Triton X-100 as a complete liquid scintillation cocktail for counting aqueous solutions and ionic nutrient salts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reed, D.W.

1984-01-01

Triton X-100, used alone, was found to act as a complete liquid scintillation cocktail. Triton X-100 acted as a scintillator and the effect was not due to Cerenkov radiation. A variety of other commercially available surfactants also acted as scintillators, but with different levels of efficiency. Triton X-100/water combinations were suitable for counting aqueous solutions of 33 P and 86 Rb and the count rate was stable over extended periods of time. Triton X-100/toluene combinations also yielded high counting efficiencies. Triton X-100 was more sensitive to quenching than standard cocktails containing fluors. (author)

20 CFR 416.1124 - Unearned income we do not count.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 202(h) of the Housing Act of 1959; (15) Any interest accrued on and left to accumulate as part of the... Section 416.1124 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME FOR THE.... Some Federal laws other than the Social Security Act provide that we cannot count some of your unearned...

Administrative Challenge or Ethical Dilemma? Responding Justly when a Student with a Disability Engages in a Violent or Disruptive Act

Science.gov (United States)

Faircloth, Susan C.; Ritter, Suzanne T.; Wilson, Felicia R.

2007-01-01

This case study involves an 8-year-old American Indian student with a disability, who was videotaped assaulting another student as they exited the school bus. Although acts of school violence are common on campuses across the nation, this incident is particularly complex, given the disability status of the student committing this act. This case…

The educational orientation for modes of acting of students of the preschool race

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirtha García-Pérez

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The science like a professional institutionalized activity involves: Prolonged education, internalization of moral values, development of styles of thought and acting. From there his impact in the formation of the professional entrusted with offering the children of the babyhood according to the requests of the society, educational integral attention. It is observed in the educational reality than the behavior of the students of the race, not always you love one another with the social requirements presented to this professional in the making, that leads to the need of an educational orientation; With emphasis in the attention to the modes of professional acting of the students of the race bachelor's degree in Preschool Education, for his performance in the different spheres where they interact.

29 CFR 778.319 - Paying for but not counting hours worked.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... working time under the Act, coupled with a provision that these hours will not be counted as working time... more hours have been worked, the employee must be paid overtime compensation at not less than one and... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Paying for but not counting hours worked. 778.319 Section...

A word-count approach to analyze linguistic patterns in the reflective writings of medical students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chi-Wei Lin

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Teaching reflection and administering reflective writing assignments to students are widely practiced and discussed in medical education and health professional education. However, little is known about how medical students use language to construct their narratives. Exploring students’ linguistic patterns in their reflective writings can facilitate understanding the scope and facets of their reflections and their representational or communication approaches to share their experiences. Moreover, research findings regarding gender differences in language use are inconsistent. Therefore, we attempted to examine how females and males differ in their use of words in reflective writing within our research circumstance to detect the unique and gender-specific approaches to learning and their applications. Methods: We analyzed the linguistic profiles of psychological process categories in the reflective writings of medical students and examined the difference in word usage between male and female medical students. During the first year of a clinical rotation, 60 fifth-year medical students wrote reflective narratives regarding pediatric patients and the psychosocial challenges faced by the patients and their family members. The narratives were analyzed using the Chinese version of Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (CLIWC, a text analysis software program. Multivariate procedures were applied for statistical analysis. Results: Cognitive words were most pervasive, averaging 22.16%, whereas perceptual words (2.86% were least pervasive. Female students used more words related to positive emotions and sadness than did male students. The male students exceeded the female students only in the space category. The major limitation of this study is that CLIWC cannot directly acquire contextual text meanings; therefore, depending on the research topic, further qualitative study of the given texts might be necessary. Conclusions: To enhance students�

Acting like a physicist: Student approach study to experimental design

Science.gov (United States)

Karelina, Anna; Etkina, Eugenia

2007-12-01

National studies of science education have unanimously concluded that preparing our students for the demands of the 21st century workplace is one of the major goals. This paper describes a study of student activities in introductory college physics labs, which were designed to help students acquire abilities that are valuable in the workplace. In these labs [called Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) labs], students design their own experiments. Our previous studies have shown that students in these labs acquire scientific abilities such as the ability to design an experiment to solve a problem, the ability to collect and analyze data, the ability to evaluate assumptions and uncertainties, and the ability to communicate. These studies mostly concentrated on analyzing students’ writing, evaluated by specially designed scientific ability rubrics. Recently, we started to study whether the ISLE labs make students not only write like scientists but also engage in discussions and act like scientists while doing the labs. For example, do students plan an experiment, validate assumptions, evaluate results, and revise the experiment if necessary? A brief report of some of our findings that came from monitoring students’ activity during ISLE and nondesign labs was presented in the Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings. We found differences in student behavior and discussions that indicated that ISLE labs do in fact encourage a scientistlike approach to experimental design and promote high-quality discussions. This paper presents a full description of the study.

Acting like a physicist: Student approach study to experimental design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Karelina

2007-10-01

Full Text Available National studies of science education have unanimously concluded that preparing our students for the demands of the 21st century workplace is one of the major goals. This paper describes a study of student activities in introductory college physics labs, which were designed to help students acquire abilities that are valuable in the workplace. In these labs [called Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE labs], students design their own experiments. Our previous studies have shown that students in these labs acquire scientific abilities such as the ability to design an experiment to solve a problem, the ability to collect and analyze data, the ability to evaluate assumptions and uncertainties, and the ability to communicate. These studies mostly concentrated on analyzing students’ writing, evaluated by specially designed scientific ability rubrics. Recently, we started to study whether the ISLE labs make students not only write like scientists but also engage in discussions and act like scientists while doing the labs. For example, do students plan an experiment, validate assumptions, evaluate results, and revise the experiment if necessary? A brief report of some of our findings that came from monitoring students’ activity during ISLE and nondesign labs was presented in the Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings. We found differences in student behavior and discussions that indicated that ISLE labs do in fact encourage a scientistlike approach to experimental design and promote high-quality discussions. This paper presents a full description of the study.

The Every Student Succeeds Act: Strengthening the Focus on Educational Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Michelle D.; Winn, Kathleen M.; Reedy, Marcy A.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This article offers (a) an overview of the attention federal policy has invested in educational leadership with a primary focus on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), (b) a summary of the critical role school leaders play in achieving the goals set forth within federal educational policy, and (c) examples of how states are using the…

The Use of Peer Networks to Increase Communicative Acts of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Kamps, Debra; Mason, Rose; Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy; Feldmiller, Sarah; Turcotte, Amy; Miller, Todd

2014-01-01

Peer networks including social groups using typical peers, scripted instruction, visual text cues, and reinforcement were examined with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A multiple baseline design across four participants was used to measure students' use of communication acts with peers during free play following instruction. Peer…

17 CFR 275.203(b)(3)-2 - Methods for counting clients in certain private funds.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Methods for counting clients....203(b)(3)-2 Methods for counting clients in certain private funds. (a) For purposes of section 203(b)(3) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 80b-3(b)(3)), you must count as clients the shareholders, limited partners...

Counting and Surveying Homeless Youth: Recommendations from YouthCount 2.0!, a Community-Academic Partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

Narendorf, Sarah C; Santa Maria, Diane M; Ha, Yoonsook; Cooper, Jenna; Schieszler, Christine

2016-12-01

Communities across the United States are increasing efforts to find and count homeless youth. This paper presents findings and lessons learned from a community/academic partnership to count homeless youth and conduct an in depth research survey focused on the health needs of this population. Over a 4 week recruitment period, 632 youth were counted and 420 surveyed. Methodological successes included an extended counting period, broader inclusion criteria to capture those in unstable housing, use of student volunteers in health training programs, recruiting from magnet events for high risk youth, and partnering with community agencies to disseminate findings. Strategies that did not facilitate recruitment included respondent driven sampling, street canvassing beyond known hotspots, and having community agencies lead data collection. Surveying was successful in gathering data on reasons for homelessness, history in public systems of care, mental health history and needs, sexual risk behaviors, health status, and substance use. Youth were successfully surveyed across housing types including shelters or transitional housing (n = 205), those in unstable housing such as doubled up with friends or acquaintances (n = 75), and those who were literally on the streets or living in a place not meant for human habitation (n = 140). Most youth completed the self-report survey and provided detailed information about risk behaviors. Recommendations to combine research data collection with counting are presented.

Global Warming Responses at the Primary Secondary Interface: 1. Students' Beliefs and Willingness to Act

Science.gov (United States)

Skamp, Keith; Boyes, Eddie; Stannistreet, Martin

2009-01-01

Using survey methodology, students' beliefs, and willingness to act, about 16 specific actions related to global warming are compared across the primary secondary interface. More primary students believed in the effectiveness of most actions to reduce global warming and were willing to take those actions. In general there was a disparity between…

The Money/Counting Kit. The Prospectus Series, Paper No. 6.

Science.gov (United States)

Musumeci, Judith

The Money/Counting Kit for Handicapped Children and Youth, frees the teacher from lessons in money and counting concepts and enables a student to learn at his own rate with immediate feedback from activity cards, name cards, thermoformed coin cards (optional), and self-instructional booklets. The activity cards, which may be used individually or…

Drafting and acting on feedback supports student learning when writing essay assignments.

Science.gov (United States)

Freestone, Nicholas

2009-06-01

A diverse student population is a relatively recent feature of the higher education system in the United Kingdom. Consequently, it may be thought that more "traditional" types of assessment based around essay writing skills for science undergraduates may be of decreasing value and relevance to contemporary students. This article describes a study in which the process of feedback on, and associated redrafting of, an essay was closely supervised to improve essay writing skills and subsequent exam performance. The results of this study show that students can significantly improve their learning and academic performance, as assessed by final examination mark, by a process that more closely mimics a "real-world" situation of review and redrafting. Additionally, the data show that students benefit from feedback only when this is used appropriately by the student. The article also discusses the continuing importance and relevance of essay writing skills so that writing, and acting upon feedback to do with that writing, remains an integral part of the process of learning.

On Counting the Rational Numbers

Science.gov (United States)

Almada, Carlos

2010-01-01

In this study, we show how to construct a function from the set N of natural numbers that explicitly counts the set Q[superscript +] of all positive rational numbers using a very intuitive approach. The function has the appeal of Cantor's function and it has the advantage that any high school student can understand the main idea at a glance…

Students’ Learning Obstacles and Alternative Solution in Counting Rules Learning Levels Senior High School

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M A Jatmiko

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The counting rules is a topic in mathematics senior high school. In the learning process, teachers often find students who have difficulties in learning this topic. Knowing the characteristics of students' learning difficulties and analyzing the causes is important for the teacher, as an effort in trying to reflect the learning process and as a reference in constructing alternative learning solutions which appropriate to anticipate students’ learning obstacles. This study uses qualitative methods and involves 70 students of class XII as research subjects. The data collection techniques used in this study is diagnostic test instrument about learning difficulties in counting rules, observation, and interview. The data used to know the learning difficulties experienced by students, the causes of learning difficulties, and to develop alternative learning solutions. From the results of data analysis, the results of diagnostic tests researcher found some obstacles faced by students, such as students get confused in describing the definition, students difficulties in understanding the procedure of solving multiplication rules. Based on those problems, researcher analyzed the causes of these difficulties and make hypothetical learning trajectory as an alternative solution in counting rules learning.

Going Online to Make Learning Count

Science.gov (United States)

Brigham, Cathy; Klein-Collins, Rebecca

2011-01-01

Adult students often come to higher education with college-level learning that they have acquired outside of the classroom--from the workplace, military service, self-study, or hobbies. For decades, many forward-thinking colleges and universities have been offering services to evaluate that learning and award it college credit that counts towards…

Development of a mobile application for manual traffic counts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghanim Mohammad

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The use of technology in performing traffic counts has become widely used by many transportation agencies and private sectors. Different technologies have been employed to perform such counts, such as inductive loops, image processing, Bluetooth technologies, and laser and infrared technologies. However, the use of these advanced technologies come with extra cost to develop, install, and maintain. While the use of advanced technologies provide reliable traffic counts and vehicle classifications data, the use of manual traffic is an inevitable task. Manual traffic counts can serve different purposes, such as performing quality control or conducting short-term traffic survey. Manual traffic counts are usually conducted with the use of the traditional paper-and-pencil approach or the use of hand-held devices that are specifically developed to assess performing manual traffic counts. In this paper, the development of a mobile app that can be used to assist those who need to perform manual traffic counts. The app can be used by many public agencies, private sectors, and college students to collect their traffic data. It also provides users with the capabilities of sharing their traffic counts instantly, where traffic counts can be extracted and processed quickly by other parties.

The Effectiveness of the Creative Reversal Act (CREACT) on Students' Creative Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

Sak, Ugur; Oz, Ozge

2010-01-01

A research study using one-group pretest-posttest design was carried out on the effectiveness of the Creative Reversal Act (CREACT) on creative thinking. The CREACT is a new, teaching technique developed based on the theory of the janusian process. The research participants included 34 students who were attending 10th grade at a social studies…

29 CFR 825.105 - Counting employees for determining coverage.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... limitations of the employer-employee relationship under the Act; and that determination of the relation cannot... later return to active employment. If there is no employer/employee relationship (as when an employee is... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Counting employees for determining coverage. 825.105...

Teaching Preschoolers to Count: Effective Strategies for Achieving Early Mathematics Milestones

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobi-Vessels, Jill L.; Brown, E. Todd; Molfese, Victoria J.; Do, Ahn

2016-01-01

Attention to early childhood mathematics instructional strategies has sharpened due to the relatively poor mathematics performance of U.S. students in comparison to students from other countries and research evidence that early mathematics skills impact later achievement. Early Childhood counting skills form the foundation for subsequent…

Students as Consumers: The Implications of the Consumer Protection Act for Higher Education Institutions in South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy, K.

2012-01-01

The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) lays the basis for the protection of consumer rights in South Africa and comprehensively sets out obligations for "suppliers". There have been differing views expressed as to whether a student should be seen as a consumer. It is clear, however, that this Act applies to HEIs. This article, firstly,…

The impact of finger counting habits on arithmetic in adults and children.

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, Sharlene D; Soylu, Firat

2014-07-01

Here, we explored the impact of finger counting habits on arithmetic in both adults and children. Two groups of participants were examined, those that begin counting with their left hand (left-starters) and those that begin counting with their right hand (right-starters). For the adults, performance on an addition task in which participants added 2 two-digit numbers was compared. The results revealed that left-starters were slower than right-starters when adding and they had lower forward and backward digit-span scores. The children (aged 5-12) showed similar results on a single-digit timed addition task-right-starters outperformed left-starters. However, the children did not reveal differences in working memory or verbal and non-verbal intelligence as a function of finger counting habit. We argue that the motor act of finger counting influences how number is represented and suggest that left-starters may have a more bilateral representation that accounts for the slower processing.

Poisson regression for modeling count and frequency outcomes in trauma research.

Science.gov (United States)

Gagnon, David R; Doron-LaMarca, Susan; Bell, Margret; O'Farrell, Timothy J; Taft, Casey T

2008-10-01

The authors describe how the Poisson regression method for analyzing count or frequency outcome variables can be applied in trauma studies. The outcome of interest in trauma research may represent a count of the number of incidents of behavior occurring in a given time interval, such as acts of physical aggression or substance abuse. Traditional linear regression approaches assume a normally distributed outcome variable with equal variances over the range of predictor variables, and may not be optimal for modeling count outcomes. An application of Poisson regression is presented using data from a study of intimate partner aggression among male patients in an alcohol treatment program and their female partners. Results of Poisson regression and linear regression models are compared.

Undergraduate Students' Initial Conceptions of Factorials

Science.gov (United States)

Lockwood, Elise; Erickson, Sarah

2017-01-01

Counting problems offer rich opportunities for students to engage in mathematical thinking, but they can be difficult for students to solve. In this paper, we present a study that examines student thinking about one concept within counting, factorials, which are a key aspect of many combinatorial ideas. In an effort to better understand students'…

Diplomas Count 2013: Second Chances--Turning Dropouts into Graduates

Science.gov (United States)

Education Week, 2013

2013-01-01

The 2013 edition of "Diplomas Count," entitled "Second Chances: Turning Dropouts into Graduates," examines dropout recovery and innovative strategies for returning to the educational fold the 1 million students who leave school without a diploma each year. "Education Week's" journalists investigate interventions that…

A trial of e-simulation of sudden patient deterioration (FIRST2ACT WEB) on student learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogossian, Fiona E; Cooper, Simon J; Cant, Robyn; Porter, Joanne; Forbes, Helen

2015-10-01

High-fidelity simulation pedagogy is of increasing importance in health professional education; however, face-to-face simulation programs are resource intensive and impractical to implement across large numbers of students. To investigate undergraduate nursing students' theoretical and applied learning in response to the e-simulation program-FIRST2ACT WEBTM, and explore predictors of virtual clinical performance. Multi-center trial of FIRST2ACT WEBTM accessible to students in five Australian universities and colleges, across 8 campuses. A population of 489 final-year nursing students in programs of study leading to license to practice. Participants proceeded through three phases: (i) pre-simulation-briefing and assessment of clinical knowledge and experience; (ii) e-simulation-three interactive e-simulation clinical scenarios which included video recordings of patients with deteriorating conditions, interactive clinical tasks, pop up responses to tasks, and timed performance; and (iii) post-simulation feedback and evaluation. Descriptive statistics were followed by bivariate analysis to detect any associations, which were further tested using standard regression analysis. Of 409 students who commenced the program (83% response rate), 367 undergraduate nursing students completed the web-based program in its entirety, yielding a completion rate of 89.7%; 38.1% of students achieved passing clinical performance across three scenarios, and the proportion achieving passing clinical knowledge increased from 78.15% pre-simulation to 91.6% post-simulation. Knowledge was the main independent predictor of clinical performance in responding to a virtual deteriorating patient R(2)=0.090, F(7, 352)=4.962, plearning. The web-based e-simulation program FIRST2ACTTM effectively enhanced knowledge, virtual clinical performance, and self-assessed knowledge, skills, confidence, and competence in final-year nursing students. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of Family Perceptions of Acting White on Acculturative Stress in African American College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Keisha V.; Lightfoot, Nicole L.; Castillo, Linda G.; Hurst, Morgan L.

2010-01-01

This study examined family-oriented stressors on acculturative stress in 83 African American college students attending a predominately White university. Results showed that family pressure for participants not to acculturate, pressure to maintain ethnic group language, perception of Acting White, and acculturation level were related to higher…

Teachability of collocations: The role of word frequency counts ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... beginner/low-intermediate students and only exceed the 2 000-word band from the upper-intermediate learning stage onwards, a suggestion in line with Nation's (2006) discussion on how to teach vocabulary. Keywords: collocation size, controlled productive knowledge, teachability of collocations, word frequency counts, ...

Differences in High School and College Students' Basic Knowledge and Perceived Education of Internet Safety: Do High School Students Really Benefit from the Children's Internet Protection Act?

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Zheng

2009-01-01

The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA; 2000) requires an Internet filtering and public awareness strategy to protect children under 17 from harmful visual Internet depictions. This study compared high school students who went online with the CIPA restriction and college students who went online without the restriction in order to…

Compton suppression gamma-counting: The effect of count rate

Science.gov (United States)

Millard, H.T.

1984-01-01

Past research has shown that anti-coincidence shielded Ge(Li) spectrometers enhanced the signal-to-background ratios for gamma-photopeaks, which are situated on high Compton backgrounds. Ordinarily, an anti- or non-coincidence spectrum (A) and a coincidence spectrum (C) are collected simultaneously with these systems. To be useful in neutron activation analysis (NAA), the fractions of the photopeak counts routed to the two spectra must be constant from sample to sample to variations must be corrected quantitatively. Most Compton suppression counting has been done at low count rate, but in NAA applications, count rates may be much higher. To operate over the wider dynamic range, the effect of count rate on the ratio of the photopeak counts in the two spectra (A/C) was studied. It was found that as the count rate increases, A/C decreases for gammas not coincident with other gammas from the same decay. For gammas coincident with other gammas, A/C increases to a maximum and then decreases. These results suggest that calibration curves are required to correct photopeak areas so quantitative data can be obtained at higher count rates. ?? 1984.

EcoCount

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Phillip P. Allen

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Techniques that analyze biological remains from sediment sequences for environmental reconstructions are well established and widely used. Yet, identifying, counting, and recording biological evidence such as pollen grains remain a highly skilled, demanding, and time-consuming task. Standard procedure requires the classification and recording of between 300 and 500 pollen grains from each representative sample. Recording the data from a pollen count requires significant effort and focused resources from the palynologist. However, when an adaptation to the recording procedure is utilized, efficiency and time economy improve. We describe EcoCount, which represents a development in environmental data recording procedure. EcoCount is a voice activated fully customizable digital count sheet that allows the investigator to continuously interact with a field of view during the data recording. Continuous viewing allows the palynologist the opportunity to remain engaged with the essential task, identification, for longer, making pollen counting more efficient and economical. EcoCount is a versatile software package that can be used to record a variety of environmental evidence and can be installed onto different computer platforms, making the adoption by users and laboratories simple and inexpensive. The user-friendly format of EcoCount allows any novice to be competent and functional in a very short time.

Making the Most of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Helping States Focus on School Equity, Quality and Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Penuel, William; Meyer, Elizabeth; Valladares, Michelle Renée

2016-01-01

Staff in State Departments of Education are diligently reviewing and revising their state accountability systems to meet the new requirements and opportunities of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA is the latest reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the primary federal bill guiding K-12 education policy. As a…

RBC count

Science.gov (United States)

... by kidney disease) RBC destruction ( hemolysis ) due to transfusion, blood vessel injury, or other cause Leukemia Malnutrition Bone ... slight risk any time the skin is broken) Alternative Names Erythrocyte count; Red blood cell count; Anemia - RBC count Images Blood test ...

Sperm counts may have declined in young university students in Southern Spain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mendiola, Jaime; Jørgensen, Niels; Mínguez-Alarcón, Lidia

2013-01-01

Several studies have investigated temporal trends in semen quality in Northern Europe, but none has examined this question in Southern Europe. A prior study conducted in Almeria Province (Southern Spain) reported higher sperm count and concentration among Spanish young men recruited from 2001......, Body mass index (BMI), presence of varicocoele and prenatal exposure to tobacco) to look for a birth-cohort effect over the combined study period (2001-2011). Sperm concentration and total sperm count declined significantly with year of birth in the pooled analysis (β = -0.04 and β = -0...

Negative pragmatic transfer in Chinese students' complimentary speech acts.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Juanjuan; Gao, Xiaofang

2012-02-01

Summary.-This study was designed to examine negative pragmatic transfer of the speech act of English compliments by Chinese who learn English as a foreign language and to estimate the correlation between the amount of negative pragmatic transfer and English proficiency of the Chinese learners. Frequencies of students' performance showed that both in the favored compliments and the response strategies, differences were evident between Chinese English learners and native English speakers. This indicated that Chinese learners had trouble with the "slang" or "idioms" of the target language and tended to transfer negatively their L1 pragmatic norms to their L2 communication. Moreover, the favored compliment response strategies used by two groups of Chinese learners--who had different levels of English proficiency--differed, and negative pragmatic transfer decreased as proficiency in English increased.

The Politics of Policy in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act: Setting the Agenda for Students Experiencing Homelessness

Science.gov (United States)

Pavlakis, Alexandra E.; Duffield, Barbara

2017-01-01

While most of the press around the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has focused on how it signals an end to No Child Left Behind, the implications of ESSA for students experiencing homelessness have been largely overlooked. Garnering organizational insights from Kingdon's (Agendas, alternatives, and public policies, Pearson, Glenviiew, 2011)…

Developing a Teacher Evaluation Instrument to Provide Formative Feedback Using Student Ratings of Teaching Acts

Science.gov (United States)

van der Lans, Rikkert M.; van de Grift, Wim J. C. M.; van Veen, Klaas

2015-01-01

This study reports on the development of a teacher evaluation instrument, based on students' observations, which exhibits cumulative ordering in terms of the complexity of teaching acts. The study integrates theory on teacher development with theory on teacher effectiveness and applies a cross-validation procedure to verify whether teaching acts…

Comparing distribution models for small samples of overdispersed counts of freshwater fish

Science.gov (United States)

Vaudor, Lise; Lamouroux, Nicolas; Olivier, Jean-Michel

2011-05-01

The study of species abundance often relies on repeated abundance counts whose number is limited by logistic or financial constraints. The distribution of abundance counts is generally right-skewed (i.e. with many zeros and few high values) and needs to be modelled for statistical inference. We used an extensive dataset involving about 100,000 fish individuals of 12 freshwater fish species collected in electrofishing points (7 m 2) during 350 field surveys made in 25 stream sites, in order to compare the performance and the generality of four distribution models of counts (Poisson, negative binomial and their zero-inflated counterparts). The negative binomial distribution was the best model (Bayesian Information Criterion) for 58% of the samples (species-survey combinations) and was suitable for a variety of life histories, habitat, and sample characteristics. The performance of the models was closely related to samples' statistics such as total abundance and variance. Finally, we illustrated the consequences of a distribution assumption by calculating confidence intervals around the mean abundance, either based on the most suitable distribution assumption or on an asymptotical, distribution-free (Student's) method. Student's method generally corresponded to narrower confidence intervals, especially when there were few (≤3) non-null counts in the samples.

Counting statistics in low level radioactivity measurements fluctuating counting efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pazdur, M.F.

1976-01-01

A divergence between the probability distribution of the number of nuclear disintegrations and the number of observed counts, caused by counting efficiency fluctuation, is discussed. The negative binominal distribution is proposed to describe the probability distribution of the number of counts, instead of Poisson distribution, which is assumed to hold for the number of nuclear disintegrations only. From actual measurements the r.m.s. amplitude of counting efficiency fluctuation is estimated. Some consequences of counting efficiency fluctuation are investigated and the corresponding formulae are derived: (1) for detection limit as a function of the number of partial measurements and the relative amplitude of counting efficiency fluctuation, and (2) for optimum allocation of the number of partial measurements between sample and background. (author)

Homeless High School Students in America: Who Counts?

Science.gov (United States)

Cumming, John M.; Gloeckner, Gene W.

2012-01-01

After interviewing homeless high school students, the research team in a Colorado school district discovered that many students had not revealed their true living conditions (homelessness) to anyone in the school district. This research team developed an anonymous survey written around the homeless categories identified in the McKinney-Vento…

Determining random counts in liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horrocks, D.L.

1979-01-01

During measurements involving coincidence counting techniques, errors can arise due to the detection of chance or random coincidences in the multiple detectors used. A method and the electronic circuits necessary are here described for eliminating this source of error in liquid scintillation detectors used in coincidence counting. (UK)

Radiation counting statistics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suh, M. Y.; Jee, K. Y.; Park, K. K.; Park, Y. J.; Kim, W. H

1999-08-01

This report is intended to describe the statistical methods necessary to design and conduct radiation counting experiments and evaluate the data from the experiment. The methods are described for the evaluation of the stability of a counting system and the estimation of the precision of counting data by application of probability distribution models. The methods for the determination of the uncertainty of the results calculated from the number of counts, as well as various statistical methods for the reduction of counting error are also described. (Author). 11 refs., 8 tabs., 8 figs.

Radiation counting statistics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suh, M. Y.; Jee, K. Y.; Park, K. K. [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea)

1999-08-01

This report is intended to describe the statistical methods necessary to design and conduct radiation counting experiments and evaluate the data from the experiments. The methods are described for the evaluation of the stability of a counting system and the estimation of the precision of counting data by application of probability distribution models. The methods for the determination of the uncertainty of the results calculated from the number of counts, as well as various statistical methods for the reduction of counting error are also described. 11 refs., 6 figs., 8 tabs. (Author)

Radiation counting statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suh, M. Y.; Jee, K. Y.; Park, K. K.; Park, Y. J.; Kim, W. H.

1999-08-01

This report is intended to describe the statistical methods necessary to design and conduct radiation counting experiments and evaluate the data from the experiment. The methods are described for the evaluation of the stability of a counting system and the estimation of the precision of counting data by application of probability distribution models. The methods for the determination of the uncertainty of the results calculated from the number of counts, as well as various statistical methods for the reduction of counting error are also described. (Author). 11 refs., 8 tabs., 8 figs

Tower counts

Science.gov (United States)

Woody, Carol Ann; Johnson, D.H.; Shrier, Brianna M.; O'Neal, Jennifer S.; Knutzen, John A.; Augerot, Xanthippe; O'Neal, Thomas A.; Pearsons, Todd N.

2007-01-01

Counting towers provide an accurate, low-cost, low-maintenance, low-technology, and easily mobilized escapement estimation program compared to other methods (e.g., weirs, hydroacoustics, mark-recapture, and aerial surveys) (Thompson 1962; Siebel 1967; Cousens et al. 1982; Symons and Waldichuk 1984; Anderson 2000; Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2003). Counting tower data has been found to be consistent with that of digital video counts (Edwards 2005). Counting towers do not interfere with natural fish migration patterns, nor are fish handled or stressed; however, their use is generally limited to clear rivers that meet specific site selection criteria. The data provided by counting tower sampling allow fishery managers to determine reproductive population size, estimate total return (escapement + catch) and its uncertainty, evaluate population productivity and trends, set harvest rates, determine spawning escapement goals, and forecast future returns (Alaska Department of Fish and Game 1974-2000 and 1975-2004). The number of spawning fish is determined by subtracting subsistence, sport-caught fish, and prespawn mortality from the total estimated escapement. The methods outlined in this protocol for tower counts can be used to provide reasonable estimates ( plus or minus 6%-10%) of reproductive salmon population size and run timing in clear rivers. 

Undocumented & Unafraid: The DREAM Act 5 and the Public Disclosure of Undocumented Status as a Political Act

Science.gov (United States)

Galindo, Rene

2012-01-01

In 2010, the political advocacy of undocumented immigrant students in support of the DREAM Act took a new and decisive direction when the public disclosure of undocumented status as political act was adopted. This new political strategy included the first case of civil disobedience practiced by a group of undocumented immigrant students now known…

Kids Count: The State of the Child in Tennessee, 1994.

Science.gov (United States)

Tennessee State Commission on Children and Youth, Nashville.

This Kids Count report examines trends in the well being of Tennessee's children. The statistical portrait is based on 23 indicators of child well being: (1) single-parent families; (2) family income/poverty; (3) children receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children; (4) students participating in school nutrition programs; (5) teen…

Counting carbohydrates

Science.gov (United States)

Carb counting; Carbohydrate-controlled diet; Diabetic diet; Diabetes-counting carbohydrates ... Many foods contain carbohydrates (carbs), including: Fruit and fruit juice Cereal, bread, pasta, and rice Milk and milk products, soy milk Beans, legumes, ...

Renewable and Nuclear Energy: an International Study of Students' Beliefs About, and Willingness to Act, in Relation to Two Energy Production Scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Skamp, Keith; Boyes, Eddie; Stanisstreet, Martin; Rodriguez, Manuel; Malandrakis, Georgios; Fortner, Rosanne; Kilinc, Ahmet; Taylor, Neil; Chhokar, Kiran; Dua, Shweta; Ambusaidi, Abdullah; Cheong, Irene; Kim, Mijung; Yoon, Hye-Gyoung

2017-07-01

Renewable and nuclear energy are two plausible alternatives to fossil fuel-based energy production. This study reports students' beliefs about the usefulness of these two options in reducing global warming and their willingness to undertake actions that would encourage their uptake. Using a specially designed questionnaire, students' (n > 12,000; grades 6 to 10) responses were obtained from 11 countries. Links between their beliefs about these energy options and their willingness to act were quantified using a range of novel derived indices: significant differences between beliefs and willingness to act were found across the various counties. One derived index, the Potential Effectiveness of Education, measures the extent to which enhancing a person's belief in the effectiveness of an action might increase their willingness to undertake that action: this indicated that education may impact willingness to act in some countries more than others. Interpretations are proffered for the reported differences between countries including whether the extent of students' concern about global warming had impacted their decisions and whether cultural attributes had any influence. Pedagogical ways forward are related to the findings.

Repeatability of differential goat bulk milk culture and associations with somatic cell count, total bacterial count, and standard plate count

OpenAIRE

Koop, G.; Dik, N.; Nielen, M.; Lipman, L.J.A.

2010-01-01

The aims of this study were to assess how different bacterial groups in bulk milk are related to bulk milk somatic cell count (SCC), bulk milk total bacterial count (TBC), and bulk milk standard plate count (SPC) and to measure the repeatability of bulk milk culturing. On 53 Dutch dairy goat farms, 3 bulk milk samples were collected at intervals of 2 wk. The samples were cultured for SPC, coliform count, and staphylococcal count and for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, SCC ...

Students Serving Christ: Understanding the Role of Student Subcultures on a College Campus

Science.gov (United States)

Magolda, Peter; Ebben, Kelsey

2007-01-01

This article uses the Students Serving Christ student organization to examine the role of student subcultures in higher education. Using subculture theories, this article examines the origins of student subcultures, explores how subcultures are formed and sustained, reveals what counts as normal within and among student subcultures, investigates…

Making fingers and words count in a cognitive robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vivian Milagros De La Cruz

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Evidence from developmental as well as neuroscientific studies suggest that finger counting activity plays an important role in the acquisition of numerical skills in children. It has been claimed that this skill helps in building motor-based representations of number that continue to influence number processing well into adulthood, facilitating the emergence of number concepts from sensorimotor experience through a bottom-up process. The act of counting also involves the acquisition and use of a verbal number system of which number words are the basic building blocks. Using a Cognitive Developmental Robotics paradigm we present results of a modeling experiment on whether finger counting and the association of number words (or tags to fingers, could serve to bootstrap the representation of number in a cognitive robot, enabling it to perform basic numerical operations such as addition. The cognitive architecture of the robot is based on artificial neural networks, which enable the robot to learn both sensorimotor skills (finger counting and linguistic skills (using number words. The results obtained in our experiments show that learning the number words in sequence along with finger configurations helps the fast building of the initial representation of number in the robot. Number knowledge, is instead, not as efficiently developed when number words are learned out of sequence without finger counting. Furthermore, the internal representations of the finger configurations themselves, developed by the robot as a result of the experiments, sustain the execution of basic arithmetic operations, something consistent with evidence coming from developmental research with children. The model and experiments demonstrate the importance of sensorimotor skill learning in robots for the acquisition of abstract knowledge such as numbers.

Standardization of 241Am by digital coincidence counting, liquid scintillation counting and defined solid angle counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balpardo, C.; Capoulat, M.E.; Rodrigues, D.; Arenillas, P.

2010-01-01

The nuclide 241 Am decays by alpha emission to 237 Np. Most of the decays (84.6%) populate the excited level of 237 Np with energy of 59.54 keV. Digital coincidence counting was applied to standardize a solution of 241 Am by alpha-gamma coincidence counting with efficiency extrapolation. Electronic discrimination was implemented with a pressurized proportional counter and the results were compared with two other independent techniques: Liquid scintillation counting using the logical sum of double coincidences in a TDCR array and defined solid angle counting taking into account activity inhomogeneity in the active deposit. The results show consistency between the three methods within a limit of a 0.3%. An ampoule of this solution will be sent to the International Reference System (SIR) during 2009. Uncertainties were analysed and compared in detail for the three applied methods.

Feelings Count: Conceptualizing and Measuring Students' Happiness in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Huebner, Scott

2010-01-01

The importance of positive subjective well-being (SWB) is supported by the wide-ranging network of relations between students' SWB and crucial school processes and outcomes, such as positive student engagement behavior, interpersonal relationships, coping skills, and academic achievement. Some studies have revealed that not only is positive SWB a…

20 CFR 416.1112 - Earned income we do not count.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... AGED, BLIND, AND DISABLED Income Earned Income § 416.1112 Earned income we do not count. (a) General... receive it. (3) If you are under age 22 and a student who is regularly attending school as described in... not blind) and under age 65 or you are disabled (but not blind) and received SSI as a disabled...

Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford Count Rumford on the nature of heat

CERN Document Server

Brown, Sanborn C

1967-01-01

Men of Physics: Benjamin Thompson - Count Rumford: Count Rumford on the Nature of Heat covers the significant contributions of Count Rumford in the fields of physics. Count Rumford was born with the name Benjamin Thompson on March 23, 1753, in Woburn, Massachusetts. This book is composed of two parts encompassing 11 chapters, and begins with a presentation of Benjamin Thompson's biography and his interest in physics, particularly as an advocate of an """"anti-caloric"""" theory of heat. The subsequent chapters are devoted to his many discoveries that profoundly affected the physical thought

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Counting Pizza Toppings: A Creative Writing Learning Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchan, Laura; And Others

1996-01-01

This article describes the application of a proofreading mnemonic learning strategy for proofreading creative writing assignments. The mnemonic--Ninja Turtles Counting Pizza Toppings--reminds students to check their work for name, title, capitalization, punctuation, and transition words. Application of the strategy, possible pitfalls, and…

Student Loan Marketing Association Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1991. 102d Congress, 1st Session. Report To Accompany S. 1915.

Science.gov (United States)

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

This document is a favorable report to the U.S. Senate on a bill that provides for the financial security of the Student Loan Marketing Association, an act which amends the Higher Education Act of 1965. The report urges the passage of this bill which sets forth various capital levels that safeguard the government from the possibility of loss…

Counting cormorants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bregnballe, Thomas; Carss, David N; Lorentsen, Svein-Håkon

2013-01-01

This chapter focuses on Cormorant population counts for both summer (i.e. breeding) and winter (i.e. migration, winter roosts) seasons. It also explains differences in the data collected from undertaking ‘day’ versus ‘roost’ counts, gives some definitions of the term ‘numbers’, and presents two...

Short communication: Repeatability of differential goat bulk milk culture and associations with somatic cell count, total bacterial count, and standard plate count.

Science.gov (United States)

Koop, G; Dik, N; Nielen, M; Lipman, L J A

2010-06-01

The aims of this study were to assess how different bacterial groups in bulk milk are related to bulk milk somatic cell count (SCC), bulk milk total bacterial count (TBC), and bulk milk standard plate count (SPC) and to measure the repeatability of bulk milk culturing. On 53 Dutch dairy goat farms, 3 bulk milk samples were collected at intervals of 2 wk. The samples were cultured for SPC, coliform count, and staphylococcal count and for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, SCC (Fossomatic 5000, Foss, Hillerød, Denmark) and TBC (BactoScan FC 150, Foss) were measured. Staphylococcal count was correlated to SCC (r=0.40), TBC (r=0.51), and SPC (r=0.53). Coliform count was correlated to TBC (r=0.33), but not to any of the other variables. Staphylococcus aureus did not correlate to SCC. The contribution of the staphylococcal count to the SPC was 31%, whereas the coliform count comprised only 1% of the SPC. The agreement of the repeated measurements was low. This study indicates that staphylococci in goat bulk milk are related to SCC and make a significant contribution to SPC. Because of the high variation in bacterial counts, repeated sampling is necessary to draw valid conclusions from bulk milk culturing. 2010 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of the carbohydrate counting method on glycemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dias Viviane M

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The importance of achieving and maintaining an appropriate metabolic control in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1 has been established in many studies aiming to prevent the development of chronic complications. The carbohydrate counting method can be recommended as an additional tool in the nutritional treatment of diabetes, allowing patients with DM1 to have more flexible food choices. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of nutrition intervention and the use of multiple short-acting insulin according to the carbohydrate counting method on clinical and metabolic control in patients with DM1. Methods Our sample consisted of 51 patients with DM1, 32 females, aged 25.3 ± 1.55 years. A protocol of nutritional status evaluation was applied and laboratory analysis was performed at baseline and after a three-month intervention. After the analysis of the food records, a balanced diet was prescribed using the carbohydrate counting method, and short-acting insulin was prescribed based on the total amount of carbohydrate per meal (1 unit per 15 g of carbohydrate. Results A significant decrease in A1c levels was observed from baseline to the three-month evaluation after the intervention (10.40 ± 0.33% and 9.52 ± 0.32%, respectively, p = 0.000. It was observed an increase in daily insulin dose after the intervention (0.99 ± 0.65 IU/Kg and 1.05 ± 0.05 IU/Kg, respectively, p = 0.003. No significant differences were found regarding anthropometric evaluation (BMI, waist, hip or abdominal circumferences and waist to hip ratio after the intervention period. Conclusions The use of short-acting insulin based on the carbohydrate counting method after a short period of time resulted in a significant improvement of the glycemic control in patients with DM1 with no changes in body weight despite increases in the total daily insulin doses.

Repeatability of differential goat bulk milk culture and associations with somatic cell count, total bacterial count, and standard plate count

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koop, G.; Dik, N.; Nielen, M.; Lipman, L.J.A.

2010-01-01

The aims of this study were to assess how different bacterial groups in bulk milk are related to bulk milk somatic cell count (SCC), bulk milk total bacterial count (TBC), and bulk milk standard plate count (SPC) and to measure the repeatability of bulk milk culturing. On 53 Dutch dairy goat farms,

Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992. Report To Accompany S. 1216 of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 102D Congress, 2d Session.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Jack

This congressional report describes and analyzes the federal Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (S. 1216). This act provides for the adjustment of status under the Immigration and Nationality Act of certain nationals of the People's Republic of China until conditions permit their return in safety to China. An opening section presents the text…

Standardization of {sup 241}Am by digital coincidence counting, liquid scintillation counting and defined solid angle counting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Balpardo, C., E-mail: balpardo@cae.cnea.gov.a [Laboratorio de Metrologia de Radioisotopos, CNEA, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Capoulat, M.E.; Rodrigues, D.; Arenillas, P. [Laboratorio de Metrologia de Radioisotopos, CNEA, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

2010-07-15

The nuclide {sup 241}Am decays by alpha emission to {sup 237}Np. Most of the decays (84.6%) populate the excited level of {sup 237}Np with energy of 59.54 keV. Digital coincidence counting was applied to standardize a solution of {sup 241}Am by alpha-gamma coincidence counting with efficiency extrapolation. Electronic discrimination was implemented with a pressurized proportional counter and the results were compared with two other independent techniques: Liquid scintillation counting using the logical sum of double coincidences in a TDCR array and defined solid angle counting taking into account activity inhomogeneity in the active deposit. The results show consistency between the three methods within a limit of a 0.3%. An ampoule of this solution will be sent to the International Reference System (SIR) during 2009. Uncertainties were analysed and compared in detail for the three applied methods.

ACT: A Benchmark for College Readiness, 2007-2011

Science.gov (United States)

Uzzell, Renata; Lewis, Sharon; Simon, Candace; Palacios, Moses; Guzman, Amilcar; Casserly, Michael

2012-01-01

This report was prepared by the Council of Great City Schools in collaboration with ACT to collect and analyze urban student performance between 2007 and 2011 and to examine student achievement by race and gender. Following is a summary of the study's findings: (1) The total number of ACT test takers increased both nationally and in CGCS districts…

Salivary cariogenic bacteria counts are associated with obesity in student women at a Malaysian university.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeo, Wey-Zheng; Lim, Sheng-Pei; Say, Yee-How

2018-01-01

The counts of cariogenic bacteria lactobacilli and mutans streptococci have been studied and correlated with sugar intake. This study was to investigate the association between salivary lactobacilli and mutans streptococci counts with sweet food eating behavior and sweet sensitivity among 120 Malaysian women (101 ethnic Chinese, 19 ethnic Indians), while taking into account anthropometric and menstruation variables. Demographics, anthropometric measurements and menstrual history were taken. Hedonic preference, intake frequency of a list of sweet foods, intensity perception and pleasantness ratings of sweet stimuli were assessed. Saliva was collected for lactobacilli and mutans streptococci culture. We found that centrally obese subjects (high waist circumference and waist-hip ratio) had significantly higher salivary lactobacilli and mutans streptococci counts (all pMalaysian women are associated with central obesity, but not sweet food eating behaviour, sweet sensitivity and menstruation variables. Salivary microbiome analysis could be useful as a potential diagnostic indicator of diseases such as obesity.

Clean Hands Count

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Starting Points and Pathways in Aboriginal Students' Learning of Number: Recognising Different World Views

Science.gov (United States)

Treacy, Kaye; Frid, Sandra; Jacob, Lorraine

2015-01-01

This research was designed to investigate the conceptualisations and thinking strategies Indigenous Australian students use in counting tasks. Eighteen Aboriginal students, in years 1 to 11 at a remote community school, were interviewed using standard counting tasks and a "counting" task that involved fetching "maku" (witchetty…

Noun Countability; Count Nouns and Non-count Nouns, What are the Syntactic Differences Between them?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azhar A. Alkazwini

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Words that function as the subjects of verbs, objects of verbs or prepositions and which can have a plural form and possessive ending are known as nouns. They are described as referring to persons, places, things, states, or qualities and might also be used as an attributive modifier. In this paper, classes and subclasses of nouns shall be presented, then, noun countability branching into count and non-count nous shall be discussed. A number of present examples illustrating differences between count and non-count nouns and this includes determiner-head-co-occurrence restrictions of number, subject-verb agreement, in addition to some exceptions to this agreement rule shall be discussed. Also, the lexically inherent number in nouns and how inherently plural nouns are classified in terms of (+/- count are illustrated. This research will discuss partitive construction of count and non-count nouns, nouns as attributive modifier and, finally, conclude with the fact that there are syntactic difference between count and non-count in the English Language.

Online Challenge versus Offline ACT

Science.gov (United States)

Peckham, Irvin

2010-01-01

This article compares essays written in response to the ACT Essay prompt and a locally developed prompt used for placement. The two writing situations differ by time and genre: the ACT Essay is timed and argumentative; the locally developed is untimed and explanatory. The article analyzes the differences in student performance and predictive…

Clean Hands Count

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... starting stop Loading... Watch Queue Queue __count__/__total__ It’s YouTube. Uninterrupted. Loading... Want music and videos with ... ads? Get YouTube Red. Working... Not now Try it free Find out why Close Clean Hands Count ...

Starting points and pathways in Aboriginal students' learning of number: recognising different world views

Science.gov (United States)

Treacy, Kaye; Frid, Sandra; