Interpretation of the results from individual monitoring of workers at the Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Facility, Brazil; Interpretacao de resultados de monitoracao individual interna da Fabrica de Combustivel Nuclear - FCN

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Castro, Marcelo Xavier de

2005-07-01

In nuclear fuel fabrication facilities, workers are exposed to different compounds of enriched uranium. Although in this kind of facility the main route of intake is inhalation, ingestion may occur in some situations, and also a mixture of both. The interpretation of the bioassay data is very complex, since it is necessary taking into account all the different parameters, which is a big challenge. Due to the high cost of the individual monitoring programme for internal dose assessment in the routine monitoring programmes, usually only one type of measurement is assigned. In complex situations like the one described in this study, where several parameters can compromise the accuracy of the bioassay interpretation it is need to have a combination of techniques to evaluate the internal dose. According to ICRP 78 (1997), the general order of preference of measurement methodologies in terms of accuracy of interpretation is: body activity measurement, excreta analysis and personal air sampling. Results of monitoring of working environment may provide information that assists in the interpretation on particle size, chemical form, solubility and date of intake. A group of fifteen workers from controlled area of the studied nuclear fuel fabrication facility was selected to evaluate the internal dose using all different available techniques during a certain period. The workers were monitored for determination of uranium content in the daily urinary and faecal excretion (collected over a period of 3 consecutive days), chest counting and personal air sampling. The results have shown that at least two types of sensitivity techniques must be used, since there are some sources of uncertainties on the bioassay interpretation, like mixture of uranium compounds intake and different routes of intake. The combination of urine and faeces analysis has shown to be the more appropriate methodology for assessing internal dose in this situation. The chest counting methodology has not shown

Evaluation of four methods for separation of lymphocytes from normal individuals and patients with cancer and tuberculosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, C C; Graber, C D; Loadholt, C B

1976-01-01

An optimal technique was sought for lymphocyte recovery from normal and chronic diseased individuals. Lymphocytes were separated by four techniques: Plasmagel, Ficoll--Hypaque, a commercial semiautomatic method, and simple centrifugation using blood drawn from ten normal individuals, ten cancer patients, and ten tuberculosis patients. The lymphocyte mixture obtained after using each method was analyzed for percent recovery, amount if contamination by erythrocytes and neutrophils, and percent viability. The results show that the semiautomatic method yielded the best percent recovery of lymphocytes for normal individuals, while the simple centrifugation method contributed the highest percent recovery for cancer and tuberculosis patients. The Ficoll-Hypaque method gave the lowest erythrocyte contamination for all three types of individuals tested, while the Plasmagel method gave the lowest neutrophil contamination for all three types of individuals. The simple centrifugation method yielded all viable lymphocytes and thus gave the highest percent viability.

Comparison of three methods to assess individual skeletal maturity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pasciuti, Enzo; Franchi, Lorenzo; Baccetti, Tiziano; Milani, Silvano; Farronato, Giampietro

2013-09-01

The knowledge of facial growth and development is fundamental to determine the optimal timing for different treatment procedures in the growing patient. To analyze the reproducibility of three methods in assessing individual skeletal maturity, and to evaluate any degree of concordance among them. In all, 100 growing subjects were enrolled to test three methods: the hand-wrist, cervical vertebral maturation (CVM), and medial phalanges of the third finger method (MP3). Four operators determined the skeletal maturity of the subjects to evaluate the reproducibility of each method. After 30 days the operators repeated the analysis to assess the repeatability of each method. Finally, one operator examined all subjects' radiographs to detect any concordance among the three methods. The weighted kappa values for inter-operator variability were 0.94, 0.91, and 0.90, for the WRI, CVM, and MP3 methods, respectively. The weighted kappa values for intra-operator variability were 0.92, 0.91, and 0.92, for the WRI, CVM, and MP3 methods, respectively. The three methods revealed a high degree of repeatability and reproducibility. Complete agreement among the three methods was observed in 70% of the analyzed samples. The CVM method has the advantage of not necessitating an additional radiograph. The MP3 method is a simple and practical alternative as it requires only a standard dental x-ray device.

Analytical models approximating individual processes: a validation method.

Science.gov (United States)

Favier, C; Degallier, N; Menkès, C E

2010-12-01

Upscaling population models from fine to coarse resolutions, in space, time and/or level of description, allows the derivation of fast and tractable models based on a thorough knowledge of individual processes. The validity of such approximations is generally tested only on a limited range of parameter sets. A more general validation test, over a range of parameters, is proposed; this would estimate the error induced by the approximation, using the original model's stochastic variability as a reference. This method is illustrated by three examples taken from the field of epidemics transmitted by vectors that bite in a temporally cyclical pattern, that illustrate the use of the method: to estimate if an approximation over- or under-fits the original model; to invalidate an approximation; to rank possible approximations for their qualities. As a result, the application of the validation method to this field emphasizes the need to account for the vectors' biology in epidemic prediction models and to validate these against finer scale models. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Combining multiple FDG-PET radiotherapy target segmentation methods to reduce the effect of variable performance of individual segmentation methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McGurk, Ross J. [Medical Physics Graduate Program, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27705 (United States); Bowsher, James; Das, Shiva K. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27705 (United States); Lee, John A [Molecular Imaging and Experimental Radiotherapy Unit, Universite Catholique de Louvain, 1200 Brussels (Belgium)

2013-04-15

Purpose: Many approaches have been proposed to segment high uptake objects in 18F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography images but none provides consistent performance across the large variety of imaging situations. This study investigates the use of two methods of combining individual segmentation methods to reduce the impact of inconsistent performance of the individual methods: simple majority voting and probabilistic estimation. Methods: The National Electrical Manufacturers Association image quality phantom containing five glass spheres with diameters 13-37 mm and two irregularly shaped volumes (16 and 32 cc) formed by deforming high-density polyethylene bottles in a hot water bath were filled with 18-fluoro-deoxyglucose and iodine contrast agent. Repeated 5-min positron emission tomography (PET) images were acquired at 4:1 and 8:1 object-to-background contrasts for spherical objects and 4.5:1 and 9:1 for irregular objects. Five individual methods were used to segment each object: 40% thresholding, adaptive thresholding, k-means clustering, seeded region-growing, and a gradient based method. Volumes were combined using a majority vote (MJV) or Simultaneous Truth And Performance Level Estimate (STAPLE) method. Accuracy of segmentations relative to CT ground truth volumes were assessed using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and the symmetric mean absolute surface distances (SMASDs). Results: MJV had median DSC values of 0.886 and 0.875; and SMASD of 0.52 and 0.71 mm for spheres and irregular shapes, respectively. STAPLE provided similar results with median DSC of 0.886 and 0.871; and median SMASD of 0.50 and 0.72 mm for spheres and irregular shapes, respectively. STAPLE had significantly higher DSC and lower SMASD values than MJV for spheres (DSC, p < 0.0001; SMASD, p= 0.0101) but MJV had significantly higher DSC and lower SMASD values compared to STAPLE for irregular shapes (DSC, p < 0.0001; SMASD, p= 0.0027). DSC was not significantly

Identification of discriminant proteins through antibody profiling, methods and apparatus for identifying an individual

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Vicki S; Lacey, Jeffrey A; Gentillon, Cynthia A; Apel, William A

2015-03-03

A method for determining a plurality of proteins for discriminating and positively identifying an individual based from a biological sample. The method may include profiling a biological sample from a plurality of individuals against a protein array including a plurality of proteins. The protein array may include proteins attached to a support in a preselected pattern such that locations of the proteins are known. The biological sample may be contacted with the protein array such that a portion of antibodies in the biological sample reacts with and binds to the proteins forming immune complexes. A statistical analysis method, such as discriminant analysis, may be performed to determine discriminating proteins for distinguishing individuals. Proteins of interest may be used to form a protein array. Such a protein array may be used, for example, to compare a forensic sample from an unknown source with a sample from a known source.

Identification of discriminant proteins through antibody profiling, methods and apparatus for identifying an individual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Apel, William A.; Thompson, Vicki S; Lacey, Jeffrey A.; Gentillon, Cynthia A.

2016-08-09

A method for determining a plurality of proteins for discriminating and positively identifying an individual based from a biological sample. The method may include profiling a biological sample from a plurality of individuals against a protein array including a plurality of proteins. The protein array may include proteins attached to a support in a preselected pattern such that locations of the proteins are known. The biological sample may be contacted with the protein array such that a portion of antibodies in the biological sample reacts with and binds to the proteins forming immune complexes. A statistical analysis method, such as discriminant analysis, may be performed to determine discriminating proteins for distinguishing individuals. Proteins of interest may be used to form a protein array. Such a protein array may be used, for example, to compare a forensic sample from an unknown source with a sample from a known source.

Development of detection method for individual environmental particles containing alpha radioactive nuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esaka, Konomi; Yasuda, Kenichiro; Esaka, Fumitaka; Magara, Masaaki; Sakurai, Satoshi; Usuda, Shigekazu; Nakayama, Shinichi

2006-01-01

Artificial radioactive nuclides have been emitted from various sources and have fallen on the surface of the earth as fine particles. Although the characterization of the individual fallout particles is very important, their analysis is difficult. The purpose of this study is to develop a new detection method for individual objective particles containing radioactive nuclides in the environment. The soil or sediment sample was confined in a plastic film and the locations of objective particles were identified with alpha tracks created in a solid-state detectors (BARYOTRAK, Fukuvi Chemical, Ltd) stuck to the both sides of the plastic film. A piece of the film containing the objective particle was cut with a nitrogen laser for following individual particle analysis. This procedure allowed us to detect the objective particle from innumerable number of particles in the environment and characterize the individual particles. (author)

Convergence and divergence across construction methods for human brain white matter networks: an assessment based on individual differences.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Suyu; He, Yong; Gong, Gaolang

2015-05-01

Using diffusion MRI, a number of studies have investigated the properties of whole-brain white matter (WM) networks with differing network construction methods (node/edge definition). However, how the construction methods affect individual differences of WM networks and, particularly, if distinct methods can provide convergent or divergent patterns of individual differences remain largely unknown. Here, we applied 10 frequently used methods to construct whole-brain WM networks in a healthy young adult population (57 subjects), which involves two node definitions (low-resolution and high-resolution) and five edge definitions (binary, FA weighted, fiber-density weighted, length-corrected fiber-density weighted, and connectivity-probability weighted). For these WM networks, individual differences were systematically analyzed in three network aspects: (1) a spatial pattern of WM connections, (2) a spatial pattern of nodal efficiency, and (3) network global and local efficiencies. Intriguingly, we found that some of the network construction methods converged in terms of individual difference patterns, but diverged with other methods. Furthermore, the convergence/divergence between methods differed among network properties that were adopted to assess individual differences. Particularly, high-resolution WM networks with differing edge definitions showed convergent individual differences in the spatial pattern of both WM connections and nodal efficiency. For the network global and local efficiencies, low-resolution and high-resolution WM networks for most edge definitions consistently exhibited a highly convergent pattern in individual differences. Finally, the test-retest analysis revealed a decent temporal reproducibility for the patterns of between-method convergence/divergence. Together, the results of the present study demonstrated a measure-dependent effect of network construction methods on the individual difference of WM network properties. © 2015 Wiley

Influence of Individual Differences on the Calculation Method for FBG-Type Blood Pressure Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Koyama, Shouhei; Ishizawa, Hiroaki; Fujimoto, Keisaku; Chino, Shun; Kobayashi, Yuka

2016-12-28

In this paper, we propose a blood pressure calculation and associated measurement method that by using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor. There are several points at which the pulse can be measured on the surface of the human body, and when a FBG sensor located at any of these points, the pulse wave signal can be measured. The measured waveform is similar to the acceleration pulse wave. The pulse wave signal changes depending on several factors, including whether or not the individual is healthy and/or elderly. The measured pulse wave signal can be used to calculate the blood pressure using a calibration curve, which is constructed by a partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis using a reference blood pressure and the pulse wave signal. In this paper, we focus on the influence of individual differences from calculated blood pressure based on each calibration curve. In our study, the calculated blood pressure from both the individual and overall calibration curves were compared, and our results show that the calculated blood pressure based on the overall calibration curve had a lower measurement accuracy than that based on an individual calibration curve. We also found that the influence of the individual differences on the calculated blood pressure when using the FBG sensor method were very low. Therefore, the FBG sensor method that we developed for measuring the blood pressure was found to be suitable for use by many people.

A mixed methods study of multiple health behaviors among individuals with stroke

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Plow

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Background Individuals with stroke often have multiple cardiovascular risk factors that necessitate promoting engagement in multiple health behaviors. However, observational studies of individuals with stroke have typically focused on promoting a single health behavior. Thus, there is a poor understanding of linkages between healthy behaviors and the circumstances in which factors, such as stroke impairments, may influence a single or multiple health behaviors. Methods We conducted a mixed methods convergent parallel study of 25 individuals with stroke to examine the relationships between stroke impairments and physical activity, sleep, and nutrition. Our goal was to gain further insight into possible strategies to promote multiple health behaviors among individuals with stroke. This study focused on physical activity, sleep, and nutrition because of their importance in achieving energy balance, maintaining a healthy weight, and reducing cardiovascular risks. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected concurrently, with the former being prioritized over the latter. Qualitative data was prioritized in order to develop a conceptual model of engagement in multiple health behaviors among individuals with stroke. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed independently and then were integrated during the inference stage to develop meta-inferences. The 25 individuals with stroke completed closed-ended questionnaires on healthy behaviors and physical function. They also participated in face-to-face focus groups and one-to-one phone interviews. Results We found statistically significant and moderate correlations between hand function and healthy eating habits (r = 0.45, sleep disturbances and limitations in activities of daily living (r =  − 0.55, BMI and limitations in activities of daily living (r =  − 0.49, physical activity and limitations in activities of daily living (r = 0.41, mobility impairments and BMI (r

Effect of Chemistry Triangle Oriented Learning Media on Cooperative, Individual and Conventional Method on Chemistry Learning Result

Science.gov (United States)

Latisma D, L.; Kurniawan, W.; Seprima, S.; Nirbayani, E. S.; Ellizar, E.; Hardeli, H.

2018-04-01

The purpose of this study was to see which method are well used with the Chemistry Triangle-oriented learning media. This quasi experimental research involves first grade of senior high school students in six schools namely each two SMA N in Solok city, in Pasaman and two SMKN in Pariaman. The sampling technique was done by Cluster Random Sampling. Data were collected by test and analyzed by one-way anova and Kruskall Wallish test. The results showed that the high school students in Solok learning taught by cooperative method is better than the results of student learning taught by conventional and Individual methods, both for students who have high initial ability and low-ability. Research in SMK showed that the overall student learning outcomes taught by conventional method is better than the student learning outcomes taught by cooperative and individual methods. Student learning outcomes that have high initial ability taught by individual method is better than student learning outcomes that are taught by cooperative method and for students who have low initial ability, there is no difference in student learning outcomes taught by cooperative, individual and conventional methods. Learning in high school in Pasaman showed no significant difference in learning outcomes of the three methods undertaken.

Management of the database originated from individual and environment monitoring carried out in the UNIFESP/HSP complex, SP, Brazil; Gerenciamento da base de dados originados da monitoracao individual e ambiental efetuado no complexo UNIFESP/HSP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Medeiros, Regina Bitelli; Daros, Kellen Adriana Curci; Almeida, Natalia Correia de; Pires, Silvio Ricardo; Jorge, Luiz Tadeu [Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP), SP (Brazil)

2005-07-01

The Radiological Protection Sector of the Sao Paulo Hospital/Federal University of Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil manages the records of 457 dosemeters. Once the users must know about the absorbed doses monthly and the need of keep the individuals records until the age of 75 years old and for, at least during 30 years after the end of the occupation of the individual, it became necessary to construct a database and a computerized control to manage the accumulated doses. This control, between 1991 and 1999, was effected by means of a relational database (Cobol 85 - Operating System GCOS 7 (ABC Telematic Bull)). After this period, when the company responsible for dosimetry went on to provide computerized results, the data were stored in a Paradox database (Borland). In 2004, the databases were integrated and were created a third database developed in Oracle (IBM) and a system that allowed the institutional Intranet users to consult their accumulated doses annually and the value of the total effective dose accumulated during working life.

Expert and crowd-sourced validation of an individualized sleep spindle detection method employing complex demodulation and individualized normalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura eRay

2015-09-01

Full Text Available A spindle detection method was developed that: 1 extracts the signal of interest (i.e., spindle-related phasic changes in sigma relative to ongoing background sigma activity using complex demodulation, 2 accounts for variations of spindle characteristics across the night, scalp derivations and between individuals, and 3 employs a minimum number of sometimes arbitrary, user-defined parameters. Complex demodulation was used to extract instantaneous power in the spindle band. To account for intra- and inter-individual differences, the signal was z-score transformed using a 60s sliding window, per channel, over the course of the recording. Spindle events were detected with a z-score threshold corresponding to a low probability (e.g., 99th percentile. Spindle characteristics, such as amplitude, duration and oscillatory frequency, were derived for each individual spindle following detection, which permits spindles to be subsequently and flexibly categorized as slow or fast spindles from a single detection pass. Spindles were automatically detected in 15 young healthy subjects. Two experts manually identified spindles from C3 during Stage 2 sleep, from each recording; one employing conventional guidelines, and the other, identifying spindles with the aid of a sigma (11-16 Hz filtered channel. These spindles were then compared between raters and to the automated detection to identify the presence of true positives, true negatives, false positives and false negatives. This method of automated spindle detection resolves or avoids many of the limitations that complicate automated spindle detection, and performs well compared to a group of non-experts, and importantly, has good external validity with respect to the extant literature in terms of the characteristics of automatically detected spindles.

Enhanced Methods for Local Ancestry Assignment in Sequenced Admixed Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Robert; Pasaniuc, Bogdan

2014-01-01

Inferring the ancestry at each locus in the genome of recently admixed individuals (e.g., Latino Americans) plays a major role in medical and population genetic inferences, ranging from finding disease-risk loci, to inferring recombination rates, to mapping missing contigs in the human genome. Although many methods for local ancestry inference have been proposed, most are designed for use with genotyping arrays and fail to make use of the full spectrum of data available from sequencing. In addition, current haplotype-based approaches are very computationally demanding, requiring large computational time for moderately large sample sizes. Here we present new methods for local ancestry inference that leverage continent-specific variants (CSVs) to attain increased performance over existing approaches in sequenced admixed genomes. A key feature of our approach is that it incorporates the admixed genomes themselves jointly with public datasets, such as 1000 Genomes, to improve the accuracy of CSV calling. We use simulations to show that our approach attains accuracy similar to widely used computationally intensive haplotype-based approaches with large decreases in runtime. Most importantly, we show that our method recovers comparable local ancestries, as the 1000 Genomes consensus local ancestry calls in the real admixed individuals from the 1000 Genomes Project. We extend our approach to account for low-coverage sequencing and show that accurate local ancestry inference can be attained at low sequencing coverage. Finally, we generalize CSVs to sub-continental population-specific variants (sCSVs) and show that in some cases it is possible to determine the sub-continental ancestry for short chromosomal segments on the basis of sCSVs. PMID:24743331

A new quantitative evaluation method for age-related changes of individual pigmented spots in facial skin.

Science.gov (United States)

Kikuchi, K; Masuda, Y; Yamashita, T; Sato, K; Katagiri, C; Hirao, T; Mizokami, Y; Yaguchi, H

2016-08-01

Facial skin pigmentation is one of the most prominent visible features of skin aging and often affects perception of health and beauty. To date, facial pigmentation has been evaluated using various image analysis methods developed for the cosmetic and esthetic fields. However, existing methods cannot provide precise information on pigmented spots, such as variations in size, color shade, and distribution pattern. The purpose of this study is the development of image evaluation methods to analyze individual pigmented spots and acquire detailed information on their age-related changes. To characterize the individual pigmented spots within a cheek image, we established a simple object-counting algorithm. First, we captured cheek images using an original imaging system equipped with an illumination unit and a high-resolution digital camera. The acquired images were converted into melanin concentration images using compensation formulae. Next, the melanin images were converted into binary images. The binary images were then subjected to noise reduction. Finally, we calculated parameters such as the melanin concentration, quantity, and size of individual pigmented spots using a connected-components labeling algorithm, which assigns a unique label to each separate group of connected pixels. The cheek image analysis was evaluated on 643 female Japanese subjects. We confirmed that the proposed method was sufficiently sensitive to measure the melanin concentration, and the numbers and sizes of individual pigmented spots through manual evaluation of the cheek images. The image analysis results for the 643 Japanese women indicated clear relationships between age and the changes in the pigmented spots. We developed a new quantitative evaluation method for individual pigmented spots in facial skin. This method facilitates the analysis of the characteristics of various pigmented facial spots and is directly applicable to the fields of dermatology, pharmacology, and esthetic

When one size does not fit all: a simple statistical method to deal with across-individual variations of effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Vindras, Philippe; Desmurget, Michel; Baraduc, Pierre

2012-01-01

In science, it is a common experience to discover that although the investigated effect is very clear in some individuals, statistical tests are not significant because the effect is null or even opposite in other individuals. Indeed, t-tests, Anovas and linear regressions compare the average effect with respect to its inter-individual variability, so that they can fail to evidence a factor that has a high effect in many individuals (with respect to the intra-individual variability). In such paradoxical situations, statistical tools are at odds with the researcher's aim to uncover any factor that affects individual behavior, and not only those with stereotypical effects. In order to go beyond the reductive and sometimes illusory description of the average behavior, we propose a simple statistical method: applying a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to assess whether the distribution of p-values provided by individual tests is significantly biased towards zero. Using Monte-Carlo studies, we assess the power of this two-step procedure with respect to RM Anova and multilevel mixed-effect analyses, and probe its robustness when individual data violate the assumption of normality and homoscedasticity. We find that the method is powerful and robust even with small sample sizes for which multilevel methods reach their limits. In contrast to existing methods for combining p-values, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test has unique resistance to outlier individuals: it cannot yield significance based on a high effect in one or two exceptional individuals, which allows drawing valid population inferences. The simplicity and ease of use of our method facilitates the identification of factors that would otherwise be overlooked because they affect individual behavior in significant but variable ways, and its power and reliability with small sample sizes (<30-50 individuals) suggest it as a tool of choice in exploratory studies.

When one size does not fit all: a simple statistical method to deal with across-individual variations of effects.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philippe Vindras

Full Text Available In science, it is a common experience to discover that although the investigated effect is very clear in some individuals, statistical tests are not significant because the effect is null or even opposite in other individuals. Indeed, t-tests, Anovas and linear regressions compare the average effect with respect to its inter-individual variability, so that they can fail to evidence a factor that has a high effect in many individuals (with respect to the intra-individual variability. In such paradoxical situations, statistical tools are at odds with the researcher's aim to uncover any factor that affects individual behavior, and not only those with stereotypical effects. In order to go beyond the reductive and sometimes illusory description of the average behavior, we propose a simple statistical method: applying a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to assess whether the distribution of p-values provided by individual tests is significantly biased towards zero. Using Monte-Carlo studies, we assess the power of this two-step procedure with respect to RM Anova and multilevel mixed-effect analyses, and probe its robustness when individual data violate the assumption of normality and homoscedasticity. We find that the method is powerful and robust even with small sample sizes for which multilevel methods reach their limits. In contrast to existing methods for combining p-values, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test has unique resistance to outlier individuals: it cannot yield significance based on a high effect in one or two exceptional individuals, which allows drawing valid population inferences. The simplicity and ease of use of our method facilitates the identification of factors that would otherwise be overlooked because they affect individual behavior in significant but variable ways, and its power and reliability with small sample sizes (<30-50 individuals suggest it as a tool of choice in exploratory studies.

A mixed methods study of multiple health behaviors among individuals with stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Plow, Matthew; Moore, Shirley M; Sajatovic, Martha; Katzan, Irene

2017-01-01

Individuals with stroke often have multiple cardiovascular risk factors that necessitate promoting engagement in multiple health behaviors. However, observational studies of individuals with stroke have typically focused on promoting a single health behavior. Thus, there is a poor understanding of linkages between healthy behaviors and the circumstances in which factors, such as stroke impairments, may influence a single or multiple health behaviors. We conducted a mixed methods convergent parallel study of 25 individuals with stroke to examine the relationships between stroke impairments and physical activity, sleep, and nutrition. Our goal was to gain further insight into possible strategies to promote multiple health behaviors among individuals with stroke. This study focused on physical activity, sleep, and nutrition because of their importance in achieving energy balance, maintaining a healthy weight, and reducing cardiovascular risks. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected concurrently, with the former being prioritized over the latter. Qualitative data was prioritized in order to develop a conceptual model of engagement in multiple health behaviors among individuals with stroke. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed independently and then were integrated during the inference stage to develop meta-inferences. The 25 individuals with stroke completed closed-ended questionnaires on healthy behaviors and physical function. They also participated in face-to-face focus groups and one-to-one phone interviews. We found statistically significant and moderate correlations between hand function and healthy eating habits ( r  = 0.45), sleep disturbances and limitations in activities of daily living ( r  =  - 0.55), BMI and limitations in activities of daily living ( r  =  - 0.49), physical activity and limitations in activities of daily living ( r  = 0.41), mobility impairments and BMI ( r  =  - 0.41), sleep disturbances and physical

A comprehensive literature review of haplotyping software and methods for use with unrelated individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salem Rany M

2005-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Interest in the assignment and frequency analysis of haplotypes in samples of unrelated individuals has increased immeasurably as a result of the emphasis placed on haplotype analyses by, for example, the International HapMap Project and related initiatives. Although there are many available computer programs for haplotype analysis applicable to samples of unrelated individuals, many of these programs have limitations and/or very specific uses. In this paper, the key features of available haplotype analysis software for use with unrelated individuals, as well as pooled DNA samples from unrelated individuals, are summarised. Programs for haplotype analysis were identified through keyword searches on PUBMED and various internet search engines, a review of citations from retrieved papers and personal communications, up to June 2004. Priority was given to functioning computer programs, rather than theoretical models and methods. The available software was considered in light of a number of factors: the algorithm(s used, algorithm accuracy, assumptions, the accommodation of genotyping error, implementation of hypothesis testing, handling of missing data, software characteristics and web-based implementations. Review papers comparing specific methods and programs are also summarised. Forty-six haplotyping programs were identified and reviewed. The programs were divided into two groups: those designed for individual genotype data (a total of 43 programs and those designed for use with pooled DNA samples (a total of three programs. The accuracy of programs using various criteria are assessed and the programs are categorised and discussed in light of: algorithm and method, accuracy, assumptions, genotyping error, hypothesis testing, missing data, software characteristics and web implementation. Many available programs have limitations (eg some cannot accommodate missing data and/or are designed with specific tasks in mind (eg estimating

Analysing malaria drug trials on a per-individual or per-clone basis: a comparison of methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaki, Thomas; Parry, Alice; Winter, Katherine; Hastings, Ian

2013-07-30

There are a variety of methods used to estimate the effectiveness of antimalarial drugs in clinical trials, invariably on a per-person basis. A person, however, may have more than one malaria infection present at the time of treatment. We evaluate currently used methods for analysing malaria trials on a per-individual basis and introduce a novel method to estimate the cure rate on a per-infection (clone) basis. We used simulated and real data to highlight the differences of the various methods. We give special attention to classifying outcomes as cured, recrudescent (infections that never fully cleared) or ambiguous on the basis of genetic markers at three loci. To estimate cure rates on a per-clone basis, we used the genetic information within an individual before treatment to determine the number of clones present. We used the genetic information obtained at the time of treatment failure to classify clones as recrudescence or new infections. On the per-individual level, we find that the most accurate methods of classification label an individual as newly infected if all alleles are different at the beginning and at the time of failure and as a recrudescence if all or some alleles were the same. The most appropriate analysis method is survival analysis or alternatively for complete data/per-protocol analysis a proportion estimate that treats new infections as successes. We show that the analysis of drug effectiveness on a per-clone basis estimates the cure rate accurately and allows more detailed evaluation of the performance of the treatment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A method to prioritize quantitative traits and individuals for sequencing in family-based studies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaanan P Shah

Full Text Available Owing to recent advances in DNA sequencing, it is now technically feasible to evaluate the contribution of rare variation to complex traits and diseases. However, it is still cost prohibitive to sequence the whole genome (or exome of all individuals in each study. For quantitative traits, one strategy to reduce cost is to sequence individuals in the tails of the trait distribution. However, the next challenge becomes how to prioritize traits and individuals for sequencing since individuals are often characterized for dozens of medically relevant traits. In this article, we describe a new method, the Rare Variant Kinship Test (RVKT, which leverages relationship information in family-based studies to identify quantitative traits that are likely influenced by rare variants. Conditional on nuclear families and extended pedigrees, we evaluate the power of the RVKT via simulation. Not unexpectedly, the power of our method depends strongly on effect size, and to a lesser extent, on the frequency of the rare variant and the number and type of relationships in the sample. As an illustration, we also apply our method to data from two genetic studies in the Old Order Amish, a founder population with extensive genealogical records. Remarkably, we implicate the presence of a rare variant that lowers fasting triglyceride levels in the Heredity and Phenotype Intervention (HAPI Heart study (p = 0.044, consistent with the presence of a previously identified null mutation in the APOC3 gene that lowers fasting triglyceride levels in HAPI Heart study participants.

Assessment of two culturally competent diabetes education methods: individual versus individual plus group education in Canadian Portuguese adults with type 2 diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Gucciardi, Enza; Demelo, Margaret; Lee, Ruth N; Grace, Sherry L

2007-04-01

To examine the impact of two culturally competent diabetes education methods, individual counselling and individual counselling in conjunction with group education, on nutrition adherence and glycemic control in Portuguese Canadian adults with type 2 diabetes over a three-month period. The Diabetes Education Centre is located in the urban multicultural city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We used a three-month randomized controlled trial design. Eligible Portuguese-speaking adults with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to receive either diabetes education counselling only (control group) or counselling in conjunction with group education (intervention group). Of the 61 patients who completed the study, 36 were in the counselling only and 25 in the counselling with group education intervention. We used a per-protocol analysis to examine the efficacy of the two educational approaches on nutrition adherence and glycemic control; paired t-tests to compare results within groups and analysis of covariance (ACOVA) to compare outcomes between groups adjusting for baseline measures. The Theory of Planned Behaviour was used to describe the behavioural mechanisms that influenced nutrition adherence. Attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control, and intentions towards nutrition adherence, self-reported nutrition adherence and glycemic control significantly improved in both groups, over the three-month study period. Yet, those receiving individual counselling with group education showed greater improvement in all measures with the exception of glycemic control, where no significant difference was found between the two groups at three months. Our study findings provide preliminary evidence that culturally competent group education in conjunction with individual counselling may be more efficacious in shaping eating behaviours than individual counselling alone for Canadian Portuguese adults with type 2 diabetes. However, larger longitudinal studies are needed to

Beyond Self-Report: Emerging Methods for Capturing Individual Differences in Decision-Making Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brenda L Connors

2016-03-01

Full Text Available People vary in the way in which they approach decision making, which impacts real-world behavior. There has been a surge of interest in moving beyond reliance on self-report measures to capture such individual differences. Particular emphasis has been placed on devising and applying a range of methodologies that include experimental, neuroscience, and observational paradigms. This paper provides a selective review of recent studies that illustrate the methods and yield of these approaches in terms of generating a deeper understanding of decision-making style and the notable differences that can be found across individuals.

Simple method for direct crown base height estimation of individual conifer trees using airborne LiDAR data.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Laiping; Zhai, Qiuping; Su, Yanjun; Ma, Qin; Kelly, Maggi; Guo, Qinghua

2018-05-14

Crown base height (CBH) is an essential tree biophysical parameter for many applications in forest management, forest fuel treatment, wildfire modeling, ecosystem modeling and global climate change studies. Accurate and automatic estimation of CBH for individual trees is still a challenging task. Airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) provides reliable and promising data for estimating CBH. Various methods have been developed to calculate CBH indirectly using regression-based means from airborne LiDAR data and field measurements. However, little attention has been paid to directly calculate CBH at the individual tree scale in mixed-species forests without field measurements. In this study, we propose a new method for directly estimating individual-tree CBH from airborne LiDAR data. Our method involves two main strategies: 1) removing noise and understory vegetation for each tree; and 2) estimating CBH by generating percentile ranking profile for each tree and using a spline curve to identify its inflection points. These two strategies lend our method the advantages of no requirement of field measurements and being efficient and effective in mixed-species forests. The proposed method was applied to a mixed conifer forest in the Sierra Nevada, California and was validated by field measurements. The results showed that our method can directly estimate CBH at individual tree level with a root-mean-squared error of 1.62 m, a coefficient of determination of 0.88 and a relative bias of 3.36%. Furthermore, we systematically analyzed the accuracies among different height groups and tree species by comparing with field measurements. Our results implied that taller trees had relatively higher uncertainties than shorter trees. Our findings also show that the accuracy for CBH estimation was the highest for black oak trees, with an RMSE of 0.52 m. The conifer species results were also good with uniformly high R 2 ranging from 0.82 to 0.93. In general, our method has

A method to evaluate performance reliability of individual subjects in laboratory research applied to work settings.

Science.gov (United States)

1978-10-01

This report presents a method that may be used to evaluate the reliability of performance of individual subjects, particularly in applied laboratory research. The method is based on analysis of variance of a tasks-by-subjects data matrix, with all sc...

Individualism-Collectivism and Power Distance Cultural Dimensions: How Each Influences Parental Disciplinary Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Schwab, Karen Walker

2013-01-01

This paper is a literature review using the Douglas-Widavasky Grid/Group theory as a framework to examine, from a cross cultural perspective, preferred parental disciplinary methods. The four rival cultures defined in the Grid/Group theory mirror the cultural dimensions of individualism-collectivism and power distance described by Geert Hofstede.…

Object-based methods for individual tree identification and tree species classification from high-spatial resolution imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Le

2003-10-01

Modern forest management poses an increasing need for detailed knowledge of forest information at different spatial scales. At the forest level, the information for tree species assemblage is desired whereas at or below the stand level, individual tree related information is preferred. Remote Sensing provides an effective tool to extract the above information at multiple spatial scales in the continuous time domain. To date, the increasing volume and readily availability of high-spatial-resolution data have lead to a much wider application of remotely sensed products. Nevertheless, to make effective use of the improving spatial resolution, conventional pixel-based classification methods are far from satisfactory. Correspondingly, developing object-based methods becomes a central challenge for researchers in the field of Remote Sensing. This thesis focuses on the development of methods for accurate individual tree identification and tree species classification. We develop a method in which individual tree crown boundaries and treetop locations are derived under a unified framework. We apply a two-stage approach with edge detection followed by marker-controlled watershed segmentation. Treetops are modeled from radiometry and geometry aspects. Specifically, treetops are assumed to be represented by local radiation maxima and to be located near the center of the tree-crown. As a result, a marker image was created from the derived treetop to guide a watershed segmentation to further differentiate overlapping trees and to produce a segmented image comprised of individual tree crowns. The image segmentation method developed achieves a promising result for a 256 x 256 CASI image. Then further effort is made to extend our methods to the multiscales which are constructed from a wavelet decomposition. A scale consistency and geometric consistency are designed to examine the gradients along the scale-space for the purpose of separating true crown boundary from unwanted

δ18O analysis of individual carbohydrates - a new method for GC-pyrolysis-IRMS

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmann, Marco M.; Fischer, Maria; Zech, Michael; Siegwolf, Rolf T. W.; Saurer, Matthias

2015-04-01

Measuring the oxygen isotopic composition (δ18O) of various plant tissues is a widely used tool to investigate biochemical and physiological processes. While we have a good understanding about the hydrological cycle in plants with an evaporative enrichment in 18O in leaf water, we still lack knowledge about the biochemical link between the oxygen atoms in leaf water, leaf assimilates, and stem cellulose and associated isotope fractionations. Especially, the influence of different environmental factors on δ18O of individual carbohydrates (i.e. sugars) and thus on δ18O of cellulose is not fully resolved. A better understanding of these processes may improve climatic reconstructions of tree-ring studies about past environmental conditions. However, further progress in this topic is limited since a precise and reliable method to determine δ18O of individual sugars has not been available yet. With our new approach we attempt to overcome this issue by establishing a new methylation derivatization method suitable for GC-pyrolysis -IRMS. A methyl group (CH3) was thereby added to all hydroxyl groups of a sugar (e.g., glucose, fructose, and sucrose) during a catalyzed one-pot reaction overnight in acetonitrile with methyl iodide (CH3-I) and silver oxide, making them amenable for GC analysis. First results show a very good precision for δ18O of sucrose, but also δ18O of other high-abundant sugars such as glucose and fructose could be measured for the first time. We successfully analyzed a standard mix of all three sugars and determined various other carbohydrates not only related to plant sciences (e.g. mannitol, lactose), showing promising δ18O results. First tests with real plant samples were performed to make this method available for determining δ18O of individual carbohydrates of diverse plant tissues. In future, this new methylation derivatization method should allow us analyzing plant samples of different field sites and of lab experiments to investigate the

Evidence-Based Indicators of Neuropsychological Change in the Individual Patient: Relevant Concepts and Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Duff, Kevin

2012-01-01

Repeated assessments are a relatively common occurrence in clinical neuropsychology. The current paper will review some of the relevant concepts (e.g., reliability, practice effects, alternate forms) and methods (e.g., reliable change index, standardized based regression) that are used in repeated neuropsychological evaluations. The focus will be on the understanding and application of these concepts and methods in the evaluation of the individual patient through examples. Finally, some future directions for assessing change will be described. PMID:22382384

Novel method of fabricating individual trays for maxillectomy patients by computer-aided design and rapid prototyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Zhi; Wang, Xin-zhi; Hou, Yue-Zhong

2015-02-01

Making impressions for maxillectomy patients is an essential but difficult task. This study developed a novel method to fabricate individual trays by computer-aided design (CAD) and rapid prototyping (RP) to simplify the process and enhance patient safety. Five unilateral maxillectomy patients were recruited for this study. For each patient, a computed tomography (CT) scan was taken. Based on the 3D surface reconstruction of the target area, an individual tray was manufactured by CAD/RP. With a conventional custom tray as control, two final impressions were made using the different types of tray for each patient. The trays were sectioned, and in each section the thickness of the material was measured at six evenly distributed points. Descriptive statistics and paired t-test were used to examine the difference of the impression thickness. SAS 9.3 was applied in the statistical analysis. Afterwards, all casts were then optically 3D scanned and compared digitally to evaluate the feasibility of this method. Impressions of all five maxillectomy patients were successfully made with individual trays fabricated by CAD/RP and traditional trays. The descriptive statistics of impression thickness measurement showed slightly more uneven results in the traditional trays, but no statistical significance was shown. A 3D digital comparison showed acceptable discrepancies within 1 mm in the majority of cast areas. The largest difference of 3 mm was observed in the buccal wall of the defective areas. Moderate deviations of 1 to 2 mm were detected in the buccal and labial vestibular groove areas. This study confirmed the feasibility of a novel method of fabricating individual trays by CAD/RP. Impressions made by individual trays manufactured using CAD/RP had a uniform thickness, with an acceptable level of accuracy compared to those made through conventional processes. © 2014 by the American College of Prosthodontists.

Effect of culture methods on individual variation in the growth of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus within a cohort and family

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Tianlong; Zhang, Libin; Zhang, Tao; Bai, Yucen; Yang, Hongsheng

2014-07-01

There is substantial individual variation in the growth rates of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus individuals. This necessitates additional work to grade the seed stock and lengthens the production period. We evaluated the influence of three culture methods (free-mixed, isolated-mixed, isolated-alone) on individual variation in growth and assessed the relationship between feeding, energy conversion efficiency, and individual growth variation in individually cultured sea cucumbers. Of the different culture methods, animals grew best when reared in the isolated-mixed treatment (i.e., size classes were held separately), though there was no difference in individual variation in growth between rearing treatment groups. The individual variation in growth was primarily attributed to genetic factors. The difference in food conversion efficiency caused by genetic differences among individuals was thought to be the origin of the variance. The level of individual growth variation may be altered by interactions among individuals and environmental heterogeneity. Our results suggest that, in addition to traditional seed grading, design of a new kind of substrate that changes the spatial distribution of sea cucumbers would effectively enhance growth and reduce individual variation in growth of sea cucumbers in culture.

Quality assurance program on the individual monitory service of the Protection Radiology Laboratory of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE (Brazil): preliminary results; Programa de garantia da qualidade no laboratorio de monitoracao individual externa da UFPE: resultados preliminares

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Antonino, Paulo H.D.; Filho, Joao A.; Silveira, Sueldo V. [Pernambuco Univ., Recife, PE (Brazil). Dept. de Energia Nuclear

1996-12-31

The current stage of the quality assurance program on the individual monitoring service of the Protection Radiology Laboratory of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE (Brazil) is presented. The program emphasizes the personnel training and its development is focused to meet national and international standards requirements 6 refs., 1 ref.

Method for determination of the mean fraction of glandular tissue in individual female breasts using mammography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jansen, J T M; Veldkamp, W J H; Thijssen, M A O; Woudenberg, S van; Zoetelief, J

2005-01-01

The nationwide breast cancer screening programme using mammography has been in full operation in the Netherlands since 1997. Quality control of the screening programme has been assigned to the National Expert and Training Centre for Breast Cancer Screening. Limits are set to the mean glandular dose and the centre monitors these for all facilities engaged in the screening programme. This procedure is restricted to the determination of the entrance dose on a 5 cm thick polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) phantom. The mean glandular dose for a compressed breast is estimated from these data. Individual breasts may deviate largely from this 5 cm PMMA breast model. Not only may the compressed breast size vary from 2 to 10 cm, but breast composition varies also. The mean glandular dose is dependent on the fraction of glandular tissue (glandularity) of the breast. To estimate the risk related to individual mammograms requires the development of a method for determination of the glandularity of individual breasts. A method has been developed to derive the glandularity using the attenuation of mammography x-rays in the breast. The method was applied to a series of mammograms at a screening unit. The results, i.e., a glandularity of 93% within the range of 0 to 1, were comparable with data in the literature. The glandularity as a function of compressed breast thickness is similar to results from other investigators using differing methods

Development and application of an automated analysis method for individual cerebral perfusion single photon emission tomography images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cluckie, Alice Jane

2001-01-01

Neurological images may be analysed by performing voxel by voxel comparisons with a group of control subject images. An automated, 3D, voxel-based method has been developed for the analysis of individual single photon emission tomography (SPET) scans. Clusters of voxels are identified that represent regions of abnormal radiopharmaceutical uptake. Morphological operators are applied to reduce noise in the clusters, then quantitative estimates of the size and degree of the radiopharmaceutical uptake abnormalities are derived. Statistical inference has been performed using a Monte Carlo method that has not previously been applied to SPET scans, or for the analysis of individual images. This has been validated for group comparisons of SPET scans and for the analysis of an individual image using comparison with a group. Accurate statistical inference was obtained independent of experimental factors such as degrees of freedom, image smoothing and voxel significance level threshold. The analysis method has been evaluated for application to cerebral perfusion SPET imaging in ischaemic stroke. It has been shown that useful quantitative estimates, high sensitivity and high specificity may be obtained. Sensitivity and the accuracy of signal quantification were found to be dependent on the operator defined analysis parameters. Recommendations for the values of these parameters have been made. The analysis method developed has been compared with an established method and shown to result in higher specificity for the data and analysis parameter sets tested. In addition, application to a group of ischaemic stroke patient SPET scans has demonstrated its clinical utility. The influence of imaging conditions has been assessed using phantom data acquired with different gamma camera SPET acquisition parameters. A lower limit of five million counts and standardisation of all acquisition parameters has been recommended for the analysis of individual SPET scans. (author)

Novel, non-invasive method for distinguishing the individuals of the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra in capture-mark-recapture studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goran Šukalo

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Recently we started implementing a highly efficient, non-invasive method of direct individual marking (i.e., typifying in a population study of the fire salamander, Salamandra salamandra. Our technique is based on the unique alphanumeric code for every individual, generated upon the numbers of openings of repellent/toxic skin glands in the yellow areas of the selected regions of the body. This code was proved reliable in the sample of 159 individuals from two separate populations and enabled easy and quick recognition of recaptured animals. The proposed method is inexpensive, easily applicable in the field, involves minimum stress for the animals and does not affect their behaviour and the possibility of repeated captures of “marked” (i.e., coded individuals. It is particularly suitable for dense populations.

Evaluation of external exposure in a radioactive waste deposit; Avaliacao da exposicao externa em um deposito de rejeitos radioativos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oliveira, Sergio Quinet de; Pereira, Wagner de Souza; Py Junior, Delcy de Azevedo; Dores, Luis Augusto de Carvalho Bresser; Dantas, Marcelino Vicente de Almeida; Silva, Ana Claudia Antunes; Garcia Filho, Oswaldo, E-mail: wspereira@inb.gov.b, E-mail: sergioquinet@inb.gov.b, E-mail: delcy@inb.gov.b, E-mail: luisdores@inb.gov.b, E-mail: marcelino@inb.go.b, E-mail: anasilva@inb.gov.b, E-mail: ogarcia@inb.gov.b [Industrias Nucleares do Brasil (UTM/INB), Pocos de Caldas, MG (Brazil). Unidade de Tratamento de Minerio

2011-10-26

The ore treatment unit (OTU) of Industrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB), located at Caldas municipality - Minas Gerais, Brazil, posses a radioactive deposit, coming mainly from the chemical processing of monazite sands for obtention of 'rare earths'. The main components of these waste are the 'torta II (thorium rich residues) and the 'mesothorium' ({sup 228}Ra rich residues) - conditioned in steel drums (200 liters), plastic pumps (100 liters) or underground silos. These loaders are deposited in waste loading warehouses existent at the OTU and periodic evaluations of the external exposure rates (mR/h) are part of the 'Programa de Monitoracao Radiologica Ocupacional' of the unit. This paper presents a brief history of origins of this waste deposit and the material found there, and also the result of a routine monitoring of the external exposure rates

Proposal of requirements for performance in Brazil for systems of external individual monitoring for neutrons applying the TLD-albedo technique; Proposta de requisitos de desempenho no Brasil para sistemas de monitoracao individual externa para neutrons empregando a tecnica TLD-albedo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martins, Marcelo M.; Mauricio, Claudia L.P.; Pereira, Walsan W.; Fonseca, Evaldo S. da, E-mail: marcelo@ird.gov.b, E-mail: claudia@ird.gov.b, E-mail: walsan@ird.gov.b, E-mail: evaldo@ird.gov.b [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Silva, Ademir X., E-mail: ademir@con.ufrj.b [Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-Graduacao de Engenharia (COPPE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil).

2009-07-01

This work presents a criteria and conditions proposal for the regulations in Brazil of individual monitoring systems for neutrons applying the albedo technique with thermoluminescent detectors. Tests are proposed for the characterization performance of the system based on the Regulation ISO 21909 and on the experience of the authors

NMT - A new individual ion counting method: Comparison to a Faraday cup

Science.gov (United States)

Burton, Michael; Gorbunov, Boris

2018-03-01

Two sample detectors used to analyze the emission from Gas Chromatography (GC) columns are the Flame Ionization Detector (FID) and the Electron Capture Detector (ECD). Both of these detectors involve ionization of the sample molecules and then measuring electric current in the gas using a Faraday cup. In this paper a newly discovered method of ion counting, Nanotechnology Molecular Tagging (NMT) is tested as a replacement to the Faraday cup in GCs. In this method the effective physical volume of individual molecules is enlarged up to 1 billion times enabling them to be detected by an optical particle counter. It was found that the sensitivity of NMT was considerably greater than the Faraday cup. The background in the NMT was circa 200 ions per cm3, corresponding to an extremely low electric current ∼10-17 A.

Comparison of methods used to identify superior individuals in genomic selection in plant breeding.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhering, L L; Junqueira, V S; Peixoto, L A; Cruz, C D; Laviola, B G

2015-09-10

The aim of this study was to evaluate different methods used in genomic selection, and to verify those that select a higher proportion of individuals with superior genotypes. Thus, F2 populations of different sizes were simulated (100, 200, 500, and 1000 individuals) with 10 replications each. These consisted of 10 linkage groups (LG) of 100 cM each, containing 100 equally spaced markers per linkage group, of which 200 controlled the characteristics, defined as the 20 initials of each LG. Genetic and phenotypic values were simulated assuming binomial distribution of effects for each LG, and the absence of dominance. For phenotypic values, heritabilities of 20, 50, and 80% were considered. To compare methodologies, the analysis processing time, coefficient of coincidence (selection of 5, 10, and 20% of superior individuals), and Spearman correlation between true genetic values, and the genomic values predicted by each methodology were determined. Considering the processing time, the three methodologies were statistically different, rrBLUP was the fastest, and Bayesian LASSO was the slowest. Spearman correlation revealed that the rrBLUP and GBLUP methodologies were equivalent, and Bayesian LASSO provided the lowest correlation values. Similar results were obtained in coincidence variables among the individuals selected, in which Bayesian LASSO differed statistically and presented a lower value than the other methodologies. Therefore, for the scenarios evaluated, rrBLUP is the best methodology for the selection of genetically superior individuals.

Development of three-dimensional individual bubble-velocity measurement method by bubble tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanai, Taizo; Furuya, Masahiro; Arai, Takahiro; Shirakawa, Kenetsu; Nishi, Yoshihisa

2012-01-01

A gas-liquid two-phase flow in a large diameter pipe exhibits a three-dimensional flow structure. Wire-Mesh Sensor (WMS) consists of a pair of parallel wire layers located at the cross section of a pipe. Both the parallel wires cross at 90o with a small gap and each intersection acts as an electrode. The WMS allows the measurement of the instantaneous two-dimensional void-fraction distribution over the cross-section of a pipe, based on the difference between the local instantaneous conductivity of the two-phase flow. Furthermore, the WMS can acquire a phasic-velocity on the basis of the time lag of void signals between two sets of WMS. Previously, the acquired phasic velocity was one-dimensional with time-averaged distributions. The authors propose a method to estimate the three-dimensional bubble-velocity individually WMS data. The bubble velocity is determined by the tracing method. In this tracing method, each bubble is separated from WMS signal, volume and center coordinates of the bubble is acquired. Two bubbles with near volume at two WMS are considered as the same bubble and bubble velocity is estimated from the displacement of the center coordinates of the two bubbles. The validity of this method is verified by a swirl flow. The proposed method can successfully visualize a swirl flow structure and the results of this method agree with the results of cross-correlation analysis. (author)

Estimation of individual sennosides in plant materials and marketed formulations by an HPTLC method.

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, S A; Ravishankara, M N; Nirmal, A; Shishoo, C J; Rathod, I S; Suhagia, B N

2000-04-01

Senna is a well-known drug, used in the Ayurvedic and Allopathic systems of medicine, and is a treatment for constipation. The purgative action of senna and its formulations is due to the presence of sennosides A and B. An HPTLC method has been developed for the determination of individual sennosides (A, B, C, D) without any derivatization in marketed formulations (three tablet formulations, two granule formulations and one liquid formulation) and plant materials (senna leaf and pod). The methanolic solution of a sample was applied on a pre-coated silica gel G60 F254 TLC plate (E. Merck.) and was developed using n-propanol : ethyl acetate : water : glacial acetic acid (3 : 3 : 2 : 0.1 v/v) as the mobile phase. The relative band speeds (Rf values) obtained were 0.35, 0.25, 0.61, 0.46 for sennosides A, B, C and D, respectively. The densitometric response was monitored at 366nm. Calibration curves were found to be linear in the concentration ranges 193-1356, 402-2817, 71-497 and 132-927 ng per spot for sennosides A, B, C, and D, respectively. The correlation coefficients were found to be 0.9978, 0.9987, 0.9939 and 0.9983 respectively for sennosides A, B, C and D. The result obtained with the HPTLC method for total sennoside content was compared with the results using the pharmacopoeial methods (spectrophotometric (British Pharmacopoeia) and spectrofluorimetric (United States Pharmacopeia) using the 'F' test). The results revealed no significant difference in the three different methods for estimation of total sennoside. The proposed HPTLC method was found to be simple, specific, precise, accurate and rapid. It can be used for routine quality control of sennosides or senna-containing formulations for individual sennosides.

