun; Xie, Wenfa

2018-02-01

We have realized highly efficient tandem organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) employing an easily fabricated charge generation unit (CGU) combining 1,4,5,8,9,11-hexaazatriphenylene-hexacarbonitrile with ultrathin bilayers of CsN3 and Al. The charge generation and separation processes of the CGU have been demonstrated by studying the differences in the current density-voltage characteristics of external-carrier-excluding devices. At high luminances of 1000 and 10000 cd/m2, the current efficiencies of the phosphorescent tandem device are about 2.2- and 2.3-fold those of the corresponding single-unit device, respectively. Simultaneously, an efficient tandem white OLED exhibiting high color stability and warm white emission has also been fabricated.

Development and validation of a quick easily used biochemical assay for evaluating the viability of small immobile arthropods.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Craig B; Iline, Ilia I; Richards, Nicola K; Novoselov, Max; McNeill, Mark R

2013-10-01

Quickly, accurately, and easily assessing the efficacy of treatments to control sessile arthropods (e.g., scale insects) and stationary immature life stages (e.g., eggs and pupae) is problematic because it is difficult to tell whether treated organisms are alive or dead. Current approaches usually involve either maintaining organisms in the laboratory to observe them for development, gauging their response to physical stimulation, or assessing morphological characters such as turgidity and color. These can be slow, technically difficult, or subjective, and the validity of methods other than laboratory rearing has seldom been tested. Here, we describe development and validation of a quick easily used biochemical colorimetric assay for measuring the viability of arthropods that is sufficiently sensitive to test even very small organisms such as white fly eggs. The assay was adapted from a technique for staining the enzyme hexokinase to signal the presence of adenosine triphosphate in viable specimens by reducing a tetrazolium salt to formazan. Basic laboratory facilities and skills are required for production of the stain, but no specialist equipment, expertise, or facilities are needed for its use.

Easily exchangeable x-ray mirrors and hybrid monochromator modules a study of their performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, Fan. [Philips Analytical, Asia Pacific, Toa Payoh, (Singapore); Kogan, V. [Philips Analytical, EA Almelo, (Netherlands); Saito, K. [Philips Analytical, Tokyo, (Japan)

1999-12-01

Full text: PreFix prealigned optical mounts allowing rapid and easily changeover will be presented. The benefits of laterally graded multilayer X-Ray mirrors coupled with these Prefix mounts - conversion of divergent beam to parallel beam, increase of intensity by a factor of 3-7, monochromation to {alpha}1 and {alpha}2 and a dynamic range of 10 {sup 4-5} CpS will be demonstrated in areas such as Thin Film and Powder analysis. Data will be shown on a diffraction profile of thin film (Cr/SiO{sub 2}) with and without a mirror and Si powder with and without a mirror. Further enhancement will be demonstrated by combining a channel cut monochromator-collimator with an X-Ray mirror to produce a high intensity, parallel, pure Cu K{alpha}1 beam with a high intensity of up to 4.5 x 10{sup 8} cps and a divergence down to 0.01 deg. The applicability to various ranging from High Resolution to thin film/reflectivity to Rietveld structural refinement and to phase analysis will be shown. The Rocking curve of HEMT 10nm InGaAs on InP will be presented using various `standard` optics and hybrid optics, also Si powder and a Rietveld refinement of CuS0{sub 4}.5H{sub 2}0 and Aspirin. A comparison of the benefits and application of X-Ray Mirrors and Hybrid Mirror/Monochromators will be given. The data presented will show that by using X-Ray Mirrors and Hybrid modules the performance of standard `Laboratory` Diffractometers can be greatly enhanced to a level previously unachievable with great practical benefits. Copyright (1999) Australian X-ray Analytical Association Inc.

Poorly understood and often miscategorized congenital umbilical cord hernia: an alternative repair method.

Science.gov (United States)

İnce, E; Temiz, A; Ezer, S S; Gezer, H Ö; Hiçsönmez, A

2017-06-01

Umbilical cord hernia is poorly understood and often miscategorized as "omphalocele minor". Careless clamping of the cord leads to iatrogenic gut injury in the situation of umbilical cord hernia. This study aimed to determine the characteristics and outcomes of umbilical cord hernias. We also highlight an alternative repair method for umbilical cord hernias. We recorded 15 cases of umbilical cord hernias over 10 years. The patients' data were retrospectively reviewed, and preoperative preparation of the newborn, gestational age, birth weight, other associated malformations, surgical technique used, enteral nutrition, and length of hospitalization were recorded. This study included 15 neonates with umbilical cord hernias. The mean gestational age at the time of referral was 38.2 ± 2.1

Crying without a cause and being easily upset in two-year-olds: heritability and predictive power of behavioral problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groen-Blokhuis, Maria M.; Middeldorp, Christel M.; van Beijsterveldt, Catharina E.; Boomsma, Dorret I.

2011-01-01

In order to estimate the influence of genetic and environmental factors on 'crying without a cause' and 'being easily upset' in 2-year-old children, a large twin study was carried out. Prospective data were available for ~18,000 2-year-old twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register. A bivariate

Quantum level dynamics as classical relaxation towards equilibrium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haake, F; Kus, M

1988-08-01

We consider the transition from untypical to generic level fluctuations in quantum systems. An important example is the change from level clustering to level repulsion, a frequently observed quantum signature of the development of chaos in the classical limit. We argue that such transitions to genericity can be understood as analogues of equilibration processes in classical many-particle systems.

Crying Without a Cause and Being Easily Upset in Two-Year-Olds: Heritability and Predictive Power of Behavioral Problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groen-Blokhuis, M.M.; Middeldorp, C.M.; van Beijsterveldt, C.E.M.; Boomsma, D.I.

2011-01-01

In order to estimate the influence of genetic and environmental factors on 'crying without a cause' and 'being easily upset' in 2-year-old children, a large twin study was carried out. Prospective data were available for ∼18,000 2-year-old twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register. A bivariate

Measuring the Levels of Ribonucleotides Embedded in Genomic DNA.

Science.gov (United States)

Meroni, Alice; Nava, Giulia M; Sertic, Sarah; Plevani, Paolo; Muzi-Falconi, Marco; Lazzaro, Federico

2018-01-01

Ribonucleotides (rNTPs) are incorporated into genomic DNA at a relatively high frequency during replication. They have beneficial effects but, if not removed from the chromosomes, increase genomic instability. Here, we describe a fast method to easily estimate the amounts of embedded ribonucleotides into the genome. The protocol described is performed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and allows us to quantify altered levels of rNMPs due to different mutations in the replicative polymerase ε. However, this protocol can be easily applied to cells derived from any organism.

Reading level of privacy policies on Internet health Web sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Graber, Mark A; D'Alessandro, Donna M; Johnson-West, Jill

2002-07-01

Most individuals would like to maintain the privacy of their medical information on the World Wide Web (WWW). In response, commercial interests and other sites post privacy policies that are designed to inform users of how their information will be used. However, it is not known if these statements are comprehensible to most WWW users. The purpose of this study was to determine the reading level of privacy statements on Internet health Web sites and to determine whether these statements can inform users of their rights. This was a descriptive study. Eighty Internet health sites were examined and the readability of their privacy policies was determined. The selected sample included the top 25 Internet health sites as well as other sites that a user might encounter while researching a common problem such as high blood pressure. Sixty percent of the sites were commercial (.com), 17.5% were organizations (.org), 8.8% were from the United Kingdom (.uk), 3.8% were United States governmental (.gov), and 2.5% were educational (.edu). The readability level of the privacy policies was calculated using the Flesch, the Fry, and the SMOG readability levels. Of the 80 Internet health Web sites studied, 30% (including 23% of the commercial Web sites) had no privacy policy posted. The average readability level of the remaining sites required 2 years of college level education to comprehend, and no Web site had a privacy policy that was comprehensible by most English-speaking individuals in the United States. The privacy policies of health Web sites are not easily understood by most individuals in the United States and do not serve to inform users of their rights. Possible remedies include rewriting policies to make them comprehensible and protecting online health information by using legal statutes or standardized insignias indicating compliance with a set of privacy standards (eg, "Health on the Net" [HON] http://www.hon.ch).

The market of human organs: a window into a poorly understood global business.

Science.gov (United States)

Surman, O S; Saidi, R; Purtilo, R; Simmerling, M; Ko, D; Burke, T F

2008-03-01

The global demand for human organs has set the stage for an exploding and poorly understood global business in human organs. Whenever there is demand for a product, the opportunity for business arises. The form that a business takes is dependent on a complex network of inputs and outputs, each affecting the others. Historically, the details of any specific market are drastically underestimated. Nowhere is this truer than in the market of human organs. The drivers, which propel the "goods" of human organs, form a flourishing business. Critical analysis is essential to understanding of the supply and demand sides and to determine the role of government in regulating the industry. Governmental groups have dismissed formation of a regulated market for organ sales. The concept is nonetheless a topic of active discussion, motivated by the suffering of patients in need of organs and exploitation of the victims of human trafficking. Ethical principles have been invoked on each side of the ensuing debate. Theory in the absence of sufficient data is shaky ground for enactment of new policy. The Aristotelian concept of "practical wisdom" and the pragmatism of William James illuminate the importance of scientific investigation as guide to policy formation. How will stakeholders benefit or lose? What impact might be anticipated in regard to organized medicine's social contract? What can we learn about cross-cultural differences and their effect on the global landscape?

Changing Preservice Science Teachers' Views of Nature of Science: Why Some Conceptions May Be More Easily Altered than Others

Science.gov (United States)

Mesci, Gunkut; Schwartz, Renee' S.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess preservice teachers' views of Nature of Science (NOS), identify aspects that were challenging for conceptual change, and explore reasons why. This study particularly focused on why and how some concepts of NOS may be more easily altered than others. Fourteen preservice science teachers enrolled in a NOS and…

OntologyWidget – a reusable, embeddable widget for easily locating ontology terms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Skene JH Pate

2007-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Biomedical ontologies are being widely used to annotate biological data in a computer-accessible, consistent and well-defined manner. However, due to their size and complexity, annotating data with appropriate terms from an ontology is often challenging for experts and non-experts alike, because there exist few tools that allow one to quickly find relevant ontology terms to easily populate a web form. Results We have produced a tool, OntologyWidget, which allows users to rapidly search for and browse ontology terms. OntologyWidget can easily be embedded in other web-based applications. OntologyWidget is written using AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML and has two related elements. The first is a dynamic auto-complete ontology search feature. As a user enters characters into the search box, the appropriate ontology is queried remotely for terms that match the typed-in text, and the query results populate a drop-down list with all potential matches. Upon selection of a term from the list, the user can locate this term within a generic and dynamic ontology browser, which comprises the second element of the tool. The ontology browser shows the paths from a selected term to the root as well as parent/child tree hierarchies. We have implemented web services at the Stanford Microarray Database (SMD, which provide the OntologyWidget with access to over 40 ontologies from the Open Biological Ontology (OBO website 1. Each ontology is updated weekly. Adopters of the OntologyWidget can either use SMD's web services, or elect to rely on their own. Deploying the OntologyWidget can be accomplished in three simple steps: (1 install Apache Tomcat 2 on one's web server, (2 download and install the OntologyWidget servlet stub that provides access to the SMD ontology web services, and (3 create an html (HyperText Markup Language file that refers to the OntologyWidget using a simple, well-defined format. Conclusion We have developed Ontology

Critical levels and loads of atmospheric pollutants for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The emergence of a scientific concept. Application potentials and their limits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Landmann, G.

1993-01-01

The 'critical loads and levels' are defined as the highest atmospheric deposition rate or concentration of a gaseous pollutant, respectively, that will not cause harmful effects on sensitive elements of an ecosystem. The recent emergence of the concept of critical loads and levels is described, from the first explicit mention in 1986 to the production of the first European maps in 1991. The difficulties linked to the definition of the concept and to its english-derived terminology are discussed. The main approaches used for assessing critical loads and levels are briefly described. Important research is developed under the auspices of the Convention of Geneva (Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution Transport, UN-ECE), arising from intensive studies which have been carried out on the effects of air pollution on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems for the past ten or fifteen years. Current knowledge is summarized, as well as the remaining gaps (and questions) which hinder the calculation of the critical thresholds. Finally, beyond the fundamental relevance of this scientifically sound and easily understood concept, its limits are pointed out. In brief, the 'critical loads and levels' concept is attractive and motivating to many scientists: it implies to apply an integrated and finalized approach, favors the prospecting of poorly known ecosystems and regions, and represents an interesting interface with decision makers

Estimating subsoil resistance to nitrate leaching from easily measurable pedological properties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fábio Keiti Nakagawa

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Leaching of nitrate (NO3- can increase the groundwater concentration of this anion and reduce the agronomical effectiveness of nitrogen fertilizers. The main soil property inversely related to NO3- leaching is the anion exchange capacity (AEC, whose determination is however too time-consuming for being carried out in soil testing laboratories. For this reason, this study evaluated if more easily measurable soil properties could be used to estimate the resistance of subsoils to NO3- leaching. Samples from the subsurface layer (20-40 cm of 24 representative soils of São Paulo State were characterized for particle-size distribution and for chemical and electrochemical properties. The subsoil content of adsorbed NO3- was calculated from the difference between the NO3- contents extracted with 1 mol L-1 KCl and with water; furthermore, NO3- leaching was studied in miscible displacement experiments. The results of both adsorption and leaching experiments were consistent with the well-known role exerted by AEC on the nitrate behavior in weathered soils. Multiple regression analysis indicated that in subsoils with (i low values of remaining phosphorus (Prem, (ii low soil pH values measured in water (pH H2O, and (iii high pH values measured in 1 moL L-1 KCl (pH KCl, the amounts of surface positive charges tend to be greater. For this reason, NO3- leaching tends to be slower in these subsoils, even under saturated flow condition.

Optimal Design of Multitype Groundwater Monitoring Networks Using Easily Accessible Tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Wöhling, Thomas; Geiges, Andreas; Nowak, Wolfgang

2016-11-01

Monitoring networks are expensive to establish and to maintain. In this paper, we extend an existing data-worth estimation method from the suite of PEST utilities with a global optimization method for optimal sensor placement (called optimal design) in groundwater monitoring networks. Design optimization can include multiple simultaneous sensor locations and multiple sensor types. Both location and sensor type are treated simultaneously as decision variables. Our method combines linear uncertainty quantification and a modified genetic algorithm for discrete multilocation, multitype search. The efficiency of the global optimization is enhanced by an archive of past samples and parallel computing. We demonstrate our methodology for a groundwater monitoring network at the Steinlach experimental site, south-western Germany, which has been established to monitor river-groundwater exchange processes. The target of optimization is the best possible exploration for minimum variance in predicting the mean travel time of the hyporheic exchange. Our results demonstrate that the information gain of monitoring network designs can be explored efficiently and with easily accessible tools prior to taking new field measurements or installing additional measurement points. The proposed methods proved to be efficient and can be applied for model-based optimal design of any type of monitoring network in approximately linear systems. Our key contributions are (1) the use of easy-to-implement tools for an otherwise complex task and (2) yet to consider data-worth interdependencies in simultaneous optimization of multiple sensor locations and sensor types. © 2016, National Ground Water Association.

Isolated Post-Traumatic Radial Head Dislocation, A Rare and Easily Missed Injury-A Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V Gupta

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Dislocation of the head of the radius may be either congenital, an isolated injury or more commonly part of a complex injury to the elbow such as the Monteggia fracturedislocation. Isolated traumatic radial head dislocation without associated injuries in children is a rare and easily missed condition. We report such a case in a 7-year-old boy without any associated injuries or co-morbid conditions. Initially the diagnosis was missed, and 6 weeks later open reduction was performed with annular ligament reconstruction surgery. At the one-year follow up, the patient had returned to most normal activities, showing only slight terminal restriction of pronation. We discuss the injury mechanism and management for the Monteggia fracturedislocation and review the available literature.

Measurement of thermal properties of white radish (R. raphanistrum using easily constructed probes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mfrekemfon Samuel Obot

Full Text Available Thermal properties are necessary for the design and control of processes and storage facilities of food materials. This study proposes the measurement of thermal properties using easily constructed probes with specific heat capacity calculated, as opposed to the use of Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC or other. These probes were constructed and used to measure thermal properties of white radish in the temperature range of 80-20°C and moisture content of 91-6.1% wb. Results showed thermal properties were within the range of 0.71-0.111 Wm-1 C-1 for thermal conductivity, 1.869×10-7-0.72×10-8 m2s-1 for thermal diffusivity and 4.316-1.977 kJ kg-1C-1for specific heat capacity. These results agree with reports for similar products studied using DSC and commercially available line heat source probes. Empirical models were developed for each property through linear multiple regressions. The data generated would be useful in modeling and control of its processing and equipment design.

Measurement of thermal properties of white radish (R. raphanistrum) using easily constructed probes.

Science.gov (United States)

Obot, Mfrekemfon Samuel; Li, Changcheng; Fang, Ting; Chen, Jinquan

2017-01-01

Thermal properties are necessary for the design and control of processes and storage facilities of food materials. This study proposes the measurement of thermal properties using easily constructed probes with specific heat capacity calculated, as opposed to the use of Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) or other. These probes were constructed and used to measure thermal properties of white radish in the temperature range of 80-20°C and moisture content of 91-6.1% wb. Results showed thermal properties were within the range of 0.71-0.111 Wm-1 C-1 for thermal conductivity, 1.869×10-7-0.72×10-8 m2s-1 for thermal diffusivity and 4.316-1.977 kJ kg-1C-1for specific heat capacity. These results agree with reports for similar products studied using DSC and commercially available line heat source probes. Empirical models were developed for each property through linear multiple regressions. The data generated would be useful in modeling and control of its processing and equipment design.

Statistical analysis of global surface temperature and sea level using cointegration methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Torben; Johansen, Søren; Thejll, Peter

2012-01-01

Global sea levels are rising which is widely understood as a consequence of thermal expansion and melting of glaciers and land-based ice caps. Due to the lack of representation of ice-sheet dynamics in present-day physically-based climate models being unable to simulate observed sea level trends......, semi-empirical models have been applied as an alternative for projecting of future sea levels. There is in this, however, potential pitfalls due to the trending nature of the time series. We apply a statistical method called cointegration analysis to observed global sea level and land-ocean surface air...... temperature, capable of handling such peculiarities. We find a relationship between sea level and temperature and find that temperature causally depends on the sea level, which can be understood as a consequence of the large heat capacity of the ocean. We further find that the warming episode in the 1940s...

Occupancy in community-level studies

Science.gov (United States)

MacKenzie, Darryl I.; Nichols, James; Royle, Andy; Pollock, Kenneth H.; Bailey, Larissa L.; Hines, James

2018-01-01

Another type of multi-species studies, are those focused on community-level metrics such as species richness. In this chapter we detail how some of the single-species occupancy models described in earlier chapters have been applied, or extended, for use in such studies, while accounting for imperfect detection. We highlight how Bayesian methods using MCMC are particularly useful in such settings to easily calculate relevant community-level summaries based on presence/absence data. These modeling approaches can be used to assess richness at a single point in time, or to investigate changes in the species pool over time.

Statistical analysis of global surface air temperature and sea level using cointegration methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmith, Torben; Johansen, Søren; Thejll, Peter

Global sea levels are rising which is widely understood as a consequence of thermal expansion and melting of glaciers and land-based ice caps. Due to physically-based models being unable to simulate observed sea level trends, semi-empirical models have been applied as an alternative for projecting...... of future sea levels. There is in this, however, potential pitfalls due to the trending nature of the time series. We apply a statistical method called cointegration analysis to observed global sea level and surface air temperature, capable of handling such peculiarities. We find a relationship between sea...... level and temperature and find that temperature causally depends on the sea level, which can be understood as a consequence of the large heat capacity of the ocean. We further find that the warming episode in the 1940s is exceptional in the sense that sea level and warming deviates from the expected...

GPRS based real-time reporting and internet accessible sea level gauge for monitoring storm surge and tsunami

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Desai, R.G.P.; Joseph, A.; Agarvadekar, Y.; Dabholkar, N.; Mehra, P.; Gouveia, A.D.; Tengali, S.; VijayKumar, K.; Parab, A.

graphical illustration of the predicted fair-weather sea level, the current sea level, and the residual sea level (i.e., measured minus predicted fair-weather sea level). Thus, a cost-effective and easily maintainable platform is realized for real...

Sorting chromatic sextupoles for easily and effectively correcting second order chromaticity in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo, Y.; Tepikian, S.; Fischer, W.; Robert-Demolaize, G.; Trbojevic, D.

2009-01-01

Based on the contributions of the chromatic sextupole families to the half-integer resonance driving terms, we discuss how to sort the chromatic sextupoles in the arcs of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to easily and effectively correct the second order chromaticities. We propose a method with 4 knobs corresponding to 4 pairs of chromatic sextupole families to online correct the second order chromaticities. Numerical simulation justifies this method, showing that this method reduces the unbalance in the correction strengths of sextupole families and avoids the reversal of sextupole polarities. Therefore, this method yields larger dynamic apertures for the proposed RHIC 2009 100GeV polarized proton run lattices

Can delusions be understood linguistically?

Science.gov (United States)

Hinzen, Wolfram; Rosselló, Joana; McKenna, Peter

2016-07-01

Delusions are widely believed to reflect disturbed cognitive function, but the nature of this remains elusive. The "un-Cartesian" cognitive-linguistic hypothesis maintains (a) that there is no thought separate from language, that is, there is no distinct mental space removed from language where "thinking" takes place; and (b) that a somewhat broadened concept of grammar is responsible for bestowing meaning on propositions, and this among other things gives them their quality of being true or false. It is argued that a loss of propositional meaning explains why delusions are false, impossible and sometimes fantastic. A closely related abnormality, failure of linguistic embedding, can additionally account for why delusions are held with fixed conviction and are not adequately justified by the patient. The un-Cartesian linguistic approach to delusions has points of contact with Frith's theory that inability to form meta-representations underlies a range of schizophrenic symptoms. It may also be relevant to the nature of the "second factor" in monothematic delusions in neurological disease. Finally, it can inform the current debate about whether or not delusions really are beliefs.

Home is to be understood

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buhl, Mie; Werner Hansen, Siv

2018-01-01

, and involved artists with refugee status (mainly from Syria), a group of local volunteers, and members of the museum staff. The project derived from the annual theme “ON THE MOVE” and culminated in an art exhibition and event on June 4th 2016. Up until then the museum had invited the artists to create artworks...... for the exhibition, while including the volunteers in the process, facilitating the meeting of those who are at home and those who are on the run. In this sense, the MFSK situates themselves as a social-political activist; a contemporary institution dealing with contemporary societal issues. The migrant and refugee...... of engaging with themes of refuge, home and exile? What are the implications of volunteering in such project? The paper’s discussions are framed by the theories of gallery education (Bishop, 2006; Mörsch, 2009), co-creation in museums (Simon, 2010), community arts (Kester, 2013), and draws on fieldwork...

Can delusions be understood linguistically?

Science.gov (United States)

Hinzen, Wolfram; Rosselló, Joana; McKenna, Peter

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Delusions are widely believed to reflect disturbed cognitive function, but the nature of this remains elusive. The “un-Cartesian” cognitive-linguistic hypothesis maintains (a) that there is no thought separate from language, that is, there is no distinct mental space removed from language where “thinking” takes place; and (b) that a somewhat broadened concept of grammar is responsible for bestowing meaning on propositions, and this among other things gives them their quality of being true or false. It is argued that a loss of propositional meaning explains why delusions are false, impossible and sometimes fantastic. A closely related abnormality, failure of linguistic embedding, can additionally account for why delusions are held with fixed conviction and are not adequately justified by the patient. The un-Cartesian linguistic approach to delusions has points of contact with Frith’s theory that inability to form meta-representations underlies a range of schizophrenic symptoms. It may also be relevant to the nature of the “second factor” in monothematic delusions in neurological disease. Finally, it can inform the current debate about whether or not delusions really are beliefs. PMID:27322493

How flares can be understood

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Severny, A.B.

1977-01-01

Specific features of the flare phenomenon which are important for understanding of flares are the following: (1) Fine structure of visible emission of flares, especially at the very beginning and in the pre-flare active region. This structure can be seen also in later stages of development as bright points, some of which exist from the flare beginning (Babin's observations at Crimea, 1972-1976). (2) Turbulent motion with velocities up to 250-300 km s -1 as can be estimated from broadening of emission lines. (3) Predominantly red asymmetry of emission lines in the explosive phase and during further development of flares. (4) 'Supersonic' velocities and supergravitational accelerations of separate moving masses of the flare plasma. (5) The appearance of flares in areas with high grad H, exceeding 0.1 G km -1 which is equivalent to regions of electric currents > approximately 10 11 A. (6) Strong variations of net magnetic flux through the active region, as it follows from Meudon, Crimean, and Sacramento Peak (Rust's) observations. (Auth.)

We Have Not Understood Descartes.

Science.gov (United States)

Vallias, Andras

1996-01-01

Describes a personal involvement with digital media and the origins of the conception of the "diagrammatic" poem. Reflects on what is considered to be a poem in tune with today's computerized society. (PA)

Using Information Processing Theory to Teach Social Stratification to Pre-Service Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Jennifer L.

2015-01-01

Information in context has meaning for the student, easily understood, easily retrieved, and successfully moves to long term memory. If information is not in context, rote memorization occurs with the less meaningful information, and information is not easily retrieved or successfully stored in long term memory. The purpose of this study was to…

Shaft seals with an easily removable cylinder holder for low-pressure steam turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Zakharov, A. E.; Rodionov, D. A.; Pimenov, E. V.; Sobolev, A. S.

2016-01-01

The article is devoted to the problems that occur at the operation of LPC shaft seals (SS) of turbines, particularly, their bearings. The problems arising from the deterioration of oil-protecting rings of SS and bearings and also the consequences in which they can result are considered. The existing SS housing construction types are considered. Their operational features are specified. A new SS construction type with an easily removable holder is presented. The construction of its main elements is described. The sequence of operations of the repair personnel at the restoration of the new SS type spacings is proposed. The comparative analysis of the new and the existing SS construction types is carried out. The assessment results of the efficiency, the operational convenience, and the economic effect after the installation of the new type seals are given. The conclusions about the offered construction prospects are made by results of the comparative analysis and the carried-out assessment. The main advantage of this design is the possibility of spacings restoration both in SS and in oil-protecting rings during a short-term stop of a turbine, even without its cooling. This construction was successfully tested on the working K-300-23.5 LMP turbine. However, its adaptation for other turbines is quite possible.

The Stirling engine. Simply explained, easily constructed. 9. rev. and enl. ed.; Der Stirlingmotor. Einfach erklaert und leicht gebaut

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Viebach, Dieter

2010-07-01

Subsequently to a easily comprehensively description of the function and characteristics of Stirling engines, the author of the book under consideration describes the construction of a model Stirling engine on the basis of clear construction drawings. A delicacy for experienced modelers: The 'amazing model', a miniature Stirling engine consisting of beverage cans, has been running with the warmth of the human hand. Even in this technically demanding model, the construction will be described accurately by detailed construction drawings.

Capillary levelling as a probe of rheology in polymer thin films

Science.gov (United States)

McGraw, Joshua D.; Jago, Nick M.; Dalnoki-Veress, Kari

2011-03-01

While measuring the rheology of bulk polymer systems is routine, when the size of a system becomes comparable to the molecular size, flow properties are poorly understood and hard to measure. Here, we present the results of experiments that are easily performed and can probe the rheological properties of polymer films that are mere tens of nanometres in thickness. We prepare glassy bilayer polymer films with height profiles well approximated by a step function. Upon annealing above the glass transition, broadening of the height profiles due to gradients in the Laplace pressure is observed. By validating the technique as a probe of the rheology with a range of molecular weights, we will show that this robust technique can be used to investigate the effects of confinement and interfaces on the rheology of ultrathin polymer films. Financial support from NSERC of Canada is gratefully acknowledged.

Broadband and high efficiency all-dielectric metasurfaces for wavefront steering with easily obtained phase shift

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hui; Deng, Yan

2017-12-01

All-dielectric metasurfaces for wavefront deflecting and optical vortex generating with broadband and high efficiency are demonstrated. The unit cell of the metasurfaces is optimized to function as a half wave-plate with high polarization conversion efficiency (94%) and transmittance (94.5%) at the telecommunication wavelength. Under such a condition, we can get rid of the complicated parameter sweep process for phase shift selecting. Hence, a phase coverage ranges from 0 to 2 π can be easily obtained by introducing the Pancharatnam-Berry phase. Metasurfaces composed of the two pre-designed super cells are demonstrated for optical beam deflecting and vortex beam generating. It is found that the metasurfaces with more phase shift sampling points (small phase shift increment) exhibit better performance. Moreover, optical vortex beams can be generated by the designed metasurfaces within a wavelength range of 200 nm. These results will provide a viable route for designing broadband and high efficiency devices related to phase modulation.

Confidence Level Computation for Combining Searches with Small Statistics

OpenAIRE

Junk, Thomas

1999-01-01

This article describes an efficient procedure for computing approximate confidence levels for searches for new particles where the expected signal and background levels are small enough to require the use of Poisson statistics. The results of many independent searches for the same particle may be combined easily, regardless of the discriminating variables which may be measured for the candidate events. The effects of systematic uncertainty in the signal and background models are incorporated ...

A System-level Infrastructure for Multi-dimensional MP-SoC Design Space Co-exploration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jia, Z.J.; Bautista, T.; Nunez, A.; Pimentel, A.D.; Thompson, M.

2013-01-01

In this article, we present a flexible and extensible system-level MP-SoC design space exploration (DSE) infrastructure, called NASA. This highly modular framework uses well-defined interfaces to easily integrate different system-level simulation tools as well as different combinations of search

Welding processes handbook

CERN Document Server

Weman, Klas

2003-01-01

Deals with the main commercially significant and commonly used welding processes. This title takes the student or novice welder through the individual steps involved in each process in an easily understood way. It covers many of the requirements referred to in European Standards including EN719, EN 729, EN 729 and EN 287.$bWelding processes handbook is a concise, explanatory guide to the main commercially significant and commonly-used welding processes. It takes the novice welder or student through the individual steps involved in each process in a clear and easily understood way. It is intended to provide an up-to-date reference to the major applications of welding as they are used in industry. The contents have been arranged so that it can be used as a textbook for European welding courses in accordance with guidelines from the European Welding Federation. Welding processes and equipment necessary for each process are described so that they can be applied to all instruction levels required by the EWF and th...

Health, trust, or "just understood": explicit and implicit condom decision-making processes among black, white, and interracial same-sex male couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Chadwick K; Gómez, Anu Manchikanti; Dworkin, Shari; Wilson, Patrick A; Grisham, Kirk K; McReynolds, Jaih; Vielehr, Peter; Hoff, Colleen

2014-05-01

Among gay and bisexual men, primary partners are a leading source of HIV infection. Trust, intimacy, and advancements in HIV treatment may impact same-sex male (SSM) couples' decisions to engage in unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). This qualitative study explored how Black, White and interracial couples discussed, and made decisions regarding condoms. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 48 SSM couples in the New York and San Francisco metropolitan areas. Stratified purposive sampling was used to include Black (n = 16), White (n = 17), and interracial (Black-White) (n = 15) couples. Twenty-six couples were concordant HIV-negative and 22 were HIV-discordant. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Some couples described explicit processes, which involved active discussion, while others described implicit processes, where condom-use decisions occurred without any explicit discussion. These processes also differed by race and HIV status. Black couples tended to report condom-use as "just understood." White, HIV-discordant couples decided not to use condoms, with some identifying the HIV-positive partner's suppressed viral load and high CD4 count as deciding factors. After an unplanned episode of UAI, White, HIV-negative couples tended to discontinue condom use while Black HIV-negative couples decided to revert to using condoms. HIV prevention efforts focused on same-sex, male couples must consider the explicit/implicit nature of condom decision-making processes. Understanding differences in these processes and considering relationship dynamics, across race and HIV status, can promote the development of innovative couple-level, HIV prevention interventions.

Facile and easily popularized synthesis of L-cysteine-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles based on one-step functionalization for highly efficient enrichment of glycopeptides.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Xiaoyan; Deng, Chunhui; Gao, Mingxia; Zhang, Xiangmin

2018-01-01

Protein glycosylation is one of the most important post-translational modifications. Also, efficient enrichment and separation of glycopeptides from complex samples are crucial for the thorough analysis of glycosylation. Developing novel hydrophilic materials with facile and easily popularized synthesis is an urgent need in large-scale glycoproteomics research. Herein, for the first time, a one-step functionalization strategy based on metal-organic coordination was proposed and Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were directly functionalized with zwitterionic hydrophilic L-cysteine (L-Cys), greatly simplifying the synthetic procedure. The easily synthesized Fe 3 O 4 /L-Cys possessed excellent hydrophilicity and brief composition, contributing to affinity for glycopeptides and reduction in nonspecific interaction. Thus, Fe 3 O 4 /L-Cys nanoparticles showed outstanding sensitivity (25 amol/μL), high selectivity (mixture of bovine serum albumin and horseradish peroxidase tryptic digests at a mass ratio of 100:1), good reusability (five repeated times), and stability (room temperature storage of 1 month). Encouragingly, in the glycosylation analysis of human serum, a total of 376 glycopeptides with 393 N-glycosylation sites corresponding to 118 glycoproteins were identified after enrichment with Fe 3 O 4 /L-Cys, which was superior to ever reported L-Cys modified magnetic materials. Furthermore, applying the one-step functionalization strategy, cysteamine and glutathione respectively direct-functionalized Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized and also achieved efficient glycopeptide enrichment in human serum. The results indicated that we have presented an efficient and easily popularized strategy in glycoproteomics as well as in the synthesis of novel materials. Graphical abstract Fe 3 O 4 /L-Cys nanoparticles based on one-step functionalization for highly efficient enrichment of glycopeptides.

The practical use of computer graphics techniques for site characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tencer, B.; Newell, J.C.

1982-01-01

In this paper the authors describe the approach utilized by Roy F. Weston, Inc. (WESTON) to analyze and characterize data relative to a specific site and the computerized graphical techniques developed to display site characterization data. These techniques reduce massive amounts of tabular data to a limited number of graphics easily understood by both the public and policy level decision makers. First, they describe the general design of the system; then the application of this system to a low level rad site followed by a description of an application to an uncontrolled hazardous waste site

An inexpensive, easily constructed, reusable task trainer for simulating ultrasound-guided pericardiocentesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zerth, Herb; Harwood, Robert; Tommaso, Laura; Girzadas, Daniel V

2012-12-01

Pericardiocentesis is a low-frequency, high-risk procedure integral to the practice of emergency medicine. Ultrasound-guided pericardiocentesis is the preferred technique for providing this critical intervention. Traditionally, emergency physicians learned pericardiocentesis in real time, at the bedside, on critically ill patients. Medical education is moving toward simulation for training and assessment of procedures such as pericardiocentesis because it allows learners to practice time-sensitive skills without risk to patient or learner. The retail market for models for pericardiocentesis practice is limited and expensive. We have developed an ultrasound-guided pericardiocentesis task trainer that allows the physician to insert a needle under ultrasound guidance, pierce the "pericardial sac" and aspirate "blood." Our model can be simply constructed in a home kitchen, and the overall preparation time is 1 h. Our model costs $20.00 (US, 2008). Materials needed for the construction include 16 ounces of plain gelatin, one large balloon, one golf ball, food coloring, non-stick cooking spray, one wooden cooking skewer, surgical iodine solution, and a 4-quart sized plastic food storage container. Refrigeration and a heat source for cooking are also required. Once prepared, the model is usable for 2 weeks at room temperature and may be preserved an additional week if refrigerated. When the model shows signs of wear, it can be easily remade, by simply recycling the existing materials. The self-made model was well liked by training staff due to accessibility of a simulation model, and by learners of the technique as they felt more at ease performing pericardiocentesis on a live patient. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Easily recycled Bi2O3 photocatalyst coatings prepared via ball milling followed by calcination

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Lijun; Hu, Xumin; Hao, Liang

2017-06-01

Bi2O3 photocatalyst coatings derived from Bi coatings were first prepared by a two-step method, namely ball milling followed by the calcination process. The as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS and UV-Vis spectra, respectively. The results showed that monoclinic Bi2O3 coatings were obtained after sintering Bi coatings at 673 or 773 K, while monoclinic and triclinic mixed phase Bi2O3 coatings were obtained at 873 or 973 K. The topographies of the samples were observably different, which varied from flower-like, irregular, polygonal to nanosized particles with the increase in calcination temperature. Photodegradation of malachite green under simulated solar irradiation for 180 min showed that the largest degradation efficiency of 86.2% was achieved over Bi2O3 photocatalyst coatings sintered at 873 K. The Bi2O3 photocatalyst coatings, encapsulated with Al2O3 ball with an average diameter around 1 mm, are quite easily recycled, which provides an alternative visible light-driven photocatalyst suitable for practical water treatment application.

Circulating Management Ideas: Towards a Better Understanding of the Reciprocal Relationships between Field-level Dynamics and Micro-level Practices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jeppe Agger; Mathiassen, Lars; Newell, Sue

Understanding how management ideas spread across countries and fields and how they are adopted and implemented in individual organizations has been of growing interest of scholars in the institutional perspective. Although core institutional arguments depend on analyzing the interaction between......-level dynamics and micro-level practices are understood as mutually constitutive, rather than as distinct levels, as they interact recursively to enable, or hinder, institutionalization. To illustrate and further develop this multi-level model we contribute two longitudinal case studies of how management ideas...... as management ideas emerge, consolidate or wither away. By bringing translation research into the more well-established approach of management fashion and leverage insights from institutional work literature this paper offer a multi-level model for investigating circulating management ideas in which field...

Tutorial: simulating chromatography with Microsoft Excel Macros.

Science.gov (United States)

Kadjo, Akinde; Dasgupta, Purnendu K

2013-04-22

Chromatography is one of the cornerstones of modern analytical chemistry; developing an instinctive feeling for how chromatography works will be invaluable to future generation of chromatographers. Specialized software programs exist that handle and manipulate chromatographic data; there are also some that simulate chromatograms. However, the algorithm details of such software are not transparent to a beginner. In contrast, how spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel™ work is well understood and the software is nearly universally available. We show that the simple repetition of an equilibration process at each plate (a spreadsheet row) followed by discrete movement of the mobile phase down by a row, easily automated by a subroutine (a "Macro" in Excel), readily simulates chromatography. The process is readily understood by a novice. Not only does this permit simulation of isocratic and simple single step gradient elution, linear or multistep gradients are also easily simulated. The versatility of a transparent and easily understandable computational platform further enables the simulation of complex but commonly encountered chromatographic scenarios such as the effects of nonlinear isotherms, active sites, column overloading, on-column analyte degradation, etc. These are not as easily simulated by available software. Views of the separation as it develops on the column and as it is seen by an end-column detector are both available in real time. Excel 2010™ also permits a 16-level (4-bit) color gradation of numerical values in a column/row; this permits visualization of a band migrating down the column, much as Tswett may have originally observed, but in a numerical domain. All parameters of relevance (partition constants, elution conditions, etc.) are readily changed so their effects can be examined. Illustrative Excel spreadsheets are given in the Supporting Information; these are easily modified by the user or the user can write his/her own routine. Copyright

Free trade area of the Americas a three level analysis

OpenAIRE

Williams, Clay G.

2006-01-01

The Free Trade Area of the Americas is a proposed treaty that would encompass the Western Hemisphere-800 million people and a 13 trillion dollar economy. It is a regional agreement that cannot be understood without the interrelated issues at both the international and domestic level. The single most important issue that resides at the nexus of all three of these levels is domestic subsidies on agriculture. FTAA cannot move forward at the regional level without reduction in the U.S. domest...

The effect of cognitive load on adaptation to differences in steering wheel force feedback level

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anand, S.; Terken, J.; Hogema, J.

2013-01-01

In an earlier study it was found that drivers can adjust quickly to different force feedback levels on the steering wheel, even for such extreme levels as zero feedback. It was hypothesized that, due to lack of cognitive load, participants could easily and quickly learn how to deal with extreme

Parametric level correlations in random-matrix models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weidenmueller, Hans A

2005-01-01

We show that parametric level correlations in random-matrix theories are closely related to a breaking of the symmetry between the advanced and the retarded Green functions. The form of the parametric level correlation function is the same as for the disordered case considered earlier by Simons and Altshuler and is given by the graded trace of the commutator of the saddle-point solution with the particular matrix that describes the symmetry breaking in the actual case of interest. The strength factor differs from the case of disorder. It is determined solely by the Goldstone mode. It is essentially given by the number of levels that are strongly mixed as the external parameter changes. The factor can easily be estimated in applications

Variable learning performance: the levels of behaviour organization.

Science.gov (United States)

Csányi, V; Altbäcker, V

1990-01-01

Our experiments were focused on some special aspects of learning in the paradise fish. Passive avoidance conditioning method was used with different success depending on the complexity of the learning tasks. In the case of simple behavioural elements various "constrains" on avoidance learning were found. In a small, covered place the fish were ready to perform freezing reaction and mild punishment increased the frequency and duration of the freezing bouts very substantially. However, it was very difficult to enhance the frequency of freezing by punishment in a tank with transparent walls, where the main response to punishment was escape. The most easily learned tasks were the complex ones which had several different solutions. The fish learned to avoid either side of an aquarium very easily because they could use various behavioural elements to solve the problem. These findings could be interpreted within the framework of different organizational levels of behaviour.

A Simple Model Framework to Explore the Deeply Uncertain, Local Sea Level Response to Climate Change. A Case Study on New Orleans, Louisiana

Science.gov (United States)

Bakker, Alexander; Louchard, Domitille; Keller, Klaus

2016-04-01

Sea-level rise threatens many coastal areas around the world. The integrated assessment of potential adaptation and mitigation strategies requires a sound understanding of the upper tails and the major drivers of the uncertainties. Global warming causes sea-level to rise, primarily due to thermal expansion of the oceans and mass loss of the major ice sheets, smaller ice caps and glaciers. These components show distinctly different responses to temperature changes with respect to response time, threshold behavior, and local fingerprints. Projections of these different components are deeply uncertain. Projected uncertainty ranges strongly depend on (necessary) pragmatic choices and assumptions; e.g. on the applied climate scenarios, which processes to include and how to parameterize them, and on error structure of the observations. Competing assumptions are very hard to objectively weigh. Hence, uncertainties of sea-level response are hard to grasp in a single distribution function. The deep uncertainty can be better understood by making clear the key assumptions. Here we demonstrate this approach using a relatively simple model framework. We present a mechanistically motivated, but simple model framework that is intended to efficiently explore the deeply uncertain sea-level response to anthropogenic climate change. The model consists of 'building blocks' that represent the major components of sea-level response and its uncertainties, including threshold behavior. The framework's simplicity enables the simulation of large ensembles allowing for an efficient exploration of parameter uncertainty and for the simulation of multiple combined adaptation and mitigation strategies. The model framework can skilfully reproduce earlier major sea level assessments, but due to the modular setup it can also be easily utilized to explore high-end scenarios and the effect of competing assumptions and parameterizations.

Blood carboxyhaemoglobin and cyanide levels in fire survivors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clark, C.J.; Campbell, D.; Reid, W.H.

1981-06-20

Blood carboxyhaemoglobin and cyanide concentrations were measured in 53 fire survivors, 36 of whom had clinical evidence of smoke inhalation. Carboxyhaemoglobin and cyanide levels were raised only in patients with smoke inhalation. Blood carboxyhaemoglobin measurement can be used to confirm the diagnosis of severe smoke inhalation in cases in which the clinical data are inconclusive, provided that the time of sampling after exposure is taken into account. A nomogram has been constructed for this purpose. There is no quick method of measuring blood cyanide levels, but the close relation between cyanide and carboxyhaemoglobin levels suggests that carboxyhaemoglobin concentrations, which can be rapidly and easily measured, could be used to identify those who might benefit from treatment with cyanide antidotes.

Rapid islanding detection using multi-level inverter for grid-interactive PV system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsang, K.M.; Chan, W.L.

2014-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Novel reference signal is used to form an islanding detection scheme for PV system. • Supply fixed magnitude sinusoidal signal even if utility grid is disconnected. • Seamless transfer between grid-connected and stand-alone modes is possible. - Abstract: A novel reference signal generator is combined with a multi-level inverter to form a rapid islanding detection scheme for grid-interactive PV system. The reference signal generator can easily be synchronized with the utility grid signal and produced a fixed magnitude and very low total harmonic distortion (THD) sinusoidal signal which is in phase with the utility grid signal. Unlike conventional phase-locked loop (PLL) circuitry, the reference signal generator can also provide a fixed magnitude sinusoidal signal even if the utility grid is disconnected and automatically re-synchronous with the grid rapidly. Consequently, seamless transfer between grid-connected and stand-alone modes could easily be achieved if anti-islanding protection is not required. If a saturation element is applied to the raw reference signal followed by the synthesis of the truncated signal using a multi-level inverter, the distinct flat-top feature of the synthesized signal can quickly and easily be identified if the network is in islanding mode at the point of common coupling. Experimental results are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed detection scheme

Easily Dispersible NiFe2O4/RGO Composite for Microwave Absorption Properties in the X-Band

Science.gov (United States)

Bateer, Buhe; Zhang, Jianjao; Zhang, Hongchen; Zhang, Xiaochen; Wang, Chunyan; Qi, Haiqun

2018-01-01

Composites with good dispersion and excellent microwave absorption properties have important applications. Therefore, an easily dispersible NiFe2O4/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composite has been prepared conveniently through a simple hydrothermal method. Highly crystalline, small size (about 7 nm) monodispersed NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) are evenly distributed on the surface of RGO. The microwave absorbability revealed that the NiFe2O4/RGO composite exhibits excellent microwave absorption properties in the X-band (8-12 GHz), and the minimum reflection loss of the NiFe2O4/RGO composite is -27.7 dB at 9.2 GHz. The NiFe2O4/RGO composite has good dispersibility in nonpolar solvent, which facilitates the preparation of stable commercial microwave absorbing coatings. It can be a promising candidate for lightweight microwave absorption materials in many application fields.

The Center of Gravity, Systemically Understood

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-23

manner that gave him the time to pursue and destroy the retreating army. Centuries later, another great captain – Napoléon Bonaparte – employed...Jena-Auerstadt 1806 In 1806, Napoléon Bonaparte became the first operational artist in the history of modern war when he defeated the Prussian... Napoleon , Operational Art, and the Jena Campaign,” in Historical Perspectives of the Operational Art, ed. Michael D. Krause and R. Cody Phillips

A Better Insight Into IT Contribution by Process Level Structure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shahim, Nazli; Møller, Charles

2013-01-01

. The discussion is supported by an introduction to the case of study in Royal Greenland. The contribution of this paper is the results of the discussions and the case study reaching to the point that IT supporting influences are better understood and observed at process levels rather than firm output level.......Creation of IT business value through its impact on value chain processes made the objective of this research to compare and differentiate IT role at both process and firm levels. A discussion about IT’s impact at both levels are made through previous theoretical and empirical studies...

An easily reversible structural change underlies mechanisms enabling desert crust cyanobacteria to survive desiccation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bar-Eyal, Leeat; Eisenberg, Ido; Faust, Adam; Raanan, Hagai; Nevo, Reinat; Rappaport, Fabrice; Krieger-Liszkay, Anja; Sétif, Pierre; Thurotte, Adrien; Reich, Ziv; Kaplan, Aaron; Ohad, Itzhak; Paltiel, Yossi; Keren, Nir

2015-10-01

Biological desert sand crusts are the foundation of desert ecosystems, stabilizing the sands and allowing colonization by higher order organisms. The first colonizers of the desert sands are cyanobacteria. Facing the harsh conditions of the desert, these organisms must withstand frequent desiccation-hydration cycles, combined with high light intensities. Here, we characterize structural and functional modifications to the photosynthetic apparatus that enable a cyanobacterium, Leptolyngbya sp., to thrive under these conditions. Using multiple in vivo spectroscopic and imaging techniques, we identified two complementary mechanisms for dissipating absorbed energy in the desiccated state. The first mechanism involves the reorganization of the phycobilisome antenna system, increasing excitonic coupling between antenna components. This provides better energy dissipation in the antenna rather than directed exciton transfer to the reaction center. The second mechanism is driven by constriction of the thylakoid lumen which limits diffusion of plastocyanin to P700. The accumulation of P700(+) not only prevents light-induced charge separation but also efficiently quenches excitation energy. These protection mechanisms employ existing components of the photosynthetic apparatus, forming two distinct functional modes. Small changes in the structure of the thylakoid membranes are sufficient for quenching of all absorbed energy in the desiccated state, protecting the photosynthetic apparatus from photoinhibitory damage. These changes can be easily reversed upon rehydration, returning the system to its high photosynthetic quantum efficiency. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. 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.

Fission level densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maslov, V.M.

