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Sample records for modeling pattern quality

  1. Patterns of data modeling

    CERN Document Server

    Blaha, Michael

    2010-01-01

    Best-selling author and database expert with more than 25 years of experience modeling application and enterprise data, Dr. Michael Blaha provides tried and tested data model patterns, to help readers avoid common modeling mistakes and unnecessary frustration on their way to building effective data models. Unlike the typical methodology book, "Patterns of Data Modeling" provides advanced techniques for those who have mastered the basics. Recognizing that database representation sets the path for software, determines its flexibility, affects its quality, and influences whether it succ

  2. Architectural patterns and quality attributes interaction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Me, G.; Calero Munoz, C.; Lago, P.; Muccini, H.

    2016-01-01

    Architectural patterns and styles represent common solutions to recurrent problems. They encompass architectural knowledge about how to achieve holistic system quality. The relation between patterns (or styles) and quality attributes has been regularly addressed in the literature. However, there is

  3. Spectroscopic vector analysis for fast pattern quality monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sohn, Younghoon; Ryu, Sungyoon; Lee, Chihoon; Yang, Yusin

    2018-03-01

    In semiconductor industry, fast and effective measurement of pattern variation has been key challenge for assuring massproduct quality. Pattern measurement techniques such as conventional CD-SEMs or Optical CDs have been extensively used, but these techniques are increasingly limited in terms of measurement throughput and time spent in modeling. In this paper we propose time effective pattern monitoring method through the direct spectrum-based approach. In this technique, a wavelength band sensitive to a specific pattern change is selected from spectroscopic ellipsometry signal scattered by pattern to be measured, and the amplitude and phase variation in the wavelength band are analyzed as a measurement index of the pattern change. This pattern change measurement technique is applied to several process steps and verified its applicability. Due to its fast and simple analysis, the methods can be adapted to the massive process variation monitoring maximizing measurement throughput.

  4. A Data-Driven Modeling Strategy for Smart Grid Power Quality Coupling Assessment Based on Time Series Pattern Matching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Yu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This study introduces a data-driven modeling strategy for smart grid power quality (PQ coupling assessment based on time series pattern matching to quantify the influence of single and integrated disturbance among nodes in different pollution patterns. Periodic and random PQ patterns are constructed by using multidimensional frequency-domain decomposition for all disturbances. A multidimensional piecewise linear representation based on local extreme points is proposed to extract the patterns features of single and integrated disturbance in consideration of disturbance variation trend and severity. A feature distance of pattern (FDP is developed to implement pattern matching on univariate PQ time series (UPQTS and multivariate PQ time series (MPQTS to quantify the influence of single and integrated disturbance among nodes in the pollution patterns. Case studies on a 14-bus distribution system are performed and analyzed; the accuracy and applicability of the FDP in the smart grid PQ coupling assessment are verified by comparing with other time series pattern matching methods.

  5. Quality-Attribute-Based Economic Valuation of Architectural Patterns

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Ozkaya, Ipek; Kazman, Rick; Klein, Mark

    2007-01-01

    .... Architectural patterns can be used to achieve quality attribute requirements. Consequently, architectural patterns generate value based on the present and future utility of the quality attributes they achieve...

  6. International Business Research: Coauthorship Patterns and Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Kam C; Fung, Hung-Gay; Leung, Wai K.

    2008-01-01

    The authors investigate published international business research in four international business journals over a 10-year period, 1995-2004: (a) patterns of coauthorship across regions, and (b) the relation between coauthorship patterns and the quality of international business (IB) articles. A cross-region coauthorship enhances the quality of an…

  7. Extracting Patterns from Educational Traces via Clustering and Associated Quality Metrics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mihaescu, Marian; Tanasie, Alexandru; Dascalu, Mihai; Trausan-Matu, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    Clustering algorithms, pattern mining techniques and associated quality metrics emerged as reliable methods for modeling learners’ performance, comprehension and interaction in given educational scenarios. The specificity of available data such as missing values, extreme values or outliers,

  8. Dietary pattern and health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Na-Hui; Song, Sihan; Jung, So-Youn; Lee, Eunsook; Kim, Zisun; Moon, Hyeong-Gon; Noh, Dong-Young; Lee, Jung Eun

    2018-05-10

    There is limited evidence for the association between dietary pattern and quality of life among breast cancer survivors. We examined the association between dietary patterns and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Korean breast cancer survivors. Our study included a total of 232 women, aged 21 to 79 years, who had been diagnosed with stage I to III breast cancer and who underwent breast cancer surgery at least 6 months prior to our baseline evaluation. We assessed HRQoL using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and the Quality of Life Questionnaire Breast Cancer Module 23 (QLQ-BR23). We conducted a factor analysis to identify the major dietary patterns and used a generalized linear model to obtain the least squares mean (LS mean) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for HRQoL according to the dietary pattern scores. We identified 2 major dietary patterns: the Healthy dietary pattern and the Western dietary pattern. We found that breast cancer survivors who had higher Healthy dietary pattern scores tended to have lower dyspnea scores but higher insomnia scores, compared to breast cancer survivors with lower Healthy dietary pattern scores. For dyspnea, the LS mean (95% CI) was 8.86 (5.05-15.52) in the bottom quartile and 2.87 (1.62-5.08) in the top quartile (p for trend = 0.005). This association was limited to survivors with stage I for dyspnea or survivors with stage II or III for insomnia. Healthy dietary patterns were associated with better scores for dyspnea but worse scores for insomnia among breast cancer survivors. Other components of EORTC QLQ did not vary by dietary patterns overall, but they warrant further investigation for subgroups of breast cancer survivors.

  9. River water quality model no. 1 (RWQM1): I. Modelling approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shanahan, P.; Borchardt, D.; Henze, Mogens

    2001-01-01

    Successful river water quality modelling requires the specification of an appropriate model structure and process formulation. Both must be related to the compartment structure of running water ecosystems including their longitudinal, vertical, and lateral zonation patterns. Furthermore...

  10. Scale effects on spatially varying relationships between urban landscape patterns and water quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yanwei; Guo, Qinghai; Liu, Jian; Wang, Run

    2014-08-01

    Scientific interpretation of the relationships between urban landscape patterns and water quality is important for sustainable urban planning and watershed environmental protection. This study applied the ordinary least squares regression model and the geographically weighted regression model to examine the spatially varying relationships between 12 explanatory variables (including three topographical factors, four land use parameters, and five landscape metrics) and 15 water quality indicators in watersheds of Yundang Lake, Maluan Bay, and Xinglin Bay with varying levels of urbanization in Xiamen City, China. A local and global investigation was carried out at the watershed-level, with 50 and 200 m riparian buffer scales. This study found that topographical features and landscape metrics are the dominant factors of water quality, while land uses are too weak to be considered as a strong influential factor on water quality. Such statistical results may be related with the characteristics of land use compositions in our study area. Water quality variations in the 50 m buffer were dominated by topographical variables. The impact of landscape metrics on water quality gradually strengthen with expanding buffer zones. The strongest relationships are obtained in entire watersheds, rather than in 50 and 200 m buffer zones. Spatially varying relationships and effective buffer zones were verified in this study. Spatially varying relationships between explanatory variables and water quality parameters are more diversified and complex in less urbanized areas than in highly urbanized areas. This study hypothesizes that all these varying relationships may be attributed to the heterogeneity of landscape patterns in different urban regions. Adjustment of landscape patterns in an entire watershed should be the key measure to successfully improving urban lake water quality.

  11. A Dynamic Panel Model of the Associations of Sweetened Beverage Purchases With Dietary Quality and Food-Purchasing Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piernas, Carmen; Ng, Shu Wen; Mendez, Michelle A.; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Popkin, Barry M.

    2015-01-01

    Investigating the association between consumption of sweetened beverages and dietary quality is challenging because issues such as reverse causality and unmeasured confounding might result in biased and inconsistent estimates. Using a dynamic panel model with instrumental variables to address those issues, we examined the independent associations of beverages sweetened with caloric and low-calorie sweeteners with dietary quality and food-purchasing patterns. We analyzed purchase data from the Homescan survey, an ongoing, longitudinal, nationally representative US survey, from 2000 to 2010 (n = 34,294). Our model included lagged measures of dietary quality and beverage purchases (servings/day in the previous year) as exposures to predict the outcomes (macronutrient (kilocalories per capita per day; %), total energy, and food purchases) in the next year after adjustment for other sociodemographic covariates. Despite secular declines in purchases (kilocalories per capita per day) from all sources, each 1-serving/day increase in consumption of either beverage type resulted in higher purchases of total daily kilocalories and kilocalories from food, carbohydrates, total sugar, and total fat. Each 1-serving/day increase in consumption of either beverage was associated with more purchases of caloric-sweetened desserts or sweeteners, which accounted for a substantial proportion of the increase in total kilocalories. We concluded that consumers of both beverages sweetened with low-calorie sweeteners and beverages sweetened with caloric sweeteners had poorer dietary quality, exhibited higher energy from all purchases, sugar, and fat, and purchased more caloric-sweetened desserts/caloric sweeteners compared with nonconsumers. PMID:25834139

  12. [Changes of regional environment quality pattern in China since 1986-2008].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guan, Wei-Hua; Sun, Ming-Kun; Lu, Yu-Qi

    2011-03-01

    For further study of regional differences and the pattern of changes in environmental quality in China since 1986-2008, we perform the principal component analysis, standard deviation, Mann-Kendall and cluster analysis on 18 environmental quality indexes in 28 provinces of China in this paper. Those indexes refer to pollutant emission, pollutants treatment capacities and pollutant emission of per unit land area, etc. The paper indicates that regional environmental quality in China has been increased slightly during this period. It can be divided into four stages: 1986-2000, 2000-2001, 2001-2005 and 2005-2008. The overall patterns of regional environmental quality is the West is higher than the East in general, while the environmental quality of the eastern part have been changed somewhat. For more details, the regional environmental quality in China in 1986 is composed of two parts, the eastern part and the western part, while in 2000 and 2001 the eastern part, the middle part and the western part appears as the overall pattern. For the year of 2005, the regional environmental quality in the western is higher than that of the eastern; meanwhile, the eastern can be divided into the northern part, the middle part and the southern part, and the environmental quality in northern part is better than that of the southern part, southern part is better than that of the middle part. This pattern hardly changed in 2008, except that the area with poor environment quality region had expanded. Pollutant emission of per unit land area played as a main factor; yet both the pollutant emission and the reuse of pollutants impacted the pattern specifically. In addition, the national macro policies, the regional policies, the regional economic and the industrial structure can be primary reason for the change of regional environmental quality pattern in China as well.

  13. Dietary patterns and quality in West-African immigrants in Madrid

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vioque Jesús

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Eating patterns of immigrants deserve to be better documented because they may reflect the extent of acculturation and associated health risks. The study assessed dietary patterns and quality in Bubi immigrants (from Equatorial Guinea using cluster analysis and comparing different diet quality indexes. Methods A random sample of 83 Bubi men and 130 women living in Madrid were studied. A 99-item food frequency questionnaire was administered, body weights and heights were self-reported and socio-demographic and health information was collected during interviews. Usual intakes were collapsed into 19 food groups. Cluster analysis of standardized food intakes per 1000 kcalories was performed. Dietary quality was appraised using the Alternative Mediterranean Diet Score, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index and scores of micronutrient adequacy and prevention based on WHO/FAO recommendations. Results Two dietary patterns were identified. The 'Healthier' pattern, so confirmed by two dietary quality indexes, featured a higher consumption of fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes, dairy products and bread while the 'Western' pattern included more processed meat, animal fat, and sweetened foods and drinks. One third of the subjects were in the 'Healthier' food cluster, with the same proportion of men and women. Age ≥ 30 and residence in Madrid ≥ 11 years were independently associated with the healthier diet. Consumption of traditional foods was unrelated to dietary pattern, however. Overall, Bubi diets were somewhat protective because of high intakes of fruits and vegetables and monounsaturated fat (olive oil, but not with respect to sugar, cholesterol, omega-3 fatty acids and fibre. Less than two thirds of subjects had adequate intakes of iron, calcium and folate in both dietary phenotypes. Body mass index, physical exercise, and self-reported health and cardiovascular disease condition showed no significant association with the dietary

  14. Egg Speckling Patterns Do Not Advertise Offspring Quality or Influence Male Provisioning in Great Tits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoddard, Mary Caswell; Fayet, Annette L.; Kilner, Rebecca M.; Hinde, Camilla A.

    2012-01-01

    Many passerine birds lay white eggs with reddish brown speckles produced by protoporphyrin pigment. However, the function of these spots is contested. Recently, the sexually selected eggshell coloration (SSEC) hypothesis proposed that eggshell color is a sexually selected signal through which a female advertises her quality (and hence the potential quality of her future young) to her male partner, thereby encouraging him to contribute more to breeding attempts. We performed a test of the SSEC hypothesis in a common passerine, the great tit Parus major. We used a double cross-fostering design to determine whether males change their provisioning behavior based on eggshell patterns they observe at the nest. We also tested the assumption that egg patterning reflects female and/or offspring quality. Because birds differ from humans in their color and pattern perception, we used digital photography and models of bird vision to quantify egg patterns objectively. Neither male provisioning nor chick growth was related to the pattern of eggs males observed during incubation. Although heavy females laid paler, less speckled eggs, these eggs did not produce chicks that grew faster. Therefore, we conclude that the SSEC hypothesis is an unlikely explanation for the evolution of egg speckling in great tits. PMID:22815730

  15. Egg speckling patterns do not advertise offspring quality or influence male provisioning in great tits.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary Caswell Stoddard

    Full Text Available Many passerine birds lay white eggs with reddish brown speckles produced by protoporphyrin pigment. However, the function of these spots is contested. Recently, the sexually selected eggshell coloration (SSEC hypothesis proposed that eggshell color is a sexually selected signal through which a female advertises her quality (and hence the potential quality of her future young to her male partner, thereby encouraging him to contribute more to breeding attempts. We performed a test of the SSEC hypothesis in a common passerine, the great tit Parus major. We used a double cross-fostering design to determine whether males change their provisioning behavior based on eggshell patterns they observe at the nest. We also tested the assumption that egg patterning reflects female and/or offspring quality. Because birds differ from humans in their color and pattern perception, we used digital photography and models of bird vision to quantify egg patterns objectively. Neither male provisioning nor chick growth was related to the pattern of eggs males observed during incubation. Although heavy females laid paler, less speckled eggs, these eggs did not produce chicks that grew faster. Therefore, we conclude that the SSEC hypothesis is an unlikely explanation for the evolution of egg speckling in great tits.

  16. A dynamic panel model of the associations of sweetened beverage purchases with dietary quality and food-purchasing patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piernas, Carmen; Ng, Shu Wen; Mendez, Michelle A; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Popkin, Barry M

    2015-05-01

    Investigating the association between consumption of sweetened beverages and dietary quality is challenging because issues such as reverse causality and unmeasured confounding might result in biased and inconsistent estimates. Using a dynamic panel model with instrumental variables to address those issues, we examined the independent associations of beverages sweetened with caloric and low-calorie sweeteners with dietary quality and food-purchasing patterns. We analyzed purchase data from the Homescan survey, an ongoing, longitudinal, nationally representative US survey, from 2000 to 2010 (n = 34,294). Our model included lagged measures of dietary quality and beverage purchases (servings/day in the previous year) as exposures to predict the outcomes (macronutrient (kilocalories per capita per day; %), total energy, and food purchases) in the next year after adjustment for other sociodemographic covariates. Despite secular declines in purchases (kilocalories per capita per day) from all sources, each 1-serving/day increase in consumption of either beverage type resulted in higher purchases of total daily kilocalories and kilocalories from food, carbohydrates, total sugar, and total fat. Each 1-serving/day increase in consumption of either beverage was associated with more purchases of caloric-sweetened desserts or sweeteners, which accounted for a substantial proportion of the increase in total kilocalories. We concluded that consumers of both beverages sweetened with low-calorie sweeteners and beverages sweetened with caloric sweeteners had poorer dietary quality, exhibited higher energy from all purchases, sugar, and fat, and purchased more caloric-sweetened desserts/caloric sweeteners compared with nonconsumers. © The Author 2015. 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.

  17. Assessment on air quality pattern: a case study in Putrajaya, Malaysia

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Nowadays, air quality problem has become a major issue in Malaysia for the past two decades, This study aims to determine the pattern of the air quality status, investigate the significant pollutant, relationship between air pollutants and API and evaluate the pattern of air pollution. Data from Putrajaya monitoring station ...

  18. Weekly patterns, diet quality and energy balance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, Sinéad

    2014-07-01

    Human behaviour is made up of many repeated patterns and habitual behaviours. Our day to day lives are punctuated by work, education, domestic chores, sleep and food. Changes in daily patterns such as not working in paid employment or attending school on the weekend contribute significantly to changes in dietary patterns of food consumption, patterns of physical activity and ultimately energy balance. The aim of this paper is to adopt a life-course perspective and explore the changes in dietary quality and physical activity patterns across the week from young children to elderly adults with a focus on Western cultures. Research literature indicates that the dietary quality is somewhat poorer on the weekends, characterised by higher fat intakes, higher alcohol intakes and consequently higher energy intakes. This increase in energy intake is not necessarily offset by an increase in activity, rather an increase in sedentary behaviours. Some research has observed an increase of more than 100 cal per day over the weekend in American adults. Over the course of one year, this can result in a significant increase in body mass. Some of the interventions in tackling obesity and diet related behaviours must focus on the changes in the weekend behaviour of consumers in terms of both food and activity. These efforts should also focus on increasing consumer awareness of the long term consequences of the short lived weekend excess as well as putting in place practical measures and interventions that are evidence based and targeted to consumer needs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Automatic Classification of Station Quality by Image Based Pattern Recognition of Ppsd Plots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, B.; Herrnkind, S.

    2017-12-01

    The number of seismic stations is growing and it became common practice to share station waveform data in real-time with the main data centers as IRIS, GEOFON, ORFEUS and RESIF. This made analyzing station performance of increasing importance for automatic real-time processing and station selection. The value of a station depends on different factors as quality and quantity of the data, location of the site and general station density in the surrounding area and finally the type of application it can be used for. The approach described by McNamara and Boaz (2006) became standard in the last decade. It incorporates a probability density function (PDF) to display the distribution of seismic power spectral density (PSD). The low noise model (LNM) and high noise model (HNM) introduced by Peterson (1993) are also displayed in the PPSD plots introduced by McNamara and Boaz allowing an estimation of the station quality. Here we describe how we established an automatic station quality classification module using image based pattern recognition on PPSD plots. The plots were split into 4 bands: short-period characteristics (0.1-0.8 s), body wave characteristics (0.8-5 s), microseismic characteristics (5-12 s) and long-period characteristics (12-100 s). The module sqeval connects to a SeedLink server, checks available stations, requests PPSD plots through the Mustang service from IRIS or PQLX/SQLX or from GIS (gempa Image Server), a module to generate different kind of images as trace plots, map plots, helicorder plots or PPSD plots. It compares the image based quality patterns for the different period bands with the retrieved PPSD plot. The quality of a station is divided into 5 classes for each of the 4 bands. Classes A, B, C, D define regular quality between LNM and HNM while the fifth class represents out of order stations with gain problems, missing data etc. Over all period bands about 100 different patterns are required to classify most of the stations available on the

  20. Snacking patterns, diet quality, and cardiovascular risk factors in adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background The relationship of snacking patterns on nutrient intake and cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) in adults is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of snacking patterns with nutrient intake, diet quality, and a selection of CVRF in adults participating in the 2001-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods 24-hour dietary recalls were used to determine intake and cluster analysis was used to identify the snacking patterns. Height and weight were obtained and the health indices that were evaluated included diastolic and systolic blood pressure, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerides, blood glucose, and insulin. Results The sample was participants (n = 18,988) 19+ years (50% males; 11% African-Americans; 72% white, 12% Hispanic-Americans, and 5% other). Cluster analyses generated 12 distinct snacking patterns, explaining 61% of the variance in snacking. Comparisons of snacking patterns were made to the no snack pattern. It was found that miscellaneous snacks constituted the most common snacking pattern (17%) followed by cakes/cookies/pastries (12%) and sweets (9%). Most snacking patterns were associated with higher energy intakes. Snacking patterns cakes/cookies/pastries, vegetables/legumes, crackers/salty snacks, other grains and whole fruit were associated with lower intakes of saturated fatty acids. Added sugars intakes were higher in the cakes/cookies/pastries, sweets, milk desserts, and soft drinks patterns. Five snack patterns (cakes/cookies/pastries, sweets, vegetable/legumes, milk desserts, soft drinks) were associated with lower sodium intakes. Several snack patterns were associated with higher intakes of potassium, calcium, fiber, vitamin A, and magnesium. Five snacking patterns (miscellaneous snacks; vegetables/legumes; crackers/salty snacks; other grains; and whole fruit) were associated with better diet quality scores. Alcohol was associated with

  1. Empirically derived dietary patterns and health-related quality of life in the SUN project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruano, Cristina; Henriquez, Patricia; Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel; Bes-Rastrollo, Maira; Ruiz-Canela, Miguel; Sánchez-Villegas, Almudena

    2013-01-01

    The analysis of dietary patterns has become a valuable tool to examine diet-disease relationships but little is known about their effects on quality of life. Our aim was to ascertain the association between major dietary patterns and mental and physical quality of life after 4 years of follow-up. This analysis included 11,128 participants from the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN) cohort. Dietary habits were assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to derive dietary patterns. Quality of life was measured with the validated Spanish version of the SF-36 Health Survey. Two major dietary patterns were identified, the 'Western' dietary pattern (rich in red meats, processed pastries and fast-food) and the "Mediterranean" dietary pattern (high in fruits, vegetables and olive oil). After controlling for confounders, the Western dietary pattern was associated with quality of life in all domains. The magnitude of these differences between the subjects in the highest (quintile 5) and the lowest quintile of adherence to the Western pattern ranged from -0.8 (for mental health) to -3.5 (for vitality). On the contrary, the Mediterranean dietary pattern was associated with better quality of life domains: differences ranged from +1.3 (for physical functioning) to +3.4 (for vitality) when comparing extreme quintiles of adherence. Additional sensitivity analyses did not change the reported differences. Whereas baseline adherence to a Western dietary pattern was inversely associated with self-perceived quality of life after 4 years of follow-up, baseline adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was directly associated with better scores in quality of life four years later in the SUN Project.

  2. Empirically derived dietary patterns and health-related quality of life in the SUN project.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Ruano

    Full Text Available The analysis of dietary patterns has become a valuable tool to examine diet-disease relationships but little is known about their effects on quality of life. Our aim was to ascertain the association between major dietary patterns and mental and physical quality of life after 4 years of follow-up.This analysis included 11,128 participants from the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN cohort. Dietary habits were assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to derive dietary patterns. Quality of life was measured with the validated Spanish version of the SF-36 Health Survey.Two major dietary patterns were identified, the 'Western' dietary pattern (rich in red meats, processed pastries and fast-food and the "Mediterranean" dietary pattern (high in fruits, vegetables and olive oil. After controlling for confounders, the Western dietary pattern was associated with quality of life in all domains. The magnitude of these differences between the subjects in the highest (quintile 5 and the lowest quintile of adherence to the Western pattern ranged from -0.8 (for mental health to -3.5 (for vitality. On the contrary, the Mediterranean dietary pattern was associated with better quality of life domains: differences ranged from +1.3 (for physical functioning to +3.4 (for vitality when comparing extreme quintiles of adherence. Additional sensitivity analyses did not change the reported differences.Whereas baseline adherence to a Western dietary pattern was inversely associated with self-perceived quality of life after 4 years of follow-up, baseline adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was directly associated with better scores in quality of life four years later in the SUN Project.

  3. The Association between Parent Diet Quality and Child Dietary Patterns in Nine- to Eleven-Year-Old Children from Dunedin, New Zealand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davison, Brittany; Saeedi, Pouya; Black, Katherine; Harrex, Harriet; Haszard, Jillian; Meredith-Jones, Kim; Quigg, Robin; Skeaff, Sheila; Stoner, Lee; Wong, Jyh Eiin; Skidmore, Paula

    2017-05-11

    Previous research investigating the relationship between parents' and children's diets has focused on single foods or nutrients, and not on global diet, which may be more important for good health. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between parental diet quality and child dietary patterns. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 17 primary schools in Dunedin, New Zealand. Information on food consumption and related factors in children and their primary caregiver/parent were collected. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to investigate dietary patterns in children and diet quality index (DQI) scores were calculated in parents. Relationships between parental DQI and child dietary patterns were examined in 401 child-parent pairs using mixed regression models. PCA generated two patterns; 'Fruit and Vegetables' and 'Snacks'. A one unit higher parental DQI score was associated with a 0.03SD (CI: 0.02, 0.04) lower child 'Snacks' score. There was no significant relationship between 'Fruit and Vegetables' score and parental diet quality. Higher parental diet quality was associated with a lower dietary pattern score in children that was characterised by a lower consumption frequency of confectionery, chocolate, cakes, biscuits and savoury snacks. These results highlight the importance of parental modelling, in terms of their dietary choices, on the diet of children.

  4. Low-calorie- and calorie-sweetened beverages: diet quality, food intake, and purchase patterns of US household consumers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piernas, Carmen; Mendez, Michelle A; Ng, Shu Wen; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Popkin, Barry M

    2014-03-01

    Few studies have investigated the diet quality of consumers of low-calorie-sweetened (LCS) and calorie-sweetened (CS) beverages. The objective was to examine the dietary quality and adherence to dietary purchasing and consumption patterns of beverage consumers from 2000 to 2010. We analyzed purchases for 140,352 households from the Homescan longitudinal data set 2000-2010 and dietary intake from NHANES 2003-2010 (n = 34,393). We defined mutually exclusive consumer profiles as main exposures: LCS beverages, CS beverages, LCS & CS beverages, and non/low consumers. As main outcomes, we explored dietary quality by using total energy and macronutrients (kcal/d). We performed factor analyses and applied factor scores to derive dietary patterns as secondary outcomes. Using multivariable linear (NHANES) and random-effects (Homescan) models, we investigated the associations between beverage profiles and dietary patterns. We found "prudent" and "breakfast" patterns in Homescan and NHANES, "ready-to-eat meals/fast-food" and "prudent/snacks/LCS desserts" patterns in Homescan, and "protein/potatoes" and "CS desserts/sweeteners" patterns in NHANES. In both data sets, compared with non/low consumers, both CS- and LCS-beverage consumers had a significantly higher total energy from foods, higher energy from total and SFAs, and lower probability of adherence to prudent and breakfast patterns. In Homescan, LCS-beverage consumers had a higher probability of adherence to 2 distinct patterns: a prudent/snacks/LCS dessert pattern and a ready-to-eat meals/fast-food purchasing pattern. Our findings suggest that overall dietary quality is lower in LCS-, CS-, and LCS & CS-beverage consumers relative to non/low consumers. Our study highlights the importance of targeting foods that are linked with sweetened beverages (either LCS or CS) in intervention and policy efforts that aim to improve nutrition in the United States.

  5. Qualitative Analysis of the Impact of SOA Patterns on Quality Attributes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Galster, Matthias; Avgeriou, Paris; Tang, A; Muccini, H

    2012-01-01

    Software architecture patterns are proven and reusable solutions to common architecture design problems. One characteristic of architecture patterns is that they affect quality attributes (e.g., performance, reliability). Over the past years, architecture patterns for service-based systems have been

  6. Impact of land use on urban mobility patterns, emissions and air quality in a Portuguese medium-sized city.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandeira, Jorge M; Coelho, Margarida C; Sá, Maria Elisa; Tavares, Richard; Borrego, Carlos

    2011-02-15

    The main objective of this work was to evaluate the impact of urban development trends in mobility patterns of a medium sized Portuguese city and air quality consequences, using a sequential modeling process, comprising i) land use and transportation, TRANUS model; ii) road traffic air pollutants emissions, TREM model and; iii) air quality, TAPM model. This integrated methodology was applied to a medium sized Portuguese city. In order to evaluate the implementation of the methodology, a preliminary study was performed, which consisted on the comparison of modeled mobility patterns and CO and PM(10) concentrations with measured data used in the definition of the current scenario. The comparison between modeled and monitored mobility patterns at the morning peak hour for a weekday showed an RMSE of 31%. Regarding CO concentrations, an underestimation of the modeled results was observed. Nevertheless, the modeled PM(10) concentrations were consistent with the monitored data. Overall, the results showed a reasonable consistency of the modeled data, which allowed the use of the integrated modeling system for the study scenarios. The future scenarios consisted on the definition of different mobility patterns and vehicle technology characteristics, according to two main developing trends: (1) "car pooling" scenario, which imposes a mean occupancy rate of 3 passengers by vehicle and (2) the "Euro 6" scenario, which establishes that all vehicles accomplish at least the Euro 6 standard technology. Reductions of 54% and 83% for CO, 44% and 95% for PM(10), 44% and 87% for VOC and 44% and 79% for NO(x) emissions were observed in scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. Concerning air quality, a reduction of about 100 μg m(-3) of CO annual average concentration was observed in both scenarios. The results of PM(10) annual concentrations showed a reduction of 1.35 μg m(-3) and 2.7 μg m(-3) for scenarios 1 and 2 respectively. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. WATGIS: A GIS-Based Lumped Parameter Water Quality Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glenn P. Fernandez; George M. Chescheir; R. Wayne Skaggs; Devendra M. Amatya

    2002-01-01

    A Geographic Information System (GIS)­based, lumped parameter water quality model was developed to estimate the spatial and temporal nitrogen­loading patterns for lower coastal plain watersheds in eastern North Carolina. The model uses a spatially distributed delivery ratio (DR) parameter to account for nitrogen retention or loss along a drainage network. Delivery...

  8. Image decomposition model Shearlet-Hilbert-L2 with better performance for denoising in ESPI fringe patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Wenjun; Tang, Chen; Su, Yonggang; Li, Biyuan; Lei, Zhenkun

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, we propose an image decomposition model Shearlet-Hilbert-L 2 with better performance for denoising in electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) fringe patterns. In our model, the low-density fringes, high-density fringes, and noise are, respectively, described by shearlet smoothness spaces, adaptive Hilbert space, and L 2 space and processed individually. Because the shearlet transform has superior directional sensitivity, our proposed Shearlet-Hilbert-L 2 model achieves commendable filtering results for various types of ESPI fringe patterns, including uniform density fringe patterns, moderately variable density fringe patterns, and greatly variable density fringe patterns. We evaluate the performance of our proposed Shearlet-Hilbert-L 2 model via application to two computer-simulated and nine experimentally obtained ESPI fringe patterns with various densities and poor quality. Furthermore, we compare our proposed model with windowed Fourier filtering and coherence-enhancing diffusion, both of which are the state-of-the-art methods for ESPI fringe patterns denoising in transform domain and spatial domain, respectively. We also compare our proposed model with the previous image decomposition model BL-Hilbert-L 2 .

  9. The Association between Parent Diet Quality and Child Dietary Patterns in Nine- to Eleven-Year-Old Children from Dunedin, New Zealand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brittany Davison

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Previous research investigating the relationship between parents’ and children’s diets has focused on single foods or nutrients, and not on global diet, which may be more important for good health. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between parental diet quality and child dietary patterns. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 17 primary schools in Dunedin, New Zealand. Information on food consumption and related factors in children and their primary caregiver/parent were collected. Principal component analysis (PCA was used to investigate dietary patterns in children and diet quality index (DQI scores were calculated in parents. Relationships between parental DQI and child dietary patterns were examined in 401 child-parent pairs using mixed regression models. PCA generated two patterns; ‘Fruit and Vegetables’ and ‘Snacks’. A one unit higher parental DQI score was associated with a 0.03SD (CI: 0.02, 0.04 lower child ‘Snacks’ score. There was no significant relationship between ‘Fruit and Vegetables’ score and parental diet quality. Higher parental diet quality was associated with a lower dietary pattern score in children that was characterised by a lower consumption frequency of confectionery, chocolate, cakes, biscuits and savoury snacks. These results highlight the importance of parental modelling, in terms of their dietary choices, on the diet of children.

  10. Investigating the effect of electron emission pattern on RF gun beam quality

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rajabi, A. [Laser and Plasma Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., Velenjak, 1983963113, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Shokri, B., E-mail: b-shokri@sbu.ac.ir [Laser and Plasma Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., Velenjak, 1983963113, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Physics Department, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., Velenjak, 1983963113, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2016-05-11

    Thermionic radio frequency gun is one of the most promising choices to gain a high quality electron beam, used in the infrared free electron lasers and synchrotron radiation injectors. To study the quality of the beam in a compact electron source, the emission pattern effect on the beam dynamics should be investigated. In the presented work, we developed a 3D simulation code to model the real process of thermionic emission and to investigate the effect of emission pattern, by considering geometrical constraints, on the beam dynamics. According to the results, the electron bunch emittance varies considerably with the emission pattern. Simulation results have been validated via comparison with the well-known simulation codes such as ASTRA simulation code and CST microwave studio, as well as other simulation results in the literature. It was also demonstrated that by using a continuous wave laser beam for heating the cathode, the emission pattern full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the transverse emission distribution is proportional to FWHM of the Gaussian profile for the laser beam. Additionally, by using the developed code, the effect of wall structure around the cathode on the back bombardment effect has been studied. According to the results, for a stable operation of the RF gun, one should consider the nose cone in vicinity of the cathode surface to reduce the back-bombardment effect. - Highlights: • We developed a 3D code to simulate the beam dynamics of thermionic RF gun. • Te impact of the emission pattern on the beam dynamic was investigated. • Different emission pattern results different emittance in the gun exit. • Using a nosecone around the cathode adjacent wall reduces back bombardment effect.

  11. Snacking patterns, diet quality, and cardiovascular risk factors in adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    The relationship of snacking patterns on nutrient intake and cardiovascular risk factors in adults is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of snacking patterns with nutrient intake, diet quality, and a selection of cardiovascular risk factors in adults participating in the ...

  12. Low-calorie- and calorie-sweetened beverages: diet quality, food intake, and purchase patterns of US household consumers123

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piernas, Carmen; Mendez, Michelle A; Ng, Shu Wen; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Popkin, Barry M

    2014-01-01

    Background: Few studies have investigated the diet quality of consumers of low-calorie-sweetened (LCS) and calorie-sweetened (CS) beverages. Objective: The objective was to examine the dietary quality and adherence to dietary purchasing and consumption patterns of beverage consumers from 2000 to 2010. Design: We analyzed purchases for 140,352 households from the Homescan longitudinal data set 2000–2010 and dietary intake from NHANES 2003–2010 (n = 34,393). We defined mutually exclusive consumer profiles as main exposures: LCS beverages, CS beverages, LCS & CS beverages, and non/low consumers. As main outcomes, we explored dietary quality by using total energy and macronutrients (kcal/d). We performed factor analyses and applied factor scores to derive dietary patterns as secondary outcomes. Using multivariable linear (NHANES) and random-effects (Homescan) models, we investigated the associations between beverage profiles and dietary patterns. Results: We found “prudent” and “breakfast” patterns in Homescan and NHANES, “ready-to-eat meals/fast-food” and “prudent/snacks/LCS desserts” patterns in Homescan, and “protein/potatoes” and “CS desserts/sweeteners” patterns in NHANES. In both data sets, compared with non/low consumers, both CS- and LCS-beverage consumers had a significantly higher total energy from foods, higher energy from total and SFAs, and lower probability of adherence to prudent and breakfast patterns. In Homescan, LCS-beverage consumers had a higher probability of adherence to 2 distinct patterns: a prudent/snacks/LCS dessert pattern and a ready-to-eat meals/fast-food purchasing pattern. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that overall dietary quality is lower in LCS-, CS-, and LCS & CS–beverage consumers relative to non/low consumers. Our study highlights the importance of targeting foods that are linked with sweetened beverages (either LCS or CS) in intervention and policy efforts that aim to improve nutrition in the

  13. Modeling Architectural Patterns Using Architectural Primitives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zdun, Uwe; Avgeriou, Paris

    2005-01-01

    Architectural patterns are a key point in architectural documentation. Regrettably, there is poor support for modeling architectural patterns, because the pattern elements are not directly matched by elements in modeling languages, and, at the same time, patterns support an inherent variability that

  14. Landscaping practices, land use patterns and stormwater quantity and quality in urban watersheds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miles, B.; Band, L. E.

    2011-12-01

    Increasing quantity and decreasing quality of urban stormwater threatens biodiversity in local streams and reservoirs, jeopardizes water supplies, and ultimately contributes to estuarine eutrophication. To estimate the effects that present and alternative landscaping practices and land use patterns may have on urban stormwater quantity and quality, simulations of existing land use/land cover using the Regional Hydro-Ecologic Simulation System (RHESSys), a process-based surface hydrology and biogeochemistry model, were developed for watersheds in Baltimore, MD (as part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) NSF Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site) and Durham, NC (as part of the NSF Urban Long-Term Research Area (ULTRA) program). The influence of land use patterns and landscaping practices on nutrient export in urban watersheds has been explored as part of the BES; this work has focused on improving our understanding of how residential landscaping practices (i.e. lawn fertilization rates) vary across land use and socioeconomic gradients. Elsewhere, others have explored the political ecology of residential landscaping practices - seeking to understand the economic, political, and cultural influences on the practice of high-input residential turf-grass management. Going forward, my research will synthesize and extend this prior work. Rather than pre-supposing predominant residential land use patterns and landscaping practices (i.e. lower-density periphery development incorporating high-input turf landscapes) alternate land use and landscaping scenarios (e.g. higher-density/transit-oriented development, rain gardens, vegetable gardens, native plant/xeriscaping) will be developed through interviews/focus groups with stakeholders (citizens, public officials, developers, non-profits). These scenarios will then be applied to the RHESSys models already developed for catchments in Baltimore and Durham. The modeled scenario results will be used to identify alternate land

  15. Luminance and image quality analysis of an organic electroluminescent panel with a patterned microlens array attachment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Hoang Yan; Chen, Kuan-Yu; Ho, Yu-Hsuan; Fang, Jheng-Hao; Hsu, Sheng-Chih; Lee, Jiun-Haw; Lin, Jia-Rong; Wei, Mao-Kuo

    2010-01-01

    Luminance and image quality observed from the normal direction of a commercial 2.0 inch panel based on organic electroluminescence (OEL) technology attached to regular and patterned microlens array films (MAFs) were studied and analyzed. When applying the regularly arranged MAF on the panel, a luminance enhancement of 23% was observed, accompanied by a reduction of the image quality index as low as 74%. By removing the microlenses on the emitting areas, the patterned MAF enhances the luminance efficiency of the OEL by 52% keeping the image quality index of the display as high as 94%, due to the effective light extraction in the glass substrate being less than the critical angle. 3D simulation based on a ray-tracing model was also established to investigate the spatial distribution of light rays radiated from an OEL pixel with different microstructures which showed consistent results with the experimental results

  16. The complexity of earth observation valuation: Modeling the patterns and processes of agricultural production and groundwater quality to construct a production possibilities frontier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forney, W.; Raunikar, R. P.; Bernknopf, R.; Mishra, S.

    2012-12-01

    A production possibilities frontier (PPF) is a graph comparing the production interdependencies for two commodities. In this case, the commodities are defined as the ecosystem services of agricultural production and groundwater quality. This presentation focuses on the refinement of techniques used in an application to estimate the value of remote sensing information. Value of information focuses on the use of uncertain and varying qualities of information within a specific decision-making context for a certain application, which in this case included land use, biogeochemical, hydrogeologic, economic and geospatial data and models. The refined techniques include deriving alternate patterns and processes of ecosystem functions, new estimates of ecosystem service values to construct a PPF, and the extension of this work into decision support systems. We have coupled earth observations of agricultural production with groundwater quality measurements to estimate the value of remote sensing information in northeastern Iowa to be 857M ± 198M (at the 2010 price level) per year. We will present an improved method for modeling crop rotation patterns to include multiple years of rotation, reduction in the assumptions associated with optimal land use allocations, and prioritized improvement of the resolution of input data (for example, soil resources and topography). The prioritization focuses on watersheds that were identified at a coarse-scale of analysis to have higher intensities of agricultural production and lower probabilities of groundwater survivability (in other words, remaining below a regulatory threshold for nitrate pollution) over time, and thus require finer-scaled modeling and analysis. These improved techniques and the simulation of certain scale-dependent policy and management actions, which trade-off the objectives of optimizing crop value versus maintaining potable groundwater, and provide new estimates for the empirical values of the PPF. The calculation

  17. Observations on quality senior health business: success patterns and policy implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ya-Ting; Hsu, Yi-Hsin Elsa; Chen, Ya-Mei; Su, Shyi; Chang, Yao-Mao; Iqbal, Usman; Yujiro, Handa; Lin, Neng-Pai

    2016-04-01

    Population ageing is a global issue that affects almost every country. Most ageing researches focused on demand side and studies related to supply side were relatively scarce. This study selected quality enterprises focus on ageing health and analysed their patterns on providing quality services successfully. Our study selected quality senior health enterprises and explored their success patterns through face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews with CEO of each enterprise in 2013. Thirty-three quality senior health enterprises in Taiwan. Thirty-three CEO's of enterprises were interviewed individually. None. Core values and vision, historical development, organization structure, services/products provided, delivering channels, customer relationships and further development strategies. Our results indicated success patterns for senior enterprises that there were meeting diversified lifestyles and substitutive needs for the elderly and their caregivers, providing a total solution for actual/virtual integration and flexible one-stop shopping services. We classified these enterprises by used degree of clicks-and-mortar of services and residing situation of the elderly. Industry characteristics and policy implications were summarized. Our observations will serve as a primary evidenced base for enterprises developing their senior market, and also for opening dialogue between customers and enterprises to facilitate valuable opportunities for co-creation between the supply and demand sides. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care; all rights reserved.

  18. Innovations in projecting emissions for air quality modeling ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Air quality modeling is used in setting air quality standards and in evaluating their costs and benefits. Historically, modeling applications have projected emissions and the resulting air quality only 5 to 10 years into the future. Recognition that the choice of air quality management strategy has climate change implications is encouraging longer modeling time horizons. However, for multi-decadal time horizons, many questions about future conditions arise. For example, will current population, economic, and land use trends continue, or will we see shifts that may alter the spatial and temporal pattern of emissions? Similarly, will technologies such as building-integrated solar photovoltaics, battery storage, electric vehicles, and CO2 capture emerge as disruptive technologies - shifting how we produce and use energy - or will these technologies achieve only niche markets and have little impact? These are some of the questions that are being evaluated by researchers within the U.S. EPA’s Office of Research and Development. In this presentation, Dr. Loughlin will describe a range of analytical approaches that are being explored. These include: (i) the development of alternative scenarios of the future that can be used to evaluate candidate management strategies over wide-ranging conditions, (ii) the application of energy system models to project emissions decades into the future and to assess the environmental implications of new technologies, (iii) and methodo

  19. Nutrient Intake, Diet Quality, and Weight Measures in Breakfast Patterns Consumed by Children Compared with Breakfast Skippers: NHANES 2001-2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neil, Carol E; Nicklas, Theresa A; Fulgoni, Victor L

    2015-01-01

    Most studies showing that children consuming breakfast have better nutrient intakes, diet quality, and lower weight than breakfast skippers have the incorrect premise that breakfast meals are homogeneous. The purpose of this study was to classify breakfast meals into patterns and determine the association of the breakfast patterns with daily and breakfast nutrient intakes, diet quality, and weight. Data from children (2-18 years of age; N = 14,200) participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2008 were used. Intake was determined from one day 24-hour dietary recalls. Diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005). Body mass index (BMI) z-scores were determined. Twelve patterns (including No Breakfast [∼19% of population]), explaining 63% of the variance in energy from breakfast, were examined. Covariate adjusted general linear models were used to compare outcome variables of consumers of different patterns with breakfast skippers. The p value was Bonferroni corrected (eat Cereal (RTEC)/ LFM, RTEC/LFM, Cooked Cereal/Milk/FJ, and Whole Fruit patterns had higher total HEI-2005 scores than breakfast skippers; those consuming the MPF/ Grain/FJ pattern had lower diet quality than breakfast skippers. Consumption of the Grain/ LFM/Sweets/FJ, PSRTEC/whole milk, Soft Drinks/ FJ/Grain/Potatoes, RTEC/whole milk, and Cooked Cereal/ Milk/ FJ patterns was associated with lower BMI z-scores than seen in breakfast skippers. There are dietary and weight advantages of consuming breakfast, especially breakfasts that include grains, cereals, LFM, and fruit/ FJ, in contrast to the potential adverse effects of skipping breakfast.

  20. Specimen-specific modeling of hip fracture pattern and repair.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Azhar A; Cristofolini, Luca; Schileo, Enrico; Hu, Haixiang; Taddei, Fulvia; Kim, Raymond H; Rullkoetter, Paul J; Laz, Peter J

    2014-01-22

    Hip fracture remains a major health problem for the elderly. Clinical studies have assessed fracture risk based on bone quality in the aging population and cadaveric testing has quantified bone strength and fracture loads. Prior modeling has primarily focused on quantifying the strain distribution in bone as an indicator of fracture risk. Recent advances in the extended finite element method (XFEM) enable prediction of the initiation and propagation of cracks without requiring a priori knowledge of the crack path. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to predict femoral fracture in specimen-specific models using the XFEM approach, to perform one-to-one comparisons of predicted and in vitro fracture patterns, and to develop a framework to assess the mechanics and load transfer in the fractured femur when it is repaired with an osteosynthesis implant. Five specimen-specific femur models were developed from in vitro experiments under a simulated stance loading condition. Predicted fracture patterns closely matched the in vitro patterns; however, predictions of fracture load differed by approximately 50% due to sensitivity to local material properties. Specimen-specific intertrochanteric fractures were induced by subjecting the femur models to a sideways fall and repaired with a contemporary implant. Under a post-surgical stance loading, model-predicted load sharing between the implant and bone across the fracture surface varied from 59%:41% to 89%:11%, underscoring the importance of considering anatomic and fracture variability in the evaluation of implants. XFEM modeling shows potential as a macro-level analysis enabling fracture investigations of clinical cohorts, including at-risk groups, and the design of robust implants. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  1. A long way to quality-driven pattern-based architecting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Me, Gianantonio; Calero, Coral; Lago, Patricia

    2016-01-01

    The relation between architectural patterns (or styles) and quality attributes has been widely addressed in the literature. However, the knowledge is fragmented over a wide range of heterogeneous studies. Our aim is to build a systematic body of knowledge to support architectural decision-making and

  2. Technical Note: Validation of halo modeling for proton pencil beam spot scanning using a quality assurance test pattern

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Liyong, E-mail: linl@uphs.upenn.edu; Huang, Sheng; Kang, Minglei; Solberg, Timothy D.; McDonough, James E.; Ainsley, Christopher G. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 (United States)

    2015-09-15

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of a comprehensive test pattern in validating calculation models that include the halo component (low-dose tails) of proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) spots. Such a pattern has been used previously for quality assurance purposes to assess spot shape, position, and dose. Methods: In this study, a scintillation detector was used to measure the test pattern in air at isocenter for two proton beam energies (115 and 225 MeV) of two IBA universal nozzles (UN #1 and UN #2). Planar measurements were compared with calculated dose distributions based on the weighted superposition of location-independent (UN #1) or location-dependent (UN #2) spot profiles, previously measured using a pair-magnification method and between two nozzles. Results: Including the halo component below 1% of the central dose is shown to improve the gamma-map comparison between calculation and measurement from 94.9% to 98.4% using 2 mm/2% criteria for the 115 MeV proton beam of UN #1. In contrast, including the halo component below 1% of the central dose does not improve the gamma agreement for the 115 MeV proton beam of UN #2, due to the cutoff of the halo component at off-axis locations. When location-dependent spot profiles are used for calculation instead of spot profiles at central axis, the gamma agreement is improved from 98.0% to 99.5% using 2 mm/2% criteria. The two nozzles clearly have different characteristics, as a direct comparison of measured data shows a passing rate of 89.7% for the 115 MeV proton beam. At 225 MeV, the corresponding gamma comparisons agree better between measurement and calculation, and between measurements in the two nozzles. Conclusions: In addition to confirming the primary component of individual PBS spot profiles, a comprehensive test pattern is useful for the validation of the halo component at off-axis locations, especially for low energy protons.

  3. Workflow Patterns for Business Process Modeling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Thom, Lucineia Heloisa; Lochpe, Cirano; Reichert, M.U.

    For its reuse advantages, workflow patterns (e.g., control flow patterns, data patterns, resource patterns) are increasingly attracting the interest of both researchers and vendors. Frequently, business process or workflow models can be assembeled out of a set of recurrent process fragments (or

  4. Water quality and herbivory interactively drive coral-reef recovery patterns in American Samoa.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Houk

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Compared with a wealth of information regarding coral-reef recovery patterns following major disturbances, less insight exists to explain the cause(s of spatial variation in the recovery process. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This study quantifies the influence of herbivory and water quality upon coral reef assemblages through space and time in Tutuila, American Samoa, a Pacific high island. Widespread declines in dominant corals (Acropora and Montipora resulted from cyclone Heta at the end of 2003, shortly after the study began. Four sites that initially had similar coral reef assemblages but differential temporal dynamics four years following the disturbance event were classified by standardized measures of 'recovery status', defined by rates of change in ecological measures that are known to be sensitive to localized stressors. Status was best predicted, interactively, by water quality and herbivory. Expanding upon temporal trends, this study examined if similar dependencies existed through space; building multiple regression models to identify linkages between similar status measures and local stressors for 17 localities around Tutuila. The results highlighted consistent, interactive interdependencies for coral reef assemblages residing upon two unique geological reef types. Finally, the predictive regression models produced at the island scale were graphically interpreted with respect to hypothesized site-specific recovery thresholds. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Cumulatively, our study purports that moving away from describing relatively well-known patterns behind recovery, and focusing upon understanding causes, improves our foundation to predict future ecological dynamics, and thus improves coral reef management.

  5. An inexact fuzzy-chance-constrained air quality management model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ye; Huang, Guohe; Qin, Xiaosheng

    2010-07-01

    Regional air pollution is a major concern for almost every country because it not only directly relates to economic development, but also poses significant threats to environment and public health. In this study, an inexact fuzzy-chance-constrained air quality management model (IFAMM) was developed for regional air quality management under uncertainty. IFAMM was formulated through integrating interval linear programming (ILP) within a fuzzy-chance-constrained programming (FCCP) framework and could deal with uncertainties expressed as not only possibilistic distributions but also discrete intervals in air quality management systems. Moreover, the constraints with fuzzy variables could be satisfied at different confidence levels such that various solutions with different risk and cost considerations could be obtained. The developed model was applied to a hypothetical case of regional air quality management. Six abatement technologies and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission trading under uncertainty were taken into consideration. The results demonstrated that IFAMM could help decision-makers generate cost-effective air quality management patterns, gain in-depth insights into effects of the uncertainties, and analyze tradeoffs between system economy and reliability. The results also implied that the trading scheme could achieve lower total abatement cost than a nontrading one.

  6. A One-Dimensional Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model for a Water Transfer Project with Multihydraulic Structures

    OpenAIRE

    Yujun Yi; Caihong Tang; Zhifeng Yang; Shanghong Zhang; Cheng Zhang

    2017-01-01

    The long Middle Route of the South to North Water Transfer Project is composed of complex hydraulic structures (aqueduct, tunnel, control gate, diversion, culvert, and diverted siphon), which generate complex flow patterns. It is vital to simulate the flow patterns through hydraulic structures, but it is a challenging work to protect water quality and maintain continuous water transfer. A one-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model was built to understand the flow and pollutant movem...

  7. Validating EHR clinical models using ontology patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-Costa, Catalina; Schulz, Stefan

    2017-12-01

    Clinical models are artefacts that specify how information is structured in electronic health records (EHRs). However, the makeup of clinical models is not guided by any formal constraint beyond a semantically vague information model. We address this gap by advocating ontology design patterns as a mechanism that makes the semantics of clinical models explicit. This paper demonstrates how ontology design patterns can validate existing clinical models using SHACL. Based on the Clinical Information Modelling Initiative (CIMI), we show how ontology patterns detect both modeling and terminology binding errors in CIMI models. SHACL, a W3C constraint language for the validation of RDF graphs, builds on the concept of "Shape", a description of data in terms of expected cardinalities, datatypes and other restrictions. SHACL, as opposed to OWL, subscribes to the Closed World Assumption (CWA) and is therefore more suitable for the validation of clinical models. We have demonstrated the feasibility of the approach by manually describing the correspondences between six CIMI clinical models represented in RDF and two SHACL ontology design patterns. Using a Java-based SHACL implementation, we found at least eleven modeling and binding errors within these CIMI models. This demonstrates the usefulness of ontology design patterns not only as a modeling tool but also as a tool for validation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Enforcing a security pattern in stakeholder goal models

    OpenAIRE

    Yu, Yijun; Kaiya, Haruhiko; Washizaki, Hironori; Xiong, Yingfei; Hu, Zhenjiang; Yoshioka, Nobukazu

    2008-01-01

    Patterns are useful knowledge about recurring problems and solutions. Detecting a security problem using patterns in requirements models may lead to its early solution. In order to facilitate early detection and resolution of security problems, in this paper, we formally describe a role-based access control (RBAC) as a pattern that may occur in stakeholder requirements models. We also implemented in our goal-oriented modeling tool the formally described pattern using model-driven queries and ...

  9. Modelling biomechanics of bark patterning in grasstrees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dale, Holly; Runions, Adam; Hobill, David; Prusinkiewicz, Przemyslaw

    2014-09-01

    Bark patterns are a visually important characteristic of trees, typically attributed to fractures occurring during secondary growth of the trunk and branches. An understanding of bark pattern formation has been hampered by insufficient information regarding the biomechanical properties of bark and the corresponding difficulties in faithfully modelling bark fractures using continuum mechanics. This study focuses on the genus Xanthorrhoea (grasstrees), which have an unusual bark-like structure composed of distinct leaf bases connected by sticky resin. Due to its discrete character, this structure is well suited for computational studies. A dynamic computational model of grasstree development was created. The model captures both the phyllotactic pattern of leaf bases during primary growth and the changes in the trunk's width during secondary growth. A biomechanical representation based on a system of masses connected by springs is used for the surface of the trunk, permitting the emergence of fractures during secondary growth to be simulated. The resulting fracture patterns were analysed statistically and compared with images of real trees. The model reproduces key features of grasstree bark patterns, including their variability, spanning elongated and reticulate forms. The patterns produced by the model have the same statistical character as those seen in real trees. The model was able to support the general hypothesis that the patterns observed in the grasstree bark-like layer may be explained in terms of mechanical fractures driven by secondary growth. Although the generality of the results is limited by the unusual structure of grasstree bark, it supports the hypothesis that bark pattern formation is primarily a biomechanical phenomenon.

  10. Nutritional quality of dietary patterns of children: are there differences inside and outside school?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diva Aliete dos Santos Vieira

    2017-01-01

    Conclusion: There are differences in the nutritional quality of dietary patterns inside and outside school, and heterogeneity in adherence to these patterns were observed across regions and socioeconomic classes.

  11. Convenience-based food purchase patterns: identification and associations with dietary quality, sociodemographic factors and attitudes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peltner, Jonas; Thiele, Silke

    2018-02-01

    The present study aimed to derive food purchase patterns considering the convenience level of foods. Associations between identified patterns and dietary quality were analysed, as well as household characteristics associated with the dietary patterns. A Convenience Food Classification Scheme (CFCS) was developed. After classifying basic food groups into the CFCS, the formed groups were used to apply a factor analysis to identify convenience-based food purchase patterns. For these patterns nutrient and energy densities were examined. Using regression analysis, associations between the adherence to the patterns and household characteristic and attitude variables were analysed. The study used representative German food purchase data from 2011. Approximately 12 million purchases of 13 131 households were recorded in these data. Three convenience-based patterns were identified: a low-convenience, a semi-convenience and a ready-to-eat food pattern. Tighter adherence to the semi-convenience pattern was shown to result in the lowest nutrient and highest energy densities. Important factors influencing adherence to the patterns were household size, presence of children and attitudes. Working full-time was negatively associated with adherence to the low-convenience pattern and positively with the ready-to-eat pattern. Convenience foods were an important part of households' food baskets which in some cases led to lower nutritional quality. Therefore, it is important to offer convenience foods higher in nutrient density and lower in energy density. Interventions targeted on enhancing cooking skills could be an effective strategy to increase purchases of unprocessed foods, which, in turn, could also contribute to an improved diet quality.

  12. A One-Dimensional Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model for a Water Transfer Project with Multihydraulic Structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yujun Yi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The long Middle Route of the South to North Water Transfer Project is composed of complex hydraulic structures (aqueduct, tunnel, control gate, diversion, culvert, and diverted siphon, which generate complex flow patterns. It is vital to simulate the flow patterns through hydraulic structures, but it is a challenging work to protect water quality and maintain continuous water transfer. A one-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model was built to understand the flow and pollutant movement in this project. Preissmann four-point partial-node implicit scheme was used to solve the governing equations in this study. Water flow and pollutant movement were appropriately simulated and the results indicated that this water quality model was comparable to MIKE 11 and had a good performance and accuracy. Simulation accuracy and model uncertainty were analyzed. Based on the validated water quality model, six pollution scenarios (Q1 = 10 m3/s, Q2 = 30 m3/s, and Q3 = 60 m3/s for volatile phenol (VOP and contaminant mercury (Hg were simulated for the MRP. Emergent pollution accidents were forecasted and changes of water quality were analyzed according to the simulations results, which helped to guarantee continuously transferring water for a large water transfer project.

  13. Chopper model of pattern recognition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hemmen, J.L.; Enter, A.C.D. van

    A simple model is proposed that allows an efficient storage and retrieval of random patterns. Also correlated patterns can be handled. The data are stored in an Ising-spin system with ferromagnetic interactions between all the spins and the main idea is to "chop" the system along the boundaries

  14. A high-resolution stochastic model of domestic activity patterns and electricity demand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Widen, Joakim; Waeckelgard, Ewa

    2010-01-01

    Realistic time-resolved data on occupant behaviour, presence and energy use are important inputs to various types of simulations, including performance of small-scale energy systems and buildings' indoor climate, use of lighting and energy demand. This paper presents a modelling framework for stochastic generation of high-resolution series of such data. The model generates both synthetic activity sequences of individual household members, including occupancy states, and domestic electricity demand based on these patterns. The activity-generating model, based on non-homogeneous Markov chains that are tuned to an extensive empirical time-use data set, creates a realistic spread of activities over time, down to a 1-min resolution. A detailed validation against measurements shows that modelled power demand data for individual households as well as aggregate demand for an arbitrary number of households are highly realistic in terms of end-use composition, annual and diurnal variations, diversity between households, short time-scale fluctuations and load coincidence. An important aim with the model development has been to maintain a sound balance between complexity and output quality. Although the model yields a high-quality output, the proposed model structure is uncomplicated in comparison to other available domestic load models.

  15. Influences of the land use pattern on water quality in low-order streams of the Dongjiang River basin, China: A multi-scale analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Jiao; Jiang, Yuan; Liu, Qi; Hou, Zhaojiang; Liao, Jianyu; Fu, Lan; Peng, Qiuzhi

    2016-05-01

    Understanding the relationships between land use patterns and water quality in low-order streams is useful for effective landscape planning to protect downstream water quality. A clear understanding of these relationships remains elusive due to the heterogeneity of land use patterns and scale effects. To better assess land use influences, we developed empirical models relating land use patterns to the water quality of low-order streams at different geomorphic regions across multi-scales in the Dongjiang River basin using multivariate statistical analyses. The land use pattern was quantified in terms of the composition, configuration and hydrological distance of land use types at the reach buffer, riparian corridor and catchment scales. Water was sampled under summer base flow at 56 low-order catchments, which were classified into two homogenous geomorphic groups. The results indicated that the water quality of low-order streams was most strongly affected by the configuration metrics of land use. Poorer water quality was associated with higher patch densities of cropland, orchards and grassland in the mountain catchments, whereas it was associated with a higher value for the largest patch index of urban land use in the plain catchments. The overall water quality variation was explained better by catchment scale than by riparian- or reach-scale land use, whereas the spatial scale over which land use influenced water quality also varied across specific water parameters and the geomorphic basis. Our study suggests that watershed management should adopt better landscape planning and multi-scale measures to improve water quality. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Fringe pattern denoising using coherence-enhancing diffusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Haixia; Kemao, Qian; Gao, Wenjing; Lin, Feng; Seah, Hock Soon

    2009-04-15

    Electronic speckle pattern interferometry is one of the methods measuring the displacement on object surfaces in which fringe patterns need to be evaluated. Noise is one of the key problems affecting further processing and reducing measurement quality. We propose an application of coherence-enhancing diffusion to fringe-pattern denoising. It smoothes a fringe pattern along directions both parallel and perpendicular to fringe orientation with suitable diffusion speeds to more effectively reduce noise and improve fringe-pattern quality. It is a generalized work of Tang's et al.'s [Opt. Lett.33, 2179 (2008)] model that only smoothes a fringe pattern along fringe orientation. Since our model diffuses a fringe pattern with an additional direction, it is able to denoise low-density fringes as well as improve denoising effectiveness for high-density fringes. Theoretical analysis as well as simulation and experimental verifications are addressed.

  17. Nutrient Intake, Diet Quality, and Weight Measures in Breakfast Patterns Consumed by Children Compared with Breakfast Skippers: NHANES 2001-2008

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carol E. O'Neil

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Most studies showing that children consuming breakfast have better nutrient intakes, diet quality, and lower weight than breakfast skippers have the incorrect premise that breakfast meals are homogeneous. The purpose of this study was to classify breakfast meals into patterns and determine the association of the breakfast patterns with daily and breakfast nutrient intakes, diet quality, and weight. Data from children (2-18 years of age; N = 14,200 participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2008 were used. Intake was determined from one day 24-hour dietary recalls. Diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005. Body mass index (BMI z-scores were determined. Twelve patterns (including No Breakfast [~19% of population], explaining 63% of the variance in energy from breakfast, were examined. Covariate adjusted general linear models were used to compare outcome variables of consumers of different patterns with breakfast skippers. The p value was Bonferroni corrected (< 0.05/12 = < 0.0042. Consumers of the Eggs/Grain/Meat, Poultry, Fish (MPF/Fruit Juice (FJ and MPF/Grain/FJ patterns showed higher daily intakes of saturated fats, solid fats, and sodium and lower daily intakes of added sugars than breakfast skippers. Consumers of most breakfast patterns showed higher daily intakes of some nutrients of public health concern (dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, and potassium; however, those consuming the Grain or MPF/Grain/FJ pattern did not. Consumers of the Grain/Lower Fat Milk (LFM/Sweets/FJ, Presweetened (PS Ready-to-eat Cereal (RTEC/LFM, RTEC/LFM, Cooked Cereal/Milk/FJ, and Whole Fruit patterns had higher total HEI-2005 scores than breakfast skippers; those consuming the MPF/Grain/FJ pattern had lower diet quality than breakfast skippers. Consumption of the Grain/LFM/Sweets/FJ, PSRTEC/whole milk, Soft Drinks/FJ/Grain/Potatoes, RTEC/whole milk, and Cooked Cereal/Milk/FJ patterns was associated

  18. Texture Based Quality Analysis of Simulated Synthetic Ultrasound Images Using Local Binary Patterns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prerna Singh

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Speckle noise reduction is an important area of research in the field of ultrasound image processing. Several algorithms for speckle noise characterization and analysis have been recently proposed in the area. Synthetic ultrasound images can play a key role in noise evaluation methods as they can be used to generate a variety of speckle noise models under different interpolation and sampling schemes, and can also provide valuable ground truth data for estimating the accuracy of the chosen methods. However, not much work has been done in the area of modeling synthetic ultrasound images, and in simulating speckle noise generation to get images that are as close as possible to real ultrasound images. An important aspect of simulated synthetic ultrasound images is the requirement for extensive quality assessment for ensuring that they have the texture characteristics and gray-tone features of real images. This paper presents texture feature analysis of synthetic ultrasound images using local binary patterns (LBP and demonstrates the usefulness of a set of LBP features for image quality assessment. Experimental results presented in the paper clearly show how these features could provide an accurate quality metric that correlates very well with subjective evaluations performed by clinical experts.

  19. Model-assisted template extraction SRAF application to contact holes patterns in high-end flash memory device fabrication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seoud, Ahmed; Kim, Juhwan; Ma, Yuansheng; Jayaram, Srividya; Hong, Le; Chae, Gyu-Yeol; Lee, Jeong-Woo; Park, Dae-Jin; Yune, Hyoung-Soon; Oh, Se-Young; Park, Chan-Ha

    2018-03-01

    Sub-resolution assist feature (SRAF) insertion techniques have been effectively used for a long time now to increase process latitude in the lithography patterning process. Rule-based SRAF and model-based SRAF are complementary solutions, and each has its own benefits, depending on the objectives of applications and the criticality of the impact on manufacturing yield, efficiency, and productivity. Rule-based SRAF provides superior geometric output consistency and faster runtime performance, but the associated recipe development time can be of concern. Model-based SRAF provides better coverage for more complicated pattern structures in terms of shapes and sizes, with considerably less time required for recipe development, although consistency and performance may be impacted. In this paper, we introduce a new model-assisted template extraction (MATE) SRAF solution, which employs decision tree learning in a model-based solution to provide the benefits of both rule-based and model-based SRAF insertion approaches. The MATE solution is designed to automate the creation of rules/templates for SRAF insertion, and is based on the SRAF placement predicted by model-based solutions. The MATE SRAF recipe provides optimum lithographic quality in relation to various manufacturing aspects in a very short time, compared to traditional methods of rule optimization. Experiments were done using memory device pattern layouts to compare the MATE solution to existing model-based SRAF and pixelated SRAF approaches, based on lithographic process window quality, runtime performance, and geometric output consistency.

  20. Quality Model Based on Cots Quality Attributes

    OpenAIRE

    Jawad Alkhateeb; Khaled Musa

    2013-01-01

    The quality of software is essential to corporations in making their commercial software. Good or poorquality to software plays an important role to some systems such as embedded systems, real-time systems,and control systems that play an important aspect in human life. Software products or commercial off theshelf software are usually programmed based on a software quality model. In the software engineeringfield, each quality model contains a set of attributes or characteristics that drives i...

  1. [Analysis of dietary pattern and diabetes mellitus influencing factors identified by classification tree model in adults of Fujian].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, F L; Ye, Y; Yan, Y S

    2017-05-10

    Objective: To find out the dietary patterns and explore the relationship between environmental factors (especially dietary patterns) and diabetes mellitus in the adults of Fujian. Methods: Multi-stage sampling method were used to survey residents aged ≥18 years by questionnaire, physical examination and laboratory detection in 10 disease surveillance points in Fujian. Factor analysis was used to identify the dietary patterns, while logistic regression model was applied to analyze relationship between dietary patterns and diabetes mellitus, and classification tree model was adopted to identify the influencing factors for diabetes mellitus. Results: There were four dietary patterns in the population, including meat, plant, high-quality protein, and fried food and beverages patterns. The result of logistic analysis showed that plant pattern, which has higher factor loading of fresh fruit-vegetables and cereal-tubers, was a protective factor for non-diabetes mellitus. The risk of diabetes mellitus in the population at T2 and T3 levels of factor score were 0.727 (95 %CI: 0.561-0.943) times and 0.736 (95 %CI : 0.573-0.944) times higher, respectively, than those whose factor score was in lowest quartile. Thirteen influencing factors and eleven group at high-risk for diabetes mellitus were identified by classification tree model. The influencing factors were dyslipidemia, age, family history of diabetes, hypertension, physical activity, career, sex, sedentary time, abdominal adiposity, BMI, marital status, sleep time and high-quality protein pattern. Conclusion: There is a close association between dietary patterns and diabetes mellitus. It is necessary to promote healthy and reasonable diet, strengthen the monitoring and control of blood lipids, blood pressure and body weight, and have good lifestyle for the prevention and control of diabetes mellitus.

  2. Attention modeling for video quality assessment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    You, Junyong; Korhonen, Jari; Perkis, Andrew

    2010-01-01

    averaged spatiotemporal pooling. The local quality is derived from visual attention modeling and quality variations over frames. Saliency, motion, and contrast information are taken into account in modeling visual attention, which is then integrated into IQMs to calculate the local quality of a video frame...... average between the global quality and the local quality. Experimental results demonstrate that the combination of the global quality and local quality outperforms both sole global quality and local quality, as well as other quality models, in video quality assessment. In addition, the proposed video...... quality modeling algorithm can improve the performance of image quality metrics on video quality assessment compared to the normal averaged spatiotemporal pooling scheme....

  3. Assessing the influence of land use land cover pattern, socio economic factors and air quality status to predict morbidity on the basis of logistic based regression model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixit, A.; Singh, V. K.

    2017-12-01

    Recent studies conducted by World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that 92 % of the total world population are living in places where the air quality level has exceeded the WHO standard limit for air quality. This is due to the change in Land Use Land Cover (LULC) pattern, socio economic drivers and anthropogenic heat emission caused by manmade activity. Thereby, many prevalent human respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema have increased in recent times. In this study, a quantitative relationship is developed between land use (built-up land, water bodies, and vegetation), socio economic drivers and air quality parameters using logistic based regression model over 7 different cities of India for the winter season of 2012 to 2016. Different LULC, socio economic, industrial emission sources, meteorological condition and air quality level from the monitoring stations are taken to estimate the influence on morbidity of each city. Results of correlation are analyzed between land use variables and monthly concentration of pollutants. These values range from 0.63 to 0.76. Similarly, the correlation value between land use variable with socio economic and morbidity ranges from 0.57 to 0.73. The performance of model is improved from 67 % to 79 % in estimating morbidity for the year 2015 and 2016 due to the better availability of observed data.The study highlights the growing importance of incorporating socio-economic drivers with air quality data for evaluating morbidity rate for each city in comparison to just change in quantitative analysis of air quality.

  4. Association between diet quality, dietary patterns and cardiometabolic health in Australian adults: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livingstone, Katherine M; McNaughton, Sarah A

    2018-02-12

    Diet quality indices score dietary intakes against recommendations, whereas dietary patterns consider the pattern and combination of dietary intakes. Studies evaluating both methodologies in relation to cardiometabolic health in a nationally representative sample are limited. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between diet quality, dietary patterns and markers of cardiometabolic health in Australian adults. Dietary data, using two 24-h dietary recalls, were collected from adults in the cross-sectional Australian Health Survey 2011-2013 (n = 2121; 46.4 (SE 0.48) years). Diet quality was estimated using the Dietary Guideline Index (DGI). Dietary patterns (DPs), derived using reduced rank regression, were estimated using fiber density, SFA: PUFA and total sugars intake as intermediate markers. Multi-variable adjusted linear regression analyses were used to examine associations between diet quality and DPs and blood biomarkers, body mass index, waist circumference, diastolic and systolic blood pressure and an overall cardiometabolic risk score. DGI was associated with lower glucose (coef - 0.009, SE 0.004; P-trend = 0.033), body mass index (coef - 0.017, SE 0.007; P-trend = 0.019) and waist circumference (coef - 0.014, SE 0.005; P-trend = 0.008). Two dietary patterns were derived: dietary pattern-1 was characterized by higher intakes of pome fruit and wholegrain bread, while dietary pattern-2 was characterized by higher intakes of added sugars and tropical fruit. Dietary pattern-1 was associated with lower body mass index (coef - 0.028, SE 0.007; P-trendDietary pattern-2 was associated with lower HDL-cholesterol (coef - 0.026, SE 0.012; P-trend = 0.028). There was a trend towards lower diastolic blood pressure. No associations with other markers were observed. Better diet quality and healthier dietary patterns were primarily associated with favorable anthropometric markers of cardiometabolic health. Findings

  5. Quality inspection of anisotropic scintillating crystals through measurement of interferometric fringe pattern parameters

    CERN Document Server

    Cocozzella, N; Majni, G; Paone, N; Rinaldi, D T

    2001-01-01

    Scintillating crystals are widely used as detectors in radiographic systems, computerized axial tomography devices and in calorimeters employed in high-energy physics. This paper results from a project motivated by the development of the CMS calorimeter at CERN, which will make use of a large number of scintillating crystals. In order to prevent crystals from breaking because of internal residual stress, a quality control system based on optic inspection of interference fringe patterns was developed. The principle of measurement procedures was theoretically modelled, and then a dedicated polariscope was designed and built, in order to observe the crystals under induced stresses or to evaluate the residual internal stresses. The results are innovative and open a new perspective for scintillating crystals quality control: the photoelastic constant normal to the optic axis of the lead tungstate crystals (PbWO sub 4) was measured, and the inspection procedure developed is applicable to mass production, not only t...

  6. Nutritional quality of dietary patterns of children: are there differences inside and outside school?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diva Aliete dos Santos Vieira

    Full Text Available Abstract: Objectives: To describe the dietary patterns of children inside and outside school and investigate their associations with sociodemographic factors and nutritional status. Methods: This was a multicenter cross-sectional study in which children of both sexes, aged 1-6 years, attending private and public daycare centers and preschools in Brazil, were evaluated (n = 2979. Demographic, socioeconomic and dietary data (weighed food records and estimated food records were collected. Dietary patterns were derived by factor analysis from 36 food groups. Results: Four dietary patterns were identified inside school, and three outside. Inside school, the "traditional" pattern was associated to low income and presented high nutritional quality. The "dual" pattern was associated with low income and with high intake of added sugar and glycemic load. The "snack" pattern was associated with children enrolled at private schools and with high intake of added sugar and glycemic load. The "bread and butter" pattern was associated with high intake of added sugar and trans fat. Outside school, the "traditional" pattern was associated with high intake of saturated fat, trans fats, sodium, and total fiber. The "bread and butter" pattern was associated with high intake of trans fats and glycemic load, whereas the "snack" pattern was associated with overweight, private schools, high income, and high intake of trans fats, sodium, and total fiber. Conclusion: There are differences in the nutritional quality of dietary patterns inside and outside school, and heterogeneity in adherence to these patterns were observed across regions and socioeconomic classes.

  7. Nutritional quality of dietary patterns of children: are there differences inside and outside school?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vieira, Diva Aliete Dos Santos; Castro, Michelle Alessandra; Fisberg, Mauro; Fisberg, Regina Mara

    To describe the dietary patterns of children inside and outside school and investigate their associations with sociodemographic factors and nutritional status. This was a multicenter cross-sectional study in which children of both sexes, aged 1-6 years, attending private and public daycare centers and preschools in Brazil, were evaluated (n=2979). Demographic, socioeconomic and dietary data (weighed food records and estimated food records) were collected. Dietary patterns were derived by factor analysis from 36 food groups. Four dietary patterns were identified inside school, and three outside. Inside school, the "traditional" pattern was associated to low income and presented high nutritional quality. The "dual" pattern was associated with low income and with high intake of added sugar and glycemic load. The "snack" pattern was associated with children enrolled at private schools and with high intake of added sugar and glycemic load. The "bread and butter" pattern was associated with high intake of added sugar and trans fat. Outside school, the "traditional" pattern was associated with high intake of saturated fat, trans fats, sodium, and total fiber. The "bread and butter" pattern was associated with high intake of trans fats and glycemic load, whereas the "snack" pattern was associated with overweight, private schools, high income, and high intake of trans fats, sodium, and total fiber. There are differences in the nutritional quality of dietary patterns inside and outside school, and heterogeneity in adherence to these patterns were observed across regions and socioeconomic classes. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  8. Strong adherence to a healthy dietary pattern is associated with better semen quality, especially in men with poor semen quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oostingh, Elsje C; Steegers-Theunissen, Régine P M; de Vries, Jeanne H M; Laven, Joop S E; Koster, Maria P H

    2017-04-01

    To study associations between periconceptional dietary patterns and semen quality parameters. Prospective periconception cohort study. Tertiary hospital. One hundred and twenty-nine male partners of pregnant women who participated in the Rotterdam Periconception Cohort (Predict study). None. Semen quality parameters-ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, progressive motility, immotile sperm, and total motile sperm count (TMSC). Men included in our study were on average 35 (±6 standard deviation) years old and had a body mass index of 26.4 ± 4 kg/m 2 . Two dietary patterns were identified using principle component analysis, which were labeled as "healthy" and "unhealthy." An increase of one factor score (stated as β) represented an increase of 1 standard deviation. Sperm concentration (β = 0.278; 95% CI, 0.112-0.444), total sperm count (β = 1.369; 95% CI, 0.244-2.495), progressive motility (β = 4.305; 95% CI, 0.675-7.936), and TMSC (β = 0.319; 95% CI, 0.113-0.526) were all positively associated with a strong adherence to the healthy dietary pattern. Subgroup analysis showed that these associations were mainly present in men with a TMSC strong adherence to the unhealthy dietary pattern. The positive associations between strong adherence to a healthy dietary pattern and semen parameters in men with poor semen quality support the importance of preconceptional tailored nutritional counseling and coaching of couples who are trying to conceive. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Pattern formation of a nonlocal, anisotropic interaction model

    KAUST Repository

    Burger, Martin

    2017-11-24

    We consider a class of interacting particle models with anisotropic, repulsive–attractive interaction forces whose orientations depend on an underlying tensor field. An example of this class of models is the so-called Kücken–Champod model describing the formation of fingerprint patterns. This class of models can be regarded as a generalization of a gradient flow of a nonlocal interaction potential which has a local repulsion and a long-range attraction structure. In contrast to isotropic interaction models the anisotropic forces in our class of models cannot be derived from a potential. The underlying tensor field introduces an anisotropy leading to complex patterns which do not occur in isotropic models. This anisotropy is characterized by one parameter in the model. We study the variation of this parameter, describing the transition between the isotropic and the anisotropic model, analytically and numerically. We analyze the equilibria of the corresponding mean-field partial differential equation and investigate pattern formation numerically in two dimensions by studying the dependence of the parameters in the model on the resulting patterns.

  10. Pattern formation of a nonlocal, anisotropic interaction model

    KAUST Repository

    Burger, Martin; Dü ring, Bertram; Kreusser, Lisa Maria; Markowich, Peter A.; Schö nlieb, Carola-Bibiane

    2017-01-01

    We consider a class of interacting particle models with anisotropic, repulsive–attractive interaction forces whose orientations depend on an underlying tensor field. An example of this class of models is the so-called Kücken–Champod model describing the formation of fingerprint patterns. This class of models can be regarded as a generalization of a gradient flow of a nonlocal interaction potential which has a local repulsion and a long-range attraction structure. In contrast to isotropic interaction models the anisotropic forces in our class of models cannot be derived from a potential. The underlying tensor field introduces an anisotropy leading to complex patterns which do not occur in isotropic models. This anisotropy is characterized by one parameter in the model. We study the variation of this parameter, describing the transition between the isotropic and the anisotropic model, analytically and numerically. We analyze the equilibria of the corresponding mean-field partial differential equation and investigate pattern formation numerically in two dimensions by studying the dependence of the parameters in the model on the resulting patterns.

  11. A Lebanese dietary pattern promotes better diet quality among older adults: findings from a national cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jomaa, Lamis; Hwalla, Nahla; Itani, Leila; Chamieh, Marie Claire; Mehio-Sibai, Abla; Naja, Farah

    2016-04-19

    Proper nutrition is critical for healthy aging and maintaining functional independence. Limited research has been done on the assessment of dietary patterns of older adults and their association with diet quality indices. This study was conducted to identify, characterize, and evaluate the dietary patterns and diet quality of older adults in Lebanon, a middle-income country undergoing nutrition transition. A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted on a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older adults aged >50 years (n = 525). Socio-demographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle variables were collected through interviews, and dietary intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Five commonly used diet quality indices (DQIs) were calculated, including the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), the alternate Mediterranean diet score (aMed), the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) style diet score, and the Lebanese Mediterranean Diet index. Dietary patterns (DPs) were derived using exploratory factor analysis. Associations of identified DPs with energy, energy-adjusted nutrients, and DQIs were evaluated by Pearson's correlations. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine correlates of DPs. Three DPs were derived: Lebanese, Western, and High Protein/Alcohol patterns. The Lebanese pattern had highest correlations with fiber, folate, vitamin C, and all five DQIs. The Western was positively associated with energy and sodium and was inversely correlated with fiber, most vitamins, and a number of DQIs, namely AHEI, aMED, and DASH-style diet score. Highest correlations with intakes of proteins and fat were observed for the High Protein/Alcohol pattern. The Lebanese pattern was associated with female gender, education, nonsmoking and physical activity, whereas the Western pattern was associated with adverse health behaviors, including smoking, skipping breakfast, and physical inactivity

  12. Associations of key diet-quality indexes with mortality in the Multiethnic Cohort: the Dietary Patterns Methods Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harmon, Brook E; Boushey, Carol J; Shvetsov, Yurii B; Ettienne, Reynolette; Reedy, Jill; Wilkens, Lynne R; Le Marchand, Loic; Henderson, Brian E; Kolonel, Laurence N

    2015-03-01

    Healthy dietary patterns have been linked positively with health and longevity. However, prospective studies in diverse populations in the United States addressing dietary patterns and mortality are limited. We assessed the ability of the following 4 diet-quality indexes [the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010), the Alternative HEI-2010 (AHEI-2010), the alternate Mediterranean diet score (aMED), and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)] to predict the reduction in risk of mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer. White, African American, Native Hawaiian, Japanese American, and Latino adults (n = 215,782) from the Multiethnic Cohort completed a quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Scores for each dietary index were computed and divided into quintiles for men and women. Mortality was documented over 13-18 y of follow-up. HRs and 95% CIs were computed by using adjusted Cox models. High HEI-2010, AHEI-2010, aMED, and DASH scores were all inversely associated with risk of mortality from all causes, CVD, and cancer in both men and women (P-trend dietary pattern that achieves a high diet-quality index score is associated with lower risk of mortality from all causes, CVD, and cancer in adult men and women. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

  13. Quality models for audiovisual streaming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thang, Truong Cong; Kim, Young Suk; Kim, Cheon Seog; Ro, Yong Man

    2006-01-01

    Quality is an essential factor in multimedia communication, especially in compression and adaptation. Quality metrics can be divided into three categories: within-modality quality, cross-modality quality, and multi-modality quality. Most research has so far focused on within-modality quality. Moreover, quality is normally just considered from the perceptual perspective. In practice, content may be drastically adapted, even converted to another modality. In this case, we should consider the quality from semantic perspective as well. In this work, we investigate the multi-modality quality from the semantic perspective. To model the semantic quality, we apply the concept of "conceptual graph", which consists of semantic nodes and relations between the nodes. As an typical of multi-modality example, we focus on audiovisual streaming service. Specifically, we evaluate the amount of information conveyed by a audiovisual content where both video and audio channels may be strongly degraded, even audio are converted to text. In the experiments, we also consider the perceptual quality model of audiovisual content, so as to see the difference with semantic quality model.

  14. New process for high optical quality InAs quantum dots grown on patterned GaAs(001) substrates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alonso-Gonzalez, Pablo; Gonzalez, Luisa; Gonzalez, Yolanda; Fuster, David; Fernandez-Martinez, Ivan; Martin-Sanchez, Javier; Abelmann, Leon

    2007-01-01

    This work presents a selective ultraviolet (UV)-ozone oxidation-chemical etching process that has been used, in combination with laser interference lithography (LIL), for the preparation of GaAs patterned substrates. Further molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of InAs results in ordered InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) arrays with high optical quality from the first layer of QDs formed on the patterned substrate. The main result is the development of a patterning technology that allows the engineering of customized geometrical displays of QDs with the same optical quality as those formed spontaneously on flat non-patterned substrates

  15. Fuzzy C-Means Clustering Model Data Mining For Recognizing Stock Data Sampling Pattern

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sylvia Jane Annatje Sumarauw

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Capital market has been beneficial to companies and investor. For investors, the capital market provides two economical advantages, namely deviden and capital gain, and a non-economical one that is a voting .} hare in Shareholders General Meeting. But, it can also penalize the share owners. In order to prevent them from the risk, the investors should predict the prospect of their companies. As a consequence of having an abstract commodity, the share quality will be determined by the validity of their company profile information. Any information of stock value fluctuation from Jakarta Stock Exchange can be a useful consideration and a good measurement for data analysis. In the context of preventing the shareholders from the risk, this research focuses on stock data sample category or stock data sample pattern by using Fuzzy c-Me, MS Clustering Model which providing any useful information jar the investors. lite research analyses stock data such as Individual Index, Volume and Amount on Property and Real Estate Emitter Group at Jakarta Stock Exchange from January 1 till December 31 of 204. 'he mining process follows Cross Industry Standard Process model for Data Mining (CRISP,. DM in the form of circle with these steps: Business Understanding, Data Understanding, Data Preparation, Modelling, Evaluation and Deployment. At this modelling process, the Fuzzy c-Means Clustering Model will be applied. Data Mining Fuzzy c-Means Clustering Model can analyze stock data in a big database with many complex variables especially for finding the data sample pattern, and then building Fuzzy Inference System for stimulating inputs to be outputs that based on Fuzzy Logic by recognising the pattern. Keywords: Data Mining, AUz..:y c-Means Clustering Model, Pattern Recognition

  16. Generative models versus underlying symmetries to explain biological pattern.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank, S A

    2014-06-01

    Mathematical models play an increasingly important role in the interpretation of biological experiments. Studies often present a model that generates the observations, connecting hypothesized process to an observed pattern. Such generative models confirm the plausibility of an explanation and make testable hypotheses for further experiments. However, studies rarely consider the broad family of alternative models that match the same observed pattern. The symmetries that define the broad class of matching models are in fact the only aspects of information truly revealed by observed pattern. Commonly observed patterns derive from simple underlying symmetries. This article illustrates the problem by showing the symmetry associated with the observed rate of increase in fitness in a constant environment. That underlying symmetry reveals how each particular generative model defines a single example within the broad class of matching models. Further progress on the relation between pattern and process requires deeper consideration of the underlying symmetries. © 2014 The Author. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2014 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

  17. Drinking Patterns Among Older Couples: Longitudinal Associations With Negative Marital Quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birditt, Kira S; Cranford, James A; Manalel, Jasmine A; Antonucci, Toni C

    2018-04-16

    Research with younger couples indicates that alcohol use has powerful effects on marital quality, but less work has examined the effects of drinking among older couples. This study examined whether dyadic patterns of drinking status among older couples are associated with negative marital quality over time. Married participants (N = 4864) from the Health and Retirement Study reported on alcohol consumption (whether they drink alcohol and average amount consumed per week) and negative marital quality (e.g., criticism and demands) across two waves (Wave 1 2006/2008 and Wave 2 2010/2012). Concordant drinking couples reported decreased negative marital quality over time, and these links were significantly greater among wives. Wives who reported drinking alcohol reported decreased negative marital quality over time when husbands also reported drinking and increased negative marital quality over time when husbands reported not drinking. The present findings stress the importance of considering the drinking status rather than the amount of alcohol consumed of both members of the couple when attempting to understand drinking and marital quality among older couples. These findings are particularly salient given the increased drinking among baby boomers and the importance of marital quality for health among older couples.

  18. A study on family communication pattern and parenting styles with quality of life in adolescent

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanavi, F.S.; Baghbanian, A.; Shovey, M.F.; Moghaddam, A.A

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To investigate the relationship between parenting styles and family communication patterns with adolescent's quality of life. Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out on 439 randomly selected adolescents in the city of Zahedan, Iran, from January to July 2011. The subjects were asked to complete the KIDSCREEN-52 health-related quality of life questionnaire, while their parents were asked to complete the Diana Brinder's Test to show their parenting styles. SPSS 15 was used to analyse data. Results: Most parents had authoritative parenting style (n=380; 86.6%). Pluralistic (n=170; 38.7%) and consensual (n=152; 34.6%) patterns were the most frequent styles of communication in families. Data suggested a significant relationship between parenting style and some dimensions of quality of life, including physical well-being, psychological well-being, social support and peers, and autonomy (p<0.05). There was also a significant relationship between family communication patterns and parent relation and home life (p<0.001) as well as autonomy (p<0.006). Conclusion: Families play a critical role in increasing adolescents, health-related quality-of-life. Effort should be made to address problems facing parents while raising their children. (author)

  19. Data Auditor: Analyzing Data Quality Using Pattern Tableaux

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srivastava, Divesh

    Monitoring databases maintain configuration and measurement tables about computer systems, such as networks and computing clusters, and serve important business functions, such as troubleshooting customer problems, analyzing equipment failures, planning system upgrades, etc. These databases are prone to many data quality issues: configuration tables may be incorrect due to data entry errors, while measurement tables may be affected by incorrect, missing, duplicate and delayed polls. We describe Data Auditor, a tool for analyzing data quality and exploring data semantics of monitoring databases. Given a user-supplied constraint, such as a boolean predicate expected to be satisfied by every tuple, a functional dependency, or an inclusion dependency, Data Auditor computes "pattern tableaux", which are concise summaries of subsets of the data that satisfy or fail the constraint. We discuss the architecture of Data Auditor, including the supported types of constraints and the tableau generation mechanism. We also show the utility of our approach on an operational network monitoring database.

  20. Spatial Pattern, Transportation and Air Quality Nexus: The Case of Iskandar Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azalia Mohd Yusop

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Spatial pattern, transportation, and air quality are three development entities which significantly affecting one another. This nexus exhibits the urbanization imprint accouter transportation generating air pollution as a reflection of spatial distribution. The integration among them is a vital part of development as it affects the societal living environment. It provides unfavorable air quality and directly cause health problems. The developing region of Iskandar Malaysia exhibits huge spatial distribution transformation accompanied by large percentage of urbanization rate, but seems less integration of land use and transportation planning which causes the exaggeration of air pollution. We carry out the research on the nexus of spatial distribution, transportation and air quality in Iskandar Malaysia by analyzing and evaluating the interconnectivity of these three entities. The spatial analysis and evaluation on the land use development pattern and spatial policy shows that the Iskandar development region are growing in the polycentric manners, where the spatial development policy drives the distributional growth of new sub-centers. We undertook a household-based travel survey that reveals the poly-centricity reflected by the de-concentration of workplaces which shifted from the single point towards multiple centers. On the other hand, this phenomenon has created a distributional traffic pattern amid the high dependency on the private vehicles of the citizens in Iskandar Malaysia. With a predominantly fossil fuel consuming vehicles, this has generated air pollution. Based on the traffic survey and the dependency of the citizens on private cars for their daily mobility, the concentration of air pollution is seemingly at risk. This research reflects that Iskandar Malaysia development region currently undergoes towards polycentric development with some new urban centers. We found that land use and transportation planning policies require serious

  1. The impact of traffic-flow patterns on air quality in urban street canyons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thaker, Prashant; Gokhale, Sharad

    2016-01-01

    We investigated the effect of different urban traffic-flow patterns on pollutant dispersion in different winds in a real asymmetric street canyon. Free-flow traffic causes more turbulence in the canyon facilitating more dispersion and a reduction in pedestrian level concentration. The comparison of with and without a vehicle-induced-turbulence revealed that when winds were perpendicular, the free-flow traffic reduced the concentration by 73% on the windward side with a minor increase of 17% on the leeward side, whereas for parallel winds, it reduced the concentration by 51% and 29%. The congested-flow traffic increased the concentrations on the leeward side by 47% when winds were perpendicular posing a higher risk to health, whereas reduced it by 17–42% for parallel winds. The urban air quality and public health can, therefore, be improved by improving the traffic-flow patterns in street canyons as vehicle-induced turbulence has been shown to contribute significantly to dispersion. - Highlights: • CFD is used to study impact of traffic-flow patterns on urban air quality. • Facilitating free-flow patterns induce more turbulence in street canyons. • Traffic-generated turbulence alters pollutant levels in urban street canyons. - This study investigates the effect of vehicle-induced-turbulence generated during free-flow traffic pattern in reduction of air pollutant concentrations in urban street canyons.

  2. How do architecture patterns and tactics interact? A model and annotation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Harrison, Neil B.; Avgeriou, Paris

    2010-01-01

    Software architecture designers inevitably work with both architecture patterns and tactics. Architecture patterns describe the high-level structure and behavior of software systems as the solution to multiple system requirements, whereas tactics are design decisions that improve individual quality

  3. Emergent patterns of social affiliation in primates, a model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivan Puga-Gonzalez

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Many patterns of affiliative behaviour have been described for primates, for instance: reciprocation and exchange of grooming, grooming others of similar rank, reconciliation of fights, and preferential reconciliation with more valuable partners. For these patterns several functions and underlying cognitive processes have been suggested. It is, however, difficult to imagine how animals may combine these diverse considerations in their mind. Although the co-variation hypothesis, by limiting the social possibilities an individual has, constrains the number of cognitive considerations an individual has to take, it does not present an integrated theory of affiliative patterns either. In the present paper, after surveying patterns of affiliation in egalitarian and despotic macaques, we use an individual-based model with a high potential for self-organisation as a starting point for such an integrative approach. In our model, called GrooFiWorld, individuals group and, upon meeting each other, may perform a dominance interaction of which the outcomes of winning and losing are self-reinforcing. Besides, if individuals think they will be defeated, they consider grooming others. Here, the greater their anxiety is, the greater their "motivation" to groom others. Our model generates patterns similar to many affiliative patterns of empirical data. By merely increasing the intensity of aggression, affiliative patterns in the model change from those resembling egalitarian macaques to those resembling despotic ones. Our model produces such patterns without assuming in the mind of the individual the specific cognitive processes that are usually thought to underlie these patterns (such as recordkeeping of the acts given and received, a tendency to exchange, memory of the former fight, selective attraction to the former opponent, and estimation of the value of a relationship. Our model can be used as a null model to increase our understanding of affiliative

  4. Associations Between Dietary Patterns and Longitudinal Quality of Life Changes in Colorectal Cancer Patients: The ColoCare Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gigic, Biljana; Boeing, Heiner; Toth, Reka; Böhm, Jürgen; Habermann, Nina; Scherer, Dominique; Schrotz-King, Petra; Abbenhardt-Martin, Clare; Skender, Stephanie; Brenner, Hermann; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Hoffmeister, Michael; Syrjala, Karen; Jacobsen, Paul B; Schneider, Martin; Ulrich, Alexis; Ulrich, Cornelia M

    2018-01-01

    Quality of life (QoL) is an important clinical outcome in cancer patients. We investigated associations between dietary patterns and QoL changes in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. The study included 192 CRC patients with available EORTC QLQ-C30 data before and 12 months post-surgery and food frequency questionnaire data at 12 months post-surgery. Principal component analysis was used to identify dietary patterns. Multivariate regression models assessed associations between dietary patterns and QoL changes over time. We identified four major dietary patterns: "Western" dietary pattern characterized by high consumption of potatoes, red and processed meat, poultry, and cakes, "fruit&vegetable" pattern: high intake of vegetables, fruits, vegetable oils, and soy products, "bread&butter" pattern: high intake of bread, butter and margarine, and "high-carb" pattern: high consumption of pasta, grains, nonalcoholic beverages, sauces and condiments. Patients following a "Western" diet had lower chances to improve in physical functioning (OR = 0.45 [0.21-0.99]), constipation (OR = 0.30 [0.13-0.72]) and diarrhea (OR: 0.44 [0.20-0.98]) over time. Patients following a "fruit&vegetable" diet showed improving diarrhea scores (OR: 2.52 [1.21-5.34]. A "Western" dietary pattern after surgery is inversely associated with QoL in CRC patients, whereas a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may be beneficial for patients' QoL over time.

  5. Latent Feature Models for Uncovering Human Mobility Patterns from Anonymized User Location Traces with Metadata

    KAUST Repository

    Alharbi, Basma Mohammed

    2017-04-10

    of incomplete user-location check-ins. To assess the quality of the new representation spaces for each model, evaluation is done using an external application, social link prediction, in addition to case studies and analysis of inferred patterns. Each proposed model is compared to baseline models, where results show significant improvements.

  6. Carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic fingerprinting of commercial gasoline: pattern-recognition analyses for screening quality control purposes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flumignan, Danilo Luiz; Boralle, Nivaldo; Oliveira, José Eduardo de

    2010-06-30

    In this work, the combination of carbon nuclear magnetic resonance ((13)C NMR) fingerprinting with pattern-recognition analyses provides an original and alternative approach to screening commercial gasoline quality. Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) was performed on spectroscopic fingerprints to classify representative commercial gasoline samples, which were selected by Hierarchical Cluster Analyses (HCA) over several months in retails services of gas stations, into previously quality-defined classes. Following optimized (13)C NMR-SIMCA algorithm, sensitivity values were obtained in the training set (99.0%), with leave-one-out cross-validation, and external prediction set (92.0%). Governmental laboratories could employ this method as a rapid screening analysis to discourage adulteration practices. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Modelling the regional effects of climate change on air quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giorgi, F.; Meleux, F.

    2007-01-01

    The life cycle of pollutants is affected by chemical as well as meteorological factors, such as wind, temperature, precipitation, solar radiation. Therefore, climatic changes induced by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases may be expected to have significant effects on air quality. Because of the spatial variability of the pollutant emissions and climate-change signals, these effects are particularly relevant at the regional to local scales. This paper first briefly reviews modelling tools and methodologies used to study regional climate-change impacts on air quality. Patterns of regional precipitation, temperature, and sea-level changes emerging from the latest set of general circulation model projections are then discussed. Finally, the specific case of climate-change effects on summer ozone concentrations over Europe is presented to illustrate the potential impacts of climate change on pollutant amounts. It is concluded that climate change is an important factor that needs to be taken into account when designing future pollution-reduction policies. (authors)

  8. Family Food Preparation and Its Effects on Adolescent Dietary Quality and Eating Patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berge, Jerica M; MacLehose, Richard F; Larson, Nicole; Laska, Melissa; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

    2016-11-01

    The purpose of the study was to describe parent and adolescent involvement in food preparation for the family and to examine whether adolescents' food preparation involvement was related to their dietary quality (e.g., fruit and vegetable intake, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, and various common nutrients) and eating patterns (e.g., frequency of breakfast, family meals, fast food intake). Data from two linked population-based studies, Eating and Activity in Teens 2010 and Families and Eating and Activity among Teens were used in cross-sectional analyses. Mothers (n = 1,875), stepmothers (n = 18), fathers (n = 977), stepfathers (n = 105), and adolescents (n = 2,108) from socioeconomically and racially/ethnically diverse households participated in the study. Adolescents completed food frequency questionnaires and surveys in school. Parents individually completed surveys by mail or phone. Linear regression was used to estimate differences in adolescent dietary quality and eating patterns between those who do and do not engage in meal preparation. Parent and adolescent report of "usually preparing food for the family" was related to several sociodemographic characteristics, including race/ethnicity (minority populations), parent education (college or higher), parent employment status (part time or stay-at-home caregiver), household size (≤3 children), and adolescent gender (female). Adolescent involvement in food preparation for the family was significantly associated with several markers of better dietary quality and better eating patterns. In contrast, parent involvement in food preparation for the family was unrelated to adolescent dietary intake. Results suggest that involving adolescents in food preparation for the family is related to better adolescent dietary quality and eating patterns. Public health interventions and health care providers may want to encourage adolescents to help with food preparation for the family. Additionally, adolescents

  9. Turing patterns in a modified Lotka-Volterra model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGehee, Edward A.; Peacock-Lopez, Enrique

    2005-01-01

    In this Letter we consider a modified Lotka-Volterra model widely known as the Bazykin model, which is the MacArthur-Rosenzweig (MR) model that includes a prey-dependent response function and is modified with the inclusion of intraspecies interactions. We show that a quadratic intra-prey interaction term, which is the most realistic nonlinearity, yields sufficient conditions for Turing patterns. For the Bazykin model we find the Turing region in parameter space and Turing patterns in one dimension

  10. Higher Education Quality Assessment Model: Towards Achieving Educational Quality Standard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noaman, Amin Y.; Ragab, Abdul Hamid M.; Madbouly, Ayman I.; Khedra, Ahmed M.; Fayoumi, Ayman G.

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents a developed higher education quality assessment model (HEQAM) that can be applied for enhancement of university services. This is because there is no universal unified quality standard model that can be used to assess the quality criteria of higher education institutes. The analytical hierarchy process is used to identify the…

  11. Performance assessment of retrospective meteorological inputs for use in air quality modeling during TexAQS 2006

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ngan, Fong; Byun, Daewon; Kim, Hyuncheol; Lee, Daegyun; Rappenglück, Bernhard; Pour-Biazar, Arastoo

    2012-07-01

    To achieve more accurate meteorological inputs than was used in the daily forecast for studying the TexAQS 2006 air quality, retrospective simulations were conducted using objective analysis and 3D/surface analysis nudging with surface and upper observations. Model ozone using the assimilated meteorological fields with improved wind fields shows better agreement with the observation compared to the forecasting results. In the post-frontal conditions, important factors for ozone modeling in terms of wind patterns are the weak easterlies in the morning for bringing in industrial emissions to the city and the subsequent clockwise turning of the wind direction induced by the Coriolis force superimposing the sea breeze, which keeps pollutants in the urban area. Objective analysis and nudging employed in the retrospective simulation minimize the wind bias but are not able to compensate for the general flow pattern biases inherited from large scale inputs. By using an alternative analyses data for initializing the meteorological simulation, the model can re-produce the flow pattern and generate the ozone peak location closer to the reality. The inaccurate simulation of precipitation and cloudiness cause over-prediction of ozone occasionally. Since there are limitations in the meteorological model to simulate precipitation and cloudiness in the fine scale domain (less than 4-km grid), the satellite-based cloud is an alternative way to provide necessary inputs for the retrospective study of air quality.

  12. Dietary Patterns and Their Associations with the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) in Korean Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Moon-Kyung; Kim, Yoo-Sun; Kim, Jung-Hyun; Kim, Sung-Hoon; Kim, Yuri

    2015-10-01

    The aim of this study was to examine dietary pattern, nutritional intake, and diet quality of Korean pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Between October 2008 and May 2012, 166 pregnant women diagnosed with GDM completed a questionnaire and dietary intake was assessed using a 3-day food record. Blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) concentrations were measured and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed. Two major dietary patterns ("carbohydrate and vegetable" and "western" patterns) were identified through factor analysis. Dietary pattern scores for each dietary pattern were categorized into tertiles. The dietary quality index-international (DQI-I) was used to measure overall diet quality. Subjects with higher carbohydrate and vegetable pattern scores reported less physical activity (p pattern scores were associated with higher sodium intakes (p = 0.02), but lower intakes of fat (p = 0.002) and other micronutrients. On the other hand, higher western pattern scores were associated with higher fat intake (p = 0.0001), but lower intakes of sodium (p = 0.01) and other micronutrients. Higher scores for both dietary patterns were associated with lower scores in the moderation category of the DQI-I (p dietary pattern.

  13. Modeling Water Clarity and Light Quality in Oceans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamed A. Abdelrhman

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Phytoplankton is a primary producer of organic compounds, and it forms the base of the food chain in ocean waters. The concentration of phytoplankton in the water column controls water clarity and the amount and quality of light that penetrates through it. The availability of adequate light intensity is a major factor in the health of algae and phytoplankton. There is a strong negative coupling between light intensity and phytoplankton concentration (e.g., through self-shading by the cells, which reduces available light and in return affects the growth rate of the cells. Proper modeling of this coupling is essential to understand primary productivity in the oceans. This paper provides the methodology to model light intensity in the water column, which can be included in relevant water quality models. The methodology implements relationships from bio-optical models, which use phytoplankton chlorophyll a (chl-a concentration as a surrogate for light attenuation, including absorption and scattering by other attenuators. The presented mathematical methodology estimates the reduction in light intensity due to absorption by pure seawater, chl-a pigment, non-algae particles (NAPs and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM, as well as backscattering by pure seawater, phytoplankton particles and NAPs. The methods presented facilitate the prediction of the effects of various environmental and management scenarios (e.g., global warming, altered precipitation patterns, greenhouse gases on the wellbeing of phytoplankton communities in the oceans as temperature-driven chl-a changes take place.

  14. No Reference Video-Quality-Assessment Model for Monitoring Video Quality of IPTV Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamagishi, Kazuhisa; Okamoto, Jun; Hayashi, Takanori; Takahashi, Akira

    Service providers should monitor the quality of experience of a communication service in real time to confirm its status. To do this, we previously proposed a packet-layer model that can be used for monitoring the average video quality of typical Internet protocol television content using parameters derived from transmitted packet headers. However, it is difficult to monitor the video quality per user using the average video quality because video quality depends on the video content. To accurately monitor the video quality per user, a model that can be used for estimating the video quality per video content rather than the average video quality should be developed. Therefore, to take into account the impact of video content on video quality, we propose a model that calculates the difference in video quality between the video quality of the estimation-target video and the average video quality estimated using a packet-layer model. We first conducted extensive subjective quality assessments for different codecs and video sequences. We then model their characteristics based on parameters related to compression and packet loss. Finally, we verify the performance of the proposed model by applying it to unknown data sets different from the training data sets used for developing the model.

  15. Pattern-oriented modelling: a 'multi-scope' for predictive systems ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grimm, Volker; Railsback, Steven F

    2012-01-19

    Modern ecology recognizes that modelling systems across scales and at multiple levels-especially to link population and ecosystem dynamics to individual adaptive behaviour-is essential for making the science predictive. 'Pattern-oriented modelling' (POM) is a strategy for doing just this. POM is the multi-criteria design, selection and calibration of models of complex systems. POM starts with identifying a set of patterns observed at multiple scales and levels that characterize a system with respect to the particular problem being modelled; a model from which the patterns emerge should contain the right mechanisms to address the problem. These patterns are then used to (i) determine what scales, entities, variables and processes the model needs, (ii) test and select submodels to represent key low-level processes such as adaptive behaviour, and (iii) find useful parameter values during calibration. Patterns are already often used in these ways, but a mini-review of applications of POM confirms that making the selection and use of patterns more explicit and rigorous can facilitate the development of models with the right level of complexity to understand ecological systems and predict their response to novel conditions.

  16. Development of dietary pattern evaluation tool for adults and correlation with Dietary Quality Index

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, Yeo Do; Kim, Kyung Won; Choi, Kyung-Suk; Kim, Misung; Cho, Yeo Jin; Sohn, Cheongmin

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES As the prevalence of chronic diseases has risen, the need for straightforward diagnostic tools for monitoring nutrition status to improve nutrition counseling and disease prevention has likewise increased. This study developed an easily usable dietary behavior pattern diagnosis checklist and investigated its correlation with dietary quality index. SUBJECTS/METHODS A draft dietary pattern evaluation tool was generated by analyzing previous studies. The draft questionnaire...

  17. Strong adherence to a healthy dietary pattern is associated with better semen quality, especially in men with poor semen quality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oostingh, Elsje C.; Steegers-Theunissen, Régine P.M.; Vries, de Jeanne H.M.; Laven, Joop S.E.; Koster, Maria P.H.

    2017-01-01

    Objective: To study associations between periconceptional dietary patterns and semen quality parameters. Design: Prospective periconception cohort study. Setting: Tertiary hospital. Patient(s): One hundred and twenty-nine male partners of pregnant women who participated in the Rotterdam

  18. Differential DNA Methylation Patterns Are Related to Phellogen Origin and Quality of Quercus suber Cork.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inácio, Vera; Barros, Pedro M; Costa, Augusta; Roussado, Cristóvão; Gonçalves, Elsa; Costa, Rita; Graça, José; Oliveira, M Margarida; Morais-Cecílio, Leonor

    2017-01-01

    DNA methylation is thought to influence Quercus suber cork quality, which is the main constraint for its economic valorisation. However, a deep knowledge of the cytosine methylation patterns disclosing the epigenetic variability of trees with different cork quality types is totally missing. This study investigates the hypothesis that variations in DNA methylation contribute to differences in cork cellular characteristics directly related to original or traumatic phellogen activity. We used MSAPs (Methylation Sensitive Amplified Polymorphism) to assess DNA methylation patterns of cork and leaf tissues of Q. suber adult trees growing in three cork oak stands. The relationship between the detected polymorphisms and the diversity of cork quality traits was explored by a marker-trait analysis focusing on the most relevant quality characteristics. Populations differed widely in cork quality, but only slightly in degree of epigenetic differentiation. Four MSAP markers (1.3% of the total) were significantly associated with the most noteworthy quality traits: wood inclusions (nails) and porosity. This evidence supports the potential role of cytosine methylation in the modulation of differential phellogen activity either involved in localized cell death or in pore production, resulting in different cork qualities. Although, the underlying basis of the methylation polymorphism of loci affecting cork quality traits remain unclear, the disclosure of markers statistically associated with cork quality strengthens the potential role of DNA methylation in the regulation of these traits, namely at the phellogen level.

  19. Effect of different tree mortality patterns on stand development in the forest model SIBYLA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trombik Jiří

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Forest mortality critically affects stand structure and the quality of ecosystem services provided by forests. Spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus generates rather complex infestation and mortality patterns, and implementation of such patterns in forest models is challenging. We present here the procedure, which allows to simulate the bark beetle-related tree mortality in the forest dynamics model Sibyla. We explored how sensitive various production and stand structure indicators are to tree mortality patterns, which can be generated by bark beetles. We compared the simulation outputs for three unmanaged forest stands with 40, 70 and 100% proportion of spruce as affected by the disturbance-related mortality that occurred in a random pattern and in a patchy pattern. The used tree species and age class-specific mortality rates were derived from the disturbance-related mortality records from Slovakia. The proposed algorithm was developed in the SQLite using the Python language, and the algorithm allowed us to define the degree of spatial clustering of dead trees ranging from a random distribution to a completely clustered distribution; a number of trees that died in either mode is set to remain equal. We found significant differences between the long-term developments of the three investigated forest stands, but we found very little effect of the tested mortality modes on stand increment, tree species composition and diversity, and tree size diversity. Hence, our hypothesis that the different pattern of dead trees emergence should affect the competitive interactions between trees and regeneration, and thus affect selected productivity and stand structure indicators was not confirmed.

  20. Developing hydrological model for water quality in Iraq marshes zone using Landsat-TM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marghany, Maged; Hasab, Hashim Ali; Mansor, Shattri; Shariff, Abdul Rashid Bin Mohamed

    2016-06-01

    The Mesopotamia marshlands constitute the largest wetland ecosystem in the Middle East and Western Eurasia. These wetlands are located at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in southern Iraq. However, there are series reductions in the wetland zones because of neighbor countries, i.e. Turkey, Syria built dams upstream of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In addition, the first Gulf war of the 1980s had damaged majority of the marches resources. In fact,the marshes had been reduced in size to less than 7% since 1973 and had deteriorated in water quality parameters. The study integrates Hydrological Model of RMA-2 with Geographic Information System, and remote sensing techniques to map the water quality in the marshlands south of Iraq. This study shows that RMA-2 shows the two dimensional water flow pattern and water quality quantities in the marshlands. It can be said that the integration between Hydrological Model of RMA-2, Geographic Information System, and remote sensing techniques can be used to monitor water quality in the marshlands south of Iraq.

  1. The Influence of Syntactic Quality on Pragmatic Quality of Enterprise Process Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Merethe Heggset

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available As approaches and tools for process and enterprise modelling are maturing, these techniques are being taken into use on a large scale in an increasing number of organizations. In this paper we report on the use of process modelling in connection to the quality system of Statoil, a large Norwegian oil company, in particular, on the aspects found necessary to be emphasized to achieve the appropriate quality of the models in this organization. Based on the investigation of usage statistics and user feedback on models, we have identified that there are problems in comprehending some of the models. Some of these models has poorer syntactic quality than the average syntactic quality of models of the same size. An experiment with improving syntactic quality on some of these models has given mixed results, and it appears that certain syntactic errors hinder comprehension more than others.

  2. Nutrition Facts Panel use is associated with diet quality and dietary patterns among Latinos with type 2 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kollannoor-Samuel, Grace; Segura-Pérez, Sofia; Shebl, Fatma M; Hawley, Nicola L; Damio, Grace; Chhabra, Jyoti; Vega-López, Sonia; Fernandez, Maria Luz; Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael

    2017-11-01

    The study aims were to (i) identify determinants of Nutrition Facts Panel (NFP) use and (ii) describe the association between NFP use and dietary intake among Latinos with type 2 diabetes. Baseline cross-sectional data from a clinical trial were used to assess the association between NFP use and dietary intake. Diet was measured using two methods: (i) a diet quality score (the Healthy Eating Index-2010) derived from a single 24 h recall and (ii) dietary pattern (exploratory factor analyses) from an FFQ. Multivariable logistic and non-parametric quantile regressions were conducted, as appropriate. Settings Hartford County, Connecticut, USA. Latino adults (n 203), ≥21 years of age, with diagnosed type 2 diabetes, glycosylated Hb≥7 %, and without medical conditions limiting physical activity. Participants' education level, diabetes-related knowledge and English speaking were positively associated with NFP use. At the higher percentiles of diet quality score, NFP use was significantly associated with higher diet quality. Similarly, NFP users were more likely to consume a 'healthy' dietary pattern (P=0·003) and less likely to consume a 'fried snack' pattern (P=0·048) compared with NFP non-users. The association between reported NFP use and diet quality was positive and significantly stronger among participants who reported consuming a healthier diet. While NFP use was associated with a healthier dietary pattern, not using NFP was associated with a less-healthy, fried snack pattern. Longitudinal studies are needed to understand whether improving NFP use could be an effective intervention to improve diet quality among Latinos with type 2 diabetes.

  3. Cascading walks model for human mobility patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Xiao-Pu; Wang, Xiang-Wen; Yan, Xiao-Yong; Wang, Bing-Hong

    2015-01-01

    Uncovering the mechanism behind the scaling laws and series of anomalies in human trajectories is of fundamental significance in understanding many spatio-temporal phenomena. Recently, several models, e.g. the explorations-returns model (Song et al., 2010) and the radiation model for intercity travels (Simini et al., 2012), have been proposed to study the origin of these anomalies and the prediction of human movements. However, an agent-based model that could reproduce most of empirical observations without priori is still lacking. In this paper, considering the empirical findings on the correlations of move-lengths and staying time in human trips, we propose a simple model which is mainly based on the cascading processes to capture the human mobility patterns. In this model, each long-range movement activates series of shorter movements that are organized by the law of localized explorations and preferential returns in prescribed region. Based on the numerical simulations and analytical studies, we show more than five statistical characters that are well consistent with the empirical observations, including several types of scaling anomalies and the ultraslow diffusion properties, implying the cascading processes associated with the localized exploration and preferential returns are indeed a key in the understanding of human mobility activities. Moreover, the model shows both of the diverse individual mobility and aggregated scaling displacements, bridging the micro and macro patterns in human mobility. In summary, our model successfully explains most of empirical findings and provides deeper understandings on the emergence of human mobility patterns.

  4. The Tripartite Game Model for Electricity Pricing in Consideration of the Power Quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tianlei Zang

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Under the Energy Internet concept the distribution and management of resources in the electricity market have been gradually transiting from a centralized pattern to a decentralized pattern. Correspondingly, the methodological model for the analysis of economic behaviors needs to be upgraded too. Based on the idea of non-cooperative game theory, this paper puts forward a tripartite game model for electricity pricing in consideration of the power quality, which is applicable to the electricity market under the Energy Internet with distributed generation, including the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC, generating companies (GENCOs and the marketers which correspond to the regional power-retailing companies. Then, the sequential quadratic programming based on the quasi-Newton method is given to solve the game model. Finally, four sets of tests with different game factors are carried out to verify the validity and feasibility of the proposed model and algorithm. The SGCC price, the cost and the number of GENCOs and the cross-regional environment are considered in each test, respectively. The results show that this model can adapt well to the various conditions.

  5. Air quality dispersion models from energy sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lazarevska, Ana

    1996-01-01

    Along with the continuing development of new air quality models that cover more complex problems, in the Clean Air Act, legislated by the US Congress, a consistency and standardization of air quality model applications were encouraged. As a result, the Guidelines on Air Quality Models were published, which are regularly reviewed by the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, EPA. These guidelines provide a basis for estimating the air quality concentrations used in accessing control strategies as well as defining emission limits. This paper presents a review and analysis of the recent versions of the models: Simple Terrain Stationary Source Model; Complex Terrain Dispersion Model; Ozone,Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide Models; Long Range Transport Model; Other phenomenon Models:Fugitive Dust/Fugitive Emissions, Particulate Matter, Lead, Air Pathway Analyses - Air Toxic as well as Hazardous Waste. 8 refs., 4 tabs., 2 ills

  6. Age-Related Patterns in Cancer Pain and Its Psychosocial Impact: Investigating the Role of Variability in Physical and Mental Health Quality of Life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gauthier, Lynn R; Dworkin, Robert H; Warr, David; Pillai Riddell, Rebecca; Macpherson, Alison K; Rodin, Gary; Zimmermann, Camilla; Lawrence Librach, S; Moore, Malcolm; Shepherd, Frances A; Gagliese, Lucia

    2017-03-03

    Age-related patterns in cancer pain remain equivocal. Most studies ignore heterogeneity across multiple domains of well-being, and the potential role of physical (PH) and mental health (MH) quality of life (QOL) in these age-related patterns is unknown. We investigated the relationships between age and cancer pain intensity, qualities, and interference, and physical and psychosocial adaptation and the interaction between age and PH and MH QOL on pain and adaptation to cancer pain. In this cross-sectional study, 244 patients with advanced cancer and pain completed measures of pain, QOL, physical function, and psychosocial well-being. Pearson's correlations and ANOVAs assessed relationships between age and demographic and clinical factors, pain, and physical and psychosocial measures. Regression models tested the role of age and its interaction with PH and MH QOL on pain and physical and psychosocial adaptation. Older age was associated with a lower likelihood of receiving an opioid prescription, greater likelihood of having comorbidities, and worse functional status. When we did not account for these factors, age was not associated with pain and most adaptation indices. When we did account for these factors and PH QOL, older age was associated with lower non-neuropathic and neuropathic pain and several indices of psychosocial adaptation. Most interestingly, older age was associated with lower non-neuropathic pain among those with high, but not low, MH QOL. This study addresses knowledge gaps about factors underlying age-related patterns in cancer pain. Impaired MH QOL may be a proxy for age-related patterns in cancer pain. This study investigated age-related patterns in the experience of cancer pain and the role of quality of life in resilience and vulnerability to pain and adaptation to pain. Older age is associated with lower non-neuropathic pain among those with high, but not low, mental health quality of life, suggesting that impaired mental health quality of

  7. Spatial and temporal air quality pattern recognition using environmetric techniques: a case study in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Syed Abdul Mutalib, Sharifah Norsukhairin; Juahir, Hafizan; Azid, Azman; Mohd Sharif, Sharifah; Latif, Mohd Talib; Aris, Ahmad Zaharin; Zain, Sharifuddin M; Dominick, Doreena

    2013-09-01

    The objective of this study is to identify spatial and temporal patterns in the air quality at three selected Malaysian air monitoring stations based on an eleven-year database (January 2000-December 2010). Four statistical methods, Discriminant Analysis (DA), Hierarchical Agglomerative Cluster Analysis (HACA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), were selected to analyze the datasets of five air quality parameters, namely: SO2, NO2, O3, CO and particulate matter with a diameter size of below 10 μm (PM10). The three selected air monitoring stations share the characteristic of being located in highly urbanized areas and are surrounded by a number of industries. The DA results show that spatial characterizations allow successful discrimination between the three stations, while HACA shows the temporal pattern from the monthly and yearly factor analysis which correlates with severe haze episodes that have happened in this country at certain periods of time. The PCA results show that the major source of air pollution is mostly due to the combustion of fossil fuel in motor vehicles and industrial activities. The spatial pattern recognition (S-ANN) results show a better prediction performance in discriminating between the regions, with an excellent percentage of correct classification compared to DA. This study presents the necessity and usefulness of environmetric techniques for the interpretation of large datasets aiming to obtain better information about air quality patterns based on spatial and temporal characterizations at the selected air monitoring stations.

  8. Pattern formation in superdiffusion Oregonator model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Fan; Yan, Jia; Liu, Fu-Cheng; He, Ya-Feng

    2016-10-01

    Pattern formations in an Oregonator model with superdiffusion are studied in two-dimensional (2D) numerical simulations. Stability analyses are performed by applying Fourier and Laplace transforms to the space fractional reaction-diffusion systems. Antispiral, stable turing patterns, and travelling patterns are observed by changing the diffusion index of the activator. Analyses of Floquet multipliers show that the limit cycle solution loses stability at the wave number of the primitive vector of the travelling hexagonal pattern. We also observed a transition between antispiral and spiral by changing the diffusion index of the inhibitor. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11205044 and 11405042), the Research Foundation of Education Bureau of Hebei Province, China (Grant Nos. Y2012009 and ZD2015025), the Program for Young Principal Investigators of Hebei Province, China, and the Midwest Universities Comprehensive Strength Promotion Project.

  9. Study on Software Quality Improvement based on Rayleigh Model and PDCA Model

    OpenAIRE

    Ning Jingfeng; Hu Ming

    2013-01-01

    As the software industry gradually becomes mature, software quality is regarded as the life of a software enterprise. This article discusses how to improve the quality of software, applies Rayleigh model and PDCA model to the software quality management, combines with the defect removal effectiveness index, exerts PDCA model to solve the problem of quality management objectives when using the Rayleigh model in bidirectional quality improvement strategies of software quality management, a...

  10. A study on family communication pattern and parenting styles with quality of life in adolescent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanavi, Fariba Shahhraki; Baghbanian, Abdolvahab; Shovey, Mehdi Faraji; Ansari-Moghaddam, Alireza

    2013-11-01

    To investigate the relationship between parenting styles and family communication patterns with adolescent's quality of life. The cross-sectional study was carried out on 439 randomly selected adolescents in the city of Zahedan, Iran, from January to July 2011.The subjects were asked to complete the KIDSCREEN-52 health-related quality of life questionnaire, while their parents were asked to complete the Diana Brinder's Test to show their parenting styles. SPSS 15 was used to analyse data. Most parents had 'authoritative' parenting style (n = 380; 86.6%). Pluralistic (n = 170; 38.7%) and consensual (n = 152; 34.6%) patterns were the most frequent styles of communication in families. Data suggested a significant relationship between parenting style and some dimensions of quality of life, including physical well-being, psychological well-being, social support and peers, and autonomy (p parent relation and home life (p parents while raising their children.

  11. Spatial data quality and coastal spill modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Y.; Brimicombe, A.J.; Ralphs, M.P.

    1998-01-01

    Issues of spatial data quality are central to the whole oil spill modelling process. Both model and data quality performance issues should be considered as indispensable parts of a complete oil spill model specification and testing procedure. This paper presents initial results of research that will emphasise to modeler and manager alike the practical issues of spatial data quality for coastal oil spill modelling. It is centred around a case study of Jiao Zhou Bay in the People's Republic of China. The implications for coastal oil spill modelling are discussed and some strategies for managing the effects of spatial data quality in the outputs of oil spill modelling are explored. (author)

  12. Effect of Gamma Radiation and Electron Beam on Microbiological Quality and Protein Patterns of 4 Selected Beans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chookaew, S.; Eamsir, J.; Pewlong, W.; Sajjabut, S.

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of gamma ray and electron beam on microbiological quality and protein pattern of four selected beans: mung beans, soy beans, peanuts and black beans. All beans samples were exposed to irradiation at doses of 0, 0.5, 1, and 2 kGy before evaluated for their microbiological quality using AOAC method and protein analysis by gel electrophoresis. Results showed that the amount of bacteria, yeast and mold of irradiated mung beans and peanuts were reduced, whereas these microbiological quality values remained relatively the same for irradiated soy beans and black beans compared to non-irradiated samples. In terms of protein analysis, the protein patterns of the irradiated beans were of the same quality as the non-irradiated samples. To further tested the effect of irradiation on the bean's protein at higher doses, all four selected beans were exposed to gamma ray at 10, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kGy. We found that the protein patterns of mung beans, peanuts and black beans were altered at doses above 50 kGy.

  13. Toward a Simple Framework for Understanding the Influence of Litter Quality on Vertical and Horizontal Patterns of Soil Organic Matter Pools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Craig, M.; Phillips, R.

    2016-12-01

    Decades of research have revealed that plant litter quality fundamentally influences soil organic matter (SOM) properties. Yet we lack the predictive frameworks necessary to up-scale our understanding of these dynamics in biodiverse systems. Given that ectomycorrhizal (EM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants are thought to differ in their litter quality, we ask whether this dichotomy represents a framework for understanding litter quality effects on SOM in temperate forests. To do this, we sampled soils from 250 spatially referenced locations within a 25-Ha plot where 28,000 trees had been georeferenced, and analyzed spatial patterns of plant and SOM properties. We then examined the extent to which the dominance of AM- versus EM-trees relates to 1) the quality of litter inputs to forest soils and 2) the horizontal and vertical distribution of SOM fractions. We found that leaf litters produced by EM-associated trees were generally of lower quality, having a lower concentration of soluble compounds and higher C:N. Concomitant with this, we observed higher soil C:N under EM trees. Interestingly, this reflected greater N storage in AM-dominated soils rather than greater C storage in EM-dominated soils. These patterns were driven by the storage of SOM in N-rich fractions in AM-dominated soils. Specifically, trees with high litter quality were associated with greater amounts of deep and mineral-associated SOM; pools that are generally considered stable. Our results support the recent contention that high-quality plant inputs should lead to the formation of stable SOM and suggest that the AM-EM framework may provide a way forward for representing litter quality effects on SOM in earth system models.

  14. Spatio-temporal patterns in simple models of marine systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feudel, U.; Baurmann, M.; Gross, T.

    2009-04-01

    Spatio-temporal patterns in marine systems are a result of the interaction of population dynamics with physical transport processes. These physical transport processes can be either diffusion processes in marine sediments or in the water column. We study the dynamics of one population of bacteria and its nutrient in in a simplified model of a marine sediments, taking into account that the considered bacteria possess an active as well as an inactive state, where activation is processed by signal molecules. Furthermore the nutrients are transported actively by bioirrigation and passively by diffusion. It is shown that under certain conditions Turing patterns can occur which yield heterogeneous spatial patterns of the species. The influence of bioirrigation on Turing patterns leads to the emergence of ''hot spots``, i.e. localized regions of enhanced bacterial activity. All obtained patterns fit quite well to observed patterns in laboratory experiments. Spatio-temporal patterns appear in a predator-prey model, used to describe plankton dynamics. These patterns appear due to the simultaneous emergence of Turing patterns and oscillations in the species abundance in the neighborhood of a Turing-Hopf bifurcation. We observe a large variety of different patterns where i) stationary heterogeneous patterns (e.g. hot and cold spots) compete with spatio-temporal patterns ii) slowly moving patterns are embedded in an oscillatory background iii) moving fronts and spiral waves appear.

  15. Quality inspection of anisotropic scintillating lead tungstate (PbWO4) crystals through measurement of interferometric fringe pattern parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cocozzella, N.; Lebeau, M.; Majni, G.; Paone, N.; Rinaldi, D.

    2001-01-01

    Scintillating crystals are widely used as detectors in radiographic systems, computerized axial tomography devices and in calorimeters employed in high-energy physics. This paper results from a project motivated by the development of the CMS calorimeter at CERN, which will make use of a large number of scintillating crystals. In order to prevent crystals from breaking because of internal residual stress, a quality control system based on optic inspection of interference fringe patterns was developed. The principle of measurement procedures was theoretically modelled, and then a dedicated polariscope was designed and built, in order to observe the crystals under induced stresses or to evaluate the residual internal stresses. The results are innovative and open a new perspective for scintillating crystals quality control: the photoelastic constant normal to the optic axis of the lead tungstate crystals (PbWO 4 ) was measured, and the inspection procedure developed is applicable to mass production, not only to optimize the crystal processing, but also to establish a quality inspection procedure

  16. Quality inspection of anisotropic scintillating lead tungstate (PbWO 4) crystals through measurement of interferometric fringe pattern parameters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cocozzella, N.; Lebeau, M.; Majni, G.; Paone, N.; Rinaldi, D.

    2001-08-01

    Scintillating crystals are widely used as detectors in radiographic systems, computerized axial tomography devices and in calorimeters employed in high-energy physics. This paper results from a project motivated by the development of the CMS calorimeter at CERN, which will make use of a large number of scintillating crystals. In order to prevent crystals from breaking because of internal residual stress, a quality control system based on optic inspection of interference fringe patterns was developed. The principle of measurement procedures was theoretically modelled, and then a dedicated polariscope was designed and built, in order to observe the crystals under induced stresses or to evaluate the residual internal stresses. The results are innovative and open a new perspective for scintillating crystals quality control: the photoelastic constant normal to the optic axis of the lead tungstate crystals (PbWO 4) was measured, and the inspection procedure developed is applicable to mass production, not only to optimize the crystal processing, but also to establish a quality inspection procedure.

  17. Temporal Dietary Patterns Derived among the Adult Participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2004 Are Associated with Diet Quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eicher-Miller, Heather A; Khanna, Nitin; Boushey, Carol J; Gelfand, Saul B; Delp, Edward J

    2016-02-01

    Temporal dietary patterns, the distribution of energy or nutrient intakes observed over a period of time, is an emerging area of dietary patterns research that incorporates time of dietary intake with frequency and amount of intake to determine population clusters that may have similar characteristics or outcomes related to diet quality. We examined whether differences in diet quality were present between clusters of individuals with similar daily temporal dietary patterns. The first-day 24-hour dietary recall data from the cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004, were used to determine proportional energy intake, time of intake, frequency of intake occasions, and mean diet quality. Data from 9,326 US adults aged 20 to 65 years were included. The mean diet quality, classified by the Healthy Eating Index-2005, of participant clusters with similar temporal dietary patterns derived on the basis of individual proportional energy intake, time of intake, and frequency of intake, were inferentially compared using multiple linear regression that controlled for potential confounders and other covariates (PDiet quality differences were present between US population clusters exhibiting similar daily temporal dietary patterns (Pdiet quality, demonstrating that elements beyond food and nutrient intake, such as time, can be incorporated with dietary patterns to determine links to diet quality that enhance knowledge of the complicated interplay of time and dietary patterns. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Modelling of Patterns in Space and Time

    CERN Document Server

    Murray, James

    1984-01-01

    This volume contains a selection of papers presented at the work­ shop "Modelling of Patterns in Space and Time", organized by the 80nderforschungsbereich 123, "8tochastische Mathematische Modelle", in Heidelberg, July 4-8, 1983. The main aim of this workshop was to bring together physicists, chemists, biologists and mathematicians for an exchange of ideas and results in modelling patterns. Since the mathe­ matical problems arising depend only partially on the particular field of applications the interdisciplinary cooperation proved very useful. The workshop mainly treated phenomena showing spatial structures. The special areas covered were morphogenesis, growth in cell cultures, competition systems, structured populations, chemotaxis, chemical precipitation, space-time oscillations in chemical reactors, patterns in flames and fluids and mathematical methods. The discussions between experimentalists and theoreticians were especially interesting and effective. The editors hope that these proceedings reflect ...

  19. Food purchase patterns: empirical identification and analysis of their association with diet quality, socio-economic factors, and attitudes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiele, Silke; Peltner, Jonas; Richter, Almut; Mensink, Gert B M

    2017-10-12

    Empirically derived food purchase patterns provide information about which combinations of foods were purchased from households. The objective of this study was to identify what kinds of patterns exist, which level of diet quality they represent and which factors are associated with the patterns. The study made use of representative German consumption data in which approximately 12 million food purchases from 13,125 households are recorded. In accordance with healthy diet criteria the food purchases were assigned to 18 food groups of the German Food Pyramid. Based on these groups a factor analysis with a principal component technique was applied to identify food patterns. For these patterns nutrient and energy densities were examined. Using regression analysis, associations between pattern scores and socio-economic as well as attitude variables, reflecting personal statements about healthy eating, were analyzed. In total, three food purchase patterns could be identified: a natural, a processed and a traditional one. The first one was characterized by a higher purchasing of natural foods, the second by an increased purchasing of processed foods and the third by a meat-oriented diet. In each pattern there were specific diet quality criteria that could be improved whereas others were in line with actual dietary guidelines. In addition to socio-demographic factors, attitudes were significantly associated with the purchase patterns. The findings of this study are interesting from a public health perspective, as it can be assumed that measures focusing on specific aspects of diet quality are more promising than general ones. However, it is a major challenge to identify the population groups with their specific needs of improvement. As the patterns were associated with both socio-economic and attitude variables these grouping criteria could be used to define target groups.

  20. Linking agricultural crop management and air quality models for regional to national-scale nitrogen assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooter, E. J.; Bash, J. O.; Benson, V.; Ran, L.

    2012-10-01

    While nitrogen (N) is an essential element for life, human population growth and demands for energy, transportation and food can lead to excess nitrogen in the environment. A modeling framework is described and implemented to promote a more integrated, process-based and system-level approach to the estimation of ammonia (NH3) emissions which result from the application of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers to agricultural soils in the United States. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model is used to simulate plant demand-driven fertilizer applications to commercial cropland throughout the continental US. This information is coupled with a process-based air quality model to produce continental-scale NH3 emission estimates. Regional cropland NH3 emissions are driven by the timing and amount of inorganic NH3 fertilizer applied, soil processes, local meteorology, and ambient air concentrations. Initial fertilizer application often occurs when crops are planted. A state-level evaluation of EPIC-simulated, cumulative planted area compares well with similar USDA reported estimates. EPIC-annual, inorganic fertilizer application amounts also agree well with reported spatial patterns produced by others, but domain-wide the EPIC values are biased about 6% low. Preliminary application of the integrated fertilizer application and air quality modeling system produces a modified geospatial pattern of seasonal NH3 emissions that improves current simulations of observed atmospheric particle nitrate concentrations. This modeling framework provides a more dynamic, flexible, and spatially and temporally resolved estimate of NH3 emissions than previous factor-based NH3 inventories, and will facilitate evaluation of alternative nitrogen and air quality policy and adaptation strategies associated with future climate and land use changes.

  1. Modeling and analyzing stripe patterns in fish skin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yibo; Zhang, Lei; Wang, Yuan; Liang, Ping; Kang, Junjian

    2009-11-01

    The formation mechanism of stripe patterns in the skin of tropical fishes has been investigated by a coupled two variable reaction diffusion model. Two types of spatial inhomogeneities have been introduced into a homogenous system. Several Turing modes pumped by the Turing instability give rise to a simple stripe pattern. It is found that the Turing mechanism can only determine the wavelength of stripe pattern. The orientation of stripe pattern is determined by the spatial inhomogeneity. Our numerical results suggest that it may be the most possible mechanism for the forming process of fish skin patterns.

  2. A review of hydrological/water-quality models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liangliang GAO,Daoliang LI

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Water quality models are important in predicting the changes in surface water quality for environmental management. A range of water quality models are wildly used, but every model has its advantages and limitations for specific situations. The aim of this review is to provide a guide to researcher for selecting a suitable water quality model. Eight well known water quality models were selected for this review: SWAT, WASP, QUALs, MIKE 11, HSPF, CE-QUAL-W2, ELCOM-CAEDYM and EFDC. Each model is described according to its intended use, development, simulation elements, basic principles and applicability (e.g., for rivers, lakes, and reservoirs and estuaries. Currently, the most important trends for future model development are: (1 combination models─individual models cannot completely solve the complex situations so combined models are needed to obtain the most appropriate results, (2 application of artificial intelligence and mechanistic models combined with non-mechanistic models will provide more accurate results because of the realistic parameters derived from non-mechanistic models, and (3 integration with remote sensing, geographical information and global position systems (3S ─3S can solve problems requiring large amounts of data.

  3. The perspective awareness model - Eliciting multiple perspectives to formulate high quality decisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boucher, Laurel

    2013-01-01

    A great deal of attention is given to the importance of communication in environmental remediation and radioactive waste management. However, very little attention is given to eliciting multiple perspectives so as to formulate high quality decisions. Plans that are based on a limited number of perspectives tend to be narrowly focused whereas those that are based on a wide variety of perspectives tend to be comprehensive, higher quality, and more apt to be put into application. In addition, existing methods of dialogue have built-in limitations in that they typically draw from the predominant thinking patterns which focus in some areas but ignore others. This can result in clarity but a lack of comprehensiveness. This paper presents a Perspective Awareness Model which helps groups such as partnering teams, interagency teams, steering committees, and working groups elicit a wide net of perspectives and viewpoints. The paper begins by describing five factors that makes cooperation among such groups challenging. Next, a Perspective Awareness Model that makes it possible to manage these five factors is presented. The two primary components of this model --- the eight 'Thinking Directions' and the 'Shared Documentation' --- are described in detail. Several examples are given to illustrate how the Perspective Awareness Model can be used to elicit multiple perspectives to formulate high quality decisions in the area of environmental remediation and radioactive waste management. (authors)

  4. A Multiscale Survival Process for Modeling Human Activity Patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Tianyang; Cui, Peng; Song, Chaoming; Zhu, Wenwu; Yang, Shiqiang

    2016-01-01

    Human activity plays a central role in understanding large-scale social dynamics. It is well documented that individual activity pattern follows bursty dynamics characterized by heavy-tailed interevent time distributions. Here we study a large-scale online chatting dataset consisting of 5,549,570 users, finding that individual activity pattern varies with timescales whereas existing models only approximate empirical observations within a limited timescale. We propose a novel approach that models the intensity rate of an individual triggering an activity. We demonstrate that the model precisely captures corresponding human dynamics across multiple timescales over five orders of magnitudes. Our model also allows extracting the population heterogeneity of activity patterns, characterized by a set of individual-specific ingredients. Integrating our approach with social interactions leads to a wide range of implications.

  5. Air quality model guideline

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Idriss, A.; Spurrell, F.

    2009-06-01

    Alberta Environment has developed a guidelines for operations and proposed operations that require approvals under the province's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act or that operate under a code of practice for emissions to the atmosphere. In an effort to ensure consistency in the use of dispersion models for regulatory applications in Alberta, this document provided detailed guidance on suitable methods and approaches that should be employed to assess air quality from emission sources, specifically, information required to demonstrate that a source meets the Alberta ambient air quality objectives. The document outlined the statutory authority and provided an overview of the approach. It provided detailed advice on the types and uses of dispersion models with particular reference to the modelling protocol, input data, and output interpretation. Guidance on the application of regulatory models were also presented. Various models were described and their intended uses were explained. Internet addresses for different modelling resources were also offered. Last, some information about regional modelling in the province of Alberta was discussed. 40 refs., 4 tabs., 7 figs., 3 appendices.

  6. Hopfield's Model of Patterns Recognition and Laws of Artistic Perception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yevin, Igor; Koblyakov, Alexander

    The model of patterns recognition or attractor network model of associative memory, offered by J.Hopfield 1982, is the most known model in theoretical neuroscience. This paper aims to show, that such well-known laws of art perception as the Wundt curve, perception of visual ambiguity in art, and also the model perception of musical tonalities are nothing else than special cases of the Hopfield’s model of patterns recognition.

  7. Machine Learning and Deep Learning Models to Predict Runoff Water Quantity and Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradford, S. A.; Liang, J.; Li, W.; Murata, T.; Simunek, J.

    2017-12-01

    Contaminants can be rapidly transported at the soil surface by runoff to surface water bodies. Physically-based models, which are based on the mathematical description of main hydrological processes, are key tools for predicting surface water impairment. Along with physically-based models, data-driven models are becoming increasingly popular for describing the behavior of hydrological and water resources systems since these models can be used to complement or even replace physically based-models. In this presentation we propose a new data-driven model as an alternative to a physically-based overland flow and transport model. First, we have developed a physically-based numerical model to simulate overland flow and contaminant transport (the HYDRUS-1D overland flow module). A large number of numerical simulations were carried out to develop a database containing information about the impact of various input parameters (weather patterns, surface topography, vegetation, soil conditions, contaminants, and best management practices) on runoff water quantity and quality outputs. This database was used to train data-driven models. Three different methods (Neural Networks, Support Vector Machines, and Recurrence Neural Networks) were explored to prepare input- output functional relations. Results demonstrate the ability and limitations of machine learning and deep learning models to predict runoff water quantity and quality.

  8. Voronoi cell patterns: Theoretical model and applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    González, Diego Luis; Einstein, T. L.

    2011-11-01

    We use a simple fragmentation model to describe the statistical behavior of the Voronoi cell patterns generated by a homogeneous and isotropic set of points in 1D and in 2D. In particular, we are interested in the distribution of sizes of these Voronoi cells. Our model is completely defined by two probability distributions in 1D and again in 2D, the probability to add a new point inside an existing cell and the probability that this new point is at a particular position relative to the preexisting point inside this cell. In 1D the first distribution depends on a single parameter while the second distribution is defined through a fragmentation kernel; in 2D both distributions depend on a single parameter. The fragmentation kernel and the control parameters are closely related to the physical properties of the specific system under study. We use our model to describe the Voronoi cell patterns of several systems. Specifically, we study the island nucleation with irreversible attachment, the 1D car-parking problem, the formation of second-level administrative divisions, and the pattern formed by the Paris Métro stations.

  9. Pattern-oriented modelling: a ‘multi-scope’ for predictive systems ecology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grimm, Volker; Railsback, Steven F.

    2012-01-01

    Modern ecology recognizes that modelling systems across scales and at multiple levels—especially to link population and ecosystem dynamics to individual adaptive behaviour—is essential for making the science predictive. ‘Pattern-oriented modelling’ (POM) is a strategy for doing just this. POM is the multi-criteria design, selection and calibration of models of complex systems. POM starts with identifying a set of patterns observed at multiple scales and levels that characterize a system with respect to the particular problem being modelled; a model from which the patterns emerge should contain the right mechanisms to address the problem. These patterns are then used to (i) determine what scales, entities, variables and processes the model needs, (ii) test and select submodels to represent key low-level processes such as adaptive behaviour, and (iii) find useful parameter values during calibration. Patterns are already often used in these ways, but a mini-review of applications of POM confirms that making the selection and use of patterns more explicit and rigorous can facilitate the development of models with the right level of complexity to understand ecological systems and predict their response to novel conditions. PMID:22144392

  10. Numerical approaches to model perturbation fire in turing pattern formations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campagna, R.; Brancaccio, M.; Cuomo, S.; Mazzoleni, S.; Russo, L.; Siettos, K.; Giannino, F.

    2017-11-01

    Turing patterns were observed in chemical, physical and biological systems described by coupled reaction-diffusion equations. Several models have been formulated proposing the water as the causal mechanism of vegetation pattern formation, but this isn't an exhaustive hypothesis in some natural environments. An alternative explanation has been related to the plant-soil negative feedback. In Marasco et al. [1] the authors explored the hypothesis that both mechanisms contribute in the formation of regular and irregular vegetation patterns. The mathematical model consists in three partial differential equations (PDEs) that take into account for a dynamic balance between biomass, water and toxic compounds. A numerical approach is mandatory also to investigate on the predictions of this kind of models. In this paper we start from the mathematical model described in [1], set the model parameters such that the biomass reaches a stable spatial pattern (spots) and present preliminary studies about the occurrence of perturbing events, such as wildfire, that can affect the regularity of the biomass configuration.

  11. A Quality-Oriented Urban Development Pattern? Two Case Studies in Shanghai

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin Yi

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: This article concentrates on the transformation of development patterns due to economic transitions in Shanghai through two case studies looking at different spatial levels. In the transformation process, the improvement of spatial quality in the existing urban space will play the central role in achieving a balance in the future among the relevant economic, social and environmental aspects. Relatedly, economic growth is no longer seen as the only important goal. Social and environmental issues have gained more and more attention, and are increasingly seen as the basic foundation for sustainable development. Given that such significant changes have occurred within a very short period of time, the author will discuss different critical factors and related symptoms as embodied in urban planning practice. Two case studies regarding the transformation in goal setting and the implementation process will be introduced, with a focus on the issues of accessibility and quality of life. One case relates to the development plan for Hongqiao Business Park, which is one of three focus development areas for Shanghai and is located near the comprehensive Hongqiao Transport Hub. The other case considers an area located to the south of the area of interest in the first case; both areas are well connected with each other. A new development strategy for the development of new towns in knowledge economy clusters has been advanced in the outskirts of Shanghai's city center, and has also influenced such efforts on the regional level, i.e., where the Huangpu River flows through the planning area and connects to other parts of the broader Shanghai region. KEYWORDS: Quality-oriented, urban development pattern, economic transition, Shanghai

  12. Modeling and inferring cleavage patterns in proliferating epithelia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ankit B Patel

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The regulation of cleavage plane orientation is one of the key mechanisms driving epithelial morphogenesis. Still, many aspects of the relationship between local cleavage patterns and tissue-level properties remain poorly understood. Here we develop a topological model that simulates the dynamics of a 2D proliferating epithelium from generation to generation, enabling the exploration of a wide variety of biologically plausible cleavage patterns. We investigate a spectrum of models that incorporate the spatial impact of neighboring cells and the temporal influence of parent cells on the choice of cleavage plane. Our findings show that cleavage patterns generate "signature" equilibrium distributions of polygonal cell shapes. These signatures enable the inference of local cleavage parameters such as neighbor impact, maternal influence, and division symmetry from global observations of the distribution of cell shape. Applying these insights to the proliferating epithelia of five diverse organisms, we find that strong division symmetry and moderate neighbor/maternal influence are required to reproduce the predominance of hexagonal cells and low variability in cell shape seen empirically. Furthermore, we present two distinct cleavage pattern models, one stochastic and one deterministic, that can reproduce the empirical distribution of cell shapes. Although the proliferating epithelia of the five diverse organisms show a highly conserved cell shape distribution, there are multiple plausible cleavage patterns that can generate this distribution, and experimental evidence suggests that indeed plants and fruitflies use distinct division mechanisms.

  13. STREAMFLOW AND WATER QUALITY REGRESSION MODELING ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... downstream Obigbo station show: consistent time-trends in degree of contamination; linear and non-linear relationships for water quality models against total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended sediment (TSS), chloride, pH and sulphate; and non-linear relationship for streamflow and water quality transport models.

  14. Modelling survival: exposure pattern, species sensitivity and uncertainty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashauer, Roman; Albert, Carlo; Augustine, Starrlight; Cedergreen, Nina; Charles, Sandrine; Ducrot, Virginie; Focks, Andreas; Gabsi, Faten; Gergs, André; Goussen, Benoit; Jager, Tjalling; Kramer, Nynke I; Nyman, Anna-Maija; Poulsen, Veronique; Reichenberger, Stefan; Schäfer, Ralf B; Van den Brink, Paul J; Veltman, Karin; Vogel, Sören; Zimmer, Elke I; Preuss, Thomas G

    2016-07-06

    The General Unified Threshold model for Survival (GUTS) integrates previously published toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic models and estimates survival with explicitly defined assumptions. Importantly, GUTS accounts for time-variable exposure to the stressor. We performed three studies to test the ability of GUTS to predict survival of aquatic organisms across different pesticide exposure patterns, time scales and species. Firstly, using synthetic data, we identified experimental data requirements which allow for the estimation of all parameters of the GUTS proper model. Secondly, we assessed how well GUTS, calibrated with short-term survival data of Gammarus pulex exposed to four pesticides, can forecast effects of longer-term pulsed exposures. Thirdly, we tested the ability of GUTS to estimate 14-day median effect concentrations of malathion for a range of species and use these estimates to build species sensitivity distributions for different exposure patterns. We find that GUTS adequately predicts survival across exposure patterns that vary over time. When toxicity is assessed for time-variable concentrations species may differ in their responses depending on the exposure profile. This can result in different species sensitivity rankings and safe levels. The interplay of exposure pattern and species sensitivity deserves systematic investigation in order to better understand how organisms respond to stress, including humans.

  15. Compare local pocket and global protein structure models by small structure patterns

    KAUST Repository

    Cui, Xuefeng

    2015-09-09

    Researchers proposed several criteria to assess the quality of predicted protein structures because it is one of the essential tasks in the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) competitions. Popular criteria include root mean squared deviation (RMSD), MaxSub score, TM-score, GDT-TS and GDT-HA scores. All these criteria require calculation of rigid transformations to superimpose the the predicted protein structure to the native protein structure. Yet, how to obtain the rigid transformations is unknown or with high time complexity, and, hence, heuristic algorithms were proposed. In this work, we carefully design various small structure patterns, including the ones specifically tuned for local pockets. Such structure patterns are biologically meaningful, and address the issue of relying on a sufficient number of backbone residue fragments for existing methods. We sample the rigid transformations from these small structure patterns; and the optimal superpositions yield by these small structures are refined and reported. As a result, among 11; 669 pairs of predicted and native local protein pocket models from the CASP10 dataset, the GDT-TS scores calculated by our method are significantly higher than those calculated by LGA. Moreover, our program is computationally much more efficient. Source codes and executables are publicly available at http://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/prosta/

  16. Stripe patterns in a model for block polymers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Peletier, M.A.; Veneroni, M.

    2009-01-01

    We consider a pattern-forming system in two space dimensions defined by an energy Ge. The functional Ge models strong phase separation in AB diblock copolymer melts, and patterns are represented by {0, 1}-valued functions; the values 0 and 1 correspond to the A and B phases. The parameter e is the

  17. Stripe patterns in a model for block polymers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Peletier, M.A.; Veneroni, M.

    2010-01-01

    We consider a pattern-forming system in two space dimensions defined by an energy Ge. The functional Ge models strong phase separation in AB diblock copolymer melts, and patterns are represented by {0, 1}-valued functions; the values 0 and 1 correspond to the A and B phases. The parameter e is the

  18. An Approach to Improve the Quality of Infrared Images of Vein-Patterns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chih-Lung Lin

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available This study develops an approach to improve the quality of infrared (IR images of vein-patterns, which usually have noise, low contrast, low brightness and small objects of interest, thus requiring preprocessing to improve their quality. The main characteristics of the proposed approach are that no prior knowledge about the IR image is necessary and no parameters must be preset. Two main goals are sought: impulse noise reduction and adaptive contrast enhancement technologies. In our study, a fast median-based filter (FMBF is developed as a noise reduction method. It is based on an IR imaging mechanism to detect the noisy pixels and on a modified median-based filter to remove the noisy pixels in IR images. FMBF has the advantage of a low computation load. In addition, FMBF can retain reasonably good edges and texture information when the size of the filter window increases. The most important advantage is that the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR caused by FMBF is higher than the PSNR caused by the median filter. A hybrid cumulative histogram equalization (HCHE is proposed for adaptive contrast enhancement. HCHE can automatically generate a hybrid cumulative histogram (HCH based on two different pieces of information about the image histogram. HCHE can improve the enhancement effect on hot objects rather than background. The experimental results are addressed and demonstrate that the proposed approach is feasible for use as an effective and adaptive process for enhancing the quality of IR vein-pattern images.

  19. Comparison of bar pattern and edge method for MTF measurement in radiology quality control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alvarez, M.; Alves, A.F.F; Bacchim Neto, F.A.; Pavan, A.L.M.; Rosa, M.E.D.; Miranda, J.R.A.; Pina, D.R. de, E-mail: drpina@fmb.unesp.br [Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Botucatu, SP (Brazil)

    2015-08-15

    Spatial resolution is one of the parameters that is routinely checked during acceptance procedures and regular quality control measurements. The spatial resolution of a radiographic imaging device is most appropriately expressed in terms of its modulation transfer function (MTF), which indicates the decline of detector spatial resolution with spatial frequency. Traditionally used methods of MTF measurement involve imaging either a narrow slit or a sharp edge to obtain the detector line spread function (LSF), whose frequency transform leads to the MTF. In this work is presented a study of the measurement of the limiting spatial resolution using the MTF method and the line-pair bar-pattern method. Our aim is to compare the bar-pattern method with the MTF method and then evaluate what method is the best for the dairy quality control tests and when is better to perform one test or other. These acquisition procedures were tested according to its reproducibility and variation due to noise. (author)

  20. BUSINESS MODEL PATTERNS FOR DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

    OpenAIRE

    BENJAMIN AMSHOFF; CHRISTIAN DÜLME; JULIAN ECHTERFELD; JÜRGEN GAUSEMEIER

    2015-01-01

    Companies nowadays face a myriad of business opportunities as a direct consequence of manifold disruptive technology developments. As a basic characteristic, disruptive technologies lead to a severe shift in value-creation networks giving rise to new market segments. One of the key challenges is to anticipate the business logics within these nascent and formerly unknown markets. Business model patterns promise to tackle this challenge. They can be interpreted as proven business model elements...

  1. Pattern Formation in Predator-Prey Model with Delay and Cross Diffusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinze Lian

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider the effect of time delay and cross diffusion on the dynamics of a modified Leslie-Gower predator-prey model incorporating a prey refuge. Based on the stability analysis, we demonstrate that delayed feedback may generate Hopf and Turing instability under some conditions, resulting in spatial patterns. One of the most interesting findings is that the model exhibits complex pattern replication: the model dynamics exhibits a delay and diffusion controlled formation growth not only to spots, stripes, and holes, but also to spiral pattern self-replication. The results indicate that time delay and cross diffusion play important roles in pattern formation.

  2. Integrated modeling of software cost and quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rone, K.Y.; Olson, K.M.

    1994-01-01

    In modeling the cost and quality of software systems, the relationship between cost and quality must be considered. This explicit relationship is dictated by the criticality of the software being developed. The balance between cost and quality is a viable software engineering trade-off throughout the life cycle. Therefore, the ability to accurately estimate the cost and quality of software systems is essential to providing reliable software on time and within budget. Software cost models relate the product error rate to the percent of the project labor that is required for independent verification and validation. The criticality of the software determines which cost model is used to estimate the labor required to develop the software. Software quality models yield an expected error discovery rate based on the software size, criticality, software development environment, and the level of competence of the project and the developers with respect to the processes being employed

  3. Effect of Cutting Pattern and Fertilization Level on Species Diversity and Evaluation of Grassland Quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josef Raus

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The effects of fertilization level and cutting pattern on the species diversity and quality of a meadow stand were assessed in 2004–2012 in the small plot trial established in 2003 in Vatín, Vysočina Region, Czech Republic. Four levels of fertilization (none; N0 + P30 + K60 kg∙ha−1; N90 + P30 + K60 kg∙ha−1; N180 + P30 + K60 kg∙ha−1 were combined with four treatments of exploitation intensity (4 cuts per year, first cut on 15th May, every next after 45 days; 3 cuts per year, first cut on 30th May, every next after 60 days; 2 cuts per year, first cut on 15th June, next after 90 days; 2 cuts per year, first cut on 30th June, next after 90 days. Numbers of species, Simpson’s diversity index and evaluation of grassland quality according to Novák (2004 were evaluated. Numbers of species and Simpson’s diversity index were significantly affected by both fertilization level and cutting pattern. Species richness decreased along with increasing fertilization rates from 29.4 (no fertilization to 27.8 (N180PK. When comparing cutting pattern treatments the highest species richness was found in four-cut swards (29.6 in average of fertilization levels and it declines towards late double-cut regime (27.2. The Simpson’s index generally increased from two-cut swards to four-cut and from fertilized treatments to control. Grassland quality was significantly affected by cutting pattern. Values increased from four-cut swards (38.1 to two-cut ones (43.8 and 44.0 in early and late harvest respectively.

  4. Large-Scale Patterns in a Minimal Cognitive Flocking Model: Incidental Leaders, Nematic Patterns, and Aggregates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barberis, Lucas; Peruani, Fernando

    2016-12-01

    We study a minimal cognitive flocking model, which assumes that the moving entities navigate using the available instantaneous visual information exclusively. The model consists of active particles, with no memory, that interact by a short-ranged, position-based, attractive force, which acts inside a vision cone (VC), and lack velocity-velocity alignment. We show that this active system can exhibit—due to the VC that breaks Newton's third law—various complex, large-scale, self-organized patterns. Depending on parameter values, we observe the emergence of aggregates or millinglike patterns, the formation of moving—locally polar—files with particles at the front of these structures acting as effective leaders, and the self-organization of particles into macroscopic nematic structures leading to long-ranged nematic order. Combining simulations and nonlinear field equations, we show that position-based active models, as the one analyzed here, represent a new class of active systems fundamentally different from other active systems, including velocity-alignment-based flocking systems. The reported results are of prime importance in the study, interpretation, and modeling of collective motion patterns in living and nonliving active systems.

  5. Video processing for human perceptual visual quality-oriented video coding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Hyungsuk; Kim, Wonha

    2013-04-01

    We have developed a video processing method that achieves human perceptual visual quality-oriented video coding. The patterns of moving objects are modeled by considering the limited human capacity for spatial-temporal resolution and the visual sensory memory together, and an online moving pattern classifier is devised by using the Hedge algorithm. The moving pattern classifier is embedded in the existing visual saliency with the purpose of providing a human perceptual video quality saliency model. In order to apply the developed saliency model to video coding, the conventional foveation filtering method is extended. The proposed foveation filter can smooth and enhance the video signals locally, in conformance with the developed saliency model, without causing any artifacts. The performance evaluation results confirm that the proposed video processing method shows reliable improvements in the perceptual quality for various sequences and at various bandwidths, compared to existing saliency-based video coding methods.

  6. Self-Organized Crystallization Patterns from Evaporating Droplets of Common Wheat Grain Leakages as a Potential Tool for Quality Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Olga Kokornaczyk

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available We studied the evaporation-induced pattern formation in droplets of common wheat kernel leakages prepared out of ancient and modern wheat cultivars as a possible tool for wheat quality analysis. The experiments showed that the substances which passed into the water during the soaking of the kernels created crystalline structures with different degrees of complexity while the droplets were evaporating. The forms ranged from spots and simple structures with single ramifications, through dendrites, up to highly organized hexagonal shapes and fractal-like structures. The patterns were observed and photographed using dark field microscopy in small magnifications. The evaluation of the patterns was performed both visually and by means of the fractal dimension analysis. From the results, it can be inferred that the wheat cultivars differed in their pattern-forming capacities. Two of the analyzed wheat cultivars showed poor pattern formation, whereas another two created well-formed and complex patterns. Additionally, the wheat cultivars were analyzed for their vigor by means of the germination test and measurement of the electrical conductivity of the grain leakages. The results showed that the more vigorous cultivars also created more complex patterns, whereas the weaker cultivars created predominantly poor forms. This observation suggests a correlation between the wheat seed quality and droplet evaporation patterns.

  7. Designing Excellence and Quality Model for Training Centers of Primary Health Care: A Delphi Method Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tabrizi, Jafar-Sadegh; Farahbakhsh, Mostafa; Shahgoli, Javad; Rahbar, Mohammad Reza; Naghavi-Behzad, Mohammad; Ahadi, Hamid-Reza; Azami-Aghdash, Saber

    2015-10-01

    Excellence and quality models are comprehensive methods for improving the quality of healthcare. The aim of this study was to design excellence and quality model for training centers of primary health care using Delphi method. In this study, Delphi method was used. First, comprehensive information were collected using literature review. In extracted references, 39 models were identified from 34 countries and related sub-criteria and standards were extracted from 34 models (from primary 39 models). Then primary pattern including 8 criteria, 55 sub-criteria, and 236 standards was developed as a Delphi questionnaire and evaluated in four stages by 9 specialists of health care system in Tabriz and 50 specialists from all around the country. Designed primary model (8 criteria, 55 sub-criteria, and 236 standards) were concluded with 8 criteria, 45 sub-criteria, and 192 standards after 4 stages of evaluations by specialists. Major criteria of the model are leadership, strategic and operational planning, resource management, information analysis, human resources management, process management, costumer results, and functional results, where the top score was assigned as 1000 by specialists. Functional results had the maximum score of 195 whereas planning had the minimum score of 60. Furthermore the most and the least sub-criteria was for leadership with 10 sub-criteria and strategic planning with 3 sub-criteria, respectively. The model that introduced in this research has been designed following 34 reference models of the world. This model could provide a proper frame for managers of health system in improving quality.

  8. Crossover patterning by the beam-film model: analysis and implications.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liangran Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Crossing-over is a central feature of meiosis. Meiotic crossover (CO sites are spatially patterned along chromosomes. CO-designation at one position disfavors subsequent CO-designation(s nearby, as described by the classical phenomenon of CO interference. If multiple designations occur, COs tend to be evenly spaced. We have previously proposed a mechanical model by which CO patterning could occur. The central feature of a mechanical mechanism is that communication along the chromosomes, as required for CO interference, can occur by redistribution of mechanical stress. Here we further explore the nature of the beam-film model, its ability to quantitatively explain CO patterns in detail in several organisms, and its implications for three important patterning-related phenomena: CO homeostasis, the fact that the level of zero-CO bivalents can be low (the "obligatory CO", and the occurrence of non-interfering COs. Relationships to other models are discussed.

  9. Model quality and safety studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, K.E.

    1997-01-01

    The paper describes the EC initiative on model quality assessment and emphasizes some of the problems encountered in the selection of data from field tests used in the evaluation process. Further, it discusses the impact of model uncertainties in safety studies of industrial plants. The model...... that most of these have never been through a procedure of evaluation, but nonetheless are used to assist in making decisions that may directly affect the safety of the public and the environment. As a major funder of European research on major industrial hazards, DGXII is conscious of the importance......-tain model is appropriate for use in solving a given problem. Further, the findings from the REDIPHEM project related to dense gas dispersion will be highlighted. Finally, the paper will discuss the need for model quality assessment in safety studies....

  10. Tilted dipole model for bias-dependent photoluminescence pattern

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujieda, Ichiro, E-mail: fujieda@se.ritsumei.ac.jp; Suzuki, Daisuke; Masuda, Taishi [Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu 525-8577 (Japan)

    2014-12-14

    In a guest-host system containing elongated dyes and a nematic liquid crystal, both molecules are aligned to each other. An external bias tilts these molecules and the radiation pattern of the system is altered. A model is proposed to describe this bias-dependent photoluminescence patterns. It divides the liquid crystal/dye layer into sub-layers that contain electric dipoles with specific tilt angles. Each sub-layer emits linearly polarized light. Its radiation pattern is toroidal and is determined by the tilt angle. Its intensity is assumed to be proportional to the power of excitation light absorbed by the sub-layer. This is calculated by the Lambert-Beer's Law. The absorption coefficient is assumed to be proportional to the cross-section of the tilted dipole moment, in analogy to the ellipsoid of refractive index, to evaluate the cross-section for each polarized component of the excitation light. Contributions from all the sub-layers are added to give a final expression for the radiation pattern. Self-absorption is neglected. The model is simplified by reducing the number of sub-layers. Analytical expressions are derived for a simple case that consists of a single layer with tilted dipoles sandwiched by two layers with horizontally-aligned dipoles. All the parameters except for the tilt angle can be determined by measuring transmittance of the excitation light. The model roughly reproduces the bias-dependent photoluminescence patterns of a cell containing 0.5 wt. % coumarin 6. It breaks down at large emission angles. Measured spectral changes suggest that the discrepancy is due to self-absorption and re-emission.

  11. Breakfast Dietary Patterns among Mexican Children Are Related to Total-Day Diet Quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afeiche, Myriam C; Taillie, Lindsey Smith; Hopkins, Sinead; Eldridge, Alison L; Popkin, Barry M

    2017-03-01

    Background: Mexico has experienced shifts in food availability and consumption patterns over the past few decades from traditional diets to those containing more high-energy density foods, resulting in the development of unhealthful dietary patterns among children and adults. However, to our knowledge it is not known whether breakfast consumption patterns contribute to the overall daily diet of Mexican children. Objective: We examined total-day diet among breakfast consumers compared with breakfast skippers, identified and investigated breakfast dietary patterns in relation to energy and nutrient intakes at breakfast and across the day, and examined these patterns in relation to sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: With the use of nationally representative dietary data (one 24-h recall) from the 2012 Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey, 3760 children aged 4-13 y were categorized into mutually exclusive breakfast patterns with the use of cluster analysis. The association between breakfast patterns and breakfast skippers with dietary intake at breakfast and for the total day was investigated with the use of multivariate linear regression. Results: Most children (83%) consumed breakfast. Six breakfast dietary patterns were identified (milk and sweetened breads, tortillas and beans, sweetened beverages, sandwiches and quesadillas, eggs, and cereal and milk) and reflected both traditional and more Westernized dietary patterns. Sugar-sweetened beverages were consumed across all patterns. Compared with all breakfast dietary patterns, breakfast skippers had the lowest intake of several nutrients of public health concern. Nutrients to limit that were high at breakfast tended to be high for the total day and vice versa for nutrients to encourage. Conclusions: There was not a single pattern that complied perfectly with the Mexican School Breakfast Guidelines, but changes such as increasing dietary fiber by encouraging more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and

  12. Measures of Quality in Business Process Modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radek Hronza

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Business process modelling and analysing is undoubtedly one of the most important parts of Applied (Business Informatics. Quality of business process models (diagrams is crucial for any purpose in this area. The goal of a process analyst’s work is to create generally understandable, explicit and error free models. If a process is properly described, created models can be used as an input into deep analysis and optimization. It can be assumed that properly designed business process models (similarly as in the case of correctly written algorithms contain characteristics that can be mathematically described. Besides it will be possible to create a tool that will help process analysts to design proper models. As part of this review will be conducted systematic literature review in order to find and analyse business process model’s design and business process model’s quality measures. It was found that mentioned area had already been the subject of research investigation in the past. Thirty-three suitable scietific publications and twenty-two quality measures were found. Analysed scientific publications and existing quality measures do not reflect all important attributes of business process model’s clarity, simplicity and completeness. Therefore it would be appropriate to add new measures of quality.

  13. Turing patterns and long-time behavior in a three-species food-chain model

    KAUST Repository

    Parshad, Rana D.

    2014-08-01

    We consider a spatially explicit three-species food chain model, describing generalist top predator-specialist middle predator-prey dynamics. We investigate the long-time dynamics of the model and show the existence of a finite dimensional global attractor in the product space, L2(Ω). We perform linear stability analysis and show that the model exhibits the phenomenon of Turing instability, as well as diffusion induced chaos. Various Turing patterns such as stripe patterns, mesh patterns, spot patterns, labyrinth patterns and weaving patterns are obtained, via numerical simulations in 1d as well as in 2d. The Turing and non-Turing space, in terms of model parameters, is also explored. Finally, we use methods from nonlinear time series analysis to reconstruct a low dimensional chaotic attractor of the model, and estimate its fractal dimension. This provides a lower bound, for the fractal dimension of the attractor, of the spatially explicit model. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

  14. Labour Quality Model for Organic Farming Food Chains

    OpenAIRE

    Gassner, B.; Freyer, B.; Leitner, H.

    2008-01-01

    The debate on labour quality in science is controversial as well as in the organic agriculture community. Therefore, we reviewed literature on different labour quality models and definitions, and had key informant interviews on labour quality issues with stakeholders in a regional oriented organic agriculture bread food chain. We developed a labour quality model with nine quality categories and discussed linkages to labour satisfaction, ethical values and IFOAM principles.

  15. Effects of Meteorological Data Quality on Snowpack Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Havens, S.; Marks, D. G.; Robertson, M.; Hedrick, A. R.; Johnson, M.

    2017-12-01

    Detailed quality control of meteorological inputs is the most time-intensive component of running the distributed, physically-based iSnobal snow model, and the effect of data quality of the inputs on the model is unknown. The iSnobal model has been run operationally since WY2013, and is currently run in several basins in Idaho and California. The largest amount of user input during modeling is for the quality control of precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and wind direction inputs. Precipitation inputs require detailed user input and are crucial to correctly model the snowpack mass. This research applies a range of quality control methods to meteorological input, from raw input with minimal cleaning, to complete user-applied quality control. The meteorological input cleaning generally falls into two categories. The first is global minimum/maximum and missing value correction that could be corrected and/or interpolated with automated processing. The second category is quality control for inputs that are not globally erroneous, yet are still unreasonable and generally indicate malfunctioning measurement equipment, such as temperature or relative humidity that remains constant, or does not correlate with daily trends observed at nearby stations. This research will determine how sensitive model outputs are to different levels of quality control and guide future operational applications.

  16. Type-2 fuzzy graphical models for pattern recognition

    CERN Document Server

    Zeng, Jia

    2015-01-01

    This book discusses how to combine type-2 fuzzy sets and graphical models to solve a range of real-world pattern recognition problems such as speech recognition, handwritten Chinese character recognition, topic modeling as well as human action recognition. It covers these recent developments while also providing a comprehensive introduction to the fields of type-2 fuzzy sets and graphical models. Though primarily intended for graduate students, researchers and practitioners in fuzzy logic and pattern recognition, the book can also serve as a valuable reference work for researchers without any previous knowledge of these fields. Dr. Jia Zeng is a Professor at the School of Computer Science and Technology, Soochow University, China. Dr. Zhi-Qiang Liu is a Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, China.

  17. Parametric packet-based audiovisual quality model for IPTV services

    CERN Document Server

    Garcia, Marie-Neige

    2014-01-01

    This volume presents a parametric packet-based audiovisual quality model for Internet Protocol TeleVision (IPTV) services. The model is composed of three quality modules for the respective audio, video and audiovisual components. The audio and video quality modules take as input a parametric description of the audiovisual processing path, and deliver an estimate of the audio and video quality. These outputs are sent to the audiovisual quality module which provides an estimate of the audiovisual quality. Estimates of perceived quality are typically used both in the network planning phase and as part of the quality monitoring. The same audio quality model is used for both these phases, while two variants of the video quality model have been developed for addressing the two application scenarios. The addressed packetization scheme is MPEG2 Transport Stream over Real-time Transport Protocol over Internet Protocol. In the case of quality monitoring, that is the case for which the network is already set-up, the aud...

  18. Cellular automaton modeling of biological pattern formation characterization, examples, and analysis

    CERN Document Server

    Deutsch, Andreas

    2017-01-01

    This text explores the use of cellular automata in modeling pattern formation in biological systems. It describes several mathematical modeling approaches utilizing cellular automata that can be used to study the dynamics of interacting cell systems both in simulation and in practice. New in this edition are chapters covering cell migration, tissue development, and cancer dynamics, as well as updated references and new research topic suggestions that reflect the rapid development of the field. The book begins with an introduction to pattern-forming principles in biology and the various mathematical modeling techniques that can be used to analyze them. Cellular automaton models are then discussed in detail for different types of cellular processes and interactions, including random movement, cell migration, adhesive cell interaction, alignment and cellular swarming, growth processes, pigment cell pattern formation, tissue development, tumor growth and invasion, and Turing-type patterns and excitable media. In ...

  19. Attachment quality is related to the synchrony of mother and infant monitoring patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biro, Szilvia; Alink, Lenneke R A; Huffmeijer, Renske; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; Van IJzendoorn, Marinus H

    2017-06-01

    We investigated whether attachment quality is related to infant-mother dyadic patterns in monitoring animated social situations. Sixty 12-month-old infants and their mothers participated in an eye-tracking study in which they watched abstractly depicted distress interactions involving the separation of a "baby" and a "parent" character followed by reunion or further separation of the two characters. We measured infants' and their mothers' relative fixation duration to the two characters in the animations. We found that infant attachment disorganization moderated the correspondence between the monitoring patterns of infant-mother dyads during the final part of the animations resulting in reunion or separation. Organized infants and their mothers showed complementary monitoring patterns: the more the mothers focused their attention on the "baby" character, the more the infants focused their attention on the "parent" character, and vice versa. Disorganized infant-mother dyads showed the opposite pattern although the correlation was nonsignificant: mothers and their infants focused on the same character. The attachment-related differences in the nature of the synchrony in the attentional processes of infants and their mothers suggest that by 12 months the dyads' representations of social situations reflect their shared social-emotional experiences.

  20. Spatiotemporal Patterns in a Ratio-Dependent Food Chain Model with Reaction-Diffusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lei Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Predator-prey models describe biological phenomena of pursuit-evasion interaction. And this interaction exists widely in the world for the necessary energy supplement of species. In this paper, we have investigated a ratio-dependent spatially extended food chain model. Based on the bifurcation analysis (Hopf and Turing, we give the spatial pattern formation via numerical simulation, that is, the evolution process of the system near the coexistence equilibrium point (u2*,v2*,w2*, and find that the model dynamics exhibits complex pattern replication. For fixed parameters, on increasing the control parameter c1, the sequence “holes → holes-stripe mixtures → stripes → spots-stripe mixtures → spots” pattern is observed. And in the case of pure Hopf instability, the model exhibits chaotic wave pattern replication. Furthermore, we consider the pattern formation in the case of which the top predator is extinct, that is, the evolution process of the system near the equilibrium point (u1*,v1*,0, and find that the model dynamics exhibits stripes-spots pattern replication. Our results show that reaction-diffusion model is an appropriate tool for investigating fundamental mechanism of complex spatiotemporal dynamics. It will be useful for studying the dynamic complexity of ecosystems.

  1. Metrics for analyzing the quality of model transformations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Amstel, van M.F.; Lange, C.F.J.; Brand, van den M.G.J.; Falcone, G.; Guéhéneuc, Y.G.; Lange, C.F.J.; Porkoláb, Z.; Sahraoui, H.A.

    2008-01-01

    Model transformations become increasingly important with the emergence of model driven engineering of, amongst others, objectoriented software systems. It is therefore necessary to define and evaluate the quality of model transformations. The goal of our research is to make the quality of model

  2. Air Quality Pattern Assessment in Malaysia Using Multivariate Techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamza Ahmad Isiyaka; Azman Azid

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to investigate the spatial characteristics in the pattern of air quality monitoring sites, identify the most discriminating parameters contributing to air pollution, and predict the level of air pollution index (API) in Malaysia using multivariate techniques. Five parameters observed for five years (2000-2004) were used. Hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis classified the five air quality monitoring sites into two independent groups based on the characteristics of activities in the monitoring stations. Discriminate analysis for standard, backward stepwise and forward stepwise mode gave a correct assignation of more than 87 % in the confusion matrix. This result indicates that only three parameters (PM_1_0, SO_2 and NO_2) with a p<0.0001 discriminate best in polluting the air. The major possible sources of air pollution were identified using principal component analysis that account for more than 58 % and 60 % in the total variance. Based on the findings, anthropogenic activities (vehicular emission, industrial activities, construction sites, bush burning) have a strong influence in the source of air pollution. Furthermore, artificial neural network (ANN) was used to predict the level of air pollution index at R"2 = 0.8493 and RMSE = 5.9184. This indicates that ANN can predict more than 84 % of the API. (author)

  3. Perceived Service Quality models: Are They Still Relevant?

    OpenAIRE

    Polyakova, Olga; Mirza, Mohammed T.

    2015-01-01

    This paper reviews the concept of perceived service quality and provides an update to the body of service quality knowledge. It consolidates the pathway of perceived service quality concept, from its emergence to the research model’s development. It also critically reviews service characteristics as prerequisites of perceived service quality conceptualisation. The examination of six perceived service quality models is intended to identify a superior model that could be used by further researc...

  4. Organising nursing practice into care models that catalyse quality: A clinical nurse leader case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bender, Miriam; Spiva, LeeAnna; Su, Wei; Hites, Lisle

    2018-02-09

    To determine the power of a conceptual clinical nurse leader practice model to explain the care model's enactment and trajectory in real world settings. How nursing, organised into specific models of care, functions as an organisational strategy for quality is not well specified. Clinical nurse leader integrated care delivery is one emerging model with growing adoption. A recently validated clinical nurse leader practice model conceptualizes the care model's characteristics and hypothesizes their mechanisms of action. Pattern matching case study design and mixed methods were used to determine how the care model's constructs were operationalized in one regional United States health system that integrated clinical nurse leaders into their care delivery system in 2010. The findings confirmed the empirical presence of all clinical nurse leader practice model constructs and provided a rich description of how the health system operationalized the constructs in practice. The findings support the hypothesized model pathway from Clinical Nurse Leader structuring to Clinical Nurse Leader practice and outcomes. The findings indicate analytic generalizability of the clinical nurse leader practice model. Nursing practice organised to focus on microsystem care processes can catalyse multidisciplinary engagement with, and consistent enactment of, quality practices. The model has great potential for transferability across diverse health systems. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. A SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF SOFTWARE QUALITY MODELS

    OpenAIRE

    Dr.Vilas. M. Thakare; Ashwin B. Tomar

    2011-01-01

    This paper aims to provide a basis for software quality model research, through a systematic study ofpapers. It identifies nearly seventy software quality research papers from journals and classifies paper asper research topic, estimation approach, study context and data set. The paper results combined withother knowledge provides support for recommendations in future software quality model research, toincrease the area of search for relevant studies, carefully select the papers within a set ...

  6. Numerical analysis of a neural network with hierarchically organized patterns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bacci, Silvia; Wiecko, Cristina; Parga, Nestor

    1988-01-01

    A numerical analysis of the retrieval behaviour of an associative memory model where the memorized patterns are stored hierarchically is performed. It is found that the model is able to categorize errors. For a finite number of categories, these are retrieved correctly even when the stored patterns are not. Instead, when they are allowed to increase with the number of neurons, their retrieval quality deteriorates above a critical category capacity. (Author)

  7. Modeling urbanization patterns at a global scale with generative adversarial networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albert, A. T.; Strano, E.; Gonzalez, M.

    2017-12-01

    Current demographic projections show that, in the next 30 years, global population growth will mostly take place in developing countries. Coupled with a decrease in density, such population growth could potentially double the land occupied by settlements by 2050. The lack of reliable and globally consistent socio-demographic data, coupled with the limited predictive performance underlying traditional urban spatial explicit models, call for developing better predictive methods, calibrated using a globally-consistent dataset. Thus, richer models of the spatial interplay between the urban built-up land, population distribution and energy use are central to the discussion around the expansion and development of cities, and their impact on the environment in the context of a changing climate. In this talk we discuss methods for, and present an analysis of, urban form, defined as the spatial distribution of macroeconomic quantities that characterize a city, using modern machine learning methods and best-available remote-sensing data for the world's largest 25,000 cities. We first show that these cities may be described by a small set of patterns in radial building density, nighttime luminosity, and population density, which highlight, to first order, differences in development and land use across the world. We observe significant, spatially-dependent variance around these typical patterns, which would be difficult to model using traditional statistical methods. We take a first step in addressing this challenge by developing CityGAN, a conditional generative adversarial network model for simulating realistic urban forms. To guide learning and measure the quality of the simulated synthetic cities, we develop a specialized loss function for GAN optimization that incorporates standard spatial statistics used by urban analysis experts. Our framework is a stark departure from both the standard physics-based approaches in the literature (that view urban forms as fractals with a

  8. Gait pattern recognition in cerebral palsy patients using neural network modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muhammad, J.; Gibbs, S.; Abboud, R.; Anand, S.

    2015-01-01

    Interpretation of gait data obtained from modern 3D gait analysis is a challenging and time consuming task. The aim of this study was to create neural network models which can recognise the gait patterns from pre- and post-treatment and the normal ones. Neural network is a method which works on the principle of learning from experience and then uses the obtained knowledge to predict the unknown. Methods: Twenty-eight patients with cerebral palsy were recruited as subjects whose gait was analysed in pre- and post-treatment. A group of twenty-six normal subjects also participated in this study as control group. All subjects gait was analysed using Vicon Nexus to obtain the gait parameters and kinetic and kinematic parameters of hip, knee and ankle joints in three planes of both limbs. The gait data was used as input to create neural network models. A total of approximately 300 trials were split into 70% and 30% to train and test the models, respectively. Different models were built using different parameters. The gait was categorised as three patterns, i.e., normal, pre- and post-treatments. Result: The results showed that the models using all parameters or using the joint angles and moments could predict the gait patterns with approximately 95% accuracy. Some of the models e.g., the models using joint power and moments, had lower rate in recognition of gait patterns with approximately 70-90% successful ratio. Conclusion: Neural network model can be used in clinical practice to recognise the gait pattern for cerebral palsy patients. (author)

  9. A model for optimizing file access patterns using spatio-temporal parallelism

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boonthanome, Nouanesengsy [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Patchett, John [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Geveci, Berk [Kitware Inc., Clifton Park, NY (United States); Ahrens, James [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Bauer, Andy [Kitware Inc., Clifton Park, NY (United States); Chaudhary, Aashish [Kitware Inc., Clifton Park, NY (United States); Miller, Ross G. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Shipman, Galen M. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Williams, Dean N. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2013-01-01

    For many years now, I/O read time has been recognized as the primary bottleneck for parallel visualization and analysis of large-scale data. In this paper, we introduce a model that can estimate the read time for a file stored in a parallel filesystem when given the file access pattern. Read times ultimately depend on how the file is stored and the access pattern used to read the file. The file access pattern will be dictated by the type of parallel decomposition used. We employ spatio-temporal parallelism, which combines both spatial and temporal parallelism, to provide greater flexibility to possible file access patterns. Using our model, we were able to configure the spatio-temporal parallelism to design optimized read access patterns that resulted in a speedup factor of approximately 400 over traditional file access patterns.

  10. Evaluation of model quality predictions in CASP9

    KAUST Repository

    Kryshtafovych, Andriy

    2011-01-01

    CASP has been assessing the state of the art in the a priori estimation of accuracy of protein structure prediction since 2006. The inclusion of model quality assessment category in CASP contributed to a rapid development of methods in this area. In the last experiment, 46 quality assessment groups tested their approaches to estimate the accuracy of protein models as a whole and/or on a per-residue basis. We assessed the performance of these methods predominantly on the basis of the correlation between the predicted and observed quality of the models on both global and local scales. The ability of the methods to identify the models closest to the best one, to differentiate between good and bad models, and to identify well modeled regions was also analyzed. Our evaluations demonstrate that even though global quality assessment methods seem to approach perfection point (weighted average per-target Pearson\\'s correlation coefficients are as high as 0.97 for the best groups), there is still room for improvement. First, all top-performing methods use consensus approaches to generate quality estimates, and this strategy has its own limitations. Second, the methods that are based on the analysis of individual models lag far behind clustering techniques and need a boost in performance. The methods for estimating per-residue accuracy of models are less accurate than global quality assessment methods, with an average weighted per-model correlation coefficient in the range of 0.63-0.72 for the best 10 groups.

  11. Simulating discrete models of pattern formation by ion beam sputtering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartmann, Alexander K; Kree, Reiner; Yasseri, Taha

    2009-01-01

    A class of simple, (2+1)-dimensional, discrete models is reviewed, which allow us to study the evolution of surface patterns on solid substrates during ion beam sputtering (IBS). The models are based on the same assumptions about the erosion process as the existing continuum theories. Several distinct physical mechanisms of surface diffusion are added, which allow us to study the interplay of erosion-driven and diffusion-driven pattern formation. We present results from our own work on evolution scenarios of ripple patterns, especially for longer timescales, where nonlinear effects become important. Furthermore we review kinetic phase diagrams, both with and without sample rotation, which depict the systematic dependence of surface patterns on the shape of energy depositing collision cascades after ion impact. Finally, we discuss some results from more recent work on surface diffusion with Ehrlich-Schwoebel barriers as the driving force for pattern formation during IBS and on Monte Carlo simulations of IBS with codeposition of surfactant atoms.

  12. One multi-media environmental system with linkage between meteorology/ hydrology/ air quality models and water quality model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, C.; Lynch, J. A.; Dennis, R. L.

    2016-12-01

    The biogeochemical processing of nitrogen and associated pollutants is driven by meteorological and hydrological processes in conjunction with pollutant loading. There are feedbacks between meteorology and hydrology that will be affected by land-use change and climate change. Changes in meteorology will affect pollutant deposition. It is important to account for those feedbacks and produce internally consistent simulations of meteorology, hydrology, and pollutant loading to drive the (watershed/water quality) biogeochemical models. In this study, the ecological response to emission reductions in streams in the Potomac watershed was evaluated. Firstly, we simulated the deposition by using the fully coupled Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) model and the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CAMQ) model; secondly, we created the hydrological data by the offline linked Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model and the WRF model. Lastly, we investigated the water quality by one comprehensive/environment model, namely the linkage of CMAQ, WRF, VIC and the Model of Acidification of Groundwater In Catchment (MAGIC) model from 2002 to 2010.The simulated results (such as NO3, SO4, and SBC) fit well to the observed values. The linkage provides a generally accurate, well-tested tool for evaluating sensitivities to varying meteorology and environmental changes on acidification and other biogeochemical processes, with capability to comprehensively explore strategic policy and management design.

  13. QUALITY IMPROVEMENT MODEL AT THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS PREPARATION LEVEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dusko Pavletic

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper expresses base for an operational quality improvement model at the manufacturing process preparation level. A numerous appropriate related quality assurance and improvement methods and tools are identified. Main manufacturing process principles are investigated in order to scrutinize one general model of manufacturing process and to define a manufacturing process preparation level. Development and introduction of the operational quality improvement model is based on a research conducted and results of methods and tools application possibilities in real manufacturing processes shipbuilding and automotive industry. Basic model structure is described and presented by appropriate general algorithm. Operational quality improvement model developed lays down main guidelines for practical and systematic application of quality improvements methods and tools.

  14. Understanding Quality in Process Modelling: Towards a Holistic Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Recker

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available Quality is one of the main topics in current conceptual modelling research, as is the field of business process modelling. Yet, widely acknowledged academic contributions towards an understanding or measurement of business process model quality are limited at best. In this paper I argue that the development of methodical theories concerning the measurement or establishment of process model quality must be preceded by methodological elaborations on business process modelling. I further argue that existing epistemological foundations of process modelling are insufficient for describing all extrinsic and intrinsic traits of model quality. This in turn has led to a lack of holistic understanding of process modelling. Taking into account the inherent social and purpose-oriented character of process modelling in contemporary organizations I present a socio-pragmatic constructionist methodology of business process modelling and sketch out implications of this perspective towards an understanding of process model quality. I anticipate that, based on this research, theories can be developed that facilitate the evaluation of the ’goodness’ of a business process model.

  15. Putting people into water quality modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strickert, G. E.; Hassanzadeh, E.; Noble, B.; Baulch, H. M.; Morales-Marin, L. A.; Lindenschmidt, K. E.

    2017-12-01

    Water quality in the Qu'Appelle River Basin, Saskatchewan is under pressure due to nutrient pollution entering the river system from major cities, industrial zones and agricultural areas. Among these stressors, agricultural activities are basin-wide; therefore, they are the largest non-point source of water pollution in this region. The dynamics of agricultural impacts on water quality are complex and stem from decisions and activities of two distinct stakeholder groups, namely grain farmers and cattle producers, which have different business plans, values, and attitudes towards water quality. As a result, improving water quality in this basin requires engaging with stakeholders to: (1) understand their perspectives regarding a range of agricultural Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) that can improve water quality in the region, (2) show them the potential consequences of their selected BMPs, and (3) work with stakeholders to better understand the barriers and incentives to implement the effective BMPs. In this line, we held a series of workshops in the Qu'Appelle River Basin with both groups of stakeholders to understand stakeholders' viewpoints about alternative agricultural BMPs and their impact on water quality. Workshop participants were involved in the statement sorting activity (Q-sorts), group discussions, as well as mapping activity. The workshop outcomes show that stakeholder had four distinct viewpoints about the BMPs that can improve water quality, i.e., flow and erosion control, fertilizer management, cattle site management, as well as mixed cattle and wetland management. Accordingly, to simulate the consequences of stakeholder selected BMPs, a conceptual water quality model was developed using System Dynamics (SD). The model estimates potential changes in water quality at the farm, tributary and regional scale in the Qu'Appelle River Basin under each and/or combination of stakeholder selected BMPs. The SD model was then used for real

  16. Nutrient intake, diet quality, and weight/adiposity parameters in breakfast patterns compared with no breakfast in adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neil, Carol E; Nicklas, Theresa A; Fulgoni, Victor L

    2014-12-01

    The effect of different breakfast consumption patterns on nutrient intake, diet quality, and weight/adiposity status is unknown. To compare nutrient intake, diet quality, and weight/adiposity measures of consumers assigned to different breakfast patterns with breakfast skippers. These associations were assessed in adults 19+ years (N=18,988) participating in the 2001-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Intake was determined from 1-day 24-hour dietary recall. Diet quality was quantified using the Healthy Eating Index-2005. Body mass index (calculated as kg/m(2)) and waist circumferences were determined. Twelve patterns (including No Breakfast [approximately 19% of population]), explaining 58% of the variance in energy from the breakfast meal, were examined. Covariate adjusted general linear models were used to compare nutrient intakes, Healthy Eating Index-2005 scores, and body mass index/waist circumference of consumers of different patterns with breakfast skippers. The P value was Bonferroni corrected (Juice and Presweetened Ready-to-Eat Cereal (RTEC)/Lower-Fat Milk patterns had lower daily intakes of nutrients to limit (added sugars, saturated fatty acids, solid fats, cholesterol, and sodium) than breakfast skippers. Consumers of the Grain/100% Fruit Juice; Presweetened RTEC/Lower-Fat Milk; and RTEC/Lower-Fat Milk/Whole Fruit/100% Fruit Juice patterns had higher daily intakes of all shortfall nutrients examined (dietary fiber; vitamins A, D, and C; calcium, potassium, folate, iron, and magnesium) than breakfast skippers. Consumers of the Grain/100% Fruit Juice; Grain; Presweetened RTEC/Lower-Fat Milk; RTEC/Lower-Fat Milk/Whole Fruit/100% Fruit Juice; Cooked Cereal; Lower-Fat Milk/Whole Fruit; and Whole Fruit patterns had higher Healthy Eating Index-2005 scores than breakfast skippers. Consumers of the Grain/100% Fruit Juice; Presweetened RTEC/Lower-Fat Milk; RTEC/Lower-Fat Milk/Whole Fruit/100% Fruit Juice; and Cooked Cereal patterns had lower

  17. QUALITY OF AN ACADEMIC STUDY PROGRAMME - EVALUATION MODEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirna Macur

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Quality of an academic study programme is evaluated by many: employees (internal evaluation and by external evaluators: experts, agencies and organisations. Internal and external evaluation of an academic programme follow written structure that resembles on one of the quality models. We believe the quality models (mostly derived from EFQM excellence model don’t fit very well into non-profit activities, policies and programmes, because they are much more complex than environment, from which quality models derive from (for example assembly line. Quality of an academic study programme is very complex and understood differently by various stakeholders, so we present dimensional evaluation in the article. Dimensional evaluation, as opposed to component and holistic evaluation, is a form of analytical evaluation in which the quality of value of the evaluand is determined by looking at its performance on multiple dimensions of merit or evaluation criteria. First stakeholders of a study programme and their views, expectations and interests are presented, followed by evaluation criteria. They are both joined into the evaluation model revealing which evaluation criteria can and should be evaluated by which stakeholder. Main research questions are posed and research method for each dimension listed.

  18. A parsimonious dynamic model for river water quality assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mannina, Giorgio; Viviani, Gaspare

    2010-01-01

    Water quality modelling is of crucial importance for the assessment of physical, chemical, and biological changes in water bodies. Mathematical approaches to water modelling have become more prevalent over recent years. Different model types ranging from detailed physical models to simplified conceptual models are available. Actually, a possible middle ground between detailed and simplified models may be parsimonious models that represent the simplest approach that fits the application. The appropriate modelling approach depends on the research goal as well as on data available for correct model application. When there is inadequate data, it is mandatory to focus on a simple river water quality model rather than detailed ones. The study presents a parsimonious river water quality model to evaluate the propagation of pollutants in natural rivers. The model is made up of two sub-models: a quantity one and a quality one. The model employs a river schematisation that considers different stretches according to the geometric characteristics and to the gradient of the river bed. Each stretch is represented with a conceptual model of a series of linear channels and reservoirs. The channels determine the delay in the pollution wave and the reservoirs cause its dispersion. To assess the river water quality, the model employs four state variables: DO, BOD, NH(4), and NO. The model was applied to the Savena River (Italy), which is the focus of a European-financed project in which quantity and quality data were gathered. A sensitivity analysis of the model output to the model input or parameters was done based on the Generalised Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation methodology. The results demonstrate the suitability of such a model as a tool for river water quality management.

  19. From lag synchronization to pattern formation in one-dimensional open flow models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Zengrong; Luo Jigui

    2006-01-01

    In this paper, the relation between synchronization and pattern formation in one-dimensional discrete and continuous open flow models is investigated in detail. Firstly a sufficient condition for globally asymptotical stability of lag/anticipating synchronization among lattices of these models is proved by analytic method. Then, by analyzing and simulating lag/anticipating synchronization in discrete case, three kinds of pattern of wave (it is called wave pattern) travelling in the lattices are discovered. Finally, a proper definition for these kinds of pattern is proposed

  20. Long-time integration methods for mesoscopic models of pattern-forming systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abukhdeir, Nasser Mohieddin; Vlachos, Dionisios G.; Katsoulakis, Markos; Plexousakis, Michael

    2011-01-01

    Spectral methods for simulation of a mesoscopic diffusion model of surface pattern formation are evaluated for long simulation times. Backwards-differencing time-integration, coupled with an underlying Newton-Krylov nonlinear solver (SUNDIALS-CVODE), is found to substantially accelerate simulations, without the typical requirement of preconditioning. Quasi-equilibrium simulations of patterned phases predicted by the model are shown to agree well with linear stability analysis. Simulation results of the effect of repulsive particle-particle interactions on pattern relaxation time and short/long-range order are discussed.

  1. Airline service quality evaluation: A review on concepts and models

    OpenAIRE

    Navid Haghighat

    2017-01-01

    This paper reviews different major service quality concept and models which led to great developments in evaluating service quality with focusing on improvement process of the models through discussing criticisms of each model. Criticisms against these models are discussed to clarify development steps of newer models which led to the improvement of airline service quality models. The precise and accurate evaluation of service quality needs utilizing a reliable concept with comprehensive crite...

  2. Surface Flux Modeling for Air Quality Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Limei Ran

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available For many gasses and aerosols, dry deposition is an important sink of atmospheric mass. Dry deposition fluxes are also important sources of pollutants to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The surface fluxes of some gases, such as ammonia, mercury, and certain volatile organic compounds, can be upward into the air as well as downward to the surface and therefore should be modeled as bi-directional fluxes. Model parameterizations of dry deposition in air quality models have been represented by simple electrical resistance analogs for almost 30 years. Uncertainties in surface flux modeling in global to mesoscale models are being slowly reduced as more field measurements provide constraints on parameterizations. However, at the same time, more chemical species are being added to surface flux models as air quality models are expanded to include more complex chemistry and are being applied to a wider array of environmental issues. Since surface flux measurements of many of these chemicals are still lacking, resistances are usually parameterized using simple scaling by water or lipid solubility and reactivity. Advances in recent years have included bi-directional flux algorithms that require a shift from pre-computation of deposition velocities to fully integrated surface flux calculations within air quality models. Improved modeling of the stomatal component of chemical surface fluxes has resulted from improved evapotranspiration modeling in land surface models and closer integration between meteorology and air quality models. Satellite-derived land use characterization and vegetation products and indices are improving model representation of spatial and temporal variations in surface flux processes. This review describes the current state of chemical dry deposition modeling, recent progress in bi-directional flux modeling, synergistic model development research with field measurements, and coupling with meteorological land surface models.

  3. Simulating pattern-process relationships to validate landscape genetic models

    Science.gov (United States)

    A. J. Shirk; S. A. Cushman; E. L. Landguth

    2012-01-01

    Landscapes may resist gene flow and thereby give rise to a pattern of genetic isolation within a population. The mechanism by which a landscape resists gene flow can be inferred by evaluating the relationship between landscape models and an observed pattern of genetic isolation. This approach risks false inferences because researchers can never feasibly test all...

  4. Application of a simulation model of water quality in the improvement of high basin of Rio Negro - Antioquia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Molina Perez, Francisco; Wills Toro, Alvaro; Ramirez Cardona, Juan F

    1995-01-01

    The present article consigns the application of a model of water quality: QUAL2E, of the high basin of the Rio Negro in the East Antioquia. The system Rio Negro was divided in 16 homogeneous tracts, in which 15 seating capacity stations and sampling were located, this way 5 in the Rio Negro and 10 in the main flowing gulches. In the period October of 1993 to May of 1994, they were carried out 10 samplings of quality of the water, coupling this way, the basic data for the hydrological scenarios of summer, intermission and winter. Later on it was carried out the calibration of the pattern for the summer and the validation for winter; the parameters were refined especially suspended solids, dissolved oxygen and DBO5. The use of the pattern allows carrying out the prospective for the quality of the water in the region facilitating a better one taking of decisions in the related with the use of the resource and actions of prevention and control

  5. No-reference stereoscopic image quality measurement based on generalized local ternary patterns of binocular energy response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, Wujie; Yu, Lu

    2015-01-01

    Perceptual no-reference (NR) quality measurement of stereoscopic images has become a challenging issue in three-dimensional (3D) imaging fields. In this article, we propose an efficient binocular quality-aware features extraction scheme, namely generalized local ternary patterns (GLTP) of binocular energy response, for general-purpose NR stereoscopic image quality measurement (SIQM). More specifically, we first construct the binocular energy response of a distorted stereoscopic image with different stimuli of amplitude and phase shifts. Then, the binocular quality-aware features are generated from the GLTP of the binocular energy response. Finally, these features are mapped to the subjective quality score of the distorted stereoscopic image by using support vector regression. Experiments on two publicly available 3D databases confirm the effectiveness of the proposed metric compared with the state-of-the-art full reference and NR metrics. (paper)

  6. Quality model for semantic IS standards

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Folmer, Erwin Johan Albert

    2011-01-01

    Semantic IS (Information Systems) standards are essential for achieving interoperability between organizations. However a recent survey suggests that not the full benefits of standards are achieved, due to the quality issues. This paper presents a quality model for semantic IS standards, that should

  7. Developing a TQM quality management method model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhang, Zhihai

    1997-01-01

    From an extensive review of total quality management literature, the external and internal environment affecting an organization's quality performance and the eleven primary elements of TQM are identified. Based on the primary TQM elements, a TQM quality management method model is developed. This

  8. Production system with process quality control: modelling and application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsou, Jia-Chi

    2010-07-01

    Over the past decade, there has been a great deal of research dedicated to the study of quality and the economics of production. In this article, we develop a dynamic model which is based on the hypothesis of a traditional economic production quantity model. Taguchi's cost of poor quality is used to evaluate the cost of poor quality in the dynamic production system. A practical case from the automotive industry, which uses the Six-sigma DMAIC methodology, is discussed to verify the proposed model. This study shows that there is an optimal value of quality investment to make the production system reach a reasonable quality level and minimise the production cost. Based on our model, the management can adjust its investment in quality improvement to generate considerable financial return.

  9. Mapping urban air quality in near real-time using observations from low-cost sensors and model information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Philipp; Castell, Nuria; Vogt, Matthias; Dauge, Franck R; Lahoz, William A; Bartonova, Alena

    2017-09-01

    The recent emergence of low-cost microsensors measuring various air pollutants has significant potential for carrying out high-resolution mapping of air quality in the urban environment. However, the data obtained by such sensors are generally less reliable than that from standard equipment and they are subject to significant data gaps in both space and time. In order to overcome this issue, we present here a data fusion method based on geostatistics that allows for merging observations of air quality from a network of low-cost sensors with spatial information from an urban-scale air quality model. The performance of the methodology is evaluated for nitrogen dioxide in Oslo, Norway, using both simulated datasets and real-world measurements from a low-cost sensor network for January 2016. The results indicate that the method is capable of producing realistic hourly concentration fields of urban nitrogen dioxide that inherit the spatial patterns from the model and adjust the prior values using the information from the sensor network. The accuracy of the data fusion method is dependent on various factors including the total number of observations, their spatial distribution, their uncertainty (both in terms of systematic biases and random errors), as well as the ability of the model to provide realistic spatial patterns of urban air pollution. A validation against official data from air quality monitoring stations equipped with reference instrumentation indicates that the data fusion method is capable of reproducing city-wide averaged official values with an R 2 of 0.89 and a root mean squared error of 14.3 μg m -3 . It is further capable of reproducing the typical daily cycles of nitrogen dioxide. Overall, the results indicate that the method provides a robust way of extracting useful information from uncertain sensor data using only a time-invariant model dataset and the knowledge contained within an entire sensor network. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published

  10. An Evaluation of ADLs on Modeling Patterns for Software Architecture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Waqas Kamal, Ahmad; Avgeriou, Paris

    2007-01-01

    Architecture patterns provide solutions to recurring design problems at the architecture level. In order to model patterns during software architecture design, one may use a number of existing Architecture Description Languages (ADLs), including the UML, a generic language but also a de facto

  11. 77 FR 4808 - Conference on Air Quality Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-31

    ... Modeling AGENCY: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of conference. SUMMARY: The EPA will be hosting the Tenth Conference on Air Quality Modeling on March 13-15, 2012. Section 320 of the... First, Second, and Third Conferences on Air Quality Modeling as required by CAA Section 320 to help...

  12. Dietary intake patterns and diet quality in a nationally representative sample of women with and without severe headache or migraine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, E Whitney; Lipton, Richard B; Peterlin, B Lee; Raynor, Hollie A; Thomas, J Graham; O'Leary, Kevin C; Pavlovic, Jelena; Wing, Rena R; Bond, Dale S

    2015-04-01

    The role of diet in migraine is not well understood. We sought to characterize usual dietary intake patterns and diet quality in a nationally representative sample of women with and without severe headache or migraine. We also examined whether the relationship between migraine and diet differs by weight status. In this analysis, women with migraine or severe headache status was determined by questionnaire for 3069 women, ages 20-50 years, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study, 1999-2004. Women who experienced severe headaches or migraines were classified as migraine for the purposes of this analysis. Dietary intake patterns (micro- and macronutrient intake and eating frequency) and diet quality, measured by the Healthy Eating Index, 2005, were determined using one 24-hour dietary recall. Dietary intake patterns did not significantly differ between women with and without migraine. Normal weight women with migraine had significantly lower diet quality (Healthy Eating Index, 2005 total scores) than women without migraine (52.5 ± 0.9 vs. 45.9 ± 1.0; P quality differs by migraine status in normal weight women. Prospective analyses are needed to establish how diet relates to migraine onset, characteristics, and clinical features in individuals of varying weight status. © 2015 American Headache Society.

  13. An effective quality model for evaluating mobile websites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hassan, W.U.; Nawaz, M.T.; Syed, T.H.; Naseem, A.

    2015-01-01

    The Evolution in Web development in recent years has caused emergence of new area of mobile computing, Mobile phone has been transformed into high speed processing device capable of doing the processes which were suppose to be run only on computer previously, Modem mobile phones now have capability to process data with greater speed then desktop systems and with the inclusion of 3G and 4G networks, mobile became the prime choice for users to send and receive data from any device. As a result, there is a major increase in mobile website need and development but due to uniqueness of mobile website usage as compared to desktop website, there is a need to focus on quality aspect of mobile website, So, to increase and preserve quality of mobile website, a quality model is required which has to be designed specifically to evaluate mobile website quality, To design a mobile website quality model, a survey based methodology is used to gather the information regarding website unique usage in mobile from different users. On the basis of this information, a mobile website quality model is presented which aims to evaluate the quality of mobile websites. In proposed model, some sub characteristics are designed to evaluate mobile websites in particular. The result is a proposed model aims to evaluate features of website which are important in context of its deployment and its usability in mobile platform. (author)

  14. Quality Assurance Model for Digital Adult Education Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimou, Helen; Kameas, Achilles

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This paper aims to present a model for the quality assurance of digital educational material that is appropriate for adult education. The proposed model adopts the software quality standard ISO/IEC 9126 and takes into account adult learning theories, Bloom's taxonomy of learning objectives and two instructional design models: Kolb's model…

  15. Improving PSA quality of KSNP PSA model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Joon Eon; Ha, Jae Joo

    2004-01-01

    In the RIR (Risk-informed Regulation), PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessment) plays a major role because it provides overall risk insights for the regulatory body and utility. Therefore, the scope, the level of details and the technical adequacy of PSA, i.e. the quality of PSA is to be ensured for the successful RIR. To improve the quality of Korean PSA, we evaluate the quality of the KSNP (Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant) internal full-power PSA model based on the 'ASME PRA Standard' and the 'NEI PRA Peer Review Process Guidance.' As a working group, PSA experts of the regulatory body and industry also participated in the evaluation process. It is finally judged that the overall quality of the KSNP PSA is between the ASME Standard Capability Category I and II. We also derive some items to be improved for upgrading the quality of the PSA up to the ASME Standard Capability Category II. In this paper, we show the result of quality evaluation, and the activities to improve the quality of the KSNP PSA model

  16. Pattern-based approach for logical traffic isolation forensic modelling

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Dlamini, I

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available reusability and flexibility of the LTI model. This model is viewed as a three-tier architecture, which for experimental purposes is composed of the following components: traffic generator, DiffServ network and the sink server. The Mediator pattern is used...

  17. A Physics-Inspired Mechanistic Model of Migratory Movement Patterns in Birds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Revell, Christopher; Somveille, Marius

    2017-08-29

    In this paper, we introduce a mechanistic model of migratory movement patterns in birds, inspired by ideas and methods from physics. Previous studies have shed light on the factors influencing bird migration but have mainly relied on statistical correlative analysis of tracking data. Our novel method offers a bottom up explanation of population-level migratory movement patterns. It differs from previous mechanistic models of animal migration and enables predictions of pathways and destinations from a given starting location. We define an environmental potential landscape from environmental data and simulate bird movement within this landscape based on simple decision rules drawn from statistical mechanics. We explore the capacity of the model by qualitatively comparing simulation results to the non-breeding migration patterns of a seabird species, the Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris). This minimal, two-parameter model was able to capture remarkably well the previously documented migration patterns of the Black-browed Albatross, with the best combination of parameter values conserved across multiple geographically separate populations. Our physics-inspired mechanistic model could be applied to other bird and highly-mobile species, improving our understanding of the relative importance of various factors driving migration and making predictions that could be useful for conservation.

  18. A conceptual competitive intelligence quality assurance model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tshilidzi Eric Nenzhelele

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Competitive Intelligence (CI improves the quality of product and service, decision-making and it improves quality of life. However, it has been established that decision makers are not happy about the quality of CI. This is because enterprises fail in quality assurance of CI. It has been concluded that most enterprises are clueless concerning CI quality assurance. Studies that previously attempted to resolve CI quality problem were limited in scope and focused too much on the quality of information than the overall CI quality. The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual CI quality assurance model which will help in quality assurance of CI. The research was qualitative in nature and used content analysis.

  19. General Business Model Patterns for Local Energy Management Concepts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Facchinetti, Emanuele; Sulzer, Sabine

    2016-01-01

    The transition toward a more sustainable global energy system, significantly relying on renewable energies and decentralized energy systems, requires a deep reorganization of the energy sector. The way how energy services are generated, delivered, and traded is expected to be very different in the coming years. Business model innovation is recognized as a key driver for the successful implementation of the energy turnaround. This work contributes to this topic by introducing a heuristic methodology easing the identification of general business model patterns best suited for Local Energy Management concepts such as Energy Hubs. A conceptual framework characterizing the Local Energy Management business model solution space is developed. Three reference business model patterns providing orientation across the defined solution space are identified, analyzed, and compared. Through a market review, a number of successfully implemented innovative business models have been analyzed and allocated within the defined solution space. The outcomes of this work offer to potential stakeholders a starting point and guidelines for the business model innovation process, as well as insights for policy makers on challenges and opportunities related to Local Energy Management concepts.

  20. General Business Model Patterns for Local Energy Management Concepts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Facchinetti, Emanuele, E-mail: emanuele.facchinetti@hslu.ch; Sulzer, Sabine [Lucerne Competence Center for Energy Research, Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts, Horw (Switzerland)

    2016-03-03

    The transition toward a more sustainable global energy system, significantly relying on renewable energies and decentralized energy systems, requires a deep reorganization of the energy sector. The way how energy services are generated, delivered, and traded is expected to be very different in the coming years. Business model innovation is recognized as a key driver for the successful implementation of the energy turnaround. This work contributes to this topic by introducing a heuristic methodology easing the identification of general business model patterns best suited for Local Energy Management concepts such as Energy Hubs. A conceptual framework characterizing the Local Energy Management business model solution space is developed. Three reference business model patterns providing orientation across the defined solution space are identified, analyzed, and compared. Through a market review, a number of successfully implemented innovative business models have been analyzed and allocated within the defined solution space. The outcomes of this work offer to potential stakeholders a starting point and guidelines for the business model innovation process, as well as insights for policy makers on challenges and opportunities related to Local Energy Management concepts.

  1. Identification of spatiotemporal nutrient patterns in a coastal bay via an integrated k-means clustering and gravity model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Ni-Bin; Wimberly, Brent; Xuan, Zhemin

    2012-03-01

    This study presents an integrated k-means clustering and gravity model (IKCGM) for investigating the spatiotemporal patterns of nutrient and associated dissolved oxygen levels in Tampa Bay, Florida. By using a k-means clustering analysis to first partition the nutrient data into a user-specified number of subsets, it is possible to discover the spatiotemporal patterns of nutrient distribution in the bay and capture the inherent linkages of hydrodynamic and biogeochemical features. Such patterns may then be combined with a gravity model to link the nutrient source contribution from each coastal watershed to the generated clusters in the bay to aid in the source proportion analysis for environmental management. The clustering analysis was carried out based on 1 year (2008) water quality data composed of 55 sample stations throughout Tampa Bay collected by the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County. In addition, hydrological and river water quality data of the same year were acquired from the United States Geological Survey's National Water Information System to support the gravity modeling analysis. The results show that the k-means model with 8 clusters is the optimal choice, in which cluster 2 at Lower Tampa Bay had the minimum values of total nitrogen (TN) concentrations, chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentrations, and ocean color values in every season as well as the minimum concentration of total phosphorus (TP) in three consecutive seasons in 2008. The datasets indicate that Lower Tampa Bay is an area with limited nutrient input throughout the year. Cluster 5, located in Middle Tampa Bay, displayed elevated TN concentrations, ocean color values, and Chl-a concentrations, suggesting that high values of colored dissolved organic matter are linked with some nutrient sources. The data presented by the gravity modeling analysis indicate that the Alafia River Basin is the major contributor of nutrients in terms of both TP and TN values in all seasons

  2. Analyzing Unsaturated Flow Patterns in Fractured Rock Using an Integrated Modeling Approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Y.S. Wu; G. Lu; K. Zhang; L. Pan; G.S. Bodvarsson

    2006-01-01

    Characterizing percolation patterns in unsaturated fractured rock has posed a greater challenge to modeling investigations than comparable saturated zone studies, because of the heterogeneous nature of unsaturated media and the great number of variables impacting unsaturated flow. This paper presents an integrated modeling methodology for quantitatively characterizing percolation patterns in the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a proposed underground repository site for storing high-level radioactive waste. The modeling approach integrates a wide variety of moisture, pneumatic, thermal, and isotopic geochemical field data into a comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model for modeling analyses. It takes into account the coupled processes of fluid and heat flow and chemical isotopic transport in Yucca Mountain's highly heterogeneous, unsaturated fractured tuffs. Modeling results are examined against different types of field-measured data and then used to evaluate different hydrogeological conceptualizations and their results of flow patterns in the unsaturated zone. In particular, this model provides a much clearer understanding of percolation patterns and flow behavior through the unsaturated zone, both crucial issues in assessing repository performance. The integrated approach for quantifying Yucca Mountain's flow system is demonstrated to provide a practical modeling tool for characterizing flow and transport processes in complex subsurface systems

  3. Application of Service Quality Model in Education Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ting Ding Hooi

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Most of the ideas on service quality stem from the West. The massive developments in research in the West are undeniable of their importance. This leads to the generation and development of new ideas. These ideas were subsequently channeled to developing countries. Ideas obtained were then formulated and used by these developing countries in order to obtain better approach in channeling service quality. There are ample to be learnt from the service quality model, SERVQUAL which attain high acceptance in the West. Service quality in the education system is important to guarantee the effectiveness and quality of education. Effective and quality education will be able to offer quality graduates, which will contribute to the development of the nation. This paper will discuss the application of the SERVQUAL model into the education environment.

  4. ISO 9000 and the total quality management models

    OpenAIRE

    Pacios Lozano, Ana Reyes

    1997-01-01

    Establishes the most outstanding differences between the ISO 9000 norms and total quality management as forms or manners of managing quality used in some information services. Compares two models of total quality: European Foundation far Quality Management and Malcolm Baldrige Awards.

  5. Mapping vegetation patterns in arable land using the models STICS and DAISY

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heuer, Antje; Casper, Markus

    2010-05-01

    Several statistical methods exist to detect spatial and / or temporal variability with regard to ecological data-analysis: Semivariance-analysis, Trend surface analysis, Kriging, Voronoi polygons, Moran's I and Mantel-test, to mention just some of them. In this contribution, we concentrate on spatial vegetation patterns within the soil-vegetation-atmosphere (SVAT) system. Using variography, spatial analysis with a geographic information system and self-organizing maps, spatial patterns of yield have been isolated in an agro-ecosystem (see poster contribution EGU 2009, EGU2009-8948). Data were derived from two agricultural plots, each about 5 hectare, in the area of Newel, located in Western Palatinate, Germany. The plots have been conventionally cultivated with a crop rotation of winter rape, winter wheat and spring barley. The aim of the present study is to find out if the existing natural spatial patterns can be mapped by means of SVAT models. If so, the discretization of a landscape according to its spatial patterns could be the basis for parameterization of SVAT models in order to model soil-vegetation-atmosphere interaction over a large area, that is for up-scaling. For this purpose the SVAT models STICS (developed by INRA, France) and DAISY (developed at Tåstrup University, Denmark) are applied. After a wide sensitivity analysis both models are parameterized with field data according to the given situation of each of the detected spatial patterns. The results of the simulation per representative location of a pattern are validated first with field data concerning yield, soil water content and soil nitrogen; besides, above ground dry matter, root depth and specific stress indices are used for validation. The conclusions that can be made with regard to up-scaling are discussed in detail. In a second step the results of the STICS model are compared with those of the DAISY model to analyse the models' behaviour, to get further knowledge about the inner structure

  6. Sleep Pattern, Duration and Quality in Relation with Glycemic Control in People with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Hossein Gozashti

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Sleep disturbances have been shown to be associated with diabetes control, but the relation between planned wakings or napping with glycemic indices has not been evaluated yet. This study evaluated the relation between sleep quality, duration, and pattern, including daytime napping of people with diabetes and their glycemic control. A cross-sectional correlation research design was used for this study. We enrolled 118 people with type 2 diabetes receiving oral agents without major complications at the Shahid Bahonar Center, Kerman. The age, weight, height, serum HbA1c, as well as other glycemic indices and lipid profile were measured. BMI was also calculated. All participants were requested to fill in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI questionnaire to evaluate their sleep quality. In addition, they were inquired about their sleep schedule during day and night. Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the correlation between HbA1c and sleep pattern variables. The variables were also compared between participants with or without napping using t-test. All analyses were performed with the SPSS version 19 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA. The mean age was 58±11 years and mean HbA1c (% was 7.8±11 (62±13 mmol/mol. Sleep duration and the number of sleep segments significantly predicted HbA1c (F (2,114=5.232, P=0.007, R2=0.084. A one-hour increment in sleep duration was associated with a 0.174% (1.4 mmol/mol decrement in HbA1c. PSQI score did not contribute to the regression model. Moreover, participants who napped (66% had a lower HbA1c (7.6±1 compared to others (8.1±1.3 (P=0.04. We concluded that napping and segmented sleep are associated with a better glycemic control in type 2 diabetes and there is a linear correlation between sleep duration and better glycemic control.

  7. Sleep Pattern, Duration and Quality in Relation with Glycemic Control in People with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gozashti, Mohammad Hossein; Eslami, Nazanin; Radfar, Mohammad Hadi; Pakmanesh, Hamid

    2016-11-01

    Sleep disturbances have been shown to be associated with diabetes control, but the relation between planned wakings or napping with glycemic indices has not been evaluated yet. This study evaluated the relation between sleep quality, duration, and pattern, including daytime napping of people with diabetes and their glycemic control. A cross-sectional correlation research design was used for this study. We enrolled 118 people with type 2 diabetes receiving oral agents without major complications at the Shahid Bahonar Center, Kerman. The age, weight, height, serum HbA1c, as well as other glycemic indices and lipid profile were measured. BMI was also calculated. All participants were requested to fill in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire to evaluate their sleep quality. In addition, they were inquired about their sleep schedule during day and night. Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the correlation between HbA1c and sleep pattern variables. The variables were also compared between participants with or without napping using t-test. All analyses were performed with the SPSS version 19 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). The mean age was 58±11 years and mean HbA1c (%) was 7.8±11 (62±13 mmol/mol). Sleep duration and the number of sleep segments significantly predicted HbA1c (F (2,114)=5.232, P=0.007, R2=0.084). A one-hour increment in sleep duration was associated with a 0.174% (1.4 mmol/mol) decrement in HbA1c. PSQI score did not contribute to the regression model. Moreover, participants who napped (66%) had a lower HbA1c (7.6±1) compared to others (8.1±1.3) (P=0.04). We concluded that napping and segmented sleep are associated with a better glycemic control in type 2 diabetes and there is a linear correlation between sleep duration and better glycemic control.

  8. Improving the quality of clinical coding: a comprehensive audit model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamid Moghaddasi

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The review of medical records with the aim of assessing the quality of codes has long been conducted in different countries. Auditing medical coding, as an instructive approach, could help to review the quality of codes objectively using defined attributes, and this in turn would lead to improvement of the quality of codes. Method: The current study aimed to present a model for auditing the quality of clinical codes. The audit model was formed after reviewing other audit models, considering their strengths and weaknesses. A clear definition was presented for each quality attribute and more detailed criteria were then set for assessing the quality of codes. Results: The audit tool (based on the quality attributes included legibility, relevancy, completeness, accuracy, definition and timeliness; led to development of an audit model for assessing the quality of medical coding. Delphi technique was then used to reassure the validity of the model. Conclusion: The inclusive audit model designed could provide a reliable and valid basis for assessing the quality of codes considering more quality attributes and their clear definition. The inter-observer check suggested in the method of auditing is of particular importance to reassure the reliability of coding.

  9. Airline service quality evaluation: A review on concepts and models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Navid Haghighat

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews different major service quality concept and models which led to great developments in evaluating service quality with focusing on improvement process of the models through discussing criticisms of each model. Criticisms against these models are discussed to clarify development steps of newer models which led to the improvement of airline service quality models. The precise and accurate evaluation of service quality needs utilizing a reliable concept with comprehensive criteria and effective measurement techniques as the fundamentals of a valuable framework. In this paper, service quality models improvement is described based on three major service quality concepts, the disconfirmation, performance and hierarchical concepts which are developed subsequently. Reviewing various criteria and different measurement techniques such a statistical analysis and multi-criteria decision making assist researchers to have a clear understanding of the development of the evaluation framework in the airline industry. This study aims at promoting reliable frameworks for evaluating airline service quality in different countries and societies due to economic, cultural and social aspects of each society.

  10. Evaluating predictive models of software quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ciaschini, V; Canaparo, M; Ronchieri, E; Salomoni, D

    2014-01-01

    Applications from High Energy Physics scientific community are constantly growing and implemented by a large number of developers. This implies a strong churn on the code and an associated risk of faults, which is unavoidable as long as the software undergoes active evolution. However, the necessities of production systems run counter to this. Stability and predictability are of paramount importance; in addition, a short turn-around time for the defect discovery-correction-deployment cycle is required. A way to reconcile these opposite foci is to use a software quality model to obtain an approximation of the risk before releasing a program to only deliver software with a risk lower than an agreed threshold. In this article we evaluated two quality predictive models to identify the operational risk and the quality of some software products. We applied these models to the development history of several EMI packages with intent to discover the risk factor of each product and compare it with its real history. We attempted to determine if the models reasonably maps reality for the applications under evaluation, and finally we concluded suggesting directions for further studies.

  11. Evaluating Predictive Models of Software Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciaschini, V.; Canaparo, M.; Ronchieri, E.; Salomoni, D.

    2014-06-01

    Applications from High Energy Physics scientific community are constantly growing and implemented by a large number of developers. This implies a strong churn on the code and an associated risk of faults, which is unavoidable as long as the software undergoes active evolution. However, the necessities of production systems run counter to this. Stability and predictability are of paramount importance; in addition, a short turn-around time for the defect discovery-correction-deployment cycle is required. A way to reconcile these opposite foci is to use a software quality model to obtain an approximation of the risk before releasing a program to only deliver software with a risk lower than an agreed threshold. In this article we evaluated two quality predictive models to identify the operational risk and the quality of some software products. We applied these models to the development history of several EMI packages with intent to discover the risk factor of each product and compare it with its real history. We attempted to determine if the models reasonably maps reality for the applications under evaluation, and finally we concluded suggesting directions for further studies.

  12. Modelling relationships between lichen bioindicators, air quality and climate on a national scale: Results from the UK OPAL air survey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seed, Lindsay; Wolseley, Pat; Gosling, Laura; Davies, Linda; Power, Sally A.

    2013-01-01

    Air pollution has many negative effects on the natural environment, from changes in plant growth patterns to loss of ecosystem function. This study uses citizen science to investigate national-scale patterns in the distribution and abundance of selected lichen species on tree trunks and branches, and to relate these to air pollution and climate. Volunteers collected data for nine lichen indicators on 19,334 deciduous trees. Submitted data provided information on species-level patterns, and were used to derive composite lichen indices. Multiple linear regression and ANCOVA were used to model the relationships between lichen response variables on Quercus spp. and pollution, climate and location. The study demonstrated significant relationships between patterns in indicator lichens and levels of N- and S-containing pollutants on trunks and twigs. The derived lichen indices show great potential as a tool to provide information on local, site-specific levels of air quality. -- Highlights: •Data on presence and abundance of selected lichens were collected by members of the public. •Indicator species and indices were modelled against air pollution and climate data. •Lichens and indices show significant relationships with nitrogenous air pollution. •Lichen indices are useful tools for providing information on local air quality. -- Data on selected lichen taxa collected by members of the public in England is used to show the relationship of indicator taxa and pollution indices to air pollution and climate data

  13. DockQ: A Quality Measure for Protein-Protein Docking Models.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sankar Basu

    Full Text Available The state-of-the-art to assess the structural quality of docking models is currently based on three related yet independent quality measures: Fnat, LRMS, and iRMS as proposed and standardized by CAPRI. These quality measures quantify different aspects of the quality of a particular docking model and need to be viewed together to reveal the true quality, e.g. a model with relatively poor LRMS (>10Å might still qualify as 'acceptable' with a descent Fnat (>0.50 and iRMS (<3.0Å. This is also the reason why the so called CAPRI criteria for assessing the quality of docking models is defined by applying various ad-hoc cutoffs on these measures to classify a docking model into the four classes: Incorrect, Acceptable, Medium, or High quality. This classification has been useful in CAPRI, but since models are grouped in only four bins it is also rather limiting, making it difficult to rank models, correlate with scoring functions or use it as target function in machine learning algorithms. Here, we present DockQ, a continuous protein-protein docking model quality measure derived by combining Fnat, LRMS, and iRMS to a single score in the range [0, 1] that can be used to assess the quality of protein docking models. By using DockQ on CAPRI models it is possible to almost completely reproduce the original CAPRI classification into Incorrect, Acceptable, Medium and High quality. An average PPV of 94% at 90% Recall demonstrating that there is no need to apply predefined ad-hoc cutoffs to classify docking models. Since DockQ recapitulates the CAPRI classification almost perfectly, it can be viewed as a higher resolution version of the CAPRI classification, making it possible to estimate model quality in a more quantitative way using Z-scores or sum of top ranked models, which has been so valuable for the CASP community. The possibility to directly correlate a quality measure to a scoring function has been crucial for the development of scoring functions for

  14. Reflexion on linear regression trip production modelling method for ensuring good model quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suprayitno, Hitapriya; Ratnasari, Vita

    2017-11-01

    Transport Modelling is important. For certain cases, the conventional model still has to be used, in which having a good trip production model is capital. A good model can only be obtained from a good sample. Two of the basic principles of a good sampling is having a sample capable to represent the population characteristics and capable to produce an acceptable error at a certain confidence level. It seems that this principle is not yet quite understood and used in trip production modeling. Therefore, investigating the Trip Production Modelling practice in Indonesia and try to formulate a better modeling method for ensuring the Model Quality is necessary. This research result is presented as follows. Statistics knows a method to calculate span of prediction value at a certain confidence level for linear regression, which is called Confidence Interval of Predicted Value. The common modeling practice uses R2 as the principal quality measure, the sampling practice varies and not always conform to the sampling principles. An experiment indicates that small sample is already capable to give excellent R2 value and sample composition can significantly change the model. Hence, good R2 value, in fact, does not always mean good model quality. These lead to three basic ideas for ensuring good model quality, i.e. reformulating quality measure, calculation procedure, and sampling method. A quality measure is defined as having a good R2 value and a good Confidence Interval of Predicted Value. Calculation procedure must incorporate statistical calculation method and appropriate statistical tests needed. A good sampling method must incorporate random well distributed stratified sampling with a certain minimum number of samples. These three ideas need to be more developed and tested.

  15. The Epidemiology of Sleep Quality, Sleep Patterns, Consumption of Caffeinated Beverages, and Khat Use among Ethiopian College Students

    OpenAIRE

    Lemma, Seblewengel; Patel, Sheila V.; Tarekegn, Yared A.; Tadesse, Mahlet G.; Berhane, Yemane; Gelaye, Bizu; Williams, Michelle A.

    2012-01-01

    Objective:. To evaluate sleep habits, sleep patterns, and sleep quality among Ethiopian college students; and to examine associations of poor sleep quality with consumption of caffeinated beverages and other stimulants. Methods:. A total of 2,230 undergraduate students completed a self-administered comprehensive questionnaire which gathered information about sleep complaints, sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics,and theuse of caffeinated beverages and khat. We used multivariable log...

  16. Testing a Conceptual Model of Working through Self-Defeating Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Meifen; Ku, Tsun-Yao

    2007-01-01

    The present study developed and examined a conceptual model of working through self-defeating patterns. Participants were 390 college students at a large midwestern university. Results indicated that self-defeating patterns mediated the relations between attachment and distress. Also, self-esteem mediated the link between self-defeating patterns…

  17. Evaluation Model of Tea Industry Information Service Quality

    OpenAIRE

    Shi , Xiaohui; Chen , Tian’en

    2015-01-01

    International audience; According to characteristics of tea industry information service, this paper have built service quality evaluation index system for tea industry information service quality, R-cluster analysis and multiple regression have been comprehensively used to contribute evaluation model with a high practice and credibility. Proved by the experiment, the evaluation model of information service quality has a good precision, which has guidance significance to a certain extent to e...

  18. Modeling hydrodynamics, water temperature, and water quality in the Klamath River upstream of Keno Dam, Oregon, 2006-09

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Annett B.; Rounds, Stewart A.; Deas, Michael L.; Asbill, Jessica R.; Wellman, Roy E.; Stewart, Marc A.; Johnston, Matthew W.; Sogutlugil, I. Ertugrul

    2011-01-01

    A hydrodynamic, water temperature, and water-quality model was constructed for a 20-mile reach of the Klamath River downstream of Upper Klamath Lake, from Link River to Keno Dam, for calendar years 2006-09. The two-dimensional, laterally averaged model CE-QUAL-W2 was used to simulate water velocity, ice cover, water temperature, specific conductance, dissolved and suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen, ammonia, nitrate, total phosphorus, orthophosphate, dissolved and particulate organic matter, and three algal groups. The Link-Keno model successfully simulated the most important spatial and temporal patterns in the measured data for this 4-year time period. The model calibration process provided critical insights into water-quality processes and the nature of those inputs and processes that drive water quality in this reach. The model was used not only to reproduce and better understand water-quality conditions that occurred in 2006-09, but also to test several load-reduction scenarios that have implications for future water-resources management in the river basin. The model construction and calibration process provided results concerning water quality and transport in the Link-Keno reach of the Klamath River, ranging from interesting circulation patterns in the Lake Ewauna area to the nature and importance of organic matter and algae. These insights and results include: * Modeled segment-average water velocities ranged from near 0.0 to 3.0 ft/s in 2006 through 2009. Travel time through the model reach was about 4 days at 2,000 ft3/s and 12 days at 700 ft3/s flow. Flow direction was aligned with the upstream-downstream channel axis for most of the Link-Keno reach, except for Lake Ewauna. Wind effects were pronounced at Lake Ewauna during low-flow conditions, often with circulation in the form of a gyre that rotated in a clockwise direction when winds were towards the southeast and in a counterclockwise direction when winds were towards the northwest

  19. A stochastic differential equation model of diurnal cortisol patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, E. N.; Meehan, P. M.; Dempster, A. P.

    2001-01-01

    Circadian modulation of episodic bursts is recognized as the normal physiological pattern of diurnal variation in plasma cortisol levels. The primary physiological factors underlying these diurnal patterns are the ultradian timing of secretory events, circadian modulation of the amplitude of secretory events, infusion of the hormone from the adrenal gland into the plasma, and clearance of the hormone from the plasma by the liver. Each measured plasma cortisol level has an error arising from the cortisol immunoassay. We demonstrate that all of these three physiological principles can be succinctly summarized in a single stochastic differential equation plus measurement error model and show that physiologically consistent ranges of the model parameters can be determined from published reports. We summarize the model parameters in terms of the multivariate Gaussian probability density and establish the plausibility of the model with a series of simulation studies. Our framework makes possible a sensitivity analysis in which all model parameters are allowed to vary simultaneously. The model offers an approach for simultaneously representing cortisol's ultradian, circadian, and kinetic properties. Our modeling paradigm provides a framework for simulation studies and data analysis that should be readily adaptable to the analysis of other endocrine hormone systems.

  20. Quality of peas modelled by a structural equation system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bech, A. C.; Juhl, H. J.; Hansen, M.

    2000-01-01

    in a PLS structural model with the Total Food Quality Model as starting point. The results show that texture and flavour do have approximately the same effect on consumers' perception of overall quality. Quality development goals for plant breeders would be to optimse perceived flavour directly...

  1. A novel spatial performance metric for robust pattern optimization of distributed hydrological models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stisen, S.; Demirel, C.; Koch, J.

    2017-12-01

    Evaluation of performance is an integral part of model development and calibration as well as it is of paramount importance when communicating modelling results to stakeholders and the scientific community. There exists a comprehensive and well tested toolbox of metrics to assess temporal model performance in the hydrological modelling community. On the contrary, the experience to evaluate spatial performance is not corresponding to the grand availability of spatial observations readily available and to the sophisticate model codes simulating the spatial variability of complex hydrological processes. This study aims at making a contribution towards advancing spatial pattern oriented model evaluation for distributed hydrological models. This is achieved by introducing a novel spatial performance metric which provides robust pattern performance during model calibration. The promoted SPAtial EFficiency (spaef) metric reflects three equally weighted components: correlation, coefficient of variation and histogram overlap. This multi-component approach is necessary in order to adequately compare spatial patterns. spaef, its three components individually and two alternative spatial performance metrics, i.e. connectivity analysis and fractions skill score, are tested in a spatial pattern oriented model calibration of a catchment model in Denmark. The calibration is constrained by a remote sensing based spatial pattern of evapotranspiration and discharge timeseries at two stations. Our results stress that stand-alone metrics tend to fail to provide holistic pattern information to the optimizer which underlines the importance of multi-component metrics. The three spaef components are independent which allows them to complement each other in a meaningful way. This study promotes the use of bias insensitive metrics which allow comparing variables which are related but may differ in unit in order to optimally exploit spatial observations made available by remote sensing

  2. QAM: PROPOSED MODEL FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN CBSS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Latika Kharb

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Component-based software engineering (CBSE / Component-Based Development (CBD lays emphasis on decomposition of the engineered systems into functional or logical components with well-defined interfaces used for communication across the components. Component-based software development approach is based on the idea to develop software systems by selecting appropriate off-the-shelf components and then to assemble them with a well-defined software architecture. Because the new software development paradigm is much different from the traditional approach, quality assurance for component-based software development is a new topic in the software engineering research community. Because component-based software systems are developed on an underlying process different from that of the traditional software, their quality assurance model should address both the process of components and the process of the overall system. Quality assurance for component-based software systems during the life cycle is used to analyze the components for achievement of high quality component-based software systems. Although some Quality assurance techniques and component based approach to software engineering have been studied, there is still no clear and well-defined standard or guidelines for component-based software systems. Therefore, identification of the quality assurance characteristics, quality assurance models, quality assurance tools and quality assurance metrics, are under urgent need. As a major contribution in this paper, I have proposed QAM: Quality Assurance Model for component-based software development, which covers component requirement analysis, component development, component certification, component architecture design, integration, testing, and maintenance.

  3. Model-generated air quality statistics for application in vegetation response models in Alberta

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McVehil, G.E.; Nosal, M.

    1990-01-01

    To test and apply vegetation response models in Alberta, air pollution statistics representative of various parts of the Province are required. At this time, air quality monitoring data of the requisite accuracy and time resolution are not available for most parts of Alberta. Therefore, there exists a need to develop appropriate air quality statistics. The objectives of the work reported here were to determine the applicability of model generated air quality statistics and to develop by modelling, realistic and representative time series of hourly SO 2 concentrations that could be used to generate the statistics demanded by vegetation response models

  4. An Overview of Food Patterns and Diet Quality in Qatar: Findings from the National Household Income Expenditure Survey

    OpenAIRE

    Akram, Hammad

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Introduction Availability of accurate data pertaining to a population’s dietary patterns and associated health outcomes is critical for proper development and implementation of related policies. This article is a first attempt to share the food patterns, amounts and diet quality among households (HH) in Qatar. Methods Data from the 2012-2013 Qatar National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) was used. This cross-sectional survey included 3723 HH (1826 Qatar...

  5. A systematic literature review of open source software quality assessment models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adewumi, Adewole; Misra, Sanjay; Omoregbe, Nicholas; Crawford, Broderick; Soto, Ricardo

    2016-01-01

    Many open source software (OSS) quality assessment models are proposed and available in the literature. However, there is little or no adoption of these models in practice. In order to guide the formulation of newer models so they can be acceptable by practitioners, there is need for clear discrimination of the existing models based on their specific properties. Based on this, the aim of this study is to perform a systematic literature review to investigate the properties of the existing OSS quality assessment models by classifying them with respect to their quality characteristics, the methodology they use for assessment, and their domain of application so as to guide the formulation and development of newer models. Searches in IEEE Xplore, ACM, Science Direct, Springer and Google Search is performed so as to retrieve all relevant primary studies in this regard. Journal and conference papers between the year 2003 and 2015 were considered since the first known OSS quality model emerged in 2003. A total of 19 OSS quality assessment model papers were selected. To select these models we have developed assessment criteria to evaluate the quality of the existing studies. Quality assessment models are classified into five categories based on the quality characteristics they possess namely: single-attribute, rounded category, community-only attribute, non-community attribute as well as the non-quality in use models. Our study reflects that software selection based on hierarchical structures is found to be the most popular selection method in the existing OSS quality assessment models. Furthermore, we found that majority (47%) of the existing models do not specify any domain of application. In conclusion, our study will be a valuable contribution to the community and helps the quality assessment model developers in formulating newer models and also to the practitioners (software evaluators) in selecting suitable OSS in the midst of alternatives.

  6. Business Process Modelling for Measuring Quality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heidari, F.; Loucopoulos, P.; Brazier, F.M.

    2013-01-01

    Business process modelling languages facilitate presentation, communication and analysis of business processes with different stakeholders. This paper proposes an approach that drives specification and measurement of quality requirements and in doing so relies on business process models as

  7. A Pattern-Oriented Approach to a Methodical Evaluation of Modeling Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Amberg

    1996-11-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes a pattern-oriented approach to evaluate modeling methods and to compare various methods with each other from a methodical viewpoint. A specific set of principles (the patterns is defined by investigating the notations and the documentation of comparable modeling methods. Each principle helps to examine some parts of the methods from a specific point of view. All principles together lead to an overall picture of the method under examination. First the core ("method neutral" meaning of each principle is described. Then the methods are examined regarding the principle. Afterwards the method specific interpretations are compared with each other and with the core meaning of the principle. By this procedure, the strengths and weaknesses of modeling methods regarding methodical aspects are identified. The principles are described uniformly using a principle description template according to descriptions of object oriented design patterns. The approach is demonstrated by evaluating a business process modeling method.

  8. Collaborative problem solving with a total quality model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Volden, C M; Monnig, R

    1993-01-01

    A collaborative problem-solving system committed to the interests of those involved complies with the teachings of the total quality management movement in health care. Deming espoused that any quality system must become an integral part of routine activities. A process that is used consistently in dealing with problems, issues, or conflicts provides a mechanism for accomplishing total quality improvement. The collaborative problem-solving process described here results in quality decision-making. This model incorporates Ishikawa's cause-and-effect (fishbone) diagram, Moore's key causes of conflict, and the steps of the University of North Dakota Conflict Resolution Center's collaborative problem solving model.

  9. Understanding Activation Patterns in Shared Circuits: Toward a Value Driven Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa Aziz-Zadeh

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Over the past decade many studies indicate that we utilize our own motor system to understand the actions of other people. This mirror neuron system (MNS has been proposed to be involved in social cognition and motor learning. However, conflicting findings regarding the underlying mechanisms that drive these shared circuits make it difficult to decipher a common model of their function. Here we propose adapting a “value-driven” model to explain discrepancies in the human mirror system literature and to incorporate this model with existing models. We will use this model to explain discrepant activation patterns in multiple shared circuits in the human data, such that a unified model may explain reported activation patterns from previous studies as a function of value.

  10. Modelling End-User of Electronic-Government Service: The Role of Information quality, System Quality and Trust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witarsyah Jacob, Deden; Fudzee, Mohd Farhan Md; Aizi Salamat, Mohamad; Kasim, Shahreen; Mahdin, Hairulnizam; Azhar Ramli, Azizul

    2017-08-01

    Many governments around the world increasingly use internet technologies such as electronic government to provide public services. These services range from providing the most basic informational website to deploying sophisticated tools for managing interactions between government agencies and beyond government. Electronic government (e-government) aims to provide a more accurate, easily accessible, cost-effective and time saving for the community. In this study, we develop a new model of e-government adoption service by extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) through the incorporation of some variables such as System Quality, Information Quality and Trust. The model is then tested using a large-scale, multi-site survey research of 237 Indonesian citizens. This model will be validated by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The result indicates that System Quality, Information Quality and Trust variables proven to effect user behavior. This study extends the current understanding on the influence of System Quality, Information Quality and Trust factors to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

  11. Conceptual Models, Choices, and Benchmarks for Building Quality Work Cultures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acker-Hocevar, Michele

    1996-01-01

    The two models in Florida's Educational Quality Benchmark System represent a new way of thinking about developing schools' work culture. The Quality Performance System Model identifies nine dimensions of work within a quality system. The Change Process Model provides a theoretical framework for changing existing beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors…

  12. DockQ: A Quality Measure for Protein-Protein Docking Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basu, Sankar

    2016-01-01

    The state-of-the-art to assess the structural quality of docking models is currently based on three related yet independent quality measures: Fnat, LRMS, and iRMS as proposed and standardized by CAPRI. These quality measures quantify different aspects of the quality of a particular docking model and need to be viewed together to reveal the true quality, e.g. a model with relatively poor LRMS (>10Å) might still qualify as 'acceptable' with a descent Fnat (>0.50) and iRMS (iRMS to a single score in the range [0, 1] that can be used to assess the quality of protein docking models. By using DockQ on CAPRI models it is possible to almost completely reproduce the original CAPRI classification into Incorrect, Acceptable, Medium and High quality. An average PPV of 94% at 90% Recall demonstrating that there is no need to apply predefined ad-hoc cutoffs to classify docking models. Since DockQ recapitulates the CAPRI classification almost perfectly, it can be viewed as a higher resolution version of the CAPRI classification, making it possible to estimate model quality in a more quantitative way using Z-scores or sum of top ranked models, which has been so valuable for the CASP community. The possibility to directly correlate a quality measure to a scoring function has been crucial for the development of scoring functions for protein structure prediction, and DockQ should be useful in a similar development in the protein docking field. DockQ is available at http://github.com/bjornwallner/DockQ/ PMID:27560519

  13. MEASURING THE DATA MODEL QUALITY IN THE ESUPPLY CHAINS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zora Arsovski

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The implementation of Internet technology in business has enabled the development of e-business supply chains with large-scale information integration among all partners.The development of information systems (IS is based on the established business objectives whose achievement, among other things, directly depends on the quality of development and design of IS. In the process of analysis of the key elements of company operations in the supply chain, process model and corresponding data model are designed which should enable selection of appropriate information system architecture. The quality of the implemented information system, which supports e-supply chain, directly depends on the level of data model quality. One of the serious limitations of the data model is its complexity. With a large number of entities, data model is difficult to analyse, monitor and maintain. The problem gets bigger when looking at an integrated data model at the level of participating partners in the supply chain, where the data model usually consists of hundreds or even thousands of entities.The paper will analyse the key elements affecting the quality of data models and show their interactions and factors of significance. In addition, the paper presents various measures for assessing the quality of the data model on which it is possible to easily locate the problems and focus efforts in specific parts of a complex data model where it is not economically feasible to review every detail of the model.

  14. In vitro burn model illustrating heat conduction patterns using compressed thermal papers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jun Yong; Jung, Sung-No; Kwon, Ho

    2015-01-01

    To date, heat conduction from heat sources to tissue has been estimated by complex mathematical modeling. In the present study, we developed an intuitive in vitro skin burn model that illustrates heat conduction patterns inside the skin. This was composed of tightly compressed thermal papers with compression frames. Heat flow through the model left a trace by changing the color of thermal papers. These were digitized and three-dimensionally reconstituted to reproduce the heat conduction patterns in the skin. For standardization, we validated K91HG-CE thermal paper using a printout test and bivariate correlation analysis. We measured the papers' physical properties and calculated the estimated depth of heat conduction using Fourier's equation. Through contact burns of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 seconds on porcine skin and our burn model using a heated brass comb, and comparing the burn wound and heat conduction trace, we validated our model. The heat conduction pattern correlation analysis (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.846, p < 0.001) and the heat conduction depth correlation analysis (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.93, p < 0.001) showed statistically significant high correlations between the porcine burn wound and our model. Our model showed good correlation with porcine skin burn injury and replicated its heat conduction patterns. © 2014 by the Wound Healing Society.

  15. Offshoring and Patterns of Quality Growth: Evidence from Danish Apparel

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Smeets, Valerie Anne Rolande; Traiberman, Sharon; Warzynski, Frederic Michel Patrick

    is generally associated with higher quality, offshoring to China is not. The reductions in trade costs also lead to changes in the distribution of prices and quality-adjusted prices. This has implications for policy as understanding the distribution of prices faced by heterogeneous consumers is key......Recently a small empirical literature has taken off attempting to analyze the role that quality plays in our understanding of trade. In particular, the recent work of Khandelwal (2010) has brought the insights of structural IO models of demand to bear into trade data. Our work builds on this new...... structural literature; we use similar demand estimation techniques on a panel of Danish apparel firms from 1997 to 2010 in order to analyze how firms responded to China’s entry to the WTO and the dismantling of the Multi-Fibre Agreement. We find substantial changes in the aggregate level as the distribution...

  16. An Overview of Food Patterns and Diet Quality in Qatar: Findings from the National Household Income Expenditure Survey

    OpenAIRE

    Al-Thani, Mohammed; Al-Thani, Al-Anoud; Al-Mahdi, Nasser; Al-Kareem, Hefzi; Barakat, Darine; Al-Chetachi, Walaa; Tawfik, Afaf; Akram, Hammad

    2017-01-01

    Introduction Availability of accurate data pertaining to a population?s dietary patterns and associated health outcomes is critical for proper development and implementation of related policies. This article is a first?attempt to share the food patterns, amounts and diet quality among households (HH) in Qatar. Methods Data from the 2012-2013 Qatar National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) was used. This cross-sectional survey included 3723 HH (1826 Qatari HH and 1897 non-Qatari ...

  17. Comparison of phase unwrapping algorithms for topography reconstruction based on digital speckle pattern interferometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yuanbo; Cui, Xiaoqian; Wang, Hongbei; Zhao, Mengge; Ding, Hongbin

    2017-10-01

    Digital speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI) can diagnose the topography evolution in real-time, continuous and non-destructive, and has been considered as a most promising technique for Plasma-Facing Components (PFCs) topography diagnostic under the complicated environment of tokamak. It is important for the study of digital speckle pattern interferometry to enhance speckle patterns and obtain the real topography of the ablated crater. In this paper, two kinds of numerical model based on flood-fill algorithm has been developed to obtain the real profile by unwrapping from the wrapped phase in speckle interference pattern, which can be calculated through four intensity images by means of 4-step phase-shifting technique. During the process of phase unwrapping by means of flood-fill algorithm, since the existence of noise pollution, and other inevitable factors will lead to poor quality of the reconstruction results, this will have an impact on the authenticity of the restored topography. The calculation of the quality parameters was introduced to obtain the quality-map from the wrapped phase map, this work presents two different methods to calculate the quality parameters. Then quality parameters are used to guide the path of flood-fill algorithm, and the pixels with good quality parameters are given priority calculation, so that the quality of speckle interference pattern reconstruction results are improved. According to the comparison between the flood-fill algorithm which is suitable for speckle pattern interferometry and the quality-guided flood-fill algorithm (with two different calculation approaches), the errors which caused by noise pollution and the discontinuous of the strips were successfully reduced.

  18. The impact of working memory and the "process of process modelling" on model quality: Investigating experienced versus inexperienced modellers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martini, Markus; Pinggera, Jakob; Neurauter, Manuel; Sachse, Pierre; Furtner, Marco R; Weber, Barbara

    2016-05-09

    A process model (PM) represents the graphical depiction of a business process, for instance, the entire process from online ordering a book until the parcel is delivered to the customer. Knowledge about relevant factors for creating PMs of high quality is lacking. The present study investigated the role of cognitive processes as well as modelling processes in creating a PM in experienced and inexperienced modellers. Specifically, two working memory (WM) functions (holding and processing of information and relational integration) and three process of process modelling phases (comprehension, modelling, and reconciliation) were related to PM quality. Our results show that the WM function of relational integration was positively related to PM quality in both modelling groups. The ratio of comprehension phases was negatively related to PM quality in inexperienced modellers and the ratio of reconciliation phases was positively related to PM quality in experienced modellers. Our research reveals central cognitive mechanisms in process modelling and has potential practical implications for the development of modelling software and teaching the craft of process modelling.

  19. Data Acquisition for Quality Loss Function Modelling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Søren Nygaard; Howard, Thomas J.

    2016-01-01

    Quality loss functions can be a valuable tool when assessing the impact of variation on product quality. Typically, the input for the quality loss function would be a measure of the varying product performance and the output would be a measure of quality. While the unit of the input is given by t...... by the product function in focus, the quality output can be measured and quantified in a number of ways. In this article a structured approach for acquiring stakeholder satisfaction data for use in quality loss function modelling is introduced.......Quality loss functions can be a valuable tool when assessing the impact of variation on product quality. Typically, the input for the quality loss function would be a measure of the varying product performance and the output would be a measure of quality. While the unit of the input is given...

  20. A TESSELLATION MODEL FOR CRACK PATTERNS ON SURFACES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Werner Nagel

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a model of random tessellations that reflect several features of crack pattern. There are already several theoretical results derivedwhich indicate that thismodel can be an appropriate referencemodel. Some potential applications are presented in a tentative statistical study.

  1. Quality management using model-driven engineering: an overview

    OpenAIRE

    Ruiz-Rube, Iván; Escalona, María José

    2014-01-01

    Quality Management (QM) is one of the critical points of any software development process. In recent years, several proposals have emerged on this issue, mainly with regard to maturity models, quality standards and best practices collections. Besides, Model Driven Engineering (MDE) aims to build software systems through the construction and transformation of models. However, MDE might be used for other different tasks. In this poster, we summarize the main contributions abou...

  2. Design and Establishment of Quality Model of Fundamental Geographic Information Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, W.; Zhang, J.; Zhao, Y.; Zhang, P.; Dang, Y.; Zhao, T.

    2018-04-01

    In order to make the quality evaluation for the Fundamental Geographic Information Databases(FGIDB) more comprehensive, objective and accurate, this paper studies and establishes a quality model of FGIDB, which formed by the standardization of database construction and quality control, the conformity of data set quality and the functionality of database management system, and also designs the overall principles, contents and methods of the quality evaluation for FGIDB, providing the basis and reference for carry out quality control and quality evaluation for FGIDB. This paper designs the quality elements, evaluation items and properties of the Fundamental Geographic Information Database gradually based on the quality model framework. Connected organically, these quality elements and evaluation items constitute the quality model of the Fundamental Geographic Information Database. This model is the foundation for the quality demand stipulation and quality evaluation of the Fundamental Geographic Information Database, and is of great significance on the quality assurance in the design and development stage, the demand formulation in the testing evaluation stage, and the standard system construction for quality evaluation technology of the Fundamental Geographic Information Database.

  3. Towards benchmarking an in-stream water quality model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available A method of model evaluation is presented which utilises a comparison with a benchmark model. The proposed benchmarking concept is one that can be applied to many hydrological models but, in this instance, is implemented in the context of an in-stream water quality model. The benchmark model is defined in such a way that it is easily implemented within the framework of the test model, i.e. the approach relies on two applications of the same model code rather than the application of two separate model codes. This is illustrated using two case studies from the UK, the Rivers Aire and Ouse, with the objective of simulating a water quality classification, general quality assessment (GQA, which is based on dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand and ammonium. Comparisons between the benchmark and test models are made based on GQA, as well as a step-wise assessment against the components required in its derivation. The benchmarking process yields a great deal of important information about the performance of the test model and raises issues about a priori definition of the assessment criteria.

  4. Development of an Instructional Quality Assurance Model in Nursing Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ajpru, Haruthai; Pasiphol, Shotiga; Wongwanich, Suwimon

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop an instructional quality assurance model in nursing science. The study was divided into 3 phases; (1) to study the information for instructional quality assurance model development (2) to develop an instructional quality assurance model in nursing science and (3) to audit and the assessment of the developed…

  5. Sleep quality and sleep patterns in relation to consumption of energy drinks, caffeinated beverages, and other stimulants among Thai college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lohsoonthorn, Vitool; Khidir, Hazar; Casillas, Gardenia; Lertmaharit, Somrat; Tadesse, Mahlet G; Pensuksan, Wipawan C; Rattananupong, Thanapoom; Gelaye, Bizu; Williams, Michelle A

    2013-09-01

    Poor sleep and heavy use of caffeinated beverages have been implicated as risk factors for a number of adverse health outcomes. Caffeine consumption and use of other stimulants are common among college students globally. However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined the influence of caffeinated beverages on the sleep quality of college students in Southeast Asian populations. We conducted this study to evaluate the patterns of sleep quality and to examine the extent to which poor sleep quality is associated with consumption of energy drinks, caffeinated beverages, and other stimulants among 2,854 Thai college students. A questionnaire was administered to ascertain demographic and behavioral characteristics. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to assess sleep habits and quality. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression models were used to identify statistically significant associations. Overall, the prevalence of poor sleep quality was found to be 48.1 %. A significant percent of students used stimulant beverages (58.0 %). Stimulant use (odds ratios (OR) 1.50; 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) 1.28-1.77) was found to be statistically significant and positively associated with poor sleep quality. Alcohol consumption (OR 3.10; 95 % CI 1.72-5.59) and cigarette smoking (OR 1.43; 95 % CI 1.02-1.98) also had a statistically significant association with increased daytime dysfunction due to sleepiness. In conclusion, stimulant use is common among Thai college students and is associated with several indices of poor sleep quality. Our findings underscore the need to educate students on the importance of sleep and the influences of dietary and lifestyle choices on their sleep quality and overall health.

  6. Quality Concerns in Technical Education in India: A Quantifiable Quality Enabled Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gambhir, Victor; Wadhwa, N. C.; Grover, Sandeep

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The paper aims to discuss current Technical Education scenarios in India. It proposes modelling the factors affecting quality in a technical institute and then applying a suitable technique for assessment, comparison and ranking. Design/methodology/approach: The paper chose graph theoretic approach for quantification of quality-enabled…

  7. The impact of traffic-flow patterns on air quality in urban street canyons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thaker, Prashant; Gokhale, Sharad

    2016-01-01

    We investigated the effect of different urban traffic-flow patterns on pollutant dispersion in different winds in a real asymmetric street canyon. Free-flow traffic causes more turbulence in the canyon facilitating more dispersion and a reduction in pedestrian level concentration. The comparison of with and without a vehicle-induced-turbulence revealed that when winds were perpendicular, the free-flow traffic reduced the concentration by 73% on the windward side with a minor increase of 17% on the leeward side, whereas for parallel winds, it reduced the concentration by 51% and 29%. The congested-flow traffic increased the concentrations on the leeward side by 47% when winds were perpendicular posing a higher risk to health, whereas reduced it by 17-42% for parallel winds. The urban air quality and public health can, therefore, be improved by improving the traffic-flow patterns in street canyons as vehicle-induced turbulence has been shown to contribute significantly to dispersion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. A quality management model for radiation oncology physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sternick, E.S.

    1991-01-01

    State-of-the-art radiation physics quality programs operate in a data rich environment. Given the abundance of recordable events, any formalism that serves to identify and monitor a set of attributes correlated with quality is to be regarded as an important management tool. The hierarchical tree structure model describes one such useful planning method. Of the several different types of tree structures, one of the most appropriate for quality management is the pyramid model. In this model, the associations between an overall program objective and the intermediate steps leading to its attainment, are indicated by both horizontal and vertical connectors. The overall objective of the system under study occupies the vertex of the pyramid, while the level immediately below contains its principal components. Further subdivisions of each component occur in successively lower levels. The tree finally terminates at a base level consisting of actions or requirements that must be fulfilled in order to satisfy the overall objective. A pyramid model for a radiation oncology physics quality program is discussed in detail. (author). 21 refs., 4 figs., 6 tabs

  9. Simple models for studying complex spatiotemporal patterns of animal behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyutyunov, Yuri V.; Titova, Lyudmila I.

    2017-06-01

    Minimal mathematical models able to explain complex patterns of animal behavior are essential parts of simulation systems describing large-scale spatiotemporal dynamics of trophic communities, particularly those with wide-ranging species, such as occur in pelagic environments. We present results obtained with three different modelling approaches: (i) an individual-based model of animal spatial behavior; (ii) a continuous taxis-diffusion-reaction system of partial-difference equations; (iii) a 'hybrid' approach combining the individual-based algorithm of organism movements with explicit description of decay and diffusion of the movement stimuli. Though the models are based on extremely simple rules, they all allow description of spatial movements of animals in a predator-prey system within a closed habitat, reproducing some typical patterns of the pursuit-evasion behavior observed in natural populations. In all three models, at each spatial position the animal movements are determined by local conditions only, so the pattern of collective behavior emerges due to self-organization. The movement velocities of animals are proportional to the density gradients of specific cues emitted by individuals of the antagonistic species (pheromones, exometabolites or mechanical waves of the media, e.g., sound). These cues play a role of taxis stimuli: prey attract predators, while predators repel prey. Depending on the nature and the properties of the movement stimulus we propose using either a simplified individual-based model, a continuous taxis pursuit-evasion system, or a little more detailed 'hybrid' approach that combines simulation of the individual movements with the continuous model describing diffusion and decay of the stimuli in an explicit way. These can be used to improve movement models for many species, including large marine predators.

  10. Study on a pattern classification method of soil quality based on simplified learning sample dataset

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jiahua; Liu, S.; Hu, Y.; Tian, Y.

    2011-01-01

    Based on the massive soil information in current soil quality grade evaluation, this paper constructed an intelligent classification approach of soil quality grade depending on classical sampling techniques and disordered multiclassification Logistic regression model. As a case study to determine the learning sample capacity under certain confidence level and estimation accuracy, and use c-means algorithm to automatically extract the simplified learning sample dataset from the cultivated soil quality grade evaluation database for the study area, Long chuan county in Guangdong province, a disordered Logistic classifier model was then built and the calculation analysis steps of soil quality grade intelligent classification were given. The result indicated that the soil quality grade can be effectively learned and predicted by the extracted simplified dataset through this method, which changed the traditional method for soil quality grade evaluation. ?? 2011 IEEE.

  11. Colour change in a structural ornament is related to individual quality, parasites and mating patterns in the blue tit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badás, E. P.; Martínez, J.; Rivero-de Aguilar, J.; Ponce, C.; Stevens, M.; Merino, S.

    2018-02-01

    Carry-over effects refer to processes that occur in one season and influence fitness in the following. In birds, two costly activities, namely reproduction and moult, are restricted to a small time window, and sometimes overlap. Thus, colour in newly moulted feathers is likely to be affected by the costs of reproduction. Using models of bird vision we investigated male colour change in a free-living population of blue tits ( Cyanistes caeruleus) in three sampling occasions: spring 1, winter and spring 2. We related crown, tail, breast and cheek feather colouration after the moult (winter) to the intensity of infections by blood parasites during reproduction (spring 1). In the following spring (spring 2), we explored mating patterns with respect to changes in feather colour (springs 1 vs. 2). Males that were less intensely infected by the malaria parasite Plasmodium while breeding showed purer white cheek feathers in winter, which may indicate higher feather quality. Increased brightness in the white cheek was associated with better body condition during reproduction. In the following season, males with brighter cheeks paired with females that had noticeably brighter cheek patches compared to the male's previous mate. These results suggest that the conditions experienced during reproduction are likely to affect moult and thus feather colouration, at least in the white patch. High quality individuals may allocate resources efficiently during reproduction increasing future reproductive success through variation in mating patterns. Carry-over effects from reproduction might extend not only to the non-breeding phase, but also to the following breeding season.

  12. Air Quality Modelling and the National Emission Database

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, S. S.

    The project focuses on development of institutional strengthening to be able to carry out national air emission inventories based on the CORINAIR methodology. The present report describes the link between emission inventories and air quality modelling to ensure that the new national air emission...... inventory is able to take into account the data requirements of air quality models...

  13. Global modelling of river water quality under climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Vliet, Michelle T. H.; Franssen, Wietse H. P.; Yearsley, John R.

    2017-04-01

    Climate change will pose challenges on the quality of freshwater resources for human use and ecosystems for instance by changing the dilution capacity and by affecting the rate of chemical processes in rivers. Here we assess the impacts of climate change and induced streamflow changes on a selection of water quality parameters for river basins globally. We used the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model and a newly developed global water quality module for salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand. The modelling framework was validated using observed records of streamflow, water temperature, chloride, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand for 1981-2010. VIC and the water quality module were then forced with an ensemble of bias-corrected General Circulation Model (GCM) output for the representative concentration pathways RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 to study water quality trends and identify critical regions (hotspots) of water quality deterioration for the 21st century.

  14. Klang River water quality modelling using music

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zahari, Nazirul Mubin; Zawawi, Mohd Hafiz; Muda, Zakaria Che; Sidek, Lariyah Mohd; Fauzi, Nurfazila Mohd; Othman, Mohd Edzham Fareez; Ahmad, Zulkepply

    2017-09-01

    Water is an essential resource that sustains life on earth; changes in the natural quality and distribution of water have ecological impacts that can sometimes be devastating. Recently, Malaysia is facing many environmental issues regarding water pollution. The main causes of river pollution are rapid urbanization, arising from the development of residential, commercial, industrial sites, infrastructural facilities and others. The purpose of the study was to predict the water quality of the Connaught Bridge Power Station (CBPS), Klang River. Besides that, affects to the low tide and high tide and. to forecast the pollutant concentrations of the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solid (TSS) for existing land use of the catchment area through water quality modeling (by using the MUSIC software). Besides that, to identifying an integrated urban stormwater treatment system (Best Management Practice or BMPs) to achieve optimal performance in improving the water quality of the catchment using the MUSIC software in catchment areas having tropical climates. Result from MUSIC Model such as BOD5 at station 1 can be reduce the concentration from Class IV to become Class III. Whereas, for TSS concentration from Class III to become Class II at the station 1. The model predicted a mean TSS reduction of 0.17%, TP reduction of 0.14%, TN reduction of 0.48% and BOD5 reduction of 0.31% for Station 1 Thus, from the result after purposed BMPs the water quality is safe to use because basically water quality monitoring is important due to threat such as activities are harmful to aquatic organisms and public health.

  15. Computational design of patterned interfaces using reduced order models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vattre, A.J.; Abdolrahim, N.; Kolluri, K.; Demkowicz, M.J.

    2014-01-01

    Patterning is a familiar approach for imparting novel functionalities to free surfaces. We extend the patterning paradigm to interfaces between crystalline solids. Many interfaces have non-uniform internal structures comprised of misfit dislocations, which in turn govern interface properties. We develop and validate a computational strategy for designing interfaces with controlled misfit dislocation patterns by tailoring interface crystallography and composition. Our approach relies on a novel method for predicting the internal structure of interfaces: rather than obtaining it from resource-intensive atomistic simulations, we compute it using an efficient reduced order model based on anisotropic elasticity theory. Moreover, our strategy incorporates interface synthesis as a constraint on the design process. As an illustration, we apply our approach to the design of interfaces with rapid, 1-D point defect diffusion. Patterned interfaces may be integrated into the microstructure of composite materials, markedly improving performance. (authors)

  16. Modelling Global Pattern Formations for Collaborative Learning Environments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grappiolo, Corrado; Cheong, Yun-Gyung; Khaled, Rilla

    2012-01-01

    We present our research towards the design of a computational framework capable of modelling the formation and evolution of global patterns (i.e. group structures) in a population of social individuals. The framework is intended to be used in collaborative environments, e.g. social serious games...

  17. Modeling patterns of hot water use in households

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lutz, James D.; Liu, Xiaomin; McMahon, James E.; Dunham, Camilla; Shown, Leslie J.; McCure, Quandra T.

    1996-01-01

    This report presents a detailed model of hot water use patterns in individual households. The model improves upon an existing model by including the effects of four conditions that were previously unaccounted for: the absence of a clothes washer; the absence of a dishwasher; a household consisting of seniors only; and a household that does not pay for its own hot water use. Although these four conditions can significantly affect residential hot water use, and have been noted in other studies, this is the first time that they have been incorporated into a detailed model. This model allows detailed evaluation of the impact of potential efficiency standards for water heaters and other market transformation policies.

  18. Quality Estimation for Vascular Pattern Recognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hartung, Daniel; Martin, Sophie; Busch, Christoph

    2011-01-01

    The quality of captured samples is a critical aspect in biometric systems. In this paper we present a quality estimation algorithm for vascular images, which uses global and local features based on a Grey Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and optionally available metadata. An evaluation of the al...

  19. Patterns of glycogen turnover in liver characterized by computer modeling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Youn, J.H.; Bergman, R.N.

    1987-01-01

    The authors used a computer model of liver glycogen turnover to reexamine the data of Devos and Hers, who reported the time course of accumulation in and loss from glycogen of label originating in [1- 14 C]galactose injected at different times after the start of refeeding of 40-h fasted mice or rats. In the present study computer representation of individual glycogen molecules was utilized to account for growth and degradation of glycogen according to specific hypothetical patterns. Using this model they could predict the accumulation and localization within glycogen of labeled glucose residues and compare the predictions with the previously published data. They considered three specific hypotheses of glycogen accumulation during refeeding: (1) simultaneous, (2) sequential, and (3) accelerating growth. Hypothetical patterns of glycogen degradation were (1) ordered and (2) random degradation. The pattern of glycogen synthesis consistent with experimental data was a steadily increasing number of growing glycogen molecules, whereas during degradation glycogen molecules are exposed to degrading enzymes randomly, rather than in a specific reverse order of synthesis. These patterns predict the existence of a specific mechanism for the steadily increasing seeding of new glycogen molecules during synthesis

  20. Patterns of flavor signals in supersymmetric models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goto, T. [KEK National High Energy Physics, Tsukuba (Japan)]|[Kyoto Univ. (Japan). YITP; Okada, Y. [KEK National High Energy Physics, Tsukuba (Japan)]|[Graduate Univ. for Advanced Studies, Tsukuba (Japan). Dept. of Particle and Nucelar Physics; Shindou, T. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)]|[International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste (Italy); Tanaka, M. [Osaka Univ., Toyonaka (Japan). Dept. of Physics

    2007-11-15

    Quark and lepton flavor signals are studied in four supersymmetric models, namely the minimal supergravity model, the minimal supersymmetric standard model with right-handed neutrinos, SU(5) supersymmetric grand unified theory with right-handed neutrinos and the minimal supersymmetric standard model with U(2) flavor symmetry. We calculate b{yields}s(d) transition observables in B{sub d} and B{sub s} decays, taking the constraint from the B{sub s}- anti B{sub s} mixing recently observed at Tevatron into account. We also calculate lepton flavor violating processes {mu} {yields} e{gamma}, {tau} {yields} {mu}{gamma} and {tau} {yields} e{gamma} for the models with right-handed neutrinos. We investigate possibilities to distinguish the flavor structure of the supersymmetry breaking sector with use of patterns of various flavor signals which are expected to be measured in experiments such as MEG, LHCb and a future Super B Factory. (orig.)

  1. Patterns of flavor signals in supersymmetric models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goto, T.; Tanaka, M.

    2007-11-01

    Quark and lepton flavor signals are studied in four supersymmetric models, namely the minimal supergravity model, the minimal supersymmetric standard model with right-handed neutrinos, SU(5) supersymmetric grand unified theory with right-handed neutrinos and the minimal supersymmetric standard model with U(2) flavor symmetry. We calculate b→s(d) transition observables in B d and B s decays, taking the constraint from the B s - anti B s mixing recently observed at Tevatron into account. We also calculate lepton flavor violating processes μ → eγ, τ → μγ and τ → eγ for the models with right-handed neutrinos. We investigate possibilities to distinguish the flavor structure of the supersymmetry breaking sector with use of patterns of various flavor signals which are expected to be measured in experiments such as MEG, LHCb and a future Super B Factory. (orig.)

  2. Predictive model for determining the quality of a call

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voznak, M.; Rozhon, J.; Partila, P.; Safarik, J.; Mikulec, M.; Mehic, M.

    2014-05-01

    In this paper the predictive model for speech quality estimation is described. This model allows its user to gain the information about the speech quality in VoIP networks without the need of performing the actual call and the consecutive time consuming sound file evaluation. This rapidly increases usability of the speech quality measurement especially in high load networks, where the actual processing of all calls is rendered difficult or even impossible. This model can reach its results that are highly conformant with the PESQ algorithm only based on the network state parameters that are easily obtainable by the commonly used software tools. Experiments were carried out to investigate whether different languages (English, Czech) have an effect on perceived voice quality for the same network conditions and the language factor was incorporated directly into the model.

  3. Patterns of fish diversity and assemblage structure and water quality in the longest Asian tropical river (Mekong)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chea, R.; Lek, S.; Grenouillet, G.

    2016-12-01

    Although the Mekong River is one of the world's 35 biodiversity hotspots, the large-scale patterns of fish diversity and assemblage structure remain poorly addressed. The present study aimed to investigate the spatial variability of water quality in the Lower Mekong Basin and the fish distribution patterns in the Lower Mekong River (LMR) and to identify their environmental determinants. Daily fish catch data at 38 sites distributed along the LMR were related to 15 physicochemical and 19 climatic variables. As a result, four different clusters were defined according to the similarity in assemblage composition and 80 indicator species were identified. While fish species richness was highest in the Mekong delta and lowest in the upper part of the LMR, the diversity index was highest in the middle part of the LMR and lowest in the delta. We found that fish assemblages changed along the environmental gradients and that the main drivers affecting the fish assemblage structure were the seasonal variation of temperature, precipitation, dissolved oxygen, pH, and total phosphorus. Specifically, upstream assemblages were characterized by cyprinids and Pangasius catfish, well suited to low temperature, high dissolved oxygen and high pH. Fish assemblages in the delta were dominated by perch-like fish and clupeids, more tolerant to high temperatures, and high levels of nutrients (nitrates and total phosphorus) and salinity. Overall, the patterns were consistent between seasons. Our study contributes to establishing the first holistic fish community study in the LMR. Overall of the LMR water quality, we found that the water in the mainstream was less polluted than its tributaries; eutrophication and salinity could be key factors affecting water quality in LMR. Moreover, the seasonal variation of water quality seemed to be less marked than spatial variation occurring along the longitudinal gradient of Mekong River. Significant degradations were mainly associated with human

  4. Quality assessment in higher education using the SERVQUALQ model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabina Đonlagić

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina is striving towards growth and increased employment and it has been proven by empirical studies worldwide that higher education contributes to socio-economic development of a country. Universities are important for generation, preservation and dissemination of knowledge in order to contribute to socio-economic benefits of a country. Higher education institutions are being pressured to improve value for their activities and providing quality higher education service to students should be taken seriously. In this paper we will address the emerging demand for quality in higher education. Higher education institutions should assess quality of their services and establish methods for improving quality. Activities of quality assurance should be integrated into the management process at higher education institutions. This paper is addressing the issue of service quality measurement in higher education institutions. The most frequently used model in this context is the SERVQUAL model. This model is measuring quality from the students' point of view, since students are considered to be one of the most important stakeholders for a higher education institution. The main objective of this research is to provide empirical evidence that the adapted SERVQAL model can be used in higher education and to identify the service quality gap based on its application at one institution of higher education (Faculty of Economics in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, results of the gap analysis using the SERVQUAL methodology provide relevant information in which areas improvement is necessary in order to enhance service quality.

  5. The association between diet quality, dietary patterns and depression in adults: a systematic review

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Recent evidence suggests that diet modifies key biological factors associated with the development of depression; however, associations between diet quality and depression are not fully understood. We performed a systematic review to evaluate existing evidence regarding the association between diet quality and depression. Method A computer-aided literature search was conducted using Medline, CINAHL, and PsycINFO, January 1965 to October 2011, and a best-evidence analysis performed. Results Twenty-five studies from nine countries met eligibility criteria. Our best-evidence analyses found limited evidence to support an association between traditional diets (Mediterranean or Norwegian diets) and depression. We also observed a conflicting level of evidence for associations between (i) a traditional Japanese diet and depression, (ii) a “healthy” diet and depression, (iii) a Western diet and depression, and (iv) individuals with depression and the likelihood of eating a less healthy diet. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first review to synthesize and critically analyze evidence regarding diet quality, dietary patterns and depression. Further studies are urgently required to elucidate whether a true causal association exists. PMID:23802679

  6. Development of Water Quality Modeling in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    This presentation describes historical trends in water quality model development in the United States, reviews current efforts, and projects promising future directions. Water quality modeling has a relatively long history in the United States. While its origins lie in the work...

  7. Mathematical models for atmospheric pollutants. Appendix D. Available air quality models. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drake, R.L.; McNaughton, D.J.; Huang, C.

    1979-08-01

    Models that are available for the analysis of airborne pollutants are summarized. In addition, recommendations are given concerning the use of particular models to aid in particular air quality decision making processes. The air quality models are characterized in terms of time and space scales, steady state or time dependent processes, reference frames, reaction mechanisms, treatment of turbulence and topography, and model uncertainty. Using these characteristics, the models are classified in the following manner: simple deterministic models, such as air pollution indices, simple area source models and rollback models; statistical models, such as averaging time models, time series analysis and multivariate analysis; local plume and puff models; box and multibox models; finite difference or grid models; particle models; physical models, such as wind tunnels and liquid flumes; regional models; and global models

  8. Hydrologic and Water Quality Model Development Using Simulink

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James D. Bowen

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available A stormwater runoff model based on the Soil Conservation Service (SCS method and a finite-volume based water quality model have been developed to investigate the use of Simulink for use in teaching and research. Simulink, a MATLAB extension, is a graphically based model development environment for system modeling and simulation. Widely used for mechanical and electrical systems, Simulink has had less use for modeling of hydrologic systems. The watershed model is being considered for use in teaching graduate-level courses in hydrology and/or stormwater modeling. Simulink’s block (data process and arrow (data transfer object model, the copy and paste user interface, the large number of existing blocks, and the absence of computer code allows students to become model developers almost immediately. The visual depiction of systems, their component subsystems, and the flow of data through the systems are ideal attributes for hands-on teaching of hydrologic and mass balance processes to today’s computer-savvy visual learners. Model development with Simulink for research purposes is also investigated. A finite volume, multi-layer pond model using the water quality kinetics present in CE-QUAL-W2 has been developed using Simulink. The model is one of the first uses of Simulink for modeling eutrophication dynamics in stratified natural systems. The model structure and a test case are presented. One use of the model for teaching a graduate-level water quality modeling class is also described.

  9. An expanded Notch-Delta model exhibiting long-range patterning and incorporating MicroRNA regulation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jerry S Chen

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Notch-Delta signaling is a fundamental cell-cell communication mechanism that governs the differentiation of many cell types. Most existing mathematical models of Notch-Delta signaling are based on a feedback loop between Notch and Delta leading to lateral inhibition of neighboring cells. These models result in a checkerboard spatial pattern whereby adjacent cells express opposing levels of Notch and Delta, leading to alternate cell fates. However, a growing body of biological evidence suggests that Notch-Delta signaling produces other patterns that are not checkerboard, and therefore a new model is needed. Here, we present an expanded Notch-Delta model that builds upon previous models, adding a local Notch activity gradient, which affects long-range patterning, and the activity of a regulatory microRNA. This model is motivated by our experiments in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis showing that the peripheral sensory neurons, whose specification is in part regulated by the coordinate activity of Notch-Delta signaling and the microRNA miR-124, exhibit a sparse spatial pattern whereby consecutive neurons may be spaced over a dozen cells apart. We perform rigorous stability and bifurcation analyses, and demonstrate that our model is able to accurately explain and reproduce the neuronal pattern in Ciona. Using Monte Carlo simulations of our model along with miR-124 transgene over-expression assays, we demonstrate that the activity of miR-124 can be incorporated into the Notch decay rate parameter of our model. Finally, we motivate the general applicability of our model to Notch-Delta signaling in other animals by providing evidence that microRNAs regulate Notch-Delta signaling in analogous cell types in other organisms, and by discussing evidence in other organisms of sparse spatial patterns in tissues where Notch-Delta signaling is active.

  10. A simplified memory network model based on pattern formations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Kesheng; Zhang, Xiyun; Wang, Chaoqing; Liu, Zonghua

    2014-12-01

    Many experiments have evidenced the transition with different time scales from short-term memory (STM) to long-term memory (LTM) in mammalian brains, while its theoretical understanding is still under debate. To understand its underlying mechanism, it has recently been shown that it is possible to have a long-period rhythmic synchronous firing in a scale-free network, provided the existence of both the high-degree hubs and the loops formed by low-degree nodes. We here present a simplified memory network model to show that the self-sustained synchronous firing can be observed even without these two necessary conditions. This simplified network consists of two loops of coupled excitable neurons with different synaptic conductance and with one node being the sensory neuron to receive an external stimulus signal. This model can be further used to show how the diversity of firing patterns can be selectively formed by varying the signal frequency, duration of the stimulus and network topology, which corresponds to the patterns of STM and LTM with different time scales. A theoretical analysis is presented to explain the underlying mechanism of firing patterns.

  11. Model Building – A Circular Approach to Evaluate Multidimensional Patterns and Operationalized Procedures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franz HAAS

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Managers operate in highly different fields. Decision-making can be based on models reflecting in part these differences. The challenge is to connect the respective models without too great a disruption. A threefold procedural approach is proposed by chaining a scheme of modeling in a complex field to an operationalized model to statistical multivariate methods. Multivariate pattern-detecting methods offer the chance to evaluate patterns within the complex field partly. This step completes the cycle of research and improved models can be used in a further cycle.

  12. Modeling patterns of hot water use in households

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lutz, J.D.; Liu, Xiaomin; McMahon, J.E. [and others

    1996-11-01

    This report presents a detailed model of hot water use patterns in individual household. The model improves upon an existing model by including the effects of four conditions that were previously unaccounted for: the absence of a clothes washer; the absence of a dishwasher; a household consisting of seniors only; and a household that does not pay for its own hot water use. Although these four conditions can significantly affect residential hot water use, and have been noted in other studies, this is the first time that they have been incorporated into a detailed model. This model allows detailed evaluation of the impact of potential efficiency standards for water heaters and other market transformation policies. 21 refs., 3 figs., 10 tabs.

  13. Mechanochemical pattern formation in simple models of active viscoelastic fluids and solids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonso, Sergio; Radszuweit, Markus; Engel, Harald; Bär, Markus

    2017-11-01

    The cytoskeleton of the organism Physarum polycephalum is a prominent example of a complex active viscoelastic material wherein stresses induce flows along the organism as a result of the action of molecular motors and their regulation by calcium ions. Experiments in Physarum polycephalum have revealed a rich variety of mechanochemical patterns including standing, traveling and rotating waves that arise from instabilities of spatially homogeneous states without gradients in stresses and resulting flows. Herein, we investigate simple models where an active stress induced by molecular motors is coupled to a model describing the passive viscoelastic properties of the cellular material. Specifically, two models for viscoelastic fluids (Maxwell and Jeffrey model) and two models for viscoelastic solids (Kelvin-Voigt and Standard model) are investigated. Our focus is on the analysis of the conditions that cause destabilization of spatially homogeneous states and the related onset of mechano-chemical waves and patterns. We carry out linear stability analyses and numerical simulations in one spatial dimension for different models. In general, sufficiently strong activity leads to waves and patterns. The primary instability is stationary for all active fluids considered, whereas all active solids have an oscillatory primary instability. All instabilities found are of long-wavelength nature reflecting the conservation of the total calcium concentration in the models studied.

  14. Water quality modelling of an impacted semi-arid catchment using flow data from the WEAP model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slaughter, Andrew R.; Mantel, Sukhmani K.

    2018-04-01

    The continuous decline in water quality in many regions is forcing a shift from quantity-based water resources management to a greater emphasis on water quality management. Water quality models can act as invaluable tools as they facilitate a conceptual understanding of processes affecting water quality and can be used to investigate the water quality consequences of management scenarios. In South Africa, the Water Quality Systems Assessment Model (WQSAM) was developed as a management-focussed water quality model that is relatively simple to be able to utilise the small amount of available observed data. Importantly, WQSAM explicitly links to systems (yield) models routinely used in water resources management in South Africa by using their flow output to drive water quality simulations. Although WQSAM has been shown to be able to represent the variability of water quality in South African rivers, its focus on management from a South African perspective limits its use to within southern African regions for which specific systems model setups exist. Facilitating the use of WQSAM within catchments outside of southern Africa and within catchments for which these systems model setups to not exist would require WQSAM to be able to link to a simple-to-use and internationally-applied systems model. One such systems model is the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model, which incorporates a rainfall-runoff component (natural hydrology), and reservoir storage, return flows and abstractions (systems modelling), but within which water quality modelling facilities are rudimentary. The aims of the current study were therefore to: (1) adapt the WQSAM model to be able to use as input the flow outputs of the WEAP model and; (2) provide an initial assessment of how successful this linkage was by application of the WEAP and WQSAM models to the Buffalo River for historical conditions; a small, semi-arid and impacted catchment in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The simulations of

  15. Hybrid Model for e-Learning Quality Evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suzana M. Savic

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available E-learning is becoming increasingly important for the competitive advantage of economic organizations and higher education institutions. Therefore, it is becoming a significant aspect of quality which has to be integrated into the management system of every organization or institution. The paper examines e-learning quality characteristics, standards, criteria and indicators and presents a multi-criteria hybrid model for e-learning quality evaluation based on the method of Analytic Hierarchy Process, trend analysis, and data comparison.

  16. Qbox-Services: Towards a Service-Oriented Quality Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    González, Laura; Peralta, Verónika; Bouzeghoub, Mokrane; Ruggia, Raúl

    The data quality market is characterized by a sparse offer of tools, providing individual functionalities which have their own interest with respect to quality assessment. But interoperating among these tools remains a technical challenge because of the heterogeneity of their models and access patterns. On the other side, quality analysts require more and more integration facilities that allow them to consolidate and aggregate multiple quality measures acquired from different observations. The QBox platform, developed within the ANR Quadris project, aims at filling this gap by supplying a service-based integration infrastructure that allows interoperability among several quality tools and provides an OLAP-based quality model to support multidimensional analysis. This paper focuses on the architectural principles of this infrastructure and illustrates its use through specific examples of quality services.

  17. Mathematical modeling of high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on granular packing patterns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang, Chong-Jian; He, Rui; Zheng, Ping; Chai, Li-Yuan; Min, Xiao-Bo

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► A novel model was conducted to estimate volumetric nitrogen conversion rates. ► The packing patterns of the granules in Anammox reactor are investigated. ► The simple cubic packing pattern was simulated in high-rate Anammox UASB reactor. ► Operational strategies concerning sludge concentration were proposed by the modeling. -- Abstract: A novel mathematical model was developed to estimate the volumetric nitrogen conversion rates of a high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on the packing patterns of granular sludge. A series of relationships among granular packing density, sludge concentration, hydraulic retention time and volumetric conversion rate were constructed to correlate Anammox reactor performance with granular packing patterns. It was suggested that the Anammox granules packed as the equivalent simple cubic pattern in high-rate UASB reactor with packing density of 50–55%, which not only accommodated a high concentration of sludge inside the reactor, but also provided large pore volume, thus prolonging the actual substrate conversion time. Results also indicated that it was necessary to improve Anammox reactor performance by enhancing substrate loading when sludge concentration was higher than 37.8 gVSS/L. The established model was carefully calibrated and verified, and it well simulated the performance of granule-based high-rate Anammox UASB reactor

  18. Mathematical modeling of high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on granular packing patterns

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tang, Chong-Jian, E-mail: chjtangzju@yahoo.com.cn [Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Metallurgical Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); National Engineering Research Center for Control and Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, Changsha 410083 (China); He, Rui; Zheng, Ping [Department of Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou 310058 (China); Chai, Li-Yuan; Min, Xiao-Bo [Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Metallurgical Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); National Engineering Research Center for Control and Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, Changsha 410083 (China)

    2013-04-15

    Highlights: ► A novel model was conducted to estimate volumetric nitrogen conversion rates. ► The packing patterns of the granules in Anammox reactor are investigated. ► The simple cubic packing pattern was simulated in high-rate Anammox UASB reactor. ► Operational strategies concerning sludge concentration were proposed by the modeling. -- Abstract: A novel mathematical model was developed to estimate the volumetric nitrogen conversion rates of a high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on the packing patterns of granular sludge. A series of relationships among granular packing density, sludge concentration, hydraulic retention time and volumetric conversion rate were constructed to correlate Anammox reactor performance with granular packing patterns. It was suggested that the Anammox granules packed as the equivalent simple cubic pattern in high-rate UASB reactor with packing density of 50–55%, which not only accommodated a high concentration of sludge inside the reactor, but also provided large pore volume, thus prolonging the actual substrate conversion time. Results also indicated that it was necessary to improve Anammox reactor performance by enhancing substrate loading when sludge concentration was higher than 37.8 gVSS/L. The established model was carefully calibrated and verified, and it well simulated the performance of granule-based high-rate Anammox UASB reactor.

  19. Pattern solutions of the Klausmeier Model for banded vegetation in semi-arid environments I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sherratt, Jonathan A

    2010-01-01

    In many semi-arid environments, vegetation cover is sparse, and is self-organized into large-scale spatial patterns. In particular, banded vegetation is typical on hillsides. Mathematical modelling is widely used to study these banded patterns, and many models are effectively extensions of a coupled reaction–diffusion–advection system proposed by Klausmeier (1999 Science 284 1826–8). However, there is currently very little mathematical theory on pattern solutions of these equations. This paper is the first in a series whose aim is a comprehensive understanding of these solutions, which can act as a springboard both for future simulation-based studies of the Klausmeier model, and for analysis of model extensions. The author focusses on a particular part of parameter space, and derives expressions for the boundaries of the parameter region in which patterns occur. The calculations are valid to leading order at large values of the 'slope parameter', which reflects a comparison of the rate of water flow downhill with the rate of vegetation dispersal. The form of the corresponding patterns is also studied, and the author shows that the leading order equations change close to one boundary of the parameter region in which there are patterns, leading to a homoclinic solution. Conclusions are drawn on the way in which changes in mean annual rainfall affect pattern properties, including overall biomass productivity

  20. An equilibrium-point model of electromyographic patterns during single-joint movements based on experimentally reconstructed control signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latash, M L; Goodman, S R

    1994-01-01

    The purpose of this work has been to develop a model of electromyographic (EMG) patterns during single-joint movements based on a version of the equilibrium-point hypothesis, a method for experimental reconstruction of the joint compliant characteristics, the dual-strategy hypothesis, and a kinematic model of movement trajectory. EMG patterns are considered emergent properties of hypothetical control patterns that are equally affected by the control signals and peripheral feedback reflecting actual movement trajectory. A computer model generated the EMG patterns based on simulated movement kinematics and hypothetical control signals derived from the reconstructed joint compliant characteristics. The model predictions have been compared to published recordings of movement kinematics and EMG patterns in a variety of movement conditions, including movements over different distances, at different speeds, against different-known inertial loads, and in conditions of possible unexpected decrease in the inertial load. Changes in task parameters within the model led to simulated EMG patterns qualitatively similar to the experimentally recorded EMG patterns. The model's predictive power compares it favourably to the existing models of the EMG patterns. Copyright © 1994. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  1. Impact of inherent meteorology uncertainty on air quality model predictions

    Science.gov (United States)

    It is well established that there are a number of different classifications and sources of uncertainties in environmental modeling systems. Air quality models rely on two key inputs, namely, meteorology and emissions. When using air quality models for decision making, it is impor...

  2. Indoor Air Quality Building Education and Assessment Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Indoor Air Quality Building Education and Assessment Model (I-BEAM), released in 2002, is a guidance tool designed for use by building professionals and others interested in indoor air quality in commercial buildings.

  3. Location Contexts of User Check-Ins to Model Urban Geo Life-Style Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasan, Samiul; Ukkusuri, Satish V.

    2015-01-01

    Geo-location data from social media offers us information, in new ways, to understand people's attitudes and interests through their activity choices. In this paper, we explore the idea of inferring individual life-style patterns from activity-location choices revealed in social media. We present a model to understand life-style patterns using the contextual information (e. g. location categories) of user check-ins. Probabilistic topic models are developed to infer individual geo life-style patterns from two perspectives: i) to characterize the patterns of user interests to different types of places and ii) to characterize the patterns of user visits to different neighborhoods. The method is applied to a dataset of Foursquare check-ins of the users from New York City. The co-existence of several location contexts and the corresponding probabilities in a given pattern provide useful information about user interests and choices. It is found that geo life-style patterns have similar items—either nearby neighborhoods or similar location categories. The semantic and geographic proximity of the items in a pattern reflects the hidden regularity in user preferences and location choice behavior. PMID:25970430

  4. SOA Modeling Patterns for Service Oriented Discovery and Analysis

    CERN Document Server

    Bell, Michael

    2010-01-01

    Learn the essential tools for developing a sound service-oriented architecture. SOA Modeling Patterns for Service-Oriented Discovery and Analysis introduces a universal, easy-to-use, and nimble SOA modeling language to facilitate the service identification and examination life cycle stage. This business and technological vocabulary will benefit your service development endeavors and foster organizational software asset reuse and consolidation, and reduction of expenditure. Whether you are a developer, business architect, technical architect, modeler, business analyst, team leader, or manager,

  5. Morphogenesis and pattern formation in biological systems experiments and models

    CERN Document Server

    Noji, Sumihare; Ueno, Naoto; Maini, Philip

    2003-01-01

    A central goal of current biology is to decode the mechanisms that underlie the processes of morphogenesis and pattern formation. Concerned with the analysis of those phenomena, this book covers a broad range of research fields, including developmental biology, molecular biology, plant morphogenesis, ecology, epidemiology, medicine, paleontology, evolutionary biology, mathematical biology, and computational biology. In Morphogenesis and Pattern Formation in Biological Systems: Experiments and Models, experimental and theoretical aspects of biology are integrated for the construction and investigation of models of complex processes. This collection of articles on the latest advances by leading researchers not only brings together work from a wide spectrum of disciplines, but also provides a stepping-stone to the creation of new areas of discovery.

  6. Calibration of a distributed hydrologic model using observed spatial patterns from MODIS data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demirel, Mehmet C.; González, Gorka M.; Mai, Juliane; Stisen, Simon

    2016-04-01

    Distributed hydrologic models are typically calibrated against streamflow observations at the outlet of the basin. Along with these observations from gauging stations, satellite based estimates offer independent evaluation data such as remotely sensed actual evapotranspiration (aET) and land surface temperature. The primary objective of the study is to compare model calibrations against traditional downstream discharge measurements with calibrations against simulated spatial patterns and combinations of both types of observations. While the discharge based model calibration typically improves the temporal dynamics of the model, it seems to give rise to minimum improvement of the simulated spatial patterns. In contrast, objective functions specifically targeting the spatial pattern performance could potentially increase the spatial model performance. However, most modeling studies, including the model formulations and parameterization, are not designed to actually change the simulated spatial pattern during calibration. This study investigates the potential benefits of incorporating spatial patterns from MODIS data to calibrate the mesoscale hydrologic model (mHM). This model is selected as it allows for a change in the spatial distribution of key soil parameters through the optimization of pedo-transfer function parameters and includes options for using fully distributed daily Leaf Area Index (LAI) values directly as input. In addition the simulated aET can be estimated at a spatial resolution suitable for comparison to the spatial patterns observed with MODIS data. To increase our control on spatial calibration we introduced three additional parameters to the model. These new parameters are part of an empirical equation to the calculate crop coefficient (Kc) from daily LAI maps and used to update potential evapotranspiration (PET) as model inputs. This is done instead of correcting/updating PET with just a uniform (or aspect driven) factor used in the mHM model

  7. Multi-scale analysis of relationship between landscape pattern and urban river water quality in different seasons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Rui; Wang, Guofeng; Zhang, Qianwen; Zhang, Zhonghao

    2016-05-05

    Water quality is highly dependent on the landscape characteristics. In this study, we investigated the relationships between water quality and landscape pattern (composition and configuration) in Huzhou City, China. The water quality variables, including pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (CODMn), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), NH3-N, petroleum, dissolved total phosphorus (DTP), and total nitrogen (TN) in low water, normal water and flood periods were identified by investigating 34 sampling sites in Huzhou City during the period from 2001 to 2007. Landscape composition and landscape configuration metrics were calculated for different scales. It was found that scales and seasons both play important role when analyzing the relationships between landscape characteristics of different land use types. The results implied that some water quality parameters such as CODMn, petroleum are more polluted in flood period than the other two seasons at different scales, while DTP and TN are more polluted in low water period. Influences of different landscape metrics on water quality should operate at different spatial scales. The results shown in this paper will effectively provide scientific basis for the policy making in sustainable development of water environment.

  8. A simple model for research interest evolution patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Tao; Wang, Dashun; Szymanski, Boleslaw

    Sir Isaac Newton supposedly remarked that in his scientific career he was like ``...a boy playing on the sea-shore ...finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary''. His remarkable modesty and famous understatement motivate us to seek regularities in how scientists shift their research focus as the career develops. Indeed, despite intensive investigations on how microscopic factors, such as incentives and risks, would influence a scientist's choice of research agenda, little is known on the macroscopic patterns in the research interest change undertaken by individual scientists throughout their careers. Here we make use of over 14,000 authors' publication records in physics. By quantifying statistical characteristics in the interest evolution, we model scientific research as a random walk, which reproduces patterns in individuals' careers observed empirically. Despite myriad of factors that shape and influence individual choices of research subjects, we identified regularities in this dynamical process that are well captured by a simple statistical model. The results advance our understanding of scientists' behaviors during their careers and open up avenues for future studies in the science of science.

  9. Mathematical modelling of the process of quality control of construction products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pogorelov Vadim

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The study presents the results of years of research in the field of quality management of industrial production construction production, based on mathematical modelling techniques, process and results of implementing the developed programme of monitoring and quality control in the production process of the enterprise. The aim of this work is the presentation of scientific community of the practical results of mathematical modelling in application programs. In the course of the research addressed the description of the applied mathematical models, views, practical results of its application in the applied field to assess quality control. The authors used this mathematical model in practice. The article presents the results of applying this model. The authors developed the experimental software management and quality assessment by using mathematical modeling methods. The authors continue research in this direction to improve the diagnostic systems and quality management systems based on mathematical modeling methods prognostic and diagnostic processes.

  10. Spatial pattern evaluation of a calibrated national hydrological model - a remote-sensing-based diagnostic approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendiguren, Gorka; Koch, Julian; Stisen, Simon

    2017-11-01

    Distributed hydrological models are traditionally evaluated against discharge stations, emphasizing the temporal and neglecting the spatial component of a model. The present study widens the traditional paradigm by highlighting spatial patterns of evapotranspiration (ET), a key variable at the land-atmosphere interface, obtained from two different approaches at the national scale of Denmark. The first approach is based on a national water resources model (DK-model), using the MIKE-SHE model code, and the second approach utilizes a two-source energy balance model (TSEB) driven mainly by satellite remote sensing data. Ideally, the hydrological model simulation and remote-sensing-based approach should present similar spatial patterns and driving mechanisms of ET. However, the spatial comparison showed that the differences are significant and indicate insufficient spatial pattern performance of the hydrological model.The differences in spatial patterns can partly be explained by the fact that the hydrological model is configured to run in six domains that are calibrated independently from each other, as it is often the case for large-scale multi-basin calibrations. Furthermore, the model incorporates predefined temporal dynamics of leaf area index (LAI), root depth (RD) and crop coefficient (Kc) for each land cover type. This zonal approach of model parameterization ignores the spatiotemporal complexity of the natural system. To overcome this limitation, this study features a modified version of the DK-model in which LAI, RD and Kc are empirically derived using remote sensing data and detailed soil property maps in order to generate a higher degree of spatiotemporal variability and spatial consistency between the six domains. The effects of these changes are analyzed by using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis to evaluate spatial patterns. The EOF analysis shows that including remote-sensing-derived LAI, RD and Kc in the distributed hydrological model adds

  11. Gustatory stimuli representing different perceptual qualities elicit distinct patterns of neuropeptide secretion from taste buds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geraedts, Maartje C P; Munger, Steven D

    2013-04-24

    Taste stimuli that evoke different perceptual qualities (e.g., sweet, umami, bitter, sour, salty) are detected by dedicated subpopulations of taste bud cells that use distinct combinations of sensory receptors and transduction molecules. Here, we report that taste stimuli also elicit unique patterns of neuropeptide secretion from taste buds that are correlated with those perceptual qualities. We measured tastant-dependent secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), glucagon, and neuropeptide Y (NPY) from circumvallate papillae of Tas1r3(+/+), Tas1r3(+/-) and Tas1r3 (-/-) mice. Isolated tongue epithelia were mounted in modified Ussing chambers, permitting apical stimulation of taste buds; secreted peptides were collected from the basal side and measured by specific ELISAs. Appetitive stimuli (sweet: glucose, sucralose; umami: monosodium glutamate; polysaccharide: Polycose) elicited GLP-1 and NPY secretion and inhibited basal glucagon secretion. Sweet and umami stimuli were ineffective in Tas1r3(-/-) mice, indicating an obligatory role for the T1R3 subunit common to the sweet and umami taste receptors. Polycose responses were unaffected by T1R3 deletion, consistent with the presence of a distinct polysaccharide taste receptor. The effects of sweet stimuli on peptide secretion also required the closing of ATP-sensitive K(+) (KATP) channels, as the KATP channel activator diazoxide inhibited the effects of glucose and sucralose on both GLP-1 and glucagon release. Both sour citric acid and salty NaCl increased NPY secretion but had no effects on GLP-1 or glucagon. Bitter denatonium showed no effects on these peptides. Together, these results suggest that taste stimuli of different perceptual qualities elicit unique patterns of neuropeptide secretion from taste buds.

  12. Quality control of geological voxel models using experts' gaze

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maanen, P.P. van; Busschers, F.S.; Brouwer, A.M.; Meulen, M.J. van der; Erp, J.B.F. van

    2015-01-01

    Due to an expected increase in geological voxel model data-flow and user demands, the development of improved quality control for such models is crucial. This study explores the potential of a new type of quality control that improves the detection of errors by just using gaze behavior of 12

  13. Quality Control of Geological Voxel Models using Experts' Gaze

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Maanen, Peter-Paul; Busschers, Freek S.; Brouwer, Anne-Marie; van der Meulendijk, Michiel J.; van Erp, Johannes Bernardus Fransiscus

    Due to an expected increase in geological voxel model data-flow and user demands, the development of improved quality control for such models is crucial. This study explores the potential of a new type of quality control that improves the detection of errors by just using gaze behavior of 12

  14. A Theoretical Model of Jigsaw-Puzzle Pattern Formation by Plant Leaf Epidermal Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higaki, Takumi; Kutsuna, Natsumaro; Akita, Kae; Takigawa-Imamura, Hisako; Yoshimura, Kenji; Miura, Takashi

    2016-04-01

    Plant leaf epidermal cells exhibit a jigsaw puzzle-like pattern that is generated by interdigitation of the cell wall during leaf development. The contribution of two ROP GTPases, ROP2 and ROP6, to the cytoskeletal dynamics that regulate epidermal cell wall interdigitation has already been examined; however, how interactions between these molecules result in pattern formation remains to be elucidated. Here, we propose a simple interface equation model that incorporates both the cell wall remodeling activity of ROP GTPases and the diffusible signaling molecules by which they are regulated. This model successfully reproduces pattern formation observed in vivo, and explains the counterintuitive experimental results of decreased cellulose production and increased thickness. Our model also reproduces the dynamics of three-way cell wall junctions. Therefore, this model provides a possible mechanism for cell wall interdigitation formation in vivo.

  15. Combining satellite data and appropriate objective functions for improved spatial pattern performance of a distributed hydrologic model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Demirel, Mehmet C.; Mai, Juliane; Mendiguren Gonzalez, Gorka

    2018-01-01

    Satellite-based earth observations offer great opportunities to improve spatial model predictions by means of spatial-pattern-oriented model evaluations. In this study, observed spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration (AET) are utilised for spatial model calibration tailored to target...... and potential evapotranspiration correction parameterisations, based on soil type and vegetation density. These parameterisations are utilised as they are most relevant for simulated AET patterns from the hydrologic model. Due to the fundamental challenges encountered when evaluating spatial pattern performance...

  16. High quality single shot diffraction patterns using ultrashort megaelectron volt electron beams from a radio frequency photoinjector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Musumeci, P.; Moody, J. T.; Scoby, C. M.; Gutierrez, M. S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States); Bender, H. A.; Wilcox, N. S. [National Security Technologies, LLC, Los Alamos Operations, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544 (United States)

    2010-01-15

    Single shot diffraction patterns using a 250-fs-long electron beam have been obtained at the UCLA Pegasus laboratory. High quality images with spatial resolution sufficient to distinguish closely spaced peaks in the Debye-Scherrer ring pattern have been recorded by scattering the 1.6 pC 3.5 MeV electron beam generated in the rf photoinjector off a 100-nm-thick Au foil. Dark current and high emittance particles are removed from the beam before sending it onto the diffraction target using a 1 mm diameter collimating hole. These results open the door to the study of irreversible phase transformations by single shot MeV electron diffraction.

  17. High quality single shot diffraction patterns using ultrashort megaelectron volt electron beams from a radio frequency photoinjector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musumeci, P; Moody, J T; Scoby, C M; Gutierrez, M S; Bender, H A; Wilcox, N S

    2010-01-01

    Single shot diffraction patterns using a 250-fs-long electron beam have been obtained at the UCLA Pegasus laboratory. High quality images with spatial resolution sufficient to distinguish closely spaced peaks in the Debye-Scherrer ring pattern have been recorded by scattering the 1.6 pC 3.5 MeV electron beam generated in the rf photoinjector off a 100-nm-thick Au foil. Dark current and high emittance particles are removed from the beam before sending it onto the diffraction target using a 1 mm diameter collimating hole. These results open the door to the study of irreversible phase transformations by single shot MeV electron diffraction.

  18. High quality single shot diffraction patterns using ultrashort megaelectron volt electron beams from a radio frequency photoinjector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Musumeci, P.; Moody, J. T.; Scoby, C. M.; Gutierrez, M. S.; Bender, H. A.; Wilcox, N. S.

    2010-01-01

    Single shot diffraction patterns using a 250-fs-long electron beam have been obtained at the UCLA Pegasus laboratory. High quality images with spatial resolution sufficient to distinguish closely spaced peaks in the Debye-Scherrer ring pattern have been recorded by scattering the 1.6 pC 3.5 MeV electron beam generated in the rf photoinjector off a 100-nm-thick Au foil. Dark current and high emittance particles are removed from the beam before sending it onto the diffraction target using a 1 mm diameter collimating hole. These results open the door to the study of irreversible phase transformations by single shot MeV electron diffraction.

  19. Competition, predation, and migration : Individual choice patterns of Serengeti migrants captured by hierarchical models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hopcraft, J. Grant C.; Morales, J. M.; Beyer, H. L.; Borner, Markus; Mwangomo, Ephraim; Sinclair, A. R. E.; Olff, Han; Haydon, Daniel T.

    Large-herbivore migrations occur across gradients of food quality or food abundance that are generally determined by underlying geographic patterns in rainfall, elevation, or latitude, in turn causing variation in the degree of interspecific competition and the exposure to predators. However, the

  20. Embryo quality predictive models based on cumulus cells gene expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Devjak R

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Since the introduction of in vitro fertilization (IVF in clinical practice of infertility treatment, the indicators for high quality embryos were investigated. Cumulus cells (CC have a specific gene expression profile according to the developmental potential of the oocyte they are surrounding, and therefore, specific gene expression could be used as a biomarker. The aim of our study was to combine more than one biomarker to observe improvement in prediction value of embryo development. In this study, 58 CC samples from 17 IVF patients were analyzed. This study was approved by the Republic of Slovenia National Medical Ethics Committee. Gene expression analysis [quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR] for five genes, analyzed according to embryo quality level, was performed. Two prediction models were tested for embryo quality prediction: a binary logistic and a decision tree model. As the main outcome, gene expression levels for five genes were taken and the area under the curve (AUC for two prediction models were calculated. Among tested genes, AMHR2 and LIF showed significant expression difference between high quality and low quality embryos. These two genes were used for the construction of two prediction models: the binary logistic model yielded an AUC of 0.72 ± 0.08 and the decision tree model yielded an AUC of 0.73 ± 0.03. Two different prediction models yielded similar predictive power to differentiate high and low quality embryos. In terms of eventual clinical decision making, the decision tree model resulted in easy-to-interpret rules that are highly applicable in clinical practice.

  1. Modeling on bubbly to churn flow pattern transition in narrow rectangular channel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Yanlin; Chen Bingde; Huang Yanping; Wang Junfeng

    2012-01-01

    A theoretical model based on some reasonable concepts was developed to predict the bubbly flow to churn flow pattern transition in vertical narrow rectangular channel under flow boiling condition. The maximum size of ideal bubble in narrow rectangular channel was calculated based on previous literature. The thermal hydraulics boundary condition of bubbly to churn flow pattern transition was exported from Helmholtz and maximum size of ideal bubble. The theoretical model was validated by existent experimental data. (authors)

  2. A linked hydrodynamic and water quality model for the Salton Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, E.G.; Schladow, S.G.; Perez-Losada, J.; Robertson, Dale M.

    2008-01-01

    A linked hydrodynamic and water quality model was developed and applied to the Salton Sea. The hydrodynamic component is based on the one-dimensional numerical model, DLM. The water quality model is based on a new conceptual model for nutrient cycling in the Sea, and simulates temperature, total suspended sediment concentration, nutrient concentrations, including PO4-3, NO3-1 and NH4+1, DO concentration and chlorophyll a concentration as functions of depth and time. Existing water temperature data from 1997 were used to verify that the model could accurately represent the onset and breakup of thermal stratification. 1999 is the only year with a near-complete dataset for water quality variables for the Salton Sea. The linked hydrodynamic and water quality model was run for 1999, and by adjustment of rate coefficients and other water quality parameters, a good match with the data was obtained. In this article, the model is fully described and the model results for reductions in external phosphorus load on chlorophyll a distribution are presented. ?? 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

  3. Spiking patterns of a hippocampus model in electric fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Men Cong; Wang Jiang; Qin Ying-Mei; Wei Xi-Le; Deng Bin; Che Yan-Qiu

    2011-01-01

    We develop a model of CA3 neurons embedded in a resistive array to mimic the effects of electric fields from a new perspective. Effects of DC and sinusoidal electric fields on firing patterns in CA3 neurons are investigated in this study. The firing patterns can be switched from no firing pattern to burst or from burst to fast periodic firing pattern with the increase of DC electric field intensity. It is also found that the firing activities are sensitive to the frequency and amplitude of the sinusoidal electric field. Different phase-locking states and chaotic firing regions are observed in the parameter space of frequency and amplitude. These findings are qualitatively in accordance with the results of relevant experimental and numerical studies. It is implied that the external or endogenous electric field can modulate the neural code in the brain. Furthermore, it is helpful to develop control strategies based on electric fields to control neural diseases such as epilepsy. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

  4. Modeling how shark and dolphin skin patterns control transitional wall-turbulence vorticity patterns using spatiotemporal phase reset mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandyopadhyay, Promode R; Hellum, Aren M

    2014-10-23

    Many slow-moving biological systems like seashells and zebrafish that do not contend with wall turbulence have somewhat organized pigmentation patterns flush with their outer surfaces that are formed by underlying autonomous reaction-diffusion (RD) mechanisms. In contrast, sharks and dolphins contend with wall turbulence, are fast swimmers, and have more organized skin patterns that are proud and sometimes vibrate. A nonlinear spatiotemporal analytical model is not available that explains the mechanism underlying control of flow with such proud patterns, despite the fact that shark and dolphin skins are major targets of reverse engineering mechanisms of drag and noise reduction. Comparable to RD, a minimal self-regulation model is given for wall turbulence regeneration in the transitional regime--laterally coupled, diffusively--which, although restricted to pre-breakdown durations and to a plane close and parallel to the wall, correctly reproduces many experimentally observed spatiotemporal organizations of vorticity in both laminar-to-turbulence transitioning and very low Reynolds number but turbulent regions. We further show that the onset of vorticity disorganization is delayed if the skin organization is treated as a spatiotemporal template of olivo-cerebellar phase reset mechanism. The model shows that the adaptation mechanisms of sharks and dolphins to their fluid environment have much in common.

  5. Private healthcare quality: applying a SERVQUAL model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butt, Mohsin Muhammad; de Run, Ernest Cyril

    2010-01-01

    This paper seeks to develop and test the SERVQUAL model scale for measuring Malaysian private health service quality. The study consists of 340 randomly selected participants visiting a private healthcare facility during a three-month data collection period. Data were analyzed using means, correlations, principal component and confirmatory factor analysis to establish the modified SERVQUAL scale's reliability, underlying dimensionality and convergent, discriminant validity. Results indicate a moderate negative quality gap for overall Malaysian private healthcare service quality. Results also indicate a moderate negative quality gap on each service quality scale dimension. However, scale development analysis yielded excellent results, which can be used in wider healthcare policy and practice. Respondents were skewed towards a younger population, causing concern that the results might not represent all Malaysian age groups. The study's major contribution is that it offers a way to assess private healthcare service quality. Second, it successfully develops a scale that can be used to measure health service quality in Malaysian contexts.

  6. Exploring the Pattern of Internal Communication in Total Quality Management Implementation in Manufacturing Companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samsudin Sharina

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Communication is an important aspect of organizational dynamic process and it is irrefutable one of the critical success factors of the Total Quality Management (TQM implementation. Although there are increasing awareness concerning the importance of internal organizational communication, knowledge appears to have rarely translated into practice or there is lack of guidance to effectively practicing it. Therefore, a study was proposed to investigate the pattern of internal communication practice in TQM implementation. This paper concerns on focusing into internal communication practices in TQM implementation factors and the communication patterns in terms of message forms and mediums of communication to convey TQM messages. Reliability and Factor analysis were carried out to confirm items that form each factor in internal communication in TQM implementation. Based on the analysis of survey questionnaires distributed to 104 large manufacturing companies implementing TQM in Malaysia, it was found that there are certain communication patterns practice by the management when conveying and disseminating TQM messages, but they have no specific guidelines. Therefore, the internal communication practices are not well planned. Finally, it is suggested that further research should be carried out to explain clearly the role and strategy of communication on this issue in order to boost the success of TQM implementation particularly in manufacturing company.

  7. Turing and Non-Turing patterns in diffusive plankton model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. K. Thakur

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we investigate a Rosenzweig-McAurthur model and its variant for phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish population dynamics with Holling type II and III functional responses. We present the theoretical analysis of processes of pattern formation that involves organism distribution and their interaction of spatially distributed population with local diffusion. The choice of parameter values is important to study the effect of diffusion, also it depends more on the nonlinearity of the system. With the help of numerical simulations, we observe the formation of spatiotemporal patterns both inside and outside the Turing space.

  8. Modelling the impact of future socio-economic and climate change scenarios on river microbial water quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Islam, M M Majedul; Iqbal, Muhammad Shahid; Leemans, Rik; Hofstra, Nynke

    2018-03-01

    Microbial surface water quality is important, as it is related to health risk when the population is exposed through drinking, recreation or consumption of irrigated vegetables. The microbial surface water quality is expected to change with socio-economic development and climate change. This study explores the combined impacts of future socio-economic and climate change scenarios on microbial water quality using a coupled hydrodynamic and water quality model (MIKE21FM-ECOLab). The model was applied to simulate the baseline (2014-2015) and future (2040s and 2090s) faecal indicator bacteria (FIB: E. coli and enterococci) concentrations in the Betna river in Bangladesh. The scenarios comprise changes in socio-economic variables (e.g. population, urbanization, land use, sanitation and sewage treatment) and climate variables (temperature, precipitation and sea-level rise). Scenarios have been developed building on the most recent Shared Socio-economic Pathways: SSP1 and SSP3 and Representative Concentration Pathways: RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 in a matrix. An uncontrolled future results in a deterioration of the microbial water quality (+75% by the 2090s) due to socio-economic changes, such as higher population growth, and changes in rainfall patterns. However, microbial water quality improves under a sustainable scenario with improved sewage treatment (-98% by the 2090s). Contaminant loads were more influenced by changes in socio-economic factors than by climatic change. To our knowledge, this is the first study that combines climate change and socio-economic development scenarios to simulate the future microbial water quality of a river. This approach can also be used to assess future consequences for health risks. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.

  9. The Lived Environment Life Quality Model for institutionalized people with dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Wendy; Lampe, Jenna L; Logan, Christina A; Metcalfe, Amy R; Hoesly, Beth E

    2017-02-01

    There is a need for a conceptual practice model that explicates ecological complexities involved in using occupation to optimize the quality of life of institutionalized people with dementia. This study aimed to prepare the Lived Environment Life Quality Model, a dementia-specific conceptual practice model of occupational therapy in institutional facilities, for publication and application to practice. Interviews and focus groups with six expert occupational therapists were subjected to qualitative content analysis to confirm, disconfirm, and further develop the model. The model's lived-environment domain as the focus of assessment and intervention was extensively confirmed, and its quality-of-life domain as the focus of intervention goals and outcomes was both confirmed and further developed. As confirmed in this study, the Lived Environment Life Quality Model is a client-centred, ecologically valid, and occupation-focused guide to optimizing quality of life of institutionalized adults with dementia in present moments and progressively over time.

  10. Modeling of metal nanocluster growth on patterned substrates and surface pattern formation under ion bombardment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Numazawa, Satoshi

    2012-11-01

    This work addresses the metal nanocluster growth process on prepatterned substrates, the development of atomistic simulation method with respect to an acceleration of the atomistic transition states, and the continuum model of the ion-beam inducing semiconductor surface pattern formation mechanism. Experimentally, highly ordered Ag nanocluster structures have been grown on pre-patterned amorphous SiO{sub 2} surfaces by oblique angle physical vapor deposition at room temperature. Despite the small undulation of the rippled surface, the stripe-like Ag nanoclusters are very pronounced, reproducible and well-separated. The first topic is the investigation of this growth process with a continuum theoretical approach to the surface gas condensation as well as an atomistic cluster growth model. The atomistic simulation model is a lattice-based kinetic Monte-Carlo (KMC) method using a combination of a simplified inter-atomic potential and experimental transition barriers taken from the literature. An effective transition event classification method is introduced which allows a boost factor of several thousand compared to a traditional KMC approach, thus allowing experimental time scales to be modeled. The simulation predicts a low sticking probability for the arriving atoms, millisecond order lifetimes for single Ag monomers and {approx}1 nm square surface migration ranges of Ag monomers. The simulations give excellent reproduction of the experimentally observed nanocluster growth patterns. The second topic specifies the acceleration scheme utilized in the metallic cluster growth model. Concerning the atomistic movements, a classical harmonic transition state theory is considered and applied in discrete lattice cells with hierarchical transition levels. The model results in an effective reduction of KMC simulation steps by utilizing a classification scheme of transition levels for thermally activated atomistic diffusion processes. Thermally activated atomistic movements

  11. Modeling of metal nanocluster growth on patterned substrates and surface pattern formation under ion bombardment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Numazawa, Satoshi

    2012-11-01

    This work addresses the metal nanocluster growth process on prepatterned substrates, the development of atomistic simulation method with respect to an acceleration of the atomistic transition states, and the continuum model of the ion-beam inducing semiconductor surface pattern formation mechanism. Experimentally, highly ordered Ag nanocluster structures have been grown on pre-patterned amorphous SiO{sub 2} surfaces by oblique angle physical vapor deposition at room temperature. Despite the small undulation of the rippled surface, the stripe-like Ag nanoclusters are very pronounced, reproducible and well-separated. The first topic is the investigation of this growth process with a continuum theoretical approach to the surface gas condensation as well as an atomistic cluster growth model. The atomistic simulation model is a lattice-based kinetic Monte-Carlo (KMC) method using a combination of a simplified inter-atomic potential and experimental transition barriers taken from the literature. An effective transition event classification method is introduced which allows a boost factor of several thousand compared to a traditional KMC approach, thus allowing experimental time scales to be modeled. The simulation predicts a low sticking probability for the arriving atoms, millisecond order lifetimes for single Ag monomers and {approx}1 nm square surface migration ranges of Ag monomers. The simulations give excellent reproduction of the experimentally observed nanocluster growth patterns. The second topic specifies the acceleration scheme utilized in the metallic cluster growth model. Concerning the atomistic movements, a classical harmonic transition state theory is considered and applied in discrete lattice cells with hierarchical transition levels. The model results in an effective reduction of KMC simulation steps by utilizing a classification scheme of transition levels for thermally activated atomistic diffusion processes. Thermally activated atomistic movements

  12. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MODELS OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND CSR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CĂTĂLINA SITNIKOV

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Lately, the quality management has integrated more and more among its components Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR. With strong roots in the foundation for sustainable development, protection of the environment, issues of social justness and economic growth, CSR raises numerous issues related to obtaining profits, business performance and firms and activities based on the quality of management. From the point of view of the last issues, the models of quality management built on the fundamental principles of quality become the foundation and catalyst for the effective implementation of CSR in organizations. This is the reason why it is necessary to investigate the extent to which quality management models provide frameworks and guidelines for integrating CSR in the management of quality and, moreover, in the management of the organization, with a clear focus on the extent to which the concept can be institutionalized and operated by the organization.

  13. A pilot modeling technique for handling-qualities research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hess, R. A.

    1980-01-01

    A brief survey of the more dominant analysis techniques used in closed-loop handling-qualities research is presented. These techniques are shown to rely on so-called classical and modern analytical models of the human pilot which have their foundation in the analysis and design principles of feedback control. The optimal control model of the human pilot is discussed in some detail and a novel approach to the a priori selection of pertinent model parameters is discussed. Frequency domain and tracking performance data from 10 pilot-in-the-loop simulation experiments involving 3 different tasks are used to demonstrate the parameter selection technique. Finally, the utility of this modeling approach in handling-qualities research is discussed.

  14. Software Quality Assessment Tool Based on Meta-Models

    OpenAIRE

    Doneva Rositsa; Gaftandzhieva Silvia; Doneva Zhelyana; Staevsky Nevena

    2015-01-01

    In the software industry it is indisputably essential to control the quality of produced software systems in terms of capabilities for easy maintenance, reuse, portability and others in order to ensure reliability in the software development. But it is also clear that it is very difficult to achieve such a control through a ‘manual’ management of quality.There are a number of approaches for software quality assurance based typically on software quality models (e.g. ISO 9126, McCall’s, Boehm’s...

  15. Optimum profit model considering production, quality and sale problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chung-Ho; Lu, Chih-Lun

    2011-12-01

    Chen and Liu ['Procurement Strategies in the Presence of the Spot Market-an Analytical Framework', Production Planning and Control, 18, 297-309] presented the optimum profit model between the producers and the purchasers for the supply chain system with a pure procurement policy. However, their model with a simple manufacturing cost did not consider the used cost of the customer. In this study, the modified Chen and Liu's model will be addressed for determining the optimum product and process parameters. The authors propose a modified Chen and Liu's model under the two-stage screening procedure. The surrogate variable having a high correlation with the measurable quality characteristic will be directly measured in the first stage. The measurable quality characteristic will be directly measured in the second stage when the product decision cannot be determined in the first stage. The used cost of the customer will be measured by adopting Taguchi's quadratic quality loss function. The optimum purchaser's order quantity, the producer's product price and the process quality level will be jointly determined by maximising the expected profit between them.

  16. Biogeographic patterns in ocean microbes emerge in a neutral agent-based model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellweger, Ferdi L; van Sebille, Erik; Fredrick, Neil D

    2014-09-12

    A key question in ecology and evolution is the relative role of natural selection and neutral evolution in producing biogeographic patterns. We quantify the role of neutral processes by simulating division, mutation, and death of 100,000 individual marine bacteria cells with full 1 million-base-pair genomes in a global surface ocean circulation model. The model is run for up to 100,000 years and output is analyzed using BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) alignment and metagenomics fragment recruitment. Simulations show the production and maintenance of biogeographic patterns, characterized by distinct provinces subject to mixing and periodic takeovers by neighbors (coalescence), after which neutral evolution reestablishes the province and the patterns reorganize. The emergent patterns are substantial (e.g., down to 99.5% DNA identity between North and Central Pacific provinces) and suggest that microbes evolve faster than ocean currents can disperse them. This approach can also be used to explore environmental selection. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  17. Physical optics modeling of modal patterns in a crossed porro prism resonator

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Litvin, IA

    2006-07-01

    Full Text Available A physical optics model is proposed to describe the transverse modal patterns in crossed Porro prism resonators. The model departs from earlier attempts in that the prisms are modeled as non-classical rotating elements with amplitude and phase...

  18. Development and application of air quality models at the US ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Overview of the development and application of air quality models at the U.S. EPA, particularly focused on the development and application of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model developed within the Computation Exposure Division (CED) of the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL). This presentation will provide a simple overview of air quality model development and application geared toward a non-technical student audience. The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Computational Exposure Division (CED) develops and evaluates data, decision-support tools, and models to be applied to media-specific or receptor-specific problem areas. CED uses modeling-based approaches to characterize exposures, evaluate fate and transport, and support environmental diagnostics/forensics with input from multiple data sources. It also develops media- and receptor-specific models, process models, and decision support tools for use both within and outside of EPA.

  19. Non-intrusive speech quality assessment in simplified e-model

    OpenAIRE

    Vozňák, Miroslav

    2012-01-01

    The E-model brings a modern approach to the computation of estimated quality, allowing for easy implementation. One of its advantages is that it can be applied in real time. The method is based on a mathematical computation model evaluating transmission path impairments influencing speech signal, especially delays and packet losses. These parameters, common in an IP network, can affect speech quality dramatically. The paper deals with a proposal for a simplified E-model and its pr...

  20. Perceptions of Service Quality: An Empirical Assessment of Modified SERVQUAL Model among Domestic Airline Carriers in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ganiyu Rahim A.

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Literature is replete with a large number of theories related to service quality measurement and dimensions in an airline context. To date, there is no consensus of opinion on the generic model and of the number of dimensions most appropriate to evaluate service quality in airline industry. This study investigates service quality dimensions in the Nigerian airline industry. The cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. Convenience sampling was used to select 800 respondents among departing air travellers in Lagos State. A structured questionnaire containing 28 items was developed to evaluate the perceived service quality of domestic airlines. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and one-sample t-test. The dimensionality of perceived service quality in Nigeria’s airline industry was explored using exploratory factor analysis. From the analysis carried out, it was established that the modified SERVQUAL model provided a satisfactory level of overall reliability in Nigeria’s airline context, which implies that all the items were cohesive in forming the SERVQUAL dimensions. According to the findings of this study, all service quality dimensions are positively and significantly interrelated. The perceived service quality of domestic airlines across these dimensions was found to be poor. The most dissatisfied dimensions in order of ranking were: flight pattern, reliability, facilities, assurance, responsiveness, employee, and customization. On the basis of the aforementioned findings, this study concludes that airline operators should redefine their service standards to one that is customer-focused by identifying the dimension of service quality most preferred by the passengers and continuously strive to improve service delivery. The study recommends that airline operators should recognize the changing needs and expectations of air travellers and customize their range of services

  1. Assessment and prediction of air quality using fuzzy logic and autoregressive models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carbajal-Hernández, José Juan; Sánchez-Fernández, Luis P.; Carrasco-Ochoa, Jesús A.; Martínez-Trinidad, José Fco.

    2012-12-01

    In recent years, artificial intelligence methods have been used for the treatment of environmental problems. This work, presents two models for assessment and prediction of air quality. First, we develop a new computational model for air quality assessment in order to evaluate toxic compounds that can harm sensitive people in urban areas, affecting their normal activities. In this model we propose to use a Sigma operator to statistically asses air quality parameters using their historical data information and determining their negative impact in air quality based on toxicity limits, frequency average and deviations of toxicological tests. We also introduce a fuzzy inference system to perform parameter classification using a reasoning process and integrating them in an air quality index describing the pollution levels in five stages: excellent, good, regular, bad and danger, respectively. The second model proposed in this work predicts air quality concentrations using an autoregressive model, providing a predicted air quality index based on the fuzzy inference system previously developed. Using data from Mexico City Atmospheric Monitoring System, we perform a comparison among air quality indices developed for environmental agencies and similar models. Our results show that our models are an appropriate tool for assessing site pollution and for providing guidance to improve contingency actions in urban areas.

  2. Quality assurance of weather data for agricultural system model input

    Science.gov (United States)

    It is well known that crop production and hydrologic variation on watersheds is weather related. Rarely, however, is meteorological data quality checks reported for agricultural systems model research. We present quality assurance procedures for agricultural system model weather data input. Problems...

  3. Non-intrusive Packet-Layer Model for Monitoring Video Quality of IPTV Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamagishi, Kazuhisa; Hayashi, Takanori

    Developing a non-intrusive packet-layer model is required to passively monitor the quality of experience (QoE) during service. We propose a packet-layer model that can be used to estimate the video quality of IPTV using quality parameters derived from transmitted packet headers. The computational load of the model is lighter than that of the model that takes video signals and/or video-related bitstream information such as motion vectors as input. This model is applicable even if the transmitted bitstream information is encrypted because it uses transmitted packet headers rather than bitstream information. For developing the model, we conducted three extensive subjective quality assessments for different encoders and decoders (codecs), and video content. Then, we modeled the subjective video quality assessment characteristics based on objective features affected by coding and packet loss. Finally, we verified the model's validity by applying our model to unknown data sets different from training data sets used above.

  4. SensibleSleep: A Bayesian Model for Learning Sleep Patterns from Smartphone Events

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cuttone, Andrea; Bækgaard, Per; Sekara, Vedran

    2017-01-01

    We propose a Bayesian model for extracting sleep patterns from smartphone events. Our method is able to identify individuals' daily sleep periods and their evolution over time, and provides an estimation of the probability of sleep and wake transitions. The model is fitted to more than 400...... to quantify uncertainty and encode prior knowledge about sleep patterns. Compared with existing smartphone-based systems, our method requires only screen on/off events, and is therefore much less intrusive in terms of privacy and more battery-efficient....

  5. Combining satellite data and appropriate objective functions for improved spatial pattern performance of a distributed hydrologic model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demirel, Mehmet C.; Mai, Juliane; Mendiguren, Gorka; Koch, Julian; Samaniego, Luis; Stisen, Simon

    2018-02-01

    Satellite-based earth observations offer great opportunities to improve spatial model predictions by means of spatial-pattern-oriented model evaluations. In this study, observed spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration (AET) are utilised for spatial model calibration tailored to target the pattern performance of the model. The proposed calibration framework combines temporally aggregated observed spatial patterns with a new spatial performance metric and a flexible spatial parameterisation scheme. The mesoscale hydrologic model (mHM) is used to simulate streamflow and AET and has been selected due to its soil parameter distribution approach based on pedo-transfer functions and the build in multi-scale parameter regionalisation. In addition two new spatial parameter distribution options have been incorporated in the model in order to increase the flexibility of root fraction coefficient and potential evapotranspiration correction parameterisations, based on soil type and vegetation density. These parameterisations are utilised as they are most relevant for simulated AET patterns from the hydrologic model. Due to the fundamental challenges encountered when evaluating spatial pattern performance using standard metrics, we developed a simple but highly discriminative spatial metric, i.e. one comprised of three easily interpretable components measuring co-location, variation and distribution of the spatial data. The study shows that with flexible spatial model parameterisation used in combination with the appropriate objective functions, the simulated spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration become substantially more similar to the satellite-based estimates. Overall 26 parameters are identified for calibration through a sequential screening approach based on a combination of streamflow and spatial pattern metrics. The robustness of the calibrations is tested using an ensemble of nine calibrations based on different seed numbers using the shuffled complex

  6. Modelling Chemical Patterns of Atmospheric Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Iberian Peninsula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ratola, Nuno; Jiménez-Guerrero, Pedro

    2013-04-01

    Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) such as PBDEs, PCBs, organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) or PAHs, are widespread and generated in a multitude of anthropogenic (and natural for PAHs) processes and although they are found in the environment at low concentrations, possess an extraordinary carcinogenic capacity (Baussant et al., 2001) and high ecotoxicity due to their persistence in different matrices (air, soil, water, living organisms). In particular, PAHs are originated by combustion processes or release from fossil fuels and can be transported in the atmosphere over long distances in gaseous or particulate matter (Baek et al., 1991). The establishment of strategies for sampling and chemical transport modelling of SVOCs in the atmosphere aiming the definition and validation of the spatial, temporal and chemical transport patterns of contaminants can be achieved by an integrated system of third-generation models that represent the current state of knowledge in air quality modelling and experimental data collected in field campaigns. This has implications in the fields of meteorology, atmospheric chemistry and even climate change. In this case, an extensive database already obtained on levels of atmospheric PAHs from biomonitoring schemes in the Iberian Peninsula fuelled the establishment of the first models of behaviour for PAHs. The modelling system WRF+CHIMERE was implemented with high spatial and temporal resolution to the Iberian Peninsula in this first task (9 km for the Iberian Peninsula, 3 km to Portugal, 1 hour), using PAHs atmospheric levels collected over a year-long sampling scheme comprising 4 campaigns (one per season) in over 30 sites. Daily information on meteorological parameters such as air temperature, humidity, rainfall or wind speed and direction was collected from the weather stations closest to the sampling sites. Diagnosis and forecasts of these meteorological variables using MM5 or WRF were used to feed a chemistry transport model

  7. Modelling Behaviour Patterns of Pedestrians for Mobile Robot Trajectory Generation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yusuke Tamura

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Robots are expected to be operated in environments where they coexist with humans, such as shopping malls and offices. Both the safety and efficiency of a robot are necessary in such environments. To achieve this, pedestrian behaviour should be accurately predicted. However, the behaviour is uncertain and cannot be easily predicted. This paper proposes a probabilistic method of determining pedestrian trajectory based on an estimation of pedestrian behaviour patterns. The proposed method focuses on the specific behaviour of pedestrians around the robot. The proposed model classifies the behaviours of pedestrians into definite patterns. The behaviour patterns, distribution of the positions of the pedestrians, and the direction of each behaviour pattern are determined by learning through observation. The behaviour pattern of a pedestrian can be estimated correctly by a likelihood calculation. A robot decides to move with an emphasis on either safety or efficiency depending on the result of the pattern estimation. If the pedestrian trajectory follows a known behaviour pattern, the robot would move with an emphasis on efficiency because the pedestrian trajectory can be predicted. Otherwise, the robot would move with an emphasis on safety because the behaviour of the pedestrian cannot be predicted. Experimental results show that robots can move efficiently and safely when passing by a pedestrian by applying the proposed method.

  8. Designing the model for evaluating business quality in Croatia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Ježovita

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of the paper includes designing a model for evaluating the financial quality of business operations. In that context, for the paper purposes, the financial quality of business operations is defined as an ability to achieve adequate value of individual financial ratios for financial position and performance evaluation. The objective of the model is to obtain comprehensive conclusion about the financial quality of business operation using only value of the function. Data used for designing the model is limited to financial data available from the annual balance sheet and income statement. Those limitations offer the opportunity for all sizes of companies from the non-financial business economy sector to use the designed model for evaluation purposes. Statistical methods used for designing the model are multivariate discriminant analysis and logistic regression. Discriminant analysis resulted in the function which includes five individual financial ratios with the best discriminant power. Respecting the results obtained in the classification matrix with classification accuracy of 95.92% by the original sample, or accuracy of 96.06% for the independent sample, it can be concluded that it is possible to evaluate the financial quality of business operations of companies in Croatia by using the model composed of individual financial ratios. Conducted logistic regression confirms the results obtained using discriminant analysis.

  9. Data Quality Enhanced Prediction Model for Massive Plant Data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Moon-Ghu; Kang, Seong-Ki; Shin, Hajin

    2016-01-01

    This paper introduces an integrated signal preconditioning and model prediction mainly by kernel functions. The performance and benefits of the methods are demonstrated by a case study with measurement data from a power plant and its components transient data. The developed methods will be applied as a part of monitoring massive or big data platform where human experts cannot detect the fault behaviors due to too large size of the measurements. Recent extensive efforts for on-line monitoring implementation insists that a big surprise in the modeling for predicting process variables was the extent of data quality problems in measurement data especially for data-driven modeling. Bad data for training will be learned as normal and can make significant degrade in prediction performance. For this reason, the quantity and quality of measurement data in modeling phase need special care. Bad quality data must be removed from training sets to the bad data considered as normal system behavior. This paper presented an integrated structure of supervisory system for monitoring the plants or sensors performance. The quality of the data-driven model is improved with a bilateral kernel filter for preprocessing of the noisy data. The prediction module is also based on kernel regression having the same basis with noise filter. The model structure is optimized by a grouping process with nonlinear Hoeffding correlation function

  10. Data Quality Enhanced Prediction Model for Massive Plant Data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Moon-Ghu [Nuclear Engr. Sejong Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Seong-Ki [Monitoring and Diagnosis, Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Hajin [Saint Paul Preparatory Seoul, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    This paper introduces an integrated signal preconditioning and model prediction mainly by kernel functions. The performance and benefits of the methods are demonstrated by a case study with measurement data from a power plant and its components transient data. The developed methods will be applied as a part of monitoring massive or big data platform where human experts cannot detect the fault behaviors due to too large size of the measurements. Recent extensive efforts for on-line monitoring implementation insists that a big surprise in the modeling for predicting process variables was the extent of data quality problems in measurement data especially for data-driven modeling. Bad data for training will be learned as normal and can make significant degrade in prediction performance. For this reason, the quantity and quality of measurement data in modeling phase need special care. Bad quality data must be removed from training sets to the bad data considered as normal system behavior. This paper presented an integrated structure of supervisory system for monitoring the plants or sensors performance. The quality of the data-driven model is improved with a bilateral kernel filter for preprocessing of the noisy data. The prediction module is also based on kernel regression having the same basis with noise filter. The model structure is optimized by a grouping process with nonlinear Hoeffding correlation function.

  11. Early experiences building a software quality prediction model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agresti, W. W.; Evanco, W. M.; Smith, M. C.

    1990-01-01

    Early experiences building a software quality prediction model are discussed. The overall research objective is to establish a capability to project a software system's quality from an analysis of its design. The technical approach is to build multivariate models for estimating reliability and maintainability. Data from 21 Ada subsystems were analyzed to test hypotheses about various design structures leading to failure-prone or unmaintainable systems. Current design variables highlight the interconnectivity and visibility of compilation units. Other model variables provide for the effects of reusability and software changes. Reported results are preliminary because additional project data is being obtained and new hypotheses are being developed and tested. Current multivariate regression models are encouraging, explaining 60 to 80 percent of the variation in error density of the subsystems.

  12. Data Mining and Pattern Recognition Models for Identifying Inherited Diseases: Challenges and Implications

    OpenAIRE

    Iddamalgoda, Lahiru; Das, Partha S.; Aponso, Achala; Sundararajan, Vijayaraghava S.; Suravajhala, Prashanth; Valadi, Jayaraman K.

    2016-01-01

    Data mining and pattern recognition methods reveal interesting findings in genetic studies, especially on how the genetic makeup is associated with inherited diseases. Although researchers have proposed various data mining models for biomedical approaches, there remains a challenge in accurately prioritizing the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with the disease. In this commentary, we review the state-of-art data mining and pattern recognition models for identifying inherited ...

  13. The Total Quality Management Model Department of Personnel State of Colorado,

    Science.gov (United States)

    A panel of three members will present the Total Quality Management model recently designed for the Department of Personnel, State of Colorado. This model was selected to increase work quality and productivity of the Department and to exemplify Governor Romer’s commitment to quality work within state government.

  14. Simple model for polar cap convection patterns and generation of theta auroras

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lyons, L.R.

    1985-01-01

    The simple addition of a uniform interplanetary magnetic field and the Earth's dipole magnetic field is used to evaluate electric field convection patterns over the polar caps that result from solar wind flow across open geomagnetic field lines. This model is found to account for observed polar-cap convection patterns as a function of the interplanetary magnetic field components B/sub y/ and B/sub z/. In particular, the model offers an explanation for sunward and antisunward convection over the polar caps for B/sub z/>0. Observed field-aligned current patterns within the polar cap and observed auroral arcs across the polar cap are also explained by the model. In addition, the model gives several predictions concerning the polar cap that should be testable. Effects of solar wind pressure and magnetospheric currents on magnetospheric electric and magnetic fields are neglected. That observed polar cap features are reproduced suggests that the neglected effects do not modify the large-scale topology of magnetospheric electric and magnetic fields along open polar cap field lines. Of course, the neglected effects significantly modify the magnetic geometry, so that the results of this paper are not quantitatively realistic and many details may be incorrect. Nevertheless, the model provides a simple explanation for many qualitative features of polar cap convection

  15. Operation quality assessment model for video conference system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Bangshi; Qi, Feng; Shao, Sujie; Wang, Ying; Li, Weijian

    2018-01-01

    Video conference system has become an important support platform for smart grid operation and management, its operation quality is gradually concerning grid enterprise. First, the evaluation indicator system covering network, business and operation maintenance aspects was established on basis of video conference system's operation statistics. Then, the operation quality assessment model combining genetic algorithm with regularized BP neural network was proposed, which outputs operation quality level of the system within a time period and provides company manager with some optimization advice. The simulation results show that the proposed evaluation model offers the advantages of fast convergence and high prediction accuracy in contrast with regularized BP neural network, and its generalization ability is superior to LM-BP neural network and Bayesian BP neural network.

  16. A software quality model and metrics for risk assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyatt, L.; Rosenberg, L.

    1996-01-01

    A software quality model and its associated attributes are defined and used as the model for the basis for a discussion on risk. Specific quality goals and attributes are selected based on their importance to a software development project and their ability to be quantified. Risks that can be determined by the model's metrics are identified. A core set of metrics relating to the software development process and its products is defined. Measurements for each metric and their usability and applicability are discussed.

  17. Pattern transition between periodic Liesegang pattern and crystal growth regime in reaction-diffusion systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagzi, István; Ueyama, Daishin

    2009-01-01

    The pattern transition between periodic precipitation pattern formation (Liesegang phenomenon) and pure crystal growth regimes is investigated in silver nitrate and potassium dichromate system in mixed agarose-gelatin gel. Morphologically different patterns were found depending on the quality of the gel, and transition between these typical patterns can be controlled by the concentration of gelatin in mixed gel. Effect of temperature and hydrodynamic force on precipitation pattern structure was also investigated.

  18. The Role of Different Plant Soil-Water Feedbacks in Models of Dryland Vegetation Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silber, M.; Bonetti, S.; Gandhi, P.; Gowda, K.; Iams, S.; Porporato, A. M.

    2017-12-01

    Understanding the processes underlying the formation of regular vegetation patterns in arid and semi-arid regions is important to assessing desertification risk under increasing anthropogenic pressure. Various modeling frameworks have been proposed, which are all capable of generating similar patterns through self-organizing mechanisms that stem from assumptions about plant feedbacks on surface/subsurface water transport. We critically discuss a hierarchy of hydrology-vegetation models for the coupled dynamics of surface water, soil moisture, and vegetation biomass on a hillslope. We identify distinguishing features and trends for the periodic traveling wave solutions when there is an imposed idealized topography and make some comparisons to satellite images of large-scale banded vegetation patterns in drylands of Africa, Australia and North America. This work highlights the potential for constraining models by considerations of where the patterns may lie on a landscape, such as whether on a ridge or in a valley.

  19. Assessment of the Quality Management Models in Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basar, Gulsun; Altinay, Zehra; Dagli, Gokmen; Altinay, Fahriye

    2016-01-01

    This study involves the assessment of the quality management models in Higher Education by explaining the importance of quality in higher education and by examining the higher education quality assurance system practices in other countries. The qualitative study was carried out with the members of the Higher Education Planning, Evaluation,…

  20. A concurrent optimization model for supplier selection with fuzzy quality loss

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosyidi, C.; Murtisari, R.; Jauhari, W.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this research is to develop a concurrent supplier selection model to minimize the purchasing cost and fuzzy quality loss considering process capability and assembled product specification. Design/methodology/approach: This research integrates fuzzy quality loss in the model to concurrently solve the decision making in detailed design stage and manufacturing stage. Findings: The resulted model can be used to concurrently select the optimal supplier and determine the tolerance of the components. The model balances the purchasing cost and fuzzy quality loss. Originality/value: An assembled product consists of many components which must be purchased from the suppliers. Fuzzy quality loss is integrated in the supplier selection model to allow the vagueness in final assembly by grouping the assembly into several grades according to the resulted assembly tolerance.

  1. A concurrent optimization model for supplier selection with fuzzy quality loss

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rosyidi, C.; Murtisari, R.; Jauhari, W.

    2017-07-01

    The purpose of this research is to develop a concurrent supplier selection model to minimize the purchasing cost and fuzzy quality loss considering process capability and assembled product specification. Design/methodology/approach: This research integrates fuzzy quality loss in the model to concurrently solve the decision making in detailed design stage and manufacturing stage. Findings: The resulted model can be used to concurrently select the optimal supplier and determine the tolerance of the components. The model balances the purchasing cost and fuzzy quality loss. Originality/value: An assembled product consists of many components which must be purchased from the suppliers. Fuzzy quality loss is integrated in the supplier selection model to allow the vagueness in final assembly by grouping the assembly into several grades according to the resulted assembly tolerance.

  2. Oscillator Neural Network Retrieving Sparsely Coded Phase Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoyagi, Toshio; Nomura, Masaki

    1999-08-01

    Little is known theoretically about the associative memory capabilities of neural networks in which information is encoded not only in the mean firing rate but also in the timing of firings. Particularly, in the case of sparsely coded patterns, it is biologically important to consider the timings of firings and to study how such consideration influences storage capacities and quality of recalled patterns. For this purpose, we propose a simple extended model of oscillator neural networks to allow for expression of a nonfiring state. Analyzing both equilibrium states and dynamical properties in recalling processes, we find that the system possesses good associative memory.

  3. QUALITY SERVICES EVALUATION MODEL BASED ON DEDICATED SOFTWARE TOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANDREEA CRISTINA IONICĂ

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we introduced a new model, called Service Quality (SQ, which combines QFD and SERVQUAL methods. This model takes from the SERVQUAL method the five dimensions of requirements and three of characteristics and from the QFD method the application methodology. The originality of the SQ model consists in computing a global index that reflects the customers’ requirements accomplishment level by the quality characteristics. In order to prove the viability of the SQ model, there was developed a software tool that was applied for the evaluation of a health care services provider.

  4. Indoor Air Quality Building Education and Assessment Model Forms

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Indoor Air Quality Building Education and Assessment Model (I-BEAM) is a guidance tool designed for use by building professionals and others interested in indoor air quality in commercial buildings.

  5. Gardosian Patterns in Tribology

    Science.gov (United States)

    DellaCorte, Christopher

    2004-01-01

    The following paper is a memorial retrospective on selected research of Dr. Michael N. Gardos. Dr. Gardos spent his professional career engaged in tribological research which often extended the scientific boundaries of the field. Several of the concepts he put forth into the tribology community were initially met with grave skepticism but over time his views have been largely embraced but not widely acknowledged. His approach to new research topics was often characterized by these qualities: 1) pioneering points of view, 2) the use of the model experiment, and 3) the presence of multiple research agendas for each single experiment. I have chosen to name his research approach as "Gardosian Patterns" in honor of his contributions to Tribology. Three specific examples of these patterns will be reviewed. One is the concept of atomic level tailoring of materials to control macroscopic properties. A second is the use of a model ball polishing experiment to identify high fracture toughness ceramics for use in rolling element bearings. A third Gardosian Pattern example is his pioneering work with the tribology of diamond and diamond films in which he proposed controlling friction via surface bond tailoring. In these examples, Gardos utilized conventional research tools in unconventional ways and, at times, even developed new tools which have become part of the mainstream. His remarkable career has left a positive and lasting mark on Tribology.

  6. Protein single-model quality assessment by feature-based probability density functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Renzhi; Cheng, Jianlin

    2016-04-04

    Protein quality assessment (QA) has played an important role in protein structure prediction. We developed a novel single-model quality assessment method-Qprob. Qprob calculates the absolute error for each protein feature value against the true quality scores (i.e. GDT-TS scores) of protein structural models, and uses them to estimate its probability density distribution for quality assessment. Qprob has been blindly tested on the 11th Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP11) as MULTICOM-NOVEL server. The official CASP result shows that Qprob ranks as one of the top single-model QA methods. In addition, Qprob makes contributions to our protein tertiary structure predictor MULTICOM, which is officially ranked 3rd out of 143 predictors. The good performance shows that Qprob is good at assessing the quality of models of hard targets. These results demonstrate that this new probability density distribution based method is effective for protein single-model quality assessment and is useful for protein structure prediction. The webserver of Qprob is available at: http://calla.rnet.missouri.edu/qprob/. The software is now freely available in the web server of Qprob.

  7. EMMA model: an advanced operational mesoscale air quality model for urban and regional environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jose, R.S.; Rodriguez, M.A.; Cortes, E.; Gonzalez, R.M.

    1999-01-01

    Mesoscale air quality models are an important tool to forecast and analyse the air quality in regional and urban areas. In recent years an increased interest has been shown by decision makers in these types of software tools. The complexity of such a model has grown exponentially with the increase of computer power. Nowadays, medium workstations can run operational versions of these modelling systems successfully. Presents a complex mesoscale air quality model which has been installed in the Environmental Office of the Madrid community (Spain) in order to forecast accurately the ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide air concentrations in a 3D domain centred on Madrid city. Describes the challenging scientific matters to be solved in order to develop an operational version of the atmospheric mesoscale numerical pollution model for urban and regional areas (ANA). Some encouraging results have been achieved in the attempts to improve the accuracy of the predictions made by the version already installed. (Author)

  8. A software sensor model based on hybrid fuzzy neural network for rapid estimation water quality in Guangzhou section of Pearl River, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Chunshan; Zhang, Chao; Tian, Di; Wang, Ke; Huang, Mingzhi; Liu, Yanbiao

    2018-01-02

    In order to manage water resources, a software sensor model was designed to estimate water quality using a hybrid fuzzy neural network (FNN) in Guangzhou section of Pearl River, China. The software sensor system was composed of data storage module, fuzzy decision-making module, neural network module and fuzzy reasoning generator module. Fuzzy subtractive clustering was employed to capture the character of model, and optimize network architecture for enhancing network performance. The results indicate that, on basis of available on-line measured variables, the software sensor model can accurately predict water quality according to the relationship between chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dissolved oxygen (DO), pH and NH 4 + -N. Owing to its ability in recognizing time series patterns and non-linear characteristics, the software sensor-based FNN is obviously superior to the traditional neural network model, and its R (correlation coefficient), MAPE (mean absolute percentage error) and RMSE (root mean square error) are 0.8931, 10.9051 and 0.4634, respectively.

  9. Nutritional quality and patterns of lunch menus at child care centers in South Korea and Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Sooyoun; Yeoh, Yoonjae; Abe, Satoko

    2018-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate the nutritional quality and patterns of lunch menus provided by child care centers in South Korea and Japan. The weekly lunch menus from Monday to Saturday that child care centers provided in November 2014 in South Korea and Japan were analyzed. For Korea, a total of 72 meals provided by 12 centers in Seoul were analyzed by referring to the homepage of the Center for Children's Foodservice Management, which serviced menus for child care centers. For Japan, a total of 30 meals provided by 5 child care centers in Tokyo were analyzed. Nutrient content and pattern in lunch menus were evaluated. The lunch menus in Korea and Japan provided 359.5 kcal (25.7% of the estimated energy requirement) and 376.3 kcal (29.5% of the estimated energy requirement), respectively. 'Rice + Soup + Main dish + Side dish I + Side dish II' were provided in 66.7% of meals in Korea, while various patterns with rice and soup as their bases were provided in Japan. The lunch menus of child care centers in Korea and Japan provide similar amounts of energy, protein, carbohydrate, vitamin A, calcium, and other nutrients. However, there were significant differences in the lunch menu patterns in Korea and Japan. This study provides information about the nutritional content and pattern of lunch menus at child care centers in Asian countries with rice as a staple food.

  10. River water quality modelling: II

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shanahan, P.; Henze, Mogens; Koncsos, L.

    1998-01-01

    The U.S. EPA QUAL2E model is currently the standard for river water quality modelling. While QUAL2E is adequate for the regulatory situation for which it was developed (the U.S. wasteload allocation process), there is a need for a more comprehensive framework for research and teaching. Moreover......, QUAL2E and similar models do not address a number of practical problems such as stormwater-flow events, nonpoint source pollution, and transient streamflow. Limitations in model formulation affect the ability to close mass balances, to represent sessile bacteria and other benthic processes......, and to achieve robust model calibration. Mass balance problems arise from failure to account for mass in the sediment as well as in the water column and due to the fundamental imprecision of BOD as a state variable. (C) 1998 IAWQ Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved....

  11. Management Model for efficient quality control in new buildings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. E. Rodríguez-Jiménez

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The management of the quality control of each building process is usually set up in Spain from different levels of demand. This work tries to obtain a model of reference, to compare the quality control of the building process of a specific product (building, and to be able to evaluate its warranty level. In the quest of this purpose, we take credit of specialized sources and 153 real cases of Quality Control were carefully revised using a multi-judgment method. Applying different techniques to get a specific valuation (impartial of the input parameters through Delphi’s method (17 experts query, whose matrix treatment with the Fuzzy-QFD tool condenses numerical references through a weighted distribution of the selected functions and their corresponding conditioning factors. The model thus obtained (M153 is useful in order to have a quality control reference to meet the expectations of the quality.

  12. Researches of fruit quality prediction model based on near infrared spectrum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Yulin; Li, Lian

    2018-04-01

    With the improvement in standards for food quality and safety, people pay more attention to the internal quality of fruits, therefore the measurement of fruit internal quality is increasingly imperative. In general, nondestructive soluble solid content (SSC) and total acid content (TAC) analysis of fruits is vital and effective for quality measurement in global fresh produce markets, so in this paper, we aim at establishing a novel fruit internal quality prediction model based on SSC and TAC for Near Infrared Spectrum. Firstly, the model of fruit quality prediction based on PCA + BP neural network, PCA + GRNN network, PCA + BP adaboost strong classifier, PCA + ELM and PCA + LS_SVM classifier are designed and implemented respectively; then, in the NSCT domain, the median filter and the SavitzkyGolay filter are used to preprocess the spectral signal, Kennard-Stone algorithm is used to automatically select the training samples and test samples; thirdly, we achieve the optimal models by comparing 15 kinds of prediction model based on the theory of multi-classifier competition mechanism, specifically, the non-parametric estimation is introduced to measure the effectiveness of proposed model, the reliability and variance of nonparametric estimation evaluation of each prediction model to evaluate the prediction result, while the estimated value and confidence interval regard as a reference, the experimental results demonstrate that this model can better achieve the optimal evaluation of the internal quality of fruit; finally, we employ cat swarm optimization to optimize two optimal models above obtained from nonparametric estimation, empirical testing indicates that the proposed method can provide more accurate and effective results than other forecasting methods.

  13. Seasonal patterns in reproductive success of temperate-breeding birds: Experimental tests of the date and quality hypotheses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harriman, Vanessa B; Dawson, Russell D; Bortolotti, Lauren E; Clark, Robert G

    2017-04-01

    For organisms in seasonal environments, individuals that breed earlier in the season regularly attain higher fitness than their late-breeding counterparts. Two primary hypotheses have been proposed to explain these patterns: The quality hypothesis contends that early breeders are of better phenotypic quality or breed on higher quality territories, whereas the date hypothesis predicts that seasonally declining reproductive success is a response to a seasonal deterioration in environmental quality. In birds, food availability is thought to drive deteriorating environmental conditions, but few experimental studies have demonstrated its importance while also controlling for parental quality. We tested predictions of the date hypothesis in tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor ) over two breeding seasons and in two locations within their breeding range in Canada. Nests were paired by clutch initiation date to control for parental quality, and we delayed the hatching date of one nest within each pair. Subsequently, brood sizes were manipulated to mimic changes in per capita food abundance, and we examined the effects of manipulations, as well as indices of environmental and parental quality, on nestling quality, fledging success, and return rates. Reduced reproductive success of late-breeding individuals was causally related to a seasonal decline in environmental quality. Declining insect biomass and enlarged brood sizes resulted in nestlings that were lighter, in poorer body condition, structurally smaller, had shorter and slower growing flight feathers and were less likely to survive to fledge. Our results provide evidence for the importance of food resources in mediating seasonal declines in offspring quality and survival.

  14. Quality assessment of protein model-structures based on structural and functional similarities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konopka, Bogumil M; Nebel, Jean-Christophe; Kotulska, Malgorzata

    2012-09-21

    Experimental determination of protein 3D structures is expensive, time consuming and sometimes impossible. A gap between number of protein structures deposited in the World Wide Protein Data Bank and the number of sequenced proteins constantly broadens. Computational modeling is deemed to be one of the ways to deal with the problem. Although protein 3D structure prediction is a difficult task, many tools are available. These tools can model it from a sequence or partial structural information, e.g. contact maps. Consequently, biologists have the ability to generate automatically a putative 3D structure model of any protein. However, the main issue becomes evaluation of the model quality, which is one of the most important challenges of structural biology. GOBA--Gene Ontology-Based Assessment is a novel Protein Model Quality Assessment Program. It estimates the compatibility between a model-structure and its expected function. GOBA is based on the assumption that a high quality model is expected to be structurally similar to proteins functionally similar to the prediction target. Whereas DALI is used to measure structure similarity, protein functional similarity is quantified using standardized and hierarchical description of proteins provided by Gene Ontology combined with Wang's algorithm for calculating semantic similarity. Two approaches are proposed to express the quality of protein model-structures. One is a single model quality assessment method, the other is its modification, which provides a relative measure of model quality. Exhaustive evaluation is performed on data sets of model-structures submitted to the CASP8 and CASP9 contests. The validation shows that the method is able to discriminate between good and bad model-structures. The best of tested GOBA scores achieved 0.74 and 0.8 as a mean Pearson correlation to the observed quality of models in our CASP8 and CASP9-based validation sets. GOBA also obtained the best result for two targets of CASP8, and

  15. Moulting patterns of Alabio and Mojosari ducks and their relation on blood lipids (tryglycerides, egg production and egg quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maijon Purba

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Moulting is a biological condition that can happen in poultry. It is resulted from the complex interaction which involves the function of thyroxine hormone. Moulting can reduce or even stop the egg production. A study was conducted to observe the moulting patterns of local ducks (Alabio and Mojosari and to determine the relation of moulting with blood lipids (triglycerides, egg production and quality. Each breed consisted of ten female dukcs were observed for moulting pattern, blood triglycerides, egg production and quality. Fourty ducks were used for simulation of egg production. Data from moulting patterns,egg production and quality were analyzed using t-based on Least Square means with Statistical Analysis System. The relation of breeds and moulting patterns with triglycerides were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA for a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement of 2x2. The main factor was kind of breeds, while the subfactor was the period of moulting, before and during moulting. There were not interaction in every variables between both factors. The average moulting periode of Alabio was significantly (P<0.05 shorter than that of Mojosari (69 vs 76 days. There were 40% of Alabio ducks moulting for 61-70 days, while 40% of Mojosari ducks moulting for 71-80 days. Egg production of Alabio ducks before and after moulting were higher than those Mojosari ducks. The triglycerides content of Alabio and Mojosari ducks was decreased during moulting, in Alabio ducks they were 32.02 and 27.64 μg/ml before and during moulting, while in Mojosari ducks they were 32.83 and 29.32 μg/ml respectively. Egg weight, albumin weight, yolk weight, and haugh unit of the two breeds increased after moulting, while yolk colour decreased. The average yolk colour of Alabio ducks before and after moulting were 6.90 and 5.11, while in Mojosari ducks they were 7.90 and 4.60 respectively.

  16. ADKAR MODEL VS. QUALITY MANAGEMENT CHANGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gratiela Dana Boca

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This research was conducted through different countries to identify dimensions and antecedents of buyer-seller relationships quality. In light of the findings dimensions of relationship quality have emerged: mutual trust, partners’ commitment in the relationship, cooperation and creativity and innovation. Also, the research identifies several key success factors in business relationships that are grouped into different categories: factors related to relational behaviours and factors related to characteristics of the offer. These results serve as valuable indicators, allowing managers to evaluate, adjust and develop their relationships marketing strategies. The ADKAR model provides a tool for improving the connection between individual performance, organizational change management and business results. This study provides a significant contribution to the relationship quality literature and present few ideas for future management in a new manufacture vision for MANU-FUTURE.

  17. The Feasibility of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) as an Assessment and Quality Assurance Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matorera, D.; Fraser, W. J.

    2016-01-01

    Business schools are globally often seen as structured, purpose-driven, multi-sector and multi-perspective organisations. This article is based on the response of a graduate school to an innovative industrial Quality Function Deployment-based model (QFD), which was to be adopted initially in a Master's degree programme for quality assurance…

  18. Perceptual video quality assessment in H.264 video coding standard using objective modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karthikeyan, Ramasamy; Sainarayanan, Gopalakrishnan; Deepa, Subramaniam Nachimuthu

    2014-01-01

    Since usage of digital video is wide spread nowadays, quality considerations have become essential, and industry demand for video quality measurement is rising. This proposal provides a method of perceptual quality assessment in H.264 standard encoder using objective modeling. For this purpose, quality impairments are calculated and a model is developed to compute the perceptual video quality metric based on no reference method. Because of the shuttle difference between the original video and the encoded video the quality of the encoded picture gets degraded, this quality difference is introduced by the encoding process like Intra and Inter prediction. The proposed model takes into account of the artifacts introduced by these spatial and temporal activities in the hybrid block based coding methods and an objective modeling of these artifacts into subjective quality estimation is proposed. The proposed model calculates the objective quality metric using subjective impairments; blockiness, blur and jerkiness compared to the existing bitrate only calculation defined in the ITU G 1070 model. The accuracy of the proposed perceptual video quality metrics is compared against popular full reference objective methods as defined by VQEG.

  19. Parametric Packet-Layer Model for Evaluation Audio Quality in Multimedia Streaming Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Egi, Noritsugu; Hayashi, Takanori; Takahashi, Akira

    We propose a parametric packet-layer model for monitoring audio quality in multimedia streaming services such as Internet protocol television (IPTV). This model estimates audio quality of experience (QoE) on the basis of quality degradation due to coding and packet loss of an audio sequence. The input parameters of this model are audio bit rate, sampling rate, frame length, packet-loss frequency, and average burst length. Audio bit rate, packet-loss frequency, and average burst length are calculated from header information in received IP packets. For sampling rate, frame length, and audio codec type, the values or the names used in monitored services are input into this model directly. We performed a subjective listening test to examine the relationships between these input parameters and perceived audio quality. The codec used in this test was the Advanced Audio Codec-Low Complexity (AAC-LC), which is one of the international standards for audio coding. On the basis of the test results, we developed an audio quality evaluation model. The verification results indicate that audio quality estimated by the proposed model has a high correlation with perceived audio quality.

  20. Voronoi Cell Patterns: theoretical model and application to submonolayer growth

    Science.gov (United States)

    González, Diego Luis; Einstein, T. L.

    2012-02-01

    We use a simple fragmentation model to describe the statistical behavior of the Voronoi cell patterns generated by a homogeneous and isotropic set of points in 1D and in 2D. In particular, we are interested in the distribution of sizes of these Voronoi cells. Our model is completely defined by two probability distributions in 1D and again in 2D, the probability to add a new point inside an existing cell and the probability that this new point is at a particular position relative to the preexisting point inside this cell. In 1D the first distribution depends on a single parameter while the second distribution is defined through a fragmentation kernel; in 2D both distributions depend on a single parameter. The fragmentation kernel and the control parameters are closely related to the physical properties of the specific system under study. We apply our model to describe the Voronoi cell patterns of island nucleation for critical island sizes i=0,1,2,3. Experimental results for the Voronoi cells of InAs/GaAs quantum dots are also described by our model.

  1. APOLLO: a quality assessment service for single and multiple protein models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zheng; Eickholt, Jesse; Cheng, Jianlin

    2011-06-15

    We built a web server named APOLLO, which can evaluate the absolute global and local qualities of a single protein model using machine learning methods or the global and local qualities of a pool of models using a pair-wise comparison approach. Based on our evaluations on 107 CASP9 (Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction) targets, the predicted quality scores generated from our machine learning and pair-wise methods have an average per-target correlation of 0.671 and 0.917, respectively, with the true model quality scores. Based on our test on 92 CASP9 targets, our predicted absolute local qualities have an average difference of 2.60 Å with the actual distances to native structure. http://sysbio.rnet.missouri.edu/apollo/. Single and pair-wise global quality assessment software is also available at the site.

  2. Combining satellite data and appropriate objective functions for improved spatial pattern performance of a distributed hydrologic model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. C. Demirel

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Satellite-based earth observations offer great opportunities to improve spatial model predictions by means of spatial-pattern-oriented model evaluations. In this study, observed spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration (AET are utilised for spatial model calibration tailored to target the pattern performance of the model. The proposed calibration framework combines temporally aggregated observed spatial patterns with a new spatial performance metric and a flexible spatial parameterisation scheme. The mesoscale hydrologic model (mHM is used to simulate streamflow and AET and has been selected due to its soil parameter distribution approach based on pedo-transfer functions and the build in multi-scale parameter regionalisation. In addition two new spatial parameter distribution options have been incorporated in the model in order to increase the flexibility of root fraction coefficient and potential evapotranspiration correction parameterisations, based on soil type and vegetation density. These parameterisations are utilised as they are most relevant for simulated AET patterns from the hydrologic model. Due to the fundamental challenges encountered when evaluating spatial pattern performance using standard metrics, we developed a simple but highly discriminative spatial metric, i.e. one comprised of three easily interpretable components measuring co-location, variation and distribution of the spatial data. The study shows that with flexible spatial model parameterisation used in combination with the appropriate objective functions, the simulated spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration become substantially more similar to the satellite-based estimates. Overall 26 parameters are identified for calibration through a sequential screening approach based on a combination of streamflow and spatial pattern metrics. The robustness of the calibrations is tested using an ensemble of nine calibrations based on different seed numbers using the

  3. The Grand Challenge of Basin-Scale Groundwater Quality Management Modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fogg, G. E.

    2017-12-01

    The last 50+ years of agricultural, urban and industrial land and water use practices have accelerated the degradation of groundwater quality in the upper portions of many major aquifer systems upon which much of the world relies for water supply. In the deepest and most extensive systems (e.g., sedimentary basins) that typically have the largest groundwater production rates and hold fresh groundwaters on decadal to millennial time scales, most of the groundwater is not yet contaminated. Predicting the long-term future groundwater quality in such basins is a grand scientific challenge. Moreover, determining what changes in land and water use practices would avert future, irreversible degradation of these massive freshwater stores is a grand challenge both scientifically and societally. It is naïve to think that the problem can be solved by eliminating or reducing enough of the contaminant sources, for human exploitation of land and water resources will likely always result in some contamination. The key lies in both reducing the contaminant sources and more proactively managing recharge in terms of both quantity and quality, such that the net influx of contaminants is sufficiently moderate and appropriately distributed in space and time to reverse ongoing groundwater quality degradation. Just as sustainable groundwater quantity management is greatly facilitated with groundwater flow management models, sustainable groundwater quality management will require the use of groundwater quality management models. This is a new genre of hydrologic models do not yet exist, partly because of the lack of modeling tools and the supporting research to model non-reactive as well as reactive transport on large space and time scales. It is essential that the contaminant hydrogeology community, which has heretofore focused almost entirely on point-source plume-scale problems, direct it's efforts toward the development of process-based transport modeling tools and analyses capable

  4. From image processing to classification: IV. Classification of electrophoretic patterns by neural networks and statistical methods enable quality assessment of wheat varieties for breadmaking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Kirsten; Kesmir, Can; Søndergaard, Ib

    1996-01-01

    The end-use quality of products made from doughs consisting of wheat flour and water is often dependent upon the storage (gluten) proteins of the grain endosperm. Today the electrophoretic patterns of the high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits are used for quality selections in wheat breed...

  5. Comparison of different statistical modelling approaches for deriving spatial air temperature patterns in an urban environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Straub, Annette; Beck, Christoph; Breitner, Susanne; Cyrys, Josef; Geruschkat, Uta; Jacobeit, Jucundus; Kühlbach, Benjamin; Kusch, Thomas; Richter, Katja; Schneider, Alexandra; Umminger, Robin; Wolf, Kathrin

    2017-04-01

    Frequently spatial variations of air temperature of considerable magnitude occur within urban areas. They correspond to varying land use/land cover characteristics and vary with season, time of day and synoptic conditions. These temperature differences have an impact on human health and comfort directly by inducing thermal stress as well as indirectly by means of affecting air quality. Therefore, knowledge of the spatial patterns of air temperature in cities and the factors causing them is of great importance, e.g. for urban planners. A multitude of studies have shown statistical modelling to be a suitable tool for generating spatial air temperature patterns. This contribution presents a comparison of different statistical modelling approaches for deriving spatial air temperature patterns in the urban environment of Augsburg, Southern Germany. In Augsburg there exists a measurement network for air temperature and humidity currently comprising 48 stations in the city and its rural surroundings (corporately operated by the Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health and the Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg). Using different datasets for land surface characteristics (Open Street Map, Urban Atlas) area percentages of different types of land cover were calculated for quadratic buffer zones of different size (25, 50, 100, 250, 500 m) around the stations as well for source regions of advective air flow and used as predictors together with additional variables such as sky view factor, ground level and distance from the city centre. Multiple Linear Regression and Random Forest models for different situations taking into account season, time of day and weather condition were applied utilizing selected subsets of these predictors in order to model spatial distributions of mean hourly and daily air temperature deviations from a rural reference station. Furthermore, the different model setups were

  6. Immediate effects of modified landing pattern on a probabilistic tibial stress fracture model in runners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, T L; An, W W; Chan, Z Y S; Au, I P H; Zhang, Z H; Cheung, R T H

    2016-03-01

    Tibial stress fracture is a common injury in runners. This condition has been associated with increased impact loading. Since vertical loading rates are related to the landing pattern, many heelstrike runners attempt to modify their footfalls for a lower risk of tibial stress fracture. Such effect of modified landing pattern remains unknown. This study examined the immediate effects of landing pattern modification on the probability of tibial stress fracture. Fourteen experienced heelstrike runners ran on an instrumented treadmill and they were given augmented feedback for landing pattern switch. We measured their running kinematics and kinetics during different landing patterns. Ankle joint contact force and peak tibial strains were estimated using computational models. We used an established mathematical model to determine the effect of landing pattern on stress fracture probability. Heelstrike runners experienced greater impact loading immediately after landing pattern switch (Ptibial strains and the risk of tibial stress fracture in runners with different landing patterns (P>0.986). Immediate transitioning of the landing pattern in heelstrike runners may not offer timely protection against tibial stress fracture, despite a reduction of impact loading. Long-term effects of landing pattern switch remains unknown. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. On the Modelling of Biological Patterns with Mechanochemical Models: Insights from Analysis and Computation

    KAUST Repository

    Moreo, P.

    2009-11-14

    The diversity of biological form is generated by a relatively small number of underlying mechanisms. Consequently, mathematical and computational modelling can, and does, provide insight into how cellular level interactions ultimately give rise to higher level structure. Given cells respond to mechanical stimuli, it is therefore important to consider the effects of these responses within biological self-organisation models. Here, we consider the self-organisation properties of a mechanochemical model previously developed by three of the authors in Acta Biomater. 4, 613-621 (2008), which is capable of reproducing the behaviour of a population of cells cultured on an elastic substrate in response to a variety of stimuli. In particular, we examine the conditions under which stable spatial patterns can emerge with this model, focusing on the influence of mechanical stimuli and the interplay of non-local phenomena. To this end, we have performed a linear stability analysis and numerical simulations based on a mixed finite element formulation, which have allowed us to study the dynamical behaviour of the system in terms of the qualitative shape of the dispersion relation. We show that the consideration of mechanotaxis, namely changes in migration speeds and directions in response to mechanical stimuli alters the conditions for pattern formation in a singular manner. Furthermore without non-local effects, responses to mechanical stimuli are observed to result in dispersion relations with positive growth rates at arbitrarily large wavenumbers, in turn yielding heterogeneity at the cellular level in model predictions. This highlights the sensitivity and necessity of non-local effects in mechanically influenced biological pattern formation models and the ultimate failure of the continuum approximation in their absence. © 2009 Society for Mathematical Biology.

  8. Effects of lighting pattern and photoperiod on egg production and egg quality of a native chicken under free-range condition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geng, A L; Zhang, Y; Zhang, J; Wang, H H; Chu, Q; Liu, H G

    2018-04-14

    The paper aimed to study the effects of lighting pattern and photoperiod alone and in combination on egg production, egg quality in Beijing You Chicken (BYC). A total of 630 19-wk-old BYC laying hens were randomly allocated to 6 groups with 105 birds each, 3 replicates per group, reared in individually lit floor pens with separate outdoor areas. A 2 × 3 factorial experiment (2 lighting patterns: continuous and intermittent lighting; 3 photoperiods: 16, 14, 12 h) was arranged, including 16L:8D (6:00 to 22:00) for group 1; 12L:2D:4L:6D (6:00 to 18:00, 20:00 to 24:00) for group 2; 14L:10D (6:00 to 20:00) for group 3; 10L:2D:4L:8D (6:00 to 16:00, 18:00 to 22:00) for group 4; 12L:12D (6:00 to 18:00) for group 5, and 8L:4D:4L:8D (6:00 to 14:00, 18:00 to 22:00) for group 6, respectively. Egg production parameters were calculated for 22 to 43, 44 to 57, and 22 to 57 wk, and egg quality parameters were measured at the end of 37 and 57 wk. The results showed that the egg production of BYC was not significantly affected by lighting pattern, photoperiod alone, or in combination during 22 to 43 and 22 to 57 wk (P > 0.05), but average feed intake in 12 h groups was significantly higher than those in 14 and 16 h groups during 22 to 43 and 22 to 57 wk (P Egg mass and feed egg ratio were significantly affected by lighting pattern, photoperiod alone, and in combination during 44 to 57 wk (P Egg mass was significantly higher (P = 0.05) and feed egg ratio was significantly lower (P = 0.03) in continuous groups than in intermittent groups. There were significant effects for eggshell thickness, albumen height, haugh unit, and egg grade by lighting pattern alone (P egg production was not significantly affected by lighting pattern alone during 22 to 57 wk (P > 0.05), but the photoperiod significantly affected average feed intake (P egg production during 44 to 57 wk, and intermittent lighting is better for egg quality of the native bird at 37 wk; 3) 12 h lighting is enough for meeting

  9. Urgency for sustainable development in coastal urban areas with reference to weather pattern, land use, and water quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheela, A M; Letha, J; Swarnalatha, K; Baiju, K V; Sankar, Divya

    2014-05-01

    Water pollution is one of the most critical problems affecting mankind. Weather pattern and land use of catchment area have significant role in quality of water bodies. Due to climate change, there is frequent variation in weather pattern all over the world. There is also rapid change in land use due to increase in population and urbanization. The study was carried out to analyze the effect of change in weather pattern during the monsoon periods of 2008 and 2012 on water quality of a tropical coastal lake system. The nature and extent of variation in different water quality parameters namely electrical conductivity (EC), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), chloride (Cl), sulphate (SO4), turbidity, Secchi disk depth, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), phosphate (PO4), calcium (Ca), and water temperature as well as the effect of various land use activities in the lake basin on water quality have also been studied. There is significant reduction in precipitation, EC, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4, turbidity, and Secchi disk depths whereas a significant rise in the BOD, PO4, Ca, and water temperature were observed in 2012. This significant reduction in electrical conductivity during 2012 revealed that because of less precipitation, the lake was separated from the sea by the sandbar during most of the monsoon period and thereby interrupted the natural flushing process. This caused the accumulation of organic matter including phosphate and thereby resulting reduction in clarity and chlorophyll-a (algae) in the lake. The unsustainable development activities of Thiruvanathapuram city are mainly responsible for the degradation of water bodies. The lack of maintenance and augmentation activities namely replacement of old pipes and periodical cleaning of pipe lines of the old sewer system in the city results in the bypass of sewage into water bodies. Because of the existence of the old sewerage system, no effort has been taken by the individual establishment/house of the city to provide their own

  10. A stochastic dynamic programming model for stream water quality ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

    constraints of the water quality management problem; (ii) a water quality simulation model ... of acceptance and limited implementation of optimisation techniques. .... The response of river system to these sources of pollution can be integrated ...

  11. A hydroclimatic model of global fire patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boer, Matthias

    2015-04-01

    Satellite-based earth observation is providing an increasingly accurate picture of global fire patterns. The highest fire activity is observed in seasonally dry (sub-)tropical environments of South America, Africa and Australia, but fires occur with varying frequency, intensity and seasonality in almost all biomes on Earth. The particular combination of these fire characteristics, or fire regime, is known to emerge from the combined influences of climate, vegetation, terrain and land use, but has so far proven difficult to reproduce by global models. Uncertainty about the biophysical drivers and constraints that underlie current global fire patterns is propagated in model predictions of how ecosystems, fire regimes and biogeochemical cycles may respond to projected future climates. Here, I present a hydroclimatic model of global fire patterns that predicts the mean annual burned area fraction (F) of 0.25° x 0.25° grid cells as a function of the climatic water balance. Following Bradstock's four-switch model, long-term fire activity levels were assumed to be controlled by fuel productivity rates and the likelihood that the extant fuel is dry enough to burn. The frequency of ignitions and favourable fire weather were assumed to be non-limiting at long time scales. Fundamentally, fuel productivity and fuel dryness are a function of the local water and energy budgets available for the production and desiccation of plant biomass. The climatic water balance summarizes the simultaneous availability of biologically usable energy and water at a site, and may therefore be expected to explain a significant proportion of global variation in F. To capture the effect of the climatic water balance on fire activity I focused on the upper quantiles of F, i.e. the maximum level of fire activity for a given climatic water balance. Analysing GFED4 data for annual burned area together with gridded climate data, I found that nearly 80% of the global variation in the 0.99 quantile of F

  12. A model-based exploration of the role of pattern generating circuits during locomotor adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marjaninejad, Ali; Finley, James M

    2016-08-01

    In this study, we used a model-based approach to explore the potential contributions of central pattern generating circuits (CPGs) during adaptation to external perturbations during locomotion. We constructed a neuromechanical modeled of locomotion using a reduced-phase CPG controller and an inverted pendulum mechanical model. Two different forms of locomotor adaptation were examined in this study: split-belt treadmill adaptation and adaptation to a unilateral, elastic force field. For each simulation, we first examined the effects of phase resetting and varying the model's initial conditions on the resulting adaptation. After evaluating the effect of phase resetting on the adaptation of step length symmetry, we examined the extent to which the results from these simple models could explain previous experimental observations. We found that adaptation of step length symmetry during split-belt treadmill walking could be reproduced using our model, but this model failed to replicate patterns of adaptation observed in response to force field perturbations. Given that spinal animal models can adapt to both of these types of perturbations, our findings suggest that there may be distinct features of pattern generating circuits that mediate each form of adaptation.

  13. Conditional Stochastic Models in Reduced Space: Towards Efficient Simulation of Tropical Cyclone Precipitation Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dodov, B.

    2017-12-01

    Stochastic simulation of realistic and statistically robust patterns of Tropical Cyclone (TC) induced precipitation is a challenging task. It is even more challenging in a catastrophe modeling context, where tens of thousands of typhoon seasons need to be simulated in order to provide a complete view of flood risk. Ultimately, one could run a coupled global climate model and regional Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model, but this approach is not feasible in the catastrophe modeling context and, most importantly, may not provide TC track patterns consistent with observations. Rather, we propose to leverage NWP output for the observed TC precipitation patterns (in terms of downscaled reanalysis 1979-2015) collected on a Lagrangian frame along the historical TC tracks and reduced to the leading spatial principal components of the data. The reduced data from all TCs is then grouped according to timing, storm evolution stage (developing, mature, dissipating, ETC transitioning) and central pressure and used to build a dictionary of stationary (within a group) and non-stationary (for transitions between groups) covariance models. Provided that the stochastic storm tracks with all the parameters describing the TC evolution are already simulated, a sequence of conditional samples from the covariance models chosen according to the TC characteristics at a given moment in time are concatenated, producing a continuous non-stationary precipitation pattern in a Lagrangian framework. The simulated precipitation for each event is finally distributed along the stochastic TC track and blended with a non-TC background precipitation using a data assimilation technique. The proposed framework provides means of efficient simulation (10000 seasons simulated in a couple of days) and robust typhoon precipitation patterns consistent with observed regional climate and visually undistinguishable from high resolution NWP output. The framework is used to simulate a catalog of 10000 typhoon

  14. A collision avoidance model for two-pedestrian groups: Considering random avoidance patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhuping; Cai, Yifei; Ke, Ruimin; Yang, Jiwei

    2017-06-01

    Grouping is a common phenomenon in pedestrian crowds and group modeling is still an open challenging problem. When grouping pedestrians avoid each other, different patterns can be observed. Pedestrians can keep close with group members and avoid other groups in cluster. Also, they can avoid other groups separately. Considering this randomness in avoidance patterns, we propose a collision avoidance model for two-pedestrian groups. In our model, the avoidance model is proposed based on velocity obstacle method at first. Then grouping model is established using Distance constrained line (DCL), by transforming DCL into the framework of velocity obstacle, the avoidance model and grouping model are successfully put into one unified calculation structure. Within this structure, an algorithm is developed to solve the problem when solutions of the two models conflict with each other. Two groups of bidirectional pedestrian experiments are designed to verify the model. The accuracy of avoidance behavior and grouping behavior is validated in the microscopic level, while the lane formation phenomenon and fundamental diagrams is validated in the macroscopic level. The experiments results show our model is convincing and has a good expansibility to describe three or more pedestrian groups.

  15. Evaluation of the Current State of Integrated Water Quality Modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arhonditsis, G. B.; Wellen, C. C.; Ecological Modelling Laboratory

    2010-12-01

    Environmental policy and management implementation require robust methods for assessing the contribution of various point and non-point pollution sources to water quality problems as well as methods for estimating the expected and achieved compliance with the water quality goals. Water quality models have been widely used for creating the scientific basis for management decisions by providing a predictive link between restoration actions and ecosystem response. Modelling water quality and nutrient transport is challenging due a number of constraints associated with the input data and existing knowledge gaps related to the mathematical description of landscape and in-stream biogeochemical processes. While enormous effort has been invested to make watershed models process-based and spatially-distributed, there has not been a comprehensive meta-analysis of model credibility in watershed modelling literature. In this study, we evaluate the current state of integrated water quality modeling across the range of temporal and spatial scales typically utilized. We address several common modeling questions by providing a quantitative assessment of model performance and by assessing how model performance depends on model development. The data compiled represent a heterogeneous group of modeling studies, especially with respect to complexity, spatial and temporal scales and model development objectives. Beginning from 1992, the year when Beven and Binley published their seminal paper on uncertainty analysis in hydrological modelling, and ending in 2009, we selected over 150 papers fitting a number of criteria. These criteria involved publications that: (i) employed distributed or semi-distributed modelling approaches; (ii) provided predictions on flow and nutrient concentration state variables; and (iii) reported fit to measured data. Model performance was quantified with the Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency, the relative error, and the coefficient of determination. Further, our

  16. A Neural Network Model for Prediction of Sound Quality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen,, Lars Bramsløw

    An artificial neural network structure has been specified, implemented and optimized for the purpose of predicting the perceived sound quality for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects. The network was implemented by means of commercially available software and optimized to predict results...... obtained in subjective sound quality rating experiments based on input data from an auditory model. Various types of input data and data representations from the auditory model were used as input data for the chosen network structure, which was a three-layer perceptron. This network was trained by means...... the physical signal parameters and the subjectively perceived sound quality. No simple objective-subjective relationship was evident from this analysis....

  17. The quality of school lunch consumed reflects overall eating patterns in 11-16-year-old schoolchildren in Finland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilles-Tirkkonen, Tanja; Pentikäinen, Saara; Lappi, Jenni; Karhunen, Leila; Poutanen, Kaisa; Mykkänen, Hannu

    2011-12-01

    To explore how the quality of school lunch consumed reflected overall eating patterns in school-aged children. Children filled in an Internet-based questionnaire about their eating patterns. The children were then divided into balanced and imbalanced school lunch eaters on the basis of their responses in the questionnaire. A balanced school lunch consisted of, by the definition used in the present study, a main dish, salad and bread. Eleven primary schools and one middle school in eastern Finland. A total of 531 schoolchildren (247 boys and 284 girls) aged 11-16 years. The school lunch was balanced in 46·5% of children. Eating a balanced school lunch was associated with overall healthier eating patterns outside school. Children who ate a balanced school lunch had more regular meal times and consumed healthier snacks. They ate fruit or berries and vegetables, dairy products and wholegrain foods more often, consumed fewer salty snacks, pizzas, meat pies and drank fewer soft drinks and energy drinks. Their eating patterns at home were also healthier, with vegetables being offered at every family dinner and fruit being offered daily, whereas soft drinks were offered seldom. The choices made by children in their school lunch reflect the overall eating patterns among school-aged children. Eating a balanced school lunch is associated with more regular meal patterns, the availability of healthier foods at home and an overall healthier diet, suggesting that healthy eating patterns are learnt at home.

  18. College quality and hourly wages: evidence from the self-revelation model, sibling models and instrumental variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borgen, Nicolai T

    2014-11-01

    This paper addresses the recent discussion on confounding in the returns to college quality literature using the Norwegian case. The main advantage of studying Norway is the quality of the data. Norwegian administrative data provide information on college applications, family relations and a rich set of control variables for all Norwegian citizens applying to college between 1997 and 2004 (N = 141,319) and their succeeding wages between 2003 and 2010 (676,079 person-year observations). With these data, this paper uses a subset of the models that have rendered mixed findings in the literature in order to investigate to what extent confounding biases the returns to college quality. I compare estimates obtained using standard regression models to estimates obtained using the self-revelation model of Dale and Krueger (2002), a sibling fixed effects model and the instrumental variable model used by Long (2008). Using these methods, I consistently find increasing returns to college quality over the course of students' work careers, with positive returns only later in students' work careers. I conclude that the standard regression estimate provides a reasonable estimate of the returns to college quality. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. SensibleSleep: A Bayesian Model for Learning Sleep Patterns from Smartphone Events

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cuttone, Andrea; Bækgaard, Per; Sekara, Vedran

    2017-01-01

    We propose a Bayesian model for extracting sleep patterns from smartphone events. Our method is able to identify individuals' daily sleep periods and their evolution over time, and provides an estimation of the probability of sleep and wake transitions. The model is fitted to more than 400...... to quantify uncertainty and encode prior knowledge about sleep patterns. Compared with existing smartphone-based systems, our method requires only screen on/off events, and is therefore much less intrusive in terms of privacy and more battery-efficient....... participants from two different datasets, and we verify the results against ground truth from dedicated armband sleep trackers. We show that the model is able to produce reliable sleep estimates with an accuracy of 0.89, both at the individual and at the collective level. Moreover the Bayesian model is able...

  20. SensibleSleep: A Bayesian Model for Learning Sleep Patterns from Smartphone Events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuttone, Andrea; Bækgaard, Per; Sekara, Vedran; Jonsson, Håkan; Larsen, Jakob Eg; Lehmann, Sune

    2017-01-01

    We propose a Bayesian model for extracting sleep patterns from smartphone events. Our method is able to identify individuals' daily sleep periods and their evolution over time, and provides an estimation of the probability of sleep and wake transitions. The model is fitted to more than 400 participants from two different datasets, and we verify the results against ground truth from dedicated armband sleep trackers. We show that the model is able to produce reliable sleep estimates with an accuracy of 0.89, both at the individual and at the collective level. Moreover the Bayesian model is able to quantify uncertainty and encode prior knowledge about sleep patterns. Compared with existing smartphone-based systems, our method requires only screen on/off events, and is therefore much less intrusive in terms of privacy and more battery-efficient.

  1. SensibleSleep: A Bayesian Model for Learning Sleep Patterns from Smartphone Events.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Cuttone

    Full Text Available We propose a Bayesian model for extracting sleep patterns from smartphone events. Our method is able to identify individuals' daily sleep periods and their evolution over time, and provides an estimation of the probability of sleep and wake transitions. The model is fitted to more than 400 participants from two different datasets, and we verify the results against ground truth from dedicated armband sleep trackers. We show that the model is able to produce reliable sleep estimates with an accuracy of 0.89, both at the individual and at the collective level. Moreover the Bayesian model is able to quantify uncertainty and encode prior knowledge about sleep patterns. Compared with existing smartphone-based systems, our method requires only screen on/off events, and is therefore much less intrusive in terms of privacy and more battery-efficient.

  2. Automatic pattern identification of rock moisture based on the Staff-RF model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Wei; Tao, Kai; Jiang, Wei

    2018-04-01

    Studies on the moisture and damage state of rocks generally focus on the qualitative description and mechanical information of rocks. This method is not applicable to the real-time safety monitoring of rock mass. In this study, a musical staff computing model is used to quantify the acoustic emission signals of rocks with different moisture patterns. Then, the random forest (RF) method is adopted to form the staff-RF model for the real-time pattern identification of rock moisture. The entire process requires only the computing information of the AE signal and does not require the mechanical conditions of rocks.

  3. Modelling and predicting biogeographical patterns in river networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabela Lois

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Statistical analysis and interpretation of biogeographical phenomena in rivers is now possible using a spatially explicit modelling framework, which has seen significant developments in the past decade. I used this approach to identify a spatial extent (geostatistical range in which the abundance of the parasitic freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera L. is spatially autocorrelated in river networks. I show that biomass and abundance of host fish are a likely explanation for the autocorrelation in mussel abundance within a 15-km spatial extent. The application of universal kriging with the empirical model enabled precise prediction of mussel abundance within segments of river networks, something that has the potential to inform conservation biogeography. Although I used a variety of modelling approaches in my thesis, I focus here on the details of this relatively new spatial stream network model, thus advancing the study of biogeographical patterns in river networks.

  4. Development, implementation and quality assurance of biokinetic models within CONRAD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nosske, D.; Birchall, A.; Blanchardon, E.; Breustedt, B.; Giussani, A.; Luciani, A.; Oeh, U.; Lopez, M. A.

    2008-01-01

    The work of the Task Group 5.2 'Research Studies on Biokinetic Models' of the CONRAD project is presented. New biokinetic models have been implemented by several European institutions. Quality assurance procedures included intercomparison of the results as well as quality assurance of model formulation. Additionally, the use of the models was examined leading to proposals of tuning parameters. Stable isotope studies were evaluated with respect to their implications to the new models, and new biokinetic models were proposed on the basis of their results. Furthermore, the development of a biokinetic model describing the effects of decorporation of actinides by diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid treatment was initiated. (authors)

  5. Measures of quality of process models created in BPMN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radek Hronza

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Description, documentation, evaluation and redesign of key processes during their execution should be an essential part of the strategic management of any organization. All organizations live in a dynamically changing environment. Therefore they must adapt its internal processes to market changes. These processes must be described. Suitable way of description could be BPMN notation. Right after description of processes via BPMN, processes should be controlled to ensure expected of their quality. System (which could be automated based on mathematical expression of qualitative characteristics of process models (i.e. measures of quality of process models can support mentioned process controls. Research team trying to design and get into practical use such a tool. The aim of this publication is description of mentioned system – based on measures of the quality of process models - and answer associated scientific questions.

  6. Soil cover patterns influence on the land environmental functions, agroecological quality, land-use and monitoring efficiency in the Central Russia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasenev, Ivan; Yashin, Ivan; Lukin, Sergey; Valentini, Riccardo

    2015-04-01

    First decades of XXI century actualized for soil researches the principal methodical problem of most modern geosciences: what spatial and temporal scale would be optimal for land quality evaluation and land-use practice optimizing? It is becoming obvious that this question cannot have one solution and have to be solved with especial attention on the features of concrete region and landscape, land-use history and practical issues, land current state and environmental functions, soil cover patterns and variability, governmental requirements and local society needs, best available technologies and their potential profitability. Central Russia is one of the most dynamical economic regions with naturally high and man-made complicated landscape and soil cover variability, long-term land-use history and self-contradictory issues, high potential of profitable farming and increased risks of land degradation. Global climate and technological changes essentially complicate the originally high and sharply increased in XX century farming land heterogeneity in the Central Russia that actualizes system analysis of its zonal, intra-zonal and azonal soil cover patterns according to their influence on land environmental functions, agroecological quality, and land-use and monitoring efficiency variability. Developed by the Laboratory of agroecological monitoring, ecosystem modeling & prediction (LAMP / RTSAU with support of RF Governmental projects #11.G34.31.0079 and #14.120.14.4266) regional systems of greenhouse gases environmental monitoring RusFluxNet (6 fixed & 1 mobile eddy covariance stations with zonal functional sets of key plots with chamber investigations in 5 Russian regions) and of agroecological monitoring (in representative key plots with different farming practice in 9 RF regions) allow to do this analysis in frame of enough representative regional multi-factorial matrix of soil cover patterns, bioclimatic conditions, landscape features, and land-use history and

  7. A guide to calculating habitat-quality metrics to inform conservation of highly mobile species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bieri, Joanna A.; Sample, Christine; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Diffendorfer, James E.; Earl, Julia E.; Erickson, Richard A.; Federico, Paula; Flockhart, D. T. Tyler; Nicol, Sam; Semmens, Darius J.; Skraber, T.; Wiederholt, Ruscena; Mattsson, Brady J.

    2018-01-01

    Many metrics exist for quantifying the relative value of habitats and pathways used by highly mobile species. Properly selecting and applying such metrics requires substantial background in mathematics and understanding the relevant management arena. To address this multidimensional challenge, we demonstrate and compare three measurements of habitat quality: graph-, occupancy-, and demographic-based metrics. Each metric provides insights into system dynamics, at the expense of increasing amounts and complexity of data and models. Our descriptions and comparisons of diverse habitat-quality metrics provide means for practitioners to overcome the modeling challenges associated with management or conservation of such highly mobile species. Whereas previous guidance for applying habitat-quality metrics has been scattered in diversified tracks of literature, we have brought this information together into an approachable format including accessible descriptions and a modeling case study for a typical example that conservation professionals can adapt for their own decision contexts and focal populations.Considerations for Resource ManagersManagement objectives, proposed actions, data availability and quality, and model assumptions are all relevant considerations when applying and interpreting habitat-quality metrics.Graph-based metrics answer questions related to habitat centrality and connectivity, are suitable for populations with any movement pattern, quantify basic spatial and temporal patterns of occupancy and movement, and require the least data.Occupancy-based metrics answer questions about likelihood of persistence or colonization, are suitable for populations that undergo localized extinctions, quantify spatial and temporal patterns of occupancy and movement, and require a moderate amount of data.Demographic-based metrics answer questions about relative or absolute population size, are suitable for populations with any movement pattern, quantify demographic

  8. Water quality assessment and meta model development in Melen watershed - Turkey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erturk, Ali; Gurel, Melike; Ekdal, Alpaslan; Tavsan, Cigdem; Ugurluoglu, Aysegul; Seker, Dursun Zafer; Tanik, Aysegul; Ozturk, Izzet

    2010-07-01

    Istanbul, being one of the highly populated metropolitan areas of the world, has been facing water scarcity since the past decade. Water transfer from Melen Watershed was considered as the most feasible option to supply water to Istanbul due to its high water potential and relatively less degraded water quality. This study consists of two parts. In the first part, water quality data covering 26 parameters from 5 monitoring stations were analyzed and assessed due to the requirements of the "Quality Required of Surface Water Intended for the Abstraction of Drinking Water" regulation. In the second part, a one-dimensional stream water quality model with simple water quality kinetics was developed. It formed a basic design for more advanced water quality models for the watershed. The reason for assessing the water quality data and developing a model was to provide information for decision making on preliminary actions to prevent any further deterioration of existing water quality. According to the water quality assessment at the water abstraction point, Melen River has relatively poor water quality with regard to NH(4)(+), BOD(5), faecal streptococcus, manganese and phenol parameters, and is unsuitable for drinking water abstraction in terms of COD, PO(4)(3-), total coliform, total suspended solids, mercury and total chromium parameters. The results derived from the model were found to be consistent with the water quality assessment. It also showed that relatively high inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations along the streams are related to diffuse nutrient loads that should be managed together with municipal and industrial wastewaters. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. 3D physical modeling for patterning process development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarma, Chandra; Abdo, Amr; Bailey, Todd; Conley, Will; Dunn, Derren; Marokkey, Sajan; Talbi, Mohamed

    2010-03-01

    In this paper we will demonstrate how a 3D physical patterning model can act as a forensic tool for OPC and ground-rule development. We discuss examples where the 2D modeling shows no issues in printing gate lines but 3D modeling shows severe resist loss in the middle. In absence of corrective measure, there is a high likelihood of line discontinuity post etch. Such early insight into process limitations of prospective ground rules can be invaluable for early technology development. We will also demonstrate how the root cause of broken poly-line after etch could be traced to resist necking in the region of STI step with the help of 3D models. We discuss different cases of metal and contact layouts where 3D modeling gives an early insight in to technology limitations. In addition such a 3D physical model could be used for early resist evaluation and selection for required ground-rule challenges, which can substantially reduce the cycle time for process development.

  10. Coupled variable selection for regression modeling of complex treatment patterns in a clinical cancer registry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidtmann, I; Elsäßer, A; Weinmann, A; Binder, H

    2014-12-30

    For determining a manageable set of covariates potentially influential with respect to a time-to-event endpoint, Cox proportional hazards models can be combined with variable selection techniques, such as stepwise forward selection or backward elimination based on p-values, or regularized regression techniques such as component-wise boosting. Cox regression models have also been adapted for dealing with more complex event patterns, for example, for competing risks settings with separate, cause-specific hazard models for each event type, or for determining the prognostic effect pattern of a variable over different landmark times, with one conditional survival model for each landmark. Motivated by a clinical cancer registry application, where complex event patterns have to be dealt with and variable selection is needed at the same time, we propose a general approach for linking variable selection between several Cox models. Specifically, we combine score statistics for each covariate across models by Fisher's method as a basis for variable selection. This principle is implemented for a stepwise forward selection approach as well as for a regularized regression technique. In an application to data from hepatocellular carcinoma patients, the coupled stepwise approach is seen to facilitate joint interpretation of the different cause-specific Cox models. In conditional survival models at landmark times, which address updates of prediction as time progresses and both treatment and other potential explanatory variables may change, the coupled regularized regression approach identifies potentially important, stably selected covariates together with their effect time pattern, despite having only a small number of events. These results highlight the promise of the proposed approach for coupling variable selection between Cox models, which is particularly relevant for modeling for clinical cancer registries with their complex event patterns. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons

  11. Empirically Derived Dietary Patterns in UK Adults Are Associated with Sociodemographic Characteristics, Lifestyle, and Diet Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cade, Janet; Dawson, Jeremy; Holdsworth, Michelle

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine empirical dietary patterns in UK adults and their association with sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, self-reported nutrient intake, nutrient biomarkers, and the Nutrient-based Diet Quality Score (NDQS) using National Diet and Nutrition Survey data 2008–2012 (n = 2083; mean age 49 years; 43.3% male). Four patterns explained 13.6% of the total variance: ‘Snacks, fast food, fizzy drinks’ (SFFFD), ‘Fruit, vegetables, oily fish’ (FVOF), ‘Meat, potatoes, beer’ (MPB), and ‘Sugary foods, dairy’ (SFD). ‘SFFFD’ was associated positively with: being male; smoking; body mass index (BMI); urinary sodium; intake of non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES), fat and starch; and negatively with: age; plasma carotenoids; and NDQS. ‘FVOF’ was associated positively with: being non-white; age; income; socioeconomic classification (National Statistics Socio-economic Classifications; NSSEC); plasma carotenoids; intake of non-starch polysaccharides and polyunsaturated fatty acids. It was negatively associated with: being male, smoking, BMI, urinary sodium, intake of saturated fat; and NMES and NDQS. Whilst the patterns explained only 13.6% of the total variance, they were associated with self-reported nutrient intake, biomarkers of nutrient intake, sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, and the NDQS. These findings provide support for dietary patterns analyses as a means of exploring dietary intake in the UK population to inform public health nutrition policy and guidance. PMID:29415478

  12. Service Quality in Distance Education using the Gronroos Model

    OpenAIRE

    Hamid, Fazelina Sahul; Yip, Nick

    2016-01-01

    Demand for distance education programs have been increasing rapidly over the years. As a result, assessment of the quality of distance education programs has become a strategic issue that is very pertinent for program survival. This study uses Gronroos Model for assessing the service quality of the Malaysian distance education institutions. This model is chosen because it takes into account of the service delivery process and also service outcome. Our study confirms the multidimensional natur...

  13. Development and application of new quality model for software projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karnavel, K; Dillibabu, R

    2014-01-01

    The IT industry tries to employ a number of models to identify the defects in the construction of software projects. In this paper, we present COQUALMO and its limitations and aim to increase the quality without increasing the cost and time. The computation time, cost, and effort to predict the residual defects are very high; this was overcome by developing an appropriate new quality model named the software testing defect corrective model (STDCM). The STDCM was used to estimate the number of remaining residual defects in the software product; a few assumptions and the detailed steps of the STDCM are highlighted. The application of the STDCM is explored in software projects. The implementation of the model is validated using statistical inference, which shows there is a significant improvement in the quality of the software projects.

  14. A manufacturing quality assessment model based-on two stages interval type-2 fuzzy logic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purnomo, Muhammad Ridwan Andi; Helmi Shintya Dewi, Intan

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents the development of an assessment models for manufacturing quality using Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic (IT2-FL). The proposed model is developed based on one of building block in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), which is benefit of SCM, and focuses more on quality. The proposed model can be used to predict the quality level of production chain in a company. The quality of production will affect to the quality of product. Practically, quality of production is unique for every type of production system. Hence, experts opinion will play major role in developing the assessment model. The model will become more complicated when the data contains ambiguity and uncertainty. In this study, IT2-FL is used to model the ambiguity and uncertainty. A case study taken from a company in Yogyakarta shows that the proposed manufacturing quality assessment model can work well in determining the quality level of production.

  15. Application of pattern mixture models to address missing data in longitudinal data analysis using SPSS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Son, Heesook; Friedmann, Erika; Thomas, Sue A

    2012-01-01

    Longitudinal studies are used in nursing research to examine changes over time in health indicators. Traditional approaches to longitudinal analysis of means, such as analysis of variance with repeated measures, are limited to analyzing complete cases. This limitation can lead to biased results due to withdrawal or data omission bias or to imputation of missing data, which can lead to bias toward the null if data are not missing completely at random. Pattern mixture models are useful to evaluate the informativeness of missing data and to adjust linear mixed model (LMM) analyses if missing data are informative. The aim of this study was to provide an example of statistical procedures for applying a pattern mixture model to evaluate the informativeness of missing data and conduct analyses of data with informative missingness in longitudinal studies using SPSS. The data set from the Patients' and Families' Psychological Response to Home Automated External Defibrillator Trial was used as an example to examine informativeness of missing data with pattern mixture models and to use a missing data pattern in analysis of longitudinal data. Prevention of withdrawal bias, omitted data bias, and bias toward the null in longitudinal LMMs requires the assessment of the informativeness of the occurrence of missing data. Missing data patterns can be incorporated as fixed effects into LMMs to evaluate the contribution of the presence of informative missingness to and control for the effects of missingness on outcomes. Pattern mixture models are a useful method to address the presence and effect of informative missingness in longitudinal studies.

  16. Predicting Neural Activity Patterns Associated with Sentences Using a Neurobiologically Motivated Model of Semantic Representation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Andrew James; Binder, Jeffrey R; Fernandino, Leonardo; Humphries, Colin J; Conant, Lisa L; Aguilar, Mario; Wang, Xixi; Doko, Donias; Raizada, Rajeev D S

    2017-09-01

    We introduce an approach that predicts neural representations of word meanings contained in sentences then superposes these to predict neural representations of new sentences. A neurobiological semantic model based on sensory, motor, social, emotional, and cognitive attributes was used as a foundation to define semantic content. Previous studies have predominantly predicted neural patterns for isolated words, using models that lack neurobiological interpretation. Fourteen participants read 240 sentences describing everyday situations while undergoing fMRI. To connect sentence-level fMRI activation patterns to the word-level semantic model, we devised methods to decompose the fMRI data into individual words. Activation patterns associated with each attribute in the model were then estimated using multiple-regression. This enabled synthesis of activation patterns for trained and new words, which were subsequently averaged to predict new sentences. Region-of-interest analyses revealed that prediction accuracy was highest using voxels in the left temporal and inferior parietal cortex, although a broad range of regions returned statistically significant results, showing that semantic information is widely distributed across the brain. The results show how a neurobiologically motivated semantic model can decompose sentence-level fMRI data into activation features for component words, which can be recombined to predict activation patterns for new sentences. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Post-Hoc Pattern-Oriented Testing and Tuning of an Existing Large Model: Lessons from the Field Vole

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Topping, Christopher John; Dalkvist, Trine; Grimm, Volker

    2012-01-01

    Pattern-oriented modeling (POM) is a general strategy for modeling complex systems. In POM, multiple patterns observed at different scales and hierarchical levels are used to optimize model structure, to test and select sub-models of key processes, and for calibration. So far, POM has been used f...

  18. Onset patterns in a simple model of localized parametric forcing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porter, J; Tinao, I; Laverón-Simavilla, A; Rodríguez, J

    2013-10-01

    We investigate pattern selection at onset in a parametrically and inhomogeneously forced partial differential equation obtained by generalizing Mathieu's equation to include spatial interactions. No separation of scales is assumed. The proposed model is directly relevant to the case of parametrically forced surface waves, such as cross-waves, excited by the horizontal vibration of a fluid, where the forcing is localized to a finite region near the endwall or wavemaker. The availability of analytical solutions in the limit of piecewise constant forcing allows us investigate in detail the dependence of selected eigenfunctions on spatial detuning, forcing width, damping, boundary conditions, and container size. A wide range of onset patterns are located and described, many of which are rotated, modulated, or both, and deviate far from simple crosswise oriented standing waves. The linear selection mechanisms governing this multiplicity of potential onset patterns are discussed.

  19. A simple parametric model observer for quality assurance in computer tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anton, M.; Khanin, A.; Kretz, T.; Reginatto, M.; Elster, C.

    2018-04-01

    Model observers are mathematical classifiers that are used for the quality assessment of imaging systems such as computer tomography. The quality of the imaging system is quantified by means of the performance of a selected model observer. For binary classification tasks, the performance of the model observer is defined by the area under its ROC curve (AUC). Typically, the AUC is estimated by applying the model observer to a large set of training and test data. However, the recording of these large data sets is not always practical for routine quality assurance. In this paper we propose as an alternative a parametric model observer that is based on a simple phantom, and we provide a Bayesian estimation of its AUC. It is shown that a limited number of repeatedly recorded images (10–15) is already sufficient to obtain results suitable for the quality assessment of an imaging system. A MATLAB® function is provided for the calculation of the results. The performance of the proposed model observer is compared to that of the established channelized Hotelling observer and the nonprewhitening matched filter for simulated images as well as for images obtained from a low-contrast phantom on an x-ray tomography scanner. The results suggest that the proposed parametric model observer, along with its Bayesian treatment, can provide an efficient, practical alternative for the quality assessment of CT imaging systems.

  20. Preparing the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) for global retrospective air quality modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    The US EPA has a plan to leverage recent advances in meteorological modeling to develop a "Next-Generation" air quality modeling system that will allow consistent modeling of problems from global to local scale. The meteorological model of choice is the Model for Predic...

  1. Use of Quality Models and Indicators for Evaluating Test Quality in an ESP Course

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    IEVA RUDZINSKA

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Qualitative methods of assessment play a decisive role in education in general and in language learning in particular. The necessity to perform a qualitative assessment comes from both increased student competition in higher education institutions (HEIs, and hence higher demands for fair assessment, and a growing public awareness on higher education issues, and therefore the need to account for a wider circle of stakeholders, including society as a whole. The aim of the present paper is to study the regulations and laws pertaining to the issue of assessment in Latvian HEIs, as well as to carry out literature sources analysis about assessment in language testing, seeking to select criteria characterizing the quality of English for Specific Purposes (ESP tests and to apply the model of evaluating the quality of a language test on an example of a test in sport English, developed in a Latvian higher education institution. An analysis of the regulations and laws about assessment in higher education and literature sources about tests in language courses has enabled the development of a test quality model, consisting of seven intrinsic quality criteria: clarity, adequacy, deep approach, attractiveness, originality/similarity, orientation towards student learning result/process, test scoring objectivity/subjectivity. Quality criteria comprise eleven indicators. The reliability of the given model is evaluated by means of the whole model, its criteria and indicator Cronbach’s alphas and point-biserial (item-total correlations or discrimination indexes DI. The test was taken by 63 participants, all of them 2nd year full time students attending a Latvian higher education institution. A statistical data analysis was performed with SPSS 17.0. The results show that, although test adequacy and clarity is sufficiently high, attractiveness and deep approach should be improved. Also the reliability of one version of the test is higher than that of the other one

  2. Value-added strategy models to provide quality services in senior health business.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ya-Ting; Lin, Neng-Pai; Su, Shyi; Chen, Ya-Mei; Chang, Yao-Mao; Handa, Yujiro; Khan, Hafsah Arshed Ali; Elsa Hsu, Yi-Hsin

    2017-06-20

    The rapid population aging is now a global issue. The increase in the elderly population will impact the health care industry and health enterprises; various senior needs will promote the growth of the senior health industry. Most senior health studies are focused on the demand side and scarcely on supply. Our study selected quality enterprises focused on aging health and analyzed different strategies to provide excellent quality services to senior health enterprises. We selected 33 quality senior health enterprises in Taiwan and investigated their excellent quality services strategies by face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews with CEO and managers of each enterprise in 2013. A total of 33 senior health enterprises in Taiwan. Overall, 65 CEOs and managers of 33 enterprises were interviewed individually. None. Core values and vision, organization structure, quality services provided, strategies for quality services. This study's results indicated four type of value-added strategy models adopted by senior enterprises to offer quality services: (i) residential care and co-residence model, (ii) home care and living in place model, (iii) community e-business experience model and (iv) virtual and physical portable device model. The common part in these four strategy models is that the services provided are elderly centered. These models offer virtual and physical integrations, and also offer total solutions for the elderly and their caregivers. Through investigation of successful strategy models for providing quality services to seniors, we identified opportunities to develop innovative service models and successful characteristics, also policy implications were summarized. The observations from this study will serve as a primary evidenced base for enterprises developing their senior market and, also for promoting the value co-creation possibility through dialogue between customers and those that deliver service. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford

  3. Construction sequence scale model: an aid to productivity and quality assurance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clothier, W.A. Sr.

    1978-01-01

    The natural tendencies of an engineering scale model to promote a high level of quality by error prevention during design and construction stages of a project are studied. A brief section on the basic history of engineering modeling is used to describe TVA's usage of the model. The basic design model is explored in an overview touching the highlights of that form of modeling. A detailed look at the construction sequence model, a relatively new form of model, is presented to demonstrate quality and productivity awareness

  4. Automated sample plan selection for OPC modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casati, Nathalie; Gabrani, Maria; Viswanathan, Ramya; Bayraktar, Zikri; Jaiswal, Om; DeMaris, David; Abdo, Amr Y.; Oberschmidt, James; Krause, Andreas

    2014-03-01

    It is desired to reduce the time required to produce metrology data for calibration of Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) models and also maintain or improve the quality of the data collected with regard to how well that data represents the types of patterns that occur in real circuit designs. Previous work based on clustering in geometry and/or image parameter space has shown some benefit over strictly manual or intuitive selection, but leads to arbitrary pattern exclusion or selection which may not be the best representation of the product. Forming the pattern selection as an optimization problem, which co-optimizes a number of objective functions reflecting modelers' insight and expertise, has shown to produce models with equivalent quality to the traditional plan of record (POR) set but in a less time.

  5. Simulated small-angle scattering patterns for a plastically deformed model composite material

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shenoy, V.B.; Cleveringa, H.H.M.; Phillips, R.; Giessen, E. van der; Needleman, A.

    2000-01-01

    The small-angle scattering patterns predicted by discrete dislocation plasticity versus local and non-local continuum plasticity theory are compared in a model problem. The problem considered is a two-dimensional model composite with elastic reinforcements in a crystalline matrix subject to

  6. Diversity of chimera-like patterns from a model of 2D arrays of neurons with nonlocal coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Chang-Hai; Zhang, Xi-Yun; Wang, Zhen-Hua; Liu, Zong-Hua

    2017-06-01

    Chimera states have been studied in 1D arrays, and a variety of different chimera states have been found using different models. Research has recently been extended to 2D arrays but only to phase models of them. Here, we extend it to a nonphase model of 2D arrays of neurons and focus on the influence of nonlocal coupling. Using extensive numerical simulations, we find, surprisingly, that this system can show most types of previously observed chimera states, in contrast to previous models, where only one or a few types of chimera states can be observed in each model. We also find that this model can show some special chimera-like patterns such as gridding and multicolumn patterns, which were previously observed only in phase models. Further, we present an effective approach, i.e., removing some of the coupling links, to generate heterogeneous coupling, which results in diverse chimera-like patterns and even induces transformations from one chimera-like pattern to another.

  7. Detecting Aberrant Response Patterns in the Rasch Model. Rapport 87-3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kogut, Jan

    In this paper, the detection of response patterns aberrant from the Rasch model is considered. For this purpose, a new person fit index, recently developed by I. W. Molenaar (1987) and an iterative estimation procedure are used in a simulation study of Rasch model data mixed with aberrant data. Three kinds of aberrant response behavior are…

  8. CT radiation dose and image quality optimization using a porcine model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarb, Francis; McEntee, Mark F; Rainford, Louise

    2013-01-01

    To evaluate potential radiation dose savings and resultant image quality effects with regard to optimization of commonly performed computed tomography (CT) studies derived from imaging a porcine (pig) model. Imaging protocols for 4 clinical CT suites were developed based on the lowest milliamperage and kilovoltage, the highest pitch that could be set from current imaging protocol parameters, or both. This occurred before significant changes in noise, contrast, and spatial resolution were measured objectively on images produced from a quality assurance CT phantom. The current and derived phantom protocols were then applied to scan a porcine model for head, abdomen, and chest CT studies. Further optimized protocols were developed based on the same methodology as in the phantom study. The optimization achieved with respect to radiation dose and image quality was evaluated following data collection of radiation dose recordings and image quality review. Relative visual grading analysis of image quality criteria adapted from the European guidelines on radiology quality criteria for CT were used for studies completed with both the phantom-based or porcine-derived imaging protocols. In 5 out of 16 experimental combinations, the current clinical protocol was maintained. In 2 instances, the phantom protocol reduced radiation dose by 19% to 38%. In the remaining 9 instances, the optimization based on the porcine model further reduced radiation dose by 17% to 38%. The porcine model closely reflects anatomical structures in humans, allowing the grading of anatomical criteria as part of image quality review without radiation risks to human subjects. This study demonstrates that using a porcine model to evaluate CT optimization resulted in more radiation dose reduction than when imaging protocols were tested solely on quality assurance phantoms.

  9. Simulation of organ patterning on the floral meristem using a polar auxin transport model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon van Mourik

    Full Text Available An intriguing phenomenon in plant development is the timing and positioning of lateral organ initiation, which is a fundamental aspect of plant architecture. Although important progress has been made in elucidating the role of auxin transport in the vegetative shoot to explain the phyllotaxis of leaf formation in a spiral fashion, a model study of the role of auxin transport in whorled organ patterning in the expanding floral meristem is not available yet. We present an initial simulation approach to study the mechanisms that are expected to play an important role. Starting point is a confocal imaging study of Arabidopsis floral meristems at consecutive time points during flower development. These images reveal auxin accumulation patterns at the positions of the organs, which strongly suggests that the role of auxin in the floral meristem is similar to the role it plays in the shoot apical meristem. This is the basis for a simulation study of auxin transport through a growing floral meristem, which may answer the question whether auxin transport can in itself be responsible for the typical whorled floral pattern. We combined a cellular growth model for the meristem with a polar auxin transport model. The model predicts that sepals are initiated by auxin maxima arising early during meristem outgrowth. These form a pre-pattern relative to which a series of smaller auxin maxima are positioned, which partially overlap with the anlagen of petals, stamens, and carpels. We adjusted the model parameters corresponding to properties of floral mutants and found that the model predictions agree with the observed mutant patterns. The predicted timing of the primordia outgrowth and the timing and positioning of the sepal primordia show remarkable similarities with a developing flower in nature.

  10. DeepQA: Improving the estimation of single protein model quality with deep belief networks

    OpenAIRE

    Cao, Renzhi; Bhattacharya, Debswapna; Hou, Jie; Cheng, Jianlin

    2016-01-01

    Background Protein quality assessment (QA) useful for ranking and selecting protein models has long been viewed as one of the major challenges for protein tertiary structure prediction. Especially, estimating the quality of a single protein model, which is important for selecting a few good models out of a large model pool consisting of mostly low-quality models, is still a largely unsolved problem. Results We introduce a novel single-model quality assessment method DeepQA based on deep belie...

  11. Caloric beverage drinking patterns are differentially associated with diet quality and adiposity among Spanish girls and boys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schröder, Helmut; Mendez, Michelle A; Ribas, Lourdes; Funtikova, Anna N; Gomez, Santiago F; Fíto, Montserrat; Aranceta, Javier; Serra-Majem, Lluis

    2014-09-01

    The present study assesses the impact of beverage consumption pattern on diet quality and anthropometric proxy measures for abdominal adiposity in Spanish adolescents. Data were obtained from a representative national sample of 1,149 Spanish adolescents aged 10-18 years. Height, weight, and waist circumferences were measured. Dietary assessment was performed with a 24-h recall. Beverage patterns were identified by cluster analysis. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured by the KIDMED index. Three beverage clusters were identified for boys--"whole milk" (62.5 %), "low-fat milk" (17.5 %) and "soft drinks" (20.1 %)-and for girls--"whole milk" (57.8 %), "low-fat milk" (20.8 %) and juice (21.4 %), accounting for 8.3, 9.6, 13.9, 8.6, 11.5 and 12.9 % of total energy intake, respectively. Each unit of increase in the KIDMED index was associated with a 14.0 % higher (p = 0.004) and 11.0 % lower (p = 0.048) probability of membership in the "low-fat milk" and "soft drinks" cluster in girls and boys, respectively, compared with the "whole milk" cluster. Boys in the "soft drinks" cluster had a higher risk of 1-unit increase in BMI z score (29.0 %, p = 0.040), 1-cm increase in waist circumference regressed on height and age (3.0 %, p = 0.027) and 0.1-unit increase in waist/height ratio (21.4 %, p = 0.031) compared with the "whole milk" cluster. A caloric beverage pattern dominated by intake of "soft drinks" is related to general and abdominal adiposity and diet quality in Spanish male adolescents.

  12. Assesment of longwave radiation effects on air quality modelling in street canyons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soucasse, L.; Buchan, A.; Pain, C.

    2016-12-01

    Computational Fluid Dynamics is widely used as a predictive tool to evaluate people's exposure to pollutants in urban street canyons. However, in low-wind conditions, flow and pollutant dispersion in the canyons are driven by thermal effects and may be affected by longwave (infrared) radiation due to the absorption and emission of water vapor contained in the air. These effects are mostly ignored in the literature dedicated to air quality modelling at this scale. This study aims at quantifying the uncertainties due to neglecting thermal radiation in air quality models. The Large-Eddy-Simulation of air flow in a single 2D canyon with a heat source on the ground is considered for Rayleigh and Reynolds numbers in the range of [10e8-10e10] and [5.10e3-5.10e4] respectively. The dispersion of a tracer is monitored once the statistically steady regime is reached. Incoming radiation is computed for a mid-latitude summer atmosphere and canyon surfaces are assumed to be black. Water vapour is the only radiating molecule considered and a global model is used to treat the spectral dependancy of its absorption coefficient. Flow and radiation fields are solved in a coupled way using the finite element solvers Fluidity and Fetch which have the capability of adapting their space and angular resolution according to an estimate of the solution error. Results show significant effects of thermal radiation on flow patterns and tracer dispersion. When radiation is taken into account, the air is heated far from the heat source leading to a stronger natural convection flow. The tracer is then dispersed faster out of the canyon potentially decreasing people's exposure to pollution within the street canyon.

  13. Model uncertainties do not affect observed patterns of species richness in the Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sales, Lilian Patrícia; Neves, Olívia Viana; De Marco, Paulo

    2017-01-01

    Background Climate change is arguably a major threat to biodiversity conservation and there are several methods to assess its impacts on species potential distribution. Yet the extent to which different approaches on species distribution modeling affect species richness patterns at biogeographical scale is however unaddressed in literature. In this paper, we verified if the expected responses to climate change in biogeographical scale—patterns of species richness and species vulnerability to climate change—are affected by the inputs used to model and project species distribution. Methods We modeled the distribution of 288 vertebrate species (amphibians, birds and mammals), all endemic to the Amazon basin, using different combinations of the following inputs known to affect the outcome of species distribution models (SDMs): 1) biological data type, 2) modeling methods, 3) greenhouse gas emission scenarios and 4) climate forecasts. We calculated uncertainty with a hierarchical ANOVA in which those different inputs were considered factors. Results The greatest source of variation was the modeling method. Model performance interacted with data type and modeling method. Absolute values of variation on suitable climate area were not equal among predictions, but some biological patterns were still consistent. All models predicted losses on the area that is climatically suitable for species, especially for amphibians and primates. All models also indicated a current East-western gradient on endemic species richness, from the Andes foot downstream the Amazon river. Again, all models predicted future movements of species upwards the Andes mountains and overall species richness losses. Conclusions From a methodological perspective, our work highlights that SDMs are a useful tool for assessing impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Uncertainty exists but biological patterns are still evident at large spatial scales. As modeling methods are the greatest source of

  14. From image processing to classification: IV. Classification of electrophoretic patterns by neural networks and statistical methods enable quality assessment of wheat varieties for bread making

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, K.; Kesmir, Can; Søndergaard, Ib

    1996-01-01

    The end-use quality of products made from doughs consisting of wheat flour and water is often dependent upon the storage (gluten) proteins of the grain endosperm. Today the electrophoretic patterns of the high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits are used for quality selections in wheat breed...

  15. On Regional Modeling to Support Air Quality Policies (book chapter)

    Science.gov (United States)

    We examine the use of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model in simulating the changes in the extreme values of air quality that are of interest to the regulatory agencies. Year-to-year changes in ozone air quality are attributable to variations in the prevailing meteo...

  16. Modeling E-learning quality assurance benchmarking in higher education

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alsaif, Fatimah; Clementking, Arockisamy

    2014-01-01

    Online education programs have been growing rapidly. While it is somehow difficult to specifically quantify quality, many recommendations have been suggested to specify and demonstrate quality of online education touching on common areas of program enhancement and administration. To design a model

  17. Capacity for patterns and sequences in Kanerva's SDM as compared to other associative memory models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keeler, James D.

    1987-01-01

    The information capacity of Kanerva's Sparse Distributed Memory (SDM) and Hopfield-type neural networks is investigated. Under the approximations used, it is shown that the total information stored in these systems is proportional to the number connections in the network. The proportionality constant is the same for the SDM and Hopfield-type models independent of the particular model, or the order of the model. The approximations are checked numerically. This same analysis can be used to show that the SDM can store sequences of spatiotemporal patterns, and the addition of time-delayed connections allows the retrieval of context dependent temporal patterns. A minor modification of the SDM can be used to store correlated patterns.

  18. A hidden Markov model approach to neuron firing patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camproux, A C; Saunier, F; Chouvet, G; Thalabard, J C; Thomas, G

    1996-11-01

    Analysis and characterization of neuronal discharge patterns are of interest to neurophysiologists and neuropharmacologists. In this paper we present a hidden Markov model approach to modeling single neuron electrical activity. Basically the model assumes that each interspike interval corresponds to one of several possible states of the neuron. Fitting the model to experimental series of interspike intervals by maximum likelihood allows estimation of the number of possible underlying neuron states, the probability density functions of interspike intervals corresponding to each state, and the transition probabilities between states. We present an application to the analysis of recordings of a locus coeruleus neuron under three pharmacological conditions. The model distinguishes two states during halothane anesthesia and during recovery from halothane anesthesia, and four states after administration of clonidine. The transition probabilities yield additional insights into the mechanisms of neuron firing.

  19. Take the Reins on Model Quality with ModelCHECK and Gatekeeper

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Corey

    2012-01-01

    Model quality and consistency has been an issue for us due to the diverse experience level and imaginative modeling techniques of our users. Fortunately, setting up ModelCHECK and Gatekeeper to enforce our best practices has helped greatly, but it wasn't easy. There were many challenges associated with setting up ModelCHECK and Gatekeeper including: limited documentation, restrictions within ModelCHECK, and resistance from end users. However, we consider ours a success story. In this presentation we will describe how we overcame these obstacles and present some of the details of how we configured them to work for us.

  20. A New Empirical Sewer Water Quality Model for the Prediction of WWTP Influent Quality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Langeveld, J.G.; Schilperoort, R.P.S.; Rombouts, P.M.M.; Benedetti, L.; Amerlinck, Y.; de Jonge, J.; Flameling, T.; Nopens, I.; Weijers, S.

    2014-01-01

    Modelling of the integrated urban water system is a powerful tool to optimise wastewater system performance or to find cost-effective solutions for receiving water problems. One of the challenges of integrated modelling is the prediction of water quality at the inlet of a WWTP. Recent applications

  1. Urban Landscape Characterization Using Remote Sensing Data For Input into Air Quality Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quattrochi, Dale A.; Estes, Maurice G., Jr.; Crosson, William; Khan, Maudood

    2005-01-01

    The urban landscape is inherently complex and this complexity is not adequately captured in air quality models that are used to assess whether urban areas are in attainment of EPA air quality standards, particularly for ground level ozone. This inadequacy of air quality models to sufficiently respond to the heterogeneous nature of the urban landscape can impact how well these models predict ozone pollutant levels over metropolitan areas and ultimately, whether cities exceed EPA ozone air quality standards. We are exploring the utility of high-resolution remote sensing data and urban growth projections as improved inputs to meteorological and air quality models focusing on the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area as a case study. The National Land Cover Dataset at 30m resolution is being used as the land use/land cover input and aggregated to the 4km scale for the MM5 mesoscale meteorological model and the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling schemes. Use of these data have been found to better characterize low density/suburban development as compared with USGS 1 km land use/land cover data that have traditionally been used in modeling. Air quality prediction for future scenarios to 2030 is being facilitated by land use projections using a spatial growth model. Land use projections were developed using the 2030 Regional Transportation Plan developed by the Atlanta Regional Commission. This allows the State Environmental Protection agency to evaluate how these transportation plans will affect future air quality.

  2. Evolution of Air Quality Model at the US EPA

    Science.gov (United States)

    At the US EPA, we have developed an air quality model, CMAQ, in the past 20+ years. Throughout the years, the model has been upgraded with respect to advancement of science. We have extended the model from regional to hemispheric. We have coupled it with meteorological model, WR...

  3. A mechanical model for deformable and mesh pattern wheel of lunar roving vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Zhongchao; Wang, Yongfu; Chen, Gang (Sheng); Gao, Haibo

    2015-12-01

    As an indispensable tool for astronauts on lunar surface, the lunar roving vehicle (LRV) is of great significance for manned lunar exploration. An LRV moves on loose and soft lunar soil, so the mechanical property of its wheels directly affects the mobility performance. The wheels used for LRV have deformable and mesh pattern, therefore, the existing mechanical theory of vehicle wheel cannot be used directly for analyzing the property of LRV wheels. In this paper, a new mechanical model for LRV wheel is proposed. At first, a mechanical model for a rigid normal wheel is presented, which involves in multiple conventional parameters such as vertical load, tangential traction force, lateral force, and slip ratio. Secondly, six equivalent coefficients are introduced to amend the rigid normal wheel model to fit for the wheels with deformable and mesh-pattern in LRV application. Thirdly, the values of the six equivalent coefficients are identified by using experimental data obtained in an LRV's single wheel testing. Finally, the identified mechanical model for LRV's wheel with deformable and mesh pattern are further verified and validated by using additional experimental results.

  4. CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF MUELLER MATRIX PATTERNS FOR POLARIZATION SCATTERING MODEL OF BIOLOGICAL TISSUES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E DU

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We developed a model to describe polarized photon scattering in biological tissues. In this model, tissues are simplified to a mixture of scatterers and surrounding medium. There are two types of scatterers in the model: solid spheres and infinitely long solid cylinders. Variables related to the scatterers include: the densities and sizes of the spheres and cylinders, the orientation and angular distribution of cylinders. Variables related to the surrounding medium include: the refractive index, absorption coefficient and birefringence. In this paper, as a development we introduce an optical activity effect to the model. By comparing experiments and Monte Carlo simulations, we analyze the backscattering Mueller matrix patterns of several tissue-like media, and summarize the different effects coming from anisotropic scattering and optical properties. In addition, we propose a possible method to extract the optical activity values for tissues. Both the experimental and simulated results show that, by analyzing the Mueller matrix patterns, the microstructure and optical properties of the medium can be obtained. The characteristic features of Mueller matrix patterns are potentially powerful tools for studying the contrast mechanisms of polarization imaging for medical diagnosis.

  5. Accelerating the Global Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (GNAQPMS) model on Intel Xeon Phi processors

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Hui; Chen, Huansheng; Wu, Qizhong; Lin, Junming; Chen, Xueshun; Xie, Xinwei; Wang, Rongrong; Tang, Xiao; Wang, Zifa

    2017-01-01

    The GNAQPMS model is the global version of the Nested Air Quality Prediction Modelling System (NAQPMS), which is a multi-scale chemical transport model used for air quality forecast and atmospheric environmental research. In this study, we present our work of porting and optimizing the GNAQPMS model on the second generation Intel Xeon Phi processor codename “Knights Landing” (KNL). Compared with the first generation Xeon Phi coprocessor, KNL introduced many new hardware features such as a boo...

  6. Integument pattern formation involves genetic and epigenetic controls: feather arrays simulated by digital hormone models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Ting-Xin; Widelitz, Randall B; Shen, Wei-Min; Will, Peter; Wu, Da-Yu; Lin, Chih-Min; Jung, Han-Sung; Chuong, Cheng-Ming

    2004-01-01

    Pattern formation is a fundamental morphogenetic process. Models based on genetic and epigenetic control have been proposed but remain controversial. Here we use feather morphogenesis for further evaluation. Adhesion molecules and/or signaling molecules were first expressed homogenously in feather tracts (restrictive mode, appear earlier) or directly in bud or inter-bud regions ( de novo mode, appear later). They either activate or inhibit bud formation, but paradoxically colocalize in the bud. Using feather bud reconstitution, we showed that completely dissociated cells can reform periodic patterns without reference to previous positional codes. The patterning process has the characteristics of being self-organizing, dynamic and plastic. The final pattern is an equilibrium state reached by competition, and the number and size of buds can be altered based on cell number and activator/inhibitor ratio, respectively. We developed a Digital Hormone Model which consists of (1) competent cells without identity that move randomly in a space, (2) extracellular signaling hormones which diffuse by a reaction-diffusion mechanism and activate or inhibit cell adhesion, and (3) cells which respond with topological stochastic actions manifested as changes in cell adhesion. Based on probability, the results are cell clusters arranged in dots or stripes. Thus genetic control provides combinational molecular information which defines the properties of the cells but not the final pattern. Epigenetic control governs interactions among cells and their environment based on physical-chemical rules (such as those described in the Digital Hormone Model). Complex integument patterning is the sum of these two components of control and that is why integument patterns are usually similar but non-identical. These principles may be shared by other pattern formation processes such as barb ridge formation, fingerprints, pigmentation patterning, etc. The Digital Hormone Model can also be applied to

  7. Dynamic model based on voltage transfer curve for pattern formation in dielectric barrier glow discharge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Ben; He, Feng; Ouyang, Jiting, E-mail: jtouyang@bit.edu.cn [School of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081 (China); Duan, Xiaoxi [Research Center of Laser Fusion, CAEP, Mianyang 621900 (China)

    2015-12-15

    Simulation work is very important for understanding the formation of self-organized discharge patterns. Previous works have witnessed different models derived from other systems for simulation of discharge pattern, but most of these models are complicated and time-consuming. In this paper, we introduce a convenient phenomenological dynamic model based on the basic dynamic process of glow discharge and the voltage transfer curve (VTC) to study the dielectric barrier glow discharge (DBGD) pattern. VTC is an important characteristic of DBGD, which plots the change of wall voltage after a discharge as a function of the initial total gap voltage. In the modeling, the combined effect of the discharge conditions is included in VTC, and the activation-inhibition effect is expressed by a spatial interaction term. Besides, the model reduces the dimensionality of the system by just considering the integration effect of current flow. All these greatly facilitate the construction of this model. Numerical simulations turn out to be in good accordance with our previous fluid modeling and experimental result.

  8. Sensitivity of a complex urban air quality model to input data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seigneur, C.; Tesche, T.W.; Roth, P.M.; Reid, L.E.

    1981-01-01

    In recent years, urban-scale photochemical simulation models have been developed that are of practical value for predicting air quality and analyzing the impacts of alternative emission control strategies. Although the performance of some urban-scale models appears to be acceptable, the demanding data requirements of such models have prompted concern about the costs of data acquistion, which might be high enough to preclude use of photochemical models for many urban areas. To explore this issue, sensitivity studies with the Systems Applications, Inc. (SAI) Airshed Model, a grid-based time-dependent photochemical dispersion model, have been carried out for the Los Angeles basin. Reductions in the amount and quality of meteorological, air quality and emission data, as well as modifications of the model gridded structure, have been analyzed. This paper presents and interprets the results of 22 sensitivity studies. A sensitivity-uncertainty index is defined to rank input data needs for an urban photochemical model. The index takes into account the sensitivity of model predictions to the amount of input data, the costs of data acquistion, and the uncertainties in the air quality model input variables. The results of these sensitivity studies are considered in light of the limitations of specific attributes of the Los Angeles basin and of the modeling conditions (e.g., choice of wind model, length of simulation time). The extent to which the results may be applied to other urban areas also is discussed

  9. Monitoring Quality Across Home Visiting Models: A Field Test of Michigan's Home Visiting Quality Assurance System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heany, Julia; Torres, Jennifer; Zagar, Cynthia; Kostelec, Tiffany

    2018-06-05

    Introduction In order to achieve the positive outcomes with parents and children demonstrated by many home visiting models, home visiting services must be well implemented. The Michigan Home Visiting Initiative developed a tool and procedure for monitoring implementation quality across models referred to as Michigan's Home Visiting Quality Assurance System (MHVQAS). This study field tested the MHVQAS. This article focuses on one of the study's evaluation questions: Can the MHVQAS be applied across models? Methods Eight local implementing agencies (LIAs) from four home visiting models (Healthy Families America, Early Head Start-Home Based, Parents as Teachers, Maternal Infant Health Program) and five reviewers participated in the study by completing site visits, tracking their time and costs, and completing surveys about the process. LIAs also submitted their most recent review by their model developer. The researchers conducted participant observation of the review process. Results Ratings on the MHVQAS were not significantly different between models. There were some differences in interrater reliability and perceived reliability between models. There were no significant differences between models in perceived validity, satisfaction with the review process, or cost to participate. Observational data suggested that cross-model applicability could be improved by assisting sites in relating the requirements of the tool to the specifics of their model. Discussion The MHVQAS shows promise as a tool and process to monitor implementation quality of home visiting services across models. The results of the study will be used to make improvements before the MHVQAS is used in practice.

  10. Potential of mathematical modeling in fruit quality | Vazquez-Cruz ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A review of mathematical modeling applied to fruit quality showed that these models ranged inresolution from simple yield equations to complex representations of processes as respiration, photosynthesis and assimilation of nutrients. The latter models take into account complex genotype environment interactions to ...

  11. Lessons learned from testing the quality cost model of Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) transitional care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooten, Dorothy; Naylor, Mary D; York, Ruth; Brown, Linda P; Munro, Barbara Hazard; Hollingsworth, Andrea O; Cohen, Susan M; Finkler, Steven; Deatrick, Janet; Youngblut, JoAnne M

    2002-01-01

    To describe the development, testing, modification, and results of the Quality Cost Model of Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) Transitional Care on patient outcomes and health care costs in the United States over 22 years, and to delineate what has been learned for nursing education, practice, and further research. The Quality Cost Model of APN Transitional Care. Review of published results of seven randomized clinical trials with very low birth-weight (VLBW) infants; women with unplanned cesarean births, high risk pregnancies, and hysterectomy surgery; elders with cardiac medical and surgical diagnoses and common diagnostic related groups (DRGs); and women with high risk pregnancies in which half of physician prenatal care was substituted with APN care. Ongoing work with the model is linking the process of APN care with the outcomes and costs of care. APN intervention has consistently resulted in improved patient outcomes and reduced health care costs across groups. Groups with APN providers were rehospitalized for less time at less cost, reflecting early detection and intervention. Optimal number and timing of postdischarge home visits and telephone contacts by the APNs and patterns of rehospitalizations and acute care visits varied by group. To keep people well over time, APNs must have depth of knowledge and excellent clinical and interpersonal skills that are the hallmark of specialist practice, an in-depth understanding of systems and how to work within them, and sufficient patient contact to effect positive outcomes at low cost.

  12. Several grain dietary patterns are associated with better diet quality and improved shortfall nutrient intakes in US children and adolescents: a study focusing on the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papanikolaou, Yanni; Jones, Julie Miller; Fulgoni, Victor L

    2017-02-20

    The present study identified the most commonly consumed grain food patterns in US children and adolescents (2-18 years-old; N = 8,367) relative to those not consuming grains and compared diet quality and nutrient intakes, with focus on 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2015-2020 DGA) shortfall nutrients. Cluster analysis using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2010, identified 8 unique grain food patterns: a) no consumption of main grain groups, b) cakes, cookies and pies, c) yeast bread and rolls, d) cereals, e) pasta, cooked cereals and rice, f) crackers and salty snacks, g) pancakes, waffles and French toast and other grains, and h) quick breads. Energy intake was higher for all grain cluster patterns examined, except 'cereals', compared to no grains. Children and adolescents in the 'yeast bread and rolls', 'cereals', 'pasta, cooked cereals and rice', and 'crackers and salty snacks' patterns had a higher diet quality relative to no grains (all p dietary fiber intake was greater in five of the seven grain patterns, ranging from 1.8 - 2.8 g more per day (all p patterns, except cakes, cookies and pies had higher EA daily folate relative to children in the no grains pattern (all p pattern (all p patterns relative to no grains (all p patterns in children and adolescents were associated with improved 2015-2020 DGA shortfall nutrient intakes and diet quality as compared to those consuming no grains.

  13. Exploratory graphical models of functional and structural connectivity patterns for Alzheimer's Disease diagnosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andres eOrtiz

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Alzheimer’s Disease (AD is the most common neurodegenerative disease in elderly people. Itsdevelopment has been shown to be closely related to changes in the brain connectivity networkand in the brain activation patterns along with structural changes caused by the neurodegenerativeprocess.Methods to infer dependence between brain regions are usually derived from the analysis ofcovariance between activation levels in the different areas. However, these covariance-basedmethods are not able to estimate conditional independence between variables to factor out theinfluence of other regions. Conversely, models based on the inverse covariance, or precisionmatrix, such as Sparse Gaussian Graphical Models allow revealing conditional independencebetween regions by estimating the covariance between two variables given the rest as constant.This paper uses Sparse Inverse Covariance Estimation (SICE methods to learn undirectedgraphs in order to derive functional and structural connectivity patterns from Fludeoxyglucose(18F-FDG Position Emission Tomography (PET data and segmented Magnetic Resonanceimages (MRI, drawn from the ADNI database, for Control, MCI (Mild Cognitive ImpairmentSubjects and AD subjects. Sparse computation fits perfectly here as brain regions usually onlyinteract with a few other areas.The models clearly show different metabolic covariation patters between subject groups, revealingthe loss of strong connections in AD and MCI subjects when compared to Controls. Similarly,the variance between GM (Grey Matter densities of different regions reveals different structuralcovariation patterns between the different groups. Thus, the different connectivity patterns forcontrols and AD are used in this paper to select regions of interest in PET and GM images withdiscriminative power for early AD diagnosis. Finally, functional an structural models are combinedto leverage the classification accuracy.The results obtained in this work show the usefulness

  14. Pattern centric design based sensitive patterns and process monitor in manufacturing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiang, Chingyun; Cheng, Guojie; Wu, Kechih

    2017-03-01

    When design rule is mitigating to smaller dimension, process variation requirement is tighter than ever and challenges the limits of device yield. Masks, lithography, etching and other processes have to meet very tight specifications in order to keep defect and CD within the margins of the process window. Conventionally, Inspection and metrology equipments are utilized to monitor and control wafer quality in-line. In high throughput optical inspection, nuisance and review-classification become a tedious labor intensive job in manufacturing. Certain high-resolution SEM images are taken to validate defects after optical inspection. These high resolution SEM images catch not only optical inspection highlighted point, also its surrounding patterns. However, this pattern information is not well utilized in conventional quality control method. Using this complementary design based pattern monitor not only monitors and analyzes the variation of patterns sensitivity but also reduce nuisance and highlight defective patterns or killer defects. After grouping in either single or multiple layers, systematic defects can be identified quickly in this flow. In this paper, we applied design based pattern monitor in different layers to monitor process variation impacts on all kinds of patterns. First, the contour of high resolutions SEM image is extracted and aligned to design with offset adjustment and fine alignment [1]. Second, specified pattern rules can be applied on design clip area, the same size as SEM image, and form POI (pattern of interest) areas. Third, the discrepancy of contour and design measurement at different pattern types in measurement blocks. Fourth, defective patterns are reported by discrepancy detection criteria and pattern grouping [4]. Meanwhile, reported pattern defects are ranked by number and severity by discrepancy. In this step, process sensitive high repeatable systematic defects can be identified quickly Through this design based process pattern

  15. ONLINE MODEL OF EDUCATION QUALITY ASSURANCE EQUASP IMPLEMENTATION: EXPERIENCE OF VYATKA STATE UNIVERSITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentin Pugach

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the problem of assessing the quality of higher education. In the Russian Federation recently quality assessment of educational services provided by state-accredited universities is carried out by the state represented by the Ministry of education and science. State universities have simulated internal systemseducation quality assessment in accordance with the methodology proposed by the Ministry of education and science. Currently more attention is paid to the independent assessment of education quality which is the basis of professional public accreditation. The project "EQUASP" financed within the framework of the TEMPUS programme is directed to the problem of implementing the methodology of the online model of independent higher education quality assessment in the practice of Russian universities. The proposed model for assessing the quality of education is based on usage of 5 standards. The authors have done a comparative analysis of the model of higher education quality assessment existing in Vyatka State University and the model of education quality assessing offered by European universities-participants of the project EQUASP. The authors have presented the main results of investigation of this problem and some suggestions for improving the model of education quality assessment used by Vyatka State University.

  16. Aircraft model prototypes which have specified handling-quality time histories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, S. H.

    1978-01-01

    Several techniques for obtaining linear constant-coefficient airplane models from specified handling-quality time histories are discussed. The pseudodata method solves the basic problem, yields specified eigenvalues, and accommodates state-variable transfer-function zero suppression. The algebraic equations to be solved are bilinear, at worst. The disadvantages are reduced generality and no assurance that the resulting model will be airplane like in detail. The method is fully illustrated for a fourth-order stability-axis small motion model with three lateral handling quality time histories specified. The FORTRAN program which obtains and verifies the model is included and fully documented.

  17. Multivariate Cholesky models of human female fertility patterns in the NLSY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodgers, Joseph Lee; Bard, David E; Miller, Warren B

    2007-03-01

    Substantial evidence now exists that variables measuring or correlated with human fertility outcomes have a heritable component. In this study, we define a series of age-sequenced fertility variables, and fit multivariate models to account for underlying shared genetic and environmental sources of variance. We make predictions based on a theory developed by Udry [(1996) Biosocial models of low-fertility societies. In: Casterline, JB, Lee RD, Foote KA (eds) Fertility in the United States: new patterns, new theories. The Population Council, New York] suggesting that biological/genetic motivations can be more easily realized and measured in settings in which fertility choices are available. Udry's theory, along with principles from molecular genetics and certain tenets of life history theory, allow us to make specific predictions about biometrical patterns across age. Consistent with predictions, our results suggest that there are different sources of genetic influence on fertility variance at early compared to later ages, but that there is only one source of shared environmental influence that occurs at early ages. These patterns are suggestive of the types of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions for which we must account to better understand individual differences in fertility outcomes.

  18. DeepQA: improving the estimation of single protein model quality with deep belief networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Renzhi; Bhattacharya, Debswapna; Hou, Jie; Cheng, Jianlin

    2016-12-05

    Protein quality assessment (QA) useful for ranking and selecting protein models has long been viewed as one of the major challenges for protein tertiary structure prediction. Especially, estimating the quality of a single protein model, which is important for selecting a few good models out of a large model pool consisting of mostly low-quality models, is still a largely unsolved problem. We introduce a novel single-model quality assessment method DeepQA based on deep belief network that utilizes a number of selected features describing the quality of a model from different perspectives, such as energy, physio-chemical characteristics, and structural information. The deep belief network is trained on several large datasets consisting of models from the Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) experiments, several publicly available datasets, and models generated by our in-house ab initio method. Our experiments demonstrate that deep belief network has better performance compared to Support Vector Machines and Neural Networks on the protein model quality assessment problem, and our method DeepQA achieves the state-of-the-art performance on CASP11 dataset. It also outperformed two well-established methods in selecting good outlier models from a large set of models of mostly low quality generated by ab initio modeling methods. DeepQA is a useful deep learning tool for protein single model quality assessment and protein structure prediction. The source code, executable, document and training/test datasets of DeepQA for Linux is freely available to non-commercial users at http://cactus.rnet.missouri.edu/DeepQA/ .

  19. Uncertainty analyses of the calibrated parameter values of a water quality model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rode, M.; Suhr, U.; Lindenschmidt, K.-E.

    2003-04-01

    For river basin management water quality models are increasingly used for the analysis and evaluation of different management measures. However substantial uncertainties exist in parameter values depending on the available calibration data. In this paper an uncertainty analysis for a water quality model is presented, which considers the impact of available model calibration data and the variance of input variables. The investigation was conducted based on four extensive flowtime related longitudinal surveys in the River Elbe in the years 1996 to 1999 with varying discharges and seasonal conditions. For the model calculations the deterministic model QSIM of the BfG (Germany) was used. QSIM is a one dimensional water quality model and uses standard algorithms for hydrodynamics and phytoplankton dynamics in running waters, e.g. Michaelis Menten/Monod kinetics, which are used in a wide range of models. The multi-objective calibration of the model was carried out with the nonlinear parameter estimator PEST. The results show that for individual flow time related measuring surveys very good agreements between model calculation and measured values can be obtained. If these parameters are applied to deviating boundary conditions, substantial errors in model calculation can occur. These uncertainties can be decreased with an increased calibration database. More reliable model parameters can be identified, which supply reasonable results for broader boundary conditions. The extension of the application of the parameter set on a wider range of water quality conditions leads to a slight reduction of the model precision for the specific water quality situation. Moreover the investigations show that highly variable water quality variables like the algal biomass always allow a smaller forecast accuracy than variables with lower coefficients of variation like e.g. nitrate.

  20. Modeling Soil Quality Thresholds to Ecosystem Recovery at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Garten Jr., C.T.

    2004-03-08

    The objective of this research was to use a simple model of soil C and N dynamics to predict nutrient thresholds to ecosystem recovery on degraded soils at Fort Benning, Georgia, in the southeastern USA. The model calculates aboveground and belowground biomass, soil C inputs and dynamics, soil N stocks and availability, and plant N requirements. A threshold is crossed when predicted soil N supplies fall short of predicted N required to sustain biomass accrual at a specified recovery rate. Four factors were important to development of thresholds to recovery: (1) initial amounts of aboveground biomass, (2) initial soil C stocks (i.e., soil quality), (3) relative recovery rates of biomass, and (4) soil sand content. Thresholds to ecosystem recovery predicted by the model should not be interpreted independent of a specified recovery rate. Initial soil C stocks influenced the predicted patterns of recovery by both old field and forest ecosystems. Forests and old fields on soils with varying sand content had different predicted thresholds to recovery. Soil C stocks at barren sites on Fort Benning generally lie below predicted thresholds to 100% recovery of desired future ecosystem conditions defined on the basis of aboveground biomass (18000 versus 360 g m{sup -2} for forests and old fields, respectively). Calculations with the model indicated that reestablishment of vegetation on barren sites to a level below the desired future condition is possible at recovery rates used in the model, but the time to 100% recovery of desired future conditions, without crossing a nutrient threshold, is prolonged by a reduced rate of forest growth. Predicted thresholds to ecosystem recovery were less on soils with more than 70% sand content. The lower thresholds for old field and forest recovery on more sandy soils are apparently due to higher relative rates of net soil N mineralization in more sandy soils. Calculations with the model indicate that a combination of desired future

  1. Estimating Spoken Dialog System Quality with User Models

    CERN Document Server

    Engelbrecht, Klaus-Peter

    2013-01-01

    Spoken dialog systems have the potential to offer highly intuitive user interfaces, as they allow systems to be controlled using natural language. However, the complexity inherent in natural language dialogs means that careful testing of the system must be carried out from the very beginning of the design process.   This book examines how user models can be used to support such early evaluations in two ways:  by running simulations of dialogs, and by estimating the quality judgments of users. First, a design environment supporting the creation of dialog flows, the simulation of dialogs, and the analysis of the simulated data is proposed.  How the quality of user simulations may be quantified with respect to their suitability for both formative and summative evaluation is then discussed. The remainder of the book is dedicated to the problem of predicting quality judgments of users based on interaction data. New modeling approaches are presented, which process the dialogs as sequences, and which allow knowl...

  2. Describing Growth Pattern of Bali Cows Using Non-linear Regression Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohd. Hafiz A.W

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to evaluate the best fit non-linear regression model to describe the growth pattern of Bali cows. Estimates of asymptotic mature weight, rate of maturing and constant of integration were derived from Brody, von Bertalanffy, Gompertz and Logistic models which were fitted to cross-sectional data of body weight taken from 74 Bali cows raised in MARDI Research Station Muadzam Shah Pahang. Coefficient of determination (R2 and residual mean squares (MSE were used to determine the best fit model in describing the growth pattern of Bali cows. Von Bertalanffy model was the best model among the four growth functions evaluated to determine the mature weight of Bali cattle as shown by the highest R2 and lowest MSE values (0.973 and 601.9, respectively, followed by Gompertz (0.972 and 621.2, respectively, Logistic (0.971 and 648.4, respectively and Brody (0.932 and 660.5, respectively models. The correlation between rate of maturing and mature weight was found to be negative in the range of -0.170 to -0.929 for all models, indicating that animals of heavier mature weight had lower rate of maturing. The use of non-linear model could summarize the weight-age relationship into several biologically interpreted parameters compared to the entire lifespan weight-age data points that are difficult and time consuming to interpret.

  3. Post-hoc pattern-oriented testing and tuning of an existing large model: lessons from the field vole.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher J Topping

    Full Text Available Pattern-oriented modeling (POM is a general strategy for modeling complex systems. In POM, multiple patterns observed at different scales and hierarchical levels are used to optimize model structure, to test and select sub-models of key processes, and for calibration. So far, POM has been used for developing new models and for models of low to moderate complexity. It remains unclear, though, whether the basic idea of POM to utilize multiple patterns, could also be used to test and possibly develop existing and established models of high complexity. Here, we use POM to test, calibrate, and further develop an existing agent-based model of the field vole (Microtus agrestis, which was developed and tested within the ALMaSS framework. This framework is complex because it includes a high-resolution representation of the landscape and its dynamics, of the individual's behavior, and of the interaction between landscape and individual behavior. Results of fitting to the range of patterns chosen were generally very good, but the procedure required to achieve this was long and complicated. To obtain good correspondence between model and the real world it was often necessary to model the real world environment closely. We therefore conclude that post-hoc POM is a useful and viable way to test a highly complex simulation model, but also warn against the dangers of over-fitting to real world patterns that lack details in their explanatory driving factors. To overcome some of these obstacles we suggest the adoption of open-science and open-source approaches to ecological simulation modeling.

  4. Sensitivity analysis of discharge patterns of subthalamic nucleus in the model of basal ganglia in Parkinson disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Jyotsna; Singh, Phool; Malik, Vikas

    2017-01-01

    Parkinson disease alters the information patterns in movement related pathways in brain. Experimental results performed on rats show that the activity patterns changes from single spike activity to mixed burst mode in Parkinson disease. However the cause of this change in activity pattern is not yet completely understood. Subthalamic nucleus is one of the main nuclei involved in the origin of motor dysfunction in Parkinson disease. In this paper, a single compartment conductance based model is considered which focuses on subthalamic nucleus and synaptic input from globus pallidus (external). This model shows highly nonlinear behavior with respect to various intrinsic parameters. Behavior of model has been presented with the help of activity patterns generated in healthy and Parkinson condition. These patterns have been compared by calculating their correlation coefficient for different values of intrinsic parameters. Results display that the activity patterns are very sensitive to various intrinsic parameters and calcium shows some promising results which provide insights into the motor dysfunction.

  5. Using species distribution modeling to delineate the botanical richness patterns and phytogeographical regions of China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ming-Gang; Slik, J. W. Ferry; Ma, Ke-Ping

    2016-03-01

    The millions of plant specimens that have been collected and stored in Chinese herbaria over the past ~110 years have recently been digitized and geo-referenced. Here we use this unique collection data set for species distribution modeling exercise aiming at mapping & explaining the botanical richness; delineating China’s phytogeographical regions and investigating the environmental drivers of the dissimilarity patterns. We modeled distributions of 6,828 woody plants using MaxEnt and remove the collection bias using null model. The continental China was divided into different phytogeographical regions based on the dissimilarity patterns. An ordination and Getis-Ord Gi* hotspot spatial statistics were used to analysis the environmental drivers of the dissimilarity patterns. We found that the annual precipitation and temperature stability were responsible for observed species diversity. The mechanisms causing dissimilarity pattern seems differ among biogeographical regions. The identified environmental drivers of the dissimilarity patterns for southeast, southwest, northwest and northeast are annual precipitation, topographic & temperature stability, water deficit and temperature instability, respectively. For effective conservation of China’s plant diversity, identifying the historical refuge and protection of high diversity areas in each of the identified floristic regions and their subdivisions will be essential.

  6. Frameworks for Assessing the Quality of Modeling and Simulation Capabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rider, W. J.

    2012-12-01

    The importance of assuring quality in modeling and simulation has spawned several frameworks for structuring the examination of quality. The format and content of these frameworks provides an emphasis, completeness and flow to assessment activities. I will examine four frameworks that have been developed and describe how they can be improved and applied to a broader set of high consequence applications. Perhaps the first of these frameworks was known as CSAU [Boyack] (code scaling, applicability and uncertainty) used for nuclear reactor safety and endorsed the United States' Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC). This framework was shaped by nuclear safety practice, and the practical structure needed after the Three Mile Island accident. It incorporated the dominant experimental program, the dominant analysis approach, and concerns about the quality of modeling. The USNRC gave it the force of law that made the nuclear industry take it seriously. After the cessation of nuclear weapons' testing the United States began a program of examining the reliability of these weapons without testing. This program utilizes science including theory, modeling, simulation and experimentation to replace the underground testing. The emphasis on modeling and simulation necessitated attention on the quality of these simulations. Sandia developed the PCMM (predictive capability maturity model) to structure this attention [Oberkampf]. PCMM divides simulation into six core activities to be examined and graded relative to the needs of the modeling activity. NASA [NASA] has built yet another framework in response to the tragedy of the space shuttle accidents. Finally, Ben-Haim and Hemez focus upon modeling robustness and predictive fidelity in another approach. These frameworks are similar, and applied in a similar fashion. The adoption of these frameworks at Sandia and NASA has been slow and arduous because the force of law has not assisted acceptance. All existing frameworks are

  7. DYNAMIC MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF URBAN SPATIAL PATTERN (RESIDENTIAL CHOICE OF LOCATION: MOBILITY VS EXTERNALITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rahma Fitriani

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Household’s residential choice of location determines urban spatial pattern (e.g sprawl. The static model which assumes that the choice has been affected by distance to the CBD and location specific externality, fails to capture the evoution of the pattern over time. Therefore this study proposes a dynamic version of the model. It analyses the effects of externalities on the optimal solution of development decision as function of time. It also derives the effect of mobility and externality on the rate of change of development pattern through time. When the increasing rate of utility is not as significant as the increasing rate of income, the externalities will delay the change of urban spatial pattern over time. If the mobility costs increase by large amount relative to the increase of income and inflation rate, then the mobility effect dominates the effects of externalities in delaying the urban expansion.

  8. Relationship between soybean yield/quality and soil quality in a major soybean-producing area based on a 2D-QSAR model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Ming; Li, Shiwei

    2017-05-01

    Based on experimental data of the soybean yield and quality from 30 sampling points, a quantitative structure-activity relationship model (2D-QSAR) was established using the soil quality (elements, pH, organic matter content and cation exchange capacity) as independent variables and soybean yield or quality as the dependent variable, with SPSS software. During the modeling, the full data set (30 and 14 compounds) was divided into a training set (24 and 11 compounds) for model generation and a test set (6 and 3 compounds) for model validation. The R2 values of the resulting models and data were 0.826 and 0.808 for soybean yield and quality, respectively, and all regression coefficients were significant (P test set were 0.961 and 0.956, respectively, indicating that the models had a good predictive ability. Moreover, the Mo, Se, K, N and organic matter contents and the cation exchange capacity of soil had a positive effect on soybean production, and the B, Mo, Se, K and N contents and cation exchange coefficient had a positive effect on soybean quality. The results are instructive for enhancing soils to improve the yield and quality of soybean, and this method can also be used to study other crops or regions, providing a theoretical basis to improving the yield and quality of crops.

  9. A fingertip force prediction model for grasp patterns characterised from the chaotic behaviour of EEG.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Rinku; Sikdar, Debdeep; Mahadevappa, Manjunatha; Kumar, C S

    2018-05-19

    A stable grasp is attained through appropriate hand preshaping and precise fingertip forces. Here, we have proposed a method to decode grasp patterns from motor imagery and subsequent fingertip force estimation model with a slippage avoidance strategy. We have developed a feature-based classification of electroencephalography (EEG) associated with imagination of the grasping postures. Chaotic behaviour of EEG for different grasping patterns has been utilised to capture the dynamics of associated motor activities. We have computed correlation dimension (CD) as the feature and classified with "one against one" multiclass support vector machine (SVM) to discriminate between different grasping patterns. The result of the analysis showed varying classification accuracies at different subband levels. Broad categories of grasping patterns, namely, power grasp and precision grasp, were classified at a 96.0% accuracy rate in the alpha subband. Furthermore, power grasp subtypes were classified with an accuracy of 97.2% in the upper beta subband, whereas precision grasp subtypes showed relatively lower 75.0% accuracy in the alpha subband. Following assessment of fingertip force distributions while grasping, a nonlinear autoregressive (NAR) model with proper prediction of fingertip forces was proposed for each grasp pattern. A slippage detection strategy has been incorporated with automatic recalibration of the regripping force. Intention of each grasp pattern associated with corresponding fingertip force model was virtualised in this work. This integrated system can be utilised as the control strategy for prosthetic hand in the future. The model to virtualise motor imagery based fingertip force prediction with inherent slippage correction for different grasp types ᅟ.

  10. A reference-dependent model of the price-quality heuristic

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gneezy, A.; Gneezy, U.; Lauga, D.O.

    2014-01-01

    People often use price as a proxy for quality, resulting in a positive correlation between prices and product liking, known as the "price- quality" (P-Q) heuristic. Using data from three experiments conducted at a winery, this article offers a more complex and complete reference-dependent model of

  11. Indoor Air Quality Analysis Using Deep Learning with Sensor Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaehyun Ahn

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Indoor air quality analysis is of interest to understand the abnormal atmospheric phenomena and external factors that affect air quality. By recording and analyzing quality measurements, we are able to observe patterns in the measurements and predict the air quality of near future. We designed a microchip made out of sensors that is capable of periodically recording measurements, and proposed a model that estimates atmospheric changes using deep learning. In addition, we developed an efficient algorithm to determine the optimal observation period for accurate air quality prediction. Experimental results with real-world data demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.

  12. Inter-dependent tissue growth and Turing patterning in a model for long bone development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanaka, Simon; Iber, Dagmar

    2013-01-01

    The development of long bones requires a sophisticated spatial organization of cellular signalling, proliferation, and differentiation programs. How such spatial organization emerges on the growing long bone domain is still unresolved. Based on the reported biochemical interactions we developed a regulatory model for the core signalling factors IHH, PTCH1, and PTHrP and included two cell types, proliferating/resting chondrocytes and (pre-)hypertrophic chondrocytes. We show that the reported IHH–PTCH1 interaction gives rise to a Schnakenberg-type Turing kinetics, and that inclusion of PTHrP is important to achieve robust patterning when coupling patterning and tissue dynamics. The model reproduces relevant spatiotemporal gene expression patterns, as well as a number of relevant mutant phenotypes. In summary, we propose that a ligand–receptor based Turing mechanism may control the emergence of patterns during long bone development, with PTHrP as an important mediator to confer patterning robustness when the sensitive Turing system is coupled to the dynamics of a growing and differentiating tissue. We have previously shown that ligand–receptor based Turing mechanisms can also result from BMP–receptor, SHH–receptor, and GDNF–receptor interactions, and that these reproduce the wildtype and mutant patterns during digit formation in limbs and branching morphogenesis in lung and kidneys. Receptor–ligand interactions may thus constitute a general mechanism to generate Turing patterns in nature. (paper)

  13. Inter-dependent tissue growth and Turing patterning in a model for long bone development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanaka, Simon; Iber, Dagmar

    2013-10-01

    The development of long bones requires a sophisticated spatial organization of cellular signalling, proliferation, and differentiation programs. How such spatial organization emerges on the growing long bone domain is still unresolved. Based on the reported biochemical interactions we developed a regulatory model for the core signalling factors IHH, PTCH1, and PTHrP and included two cell types, proliferating/resting chondrocytes and (pre-)hypertrophic chondrocytes. We show that the reported IHH-PTCH1 interaction gives rise to a Schnakenberg-type Turing kinetics, and that inclusion of PTHrP is important to achieve robust patterning when coupling patterning and tissue dynamics. The model reproduces relevant spatiotemporal gene expression patterns, as well as a number of relevant mutant phenotypes. In summary, we propose that a ligand-receptor based Turing mechanism may control the emergence of patterns during long bone development, with PTHrP as an important mediator to confer patterning robustness when the sensitive Turing system is coupled to the dynamics of a growing and differentiating tissue. We have previously shown that ligand-receptor based Turing mechanisms can also result from BMP-receptor, SHH-receptor, and GDNF-receptor interactions, and that these reproduce the wildtype and mutant patterns during digit formation in limbs and branching morphogenesis in lung and kidneys. Receptor-ligand interactions may thus constitute a general mechanism to generate Turing patterns in nature.

  14. The impact of working memory and the “process of process modelling” on model quality: Investigating experienced versus inexperienced modellers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martini, Markus; Pinggera, Jakob; Neurauter, Manuel; Sachse, Pierre; Furtner, Marco R.; Weber, Barbara

    2016-01-01

    A process model (PM) represents the graphical depiction of a business process, for instance, the entire process from online ordering a book until the parcel is delivered to the customer. Knowledge about relevant factors for creating PMs of high quality is lacking. The present study investigated the role of cognitive processes as well as modelling processes in creating a PM in experienced and inexperienced modellers. Specifically, two working memory (WM) functions (holding and processing of information and relational integration) and three process of process modelling phases (comprehension, modelling, and reconciliation) were related to PM quality. Our results show that the WM function of relational integration was positively related to PM quality in both modelling groups. The ratio of comprehension phases was negatively related to PM quality in inexperienced modellers and the ratio of reconciliation phases was positively related to PM quality in experienced modellers. Our research reveals central cognitive mechanisms in process modelling and has potential practical implications for the development of modelling software and teaching the craft of process modelling. PMID:27157858

  15. Modeling the Geographic Consequence and Pattern of Dengue Fever Transmission in Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bekoe, Collins; Pansombut, Tatdow; Riyapan, Pakwan; Kakchapati, Sampurna; Phon-On, Aniruth

    2017-05-04

    Dengue fever is one of the infectious diseases that is still a public health problem in Thailand. This study considers in detail, the geographic consequence, seasonal and pattern of dengue fever transmission among the 76 provinces of Thailand from 2003 to 2015. A cross-sectional study. The data for the study was from the Department of Disease Control under the Bureau of Epidemiology, Thailand. The quarterly effects and location on the transmission of dengue was modeled using an alternative additive log-linear model. The model fitted well as illustrated by the residual plots and the  Again, the model showed that dengue fever is high in the second quarter of every year from May to August. There was an evidence of an increase in the trend of dengue annually from 2003 to 2015. There was a difference in the distribution of dengue fever within and between provinces. The areas of high risks were the central and southern regions of Thailand. The log-linear model provided a simple medium of modeling dengue fever transmission. The results are very important in the geographic distribution of dengue fever patterns.

  16. A generalized linear-quadratic model incorporating reciprocal time pattern of radiation damage repair

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Zhibin; Mayr, Nina A.; Lo, Simon S.; Wang, Jian Z.; Jia Guang; Yuh, William T. C.; Johnke, Roberta

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: It has been conventionally assumed that the repair rate for sublethal damage (SLD) remains constant during the entire radiation course. However, increasing evidence from animal studies suggest that this may not the case. Rather, it appears that the repair rate for radiation-induced SLD slows down with increasing time. Such a slowdown in repair would suggest that the exponential repair pattern would not necessarily accurately predict repair process. As a result, the purpose of this study was to investigate a new generalized linear-quadratic (LQ) model incorporating a repair pattern with reciprocal time. The new formulas were tested with published experimental data. Methods: The LQ model has been widely used in radiation therapy, and the parameter G in the surviving fraction represents the repair process of sublethal damage with T r as the repair half-time. When a reciprocal pattern of repair process was adopted, a closed form of G was derived analytically for arbitrary radiation schemes. The published animal data adopted to test the reciprocal formulas. Results: A generalized LQ model to describe the repair process in a reciprocal pattern was obtained. Subsequently, formulas for special cases were derived from this general form. The reciprocal model showed a better fit to the animal data than the exponential model, particularly for the ED50 data (reduced χ 2 min of 2.0 vs 4.3, p = 0.11 vs 0.006), with the following gLQ parameters: α/β = 2.6-4.8 Gy, T r = 3.2-3.9 h for rat feet skin, and α/β = 0.9 Gy, T r = 1.1 h for rat spinal cord. Conclusions: These results of repair process following a reciprocal time suggest that the generalized LQ model incorporating the reciprocal time of sublethal damage repair shows a better fit than the exponential repair model. These formulas can be used to analyze the experimental and clinical data, where a slowing-down repair process appears during the course of radiation therapy.

  17. COST OF QUALITY MODELS AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IN MANUFACTURING FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N.M. Vaxevanidis

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available In order to improve quality, an organization must take into account the costs associated with achieving quality since the objective of continuous improvement programs is not only to meet customer requirements, but also to do it at the lowest, possible, cost. This can only obtained by reducing the costs needed to achieve quality, and the reduction of these costs is only possible if they are identified and measured. Therefore, measuring and reporting the cost of quality (CoQ should be considered an important issue for achieving quality excellence. To collect quality costs an organization needs to adopt a framework to classify costs; however, there is no general agreement on a single broad definition of quality costs. CoQ is usually understood as the sum of conformance plus non-conformance costs, where cost of conformance is the price paid for prevention of poor quality (for example, inspection and quality appraisal and cost of non-conformance is the cost of poor quality caused by product and service failure (for example, rework and returns. The objective of this paper is to give a survey of research articles on the topic of CoQ; it opens with a literature review focused on existing CoQ models; then, it briefly presents the most common CoQ parameters and the metrics (indices used for monitoring CoQ. Finally, the use of CoQ models in practice, i.e., the implementation of a quality costing system and cost of quality reporting in companies is discussed, with emphasis in cases concerning manufacturing firms.

  18. Systems Engineering Metrics: Organizational Complexity and Product Quality Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mog, Robert A.

    1997-01-01

    Innovative organizational complexity and product quality models applicable to performance metrics for NASA-MSFC's Systems Analysis and Integration Laboratory (SAIL) missions and objectives are presented. An intensive research effort focuses on the synergistic combination of stochastic process modeling, nodal and spatial decomposition techniques, organizational and computational complexity, systems science and metrics, chaos, and proprietary statistical tools for accelerated risk assessment. This is followed by the development of a preliminary model, which is uniquely applicable and robust for quantitative purposes. Exercise of the preliminary model using a generic system hierarchy and the AXAF-I architectural hierarchy is provided. The Kendall test for positive dependence provides an initial verification and validation of the model. Finally, the research and development of the innovation is revisited, prior to peer review. This research and development effort results in near-term, measurable SAIL organizational and product quality methodologies, enhanced organizational risk assessment and evolutionary modeling results, and 91 improved statistical quantification of SAIL productivity interests.

  19. A Rotational Blended Learning Model: Enhancement and Quality Assurance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghoul, Said

    2013-01-01

    Research on blended learning theory and practice is growing nowadays with a focus on the development, evaluation, and quality assurance of case studies. However, the enhancement of blended learning existing models, the specification of their online parts, and the quality assurance related specifically to them have not received enough attention.…

  20. Formalization of the classification pattern: survey of classification modeling in information systems engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Partridge, Chris; de Cesare, Sergio; Mitchell, Andrew; Odell, James

    2018-01-01

    Formalization is becoming more common in all stages of the development of information systems, as a better understanding of its benefits emerges. Classification systems are ubiquitous, no more so than in domain modeling. The classification pattern that underlies these systems provides a good case study of the move toward formalization in part because it illustrates some of the barriers to formalization, including the formal complexity of the pattern and the ontological issues surrounding the "one and the many." Powersets are a way of characterizing the (complex) formal structure of the classification pattern, and their formalization has been extensively studied in mathematics since Cantor's work in the late nineteenth century. One can use this formalization to develop a useful benchmark. There are various communities within information systems engineering (ISE) that are gradually working toward a formalization of the classification pattern. However, for most of these communities, this work is incomplete, in that they have not yet arrived at a solution with the expressiveness of the powerset benchmark. This contrasts with the early smooth adoption of powerset by other information systems communities to, for example, formalize relations. One way of understanding the varying rates of adoption is recognizing that the different communities have different historical baggage. Many conceptual modeling communities emerged from work done on database design, and this creates hurdles to the adoption of the high level of expressiveness of powersets. Another relevant factor is that these communities also often feel, particularly in the case of domain modeling, a responsibility to explain the semantics of whatever formal structures they adopt. This paper aims to make sense of the formalization of the classification pattern in ISE and surveys its history through the literature, starting from the relevant theoretical works of the mathematical literature and gradually shifting focus

  1. Conceptual design of a regional water quality screening model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, M.J.

    1981-01-01

    This water quality assessment methodology is intended to predict concentrations at future times and to estimate the impacts on water quality of energy-related activities (including industrial boilers). Estimates of impacts on water quality at future times are based on incremental changes in pollutant inputs to the body water. Important features of the model are: use of measured concentrations to account for existing conditions; consideration of incremental changes in pollutant loads; emphasis on the energy sector and industrial boilers; analysis restricted to streams only; no attempt to fully account for pollutant behavior; and flexible design, so that future improvements can be incorporated. The basic approach is very similar to the one used by Argonne's ARQUAL model but will allow more complex pollutant behavior and more flexibility in use

  2. Pattern-set generation algorithm for the one-dimensional multiple stock sizes cutting stock problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Yaodong; Cui, Yi-Ping; Zhao, Zhigang

    2015-09-01

    A pattern-set generation algorithm (PSG) for the one-dimensional multiple stock sizes cutting stock problem (1DMSSCSP) is presented. The solution process contains two stages. In the first stage, the PSG solves the residual problems repeatedly to generate the patterns in the pattern set, where each residual problem is solved by the column-generation approach, and each pattern is generated by solving a single large object placement problem. In the second stage, the integer linear programming model of the 1DMSSCSP is solved using a commercial solver, where only the patterns in the pattern set are considered. The computational results of benchmark instances indicate that the PSG outperforms existing heuristic algorithms and rivals the exact algorithm in solution quality.

  3. Dietary patterns associated with overweight among Brazilian adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borges, Camila Aparecida; Marchioni, Dirce Maria Lobo; Levy, Renata Bertazzi; Slater, Betzabeth

    2018-04-01

    The present study aims to identify the dietary patterns of adolescents and associate these patterns with overweight. We analyzed food-consumption data from 6784 adolescents in the age group 10-18 years old collected in the Household Budget Survey 2008-2009. Dietary patterns were assessed through exploratory factor analysis. Logistic regression models were used in order to associate dietary patterns with overweight. Four dietary patterns were recorded: Traditional Brazilian Pattern, Snacks Pattern, Fast Food Pattern, and the Milk, Fruit and Cereal Breakfast Pattern. Results were adjusted according to the sociodemographic variables and showed that the higher the adherence to Snacks (OR: 1.50 fifth quintile vs first (95% CI: 1.13, 1.99) p linear trend <0.001) and Fast Food patterns (OR: 1.55 fifth quintile vs first (95% CI = 1.12, 2.12) p linear trend <0.001), the higher the chances of becoming overweight. These data indicate that the local public health and nutrition policies focused on adolescents should be more attentive to the eating habits of this population in Brazil, since the current research related regular poor nutritional quality dietary patterns to increased overweight among adolescents. In addition, understanding adolescents' eating habits according to their dietary patterns may guide the development of healthy dietary recommendations based on the combination between food and food groups, rather than only on nutrients or nutritional adequacy. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. A model of hygiene practices and consumption patterns in the consumer phase

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Bjarke Bak; Rosenquist, Hanne; Sommer, Helle Mølgaard

    2005-01-01

    A mathematical model is presented, which addresses individual hygiene practices during food preparation and consumption patterns in private homes. Further, the model links food preparers and consumers based on their relationship to household types. For different age and gender groups, the model...... was highest for young males (aged 18-29 years) and lowest for the elderly above 60 years of age. Children aged 0-4 years had a higher probability of ingesting a risk meal than children aged 5-17 years. This difference between age and gender groups was ascribed to the variations in the hygiene levels of food....... The simulated results show that the probability of ingesting a chicken risk meal at home does not only depend on the hygiene practices of the persons preparing the food, but also on the consumption patterns of consumers, and the relationship between people preparing and ingesting food. This finding supports...

  5. An economic theory-based explanatory model of agricultural land-use patterns

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Diogo, V.; Koomen, E.; Kuhlman, T.

    2015-01-01

    An economic theory-based land-use modelling framework is presented aiming to explain the causal link between economic decisions and resulting spatial patterns of agricultural land use. The framework assumes that farmers pursue utility maximisation in agricultural production systems, while

  6. Exploring the patterns and evolution of self-organized urban street networks through modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rui, Yikang; Ban, Yifang; Wang, Jiechen; Haas, Jan

    2013-03-01

    As one of the most important subsystems in cities, urban street networks have recently been well studied by using the approach of complex networks. This paper proposes a growing model for self-organized urban street networks. The model involves a competition among new centers with different values of attraction radius and a local optimal principle of both geometrical and topological factors. We find that with the model growth, the local optimization in the connection process and appropriate probability for the loop construction well reflect the evolution strategy in real-world cities. Moreover, different values of attraction radius in centers competition process lead to morphological change in patterns including urban network, polycentric and monocentric structures. The model succeeds in reproducing a large diversity of road network patterns by varying parameters. The similarity between the properties of our model and empirical results implies that a simple universal growth mechanism exists in self-organized cities.

  7. Modelling the effect of temperature on hatching and settlement patterns of meroplanktonic organisms: the case of octopus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stelios Katsanevakis

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available The duration of embryonic development and the planktonic stage of meroplanktonic species is highly temperature dependent and thus the seasonal temperature oscillations of temperate regions greatly affect the patterns of hatching and benthic settlement. Based on data from the literature on embryonic development and planktonic duration of Octopus vulgaris (common octopus in relation to temperature, and on observed temperature patterns, several models of hatching and settlement patterns were created. There was a good fit between observed settlement patterns and model predictions. Based on these models we concluded that in temperate regions: (1 when temperature is increasing (from early spring to mid summer the hatching and settlement periods tend to shorten, while when the temperature is decreasing (during autumn the hatching and settlement periods tend to lengthen; (2 hatching and settlement peaks are narrower and more intense than a spring spawning peak but wider and less intense than an autumn spawning peak; (3 at lower latitudes, hatching and settlement patterns tend to follow the spawning pattern more closely, (4 the periodic temperature pattern of temperate areas has the potential to cause a convergence of hatching during spring.

  8. Exchange bias of patterned systems: Model and numerical simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia, Griselda; Kiwi, Miguel; Mejia-Lopez, Jose; Ramirez, Ricardo

    2010-01-01

    The magnitude of the exchange bias field of patterned systems exhibits a notable increase in relation to the usual bilayer systems, where a continuous ferromagnetic film is deposited on an antiferromagnet insulator. Here we develop a model, and implement a Monte Carlo calculation, to interpret the experimental observations which is consistent with experimental results, on the basis of assuming a small fraction of spins pinned ferromagnetically in the antiferromagnetic interface layer.

  9. Patterns of flavour violation in models with vector-like quarks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bobeth, Christoph [TUM Institute for Advanced Study, Lichtenbergstr. 2a, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Physik Department, TU München, James-Franck-Straße, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München,Boltzmannstr. 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Buras, Andrzej J. [TUM Institute for Advanced Study, Lichtenbergstr. 2a, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Physik Department, TU München, James-Franck-Straße, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Celis, Alejandro [Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Fakultät für Physik,Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, 80333 München (Germany); Jung, Martin [TUM Institute for Advanced Study, Lichtenbergstr. 2a, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München,Boltzmannstr. 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany)

    2017-04-13

    We study the patterns of flavour violation in renormalisable extensions of the Standard Model (SM) that contain vector-like quarks (VLQs) in a single complex representation of either the SM gauge group G{sub SM} or G{sub SM}{sup ′}≡G{sub SM}⊗U(1){sub L{sub μ−L{sub τ}}}. We first decouple VLQs in the M=(1−10) TeV range and then at the electroweak scale also Z,Z{sup ′} gauge bosons and additional scalars to study the phenomenology. The results depend on the relative size of Z- and Z{sup ′}-induced flavour-changing neutral currents, as well as the size of |ΔF|=2 contributions including the effects of renormalisation group Yukawa evolution from M to the electroweak scale that turn out to be very important for models with right-handed currents through the generation of left-right operators. In addition to rare decays like P→ℓℓ̄, P→P{sup ′}ℓℓ̄, P→P{sup ′}νν̄ with P=K,B{sub s},B{sub d} and |ΔF|=2 observables we analyze the ratio ε{sup ′}/ε which appears in the SM to be significantly below the data. We study patterns and correlations between these observables which taken together should in the future allow for differentiating between VLQ models. In particular the patterns in models with left-handed and right-handed currents are markedly different from each other. Among the highlights are large Z-mediated new physics effects in Kaon observables in some of the models and significant effects in B{sub s,d}-observables. ε{sup ′}/ε can easily be made consistent with the data, implying then uniquely the suppression of K{sub L}→π{sup 0}νν̄. Significant enhancements of Br(K{sup +}→π{sup +}νν̄) are still possible. We point out that the combination of NP effects to |ΔF|=2 and |ΔF|=1 observables in a given meson system generally allows to determine the masses of VLQs in a given representation independently of the size of VLQ couplings.

  10. Modeling Air-Quality in Complex Terrain Using Mesoscale and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Air-quality in a complex terrain (Colorado-River-Valley/Grand-Canyon Area, Southwest U.S.) is modeled using a higher-order closure mesoscale model and a higher-order closure dispersion model. Non-reactive tracers have been released in the Colorado-River valley, during winter and summer 1992, to study the ...

  11. A software tool to model genetic regulatory networks. Applications to the modeling of threshold phenomena and of spatial patterning in Drosophila.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui Dilão

    Full Text Available We present a general methodology in order to build mathematical models of genetic regulatory networks. This approach is based on the mass action law and on the Jacob and Monod operon model. The mathematical models are built symbolically by the Mathematica software package GeneticNetworks. This package accepts as input the interaction graphs of the transcriptional activators and repressors of a biological process and, as output, gives the mathematical model in the form of a system of ordinary differential equations. All the relevant biological parameters are chosen automatically by the software. Within this framework, we show that concentration dependent threshold effects in biology emerge from the catalytic properties of genes and its associated conservation laws. We apply this methodology to the segment patterning in Drosophila early development and we calibrate the genetic transcriptional network responsible for the patterning of the gap gene proteins Hunchback and Knirps, along the antero-posterior axis of the Drosophila embryo. In this approach, the zygotically produced proteins Hunchback and Knirps do not diffuse along the antero-posterior axis of the embryo of Drosophila, developing a spatial pattern due to concentration dependent thresholds. This shows that patterning at the gap genes stage can be explained by the concentration gradients along the embryo of the transcriptional regulators.

  12. The numerical model of multi-layer insulation with a defined wrapping pattern immersed in superfluid helium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malecha, Ziemowit; Lubryka, Eliza

    2017-11-01

    The numerical model of thin layers, characterized by a defined wrapping pattern can be a crucial element of many computational problems related to engineering and science. A motivating example is found in multilayer electrical insulation, which is an important component of superconducting magnets and other cryogenic installations. The wrapping pattern of the insulation can significantly affect heat transport and the performance of the considered instruments. The major objective of this study is to develop the numerical boundary conditions (BC) needed to model the wrapping pattern of thin insulation. An example of the practical application of the proposed BC includes the heat transfer of Rutherford NbTi cables immersed in super-fluid helium (He II) across thin layers of electrical insulation. The proposed BC and a mathematical model of heat transfer in He II are implemented in the open source CFD toolbox OpenFOAM. The implemented mathematical model and the BC are compared in the experiments. The study confirms that the thermal resistance of electrical insulation can be lowered by implementing the proper wrapping pattern. The proposed BC can be useful in the study of new patterns for wrapping schemes. The work has been supported by statutory funds from Polish Ministry for Science and Higher Education for the year of 2017.

  13. CHF Enhancement by Surface Patterning based on Hydrodynamic Instability Model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seo, Han; Bang, In Cheol [UNIST, Ulsan (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-05-15

    If the power density of a device exceeds the CHF point, bubbles and vapor films will be covered on the whole heater surface. Because vapor films have much lower heat transfer capabilities compared to the liquid layer, the temperature of the heater surface will increase rapidly, and the device could be damaged due to the heater burnout. Therefore, the prediction and the enhancement of the CHF are essential to maximizing the efficient heat removal region. Numerous studies have been conducted to describe the CHF phenomenon, such as hydrodynamic instability theory, macrolayer dryout theory, hot/dry spot theory, and bubble interaction theory. The hydrodynamic instability model, proposed by Zuber, is the predominant CHF model that Helmholtz instability attributed to the CHF. Zuber assumed that the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability wavelength is related to the Helmholtz wavelength. Lienhard and Dhir proposed a CHF model that Helmholtz instability wavelength is equal to the most dangerous RT wavelength. In addition, they showed the heater size effect using various heater surfaces. Lu et al. proposed a modified hydrodynamic theory that the Helmholtz instability was assumed to be the heater size and the area of the vapor column was used as a fitting factor. The modified hydrodynamic theories were based on the change of Helmholtz wavelength related to the RT instability wavelength. In the present study, the change of the RT instability wavelength, based on the heater surface modification, was conducted to show the CHF enhancement based on the heater surface patterning in a plate pool boiling. Sapphire glass was used as a base heater substrate, and the Pt film was used as a heating source. The patterning surface was based on the change of RT instability wavelength. In the present work the study of the CHF was conducted using bare Pt and patterned heating surfaces.

  14. GHG reduction potential of changes in consumption patterns and higher quality levels: Evidence from Swiss household consumption survey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Girod, Bastien, E-mail: bastien.girod@env.ethz.c [ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Natural and Social Science Interface, Universitaetstrasse 22, CHN J72.1, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland); Haan, Peter de [ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Natural and Social Science Interface, Universitaetstrasse 22, CHN J72.1, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland)

    2009-12-15

    An effective consumer-oriented climate policy requires knowing the GHG reduction potential of sustainable consumption. The aim of this study is to draw lessons from differences in consumption between households with high and low GHG emissions. We evaluate a survey of 14,500 households and use a method that allows measuring changes in price level of consumption. Comparing the 10% of households with the highest GHG emissions per capita with the lowest 10% - controlling for differences in expenditure level and household structure - we find a range 5-17 tons of CO{sub 2}-equivalent per capita and year. The observed differences stem mainly from heating, electricity use, car use, and travel by aircraft. Consumption patterns with low GHG emissions are characterized by less spending on mobility, but more on leisure and quality oriented consumption (leading to higher prices per unit). Further characteristics are: a higher share of organic food, low meat consumption and fewer detached single family houses. Our findings imply that a significant reduction in GHG emissions would be possible by adopting real-world consumption patterns observable in society. The twin challenge is to shift consumption towards more climate friendly patterns, and to prevent any trend towards high emitting consumption patterns.

  15. GHG reduction potential of changes in consumption patterns and higher quality levels. Evidence from Swiss household consumption survey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Girod, Bastien; De Haan, Peter [ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Natural and Social Science Interface, Universitaetstrasse 22, CHN J72.1, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland)

    2009-12-15

    An effective consumer-oriented climate policy requires knowing the GHG reduction potential of sustainable consumption. The aim of this study is to draw lessons from differences in consumption between households with high and low GHG emissions. We evaluate a survey of 14,500 households and use a method that allows measuring changes in price level of consumption. Comparing the 10% of households with the highest GHG emissions per capita with the lowest 10% - controlling for differences in expenditure level and household structure - we find a range 5-17 tons of CO{sub 2}-equivalent per capita and year. The observed differences stem mainly from heating, electricity use, car use, and travel by aircraft. Consumption patterns with low GHG emissions are characterized by less spending on mobility, but more on leisure and quality oriented consumption (leading to higher prices per unit). Further characteristics are: a higher share of organic food, low meat consumption and fewer detached single family houses. Our findings imply that a significant reduction in GHG emissions would be possible by adopting real-world consumption patterns observable in society. The twin challenge is to shift consumption towards more climate friendly patterns, and to prevent any trend towards high emitting consumption patterns. (author)

  16. GHG reduction potential of changes in consumption patterns and higher quality levels: Evidence from Swiss household consumption survey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Girod, Bastien; Haan, Peter de

    2009-01-01

    An effective consumer-oriented climate policy requires knowing the GHG reduction potential of sustainable consumption. The aim of this study is to draw lessons from differences in consumption between households with high and low GHG emissions. We evaluate a survey of 14,500 households and use a method that allows measuring changes in price level of consumption. Comparing the 10% of households with the highest GHG emissions per capita with the lowest 10% - controlling for differences in expenditure level and household structure - we find a range 5-17 tons of CO 2 -equivalent per capita and year. The observed differences stem mainly from heating, electricity use, car use, and travel by aircraft. Consumption patterns with low GHG emissions are characterized by less spending on mobility, but more on leisure and quality oriented consumption (leading to higher prices per unit). Further characteristics are: a higher share of organic food, low meat consumption and fewer detached single family houses. Our findings imply that a significant reduction in GHG emissions would be possible by adopting real-world consumption patterns observable in society. The twin challenge is to shift consumption towards more climate friendly patterns, and to prevent any trend towards high emitting consumption patterns.

  17. Color-pattern analysis of eyespots in butterfly wings: a critical examination of morphogen gradient models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otaki, Joji M

    2011-06-01

    Butterfly wing color patterns consist of many color-pattern elements such as eyespots. It is believed that eyespot patterns are determined by a concentration gradient of a single morphogen species released by diffusion from the prospective eyespot focus in conjunction with multiple thresholds in signal-receiving cells. As alternatives to this single-morphogen model, more flexible multiple-morphogen model and induction model can be proposed. However, the relevance of these conceptual models to actual eyespots has not been examined systematically. Here, representative eyespots from nymphalid butterflies were analyzed morphologically to determine if they are consistent with these models. Measurement of ring widths of serial eyespots from a single wing surface showed that the proportion of each ring in an eyespot is quite different among homologous rings of serial eyespots of different sizes. In asymmetric eyespots, each ring is distorted to varying degrees. In extreme cases, only a portion of rings is expressed remotely from the focus. Similarly, there are many eyespots where only certain rings are deleted, added, or expanded. In an unusual case, the central area of an eyespot is composed of multiple "miniature eyespots," but the overall macroscopic eyespot structure is maintained. These results indicate that each eyespot ring has independence and flexibility to a certain degree, which is less consistent with the single-morphogen model. Considering a "periodic eyespot", which has repeats of a set of rings, damage-induced eyespots in mutants, and a scale-size distribution pattern in an eyespot, the induction model is the least incompatible with the actual eyespot diversity.

  18. Aggregation patterns from nonlocal interactions: Discrete stochastic and continuum modeling

    KAUST Repository

    Hackett-Jones, Emily J.

    2012-04-17

    Conservation equations governed by a nonlocal interaction potential generate aggregates from an initial uniform distribution of particles. We address the evolution and formation of these aggregating steady states when the interaction potential has both attractive and repulsive singularities. Currently, no existence theory for such potentials is available. We develop and compare two complementary solution methods, a continuous pseudoinverse method and a discrete stochastic lattice approach, and formally show a connection between the two. Interesting aggregation patterns involving multiple peaks for a simple doubly singular attractive-repulsive potential are determined. For a swarming Morse potential, characteristic slow-fast dynamics in the scaled inverse energy is observed in the evolution to steady state in both the continuous and discrete approaches. The discrete approach is found to be remarkably robust to modifications in movement rules, related to the potential function. The comparable evolution dynamics and steady states of the discrete model with the continuum model suggest that the discrete stochastic approach is a promising way of probing aggregation patterns arising from two- and three-dimensional nonlocal interaction conservation equations. © 2012 American Physical Society.

  19. Model-based monitoring of stormwater runoff quality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Birch, Heidi; Vezzaro, Luca; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen

    2013-01-01

    Monitoring of micropollutants (MP) in stormwater is essential to evaluate the impacts of stormwater on the receiving aquatic environment. The aim of this study was to investigate how different strategies for monitoring of stormwater quality (combining a model with field sampling) affect the infor...

  20. Toward robust phase-locking in Melibe swim central pattern generator models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalil, Sajiya; Allen, Dane; Youker, Joseph; Shilnikov, Andrey

    2013-12-01

    Small groups of interneurons, abbreviated by CPG for central pattern generators, are arranged into neural networks to generate a variety of core bursting rhythms with specific phase-locked states, on distinct time scales, which govern vital motor behaviors in invertebrates such as chewing and swimming. These movements in lower level animals mimic motions of organs in higher animals due to evolutionarily conserved mechanisms. Hence, various neurological diseases can be linked to abnormal movement of body parts that are regulated by a malfunctioning CPG. In this paper, we, being inspired by recent experimental studies of neuronal activity patterns recorded from a swimming motion CPG of the sea slug Melibe leonina, examine a mathematical model of a 4-cell network that can plausibly and stably underlie the observed bursting rhythm. We develop a dynamical systems framework for explaining the existence and robustness of phase-locked states in activity patterns produced by the modeled CPGs. The proposed tools can be used for identifying core components for other CPG networks with reliable bursting outcomes and specific phase relationships between the interneurons. Our findings can be employed for identifying or implementing the conditions for normal and pathological functioning of basic CPGs of animals and artificially intelligent prosthetics that can regulate various movements.

  1. Spatial patterns of biodiversity conservation in a multiregional general equilibrium model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eppink, F.V.; Withagen, C.A.A.M.

    2009-01-01

    Migration dynamics and local biodiversity are interrelated in a way that is likely to affect patterns of regional specialisation. We assess this relationship with a New Economic Geography model that has been extended with biodiversity. Biodiversity is heterogeneous, and responds to habitat

  2. Ontology and modeling patterns for state-based behavior representation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castet, Jean-Francois; Rozek, Matthew L.; Ingham, Michel D.; Rouquette, Nicolas F.; Chung, Seung H.; Kerzhner, Aleksandr A.; Donahue, Kenneth M.; Jenkins, J. Steven; Wagner, David A.; Dvorak, Daniel L.; hide

    2015-01-01

    This paper provides an approach to capture state-based behavior of elements, that is, the specification of their state evolution in time, and the interactions amongst them. Elements can be components (e.g., sensors, actuators) or environments, and are characterized by state variables that vary with time. The behaviors of these elements, as well as interactions among them are represented through constraints on state variables. This paper discusses the concepts and relationships introduced in this behavior ontology, and the modeling patterns associated with it. Two example cases are provided to illustrate their usage, as well as to demonstrate the flexibility and scalability of the behavior ontology: a simple flashlight electrical model and a more complex spacecraft model involving instruments, power and data behaviors. Finally, an implementation in a SysML profile is provided.

  3. Hybrid model for forecasting time series with trend, seasonal and salendar variation patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suhartono; Rahayu, S. P.; Prastyo, D. D.; Wijayanti, D. G. P.; Juliyanto

    2017-09-01

    Most of the monthly time series data in economics and business in Indonesia and other Moslem countries not only contain trend and seasonal, but also affected by two types of calendar variation effects, i.e. the effect of the number of working days or trading and holiday effects. The purpose of this research is to develop a hybrid model or a combination of several forecasting models to predict time series that contain trend, seasonal and calendar variation patterns. This hybrid model is a combination of classical models (namely time series regression and ARIMA model) and/or modern methods (artificial intelligence method, i.e. Artificial Neural Networks). A simulation study was used to show that the proposed procedure for building the hybrid model could work well for forecasting time series with trend, seasonal and calendar variation patterns. Furthermore, the proposed hybrid model is applied for forecasting real data, i.e. monthly data about inflow and outflow of currency at Bank Indonesia. The results show that the hybrid model tend to provide more accurate forecasts than individual forecasting models. Moreover, this result is also in line with the third results of the M3 competition, i.e. the hybrid model on average provides a more accurate forecast than the individual model.

  4. New Methods for Air Quality Model Evaluation with Satellite Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holloway, T.; Harkey, M.

    2015-12-01

    Despite major advances in the ability of satellites to detect gases and aerosols in the atmosphere, there remains significant, untapped potential to apply space-based data to air quality regulatory applications. Here, we showcase research findings geared toward increasing the relevance of satellite data to support operational air quality management, focused on model evaluation. Particular emphasis is given to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO) from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument aboard the NASA Aura satellite, and evaluation of simulations from the EPA Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. This work is part of the NASA Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (AQAST), and is motivated by ongoing dialog with state and federal air quality management agencies. We present the response of satellite-derived NO2 to meteorological conditions, satellite-derived HCHO:NO2 ratios as an indicator of ozone production regime, and the ability of models to capture these sensitivities over the continental U.S. In the case of NO2-weather sensitivities, we find boundary layer height, wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity to be the most important variables in determining near-surface NO2 variability. CMAQ agreed with relationships observed in satellite data, as well as in ground-based data, over most regions. However, we find that the southwest U.S. is a problem area for CMAQ, where modeled NO2 responses to insolation, boundary layer height, and other variables are at odds with the observations. Our analyses utilize a software developed by our team, the Wisconsin Horizontal Interpolation Program for Satellites (WHIPS): a free, open-source program designed to make satellite-derived air quality data more usable. WHIPS interpolates level 2 satellite retrievals onto a user-defined fixed grid, in effect creating custom-gridded level 3 satellite product. Currently, WHIPS can process the following data products: OMI NO2 (NASA retrieval); OMI NO2 (KNMI retrieval); OMI

  5. High-performing trauma teams: frequency of behavioral markers of a shared mental model displayed by team leaders and quality of medical performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnsen, Bjørn Helge; Westli, Heidi Kristina; Espevik, Roar; Wisborg, Torben; Brattebø, Guttorm

    2017-11-10

    High quality team leadership is important for the outcome of medical emergencies. However, the behavioral marker of leadership are not well defined. The present study investigated frequency of behavioral markers of shared mental models (SMM) on quality of medical management. Training video recordings of 27 trauma teams simulating emergencies were analyzed according to team -leader's frequency of shared mental model behavioral markers. The results showed a positive correlation of quality of medical management with leaders sharing information without an explicit demand for the information ("push" of information) and with leaders communicating their situational awareness (SA) and demonstrating implicit supporting behavior. When separating the sample into higher versus lower performing teams, the higher performing teams had leaders who displayed a greater frequency of "push" of information and communication of SA and supportive behavior. No difference was found for the behavioral marker of team initiative, measured as bringing up suggestions to other teammembers. The results of this study emphasize the team leader's role in initiating and updating a team's shared mental model. Team leaders should also set expectations for acceptable interaction patterns (e.g., promoting information exchange) and create a team climate that encourages behaviors, such as mutual performance monitoring, backup behavior, and adaptability to enhance SMM.

  6. Human Mobility Patterns and Cholera Epidemics: a Spatially Explicit Modeling Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mari, L.; Bertuzzo, E.; Righetto, L.; Casagrandi, R.; Gatto, M.; Rodriguez-Iturbe, I.; Rinaldo, A.

    2010-12-01

    Cholera is an acute enteric disease caused by the ingestion of water or food contaminated by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Although most infected individuals do not develop severe symptoms, their stool may contain huge quantities of V.~cholerae cells. Therefore, while traveling or commuting, asymptomatic carriers can be responsible for the long-range dissemination of the disease. As a consequence, human mobility is an alternative and efficient driver for the spread of cholera, whose primary propagation pathway is hydrological transport through river networks. We present a multi-layer network model that accounts for the interplay between epidemiological dynamics, hydrological transport and long-distance dissemination of V.~cholerae due to human movement. In particular, building on top of state-of-the-art spatially explicit models for cholera spread through surface waters, we describe human movement and its effects on the propagation of the disease by means of a gravity-model approach borrowed from transportation theory. Gravity-like contact processes have been widely used in epidemiology, because they can satisfactorily depict human movement when data on actual mobility patterns are not available. We test our model against epidemiological data recorded during the cholera outbreak occurred in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa during years 2000--2001. We show that human mobility does actually play an important role in the formation of the spatiotemporal patterns of cholera epidemics. In particular, long-range human movement may determine inter-catchment dissemination of V.~cholerae cells, thus in turn explaining the emergence of epidemic patterns that cannot be produced by hydrological transport alone. We also show that particular attention has to be devoted to study how heterogeneously distributed drinking water supplies and sanitation conditions may affect cholera transmission.

  7. Modeling concentration patterns of agricultural and urban micropollutants in surface waters in catchment of mixed land use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stamm, C.; Scheidegger, R.; Bader, H. P.

    2012-04-01

    Organic micropollutants detected in surface waters can originate from agricultural and urban sources. Depending on the use of the compounds, the temporal loss patterns vary substantially. Therefore models that simulate water quality in watersheds of mixed land use have to account for all relevant sources. We present here simulation results of a transport model that describes the dynamic of several biocidal compounds as well as the behaviour of human pharmaceuticals. The model consists of the sub-model Rexpo simulating the transfer of the compounds from the point of application to the stream in semi-lumped manner. The river sub-model, which is programmed in the Aquasim software, describes the fate of the compounds in the stream. Both sub-models are process-based. The Rexpo sub-model was calibrated at the scale of a small catchment of 25 km2, which is inhabited by about 12'000 people. Based on the resulting model parameters the loss dynamics of two herbicides (atrazine, isoproturon) and a compound of mixed urban and agricultural use (diuron) were predicted for two nested catchment of 212 and 1696 km2, respectively. The model output was compared to observed time-series of concentrations and loads obtained for the entire year 2009. Additionally, the fate of two pharmaceuticals with constant input (carbamazepine, diclofenac) was simulated for improving the understanding of possible degradation processes. The simulated loads and concentrations of the biocidal compounds differed by a factor of 2 to 3 from the observations. In general, the seasonal patterns were well captured by the model. However, a detailed analysis of the seasonality revealed substantial input uncertainty for the application of the compounds. The model results also demonstrated that for the dynamics of rain-driven losses of biocidal compounds the semi-lumped approach of the Rexpo sub-model was sufficient. Only for simulating the photolytic degradation of diclofenac in the stream the detailed

  8. Conceptual Model As The Tool For Managing Bank Services Quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kornelija Severović

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Quality has become basic factor of economic efficiency and basic principle of business activities of successful organizations. Its consequence is revolution on the area of quality that has comprised all kinds of products and services and so the bank services as well. To understand the present and future needs of clients and to know how to fulfill and try to exceed their expectations is the task of each efficient economy. Therefore, the banks in the developed economies try to re-orientate organizationally, technologically and informatically their business activities placing the client in the core of this business activity. Significant indicators of quality services that banks offer is measured by the waiting time of clients for the offer of the desirable service and the number of clients who give up to enter the bank due to the long waiting queues. Dissatisfied client is the worst work result and business activity of banks. Following the stated, the great effort is made to improve service qualities, which means professionalism and communication of personnel with whom the clients come in contact, and giving punctual and clear information and short waiting period of standing in the lines. The aim of this work is to present and describe the functioning of bank system under the conditions of establishing quality in offering services to clients and to recognize basic guidelines for quality increase in the work of sub branches. Since the banking is very dynamic and complex system, the conceptual model is carried out for the purpose of optimization of the stated quality parameters for the bank business activity; this model, in further research, will serve for the development of simulation model.

  9. An economically designed, integrated quality and maintenance model using an adaptive Shewhart chart

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Panagiotidou, Sofia; Nenes, George

    2009-01-01

    This paper proposes a model for the economic design of a variable-parameter (Vp) Shewhart control chart used to monitor the mean in a process, where, apart from quality shifts, failures may also occur. Quality shifts result in poorer quality outcome, higher operational cost and higher failure rate. Thus, removal of such quality shifts, besides improving the quality of the outcome and reducing the quality cost, is also a preventive maintenance (PM) action since it reduces the probability of a failure and improves the equipment reliability. The proposed model allows the determination of the scheme parameters that minimize the total expected quality and maintenance cost of the procedure. The monitoring mechanism of the process employs an adaptive Vp-Shewhart control chart. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed model, its optimal expected cost is compared against the optimum cost of a fixed-parameter (Fp) chart

  10. Application of water quality models to rivers in Johor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chii, Puah Lih; Rahman, Haliza Abd.

    2017-08-01

    River pollution is one the most common hazard in many countries in the world, which includes Malaysia. Many rivers have been polluted because of the rapid growth in industrialization to support the country's growing population and economy. Domestic and industrial sewage, agricultural wastes have polluted the rivers and will affect the water quality. Based on the Malaysia Environment Quality Report 2007, the Department of Environment (DOE) has described that one of the major pollutants is Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). Data from DOE in 2004, based on BOD, 18 river basins were classified polluted, 37 river basins were slightly polluted and 65 river basins were in clean condition. In this paper, two models are fitted the data of rivers in Johor state namely Streeter-Phelps model and nonlinear regression (NLR) model. The BOD concentration data for the two rivers in Johor state from year 1981 to year 1990 is analyzed. To estimate the parameters for the Streeter-Phelps model and NLR model, this study focuses on the weighted least squares and Gauss-Newton method respectively. Based on the value of Mean Square Error, NLR model is a better model compared to Streeter-Phelps model.

  11. Structural modeling of the production quality as a multidimensional object of measurement and control

    OpenAIRE

    Зубрецкая, Наталья Анатольевна

    2015-01-01

    The structural-analytical models of product quality as a multidimensional process of evaluation, measurement and control are developed. The product quality is represented as a multi-factor, multi-criteria and multi-parameter estimation object. This structural formalization of quality demonstrates the multidimensional qualities: comprehensiveness due to a set of environmental factors; multicriteriality due collectively evaluated quality criteria; multiparameter information models that describe...

  12. A formal model for total quality management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S.C. van der Made-Potuijt; H.B. Bertsch (Boudewijn); L.P.J. Groenewegen

    1996-01-01

    textabstractTotal Quality Management (TQM) is a systematic approach to managing a company. TQM is systematic in the sense that it is uses facts through observation, analysis and measurable goals. There are theoretical descriptions of this management concept, but there is no formal model of it. A

  13. Calibration of Linked Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model for Santa Margarita Lagoon

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-07-01

    was used to drive the transport and water quality kinetics for the simulation of 2007–2009. The sand berm, which controlled the opening/closure of...TECHNICAL REPORT 3015 July 2016 Calibration of Linked Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model for Santa Margarita Lagoon Final Report Pei...Linked Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model for Santa Margarita Lagoon Final Report Pei-Fang Wang Chuck Katz Ripan Barua SSC Pacific James

  14. Digital Elevation Models of Patterned Ground in the Canadian Arctic and Implications for the Study of Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knightly, P.; Murakami, Y.; Clarke, J.; Sizemore, H.; Siegler, M.; Rupert, S.; Chevrier, V.

    2017-12-01

    Patterned ground forms in periglacial zones from both expansion and contraction of permafrost by freeze-thaw and sub-freezing temperature changes and has been observed on both Earth and Mars from orbital and the surface at the Phoneix and Viking 2 landing sites. The Phoenix mission to Mars studied patterned ground in the vicinity of the spacecraft including the excavation of a trench revealing water permafrost beneath the surface. A study of patterned ground at the Haughton Impact structure on Devon Island used stereo-pair imaging and three-dimensional photographic models to catalog the type and occurrence of patterned ground in the study area. This image catalog was then used to provide new insight into photographic observations gathered by Phoenix. Stereo-pair imagery has been a valuable geoscience tool for decades and it is an ideal tool for comparative planetary geology studies. Stereo-pair images captured on Devon Island were turned into digital elevation models (DEMs) and comparisons were noted between the permafrost and patterned ground environment of Earth and Mars including variations in grain sorting, active layer thickness, and ice table depth. Recent advances in 360° cameras also enabled the creation of a detailed, immersive site models of patterned ground at selected sites in Haughton crater on Devon Island. The information from this ground truth study will enable the development and refinement of existing models to better evaluate patterned ground on Mars and predict its evolution.

  15. Managing postgraduate research service quality: Developing and assessing a conceptual model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shawn Ramroop

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports on the conceptual development and empirical evaluation of a postgraduate (PG research service quality management model, through conducting an electronic survey among a cohort of master’s and doctorate graduates at one of the top three research universities in South Africa, using specifically developed and validated research instruments.By fitting the data from a sample of 117 graduates to a conceptual model using structural equation modelling, it became evident that the PG research students’ perception of the Organisational Climate for Research (OCR is associated with their perception of the PG Research Service Quality (PGSQUAL, the PG Service Experience (SERVEXP and their perception of their Role (RC. However, no association was found between the students’ perception of the research climate (OCR and their satisfaction (SERVSAT with the research service; the service experience (SERVEXP and postgraduate research service quality (PGSQUAL; service satisfaction (SERVSAT and postgraduate service quality (PGSQUAL.  The aforementioned findings imply that higher education institutions need to create a research climate which is supportive of service quality, and better manage the research climate, so that the PG students are clear about their role, which will eventually translate to a better PG service experience and improved perception of PG service quality.

  16. Direct measurements of the tile drain and groundwater flow route contributions to surface water contamination: From field-scale concentration patterns in groundwater to catchment-scale surface water quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rozemeijer, J.C.; Velde, Y. van der; Geer, F.C. van; Bierkens, M.F.P.; Broers, H.P.

    2010-01-01

    Enhanced knowledge of water and solute pathways in catchments would improve the understanding of dynamics in water quality and would support the selection of appropriate water pollution mitigation options. For this study, we physically separated tile drain effluent and groundwater discharge from an agricultural field before it entered a 43.5-m ditch transect. Through continuous discharge measurements and weekly water quality sampling, we directly quantified the flow route contributions to surface water discharge and solute loading. Our multi-scale experimental approach allowed us to relate these measurements to field-scale NO 3 concentration patterns in shallow groundwater and to continuous NO 3 records at the catchment outlet. Our results show that the tile drains contributed 90-92% of the annual NO 3 and heavy metal loads. Considering their crucial role in water and solute transport, enhanced monitoring and modeling of tile drainage are important for adequate water quality management. - Direct measurements of flow route contributions to surface water contaminant loading reveal the crucial role of tile drainage for catchment-scale water and solute transport.

  17. Indicators to support the dynamic evaluation of air quality models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thunis, P.; Clappier, A.

    2014-12-01

    Air quality models are useful tools for the assessment and forecast of pollutant concentrations in the atmosphere. Most of the evaluation process relies on the “operational phase” or in other words the comparison of model results with available measurements which provides insight on the model capability to reproduce measured concentrations for a given application. But one of the key advantages of air quality models lies in their ability to assess the impact of precursor emission reductions on air quality levels. Models are then used in a dynamic mode (i.e. response to a change in a given model input data) for which evaluation of the model performances becomes a challenge. The objective of this work is to propose common indicators and diagrams to facilitate the understanding of model responses to emission changes when models are to be used for policy support. These indicators are shown to be useful to retrieve information on the magnitude of the locally produced impacts of emission reductions on concentrations with respect to the “external to the domain” contribution but also to identify, distinguish and quantify impacts arising from different factors (different precursors). In addition information about the robustness of the model results is provided. As such these indicators might reveal useful as first screening methodology to identify the feasibility of a given action as well as to prioritize the factors on which to act for an increased efficiency. Finally all indicators are made dimensionless to facilitate the comparison of results obtained with different models, different resolutions, or on different geographical areas.

  18. A Novel Biped Pattern Generator Based on Extended ZMP and Extended Cart-Table Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guangbin Sun

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper focuses on planning patterns for biped walking on complex terrains. Two problems are solved: ZMP (zero moment point cannot be used on uneven terrain, and the conventional cart-table model does not allow vertical CM (centre of mass motion. For the ZMP definition problem, we propose the extended ZMP (EZMP concept as an extension of ZMP to uneven terrains. It can be used to judge dynamic balance on universal terrains. We achieve a deeper insight into the connection and difference between ZMP and EZMP by adding different constraints. For the model problem, we extend the cart-table model by using a dynamic constraint instead of constant height constraint, which results in a mathematically symmetric set of three equations. In this way, the vertical motion is enabled and the resultant equations are still linear. Based on the extended ZMP concept and extended cart-table model, a biped pattern generator using triple preview controllers is constructed and implemented simultaneously to three dimensions. Using the proposed pattern generator, the Atlas robot is simulated. The simulation results show the robot can walk stably on rather complex terrains by accurately tracking extended ZMP.

  19. On Input Vector Representation for the SVR model of Reactor Core Loading Pattern Critical Parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trontl, K.; Pevec, D.; Smuc, T.

    2008-01-01

    Determination and optimization of reactor core loading pattern is an important factor in nuclear power plant operation. The goal is to minimize the amount of enriched uranium (fresh fuel) and burnable absorbers placed in the core, while maintaining nuclear power plant operational and safety characteristics. The usual approach to loading pattern optimization involves high degree of engineering judgment, a set of heuristic rules, an optimization algorithm and a computer code used for evaluating proposed loading patterns. The speed of the optimization process is highly dependent on the computer code used for the evaluation. Recently, we proposed a new method for fast loading pattern evaluation based on general robust regression model relying on the state of the art research in the field of machine learning. We employed Support Vector Regression (SVR) technique. SVR is a supervised learning method in which model parameters are automatically determined by solving a quadratic optimization problem. The preliminary tests revealed a good potential of the SVR method application for fast and accurate reactor core loading pattern evaluation. However, some aspects of model development are still unresolved. The main objective of the work reported in this paper was to conduct additional tests and analyses required for full clarification of the SVR applicability for loading pattern evaluation. We focused our attention on the parameters defining input vector, primarily its structure and complexity, and parameters defining kernel functions. All the tests were conducted on the NPP Krsko reactor core, using MCRAC code for the calculation of reactor core loading pattern critical parameters. The tested input vector structures did not influence the accuracy of the models suggesting that the initially tested input vector, consisted of the number of IFBAs and the k-inf at the beginning of the cycle, is adequate. The influence of kernel function specific parameters (σ for RBF kernel

  20. A Multi-Agent Modelling Approach to Simulate Dynamic Activity-Travel Patterns

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Han, Q.; Arentze, T.A.; Timmermans, H.J.P.; Janssens, D.; Wets, G.; Bazzan, A.L.C.; Klügl, F.

    2009-01-01

    Contributing to the recent interest in the dynamics of activity-travel patterns, this chapter discusses a framework of an agent-based modeling approach focusing on the dynamic formation of (location) choice sets. Individual travelers are represented as agents, each with their cognition of the