A mixed methods analysis of songs written by bereaved preadolescents in individual music therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Melina; McFerran, Katrina

2013-01-01

Providing opportunities for children to process loss and express grief in response to the loss of a loved one has been shown to assist with successful coping (Worden, 1996). Songwriting may be a relevant method that fosters the expression of thoughts and feelings related to the loss. The purpose of this study was to analyse lyrics written by bereaved children during individual music therapy and to determine if they did use the opportunity to address grief through songwriting. Participants were 14 bereaved children (13 girls, 1 boy) aged between 7 and 12 years. Children were recruited and participated in individual music therapy in their homes with a credentialed music therapist. Participants wrote a total of 49 songs and their lyrics were analysed using a mixed methods content analysis. An inductive analysis identified categories existing within the lyrics and each lyric was then deductively attributed to one of the categories. Results revealed that the children wrote songs about themselves, their experiences, and their relationships, including, but not limited to the topic of loss. It became apparent that through songwriting these children expressed their experiences of the world based on their developmental capacities and limitations.

Individual tree control

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey A. Holt

1989-01-01

Controlling individual unwanted trees in forest stands is a readily accepted method for improving the value of future harvests. The practice is especially important in mixed hardwood forests where species differ considerably in value and within species individual trees differ in quality. Individual stem control is a mechanical or chemical weeding operation that...

The Analysis of the Impact of Individual Weighting Factor on Individual Scores

Science.gov (United States)

Kilic, Gulsen Bagci; Cakan, Mehtap

2006-01-01

In this study, category-based self and peer assessment were applied twice in a semester in an Elementary Science Teaching Methods course in order to assess individual contributions of group members to group projects as well as to analyze the impact of Individual Weighting Factors (IWF) on individual scores and individual grades. IWF were…

Noninvasive method to estimate anaerobic threshold in individuals with type 2 diabetes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sales Marcelo M

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background While several studies have identified the anaerobic threshold (AT through the responses of blood lactate, ventilation and blood glucose others have suggested the response of the heart rate variability (HRV as a method to identify the AT in young healthy individuals. However, the validity of HRV in estimating the lactate threshold (LT and ventilatory threshold (VT for individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D has not been investigated yet. Aim To analyze the possibility of identifying the heart rate variability threshold (HRVT by considering the responses of parasympathetic indicators during incremental exercise test in type 2 diabetics subjects (T2D and non diabetics individuals (ND. Methods Nine T2D (55.6 ± 5.7 years, 83.4 ± 26.6 kg, 30.9 ± 5.2 kg.m2(-1 and ten ND (50.8 ± 5.1 years, 76.2 ± 14.3 kg, 26.5 ± 3.8 kg.m2(-1 underwent to an incremental exercise test (IT on a cycle ergometer. Heart rate (HR, rate of perceived exertion (RPE, blood lactate and expired gas concentrations were measured at the end of each stage. HRVT was identified through the responses of root mean square successive difference between adjacent R-R intervals (RMSSD and standard deviation of instantaneous beat-to-beat R-R interval variability (SD1 by considering the last 60 s of each incremental stage, and were known as HRVT by RMSSD and SD1 (HRVT-RMSSD and HRVT-SD1, respectively. Results No differences were observed within groups for the exercise intensities corresponding to LT, VT, HRVT-RMSSD and HHVT-SD1. Furthermore, a strong relationship were verified among the studied parameters both for T2D (r = 0.68 to 0.87 and ND (r = 0.91 to 0.98 and the Bland & Altman technique confirmed the agreement among them. Conclusion The HRVT identification by the proposed autonomic indicators (SD1 and RMSSD were demonstrated to be valid to estimate the LT and VT for both T2D and ND.

A method for detecting IBD regions simultaneously in multiple individuals--with applications to disease genetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moltke, Ida; Albrechtsen, Anders; Hansen, Thomas V O

2011-01-01

genome containing disease-causing variants. However, IBD regions can be difficult to detect, especially in the common case where no pedigree information is available. In particular, all existing non-pedigree based methods can only infer IBD sharing between two individuals. Here, we present a new Markov...... Chain Monte Carlo method for detection of IBD regions, which does not rely on any pedigree information. It is based on a probabilistic model applicable to unphased SNP data. It can take inbreeding, allele frequencies, genotyping errors, and genomic distances into account. And most importantly, it can...

Comparison of Selected Methods for Individual Decontamination of Chemical Warfare Agents

OpenAIRE

Tomas Capoun; Jana Krykorkova

2014-01-01

This study addresses the individual decontamination of chemical warfare agents (CWA) and other hazardous substances. The individual decontamination applies to contaminated body surfaces, protective clothing and objects immediately after contamination, performed individually or by mutual assistance using prescribed or improvised devices. The article evaluates the importance of individual decontamination, security level for Fire and Rescue Service Units of the Czech Republic (FRS CR) and demons...

Surgical body modification and altruistic individualism: a case for cyborg ethics and methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Arthur W

2003-12-01

Three cases of pediatric surgical body modification--limb lengthening, normalization of genitalia, and craniofacial surgery--are considered through the moral language used by those who experience these surgeries. This language has been described as altruistic individualism. Decision making remains individualist, but it also shows considerable concern for others; egoism is complementary with altruism. The altruistic individualist is one of many incompatible identities that are predicted and described by the figure of the cyborg. Cyborgs suggest both ethics and qualitative methods appropriate to surgically shaped children.

Recovering Physical Activity Missing Data Measured by Accelerometers: A Comparison of Individual and Group-Centered Recovery Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuang, Jie; Chen, Peijie; Wang, Chao; Jin, Jing; Zhu, Zheng; Zhang, Wenjie

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine which method, individual information-centered (IIC) or group information-centered (GIC), is more efficient in recovering missing physical activity (PA) data. Method: A total of 2,758 Chinese children and youth aged 9 to 17 years old (1,438 boys and 1,320 girls) wore ActiGraph GT3X/GT3X+…

ACCURACY ASSESSMENT OF CROWN DELINEATION METHODS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL TREES USING LIDAR DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. T. Chang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Forest canopy density and height are used as variables in a number of environmental applications, including the estimation of biomass, forest extent and condition, and biodiversity. The airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR is very useful to estimate forest canopy parameters according to the generated canopy height models (CHMs. The purpose of this work is to introduce an algorithm to delineate crown parameters, e.g. tree height and crown radii based on the generated rasterized CHMs. And accuracy assessment for the extraction of volumetric parameters of a single tree is also performed via manual measurement using corresponding aerial photo pairs. A LiDAR dataset of a golf course acquired by Leica ALS70-HP is used in this study. Two algorithms, i.e. a traditional one with the subtraction of a digital elevation model (DEM from a digital surface model (DSM, and a pit-free approach are conducted to generate the CHMs firstly. Then two algorithms, a multilevel morphological active-contour (MMAC and a variable window filter (VWF, are implemented and used in this study for individual tree delineation. Finally, experimental results of two automatic estimation methods for individual trees can be evaluated with manually measured stand-level parameters, i.e. tree height and crown diameter. The resulting CHM generated by a simple subtraction is full of empty pixels (called "pits" that will give vital impact on subsequent analysis for individual tree delineation. The experimental results indicated that if more individual trees can be extracted, tree crown shape will became more completely in the CHM data after the pit-free process.

A genomic background based method for association analysis in related individuals.

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Najaf Amin

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Feasibility of genotyping of hundreds and thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs in thousands of study subjects have triggered the need for fast, powerful, and reliable methods for genome-wide association analysis. Here we consider a situation when study participants are genetically related (e.g. due to systematic sampling of families or because a study was performed in a genetically isolated population. Of the available methods that account for relatedness, the Measured Genotype (MG approach is considered the 'gold standard'. However, MG is not efficient with respect to time taken for the analysis of genome-wide data. In this context we proposed a fast two-step method called Genome-wide Association using Mixed Model and Regression (GRAMMAR for the analysis of pedigree-based quantitative traits. This method certainly overcomes the drawback of time limitation of the measured genotype (MG approach, but pays in power. One of the major drawbacks of both MG and GRAMMAR, is that they crucially depend on the availability of complete and correct pedigree data, which is rarely available. METHODOLOGY: In this study we first explore type 1 error and relative power of MG, GRAMMAR, and Genomic Control (GC approaches for genetic association analysis. Secondly, we propose an extension to GRAMMAR i.e. GRAMMAR-GC. Finally, we propose application of GRAMMAR-GC using the kinship matrix estimated through genomic marker data, instead of (possibly missing and/or incorrect genealogy. CONCLUSION: Through simulations we show that MG approach maintains high power across a range of heritabilities and possible pedigree structures, and always outperforms other contemporary methods. We also show that the power of our proposed GRAMMAR-GC approaches to that of the 'gold standard' MG for all models and pedigrees studied. We show that this method is both feasible and powerful and has correct type 1 error in the context of genome-wide association analysis

Dichotomous versus semi-quantitative scoring of ultrasound joint inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis using novel individualized joint selection methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, York Kiat; Allen, John C; Lye, Weng Kit; Conaghan, Philip G; Chew, Li-Ching; Thumboo, Julian

2017-05-01

The aim of the study is to compare the responsiveness of two joint inflammation scoring systems (dichotomous scoring (DS) versus semi-quantitative scoring (SQS)) using novel individualized ultrasound joint selection methods and existing ultrasound joint selection methods. Responsiveness measured by the standardized response means (SRMs) using the DS and the SQS system (for both the novel and existing ultrasound joint selection methods) was derived using the baseline and the 3-month total inflammatory scores from 20 rheumatoid arthritis patients. The relative SRM gain ratios (SRM-Gains) for both scoring system (DS and SQS) comparing the novel to the existing methods were computed. Both scoring systems (DS and SQS) demonstrated substantial SRM-Gains (ranged from 3.31 to 5.67 for the DS system and ranged from 1.82 to 3.26 for the SQS system). The SRMs using the novel methods ranged from 0.94 to 1.36 for the DS system and ranged from 0.89 to 1.11 for the SQS system. The SRMs using the existing methods ranged from 0.24 to 0.32 for the DS system and ranged from 0.34 to 0.49 for the SQS system. The DS system appears to achieve high responsiveness comparable to SQS for the novel individualized ultrasound joint selection methods.

A new derivatization method for δ18O analysis of individual carbohydrates with GC-Pyrolysis-IRMS

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmann, M. M.; Siegwolf, R. T.; Saurer, M.; Blees, J.; Fischer, M.; Zech, M.

2015-12-01

Compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) with gas chromatography coupled to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (GC-Pyr-IRMS) is nowadays a powerful tool that is widely used by a broad spectrum of research fields to investigate the isotopic signature of diverse metabolites. While many CSIA methods for carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen isotopes are known, CSIA methods for the analysis of oxygen isotopes (δ18O) are still not widely established. Especially, reliable and precise methods for the δ18O analyses of individual carbohydrates are scarce, which is caused by the highly sensitive nature of the sugars. However, carbohydrates are important components of living organisms, source for many biochemical reactions, and can be found in all organisms, in soils, sediments, and in air. Thus, a method, allowing the investigation of the 18O/16O ratio in carbohydrates will enhance the scope of research using isotopes. We developed a new and easy to handle derivatization method to determine δ18O in carbohydrates with GC-Pyr-IRMS that consists of a catalyzed one-pot reaction in acetonitrile, resulting in complete methylation of all sugar hydroxyl groups within 24 hours, with silver oxide as the proton acceptor and methyl iodide as the methyl group carrier. Results derived from standard material show unrivalled δ18O precision ranging from about 0.2 to 1.1 ‰ for different individual carbohydrates of different classes and a generally very good accuracy, with a narrow range of 0.2 ‰ around the reference value, despite of high area variations. We applied this method on real samples, demonstrating that the method can commonly be used for analyzing honey samples, and for the analyses of more complex carbohydrate mixtures from plant leaves, including glucose, fructose, pinitol, and sucrose. Our new method may be used for food, beverage, and medical applications, as well as for biogeochemical and paleoclimatic sciences.

A comparison of two sleep spindle detection methods based on all night averages: individually adjusted versus fixed frequencies

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Péter Przemyslaw Ujma

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Sleep spindles are frequently studied for their relationship with state and trait cognitive variables, and they are thought to play an important role in sleep-related memory consolidation. Due to their frequent occurrence in NREM sleep, the detection of sleep spindles is only feasible using automatic algorithms, of which a large number is available. We compared subject averages of the spindle parameters computed by a fixed frequency (11-13 Hz for slow spindles, 13-15 Hz for fast spindles automatic detection algorithm and the individual adjustment method (IAM, which uses individual frequency bands for sleep spindle detection. Fast spindle duration and amplitude are strongly correlated in the two algorithms, but there is little overlap in fast spindle density and slow spindle parameters in general. The agreement between fixed and manually determined sleep spindle frequencies is limited, especially in case of slow spindles. This is the most likely reason for the poor agreement between the two detection methods in case of slow spindle parameters. Our results suggest that while various algorithms may reliably detect fast spindles, a more sophisticated algorithm primed to individual spindle frequencies is necessary for the detection of slow spindles as well as individual variations in the number of spindles in general.

Impact of a novel teaching method based on feedback, activity, individuality and relevance on students’ learning

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, William S.; Laskar, Simone N.; Benjamin, Miles W.; Chan, Philip

2016-01-01

Objectives This study examines the perceived impact of a novel clinical teaching method based on FAIR principles (feedback, activity, individuality and relevance) on students’ learning on clinical placement. Methods This was a qualitative research study. Participants were third year and final year medical students attached to one UK vascular firm over a four-year period (N=108). Students were asked to write a reflective essay on how FAIRness approach differs from previous clinical placement, and its advantages and disadvantages. Essays were thematically analysed and globally rated (positive, negative or neutral) by two independent researchers. Results Over 90% of essays reported positive experiences of feedback, activity, individuality and relevance model.  The model provided multifaceted feedback; active participation; longitudinal improvement; relevance to stage of learning and future goals; structured teaching; professional development; safe learning environment; consultant involvement in teaching. Students perceived preparation for tutorials to be time intensive for tutors/students; a lack of teaching on medical sciences and direct observation of performance; more than once weekly sessions would be beneficial; some issues with peer and public feedback, relevance to upcoming exam and large group sizes. Students described negative experiences of “standard” clinical teaching. Conclusions Progressive teaching programmes based on the FAIRness principles, feedback, activity, individuality and relevance, could be used as a model to improve current undergraduate clinical teaching. PMID:26995588

Determining individual variation in growth and its implication for life-history and population processes using the empirical Bayes method.

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Simone Vincenzi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The differences in demographic and life-history processes between organisms living in the same population have important consequences for ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Modern statistical and computational methods allow the investigation of individual and shared (among homogeneous groups determinants of the observed variation in growth. We use an Empirical Bayes approach to estimate individual and shared variation in somatic growth using a von Bertalanffy growth model with random effects. To illustrate the power and generality of the method, we consider two populations of marble trout Salmo marmoratus living in Slovenian streams, where individually tagged fish have been sampled for more than 15 years. We use year-of-birth cohort, population density during the first year of life, and individual random effects as potential predictors of the von Bertalanffy growth function's parameters k (rate of growth and L∞ (asymptotic size. Our results showed that size ranks were largely maintained throughout marble trout lifetime in both populations. According to the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC, the best models showed different growth patterns for year-of-birth cohorts as well as the existence of substantial individual variation in growth trajectories after accounting for the cohort effect. For both populations, models including density during the first year of life showed that growth tended to decrease with increasing population density early in life. Model validation showed that predictions of individual growth trajectories using the random-effects model were more accurate than predictions based on mean size-at-age of fish.

Determining individual variation in growth and its implication for life-history and population processes using the empirical Bayes method.

Science.gov (United States)

Vincenzi, Simone; Mangel, Marc; Crivelli, Alain J; Munch, Stephan; Skaug, Hans J

2014-09-01

The differences in demographic and life-history processes between organisms living in the same population have important consequences for ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Modern statistical and computational methods allow the investigation of individual and shared (among homogeneous groups) determinants of the observed variation in growth. We use an Empirical Bayes approach to estimate individual and shared variation in somatic growth using a von Bertalanffy growth model with random effects. To illustrate the power and generality of the method, we consider two populations of marble trout Salmo marmoratus living in Slovenian streams, where individually tagged fish have been sampled for more than 15 years. We use year-of-birth cohort, population density during the first year of life, and individual random effects as potential predictors of the von Bertalanffy growth function's parameters k (rate of growth) and L∞ (asymptotic size). Our results showed that size ranks were largely maintained throughout marble trout lifetime in both populations. According to the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), the best models showed different growth patterns for year-of-birth cohorts as well as the existence of substantial individual variation in growth trajectories after accounting for the cohort effect. For both populations, models including density during the first year of life showed that growth tended to decrease with increasing population density early in life. Model validation showed that predictions of individual growth trajectories using the random-effects model were more accurate than predictions based on mean size-at-age of fish.

A novel methylation derivatization method for δ(18)O analysis of individual carbohydrates by gas chromatography/pyrolysis-isotope ratio mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmann, Marco M; Fischer, Maria; Blees, Jan; Zech, Michael; Siegwolf, Rolf T W; Saurer, Matthias

2016-01-15

The oxygen isotope ratio (δ(18)O) of carbohydrates derived from animals, plants, sediments, and soils provides important information about biochemical and physiological processes, past environmental conditions, and geographical origins, which are otherwise not available. Nowadays, δ(18)O analyses are often performed on carbohydrate bulk material, while compound-specific δ(18)O analyses remain challenging and methods for a wide range of individual carbohydrates are rare. To improve the δ(18)O analysis of individual carbohydrates by gas chromatography/pyrolysis-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/Pyr-IRMS) we developed a new methylation derivatization method. Carbohydrates were fully methylated within 24 h in an easy-to-handle one-pot reaction in acetonitrile, using silver oxide as proton acceptor, methyl iodide as methyl group carrier, and dimethyl sulfide as catalyst. The precision of the method ranged between 0.12 and 1.09‰ for the δ(18)O values of various individual carbohydrates of different classes (mono-, di-, and trisaccharides, alditols), with an accuracy of a similar order of magnitude, despite high variation in peak areas. Based on the δ(18)O values of the main isomers, important monosaccharides such as glucose and fructose could also be precisely analyzed for the first time. We tested the method on standard mixtures, honey samples, and leaf carbohydrates extracted from Pinus sylvestris, showing that the method is also applicable to different carbohydrate mixtures. The new methylation method shows unrivalled accuracy and precision for δ(18)O analysis of various individual carbohydrates; it is fast and easy-to-handle, and may therefore find wide-spread application. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Calculation of evolutionary correlation between individual genes and full-length genome: a method useful for choosing phylogenetic markers for molecular epidemiology.

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Shuai Wang

Full Text Available Individual genes or regions are still commonly used to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among viral isolates. The genomic regions that can faithfully provide assessments consistent with those predicted with full-length genome sequences would be preferable to serve as good candidates of the phylogenetic markers for molecular epidemiological studies of many viruses. Here we employed a statistical method to evaluate the evolutionary relationships between individual viral genes and full-length genomes without tree construction as a way to determine which gene can match the genome well in phylogenetic analyses. This method was performed by calculation of linear correlations between the genetic distance matrices of aligned individual gene sequences and aligned genome sequences. We applied this method to the phylogenetic analyses of porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2, measles virus (MV, hepatitis E virus (HEV and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV. Phylogenetic trees were constructed for comparisons and the possible factors affecting the method accuracy were also discussed in the calculations. The results revealed that this method could produce results consistent with those of previous studies about the proper consensus sequences that could be successfully used as phylogenetic markers. And our results also suggested that these evolutionary correlations could provide useful information for identifying genes that could be used effectively to infer the genetic relationships.

Individual SnO2 nanowire transistors fabricated by the gold microwire mask method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Jia; Tang Qingxin; Lu Aixia; Jiang Xuejiao; Wan Qing

2009-01-01

A gold microwire mask method is developed for the fabrication of transistors based on single lightly Sb-doped SnO 2 nanowires. Damage of the nanowire's surface can be avoided without any thermal annealing and surface modification, which is very convenient for the fundamental electrical and photoelectric characterization of one-dimensional inorganic nanomaterials. Transport measurements of the individual SnO 2 nanowire devices demonstrate the high-performance n-type field effect transistor characteristics without significant hysteresis in the transfer curves. The current on/off ratio and the subthreshold swing of the nanowire transistors are found to be 10 6 and 240 mV/decade, respectively.

Individualized feedback during simulated laparoscopic training:a mixed methods study.

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Ahlborg, Liv; Weurlander, Maria; Hedman, Leif; Nisel, Henry; Lindqvist, Pelle G; Felländer-Tsai, Li; Enochsson, Lars

2015-07-29

This study aimed to explore the value of individualized feedback on performance, flow and self-efficacy during simulated laparoscopy. Furthermore, we wished to explore attitudes towards feedback and simulator training among medical students. Sixteen medical students were included in the study and randomized to laparoscopic simulator training with or without feedback. A teacher provided individualized feedback continuously throughout the procedures to the target group. Validated questionnaires and scales were used to evaluate self-efficacy and flow. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to evaluate differences between groups regarding laparoscopic performance (instrument path length), self-efficacy and flow. Qualitative data was collected by group interviews and interpreted using inductive thematic analyses. Sixteen students completed the simulator training and questionnaires. Instrument path length was shorter in the feedback group (median 3.9 m; IQR: 3.3-4.9) as compared to the control group (median 5.9 m; IQR: 5.0-8.1), pfeedback group were more concentrated on the task and also more anxious. Both groups had high ambitions to succeed and also expressed the importance of getting feedback. The authenticity of the training scenario was important for the learning process. This study highlights the importance of individualized feedback during simulated laparoscopy training. The next step is to further optimize feedback and to transfer standardized and individualized feedback from the simulated setting to the operating room.

A New Method to Individualize Monitoring of Muscle Recovery in Athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hecksteden, Anne; Pitsch, Werner; Julian, Ross; Pfeiffer, Mark; Kellmann, Michael; Ferrauti, Alexander; Meyer, Tim

2017-10-01

Assessment of muscle recovery is essential for the daily fine-tuning of training load in competitive sports, but individual differences may limit the diagnostic accuracy of group-based reference ranges. This article reports an attempt to develop individualized reference ranges using a Bayesian approach comparable to that developed for the Athlete Biological Passport. Urea and creatine kinase (CK) were selected as indicators of muscle recovery. For each parameter, prior distributions and repeated-measures SDs were characterized based on data of 883 squad athletes (1758 data points, 1-8 per athlete, years 2013-2015). Equations for the individualization procedure were adapted from previous material to allow for discrimination of 2 physiological states (recovered vs nonrecovered). Evaluation of classificatory performance was carried out using data from 5 consecutive weekly microcycles in 14 elite junior swimmers and triathletes. Blood samples were collected every Monday (recovered) and Friday according to the repetitive weekly training schedule over 5 wk. On the group level, changes in muscle recovery could be confirmed by significant differences in urea and CK and validated questionnaires. Group-based reference ranges were derived from that same data set to avoid overestimating the potential benefit of individualization. For CK, error rates were significantly lower with individualized classification (P vs group-based: test-pass error rate P = .008; test-fail error rate P < .001). For urea, numerical improvements in error rates failed to reach significance. Individualized reference ranges seem to be a promising tool to improve accuracy of monitoring muscle recovery. Investigating application to a larger panel of indicators is warranted.

Rapid quantitative analysis of individual anthocyanin content based on high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection with the pH differential method.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Huayin

2014-09-01

A new quantitative technique for the simultaneous quantification of the individual anthocyanins based on the pH differential method and high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection is proposed in this paper. The six individual anthocyanins (cyanidin 3-glucoside, cyanidin 3-rutinoside, petunidin 3-glucoside, petunidin 3-rutinoside, and malvidin 3-rutinoside) from mulberry (Morus rubra) and Liriope platyphylla were used for demonstration and validation. The elution of anthocyanins was performed using a C18 column with stepwise gradient elution and individual anthocyanins were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Based on the pH differential method, the high-performance liquid chromatography peak areas of maximum and reference absorption wavelengths of anthocyanin extracts were conducted to quantify individual anthocyanins. The calibration curves for these anthocyanins were linear within the range of 10-5500 mg/L. The correlation coefficients (r(2)) all exceeded 0.9972, and the limits of detection were in the range of 1-4 mg/L at a signal-to-noise ratio ≥5 for these anthocyanins. The proposed quantitative analysis was reproducible with good accuracy of all individual anthocyanins ranging from 96.3 to 104.2% and relative recoveries were in the range 98.4-103.2%. The proposed technique is performed without anthocyanin standards and is a simple, rapid, accurate, and economical method to determine individual anthocyanin contents. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Effects of Spatial Distribution of Trees on Density Estimation by Nearest Individual Sampling Method: Case Studies in Zagros Wild Pistachio Woodlands and Simulated Stands

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Y. Erfanifard

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Distance methods and their estimators of density may have biased measurements unless the studied stand of trees has a random spatial pattern. This study aimed at assessing the effect of spatial arrangement of wild pistachio trees on the results of density estimation by using the nearest individual sampling method in Zagros woodlands, Iran, and applying a correction factor based on the spatial pattern of trees. A 45 ha clumped stand of wild pistachio trees was selected in Zagros woodlands and two random and dispersed stands with similar density and area were simulated. Distances from the nearest individual and neighbour at 40 sample points in a 100 × 100 m grid were measured in the three stands. The results showed that the nearest individual method with Batcheler estimator could not calculate density correctly in all stands. However, applying the correction factor based on the spatial pattern of the trees, density was measured with no significant difference in terms of the real density of the stands. This study showed that considering the spatial arrangement of trees can improve the results of the nearest individual method with Batcheler estimator in density measurement.

Coaching – A successful training and educational method of an individual

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Ana Krajnc

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Current level of development demands an ever growing forms of the personal and customized, as a result in the last few decades group trainings (seminars, courses, public lectures have been replaced by individual forms of education/training, such as: mentoring, educational counseling and e-training. Among these a special individual form of education/training has appeared, called coaching.

Individual neutron dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mauricio, C.L.P.

1987-01-01

The most important concepts and development in individual neutron dosimetry are presented, especially the dosimetric properties of the albedo technique. The main problem in albedo dosimetry is to calibrate the dosemeter in the environs of each neutron source. Some of the most used calibration techniques are discussed. The IRD albedo dosemeter used in the routine neutron individual monitoring is described in detail. Its dosimetric properties and calibration methods are discussed. (Author) [pt

Evaluation and comparison of predictive individual-level general surrogates.

Science.gov (United States)

Gabriel, Erin E; Sachs, Michael C; Halloran, M Elizabeth

2018-07-01

An intermediate response measure that accurately predicts efficacy in a new setting at the individual level could be used both for prediction and personalized medical decisions. In this article, we define a predictive individual-level general surrogate (PIGS), which is an individual-level intermediate response that can be used to accurately predict individual efficacy in a new setting. While methods for evaluating trial-level general surrogates, which are predictors of trial-level efficacy, have been developed previously, few, if any, methods have been developed to evaluate individual-level general surrogates, and no methods have formalized the use of cross-validation to quantify the expected prediction error. Our proposed method uses existing methods of individual-level surrogate evaluation within a given clinical trial setting in combination with cross-validation over a set of clinical trials to evaluate surrogate quality and to estimate the absolute prediction error that is expected in a new trial setting when using a PIGS. Simulations show that our method performs well across a variety of scenarios. We use our method to evaluate and to compare candidate individual-level general surrogates over a set of multi-national trials of a pentavalent rotavirus vaccine.

A novel AFM based method for force measurements between individual hair strands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Max, Eva; Haefner, Wolfgang; Wilco Bartels, Frank; Sugiharto, Albert; Wood, Claudia; Fery, Andreas

2010-01-01

Interactions between hairs and other natural fibers are of broad interest for both applications and fundamental understanding of biological interfaces. We present a novel method, that allows force measurements between individual hair strands. Hair fragments can be laser-cut without altering their surface chemistry. Subsequently, they are glued onto Atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilevers. This allows carrying out measurements between the hair fragment and surface immobilized hair in a well-defined crossed-cylinder geometry. Both force-distance and friction measurements are feasible. Measurements in air with controlled humidity and in aqueous environment show clear differences which can be explained by the dominating role of capillary interactions in air. Friction is found to be anisotropic, reflecting the fine structure of hair cuticula. While the investigations are focused on the particular example of human hair, we expect that the approach can be extended to other animal/plant fibers and thus offers perspectives for broad spectrum systems.

Encounter Probability of Individual Wave Height

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Z.; Burcharth, H. F.

1998-01-01

wave height corresponding to a certain exceedence probability within a structure lifetime (encounter probability), based on the statistical analysis of long-term extreme significant wave height. Then the design individual wave height is calculated as the expected maximum individual wave height...... associated with the design significant wave height, with the assumption that the individual wave heights follow the Rayleigh distribution. However, the exceedence probability of such a design individual wave height within the structure lifetime is unknown. The paper presents a method for the determination...... of the design individual wave height corresponding to an exceedence probability within the structure lifetime, given the long-term extreme significant wave height. The method can also be applied for estimation of the number of relatively large waves for fatigue analysis of constructions....

Survival chance in papillary thyroid cancer in Hungary: individual survival probability estimation using the Markov method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esik, Olga; Tusnady, Gabor; Daubner, Kornel; Nemeth, Gyoergy; Fuezy, Marton; Szentirmay, Zoltan

1997-01-01

Purpose: The typically benign, but occasionally rapidly fatal clinical course of papillary thyroid cancer has raised the need for individual survival probability estimation, to tailor the treatment strategy exclusively to a given patient. Materials and methods: A retrospective study was performed on 400 papillary thyroid cancer patients with a median follow-up time of 7.1 years to establish a clinical database for uni- and multivariate analysis of the prognostic factors related to survival (Kaplan-Meier product limit method and Cox regression). For a more precise prognosis estimation, the effect of the most important clinical events were then investigated on the basis of a Markov renewal model. The basic concept of this approach is that each patient has an individual disease course which (besides the initial clinical categories) is affected by special events, e.g. internal covariates (local/regional/distant relapses). On the supposition that these events and the cause-specific death are influenced by the same biological processes, the parameters of transient survival probability characterizing the speed of the course of the disease for each clinical event and their sequence were determined. The individual survival curves for each patient were calculated by using these parameters and the independent significant clinical variables selected from multivariate studies, summation of which resulted in a mean cause-specific survival function valid for the entire group. On the basis of this Markov model, prediction of the cause-specific survival probability is possible for extrastudy cases, if it is supposed that the clinical events occur within new patients in the same manner and with the similar probability as within the study population. Results: The patient's age, a distant metastasis at presentation, the extent of the surgical intervention, the primary tumor size and extent (pT), the external irradiation dosage and the degree of TSH suppression proved to be

Effectiveness of the Pilates method for individuals with nonspecific low back pain: clinical and electromyographic aspects.

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Pâmela Maiara Machado

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract AIMS The aim of this study was to verify the influence of Pilates on muscle activation of lumbar multifidus (LM and transversus abdominis/internal oblique muscles (TrA/IO in individuals with nonspecific low back pain. METHODS Twelve individuals of both sexes with non-specific low back pain were evaluated before and after a two-month Pilates program in relation to electromyographic activity of LM and TrA/IO, as well as clinical aspects such as pain, flexibility, muscular endurance, quality of life; and Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (in relation to physical and work-related activities. A statistical analysis was performed using a test for independent samples and significance was established at the level of 0.05. RESULTS After eight weeks of Pilates training, there was an improvement in the clinical parameters of pain, flexibility, muscular endurance and disability. The individuals presented lower LM activation (p=0.025, higher trunk extension strength (p=0.005 and an increase in time from onset to peak muscle activation (p=0.02. CONCLUSION Pilates protocol was effective for clinical improvement and motor behavior in patients with nonspecific low back pain and the parameters assessed showed a large effect size despite the small sample.

Impact of a novel teaching method based on feedback, activity, individuality and relevance on students' learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Edafe, Ovie; Brooks, William S; Laskar, Simone N; Benjamin, Miles W; Chan, Philip

2016-03-20

This study examines the perceived impact of a novel clinical teaching method based on FAIR principles (feedback, activity, individuality and relevance) on students' learning on clinical placement. This was a qualitative research study. Participants were third year and final year medical students attached to one UK vascular firm over a four-year period (N=108). Students were asked to write a reflective essay on how FAIRness approach differs from previous clinical placement, and its advantages and disadvantages. Essays were thematically analysed and globally rated (positive, negative or neutral) by two independent researchers. Over 90% of essays reported positive experiences of feedback, activity, individuality and relevance model. The model provided multifaceted feedback; active participation; longitudinal improvement; relevance to stage of learning and future goals; structured teaching; professional development; safe learning environment; consultant involvement in teaching. Students perceived preparation for tutorials to be time intensive for tutors/students; a lack of teaching on medical sciences and direct observation of performance; more than once weekly sessions would be beneficial; some issues with peer and public feedback, relevance to upcoming exam and large group sizes. Students described negative experiences of "standard" clinical teaching. Progressive teaching programmes based on the FAIRness principles, feedback, activity, individuality and relevance, could be used as a model to improve current undergraduate clinical teaching.

THE INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND MANIFESTATION

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Nikola Lj. Ilievski

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This paper is qualitative and theoretical research of the concept of sovereignty and the libertarian theory, particularly the concept of individual liberty. It represents a concept developing study, with a specific accent laid on the individual liberty, and the theoretically established concept of sovereignty. The research focus could be identified with the conceptualization and manifestation of the individual sovereignty, as a theoretical phenomenon that is not fully conceptualized and strictly defined. In the scope of this paper, content analysis method and comparative method are used. The analysis, comparison and synthesis refer to the theories of sovereignty and the theory of libertarianism, resulting in developing the concept of individual sovereignty and its socio-political manifestation.

Culture, Method, and the Content of Self-Concepts: Testing Trait, Individual-Self-Primacy, and Cultural Psychology Perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Del Prado, Alicia M; Church, A Timothy; Katigbak, Marcia S; Miramontes, Lilia G; Whitty, Monica; Curtis, Guy J; de Jesús Vargas-Flores, José; Ibáñez-Reyes, Joselina; Ortiz, Fernando A; Reyes, Jose Alberto S

2007-12-01

Three theoretical perspectives on cultural universals and differences in the content of self-concepts were tested in individualistic (United States, n = 178; Australia, n = 112) and collectivistic (Mexico, n = 157; Philippines, n = 138) cultures, using three methods of self-concept assessment. Support was found for both trait perspectives and the individual-self-primacy hypothesis. In contrast, support for cultural psychology hypotheses was limited because traits and other personal attributes were not more salient, or social attributes less salient, in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures. The salience of some aspects of self-concept depended on the method of assessment, calling into question conclusions based on monomethod studies.

Method for calculating individual equivalent doses and cumulative dose of population in the vicinity of nuclear power plant site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Namestek, L.; Khorvat, D; Shvets, J.; Kunz, Eh.

1976-01-01

A method of calculating the doses of external and internal person irradiation in the nuclear power plant vicinity under conditions of normal operation and accident situations has been described. The main difference between the above method and methods used up to now is the use of a new antropomorphous representation of a human body model together with all the organs. The antropomorphous model of human body and its organs is determined as a set of simple solids, coordinates of disposistion of the solids, sizes, masses, densities and composition corresponding the genuine organs. The use of the Monte-Carlo method is the second difference. The results of the calculations according to the model suggested can be used for determination: a critical group of inhabitans under conditions of normal plant operation; groups of inhabitants most subjected to irradiation in the case of possible accident; a critical sector with a maximum collective dose in the case of an accident; a critical radioisotope favouring the greatest contribution to an individual equivalent dose; critical irradiation ways promoting a maximum contribution to individual equivalent doses; cumulative collective doses for the whole region or for a chosen part of the region permitting to estimate a population dose. The consequent method evoluation suggests the development of separate units of the calculationg program, critical application and the selection of input data of physical, plysiological and ecological character and improvement of the calculated program for the separate concrete events [ru

An assessment of individualized technical ear training for audio production.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sungyoung

2015-07-01

An individualized technical ear training method is compared to a non-individualized method. The efficacy of the individualized method is assessed using a standardized test conducted before and after the training period. Participants who received individualized training improved better than the control group on the test. Results indicate the importance of individualized training for acquisition of spectrum-identification and spectrum-matching skills. Individualized training, therefore, should be implemented by default into technical ear training programs used in audio production industry and education.

Development of Web based system for individual internal monitoring programme; Desenvolvimento de um sistema baseado na Web para suporte ao programa de monitoracao individual interna do IPEN

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lima, Vanessa Rogeria de

2007-07-01

The purposes of the internal monitoring, in general, are to verify and document that each worker is protected adequately against risks from radionuclide intakes and the protection complies with legal requirements. Therefore, an overall radiation protection programme, starts with an assessment to identify work situations in which there is a risk of internal contamination of workers and to quantify the likely intake of radioactive material and the resulting committed effective dose. As a part of a continuous improvement of the monitoring programme for occupationally exposed workers at IPEN, it is being developed a Web based system to access the internal dosimetry database. The system was implemented using Hypertext Preprocessor, PHP, and a PostgreSQL database. This system will introduce a new paradigm in the routine of the internal dosimetry service, providing a fast access to the information among the measurement laboratories staff, dose evaluation group and the radiation protection supervisor. The database maintains information about worker identification, physical and chemical characteristics of the radionuclide, type of monitoring, measurement data and the dose. Moreover, this information will be readily available to provide support for regulatory compliance and quality control requirements. (author)

A novel method to remotely measure food intake of free-living individuals in real time: the remote food photography method.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Corby K; Han, Hongmei; Coulon, Sandra M; Allen, H Raymond; Champagne, Catherine M; Anton, Stephen D

2009-02-01

The aim of the present study was to report the first reliability and validity tests of the remote food photography method (RFPM), which consists of camera-enabled cell phones with data transfer capability. Participants take and transmit photographs of food selection and plate waste to researchers/clinicians for analysis. Following two pilot studies, adult participants (n 52; BMI 20-35 kg/m2 inclusive) were randomly assigned to the dine-in or take-out group. Energy intake (EI) was measured for 3 d. The dine-in group ate lunch and dinner in the laboratory. The take-out group ate lunch in the laboratory and dinner in free-living conditions (participants received a cooler with pre-weighed food that they returned the following morning). EI was measured with the RFPM and by directly weighing foods. The RFPM was tested in laboratory and free-living conditions. Reliability was tested over 3 d and validity was tested by comparing directly weighed EI to EI estimated with the RFPM using Bland-Altman analysis. The RFPM produced reliable EI estimates over 3 d in laboratory (r 0.62; P 0.93; P < 0.0001). In two laboratory-based validity tests, the RFPM underestimated EI by - 4.7 % (P = 0.046) and - 5.5 % (P = 0.076). In free-living conditions, the RFPM underestimated EI by - 6.6 % (P = 0.017). Bias did not differ by body weight or age. The RFPM is a promising new method for accurately measuring the EI of free-living individuals. Error associated with the method is small compared with self-report methods.

Annotating individual human genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Torkamani, Ali; Scott-Van Zeeland, Ashley A; Topol, Eric J; Schork, Nicholas J

2011-10-01

Advances in DNA sequencing technologies have made it possible to rapidly, accurately and affordably sequence entire individual human genomes. As impressive as this ability seems, however, it will not likely amount to much if one cannot extract meaningful information from individual sequence data. Annotating variations within individual genomes and providing information about their biological or phenotypic impact will thus be crucially important in moving individual sequencing projects forward, especially in the context of the clinical use of sequence information. In this paper we consider the various ways in which one might annotate individual sequence variations and point out limitations in the available methods for doing so. It is arguable that, in the foreseeable future, DNA sequencing of individual genomes will become routine for clinical, research, forensic, and personal purposes. We therefore also consider directions and areas for further research in annotating genomic variants. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ANNOTATING INDIVIDUAL HUMAN GENOMES*

Science.gov (United States)

Torkamani, Ali; Scott-Van Zeeland, Ashley A.; Topol, Eric J.; Schork, Nicholas J.

2014-01-01

Advances in DNA sequencing technologies have made it possible to rapidly, accurately and affordably sequence entire individual human genomes. As impressive as this ability seems, however, it will not likely to amount to much if one cannot extract meaningful information from individual sequence data. Annotating variations within individual genomes and providing information about their biological or phenotypic impact will thus be crucially important in moving individual sequencing projects forward, especially in the context of the clinical use of sequence information. In this paper we consider the various ways in which one might annotate individual sequence variations and point out limitations in the available methods for doing so. It is arguable that, in the foreseeable future, DNA sequencing of individual genomes will become routine for clinical, research, forensic, and personal purposes. We therefore also consider directions and areas for further research in annotating genomic variants. PMID:21839162

A method to assess the influence of individual player performance distribution on match outcome in team sports.

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Sam; Gupta, Ritu; McIntosh, Sam

2016-10-01

This study developed a method to determine whether the distribution of individual player performances can be modelled to explain match outcome in team sports, using Australian Rules football as an example. Player-recorded values (converted to a percentage of team total) in 11 commonly reported performance indicators were obtained for all regular season matches played during the 2014 Australian Football League season, with team totals also recorded. Multiple features relating to heuristically determined percentiles for each performance indicator were then extracted for each team and match, along with the outcome (win/loss). A generalised estimating equation model comprising eight key features was developed, explaining match outcome at a median accuracy of 63.9% under 10-fold cross-validation. Lower 75th, 90th and 95th percentile values for team goals and higher 25th and 50th percentile values for disposals were linked with winning. Lower 95th and higher 25th percentile values for Inside 50s and Marks, respectively, were also important contributors. These results provide evidence supporting team strategies which aim to obtain an even spread of goal scorers in Australian Rules football. The method developed in this investigation could be used to quantify the importance of individual contributions to overall team performance in team sports.

A Comparison of Work Value Preferences of Individuals with Disabilities and Individuals without Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Lustig, Daniel C.; Zanskas, Stephen

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was to compare the work value preferences of individuals with disabilities with the work value preferences for a sample of individuals without disabilities. Methods: The preferred work values of a sample of vocational rehabilitation consumers were compared to workers employed in a Southeastern university.…

Reserving by detailed conditioning on individual claim

Science.gov (United States)

Kartikasari, Mujiati Dwi; Effendie, Adhitya Ronnie; Wilandari, Yuciana

2017-03-01

The estimation of claim reserves is an important activity in insurance companies to fulfill their liabilities. Recently, reserving method of individual claim have attracted a lot of interest in the actuarial science, which overcome some deficiency of aggregated claim method. This paper explores the Reserving by Detailed Conditioning (RDC) method using all of claim information for reserving with individual claim of liability insurance from an Indonesian general insurance company. Furthermore, we compare it to Chain Ladder and Bornhuetter-Ferguson method.

Sound lateralization test in adolescent blind individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Yabe, Takao; Kaga, Kimitaka

2005-06-21

Blind individuals require to compensate for the lack of visual information by other sensory inputs. In particular, auditory inputs are crucial to such individuals. To investigate whether blind individuals localize sound in space better than sighted individuals, we tested the auditory ability of adolescent blind individuals using a sound lateralization method. The interaural time difference discrimination thresholds of blind individuals were statistically significantly shorter than those of blind individuals with residual vision and controls. These findings suggest that blind individuals have better auditory spatial ability than individuals with visual cues; therefore, some perceptual compensation occurred in the former.

A method for assessing the annual dose to the most exposed individual from tritium and 14C reactor discharges to atmosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nair, S.

1979-10-01

A method is described for assessing the annual dose to the most exposed individual from routine releases of tritium and 14 C to the atmosphere during normal reactor operations. A detailed assessment has been made of the resulting equilibrium contamination levels in a range of foodstuffs typical of an average UK diet and of the annual doses resulting from a chronic intake of tritium and 14 C via inhalation, ingestion and, additionally, in the case of tritium, via skin absorption. Equilibrium annual doses from the global circulation of tritium and 14 C have also been calculated. Upper limits to the effective annual dose-equivalents to the most exposed individual were found to be 0.6 rem.yr -1 and 100 rem.yr -1 per Ci.yr -1 release of tritium and 14 C respectively, with the ingestion pathway contributing significantly to the overall exposure. The most exposed individual was found to be a Reference 10 year old child. The methods outlined for calculating the ingestion dose from tritium and 14 C releases hav been incorporated into the more generally applicable code FOODDOSE. The code may be used to make more realistic dose calculations to the individuals based on site-specific surveys of variables such as local meteorology, local diet and local land use for agriculture, which may lead to doses smaller than the upper limit values quoted by factors of 20 and 200 for tritium and 14 C respectively. (author)

Individualizing Services, Individualizing Responsibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garsten, Christina; Hollertz, Katarina; Jacobsson, Kerstin

possibilities for individual voice, autonomy and self-determination in the local delivery of activation policy? What barriers do specific organisational models and practices imply for clients to choose, determine and access tailor-made programmes and services? What policy technologies are at work in governing......-oriented, and the normative demands placed on individuals appear increasingly totalizing, concerning the whole individual rather than the job-related aspects only. The paper is based on 23 in-depth interviews with individual clients as well as individual caseworkers and other professionals engaged in client-related work...

Enhanced individual selection for selecting fast growing fish: the "PROSPER" method, with application on brown trout (Salmo trutta fario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vandeputte Marc

2004-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Growth rate is the main breeding goal of fish breeders, but individual selection has often shown poor responses in fish species. The PROSPER method was developed to overcome possible factors that may contribute to this low success, using (1 a variable base population and high number of breeders (Ne > 100, (2 selection within groups with low non-genetic effects and (3 repeated growth challenges. Using calculations, we show that individual selection within groups, with appropriate management of maternal effects, can be superior to mass selection as soon as the maternal effect ratio exceeds 0.15, when heritability is 0.25. Practically, brown trout were selected on length at the age of one year with the PROSPER method. The genetic gain was evaluated against an unselected control line. After four generations, the mean response per generation in length at one year was 6.2% of the control mean, while the mean correlated response in weight was 21.5% of the control mean per generation. At the 4th generation, selected fish also appeared to be leaner than control fish when compared at the same size, and the response on weight was maximal (≈130% of the control mean between 386 and 470 days post fertilisation. This high response is promising, however, the key points of the method have to be investigated in more detail.

An Analysis of the Structure and Evaluation Methods of Individual Tacit Knowledge

OpenAIRE

LI, Zuo-xue; WANG, Qian; Cao, Lianzhong

2007-01-01

Tacit knowledge, especially individual tacit knowledge, plays a direct role in enabling an organization to attain a sustainable competitiveness. How to discern employee's tacit knowledge is a crucial step for an organization to cultivate, apply, and renew its core competency. As an inherent link with excellent performance, individual tacit knowledge refers to the knowledge which is hard to be expressed in words in certain situations. But tacit knowledge can be divided into general tacit knowl...

Accuracy of noninvasive breath methane measurements using Fourier transform infrared methods on individual cows.

Science.gov (United States)

Lassen, J; Løvendahl, P; Madsen, J

2012-02-01

Individual methane (CH(4)) production was recorded repeatedly on 93 dairy cows during milking in an automatic milking system (AMS), with the aim of estimating individual cow differences in CH(4) production. Methane and CO(2) were measured with a portable air sampler and analyzer unit based on Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) detection. The cows were 50 Holsteins and 43 Jerseys from mixed parities and at all stages of lactation (mean=156 d in milk). Breath was captured by the FTIR unit inlet nozzle, which was placed in front of the cow's head in each of the 2 AMS as an admixture to normal barn air. The FTIR unit was running continuously for 3 d in each of 2 AMS units, 1 with Holstein and another with Jersey cows. Air was analyzed every 20 s. From each visit of a cow to the AMS, CH(4) and CO(2) records were summarized into the mean, median, 75, and 90% quantiles. Furthermore, the ratio between CH(4) and CO(2) was used as a derived measure with the idea of using CO(2) in breath as a tracer gas to quantify the production of methane. Methane production records were analyzed with a mixed model, containing cow as random effect. Fixed effects of milk yield and daily intake of the total mixed ration and concentrates were also estimated. The repeatability of the CH(4)-to-CO(2) ratio was 0.39 for Holsteins and 0.34 for Jerseys. Both concentrate intake and total mixed ration intake were positively related to CH(4) production, whereas milk production level was not correlated with CH(4) production. In conclusion, the results from this study suggest that the CH(4)-to-CO(2) ratio measured using the noninvasive method is an asset of the individual cow and may be useful in both management and genetic evaluations. Copyright © 2012 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Agents, Individuals, and Networks: Modeling Methods to Inform Natural Resource Management in Regional Landscapes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lael Parrott

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Landscapes are complex systems. Landscape dynamics are the result of multiple interacting biophysical and socioeconomic processes that are linked across a broad range of spatial, temporal, and organizational scales. Understanding and describing landscape dynamics poses enormous challenges and demands the use of new multiscale approaches to modeling. In this synthesis article, we present three regional systems - i.e., a forest system, a marine system, and an agricultural system - and describe how hybrid, bottom-up modeling of these systems can be used to represent linkages across scales and between subsystems. Through the use of these three examples, we describe how modeling can be used to simulate emergent system responses to different conservation policy and management scenarios from the bottom up, thereby increasing our understanding of important drivers and feedback loops within a landscape. The first case study involves the use of an individual-based modeling approach to simulate the effects of forest harvesting on the movement patterns of large mammals in Canada's boreal forest and the resulting emergent population dynamics. This model is being used to inform forest harvesting and management guidelines. The second case study combines individual and agent-based approaches to simulate the dynamics of individual boats and whales in a marine park. This model is being used to inform decision-makers on how to mitigate the impacts of maritime traffic on whales in the Saint Lawrence Estuary in eastern Canada. The third example is a case study of biodiversity conservation efforts on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. In this example, the social-ecological system is represented as a complex network of interacting components. Methods of network analysis can be used to explore the emergent responses of the system to changes in the network structure or configuration, thus informing managers about the resilience of the system. These three examples

An assessment method of long-term radiation impacts to environment and public individual from tritium discharged by inland NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shangguan Zhihong; Huang Yanjun; Tao Yunliang

2012-01-01

In this paper, an assessment method of environmental impacts from long-term releases of tritium of inland nuclear power plant is proposed; the tritium concentrations in different environmental materials, including the two main chemical form HTO and OBT. and the radiation dose to public individuals including drinking water, food, inhalation. skin adsorption, are estimated based on the method and environmental parameters from typical inland NPP. The two discharge pathways, gaseous and liquid, are considered with particular concerns to drinking and irrigation ascribed to liquid discharge. This study would contribute to the assessment techniques of environmental impacts and safety of inland NPP. (authors)

Technical requirements for implementation of an individual monitoring service for evaluation of operational quantity HP(10) using thermoluminescent dosimetry; Requisitos tecnicos para a implantacao de um servico de monitoracao individual externa de corpo inteiro para fotons utilizando dosimetria termoluminescente

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francisco, Adelaide Benedita Armando

2016-11-01

This work aims to establish technical requirements for the development of a TLDs system for the assessment of operational quantity H{sub P}(10), in order to implement an external individual monitoring service in countries who do not have. This allows a better understanding of the technic and the thermoluminescent dosimetry system, thus contributing to identify the technical criteria to be followed by a dosimetry laboratory and evaluation of the dosimetric system performance. For this, the review of the specific literature of the dosimetry field was conducted and later the type and performance tests that must be followed by a dosimetric system were reproduced in practice. In additional was made a analysis of internationals standards norms and the technical regulation used in Brazil, to define the essentials type testes to a dosimetric system. To check the performance of a dosimetry system, a performance analysis of the Brazilian TLDs system was carried out over the past 6 years using the trumpet curve, where it was observed that most of TLDs system, in this review period, were approved and have excellent performance. The technical requirements for the development of a thermoluminescent dosimetry system ensure that the system provides technically reliable results and allow demonstration of compliance with the standard criteria established by national and international standards, and the implementation of the dosimetry system, is verified the compliance of the annual doses limits set for occupationally exposed. (author)

Feasibility of an individual surveillance program on contamination with direct measurement methods based on the criteria established in the ICRP publication 54

CERN Document Server

Melandri, C

1990-01-01

If different methods of adequate sensitivity are available ICRP Publication 54, 'Individual Monitoring for Intakes-of Radionuclides by Workers: Design and Interpretations', recommends the use of direct measurements in individual monitoring for intakes of radionuclides. This report analyses the possibility to perform the different controls on the basis of the proposed Derived Reference Levels, respecting the accuracy requirement in evaluation of individual intake and dose. Therefore, general operative criteria are defined by analysing the potentialities and limitations of the different Whole Body Counters utilizable for the measurement with regard to the chemical, physical and metabolic characteristics of some radionuclides of particular interest in Radiation Protection. These criteria are useful for monitoring planning wherever a radiocontamination risk is possible.

Investigating the Emotional Responses of Individuals to Urban Green Space Using Twitter Data: A Critical Comparison of Three Different Methods of Sentiment Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helen Roberts

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In urban research, Twitter data have the potential to provide additional information about urban citizens, their activities, mobility patterns and emotion. Extracting the sentiment present in tweets is increasingly recognised as a valuable approach to gathering information on the mood, opinion and emotional responses of individuals in a variety of contexts. This article evaluates the potential of deriving emotional responses of individuals while they experience and interact with urban green space. A corpus of over 10,000 tweets relating to 60 urban green spaces in Birmingham, United Kingdom was analysed for positivity, negativity and specific emotions, using manual, semi-automated and automated methods of sentiment analysis and the outputs of each method compared. Similar numbers of tweets were annotated as positive/neutral/negative by all three methods; however, inter-method consistency in tweet assignment between the methods was low. A comparison of all three methods on the same corpus of tweets, using character emojis as an additional quality control, identifies a number of limitations associated with each approach. The results presented have implications for urban planners in terms of the choices available to identify and analyse the sentiment present in tweets, and the importance of choosing the most appropriate method. Future attempts to develop more reliable and accurate algorithms of sentiment analysis are needed and should focus on semi-automated methods.

Individual and societal consequences of hypoglycemia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dømgaard, Mikala; Bagger, Malene; Rhee, Nicolai Alexander

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Hypoglycemia and fear of hypoglycemia threaten individuals' ability to work and drive. We studied the effect of hypoglycemia on the individual and society, with a focus on possible implications of new European union legislation on patients' continued ability to drive. METHODS: A cross......-sectional survey of Danish Diabetes Association members was conducted to investigate individual and societal consequences of hypoglycemia. RESULTS: A total of 3117/9951 individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) (32.2%) or type 2 diabetes (T2DM) (67.8%) completed the survey. The calculated incidence rates of self...

Linking data sources for measurement of effective coverage in maternal and newborn health: what do we learn from individual- vs ecological-linking methods?

Science.gov (United States)

Willey, Barbara; Waiswa, Peter; Kajjo, Darious; Munos, Melinda; Akuze, Joseph; Allen, Elizabeth; Marchant, Tanya

2018-06-01

Improving maternal and newborn health requires improvements in the quality of facility-based care. This is challenging to measure: routine data may be unreliable; respondents in population surveys may be unable to accurately report on quality indicators; and facility assessments lack population level denominators. We explored methods for linking access to skilled birth attendance (SBA) from household surveys to data on provision of care from facility surveys with the aim of estimating population level effective coverage reflecting access to quality care. We used data from Mayuge District, Uganda. Data from household surveys on access to SBA were linked to health facility assessment census data on readiness to provide basic emergency obstetric and newborn care (BEmONC) in the same district. One individual- and two ecological-linking methods were applied. All methods used household survey reports on where care at birth was accessed. The individual-linking method linked this to data about facility readiness from the specific facility where each woman delivered. The first ecological-linking approach used a district-wide mean estimate of facility readiness. The second used an estimate of facility readiness adjusted by level of health facility accessed. Absolute differences between estimates derived from the different linking methods were calculated, and agreement examined using Lin's concordance correlation coefficient. A total of 1177 women resident in Mayuge reported a birth during 2012-13. Of these, 664 took place in facilities within Mayuge, and were eligible for linking to the census of the district's 38 facilities. 55% were assisted by a SBA in a facility. Using the individual-linking method, effective coverage of births that took place with an SBA in a facility ready to provide BEmONC was just 10% (95% confidence interval CI 3-17). The absolute difference between the individual- and ecological-level linking method adjusting for facility level was one percentage

MRI of hip prostheses using single-point methods : in vitro studies towards the artifact-free imaging of individuals with metal implants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ramos Cabrer, P.; Duynhoven, van J.P.M.; Toorn, van der A.; Nicolaij, K.

2004-01-01

Use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in individuals with orthopedic implants is limited because of the large distortions caused by metallic components. As a possible solution for this problem, we suggest the use of single-point imaging (SPI) methods, which are immune to the susceptibility

A New Method for Tracking Individual Particles During Bed Load Transport in a Gravel-Bed River

Science.gov (United States)

Tremblay, M.; Marquis, G. A.; Roy, A. G.; Chaire de Recherche Du Canada En Dynamique Fluviale

2010-12-01

Many particle tracers (passive or active) have been developed to study gravel movement in rivers. It remains difficult, however, to document resting and moving periods and to know how particles travel from one deposition site to another. Our new tracking method uses the Hobo Pendant G acceleration Data Logger to quantitatively describe the motion of individual particles from the initiation of movement, through the displacement and to the rest, in a natural gravel river. The Hobo measures the acceleration in three dimensions at a chosen temporal frequency. The Hobo was inserted into 11 artificial rocks. The rocks were seeded in Ruisseau Béard, a small gravel-bed river in the Yamaska drainage basin (Québec) where the hydraulics, particle sizes and bed characteristics are well known. The signals recorded during eight floods (Summer and Fall 2008-2009) allowed us to develop an algorithm which classifies the periods of rest and motion. We can differentiate two types of motion: sliding and rolling. The particles can also vibrate while remaining in the same position. The examination of the movement and vibration periods with respect to the hydraulic conditions (discharge, shear stress, stream power) showed that vibration occurred mostly before the rise of hydrograph and allowed us to establish movement threshold and response times. In all cases, particle movements occurred during floods but not always in direct response to increased bed shear stress and stream power. This method offers great potential to track individual particles and to establish a spatiotemporal sequence of the intermittent transport of the particle during a flood and to test theories concerning the resting periods of particles on a gravel bed.

A new method for non-labeling attomolar detection of diseases based on an individual gold nanorod immunosensor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Phuoc Long, Truong; Cao, Cuong; Park, Sungho

2011-01-01

Herein, we present the use of a single gold nanorod sensor for detection of diseases on an antibodyfunctionalized surface, based on antibody–antigen interaction and the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) lmax shifts of the resonant Rayleigh light scattering spectra. By replacing...... can be equally compared to the assays based on DNA biobarcodes. This study shows that a gold nanorod has been used as a single nanobiosensor to detect antigens for the first time; and the detection method based on the resonant Rayleigh scattering spectrum of individual gold nanorods enables a simple...

EFFECT OF ANTIHYPERTENSIVE THERAPY BASED ON NEW METHOD OF INDIVIDUAL CHOICE OF DRUGS ON LEFT VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY IN ELDERLY PATIENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. I. Pshenichkin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Aim. To study the effects of antihypertensive therapy based on consideration of individual heart rhythm variability (HRV on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH in hypertensive elderly patients.Material and methods. 60 hypertensive elderly patients with LVH were included in the study. They were split in two groups (30 people in each one. Patients of the group-I had common antihypertensive therapy. Patients of group-II received medications prescribed with consideration of individual heart rate variability. Holter monitoring with analysis of HRV, 24-hour blood pressure monitoring and ultrasonography were conducted initially and 18 months after treatment beginning.Results. BP control was reached in the majority of patients of both groups. The patients of group-II in comparison with patients of group-I had reduction of low- high frequency power ratio (LF/HF and higher rate of LVH reduction. Relationship between LVH dynamics and ratio LF/HF was found.Conclusion. Arterial hypertension therapy considering individual HRV contributes in LVH reduction in elderly patients.

A review and comparison of methods for recreating individual patient data from published Kaplan-Meier survival curves for economic evaluations: a simulation study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Xiaomin; Peng, Liubao; Li, Yuanjian

2015-01-01

In general, the individual patient-level data (IPD) collected in clinical trials are not available to independent researchers to conduct economic evaluations; researchers only have access to published survival curves and summary statistics. Thus, methods that use published survival curves and summary statistics to reproduce statistics for economic evaluations are essential. Four methods have been identified: two traditional methods 1) least squares method, 2) graphical method; and two recently proposed methods by 3) Hoyle and Henley, 4) Guyot et al. The four methods were first individually reviewed and subsequently assessed regarding their abilities to estimate mean survival through a simulation study. A number of different scenarios were developed that comprised combinations of various sample sizes, censoring rates and parametric survival distributions. One thousand simulated survival datasets were generated for each scenario, and all methods were applied to actual IPD. The uncertainty in the estimate of mean survival time was also captured. All methods provided accurate estimates of the mean survival time when the sample size was 500 and a Weibull distribution was used. When the sample size was 100 and the Weibull distribution was used, the Guyot et al. method was almost as accurate as the Hoyle and Henley method; however, more biases were identified in the traditional methods. When a lognormal distribution was used, the Guyot et al. method generated noticeably less bias and a more accurate uncertainty compared with the Hoyle and Henley method. The traditional methods should not be preferred because of their remarkable overestimation. When the Weibull distribution was used for a fitted model, the Guyot et al. method was almost as accurate as the Hoyle and Henley method. However, if the lognormal distribution was used, the Guyot et al. method was less biased compared with the Hoyle and Henley method.

A Study on Individualized Tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Metin YAŞAR

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to compare KR-20 reliability levels of “Paper and Pencil Test” developed according to Classical Test Theory and “Individualized Test” developed according to Item Response Theory (Two-Parameter Logistic Model, and the correlation levels of skill measurements obtained via these two methods in a group of students. Individualized test developed in accordance with the Two-Parameter Logistic Model was applied by means of a question pool consisting of 61 multiple-choice items which can be answered in 13 steps. On the other hand, a paper and pencil test of 47 multiple-choice items was applied to the sample student group. After the test developed according to these two methods was applied to the same group, KR-20 reliability coefficient was calculated as 0.67 for the individualized test and as 0.75 for the paper and pencil test prepared according to Classical test theory. Calculated KR-20 reliability coefficients obtained from the study were converted into Fisher Z and tested at the significance level of 0.05. No meaningful difference was detected at the 0.05 significant difference level between the two KR-20 reliability coefficients obtained from the two methods. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was calculated as 0.36 between the points of the individualized test and the measurement results of the paper and pencil test. A positive yet low correlation was observed between the measurement results obtained from the tests developed according to both methods. Consequently, it was seen that at the 0.05 significance level there was no statistically significant difference between KR-20 reliability coefficients of the tests developed according to the two methods and that there was a low correlation between the skill measurements of the students in both tests, but there was no significant correlation at the 0.05 significance level between the skill measurements obtained from both tests.

Analysis of individual environmental particles using modern methods of electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laskin, A.; Cowin, J.P.; Iedema, M.J.

2006-01-01

Understanding the composition of particles in the atmosphere is critical because of their health effects and their direct and indirect effects on radiative forcing, and hence on climate. In this manuscript, we demonstrate the utility of single particle off-line analysis to investigate the chemistry of individual atmospheric particles using modern, state-of-the-art electron microscopy and time-of-flight secondary ionization mass spectrometry techniques. We show that these methods provide specific, detailed data on particle composition, chemistry, morphology, phase and internal structure. This information is crucial for evaluating hygroscopic properties of aerosols, understanding aerosol aging and reactivity, and correlating the characteristics of aerosols with their optical properties. The manuscript presents a number of analytical advances in methods of electron probe particle analysis along with a brief review of a number of the research projects carried out in the authors' laboratory on the chemical characterization of environmental particles. The obtained data offers a rich set of qualitative and quantitative information on the particle chemistry, composition and the mechanisms of gas-particle interactions which are of high importance to atmospheric processes involving particulate matter and air pollution

A mixed methods study of individual and organizational factors that affect implementation of interventions for children with autism in public schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Locke, Jill; Beidas, Rinad S; Marcus, Steven; Stahmer, Aubyn; Aarons, Gregory A; Lyon, Aaron R; Cannuscio, Carolyn; Barg, Frances; Dorsey, Shannon; Mandell, David S

2016-10-10

The significant lifelong impairments associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), combined with the growing number of children diagnosed with ASD, have created urgency in improving school-based quality of care. Although many interventions have shown efficacy in university-based research, few have been effectively implemented and sustained in schools, the primary setting in which children with ASD receive services. Individual- and organizational-level factors have been shown to predict the implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for the prevention and treatment of other mental disorders in schools, and may be potential targets for implementation strategies in the successful use of autism EBIs in schools. The purpose of this study is to examine the individual- and organizational-level factors associated with the implementation of EBIs for children with ASD in public schools. We will apply the Domitrovich and colleagues (2008) framework that examines the influence of contextual factors (i.e., individual- and organizational-level factors) on intervention implementation in schools. We utilize mixed methods to quantitatively test whether the factors identified in the Domitrovich and colleagues (2008) framework are associated with the implementation of autism EBIs, and use qualitative methods to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors associated with successful implementation and sustainment of these interventions with the goal of tailoring implementation strategies. The results of this study will provide an in-depth understanding of individual- and organizational-level factors that influence the successful implementation of EBIs for children with ASD in public schools. These data will inform potential implementation targets and tailoring of strategies that will help schools overcome barriers to implementation and ultimately improve the services and outcomes for children with ASD.

An EEGLAB plugin to analyze individual EEG alpha rhythms using the "channel reactivity-based method".

Science.gov (United States)

Goljahani, A; Bisiacchi, P; Sparacino, G

2014-03-01

A recent paper [1] proposed a new technique, termed the channel reactivity-based method (CRB), for characterizing EEG alpha rhythms using individual (IAFs) and channel (CAFs) alpha frequencies. These frequencies were obtained by identifying the frequencies at which the power of the alpha rhythms decreases. In the present study, we present a graphical interactive toolbox that can be plugged into the popular open source environment EEGLAB, making it easy to use CRB. In particular, we illustrate the major functionalities of the software and discuss the advantages of this toolbox for common EEG investigations. The CRB analysis plugin, along with extended documentation and the sample dataset utilized in this study, is freely available on the web at http://bio.dei.unipd.it/crb/. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characteristics and New Measurement Method of NCSFs of Individual Color Mechanisms of Human Vision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jing-Jing, Ge; Zhao-Qi, Wang; Yan, Wang; Kan-Xing, Zhao

2010-01-01

We propose a new method for determining neural contrast sensitivity functions (NCSFs) of isolated color mechanisms based on the measurements of wave-front aberrations and isoluminant color contrast sensitivity functions (CSFs). Compared with the traditional method, this technique avoids the coherent noise and speckle noise, which are brought by the interference of laser beams, and has great flexibility for the measurements of NCSF of different color mechanisms. Our experiments indicate that the mean NCSF and CSF of the red mechanism are higher than those of the green mechanism, respectively, while those of the blue mechanism are the lowest. However the relative heights of the peak of NCSF and CSF between red and green mechanisms vary in subjects. There are some individuals whose peak values of NCSF and/or CSF of green mechanism are higher than that of the red mechanism. The NCSFs and CSFs of isolated color mechanisms all exhibit the similar characteristics and variation tendency. With the statistical average, the NCSFs of the red, green and blue mechanisms are higher than the corresponding CSFs in the whole spatial frequency. Compared with the corresponding CSFs curves, the peaks of the NCSFs of isolated color mechanisms shift toward higher spatial frequencies, especially for that of blue mechanism which has a largest shift of 3.9c/deg

An Individual Claims History Simulation Machine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Gabrielli

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this project is to develop a stochastic simulation machine that generates individual claims histories of non-life insurance claims. This simulation machine is based on neural networks to incorporate individual claims feature information. We provide a fully calibrated stochastic scenario generator that is based on real non-life insurance data. This stochastic simulation machine allows everyone to simulate their own synthetic insurance portfolio of individual claims histories and back-test thier preferred claims reserving method.

Survival and activity of individual bioaugmentation strains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dueholm, Morten Simonsen; G. Marquesa, Irina; Karst, Søren Michael

2015-01-01

Successful application of bioaugmentation for enhanced degradation of environmental pollutants is often limited by the lack of methods to monitor the survival and activity of individual bioaugmentation strains. However, recent advancements in sequencing technologies and molecular techniques now...... allow us to address these limitations. Here a complementing set of general applicable molecular methods are presented that provides detailed information on the performance of individual bioaugmentation strains under in situ conditions. The approach involves genome sequencing to establish highly specific...

Using Geospatial Research Methods to Examine Resource Accessibility and Availability as it Relates to Community Participation of Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses.

Science.gov (United States)

Townley, Greg; Brusilovskiy, Eugene; Snethen, Gretchen; Salzer, Mark S

2018-03-01

Greater community participation among individuals with serious mental illnesses is associated with better psychosocial and health outcomes. Typically, studies examining community participation have utilized self-report measures and been conducted in limited settings. The introduction of methodological advances to examining community participation of individuals with serious mental illnesses has the potential to advance the science of community mental health research and invigorate the work of community psychologists in this area. This study employed an innovative geospatial approach to examine the relationship between community participation and resource accessibility (i.e., proximity) and availability (i.e., concentration) among 294 individuals utilizing community mental health services throughout the United States. Findings suggest small but significant associations between community participation and the accessibility and availability of resources needed for participation. Furthermore, findings demonstrate the importance of car access for individuals residing in both urban and non-urban settings. The methods and results presented in this study have implications for community mental health research and services and provide an illustration of ways that geospatial methodologies can be used to investigate environmental factors that impact community inclusion and participation of individuals with serious mental illnesses. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

Individual differences in change blindness

OpenAIRE

Bergmann, Katharina Verena

2016-01-01

The present work shows the existence of systematic individual differences in change blindness. It can be concluded that the sensitivity for changes is a trait. That is, persons differ in their ability to detect changes, independent from the situation or the measurement method. Moreover, there are two explanations for individual differences in change blindness: a) capacity differences in visual selective attention that may be influenced by top-down activated attention helping to focus attentio...

Noninvasive determination of individual renal clearance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chanard, J.; Brunois, J.P.; Ruiz, J.C.; Assailly, J.

1980-01-01

A noninvasive method for measurement of individual renal clearance is presented, based on analysis of the early rise of the kidneys' time-activity curves after injection of an appropriate tracer ( 131 I-ortho-iodohippurate for tubular function or 111 In DTPA for glomerular clearance). The analysis is based on the assumption that an insignificant amount of tracer leaves the kidney during the first few moments following injection. Therefore, the kidney activity during this period is directly proportional to the integral of the blood (heart) activity. After blood background subtraction, the linear correlation between the early part of the renogram and the corresponding blood integral activity curve allows calculation of an angular coefficient. The ratio of these coefficients calculated for each kidney is proportional to the ratio of the individual clearances. The latter are calculated from the total clearance simultaneously measured using a simplified method without urine collection. In control subjects with normal renal function individual renal clearances were not significantly different. In uninephrectomized patients a precision of 5% in calculating individual clearance was estimated from data recorded at the level of the remaining kidney. In patients with functional asymmetry, results were compared with 197 HgCl 2 quantitative renal fixation. A linear correlation was found (r = 0.95). The method we propose seems valuable for clinical investigation and allows sequential measurements. (orig.)

The concept of individual approach in sport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zh.L. Kozina

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose : prove the concept of individual approach to sports training. Develop a common scheme ways individualization process of training athletes. Material: the study involved 149 athletes: 38 volleyball players and 111 players. Was carried out comprehensive testing athletes for 33 pedagogical, psycho-physiological, biochemical parameters. Also conducted an analysis of indicators of competitive activity. Results : we propose the following areas of the individualization process of preparation of athletes: 1 - systematization of mathematical indicators of preparedness and condition of the athlete in a single point in time; 2 - regression analysis of the dynamics of individual game performance athletes; 3 - the use of universal methods of individualization of various aspects of the training process. It is established that the individual characteristics of players in basketball and volleyball are connected not only with the anthropometric data, but also depend on the physiological and psychophysiological indicators. In this aspect there is provided use of cluster and factor analysis for the construction of individual training programs for players. It was found that the dynamics of the gaming performance is described by quadratic, cubic and sinusoidal functions. In the case of sinusoidal oscillation period of regression models in girls is 25-30 days, 31-38 days in boys. This allows to determine the most preferred times of increasing and reducing the efficiency of competitive. Conclusions : the concept of individual approach in sport involves the separation of a wide range of indicators leading factors in the individual structure of athletes, in the analysis and prediction of individual dynamics of competitive performance, to develop universal methods of individualization with the activation of awareness of various aspects of the training process.

Body Dissatisfaction in Individuals with Obesity Compared to Normal-Weight Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natascha-Alexandra Weinberger

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Body dissatisfaction has been identified as a psychological correlate of obesity that is related to disordered eating, poor self-esteem, and depression. However, not all individuals with obesity are equally vulnerable to these correlates, and ‘normative discontent' is present in individuals with normal weight, too. In this light, the complex relationship of body image and individual weight status seems like a worthwhile direction of research inquiry. As such, this review aims to systematically explore the degree of body dissatisfaction in individuals with obesity compared to normal-weight individuals. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted. All quantitative studies of adult samples reporting results regarding differences in body dissatisfaction between individuals with normal weight and obesity were included. Results: 17 articles were found. Across studies, individuals with obesity reported higher body dissatisfaction than normal-weight individuals (questionnaires: d = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.63-1.16, p Conclusion: The findings underline the severity of body dissatisfaction among individuals with obesity and especially among women. Future research recommendations are discussed.

A method for the selective β-irradiation of individual lymphocyte microcultures and its application in a preliminary study of radiation sensitivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webb, C.; Sheldon, P.

1984-01-01

A method that permits high-energy β-irradiation to be applied to individual lymphocyte microplate cultures is described. The principle involves the introduction of single energy sources (in this case 32 P) contained within tubes which rest inside wells containing the lymphocyte cultures. Cell viability and mitogen-induced transformation were studied under these conditions. Dose-response effects were clearly demonstrated. The method is simple and, provided the precautions described are adhered to, safe. It should be applicable to studies of radiation sensitivity of putative target cells in various clinical situations. (Auth.)

A simple photographical method for analyzing the radiation interception by an individual tree

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elsacker, P. van; Keppens, H.; Impens, I.

1983-01-01

A method for analyzing radiation interception by an individual tree is presented. The use of a whole set of expensive radiation instruments is eliminated, the work-intensive field experiments are reduced to half a day for a large tree (9 m), and neither clear sky conditions nor diffuse radiation data are necessary. It is assumed that for a given azimuth and solar elevation the shading caused by a tree can be estimated photographically by taking a slide in the opposite direction. From slides taken of the whole tree in different directions and from different distances (i.e., different view angles), gap frequencies for certain heights are measured. At each height, gap frequency decreases significantly with increasing solar elevation. By calculating the mean path length within the crown (s) corresponding with each gap frequency (g), a highly significant exponential relationship between both is obtained [g = exp(−0.42s)]. With this equation and by knowing the tree dimensions calculated from the slides, direct and diffuse radiation interception of the whole tree can be estimated. Total leaf area and leaf area density are also calculated. These values agree very well with direct measurements on similar cut trees

A pilot mixed-methods evaluation of MS INFoRm: a self-directed fatigue management resource for individuals with multiple sclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Akbar, Nadine; Turpin, Karen; Petrin, Julie; Smyth, Penny; Finlayson, Marcia

2018-06-01

Fatigue management interventions for individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) often feature structured programmes requiring repeated, in-person attendance that is not possible for all individuals. We sought to determine whether MS INFoRm, a self-directed fatigue management resource for individuals with MS, was worth further, more rigorous evaluation. Our indicators of worthiness were actual use of the resource by participants over 3 months, reductions in fatigue impact and increases in self-efficacy, and participant reports of changes in fatigue management knowledge and behaviours. This was a single-group, mixed-methods, before-after pilot study in individuals with MS reporting mild to moderate fatigue. Thirty-five participants were provided with MS INFoRm by a USB flash drive to use at home for 3 months, on their own volition. Twenty-three participants completed all standardized questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and study process measures. Participants reported actively using MS INFoRm over the 3-month study period (median total time spent using MS INFoRm=315 min) as well as significantly lower overall fatigue impact (Modified Fatigue Impact Scale: t=2.6, P=0.01), increased knowledge of MS fatigue (z=-2.8, P=0.01) and greater confidence in managing MS fatigue (z=-3.3, P=0.001). Individuals with significant reductions in fatigue impact also reported behavioural changes including tracking fatigue, better communication with others, greater awareness, improved quality of life and being more proactive. This study provides evidence that further rigorous evaluation of MS INFoRm, a self-directed resource for managing fatigue, is worth pursuing.

A comparative study of deficit pattern in theory of mind and emotion regulation methods in evaluating patients with bipolar disorder and normal individuals

OpenAIRE

Ali Fakhari; Khalegh Minashiri; Abolfazl Fallahi; Mohammad Taher Panah

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND: This study compared patterns of deficit in "theory of mind" and "emotion regulation" in patientswith bipolar disorder and normal individuals. METHODS: In this causal-comparative study, subjects were 20 patients with bipolar disorder and 20 normalindividuals. Patients were selected via convenience sampling method among hospitalized patients at Razi hospital ofTabriz, Iran. The data was collected through two scales: Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and Emotion RegulationQuestionnai...

A Comparison of Early Maladaptive Schemas in Crystal Addicted Individuals and Normal Individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahra Asadi

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Objective: The aim of present research was to compare early maladaptive schemas in crystal addicted individuals and normal individuals. Method: In this ex post facto research, two groups of subjects (normal adolescent=30 and addicted adolescent=30 were selected via cluster sampling and convenience sampling respectively. Yang early maladaptive schemas questionnaire were conducted, then data were analyzed using multiple analysis of variance. Results: The results revealed that there was significant difference between both groups in early maladaptive schemas. Conclusion: The findings provided empirical support for the proposition that early maladaptive schemas may influence on tendency of adolescent toward substance abuse.

Accuracy of noninvasive breath methane measurements using Fourier transform infrared methods on individual cows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lassen, Jan; Løvendahl, Peter; Madsen, Jørgen

2012-01-01

Individual methane (CH4) production was recorded repeatedly on 93 dairy cows during milking in an automatic milking system (AMS), with the aim of estimating individual cow differences in CH4 production. Methane and CO2 were measured with a portable air sampler and analyzer unit based on Fourier...

Methodical approach to reconstruct individual internal doses for persons residing in areas of Belarus contaminated as a result of the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skryabin, Anatoly; Belsky, Yuri

2008-01-01

Full text: The studies on the risk to population of low-level exposure following the Chernobyl accident require the estimation of the individual doses. The most difficult aspect is the estimation of internal exposure (IAED int ). Level of individual internal exposure due to ingestion of long-lived caesium isotopes defines by individual 'food habits' (IFH) of the person. Non-standard methodical approach is suggested to evaluate internal doses taking into IFH: 1) IFH are generally conservative by food characteristic and steady in time; 2) IFH of the person determines his dose which can be calculated using data of personal interview and the special table of conformity establishing connection between IFH and corresponding percentile interval in a variation line of doses in given settlement; 3) IAED int (1986-2005) is calculated as the sum of annual doses of the individual for all period of exposure and in all settlements of residing. To develop the model, WBC measurements data (around 1.5 millions) collected in 1987-2005 for population of around 1000 Belarusian settlements were used. The input data for IAEA int calculation include consumption of dose-significant products, duration, and place of residence obtained by mean of individual questionnaire; WBC measurements data; table of conformity (IFH → IAED int ). (author)

Presbycusis: a human temporal bone study of individuals with flat audiometric patterns of hearing loss using a new method to quantify stria vascularis volume.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Erik G; Hinojosa, Raul

2003-10-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of stria vascularis atrophy in individuals with presbycusis and flat audiometric patterns of hearing loss. Individuals with presbycusis have historically been categorized by the shape of their audiograms, and flat audiometric thresholds have been reported to be associated with atrophy of the stria vascularis. Stria vascularis volume was not measured in these studies. Retrospective case review. Archival human temporal bones from individuals with presbycusis were selected on the basis of strict audiometric criteria for flat audiometric thresholds. Six temporal bones that met these criteria were identified and compared with 10 temporal bones in individuals with normal hearing. A unique quantitative method was developed to measure the stria vascularis volume in these temporal bones. The hair cell and spiral ganglion cell populations also were quantitatively evaluated. Only one of the six individuals with presbycusis and flat audiometric thresholds had significant atrophy of the stria vascularis. This individual with stria vascularis atrophy also had reduced inner hair cell, outer hair cell, and ganglion cell populations. Three of the individuals with presbycusis had spiral ganglion cell loss, three individuals had inner hair cell loss, and all six individuals had outer hair cell loss. The results of this investigation suggest that individuals with presbycusis and flat audiometric patterns of hearing loss infrequently have stria vascularis atrophy. Outer hair cell loss alone or in combination with inner hair cell or ganglion cell loss may be the cause of flat audiometric thresholds in individuals with presbycusis.

In-cell PCR method for specific genotyping of genomic DNA from one individual in a mixture of cells from two individuals: a model study with specific relevance to prenatal diagnosis based on fetal cells in maternal blood

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hviid, T Vauvert

2002-01-01

only in the male cells, leading to the correct HLA-DPB1 genotyping of the male by DNA sequencing of a nested, linked TSPY-HLA-DPB1 PCR product. CONCLUSION: This approach might be usable on mixed cell populations of fetal and maternal cells obtained after conventional cell-sorting techniques on maternal...... maternal blood samples, the use of such an approach for genotyping by molecular biology techniques in a more routine setting has been hampered by the large contamination of maternal nucleated blood cells in the cell isolates. Therefore, a new method based on in-cell PCR is described, which may overcome...... this problem. Methods and Results: Mixtures of cells from two different individuals were fixed and permeabilized in suspension. After coamplification of a DNA sequence specific for one of the individuals and the DNA sequence to be genotyped, the two PCR products were linked together in the fixed cells positive...

From basic to applied research to improve outcomes for individuals who require augmentative and alternative communication: potential contributions of eye tracking research methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Light, Janice; McNaughton, David

2014-06-01

In order to improve outcomes for individuals who require AAC, there is an urgent need for research across the full spectrum--from basic research to investigate fundamental language and communication processes, to applied clinical research to test applications of this new knowledge in the real world. To date, there has been a notable lack of basic research in the AAC field to investigate the underlying cognitive, sensory perceptual, linguistic, and motor processes of individuals with complex communication needs. Eye tracking research technology provides a promising method for researchers to investigate some of the visual cognitive processes that underlie interaction via AAC. The eye tracking research technology automatically records the latency, duration, and sequence of visual fixations, providing key information on what elements attract the individual's attention (and which ones do not), for how long, and in what sequence. As illustrated by the papers in this special issue, this information can be used to improve the design of AAC systems, assessments, and interventions to better meet the needs of individuals with developmental and acquired disabilities who require AAC (e.g., individuals with autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, intellectual disabilities of unknown origin, aphasia).

Part-time sick leave as a treatment method for individuals with musculoskeletal disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrén, Daniela; Svensson, Mikael

2012-09-01

There is increasing evidence that staying active is an important part of a recovery process for individuals on sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It has been suggested that using part-time sick-leave rather than full-time sick leave will enhance the possibility of full recovery to the workforce, and several countries actively favor this policy. The aim of this paper is to examine if it is beneficial for individuals on sick leave due to MSDs to be on part-time sick leave compared to full-time sick leave. A sample of 1,170 employees from the RFV-LS (register) database of the Social Insurance Agency of Sweden is used. The effect of being on part-time sick leave compared to full-time sick leave is estimated for the probability of returning to work with full recovery of lost work capacity. A two-stage recursive bivariate probit model is used to deal with the endogeneity problem. The results indicate that employees assigned to part-time sick leave do recover to full work capacity with a higher probability than those assigned to full-time sick leave. The average treatment effect of part-time sick leave is 25 percentage points. Considering that part-time sick leave may also be less expensive than assigning individuals to full-time sick leave, this would imply efficiency improvements from assigning individuals, when possible, to part-time sick leave.

Can the collective intentions of individual professionals within healthcare teams predict the team's performance: developing methods and theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bosch Marije

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Within implementation research, using theory-based approaches to understanding the behaviours of healthcare professionals and the quality of care that they reflect and designing interventions to change them is being promoted. However, such approaches lead to a new range of methodological and theoretical challenges pre-eminent among which are how to appropriately relate predictors of individual's behaviour to measures of the behaviour of healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the theory of planned behaviour proximal predictors of behaviour (intention and perceived behavioural control, or PBC and practice level behaviour. This was done in the context of two clinical behaviours – statin prescription and foot examination – in the management of patients with diabetes mellitus in primary care. Scores for the predictor variables were aggregated over healthcare professionals using four methods: simple mean of all primary care team members' intention scores; highest intention score combined with PBC of the highest intender in the team; highest intention score combined with the highest PBC score in the team; the scores (on both constructs of the team member identified as having primary responsibility for the clinical behaviour. Methods Scores on theory-based cognitive variables were collected by postal questionnaire survey from a sample of primary care doctors and nurses from northeast England and the Netherlands. Data on two clinical behaviours were patient reported, and collected by postal questionnaire survey. Planned analyses explored the predictive value of various aggregations of intention and PBC in explaining variance in the behavioural data. Results Across the two countries and two behaviours, responses were received from 37 to 78% of healthcare professionals in 57 to 93% practices; 51% (UK and 69% (Netherlands of patients surveyed responded. None of the aggregations of

State of the art in non-animal approaches for skin sensitization testing: from individual test methods towards testing strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ezendam, Janine; Braakhuis, Hedwig M; Vandebriel, Rob J

2016-12-01

The hazard assessment of skin sensitizers relies mainly on animal testing, but much progress is made in the development, validation and regulatory acceptance and implementation of non-animal predictive approaches. In this review, we provide an update on the available computational tools and animal-free test methods for the prediction of skin sensitization hazard. These individual test methods address mostly one mechanistic step of the process of skin sensitization induction. The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) for skin sensitization describes the key events (KEs) that lead to skin sensitization. In our review, we have clustered the available test methods according to the KE they inform: the molecular initiating event (MIE/KE1)-protein binding, KE2-keratinocyte activation, KE3-dendritic cell activation and KE4-T cell activation and proliferation. In recent years, most progress has been made in the development and validation of in vitro assays that address KE2 and KE3. No standardized in vitro assays for T cell activation are available; thus, KE4 cannot be measured in vitro. Three non-animal test methods, addressing either the MIE, KE2 or KE3, are accepted as OECD test guidelines, and this has accelerated the development of integrated or defined approaches for testing and assessment (e.g. testing strategies). The majority of these approaches are mechanism-based, since they combine results from multiple test methods and/or computational tools that address different KEs of the AOP to estimate skin sensitization potential and sometimes potency. Other approaches are based on statistical tools. Until now, eleven different testing strategies have been published, the majority using the same individual information sources. Our review shows that some of the defined approaches to testing and assessment are able to accurately predict skin sensitization hazard, sometimes even more accurate than the currently used animal test. A few defined approaches are developed to provide an

Assessing energy projects from the viewpoint of individual economic branches and total economy. The role of economic efficiency analysis, cost-benefit analysis and multicriteria methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sell, A.

1992-01-01

Energy is an extremely important good and means of production not only for the individual branches of economy but, due to its essential meaning to the development of a region or a national economy and its external effects connected with production and consumption, also of great interest to all economic branches. This article deals with the relation of analyses in individual economical branches and those in total economy and with the question of what the importance of cost-benefit analyses and other methods is in the analysis in total economy. The author also mentions the planning as in the special literature the planning and evaluation phases are not analytically separated which is seen especially in the discussion about the multi-criteria methods. (orig.) [de

Self-citations at the meso and individual levels: effects of different calculation methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Costas, Rodrigo; van Leeuwen, Thed N; Bordons, María

2010-03-01

This paper focuses on the study of self-citations at the meso and micro (individual) levels, on the basis of an analysis of the production (1994-2004) of individual researchers working at the Spanish CSIC in the areas of Biology and Biomedicine and Material Sciences. Two different types of self-citations are described: author self-citations (citations received from the author him/herself) and co-author self-citations (citations received from the researchers' co-authors but without his/her participation). Self-citations do not play a decisive role in the high citation scores of documents either at the individual or at the meso level, which are mainly due to external citations. At micro-level, the percentage of self-citations does not change by professional rank or age, but differences in the relative weight of author and co-author self-citations have been found. The percentage of co-author self-citations tends to decrease with age and professional rank while the percentage of author self-citations shows the opposite trend. Suppressing author self-citations from citation counts to prevent overblown self-citation practices may result in a higher reduction of citation numbers of old scientists and, particularly, of those in the highest categories. Author and co-author self-citations provide valuable information on the scientific communication process, but external citations are the most relevant for evaluative purposes. As a final recommendation, studies considering self-citations at the individual level should make clear whether author or total self-citations are used as these can affect researchers differently.

Researching children's individual empathic abilities in the context of their daily lives: the importance of mixed methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Roerig, Simone; van Wesel, Floryt; Evers, Sandra J T M; Krabbendam, Lydia

2015-01-01

In social neuroscience, empathy is often approached as an individual ability, whereas researchers in anthropology focus on empathy as a dialectic process between agents. In this perspective paper, we argue that to further elucidate the mechanisms underlying the development of empathy, social neuroscience research should draw on insights and methods from anthropology. First, we discuss neuropsychological studies that investigate empathy in inter-relational contexts. Second, we highlight differences between the social neuroscience and anthropological conceptualizations of empathy. Third, we introduce a new study design based on a mixed method approach, and present initial results from one classroom that was part of a larger study and included 28 children (m = 13, f = 15). Participants (aged 9-11) were administered behavioral tasks and a social network questionnaire; in addition an observational study was also conducted over a period of 3 months. Initial results showed how children's expressions of their empathic abilities were influenced by situational cues in classroom processes. This effect was further explained by children's positions within classroom networks. Our results emphasize the value of interdisciplinary research in the study of empathy.

Application of adjusted subpixel method (ASM) in HRCT measurements of the bronchi in bronchial asthma patients and healthy individuals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mincewicz, Grzegorz; Rumiński, Jacek; Krzykowski, Grzegorz

2012-01-01

Background: Recently, we described a model system which included corrections of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) bronchial measurements based on the adjusted subpixel method (ASM). Objective: To verify the clinical application of ASM by comparing bronchial measurements obtained by means of the traditional eye-driven method, subpixel method alone and ASM in a group comprised of bronchial asthma patients and healthy individuals. Methods: The study included 30 bronchial asthma patients and the control group comprised of 20 volunteers with no symptoms of asthma. The lowest internal and external diameters of the bronchial cross-sections (ID and ED) and their derivative parameters were determined in HRCT scans using: (1) traditional eye-driven method, (2) subpixel technique, and (3) ASM. Results: In the case of the eye-driven method, lower ID values along with lower bronchial lumen area and its percentage ratio to total bronchial area were basic parameters that differed between asthma patients and healthy controls. In the case of the subpixel method and ASM, both groups were not significantly different in terms of ID. Significant differences were observed in values of ED and total bronchial area with both parameters being significantly higher in asthma patients. Compared to ASM, the eye-driven method overstated the values of ID and ED by about 30% and 10% respectively, while understating bronchial wall thickness by about 18%. Conclusions: Results obtained in this study suggest that the traditional eye-driven method of HRCT-based measurement of bronchial tree components probably overstates the degree of bronchial patency in asthma patients.

The role of vocal individuality in conservation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Terry, Andrew Mark Ryder; Peake, Thomas More; McGregor, Peter Kenneth

2005-01-01

Identifying the individuals within a population can generate information on life history parameters, generate input data for conservation models, and highlight behavioural traits that may affect management decisions and error or bias within census methods. Individual animals can be discriminated...... by features of their vocalisations. This vocal individuality can be utilised as an alternative marking technique in situations where the marks are difficult to detect or animals are sensitive to disturbance. Vocal individuality can also be used in cases were the capture and handling of an animal is either...... and techniques for using this to count and monitor populations over time. We present case studies in birds where vocal individuality has been applied to conservation and we discuss its role in mammals....

Individual and pen-based oral fluid sampling: A welfare-friendly sampling method for group-housed gestating sows.

Science.gov (United States)

Pol, Françoise; Dorenlor, Virginie; Eono, Florent; Eudier, Solveig; Eveno, Eric; Liégard-Vanhecke, Dorine; Rose, Nicolas; Fablet, Christelle

2017-11-01

The aims of this study were to assess the feasibility of individual and pen-based oral fluid sampling (OFS) in 35 pig herds with group-housed sows, compare these methods to blood sampling, and assess the factors influencing the success of sampling. Individual samples were collected from at least 30 sows per herd. Pen-based OFS was performed using devices placed in at least three pens for 45min. Information related to the farm, the sows, and their living conditions were collected. Factors significantly associated with the duration of sampling and the chewing behaviour of sows were identified by logistic regression. Individual OFS took 2min 42s on average; the type of floor, swab size, and operator were associated with a sampling time >2min. Pen-based OFS was obtained from 112 devices (62.2%). The type of floor, parity, pen-level activity, and type of feeding were associated with chewing behaviour. Pen activity was associated with the latency to interact with the device. The type of floor, gestation stage, parity, group size, and latency to interact with the device were associated with a chewing time >10min. After 15, 30 and 45min of pen-based OFS, 48%, 60% and 65% of the sows were lying down, respectively. The time spent after the beginning of sampling, genetic type, and time elapsed since the last meal were associated with 50% of the sows lying down at one time point. The mean time to blood sample the sows was 1min 16s and 2min 52s if the number of operators required was considered in the sampling time estimation. The genetic type, parity, and type of floor were significantly associated with a sampling time higher than 1min 30s. This study shows that individual OFS is easy to perform in group-housed sows by a single operator, even though straw-bedded animals take longer to sample than animals housed on slatted floors, and suggests some guidelines to optimise pen-based OFS success. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Smooth individual level covariates adjustment in disease mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Huque, Md Hamidul; Anderson, Craig; Walton, Richard; Woolford, Samuel; Ryan, Louise

2018-05-01

Spatial models for disease mapping should ideally account for covariates measured both at individual and area levels. The newly available "indiCAR" model fits the popular conditional autoregresssive (CAR) model by accommodating both individual and group level covariates while adjusting for spatial correlation in the disease rates. This algorithm has been shown to be effective but assumes log-linear associations between individual level covariates and outcome. In many studies, the relationship between individual level covariates and the outcome may be non-log-linear, and methods to track such nonlinearity between individual level covariate and outcome in spatial regression modeling are not well developed. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm, smooth-indiCAR, to fit an extension to the popular conditional autoregresssive model that can accommodate both linear and nonlinear individual level covariate effects while adjusting for group level covariates and spatial correlation in the disease rates. In this formulation, the effect of a continuous individual level covariate is accommodated via penalized splines. We describe a two-step estimation procedure to obtain reliable estimates of individual and group level covariate effects where both individual and group level covariate effects are estimated separately. This distributed computing framework enhances its application in the Big Data domain with a large number of individual/group level covariates. We evaluate the performance of smooth-indiCAR through simulation. Our results indicate that the smooth-indiCAR method provides reliable estimates of all regression and random effect parameters. We illustrate our proposed methodology with an analysis of data on neutropenia admissions in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Application of adjusted subpixel method (ASM) in HRCT measurements of the bronchi in bronchial asthma patients and healthy individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Mincewicz, Grzegorz; Rumiński, Jacek; Krzykowski, Grzegorz

2012-02-01

Recently, we described a model system which included corrections of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) bronchial measurements based on the adjusted subpixel method (ASM). To verify the clinical application of ASM by comparing bronchial measurements obtained by means of the traditional eye-driven method, subpixel method alone and ASM in a group comprised of bronchial asthma patients and healthy individuals. The study included 30 bronchial asthma patients and the control group comprised of 20 volunteers with no symptoms of asthma. The lowest internal and external diameters of the bronchial cross-sections (ID and ED) and their derivative parameters were determined in HRCT scans using: (1) traditional eye-driven method, (2) subpixel technique, and (3) ASM. In the case of the eye-driven method, lower ID values along with lower bronchial lumen area and its percentage ratio to total bronchial area were basic parameters that differed between asthma patients and healthy controls. In the case of the subpixel method and ASM, both groups were not significantly different in terms of ID. Significant differences were observed in values of ED and total bronchial area with both parameters being significantly higher in asthma patients. Compared to ASM, the eye-driven method overstated the values of ID and ED by about 30% and 10% respectively, while understating bronchial wall thickness by about 18%. Results obtained in this study suggest that the traditional eye-driven method of HRCT-based measurement of bronchial tree components probably overstates the degree of bronchial patency in asthma patients. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Voxel-Based Method for Automated Identification and Morphological Parameters Estimation of Individual Street Trees from Mobile Laser Scanning Data

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Hongxing Liu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available As an important component of urban vegetation, street trees play an important role in maintenance of environmental quality, aesthetic beauty of urban landscape, and social service for inhabitants. Acquiring accurate and up-to-date inventory information for street trees is required for urban horticultural planning, and municipal urban forest management. This paper presents a new Voxel-based Marked Neighborhood Searching (VMNS method for efficiently identifying street trees and deriving their morphological parameters from Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS point cloud data. The VMNS method consists of six technical components: voxelization, calculating values of voxels, searching and marking neighborhoods, extracting potential trees, deriving morphological parameters, and eliminating pole-like objects other than trees. The method is validated and evaluated through two case studies. The evaluation results show that the completeness and correctness of our method for street tree detection are over 98%. The derived morphological parameters, including tree height, crown diameter, diameter at breast height (DBH, and crown base height (CBH, are in a good agreement with the field measurements. Our method provides an effective tool for extracting various morphological parameters for individual street trees from MLS point cloud data.

Handwriting individualization using distance and rarity

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Yi; Srihari, Sargur; Srinivasan, Harish

2012-01-01

Forensic individualization is the task of associating observed evidence with a specific source. The likelihood ratio (LR) is a quantitative measure that expresses the degree of uncertainty in individualization, where the numerator represents the likelihood that the evidence corresponds to the known and the denominator the likelihood that it does not correspond to the known. Since the number of parameters needed to compute the LR is exponential with the number of feature measurements, a commonly used simplification is the use of likelihoods based on distance (or similarity) given the two alternative hypotheses. This paper proposes an intermediate method which decomposes the LR as the product of two factors, one based on distance and the other on rarity. It was evaluated using a data set of handwriting samples, by determining whether two writing samples were written by the same/different writer(s). The accuracy of the distance and rarity method, as measured by error rates, is significantly better than the distance method.

Design of calibration method in neutron and individual dosimeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belkhodia, M.

1984-12-01

Usually albedo dosemeters are calibrated with beam of monoenergetic neutrons. Since neutron energy around neutron sources varies greatly, we applied the calibration method to a mixed field whose energy spectrum lies between 0.025 ev and 10 Mev. The method is based on a mathematical model that deals with the dosimeter response as a function at the neutron energy. The measurements carried out with solid state nuclear track detectors show the dosimeter practical aspect. The albedo dosimeter calibration gave results on good agreement with the international institution recommendations

Methods of assessment of individual and collective doses to transport workers and members of the public during the transport of radioactive material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vohra, K.G.; Subrahmanian, G.; Nandakumar, A.N.; Kher, R.K.; Iyer, S.R.K.

1986-01-01

Transport workers handling radioactive cargoes are generally exposed to the highest dose rates of any population group. Methods of assessment of dose received by transport workers are studied to arrive at a useful method. An empirical model based on a detailed work study of individuals handling radioactive cargoes and the exposure rates at various distances from specific individual packages is developed. The personnel doses thus calculated compared reasonably well with the doses recorded on personnel monitoring badges. The personnel doses were also evaluated with reference to the total transport index handled by the workers, yielding results consistent with those reported elsewhere by earlier researchers. For assessing the collective dose to the public due to urban transport of radioactive material, the space around the vehicle transporting cargo was divided into a number of cells of dimensions 1mx1m. The radiation level in each cell was measured and the pedestrian density along the route was obtained. Using the pedestrian occupancy in the cells and the measured radiation levels, the total dose to the public was assessed. A similar assessment was made with respect to the passengers in the neighbouring vehicles. The suggested method of calculation may aid determination of the route and time of transport and the preferable traffic configuration for the vehicle carrying the radioactive consignments for optimizing the dose to the urban public

Identification of individual foothill yellow-legged frogs (Rana boylii) using chin pattern photographs: a non-invasive and effective method for small population studies

Science.gov (United States)

K.R. Marlow; K.D. Wiseman; Clara Wheeler; J.E.  Drennan; R.E.  Jackman

2016-01-01

The ability to identify individual animals is a valuable tool in the study of amphibian population dynamics, movement ecology, social behavior, and habitat use. Numerous methods of marking amphibians have been employed including the use of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags, radio-transmitters, elastomers, branding, and mutilation techniques such as toe...

Visualizing Individual Tree Differences in Tree-Ring Studies

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Mario Trouillier

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Averaging tree-ring measurements from multiple individuals is one of the most common procedures in dendrochronology. It serves to filter out noise from individual differences between trees, such as competition, height, and micro-site effects, which ideally results in a site chronology sensitive to regional scale factors such as climate. However, the climate sensitivity of individual trees can be modulated by factors like competition, height, and nitrogen deposition, calling attention to whether average chronologies adequately assess climatic growth-control. In this study, we demonstrate four simple but effective methods to visually assess differences between individual trees. Using individual tree climate-correlations we: (1 employed jitter plots with superimposed metadata to assess potential causes for these differences; (2 plotted the frequency distributions of climate correlations over time as heat maps; (3 mapped the spatial distribution of climate sensitivity over time to assess spatio-temporal dynamics; and (4 used t-distributed Stochastic Neighborhood Embedding (t-SNE to assess which trees were generally more similar in terms of their tree-ring pattern and their correlation with climate variables. This suite of exploratory methods can indicate if individuals in tree-ring datasets respond differently to climate variability, and therefore, should not solely be explored with climate correlations of the mean population chronology.

Evaluating a Bayesian approach to improve accuracy of individual photographic identification methods using ecological distribution data

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Richard Stafford

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Photographic identification of individual organisms can be possible from natural body markings. Data from photo-ID can be used to estimate important ecological and conservation metrics such as population sizes, home ranges or territories. However, poor quality photographs or less well-studied individuals can result in a non-unique ID, potentially confounding several similar looking individuals. Here we present a Bayesian approach that uses known data about previous sightings of individuals at specific sites as priors to help assess the problems of obtaining a non-unique ID. Using a simulation of individuals with different confidence of correct ID we evaluate the accuracy of Bayesian modified (posterior probabilities. However, in most cases, the accuracy of identification decreases. Although this technique is unsuccessful, it does demonstrate the importance of computer simulations in testing such hypotheses in ecology.

INDIVIDUAL TREE OF URBAN FOREST EXTRACTION FROM VERY HIGH DENSITY LIDAR DATA

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A. Moradi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging data have a high potential to provide 3D information from trees. Most proposed methods to extract individual trees detect points of tree top or bottom firstly and then using them as starting points in a segmentation algorithm. Hence, in these methods, the number and the locations of detected peak points heavily effect on the process of detecting individual trees. In this study, a new method is presented to extract individual tree segments using LiDAR points with 10cm point density. In this method, a two-step strategy is performed for the extraction of individual tree LiDAR points: finding deterministic segments of individual trees points and allocation of other LiDAR points based on these segments. This research is performed on two study areas in Zeebrugge, Bruges, Belgium (51.33° N, 3.20° E. The accuracy assessment of this method showed that it could correctly classified 74.51% of trees with 21.57% and 3.92% under- and over-segmentation errors respectively.

Perceived Personality Traits of Individuals with Anorexia Nervosa

Science.gov (United States)

Watters, Jessica E.; Malouff, John M.

2012-01-01

Background: Prior research has found evidence of a general negative personality stereotype for individuals who have anorexia nervosa (AN). Methods: This study examined the expected personality characteristics of individuals with AN using the Five-Factor Model of personality to allow identification of specific personality traits that are part of…

Students' Attitudes towards Individuals with an Intellectual Disability

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Meera; Rose, John

2014-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate attitudes held by a British student population towards individuals with an intellectual disability. Students participated in focus groups addressing their attitudes, behaviours and perceptions of individuals with an intellectual disability. Thematic analysis was the method used to identify emergent themes.…

Individual Differences in Recovery Time From Attentional Capture

Science.gov (United States)

Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward K.

2015-01-01

Working memory capacity reflects a core ability of the individual that affects performance on many cognitive tasks. Recent work has suggested that an important covariate of memory capacity is attentional control, and specifically that low-capacity individuals are more susceptible to attentional capture by distractors than high-capacity individuals are, with the latter being able to resist capture. Here, we tested an alternative account according to which all individuals are equally susceptible to attentional capture, but high-capacity individuals recover more quickly than low-capacity individuals. Using psychophysical and electrophysiological methods, we measured recovery time from attentional capture. In two experiments, we found that high- and low-capacity individuals showed equivalent attentional capture effects in the initial moments following capture, but that low-capacity individuals took much longer to recover than high-capacity individuals did. These results suggest that the poor attentional control associated with low capacity is due to slow disengagement from distractors. PMID:21310945

A Primitive Individualization of Time and Method in a Beginning Accounting Course.

Science.gov (United States)

Singer, Frank A.

An experimental first year course in accounting was offered which utilized the concept of individualized instruction. The students were mostly sophomores at the University of Massachusetts. Two teaching assistants and the instructor provided the 60 member sample population with two types of assignment sheets, one relating to the textbook, one…

Researching children's individual empathic abilities in the context of their daily lives: The importance of Mixed Methods

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Simone eRoerig

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In social neuroscience, empathy is often approached as an individual ability, whereas researchers in anthropology focus on empathy as a dialectic process between agents. In this perspective paper, we argue that to further elucidate the mechanisms underlying development of empathy, social neuroscience research should draw on insights and methods from anthropology. First, we discuss neuropsychological studies that investigated empathy in inter-relational context. Second, we highlight differences between the social neuroscience and anthropological conceptualization of empathy. Third, we introduce a new study design based on a mixed method approach, and present initial results of one classroom that was part of the larger study and included 28 children (m=13, f =15. Participants (age 9-11 were administered behavioral tasks and a social network questionnaire; an observational study was conducted during a period of 10 - 14 weeks. Initial results showed how children’s expressions of their empathic abilities were influenced by situational cues in classroom processes. This effect was further explained by children’s position in the classroom network. Our results emphasize the value of interdisciplinary research in the study of empathy.

Methods of defining ontologies, word disambiguation methods, computer systems, and articles of manufacture

Science.gov (United States)

Sanfilippo, Antonio P [Richland, WA; Tratz, Stephen C [Richland, WA; Gregory, Michelle L [Richland, WA; Chappell, Alan R [Seattle, WA; Whitney, Paul D [Richland, WA; Posse, Christian [Seattle, WA; Baddeley, Robert L [Richland, WA; Hohimer, Ryan E [West Richland, WA

2011-10-11

Methods of defining ontologies, word disambiguation methods, computer systems, and articles of manufacture are described according to some aspects. In one aspect, a word disambiguation method includes accessing textual content to be disambiguated, wherein the textual content comprises a plurality of words individually comprising a plurality of word senses, for an individual word of the textual content, identifying one of the word senses of the word as indicative of the meaning of the word in the textual content, for the individual word, selecting one of a plurality of event classes of a lexical database ontology using the identified word sense of the individual word, and for the individual word, associating the selected one of the event classes with the textual content to provide disambiguation of a meaning of the individual word in the textual content.

Inferring relationships between pairs of individuals from locus heterozygosities

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Spinetti Isabella

2002-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The traditional exact method for inferring relationships between individuals from genetic data is not easily applicable in all situations that may be encountered in several fields of applied genetics. This study describes an approach that gives affordable results and is easily applicable; it is based on the probabilities that two individuals share 0, 1 or both alleles at a locus identical by state. Results We show that these probabilities (zi depend on locus heterozygosity (H, and are scarcely affected by variation of the distribution of allele frequencies. This allows us to obtain empirical curves relating zi's to H for a series of common relationships, so that the likelihood ratio of a pair of relationships between any two individuals, given their genotypes at a locus, is a function of a single parameter, H. Application to large samples of mother-child and full-sib pairs shows that the statistical power of this method to infer the correct relationship is not much lower than the exact method. Analysis of a large database of STR data proves that locus heterozygosity does not vary significantly among Caucasian populations, apart from special cases, so that the likelihood ratio of the more common relationships between pairs of individuals may be obtained by looking at tabulated zi values. Conclusions A simple method is provided, which may be used by any scientist with the help of a calculator or a spreadsheet to compute the likelihood ratios of common alternative relationships between pairs of individuals.

Genetic Network Programming with Reconstructed Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Fengming; Mabu, Shingo; Wang, Lutao; Eto, Shinji; Hirasawa, Kotaro

A lot of research on evolutionary computation has been done and some significant classical methods such as Genetic Algorithm (GA), Genetic Programming (GP), Evolutionary Programming (EP), and Evolution Strategies (ES) have been studied. Recently, a new approach named Genetic Network Programming (GNP) has been proposed. GNP can evolve itself and find the optimal solution. It is based on the idea of Genetic Algorithm and uses the data structure of directed graphs. Many papers have demonstrated that GNP can deal with complex problems in the dynamic environments very efficiently and effectively. As a result, recently, GNP is getting more and more attentions and is used in many different areas such as data mining, extracting trading rules of stock markets, elevator supervised control systems, etc., and GNP has obtained some outstanding results. Focusing on the GNP's distinguished expression ability of the graph structure, this paper proposes a method named Genetic Network Programming with Reconstructed Individuals (GNP-RI). The aim of GNP-RI is to balance the exploitation and exploration of GNP, that is, to strengthen the exploitation ability by using the exploited information extensively during the evolution process of GNP and finally obtain better performances than that of GNP. In the proposed method, the worse individuals are reconstructed and enhanced by the elite information before undergoing genetic operations (mutation and crossover). The enhancement of worse individuals mimics the maturing phenomenon in nature, where bad individuals can become smarter after receiving a good education. In this paper, GNP-RI is applied to the tile-world problem which is an excellent bench mark for evaluating the proposed architecture. The performance of GNP-RI is compared with that of the conventional GNP. The simulation results show some advantages of GNP-RI demonstrating its superiority over the conventional GNPs.

Separation-individuation and assertiveness in late adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aslan, Sevda

2013-07-01

Full Text Available An adolescent can experience some problems regarding assertiveness during the course of separation-individuation from their caregivers. The purpose of this study is to describe the relationship between separation-individuation and assertiveness, which was examined in terms of how assertiveness predicts the separation-individuation of Turkish late adolescents. The sampling group consisted of 283 university students. The data gathered were analyzed by involving several simple regression analysis method. The findings revealed that aassertiveness predicts separation anxiety in a meaningful way. Furthermore, the assertiveness predicts engulfment anxiety, peer enmeshment, need denial, practicing-mirroring, rejection expectancy, and healthy separation. These findings suggest that psycho-educational studies improving assertiveness can be carried out for the late adolescents who experience separation-individuation problems.

Protection of man: the exposed individual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bohnstedt, A.; Knebel, J.U. [Programme Nuclear Safety Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Herrmann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Breustedt, B. [Institute for Radiation Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Herrmann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)

2010-07-01

Present methods for quantifying radiation exposure rely on a standardized reference man (75 kg) with defined average anatomical and physiological data. But individual person actually exposed differs from this idealized standard man. Therefore the focus of investigations at the Institute for Radiation Research (Institut fuer Strahlenforschung, ISF) which was founded at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, KIT) in 2009 is based on the vision to place the exposed individual with its anatomical and physiological particularities, under consideration of age, gender, body height, body shape and environment, in the centre of an individual-related quantification of the external and internal radiation exposure. Research work at the ISF is aiming at quantifying radiation exposure by improved determination of doses essentially caused by external radiation fields and the intake of radionuclides into the body. The three main topics of the institute are - external dosimetry (e.g. using a (voxel) model of the hand to simulate skin dose distribution); - internal dosimetry (e.g. body size related efficiency calibration of in-vivo counting equipment); - numerical methods/modeling (e.g. development of a mathematical/voxel-hybrid model of the human body). (authors)

Individual Patterns of Enrolment in Primary Schools in the Republic of Honduras

Science.gov (United States)

Sekiya, Takeshi

2014-01-01

The Reconstructed Cohort Method is often used to examine the status of national education. However, this method does not account for individual details and we know little about the status of school enrolments by tracking individual students from entrance until dropout or graduation. This study employs the True Cohort Method to analyse data for…

A Novel Eye-Tracking Method to Assess Attention Allocation in Individuals with and without Aphasia Using a Dual-Task Paradigm

Science.gov (United States)

Heuer, Sabine; Hallowell, Brooke

2015-01-01

Numerous authors report that people with aphasia have greater difficulty allocating attention than people without neurological disorders. Studying how attention deficits contribute to language deficits is important. However, existing methods for indexing attention allocation in people with aphasia pose serious methodological challenges. Eye-tracking methods have great potential to address such challenges. We developed and assessed the validity of a new dual-task method incorporating eye tracking to assess attention allocation. Twenty-six adults with aphasia and 33 control participants completed auditory sentence comprehension and visual search tasks. To test whether the new method validly indexes well-documented patterns in attention allocation, demands were manipulated by varying task complexity in single- and dual-task conditions. Differences in attention allocation were indexed via eye-tracking measures. For all participants significant increases in attention allocation demands were observed from single- to dual-task conditions and from simple to complex stimuli. Individuals with aphasia had greater difficulty allocating attention with greater task demands. Relationships between eye-tracking indices of comprehension during single and dual tasks and standardized testing were examined. Results support the validity of the novel eye-tracking method for assessing attention allocation in people with and without aphasia. Clinical and research implications are discussed. PMID:25913549

Estimation of individual radiation doses determined by the biological dosimetry method at the inhabitants of the Chernobyl region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikolaevich, L.N.

1997-01-01

The results obtained by the method of the chromosome aberration analysis in human peripheral blood lymphocytes are given. Hematologically healthy inhabitants of Vetka and Khoiniki districts in Gomel Region (80 adults and 38 children), as well as persons suffering from hemoblastosis (acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia) were examined. 27258 metaphase cells being analysed. Only two-hit aberrations (dicentric and ring chromosomes with fragments and without them), specific disturbances in response to radiation effect, were tested for estimating an individual dose of ionizing radiation. The examined groups of adults and children were formed depending on the value of an individual radiation dose: 0 kGy; from 0 to 1,4 kGy and from 1,5 to 3,0 kGy. 39% of adults took the dose up to 1,5 kGy and about 9% did above 2,0 kGy. The tendency towards increasing the amount of aberrant lymphocytes in peripheral blood is observed in persons who took the dose above 2,0 kGy. Among children 52,6% took the doses from 1,5 to 3,0 kGy. No increase in the level of aberrant cells in comparison with the children from the 'zero group' was observed in those children. Apparently, in some cases slightly reduced radiation doses can be obtained by the data of the chromosome analysis method since with the time elimination of a portion of these cells with unstable chromosome aberrations takes place. Elimination of chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes can be caused by different infectious processes which are accompanied by a pronounced immune response inducing inclusion of lymphocytes with aberrations in mitosis and , as a result, disappearance of unstable mutations. However, together with elimination of old chromosome aberrations new ones, caused by ongoing radiation, emerge in people living in radio contaminated regions and thus, the radiation dose determined by the chromosome analysis method even increases with years that can favour rise in malignant tumors. The radiation dose

"The effect of a template when constructing individual syllabuses in nursing education – an evaluation of student perspective in a mixed methods intervention study"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vilstrup, Dorte Lindstrøm; Udsen, Helle; Prip, Anne

2014-01-01

of the individual syllabus in a clinical setting. Design: A mixed methods intervention study involving first year nursing students and clinical teachers. The intervention consisted of: 1) design of a template and a precise description, 2) testing of the template and description in the form of baseline and post...

Learning pathology using collaborative vs. individual annotation of whole slide images: a mixed methods trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahota, Michael; Leung, Betty; Dowdell, Stephanie; Velan, Gary M

2016-12-12

Students in biomedical disciplines require understanding of normal and abnormal microscopic appearances of human tissues (histology and histopathology). For this purpose, practical classes in these disciplines typically use virtual microscopy, viewing digitised whole slide images in web browsers. To enhance engagement, tools have been developed to enable individual or collaborative annotation of whole slide images within web browsers. To date, there have been no studies that have critically compared the impact on learning of individual and collaborative annotations on whole slide images. Junior and senior students engaged in Pathology practical classes within Medical Science and Medicine programs participated in cross-over trials of individual and collaborative annotation activities. Students' understanding of microscopic morphology was compared using timed online quizzes, while students' perceptions of learning were evaluated using an online questionnaire. For senior medical students, collaborative annotation of whole slide images was superior for understanding key microscopic features when compared to individual annotation; whilst being at least equivalent to individual annotation for junior medical science students. Across cohorts, students agreed that the annotation activities provided a user-friendly learning environment that met their flexible learning needs, improved efficiency, provided useful feedback, and helped them to set learning priorities. Importantly, these activities were also perceived to enhance motivation and improve understanding. Collaborative annotation improves understanding of microscopic morphology for students with sufficient background understanding of the discipline. These findings have implications for the deployment of annotation activities in biomedical curricula, and potentially for postgraduate training in Anatomical Pathology.

Trends in swimming training for individual medley events

OpenAIRE

Brtník, Tomáš

2013-01-01

Title: Trends in swimming training for individual medley events Objectives: The aim of our study was to analyze performance and training for 200 and 400 m individual medley events and describe new trends in training for these swimming events Methods: Our research design was a case study. We were interested in training of three swimmers of elite performance in the 200 and 400 m individual medley events. To identify cases, we used the analysis of documents and literature, to a limited extent, t...

Comparison of methods for individualized astronaut organ dosimetry: Morphometry-based phantom library versus body contour autoscaling of a reference phantom

Science.gov (United States)

Sands, Michelle M.; Borrego, David; Maynard, Matthew R.; Bahadori, Amir A.; Bolch, Wesley E.

2017-11-01

One of the hazards faced by space crew members in low-Earth orbit or in deep space is exposure to ionizing radiation. It has been shown previously that while differences in organ-specific and whole-body risk estimates due to body size variations are small for highly-penetrating galactic cosmic rays, large differences in these quantities can result from exposure to shorter-range trapped proton or solar particle event radiations. For this reason, it is desirable to use morphometrically accurate computational phantoms representing each astronaut for a risk analysis, especially in the case of a solar particle event. An algorithm was developed to automatically sculpt and scale the UF adult male and adult female hybrid reference phantom to the individual outer body contour of a given astronaut. This process begins with the creation of a laser-measured polygon mesh model of the astronaut's body contour. Using the auto-scaling program and selecting several anatomical landmarks, the UF adult male or female phantom is adjusted to match the laser-measured outer body contour of the astronaut. A dosimetry comparison study was conducted to compare the organ dose accuracy of both the autoscaled phantom and that based upon a height-weight matched phantom from the UF/NCI Computational Phantom Library. Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate the environment of the August 1972 and February 1956 solar particle events. Using a series of individual-specific voxel phantoms as a local benchmark standard, autoscaled phantom organ dose estimates were shown to provide a 1% and 10% improvement in organ dose accuracy for a population of females and males, respectively, as compared to organ doses derived from height-weight matched phantoms from the UF/NCI Computational Phantom Library. In addition, this slight improvement in organ dose accuracy from the autoscaled phantoms is accompanied by reduced computer storage requirements and a more rapid method for individualized phantom generation

Sports participation of individuals with major upper limb deficiency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bragaru, Mihai; Dekker, Rienk; Dijkstra, Pieter U.; Geertzen, Jan H. B.; van der Sluis, Corry K.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyse sports participation of individuals with upper limb deficiency (ULD) and associated factors. METHODS: Individuals with ULD originating from the Netherlands were invited, via their attending physiatrist or prosthetist, to answer a digital or paper

Validity of an observation method for assessing pain behavior in individuals with multiple sclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Karon F; Roddey, Toni S; Bamer, Alyssa M; Amtmann, Dagmar; Keefe, Francis J

2013-09-01

Pain is a common and complex experience for individuals who live with multiple sclerosis (MS) and it interferes with physical, psychological, and social function. A valid and reliable tool for quantifying observed pain behaviors in MS is critical to understand how pain behaviors contribute to pain-related disability in this clinical population. To evaluate the reliability and validity of a pain behavioral observation protocol in individuals who have MS. Community-dwelling volunteers with MS (N=30), back pain (N=5), or arthritis (N=8) were recruited based on clinician referrals, advertisements, fliers, web postings, and participation in previous research. Participants completed the measures of pain severity, pain interference, and self-reported pain behaviors and were videotaped doing typical activities (e.g., walking and sitting). Two coders independently recorded frequencies of pain behaviors by category (e.g., guarding and bracing) and interrater reliability statistics were calculated. Naïve observers reviewed videotapes of individuals with MS and rated their pain. The Spearman's correlations were calculated between pain behavior frequencies and self-reported pain and pain ratings by naïve observers. Interrater reliability estimates indicated the reliability of pain codes in the MS sample. Kappa coefficients ranged from moderate (sighing=0.40) to substantial agreements (guarding=0.83). These values were comparable with those obtained in the combined back pain and arthritis sample. Concurrent validity was supported by correlations with self-reported pain (0.46-0.53) and with self-reports of pain behaviors (0.58). Construct validity was supported by a finding of 0.87 correlation between total pain behaviors observed by coders and mean pain ratings by naïve observers. Results support the use of the pain behavior observation protocol for assessing pain behaviors of individuals with MS. Valid assessments of pain behaviors of individuals with MS could lead to

Valuing Individuals' Preferences and Health Choices of Physical Exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Aboagye, Emmanuel

2017-06-01

The efficacy of physical exercise for the prevention and treatment of non-specific low back pain (LBP) is well documented, but little is known about how individuals value specific components of physical exercise, such as the type and design or the intensity and frequency of exercise. Other factors that influence individual differences in health choices and adherence are associated with individuals' attitudes toward and likelihood of performing recommended exercise regimens. Current evidence shows that efficacy is similar among exercise interventions, but their features vary widely. Thus it may be difficult for clinicians to discriminate between available options in clinical practice. Considering the many challenges in determining the form of exercise best suited to the individual patient, this commentary discusses some of the practical methods that could be used to elicit individual preference for recommended health care interventions. Such methods have the advantage of providing more information for health care decision making, particularly with regard to exercise interventions for LBP. This commentary also advocates for the use of patient preference in health care decisions.

Memory for individual scent in hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) as assessed by habituation methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, R E

1993-06-01

The memory of hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) for the flank scent of other male hamsters was investigated in a series of habituation experiments. In 2 types of habituation tasks (Experiments 1 and 2), male hamsters habituated to the flank scent of 1 male and then increased their level of investigation to that of a novel male; similar results were obtained when the intervals between trials ranged from 1 s to 2 days. When the test trial was 10 or 21 days after habituation (Experiment 3), males discriminated between familiar and novel flank scents at 10 days but not at 21 days. The results demonstrate recognition of familiar and unfamiliar individual odors and excellent memory for these differences. Habituation techniques yield extremely robust results and may be useful for investigations of other aspects of individual signatures.

A Method for Individualizing the Prediction of Immunogenicity of Protein Vaccines and Biologic Therapeutics: Individualized T Cell Epitope Measure (iTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias Cohen

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The promise of pharmacogenomics depends on advancing predictive medicine. To address this need in the area of immunology, we developed the individualized T cell epitope measure (iTEM tool to estimate an individual's T cell response to a protein antigen based on HLA binding predictions. In this study, we validated prospective iTEM predictions using data from in vitro and in vivo studies. We used a mathematical formula that converts DRB1∗ allele binding predictions generated by EpiMatrix, an epitope-mapping tool, into an allele-specific scoring system. We then demonstrated that iTEM can be used to define an HLA binding threshold above which immune response is likely and below which immune response is likely to be absent. iTEM's predictive power was strongest when the immune response is focused, such as in subunit vaccination and administration of protein therapeutics. iTEM may be a useful tool for clinical trial design and preclinical evaluation of vaccines and protein therapeutics.

Characterization of individual mouse cerebrospinal fluid proteomes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, Jeffrey S.; Angel, Thomas E.; Chavkin, Charles; Orton, Daniel J.; Moore, Ronald J.; Smith, Richard D.

2014-03-20

Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) offers key insight into the status of the central nervous system. Characterization of murine CSF proteomes can provide a valuable resource for studying central nervous system injury and disease in animal models. However, the small volume of CSF in mice has thus far limited individual mouse proteome characterization. Through non-terminal CSF extractions in C57Bl/6 mice and high-resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of individual murine samples, we report the most comprehensive proteome characterization of individual murine CSF to date. Utilizing stringent protein inclusion criteria that required the identification of at least two unique peptides (1% false discovery rate at the peptide level) we identified a total of 566 unique proteins, including 128 proteins from three individual CSF samples that have been previously identified in brain tissue. Our methods and analysis provide a mechanism for individual murine CSF proteome analysis.

Swimming Behavior of Individual Zooplankters During Night-Time Foraging

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

McGehee, Duncan

1998-01-01

Amatzia Genin, Jules Jaffe, Duncan McGehee developed a method for automatically tracking individual plankters swimming through the imaging volume, and applied the method to track approximately 280,000 animals...

A Method to Estimate the Size and Characteristics of HIV-positive Populations Using an Individual-based Stochastic Simulation Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nakagawa, Fumiyo; van Sighem, Ard; Thiebaut, Rodolphe

2016-01-01

% plausibility range: 39,900-45,560) men who have sex with men were estimated to be living with HIV in the UK, of whom 10,400 (6,160-17,350) were undiagnosed. There were an estimated 3,210 (1,730-5,350) infections per year on average between 2010 and 2013. Sixty-two percent of the total HIV-positive population......It is important not only to collect epidemiologic data on HIV but to also fully utilize such information to understand the epidemic over time and to help inform and monitor the impact of policies and interventions. We describe and apply a novel method to estimate the size and characteristics of HIV-positive...... populations. The method was applied to data on men who have sex with men living in the UK and to a pseudo dataset to assess performance for different data availability. The individual-based simulation model was calibrated using an approximate Bayesian computation-based approach. In 2013, 48,310 (90...

Analysis of co-authorship patterns at the individual level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wolfgang Glänzel

Full Text Available Publication activity, citation impact and communication patterns, in general, change in the course of a scientist's career. Mobility and radical changes in a scientist's research environment or profile are among the most spectacular factors that have effect on individual collaboration patterns. Although bibliometrics at this level should be applied with the utmost care, characteristic patterns of an individual scientist's research collaboration and changes in these in the course of a career can be well depicted using bibliometric methods. A wide variety of indicators and network tools are chosen to follow up the evolution and to visualise and to quantify collaboration and performance profiles of individual researchers. These methods are, however, designed to supplement expert-opinion based assessment and other qualitative assessments, and should not be used as stand-alone evaluation tools. This study presents part of the results published in an earlier study by Zhang and Glänzel (20124 as well as new applications of these methods.

A sensitive, reproducible and objective immunofluorescence analysis method of dystrophin in individual fibers in samples from patients with duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chantal Beekman

Full Text Available Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD is characterized by the absence or reduced levels of dystrophin expression on the inner surface of the sarcolemmal membrane of muscle fibers. Clinical development of therapeutic approaches aiming to increase dystrophin levels requires sensitive and reproducible measurement of differences in dystrophin expression in muscle biopsies of treated patients with DMD. This, however, poses a technical challenge due to intra- and inter-donor variance in the occurrence of revertant fibers and low trace dystrophin expression throughout the biopsies. We have developed an immunofluorescence and semi-automated image analysis method that measures the sarcolemmal dystrophin intensity per individual fiber for the entire fiber population in a muscle biopsy. Cross-sections of muscle co-stained for dystrophin and spectrin have been imaged by confocal microscopy, and image analysis was performed using Definiens software. Dystrophin intensity has been measured in the sarcolemmal mask of spectrin for each individual muscle fiber and multiple membrane intensity parameters (mean, maximum, quantiles per fiber were calculated. A histogram can depict the distribution of dystrophin intensities for the fiber population in the biopsy. This method was tested by measuring dystrophin in DMD, Becker muscular dystrophy, and healthy muscle samples. Analysis of duplicate or quadruplicate sections of DMD biopsies on the same or multiple days, by different operators, or using different antibodies, was shown to be objective and reproducible (inter-assay precision, CV 2-17% and intra-assay precision, CV 2-10%. Moreover, the method was sufficiently sensitive to detect consistently small differences in dystrophin between two biopsies from a patient with DMD before and after treatment with an investigational compound.

Responsiveness of the individual work performance questionnaire

OpenAIRE

Koopmans, Linda; Coffeng, Jennifer K; Bernaards, Claire M; Boot, Cécile RL; Hildebrandt, Vincent H; de Vet, Henrica CW; van der Beek, Allard J

2014-01-01

Background: Individual work performance is an important outcome measure in studies in the workplace. Nevertheless, its conceptualization and measurement has proven challenging. To overcome limitations of existing scales, the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ) was recently developed. The aim of the current study was to gain insight into the responsiveness of the IWPQ. Methods. Data were used from the Be Active & Relax randomized controlled trial. The aim of the trial was to inves...

Comparison of high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Griess reagent-spectroscopic methods for the measurement of nitrate in serum from healthy individuals in the Nordic countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Tine Lise; Nilsen, Valentina; Andersen, Dag Olav; Francis, George; Rustad, Pål; Mansoor, Mohammad Azam

2008-12-01

Bioavailability of NO can be estimated by measuring the concentration of nitrate (NO(3)) in serum. However, the methods used for the measurement NO(3) in plasma or serum show a great degree of variation. Therefore, we compared two analytical methods for the measurement of NO(3) in serum. The concentration of NO(3) in 600 serum samples collected from healthy individuals was determined by the HPLC and by the Griess reagent-spectroscopic method. The concentration of NO(3) in the samples was 29.4+/-16.1 micromol/L and 26.2+/-14.0 micromol/L (mean+/-SD) measured by HPLC and Griess reagent-spectroscopic method respectively (pHPLC method.

Diagnosing phenotypes of single-sample individuals by edge biomarkers.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wanwei; Zeng, Tao; Liu, Xiaoping; Chen, Luonan

2015-06-01

Network or edge biomarkers are a reliable form to characterize phenotypes or diseases. However, obtaining edges or correlations between molecules for an individual requires measurement of multiple samples of that individual, which are generally unavailable in clinical practice. Thus, it is strongly demanded to diagnose a disease by edge or network biomarkers in one-sample-for-one-individual context. Here, we developed a new computational framework, EdgeBiomarker, to integrate edge and node biomarkers to diagnose phenotype of each single test sample. By applying the method to datasets of lung and breast cancer, it reveals new marker genes/gene-pairs and related sub-networks for distinguishing earlier and advanced cancer stages. Our method shows advantages over traditional methods: (i) edge biomarkers extracted from non-differentially expressed genes achieve better cross-validation accuracy of diagnosis than molecule or node biomarkers from differentially expressed genes, suggesting that certain pathogenic information is only present at the level of network and under-estimated by traditional methods; (ii) edge biomarkers categorize patients into low/high survival rate in a more reliable manner; (iii) edge biomarkers are significantly enriched in relevant biological functions or pathways, implying that the association changes in a network, rather than expression changes in individual molecules, tend to be causally related to cancer development. The new framework of edge biomarkers paves the way for diagnosing diseases and analyzing their molecular mechanisms by edges or networks in one-sample-for-one-individual basis. This also provides a powerful tool for precision medicine or big-data medicine. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Journal of Molecular Cell Biology, IBCB, SIBS, CAS. All rights reserved.

I can't wait: Methods for measuring and moderating individual differences in impulsive choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Jennifer R; Hill, Catherine C; Marshall, Andrew T; Stuebing, Sarah L; Kirkpatrick, Kimberly

2015-01-01

Impulsive choice behavior occurs when individuals make choices without regard for future consequences. This behavior is often maladaptive and is a common symptom in many disorders, including drug abuse, compulsive gambling, and obesity. Several proposed mechanisms may influence impulsive choice behavior. These mechanisms provide a variety of pathways that may provide the basis for individual differences that are often evident when measuring choice behavior. This review provides an overview of these different pathways to impulsive choice, and the behavioral intervention strategies being developed to moderate impulsive choice. Because of the compelling link between impulsive choice behavior and the near-epidemic pervasiveness of obesity in the United States, we focus on the relationship between impulsive choice behavior and obesity as a test case for application of the multiple pathways approach. Choosing immediate gratification over healthier long term food choices is a contributing factor to the obesity crisis. Behavioral interventions can lead to more self controlled choices in a rat pre-clinical model, suggesting a possible gateway for translation to human populations. Designing and implementing effective impulsive choice interventions is crucial to improving the overall health and well-being of impulsive individuals.

Individually-Personal Peculiarities of Younger Preschoolers’ Speech

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M E Novikova

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Studying the speech of the younger preschoolers is a major factor in designing educational methods and preparing children for school. There exist individual and gender differences in the way children acquire speech skills. Word comprehension and idea interpretation depend on the child’s upbringing, his or her environment, the interaction within the family. This article submits the research data obtained from the study of the individual peculiarities of the younger preschool children’s speech.

Group-regularized individual prediction: theory and application to pain.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindquist, Martin A; Krishnan, Anjali; López-Solà, Marina; Jepma, Marieke; Woo, Choong-Wan; Koban, Leonie; Roy, Mathieu; Atlas, Lauren Y; Schmidt, Liane; Chang, Luke J; Reynolds Losin, Elizabeth A; Eisenbarth, Hedwig; Ashar, Yoni K; Delk, Elizabeth; Wager, Tor D

2017-01-15

Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) has become an important tool for identifying brain representations of psychological processes and clinical outcomes using fMRI and related methods. Such methods can be used to predict or 'decode' psychological states in individual subjects. Single-subject MVPA approaches, however, are limited by the amount and quality of individual-subject data. In spite of higher spatial resolution, predictive accuracy from single-subject data often does not exceed what can be accomplished using coarser, group-level maps, because single-subject patterns are trained on limited amounts of often-noisy data. Here, we present a method that combines population-level priors, in the form of biomarker patterns developed on prior samples, with single-subject MVPA maps to improve single-subject prediction. Theoretical results and simulations motivate a weighting based on the relative variances of biomarker-based prediction-based on population-level predictive maps from prior groups-and individual-subject, cross-validated prediction. Empirical results predicting pain using brain activity on a trial-by-trial basis (single-trial prediction) across 6 studies (N=180 participants) confirm the theoretical predictions. Regularization based on a population-level biomarker-in this case, the Neurologic Pain Signature (NPS)-improved single-subject prediction accuracy compared with idiographic maps based on the individuals' data alone. The regularization scheme that we propose, which we term group-regularized individual prediction (GRIP), can be applied broadly to within-person MVPA-based prediction. We also show how GRIP can be used to evaluate data quality and provide benchmarks for the appropriateness of population-level maps like the NPS for a given individual or study. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Novel Method for Recruiting Representative At-Risk Individuals into Cancer Prevention Trials: Online Health Risk Assessment in Employee Wellness Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Hui, Siu-Kuen Azor; Miller, Suzanne M; Hazuda, Leah; Engelman, Kimberly; Ellerbeck, Edward F

2016-09-01

Participation in cancer prevention trials (CPT) is lower than 3 % among high-risk healthy individuals, and racial/ethnic minorities are the most under-represented. Novel recruitment strategies are therefore needed. Online health risk assessment (HRA) serves as a gateway component of nearly all employee wellness programs (EWPs) and may be a missed opportunity. This study aimed to explore employees' interest, willingness, motivators, and barriers of releasing their HRA responses to an external secure research database for recruitment purpose. We used qualitative research methods (focus group and individual interviews) to examine employees' interest and willingness in releasing their online HRA responses to an external, secure database to register as potential CPT participants. Fifteen structured interviews (40 % of study participants were of racial/ethnic minority) were conducted, and responses reached saturation after four interviews. All employees showed interest and willingness to release their online HRA responses to register as a potential CPT participant. Content analyses revealed that 91 % of participants were motivated to do so, and the major motivators were to (1) obtain help in finding personally relevant prevention trials, (2) help people they know who are affected by cancer, and/or (3) increase knowledge about CPT. A subset of participants (45 %) expressed barriers of releasing their HRA responses due to concerns about credibility and security of the external database. Online HRA may be a feasible but underutilized recruitment method for cancer prevention trials. EWP-sponsored HRA shows promise for the development of a large, centralized registry of racially/ethnically representative CPT potential participants.

Individuality in Fish Behavior: Ecology and Comparative Psychology

OpenAIRE

Budaev, Dr. Sergey; Zworykin, Dr. Dmitry

2002-01-01

This work is a brief review of a series of studies of the phenotypic organization and ecological significance of individual differences in fish behavior. The following species were studied: guppy Poecilia retuculata, lion-headed cichlid Steatocranus cassuarius, and the convict cichlid Archocentrus nigrofasciatum. We developed methods for the analysis of individual differences in fish behavior and studied their structure, development, and ecological and evolutionary significance.

Bias and precision of methods for estimating the difference in restricted mean survival time from an individual patient data meta-analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Béranger Lueza

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The difference in restricted mean survival time ( rmstD t ∗ $$ rmstD\\left({t}^{\\ast}\\right $$ , the area between two survival curves up to time horizon t ∗ $$ {t}^{\\ast } $$ , is often used in cost-effectiveness analyses to estimate the treatment effect in randomized controlled trials. A challenge in individual patient data (IPD meta-analyses is to account for the trial effect. We aimed at comparing different methods to estimate the rmstD t ∗ $$ rmstD\\left({t}^{\\ast}\\right $$ from an IPD meta-analysis. Methods We compared four methods: the area between Kaplan-Meier curves (experimental vs. control arm ignoring the trial effect (Naïve Kaplan-Meier; the area between Peto curves computed at quintiles of event times (Peto-quintile; the weighted average of the areas between either trial-specific Kaplan-Meier curves (Pooled Kaplan-Meier or trial-specific exponential curves (Pooled Exponential. In a simulation study, we varied the between-trial heterogeneity for the baseline hazard and for the treatment effect (possibly correlated, the overall treatment effect, the time horizon t ∗ $$ {t}^{\\ast } $$ , the number of trials and of patients, the use of fixed or DerSimonian-Laird random effects model, and the proportionality of hazards. We compared the methods in terms of bias, empirical and average standard errors. We used IPD from the Meta-Analysis of Chemotherapy in Nasopharynx Carcinoma (MAC-NPC and its updated version MAC-NPC2 for illustration that included respectively 1,975 and 5,028 patients in 11 and 23 comparisons. Results The Naïve Kaplan-Meier method was unbiased, whereas the Pooled Exponential and, to a much lesser extent, the Pooled Kaplan-Meier methods showed a bias with non-proportional hazards. The Peto-quintile method underestimated the rmstD t ∗ $$ rmstD\\left({t}^{\\ast}\\right $$ , except with non-proportional hazards at t ∗ $$ {t}^{\\ast } $$ = 5 years. In the presence of treatment effect

Peer assessment of individual contributions to a group project: Student perceptions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kench, Peter L.; Field, Nikki; Agudera, Maila; Gill, Margo

2009-01-01

Group work has many benefits for a student's professional development but it is difficult to determine the individual contributions to the group assessment tasks. Peer assessment of an individual's contribution to group work can be used to encourage student participation. It is important that the method of peer assessment is fair and that the students' submissions be treated confidentially. A model for peer assessment of individual contributions to the group assessment is described. Students who did not participate adequately in the group were penalised resulting in a reduced individual grade. Perceptions of the peer assessment method are reported for students enrolled (n = 169) in the subject 'Medical Radiations Project'. The questionnaire showed a positive student response towards the peer assessment model.

Individual virtual phantom reconstruction for organ dosimetry based on standard available phantoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Babapour Mofrad, F.; Aghaeizadeh Zoroofi, R.; Abbaspour Tehran Fard, A.; Akhlaghpoor, Sh.; Chen, Y. W.; Sato, Y.

2010-01-01

In nuclear medicine application often it is required to use computational methods for evaluation of organ absorbed dose. Monte Carlo Simulation and phantoms have been used in many works before. The shape, size and volume In organs are varied, and this variation will produce error in dose calculation if no correction is applied. Materials and Methods: A computational framework for constructing individual phantom for dosimetry was performed on five liver CT scan data sets of Japanese normal individuals. The Zubal phantom was used as an original phantom to be adjusted by each individual data set. This registration was done by Spherical Harmonics and Thin-Plate Spline methods. Hausdorff distance was calculated for each case. Results: Result of Hausdorff distance for five lndividual phantoms showed that before registration ranged from 140.9 to 192.1, and after registration it changed to 52.5 to 76.7. This was caused by Index similarity ranged from %56.4 to %70.3. Conclusion: A new and automatic three-dimensional (3D) phantom construction approach was-suggested for individual internal dosimetry simulation via Spherical Harmonics and Thin-Plate Spline methods. The results showed that the Individual comparable phantom can be calculated with acceptable accuracy using geometric registration. This method could be used for race-specific statistical phantom modeling with major application in nuclear medicine for absorbed dose calculation.

Cross-modal individual recognition in wild African lions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilfillan, Geoffrey; Vitale, Jessica; McNutt, John Weldon; McComb, Karen

2016-08-01

Individual recognition is considered to have been fundamental in the evolution of complex social systems and is thought to be a widespread ability throughout the animal kingdom. Although robust evidence for individual recognition remains limited, recent experimental paradigms that examine cross-modal processing have demonstrated individual recognition in a range of captive non-human animals. It is now highly relevant to test whether cross-modal individual recognition exists within wild populations and thus examine how it is employed during natural social interactions. We address this question by testing audio-visual cross-modal individual recognition in wild African lions (Panthera leo) using an expectancy-violation paradigm. When presented with a scenario where the playback of a loud-call (roaring) broadcast from behind a visual block is incongruent with the conspecific previously seen there, subjects responded more strongly than during the congruent scenario where the call and individual matched. These findings suggest that lions are capable of audio-visual cross-modal individual recognition and provide a useful method for studying this ability in wild populations. © 2016 The Author(s).

An 11-digit identification system for individual Nile crocodiles using natural markings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hindrik Bouwman

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Research and conservation of wild crocodiles and husbandry of captive crocodiles requires the reliable identification of individuals. We present a method using the individual colour markings on the first 10 single-crest scutes on the tails of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus. The scutes are scored by number for colour, with a prefix for left or right providing a binary 11-digit identification number (identification numbers [IDs]; e.g. 12232232242 and 22333233232 per crocodile. A survey of 359 captive Nile crocodiles showed no duplication. However, 42% had asymmetrical scute markings requiring a binary approach. There does not seem to be a change in patterns with age, except that the number of missing scutes increased. A small trial showed that this method can be applied in the field, although more work is needed to determine observer bias and establish parameters for observability in the field. It is unlikely that both left and right IDs would be obtainable for each individual, but other distinctive markings such as scute shape and damage can be used to register the two IDs to one individual. Having two independent IDs for each crocodile provides the possibility of two independent population estimates for equal effort without having to link left and right IDs to individuals. Our proposed method would be useful in conservation, individual tracking and husbandry. Conservation implications: A non-invasive marking and recapture method for Nile crocodile is presented whereby the first 10 single-crest scutes are scored for colour, allowing conservation practitioners to count and monitor crocodile populations and individuals. This method provides two equal-effort estimations of population size, as left and right hand sides are scored independently. Keywords: Crocodylus niloticus; identification; mark - recapture; mark - resight

Innovation in POPBL teaching and learning methods by embedding individual activities as an integrated part of project work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moesby, Egon; W., Hans Henrik; Kørnøv, Lone

2005-01-01

activity embedded as an integrated part of the project work. Students work in the solution phase of the project on an individual activity that is separately assessed. The results of these individual activities form the platform for students’ final work with the project as a team. They have to evaluate......In this paper, the authors describe a way to increase student learning through social constructed teamwork by adding an individual activity to the project work. This can be achieved not just by adding an individual activity outside or parallel to the project work, but by having the individual...... the individual solutions and find the one solution to work on in the final phases of the project. On top of that, it helps train students’ abilities to make evaluations among various solutions of which one is their own, thereby learning how to evaluate their personal solutions against another person’s solutions...

Evolution of social versus individual learning in a subdivided population revisited: comparative analysis of three coexistence mechanisms using the inclusive-fitness method.

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Yutaka; Ohtsuki, Hisashi

2014-03-01

Learning abilities are categorized into social (learning from others) and individual learning (learning on one's own). Despite the typically higher cost of individual learning, there are mechanisms that allow stable coexistence of both learning modes in a single population. In this paper, we investigate by means of mathematical modeling how the effect of spatial structure on evolutionary outcomes of pure social and individual learning strategies depends on the mechanisms for coexistence. We model a spatially structured population based on the infinite-island framework and consider three scenarios that differ in coexistence mechanisms. Using the inclusive-fitness method, we derive the equilibrium frequency of social learners and the genetic load of social learning (defined as average fecundity reduction caused by the presence of social learning) in terms of some summary statistics, such as relatedness, for each of the three scenarios and compare the results. This comparative analysis not only reconciles previous models that made contradictory predictions as to the effect of spatial structure on the equilibrium frequency of social learners but also derives a simple mathematical rule that determines the sign of the genetic load (i.e. whether or not social learning contributes to the mean fecundity of the population). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

3D structure of individual nanocrystals in solution by electron microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Jungwon; Elmlund, Hans; Ercius, Peter; Yuk, Jong Min; Limmer, David T.; Chen, Qian; Kim, Kwanpyo; Han, Sang Hoon; Weitz, David A.; Zettl, A.; Alivisatos, A. Paul

2015-07-01

Knowledge about the synthesis, growth mechanisms, and physical properties of colloidal nanoparticles has been limited by technical impediments. We introduce a method for determining three-dimensional (3D) structures of individual nanoparticles in solution. We combine a graphene liquid cell, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, a direct electron detector, and an algorithm for single-particle 3D reconstruction originally developed for analysis of biological molecules. This method yielded two 3D structures of individual platinum nanocrystals at near-atomic resolution. Because our method derives the 3D structure from images of individual nanoparticles rotating freely in solution, it enables the analysis of heterogeneous populations of potentially unordered nanoparticles that are synthesized in solution, thereby providing a means to understand the structure and stability of defects at the nanoscale.

[Metabonomics-a useful tool for individualized cancer therapy].

Science.gov (United States)

Chai, Yanlan; Wang, Juan; Liu, Zi

2013-11-01

Metabonomics has developed rapidly in post-genome era, and becomes a hot topic of omics. The core idea of metabonomics is to determine the metabolites of relatively low-weight molecular in organisms or cells, by a series of analytical methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance, color spectrum and mass spectrogram, then to transform the data of metabolic pattern into useful information, by chemometric tools and pattern recognition software, and to reveal the essence of life activities of the body. With advantages of high-throughput, high-sensitivity and high-accuracy, metabolomics shows great potential and value in cancer individualized treatment. This paper introduces the concept,contents and methods of metabonomics and reviews its application in cancer individualized therapy.

Comparison of frequency of obesity in high risk non diabetic young individuals with low risk non diabetic young individuals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaikh, M.A.; Kumar, R.; Ghori, R.A.

2011-01-01

Objective: To assess the body mass index and waist circumferences of high risk non diabetic young individuals and compare them with low risk non diabetic young individuals. Method: A cross sectional, case control comparative study was conducted in the department of medicine, LUMHS from January 2008 to March 2009. Five hundred individuals 20-40 years of age were selected and divided into two groups i.e. Group A: high risk (250 individuals) and Group B: low risk (250 individuals) on the basis of same age and gender. Group A included those who had positive family history of type 2 DM in first degree relatives while group B had no family history of type 2 DM in first degree relatives. The blood pressure, BMI and Waist Circumference was measured and Fasting Blood Sugar was estimated in each individual. In each group 125 (50%) were males and 125 (50%) were females. Results: In group A 58% and in group B 28.8% individuals represented raised BMI whereas 42% in group A and 36% in group B individuals showed an increased waist circumference. Mean fasting blood glucose was significantly higher in Group A than in Group B (P=0.001). Conclusion: Impaired Fasting Glucose is strongly associated with family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Presence of obesity specially in high risk non-diabetic young individuals emphasize the need for routine health screening for early institution of preventive measures. (author)

Improving genetic evaluation of litter size and piglet mortality for both genotyped and nongenotyped individuals using a single-step method.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, X; Christensen, O F; Ostersen, T; Wang, Y; Lund, M S; Su, G

2015-02-01

A single-step method allows genetic evaluation using information of phenotypes, pedigree, and markers from genotyped and nongenotyped individuals simultaneously. This paper compared genomic predictions obtained from a single-step BLUP (SSBLUP) method, a genomic BLUP (GBLUP) method, a selection index blending (SELIND) method, and a traditional pedigree-based method (BLUP) for total number of piglets born (TNB), litter size at d 5 after birth (LS5), and mortality rate before d 5 (Mort; including stillbirth) in Danish Landrace and Yorkshire pigs. Data sets of 778,095 litters from 309,362 Landrace sows and 472,001 litters from 190,760 Yorkshire sows were used for the analysis. There were 332,795 Landrace and 207,255 Yorkshire animals in the pedigree data, among which 3,445 Landrace pigs (1,366 boars and 2,079 sows) and 3,372 Yorkshire pigs (1,241 boars and 2,131 sows) were genotyped with the Illumina PorcineSNP60 BeadChip. The results showed that the 3 methods with marker information (SSBLUP, GBLUP, and SELIND) produced more accurate predictions for genotyped animals than the pedigree-based method. For genotyped animals, the average of reliabilities for all traits in both breeds using traditional BLUP was 0.091, which increased to 0.171 w+hen using GBLUP and to 0.179 when using SELIND and further increased to 0.209 when using SSBLUP. Furthermore, the average reliability of EBV for nongenotyped animals was increased from 0.091 for traditional BLUP to 0.105 for the SSBLUP. The results indicate that the SSBLUP is a good approach to practical genomic prediction of litter size and piglet mortality in Danish Landrace and Yorkshire populations.

Individual welfare analysis for collective households

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cherchye, Laurens; Cosaert, Sam; de Rock, Bram

We propose novel tools for the analysis of individual welfare on the basis of aggregate household demand behavior. The method assumes a collective model of household consumption with the public and private nature of goods specified by the empirical analyst. A main distinguishing feature of our......-to-pay for public consumption (i.e. Lindahl prices). The method is easy to use in practice and yields informative empirical results, which we demonstrate through a simulation analysis and an empirical application to labor supply data....

Individual monitoring in high-energy stray radiation fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoefert, M.; Stevenson, G.R.

1995-01-01

Due to the lack of passive or active devices that could be considered as personal dosemeters in high-energy stray fields one can at present only perform individual monitoring around high energy accelerators. Of all detectors currently available it is shown that the NTA film is the most suitable method for individually monitoring the neutron exposure of more than 3000 persons regularly, reliably, and cost effectively like at CERN. (author)

Factors influencing thermal tolerances of individual organisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hutchison, V.H.

1976-01-01

The diversity of experimental methods and terminology employed by investigators to measure the effects of high temperatures on individual organisms, plus the often overlooked complexities of the holocoenotic environment, has often led to disconcerting conclusions. A plea is made for standardization of testing methods and for a wider appreciation of factors that may alter thermal tolerances. The influence of elevated temperature is grouped into three categories, lethal effects, controlling effects, and directive effects, all of which should be considered in assessing the impact of thermal effluent on organisms. In addition, the terminology (acclimation, acclimatization, adaptation, habituation, lethal temperature, critical thermal maximum, etc.) needs standardized definitions. The important factors influencing thermal effects on organisms include photoperiod, seasonal and daily cycles, geographic variation, diet, sex, breeding condition, age, life-cycle stage, salinity, chemicals, body water content and partitioning, oxygen supply, pH, innate and learned behavior, history of thermal exposure, sublethal exposure to limiting factors, and experimental methods. Examples of most of these are given to illustrate the role of temperature in the holocoenotic environmental complex of individual organisms

Methods of diagnostics for the organization of individual training to informatics of pupils of sanatorium type school

OpenAIRE

Ирина Александровна Карпезина

2009-01-01

Preparation of pupils with health infringements in sanatorium type schools is carried out by individual techniques. In article approaches to diagnosing of schoolboys for a choice of individual trajectories of training to informatics are considered.

Assessment of ulceration risk in diabetic individuals

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Luz Marina Alfonso Dutra

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: To identify the risk factors for foot ulceration through the tracing of diabetic peripheral neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease in individuals with type I and II diabetes, who were assisted in reference centers of the Federal District, Brazil. Method: a cross-sectional and analytical study, with the assessment of 117 individuals in outpatient clinics of the Federal District. Continuous variables were compared through Mann-Whitney test, and categorized variables, through Chi-square test for univariate analysis and Logistics regression test for multivariate analysis. Results: painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy was present in 37 (75.5% of the individuals with neuropathy. Deformities and loss of protective plant sensibility were related to neuropathy (p=0.014 and p=0.001, respectively. Of the 40 (34.2% individuals in the sample who presented peripheral arterial disease, 26 (65% presented calcification risk. Conclusion: signs of painful peripheral polyneuropathy, peripheral arterial disease, deformities, loss of protective plantar sensibility, and dry skin were identified as risk factors for ulceration.

Methods of diagnostics for the organization of individual training to informatics of pupils of sanatorium type school

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ирина Александровна Карпезина

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Preparation of pupils with health infringements in sanatorium type schools is carried out by individual techniques. In article approaches to diagnosing of schoolboys for a choice of individual trajectories of training to informatics are considered.

Method to map individual electromagnetic field components inside a photonic crystal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Denis, T.; Reijnders, B.; Lee, J.H.H.; van der Slot, Petrus J.M.; Vos, Willem L.; Boller, Klaus J.

2012-01-01

We present a method to map the absolute electromagnetic field strength inside photonic crystals. We apply the method to map the dominant electric field component Ez of a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab at microwave frequencies. The slab is placed between two mirrors to select Bloch standing

Colostomy irrigation: an important issue for Muslim individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Karadag, Ayise; Baykara, Zehra Göçmen

2009-01-01

Colostomy irrigation (CI) is a bowel management method in individuals with permanent colostomy, as an alternative to pouch use, which may provide continence. CI helps the individuals with an artificial stoma to adjust to the stoma and may increase their quality of life (QOL). An uncontrolled intestinal gas discharge invalidates ablution, and noisy gas discharge and smell prevents congregational prayers, which cause problems to Muslims with stomas. Therefore, CI may be an appropriate solution for this patient group. Using the example of one affected individual we discuss how the praying problem can be resolved with teaching to self-perform CI and emphasize the beneficial effects on QOL.

Analysis of gene expression levels in individual bacterial cells without image segmentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwak, In Hae; Son, Minjun; Hagen, Stephen J.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We present a method for extracting gene expression data from images of bacterial cells. ► The method does not employ cell segmentation and does not require high magnification. ► Fluorescence and phase contrast images of the cells are correlated through the physics of phase contrast. ► We demonstrate the method by characterizing noisy expression of comX in Streptococcus mutans. -- Abstract: Studies of stochasticity in gene expression typically make use of fluorescent protein reporters, which permit the measurement of expression levels within individual cells by fluorescence microscopy. Analysis of such microscopy images is almost invariably based on a segmentation algorithm, where the image of a cell or cluster is analyzed mathematically to delineate individual cell boundaries. However segmentation can be ineffective for studying bacterial cells or clusters, especially at lower magnification, where outlines of individual cells are poorly resolved. Here we demonstrate an alternative method for analyzing such images without segmentation. The method employs a comparison between the pixel brightness in phase contrast vs fluorescence microscopy images. By fitting the correlation between phase contrast and fluorescence intensity to a physical model, we obtain well-defined estimates for the different levels of gene expression that are present in the cell or cluster. The method reveals the boundaries of the individual cells, even if the source images lack the resolution to show these boundaries clearly.

Individual-dose distribution for the population in different regions with radioactive contamination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keirim-Markus, I.B.; Kleshchenko, E.D.; Kushnereva, K.K.

1995-01-01

The reconstruction of individual doses as a result of the Chernobyl accident often relied on the method of EPR measurement from the enamel from extracted teeth. This method was used reliably, with individual confirmations of its indications being obtained. In determining the relatively small irradiation dose to the population, doubts arise because of the fact that the measured dose is often greater than the dose calculated by an indirect method---from external radiation fields at the location and the contents of radionuclides in foods. It is necessary, therefore, to perform an independent check of the results. In this paper, we describe one method for checking the reliability---comparing the measurements of the dose from several teeth in the same individual---in determining the dose from tooth enamel for the population of the Kamensk-Ural region of Sverdlovsk province. This group lived in the zone of passage for the eastern Ural radioactive wake in 1957. The error of the dose determination for different samples was different, since it depends on the mass and quality of the enamel obtained. The results presented show that the method of EPR dosimetry using the enamel of extracted teeth makes it possible to determine quite reliably the individual dose of external radiation from the background up to several Gy of the measurements. Our method compares measurements

Characteristics and Diffusion Model of the Individual Knowledge in the WeChat Mode

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Zhang Lingzhi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available [Purpose/significance] According to the model of the individual knowledge diffusion, we conduct a behavior research and analyze the characteristics of that based on WeChat which is the most popular communication platform in China.[Method/process] By analyzing the methods of the diffusion on WeChat, we analyzed the characteristics of the individual knowledge diffusion. [Result/conclusion]The characteristics of the individual knowledge diffusion include real-time, short-term, speciality, friendship and transmission.

A Machine Learning Method for Co-Registration and Individual Tree Matching of Forest Inventory and Airborne Laser Scanning Data

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Sebastian Lamprecht

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Determining the exact position of a forest inventory plot—and hence the position of the sampled trees—is often hampered by a poor Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS signal quality beneath the forest canopy. Inaccurate geo-references hamper the performance of models that aim to retrieve useful information from spatially high remote sensing data (e.g., species classification or timber volume estimation. This restriction is even more severe on the level of individual trees. The objective of this study was to develop a post-processing strategy to improve the positional accuracy of GNSS-measured sample-plot centers and to develop a method to automatically match trees within a terrestrial sample plot to aerial detected trees. We propose a new method which uses a random forest classifier to estimate the matching probability of each terrestrial-reference and aerial detected tree pair, which gives the opportunity to assess the reliability of the results. We investigated 133 sample plots of the Third German National Forest Inventory (BWI, 2011–2012 within the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. For training and objective validation, synthetic forest stands have been modeled using the Waldplaner 2.0 software. Our method has achieved an overall accuracy of 82.7% for co-registration and 89.1% for tree matching. With our method, 60% of the investigated plots could be successfully relocated. The probabilities provided by the algorithm are an objective indicator of the reliability of a specific result which could be incorporated into quantitative models to increase the performance of forest attribute estimations.

SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF HIV-INFECTED INDIVIDUALS

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Liliya Anatolyevna Kudrich

2016-02-01

Full Text Available By 2020 the prevalence of HIV in the Russian Federation may increase by 250%, unless we provide appropriate treatment to as many HIV-infected people as possible (V.I. Skvortsova, 2015. Previous research in this field shows that the psychotraumatic character of the disease lowers the psychological resource of HIV-infected individuals. In most cases, they are not psychologically prepared for the negative life events, unable to find an optimal behavioral pattern when their life stereotypes are being destroyed. In fact, being HIV-infected is an example of an acute event (V.V. Pokrovsky, 1993. The ability to overcome the life crisis and effectiveness of using adaptation and compensatory mechanisms to fight the disease depend on the level of adaptation to the fact of being infected and resistance to stress. The aim of the current study was to determine social and psychological features of HIV-infected individuals and assess their influence on the stress resistance and adaptation abilities of HIV+ patients. We observed men and women aged 21-30 who had been HIV+ for 1-5 years. Investigation methods included the following diagnostic tools: The Cattel Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (Form C, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (conducted by Spielberger, adapted for use in Russia by Hanin, The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (The Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory, The Social and Psychological Adaptation Questionnaire (by C. Rogers and R. Diamond, methods of mathematical statistics. As a result of the study, we have developed comparative factor profiles of individual psychological features of HIV-infected individuals that show their dependence on the social environment and form certain behavioral patterns. We have revealed significant difference in state and trait anxiety between HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected individuals. Self-blame, inadequate self-esteem and level of aspiration indicate low cognitive assessment of the condition by the patients

Statistical Reasoning and Methods in Epidemiology to Promote Individualized Health: In Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogburn, Elizabeth L; Zeger, Scott L

2016-03-01

Epidemiology is concerned with determining the distribution and causes of disease. Throughout its history, epidemiology has drawn upon statistical ideas and methods to achieve its aims. Because of the exponential growth in our capacity to measure and analyze data on the underlying processes that define each person's state of health, there is an emerging opportunity for population-based epidemiologic studies to influence health decisions made by individuals in ways that take into account the individuals' characteristics, circumstances, and preferences. We refer to this endeavor as "individualized health." The present article comprises 2 sections. In the first, we describe how graphical, longitudinal, and hierarchical models can inform the project of individualized health. We propose a simple graphical model for informing individual health decisions using population-based data. In the second, we review selected topics in causal inference that we believe to be particularly useful for individualized health. Epidemiology and biostatistics were 2 of the 4 founding departments in the world's first graduate school of public health at Johns Hopkins University, the centennial of which we honor. This survey of a small part of the literature is intended to demonstrate that the 2 fields remain just as inextricably linked today as they were 100 years ago. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Group versus individual family planning counseling in Ghana: a randomized, noninferiority trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwandt, Hilary M; Creanga, Andreea A; Danso, Kwabena A; Adanu, Richard M K; Agbenyega, Tsiri; Hindin, Michelle J

2013-08-01

Group, rather than individual, family planning counseling has the potential to increase family planning knowledge and use through more efficient use of limited human resources. A randomized, noninferiority study design was utilized to identify whether group family planning counseling is as effective as individual family planning counseling in Ghana. Female gynecology patients were enrolled from two teaching hospitals in Ghana in June and July 2008. Patients were randomized to receive either group or individual family planning counseling. The primary outcome in this study was change in modern contraceptive method knowledge. Changes in family planning use intention before and after the intervention and intended method type were also explored. Comparisons between the two study arms suggest that randomization was successful. The difference in change in modern contraceptive methods known from baseline to follow-up between the two study arms (group-individual), adjusted for study site, was -0.21, (95% confidence interval: -0.53 to 0.12) suggesting no difference between the two arms. Group family planning counseling was as effective as individual family planning counseling in increasing modern contraceptive knowledge among female gynecology patients in Ghana. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Models and Methods for Adaptive Management of Individual and Team-Based Training Using a Simulator

Science.gov (United States)

Lisitsyna, L. S.; Smetyuh, N. P.; Golikov, S. P.

2017-05-01

Research of adaptive individual and team-based training has been analyzed and helped find out that both in Russia and abroad, individual and team-based training and retraining of AASTM operators usually includes: production training, training of general computer and office equipment skills, simulator training including virtual simulators which use computers to simulate real-world manufacturing situation, and, as a rule, the evaluation of AASTM operators’ knowledge determined by completeness and adequacy of their actions under the simulated conditions. Such approach to training and re-training of AASTM operators stipulates only technical training of operators and testing their knowledge based on assessing their actions in a simulated environment.

Neural response in obsessive-compulsive washers depends on individual fit of triggers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali eBaioui

2013-04-01

Full Text Available BackgroundPatients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD have highly idiosyncratic triggers. To fully understand which role this idiosyncrasy plays in the neurobiological mechanisms behind OCD, it is necessary to elucidate the impact of individualization regarding the applied investigation methods.This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study explores the neural correlates of contamination/washing-related OCD with a highly individualized symptom provocation paradigm. Additionally, it is the first study to directly compare individualized and standardized symptom provocation. MethodsNineteen patients with washing compulsions created individual OCD hierarchies, which later served as instructions to photograph their own individualized stimulus sets. The patients and 19 case-by-case matched healthy controls participated in a symptom provocation fMRI experiment with individualized and standardized stimulus sets created for each patient. ResultsOCD patients compared to healthy controls displayed stronger activation in the basal ganglia (nucleus accumbens, nucleus caudatus, pallidum for individualized symptom provocation. Using standardized symptom provocation, this group comparison led to stronger activation in the nucleus caudatus. The direct comparison of between-group effects for both symptom provocation approaches revealed stronger activation of the orbitofronto-striatal network for individualized symptom provocation.ConclusionsThe present study provides insight into the differential impact of individualized and standardized symptom provocation on the orbitofronto-striatal network of OCD washers. Behavioral and neural responses imply a higher symptom-specificity of individualized symptom provocation.

Feasibility of Group Voice Therapy for Individuals with Parkinson's Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Searl, Jeff; Wilson, Kristel; Haring, Karen; Dietsch, Angela; Lyons, Kelly; Pahwa, Rajesh

2011-01-01

Purpose: The primary purpose was to demonstrate the feasibility of executing treatment tasks focused on increasing loudness in a group format for individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). A second purpose was to report preliminary pre-to-post treatment outcomes for individuals with PD immediately after they complete the group program. Methods:…

A PSO-Optimized Fuzzy Logic Control-Based Charging Method for Individual Household Battery Storage Systems within a Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Shan Cheng

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Self-consumption of household photovoltaic (PV storage systems has become profitable for residential owners under the trends of limited feed-in power and decreasing PV feed-in tariffs. For individual PV-storage systems, the challenge mainly lies in managing surplus generation of battery and grid power flow, ideally without relying on error-prone forecasts for both generation and consumption. Considering the large variation in power profiles of different houses in a neighborhood, the strategy is also supposed to be beneficial and applicable for the entire community. In this study, an adaptable battery charging control strategy is designed in order to obtain minimum costs for houses without any meteorological or load forecasts. Based on fuzzy logic control (FLC, battery state-of-charge (SOC and the variation of SOC (∆SOC are taken as input variables to dynamically determine output charging power with minimum costs. The proposed FLC-based algorithm benefits from the charging battery as much as possible during the daytime, and meanwhile properly preserves the capacity at midday when there is high possibility of curtailment loss. In addition, due to distinct power profiles in each individual house, input membership functions of FLC are improved by particle swarm optimization (PSO to achieve better overall performance. A neighborhood with 74 houses in Germany is set up as a scenario for comparison to prior studies. Without forecasts of generation and consumption power, the proposed method leads to minimum costs in 98.6% of houses in the community, and attains the lowest average expenses for a single house each year.

A simple method for assigning genomic grade to individual breast tumours

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wennmalm, Kristian; Bergh, Jonas

2011-01-01

The prognostic value of grading in breast cancer can be increased with microarray technology, but proposed strategies are disadvantaged by the use of specific training data or parallel microscopic grading. Here, we investigate the performance of a method that uses no information outside the breast profile of interest. In 251 profiled tumours we optimised a method that achieves grading by comparing rank means for genes predictive of high and low grade biology; a simpler method that allows for truly independent estimation of accuracy. Validation was carried out in 594 patients derived from several independent data sets. We found that accuracy was good: for low grade (G1) tumors 83- 94%, for high grade (G3) tumors 74- 100%. In keeping with aim of improved grading, two groups of intermediate grade (G2) cancers with significantly different outcome could be discriminated. This validates the concept of microarray-based grading in breast cancer, and provides a more practical method to achieve it. A simple R script for grading is available in an additional file. Clinical implementation could achieve better estimation of recurrence risk for 40 to 50% of breast cancer patients

A simple method for assigning genomic grade to individual breast tumours

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bergh Jonas

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The prognostic value of grading in breast cancer can be increased with microarray technology, but proposed strategies are disadvantaged by the use of specific training data or parallel microscopic grading. Here, we investigate the performance of a method that uses no information outside the breast profile of interest. Results In 251 profiled tumours we optimised a method that achieves grading by comparing rank means for genes predictive of high and low grade biology; a simpler method that allows for truly independent estimation of accuracy. Validation was carried out in 594 patients derived from several independent data sets. We found that accuracy was good: for low grade (G1 tumors 83- 94%, for high grade (G3 tumors 74- 100%. In keeping with aim of improved grading, two groups of intermediate grade (G2 cancers with significantly different outcome could be discriminated. Conclusion This validates the concept of microarray-based grading in breast cancer, and provides a more practical method to achieve it. A simple R script for grading is available in an additional file. Clinical implementation could achieve better estimation of recurrence risk for 40 to 50% of breast cancer patients.

Emg Signal Analysis of Healthy and Neuropathic Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Ashutosh; Sayed, Tabassum; Garg, Ridhi; Shreyam, Richa

2017-08-01

Electromyography is a method to evaluate levels of muscle activity. When a muscle contracts, an action potential is generated and this circulates along the muscular fibers. In electromyography, electrodes are connected to the skin and the electrical activity of muscles is measured and graph is plotted. The surface EMG signals picked up during the muscular activity are interfaced with a system. The EMG signals from individual suffering from Neuropathy and healthy individual, so obtained, are processed and analyzed using signal processing techniques. This project includes the investigation and interpretation of EMG signals of healthy and Neuropathic individuals using MATLAB. The prospective use of this study is in developing the prosthetic device for the people with Neuropathic disability.

Needles in the haystack: identifying individuals present in pooled genomic data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosemary Braun

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Recent publications have described and applied a novel metric that quantifies the genetic distance of an individual with respect to two population samples, and have suggested that the metric makes it possible to infer the presence of an individual of known genotype in a sample for which only the marginal allele frequencies are known. However, the assumptions, limitations, and utility of this metric remained incompletely characterized. Here we present empirical tests of the method using publicly accessible genotypes, as well as analytical investigations of the method's strengths and limitations. The results reveal that the null distribution is sensitive to the underlying assumptions, making it difficult to accurately calibrate thresholds for classifying an individual as a member of the population samples. As a result, the false-positive rates obtained in practice are considerably higher than previously believed. However, despite the metric's inadequacies for identifying the presence of an individual in a sample, our results suggest potential avenues for future research on tuning this method to problems of ancestry inference or disease prediction. By revealing both the strengths and limitations of the proposed method, we hope to elucidate situations in which this distance metric may be used in an appropriate manner. We also discuss the implications of our findings in forensics applications and in the protection of GWAS participant privacy.

Analysis of gene expression levels in individual bacterial cells without image segmentation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwak, In Hae; Son, Minjun [Physics Department, University of Florida, P.O. Box 118440, Gainesville, FL 32611-8440 (United States); Hagen, Stephen J., E-mail: sjhagen@ufl.edu [Physics Department, University of Florida, P.O. Box 118440, Gainesville, FL 32611-8440 (United States)

2012-05-11

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We present a method for extracting gene expression data from images of bacterial cells. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The method does not employ cell segmentation and does not require high magnification. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Fluorescence and phase contrast images of the cells are correlated through the physics of phase contrast. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We demonstrate the method by characterizing noisy expression of comX in Streptococcus mutans. -- Abstract: Studies of stochasticity in gene expression typically make use of fluorescent protein reporters, which permit the measurement of expression levels within individual cells by fluorescence microscopy. Analysis of such microscopy images is almost invariably based on a segmentation algorithm, where the image of a cell or cluster is analyzed mathematically to delineate individual cell boundaries. However segmentation can be ineffective for studying bacterial cells or clusters, especially at lower magnification, where outlines of individual cells are poorly resolved. Here we demonstrate an alternative method for analyzing such images without segmentation. The method employs a comparison between the pixel brightness in phase contrast vs fluorescence microscopy images. By fitting the correlation between phase contrast and fluorescence intensity to a physical model, we obtain well-defined estimates for the different levels of gene expression that are present in the cell or cluster. The method reveals the boundaries of the individual cells, even if the source images lack the resolution to show these boundaries clearly.

Genders and Individual Treatment Progress in (Non-)Binary Trans Individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Koehler, Andreas; Eyssel, Jana; Nieder, Timo O

2018-01-01

Health care for transgender and transsexual (ie, trans) individuals has long been based on a binary understanding of gender (ie, feminine vs masculine). However, the existence of non-binary or genderqueer (NBGQ) genders is increasingly recognized by academic and/or health care professionals. To gain insight into the individual health care experiences and needs of binary and NBGQ individuals to improve their health care outcomes and experience. Data were collected using an online survey study on experiences with trans health care. The non-clinical sample consisted of 415 trans individuals. An individual treatment progress score was calculated to report and compare participants' individual progress toward treatment completion and consider the individual treatment needs and definitions of completed treatment (ie, amount and types of different treatments needed to complete one's medical transition). Main outcome measures were (i) general and trans-related sociodemographic data and (ii) received and planned treatments. Participants reported binary (81.7%) and different NBGQ (18.3%) genders. The 2 groups differed significantly in basic demographic data (eg, mean age; P < .05). NBGQ participants reported significantly fewer received treatments compared with binary participants. For planned treatments, binary participants reported more treatments related to primary sex characteristics only. Binary participants required more treatments for a completed treatment than NBGQ participants (6.0 vs 4.0). There were no differences with regard to individual treatment progress score. Because traditional binary-focused treatment practice could have hindered NBGQ individuals from accessing trans health care or sufficiently articulating their needs, health care professionals are encouraged to provide a holistic and individual treatment approach and acknowledge genders outside the gender binary to address their needs appropriately. Because the study was made inclusive for non

Nanoliter hemolymph sampling and analysis of individual adult Drosophila melanogaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Piyankarage, Sujeewa C; Featherstone, David E; Shippy, Scott A

2012-05-15

The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is an extensively used and powerful, genetic model organism. However, chemical studies using individual flies have been limited by the animal's small size. Introduced here is a method to sample nanoliter hemolymph volumes from individual adult fruit-flies for chemical analysis. The technique results in an ability to distinguish hemolymph chemical variations with developmental stage, fly sex, and sampling conditions. Also presented is the means for two-point monitoring of hemolymph composition for individual flies.

Language Learning of Gifted Individuals: A Content Analysis Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beria Gokaydin

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This study aims to carry out a content analysis of the studies on language learning of gifted individuals and determine the trends in this field. Articles on language learning of gifted individuals published in the Scopus database were examined based on certain criteria including type of publication, year of publication, language, research discipline, countries of research, institutions of authors, key words, and resources. Data were analyzed with the content analysis method. Results showed that the number of studies on language learning of gifted individuals has increased throughout the years. Recommendations for further research and practices are provided.

Population genetic analysis of shotgun assemblies of genomic sequences from multiple individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hellmann, Ines; Mang, Yuan; Gu, Zhiping

2008-01-01

We introduce a simple, broadly applicable method for obtaining estimates of nucleotide diversity from genomic shotgun sequencing data. The method takes into account the special nature of these data: random sampling of genomic segments from one or more individuals and a relatively high error rate...... for individual reads. Applying this method to data from the Celera human genome sequencing and SNP discovery project, we obtain estimates of nucleotide diversity in windows spanning the human genome and show that the diversity to divergence ratio is reduced in regions of low recombination. Furthermore, we show...

Kinematic Differences During Single-Leg Step-Down Between Individuals With Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome and Individuals Without Hip Pain.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Cara L; Loverro, Kari L; Khuu, Anne

2018-04-01

Study Design Controlled laboratory study, case-control design. Background Despite recognition that femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) is a movement-related disorder, few studies have examined dynamic unilateral tasks in individuals with FAIS. Objectives To determine whether movements of the pelvis and lower extremities in individuals with FAIS differ from those in individuals without hip pain during a single-leg step-down, and to analyze kinematic differences between male and female participants within groups. Methods Individuals with FAIS and individuals without hip pain performed a single-leg step-down while kinematic data were collected. Kinematics were evaluated at 60° of knee flexion. A linear regression analysis assessed the main effects of group, sex, and side, and the interaction of sex by group. Results Twenty individuals with FAIS and 40 individuals without hip pain participated. Individuals with FAIS performed the step-down with greater hip flexion (4.9°; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.5°, 9.2°) and anterior pelvic tilt (4.1°; 95% CI: 0.9°, 7.3°) than individuals without hip pain. Across groups, female participants performed the task with more hip flexion (6.1°; 95% CI: 1.7°, 10.4°), hip adduction (4.8°; 95% CI: 2.2°, 7.4°), anterior pelvic tilt (5.8°; 95% CI: 2.6°, 9.0°), pelvic drop (1.4°; 95% CI: 0.3°, 2.5°), and thigh adduction (2.7°; 95% CI: 1.3°, 4.2°) than male participants. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that individuals with FAIS have alterations in pelvic motion during a dynamic unilateral task. The noted altered movement patterns in the FAIS group may contribute to the development of hip pain and may be due to impairments that are modifiable through rehabilitation. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2018;48(4):270-279. Epub 6 Mar 2018. doi:10.2519/jospt.2018.7794.

Methods for environmental change; an exploratory study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kok Gerjo

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background While the interest of health promotion researchers in change methods directed at the target population has a long tradition, interest in change methods directed at the environment is still developing. In this survey, the focus is on methods for environmental change; especially about how these are composed of methods for individual change (‘Bundling’ and how within one environmental level, organizations, methods differ when directed at the management (‘At’ or applied by the management (‘From’. Methods The first part of this online survey dealt with examining the ‘bundling’ of individual level methods to methods at the environmental level. The question asked was to what extent the use of an environmental level method would involve the use of certain individual level methods. In the second part of the survey the question was whether there are differences between applying methods directed ‘at’ an organization (for instance, by a health promoter versus ‘from’ within an organization itself. All of the 20 respondents are experts in the field of health promotion. Results Methods at the individual level are frequently bundled together as part of a method at a higher ecological level. A number of individual level methods are popular as part of most of the environmental level methods, while others are not chosen very often. Interventions directed at environmental agents often have a strong focus on the motivational part of behavior change. There are different approaches targeting a level or being targeted from a level. The health promoter will use combinations of motivation and facilitation. The manager will use individual level change methods focusing on self-efficacy and skills. Respondents think that any method may be used under the right circumstances, although few endorsed coercive methods. Conclusions Taxonomies of theoretical change methods for environmental change should include combinations of individual

Implicit and Explicit Memory Bias in Opiate Dependent, Abstinent and Normal Individuals

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Jafar Hasani

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: The aim of current research was to assess implicit and explicit memory bias to drug related stimuli in opiate Dependent, abstinent and normal Individuals. Method: Three groups including opiate Dependent, abstinent and normal Individuals (n=25 were selected by available sampling method. After matching on the base of age, education level and type of substance use all participants assessed by recognition task (explicit memory bias and stem completion task (implicit memory bias. Results: The analysis of data showed that opiate dependent and abstinent groups in comparison with normal individual had implicit memory bias, whereas in explicit memory only opiate dependent individuals showed bias. Conclusion: The identification of explicit and implicit memory governing addiction may have practical implications in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of substance abuse.

Effects of Vojta method on trunk stability in healthy individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Ha, Sun-Young; Sung, Yun-Hee

2016-12-01

Vojta reflex locomotion is important to main upright posture through stimulation of breast zone to patient with cerebral palsy. However, application in other diseases is no investigated. So, we determined the effects of stimulation of the breast zone on trunk stability in healthy individuals. Fourteen young healthy adults (7 males and 7 females) voluntarily participated in this study. The subjects were randomly divided into an experimental group (breast zone) and control group (arbitrary point). All groups were stimulated for 5 min on the left and right sides, respectively, for a total 10 times. We used the thickness of the external oblique abdominal muscle (EO), the internal oblique abdominal muscle, the transversus abdominis muscle (TrA), and the rectus abdominis muscles, as well as the area of the diaphragm by using ultrasonography. In the experimental group, the thickness of the TrA significantly increased during stimulation ( P <0.05) while the thickness of the EO significantly decreased ( P <0.05). Also, the area of diaphragm in inspiration was significantly different ( P <0.05). Therefore, stimulation of the breast zone may be effective to improve trunk stability through activation of the TrA muscle and the diaphragm.

Methods for environmental change; an exploratory study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kok, Gerjo; Gottlieb, Nell H; Panne, Robert; Smerecnik, Chris

2012-11-28

While the interest of health promotion researchers in change methods directed at the target population has a long tradition, interest in change methods directed at the environment is still developing. In this survey, the focus is on methods for environmental change; especially about how these are composed of methods for individual change ('Bundling') and how within one environmental level, organizations, methods differ when directed at the management ('At') or applied by the management ('From'). The first part of this online survey dealt with examining the 'bundling' of individual level methods to methods at the environmental level. The question asked was to what extent the use of an environmental level method would involve the use of certain individual level methods. In the second part of the survey the question was whether there are differences between applying methods directed 'at' an organization (for instance, by a health promoter) versus 'from' within an organization itself. All of the 20 respondents are experts in the field of health promotion. Methods at the individual level are frequently bundled together as part of a method at a higher ecological level. A number of individual level methods are popular as part of most of the environmental level methods, while others are not chosen very often. Interventions directed at environmental agents often have a strong focus on the motivational part of behavior change.There are different approaches targeting a level or being targeted from a level. The health promoter will use combinations of motivation and facilitation. The manager will use individual level change methods focusing on self-efficacy and skills. Respondents think that any method may be used under the right circumstances, although few endorsed coercive methods. Taxonomies of theoretical change methods for environmental change should include combinations of individual level methods that may be bundled and separate suggestions for methods targeting a level

Relationships between Religion, Collectivism, Individualism and Satisfaction with Life

OpenAIRE

Benn, Carola

2012-01-01

Abstract Religious belief and socio-cultural perspectives of Collectivism and Individualism are influential aspects of our perception of the world. Research has considered differences across groups, cultures and nations. Objectives: This study looks at whether there is a relationship between religion and Collectivism on the individual level. It further looks at correlations of Collectivism with satisfaction with life. Methods: A sample of 109 participants consisting of students and their ...

Individual and organizational predictors of depression in general practitioners.

OpenAIRE

Firth-Cozens, J

1998-01-01

BACKGROUND: High levels of stress and depression are seen in both general practitioners (GPs) and hospital doctors, and this has implications for patient care. It is therefore important to discover the individual and organizational causes of elevated symptoms so they can be tackled. AIM: To discover the relative importance of individual characteristics measured 10 years earlier compared with current organizational stressors in predicting depression in GPs. METHOD: Longitudinal questionnaire s...

Analysis of gene expression levels in individual bacterial cells without image segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwak, In Hae; Son, Minjun; Hagen, Stephen J

2012-05-11

Studies of stochasticity in gene expression typically make use of fluorescent protein reporters, which permit the measurement of expression levels within individual cells by fluorescence microscopy. Analysis of such microscopy images is almost invariably based on a segmentation algorithm, where the image of a cell or cluster is analyzed mathematically to delineate individual cell boundaries. However segmentation can be ineffective for studying bacterial cells or clusters, especially at lower magnification, where outlines of individual cells are poorly resolved. Here we demonstrate an alternative method for analyzing such images without segmentation. The method employs a comparison between the pixel brightness in phase contrast vs fluorescence microscopy images. By fitting the correlation between phase contrast and fluorescence intensity to a physical model, we obtain well-defined estimates for the different levels of gene expression that are present in the cell or cluster. The method reveals the boundaries of the individual cells, even if the source images lack the resolution to show these boundaries clearly. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding the role of individual consumer-provider relationships within assertive community treatment.

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Stanhope, Victoria; Matejkowski, Jason

2010-08-01

The widespread adoption of assertive community treatment has resulted in a shift from an individual model to a team model of case management. The shift has had implications for individual relationships between case managers and consumers, but still little is known about how these relationships develop in teams. This exploratory mixed methods study looked at how case managers and consumers negotiate individual relationships within a team model. Quantitative methods identified high and low service intensity relationships between consumers and case managers and qualitative methods explored and compared these relationships. Consumers in high service intensity relationships described a preference for certain case managers and the burden of working with multiple people. Case managers invested high service intensity relationships with special therapeutic value, articulated the challenges of coordinating care across the team, and utilized team limit setting techniques. In contrast, low service intensity relationships were more likely to reflect integration with the entire team. Findings suggest that teams need to consider how individual relationships enhance care for their consumers and how to nurture these relationships while maintaining the support necessary for case managers and consumers.

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing – effective method for evaluation and recommendation of individualized exercise training in patients with metabolic syndrome

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Claudiu Avram

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to emphasize the role of cardiopulmonary exercise training (CPET in evaluation and recommendation of individualized exercise training in patients with a metabolic syndrome. Methods: We performed a prospective longitudinal study of 9 months. The study group consisted of 28 young patients (21.3±3.1 years old without contraindications to exercise, previously diagnosed with metabolic syndrome according to NCEP-ATPIII criteria. All patients were evaluating at baseline and after 3 months of intervention and at the end of the study (after 9 months. The evaluation consists in performing a CPET on bicycle ergometer in which subjects were monitored in terms of cardiac and respiratory parameters. The CPET results allow us to establish the range of effort intensity in which the patient should exercise in order to burn calories and achieve the maximum fat oxidation rate. All patients benefit from an intensive interval exercise training programme, supervised and guided by a physical therapist. Exercise training consisted in 50 minutes sessions, 3 times per week, at intensive endurance training zone (in the range of anaerobic threshold, completed by 1 minute interval in the range between anaerobic threshold (AT and respiratory compensation point (RCP, for every 5 minutes of training. Results: After 9 months of intervention we noticed an improvement of abdominal obesity (waist circumference decreased from 98.98±10.14 cm to 89.54±12.32 cm, p<0.001, physical fitness (V’O2peak increased from 1.83±0.33 l/min to 2.13±0.4 l/min, p<0.001 and endurance (Oxygen uptake in the range of anaerobic treshold increase from 1.27±0.27 l/min to 1.55±0.31 l/min, p<0.001. Conclusions: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing together with training zones determinations is a useful tool for assessing the exercise capacity and drawing up individual workouts. Active and closely monitored intervention by individualized exercise training programmes leads to

An experiment on individual 'parochial altruism' revealing no connection between individual 'altruism' and individual 'parochialism'.

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Corr, Philip J; Hargreaves Heap, Shaun P; Seger, Charles R; Tsutsui, Kei

2015-01-01

Is parochial altruism an attribute of individual behavior? This is the question we address with an experiment. We examine whether the individual pro-sociality that is revealed in the public goods and trust games when interacting with fellow group members helps predict individual parochialism, as measured by the in-group bias (i.e., the difference in these games in pro-sociality when interacting with own group members as compared with members of another group). We find that it is not. An examination of the Big-5 personality predictors of each behavior reinforces this result: they are different. In short, knowing how pro-social individuals are with respect to fellow group members does not help predict their parochialism.

External individual monitoring: experiments and simulations using Monte Carlo Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guimaraes, Carla da Costa

2005-01-01

In this work, we have evaluated the possibility of applying the Monte Carlo simulation technique in photon dosimetry of external individual monitoring. The GEANT4 toolkit was employed to simulate experiments with radiation monitors containing TLD-100 and CaF 2 :NaCl thermoluminescent detectors. As a first step, X ray spectra were generated impinging electrons on a tungsten target. Then, the produced photon beam was filtered in a beryllium window and additional filters to obtain the radiation with desired qualities. This procedure, used to simulate radiation fields produced by a X ray tube, was validated by comparing characteristics such as half value layer, which was also experimentally measured, mean photon energy and the spectral resolution of simulated spectra with that of reference spectra established by international standards. In the construction of thermoluminescent dosimeter, two approaches for improvements have. been introduced. The first one was the inclusion of 6% of air in the composition of the CaF 2 :NaCl detector due to the difference between measured and calculated values of its density. Also, comparison between simulated and experimental results showed that the self-attenuation of emitted light in the readout process of the fluorite dosimeter must be taken into account. Then, in the second approach, the light attenuation coefficient of CaF 2 :NaCl compound estimated by simulation to be 2,20(25) mm -1 was introduced. Conversion coefficients C p from air kerma to personal dose equivalent were calculated using a slab water phantom with polymethyl-metacrilate (PMMA) walls, for reference narrow and wide X ray spectrum series [ISO 4037-1], and also for the wide spectra implanted and used in routine at Laboratorio de Dosimetria. Simulations of backscattered radiations by PMMA slab water phantom and slab phantom of ICRU tissue-equivalent material produced very similar results. Therefore, the PMMA slab water phantom that can be easily constructed with low

Deliverable navigation for multicriteria IMRT treatment planning by combining shared and individual apertures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fredriksson, Albin; Bokrantz, Rasmus

2013-01-01

We consider the problem of deliverable Pareto surface navigation for step-and-shoot intensity-modulated radiation therapy. This problem amounts to calculation of a collection of treatment plans with the property that convex combinations of plans are directly deliverable. Previous methods for deliverable navigation impose restrictions on the number of apertures of the individual plans, or require that all treatment plans have identical apertures. We introduce simultaneous direct step-and-shoot optimization of multiple plans subject to constraints that some of the apertures must be identical across all plans. This method generalizes previous methods for deliverable navigation to allow for treatment plans with some apertures from a collective pool and some apertures that are individual. The method can also be used as a post-processing step to previous methods for deliverable navigation in order to improve upon their plans. By applying the method to subsets of plans in the collection representing the Pareto set, we show how it can enable convergence toward the unrestricted (non-navigable) Pareto set where all apertures are individual. (paper)

PSYCHOLOGICAL GUIDING OF STUDENTS’ INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL TRAJECTORIES IN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

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Evald F. Zeer

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the article is to prove the possibility and necessity of psychological support of students’ individual educational trajectories. The essence of individual educational trajectories is informed and responsible choices subject target orientation to realize their professional and educational potential in accordance with traditional values, attitudes and meanings of life. Methods. «Method of research of a locus of the control» by J. Rotter was used in pilot study of personal development features of students for studying of specificity of the person control and responsibility attribution for events occurring to personality; a questionnaire «Style of self-control of behaviour» by V. I. Morosanova for estimation of abilities to plan achievement of the vital purposes, abilities to self-organising; the method «Personal differential» by Ch. Osguda to find out representations of the individual about himself/herself, something own, level of aspiration, strong-willed selfcontrol, degree of communicativeness in interpersonal relations; the method of studying of requirement for achievements by Yu. M. Orlov was used to reveal features of displays of activity and behaviour. Results. It is shown that high dynamics of economic processes and the integration of manufacturing technologies have generated the need for its networking, and led to a new organizational form of education – individual learning paths. The choice of educational trajectory is determined by socio-professional orientation of students, their value-sense orientation, the availability of alternative educational programs, opportunities for educational organizations. The structurally functional model of psychological guiding of working out and realisation of individually-educational trajectories is proposed. The authors have described basic elements of the given model – the purpose, object, subject, subject matter, principles, means, conditions and results. In particular

PSYCHOLOGICAL GUIDING OF STUDENTS’ INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL TRAJECTORIES IN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evald F. Zeer

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the article is to prove the possibility and necessity of psychological support of students’ individual educational trajectories. The essence of individual educational trajectories is informed and responsible choices subject target orientation to realize their professional and educational potential in accordance with traditional values, attitudes and meanings of life. Methods. «Method of research of a locus of the control» by J. Rotter was used in pilot study of personal development features of students for studying of specificity of the person control and responsibility attribution for events occurring to personality; a questionnaire «Style of self-control of behaviour» by V. I. Morosanova for estimation of abilities to plan achievement of the vital purposes, abilities to self-organising; the method «Personal differential» by Ch. Osguda to find out representations of the individual about himself/herself, something own, level of aspiration, strong-willed selfcontrol, degree of communicativeness in interpersonal relations; the method of studying of requirement for achievements by Yu. M. Orlov was used to reveal features of displays of activity and behaviour. Results. It is shown that high dynamics of economic processes and the integration of manufacturing technologies have generated the need for its networking, and led to a new organizational form of education – individual learning paths. The choice of educational trajectory is determined by socio-professional orientation of students, their value-sense orientation, the availability of alternative educational programs, opportunities for educational organizations. The structurally functional model of psychological guiding of working out and realisation of individually-educational trajectories is proposed. The authors have described basic elements of the given model – the purpose, object, subject, subject matter, principles, means, conditions and results. In particular

Individuality evaluation for paper based artifact-metrics using transmitted light image

Science.gov (United States)

Yamakoshi, Manabu; Tanaka, Junichi; Furuie, Makoto; Hirabayashi, Masashi; Matsumoto, Tsutomu

2008-02-01

Artifact-metrics is an automated method of authenticating artifacts based on a measurable intrinsic characteristic. Intrinsic characters, such as microscopic random-patterns made during the manufacturing process, are very difficult to copy. A transmitted light image of the distribution can be used for artifact-metrics, since the fiber distribution of paper is random. Little is known about the individuality of the transmitted light image although it is an important requirement for intrinsic characteristic artifact-metrics. Measuring individuality requires that the intrinsic characteristic of each artifact significantly differs, so having sufficient individuality can make an artifact-metric system highly resistant to brute force attack. Here we investigate the influence of paper category, matching size of sample, and image-resolution on the individuality of a transmitted light image of paper through a matching test using those images. More concretely, we evaluate FMR/FNMR curves by calculating similarity scores with matches using correlation coefficients between pairs of scanner input images, and the individuality of paper by way of estimated EER with probabilistic measure through a matching method based on line segments, which can localize the influence of rotation gaps of a sample in the case of large matching size. As a result, we found that the transmitted light image of paper has a sufficient individuality.

INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES AND LIFELONG LEARNING

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Oleksandr Yu. Burov

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This paper describes new and emerging technologies in education, learning environments and methods that have to satisfy lifelong learning, from school age to retirement, on the basis of the psychophysiological model of the cognitive abilities formation. It covers such topics as: evaluation of a human (accounting schoolchildren, youth and adults features abilities and individual propensities, individual trajectory of learning, adaptive learning strategy and design, recommendation on curriculum design, day-to-day support for individual’s learning, assessment of a human learning environment and performance, recommendation regards vocational retraining and/or further carrier etc.. The specific goal is to facilitate a broader understanding of the promise and pitfalls of these technologies and working (learning/teaching environments in global education/development settings, with special regard to the human as subject in the system and to the collaboration of humans and technical, didactic and organizational subsystems.

Portraying the Contribution of Individual Behaviors to Team Cohesion and Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Parke, Bonny; Orasanu, Judith

2012-01-01

Behaviors of individuals in teams both contribute to and are molded by team dynamics. How they do so has been the subject of much research. A method of portraying individuals' behaviors in teams, the Team Diagramming Method (TDM) is presented. Behaviors are rated by other team members on three important dimensions: positivity/negativity, dominant/submissive, and task-orientedness/expressiveness. A study of 5-person teams engaging in a 3-day moon simulation task demonstrated that measures of these perceived behaviors as well as the variances of these behaviors correlated with cohesion measures and performance. The method shows strengths and weaknesses of particular teams and, by comparison with high-performing teams, suggests interventions based on individual as well as team behaviors. The primary goal of this study was to determine the extent to which these team level variables, derived from all team members' rated behaviors, were associated with previous methods of measuring cohesion and with performance. A secondary goal was to determine the stability of TDM measures over time by comparing team level variables based on ratings early and later in the team s work together.

DIM SUM: demography and individual migration simulated using a Markov chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Jeremy M; Savidge, Kevin; McTavish, Emily Jane B

2011-03-01

An increasing number of studies seek to infer demographic history, often jointly with genetic relationships. Despite numerous analytical methods for such data, few simulations have investigated the methods' power and robustness, especially when underlying assumptions have been violated. DIM SUM (Demography and Individual Migration Simulated Using a Markov chain) is a stand-alone Java program for the simulation of population demography and individual migration while recording ancestor-descendant relationships. It does not employ coalescent assumptions or discrete population boundaries. It is extremely flexible, allowing the user to specify border positions, reactions of organisms to borders, local and global carrying capacities, individual dispersal kernels, rates of reproduction and strategies for sampling individuals. Spatial variables may be specified using image files (e.g., as exported from gis software) and may vary through time. In combination with software for genetic marker simulation, DIM SUM will be useful for testing phylogeographic (e.g., nested clade phylogeographic analysis, coalescent-based tests and continuous-landscape frameworks) and landscape-genetic methods, specifically regarding violations of coalescent assumptions. It can also be used to explore the qualitative features of proposed demographic scenarios (e.g. regarding biological invasions) and as a pedagogical tool. DIM SUM (with user's manual) can be downloaded from http://code.google.com/p/bio-dimsum. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Home Environment of Selected Filipino Gifted Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Pawilen, Greg Tabios

2018-01-01

This study investigated the home environment of selected Filipino gifted individuals. It aims to answer two research questions: (1) what is the giftedness profile of the selected Filipino gifted?; (2) what types of home environments do Filipino gifted have? This study uses qualitative methods, specifically narrative research strategy, to provide a…

Using Quality Improvement Methods to Implement an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Supported Individualized Home Pain Management Plan for Children with Sickle Cell Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, Lori E; Simmons, Kenya; Kaiser, Peggy; Davis, Blair; Boyd, Patricia; Eichhorn, Tiffany; Mahaney, Tracy; Joffe, Naomi; Morgan, Darice; Schibler, Kathy; Anderson, Viia; Quinn, Charles T; Kalinyak, Karen A

2014-05-01

Using quality improvement methodology, our goal was to develop and implement individualized home pain management plans (HPMP) that included pharmacologic as well as non-pharmacologic strategies for children with sickle cell disease (SCD). We hypothesized that successfully implemented HPMPs would have an impact on Emergency Department (ED) use, decreasing ED visits for uncomplicated SCD pain episodes. A multidisciplinary quality improvement team developed a questionnaire to assess the frequency, location and severity of a patient's pain during a routine, comprehensive visit in order to help the patient and family develop an effective pain management strategy using both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic actions. Using plan do study act cycles (PDSAs), this team was able to build this process into the daily workflow for all SCD patients age 5 years to 21 years of age. Patients with comprehensive visits scheduled from January 2012 to May 2013 were included (N=188) in the intervention. By May of 2013, 88% of eligible patients had an individualized HPMP in place. There was a concomitant reduction in the percentage of SCD patients seen in the ED for uncomplicated SCD pain (6.9% vs. 1.1%). Using quality improvement methods, an individualized HPMP intervention was incorporated successfully into the daily workflow of a busy outpatient SCD clinic. This intervention has the potential to improve patient outcomes by decreasing avoidable ED visits as well as reducing overall healthcare costs.

THE DYNAMIC MODEL FOR CONTROL OF STUDENT’S LEARNING INDIVIDUAL TRAJECTORY

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A. A. Mitsel

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In connection with the transition of the educational system to a competence-oriented approach, the problem of learning outcomes assessment and creating an individual learning trajectory of a student has become relevant. Its solution requires the application of modern information technologies. The third generation of Federal state educational standards of higher professional education (FSES HPE defines the requirements for the results of Mastering the basic educational programs (BEP. According to FSES HPE up to 50% of subjects have a variable character, i.e. depend on the choice of a student. It significantly influences on the results of developing various competencies. The problem of forming student’s learning trajectory is analyzed in general and the choice of an individual direction was studied in details. Various methods, models and algorithms of the student’s individual learning trajectory formation were described. The analysis of the model of educational process organization in terms of individual approach makes it possible to develop a decision support system (DSS. DSS is a set of interrelated programs and data used for analysis of situation, development of alternative solutions and selection of the most acceptable alternative. DSSs are often used when building individual learning path, because this task can be considered as a discrete multi-criteria problem, creating a significant burden on the decision maker. A new method of controlling the learning trajectory has been developed. The article discusses problem statement and solution of determining student’s optimal individual educational trajectory as a dynamic model of learning trajectory control, which uses score assessment to construct a sequence of studied subjects. A new model of management learning trajectory is based on dynamic models for tracking the reference trajectory. The task can be converted to an equivalent model of linear programming, for which a reliable solution

Eficiencia del método de polimerización con microondas en la rehabilitación por prótesis oculares individuales Effectiveness of microwaves polymerization method in individual ocular prostheses rehabilitation

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Yamel Maqueira Rodríguez

2011-06-01

Full Text Available La polimerización con microondas es una nueva forma de llevar a cabo la confección de prótesis oculares individuales, sin embargo son aún insuficientes los estudios que exploren la eficiencia de este método. Se realizó una investigación para determinar el efecto de la polimerización con microondas en la eficiencia de la rehabilitación por prótesis oculares individuales. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de evaluación económica del tipo minimización de costos. Se comparó la polimerización tradicional simplificada con la polimerización por el método de microondas. Se consideraron para la efectividad el monómero residual, la deflexión transversal, la contracción lineal, la porosidad, la estabilidad del color, la resistencia al impacto, la dureza, la absorción de agua y la resistencia transversal. Se calcularon los costos médicos directos sobre la base de un modelo teórico para un paciente que requirió una prótesis ocular individual en el año 2006. Se documentó la igualdad de efectividad entre ambos métodos de polimerización. El costo teórico para un paciente que requirió una prótesis ocular individual fue de $ 79,85 USD y $ 70,07 USD por los métodos tradicionales y por microondas respectivamente. El método de polimerización con microondas ahorró en consumo de energía eléctrica y favoreció una mayor productividad de los recursos humanos, a la vez que incrementó la eficiencia.Microwaves polymerization is a new method to design individual ocular prostheses; however, there is a lack of studies exploring the effectiveness of present method to determine the effect of the microwaves polymerization in relation to effectiveness of individual ocular prostheses rehabilitation. An economic evaluation study was conducted to minimize costs. The simplified traditional polymerization was compared with microwaves polymerization method. For residual monomer the effectiveness transverse deflection, linear contraction, porosity, color

Construct validity of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koopmans, L.; Bernaards, C.M.; Hildebrandt, V.H.; Vet, H.C.W. de; Beek, A.J. van der

2014-01-01

Objective: To examine the construct validity of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ). Methods: A total of 1424 Dutch workers from three occupational sectors (blue, pink, and white collar) participated in the study. First, IWPQ scores were correlated with related constructs

Construct validity of the individual work performance questionnaire

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koopmans, L.; Bernaards, C.M.; Hildebrandt, V.H.; Vet, H.C.W. de; Beek, A.J. van der

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE:: To examine the construct validity of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ). METHODS:: A total of 1424 Dutch workers from three occupational sectors (blue, pink, and white collar) participated in the study. First, IWPQ scores were correlated with related constructs

An Investigation into Semantic and Phonological Processing in Individuals with Williams Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Cheryl S.; Binder, Katherine S.

2014-01-01

Purpose: The current study examined semantic and phonological processing in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS). Previous research in language processing in individuals with WS suggests a complex linguistic system characterized by "deviant" semantic organization and differential phonological processing. Method: Two experiments…

HIV Prevalence and Risks Associated with HIV Infection among Transgender Individuals in Cambodia

OpenAIRE

Weissman, Amy; Ngak, Song; Srean, Chhim; Sansothy, Neth; Mills, Stephen; Ferradini, Laurent

2016-01-01

Introduction Recognizing transgender individuals have a high risk of HIV acquisition, and to inform policies and programming, we conducted an HIV prevalence and risk behaviors survey among transgender individuals in Cambodia. Methods Cross-sectional survey using a respondent driven sampling method with self-administered audio-computer assisted interviews. HIV testing was performed prior to the questionnaire with results available immediately after. Eligible participants were ?18 years, identi...

Part-time sick leave as a treatment method for individuals with musculoskeletal disorders

OpenAIRE

Andrén, Daniela; Svensson, Mikael

2009-01-01

There is increasing evidence that staying active is an important part of a recovery process for individuals on sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It has been suggested that using part-time sick-leave rather than full-time sick leave will enhance the possibility of full recovery to the workforce, and several countries actively favor this policy. However, to date only few studies have estimated the effect of using part-time sick leave in contrast to full-time sick leave. In thi...

Executive Functions in Individuals with Williams Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Menghini, D.; Addona, F.; Costanzo, F.; Vicari, S.

2010-01-01

Background: The present study was aimed at investigating working memory (WM) and executive functions capacities in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) as compared with mental-age matched typically developing (TD) children. Method: In order to serve the study goal, a sizeable battery of tasks tapping WM as well as attention, memory, planning,…

Macroscopic Biological Characteristics of Individualized Therapy in Chinese Mongolian Osteopathy

Science.gov (United States)

Namula, Zhao; Mei, Wang; Li, Xue-en

Objective: Chinese Mongolian osteopathy has been passed down from ancient times and includes unique practices and favorable efficacy. In this study, we investigate the macroscopic biological characteristics of individualized Chinese Mongolian osteopathy, in order to provide new principle and methods for the treatment of bone fracture. Method: With a view to provide a vital link between nature and humans, the four stages of Chinese Mongolian osteopathy focus on the unity of the mind and body, the limbs and body organs, the body and its functions, and humans and nature. Results: We discuss the merits of individualized osteopathy in terms of the underlying concepts, and evaluate the approaches and principles of traditional medicine, as well as biomechanics. Conclusions: Individualized Mongolian osteopathy targets macroscopic biological components including dynamic reduction, natural fixation, and functional healing. Chinese Mongolian osteopathy is a natural, ecological and non-invasive osteopathy that values the link between nature and humans, including the unity of mind and body. The biological components not only serve as a foundation for Chinese Mongolian osteopathy but are also important for the future development of modern osteopathy, focusing on individualization, actualization and integration.

Monitoring individual tree-based change with airborne lidar.

Science.gov (United States)

Duncanson, Laura; Dubayah, Ralph

2018-05-01

Understanding the carbon flux of forests is critical for constraining the global carbon cycle and managing forests to mitigate climate change. Monitoring forest growth and mortality rates is critical to this effort, but has been limited in the past, with estimates relying primarily on field surveys. Advances in remote sensing enable the potential to monitor tree growth and mortality across landscapes. This work presents an approach to measure tree growth and loss using multidate lidar campaigns in a high-biomass forest in California, USA. Individual tree crowns were delineated in 2008 and again in 2013 using a 3D crown segmentation algorithm, with derived heights and crown radii extracted and used to estimate individual tree aboveground biomass. Tree growth, loss, and aboveground biomass were analyzed with respect to tree height and crown radius. Both tree growth and loss rates decrease with increasing tree height, following the expectation that trees slow in growth rate as they age. Additionally, our aboveground biomass analysis suggests that, while the system is a net source of aboveground carbon, these carbon dynamics are governed by size class with the largest sources coming from the loss of a relatively small number of large individuals. This study demonstrates that monitoring individual tree-based growth and loss can be conducted with multidate airborne lidar, but these methods remain relatively immature. Disparities between lidar acquisitions were particularly difficult to overcome and decreased the sample of trees analyzed for growth rate in this study to 21% of the full number of delineated crowns. However, this study illuminates the potential of airborne remote sensing for ecologically meaningful forest monitoring at an individual tree level. As methods continue to improve, airborne multidate lidar will enable a richer understanding of the drivers of tree growth, loss, and aboveground carbon flux.

Optical Waveguiding in Individual Nanometer-Scale Organic Fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Balzer, Frank; Bordo, Vladimir G.; Simonsen, Adam Cohen

2003-01-01

are formed via laser-supported, dipole-assisted self-assembly on single crystalline mica substrates. This method allows us to modify the morphology of individual aggregates as well as their mutual distances and the overall orientation of needle arrays. An analytical theory describes quantitatively...

Spirituality and religion among HIV-infected individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Szaflarski, Magdalena

2013-12-01

Spirituality and religion are important to many people living with HIV (PLWH). Recent research has focused on special populations (ethnic-minorities, women, and youth), spirituality/religion measurement, mediating/moderating mechanisms, and individual and community-level interventions. Spirituality/religion in PLWH has been refined as a multidimensional phenomenon, which improves health/quality of life directly and through mediating factors (healthy behaviors, optimism, social support). Spirituality/religion helps people to cope with stressors, especially stigma/discrimination. Spiritual interventions utilizing the power of prayer and meditation and addressing spiritual struggle are under way. Faith-based community interventions have focused on stigma and could improve individual outcomes through access to spiritual/social support and care/treatment for PLWA. Community engagement is necessary to design/implement effective and sustainable programs. Future efforts should focus on vulnerable populations; utilize state-of-the-art methods (randomized clinical trials, community-based participatory research); and, address population-specific interventions at individual and community levels. Clinical and policy implications across geographic settings also need attention.

Hubungan Antara Faktor Risiko Individual Dan Komputer Terhadap Kejadian Computer Vision Syndrome

OpenAIRE

Azkadina, Amira; Julianti, Hari Peni; Pramono, Dodik

2012-01-01

Background : Computer USAge could cause health complaints called Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). This syndrome was influenced by individual and computer risk factors. The objective of the study is to identify and to analyze individual and computer factors of Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).Method : The study was an observational study by using case control method, which was held on May-June 2012 in RSI Sultan Agung, RSUP dr.Kariadi, and Bank Jateng. The samples were 60 people who were chosen b...

Modeling Individual Cyclic Variation in Human Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Pierson, Emma; Althoff, Tim; Leskovec, Jure

2018-04-01

Cycles are fundamental to human health and behavior. Examples include mood cycles, circadian rhythms, and the menstrual cycle. However, modeling cycles in time series data is challenging because in most cases the cycles are not labeled or directly observed and need to be inferred from multidimensional measurements taken over time. Here, we present Cyclic Hidden Markov Models (CyH-MMs) for detecting and modeling cycles in a collection of multidimensional heterogeneous time series data. In contrast to previous cycle modeling methods, CyHMMs deal with a number of challenges encountered in modeling real-world cycles: they can model multivariate data with both discrete and continuous dimensions; they explicitly model and are robust to missing data; and they can share information across individuals to accommodate variation both within and between individual time series. Experiments on synthetic and real-world health-tracking data demonstrate that CyHMMs infer cycle lengths more accurately than existing methods, with 58% lower error on simulated data and 63% lower error on real-world data compared to the best-performing baseline. CyHMMs can also perform functions which baselines cannot: they can model the progression of individual features/symptoms over the course of the cycle, identify the most variable features, and cluster individual time series into groups with distinct characteristics. Applying CyHMMs to two real-world health-tracking datasets-of human menstrual cycle symptoms and physical activity tracking data-yields important insights including which symptoms to expect at each point during the cycle. We also find that people fall into several groups with distinct cycle patterns, and that these groups differ along dimensions not provided to the model. For example, by modeling missing data in the menstrual cycles dataset, we are able to discover a medically relevant group of birth control users even though information on birth control is not given to the model.

Reliability of a method for establishing the capacity of individuals with an intellectual disability to respond to Likert scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Cuskelly, Monica; Moni, Karen; Lloyd, Jan; Jobling, Anne

2013-12-01

The study reported here was an examination of the reliability of a method for determining acquiescent responding and the capacity to respond to items using a Likert scale response format by adults with an intellectual disability. Reliability of the outcomes of these procedures was investigated using a test-retest design. Associations with receptive vocabulary were examined. The majority of the participants did not demonstrate acquiescent responding. Individuals' responses to the Likert-type discrimination tasks were consistent, although this varied somewhat depending upon the abstractness of the task. There was some association between receptive language age equivalence scores and respondent performance. It is recommended that the pretest protocol (a) be modified to improve its reliability, and (b) this modified version be used with study participants who have an intellectual disability to ascertain the appropriate level of choice to be used for items that use a Likert response format.

Vitamin D and mortality : Individual participant data meta-analysis of standardized 25-hydroxyvitamin D in 26916 individuals from a European consortium

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gaksch, Martin; Jorde, Rolf; Grimnes, Guri; Joakimsen, Ragnar; Schirmer, Henrik; Wilsgaard, Tom; Mathiesen, Ellisiv B; Njølstad, Inger; Løchen, Maja-Lisa; März, Winfried; Kleber, Marcus E; Tomaschitz, Andreas; Grübler, Martin; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Gudmundsson, Elias F; Harris, Tamara B; Cotch, Mary F; Aspelund, Thor; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Rutters, Femke; Beulens, Joline W J; van 't Riet, Esther; Nijpels, Giel; Dekker, Jacqueline M; Grove-Laugesen, Diana; Rejnmark, Lars; Busch, Markus A; Mensink, Gert B M; Scheidt-Nave, Christa; Thamm, Michael; Swart, Karin M A; Brouwer, Ingeborg A; Lips, Paul; van Schoor, Natasja M; Sempos, Christopher T; Durazo-Arvizu, Ramón A; Škrabáková, Zuzana; Dowling, Kirsten G; Cashman, Kevin D; Kiely, Mairead; Pilz, Stefan

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency may be a risk factor for mortality but previous meta-analyses lacked standardization of laboratory methods for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations and used aggregate data instead of individual participant data (IPD). We therefore performed an IPD

Micro-macro multilevel latent class models with multiple discrete individual-level variables

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bennink, M.; Croon, M.A.; Kroon, B.; Vermunt, J.K.

2016-01-01

An existing micro-macro method for a single individual-level variable is extended to the multivariate situation by presenting two multilevel latent class models in which multiple discrete individual-level variables are used to explain a group-level outcome. As in the univariate case, the

ASPECTS REGARDING THE MECHANISM OF BANK LENDING FOR INDIVIDUALS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Delia

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The crediting transactions are very important within the intermediation activity which the commercial banks perform and these represent at the same time the main asset transactions. The manner of approach of this activity differs depending on the type of the client who can be an individual, a legal entity or a credit institution. We aim at emphasizing aspects related to the loans granted to individuals by commercial banks and especially at underlining the importance of the choice regarding the risk evaluation method when analyzing the credit file. In regards to the research methodology, we used the descriptive method. We conducted a qualitative research based on the observation of some aspects, as well as a quantitative one. The conclusions of the achieved study are presented at the end of this paper.

Renal Impairment and Cardiovascular Disease in HIV-Positive Individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Lene Ryom; Lundgren, Jens D; Ross, Mike

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: While the association between renal impairment and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is well established in the general population, the association remains poorly understood in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive individuals. METHODS: Individuals with ≥2 estimated glomerular...... filtration rate (eGFR) measurements after 1 February 2004 were followed until CVD, death, last visit plus 6 months, or 1 February 2015. CVD was defined as the occurrence of centrally validated myocardial infarction, stroke, invasive cardiovascular procedures, or sudden cardiac death. RESULTS: During a median...

A method for predicting individual residue contributions to enzyme specificity and binding-site energies, and its application to MTH1.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, James J P

2016-11-01

A new method for predicting the energy contributions to substrate binding and to specificity has been developed. Conventional global optimization methods do not permit the subtle effects responsible for these properties to be modeled with sufficient precision to allow confidence to be placed in the results, but by making simple alterations to the model, the precisions of the various energies involved can be improved from about ±2 kcal mol -1 to ±0.1 kcal mol -1 . This technique was applied to the oxidized nucleotide pyrophosphohydrolase enzyme MTH1. MTH1 is unusual in that the binding and reaction sites are well separated-an advantage from a computational chemistry perspective, as it allows the energetics involved in docking to be modeled without the need to consider any issues relating to reaction mechanisms. In this study, two types of energy terms were investigated: the noncovalent interactions between the binding site and the substrate, and those responsible for discriminating between the oxidized nucleotide 8-oxo-dGTP and the normal dGTP. Both of these were investigated using the semiempirical method PM7 in the program MOPAC. The contributions of the individual residues to both the binding energy and the specificity of MTH1 were calculated by simulating the effect of mutations. Where comparisons were possible, all calculated results were in agreement with experimental observations. This technique provides fresh insight into the binding mechanism that enzymes use for discriminating between possible substrates.

Nanoparticle imaging. 3D structure of individual nanocrystals in solution by electron microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Jungwon; Elmlund, Hans; Ercius, Peter; Yuk, Jong Min; Limmer, David T; Chen, Qian; Kim, Kwanpyo; Han, Sang Hoon; Weitz, David A; Zettl, A; Alivisatos, A Paul

2015-07-17

Knowledge about the synthesis, growth mechanisms, and physical properties of colloidal nanoparticles has been limited by technical impediments. We introduce a method for determining three-dimensional (3D) structures of individual nanoparticles in solution. We combine a graphene liquid cell, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, a direct electron detector, and an algorithm for single-particle 3D reconstruction originally developed for analysis of biological molecules. This method yielded two 3D structures of individual platinum nanocrystals at near-atomic resolution. Because our method derives the 3D structure from images of individual nanoparticles rotating freely in solution, it enables the analysis of heterogeneous populations of potentially unordered nanoparticles that are synthesized in solution, thereby providing a means to understand the structure and stability of defects at the nanoscale. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Barriers to healthcare for transgender individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Safer, Joshua D; Coleman, Eli; Feldman, Jamie; Garofalo, Robert; Hembree, Wylie; Radix, Asa; Sevelius, Jae

2016-04-01

Transgender persons suffer significant health disparities and may require medical intervention as part of their care. The purpose of this manuscript is to briefly review the literature characterizing barriers to healthcare for transgender individuals and to propose research priorities to understand mechanisms of those barriers and interventions to overcome them. Current research emphasizes sexual minorities' self-report of barriers, rather than using direct methods. The biggest barrier to healthcare reported by transgender individuals is lack of access because of lack of providers who are sufficiently knowledgeable on the topic. Other barriers include: financial barriers, discrimination, lack of cultural competence by providers, health systems barriers, and socioeconomic barriers. National research priorities should include rigorous determination of the capacity of the US healthcare system to provide adequate care for transgender individuals. Studies should determine knowledge and biases of the medical workforce across the spectrum of medical training with regard to transgender medical care; adequacy of sufficient providers for the care required, larger social structural barriers, and status of a framework to pay for appropriate care. As well, studies should propose and validate potential solutions to address identified gaps.

Individual skin care during radiation therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zimmermann, J.S.; Budach, W.; Doerr, W.

1998-01-01

Background: In many clinical settings, the irradiated patient feels additional discomfort by the inhibition of washing the treatment portals and interruption of his adapted skin care habits. Material and methods: An analysis of the scientific recommendations as well as an analysis of the skin dose to the irradiated portals has been performed. An individual scheme for skin care under radiation has been developed. Results: A substantial decrease of the skin dose is achieved in many modern radiation techniques. The consequent reduction of severe skin reactions allowed the use of water and mild soaps as has been approved within many radiotherapy departments. This has lead to an individualized concept for skin care under radiation treatment including the allowance of gentle washing. The skin marks may be saved by using highly tolerable adhesive plasters or small tattoo points, if they are not superfluous by using masks or single referee points instead of marks for the field borders. Conclusions: The individualized concept for skin care during radiation may offer improved life quality to the patient and may decrease the acute reactions of the skin at least in some cases. (orig.) [de

Individual Differences in Human Reliability Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeffrey C. Joe; Ronald L. Boring

2014-06-01

While human reliability analysis (HRA) methods include uncertainty in quantification, the nominal model of human error in HRA typically assumes that operator performance does not vary significantly when they are given the same initiating event, indicators, procedures, and training, and that any differences in operator performance are simply aleatory (i.e., random). While this assumption generally holds true when performing routine actions, variability in operator response has been observed in multiple studies, especially in complex situations that go beyond training and procedures. As such, complexity can lead to differences in operator performance (e.g., operator understanding and decision-making). Furthermore, psychological research has shown that there are a number of known antecedents (i.e., attributable causes) that consistently contribute to observable and systematically measurable (i.e., not random) differences in behavior. This paper reviews examples of individual differences taken from operational experience and the psychological literature. The impact of these differences in human behavior and their implications for HRA are then discussed. We propose that individual differences should not be treated as aleatory, but rather as epistemic. Ultimately, by understanding the sources of individual differences, it is possible to remove some epistemic uncertainty from analyses.

Development of offensive individual game skills and offensive game combinations in ice hockey

OpenAIRE

Janek, Michael

2015-01-01

Title: Development of offensive individual game skills and offensive game combinations in ice hockey Goals: The main aim of this thesis is to gather theoretical information about development and improvement of offensive individual game skills and offensive game combinations in ice hockey and suggest essential and key exercises of this issue. Methods: The thesis was primarily written with the use of searching method based on information from available expert literature, electronic sources and ...

Asynchronous decentralized method for interconnected electricity markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Anni; Joo, Sung-Kwan; Song, Kyung-Bin; Kim, Jin-Ho; Lee, Kisung

2008-01-01

This paper presents an asynchronous decentralized method to solve the optimization problem of interconnected electricity markets. The proposed method decomposes the optimization problem of combined electricity markets into individual optimization problems. The impact of neighboring markets' information is included in the objective function of the individual market optimization problem by the standard Lagrangian relaxation method. Most decentralized optimization methods use synchronous models of communication to exchange updated market information among markets during the iterative process. In this paper, however, the solutions of the individual optimization problems are coordinated through an asynchronous communication model until they converge to the global optimal solution of combined markets. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed asynchronous method over the existing synchronous methods. (author)

Examination of Individual Differences in Outcomes from a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Comparing Formal and Informal Individual Auditory Training Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Sherri L.; Saunders, Gabrielle H.; Chisolm, Theresa H.; Frederick, Melissa; Bailey, Beth A.

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if patient characteristics or clinical variables could predict who benefits from individual auditory training. Method: A retrospective series of analyses were performed using a data set from a large, multisite, randomized controlled clinical trial that compared the treatment effects of at-home…

Alternative Therapeutic Intervention for Individuals with Rett Syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meir Lotan

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The individual with Rett syndrome (RS displays an array of challenging difficulties in all areas of daily living. Since there is no cure for the disorder at this moment, parents of the individual with Rett search for different interventional modalities that will improve the condition and quality of life for their child. During the last few years, many individuals with RS have experienced different kinds of interventions. This paper presents these methods with relevant case stories for others to share the possibilities. This paper reviews the following interventions: animal-assisted therapy, such as dolphin therapy and dog-assisted therapy; auditory integration training; hyperbaric chamber; manual therapy, such as acupuncture/acupressure, aromatherapy, craniosacral therapy, Mayo facial release, Treager massage, chiropractor, and Reiki; mental modification techniques, such as Lovas and cognitive rehabilitation; motoric interventions, such as advanced biomechanical rehabilitation, patterning/Doman-DeLacato approach, and yoga. The present paper is not a recommendation for any of the above-mentioned techniques, but merely a review of different interventions available for the inquisitive parent of the individual with RS.

Distillation methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Konecny, C.

1975-01-01

Two main methods of separation using the distillation method are given and evaluated, namely evaporation and distillation in carrier gas flow. Two basic apparatus are described for illustrating the methods used. The use of the distillation method in radiochemistry is documented by a number of examples of the separation of elements in elemental state, volatile halogenides and oxides. Tables give a survey of distillation methods used for the separation of the individual elements and give conditions under which this separation takes place. The suitability of the use of distillation methods in radiochemistry is discussed with regard to other separation methods. (L.K.)

The neurobiology of individuality

Science.gov (United States)

de Bivort, Benjamin

2015-03-01

Individuals often display conspicuously different patterns of behavior, even when they are very closely related genetically. These differences give rise to our sense of individuality, but what is their molecular and neurobiological basis? Individuals that are nominally genetically identical differ at various molecular and neurobiological levels: cell-to-cell variation in somatic genomes, cell-to-cell variation in expression patterns, individual-to-individual variation in neuronal morphology and physiology, and individual-to-individual variation in patterns of brain activity. It is unknown which of these levels is fundamentally causal of behavioral differences. To investigate this problem, we use the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, whose genetic toolkit allows the manipulation of each of these mechanistic levels, and whose rapid lifecycle and small size allows for high-throughput automation of behavioral assays. This latter point is crucial; identifying inter-individual behavioral differences requires high sample sizes both within and across individual animals. Automated behavioral characterization is at the heart of our research strategy. In every behavior examined, individual flies have individual behavioral preferences, and we have begun to identify both neural genes and circuits that control the degree of behavioral variability between individuals.

Definition of means and methods for physical training of 3–6 years old children taking into account their individual development and physical fitness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tеtіana Dorofieieva

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: definition and justification features of the physical development 3–6 years old children and the features of physical preparedness of this age period. Material & Methods: the sample size for each age group was 100 persons. For an objective assessment of the characteristics considered, the concepts of biological age and passport age are introduced as indispensable indicators for determining individual characteristics of the organism development. Results: based on the administration of the two criteria for age estimation takes into account features of construction of motor activity. For the orderly presentation of the obtained individual features of the organization of motor activity characteristics used indicative of semantic space. This allowed us to establish the regularities of the processes under consideration and their approximation by mathematical equations. Presence of analytical descriptions allows to provide forecasting of development and to carry out professional selection of persons possessing a certain motor talent. Results and their presentation are published for the first time. Conclusion: to build a system for monitoring physical fitness and physical preparedness, systematic monitoring is necessary, in which the assessment of the biological age and the individual structure of the somatotype. Based on the representation of the observations obtained in the semantic spaces, regularities of the morphological and functional forms of the child somatotype.

Keypress-Based Musical Preference Is Both Individual and Lawful

Science.gov (United States)

Livengood, Sherri L.; Sheppard, John P.; Kim, Byoung W.; Malthouse, Edward C.; Bourne, Janet E.; Barlow, Anne E.; Lee, Myung J.; Marin, Veronica; O'Connor, Kailyn P.; Csernansky, John G.; Block, Martin P.; Blood, Anne J.; Breiter, Hans C.

2017-01-01

Musical preference is highly individualized and is an area of active study to develop methods for its quantification. Recently, preference-based behavior, associated with activity in brain reward circuitry, has been shown to follow lawful, quantifiable patterns, despite broad variation across individuals. These patterns, observed using a keypress paradigm with visual stimuli, form the basis for relative preference theory (RPT). Here, we sought to determine if such patterns extend to non-visual domains (i.e., audition) and dynamic stimuli, potentially providing a method to supplement psychometric, physiological, and neuroimaging approaches to preference quantification. For this study, we adapted our keypress paradigm to two sets of stimuli consisting of seventeenth to twenty-first century western art music (Classical) and twentieth to twenty-first century jazz and popular music (Popular). We studied a pilot sample and then a separate primary experimental sample with this paradigm, and used iterative mathematical modeling to determine if RPT relationships were observed with high R2 fits. We further assessed the extent of heterogeneity in the rank ordering of keypress-based responses across subjects. As expected, individual rank orderings of preferences were quite heterogeneous, yet we observed mathematical patterns fitting these data similar to those observed previously with visual stimuli. These patterns in music preference were recurrent across two cohorts and two stimulus sets, and scaled between individual and group data, adhering to the requirements for lawfulness. Our findings suggest a general neuroscience framework that predicts human approach/avoidance behavior, while also allowing for individual differences and the broad diversity of human choices; the resulting framework may offer novel approaches to advancing music neuroscience, or its applications to medicine and recommendation systems. PMID:28512395

Keypress-Based Musical Preference Is Both Individual and Lawful

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sherri L. Livengood

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Musical preference is highly individualized and is an area of active study to develop methods for its quantification. Recently, preference-based behavior, associated with activity in brain reward circuitry, has been shown to follow lawful, quantifiable patterns, despite broad variation across individuals. These patterns, observed using a keypress paradigm with visual stimuli, form the basis for relative preference theory (RPT. Here, we sought to determine if such patterns extend to non-visual domains (i.e., audition and dynamic stimuli, potentially providing a method to supplement psychometric, physiological, and neuroimaging approaches to preference quantification. For this study, we adapted our keypress paradigm to two sets of stimuli consisting of seventeenth to twenty-first century western art music (Classical and twentieth to twenty-first century jazz and popular music (Popular. We studied a pilot sample and then a separate primary experimental sample with this paradigm, and used iterative mathematical modeling to determine if RPT relationships were observed with high R2 fits. We further assessed the extent of heterogeneity in the rank ordering of keypress-based responses across subjects. As expected, individual rank orderings of preferences were quite heterogeneous, yet we observed mathematical patterns fitting these data similar to those observed previously with visual stimuli. These patterns in music preference were recurrent across two cohorts and two stimulus sets, and scaled between individual and group data, adhering to the requirements for lawfulness. Our findings suggest a general neuroscience framework that predicts human approach/avoidance behavior, while also allowing for individual differences and the broad diversity of human choices; the resulting framework may offer novel approaches to advancing music neuroscience, or its applications to medicine and recommendation systems.

Statistical methods for the time-to-event analysis of individual participant data from multiple epidemiological studies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thompson, Simon; Kaptoge, Stephen; White, Ian

2010-01-01

Meta-analysis of individual participant time-to-event data from multiple prospective epidemiological studies enables detailed investigation of exposure-risk relationships, but involves a number of analytical challenges....

Microbiology of middle meatus in healthy individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariante, Afonso Ravanello

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The nasosinusal microbiology of healthy individuals is not much documented. Its knowledge allows to determine the nasosinusal colonizing agents and to monitor the patterns of bacterial resistance. Objective: To evaluate the microbiology of the middle meatus in healthy individuals and to compare it with that of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. Method: 61 healthy individuals were included. The samples were collected under endoscopic view and Gram stained with leucocytes count and aerobic, anaerobic and fungus cultures. 114 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis formed the control group. Results: In healthy individuals 58 microorganisms were isolated. The most frequent ones were coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Staphylococcus and Corynebacterium. Fungi were cultivated in 10%. There were rare or no white blood cells in all samples. There was penicillin resistance in 75% of the Staphylococcus aureus and 69% of the coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. As for oxacillin, 100% of Staphylococcus aureus and 92% of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus were sensitive. In the control group 158 microorganisms were cultivated. The most common ones were Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. Gram-negatives represented 26% of the aerobics. 73% of the samples with positive cultures presented a few or many white blood cells. Conclusion: Rare or no white blood cell, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and Corynebacterium were more frequent in healthy individuals and Streptococcus pneumoniae, anaerobics and oxacillin resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and Gram-negative were more frequent in the control group.

Comparing Individual Tree Segmentation Based on High Resolution Multispectral Image and Lidar Data

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, P.; Kelly, M.; Guo, Q.

2014-12-01

This study compares the use of high-resolution multispectral WorldView images and high density Lidar data for individual tree segmentation. The application focuses on coniferous and deciduous forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The tree objects are obtained in two ways: a hybrid region-merging segmentation method with multispectral images, and a top-down and bottom-up region-growing method with Lidar data. The hybrid region-merging method is used to segment individual tree from multispectral images. It integrates the advantages of global-oriented and local-oriented region-merging strategies into a unified framework. The globally most-similar pair of regions is used to determine the starting point of a growing region. The merging iterations are constrained within the local vicinity, thus the segmentation is accelerated and can reflect the local context. The top-down region-growing method is adopted in coniferous forest to delineate individual tree from Lidar data. It exploits the spacing between the tops of trees to identify and group points into a single tree based on simple rules of proximity and likely tree shape. The bottom-up region-growing method based on the intensity and 3D structure of Lidar data is applied in deciduous forest. It segments tree trunks based on the intensity and topological relationships of the points, and then allocate other points to exact tree crowns according to distance. The accuracies for each method are evaluated with field survey data in several test sites, covering dense and sparse canopy. Three types of segmentation results are produced: true positive represents a correctly segmented individual tree, false negative represents a tree that is not detected and assigned to a nearby tree, and false positive represents that a point or pixel cluster is segmented as a tree that does not in fact exist. They respectively represent correct-, under-, and over-segmentation. Three types of index are compared for segmenting individual tree

Metabolite Biometrics for the Differentiation of Individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Hair, Mindy E; Mathis, Adrianna I; Brunelle, Erica K; Halámková, Lenka; Halámek, Jan

2018-04-17

Sweat is a biological fluid present on the skin surface of every individual and is known to contain amino acids as well as other low molecular weight compounds. (1) Each individual is inherently different from one another based on certain factors including, but not limited to, his/her genetic makeup, environment, and lifestyle. As such, the biochemical composition of each person greatly differs. The concentrations of the biochemical content within an individual's sweat are largely controlled by metabolic processes within the body that fluctuate regularly based on attributes such as age, sex, and activity level. Therefore, the concentrations of these sweat components are person-specific and can be exploited, as presented here, to differentiate individuals based on trace amounts of sweat. For this concept, we analyzed three model compounds-lactate, urea, and glutamate. The average absorbance change from each compound in sweat was determined using three separate bioaffinity-based systems: lactate oxidase coupled with horseradish peroxidase (LOx-HRP), urease coupled with glutamate dehydrogenase (UR-GlDH), and glutamate dehydrogenase alone (GlDH). After optimization of a linear dependence for each assay to its respective analyte, analysis was performed on 50 mimicked sweat samples. Additionally, a collection and extraction method was developed and optimized by our group to evaluate authentic sweat samples from the skin surface of 25 individuals. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test was performed to demonstrate that these three single-analyte enzymatic assays were effectively used to identify each person in both sample sets. This novel sweat analysis approach is capable of differentiating individuals, without the use of DNA, based on the collective responses from the chosen metabolic compounds in sweat. Applications for this newly developed, noninvasive analysis can include the field of forensic science in order to differentiate between individuals as well

Determination of some individual chlorobiphenyls in eel-fat with capillary gaschromatography: collaborative study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tuinstra, L.G.M.T.; Roos, A.H.; Werdmuller, G.A.

1984-01-01

A method for the determination of six individual chlorobiphenyls in eel-fat, based on saponification of the sample and determination with capillary gas chromatography, was studied collaboratively. Eleven laboratories submitted analytical results in duplo of six individual chlorbiphenyls on two

The effect of caffeine supplementation on trained individuals ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Intense physical training increases oxidative stress and inflammation, resulting into muscle and cellular damage. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of caffeine supplementation on trained young individuals subjected to two treadmill maximal tests. Materials and Methods: It was a double-blind and ...

Design of Individualized Wheelchairs Using AHP and Kano Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanli Yuan

2014-06-01

Full Text Available To study how to design different grades of individualized wheelchairs according to users' needs, a personalized wheelchair design method based on AHP and Kano model is proposed. The AHP model determines the relative importance of characteristics of customers' demands. The subfunctions of manual wheelchairs and their attributes are given. The weight coefficients are calculated. 20 experts (10 are the members of the research team, 5 are doctors, and 5 are wheelchair designers are involved in the above two parts of the work. Kano model represents the types of user requirements. 30 participants' (wheelchair users needs are divided into 5 categories: M, O, E, I, and R. According to the types of user needs and the weight of each subfunction, three manual wheelchair models are built. Traditional design method usually cannot satisfy the requirements of users and product structure, so this paper makes a contribution to solve this problem. The method can be used to design individualized wheelchairs which may improve the product quality and customers' satisfaction. Meanwhile it also can reduce the design time, thereby reducing the design cost.

Individual Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Corsini, Raymond

1981-01-01

Paper presented at the 66th Convention of the International Association of Pupil Personnel Workers, October 20, 1980, Baltimore, Maryland, describes individual education based on the principles of Alfred Adler. Defines six advantages of individual education, emphasizing student responsibility, mutual respect, and allowing students to progress at…

Changes to Articulatory Kinematics in Response to Loudness Cues in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Darling, Meghan; Huber, Jessica E.

2011-01-01

Purpose: Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) exhibit differences in displacement and velocity of the articulators as compared with older adults. The purpose of the current study was to examine effects of 3 loudness cues on articulatory movement patterns in individuals with PD. Method: Nine individuals diagnosed with idiopathic PD and 9 age-…

Cultural stereotypes and personal beliefs about individuals with dwarfism.

Science.gov (United States)

Heider, Jeremy D; Scherer, Cory R; Edlund, John E

2013-01-01

Three studies assessed the content of cultural stereotypes and personal beliefs regarding individuals with dwarfism among "average height" (i.e., non-dwarf) individuals. In Studies 1 and 2, undergraduates from three separate institutions selected adjectives to reflect traits constituting both the cultural stereotype about dwarves and their own personal beliefs about dwarves (cf. Devine & Elliot, 1995). The most commonly endorsed traits for the cultural stereotype tended to be negative (e.g., weird, incapable, childlike); the most commonly endorsed traits for personal beliefs were largely positive (e.g., capable, intelligent, kind). In Study 3, undergraduates from two separate institutions used an open-ended method to indicate their personal beliefs about dwarves (cf. Eagly, Mladinic, & Otto, 1994). Responses contained a mixture of positive and negative characteristics, suggesting a greater willingness to admit to negative personal beliefs using the open-ended method.

Individual magnetization reversal of a square dot matrix by common current excitation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elyasi, Mehrdad; Bhatia, Charanjit S; Yang, Hyunsoo

2015-01-01

We have proposed a method for magnetization reversal of individual sites of a 2 by 2 matrix of perpendicularly magnetized dots by common current excitation. The spin-polarized current signal consists of a dc-biased ac part followed by a pure dc one. The amplitude of the dc and ac parts of the current, as well as the phase and duration of the ac current, determine the reversal sites through the magnetostatic interaction among the dots. We show that the individual selectivity in magnetization reversal occurs through two consecutive steps, dephasing of the matrix dyadic pairs dynamics followed by nonlinear dephasing of the individual elements. This method can be utilized to increase the storage density of magnetic random access memory by enabling common access for four or more bits. (paper)

Cortex Parcellation Associated Whole White Matter Parcellation in Individual Subjects

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Patrick Schiffler

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The investigation of specific white matter areas is a growing field in neurological research and is typically achieved through the use of atlases. However, the definition of anatomically based regions remains challenging for the white matter and thus hinders region-specific analysis in individual subjects. In this article, we focus on creating a whole white matter parcellation method for individual subjects where these areas can be associated to cortex regions. This is done by combining cortex parcellation and fiber tracking data. By tracking fibers out of each cortex region and labeling the fibers according to their origin, we populate a candidate image. We then derive the white matter parcellation by classifying each white matter voxel according to the distribution of labels in the corresponding voxel from the candidate image. The parcellation of the white matter with the presented method is highly reliable and is not as dependent on registration as with white matter atlases. This method allows for the parcellation of the whole white matter into individual cortex region associated areas and, therefore, associates white matter alterations to cortex regions. In addition, we compare the results from the presented method to existing atlases. The areas generated by the presented method are not as sharply defined as the areas in most existing atlases; however, they are computed directly in the DWI space of the subject and, therefore, do not suffer from distortion caused by registration. The presented approach might be a promising tool for clinical and basic research to investigate modalities or system specific micro structural alterations of white matter areas in a quantitative manner.

Identifying functional reorganization of spelling networks: an individual peak probability comparison approach

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Purcell, Jeremy J.; Rapp, Brenda

2013-01-01

Previous research has shown that damage to the neural substrates of orthographic processing can lead to functional reorganization during reading (Tsapkini et al., 2011); in this research we ask if the same is true for spelling. To examine the functional reorganization of spelling networks we present a novel three-stage Individual Peak Probability Comparison (IPPC) analysis approach for comparing the activation patterns obtained during fMRI of spelling in a single brain-damaged individual with dysgraphia to those obtained in a set of non-impaired control participants. The first analysis stage characterizes the convergence in activations across non-impaired control participants by applying a technique typically used for characterizing activations across studies: Activation Likelihood Estimate (ALE) (Turkeltaub et al., 2002). This method was used to identify locations that have a high likelihood of yielding activation peaks in the non-impaired participants. The second stage provides a characterization of the degree to which the brain-damaged individual's activations correspond to the group pattern identified in Stage 1. This involves performing a Mahalanobis distance statistics analysis (Tsapkini et al., 2011) that compares each of a control group's peak activation locations to the nearest peak generated by the brain-damaged individual. The third stage evaluates the extent to which the brain-damaged individual's peaks are atypical relative to the range of individual variation among the control participants. This IPPC analysis allows for a quantifiable, statistically sound method for comparing an individual's activation pattern to the patterns observed in a control group and, thus, provides a valuable tool for identifying functional reorganization in a brain-damaged individual with impaired spelling. Furthermore, this approach can be applied more generally to compare any individual's activation pattern with that of a set of other individuals. PMID:24399981

Knee Images Digital Analysis (KIDA): a novel method to quantify individual radiographic features of knee osteoarthritis in detail.

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Marijnissen, A C A; Vincken, K L; Vos, P A J M; Saris, D B F; Viergever, M A; Bijlsma, J W J; Bartels, L W; Lafeber, F P J G

2008-02-01

Radiography is still the golden standard for imaging features of osteoarthritis (OA), such as joint space narrowing, subchondral sclerosis, and osteophyte formation. Objective assessment, however, remains difficult. The goal of the present study was to evaluate a novel digital method to analyse standard knee radiographs. Standardized radiographs of 20 healthy and 55 OA knees were taken in general practise according to the semi-flexed method by Buckland-Wright. Joint Space Width (JSW), osteophyte area, subchondral bone density, joint angle, and tibial eminence height were measured as continuous variables using newly developed Knee Images Digital Analysis (KIDA) software on a standard PC. Two observers evaluated the radiographs twice, each on two different occasions. The observers were blinded to the source of the radiographs and to their previous measurements. Statistical analysis to compare measurements within and between observers was performed according to Bland and Altman. Correlations between KIDA data and Kellgren & Lawrence (K&L) grade were calculated and data of healthy knees were compared to those of OA knees. Intra- and inter-observer variations for measurement of JSW, subchondral bone density, osteophytes, tibial eminence, and joint angle were small. Significant correlations were found between KIDA parameters and K&L grade. Furthermore, significant differences were found between healthy and OA knees. In addition to JSW measurement, objective evaluation of osteophyte formation and subchondral bone density is possible on standard radiographs. The measured differences between OA and healthy individuals suggest that KIDA allows detection of changes in time, although sensitivity to change has to be demonstrated in long-term follow-up studies.

Bariatric surgery in individuals with liver cirrhosis: A narrative review

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Everton Cazzo

Full Text Available Summary Introduction: Bariatric surgery has become the gold standard treatment for morbid obesity, but there is no consensus regarding its safety and efficacy among individuals with chronic liver diseases. Objective: To critically evaluate the existing evidence on literature about bariatric surgery in individuals with liver cirrhosis. Method: Narrative review performed by means of an online search in the MEDLINE and LILACS databases. Results: Bariatric surgery is safe and effective in individuals with chronic liver disease without clinical decompensation or significant portal hypertension. Individuals with severe liver function impairment present significantly higher surgical morbidity and mortality. Among candidates to liver transplantation, surgery may be performed before, after and even during transplantation, and there is a predominant trend to perform it after. Vertical sleeve gastrectomy seems to be the most adequate technique in this group of subjects. Conclusion: Bariatric surgery is safe and effective in individuals with compensated cirrhosis without significant portal hypertension, but presents higher morbidity. Among candidates to liver transplantation and/or individuals with severe portal hypertension, morbidity and mortality are significantly higher.

Analyzing determinants influencing an individual׳s intention to use social commerce website

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Prerna Lal

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The evolution of social media has changed the landscape of online commerce for both organizations as well as customers. Introduction of social commerce websites has bought shift in consumers׳ buying decision, i.e. from individual to social shopping. This study aims to identify factors that influence an individual׳s decision to use social commerce websites in an Indian Context. A conceptual model was developed based on extensive literature review. Wherein total six factors that influence an individual׳s intention to use social commerce were identified and were divided into three broad categories: social factors (informational support and community commitment, trust (towards members and community and website quality (ease of use and service quality. Research model was empirically examined using structural equation modeling. The findings of this study demonstrated positive relationship between all six factors and an individual׳s intention to use social commerce website. Additionally, study identified informational support as the most significant factor that influences an individual׳s intention to use social commerce website followed by trust towards members, service equality, trust towards community, ease of navigation, and community commitment.

Balance Training Reduces Falls Risk in Older Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes

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Morrison, Steven; Colberg, Sheri R.; Mariano, Mira; Parson, Henri K.; Vinik, Arthur I.

2010-01-01

OBJECTIVE This study assessed the effects of balance/strength training on falls risk and posture in older individuals with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Sixteen individuals with type 2 diabetes and 21 age-matched control subjects (aged 50–75 years) participated. Postural stability and falls risk was assessed before and after a 6-week exercise program. RESULTS Diabetic individuals had significantly higher falls risk score compared with control subjects. The diabetic group also e...

Quantitative mineral salt evaluation in the calcaneous bone using computed tomography, 125I-photon absorption and chemical analysis to compare the value of the individual methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hitzler, H.J.

1983-01-01

It was the aim of the study described here to verify the accuracy of two different methods for the quantitative evaluation of mineral salts, which were the 125I-photon absorption technique on the one hand and wholebody CT on the other hand. For this purpose, post-mortem examinations of 31 calcaneous bones were carried out to evaluate their individual mineral salt contents in vitro using either of the above-mentioned methods. The results obtained were subsequently contrasted with calcium concentrations determined by chemical analysis. A comparison of the individual mineral salt evaluations with the results from calcium analyses pointed to a highly significant correlation (p=0.001) for both methods under investigation. The same held for the correlation of findings from CT and the 125I-hydroxylapatite technique, where the level of significance was also p=0.001. The above statements must, however, be modified in as much as the mineral salt values measured by CT were consistently lower than those obtained on the basis of 125I-photon absorption. These deviations are chiefly attributable to the fact that the values provided by CT are more susceptible to influences from the fat contained in the bones. In 125I-photon absorption a special formula may be derived to allow for the bias occurring here, provided that the composition of the bone is known. To summarise, the relative advantages and drawbacks of CT and 125I-photon absorption are carefully balanced. Mineral salt evaluations by CT permit incipient losses to be ascertained even in the trunk. The 125I-photon absorption technique would appear to be the obvious method for any kind of follow-up examination in the peripheral skeleton, as it is easily reproducible and radiation exposure can be kept to minimum. (TRV) [de

Regional magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the brain in autistic individuals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hisaoka, S.; Harada, M.; Nishitani, H.; Mori, K.

2001-01-01

We studied the variations in the concentration of metabolites with brain region and age in autistic individuals and normal controls using multiple analysis of covariance. We examined 55 autistic individuals (2-21 years old, 47 male and eight female) and 51 normal children (3 months-15 years old, 26 boys and 25 girls). Single volumes of interest were placed in the frontal, parietal and temporal region on both sides, the brain stem and cingulate gyrus. The concentration of each metabolite was quantified by the water reference method. The concentration of N-acetylaspartate in the temporal regions (Brodmann's areas 41 and 42) in the autistic individuals were significantly lower than those in the controls (P < 0.05), but concentrations in other regions were not significantly different between the autistic individuals and controls. This suggests low density or dysfunction of neurones in Brodmann's areas 41 and 42 in autistic individual, which might be related to the disturbances of the sensory speech centre (Wernicke's area) in autism. (orig.)

Regional magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the brain in autistic individuals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hisaoka, S; Harada, M; Nishitani, H [Dept. of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima (Japan); Mori, K [Dept. of Paediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima (Japan)

2001-06-01

We studied the variations in the concentration of metabolites with brain region and age in autistic individuals and normal controls using multiple analysis of covariance. We examined 55 autistic individuals (2-21 years old, 47 male and eight female) and 51 normal children (3 months-15 years old, 26 boys and 25 girls). Single volumes of interest were placed in the frontal, parietal and temporal region on both sides, the brain stem and cingulate gyrus. The concentration of each metabolite was quantified by the water reference method. The concentration of N-acetylaspartate in the temporal regions (Brodmann's areas 41 and 42) in the autistic individuals were significantly lower than those in the controls (P < 0.05), but concentrations in other regions were not significantly different between the autistic individuals and controls. This suggests low density or dysfunction of neurones in Brodmann's areas 41 and 42 in autistic individual, which might be related to the disturbances of the sensory speech centre (Wernicke's area) in autism. (orig.)

Individual IOL Surface Topography Analysis by the WaveMaster Reflex UV

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Marc Kannengießer

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. In order to establish inspection routines for individual intraocular lenses (IOLs, their surfaces have to be measured separately. Currently available measurement devices lack this functionality. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new topography measurement device based on wavefront analysis for measuring individual regular and freeform IOL surfaces, the “WaveMaster Reflex UV” (Trioptics, Wedel, Germany. Methods. Measurements were performed on IOLs with increasingly complex surface geometries: spherical surfaces, surfaces modelled by higher-order Zernike terms, and freeform surfaces from biometrical patient data. Two independent parameters were measured: the sample’s radius of curvature (ROC and its residual (difference of sample topography and its best-fit sphere. We used a quantitative analysis method by calculating the residuals’ root-mean-square (RMS and peak-to-Valley (P2V values. Results. The sample’s best-fit ROC differences increased with the sample’s complexity. The sample’s differences of RMS values were 80 nm for spherical surfaces, 97 nm for higher-order samples, and 21 nm for freeform surfaces. Graphical representations of both measurement and design topographies were recorded and compared. Conclusion. The measurements of spherical surfaces expectedly resulted in better values than those of freeform surfaces. Overall, the wavefront analysing method proves to be an effective method for evaluating individual IOL surfaces.

Assessment of bruise age on dark-skinned individuals using tristimulus colorimetry.

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Thavarajah, D; Vanezis, P; Perrett, D

2012-01-01

Studies on the ageing of bruises have been reported on Caucasians or individuals of fair ethnicity. This study focuses on bruise changes in dark-skinned individuals using tristimulus colorimetry for forensic analysis in such individuals. Eighteen subjects of South Indian or Sri-Lankan ethnicity were recruited. Subjects were bruised using a vacuum pump and then daily colour measurements were taken of the bruise using a tristimulus colorimeter. The L*a*b* readings were recorded of a control area and of the bruise until it disappeared. Two Caucasians were used for comparison. This study showed that, using colorimetry, bruises on dark-skinned individuals can be measured and analysed even if the bruises are unclear visually. As the bruise is beneath the skin, the colour difference ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were calculated. All values showed a trend, indicating that the L*a*b* measuring technique is a reliable method to analyse bruises on dark-skinned individuals. Comparisons of Asian subjects and Caucasian subjects were performed. The largest difference was seen in the b* value. Statistical analysis showed that ΔL* colour difference was the most consistent (95% CI -4.05 to -2.49) showing a significant difference between days 1-4 and 5-8. Objective assessment of bruises on dark-skinned individuals using the L*a*b* method of measuring gave reproducible results. Furthermore, the study showed that the yellowing of a bruise cannot be seen or measured with a tristimulus colorimeter on dark-skinned individuals due to the pigmentation of the skin. With further studies and more subjects, the age of bruises could potentially be assessed for use in forensic analysis.

The stranded individualizer under compressed modernity: South Korean women in individualization without individualism.

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Kyung-Sup, Chang; Min-Young, Song

2010-09-01

South Korean families have functioned as a highly effective receptacle for the country's highly compressed conditions of modernity and late modernity. It is as much due to the success of South Korean families as an engine of compressed modernity as due to their failure that they have become functionally overloaded and socially risk-ridden. Such familial burdens and risks are particularly onerous to South Korean women because of the fundamentally gender-based structure of family relations and duties that has in part been recycled from the Confucian past and in part manufactured under industrial capitalism. Under these complicated conditions, South Korean women have had to dramatically restructure their family relations and duties as well as their individual life choices. Furthermore, under the most recent condition of what Beck calls second modernity, other institutions of modernity, such as the state, industrial economy, firms, unions, schools, and welfare systems, have become increasingly ineffective in helping to alleviate such (gender-based) familial burdens and dilemmas. As a result South Korean women have experienced dramatic changes in marriage patterns, fertility, family relations, etc. South Korean women's individualization has thereby taken place primarily as a matter of practicality rather than ideational change. A brief analysis of the situation in the neighbouring societies of Japan and Taiwan reinforces the conclusion that individualization without individualism, particularly among women, is a region-wide phenomenon in East Asia. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2010.

Simulating individual-based models of epidemics in hierarchical networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Quax, R.; Bader, D.A.; Sloot, P.M.A.

2009-01-01

Current mathematical modeling methods for the spreading of infectious diseases are too simplified and do not scale well. We present the Simulator of Epidemic Evolution in Complex Networks (SEECN), an efficient simulator of detailed individual-based models by parameterizing separate dynamics

Hospital versus individual surgeon’s performance in laparoscopic hysterectomy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Driessen, Sara R C; Wallwiener, Markus; Taran, Florin Andrei; Cohen, Sarah L.; Kraemer, Bernhard; Wallwiener, Christian W.; Van Zwet, Erik W.; Brucker, Sara Y.; Jansen, F.W.

2017-01-01

Purpose: To compare hospital versus individual surgeon’s perioperative outcomes for laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH), and to assess the relationship between surgeon experience and perioperative outcomes. Methods: A retrospective analysis of all prospective collected LHs performed from 2003 to 2010

Learning about individuals' health from aggregate data.

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Colbaugh, Rich; Glass, Kristin

2017-07-01

There is growing awareness that user-generated social media content contains valuable health-related information and is more convenient to collect than typical health data. For example, Twitter has been employed to predict aggregate-level outcomes, such as regional rates of diabetes and child poverty, and to identify individual cases of depression and food poisoning. Models which make aggregate-level inferences can be induced from aggregate data, and consequently are straightforward to build. In contrast, learning models that produce individual-level (IL) predictions, which are more informative, usually requires a large number of difficult-to-acquire labeled IL examples. This paper presents a new machine learning method which achieves the best of both worlds, enabling IL models to be learned from aggregate labels. The algorithm makes predictions by combining unsupervised feature extraction, aggregate-based modeling, and optimal integration of aggregate-level and IL information. Two case studies illustrate how to learn health-relevant IL prediction models using only aggregate labels, and show that these models perform as well as state-of-the-art models trained on hundreds or thousands of labeled individuals.

Individual Biomarkers Using Molecular Personalized Medicine Approaches.

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Zenner, Hans P

2017-01-01

Molecular personalized medicine tries to generate individual predictive biomarkers to assist doctors in their decision making. These are thought to improve the efficacy and lower the toxicity of a treatment. The molecular basis of the desired high-precision prediction is modern "omex" technologies providing high-throughput bioanalytical methods. These include genomics and epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microbiomics, imaging, and functional analyses. In most cases, producing big data also requires a complex biomathematical analysis. Using molecular personalized medicine, the conventional physician's check of biomarker results may no longer be sufficient. By contrast, the physician may need to cooperate with the biomathematician to achieve the desired prediction on the basis of the analysis of individual big data typically produced by omex technologies. Identification of individual biomarkers using molecular personalized medicine approaches is thought to allow a decision-making for the precise use of a targeted therapy, selecting the successful therapeutic tool from a panel of preexisting drugs or medical products. This should avoid the treatment of nonresponders and responders that produces intolerable unwanted effects. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Evaluating methods for estimating space-time paths of individuals in calculating long-term personal exposure to air pollution

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Schmitz, Oliver; Soenario, Ivan; Vaartjes, Ilonca; Strak, Maciek; Hoek, Gerard; Brunekreef, Bert; Dijst, Martin; Karssenberg, Derek

2016-04-01

Air pollution is one of the major concerns for human health. Associations between air pollution and health are often calculated using long-term (i.e. years to decades) information on personal exposure for each individual in a cohort. Personal exposure is the air pollution aggregated along the space-time path visited by an individual. As air pollution may vary considerably in space and time, for instance due to motorised traffic, the estimation of the spatio-temporal location of a persons' space-time path is important to identify the personal exposure. However, long term exposure is mostly calculated using the air pollution concentration at the x, y location of someone's home which does not consider that individuals are mobile (commuting, recreation, relocation). This assumption is often made as it is a major challenge to estimate space-time paths for all individuals in large cohorts, mostly because limited information on mobility of individuals is available. We address this issue by evaluating multiple approaches for the calculation of space-time paths, thereby estimating the personal exposure along these space-time paths with hyper resolution air pollution maps at national scale. This allows us to evaluate the effect of the space-time path and resulting personal exposure. Air pollution (e.g. NO2, PM10) was mapped for the entire Netherlands at a resolution of 5×5 m2 using the land use regression models developed in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE, http://escapeproject.eu/) and the open source software PCRaster (http://www.pcraster.eu). The models use predictor variables like population density, land use, and traffic related data sets, and are able to model spatial variation and within-city variability of annual average concentration values. We approximated space-time paths for all individuals in a cohort using various aggregations, including those representing space-time paths as the outline of a persons' home or associated parcel

Applications of labelled water in animal nutrition and physiology. I. Measurement of individual intakes of grazing animals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, D.E.

1982-01-01

Methods for measuring individual animal intakes of food or liquid labelled with tritium or deuterium are reviewed. The errors associated with these techniques have been measured and the methods for estimating individual food, water or milk intakes are discussed. (author)

Individual and Organizational Well-being when Workplace Conflicts are on the Agenda: A Mixed-methods Study

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Heidi Enehaug

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that direct involvement in workplace conflicts may have a significant impact on individual well-being. We used survey and interview data from a large nongovernmental organization (NGO to analyze both the relationships between direct and indirect involvement in workplace conflicts and individual and organizational well-being. Results show that unaddressed conflicts and nonresponsive or conflict-involved managers are problematic because they fuel already existing conflicts, and also pave the way for new ones. If conflicts are not handled at an early enough stage, they seem to “paralyze” the organization and serve as an interlocking mechanism that contributes to hindering the necessary action from management. In our case, one-fifth of the employees were directly involved in the conflicts, and two-thirds felt that their local working environment had been influenced negatively by the conflicts. The prevalence of mental health problems in the NGO was almost twice as high as in the general Norwegian population, and slightly more than one out of 10 reported reduced work ability. We conclude that individuals directly involved in the conflicts experience negative health consequences, and that this fact, in combination with organizational issues and a very high share of employees indirectly involved in the conflicts, affected the well-being of the whole organization.

The relationship of individual psychological and individual-typological characteristics in individuals with personality disorders, committed socially dangerous acts

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Dubinsky A.A.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The relationship between individual psychological and individually-typological characteristics of patients with personality disorders who committed socially dangerous acts were studied, taking into account the severity of the organic factor and the degree of their social dangerousness. 121 males were surveyed, 70 of them were diagnosed with "organic personality disorder" and 33 - personality disorder. The types of personality disorders were diagnosed. The individual variables, the ratio of processes of system activation of behavior and its inhibition, protective styles, especially coping behaviours that constitute aggression, styles of self-regulation were analyzed. It was revealed that low settings of the system activation behavior found in the group of persons with a high degree of social dangerousness, determines the formation of individual psychological treats related to the rigidity behavior, the instability of the motives, impulsivity, negative emotionality, disinhibition. During comparison of samples of individuals with medium and high degree of social dangerousness it has been discovered that self-centeredness, as a component of self-control, high levels of affective components of aggression – anger and immature defense mechanisms significantly distinguish individuals with a high degree of public danger.

The Multi-faceted Implementation of Telepractice to Service Individuals with Autism

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Michelle Boisvert

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Telepractice is a method of service delivery in which professionals provide intervention, assessment and consultation services to individuals through the use of telecommunication technologies.  In response to the nationwide school-based shortage of speech-language pathologists, telepractice has emerged as a viable way to reach underserved clients. Telepractice has the potential to extend to populations in need of services, including those diagnosed with autism.  This paper examines an evidence-based clinical model for the delivery of telepractice services and describes the policies and procedures required for assessing individual need, confidentiality, technology, training and documentation within a telepractice program.  Two clinical case studies involving individuals diagnosed with autism are described and provide initial evidence for the use of telepractice as a practical method for direct and consultative service delivery. Results indicated that both the student receiving direct services, and the treating clinician receiving consultative services via telepractice, demonstrated an increased skill level in target domains.

Individualized management for intracranial vertebral artery dissecting aneurysms

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SHANG Yan-guo

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Objective To discuss the individualized management strategy for intracranial vertebral artery dissecting aneurysms. Methods Eighteen patients with intracranial vertebral artery dissecting aneurysms were treated with different surgical methods. Results Eighteen patients underwent different surgical treatment. Five patients underwent complete occlusion of the aneurysm and parent artery by coiling, 5 were treated by stent -assisted coiling (3 densely packed coiling and 2 non-densely packed coiling, 4 underwent stent-only therapy and 3 of them presented hemodynamic improvement after surgery, 3 were treated by direct surgical clipping, and 1 underwent occipital artery-posterior inferior cerebellar artery bypass. Two aneurysms ruptured immaturely, in which one patient died on the third day after operation and one patient occurred moderate disablity. Only 1 patient who underwent complete occlusion of aneurysm and parent artery presented temporarily ischemic symptoms. No adverse effects were seen in other patients. Seventeen patients were followed up for 1 month to 3 years, and all the aneurysms were stable. Conclusion There are many kinds of therapeutic methods for intracranial vertebral artery dissecting aneurysms. The patients should be treated according to several factors such as the clinical manifestations, aneurysm configuration, and relationship with the posterior inferior cerebellar artery. The treatment should be individualized.

Use of Embryos Extracted from Individual Cannabis sativa Seeds for Genetic Studies and Forensic Applications.

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Soler, Salvador; Borràs, Dionís; Vilanova, Santiago; Sifres, Alicia; Andújar, Isabel; Figàs, Maria R; Llosa, Ernesto R; Prohens, Jaime

2016-03-01

Legal limits on the psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content in Cannabis sativa plants have complicated genetic and forensic studies in this species. However, Cannabis seeds present very low THC levels. We developed a method for embryo extraction from seeds and an improved protocol for DNA extraction and tested this method in four hemp and six marijuana varieties. This embryo extraction method enabled the recovery of diploid embryos from individual seeds. An improved DNA extraction protocol (CTAB3) was used to obtain DNA from individual embryos at a concentration and quality similar to DNA extracted from leaves. DNA extracted from embryos was used for SSR molecular characterization in individuals from the 10 varieties. A unique molecular profile for each individual was obtained, and a clear differentiation between hemp and marijuana varieties was observed. The combined embryo extraction-DNA extraction methodology and the new highly polymorphic SSR markers facilitate genetic and forensic studies in Cannabis. © 2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Variability of individual genetic load: consequences for the detection of inbreeding depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Restoux, Gwendal; Huot de Longchamp, Priscille; Fady, Bruno; Klein, Etienne K

2012-03-01

Inbreeding depression is a key factor affecting the persistence of natural populations, particularly when they are fragmented. In species with mixed mating systems, inbreeding depression can be estimated at the population level by regressing the average progeny fitness by the selfing rate of their mothers. We applied this method using simulated populations to investigate how population genetic parameters can affect the detection power of inbreeding depression. We simulated individual selfing rates and genetic loads from which we computed fitness values. The regression method yielded high statistical power, inbreeding depression being detected as significant (5 % level) in 92 % of the simulations. High individual variation in selfing rate and high mean genetic load led to better detection of inbreeding depression while high among-individual variation in genetic load made it more difficult to detect inbreeding depression. For a constant sampling effort, increasing the number of progenies while decreasing the number of individuals per progeny enhanced the detection power of inbreeding depression. We discuss the implication of among-mother variability of genetic load and selfing rate on inbreeding depression studies.

Individual Prediction of Heart Failure Among Childhood Cancer Survivors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chow, Eric J.; Chen, Yan; Kremer, Leontien C.; Breslow, Norman E.; Hudson, Melissa M.; Armstrong, Gregory T.; Border, William L.; Feijen, Elizabeth A. M.; Green, Daniel M.; Meacham, Lillian R.; Meeske, Kathleen A.; Mulrooney, Daniel A.; Ness, Kirsten K.; Oeffinger, Kevin C.; Sklar, Charles A.; Stovall, Marilyn; van der Pal, Helena J.; Weathers, Rita E.; Robison, Leslie L.; Yasui, Yutaka

2015-01-01

Purpose To create clinically useful models that incorporate readily available demographic and cancer treatment characteristics to predict individual risk of heart failure among 5-year survivors of childhood cancer. Patients and Methods Survivors in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) free of

Discrimination among individuals using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism profiling of bacteria derived from forensic evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishi, Eiji; Tashiro, Yukihiro; Sakai, Kenji

2015-05-01

DNA typing from forensic evidence is commonly used to identify individuals. However, when the quantity of the forensic evidence is insufficient, successful identification using DNA typing is impossible. Such evidence may also contain DNA from bacteria that occur naturally on the skin. In this study, we aimed to establish a profiling method using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms (T-RFLPs) of the amplified bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. First, the extraction and digestion processes were investigated, and the T-RFLP profiling method using the 16S rRNA gene amplicon was optimized. We then used this method to compare the profiles of bacterial flora from the hands of 12 different individuals. We found that the T-RFLP profiles from one person on different days displayed higher similarity than those between individuals. In a principal component analysis (PCA), T-RFLPs from each individual were closely clustered in 11 out of 12 cases. The clusters could be distinguished from each other, even when the samples were collected from different conditions. No major change of the profile was observed after six months except in two cases. When handprints on glass plates were compared, 11 of 12 individuals were assigned to a few clusters including the cluster corresponding to the correct individual. In conclusion, a method for reproducible T-RFLP profiling of bacteria from trace amounts of handprints was established. The profiles were obtained for particular individuals clustered in PCA and were experimentally separable from other individuals in most cases. This technique could provide useful information for narrowing down a suspect in a criminal investigation.

Individual variation in growth in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenck) housed individually

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Miao; Dong, Shuanglin; Gao, Qinfeng; Wang, Fang; Tian, Xiangli

2010-09-01

The exceptionally large individual growth variation has been previously recognized in several sea cucumber cohorts. However, there is a lack of information regarding the mechanism of such individual differences. In this study, the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka) was reared individually in order to eliminate possible effects of social interaction, stocking density, etc. The results showed that there were substantial differences in growth among the sea cucumber individuals during the 100-day experiment. The special growth rate of the sea cucumber individuals differed by up to three folds (from 0.40% to 1.01%), and the coefficient of variation in body weight increased from 12.04% to 40.51%. The final wet body weight, food intake and food conversion efficiency for each sea cucumber were generally positively correlated with their initial wet body weight ( Psea cucumber individuals, largely accounting for the individual growth variation of the cohort sea cucumber. These results will provide some basic data for promoting selective breeding and farming of the sea cucumber.

Social Security Individual Accounts in China: Toward Sustainability in Individual Account Financing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tianhong Chen

2014-08-01

Full Text Available China has both mandatory and voluntary individual account pensions that are provided through the government. The experience of China makes a particularly interesting case study concerning the functioning of individual accounts in that its mandatory individual accounts have been defunded to pay for benefits in the associated pay-as-you-go system, while its voluntary individual accounts are fully funded. This paper examines three questions. First, it analyses why the mandatory individual accounts have become defunded and converted largely to notional accounts generally holding little in financial assets, while the voluntary accounts have been fully funded. Second, it examines the merits of funding versus pay-as-you-go financing of pensions in the context of China’s economic and demographic situation. Third, it discusses a policy change to insure the sustainability of financing for the defunded individual accounts. The experience of China, with its two types of individual accounts, and with different outcomes for those accounts, may provide lessons for other countries.

EFEKTIVITAS TEAM ASSISTED INDIVIDUALIZATION UNTUK MENGURANGI PROKRASTINASI AKADEMIK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SYAIFUL INDRA

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Academic procrastination understood as maladaptive behavior that can hinder academic success. Guidance and counseling implementation is can contribute to reduce the students academic procrastination. The service is can be optimally, the team assisted individualization of learning models combined in class format. This research uses quantitative methods. This type of study design is a Quasi Experiment with the design of the non-equivalent control group. The population are students MTS Negeri Koto Tangah Padang selected by purposive sampling technique. The instrument used to collect data using a scale, then analyzed using Wilcoxson Signed Ranks Test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov 2 Independent the samples. The findings of this research are, differences significant on academic procrastination the experiment group before and after the learning model technique team assisted individualization, There are differences in the control group on academic procrastination before and after the conventional learning model, and there are differences in the experiment group which given learning model technique team assisted individualization and the control group which given information service, learning model team assisted individualization technique can significantly reduce the students academic procrastination, it was can be used for a variety of problems related with learning activities.

An experiment on individual ‘parochial altruism’ revealing no connection between individual ‘altruism’ and individual ‘parochialism’

Science.gov (United States)

Corr, Philip J.; Hargreaves Heap, Shaun P.; Seger, Charles R.; Tsutsui, Kei

2015-01-01

Is parochial altruism an attribute of individual behavior? This is the question we address with an experiment. We examine whether the individual pro-sociality that is revealed in the public goods and trust games when interacting with fellow group members helps predict individual parochialism, as measured by the in-group bias (i.e., the difference in these games in pro-sociality when interacting with own group members as compared with members of another group). We find that it is not. An examination of the Big-5 personality predictors of each behavior reinforces this result: they are different. In short, knowing how pro-social individuals are with respect to fellow group members does not help predict their parochialism. PMID:26347703

The Effect of Individual Factors, Socioeconomic and Social Participation on Individual Happiness: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Azizi, Maryam; Mohamadian, Fathola; Ghajarieah, Mozhgan; Direkvand-Moghadam, Ashraf

2017-06-01

Happiness and exhilaration are the most essential demands of human innate psychological needs that affect both physical and mental health. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of individual factors, socioeconomic and social participation on individual happiness. In this study, we evaluated 15 to 54-year-old individuals to find the effects of individual factors, socioeconomic and social partnership (formal or informal) on human happiness. A random sampling method was used in the present study. The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) was used. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics including; frequency, percentage, Mean±SD. Correlation coefficient, one way ANOVA and logistic regression were also used as analytical statistics. There was a significant relationship between gender (p=0.001, r=0.144), marital status (p=0.001, r=0.174), happy parents (p=0.001, r=0.194), educational grade (p=0.001, r=0.189), employment status (p=0.001, r=0.180), income (p=0.001, r=0.264), car ownership (p=0.001, r=0.173), informal social participation (p=0.001, r=0.3) and formal social participation (p=0.001, r=0.231) with happiness. However, the relationship between home ownership (p=0.346, r=-0.015), and happiness was not significant. It seems that good and cordial relations with others, including family, relatives and friends (informal social participation) are the main sources and the most important factors of life satisfaction and human happiness. Higher income can increase happiness by enhancing the possibility to access the needs, desires, problems solving, enhancing the social support and self esteem and opportunities to perform one's favourite activities.

Theoretical bases of individualization of training in wrestling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.V. Latyshev

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Theoretical bases of individualization of training in wrestling are developed. They include the structure of organization of research, positions of conception, system of individualization of training. The system of individualization of training is designed as an aggregate of elements and subsystems, which guided mutually assist an exposure, forming, development and perfection of own style of opposing. It is marked that in the system of training activity substantially more attention is spared development of the special endurance and attended directed qualities. In the system of after training and after a competition activity an accent was displaced toward the search of facilities of more effective renewal and stimulation of the special capacity, search of new optimum rations of feed and new food additions, search of new methods of decline of weight of fighters. Tactic of conduct of duels changed in the system of competition activity, which foresees yet more rational and economy expense of energy in a fight and in a competition on the whole.

Advanced engine management of individual cylinders for control of exhaust species

Science.gov (United States)

Graves, Ronald L [Knoxville, TN; West, Brian H [Knoxville, TN; Huff, Shean P [Knoxville, TN; Parks, II, James E

2008-12-30

A method and system controls engine-out exhaust species of a combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders. The method typically includes various combinations of steps such as controlling combustion parameters in individual cylinders, grouping the individual cylinders into a lean set and a rich set of one or more cylinders, combusting the lean set in a lean combustion parameter condition having a lean air:fuel equivalence ratio, combusting the rich set in a rich combustion parameter condition having a rich air:fuel equivalence ratio, and adjusting the lean set and the rich set of one or more cylinders to generate net-lean combustion. The exhaust species may have elevated concentrations of hydrogen and oxygen.

Forensic Evaluation of Deaf Individuals: Challenges and Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Pollard, Robert Q; Berlinski, Brian T

2017-01-01

Forensic evaluation of deaf individuals presents unique challenges due to many examinees' fund of information deficits, potential for language deprivation, and examiners' frequent lack of creativity regarding communication methods. This article describes challenges most frequently encountered in competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility evaluations and offers strategies for overcoming them. The value of employing multiple communication methods, especially the use of illustrations, is emphasized. Suggestions also are offered regarding preparing evaluation reports and effectively communicating "key deaf fundamentals" to legal personnel. Encouragement is offered for qualified, sign-fluent professionals to engage in forensic work.

Individual Tariffs for Mobile Services: Theoretical Framework and a Computational Case in Mobile Music

OpenAIRE

Chen, Hong; Pau, Louis-François

2007-01-01

textabstractThis paper introduces individual tariffs at service and content bundle level in mobile communications. It gives a theoretical framework (economic, sociological) as well as a computational game solution method. The user can be an individual or a community. Individual tariffs are decided through interactions between the user and the supplier. A numerical example from mobile music illustrates the concepts.

Prevalence of anterior teeth fracture among visually impaired individuals, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anil Agrawal

2013-01-01

Conclusion: The prevalence of dental injuries in a group of individuals with blind. This should alert caregivers to carry out a profound investigation of the events and suggest methods to reduce this type of morbidity.

Prosody and Spoken Word Recognition in Early and Late Spanish-English Bilingual Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Boutsen, Frank R.; Dvorak, Justin D.; Deweber, Derick D.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study was conducted to compare the influence of word properties on gated single-word recognition in monolingual and bilingual individuals under conditions of native and nonnative accent and to determine whether word-form prosody facilitates recognition in bilingual individuals. Method: Word recognition was assessed in monolingual and…

Test Reliability at the Individual Level

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Yueqin; Nesselroade, John R.; Erbacher, Monica K.; Boker, Steven M.; Burt, S. Alexandra; Keel, Pamela K.; Neale, Michael C.; Sisk, Cheryl L.; Klump, Kelly

2016-01-01

Reliability has a long history as one of the key psychometric properties of a test. However, a given test might not measure people equally reliably. Test scores from some individuals may have considerably greater error than others. This study proposed two approaches using intraindividual variation to estimate test reliability for each person. A simulation study suggested that the parallel tests approach and the structural equation modeling approach recovered the simulated reliability coefficients. Then in an empirical study, where forty-five females were measured daily on the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) for 45 consecutive days, separate estimates of reliability were generated for each person. Results showed that reliability estimates of the PANAS varied substantially from person to person. The methods provided in this article apply to tests measuring changeable attributes and require repeated measures across time on each individual. This article also provides a set of parallel forms of PANAS. PMID:28936107

An experiment on individual ‘parochial altruism’ revealing no connection between individual ‘altruism’ and individual ‘parochialism’

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaun eHargreaves Heap

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Is parochial altruism an attribute of individual behaviour? This is the question we address with an experiment. We examine whether the individual pro-sociality that is revealed in the public goods and trust games when interacting with fellow group members helps predict individual parochialism, as measured by the in-group bias (i.e., the difference in these games in pro-sociality when interacting with own group members as compared with members of another group. We find that it is not. An examination of the Big 5 personality predictors of each behaviour reinforces this result: they are different. In short, knowing how ‘nice’ individuals are with respect to fellow group members does not help predict their parochialism.

Morbidity and mortality in homeless individuals, prisoners, sex workers, and individuals with substance use disorders in high-income countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aldridge, Robert W.; Story, Alistair; Hwang, Stephen W.

2018-01-01

, and observational studies that had morbidity and mortality outcomes, were published in English, from high-income countries, and were done in populations with a history of homelessness, imprisonment, sex work, or substance use disorder (excluding cannabis and alcohol use). Studies with only perinatal outcomes...... use disorders, sex workers, and imprisoned individuals. Methods: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for studies published between Jan 1, 2005, and Oct 1, 2015. We included only systematic reviews, meta-analyses, interventional studies...... and studies of individuals with a specific health condition or those recruited from intensive care or high dependency hospital units were excluded. We screened studies using systematic review software and extracted data from published reports. Primary outcomes were measures of morbidity (prevalence...

Diverse task scheduling for individualized requirements in cloud manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Longfei; Zhang, Lin; Zhao, Chun; Laili, Yuanjun; Xu, Lida

2018-03-01

Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) has emerged as a new manufacturing paradigm that provides ubiquitous, on-demand manufacturing services to customers through network and CMfg platforms. In CMfg system, task scheduling as an important means of finding suitable services for specific manufacturing tasks plays a key role in enhancing the system performance. Customers' requirements in CMfg are highly individualized, which leads to diverse manufacturing tasks in terms of execution flows and users' preferences. We focus on diverse manufacturing tasks and aim to address their scheduling issue in CMfg. First of all, a mathematical model of task scheduling is built based on analysis of the scheduling process in CMfg. To solve this scheduling problem, we propose a scheduling method aiming for diverse tasks, which enables each service demander to obtain desired manufacturing services. The candidate service sets are generated according to subtask directed graphs. An improved genetic algorithm is applied to searching for optimal task scheduling solutions. The effectiveness of the scheduling method proposed is verified by a case study with individualized customers' requirements. The results indicate that the proposed task scheduling method is able to achieve better performance than some usual algorithms such as simulated annealing and pattern search.

Assessing Visibility of Individual Transmission Errors in Networked Video

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korhonen, Jari; Mantel, Claire

2016-01-01

could benefit from information about subjective visibility of individual packet losses; for example, computational resources could be directed more efficiently to unequal error protection and concealment by focusing in the visually most disturbing artifacts. In this paper, we present a novel subjective...... methodology for packet loss artifact detection by tapping a touchscreen where a defect is observed. To validate the proposed methodology, the results of a pilot study are presented and analyzed. According to the results, the proposed method can be used to derive qualitatively and statistically meaningful data...... on the subjective visibility of individual packet loss artifacts....

Prevalence and association of oral candidiasis with dysphagia in individuals with acquired brain injury

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Odgaard, Lene; Kothari, Mohit

2017-01-01

Objective: To describe the prevalence of oral candidiasis (OC) in individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI) and to evaluate the association of OC with improvement in dysphagia. Design: Longitudinal observational study. Methods: Individuals with ABI admitted to rehabilitation were recruited over...

Societal Constraints, Systemic Disadvantages and Homelessness: An Individual Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carol Kauppi

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Research utilizing the individual case study method examined the complex issues related to pathways into and out of home-lessness for an Aboriginal man from a First Nation community on the western James Bay in Canada. This instrumental case study focused on an individual's story, rather than on a site or a group of individuals, an incident or a series of incidents, or a program [6] [15]. First, as a research tool, it provides insight into the issue of homelessness and some of its causes from the perspective of an Aboriginal person. Second, the in-depth data gathered allowed us to understand some of the factors that work and those that do not work in facilitating transitions out of homelessness. Third, as an educational tool, it allows people from the outside to have a better understanding of how systemic disadvantages contribute to individuals falling into homelessness.

Structure and sensitivity analysis of individual-based predator–prey models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imron, Muhammad Ali; Gergs, Andre; Berger, Uta

2012-01-01

The expensive computational cost of sensitivity analyses has hampered the use of these techniques for analysing individual-based models in ecology. A relatively cheap computational cost, referred to as the Morris method, was chosen to assess the relative effects of all parameters on the model’s outputs and to gain insights into predator–prey systems. Structure and results of the sensitivity analysis of the Sumatran tiger model – the Panthera Population Persistence (PPP) and the Notonecta foraging model (NFM) – were compared. Both models are based on a general predation cycle and designed to understand the mechanisms behind the predator–prey interaction being considered. However, the models differ significantly in their complexity and the details of the processes involved. In the sensitivity analysis, parameters that directly contribute to the number of prey items killed were found to be most influential. These were the growth rate of prey and the hunting radius of tigers in the PPP model as well as attack rate parameters and encounter distance of backswimmers in the NFM model. Analysis of distances in both of the models revealed further similarities in the sensitivity of the two individual-based models. The findings highlight the applicability and importance of sensitivity analyses in general, and screening design methods in particular, during early development of ecological individual-based models. Comparison of model structures and sensitivity analyses provides a first step for the derivation of general rules in the design of predator–prey models for both practical conservation and conceptual understanding. - Highlights: ► Structure of predation processes is similar in tiger and backswimmer model. ► The two individual-based models (IBM) differ in space formulations. ► In both models foraging distance is among the sensitive parameters. ► Morris method is applicable for the sensitivity analysis even of complex IBMs.

Miscellaneous standard methods for Apis mellifera research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Human, Hannelie; Brodschneider, Robert; Dietemann, Vincent

2013-01-01

A variety of methods are used in honey bee research and differ depending on the level at which the research is conducted. On an individual level, the handling of individual honey bees, including the queen, larvae and pupae are required. There are different methods for the immobilising, killing an...

Monitoring of the periodontal disease using digital image analyses; Monitoracao da progressao da doenca periodontal atraves de imagens digitalizadas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Taba Junior, Mario

1995-12-31

The radiographs play an important role in the diagnosis and management of periodontal disease although the most appropriate form of assessment vary. The great technologic advance and the easily accessible systems of digital image analyses, specify digitized radiographs, improve the diagnostic power. The studied group was 29 adults (14 female and 15 male) ranging in age from 18 to 45 years. They all had evidence of alveolar bone loss and established periodontitis. They were studied, without treatment, over a six month period with four posterior standardized vertical bite wings radiographs, electronic probing of attachment loss, and bacteriological and temperature analysis of periodontal pocket. The aim of this investigation was to determine the relationship between the loss of radiographic crestal bone height and probing attachment loss in digitized radiographs and show a standardization method for periodontal radiographs. Radiographic and probing attachment change at all sites, dichotomously classified as to not changing or loosing indicated 20.42% of sites were loosing by measurement of radiographic change and 5.29% were loosing by measurement of attachment change. There was concordance between the presence or absence of probing attachment loss and bone loss in 72% to 86% depending on the area. The results, admitting methodological limitations, indicate that when these two methods for the assessment of progressive periodontitis were used they represents measure degrees of different features of periodontitis and that the period of periodontal disease activity was detected in the either the soft tissue attachment or bone. (author). 116 refs., 17 figs., 8 tabs.

Regional magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the brain in autistic individuals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hisaoka, S.; Harada, M.; Nishitani, H. [Dept. of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima (Japan); Mori, K. [Dept. of Paediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima (Japan)

2001-06-01

We studied the variations in the concentration of metabolites with brain region and age in autistic individuals and normal controls using multiple analysis of covariance. We examined 55 autistic individuals (2-21 years old, 47 male and eight female) and 51 normal children (3 months-15 years old, 26 boys and 25 girls). Single volumes of interest were placed in the frontal, parietal and temporal region on both sides, the brain stem and cingulate gyrus. The concentration of each metabolite was quantified by the water reference method. The concentration of N-acetylaspartate in the temporal regions (Brodmann's areas 41 and 42) in the autistic individuals were significantly lower than those in the controls (P < 0.05), but concentrations in other regions were not significantly different between the autistic individuals and controls. This suggests low density or dysfunction of neurones in Brodmann's areas 41 and 42 in autistic individual, which might be related to the disturbances of the sensory speech centre (Wernicke's area) in autism. (orig.)

Bankruptcy of Individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ionina M. B.

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the bankruptcy of individuals under the Federal Law "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy", the Federal Law "On Amendments to the Federal Law "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy" and some legislative acts of the Russian Federation regarding regulation of rehabilitation procedures applicable to an individual debtor. The author analyzes the main ways to address the issue of the bankruptcy of an individual, identifies risks for both a bankrupt and credit institutions

Application of DNA fingerprints for cell-line individualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, D A; Reid, Y A; Gail, M H; Pee, D; White, C; Hay, R J; O'Brien, S J

1990-09-01

DNA fingerprints of 46 human cell lines were derived using minisatellite probes for hypervariable genetic loci. The incidence of 121 HaeIII DNA fragments among 33 cell lines derived from unrelated individuals was used to estimate allelic and genotypic frequencies for each fragment and for composite individual DNA fingerprints. We present a quantitative estimate of the extent of genetic difference between individuals, an estimate based on the percentage of restriction fragments at which they differ. The average percent difference (APD) among pairwise combinations from the population of 33 unrelated cell lines was 76.9%, compared with the APD in band sharing among cell lines derived from the same individual (less than or equal to 1.2%). Included in this survey were nine additional cell lines previously implicated as HeLa cell derivatives, and these lines were clearly confirmed as such by DNA fingerprints (APD less than or equal to 0.6%). On the basis of fragment frequencies in the tested cell line population, a simple genetic model was developed to estimate the frequencies of each DNA fingerprint in the population. The median incidence was 2.9 X 10(-17), and the range was 2.4 X 10(-21) to 6.6 X 10(-15). This value approximates the probability that a second cell line selected at random from unrelated individuals will match a given DNA fingerprint. Related calculations address the chance that any two DNA fingerprints would be identical among a large group of cell lines. This estimate is still very slight; for example, the chance of two or more common DNA fingerprints among 1 million distinct individuals is less than .001. The procedure provides a straightforward, easily interpreted, and statistically robust method for identification and individualization of human cells.

Measurement methods to assess methane production of individual dairy cows in a barn

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wu, L.

2016-01-01

Abstract

Mitigation of methane production from dairy cows is critical to reduce the dairy industry’s contribution to the production of greenhouse gases. None of current used methane measurement methods are flawless and application of the methods is limited to assess the

The Individual vocal expression in future music teacher's personal competence development

OpenAIRE

Jucevičiūtė-Bartkevičienė, Vaiva

2011-01-01

In music education, individual vocal expression is a significant fact contributing to future teachers’ emotional, spiritual and intellectual perfection. This article examines aspects of the individual vocal expression of future music teachers in the context of education related to becoming a competent member of the music teacher’s profession. Using the methods of analysis of the education documents and quantitative analysis, the results of the research, which was conducted in Lithuania, are p...

Measuring individual significant change on the Beck Depression Inventory-II through IRT-based statistics.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouwer, D.; Meijer, R.R.; Zevalkink, D.J.

2013-01-01

Several researchers have emphasized that item response theory (IRT)-based methods should be preferred over classical approaches in measuring change for individual patients. In the present study we discuss and evaluate the use of IRT-based statistics to measure statistical significant individual

Building a multimodal network and determining individual accessibility by public transportation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Djurhuus, Sune; Hansen, Henning Sten; Aadahl, Mette

2016-01-01

The increased availability of transit schedules from web sites or travel planners as well as more disaggregate data has led to a growing interest in creating individual public transportation accessibility measures. However, used extensively, standard GIS software does not have direct capabilities...... from a travel planner into a multimodal network model using simple SQL (structured query language) programming and standard GIS. The method presented here integrates all parts of travelling by public transportation from individual home addresses to all reachable transit stops within different travel....... The accessibility areas are created at morning rush hour for a study population of 29 447 individuals and a few examples of accessibility areas are presented. The results show a big difference in individual public transportation accessibility in the region. In addition, how the transit network is accessed, whether...

Comparing risk profiles of individuals diagnosed with diabetes by OGTT and HbA1c

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borg, R.; Vistisen, D.; Witte, D.R.

2010-01-01

Glycated haemoglobin (HbA(1c)) has been proposed as an alternative to the oral glucose tolerance test for diagnosing diabetes. We compared the cardiovascular risk profile of individuals identified by these two alternative methods.......Glycated haemoglobin (HbA(1c)) has been proposed as an alternative to the oral glucose tolerance test for diagnosing diabetes. We compared the cardiovascular risk profile of individuals identified by these two alternative methods....

Individual Style of Self-Regulation of the Top Quality Sportsmen

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. N. Potapov

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with identifying the individual specifics of self- regulation style development by the top qualification biathletes – the members of the Russian Federation team. The research combines the theoretical analysis methods, idealization and modeling techniques, psychological diagnostics, medical and pedagogical testing, and pedagogic experiment. The methodology basis includes the ideas of self-regulation developed by O. A. Konopkin and V. I. Morosanova. The author has devised and substantiated the method of developing the individual style of self-regulation by the top category biathletes. It has been proved that the above style can be achieved by sportsmen in the process of developing socially adequate motivation and socially valued personality traits by using verbal auto-training methods. It is indicated that there is no fixed correlation between a success in sport training and personality type. However, each type has its inherent steady characteristic complex of self-regulation. The research findings can be implemented both in training the top achievement sportsmen and sport reserves. 

Complementary Therapies for Pain Among Individuals Receiving Hemodialysis: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Zins, Savannah; Gross, Cynthia R; Huff, Edwin D; Hooke, Mary Catherine

2018-01-01

Pain is a major problem for individuals undergoing hemodialysis and can lead to decreased quality of life when ineffectively managed. Pain is often reported as burdensome; thus, nurses must learn effective, nonpharmacological adjuncts to help care for symptomatic patients. The purpose of this review was to identify non-pharmacologic complementary therapies and evaluate their effectiveness in minimizing pain among individuals undergoing hemodialysis. Multiple complementary interventions were identified, and several reduced pain, but evidence is qualified by limitations in study methods. Complementary therapies have the potential to reduce pain among individuals undergoing hemodialysis; however, more research is needed. Copyright© by the American Nephrology Nurses Association.

The Behavioural Phenotype of Cornelia de Lange Syndrome: A Study of 56 Individuals

Science.gov (United States)

Basile, Emanuele; Villa, L.; Selicorni, A.; Molteni, M.

2007-01-01

Background: Few studies have investigated functional and behavioural variables of Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) in a large sample of individuals. The aim of this study is to provide greater insight into the clinical, behavioural and cognitive characteristics that are associated with CdLS. Methods: In total, 56 individuals with CdLS…

Individual Music Therapy for Agitation in Dementia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ridder, Hanne Mette Ochsner; Stige, Brynjulf; Qvale, Liv Gunnhild

2013-01-01

Objectives: Agitation in nursing home residents with dementia leads to increase in psychotropic medication, decrease in quality of life, and to patient distress and caregiver burden. Music therapy has previously been found effective in treatment of agitation in dementia care but studies have been...... methodologically insufficient. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of individual music therapy on agitation in persons with moderate/severe dementia living in nursing homes, and to explore its effect on psychotropic medication and quality of life. Method: In a crossover trial, 42 participants...... with dementia were randomized to a sequence of six weeks of individual music therapy and six weeks of standard care. Outcome measures included agitation, quality of life and medication. Results: Agitation disruptiveness increased during standard care and decreased during music therapy. The difference at −6...

Classroom Norms and Individual Smoking Behavior in Middle School

Science.gov (United States)

Yarnell, Lisa M.; Brown, H. Shelton, III; Pasch, Keryn E.; Perry, Cheryl L.; Komro, Kelli A.

2012-01-01

Objectives: To investigate whether smoking prevalence in grade-level networks influences individual smoking, suggesting that peers are important social multipliers in teen smoking. Methods: We measured gender-specific, grade-level recent and life-time smoking among urban middle-school students who participated in Project Northland Chicago in a…

All Things Being Equal: Observing Australian Individual Academic Workloads

Science.gov (United States)

Dobele, Angela; Rundle-Thiele, Sharyn; Kopanidis, Foula; Steel, Marion

2010-01-01

The achievement of greater gender equity within Australian universities is a significant issue for both the quality and the strength of Australian higher education. This paper contributes to our knowledge of academic workloads, observing individual workloads in business faculties. A multiple case study method was employed to observe individual…

Estimating the Economic Value of Environmental Amenities of Isfahan Sofeh Highland Park (The Individual Revealed and Expressed Travel Cost Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Amirnejad

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Natural resources and the environment, such as mountains are considered public goods. The main features of these public goods are lack of market and price for exchange. This issue leads to a worthless impression about these goods, lack of effort for their conservation and preventing resource degradation. One of the major benefits of environmental resources, such as mountains, is their function as environmental amenities (for leisure and recreation. The estimation of their recreational worth is important as a part of the total value of such resources. In this context, the aim of this study is to estimate the economic value of environmental amenities of Sofeh Highland Park in Isfahan by individual travel cost method. Materials and Methods: Travel cost method is used for the evaluation of public goods or environmental non-market commodities. It is applied to a wide range of areas, including tourism values of lakes and wetlands, coral reefs, biodiversity and national parks, recreational fishing and mountaineering. The travel cost approach does not ask willingness to pay directly, but imputes it from the observed behavior of other visitors through an estimated demand function, which relates the number of observed trips to the incurred travel cost. Underpinning the travel cost method is for the estimation of the recreational demand function, from which consumer surplus estimates can be derived. Consumer surplus -the measure of non-market benefits to the visitors- is the difference between what the visitor would be (theoretically willing to pay to go the intended recreational location, and what they are actually required to pay. In this research, the individual travel cost method was used. For this purpose, a 290 item questionnaire with simple random sampling was filled by travelers in the area in 2013. Then the demand function of environmental amenities (tourism demand was estimated in two scenarios by using negative binomial regression

Radiochemistry methods in DOE methods for evaluating environmental and waste management samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fadeff, S.K.; Goheen, S.C.

1994-08-01

Current standard sources of radiochemistry methods are often inappropriate for use in evaluating US Department of Energy environmental and waste management (DOE/EW) samples. Examples of current sources include EPA, ASTM, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater and HASL-300. Applicability of these methods is limited to specific matrices (usually water), radiation levels (usually environmental levels), and analytes (limited number). Radiochemistry methods in DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods) attempt to fill the applicability gap that exists between standard methods and those needed for DOE/EM activities. The Radiochemistry chapter in DOE Methods includes an ''analysis and reporting'' guidance section as well as radiochemistry methods. A basis for identifying the DOE/EM radiochemistry needs is discussed. Within this needs framework, the applicability of standard methods and targeted new methods is identified. Sources of new methods (consolidated methods from DOE laboratories and submissions from individuals) and the methods review process will be discussed. The processes involved in generating consolidated methods add editing individually submitted methods will be compared. DOE Methods is a living document and continues to expand by adding various kinds of methods. Radiochemistry methods are highlighted in this paper. DOE Methods is intended to be a resource for methods applicable to DOE/EM problems. Although it is intended to support DOE, the guidance and methods are not necessarily exclusive to DOE. The document is available at no cost through the Laboratory Management Division of DOE, Office of Technology Development

Estimation of Individual Cylinder Air-Fuel Ratio in Gasoline Engine with Output Delay

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Changhui Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The estimation of the individual cylinder air-fuel ratio (AFR with a single universal exhaust gas oxygen (UEGO sensor installed in the exhaust pipe is an important issue for the cylinder-to-cylinder AFR balancing control, which can provide high-quality torque generation and reduce emissions in multicylinder engine. In this paper, the system dynamic for the gas in exhaust pipe including the gas mixing, gas transport, and sensor dynamics is described as an output delay system, and a new method using the output delay system observer is developed to estimate the individual cylinder AFR. With the AFR at confluence point augmented as a system state, an observer for the augmented discrete system with output delay is designed to estimate the AFR at confluence point. Using the gas mixing model, a method with the designed observer to estimate the individual cylinder AFR is presented. The validity of the proposed method is verified by the simulation results from a spark ignition gasoline engine from engine software enDYNA by Tesis.

The Role of Individualism-Collectivism in the Individual Creative Process

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Xiang; Wang, Shuhong; Dang, Junhua; Wang, Lei

2012-01-01

This study is among the first to examine how individuals' cultural value orientations impact 2 separate stages of creativity: idea generation and idea implementation. A total of 247 Chinese employees completed questionnaires including individualism-collectivism culture orientation and their idea generation behavior. Supervisor ratings of idea…

KARAKTERISTIK INDIVIDU DAN LINGKUNGAN KERJA TERHADAP PRESTASI KERJA KARYAWAN BANK SYARIAH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erni Susana

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Individual characteristic and working environment would effect the achievement, while theindividual working achievement was the basic of organization working achievement. Managementneeded to pay attention on the individual characteristic and saw the working environment whichwas safe and promising organization so that employees or individual could work well in supportingemployee’s working achievement. The objective of this research was to prove the effect of individualcharacteristic and working environment to the employee’s working achievement. The method usedwas double regession analysis. The result showed that F test was 66,147 while Sig. = 0,000 < = 0,05. Itmeant that individual characteristic variable and working simultaneously had signifi cant effect to thevariable of employee’s working achievement. The determinant coeffi cient result was 0,831. It meantthe effect of individual characteristic and working environment to the employee’s working achievementwas 0,831 or 83,1% while the rest was 0,169 or 16,9%. It was infl uenced by another variableout of the examined variable.

A simple, generalizable method for measuring individual research productivity and its use in the long-term analysis of departmental performance, including between-country comparisons.

Science.gov (United States)

Wootton, Richard

2013-01-14

A simple, generalizable method for measuring research output would be useful in attempts to build research capacity, and in other contexts. A simple indicator of individual research output was developed, based on grant income, publications and numbers of PhD students supervised. The feasibility and utility of the indicator was examined by using it to calculate research output from two similarly-sized research groups in different countries. The same indicator can be used to assess the balance in the research "portfolio" of an individual researcher. Research output scores of 41 staff in Research Department A had a wide range, from zero to 8; the distribution of these scores was highly skewed. Only about 20% of the researchers had well-balanced research outputs, with approximately equal contributions from grants, papers and supervision. Over a five-year period, Department A's total research output rose, while the number of research staff decreased slightly, in other words research productivity (output per head) rose. Total research output from Research Department B, of approximately the same size as A, was similar, but slightly higher than Department A. The proposed indicator is feasible. The output score is dimensionless and can be used for comparisons within and between countries. Modeling can be used to explore the effect on research output of changing the size and composition of a research department. A sensitivity analysis shows that small increases in individual productivity result in relatively greater increases in overall departmental research output. The indicator appears to be potentially useful for capacity building, once the initial step of research priority setting has been completed.

Individual prey choices of octopuses: Are they generalist or specialist?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer A. MATHER, Tatiana S. LEITE, Allan T. BATISTA

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Prey choice is often evaluated at the species or population level. Here, we analyzed the diet of octopuses of different populations with the aim to assess the importance of individual feeding habits as a factor affecting prey choice. Two methods were used, an assessment of the extent to which an individual octopus made choices of species representative of those population (PSi and IS and 25% cutoff values for number of choices and percentage intake of individual on their prey. In one population of Octopus cf vulgaris in Bermuda individuals were generalist by IS=0.77, but most chose many prey of the same species, and were specialists on it by >75% intake. Another population had a wider prey selection, still generalist with PSi=0.66, but two individuals specialized by choices. In Bonaire, there was a wide range of prey species chosen, and the population was specialists by IS= 0.42. Individual choices revealed seven specialists and four generalists. A population of Octopus cyanea in Hawaii all had similar choices of crustaceans, so the population was generalist by IS with 0.74. But by individual choices, three were considered a specialist. A population of Enteroctopus dofleini from Puget Sound had a wide range of preferences, in which seven were also specialists, IS=0.53. By individual choices, thirteen were also specialists. Given the octopus specialty of learning during foraging, we hypothesize that both localized prey availability and individual personality differences could influence the exploration for prey and this translates into different prey choices across individuals and populations showed in this study [Current Zoology 58 (4: 597-603, 2012].

Group method of data handling and neral networks applied in monitoring and fault detection in sensors in nuclear power plants; Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH) e Redes Neurais na Monitoracao e Deteccao de Falhas em sensores de centrais nucleares

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bueno, Elaine Inacio

2011-07-01

The increasing demand in the complexity, efficiency and reliability in modern industrial systems stimulated studies on control theory applied to the development of Monitoring and Fault Detection system. In this work a new Monitoring and Fault Detection methodology was developed using GMDH (Group Method of Data Handling) algorithm and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) which was applied to the IEA-R1 research reactor at IPEN. The Monitoring and Fault Detection system was developed in two parts: the first was dedicated to preprocess information, using GMDH algorithm; and the second part to the process information using ANNs. The GMDH algorithm was used in two different ways: firstly, the GMDH algorithm was used to generate a better database estimated, called matrix{sub z}, which was used to train the ANNs. After that, the GMDH was used to study the best set of variables to be used to train the ANNs, resulting in a best monitoring variable estimative. The methodology was developed and tested using five different models: one Theoretical Model and four Models using different sets of reactor variables. After an exhausting study dedicated to the sensors Monitoring, the Fault Detection in sensors was developed by simulating faults in the sensors database using values of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% in these sensors database. The results obtained using GMDH algorithm in the choice of the best input variables to the ANNs were better than that using only ANNs, thus making possible the use of these methods in the implementation of a new Monitoring and Fault Detection methodology applied in sensors. (author)

Individual Biometric Identification Using Multi-Cycle Electrocardiographic Waveform Patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wonki Lee

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The electrocardiogram (ECG waveform conveys information regarding the electrical property of the heart. The patterns vary depending on the individual heart characteristics. ECG features can be potentially used for biometric recognition. This study presents a new method using the entire ECG waveform pattern for matching and demonstrates that the approach can potentially be employed for individual biometric identification. Multi-cycle ECG signals were assessed using an ECG measuring circuit, and three electrodes can be patched on the wrists or fingers for considering various measurements. For biometric identification, our-fold cross validation was used in the experiments for assessing how the results of a statistical analysis will generalize to an independent data set. Four different pattern matching algorithms, i.e., cosine similarity, cross correlation, city block distance, and Euclidean distances, were tested to compare the individual identification performances with a single channel of ECG signal (3-wire ECG. To evaluate the pattern matching for biometric identification, the ECG recordings for each subject were partitioned into training and test set. The suggested method obtained a maximum performance of 89.9% accuracy with two heartbeats of ECG signals measured on the wrist and 93.3% accuracy with three heartbeats for 55 subjects. The performance rate with ECG signals measured on the fingers improved up to 99.3% with two heartbeats and 100% with three heartbeats of signals for 20 subjects.

Individual Biometric Identification Using Multi-Cycle Electrocardiographic Waveform Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Wonki; Kim, Seulgee; Kim, Daeeun

2018-03-28

The electrocardiogram (ECG) waveform conveys information regarding the electrical property of the heart. The patterns vary depending on the individual heart characteristics. ECG features can be potentially used for biometric recognition. This study presents a new method using the entire ECG waveform pattern for matching and demonstrates that the approach can potentially be employed for individual biometric identification. Multi-cycle ECG signals were assessed using an ECG measuring circuit, and three electrodes can be patched on the wrists or fingers for considering various measurements. For biometric identification, our-fold cross validation was used in the experiments for assessing how the results of a statistical analysis will generalize to an independent data set. Four different pattern matching algorithms, i.e., cosine similarity, cross correlation, city block distance, and Euclidean distances, were tested to compare the individual identification performances with a single channel of ECG signal (3-wire ECG). To evaluate the pattern matching for biometric identification, the ECG recordings for each subject were partitioned into training and test set. The suggested method obtained a maximum performance of 89.9% accuracy with two heartbeats of ECG signals measured on the wrist and 93.3% accuracy with three heartbeats for 55 subjects. The performance rate with ECG signals measured on the fingers improved up to 99.3% with two heartbeats and 100% with three heartbeats of signals for 20 subjects.

Perspectives of Individuals who Experienced Bullying during Childhood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivia Byjos

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: The objective of the qualitative study was to describe the perspectives of adults who experienced bullying at school during childhood or adolescence. Method: Data was collected through semi-structured interviews (n = 8 and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Results: Three major themes emerged: (a the school should have done something, (b it still affects me, and (c there needs to be prevention. Conclusion: Based on their unique expertise, occupational therapy practitioners may be able to collaborate with interprofessional teams to address the needs of individuals who bully and those who are being bullied at school.

Individual Travel Behavior Modeling of Public Transport Passenger Based on Graph Construction

OpenAIRE

Quan Liang; Jiancheng Weng; Wei Zhou; Selene Baez Santamaria; Jianming Ma; Jian Rong

2018-01-01

This paper presents a novel method for mining the individual travel behavior regularity of different public transport passengers through constructing travel behavior graph based model. The individual travel behavior graph is developed to represent spatial positions, time distributions, and travel routes and further forecasts the public transport passenger’s behavior choice. The proposed travel behavior graph is composed of macronodes, arcs, and transfer probability. Each macronode corresponds...

Chimpanzees demonstrate individual differences in social information use.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Stuart K; Vale, Gillian L; Hopper, Lydia M; Dean, Lewis G; Kendal, Rachel L; Price, Elizabeth E; Wood, Lara A; Davis, Sarah J; Schapiro, Steven J; Lambeth, Susan P; Whiten, Andrew

2018-06-19

Studies of transmission biases in social learning have greatly informed our understanding of how behaviour patterns may diffuse through animal populations, yet within-species inter-individual variation in social information use has received little attention and remains poorly understood. We have addressed this question by examining individual performances across multiple experiments with the same population of primates. We compiled a dataset spanning 16 social learning studies (26 experimental conditions) carried out at the same study site over a 12-year period, incorporating a total of 167 chimpanzees. We applied a binary scoring system to code each participant's performance in each study according to whether they demonstrated evidence of using social information from conspecifics to solve the experimental task or not (Social Information Score-'SIS'). Bayesian binomial mixed effects models were then used to estimate the extent to which individual differences influenced SIS, together with any effects of sex, rearing history, age, prior involvement in research and task type on SIS. An estimate of repeatability found that approximately half of the variance in SIS was accounted for by individual identity, indicating that individual differences play a critical role in the social learning behaviour of chimpanzees. According to the model that best fit the data, females were, depending on their rearing history, 15-24% more likely to use social information to solve experimental tasks than males. However, there was no strong evidence of an effect of age or research experience, and pedigree records indicated that SIS was not a strongly heritable trait. Our study offers a novel, transferable method for the study of individual differences in social learning.

Individual renal plasma flow determination in 2 minutes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlegel, J.U.; Hamway, S.A.

1976-01-01

A method is described for determining effective renal plasma flow, using the renal counts 1 to 2 minutes after injection and applying background subtraction as a ratio to the total amount of radioactivity injected intravenously with appropriate correction for kidney depth. It appears that this simple approach for determination of effective renal plasma flow within a matter of 2 minutes is accurate and reliable, and should be useful for a number of applications when it is important to determine total and individual renal plasma flow. The approach is recommended as a screening procedure in lieu of the determination of blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine, with the additional advantages of gross morphology and determination of individual renal plasma flow in an absolute as well as relative manner

Electronic individual identification of zebrafish using radio frequency identification (RFID) microtags.

Science.gov (United States)

Cousin, Xavier; Daouk, Tarek; Péan, Samuel; Lyphout, Laura; Schwartz, Marie-Elise; Bégout, Marie-Laure

2012-08-15

Although individual electronic tagging using passive integrated acoustic (PIT) tags is established, it is mainly for fish >60 mm in length and is unsuitable for fish of RFID) microtags (1 mm in diameter and 6 mm in length, with a mass of ~10 mg) to individually identify juvenile zebrafish (length 16-42 mm, mass 138-776 mg) for the first time, and studied the effects of intracoelomic implantation on fish survival and microtag loss, growth, spawning and exploratory behaviour. After 5.5 months, both high survival (82%) and low microtag loss (11%) were achieved. The smallest surviving fish weighed 178 mg, and success in microtag reading was 73% for the size class 350-450 mg (26 mm). Greater success was achieved when fish were larger at the time of tagging but no negative effects on growth were observed for any size class and some tagged fish spawned. No significant differences in behavioural responses could be detected between tagged fish and untagged controls after 2 months. Overall, the results suggest that the tagging method is highly suitable for fish as small as zebrafish juveniles. We think this method will provide significant advances for researchers of the ever-growing fish model community and more generally for all small-fish users. Tagging is essential when one needs to identify fish (e.g. particular genotypes with no external cue), to run longitudinal monitoring of individual biological traits (e.g. growth) or to repeat assays with the same individual at discrete points in time (e.g. behaviour studies). Such a method will find applications in physiology, genetics, behaviour and (eco)toxicology fields.

A mechanistic spatio-temporal framework for modelling individual-to-individual transmission-With an application to the 2014-2015 West Africa Ebola outbreak.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Max S Y Lau

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In recent years there has been growing availability of individual-level spatio-temporal disease data, particularly due to the use of modern communicating devices with GPS tracking functionality. These detailed data have been proven useful for inferring disease transmission to a more refined level than previously. However, there remains a lack of statistically sound frameworks to model the underlying transmission dynamic in a mechanistic manner. Such a development is particularly crucial for enabling a general epidemic predictive framework at the individual level. In this paper we propose a new statistical framework for mechanistically modelling individual-to-individual disease transmission in a landscape with heterogeneous population density. Our methodology is first tested using simulated datasets, validating our inferential machinery. The methodology is subsequently applied to data that describes a regional Ebola outbreak in Western Africa (2014-2015. Our results show that the methods are able to obtain estimates of key epidemiological parameters that are broadly consistent with the literature, while revealing a significantly shorter distance of transmission. More importantly, in contrast to existing approaches, we are able to perform a more general model prediction that takes into account the susceptible population. Finally, our results show that, given reasonable scenarios, the framework can be an effective surrogate for susceptible-explicit individual models which are often computationally challenging.

A mechanistic spatio-temporal framework for modelling individual-to-individual transmission—With an application to the 2014-2015 West Africa Ebola outbreak

Science.gov (United States)

McClelland, Amanda; Zelner, Jon; Streftaris, George; Funk, Sebastian; Metcalf, Jessica; Dalziel, Benjamin D.; Grenfell, Bryan T.

2017-01-01

In recent years there has been growing availability of individual-level spatio-temporal disease data, particularly due to the use of modern communicating devices with GPS tracking functionality. These detailed data have been proven useful for inferring disease transmission to a more refined level than previously. However, there remains a lack of statistically sound frameworks to model the underlying transmission dynamic in a mechanistic manner. Such a development is particularly crucial for enabling a general epidemic predictive framework at the individual level. In this paper we propose a new statistical framework for mechanistically modelling individual-to-individual disease transmission in a landscape with heterogeneous population density. Our methodology is first tested using simulated datasets, validating our inferential machinery. The methodology is subsequently applied to data that describes a regional Ebola outbreak in Western Africa (2014-2015). Our results show that the methods are able to obtain estimates of key epidemiological parameters that are broadly consistent with the literature, while revealing a significantly shorter distance of transmission. More importantly, in contrast to existing approaches, we are able to perform a more general model prediction that takes into account the susceptible population. Finally, our results show that, given reasonable scenarios, the framework can be an effective surrogate for susceptible-explicit individual models which are often computationally challenging. PMID:29084216

Evaluation of parameters associated with monitoring in vivo of uranium isotopes in the lungs; Avaliacao de parametros associados a monitoracao in vivo de isotopos de uranio nos pulmoes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juppa, Silvia P.; Lucena, Eder A.; Dantas, Bernardo M.; Dantas, Ana Leticia A., E-mail: adantas@ird.gov.br [Instiluto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Laboratorio de Monitoracao In Vivo. Divisao de Dosimetria

2013-11-01

The objective of this study is to evaluate the parameters associated with the technique of monitoring individuals exposed to uranium isotopes, aiming to optimize the technique and reduced uncertainties associated.

Generalizable Skills in Individualized Vocational Program Planning for Special Needs Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Stodden, Robert A.; Boone, Rosalie

1986-01-01

The authors address planning issues and suggest methods of interagency cooperation, integration of generalizable skills in individualized educational planning/programming, developing goals and objectives, and using student assessment and evaluation information. (CT)

Biomechanical Evaluations of Hip Fracture Using Finite Element Model that Models Individual Differences of Femur

OpenAIRE

田中, 英一; TANAKA, Eiichi; 山本, 創太; YAMAMOTO, Sota; 坂本, 誠二; SAKAMOTO, Seiji; 中西, 孝文; NAKANISHI, Takafumi; 原田, 敦; HARADA, Atsushi; 水野, 雅士; MIZUNO, Masashi

2004-01-01

This paper is concerned with an individual finite element modeling system for femur and biomechanical evaluations of the influences of loading conditions, bone shape and bone density on risks of hip fracture. Firstly, a method to construct an individual finite element model by morphological parameters that represent femoral shapes was developed. Using the models with different shapes constructed by this method, the effects of fall direction, posture of upper body, femur shape and bone density...

Host-Parasite Interactions in Individuals with Type 1 and 2 Diabetes Result in Higher Frequency of Ascaris lumbricoides and Giardia lamblia in Type 2 Diabetic Individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eleuza Rodrigues Machado

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Host-parasite interactions in diabetic patients might influence diabetes complications and intestinal parasitosis. The aim was to investigate the occurrence of enteroparasites in individuals with diabetes types 1 and 2. A descriptive study was designed to estimate frequencies of parasites and to compare them in individuals with diabetes types 1 and 2 from two Health Centers and one hospital in the Federal District of Brazil. Patients were allocated to the study by convenience. Three fecal samples of 156 diabetic individuals (120 type 1 and 36 type 2 were analyzed using two parasitological methods. Enteroparasites or commensals frequency in diabetics was 64%. Diabetics infected with up to six species of intestinal parasites or commensals were found. Frequencies of Ascaris lumbricoides and Giardia lamblia were higher in individuals with type 2 diabetes. The lower frequency of A. lumbricoides found in type 1 diabetes may be related to a strong Th2 response to parasites. Autoimmune response developed in type 1 diabetic individuals characterized by the production of Th1 cytokines could explain low frequency of G. lamblia. High frequency of parasites found in type 2 diabetes emphasizes the importance of periodic parasitological examinations in these individuals.

Factors contributing to the longitudinal development of social participation in individuals with cerebral palsy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tan, Siok Swan; van der Slot, Wilma M A; Ketelaar, Marjolijn; Becher, Jules G.; Dallmeijer, Annet J.; Smits, Dirk Wouter; Roebroeck, Marij E.

2016-01-01

Aims We aimed to determine factors associated with the longitudinal development of social participation in a Dutch population of individuals with Cerebral Palsy (CP) aged 1–24 years. Methods and procedures For this multicentre prospective longitudinal study, 424 individuals with CP aged 1–24 years

Variability in individual activity bursts improves ant foraging success.

Science.gov (United States)

Campos, Daniel; Bartumeus, Frederic; Méndez, Vicenç; Andrade, José S; Espadaler, Xavier

2016-12-01

Using experimental and computational methods, we study the role of behavioural variability in activity bursts (or temporal activity patterns) for individual and collective regulation of foraging in A. senilis ants. First, foraging experiments were carried out under special conditions (low densities of ants and food and absence of external cues or stimuli) where individual-based strategies are most prevalent. By using marked individuals and recording all foraging trajectories, we were then able to precisely quantify behavioural variability among individuals. Our main conclusions are that (i) variability of ant trajectories (turning angles, speed, etc.) is low compared with variability of temporal activity profiles, and (ii) this variability seems to be driven by plasticity of individual behaviour through time, rather than the presence of fixed behavioural stereotypes or specialists within the group. The statistical measures obtained from these experimental foraging patterns are then used to build a general agent-based model (ABM) which includes the most relevant properties of ant foraging under natural conditions, including recruitment through pheromone communication. Using the ABM, we are able to provide computational evidence that the characteristics of individual variability observed in our experiments can provide a functional advantage (in terms of foraging success) to the group; thus, we propose the biological basis underpinning our observations. Altogether, our study reveals the potential utility of experiments under simplified (laboratory) conditions for understanding information-gathering in biological systems. © 2016 The Author(s).

Efficient Method of Achieving Agreements between Individuals and Organizations about RFID Privacy

Science.gov (United States)

Cha, Shi-Cho

This work presents novel technical and legal approaches that address privacy concerns for personal data in RFID systems. In recent years, to minimize the conflict between convenience and the privacy risk of RFID systems, organizations have been requested to disclose their policies regarding RFID activities, obtain customer consent, and adopt appropriate mechanisms to enforce these policies. However, current research on RFID typically focuses on enforcement mechanisms to protect personal data stored in RFID tags and prevent organizations from tracking user activity through information emitted by specific RFID tags. A missing piece is how organizations can obtain customers' consent efficiently and flexibly. This study recommends that organizations obtain licenses automatically or semi-automatically before collecting personal data via RFID technologies rather than deal with written consents. Such digitalized and standard licenses can be checked automatically to ensure that collection and use of personal data is based on user consent. While individuals can easily control who has licenses and license content, the proposed framework provides an efficient and flexible way to overcome the deficiencies in current privacy protection technologies for RFID systems.

LEGO-NMR spectroscopy: a method to visualize individual subunits in large heteromeric complexes.

Science.gov (United States)

Mund, Markus; Overbeck, Jan H; Ullmann, Janina; Sprangers, Remco

2013-10-18

Seeing the big picture: Asymmetric macromolecular complexes that are NMR active in only a subset of their subunits can be prepared, thus decreasing NMR spectral complexity. For the hetero heptameric LSm1-7 and LSm2-8 rings NMR spectra of the individual subunits of the complete complex are obtained, showing a conserved RNA binding site. This LEGO-NMR technique makes large asymmetric complexes accessible to detailed NMR spectroscopic studies. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. This is an open access article under the terms of Creative Commons the Attribution Non-Commercial NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Welfare assessment in broiler farms: transect walks versus individual scoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchewka, J; Watanabe, T T N; Ferrante, V; Estevez, I

2013-10-01

Current scientific approaches to welfare assessment in broilers are based on individual sampling that can be time consuming under field conditions. On the other hand, farmers conduct routine checks based on walks through the house to screen birds' health condition. We adapted the walks through following line transect methodology used in wildlife studies to explore their feasibility as a welfare assessment tool. The aim of this study was to compare broiler welfare assessed by individual sampling and transect walks. We evaluated 6 identically managed flocks. For individual sampling, we collected measures on 150 birds, including weight, breast dirtiness, hock and footpad dermatitis, lameness, and immobility. Transect observations were conducted by slowly walking on randomized paths within each house recording: immobility, lameness, back dirtiness, sickness, agony, and dead. Transect walks allowed detection of small variations (P < 0.003) in the prevalence of most welfare indicators considered with consistency in interobserver reliability (P ≥ 0.05). In addition, assessments across transects were highly consistent (P ≥ 0.05). Individual sampling was also sensitive to differences across houses (P < 0.01) with the exception of immobility (P = 0.783). No differences were found across sampling locations (P ≥ 0.05). However, both methods differed greatly in the frequency of the incidence of the parameters considered. For example, immobility varied from 0.2 ± 0.02% for transect walks to 4 ± 2.3% for individual sampling, whereas lameness varied between 0.8 ± 0.07% and 24.2 ± 4.7% for transect and samplings, respectively. It is possible that the transect approach may have overlooked walking deficiencies because a large number of birds were scored, although if this was the case, the consistency obtained in the scoring across observers and transects would be surprising. Differences may also be related to possibly biased individual sampling procedures, where less mobile

Are self-report measures able to define individuals as physically active or inactive?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steene-Johannessen, J.; Anderssen, S.A.; Ploeg, H.P. van der; Hendriksen, I.J.M.; Donnelly, A.E.; Brage, S.; Ekelund, U.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Assess the agreement between commonly used self-report methods compared with objectively measured physical activity (PA) in defining the prevalence of individuals compliant with PA recommendations. Methods: Time spent in moderate and vigorous PA (MVPA) was measured at two time points in

Parametric Statistics of Individual Energy Levels in Random Hamiltonians

OpenAIRE

Smolyarenko, I. E.; Simons, B. D.

2002-01-01

We establish a general framework to explore parametric statistics of individual energy levels in disordered and chaotic quantum systems of unitary symmetry. The method is applied to the calculation of the universal intra-level parametric velocity correlation function and the distribution of level shifts under the influence of an arbitrary external perturbation.

Impairment of Social Function in Young Females With Recent-Onset Anorexia Nervosa and Recovered Individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bentz, Mette; Jepsen, Jens Richardt Moellegaard; Pedersen, Tine

2017-01-01

PURPOSE: A subgroup of individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) displays social difficulties; however, it is not clear if individuals with comorbid autism spectrum disorders account for these difficulties. METHODS: We compared social function using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule in 43...

Oral health needs in individuals with trisomy 18 and trisomy 13: Implications for dental professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruns, Deborah; Martinez, Alyssa; Campbell, Emily All

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine oral health needs and dental care in individuals with trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 (full, mosaic, partial and other, mixed types). Primary feeding method was also examined. Data was collected from a parent-completed, mixed method survey (TRIS Survey). Mean age in months was 120.2 (range 38 to 394 months) and 133 (range 36 to 405 months), respectively, for trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 individuals. Results indicated the majority of individuals received routine dental care from their family dentist. Approximately 80% in both groups needed some form of specialized dental care. Close to 25% and 30% of trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 individuals, respectively, required hospital admission for specialized dental care. Responses indicated the presence of excessive plaque and tooth decay across the groups with a higher incidence for individuals with trisomy 13. Although not the primary form of intake, over half of the individuals received oral feedings. Implications for dental care and management are provided along with the need for additional research to confirm or disconfirm this study's findings. © 2015 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Individualizing Medicare.

Science.gov (United States)

Chollet, D J

1999-05-01

Despite the enactment of significant changes to the Medicare program in 1997, Medicare's Hospital Insurance trust fund is projected to be exhausted just as the baby boom enters retirement. To address Medicare's financial difficulties, a number of reform proposals have been offered, including several to individualize Medicare financing and benefits. These proposals would attempt to increase Medicare revenues and reduce Medicare expenditures by having individuals bear risk--investment market risk before retirement and insurance market risk after retirement. Many fundamental aspects of these proposals have yet to be worked out, including how to guarantee a baseline level of saving for health insurance after retirement, how retirees might finance unanticipated health insurance price increases after retirement, the potential implications for Medicaid of inadequate individual saving, and whether the administrative cost of making the system fair and adequate ultimately would eliminate any rate-of-return advantages from allowing workers to invest their Medicare contributions in corporate stocks and bonds.

Elderly individuals with increased risk of falls show postural balance impairment

OpenAIRE

Oliveira, Márcio Rogério de; Inokuti, Thiago Tadashi; Bispo, Nuno Noronha da Costa; Oliveira, Deise Aparecida de Almeida Pires; Oliveira, Rodrigo Franco de; Silva Jr., Rubens Alexandre da

2015-01-01

Introduction Falls are a serious public health problem. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate whether elderly individuals with increased risk of falls have a postural balance deficit, evaluated using a force platform during a one-leg stance. Materials and methods The sample consisted of 94 physically independent elderly individuals from the EELO project. The instruments used were the Downton scale, in order to assess the risk as well as the history of falls, and the force platf...

Construct validity of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire.

OpenAIRE

Koopmans, L.; Bernaards, C.M.; Hildebrandt, V.H.; Vet, H.C.W. de; Beek, A.J. van der

2014-01-01

Objective: To examine the construct validity of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ). Methods: A total of 1424 Dutch workers from three occupational sectors (blue, pink, and white collar) participated in the study. First, IWPQ scores were correlated with related constructs (convergent validity). Second, differences between known groups were tested (discriminative validity). Results: First, IWPQ scores correlated weakly to moderately with absolute and relative presenteeism, and...

Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis of Mechanical Workplace Risk Factors and Low Back Pain

Science.gov (United States)

Shannon, Harry S.; Wells, Richard P.; Walter, Stephen D.; Cole, Donald C.; Côté, Pierre; Frank, John; Hogg-Johnson, Sheilah; Langlois, Lacey E.

2012-01-01

Objectives. We used individual participant data from multiple studies to conduct a comprehensive meta-analysis of mechanical exposures in the workplace and low back pain. Methods. We conducted a systematic literature search and contacted an author of each study to request their individual participant data. Because outcome definitions and exposure measures were not uniform across studies, we conducted 2 substudies: (1) to identify sets of outcome definitions that could be combined in a meta-analysis and (2) to develop methods to translate mechanical exposure onto a common metric. We used generalized estimating equation regression to analyze the data. Results. The odds ratios (ORs) for posture exposures ranged from 1.1 to 2.0. Force exposure ORs ranged from 1.4 to 2.1. The magnitudes of the ORs differed according to the definition of low back pain, and heterogeneity was associated with both study-level and individual-level characteristics. Conclusions. We found small to moderate ORs for the association of mechanical exposures and low back pain, although the relationships were complex. The presence of individual-level OR modifiers in such an area can be best understood by conducting a meta-analysis of individual participant data. PMID:22390445

Coffee consumption modulates inflammatory processes in an individual fashion.

Science.gov (United States)

Muqaku, Besnik; Tahir, Ammar; Klepeisz, Philip; Bileck, Andrea; Kreutz, Dominique; Mayer, Rupert L; Meier, Samuel M; Gerner, Marlene; Schmetterer, Klaus; Gerner, Christopher

2016-12-01

Anti-inflammatory effects of coffee consumption have been reported to be caused by caffeine and adenosine receptor signaling. However, contradictory effects have been observed. Many kinds of chronic diseases are linked to inflammation; therefore a profound understanding of potential effects of coffee consumption is desirable. We performed ex vivo experiments with eight individuals investigating peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from venous blood before and after coffee consumption, as well as in vitro experiments applying caffeine on isolated cells. After in vitro inflammatory stimulation of the cells, released cytokines, chemokines, and eicosanoids were determined and quantified using targeted mass spectrometric methods. Remarkably, the release of inflammation mediators IL6, IL8, GROA, CXCL2, CXCL5 as well as PGA2, PGD2, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), LTC4, LTE4, and 15S-HETE was significantly affected after coffee consumption. While in several individuals coffee consumption or caffeine treatment caused significant downregulation of most inflammation mediators, in other healthy individuals exactly the opposite effects were observed. Ruling out age, sex, coffee consumption habits, the metabolic kinetics of caffeine in blood and the individual amount of regulatory T cells or CD39 expression as predictive parameters, we demonstrated here that coffee consumption may have significant pro- or anti-inflammatory effects in an individual fashion. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Lipid sac area as a proxy for individual lipid content of arctic calanoid copepods

OpenAIRE

Vogedes, Daniel; Varpe, ?ystein; S?reide, Janne E.; Graeve, Martin; Berge, J?rgen; Falk-Petersen, Stig

2010-01-01

We present an accurate, fast, simple and non-destructive photographic method to estimate wax ester and lipid content in single individuals of the calanoid copepod genus Calanus and test this method against gas-chromatographic lipid measurements.

Explicating Individual Training Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, Marcel; Mueller, Normann

2015-01-01

In this paper, we explicate individual training decisions. For this purpose, we propose a framework based on instrumentality theory, a psychological theory of motivation that has frequently been applied to individual occupational behavior. To test this framework, we employ novel German individual data and estimate the effect of subjective expected…

Estimating the probability of survival of individual shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata mill.) trees

Science.gov (United States)

Sudip Shrestha; Thomas B. Lynch; Difei Zhang; James M. Guldin

2012-01-01

A survival model is needed in a forest growth system which predicts the survival of trees on individual basis or on a stand basis (Gertner, 1989). An individual-tree modeling approach is one of the better methods available for predicting growth and yield as it provides essential information about particular tree species; tree size, tree quality and tree present status...

Fitting Markovian binary trees using global and individual demographic data

OpenAIRE

Hautphenne, Sophie; Massaro, Melanie; Turner, Katharine

2017-01-01

We consider a class of branching processes called Markovian binary trees, in which the individuals lifetime and reproduction epochs are modeled using a transient Markovian arrival process (TMAP). We estimate the parameters of the TMAP based on population data containing information on age-specific fertility and mortality rates. Depending on the degree of detail of the available data, a weighted non-linear regression method or a maximum likelihood method is applied. We discuss the optimal choi...

Individual external monitoring system for gamma and X ray evaluation of the individual dose equivalent 'HP(10)', utilizing a photographic dosimetry technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santoro, Christiana; Filho, Joao Antonio

2008-01-01

Full text: Individual monitoring evaluates external sources of ionizing radiation X, γ, β and n, to which workers are occupationally exposed, for ensuring safe and acceptable radiological conditions in their places of employment. The dose received by workers should attend the limits authorized by national regulatory organs. Nowadays, there are two radiometric unit systems, based on resolutions of the National Nuclear Energy Commission (NNEC) and the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU); in the conventional (NNEC) system, the doses received by workers are evaluated through the individual dose H x , where dosemeters used on surface of thorax are calibrated in terms of air kerma; in the recent system (ICRU), the doses are evaluated through the individual dose equivalent H P (d), where dosemeters are calibrated in terms of dose from phantom. The recent system improves the method of evaluation, by taking into account the scattering effect and absorption of radiation in the human body. This work adapts a photographic dosimetry service to the recent ICRU publications, for evaluation of individual monitoring, in function of the individual dose equivalent H P (10) of strong penetrating radiation. For this, a methodology based on linear programming and determination of calibration curves is used for radiation capacities, wide (W) and narrow (N) spectra, as described by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 4037-1, 1995). These calibration curves offer better accuracy in the determination of doses and energy, which will improve the quality of the service given to society. The results show that the values of individual dose equivalent, evaluated at intervals of 0.2 to 200 mSv, have lower significant uncertainties (10%) than those recommended by the ICRP 75, for individual monitoring; therefore, the evaluation system for developed doses attends the new recommendations proposed by International Commissions. From what has been

Elemental analyses of bulk and individual particles by PIXE and SEM-EDX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasahara, Mikio; Shinoda, Kazuyuki; Takahashi, Kanji; Yoshida, Kouji.

1993-01-01

The atmospheric aerosol samples were collected by a stacked filter method under the various environmental conditions. The elemental concentrations of aerosol particles were measured using PIXE analysis as a bulk sample. And also elemental compositions of about 200 individual particles per each sample were measured by SEM-EDX analysis. In this study, the correspondencies of analytical results measured by both analyses as well as chemical characteristics of individual and bulk aerosols were investigated. (author)

Radioactive wastes management in a radiochemistry laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, Ana C.A.; Pereira, Wagner de S; Py Junior, Delcy de A.; Antunes, Ivan M.; Kelecom, Alphonse

2009-01-01

The Laboratorio de Monitoracao Ambiental (AMB) of the Unidade de Tratamento de Minerio (UTM) belonging to the Industrias Nucleares do Brasil is a chemical, radiochemical and radiometric laboratory, that analyses the natural radionuclides present in samples coming from the various installation of Industrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB). To minimize the radiological environmental impact, that laboratory has adopted a washing system of the chapel exhausting, that recirculate the washing water. These water can accumulate the radionuclides coming from the samples, that are liberated together the exhaustion gases from the chapels. Also, the water coming from the analyses and the sample releases (environmental and of the process) represent the liquid effluents of the AMB. The release of this effluent must pass by chemical and radiological criteria. From the radiological viewpoint, that release must be based on the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) regulations. This work try to establish the monitoring frequency, the radionuclides to be analysed, the form of liberation of those effluents, and the analytical techniques to be used. The radionuclides to be analysed will be U-nat, Ra-226 and Pb-210, of the uranium series, and the Th-232 and Ra-228, of the thorium series. The effluents must be monitored either before the release or, at least, twice a year. The effluents considered radioactive wastes, will be send to waste dam by the radioprotection service, or to the effluent treatment for controlled liberation for the environment

Individual and group antecedents of job satisfaction: a one-lab multilevel study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel M. Martínez

Full Text Available This study examines the simultaneous effect of individual (selfefficacy and group variables (cohesion and gender diversity on satisfaction. A laboratory study was conducted involving 373 college students randomly distributed across 79 small groups, who performed a laboratory task in about five hours. Two-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM method was used. Results show the main effect from individual selfefficacy to satisfaction (both level 1, the cross-level effect from group cohesion (level 2 to individual satisfaction (level 1, and the interaction effect between self-efficacy and gender diversity to satisfaction. These results suggest that in a work group, satisfaction has a background in individual and group variables. Group cohesion and gender diversity have important effects on satisfaction. The article concludes with practical strategies and with limitations and suggestions for future research.

Technical progress, the concept of individualized cancer treatment and the innovation of computer-assisted radiotherapy planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merkle, K.; Tanneberger, S.; Matschke, S.

1985-01-01

After a first step of cancerogenesis, the further development of the tumor is an individual process. At the end of this process the tumor is formed as an individual in the individual. The individuality of cancer exists on the level of organs, tissues and cells and includes an individual tumor-host relationship. Today, optimized cancer treatment requires a most precise biological characterization possible of the tumor and of the tumor-host relationship, which will provide objective information about the individual character of every tumor. Routine analysis and strict therapeutic consideration of the clinical and biological individuality of human cancer can offer real chances for the improvement of cancer treatment. A routine acquisition of individual tumor characteristics will be possible only if methods and equipment are available for the registration of suitable parameters. In this context technical innovations have an essential influence on the realization of the concept of individualized cancer treatment. With the method of flow cytophotometry and other techniques examples are given in how far the ideas of individual cancer management can be realized by introduction of new technical solutions into medical research and clinical practice. Unfortunately there is still a lack of methodology in individualizing cancer treatment. The individualization of radiotherapy is connected to an extremely high degree of technical innovations. Particularly this refers to the topometrical description of the target volume in relation to the adjacent anatomical structures and the body contour as well as the fitting of isodoses to the shape and size of the target volume. As an example of innovation of a technical solution for individual radiotherapy planning the computer-assisted radiotherapy planning system DOPSY is described. (author)

Effect of individualized diabetes education for type 2 diabetes ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: To evaluate the effect of individualized education for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: A total of 280 patients (158 males, mean age 63 ± 10 years) with T2DM were randomly divided into study and control group. Eysenck Personality questionnaire was used to assess the personality of the ...

Age determination in roe deer - a new approach to tooth wear evaluated on known age individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høye, Toke Thomas

2006-01-01

A novel, simple, and objective method is presented for ageing roe deer Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) evaluated on 471 lower jaws from roe deer of known age (351 with permanent premolars). It is based on tooth eruption patterns and presence/absence of wear characters in jaws from roe deer...... integrated in a scoring system. Permanent cheek teeth emerge in May-July in the year after birth, which enables precise age determination of individuals with deciduous premolars. For individuals with permanent cheek teeth, the method provides the correct age for all individuals younger than 13 months...... originate from two separated Danish roe deer populations exposed to contrasting habitats, but no difference in wear rate is found between populations. Thus, previous concern about the validity of age determination methods based on tooth wear may have been overstated. The findings demonstrate that objective...

Sports participation, perceived neighborhood safety, and individual cognitions: how do they interact?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mackenbach Johan P

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Little is known about the interaction between individual and environmental determinants of physical activity, although this may be important information for the development of effective interventions. The goal of this paper is to investigate whether perceived neighborhood safety modifies associations between individual cognitions and sports participation. Methods Cross-sectional data were obtained from residents (age 25-75 of 87 neighborhoods in the city of Eindhoven, who participated in the Dutch GLOBE study in 2004 (N = 2474. We used multilevel logistic regression to analyze the interactions between perceived neighborhood safety and individual cognitions (attitude, self-efficacy, social influence, and intention on sports participation (yes/no. Results In its association with sports participation, perceived neighborhood safety interacted significantly with self-efficacy and attitude (p Conclusions Associations between individual cognitions and sports participation depend on neighborhood circumstances, such as perceived neighborhood safety. Interventions to promote sports participation in adults should take the interaction between environmental and individual characteristics into account. More research is needed to find out the causal pathways in individual-environment interactions.

Individual differences and their measurement: A review of 100 years of research.

Science.gov (United States)

Sackett, Paul R; Lievens, Filip; Van Iddekinge, Chad H; Kuncel, Nathan R

2017-03-01

This article reviews 100 years of research on individual differences and their measurement, with a focus on research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. We focus on 3 major individual differences domains: (a) knowledge, skill, and ability, including both the cognitive and physical domains; (b) personality, including integrity, emotional intelligence, stable motivational attributes (e.g., achievement motivation, core self-evaluations), and creativity; and (c) vocational interests. For each domain, we describe the evolution of the domain across the years and highlight major theoretical, empirical, and methodological developments, including relationships between individual differences and variables such as job performance, job satisfaction, and career development. We conclude by discussing future directions for individual differences research. Trends in the literature include a growing focus on substantive issues rather than on the measurement of individual differences, a differentiation between constructs and measurement methods, and the use of innovative ways of assessing individual differences, such as simulations, other-reports, and implicit measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Retention in physically demanding jobs of individuals with low back pain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandt Hansen, Bjarke; Kirkeskov, Lilli; Christensen, Robin

2015-01-01

is associated with physical and mental well-being, so, patients may benefit from an early additional occupational medicine intervention. For individuals with physically demanding jobs it can be especially challenging to retain their jobs. The aim of the 'GoBack trial' is to develop and evaluate the efficacy...... and feasibility of an occupational medicine intervention for individuals with low back pain in physically demanding jobs. METHODS/DESIGN: We will conduct a randomised controlled trial enrolling 300 participants with difficulty in maintaining physically demanding jobs due to low back pain for a current period of 2...... intervention model for individuals with low back pain in physically demanding jobs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT02015572 ) on 29 November 2013....

Aberrant intestinal microbiota in individuals with prediabetes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Allin, Kristine H.; Tremaroli, Valentina; Caesar, Robert

2018-01-01

microbiota profiles are associated with prediabetes (defined as fasting plasma glucose of 6.1–7.0 mmol/l or HbA1c of 42–48 mmol/mol [6.0–6.5%]) and a range of clinical biomarkers of poor metabolic health. Methods: In the present case–control study, we analysed the gut microbiota of 134 Danish adults...... with prediabetes, overweight, insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and low-grade inflammation and 134 age- and sex-matched individuals with normal glucose regulation. Results: We found that five bacterial genera and 36 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were differentially abundant between individuals...... with prediabetes and those with normal glucose regulation. At the genus level, the abundance of Clostridium was decreased (mean log2 fold change −0.64 (SEM 0.23), padj = 0.0497), whereas the abundances of Dorea, [Ruminococcus], Sutterella and Streptococcus were increased (mean log2 fold change 0.51 (SEM 0...

Transcending Cognitive Individualism

Science.gov (United States)

Zerubavel, Eviatar; Smith, Eliot R.

2010-01-01

Advancing knowledge in many areas of psychology and neuroscience, underlined by dazzling images of brain scans, appear to many professionals and to the public to show that people are on the way to explaining cognition purely in terms of processes within the individual's head. Yet while such cognitive individualism still dominates the popular…

Opinions of Prospective Classroom Teachers about Their Competence for Individualized Education Program (IEP)

Science.gov (United States)

Debbag, Murat

2017-01-01

This research aims to determine the opinions of prospective classroom teachers about preparation and implementation of Individualized Education Program (IEP). In this study, a qualitative research method was used. The participants were 20 classroom-teaching students that had been selected through the purposive sampling method. In the study, the…

Researching children's individual empathic abilities in the context of their daily lives: the importance of mixed methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roerig, S.; van Wesel, F.; Evers, S.J.T.M.; Krabbendam, L.

2015-01-01

In social neuroscience, empathy is often approached as an individual ability, whereas researchers in anthropology focus on empathy as a dialectic process between agents. In this perspective paper, we argue that to further elucidate the mechanisms underlying the development of empathy, social

Cerebral perfusion and automated individual analysis using SPECT among an obsessive-compulsive population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Euclides Timóteo da Rocha

2011-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To make individual assessments using automated quantification methodology in order to screen for perfusion abnormalities in cerebral SPECT examinations among a sample of subjects with OCD. METHODS: Statistical parametric mapping (SPM was used to compare 26 brain SPECT images from patients with OCD individually with an image bank of 32 normal subjects, using the statistical threshold of p < 0.05 (corrected for multiple comparisons at the level of individual voxels or clusters. The maps were analyzed, and regions presenting voxels that remained above this threshold were sought. RESULTS: Six patients from a sample of 26 OCD images showed abnormalities at cluster or voxel level, considering the criteria described above, which represented 23.07%. However, seven images from the normal group of 32 were also indicated as cases of perfusional abnormality, representing 21.8% of the sample. CONCLUSION: The automated quantification method was not considered to be a useful tool for clinical practice, for analyses complementary to visual inspection.

'Sense of belonging': The influence of individual factors in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Methods. Perceptions of the LE among interns in KwaZulu-Natal, SA, were assessed in December 2015, using a validated version of the Postgraduate ... Intern training programmes in SA need to recognise that individual demographic factors influence interns' perceptions in the context of teaching and mentoring in a ...

Simple arithmetic: not so simple for highly math anxious individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Hyesang; Sprute, Lisa; Maloney, Erin A; Beilock, Sian L; Berman, Marc G

2017-12-01

Fluency with simple arithmetic, typically achieved in early elementary school, is thought to be one of the building blocks of mathematical competence. Behavioral studies with adults indicate that math anxiety (feelings of tension or apprehension about math) is associated with poor performance on cognitively demanding math problems. However, it remains unclear whether there are fundamental differences in how high and low math anxious individuals approach overlearned simple arithmetic problems that are less reliant on cognitive control. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural correlates of simple arithmetic performance across high and low math anxious individuals. We implemented a partial least squares analysis, a data-driven, multivariate analysis method to measure distributed patterns of whole-brain activity associated with performance. Despite overall high simple arithmetic performance across high and low math anxious individuals, performance was differentially dependent on the fronto-parietal attentional network as a function of math anxiety. Specifically, low-compared to high-math anxious individuals perform better when they activate this network less-a potential indication of more automatic problem-solving. These findings suggest that low and high math anxious individuals approach even the most fundamental math problems differently. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Stigmatization of obese individuals by human resource professionals: an experimental study

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Giel Katrin E

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Weight-related stigmatization is a public health problem. It impairs the psychological well-being of obese individuals and hinders them from adopting weight-loss behaviors. We conducted an experimental study to investigate weight stigmatization in work settings using a sample of experienced human resource (HR professionals from a real-life employment setting. Methods In a cross-sectional, computer-based experimental study, a volunteer sample of 127 HR professionals (age: 41.1 ± 10.9 yrs., 56% female, who regularly make career decisions about other people, evaluated individuals shown in standardized photographs regarding work-related prestige and achievements. The photographed individuals differed with respect to gender, ethnicity, and Body Mass Index (BMI. Results Participants underestimated the occupational prestige of obese individuals and overestimated it for normal-weight individuals. Obese people were more often disqualified from being hired and less often nominated for a supervisory position, while non-ethnic normal-weight individuals were favored. Stigmatization was most pronounced in obese females. Conclusions The data suggest that HR professionals are prone to pronounced weight stigmatization, especially in women. This highlights the need for interventions targeting this stigmatization as well as stigma-management strategies for obese individuals. Weight stigmatization and its consequences needs to be a topic that is more strongly addressed in clinical obesity care.

Elderly individuals with increased risk of falls show postural balance impairment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Márcio Rogério de Oliveira

Full Text Available Introduction Falls are a serious public health problem. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate whether elderly individuals with increased risk of falls have a postural balance deficit, evaluated using a force platform during a one-leg stance. Materials and methods The sample consisted of 94 physically independent elderly individuals from the EELO project. The instruments used were the Downton scale, in order to assess the risk as well as the history of falls, and the force platform to measure postural balance through parameters from the center of pressure (COP. Results Elderly individuals were split into two groups according to the score observed with the Downton scale: G1 — low fall risk (score ≤ 2 — and G2 — high fall risk (score > 2. No differences were observed between the groups concerning gender (P > 0.05, Chi Square test. On the other hand, individuals from G2 showed postural instability when compared to individuals from G1, and individuals from G2 showed higher values in all COP parameters analysed (Mann-Whitney test, P < 0.05. Conclusion It can be concluded that the Downton scale has sensitivity for identifying individuals with balance impairment as well as a risk of falls. Therefore, it may be suggested that this scale may be useful in primary health care for detecting falls in the elderly.

Stress degradation studies and development of stability-indicating TLC-densitometry method for determination of prednisolone acetate and chloramphenicol in their individual and combined pharmaceutical formulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Musharraf Syed

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract A rapid and reproducible stability indicating TLC method was developed for the determination of prednisolone acetate and chloramphenicol in presence of their degraded products. Uniform degradation conditions were maintained by refluxing sixteen reaction mixtures for two hours at 80°C using parallel synthesizer including acidic, alkaline and neutral hydrolysis, oxidation and wet heating degradation. Oxidation at room temperature, photochemical and dry heating degradation studies were also carried out. Separation was done on TLC glass plates, pre-coated with silica gel 60F-254 using chloroform: methanol (14:1 v/v. Spots at Rf 0.21 ± 0.02 and Rf 0.41 ± 0.03 were recognized as chloramphenicol and prednisolone acetate, respectively. Quantitative analysis was done through densitometric measurements at multiwavelength (243 nm, λmax of prednisolone acetate and 278 nm, λmax of chloramphenicol, simultaneously. The developed method was optimized and validated as per ICH guidelines. Method was found linear over the concentration range of 200-6000 ng/spot with the correlation coefficient (r2 ± S.D. of 0.9976 ± 3.5 and 0.9920 ± 2.5 for prednisolone acetate and chloramphenicol, respectively. The developed TLC method can be applied for routine analysis of prednisolone acetate and chloramphenicol in presence of their degraded products in their individual and combined pharmaceutical formulations.

Accurate Local-Ancestry Inference in Exome-Sequenced Admixed Individuals via Off-Target Sequence Reads

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Youna; Willer, Cristen; Zhan, Xiaowei; Kang, Hyun Min; Abecasis, Gonçalo R.

2013-01-01

Estimates of the ancestry of specific chromosomal regions in admixed individuals are useful for studies of human evolutionary history and for genetic association studies. Previously, this ancestry inference relied on high-quality genotypes from genome-wide association study (GWAS) arrays. These high-quality genotypes are not always available when samples are exome sequenced, and exome sequencing is the strategy of choice for many ongoing genetic studies. Here we show that off-target reads generated during exome-sequencing experiments can be combined with on-target reads to accurately estimate the ancestry of each chromosomal segment in an admixed individual. To reconstruct local ancestry, our method SEQMIX models aligned bases directly instead of relying on hard genotype calls. We evaluate the accuracy of our method through simulations and analysis of samples sequenced by the 1000 Genomes Project and the NHLBI Grand Opportunity Exome Sequencing Project. In African Americans, we show that local-ancestry estimates derived by our method are very similar to those derived with Illumina’s Omni 2.5M genotyping array and much improved in relation to estimates that use only exome genotypes and ignore off-target sequencing reads. Software implementing this method, SEQMIX, can be applied to analysis of human population history or used for genetic association studies in admixed individuals. PMID:24210252

Evaluation of registered visually disabled individuals in a district of West Bengal, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghosh Sambuddha

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: To identify the sociodemographic characteristics, degree and cause of visual disability among certified visually disabled individuals in a rural district of West Bengal, India and to identify possible lacunae, if any, in the existing certification system. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study by secondary data analysis of medical records of 155 visually disabled individuals and their 310 eyes. Demographical features, diagnosis, percentage of visual disability and work activity status of each individual were analyzed. Results: One hundred and thirty one (84.52% individuals had 100% disability. The number of males was significantly higher than that of females. Fifty eight (37.42% individuals were below 21 years of age. Phthisis bulbi was the most common cause followed by microphthalmos. Further, 81.29% patients had the same lesion bilaterally. Conclusion: Patients with higher grades of disability have attended certification boards. A large number of disabled individuals comprised children and young adults. Male gender bias demands concern.

P300 in individuals with sensorineural hearing loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Cláudia Mirandola Barbosa Reis

2015-04-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Behavioral and electrophysiological auditory evaluations contribute to the understanding of the auditory system and of the process of intervention.OBJECTIVE: To study P300 in subjects with severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss.METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional prospective study. It included 29 individuals of both genders with severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss without other type of disorders, aged 11 to 42 years; all were assessed by behavioral audiological evaluation and auditory evoked potentials.RESULTS: A recording of the P3 wave was obtained in 17 individuals, with a mean latency of 326.97 ms and mean amplitude of 3.76 V. There were significant differences in latency in relation to age and in amplitude according to degree of hearing loss. There was a statistically significant association of the P300 results with the degrees of hearing loss (p = 0.04, with the predominant auditory communication channels (p < 0.0001, and with time of hearing loss.CONCLUSIONS: P300 can be recorded in individuals with severe and profound congenital sensorineural hearing loss; it may contribute to the understanding of cortical development and is a good predictor of the early intervention outcome.

A mixed methods study to investigate needs assessment for knee pain and disability: population and individual perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ong Bie

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The new Musculoskeletal Services Framework outlines the importance of health care needs assessment. Our aim was to provide a model for this for knee pain and disability, describing felt need (individual assessment of a need for health care and expressed need (demand for health care. This intelligence is required by health care planners in order to implement the new Framework. Methods A multi-method approach was used. A population survey (n = 5784 was administered to adults aged 50+ registered with 3 general practices. The questionnaire contained a Knee Pain Screening Tool to identify the prevalence of knee pain and health care use in the population, and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC. Survey responders who scored "severe" or "extreme" on at least one item on the pain or physical function scale on the WOMAC were categorised into "severe" groups. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 22 survey responders to explore in detail the experience of living with knee pain and disability. A sample of interviewees (n = 10 completed an open format patient diary to explore the experience of knee pain in everyday life. Results The 12-month period prevalence of knee pain was 49.5%, of which half was severe. Severe difficulties were reported with domestic duties, bending, bathing, climbing stairs and getting in or out of a car. Some self-care is occurring. The majority (53% of responders with severe pain or disability had not consulted their GP in the last 12 months. The qualitative study revealed reasons for this including a perception that knee pain is part of normal ageing, little effective prevention and treatment is available and the use of medications causes side effects and dependency. Conclusion This study adds to previous work by highlighting a gap between felt and expressed need and the reasons for this mismatch. There is evidence of self-management, but also missed opportunities for

Individual Identification Using Linear Projection of Heartbeat Features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yogendra Narain Singh

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel method to use the electrocardiogram (ECG signal as biometrics for individual identification. The ECG characterization is performed using an automated approach consisting of analytical and appearance methods. The analytical method extracts the fiducial features from heartbeats while the appearance method extracts the morphological features from the ECG trace. We linearly project the extracted features into a subspace of lower dimension using an orthogonal basis that represent the most significant features for distinguishing heartbeats among the subjects. Result demonstrates that the proposed characterization of the ECG signal and subsequently derived eigenbeat features are insensitive to signal variations and nonsignal artifacts. The proposed system utilizing ECG biometric method achieves the best identification rates of 85.7% for the subjects of MIT-BIH arrhythmia database and 92.49% for the healthy subjects of our IIT (BHU database. These results are significantly better than the classification accuracies of 79.55% and 84.9%, reported using support vector machine on the tested subjects of MIT-BIH arrhythmia database and our IIT (BHU database, respectively.

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gafura Aylak Özdemir

2016-07-01

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

Localization of deformations within the amygdala in individuals with psychopathy.

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Yang, Yaling; Raine, Adrian; Narr, Katherine L; Colletti, Patrick; Toga, Arthur W

2009-09-01

Despite the repeated findings of impaired fear conditioning and affective recognition in psychopathic individuals, there has been a paucity of brain imaging research on the amygdala and no evidence suggesting which regions within the amygdala may be structurally compromised in individuals with psychopathy. To detect global and regional anatomical abnormalities in the amygdala in individuals with psychopathy. Cross-sectional design using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were recruited from high-risk communities (temporary employment agencies) in the Los Angeles, California, area and underwent imaging at a hospital research facility at the University of Southern California. Twenty-seven psychopathic individuals as defined by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and 32 normal controls matched on age, sex, and ethnicity. Amygdala volumes were examined using traditional volumetric analyses and surface-based mesh modeling methods were used to localize regional surface deformations. Individuals with psychopathy showed significant bilateral volume reductions in the amygdala compared with controls (left, 17.1%; right, 18.9%). Surface deformations were localized in regions in the approximate vicinity of the basolateral, lateral, cortical, and central nuclei of the amygdala. Significant correlations were found between reduced amygdala volumes and increased total and facet psychopathy scores, with correlations strongest for the affective and interpersonal facets of psychopathy. Results provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, of focal amygdala abnormalities in psychopathic individuals and corroborate findings from previous lesion studies. Findings support prior hypotheses of amygdala deficits in individuals with psychopathy and indicate that amygdala abnormalities contribute to emotional and behavioral symptoms of psychopathy.

Identification of suicidal tendencies in individuals using a quantitative analysis of their speech production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zagorovskaya Olga Vladimirovna

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Suicide is one of the top factors contributing to deaths around the globe with individuals not making other people aware of their suicidal plans. Therefore it is of increasing importance to develop the methods of identification of these individuals. One of the directions of the ongoing research is identification of typological features of their speech patterns using the methods of mathematical linguistics and automatic text processing. Most studies addressing the problem use materials written in English. The article presents the analysis of the above studies and points out the ways of dealing with the issue employing materials written in Russian.

Individual Hearing Loss

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Sébastien Santurette

2016-06-01

Full Text Available It is well-established that hearing loss does not only lead to a reduction of hearing sensitivity. Large individual differences are typically observed among listeners with hearing impairment in a wide range of suprathreshold auditory measures. In many cases, audiometric thresholds cannot fully account for such individual differences, which make it challenging to find adequate compensation strategies in hearing devices. How to characterize, model, and compensate for individual hearing loss were the main topics of the fifth International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research (ISAAR, held in Nyborg, Denmark, in August 2015. The following collection of papers results from some of the work that was presented and discussed at the symposium.

Application of reverse engineering in the production of individual dental abutments.

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Yunusov, A. V.; Kashapov, R. N.; Kashapov, L. N.; Statsenko, E. O.

2017-09-01

The purpose of the research is to develop a method of manufacturing individual dental abutments for a variety of dental implants. System of industrial X-ray microtomography Phoenix V|tome|X S 240 has been applied for creation of highly accurate model of the dental abutment. Scanning of dental abutment and the optimization of model was produced. The program of milling the individual abutment with a standard conical neck of hexagon was produced for the five-axis milling machine imes - icore 450i from the materials titanium and zirconium oxide.

Individual differences in behavioural plasticities.

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Stamps, Judy A

2016-05-01

Interest in individual differences in animal behavioural plasticities has surged in recent years, but research in this area has been hampered by semantic confusion as different investigators use the same terms (e.g. plasticity, flexibility, responsiveness) to refer to different phenomena. The first goal of this review is to suggest a framework for categorizing the many different types of behavioural plasticities, describe examples of each, and indicate why using reversibility as a criterion for categorizing behavioural plasticities is problematic. This framework is then used to address a number of timely questions about individual differences in behavioural plasticities. One set of questions concerns the experimental designs that can be used to study individual differences in various types of behavioural plasticities. Although within-individual designs are the default option for empirical studies of many types of behavioural plasticities, in some situations (e.g. when experience at an early age affects the behaviour expressed at subsequent ages), 'replicate individual' designs can provide useful insights into individual differences in behavioural plasticities. To date, researchers using within-individual and replicate individual designs have documented individual differences in all of the major categories of behavioural plasticities described herein. Another important question is whether and how different types of behavioural plasticities are related to one another. Currently there is empirical evidence that many behavioural plasticities [e.g. contextual plasticity, learning rates, IIV (intra-individual variability), endogenous plasticities, ontogenetic plasticities) can themselves vary as a function of experiences earlier in life, that is, many types of behavioural plasticity are themselves developmentally plastic. These findings support the assumption that differences among individuals in prior experiences may contribute to individual differences in behavioural

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT

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Е. М. Revenko

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is scientific substantiation of the importance of the individual characteristics of the age specific youth development which will result in the rational modelling of students’ physical education.Methodology and research methods. The methods involve collection of experimental data carried out by means of evaluation of motor abilities and general intelligence of students. Motor abilities of students were studied by measuring of strength (dead lift dynamometry, strength endurance (pull-up, speed and power abilities (standing jump, as well as speed ability (running 30, 60 or 100 m, depending on age, aerobic endurance (running 1000 or 3000 m, depending on age. The dynamics of integral physical preparedness (DIPP of each student was calculated by calculation the arithmetic mean values of the growth rates of the development of motor abilities. Assessment of General Intelligence (GI of the 8th, 10th and 11th-grades school pupils as well as the 1st to 3rd year students was carried out through the test of R. Amthauer in the adaptation of L. A. Yazykova, and school pupils of the 6th grade were assessed through the Intelligent Test (GIT.Results. Discrepancies in the dynamics of the mental and motor areas development of maturing personality, which are interpreted as individual characteristics of the age specific development are experimentally revealed. Individual psychological differences leading to the different susceptibility to the development of motor and intellectual abilities appearing in adolescence and early adolescence are analysed. A leading role of activity in formation of the individual characteristics of the age specific development is substantiated. The conclusion of necessity to formulate to the students differing in individual characteristics of the age specific development differentiated in the complexity requirements and motor tasks in the course of physical training is made.Scientific novelty. For the first time

Volume measurements of individual muscles in human quadriceps femoris using atlas-based segmentation approaches.

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Le Troter, Arnaud; Fouré, Alexandre; Guye, Maxime; Confort-Gouny, Sylviane; Mattei, Jean-Pierre; Gondin, Julien; Salort-Campana, Emmanuelle; Bendahan, David

2016-04-01

Atlas-based segmentation is a powerful method for automatic structural segmentation of several sub-structures in many organs. However, such an approach has been very scarcely used in the context of muscle segmentation, and so far no study has assessed such a method for the automatic delineation of individual muscles of the quadriceps femoris (QF). In the present study, we have evaluated a fully automated multi-atlas method and a semi-automated single-atlas method for the segmentation and volume quantification of the four muscles of the QF and for the QF as a whole. The study was conducted in 32 young healthy males, using high-resolution magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the thigh. The multi-atlas-based segmentation method was conducted in 25 subjects. Different non-linear registration approaches based on free-form deformable (FFD) and symmetric diffeomorphic normalization algorithms (SyN) were assessed. Optimal parameters of two fusion methods, i.e., STAPLE and STEPS, were determined on the basis of the highest Dice similarity index (DSI) considering manual segmentation (MSeg) as the ground truth. Validation and reproducibility of this pipeline were determined using another MRI dataset recorded in seven healthy male subjects on the basis of additional metrics such as the muscle volume similarity values, intraclass coefficient, and coefficient of variation. Both non-linear registration methods (FFD and SyN) were also evaluated as part of a single-atlas strategy in order to assess longitudinal muscle volume measurements. The multi- and the single-atlas approaches were compared for the segmentation and the volume quantification of the four muscles of the QF and for the QF as a whole. Considering each muscle of the QF, the DSI of the multi-atlas-based approach was high 0.87 ± 0.11 and the best results were obtained with the combination of two deformation fields resulting from the SyN registration method and the STEPS fusion algorithm. The optimal variables for FFD

Identification of Drivers of Liking for Bar-Type Snacks Based on Individual Consumer Preference.

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Kim, Mina K; Greve, Patrick; Lee, Youngseung

2016-01-01

Understanding consumer hedonic responses on food products are of greatest interests in global food industry. A global partial least square regression (GPLSR) had been well accepted method for understanding consumer preferences. Recently, individual partial least square regression (IPLSR) was accepted as an alternative method of predicting consumer preferences on given food product, because it utilizes the individual differences on product acceptability. To improve the understanding of what constitutes bar-type snack preference, the relationship between sensory attributes and consumer overall liking for 12 bar-type snacks was determined. Sensory attributes that drive consumer product likings were analyzed using averaged-consumer data by GPLSR. To facilitate the interpretation of individual consumer liking, a dummy matrix for the significant weighted regression coefficients of each consumer derived from IPLSR was created. From the application of GPLSR and IPLSR, current study revealed that chocolate and cereal-flavored bars were preferred over fruit-flavored bars. Attributes connected to chocolate flavor positively influenced consumer overall likings on the global and individual consumer levels. Textural attributes affected liking only on the individual level. To fully capture the importance of sensory attributes on consumer preference, the use of GPLSR in conjunction with IPLSR is recommended. © 2015 Institute of Food Technologists®

PedMine – A simulated annealing algorithm to identify maximally unrelated individuals in population isolates

OpenAIRE

Douglas, Julie A.; Sandefur, Conner I.

2008-01-01

In family-based genetic studies, it is often useful to identify a subset of unrelated individuals. When such studies are conducted in population isolates, however, most if not all individuals are often detectably related to each other. To identify a set of maximally unrelated (or equivalently, minimally related) individuals, we have implemented simulated annealing, a general-purpose algorithm for solving difficult combinatorial optimization problems. We illustrate our method on data from a ge...

Individual- vs. Culture-Level Dimensions of Individualism and Collectivism: Effects on Preferred Conversational Styles.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Min-Sun; And Others

1996-01-01

Develops and uses a mediation model to investigate the links between culture, individual values (independent and interdependent construals of self), and perceptions of conversational constraints. Finds culture-level individualism and collectivism systematically related to individual-level cultural orientations (independent and interdependent…

Individual Learning Accounts and Other Models of Financing Lifelong Learning

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Schuetze, Hans G.

2007-01-01

To answer the question "Financing what?" this article distinguishes several models of lifelong learning as well as a variety of lifelong learning activities. Several financing methods are briefly reviewed, however the principal focus is on Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) which were seen by some analysts as a promising model for…

Non-parametric estimation of the individual's utility map

OpenAIRE

Noguchi, Takao; Sanborn, Adam N.; Stewart, Neil

2013-01-01

Models of risky choice have attracted much attention in behavioural economics. Previous research has repeatedly demonstrated that individuals' choices are not well explained by expected utility theory, and a number of alternative models have been examined using carefully selected sets of choice alternatives. The model performance however, can depend on which choice alternatives are being tested. Here we develop a non-parametric method for estimating the utility map over the wide range of choi...

Tracking and Analyzing Individual Distress Following Terrorist Attacks Using Social Media Streams.

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Lin, Yu-Ru; Margolin, Drew; Wen, Xidao

2017-08-01

Risk research has theorized a number of mechanisms that might trigger, prolong, or potentially alleviate individuals' distress following terrorist attacks. These mechanisms are difficult to examine in a single study, however, because the social conditions of terrorist attacks are difficult to simulate in laboratory experiments and appropriate preattack baselines are difficult to establish with surveys. To address this challenge, we propose the use of computational focus groups and a novel analysis framework to analyze a social media stream that archives user history and location. The approach uses time-stamped behavior to quantify an individual's preattack behavior after an attack has occurred, enabling the assessment of time-specific changes in the intensity and duration of an individual's distress, as well as the assessment of individual and social-level covariates. To exemplify the methodology, we collected over 18 million tweets from 15,509 users located in Paris on November 13, 2015, and measured the degree to which they expressed anxiety, anger, and sadness after the attacks. The analysis resulted in findings that would be difficult to observe through other methods, such as that news media exposure had competing, time-dependent effects on anxiety, and that gender dynamics are complicated by baseline behavior. Opportunities for integrating computational focus group analysis with traditional methods are discussed. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

Treatment of fluctuations of startup rates for core subcriticality monitoring; Tratamento das flutuacoes das taxas de partida para monitoracao da subcriticalidade do nucleo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mol, Antonio Carlos de Abreu [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Martinez, Aquilino Senra [Universidade Federal, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia

1996-07-01

In this paper it is presented a method to eliminate the variations in the source and intermediate range count rate, which are used for the on-line and real time monitoring of the critical safety function Subcriticality. The method may be applied to a safety parameters display system, because it is very simple and precise, which it will not affect the real time requirements of such systems. Variations in the count range could cause a temporary positive startup rate, that could lead to incorrect addressing of function restoration guideline. (author)

Disclosure of individual genetic data to research participants: the debate reconsidered

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bredenoord, A.L.; Kroes, H.Y.; Cuppen, E.; Parker, M.; van Delden, J.J.M.

2010-01-01

Despite extensive debate, there is no consensus on whether individual genetic data should be disclosed to research participants. The emergence of whole-genome sequencing methods is increasingly generating unequalled amounts of genetic data, making the need for a clear feedback policy even more

Human breath analysis may support the existence of individual metabolic phenotypes.

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Pablo Martinez-Lozano Sinues

Full Text Available The metabolic phenotype varies widely due to external factors such as diet and gut microbiome composition, among others. Despite these temporal fluctuations, urine metabolite profiling studies have suggested that there are highly individual phenotypes that persist over extended periods of time. This hypothesis was tested by analyzing the exhaled breath of a group of subjects during nine days by mass spectrometry. Consistent with previous metabolomic studies based on urine, we conclude that individual signatures of breath composition exist. The confirmation of the existence of stable and specific breathprints may contribute to strengthen the inclusion of breath as a biofluid of choice in metabolomic studies. In addition, the fact that the method is rapid and totally non-invasive, yet individualized profiles can be tracked, makes it an appealing approach.

Genetic variation in an individual human exome.

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Pauline C Ng

2008-08-01

Full Text Available There is much interest in characterizing the variation in a human individual, because this may elucidate what contributes significantly to a person's phenotype, thereby enabling personalized genomics. We focus here on the variants in a person's 'exome,' which is the set of exons in a genome, because the exome is believed to harbor much of the functional variation. We provide an analysis of the approximately 12,500 variants that affect the protein coding portion of an individual's genome. We identified approximately 10,400 nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs in this individual, of which approximately 15-20% are rare in the human population. We predict approximately 1,500 nsSNPs affect protein function and these tend be heterozygous, rare, or novel. Of the approximately 700 coding indels, approximately half tend to have lengths that are a multiple of three, which causes insertions/deletions of amino acids in the corresponding protein, rather than introducing frameshifts. Coding indels also occur frequently at the termini of genes, so even if an indel causes a frameshift, an alternative start or stop site in the gene can still be used to make a functional protein. In summary, we reduced the set of approximately 12,500 nonsilent coding variants by approximately 8-fold to a set of variants that are most likely to have major effects on their proteins' functions. This is our first glimpse of an individual's exome and a snapshot of the current state of personalized genomics. The majority of coding variants in this individual are common and appear to be functionally neutral. Our results also indicate that some variants can be used to improve the current NCBI human reference genome. As more genomes are sequenced, many rare variants and non-SNP variants will be discovered. We present an approach to analyze the coding variation in humans by proposing multiple bioinformatic methods to hone in on possible functional variation.

[Individual Identification of Cartilage by Direct Amplification in Mass Disasters].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, C H; Xu, C; Li, X Q; Wu, Y; Du, Z

2017-06-01