1998-01-01

Fission level densities (or fissioning nucleus level densities at fission saddle deformations) are required for statistical model calculations of actinide fission cross sections. Back-shifted Fermi-Gas Model, Constant Temperature Model and Generalized Superfluid Model (GSM) are widely used for the description of level densities at stable deformations. These models provide approximately identical level density description at excitations close to the neutron binding energy. It is at low excitation energies that they are discrepant, while this energy region is crucial for fission cross section calculations. A drawback of back-shifted Fermi gas model and traditional constant temperature model approaches is that it is difficult to include in a consistent way pair correlations, collective effects and shell effects. Pair, shell and collective properties of nucleus do not reduce just to the renormalization of level density parameter a, but influence the energy dependence of level densities. These effects turn out to be important because they seem to depend upon deformation of either equilibrium or saddle-point. These effects are easily introduced within GSM approach. Fission barriers are another key ingredients involved in the fission cross section calculations. Fission level density and barrier parameters are strongly interdependent. This is the reason for including fission barrier parameters along with the fission level densities in the Starter File. The recommended file is maslov.dat - fission barrier parameters. Recent version of actinide fission barrier data obtained in Obninsk (obninsk.dat) should only be considered as a guide for selection of initial parameters. These data are included in the Starter File, together with the fission barrier parameters recommended by CNDC (beijing.dat), for completeness. (author)

Multiple Criteria Decision Making by Generalized Data Envelopment Analysis Introducing Aspiration Level Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yun, Yeboon; Arakawa, Masao; Hiroshi, Ishikawa; Nakayama, Hirotaka

2002-01-01

It has been proved in problems with 2-objective functions that genetic algorithms (GAs) are well utilized for generating Pareto optimal solutions, and then decision making can be easily performed on the basis of visualized Pareto optimal solutions. However, GAs are difficult to visualize Pareto optimal solutions in cases in which the number of objective function is more than 4. Hence, it is trouble some to grasp the trade-off among many objective functions, and decision makers hesitate to choose a final solution from a number of Pareto optimal solutions. In order to solve these problems, we suggest an aspiration level approach to the method using the generalized data envelopment analysis and GAs. We show that the proposed method supports decision makers to choose their desirable solution from many Pareto optimal solutions. Furthermore, it will be seen that engineering design can be effectively done by the proposed method, which makes generation of several Pareto optimal solutions close to the aspiration level and trade-off analysis easily

All Inclusive Education Secondary Education Level Effects Of Tourism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Levent Tolay

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In this study, the effects of tourism education at secondary level were investigated for all-inclusive system (AIS that is applying to the tourism sector in Turkey. For this purpose, two questionnaire surveys were conducted over two groups. A negative prediction about the all-inclusive system is concluded due to research of trainer stuff that can not educate on quality competency-based personal. But it is understood that students that are directly or indirectly into to this system are not participating at the same rate level.

Assessment of Summe Savory (satureja hortensis L. Biomass by Easily-Attainable Soil Parameters and Artificial Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

hossein sabourifard

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Introduction: One of the most important requirements in planning production and processing of medicinal plants in order to obtain high yield and high-quality is the initial assessment of the physical and chemical properties of soil, which reduces the production cost by avoiding the use of unnecessary soil analysis. Summer savory (Satureja hortensis L. is one the most widely used medicinal plants that quality index of plant is related to the quantity and the constituent of its essential oil content. Understanding the relations between the quantity and quality of medicinal plants with the very physical and chemical properties of soil is very complex and the estimation of parameters changes of medicinal plants affect by soil quality characteristics is more difficult. Today, with the arrival of multivariable regression models and artificial lattice models in the research, many complex relationships found in nature is understandable. Hence the need for estimation the biomass yield of savory using fast, cheap and with acceptable accuracy is feeling. Materials and Methods: The present study was performed at the Agricultural Research Station Neyshabur as pot experiment based on a completely randomized design with three replications. Around 53 soil samples were collected from different parts of Neyshabur city, and soil texture, organic matter, pH, salinity, phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen and carbon content were selected as the easily available parameters. Before planting the parameters were measured in laboratory. Approximately 90 days after planting seeds in pots containing soil samples, the sampling of plants was done based on the treatments. For drying, samples were placed for 24 hours in an oven at 40 °C. Finally, the relationship between the biomass yield and easily available soil parameters was determined using artificial neural network by Matlab7.9 software. Results and Discussion: The results showed that soil variability, is a key element in

A nomogram incorporating six easily obtained parameters to discriminate intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Mengmeng; Gao, Yuzhen; Feng, Huijuan; Warner, Elisa; An, Mingrui; Jia, Jian'an; Chen, Shipeng; Fang, Meng; Ji, Jun; Gu, Xing; Gao, Chunfang

2018-03-01

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are the most prevalent histologic types of primary liver cancer (PLC). Although ICC and HCC share similar risk factors and clinical manifestations, ICC usually bears poorer prognosis than HCC. Confidently discriminating ICC and HCC before surgery is beneficial to both treatment and prognosis. Given the lack of effective differential diagnosis biomarkers and methods, construction of models based on available clinicopathological characteristics is in need. Nomograms present a simple and efficient way to make a discrimination. A total of 2894 patients who underwent surgery for PLC were collected. Of these, 1614 patients formed the training cohort for nomogram construction, and thereafter, 1280 patients formed the validation cohort to confirm the model's performance. Histopathologically confirmed ICC was diagnosed in 401 (24.8%) and 296 (23.1%) patients in these two cohorts, respectively. A nomogram integrating six easily obtained variables (Gender, Hepatitis B surface antigen, Aspartate aminotransferase, Alpha-fetoprotein, Carcinoembryonic antigen, Carbohydrate antigen 19-9) is proposed in accordance with Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC). A score of 15 was determined as the cut-off value, and the corresponding discrimination efficacy was sufficient. Additionally, patients who scored higher than 15 suffered poorer prognosis than those with lower scores, regardless of the subtype of PLC. A nomogram for clinical discrimination of ICC and HCC has been established, where a higher score indicates ICC and poor prognosis. Further application of this nomogram in multicenter investigations may confirm the practicality of this tool for future clinical use. © 2018 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Metallograph for the examination of low-level radioactive samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, J.H.; Shaffer, D.S.; Petty, W.F.

1982-01-01

A new remote-controlled metallograph was built for use in a low-level radiation background. The metallograph is low cost compared to a conventional remote-controlled metallograph. The motors that drive the stage motions and focus are commercially available and attach to the metallograph without modification. The metallograph was installed on a drawer in a blister behind a shielding door. This allows the metallograph to be reached quickly and easily for maintenance and repair

GLP-2: A POORLY UNDERSTOOD MEDIATOR ENROLLED IN VARIOUS BARIATRIC/METABOLIC SURGERY-RELATED PATHOPHYSIOLOGIC MECHANISMS

Science.gov (United States)

CAZZO, Everton; GESTIC, Martinho Antonio; UTRINI, Murillo Pimentel; CHAIM, Felipe David Mendonça; GELONEZE, Bruno; PAREJA, José Carlos; CHAIM, Elinton Adami; MAGRO, Daniéla Oliveira

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Introduction: Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) is a gastrointestinal hormone whose effects are predominantly trophic on the intestinal mucosa. Aim: Critically evaluate the current literature on the influence of bariatric/metabolic surgery on the levels of GLP-2 and its potential clinical implications. Method s: Narrative review through online research on the databases Medline and Lilacs. There were six prospective human studies, two cross-sectional human studies, and three experimental animal studies selected. Results: There is evidence demonstrating significant increase in the levels of GLP-2 following gastric bypass, Scopinaro operation, and sleeve gastrectomy. There are no differences between gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy in regards to the increase in the GLP-2 levels. There is no correlation between the postoperative levels of GLP-2 and the occurrence of adequate or insufficient postoperative weight loss. Conclusion: GLP-2 plays significant roles on the regulation of nutrient absorption, permeability of gut mucosa, control of bone resorption, and regulation of satiety. The overall impact of these effects potentially exerts a significant adaptive or compensatory effect within the context of varied bariatric surgical techniques. PMID:28076485

Enhanced Buck-Boost Three-Level Neutral-Point-Clamped Inverters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tan, K. K.; Gao, F.; Chiang Loh, Poh

2009-01-01

In traditional three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverters, a major issue is capacitor voltage imbalance, which results in low order harmonics. The compensation of the capacitor voltages often require additional control complexity, which cannot be conveniently implemented. The "alternative...... phase opposition disposition" (APOD) modulation method used in traditional NPC topologies also has lower harmonics performance as compared to the "phase disposition" (PD) modulation method.In this paper, we introduce a new three-level NPC topology that utilises the harmonically superior PD modulation...... method, with the ability to easily adjust for capacitor voltage imbalances. To further improve the boost capability of the three-level NPC inverters, another new topology introduces 2 additional diodes,achieving higher boost performance while totally eliminating thepossibility of capacitor voltage...

Solar photovoltaic basics a study guide for the NABCEP entry level exam

CERN Document Server

White, Sean

2014-01-01

Whether or not you are taking the NABCEP Entry Level Exam, learning the material covered in this book is the best investment you can make towards your place in the solar industry.This book explains the science of photovoltaics (PV) in a way that most people can understand using the curriculum which reflects the core modules of the NABCEP Entry Level Exam.Providing complete coverage of the NABCEP syllabus in easily accessible chapters, addressing all of the core objectives that will aid in passing the PV Entry Level Exam including the ten main skill sets:PV Markets and Applications Safety Basic

Homocysteine, folic acid and vitamin B12 levels in serum of epileptic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The mechanism of this association with epileptogenesis has not been clearly understood, although there is emerging evidence to support the unfavorable effects of some anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) on the plasma homocysteine (Hcy) concentrations. The aim of this study was to uncover the relationship between the levels of ...

Quantitative method study on easily oxidized part of biochar during its degradation%生物质炭降解过程中易氧化部分的定量方法∗

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

杨旻; 王英惠; 胡林潮; 史明; 刘玮晶; 高晓荔; 唐伟; 郭悦; 代静玉

2013-01-01

The determination of organic soil matter, in which potassium permanganate or potassium dichromate is used as oxidant, was employed to quantify the easily oxidized part of biochar during its degradation. The results showed that antioxidant activity of biochar was uneven. It might be due to the generation of small molecules via pyrolysis during preparation of biochar or the easily oxidized part in the degradation of biochar. Potassium dichromate was further used to determine the oxidation condition, and oxidized biochar was incubated in different ways. The oxidation results of original biochar and degraded biochar displayed the occurrence of easily oxidized part during degradation. It was found that the degree of degradation of natural biochar was relatively high, and active organics could indicate the degradation of biochar. Thus, the oxidization with potassium dichromate could be used to quantify the easily oxidized part of biochar. It is suggested that the easily oxidized part could be formed during the degradation of biochar, and natural degradation could produce oxidized part more easily than laboratory incubation; Quantitative detection of easily oxidized part by potassium dichromate can be used to determine the degree of degradation of biochar. It should be noted that oxidization conditions should be paid attention when the method is applied to different kinds of biochar.%　　研究将土壤有机质测定方法( KMnO4和 K2 Cr2 O7氧化法)运用到生物质炭上,探讨了生物质炭(Biochar,BC)降解过程中易氧化部分的定量方法。研究结果显示,生物质炭抗氧化性存在不均一性,既可能是生物质炭制备过程产生的热解小分子物质,也可能是生物质炭降解产生的易氧化部分；进一步选定重铬酸钾作为氧化剂,确定氧化条件,氧化降解前后生物质炭,得出生物质炭降解确实产生易氧化部分。本文研究建立的生物质炭易氧化部分定量法可以作为生物质炭的降解程度的定量指标,为土壤中有机碳循环提供重要研究方法。值得强调的是该定量法应用到不同种类的生物质炭上须对氧化条件做出相应讨论。

Development of level 2 processor for the readout of TMC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arai, Y.; Ikeno, M.; Murata, T.; Sudo, F.; Emura, T.

1995-01-01

We have developed a prototype 8-bit processor for the level 2 data processing for the Time Memory Cell (TMC). The first prototype processor successfully runs with 18 MHz clock. The operation of same clock frequency as TMC (30 MHz) will be easily achieved with simple modifications. Although the processor is very primitive one but shows its powerful performance and flexibility. To realize the compact TMC/L2P (Level 2 Processor) system, it is better to include the microcode memory within the chip. Encoding logic of the microcode must be included to reduce the microcode memory in this case. (J.P.N.)

Neoliberal policies and urban reconfigurations. Victoria, San Fernando, province of Buenos Aires, a city understood from theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Ester Donadío

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This article aims to explain from a theoretical conceptual approach the particularities that exist in Victoria, San Fernando, Buenos Aires, from its urban production. Through a series of field works, semi-structured interviews and observations, it was possible to perceive that in this locality, there are three logics of city production, market, state and necessity, according to Abramo, P. (2002. The post-development cities of Latin America, a space in which constant tensions are generated that alter the harmonious development of daily life and the interaction of those who inhabit the area. On the other hand, it is also perceived that the inhabitants naturalize that way of life, their spatial disposition, the progressive privatization of public areas and the proliferation of closed housing estates. Here is a quote that we have heard repeatedly in interviews with the neighbors: "No one in Victoria gives a ball to anyone." At the moment of understanding Victoria from the theory, we take into account such concepts as the "heterotopy" of Foucault M. (1967 - understood as the juxtaposition of spaces that would be incompatible -the term "com-fusa city" (Abramo P. - as an urban structure that interweaves two traditional models (the Mediterranean compact and the Anglo-Saxon diffused, the notion of "privatopia" by I.Rodriguez Chumillas (2005 and E. Mckenzie (1994 as private spatial consolidation, and finally the concepts: informative and dual cities of R Castells (1995 terms that emerge from the process of globalization, which may be useful to think about the reality of Victoria .

Small vessel disease, neurovascular regulation and cognitive impairment: post-mortem studies reveal a complex relationship, still poorly understood.

Science.gov (United States)

Love, Seth; Miners, J Scott

2017-07-15

The contribution of vascular disease to cognitive impairment is under-recognized and the pathogenesis is poorly understood. This information gap has multiple causes, including a lack of post-mortem validation of clinical diagnoses of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) or vascular dementia (VaD), the exclusion of cases with concomitant neurodegenerative disease when diagnosing VCI/VaD, and a lack of standardization of neuropathological assessment protocols for vascular disease. Other contributors include a focus on end-stage destructive lesions to the exclusion of more subtle types of diffuse brain injury, on structural abnormalities of arteries and arterioles to the exclusion of non-structural abnormalities and capillary damage, and the use of post-mortem sampling strategies that are biased towards the identification of neurodegenerative pathologies. Recent studies have demonstrated the value of detailed neuropathology in characterizing vascular contributions to cognitive impairment (e.g. in diabetes), and highlight the importance of diffuse white matter changes, capillary damage and vasoregulatory abnormalities in VCI/VaD. The use of standardized, evidence-based post-mortem assessment protocols and the inclusion of biochemical as well as morphological methods in neuropathological studies should improve the accuracy of determination of the contribution of vascular disease to cognitive impairment and clarify the relative contribution of different pathogenic processes to the tissue damage. © 2017 The Author(s). published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society.

Examining Teachers' Use of iPads: Comfort Level, Perception, and Use

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Min; Navarrete, Cesar C.; Scordino, Robert; Kang, Jina; Ko, Yujung; Lim, Mihyun

2016-01-01

While there is evidence of the growing popularity of iPads and other tablets in K-12 education, little is understood about how teachers use these devices in their instruction. This study examines 342 teachers' comfort level with and perception toward iPad use and any changes that occurred over the implementation year. Using a mixed-methods design,…

Factors associated with D-dimer levels in HIV-infected individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borges, Alvaro H; O'Connor, Jemma L; Phillips, Andrew N

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Higher plasma D-dimer levels are strong predictors of mortality in HIV+ individuals. The factors associated with D-dimer levels during HIV infection, however, remain poorly understood. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, participants in three randomized controlled trials...... with measured D-dimer levels were included (N = 9,848). Factors associated with D-dimer were identified by linear regression. Covariates investigated were: age, gender, race, body mass index, nadir and baseline CD4+ count, plasma HIV RNA levels, markers of inflammation (C-reactive protein [CRP], interleukin-6...... viruses, was positively correlated with D-dimer. Other factors independently associated with higher D-dimer levels were black race, higher plasma HIV RNA levels, being off ART at baseline, and increased levels of CRP, IL-6 and cystatin C. In contrast, higher baseline CD4+ counts and higher high...

Recovering method for high level radioactive material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukui, Toshiki

1998-01-01

Offgas filters such as of nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities and waste control facilities are burnt, and the burnt ash is melted by heating, and then the molten ashes are brought into contact with a molten metal having a low boiling point to transfer the high level radioactive materials in the molten ash to the molten metal. Then, only the molten metal is evaporated and solidified by drying, and residual high level radioactive materials are recovered. According to this method, the high level radioactive materials in the molten ashes are transferred to the molten metal and separated by the difference of the distribution rate of the molten ash and the molten metal. Subsequently, the molten metal to which the high level radioactive materials are transferred is heated to a temperature higher than the boiling point so that only the molten metal is evaporated and dried to be removed, and residual high level radioactive materials are recovered easily. On the other hand, the molten ash from which the high level radioactive material is removed can be discarded as ordinary industrial wastes as they are. (T.M.)

Insights from studying prejudice in the context of American atheists.

Science.gov (United States)

Charles, Eric P; Rowland, Nicholas J; Long, Brooke; Yarrison, Fritz

2012-12-01

Our research on non-religion supports the proposed shift toward more interactive models of prejudice. Being nonreligious is easily hideable and, increasingly, of low salience, leading to experiences not easily understood via traditional or contemporary frameworks for studying prejudice and prejudice reduction. This context affords new opportunity to observe reverse forms of interactive prejudice, which can interfere with prejudice reduction.

Redesigning and Manufacturing of a Land Levelling Shovel by Assembly Structural Stress Analysis

OpenAIRE

Tahir Altinbalik; Gürkan İrsel

2014-01-01

The aim was to redesign and manufacture of a shovel for a pull-type land levelling machine, which, in its present condition, is used to get easily damaged even under low loads. Firstly, the maximum pulling load affecting the levelling shovel was experimentally determined. Then, stable-shovel system with the bolt connection was replaced with a bearing-shaft connection system. In this way, the new shovel has gained a capability of making oscillation motion so that it can operate on sloped groun...

Redox balance and blood elemental levels in atherosclerosis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Napoleao, P. [Centro de Biologia Ambiental and Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciencias de Lisboa, C2, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon (Portugal) and Laboratorio de Feixes de Ioes, Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear, E.N. no 10, 2685-953 Sacavem (Portugal)]. E-mail: pnapoleao@itn.pt; Lopes, P.A. [Centro de Biologia Ambiental and Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciencias de Lisboa, C2, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon (Portugal); Santos, M. [Centro de Quimica e Bioquimica and Departamento de Quimica e Bioquimica, Faculdade de Ciencias de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisbon (Portugal); Steghens, J.-P. [Federation de Biochimie, Hopital Edouard Herriot, 3 Place d' Arsonval, 69437 03 Lyon (France); Viegas-Crespo, A.M. [Centro de Biologia Ambiental and Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciencias de Lisboa, C2, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon (Portugal); Pinheiro, T. [Laboratorio de Feixes de Ioes, Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear, E.N. no 10, 2685-953 Sacavem (Portugal); Centro de Fisica Nuclear, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, 1700 Lisbon (Portugal)

2006-08-15

Oxidation of lipids and proteins represents a causative event for atherogenesis, which can be opposed by antioxidant activity. Elements, such as, Fe, Cu, Zn and Se can be involved in both mechanisms. Thus, evaluation of blood elemental levels, easily detected by PIXE, and of redox parameters may be useful in assessing the risk of atherosclerosis. A group of stable patients suffering from atherosclerosis, was matched with a cohort of normo-tensive and -lipidemic volunteers. Although no major discrepancies were observed for trace elemental levels in blood, increased concentrations of K and Ca were found in atherosclerotic group. Patients presented enhance levels of antioxidant ({alpha}-tocopherol) and decreased of protein oxidation (protein carbonyls), while for the lipid oxidation marker (malondialdehyde) no variation was observed. This study contributes to a better understanding of atherosclerosis development and its relationship with blood elemental levels, and set basis for further clinical trials with pathological groups in acute phase.

High-level waste processing and disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crandall, J.L.; Krause, H.; Sombret, C.; Uematsu, K.

1984-01-01

The national high-level waste disposal plans for France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, and the United States are covered. Three conclusions are reached. The first conclusion is that an excellent technology already exists for high-level waste disposal. With appropriate packaging, spent fuel seems to be an acceptable waste form. Borosilicate glass reprocessing waste forms are well understood, in production in France, and scheduled for production in the next few years in a number of other countries. For final disposal, a number of candidate geological repository sites have been identified and several demonstration sites opened. The second conclusion is that adequate financing and a legal basis for waste disposal are in place in most countries. Costs of high-level waste disposal will probably add about 5 to 10% to the costs of nuclear electric power. The third conclusion is less optimistic. Political problems remain formidable in highly conservative regulations, in qualifying a final disposal site, and in securing acceptable transport routes

Synthesis, Characterization, to application of water soluble and easily removable cationic pressure sensitive adhesives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Institute of Paper Science Technology

2004-01-30

In recent years, the world has expressed an increasing interest in the recycling of waste paper to supplement the use of virgin fiber as a way to protect the environment. Statistics show that major countries are increasing their use of recycled paper. For example, in 1991 to 1996, the U.S. increased its recovered paper utilization rate from 31% to 39%, Germany went from 50% to 60%, the UK went from 60% to 70%, France increased from 46% to 49%, and China went from 32% to 35% [1]. As recycled fiber levels and water system closures both increase, recycled product quality will need to improve in order for recycled products to compete with products made from virgin fiber [2]. The use of recycled fiber has introduced an increasing level of metal, plastic, and adhesive contamination into the papermaking process which has added to the complexity of the already overwhelming task of providing a uniform and clean recycle furnish. The most harmful of these contaminates is a mixture of adhesives and polymeric substances that are commonly known as stickies. Stickies, which enter the mill with the pulp furnish, are not easily removed from the repulper and become more difficult the further down the system they get. This can be detrimental to the final product quality. Stickies are hydrophobic, tacky, polymeric materials that are introduced into the papermaking system from a mixture of recycled fiber sources. Properties of stickies are very similar to the fibers used in papermaking, viz. size, density, hydrophobicity, and electrokinetic charge. This reduces the probability of their removal by conventional separation processes, such as screening and cleaning, which are based on such properties. Also, their physical and chemical structure allows for them to extrude through screens, attach to fibers, process equipment, wires and felts. Stickies can break down and then reagglomerate and appear at seemingly any place in the mill. When subjected to a number of factors including changes

Developing expert systems for hazardous and low-level radioactive waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrada, J.J.; Stark, L.; Rodgers, B.R.

1988-01-01

Information about management of hazardous and low level wastes has been deposited in data bases, text files, graphics files, and other types of computer programs. Integrating such diverse data so that they are easily and quickly retrievable represents a challenge for busy managers who require immediate answers to their problems. Expert programs have been developed using expert shells and artificial intelligence computer languages as the central environment to produce integration

Parkinson’s Disease Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders Questionnaire – Current Short (QUIP-CS – Translation and validation of content of Portuguese Version

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Débora Mascella Krieger

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective Parkinson’s disease (PD management is usually successfully reached with proper pharmacological treatment. However, PD patients can manifest neuropsychiatric symptoms secondary to medical therapy, including impulse control disorders (ICD, presenting as pathological gambling, hypersexuality, compulsive buying, drinking or eating disorders. We translated and validated the Portuguese version of the gold-standard questionnaire Parkinson’s Disease Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders Questionnaire, or (QUIP for identifying ICDs in PD patients. Methods Translation, back translation and submission to instrument developer was performed, that approved its new version comparing it to his original, validated version, with no loss of it’s original properties. Then, the Portuguese version was administered to 30 PD patients. They also were asked to rate from 1 to 5 the level of comprehensibility of the questions. Results The average level of comprehension was 4.06 ± 0.69 DP, considering 3 or more as acceptable. No patient has answered 1 or 2. Conclusion Our results on Portuguese version of QUIP-CS show that QUIP-CS translated and corrected version was easily understood and easily self-applied.

The best of both worlds: Building on the COPUS and RTOP observation protocols to easily and reliably measure various levels of reformed instructional practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Lund, Travis J; Pilarz, Matthew; Velasco, Jonathan B; Chakraverty, Devasmita; Rosploch, Kaitlyn; Undersander, Molly; Stains, Marilyne

2015-01-01

Researchers, university administrators, and faculty members are increasingly interested in measuring and describing instructional practices provided in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses at the college level. Specifically, there is keen interest in comparing instructional practices between courses, monitoring changes over time, and mapping observed practices to research-based teaching. While increasingly common observation protocols (Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol [RTOP] and Classroom Observation Protocol in Undergraduate STEM [COPUS]) at the postsecondary level help achieve some of these goals, they also suffer from weaknesses that limit their applicability. In this study, we leverage the strengths of these protocols to provide an easy method that enables the reliable and valid characterization of instructional practices. This method was developed empirically via a cluster analysis using observations of 269 individual class periods, corresponding to 73 different faculty members, 28 different research-intensive institutions, and various STEM disciplines. Ten clusters, called COPUS profiles, emerged from this analysis; they represent the most common types of instructional practices enacted in the classrooms observed for this study. RTOP scores were used to validate the alignment of the 10 COPUS profiles with reformed teaching. Herein, we present a detailed description of the cluster analysis method, the COPUS profiles, and the distribution of the COPUS profiles across various STEM courses at research-intensive universities. © 2015 T. J. Lund et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Yes Virginia, quantum mechanics can be understood

CERN Document Server

Wallace, John P

2017-01-01

Virginia, B. W. Wooster, and Jeeves take up physics with the hope of understanding quantum mechanics. In the process they take a rather grand tour on an old sailing ship and aid a sow in distress. On their journey they discover that physics is not as difficult a subject as they imagined. When they dismantled physics and reassembled it in a form where gravity, strong, electromagnetic and the weak forces all stem from understanding the gaming strategy known as the fair-game. That great cultural divide first expounded by the novelist C.P.Snow was found to be a mere ditch that can be stepped over. The sins of the past were violations of energy conservation and strange notions about what mass actually represents. Now mass is defined without the assistance of the Standard Model. Things will not be the same. Singularities have been banished. The electron now has a scale and is no longer captive in a point. The gluon is no longer essential along with the single virtual photon.

Evil Understood as the Absence of Freedom

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rabjerg, Bjørn

2017-01-01

Self-development is closely related to the idea of formation (or what is referred to as Bildung in German). But when speaking of formation, we have to address the question, ‘what are we formed by?’ Is the human being formed by him- or herself, or by resources originating from outside the self? Fr...

Exact Solution of the Two-Level System and the Einstein Solid in the Microcanonical Formalism

Science.gov (United States)

Bertoldi, Dalia S.; Bringa, Eduardo M.; Miranda, E. N.

2011-01-01

The two-level system and the Einstein model of a crystalline solid are taught in every course of statistical mechanics and they are solved in the microcanonical formalism because the number of accessible microstates can be easily evaluated. However, their solutions are usually presented using the Stirling approximation to deal with factorials. In…

Information Extraction with Character-level Neural Networks and Free Noisy Supervision

OpenAIRE

Meerkamp, Philipp; Zhou, Zhengyi

2016-01-01

We present an architecture for information extraction from text that augments an existing parser with a character-level neural network. The network is trained using a measure of consistency of extracted data with existing databases as a form of noisy supervision. Our architecture combines the ability of constraint-based information extraction systems to easily incorporate domain knowledge and constraints with the ability of deep neural networks to leverage large amounts of data to learn compl...

Stereotypic movement disorder: easily missed.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Roger D; Soltanifar, Atefeh; Baer, Susan

2010-08-01

To expand the understanding of stereotypic movement disorder (SMD) and its differentiation from tics and autistic stereotypies. Forty-two children (31 males, mean age 6y 3mo, SD 2y 8mo; 11 females, mean age 6y 7mo, SD 1y 9mo) consecutively diagnosed with SMD, without-self-injurious behavior, intellectual disability, sensory impairment, or an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), were assessed in a neuropsychiatry clinic. A list of probe questions on the nature of the stereotypy was administered to parents (and to children if developmentally ready). Questionnaires administered included the Stereotypy Severity Scale, Short Sensory Profile, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Repetitive Behavior Scale--Revised, and the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire. The stereotyped movement patterns were directly observed and in some cases further documented by video recordings made by parents. The probe questions were used again on follow-up at a mean age of 10 years 7 months (SD 4y 4mo). Mean age at onset was 17 months. Males exceeded females by 3:1. Family history of a pattern of SMD was reported in 13 and neuropsychiatric comorbidity in 30 (attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder in 16, tics in 18, and developmental coordination disorder in 16). Obsessive-compulsive disorder occurred in only two. The Short Sensory Profile correlated with comorbidity (p<0.001), the Stereotypy Severity Scale (p=0.009), and the Repetitive Behavior Scale (p<0.001); the last correlated with the Stereotypy Severity Scale (p=0.001). Children (but not their parents) liked their movements, which were usually associated with excitement or imaginative play. Mean length of follow-up was 4 years 8 months (SD 2y 10mo). Of the 39 children followed for longer than 6 months, the behavior stopped or was gradually shaped so as to occur primarily privately in 25. Misdiagnosis was common: 26 were initially referred as tics, 10 as ASD, five as compulsions, and one as epilepsy. Co-occurring facial grimacing in 15 children and vocalization in 22 contributed to diagnostic confusion. SMD occurs in children without ASD or intellectual disability. The generally favorable clinical course is largely due to a gradual increase in private expression of the movements. Severity of the stereotypy is associated with sensory differences and psychopathology. Differentiation of SMD from tics and ASD is important to avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment.

Learning power point 2000 easily

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mon, In Su; Je, Jung Suk

2000-05-15

This book introduces power point 2000, which gives descriptions what power point is, what we can do with power point 2000, is it possible to install power point 2000 in my computer? Let's run power point, basic of power point such as new presentation, writing letter, using text box, changing font size, color and shape, catching power user, insertion of word art and creating of new file. It also deals with figure, chart, graph, making multimedia file, presentation, know-how of power point for teachers and company workers.

CVTresh: R Package for Level-Dependent Cross-Validation Thresholding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donghoh Kim

2006-04-01

Full Text Available The core of the wavelet approach to nonparametric regression is thresholding of wavelet coefficients. This paper reviews a cross-validation method for the selection of the thresholding value in wavelet shrinkage of Oh, Kim, and Lee (2006, and introduces the R package CVThresh implementing details of the calculations for the procedures. This procedure is implemented by coupling a conventional cross-validation with a fast imputation method, so that it overcomes a limitation of data length, a power of 2. It can be easily applied to the classical leave-one-out cross-validation and K-fold cross-validation. Since the procedure is computationally fast, a level-dependent cross-validation can be developed for wavelet shrinkage of data with various sparseness according to levels.

CVTresh: R Package for Level-Dependent Cross-Validation Thresholding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donghoh Kim

2006-04-01

Full Text Available The core of the wavelet approach to nonparametric regression is thresholding of wavelet coefficients. This paper reviews a cross-validation method for the selection of the thresholding value in wavelet shrinkage of Oh, Kim, and Lee (2006, and introduces the R package CVThresh implementing details of the calculations for the procedures.This procedure is implemented by coupling a conventional cross-validation with a fast imputation method, so that it overcomes a limitation of data length, a power of 2. It can be easily applied to the classical leave-one-out cross-validation and K-fold cross-validation. Since the procedure is computationally fast, a level-dependent cross-validation can be developed for wavelet shrinkage of data with various sparseness according to levels.

A large-scale, higher-level, molecular phylogenetic study of the insect order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)

Science.gov (United States)

Higher-level relationships within the Lepidoptera, and particularly within the species-rich subclade Ditrysia, are generally not well understood, although recent studies have yielded progress. 483 taxa spanning 115 of 124 families were sampled for 19 protein-coding nuclear genes. Their aligned nucle...

Ionization chamber for measurements of high-level tritium gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carstens, D.H.W.; David, W.R.

1980-01-01

The construction and calibration of a simple ionization-chamber apparatus for measurement of high level tritium gas is described. The apparatus uses an easily constructed but rugged chamber containing the unknown gas and an inexpensive digital multimeter for measuring the ion current. The equipment after calibration is suitable for measuring 0.01 to 100% tritium gas in hydrogen-helium mixes with an accuracy of a few percent. At both the high and low limits of measurements deviations from the predicted theoretical current are observed. These are briefly discussed

Computing NLTE Opacities -- Node Level Parallel Calculation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holladay, Daniel [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2015-09-11

Presentation. The goal: to produce a robust library capable of computing reasonably accurate opacities inline with the assumption of LTE relaxed (non-LTE). Near term: demonstrate acceleration of non-LTE opacity computation. Far term (if funded): connect to application codes with in-line capability and compute opacities. Study science problems. Use efficient algorithms that expose many levels of parallelism and utilize good memory access patterns for use on advanced architectures. Portability to multiple types of hardware including multicore processors, manycore processors such as KNL, GPUs, etc. Easily coupled to radiation hydrodynamics and thermal radiative transfer codes.

How Does the Choice of A-level Subjects Vary with Students' Socio-Economic Status in English State Schools?

Science.gov (United States)

Dilnot, Catherine

2016-01-01

The reasons why students from lower socio-economic groups are under-represented at high status universities are not yet entirely understood, but evidence suggests that part of the gap may be a consequence of differential choice of A-levels by social background. The Russell Group of universities has since 2011 published guidance on A-level subject…

Logic an introductory course

CERN Document Server

Newton-Smith, WH

2003-01-01

A complete introduction to logic for first-year university students with no background in logic, philosophy or mathematics. In easily understood steps it shows the mechanics of the formal analysis of arguments.

Modelling thermionic emission by using a two-level mechanical system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Battaglia, O.R.

2008-01-01

The Boltzmann factor is at the basis of a great amount of thermodynamic and statistical physics, both classical and quantum. It describes the behaviour of natural systems that exchange energy with the environment. However, why does the expression have that specific form? The Feynman Lectures on Physics justifies it heuristically by referencing to the exponential atmosphere example. Thermodynamics textbooks usually give a more or less complete explanation that mainly involves a mathematical analysis, where it is hard to see the logic flow. Moreover, the necessary mathematics is not at the level of high school or college students' preparation. Here we present an experiment and a simulation at deriving the Boltzmann factor expression and illustrating the fundamental concepts and principles of statistical mechanics. Experiments and simulations are used in order to visualise the mechanism involved; the experiments use easily available laboratory equipment, and simulations are developed in Net Logo, a software environment that, besides having a really friendly interface, allows the user to easily interact with the algorithm, as well as to modify it.

Is there an optimum level for renewable energy?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moriarty, Patrick; Honnery, Damon

2011-01-01

Because continued heavy use of fossil fuel will lead to both global climate change and resource depletion of easily accessible fuels, many researchers advocate a rapid transition to renewable energy (RE) sources. In this paper we examine whether RE can provide anywhere near the levels of primary energy forecast by various official organisations in a business-as-usual world. We find that the energy costs of energy will rise in a non-linear manner as total annual primary RE output increases. In addition, increasing levels of RE will lead to increasing levels of ecosystem maintenance energy costs per unit of primary energy output. The result is that there is an optimum level of primary energy output, in the sense that the sustainable level of energy available to the economy is maximised at that level. We further argue that this optimum occurs at levels well below the energy consumption forecasts for a few decades hence. - Highlights: → We need to shift to renewable energy for climate change and fuel depletion reasons. → We examine whether renewable energy can provide the primary energy levels forecast. → The energy costs of energy rise non-linearly with renewable energy output. → There is thus an optimum level of primary energy output. → This optimum occurs at levels well below future official energy use forecasts.

Spectroscopic study of low-lying 16N levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bardayan, Daniel W.; O'Malley, Patrick; Blackmon, Jeff C.; Chae, K.Y.; Chipps, K.; Cizewski, J.A.; Hatarik, Robert; Jones, K.L.; Kozub, R. L.; Matei, Catalin; Moazen, Brian; Nesaraja, Caroline D.; Pain, Steven D.; Paulauskas, Stanley; Peters, W.A.; Pittman, S.T.; Schmitt, Kyle; Shriner, J.F. Jr.; Smith, Michael Scott

2008-01-01

The magnitude of the 15N(n,gamma)16N reaction rate in asymptotic giant branch stars depends directly on the neutron spectroscopic factors of low-lying 16N levels. A new study of the 15N(d,p)16N reaction is reported populating the ground and first three excited states in 16N. The measured spectroscopic factors are near unity as expected from shell model calculations, resolving a long-standing discrepancy with earlier measurements that had never been confirmed or understood. Updated 15N(n,gamma)16N reaction rates are presented

Gastric volvulus through morgagni hernia: an easily overlooked emergency.

Science.gov (United States)

Sonthalia, Nikhil; Ray, Sayantan; Khanra, Dibbendhu; Saha, Avishek; Maitra, Subhasis; Saha, Manjari; Talukdar, Arunansu

2013-06-01

Intractable vomiting in an elderly patient is an emergency condition requiring prompt diagnosis and intervention. Acute gastric outlet obstruction due to gastric volvulus through Morgagni-type diaphragmatic hernia is an exceedingly rare cause of this nonspecific complaint. Our aim was to highlight that Morgagni hernia, although rare in adults, should be suspected in the appropriate clinical setting, and that a clue toward diagnosis often comes from routine chest and abdominal x-ray studies. In addition, we emphasize the atypical radiological findings and importance of emergency surgical intervention in such a case. We describe the case of a 78-year-old woman who presented to the Emergency Department with a 4-day history of intractable vomiting, and with no definitive clue to the diagnosis on examination. Her routine chest and abdomen x-ray studies suggested abnormal air-fluid level at right hemithorax, which prompted a computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and an upper gastrointestinal contrast study. Gastric volvulus through a foramen of Morgagni was diagnosed and transthoracic reduction of the contents was performed, along with repair of the defect. A symptomatic Morgagni hernia in adults, although rare, can present with a variety of symptoms ranging from nonspecific complaints of bloating and indigestion to the more severe complaint of intestinal obstruction. Gastric volvulus and obstructive features are less frequently reported as acute complications of these hernias, which need early identification and intervention. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Simulating spontaneously generated coherence in a four-level atomic system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Aijun; Gao Jinyue; Wu Jinhui; Wang Lei

2005-01-01

We study the spontaneous emission property of a four-level atomic system driven by two coherent fields. By numerical calculations in the bare state picture, we show that such interesting phenomena as extremely narrow peaks and spontaneous emission quenching can be realized, which are well understood by qualitative explanations in the partially and fully dressed state pictures. Especially, this coherently driven atomic system has two close-lying levels in the partially dressed state picture so that spontaneously generated coherence arises. Using our considered scheme it is feasible to carry out experiments based on spontaneously generated coherence because all rigorous requirements have been avoided in the bare state picture

75 FR 27010 - Joint Industry Plan; Notice of Filing of Amendment No. 21 to the Joint Self-Regulatory...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-13

... easily understood and to fix typographical and grammatical errors and the like. B. Governing or... representative from each of the following categories to be members of the Advisory Committee: (i) A broker-dealer...

The influence of social media and easily accessible online information on the aesthetic plastic surgery practice: literature review and our own experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Montemurro, Paolo; Porcnik, Ales; Hedén, Per; Otte, Maximilian

2015-04-01

Patients interested in aesthetic plastic surgery procedures increasingly seek advice on social media and rely on easily accessible online information. The investigatory goal was to determine the impact of this phenomenon on the everyday aesthetic plastic surgery practice. Five hundred consecutive patients completed a questionnaire prior to their consultation with a plastic surgeon at our clinic. A questionnaire was also completed by 128 plastic surgeons practising in 19 different countries. A literature review was performed. Almost all patients (95%) used the internet to collect information prior to consultation, for 68% of them it being their first search method. Social media were used by 46% of patients and 40% of these were strongly influenced when choosing a specific doctor. The majority of plastic surgeons (85%) thought the information found on social media could lead to unrealistic expectations. However, 45% of plastic surgeons believed that their consultations became easier after the advent of social media, 29% found them more difficult. A literature review showed a high percentage of poor quality internet websites regarding plastic surgery and an increase in use of social media among plastic surgeons. The internet and social media play an important and growing role in plastic surgery. This results in more informed patients but may create unrealistic expectations. Even if the internet provides ample information, it cannot replace the face-to-face consultation, which always should remain a detailed process, covering both risks and limitations of alternative procedures. Available literature on how social media influences the medical practice is still scarce and further research is needed. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

Level structure of 149Nd. The decay of 149Pr

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinston, J.A.; Roussille, R.; Sadler, G.; Tenten, W.; Bocquet, J.P.; Pfeiffer, B.; Warner, D.D.

1977-01-01

The decay of 149 Pr (Tsub(1/2) = 2.2 min) has been studied using the two fission product separators JOSEF and LOHENGRIN to produce the 149 Pr nucleus. A level scheme for 149 Nd has been established. The β-branching of log ft values for the excited levels were deduced from the analysis of γ-intensity balances. Furthermore, the spins and parities for most of the excited states observed were obtained from the comparison between the present work, the neutron capture results and the pick-up reactions. The positive parity levels have been described with the Nilsson model with Coriolis and ΔN = 2 interactions included. The properties of the negative parity states cannot be explained as easily; however, it has been attempted to extract the structure of the ground state and the first excited states. (orig.) [de

Seismic Level 2 PSA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dirksen, Gerben; Pellissetti, Manuel; Duncan-Whiteman, Paul

2014-01-01

For most external events, the calculation of the core damage frequency (CDF) in Level 1 PSA is sufficient to be able to show that the contribution of the event to the plant risk is negligible. However, it is not sufficient to compare the CDF due to the external event to the total plant CDF; instead the Level 1 PSA result for the event should be compared to the large early release frequency (LERF), or alternatively arguments should be given why the CDF from the external event will not contribute mostly to LERF. For seismic events in particular, it can often not be easily excluded that sequences leading to core damage would not also result in LERF. Since the confinement function is one of the most essential functions for Level 2 PSA, special care must be taken of the containment penetrations. For example systems with containment penetrations that are normally closed during operation or are designed to withstand more than the maximum containment pressure are normally screened out in the Level 2 PSA for the containment isolation function, however the possibility of LOCA in such systems due to an earthquake may nevertheless lead to containment bypass. Additionally, the functionality of passive features may be compromised in case of a beyond design earthquake. In the present paper, we present crucial ingredients of a methodology for a Level 2 seismic PSA. This methodology consists of the following steps: Extension of the seismic equipment list (SEL) to include Level 2 PSA relevant systems (e.g. containment isolation system, features for core melt stabilization, hydrogen mitigation systems), Determination of the systems within the existing SEL with increased demands in case of severe accidents, Determination of essential components for which a dedicated fragility analysis needs to be performed. (author)

32 CFR 310.15 - General considerations.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

..., or other methods). The Privacy Act Statement consists of the elements set forth in paragraph (d)(2)of... easily understood. (4) The Privacy Act statement may appear as a public notice (sign or poster...

Geometric analysis of an observer on a spherical earth and an aircraft or satellite

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-30

This memorandum contains a large amount of technical detail. However, in significant contrast, : it addresses an easily-understood and fundamental need in surveillance and navigation systems : analysis quantifying the geometry of two locations re...

Elevated systemic galectin-1 levels characterize HELLP syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Schnabel, Annegret; Blois, Sandra M; Meint, Peter; Freitag, Nancy; Ernst, Wolfgang; Barrientos, Gabriela; Conrad, Melanie L; Rose, Matthias; Seelbach-Göbel, Birgit

2016-04-01

Galectin-1 (gal-1), a member of a family of conserved β-galactoside-binding proteins, has been shown to exert a key role during gestation. Though gal-1 is expressed at higher levels in the placenta from HELLP patients, it is still poorly understood whether systemic gal-1 levels also differ in HELLP patients. In the present study, we evaluated the systemic expression of gal-1, together with the angiogenic factors, placental growth factor (PlGF) and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) in conjunction with HELLP syndrome severity. Systemic levels of gal-1 and sFlt-1 were elevated in patients with both early- and late-onset HELLP syndrome as compared to healthy controls. In contrast, peripheral PlGF levels were decreased in early- and late-onset HELLP. A positive correlation between systemic gal-1 levels and sFlt-1/PlGF ratios was found in early onset HELLP patients. Our results show that HELLP syndrome is associated with increased circulating levels of gal-1; integrating systemic gal-1 measurements into the diagnostic analyses of pregnant women may provide more effective prediction of HELLP syndrome development. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hair cortisol levels as a retrospective marker of hypothalamic-pituitary axis activity throughout pregnancy: Comparison to salivary cortisol

OpenAIRE

D’Anna-Hernandez, Kimberly L.; Ross, Randal G.; Natvig, Crystal L.; Laudenslager, Mark L.

2011-01-01

Maternal stress during pregnancy is associated with negative maternal/child outcomes. One potential biomarker of the maternal stress response is cortisol, a product of activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. This study evaluated cortisol levels in hair throughout pregnancy as a marker of total cortisol release. Cortisol levels in hair have been shown to be easily quantifiable and may be representative of total cortisol release more than single saliva or serum measures. Hair corti...

Core-level satellites and outer core-level multiplet splitting in Mn model compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, A. J.; Reynolds, John G.; Roos, Joseph W.

2000-01-01

We report a systematic study of the Mn 2p, 3s, and 3p core-level photoemission and satellite structures for Mn model compounds. Charge transfer from the ligand state to the 3d metal state is observed and is distinguished by prominent shake-up satellites. We also observe that the Mn 3s multiplet splitting becomes smaller as the Mn oxidation state increases, and that 3s-3d electron correlation reduces the branching ratio of the 7 S: 5 S states in the Mn 3s spectra. In addition, as the ligand electronegativity decreases, the spin-state purity is lost in the 3s spectra, as evidenced by peak broadening. Our results are best understood in terms of the configuration-interaction model including intrashell electron correlation, charge transfer, and final-state screening. (c) 2000 American Vacuum Society

Can rare SAT formulae be easily recognized? On the efficiency of message-passing algorithms for K-SAT at large clause-to-variable ratios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altarelli, Fabrizio; Monasson, Remi; Zamponi, Francesco

2007-01-01

For large clause-to-variable ratios, typical K-SAT instances drawn from the uniform distribution have no solution. We argue, based on statistical mechanics calculations using the replica and cavity methods, that rare satisfiable instances from the uniform distribution are very similar to typical instances drawn from the so-called planted distribution, where instances are chosen uniformly between the ones that admit a given solution. It then follows, from a recent article by Feige, Mossel and Vilenchik (2006 Complete convergence of message passing algorithms for some satisfiability problems Proc. Random 2006 pp 339-50), that these rare instances can be easily recognized (in O(log N) time and with probability close to 1) by a simple message-passing algorithm

The way I understood it, it wasn’t meant to be understood – when 6th grade reads Franz Kafka

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Martin Blok

2017-01-01

In recent years, literacy problematics and different concepts (Cooperative Learning, Learning Styles) have taken up much of the school’s literature teaching. It has pushed discussions of the professional content into the background. This article takes up the content discussion for renewed debate......, but now also with the aim of discussing the literary texts one can present to children in school. The research questions posed are: Which texts can justifiably be presented to children as part of teaching in school? What will happen if 10 to 12-year-old Danish school pupils are presented with classical...... starting point in three concepts rooted in theory, i.e. unpredictability, defamiliarization and entitlement, which are subsequently used to get to grips with the empirical part of the study. The article does not attempt to depict a hard-and-fast picture of all children being equally enthusiastic about...

Transport and diffusion of material quantities on propagating interfaces via level set methods

CERN Document Server

Adalsteinsson, D

2003-01-01

We develop theory and numerical algorithms to apply level set methods to problems involving the transport and diffusion of material quantities in a level set framework. Level set methods are computational techniques for tracking moving interfaces; they work by embedding the propagating interface as the zero level set of a higher dimensional function, and then approximate the solution of the resulting initial value partial differential equation using upwind finite difference schemes. The traditional level set method works in the trace space of the evolving interface, and hence disregards any parameterization in the interface description. Consequently, material quantities on the interface which themselves are transported under the interface motion are not easily handled in this framework. We develop model equations and algorithmic techniques to extend the level set method to include these problems. We demonstrate the accuracy of our approach through a series of test examples and convergence studies.

Transport and diffusion of material quantities on propagating interfaces via level set methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adalsteinsson, David; Sethian, J.A.

2003-01-01

We develop theory and numerical algorithms to apply level set methods to problems involving the transport and diffusion of material quantities in a level set framework. Level set methods are computational techniques for tracking moving interfaces; they work by embedding the propagating interface as the zero level set of a higher dimensional function, and then approximate the solution of the resulting initial value partial differential equation using upwind finite difference schemes. The traditional level set method works in the trace space of the evolving interface, and hence disregards any parameterization in the interface description. Consequently, material quantities on the interface which themselves are transported under the interface motion are not easily handled in this framework. We develop model equations and algorithmic techniques to extend the level set method to include these problems. We demonstrate the accuracy of our approach through a series of test examples and convergence studies

Serum adiponectin levels in gestational diabetes mellitus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abhijit Bhograj

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM is defined as any degree of glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy.[1] Pregnancy is a unique situation in which there is a physiological temporary increase in insulin resistance (IR. The mechanisms responsible for the gestational-induced IR are not completely understood. The current study was undertaken to compare adiponectin levels during 24–28 weeks period of gestation in drug-naive newly diagnosed GDM women with a cohort of normoglycemic pregnant women. Subjects and Methods: A total of 47 pregnant women in the age group of 18–40 years were included in this cross-sectional study, of which 13 were GDM cases and 34 were normoglycemic controls. Serum adiponectin level was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The mean adiponectin level was 16.92 ng/ml (standard deviation [SD] = 2.78 and 19.38 ng/ml (SD = 2.71 in case and control groups, respectively, and the difference was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.008. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated decreased serum adiponectin levels in women with GDM when compared with age- and body mass index-matched euglycemic pregnant women.

Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia From a Levels of Explanation Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hugdahl, Kenneth; Sommer, Iris E

2018-02-15

In the present article, we present a "Levels of Explanation" (LoE) approach to auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in schizophrenia. Mental phenomena can be understood at different levels of explanation, including cultural, clinical, cognitive, brain imaging, cellular, and molecular levels. Current research on AVHs is characterized by accumulation of data at all levels, but with little or no interaction of findings between levels. A second advantage with a Levels of Explanation approach is that it fosters interdisciplinarity and collaboration across traditional borders, facilitating a real breakthrough in future research. We exemplify a Levels of Explanation approach with data from 3 levels where findings at 1 level provide predictions for another level. More specifically, we show how functional neuroimaging data at the brain level correspond with behavioral data at the cognitive level, and how data at these 2 levels correspond with recent findings of changes in neurotransmitter function at the cellular level. We further discuss implications for new therapeutic interventions, and the article is ended by suggestion how future research could incorporate genetic influences on AVHs at the molecular level of explanation by providing examples for animal work.

SiC-C Composite as A Highly Stable and Easily Regenerable Photothermal Material for Practical Water Evaporation

KAUST Repository

Shi, Le

2018-05-26

Solar-driven water distillation by photothermal materials is emerging as a promising way of renewable energy-driven clean water production. In designing photothermal materials, light absorption, photo-to-thermal conversion efficiency, and ability to localize thermal energy at the water-air interface are three important considerations. However, one additional consideration, regenerability, has so far slipped out of the photothermal material designs at status quo. This work reveals that there is a fouling layer formed during photothermal evaporation of real seawater (Red Sea water) and domestic wastewater, which once formed, would be difficult to remove. Herein, we synthesize a SiC-C composite monolith as an effective photothermal material where carbon acts as photothermal component and SiC serves as a heat conductor and strong structural support. The high mechanical strength of the monolithic composite makes it able to withstand repeatedly high strength physical cleaning by brush scrubbing and sonication and the anti-carbon-loss mechanism generates zero carbon loss during the physical cleaning. In the case of the domestic wastewater evaporation, the bio- and organic foulants on the SiC-C composite monolith can be totally removed by annealing at 1000 oC in N2 atmosphere. We believe that the SiC-C composite monoliths are promising photothermal materials in practical solar-driven water evaporation applications thanks to their highly stable and easily regenerable properties and therefore more research efforts are warranted to further improve their performances.

BokSmart: Pre-participation screening of rugby players by coaches ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

sion sport such as rugby, using easily understood questions that cast the screening net wide .... at the time of questioning should preclude him or her from training .... tion statement on the management of sports-related concussion. Journal.

Influence of easily ionised elements on the delayed responses of the emission intensities of an analyte in a power modulated U-shaped argon stabilised DC arc plasma with an aerosol supply

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MIROSLAV KUZMANOVIC

2005-09-01

Full Text Available The current of a U-shaped argon stabilised DC arc was square modulated with a 40 Hz repetition frequency between 6 and 3 A. The delayed line intensity responses to the modulation of the arc current were investigated using calcium as a representative analyte. The intensities of both the atomic and ionic lines were monitored at different distances from the arc axis in the presence of various concentrations of the easily ionised element. Temporal evolutions were monitored on a millisecond time scale. It was found that the responses of the line intesity to the arc current change strongly depended on the observed radial position, especially in the vicinity of the arc axis. The obtained results showed a significant influence of even small amounts of the easily ionised element on the excitation and transport of the analyte and indicated a way of possibly improving the analytical capabilities of the excitation source.

Technical impacts of high penetration levels of wind power on power system stability

OpenAIRE

Flynn, Damian; Rather, Z.; Ardal, Atle; Darco, Salvatore; Hansen, Anca Daniela; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio; Sørensen, Poul Ejnar; Estanqueiro, Ana; Gomez, Emilio; Menemenlis, Nickie; Smith, Charlie; Wang, Ye

2017-01-01

With increasing penetrations of wind generation, based on power-electronic converters, power systems are transitioning away from well-understood synchronous generator-based systems, with growing implications for their stability. Issues of concern will vary with system size, wind penetration level, geographical distribution and turbine type, network topology, electricity market structure, unit commitment procedures, and other factors. However, variable-speed wind turbines, both onshore and con...

Experimental nuclear level densities and γ-ray strength functions in Sc and V isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larsen, A. C.; Guttormsen, M.; Ingebretsen, F.; Messelt, S.; Rekstad, J.; Siem, S.; Syed, N. U. H.; Chankova, R.; Loennroth, T.; Schiller, A.; Voinov, A.

2008-01-01

The nuclear physics group at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory has developed a method to extract nuclear level density and γ-ray strength function from first-generation γ-ray spectra. This method is applied on the nuclei 44,45 Sc and 50,51 V in this work. The experimental level densities of 44,45 Sc are compared to calculated level densities using a microscopic model based on BCS quasiparticles within the Nilsson level scheme. The γ-ray strength functions are also compared to theoretical expectations, showing an unexpected enhancement of the γ-ray strength for low γ energies (E γ ≤3 MeV) in all the isotopes studied here. The physical origin of this enhancement is not yet understood

Vulnerability and adaptation of European farmer: a multi-level analysis of yield and income responses to climate variability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reidsma, P.; Ewert, F.; Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.; Leemans, R.

2009-01-01

Climate change will affect crop yields and consequently farmers¿ income. The underlying relationships are not well understood, particularly the importance of crop management and related factors at the farm and regional level. We analyze the impacts of trends and variability in climatic conditions

Exploring the potential of a multi-level approach to improve capability for continuous organizational improvement and learning in a Swedish healthcare region.

Science.gov (United States)

Nyström, M E; Höög, E; Garvare, R; Andersson Bäck, M; Terris, D D; Hansson, J

2018-05-24

Eldercare and care of people with functional impairments is organized by the municipalities in Sweden. Improving care in these areas is complex, with multiple stakeholders and organizations. Appropriate strategies to develop capability for continuing organizational improvement and learning (COIL) are needed. The purpose of our study was to develop and pilot-test a flexible, multilevel approach for COIL capability building and to identify what it takes to achieve changes in key actors' approaches to COIL. The approach, named "Sustainable Improvement and Development through Strategic and Systematic Approaches" (SIDSSA), was applied through an action-research and action-learning intervention. The SIDSSA approach was tested in a regional research and development (R&D) unit, and in two municipalities handling care of the elderly and people with functional impairments. Our approach included a multilevel strategy, development loops of five flexible phases, and an action-learning loop. The approach was designed to support systems understanding, strategic focus, methodological practices, and change process knowledge - all of which required double-loop learning. Multiple qualitative methods, i.e., repeated interviews, process diaries, and documents, provided data for conventional content analyses. The new approach was successfully tested on all cases and adopted and sustained by the R&D unit. Participants reported new insights and skills. The development loop facilitated a sense of coherence and control during uncertainty, improved planning and problem analysis, enhanced mapping of context and conditions, and supported problem-solving at both the individual and unit levels. The systems-level view and structured approach helped participants to explain, motivate, and implement change initiatives, especially after working more systematically with mapping, analyses, and goal setting. An easily understood and generalizable model internalized by key organizational actors is an

A Framework for Designing a Healthcare Outcome Data Warehouse

Science.gov (United States)

Parmanto, Bambang; Scotch, Matthew; Ahmad, Sjarif

2005-01-01

Many healthcare processes involve a series of patient visits or a series of outcomes. The modeling of outcomes associated with these types of healthcare processes is different from and not as well understood as the modeling of standard industry environments. For this reason, the typical multidimensional data warehouse designs that are frequently seen in other industries are often not a good match for data obtained from healthcare processes. Dimensional modeling is a data warehouse design technique that uses a data structure similar to the easily understood entity-relationship (ER) model but is sophisticated in that it supports high-performance data access. In the context of rehabilitation services, we implemented a slight variation of the dimensional modeling technique to make a data warehouse more appropriate for healthcare. One of the key aspects of designing a healthcare data warehouse is finding the right grain (scope) for different levels of analysis. We propose three levels of grain that enable the analysis of healthcare outcomes from highly summarized reports on episodes of care to fine-grained studies of progress from one treatment visit to the next. These grains allow the database to support multiple levels of analysis, which is imperative for healthcare decision making. PMID:18066371

A framework for designing a healthcare outcome data warehouse.

Science.gov (United States)

Parmanto, Bambang; Scotch, Matthew; Ahmad, Sjarif

2005-09-06

Many healthcare processes involve a series of patient visits or a series of outcomes. The modeling of outcomes associated with these types of healthcare processes is different from and not as well understood as the modeling of standard industry environments. For this reason, the typical multidimensional data warehouse designs that are frequently seen in other industries are often not a good match for data obtained from healthcare processes. Dimensional modeling is a data warehouse design technique that uses a data structure similar to the easily understood entity-relationship (ER) model but is sophisticated in that it supports high-performance data access. In the context of rehabilitation services, we implemented a slight variation of the dimensional modeling technique to make a data warehouse more appropriate for healthcare. One of the key aspects of designing a healthcare data warehouse is finding the right grain (scope) for different levels of analysis. We propose three levels of grain that enable the analysis of healthcare outcomes from highly summarized reports on episodes of care to fine-grained studies of progress from one treatment visit to the next. These grains allow the database to support multiple levels of analysis, which is imperative for healthcare decision making.

Consequences of phonological ability for intelligibility of speech in youngsters with cleft palate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Willadsen, Elisabeth; Poulsen, Mads

  In a previous Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT) including children with unilateral cleft lip and palate, it was found that children who had the entire palate closed by 12 months of age had almost as good phonological abilities as a control group, whereas a group of children with a residual cleft...... groups. Based on a pilot study a difference between the groups was observed, suggesting that control children were most easily understood, followed by children with closed palates who were more easily understood than children with a residual cleft....... in the hard palate performed significantly worse at 3 years of age (Willadsen, in press). To investigate the influence of phonological ability on intelligibility of speech in 14 children from each of the 3 groups, an investigation including 84 lay listeners was conducted. The lay listeners were presented...

Mesoscopic structure conditions the emergence of cooperation on social networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergi Lozano

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: We study the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma on two social networks substrates obtained from actual relational data. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We find very different cooperation levels on each of them that cannot be easily understood in terms of global statistical properties of both networks. We claim that the result can be understood at the mesoscopic scale, by studying the community structure of the networks. We explain the dependence of the cooperation level on the temptation parameter in terms of the internal structure of the communities and their interconnections. We then test our results on community-structured, specifically designed artificial networks, finding a good agreement with the observations in both real substrates. CONCLUSION: Our results support the conclusion that studies of evolutionary games on model networks and their interpretation in terms of global properties may not be sufficient to study specific, real social systems. Further, the study allows us to define new quantitative parameters that summarize the mesoscopic structure of any network. In addition, the community perspective may be helpful to interpret the origin and behavior of existing networks as well as to design structures that show resilient cooperative behavior.

Mesoscopic structure conditions the emergence of cooperation on social networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lozano, S.; Arenas, A.; Sanchez, A.

2008-12-01

We study the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma on two social networks substrates obtained from actual relational data. We find very different cooperation levels on each of them that cannot be easily understood in terms of global statistical properties of both networks. We claim that the result can be understood at the mesoscopic scale, by studying the community structure of the networks. We explain the dependence of the cooperation level on the temptation parameter in terms of the internal structure of the communities and their interconnections. We then test our results on community-structured, specifically designed artificial networks, finding a good agreement with the observations in both real substrates. Our results support the conclusion that studies of evolutionary games on model networks and their interpretation in terms of global properties may not be sufficient to study specific, real social systems. Further, the study allows us to define new quantitative parameters that summarize the mesoscopic structure of any network. In addition, the community perspective may be helpful to interpret the origin and behavior of existing networks as well as to design structures that show resilient cooperative behavior.

The Usability Of Bridge-A Course Book Of Intermediate Practical Chinese At Chinese Department Binus University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fu Ruomei

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This article discusses about the usability of Bridge-A Course Book of Intermediate Practical Chinese at Chinese Department BINUS University. Based on research, lecturers and students agree that this book has fulfilled the requirements as classroom textbook for Intermediate level including grammar, vocabulary and reading text. However, some materials cannot be easily understood due to cultural differences. Therefore, in order to get the most out of the book, teachers are expected to explain vocabularies in its specific context and background, and select appropriate reading text that relates to Indonesian values such as religion and culture.

Equilibrium shoreface profiles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard, Troels; Hughes, Michael G

2017-01-01

Large-scale coastal behaviour models use the shoreface profile of equilibrium as a fundamental morphological unit that is translated in space to simulate coastal response to, for example, sea level oscillations and variability in sediment supply. Despite a longstanding focus on the shoreface...... profile and its relevance to predicting coastal response to changing environmental conditions, the processes and dynamics involved in shoreface equilibrium are still not fully understood. Here, we apply a process-based empirical sediment transport model, combined with morphodynamic principles to provide......; there is no tuning or calibration and computation times are short. It is therefore easily implemented with repeated iterations to manage uncertainty....

Making NASA Earth Observing System Satellite Data Accessible to the K-12 and Citizen Scientist Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Susan W.; Phelps, Carrie S.; Chambers, Lin H.

2004-01-01

The Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (ASDC) at NASA s Langley Research Center houses over 700 data sets related to Earth s radiation budget, clouds, aerosols and tropospheric chemistry. These data sets are produced to increase academic understanding of the natural and anthropogenic perturbations that influence global climate change. The Mentoring and inquirY using NASA Data on Atmospheric and earth science for Teachers and Amateurs (MY NASA DATA) project has been established to systematically support educational activities at all levels of formal and informal education by reducing these large data holdings to microsets that will be easily explored and understood by the K-12 and the amateur scientist communities

Levels and patterns of internal migration in Europe: A cohort perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernard, Aude

2017-11-01

Europe displays important variations in the level of internal migration, with a clear spatial gradient of high mobility in northern and western Europe but lower mobility in the south and east. However, cross-national variation in levels of internal migration remains poorly understood, because it is analysed almost exclusively using cross-sectional data and period measures. This paper seeks to advance understanding of cross-national variation in migration levels in 14 European countries by drawing on a recently proposed suite of migration cohort measures, coupled with internationally comparable retrospective residential histories. It shows that differences in migration levels are mainly attributable to variation in the extent of repeat movement, which is underpinned by the differences in mean ages at first and last move that together delineate the average length of migration careers. Cohort analysis provides a robust foundation for exploring the demographic mechanisms underpinning variation in migration levels across countries and over time.

Decreased Stress Levels in Nurses: A Benefit of Quiet Time.

Science.gov (United States)

Riemer, Heather C; Mates, Joanna; Ryan, Linda; Schleder, Bonnie J

2015-09-01

The benefits of quiet time, a therapeutic method of improving the health care environment, have been evaluated in patients, but only a few studies have examined the effects of quiet time on intensive care nurses. To evaluate the effects of implementing quiet time in a medical-surgical intensive care unit on levels of light, noise, and nurses' stress. Quiet time consisted of turning down the unit lights for a designated time. Levels of light, noise, and nurses' stress were measured. Nurses' stress levels were measured by using a 100-point visual analog scale; unit noise, by using a digital sound level meter (model 407736, Extech Instruments); and unit light, by using an illumination light meter (model 615, Huygen Corporation). Measurements were obtained 30 minutes before and 30 minutes, 1 hour, and 2 hours after implementation of quiet time. Analysis of variance and comparisons of means indicated that both light levels and nurses' stress levels were significantly decreased after quiet time (both P quiet time, but the decrease was not significant (P = .08). Use of quiet time resulted in decreased light levels and decreased stress levels among nurses. Quiet time is an easily performed energy-saving intervention to promote a healthy work environment. ©2015 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

Importance of measuring lactate levels in children with sepsis.

Science.gov (United States)

Anil, Nisha

2017-10-10

Sepsis is a major public health problem as well as one of the leading causes of preventable death in children because of failure to recognise the early signs and symptoms and to resuscitate rapidly. Blood lactate levels are used to assess the severity of sepsis and the effectiveness of resuscitation. Lactate levels are easily obtainable and should be checked in all patients admitted with suspected sepsis within six hours of presentation. The test should be repeated four and eight-hours post-diagnosis of sepsis. For the diagnosis of sepsis, patients' clinical symptoms, along with the combined analysis of partial pressure of oxygen, carbon dioxide and lactate levels, should be used. A multitude of factors can cause elevated lactate levels and so clinicians should use elevated levels cautiously by considering all other aetiologies. This article, which focuses on practice in Australia but makes reference to the UK, discusses the importance of measuring lactate levels in sepsis, the pathophysiology of lactate production, causes of elevated lactate levels, lactate measurement, nursing management of patients with elevated lactate levels, limitations of using lactate as a biomarker for diagnosing sepsis and implications for practice. ©2012 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

Design of a store for encapsulated intermediate level radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lloyd, A.I.; Robinson, G.; Price, M.S.T.

1989-01-01

The design of a new store for cemented intermediate level radioactive waste produced in unshielded 500 litre drums from the Winfrith Radwaste Treatment Plant is described. The store design has had to take account of local site constraints and disposal uncertainties. As a result, an innovative above ground storage tube design using interlocking, commercially available, concrete pipe rings has been selected. Other special features are that the store is easily capable of being extended whilst in service and is simple and cheap to decommission. A quality assessment facility for the drummed waste is an integral part of the store complex. (author)

Learning Outcomes of 'Understanding Research' as understood by ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Simon Bhekumuzi

vision) for using Turnitin as a deterrent, in order to help learners to learn in the process. .... such as the American Psychological Association. (APA) ..... from other people. ..... and enduring concerns (2nd ed). ... Generations: The history of.

Learning Outcomes of 'Understanding Research' as understood by ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Simon Bhekumuzi

2015-11-23

Nov 23, 2015 ... Can Turnitin come to the rescue: From teachers' reflections? Simon Bheki Khoza ... In South Africa, however, there are very few schools that expose teachers to Turnitin in order to ... Turnitin program by John M. Barrie, when he was a graduate ... Questions. This article intended to explore and explain teach-.

Modular Multi-level converter based HVDC System for Grid Connection of Offshore Wind Power Plant

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gnanarathna, U.N.; Chaudhary, Sanjay Kumar; Gole, A.M.

2010-01-01

This paper explores the application of modular multi-level converters (MMC) as a means for harnessing the power from off-shore wind power plants. The MMC consists of a large number of simple voltage sourced converter (VSC) submodules that can be easily assembled into a converter for high......-voltage and high power. The paper shows that the MMC converter has a fast response and low harmonic content in comparison with a two-level VSC option. The paper discusses the modeling approach used, including a solution to the modeling challenge imposed by the very large number of switching devices in the MMC....

Network identification of hormonal regulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vis, D.J.; Westerhuis, J.A.; Hoefsloot, H.C.J.; Roelfsema, F.; Greef, J. van der; Hendriks, M.M.W.B.; Smilde, A.K.

2014-01-01

Relations among hormone serum concentrations are complex and depend on various factors, including gender, age, body mass index, diurnal rhythms and secretion stochastics. Therefore, endocrine deviations from healthy homeostasis are not easily detected or understood. A generic method is presented for

Significance and value of non.traded ecosystem services on farmland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sandhu, Harpinder; Wratten, Steve; Costanza, Robert

2015-01-01

peas (Pisum sativum), beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and wheat (Triticum aestivum). Organic systems were chosen as comparators not because they are the only forms of sustainable agriculture, but because they are subject to easily understood standards. Results. We found...

How visual cognition influences process model comprehension

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Petrusel, Razvan; Mendling, Jan; Reijers, Hajo A.

2017-01-01

Process analysts and other professionals extensively use process models to analyze business processes and identify performance improvement opportunities. Therefore, it is important that such models can be easily and properly understood. Previous research has mainly focused on two types of factors

Co-evolution of technology and society: The multi-level perspective and a case study, the transition in water supply and personal hygiene in the Netherlands (1850-1930)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geels, F.W.

2005-01-01

This article deals with the systems level in Freeman and Perez's innovation typology (incremental, radical, system, techno-economic paradigm). Transitions at this level are understood as changes from one socio-technical system to another, involving co-evolution of technology and society. To

Technetium Chemistry in High-Level Waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hess, Nancy J.

2006-01-01

Tc contamination is found within the DOE complex at those sites whose mission involved extraction of plutonium from irradiated uranium fuel or isotopic enrichment of uranium. At the Hanford Site, chemical separations and extraction processes generated large amounts of high level and transuranic wastes that are currently stored in underground tanks. The waste from these extraction processes is currently stored in underground High Level Waste (HLW) tanks. However, the chemistry of the HLW in any given tank is greatly complicated by repeated efforts to reduce volume and recover isotopes. These processes ultimately resulted in mixing of waste streams from different processes. As a result, the chemistry and the fate of Tc in HLW tanks are not well understood. This lack of understanding has been made evident in the failed efforts to leach Tc from sludge and to remove Tc from supernatants prior to immobilization. Although recent interest in Tc chemistry has shifted from pretreatment chemistry to waste residuals, both needs are served by a fundamental understanding of Tc chemistry

Frontiers of controlling energy levels at interfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Norbert

The alignment of electron energy levels at interfaces between semiconductors, dielectrics, and electrodes determines the function and efficiency of all electronic and optoelectronic devices. Reliable guidelines for predicting the level alignment for a given material combination and methods to adjust the intrinsic energy landscape are needed to enable efficient engineering approaches. These are sufficiently understood for established electronic materials, e.g., Si, but for the increasing number of emerging materials, e.g., organic and 2D semiconductors, perovskites, this is work in progress. The intrinsic level alignment and the underlying mechanisms at interfaces between organic and inorganic semiconductors are discussed first. Next, methods to alter the level alignment are introduced, which all base on proper charge density rearrangement at a heterojunction. As interface modification agents we use molecular electron acceptors and donors, as well as molecular photochromic switches that add a dynamic aspect and allow device multifunctionality. For 2D semiconductors surface transfer doping with molecular acceptors/donors transpires as viable method to locally tune the Fermi-level position in the energy gap. The fundamental electronic properties of a prototypical 1D interface between intrinsic and p-doped 2D semiconductor regions are derived from local (scanning probe) and area-averaged (photoemission) spectroscopy experiments. Future research opportunities for attaining unsurpassed interface control through charge density management are discussed.

Christian Democracy at the Local Level in the Post-dictatorship Era: Political Practices and Clientele Relations in a Chilean Comuna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Luján Verón

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This work analyses the interactions between the population of a Chilean comuna and two local authorities of the Christian Democrat Party: a former mayor and current municipal councillor. Through a diachronic analysis including in-depth interviews and political ethnography we analyse how concepts and practices around the exercise of politics are understood by these politicians and analyse ow they interact with the local population. We analyse how notions about politics, loyalty and the proper behaviour of an elected official are understood. Through the issues analysed we provoke the reader to rethink ‘clientelism’ and its role in everyday life and in state building at the local level.

Revitalizing Space Operations through Total Quality Management

Science.gov (United States)

Baylis, William T.

1995-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to show the reader what total quality management (TQM) is and how to apply TQM in the space systems and management arena. TQM is easily understood, can be implemented in any type of business organization, and works.

Consumer driven supply chains: the case of Dutch organic tomato

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anastasiadis, F.; Dam, van Y.K.

2014-01-01

Supply chain management refers to the efficient integration of various processes involved in turning resources into consumer products. Effectiveness of the supply chain is more easily understood in terms of Value Chain Management, and the integration of processes that turn resources into consumer

Scalable group level probabilistic sparse factor analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hinrich, Jesper Løve; Nielsen, Søren Føns Vind; Riis, Nicolai Andre Brogaard

2017-01-01

Many data-driven approaches exist to extract neural representations of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, but most of them lack a proper probabilistic formulation. We propose a scalable group level probabilistic sparse factor analysis (psFA) allowing spatially sparse maps, component...... pruning using automatic relevance determination (ARD) and subject specific heteroscedastic spatial noise modeling. For task-based and resting state fMRI, we show that the sparsity constraint gives rise to components similar to those obtained by group independent component analysis. The noise modeling...... shows that noise is reduced in areas typically associated with activation by the experimental design. The psFA model identifies sparse components and the probabilistic setting provides a natural way to handle parameter uncertainties. The variational Bayesian framework easily extends to more complex...

Evaluating changes to reservoir rule curves using historical water-level data

Science.gov (United States)

Mower, Ethan; Miranda, Leandro E.

2013-01-01

Flood control reservoirs are typically managed through rule curves (i.e. target water levels) which control the storage and release timing of flood waters. Changes to rule curves are often contemplated and requested by various user groups and management agencies with no information available about the actual flood risk of such requests. Methods of estimating flood risk in reservoirs are not easily available to those unfamiliar with hydrological models that track water movement through a river basin. We developed a quantile regression model that uses readily available daily water-level data to estimate risk of spilling. Our model provided a relatively simple process for estimating the maximum applicable water level under a specific flood risk for any day of the year. This water level represents an upper-limit umbrella under which water levels can be operated in a variety of ways. Our model allows the visualization of water-level management under a user-specified flood risk and provides a framework for incorporating the effect of a changing environment on water-level management in reservoirs, but is not designed to replace existing hydrological models. The model can improve communication and collaboration among agencies responsible for managing natural resources dependent on reservoir water levels.

Differential metabolite levels in response to spawning-induced inappetence in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.

Science.gov (United States)

Cipriano, Rocco C; Smith, McKenzie L; Vermeersch, Kathleen A; Dove, Alistair D M; Styczynski, Mark P

2015-03-01

Atlantic salmon Salmo salar undergo months-long inappetence during spawning, but it is not known whether this inappetence is a pathological state or one for which the fish are adapted. Recent work has shown that inappetent whale sharks can exhibit circulating metabolite profiles similar to ketosis known to occur in humans during starvation. In this work, metabolite profiling was used to explore differences in analyte profiles between a cohort of inappetent spawning run Atlantic salmon and captively reared animals that were fed up to and through the time of sampling. The two classes of animals were easily distinguished by their metabolite profiles. The sea-run fish had elevated ɷ-9 fatty acids relative to the domestic feeding animals, while other fatty acid concentrations were reduced. Sugar alcohols were generally elevated in inappetent animals, suggesting potentially novel metabolic responses or pathways in fish that feature these compounds. Compounds expected to indicate a pathological catabolic state were not more abundant in the sea-run fish, suggesting that the animals, while inappetent, were not stressed in an unnatural way. These findings demonstrate the power of discovery-based metabolomics for exploring biochemistry in poorly understood animal models. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Basic experiment on scattering type level gauge using neutron source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumazaki, Hiroshi; Fukuchi, Ryoichi; Horiguchi, Yasuhiro

1984-01-01

The level gauges using sealed radiation sources have been utilized for pulp and chemical industries, however, for those gauges, transmission type gamma sources are used, which require considerably large radioactivity, and it hinders the spread to medium and small enterprises. Recently, Cf-252 has become easily available, and various He-3 counters are on the market, consequently, the scattering type level gauges combining them have been examined. With the level gauges of this type, the judgement of level can be made sufficiently with the Cf-252 below 3.7 x 10 6 Bq, therefore, if the practical instruments are made, they seem to spread into medium and small enterprises because of the safety and the chief handling radiation being unnecessary. For the purpose of developing and manufacturing for trial this scattering type level gauge, the basic experiment was carried out to examine the effects of the change of salt content and the thickness of vessels and the effect of scattering materials. The possibility of the on-off operation as level gauges was also examined. The experimental method and the results are reported. The count considerably decreased with increasing salt content. Scattering materials worked effectively to increase the count. (Kako, I.)

Insights on the Field of Geography Education from a Review of Master's Level Practitioner Research

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Clare

2018-01-01

In this paper, I report on a review of over 400 master's level dissertations in geography education completed since 1968 at the UCL Institute of Education, London. The aim of this review is to understand how the field of geography education has been understood and problematised by practitioners within the field. Unlike the Road Map Report on…

Energy level diagrams for black hole orbits

Science.gov (United States)

Levin, Janna

2009-12-01

A spinning black hole with a much smaller black hole companion forms a fundamental gravitational system, like a colossal classical analog to an atom. In an appealing if imperfect analogy with atomic physics, this gravitational atom can be understood through a discrete spectrum of periodic orbits. Exploiting a correspondence between the set of periodic orbits and the set of rational numbers, we are able to construct periodic tables of orbits and energy level diagrams of the accessible states around black holes. We also present a closed-form expression for the rational q, thereby quantifying zoom-whirl behavior in terms of spin, energy and angular momentum. The black hole atom is not just a theoretical construct, but corresponds to extant astrophysical systems detectable by future gravitational wave observatories.

Energy level diagrams for black hole orbits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levin, Janna

2009-01-01

A spinning black hole with a much smaller black hole companion forms a fundamental gravitational system, like a colossal classical analog to an atom. In an appealing if imperfect analogy with atomic physics, this gravitational atom can be understood through a discrete spectrum of periodic orbits. Exploiting a correspondence between the set of periodic orbits and the set of rational numbers, we are able to construct periodic tables of orbits and energy level diagrams of the accessible states around black holes. We also present a closed-form expression for the rational q, thereby quantifying zoom-whirl behavior in terms of spin, energy and angular momentum. The black hole atom is not just a theoretical construct, but corresponds to extant astrophysical systems detectable by future gravitational wave observatories.

Apparatus Notes.

Science.gov (United States)

Eaton, Bruce G., Ed.

1981-01-01

Describes an intelligent lightbulb, an optelectric feedback circuit which bridges the conceptual gap between manual and all-electric servos. The circuit is simple and easily understood in dc terms. Also describes a device for demonstrating wave motion constructed with plastic soda straws. (Author/SK)

Kurtosis: A Forgotten Moment

Science.gov (United States)

McAlevey, Lynn G.; Stent, Alan F.

2018-01-01

The treatment of kurtosis in textbooks is both sparse and contradictory with applications rarely discussed. To address this, an easily understood definition of kurtosis is introduced and important applications are demonstrated. Two different approaches to teaching kurtosis are presented based on a financial application.

Development of library preparation method able to correct gene expression levels in rice anther and isolate a trace expression gene mediated in cold-resistance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamaguchi, Tomoya; Koike, Setsuo [Tohoku National Agricultural Experiment Station, Morioka (Japan)

2000-02-01

When cDNA library is prepared by a previously developed method, genes of which expression level is high are apt to be cloned at a high frequency, whereas genes of which expression level are low, are difficult to be cloned. A low-expression gene has been cloned at very low frequency. Therefore, the gene encoding the key enzyme that is involved in growth disturbance of rice pollen has not been identified. In this study, development of a library preparing method able to correct the expression level was attempted using highly sensitive detection method with radioisotope and some genes related to cold-resistance of rice were isolated. Double strand DNAs were synthesized using mRNA extract from rice anthers and annealed following heat-denaturation. It has been known that single strand DNA molecules abundantly existing in DNA solution can easily aggregate to form double strand DNA, but single stranded DNA molecules poor in the solution are apt to still remain as single strand after annealing. Thus, the amount of single strand DNA would be balanced in the solution between abundant DNA and poor DNA species. The authors succeeded to prepare a gene library including low and high expression genes at similar proportions. Moreover, spin trap method that allows RI labeling of DNA bound to latex particle, was developed to detect with high sensitivity, especially for genes that are expressed at low level. The present method could be used for recovery, detection and quantitative analysis of radiolabeled single strand DNA. Thus, it was demonstrated that the stage from tetrad sperm to small sperm might be easily affected by cold stress. The present results suggest that the expressions of {beta}-1 and {beta}-3 glucanase, which are involved in the release of small sperms following meiosis in the pollen formation, might be easily affected by cold stress. (M.N.)

Development of library preparation method able to correct gene expression levels in rice anther and isolate a trace expression gene mediated in cold-resistance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamaguchi, Tomoya; Koike, Setsuo

2000-01-01

When cDNA library is prepared by a previously developed method, genes of which expression level is high are apt to be cloned at a high frequency, whereas genes of which expression level are low, are difficult to be cloned. A low-expression gene has been cloned at very low frequency. Therefore, the gene encoding the key enzyme that is involved in growth disturbance of rice pollen has not been identified. In this study, development of a library preparing method able to correct the expression level was attempted using highly sensitive detection method with radioisotope and some genes related to cold-resistance of rice were isolated. Double strand DNAs were synthesized using mRNA extract from rice anthers and annealed following heat-denaturation. It has been known that single strand DNA molecules abundantly existing in DNA solution can easily aggregate to form double strand DNA, but single stranded DNA molecules poor in the solution are apt to still remain as single strand after annealing. Thus, the amount of single strand DNA would be balanced in the solution between abundant DNA and poor DNA species. The authors succeeded to prepare a gene library including low and high expression genes at similar proportions. Moreover, spin trap method that allows RI labeling of DNA bound to latex particle, was developed to detect with high sensitivity, especially for genes that are expressed at low level. The present method could be used for recovery, detection and quantitative analysis of radiolabeled single strand DNA. Thus, it was demonstrated that the stage from tetrad sperm to small sperm might be easily affected by cold stress. The present results suggest that the expressions of β-1 and β-3 glucanase, which are involved in the release of small sperms following meiosis in the pollen formation, might be easily affected by cold stress. (M.N.)

Raman measurements of Kevlar-29 fiber pull-out test at different strain levels

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Quan; Lei, Zhenkun; Kang, Yilan; Qiu, Wei

2008-11-01

This paper adopted Kevlar-29 fiber monofilament embedding technology to prepare fiber/ epoxy resin tensile specimen. The specimen was pulled on a homemade and portable mini-loading device. At the same time micro-Raman spectroscopy is introduced to detect the distributions of stress on the embedded fiber at different strain levels. The characteristic peak shift of the 1610 cm-1 in Raman band has a linear relationship with the strain or stress. The experimental results show that the fiber axial stress decreases gradually from the embedded fiber-start to the embedded fiber-end at the same strain level. At different strain levels, the fiber axial stress increases along with the applied load. It reveals that there is a larger fiber axial stress distribution under a larger strain level. And the stress transfer is realized gradually from the embedded fiber-start to the fiber-end. Stress concentration exists in the embedded fiber-end, which is a dangerous region for interfacial debonding easily.

Reading Level and Comprehension of Research Consent Forms: An Integrative Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Foe, Gabriella; Larson, Elaine L

2016-02-01

Consent forms continue to be at a higher reading level than the recommended sixth to eighth grade, making it difficult for participants to comprehend information before enrolling in research. To assess and address the extent of the problem regarding the level of literacy of consent forms and update previously published reports, we conducted an integrative literature review of English language research published between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2013; 35 descriptive and eight intervention studies met inclusion criteria. Results confirmed that developing forms at eighth-grade level was attainable though not practiced. It was found that risks of participation was the section most poorly understood. There was also a lack of consensus regarding the most effective method to increase comprehension. Further research using standardized tools is needed to determine the best approach for improving consent forms and processes. © The Author(s) 2016.

Framework for State-Level Renewable Energy Market Potential Studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kreycik, C.; Vimmerstedt, L.; Doris, E.

2010-01-01

State-level policymakers are relying on estimates of the market potential for renewable energy resources as they set goals and develop policies to accelerate the development of these resources. Therefore, accuracy of such estimates should be understood and possibly improved to appropriately support these decisions. This document provides a framework and next steps for state officials who require estimates of renewable energy market potential. The report gives insight into how to conduct a market potential study, including what supporting data are needed and what types of assumptions need to be made. The report distinguishes between goal-oriented studies and other types of studies, and explains the benefits of each.

Operation of a low-level waste disposal facility and how to prevent problems in future facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Sibio, R.

1985-01-01

Operation of a low-level waste facility is an ever increasing problem nationally, and specifically one that could grow to crisis proportion in Pennsylvania. There have been, nevertheless, a variety of changes over the years in the management of low level radioactive waste, particularly with regard to disposal facilities that can avert a crisis condition. A number of companies have been organized thru possible a broad range of services to the nuclear industry, including those that emphasize solidification of waste materials, engineering services, waste management, and transportation to disposal sites across the United States. This paper addresses one particular site and the problems which evolved at that site from an environmental perspective. It is important that it is clearly understood that, although these problems are resolvable, the lessons learned here are critical for the prevention of problems at future facilities. The focus of this paper is on the Maxey Flats, Kentucky disposal facility which was closed in 1977. It must be understood that the regulations for siting, management, burial techniques, waste classification, and the overall management of disposal sites were limited when this facility was in operation

Efficient degradation of carbamazepine by easily recyclable microscaled CuFeO_2 mediated heterogeneous activation of peroxymonosulfate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Yaobin; Tang, Hebin; Zhang, Shenghua; Wang, Songbo; Tang, Heqing

2016-01-01

Highlights: • CuFeO_2 microparticles were prepared by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. • CuFeO_2 microparticles efficiently catalyzed the activation of peroxymonosulfate. • Quenching experiments confirmed sulfate radicals as the major reactive radicals. • Carbamazepine was rapidly degraded by micro-CuFeO_2/peroxymonosulfate. • Feasibility of CuFeO_2/peroxymonosulfate was tested for treatment of actual water. - Abstract: Microscaled CuFeO_2 particles (micro-CuFeO_2) were rapidly prepared via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that the micro-CuFeO_2 was of pure phase and a rhombohedral structure with size in the range of 2.8 ± 0.6 μm. The micro-CuFeO_2 efficiently catalyzed the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to generate sulfate radicals (SO_4·−), causing the fast degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ). The catalytic activity of micro-CuFeO_2 was observed to be 6.9 and 25.3 times that of micro-Cu_2O and micro-Fe_2O_3, respectively. The enhanced activity of micro-CuFeO_2 for the activation of PMS was confirmed to be attributed to synergistic effect of surface bonded Cu(I) and Fe(III). Sulfate radical was the primary radical species responsible for the CBZ degradation. As a microscaled catalyst, micro-CuFeO_2 can be easily recovered by gravity settlement and exhibited improved catalytic stability compared with micro-Cu_2O during five successive degradation cycles. Oxidative degradation of CBZ by the couple of PMS/CuFeO_2 was effective in the studied actual aqueous environmental systems.

Ethical Issues in Using Children's Blood Lead Levels as a Remedial Action Objective

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Emily Lorraine

2011-01-01

The Environmental Protection Agency measures the success or failure of Superfund site remediation efforts against remedial action objectives (RAOs). RAOs are frequently based on environmental contaminant concentrations, but with lead exposure, blood lead levels from the population at risk are often used. Although childhood lead screening is an important public health tool, an RAO based on child blood lead levels raises ethical concerns: public health efforts that are more reactive than preventive, a blood lead standard (10 μg/dL) that may not be fully protective, the use of a measure whose validity and reliability may be easily compromised, and exacerbation of environmental injustice and systematic disadvantages. The example of Bunker Hill mine, Kellogg, Idaho, allowed an examination of these ethical concerns. PMID:21836120

ML-Space: Hybrid Spatial Gillespie and Particle Simulation of Multi-Level Rule-Based Models in Cell Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Bittig, Arne T; Uhrmacher, Adelinde M

2017-01-01

Spatio-temporal dynamics of cellular processes can be simulated at different levels of detail, from (deterministic) partial differential equations via the spatial Stochastic Simulation algorithm to tracking Brownian trajectories of individual particles. We present a spatial simulation approach for multi-level rule-based models, which includes dynamically hierarchically nested cellular compartments and entities. Our approach ML-Space combines discrete compartmental dynamics, stochastic spatial approaches in discrete space, and particles moving in continuous space. The rule-based specification language of ML-Space supports concise and compact descriptions of models and to adapt the spatial resolution of models easily.

Effect of dopamine, dopamine D-1 and D-2 receptor modulation on ACTH and cortisol levels in normal men and women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boesgaard, S; Hagen, C; Andersen, A N

1990-01-01

The regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by dopamine is not fully understood. Therefore, we have studied the effect of dopamine, metoclopramide, a D-2 receptor antagonist, and fenoldopam, a specific D-1 receptor agonist, on ACTH and cortisol levels in normal subjects. Normal women...

Confidence and sensitivity of sea-level reconstructions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Peter Limkilde

For the last two decades, satellite altimetry has provided a near-global view of spatial and temporal patterns in sea surface height (SSH). When combined with records from tide gauges, a historical reconstruction of sea level can be obtained; while tide gauge records span up to 200 years back...... nature of the data fields. We examine the sensitivity of a reconstruction with respect to the length of calibration time series, and the spatial distribution of tide gauges or other proxy data. In addition, we consider the eect of isolating certain physical phenomena (e.g. ENSO) and annual signals...... and modelling these outside the reconstruction. The implementation is currently based on data from compound satellite datasets (i.e., two decades of altimetry), and the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) model, an existing reconstruction, where a calibration period can be easily extracted and our model...

Research-Practice Partnerships: Building Engagement to Benefit Children and Youth. Social Policy Report Brief. Volume 30, Issue 4

Science.gov (United States)

Bridgman, Anne

2017-01-01

Gaps exist between research and practice, with some researchers expressing frustration that practitioners do not use or misuse research findings, and some practitioners saying research is not relevant to their work or not easily accessible or understood. In research-practice partnerships, which have proliferated recently, researchers and…

Usability Testing: A Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Chisman, Janet; Walbridge, Sharon; Diller, Karen

1999-01-01

Discusses the development and results of usability testing of Washington State University's Web-based OPAC (online public access catalog); examines how easily users could navigate the catalog and whether they understood what they were seeing; and identifies problems and what action if any was taken. (LRW)

The EU and Climate Change Policy: Law, Politics and Prominence at Different Levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chad David Damro

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The European Union (EU is a prominent player in the politics of climate change, operating as an authoritative regional actor that influences policy-making at the national and international levels. The EU’s climate change policies are thus subjected to multiple pressures that arise from the domestic politics of its twenty-seven individual member states and the international politics of non-EU states with which it negotiates. Facing these multiple pressures, how and why could such a non-traditional actor develop into a prominent player at different levels of climate change policy-making? This article argues that the EU’s rise to prominence can be understood by tracking a number of historical-legal institutional developments at the domestic and international levels. The article also provides a preliminary investigation of the EU emissions trading scheme, a new institutional mechanism that illustrates the policy pressures arising from different levels.

A step-by-step guide to non-linear regression analysis of experimental data using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, A M

2001-06-01

The objective of this present study was to introduce a simple, easily understood method for carrying out non-linear regression analysis based on user input functions. While it is relatively straightforward to fit data with simple functions such as linear or logarithmic functions, fitting data with more complicated non-linear functions is more difficult. Commercial specialist programmes are available that will carry out this analysis, but these programmes are expensive and are not intuitive to learn. An alternative method described here is to use the SOLVER function of the ubiquitous spreadsheet programme Microsoft Excel, which employs an iterative least squares fitting routine to produce the optimal goodness of fit between data and function. The intent of this paper is to lead the reader through an easily understood step-by-step guide to implementing this method, which can be applied to any function in the form y=f(x), and is well suited to fast, reliable analysis of data in all fields of biology.

A modeling and control framework for operating large-scale electric power systems under present and newly evolving competitive industry structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marija D. Ilić

1995-01-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces a systematic, structure-based modeling framework for analysis and control of electric power systems for processes evolving over the mid-term and long-term time horizons. Much simpler models than the detailed dynamics specifically for control design at different hierarchical levels are obtained by applying both temporal and spatial separation. These simple models, or the aggregate models, represent the net effect of interactions among interconnected regions on specific hierarchical levels. They are exact, since no assumptions on weak interconnections among the subsystems are made. Moreover they are easily understood in terms of power flows among the regions. The approach is essential for improving present performance of the system. It is also potentially useful in a competitive utility environment in which it is critical to study the interplay between technical and economic processes.

Evaluation of forms for the immobilization of high-level and transuranic wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schuman, R.P.; Cox, N.D.; Gibson, G.W.; Kelsey, P.V. Jr.

1982-08-01

A figure-of-merit (FOM) analysis has been made of a number of waste forms for solidifying both defense and commercial high-level reprocessing waste (HLW) and transuranic (TRU) wastes. The evaluation includes iron-enriched basalt (IEB), a fusion-produced glass-ceramic, which has not been included in other assessments. For HLW, concrete receives the highest FOM, but may not meet regulatory requirements; IEB and glass are the best choices of the materials that should easily meet regulatory requirements. Concrete waste forms are the best choice for TRU wastes, with IEB a close contender. 116 references, 3 figures, 112 tables

FEATURES, EVENTS, AND PROCESSES: SYSTEM-LEVEL AND CRITICALITY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D.L. McGregor

2000-12-20

The primary purpose of this Analysis/Model Report (AMR) is to identify and document the screening analyses for the features, events, and processes (FEPs) that do not easily fit into the existing Process Model Report (PMR) structure. These FEPs include the 3 1 FEPs designated as System-Level Primary FEPs and the 22 FEPs designated as Criticality Primary FEPs. A list of these FEPs is provided in Section 1.1. This AMR (AN-WIS-MD-000019) documents the Screening Decision and Regulatory Basis, Screening Argument, and Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) Disposition for each of the subject Primary FEPs. This AMR provides screening information and decisions for the TSPA-SR report and provides the same information for incorporation into a project-specific FEPs database. This AMR may also assist reviewers during the licensing-review process.

FEATURES, EVENTS, AND PROCESSES: SYSTEM-LEVEL AND CRITICALITY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

D.L. McGregor

2000-01-01

The primary purpose of this Analysis/Model Report (AMR) is to identify and document the screening analyses for the features, events, and processes (FEPs) that do not easily fit into the existing Process Model Report (PMR) structure. These FEPs include the 3 1 FEPs designated as System-Level Primary FEPs and the 22 FEPs designated as Criticality Primary FEPs. A list of these FEPs is provided in Section 1.1. This AMR (AN-WIS-MD-000019) documents the Screening Decision and Regulatory Basis, Screening Argument, and Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) Disposition for each of the subject Primary FEPs. This AMR provides screening information and decisions for the TSPA-SR report and provides the same information for incorporation into a project-specific FEPs database. This AMR may also assist reviewers during the licensing-review process

Determination of the transport levels in thin films of organic semiconductors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krause, Stefan

2009-07-27

The approach of using the combination of Ultraviolet (UPS) and Inverse Photoemission (IPS) to determine the transport levels in thin films of organic semiconductors is the scope of this work. For this matter all influences on the peak position and width in Photoelectron Spectroscopy are discussed with a special focus on organic semiconductors. Many of these influences are shown with experimental results of the investigation of diindenoperylene on Ag(111). These findings are applied to inorganic semiconductors silicon in order to establish the use of UPS and IPS on a well-understood system. Finally, the method is used to determine the transport level of several organic semiconductors (PTCDA, Alq3, CuPc, DIP, PBI-H4) and the corresponding exciton binding energies are calculated by comparison to optical absorption data. (orig.)

Acceptable level of radiation risk and its perception

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kusama, Tomoko; Shinozaki, Motoshi; Yoshizawa, Yasuo

1987-01-01

The acceptable level of radiation risk for public members, that is 10 -5 /y, was proposed by ICRP and other international organizations. We studied to survey basic procedures of deriving this value and to derive an acceptable risk value in Japan by using similar procedures. The basic procedures to derive 10 -5 /y were found as follows; (1) 0.1 percent of annual mortality from all diseases, (2) 0.1 percent of life time risk, (3) one percent of mortality from all causes in each age cohort and (4) corresponding value to 1 mSv annual radiation exposure. From these bases we derived the value of 10 -5 /y as acceptable risk level in Japan. The perception to risk level of 10 -5 /y in conventional life was investigated by means of questionnaires for 1,095 college students living in Tokyo. The risks considered in this study were natural background radiation, coffee, skiing, X-ray diagnosis, spontaneous cancer, passive smoking and air pollution. The most acceptable risk was the risk related with natural background radiation. And the risk of natural background radiation was more easily accepted by the students who had knowledges on natural background radiation. On the other hand, the risk from air pollution or passive smoking was the most adverse one. (author)

LONG TERM FINANCING DECISION AT THE LEVEL OF COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DOBROTĂ GABRIELA

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Debates on the financing needs registered a firm levels were a constant concern of specialists but especially managers. Majority opinion is that the financing of investment must be made by sources having character of permanence. However, a problem whose answer is not easily determined is the degree to which it may use its own sources, borrowed or rented, to record the lowest financing cost. Since the shareholders require a higher remuneration of capital investments superior to those on the financial market, managers must seek to reduce the cost of borrowed capital and the growth rate of financial return. In this paper are presented issues relating to the structure and potential sources and funding the decision on cost related to each funding opportunities.

High-level waste borosilicate glass: A compendium of corrosion characteristics. Volume 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cunnane, J.C.

1994-03-01

The objective of this document is to summarize scientific information pertinent to evaluating the extent to which high-level waste borosilicate glass corrosion and the associated radionuclide release processes are understood for the range of environmental conditions to which waste glass may be exposed in service. Alteration processes occurring within the bulk of the glass (e.g., devitrification and radiation-induced changes) are discussed insofar as they affect glass corrosion. Volume III contains a bibliography of glass corrosion studies, including studies that are not cited in Volumes I and II

High-level waste borosilicate glass: A compendium of corrosion characteristics. Volume 3

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cunnane, J.C. [comp.; Bates, J.K.; Bradley, C.R. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)] [and others

1994-03-01

The objective of this document is to summarize scientific information pertinent to evaluating the extent to which high-level waste borosilicate glass corrosion and the associated radionuclide release processes are understood for the range of environmental conditions to which waste glass may be exposed in service. Alteration processes occurring within the bulk of the glass (e.g., devitrification and radiation-induced changes) are discussed insofar as they affect glass corrosion. Volume III contains a bibliography of glass corrosion studies, including studies that are not cited in Volumes I and II.

Embodying embodied design research techniques

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wilde, Danielle; Tomico, Oscar; Lucero, Andrés

2015-01-01

The value of engaging the full gamut of sensory motor skills in the design and use of smart objects and systems is increasingly recognized. Yet methods for arriving at robust and reliable outcomes for their development are not fully understood, nor are they easily reported or transferred through ...

Problems of Revenue Generation in Local Government ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Every local jurisdiction has its unique economic, social and physical characteristics and its historical tradition which are better understood by its people. Thus, the Local Government Areas are created to provide the services which the Federal and State Governments cannot easily undertake due to their remoteness from the ...

Behavioral avoidance threshold level of a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) for a continuous 50 kHz pure tone (L)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kastelein, R.A.; Verboom, W.C.; Jennings, N.; Haan, D. de

2008-01-01

The use of ultrasonic sounds in alarms for gillnets may be advantageous, but the deterring effects of ultrasound on porpoises are not well understood. Therefore a harbor porpoise in a large floating pen was subjected to a continuous 50 kHz pure tone with a source level of 122 +/- 3dB (re 1uPa, rms).

Behavioral avoidance threshold level of a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) for a continuous 50 kHz pure tone (L)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kastelein, R.A.; Verboom, W.C.; Jennings, N.; Haan, de D.

2008-01-01

The use of ultrasonic sounds in alarms for gillnets may be advantageous, but the deterring effects of ultrasound on porpoises are not well understood. Therefore a harbor porpoise in a large floating pen was subjected to a continuous 50 kHz pure tone with a source level of 122±3 dB (re 1 ¿Pa, rms).

Understanding extreme sea levels for broad-scale coastal impact and adaptation analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Wahl, T.; Haigh, I. D.; Nicholls, R. J.; Arns, A.; Dangendorf, S.; Hinkel, J.; Slangen, A. B. A.

2017-07-01

One of the main consequences of mean sea level rise (SLR) on human settlements is an increase in flood risk due to an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme sea levels (ESL). While substantial research efforts are directed towards quantifying projections and uncertainties of future global and regional SLR, corresponding uncertainties in contemporary ESL have not been assessed and projections are limited. Here we quantify, for the first time at global scale, the uncertainties in present-day ESL estimates, which have by default been ignored in broad-scale sea-level rise impact assessments to date. ESL uncertainties exceed those from global SLR projections and, assuming that we meet the Paris agreement goals, the projected SLR itself by the end of the century in many regions. Both uncertainties in SLR projections and ESL estimates need to be understood and combined to fully assess potential impacts and adaptation needs.

Serum cytokine levels in autoimmune and non-autoimmune hyperthyroid states

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.S. Ward

2000-01-01

Full Text Available Although the role of interleukin-2 (IL-2 and interferon gamma (gIFN is still poorly understood in hyperthyroid diseases, it is reasonable to assume that these cytokines may be present at higher levels in Graves' disease (GD than in other primarily non-autoimmune thyroid diseases. In order to look for an easy method to distinguish GD from primarily non-autoimmune causes of hyperthyroidism, we compared 13 healthy individuals with 21 treated and untreated hyperthyroid GD patients and with 19 patients with hyperthyroidism due to other etiologies: 7 cases of multinodular goiter, 5 cases of excessive hormone replacement and 7 cases of amiodarone-associated hyperthyroidism. All patients presented low TSH levels and a dubious clinical thyroid state. We found a good correlation between TSH and serum IL-2 levels (r = 0.56; PgIFN (P<0.01 levels were lower in the hyperthyroid group of patients than in control subjects, suggesting a depressed TH1 pattern in the T-cell subset of hyperthyroid patients. GD had normal IL-2 levels, while patients with other forms of thyrotoxicosis presented decreased IL-2 levels (P<0.05. There was no difference between treated and untreated GD patients. We suggest that the direct measurement of serum IL-2 level may help to confirm hyperthyroidism caused by GD.

Research on the improvement of nuclear safety -Development of computing code system for level 3 PSA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeong, Jong Tae; Kim, Dong Ha; Park, Won Seok; Hwang, Mi Jeong [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1995-07-01

Among the various research areas of the level 3 PSA, the effect of terrain on the transport of radioactive material was investigated. These results will give a physical insight in the development of a new dispersion model. A wind tunnel experiment with bell shaped hill model was made in order to develop a new dispersion model. And an improved dispersion model was developed based on the concentration distribution data obtained from the wind tunnel experiment. This model will be added as an option to the atmospheric dispersion code. A stand-alone atmospheric code using MS Visual Basic programming language which runs at the Windows environment of a PC was developed. A user can easily select a necessary data file and type input data by clicking menus, and can select calculation options such building wake, plume rise etc., if necessary. And a user can easily understand the meaning of concentration distribution on the map around the plant site as well as output files. Also the methodologies for the estimation of radiation exposure and for the calculation of risks was established. These methodologies will be used for the development of modules for the radiation exposure and risks respectively. These modules will be developed independently and finally will be combined to the atmospheric dispersion code in order to develop a level 3 PSA code. 30 tabs., 56 figs., refs. (Author).

Research on the improvement of nuclear safety -Development of computing code system for level 3 PSA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Jong Tae; Kim, Dong Ha; Park, Won Seok; Hwang, Mi Jeong

1995-07-01

Among the various research areas of the level 3 PSA, the effect of terrain on the transport of radioactive material was investigated. These results will give a physical insight in the development of a new dispersion model. A wind tunnel experiment with bell shaped hill model was made in order to develop a new dispersion model. And an improved dispersion model was developed based on the concentration distribution data obtained from the wind tunnel experiment. This model will be added as an option to the atmospheric dispersion code. A stand-alone atmospheric code using MS Visual Basic programming language which runs at the Windows environment of a PC was developed. A user can easily select a necessary data file and type input data by clicking menus, and can select calculation options such building wake, plume rise etc., if necessary. And a user can easily understand the meaning of concentration distribution on the map around the plant site as well as output files. Also the methodologies for the estimation of radiation exposure and for the calculation of risks was established. These methodologies will be used for the development of modules for the radiation exposure and risks respectively. These modules will be developed independently and finally will be combined to the atmospheric dispersion code in order to develop a level 3 PSA code. 30 tabs., 56 figs., refs. (Author)

Experimental study of relative level populations in beam-foil excited Ar+7 and Kr+7

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bashkin, S.; Oona, H.; Veje, E.

1981-01-01

The relative level populations in beam-foil excited sodium-like argon (Ar VIII) and copper-like krypton (Kr VIII) have been studied at 2 MeV projectile energy. In Ar VIII, the 3p and the 3d terms are strongly excited. The level population decreases rapidly with increasing value of the principal quantum number n, reaches a minimum for levels with n = 5 or 6, but increases then and reaches a strong maximum for levels with n approximately 11. Also the Kr VIII data show a population maximum for levels with n = 11. The strong 3p and 3d level excitations in Ar VIII are explained as selective inner-shell processes which can be understood in the molecular-orbital electron-promotion picture. The preferential population of high-flying Rydberg states is explained as resulting from a near-resonance electron transfer from the valence band of the carbon foil to the projectile. This process takes place when the projectile leaves the back of the foil. (Auth.)

Separation and identification of picogram levels of dioxins and PCBs by GC/cryogenic trapping FTIR

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, David J.; Powell, Jay R.; Krishnan, K.

1994-01-01

Capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) has routinely been used by the analytical chemist to separate and identify low levels of environmentally important compounds. A GC/Cryogenic Trapping Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (Tracer) provides the sensitivity of the GC/MS with the added capability of differentiating between compounds of the same mass. In this work, the Tracer was utilized to study low levels of six Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), eight Chlorinated Dibenzo-p-Doxins and Norflurazon. In all cases, picogram levels of these compounds were easily detected from `on the fly' generated IR chromatograms. Since the separated compounds eluting from the capillary column are cryogenically trapped onto a moving liquid nitrogen cooled ZnSe crystal, excellent signal-to- noise spectra of these same compounds may be collected after the run by returning to the same areas of deposition and signal averaging.

Lead iron phosphate glass as a containment medium for disposal of high-level nuclear waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boatner, L.A.; Sales, B.C.

1989-01-01

This patent describes lead-iron phosphate glasses containing a high level of Fe 2 O 3 for use as a storage medium for high-level radioactive nuclear waste. By combining lead-iron phosphate glass with various types of simulated high-level nuclear waste, a highly corrosion resistant, homogeneous, easily processed glass can be formed. For corroding solutions at 90 0 C, with solution pH values in the range between 5 and 9, the corrosion rate of the lead-iron phosphate nuclear waste glass is at least 10 2 to 10 3 times lower than the corrosion rate of a comparable borosilicate nuclear waste glass. The presence of Fe 2 O 3 in forming the lead-iron phosphate glass is critical. The lead-iron phosphate waste glasses can be prepared with minimal modification of the technology developed for processing borosilicate glass nuclear wasteforms

Emotions are understood from biological motion across remote cultures.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkinson, Carolyn; Walker, Trent T; Memmi, Sarah; Wheatley, Thalia

2017-04-01

Patterns of bodily movement can be used to signal a wide variety of information, including emotional states. Are these signals reliant on culturally learned cues or are they intelligible across individuals lacking exposure to a common culture? To find out, we traveled to a remote Kreung village in Ratanakiri, Cambodia. First, we recorded Kreung portrayals of 5 emotions through bodily movement. These videos were later shown to American participants, who matched the videos with appropriate emotional labels with above chance accuracy (Study 1). The Kreung also viewed Western point-light displays of emotions. After each display, they were asked to either freely describe what was being expressed (Study 2) or choose from 5 predetermined response options (Study 3). Across these studies, Kreung participants recognized Western point-light displays of anger, fear, happiness, sadness, and pride with above chance accuracy. Kreung raters were not above chance in deciphering an American point-light display depicting love, suggesting that recognizing love may rely, at least in part, on culturally specific cues or modalities other than bodily movement. In addition, multidimensional scaling of the patterns of nonverbal behavior associated with each emotion in each culture suggested that similar patterns of nonverbal behavior are used to convey the same emotions across cultures. The considerable cross-cultural intelligibility observed across these studies suggests that the communication of emotion through movement is largely shaped by aspects of physiology and the environment shared by all humans, irrespective of differences in cultural context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

How Self-Reliance Is Understood: Viewpoints from One Local ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DrNneka

intervention makes it easy to see why there is less commitment to ... funding for countries where crisis' stretch government ability to respond ... National agencies such as DfID (UK), Norad (Norway), USAID (USA) and GIZ .... This case study uses a qualitative research design consistent with DiCicco- ..... Swedish International.

Prevalence of obesity: A public health problem poorly understood

Science.gov (United States)

This review article discusses the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in support of a total diet approach to achieving diet and health goals, especially as they relate to the obesity epidemic. However, some scientists and organizations have identified one food, food group, or nutrient as the cause of t...

Inclusion understood from the perspectives of children with disability.

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer-Cavaliere, Nancy; Watkinson, E Jane

2010-10-01

This study explored the perspectives of children with disabilities regarding the concept of inclusion in physical activity. Participants were children (two girls, nine boys, Mage = 10 years, five months, age range: 8-12 years) with disabilities, including cerebral palsy, fine and gross motor delays, developmental coordination disorder, muscular dystrophy, nemaline myopathy, brachial plexus injury, and severe asthma. Children's perspectives on inclusion in physical activity (e.g., sports, games, and play) were explored through semistructured interviews. Interviews were digitally audio taped and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed through content analysis. Three themes emerged from the data: gaining entry to play, feeling like a legitimate participant, and having friends. These themes were associated with feeling included to varying degrees in sports, games, and play. In essence, it was the actions of others that were the prominent features identified by children that contributed to feeling more or less included in physical activity contexts. These results are discussed in relation to inclusion in physical education, recreation, and unstructured free play.

English in Dutch commercials: Not understood and not appreciated

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gerritsen, M.; Korzilius, H.P.L.M.; Meurs, W.F.J. van; Gijsbers, I.

2000-01-01

Dutch consumers are increasingly exposed to English in commercials on television. Advertising agencies appear to use English because of financial and image reasons. This article investigates how often commercials that contain English occur in the Netherlands and whether consumers comprehend the

Happiness in Economics as Understood Across Ism and Religion

OpenAIRE

Abdul Ghafar Ismail; Nurfaradilla Haron

2014-01-01

The concept of happiness has been discussed long time ago by economists. Recently, it became the most related and important thing to be studied because of its impact in societies. Discussion about happiness basically interprets within two separate views. First, happiness related with economic variable, for instance, how money can create happiness. Second happiness is discussed within the context of religion. However, t...

Happiness in Economics as Understood Across Ism and Religion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Ghafar Ismail

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The concept of happiness has been discussed long time ago by economists. Recently, it became the most related and important thing to be studied because of its impact in societies. Discussion about happiness basically interprets within two separate views. First, happiness related with economic variable, for instance, how money can create happiness. Second happiness is discussed within the context of religion. However, the discussion did not combine both contexts, economic variable and religion, to interpret happiness. Therefore, it is important to highlight the concept of happiness in a different way such as in this article. Different cultures will have their own perspective on the determination of happiness. From just “individual perspective” of happiness, they then formed an ism through involvement of a big society from the same culture. Some isms such as hedonism and materialism are synonyms in characterizing the concept of happiness in this modern world. At the same time, the isms are actually working with the economic and non-economic indicators as elements to strengthen the ism itself. On the other hand, the concept of happiness from the perspective of religion will also be a part of discussion in this article. Therefore, this article will reveal that the meaning of happiness is different in terms of religion and ism. So, to carry out both ism and religion simultaneously in shaping a more intrinsic value of happiness is not an easy task. Furthermore, religion is always associated with spiritual value that makes it hard for some people to practice religion and their isms at the same time. Thus, this article will propose that the right interpretation of isms based on their faith in religion can contribute to the concept of genuine happiness.

Redesigning and Manufacturing of a Land Levelling Shovel by Assembly Structural Stress Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tahir Altinbalik

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The aim was to redesign and manufacture of a shovel for a pull-type land levelling machine, which, in its present condition, is used to get easily damaged even under low loads. Firstly, the maximum pulling load affecting the levelling shovel was experimentally determined. Then, stable-shovel system with the bolt connection was replaced with a bearing-shaft connection system. In this way, the new shovel has gained a capability of making oscillation motion so that it can operate on sloped grounds. CATIA program was used in the design studies. The shovel system was investigated by assembly structural stress analyses. This new construction enabled the system to operate 3 times more securely at maximum stress conditions without changing the levelling shovel material. Thus, it is managed to prevent any possible damages that might occur due to maximum loading conditions of the system. Besides, displacements that occur on the shovel decreased at the rate of 90%.

Transparency

Science.gov (United States)

LaFee, Scott

2009-01-01

Citizens now expect access to information, particularly from public institutions like local school districts. They demand input and accountability. Cultural and technological changes, such as the Internet, make it possible for districts to comply. Yet transparency--the easily seen and understood actions of a school district and the thinking behind…

Gender and Cooperation in Children

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cardenas, Juan-Camilo; Dreber, Anna; Essen, Emma von

2014-01-01

In this article we compare cooperation among Colombian and Swedish children aged 9-12. We illustrate the dynamics of the prisoner’s dilemma in a new task that is easily understood by children and performed during a physical education class. We find no robust evidence of a difference in cooperation...

A Study to Determine the Contribution Made by Concept Maps to a Computer Architecture and Organization Course

Science.gov (United States)

Aydogan, Tuncay; Ergun, Serap

2016-01-01

Concept mapping is a method of graphical learning that can be beneficial as a study method for concept linking and organization. Concept maps, which provide an elegant, easily understood representation of an expert's domain knowledge, are tools for organizing and representing knowledge. These tools have been used in educational environments to…

AutoBD: Automated Bi-Level Description for Scalable Fine-Grained Visual Categorization.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Hantao; Zhang, Shiliang; Yan, Chenggang; Zhang, Yongdong; Li, Jintao; Tian, Qi

Compared with traditional image classification, fine-grained visual categorization is a more challenging task, because it targets to classify objects belonging to the same species, e.g. , classify hundreds of birds or cars. In the past several years, researchers have made many achievements on this topic. However, most of them are heavily dependent on the artificial annotations, e.g., bounding boxes, part annotations, and so on . The requirement of artificial annotations largely hinders the scalability and application. Motivated to release such dependence, this paper proposes a robust and discriminative visual description named Automated Bi-level Description (AutoBD). "Bi-level" denotes two complementary part-level and object-level visual descriptions, respectively. AutoBD is "automated," because it only requires the image-level labels of training images and does not need any annotations for testing images. Compared with the part annotations labeled by the human, the image-level labels can be easily acquired, which thus makes AutoBD suitable for large-scale visual categorization. Specifically, the part-level description is extracted by identifying the local region saliently representing the visual distinctiveness. The object-level description is extracted from object bounding boxes generated with a co-localization algorithm. Although only using the image-level labels, AutoBD outperforms the recent studies on two public benchmark, i.e. , classification accuracy achieves 81.6% on CUB-200-2011 and 88.9% on Car-196, respectively. On the large-scale Birdsnap data set, AutoBD achieves the accuracy of 68%, which is currently the best performance to the best of our knowledge.Compared with traditional image classification, fine-grained visual categorization is a more challenging task, because it targets to classify objects belonging to the same species, e.g. , classify hundreds of birds or cars. In the past several years, researchers have made many achievements on this topic

Efficient degradation of carbamazepine by easily recyclable microscaled CuFeO{sub 2} mediated heterogeneous activation of peroxymonosulfate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ding, Yaobin, E-mail: yaobinding@mail.scuec.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials Science of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Science, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074 (China); Tang, Hebin [College of Pharmacy, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074 (China); Zhang, Shenghua; Wang, Songbo [Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials Science of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Science, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074 (China); Tang, Heqing, E-mail: tangheqing@mail.scuec.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials Science of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Science, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074 (China)

2016-11-05

Highlights: • CuFeO{sub 2} microparticles were prepared by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. • CuFeO{sub 2} microparticles efficiently catalyzed the activation of peroxymonosulfate. • Quenching experiments confirmed sulfate radicals as the major reactive radicals. • Carbamazepine was rapidly degraded by micro-CuFeO{sub 2}/peroxymonosulfate. • Feasibility of CuFeO{sub 2}/peroxymonosulfate was tested for treatment of actual water. - Abstract: Microscaled CuFeO{sub 2} particles (micro-CuFeO{sub 2}) were rapidly prepared via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that the micro-CuFeO{sub 2} was of pure phase and a rhombohedral structure with size in the range of 2.8 ± 0.6 μm. The micro-CuFeO{sub 2} efficiently catalyzed the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to generate sulfate radicals (SO{sub 4}·−), causing the fast degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ). The catalytic activity of micro-CuFeO{sub 2} was observed to be 6.9 and 25.3 times that of micro-Cu{sub 2}O and micro-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}, respectively. The enhanced activity of micro-CuFeO{sub 2} for the activation of PMS was confirmed to be attributed to synergistic effect of surface bonded Cu(I) and Fe(III). Sulfate radical was the primary radical species responsible for the CBZ degradation. As a microscaled catalyst, micro-CuFeO{sub 2} can be easily recovered by gravity settlement and exhibited improved catalytic stability compared with micro-Cu{sub 2}O during five successive degradation cycles. Oxidative degradation of CBZ by the couple of PMS/CuFeO{sub 2} was effective in the studied actual aqueous environmental systems.

Systematic errors of EIT systems determined by easily-scalable resistive phantoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, G; Just, A; Dittmar, J; Hellige, G

2008-06-01

We present a simple method to determine systematic errors that will occur in the measurements by EIT systems. The approach is based on very simple scalable resistive phantoms for EIT systems using a 16 electrode adjacent drive pattern. The output voltage of the phantoms is constant for all combinations of current injection and voltage measurements and the trans-impedance of each phantom is determined by only one component. It can be chosen independently from the input and output impedance, which can be set in order to simulate measurements on the human thorax. Additional serial adapters allow investigation of the influence of the contact impedance at the electrodes on resulting errors. Since real errors depend on the dynamic properties of an EIT system, the following parameters are accessible: crosstalk, the absolute error of each driving/sensing channel and the signal to noise ratio in each channel. Measurements were performed on a Goe-MF II EIT system under four different simulated operational conditions. We found that systematic measurement errors always exceeded the error level of stochastic noise since the Goe-MF II system had been optimized for a sufficient signal to noise ratio but not for accuracy. In time difference imaging and functional EIT (f-EIT) systematic errors are reduced to a minimum by dividing the raw data by reference data. This is not the case in absolute EIT (a-EIT) where the resistivity of the examined object is determined on an absolute scale. We conclude that a reduction of systematic errors has to be one major goal in future system design.

Systematic errors of EIT systems determined by easily-scalable resistive phantoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahn, G; Just, A; Dittmar, J; Hellige, G

2008-01-01

We present a simple method to determine systematic errors that will occur in the measurements by EIT systems. The approach is based on very simple scalable resistive phantoms for EIT systems using a 16 electrode adjacent drive pattern. The output voltage of the phantoms is constant for all combinations of current injection and voltage measurements and the trans-impedance of each phantom is determined by only one component. It can be chosen independently from the input and output impedance, which can be set in order to simulate measurements on the human thorax. Additional serial adapters allow investigation of the influence of the contact impedance at the electrodes on resulting errors. Since real errors depend on the dynamic properties of an EIT system, the following parameters are accessible: crosstalk, the absolute error of each driving/sensing channel and the signal to noise ratio in each channel. Measurements were performed on a Goe-MF II EIT system under four different simulated operational conditions. We found that systematic measurement errors always exceeded the error level of stochastic noise since the Goe-MF II system had been optimized for a sufficient signal to noise ratio but not for accuracy. In time difference imaging and functional EIT (f-EIT) systematic errors are reduced to a minimum by dividing the raw data by reference data. This is not the case in absolute EIT (a-EIT) where the resistivity of the examined object is determined on an absolute scale. We conclude that a reduction of systematic errors has to be one major goal in future system design

Numerology, hydrogenic levels, and the ordering of excited states in one-electron atoms

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, Lloyd, Jr.

1982-03-01

We show that the observed ordering of Rydberg states of one-electron atoms can be understood by assuming that these states are basically hydrogenic in nature. Much of the confusion concerning this point is shown to arise from the failure to differentiate between hydrogenic ordering as the nuclear charge approaches infinity, and hydrogenic ordering for an effective charge of one. The origin of κ ordering of Rydberg levels suggested by Sternheimer is considered within this picture, and the predictions of κ ordering are compared with those obtained by assuming hydrogenic ordering.

The impact of power market reforms on electricity price-cost margins and cross-subsidy levels: A cross country panel data analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erdogdu, Erkan

2011-01-01

One of the main expectations from power market reform has been a reduction in both price-cost margins and cross-subsidy levels between industrial and residential consumers. This paper focuses on this issue by looking at the impact of the electricity industry reforms on residential and industrial electricity price-cost margins and their effect on cross-subsidy levels between consumer groups. Using panel data for 63 developed and developing countries covering the period 1982-2009, empirical models are developed and analyzed. The research findings suggest that there is no uniform pattern for the impact of reform process as a whole on price-cost margins and cross-subsidy levels. Each individual reform step has different impact on price-cost margins and cross-subsidy levels for each consumer and country group. Our findings imply that reform steps have different impacts in different countries, which supports the idea reform prescription for a specific country cannot easily and successfully be transferred to another one. So, transferring the formal and economic structure of a successful power market in a developed country to developing countries is not a sufficient condition for good economic performance of the electricity industries in developing countries. Furthermore, the study suggests that power consumption, income level and country-specific features constitute other important determinants of electricity price-cost margins and cross-subsidy levels. - Research highlights: → The paper focuses on the impact of power market reforms on price-cost margins and cross-subsidy levels. → Using panel data for 63 countries for the period 1982-2009, empirical models are developed and analyzed. → We found that each individual reform step has different impact for each consumer and country group. → We conclude that reform prescription for a specific country cannot easily be transferred to another one.

Biological monitors for low levels of ionising radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohankumar, M.N.; Jeevanram, R.K.

1995-01-01

The biological effects of high doses of ionising radiation are well understood and the methods of measurement of these doses well established. However the effects due to extremely low doses remain by and large uncertain. This is because of the fact that at such low doses no gross symptoms are seen. In fact, at these levels the occurrence of double strand breaks leading to the formation of chromosomal aberrations like dicentrics is rare and chances of mutation due to base damage are negligible. Hence neither chromosomal aberration studies nor mutational assays are useful for detecting doses of the order of a few milligray. Results of exhaustive work done by various laboratories indicate that below 20 mGy the chromosomal aberration technique based on scoring of dicentrics cannot distinguish between a linear or a threshold model. However indirect methods like unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) and sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) appear to be promising for the detection of radiation exposures due to low levels of radiation. This report reviews the available literature on the biological effects of low levels of ionising radiation and highlights the merits and demerits of the various methods employed in the measurement of UDS and SCE. The phenomenon of radio-adaptive response (RAR) and its relation to DNA repair is also discussed. (author)

New way for determining electron energy levels in quantum dots arrays using finite difference method

Science.gov (United States)

Dujardin, F.; Assaid, E.; Feddi, E.

2018-06-01

Electronic states are investigated in quantum dots arrays, depending on the type of cubic Bravais lattice (primitive, body centered or face centered) according to which the dots are arranged, the size of the dots and the interdot distance. It is shown that the ground state energy level can undergo significant variations when these parameters are modified. The results were obtained by means of finite difference method which has proved to be easily adaptable, efficient and precise. The symmetry properties of the lattice have been used to reduce the size of the Hamiltonian matrix.

A multi-attribute approach to choosing adaptation strategies: Application to sea-level rise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, A.E.; Chu, H.Q.

1994-01-01

Selecting good adaptation strategies in anticipation of climate change is gaining increasing attention as it becomes increasingly clear that much of the likely change is already committed, and could not be avoided even with aggressive and immediate emissions reductions. Adaptation decision making will place special requirements on regional and local planners in the US and other countries, especially developing countries. Approaches, tools, and guidance will be useful to assist in an effective response to the challenge. This paper describes the value of using a multi-attribute approach for evaluating adaptation strategies and its implementation as a decision-support software tool to help planners understand and execute this approach. The multi-attribute approach described here explicitly addresses the fact that many aspects of the decision cannot be easily quantified, that future conditions are highly uncertain, and that there are issues of equity, flexibility, and coordination that may be as important to the decision as costs and benefits. The approach suggested also avoids trying to collapse information on all of the attributes to a single metric. Such metrics can obliterate insights about the nature of the trade-offs that must be made in choosing among very dissimilar types of responses to the anticipated threat of climate change. Implementation of such an approach requires management of much information, and an ability to easily manipulate its presentation while seeking acceptable trade-offs. The Adaptation Strategy Evaluator (ASE) was developed under funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency to provide user-friendly, PC-based guidance through the major steps of a multi-attribute evaluation. The initial application of ASE, and the focus of this paper, is adaptation to sea level rise. However, the approach can be easily adapted to any multi-attribute choice problem, including the range of other adaptation planning needs

Changes in endogenous abscisic acid levels during dormancy release and maintenance of mature seeds: studies with the Cape Verde Islands ecotype, the dormant model of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali-Rachedi, Sonia; Bouinot, Denise; Wagner, Marie-Hélène; Bonnet, Magda; Sotta, Bruno; Grappin, Philippe; Jullien, Marc

2004-07-01

Mature seeds of the Cape Verde Islands (Cvi) ecotype of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. show a very marked dormancy. Dormant (D) seeds completely fail to germinate in conditions that are favourable for germination whereas non-dormant (ND) seeds germinate easily. Cvi seed dormancy is alleviated by after-ripening, stratification, and also by nitrate or fluridone treatment. Addition of gibberellins to D seeds does not suppress dormancy efficiently, suggesting that gibberellins are not directly involved in the breaking of dormancy. Dormancy expression of Cvi seeds is strongly dependent on temperature: D seeds do not germinate at warm temperatures (20-27 degrees C) but do so easily at a low temperature (13 degrees C) or when a fluridone treatment is given to D seeds sown at high temperature. To investigate the role of abscisic acid (ABA) in dormancy release and maintenance, we measured the ABA content in both ND and D seeds imbibed using various dormancy-breaking conditions. It was found that dry D seeds contained higher amounts of ABA than dry ND after-ripened seeds. During early imbibition in standard conditions, there was a decrease in ABA content in both seeds, the rate of which was slower in D seeds. Three days after sowing, the ABA content in D seeds increased specifically and then remained at a high level. When imbibed with fluridone, nitrate or stratified, the ABA content of D seeds decreased and reached a level very near to that of ND seeds. In contrast, gibberellic acid (GA3) treatment caused a transient increase in ABA content. When D seeds were sown at low optimal temperature their ABA content also decreased to the level observed in ND seeds. The present study indicates that Cvi D and ND seeds can be easily distinguished by their ability to synthesize ABA following imbibition. Treatments used here to break dormancy reduced the ABA level in imbibed D seeds to the level observed in ND seeds, with the exception of GA3 treatment, which was active in promoting

Medical Terminology: A Phonological Analysis for Teaching English Pronunciation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jabbour-Lagocki, Judith

1992-01-01

A phonological analysis of medical terminology was developed as an answer to pleas from students in medical English courses in Austria. The analysis can serve as a model for other sciences in which a comparable predicament exists: Graeco-Latinate terms are readily understood when written, but not easily recognized when spoken. (JL)

Keeping Timbre in Mind: Working Memory for Complex Sounds that Can't Be Verbalized

Science.gov (United States)

Golubock, Jason L.; Janata, Petr

2013-01-01

Properties of auditory working memory for sounds that lack strong semantic associations and are not readily verbalized or sung are poorly understood. We investigated auditory working memory capacity for lists containing 2-6 easily discriminable abstract sounds synthesized within a constrained timbral space, at delays of 1-6 s (Experiment 1), and…

7 CFR 220.12 - Competitive food services.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... submit a petition to FNS requesting that an individual food be exempted from a category of foods of... submit a petition to FNS requesting that foods in a particular category of foods be classified as meeting... the food category in easily understood language, list examples of the foods contained in the category...

Quantifying the Personal Creative Experience: Evaluation of Digital Creativity Support Tools Using Self-Report and Physiological Responses

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Erin Ashley

2013-01-01

Creativity is understood intuitively, but it is not easily defined and therefore difficult to measure. This makes it challenging to evaluate the ability of a digital tool to support the creative process. When evaluating creativity support tools (CSTs), it is critical to look beyond traditional time, error, and other productivity measurements that…

Solicitude: balancing compassion and empowerment in a relational ethics of hope-an empirical-ethical study in palliative care

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olsman, Erik; Willems, Dick; Leget, Carlo

2016-01-01

The ethics of hope has often been understood as a conflict between duties: do not lie versus do not destroy hope. However, such a way of framing the ethics of hope may easily place healthcare professionals at the side of realism and patients at the side of (false) hope. That leaves unexamined

Methods for characterization of wafer-level encapsulation applied on silicon to LTCC anodic bonding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, M F; Ghavanini, F A; Enoksson, P; Haasl, S; Löfgren, L; Persson, K; Rusu, C; Schjølberg-Henriksen, K

2010-01-01

This paper presents initial results on generic characterization methods for wafer-level encapsulation. The methods, developed specifically to evaluate anodic bonding of low-temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC) to Si, are generally applicable to wafer-level encapsulation. Different microelectromechanical system (MEMS) structures positioned over the whole wafer provide local information about the bond quality. The structures include (i) resonating cantilevers as pressure sensors for bond hermeticity, (ii) resonating bridges as stress sensors for measuring the stress induced by the bonding and (iii) frames/mesas for pull tests. These MEMS structures have been designed, fabricated and characterized indicating that local information can easily be obtained. Buried electrodes to enable localized bonding have been implemented and their effectiveness is indicated from first results of the novel Si to LTCC anodic bonding.

Acceptable level of radiation risk and its perception

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kusama, Tomoko; Shinozaki, Motoshi; Yoshizawa, Yasuo

1987-03-01

The acceptable level of radiation risk for public members, that is 10/sup -5//y, was proposed by ICRP and other international organizations. We studied to survey basic procedures of deriving this value and to derive an acceptable risk value in Japan by using similar procedures. The basic procedures to derive 10/sup -5//y were found as follows; (1) 0.1 percent of annual mortality from all diseases, (2) 0.1 percent of life time risk, (3) one percent of mortality from all causes in each age cohort and (4) corresponding value to 1 mSv annual radiation exposure. From these bases we derived the value of 10/sup -5//y as acceptable risk level in Japan. The perception to risk level of 10/sup -5//y in conventional life was investigated by means of questionnaires for 1,095 college students living in Tokyo. The risks considered in this study were natural background radiation, coffee, skiing, X-ray diagnosis, spontaneous cancer, passive smoking and air pollution. The most acceptable risk was the risk related with natural background radiation. And the risk of natural background radiation was more easily accepted by the students who had knowledges on natural background radiation. On the other hand, the risk from air pollution or passive smoking was the most adverse one.

Measurement and interpretation of low levels of dissolved oxygen in ground water

Science.gov (United States)

White, A.F.; Peterson, M.L.; Solbau, R.D.

1990-01-01

A Rhodazine-D colorimetric technique was adapted to measure low-level dissolved oxygen concentrations in ground water. Prepared samples containing between 0 and 8.0 ??moles L-1 dissolved oxygen in equilibrium with known gas mixtures produced linear spectrophotometric absorbance with a lower detection limit of 0.2 ??moles L-1. Excellent reproducibility was found for solutions ranging in composition from deionized water to sea water with chemical interferences detected only for easily reduced metal species such as ferric ion, cupric ion, and hexavalent chromium. Such effects were correctable based on parallel reaction stoichiometries relative to oxygen. The technique, coupled with a downhole wire line tool, permitted low-level monitoring of dissolved oxygen in wells at the selenium-contaminated Kesterson Reservoir in California. Results indicated a close association between low but measurable dissolved oxygen concentrations and mobility of oxidized forms of selenium. -from Authors

A level set method for cupping artifact correction in cone-beam CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie, Shipeng; Li, Haibo; Ge, Qi; Li, Chunming

2015-01-01

Purpose: To reduce cupping artifacts and improve the contrast-to-noise ratio in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Methods: A level set method is proposed to reduce cupping artifacts in the reconstructed image of CBCT. The authors derive a local intensity clustering property of the CBCT image and define a local clustering criterion function of the image intensities in a neighborhood of each point. This criterion function defines an energy in terms of the level set functions, which represent a segmentation result and the cupping artifacts. The cupping artifacts are estimated as a result of minimizing this energy. Results: The cupping artifacts in CBCT are reduced by an average of 90%. The results indicate that the level set-based algorithm is practical and effective for reducing the cupping artifacts and preserving the quality of the reconstructed image. Conclusions: The proposed method focuses on the reconstructed image without requiring any additional physical equipment, is easily implemented, and provides cupping correction through a single-scan acquisition. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method successfully reduces the cupping artifacts

Mapping the subcellular distribution of biomolecules at the ultrastructural level by ion microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Galle, P; Escaig, F; Dantin, F; Zhang, L

1996-05-01

Analytical ion microscopy, a method proposed and developed in 1960 by Casting and Slodzian at the Orsay University (France), makes it possible to obtain easily and rapidly analytical images representing the distribution in a tissue section of elements or isotopes (beginning from the three isotopes of hydrogen until to transuranic elements), even when these elements or isotopes are at a trace concentration of 1 ppm or less. This method has been applied to study the subcellular distribution of different varieties of biomolecules. The subcellular location of these molecules can be easily determined when the molecules contain in their structures a specific atom such as fluorine, iodine, bromine or platinum, what is the case of many pharmaceutical drugs. In this situation, the distribution of these specific atoms can be considered as representative of the distribution of the corresponding molecule. In other cases, the molecules must be labelled with an isotope which may be either radioactive or stable. Recent developments in ion microscopy allow the obtention of their chemical images at ultra structural level. In this paper we present the results obtained with the prototype of a new Scanning Ion Microscope used for the study of the intracellular distribution of different varieties of molecules: glucocorticoids, estrogens, pharmaceutical drugs and pyrimidine analogues.

Agent-based model with multi-level herding for complex financial systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jun-Jie; Tan, Lei; Zheng, Bo

2015-02-01

In complex financial systems, the sector structure and volatility clustering are respectively important features of the spatial and temporal correlations. However, the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure is not yet understood. Especially, how to produce these two features in one model remains challenging. We introduce a novel interaction mechanism, i.e., the multi-level herding, in constructing an agent-based model to investigate the sector structure combined with volatility clustering. According to the previous market performance, agents trade in groups, and their herding behavior comprises the herding at stock, sector and market levels. Further, we propose methods to determine the key model parameters from historical market data, rather than from statistical fitting of the results. From the simulation, we obtain the sector structure and volatility clustering, as well as the eigenvalue distribution of the cross-correlation matrix, for the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges. These properties are in agreement with the empirical ones. Our results quantitatively reveal that the multi-level herding is the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure, and provide new insight into the spatio-temporal interactions in financial systems at the microscopic level.

Maternal Exercise during Pregnancy Increases BDNF Levels and Cell Numbers in the Hippocampal Formation but Not in the Cerebral Cortex of Adult Rat Offspring

Science.gov (United States)

Gomes da Silva, Sérgio; de Almeida, Alexandre Aparecido; Fernandes, Jansen; Lopim, Glauber Menezes; Cabral, Francisco Romero; Scerni, Débora Amado; de Oliveira-Pinto, Ana Virgínia; Lent, Roberto; Arida, Ricardo Mario

2016-01-01

Clinical evidence has shown that physical exercise during pregnancy may alter brain development and improve cognitive function of offspring. However, the mechanisms through which maternal exercise might promote such effects are not well understood. The present study examined levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and absolute cell…

How to use MPI communication in highly parallel climate simulations more easily and more efficiently.

Science.gov (United States)

Behrens, Jörg; Hanke, Moritz; Jahns, Thomas

2014-05-01

In this talk we present a way to facilitate efficient use of MPI communication for developers of climate models. Exploitation of the performance potential of today's highly parallel supercomputers with real world simulations is a complex task. This is partly caused by the low level nature of the MPI communication library which is the dominant communication tool at least for inter-node communication. In order to manage the complexity of the task, climate simulations with non-trivial communication patterns often use an internal abstraction layer above MPI without exploiting the benefits of communication aggregation or MPI-datatypes. The solution for the complexity and performance problem we propose is the communication library YAXT. This library is built on top of MPI and takes high level descriptions of arbitrary domain decompositions and automatically derives an efficient collective data exchange. Several exchanges can be aggregated in order to reduce latency costs. Examples are given which demonstrate the simplicity and the performance gains for selected climate applications.

Elevated C-Reactive Protein Levels, Psychological Distress, and Depression in 73 131 Individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wium-Andersen, Marie Kim; Ørsted, David Dynnes; Nielsen, Sune Fallgaard

2013-01-01

and depression. DESIGN We performed cross-sectional and prospective analyses of CRP levels in 4 clinically relevant categories using data from 2 general population studies. SETTING The Copenhagen General Population and the Copenhagen City Heart studies. PARTICIPANTS We examined 73 131 men and women aged 20......CONTEXT The pathogenesis of depression is not fully understood, but studies suggest that low-grade systemic inflammation contributes to the development of depression. OBJECTIVE To test whether elevated plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with psychological distress...... to 100 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES We ascertained psychological distress with 2 single-item self-reports and depression using self-reported antidepressant use, register-based prescription of antidepressants, and register-based hospitalization with depression. RESULTS In cross-sectional analyses...

Mechanical Properties of Human Patellar Tendon at the Hierarchical levels of Tendon and Fibril

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svensson, Rene Brüggebusch; Hansen, Philip; Hassenkam, Tue

2012-01-01

Tendons are strong hierarchical structures, but how tensile forces are transmitted between different levels remains incompletely understood. Collagen fibrils are thought to be primary determinants of whole tendon properties, and therefore we hypothesized that the whole human patellar tendon and its...... distinct collagen fibrils would display similar mechanical properties. Human patellar tendons (n=5) were mechanically tested in vivo by ultrasonography. Biopsies were obtained from each tendon and individual collagen fibrils were dissected and tested mechanically by atomic force microscopy. The Young...... that of tendon supports that fibrillar rather than interfibrillar properties govern sub-failure tendon response, making the fibrillar level a meaningful target of intervention. The lower modulus found in vitro suggests a possible adverse effect of removing the tissue from its natural environment. In addition...

Transport of sewage molecular markers through saturated soil column and effect of easily biodegradable primary substrate on their removal.

Science.gov (United States)

Foolad, Mahsa; Ong, Say Leong; Hu, Jiangyong

2015-11-01

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and artificial sweeteners (ASs) are emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) in the aquatic environment. The presence of PPCPs and ASs in water bodies has an ecologic potential risk and health concern. Therefore, it is needed to detect the pollution sources by understanding the transport behavior of sewage molecular markers in a subsurface area. The aim of this study was to evaluate transport of nine selected molecular markers through saturated soil column experiments. The selected sewage molecular markers in this study were six PPCPs including acetaminophen (ACT), carbamazepine (CBZ), caffeine (CF), crotamiton (CTMT), diethyltoluamide (DEET), salicylic acid (SA) and three ASs including acesulfame (ACF), cyclamate (CYC), and saccharine (SAC). Results confirmed that ACF, CBZ, CTMT, CYC and SAC were suitable to be used as sewage molecular markers since they were almost stable against sorption and biodegradation process during soil column experiments. In contrast, transport of ACT, CF and DEET were limited by both sorption and biodegradation processes and 100% removal efficiency was achieved in the biotic column. Moreover, in this study the effect of different acetate concentration (0-100mg/L) as an easily biodegradable primary substrate on a removal of PPCPs and ASs was also studied. Results showed a negative correlation (r(2)>0.75) between the removal of some selected sewage chemical markers including ACF, CF, ACT, CYC, SAC and acetate concentration. CTMT also decreased with the addition of acetate, but increasing acetate concentration did not affect on its removal. CBZ and DEET removal were not dependent on the presence of acetate. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of the clearance level verification evaluation system. 2. Construction of the clearance data management system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kubota, Shintaro; Usui, Hideo; Kawagoshi, Hiroshi

2014-06-01

Clearance is defined as the removal of radioactive materials or radioactive objects within authorized practices from any further regulatory control by the regulatory body. In Japan, clearance level and a procedure for its verification has been introduced under the Laws and Regulations, and solid clearance wastes inspected by the national authority can be handled and recycled as normal wastes. The most prevalent type of wastes have generated from the dismantling of nuclear facilities, so the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been developing the Clearance Level Verification Evaluation System (CLEVES) as a convenient tool. The Clearance Data Management System (CDMS), which is a part of CLEVES, has been developed to support measurement, evaluation, making and recording documents with clearance level verification. In addition, validation of the evaluation result of the CDMS was carried out by inputting the data of actual clearance activities in the JAEA. Clearance level verification is easily applied by using the CDMS for the clearance activities. (author)

jORCA: easily integrating bioinformatics Web Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Martín-Requena, Victoria; Ríos, Javier; García, Maximiliano; Ramírez, Sergio; Trelles, Oswaldo

2010-02-15

Web services technology is becoming the option of choice to deploy bioinformatics tools that are universally available. One of the major strengths of this approach is that it supports machine-to-machine interoperability over a network. However, a weakness of this approach is that various Web Services differ in their definition and invocation protocols, as well as their communication and data formats-and this presents a barrier to service interoperability. jORCA is a desktop client aimed at facilitating seamless integration of Web Services. It does so by making a uniform representation of the different web resources, supporting scalable service discovery, and automatic composition of workflows. Usability is at the top of the jORCA agenda; thus it is a highly customizable and extensible application that accommodates a broad range of user skills featuring double-click invocation of services in conjunction with advanced execution-control, on the fly data standardization, extensibility of viewer plug-ins, drag-and-drop editing capabilities, plus a file-based browsing style and organization of favourite tools. The integration of bioinformatics Web Services is made easier to support a wider range of users. .

Greening Drylands with Seawater Easily and Naturally.

Science.gov (United States)

Moustafa, Khaled

2017-03-01

The sun and sea are inexhaustible sources of energy and water that could be used to transform drylands into more viable ecosystems. A sustainable and cost-effective approach is proposed for greening drylands and restoring wildlife and biodiversity in deserts using seawater desert-houses (or movable seawater ponds) that could offer important environmental advantages. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How to write English scientific paper easily

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Hyeong Sun

2010-07-15

This book covers definition of paper, how to write paper, as well as proofreading of paper and process of publication. It explains necessity and kinds of paper, organizations and form of paper, evaluation of paper, titles, abstracts, introductions, method of study, results, considerations, conclusions, acknowledgement and epilogue, reference, writers, pictures and tables, tense and analysis of sentences, submission of paper and ethics of publication, plagiarism, confirmation of items before writing paper, matters to be attended to drafting, and criteria and assessment of the examination of paper.

How to write English scientific paper easily

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hyeong Sun

2010-07-01

This book covers definition of paper, how to write paper, as well as proofreading of paper and process of publication. It explains necessity and kinds of paper, organizations and form of paper, evaluation of paper, titles, abstracts, introductions, method of study, results, considerations, conclusions, acknowledgement and epilogue, reference, writers, pictures and tables, tense and analysis of sentences, submission of paper and ethics of publication, plagiarism, confirmation of items before writing paper, matters to be attended to drafting, and criteria and assessment of the examination of paper.

Decreased Circulating mtDNA Levels in Professional Male Volleyball Players.

Science.gov (United States)

Nasi, Milena; Cristani, Alessandro; Pinti, Marcello; Lamberti, Igor; Gibellini, Lara; De Biasi, Sara; Guazzaloca, Alessandro; Trenti, Tommaso; Cossarizza, Andrea

2016-01-01

Exercise exerts various effects on the immune system, and evidence is emerging on its anti-inflammatory effects; the mechanisms on the basis of these modifications are poorly understood. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) released from damaged cells acts as a molecule containing the so-called damage-associated molecular patterns and can trigger sterile inflammation. Indeed, high plasma levels of mtDNA are associated to several inflammatory conditions and physiological aging and longevity. The authors evaluated plasma mtDNA in professional male volleyball players during seasonal training and the possible correlation between mtDNA levels and clinical parameters, body composition, and physical performance. Plasma mtDNA was quantified by real-time PCR every 2 mo in 12 professional volleyball players (PVPs) during 2 consecutive seasons. As comparison, 20 healthy nonathlete male volunteers (NAs) were analyzed. The authors found lower levels of mtDNA in plasma of PVPs than in NAs. However, PVPs showed a decrease of circulating mtDNA only in the first season, while no appreciable variations were observed during the second season. No correlation was observed among mtDNA, hematochemical, and anthropometric parameters. Regular physical activity appeared associated with lower levels of circulating mtDNA, further confirming the protective, anti-inflammatory effect of exercise.

Derivative, Maxima and Minima in a Graphical Context

Science.gov (United States)

Rivera-Figueroa, Antonio; Ponce-Campuzano, Juan Carlos

2013-01-01

A deeper learning of the properties and applications of the derivative for the study of functions may be achieved when teachers present lessons within a highly graphic context, linking the geometric illustrations to formal proofs. Each concept is better understood and more easily retained when it is presented and explained visually using graphs.…

A Proposal for Integrating Research and Teacher Professional Preparation: Innovation and Induction Corridors. White Paper

Science.gov (United States)

Donovan, M. Suzanne

2015-01-01

In this white paper, the author addresses the current issues faced by policy makers for improving the K-12 education system in the United States. Reliance had been on: (1) incentives; and (2) accountability standards. These two policy levers promised a quick, easily understood response for a relatively small investment. While the logic of these…

Pushing the Envelope on Rate Design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faruqui, Ahmad; George, Stephen S.

2006-01-01

A new crop of rate cases provides a unique window of opportunity to rationalize rate designs so that they more accurately reflect the underlying economics of electricity supply, so that prices are more easily understood by customers, and so that they provide more accurate and cost-effective incentives for energy efficiency and demand response. (author)

32 CFR 505.4 - Collecting personal information.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... SSNs from Army personnel as a means of identification. (3) Upon entrance into military service or... language that is explicit, easily understood, and not so lengthy as to deter an individual from reading it... records notice(s). If none, the language to be used is: “Routine Use(s): None. However the ‘Blanket...

Pendulum Motion and Differential Equations

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, Thomas F.; King, Stephen C.

2009-01-01

A common example of real-world motion that can be modeled by a differential equation, and one easily understood by the student, is the simple pendulum. Simplifying assumptions are necessary for closed-form solutions to exist, and frequently there is little discussion of the impact if those assumptions are not met. This article presents a…

Using Google Earth to Teach the Magnitude of Deep Time

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Joel D.

2011-01-01

Most timeline analogies of geologic and evolutionary time are fundamentally flawed. They trade off the problem of grasping very long times for the problem of grasping very short distances. The result is an understanding of relative time with little comprehension of absolute time. Earlier work has shown that the distances most easily understood by…

RWebData: A High-Level Interface to the Programmable Web

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrich Matter

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The rise of the programmable web offers new opportunities for the empirically driven sciences. The access to, compilation and preparation of data from the programmable web for statistical analysis can, however, involve substantial up-front costs for the practical researcher. The 'R'-package RWebData provides a high-level framework that allows data to be easily collected from the programmable web in a format that can be used directly for statistical analysis in 'R' without bothering about the data’s initial format and nesting structure. It was developed specifically for users who have no experience with web technologies and merely use 'R' as statistics software. This paper provides an overview of the high-level functions, explains the basic architecture of the package, illustrates the implemented data mapping algorithm, and discusses RWebData’s further development and reuse potential.   Funding statement: The author acknowledges financial support from the University of Basel Research Fund as well as support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 168848.

An ultrasound mini-balance for measurement of therapy level ultrasound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutton, Yvonne; McBride, Karne; Pye, Stephen

2006-01-01

This paper describes a cost-effective method for measuring acoustic power using a radiation force balance. The device is based around a long established balance design with a gantry arrangement fitted with an absorbing target. The notion of this balance design is that it can easily be constructed from materials that would be readily available within a clinical or industrial environment. The mini-balance was calibrated using a transfer standard against an NPL Reference balance, so a comparison of the performance between the two systems could be assessed. The measurements were completed at 1 MHz and 3 MHz and over the acoustic power range of 1 W to 15 W. The results show the acoustic power measured on the mini-balance to be within 5% of the reference measurements made on the NPL Balance. A separate systematic uncertainty budget is also presented based on studies made on the balance and on similar systems. The overall expanded uncertainty was calculated to be within 14% at 1 W level, decreasing with increasing power level to 7.4% above 5 W

Feather growth influences blood mercury level of young songbirds.

Science.gov (United States)

Condon, Anne M; Cristol, Daniel A

2009-02-01

Dynamics of mercury in feathers and blood of free-living songbirds is poorly understood. Nestling eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) living along the mercury-contaminated South River (Virginia, USA) had blood mercury levels an order of magnitude lower than their parents (nestling: 0.09 +/- 0.06 mg/kg [mean +/- standard deviation], n = 156; adult: 1.21 +/- 0.57 mg/kg, n = 86). To test whether this low blood mercury was the result of mercury sequestration in rapidly growing feathers, we repeatedly sampled free-living juveniles throughout the period of feather growth and molt. Mean blood mercury concentrations increased to 0.52 +/- 0.36 mg/kg (n = 44) after the completion of feather growth. Some individuals had reached adult blood mercury levels within three months of leaving the nest, but levels dropped to 0.20 +/- 0.09 mg/kg (n = 11) once the autumn molt had begun. Most studies of mercury contamination in juvenile birds have focused on recently hatched young with thousands of rapidly growing feathers. However, the highest risk period for mercury intoxication in young birds may be during the vulnerable period after fledging, when feathers no longer serve as a buffer against dietary mercury. We found that nestling blood mercury levels were not indicative of the extent of contamination because a large portion of the ingested mercury ended up in feathers. The present study demonstrates unequivocally that in songbirds blood mercury level is influenced strongly by the growth and molt of feathers.

Environmental radiation levels in and around Kalpakkam during 1983-1987

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nambi, K.S.V.; Mehta, N.K.; Sundaram, Meenakshi; Viswambharan, K.R.

1989-01-01

Results of the environmental radiation monitoring around the Kalpakkam Atomic Power Station carried out routinely on quarterly integrating cycles using thermoluminescent dosimeters, are presented and analysed, for the five year period 1983-87. As the first reactor attained criticality in July 1983 and the second unit in August 1985 the results are compared with the previously published values for the period 1980-82. Only at two locations viz. the Micro-met laboratory situated at 800 meters from the station and the main gate located at the 1.6 km exclusion zone boundary, a possible indication of increases in the environmental radiation level associated with the power reactor operations could be discerned. However these were found to be statistically insignificant. The whole terrain is characterised by somewhat high levels of terrestrial radiations with quite wide temporal fluctuations which easily mask the small increases if any in the radiation levels, contributed by the reactors. Places located farther away from the power station and away from the monazite-bearing beaches, yielded an annual average background level of 117 ± 29 mR as against the value of 125 ± 24 mR obtained during the preoperational period of 1980-82. A declining general trend in the radiation levels is seen at many locations and this is thought to be associated with significant reduction in the 137 Cs fallout component of the environmental radiation. (author). 5 refs., 2 tabs., 11 figs

Mixed-handed persons are more easily persuaded and are more gullible: interhemispheric interaction and belief updating.

Science.gov (United States)

Christman, Stephen D; Henning, Bradley R; Geers, Andrew L; Propper, Ruth E; Niebauer, Christopher L

2008-09-01

Research has shown that persons with mixed hand preference (i.e., who report using their non-dominant hand for at least some manual activities) display an increased tendency to update beliefs in response to information inconsistent with those beliefs. This has been interpreted as reflecting the fact that the left hemisphere maintains our current beliefs while the right hemisphere evaluates and updates those beliefs when appropriate. Belief evaluation is thus dependent on interhemispheric interaction, and mixed-handedness is associated with increased interhemispheric interaction. In Experiment 1 mixed-handers exhibited higher levels of persuasion in a standard attitude-change paradigm, while in Experiment 2 mixed-handers exhibited higher levels of gullibility as measured by the Barnum Effect.

Optimized ONO thickness for multi-level and 2-bit/cell operation for wrapped-select-gate (WSG) SONOS memory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Woei-Cherng; Chao, Tien-Sheng; Yang, Tsung-Yu; Peng, Wu-Chin; Yang, Wen-Luh; Chen, Jian-Hao; Ma, Ming Wen; Lai, Chao-Sung; Lee, Chien-Hsing; Hsieh, Tsung-Min; Liou, Jhyy Cheng; Chen, Tzu Ping; Chen, Chien Hung; Lin, Chih Hung; Chen, Hwi Huang; Ko, Joe

2008-01-01

In this paper, highly reliable wrapped-select-gate (WSG) silicon–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon (SONOS) memory cells with multi-level and 2-bit/cell operation have been successfully demonstrated. The source-side injection mechanism for WSG-SONOS memory with different ONO thickness was thoroughly investigated. The different programming efficiencies of the WSG-SONOS memory under different ONO thicknesses are explained by the lateral electrical field extracted from the simulation results. Furthermore, multi-level storage is easily obtained, and good V TH distribution presented, for the WSG-SONOS memory with optimized ONO thickness. High program/erase speed (10 µs/5 ms) and low programming current (3.5 µA) are used to achieve the multi-level operation with tolerable gate and drain disturbance, negligible second-bit effect, excellent data retention and good endurance performance

What can industry do to improve acceptance of nuclear energy?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panossian, J.

1990-01-01

Even though nuclear energy covers approximately a third of the energy needs of Western Europe without having injured anyone or damaging the environment, its development is considerably hindered in many countries by the opposition of a significant part of the public. The majority of those responsible for the energy supply though, is of the opinion that nuclear energy should continue to play at least as great a role in coming years. In order to lead the public to a positive stand towards nuclear energy, the industry must perfect its product and improve the quality of its communication. One cannot afford to be afraid of admitting that the product, nuclear energy, can be even further improved, even if it is currently at a very high level. Experienced suppliers in the field of nuclear energy have great sums of money with which to work, and should continue to invest in development. It is especially important that the existing nuclear power plants demonstrate exemplary company behavior in respect to safety, availability and economy: this is the best proof of the advantages of nuclear energy and that it is harmless. In regards to communication, it is important to remember that resistance disappears if the public can be directly acquainted with the object of its fears. This explains the special interest in tours of nuclear power plants. The manner in which risk is understood also needs our attention. Risk is not easily understood. It is more easily grasped if it is identified with a highest unsurmountable limit value which corresponds with acceptable consequences. Finally, the public must be informed that nuclear energy is the most environmentally safe means of energy production. (author)

Handheld Device Adapted to Smartphone Cameras for the Measurement of Sodium Ion Concentrations at Saliva-Relevant Levels via Fluorescence

OpenAIRE

Lipowicz, Michelle; Garcia, Antonio

2015-01-01

The use of saliva sampling as a minimally-invasive means for drug testing and monitoring physiology is a subject of great interest to researchers and clinicians. This study describes a new optical method based on non-axially symmetric focusing of light using an oblate spheroid sample chamber. The device is simple, lightweight, low cost and is easily attached to several different brands/models of smartphones (Apple, Samsung, HTC and Nokia) for the measurement of sodium ion levels at physiologi...

Default activity patterns at the neocortical microcircuit level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Artur eLuczak

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Even in absence of sensory stimuli cortical networks exhibit complex, self-organized activity patterns. While the function of those spontaneous patterns of activation remains poorly understood, recent studies both in vivo and in vitro have demonstrated that neocortical neurons activate in a surprisingly similar sequential order both spontaneously and following input into cortex. For example, neurons that tend to fire earlier within spontaneous bursts of activity also fire earlier than other neurons in response to sensory stimuli. These 'default patterns' can last hundreds of milliseconds and are strongly conserved under a variety of conditions. In this paper we will review recent evidence for these default patterns at the local cortical level. We speculate that cortical architecture imposes common constraints on spontaneous and evoked activity flow, which result in the similarity of the patterns.

The Texas low-level waste compact: Classification and semantic problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

LeMone, D.V.

1995-01-01

The disposal of low-level radioactive wastes for the State of Texas, as well as the participating compact states of Maine and Vermont, will require a stable classification scheme and a mutually acceptable series of definitions for the orderly planning, development, emplacement, and closure of the proposed Texas low-level site. Under the currently utilized system of classification, low-level radioactive wastes are usually segregated under six basic classes. These classes are: Class A, Class B, Class C, NARM, NORM, and Mixed Low-Level Waste. These wastes originate from two primary sources: utility generators and non-utility generators (medical/industrial/university). The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Site currently will not accept either Greater Than Class C (GTCC) waste or Transuranic (TRU) waste (exceeding 370 Bq/g (10 nCi/g)), thereby establishing the upper limits for disposal. One basic problem for all low-level entities is the national classification scheme. There is no currently defined lower limit for radioactive wastes. This standard is essential and must be addressed in order to effectively project future waste streams. Semantic problems include the rendering of precise definitions for such common words as processing, recycling, generation, etc.; they are not necessarily defined or used in the same sense between generators or states. Consistency in terminology is an absolute essential for adequate nuclear waste management. Other problems that must be addressed include such areas as: types of beneficiation of waste (supercompaction and incineration versus untreated waste), validation of point of origin, consistent and easily recognizable labeling that includes an inventory, transport tracking, and package standards

Resonance Fluorescence of a Trapped Four-Level Atom with Bichromatic Driving

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergou, J.; Jakob, M.; Abranyos, Y.

1999-01-01

The resonance fluorescence spectrum of a bichromatically driven four-level atom is polarization dependent. Very narrow lines occur in the incoherent parts of the spectrum for polarization directions which are different from that of the driving fields. The degree of squeezing has a maximum of 56% which should make it easily observable. The second-order correlation function exhibits anti bunching for zero time delay and strong super bunching for certain values of the interaction parameter and time delay. For these parameters resonant two-photon emission takes place in the form of polarization entangled photon pairs. The system can be a novel source of photons in the EPR and/or Bell states. Some experiments will be proposed which make use of this unique source. (Authors)

Evidence for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in Australian indigenous peoples: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyons, Jasmine G; O'Dea, Kerin; Walker, Karen Z

2014-06-02

Low plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are a strong, independent, but poorly understood risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although this atherogenic lipid abnormality has been widely reported in Australia's Indigenous peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the evidence has not come under systematic review. This review therefore examines published data for Indigenous Australians reporting 1) mean HDL-C levels for both sexes and 2) factors associated with low HDL-C. PubMed, Medline and Informit ATSI Health databases were systematically searched between 1950 and 2012 for studies on Indigenous Australians reporting mean HDL-C levels in both sexes. Retrieved studies were evaluated by standard criteria. Low HDL-C was defined as: Indigenous populations living in rural and remote communities. Inverse associations between HDL-C and central obesity, diabetes prevalence and inflammatory markers suggest a particularly adverse CVD risk factor profile. An absence of sex dichotomy in HDL-C levels warrants further investigation.

P1-16: The Effect of Visual Stimuli of LED Lighting by Color Temperature and Illuminance Control on Attention and Meditation Level of Mind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chan-Su Lee

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Recently LED (Lighting Emitting Diode lighting sources are applied not only for displays like LED BLU (back light unit TV but also for general lighting like LED lamps for home and office. The color temperature, or chromaticity, and brightness of LED lighting can be easily controlled. Preferred combinations between illuminance and color temperature of lighting depend on daily living activities (Oi et al., 2007 Symposium on Design of Artificial Environments 214–215. Changes in intensity can be more easily detected than color changes (Almeida et al., 2009 Perception 38 1109–1117. We investigated whether the illumination stimuli of LED lighting can enhance attention and relaxation level by controlling color temperature and illuminance according to activities. EEG signals are used to estimate attention and relaxation levels of human subjects under different lighting conditions. Nine participants with normal eye sight and color vision participated in the experiments with four different activities under different illumination conditions. LED lighting with color temperature 3600 K in 240 lux is used for relaxation activities, and LED lighting with 6600 K in 794 lux is used for the task which requires attention. These lighting conditions are compared with conventional lighting condition with 4600 K in 530 lux. Preliminary experiment results show that low color temperature with low illumination intensity of LED lighting enhances relaxation level and high color temperature with high illuminance improves attention level compared with conventional lighting environment without illuminance and color temperature changes.

Case report: Extreme levels of serum S-100B in a patient with chronic subdural hematoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malin Elisabet Persson

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The protein S-100B is a biomarker increasingly used within neurosurgery and neurointensive care. As a relatively sensitive, yet unspecific, indicator of CNS pathology, potential sources of error must be clearly understood when interpreting serum S-100B levels. This case report studied the course of a 46-year-old gentleman with a chronic subdural haemorrhage, serum S-100B levels of 22 μg/L and a history of malignant melanoma. Both intra- and extra-cranial sources of S-100B are evaluated and imply an unclear contribution of several sources to the total serum concentration. Potential sources of error when interpreting serum concentrations of S-100B are discussed

Cross calibration of the Siemens mMR: easily acquired accurate PET phantom measurements, long term stability and reproducibility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keller, Sune H [Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (Denmark); Jakoby, Bjorn [University of Surrey, Guildford (United Kingdom); Hansen, Adam Espe; Svalling, Susanne; Klausen, Thomas L [Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (Denmark)

2015-05-18

We present a quick and easy method to perform quantitatively accurate PET scans of typical water-filled PET plastic shell phantoms on the Siemens mMR PET/MR scanner. We perform regular cross calibrations (Xcals) of our PET scanners, including the Siemens mMR PET/MR, with a Siemens mCT water phantom. We evaluate the mMR cross calibration stability over a 3-year period. Recently, the mMR software (VB20P) offered the option of using predefined μ-maps. We evaluated this option by using either the predefined μ-map of the long mMR water phantom or a system-integrated user defined CT-based μ-map of the mCT water phantom used for Xcal. On 54 cross calibrations that were acquired over 3 years, the mMR on average underestimated the concentration by 16% due to the use of MR-based μ-maps. The mMR produced the narrowest range and lowest standard deviation of the Xcal ratios, implying it and is the most stable of the 6 scanners included in this study over a 3 year period. With correctly segmented μ-maps, the mMR produced Xcal ratios of 1.00-1.02, well within the acceptance range [0.95-1.05]. Measuring the concentration in a centrally placed cylindrical VOI allows for some robustness against misregistration of the μ-maps but it should be no more than a few millimeters in the x-y plane, while the tolerance is larger on the z-axis (when, as always with PET, keeping clear of the axial edges of the FOV). The mMR is the most stable scanner in this study and the mean underestimation is no longer an issue with the easily accessible μ-map, which in all 7 tests resulted in correct Xcal ratios. We will share the user defined μ-map of the mCT phantom and the protocol with interested mMR users.

Cross calibration of the Siemens mMR: easily acquired accurate PET phantom measurements, long term stability and reproducibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keller, Sune H; Jakoby, Bjorn; Hansen, Adam Espe; Svalling, Susanne; Klausen, Thomas L

2015-01-01

We present a quick and easy method to perform quantitatively accurate PET scans of typical water-filled PET plastic shell phantoms on the Siemens mMR PET/MR scanner. We perform regular cross calibrations (Xcals) of our PET scanners, including the Siemens mMR PET/MR, with a Siemens mCT water phantom. We evaluate the mMR cross calibration stability over a 3-year period. Recently, the mMR software (VB20P) offered the option of using predefined μ-maps. We evaluated this option by using either the predefined μ-map of the long mMR water phantom or a system-integrated user defined CT-based μ-map of the mCT water phantom used for Xcal. On 54 cross calibrations that were acquired over 3 years, the mMR on average underestimated the concentration by 16% due to the use of MR-based μ-maps. The mMR produced the narrowest range and lowest standard deviation of the Xcal ratios, implying it and is the most stable of the 6 scanners included in this study over a 3 year period. With correctly segmented μ-maps, the mMR produced Xcal ratios of 1.00-1.02, well within the acceptance range [0.95-1.05]. Measuring the concentration in a centrally placed cylindrical VOI allows for some robustness against misregistration of the μ-maps but it should be no more than a few millimeters in the x-y plane, while the tolerance is larger on the z-axis (when, as always with PET, keeping clear of the axial edges of the FOV). The mMR is the most stable scanner in this study and the mean underestimation is no longer an issue with the easily accessible μ-map, which in all 7 tests resulted in correct Xcal ratios. We will share the user defined μ-map of the mCT phantom and the protocol with interested mMR users.

Acquired Factor Xiii Deficiency: An Uncommon But Easily Missed Cause Of Severe Bleeding

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Fogarty, H

2018-05-01

Factor XIII (FXIII) is a plasma clotting protein involved in clot stabilization. Severe FXIII deficiency may present with severe, even fatal bleeding. Critically however, routine coagulation assays may be normal and only specific FXIII assays will detect the abnormality. Herein we discuss a case report of a patient with acquired FXIII deficiency in order to highlight the clinical challenges associated with establishing the diagnosis and discuss the treatment approach. A 70-year-old man presented with a gluteal haematoma despite no preceding personal history of bleeding. Extensive initial haemostatic investigations were normal until a specific FXIII assay showed a marked reduction in FXIII levels. With directed treatment, bleeding episodes ceased and remission was achieved. Clinical awareness of FXIII deficiency is important, so appropriate testing can be implemented in patients with unexplained bleeding diatheses, particularly those in whom bleeding responds poorly to standard replacement therapy.

Acute Intrathoracic Gastric Volvulus due to Diaphragmatic Hernia: A Rare Emergency Easily Overlooked

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyung Hun Kim

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Acute intrathoracic gastric volvulus occurs when the stomach undergoes organoaxial torsion in the chest due to either concomitant enlargement of the hiatus or a diaphragmatic hernia. Iatrogenic diaphragmatic hernia can occur after hiatal hernia repair and other surgical procedures, such as nephrectomy, esophagogastrectomy and splenopancreatectomy. We describe a 49-year-old woman who presented to our emergency department with acute moderate epigastric soreness and vomiting. She had undergone extensive gynecologic surgery including splenectomy 1 year before. The chest radiograph obtained in the emergency department demonstrated an elevated gastric air-fluid level in the left lower lung field. An urgent gastroscopy showed twisted structural abnormality of the stomach body. A computed tomography scan demonstrated the distended stomach, located in the left lower hemithorax through a left diaphragmatic defect. Emergent transthoracic repair was performed. Postoperative recovery was uneventful, and the patient did not experience any pain or difficulty with eating.

Three-Dimensional Nuclear Chart--Understanding Nuclear Physics and Nucleosynthesis in Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Koura, Hiroyuki

2014-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) nuclear charts were created using toy blocks, which represent the atomic masses per nucleon number and the total half-lives for each nucleus in the entire region of the nuclear mass. The bulk properties of the nuclei can be easily understood by using these charts. Subsequently, these charts were used in outreach activities…

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Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

recurs indefinitely is understood (after some persuasion perhaps) to be none else than the number 1. The prob- lem here is that the concept of limit takes some time to sink in. Given that start, they can see easily that numbers like 0.142857 where the digits overlined recur indefinitely, are rational. Even if the recurring string.

To Determine the Percentage of Copper in a Brass Screw Using a Computer Interface with a Colorimeter.

Science.gov (United States)

Horgan, Joan; Hedge, Robyn

1997-01-01

Year 11 students investigated the real-world problem of whether screws are really brass. It allowed them to use the colorimeter and computer interface in a way that was easily understood and models normal practice in testing laboratories. Screws were dissolved in nitric acid and their absorbance of red light was compared with a standard curve.…

Fulltext PDF

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

And in those times, when nature was. --------~--------. 6 ... in these times were not large, and maps at this small scale could be easily ... at least the first one third of the article should be readily understood by a general audience. Articles on ... New books will get preference in review. A list of .... Crown, New York, 1978. [3] John ...

A Flush Toilet Model for the Transistor

Science.gov (United States)

Organtini, Giovanni

2012-01-01

In introductory physics textbooks, diodes working principles are usually well described in a relatively simple manner. According to our experience, they are well understood by students. Even when no formal derivation of the physics laws governing the current flow through a diode is given, the use of this device as a check valve is easily accepted.…

Computers and Information Flow.

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, R. L.

This paper is designed to fill the need for an easily understood introduction to the computing and data processing field for the layman who has, or can expect to have, some contact with it. Information provided includes the unique terminology and jargon of the field, the various types of computers and the scope of computational capabilities, and…

Elevated serum pesticide levels and risk for Alzheimer disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Jason R; Roy, Ananya; Shalat, Stuart L; von Stein, Richard T; Hossain, Muhammad M; Buckley, Brian; Gearing, Marla; Levey, Allan I; German, Dwight C

2014-03-01

The causes of late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD) are not yet understood but likely include a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Limited epidemiological studies suggest that occupational pesticide exposures are associated with AD. Previously, we reported that serum levels of dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), the metabolite of the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), were elevated in a small number of patients with AD (n=20). To evaluate the association between serum levels of DDE and AD and whether the apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype modifies the association. A case-control study consisting of existing samples from patients with AD and control participants from the Emory University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School's Alzheimer's Disease Center. Serum levels of DDE were measured in 79 control and 86 AD cases. Serum DDE levels, AD diagnosis, severity of AD measured by the Mini-Mental State Examination score, and interaction with APOE4 status. Levels of DDE were 3.8-fold higher in the serum of those with AD (mean [SEM], 2.64 [0.35] ng/mg cholesterol) when compared with control participants (mean [SEM], 0.69 [0.1] ng/mg cholesterol; P risk for AD (95% CI, 2.54-5.82; P risk for AD and carriers of an APOE4 ε4 allele may be more susceptible to the effects of DDE. Both DDT and DDE increase amyloid precursor protein levels, providing mechanistic plausibility for the association of DDE exposure with AD. Identifying people who have elevated levels of DDE and carry an APOE ε4 allele may lead to early identification of some cases of AD.

Observational Estimates of the Horizontal Eddy Diffusivity and Mixing Length in the Low-Level Region of Intense Hurricanes

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-01

flight-level data collected by research aircraft that penetrated the eyewalls of Category 5 Hurricane Hugo (1989), Category 4 Hurricane Allen (1980) and...data collected by research aircraft that penetrated the eyewalls of Category 5 Hurricane Hugo 42 (1989), Category 4 Hurricane Allen (1980) and Category...understood. 87 Using the data from the periods of eyewall penetrations in the intense Hurricanes Hugo 88 (1989) and Allen (1980), Zhang et al. (2011a

Biological monitors for low levels of ionising radiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mohankumar, M N; Jeevanram, R K [Safety Research and Health Physics Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam (India)

1996-12-31

The biological effects of high doses of ionising radiation are well understood and the methods of measurement of these doses well established. However the effects due to extremely low doses remain by and large uncertain. This is because of the fact that at such low doses no gross symptoms are seen. In fact, at these levels the occurrence of double strand breaks leading to the formation of chromosomal aberrations like dicentrics is rare and chances of mutation due to base damage are negligible. Hence neither chromosomal aberration studies nor mutational assays are useful for detecting doses of the order of a few milligray. Results of exhaustive work done by various laboratories indicate that below 20 mGy the chromosomal aberration technique based on scoring of dicentrics cannot distinguish between a linear or a threshold model. However indirect methods like unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) and sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) appear to be promising for the detection of radiation exposures due to low levels of radiation. This report reviews the available literature on the biological effects of low levels of ionising radiation and highlights the merits and demerits of the various methods employed in the measurement of UDS and SCE. The phenomenon of radio-adaptive response (RAR) and its relation to DNA repair is also discussed. (author). 98 refs., 11 figs., 4 tabs.

Development of an omnidirectional gamma-ray imaging Compton camera for low-radiation-level environmental monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Takara; Enomoto, Ryoji; Muraishi, Hiroshi; Katagiri, Hideaki; Kagaya, Mika; Fukushi, Masahiro; Kano, Daisuke; Satoh, Wataru; Takeda, Tohoru; Tanaka, Manobu M.; Tanaka, Souichi; Uchida, Tomohisa; Wada, Kiyoto; Wakamatsu, Ryo

2018-02-01

We have developed an omnidirectional gamma-ray imaging Compton camera for environmental monitoring at low levels of radiation. The camera consisted of only six CsI(Tl) scintillator cubes of 3.5 cm, each of which was readout by super-bialkali photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs). Our camera enables the visualization of the position of gamma-ray sources in all directions (∼4π sr) over a wide energy range between 300 and 1400 keV. The angular resolution (σ) was found to be ∼11°, which was realized using an image-sharpening technique. A high detection efficiency of 18 cps/(µSv/h) for 511 keV (1.6 cps/MBq at 1 m) was achieved, indicating the capability of this camera to visualize hotspots in areas with low-radiation-level contamination from the order of µSv/h to natural background levels. Our proposed technique can be easily used as a low-radiation-level imaging monitor in radiation control areas, such as medical and accelerator facilities.

The performance of neutron spectrometers AR a long-pulse spallation source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pynn, R.; Daemen, L.L.

1995-01-01

At a recent workshop at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory members of the international neutron scattering community discussed the performance to be anticipated from neutron scattering instruments installed at a 1 MW long-pulse spallation source (LPSS). Although the report of this workshop is long, its principal conclusions can be easily summarised and almost as easily understood. This article presents such a synthesis for a 60 Hz LPSS with 1 msec proton pulses. We discuss some of the limitations of the workshop conclusions and suggest a simple analysis of the performance differences that might be expected between short- and long-pulse sources both of which exploit coupled moderators

Dealing with the size-of-source effect in the calibration of direct-reading radiation thermometer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saunders, P. [Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand, PO Box 31-310, Lower Hutt 5040 (New Zealand)

2013-09-11

The majority of general-purpose low-temperature handheld radiation thermometers are severely affected by the size-of-source effect (SSE). Calibration of these instruments is pointless unless the SSE is accounted for in the calibration process. Traditional SSE measurement techniques, however, are costly and time consuming, and because the instruments are direct-reading in temperature, traditional SSE results are not easily interpretable, particularly by the general user. This paper describes a simplified method for measuring the SSE, suitable for second-tier calibration laboratories and requiring no additional equipment, and proposes a means of reporting SSE results on a calibration certificate that should be easily understood by the non-specialist user.

Circulating FGF23 levels in response to acute changes in plasma Ca(2+)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gravesen, E; Mace, M.L.; Hofman-Bang, J.

2014-01-01

The regulation of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) synthesis and secretion is still incompletely understood. FGF23 is an important regulator of renal phosphate excretion and has regulatory effects on the calciotropic hormones calcitriol and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Calcium (Ca) and phosphate...... FGF23 levels and whether a close relationship, similar that known for Ca and PTH, exists between Ca and FGF23. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine whether acute hypercalcemia and hypocalcemia regulate FGF23 levels in the rat. Acute hypercalcemia was induced by an intravenous Ca infusion...... and hypocalcemia by infusion of ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA) in normal and acutely parathyroidectomized rats. Intact plasma FGF23 and intact plasma PTH and plasma Ca(2+) and phosphate were measured. Acute hypercalcemia and hypocalcemia resulted as expected in adequate PTH secretory responses. Plasma FGF...

The Processing Speed of Scene Categorization at Multiple Levels of Description: The Superordinate Advantage Revisited.

Science.gov (United States)

Banno, Hayaki; Saiki, Jun

2015-03-01

Recent studies have sought to determine which levels of categories are processed first in visual scene categorization and have shown that the natural and man-made superordinate-level categories are understood faster than are basic-level categories. The current study examined the robustness of the superordinate-level advantage in a visual scene categorization task. A go/no-go categorization task was evaluated with response time distribution analysis using an ex-Gaussian template. A visual scene was categorized as either superordinate or basic level, and two basic-level categories forming a superordinate category were judged as either similar or dissimilar to each other. First, outdoor/ indoor groups and natural/man-made were used as superordinate categories to investigate whether the advantage could be generalized beyond the natural/man-made boundary. Second, a set of images forming a superordinate category was manipulated. We predicted that decreasing image set similarity within the superordinate-level category would work against the speed advantage. We found that basic-level categorization was faster than outdoor/indoor categorization when the outdoor category comprised dissimilar basic-level categories. Our results indicate that the superordinate-level advantage in visual scene categorization is labile across different categories and category structures. © 2015 SAGE Publications.

Interconnection of Key Microbial Functional Genes for Enhanced Benzo[a]pyrene Biodegradation in Sediments by Microbial Electrochemistry.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Zaisheng; He, Yuhong; Cai, Haiyuan; Van Nostrand, Joy D; He, Zhili; Zhou, Jizhong; Krumholz, Lee R; Jiang, He-Long

2017-08-01

Sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) can stimulate the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments, but the mechanism of this process is poorly understood at the microbial functional gene level. Here, the use of SMFC resulted in 92% benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) removal over 970 days relative to 54% in the controls. Sediment functions, microbial community structure, and network interactions were dramatically altered by the SMFC employment. Functional gene analysis showed that c-type cytochrome genes for electron transfer, aromatic degradation genes, and extracellular ligninolytic enzymes involved in lignin degradation were significantly enriched in bulk sediments during SMFC operation. Correspondingly, chemical analysis of the system showed that these genetic changes resulted in increases in the levels of easily oxidizable organic carbon and humic acids which may have resulted in increased BaP bioavailability and increased degradation rates. Tracking microbial functional genes and corresponding organic matter responses should aid mechanistic understanding of BaP enhanced biodegradation by microbial electrochemistry and development of sustainable bioremediation strategies.

Temperature rise, sea level rise and increased radiative forcing - an application of cointegration methods

Science.gov (United States)

Schmith, Torben; Thejll, Peter; Johansen, Søren

2016-04-01

We analyse the statistical relationship between changes in global temperature, global steric sea level and radiative forcing in order to reveal causal relationships. There are in this, however, potential pitfalls due to the trending nature of the time series. We therefore apply a statistical method called cointegration analysis, originating from the field of econometrics, which is able to correctly handle the analysis of series with trends and other long-range dependencies. Further, we find a relationship between steric sea level and temperature and find that temperature causally depends on the steric sea level, which can be understood as a consequence of the large heat capacity of the ocean. This result is obtained both when analyzing observed data and data from a CMIP5 historical model run. Finally, we find that in the data from the historical run, the steric sea level, in turn, is driven by the external forcing. Finally, we demonstrate that combining these two results can lead to a novel estimate of radiative forcing back in time based on observations.

Prediction and comparison of noise levels from ground and elevated flare systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Obasi, E.

2009-01-01

Flaring is a process to dispose of hydrocarbons during clean-up, emergency shut downs or dispose a small volume waste streams of mixed gasses that cannot easily or safely be separated. This presentation discussed flaring as a noise issue. It focused on flaring noise characterization; flare noise modeling; flare sound power levels; and flare sound pressure level comparison at a distance of 1.5 km. The presentation included a photograph of flaring at a gas plant in Nigeria. The presentation listed some of the potential health effects associated with long term exposure to excessive noise, such as hearing loss; headaches; stress; fatigue; sleep disturbance; and high blood pressure. Companies flare gas to dispose waste gases in a safe and reliable manner through combustion and to depressurize gas lines during maintenance and emergencies. This presentation also discussed ground and elevated flares; components of flare noise characterization; and key factors affecting flare noise. A model to predict flaring noise was also presented. It demonstrated that at the same gas mass flow rate, the noise level from elevated flare stacks are significantly higher than ground flares. tabs., figs.

Prediction and comparison of noise levels from ground and elevated flare systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Obasi, E. [Stantec Consulting Ltd., Surrey, BC (Canada)

2009-07-01

Flaring is a process to dispose of hydrocarbons during clean-up, emergency shut downs or dispose a small volume waste streams of mixed gasses that cannot easily or safely be separated. This presentation discussed flaring as a noise issue. It focused on flaring noise characterization; flare noise modeling; flare sound power levels; and flare sound pressure level comparison at a distance of 1.5 km. The presentation included a photograph of flaring at a gas plant in Nigeria. The presentation listed some of the potential health effects associated with long term exposure to excessive noise, such as hearing loss; headaches; stress; fatigue; sleep disturbance; and high blood pressure. Companies flare gas to dispose waste gases in a safe and reliable manner through combustion and to depressurize gas lines during maintenance and emergencies. This presentation also discussed ground and elevated flares; components of flare noise characterization; and key factors affecting flare noise. A model to predict flaring noise was also presented. It demonstrated that at the same gas mass flow rate, the noise level from elevated flare stacks are significantly higher than ground flares. tabs., figs.

Incorporating stand level risk management options into forest decision support systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyle Eyvindson

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Aim of study: To examine methods of incorporating risk and uncertainty to stand level forest decisions. Area of study: A case study examines a small forest holding from Jönköping, Sweden. Material and methods: We incorporate empirically estimated uncertainty into the simulation through a Monte Carlo approach when simulating the forest stands for the next 100 years. For the iterations of the Monte Carlo approach, errors were incorporated into the input data which was simulated according to the Heureka decision support system. Both the Value at Risk and the Conditional Value at Risk of the net present value are evaluated for each simulated stand. Main results: Visual representation of the errors can be used to highlight which decision would be most beneficial dependent on the decision maker’s opinion of the forest inventory results. At a stand level, risk preferences can be rather easily incorporated into the current forest decision support software. Research highlights: Forest management operates under uncertainty and risk. Methods are available to describe this risk in an understandable fashion for the decision maker.

Lead Poisoning Can Be Easily Misdiagnosed as Acute Porphyria and Nonspecific Abdominal Pain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Ta Tsai

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Lead poisoning (LP is less commonly encountered in emergency departments (ED. However, lead exposure still occurs, and new sources of poisoning have emerged. LP often goes unrecognized due to a low index of suspicion and nonspecific symptoms. We present a case of a 48-year-old man who had recurring abdominal pain with anemia that was misdiagnosed. His condition was initially diagnosed as nonspecific abdominal pain and acute porphyria. Acute porphyria-like symptoms with a positive urine porphyrin test result led to the misdiagnosis; testing for heme precursors in urine is the key to the differential diagnosis between LP and acute porphyria. The final definitive diagnosis of lead toxicity was confirmed based on high blood lead levels after detailed medical history taking. The lead poisoning was caused by traditional Chinese herbal pills. The abdominal pain disappeared after a course of chelating treatment. The triad for the diagnosis of lead poisoning should be a history of medicine intake, anemia with basophilic stippling, and recurrent abdominal pain.

The Defense Waste Processing Facility: an innovative process for high-level waste immobilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cowan, S.P.

1985-01-01

The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), under construction at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Plant (SRP), will process defense high-level radioactive waste so that it can be disposed of safely. The DWPF will immobilize the high activity fraction of the waste in borosilicate glass cast in stainless steel canisters which can be handled, stored, transported and disposed of in a geologic repository. The low-activity fraction of the waste, which represents about 90% of the high-level waste HLW volume, will be decontaminated and disposed of on the SRP site. After decontamination the canister will be welded shut by an upset resistance welding technique. In this process a slightly oversized plug is pressed into the canister opening. At the same time a large current is passed through the canister and plug. The higher resistance of the canister/plug interface causes the heat which welds the plug in place. This process provides a high quality, reliable weld by a process easily operated remotely

FPGA Implementation of Blue Whale Calls Classifier Using High-Level Programming Tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammed Bahoura

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a hardware-based architecture for automatic blue whale calls classification based on short-time Fourier transform and multilayer perceptron neural network. The proposed architecture is implemented on field programmable gate array (FPGA using Xilinx System Generator (XSG and the Nexys-4 Artix-7 FPGA board. This high-level programming tool allows us to design, simulate and execute the compiled design in Matlab/Simulink environment quickly and easily. Intermediate signals obtained at various steps of the proposed system are presented for typical blue whale calls. Classification performances based on the fixed-point XSG/FPGA implementation are compared to those obtained by the floating-point Matlab simulation, using a representative database of the blue whale calls.

PolNet: A Tool to Quantify Network-Level Cell Polarity and Blood Flow in Vascular Remodeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernabeu, Miguel O; Jones, Martin L; Nash, Rupert W; Pezzarossa, Anna; Coveney, Peter V; Gerhardt, Holger; Franco, Claudio A

2018-05-08

In this article, we present PolNet, an open-source software tool for the study of blood flow and cell-level biological activity during vessel morphogenesis. We provide an image acquisition, segmentation, and analysis protocol to quantify endothelial cell polarity in entire in vivo vascular networks. In combination, we use computational fluid dynamics to characterize the hemodynamics of the vascular networks under study. The tool enables, to our knowledge for the first time, a network-level analysis of polarity and flow for individual endothelial cells. To date, PolNet has proven invaluable for the study of endothelial cell polarization and migration during vascular patterning, as demonstrated by two recent publications. Additionally, the tool can be easily extended to correlate blood flow with other experimental observations at the cellular/molecular level. We release the source code of our tool under the Lesser General Public License. Copyright © 2018 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Low-level waste disposal site performance assessment with the RQ/PQ methodology. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogers, V.C.; Grant, M.W.; Sutherland, A.A.

1982-12-01

A methodology called RQ/PQ (retention quotient/performance quotient) has been developed for relating the potential hazard of radioactive waste to the natural and man-made barriers provided by a disposal facility. The methodology utilizes a systems approach to quantify the safety of low-level waste disposed in a near-surface facility. The main advantages of the RQ/PQ methodology are its simplicity of analysis and clarity of presentation while still allowing a comprehensive set of nuclides and pathways to be treated. Site performance and facility designs for low-level waste disposal can be easily investigated with relatively few parameters needed to define the problem. Application of the methodology has revealed that the key factor affecting the safety of low-level waste disposal in near surface facilities is the potential for intrusion events. Food, inhalation and well water pathways dominate in the analysis of such events. While the food and inhalation pathways are not strongly site-dependent, the well water pathway is. Finally, burial at depths of 5 m or more was shown to reduce the impacts from intrusion events

Fermi level dependent native defect formation: Consequences for metal-semiconductor and semiconductor-semiconductor interfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walukiewicz, W.

1988-02-01

The amphoteric native defect model of the Schottky barrier formation is used to analyze the Fermi level pinning at metal/semiconductor interfaces for submonolayer metal coverages. It is assumed that the energy required for defect generation is released in the process of surface back-relaxation. Model calculations for metal/GaAs interfaces show a weak dependence of the Fermi level pinning on the thickness of metal deposited at room temperature. This weak dependence indicates a strong dependence of the defect formation energy on the Fermi level, a unique feature of amphoteric native defects. This result is in very good agreement with experimental data. It is shown that a very distinct asymmetry in the Fermi level pinning on p- and n-type GaAs observed at liquid nitrogen temperatures can be understood in terms of much different recombination rates for amphoteric native defects in those two types of materials. Also, it is demonstrated that the Fermi level stabilization energy, a central concept of the amphoteric defect system, plays a fundamental role in other phenomena in semiconductors such as semiconductor/semiconductor heterointerface intermixing and saturation of free carrier concentration. 33 refs., 6 figs

Elevated Serum Pesticide Levels and Risk for Alzheimer Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Jason R.; Roy, Ananya; Shalat, Stuart L.; von Stein, Richard T.; Hossain, Muhammad M.; Buckley, Brian; Gearing, Marla; Levey, Allan I.; German, Dwight C.

2014-01-01

IMPORTANCE The causes of late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD) are not yet understood but likely include a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Limited epidemiological studies suggest that occupational pesticide exposures are associated with AD. Previously, we reported that serum levels of dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), the metabolite of the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), were elevated in a small number of patients with AD (n=20). OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between serum levels of DDE and AD and whether the apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype modifies the association. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A case-control study consisting of existing samples from patients with AD and control participants from the Emory University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Serum levels of DDE were measured in 79 control and 86 AD cases. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Serum DDE levels, AD diagnosis, severity of AD measured by the Mini-Mental State Examination score, and interaction with APOE4 status. RESULTS Levels of DDE were 3.8-fold higher in the serum of those with AD (mean [SEM], 2.64 [0.35] ng/mg cholesterol) when compared with control participants (mean [SEM], 0.69 [0.1] ng/mg cholesterol; P risk for AD (95% CI, 2.54–5.82; P risk for AD and carriers of an APOE4 ε4 allele may be more susceptible to the effects of DDE. Both DDT and DDE increase amyloid precursor protein levels, providing mechanistic plausibility for the association of DDE exposure with AD. Identifying people who have elevated levels of DDE and carry an APOE ε4 allele may lead to early identification of some cases of AD. PMID:24473795

Smartphones for post-event analysis: a low-cost and easily accessible approach for mapping natural hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Tarolli, Paolo; Prosdocimi, Massimo; Sofia, Giulia; Dalla Fontana, Giancarlo

2015-04-01

technology. Anyone (included farmers, technicians or who work at Civil Protection) who has a good smartphone can take photographs and, from these photographs, they can easily obtain high-resolution DSMs. Therefore, SfM technique accomplished with smartphones can be a very strategic tool for post-event field surveys, to increase the existing knowledge on such events, and to provide fast technical solutions for risk mitigation (e.g. landslide and flood risk management). The future challenge consists of using only a smartphone for local scale post-event analyses. This can be even enhanced by the development of specific apps that are able to build quickly a 3D view of the case study and arrange a preliminary quantitative analysis of the process involved, ready to be sent to Civil Protection for further elaborations. Tarolli, P. (2014). High-resolution topography for understanding Earth surface processes: opportunities and challenges. Geomorphology, 216, 295-312, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.03.008.

Innovation exploration and practice on communication between publics and nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Liuhua

2014-01-01

It is a fundamental job for nuclear industry's development to realize smooth communication and deep fusion between nuclear energy and the public. Tracing back to Haiyan people's history in contacting with nuclear energy, it is easily found that the local government did quite a few works on public's awareness on nuclear energy safety concern. The local authority tell people the scientific reason and related knowledge by printing and propagating easily-understood pamphlets and pictures, or to explain the nuclear safety by publicizing testing data and related research results. In a word, the local authority used easily-understood ways and reasonable facts to ease the public's over worry about nuclear safety problem. The local authority has set up a mutual interacted communication system with nuclear power plant while focusing on key issues in this important period of nuclear power development. Meanwhile it has set up a weekly report system and appointed news spoksman for nuclear safety concern to public. The nuclear edition volume on the local government's website and micro-blog for nuclear news releasing have been constructed already, to realizing the public transparency. The public has gradually changed their stand from worry to disburden, from nuclear-avoid to nuclear favored, from economy burden to pillar industry. Later, Haiyan county will focus on implementation of public education and deep fused cooperation between local and nuclear power plant, endeavoring to exploit an innovative way on mutual communication for 2 parts in future. (author)

Ecotoxicity assessment at three tropical levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, S.S.; Siti Aishah Asmah Yusob; Wan Mazlina Wan Hussein; Izham Bakar; Zulkarnain Abdullah

2001-01-01

Several ecotoxicity test methods have been standardised to ensure international acceptance of data for predicting environmental risk of chemical substances. Test organism, concentration exposure duration, and end point effects are fundamental consideration in these methods. While concentration-exposure and end-point effect such as 96 LC 50 are easily decided, the choice of test organism species is more complex. The aquatic ecosystem for example is teemed with multitude of species that may show differing response to the same toxicant or pollutant. The basic tests recommended by OECD includes three functionally important types of organisms namely alga, daphnia, and fish that represent three trophical levels. Alga presenting the phytoplankton level is food to daphnia, a zooplankton that is in turn food to fishes. Daphnia species hardly thrives in the tropical environment and is replaced instead by Moina sp. of the same Cladoceran order. The sensitivity of the three types of organisms differs. The LC 50 /EC 50 values of cadmium chloride for tilapia, moina macrocopa and chlorella vulgaris (alga) range from 30 mg/1 to 0.2 mg/1 with moina macrocopa being the most sensitive. The least resistant species is not necessarily at the lowest trophical level. Tests on industrial effluents gave similar trends. Wastewater from an industrial drain that received discharge from chemical-based industries generated the lowest EC 50 for moina macrocopa at 0.1%, algae at 0.3% and tilapia at 2.4%. Effluent from a paper processing factory however did not yield any EC 50 value for moina while fish and alga had LC 50 and EC 50 values of 44% and 0.005%, respectively. The trends of acute toxicity tests on fish, moina and alga illustrate the necessity of conducting ecotoxicological testings on at least these three trophical levels. Assessment can be made based on the most sensitive species to ensure protection of the ecosystem through conservation of the food chain cycle. (Author)

Vitrification of high-level liquid wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Varani, J.L.; Petraitis, E.J.; Vazquez, Antonio.

1987-01-01

High-level radioactive liquid wastes produced in the fuel elements reprocessing require, for their disposal, a preliminary treatment by which, through a series of engineering barriers, the dispersion into the biosphere is delayed by 10 000 years. Four groups of compounds are distinguished among a great variety of final products and methods of elaboration. From these, the borosilicate glasses were chosen. Vitrification experiences were made at a laboratory scale with simulated radioactive wastes, employing different compositions of borosilicate glass. The installations are described. A series of tests were carried out on four basic formulae using always the same methodology, consisting of a dry mixture of the vitreous matrix's products and a dry simulated mixture. Several quality tests of the glasses were made 1: Behaviour in leaching following the DIN 12 111 standard; 2: Mechanical resistance; parameters related with the facility of the different glasses for increasing their surface were studied; 3: Degree of devitrification: it is shown that devitrification turns the glasses containing radioactive wastes easily leachable. From all the glasses tested, the composition SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , B 2 O 3 , Na 2 O, CaO shows the best retention characteristics. (M.E.L.) [es

Efficiently and easily integrating differential equations with JiTCODE, JiTCDDE, and JiTCSDE

Science.gov (United States)

Ansmann, Gerrit

2018-04-01

We present a family of Python modules for the numerical integration of ordinary, delay, or stochastic differential equations. The key features are that the user enters the derivative symbolically and it is just-in-time-compiled, allowing the user to efficiently integrate differential equations from a higher-level interpreted language. The presented modules are particularly suited for large systems of differential equations such as those used to describe dynamics on complex networks. Through the selected method of input, the presented modules also allow almost complete automatization of the process of estimating regular as well as transversal Lyapunov exponents for ordinary and delay differential equations. We conceptually discuss the modules' design, analyze their performance, and demonstrate their capabilities by application to timely problems.

Coffee consumption but not green tea consumption is associated with adiponectin levels in Japanese males.

Science.gov (United States)

Imatoh, T; Tanihara, S; Miyazaki, M; Momose, Y; Uryu, Y; Une, H

2011-06-01

Coffee is among the most widely consumed beverages in the world. Numerous epidemiological studies have reported a significant inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, but the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. Therefore, we conducted an epidemiological study to clarify the relationship between coffee consumption and adiponectin levels in Japanese males. We also evaluated whether green tea consumption affected adiponectin levels. We carried out a cross-sectional study. The subjects were 665 male employees in Japan. Coffee consumption was assessed, using a self-administered questionnaire, as the number of times per week and cups per day respondents drank, and subjects were grouped into four levels (non, 1-5 times/week, 1-2 cups/day and ≥3 cups/day). The means of adiponectin levels were positively associated with coffee consumption. A dose-response relationship was found between coffee consumption and circulating adiponectin levels. The relationship remained significant after adjustment for potential confounding factors (P for trend coffee consumption is associated with higher adiponectin levels in Japanese males but also found a dose-dependent association between coffee consumption and adiponectin levels. Therefore, our study suggested that coffee components might play an important role in the elevation of adiponectin level.

Clinical governance; How been understood, what is needed? Nurses' perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Homayoun Sadeghi Bazargani

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Clinical Governance (CG is an overarching concept, using organizational capacity, safeguards high standards of the health services and provides a safe care for patients.  The aim of this research was to study nurses’ perception about Clinical Governance. Materials and Methods: A qualitative study was done with Focus Group Discussions (FGD. Purposeful Sampling was used to select the objectives including 65 participants. Actually 7 FGD’s were held. Content analysis was used to extract the meaningful themes. Results:Nurses believed that patient centeredness and evidence based practice is the core of the CG concept. Also they mentioned that cultural change, staffs training, adequate financial and human resources are required to successfully implementation of CG in hospitals.  Conclusion: Spreading up a shared vision about CG and providing the required infrastructures in hospitals would be facilitate CG initiatives. Proper commitment of the managers and staff participation could lead an effective CG implementation.

Default options in the ICU: widely used but insufficiently understood

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Joanna; Halpern, Scott D.

2015-01-01

Purpose of review Default options dramatically influence the behavior of decision makers and may serve as effective decision support tools in the ICU. Their use in medicine has increased in an effort to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and harness the potential of healthcare technology. Recent findings Defaults often fall short of their predicted influence when employed in critical care settings as quality improvement interventions. Investigations reporting the use of defaults are often limited by variations in the relative effect across sites. Preimplementation experiments and long-term monitoring studies are lacking. Summary Defaults in the ICU may help or harm patients and clinical efficiency depending on their format and use. When constructing and encountering defaults, providers should be aware of their powerful and complex influences on decision making. Additional evaluations of the appropriate creation of healthcare defaults and their resulting intended and unintended consequences are needed. PMID:25203352

How is evidence to be understood in modern coaching psychology?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spaten, Ole Michael; Løkken, Lillith Olesen

2015-01-01

The hunt for evidence in modern coaching psychology could be counter-productive, and possibly lead to a simplified approach to research, practice, searching for “definitive truths”. The article discuss a critical approach to evidence hierarchies, and the prevalent (medical) understanding...

Content-Based Instruction Understood in Terms of Connectionism and Constructivism

Science.gov (United States)

Lain, Stephanie

2016-01-01

Despite the number of articles devoted to the topic of content-based instruction (CBI), little attempt has been made to link the claims for CBI to research in cognitive science. In this article, I review the CBI model of foreign language (FL) instruction in the context of its close alignment with two emergent frameworks in cognitive science:…

Well Researched, Yet Little Understood: Young Adults and Physical Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Cothran, Donetta; Kulinna, Pamela Hodges

2005-01-01

The authors present two beginning studies. One investigated the teaching-style preferences of young adults, and the other looked at physical activity trends within this age group. One key to understanding young adults and physical activity is to recognize the importance of participant cognition on physical activity patterns. From this…

The bare parameters of Gribov's Langrangian are understood and determined

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bishari, M.

1977-01-01

In the context of the ''1/N Dual Unitarization'' scheme, an explicit dynamical study of the triple bare pomeron mechanism which governs the interaction term in Gribov's Lagrangian is presented. Together with the previously established bare pomeron slope and intercept, controlling respectively, the kinetic and mass terms in Gribov's Lagrangian, this work demonstrates the viability of the ''1/N Dual Unitarization'' approach for a field theory of interaction bare pomerons. (author)

How Inclusive Education Is Understood by Principals of Independent Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Gous, Jennifer Glenda; Eloff, Irma; Moen, Melanie Carmen

2014-01-01

Inclusive education has become a practice that has been adopted by many schools across the globe and most usually in first-world countries. As a whole-school system, it occurs less frequently in developing countries including South Africa which unlike many developing countries has a sound infrastructure and many excellent schools in both the state…

Q Fever: An Old but Still a Poorly Understood Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamidreza Honarmand

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Q fever is a bacterial infection affecting mainly the lungs, liver, and heart. It is found around the world and is caused by the bacteria Coxiella burnetii. The bacteria affects sheep, goats, cattle, dogs, cats, birds, rodents, and ticks. Infected animals shed this bacteria in birth products, feces, milk, and urine. Humans usually get Q fever by breathing in contaminated droplets released by infected animals and drinking raw milk. People at highest risk for this infection are farmers, laboratory workers, sheep and dairy workers, and veterinarians. Chronic Q fever develops in people who have been infected for more than 6 months. It usually takes about 20 days after exposure to the bacteria for symptoms to occur. Most cases are mild, yet some severe cases have been reported. Symptoms of acute Q fever may include: chest pain with breathing, cough, fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pains, and shortness of breath. Symptoms of chronic Q fever may include chills, fatigue, night sweats, prolonged fever, and shortness of breath. Q fever is diagnosed with a blood antibody test. The main treatment for the disease is with antibiotics. For acute Q fever, doxycycline is recommended. For chronic Q fever, a combination of doxycycline and hydroxychloroquine is often used long term. Complications are cirrhosis, hepatitis, encephalitis, endocarditis, pericarditis, myocarditis, interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, meningitis, and pneumonia. People at risk should always: carefully dispose of animal products that may be infected, disinfect any contaminated areas, and thoroughly wash their hands. Pasteurizing milk can also help prevent Q fever.

Communicating Flood Risk with Street-Level Data

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, B. F.; Matthew, R.; Houston, D.; Cheung, W. H.; Karlin, B.; Schubert, J.; Gallien, T.; Luke, A.; Contreras, S.; Goodrich, K.; Feldman, D.; Basolo, V.; Serrano, K.; Reyes, A.

2015-12-01

Coastal communities around the world face significant and growing flood risks that require an accelerating adaptation response, and fine-resolution urban flood models could serve a pivotal role in enabling communities to meet this need. Such models depict impacts at the level of individual buildings and land parcels or "street level" - the same spatial scale at which individuals are best able to process flood risk information - constituting a powerful tool to help communities build better understandings of flood vulnerabilities and identify cost-effective interventions. To measure understanding of flood risk within a community and the potential impact of street-level models, we carried out a household survey of flood risk awareness in Newport Beach, California, a highly urbanized coastal lowland that presently experiences nuisance flooding from high tides, waves and rainfall and is expected to experience a significant increase in flood frequency and intensity with climate change. Interviews were completed with the aid of a wireless-enabled tablet device that respondents could use to identify areas they understood to be at risk of flooding and to view either a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood map or a more detailed map prepared with a hydrodynamic urban coastal flood model (UCI map) built with grid cells as fine as 3 m resolution and validated with historical flood data. Results indicate differences in the effectiveness of the UCI and FEMA maps at communicating the spatial distribution of flood risk, gender differences in how the maps affect flood understanding, and spatial biases in the perception of flood vulnerabilities.

Cofilin/Twinstar phosphorylation levels increase in response to impaired coenzyme a metabolism.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna Siudeja

Full Text Available Coenzyme A (CoA is a pantothenic acid-derived metabolite essential for many fundamental cellular processes including energy, lipid and amino acid metabolism. Pantothenate kinase (PANK, which catalyses the first step in the conversion of pantothenic acid to CoA, has been associated with a rare neurodegenerative disorder PKAN. However, the consequences of impaired PANK activity are poorly understood. Here we use Drosophila and human neuronal cell cultures to show how PANK deficiency leads to abnormalities in F-actin organization. Cells with reduced PANK activity are characterized by abnormally high levels of phosphorylated cofilin, a conserved actin filament severing protein. The increased levels of phospho-cofilin coincide with morphological changes of PANK-deficient Drosophila S2 cells and human neuronal SHSY-5Y cells. The latter exhibit also markedly reduced ability to form neurites in culture--a process that is strongly dependent on actin remodeling. Our results reveal a novel and conserved link between a metabolic biosynthesis pathway, and regulation of cellular actin dynamics.

Understanding nanocellulose chirality and structure–properties relationship at the single fibril level

Science.gov (United States)

Usov, Ivan; Nyström, Gustav; Adamcik, Jozef; Handschin, Stephan; Schütz, Christina; Fall, Andreas; Bergström, Lennart; Mezzenga, Raffaele

2015-01-01

Nanocellulose fibrils are ubiquitous in nature and nanotechnologies but their mesoscopic structural assembly is not yet fully understood. Here we study the structural features of rod-like cellulose nanoparticles on a single particle level, by applying statistical polymer physics concepts on electron and atomic force microscopy images, and we assess their physical properties via quantitative nanomechanical mapping. We show evidence of right-handed chirality, observed on both bundles and on single fibrils. Statistical analysis of contours from microscopy images shows a non-Gaussian kink angle distribution. This is inconsistent with a structure consisting of alternating amorphous and crystalline domains along the contour and supports process-induced kink formation. The intrinsic mechanical properties of nanocellulose are extracted from nanoindentation and persistence length method for transversal and longitudinal directions, respectively. The structural analysis is pushed to the level of single cellulose polymer chains, and their smallest associated unit with a proposed 2 × 2 chain-packing arrangement. PMID:26108282

Understanding nanocellulose chirality and structure-properties relationship at the single fibril level

Science.gov (United States)

Usov, Ivan; Nyström, Gustav; Adamcik, Jozef; Handschin, Stephan; Schütz, Christina; Fall, Andreas; Bergström, Lennart; Mezzenga, Raffaele

2015-06-01

Nanocellulose fibrils are ubiquitous in nature and nanotechnologies but their mesoscopic structural assembly is not yet fully understood. Here we study the structural features of rod-like cellulose nanoparticles on a single particle level, by applying statistical polymer physics concepts on electron and atomic force microscopy images, and we assess their physical properties via quantitative nanomechanical mapping. We show evidence of right-handed chirality, observed on both bundles and on single fibrils. Statistical analysis of contours from microscopy images shows a non-Gaussian kink angle distribution. This is inconsistent with a structure consisting of alternating amorphous and crystalline domains along the contour and supports process-induced kink formation. The intrinsic mechanical properties of nanocellulose are extracted from nanoindentation and persistence length method for transversal and longitudinal directions, respectively. The structural analysis is pushed to the level of single cellulose polymer chains, and their smallest associated unit with a proposed 2 × 2 chain-packing arrangement.

Heightened circulating levels of antimicrobial peptides in tuberculosis-Diabetes co-morbidity and reversal upon treatment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathella Pavan Kumar

Full Text Available The association of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs with tuberculosis-diabetes comorbidity (PTB-DM is not well understood.To study the association of AMPs with PTB-DM, we examined the systemic levels of cathelicidin (LL37, human beta defensin- 2 (HBD2, human neutrophil peptides 1-3, (HNP1-3 and granulysin in individuals with either PTB-DM, PTB, latent TB (LTB or no TB infection (NTB.Circulating levels of cathelicidin and HBD2 were significantly higher and granulysin levels were significantly lower in PTB-DM compared to PTB, LTB or NTB, while the levels of HNP1-3 were significantly higher in PTB-DM compared to LTB or NTB individuals. Moreover, the levels of cathelicidin and/or HBD2 were significantly higher in PTB-DM or PTB individuals with bilateral and cavitary disease and also exhibited a significant positive relationship with bacterial burden. Cathelidin, HBD2 and HNP1-3 levels exhibited a positive relationship with HbA1c and/or fasting blood glucose levels. Finally, anti-tuberculosis therapy resulted in significantly diminished levels of cathelicidin, HBD2, granulysin and significantly enhanced levels of HNP1-3 and granulysin in PTB-DM and/or PTB individuals.Therefore, our data demonstrate that PTB-DM is associated with markedly enhanced levels of AMPs and diminished levels of granulysin.

iGUVs: Preparing Giant Unilamellar Vesicles with a Smartphone and Lipids Easily Extracted from Chicken Eggs

Science.gov (United States)

Almendro Vedia, Víctor G.; Natale, Paolo; Chen, Su; Monroy, Francisco; Rosilio, Veronique; López-Montero, Ivan

2017-01-01

Since the first report of electroformed micrometer-sized liposomes in the 1980s, giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) have generated a lot of interest in the biophysical and biochemical communities. However, their penetration rate in high school or at the undergraduate level is still limited because of the requirement of specialized materials for…

TP53 and ATM mRNA expression in skin and skeletal muscle after low-level laser exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Guedes de Almeida, Luciana; Sergio, Luiz Philippe da Silva; de Paoli, Flavia; Mencalha, Andre Luiz; da Fonseca, Adenilson de Souza

2017-08-01

Low-level lasers are widespread in regenerative medicine, but the molecular mechanisms involved in their biological effects are not fully understood, particularly those on DNA stability. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate mRNA expression of genes related to DNA genomic stability in skin and skeletal muscle tissue from Wistar rats exposed to low-level red and infrared lasers. For this, TP53 (Tumor Protein 53) and ATM (Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated gene) mRNA expressions were evaluated by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) technique 24 hours after low-level red and infrared laser exposure. Our data showed that relative TP53 mRNA expression was not significantly altered in both tissues exposed to lasers. For ATM, relative mRNA expression in skin tissue was not significantly altered, but in muscle tissue, laser exposure increased relative ATM mRNA expression. Low-level red and infrared laser radiations alter ATM mRNA expression related to DNA stability in skeletal muscle tissue.

Greater-than-Class C low-level radioactive waste shipping package/container identification and requirements study. National Low-Level Waste Management Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tyacke, M.

1993-08-01

This report identifies a variety of shipping packages (also referred to as casks) and waste containers currently available or being developed that could be used for greater-than-Class C (GTCC) low-level waste (LLW). Since GTCC LLW varies greatly in size, shape, and activity levels, the casks and waste containers that could be used range in size from small, to accommodate a single sealed radiation source, to very large-capacity casks/canisters used to transport or dry-store highly radioactive spent fuel. In some cases, the waste containers may serve directly as shipping packages, while in other cases, the containers would need to be placed in a transport cask. For the purpose of this report, it is assumed that the generator is responsible for transporting the waste to a Department of Energy (DOE) storage, treatment, or disposal facility. Unless DOE establishes specific acceptance criteria, the receiving facility would need the capability to accept any of the casks and waste containers identified in this report. In identifying potential casks and waste containers, no consideration was given to their adequacy relative to handling, storage, treatment, and disposal. Those considerations must be addressed separately as the capabilities of the receiving facility and the handling requirements and operations are better understood.

Potential host media for a high-level waste repository

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hustrulid, W

1982-01-01

Earlier studies of burial of radioactive wastes in geologic repositories had concentrated on salt formations for well-publicized reasons. However, under the Carter administration, significant changes were made in the US nuclear waste management program. Changes which were made were: (1) expansion of the number of rock types under consideration; (2) adoption of the multiple-barrier approach to waste containment; (3) additional requirements for waste retrieval; and (4) new criteria proposed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the isolation of high-level waste in geologic repositories. Results of the studies of different types of rocks as repository sites are summarized herein. It is concluded that each generic rock type has certain advantages and disadvantages when considered from various aspects of the waste disposal problem and that characteristics of rocks are so varied that a most favorable or least favorable rock type cannot be easily identified. This lack of definitive characteristics of rocks makes site selection and good engineering barriers very important for containment of the wastes. (BLM)

[Importance of accurate assessment of capillary blood glucose level in diagnosis: misleading results in handlers of prickly pears (Opuntia ficus-indica)].

Science.gov (United States)

García Pantoja, José; Landróguez Salinas, Sergio; Barrero Luque, Susana; Pérez Pérez, José Antonio

2016-01-01

Hypoglycemia can cause symptoms of neuroglycopenia that can be easily confused with symptoms of greater clinical importance such as stroke. Appropriate differential diagnosis between these 2 processes will be essential for guiding the treatment approach. We report a case in which stroke was initially suspected because hypoglycemia was masked by the incorrect capillary blood glucose (CBG) measurement technique used in treating an itinerant vendor of prickly pears (Opuntia ficus-indica). We studied the effects of prickly pear handling on the CBG levels in 11 vendors before and after they handled the fruit. CBG levels were noticeably higher after the fruit was handled in all cases. Our observations reveal the need to measure both capillary and venous blood glucose levels to rule out hypoglycemia in patients with acute neurological symptoms.

PENTINGNYA KECERDASAN EMOSIONAL DALAM PEMBELAJARAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kadeni Kadeni

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Learning not only as atransfer of knowledge alone but is an activity under taken untu teachers develop the potential of students as a whole to achieve change for the better. Teachers than intellectual understanding must also be able to understand the emotional intelligence of students. Emotional intelligence is the ability to regulate one's emotional life within telligence, emotion and disclosure of maintaining harmony throughself-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, empathy and social skills.                    It must be understood if students only have high academic intelligence, they tend to have an unwarranted sense of restless, overlycritical, fussy, tend to with draw, seemed cool and less likely to express resent mentan danger appropriately if not supported with emotional intelligence, then the people is often asource of problems. Students who have high intelligence but low emotional intelligence level ittends to be seen as a hard-nosed, hard to get along, easily frustrated, do not easily trust others, not sensitive to environmental condition sand tend to despair when experiencing stress. The opposite condition, experienced by those who have the intelligence level of the average but has high emotional intelligence. There fore it is time all the teachers in the learning does not only focus on the intellectual but emotional intelligence of students should be a concern that they can achieve success in living life to come.

Influence of Fano interference and incoherent processes on optical bistability in a four-level quantum dot nanostructure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hossein Asadpour, Seyyed; Solookinejad, G; Panahi, M; Ahmadi Sangachin, E

2016-01-01

Role of Fano interference and incoherent pumping field on optical bistability in a four-level designed InGaN/GaN quantum dot nanostructure embedded in a unidirectional ring cavity are analyzed. It is found that intensity threshold of optical bistability can be manipulated by Fano interference. It is shown that incoherent pumping fields make the threshold of optical bistability behave differently by Fano interference. Moreover, in the presence of Fano interference the medium becomes phase-dependent. Therefore, the relative phase of applied fields can affect the behaviors of optical bistability and intensity threshold can be controlled easily. (paper)

Business health reporting process at Bruce Power helps drive successful plant performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krane, J.C.

2007-01-01

Developing and implementing consistent and comprehensive measures of performance on a large multi-reactor unit nuclear power plant site is a significant challenge. Linking these performance measures back to licence compliance standards and all aspects of the operations, engineering, maintenance and support activities is needed to ensure cohesive site-wide safe operations and satisfy regulatory needs. At Bruce Power, Canada's largest independently-owned nuclear power producer, a Business Health reporting process has been developed to provide a standardized performance rating scheme. The reporting process ties all self assessment activities to common management principles and process structure areas that comprise the Bruce Power Management System. The principles used for performance ratings link directly back to the operating licenses and the primary referenced management system standard. The Business Health reporting process provides a natural business and regulatory oversight framework report that is easily understood and consistently measured over time. The rating data is derived from easily understood quantitative and qualitative descriptions that can be trended over time. The results derived from semi-annual Business Health reports provide an ongoing overall measure of Bruce Power's management system effectiveness for enabling and sustaining required business results and high standards of safety. (author)

Navigating the boundary of science for decision making at the state and local level

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzales, L. M.; Wood, C.; Boland, M. A.; Rose, C. A.

2015-12-01

Scientific information should play a vital role in many decision making processes, yet issues incorporating geoscience information often arise due to inherent differences between how scientists and decision makers operate. Decision makers and scientists have different priorities, produce work at different rates, and often lack an understanding of each others' institutional constraints. Boundary organizations, entities that facilitate collaboration and information flow across traditional boundaries such as that between scientists and decision makers, are in a unique position to improve the dialogue between disparate groups. The American Geosciences Institute (AGI), a nonprofit federation of 50 geoscience societies and organizations, is linking the geoscience and decision-making communities through its Critical Issues Program. AGI's Critical Issues program has first-hand experience in improving the transfer of information across the science-decision making boundary, particularly in areas pertaining to water resources and hazards. This presentation will focus on how, by collaborating with organizations representing the decision making and geoscience communities to inform our program development, we have created our three main content types - website, webinar series, and research database - to better meet the needs of the decision-making process. The program presents existing geoscience information in a way that makes the interconnected nature of geoscience topics more easily understood, encourages discussion between the scientific and decision-making communities, and has established a trusted source of impartial geoscience information. These efforts have focused on state and local decision makers—groups that increasingly influence climate and risk-related decisions, yet often lack the resources to access and understand geoscience information.

Anticipating and addressing workplace static magnetic field effects at levels <0.5 mT.

Science.gov (United States)

Emery, R J; Hopkins, J R; Charlton, M A

2000-11-01

Magnetic resonance, once a research tool limited to the basic sciences, has experienced an increase in popularity due to its unique ability to analyze certain living systems in vivo. Expanding applications in the biomedical sciences have resulted in magnetic sources being located in research institutions nationally. Space and resource limitations sometimes necessitate siting magnetic resonance units in proximity to other institutional operations. For magnetic field shielding and personnel protection considerations, the generally accepted 0.5 mT (milliTesla) limit for implanted cardiac devices is commonly used as the conservative basis for decisions. But the effects of magnetic fields on equipment can be easily observed at levels far below 0.5 mT, often resulting in concern and apprehension on the part of personnel in the surrounding areas. Responding to recurrent worker concerns spawned by noticeable effects on equipment at exposure levels information, practicing radiation safety professionals can better anticipate facility incompatibility issues and improve their responses to worker concerns initiated by observed effects on equipment.

Determination of thorium and uranium at the nanogram per gram level in semiconductor potting plastics by neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dyer, F.F.; Emery, J.F.; Bate, L.C.

1985-01-01

A method was developed to determine thorium and uranium in semiconductor potting plastics. The method is based on neutron activation and subsequent radiochemical separation to isolate and permit measurement of the induced 233 Pa and 239 Np. These plastics typically contain macro amounts of silicon, bromine and antimony and nanogram per gram amounts of thorium and uranium. The radiochemical method provides the necessary sensitivity and makes it possible to easily attain adequate decontamination of the tiny amounts of 233 Pa and 239 Np from the high levels of radioactive bromine and antimony. 8 refs

Defining appropriate incentive levels: A review of theory and practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parfett, R.S.; Lodola, J.C.

1990-01-01

The theoretical and practical aspects related to determining the incentive levels for demand-side management (DSM) programs are discussed. The theoretical aspects comprise the efficiency criteria, from a social point of view; the equity issue, or ensuring that no one pays higher rates as a result of conservation programs; and the method of recovering the customer's investment, or the implicit discount rate method. The study of these theoretical aspects takes into account the perspectives of all the concerned parties and focuses on the need to harmonize the efficiency criteria which are in opposition. From this process are derived general criteria for aiding program planners and managers to determine the incentive levels for their DSM programs. Past experience has shown that incentive levels cannot be determined in an isolated manner. Other characteristics affecting the carrying out of DSM programs will also have repercussions on the success rate. To determine the appropriate incentives, it is important to have a clear understanding of what the DSM program intends to achieve. Factors such as the market sector, the technology chosen, and demographic characteristics can influence all aspects of the design and implementation of the program, including the type and level of incentive offered. When the goals of the program are clearly established and the intended market is clearly determined, a strategy should be formed which will have the greatest chance of fulfilling the program objectives. The role of each element in the program must be well understood. It is only at this stage that it is possible to determine an appropriate level of incentive. 7 refs

Coding of level of ambiguity within neural systems mediating choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez-Paniagua, Dan; Seger, Carol A

2013-01-01

Data from previous neuroimaging studies exploring neural activity associated with uncertainty suggest varying levels of activation associated with changing degrees of uncertainty in neural regions that mediate choice behavior. The present study used a novel task that parametrically controlled the amount of information hidden from the subject; levels of uncertainty ranged from full ambiguity (no information about probability of winning) through multiple levels of partial ambiguity, to a condition of risk only (zero ambiguity with full knowledge of the probability of winning). A parametric analysis compared a linear model in which weighting increased as a function of level of ambiguity, and an inverted-U quadratic models in which partial ambiguity conditions were weighted most heavily. Overall we found that risk and all levels of ambiguity recruited a common "fronto-parietal-striatal" network including regions within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, intraparietal sulcus, and dorsal striatum. Activation was greatest across these regions and additional anterior and superior prefrontal regions for the quadratic function which most heavily weighs trials with partial ambiguity. These results suggest that the neural regions involved in decision processes do not merely track the absolute degree ambiguity or type of uncertainty (risk vs. ambiguity). Instead, recruitment of prefrontal regions may result from greater degree of difficulty in conditions of partial ambiguity: when information regarding reward probabilities important for decision making is hidden or not easily obtained the subject must engage in a search for tractable information. Additionally, this study identified regions of activity related to the valuation of potential gains associated with stimuli or options (including the orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortices and dorsal striatum) and related to winning (including orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum).

Vitamin D Status and the Host Resistance to Infections: What It Is Currently (Not) Understood.

Science.gov (United States)

Lang, Pierre Olivier; Aspinall, Richard

2017-05-01

Vitamin D is increasingly thought to play a role in regulating immunity. This comprehensive review updates the current understanding regarding ways in which we believe that vitamin D regulates responsiveness of the immune system and how serum status modulates the host defense against pathogens. The literature was searched by using PubMed and Scopus with the following key words: vitamin D, immunity, innate and adaptive immunity, infectious disease, and vaccine response. Vitamin D deficiency remains a major public health concern worldwide. The overall body of evidence confirms that vitamin D plays an important role in modulating the immune response to infections. Epidemiologic studies suggest a clear association between vitamin D deficiency and susceptibility to various pathogens. However, translation of vitamin D use into the clinic as a means of controlling infections is fraught with methodologic and epidemiologic challenges. The recent discovery of alternative activation pathways, different active forms of vitamin D, and possible interaction with non-vitamin D receptors provide further complications to an already complex interaction between vitamin D and the immune system. Moreover, it has become apparent that the individual responsiveness to supplementation is more dynamic than presumed from the static assessment of 25-hydroxy vitamin D status. Furthermore, the epigenetic response at the level of the individual to environmental changes and lifestyle or health conditions provides greater variation than those resulting from vitamin D receptor polymorphisms. To understand the future of vitamin D with respect to clinical applications in the prevention and better control of infectious diseases, it is necessary to determine all aspects of vitamin D metabolism, as well as the mechanisms by which active forms interact with the immune system globally. For the most part, we are unable to identify tissue-specific applications of supplementation except for those subjects at

An Application-Level QoS Control Method Based on Local Bandwidth Scheduling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Quality of service (QoS is an important performance indicator for Web applications and bandwidth is a key factor affecting QoS. Current methods use network protocols or ports to schedule bandwidth, which require tedious manual configurations or modifications of the underlying network. Some applications use dynamic ports and the traditional port-based bandwidth control methods cannot deal with them. A new QoS control method based on local bandwidth scheduling is proposed, which can schedule bandwidth at application level in a user-transparent way and it does not require tedious manual configurations. Experimental results indicate that the new method can effectively improve the QoS for applications, and it can be easily integrated into current Web applications without the need to modify the underlying network.

Proton Pumping and Slippage Dynamics of a Eukaryotic P-Type ATPase Studied at the Single-Molecule Level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Veshaguri, Salome

In all eukaryotes the plasma membrane potential and secondary transport systems are energized by P-type ATPases whose regulation however remains poorly understood. Here we monitored at the single-molecule level the activity of the prototypic proton pumping P-type ATPase Arabidopsis thaliana isoform....... We propose that variable ATP/H+ stoichiometry emerges as a novel mechanism for adaptation when challenged with depletion of ATP that is likely relevant for other ATPases. Such measurements will provide indispensable insights into the mechanisms of function and regulation of many other ion...

Size of age-0 crappies (Pomoxis spp.) relative to reservoir habitats and water levels

Science.gov (United States)

Kaczka, Levi J.; Miranda, Leandro E.

2014-01-01

Variable year-class strength is common in crappie Pomoxis spp. populations in many reservoirs, yet the mechanisms behind this variability are poorly understood. Size-dependent mortality of age-0 fishes has long been recognized in the population ecology literature; however, investigations about the effects of environmental factors on age-0 crappie size are lacking. The objective of this study was to determine if differences existed in total length of age-0 crappies between embayment and floodplain habitats in reservoirs, while accounting for potential confounding effects of water level and crappie species. To this end, we examined size of age-0 crappies in four flood-control reservoirs in northwest Mississippi over 4years. Age-0 crappies inhabiting uplake floodplain habitats grew to a larger size than fish in downlake embayments, but this trend depended on species, length of time a reservoir was dewatered in the months preceding spawning, and reservoir water level in the months following spawning. The results from our study indicate that water-level management may focus not only on allowing access to quality nursery habitat, but that alternating water levels on a multiyear schedule could increase the quality of degraded littoral habitats.

Internal Marketing: Dampak Job Satisfaction, Organizational

OpenAIRE

Ribhan,

2011-01-01

Organizations engaged in services, the role of employees is crucial in providing customersatisfaction. This is because the process of production and consumption take place simultaneouslyon the service. Marketing services will be more easily understood approach combined elementsbetween the product and distribution, which emphasizes the dependence of mutual benefit(mutualism) between these elements. This approach allows management to focus attention on theimportance of the role of employees in ...

Natural Analogues - One Way to Help Build Public Confidence in the Predicted Performance of a Mined Geologic Repository for Nuclear Waste

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stuckless, J. S.

2002-02-26

The general public needs to have a way to judge the predicted long-term performance of the potential high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The applicability and reliability of mathematical models used to make this prediction are neither easily understood nor accepted by the public. Natural analogues can provide the average person with a tool to assess the predicted performance and other scientific conclusions. For example, hydrologists with the Yucca Mountain Project have predicted that most of the water moving through the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada will move through the host rock and around tunnels. Thus, seepage into tunnels is predicted to be a small percentage of available infiltration. This hypothesis can be tested experimentally and with some quantitative analogues. It can also be tested qualitatively using a variety of analogues such as (1) well-preserved Paleolithic to Neolithic paintings in caves and rock shelters, (2) biological remains preserved in caves and rock shelters, and (3) artifacts and paintings preserved in man-made underground openings. These examples can be found in materials that are generally available to the non-scientific public and can demonstrate the surprising degree of preservation of fragile and easily destroyed materials for very long periods of time within the unsaturated zone.

Guidelines on radiation exposure levels for emergency situations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-07-01

This document provides guidelines for establishing occupational exposure levels for undertaking actions in emergency situations resulting from a nuclear accident. There are three categories of exposed persons identifiable in relation to the circumstances under which they receive exposures resulting from an accident: (i) emergency workers exposed while undertaking urgent corrective actions; (ii) workers exposed while undertaking subsequent remedial actions, including countermeasures to protect the public; (iii) persons living in an environment contaminated by a nuclear accident. Although no dose limit can be easily stated for the first category, doses should be kept below 0.5 Sv. For the second category, normal dose limits would apply with a maximum of 0.05 Sv in a given year; however, in some circumstances where a few key experts are required doses up to 0.1 Sv could be permitted. For the third category the approach to be taken is to apply the ICRP's concept of dose constraint - a fraction of the worker's dose limit, but above the public dose limit. (L.L.) (6 refs., tab.)

SnO2 quantum dots with rapid butane detection at lower ppm-level

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Pan; Dong, Chengjun; Jiang, Ming; Shen, Yuanyuan; Tao, You; Wang, Yude

2018-04-01

SnO2 quantum dots (QDs) were successfully synthesized by a facile approach employing benzyl alcohol and ammonium hydroxide at lower temperature of 130 °C. It is revealed that the SnO2 QDs is about 3 nm in size to form clusters. The gas sensor based on SnO2 QDs shows a high potential for detecting low-ppm-level butane at 400 °C, exhibiting a high sensitivity, short response and rapid recovery time, and effective selectivity. The sensing mechanism is understood in terms of adsorbed oxygen species. Significantly, the excellent sensing performance is attributed to the smaller size of SnO2 and larger surface area (204.85 m2/g).

Technical impacts of high penetration levels of wind power on power system stability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flynn, Damian; Rather, Z.; Ardal, Atle

2017-01-01

With increasing penetrations of wind generation, based on power-electronic converters, power systems are transitioning away from well-understood synchronous generator-based systems, with growing implications for their stability. Issues of concern will vary with system size, wind penetration level......, geographical distribution and turbine type, network topology, electricity market structure, unit commitment procedures, and other factors. However, variable-speed wind turbines, both onshore and connected offshore through DC grids, offer many control opportunities to either replace or enhance existing...... capabilities. Achieving a complete understanding of future stability issues, and ensuring the effectiveness of new measures and policies, is an iterative procedure involving portfolio development and flexibility assessment, generation cost simulations, load flow, and security analysis, in addition...

Observation of Cd 4d95s25p J=3 autoionizing levels in (e,2e) energy spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, N.L.S.; Bauman, R.P.; Wilson, M.

1998-01-01

Cadmium (e,2e) energy spectra have been measured for kinematics corresponding to a momentum transfer of 1 a.u. Two previously unknown cadmium autoinizing levels have been observed. Their energies are in excellent agreement with existing ab initio structure calculations of the 4d 9 5s 2 5p J=3 levels. One level is easily seen at an ejected-electron direction along the momentum-transfer axis, but is absent for a direction 39 degree away from this axis. The opposite is true for the other level; it is absent in the former, but present in the latter case. This behavior is in agreement with a calculation that takes into account that the J=3 levels can autoionize into both singlet and triplet 5sEf continua. The intensity of the new levels, relative to the well-known 4d 9 5s 2 5p J=1 levels, agrees well with a plane-wave Born approximation calculation for the J=3 levels. The third 4d 9 5s 2 5p J=3 level is calculated to lie within the broad 4d 9 5s 2 5p 1 P 1 level and cannot be seen in the present experiments. copyright 1998 The American Physical Society

Investigating students' academic numeracy in 1st level university courses

Science.gov (United States)

Galligan, Linda; Hobohm, Carola

2015-06-01

This paper investigates how an online test (`Self-Test' developed at the University of Southern Queensland) can enrich students' understanding of their academic numeracy, through a purpose-built, self-assessment tool aligned with online modules. Since its creation and evaluation, the tool has been developed and tailored to suit other first year courses based around an academic numeracy framework of competence, confidence and critical awareness (Galligan 2013a). This paper will highlight how the new Self-Test is underpinned by this framework and how students' levels of numeracy can be better understood by the lecturer through Self-Test in a first year nursing for numeracy course and a maths for teachers course. It particularly addresses over- and under-confidence, error analysis and students' reflective comments, and how this understanding can better inform course development and teaching.

Predictors of iron levels in 14,737 Danish blood donors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rigas, Andreas Stribolt; Sørensen, Cecilie Juul; Pedersen, Ole Birger

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Dietary studies show a relationship between the intake of iron enhancers and inhibitors and iron stores in the general population. However, the impact of dietary factors on the iron stores of blood donors, whose iron status is affected by blood donations, is incompletely understood....... STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: In the Danish Blood Donor Study, we assessed the effect of blood donation frequency, physiologic factors, lifestyle and supplemental factors, and dietary factors on ferritin levels. We used multiple linear and logistic regression analyses stratified by sex and menopausal status....... RESULTS: Among high-frequency donors (more than nine donations in the past 3 years), we found iron deficiency (ferritin below 15 ng/mL) in 9, 39, and 22% of men, premenopausal women, and postmenopausal women, respectively. The strongest predictors of iron deficiency were sex, menopausal status, the number...

Food sharing is linked to urinary oxytocin levels and bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees

Science.gov (United States)

Wittig, Roman M.; Crockford, Catherine; Deschner, Tobias; Langergraber, Kevin E.; Ziegler, Toni E.; Zuberbühler, Klaus

2014-01-01

Humans excel in cooperative exchanges between unrelated individuals. Although this trait is fundamental to the success of our species, its evolution and mechanisms are poorly understood. Other social mammals also build long-term cooperative relationships between non-kin, and recent evidence shows that oxytocin, a hormone involved in parent–offspring bonding, is likely to facilitate non-kin as well as kin bonds. In a population of wild chimpanzees, we measured urinary oxytocin levels following a rare cooperative event—food sharing. Subjects showed higher urinary oxytocin levels after single food-sharing events compared with other types of social feeding, irrespective of previous social bond levels. Also, urinary oxytocin levels following food sharing were higher than following grooming, another cooperative behaviour. Therefore, food sharing in chimpanzees may play a key role in social bonding under the influence of oxytocin. We propose that food-sharing events co-opt neurobiological mechanisms evolved to support mother–infant bonding during lactation bouts, and may act as facilitators of bonding and cooperation between unrelated individuals via the oxytocinergic system across social mammals. PMID:24430853

Level Diagrams analysis of Pareto Front for multiobjective system redundancy allocation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zio, E.; Bazzo, R.

2011-01-01

Reliability-based and risk-informed design, operation, maintenance and regulation lead to multiobjective (multicriteria) optimization problems. In this context, the Pareto Front and Set found in a multiobjective optimality search provide a family of solutions among which the decision maker has to look for the best choice according to his or her preferences. Efficient visualization techniques for Pareto Front and Set analyses are needed for helping decision makers in the selection task. In this paper, we consider the multiobjective optimization of system redundancy allocation and use the recently introduced Level Diagrams technique for graphically representing the resulting Pareto Front and Set. Each objective and decision variable is represented on separate diagrams where the points of the Pareto Front and Set are positioned according to their proximity to ideally optimal points, as measured by a metric of normalized objective values. All diagrams are synchronized across all objectives and decision variables. On the basis of the analysis of the Level Diagrams, we introduce a procedure for reducing the number of solutions in the Pareto Front; from the reduced set of solutions, the decision maker can more easily identify his or her preferred solution.

Detecting subnetwork-level dynamic correlations.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Yan; Qiu, Shangzhao; Jin, Zhuxuan; Gong, Sihong; Bai, Yun; Lu, Jianwei; Yu, Tianwei

2017-01-15

The biological regulatory system is highly dynamic. The correlations between many functionally related genes change over different biological conditions. Finding dynamic relations on the existing biological network may reveal important regulatory mechanisms. Currently no method is available to detect subnetwork-level dynamic correlations systematically on the genome-scale network. Two major issues hampered the development. The first is gene expression profiling data usually do not contain time course measurements to facilitate the analysis of dynamic relations, which can be partially addressed by using certain genes as indicators of biological conditions. Secondly, it is unclear how to effectively delineate subnetworks, and define dynamic relations between them. Here we propose a new method named LANDD (Liquid Association for Network Dynamics Detection) to find subnetworks that show substantial dynamic correlations, as defined by subnetwork A is concentrated with Liquid Association scouting genes for subnetwork B. The method produces easily interpretable results because of its focus on subnetworks that tend to comprise functionally related genes. Also, the collective behaviour of genes in a subnetwork is a much more reliable indicator of underlying biological conditions compared to using single genes as indicators. We conducted extensive simulations to validate the method's ability to detect subnetwork-level dynamic correlations. Using a real gene expression dataset and the human protein-protein interaction network, we demonstrate the method links subnetworks of distinct biological processes, with both confirmed relations and plausible new functional implications. We also found signal transduction pathways tend to show extensive dynamic relations with other functional groups. The R package is available at https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/LANDD CONTACTS: yunba@pcom.edu, jwlu33@hotmail.com or tianwei.yu@emory.eduSupplementary information: Supplementary data

Human health risk assessment methodology for the UMTRA Ground Water Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-11-01

This document presents the method used to evaluate human risks associated with ground water contamination at inactive uranium processing sites. The intent of these evaluations is to provide the public and remedial action decision-makers with information about the health risks that might be expected at each site in a manner that is easily understood. The method (1) develops probabilistic distributions for exposure variables where sufficient data exist, (2) simulates predicted exposure distributions using Monte Carlo techniques, and (3) develops toxicity ranges that reflect human data when available, animal data if human data are insufficient, regulatory levels, and uncertainties. Risk interpretation is based on comparison of the potential exposure distributions with the derived toxicity ranges. Graphic presentations are an essential element of the semiquantitative interpretation and are expected to increase understanding by the public and decision-makers

Introduction to optical methods for characterizing liquid crystals at interfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Daniel S; Carlton, Rebecca J; Mushenheim, Peter C; Abbott, Nicholas L

2013-03-12

This Instructional Review describes methods and underlying principles that can be used to characterize both the orientations assumed spontaneously by liquid crystals (LCs) at interfaces and the strength with which the LCs are held in those orientations (so-called anchoring energies). The application of these methods to several different classes of LC interfaces is described, including solid and aqueous interfaces as well as planar and nonplanar interfaces (such as those that define a LC-in-water emulsion droplet). These methods, which enable fundamental studies of the ordering of LCs at polymeric, chemically functionalized, and biomolecular interfaces, are described in this Instructional Review on a level that can be easily understood by a nonexpert reader such as an undergraduate or graduate student. We focus on optical methods because they are based on instrumentation that is found widely in research and teaching laboratories.

Can self-destructive killers be classified so easily?

Science.gov (United States)

Egan, Vincent

2014-08-01

Lankford makes many useful points regarding the myths and shibboleths underlying our understanding of self-destructive killers and suicide bombers. He has collated an impressive data set on such offenders. However, his classification scheme is not built on sufficient evidence to support his proposed discrete categories of conventional, coerced, escapist, and indirect suicide terrorists. It would be straightforward to analyse the data, but it is unlikely that the resulting model would reflect that anticipated.

Portable flooring protects finished surfaces, is easily moved

Science.gov (United States)

Carmody, R. J.

1964-01-01

To protect curved, finished surface and provide support for workmen, portable flooring has been made from rigid plastic foam blocks, faced with aluminum strips. Held together by nylon webbing, the flooring can be rolled up for easy carrying.

An Easily Assembled Laboratory Exercise in Computed Tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Mylott, Elliot; Klepetka, Ryan; Dunlap, Justin C.; Widenhorn, Ralf

2011-01-01

In this paper, we present a laboratory activity in computed tomography (CT) primarily composed of a photogate and a rotary motion sensor that can be assembled quickly and partially automates data collection and analysis. We use an enclosure made with a light filter that is largely opaque in the visible spectrum but mostly transparent to the near…

USING MICROSCALE THERMOPHORESIS TO EASILY MEASURE BINDING AFFINITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis Breitsprecher*

2018-03-01

Full Text Available While it’s very common for biologists and chemists to test whether or not two molecules interact with each other, it’s much more useful to gather information on the nature of that interaction. How strong is it? How long will it last? What does that mean for its biological function? One way to answer these questions is to study affinity. Binding affinity is defined as the strength of the binding interaction between a single biomolecule to its binding partner, or ligand, and it can be quantifiably measured, providing information on whether or not molecules are interacting, as well as assigning a value to the affinity. When measuring binding affinity, there are several parameters to look at, but the dissociation constant (Kd, which defines the likelihood that an interaction between two molecules will break, is a very common measurement. The smaller the dissociation constant, the more tightly bound the ligand is, and the higher the affinity is between the two molecules.

Chronic Hyperinsulinaemic Hypoglycaemia in Rats Is Accompanied by Increased Body Weight, Hyperleptinaemia, and Decreased Neuronal Glucose Transporter Levels in the Brain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Vivi F. H.; Molck, Anne-Marie; Chapman, Melissa

2017-01-01

of cerebral glucose transporters. Compensatory measures in the brain during chronic insulin-induced hypoglycaemia are less well understood. The present study investigated how the brain of nondiabetic rats copes with chronic insulin-induced hypoglycaemia for up to eight weeks. Brain level of different...... substrate transporters and redox homeostasis was evaluated. Hyperinsulinaemia for 8 weeks consistently lowered blood glucose levels by 30–50% (4–6 mM versus 7–9 mM in controls). The animals had increased food consumption, body weights, and hyperleptinaemia. During infusion, protein levels of the brain......The brain is vulnerable to hypoglycaemia due to a continuous need of energy substrates to meet its high metabolic demands. Studies have shown that severe acute insulin-induced hypoglycaemia results in oxidative stress in the rat brain, when neuroglycopenia cannot be evaded despite increased levels...

Fostering Graduate Level Student Success: What Research Says and How to Apply it in the Classroom

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria Landu-Adams

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The best instructors know how to engage their students from the first day of class and help them reach high levels of accomplishment in grasping difficult content, even in graduate level coursework. To create a positive learning environment, instructors must be proactive and anticipate challenges students are likely to face during the class. Whether we like to admit it or not, there are difficult courses for students to grasp within every program of study. Students' ability to learn and retain difficult information is based on physiological, emotional, sociological, and psychological factors. Therefore, instructors need to consider incorporating appropriate classroom practices for a diversity of learners. Are you searching for innovative, quick and easy ideas to "bait" your students on the first day and "hook" them to be comfortable with anxiety-laden courses for the remainder of the course instruction? This paper will present hands-on activities that can easily be utilized in even the most difficult graduate-level subjects. These activities build positive learning environments to help ease anxiety from the first day. It will also include interactive activities that can be adapted to any subject matter at any instructional level in the higher educational setting.

Association between salivary level of infection with Streptococcus mutans/Lactobacilli and caries-risk factors in mothers.

Science.gov (United States)

Latifi-Xhemajli, B; Véronneau, J; Begzati, A; Bytyci, A; Kutllovci, T; Rexhepi, A

2016-03-01

Understanding factors in mothers associated with high and low salivary levels of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli is an important strategy for early childhood caries prevention. Aim of the study was to identify the association between salivary levels of Streptococcus mutans/Lactobacillus and potential caries risk factors in mothers. Cross-sectional design used a voluntary sample of 300 mothers of young children. Close-ended questions and observations were used to identify mothers' potential caries risk factors. The presence of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli was determined using the CRT bacteria test (Ivoclar Vivadent). All collected information was converted into frequency and proportion describing the prevalence factor in correlation with Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli cariogenic bacteria levels of infection. Results Sample participants showed a high caries risk based on socioeconomic, behavioural and clinical factors. also showed high levels (>105) of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli infections among 28% of mothers. Three factors were significantly associated with Streptococcus mutans infection: level of education, past caries experiences, and observable dental plaque, whereas, a fourth factor, frequency of daily tooth brushing, was associated to Lactobacilli infection. This study showed that easily collectible informations such as maternal level of education, frequency of daily tooth brushing and past clinical factors tend to be associated with high level of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli infections in caregivers.

PSCAD modeling of a two-level space vector pulse width modulation algorithm for power electronics education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmet Mete Vural

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design details of a two-level space vector pulse width modulation algorithm in PSCAD that is able to generate pulses for three-phase two-level DC/AC converters with two different switching patterns. The presented FORTRAN code is generic and can be easily modified to meet many other kinds of space vector modulation strategies. The code is also editable for hardware programming. The new component is tested and verified by comparing its output as six gating signals with those of a similar component in MATLAB library. Moreover the component is used to generate digital signals for closed-loop control of STATCOM for reactive power compensation in PSCAD. This add-on can be an effective tool to give students better understanding of the space vector modulation algorithm for different control tasks in power electronics area, and can motivate them for learning.

ESCL8R and LEVIT8R: interactive graphical analysis of {gamma}-{gamma} and {gamma}-{gamma}-{gamma} coincidence data for level schemes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Radford, D C [Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Chalk River, ON (Canada). Chalk River Nuclear Labs.

1992-08-01

The extraction of complete and consistent nuclear level schemes from high-fold coincidence data will require intelligent computer programs. These will need to present the relevant data in an easily assimilated manner, keep track of all {gamma}-ray assignments and expected coincidence intensities, and quickly find significant discrepancies between a proposed level scheme and the data. Some steps in this direction have been made at Chalk River. The programs ESCL8R and LEVIT8R, for analysis of two-fold and three-fold data sets respectively, allow fast and easy inspection of the data, and compare the results to expectations calculations on the basis of a proposed level scheme. Least-squares fits directly to the 2D and/or 3D data, with the intensities and energies of the level scheme transitions as parameters, allow fast and easy extraction of the optimum physics results. (author). 4 refs., 3 figs.

Lung tissue mechanics as an emergent phenomenon.

Science.gov (United States)

Suki, Béla; Bates, Jason H T

2011-04-01

The mechanical properties of lung parenchymal tissue are both elastic and dissipative, as well as being highly nonlinear. These properties cannot be fully understood, however, in terms of the individual constituents of the tissue. Rather, the mechanical behavior of lung tissue emerges as a macroscopic phenomenon from the interactions of its microscopic components in a way that is neither intuitive nor easily understood. In this review, we first consider the quasi-static mechanical behavior of lung tissue and discuss computational models that show how smooth nonlinear stress-strain behavior can arise through a percolation-like process in which the sequential recruitment of collagen fibers with increasing strain causes them to progressively take over the load-bearing role from elastin. We also show how the concept of percolation can be used to link the pathologic progression of parenchymal disease at the micro scale to physiological symptoms at the macro scale. We then examine the dynamic mechanical behavior of lung tissue, which invokes the notion of tissue resistance. Although usually modeled phenomenologically in terms of collections of springs and dashpots, lung tissue viscoelasticity again can be seen to reflect various types of complex dynamic interactions at the molecular level. Finally, we discuss the inevitability of why lung tissue mechanics need to be complex.

Stereotypical Escape Behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans Allows Quantification of Effective Heat Stimulus Level.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kawai Leung

2016-12-01

Full Text Available A goal of many sensorimotor studies is to quantify the stimulus-behavioral response relation for specific organisms and specific sensory stimuli. This is especially important to do in the context of painful stimuli since most animals in these studies cannot easily communicate to us their perceived levels of such noxious stimuli. Thus progress on studies of nociception and pain-like responses in animal models depends crucially on our ability to quantitatively and objectively infer the sensed levels of these stimuli from animal behaviors. Here we develop a quantitative model to infer the perceived level of heat stimulus from the stereotyped escape response of individual nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans stimulated by an IR laser. The model provides a method for quantification of analgesic-like effects of chemical stimuli or genetic mutations in C. elegans. We test ibuprofen-treated worms and a TRPV (transient receptor potential mutant, and we show that the perception of heat stimuli for the ibuprofen treated worms is lower than the wild-type. At the same time, our model shows that the mutant changes the worm's behavior beyond affecting the thermal sensory system. Finally, we determine the stimulus level that best distinguishes the analgesic-like effects and the minimum number of worms that allow for a statistically significant identification of these effects.

Trap level spectroscopy in amorphous semiconductors

CERN Document Server

Mikla, Victor V

2010-01-01

Although amorphous semiconductors have been studied for over four decades, many of their properties are not fully understood. This book discusses not only the most common spectroscopic techniques but also describes their advantages and disadvantages.Provides information on the most used spectroscopic techniquesDiscusses the advantages and disadvantages of each technique

Are stress hormone levels a good proxy of foraging success? An experiment with king penguins, Aptenodytes patagonicus.

Science.gov (United States)

Angelier, Frédéric; Giraudeau, Mathieu; Bost, Charles-André; Le Bouard, Fabrice; Chastel, Olivier

2009-09-01

In seabirds, variations in stress hormone (corticosterone; henceforth CORT) levels have been shown to reflect changing marine conditions and, especially, changes in food availability. However, it remains unclear how CORT levels can be mechanistically affected by these changes at the individual level. Specifically, the influence of food acquisition and foraging success on CORT secretion is poorly understood. In this study, we tested whether food acquisition can reduce baseline CORT levels (;the food intake hypothesis') by experimentally reducing foraging success of King Penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus). Although CORT levels overall decreased during a foraging trip, CORT levels did not differ between experimental birds and controls. These results demonstrate that mass gain at sea is not involved in changes in baseline CORT levels in this species. The overall decrease in CORT levels during a foraging trip could result from CORT-mediated energy regulation (;the energy utilisation hypothesis'). Along with other evidence, we suggest that the influence of foraging success and food intake on CORT levels is complex and that the ecological meaning of baseline CORT levels can definitely vary between species and ecological contexts. Therefore, further studies are needed to better understand (1) how baseline CORT levels are functionally regulated according to energetic status and energetic demands and (2) to what extent CORT can be used to aid in the conservation of seabird populations.

Relationship of Liver X Receptors α and Endoglin Levels in Serum and Placenta with Preeclampsia.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jing; Dong, Xing; Wu, Hong-Yan; Wu, Nan; Zhang, Xue-Jun; Wang, Xin; Shang, Li-Xin

2016-01-01

Liver X receptor alpha (LXRα) and endoglin have been postulated to play roles in trophoblast invasion and lipid metabolic disturbances. However, the relationship between LXRα and endoglin levels in serum and placenta of patients with preeclampsia remains poorly understood. The objective of this study was to identify correlations between LXRα, endoglin and preeclampsia and provide new feasible methods of clinical prediction and treatment for preeclampsia. We enrolled 45 patients with preeclampsia (24 with moderate preeclampsia and 21 with severe preeclampsia) and 15 normal pregnant women (control group) who were admitted to the Department of Obstetrics of the General Hospital of Beijing Command between October 2012 and July 2013 in this study. Serum and placental LXRα and endoglin levels were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, real-time quantitative PCR, tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry. Serum and placental LXRα and endoglin levels were significantly higher in patients with preeclampsia than those in control group (Ppreeclampsia displayed significantly higher LXRα and endoglin levels than those with moderate preeclampsia (Ppreeclampsia were positively correlated (serum: r = 0.486, Ppreeclampsia pathogenesis and development and could be used as potential predictors for this disorder.

Chromium level in prediction of diabetes in pre-diabetic patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahmatollah Rafiei

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Chromium supplementations (Cr have been shown to exert beneficial effects in the management of type-2 diabetes. Prevalence of Cr deficiency in pre-diabetic patients is not well-understood, therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of this prevalence. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 132 pre-diabetic patients were recruited. The participants were randomly selected from those who referred to the Shariati Hospital in Isfahan, Iran. Blood samples are collected for measurement of Cr, insulin, fasting blood sugar (FBS, and two-hour post-load plasma glucose. The body mass index (BMI was calculated. Determination of Cr was carried out by atomic absorption spectrometry. Results: Thirty-four (31.5% patients had Cr deficiency and 74 (68.5% patients had normal Cr. There was no significant difference between sex, age groups (<50 years and ≥50 years and between patients with and without a family history of diabetes in both the groups. No significant differences in age, BMI, FBS or insulin were observed between two groups. In the group with a normal level of Cr, there was a significant reversed correlation between the Cr level and age, but no significant correlation existed between the Cr level and other factors in both groups. Conclusion: The levels of Cr deficiency are relatively common in patients with pre-diabetes, and it is necessary to screen patients with diabetes and pre-diabetes according to the American Diabetes Association guidelines, with regard to the Cr level and action should be taken to eliminate the Cr deficiency in these patients.

High-level waste borosilicate glass: A compendium of corrosion characteristics. Volume 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cunnane, J.C.

1994-03-01

The objective of this document is to summarize scientific information pertinent to evaluating the extent to which high-level waste borosilicate glass corrosion and the associated radionuclide release processes are understood for the range of environmental conditions to which waste glass may be exposed in service. Alteration processes occurring within the bulk of the glass (e.g., devitrification and radiation-induced changes) are discussed insofar as they affect glass corrosion.This document is organized into three volumes. Volumes I and II represent a tiered set of information intended for somewhat different audiences. Volume I is intended to provide an overview of waste glass corrosion, and Volume 11 is intended to provide additional experimental details on experimental factors that influence waste glass corrosion. Volume III contains a bibliography of glass corrosion studies, including studies that are not cited in Volumes I and II. Volume I is intended for managers, decision makers, and modelers, the combined set of Volumes I, II, and III is intended for scientists and engineers working in the field of high-level waste

High-level waste borosilicate glass: A compendium of corrosion characteristics. Volume 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cunnane, J.C. [comp.; Bates, J.K.; Bradley, C.R. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)] [and others

1994-03-01

The objective of this document is to summarize scientific information pertinent to evaluating the extent to which high-level waste borosilicate glass corrosion and the associated radionuclide release processes are understood for the range of environmental conditions to which waste glass may be exposed in service. Alteration processes occurring within the bulk of the glass (e.g., devitrification and radiation-induced changes) are discussed insofar as they affect glass corrosion.This document is organized into three volumes. Volumes I and II represent a tiered set of information intended for somewhat different audiences. Volume I is intended to provide an overview of waste glass corrosion, and Volume 11 is intended to provide additional experimental details on experimental factors that influence waste glass corrosion. Volume III contains a bibliography of glass corrosion studies, including studies that are not cited in Volumes I and II. Volume I is intended for managers, decision makers, and modelers, the combined set of Volumes I, II, and III is intended for scientists and engineers working in the field of high-level waste.

Diverse Soil Carbon Dynamics Expressed at the Molecular Level

Science.gov (United States)

van der Voort, T. S.; Zell, C. I.; Hagedorn, F.; Feng, X.; McIntyre, C. P.; Haghipour, N.; Graf Pannatier, E.; Eglinton, T. I.

2017-12-01

The stability and potential vulnerability of soil organic matter (SOM) to global change remain incompletely understood due to the complex processes involved in its formation and turnover. Here we combine compound-specific radiocarbon analysis with fraction-specific and bulk-level radiocarbon measurements in order to further elucidate controls on SOM dynamics in a temperate and subalpine forested ecosystem. Radiocarbon contents of individual organic compounds isolated from the same soil interval generally exhibit greater variation than those among corresponding operationally defined fractions. Notably, markedly older ages of long-chain plant leaf wax lipids (n-alkanoic acids) imply that they reflect a highly stable carbon pool. Furthermore, marked 14C variations among shorter- and longer-chain n-alkanoic acid homologues suggest that they track different SOM pools. Extremes in SOM dynamics thus manifest themselves within a single compound class. This exploratory study highlights the potential of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis for understanding SOM dynamics in ecosystems potentially vulnerable to global change.

EVEREST: Pixel Level Decorrelation of K2 Light Curves

Science.gov (United States)

Luger, Rodrigo; Agol, Eric; Kruse, Ethan; Barnes, Rory; Becker, Andrew; Foreman-Mackey, Daniel; Deming, Drake

2016-10-01

We present EPIC Variability Extraction and Removal for Exoplanet Science Targets (EVEREST), an open-source pipeline for removing instrumental noise from K2 light curves. EVEREST employs a variant of pixel level decorrelation to remove systematics introduced by the spacecraft’s pointing error and a Gaussian process to capture astrophysical variability. We apply EVEREST to all K2 targets in campaigns 0-7, yielding light curves with precision comparable to that of the original Kepler mission for stars brighter than {K}p≈ 13, and within a factor of two of the Kepler precision for fainter targets. We perform cross-validation and transit injection and recovery tests to validate the pipeline, and compare our light curves to the other de-trended light curves available for download at the MAST High Level Science Products archive. We find that EVEREST achieves the highest average precision of any of these pipelines for unsaturated K2 stars. The improved precision of these light curves will aid in exoplanet detection and characterization, investigations of stellar variability, asteroseismology, and other photometric studies. The EVEREST pipeline can also easily be applied to future surveys, such as the TESS mission, to correct for instrumental systematics and enable the detection of low signal-to-noise transiting exoplanets. The EVEREST light curves and the source code used to generate them are freely available online.

Ultralow Level Mercury Treatment Using Chemical Reduction and Air Stripping: Scoping Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Looney, B.B.

2000-01-01

Data collected during the first stage of a Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) Strategic Research and Development Project confirmed the efficacy of chemical reduction and air stripping/sparging as an ultralow level mercury treatment concept for waters containing Hg(II). The process consists of dosing the water with low levels of stannous chloride to convert the mercury to Hg. This form of mercury can easily be removed from the water by air stripping or sparging. Samples of Savannah River Site (SRS) groundwater containing approximately 130 ng/L of total mercury (as Hg(II)) were used for the study. In undosed samples, sparging removed 0 percent of the initial mercury. In the dosed samples, all of the removals were greater than 94 percent, except in one water type at one dose. This sample, which was saturated with dissolved oxygen, showed a 63 percent reduction in mercury following treatment at the lowest dose. Following dosing at minimally effective levels and sparging, treated water contained less than 10 ng/L total mercury. In general, the data indicate that the reduction of mercury is highly favored and that stannous chloride reagent efficiently targets the Hg(II) contaminant in the presence of competing reactions. Based on the results, the authors estimated that the costs of implementing and operating an ultralow level mercury treatment process based on chemical reduction and stripping/sparging are 10 percent to 20 percent of traditional treatment technologies

Bioprocessing of low-level radioactive and mixed hazard wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoner, D.L.

1990-01-01

Biologically-based treatment technologies are currently being developed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) to aid in volume reduction and/or reclassification of low-level radioactive and mixed hazardous wastes prior to processing for disposal. The approaches taken to treat low-level radioactive and mixed wastes will reflect the physical (e.g., liquid, solid, slurry) and chemical (inorganic and/or organic) nature of the waste material being processed. Bioprocessing utilizes the diverse metabolic and biochemical characteristics of microorganisms. The application of bioadsorption and bioflocculation to reduce the volume of low-level radioactive waste are strategies comparable to the use of ion-exchange resins and coagulants that are currently used in waste reduction processes. Mixed hazardous waste would require organic as well as radionuclide treatment processes. Biodegradation of organic wastes or bioemulsification could be used in conjunction with radioisotope bioadsorption methods to treat mixed hazardous radioactive wastes. The degradation of the organic constituents of mixed wastes can be considered an alternative to incineration, while the use of bioemulsification may simply be used as a means to separate inorganic and organics to enable reclassification of wastes. The proposed technology base for the biological treatment of low-level radioactive and mixed hazardous waste has been established. Biodegradation of a variety of organic compounds that are typically found in mixed hazardous wastes has been demonstrated, degradative pathways determined and the nutritional requirements of the microorganisms are understood. Accumulation, adsorption and concentration of heavy and transition metal species and transuranics by microorganisms is widely recognized. Work at the INEL focuses on the application of demonstrated microbial transformations to process development

The environmental radiation monitoring system and in-situ measurements for early notification and OIL (Operational Intervention Levels) calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haquin, G.; Ne'eman, E.; Brenner, S.; Lavi, N.

1997-01-01

The efficiency of the environmental radiation monitoring, low level laboratory and in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry are evaluated as the systems for early notification and for determination of dose rate in air, surface contamination and activity concentration in food during emergencies for Operational Intervention Levels (OIL) recalculation.The National Environmental Radiation Monitoring System has proved its efficiency in the early detection of unregistered radiography work. A mobile station of the network can be used for absorbed dose rate measurement during emergencies in contaminated areas. The calibrated in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry system in an open phosphate ore mine has showed the efficiency of this technique for fast and accurate determination of soil activity concentration. The calibration for an uniform depth distribution can be easily mathematically converted to an exponential depth distribution in cases of radioactive material fallout

Neurosignal record with a Brain-Computer interface to estimate the level of stress in a student during a class

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luz Angela Moreno Cueva

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: This work shows an individual study of the capture, recording, and analysis of the level of stress of a university student during a class that involves an evaluation. The stress information was estimated using a commercial and low-cost computer-brain interface. This allows solving the problem of easily obtaining quantitative and not only qualitative measures. Objective: The aim of this article is to analyze the behavior of neural signals to estimate the level of stress in a student to some verbal and nonverbal events generated by a teacher. Methodology: An experimental design of individual character was developed taking as disturbances the level of stress, events such as questions, time limits, and gestures. Results: Some events that caused stress in students produced by the verbal and non-verbal language of the teacher when teaching the class were evidenced. Conclusions: Teachers are encouraged to moderate their body language during assessments by avoiding actions that emulate anxieties or pressures in unnecessary times.

High levels of aromatic amino acids in gastric juice during the early stages of gastric cancer progression.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Deng

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Early-stage gastric cancer is mostly asymptomatic and can easily be missed easily by conventional gastroscopy. Currently, there are no useful biomarkers for the early detection of gastric cancer, and their identification of biomarkers is urgently needed. METHODS: Gastric juice was obtained from 185 subjects that were divided into three groups: non-neoplastic gastric disease (NGD, advanced gastric cancer and early gastric cancer (EGC. The levels of aromatic amino acids in the gastric juice were quantitated using high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: The median values (25th to 75th percentile of tyrosine, phenylalanine and tryptophan in the gastric juice were 3.8 (1.7-7.5 µg/ml, 5.3 (2.3-9.9 µg/ml and 1.0 (0.4-2.8 µg/ml in NGD; 19.4 (5.8-72.4 µg/ml, 24.6 (11.5-73.7 µg/ml and 8.3 (2.1-28.0 µg/ml in EGC. Higher levels of tyrosine, phenylalanine and tryptophan in the gastric juice were observed in individuals of EGC groups compared those of the NGD group (NGD vs. EGC, P<0.0001. For the detection of EGC, the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs of each biomarker were as follows: tyrosine, 0.790 [95% confidence interval (CI, 0.703-0.877]; phenylalanine, 0.831 (95% CI, 0.750-0.911; and tryptophan, 0.819 (95% CI, 0.739-0.900. The sensitivity and specificity of phenylalanine were 75.5% and 81.4%, respectively, for detection of EGC. A multiple logistic regression analysis showed that high levels of aromatic amino acids in the gastric juice were associated with gastric cancer (adjusted β coefficients ranged from 1.801 to 4.414, P<0.001. CONCLUSION: Increased levels of tyrosine, phenylalanine and tryptophan in the gastric juice samples were detected in the early phase of gastric carcinogenesis. Thus, tyrosine, phenylalanine and tryptophan in gastric juice could be used as biomarkers for the early detection of gastric cancer. A gastric juice analysis is an efficient, economical and convenient method for

Geomechanics of the Climax mine-by, Nevada Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heuze, F.E.

1981-03-01

A generic test of retrievable geologic storage of spent fuel assemblies in an underground chamber is being conducted at the Nevada Test Site. The horizontal shrinkage of the pillars is not explainable, but the vertical pillar stresses are easily understood. A two-phase project was initiated to estimate the in-situ deformability of the Climax granite and to refine the in-situ stress field data, and to model the mine-by

Advancements toward a Systems Level Understanding of the Human Oral Microbiome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey Scott Mclean

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Oral microbes represent one of the most well studied microbial communities owing to the fact that they are a fundamental part of human development influencing health and disease, an easily accessible human microbiome, a highly structured and remarkably resilient biofilm as well as a model of bacteria-bacteria and bacteria-host interactions. In the last eighty years since oral plaque was first characterized for its functionally stable physiological properties such as the highly repeatable rapid pH decrease upon carbohydrate addition and subsequent recovery phase, the fundamental approaches to study the oral microbiome have cycled back and forth between community level investigations and characterizing individual model isolates. Since that time, many individual species have been well characterized and the development of the early plaque community, which involves many cell–cell binding interactions, has been carefully described. With high throughput sequencing enabling the enormous diversity of the oral cavity to be realized, a number of new challenges to progress were revealed. The large number of uncultivated oral species, the high interpersonal variability of taxonomic carriage and the possibility of multiple pathways to dysbiosis pose as major hurdles to obtain a systems level understanding from the community to the gene level. It is now possible however to start connecting the insights gained from single species with community wide approaches. This review will discuss some of the recent insights into the oral microbiome at a fundamental level, existing knowledge gaps, as well as challenges that have surfaced and the approaches to address them.

Clustering high dimensional data using RIA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aziz, Nazrina [School of Quantitative Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah (Malaysia)

2015-05-15

Clustering may simply represent a convenient method for organizing a large data set so that it can easily be understood and information can efficiently be retrieved. However, identifying cluster in high dimensionality data sets is a difficult task because of the curse of dimensionality. Another challenge in clustering is some traditional functions cannot capture the pattern dissimilarity among objects. In this article, we used an alternative dissimilarity measurement called Robust Influence Angle (RIA) in the partitioning method. RIA is developed using eigenstructure of the covariance matrix and robust principal component score. We notice that, it can obtain cluster easily and hence avoid the curse of dimensionality. It is also manage to cluster large data sets with mixed numeric and categorical value.

Controllable group velocity of the probe light in a Λ-type system with two fold levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin Lihui; Gong Shangqing; Niu Yueping; Li Ruxin; Jin Shiqi

2006-01-01

The group velocities of the probe laser field are studied in a Λ-type system where one lower state has two fold levels coupled by a control field. It is found that the interaction of double dark states leads to controllable group velocity of the probe field in this system. It can be easily realized, due to the interacting double dark resonances, that one of the group velocities at transparency positions is much slower than the other by tuning the control field to be off resonance. In particular, when the control field is on resonance, we can obtain two equal slow group velocities with a broader EIT width, which provides potential applications in quantum storage and retrieval of light

Serum Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc and Copper Levels in Sudanese Women with Preeclampsia

Science.gov (United States)

Elmugabil, Abdelmageed; Hamdan, Hamdan Z.; Elsheikh, Anas E.; Rayis, Duria A.; Gasim, Gasim I.

2016-01-01

Background Although the exact pathophysiology of preeclampsia is not fully understood, several elemental micronutrient abnormalities have been suggested to play a contributory role in preeclampsia. Aims To investigate the levels of calcium, magnesium, zinc and copper in women with preeclampsia. Subjects and Methods A case—control study was conducted in Omdurman Maternity Hospital, Sudan, during the period of September through December 2014. The cases were women with preeclampsia while healthy pregnant women were the controls. The medical and obstetrics history was gathered using questionnaires. The serum levels of calcium, magnesium, zinc and copper were measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results There was no significant difference between the two groups in their age, gestational age, parity and body mass index. Zinc and copper levels were not significantly different between the two groups. In comparison with the controls, women with preeclampsia had a significantly lower median (inter-quartile) serum calcium [7.6 (4.0─9.6) vs. 8.1 (10.6─14.2), mg/dl, P = 0.032] and higher levels of magnesium [1.9 (1.4─2.5) vs. 1.4 (1.0─1.9) mg/dl; P = 0.003]. In binary logistic regression, lower calcium (OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.56 ─ 0.95, P = 0.021) and higher magnesium (OR = 5.724, 95% CI = 1.23 ─ 26.50, P = 0.026) levels were associated with preeclampsia. There were no significant correlations between levels of hemoglobin and these trace elements. Conclusion The current study showed significant associations between preeclampsia and serum levels of calcium and magnesium. PMID:27911936

The analysis and countermeasures of intravenous infusion operation assessment results analysis in nursing students at different levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiao-rong ZHAO

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Objective:To analyze the problems existed in nursing students at different levels in the process of intravenous infusion, to make judgmental guide towards common problems in clinical teaching, to standardize nursing students’ operations at intravenous infusion, and to avoid errors and disputes. Methods: The authors analyzed the problems in secondary, tertiary, undergraduate nursing students in three levels at a provincial hospital from 2010 to 2012 during intravenous infusion therapy; and the clinical teaching administration means were also discussed. Results: the difference of the problems existed in nursing students at different levels is not significant. P values were greater than 0.05. The top five projects that lost scores are consistent. Conclusion: The key problems that can easily cause errors and disputes are those that mostly occurred in nursing students at intravenous infusion operations. In clinical teaching, judgmental guide on common problems should be emphasized, nursing students’ operations at intravenous infusion should be standardized, the critical awareness towards clinical operations should be developed, errors and disputes should be avoided, and nursing students’ sense of professionalism should be enhanced.

Developing micro-level urban ecosystem indicators for sustainability assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dizdaroglu, Didem

2015-01-01

Sustainability assessment is increasingly being viewed as an important tool to aid in the shift towards sustainable urban ecosystems. An urban ecosystem is a dynamic system and requires regular monitoring and assessment through a set of relevant indicators. An indicator is a parameter which provides information about the state of the environment by producing a quantitative value. Indicator-based sustainability assessment needs to be considered on all spatial scales to provide efficient information of urban ecosystem sustainability. The detailed data is necessary to assess environmental change in urban ecosystems at local scale and easily transfer this information to the national and global scales. This paper proposes a set of key micro-level urban ecosystem indicators for monitoring the sustainability of residential developments. The proposed indicator framework measures the sustainability performance of urban ecosystem in 3 main categories including: natural environment, built environment, and socio-economic environment which are made up of 9 sub-categories, consisting of 23 indicators. This paper also describes theoretical foundations for the selection of each indicator with reference to the literature [tr

Harm avoidance and disability in old age.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Robert S; Buchman, Aron S; Arnold, Steven E; Shah, Raj C; Tang, Yuxiao; Bennett, David A

2006-01-01

The relation of personality to disability in old age is not well understood. The authors examined the relation of harm avoidance, a trait indicating a tendency to worry, fear uncertainty, be shy, and tire easily, to disability in a group of 474 older persons without dementia. Participants completed the 35-item Harm Avoidance scale. Disability was assessed with the Rosow-Breslau scale, a self-report measure of physical mobility. Performance-based tests of lower limb functions were also administered from which composite measures of gait, balance, and strength were derived. In a logistic regression model controlled for age, sex, education, and lower limb function, persons with high levels of harm avoidance were nearly three times as likely to report mobility limitations as persons with low levels, and these effects largely reflected fatigability and fear of uncertainty. The association of harm avoidance with disability was not explained or modified by frailty, physical activity, depressive symptoms, neuroticism, extraversion, or cognition. The results suggest that harm avoidance is associated with disability in old age.

Adiabatic interpretation of a two-level atom diode, a laser device for unidirectional transmission of ground-state atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruschhaupt, A.; Muga, J. G.

2006-01-01

We present a generalized two-level scheme for an 'atom diode', namely, a laser device that lets a two-level ground-state atom pass in one direction, say from left to right, but not in the opposite direction. The laser field is composed of two lateral state-selective mirror regions and a central pumping region. We demonstrate the robustness of the scheme and propose a physical realization. It is shown that the inclusion of a counterintuitive laser field blocking the excited atoms on the left side of the device is essential for a perfect diode effect. The reason for this, the diodic behavior, and the robustness may be understood with an adiabatic approximation. The conditions to break down the approximation, which imply also the diode failure, are analyzed

Do places matter? A multi-level analysis of regional variations in health-related behaviour in Britain.

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, C; Jones, K; Moon, G

1993-09-01

A number of commentators have argued that there is a distinctive geography of health-related behaviour. Behaviour has to be understood not only in terms of individual characteristics, but also in relation to local cultures. Places matter, and the context in which behaviour takes place is crucial for understanding and policy. Previous empirical research has been unable to operationalize these ideas and take simultaneous account of both individual compositional and aggregate contextual factors. The present paper addresses this shortcoming through a multi-level analysis of smoking and drinking behaviours recorded in a large-scale national survey. It suggests that place, expressed as regional differences, may be less important than previously implied.

A trust-wide review of clinical nurse specialists' productivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Balsdon, Helen; Wilkinson, Susan

2014-04-01

The contribution made by clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) to patient care needs to be understood fully to provide assurance of effective use of resources. However, CNS roles are often poorly understood and not easily articulated. Due to the diversity of these roles, robust reviews of performance and economic benefits can be regarded as time consuming and resource intense, and many organisations enlist external agencies to clarify the contribution to care made by their CNSs. This article gives an overview of a Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust internal review of CNS roles without the support of an external agency. The review provided assurance that this group of nurses is being used effectively and identified opportunities to use the role in different ways to increase effectiveness.

Young Scientists Explore Insects. Book 2 Primary Level.

Science.gov (United States)

Penn, Linda

Designed to present interesting facts about science and to heighten the curiosity of primary age students, this book contains suggestions for students to investigate the natural world and numerous black and white illustrations. The activities focus on nine easily recognized insects: bees, beetles, lady bugs, lightning bugs, ants, mosquitoes,…

Making myself understood: perceived factors affecting the intelligibility of sung text.

Science.gov (United States)

Fine, Philip A; Ginsborg, Jane

2014-01-01

Singing is universal, and understanding sung words is thought to be important for many listeners' enjoyment of vocal and choral music. However, this is not a trivial task, and sung text intelligibility is probably affected by many factors. A survey of musicians was undertaken to identify the factors believed to have most impact on intelligibility, and to assess the importance of understanding sung words in familiar and unfamiliar languages. A total of 143 professional and amateur musicians, including singers, singing teachers, and regular listeners to vocal music, provided 394 statements yielding 851 references to one or more of 43 discrete factors in four categories: performer-related, listener-related, environment-related and words/music-related. The factors mentioned most frequently in each of the four categories were, respectively: diction; hearing ability; acoustic; and genre. In more than a third of references, the extent to which sung text is intelligible was attributed to the performer. Over 60% of respondents rated the ability to understand words in familiar languages as "very important," but only 17% when the text was in an unfamiliar language. Professional musicians (47% of the sample) rated the importance of understanding in both familiar and unfamiliar languages significantly higher than amateurs but listed fewer factors overall and fewer listener-related factors. The more important the respondents rated understanding, the more performer-related and environment-related factors they tended to list. There were no significant differences between the responses of those who teach singing and those who do not. Enhancing sung text intelligibility is thus perceived to be within the singer's control, at least to some extent, but there are also many factors outside their control. Empirical research is needed to explore some of these factors in greater depth, and has the potential to inform pedagogy for singers, composers, and choral directors.

The physics of magnetic resonance imaging: how well understood is it?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reynolds, S.E.

2000-01-01

Full text: Part of my work involves tutoring trainee radiologists on the physics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). I have observed that a full understanding of the physics involved with MRI, or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to be more specific, seems to be beyond the hopes of many people working in the field. All diagnostic radiology textbooks that I have read touch very superficially on the physics of NMR and sometimes the explanations and models used are quite inaccurate and misleading. After further investigation, I found some very good coverage on the subject in chemistry texts. The physics of NMR is based on some very difficult quantum mechanical concepts. What I have managed to understand has been tremendously satisfying and has shed light on several conceptual difficulties which I initially struggled with. The physics of MRI is based on the motion of the hydrogen proton when subjected to an external magnetic field. Protons, which are positively charged particles, have an intrinsic spin and as a result, a magnetic field. A proton, when placed in an external magnetic field, undergoes several changes in its motion. The laws of quantum mechanics govern these changes. Diagnostic radiology textbook models describing the motion of a proton tend to be poor and inaccurate leading to confusion. For example, subatomic particles are subject to laws of quantum mechanics and are forbidden to align exactly with an applied magnetic field thus creating precession. Some textbooks make no attempt to explain this phenomenon whereas others attempt a superficial but inadequate quantum mechanical explanation. I am interested to canvas opinions from others involved in MRI as to difficulties they have encountered with the understanding of the physics of MRI and how they have been overcome. Copyright (2000) Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine

Muslim fundamentalism: something to be understood or to be explained away?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruinessen, M.M. van

1995-01-01

This article surveys various attempts to make sociological sense of the diverse Muslim movements often lumped together under the label of fundamentalism. Explanations of fundamentalism as a form of resistance to modernization or those reducing it to social and economic discontent may have some

HERA: A dynamic web application for visualizing community exposure to flood hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Jeanne M.; Henry, Kevin; Wood, Nathan J.; Ng, Peter; Jamieson, Matthew

2017-01-01

The Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) dynamic web application was created to provide a platform that makes research on community exposure to coastal-flooding hazards influenced by sea level rise accessible to planners, decision makers, and the public in a manner that is both easy to use and easily accessible. HERA allows users to (a) choose flood-hazard scenarios based on sea level rise and storm assumptions, (b) appreciate the modeling uncertainty behind a chosen hazard zone, (c) select one or several communities to examine exposure, (d) select the category of population or societal asset, and (e) choose how to look at results. The application is designed to highlight comparisons between (a) varying levels of sea level rise and coastal storms, (b) communities, (c) societal asset categories, and (d) spatial scales. Through a combination of spatial and graphical visualizations, HERA aims to help individuals and organizations to craft more informed mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate-driven coastal hazards. This paper summarizes the technologies used to maximize the user experience, in terms of interface design, visualization approaches, and data processing.

HERA: A dynamic web application for visualizing community exposure to flood hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Jeanne M.; Henry, Kevin; Wood, Nathan; Ng, Peter; Jamieson, Matthew

2017-12-01

The Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) dynamic web application was created to provide a platform that makes research on community exposure to coastal-flooding hazards influenced by sea level rise accessible to planners, decision makers, and the public in a manner that is both easy to use and easily accessible. HERA allows users to (a) choose flood-hazard scenarios based on sea level rise and storm assumptions, (b) appreciate the modeling uncertainty behind a chosen hazard zone, (c) select one or several communities to examine exposure, (d) select the category of population or societal asset, and (e) choose how to look at results. The application is designed to highlight comparisons between (a) varying levels of sea level rise and coastal storms, (b) communities, (c) societal asset categories, and (d) spatial scales. Through a combination of spatial and graphical visualizations, HERA aims to help individuals and organizations to craft more informed mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate-driven coastal hazards. This paper summarizes the technologies used to maximize the user experience, in terms of interface design, visualization approaches, and data processing.

Potential increase in coastal wetland vulnerability to sea-level rise suggested by considering hydrodynamic attenuation effects

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez, José F.; Saco, Patricia M.; Sandi, Steven; Saintilan, Neil; Riccardi, Gerardo

2017-07-01

The future of coastal wetlands and their ecological value depend on their capacity to adapt to the interacting effects of human impacts and sea-level rise. Even though extensive wetland loss due to submergence is a possible scenario, its magnitude is highly uncertain due to limited understanding of hydrodynamic and bio-geomorphic interactions over time. In particular, the effect of man-made drainage modifications on hydrodynamic attenuation and consequent wetland evolution is poorly understood. Predictions are further complicated by the presence of a number of vegetation types that change over time and also contribute to flow attenuation. Here, we show that flow attenuation affects wetland vegetation by modifying its wetting-drying regime and inundation depth, increasing its vulnerability to sea-level rise. Our simulations for an Australian subtropical wetland predict much faster wetland loss than commonly used models that do not consider flow attenuation.

Childhood conditions influence adult progesterone levels.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandra Núñez-de la Mora

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Average profiles of salivary progesterone in women vary significantly at the inter- and intrapopulation level as a function of age and acute energetic conditions related to energy intake, energy expenditure, or a combination of both. In addition to acute stressors, baseline progesterone levels differ among populations. The causes of such chronic differences are not well understood, but it has been hypothesised that they may result from varying tempos of growth and maturation and, by implication, from diverse environmental conditions encountered during childhood and adolescence.To test this hypothesis, we conducted a migrant study among first- and second-generation Bangladeshi women aged 19-39 who migrated to London, UK at different points in the life-course, women still resident in Bangladesh, and women of European descent living in neighbourhoods similar to those of the migrants in London (total n = 227. Data collected included saliva samples for radioimmunoassay of progesterone, anthropometrics, and information from questionnaires on diet, lifestyle, and health. Results from multiple linear regression, controlled for anthropometric and reproductive variables, show that women who spend their childhood in conditions of low energy expenditure, stable energy intake, good sanitation, low immune challenges, and good health care in the UK have up to 103% higher levels of salivary progesterone and an earlier maturation than women who develop in less optimal conditions in Sylhet, Bangladesh (F9,178 = 5.05, p < 0.001, standard error of the mean = 0.32; adjusted R(2 = 0.16. Our results point to the period prior to puberty as a sensitive phase when changes in environmental conditions positively impact developmental tempos such as menarcheal age (F2,81 = 3.21, p = 0.03 and patterns of ovarian function as measured using salivary progesterone (F2,81 = 3.14, p = 0.04.This research demonstrates that human females use an extended period of the life cycle prior

A low-level rf control system for a quarter-wave resonator

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jongwon; Hwang, Churlkew

2012-06-01

A low-level rf control system was designed and built for an rf deflector, which is a quarter wave resonator, and was designed to deflect a secondary electron beam to measure the bunch length of an ion beam. The deflector has a resonance frequency near 88 MHz, its required phase stability is approximately ±1° and its amplitude stability is less than ±1%. The control system consists of analog input and output components and a digital system based on a field-programmable gate array for signal processing. The system is cost effective, while meeting the stability requirements. Some basic properties of the control system were measured. Then, the capability of the rf control was tested using a mechanical vibrator made of a dielectric rod attached to an audio speaker system, which could induce regulated perturbations in the electric fields of the resonator. The control system was flexible so that its parameters could be easily configured to compensate for the disturbance induced in the resonator.

Development of a package program for estimating ground level concentrations of radioactive gases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nilkamhang, W.

1986-01-01

A package program for estimating ground level concentration of radioactive gas from elevate release was develop for use on IBM P C microcomputer. The main program, GAMMA PLUME NT10, is based on the well known VALLEY MODEL which is a Fortran computer code intended for mainframe computers. Other two options were added, namely, calculation of radioactive gas ground level concentration in Ci/m 3 and dose equivalent rate in mren/hr. In addition, a menu program and editor program were developed to render the program easier to use since the option could be readily selected and the input data could be easily modified as required through the keyboard. The accuracy and reliability of the program is almost identical to the mainframe. Ground level concentration of radioactive radon gas due to ore program processing in the nuclear chemistry laboratory of the Department of Nuclear Technology was estimated. In processing radioactive ore at a rate of 2 kg/day, about 35 p Ci/s of radioactive gas was released from a 14 m stack. When meteorological data of Don Muang (average for 5 years 1978-1982) were used maximum ground level concentration and the dose equivalent rate were found to be 0.00094 p Ci/m 3 and 5.0 x 10 -10 mrem/hr respectively. The processing time required for the above problem was about 7 minutes for any case of source on IBM P C which was acceptable for a computer of this class

Aquifer geometry, lithology, and water levels in the Anza–Terwilliger area—2013, Riverside and San Diego Counties, California

Science.gov (United States)

Landon, Matthew K.; Morita, Andrew Y.; Nawikas, Joseph M.; Christensen, Allen H.; Faunt, Claudia C.; Langenheim, Victoria E.

2015-11-24

The population of the Anza–Terwilliger area relies solely on groundwater pumped from the alluvial deposits and surrounding bedrock formations for water supply. The size, characteristics, and current conditions of the aquifer system in the Anza–Terwilliger area are poorly understood, however. In response to these concerns, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the High Country Conservancy and Rancho California Water District, undertook a study to (1) improve mapping of groundwater basin geometry and lithology and (2) to resume groundwater-level monitoring last done during 2004–07 in the Anza–Terwilliger area. 

Instructional Review: An Introduction to Optical Methods for Characterizing Liquid Crystals at Interfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Daniel S.; Carlton, Rebecca J.; Mushenheim, Peter C.; Abbott, Nicholas L.

2013-01-01

This Instructional Review describes methods and underlying principles that can be used to characterize both the orientations assumed spontaneously by liquid crystals (LCs) at interfaces and the strength with which the LCs are held in those orientations (so-called anchoring energies). The application of these methods to several different classes of LC interfaces is described, including solid and aqueous interfaces as well as planar and non-planar interfaces (such as those that define a LC-in-water emulsion droplet). These methods, which enable fundamental studies of the ordering of LCs at polymeric, chemically-functionalized and biomolecular interfaces, are described in this article at a level that can be easily understood by a non-expert reader such as an undergraduate or graduate student. We focus on optical methods because they are based on instrumentation that is found widely in research and teaching laboratories. PMID:23347378

Sovereignty, Robustness, and Short-Term Energy Security Levels. The Catalonia Case Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosas-Casals, Martí, E-mail: rosas@mmt.upc.edu [Sustainability Measurement and Modelling Lab, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – Barcelona Tech, Barcelona (Spain); Marzo, Mariano [Geomodels Institute, Department of Stratigraphy, Paleontology and Marine Geosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain); Salas-Prat, Pep [Sustainability Measurement and Modelling Lab, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – Barcelona Tech, Barcelona (Spain); SmartGrid.cat, Barcelona (Spain)

2014-05-12

Energy-related impacts and conflicts have been used to account for the emergence, maintenance, and collapse of complex societies. On the other hand in the last years, sustainability science has incorporated different frames of reference in order to facilitate the vision of sustainable futures. Most of them suggest that the search for satisfiers of human needs should be rooted on the local (a) construction of organic articulations of people with nature and technology and (b) generation of growing levels of social, economic, and energy self-reliance. This new regional kind of social agreement implies a redefinition of cultural norms and institutions, which at the same time leads toward increased levels of sovereignty for the social group engaged in this process. Sovereignty must not only be understood here in its political sense (as traditionally found in the literature) but also in its technological and energy acceptations. In this paper, we address this last constituent in terms of energy security levels and hierarchy in energy infrastructures between Spain and Catalonia, the latter being a Spanish autonomous community known for its sovereignty aspirations. We show a remarkable difference in energy security levels between both regions, which clearly hinders Catalonia’s capacity to currently achieve a higher level of self-reliance in energetic terms. We suggest that this result is a consequence of the imperfect hierarchy that characterizes energy infrastructures at the spatial scale, and that it can be generalized to all regions where infrastructural systems have been historically assessed and developed under a nationwide planning scheme.

Sovereignty, Robustness, and Short-Term Energy Security Levels. The Catalonia Case Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosas-Casals, Martí; Marzo, Mariano; Salas-Prat, Pep

2014-01-01

Energy-related impacts and conflicts have been used to account for the emergence, maintenance, and collapse of complex societies. On the other hand in the last years, sustainability science has incorporated different frames of reference in order to facilitate the vision of sustainable futures. Most of them suggest that the search for satisfiers of human needs should be rooted on the local (a) construction of organic articulations of people with nature and technology and (b) generation of growing levels of social, economic, and energy self-reliance. This new regional kind of social agreement implies a redefinition of cultural norms and institutions, which at the same time leads toward increased levels of sovereignty for the social group engaged in this process. Sovereignty must not only be understood here in its political sense (as traditionally found in the literature) but also in its technological and energy acceptations. In this paper, we address this last constituent in terms of energy security levels and hierarchy in energy infrastructures between Spain and Catalonia, the latter being a Spanish autonomous community known for its sovereignty aspirations. We show a remarkable difference in energy security levels between both regions, which clearly hinders Catalonia’s capacity to currently achieve a higher level of self-reliance in energetic terms. We suggest that this result is a consequence of the imperfect hierarchy that characterizes energy infrastructures at the spatial scale, and that it can be generalized to all regions where infrastructural systems have been historically assessed and developed under a nationwide planning scheme.

Sovereignty, robustness and short-term energy security levels. The Catalonia case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marti eRosas-Casals

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Energy related impacts and conflicts have been used to account for the emergence, maintenance and collapse of complex societies. On the other hand in the last years, sustainability science has incorporated different frames of reference in order to facilitate the vision of sustainable futures. Most of them suggest that the search for satisfiers of human needs should be rooted on the local (a construction of organic articulations of people with nature and technology and (b generation of growing levels of social, economic and energy self-reliance. This new regional kind of social agreement implies a redefinition of cultural norms and institutions, which at the same time leads toward increased levels of sovereignty for the social group engaged in this process. Sovereignty must not only be understood here in its political sense (as traditionally found in the literature but also in its technological and energy acceptations. In this paper we address this last constituent in terms of energy security levels and hierarchy in energy infrastructures between Spain and Catalonia, the latter being a Spanish autonomous community known for its sovereignty aspirations. We show a remarkable difference in energy security levels between both regions which clearly hinders Catalonia’s capacity to currently achieve a higher level of self-reliance in energetic terms. We suggest that this result is a consequence of the imperfect hierarchy that characterize energy infrastructures at the spatial scale, and that it can be generalized to all regions where infrastructural systems have been historically assessed and developed under a nationwide planning scheme.

Is the low level of physical activity a public policy issue?

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Kalman Michal

2013-03-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Many studies and scientific evidence confirm a positive effect of physical activity on the quality of life and human health. Physical activity, which is also one of the key factors preventing mass non-communicable diseases, is decreasing in Europe, including the Czech Republic, both in children and adults. Serious health consequences for the population and economy of the countries are a reason for a discussion about including the low level of physical activity among public policy issues and a higher allocation of public sources into the area of physical activity promotion. OBJECTIVES: The main objective of the paper is to determine whether the low level of physical activity is a public policy issue. An issue that should by systematically addressed by national, regional as well as local policy. METHODS: Through the policy analysis approach we conducted a content analysis of 25 systematically selected foreign national strategies aimed at the issue of physical activity promotion. The data source was an internal database of the World Health Organization - the International Inventory of Documents on Physical Activity Promotion. The content analysis of the strategies was performed using the Atlas.ti software tool. RESULTS: During a content analysis of 25 foreign strategies a total of 411 text segments (quotations relating to the low level of physical activity were selected. These text segments showed five basic features of a public policy issue according to a conceptual framework developed by Bardach (2000 and Patton and Sawicky (1993 - 1 affects the lives of a significant number of people of a society; 2 is analysable; 3 can be solved through public policy tools; 4 the primary cause or problem can be defined; 5 cannot be solved easily and quickly. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the low level of physical activity is a public policy issue that must be systematically addressed at national level.

General Practitioner Knowledge Levels About Circumcision

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Levent Cankorkmaz

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: This study was carried out to investigate knowledge levels of general practitioners and their thoughts about circumcision in Middle Anatolia.Materials and Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out with 247 general practitioners working in Sivas. A questionnaire was prepared by the authors using previous reports. Questionnaires were sent to subjects by post. One hundred and seventy eight general practitioners (57 women, 121 men responded and were included in the study. For statistical analysis, Chi-square test was used and p<0.05 value was accepted as significant.Results: 42.1% of subjects believed that circumcision should be performed between 2 and 6 years of age. 2.2% of subjects declared that circumcision could be done at home and 7.3% believed that the location of the operation is not important. 9.6% of subjects believed that the person who performs the circumcision does not have to be a doctor. 21.3% of subjects believed that circumcision could be performed without anesthesia during the newborn period because of undeveloped pain sensation. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that general practitioners, who are the most easily accessible health staff for information about health, do not have updated information about the way to perform circumcision and its necessity. Therefore, it is concluded that education programs about circumcision for general practitioners must be continued and updated.

Residues in the analyst of the patient's symbiotic connection at a somatic level: unrepresented states in the patient and analyst.

Science.gov (United States)

Godsil, Geraldine

2018-02-01

This paper discusses the residues of a somatic countertransference that revealed its meaning several years after apparently successful analytic work had ended. Psychoanalytic and Jungian analytic ideas on primitive communication, dissociation and enactment are explored in the working through of a shared respiratory symptom between patient and analyst. Growth in the analyst was necessary so that the patient's communication at a somatic level could be understood. Bleger's concept that both the patient's and analyst's body are part of the setting was central in the working through. © 2018, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

An introduction to geometric computation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nievergelt, J.

1991-01-01

Computational geometry has some appealing features that make it ideal for learning about algorithms and data structures, namely the problem statements are easily understood, intuitively meaningful, and mathematically rigorous, problem statement, solution, and every step of the construction have natural visual representations that support abstract thinking and help in detecting errors of reasoning, and finally, these algorithms are practical because is easy to come up with examples where they can be applied. Figs

Роль фольклора (суеверий) США во взаимодействии культур

OpenAIRE

Лебедько, М.

1999-01-01

Being an important costituent of folklore, superstitions play a great role in cross-cultural interaction. Culture is understood here as "little-c" culture which includes way of life, customs, beliefs, behavior patterns transmitted from generation to generation. Culture patterns are well known to all native speakers. It is a shared knowledge. Because culture patterns in this case superstitions vary from culture to culture, they can easily be substituted with familiar but mostly wrong patterns ...

Military Nursing Outcomes Database (MilNOD IV): Analysis & Expansion

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-29

transferring to or from another unit (Fralic, 2000). The ADT Index is a pragmatic and easily understood way to reflect the stress and strain on nursing ...and patient mortality, nurse burnout , and job dissatisfaction. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288, 1897-1993. Aiken, L.H., Clarke...innovations in AIDS care on burnout among urban hospital nurses . Work and Occupations, 24(4), 453- 477. Aiken, L.H., Sloane, D.M., & Klocinski, J.L

Increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in mice with XX versus XY sex chromosomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Link, Jenny C; Chen, Xuqi; Prien, Christopher; Borja, Mark S; Hammerson, Bradley; Oda, Michael N; Arnold, Arthur P; Reue, Karen

2015-08-01

The molecular mechanisms underlying sex differences in dyslipidemia are poorly understood. We aimed to distinguish genetic and hormonal regulators of sex differences in plasma lipid levels. We assessed the role of gonadal hormones and sex chromosome complement on lipid levels using the four core genotypes mouse model (XX females, XX males, XY females, and XY males). In gonadally intact mice fed a chow diet, lipid levels were influenced by both male-female gonadal sex and XX-XY chromosome complement. Gonadectomy of adult mice revealed that the male-female differences are dependent on acute effects of gonadal hormones. In both intact and gonadectomized animals, XX mice had higher HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) levels than XY mice, regardless of male-female sex. Feeding a cholesterol-enriched diet produced distinct patterns of sex differences in lipid levels compared with a chow diet, revealing the interaction of gonadal and chromosomal sex with diet. Notably, under all dietary and gonadal conditions, HDL-C levels were higher in mice with 2 X chromosomes compared with mice with an X and Y chromosome. By generating mice with XX, XY, and XXY chromosome complements, we determined that the presence of 2 X chromosomes, and not the absence of the Y chromosome, influences HDL-C concentration. We demonstrate that having 2 X chromosomes versus an X and Y chromosome complement drives sex differences in HDL-C. It is conceivable that increased expression of genes escaping X-inactivation in XX mice regulates downstream processes to establish sexual dimorphism in plasma lipid levels. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

Increased abdominal fat levels measured by bioelectrical impedance are associated with histological lesions of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Margariti, Aikaterini; Kontogianni, Meropi D; Tileli, Nafsika; Georgoulis, Michael; Deutsch, Melanie; Zafeiropoulou, Rodessa; Tiniakos, Dina; Manios, Yannis; Pectasides, Dimitrios; Papatheodoridis, George V

2015-08-01

Abdominal fat is considered to play an important role in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), although it is not adequately studied because abdominal fat levels cannot be estimated easily. In this study, associations between abdominal obesity, as assessed by abdominal bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and the characteristics of patients with NAFLD were explored. Seventy-four consecutive NAFLD patients who underwent measurement of abdominal fat levels by BIA were included. Levels of abdominal fat 12.5 or less and more than 12.5 were considered to be average and increased, respectively. The mean±SD BMI was 30±4 kg/m and the mean abdominal fat levels were 16±5, whereas 26% of patients had average abdominal fat levels. Patients with average compared with those with increased abdominal fat levels were more frequently women (50 vs. 12%, P=0.001), had lower BMI (27±3 vs. 31±4 kg/m, Pabdominal fat levels (78 vs. 38%, P=0.030) and in patients with BMI 30 or more compared with less than 30 kg/m (87 vs. 48%, P=0.033), but similar in patients with increased or normal waist circumference (67 vs. 56%, P=0.693). Average levels of abdominal fat, as assessed by abdominal BIA, are mainly present in female patients with NAFLD and are associated with a lower degree of insulin resistance. Increased abdominal fat as assessed by BIA and obesity seem to represent strong risk factors for histological steatohepatitis.

Owlready: Ontology-oriented programming in Python with automatic classification and high level constructs for biomedical ontologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamy, Jean-Baptiste

2017-07-01

Ontologies are widely used in the biomedical domain. While many tools exist for the edition, alignment or evaluation of ontologies, few solutions have been proposed for ontology programming interface, i.e. for accessing and modifying an ontology within a programming language. Existing query languages (such as SPARQL) and APIs (such as OWLAPI) are not as easy-to-use as object programming languages are. Moreover, they provide few solutions to difficulties encountered with biomedical ontologies. Our objective was to design a tool for accessing easily the entities of an OWL ontology, with high-level constructs helping with biomedical ontologies. From our experience on medical ontologies, we identified two difficulties: (1) many entities are represented by classes (rather than individuals), but the existing tools do not permit manipulating classes as easily as individuals, (2) ontologies rely on the open-world assumption, whereas the medical reasoning must consider only evidence-based medical knowledge as true. We designed a Python module for ontology-oriented programming. It allows access to the entities of an OWL ontology as if they were objects in the programming language. We propose a simple high-level syntax for managing classes and the associated "role-filler" constraints. We also propose an algorithm for performing local closed world reasoning in simple situations. We developed Owlready, a Python module for a high-level access to OWL ontologies. The paper describes the architecture and the syntax of the module version 2. It details how we integrated the OWL ontology model with the Python object model. The paper provides examples based on Gene Ontology (GO). We also demonstrate the interest of Owlready in a use case focused on the automatic comparison of the contraindications of several drugs. This use case illustrates the use of the specific syntax proposed for manipulating classes and for performing local closed world reasoning. Owlready has been successfully

Study of 222Rn emanation levels present in naturally occurring radioactive materials - NORM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miranda, Marcia Valeria F.E. Sa; Crispim, Verginia Reis; Lima, Clara Teresa S.

2009-01-01

The presence of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM), contaminating oil and gas installations, is usual in the petroleum industry, and can be severe enough to expose the workers to elevated levels of radiation. The segregation of contaminated residues although necessary, is still a problem without a satisfactory solution. Currently, the most practical and economic option for discarding this material is to stock it in areas of the installation with controlled access. Certain equipment used in the petroleum industry has scale and sludge that could be associated to important levels of radioactivity. Typically, the scales are mixtures of carbonate and sulphate minerals, such as barite (BaSO 4 ), that easily incorporate 226 Ra and 228 Ra in their structures. The objective of this work was to measure the emanations of the radon present in NORM samples, via diffusion chambers containing a nuclear track detector (CR-39). The images of α particle tracks emanated by 222 Rn registered on CR-39 were observed with a Nikon E400 optic microscope and captured by a Nikon Coolpix digital camera and then stored in a database, to later count the tracks using the computational program, Image Pro plus. Since the number of those tracks resulted proportional to the emanation rate of 222 Rn this methodology allowed the comparison of contamination levels in analyzed samples. (author)

Testing and use of radar water level sensors by the U.S. Geological Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Fulford, Janice M.

2016-01-01

The United States Geological Survey uses water-level (or stage) measurements to compute streamflow at over 8000 stream gaging stations located throughout the United States (waterwatch.usgs.gov, 2016). Streamflow (or discharge) is computed at five minute to hourly intervals from a relationship between water level and discharge that is uniquely determined for each station. The discharges are posted hourly to WaterWatch (waterwatch. usgs.gov) and are used by water managers to issue flood warnings and manage water supply and by other users of water information to make decisions. The accuracy of the water-level measurement is vital to the accuracy of the computed discharge. Because of the importance of water-level measurements, USGS has an accuracy policy of 0.02 ft or 0.2 percent of reading (whichever is larger) (Sauer and Turnipseed, 2010). Older technologies, such as float and shaft-encoder systems, bubbler systems and submersible pressure sensors, provide the needed accuracy but often require extensive construction to install and are prone to malfunctioning and damage from floating debris and sediment. No stilling wells or orifice lines need to be constructed for radar installations. During the last decade testing by the USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility(HIF) found that radar water-level sensors can provide the needed accuracy for water-level measurements and because the sensor can be easily attached to bridges, reduce the construction required for installation. Additionally, the non-contact sensing of water level minimizes or eliminates damage and fouling from floating debris and sediment. This article is a brief summary of the testing efforts by the USGS HIF and field experiences with models of radar water-level sensors in streamflow measurement applications. Any use of trade names in this article is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Effects of water level on three wetlands soil seed banks on the Tibetan Plateau.

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Miaojun Ma

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although the effect of water level on germination in soil seed banks has been documented in many ecosystems, the mechanism is not fully understood, and to date no empirical studies on this subject exist. Further, no work has been done on the effect of water level on seed banks of drying and saline-alkaline wetlands in alpine areas on the Tibetan Plateau. METHODOLOGY: We examined the effects of water level (0 cm, 5 cm and 10 cm on seed germination and seedling establishment from soil seed banks at 0-5 cm and 5-10 cm depths in typical, drying, and saline-alkaline wetlands. We also explore the potential role of soil seed bank in restoration of drying and saline-alkaline wetlands. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Species richness decreased with increase in water level, but there almost no change in seed density. A huge difference exists in species composition of the seed bank among different water levels in all three wetlands, especially between 0 cm and 5 cm and 0 cm and 10 cm. Similarity of species composition between seed bank and plant community was higher in 0 cm water level in drying wetland than in the other two wetlands. The similarity was much higher in 0 cm water level than in 5 cm and 10 cm water levels in all three wetlands. Species composition of the alpine wetland plant community changed significantly after drying and salinization, however, species composition of the seed bank was unchanged regardless of the environment change. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Water level greatly affects seed bank recruitment and plant community establishment. Further, different water levels in restored habitats are likely to determine its species composition of the plant community. The seed bank is important in restoration of degraded wetlands. Successful restoration of drying and salinization wetlands could depend on the seed bank.

Risk of vertebral fracture after menopause: detection of high risk subjects by dual photon absorptiometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coutris, G.; Talbot, J.N.; Kiffel, T.; Paus, L.; Milhaud, G.

1985-01-01

Dual photon absorptiometry of bone is used to detect in an exposed population those subjects who are high risk of fracture and also to follow up the evolution of these patients. 37 women who have suffered fractures have been compared to 41 women without fractures of similar age distribution. A highly significant correlation between body height and Bone Mineral Content (BMC) of the lumbar spine is found in the control group thus allowing the calculation of the expected BMC value for each patient. A crushing index is defined as the ratio of the observed BMC value to the expected one. Using this index, instead of the two more usual modes of BMC expression, leads to an improvement of the predictive estimation of fracture risk. The predictive value of such indices should still be improved. With this aim, further determinations of indices are desirable. The following requirements should be borne in mind: the physical data should be easily obtainable e.g. body height and weight and the meaning of the index based on these easily verifiable factors they should be easily understood [fr

A Model for Assessing the Level of Walkability in Urban Neighborhoods in Sri Lanka

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Gayani Ranasinghe

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The quality of the neighboring environment plays a major role in encouraging people to walk when attending their daily needs. Although past studies have identified a relationship between neighborhood design factors and the level of walkability, this interdependence is poorly understood in urban planning in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this study is to determine factors and conditions that influence walkability in a selected neighborhood in the town of Panadura and develop a model to predict what design factors enhance walkability in the neighborhood area. Ninety three (93 factors that affect the walkability in urban neighborhood were identified as the findings of the literature review of this study. Seventy six (76 walkability factors identified through perception surveys were examined within a 100m radius of 70 buffered circles representing 140 participants’ residences through a questionnaire survey and field observations. Chi-square and Bivariate correlation analysis were carried out to identify the most decisive factors for walkability. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was applied to develop a model to assess the level of walkability of residents in the selected area based on the most significant factors. The study has identified main nine variables that determine the level of walkability. Based on the significant values the model can be used to assess the level of walkability of the people in Sri Lankan context.

Managing for No Net Loss of Ecological Services: An Approach for Quantifying Loss of Coastal Wetlands due to Sea Level Rise.

Science.gov (United States)

Kassakian, Jennifer; Jones, Ann; Martinich, Jeremy; Hudgens, Daniel

2017-05-01

Sea level rise has the potential to substantially alter the extent and nature of coastal wetlands and the critical ecological services they provide. In making choices about how to respond to rising sea level, planners are challenged with weighing easily quantified risks (e.g., loss of property value due to inundation) against those that are more difficult to quantify (e.g., loss of primary production or carbon sequestration services provided by wetlands due to inundation). Our goal was to develop a cost-effective, appropriately-scaled, model-based approach that allows planners to predict, under various sea level rise and response scenarios, the economic cost of wetland loss-with the estimates proxied by the costs of future restoration required to maintain the existing level of wetland habitat services. Our approach applies the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model to predict changes in wetland habitats over the next century, and then applies Habitat Equivalency Analysis to predict the cost of restoration projects required to maintain ecological services at their present, pre-sea level rise level. We demonstrate the application of this approach in the Delaware Bay estuary and in the Indian River Lagoon (Florida), and discuss how this approach can support future coastal decision-making.

Embedded and Direct Metacognitive Strategy Instruction and its Effects on the Metacognitive Awareness of Tertiary Level Malaysian ESL Listeners

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Siew Ean Lye

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This small-scale quasi-experimental study compared the effects of metacognitive strategy instruction using two pedagogical approaches on the metacognitive awareness of Malaysian ESL listeners. Embedded and direct strategy instruction was delivered using the Metacognitive Pedagogical Sequence and Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach instructional models respectively. 45 tertiary level students were randomly selected and assigned to two treatment groups to receive metacognitive instruction over a training period of five weeks. Paired-samples t-test results on participants‟ metacognitive awareness, as measured using the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ were inclusive despite significant improvements in their IELTS listening scores. No significant development was recorded in the overall MALQ scores but there were significant changes in three out of the five metacognitive awareness factors. Results further layered according to participants‟ listening proficiency levels (low, intermediate and high to examine if differences existed among the listening levels similarly showed no significant difference. These results suggest that ESL listeners‟ metacognitive awareness may not be easily developed with strategy instruction, regardless of the instructional approaches.

Species-specific control of external superoxide levels by the coral holobiont during a natural bleaching event

Science.gov (United States)

Diaz, Julia M.; Hansel, Colleen M.; Apprill, Amy; Brighi, Caterina; Zhang, Tong; Weber, Laura; McNally, Sean; Xun, Liping

2016-12-01

The reactive oxygen species superoxide (O2.-) is both beneficial and detrimental to life. Within corals, superoxide may contribute to pathogen resistance but also bleaching, the loss of essential algal symbionts. Yet, the role of superoxide in coral health and physiology is not completely understood owing to a lack of direct in situ observations. By conducting field measurements of superoxide produced by corals during a bleaching event, we show substantial species-specific variation in external superoxide levels, which reflect the balance of production and degradation processes. Extracellular superoxide concentrations are independent of light, algal symbiont abundance and bleaching status, but depend on coral species and bacterial community composition. Furthermore, coral-derived superoxide concentrations ranged from levels below bulk seawater up to ~120 nM, some of the highest superoxide concentrations observed in marine systems. Overall, these results unveil the ability of corals and/or their microbiomes to regulate superoxide in their immediate surroundings, which suggests species-specific roles of superoxide in coral health and physiology.

Consideration of vertical uncertainty in elevation-based sea-level rise assessments: Mobile Bay, Alabama case study

Science.gov (United States)

Gesch, Dean B.

2013-01-01

The accuracy with which coastal topography has been mapped directly affects the reliability and usefulness of elevationbased sea-level rise vulnerability assessments. Recent research has shown that the qualities of the elevation data must be well understood to properly model potential impacts. The cumulative vertical uncertainty has contributions from elevation data error, water level data uncertainties, and vertical datum and transformation uncertainties. The concepts of minimum sealevel rise increment and minimum planning timeline, important parameters for an elevation-based sea-level rise assessment, are used in recognition of the inherent vertical uncertainty of the underlying data. These concepts were applied to conduct a sea-level rise vulnerability assessment of the Mobile Bay, Alabama, region based on high-quality lidar-derived elevation data. The results that detail the area and associated resources (land cover, population, and infrastructure) vulnerable to a 1.18-m sea-level rise by the year 2100 are reported as a range of values (at the 95% confidence level) to account for the vertical uncertainty in the base data. Examination of the tabulated statistics about land cover, population, and infrastructure in the minimum and maximum vulnerable areas shows that these resources are not uniformly distributed throughout the overall vulnerable zone. The methods demonstrated in the Mobile Bay analysis provide an example of how to consider and properly account for vertical uncertainty in elevation-based sea-level rise vulnerability assessments, and the advantages of doing so.

Evolutionary tuning of protein expression levels of a positively autoregulated two-component system.

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Rong Gao

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Cellular adaptation relies on the development of proper regulatory schemes for accurate control of gene expression levels in response to environmental cues. Over- or under-expression can lead to diminished cell fitness due to increased costs or insufficient benefits. Positive autoregulation is a common regulatory scheme that controls protein expression levels and gives rise to essential features in diverse signaling systems, yet its roles in cell fitness are less understood. It remains largely unknown how much protein expression is 'appropriate' for optimal cell fitness under specific extracellular conditions and how the dynamic environment shapes the regulatory scheme to reach appropriate expression levels. Here, we investigate the correlation of cell fitness and output response with protein expression levels of the E. coli PhoB/PhoR two-component system (TCS. In response to phosphate (Pi-depletion, the PhoB/PhoR system activates genes involved in phosphorus assimilation as well as genes encoding themselves, similarly to many other positively autoregulated TCSs. We developed a bacteria competition assay in continuous cultures and discovered that different Pi conditions have conflicting requirements of protein expression levels for optimal cell fitness. Pi-replete conditions favored cells with low levels of PhoB/PhoR while Pi-deplete conditions selected for cells with high levels of PhoB/PhoR. These two levels matched PhoB/PhoR concentrations achieved via positive autoregulation in wild-type cells under Pi-replete and -deplete conditions, respectively. The fitness optimum correlates with the wild-type expression level, above which the phosphorylation output saturates, thus further increase in expression presumably provides no additional benefits. Laboratory evolution experiments further indicate that cells with non-ideal protein levels can evolve toward the optimal levels with diverse mutational strategies. Our results suggest that the natural

GPU accelerated edge-region based level set evolution constrained by 2D gray-scale histogram.

Science.gov (United States)

Balla-Arabé, Souleymane; Gao, Xinbo; Wang, Bin

2013-07-01

Due to its intrinsic nature which allows to easily handle complex shapes and topological changes, the level set method (LSM) has been widely used in image segmentation. Nevertheless, LSM is computationally expensive, which limits its applications in real-time systems. For this purpose, we propose a new level set algorithm, which uses simultaneously edge, region, and 2D histogram information in order to efficiently segment objects of interest in a given scene. The computational complexity of the proposed LSM is greatly reduced by using the highly parallelizable lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) with a body force to solve the level set equation (LSE). The body force is the link with image data and is defined from the proposed LSE. The proposed LSM is then implemented using an NVIDIA graphics processing units to fully take advantage of the LBM local nature. The new algorithm is effective, robust against noise, independent to the initial contour, fast, and highly parallelizable. The edge and region information enable to detect objects with and without edges, and the 2D histogram information enable the effectiveness of the method in a noisy environment. Experimental results on synthetic and real images demonstrate subjectively and objectively the performance of the proposed method.

The defense waste processing facility: the final processing step for defense high-level waste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cowan, S.P.; Sprecher, W.M.; Walton, R.D.

1983-01-01

The policy of the U.S. Department of Energy is to pursue an aggressive and credible waste management program that advocates final disposal of government generated (defense) high-level nuclear wastes in a manner consistent with environmental, health, and safety responsibilities and requirements. The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) is an essential component of the Department's program. It is the first project undertaken in the United States to immobilize government generated high-level nuclear wastes for geologic disposal. The DWPF will be built at the Department's Savannah River Plant near Aiken, South Carolina. When construction is complete in 1989, the DWPF will begin processing the high-level waste at the Savannah River Plant into a borosilicate glass form, a highly insoluble and non-dispersable product, in easily handled canisters. The immobilized waste will be stored on site followed by transportation to and disposal in a Federal repository. The focus of this paper is on the DWPF. The paper discusses issues which justify the project, summarizes its technical attributes, analyzes relevant environmental and insitutional factors, describes the management approach followed in transforming technical and other concepts into concrete and steel, and concludes with observations about the future role of the facility

Exactly solvable model of transitional nuclei based on dual algebraic structure for the three level pairing model in the framework of sdg interacting boson model

Science.gov (United States)

Jafarizadeh, M. A.; Ranjbar, Z.; Fouladi, N.; Ghapanvari, M.

2018-01-01

In this paper, a successful algebraic method based on the dual algebraic structure for three level pairing model in the framework of sdg IBM is proposed for transitional nuclei which show transitional behavior from spherical to gamma-unstable quantum shape phase transition. In this method complicated sdg Hamiltonian, which is a three level pairing Hamiltonian is determined easily via the exactly solvable method. This description provides a better interpretation of some observables such as BE (4) in nuclei which exhibits the necessity of inclusion of g boson in the sd IBM, while BE (4) cannot be explained in the sd boson model. Some observables such as Energy levels, BE (2), BE (4), the two neutron separation energies signature splitting of the γ-vibrational band and expectation values of the g-boson number operator are calculated and examined for 46 104 - 110Pd isotopes.

Low-level software for the pentek 6510 digital receiver board applied to the new AD beam measurement system

CERN Document Server

Angoletta, Maria Elena

2002-01-01

The new beam measurement system for the CERN Antiproton Decelerator heavily relies on a Pentek 6510 Digital Receiver (DRX) board. The new system goal is to extract beam parameters from pickup signals. Its digital implementation allows for higher precision, easier management of the hardware as well as modification and improvement with no hardware change. In this scheme, this innovative VME DRX board is responsible for parallel data acquisition, independent digital down conversion and processing of up to 4 digitised inputs. The in-house- developed low-level code (LLC), running on the board, takes care of several tasks, such as interfacing with the Real Time Task (RTT), data processing and board managing. The RTT runs on a PowerPC VME board and controls the DRX board as a master. The LLC is a state machine developed in C and Assembler, which services several interrupts and performs the FFT of complex input data. The DRX low-level system developed is highly modular and easily adaptable to other processing scenari...

The environmental radiation monitoring system and in-situ measurements for early notification and OIL (Operational Intervention Levels) calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haquin, G.; Ne`eman, E.; Brenner, S.; Lavi, N. [Tel Aviv Univ. (Israel). Sackler School of Medicine. Inst. for Environmental Research

1997-12-31

The efficiency of the environmental radiation monitoring, low level laboratory and in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry are evaluated as the systems for early notification and for determination of dose rate in air, surface contamination and activity concentration in food during emergencies for Operational Intervention Levels (OIL) recalculation.The National Environmental Radiation Monitoring System has proved its efficiency in the early detection of unregistered radiography work. A mobile station of the network can be used for absorbed dose rate measurement during emergencies in contaminated areas. The calibrated in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry system in an open phosphate ore mine has showed the efficiency of this technique for fast and accurate determination of soil activity concentration. The calibration for an uniform depth distribution can be easily mathematically converted to an exponential depth distribution in cases of radioactive material fallout 7 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.; e-mail: envirad at post.tau.ac.il; env{sub r}ad at netvision,net.il

Subordinate-level object classification reexamined.

Science.gov (United States)

Biederman, I; Subramaniam, S; Bar, M; Kalocsai, P; Fiser, J

1999-01-01

The classification of a table as round rather than square, a car as a Mazda rather than a Ford, a drill bit as 3/8-inch rather than 1/4-inch, and a face as Tom have all been regarded as a single process termed "subordinate classification." Despite the common label, the considerable heterogeneity of the perceptual processing required to achieve such classifications requires, minimally, a more detailed taxonomy. Perceptual information relevant to subordinate-level shape classifications can be presumed to vary on continua of (a) the type of distinctive information that is present, nonaccidental or metric, (b) the size of the relevant contours or surfaces, and (c) the similarity of the to-be-discriminated features, such as whether a straight contour has to be distinguished from a contour of low curvature versus high curvature. We consider three, relatively pure cases. Case 1 subordinates may be distinguished by a representation, a geon structural description (GSD), specifying a nonaccidental characterization of an object's large parts and the relations among these parts, such as a round table versus a square table. Case 2 subordinates are also distinguished by GSDs, except that the distinctive GSDs are present at a small scale in a complex object so the location and mapping of the GSDs are contingent on an initial basic-level classification, such as when we use a logo to distinguish various makes of cars. Expertise for Cases 1 and 2 can be easily achieved through specification, often verbal, of the GSDs. Case 3 subordinates, which have furnished much of the grist for theorizing with "view-based" template models, require fine metric discriminations. Cases 1 and 2 account for the overwhelming majority of shape-based basic- and subordinate-level object classifications that people can and do make in their everyday lives. These classifications are typically made quickly, accurately, and with only modest costs of viewpoint changes. Whereas the activation of an array of

Drivers for the Value of Demand Response under Increased Levels of Wind and Solar Power; NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hale, Elaine

2015-07-30

Demand response may be a valuable flexible resource for low-carbon electric power grids. However, there are as many types of possible demand response as there are ways to use electricity, making demand response difficult to study at scale in realistic settings. This talk reviews our state of knowledge regarding the potential value of demand response in several example systems as a function of increasing levels of wind and solar power, sometimes drawing on the analogy between demand response and storage. Overall, we find demand response to be promising, but its potential value is very system dependent. Furthermore, demand response, like storage, can easily saturate ancillary service markets.

The role of high-level processes for oscillatory phase entrainment to speech sound

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benedikt eZoefel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Constantly bombarded with input, the brain has the need to filter out relevant information while ignoring the irrelevant rest. A powerful tool may be represented by neural oscillations which entrain their high-excitability phase to important input while their low-excitability phase attenuates irrelevant information. Indeed, the alignment between brain oscillations and speech improves intelligibility and helps dissociating speakers during a cocktail party. Although well-investigated, the contribution of low- and high-level processes to phase entrainment to speech sound has only recently begun to be understood. Here, we review those findings, and concentrate on three main results: (1 Phase entrainment to speech sound is modulated by attention or predictions, likely supported by top-down signals and indicating higher-level processes involved in the brain’s adjustment to speech. (2 As phase entrainment to speech can be observed without systematic fluctuations in sound amplitude or spectral content, it does not only reflect a passive steady-state ringing of the cochlea, but entails a higher-level process. (3 The role of intelligibility for phase entrainment is debated. Recent results suggest that intelligibility modulates the behavioral consequences of entrainment, rather than directly affecting the strength of entrainment in auditory regions. We conclude that phase entrainment to speech reflects a sophisticated mechanism: Several high-level processes interact to optimally align neural oscillations with predicted events of high relevance, even when they are hidden in a continuous stream of background noise.

Fundamental Fields of: Post-Schumpeterian Evolutionary Economics

OpenAIRE

Esben Sloth Andersen

2008-01-01

Although the branch of economics that deals with economic evolution has become established during the last couple of decades, its aims and potentials can most easily be understood on the background of the work of early pioneers. Joseph A. Schumpeter’s contribution not only analysed capitalist economic evolution as a process of the innovative renewal of business routines. He also explored the idea that the development of economics requires coordinated efforts within the “fundamental fields” of...

Formulating an Integrated Intervention Programme: Reshaping the Brain-Behaviour Functioning of Children in Conflict with Law in India

OpenAIRE

Priyanka Podder

2016-01-01

Juvenile delinquency is a serious social concern, characterized by disturbance in executive functions, cognitive emotion regulation and aggression. The term 'children in conflict with the law' refers to any individual below the age of 16 years, who has come in contact with the justice system as a result of committing an illegal activity or being suspected of committing an illegal activity. It can be easily understood that the Children in Conflict with Law require rehabilitative measur...

Products of multiple Fourier series with application to the multiblade transformation

Science.gov (United States)

Kunz, D. L.

1981-01-01

A relatively simple and systematic method for forming the products of multiple Fourier series using tensor like operations is demonstrated. This symbolic multiplication can be performed for any arbitrary number of series, and the coefficients of a set of linear differential equations with periodic coefficients from a rotating coordinate system to a nonrotating system is also demonstrated. It is shown that using Fourier operations to perform this transformation make it easily understood, simple to apply, and generally applicable.

Estimating the Heading Direction Using Normal Flow

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

understood (Faugeras and Maybank 1990), 3 Kinetic Stabilization under the assumption that optic flow or correspon- dence is known with some uncertainty...accelerometers can achieve very It can easily be shown (Koenderink and van Doom high accuracy, the same is not true for inexpensive 1975; Maybank 1985... Maybank . ’Motion from point matches: Multi- just don’t compute normal flow there (see Section 6). plicity of solutions". Int’l J. Computer Vision 4

Software Development Projects: Estimation of Cost and Effort (A Manager’s Digest).

Science.gov (United States)

1982-12-01

greater quality than that to support standard business applications. Remus defines quality as "...the number of program defects normalized by size over...or intelIgible ena bl rs the programmer to more easily unaers,aad the Objec- tive of a task assigned. A bettear understood assignment 1il ead to a...n _-. research, s;-a:_stcs, comDuter science, infrma-io.- zcience or business functions. 2. iAembers should have the ability to relate to pecole

Liquid-phase problems in steam turbine LP stages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanc-Feraud, P.

1978-01-01

Wet steam formation owing to incipient condensation in final steam turbine pressure stages results in a loss of efficiency and possible rotor blading erosion. The effects of erosion are now clearly understood and quite easily counteracted, but loss of thermodynamics, mechanical and aerodynamic efficiency is still a problem. Only the final LP stages of conventional power station plant operate with wet steam, whereas nuclear plant turbines use it to produce most of their total output [fr

Functional representations of integrable hierarchies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dimakis, Aristophanes; Mueller-Hoissen, Folkert

2006-01-01

We consider a general framework for integrable hierarchies in Lax form and derive certain universal equations from which 'functional representations' of particular hierarchies (such as KP, discrete KP, mKP, AKNS), i.e. formulations in terms of functional equations, are systematically and quite easily obtained. The formalism genuinely applies to hierarchies where the dependent variables live in a noncommutative (typically matrix) algebra. The obtained functional representations can be understood as 'noncommutative' analogues of 'Fay identities' for the KP hierarchy

easily practicable packages for weed management in maize abstract

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Prof. Adipala Ekwamu

response of maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars to integrate such control practices. Field experiments were ... et moins stratégies de gestion des mauvaises herbes sur les coûts de gestion du maïs. .... number, vertical leaf angle and leaf area density.

Electrodeless discharge lamp is easily started, has high stability

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, W. E.; Bloom, A. L.

1966-01-01

Electrodeless discharge borosilicate glass lamp is used in various high-resolution optical systems. It is partially charged with krypton, contains small amounts of rubidium, and is enclosed in a hermetically sealed envelope that maintains the lamp at an optimum temperature during discharge. The lamp is quickly started by its excitation coil.

Tensile testing grips are easily assembled under liquid nitrogen

Science.gov (United States)

Skalka, R. J.; Vandergrift, E. F.

1967-01-01

Split-screw grips for tensile testing provide uniform loading on the specimen shoulders. Holes in the heads enable the screws and specimen to be threaded as an assembly into a grip body, closely controlled guides and seats afford positive seating, and precision machining of mating surfaces minimizes misalignment effects.

Methodological individualism in experimental games: not so easily dismissed.

Science.gov (United States)

Krueger, Joachim I

2008-06-01

Orthodox game theory and social preference models cannot explain why people cooperate in many experimental games or how they manage to coordinate their choices. The theory of evidential decision making provides a solution, based on the idea that people tend to project their own choices onto others, whatever these choices might be. Evidential decision making preserves methodological individualism, and it works without recourse to social preferences. Rejecting methodological individualism, team reasoning is a thinly disguised resurgence of the group mind fallacy, and the experiments reported by Colman et al. [Colman, A. M., Pulford, B. D., & Rose, J. (this issue). Collective rationality in interactive decisions: Evidence for team reasoning. Acta Psychologica, doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2007.08.003.] do not offer evidence that uniquely supports team reasoning.

Gingival Recession in a Child‑Patient; Easily Missed Etiologies ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

with age-appropriate complement of teeth except for a missing tooth 42. ... frenal attachment is more important in gingival recession in the child‑patient. A healthy child‑ ... spared rules out a possible role of brushing-induced gingival abrasion.

High plasma levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 are associated with cerebral malaria.

Science.gov (United States)

Adukpo, Selorme; Kusi, Kwadwo A; Ofori, Michael F; Tetteh, John K A; Amoako-Sakyi, Daniel; Goka, Bamenla Q; Adjei, George O; Edoh, Dominic A; Akanmori, Bartholomew D; Gyan, Ben A; Dodoo, Daniel

2013-01-01

Cerebral malaria (CM) is responsible for most of the malaria-related deaths in children in sub-Saharan Africa. Although, not well understood, the pathogenesis of CM involves parasite and host factors which contribute to parasite sequestration through cytoadherence to the vascular endothelium. Cytoadherence to brain microvasculature is believed to involve host endothelial receptor, CD54 or intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, while other receptors such as CD36 are generally involved in cytoadherence of parasites in other organs. We therefore investigated the contributions of host ICAM-1 expression and levels of antibodies against ICAM-1 binding variant surface antigen (VSA) on parasites to the development of CM. Paediatric malaria patients, 0.5 to 13 years were recruited and grouped into CM and uncomplicated malaria (UM) patients, based on well defined criteria. Standardized ELISA protocol was used to measure soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) levels from acute plasma samples. Levels of IgG to CD36- or ICAM-1-binding VSA were measured by flow cytometry during acute and convalescent states. Wilcoxon sign rank-test analysis to compare groups revealed association between sICAM-1 levels and CM (p0.05). Median levels of antibodies to CD36-binding VSAs were also comparable between acute and convalescent samples within any patient group. Median levels of antibodies to ICAM-1-binding VSAs were however significantly lower at admission time than during recovery in both groups. High levels of sICAM-1 were associated with CM, and the sICAM-1 levels may reflect expression levels of the membrane bound form. Anti-VSA antibody levels to ICAM-binding parasites was more strongly associated with both UM and CM than antibodies to CD36 binding parasites. Thus, increasing host sICAM-1 levels were associated with CM whilst antibodies to parasite expressing non-ICAM-1-binding VSAs were not.

Manganese toxicity in pasture legumes. II. Effects of pH and molybdenum levels in the substrate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Truong, N V; Andrew, C S; Wilson, G L

1971-06-01

The effects of pH and Mo levels in the growing media on Mn toxicity were investigated for white clover and five tropical pasture legume species. In solution culture, high Mo supply did not influence Mn toxicity. However, in two species, it caused Mo toxicity. High solution pH intensified Mn toxicity in white clover, probably by way of uptake. The effects of Ca and P on Mn toxicity reported in a previous paper, were not greatly influenced by solution pH. In the soil, Mo application greatly increased dry matter yield of white clover grown on soils high in exchangeable Mn. This effect was more easily attributed to an influence on N metabolism of the legume plant than on Mn toxicity. Measured soil pH was found to have little influence on the level of exchangeable Mn in the soil. However the larger pH changes in small soil pockets, resulting from non-uniform incorporation of chemicals in the soil, might have a more important effect on this fraction of soil Mn. 31 references, 7 tables.

[Task delegation scenarios at national and regional levels of the French ambulatory care sector].

Science.gov (United States)

Lévy, Danièle; Pavot, Jeanne; Doan, Bui Dang Ha

2009-01-01

The French sector of ambulatory care is characterized by two features: (i) health care providers are mostly independent practitioners paid on a fee-for-service basis; (ii) a large consensus is observed as concerns the shortage of health workers, particularly physicians and nurses. In such a context, if a task delegation programme is envisaged, attention should be paid, not only to the competencies of task receivers, but equally to the reluctance of health workforce. Given the current doctor shortage, it is probable that the reluctance of physicians is not vigorous. But on the side of task receivers (nurses, physiotherapists, other auxiliary workers...) reluctance should be taken into account. Shortage of nurses and physiotherapists (and consequently their growing workload) lowers their acceptance level (i.e., the proportion accepting task delegation) and reduces the time each accepting worker can devote to the activities delegated by physicians. The model shows that, in the current situation, French physicians can only expect a small reduction of their workload i they undertake to transfer to nurses some parts of their activities. When physician working time is not excessively lengthy, the overall reduction would be between 0.7% and 3.1%. When doctors have to work harder (when their shortage is acute), paradoxically, the reduction is lower, between 0.5% and 2.3%. The fact is easily understood as the stock of task receivers (the nurses) remains unchanged, but the volume of worked hours becomes larger. Other things being equal, the model shows that French southern physicians may take more profit from a task delegation programme than their counterparts practising in the northern areas of the country. As in the southern areas, the nurse/physician ratio is higher, the potential task receivers are in higher numbers and the volume of the tasks transferred may be much broader than in the northern areas. The paradox is that the workload of northern physicians is heavier

Myoglobin plasma level related to muscle mass and fiber composition: a clinical marker of muscle wasting?

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, Marc-André; Kinscherf, Ralf; Krakowski-Roosen, Holger; Aulmann, Michael; Renk, Hanna; Künkele, Annette; Edler, Lutz; Kauczor, Hans-Ulrich; Hildebrandt, Wulf

2007-08-01

Progressive muscle wasting is a central feature of cancer-related cachexia and has been recognized as a determinant of poor prognosis and quality of life. However, until now, no easily assessable clinical marker exists that allows to predict or to track muscle wasting. The present study evaluated the potential of myoglobin (MG) plasma levels to indicate wasting of large locomotor muscles and, moreover, to reflect the loss of MG-rich fiber types, which are most relevant for daily performance. In 17 cancer-cachectic patients (weight loss 22%) and 27 age- and gender-matched healthy controls, we determined plasma levels of MG and creatine kinase (CK), maximal quadriceps muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) by magnetic resonance imaging, muscle morphology and fiber composition in biopsies from the vastus lateralis muscle, body cell mass (BCM) by impedance technique as well as maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2)max). In cachectic patients, plasma MG, muscle CSA, BCM, and VO(2)max were 30-35% below control levels. MG showed a significant positive correlation to total muscle CSA (r = 0.65, p max as an important functional readout. CK plasma levels appear to be less reliable because prolonged increases are observed in even subclinical myopathies or after exercise. Notably, cancer-related muscle wasting was not associated with increases in plasma MG or CK in this study.

An evaluation of G-protein coupled membrane estrogen receptor-1 level in stuttering.

Science.gov (United States)

Bilal, Nagihan; Kurutas, Ergül Belge; Orhan, Israfil

2018-02-01

Stuttering is a widespread but little understood disease. There has been a recent increase in neuropathophysiological, genetic, and biochemical studies related to the etiopathogenesis. As developmental stuttering continues in adult males, hormonal factors are thought to have an effect. In this study, an evaluation was made for the first time of serum GPER-1 level in patients with a stutter. Prospective case control. The study included 30 patients with a stutter, aged < 18 years, and 35 age-matched children as the control group. The Stuttering Severity Instrument-3 form was administered to the patients. Evaluations were made of serum GPER-1, TSH, estradiol, prolactin, and progesterone and testosterone levels. GPER-1 level was determined as 0.51 (0.42-0.67) ng/mL in the patients and as 0.19 (0.13-0.25) ng/mL in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001). A statistically significant difference was determined between genders with GPER-1 level of 0.56 (0.44-0.68) ng/mL in the male stuttering patient group and 0.44 (0.35-0.49) ng/mL in the female patient group (p = 0.026). Differential diagnosis with ROC analysis for the serum GPER-1 levels was statistically significant [Area under the ROC curve (AUC): 0.998, confidence interval, CI 0.992-1.000, p < 0.001]. The GPER-1 levels of the stuttering patients were found to be higher than those of the control group and GPER-1 levels of male patients were higher than those of females. As GPER-1 has high sensitivity and sensitivity, it could be considered important in the diagnosis and treatment of stuttering.

Enhancing Bone Accretion Using Short-Duration, Low-Level Mechanical Vibrations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Judex, tefan

2004-01-01

The etiology of the stress fractyre syndrome is incompetely understood but it is clear that skeletons with high peak bone quantity and quality will be better pretected against incurring this crippling condition...

Storage Time and Urine Biomarker Levels in the ASSESS-AKI Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen D Liu

Full Text Available Although stored urine samples are often used in biomarker studies focused on acute and chronic kidney disease, how storage time impacts biomarker levels is not well understood.866 subjects enrolled in the NIDDK-sponsored ASsessment, Serial Evaluation, and Subsequent Sequelae in Acute Kidney Injury (ASSESS-AKI Study were included. Samples were processed under standard conditions and stored at -70°C until analyzed. Kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL, interleukin-18 (IL-18, and liver fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP were measured in urine samples collected during the index hospitalization or an outpatient visit 3 months later. Mixed effects models were used to determine the effect of storage time on biomarker levels and stratified by visit.Median storage was 17.8 months (25-75% IQR 10.6-23.7 for samples from the index hospitalization and 14.6 months (IQR 7.3-20.4 for outpatient samples. In the mixed effects models, the only significant association between storage time and biomarker concentration was for KIM-1 in outpatient samples, where each month of storage was associated with a 1.7% decrease (95% CI -3% to -0.3%. There was no relationship between storage time and KIM-1 levels in samples from the index hospitalization.There was no significant impact of storage time over a median of 18 months on urine KIM-1, NGAL, IL-18 or L-FABP in hospitalized samples; a statistically significant effect towards a decrease over time was noted for KIM-1 in outpatient samples. Additional studies are needed to determine whether longer periods of storage at -70°C systematically impact levels of these analytes.

High-level fluorescence labeling of gram-positive pathogens.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Aymanns

Full Text Available Fluorescence labeling of bacterial pathogens has a broad range of interesting applications including the observation of living bacteria within host cells. We constructed a novel vector based on the E. coli streptococcal shuttle plasmid pAT28 that can propagate in numerous bacterial species from different genera. The plasmid harbors a promoterless copy of the green fluorescent variant gene egfp under the control of the CAMP-factor gene (cfb promoter of Streptococcus agalactiae and was designated pBSU101. Upon transfer of the plasmid into streptococci, the bacteria show a distinct and easily detectable fluorescence using a standard fluorescence microscope and quantification by FACS-analysis demonstrated values that were 10-50 times increased over the respective controls. To assess the suitability of the construct for high efficiency fluorescence labeling in different gram-positive pathogens, numerous species were transformed. We successfully labeled Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus anginosus and Staphylococcus aureus strains utilizing the EGFP reporter plasmid pBSU101. In all of these species the presence of the cfb promoter construct resulted in high-level EGFP expression that could be further increased by growing the streptococcal and enterococcal cultures under high oxygen conditions through continuous aeration.

The 3R-WL working level survey meter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schiager, K.J.

1977-01-01

The design and operation of a direct-reading sampler for airborne radon progeny are described. The instrument was designed for use by ventilation personnel in uranium mines and is small, rugged, light-weight and easily carried and operated. Direct readout of the radon progeny concentration in units of working levels, in the range 0.01 - 10 WL, is accomplished by counting the alpha particles from 218 Po and 214 Po with a single detector and two energy discrimination channels. Unique features include a fixed-volume, gravity-operated pump requiring no power source and minimal calibration; automatic delay, counting and display sequencing; capacity for more than 50 samples on a single roll of membrane filter; and provisions for recording all data directly on the filter tape. For the prototype as built, calibration against the 2-count alpha spectroscopy method of measuring WL indicated an average error of less than 1% in the range from 0.25 to 25 WL. However, the standard deviation of measurements made with the 3R-WL meter increased from 7% above 10 WL to 71% at 0.25 WL. Sources of error and variability are analyzed and suggestions for improving the precision of the measurements are included. (author)

Higher cortisol levels at diurnal trough predict greater attentional bias towards threat in healthy young adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Hakamata, Yuko; Izawa, Shuhei; Sato, Eisuke; Komi, Shotaro; Murayama, Norio; Moriguchi, Yoshiya; Hanakawa, Takashi; Inoue, Yusuke; Tagaya, Hirokuni

2013-11-01

Attentional bias (AB), selective information processing towards threat, can exacerbate anxiety and depression. Despite growing interest, physiological determinants of AB are yet to be understood. We examined whether stress hormone cortisol and its diurnal variation pattern contribute to AB. Eighty-seven healthy young adults underwent assessments for AB, anxious personality traits, depressive symptoms, and attentional function. Salivary cortisol was collected at three time points daily (at awakening, 30 min after awakening, and bedtime) for 2 consecutive days. We performed: (1) multiple regression analysis to examine the relationships between AB and the other measures and (2) analysis of variance (ANOVA) between groups with different cortisol variation patterns for the other measures. Multiple regression analysis revealed that higher cortisol levels at bedtime (pattention and cortisol measurement at three time points daily. We showed that higher cortisol levels at bedtime and blunted cortisol variation are associated with greater AB. Individuals who have higher cortisol levels at diurnal trough might be at risk of clinical anxiety or depression but could also derive more benefits from the attentional-bias-modification program. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling the Population-Level Processes of Biodiversity Gain and Loss at Geological Timescales.

Science.gov (United States)

Fortelius, Mikael; Geritz, Stefan; Gyllenberg, Mats; Raia, Pasquale; Toivonen, Jaakko

2015-12-01

The path of species diversification is commonly observed by inspecting the fossil record. Yet, how species diversity changes at geological timescales relate to lower-level processes remains poorly understood. Here we use mathematical models of spatially structured populations to show that natural selection and gradual environmental change give rise to discontinuous phenotype changes that can be connected to speciation and extinction at the macroevolutionary level. In our model, new phenotypes arise in the middle of the environmental gradient, while newly appearing environments are filled by existing phenotypes shifting their adaptive optima. Slow environmental change leads to loss of phenotypes in the middle of the extant environmental range, whereas fast change causes extinction at one extreme of the environmental range. We compared our model predictions against a well-known yet partially unexplained pattern of intense hoofed mammal diversification associated with grassland expansion during the Late Miocene. We additionally used the model outcomes to cast new insight into Cope's law of the unspecialized. Our general finding is that the rate of environmental change determines where generation and loss of diversity occur in the phenotypic and physical spaces.

Nuclear public acceptance and 'imaginary and reality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seki, Yoshinobu

2000-01-01

Recently, anti-nuclear movement is going down, and couple reactor construction has been seemed to be accepted. Even Uranium production will be coming down, Plutonium, fast reactor and nuclear fusion reactor will coming in future. An unfortunate reactivity accident in a nuclear fuel factory in Tokai village has occurred by lack of the very essential nuclear technology which is not believable. This comes the reality has been included in an imaginary region in the brain. So picking up the reality from the imaginary region in brain is due to knowing the separation of the reality from the imaginary region by knowledge on the very essential nuclear technology. A man knowing the very essential nuclear technology can avoid this kind of accident. For the most people does not like to meet with the problems of atomic bomb and hi-radiation level waste. There two problems will be understood by knowing the reality point the imaginary area. It is easily understandable, if it is the essential nuclear technology. (author)

Developing micro-level urban ecosystem indicators for sustainability assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dizdaroglu, Didem, E-mail: dizdaroglu@bilkent.edu.tr

2015-09-15

Sustainability assessment is increasingly being viewed as an important tool to aid in the shift towards sustainable urban ecosystems. An urban ecosystem is a dynamic system and requires regular monitoring and assessment through a set of relevant indicators. An indicator is a parameter which provides information about the state of the environment by producing a quantitative value. Indicator-based sustainability assessment needs to be considered on all spatial scales to provide efficient information of urban ecosystem sustainability. The detailed data is necessary to assess environmental change in urban ecosystems at local scale and easily transfer this information to the national and global scales. This paper proposes a set of key micro-level urban ecosystem indicators for monitoring the sustainability of residential developments. The proposed indicator framework measures the sustainability performance of urban ecosystem in 3 main categories including: natural environment, built environment, and socio-economic environment which are made up of 9 sub-categories, consisting of 23 indicators. This paper also describes theoretical foundations for the selection of each indicator with reference to the literature [Turkish] Highlights: • As the impacts of environmental problems have multi-scale characteristics, sustainability assessment needs to be considered on all scales. • The detailed data is necessary to assess local environmental change in urban ecosystems to provide insights into the national and global scales. • This paper proposes a set of key micro-level urban ecosystem indicators for monitoring the sustainability of residential developments. • This paper also describes theoretical foundations for the selection of each indicator with reference to the literature.

Interleukin-6 Levels in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zheng Peng

Full Text Available The change of serum interleukin-6(IL-6 levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS, as well as the relations between IL-6 levels and body mass index (BMI, insulin resistance(IR and androgen status of PCOS patients, are not fully understood.A literature search was performed in October 2015 using PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library databases to identify studies. Random-effects model was used to estimate the standardized mean differences (SMDs with 95% confidence intervals (CIs.Twenty articles with 25 case-control studies included 1618 women (922 PCOS patients and 696 controls were included in this study. IL-6 levels in controls were significantly lower than that of PCOS patients (SMD = 0.78, 95%CI = 0.41-1.16, P<0.001, with significant heterogeneity across studies (I2 = 91% and P<0.001. Meta-regression analysis model indicated IR status was the main source of heterogeneity (P = 0.005. Results from group analysis suggested that high IL-6 levels in PCOS were significantly associated with Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA2-IR ratio and total testosterone ratio (T ratio, and was found in both lean and obese women with PCOS. Cumulative meta-analysis results indicated the total effect size (SMD had tend to be stable since 2012(0.79 to 0.92.A high IL-6 level is not an intrinsic characteristic of PCOS, but may be a useful monitoring biomarker for the treatment of PCOS.

The virtual lover: variable and easily guided 3D fish animations as an innovative tool in mate-choice experiments with sailfin mollies-I. Design and implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, Klaus; Smielik, Ievgen; Hütwohl, Jan-Marco; Gierszewski, Stefanie; Witte, Klaudia; Kuhnert, Klaus-Dieter

2017-02-01

Animal behavior researchers often face problems regarding standardization and reproducibility of their experiments. This has led to the partial substitution of live animals with artificial virtual stimuli. In addition to standardization and reproducibility, virtual stimuli open new options for researchers since they are easily changeable in morphology and appearance, and their behavior can be defined. In this article, a novel toolchain to conduct behavior experiments with fish is presented by a case study in sailfin mollies Poecilia latipinna . As the toolchain holds many different and novel features, it offers new possibilities for studies in behavioral animal research and promotes the standardization of experiments. The presented method includes options to design, animate, and present virtual stimuli to live fish. The designing tool offers an easy and user-friendly way to define size, coloration, and morphology of stimuli and moreover it is able to configure virtual stimuli randomly without any user influence. Furthermore, the toolchain brings a novel method to animate stimuli in a semiautomatic way with the help of a game controller. These created swimming paths can be applied to different stimuli in real time. A presentation tool combines models and swimming paths regarding formerly defined playlists, and presents the stimuli onto 2 screens. Experiments with live sailfin mollies validated the usage of the created virtual 3D fish models in mate-choice experiments.

[EIA-IgG antibody measles prevention level estimated from measles neutralizing, particle agglutination and hemagglutination-inhibition antibody titer].

Science.gov (United States)

Takayama, Naohide; Saika, Shizuko; Ichinohe, Sadato

2009-09-01

Measles hemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody titer, widely used in clinical practice to simply and easily determine the measles immunity level has, in recent years, been increasingly replaced by measles IgG-antibody titer determined by enzyme-immunoassay (EIA). HI antibody titer appears to reflect this protective level, because HI measures the antibody against H protein required for the measles virus to adhere to host cells. EIA-IgG antibody titer does not correlate with the protective level, similar to particle agglutination (PA) titer, because EIA measures different antibodies, including those unrelated to measles protection. After determining HI, PA, neutralizing test (NT) results, and EIA-IgG antibody titer for individual specimens, we compared EIA-IgG antibody titer obtained using an EIA-Kit (Denka Seiken) to HI, PA, and NT titer with the following results: (1) Subjects with EIA-IgG titer of > or = 12.0 may be protected against measles: (2) Subjects with EIA-IgG titer of 4.0 to 8.0 appear to be protected insufficiently requiring a booster dose against measles: (3) Subjects with EIA-IgG titer of 8.0 to 12.0 may benefit from booster vaccination.

Does high intensity exercise affects irisin plasma levels in hemodialysis patients? A pilot study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Gormicho Boavida Marques Esgalhado

2018-04-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Background: Irisin is a recently identified exercise-induced hormone that stimulates the "browning" of the white adipose tissue, at least in mice. In chronic kidney disease (CKD patients, irisin regulation is not fully understood, and little attention has been given to the effects of exercise on irisin levels in these patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of high intensity exercise on irisin plasma levels in CKD patients under hemodialysis (HD. Methods: Fifteen HD patients (5 men, 44.4 ± 15.1 years old were studied and served as their own controls. High intensity (single session intradialytic strength exercises consisted of three sets of ten repetitions with four different movements in both lower limbs during 30 minutes. Blood samples were collected on different days (exercise and non-exercise day at exactly the same time (30 and 60 minutes after the start of dialysis session. Plasma irisin levels were measured by ELISA assay and anthropometric and biochemical parameters were evaluated. Results: Irisin plasma levels were significantly reduced in both exercise day (125.0 ± 18.5 to 117.4 ± 15.0 ng/mL, p=0.02 and non-exercise day (121.5 ± 13.7 to 115.4 ± 17.2 ng/mL, p=0.02 after 60 minutes of dialysis. Conclusion: These data suggest that intense intradialytic strength exercise was unable to increase the circulating concentration of irisin in HD patients. Moreover, our data show that after one hour of dialysis session, irisin plasma levels may be reduced.

Lifetime Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Proinflammatory Cytokine Levels Across the Perinatal Period.

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson Blackmore, Emma; Mittal, Mona; Cai, Xueya; Moynihan, Jan A; Matthieu, Monica M; O'Connor, Thomas G

2016-10-01

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health concern, affecting one-third of US women. Prior research suggests an association between exposure to IPV and poor maternal perinatal health, but the underlying biological correlates are not well understood. This study examined the relationship between exposure to IPV and proinflammatory cytokine levels, a candidate mechanism accounting for poor psychiatric and obstetric outcomes, across the perinatal period. Data were obtained from a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of 171 women receiving obstetrical care from a hospital-based practice serving a predominantly low-income minority population. Participants completed questionnaires on IPV exposure, psychiatric symptoms, and psychosocial and obstetric factors and provided blood samples at 18 and 32 weeks of gestation and 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum. Serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were assayed via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Thirty-five (20.5%) women reported lifetime exposure to IPV and 7 (4.1%) reported being physically hurt in the preceding 12 months (4 while pregnant). Lifetime exposure to IPV was associated with increased likelihood of experiencing perinatal depression and smoking during pregnancy. Women with a history of IPV had significantly higher levels of TNF-α at 18 weeks (z = -2.29, p < 0.05), but significantly smaller changes in levels of IL-6 (β = -0.36, p = 0.04) across time. Lifetime exposure to IPV was associated with a range of adverse mental health outcomes and may affect proinflammatory cytokine levels in pregnancy.

Wavelet denoising method; application to the flow rate estimation for water level control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Gee Young; Park, Jin Ho; Lee, Jung Han; Kim, Bong Soo; Seong, Poong Hyun

2003-01-01

The wavelet transform decomposes a signal into time- and frequency-domain signals and it is well known that a noise-corrupted signal could be reconstructed or estimated when a proper denoising method is involved in the wavelet transform. Among the wavelet denoising methods proposed up to now, the wavelets by Mallat and Zhong can reconstruct best the pure transient signal from a highly corrupted signal. But there has been no systematic way of discriminating the original signal from the noise in a dyadic wavelet transform. In this paper, a systematic method is proposed for noise discrimination, which could be implemented easily into a digital system. For demonstrating the potential role of the wavelet denoising method in the nuclear field, this method is applied to the steam or feedwater flow rate estimation of the secondary loop. And the configuration of the S/G water level control system is proposed for incorporating the wavelet denoising method in estimating the flow rate value at low operating powers

Chronic Hyperinsulinaemic Hypoglycaemia in Rats Is Accompanied by Increased Body Weight, Hyperleptinaemia, and Decreased Neuronal Glucose Transporter Levels in the Brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Vivi F H; Mølck, Anne-Marie; Chapman, Melissa; Alifrangis, Lene; Andersen, Lene; Lykkesfeldt, Jens; Bøgh, Ingrid B

2017-01-01

The brain is vulnerable to hypoglycaemia due to a continuous need of energy substrates to meet its high metabolic demands. Studies have shown that severe acute insulin-induced hypoglycaemia results in oxidative stress in the rat brain, when neuroglycopenia cannot be evaded despite increased levels of cerebral glucose transporters. Compensatory measures in the brain during chronic insulin-induced hypoglycaemia are less well understood. The present study investigated how the brain of nondiabetic rats copes with chronic insulin-induced hypoglycaemia for up to eight weeks. Brain level of different substrate transporters and redox homeostasis was evaluated. Hyperinsulinaemia for 8 weeks consistently lowered blood glucose levels by 30-50% (4-6 mM versus 7-9 mM in controls). The animals had increased food consumption, body weights, and hyperleptinaemia. During infusion, protein levels of the brain neuronal glucose transporter were decreased, whereas levels of lipid peroxidation products were unchanged. Discontinued infusion was followed by transient systemic hyperglycaemia and decreased food consumption and body weight. After 4 weeks, plasma levels of lipid peroxidation products were increased, possibly as a consequence of hyperglycaemia-induced oxidative stress. The present data suggests that chronic moderate hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia causes increased body weight and hyperleptinaemia. This is accompanied by decreased neuronal glucose transporter levels, which may be leptin-induced.

Formulation of topical bioadhesive gel of aceclofenac using 3-level factorial design.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Sanjay; Parhi, Rabinarayan; Garg, Anuj

2011-01-01

The objective of this work was to develop bioadhesive topical gel of Aceclofenac with the help of response-surface approach. Experiments were performed according to a 3-level factorial design to evaluate the effects of two independent variables [amount of Poloxamer 407 (PL-407 = X1) and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose K100 M (HPMC = X2)] on the bioadhesive character of gel, rheological property of gel (consistency index), and in-vitro drug release. The best model was selected to fit the data. Mathematical equation was generated by Design Expert® software for the model which assists in determining the effect of independent variables. Response surface plots were also generated by the software for analyzing effect of the independent variables on the response. Quadratic model was found to be the best for all the responses. Both independent variable (X1 and X2) were found to have synergistic effect on bioadhesion (Y1) but the effect of HPMC was more pronounced than PL-407. Consistency index was enhanced by increasing the level of both independent variables. An antagonistic effect of both independent variables was found on cumulative percentage release of drug in 2 (Y3) and 8 h (Y4). Both independent variables approximately equally contributed the antagonistic effect on Y3 whereas antagonistic effect of HPMC was more pronounced than PL-407. The effect of formulation variables on the product characteristics can be easily predicted and precisely interpreted by using a 3-level factorial experimental design and generated quadratic mathematical equations.

Climate uncertainty and implications for U.S. state-level risk assessment through 2050.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loose, Verne W.; Lowry, Thomas Stephen; Malczynski, Leonard A.; Tidwell, Vincent Carroll; Stamber, Kevin Louis; Kelic, Andjelka; Backus, George A.; Warren, Drake E.; Zagonel, Aldo A.; Ehlen, Mark Andrew; Klise, Geoffrey T.; Vargas, Vanessa N.

2009-10-01

Decisions for climate policy will need to take place in advance of climate science resolving all relevant uncertainties. Further, if the concern of policy is to reduce risk, then the best-estimate of climate change impacts may not be so important as the currently understood uncertainty associated with realizable conditions having high consequence. This study focuses on one of the most uncertain aspects of future climate change - precipitation - to understand the implications of uncertainty on risk and the near-term justification for interventions to mitigate the course of climate change. We show that the mean risk of damage to the economy from climate change, at the national level, is on the order of one trillion dollars over the next 40 years, with employment impacts of nearly 7 million labor-years. At a 1% exceedance-probability, the impact is over twice the mean-risk value. Impacts at the level of individual U.S. states are then typically in the multiple tens of billions dollar range with employment losses exceeding hundreds of thousands of labor-years. We used results of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report 4 (AR4) climate-model ensemble as the referent for climate uncertainty over the next 40 years, mapped the simulated weather hydrologically to the county level for determining the physical consequence to economic activity at the state level, and then performed a detailed, seventy-industry, analysis of economic impact among the interacting lower-48 states. We determined industry GDP and employment impacts at the state level, as well as interstate population migration, effect on personal income, and the consequences for the U.S. trade balance.