Flood Risk Assessment in Urban Areas Based on Spatial Analytics and Social Factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Costas Armenakis

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Flood maps alone are not sufficient to determine and assess the risks to people, property, infrastructure, and services due to a flood event. Simply put, the risk is almost zero to minimum if the flooded region is “empty” (i.e., unpopulated, has not properties, no industry, no infrastructure, and no socio-economic activity. High spatial resolution Earth Observation (EO data can contribute to the generation and updating of flood risk maps based on several aspects including population, economic development, and critical infrastructure, which can enhance a city’s flood mitigation and preparedness planning. In this case study for the Don River watershed, Toronto, the flood risk is determined and flood risk index maps are generated by implementing a methodology for estimating risk based on the geographic coverage of the flood hazard, vulnerability of people, and the exposure of large building structures to flood water. Specifically, the spatial flood risk index maps have been generated through analytical spatial modeling which takes into account the areas in which a flood hazard is expected to occur, the terrain’s morphological characteristics, socio-economic parameters based on demographic data, and the density of large building complexes. Generated flood risk maps are verified through visual inspection with 3D city flood maps. Findings illustrate that areas of higher flood risk coincide with areas of high flood hazard and social and building exposure vulnerability.

Neural correlates of value, risk, and risk aversion contributing to decision making under risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Christopoulos, George I; Tobler, Philippe N; Bossaerts, Peter; Dolan, Raymond J; Schultz, Wolfram

2009-10-07

Decision making under risk is central to human behavior. Economic decision theory suggests that value, risk, and risk aversion influence choice behavior. Although previous studies identified neural correlates of decision parameters, the contribution of these correlates to actual choices is unknown. In two different experiments, participants chose between risky and safe options. We identified discrete blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) correlates of value and risk in the ventral striatum and anterior cingulate, respectively. Notably, increasing inferior frontal gyrus activity to low risk and safe options correlated with higher risk aversion. Importantly, the combination of these BOLD responses effectively decoded the behavioral choice. Striatal value and cingulate risk responses increased the probability of a risky choice, whereas inferior frontal gyrus responses showed the inverse relationship. These findings suggest that the BOLD correlates of decision factors are appropriate for an ideal observer to detect behavioral choices. More generally, these biological data contribute to the validity of the theoretical decision parameters for actual decisions under risk.

A financial network perspective of financial institutions' systemic risk contributions

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Wei-Qiang; Zhuang, Xin-Tian; Yao, Shuang; Uryasev, Stan

2016-08-01

This study considers the effects of the financial institutions' local topology structure in the financial network on their systemic risk contribution using data from the Chinese stock market. We first measure the systemic risk contribution with the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CoVaR) which is estimated by applying dynamic conditional correlation multivariate GARCH model (DCC-MVGARCH). Financial networks are constructed from dynamic conditional correlations (DCC) with graph filtering method of minimum spanning trees (MSTs). Then we investigate dynamics of systemic risk contributions of financial institution. Also we study dynamics of financial institution's local topology structure in the financial network. Finally, we analyze the quantitative relationships between the local topology structure and systemic risk contribution with panel data regression analysis. We find that financial institutions with greater node strength, larger node betweenness centrality, larger node closeness centrality and larger node clustering coefficient tend to be associated with larger systemic risk contributions.

Contribution of analytical techniques coupled to the knowledge of the uranium speciation in natural conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petit, J.

2009-06-01

To understand the transport mechanisms and the radionuclides behaviour in the bio-geosphere is necessary to evaluate healthy and environmental risks of nuclear industry. These mechanisms are monitored by radioelements speciation, namely the distribution between their different physico-chemical forms in the environment. From this perspective, this PhD thesis deals with uranium speciation in a natural background. A detailed summary of uranium biogeochemistry has been written, which enables to restrict the PhD issue to uranium complexation with oxalic acid, a hydrophilic organic acid with good binding properties, ubiquitous in soil waters. Analytical conditions have been established by means of speciation diagrams. The speciation diagrams building by means of literature stability constants has allowed to define the analytical conditions of complex formation. The chosen analytical technique is the hyphenation of a separative technique (liquid chromatography LC or capillary electrophoresis CE) with mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The studied complexes presence in the synthetic samples has been confirmed with UV/visible spectrophotometry. LC-ICPMS analyses have proved the lability of the uranyl-organic acid complexes, namely their tendency to dissociate during analysis, which prevents from studying uranium speciation. CE-ICPMS study of labile complexes from a metal-ligand system has been made possible by employing affinity capillary electrophoresis, which enables to determine stability constants and electrophoretic mobilities. This PhD thesis has allowed to compare the different mathematical treatments of binding isotherm and to take into account ionic strength and real ligand concentration. Affinity CE has been applied successfully to lanthanum-oxalate (model system) and uranium-oxalate systems. The obtained results have been applied to a real system (situated in Le Bouchet). This shows the contribution of the developed method to the modelling of uranium speciation. (author)

An analytical method of estimating Value-at-Risk on the Belgrade Stock Exchange

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Obadović Milica D.

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents market risk evaluation for a portfolio consisting of shares that are continuously traded on the Belgrade Stock Exchange, by applying the Value-at-Risk model - the analytical method. It describes the manner of analytical method application and compares the results obtained by implementing this method at different confidence levels. Method verification was carried out on the basis of the failure rate that demonstrated the confidence level for which this method was acceptable in view of the given conditions.

A Model of Risk Analysis in Analytical Methodology for Biopharmaceutical Quality Control.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrade, Cleyton Lage; Herrera, Miguel Angel De La O; Lemes, Elezer Monte Blanco

2018-01-01

One key quality control parameter for biopharmaceutical products is the analysis of residual cellular DNA. To determine small amounts of DNA (around 100 pg) that may be in a biologically derived drug substance, an analytical method should be sensitive, robust, reliable, and accurate. In principle, three techniques have the ability to measure residual cellular DNA: radioactive dot-blot, a type of hybridization; threshold analysis; and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Quality risk management is a systematic process for evaluating, controlling, and reporting of risks that may affects method capabilities and supports a scientific and practical approach to decision making. This paper evaluates, by quality risk management, an alternative approach to assessing the performance risks associated with quality control methods used with biopharmaceuticals, using the tool hazard analysis and critical control points. This tool provides the possibility to find the steps in an analytical procedure with higher impact on method performance. By applying these principles to DNA analysis methods, we conclude that the radioactive dot-blot assay has the largest number of critical control points, followed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and threshold analysis. From the analysis of hazards (i.e., points of method failure) and the associated method procedure critical control points, we conclude that the analytical methodology with the lowest risk for performance failure for residual cellular DNA testing is quantitative polymerase chain reaction. LAY ABSTRACT: In order to mitigate the risk of adverse events by residual cellular DNA that is not completely cleared from downstream production processes, regulatory agencies have required the industry to guarantee a very low level of DNA in biologically derived pharmaceutical products. The technique historically used was radioactive blot hybridization. However, the technique is a challenging method to implement in a quality

Enhancing Treatment Outcome of Patients at Risk of Treatment Failure: Meta-Analytic and Mega-Analytic Review of a Psychotherapy Quality Assurance System

Science.gov (United States)

Shimokawa, Kenichi; Lambert, Michael J.; Smart, David W.

2010-01-01

Objective: Outcome research has documented worsening among a minority of the patient population (5% to 10%). In this study, we conducted a meta-analytic and mega-analytic review of a psychotherapy quality assurance system intended to enhance outcomes in patients at risk of treatment failure. Method: Original data from six major studies conducted…

Pure Contagion and Investors Shifting Risk Appetite; Analytical Issues and Empirical Evidence

OpenAIRE

Manmohan S. Kumar; Avinash Persaud

2001-01-01

This paper discusses a "pure" form of financial contagion, unrelated to economic fundamentals - investors' shifting appetite for risk. It provides an analytical framework for identifying changes in investors' risk appetite and discusses whether it is possible to directly measure them in a way that can enable policy makers to differentiate between financial contagion and domestic fundamentals as the immediate source of a crisis. Daily measures of risk appetite are computed and their usefulness...

Rehabilitation Risk Management: Enabling Data Analytics with Quantified Self and Smart Home Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamper, Andreas; Eigner, Isabella; Wickramasinghe, Nilmini; Bodendorf, Freimut

2017-01-01

A variety of acute and chronic diseases require rehabilitation at home after treatment. Outpatient rehabilitation is crucial for the quality of the medical outcome but is mainly performed without medical supervision. Non-Compliance can lead to severe health risks and readmission to the hospital. While the patient is closely monitored in the hospital, methods and technologies to identify risks at home have to be developed. We analyze state-of-the-art monitoring systems and technologies and show possibilities to transfer these technologies into rehabilitation monitoring. For this purpose, we analyze sensor technology from the field of Quantified Self and Smart Homes. The available sensor data from this consumer grade technology is summarized to give an overview of the possibilities for medical data analytics. Subsequently, we show a conceptual roadmap to transfer data analytics methods to sensor based rehabilitation risk management.

Recent Development in Big Data Analytics for Business Operations and Risk Management.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Tsan-Ming; Chan, Hing Kai; Yue, Xiaohang

2017-01-01

"Big data" is an emerging topic and has attracted the attention of many researchers and practitioners in industrial systems engineering and cybernetics. Big data analytics would definitely lead to valuable knowledge for many organizations. Business operations and risk management can be a beneficiary as there are many data collection channels in the related industrial systems (e.g., wireless sensor networks, Internet-based systems, etc.). Big data research, however, is still in its infancy. Its focus is rather unclear and related studies are not well amalgamated. This paper aims to present the challenges and opportunities of big data analytics in this unique application domain. Technological development and advances for industrial-based business systems, reliability and security of industrial systems, and their operational risk management are examined. Important areas for future research are also discussed and revealed.

Risk Governance: An Application of Analytic-Deliberative Policy Making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renn, Ortwin

2006-01-01

The paper introduces an integrated analytic framework for risk governance which provides guidance for the development of comprehensive assessment and management strategies to cope with risks, in particular at the global level. The framework integrates scientific, economic, social and cultural aspects and includes the effective engagement of stakeholders. The concept of risk governance comprises a broad picture of risk: not only does it include what has been termed 'risk management' or 'risk analysis, it also looks at how risk-related decision-making unfolds when a range of actors is involved, requiring co-ordination and possibly reconciliation between a profusion of roles, perspectives, goals and activities. The framework's risk process breaks down into three main phases: 'pre-assessment', 'appraisal', and 'management'. A further phase, comprising the 'characterisation' and 'evaluation' of risk, is placed between the appraisal and management phases and, depending on whether those charged with the assessment or those responsible for management are better equipped to perform the associated tasks, can be assigned to either of them - thus concluding the appraisal phase or marking the start of the management phase. The risk process has 'communication' as a companion to all phases of addressing and handling risk and is itself of a cyclical nature. However, the clear sequence of phases and steps offered by this process is primarily a logical and functional one and will not always correspond to reality. The paper will address in particular the role of public participation and stakeholder involvement

Bimodal fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (BFAHP) for coronary heart disease risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabahi, Farnaz

2018-04-04

Rooted deeply in medical multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM), risk assessment is very important especially when applied to the risk of being affected by deadly diseases such as coronary heart disease (CHD). CHD risk assessment is a stochastic, uncertain, and highly dynamic process influenced by various known and unknown variables. In recent years, there has been a great interest in fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), a popular methodology for dealing with uncertainty in MCDM. This paper proposes a new FAHP, bimodal fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (BFAHP) that augments two aspects of knowledge, probability and validity, to fuzzy numbers to better deal with uncertainty. In BFAHP, fuzzy validity is computed by aggregating the validities of relevant risk factors based on expert knowledge and collective intelligence. By considering both soft and statistical data, we compute the fuzzy probability of risk factors using the Bayesian formulation. In BFAHP approach, these fuzzy validities and fuzzy probabilities are used to construct a reciprocal comparison matrix. We then aggregate fuzzy probabilities and fuzzy validities in a pairwise manner for each risk factor and each alternative. BFAHP decides about being affected and not being affected by ranking of high and low risks. For evaluation, the proposed approach is applied to the risk of being affected by CHD using a real dataset of 152 patients of Iranian hospitals. Simulation results confirm that adding validity in a fuzzy manner can accrue more confidence of results and clinically useful especially in the face of incomplete information when compared with actual results. Applying the proposed BFAHP on CHD risk assessment of the dataset, it yields high accuracy rate above 85% for correct prediction. In addition, this paper recognizes that the risk factors of diastolic blood pressure in men and high-density lipoprotein in women are more important in CHD than other risk factors. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All

The contribution of analytical detection methods to the enforcement of good irradiation practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehlermann, D.A.E.

1996-01-01

Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is a generally accepted principle combining several features in order to achieve the optimal quality. In other words, GMP is observed if every possible measure is taken to contribute to the best possible quality of the end product. In this sense, Good Irradiation Practice (GIP) may be understood as one of the many elements of GMP dealing especially with aspects of processing food using ionising radiation. On the contrary the operator of an irradiation facility may consider GIP as the central idea including that GMP - in this case excluding the radiation aspects - is observed in addition to GIP standards. Regardless of this theoretical dispute, it is obvious that food irradiation requires classical GMP to be applied without exception and that good practice is also applied in radiation processing. The main interest in analytical methods for the identification of radiation processed food arose from the need to enforce the ban on this process, to verify correct labelling, or to ensure that it is used only for the very limited number of application which are permitted. In this field, identification methods already introduced into the official food inspection systems have contributed considerably towards making evident several cases of the fraudulent application of radiation processing. At present, as radiation processing of food is becoming more and more accepted, the number of national clearances is increasing and the European Community is preparing for a Directive to harmonise the food laws of the member states with regard to food irradiation. Therefore, it should be considered how the analytical detection methods which have been developed could contribute to enforcing good manufacturing practices, once the main goal ceases to be the suppression of this process. (author)

Risk Governance: An Application of Analytic-Deliberative Policy Making

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Renn, Ortwin [Univ. of Stuttgart (Germany)

2006-09-15

The paper introduces an integrated analytic framework for risk governance which provides guidance for the development of comprehensive assessment and management strategies to cope with risks, in particular at the global level. The framework integrates scientific, economic, social and cultural aspects and includes the effective engagement of stakeholders. The concept of risk governance comprises a broad picture of risk: not only does it include what has been termed 'risk management' or 'risk analysis, it also looks at how risk-related decision-making unfolds when a range of actors is involved, requiring co-ordination and possibly reconciliation between a profusion of roles, perspectives, goals and activities. The framework's risk process breaks down into three main phases: 'pre-assessment', 'appraisal', and 'management'. A further phase, comprising the 'characterisation' and 'evaluation' of risk, is placed between the appraisal and management phases and, depending on whether those charged with the assessment or those responsible for management are better equipped to perform the associated tasks, can be assigned to either of them - thus concluding the appraisal phase or marking the start of the management phase. The risk process has 'communication' as a companion to all phases of addressing and handling risk and is itself of a cyclical nature. However, the clear sequence of phases and steps offered by this process is primarily a logical and functional one and will not always correspond to reality. The paper will address in particular the role of public participation and stakeholder involvement.

Mort User's Manual: For use with the Management Oversight and Risk Tree analytical logic diagram

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knox, N.W.; Eicher, R.W.

1992-02-01

This report contains the User's Manual for MORT (Management Oversight and Risk Tree), a logic diagram in the form of a work sheet'' that illustrates a long series of interrelated questions. MORT is a comprehensive analytical procedure that provides a disciplined method for determining the causes and contributing factors of major accidents. Alternatively, it serves as a tool to evaluate the quality of an existing system. While similar in many respects to fault tree analysis, MORT is more generalized and presents over 1500 specific elements of an ideal universal'' management program for optimizing environment, safety and health, and other programs. This User's Manual is intended to be used with the MORT diagram dated February 1992.

Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Holt-Lunstad, Julianne; Smith, Timothy B; Layton, J Bradley

2010-07-27

The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality. This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk. Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships. Across 148 studies (308,849 participants), the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.50 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.59), indicating a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period. Significant differences were found across the type of social measurement evaluated (psocial relationships on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

Contemporary Privacy Theory Contributions to Learning Analytics

Science.gov (United States)

Heath, Jennifer

2014-01-01

With the continued adoption of learning analytics in higher education institutions, vast volumes of data are generated and "big data" related issues, including privacy, emerge. Privacy is an ill-defined concept and subject to various interpretations and perspectives, including those of philosophers, lawyers, and information systems…

PENENTUAN FAKTOR YANG BERPENGARUH DALAM FAULTY BEHAVIOR RISK MELALUI PENDEKATAN METODE FUZZY ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rizal Irfan Fuadi

2015-06-01

rekomendasi untuk mengurangi risiko kesalahan perilaku kerja dengan meningkatkan perhatian terhadap kedua sub faktor tersebut. Untuk mengurangi risiko kesalahan perilaku dapat dilakukan dengan penelitian lebih lanjut mengenai sub faktor yang memiliki risiko tinggi sebagai penyebab kecelakaan.   Abstracts Safety management is defined as organization, human resources, policies and interactive procedure aims to reduce the possibility of damage and loss in the workplace. Therefore, one of way to improve safety management in company’s workshop is by doing research to determine factors affecting the faulty behavior risk. Generally, the factors affecting work system safety have non-physical structures. Therefore, the real problem can be represented in a better way by using fuzzy numbers instead of numbers to evaluate these factors. In this study, a fuzzy AHP approach is proposed to determine the level of faulty behavior risk in work systems. The process of determining factors which affect Faulty Behavior Risk (FBR starts on decision of respondent, creation of questionnaire, test on validation and realibility. The result concluded from questionnaire is used as input to process the data using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Method (FAHP. The questionnaire is created based on the concept of safety management system, consists of 4 factors: organizational factor, personal factor, work factor, and environmental factor. This  research  conducted at Bay 2.1 that produces  panel and Bay 7.1 that  produces  finning. The calculation of FBR on bay 2.1 shows that the result (0.4972 is lies on range of lower bound 0.25 and upper bound 0.50. Meanwhile, the calculation of FBR on bay 7.1 shows that the result (0.5317 is outside of upper bound, which means the risk of FBR is high. From the calculation result of FBR on bay 2.1, the highest sub-factor which contribute on FBR is insufficent preparation. Meanwhile, from the calculation of FBR on bay 7.1, the highest sub-factor which contribute on FBR is

Credit Risk Evaluation : Modeling - Analysis - Management

OpenAIRE

Wehrspohn, Uwe

2002-01-01

An analysis and further development of the building blocks of modern credit risk management: -Definitions of default -Estimation of default probabilities -Exposures -Recovery Rates -Pricing -Concepts of portfolio dependence -Time horizons for risk calculations -Quantification of portfolio risk -Estimation of risk measures -Portfolio analysis and portfolio improvement -Evaluation and comparison of credit risk models -Analytic portfolio loss distributions The thesis contributes to the evaluatio...

Risk assessment using Analytical Hierarchy Process - Development and evaluation of a new computer-based tool; Riskvaerdering med Analytical Hierarchy Process - Utveckling och utprovning av ett nytt datorbaserat verktyg

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ritchey, Tom (Swedish Defence Research Agency, Stockholm (Sweden))

2008-11-15

Risk analysis concerning the management of contaminated areas involves comparing and evaluating the relationship between ecological, technical, economic and other factors, in order to determine a reasonable level of remediation. Risk analysis of this kind is a relatively new phenomenon. In order to develop methodology in this area, the Sustainable Remediation program contributes both to comprehensive risk analysis projects and to projects concentrating on specific aspects of remediation risk analysis. In the project described in this report, the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) was given a grant by the Sustainable Remediation program to apply the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in order to develop a computer-aided instrument to support remediation risk analysis. AHP is one of several so-called multi-criteria decision support methods. These methods are applied in order to systematically compare and evaluate different solutions or measures, when there are many different goal criteria involved. Such criteria can be both quantitative and qualitative. The project has resulted in the development of a computer-aided instrument which can be employed to give a better structure, consistency and traceability to risk analyses for the remediation of contaminated areas. Project was carried out in two phases with two different working groups. The first phase involved the development of a generic base-model for remediation risk analysis. This was performed by a 'development group'. The second phase entailed the testing of the generic model in a specific, on-going remediation project. This was performed by a 'test group'. The remediation project in question concerned the decontamination of a closed-down sawmill in Vaeckelsaang, in the Swedish municipality of Tingsryd

An audit of the contribution to post-mortem examination diagnosis of individual analyte results obtained from biochemical analysis of the vitreous.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Rebecca; Charlwood, Cheryl; Thomas, Sunethra Devika; Bellis, Maria; Langlois, Neil E I

2013-12-01

Biochemical analysis of the vitreous humor from the eye is an accepted accessory test for post-mortem investigation of cause of death. Modern biochemical analyzers allow testing of a range of analytes from a sample. However, it is not clear which analytes should be requested in order to prevent unnecessary testing (and expense). The means and standard deviation of the values obtained from analysis of the vitreous humor for sodium, potassium, chloride, osmolality, glucose, ketones (β-hydroxybutyrate), creatinine, urea, calcium, lactate, and ammonia were calculated from which the contribution of each analyte was reviewed in the context of post-mortem findings and final cause of death. For sodium 32 cases were regarded as high (more than one standard deviation above the mean), from which 9 contributed to post-mortem diagnosis [drowning (4), heat related death (2), diabetic hyperglycemia (2), and dehydration (1)], but 25 low values (greater than one standard deviation below the mean) made no contribution. For chloride 29 high values contributed to 4 cases--3 drowning and 1 heat-related, but these were all previously identified by a high sodium level. There were 29 high and 35 low potassium values, none of which contributed to determining the final cause of death. Of 22 high values of creatinine, 12 contributed to a diagnosis of renal failure. From 32 high values of urea, 18 contributed to 16 cases of renal failure (2 associated with diabetic hyperglycemia), 1 heat-related death, and one case with dehydration. Osmolarity contributed to 12 cases (5 heat-related, 4 diabetes, 2 renal failure, and 1 dehydration) from 36 high values. There was no contribution from 32 high values and 19 low values of calcium and there was no contribution from 4 high and 2 low values of ammonia. There were 11 high values of glucose, which contributed to the diagnosis of 6 cases of diabetic hyperglycemia and 21 high ketone levels contributed to 8 cases: 4 diabetic ketosis, 3 hypothermia, 3

Life cycle management of analytical methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Parr, Maria Kristina; Schmidt, Alexander H

2018-01-05

In modern process management, the life cycle concept gains more and more importance. It focusses on the total costs of the process from invest to operation and finally retirement. Also for analytical procedures an increasing interest for this concept exists in the recent years. The life cycle of an analytical method consists of design, development, validation (including instrumental qualification, continuous method performance verification and method transfer) and finally retirement of the method. It appears, that also regulatory bodies have increased their awareness on life cycle management for analytical methods. Thus, the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH), as well as the United States Pharmacopeial Forum discuss the enrollment of new guidelines that include life cycle management of analytical methods. The US Pharmacopeia (USP) Validation and Verification expert panel already proposed a new General Chapter 〈1220〉 "The Analytical Procedure Lifecycle" for integration into USP. Furthermore, also in the non-regulated environment a growing interest on life cycle management is seen. Quality-by-design based method development results in increased method robustness. Thereby a decreased effort is needed for method performance verification, and post-approval changes as well as minimized risk of method related out-of-specification results. This strongly contributes to reduced costs of the method during its life cycle. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An analytical approach to separate climate and human contributions to basin streamflow variability

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Changbin; Wang, Liuming; Wanrui, Wang; Qi, Jiaguo; Linshan, Yang; Zhang, Yuan; Lei, Wu; Cui, Xia; Wang, Peng

2018-04-01

Climate variability and anthropogenic regulations are two interwoven factors in the ecohydrologic system across large basins. Understanding the roles that these two factors play under various hydrologic conditions is of great significance for basin hydrology and sustainable water utilization. In this study, we present an analytical approach based on coupling water balance method and Budyko hypothesis to derive effectiveness coefficients (ECs) of climate change, as a way to disentangle contributions of it and human activities to the variability of river discharges under different hydro-transitional situations. The climate dominated streamflow change (ΔQc) by EC approach was compared with those deduced by the elasticity method and sensitivity index. The results suggest that the EC approach is valid and applicable for hydrologic study at large basin scale. Analyses of various scenarios revealed that contributions of climate change and human activities to river discharge variation differed among the regions of the study area. Over the past several decades, climate change dominated hydro-transitions from dry to wet, while human activities played key roles in the reduction of streamflow during wet to dry periods. Remarkable decline of discharge in upstream was mainly due to human interventions, although climate contributed more to runoff increasing during dry periods in the semi-arid downstream. Induced effectiveness on streamflow changes indicated a contribution ratio of 49% for climate and 51% for human activities at the basin scale from 1956 to 2015. The mathematic derivation based simple approach, together with the case example of temporal segmentation and spatial zoning, could help people understand variation of river discharge with more details at a large basin scale under the background of climate change and human regulations.

Food risk perceptions, gender, and individual differences in avoidance and approach motivation, intuitive and analytic thinking styles, and anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Leikas, Sointu; Lindeman, Marjaana; Roininen, Katariina; Lähteenmäki, Liisa

2007-03-01

Risks appear to be perceived in two different ways, affectively and rationally. Finnish adult internet users were contacted via e-mail and asked to fill an internet questionnaire consisting of questions of food risks and measures of avoidance and approach motivation, analytic and intuitive information processing style, trait anxiety, and gender in order to find out (1) whether food risks are perceived two-dimensionally, (2) how individual differences in motivation, information processing, and anxiety are associated with the different dimensions of food risk perceptions, and (3) whether gender moderates these associations. The data were analyzed by factor, correlation and regression analyses. Three factors emerged: risk scariness, risk likelihood, and risks of cardiovascular disease. Personality and gender x personality interactions predicted food risk perceptions. Results showed that food risk perceptions generally form two dimensions; scariness and likelihood, but that this may depend on the nature of the risk. In addition, results imply that individuals with high avoidance motivation perceive food risks as scarier and more likely than others, and that individuals with an analytic information processing style perceive food risks as less likely than others. Trait anxiety seems to be associated with higher food risk perceptions only among men.

Understanding suicide risk within the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework: A meta-analytic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Glenn, Catherine R; Kleiman, Evan M; Cha, Christine B; Deming, Charlene A; Franklin, Joseph C; Nock, Matthew K

2018-01-01

The field is in need of novel and transdiagnostic risk factors for suicide. The National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) provides a framework that may help advance research on suicidal behavior. We conducted a meta-analytic review of existing prospective risk and protective factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors (ideation, attempts, and deaths) that fall within one of the five RDoC domains or relate to a prominent suicide theory. Predictors were selected from a database of 4,082 prospective risk and protective factors for suicide outcomes. A total of 460 predictors met inclusion criteria for this meta-analytic review and most examined risk (vs. protective) factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The overall effect of risk factors was statistically significant, but relatively small, in predicting suicide ideation (weighted mean odds ratio: wOR = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.59-1.87), suicide attempt (wOR = 1.66 [1.57-1.76), and suicide death (wOR = 1.41 [1.24-1.60]). Across all suicide outcomes, most risk factors related to the Negative Valence Systems domain, although effect sizes were of similar magnitude across RDoC domains. This study demonstrated that the RDoC framework provides a novel and promising approach to suicide research; however, relatively few studies of suicidal behavior fit within this framework. Future studies must go beyond the "usual suspects" of suicide risk factors (e.g., mental disorders, sociodemographics) to understand the processes that combine to lead to this deadly outcome. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Risk assessment of occupational groups working in open pit mining: Analytic Hierarchy Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yaşar Kasap

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In open pit mining it is possible to prevent industrial accidents and the results of industrial accidents such as deaths, physical disabilities and financial loss by implementing risk analyses in advance. If the probabilities of different occupational groups encountering various hazards are determined, workers’ risk of having industrial accidents and catching occupational illnesses can be controlled. In this sense, the aim of this study was to assess the industrial accidents which occurred during open pit coal production in the Turkish Coal Enterprises (TCE Garp Lignite unit between 2005 and 2010 and to analyze the risks using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP. The analyses conducted with AHP revealed that the greatest risk in open pit mining is landslides, the most risky occupational group is unskilled labourers and the most common hazards are caused by landslides and transportation/hand tools/falling.

Analytical solution of a stochastic model of risk spreading with global coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Morita, Satoru; Yoshimura, Jin

2013-11-01

We study a stochastic matrix model to understand the mechanics of risk spreading (or bet hedging) by dispersion. Up to now, this model has been mostly dealt with numerically, except for the well-mixed case. Here, we present an analytical result that shows that optimal dispersion leads to Zipf's law. Moreover, we found that the arithmetic ensemble average of the total growth rate converges to the geometric one, because the sample size is finite.

An analytical approach to the assessment of transuranics transmutation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piera, M.; Sanz, J.; Perlado, M.; Minguez, E.; Martinez-Val, J.M.

1999-01-01

An analytical study of Pu isotopes burnup in different transmutator prototypes is presented in this paper. Each prototype has been identified by a set of averaged cross sections, i.e., they are characterized by the neutron spectrum. Three types of systems have been considered: a fast spectrum reactor, which can be associated to molten lead systems; a fully thermalized reactor; and an epithermal reactor with a strong contribution to resonance reactions. The study has been focused on the burnup of Pu-239, Pu-240 and Pu-241 because they account (directly or indirectly) for the highest contribution to long-term radiotoxicity, as already pointed out. Pu-239 also conveys significant concerns on long-term proliferation risks. Therefore, elimination of these nuclei is the most important priority in the framework of reducing the nuclear waste risk in the long-term scenario. (author)

Interconnected Risk Contributions: A Heavy-Tail Approach to Analyze U.S. Financial Sectors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauro Bernardi

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the dynamic evolution of tail risk interdependence among U.S. banks, financial services and insurance sectors. Life and non-life insurers have been considered separately to account for their different characteristics. The tail risk interdependence measurement framework relies on the multivariate Student-t Markov switching (MS model and the multiple-conditional value-at-risk (CoVaR (conditional expected shortfall (CoES risk measures introduced in Bernardi et al. (2013, accounting for both the stylized facts of financial data and the contemporaneous multiple joint distress events. The Shapley value methodology is then applied to compose the puzzle of individual risk attributions, providing a synthetic measure of tail interdependence. Our empirical investigation finds that banks appear to contribute more to the tail risk evolution of all of the remaining sectors, followed by the financial services and the insurance sectors, showing that the insurance sector significantly contributes as well to the overall risk. We also find that the role of each sector in contributing to other sectors’ distress evolves over time according to the current predominant financial condition, implying different interdependence strength.

Using the Analytical Network Process to Select the Best Strategy for Reducing Risks in a Supply Chain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Hosseini

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper considers four types of the most prominent risks in the supply chain. Their subcriteria and relations between them and within the network are also considered. In a supply chain, risks are mostly created by fluctuations. The aim of this study is to adopt a strategy for eliminating or reducing risks in a supply chain network. Having various solutions helps the supply chain to be resilient. Therefore, five alternatives are considered, namely, total quality management (TQM, leanness, alignment, adaptability, and agility. This paper develops a new network of supply chain risks by considering the interactions between risks. Perhaps, the network elements have interacted with some or all of the factors (clusters or subfactors. We constitute supply chain risks in the analytic network process (ANP, which attracted less attention in the previous studies. Most of the studies about making a decision in supply chains have been applied in analytic hierarchy process (AHP network. The present study considers the ANP as a well-known multicriteria decision making (MCDM technique to choose the best alternative, because of the interdependency and feedbacks of different levels of the network. Finally, the ANP selects TQM as the best alternative among the considered ones.

Proposal of a risk-factor-based analytical approach for integrating occupational health and safety into project risk evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Badri, Adel; Nadeau, Sylvie; Gbodossou, André

2012-09-01

Excluding occupational health and safety (OHS) from project management is no longer acceptable. Numerous industrial accidents have exposed the ineffectiveness of conventional risk evaluation methods as well as negligence of risk factors having major impact on the health and safety of workers and nearby residents. Lack of reliable and complete evaluations from the beginning of a project generates bad decisions that could end up threatening the very existence of an organization. This article supports a systematic approach to the evaluation of OHS risks and proposes a new procedure based on the number of risk factors identified and their relative significance. A new concept called risk factor concentration along with weighting of risk factor categories as contributors to undesirable events are used in the analytical hierarchy process multi-criteria comparison model with Expert Choice(©) software. A case study is used to illustrate the various steps of the risk evaluation approach and the quick and simple integration of OHS at an early stage of a project. The approach allows continual reassessment of criteria over the course of the project or when new data are acquired. It was thus possible to differentiate the OHS risks from the risk of drop in quality in the case of the factory expansion project. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Carbon Impact Analytics - How to measure the contribution of a portfolio to the energy and climate transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-01-01

In a world transitioning to a low-carbon economy, it is crucial that investors and asset managers are equipped with strategies and tools to choose the financial assets most likely to thrive. Carbon Impact Analytics is an answer to this pressing yet unfulfilled need. This methodology was developed by Carbone 4 in collaboration with Mirova, Natixis Asset Management subsidiary dedicated to responsible investment. MAIF, a mutual insurance company, is also an early sponsor of the methodology. Carbon Impact Analytics (CIA) intends to measure and compare the contribution of financial assets and portfolios to the low-carbon economy. In this first version, the methodology covers corporate equities and bonds, with an international scope. This guide details the methodological principles of Carbon Impact Analytics. It is aimed at portfolio managers and asset owners interested in implementing Carbon Impact Analytics, and more broadly, to anyone seeking details on the methodology. Analysis of the carbon impact of a portfolio begins with an in-depth assessment of each underlying firm, followed by aggregation at the portfolio level. This allows for differentiation between companies in the same business sector, and enables recognition of companies' efforts in integrating climate and energy-related issues in their strategic decisions and reporting. Challenges regarding the low-carbon transition vary depending on the characteristics of each economic sector. Therefore, Carbon Impact Analytics differentiates 'high stakes' and 'low stakes' sectors, and provides specific insights for 'high stakes' sectors with tailored calculation principles for each sector. 'High stakes' sectors for which a detailed Carbon Impact analysis is performed are detailed. Aggregation at portfolio level eliminates emissions double-counting. Double-counting of GHG emissions arises when the same ton of GHG emissions is counted more than once within a portfolio due to the aggregation of companies' indirect

Prioritization of chemicals in the aquatic environment based on risk assessment: analytical, modeling and regulatory perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Guillén, D; Ginebreda, A; Farré, M; Darbra, R M; Petrovic, M; Gros, M; Barceló, D

2012-12-01

The extensive and intensive use of chemicals in our developed, highly technological society includes more than 100,000 chemical substances. Significant scientific evidence has lead to the recognition that their improper use and release may result in undesirable and harmful side-effects on both the human and ecosystem health. To cope with them, appropriate risk assessment processes and related prioritization schemes have been developed in order to provide the necessary scientific support for regulatory procedures. In the present paper, two of the elements that constitute the core of risk assessment, namely occurrence and hazard effects, have been discussed. Recent advances in analytical chemistry (sample pre-treatment and instrumental equipment, etc.) have allowed for more comprehensive monitoring of environmental pollution reaching limits of detection up to sub ng L(-1). Alternative to analytical measurements, occurrence models can provide risk managers with a very interesting approach for estimating environmental concentrations from real or hypothetical scenarios. The most representative prioritization schemes used for issuing lists of concerning chemicals have also been examined and put in the context of existing environmental policies for protection strategies and regulations. Finally, new challenges in the field of risk-assessment have been outlined, including those posed by new materials (i.e., nanomaterials), transformation products, multi-chemical exposure, or extension of the risk assessment process to the whole ecosystem. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Subject-enabled analytics model on measurement statistics in health risk expert system for public health informatics.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Chi-Jung; Kuo, Yu-Chen; Hsieh, Yun-Yu; Li, Tsai-Chung; Lin, Cheng-Chieh; Liang, Wen-Miin; Liao, Li-Na; Li, Chia-Ing; Lin, Hsueh-Chun

2017-11-01

This study applied open source technology to establish a subject-enabled analytics model that can enhance measurement statistics of case studies with the public health data in cloud computing. The infrastructure of the proposed model comprises three domains: 1) the health measurement data warehouse (HMDW) for the case study repository, 2) the self-developed modules of online health risk information statistics (HRIStat) for cloud computing, and 3) the prototype of a Web-based process automation system in statistics (PASIS) for the health risk assessment of case studies with subject-enabled evaluation. The system design employed freeware including Java applications, MySQL, and R packages to drive a health risk expert system (HRES). In the design, the HRIStat modules enforce the typical analytics methods for biomedical statistics, and the PASIS interfaces enable process automation of the HRES for cloud computing. The Web-based model supports both modes, step-by-step analysis and auto-computing process, respectively for preliminary evaluation and real time computation. The proposed model was evaluated by computing prior researches in relation to the epidemiological measurement of diseases that were caused by either heavy metal exposures in the environment or clinical complications in hospital. The simulation validity was approved by the commercial statistics software. The model was installed in a stand-alone computer and in a cloud-server workstation to verify computing performance for a data amount of more than 230K sets. Both setups reached efficiency of about 10 5 sets per second. The Web-based PASIS interface can be used for cloud computing, and the HRIStat module can be flexibly expanded with advanced subjects for measurement statistics. The analytics procedure of the HRES prototype is capable of providing assessment criteria prior to estimating the potential risk to public health. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Functional-analytical capabilities of GIS technology in the study of water use risks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nevidimova, O G; Yankovich, E P; Yankovich, K S

2015-01-01

Regional security aspects of economic activities are of great importance for legal regulation in environmental management. This has become a critical issue due to climate change, especially in regions where severe climate conditions have a great impact on almost all types of natural resource uses. A detailed analysis of climate and hydrological situation in Tomsk Oblast considering water use risks was carried out. Based on developed author's techniques an informational and analytical database was created using ArcGIS software platform, which combines statistical (quantitative) and spatial characteristics of natural hazards and socio-economic factors. This system was employed to perform areal zoning according to the degree of water use risks involved

Analytic structure of the n=7 scattering amplitude in N=4 SYM theory in multi-Regge kinematics. Conformal Regge cut contribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bartels, Jochen; Kormilitzin, Andrey; Oxford Univ.; Lipatov, Lev N.; Oxford Univ.; St. Petersburg State Univ.

2014-11-01

In this second part of our investigation of the analytic structure of the 2→5 scattering amplitude in the planar limit of N=4 SYM in multi-Regge kinematics we compute, in all kinematic regions, the Regge cut contributions in leading order. The results are infrared finite and conformally invariant.

Identifying risk factors that contribute to acute mountain sickness ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study is a questionnaire-based study conducted in London and at Everest Base Camp, in which 116 lowlanders were invited to participate and fill in a questionnaire to identify potential risk factors in their history that may have contributed to development of or protection against AMS. Results. A total of 89 lowlanders ...

The contribution of transport to the overall risk of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huebenthal, K.

1985-01-01

The overall risk of nuclear energy is minute as compared with other natural and civilization-effected risks. The contribution of the transport of radioactive materials to this overall risk is not significant. The paper touches the following subjects: Project Safety Studies of Waste Management (PSE), System Studies Alternative Waste Disposal Technologies (PAE), Motor Columbus and the Federal Gazette 10/2160 of October 1984. Collective doses of the population are given for the fuel cycle with various waste management technologies. (DG) [de

Environmental risk assessment system for phosphogypsum tailing dams.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Xin; Ning, Ping; Tang, Xiaolong; Yi, Honghong; Li, Kai; Zhou, Lianbi; Xu, Xianmang

2013-01-01

This paper may be of particular interest to the readers as it provides a new environmental risk assessment system for phosphogypsum tailing dams. In this paper, we studied the phosphogypsum tailing dams which include characteristics of the pollution source, environmental risk characteristics and evaluation requirements to identify the applicable environmental risk assessment methods. Two analytical methods, that is, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy logic, were used to handle the complexity of the environmental and nonquantitative data. Using our assessment method, different risk factors can be ranked according to their contributions to the environmental risk, thereby allowing the calculation of their relative priorities during decision making. Thus, environmental decision-makers can use this approach to develop alternative management strategies for proposed, ongoing, and completed PG tailing dams.

Early formula feeding practices and their potential contribution to later obesity risk

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Tarrant, R C

2013-01-02

Background and Aims: Early feeding practices, including early introduction to solid foods and overfeeding, are known risk factors for childhood obesity. This study aimed to assess maternal formula feeding practices and infant formula feeding patterns, factors that are known to potentially contribute to later obesity risk. \\r\

Tissue-Level Mechanical Properties of Bone Contributing to Fracture Risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Nyman, Jeffry S; Granke, Mathilde; Singleton, Robert C; Pharr, George M

2016-08-01

Tissue-level mechanical properties characterize mechanical behavior independently of microscopic porosity. Specifically, quasi-static nanoindentation provides measurements of modulus (stiffness) and hardness (resistance to yielding) of tissue at the length scale of the lamella, while dynamic nanoindentation assesses time-dependent behavior in the form of storage modulus (stiffness), loss modulus (dampening), and loss factor (ratio of the two). While these properties are useful in establishing how a gene, signaling pathway, or disease of interest affects bone tissue, they generally do not vary with aging after skeletal maturation or with osteoporosis. Heterogeneity in tissue-level mechanical properties or in compositional properties may contribute to fracture risk, but a consensus on whether the contribution is negative or positive has not emerged. In vivo indentation of bone tissue is now possible, and the mechanical resistance to microindentation has the potential for improving fracture risk assessment, though determinants are currently unknown.

Mitigating Sports Injury Risks Using Internet of Things and Analytics Approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkerson, Gary B; Gupta, Ashish; Colston, Marisa A

2018-03-12

Sport injuries restrict participation, impose a substantial economic burden, and can have persisting adverse effects on health-related quality of life. The effective use of Internet of Things (IoT), when combined with analytics approaches, can improve player safety through identification of injury risk factors that can be addressed by targeted risk reduction training activities. Use of IoT devices can facilitate highly efficient quantification of relevant functional capabilities prior to sport participation, which could substantially advance the prevailing sport injury management paradigm. This study introduces a framework for using sensor-derived IoT data to supplement other data for objective estimation of each individual college football player's level of injury risk, which is an approach to injury prevention that has not been previously reported. A cohort of 45 NCAA Division I-FCS college players provided data in the form of self-ratings of persisting effects of previous injuries and single-leg postural stability test. Instantaneous change in body mass acceleration (jerk) during the test was quantified by a smartphone accelerometer, with data wirelessly transmitted to a secure cloud server. Injuries sustained from the beginning of practice sessions until the end of the 13-game season were documented, along with the number of games played by each athlete over the course of a 13-game season. Results demonstrate a strong prediction model. Our approach may have strong relevance to the estimation of injury risk for other physically demanding activities. Clearly, there is great potential for improvement of injury prevention initiatives through identification of individual athletes who possess elevated injury risk and targeted interventions. © 2018 Society for Risk Analysis.

Croatian Analytical Terminology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kastelan-Macan; M.

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Results of analytical research are necessary in all human activities. They are inevitable in making decisions in the environmental chemistry, agriculture, forestry, veterinary medicine, pharmaceutical industry, and biochemistry. Without analytical measurements the quality of materials and products cannot be assessed, so that analytical chemistry is an essential part of technical sciences and disciplines.The language of Croatian science, and analytical chemistry within it, was one of the goals of our predecessors. Due to the political situation, they did not succeed entirely, but for the scientists in independent Croatia this is a duty, because language is one of the most important features of the Croatian identity. The awareness of the need to introduce Croatian terminology was systematically developed in the second half of the 19th century, along with the founding of scientific societies and the wish of scientists to write their scientific works in Croatian, so that the results of their research may be applied in economy. Many authors of textbooks from the 19th and the first half of the 20th century contributed to Croatian analytical terminology (F. Rački, B. Šulek, P. Žulić, G. Pexidr, J. Domac, G. Janeček , F. Bubanović, V. Njegovan and others. M. DeŢelić published the first systematic chemical terminology in 1940, adjusted to the IUPAC recommendations. In the second half of 20th century textbooks in classic analytical chemistry were written by V. Marjanović-Krajovan, M. Gyiketta-Ogrizek, S. Žilić and others. I. Filipović wrote the General and Inorganic Chemistry textbook and the Laboratory Handbook (in collaboration with P. Sabioncello and contributed greatly to establishing the terminology in instrumental analytical methods.The source of Croatian nomenclature in modern analytical chemistry today are translated textbooks by Skoog, West and Holler, as well as by Günnzler i Gremlich, and original textbooks by S. Turina, Z. �

Is food allergen analysis flawed? Health and supply chain risks and a proposed framework to address urgent analytical needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, M J; Burns, D T; Elliott, C T; Gowland, M H; Mills, E N Clare

2016-01-07

Food allergy is an increasing problem for those affected, their families or carers, the food industry and for regulators. The food supply chain is highly vulnerable to fraud involving food allergens, risking fatalities and severe reputational damage to the food industry. Many facets are being pursued to ameliorate the difficulties including better food labelling and the concept of thresholds of elicitation of allergy symptoms as risk management tools. These efforts depend to a high degree on the ability reliably to detect and quantify food allergens; yet all current analytical approaches exhibit severe deficiencies that jeopardise accurate results being produced particularly in terms of the risks of false positive and false negative reporting. If we fail to realise the promise of current risk assessment and risk management of food allergens through lack of the ability to measure food allergens reproducibly and with traceability to an international unit of measurement, the analytical community will have failed a significant societal challenge. Three distinct but interrelated areas of analytical work are urgently needed to address the substantial gaps identified: (a) a coordinated international programme for the production of properly characterised clinically relevant reference materials and calibrants for food allergen analysis; (b) an international programme to widen the scope of proteomics and genomics bioinformatics for the genera containing the major allergens to address problems in ELISA, MS and DNA methods; (c) the initiation of a coordinated international programme leading to reference methods for allergen proteins that provide results traceable to the SI. This article describes in more detail food allergy, the risks of inapplicable or flawed allergen analyses with examples and a proposed framework, including clinically relevant incurred allergen concentrations, to address the currently unmet and urgently required analytical requirements. Support for the

Applying predictive analytics to develop an intelligent risk detection application for healthcare contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Moghimi, Fatemeh Hoda; Cheung, Michael; Wickramasinghe, Nilmini

2013-01-01

Healthcare is an information rich industry where successful outcomes require the processing of multi-spectral data and sound decision making. The exponential growth of data and big data issues coupled with a rapid increase of service demands in healthcare contexts today, requires a robust framework enabled by IT (information technology) solutions as well as real-time service handling in order to ensure superior decision making and successful healthcare outcomes. Such a context is appropriate for the application of real time intelligent risk detection decision support systems using predictive analytic techniques such as data mining. To illustrate the power and potential of data science technologies in healthcare decision making scenarios, the use of an intelligent risk detection (IRD) model is proffered for the context of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) in children, an area which requires complex high risk decisions that need to be made expeditiously and accurately in order to ensure successful healthcare outcomes.

Can Google Trends search queries contribute to risk diversification?

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Krištoufek, Ladislav

2013-01-01

Roč. 3, č. 2713 (2013), s. 1-5 ISSN 2045-2322 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA402/09/0965 Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : Google Trends * diversification * portfolio Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 5.078, year: 2013 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2013/E/kristoufek-can google trends search queries contribute to risk diversification.pdf

Analytical quality by design: a tool for regulatory flexibility and robust analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Peraman, Ramalingam; Bhadraya, Kalva; Padmanabha Reddy, Yiragamreddy

2015-01-01

Very recently, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a few new drug applications (NDA) with regulatory flexibility for quality by design (QbD) based analytical approach. The concept of QbD applied to analytical method development is known now as AQbD (analytical quality by design). It allows the analytical method for movement within method operable design region (MODR). Unlike current methods, analytical method developed using analytical quality by design (AQbD) approach reduces the number of out-of-trend (OOT) results and out-of-specification (OOS) results due to the robustness of the method within the region. It is a current trend among pharmaceutical industry to implement analytical quality by design (AQbD) in method development process as a part of risk management, pharmaceutical development, and pharmaceutical quality system (ICH Q10). Owing to the lack explanatory reviews, this paper has been communicated to discuss different views of analytical scientists about implementation of AQbD in pharmaceutical quality system and also to correlate with product quality by design and pharmaceutical analytical technology (PAT).

Environmental impact and risk assessments and key factors contributing to the overall uncertainties.

Science.gov (United States)

Salbu, Brit

2016-01-01

There is a significant number of nuclear and radiological sources that have contributed, are still contributing, or have the potential to contribute to radioactive contamination of the environment in the future. To protect the environment from radioactive contamination, impact and risk assessments are performed prior to or during a release event, short or long term after deposition or prior and after implementation of countermeasures. When environmental impact and risks are assessed, however, a series of factors will contribute to the overall uncertainties. To provide environmental impact and risk assessments, information on processes, kinetics and a series of input variables is needed. Adding problems such as variability, questionable assumptions, gaps in knowledge, extrapolations and poor conceptual model structures, a series of factors are contributing to large and often unacceptable uncertainties in impact and risk assessments. Information on the source term and the release scenario is an essential starting point in impact and risk models; the source determines activity concentrations and atom ratios of radionuclides released, while the release scenario determine the physico-chemical forms of released radionuclides such as particle size distribution, structure and density. Releases will most often contain other contaminants such as metals, and due to interactions, contaminated sites should be assessed as a multiple stressor scenario. Following deposition, a series of stressors, interactions and processes will influence the ecosystem transfer of radionuclide species and thereby influence biological uptake (toxicokinetics) and responses (toxicodynamics) in exposed organisms. Due to the variety of biological species, extrapolation is frequently needed to fill gaps in knowledge e.g., from effects to no effects, from effects in one organism to others, from one stressor to mixtures. Most toxtests are, however, performed as short term exposure of adult organisms

Environmental impact and risk assessments and key factors contributing to the overall uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salbu, Brit

2016-01-01

There is a significant number of nuclear and radiological sources that have contributed, are still contributing, or have the potential to contribute to radioactive contamination of the environment in the future. To protect the environment from radioactive contamination, impact and risk assessments are performed prior to or during a release event, short or long term after deposition or prior and after implementation of countermeasures. When environmental impact and risks are assessed, however, a series of factors will contribute to the overall uncertainties. To provide environmental impact and risk assessments, information on processes, kinetics and a series of input variables is needed. Adding problems such as variability, questionable assumptions, gaps in knowledge, extrapolations and poor conceptual model structures, a series of factors are contributing to large and often unacceptable uncertainties in impact and risk assessments. Information on the source term and the release scenario is an essential starting point in impact and risk models; the source determines activity concentrations and atom ratios of radionuclides released, while the release scenario determine the physico-chemical forms of released radionuclides such as particle size distribution, structure and density. Releases will most often contain other contaminants such as metals, and due to interactions, contaminated sites should be assessed as a multiple stressor scenario. Following deposition, a series of stressors, interactions and processes will influence the ecosystem transfer of radionuclide species and thereby influence biological uptake (toxicokinetics) and responses (toxicodynamics) in exposed organisms. Due to the variety of biological species, extrapolation is frequently needed to fill gaps in knowledge e.g., from effects to no effects, from effects in one organism to others, from one stressor to mixtures. Most toxtests are, however, performed as short term exposure of adult organisms

Mitigation of Volcanic Risk: The COSMO-SkyMed Contribution

Science.gov (United States)

Sacco, Patrizia; Daraio, Maria Girolamo; Battagliere, Maria Libera; Coletta, Alessandro

2015-05-01

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) promotes Earth Observation (EO) applications related to themes such as the prediction, monitoring, management and mitigation of natural and anthropogenic hazards. The approach generally followed is the development and demonstration of prototype services, using currently available data from space missions, in particular the COSMO-SkyMed (Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin observation) mission, which represents the largest Italian investment in Space System for EO and thanks to which Italy plays a key role worldwide. Projects funded by ASI provide the convergence of various national industry expertise, research and institutional reference users. In this context a significant example is represented by the ASI Pilot Projects, recently concluded, dealing with various thematic, such as volcanoes. In this paper a special focus will be addressed to the volcanic risk management and the contribution provided in this field by COSMO-SkyMed satellite constellation during the last years. A comprehensive overview of the various national and international projects using COSMO-SkyMed data for the volcanic risk mitigation will be given, highlighting the Italian contribution provided worldwide in this operational framework.

Does network topology influence systemic risk contribution? A perspective from the industry indices in Chinese stock market.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Haiming; Zhang, Ji; Tang, Nengyu

2017-01-01

This study considers the effect of an industry's network topology on its systemic risk contribution to the stock market using data from the CSI 300 two-tier industry indices from the Chinese stock market. We first measure industry's conditional-value-at-risk (CoVaR) and the systemic risk contribution (ΔCoVaR) using the fitted time-varying t-copula function. The network of the stock industry is established based on dynamic conditional correlations with the minimum spanning tree. Then, we investigate the connection characteristics and topology of the network. Finally, we utilize seemingly unrelated regression estimation (SUR) of panel data to analyze the relationship between network topology of the stock industry and the industry's systemic risk contribution. The results show that the systemic risk contribution of small-scale industries such as real estate, food and beverage, software services, and durable goods and clothing, is higher than that of large-scale industries, such as banking, insurance and energy. Industries with large betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, and clustering coefficient and small node occupancy layer are associated with greater systemic risk contribution. In addition, further analysis using a threshold model confirms that the results are robust.

Does network topology influence systemic risk contribution? A perspective from the industry indices in Chinese stock market.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haiming Long

Full Text Available This study considers the effect of an industry's network topology on its systemic risk contribution to the stock market using data from the CSI 300 two-tier industry indices from the Chinese stock market. We first measure industry's conditional-value-at-risk (CoVaR and the systemic risk contribution (ΔCoVaR using the fitted time-varying t-copula function. The network of the stock industry is established based on dynamic conditional correlations with the minimum spanning tree. Then, we investigate the connection characteristics and topology of the network. Finally, we utilize seemingly unrelated regression estimation (SUR of panel data to analyze the relationship between network topology of the stock industry and the industry's systemic risk contribution. The results show that the systemic risk contribution of small-scale industries such as real estate, food and beverage, software services, and durable goods and clothing, is higher than that of large-scale industries, such as banking, insurance and energy. Industries with large betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, and clustering coefficient and small node occupancy layer are associated with greater systemic risk contribution. In addition, further analysis using a threshold model confirms that the results are robust.

Analytical Hierarchy Process modeling for malaria risk zones in Vadodara district, Gujarat

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatt, B.; Joshi, J. P.

2014-11-01

Malaria epidemic is one of the complex spatial problems around the world. According to WHO, an estimated 6, 27, 000 deaths occurred due to malaria in 2012. In many developing nations with diverse ecological regions, it is still a large cause of human mortality. Owing to the incompleteness of epidemiological data and their spatial origin, the quantification of disease incidence burdening basic public health planning is a major constrain especially in developing countries. The present study focuses on the integrated Geospatial and Multi-Criteria Evaluation (AHP) technique to determine malaria risk zones. The study is conducted in Vadodara district, including 12 Taluka among which 4 Taluka are predominantly tribal. The influence of climatic and physical environmental factors viz., rainfall, hydro geomorphology; drainage, elevation, and land cover are used to score their share in the evaluation of malariogenic condition. This was synthesized on the basis of preference over each factor and the total weights of each data and data layer were computed and visualized. The district was divided into three viz., high, moderate and low risk zones .It was observed that a geographical area of 1885.2sq.km comprising 30.3% fall in high risk zone. The risk zones identified on the basis of these parameters and assigned weights shows a close resemblance with ground condition. As the API distribution for 2011overlaid corresponds to the risk zones identified. The study demonstrates the significance and prospect of integrating Geospatial tools and Analytical Hierarchy Process for malaria risk zones and dynamics of malaria transmission.

Prevalence of risk factors for stuttering among boys: analytical cross-sectional study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristiane Moço Canhetti Oliveira

Full Text Available CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE:There have been few studies on the risk factors for subgroups of stuttering. The aim of this study was to characterize the risk factors for developmental familial stuttering among boys who stutter and who do not stutter, such as disfluency types, associated quality and communication factors, emotional and physical stress, familial attitudes and personal reactions.DESIGN AND SETTING:Analytical cross-sectional study with a control group, performed at the Fluency Studies Laboratory of the Department of Speech and Hearing Disorders of a public university.METHODS: The parents of 40 age-matched stuttering and non-stuttering boys took part in this study. The participants were divided into two groups: stuttering children (SC and non-stuttering children (NSC, with ages between 6 years 0 months and 11 years 11 months. Initially, all of the participants underwent a fluency assessment and then data were gathered using the Protocol for the Risk of Developmental Stuttering.RESULTS:There were no differences in the physical stress distribution factors and personal reactions between the groups. Inappropriate familial attitudes were presented by 95% of the SC and 30% of the NSC. Four risk factors analyzed were not shown by the NSC, namely stuttering-like disfluency, quality factors, physical stress and emotional stresses.CONCLUSIONS:The findings suggest that the presence of stuttering-like disfluency, associated quality and communication factors, emotional stress and inappropriate family attitudes are important risk factors for familial developmental stuttering among boys.

News Analytics for Financial Decision Support

NARCIS (Netherlands)

V. Milea (Viorel)

2013-01-01

textabstractThis PhD thesis contributes to the newly emerged, growing body of scientific work on the use of News Analytics in Finance. Regarded as the next significant development in Automated Trading, News Analytics extends trading algorithms to incorporate information extracted from textual

[Factors of risk perception and risk acceptability: a contribution for the knowledge of the perception of the risk associated with blood transfusion].

Science.gov (United States)

Hergon, E; Moutel, G; Bellier, L; Hervé, C; Rouger, P

2004-07-01

The concept of risk cannot be limited to simply knowing the probability of occurrence and the seriousness of the damages caused. It's a matter of social construction and numerous elements contribute towards its perception and acceptability. These elements have been studied for 20 years or so. Some of these elements influence risk perception such as awfulness, unfamiliarity, the number of people exposed to it, other elements influence its acceptance such as individual perceptions, social factors, ethics and equity. Their knowledge allows a better understanding of the evolution of perception and of the risk acceptability in general and transfusion risk in particular.

Learning Analytics at Low Cost: At-Risk Student Prediction with Clicker Data and Systematic Proactive Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Samuel P. M.; Lam, S. S.; Li, Kam Cheong; Wong, Billy T. M.

2018-01-01

While learning analytics (LA) practices have been shown to be practical and effective, most of them require a huge amount of data and effort. This paper reports a case study which demonstrates the feasibility of practising LA at a low cost for instructors to identify at-risk students in an undergraduate business quantitative methods course.…

Understanding Sociocultural Factors Contributing to HIV Risk Among Ayoreo Bolivian Sex Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

López Entrambasaguas, Olga María; Granero-Molina, José; Hernández-Padilla, Jose; Fernández-Sola, Cayetano

2015-01-01

The Bolivian indigenous Ayoreo ethnic people are vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Ayoreo women who also work in sex trades belong to an extremely high-risk group, and prevention programs are not delivering effective outcomes for them. The aim of our study was to explore, describe, and understand behavioral and cultural patterns related to sexual and reproductive health in Ayoreo sex workers. A qualitative-ethnographic study was designed; data were collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews with sex workers and key informants. Two fundamental themes contributing to HIV risk for female Ayoreo sex workers in Bolivia emerged: reproductive/sexual freedom and sociocultural risk determinants. We concluded that the in-depth examination of the sexual-reproductive culture amongst the Ayoreo has provided useful information, which might contribute to the cultural adaptation and design of future policies and prevention programs for sexually transmitted infections and HIV in this group. Copyright © 2015 Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

News analytics for financial decision support

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Milea, D.V.

2013-01-01

This PhD thesis contributes to the newly emerged, growing body of scientific work on the use of News Analytics in Finance. Regarded as the next significant development in Automated Trading, News Analytics extends trading algorithms to incorporate information extracted from textual messages, by

Risk and contributing factors of ecosystem shifts over naturally vegetated land under climate change in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Yuanyuan; Tang, Qiuhong; Wang, Lixin; Liu, Xingcai

2016-02-12

Identifying the areas at risk of ecosystem transformation and the main contributing factors to the risk is essential to assist ecological adaptation to climate change. We assessed the risk of ecosystem shifts in China using the projections of four global gridded vegetation models (GGVMs) and an aggregate metric. The results show that half of naturally vegetated land surface could be under moderate or severe risk at the end of the 21(st) century under the middle and high emission scenarios. The areas with high risk are the Tibetan Plateau region and an area extended northeastward from the Tibetan Plateau to northeast China. With the three major factors considered, the change in carbon stocks is the main contributing factor to the high risk of ecosystem shifts. The change in carbon fluxes is another important contributing factor under the high emission scenario. The change in water fluxes is a less dominant factor except for the Tibetan Plateau region under the high emission scenario. Although there is considerable uncertainty in the risk assessment, the geographic patterns of the risk are generally consistent across different scenarios. The results could help develop regional strategies for ecosystem conservation to cope with climate change.

Analytic structure of the n=7 scattering amplitude in N=4 SYM theory at multi-Regge kinematics. Conformal Regge pole contribution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bartels, Jochen; Kormilitzin, Andrey [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). II. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Lipatov, Lev [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). II. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)

2013-11-15

We investigate the analytic structure of the 2 {yields} 5 scattering amplitude in the planar limit of N=4 SYM in multi-Regge kinematics in all physical regions. We demonstrate the close connection between Regge pole and Regge cut contributions: in a selected class of kinematic regions (Mandelstam regions) the usual factorizing Regge pole formula develops unphysical singularities which have to be absorbed and compensated by Regge cut contributions. This leads, in the corrections to the BDS formula, to conformal invariant 'renormalized' Regge pole expressions in the remainder function. We compute these renormalized Regge poles for the 2 {yields} 5 scattering amplitude.

An enhanced data-analytic framework for integrating risk management and performance management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thekdi, Shital; Aven, Terje

2016-01-01

There is increasing interest for agencies and industries to develop risk management processes for a wide variety of applications. Traditional risk management processes are motivated by controlling risk and avoiding losses. In contrast, other organizational processes focus on managing performance and value generation. In this paper we argue that risk management also adds an important contribution to these processes. However, this requires “proper” risk management extending beyond narrow safety oriented perspectives built on quantitative risk analysis and tolerability/acceptance criteria. There is need for a broad risk-performance framework with uncertainty being a main component of risk, and where knowledge and surprises are adequately reflected. In the paper we present and discuss such a framework. The framework is developed on the basis of an analysis of combinations of different risk management and performance management practices/policies. We show how the risk and performance management processes can be improved by proper risk conceptualization and a holistic thinking on how to develop and use goals in the organization, how to balance different concerns, and consider the need for agility – “sensitivity to operations”, as well as how to give weight to vulnerabilities, resilience, and antifragility. - Highlights: • We relate key performance management and risk management principles. • We propose an enhanced framework to unify thinking of performance and risk. • We apply the framework to a public-private partnership case study.

Public perception of analytical risk assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Waite, D.A.; McCormack, W.D.

1990-01-01

Most analytical assessments of potential impacts on the environment from US Department of Energy (DOE) activities receive, at some point in their development, public scrutiny. The objective of this paper is to discuss the apparent perception of these assessments held by the public reviewers, based on written and verbal comments that they have offered. The discussion begins with a short overview of the analytical assessment process most often used on DOE projects. The process is described in terms of the basic process elements and data sources involved. Based on this outline of the assessment process, the key elements from the public's perspective are identified and examined on the basis of Importance Criteria and the Perception Framework in which the Importance Criteria appear to be applied. The paper is concluded with an analysis of the key elements of the public's perception. This section of the discussion is formatted to couple observational evidence of public perception difficulties with key assessment elements, and these difficulties with potential alternative approaches that serve the same purpose but are more acceptable to the public

Risk assessment in the upstream crude oil supply chain: Leveraging analytic hierarchy process

Science.gov (United States)

Briggs, Charles Awoala

For an organization to be successful, an effective strategy is required, and if implemented appropriately the strategy will result in a sustainable competitive advantage. The importance of decision making in the oil industry is reflected in the magnitude and nature of the industry. Specific features of the oil industry supply chain, such as its longer chain, the complexity of its transportation system, its complex production and storage processes, etc., pose challenges to its effective management. Hence, understanding the risks, the risk sources, and their potential impacts on the oil industry's operations will be helpful in proposing a risk management model for the upstream oil supply chain. The risk-based model in this research uses a three-level analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a multiple-attribute decision-making technique, to underline the importance of risk analysis and risk management in the upstream crude oil supply chain. Level 1 represents the overall goal of risk management; Level 2 is comprised of the various risk factors; and Level 3 represents the alternative criteria of the decision maker as indicated on the hierarchical structure of the crude oil supply chain. Several risk management experts from different oil companies around the world were surveyed, and six major types of supply chain risks were identified: (1) exploration and production, (2) environmental and regulatory compliance, (3) transportation, (4) availability of oil, (5) geopolitical, and (6) reputational. Also identified are the preferred methods of managing risks which include; (1) accept and control the risks, (2) avoid the risk by stopping the activity, or (3) transfer or share the risks to other companies or insurers. The results from the survey indicate that the most important risk to manage is transportation risk with a priority of .263, followed by exploration/production with priority of .198, with an overall inconsistency of .03. With respect to major objectives the most

Monitoring of emerging pollutants in Guadiamar River basin (South of Spain): analytical method, spatial distribution and environmental risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Garrido, Eva; Camacho-Muñoz, Dolores; Martín, Julia; Santos, Antonio; Santos, Juan Luis; Aparicio, Irene; Alonso, Esteban

2016-12-01

Guadiamar River is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula and connects two protected areas in the South of Spain: Sierra Morena and Doñana National Park. It is sited in an area affected by urban, industrial and agriculture sewage pollution and with tradition on intensive mining activities. Most of the studies performed in this area have been mainly focused on the presence of heavy metals and, until now, little is known about the occurrence of other contaminants such as emerging organic pollutants (EOPs). In this work, an analytical method has been optimized and validated for monitoring of forty-seven EOPs in surface water. The analytical method has been applied to study the distribution and environmental risk of these pollutants in Guadiamar River basin. The analytical method was based on solid-phase extraction and determination by liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole-tandem mass spectrometry. The 60 % of the target compounds were found in the analyzed samples. The highest concentrations were found for two plasticizers (bisphenol A and di(2-ethyhexyl)phthalate, mean concentration up to 930 ng/L) and two pharmaceutical compounds (caffeine (up to 623 ng/L) and salicylic acid (up to 318 ng/L)). This study allowed to evaluate the potential sources (industrial or urban) of the studied compounds and the spatial distribution of their concentrations along the river. Environmental risk assessment showed a major risk on the south of the river, mainly due to discharges of wastewater effluents.

New algorithm for risk analysis in radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torres, Antonio; Montes de Oca, Joe

2015-01-01

Risk analyses applied to radiotherapy treatments have become an undeniable necessity, considering the dangers generated by the combination of using powerful radiation fields on patients and the occurrence of human errors and equipment failures during these treatments. The technique par excellence to execute these analyses has been the risk matrix. This paper presents the development of a new algorithm to execute the task with wide graphic and analytic potentialities, thus transforming it into a very useful option for risk monitoring and the optimization of quality assurance. The system SECURE- MR, which is the basic software of this algorithm, has been successfully used in risk analysis regarding different kinds of radiotherapies. Compared to previous methods, It offers new possibilities of analysis considering risk controlling factors as the robustness of reducers of initiators frequency and its consequences. Their analytic capacities and graphs allow novel developments to classify risk contributing factors, to represent information processes as well as accidental sequences. The paper shows the application of the proposed system to a generic process of radiotherapy treatment using a lineal accelerator. (author)

The current contribution of molecular factors to risk estimation in neuroblastoma patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Berthold, F; Sahin, K; Hero, B; Christiansen, H; Gehring, M; Harms, D; Horz, S; Lampert, F; Schwab, M; Terpe, J

1997-10-01

The association of molecular characteristics with prognosis has been reported, but not their relationship with each other and their impact in the context of known clinical risk factors. In this study, data of 1249 consecutive intent-to-treat-neuroblastoma patients with more than 1 year follow-up were examined by multivariate analysis using loglinear and Cox proportional hazard regression models on a stage-related basis (stages 1-3: 600, 4S: 116, 4: 533). In a first step, risk factors were identified from 18 selected clinical variables, and risk groups defined. The second step investigated whether molecular characteristics (MYCN, LOH 1p, del 1p, CD44, N-ras, NGF-R, bcl-2, APO-1 (CD95)) contributed additional prognostic information to the model. The loglinear model demonstrated several interactions between clinical factors. By the Cox regression model, seven independent clinical risk factors were found for stages 1-3, seven for stage 4 and two for stage 4S. By subsequent introduction of all molecular variables, MYCN amplification only added significant prognostic information to the clinical factors in localised and stage 4 neuroblastoma. The models allowed the definition of risk groups for stages 1-3 patients by age (e beta = 5.09) and MYCN (e beta = 4.26), for stage 4 by MYCN (e beta = 2.78) and number of symptoms (e beta = 2.44) and for stage 4S by platelet count (e beta = 3.91) and general condition (e beta = 2.99). Molecular factors and in particular MYCN contribute significantly to risk estimation. In conjunction with clinical factors, they are powerful tools to define risk groups in neuroblastoma.

Does risk management contribute to IT project success? A meta-analysis of empirical evidence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Bakker, K.F.C.; Boonstra, A.; Wortmann, J.C.

The question whether risk management contributes to IT project success is considered relevant by people from both academic and practitioners' communities already for a long time. This paper presents a meta-analysis of the empirical evidence that either supports or opposes the claim that risk

The contribution of industry to complementary financing of nuclear liability risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delpirou, D.

1993-01-01

The members of OPEN (Association of Nuclear Energy Producers) and UNIPEDE (International Union of Producers and Distributors of Electrical Energy) consider that the creation of a pooling system intended to have industry provide complementary financing of nuclear liability risk cannot be taken for granted at the current stage of discussions. If such a system was set-up, it should respect the following principles: free organization of pools by operators and voluntary association of members; creation of pools on a regional basis; setting of a reasonable maximum contribution for each nuclear installation; system of post event contributions; flexible and economic management of funds

MORT User's Manual for use with the Management Oversight and Risk Tree analytical logic diagram. [Contains a list of System Safety Development Center publications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knox, N.W.; Eicher, R.W.

1992-02-01

This report contains the User's Manual for MORT (Management Oversight and Risk Tree), a logic diagram in the form of a work sheet'' that illustrates a long series of interrelated questions. MORT is a comprehensive analytical procedure that provides a disciplined method for determining the causes and contributing factors of major accidents. Alternatively, it serves as a tool to evaluate the quality of an existing system. While similar in many respects to fault tree analysis, MORT is more generalized and presents over 1,500 specific elements of an ideal universal'' management program for optimizing environment, safety and health, and other programs. This User's Manual is intended to be used with the MORT diagram dated February 1992.

Ecological risk assessment of hydropower dam construction based on ecological network analysis

OpenAIRE

Chen, Shaoqing; Fath, Brian D.; Chen, Bin

2010-01-01

Dam construction is regarded as one of the major factors contributing to significant modifications of the river ecosystems, and the ecological risk (ER) assessment of dam construction has received growing attention in recent years. In the present study, we explored the potential ecological risk caused by dam project based on the general principles of the ecological risk assessment. Ecological network analysis was proposed as the usable analytic method for the implement of ecological risk asse...

What Is Trust? Ethics and Risk Governance in Precision Medicine and Predictive Analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Adjekum, Afua; Ienca, Marcello; Vayena, Effy

2017-12-01

Trust is a ubiquitous term used in emerging technology (e.g., Big Data, precision medicine), innovation policy, and governance literatures in particular. But what exactly is trust? Even though trust is considered a critical requirement for the successful deployment of precision medicine initiatives, nonetheless, there is a need for further conceptualization with regard to what qualifies as trust, and what factors might establish and sustain trust in precision medicine, predictive analytics, and large-scale biology. These new fields of 21st century medicine and health often deal with the "futures" and hence, trust gains a temporal and ever-present quality for both the present and the futures anticipated by new technologies and predictive analytics. We address these conceptual gaps that have important practical implications in the way we govern risk and unknowns associated with emerging technologies in biology, medicine, and health broadly. We provide an in-depth conceptual analysis and an operative definition of trust dynamics in precision medicine. In addition, we identify three main types of "trust facilitators": (1) technical, (2) ethical, and (3) institutional. This three-dimensional framework on trust is necessary to building and maintaining trust in 21st century knowledge-based innovations that governments and publics invest for progressive societal change, development, and sustainable prosperity. Importantly, we analyze, identify, and deliberate on the dimensions of precision medicine and large-scale biology that have carved out trust as a pertinent tool to its success. Moving forward, we propose a "points to consider" on how best to enhance trust in precision medicine and predictive analytics.

Considering the human factors contribution to the risk in the design choices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Papin, B.

2004-01-01

Abstract: With the increasing reliability of the modern technological systems, the human contribution to the global risk in the operation of industrial systems is becoming more and more significant: in the nuclear reactor operation for example, a recent PSA estimation of this contribution is about 25% of the risk of core melting, all situations considered. This urges the designers of future plants to consider the minimization of this Human Factor (HF) contribution, at the very early stage of their design: the experience feedback shows that this is indeed at this stage that the fundamental design options, impacting the most the human reliability in operation, are fixed. The problem is that at these early design stages, it is also quite impossible to apply formal human reliability methods to support this HF optimisation, while the precise operating conditions of the plant are not yet known in enough details. In this paper, another approach of the HF evaluation during the design, based on the functional and operational complexity assessment, is proposed. As an illustration, this approach is used to compare various concepts of nuclear reactors from the point of view of the Human Factor relevance. (authors)

Development of an analytical method to assess the occupational health risk of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies using LC-HRMS.

Science.gov (United States)

Reinders, Lars M H; Klassen, Martin D; Jaeger, Martin; Teutenberg, Thorsten; Tuerk, Jochen

2018-04-01

Monoclonal antibodies are a group of commonly used therapeutics, whose occupational health risk is still discussed controversially. The long-term low-dose exposure side effects are insufficiently evaluated; hence, discussions are often based on a theoretical level or extrapolating side effects from therapeutic dosages. While some research groups recommend applying the precautionary principle for monoclonal antibodies, others consider the exposure risk too low for measures taken towards occupational health and safety. However, both groups agree that airborne monoclonal antibodies have the biggest risk potential. Therefore, we developed a peptide-based analytical method for occupational exposure monitoring of airborne monoclonal antibodies. The method will allow collecting data about the occupational exposure to monoclonal antibodies. Thus, the mean daily intake for personnel in pharmacies and the pharmaceutical industry can be determined for the first time and will help to substantiate the risk assessment by relevant data. The introduced monitoring method includes air sampling, sample preparation and detection by liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry of individual monoclonal antibodies as well as sum parameter. For method development and validation, a chimeric (rituximab), humanised (trastuzumab) and a fully humanised (daratumumab) monoclonal antibody are used. A limit of detection between 1 μg per sample for daratumumab and 25 μg per sample for the collective peptide is achieved. Graphical abstract Demonstration of the analytical workflow, from the release of monoclonal antibodies to the detection as single substances as well as sum parameter.

The contribution of bank regulation and fair value accounting to procyclical leverage

OpenAIRE

Amel-Zadeh; Barth, ME; Landsman, WR

2017-01-01

Our analytical description of how banks’ responses to asset price changes can result in procyclical leverage reveals that for banks with a binding regulatory leverage constraint, absent differences in regulatory risk weights across assets, procyclical leverage does not occur. For banks without a binding constraint, fair value and bank regulation both can contribute to procyclical leverage. Empirical findings based on a large sample of US commercial banks reveal that bank regulation explains p...

Analytical admittance characterization of high mobility channel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mammeri, A. M.; Mahi, F. Z., E-mail: fati-zo-mahi2002@yahoo.fr [Institute of Science and Technology, University of Bechar (Algeria); Varani, L. [Institute of Electronics of the South (IES - CNRS UMR 5214), University of Montpellier (France)

2015-03-30

In this contribution, we investigate the small-signal admittance of the high electron mobility transistors field-effect channels under a continuation branching of the current between channel and gate by using an analytical model. The analytical approach takes into account the linearization of the 2D Poisson equation and the drift current along the channel. The analytical equations discuss the frequency dependence of the admittance at source and drain terminals on the geometrical transistor parameters.

Transfer of analytical procedures: a panel of strategies selected for risk management, with emphasis on an integrated equivalence-based comparative testing approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Agut, C; Caron, A; Giordano, C; Hoffman, D; Ségalini, A

2011-09-10

In 2001, a multidisciplinary team made of analytical scientists and statisticians at Sanofi-aventis has published a methodology which has governed, from that time, the transfers from R&D sites to Manufacturing sites of the release monographs. This article provides an overview of the recent adaptations brought to this original methodology taking advantage of our experience and the new regulatory framework, and, in particular, the risk management perspective introduced by ICH Q9. Although some alternate strategies have been introduced in our practices, the comparative testing one, based equivalence testing as statistical approach, remains the standard for assays lying on very critical quality attributes. This is conducted with the concern to control the most important consumer's risk involved at two levels in analytical decisions in the frame of transfer studies: risk, for the receiving laboratory, to take poor release decisions with the analytical method and risk, for the sending laboratory, to accredit such a receiving laboratory on account of its insufficient performances with the method. Among the enhancements to the comparative studies, the manuscript presents the process settled within our company for a better integration of the transfer study into the method life-cycle, just as proposals of generic acceptance criteria and designs for assay and related substances methods. While maintaining rigor and selectivity of the original approach, these improvements tend towards an increased efficiency in the transfer operations. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The contribution of Raman spectroscopy to the analytical quality control of cytotoxic drugs in a hospital environment: eliminating the exposure risks for staff members and their work environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bourget, Philippe; Amin, Alexandre; Vidal, Fabrice; Merlette, Christophe; Troude, Pénélope; Baillet-Guffroy, Arlette

2014-08-15

The purpose of the study was to perform a comparative analysis of the technical performance, respective costs and environmental effect of two invasive analytical methods (HPLC and UV/visible-FTIR) as compared to a new non-invasive analytical technique (Raman spectroscopy). Three pharmacotherapeutic models were used to compare the analytical performances of the three analytical techniques. Statistical inter-method correlation analysis was performed using non-parametric correlation rank tests. The study's economic component combined calculations relative to the depreciation of the equipment and the estimated cost of an AQC unit of work. In any case, analytical validation parameters of the three techniques were satisfactory, and strong correlations between the two spectroscopic techniques vs. HPLC were found. In addition, Raman spectroscopy was found to be superior as compared to the other techniques for numerous key criteria including a complete safety for operators and their occupational environment, a non-invasive procedure, no need for consumables, and a low operating cost. Finally, Raman spectroscopy appears superior for technical, economic and environmental objectives, as compared with the other invasive analytical methods. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Social network data analytics

CERN Document Server

Aggarwal, Charu C

2011-01-01

Social network analysis applications have experienced tremendous advances within the last few years due in part to increasing trends towards users interacting with each other on the internet. Social networks are organized as graphs, and the data on social networks takes on the form of massive streams, which are mined for a variety of purposes. Social Network Data Analytics covers an important niche in the social network analytics field. This edited volume, contributed by prominent researchers in this field, presents a wide selection of topics on social network data mining such as Structural Pr

Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Holt-Lunstad, Julianne; Smith, Timothy B; Baker, Mark; Harris, Tyler; Stephenson, David

2015-03-01

Actual and perceived social isolation are both associated with increased risk for early mortality. In this meta-analytic review, our objective is to establish the overall and relative magnitude of social isolation and loneliness and to examine possible moderators. We conducted a literature search of studies (January 1980 to February 2014) using MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Social Work Abstracts, and Google Scholar. The included studies provided quantitative data on mortality as affected by loneliness, social isolation, or living alone. Across studies in which several possible confounds were statistically controlled for, the weighted average effect sizes were as follows: social isolation odds ratio (OR) = 1.29, loneliness OR = 1.26, and living alone OR = 1.32, corresponding to an average of 29%, 26%, and 32% increased likelihood of mortality, respectively. We found no differences between measures of objective and subjective social isolation. Results remain consistent across gender, length of follow-up, and world region, but initial health status has an influence on the findings. Results also differ across participant age, with social deficits being more predictive of death in samples with an average age younger than 65 years. Overall, the influence of both objective and subjective social isolation on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality. © The Author(s) 2015.

Discourse-Centric Learning Analytics: Mapping the Terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Simon; Littleton, Karen

2015-01-01

There is an increasing interest in developing learning analytic techniques for the analysis, and support of, high-quality learning discourse. This paper maps the terrain of discourse-centric learning analytics (DCLA), outlining the distinctive contribution of DCLA and outlining a definition for the field moving forwards. It is our claim that DCLA…

Evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology in human reliability analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Lu Yuan; Zhou, Xinyi; Xiao, Fuyuan; Deng, Yong; Mahadevan, Sankaran

2017-01-01

In human reliability analysis, dependence assessment is an important issue in risky large complex systems, such as operation of a nuclear power plant. Many existing methods depend on an expert's judgment, which contributes to the subjectivity and restrictions of results. Recently, a computational method, based on the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory and analytic hierarchy process, has been proposed to handle the dependence in human reliability analysis. The model can deal with uncertainty in an analyst's judgment and reduce the subjectivity in the evaluation process. However, the computation is heavy and complicated to some degree. The most important issue is that the existing method is in a positive aspect, which may cause an underestimation of the risk. In this study, a new evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology, based on the improvement of existing methods, has been proposed, which is expected to be easier and more effective

Evidential Analytic Hierarchy Process Dependence Assessment Methodology in Human Reliability Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luyuan Chen

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In human reliability analysis, dependence assessment is an important issue in risky large complex systems, such as operation of a nuclear power plant. Many existing methods depend on an expert's judgment, which contributes to the subjectivity and restrictions of results. Recently, a computational method, based on the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory and analytic hierarchy process, has been proposed to handle the dependence in human reliability analysis. The model can deal with uncertainty in an analyst's judgment and reduce the subjectivity in the evaluation process. However, the computation is heavy and complicated to some degree. The most important issue is that the existing method is in a positive aspect, which may cause an underestimation of the risk. In this study, a new evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology, based on the improvement of existing methods, has been proposed, which is expected to be easier and more effective.

Evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology in human reliability analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Lu Yuan; Zhou, Xinyi; Xiao, Fuyuan; Deng, Yong [School of Computer and Information Science, Southwest University, Chongqing (China); Mahadevan, Sankaran [School of Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (United States)

2017-02-15

In human reliability analysis, dependence assessment is an important issue in risky large complex systems, such as operation of a nuclear power plant. Many existing methods depend on an expert's judgment, which contributes to the subjectivity and restrictions of results. Recently, a computational method, based on the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory and analytic hierarchy process, has been proposed to handle the dependence in human reliability analysis. The model can deal with uncertainty in an analyst's judgment and reduce the subjectivity in the evaluation process. However, the computation is heavy and complicated to some degree. The most important issue is that the existing method is in a positive aspect, which may cause an underestimation of the risk. In this study, a new evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology, based on the improvement of existing methods, has been proposed, which is expected to be easier and more effective.

Future analytical provision - Relocation of Sellafield Ltd Analytical Services Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newell, B.

2015-01-01

Sellafield Ltd Analytical Services provide an essential view on the environmental, safety, process and high hazard risk reduction performances by analysis of samples. It is the largest and most complex analytical services laboratory in Europe, with 150 laboratories (55 operational) and 350 staff (including 180 analysts). Sellafield Ltd Analytical Services Main Laboratory is in need of replacement. This is due to the age of the facility and changes to work streams. This relocation is an opportunity to -) design and commission bespoke MA (Medium-Active) cells, -) modify HA (High-Active) cell design to facilitate an in-cell laboratory, -) develop non-destructive techniques, -) open light building for better worker morale. The option chosen was to move the activities to the NNL Central laboratory (NNLCL) that is based at Sellafield and is the UK's flagship nuclear research and development facility. This poster gives a time schedule

The contribution of office work to sedentary behaviour associated risk

OpenAIRE

Parry, Sharon; Straker, Leon

2013-01-01

Background Sedentary time has been found to be independently associated with poor health and mortality. Further, a greater proportion of the workforce is now employed in low activity occupations such as office work. To date, there is no research that specifically examines the contribution of sedentary work to overall sedentary exposure and thus risk. The purpose of the study was to determine the total exposure and exposure pattern for sedentary time, light activity and moderate/vigorous physi...

Workshop on Analytical Methods in Statistics

CERN Document Server

Jurečková, Jana; Maciak, Matúš; Pešta, Michal

2017-01-01

This volume collects authoritative contributions on analytical methods and mathematical statistics. The methods presented include resampling techniques; the minimization of divergence; estimation theory and regression, eventually under shape or other constraints or long memory; and iterative approximations when the optimal solution is difficult to achieve. It also investigates probability distributions with respect to their stability, heavy-tailness, Fisher information and other aspects, both asymptotically and non-asymptotically. The book not only presents the latest mathematical and statistical methods and their extensions, but also offers solutions to real-world problems including option pricing. The selected, peer-reviewed contributions were originally presented at the workshop on Analytical Methods in Statistics, AMISTAT 2015, held in Prague, Czech Republic, November 10-13, 2015.

Prognostic risk estimates of patients with multiple sclerosis and their physicians: comparison to an online analytical risk counseling tool.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph Heesen

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Prognostic counseling in multiple sclerosis (MS is difficult because of the high variability of disease progression. Simultaneously, patients and physicians are increasingly confronted with making treatment decisions at an early stage, which requires taking individual prognoses into account to strike a good balance between benefits and harms of treatments. It is therefore important to understand how patients and physicians estimate prognostic risk, and whether and how these estimates can be improved. An online analytical processing (OLAP tool based on pooled data from placebo cohorts of clinical trials offers short-term prognostic estimates that can be used for individual risk counseling. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to clarify if personalized prognostic information as presented by the OLAP tool is considered useful and meaningful by patients. Furthermore, we used the OLAP tool to evaluate patients' and physicians' risk estimates. Within this evaluation process we assessed short-time prognostic risk estimates of patients with MS (final n = 110 and their physicians (n = 6 and compared them with the estimates of OLAP. RESULTS: Patients rated the OLAP tool as understandable and acceptable, but to be only of moderate interest. It turned out that patients, physicians, and the OLAP tool ranked patients similarly regarding their risk of disease progression. Both patients' and physicians' estimates correlated most strongly with those disease covariates that the OLAP tool's estimates also correlated with most strongly. Exposure to the OLAP tool did not change patients' risk estimates. CONCLUSION: While the OLAP tool was rated understandable and acceptable, it was only of modest interest and did not change patients' prognostic estimates. The results suggest, however, that patients had some idea regarding their prognosis and which factors were most important in this regard. Future work with OLAP should assess long-term prognostic

Prognostic risk estimates of patients with multiple sclerosis and their physicians: comparison to an online analytical risk counseling tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Heesen, Christoph; Gaissmaier, Wolfgang; Nguyen, Franziska; Stellmann, Jan-Patrick; Kasper, Jürgen; Köpke, Sascha; Lederer, Christian; Neuhaus, Anneke; Daumer, Martin

2013-01-01

Prognostic counseling in multiple sclerosis (MS) is difficult because of the high variability of disease progression. Simultaneously, patients and physicians are increasingly confronted with making treatment decisions at an early stage, which requires taking individual prognoses into account to strike a good balance between benefits and harms of treatments. It is therefore important to understand how patients and physicians estimate prognostic risk, and whether and how these estimates can be improved. An online analytical processing (OLAP) tool based on pooled data from placebo cohorts of clinical trials offers short-term prognostic estimates that can be used for individual risk counseling. The aim of this study was to clarify if personalized prognostic information as presented by the OLAP tool is considered useful and meaningful by patients. Furthermore, we used the OLAP tool to evaluate patients' and physicians' risk estimates. Within this evaluation process we assessed short-time prognostic risk estimates of patients with MS (final n = 110) and their physicians (n = 6) and compared them with the estimates of OLAP. Patients rated the OLAP tool as understandable and acceptable, but to be only of moderate interest. It turned out that patients, physicians, and the OLAP tool ranked patients similarly regarding their risk of disease progression. Both patients' and physicians' estimates correlated most strongly with those disease covariates that the OLAP tool's estimates also correlated with most strongly. Exposure to the OLAP tool did not change patients' risk estimates. While the OLAP tool was rated understandable and acceptable, it was only of modest interest and did not change patients' prognostic estimates. The results suggest, however, that patients had some idea regarding their prognosis and which factors were most important in this regard. Future work with OLAP should assess long-term prognostic estimates and clarify its usefulness for patients and physicians

Risk Assessment: Factors Contributing to Discomfort for Menopausal Women in Workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Jafari, Mehdi; Seifi, Bahar; Heidari, Mohammad

2017-08-01

The purpose of this study was to review the Factors contributing to discomfort for menopausal women in workplace and the perceived effects of working conditions on menopausal symptoms, and to produce recommendations for managers and women. This study was a review article. We searched PubMed and Science Direct for articles related to menopause and workplace. Keywords included: menopause AND workplace OR occupational health or menopausal women AND managers. Because we aimed to update the literature following the 2011 review of menopause and workplace, only English-language articles published between 2011 and 2017 were included. This review showed that how managers could be help and awareness and what should be done for menopausal women in workplace by risk assessment. Many risk factors are contributing to discomfort for menopausal women in workplace and managers should be assessed them. Managers should be aware that menopausal transition causes difficulty for some women at work, then occupational health and safety and health promotion policies will be increasingly important. It may help inform the development of tailored occupational health policies and programs that cater for the needs of women as they transition through menopause in the workplace.

Foundations of predictive analytics

CERN Document Server

Wu, James

2012-01-01

Drawing on the authors' two decades of experience in applied modeling and data mining, Foundations of Predictive Analytics presents the fundamental background required for analyzing data and building models for many practical applications, such as consumer behavior modeling, risk and marketing analytics, and other areas. It also discusses a variety of practical topics that are frequently missing from similar texts. The book begins with the statistical and linear algebra/matrix foundation of modeling methods, from distributions to cumulant and copula functions to Cornish--Fisher expansion and o

Contribution of Electrochemistry to the Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Analytical Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Kauffmann, Jean-Michel; Patris, Stephanie; Vandeput, Marie; Sarakbi, Ahmad; Sakira, Abdul Karim

2016-01-01

All analytical techniques have experienced major progress since the last ten years and electroanalysis is also involved in this trend. The unique characteristics of phenomena occurring at the electrode-solution interface along with the variety of electrochemical methods currently available allow for a broad spectrum of applications. Potentiometric, conductometric, voltammetric and amperometric methods are briefly reviewed with a critical view in terms of performance of the developed instrumentation with special emphasis on pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

7th International Conference on Elementary and Analytic Number Theory

CERN Document Server

Steuding, Jörn; Steuding, Rasa

2016-01-01

This book collects more than thirty contributions in memory of Wolfgang Schwarz, most of which were presented at the seventh International Conference on Elementary and Analytic Number Theory (ELAZ), held July 2014 in Hildesheim, Germany. Ranging from the theory of arithmetical functions to diophantine problems, to analytic aspects of zeta-functions, the various research and survey articles cover the broad interests of the well-known number theorist and cherished colleague Wolfgang Schwarz (1934-2013), who contributed over one hundred articles on number theory, its history and related fields. Readers interested in elementary or analytic number theory and related fields will certainly find many fascinating topical results among the contributions from both respected mathematicians and up-and-coming young researchers. In addition, some biographical articles highlight the life and mathematical works of Wolfgang Schwarz.

History of analytic geometry

CERN Document Server

Boyer, Carl B

2012-01-01

Designed as an integrated survey of the development of analytic geometry, this study presents the concepts and contributions from before the Alexandrian Age through the eras of the great French mathematicians Fermat and Descartes, and on through Newton and Euler to the "Golden Age," from 1789 to 1850.

Development of risk taking: contributions from adolescent testosterone and the orbito-frontal cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Peper, Jiska S; Koolschijn, P Cédric M P; Crone, Eveline A

2013-12-01

The role of puberty in the development of risk taking remains poorly understood. Here, in a normative sample of 268 participants between 8 and 25 years old, we applied a psycho-endocrine neuroimaging approach to investigate the contribution of testosterone levels and OFC morphology to individual differences in risk taking. Risk taking was measured with the balloon analogue risk-taking task. We found that, corrected for age, higher endogenous testosterone level was related to increased risk taking in boys (more explosions) and girls (more money earned). In addition, a smaller medial OFC volume in boys and larger OFC surface area in girls related to more risk taking. A mediation analysis indicated that OFC morphology partly mediates the association between testosterone level and risk taking, independent of age. Mediation was found in such a way that a smaller medial OFC in boys potentiates the association between testosterone and risk taking but suppresses the association in girls. This study provides insights into endocrinological and neural underpinnings of normative development of risk taking, by indicating that OFC morphology, at least partly, mediates the association between testosterone and risk-taking behavior.

Proceedings of the Indian Analytical Science Congress: analytical science for innovations in green energy, technology and industry - souvenir

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

The theme of IASC - 2013 is 'Analytical Science for innovations in Green Energy, Technology and Industry'. This theme was chosen to emphasize the unprecedented opportunities for analytical science and technology in the field of green energy, technology and industry, while at the same time recognizing the special challenges faced by analytical science in this field. The objective of the conference is to advance research, development and innovation in analytical sciences for the benefit of its application in the areas of green science and technology. The growing role of analytical science in green energy, technology and industry are significant. The next few years will witness more momentous achievements of analytical science as well as its application in green energy, technology and industry contributing towards the benefit of mankind in terms of healthy, productive, long and comfortable life. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

Contribution to analytical solution of neutron slowing down problem in homogeneous and heterogeneous media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanovic, D.B.

1970-12-01

The objective of this work is to describe the new analytical solution of the neutron slowing down equation for infinite monoatomic media with arbitrary energy dependence of cross section. The solution is obtained by introducing Green slowing down functions instead of starting from slowing down equations directly. The previously used methods for calculation of fission neutron spectra in the reactor cell were numerical. The proposed analytical method was used for calculating the space-energy distribution of fast neutrons and number of neutron reactions in a thermal reactor cell. The role of analytical method in solving the neutron slowing down in reactor physics is to enable understating of the slowing down process and neutron transport. The obtained results could be used as standards for testing the accuracy od approximative and practical methods

Relative Risks of Contributing Factors to Morbidity and Mortality in Adults With Craniopharyngioma on Growth Hormone Replacement.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuen, Kevin C J; Mattsson, Anders F; Burman, Pia; Erfurth, Eva-Marie; Camacho-Hubner, Cecilia; Fox, Janet L; Verhelst, Johan; Geffner, Mitchell E; Abs, Roger

2018-02-01

In adults, craniopharyngioma (CP) of either childhood-onset (CO-CP) or adult-onset (AO-CP) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, but data on the relative risks (RRs) of contributing factors are lacking. To assess the RRs of factors contributing to morbidity and mortality in adults with CO-CP and AO-CP. Data on 1669 patients with CP from KIMS (Pfizer International Metabolic Database) were analyzed using univariate and multiple Poisson and Cox regression methods. When CO-CP and AO-CP groups were combined, history of stroke and hyperlipidemia increased cardiovascular risk, higher body mass index (BMI) and radiotherapy increased cerebrovascular risk, and increased waist circumference increased the risk of developing diabetes mellitus (DM). Compared with patients with CO-CP, patients with AO-CP had a threefold higher risk of tumor recurrence, whereas being female and previous radiotherapy exposure conferred lower risks. Radiotherapy and older age with every 10 years from disease onset conferred a 2.3- to 3.5-fold risk for developing new intracranial tumors, whereas older age, greater and/or increasing BMI, history of stroke, and lower insulinlike growth factor I (IGF-I) standard deviation score measured at last sampling before death were related to increased all-cause mortality. Compared with the general population, adults with CP had 9.3-, 8.1-, and 2.2-fold risks of developing DM, new intracranial tumors, and early death, respectively. Conventional factors that increase the risks of cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases and DM and risks for developing new intracranial tumors contributed to excess morbidity and mortality. In addition, lower serum IGF-I level measured from the last sample before death was inversely associated with mortality risk in patients with CP. Copyright © 2017 Endocrine Society

Pesticide mixtures in the Swedish streams: Environmental risks, contributions of individual compounds and consequences of single-substance oriented risk mitigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gustavsson, Mikael; Kreuger, Jenny; Bundschuh, Mirco; Backhaus, Thomas

2017-11-15

This paper presents the ecotoxicological assessment and environmental risk evaluation of complex pesticide mixtures occurring in freshwater ecosystems in southern Sweden. The evaluation is based on exposure data collected between 2002 and 2013 by the Swedish pesticide monitoring program and includes 1308 individual samples, detecting mixtures of up to 53 pesticides (modal=8). Pesticide mixture risks were evaluated using three different scenarios for non-detects (best-case, worst-case and using the Kaplan-Meier method). The risk of each scenario was analyzed using Swedish Water Quality Objectives (WQO) and trophic-level specific environmental thresholds. Using the Kaplan-Meier method the environmental risk of 73% of the samples exceeded acceptable levels, based on an assessment using Concentration-Addition and WQOs for the individual pesticides. Algae were the most sensitive organism group. However, analytical detection limits, especially for insecticides, were insufficient to analyze concentrations at or near their WQO's. Thus, the risk of the analyzed pesticide mixtures to crustaceans and fish is systematically underestimated. Treating non-detects as being present at their individual limit of detection increased the estimated risk by a factor 100 or more, compared to the best-case or the Kaplan-Meier scenario. Pesticide mixture risks are often driven by only 1-3 compounds. However, the risk-drivers (i.e., individual pesticides explaining the largest share of potential effects) differ substantially between sites and samples, and 83 of the 141 monitored pesticides need to be included in the assessment to account for 95% of the risk at all sites and years. Single-substance oriented risk mitigation measures that would ensure that each individual pesticide is present at a maximum of 95% of its individual WQO, would also reduce the mixture risk, but only from a median risk quotient of 2.1 to a median risk quotient of 1.8. Also, acceptable total risk levels would still

Methodological practicalities in analytical generalization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Halkier, Bente

2011-01-01

generalization. Theoretically, the argumentation in the article is based on practice theory. The main part of the article describes three different examples of ways of generalizing on the basis of the same qualitative data material. There is a particular focus on describing the methodological strategies......In this article, I argue that the existing literature on qualitative methodologies tend to discuss analytical generalization at a relatively abstract and general theoretical level. It is, however, not particularly straightforward to “translate” such abstract epistemological principles into more...... operative methodological strategies for producing analytical generalizations in research practices. Thus, the aim of the article is to contribute to the discussions among qualitatively working researchers about generalizing by way of exemplifying some of the methodological practicalities in analytical...

A Cross-cultural Analytical Framework for Territorial Development Policies : The Application to Flood Risk Management Policies in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rongwinriyaphanich, S.

2011-01-01

This paper presents the application of a proposed analytical framework that takes cultural dimensions as main parameters to explain territorial development processes. It is illustrated through the analysis of flood risk management in two case study areas in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. It aims

Development of risk-taking: contributions from adolescent testosterone and the orbito-frontal cortex

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peper, J.S.; Koolschijn, P.C.M.P.; Crone, E.A.

2013-01-01

The role of puberty in the development of risk taking remains poorly understood. Here, in a normative sample of 268 participants between 8 and 25 years old, we applied a psycho-endocrine neuroimaging approach to investigate the contribution of testosterone levels and OFC morphology to individual

Multivariate analysis of structure and contribution per shares made by potential risk factors at malignant neoplasms in trachea, bronchial tubes and lung

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G.T. Aydinov

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article gives the results of multivariate analysis of structure and contribution per shares made by potential risk factors at malignant neoplasms in trachea, bronchial tubes and lung. The authors used specialized databases comprising personified records on oncologic diseases in Taganrog, Rostov region, over 1986-2015 (30,684 registered cases of malignant neoplasms, including 3,480 cases of trachea cancer, bronchial tubes cancer, and lung cancer. When carrying out analytical research we applied both multivariate statistical techniques (factor analysis and hierarchical cluster correlation analysis and conventional techniques of epidemiologic analysis including etiologic fraction calculation (EF, as well as an original technique of assessing actual (epidemiologic risk. Average long-term morbidity with trachea, bronchial tubes and lung cancer over 2011-2015 amounts to 46.64 o / oooo . Over the last 15 years a stable decreasing trend has formed, annual average growth being – 1.22 %. This localization holds the 3rd rank place in oncologic morbidity structure, its specific weight being 10.02 %. We determined etiological fraction (EF for smoking as a priority risk factor causing trachea, bronchial tubes and lung cancer; this fraction amounts to 76.19 % for people aged 40 and older, and to 81.99 % for those aged 60 and older. Application of multivariate statistical techniques (factor analysis and cluster correlation analysis in this research enabled us to make factor structure more simple; namely, to highlight, interpret, give a quantitative estimate of self-descriptiveness and rank four group (latent potential risk factors causing lung cancer.

Quantifying the contributions of behavioral and biological risk factors to socioeconomic disparities in coronary heart disease incidence: the MORGEN study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kershaw, Kiarri N.; Droomers, Mariël; Robinson, Whitney R.; Carnethon, Mercedes R.; Daviglus, Martha L.; Verschuren, W. M. Monique

2013-01-01

Quantifying the impact of different modifiable behavioral and biological risk factors on socioeconomic disparities in coronary heart disease (CHD) may help inform targeted, population-specific strategies to reduce the unequal distribution of the disease. Previous studies have used analytic

Chemometrics in analytical chemistry-part I: history, experimental design and data analysis tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Brereton, Richard G; Jansen, Jeroen; Lopes, João; Marini, Federico; Pomerantsev, Alexey; Rodionova, Oxana; Roger, Jean Michel; Walczak, Beata; Tauler, Romà

2017-10-01

Chemometrics has achieved major recognition and progress in the analytical chemistry field. In the first part of this tutorial, major achievements and contributions of chemometrics to some of the more important stages of the analytical process, like experimental design, sampling, and data analysis (including data pretreatment and fusion), are summarised. The tutorial is intended to give a general updated overview of the chemometrics field to further contribute to its dissemination and promotion in analytical chemistry.

Computational red teaming risk analytics of big-data-to-decisions intelligent systems

CERN Document Server

Abbass, Hussein A

2015-01-01

Written to bridge the information needs of management and computational scientists, this book presents the first comprehensive treatment of Computational Red Teaming (CRT).  The author describes an analytics environment that blends human reasoning and computational modeling to design risk-aware and evidence-based smart decision making systems. He presents the Shadow CRT Machine, which shadows the operations of an actual system to think with decision makers, challenge threats, and design remedies. This is the first book to generalize red teaming (RT) outside the military and security domains and it offers coverage of RT principles, practical and ethical guidelines. The author utilizes Gilbert’s principles for introducing a science. Simplicity: where the book follows a special style to make it accessible to a wide range of  readers. Coherence:  where only necessary elements from experimentation, optimization, simulation, data mining, big data, cognitive information processing, and system thinking are blend...

Pre-Analytical Components of Risk in Four Branches of Clinical Laboratory in Romania--Prospective Study.

Science.gov (United States)

David, Remona E; Dobreanu, Minodora

2016-01-01

Development of quality measurement principles is a strategic point for each clinical laboratory. Preexamination process is the most critical and the most difficult to be managed. The aim of this study is to identify, quantify, and monitor the nonconformities of the pre-analytical process using quality indicators that can affect the patient's health safety in four different locations of a Romanian private clinical laboratory. The study group consisted of all the analysis requests received by the departments of biochemistry, hematology, and coagulation from January through March 2015. In order to collect the pre-analytical nonconformities, we created a "Risk Budget", using the entries from the "Evidence notebook--non-conform samples" from the above mentioned departments. The laboratory established the quality indicators by means of the risk management technique in order to identify and control the sources of errors, FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analyses), which had been implemented and monitored for its purposes and special needs. For the assessment of the control level over the processes, the results were transformed on the Six Sigma scale, using the Westgard calculation method and being obtained in this way the frequency with which an error may occur. (https://www.westgard. com/six-sigma-calculators.htm). The obtained results prove that the quantification and monitoring of the indicators can be a control instrument for the pre-analytic activities. The calculation of the Six Sigma value adds extra information to the study because it allows the detection of the processes which need improvement (Sigma value higher than 4 represents a well controlled process). The highest rates were observed for the hemolyzed and the lipemic samples, in the department of biochemistry and hemolyzed, insufficient sample volume, or clotted samples for the department of hematology and coagulation. Significant statistical differences between laboratories participating in the study have

Pharmaceutical supply chain risk assessment in Iran using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and simple additive weighting (SAW) methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaberidoost, Mona; Olfat, Laya; Hosseini, Alireza; Kebriaeezadeh, Abbas; Abdollahi, Mohammad; Alaeddini, Mahdi; Dinarvand, Rassoul

2015-01-01

Pharmaceutical supply chain is a significant component of the health system in supplying medicines, particularly in countries where main drugs are provided by local pharmaceutical companies. No previous studies exist assessing risks and disruptions in pharmaceutical companies while assessing the pharmaceutical supply chain. Any risks affecting the pharmaceutical companies could disrupt supply medicines and health system efficiency. The goal of this study was the risk assessment in pharmaceutical industry in Iran considering process's priority, hazard and probability of risks. The study was carried out in 4 phases; risk identification through literature review, risk identification in Iranian pharmaceutical companies through interview with experts, risk analysis through a questionnaire and consultation with experts using group analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and rating scale (RS) and risk evaluation of simple additive weighting (SAW) method. In total, 86 main risks were identified in the pharmaceutical supply chain with perspective of pharmaceutical companies classified in 11 classes. The majority of risks described in this study were related to the financial and economic category. Also financial management was found to be the most important factor for consideration. Although pharmaceutical industry and supply chain were affected by current political conditions in Iran during the study time, but half of total risks in the pharmaceutical supply chain were found to be internal risks which could be fixed by companies, internally. Likewise, political status and related risks forced companies to focus more on financial and supply management resulting in less attention to quality management.

Simple analytical methods for computing the gravity-wave contribution to the cosmic background radiation anisotropy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Y.

1996-01-01

We present two simple analytical methods for computing the gravity-wave contribution to the cosmic background radiation (CBR) anisotropy in inflationary models; one method uses a time-dependent transfer function, the other methods uses an approximate gravity-mode function which is a simple combination of the lowest order spherical Bessel functions. We compare the CBR anisotropy tensor multipole spectrum computed using our methods with the previous result of the highly accurate numerical method, the open-quote open-quote Boltzmann close-quote close-quote method. Our time-dependent transfer function is more accurate than the time-independent transfer function found by Turner, White, and Lindsey; however, we find that the transfer function method is only good for l approx-lt 120. Using our approximate gravity-wave mode function, we obtain much better accuracy; the tensor multipole spectrum we find differs by less than 2% for l approx-lt 50, less than 10% for l approx-lt 120, and less than 20% for l≤300 from the open-quote open-quote Boltzmann close-quote close-quote result. Our approximate graviton mode function should be quite useful in studying tensor perturbations from inflationary models. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

A methodology for reviewing probabilistic risk assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derby, S.L.

1983-01-01

The starting point for peer review of a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is a clear understanding of how the risk estimate was prepared and of what contributions dominate the calculation. The problem facing the reviewers is how to cut through the complex details of a PRA to gain this understanding. This paper presents a structured, analytical procedure that solves this problem. The effectiveness of this solution is demonstrated by an application on the Zion Probabilistic Safety Study. The procedure found the three dominant initiating events and provided a simplified reconstruction of the calculation of the risk estimate. Significant assessments of uncertainty were also identified. If peer review disputes the accuracy of these judgments, then the revised risk estimate could significantly increase

Improving acute kidney injury diagnostics using predictive analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Basu, Rajit K; Gist, Katja; Wheeler, Derek S

2015-12-01

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a multifactorial syndrome affecting an alarming proportion of hospitalized patients. Although early recognition may expedite management, the ability to identify patients at-risk and those suffering real-time injury is inconsistent. The review will summarize the recent reports describing advancements in the area of AKI epidemiology, specifically focusing on risk scoring and predictive analytics. In the critical care population, the primary underlying factors limiting prediction models include an inability to properly account for patient heterogeneity and underperforming metrics used to assess kidney function. Severity of illness scores demonstrate limited AKI predictive performance. Recent evidence suggests traditional methods for detecting AKI may be leveraged and ultimately replaced by newer, more sophisticated analytical tools capable of prediction and identification: risk stratification, novel AKI biomarkers, and clinical information systems. Additionally, the utility of novel biomarkers may be optimized through targeting using patient context, and may provide more granular information about the injury phenotype. Finally, manipulation of the electronic health record allows for real-time recognition of injury. Integrating a high-functioning clinical information system with risk stratification methodology and novel biomarker yields a predictive analytic model for AKI diagnostics.

Risk assessment of urban flood disaster in Jingdezhen City based on analytic hierarchy process and geographic information system

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, D. C.; Huang, J.; Wang, H. M.; Wang, Z. Q.; Wang, W. Q.

2017-08-01

The research of urban flood risk assessment and management are of great academic and practical importance, which has become a widespread concern throughout the world. It’s significant to understand the spatial-temporal distribution of the flood risk before making the risk response measures. In this study, the urban region of Jingdezhen City is selected as the study area. The assessment indicators are selected from four aspects: disaster-causing factors, disaster-pregnant environment, disaster-bearing body and the prevention and mitigation ability, by consideration of the formation process of urban flood risk. And then, a small-scale flood disaster risk assessment model is developed based on Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) and Geographic Information System(GIS), and the spatial-temporal distribution of flood risk in Jingdezhen City is analysed. The results show that the risk decreases gradually from the centre line of Changjiang River to the surrounding, and the areas of high flood disaster risk is decreasing from 2010 to 2013 while the risk areas are more concentred. The flood risk of the areas along the Changjiang River is the largest, followed by the low-lying areas in Changjiang District. And the risk is also large in Zhushan District where the population, the industries and commerce are concentrated. The flood risk in the western part of Changjiang District and the north-eastern part of the study area is relatively low. The results can provide scientific support for flood control construction and land development planning in Jingdezhen City.

The Use of Analytic Network Process for Risk Assessment in Production of Renewable Energy from Agriculture Biomass in Latvia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandija Rivza

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Risk assessment is an important factor for successful and sustainable entrepreneurship of bioenergy production that has become one of the priorities in energy sector of Latvia. Promotion of the use of renewable energy is included as one of the strategic goals for European Union (EU and Latvia. As this field of energy production in Latvia is rather new and scantily explored there are many risk factors arising in different stages of production, starting with planning and building of a bioreactor and ending with production and further use and distribution of energy. The present research focuses on risk assessment in renewable energy production form biomass as this kind of energy is seen as a perspective source for renewable energy under the conditions of Latvia. A risk assessment module for renewable energy production made by using the Analytic Network Process (ANP software is described in the paper.

Learning Analytics for Online Discussions: Embedded and Extracted Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Wise, Alyssa Friend; Zhao, Yuting; Hausknecht, Simone Nicole

2014-01-01

This paper describes an application of learning analytics that builds on an existing research program investigating how students contribute and attend to the messages of others in asynchronous online discussions. We first overview the E-Listening research program and then explain how this work was translated into analytics that students and…

Gatlinburg conference: barometer of progress in analytical chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shults, W.D.

1981-01-01

Much progress has been made in the field of analytical chemistry over the past twenty-five years. The AEC-ERDA-DOE family of laboratories contributed greatly to this progress. It is not surprising then to find a close correlation between program content of past Gatlinburg conferences and developments in analytical methodology. These conferences have proved to be a barometer of technical status

Multi-hazard national-level risk assessment in Africa using global approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Stuart; Jongman, Brenden; Simpson, Alanna; Murnane, Richard

2016-04-01

In recent years Sub-Saharan Africa has been characterized by unprecedented opportunity for transformation and sustained growth. However, natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and extreme temperatures cause significant economic and human losses, and major development challenges. Quantitative disaster risk assessments are an important basis for governments to understand disaster risk in their country, and to develop effective risk management and risk financing solutions. However, the data-scarce nature of many Sub-Saharan African countries as well as a lack of financing for risk assessments has long prevented detailed analytics. Recent advances in globally applicable disaster risk modelling practices and data availability offer new opportunities. In December 2013 the European Union approved a € 60 million contribution to support the development of an analytical basis for risk financing and to accelerate the effective implementation of a comprehensive disaster risk reduction. The World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) was selected as the implementing partner of the Program for Result Area 5: the "Africa Disaster Risk Assessment and Financing Program." As part of this effort, the GFDRR is overseeing the production of national-level multi-hazard risk profiles for a range of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, using a combination of national and global datasets and state-of-the-art hazard and risk assessment methodologies. In this presentation, we will highlight the analytical approach behind these assessments, and show results for the first five countries for which the assessment has been completed (Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Niger and Ethiopia). The presentation will also demonstrate the visualization of the risk assessments into understandable and visually attractive risk profile documents.

Risk-informed Analytical Approaches to Concentration Averaging for the Purpose of Waste Classification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esh, D.W.; Pinkston, K.E.; Barr, C.S.; Bradford, A.H.; Ridge, A.Ch.

2009-01-01

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has developed a concentration averaging approach and guidance for the review of Department of Energy (DOE) non-HLW determinations. Although the approach was focused on this specific application, concentration averaging is generally applicable to waste classification and thus has implications for waste management decisions as discussed in more detail in this paper. In the United States, radioactive waste has historically been classified into various categories for the purpose of ensuring that the disposal system selected is commensurate with the hazard of the waste such that public health and safety will be protected. However, the risk from the near-surface disposal of radioactive waste is not solely a function of waste concentration but is also a function of the volume (quantity) of waste and its accessibility. A risk-informed approach to waste classification for near-surface disposal of low-level waste would consider the specific characteristics of the waste, the quantity of material, and the disposal system features that limit accessibility to the waste. NRC staff has developed example analytical approaches to estimate waste concentration, and therefore waste classification, for waste disposed in facilities or with configurations that were not anticipated when the regulation for the disposal of commercial low-level waste (i.e. 10 CFR Part 61) was developed. (authors)

Quantifying the perceived risks associated with nuclear energy issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandquist, G.M.

2004-01-01

A mathematical model is presented for quantifying and assessing perceived risks in an empirical manner. The analytical model provides for the identification and assignment of any number of quantifiable risk perception factors that can be incorporated within standard risk methodology. The set of risk perception factors used to demonstrate the model are those that have been identified by social and behavioural scientists as principal factors influencing people in their perception of risks associated with major technical issues. These same risk factors are commonly associated with nuclear energy issues. A rational means is proposed for determining and quantifying these risk factors for a given application. The model should contribute to improved understanding of the basis and logic of public risk perception and provide practical and effective means for addressing perceived risks when they arise over important technical issues and projects. (author)

Statistical Approaches to Assess Biosimilarity from Analytical Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Burdick, Richard; Coffey, Todd; Gutka, Hiten; Gratzl, Gyöngyi; Conlon, Hugh D; Huang, Chi-Ting; Boyne, Michael; Kuehne, Henriette

2017-01-01

Protein therapeutics have unique critical quality attributes (CQAs) that define their purity, potency, and safety. The analytical methods used to assess CQAs must be able to distinguish clinically meaningful differences in comparator products, and the most important CQAs should be evaluated with the most statistical rigor. High-risk CQA measurements assess the most important attributes that directly impact the clinical mechanism of action or have known implications for safety, while the moderate- to low-risk characteristics may have a lower direct impact and thereby may have a broader range to establish similarity. Statistical equivalence testing is applied for high-risk CQA measurements to establish the degree of similarity (e.g., highly similar fingerprint, highly similar, or similar) of selected attributes. Notably, some high-risk CQAs (e.g., primary sequence or disulfide bonding) are qualitative (e.g., the same as the originator or not the same) and therefore not amenable to equivalence testing. For biosimilars, an important step is the acquisition of a sufficient number of unique originator drug product lots to measure the variability in the originator drug manufacturing process and provide sufficient statistical power for the analytical data comparisons. Together, these analytical evaluations, along with PK/PD and safety data (immunogenicity), provide the data necessary to determine if the totality of the evidence warrants a designation of biosimilarity and subsequent licensure for marketing in the USA. In this paper, a case study approach is used to provide examples of analytical similarity exercises and the appropriateness of statistical approaches for the example data.

Activities at Forschungszentrum Juelich in Safeguards Analytical Techniques and Measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duerr, M.; Knott, A.; Middendorp, R.; Niemeyer, I.; Kueppers, S.; Zoriy, M.; Froning, M.; Bosbach, D.

2015-01-01

The application of safeguards by the IAEA involves analytical measurements of samples taken during inspections. The development and advancement of analytical techniques with support from the Member States contributes to strengthened and more efficient verification of compliance with non-proliferation obligations. Since recently, a cooperation agreement has been established between Forschungszentrum Juelich and the IAEA in the field of analytical services. The current working areas of Forschungszentrum Juelich are: (i) Production of synthetic micro-particles as calibration standard and reference material for particle analysis, (ii) qualification of the Forschungszentrum Juelich as a member of the IAEA network of analytical laboratories for safeguards (NWAL), and (iii) analysis of impurities in nuclear material samples. With respect to the synthesis of particles, a dedicated setup for the production of uranium particles is being developed, which addresses the urgent need for material tailored for its use in quality assurance and quality control measures for particle analysis of environmental swipe samples. Furthermore, Forschungszentrum Juelich has been nominated as a candidate laboratory for membership in the NWAL network. To this end, analytical capabilities at Forschungszentrum Juelich have been joined to form an analytical service within a dedicated quality management system. Another activity is the establishment of analytical techniques for impurity analysis of uranium-oxide, mainly focusing on inductively coupled mass spectrometry. This contribution will present the activities at Forschungszentrum Juelich in the area of analytical measurements and techniques for nuclear verification. (author)

A nondegenerate code of deleterious variants in Mendelian loci contributes to complex disease risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Blair, David R; Lyttle, Christopher S; Mortensen, Jonathan M; Bearden, Charles F; Jensen, Anders Boeck; Khiabanian, Hossein; Melamed, Rachel; Rabadan, Raul; Bernstam, Elmer V; Brunak, Søren; Jensen, Lars Juhl; Nicolae, Dan; Shah, Nigam H; Grossman, Robert L; Cox, Nancy J; White, Kevin P; Rzhetsky, Andrey

2013-09-26

Although countless highly penetrant variants have been associated with Mendelian disorders, the genetic etiologies underlying complex diseases remain largely unresolved. By mining the medical records of over 110 million patients, we examine the extent to which Mendelian variation contributes to complex disease risk. We detect thousands of associations between Mendelian and complex diseases, revealing a nondegenerate, phenotypic code that links each complex disorder to a unique collection of Mendelian loci. Using genome-wide association results, we demonstrate that common variants associated with complex diseases are enriched in the genes indicated by this "Mendelian code." Finally, we detect hundreds of comorbidity associations among Mendelian disorders, and we use probabilistic genetic modeling to demonstrate that Mendelian variants likely contribute nonadditively to the risk for a subset of complex diseases. Overall, this study illustrates a complementary approach for mapping complex disease loci and provides unique predictions concerning the etiologies of specific diseases. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Value of Renewable Energy as a Hedge Against Fuel Price Risk: Analytic Contributions from Economic and Finance Theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bolinger, Mark A; Wiser, Ryan

2008-09-15

natural gas in the United States over a relatively brief period. Perhaps of most concern is that this dramatic price increase was largely unforeseen. Figure 2 compares the EIA's natural gas wellhead price forecast from each year's Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) going back to 1985 against the average US wellhead price that actually transpired. As shown, our forecasting abilities have proven rather dismal over time, as over-forecasts made in the late 1980's eventually yielded to under-forecasts that have persisted to this day. This historical experience demonstrates that little weight should be placed on any one forecast of future natural gas prices, and that a broad range of future price conditions ought to be considered in planning and investment decisions. Against this backdrop of high, volatile, and unpredictable natural gas prices, increasing the market penetration of renewable generation such as wind, solar, and geothermal power may provide economic benefits to ratepayers by displacing gas-fired generation. These benefits may manifest themselves in several ways. First, the displacement of natural gas-fired generation by increased renewable generation reduces ratepayer exposure to natural gas price risk--i.e., the risk that future gas prices (and by extension future electricity prices) may end up markedly different than expected. Second, this displacement reduces demand for natural gas among gas-fired generators, which, all else equal, will put downward pressure on natural gas prices. Lower natural gas prices in turn benefit both electric ratepayers and other end-users of natural gas. Using analytic approaches that build upon, yet differ from, the past work of others, including Awerbuch (1993, 1994, 2003), Kahn and Stoft (1993), and Humphreys and McClain (1998), this chapter explores each of these two potential 'hedging' benefits of renewable electricity. Though we do not seek to judge whether these two specific benefits outweigh any incremental

Analytic continuation of the harmonic sums for the 3-loop anomalous dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bluemlein, J.; Moch, S.O.

2005-03-01

We present for numerical use the analytic continuations to complex arguments of those basic Mellin transforms, which build the harmonic sums contributing to the 3-loop anomalous dimensions. Eight new basic functions contribute in addition to the analytic continuations for the 2-loop massless Wilson coefficients calculated previously. The representations derived have a relative accuracy of better than 10 -7 in the range x element of [10 -6 , 0.98]. (orig.)

Contribution of occupational risk factors to the global burden of disease - a summary of findings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fingerhut, M.; Driscoll, T.; Nelson, D.I.; Concha-Barrientos, M.; Punnett, L.; Pruss-Ustin, A.; Steenland, K.; Leigh, J.; Corvalan, C. [NIOSH, Cincinnati, OH (United States)

2005-07-01

The World Health Organization conducted a comparative risk assessment to ascertain the contributions of 26 risk factors to the global burden of disease. Five occupational risk factors accounted for an estimated 37% of back pain, 16% of hearing loss, 13% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 11% of asthma, 9% of lung cancer, 8% of injuries, and 2% of leukemia worldwide. Virtually all cases of silicosis, asbestosis, and coal workers' pneumoconiosis were work-related. Contaminated sharps injuries accounted for 40% of hepatitis B, 40% of hepatitis C, and 4% of HIV/AlDS infections among health care workers. Data limitations, primarily in developing countries, prevented the inclusion of other major occupational risk factors. These selected occupational risks accounted for about 850,000 deaths and 24 million years of healthy life lost each year. The deaths due to these selected occupational risk factors constitute only 43% of the International Labour Organization's estimate of 2 million deaths worldwide due to work-related risks.

Carbon Impact Analytics - Designing low carbon indices based on Carbon Impact Analytics indicators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-01-01

Investors are increasingly exposed to carbon risks and now face the challenge of managing these risks and developing climate-resilient investment strategies. Carbon Impact Analytics (CIA), an innovative methodology for analyzing the full carbon impact of a portfolio or index, equips investors and asset managers with the tools necessary to reduce their climate-related risks but also to seize the opportunities offered by the ongoing energy transition. Investors, asset managers and other financial institutions may use CIA results to: - measure and manage risks, - optimize their contribution to the energy transition, - seize opportunities associated with climate change mitigation, - report on GHG emissions and savings (for regulatory purposes or voluntarily), - engage in dialogue with companies, - reallocate investment portfolios, - and build new low-carbon indices. In this report, Carbone 4 offers a detailed look into how CIA indicators can be used to either 1) reallocate an existing portfolio or index to achieve maximal carbon performance or 2) build new low carbon indices from the ground up, drawn from Carbone 4's ever-growing database of CIA-analyzed firms. Two main levers were used to optimize CIA output: 1. Sectorial reallocation: exclusion of fossil fuel-related sectors or insertion of low carbon pure players; 2. Intra-sectorial reallocation: best-in-class approach within a sector. Sectorial and intra-sectorial methods may be applied in conjunction with one another to maximize results. For example, a best-in-class + fossil fuel-free index may be constructed by first excluding the fossil fuel sector and then applying a CIA best-in-class approach to all remaining sectors. This report offers a detailed look into how CIA indicators can be used to rework portfolios or indices to maximize carbon performance or to build low carbon indices from the ground up. These methods are illustrated via two preliminary examples of indices designed by Carbone 4: the reallocated

The Case for Visual Analytics of Arsenic Concentrations in Foods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omotayo R. Awofolu

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Arsenic is a naturally occurring toxic metal and its presence in food could be a potential risk to the health of both humans and animals. Prolonged ingestion of arsenic contaminated water may result in manifestations of toxicity in all systems of the body. Visual Analytics is a multidisciplinary field that is defined as the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces. The concentrations of arsenic vary in foods making it impractical and impossible to provide regulatory limit for each food. This review article presents a case for the use of visual analytics approaches to provide comparative assessment of arsenic in various foods. The topics covered include (i metabolism of arsenic in the human body; (ii arsenic concentrations in various foods; (ii factors affecting arsenic uptake in plants; (ii introduction to visual analytics; and (iv benefits of visual analytics for comparative assessment of arsenic concentration in foods. Visual analytics can provide an information superstructure of arsenic in various foods to permit insightful comparative risk assessment of the diverse and continually expanding data on arsenic in food groups in the context of country of study or origin, year of study, method of analysis and arsenic species.

Flood risk perception and adaptation capacity: a contribution to the socio-hydrology debate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Fuchs

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Dealing with flood hazard and risk requires approaches rooted in both natural and social sciences, which provided the nexus for the ongoing debate on socio-hydrology. Various combinations of non-structural and structural flood risk reduction options are available to communities. Focusing on flood risk and the information associated with it, developing risk management plans is required but often overlooks public perception of a threat. The perception of risk varies in many different ways, especially between the authorities and the affected public. It is because of this disconnection that many risk management plans concerning floods have failed in the past. This paper examines the private adaptation capacity and willingness with respect to flooding in two different catchments in Greece prone to multiple flood events during the last 20 years. Two studies (East Attica and Evros were carried out, comprised of a survey questionnaire of 155 and 157 individuals, from a peri-urban (East Attica and a rural (Evros area, respectively, and they focused on those vulnerable to periodic (rural area and flash floods (peri-urban area. Based on the comparisons drawn from these responses, and identifying key issues to be addressed when flood risk management plans are implemented, improvements are being recommended for the social dimension surrounding such implementation. As such, the paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on human–environment interaction in socio-hydrology.

Flood risk perception and adaptation capacity: a contribution to the socio-hydrology debate

Science.gov (United States)

Fuchs, Sven; Karagiorgos, Konstantinos; Kitikidou, Kyriaki; Maris, Fotios; Paparrizos, Spyridon; Thaler, Thomas

2017-06-01

Dealing with flood hazard and risk requires approaches rooted in both natural and social sciences, which provided the nexus for the ongoing debate on socio-hydrology. Various combinations of non-structural and structural flood risk reduction options are available to communities. Focusing on flood risk and the information associated with it, developing risk management plans is required but often overlooks public perception of a threat. The perception of risk varies in many different ways, especially between the authorities and the affected public. It is because of this disconnection that many risk management plans concerning floods have failed in the past. This paper examines the private adaptation capacity and willingness with respect to flooding in two different catchments in Greece prone to multiple flood events during the last 20 years. Two studies (East Attica and Evros) were carried out, comprised of a survey questionnaire of 155 and 157 individuals, from a peri-urban (East Attica) and a rural (Evros) area, respectively, and they focused on those vulnerable to periodic (rural area) and flash floods (peri-urban area). Based on the comparisons drawn from these responses, and identifying key issues to be addressed when flood risk management plans are implemented, improvements are being recommended for the social dimension surrounding such implementation. As such, the paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on human-environment interaction in socio-hydrology.

Using analytic continuation for the hadronic vacuum polarization computation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feng, Xu; Hashimoto, Shoji; Hotzel, Grit; Jansen, Karl; Petschlies, Marcus; B, Renner Dru

2014-11-01

We present two examples of applications of the analytic continuation method for computing the hadronic vacuum polarization function in space- and time-like momentum regions. These examples are the Adler function and the leading order hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We comment on the feasibility of the analytic continuation method and provide an outlook for possible further applications.

Analytic regularization of the Yukawa model at finite temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malbouisson, A.P.C.; Svaiter, N.F.; Svaiter, B.F.

1996-07-01

It is analysed the one-loop fermionic contribution for the scalar effective potential in the temperature dependent Yukawa model. Ir order to regularize the model a mix between dimensional and analytic regularization procedures is used. It is found a general expression for the fermionic contribution in arbitrary spacetime dimension. It is also found that in D = 3 this contribution is finite. (author). 19 refs

Analytical BPS Maxwell-Higgs Vortices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hora, E. da; Ferreira, M. M. Jr.; Santos, C. dos; Casana, R.

2014-01-01

We have established a prescription for the calculation of analytical vortex solutions in the context of generalized Maxwell-Higgs models whose overall dynamics is controlled by two positive functions of the scalar field, namely, f(|ϕ|) and w(|ϕ|). We have also determined a natural constraint between these functions and the Higgs potential U(|ϕ|), allowing the existence of axially symmetric Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) solutions possessing finite energy. Furthermore, when the generalizing functions are chosen suitably, the nonstandard BPS equations can be solved exactly. We have studied some examples, comparing them with the usual Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen (ANO) solution. The overall conclusion is that the analytical self-dual vortices are well-behaved in all relevant sectors, strongly supporting the consistency of the respective generalized models. In particular, our results mimic well-known properties of the usual (numerical) configurations, as localized energy density, while contributing to the understanding of topological solitons and their description by means of analytical methods.

Pre-analytical and analytical variation of drug determination in segmented hair using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Marie Katrine Klose; Johansen, Sys Stybe; Linnet, Kristian

2014-01-01

Assessment of total uncertainty of analytical methods for the measurements of drugs in human hair has mainly been derived from the analytical variation. However, in hair analysis several other sources of uncertainty will contribute to the total uncertainty. Particularly, in segmental hair analysis pre-analytical variations associated with the sampling and segmentation may be significant factors in the assessment of the total uncertainty budget. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a method for the analysis of 31 common drugs in hair using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) with focus on the assessment of both the analytical and pre-analytical sampling variations. The validated method was specific, accurate (80-120%), and precise (CV≤20%) across a wide linear concentration range from 0.025-25 ng/mg for most compounds. The analytical variation was estimated to be less than 15% for almost all compounds. The method was successfully applied to 25 segmented hair specimens from deceased drug addicts showing a broad pattern of poly-drug use. The pre-analytical sampling variation was estimated from the genuine duplicate measurements of two bundles of hair collected from each subject after subtraction of the analytical component. For the most frequently detected analytes, the pre-analytical variation was estimated to be 26-69%. Thus, the pre-analytical variation was 3-7 folds larger than the analytical variation (7-13%) and hence the dominant component in the total variation (29-70%). The present study demonstrated the importance of including the pre-analytical variation in the assessment of the total uncertainty budget and in the setting of the 95%-uncertainty interval (±2CVT). Excluding the pre-analytical sampling variation could significantly affect the interpretation of results from segmental hair analysis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analytic Bayesian solution of the two-stage poisson-type problem in probabilistic risk analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frohner, F.H.

1985-01-01

The basic purpose of probabilistic risk analysis is to make inferences about the probabilities of various postulated events, with an account of all relevant information such as prior knowledge and operating experience with the specific system under study, as well as experience with other similar systems. Estimation of the failure rate of a Poisson-type system leads to an especially simple Bayesian solution in closed form if the prior probabilty implied by the invariance properties of the problem is properly taken into account. This basic simplicity persists if a more realistic prior, representing order of magnitude knowledge of the rate parameter, is employed instead. Moreover, the more realistic prior allows direct incorporation of experience gained from other similar systems, without need to postulate a statistical model for an underlying ensemble. The analytic formalism is applied to actual nuclear reactor data

A methodology for reviewing Probabilistic Risk Assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derby, S.L.

1983-01-01

The starting point for peer review of a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is a clear understanding of how the risk estimate was prepared and of what contributions dominate the calculation. The problem facing the reviewers is how to cut through the complex details of a PRA to gain this understanding. This paper presents a structured, analytical procedure that solves this problem. The effectiveness of this solution is demonstrated by an application on the Zion Probabilistic Safety Study. The procedure found the three dominant initiating events and provided a simplified reconstruction of the calculation of the risk estimate. Significant assessments of uncertainty were also identified. If peer review disputes the accuracy of these judgments, then the revised risk estimate could significantly increase. The value of this procedure comes from having a systematic framework for the PRA review. Practical constraints limit the time and qualified people needed for an adequate review. Having the established framework from this procedure as a starting point, reviewers can focus most of their attention on the accuracy and the completeness of the calculation. Time wasted at the start of the review is reduced by first using this procedure to sort through the technical details of the PRA and to reconstruct the risk estimate from dominant contributions

Decisions through data: analytics in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Wills, Mary J

2014-01-01

The amount of data in healthcare is increasing at an astonishing rate. However, in general, the industry has not deployed the level of data management and analysis necessary to make use of those data. As a result, healthcare executives face the risk of being overwhelmed by a flood of unusable data. In this essay I argue that, in order to extract actionable information, leaders must take advantage of the promise of data analytics. Small data, predictive modeling expansion, and real-time analytics are three forms of data analytics. On the basis of my analysis for this study, I recommend all three for adoption. Recognizing the uniqueness of each organization's situation, I also suggest that practices, hospitals, and healthcare systems examine small data and conduct real-time analytics and that large-scale organizations managing populations of patients adopt predictive modeling. I found that all three solutions assist in the collection, management, and analysis of raw data to improve the quality of care and decrease costs.

An approach for environmental risk assessment of engineered nanomaterials using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and fuzzy inference rules.

Science.gov (United States)

Topuz, Emel; van Gestel, Cornelis A M

2016-01-01

The usage of Engineered Nanoparticles (ENPs) in consumer products is relatively new and there is a need to conduct environmental risk assessment (ERA) to evaluate their impacts on the environment. However, alternative approaches are required for ERA of ENPs because of the huge gap in data and knowledge compared to conventional pollutants and their unique properties that make it difficult to apply existing approaches. This study aims to propose an ERA approach for ENPs by integrating Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and fuzzy inference models which provide a systematic evaluation of risk factors and reducing uncertainty about the data and information, respectively. Risk is assumed to be the combination of occurrence likelihood, exposure potential and toxic effects in the environment. A hierarchy was established to evaluate the sub factors of these components. Evaluation was made with fuzzy numbers to reduce uncertainty and incorporate the expert judgements. Overall score of each component was combined with fuzzy inference rules by using expert judgements. Proposed approach reports the risk class and its membership degree such as Minor (0.7). Therefore, results are precise and helpful to determine the risk management strategies. Moreover, priority weights calculated by comparing the risk factors based on their importance for the risk enable users to understand which factor is effective on the risk. Proposed approach was applied for Ag (two nanoparticles with different coating) and TiO2 nanoparticles for different case studies. Results verified the proposed benefits of the approach. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic and Environmental Risk for Chronic Pain and the Contribution of Risk Variants for Major Depressive Disorder: A Family-Based Mixed-Model Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

McIntosh, Andrew M; Hall, Lynsey S; Zeng, Yanni; Adams, Mark J; Gibson, Jude; Wigmore, Eleanor; Hagenaars, Saskia P; Davies, Gail; Fernandez-Pujals, Ana Maria; Campbell, Archie I; Clarke, Toni-Kim; Hayward, Caroline; Haley, Chris S; Porteous, David J; Deary, Ian J; Smith, Daniel J; Nicholl, Barbara I; Hinds, David A; Jones, Amy V; Scollen, Serena; Meng, Weihua; Smith, Blair H; Hocking, Lynne J

2016-08-01

Chronic pain is highly prevalent and a significant source of disability, yet its genetic and environmental risk factors are poorly understood. Its relationship with major depressive disorder (MDD) is of particular importance. We sought to test the contribution of genetic factors and shared and unique environment to risk of chronic pain and its correlation with MDD in Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS). We then sought to replicate any significant findings in the United Kingdom Biobank study. Using family-based mixed-model analyses, we examined the contribution of genetics and shared family environment to chronic pain by spouse, sibling, and household relationships. These analyses were conducted in GS:SFHS (n = 23,960), a family- and population-based study of individuals recruited from the Scottish population through their general practitioners. We then examined and partitioned the correlation between chronic pain and MDD and estimated the contribution of genetic factors and shared environment in GS:SFHS. Finally, we used data from two independent genome-wide association studies to test whether chronic pain has a polygenic architecture and examine whether genomic risk of psychiatric disorder predicted chronic pain and whether genomic risk of chronic pain predicted MDD. These analyses were conducted in GS:SFHS and repeated in UK Biobank, a study of 500,000 from the UK population, of whom 112,151 had genotyping and phenotypic data. Chronic pain is a moderately heritable trait (heritability = 38.4%, 95% CI 33.6% to 43.9%) that is significantly concordant in spouses (variance explained 18.7%, 95% CI 9.5% to 25.1%). Chronic pain is positively correlated with depression (ρ = 0.13, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.15, p = 2.72x10-68) and shows a tendency to cluster within families for genetic reasons (genetic correlation = 0.51, 95%CI 0.40 to 0.62, p = 8.24x10-19). Polygenic risk profiles for pain, generated using independent GWAS data, were associated with

Genetic and Environmental Risk for Chronic Pain and the Contribution of Risk Variants for Major Depressive Disorder: A Family-Based Mixed-Model Analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew M McIntosh

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Chronic pain is highly prevalent and a significant source of disability, yet its genetic and environmental risk factors are poorly understood. Its relationship with major depressive disorder (MDD is of particular importance. We sought to test the contribution of genetic factors and shared and unique environment to risk of chronic pain and its correlation with MDD in Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS. We then sought to replicate any significant findings in the United Kingdom Biobank study.Using family-based mixed-model analyses, we examined the contribution of genetics and shared family environment to chronic pain by spouse, sibling, and household relationships. These analyses were conducted in GS:SFHS (n = 23,960, a family- and population-based study of individuals recruited from the Scottish population through their general practitioners. We then examined and partitioned the correlation between chronic pain and MDD and estimated the contribution of genetic factors and shared environment in GS:SFHS. Finally, we used data from two independent genome-wide association studies to test whether chronic pain has a polygenic architecture and examine whether genomic risk of psychiatric disorder predicted chronic pain and whether genomic risk of chronic pain predicted MDD. These analyses were conducted in GS:SFHS and repeated in UK Biobank, a study of 500,000 from the UK population, of whom 112,151 had genotyping and phenotypic data. Chronic pain is a moderately heritable trait (heritability = 38.4%, 95% CI 33.6% to 43.9% that is significantly concordant in spouses (variance explained 18.7%, 95% CI 9.5% to 25.1%. Chronic pain is positively correlated with depression (ρ = 0.13, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.15, p = 2.72x10-68 and shows a tendency to cluster within families for genetic reasons (genetic correlation = 0.51, 95%CI 0.40 to 0.62, p = 8.24x10-19. Polygenic risk profiles for pain, generated using independent GWAS data, were associated

Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for examining healthcare professionals' assessments of risk factors. The relative importance of risk factors for falls in community-dwelling older people.

Science.gov (United States)

Pecchia, L; Bath, P A; Pendleton, N; Bracale, M

2011-01-01

A gap exists between evidence-based medicine and clinical-practice. Every day, healthcare professionals (HCPs) combine empirical evidence and subjective experience in order to maximize the effectiveness of interventions. Consequently, it is important to understand how HCPs interpret the research evidence and apply it in everyday practice. We focused on the prevention of falls, a common cause of injury-related morbidity and mortality in later life, for which there is a wide range of known risk factors. To use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to investigate the opinions of HCPs in prioritizing risk factors for preventing falls. We used the AHP to develop a hierarchy of risk factors for falls based on the knowledge and experience of experts. We submitted electronic questionnaires via the web, in order to reach a wider number of respondents. With a web service, we pooled the results and weighted the coherence and the experience of respondents. Overall, 232 respondents participated in the study: 32 in the technical pilot study, nine in the scientific pilot study and 191 respondents in the main study. We identified a hierarchy of 35 risk factors, organized in two categories and six sub-categories. The hierarchy of risk factors provides further insights into clinicians' perceptions of risk factors for falls. This hierarchy helps understand the relative importance that clinicians place on risk factors for falls in older people and why evidence-based guidelines are not always followed. This information may be helpful in improving intervention programs and in understanding how clinicians prioritize multiple risk factors in individual patients. The AHP method allows the opinions of HCPs to be investigated, giving appropriate weight to their coherence, background and experience.

Unpacking complexities of managerial subjectivity: An analytic fixation on constitutive dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Plotnikof, Mie

2012-01-01

, and the analytic challenges of discourse/Discourse-distinctions and avoiding agency-structure-dualism. This paper proposes an integral conceptualization of subjectification that directs analytic attention to the complex constitutive dynamics of organizational discourses and agency normative to organizational...... is discussed with a case-study of public managers in collaborative governance processes in the Danish day-care sector. With complex-sensitive analytics the paper contributes to the ‘plurivocal’ debate on advancing organizational discourse approaches....

The contribution of classical risk factors to cardiovascular disease in familial hypercholesterolaemia: data in 2400 patients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, A. C. M.; van Aalst-Cohen, E. S.; Tanck, M. W.; Trip, M. D.; Lansberg, P. J.; Liem, A. H.; van Lennep, H. W. O. Roeters; Sijbrands, E. J. G.; Kastelein, J. J. P.

2004-01-01

Objective. To determine the contribution of classical risk factors to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). Design. A retrospective, multi-centre, cohort study. Extensive data were collected by scrutinizing medical records

Analytic calculation of radiative-recoil corrections to muonium hyperfine splitting: Electron-line contribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eides, M.I.; Karshenboim, S.G.; Shelyuto, V.A.

1991-01-01

The detailed account of analytic calculation of radiative-recoil correction to muonium hyperfine splitting, induced by electron-line radiative insertions, is presented. The consideration is performed in the framework of the effective two-particle formalism. A good deal of attention is paid to the problem of the divergence cancellation and the selection of graphs, relevant to radiative-recoil corrections. The analysis is greatly facilitated by use of the Fried-Yennie gauge for radiative photons. The obtained set of graphs turns out to be gauge-invariant and actual calculations are performed in the Feynman gauge. The main technical tricks, with the help of which we have effectively utilized the existence in the problem of the small parameter-mass ratio and managed to perform all calculations in the analytic form are described. The main intermediate results, as well as the final answer, δE rr = (α(Ζα)/π 2 )(m/M)E F (6ζ(3) + 3π 2 In 2 + π 2 /2 + 17/8), are also presented

Analytical Chemistry for Homeland Defense and National Security

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

S.Randolph Long; Dan rock; Gary Eiceman; Chris Rowe Taitt; Robert J.Cotter; Dean D.Fetterolf; David R.Walt; Basil I. Swanson; Scott A McLuckey; Robin L.Garrell; Scott D. Cunningham

2002-08-18

The budget was requested to support speaker expenses to attend and speak in the day long symposium at the ACS meeting. The purpose of the symposium was to encourage analytical chemists to contribute to national security.

Evaluation of soil erosion risk using Analytic Network Process and GIS: a case study from Spanish mountain olive plantations.

Science.gov (United States)

Nekhay, Olexandr; Arriaza, Manuel; Boerboom, Luc

2009-07-01

The study presents an approach that combined objective information such as sampling or experimental data with subjective information such as expert opinions. This combined approach was based on the Analytic Network Process method. It was applied to evaluate soil erosion risk and overcomes one of the drawbacks of USLE/RUSLE soil erosion models, namely that they do not consider interactions among soil erosion factors. Another advantage of this method is that it can be used if there are insufficient experimental data. The lack of experimental data can be compensated for through the use of expert evaluations. As an example of the proposed approach, the risk of soil erosion was evaluated in olive groves in Southern Spain, showing the potential of the ANP method for modelling a complex physical process like soil erosion.

Serotonin 2A receptors contribute to the regulation of risk-averse decisions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Macoveanu, Julian; Rowe, James B; Hornboll, Bettina

2013-01-01

Pharmacological studies point to a role of the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) in regulating the preference for risky decisions, yet the functional contribution of specific 5-HT receptors remains to be clarified. We used pharmacological fMRI to investigate the role of the 5-HT2A receptors...... in processing negative outcomes and regulating risk-averse behavior. During fMRI, twenty healthy volunteers performed a gambling task under two conditions: with or without blocking the 5-HT2A receptors. The volunteers repeatedly chose between small, likely rewards and large, unlikely rewards. Choices were...

The contribution of indigenous knowledge to disaster risk reduction activities in Zimbabwe: A big call to practitioners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ernest Dube

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This article examined the contribution of indigenous knowledge to disaster risk reduction activities in Zimbabwe. The current discourse underrates the use of indigenous knowledge of communities by practitioners when dealing with disasters’, as the knowledge is often viewed as outdated and primitive. This study, which was conducted in 2016, sought to examine this problem through analysing the potential contribution of indigenous knowledge as a useful disaster risk reduction intervention. Tsholotsho district in Matabeleland, North province of Zimbabwe, which frequently experiences perennial devastating floods, was used as a case study. Interviews and researcher observations were used to gather data from 40 research participants. The findings were that communities understand weather patterns and could predict imminent flooding after studying trees and clouds, and the behaviours of certain animal species. Local communities also use available local resources to put structural measures in place as part of disaster risk reduction interventions. Despite this important potential, the study found that the indigenous knowledge of disaster risk reduction of the communities is often shunned by practitioners. The practitioners claim that indigenous knowledge lacks documentation, it is not found in all generational classes, it is contextualised to particular communities and the knowledge cannot be scientifically validated. The study concluded that both local communities and disaster risk reduction practitioners can benefit from the indigenous knowledge of communities. This research has the potential to benefit communities, policymakers and disaster risk reduction practitioners.

Using predictive analytics and big data to optimize pharmaceutical outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernandez, Inmaculada; Zhang, Yuting

2017-09-15

The steps involved, the resources needed, and the challenges associated with applying predictive analytics in healthcare are described, with a review of successful applications of predictive analytics in implementing population health management interventions that target medication-related patient outcomes. In healthcare, the term big data typically refers to large quantities of electronic health record, administrative claims, and clinical trial data as well as data collected from smartphone applications, wearable devices, social media, and personal genomics services; predictive analytics refers to innovative methods of analysis developed to overcome challenges associated with big data, including a variety of statistical techniques ranging from predictive modeling to machine learning to data mining. Predictive analytics using big data have been applied successfully in several areas of medication management, such as in the identification of complex patients or those at highest risk for medication noncompliance or adverse effects. Because predictive analytics can be used in predicting different outcomes, they can provide pharmacists with a better understanding of the risks for specific medication-related problems that each patient faces. This information will enable pharmacists to deliver interventions tailored to patients' needs. In order to take full advantage of these benefits, however, clinicians will have to understand the basics of big data and predictive analytics. Predictive analytics that leverage big data will become an indispensable tool for clinicians in mapping interventions and improving patient outcomes. Copyright © 2017 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Analytical Propagation of Uncertainty in Life Cycle Assessment Using Matrix Formulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Imbeault-Tétreault, Hugues; Jolliet, Olivier; Deschênes, Louise

2013-01-01

with Monte Carlo results. The sensitivity and contribution of input parameters to output uncertainty were also analytically calculated. This article outlines an uncertainty analysis of the comparison between two case study scenarios. We conclude that the analytical method provides a good approximation...... on uncertainty calculation. This article shows the importance of the analytical method in uncertainty calculation, which could lead to a more complete uncertainty analysis in LCA practice....... uncertainty assessment is not a regular step in LCA. An analytical approach based on Taylor series expansion constitutes an effective means to overcome the drawbacks of the Monte Carlo method. This project aimed to test the approach on a real case study, and the resulting analytical uncertainty was compared...

Contributions of vitamin D response elements and HLA promoters to multiple sclerosis risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Nolan, David; Castley, Alison; Tschochner, Monika; James, Ian; Qiu, Wei; Sayer, David; Christiansen, Frank T; Witt, Campbell; Mastaglia, Frank; Carroll, William; Kermode, Allan

2012-08-07

The identification of a vitamin D-responsive (VDRE) motif within the HLA-DRB1*15:01 promoter region provides an attractive explanation for the combined effects of HLA-DR inheritance and vitamin D exposure on multiple sclerosis (MS) risk. We therefore sought to incorporate HLA-DRB1 promoter variation, including the VDRE motif, in an assessment of HLA-DRB1-associated MS risk. We utilized 32 homozygous HLA cell lines (covering 17 DRB1 alleles) and 53 heterozygote MS samples (20 DRB1 alleles) for HLA-DRB1 promoter sequencing. The influence of HLA-DRB1 variation on MS risk was then assessed among 466 MS cases and 498 controls. The majority of HLA*DRB1 alleles (including HLA-DRB1*15:01) express the functional VDRE motif, apart from HLA-DRB1*04, *07, and *09 alleles that comprise the HLA-DR53 serologic group. Allele-specific variation within functional X-box and Y-box motifs was also associated with serologically defined HLA-DR haplotypes. Incorporating these results in an analysis of MS risk, we identified a strong protective effect of HLA-DRB1*04, *07, and *09 (DR53) alleles (p = 10(-12)) and elevated risk associated with DRB1*15 and *16 (DR51) and *08 (DR8) alleles (p < 10(-18)). HLA-DRB1 groups corresponding to serologic HLA-DR profiles as well as promoter polymorphism haplotypes effectively stratified MS risk over an 11-fold range, suggesting functional relationships between risk-modifying HLA-DRB1 alleles. An independent contribution of VDRE motif variation to increase MS risk was not discernible, although vitamin D-dependent regulation of HLA-DR expression may still play an important role given that HLA-DRB1*04/*07/*09 (DR53) alleles that express the "nonresponsive" VDRE motif were associated with significantly reduced risk of MS.

Learning Analytics to Inform Teaching and Learning Approaches

OpenAIRE

Gray, Geraldine; McGuinness, Colm; Owende, Philip

2016-01-01

Learning analytics is an evolving discipline with capability for educational data analysis to enable better understanding of learning processes. This paper reports on learning analytics research at Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Ireland, that indicated measureable factors can identify first year students at risk of failing based on data available prior to commencement of first year of study. The study was conducted over three years, 2010 to 2012, on a student population from a range ...

Big Data and Predictive Analytics in Health Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Dhar, Vasant

2014-09-01

Predictive analytics show great promise in health care but face some serious hurdles for widespread adoption. I discuss the state of the art of predictive health-care analytics using the clinical arena as an example and discuss how the outputs of predictive systems could be made actionable through differentiated processes that encourage prevention. Such systems have the potential to minimize health risk at the population and individual levels through more personalized health-care delivery.

Jung in education: a review of historical and contemporary contributions from analytical psychology to the field of education.

Science.gov (United States)

Gitz-Johansen, Thomas

2016-06-01

The available literature on the influence of Jungian thought on the theory and practice of education leaves the impression that although the work of Carl Jung and analytical psychology have much to offer the field of education, the Jungian influence has so far been slight. While this has certainly been true, the last decade or so has nevertheless witnessed an increased scholarly interest in exploring how analytical psychology may inform and inspire the field of education. As an explanation for this burgeoning interest in Jung, several of the contemporary contributors mention that analytical psychology has the potential of functioning as a counterbalance to the tendencies in Western societies to focus on measurable learning targets and increasingly standardized measures of teaching and assessment. It seems pertinent then to gain an overview of how analytical psychology has so far inspired the field of education and how it may fruitfully continue do so in the future. To this end this paper is structured chronologically, starting with the different phases of Jung's own engagement with the field of education and ending with later post-Jungian applications of his concepts and ideas to education. © 2016, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

Contributing risk factors for orthopedic device related infections in sina hospital, tehran, iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Hadadi, A; Zehtab, M J; Babagolzadeh, H; Ashraf, H

2011-02-01

In spite of decreasing incidence of orthopedic device-related infections to 1%, nowadays, device-related infection still remains a diagnostic, therapeutic and cost-related problem. The objective of this study is to evaluate the contributing risk factors for orthopedic device-related infections in Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Three hundred and thirty patients who underwent orthopedic device implantation from 2002-2006 were enrolled; among them, 110 patients were complicated with infection. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the risk factors for device related infections. Patients with infection were older compared to those without infection. The Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest organism. A correlation was observed between wound infection and external fixation, an underlying health condition, and addiction which were independent risk factors for a device related infection. Orthopedic device-related infection puts a great financial burden on patients and hospital resources and could lead to morbidity and mortality in patients. So, appropriate pre and postoperative wound care for dirty wounds, especially when external fixators are used, and in patients with poor conditions or addiction should be done with more caution.

Towards Actionable Learning Analytics Using Dispositions

Science.gov (United States)

Tempelaar, Dirk T.; Rienties, Bart; Nguyen, Quan

2017-01-01

Studies in the field of learning analytics (LA) have shown students' demographics and learning management system (LMS) data to be effective identifiers of "at risk" performance. However, insights generated by these predictive models may not be suitable for pedagogically informed interventions due to the inability to explain why students…

Contribution of company affiliation and social contacts to risk estimates of between-farm transmission of avian influenza.

Science.gov (United States)

Leibler, Jessica H; Carone, Marco; Silbergeld, Ellen K

2010-03-25

Models of between-farm transmission of pathogens have identified service vehicles and social groups as risk factors mediating the spread of infection. Because of high levels of economic organization in much of the poultry industry, we examined the importance of company affiliation, as distinct from social contacts, in a model of the potential spread of avian influenza among broiler poultry farms in a poultry-dense region in the United States. The contribution of company affiliation to risk of between-farm disease transmission has not been previously studied. We obtained data on the nature and frequency of business and social contacts through a national survey of broiler poultry growers in the United States. Daily rates of contact were estimated using Monte Carlo analysis. Stochastic modeling techniques were used to estimate the exposure risk posed by a single infectious farm to other farms in the region and relative risk of exposure for farms under different scenarios. The mean daily rate of vehicular contact was 0.82 vehicles/day. The magnitude of exposure risk ranged from company affiliation, with farms in the same company group as the index farm facing as much as a 5-fold increase in risk compared to farms contracted with different companies. Employment of part-time workers contributed to significant increases in risk in most scenarios, notably for farms who hired day-laborers. Social visits were significantly less important in determining risk. Biosecurity interventions should be based on information on industry structure and company affiliation, and include part-time workers as potentially unrecognized sources of viral transmission. Modeling efforts to understand pathogen transmission in the context of industrial food animal production should consider company affiliation in addition to geospatial factors and pathogen characteristics. Restriction of social contacts among farmers may be less useful in reducing between-farm transmission.

Group decision making with the analytic hierarchy process in benefit-risk assessment: a tutorial.

Science.gov (United States)

Hummel, J Marjan; Bridges, John F P; IJzerman, Maarten J

2014-01-01

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been increasingly applied as a technique for multi-criteria decision analysis in healthcare. The AHP can aid decision makers in selecting the most valuable technology for patients, while taking into account multiple, and even conflicting, decision criteria. This tutorial illustrates the procedural steps of the AHP in supporting group decision making about new healthcare technology, including (1) identifying the decision goal, decision criteria, and alternative healthcare technologies to compare, (2) structuring the decision criteria, (3) judging the value of the alternative technologies on each decision criterion, (4) judging the importance of the decision criteria, (5) calculating group judgments, (6) analyzing the inconsistency in judgments, (7) calculating the overall value of the technologies, and (8) conducting sensitivity analyses. The AHP is illustrated via a hypothetical example, adapted from an empirical AHP analysis on the benefits and risks of tissue regeneration to repair small cartilage lesions in the knee.

Neglect and hereditary risk: Their relative contribution to schizophrenia with negative symptomatology.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallagher, Bernard J; Jones, Brian J

2016-05-01

There is evidence that genetic and environmental stressors contribute to the genesis of schizophrenia. However, the relevant impact of each factor remains unclear. We tested for an interactive effect between childhood neglect and family history of serious mental illness. Data were further analyzed for a possible connection to type of schizophrenic symptoms. Data for the study are taken from the medical records of 641 patients with schizophrenia from a large state hospital in the northeastern United States. Clinical assessments were divided into positive and negative symptomatology through application of the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Detailed information about childhood neglect and family history of serious mental illness was obtained through Social Service Assessment interviews at intake and during hospital stay. Among clients with no family history of mental illness, childhood neglect does not meaningfully affect the risk of negative versus positive schizophrenia. For clients with such history, on the other hand, neglect significantly raises the risk of schizophrenia with negative symptomatology. Our central finding is that risk for negative symptoms of schizophrenia are elevated by childhood neglect combined with a history of serious mental illness within the family. This is the only report to combine schizophrenic symptoms, familial risk and childhood neglect to date. Implications for primary prevention and treatment are discussed. © The Author(s) 2016.

An Analysis of Machine- and Human-Analytics in Classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Tam, Gary K L; Kothari, Vivek; Chen, Min

2017-01-01

In this work, we present a study that traces the technical and cognitive processes in two visual analytics applications to a common theoretic model of soft knowledge that may be added into a visual analytics process for constructing a decision-tree model. Both case studies involved the development of classification models based on the "bag of features" approach. Both compared a visual analytics approach using parallel coordinates with a machine-learning approach using information theory. Both found that the visual analytics approach had some advantages over the machine learning approach, especially when sparse datasets were used as the ground truth. We examine various possible factors that may have contributed to such advantages, and collect empirical evidence for supporting the observation and reasoning of these factors. We propose an information-theoretic model as a common theoretic basis to explain the phenomena exhibited in these two case studies. Together we provide interconnected empirical and theoretical evidence to support the usefulness of visual analytics.

Risks and benefits of diagnostic radiology. A contribution to quality assurance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angerstein, W.

1995-01-01

After some introductory remarks on the necessity of determining quantitative standards in diagnostic radiology as one of the key subjects in medicine, the author discusses eight statistical quantities that describe and elucidate the activities in the subject field. These quantities establish a connection between parameters such as number of images, examinations, patients and the number of therapy-relevant diagnoses, false diagnoses and incidents, and establish a relationship to the collective dose as a value indicating the radiation dose and the number of radiation injuries. These quantities can in principle be derived as retrospective or prospective data. Knowledge of these quantities would indeed represent an essential contribution to assessing the value of diagnostic radiology, risks involved, and achievement of quality assurance goals. For a number of relevant quotients, the article gives concrete values derived on the basis of evaluation of data collected at various medical centers, or obtained from regional or Land statistics of the former GDR. These data and the collective dose to be computed in addition, allow to derive a quotient composed of the benefits and the risks of diagnostic radiology, giving the relationship between the number of therapy-relevant diagnoses and the number of casualties. The value of this quotient depends on the examination method applied and usually is between 1000 and more than 100 000, and thus is lower than the risk quotients calculated for other fields of medicine, or non-medical fields [de

Risk and reliability allocation to risk control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vojnovic, D.; Kozuh, M.

1992-01-01

The risk allocation procedure is used as an analytical model to support the optimal decision making for reliability/availability improvement planning. Both levels of decision criteria, the plant risk measures and plant performance indices, are used in risk allocation procedure. Decision support system uses the multi objective decision making concept. (author) [sl

Predictive analytics for supply chain collaboration, risk management ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

kirstam

management, and (2) supply chain risk management predicted financial .... overhead costs, delivery of ever-increasing customer value, flexibility with superior ... risk exposure, relationship longevity, trust and communication are considered as.

Contribution of inorganic arsenic sources to population exposure risk on a regional scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Chou, Wei-Chun; Chen, Jein-Wen; Liao, Chung-Min

2016-07-01

Chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) in the human population is associated with various internal cancers and other adverse outcomes. The purpose of this study was to estimate a population-scale exposure risk attributable to iAs consumptions by linking a stochastic physiological-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model and biomonitoring data of iAs in urine. The urinary As concentrations were obtained from a total of 1,043 subjects living in an industrial area of Taiwan. The results showed that the study subjects had an iAs exposure risk of 27 % (the daily iAs intake for 27 % study subjects exceeded the WHO-recommended value, 2.1 μg iAs day(-1) kg(-1) body weight). Moreover, drinking water and cooked rice contributed to the iAs exposure risk by 10 and 41 %, respectively. The predicted risks in the current study were 4.82, 27.21, 34.69, and 64.17 %, respectively, among the mid-range of Mexico, Taiwan (this study), Korea, and Bangladesh reported in the literature. In conclusion, we developed a population-scale-based risk model that covered the broad range of iAS exposure by integrating stochastic PBPK modeling and reverse dosimetry to generate probabilistic distribution of As intake corresponding to urinary As measured from the cohort study. The model can also be updated as new urinary As information becomes available.

The role of risk perception for risk management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renn, Ortwin

1998-01-01

Are risks social constructions of different societal actors that can be checked at best against standards of consistency, cohesion and internal conventions of deduction, but cannot claim any validity outside of the actor's logical framework? Or are technical estimates of risk representations of real hazards that can and will affect people as predicted by the statistical values, regardless of the beliefs or convictions of those who conduct the assessments? Which of the two sides one takes determines the legitimate function of risk perception for management purposes. The paper argues that both extremes, the constructivist and the realist perspective, miss the point, as risks are always mental representations of threats that are capable of claiming real losses. Over the last two decades, risk analysts have dealt with both sides of risk in an additive fashion. In times in which risk management has been under serious pressure to demonstrate effectiveness and cost-efficiency, the parallel approach of pleasing the technical elite and the public alike has lost legitimacy. In order to integrate risk assessment and perception, the paper analyses the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to risk analysis and highlights the potential contributions that the technical sciences and the social sciences can offer to risk management. Technical assessments provide the best estimate for judging the average probability of an adverse effect linked to an object or activity. First, public perception should govern the selection of criteria on which acceptability or tolerability are to be judged. Second, public input is needed to determine the trade-offs between criteria. Third, public preferences are needed to design resilient strategies for coping with remaining uncertainties. A public participation model is introduced that promises an integration of analytic knowledge and deliberative process involving those who will be affected by the respective risk

Dietary fat, body weight, and cancer: contributions of studies in rodents to understanding these cancer risk factors in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, A E; Sullivan, L M; Hafer, L J

1999-12-01

Understanding diet and energy balance as risk factors for breast, colon, and other cancers requires information on the contribution of each factor and of interactions among factors to cancer risk. Rodent models for breast cancer provide extensive data on effects of dietary fat and calories, energy balance, body weight gain, and physical activity on tumor development. Analyses of the combined data from many studies have shown clearly that quality and quantity of dietary fat and energy balance contribute independently to increased mammary gland tumorigenesis. These findings were seen in female rats fed diets high in fat (35-40% of calories) compared to rats fed control diets, with approximately 10% of calories as fat (Fay and Freedman, 1997, Breast Cancer Res. Treat. 46, 215-223). The methods used permit comparison of experimental and epidemiological data, and they may be useful in extrapolating between species and developing public health recommendations. In addition to the contributions of lifetime-diet composition, intake, energy balance, and physical activity to cancer risk, there are questions about the timing and duration of alterations in these factors and about the "dose-response" characteristics of cancer risk to the factors. Endocrine mechanisms may be significant in mammary gland tumor risk, but experimental and epidemiological data indicate that cancers at other sites, such as colon and liver, also are influenced by the factors listed. Other diet and lifestyle factors that influence energy, or specifically fat, metabolism may also affect risk for cancers that are promoted by increased intake of fat and calories. Studies of separate and interactive effects of dietary fat, black tea, weight gain, and mammary gland tumorigenesis (Rogers, et al, 1998, Carcinogenesis 19, 1269-1273) have been analyzed. Using adjustment of carcinogenesis endpoints for body weight, tumor burden, and latency, they were found to be related to weight gain within treatment groups in

Development of An Analytic Approach to Determine How Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Is Used by Non-EPA Decision Makers (Final Contractor Report)

Science.gov (United States)

EPA announced the availability of the final contractor report entitled, Development of an Analytic Approach to Determine How Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Is Used By Non EPA Decision Makers. This contractor report analyzed how ...

Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, progress report for FY 1993

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-12-01

The purpose of this report is to summarize the activities of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for Fiscal Year (FY) 1993 (October 1992 through September 1993). This annual report is the tenth for the ACL and describes continuing effort on projects, work on new projects, and contributions of the ACL staff to various programs at ANL. The Analytical Chemistry Laboratory is a full-cost-recovery service center, with the primary mission of providing a broad range of analytical chemistry support services to the scientific and engineering programs at ANL. The ACL also has research programs in analytical chemistry, conducts instrumental and methods development, and provides analytical services for governmental, educational, and industrial organizations. The ACL handles a wide range of analytical problems. Some routine or standard analyses are done, but it is common for the Argonne programs to generate unique problems that require development or modification of methods and adaption of techniques to obtain useful analytical data. The ACL is administratively within the Chemical Technology Division (CMT), its principal ANL client, but provides technical support for many of the technical divisions and programs at ANL. The ACL has four technical groups--Chemical Analysis, Instrumental Analysis, Organic Analysis, and Environmental Analysis--which together include about 45 technical staff members. Talents and interests of staff members cross the group lines, as do many projects within the ACL.

Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. Progress report for FY 1996

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Green, D.W.; Boparai, A.S.; Bowers, D.L.

1996-12-01

The purpose of this report is to summarize the activities of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for Fiscal Year (FY) 1996. This annual report is the thirteenth for the ACL. It describes effort on continuing and new projects and contributions of the ACL staff to various programs at ANL. The ACL operates in the ANL system as a full-cost-recovery service center, but has a mission that includes a complementary research and development component: The Analytical Chemistry Laboratory will provide high-quality, cost-effective chemical analysis and related technical support to solve research problems of our clients -- Argonne National Laboratory, the Department of Energy, and others -- and will conduct world-class research and development in analytical chemistry and its applications. Because of the diversity of research and development work at ANL, the ACL handles a wide range of analytical chemistry problems. Some routine or standard analyses are done, but the ACL usually works with commercial laboratories if our clients require high-volume, production-type analyses. It is common for ANL programs to generate unique problems that require significant development of methods and adaption of techniques to obtain useful analytical data. Thus, much of the support work done by the ACL is very similar to our applied analytical chemistry research.

Environmental modeling and health risk analysis (ACTS/RISK)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Aral, M. M

2010-01-01

... presents a review of the topics of exposure and health risk analysis. The Analytical Contaminant Transport Analysis System (ACTS) and Health RISK Analysis (RISK) software tools are an integral part of the book and provide computational platforms for all the models discussed herein. The most recent versions of these two softwa...

The Contribution of Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 Promoter Genotypes in Taiwan Lung Cancer Risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Te-Chun; Chang, Wen-Shin; Tsai, Chia-Wen; Chao, Che-Yi; Lin, Yi-Ting; Hsiao, Chieh-Lun; Hsu, Che-Lun; Chen, Wei-Chun; Hsia, Te-Chun; Bau, DA-Tian

2018-01-01

Up-regulation of metallo-proteinase (MMP) proteins has been shown in various types of solid cancers and the genotype of MMP1 has been associated with the risk of solid cancers. The contribution of MMP1 genotype to lung cancer has been investigated in various countries, though, to our knowledge, not in Taiwan. Therefore, in this study, we focused on the contribution of a polymorphism in the promoter region of MMP1 to lung cancer risk in Taiwan population. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood of 358 patients with lung cancer and 716 healthy individuals (non-cancer patients). MMP1 rs1799750 polymorphic genotypes of each sample were determined using the typical methodology of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The percentages of 2G/2G, 1G/2G, and 1G/1G for MMP1 -1607 genotypes were 34.4%, 41.3% and 24.3% in the disease group and 33.9%, 44.0%, and 22.1% in the control group (p trend=0.6298), respectively. The results of carrier comparisons in dominant and recessive models also support the findings that 1G or 2G appears not to be a determinant allelic biomarker for Taiwan lung cancer. The MMP1 -1607 1G allele is a non-significant protective biomarker for lung cancer in Taiwan. Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

Computerized Analytical Data Management System and Automated Analytical Sample Transfer System at the COGEMA Reprocessing Plants in La Hague

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flament, T.; Goasmat, F.; Poilane, F.

2002-01-01

Managing the operation of large commercial spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, such as UP3 and UP2-800 in La Hague, France, requires an extensive analytical program and the shortest possible analysis response times. COGEMA, together with its engineering subsidiary SGN, decided to build high-performance laboratories to support operations in its plants. These laboratories feature automated equipment, safe environments for operators, and short response times, all in centralized installations. Implementation of a computerized analytical data management system and a fully automated pneumatic system for the transfer of radioactive samples was a key factor contributing to the successful operation of the laboratories and plants

A Generalized Pivotal Quantity Approach to Analytical Method Validation Based on Total Error.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Harry; Zhang, Jianchun

2015-01-01

The primary purpose of method validation is to demonstrate that the method is fit for its intended use. Traditionally, an analytical method is deemed valid if its performance characteristics such as accuracy and precision are shown to meet prespecified acceptance criteria. However, these acceptance criteria are not directly related to the method's intended purpose, which is usually a gurantee that a high percentage of the test results of future samples will be close to their true values. Alternate "fit for purpose" acceptance criteria based on the concept of total error have been increasingly used. Such criteria allow for assessing method validity, taking into account the relationship between accuracy and precision. Although several statistical test methods have been proposed in literature to test the "fit for purpose" hypothesis, the majority of the methods are not designed to protect the risk of accepting unsuitable methods, thus having the potential to cause uncontrolled consumer's risk. In this paper, we propose a test method based on generalized pivotal quantity inference. Through simulation studies, the performance of the method is compared to five existing approaches. The results show that both the new method and the method based on β-content tolerance interval with a confidence level of 90%, hereafter referred to as the β-content (0.9) method, control Type I error and thus consumer's risk, while the other existing methods do not. It is further demonstrated that the generalized pivotal quantity method is less conservative than the β-content (0.9) method when the analytical methods are biased, whereas it is more conservative when the analytical methods are unbiased. Therefore, selection of either the generalized pivotal quantity or β-content (0.9) method for an analytical method validation depends on the accuracy of the analytical method. It is also shown that the generalized pivotal quantity method has better asymptotic properties than all of the current

John Knopfmacher, [Abstract] Analytic Number Theory, and the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Abstract. In this paper some important contributions of John Knopfmacher to ' Analytic Number Theory' are described. This theory investigates semigroups with countably many generators (generalized 'primes'), with a norm map (or a 'degree map'), and satisfying certain conditions on the number of elements with norm less

Analytical Formulae linking Quark Confinement and Chiral Symmetry Breaking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doi, Takahiro M.; Redlich, Krzysztof; Sasaki, Chihiro; Suganuma, Hideo

2016-01-01

Dirac spectrum representations of the Polyakov loop fluctuations are derived on the temporally odd-number lattice, where the temporal length is odd with the periodic boundary condition. We investigate the Polyakov loop fluctuations based on these analytical relations. It is semi-analytically and numerically found that the low-lying Dirac eigenmodes have little contribution to the Polyakov loop fluctuations, which are sensitive probe for the quark deconfinement. Our results suggest no direct one-to-one corresponding between quark confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in QCD

Analytical structure of the 3. -->. 3 forward scattering amplitude

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Logunov, A A; Medvedev, B V; Muzafarov, L M; Pavlov, V P; Polivanov, M K; Sukhanov, A D [AN SSSR, Moscow. Matematicheskij Inst.

1979-08-01

Analytical properties of the amplitude of 3..-->..3 forward scattering established in the framework of the Bogolyubov axiomatic approach are described. The amplitudes of the different channels of the process are boundary values of a unique analytical function of invariant variables. Crossing-symmetry property of the amplitude is proved. Analysis of the absorptive part of the amplitude is performed and the generalized optical theorem is proved which connects one of the contributions into the absorptive part with the distribution function of the inclusive process.

The simple analytics of systemic liquidity risk regulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Perotti, E.; Suarez, J.

2011-01-01

How to regulate systemic risk? This column presents a new CEPR discussion paper assessing the performance of Pigouvian taxes and quantity-based regulations in containing the social costs of high-risk banking. It finds that, depending on how banks differ, the socially efficient solution may be

Analytic properties of high energy production amplitudes in N=4 SUSY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lipatov, L.N.; Hamburg Univ.

2010-08-01

We investigate analytic properties of the six point planar amplitude in N=4 SUSY at the multi-Regge kinematics for final state particles. For inelastic processes the Steinmann relations play an important role because they give a possibility to fix the phase structure of the Regge pole and Mandelstam cut contributions. The analyticity and factorization constraints allow us to reproduce the two-loop correction to the 6- point BDS amplitude in N=4 SUSY obtained earlier in the leading logarithmic approximation with the use of the s-channel unitarity. The cut contribution has the Moebius invariant form in the transverse momentum subspace. The exponentiation hypothesis for the amplitude in the multi-Regge kinematics is also investigated in LLA. (orig.)

Analytic properties of high energy production amplitudes in N=4 SUSY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lipatov, L.N. [St. Petersburg Inst. of Nuclear Physics, Gatchina (Russian Federation); Hamburg Univ. (Germany). 1. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik

2010-08-15

We investigate analytic properties of the six point planar amplitude in N=4 SUSY at the multi-Regge kinematics for final state particles. For inelastic processes the Steinmann relations play an important role because they give a possibility to fix the phase structure of the Regge pole and Mandelstam cut contributions. The analyticity and factorization constraints allow us to reproduce the two-loop correction to the 6- point BDS amplitude in N=4 SUSY obtained earlier in the leading logarithmic approximation with the use of the s-channel unitarity. The cut contribution has the Moebius invariant form in the transverse momentum subspace. The exponentiation hypothesis for the amplitude in the multi-Regge kinematics is also investigated in LLA. (orig.)

Integrating bioassays and analytical chemistry as an improved approach to support safety assessment of food contact materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Veyrand, Julien; Marin-Kuan, Maricel; Bezencon, Claudine; Frank, Nancy; Guérin, Violaine; Koster, Sander; Latado, Hélia; Mollergues, Julie; Patin, Amaury; Piguet, Dominique; Serrant, Patrick; Varela, Jesus; Schilter, Benoît

2017-10-01

Food contact materials (FCM) contain chemicals which can migrate into food and result in human exposure. Although it is mandatory to ensure that migration does not endanger human health, there is still no consensus on how to pragmatically assess the safety of FCM since traditional approaches would require extensive toxicological and analytical testing which are expensive and time consuming. Recently, the combination of bioassays, analytical chemistry and risk assessment has been promoted as a new paradigm to identify toxicologically relevant molecules and address safety issues. However, there has been debate on the actual value of bioassays in that framework. In the present work, a FCM anticipated to release the endocrine active chemical 4-nonyphenol (4NP) was used as a model. In a migration study, the leaching of 4NP was confirmed by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS. This was correlated with an increase in both estrogenic and anti-androgenic activities as measured with bioassays. A standard risk assessment indicated that according to the food intake scenario applied, the level of 4NP measured was lower, close or slightly above the acceptable daily intake. Altogether these results show that bioassays could reveal the presence of an endocrine active chemical in a real-case FCM migration study. The levels reported were relevant for safety assessment. In addition, this work also highlighted that bioactivity measured in migrate does not necessarily represent a safety issue. In conclusion, together with analytics, bioassays contribute to identify toxicologically relevant molecules leaching from FCM and enable improved safety assessment.

From corruption to state capture: A new analytical framework with empirical applications from Hungary

OpenAIRE

Fazekas, Mihaly; Tóth, István János

2016-01-01

State capture and corruption are widespread phenomena across the globe, but their empirical study still lacks sufficient analytical tools. This paper develops a new conceptual and analytical framework for gauging state capture based on micro-level contractual networks in public procurement. To this end, it establishes a novel measure of corruption risk in government contracting focusing on the behaviour of individual organisations. Then, it identifies clusters of high corruption risk organisa...

Analytical solutions of linked fault tree probabilistic risk assessments using binary decision diagrams with emphasis on nuclear safety applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nusbaumer, O. P. M.

2007-01-01

This study is concerned with the quantification of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) using linked Fault Tree (FT) models. Probabilistic Risk assessment (PRA) of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) complements traditional deterministic analysis; it is widely recognized as a comprehensive and structured approach to identify accident scenarios and to derive numerical estimates of the associated risk levels. PRA models as found in the nuclear industry have evolved rapidly. Increasingly, they have been broadly applied to support numerous applications on various operational and regulatory matters. Regulatory bodies in many countries require that a PRA be performed for licensing purposes. PRA has reached the point where it can considerably influence the design and operation of nuclear power plants. However, most of the tools available for quantifying large PRA models are unable to produce analytically correct results. The algorithms of such quantifiers are designed to neglect sequences when their likelihood decreases below a predefined cutoff limit. In addition, the rare event approximation (e.g. Moivre's equation) is typically implemented for the first order, ignoring the success paths and the possibility that two or more events can occur simultaneously. This is only justified in assessments where the probabilities of the basic events are low. When the events in question are failures, the first order rare event approximation is always conservative, resulting in wrong interpretation of risk importance measures. Advanced NPP PRA models typically include human errors, common cause failure groups, seismic and phenomenological basic events, where the failure probabilities may approach unity, leading to questionable results. It is accepted that current quantification tools have reached their limits, and that new quantification techniques should be investigated. A novel approach using the mathematical concept of Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) is proposed to overcome these deficiencies

Micro-optics for microfluidic analytical applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hui; Gijs, Martin A M

2018-02-19

This critical review summarizes the developments in the integration of micro-optical elements with microfluidic platforms for facilitating detection and automation of bio-analytical applications. Micro-optical elements, made by a variety of microfabrication techniques, advantageously contribute to the performance of an analytical system, especially when the latter has microfluidic features. Indeed the easy integration of optical control and detection modules with microfluidic technology helps to bridge the gap between the macroscopic world and chip-based analysis, paving the way for automated and high-throughput applications. In our review, we start the discussion with an introduction of microfluidic systems and micro-optical components, as well as aspects of their integration. We continue with a detailed description of different microfluidic and micro-optics technologies and their applications, with an emphasis on the realization of optical waveguides and microlenses. The review continues with specific sections highlighting the advantages of integrated micro-optical components in microfluidic systems for tackling a variety of analytical problems, like cytometry, nucleic acid and protein detection, cell biology, and chemical analysis applications.

Procedure for hazards analysis of plutonium gloveboxes used in analytical chemistry operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delvin, W.L.

1977-06-01

A procedure is presented to identify and assess hazards associated with gloveboxes used for analytical chemistry operations involving plutonium. This procedure is based upon analytic tree methodology and it has been adapted from the US Energy Research and Development Administration's safety program, the Management Oversight and Risk Tree

Internal risks of factoring business: identification, cause-effect relationships, accounting and management aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I.M. Vygivska

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article identifies the risks of the economic activity of a factoring company. The identified risks are divided into internal (fraud risk, credit risk, liquidity, nonpayment, staff, supplier's failure to meet the terms of the supply / factoring contract and external (legal, inflation, currency, interest, industry risks, country risk. The cause-effect relationships of the identified risks have been established. The content of information requests of the leading part of the factoring company, as well as the management subsystems (accounting, economic analysis, control and planning, and the direction of information flows between them (to manage the company's internal risks is determined. These proposals contribute to the improvement of accounting and analytical support for risk management of the factoring business, the choice of alternative risk management methods, the impact on their possible consequences, minimizing the negative impact of risks on the financial condition of the company, and establishing the effectiveness of factoring operations under risk.

Muonium hyperfine structure : An analytical solution to perturbative calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wotzasek, C.J.; Gregorio, M.A.; Reinecke, S.

1982-01-01

The purely coulombian contribution to the terms of order E sub(F) (α 2 m sub(e)/m sub(μ))ln α - 1 of the hyperfine splitting of muonium is computed. Results agree with those of other authors. The goal of the work was twofold: first, to confirm that contribution; second, and perhaps more important, to check the analytic solution of the relativistic coulombian problem of the Bethe-Salpeter equation with instantaneous kernel. (Author) [pt

Aspartame and Risk of Cancer: A Meta-analytic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Mallikarjun, Sreekanth; Sieburth, Rebecca McNeill

2015-01-01

Aspartame (APM) is the most commonly used artificial sweetener and flavor enhancer in the world. There is a rise in concern that APM is carcinogenic due to a variation in the findings of the previous APM carcinogenic bioassays. This article conducts a meta-analytic review of all previous APM carcinogenic bioassays on rodents that were conducted before 31 December 2012. The search yielded 10 original APM carcinogenic bioassays on rodents. The aggregate effect sizes suggest that APM consumption has no significant carcinogenic effect in rodents.

Comparison of the analytical and clinical performances of Abbott RealTime High Risk HPV, Hybrid Capture 2, and DNA Chip assays in gynecology patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Seungman; Kang, Youjin; Kim, Dong Geun; Kim, Eui-Chong; Park, Sung Sup; Seong, Moon-Woo

2013-08-01

The detection of high-risk (HR) HPV in cervical cancer screening is important for early diagnosis of cervical cancer or pre-cancerous lesions. We evaluated the analytical and clinical performances of 3 HR HPV assays in Gynecology patients. A total of 991 specimens were included in this study: 787 specimens for use with a Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) and 204 specimens for a HPV DNA microarray (DNA Chip). All specimens were tested using an Abbott RealTime High Risk HPV assay (Real-time HR), PGMY PCR, and sequence analysis. Clinical sensitivities for severe abnormal cytology (severe than high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion) were 81.8% for Real-time HR, 77.3% for HC2, and 66.7% for DNA Chip, and clinical sensitivities for severe abnormal histology (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2+) were 91.7% for HC2, 87.5% for Real-time HR, and 73.3% for DNA Chip. As compared to results of the sequence analysis, HC2, Real-time HR, and DNA Chip showed concordance rates of 94.3% (115/122), 90.0% (117/130), and 61.5% (16/26), respectively. The HC2 assay and Real-time HR assay showed comparable results to each other in both clinical and analytical performances, while the DNA Chip assay showed poor clinical and analytical performances. The Real-time HR assay can be a good alternative option for HR HPV testing with advantages of allowing full automation and simultaneous genotyping of HR types 16 and 18. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Irregular analytical errors in diagnostic testing - a novel concept.

Science.gov (United States)

Vogeser, Michael; Seger, Christoph

2018-02-23

-isotope-dilution mass spectrometry methods are increasingly used for pre-market validation of routine diagnostic assays (these tests also involve substantial sets of clinical validation samples). Based on this definition/terminology, we list recognized causes of irregular analytical error as a risk catalog for clinical chemistry in this article. These issues include reproducible individual analytical errors (e.g. caused by anti-reagent antibodies) and non-reproducible, sporadic errors (e.g. errors due to incorrect pipetting volume due to air bubbles in a sample), which can both lead to inaccurate results and risks for patients.

Introduction into Sparks of the Learning Analytics Future

Science.gov (United States)

Pechenizkiy, Mykola; Gaševic, Dragan

2014-01-01

This section offers a compilation of 16 extended abstracts summarizing research of the doctoral students who participated in the Second Learning Analytics Summer Institute (LASI 2014) held at Harvard University in July 2014. The abstracts highlight the motivation, main goals and expected contributions to the field from the ongoing learning…

Probabilistic risk assessment as an aid to risk management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garrick, B.J.

1982-01-01

Probabilistic risk assessments are providing important insights into nuclear power plant safety. Their value is two-fold: first as a means of quantifying nuclear plant risk including contributors to risk, and second as an aid to risk management. A risk assessment provides an analytical plant model that can be the basis for performing meaningful decision analyses for controlling safety. It is the aspect of quantitative risk management that makes probabilistic risk assessment an important technical discipline of the future

Palladium emissions in the environment: analytical methods, environmental assessment and health effects

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Alt, Friedrich; Zereini, Fathi

2006-01-01

... (Eds)). But there is a clear lack of information concerning palladium. It is very important to condense the present state of research findings from emission to potential health risks for the environment and humans. Very important is the chapter about analytical determination of palladium, which shows clearly the problems of several analytic...

A review of analytics and clinical informatics in health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Simpao, Allan F; Ahumada, Luis M; Gálvez, Jorge A; Rehman, Mohamed A

2014-04-01

Federal investment in health information technology has incentivized the adoption of electronic health record systems by physicians and health care organizations; the result has been a massive rise in the collection of patient data in electronic form (i.e. "Big Data"). Health care systems have leveraged Big Data for quality and performance improvements using analytics-the systematic use of data combined with quantitative as well as qualitative analysis to make decisions. Analytics have been utilized in various aspects of health care including predictive risk assessment, clinical decision support, home health monitoring, finance, and resource allocation. Visual analytics is one example of an analytics technique with an array of health care and research applications that are well described in the literature. The proliferation of Big Data and analytics in health care has spawned a growing demand for clinical informatics professionals who can bridge the gap between the medical and information sciences.

Complete analytic results for radiative-recoil corrections to ground-state muonium hyperfine splitting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karshenboim, S.G.; Shelyuto, V.A.; Eides, M.E.

1988-01-01

Analytic expressions are obtained for radiative corrections to the hyperfine splitting related to the muon line. The corresponding contribution amounts to (Z 2 a) (Za) (m/M) (9/2 ζ(3) - 3π 2 ln 2 + 39/8) in units of the Fermi hyperfine splitting energy. A complete analytic result for all radiative-recoil corrections is also presented

African Philosophy and the Analytic Tradition | Eze | Philosophical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Could the 'analytic' approach take greater roots in the traditions of African Philosophy? In this contribution, I give an affirmative answer to the question. However, I also argue that the process requires a 'political will', as it involves a clear acknowledgement of the historical impetus animating the very idea—and contemporary ...

Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Progress Report for FY 1994

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Green, D.W.; Boparai, A.S.; Bowers, D.L. [and others

1994-12-01

The purpose of this report is to summarize the activities of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for Fiscal Year (FY) 1994 (October 1993 through September 1994). This annual report is the eleventh for the ACL and describes continuing effort on projects, work on new projects, and contributions of the ACL staff to various programs at ANL. The Analytical Chemistry Laboratory is a full-cost-recovery service center, with the primary mission of providing a broad range of analytical chemistry support services to the scientific and engineering programs at ANL. The ACL also has a research program in analytical chemistry, conducts instrumental and methods development, and provides analytical services for governmental, educational, and industrial organizations. The ACL handles a wide range of analytical problems. Some routine or standard analyses are done, but it is common for the Argonne programs to generate unique problems that require significant development of methods and adaption of techniques to obtain useful analytical data. The ACL has four technical groups -- Chemical Analysis, Instrumental Analysis, Organic Analysis, and Environmental Analysis -- which together include about 45 technical staff members. Talents and interests of staff members cross the group lines, as do many projects within the ACL. The Chemical Analysis Group uses wet- chemical and instrumental methods for elemental, compositional, and isotopic determinations in solid, liquid, and gaseous samples and provides specialized analytical services. Major instruments in this group include an ion chromatograph (IC), an inductively coupled plasma/atomic emission spectrometer (ICP/AES), spectrophotometers, mass spectrometers (including gas-analysis and thermal-ionization mass spectrometers), emission spectrographs, autotitrators, sulfur and carbon determinators, and a kinetic phosphorescence uranium analyzer.

Measuring Producers' Risk Preferences: A Global Risk Attitude Construct

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pennings, J.M.E.; Garcia, P.

2001-01-01

In applied agricultural economic research various risk-attitude elicitation techniques are used. Here, we investigate whether risk-attitude measures rooted in the expected utility framework are related to measures rooted in the multi-item scale framework. Using a second-order factor analytical

Separate and interactive contributions of weak inhibitory control and threat sensitivity to prediction of suicide risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Venables, Noah C; Sellbom, Martin; Sourander, Andre; Kendler, Kenneth S; Joiner, Thomas E; Drislane, Laura E; Sillanmäki, Lauri; Elonheimo, Henrik; Parkkola, Kai; Multimaki, Petteri; Patrick, Christopher J

2015-04-30

Biobehavioral dispositions can serve as valuable referents for biologically oriented research on core processes with relevance to many psychiatric conditions. The present study examined two such dispositional variables-weak response inhibition (or disinhibition; INH-) and threat sensitivity (or fearfulness; THT+)-as predictors of the serious transdiagnostic problem of suicide risk in two samples: male and female outpatients from a U.S. clinic (N=1078), and a population-based male military cohort from Finland (N=3855). INH- and THT+ were operationalized through scores on scale measures of disinhibition and fear/fearlessness, known to be related to DSM-defined clinical conditions and brain biomarkers. Suicide risk was assessed by clinician ratings (clinic sample) and questionnaires (both samples). Across samples and alternative suicide indices, INH- and THT+ each contributed uniquely to prediction of suicide risk-beyond internalizing and externalizing problems in the case of the clinic sample where diagnostic data were available. Further, in both samples, INH- and THT+ interactively predicted suicide risk, with individuals scoring concurrently high on both dispositions exhibiting markedly augmented risk. Findings demonstrate that dispositional constructs of INH- and THT+ are predictive of suicide risk, and hold potential as referents for biological research on suicidal behavior. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

State-of-the-Art of (Bio)Chemical Sensor Developments in Analytical Spanish Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Plata, María Reyes; Contento, Ana María; Ríos, Angel

2010-01-01

(Bio)chemical sensors are one of the most exciting fields in analytical chemistry today. The development of these analytical devices simplifies and miniaturizes the whole analytical process. Although the initial expectation of the massive incorporation of sensors in routine analytical work has been truncated to some extent, in many other cases analytical methods based on sensor technology have solved important analytical problems. Many research groups are working in this field world-wide, reporting interesting results so far. Modestly, Spanish researchers have contributed to these recent developments. In this review, we summarize the more representative achievements carried out for these groups. They cover a wide variety of sensors, including optical, electrochemical, piezoelectric or electro-mechanical devices, used for laboratory or field analyses. The capabilities to be used in different applied areas are also critically discussed. PMID:22319260

Contribution of CNESTEN to the developpement of analytical nuclear and conventional technic and their applications to the environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bounakhla, M.

2008-01-01

Full text: In CNESTEN (National Center for Energy Sciences and Nuclear Techniques), the NAA is considered a main activity to be developed around the reactor Triga Mark 2 (2 MW) of CEN (Center for Nuclear Studies ) of Maamoura. This method allows determining 40 to 50 elements, many of them affect the environment (antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury, selenium, etc. ...). It also allows the determination of important elements such as sodium, chlorine and potassium, and many lanthanides. It presents many advantages and is applied in various areas, however, and as it is the case for any analysis method, it has analytical limits. To supplement this method and then allowing to cover a range analytical widest possible in various matrices, CNESTEN has already installed 4 analytical techniques: fluorescence-X Energy Dispersive (ED-XRF), fluorescence-X dispersion wavelength (WD-XRF), SAA and PCI-SEO. For the AAN, the AAN instrumental is already operational while the technique based on the Prompt Gammas is being developed with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). Using reactors of Pierre Sue Laboratories (Saclay) in France and Jozef Stefan Institute in Slovenia for the AAN and analytical techniques available in CNESTEN and in partner universities in France and Spain, many projects and studies research has been realized in the field of environment and geochemistry, that is in collaboration with national and/or foreign partners [fr

The perceptions of the meaning and value of analytics in New Zealand higher education institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamidreza Mahroeian

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract This article presents the current perceptions on the value of analytics and their possible contribution to the higher education sector in New Zealand. Seven out of eight research-intensive public universities in New Zealand took part in the study. Participants included senior management and those who have some role associated with decision-making within higher education (N = 82. The study found inconsistent understanding of the meaning of analytics across participants. In particular, three forms of perceptions of analytics were identified: structural; functional and structural-functional. It was evident that some participants viewed analytics in its structural elements such as statistics, metrics, trends, numbers, graph, and any relevant information/data to enhance better decision-making, whereas other participants perceived the notion of analytics in terms of functional aspect; as means to an end, a process to use the data to gain insights and taking action on complex problems, yet a third group viewed analytics from both structural-functional perspectives. These kinds of perceptions have to a larger extent influenced participants’ views on the value of analytics in shaping policy and practice. Also, literature has addressed a number of possible challenges associated with the large-scale institutional implementation of analytics. These challenges were: difficulties in extracting data from multiple databases, maintaining data quality, ethical and privacy issues, and lack of professional development opportunities. This article aims to broadly contribute to a better understanding of current perception and value of analytics in higher education, and in particular within the New Zealand context.

Development of analytical techniques for safeguards environmental samples at JAEA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakurai, Satoshi; Magara, Masaaki; Usuda, Shigekazu; Watanabe, Kazuo; Esaka, Fumitaka; Hirayama, Fumio; Lee, Chi-Gyu; Yasuda, Kenichiro; Inagawa, Jun; Suzuki, Daisuke; Iguchi, Kazunari; Kokubu, Yoko S.; Miyamoto, Yutaka; Ohzu, Akira

2007-01-01

JAEA has been developing, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, analytical techniques for ultra-trace amounts of nuclear materials in environmental samples in order to contribute to the strengthened safeguards system. Development of essential techniques for bulk and particle analysis, as well as screening, of the environmental swipe samples has been established as ultra-trace analytical methods of uranium and plutonium. In January 2003, JAEA was qualified, including its quality control system, as a member of the JAEA network analytical laboratories for environmental samples. Since 2004, JAEA has conducted the analysis of domestic and the IAEA samples, through which JAEA's analytical capability has been verified and improved. In parallel, advanced techniques have been developed in order to expand the applicability to the samples of various elemental composition and impurities and to improve analytical accuracy and efficiency. This paper summarizes the trace of the technical development in environmental sample analysis at JAEA, and refers to recent trends of research and development in this field. (author)

How Dispositional Learning Analytics helps understanding the worked-example principle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tempelaar, Dirk; Sampson, Demetrios G.; Spector, J. Michael; Ifenthaler, Dirk; Isaías, Pedro

2017-01-01

This empirical study aims to demonstrate how Dispositional Learning Analytics can contribute in the investigation of the effectiveness of didactical scenarios in authentic settings, where previous research has mostly been laboratory based. Using a showcase based on learning processes of 1080

Descriptive and analytic epidemiology. Bridges to cancer control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mettlin, C.

1988-01-01

Epidemiology serves as a bridge between basic science and cancer control. The two major orientations of epidemiology are descriptive and analytic. The former is useful in assessing the scope and dimensions of the cancer problem and the latter is used to assess environmental and lifestyle sources of cancer risk. A recent development in descriptive epidemiology is the use of functional measures of disease such as lost life expectancy. In analytical epidemiology, there is new or renewed interest in several lifestyle factors including diet and exercise as well as environmental factors such as involuntary tobacco exposure and radon in dwellings. Review of the evidence should consider the strengths and weaknesses of different research procedures. Each method is inconclusive by itself but, the different research designs of epidemiology collectively may represent a hierarchy of proof. Although the roles of many factors remain to be defined, the aggregate epidemiologic data continue to demonstrate the special importance of personal behavior and lifestyle in affecting cancer risk

Is low self-esteem a risk factor for depression among adolescents? an analytical study with interventional component

OpenAIRE

Jayanthi P, Rajamanickam Rajkumar

2014-01-01

Background: Self – esteem is an important factor for helping persons deal with life stressors. It is an important determinant of psychological well-being that is particularly problematic during an adolescent life stage. Low self-esteem might contribute to depression through both interpersonal and intrapersonal pathways. Many theories of depression postulate that low self esteem is a defining feature of depression. Aims: Self-esteem in adolescents has been associated with a number of risk and ...

Contributions of polygenic risk for obesity to PTSD-related metabolic syndrome and cortical thickness.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Erika J; Miller, Danielle R; Logue, Mark W; Sumner, Jennifer; Stoop, Tawni B; Leritz, Elizabeth C; Hayes, Jasmeet P; Stone, Annjanette; Schichman, Steven A; McGlinchey, Regina E; Milberg, William P; Miller, Mark W

2017-10-01

Research suggests that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and that PTSD-associated MetS is related to decreased cortical thickness. However, the role of genetic factors in these associations is unclear. This study evaluated contributions of polygenic obesity risk and PTSD to MetS and of MetS and polygenic obesity risk to cortical thickness. 196 white, non-Hispanic veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan underwent clinical diagnostic interviews, physiological assessments, and genome-wide genotyping; 168 also completed magnetic resonance imaging scans. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for obesity were calculated from results of a prior genome-wide association study (Speliotes et al., 2010) and PTSD and MetS severity factor scores were obtained. Obesity PRS (β=0.15, p=0.009) and PTSD (β=0.17, p=0.005) predicted MetS and interacted such that the association between PTSD and MetS was stronger in individuals with greater polygenic obesity risk (β=0.13, p=0.02). Whole-brain vertex-wise analyses suggested that obesity PRS interacted with MetS to predict decreased cortical thickness in left rostral middle frontal gyrus (β=-0.40, pobesity genetic risk increases stress-related metabolic pathology, and compounds the ill health effects of MetS on the brain. Genetic proclivity towards MetS should be considered in PTSD patients when prescribing psychotropic medications with adverse metabolic profiles. Results are consistent with a growing literature suggestive of PTSD-related accelerated aging. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Advances in the Analytical Methods for Determining the Antioxidant ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Advances in the Analytical Methods for Determining the Antioxidant Properties of Honey: A Review. M Moniruzzaman, MI Khalil, SA Sulaiman, SH Gan. Abstract. Free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in contributing to the processes of aging and disease. In an effort to combat free radical ...

Mentoring Programs to Affect Delinquency and Associated Outcomes of Youth At-Risk: A Comprehensive Meta-Analytic Reviewi

Science.gov (United States)

Tolan, Patrick H.; Henry, David B.; Schoeny, Michael S.; Lovegrove, Peter; Nichols, Emily

2013-01-01

Objectives To conduct a meta-analytic review of selective and indicated mentoring interventions for effects for youth at risk on delinquency and key associated outcomes (aggression, drug use, academic functioning). We also undertook the first systematic evaluation of intervention implementation features and organization and tested for effects of theorized key processes of mentor program effects. Methods Campbell Collaboration review inclusion criteria and procedures were used to search and evaluate the literature. Criteria included a sample defined as at-risk for delinquency due to individual behavior such as aggression or conduct problems or environmental characteristics such as residence in high-crime community. Studies were required to be random assignment or strong quasi-experimental design. Of 163 identified studies published 1970 - 2011, 46 met criteria for inclusion. Results Mean effects sizes were significant and positive for each outcome category (ranging form d =.11 for Academic Achievement to d = .29 for Aggression). Heterogeneity in effect sizes was noted for all four outcomes. Stronger effects resulted when mentor motivation was professional development but not by other implementation features. Significant improvements in effects were found when advocacy and emotional support mentoring processes were emphasized. Conclusions This popular approach has significant impact on delinquency and associated outcomes for youth at-risk for delinquency. While evidencing some features may relate to effects, the body of literature is remarkably lacking in details about specific program features and procedures. This persistent state of limited reporting seriously impedes understanding about how mentoring is beneficial and ability to maximize its utility. PMID:25386111

Recalibration of blood analytes over 25 years in the atherosclerosis risk in communities study: impact of recalibration on chronic kidney disease prevalence and incidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Parrinello, Christina M; Grams, Morgan E; Couper, David; Ballantyne, Christie M; Hoogeveen, Ron C; Eckfeldt, John H; Selvin, Elizabeth; Coresh, Josef

2015-07-01

Equivalence of laboratory tests over time is important for longitudinal studies. Even a small systematic difference (bias) can result in substantial misclassification. We selected 200 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study participants attending all 5 study visits over 25 years. Eight analytes were remeasured in 2011-2013 from stored blood samples from multiple visits: creatinine, uric acid, glucose, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Original values were recalibrated to remeasured values with Deming regression. Differences >10% were considered to reflect substantial bias, and correction equations were applied to affected analytes in the total study population. We examined trends in chronic kidney disease (CKD) pre- and postrecalibration. Repeat measures were highly correlated with original values [Pearson r > 0.85 after removing outliers (median 4.5% of paired measurements)], but 2 of 8 analytes (creatinine and uric acid) had differences >10%. Original values of creatinine and uric acid were recalibrated to current values with correction equations. CKD prevalence differed substantially after recalibration of creatinine (visits 1, 2, 4, and 5 prerecalibration: 21.7%, 36.1%, 3.5%, and 29.4%, respectively; postrecalibration: 1.3%, 2.2%, 6.4%, and 29.4%). For HDL cholesterol, the current direct enzymatic method differed substantially from magnesium dextran precipitation used during visits 1-4. Analytes remeasured in samples stored for approximately 25 years were highly correlated with original values, but 2 of the 8 analytes showed substantial bias at multiple visits. Laboratory recalibration improved reproducibility of test results across visits and resulted in substantial differences in CKD prevalence. We demonstrate the importance of consistent recalibration of laboratory assays in a cohort study. © 2015 American Association for Clinical Chemistry.

Web Analytics

Science.gov (United States)

EPA’s Web Analytics Program collects, analyzes, and provides reports on traffic, quality assurance, and customer satisfaction metrics for EPA’s website. The program uses a variety of analytics tools, including Google Analytics and CrazyEgg.

VaR: Exchange Rate Risk and Jump Risk

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fen-Ying Chen

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Incorporating the Poisson jumps and exchange rate risk, this paper provides an analytical VaR to manage market risk of international portfolios over the subprime mortgage crisis. There are some properties in the model. First, different from past studies in portfolios valued only in one currency, this model considers portfolios not only with jumps but also with exchange rate risk, that is vital for investors in highly integrated global financial markets. Second, in general, the analytical VaR solution is more accurate than historical simulations in terms of backtesting and Christoffersen's independence test (1998 for small portfolios and large portfolios. In other words, the proposed model is reliable not only for a portfolio on specific stocks but also for a large portfolio. Third, the model can be regarded as the extension of that of Kupiec (1999 and Chen and Liao (2009.

Approaches to acceptable risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whipple, C.

1997-01-01

Several alternative approaches to address the question open-quotes How safe is safe enough?close quotes are reviewed and an attempt is made to apply the reasoning behind these approaches to the issue of acceptability of radiation exposures received in space. The approaches to the issue of the acceptability of technological risk described here are primarily analytical, and are drawn from examples in the management of environmental health risks. These include risk-based approaches, in which specific quantitative risk targets determine the acceptability of an activity, and cost-benefit and decision analysis, which generally focus on the estimation and evaluation of risks, benefits and costs, in a framework that balances these factors against each other. These analytical methods tend by their quantitative nature to emphasize the magnitude of risks, costs and alternatives, and to downplay other factors, especially those that are not easily expressed in quantitative terms, that affect acceptance or rejection of risk. Such other factors include the issues of risk perceptions and how and by whom risk decisions are made

Moving from Within The Maternal: The Choreography of Analytic Eroticism.

Science.gov (United States)

Elise, Dianne

2017-02-01

With Kristeva's concept of maternal eroticism (2014) as starting point, the "multiverse" of mother/child erotic sensibilities-the dance of the semiotic chora-is explored and a parallel engagement proposed within the analytic dyad. The dance of psychoanalysis is not the creative product of the patient's mind alone. Clinical work invites, requires, a choreographic engagement by the clinician in interplay with the patient. The clinician's analytic activity is thus akin to choreography: the structuring of a dance, or of a session, expresses an inner impulse brought into narrative form. The embodied art of dance parallels the clinician's creative vitality in contributing to the shaping of the movement of a session. Through formulation of an analytic eroticism, the terrain of what traditionally has been viewed as erotic transference and countertransference can be expanded to clinical benefit.

Electrochemical sensors: a powerful tool in analytical chemistry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stradiotto Nelson R.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Potentiometric, amperometric and conductometric electrochemical sensors have found a number of interesting applications in the areas of environmental, industrial, and clinical analyses. This review presents a general overview of the three main types of electrochemical sensors, describing fundamental aspects, developments and their contribution to the area of analytical chemistry, relating relevant aspects of the development of electrochemical sensors in Brazil.

Analytical Chemistry Laboratory progress report for FY 1999

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Green, D. W.; Boparai, A. S.; Bowers, D. L.; Graczyk, D. G.

2000-06-15

This report summarizes the activities of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 (October 1998 through September 1999). This annual progress report, which is the sixteenth in this series for the ACL, describes effort on continuing projects, work on new projects, and contributions of the ACL staff to various programs at ANL.

Analytical Chemistry Laboratory progress report for FY 1998.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boparai, A. S.; Bowers, D. L.; Graczyk, D. G.; Green, D. W.; Lindahl, P. C.

1999-03-29

This report summarizes the activities of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for Fiscal Year (FY) 1998 (October 1997 through September 1998). This annual progress report, which is the fifteenth in this series for the ACL, describes effort on continuing projects, work on new projects, and contributions of the ACL staff to various programs at ANL.

Analytical Chemistry Laboratory progress report for FY 1998

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boparai, A. S.; Bowers, D. L.; Graczyk, D. G.; Green, D. W.; Lindahl, P. C.

1999-01-01

This report summarizes the activities of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for Fiscal Year (FY) 1998 (October 1997 through September 1998). This annual progress report, which is the fifteenth in this series for the ACL, describes effort on continuing projects, work on new projects, and contributions of the ACL staff to various programs at ANL

Essays on bank liquidity : contributions to the measurement of liquidity risk and to the management of bank liquidity production

OpenAIRE

Soula , Jean-Loup

2017-01-01

Bank liquidity risk reflects the function of banks to create liquidity. Banks are fragile, exposed to the possibility of runs from short-term creditors. This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of bank liquidity risk. The second chapter proposes a measure of bank fragility based on the value of the assets held by a bank. Results confirm, in an original way, the fragile nature of banks. However, bank liquidity creation benefits to the economy. The third chapter analyses the capa...

Proceedings of third national symposium on recent advances in analytical sciences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-04-01

The contributions made by analytical scientists have played critical roles in the areas ranging from the development of concepts and theories to a variety of practical applications such as mining, refining, fuel processing, fertilisers, food products, nano materials etc. The theme of the symposium 'Recent Advances in Analytical Sciences and Applications' is well significant in view of its importance in the design and development of new products as well as in the environmental monitoring and quality control in industrial manufacturing. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

Changes in predicted protein disorder tendency may contribute to disease risk

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hu Yang

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent studies suggest that many proteins or regions of proteins lack 3D structure. Defined as intrinsically disordered proteins, these proteins/peptides are functionally important. Recent advances in next generation sequencing technologies enable genome-wide identification of novel nucleotide variations in a specific population or cohort. Results Using the exonic single nucleotide variations (SNVs identified in the 1,000 Genomes Project and distributed by the Genetic Analysis Workshop 17, we systematically analysed the genetic and predicted disorder potential features of the non-synonymous variations. The result of experiments suggests that a significant change in the tendency of a protein region to be structured or disordered caused by SNVs may lead to malfunction of such a protein and contribute to disease risk. Conclusions After validation with functional SNVs on the traits distributed by GAW17, we conclude that it is valuable to consider structure/disorder tendencies while prioritizing and predicting mechanistic effects arising from novel genetic variations.

Analytical solutions of linked fault tree probabilistic risk assessments using binary decision diagrams with emphasis on nuclear safety applications[Dissertation 17286

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nusbaumer, O. P. M

2007-07-01

This study is concerned with the quantification of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) using linked Fault Tree (FT) models. Probabilistic Risk assessment (PRA) of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) complements traditional deterministic analysis; it is widely recognized as a comprehensive and structured approach to identify accident scenarios and to derive numerical estimates of the associated risk levels. PRA models as found in the nuclear industry have evolved rapidly. Increasingly, they have been broadly applied to support numerous applications on various operational and regulatory matters. Regulatory bodies in many countries require that a PRA be performed for licensing purposes. PRA has reached the point where it can considerably influence the design and operation of nuclear power plants. However, most of the tools available for quantifying large PRA models are unable to produce analytically correct results. The algorithms of such quantifiers are designed to neglect sequences when their likelihood decreases below a predefined cutoff limit. In addition, the rare event approximation (e.g. Moivre's equation) is typically implemented for the first order, ignoring the success paths and the possibility that two or more events can occur simultaneously. This is only justified in assessments where the probabilities of the basic events are low. When the events in question are failures, the first order rare event approximation is always conservative, resulting in wrong interpretation of risk importance measures. Advanced NPP PRA models typically include human errors, common cause failure groups, seismic and phenomenological basic events, where the failure probabilities may approach unity, leading to questionable results. It is accepted that current quantification tools have reached their limits, and that new quantification techniques should be investigated. A novel approach using the mathematical concept of Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) is proposed to overcome these

Methodical bases of accounting and analytical support for the management of credit portfolio of the bank

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.M. Gerasimovich

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Solved how to optimize the system of accounting and analytical indicators to assess the level of risk and the effectiveness of the Bank's credit activity, on the basis of scale, scope and structure of the credit portfolio; the turnover of credit investments; the problematical character of the loan portfolio and the level of risk and security of the loan portfolio. Exploring the possibility of accounting on the basis of which analysis calculated metrics and evaluation of significance proposed, in contrast to the current Grad C system with more than 50 indicators, the most informative in the amount of 20–25, which allow daily operational way to assess the level of credit portfolio management of the Bank. This contributes to the daily detailed sub-accounts trial balance balance sheet, which consists of all banks and provide the National Bank of Ukraine. So, the most reasonable is the performance in terms of scale and structure – percentage changes; turnover rates – the rate in days; problem – percentage problems; credit risk – factor security loans; management effectiveness factors: the economy, profitability and efficiency.

An innovative expression model of human health risk based on the quantitative analysis of soil metals sources contribution in different spatial scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yimei; Li, Shuai; Wang, Fei; Chen, Zhuang; Chen, Jie; Wang, Liqun

2018-09-01

Toxicity of heavy metals from industrialization poses critical concern, and analysis of sources associated with potential human health risks is of unique significance. Assessing human health risk of pollution sources (factored health risk) concurrently in the whole and the sub region can provide more instructive information to protect specific potential victims. In this research, we establish a new expression model of human health risk based on quantitative analysis of sources contribution in different spatial scales. The larger scale grids and their spatial codes are used to initially identify the level of pollution risk, the type of pollution source and the sensitive population at high risk. The smaller scale grids and their spatial codes are used to identify the contribution of various sources of pollution to each sub region (larger grid) and to assess the health risks posed by each source for each sub region. The results of case study show that, for children (sensitive populations, taking school and residential area as major region of activity), the major pollution source is from the abandoned lead-acid battery plant (ALP), traffic emission and agricultural activity. The new models and results of this research present effective spatial information and useful model for quantifying the hazards of source categories and human health a t complex industrial system in the future. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An analytical model for interactive failures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Yong; Ma Lin; Mathew, Joseph; Zhang Sheng

2006-01-01

In some systems, failures of certain components can interact with each other, and accelerate the failure rates of these components. These failures are defined as interactive failure. Interactive failure is a prevalent cause of failure associated with complex systems, particularly in mechanical systems. The failure risk of an asset will be underestimated if the interactive effect is ignored. When failure risk is assessed, interactive failures of an asset need to be considered. However, the literature is silent on previous research work in this field. This paper introduces the concepts of interactive failure, develops an analytical model to analyse this type of failure quantitatively, and verifies the model using case studies and experiments

On portfolio risk diversification

Science.gov (United States)

Takada, Hellinton H.; Stern, Julio M.

2017-06-01

The first portfolio risk diversification strategy was put into practice by the All Weather fund in 1996. The idea of risk diversification is related to the risk contribution of each available asset class or investment factor to the total portfolio risk. The maximum diversification or the risk parity allocation is achieved when the set of risk contributions is given by a uniform distribution. Meucci (2009) introduced the maximization of the Rényi entropy as part of a leverage constrained optimization problem to achieve such diversified risk contributions when dealing with uncorrelated investment factors. A generalization of the risk parity is the risk budgeting when there is a prior for the distribution of the risk contributions. Our contribution is the generalization of the existent optimization frameworks to be able to solve the risk budgeting problem. In addition, our framework does not possess any leverage constraint.

An analytic model for the electrostatic contribution of the electron cloud to the vertical tune-shift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaechter, Levi

2008-01-01

An analytic quasi-static model is developed for the analysis of the tune-shift associated with the presence of an electron cloud in a damping ring. The essential assumption is that in its direction of motion, a bunch experiences a uniform cloud density but the latter varies from one bunch to another. A second important component of the model is the life-time since it controls the build-up, the equilibrium as well as the decay of the cloud. It is demonstrated analytically that in case of a train of positron bunches, electrons may be trapped in the vertical direction for the entire train duration. Assuming that the ring is dominated by vertical magnetic fields due to either bends or wigglers, we found excellent agreement between the theoretical predictions and the experimental results reported at Cornell Electron/Positron Storage Ring. The ratio between the vertical and horizontal tune-shifts is shown to be indicative of the distribution of the cloud in the beam-chamber

Disaster risk management in prospect mining area Blitar district, East Java, using microtremor analysis and ANP (analytical network processing) approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parwatiningtyas, Diyan, E-mail: diane.tyas@gmail.com, E-mail: erlinunindra@gmail.com; Ambarsari, Erlin Windia, E-mail: diane.tyas@gmail.com, E-mail: erlinunindra@gmail.com; Marlina, Dwi, E-mail: diane.tyas@gmail.com, E-mail: erlinunindra@gmail.com; Wiratomo, Yogi, E-mail: diane.tyas@gmail.com, E-mail: erlinunindra@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Indraprasta PGRI University, Nangka Street No. 58C Tanjung Barat, South Jakarta (Indonesia)

2014-03-24

Indonesia has a wealth of natural assets is so large to be managed and utilized, either from its own local government and local communities, especially in the mining sector. However, mining activities can change the state of the surface layer of the earth that have a high impact disaster risk. This could threaten the safety and disrupt human life, environmental damage, loss of property, and the psychological impact, sulking to the rule of law no 24 of 2007. That's why we strive to manage and minimize the risk of mine disasters in the region, how to use the method of calculation of Amplification Factor (AF) from the analysis based microtremor sulking Kanai and Nakamura, and decision systems were tested by analysis of ANP. Based on the amplification factor and Analytical Network Processing (ANP) obtained, some points showed instability in the surface layer of a mining area include the site of the TP-7, TP-8, TP-9, TP-10, (Birowo2). If in terms of structure, location indicated unstable due to have a sloping surface layer, resulting in the occurrence of landslides and earthquake risk is high. In the meantime, other areas of the mine site can be said to be a stable area.

Disaster risk management in prospect mining area Blitar district, East Java, using microtremor analysis and ANP (analytical network processing) approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parwatiningtyas, Diyan; Ambarsari, Erlin Windia; Marlina, Dwi; Wiratomo, Yogi

2014-01-01

Indonesia has a wealth of natural assets is so large to be managed and utilized, either from its own local government and local communities, especially in the mining sector. However, mining activities can change the state of the surface layer of the earth that have a high impact disaster risk. This could threaten the safety and disrupt human life, environmental damage, loss of property, and the psychological impact, sulking to the rule of law no 24 of 2007. That's why we strive to manage and minimize the risk of mine disasters in the region, how to use the method of calculation of Amplification Factor (AF) from the analysis based microtremor sulking Kanai and Nakamura, and decision systems were tested by analysis of ANP. Based on the amplification factor and Analytical Network Processing (ANP) obtained, some points showed instability in the surface layer of a mining area include the site of the TP-7, TP-8, TP-9, TP-10, (Birowo2). If in terms of structure, location indicated unstable due to have a sloping surface layer, resulting in the occurrence of landslides and earthquake risk is high. In the meantime, other areas of the mine site can be said to be a stable area

How health leaders can benefit from predictive analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Giga, Aliyah

2017-11-01

Predictive analytics can support a better integrated health system providing continuous, coordinated, and comprehensive person-centred care to those who could benefit most. In addition to dollars saved, using a predictive model in healthcare can generate opportunities for meaningful improvements in efficiency, productivity, costs, and better population health with targeted interventions toward patients at risk.

Analytic bounds and approximations for annuities and Asian options

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vanduffel, S.; Shang, Z.; Henrard, L.; Dhaene, J.; Valdez, E.A.

2008-01-01

Even in case of the Brownian motion as most natural rate of return model it appears too difficult to obtain analytic expressions for most risk measures of constant continuous annuities. In literature the so-called comonotonic approximations have been proposed but these still require the evaluation

Contribution of environmental factors to the risk of male infertility.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliva, A; Spira, A; Multigner, L

2001-08-01

An increasing number of reports suggest that chemical and physical agents in the environment, introduced and spread by human activity, may affect male fertility in humans. We investigated the relationships between exposure to environmental agents and seminal characteristics, and the concentrations of reproductive hormones in the serum of men seeking infertility treatment. We studied 225 male partners from consecutively recruited couples, who had their first infertility consultation between 1995 and 1998, in the Litoral Sur region of Argentina, one of the most productive farming regions in the world. A multivariate logistic regression model showed that exposure to pesticides and solvents is significantly associated with sperm threshold values well below the limit for male fertility. We also found that men exposed to pesticides had higher serum oestradiol concentrations, and that men exposed to solvents had lower LH concentrations than non-exposed men. All of these effects were greater in men with primary infertility than in men with secondary infertility. We have shown that environmental factors contribute to the severity of infertility, and that this may worsen the effects of pre-existing genetic or medical risk factors.

Analytical Model of Doppler Spectra of Light Backscattered from Rotating Convex Bodies of Revolution in the Global Cartesian Coordinate System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan-Jun, Gong; Zhen-Sen, Wu; Jia-Ji, Wu

2009-01-01

We present an analytical model of Doppler spectra in backscattering from arbitrary rough convex bodies of revolution rotating around their axes in the global Cartesian coordinate system. This analytical model is applied to analyse Doppler spectra in backscatter from two cones and two cylinders, as well as two ellipsoids of revolution. We numerically analyse the influences of attitude and geometry size of objects on Doppler spectra. The analytical model can give contribution of the surface roughness, attitude and geometry size of convex bodies of revolution to Doppler spectra and may contribute to laser Doppler velocimetry as well as ladar applications

The contributions of risk factor trends and medical care to cardiovascular mortality trends

Science.gov (United States)

Ezzati, Majid; Obermeyer, Ziad; Tzoulaki, Ioanna; Mayosi, Bongani M; Elliott, Paul; Leon, David A

2016-01-01

Ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are responsible for an estimated 17.5 million annual deaths in the world. If account is taken of population aging, death rates from CVDs are estimated to be steadily decreasing in the world as a whole, and in regions with reliable trend data. The declines in high-income countries and some countries in Latin America have been ongoing for decades with no indication of slowing. In high-income countries, these positive trends have broadly coincided with, and benefited from, declines in smoking and physiological risk factors like blood pressure and serum cholesterol. Improvements in medical care, including effective primary prevention through management of physiological risk factors, better diagnosis and treatment of acute CVDs, and post-hospital care of those with prior CVDs, are also likely to have contributed to declining CVD event and death rates, especially in the past 40 years. However, the measured risk factor and treatment variables neither explain why the decline began when it did, nor much of the similarities and differences in the start time and rate of the decline across countries or between men and women. There have been sharp changes and fluctuations in CVDs in the former communist countries of Europe and the Soviet Union since the fall of communism in the early 1990s, with changes in volume and patterns of alcohol drinking, as a major cause of the rise in Russia and some other former Soviet countries. The challenge of reaching more definitive conclusions concerning the drivers of what constitutes one of the most remarkable international trends in adult mortality in the past half-century in part reflects the paucity of time trend data not only on disease incidence, risk factors, and clinical care, but also on other potential drivers, including infection and associated inflammatory processes throughout the lifecourse. PMID:26076950

A simple stationary semi-analytical wake model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Gunner Chr.

We present an idealized simple, but fast, semi-analytical algorithm for computation of stationary wind farm wind fields with a possible potential within a multi-fidelity strategy for wind farm topology optimization. Basically, the model considers wakes as linear perturbations on the ambient non......-linear. With each of these approached, a parabolic system are described, which is initiated by first considering the most upwind located turbines and subsequently successively solved in the downstream direction. Algorithms for the resulting wind farm flow fields are proposed, and it is shown that in the limit......-uniform mean wind field, although the modelling of the individual stationary wake flow fields includes non-linear terms. The simulation of the individual wake contributions are based on an analytical solution of the thin shear layer approximation of the NS equations. The wake flow fields are assumed...

Contributions to the European workshop on investigation of strong motion processing procedures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohammadioun, B.; Goula, X.; Hamaide, D.

1985-11-01

The first paper is one contribution to a joint study program in the numerical processing of accelerograms from strong earthquakes. A method is proposed for generating an analytic signal having characteristics similar to those of an actual ground displacement. From this signal, a simulated accelerogram is obtained analytically. Various numerical processing techniques are to be tested using this signal: the ground displacements they yield will be compared with the original analytic signal. The second contribution deals with a high-performance digitization complex, custom-designed to stringent technical criteria by the CISI Petrole Services, which has recently been put into service at the Bureau d'Evaluation des Risques Sismiques pour la Surete des Installations Nucleaires. Specially tailored to cope with the problems raised by the sampling of Strong-Motion photographic recordings, it offers considerable flexibility, due to its self-teaching conception, constant monitoring of the work ongoing, and numerous preprocessing options. In the third contribution, a critical examination of several processing techniques applicable to photographic recordings of SMA-1 type accelerometers is conducted. The basis for comparison was a set of two accelerograms drawn from synthetic signals, the characteristics of which were already well known

Big data algorithms, analytics, and applications

CERN Document Server

Li, Kuan-Ching; Yang, Laurence T; Cuzzocrea, Alfredo

2015-01-01

Data are generated at an exponential rate all over the world. Through advanced algorithms and analytics techniques, organizations can harness this data, discover hidden patterns, and use the findings to make meaningful decisions. Containing contributions from leading experts in their respective fields, this book bridges the gap between the vastness of big data and the appropriate computational methods for scientific and social discovery. It also explores related applications in diverse sectors, covering technologies for media/data communication, elastic media/data storage, cross-network media/

AHP-based risk analysis of energy performance contracting projects in Russia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garbuzova-Schlifter, Maria; Madlener, Reinhard

2016-01-01

Understanding and properly managing risks that could potentially affect the target- and performance-based profits of energy performance contracting (EPC) projects are essential. It is particularly important for the establishment and success of energy service companies (ESCOs) acting in the vulnerable environment of the vast but highly energy-inefficient Russian market. This study systematically explores common risk factors and causes of risk associated with EPC projects executed in three Russian sectors: (1) industrial; (2) housing and communal services; and (3) public. Several interviews with the Russian EPC experts were accomplished and a qualitative risk assessment by using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach. The data were obtained from a web-based questionnaire survey conducted among Russian EPC project executors. For each focus sector, a specific preference-based ranking of the identified risk factors and causes of risk was derived. The AHP results show that causes of risk related to the financial and regulatory aspects contribute most to the riskiness of EPC projects performed in all three focus sectors in Russia, calling for the special attention of EPC policy- and business-makers. Due to sectorial particularities and different actors involved, we conclude that there is a need for elaboration of sector-specific contractual schemes for EPC projects. - Highlights: • AHP- and survey-based study of energy performance contracting (EPC) projects in Russia. • Main risk factors and causes of risk associated with EPC projects are investigated. • In practice, lack of a feasible risk management approach in EPC projects. • Regulatory and financial risks contribute most to the EPC projects’ riskiness. • Elaboration of the sector-specific EPC project contractual scheme is required.

Analytical chemistry laboratory. Progress report for FY 1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Green, D.W.; Boparai, A.S.; Bowers, D.L. [and others

1997-12-01

The purpose of this report is to summarize the activities of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (ACL) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 (October 1996 through September 1997). This annual progress report is the fourteenth in this series for the ACL, and it describes continuing effort on projects, work on new projects, and contributions of the ACL staff to various programs at ANL.

Older adult mistreatment risk screening: contribution to the validation of a screening tool in a domestic setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindenbach, Jeannette M; Larocque, Sylvie; Lavoie, Anne-Marise; Garceau, Marie-Luce

2012-06-01

ABSTRACTThe hidden nature of older adult mistreatment renders its detection in the domestic setting particularly challenging. A validated screening instrument that can provide a systematic assessment of risk factors can facilitate this detection. One such instrument, the "expanded Indicators of Abuse" tool, has been previously validated in the Hebrew language in a hospital setting. The present study has contributed to the validation of the "e-IOA" in an English-speaking community setting in Ontario, Canada. It consisted of two phases: (a) a content validity review and adaptation of the instrument by experts throughout Ontario, and (b) an inter-rater reliability assessment by home visiting nurses. The adaptation, the "Mistreatment of Older Adult Risk Factors" tool, offers a comprehensive tool for screening in the home setting. This instrument is significant to professional practice as practitioners working with older adults will be better equipped to assess for risk of mistreatment.

Analytic concepts for assessing risk as applied to human space flight

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garrick, B.J.

1997-01-01

Quantitative risk assessment (QRA) principles provide an effective framework for quantifying individual elements of risk, including the risk to astronauts and spacecraft of the radiation environment of space flight. The concept of QRA is based on a structured set of scenarios that could lead to different damage states initiated by either hardware failure, human error, or external events. In the context of a spacecraft risk assessment, radiation may be considered as an external event and analyzed in the same basic way as any other contributor to risk. It is possible to turn up the microscope on any particular contributor to risk and ask more detailed questions than might be necessary to simply assess safety. The methods of QRA allow for as much fine structure in the analysis as is desired. For the purpose of developing a basis for comprehensive risk management and considering the tendency to open-quotes fear anything nuclear,close quotes radiation risk is a prime candidate for examination beyond that necessary to answer the basic question of risk. Thus, rather than considering only the customary damage states of fatalities or loss of a spacecraft, it is suggested that the full range of damage be analyzed to quantify radiation risk. Radiation dose levels in the form of a risk curve accomplish such a result. If the risk curve is the complementary cumulative distribution function, then it answers the extended question of what is the likelihood of receiving a specific dose of radiation or greater. Such results can be converted to specific health effects as desired. Knowing the full range of the radiation risk of a space mission and the contributors to that risk provides the information necessary to take risk management actions [operational, design, scheduling of missions around solar particle events (SPE), etc.] that clearly control radiation exposure

Estimated risk contribution for dry spent fuel storage cask

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, C.; Kirk, M.T.; Abramson, L.; Guttmann, J.; Hackett, E.; Simonen, F.A.

2001-01-01

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is pursuing means to risk-inform its regulations and programs for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel. In pursuit of this objective, the NRC will develop safety goals and probabilistic risk assessments for implementing risk-informed programs. This paper provides one example method for calculating the risk of a dry spent fuel storage cask under normal and accident conditions. The example is on the HI-STORM 100 cask at a proposed site containing four thousand such casks. The paper evaluates the risk to the public by determining the likelihood a welded stainless steel container will leak. In addition, the study addresses the risk at a site where 4,000 casks may be stored until the U.S. Department of Energy accepts the casks for placement in a repository. The methods used employ the PRODIGAL computer code to assess the probability of a faulty weld on a stainless steel-welded canister. These analyses are only the initial stages of a comprehensive risk study that the NRC is performing in support of its regulatory initiatives. (author)

Environmental Risk Assessment System for Phosphogypsum Tailing Dams

OpenAIRE

Xin Sun; Ping Ning; Xiaolong Tang; Honghong Yi; Kai Li; Lianbi Zhou; Xianmang Xu

2013-01-01

This paper may be of particular interest to the readers as it provides a new environmental risk assessment system for phosphogypsum tailing dams. In this paper, we studied the phosphogypsum tailing dams which include characteristics of the pollution source, environmental risk characteristics and evaluation requirements to identify the applicable environmental risk assessment methods. Two analytical methods, that is, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy logic, were used to handle the...

Source-oriented risk assessment of inhalation exposure to ambient polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and contributions of non-priority isomers in urban Nanjing, a megacity located in Yangtze River Delta, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuo, Shaojie; Shen, Guofeng; Zhu, Ying; Du, Wei; Pan, Xuelian; Li, Tongchao; Han, Yang; Li, Bengang; Liu, Junfeng; Cheng, Hefa; Xing, Baoshan; Tao, Shu

2017-05-01

Sixteen U.S. EPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and eleven non-priority isomers including some dibenzopyrenes were analyzed to evaluate health risk attributable to inhalation exposure to ambient PAHs and contributions of the non-priority PAHs in a megacity Nanjing, east China. The annual average mass concentration of the total 16 EPA priority PAHs in air was 51.1 ± 29.8 ng/m 3 , comprising up to 93% of the mass concentration of all 27 PAHs, however, the estimated Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) due to inhalation exposure would be underestimated by 63% on average if only accounting the 16 EPA priority PAHs. The risk would be underestimated by 13% if only particulate PAHs were considered, though gaseous PAHs made up to about 70% of the total mass concentration. During the last fifteen years, ambient Benzo[a]pyrene decreased significantly in the city which was consistent with the declining trend of PAHs emissions. Source contributions to the estimated ILCR were much different from the contributions for the total mass concentration, calling for the introduce of important source-oriented risk assessments. Emissions from gasoline vehicles contributed to 12% of the total mass concentration of 27 PAHs analyzed, but regarding relative contributions to the overall health risk, gasoline vehicle emissions contributed 45% of the calculated ILCR. Dibenzopyrenes were a group of non-priority isomers largely contributing to the calculated ILCR, and vehicle emissions were probably important sources of these high molecular weight isomers. Ambient dibenzo[a,l]pyrene positively correlated with the priority PAH Benzo[g,h,i]perylene. The study indicates that inclusion of non-priority PAHs could be valuable for both PAH source apportionment and health risk assessment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advancing the Contribution of Occupational Epidemiology to Risk Assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vlaanderen, J.J.

2011-01-01

The identification and quantification of risk factors that are characterized by low exposure levels, moderately increased risks, and unspecific exposure-disease relations is a major challenge facing risk assessment today. Occupational epidemiological studies can play a role in addressing this

Analytical chemistry instrumentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laing, W.R.

1986-01-01

In nine sections, 48 chapters cover 1) analytical chemistry and the environment 2) environmental radiochemistry 3) automated instrumentation 4) advances in analytical mass spectrometry 5) fourier transform spectroscopy 6) analytical chemistry of plutonium 7) nuclear analytical chemistry 8) chemometrics and 9) nuclear fuel technology

Integration of fuzzy reasoning approach (FRA and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP for risk assessment in mining industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shikha Verma

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Mining industry has always been known for its unsafe working environment. This industry is one of the most hazard prone industries. To maintain safety in workplace timely assessment of risk associated with different operations performed to extract ore from the ore body has become necessity. To serve the said purpose, present work demonstrates a robust hybrid risk assessment approach for mining industry.Design/Methodology: Accident data from 1995 to 2012 is reviewed to identify hazards contributed to negative outcomes. The FRA approach is implemented to evaluate the risk levels associated with identified hazard factors. Thereafter AHP pairwise comparison matrix is developed to obtain priority weights for the hazard factors. Final priority of hazards based on severity of level of risk associated with them is obtained considering the outcome of FRA approach in terms of risk score for the hazards, combined with the priority weights obtained from AHP technique.Findings: Defuzzified FAHP weight of hazard factors, this weight gives priority sequence of hazards to be considered for development of plan of mitigation.Originality/Value: Risk assessment is a requirement of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (Section 7& 8. The data required to assess the risk is uncertain, and in such case fuzzy approach is well suited to process the data and get the crisp output. The output of fuzzy approach is made robust with its integration to AHP. In this way FAHP can be used as robust technique for risk assessment in this industry and this technique develops an efficient safety management system for the achievement of goal to develop the workplace with zero accident, which many other countries have already achieved.

Contribution of genetic background, traditional risk factors, and HIV-related factors to coronary artery disease events in HIV-positive persons

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rotger, Margalida; Glass, Tracy R; Junier, Thomas; Lundgren, Jens; Neaton, James D; Poloni, Estella S; van 't Wout, Angélique B; Lubomirov, Rubin; Colombo, Sara; Martinez, Raquel; Rauch, Andri; Günthard, Huldrych F; Neuhaus, Jacqueline; Wentworth, Deborah; van Manen, Danielle; Gras, Luuk A; Schuitemaker, Hanneke; Albini, Laura; Torti, Carlo; Jacobson, Lisa P; Li, Xiuhong; Kingsley, Lawrence A; Carli, Federica; Guaraldi, Giovanni; Ford, Emily S; Sereti, Irini; Hadigan, Colleen; Martinez, Esteban; Arnedo, Mireia; Egaña-Gorroño, Lander; Gatell, Jose M; Law, Matthew; Bendall, Courtney; Petoumenos, Kathy; Rockstroh, Jürgen; Wasmuth, Jan-Christian; Kabamba, Kabeya; Delforge, Marc; De Wit, Stephane; Berger, Florian; Mauss, Stefan; de Paz Sierra, Mariana; Losso, Marcelo; Belloso, Waldo H; Leyes, Maria; Campins, Antoni; Mondi, Annalisa; De Luca, Andrea; Bernardino, Ignacio; Barriuso-Iglesias, Mónica; Torrecilla-Rodriguez, Ana; Gonzalez-Garcia, Juan; Arribas, José R; Fanti, Iuri; Gel, Silvia; Puig, Jordi; Negredo, Eugenia; Gutierrez, Mar; Domingo, Pere; Fischer, Julia; Fätkenheuer, Gerd; Alonso-Villaverde, Carlos; Macken, Alan; Woo, James; McGinty, Tara; Mallon, Patrick; Mangili, Alexandra; Skinner, Sally; Wanke, Christine A; Reiss, Peter; Weber, Rainer; Bucher, Heiner C; Fellay, Jacques; Telenti, Amalio; Tarr, Philip E; Schölvinck, Elisabeth H.

BACKGROUND: Persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have increased rates of coronary artery disease (CAD). The relative contribution of genetic background, HIV-related factors, antiretroviral medications, and traditional risk factors to CAD has not been fully evaluated in the

Speciated arsenic in air: measurement methodology and risk assessment considerations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Ari S; Reid, Kim R; Pollock, Margaret C; Campleman, Sharan L

2012-01-01

Accurate measurement of arsenic (As) in air is critical to providing a more robust understanding of arsenic exposures and associated human health risks. Although there is extensive information available on total arsenic in air, less is known on the relative contribution of each arsenic species. To address this data gap, the authors conducted an in-depth review of available information on speciated arsenic in air. The evaluation included the type of species measured and the relative abundance, as well as an analysis of the limitations of current analytical methods. Despite inherent differences in the procedures, most techniques effectively separated arsenic species in the air samples. Common analytical techniques such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and/or hydride generation (HG)- or quartz furnace (GF)-atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) were used for arsenic measurement in the extracts, and provided some of the most sensitive detection limits. The current analysis demonstrated that, despite limited comparability among studies due to differences in seasonal factors, study duration, sample collection methods, and analytical methods, research conducted to date is adequate to show that arsenic in air is mainly in the inorganic form. Reported average concentrations of As(III) and As(V) ranged up to 7.4 and 10.4 ng/m3, respectively, with As(V) being more prevalent than As(III) in most studies. Concentrations of the organic methylated arsenic compounds are negligible (in the pg/m3 range). However because of the variability in study methods and measurement methodology, the authors were unable to determine the variation in arsenic composition as a function of source or particulate matter (PM) fraction. In this work, the authors include the implications of arsenic speciation in air on potential exposure and risks. The authors conclude that it is important to synchronize sample collection, preparation, and analytical techniques in order to generate

Decision support, analytics, and business intelligence

CERN Document Server

Power, Daniel J

2013-01-01

Competition is becoming more intense and decision makers are encountering increasing complexity, rapid change, and higher levels of risk. In many situations, the solution is more and better computerized decision support, especially analytics and business intelligence. Today managers need to learn about and understand computerized decision support. If a business is to succeed, managers must know much more about information technology solutions. This second edition of a powerful introductory book is targeted at busy managers and MBA students who need to grasp the basics of computerized decision support, including the following: What are analytics? What is a decision support system? How can managers identify opportunities to create innovative computerized support? Inside, the author addresses these questions and some 60 more fundamental questions that are key to understanding the rapidly changing realm of computerized decision support. In a short period of time, you'll "get up to speed" on decision support, anal...

Possibilities of Utilizing the Method of Analytical Hierarchy Process Within the Strategy of Corporate Social Business

Science.gov (United States)

Drieniková, Katarína; Hrdinová, Gabriela; Naňo, Tomáš; Sakál, Peter

2010-01-01

The paper deals with the analysis of the theory of corporate social responsibility, risk management and the exact method of analytic hierarchic process that is used in the decision-making processes. The Chapters 2 and 3 focus on presentation of the experience with the application of the method in formulating the stakeholders' strategic goals within the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and simultaneously its utilization in minimizing the environmental risks. The major benefit of this paper is the application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP).

Training the next generation analyst using red cell analytics

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, Meghan N.; Graham, Jacob L.

2016-05-01

We have seen significant change in the study and practice of human reasoning in recent years from both a theoretical and methodological perspective. Ubiquitous communication coupled with advances in computing and a plethora of analytic support tools have created a push for instantaneous reporting and analysis. This notion is particularly prevalent in law enforcement, emergency services and the intelligence community (IC), where commanders (and their civilian leadership) expect not only a birds' eye view of operations as they occur, but a play-by-play analysis of operational effectiveness. This paper explores the use of Red Cell Analytics (RCA) as pedagogy to train the next-gen analyst. A group of Penn State students in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the University Park campus of The Pennsylvania State University have been practicing Red Team Analysis since 2008. RCA draws heavily from the military application of the same concept, except student RCA problems are typically on non-military in nature. RCA students utilize a suite of analytic tools and methods to explore and develop red-cell tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), and apply their tradecraft across a broad threat spectrum, from student-life issues to threats to national security. The strength of RCA is not always realized by the solution but by the exploration of the analytic pathway. This paper describes the concept and use of red cell analytics to teach and promote the use of structured analytic techniques, analytic writing and critical thinking in the area of security and risk and intelligence training.

$W^+ W^-$ + Jet: Compact Analytic Results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Campbell, John [Fermilab; Miller, David [Glasgow U.; Robens, Tania [Dresden, Tech. U.

2016-01-14

In the second run of the LHC, which started in April 2015, an accurate understanding of Standard Model processes is more crucial than ever. Processes including electroweak gauge bosons serve as standard candles for SM measurements, and equally constitute important background for BSM searches. We here present the NLO QCD virtual contributions to W+W- + jet in an analytic format obtained through unitarity methods and show results for the full process using an implementation into the Monte Carlo event generator MCFM. Phenomenologically, we investigate total as well as differential cross sections for the LHC with 14 TeV center-of-mass energy, as well as a future 100 TeV proton-proton machine. In the format presented here, the one-loop virtual contributions also serve as important ingredients in the calculation of W+W- pair production at NNLO.

Contribution of genetic background, traditional risk factors, and HIV-related factors to coronary artery disease events in HIV-positive persons

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rotger, Margalida; Glass, Tracy R.; Junier, Thomas; Lundgren, Jens; Neaton, James D.; Poloni, Estella S.; van 't Wout, Angélique B.; Lubomirov, Rubin; Colombo, Sara; Martinez, Raquel; Rauch, Andri; Günthard, Huldrych F.; Neuhaus, Jacqueline; Wentworth, Deborah; van Manen, Danielle; Gras, Luuk A.; Schuitemaker, Hanneke; Albini, Laura; Torti, Carlo; Jacobson, Lisa P.; Li, Xiuhong; Kingsley, Lawrence A.; Carli, Federica; Guaraldi, Giovanni; Ford, Emily S.; Sereti, Irini; Hadigan, Colleen; Martinez, Esteban; Arnedo, Mireia; Egaña-Gorroño, Lander; Gatell, Jose M.; Law, Matthew; Bendall, Courtney; Petoumenos, Kathy; Rockstroh, Jürgen; Wasmuth, Jan-Christian; Kabamba, Kabeya; Delforge, Marc; de Wit, Stephane; Berger, Florian; Mauss, Stefan; de Paz Sierra, Mariana; Losso, Marcelo; Belloso, Waldo H.; Leyes, Maria; Campins, Antoni; Mondi, Annalisa; de Luca, Andrea; Bernardino, Ignacio; Barriuso-Iglesias, Mónica; Torrecilla-Rodriguez, Ana; Gonzalez-Garcia, Juan; Arribas, José R.; Fanti, Iuri; Gel, Silvia; Puig, Jordi; Negredo, Eugenia; Gutierrez, Mar; Domingo, Pere; Fischer, Julia; Fätkenheuer, Gerd; Alonso-Villaverde, Carlos; Macken, Alan; Woo, James; McGinty, Tara; Mallon, Patrick; Mangili, Alexandra; Skinner, Sally; Wanke, Christine A.; Reiss, Peter; Weber, Rainer; Bucher, Heiner C.; Fellay, Jacques; Telenti, Amalio; Tarr, Philip E.; Gras, A. Luuk; van Wout, Angelique B.; Arnedo-Valero, Mireia; Sierra, Mariana de Paz; Rodriguez, Ana Torrecilla; Garcia, Juan Gonzalez; Arribas, Jose R.; Aubert, V.; Barth, J.; Battegay, M.; Bernasconi, E.; Böni, J.; Bucher, H. C.; Burton-Jeangros, C.; Calmy, A.; Cavassini, M.; Egger, M.; Elzi, L.; Fehr, J.; Fellay, J.; Francioli, P.; Furrer, H.; Fux, C. A.; Gorgievski, M.; Günthard, H.; Haerry, D.; Hasse, B.; Hirsch, H. H.; Hirschel, B.; Hösli, I.; Kahlert, C.; Kaiser, L.; Keiser, O.; Kind, C.; Klimkait, T.; Kovari, H.; Ledergerber, B.; Martinetti, G.; Martinez de Tejada, B.; Metzner, K.; Müller, N.; Nadal, D.; Pantaleo, G.; Rauch, A.; Regenass, S.; Rickenbach, M.; Rudin, C.; Schmid, P.; Schultze, D.; Schöni-Affolter, F.; Schüpbach, J.; Speck, R.; Taffé, P.; Tarr, P.; Telenti, A.; Trkola, A.; Vernazza, P.; Weber, R.; Prins, Yerly S. J. M.; Kuijpers, T. W.; Scherpbier, H. J.; Boer, K.; van der Meer, J. T. M.; Wit, F. W. M. N.; Godfried, M. H.; van der Poll, T.; Nellen, F. J. B.; Lange, J. M. A.; Geerlings, S. E.; van Vugt, M.; Vrouenraets, S. M. E.; Pajkrt, D.; Bos, J. C.; van der Valk, M.; Schreij, G.; Lowe, S.; Oude Lashof, A.; Pronk, M. J. H.; Bravenboer, B.; van der Ende, M. E.; de Vries-Sluijs, T. E. M. S.; Schurink, C. A. M.; van der Feltz, M.; Nouwen, J. L.; Gelinck, L. B. S.; Verbon, A.; Rijnders, B. J. A.; van de Ven-de Ruiter, E. D.; Slobbe, L.; Haag, Den; Kauffmann, R. H.; Schippers, E. F.; Groeneveld, P. H. P.; Alleman, M. A.; Bouwhuis, J. W.; ten Kate, R. W.; Soetekouw, R.; Kroon, F. P.; van den Broek, P. J.; van Dissel, J. T.; Arend, S. M.; van Nieuwkoop, C.; de Boer, M. J. G.; Jolink, H.; den Hollander, J. G.; Pogany, K.; Bronsveld, W.; Kortmann, W.; van Twillert, G.; van Houte, D. P. F.; Polée, M. B.; van Vonderen, M. G. A.; ten Napel, C. H. H.; Kootstra, G. J.; Brinkman, K.; Blok, W. L.; Frissen, P. H. J.; Schouten, W. E. M.; van den Berk, G. E. L.; Juttmann, J. R.; van Kasteren, M. E. E.; Brouwer, A. E.; Mulder, J. W.; van Gorp, E. C. M.; Smit, P. M.; Weijer, S.; van Eeden, A.; Verhagen, D. W. M.; Sprenger, H. G.; Doedens, R.; Scholvinck, E. H.; van Assen, S.; Stek, C. J.; Hoepelman, I. M.; Mudrikova, T.; Schneider, M. M. E.; Jaspers, C. A. J. J.; Ellerbroek, P. M.; Peters, E. J. G.; Maarschalk-Ellerbroek, L. J.; Oosterheert, J. J.; Arends, J. E.; Wassenberg, M. W. M.; van der Hilst, J. C. H.; Richter, C.; van der Berg, J. P.; Gisolf, E. H.; Margolick, Joseph B.; Plankey, Michael; Crain, Barbara; Dobs, Adrian; Farzadegan, Homayoon; Gallant, Joel; Johnson-Hill, Lisette; Sacktor, Ned; Selnes, Ola; Shepard, James; Thio, Chloe; Phair, John P.; Wolinsky, Steven M.; Badri, Sheila; Conover, Craig; O'Gorman, Maurice; Ostrow, David; Palella, Frank; Ragin, Ann; Detels, Roger; Martínez-Maza, Otoniel; Aronow, Aaron; Bolan, Robert; Breen, Elizabeth; Butch, Anthony; Fahey, John; Jamieson, Beth; Miller, Eric N.; Oishi, John; Vinters, Harry; Visscher, Barbara R.; Wiley, Dorothy; Witt, Mallory; Yang, Otto; Young, Stephen; Zhang, Zuo Feng; Rinaldo, Charles R.; Becker, James T.; Cranston, Ross D.; Martinson, Jeremy J.; Mellors, John W.; Silvestre, Anthony J.; Stall, Ronald D.; Muñoz, Alvaro; Abraham, Alison; Althoff, Keri; Cox, Christopher; D'Souza, Gypsyamber; Gange, Stephen J.; Golub, Elizabeth; Schollenberger, Janet; Seaberg, Eric C.; Su, Sol; Huebner, Robin E.; Dominguez, Geraldina; Moroni, M.; Angarano, G.; Antinori, A.; Carosi, G.; Cauda, R.; Monforte, A. d'Arminio; Di Perri, G.; Galli, M.; Iardino, R.; Ippolito, G.; Lazzarin, A.; Perno, C. F.; Sagnelli, E.; Viale, P. L.; Von Schlosser, F.; d'Arminio Monforte, A.; Ammassari, A.; Andreoni, M.; Balotta, C.; Bonfanti, P.; Bonora, S.; Borderi, M.; Capobianchi, M. R.; Castagna, A.; Ceccherini-Silberstein, F.; Cozzi-Lepri, A.; de Luca, A.; Gargiulo, M.; Gervasoni, C.; Girardi, E.; Lichtner, M.; Lo Caputo, S.; Madeddu, G.; Maggiolo, F.; Marcotullio, S.; Monno, L.; Murri, R.; Mussini, C.; Puoti, M.; Torti, C.; Fanti, I.; Formenti, T.; Galli, Laura; Lorenzini, Patrizia; Montroni, M.; Giacometti, A.; Costantini, A.; Riva, A.; Tirelli, U.; Martellotta, F.; Ladisa, N.; Lazzari, G.; Verucchi, G.; Castelli, F.; Scalzini, A.; Minardi, C.; Bertelli, D.; Quirino, T.; Abeli, C.; Manconi, P. E.; Piano, P.; Vecchiet, J.; Falasca, K.; Carnevale, G.; Lorenzotti, S.; Sighinolfi, L.; Segala, D.; Leoncini, F.; Mazzotta, F.; Pozzi, M.; Cassola, G.; Viscoli, G.; Viscoli, A.; Piscopo, R.; Mazzarello, G.; Mastroianni, C.; Belvisi, V.; Caramma, I.; Chiodera, A.; Castelli, P.; Rizzardini, G.; Ridolfo, A. L.; Foschi, A.; Salpietro, S.; Galli, A.; Bigoloni, A.; Spagnuolo, V.; Merli, S.; Carenzi, L.; Moioli, M. C.; Cicconi, P.; Bisio, L.; Gori, A.; Lapadula, G.; Abrescia, N.; Chirianni, A.; de Marco, M.; Ferrari, C.; Borghi, R.; Baldelli, F.; Belfiori, B.; Parruti, G.; Ursini, T.; Magnani, G.; Ursitti, M. A.; Narciso, P.; Tozzi, V.; Vullo, V.; d'Avino, A.; Zaccarelli, M.; Gallo, L.; Acinapura, R.; Capozzi, M.; Libertone, R.; Trotta, M. P.; Tebano, G.; Cattelan, A. M.; Mura, M. S.; Caramello, P.; Orofino, G. C.; Sciandra, M.; Raise, N. N.; Ebo, F.; Pellizzer, G.; Manfrin, V.; Law, M.; Petoumenos, K.; McManus, H.; Wright, S.; Bendall, C.; Moore, R.; Edwards, S.

2013-01-01

Persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have increased rates of coronary artery disease (CAD). The relative contribution of genetic background, HIV-related factors, antiretroviral medications, and traditional risk factors to CAD has not been fully evaluated in the setting of HIV

Analytical Model for High Impedance Fault Analysis in Transmission Lines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Maximov

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A high impedance fault (HIF normally occurs when an overhead power line physically breaks and falls to the ground. Such faults are difficult to detect because they often draw small currents which cannot be detected by conventional overcurrent protection. Furthermore, an electric arc accompanies HIFs, resulting in fire hazard, damage to electrical devices, and risk with human life. This paper presents an analytical model to analyze the interaction between the electric arc associated to HIFs and a transmission line. A joint analytical solution to the wave equation for a transmission line and a nonlinear equation for the arc model is presented. The analytical model is validated by means of comparisons between measured and calculated results. Several cases of study are presented which support the foundation and accuracy of the proposed model.

Let's Talk... Analytics

Science.gov (United States)

Oblinger, Diana G.

2012-01-01

Talk about analytics seems to be everywhere. Everyone is talking about analytics. Yet even with all the talk, many in higher education have questions about--and objections to--using analytics in colleges and universities. In this article, the author explores the use of analytics in, and all around, higher education. (Contains 1 note.)

Interleukin-17 Gene Polymorphisms Contribute to Cancer Risk

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Ming Niu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Epidemiological studies have suggested that interleukin-17 (IL-17 polymorphisms are associated with cancer risk. However, the results of these studies are inconsistent. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to obtain a precise conclusion. Odds ratios (ORs with 95% confidence intervals (CIs were used to assess the association of the IL-17A rs2275913G>A and IL-17F rs763780T>C polymorphisms with cancer risk. Publication bias and sensitivity analyses were performed to ensure the statistical power. Overall, 10 relevant case-control studies involving 4,516 cases and 5,645 controls were included. The pooled ORs with 95% CIs indicated that the IL-17A rs2275913G>A polymorphism was significantly associated with increased cancer risk (for A versus G: OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.16–1.41, PC polymorphism was also significantly associated with gastric cancer development. Overall, the present meta-analysis suggests that IL-17 polymorphisms increase the risk of developing cancer, particularly gastric cancer, in the Asian (and Chinese population.

Predicting Rib Fracture Risk With Whole-Body Finite Element Models: Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Probabilistic Analytical Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Forman, Jason L.; Kent, Richard W.; Mroz, Krystoffer; Pipkorn, Bengt; Bostrom, Ola; Segui-Gomez, Maria

2012-01-01

This study sought to develop a strain-based probabilistic method to predict rib fracture risk with whole-body finite element (FE) models, and to describe a method to combine the results with collision exposure information to predict injury risk and potential intervention effectiveness in the field. An age-adjusted ultimate strain distribution was used to estimate local rib fracture probabilities within an FE model. These local probabilities were combined to predict injury risk and severity within the whole ribcage. The ultimate strain distribution was developed from a literature dataset of 133 tests. Frontal collision simulations were performed with the THUMS (Total HUman Model for Safety) model with four levels of delta-V and two restraints: a standard 3-point belt and a progressive 3.5–7 kN force-limited, pretensioned (FL+PT) belt. The results of three simulations (29 km/h standard, 48 km/h standard, and 48 km/h FL+PT) were compared to matched cadaver sled tests. The numbers of fractures predicted for the comparison cases were consistent with those observed experimentally. Combining these results with field exposure informantion (ΔV, NASS-CDS 1992–2002) suggests a 8.9% probability of incurring AIS3+ rib fractures for a 60 year-old restrained by a standard belt in a tow-away frontal collision with this restraint, vehicle, and occupant configuration, compared to 4.6% for the FL+PT belt. This is the first study to describe a probabilistic framework to predict rib fracture risk based on strains observed in human-body FE models. Using this analytical framework, future efforts may incorporate additional subject or collision factors for multi-variable probabilistic injury prediction. PMID:23169122

Big data analytics to improve cardiovascular care: promise and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Rumsfeld, John S; Joynt, Karen E; Maddox, Thomas M

2016-06-01

The potential for big data analytics to improve cardiovascular quality of care and patient outcomes is tremendous. However, the application of big data in health care is at a nascent stage, and the evidence to date demonstrating that big data analytics will improve care and outcomes is scant. This Review provides an overview of the data sources and methods that comprise big data analytics, and describes eight areas of application of big data analytics to improve cardiovascular care, including predictive modelling for risk and resource use, population management, drug and medical device safety surveillance, disease and treatment heterogeneity, precision medicine and clinical decision support, quality of care and performance measurement, and public health and research applications. We also delineate the important challenges for big data applications in cardiovascular care, including the need for evidence of effectiveness and safety, the methodological issues such as data quality and validation, and the critical importance of clinical integration and proof of clinical utility. If big data analytics are shown to improve quality of care and patient outcomes, and can be successfully implemented in cardiovascular practice, big data will fulfil its potential as an important component of a learning health-care system.

Analytics for Education

Science.gov (United States)

MacNeill, Sheila; Campbell, Lorna M.; Hawksey, Martin

2014-01-01

This article presents an overview of the development and use of analytics in the context of education. Using Buckingham Shum's three levels of analytics, the authors present a critical analysis of current developments in the domain of learning analytics, and contrast the potential value of analytics research and development with real world…

Community Research Contributing to Effective Risk Governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelly, Neale; Forsstroem, Hans [European Commission, Brussels (Belgium). DG Research

2001-07-01

Research in the field of risk assessment and management has had a prominent role in the Commission's nuclear research programme, especially in the area of radiation protection. In the 1980s, the research had a largely technical focus. Through the 1990s, this focus shifted and greater attention was given to broader, less technical, issues, in particular those concerned with risk perception and communication, risk governance and the role of public participation in the process. This trend will continue within the Commission's 6th Framework Programme (FP6) given the increasing recognition of the importance of these broader socio-economic issues for decision making related to both nuclear and other technologies. The paper summarises the main outcomes of Commission sponsored research in the above areas, how this has influenced research currently being carried out in the Sth Framework Programme (FP5) and that being considered for inclusion in FP6. Two aspects are given particular attention: firstly, research into risk governance (both in the nuclear field in general and the waste management area in particular), especially the importance of social trust and participation of all relevant stakeholders in terms of achieving efficient and acceptable decisions when addressing complex, contentious issues; secondly, research into the social and psychological factors that influenced the efficacy and acceptance of measures taken to mitigate the long term impact of areas in the Former Soviet Union contaminated as a result of the Chernobyl accident. There are important lessons here for the management of any future accident that may affect Europe, especially the need for those affected locally to have a role in the decision process and to be able to exercise at least partial control over their own welfare. While this research was largely carried out in a 'nuclear' context, its findings are more generally applicable.

Community Research Contributing to Effective Risk Governance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kelly, Neale; Forsstroem, Hans

2001-01-01

Research in the field of risk assessment and management has had a prominent role in the Commission's nuclear research programme, especially in the area of radiation protection. In the 1980s, the research had a largely technical focus. Through the 1990s, this focus shifted and greater attention was given to broader, less technical, issues, in particular those concerned with risk perception and communication, risk governance and the role of public participation in the process. This trend will continue within the Commission's 6th Framework Programme (FP6) given the increasing recognition of the importance of these broader socio-economic issues for decision making related to both nuclear and other technologies. The paper summarises the main outcomes of Commission sponsored research in the above areas, how this has influenced research currently being carried out in the Sth Framework Programme (FP5) and that being considered for inclusion in FP6. Two aspects are given particular attention: firstly, research into risk governance (both in the nuclear field in general and the waste management area in particular), especially the importance of social trust and participation of all relevant stakeholders in terms of achieving efficient and acceptable decisions when addressing complex, contentious issues; secondly, research into the social and psychological factors that influenced the efficacy and acceptance of measures taken to mitigate the long term impact of areas in the Former Soviet Union contaminated as a result of the Chernobyl accident. There are important lessons here for the management of any future accident that may affect Europe, especially the need for those affected locally to have a role in the decision process and to be able to exercise at least partial control over their own welfare. While this research was largely carried out in a 'nuclear' context, its findings are more generally applicable

The Journal of Learning Analytics: Supporting and Promoting Learning Analytics Research

OpenAIRE

Siemens, George

2014-01-01

The paper gives a brief overview of the main activities for the development of the emerging field of learning analytics led by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR). The place of the Journal of Learning Analytics is identified Analytics is the most significant new initiative of SoLAR. 

The "Journal of Learning Analytics": Supporting and Promoting Learning Analytics Research

Science.gov (United States)

Siemens, George

2014-01-01

The paper gives a brief overview of the main activities for the development of the emerging field of learning analytics led by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR). The place of the "Journal of Learning Analytics" is identified. Analytics is the most significant new initiative of SoLAR.

Predictive Analytics to Support Real-Time Management in Pathology Facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Lessard, Lysanne; Michalowski, Wojtek; Chen Li, Wei; Amyot, Daniel; Halwani, Fawaz; Banerjee, Diponkar

2016-01-01

Predictive analytics can provide valuable support to the effective management of pathology facilities. The introduction of new tests and technologies in anatomical pathology will increase the volume of specimens to be processed, as well as the complexity of pathology processes. In order for predictive analytics to address managerial challenges associated with the volume and complexity increases, it is important to pinpoint the areas where pathology managers would most benefit from predictive capabilities. We illustrate common issues in managing pathology facilities with an analysis of the surgical specimen process at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (DPLM) at The Ottawa Hospital, which processes all surgical specimens for the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association. We then show how predictive analytics could be used to support management. Our proposed approach can be generalized beyond the DPLM, contributing to a more effective management of pathology facilities and in turn to quicker clinical diagnoses.

Recalibration of blood analytes over 25 years in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study: The impact of recalibration on chronic kidney disease prevalence and incidence

Science.gov (United States)

Parrinello, Christina M.; Grams, Morgan E.; Couper, David; Ballantyne, Christie M.; Hoogeveen, Ron C.; Eckfeldt, John H.; Selvin, Elizabeth; Coresh, Josef

2016-01-01

Background Equivalence of laboratory tests over time is important for longitudinal studies. Even a small systematic difference (bias) can result in substantial misclassification. Methods We selected 200 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study participants attending all 5 study visits over 25 years. Eight analytes were re-measured in 2011–13 from stored blood samples from multiple visits: creatinine, uric acid, glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Original values were recalibrated to re-measured values using Deming regression. Differences >10% were considered to reflect substantial bias, and correction equations were applied to affected analytes in the total study population. We examined trends in chronic kidney disease (CKD) pre- and post-recalibration. Results Repeat measures were highly correlated with original values (Pearson’s r>0.85 after removing outliers [median 4.5% of paired measurements]), but 2 of 8 analytes (creatinine and uric acid) had differences >10%. Original values of creatinine and uric acid were recalibrated to current values using correction equations. CKD prevalence differed substantially after recalibration of creatinine (visits 1, 2, 4 and 5 pre-recalibration: 21.7%, 36.1%, 3.5%, 29.4%; post-recalibration: 1.3%, 2.2%, 6.4%, 29.4%). For HDL-cholesterol, the current direct enzymatic method differed substantially from magnesium dextran precipitation used during visits 1–4. Conclusions Analytes re-measured in samples stored for ~25 years were highly correlated with original values, but two of the 8 analytes showed substantial bias at multiple visits. Laboratory recalibration improved reproducibility of test results across visits and resulted in substantial differences in CKD prevalence. We demonstrate the importance of consistent recalibration of laboratory assays in a cohort study. PMID:25952043

"We Need to Deploy Them Very Thoughtfully and Carefully": Perceptions of Analytical Treatment Interruptions in HIV Cure Research in the United States-A Qualitative Inquiry.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubé, Karine; Evans, David; Dee, Lynda; Sylla, Laurie; Taylor, Jeff; Skinner, Asheley; Weiner, Bryan J; Greene, Sandra B; Rennie, Stuart; Tucker, Joseph D

2018-01-01

Strategies to control HIV in the absence of antiretroviral therapy are needed to cure HIV. However, such strategies will require analytical treatment interruptions (ATIs) to determine their efficacy. We investigated how U.S. stakeholders involved in HIV cure research perceive ATIs. We conducted 36 in-depth interviews with three groups of stakeholders: 12 people living with HIV, 11 clinician-researchers, and 13 policy-makers/bioethicists. Qualitative data revealed several themes. First, there was little consensus on when ATIs would be ethically warranted. Second, the most frequent perceived hypothetical motivators for participating in research on ATIs were advancing science and contributing to society. Third, risks related to viral rebound were the most prevalent concerns related to ATIs. Stakeholders suggested ways to minimize the risks of ATIs in HIV cure research. Increased cooperation between scientists and local communities may be useful for minimizing risk. Further ethics research is necessary.

Supply risk management functions of sourcing intermediaries – an investigation of the clothing industry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vedel, Mette; Ellegaard, Chris

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to uncover how buying companies use sourcing intermediaries to manage supply risks in global sourcing. Design/methodology/approach: We carry out an explorative qualitative study of the clothing industry, interviewing key respondents that occupy different...... intermediary types, characterised by the set of functions they handle. Research limitations/implications: By analysing a limited set of in-depth interviews in one industry we have traded off broader analytical generalization for in-depth exploration and theory building. Therefore, future research should test...... by identifying the supply risk management functions that sourcing intermediaries carry out for buying companies. We also contribute by uncovering different types of sourcing intermediaries, determined by the collection of functions handled....

Validation of an online risk calculator for the prediction of anastomotic leak after colon cancer surgery and preliminary exploration of artificial intelligence-based analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Sammour, T; Cohen, L; Karunatillake, A I; Lewis, M; Lawrence, M J; Hunter, A; Moore, J W; Thomas, M L

2017-11-01

Recently published data support the use of a web-based risk calculator ( www.anastomoticleak.com ) for the prediction of anastomotic leak after colectomy. The aim of this study was to externally validate this calculator on a larger dataset. Consecutive adult patients undergoing elective or emergency colectomy for colon cancer at a single institution over a 9-year period were identified using the Binational Colorectal Cancer Audit database. Patients with a rectosigmoid cancer, an R2 resection, or a diverting ostomy were excluded. The primary outcome was anastomotic leak within 90 days as defined by previously published criteria. Area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was derived and compared with that of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program ® (ACS NSQIP) calculator and the colon leakage score (CLS) calculator for left colectomy. Commercially available artificial intelligence-based analytics software was used to further interrogate the prediction algorithm. A total of 626 patients were identified. Four hundred and fifty-six patients met the inclusion criteria, and 402 had complete data available for all the calculator variables (126 had a left colectomy). Laparoscopic surgery was performed in 39.6% and emergency surgery in 14.7%. The anastomotic leak rate was 7.2%, with 31.0% requiring reoperation. The anastomoticleak.com calculator was significantly predictive of leak and performed better than the ACS NSQIP calculator (AUROC 0.73 vs 0.58) and the CLS calculator (AUROC 0.96 vs 0.80) for left colectomy. Artificial intelligence-predictive analysis supported these findings and identified an improved prediction model. The anastomotic leak risk calculator is significantly predictive of anastomotic leak after colon cancer resection. Wider investigation of artificial intelligence-based analytics for risk prediction is warranted.

From Physical Process to Economic Cost - Integrated Approaches of Landslide Risk Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Klose, M.; Damm, B.

2014-12-01

The nature of landslides is complex in many respects, with landslide hazard and impact being dependent on a variety of factors. This obviously requires an integrated assessment for fundamental understanding of landslide risk. Integrated risk assessment, according to the approach presented in this contribution, implies combining prediction of future landslide occurrence with analysis of landslide impact in the past. A critical step for assessing landslide risk in integrated perspective is to analyze what types of landslide damage affected people and property in which way and how people contributed and responded to these damage types. In integrated risk assessment, the focus is on systematic identification and monetization of landslide damage, and analytical tools that allow deriving economic costs from physical landslide processes are at the heart of this approach. The broad spectrum of landslide types and process mechanisms as well as nonlinearity between landslide magnitude, damage intensity, and direct costs are some main factors explaining recent challenges in risk assessment. The two prevailing approaches for assessing the impact of landslides in economic terms are cost survey (ex-post) and risk analysis (ex-ante). Both approaches are able to complement each other, but yet a combination of them has not been realized so far. It is common practice today to derive landslide risk without considering landslide process-based cause-effect relationships, since integrated concepts or new modeling tools expanding conventional methods are still widely missing. The approach introduced in this contribution is based on a systematic framework that combines cost survey and GIS-based tools for hazard or cost modeling with methods to assess interactions between land use practices and landslides in historical perspective. Fundamental understanding of landslide risk also requires knowledge about the economic and fiscal relevance of landslide losses, wherefore analysis of their

Evaluation of analytical errors in a clinical chemistry laboratory: a 3 year experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakyi, As; Laing, Ef; Ephraim, Rk; Asibey, Of; Sadique, Ok

2015-01-01

Proficient laboratory service is the cornerstone of modern healthcare systems and has an impact on over 70% of medical decisions on admission, discharge, and medications. In recent years, there is an increasing awareness of the importance of errors in laboratory practice and their possible negative impact on patient outcomes. We retrospectively analyzed data spanning a period of 3 years on analytical errors observed in our laboratory. The data covered errors over the whole testing cycle including pre-, intra-, and post-analytical phases and discussed strategies pertinent to our settings to minimize their occurrence. We described the occurrence of pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical errors observed at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital clinical biochemistry laboratory during a 3-year period from January, 2010 to December, 2012. Data were analyzed with Graph Pad Prism 5(GraphPad Software Inc. CA USA). A total of 589,510 tests was performed on 188,503 outpatients and hospitalized patients. The overall error rate for the 3 years was 4.7% (27,520/58,950). Pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical errors contributed 3.7% (2210/58,950), 0.1% (108/58,950), and 0.9% (512/58,950), respectively. The number of tests reduced significantly over the 3-year period, but this did not correspond with a reduction in the overall error rate (P = 0.90) along with the years. Analytical errors are embedded within our total process setup especially pre-analytical and post-analytical phases. Strategic measures including quality assessment programs for staff involved in pre-analytical processes should be intensified.

Big data and high-performance analytics in structural health monitoring for bridge management

Science.gov (United States)

Alampalli, Sharada; Alampalli, Sandeep; Ettouney, Mohammed

2016-04-01

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) can be a vital tool for effective bridge management. Combining large data sets from multiple sources to create a data-driven decision-making framework is crucial for the success of SHM. This paper presents a big data analytics framework that combines multiple data sets correlated with functional relatedness to convert data into actionable information that empowers risk-based decision-making. The integrated data environment incorporates near real-time streams of semi-structured data from remote sensors, historical visual inspection data, and observations from structural analysis models to monitor, assess, and manage risks associated with the aging bridge inventories. Accelerated processing of dataset is made possible by four technologies: cloud computing, relational database processing, support from NOSQL database, and in-memory analytics. The framework is being validated on a railroad corridor that can be subjected to multiple hazards. The framework enables to compute reliability indices for critical bridge components and individual bridge spans. In addition, framework includes a risk-based decision-making process that enumerate costs and consequences of poor bridge performance at span- and network-levels when rail networks are exposed to natural hazard events such as floods and earthquakes. Big data and high-performance analytics enable insights to assist bridge owners to address problems faster.

An analytic analysis of the pion decay constant in three-flavoured chiral perturbation theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ananthanarayan, B.; Ghosh, Shayan [Indian Institute of Science, Centre for High Energy Physics, Bangalore, Karnataka (India); Bijnens, Johan [Lund University, Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund (Sweden)

2017-07-15

A representation of the two-loop contribution to the pion decay constant in SU(3) chiral perturbation theory is presented. The result is analytic up to the contribution of the three (different) mass sunset integrals, for which an expansion in their external momentum has been taken. We also give an analytic expression for the two-loop contribution to the pion mass based on a renormalized representation and in terms of the physical eta mass. We find an expansion of F{sub π} and M{sub π}{sup 2} in the strange-quark mass in the isospin limit, and we perform the matching of the chiral SU(2) and SU(3) low-energy constants. A numerical analysis demonstrates the high accuracy of our representation, and the strong dependence of the pion decay constant upon the values of the low-energy constants, especially in the chiral limit. Finally, we present a simplified representation that is particularly suitable for fitting with available lattice data. (orig.)

ECO D2.5 Learning analytics requirements and metrics report

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouns, Francis; Zorrilla Pantaleón, Marta Elena; Esperanza‎ Álvarez Saiz, Elena; Solana González, Pedro; Cobo Ortega, Ángel; Rocío‎ Rocha Blanco, Eliana; Collantes Viaña, Marta; Rodríguez Hoyo, Carlos; De Lima Silva, Mariana; Marta-Lazo, Carmen; Gabelas Barroso, José Antonio; Arranz, Pilar; García, Luis; Silva, Alejandro; Sáez López, José Manuel; Ventura Expósito, Patricia; Jordano de la Torre, María; María, Felix; Viñuales, Javier

2015-01-01

In MOOCs, learning analytics have to be addressed to the various types of learners that participate. This deliverable describes indicators that enable both teachers and learner to monitor the progress and performance as well as identify whether there are learners at risk of dropping out. How these

Vertical equilibrium with sub-scale analytical methods for geological CO2 sequestration

KAUST Repository

Gasda, S. E.

2009-04-23

Large-scale implementation of geological CO2 sequestration requires quantification of risk and leakage potential. One potentially important leakage pathway for the injected CO2 involves existing oil and gas wells. Wells are particularly important in North America, where more than a century of drilling has created millions of oil and gas wells. Models of CO 2 injection and leakage will involve large uncertainties in parameters associated with wells, and therefore a probabilistic framework is required. These models must be able to capture both the large-scale CO 2 plume associated with the injection and the small-scale leakage problem associated with localized flow along wells. Within a typical simulation domain, many hundreds of wells may exist. One effective modeling strategy combines both numerical and analytical models with a specific set of simplifying assumptions to produce an efficient numerical-analytical hybrid model. The model solves a set of governing equations derived by vertical averaging with assumptions of a macroscopic sharp interface and vertical equilibrium. These equations are solved numerically on a relatively coarse grid, with an analytical model embedded to solve for wellbore flow occurring at the sub-gridblock scale. This vertical equilibrium with sub-scale analytical method (VESA) combines the flexibility of a numerical method, allowing for heterogeneous and geologically complex systems, with the efficiency and accuracy of an analytical method, thereby eliminating expensive grid refinement for sub-scale features. Through a series of benchmark problems, we show that VESA compares well with traditional numerical simulations and to a semi-analytical model which applies to appropriately simple systems. We believe that the VESA model provides the necessary accuracy and efficiency for applications of risk analysis in many CO2 sequestration problems. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

STOCHASTIC METHODS IN RISK ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimíra OSADSKÁ

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we review basic stochastic methods which can be used to extend state-of-the-art deterministic analytical methods for risk analysis. We can conclude that the standard deterministic analytical methods highly depend on the practical experience and knowledge of the evaluator and therefore, the stochastic methods should be introduced. The new risk analysis methods should consider the uncertainties in input values. We present how large is the impact on the results of the analysis solving practical example of FMECA with uncertainties modelled using Monte Carlo sampling.

Big data and visual analytics in anaesthesia and health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Simpao, A F; Ahumada, L M; Rehman, M A

2015-09-01

Advances in computer technology, patient monitoring systems, and electronic health record systems have enabled rapid accumulation of patient data in electronic form (i.e. big data). Organizations such as the Anesthesia Quality Institute and Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group have spearheaded large-scale efforts to collect anaesthesia big data for outcomes research and quality improvement. Analytics--the systematic use of data combined with quantitative and qualitative analysis to make decisions--can be applied to big data for quality and performance improvements, such as predictive risk assessment, clinical decision support, and resource management. Visual analytics is the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces, and it can facilitate performance of cognitive activities involving big data. Ongoing integration of big data and analytics within anaesthesia and health care will increase demand for anaesthesia professionals who are well versed in both the medical and the information sciences. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Journal of Anaesthesia. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The contribution of DNA apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease genotype and smoking habit to Taiwan lung cancer risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Wei-Chun; Tsai, Chia-Wen; Hsia, Te-Chun; Chang, Wen-Shin; Lin, Liang-Yi; Liang, Shinn-Jye; Tu, Chih-Yen; Cheng, Wei-Erh; Chen, Hung-Jen; Wang, Shu-Ming; Bau, da-Tian

2013-06-01

To evaluate the association and interaction of genotypic polymorphism the gene for DNA-apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (APEX1) with personal smoking habit and lung cancer risk in Taiwan, the polymorphic variants of APEX1, Asp(148)Glu (rs1130409), were analyzed in association with lung cancer risk, and their joint effect with personal smoking habits on lung cancer susceptibility was discussed. In this hospital-based case-control study, 358 patients with lung cancer and 716 cancer-free controls, frequency-matched by age and sex, were recruited and genotyped by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The results showed that the percentages of TT, TG and GG APEX1 Asp(148)Glu genotypes were not significantly different at 43.0%, 41.1% and 15.9% in the lung cancer patient group and 39.9%, 46.1% and 14.0% in non-cancer control group, respectively. We further analyzed the genetic-lifestyle effects on lung cancer risk and found the contribution of APEX1 Asp(148)Glu genotypes to lung cancer susceptibility was neither enhanced in the cigarette smokers nor in the non-smokers (p=0.3550 and 0.8019, respectively). Our results provide evidence that the non-synonymous polymorphism of APEX1 Asp(148)Glu may not be directly associated with lung cancer risk, nor enhance the effects of smoking habit on lung cancer development.

Analytical Model based on Green Criteria for Optical Backbone Network Interconnection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gutierrez Lopez, Jose Manuel; Riaz, M. Tahir; Pedersen, Jens Myrup

2011-01-01

Key terms such as Global warming, Green House Gas emissions, or Energy efficiency are currently on the scope of scientific research. Regarding telecommunications networks, wireless applications, routing protocols, etc. are being designed following this new “Green” trend. This work contributes...... to the evaluation of the environmental impact of networks from physical interconnection point of view. Networks deployment, usage, and disposal are analyzed as contributing elements to ICT’s (Information and Communications Technology) CO2 emissions. This paper presents an analytical model for evaluating...

Research Data Alliance: Understanding Big Data Analytics Applications in Earth Science

Science.gov (United States)

Riedel, Morris; Ramachandran, Rahul; Baumann, Peter

2014-01-01

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) enables data to be shared across barriers through focused working groups and interest groups, formed of experts from around the world - from academia, industry and government. Its Big Data Analytics (BDA) interest groups seeks to develop community based recommendations on feasible data analytics approaches to address scientific community needs of utilizing large quantities of data. BDA seeks to analyze different scientific domain applications (e.g. earth science use cases) and their potential use of various big data analytics techniques. These techniques reach from hardware deployment models up to various different algorithms (e.g. machine learning algorithms such as support vector machines for classification). A systematic classification of feasible combinations of analysis algorithms, analytical tools, data and resource characteristics and scientific queries will be covered in these recommendations. This contribution will outline initial parts of such a classification and recommendations in the specific context of the field of Earth Sciences. Given lessons learned and experiences are based on a survey of use cases and also providing insights in a few use cases in detail.

Identification of "At Risk" Students Using Learning Analytics: The Ethical Dilemmas of Intervention Strategies in a Higher Education Institution

Science.gov (United States)

Lawson, Celeste; Beer, Colin; Rossi, Dolene; Moore, Teresa; Fleming, Julie

2016-01-01

Learning analytics is an emerging field in which sophisticated analytic tools are used to inform and improve learning and teaching. Researchers within a regional university in Australia identified an association between interaction and student success in online courses and subsequently developed a learning analytics system aimed at informing…

Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions: Alice H. Eagly

Science.gov (United States)

American Psychologist, 2009

2009-01-01

Alice H. Eagly, winner of the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, is cited for her work in the field of social psychology, the psychology of gender, and the use of meta-analytic techniques. She envisions a psychology that extends from individual cognitions to societal structures. In addition to the citation, a biography and selected…

Analytical Framework for Market-oriented DSR Flexibility Integration and Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

You, Shi; Hu, Junjie; Heussen, Kai

2013-01-01

hamper its development. In this paper, an analytical framework based on a multi-portfolio setup in presence of a deregulated power market is proposed to address such challenges by adopting the thinking in modern portfolio theory (MPT). A Numerical example that targets on analyzing the risk and return...

Web analytics tools and web metrics tools: An overview and comparative analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Bekavac

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to compare and analyze the impact of web analytics tools for measuring the performance of a business model. Accordingly, an overview of web analytics and web metrics tools is given, including their characteristics, main functionalities and available types. The data acquisition approaches and proper choice of web tools for particular business models are also reviewed. The research is divided in two sections. First, a qualitative focus is placed on reviewing web analytics tools to exploring their functionalities and ability to be integrated into the respective business model. Web analytics tools support the business analyst’s efforts in obtaining useful and relevant insights into market dynamics. Thus, generally speaking, selecting a web analytics and web metrics tool should be based on an investigative approach, not a random decision. The second section is a quantitative focus shifting from theory to an empirical approach, and which subsequently presents output data resulting from a study based on perceived user satisfaction of web analytics tools. The empirical study was carried out on employees from 200 Croatian firms from either an either IT or marketing branch. The paper contributes to highlighting the support for management that available web analytics and web metrics tools available on the market have to offer, and based on the growing needs of understanding and predicting global market trends.

Predictive Analytics to Support Real-Time Management in Pathology Facilities

Science.gov (United States)

Lessard, Lysanne; Michalowski, Wojtek; Chen Li, Wei; Amyot, Daniel; Halwani, Fawaz; Banerjee, Diponkar

2016-01-01

Predictive analytics can provide valuable support to the effective management of pathology facilities. The introduction of new tests and technologies in anatomical pathology will increase the volume of specimens to be processed, as well as the complexity of pathology processes. In order for predictive analytics to address managerial challenges associated with the volume and complexity increases, it is important to pinpoint the areas where pathology managers would most benefit from predictive capabilities. We illustrate common issues in managing pathology facilities with an analysis of the surgical specimen process at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (DPLM) at The Ottawa Hospital, which processes all surgical specimens for the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association. We then show how predictive analytics could be used to support management. Our proposed approach can be generalized beyond the DPLM, contributing to a more effective management of pathology facilities and in turn to quicker clinical diagnoses. PMID:28269873

Trends in Process Analytical Technology: Present State in Bioprocessing.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenzsch, Marco; Bell, Christian; Buziol, Stefan; Kepert, Felix; Wegele, Harald; Hakemeyer, Christian

2017-08-04

Process analytical technology (PAT), the regulatory initiative for incorporating quality in pharmaceutical manufacturing, is an area of intense research and interest. If PAT is effectively applied to bioprocesses, this can increase process understanding and control, and mitigate the risk from substandard drug products to both manufacturer and patient. To optimize the benefits of PAT, the entire PAT framework must be considered and each elements of PAT must be carefully selected, including sensor and analytical technology, data analysis techniques, control strategies and algorithms, and process optimization routines. This chapter discusses the current state of PAT in the biopharmaceutical industry, including several case studies demonstrating the degree of maturity of various PAT tools. Graphical Abstract Hierarchy of QbD components.

HALO EFFECT IN ANALYTICAL PROCEDURE: THE IMPACT OF CLIENT PROFILE AND INFORMATION SCOPE

OpenAIRE

Intiyas Utami; Indra Wijaya Kusuma; Gudono; Supriyadi

2014-01-01

Many auditors use risk-based audit as a methodology that emphasizes assessing audit risk. A holistic perspective during strategic assessment encourages the auditor to focus on the big picture. They understand the industry and client business and determine the risk of material misstatement asan initial hypothesis about the client. Previous research found that a holistic perspective in strategic assessment causes a halo effect. This study focuses on the phenomena of a halo effect in analytical ...

Applying Behavior Analytic Procedures to Effectively Teach Literacy Skills in the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, Laurice M.; Alber-Morgan, Sheila; Neef, Nancy

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to discuss the application of behavior analytic procedures for advancing and evaluating methods for teaching literacy skills in the classroom. Particularly, applied behavior analysis has contributed substantially to examining the relationship between teacher behavior and student literacy performance. Teacher…

Analytic trigonometry

CERN Document Server

Bruce, William J; Maxwell, E A; Sneddon, I N

1963-01-01

Analytic Trigonometry details the fundamental concepts and underlying principle of analytic geometry. The title aims to address the shortcomings in the instruction of trigonometry by considering basic theories of learning and pedagogy. The text first covers the essential elements from elementary algebra, plane geometry, and analytic geometry. Next, the selection tackles the trigonometric functions of angles in general, basic identities, and solutions of equations. The text also deals with the trigonometric functions of real numbers. The fifth chapter details the inverse trigonometric functions

Michael Fordham and the Journal of Analytical Psychology: the view from Hangman's Hill.

Science.gov (United States)

Urban, Elizabeth

2015-09-01

This short paper was presented to a conference in honour of the 60(th) year of the JAP and was one of others that acknowledged the contribution of Michael Fordham. The subtitle refers to the paper's overview of Fordham's published oeuvre and the particular place of the Journal of Analytical Psychology, for which he was the founding editor. Fordham's contribution to a Jungian-based model of development is discussed, with reference to his papers in the British Journal of Medical Psychology. The paper notes miscellaneous pieces from Fordham's commentaries, obituaries, papers and reviews which capture not only the development of Fordham as a thinker but also his character. There is discussion of his reviews of Melanie Klein's Envy and Gratitude and manuscripts by Erich Neumann. A reminiscence of Fordham as supervisor is recounted. © 2015, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

Curvature contributions to the static electrical properties of push-pull molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Squitieri, Emilio

2005-01-01

Calculations of the curvature contribution to the diagonals components of the static dipole moment (μ), polarizability (α), first (β) and second (γ) hyperpolarizability of push-pull molecules are presented. This contribution was obtained from the analytical evaluation of electrical properties method using the harmonic zero-point energy. The valence-bond charge-transfer model was employed to obtain the field-dependent force constant and their derivates with respect to electric field. Our results show a relationship between the curvature and electronic contributions. We have also found that the curvature contribution is important in a numerical estimation of β and γ

An integrated approach of analytical network process and fuzzy based spatial decision making systems applied to landslide risk mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Abedi Gheshlaghi, Hassan; Feizizadeh, Bakhtiar

2017-09-01

Landslides in mountainous areas render major damages to residential areas, roads, and farmlands. Hence, one of the basic measures to reduce the possible damage is by identifying landslide-prone areas through landslide mapping by different models and methods. The purpose of conducting this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a combination of two models of the analytical network process (ANP) and fuzzy logic in landslide risk mapping in the Azarshahr Chay basin in northwest Iran. After field investigations and a review of research literature, factors affecting the occurrence of landslides including slope, slope aspect, altitude, lithology, land use, vegetation density, rainfall, distance to fault, distance to roads, distance to rivers, along with a map of the distribution of occurred landslides were prepared in GIS environment. Then, fuzzy logic was used for weighting sub-criteria, and the ANP was applied to weight the criteria. Next, they were integrated based on GIS spatial analysis methods and the landslide risk map was produced. Evaluating the results of this study by using receiver operating characteristic curves shows that the hybrid model designed by areas under the curve 0.815 has good accuracy. Also, according to the prepared map, a total of 23.22% of the area, amounting to 105.38 km2, is in the high and very high-risk class. Results of this research are great of importance for regional planning tasks and the landslide prediction map can be used for spatial planning tasks and for the mitigation of future hazards in the study area.

Potential of big data analytics in the French in vitro diagnostics market.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubois, Nicolas; Garnier, Nicolas; Meune, Christophe

2017-12-01

The new paradigm of the big data raises many expectations, particularly in the field of health. Curiously, even though medical biology laboratories generate a great amount of data, the opportunities offered by this new field are poorly documented. For better understanding the clinical context of chronical disease follow-up, for leveraging preventive and/or personalized medicine, the contribution of big data analytics seems very promising. It is within this framework that we have explored to use data of a Breton group of laboratories of medical biology to analyze the possible contributions of their exploitation in the improvement of the clinical practices and to anticipate the evolution of pathologies for the benefit of patients. We report here three practical applications derived from routine laboratory data from a period of 5 years (February 2010-August 2015): follow-up of patients treated with AVK according to the recommendations of the High authority of health (HAS), use of the new troponin markers HS and NT-proBNP in cardiology. While the risks and difficulties of using algorithms in the health domain should not be underestimated - quality, accessibility, and protection of personal data in particular - these first results show that use of tools and technologies of the big data repository could provide decisive support for the concept of "evidence based medicine".

S187. SEARCHING FOR BRAIN CO-EXPRESSION MODULES THAT CONTRIBUTE DISPROPORTIONATELY TO THE COMMON POLYGENIC RISK FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA

Science.gov (United States)

Costas, Javier; Paramo, Mario; Arrojo, Manuel

2018-01-01

Abstract Background Genomic research has revealed that schizophrenia is a highly polygenic disease. Recent estimates indicate that at least 71% of genomic segments of 1 Mb include one or more risk loci for schizophrenia (Loh et al., Nature Genet 2015). This extremely high polygenicity represents a challenge to decipher the biological basis of schizophrenia, as it is expected that any set of SNPs with enough size will be associated with the disorder. Among the different gene sets available for study (such as those from Gene Ontology, KEGG pathway, Reactome pathways or protein protein interaction datasets), those based on brain co-expression networks represent putative functional relationships in the relevant tissue. The aim of this work was to identify brain co-expression networks that contribute disproportionately to the common polygenic risk for schizophrenia to get more insight on schizophrenia etiopathology. Methods We analyzed a case -control dataset consisting of 582 schizophrenia patients from Galicia, NW Spain, and 591 ancestrally matched controls, genotyped with the Illumina PsychArray. Using as discovery sample the summary results from the largest GWAS of schizophrenia to date (Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, SCZ2), we generated polygenic risk scores (PRS) in our sample based on SNPs located at genes belonging to brain co-expression modules determined by the CommonMind Consortium (Fromer et al., Nature Neurosci 2016). PRS were generated using the clumping procedure of PLINK, considering several different thresholds to select SNPs from the discovery sample. In order to test if any specific module increased risk to schizophrenia more than expected by their size, we generated up to 10,000 random permutations of the same number of SNPs, matched by frequency, distance to nearest gene, number of SNPs in LD and gene density, using SNPsnap. Results As expected, most modules with enough number of independent SNPs belonging to them showed a significant increase in

An analytical model of leakage neutron equivalent dose for passively-scattered proton radiotherapy and validation with measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Christopher; Newhauser, Wayne; Farah, Jad

2015-05-18

Exposure to stray neutrons increases the risk of second cancer development after proton therapy. Previously reported analytical models of this exposure were difficult to configure and had not been investigated below 100 MeV proton energy. The purposes of this study were to test an analytical model of neutron equivalent dose per therapeutic absorbed dose  at 75 MeV and to improve the model by reducing the number of configuration parameters and making it continuous in proton energy from 100 to 250 MeV. To develop the analytical model, we used previously published H/D values in water from Monte Carlo simulations of a general-purpose beamline for proton energies from 100 to 250 MeV. We also configured and tested the model on in-air neutron equivalent doses measured for a 75 MeV ocular beamline. Predicted H/D values from the analytical model and Monte Carlo agreed well from 100 to 250 MeV (10% average difference). Predicted H/D values from the analytical model also agreed well with measurements at 75 MeV (15% average difference). The results indicate that analytical models can give fast, reliable calculations of neutron exposure after proton therapy. This ability is absent in treatment planning systems but vital to second cancer risk estimation.

Analytical and environmental aspects of the flame retardant tetrabromobisphenol-A and its derivatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Covaci, Adrian; Voorspoels, Stefan; Abdallah, Mohamed Abou-Elwafa; Geens, Tinne; Harrad, Stuart; Law, Robin J

2009-01-16

The present article reviews the available literature on the analytical and environmental aspects of tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A), a currently intensively used brominated flame retardant (BFR). Analytical methods, including sample preparation, chromatographic separation, detection techniques, and quality control are discussed. An important recent development in the analysis of TBBP-A is the growing tendency for liquid chromatographic techniques. At the detection stage, mass-spectrometry is a well-established and reliable technology in the identification and quantification of TBBP-A. Although interlaboratory exercises for BFRs have grown in popularity in the last 10 years, only a few participating laboratories report concentrations for TBBP-A. Environmental levels of TBBP-A in abiotic and biotic matrices are low, probably due to the major use of TBBP-A as reactive FR. As a consequence, the expected human exposure is low. This is in agreement with the EU risk assessment that concluded that there is no risk for humans concerning TBBP-A exposure. Much less analytical and environmental information exists for the various groups of TBBP-A derivatives which are largely used as additive flame retardants.

Prospective approaches for risk analysis in modern radiotherapy: the Italian experience and the contribution of medical physicists

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Begnozzi, L.; Cantone, M.C.; Veronese, I.; Longobardi, B.

2014-01-01

In the last few years there has been significant development of radiation therapy (RT) equipment with advanced imaging and delivery techniques, as well as treatment planning systems. From this perspective, proactive approaches for risk assessment were identified as a powerful tool in modern radiation oncology. A multidisciplinary working group (WG) has been established in the framework of the Italian association for medical physics (AIFM) to promote the use of prospective approaches in the radiotherapy scientific community. This paper describes the main actions carried out by the WG in order to collect information about the engagement of Italian medical physicists in the risk management process, in reporting possible incidents in RT and in the procedures of collecting and analysing near misses. In particular, the main scope of the study was to evaluate the actual level of experience in use of proactive risk analysis tools in modern RT by medical physicists. Finally, the measures implemented by the WG in order to promote the use of such approaches, and consequently to contribute to enhancing safety and radiation protection culture in radiation oncology are described. (authors)

Development of a decision analytic model to support decision making and risk communication about thrombolytic treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

McMeekin, Peter; Flynn, Darren; Ford, Gary A; Rodgers, Helen; Gray, Jo; Thomson, Richard G

2015-11-11

Individualised prediction of outcomes can support clinical and shared decision making. This paper describes the building of such a model to predict outcomes with and without intravenous thrombolysis treatment following ischaemic stroke. A decision analytic model (DAM) was constructed to establish the likely balance of benefits and risks of treating acute ischaemic stroke with thrombolysis. Probability of independence, (modified Rankin score mRS ≤ 2), dependence (mRS 3 to 5) and death at three months post-stroke was based on a calibrated version of the Stroke-Thrombolytic Predictive Instrument using data from routinely treated stroke patients in the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke (SITS-UK) registry. Predictions in untreated patients were validated using data from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive (VISTA). The probability of symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage in treated patients was incorporated using a scoring model from Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-Monitoring Study (SITS-MOST) data. The model predicts probabilities of haemorrhage, death, independence and dependence at 3-months, with and without thrombolysis, as a function of 13 patient characteristics. Calibration (and inclusion of additional predictors) of the Stroke-Thrombolytic Predictive Instrument (S-TPI) addressed issues of under and over prediction. Validation with VISTA data confirmed that assumptions about treatment effect were just. The C-statistics for independence and death in treated patients in the DAM were 0.793 and 0.771 respectively, and 0.776 for independence in untreated patients from VISTA. We have produced a DAM that provides an estimation of the likely benefits and risks of thrombolysis for individual patients, which has subsequently been embedded in a computerised decision aid to support better decision-making and informed consent.

Analytic geometry

CERN Document Server

Burdette, A C

1971-01-01

Analytic Geometry covers several fundamental aspects of analytic geometry needed for advanced subjects, including calculus.This book is composed of 12 chapters that review the principles, concepts, and analytic proofs of geometric theorems, families of lines, the normal equation of the line, and related matters. Other chapters highlight the application of graphing, foci, directrices, eccentricity, and conic-related topics. The remaining chapters deal with the concept polar and rectangular coordinates, surfaces and curves, and planes.This book will prove useful to undergraduate trigonometric st

Contribution of cardiac and extra-cardiac disease burden to risk of cardiovascular outcomes varies by ejection fraction in heart failure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wolsk, Emil; Claggett, Brian; Køber, Lars

2018-01-01

AIMS: Patients with heart failure (HF) often have multiple co-morbidities that contribute to the risk of adverse cardiovascular (CV) and non-CV outcomes. We assessed the relative contribution of cardiac and extra-cardiac disease burden and demographic factors to CV outcomes in HF patients...... Association class, systolic blood pressure, time since HF diagnosis, HF medication use), extra-cardiac (body mass index, creatinine, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, smoker), and demographic (age, gender) categories, and calculated subscores for each patient representing the burden......EF patients (PAR: 76% cardiac disease vs. 58% extra-cardiac disease, P vs. 49% extra-cardiac disease, P

From risk analysis to risk control in land transport of dangerous materials. Contribution of quantitative evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hubert, Ph.; Pages, P.

1985-03-01

The different approaches of risks and risk management system are described: statistics, potential risk, prevention, information and intervention. Quantitative evaluation is developed: data collection, purposes and methods. Two examples of application are given on risks associated to road transport of propane and of uranium hexafluoride. In conclusion level of risk and practical use of studies on risks are examined. 41 refs [fr

[The contributing risk factors, prevention and treatment of functional dependence among the oldest-old and elderly subjects].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dianrong; Tan, Jiping; Guo, Yuhe; Ye, Guanghua; Zhu, Linqi; Zhang, Jun; Li, Yinghao; Deng, Yucheng; Wang, Guichen; Wang, Luning

2014-10-01

To compare the risk factors on the functional dependence between the oldest-old and elderly veterans. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among veterans ( ≥ 60 years of age) lived in 44 veterans' communities in Beijing. The socio-demographic information and history of non-communicable chronic diseases were collected via face-to-face interviews, and the functional status was assessed by the 20-item version of the Activities of Daily Living Scale. The risk factors associated with increased hazard of the functional dependence in the oldest-old ( ≥ 80 years old) were cognitive impairment, extrapyramidal diseases, cerebral infarction, transient ischemic attack, sleep disorders, hypnotics, osteoarthrosis, hypertension and fall with the odds ratio (OR) of 1.241-2.962 (all P fall, cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthrosis and hearing loss were the risk factors for that in the elderly subjects (aged 60-79 years). The OR was 1.232-5.790 (all P risk of functional dependence in both the oldest-old and elderly people. Neuropsychiatric disorders are the leading causes contributed to the functional dependence among oldest-old and elderly population. Neurodegenerative diseases in the oldest-old, stroke and depression in elderly people should be the priorities in ameliorating disability. Healthy lifestyle and avocational activities could improve the functional status of the oldest-old and elderly population.

[Systemic candidiasis in medical intensive care unit: analysis of risk factors and the contribution of colonization index].

Science.gov (United States)

Massou, S; Ahid, S; Azendour, H; Bensghir, M; Mounir, K; Iken, M; Lmimouni, B E; Balkhi, H; Drissi Kamili, N; Haimeur, C

2013-06-01

Description of the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the patients introducing risk factors of invasive candidiasis. Analysis of risk factors for candidiasis invasive and evaluation of the contribution of colonization index (CI) in the diagnosis of the systematic candidiasis in medical intensive care. Prospective observational study (October 2007 to October 2009). The selected patients present risk factors of system IC candidiasis with an infectious syndrome or clinical signs suggestive of Candida infection and hospitalized more than 48 hours in medical intensive care unit. Pittet's colonization index was calculated at admission and then once a week added to a blood culture. Patients were classified according to level of evidence of Candida infection and the degree of colonization (CIcandidiasis. In multivariate analysis, the corticosteroid therapy was associated with a high colonisation (IC ≥ 0.5) and neutropenia with a high risk of systemic candidiasis. The positive predictive value of CI was 26%. The negative predictive value was 98%, the sensitivity and specificity was 93% and 48% respectively. CI has the advantage to provide a quantified data of the patient's situation in relation to the colonization. But, it isn't helpful with patients having an invasive candidiasis in medical intensive care unit. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Understanding Business Analytics

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-05

analytics have been used in organizations for a variety of reasons for quite some time; ranging from the simple (generating and understanding business analytics...process. understanding business analytics 3 How well these two components are orchestrated will determine the level of success an organization has in

NGNP Risk Management Database: A Model for Managing Risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Collins, John

2009-01-01

To facilitate the implementation of the Risk Management Plan, the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project has developed and employed an analytical software tool called the NGNP Risk Management System (RMS). A relational database developed in Microsoft(reg s ign) Access, the RMS provides conventional database utility including data maintenance, archiving, configuration control, and query ability. Additionally, the tool's design provides a number of unique capabilities specifically designed to facilitate the development and execution of activities outlined in the Risk Management Plan. Specifically, the RMS provides the capability to establish the risk baseline, document and analyze the risk reduction plan, track the current risk reduction status, organize risks by reference configuration system, subsystem, and component (SSC) and Area, and increase the level of NGNP decision making.

NGNP Risk Management Database: A Model for Managing Risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

John Collins

2009-09-01

To facilitate the implementation of the Risk Management Plan, the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project has developed and employed an analytical software tool called the NGNP Risk Management System (RMS). A relational database developed in Microsoft® Access, the RMS provides conventional database utility including data maintenance, archiving, configuration control, and query ability. Additionally, the tool’s design provides a number of unique capabilities specifically designed to facilitate the development and execution of activities outlined in the Risk Management Plan. Specifically, the RMS provides the capability to establish the risk baseline, document and analyze the risk reduction plan, track the current risk reduction status, organize risks by reference configuration system, subsystem, and component (SSC) and Area, and increase the level of NGNP decision making.

A closed analytic form for p-d elastic scattering at high energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Y.; Lo, S.

1983-01-01

Using a simple harmonic oscillator wave function for deuteron it is possible to give an analytic solution in closed form for p-d elastic scattering. It has the advantage of displaying clearly all the contributions separately (D-wave, spin flip etc.). It can also fit experimental data

Exploring the Potential of Predictive Analytics and Big Data in Emergency Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Janke, Alexander T; Overbeek, Daniel L; Kocher, Keith E; Levy, Phillip D

2016-02-01

Clinical research often focuses on resource-intensive causal inference, whereas the potential of predictive analytics with constantly increasing big data sources remains largely unexplored. Basic prediction, divorced from causal inference, is much easier with big data. Emergency care may benefit from this simpler application of big data. Historically, predictive analytics have played an important role in emergency care as simple heuristics for risk stratification. These tools generally follow a standard approach: parsimonious criteria, easy computability, and independent validation with distinct populations. Simplicity in a prediction tool is valuable, but technological advances make it no longer a necessity. Emergency care could benefit from clinical predictions built using data science tools with abundant potential input variables available in electronic medical records. Patients' risks could be stratified more precisely with large pools of data and lower resource requirements for comparing each clinical encounter to those that came before it, benefiting clinical decisionmaking and health systems operations. The largest value of predictive analytics comes early in the clinical encounter, in which diagnostic and prognostic uncertainty are high and resource-committing decisions need to be made. We propose an agenda for widening the application of predictive analytics in emergency care. Throughout, we express cautious optimism because there are myriad challenges related to database infrastructure, practitioner uptake, and patient acceptance. The quality of routinely compiled clinical data will remain an important limitation. Complementing big data sources with prospective data may be necessary if predictive analytics are to achieve their full potential to improve care quality in the emergency department. Copyright © 2015 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analyticity without Differentiability

Science.gov (United States)

Kirillova, Evgenia; Spindler, Karlheinz

2008-01-01

In this article we derive all salient properties of analytic functions, including the analytic version of the inverse function theorem, using only the most elementary convergence properties of series. Not even the notion of differentiability is required to do so. Instead, analytical arguments are replaced by combinatorial arguments exhibiting…

Analysis of System-Wide Investment in the National Airspace System: A Portfolio Analytical Framework and an Example

Science.gov (United States)

Bhadra, Dipasis; Morser, Frederick R.

2006-01-01

In this paper, the authors review the FAA s current program investments and lay out a preliminary analytical framework to undertake projects that may address some of the noted deficiencies. By drawing upon the well developed theories from corporate finance, an analytical framework is offered that can be used for choosing FAA s investments taking into account risk, expected returns and inherent dependencies across NAS programs. The framework can be expanded into taking multiple assets and realistic values for parameters in drawing an efficient risk-return frontier for the entire FAA investment programs.

Contribution of Genetic Background, Traditional Risk Factors, and HIV-Related Factors to Coronary Artery Disease Events in HIV-Positive Persons

Science.gov (United States)

Rotger, Margalida; Glass, Tracy R.; Junier, Thomas; Lundgren, Jens; Neaton, James D.; Poloni, Estella S.; van 't Wout, Angélique B.; Lubomirov, Rubin; Colombo, Sara; Martinez, Raquel; Rauch, Andri; Günthard, Huldrych F.; Neuhaus, Jacqueline; Wentworth, Deborah; van Manen, Danielle; Gras, Luuk A.; Schuitemaker, Hanneke; Albini, Laura; Torti, Carlo; Jacobson, Lisa P.; Li, Xiuhong; Kingsley, Lawrence A.; Carli, Federica; Guaraldi, Giovanni; Ford, Emily S.; Sereti, Irini; Hadigan, Colleen; Martinez, Esteban; Arnedo, Mireia; Egaña-Gorroño, Lander; Gatell, Jose M.; Law, Matthew; Bendall, Courtney; Petoumenos, Kathy; Rockstroh, Jürgen; Wasmuth, Jan-Christian; Kabamba, Kabeya; Delforge, Marc; De Wit, Stephane; Berger, Florian; Mauss, Stefan; de Paz Sierra, Mariana; Losso, Marcelo; Belloso, Waldo H.; Leyes, Maria; Campins, Antoni; Mondi, Annalisa; De Luca, Andrea; Bernardino, Ignacio; Barriuso-Iglesias, Mónica; Torrecilla-Rodriguez, Ana; Gonzalez-Garcia, Juan; Arribas, José R.; Fanti, Iuri; Gel, Silvia; Puig, Jordi; Negredo, Eugenia; Gutierrez, Mar; Domingo, Pere; Fischer, Julia; Fätkenheuer, Gerd; Alonso-Villaverde, Carlos; Macken, Alan; Woo, James; McGinty, Tara; Mallon, Patrick; Mangili, Alexandra; Skinner, Sally; Wanke, Christine A.; Reiss, Peter; Weber, Rainer; Bucher, Heiner C.; Fellay, Jacques; Telenti, Amalio; Tarr, Philip E.

2013-01-01

Background Persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have increased rates of coronary artery disease (CAD). The relative contribution of genetic background, HIV-related factors, antiretroviral medications, and traditional risk factors to CAD has not been fully evaluated in the setting of HIV infection. Methods In the general population, 23 common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were shown to be associated with CAD through genome-wide association analysis. Using the Metabochip, we genotyped 1875 HIV-positive, white individuals enrolled in 24 HIV observational studies, including 571 participants with a first CAD event during the 9-year study period and 1304 controls matched on sex and cohort. Results A genetic risk score built from 23 CAD-associated SNPs contributed significantly to CAD (P = 2.9×10−4). In the final multivariable model, participants with an unfavorable genetic background (top genetic score quartile) had a CAD odds ratio (OR) of 1.47 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05–2.04). This effect was similar to hypertension (OR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.06–1.73), hypercholesterolemia (OR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.16–1.96), diabetes (OR = 1.66; 95% CI, 1.10–2.49), ≥1 year lopinavir exposure (OR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.06–1.73), and current abacavir treatment (OR = 1.56; 95% CI, 1.17–2.07). The effect of the genetic risk score was additive to the effect of nongenetic CAD risk factors, and did not change after adjustment for family history of CAD. Conclusions In the setting of HIV infection, the effect of an unfavorable genetic background was similar to traditional CAD risk factors and certain adverse antiretroviral exposures. Genetic testing may provide prognostic information complementary to family history of CAD. PMID:23532479

Risk sharing, public policy and the contribution of Islamic finance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hossein Askari

2014-12-01

Full Text Available A major reason for the recurrent episodes of financial instability is the predominance of interest-based debt and leveraging. Financial stability is achievable through risk sharing finance instead of risk shifting that characterizes contemporary finance. A risk sharing system serves the true function of finance as facilitator of real sector activities and avoids the emergence of a “paper economy” where there is gradual decoupling of finance from the real sector. Islamic finance was initially proposed as a profit-loss sharing system, but its core principle is risk sharing. In prohibiting interest-based debt instruments, Islam grounds finance on a strong risk sharing footing. Although still a young industry that has come a long way, it has not managed to develop truly risk-sharing instruments that would allow individuals, households, and firms as well as whole economies to mitigate systematic and un-systematic risks. It is suggested that governments should intervene and issue macro-market instruments to provide their treasuries with a significant source of non-interest rate based financing while promoting risk sharing. Moreover, given that evidence across the world suggests that monetary policy’s transmission mechanism may be impaired, it is suggested that these government issued securities could also impart added potency to monetary policy.

Technical challenges for big data in biomedicine and health: data sources, infrastructure, and analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Peek, N; Holmes, J H; Sun, J

2014-08-15

To review technical and methodological challenges for big data research in biomedicine and health. We discuss sources of big datasets, survey infrastructures for big data storage and big data processing, and describe the main challenges that arise when analyzing big data. The life and biomedical sciences are massively contributing to the big data revolution through secondary use of data that were collected during routine care and through new data sources such as social media. Efficient processing of big datasets is typically achieved by distributing computation over a cluster of computers. Data analysts should be aware of pitfalls related to big data such as bias in routine care data and the risk of false-positive findings in high-dimensional datasets. The major challenge for the near future is to transform analytical methods that are used in the biomedical and health domain, to fit the distributed storage and processing model that is required to handle big data, while ensuring confidentiality of the data being analyzed.

Exploring the design space of immersive urban analytics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhutian Chen

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Recent years have witnessed the rapid development and wide adoption of immersive head-mounted devices, such as HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, and Microsoft HoloLens. These immersive devices have the potential to significantly extend the methodology of urban visual analytics by providing critical 3D context information and creating a sense of presence. In this paper, we propose a theoretical model to characterize the visualizations in immersive urban analytics. Furthermore, based on our comprehensive and concise model, we contribute a typology of combination methods of 2D and 3D visualizations that distinguishes between linked views, embedded views, and mixed views. We also propose a supporting guideline to assist users in selecting a proper view under certain circumstances by considering visual geometry and spatial distribution of the 2D and 3D visualizations. Finally, based on existing work, possible future research opportunities are explored and discussed.

A big data geospatial analytics platform - Physical Analytics Integrated Repository and Services (PAIRS)

Science.gov (United States)

Hamann, H.; Jimenez Marianno, F.; Klein, L.; Albrecht, C.; Freitag, M.; Hinds, N.; Lu, S.

2015-12-01

A big data geospatial analytics platform:Physical Analytics Information Repository and Services (PAIRS)Fernando Marianno, Levente Klein, Siyuan Lu, Conrad Albrecht, Marcus Freitag, Nigel Hinds, Hendrik HamannIBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598A major challenge in leveraging big geospatial data sets is the ability to quickly integrate multiple data sources into physical and statistical models and be run these models in real time. A geospatial data platform called Physical Analytics Information and Services (PAIRS) is developed on top of open source hardware and software stack to manage Terabyte of data. A new data interpolation and re gridding is implemented where any geospatial data layers can be associated with a set of global grid where the grid resolutions is doubling for consecutive layers. Each pixel on the PAIRS grid have an index that is a combination of locations and time stamp. The indexing allow quick access to data sets that are part of a global data layers and allowing to retrieve only the data of interest. PAIRS takes advantages of parallel processing framework (Hadoop) in a cloud environment to digest, curate, and analyze the data sets while being very robust and stable. The data is stored on a distributed no-SQL database (Hbase) across multiple server, data upload and retrieval is parallelized where the original analytics task is broken up is smaller areas/volume, analyzed independently, and then reassembled for the original geographical area. The differentiating aspect of PAIRS is the ability to accelerate model development across large geographical regions and spatial resolution ranging from 0.1 m up to hundreds of kilometer. System performance is benchmarked on real time automated data ingestion and retrieval of Modis and Landsat data layers. The data layers are curated for sensor error, verified for correctness, and analyzed statistically to detect local anomalies. Multi-layer query enable PAIRS to filter different data

Molecularly imprinted polymers--potential and challenges in analytical chemistry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mahony, J.O. [Dublin City University, School of Chemical Sciences, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 (Ireland); Nolan, K. [Dublin City University, School of Chemical Sciences, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 (Ireland); Smyth, M.R. [Dublin City University, School of Chemical Sciences, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 (Ireland); Mizaikoff, B. [Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 770 State Street, Boggs Building, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400 (United States)]. E-mail: boris.mizaikoff@chemistry.gatech.edu

2005-04-04

Among the variety of biomimetic recognition schemes utilizing supramolecular approaches molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have proven their potential as synthetic receptors in numerous applications ranging from liquid chromatography to assays and sensor technology. Their inherent advantages compared to biochemical/biological recognition systems include robustness, storage endurance and lower costs. However, until recently only few contributions throughout the relevant literature describe quantitative analytical applications of MIPs for practically relevant analyte molecules and real-world samples. Increased motivation to thoroughly evaluate the true potential of MIP technology is clearly attributed to the demands of modern analytical chemistry, which include enhanced sensitivity, selectivity and applicability of molecular recognition building blocks at decreasing costs. In particular, the areas of environmental monitoring, food and beverage analysis and industrial process surveillance require analytical tools capable of discriminating chemicals with high molecular specificity considering increasing numbers of complex environmental contaminants, pollution of raw products and rigorous quality control requested by legislation and consumer protection. Furthermore, efficient product improvement and development of new products requires precise qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. Finally, environmental, food and process safety control issues favor the application of on-line in situ analytical methods with high molecular selectivity. While biorecognition schemes frequently suffer from degrading bioactivity and long-term stability when applied in real-world sample environments, MIPs serving as synthetic antibodies have successfully been applied as stationary phase separation matrix (e.g. HPLC and SPE), recognition component in bioassays (e.g. ELISA) or biomimetic recognition layer in chemical sensor systems. Examples such as MIP-based selective analysis of

Molecularly imprinted polymers--potential and challenges in analytical chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahony, J.O.; Nolan, K.; Smyth, M.R.; Mizaikoff, B.

2005-01-01

Among the variety of biomimetic recognition schemes utilizing supramolecular approaches molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have proven their potential as synthetic receptors in numerous applications ranging from liquid chromatography to assays and sensor technology. Their inherent advantages compared to biochemical/biological recognition systems include robustness, storage endurance and lower costs. However, until recently only few contributions throughout the relevant literature describe quantitative analytical applications of MIPs for practically relevant analyte molecules and real-world samples. Increased motivation to thoroughly evaluate the true potential of MIP technology is clearly attributed to the demands of modern analytical chemistry, which include enhanced sensitivity, selectivity and applicability of molecular recognition building blocks at decreasing costs. In particular, the areas of environmental monitoring, food and beverage analysis and industrial process surveillance require analytical tools capable of discriminating chemicals with high molecular specificity considering increasing numbers of complex environmental contaminants, pollution of raw products and rigorous quality control requested by legislation and consumer protection. Furthermore, efficient product improvement and development of new products requires precise qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. Finally, environmental, food and process safety control issues favor the application of on-line in situ analytical methods with high molecular selectivity. While biorecognition schemes frequently suffer from degrading bioactivity and long-term stability when applied in real-world sample environments, MIPs serving as synthetic antibodies have successfully been applied as stationary phase separation matrix (e.g. HPLC and SPE), recognition component in bioassays (e.g. ELISA) or biomimetic recognition layer in chemical sensor systems. Examples such as MIP-based selective analysis of

Big Data Usage Patterns in the Health Care Domain: A Use Case Driven Approach Applied to the Assessment of Vaccination Benefits and Risks. Contribution of the IMIA Primary Healthcare Working Group.

Science.gov (United States)

Liyanage, H; de Lusignan, S; Liaw, S-T; Kuziemsky, C E; Mold, F; Krause, P; Fleming, D; Jones, S

2014-08-15

Generally benefits and risks of vaccines can be determined from studies carried out as part of regulatory compliance, followed by surveillance of routine data; however there are some rarer and more long term events that require new methods. Big data generated by increasingly affordable personalised computing, and from pervasive computing devices is rapidly growing and low cost, high volume, cloud computing makes the processing of these data inexpensive. To describe how big data and related analytical methods might be applied to assess the benefits and risks of vaccines. We reviewed the literature on the use of big data to improve health, applied to generic vaccine use cases, that illustrate benefits and risks of vaccination. We defined a use case as the interaction between a user and an information system to achieve a goal. We used flu vaccination and pre-school childhood immunisation as exemplars. We reviewed three big data use cases relevant to assessing vaccine benefits and risks: (i) Big data processing using crowdsourcing, distributed big data processing, and predictive analytics, (ii) Data integration from heterogeneous big data sources, e.g. the increasing range of devices in the "internet of things", and (iii) Real-time monitoring for the direct monitoring of epidemics as well as vaccine effects via social media and other data sources. Big data raises new ethical dilemmas, though its analysis methods can bring complementary real-time capabilities for monitoring epidemics and assessing vaccine benefit-risk balance.

Sympathovagal imbalance contributes to prehypertension status and cardiovascular risks attributed by insulin resistance, inflammation, dyslipidemia and oxidative stress in first degree relatives of type 2 diabetics.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gopal Krushna Pal

Full Text Available Though cardiovascular (CV risks are reported in first-degree relatives (FDR of type 2 diabetics, the pathophysiological mechanisms contributing to these risks are not known. We investigated the association of sympathovagal imbalance (SVI with CV risks in these subjects.Body mass index (BMI, basal heart rate (BHR, blood pressure (BP, rate-pressure product (RPP, spectral indices of heart rate variability (HRV, autonomic function tests, insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, lipid profile, inflammatory markers, oxidative stress (OS marker, rennin, thyroid profile and serum electrolytes were measured and analyzed in subjects of study group (FDR of type 2 diabetics, n = 72 and control group (subjects with no family history of diabetes, n = 104.BMI, BP, BHR, HOMA-IR, lipid profile, inflammatory and OS markers, renin, LF-HF (ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency power of HRV, a sensitive marker of SVI were significantly increased (p<0.0001 in study group compared to the control group. SVI in study group was due to concomitant sympathetic activation and vagal inhibition. There was significant correlation and independent contribution of markers of insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, inflammation and OS to LF-HF ratio. Multiple-regression analysis demonstrated an independent contribution of LF-HF ratio to prehypertension status (standardized beta 0.415, p<0.001 and bivariate logistic-regression showed significant prediction (OR 2.40, CI 1.128-5.326, p = 0.002 of LF-HF ratio of HRV to increased RPP, the marker of CV risk, in study group.SVI in FDR of type 2 diabetics occurs due to sympathetic activation and vagal withdrawal. The SVI contributes to prehypertension status and CV risks caused by insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, inflammation and oxidative stress in FDR of type 2 diabetics.

Analytical Features: A Knowledge-Based Approach to Audio Feature Generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pachet François

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We present a feature generation system designed to create audio features for supervised classification tasks. The main contribution to feature generation studies is the notion of analytical features (AFs, a construct designed to support the representation of knowledge about audio signal processing. We describe the most important aspects of AFs, in particular their dimensional type system, on which are based pattern-based random generators, heuristics, and rewriting rules. We show how AFs generalize or improve previous approaches used in feature generation. We report on several projects using AFs for difficult audio classification tasks, demonstrating their advantage over standard audio features. More generally, we propose analytical features as a paradigm to bring raw signals into the world of symbolic computation.

Cryogenic parallel, single phase flows: an analytical approach

Science.gov (United States)

Eichhorn, R.

2017-02-01

Managing the cryogenic flows inside a state-of-the-art accelerator cryomodule has become a demanding endeavour: In order to build highly efficient modules, all heat transfers are usually intercepted at various temperatures. For a multi-cavity module, operated at 1.8 K, this requires intercepts at 4 K and at 80 K at different locations with sometimes strongly varying heat loads which for simplicity reasons are operated in parallel. This contribution will describe an analytical approach, based on optimization theories.

Probabilistic risk analysis and terrorism risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Ezell, Barry Charles; Bennett, Steven P; von Winterfeldt, Detlof; Sokolowski, John; Collins, Andrew J

2010-04-01

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent establishment of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), considerable efforts have been made to estimate the risks of terrorism and the cost effectiveness of security policies to reduce these risks. DHS, industry, and the academic risk analysis communities have all invested heavily in the development of tools and approaches that can assist decisionmakers in effectively allocating limited resources across the vast array of potential investments that could mitigate risks from terrorism and other threats to the homeland. Decisionmakers demand models, analyses, and decision support that are useful for this task and based on the state of the art. Since terrorism risk analysis is new, no single method is likely to meet this challenge. In this article we explore a number of existing and potential approaches for terrorism risk analysis, focusing particularly on recent discussions regarding the applicability of probabilistic and decision analytic approaches to bioterrorism risks and the Bioterrorism Risk Assessment methodology used by the DHS and criticized by the National Academies and others.

Text Stream Trend Analysis using Multiscale Visual Analytics with Applications to Social Media Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steed, Chad A [ORNL; Beaver, Justin M [ORNL; BogenII, Paul L. [Google Inc.; Drouhard, Margaret MEG G [ORNL; Pyle, Joshua M [ORNL

2015-01-01

In this paper, we introduce a new visual analytics system, called Matisse, that allows exploration of global trends in textual information streams with specific application to social media platforms. Despite the potential for real-time situational awareness using these services, interactive analysis of such semi-structured textual information is a challenge due to the high-throughput and high-velocity properties. Matisse addresses these challenges through the following contributions: (1) robust stream data management, (2) automated sen- timent/emotion analytics, (3) inferential temporal, geospatial, and term-frequency visualizations, and (4) a flexible drill-down interaction scheme that progresses from macroscale to microscale views. In addition to describing these contributions, our work-in-progress paper concludes with a practical case study focused on the analysis of Twitter 1% sample stream information captured during the week of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Depression and Anxiety Prevention Based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for At-Risk Adolescents: A Meta-Analytic Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanne P. A. Rasing

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Depression and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental disorders during adolescence. During this life phase, the incidence of these clinical disorders rises dramatically, and even more adolescents suffer from symptoms of depression or anxiety that are just below the clinical threshold. Both clinical and subclinical levels of depression or anxiety symptoms are related to decreased functioning in various areas, such as social and academic functioning. Prevention of depression and anxiety in adolescents is therefore imperative. We conducted a meta-analytic review of the effects of school-based and community-based prevention programs that are based on cognitive behavioral therapy with the primary goal preventing depression, anxiety, or both in high risk adolescents. Articles were obtained by searching databases and hand searching reference lists of relevant articles and reviews. The selection process yielded 32 articles in the meta-analyses. One article reported on two studies and three articles reported on both depression and anxiety. This resulted in a total of 36 studies, 23 on depression and 13 on anxiety. For depression prevention aimed at high risk adolescents, meta-analysis showed a small effect of prevention programs directly after the intervention, but no effect at 3–6 months and at 12 months follow-up. For anxiety prevention aimed at high risk adolescents, no short-term effect was found, nor at 12 months follow-up. Three to six months after the preventive intervention, symptoms of anxiety were significantly decreased. Although effects on depression and anxiety symptoms were small and temporary, current findings cautiously suggest that depression and anxiety prevention programs based on CBT might have small effects on mental health of adolescents. However, it also indicates that there is still much to be gained for prevention programs. Current findings and possibilities for future research are discussed in order to further

An Analytical Model of Leakage Neutron Equivalent Dose for Passively-Scattered Proton Radiotherapy and Validation with Measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneider, Christopher; Newhauser, Wayne; Farah, Jad

2015-01-01

Exposure to stray neutrons increases the risk of second cancer development after proton therapy. Previously reported analytical models of this exposure were difficult to configure and had not been investigated below 100 MeV proton energy. The purposes of this study were to test an analytical model of neutron equivalent dose per therapeutic absorbed dose (H/D) at 75 MeV and to improve the model by reducing the number of configuration parameters and making it continuous in proton energy from 100 to 250 MeV. To develop the analytical model, we used previously published H/D values in water from Monte Carlo simulations of a general-purpose beamline for proton energies from 100 to 250 MeV. We also configured and tested the model on in-air neutron equivalent doses measured for a 75 MeV ocular beamline. Predicted H/D values from the analytical model and Monte Carlo agreed well from 100 to 250 MeV (10% average difference). Predicted H/D values from the analytical model also agreed well with measurements at 75 MeV (15% average difference). The results indicate that analytical models can give fast, reliable calculations of neutron exposure after proton therapy. This ability is absent in treatment planning systems but vital to second cancer risk estimation

An Analytical Model of Leakage Neutron Equivalent Dose for Passively-Scattered Proton Radiotherapy and Validation with Measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schneider, Christopher; Newhauser, Wayne, E-mail: newhauser@lsu.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 202 Nicholson Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 (United States); Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, 4950 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge, LA 70809 (United States); Farah, Jad [Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, Service de Dosimétrie Externe, BP-17, 92262 Fontenay-aux-Roses (France)

2015-05-18

Exposure to stray neutrons increases the risk of second cancer development after proton therapy. Previously reported analytical models of this exposure were difficult to configure and had not been investigated below 100 MeV proton energy. The purposes of this study were to test an analytical model of neutron equivalent dose per therapeutic absorbed dose (H/D) at 75 MeV and to improve the model by reducing the number of configuration parameters and making it continuous in proton energy from 100 to 250 MeV. To develop the analytical model, we used previously published H/D values in water from Monte Carlo simulations of a general-purpose beamline for proton energies from 100 to 250 MeV. We also configured and tested the model on in-air neutron equivalent doses measured for a 75 MeV ocular beamline. Predicted H/D values from the analytical model and Monte Carlo agreed well from 100 to 250 MeV (10% average difference). Predicted H/D values from the analytical model also agreed well with measurements at 75 MeV (15% average difference). The results indicate that analytical models can give fast, reliable calculations of neutron exposure after proton therapy. This ability is absent in treatment planning systems but vital to second cancer risk estimation.

Contribution of coagulation factor VII R353Q polymorphism to the risk of thrombotic disorders development (venous and arterial: A case-control study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanan Azzam

2017-07-01

Conclusion: FVII R353Q polymorphism did not contribute to an increased risk of thrombosis (arterial and venous; also carrying the Q allele (of R353Q did not confer protection against acute thrombotic events.

Analytic neutrality, anonymity, abstinence, and elective self-disclosure.

Science.gov (United States)

Shill, Merton A

2004-01-01

Recent contributions to the psychoanalytic literature propose new ways of understanding analytic neutrality, anonymity, abstinence, and self-disclosure. They advocate elective self-disclosure by the analyst as an antidote to the allegedly game-playing quality of transference and resistance analysis. The analytic relationship, they assert, becomes unreal when attempts are made to observe the principles of neutrality and abstinence. Both are seen as ill-conceived because of the irreducible subjectivity and unwarranted authority of the analyst. These relational and interactional views are criticized because (1) they ignore the fact that transference and resistance analysis have from Freud onward been accepted as minimal criteria qualifying a clinical process as psychoanalytic; (2) elective self-disclosure carries metapsychological implications dismissing not only Freud's theory of motivation but motivation as a basic feature of human personality; (3) they do not recognize interpersonal relations as mental events and so do not consider the ego's ability to create intrapsychic representations of object relations; (4) elective self-disclosures within the empathic parameters of the analytic situation are themselves unreal compared to the reality of the patient's experience with other objects. Abstinence and neutrality as ideals facilitate maintenance of an internal holding environment or container for the analyst's countertransference.

Risk assessment under deep uncertainty: A methodological comparison

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shortridge, Julie; Aven, Terje; Guikema, Seth

2017-01-01

Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) has proven to be an invaluable tool for evaluating risks in complex engineered systems. However, there is increasing concern that PRA may not be adequate in situations with little underlying knowledge to support probabilistic representation of uncertainties. As analysts and policy makers turn their attention to deeply uncertain hazards such as climate change, a number of alternatives to traditional PRA have been proposed. This paper systematically compares three diverse approaches for risk analysis under deep uncertainty (qualitative uncertainty factors, probability bounds, and robust decision making) in terms of their representation of uncertain quantities, analytical output, and implications for risk management. A simple example problem is used to highlight differences in the way that each method relates to the traditional risk assessment process and fundamental issues associated with risk assessment and description. We find that the implications for decision making are not necessarily consistent between approaches, and that differences in the representation of uncertain quantities and analytical output suggest contexts in which each method may be most appropriate. Finally, each methodology demonstrates how risk assessment can inform decision making in deeply uncertain contexts, informing more effective responses to risk problems characterized by deep uncertainty. - Highlights: • We compare three diverse approaches to risk assessment under deep uncertainty. • A simple example problem highlights differences in analytical process and results. • Results demonstrate how methodological choices can impact risk assessment results.

Targeting chronic illness together. Health plans support providers through predictive analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Raths, David

2012-05-01

Health insurers that used to focus on individual claims are now looking across their entire membership to better define the appropriate level of financial risk to assign and to drive the right kinds of interventions. Many are making a determined effort to share their predictive analytics findings with clinicians.

Quantifying uncertainty in nuclear analytical measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-07-01

Laboratories to quantify the uncertainty of measurement results, and the fact that this standard is used as a basis for the development and implementation of quality management systems in many laboratories performing nuclear analytical measurements, triggered the demand for specific guidance to cover uncertainty issues of nuclear analytical methods. The demand was recognized by the IAEA and a series of examples was worked out by a group of consultants in 1998. The diversity and complexity of the topics addressed delayed the publication of a technical guidance report, but the exchange of views among the experts was also beneficial and led to numerous improvements and additions with respect to the initial version. This publication is intended to assist scientists using nuclear analytical methods in assessing and quantifying the sources of uncertainty of their measurements. The numerous examples provide a tool for applying the principles elaborated in the GUM and EURACHEM/CITAC publications to their specific fields of interest and for complying with the requirements of current quality management standards for testing and calibration laboratories. It also provides a means for the worldwide harmonization of approaches to uncertainty quantification and thereby contributes to enhanced comparability and competitiveness of nuclear analytical measurements

Supply risks associated with CdTe and CIGS thin-film photovoltaics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helbig, Christoph; Bradshaw, Alex M.; Kolotzek, Christoph; Thorenz, Andrea; Tuma, Axel

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Supply risks associated with thin film photovoltaic technologies are considered. • Eleven supply risk indicators are used to evaluate Cd, Te, Cu, In, Ga, Se and Mo. • Indicator weighting based on peer assessment and an Analytic Hierarchy Process. • Various possibilities for the aggregation of elemental supply risks discussed. • Aggregated results show a marginally lower supply risk for CdTe than for CIGS. - Abstract: As a result of the global warming potential of fossil fuels there has been a rapid growth in the installation of photovoltaic generating capacity in the last decade. While this market is dominated by crystalline silicon, thin-film photovoltaics are still expected to make a substantial contribution to global electricity supply in future, due both to lower production costs and to recent increases in conversion efficiency. At present, cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper-indium-gallium diselenide (CuIn_xGa_1_−_xSe_2) seem to be the most promising materials and currently have a share of ≈9% of the photovoltaic market. An expected stronger market penetration by these thin-film technologies raises the question as to the supply risks associated with the constituent elements. Against this background, we report here a semi-quantitative, relative assessment of mid- to long-term supply risk associated with the elements Cd, Te, Cu, In, Ga, Se and Mo. In this approach, the supply risk is measured using 11 indicators in the four categories “Risk of Supply Reduction”, “Risk of Demand Increase”, “Concentration Risk” and “Political Risk”. In a second step, the single indicator values, which are derived from publicly accessible databases, are weighted relative to each other specifically for the case of thin film photovoltaics. For this purpose, a survey among colleagues and an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach are used, in order to obtain a relative, element-specific value for the supply risk. The aggregation of these

[How the information system can contribute to the implementation of a risk management program in a hospital?].

Science.gov (United States)

Staccini, P; Quaranta, J F; Staccini-Myx, A; Veyres, P; Jambou, P

2003-09-01

Nowadays, information system is recognised as one of the key points of the management strategy. An information system is regarded conceptualised as a mean to link 3 aspects of a firm (structure, organisation rules and staff). Its design and implementation have to meet the objectives of medical and economical evaluation, especially risk management objectives. In order to identify, analyse, reduce and prevent the occurrence of adverse events, and also to measure the efficacy and efficiency of the production of care services, the design of information systems should be based on a process analysis in order to describe and classify all the working practices within the hospital. According to various methodologies (usually top-down analysis), each process can be divided into activities. Each activity (especially each care activity) can be described according to its potential risks and expected results. For care professionals performing a task, the access to official or internal guidelines and the adverse events reporting forms has also to be defined. Putting together all the elements of such a process analysis will contribute to integrate, into daily practice, the management of risks, supported by the information system.

Risk as analysis and risk as feelings: some thoughts about affect, reason, risk, and rationality.

Science.gov (United States)

Slovic, Paul; Finucane, Melissa L; Peters, Ellen; MacGregor, Donald G

2004-04-01

Modern theories in cognitive psychology and neuroscience indicate that there are two fundamental ways in which human beings comprehend risk. The "analytic system" uses algorithms and normative rules, such as probability calculus, formal logic, and risk assessment. It is relatively slow, effortful, and requires conscious control. The "experiential system" is intuitive, fast, mostly automatic, and not very accessible to conscious awareness. The experiential system enabled human beings to survive during their long period of evolution and remains today the most natural and most common way to respond to risk. It relies on images and associations, linked by experience to emotion and affect (a feeling that something is good or bad). This system represents risk as a feeling that tells us whether it is safe to walk down this dark street or drink this strange-smelling water. Proponents of formal risk analysis tend to view affective responses to risk as irrational. Current wisdom disputes this view. The rational and the experiential systems operate in parallel and each seems to depend on the other for guidance. Studies have demonstrated that analytic reasoning cannot be effective unless it is guided by emotion and affect. Rational decision making requires proper integration of both modes of thought. Both systems have their advantages, biases, and limitations. Now that we are beginning to understand the complex interplay between emotion and reason that is essential to rational behavior, the challenge before us is to think creatively about what this means for managing risk. On the one hand, how do we apply reason to temper the strong emotions engendered by some risk events? On the other hand, how do we infuse needed "doses of feeling" into circumstances where lack of experience may otherwise leave us too "coldly rational"? This article addresses these important questions.

Conference on Nuclear and Conventional Analytical Techniques and their Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

Full text : A panoply analytic techniques methods has emerged in recent decades due to the challenges of society in quality of products and the increasing demand of chemical analysis services. The industrial progress which came along with an instrumental perfection of devices with analytical use, led to the development of new techniques more and more advanced in this field. These come as well, to answer the disturbing effects of this industrialization and the wishes of a public increasingly conscious and requiring globally. The leaders in this field of analysis and material characterization are more than ever confronted with problems of identification and quantification of different chemical forms of a multitude of products in varied circles; Industrial pollutants, soil, water, air, food, medicines, ceramics, concrete, plants etc. It was from that perspective that the unifying theme ''geomaterials: characterization to applications '' of the conference on nuclear and conventional analytical techniques and their applications (TANCA 2010) was chosen. It contributes to the debate of these subjects and builds relationships between stakeholders in this field, both technically and practically [fr

Strategic analytics: towards fully embedding evidence in healthcare decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Garay, Jason; Cartagena, Rosario; Esensoy, Ali Vahit; Handa, Kiren; Kane, Eli; Kaw, Neal; Sadat, Somayeh

2015-01-01

Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) has implemented multiple information technology solutions and collected health-system data to support its programs. There is now an opportunity to leverage these data and perform advanced end-to-end analytics that inform decisions around improving health-system performance. In 2014, CCO engaged in an extensive assessment of its current data capacity and capability, with the intent to drive increased use of data for evidence-based decision-making. The breadth and volume of data at CCO uniquely places the organization to contribute to not only system-wide operational reporting, but more advanced modelling of current and future state system management and planning. In 2012, CCO established a strategic analytics practice to assist the agency's programs contextualize and inform key business decisions and to provide support through innovative predictive analytics solutions. This paper describes the organizational structure, services and supporting operations that have enabled progress to date, and discusses the next steps towards the vision of embedding evidence fully into healthcare decision-making. Copyright © 2014 Longwoods Publishing.

A new contribution to the finite line-source model for geothermal boreholes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamarche, L.; Beauchamp, B. [Ecole de Technologie Superieure, Montreal (Canada)

2007-07-01

Heat transfer around vertical ground heat exchangers is a common problem for the design and simulation of ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP) systems. Most models are based on step response of the heat transfer rate, and the superposition principle allows the final solution to be in the form of the convolution of these contributions. The step response is thus a very important tool. Some authors propose numerical tabulated values while others propose analytical solutions for purely radial problem as well as axisymmetric problems. In this paper we propose a new analytical model that yields results very similar to the tabulated numerical ones proposed in the literature. Analytical modeling offers better flexibility for a parameterized design. (author)

Contribution of future urbanisation expansion to flood risk changes

Science.gov (United States)

Bruwier, Martin; Mustafa, Ahmed; Archambeau, Pierre; Erpicum, Sébastien; Pirotton, Michel; Teller, Jacques; Dewals, Benjamin

2016-04-01

The flood risk is expected to increase in the future due to climate change and urban development. Climate change modifies flood hazard and urban development influences exposure and vulnerability to floods. While the influence of climate change on flood risk has been studied widely, the impact of urban development also needs to be considered in a sustainable flood risk management approach. The main goal of this study is the determination of the sensitivity of future flood risk to different urban development scenarios at a relatively short-time horizon in the River Meuse basin in Wallonia (Belgium). From the different scenarios, the expected impact of urban development on flood risk is assessed. Three urban expansion scenarios are developed up to 2030 based on a coupled cellular automata (CA) and agent-based (AB) urban expansion model: (i) business-as-usual, (ii) restrictive and (iii) extreme expansion scenarios. The main factor controlling these scenarios is the future urban land demand. Each urban expansion scenario is developed by considering or not high and/or medium flood hazard zones as a constraint for urban development. To assess the model's performance, it is calibrated for the Meuse River valley (Belgium) to simulate urban expansion between 1990 and 2000. Calibration results are then assessed by comparing the 2000 simulated land-use map and the actual 2000 land-use map. The flood damage estimation for each urban expansion scenario is determined for five flood discharges by overlaying the inundation map resulting from a hydraulic computation and the urban expansion map and by using damage curves and specific prices. The hydraulic model Wolf2D has been extensively validated by comparisons between observations and computational results during flood event .This study focuses only on mobile and immobile prices for urban lands, which are associated to the most severe damages caused by floods along the River Meuse. These findings of this study offers tools to

The effect of uniform capture molecule orientation on biosensor sensitivity : dependence on analyte properties

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Trilling, A.K.; Harmsen, M.M.; Ruigrok, V.J.; Zuilhof, H.; Beekwilder, J.

2013-01-01

Uniform orientation of capture molecules on biosensors has been reported to increase sensitivity. Here it is investigated which analyte properties contribute to sensitivity by orientation. Orientation of capture molecules on biosensors was investigated using variable domains of llama heavy-chain

Analytical monitoring of systems for the production of high-purity, desalinated water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kunert, I.

1988-01-01

The purity requirements to be met by high-purity water currently push the most sensitive analytical methods to their utmost limits of sensitivity. The required degree of purity of the water at present can only be achieved by application of membrane processes, and pre-purification of the feedwater to a quality corresponding to that of the raw water source. The contribution in hand discusses the analytical monitoring of the raw water treatment plant, the water treatment prior to the treatment by reverse osmosis, monitoring and control of the modules for reverse osmosis, and the monitoring of high-purity water production for the microelectronics industry. (orig./RB) [de

Understanding public perceptions of benefits and risks of childhood vaccinations in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Geoboo

2014-03-01

In the face of a growing public health concern accompanying the reemerging threat of preventable diseases, this research seeks mainly to explain variations in the perceived benefits and risks of vaccinations among the general public in the United States. As Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky's grid-group cultural theory of risk perception claims, the analytical results based upon original data from a nationwide Internet survey of 1,213 American adults conducted in 2010 suggest that individuals' cultural predispositions contribute to the formation of their perceptions pertaining to vaccine benefits and risks at both societal and individual levels, in conjunction with other factors suggested by previous risk perception literature, such as perceived prevalence of diseases, trust, knowledge level, and demographic characteristics. Those with a strong hierarch orientation tend to envision greater benefits and lesser risks and conceive of a relatively high ratio of benefit to risk when compared to other cultural types. By contrast, those with a strong fatalist tendency are inclined to emphasize risks and downplay benefits while conceiving of a low vaccination benefit-risk ratio. Situated between hierarchs and fatalists, strong egalitarians are prone to perceive greater benefits, smaller risks, and a more positive benefit-risk ratio than strong individualists. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

Genetic risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder contributes to neurodevelopmental traits in the general population.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Joanna; Hamshere, Marian L; Stergiakouli, Evangelia; O'Donovan, Michael C; Thapar, Anita

2014-10-15

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be viewed as the extreme end of traits in the general population. Epidemiological and twin studies suggest that ADHD frequently co-occurs with and shares genetic susceptibility with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ASD-related traits. The aims of this study were to determine whether a composite of common molecular genetic variants, previously found to be associated with clinically diagnosed ADHD, predicts ADHD and ASD-related traits in the general population. Polygenic risk scores were calculated in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) population sample (N = 8229) based on a discovery case-control genome-wide association study of childhood ADHD. Regression analyses were used to assess whether polygenic scores predicted ADHD traits and ASD-related measures (pragmatic language abilities and social cognition) in the ALSPAC sample. Polygenic scores were also compared in boys and girls endorsing any (rating ≥ 1) ADHD item (n = 3623). Polygenic risk for ADHD showed a positive association with ADHD traits (hyperactive-impulsive, p = .0039; inattentive, p = .037). Polygenic risk for ADHD was also negatively associated with pragmatic language abilities (p = .037) but not with social cognition (p = .43). In children with a rating ≥ 1 for ADHD traits, girls had a higher polygenic score than boys (p = .003). These findings provide molecular genetic evidence that risk alleles for the categorical disorder of ADHD influence hyperactive-impulsive and attentional traits in the general population. The results further suggest that common genetic variation that contributes to ADHD diagnosis may also influence ASD-related traits, which at their extreme are a characteristic feature of ASD. Copyright © 2014 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reflections on Klein's radical notion of phantasy and its implications for analytic practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Blass, Rachel B

2017-06-01

Analysts may incorporate many of Melanie Klein's important contributions (e.g., on preoedipal dynamics, envy, and projective identification) without transforming their basic analytic approach. In this paper I argue that adopting the Kleinian notion of unconscious phantasy is transformative. While it is grounded in Freud's thinking and draws out something essential to his work, this notion of phantasy introduces a radical change that defines Kleinian thinking and practice and significantly impacts the analyst's basic clinical approach. This impact and its technical implications in the analytic situation are illustrated and discussed. Copyright © 2017 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Contribution to modeling and dynamic risk hedging in energy markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noufel, Frikha

2010-12-01

This thesis is concerned with probabilistic numerical problems about modeling, risk control and risk hedging motivated by applications to energy markets. The main tool is based on stochastic approximation and simulation methods. This thesis consists of three parts. The first one is devoted to the computation of two risk measures of the portfolio loss distribution L: the Value-at-Risk (VaR) and the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR). This computation uses a stochastic algorithm combined with an adaptive variance reduction technique. The first part of this chapter deals with the finite dimensional case, the second part extends the results of the first part to the case of a path-dependency process and the last one deals low discrepancy sequences. The second chapter is devoted with risk minimizing hedging strategies in an incomplete market operating in discrete time using quantization based stochastic approximation. Theoretical results on CVaR hedging are presented then numerical aspects are addressed in a Markovian framework. The last part deals with joint modeling of Gas and Electricity spot prices. The multi-factor model presented is based on stationary Ornstein process with parameterized diffusion coefficient. (author)

Group Decision Making with the Analytic Hierarchy Process in Benefit-Risk Assessment: A Tutorial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hummel, J. Marjan; Bridges, John; IJzerman, Maarten Joost

2014-01-01

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been increasingly applied as a technique for multi-criteria decision analysis in healthcare. The AHP can aid decision makers in selecting the most valuable technology for patients, while taking into account multiple, and even conflicting, decision criteria.

Model and Analytic Processes for Export License Assessments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thompson, Sandra E.; Whitney, Paul D.; Weimar, Mark R.; Wood, Thomas W.; Daly, Don S.; Brothers, Alan J.; Sanfilippo, Antonio P.; Cook, Diane; Holder, Larry

2011-09-29

This paper represents the Department of Energy Office of Nonproliferation Research and Development (NA-22) Simulations, Algorithms and Modeling (SAM) Program's first effort to identify and frame analytical methods and tools to aid export control professionals in effectively predicting proliferation intent; a complex, multi-step and multi-agency process. The report focuses on analytical modeling methodologies that alone, or combined, may improve the proliferation export control license approval process. It is a follow-up to an earlier paper describing information sources and environments related to international nuclear technology transfer. This report describes the decision criteria used to evaluate modeling techniques and tools to determine which approaches will be investigated during the final 2 years of the project. The report also details the motivation for why new modeling techniques and tools are needed. The analytical modeling methodologies will enable analysts to evaluate the information environment for relevance to detecting proliferation intent, with specific focus on assessing risks associated with transferring dual-use technologies. Dual-use technologies can be used in both weapons and commercial enterprises. A decision-framework was developed to evaluate which of the different analytical modeling methodologies would be most appropriate conditional on the uniqueness of the approach, data availability, laboratory capabilities, relevance to NA-22 and Office of Arms Control and Nonproliferation (NA-24) research needs and the impact if successful. Modeling methodologies were divided into whether they could help micro-level assessments (e.g., help improve individual license assessments) or macro-level assessment. Macro-level assessment focuses on suppliers, technology, consumers, economies, and proliferation context. Macro-level assessment technologies scored higher in the area of uniqueness because less work has been done at the macro level. An

MERRA Analytic Services: Meeting the Big Data Challenges of Climate Science through Cloud-Enabled Climate Analytics-as-a-Service

Science.gov (United States)

Schnase, J. L.; Duffy, D.; Tamkin, G. S.; Nadeau, D.; Thompson, J. H.; Grieg, C. M.; McInerney, M.; Webster, W. P.

2013-12-01

Climate science is a Big Data domain that is experiencing unprecedented growth. In our efforts to address the Big Data challenges of climate science, we are moving toward a notion of Climate Analytics-as-a-Service (CAaaS). We focus on analytics, because it is the knowledge gained from our interactions with Big Data that ultimately produce societal benefits. We focus on CAaaS because we believe it provides a useful way of thinking about the problem: a specialization of the concept of business process-as-a-service, which is an evolving extension of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS enabled by Cloud Computing. Within this framework, Cloud Computing plays an important role; however, we see it as only one element in a constellation of capabilities that are essential to delivering climate analytics as a service. These elements are essential because in the aggregate they lead to generativity, a capacity for self-assembly that we feel is the key to solving many of the Big Data challenges in this domain. MERRA Analytic Services (MERRA/AS) is an example of cloud-enabled CAaaS built on this principle. MERRA/AS enables MapReduce analytics over NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) data collection. The MERRA reanalysis integrates observational data with numerical models to produce a global temporally and spatially consistent synthesis of 26 key climate variables. It represents a type of data product that is of growing importance to scientists doing climate change research and a wide range of decision support applications. MERRA/AS brings together the following generative elements in a full, end-to-end demonstration of CAaaS capabilities: (1) high-performance, data proximal analytics, (2) scalable data management, (3) software appliance virtualization, (4) adaptive analytics, and (5) a domain-harmonized API. The effectiveness of MERRA/AS has been demonstrated in several applications. In our experience, Cloud Computing lowers the barriers and risk to

MERRA Analytic Services: Meeting the Big Data Challenges of Climate Science Through Cloud-enabled Climate Analytics-as-a-service

Science.gov (United States)

Schnase, John L.; Duffy, Daniel Quinn; Tamkin, Glenn S.; Nadeau, Denis; Thompson, John H.; Grieg, Christina M.; McInerney, Mark A.; Webster, William P.

2014-01-01

Climate science is a Big Data domain that is experiencing unprecedented growth. In our efforts to address the Big Data challenges of climate science, we are moving toward a notion of Climate Analytics-as-a-Service (CAaaS). We focus on analytics, because it is the knowledge gained from our interactions with Big Data that ultimately produce societal benefits. We focus on CAaaS because we believe it provides a useful way of thinking about the problem: a specialization of the concept of business process-as-a-service, which is an evolving extension of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS enabled by Cloud Computing. Within this framework, Cloud Computing plays an important role; however, we it see it as only one element in a constellation of capabilities that are essential to delivering climate analytics as a service. These elements are essential because in the aggregate they lead to generativity, a capacity for self-assembly that we feel is the key to solving many of the Big Data challenges in this domain. MERRA Analytic Services (MERRAAS) is an example of cloud-enabled CAaaS built on this principle. MERRAAS enables MapReduce analytics over NASAs Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) data collection. The MERRA reanalysis integrates observational data with numerical models to produce a global temporally and spatially consistent synthesis of 26 key climate variables. It represents a type of data product that is of growing importance to scientists doing climate change research and a wide range of decision support applications. MERRAAS brings together the following generative elements in a full, end-to-end demonstration of CAaaS capabilities: (1) high-performance, data proximal analytics, (2) scalable data management, (3) software appliance virtualization, (4) adaptive analytics, and (5) a domain-harmonized API. The effectiveness of MERRAAS has been demonstrated in several applications. In our experience, Cloud Computing lowers the barriers and risk to

Analytical research using synchrotron radiation based techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jha, Shambhu Nath

2015-01-01

There are many Synchrotron Radiation (SR) based techniques such as X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), X-ray Fluorescence Analysis (XRF), SR-Fourier-transform Infrared (SRFTIR), Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HAXPS) etc. which are increasingly being employed worldwide in analytical research. With advent of modern synchrotron sources these analytical techniques have been further revitalized and paved ways for new techniques such as microprobe XRF and XAS, FTIR microscopy, Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HAXPS) etc. The talk will cover mainly two techniques illustrating its capability in analytical research namely XRF and XAS. XRF spectroscopy: XRF spectroscopy is an analytical technique which involves the detection of emitted characteristic X-rays following excitation of the elements within the sample. While electron, particle (protons or alpha particles), or X-ray beams can be employed as the exciting source for this analysis, the use of X-ray beams from a synchrotron source has been instrumental in the advancement of the technique in the area of microprobe XRF imaging and trace level compositional characterisation of any sample. Synchrotron radiation induced X-ray emission spectroscopy, has become competitive with the earlier microprobe and nanoprobe techniques following the advancements in manipulating and detecting these X-rays. There are two important features that contribute to the superb elemental sensitivities of microprobe SR induced XRF: (i) the absence of the continuum (Bremsstrahlung) background radiation that is a feature of spectra obtained from charged particle beams, and (ii) the increased X-ray flux on the sample associated with the use of tunable third generation synchrotron facilities. Detection sensitivities have been reported in the ppb range, with values of 10 -17 g - 10 -14 g (depending on the particular element and matrix). Keeping in mind its demand, a microprobe XRF beamline has been setup by RRCAT at Indus-2 synchrotron

Research prioritization using the Analytic Hierarchy Process: basic methods. Volume 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vesely, W.E.; Shafaghi, A.; Gary, I. Jr.; Rasmuson, D.M.

1983-08-01

This report describes a systematic approach for prioritizing research needs and research programs. The approach is formally called the Analytic Hierarchy Process which was developed by T.L. Saaty and is described in several of his texts referenced in the report. The Analytic Hierarchy Process, or AHP for short, has been applied to a wide variety of prioritization problems and has a good record of success as documented in Saaty's texts. The report develops specific guidelines for constructing the hierarchy and for prioritizing the research programs. Specific examples are given to illustrate the steps in the AHP. As part of the work, a computer code has been developed and the use of the code is described. The code allows the prioritizations to be done in a codified and efficient manner; sensitivity and parametric studies can also be straightforwardly performed to gain a better understanding of the prioritization results. Finally, as an important part of the work, an approach is developed which utilizes probabilistic risk analyses (PRAs) to systematically identify and prioritize research needs and research programs. When utilized in an AHP framework, the PRA's which have been performed to date provide a powerful information source for focusing research on those areas most impacting risk and risk uncertainty

Analysis of nuclear accidents and associated problems relevant to public perception of risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naschi, G.; Petrangeli, G.

1993-01-01

The analytical study of nuclear accidents, even if they are limited in number, forms a significant part of the vast discipline of industrial plant risk analysis. The retrospective analysis of the causes and various elements which contributed to the evolution of real accidents, as well as, the evaluation of the consequences and lessons learned, constitute a bank of information which, when suitably elaborated through a process of rational synthesis, can strongly influence the preparation of safety normatives, plant design specifications, environmental impacts assessments, and the perception of risk. This latter aspect is gaining importance today as growing public awareness and sensitivity towards the development and use of new technologies now bear heavily on new plant decision making. This paper examines how the public perception of risk regarding nuclear energy has been influenced by the events surrounding the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island accidents and the way in which information dissemination concerning these accidents was handled by mass media

The contribution of epidemiology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brandt, P. van den; Voorrips, L.; Hertz-Picciotto, I.; Shuker, D.; Boeing, H.; Speijers, G.; Guittard, C.; Kleiner, J.; Knowles, M.; Wolk, A.; Goldbohm, A.

2002-01-01

Epidemiologic studies directly contribute data on risk (or benefit) in humans as the investigated species, and in the full food intake range normally encountered by humans. This paper starts with introducing the epidemiologic approach, followed by a discussion of perceived differences between

Innovative methods for data analysis in analytical chemistry using Bayesian statistics and machine learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Woldegebriel, M.T.

2017-01-01

In analytical chemistry, rapid advancement in instrumentation, especially in high resolution mass-spectrometry is making a significant contribution for further developments of the field. As such, in separation science, nowadays, several hyphenated techniques have proven to be the state-of-the-art

Big data in health care: using analytics to identify and manage high-risk and high-cost patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Bates, David W; Saria, Suchi; Ohno-Machado, Lucila; Shah, Anand; Escobar, Gabriel

2014-07-01

The US health care system is rapidly adopting electronic health records, which will dramatically increase the quantity of clinical data that are available electronically. Simultaneously, rapid progress has been made in clinical analytics--techniques for analyzing large quantities of data and gleaning new insights from that analysis--which is part of what is known as big data. As a result, there are unprecedented opportunities to use big data to reduce the costs of health care in the United States. We present six use cases--that is, key examples--where some of the clearest opportunities exist to reduce costs through the use of big data: high-cost patients, readmissions, triage, decompensation (when a patient's condition worsens), adverse events, and treatment optimization for diseases affecting multiple organ systems. We discuss the types of insights that are likely to emerge from clinical analytics, the types of data needed to obtain such insights, and the infrastructure--analytics, algorithms, registries, assessment scores, monitoring devices, and so forth--that organizations will need to perform the necessary analyses and to implement changes that will improve care while reducing costs. Our findings have policy implications for regulatory oversight, ways to address privacy concerns, and the support of research on analytics. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

MASTERS OF ANALYTICAL TRADECRAFT: CERTIFYING THE STANDARDS AND ANALYTIC RIGOR OF INTELLIGENCE PRODUCTS

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-01

AU/ACSC/2016 AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE AIR UNIVERSITY MASTERS OF ANALYTICAL TRADECRAFT: CERTIFYING THE STANDARDS AND ANALYTIC RIGOR OF...establishing unit level certified Masters of Analytic Tradecraft (MAT) analysts to be trained and entrusted to evaluate and rate the standards and...cues) ideally should meet or exceed effective rigor (based on analytical process).4 To accomplish this, decision makers should not be left to their

Piezoelectric sensors based on molecular imprinted polymers for detection of low molecular mass analytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Uludağ, Yildiz; Piletsky, Sergey A; Turner, Anthony P F; Cooper, Matthew A

2007-11-01

Biomimetic recognition elements employed for the detection of analytes are commonly based on proteinaceous affibodies, immunoglobulins, single-chain and single-domain antibody fragments or aptamers. The alternative supra-molecular approach using a molecularly imprinted polymer now has proven utility in numerous applications ranging from liquid chromatography to bioassays. Despite inherent advantages compared with biochemical/biological recognition (which include robustness, storage endurance and lower costs) there are few contributions that describe quantitative analytical applications of molecularly imprinted polymers for relevant small molecular mass compounds in real-world samples. There is, however, significant literature describing the use of low-power, portable piezoelectric transducers to detect analytes in environmental monitoring and other application areas. Here we review the combination of molecularly imprinted polymers as recognition elements with piezoelectric biosensors for quantitative detection of small molecules. Analytes are classified by type and sample matrix presentation and various molecularly imprinted polymer synthetic fabrication strategies are also reviewed.

Combination of Cyclodextrin and Ionic Liquid in Analytical Chemistry: Current and Future Perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Hui, Boon Yih; Raoov, Muggundha; Zain, Nur Nadhirah Mohamad; Mohamad, Sharifah; Osman, Hasnah

2017-09-03

The growth in driving force and popularity of cyclodextrin (CDs) and ionic liquids (ILs) as promising materials in the field of analytical chemistry has resulted in an exponentially increase of their exploitation and production in analytical chemistry field. CDs belong to the family of cyclic oligosaccharides composing of α-(1,4) linked glucopyranose subunits and possess a cage-like supramolecular structure. This structure enables chemical reactions to proceed between interacting ions, radical or molecules in the absence of covalent bonds. Conversely, ILs are an ionic fluids comprising of only cation and anion often with immeasurable vapor pressure making them as green or designer solvent. The cooperative effect between CD and IL due to their fascinating properties, have nowadays contributed their footprints for a better development in analytical chemistry nowadays. This comprehensive review serves to give an overview on some of the recent studies and provides an analytical trend for the application of CDs with the combination of ILs that possess beneficial and remarkable effects in analytical chemistry including their use in various sample preparation techniques such as solid phase extraction, magnetic solid phase extraction, cloud point extraction, microextraction, and separation techniques which includes gas chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis as well as applications of electrochemical sensors as electrode modifiers with references to recent applications. This review will highlight the nature of interactions and synergic effects between CDs, ILs, and analytes. It is hoped that this review will stimulate further research in analytical chemistry.

Are safety data sheets for cleaning products used in Norway a factor contributing to the risk of workers exposure to chemicals?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdulqadir M. Suleiman

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Cleaning products are considered less hazardous than those used in other sectors. Suppliers and distributors are less conscientious when it comes to informing users on health risks. The aim of the study was to elaborate on the usefulness and clarity of information in the safety data sheets (SDS for cleaning products, and considering if the use of these SDSs can be seen as a risk factor towards occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in the sector. Material and Methods: Safety data sheets were selected based on the risk level of the product assigned in an industrial sector scheme. 320 SDSs for cleaning products were reviewed. Constituent components found in the products over a given threshold were listed and available information thereof used to assess the perceived non-hazard consideration of the chemicals. Results: The contents of the SDSs was generic and mostly incomplete. Safety measures and health information lacked sufficient specificity despite varying compositions and concentrations of components. There is generally incompatibility between mentioned sections on the suggested non-hazardous nature of the products and health effects. Not all substances used in these products have harmonized classifications, which makes them open to various classification of the products and the suggested safety measures. This results in different companies classifying similar products differently. Risk management measures and suggested personal protective equipment (PPEs are given haphazardly. Physical properties relevant to risk assessment are not included. Conclusions: The safety data sheets are ambiguous, and they lack relevant and important information. Inadequate information and risk assessment concerning the products can lead to workers being exposed to hazardous chemicals. Underestimation of the hazard contribution of the components of the products and the insufficient, non-objective mention of appropriate control and protective

Risk intelligence: How lessons from folktales/fables contribute to the implementation of risk management in banks

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Sivave Mashingaidze

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The objective of this article is to outline credit risk in banks and how fables/folktales can provide with life lessons to implement risk management systems that should act as a stop-gate measure. Banking institutions need to show how proactively managing risk becomes a cornerstone to explore opportunities, rather than simply avoiding dynamites. Risk Intelligence gives companies the confidence to harness risk to explore new opportunities. Lessons were provided from folktales/fables from the animal kingdom. The article adopted a literature review methodology and the results were that, for a business to be successful the medicine does not lie in the policies but the therapy lies in the spirit of oneness in the banks from top management down to the shop floor employee in the branch. By working together the banks can afford to curb credit risks.

Contribution of DNA repair xeroderma pigmentosum group D genotypes to pancreatic cancer risk in the Chinese Han population

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Dong Yan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract This study aimed to determine the association between the polymorphisms and haplotypes in the xeroderma pigmentosum group D (XPD gene and the risk of pancreatic cancer in the Chinese Han population. SNaPshot was used for genotyping six SNP sites of the XPD gene. Comparisons of the correlations between different genotypes in combination with smoking and the susceptibility to pancreatic cancer were performed. Individual pancreatic cancer risk in patients who carry mutant C alleles (AC, CC, and AC+CC at rs13181 increased (p < 0.05. Taking non-smoking individuals who carry the AA genotype as a reference, and non-smoking individuals who carry mutant allele C (AC+CC, the risk of pancreatic cancer increased by 3.343 times in individuals who smoked ≥ 20 cigarettes daily, 3.309 times in individuals who smoked ≥ 14 packs per year, 5.011 times in individuals who smoked ≥ 24 packs per year, and 4.013 times in the individuals who smoked ≥ 37 packs per year (P < 0.05. In addition, haplotype analysis revealed that haplotype AGG, which comprised rs13181, rs3916874 and rs238415, was associated with a 1.401-fold increase in pancreatic cancer risk (p < 0.05. We conclude that the polymorphism of XPD Lys751Gln (rs13181 in combination with smoking contributes to increased risk of pancreatic cancer in the Chinese Han population. Haplotype AGG might be a susceptibility haplotype for pancreatic cancer.

Valley detection using a graphene gradual pn junction with spin–orbit coupling: An analytical conductance calculation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Mou, E-mail: yang.mou@hotmail.com [Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006 (China); Wang, Rui-Qiang [Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006 (China); Bai, Yan-Kui [College of Physical Science and Information Engineering and Hebei Advance Thin Films Laboratory, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050024 (China)

2015-09-04

Graphene pn junction is the brick to build up variety of graphene nano-structures. The analytical formula of the conductance of graphene gradual pn junctions in the whole bipolar region has been absent up to now. In this paper, we analytically calculated that pn conductance with the spin–orbit coupling and stagger potential taken into account. Our analytical expression indicates that the energy gap causes the conductance to drop a constant value with respect to that without gap in a certain parameter region, and manifests that the curve of the conductance versus the stagger potential consists of two Gaussian peaks – one valley contributes one peak. The latter feature allows one to detect the valley polarization without using double-interface resonant devices. - Highlights: • Analytical conductance formula of the gradual graphene pn junction with spin–orbit coupling in the whole bipolar region. • Exploring the valley-dependent transport of gradual graphene pn junctions analytically. • Conductance peak without resonance.

Do impression management and self-deception distort self-report measures with content of dynamic risk factors in offender samples? A meta-analytic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Hildebrand, Martin; Wibbelink, Carlijn J M; Verschuere, Bruno

Self-report measures provide an important source of information in correctional/forensic settings, yet at the same time the validity of that information is often questioned because self-reports are thought to be highly vulnerable to self-presentation biases. Primary studies in offender samples have provided mixed results with regard to the impact of socially desirable responding on self-reports. The main aim of the current study was therefore to investigate-via a meta-analytic review of published studies-the association between the two dimensions of socially desirable responding, impression management and self-deceptive enhancement, and self-report measures with content of dynamic risk factors using the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) in offender samples. These self-report measures were significantly and negatively related with self-deception (r = -0.120, p impression management (r = -0.158, p impression management effect with the trim and fill method indicating that the relation is probably even smaller (r = -0.07). The magnitude of the effect sizes was small. Moderation analyses suggested that type of dynamic risk factor (e.g., antisocial cognition versus antisocial personality), incentives, and publication year affected the relationship between impression management and self-report measures with content of dynamic risk factors, whereas sample size, setting (e.g., incarcerated, community), and publication year influenced the relation between self-deception and these self-report measures. The results indicate that the use of self-report measures to assess dynamic risk factors in correctional/forensic settings is not inevitably compromised by socially desirable responding, yet caution is warranted for some risk factors (antisocial personality traits), particularly when incentives are at play. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Business analytics a practitioner's guide

CERN Document Server

Saxena, Rahul

2013-01-01

This book provides a guide to businesses on how to use analytics to help drive from ideas to execution. Analytics used in this way provides "full lifecycle support" for business and helps during all stages of management decision-making and execution.The framework presented in the book enables the effective interplay of business, analytics, and information technology (business intelligence) both to leverage analytics for competitive advantage and to embed the use of business analytics into the business culture. It lays out an approach for analytics, describes the processes used, and provides gu

eAnalytics: Dynamic Web-based Analytics for the Energy Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul Govan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available eAnalytics is a web application built on top of R that provides dynamic data analytics to energy industry stakeholders. The application allows users to dynamically manipulate chart data and style through the Shiny package’s reactive framework. eAnalytics currently supports a number of features including interactive datatables, dynamic charting capabilities, and the ability to save, download, or export information for further use. Going forward, the goal for this project is that it will serve as a research hub for discovering new relationships in the data. The application is illustrated with a simple tutorial of the user interface design.

QED contributions to electron g-2

Science.gov (United States)

Laporta, Stefano

2018-05-01

In this paper I briefly describe the results of the numerical evaluation of the mass-independent 4-loop contribution to the electron g-2 in QED with 1100 digits of precision. In particular I also show the semi-analytical fit to the numerical value, which contains harmonic polylogarithms of eiπ/3, e2iπ/3 and eiπ/2 one-dimensional integrals of products of complete elliptic integrals and six finite parts of master integrals, evaluated up to 4800 digits. I give also some information about the methods and the program used.

Contribution of Spaceflight Environmental Factors to Vision Risks

Science.gov (United States)

Zanello, Susana B.

2011-01-01

The risk of visual impairment and elevated intracranial pressure as a result of low-earth orbit microgravity exposure has directed our attention and research efforts to the eye. While the alterations observed in astronauts returning from long duration missions include vision and neuroanatomical changes observed by non-invasive methods, other effects and subsequent tissue responses at the molecular and cellular level can only be studied by accessing the tissue itself. As a result of this need, several studies are currently taking place within the Human and Health Countermeasures Element (HHC) that use animal models for eye research. The rodent eye has many similarities to the human eye, and both rats and mice have historically been used as models of human eye disease, aiding in the identification of the disease genes, elucidation of mechanisms of disease, as well as in the assessment of therapeutic treatments. These studies attempt to answer two central questions in the etiology of possible vision alterations in the environment of space exploration missions. The first is: what effects and response mechanisms take place in the different eye structures at the cellular and molecular level? The second question is directed to elucidate the contribution of the various environmental stressors (radiation, nutrition, fluid shift) to these effects. Collaborative approaches with internal and external investigators have allowed performing these studies in a most cost-effective fashion, providing preliminary data and laying the bases for testing further hypotheses in future and specifically designed animal experiments. From a study centered on the radioadaptive response in mice, we have learned that the retina responds to low and high dose gamma radiation by elevating antioxidant-related genes at early time points (4hrs) and that this response returns to control levels after 1 day post-irradiation. We are expanding this research with another collaborative study that investigates

Differential Contributions of Nucleus Accumbens Subregions to Cue-Guided Risk/Reward Decision Making and Implementation of Conditional Rules.

Science.gov (United States)

Floresco, Stan B; Montes, David R; Tse, Maric M T; van Holstein, Mieke

2018-02-21

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a key node within corticolimbic circuitry for guiding action selection and cost/benefit decision making in situations involving reward uncertainty. Preclinical studies have typically assessed risk/reward decision making using assays where decisions are guided by internally generated representations of choice-outcome contingencies. Yet, real-life decisions are often influenced by external stimuli that inform about likelihoods of obtaining rewards. How different subregions of the NAc mediate decision making in such situations is unclear. Here, we used a novel assay colloquially termed the "Blackjack" task that models these types of situations. Male Long-Evans rats were trained to choose between one lever that always delivered a one-pellet reward and another that delivered four pellets with different probabilities [either 50% (good-odds) or 12.5% (poor-odds)], which were signaled by one of two auditory cues. Under control conditions, rats selected the large/risky option more often on good-odds versus poor-odds trials. Inactivation of the NAc core caused indiscriminate choice patterns. In contrast, NAc shell inactivation increased risky choice, more prominently on poor-odds trials. Additional experiments revealed that both subregions contribute to auditory conditional discrimination. NAc core or shell inactivation reduced Pavlovian approach elicited by an auditory CS+, yet shell inactivation also increased responding during presentation of a CS-. These data highlight distinct contributions for NAc subregions in decision making and reward seeking guided by discriminative stimuli. The core is crucial for implementation of conditional rules, whereas the shell refines reward seeking by mitigating the allure of larger, unlikely rewards and reducing expression of inappropriate or non-rewarded actions. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Using external cues to guide decision making is crucial for adaptive behavior. Deficits in cue-guided behavior have been

The Usefulness of Analytical Procedures - An Empirical Approach in the Auditing Sector in Portugal

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Carlos Pinho

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The conceptual conflict between the efficiency and efficacy on financial auditing arises from the fact that resources are scarce, both in terms of the time available to carry out the audit and the quality and timeliness of the information available to the external auditor. Audits tend to be more efficient, the lower the combination of inherent risk and control risk is assessed to be, allowing the auditor to carry out less extensive and less timely auditing tests, meaning that in some cases analytical audit procedures are a good tool to support the opinions formed by the auditor. This research, by means of an empirical study of financial auditing in Portugal, aims to evaluate the extent to which analytical procedures are used during a financial audit engagement in Portugal, throughout the different phases involved in auditing. The conclusions point to the fact that, in general terms and regardless of the size of the audit company and the way in which professionals work, Portuguese auditors use analytical procedures more frequently during the planning phase rather than during the phase of evidence gathering and the phase of opinion formation.

Risks and benefits of nuclear energy in a sustainable development perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertel, E.

2008-01-01

Based on a study published by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency in mid-2007, the paper covers economic, environmental and social aspects of nuclear and other energy chains. It describes an analytical framework and identifies indicators to assess different energy chains on a comprehensive basis. Illustrative results of authoritative studies on life cycle analysis of electricity generation chains are presented to highlight benefits and drawbacks of alternative options. Examples of quantitative and qualitative indicators for different chains, covering environmental burdens such as air emissions and solid waste streams, social aspects such as health impacts and aversion to risk, and economic factors, are analyzed and compared. A key finding from the review of published literature is that nuclear energy systems in operation have very good performance for a wide range of indicators covering economic, environmental and social aspects. Although the results of analytical studies are case and context specific, they indicate that the nuclear option offers attractive characteristics for sustainable future energy mixes. The importance of policy goals and priorities in the assessment of alternative options is highlighted and the paper offers some insights on the use of multi-criteria decision tools to support policy making. It is shown in particular that the ranking of nuclear and other electricity generation systems may differ depending on the respective weights of economic, environmental and social factors. The role of technology progress is underlined as a major tool to enhance the performance of nuclear energy systems in order to design and implement advanced reactors and fuel cycle schemes addressing better the challenges of the 21. century in the energy sector. The evolution from the current generation of reactors to generation III+ and eventually generation IV systems is described and their role in strengthening the potential contribution of nuclear energy to sustainable

Contributions to the 1999 particle accelerator conference

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bernard, M. [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, 91 - Orsay (France); Fartoukh, S.; Jablonka, M.; Joly, J.M.; Lalot, M.; Magne, C.; Napoly, O. [CEA/Saclay, 91 - Gif sur Yvette (France); Baboi, N.; Schreiber, S.; Simrock, S.; Weise, H. [DESY, Hamburg (Germany)

2000-06-01

This document puts together the 10 contributions of the laboratory to the 1999 particle accelerator conference. The titles of the papers are: 1) Evidence for a strongly coupled dipole mode with insufficient damping in the first accelerating module of the TESLA test facility (TTF); 2) An alternative scheme for stiffening superconducting RF cavities by plasma spraying; 3) A laser triggered electron source for pulsed radiolysis; 4) A cure for the energy spread increasing related bunch lengthening in electron storage rings; 5) Single bunch longitudinal instabilities in proton storage rings; 6) Analytical investigation on the halo formation in space charge dominated beams; 7) Analytical investigation on the dynamic apertures of circular accelerators; 8) The intrinsic upper limit to the beam energy of an electron-positron circular collider; 9) Coaxial disc windows for a high power superconducting cavity input coupler; and 10) RF pulsed tests on 3 GHz niobium cavities.

Contributions to the 1999 particle accelerator conference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernard, M.; Fartoukh, S.; Jablonka, M.; Joly, J.M.; Lalot, M.; Magne, C.; Napoly, O.; Baboi, N.; Schreiber, S.; Simrock, S.; Weise, H.

2000-06-01

This document puts together the 10 contributions of the laboratory to the 1999 particle accelerator conference. The titles of the papers are: 1) Evidence for a strongly coupled dipole mode with insufficient damping in the first accelerating module of the TESLA test facility (TTF); 2) An alternative scheme for stiffening superconducting RF cavities by plasma spraying; 3) A laser triggered electron source for pulsed radiolysis; 4) A cure for the energy spread increasing related bunch lengthening in electron storage rings; 5) Single bunch longitudinal instabilities in proton storage rings; 6) Analytical investigation on the halo formation in space charge dominated beams; 7) Analytical investigation on the dynamic apertures of circular accelerators; 8) The intrinsic upper limit to the beam energy of an electron-positron circular collider; 9) Coaxial disc windows for a high power superconducting cavity input coupler; and 10) RF pulsed tests on 3 GHz niobium cavities

Distinguishing between satisfaction and loyalty: Conceptual, methodological & analytical differences

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hinson, K.A. [Illinois Power, Decatur, IL (United States)

1994-11-01

This paper briefly presents a discussion of the conceptual definition of {open_quotes}Customer Satisfaction{close_quotes} followed by review of operational definitions of {open_quotes}Satisfaction{close_quotes} as a criterion variable and the kinds of predictor variables and analytic methods employed in its modeling. A model of {open_quotes}Customer Satisfaction{close_quotes} is presented developed by the discussed methodology. Conceptual and operational definitions of {open_quotes}Customer Loyalty{close_quotes} are then reviewed, contrasting the kinds of predictor variables and analytic methods most appropriate for understanding a {open_quotes}Loyalty{close_quotes} decision and how these differ from {open_quotes}Customer Satisfaction.{close_quotes} A more fully specified model of {open_quotes}Customer Loyalty{close_quotes} is presented. Finally, the risks of employing a {open_quotes}Satisfaction{close_quotes} methodology in modeling {open_quotes}Customer Loyalty{close_quotes} are discussed.

An Investigation of First-Year Engineering Student and Instructor Perspectives of Learning Analytics Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, David B.; Brozina, Cory; Novoselich, Brian

2016-01-01

This paper investigates how first-year engineering undergraduates and their instructors describe the potential for learning analytics approaches to contribute to student success. Results of qualitative data collection in a first-year engineering course indicated that both students and instructors\temphasized a preference for learning analytics…

Risk methodology for geologic disposal of radioactive waste: interim report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, J.E.; Dillon, R.T.; Tierney, M.S.; Davis, H.T.; McGrath, P.E.; Pearson, F.J. Jr.; Shaw, H.R.; Helton, J.C.; Donath, F.A.

1978-10-01

The Fuel Cycle Risk Analysis Division of Sandia Laboratories is funded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to develop a methodology for assessment of the long-term risks from radioactive waste disposal in deep, geologic media. The first phase of this work, which is documented in this report, involves the following: (1) development of analytical models to represent the processes by which radioactive waste might leave the waste repository, enter the surface environment and eventually reach humans and (2) definition of a hypothetical ''reference system'' to provide a realistic setting for exercise of the models in a risk or safety assessment. The second phase of this work, which will be documented in a later report, will involve use of the analytical models in a demonstration risk or safety assessment of the reference system. The analytical methods and data developed in this study are expected to form the basis for a portion of the NRC repository licensing methodology

The Nature and Assessment of Systemic Risk in Terms of Liquidity of the Banking System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lavreniuk Vladyslav V.

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of the article is to determine the nature of systemic risk as a threat to the financial stability of the banking system and develop analytical tools to assess its impact on the banking system in terms of its liquidity. To solve the tasks assigned, there used general scientific and specific methods, such as: logical and dialectical method, mathematical and graphical one. Based on the generalization, analysis and comparison of different interpretations, there clarified the concept of «systemic risk» as a risk generated by financial institutions or individual sectors through the implementation of the mechanism of risk transmission, achieving significant scale of distribution and adversely affecting the stability of the financial system and the real sector of economy. There identified key aspects of systemic risk: a systemic risk is not a sum of all individual risks of financial institutions; b spreads through the channels of interconnectedness between financial institutions; c is a result of accumulated structural imbalances; d affects the stability of the financial/banking system, public confidence and the real sector of economy. Analytical tools for estimation of the bank’s contribution to the systemic liquidity risk on the basis of which it is determined that the first place in terms of the effect on the aggregate systemic risk of liquidity of the Ukrainian banking system is occupied by banks of Group I, the second place — by Privatbank, the third, fourth, fifth places — by banks in Group II — Oschadbank, Ukreximbank. It is found that it is systemically important state-owned banks that have a significant impact on systemic liquidity risk. It is determined that the probability of default of a leading systemically important bank could result in considerable cumulative losses for the entire banking system and real economy. The prospects of further research are the development of tools for systemic risk assessment with respect to

Spin-Stabilized Spacecrafts: Analytical Attitude Propagation Using Magnetic Torques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberta Veloso Garcia

2009-01-01

Full Text Available An analytical approach for spin-stabilized satellites attitude propagation is presented, considering the influence of the residual magnetic torque and eddy currents torque. It is assumed two approaches to examine the influence of external torques acting during the motion of the satellite, with the Earth's magnetic field described by the quadripole model. In the first approach is included only the residual magnetic torque in the motion equations, with the satellites in circular or elliptical orbit. In the second approach only the eddy currents torque is analyzed, with the satellite in circular orbit. The inclusion of these torques on the dynamic equations of spin stabilized satellites yields the conditions to derive an analytical solution. The solutions show that residual torque does not affect the spin velocity magnitude, contributing only for the precession and the drift of the spacecraft's spin axis and the eddy currents torque causes an exponential decay of the angular velocity magnitude. Numerical simulations performed with data of the Brazilian Satellites (SCD1 and SCD2 show the period that analytical solution can be used to the attitude propagation, within the dispersion range of the attitude determination system performance of Satellite Control Center of Brazil National Research Institute.

Annual banned-substance review: analytical approaches in human sports drug testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Thevis, Mario; Kuuranne, Tiia; Walpurgis, Katja; Geyer, Hans; Schänzer, Wilhelm

2016-01-01

The aim of improving anti-doping efforts is predicated on several different pillars, including, amongst others, optimized analytical methods. These commonly result from exploiting most recent developments in analytical instrumentation as well as research data on elite athletes' physiology in general, and pharmacology, metabolism, elimination, and downstream effects of prohibited substances and methods of doping, in particular. The need for frequent and adequate adaptations of sports drug testing procedures has been incessant, largely due to the uninterrupted emergence of new chemical entities but also due to the apparent use of established or even obsolete drugs for reasons other than therapeutic means, such as assumed beneficial effects on endurance, strength, and regeneration capacities. Continuing the series of annual banned-substance reviews, literature concerning human sports drug testing published between October 2014 and September 2015 is summarized and reviewed in reference to the content of the 2015 Prohibited List as issued by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), with particular emphasis on analytical approaches and their contribution to enhanced doping controls. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Flood-risk mapping: contributions towards an enhanced assessment of extreme events and associated risks

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B. Büchele

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Currently, a shift from classical flood protection as engineering task towards integrated flood risk management concepts can be observed. In this context, a more consequent consideration of extreme events which exceed the design event of flood protection structures and failure scenarios such as dike breaches have to be investigated. Therefore, this study aims to enhance existing methods for hazard and risk assessment for extreme events and is divided into three parts. In the first part, a regionalization approach for flood peak discharges was further developed and substantiated, especially regarding recurrence intervals of 200 to 10 000 years and a large number of small ungauged catchments. Model comparisons show that more confidence in such flood estimates for ungauged areas and very long recurrence intervals may be given as implied by statistical analysis alone. The hydraulic simulation in the second part is oriented towards hazard mapping and risk analyses covering the whole spectrum of relevant flood events. As the hydrodynamic simulation is directly coupled with a GIS, the results can be easily processed as local inundation depths for spatial risk analyses. For this, a new GIS-based software tool was developed, being presented in the third part, which enables estimations of the direct flood damage to single buildings or areas based on different established stage-damage functions. Furthermore, a new multifactorial approach for damage estimation is presented, aiming at the improvement of damage estimation on local scale by considering factors like building quality, contamination and precautionary measures. The methods and results from this study form the base for comprehensive risk analyses and flood management strategies.

The Analytical Chemistry of Drug Monitoring in Athletes

Science.gov (United States)

Bowers, Larry D.

2009-07-01

The detection and deterrence of the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs in sport are important to maintaining a level playing field among athletes and to decreasing the risk to athletes’ health. The World Anti-Doping Program consists of six documents, three of which play a role in analytical development: The World Anti-Doping Code, The List of Prohibited Substances and Methods, and The International Standard for Laboratories. Among the classes of prohibited substances, three have given rise to the most recent analytical developments in the field: anabolic agents; peptide and protein hormones; and methods to increase oxygen delivery to the tissues, including recombinant erythropoietin. Methods for anabolic agents, including designer steroids, have been enhanced through the use of liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and gas chromatography/combustion/isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. Protein and peptide identification and quantification have benefited from advances in liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Incorporation of techniques such as flow cytometry and isoelectric focusing have supported the detection of blood doping.

Radionuclides in the environment: Risks and opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elzerman, A.W.

1993-01-01

Environmental chemistry plays a critical role in the open-quotes nuclear ageclose quotes. It makes a vital contribution to understanding of the sources, fate and effects of radionuclides in the environment, both man-made and natural. Risk assessment of radionuclides in the environment relies heavily on the tools of environmental chemistry. On the other hand, radionuclides provide unique opportunities to exploit in environmental chemistry investigations due to their well-defined sources, traceability in environmental processes, analytical sensitivities, and open-quotes built-inclose quotes radioactive decay open-quotes clocksclose quotes. In some cases naturally present radionuclides are utilized, while in others tracers are deliberately added or have already been added by the nuclear fuel cycle or nuclear testing. Several examples in each of these categories are discussed to spotlight the current status of environmental chemistry and radionuclides in the environment as an example application

Perinatal testosterone contributes to mid-to-post pubertal sex differences in risk for binge eating in male and female rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Culbert, Kristen M; Sinclair, Elaine B; Hildebrandt, Britny A; Klump, Kelly L; Sisk, Cheryl L

2018-02-01

Exposure to testosterone early in life may contribute to sex differences and pubertal changes in risk for eating pathology (i.e., females > males, after pubertal onset). Specifically, perinatal testosterone permanently alters brain structure/function and drives the masculinization of several sex-differentiated behaviors. However, the effects of perinatal testosterone are often not evident until puberty when increases in gonadal hormones activate the expression of sex typical behavior, including eating behaviors (e.g., chow intake; saccharin preference) in rodents. Despite perinatal testosterone's masculinizing effects on general feeding behavior, it remains unknown if perinatal testosterone exposure contributes to sex differences in pathological eating. The current study addressed this gap by examining whether perinatal testosterone exposure decreases risk for binge eating proneness after pubertal onset in male and female rats. Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 40 oil-treated control females; n = 39 testosterone-treated females; n = 40 oil-treated control males) were followed longitudinally across pre-to-early puberty, mid-to-late puberty, and adulthood. The binge eating prone (BEP)/binge eating resistant (BER) rodent model was used to identify individual differences in binge eating proneness across the dimensional spectrum. As expected, testosterone-treated females and control males showed masculinized (i.e., lower) risk for binge eating as compared to control females, but only after midpuberty. These animal data are significant in suggesting that perinatal testosterone exposure may protect against binge eating and underlie sex differences in binge eating prevalence during and after puberty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Characterization of dilation-analytic operators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Balslev, E; Grossmann, A; Paul, T

1986-01-01

Dilation analytic vectors and operators are characterized in a new representation of quantum mechanical states through functions analytic on the upper half-plane. In this space H/sub o/-bounded operators are integral operators and criteria for dilation analyticity are given in terms of analytic continuation outside of the half-plane for functions and for kernels. A sufficient condition is given for an integral operator in momentum space to be dilation-analytic.

Prevalence of 10-Year Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases and Associated Risks in Canadian Adults: The Contribution of Cardiometabolic Risk Assessment Introduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Solmaz Setayeshgar

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Cardiovascular disease (CVD is the leading cause of death in adult Canadians. Cardiometabolic risk (CMR derived from 10-year risk of cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome (MetS needs to be evaluated in Canadian adults. Objective. To determine CMR among Canadian adults by sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. Subjects and Methods. Data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS, Cycle 1, 2007–2009, was used. Framingham Risk Score (FRS was implemented to predict 10-year risk of CVD, and metabolic syndrome was identified using the most recent criteria. The 10-year risk of CVD was multiplied by 1.5 in individuals with MetS to obtain CMR. Data were weighted and bootstrapped to be able to generalize the results nationally. Results and Conclusion. CMR gave more accurate estimation of 10-year risk of CVD in Canadian adults from 30 to 74 years than using only FRS. The 10-year risk of CVD in Canadian adults significantly increased when CMR was taken into account from 8.10% to 9.86%. The CVD risk increased by increase in age, decrease in education, and decrease in physical activity and in smokers. Canadians with medium risk of CVD consumed significantly less fruit and vegetable juice compared to Canadians with low risk. No other dietary differences were found.

Contribution of genetic background, traditional risk factors, and HIV-related factors to coronary artery disease events in HIV-positive persons

OpenAIRE

Rotger, Margalida; Glass, Tracy R; Junier, Thomas; Lundgren, Jens; Neaton, James D; Poloni, Estella S; van 't Wout, Angélique B; Lubomirov, Rubin; Colombo, Sara; Martinez, Raquel; Rauch, Andri; Günthard, Huldrych F; Neuhaus, Jacqueline; Wentworth, Deborah; van Manen, Danielle

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND: Persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have increased rates of coronary artery disease (CAD). The relative contribution of genetic background, HIV-related factors, antiretroviral medications, and traditional risk factors to CAD has not been fully evaluated in the setting of HIV infection. METHODS: In the general population, 23 common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were shown to be associated with CAD through genome-wide association analysis. Using the ...

Analytical approaches for the characterization and quantification of nanoparticles in food and beverages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mattarozzi, Monica; Suman, Michele; Cascio, Claudia; Calestani, Davide; Weigel, Stefan; Undas, Anna; Peters, Ruud

2017-01-01

Estimating consumer exposure to nanomaterials (NMs) in food products and predicting their toxicological properties are necessary steps in the assessment of the risks of this technology. To this end, analytical methods have to be available to detect, characterize and quantify NMs in food and

A new tool for the evaluation of the analytical procedure: Green Analytical Procedure Index.

Science.gov (United States)

Płotka-Wasylka, J

2018-05-01

A new means for assessing analytical protocols relating to green analytical chemistry attributes has been developed. The new tool, called GAPI (Green Analytical Procedure Index), evaluates the green character of an entire analytical methodology, from sample collection to final determination, and was created using such tools as the National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI) or Analytical Eco-Scale to provide not only general but also qualitative information. In GAPI, a specific symbol with five pentagrams can be used to evaluate and quantify the environmental impact involved in each step of an analytical methodology, mainly from green through yellow to red depicting low, medium to high impact, respectively. The proposed tool was used to evaluate analytical procedures applied in the determination of biogenic amines in wine samples, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon determination by EPA methods. GAPI tool not only provides an immediately perceptible perspective to the user/reader but also offers exhaustive information on evaluated procedures. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Google analytics integrations

CERN Document Server

Waisberg, Daniel

2015-01-01

A roadmap for turning Google Analytics into a centralized marketing analysis platform With Google Analytics Integrations, expert author Daniel Waisberg shows you how to gain a more meaningful, complete view of customers that can drive growth opportunities. This in-depth guide shows not only how to use Google Analytics, but also how to turn this powerful data collection and analysis tool into a central marketing analysis platform for your company. Taking a hands-on approach, this resource explores the integration and analysis of a host of common data sources, including Google AdWords, AdSens

Opening Digital Archives and Collections with Emerging Data Analytics Technology: A Research Agenda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed Elragal

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In the public sector, the EU legislation requires preservation and opening of increasing amounts of heterogeneous digital information that should be utilized by citizens and businesses. While technologies such as big data analytics (BDA have emerged, opening of digital archives and collections at a large scale is in its infancy. Opening archives and collections involve also particular requirements for recognizing and managing issues of privacy and digital rights. As well, ensuring the sustainability of the opened materials and economical appraisal of digital materials for preservation require robust digital preservation practices. We need to proceed beyond the state-of-the-art in opening digital archives and collections through the means of emerging big data analytics and validating a novel concept for analytics which then enables delivering of knowledge for citizens and the society. We set out an agenda for using BDA as our strategy for research and enquiry and for demonstrating the benefit of BDA for opening digital archives by civil servants and for citizens. That will – eventually - transform the preservation practices, and delivery and use opportunities of public digital archives. Our research agenda suggests a framework integrating four domains of inquiry, analytics-enhanced appraisal, analytics-prepared preservation, analytics-enhanced opening, and analytics-enhanced use, for utilizing the BDA technologies in the domain of digital archives and collections. The suggested framework and research agenda identifies initially particular BDA technologies to be utilized in each of the four domains, and contributes by highlighting a need for an integrated “public understanding of big data” in the domain of digital preservation.

THE PSYCHOANALYTIC CONTRIBUTIONS OF MELITTA SCHMIDEBERG KLEIN. MORE THAN MELANIE KLEIN'S REBEL DAUGHTER.

Science.gov (United States)

Cassullo, Gabriele

2016-03-01

Compared to the impact of the work of Melanie Klein on the history of psychoanalysis, the contributions of her daughter, Melitta Schmideberg, passed almost unnoticed. At present, Schmideberg is solely remembered for having harshly attacked her mother at the start of the Controversial Discussions of the British Psycho-Analytical Society and for having coined the fitting expression "stable instability" in order to describe borderline and asocial personality disorders. However, the author discusses how the early groundbreaking discoveries of Klein with regards to primitive anxieties were the result of the joint work and thinking of Melanie and Melitta. Moreover, he argues that the conflict between the two, along with the subsequent polarization of their views, did not facilitate the development of psychoanalysis, neither did it help the analytic community to recognize the value of Melitta's contributions to psychoanalysis.

Improving the signal visibility of optical-disk-drive sensors by analyte patterning and frequency-domain analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaefer, S; Chau, K J

2011-01-01

One limitation of using compact disks (CDs) and optical disk drives for sensing and imaging of analytes placed on a CD is the fluctuations in the voltage signal from the disk drive generated while reading the data on the CD. In this study, we develop a simple, low-cost strategy for sensing and identification using CDs and optical disk drives that spectrally separates contributions to the voltage signal caused by an analyte intentionally placed onto the CD and that caused by the underlying data on the CD. Analytes are printed onto a CD surface with fixed spatial periodicity. As the laser beam in an optical disk drive scans over the section of the CD containing the analyte pattern, the intensity of the laser beam incident onto the photodiode integrated into the disk drive is modulated at a frequency dependent on the spatial periodicity of the analyte pattern and the speed of the optical-disk-drive motor. Fourier transformation of the voltage signal from the optical disk drive yields peaks in the frequency spectrum with amplitudes and locations that enable analyte sensing and identification, respectively. We study the influence of analyte area coverage, pattern periodicity, and CD rotational frequency on the peaks in the frequency spectrum associated with the patterned analyte. We apply this technique to discriminate differently-colored analytes, perform trigger-free detection of multiple analytes distributed on a single CD, and detect at least two different, overlapped analyte patterns on a single CD. The extension of this technique for sensing and identification of colorimetric chemical reagents is discussed

Analytical Chemistry in the Regulatory Science of Medical Devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi; Guan, Allan; Wickramasekara, Samanthi; Phillips, K Scott

2018-06-12

In the United States, regulatory science is the science of developing new tools, standards, and approaches to assess the safety, efficacy, quality, and performance of all Food and Drug Administration-regulated products. Good regulatory science facilitates consumer access to innovative medical devices that are safe and effective throughout the Total Product Life Cycle (TPLC). Because the need to measure things is fundamental to the regulatory science of medical devices, analytical chemistry plays an important role, contributing to medical device technology in two ways: It can be an integral part of an innovative medical device (e.g., diagnostic devices), and it can be used to support medical device development throughout the TPLC. In this review, we focus on analytical chemistry as a tool for the regulatory science of medical devices. We highlight recent progress in companion diagnostics, medical devices on chips for preclinical testing, mass spectrometry for postmarket monitoring, and detection/characterization of bacterial biofilm to prevent infections.

Translating tumor biology into personalized treatment planning: analytical performance characteristics of the Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark-Langone, Kim M; Sangli, Chithra; Krishnakumar, Jayadevi; Watson, Drew

2010-12-23

The Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay is a new diagnostic test for determining the likelihood of recurrence in stage II colon cancer patients after surgical resection using fixed paraffin embedded (FPE) primary colon tumor tissue. Like the Oncotype DX Breast Cancer Assay, this is a high complexity, multi-analyte, reverse transcription (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay that measures the expression levels of specific cancer-related genes. By capturing the biology underlying each patient's tumor, the Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay provides a Recurrence Score (RS) that reflects an individualized risk of disease recurrence. Here we describe its analytical performance using pre-determined performance criteria, which is a critical component of molecular diagnostic test validation. All analytical measurements met pre-specified performance criteria. PCR amplification efficiency for all 12 assays was high, ranging from 96% to 107%, while linearity was demonstrated over an 11 log2 concentration range for all assays. Based on estimated components of variance for FPE RNA pools, analytical reproducibility and precision demonstrated low SDs for individual genes (0.16 to 0.32 CTs), gene groups (≤ 0.05 normalized/aggregate CTs) and RS (≤ 1.38 RS units). Analytical performance characteristics shown here for both individual genes and gene groups in the Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay demonstrate consistent translation of specific biology of individual tumors into clinically useful diagnostic information. The results of these studies illustrate how the analytical capability of the Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay has enabled clinical validation of a test to determine individualized recurrence risk after colon cancer surgery.

Euratom Research Contributing to Better Risk Governance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kelly, Neale; Forsstroem, Hans

2003-01-01

Over the past decade, greater attention has increasingly been given to broader, less technical, issues in determining the scope and content of research carried out under the auspices of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) Framework Programmes. This reflects a more general trend, in particular a need for research to take due account of the ethical, social, legal, regulatory and wider cultural aspects resulting from the development and exploitation of its outcomes. These considerations are fully embedded within the 61 Framework Programme and are matters which must be explicitly addressed by most projects. The increasing importance of these aspects is exemplified by the inclusion in the 6th Framework Programme of 'science and society' and 'citizens and governance in a knowledge based society' as two of its priorities. The paper summarises Euratom research being carried out in the 5th Framework Programme that addresses broader, less technical, issues in particular those that are concerned with better approaches to risk governance and broader stakeholder involvement or participation. This research is mainly being carried out in the areas of radioactive waste management and the management of nuclear emergencies but is complemented by research of a more general nature concerned with risk governance. Further research in these areas will continue in the 61 Frarnework Programme with increasing attention given to how it can be practically exploited

SRL online Analytical Development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jenkins, C.W.

1991-01-01

The Savannah River Site is operated by the Westinghouse Savannah River Co. for the Department of Energy to produce special nuclear materials for defense. R ampersand D support for site programs is provided by the Savannah River Laboratory, which I represent. The site is known primarily for its nuclear reactors, but actually three fourths of the efforts at the site are devoted to fuel/target fabrication, fuel/target reprocessing, and waste management. All of these operations rely heavily on chemical processes. The site is therefore a large chemical plant. There are then many potential applications for process analytical chemistry at SRS. The Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) has an Analytical Development Section of roughly 65 personnel that perform analyses for R ampersand D efforts at the lab, act as backup to the site Analytical Laboratories Department and develop analytical methods and instruments. I manage a subgroup of the Analytical Development Section called the Process Control ampersand Analyzer Development Group. The Prime mission of this group is to develop online/at-line analytical systems for site applications

Analytical mechanics

CERN Document Server

Lemos, Nivaldo A

2018-01-01

Analytical mechanics is the foundation of many areas of theoretical physics including quantum theory and statistical mechanics, and has wide-ranging applications in engineering and celestial mechanics. This introduction to the basic principles and methods of analytical mechanics covers Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics, rigid bodies, small oscillations, canonical transformations and Hamilton–Jacobi theory. This fully up-to-date textbook includes detailed mathematical appendices and addresses a number of advanced topics, some of them of a geometric or topological character. These include Bertrand's theorem, proof that action is least, spontaneous symmetry breakdown, constrained Hamiltonian systems, non-integrability criteria, KAM theory, classical field theory, Lyapunov functions, geometric phases and Poisson manifolds. Providing worked examples, end-of-chapter problems, and discussion of ongoing research in the field, it is suitable for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students studying analyt...

Consumer contribution to food contamination in Brazil: modelling the food safety risk in the home

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio Paulo Olinto da Motta

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Foodborne diseases are among the most widespread public health issues, killing about 2.2 million people annually, and costing hundreds of billions of US dollars for governments, companies, families and consumers (WHO, 2007. In Brazil, foodborne diseases acquired in the home account for 55% of notified outbreaks (BRASIL, 2012. Several studies have investigated aspects of consumer behaviour concerning food poisoning, mapping practices in the home, but it remains a challenge to obtain a full picture of the consumer contribution to food contamination (REDMOND and GRIFFITH, 2003. This study aimed to assess the risks of food contamination in the home. A questionnaire containing 140 questions concerning food safety knowledge, handling practices, personal hygiene and basic health care, covering the stages when the food is under the control of the consumer, was developed and used to gather data for analysis. Appropriate scores were attributed to the questions (consequences to food safety and answers (likelihood of food contamination. A risk estimate algorithm and an appropriate risk ranking scale were used to assess the results. From August 2011 to March 2012, survey questionnaires were collected from 2,775 consumers in Brazil across 19 out of 27 state capitals. The study found risky practices with the potential to lead to food poisoning occurrences in the domestic environment in the following handling steps: food transportation, food preparation, cooking and the handling of leftovers. The personal hygiene, age, formal education, family income and basic health care habits represented the factors most related to the risky practices of consumers, which could orientate food safety educational campaigns for the Brazilian population.

Analytical method comparisons for the accurate determination of PCBs in sediments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Numata, M.; Yarita, T.; Aoyagi, Y.; Yamazaki, M.; Takatsu, A. [National Metrology Institute of Japan, Tsukuba (Japan)

2004-09-15

National Metrology Institute of Japan in National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (NMIJ/AIST) has been developing several matrix reference materials, for example, sediments, water and biological tissues, for the determinations of heavy metals and organometallic compounds. The matrix compositions of those certified reference materials (CRMs) are similar to compositions of actual samples, and those are useful for validating analytical procedures. ''Primary methods of measurements'' are essential to obtain accurate and SI-traceable certified values in the reference materials, because the methods have the highest quality of measurement. However, inappropriate analytical operations, such as incomplete extraction of analytes or crosscontamination during analytical procedures, will cause error of analytical results, even if one of the primary methods, isotope-dilution, is utilized. To avoid possible procedural bias for the certification of reference materials, we employ more than two analytical methods which have been optimized beforehand. Because the accurate determination of trace POPs in the environment is important to evaluate their risk, reliable CRMs are required by environmental chemists. Therefore, we have also been preparing matrix CRMs for the determination of POPs. To establish accurate analytical procedures for the certification of POPs, extraction is one of the critical steps as described above. In general, conventional extraction techniques for the determination of POPs, such as Soxhlet extraction (SOX) and saponification (SAP), have been characterized well, and introduced as official methods for environmental analysis. On the other hand, emerging techniques, such as microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), pressurized fluid extraction (PFE) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), give higher recovery yields of analytes with relatively short extraction time and small amount of solvent, by reasons of the high

Analytical chemistry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chae, Myeong Hu; Lee, Hu Jun; Kim, Ha Seok

1989-02-15

This book give explanations on analytical chemistry with ten chapters, which deal with development of analytical chemistry, the theory of error with definition and classification, sample and treatment gravimetry on general process of gravimetry in aqueous solution and non-aqueous solution, precipitation titration about precipitation reaction and types, complexometry with summary and complex compound, oxidation-reduction equilibrium on electrode potential and potentiometric titration, solvent extraction and chromatograph and experiment with basic operation for chemical experiment.

Analytical chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chae, Myeong Hu; Lee, Hu Jun; Kim, Ha Seok

1989-02-01

This book give explanations on analytical chemistry with ten chapters, which deal with development of analytical chemistry, the theory of error with definition and classification, sample and treatment gravimetry on general process of gravimetry in aqueous solution and non-aqueous solution, precipitation titration about precipitation reaction and types, complexometry with summary and complex compound, oxidation-reduction equilibrium on electrode potential and potentiometric titration, solvent extraction and chromatograph and experiment with basic operation for chemical experiment.

One-loop contributions to neutral Higgs decay h→μτ

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phan, K. H.; Hung, H.T.; Hue, L.T.

2016-01-01

In calculating one-loop contributions to amplitudes of the lepton-flavor violating decays of the neutral Higgses (LFVHD) to different flavor charged leptons, the analytic expressions can be written in term of Passarino–Veltman functions. Then, they can be computed numerically by LoopTools [1]. Another approach is using suitable analytic expressions established for just this particular case. We compare numerical results obtained from LoopTools and those computed by different expressions that have been applied recently. Then we derive the preferable ones that are applicable for large ranges of free parameters introduced in extensions of the standard model. For illustration, the LFVHD in a simple model, which has been discussed recently, will be investigated more precisely.

Dietary habits contributing to breast cancer risk among Iranian women.

Science.gov (United States)

Mobarakeh, Zahra Sheikhi; Mirzaei, Khadijeh; Hatmi, Nadia; Ebrahimi, Mandana; Dabiran, Sohaila; Sotoudeh, Gity

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate demographic features, dietary habits, and some possible risk factors for being susceptible to breast cancer in Iranian women. A study of dietary habits and breast cancer was conducted among 53 Iranian women with histological confirmed disease and 40 matched controls. A dietary habits questionnaire was used to evaluate the pattern of selected food intakes. The risk of cancer was analyzed after adjustment for confounding factors. Age, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, educational status, parity, lactation, marital status, menopause, history of estrogen therapy, and family history of breast disease or cancer were assessed among participants. Special attention was given to the relationship between consumption of high fat meat, milk, yogurt and cheese as well use of frying oils for frying foods, use of olive/liquid oils for cooking, removing fat from meat and poultry, removing chicken skin and not use of mayonnaise as salad dressing and the risk of breast cancer. Moreover, salad, vegetable and fruit consumption, and eating outdoors owere investigated. Our results revealed significant lower education and higher BMI and waist circumference levels in patients with breast cancer. There was significantly increased breast cancer risk in overweight women in comparison with normal weight (OR=2.91, 95%CI 1.24 to 6.82). High intake of fat dairy products including milk and cheese was found to be a statistically significant factor for increasing breast cancer risk in models adjusting for age, BMI and education. Use of olive/liquid oils for cooking and avoidance of mayonnaise as salad dressing are related to lower risk of breast cancer. The frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption was significantly lower in patients with breast cancer compared to healthy women. Dietary habits might be risk factors for breast cancer among Iranian women. Adoption of a prudent diet could be an appropriate strategy for preventing breast

MS-Based Analytical Techniques: Advances in Spray-Based Methods and EI-LC-MS Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Medina, Isabel; Cappiello, Achille; Careri, Maria

2018-01-01

Mass spectrometry is the most powerful technique for the detection and identification of organic compounds. It can provide molecular weight information and a wealth of structural details that give a unique fingerprint for each analyte. Due to these characteristics, mass spectrometry-based analytical methods are showing an increasing interest in the scientific community, especially in food safety, environmental, and forensic investigation areas where the simultaneous detection of targeted and nontargeted compounds represents a key factor. In addition, safety risks can be identified at the early stage through online and real-time analytical methodologies. In this context, several efforts have been made to achieve analytical instrumentation able to perform real-time analysis in the native environment of samples and to generate highly informative spectra. This review article provides a survey of some instrumental innovations and their applications with particular attention to spray-based MS methods and food analysis issues. The survey will attempt to cover the state of the art from 2012 up to 2017.

An analytical fuzzy-based approach to ?-gain optimal control of input-affine nonlinear systems using Newton-type algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Milic, Vladimir; Kasac, Josip; Novakovic, Branko

2015-10-01

This paper is concerned with ?-gain optimisation of input-affine nonlinear systems controlled by analytic fuzzy logic system. Unlike the conventional fuzzy-based strategies, the non-conventional analytic fuzzy control method does not require an explicit fuzzy rule base. As the first contribution of this paper, we prove, by using the Stone-Weierstrass theorem, that the proposed fuzzy system without rule base is universal approximator. The second contribution of this paper is an algorithm for solving a finite-horizon minimax problem for ?-gain optimisation. The proposed algorithm consists of recursive chain rule for first- and second-order derivatives, Newton's method, multi-step Adams method and automatic differentiation. Finally, the results of this paper are evaluated on a second-order nonlinear system.

Second International Workshop on Teaching Analytics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vatrapu, Ravi; Reimann, Peter; Halb, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

Teaching Analytics is conceived as a subfield of learning analytics that focuses on the design, development, evaluation, and education of visual analytics methods and tools for teachers in primary, secondary, and tertiary educational settings. The Second International Workshop on Teaching Analytics...... (IWTA) 2013 seeks to bring together researchers and practitioners in the fields of education, learning sciences, learning analytics, and visual analytics to investigate the design, development, use, evaluation, and impact of visual analytical methods and tools for teachers’ dynamic diagnostic decision...

Analytic strategies to evaluate the association of time-varying exposures to HIV-related outcomes: Alcohol consumption as an example.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Robert L; Kelso, Natalie E; Brumback, Babette A; Chen, Xinguang

2016-01-01

As persons with HIV are living longer, there is a growing need to investigate factors associated with chronic disease, rate of disease progression and survivorship. Many risk factors for this high-risk population change over time, such as participation in treatment, alcohol consumption and drug abuse. Longitudinal datasets are increasingly available, particularly clinical data that contain multiple observations of health exposures and outcomes over time. Several analytic options are available for assessment of longitudinal data; however, it can be challenging to choose the appropriate analytic method for specific combinations of research questions and types of data. The purpose of this review is to help researchers choose the appropriate methods to analyze longitudinal data, using alcohol consumption as an example of a time-varying exposure variable. When selecting the optimal analytic method, one must consider aspects of exposure (e.g. timing, pattern, and amount) and outcome (fixed or time-varying), while also addressing minimizing bias. In this article, we will describe several analytic approaches for longitudinal data, including developmental trajectory analysis, generalized estimating equations, and mixed effect models. For each analytic strategy, we describe appropriate situations to use the method and provide an example that demonstrates the use of the method. Clinical data related to alcohol consumption and HIV are used to illustrate these methods.

The contribution of human factors to risks from radioactive material transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blenkin, J.J.; Ridsdale, E.; Wilkinson, H.L.

1998-01-01

The use of probabilistic risk assessment to assess the safety of radioactive material transport operations is well accepted. However, quantitative risk assessment of radioactive material transport operations have generally not explicitly considered human factors in estimating risks. Given the high profile of human factors as the root cause of many serious transport incidents omission of an explicit consideration of human factors in a risk assessment could lead to assessments losing credibility. In addition, scrutiny of radioactive material transport incident databases reveals a large number of operational incidents and minor accidents that would have been avoided if more attention had been paid to human factors aspects, and provides examples of instances where improvements have been achieved. This paper examines the areas of radioactive material transport risk assessments (both qualitative and quantitative) which could be strengthened by further examination of the impact of human errors. It is concluded that a more complete and detailed understanding of the effects of human factors on the risks from radioactive material transport operations has been obtained. Quality assurance has a key part to play in ensuring that packages are correctly manufactured and prepared for transport. Risk assessments of radioactive material transport operations can be strengthened by concentrating on the key human factors effects. (authors)

Unequal Exposure or Unequal Vulnerability? Contributions of Neighborhood Conditions and Cardiovascular Risk Factors to Socioeconomic Inequality in Incident Cardiovascular Disease in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hussein, Mustafa; Diez Roux, Ana V; Mujahid, Mahasin S; Hastert, Theresa A; Kershaw, Kiarri N; Bertoni, Alain G; Baylin, Ana

2017-11-23

Risk factors can drive socioeconomic inequalities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) through differential exposure and differential vulnerability. We show how econometric decomposition directly enables simultaneous, policy-oriented assessment of these two mechanisms. We specifically estimated contributions via these mechanisms of neighborhood environment and proximal risk factors to socioeconomic inequality in CVD incidence. We followed 5,608 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (2000-2012) until the first CVD event (median follow-up 12.2 years). We used a summary measure of baseline socioeconomic position (SEP). Covariates included baseline demographics, neighborhood, psychosocial, behavioral, and biomedical risk factors. Using Poisson models, we decomposed the difference (inequality) in incidence rates between low- and high-SEP groups into contributions of 1) differences in covariate means (differential exposure), and 2) differences in CVD risk associated with covariates (differential vulnerability). Notwithstanding large uncertainty in neighborhood estimates, our analysis suggests that differential exposure to poorer neighborhood socioeconomic conditions, adverse social environment, diabetes, and hypertension accounts for most of inequality. Psychosocial and behavioral contributions were negligible. Further, neighborhood SEP, female gender, and White race were more strongly associated with CVD among low-SEP (vs. high-SEP) participants. These differentials in vulnerability also accounted for nontrivial portions of the inequality, and could have important implications for intervention. © The Author(s) 2017. 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.

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

Science.gov (United States)

... Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six types of health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and adults, including— Behaviors that contribute ...

Higher-order hadronic and heavy-lepton contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurz, Alexander; Liu, Tao; Steinhauser, Matthias

2014-07-01

We report about recent results obtained for the muon anomalous magnetic moment. Three-loop kernel functions have been computed to obtain the next-to-next-to-leading-order hadronic vacuum polarization contributions. The numerical result, a μ had,NNLO = 1.24 ± 0.01 x 10 -10 , is of the same order of magnitude as the current uncertainty from the hadronic contributions. For heavy-lepton corrections, analytical results are obtained at four-loop order and compared with the known results.

Post-analytical stability of 23 common chemistry and immunochemistry analytes in incurred samples

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Betina Klint; Frederiksen, Tina; Friis-Hansen, Lennart

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Storage of blood samples after centrifugation, decapping and initial sampling allows ordering of additional blood tests. The pre-analytic stability of biochemistry and immunochemistry analytes has been studied in detail, but little is known about the post-analytical stability...... in incurred samples. METHODS: We examined the stability of 23 routine analytes on the Dimension Vista® (Siemens Healthineers, Denmark): 42-60 routine samples in lithium-heparin gel tubes (Vacutainer, BD, USA) were centrifuged at 3000×g for 10min. Immediately after centrifugation, initial concentration...... of analytes were measured in duplicate (t=0). The tubes were stored decapped at room temperature and re-analyzed after 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10h in singletons. The concentration from reanalysis were normalized to initial concentration (t=0). Internal acceptance criteria for bias and total error were used...

Is low self-esteem a risk factor for depression among adolescents? an analytical study with interventional component

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jayanthi P, Rajamanickam Rajkumar

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Self – esteem is an important factor for helping persons deal with life stressors. It is an important determinant of psychological well-being that is particularly problematic during an adolescent life stage. Low self-esteem might contribute to depression through both interpersonal and intrapersonal pathways. Many theories of depression postulate that low self esteem is a defining feature of depression. Aims: Self-esteem in adolescents has been associated with a number of risk and protective factors in previous studies. This study examined the relationship between low self esteem and depression among adolescents. Methods: This study used a case control (retrospective design. Samples of 1120 adolescents, aged 14-17 years were selected for the study. Screening was done by using MINI-KID and the level of depression was assessed by using Beck depression inventory. Self esteem was measured by Rosenberg self esteem scale. Odds Ratio and Multivariate logistic regression were used to examine the relation between self-esteem and socio-demographic variables. Results: The odds ratio analysis revealed that adolescents who had low self esteem found to have 3.7 times (95% CI=1.9-6.9 and p- value 0.001 more risk of developing depression than the adolescents who had high self esteem. Conclusions: The findings implied that low self-esteem is a risk factor for depression among adolescents. Adolescents with low self esteem have to be identified earlier and prompt interventions will prevent future psychiatric illnesses. As an intervention towards the educational component pamphlet was distributed to the adolescents, parents and teachers. A concept programme called “Self Esteem Education & Development – SEED” programme, is planned for, from High school level.

Near-Term Actions to Address Long-Term Climate Risk

Science.gov (United States)

Lempert, R. J.

2014-12-01

Addressing climate change requires effective long-term policy making, which occurs when reflecting on potential events decades or more in the future causes policy makers to choose near-term actions different than those they would otherwise pursue. Contrary to some expectations, policy makers do sometimes make such long-term decisions, but not as commonly and successfully as climate change may require. In recent years however, the new capabilities of analytic decision support tools, combined with improved understanding of cognitive and organizational behaviors, has significantly improved the methods available for organizations to manage longer-term climate risks. In particular, these tools allow decision makers to understand what near-term actions consistently contribute to achieving both short- and long-term societal goals, even in the face of deep uncertainty regarding the long-term future. This talk will describe applications of these approaches for infrastructure, water, and flood risk management planning, as well as studies of how near-term choices about policy architectures can affect long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction pathways.

Analytic Moufang-transformations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paal, Eh.N.

1988-01-01

The paper is aimed to be an introduction to the concept of an analytic birepresentation of an analytic Moufang loop. To describe the deviation of (S,T) from associativity, the associators (S,T) are defined and certain constraints for them, called the minimality conditions of (S,T) are established

Quality system implementation for nuclear analytical techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

The international effort (UNIDO, ILAC, BIPM, etc.) to establish a functional infrastructure for metrology and accreditation in many developing countries needs to be complemented by assistance to implement high quality practices and high quality output by service providers and producers in the respective countries. Knowledge of how to approach QA systems that justify a formal accreditation is available in only a few countries and the dissemination of know how and development of skills is needed bottom up from the working level of laboratories and institutes. Awareness building, convincing of management, introduction of good management practices, technical expertise and good documentation will lead to the creation of a quality culture that assures a sustainability and inherent development of quality practices as a prerequisite of economic success. Quality assurance and quality control can be used as a valuable management tool and is a prerequisite for international trade and information exchange. This publication tries to assist quality managers, Laboratory Managers and staff involved in setting up a QA/QC system in a nuclear analytical laboratory to take appropriate action to start and complete the necessary steps for a successful quality system for ultimate national accreditation. This guidebook contributes to a better understanding of the basic ideas behind ISO/IEC 17025, the international standard for 'General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories'. It provides basic information and detailed explanation about the establishment of the QC system in analytical and nuclear analytical laboratories. It is a proper training material for training of trainers and makes managers with QC management and implementation familiar. This training material aims to facilitate the implementation of internationally accepted quality principles and to promote attempts by Member States' laboratories to obtain accreditation for nuclear analytical

Measuring myokines with cardiovascular functions: pre-analytical variables affecting the analytical output.

Science.gov (United States)

Lombardi, Giovanni; Sansoni, Veronica; Banfi, Giuseppe

2017-08-01

In the last few years, a growing number of molecules have been associated to an endocrine function of the skeletal muscle. Circulating myokine levels, in turn, have been associated with several pathophysiological conditions including the cardiovascular ones. However, data from different studies are often not completely comparable or even discordant. This would be due, at least in part, to the whole set of situations related to the preparation of the patient prior to blood sampling, blood sampling procedure, processing and/or store. This entire process constitutes the pre-analytical phase. The importance of the pre-analytical phase is often not considered. However, in routine diagnostics, the 70% of the errors are in this phase. Moreover, errors during the pre-analytical phase are carried over in the analytical phase and affects the final output. In research, for example, when samples are collected over a long time and by different laboratories, a standardized procedure for sample collecting and the correct procedure for sample storage are acknowledged. In this review, we discuss the pre-analytical variables potentially affecting the measurement of myokines with cardiovascular functions.

Analytic nuclear scattering theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Marzio, F.; University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC

1999-01-01

A wide range of nuclear reactions are examined in an analytical version of the usual distorted wave Born approximation. This new approach provides either semi analytic or fully analytic descriptions of the nuclear scattering processes. The resulting computational simplifications, when used within the limits of validity, allow very detailed tests of both nuclear interaction models as well as large basis models of nuclear structure to be performed

Contributions of radiochemistry and nuclear analytical techniques to society and technology: some examples of 35 years’ experience in Delft

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bode, Peter

2013-01-01

Budget cuts and the oscillating public debates on the benefits of nuclear research reactor facilities are a continuous threat to many nuclear institutions. University affiliated institutions often face additional problems if their facilities offer sufficient scientific challenge and if an education in nuclear sciences provide students a sound outlook for a professional career. Such discussions may be an excuse for non-fulfilment of vacancies and reduced priority in the academic curriculum. Universities tend to reallocate their funds to more contemporary sciences such as molecular biology and nanotechnology. Their choices are based on relevance, quality viability and productivity. Relevance is often measured on the basis of external funding of research programs as well as on career opportunities for students. However, the areas with opportunities for external funding are largely determined by socio-economic developments, sometimes even at the (inter)national political level. The thematic areas in the scientific Framework Programs of the European Union illustrate this. The relevance and viability of an expensive facility like a nuclear reactor centre can also be demonstrated by making the facilities available to provide measurements on request by outsiders. Ideally, such services should be sustainable, but even the existence may lead to consider the centre being of regional or national importance. Nuclear reactor centres have various options for such services, like production of radionuclides; neutron transmutation doping; neutron activation analysis; neutron radiography and others. This contribution gives examples of the typical analytical services provided by the Interuniversity Reactor Institute of the Delft University of Technology. This institute houses the only university research reactor in the Netherlands, a 2 MW swimming pool reactor, with associated facilities for neutron research, neutron activation and radiochemistry. Within the services provided by the

Analytical solution of electrohydrodynamic flow and transport in rectangular channels: inclusion of double layer effects

KAUST Repository

Joekar-Niasar, V.

2013-01-25

Upscaling electroosmosis in porous media is a challenge due to the complexity and scale-dependent nonlinearities of this coupled phenomenon. "Pore-network modeling" for upscaling electroosmosis from pore scale to Darcy scale can be considered as a promising approach. However, this method requires analytical solutions for flow and transport at pore scale. This study concentrates on the development of analytical solutions of flow and transport in a single rectangular channel under combined effects of electrohydrodynamic forces. These relations will be used in future works for pore-network modeling. The analytical solutions are valid for all regimes of overlapping electrical double layers and have the potential to be extended to nonlinear Boltzmann distribution. The innovative aspects of this study are (a) contribution of overlapping of electrical double layers to the Stokes flow as well as Nernst-Planck transport has been carefully included in the analytical solutions. (b) All important transport mechanisms including advection, diffusion, and electromigration have been included in the analytical solutions. (c) Fully algebraic relations developed in this study can be easily employed to upscale electroosmosis to Darcy scale using pore-network modeling. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Analytical solution of electrohydrodynamic flow and transport in rectangular channels: inclusion of double layer effects

KAUST Repository

Joekar-Niasar, V.; Schotting, R.; Leijnse, A.

2013-01-01

Upscaling electroosmosis in porous media is a challenge due to the complexity and scale-dependent nonlinearities of this coupled phenomenon. "Pore-network modeling" for upscaling electroosmosis from pore scale to Darcy scale can be considered as a promising approach. However, this method requires analytical solutions for flow and transport at pore scale. This study concentrates on the development of analytical solutions of flow and transport in a single rectangular channel under combined effects of electrohydrodynamic forces. These relations will be used in future works for pore-network modeling. The analytical solutions are valid for all regimes of overlapping electrical double layers and have the potential to be extended to nonlinear Boltzmann distribution. The innovative aspects of this study are (a) contribution of overlapping of electrical double layers to the Stokes flow as well as Nernst-Planck transport has been carefully included in the analytical solutions. (b) All important transport mechanisms including advection, diffusion, and electromigration have been included in the analytical solutions. (c) Fully algebraic relations developed in this study can be easily employed to upscale electroosmosis to Darcy scale using pore-network modeling. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Karlsruhe international conference on analytical chemistry in nuclear technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

This volume presents 218 abstracts of contributions by researchers working in the analytical chemistry field of nuclear technology. The majority of the papers deal with analysis with respect to process control in fuel reprocessing plants, fission and corrosion product characterization throughout the fuel cycle as well as studies of the chemical composition of radioactive wastes. Great interest is taken in the development and optimization of methods and instrumentation especially for in-line process control. About 3/4 of the papers have been entered into the data base separately. (RB)

Moving standard deviation and moving sum of outliers as quality tools for monitoring analytical precision.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiakai; Tan, Chin Hon; Badrick, Tony; Loh, Tze Ping

2018-02-01

An increase in analytical imprecision (expressed as CV a ) can introduce additional variability (i.e. noise) to the patient results, which poses a challenge to the optimal management of patients. Relatively little work has been done to address the need for continuous monitoring of analytical imprecision. Through numerical simulations, we describe the use of moving standard deviation (movSD) and a recently described moving sum of outlier (movSO) patient results as means for detecting increased analytical imprecision, and compare their performances against internal quality control (QC) and the average of normal (AoN) approaches. The power of detecting an increase in CV a is suboptimal under routine internal QC procedures. The AoN technique almost always had the highest average number of patient results affected before error detection (ANPed), indicating that it had generally the worst capability for detecting an increased CV a . On the other hand, the movSD and movSO approaches were able to detect an increased CV a at significantly lower ANPed, particularly for measurands that displayed a relatively small ratio of biological variation to CV a. CONCLUSION: The movSD and movSO approaches are effective in detecting an increase in CV a for high-risk measurands with small biological variation. Their performance is relatively poor when the biological variation is large. However, the clinical risks of an increase in analytical imprecision is attenuated for these measurands as an increased analytical imprecision will only add marginally to the total variation and less likely to impact on the clinical care. Copyright © 2017 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Analytic Approach to Developing Transport Threshold Models of Neoclassical Tearing Modes in Tokamaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikhailovskii, A.B.; Shirokov, M.S.; Konovalov, S.V.; Tsypin, V.S.

2005-01-01

Transport threshold models of neoclassical tearing modes in tokamaks are investigated analytically. An analysis is made of the competition between strong transverse heat transport, on the one hand, and longitudinal heat transport, longitudinal heat convection, longitudinal inertial transport, and rotational transport, on the other hand, which leads to the establishment of the perturbed temperature profile in magnetic islands. It is shown that, in all these cases, the temperature profile can be found analytically by using rigorous solutions to the heat conduction equation in the near and far regions of a chain of magnetic islands and then by matching these solutions. Analytic expressions for the temperature profile are used to calculate the contribution of the bootstrap current to the generalized Rutherford equation for the island width evolution with the aim of constructing particular transport threshold models of neoclassical tearing modes. Four transport threshold models, differing in the underlying competing mechanisms, are analyzed: collisional, convective, inertial, and rotational models. The collisional model constructed analytically is shown to coincide exactly with that calculated numerically; the reason is that the analytical temperature profile turns out to be the same as the numerical profile. The results obtained can be useful in developing the next generation of general threshold models. The first steps toward such models have already been made

The contribution of inspection to the management of risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baron, J. [Folville Consulting Inc., Ontario (Canada)

2016-01-15

Over the recent several years, the nuclear power industry has moved to designing in-service inspection programs based on plant risk analyses. This has led to significant reduction in the amount of inspections required thereby reducing the cost of the inspection process itself but, more significantly, the cost due to plant downtime. Inspection has no impact on the consequence of failure but, rather, mitigates risk through reduction in the probability of failure. In so doing, it is important to consider the reliability of inspections, how reliability may be improved through deployment of automation but consideration must also be given to human factors with respect to achieving and reporting correct results. (author)

Quo vadis, analytical chemistry?

Science.gov (United States)

Valcárcel, Miguel

2016-01-01

This paper presents an open, personal, fresh approach to the future of Analytical Chemistry in the context of the deep changes Science and Technology are anticipated to experience. Its main aim is to challenge young analytical chemists because the future of our scientific discipline is in their hands. A description of not completely accurate overall conceptions of our discipline, both past and present, to be avoided is followed by a flexible, integral definition of Analytical Chemistry and its cornerstones (viz., aims and objectives, quality trade-offs, the third basic analytical reference, the information hierarchy, social responsibility, independent research, transfer of knowledge and technology, interfaces to other scientific-technical disciplines, and well-oriented education). Obsolete paradigms, and more accurate general and specific that can be expected to provide the framework for our discipline in the coming years are described. Finally, the three possible responses of analytical chemists to the proposed changes in our discipline are discussed.

Analytic manifolds in uniform algebras

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tonev, T.V.

1988-12-01

Here we extend Bear-Hile's result concerning the version of famous Bishop's theorem for one-dimensional analytic structures in two directions: for n-dimensional complex analytic manifolds, n>1, and for generalized analytic manifolds. 14 refs

Population-based familial aggregation of eosinophilic esophagitis suggests a genetic contribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen-Brady, Kristina; Firszt, Rafael; Fang, John C; Wong, Jathine; Smith, Ken R; Peterson, Kathryn A

2017-10-01

Prior familial clustering studies have observed an increased risk of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) mostly among first-degree relatives, suggesting a genetic contribution to EoE, and twin studies have suggested a powerful contribution from environmental factors. This study sought to clarify the contribution of genetic factors to EoE through estimation of familial aggregation and risk of EoE in extended relatives. The Utah Population Database, a population-based genealogy resource linked to electronic medical records for health care systems across the state of Utah, was used to identify EoE cases and age, sex, and birthplace-matched controls at a 5:1 ratio. Logistic regression was used to determine the odds of EoE among relatives of EoE probands compared with the odds of EoE among relatives of controls. There were 4,423 EoE cases and 24,322 controls. The population-attributable risk of EoE was 31% (95% CI, 28% to 34%), suggesting a relatively strong genetic contribution. Risks of EoE were significantly increased among first-degree relatives (odds ratio [OR], 7.19; 95% CI, 5.65-9.14), particularly first-degree relatives of EoE cases diagnosed <18 years of age (OR, 16.3; 95% CI, 9.4-28.3); second-degree relatives (OR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.49-2.65); and first cousins (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.03-1.77), providing evidence of a genetic contribution. However, spouses of EoE probands were observed to be at increased risk of EoE (OR, 2.86; 95% CI, 1.31-6.25), suggesting either positive assortative mating or a shared environmental contribution to EoE. This study supports a significant genetic contribution to EoE as evidenced by increased risk of EoE in distant relatives. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Framework for pedagogical learning analytics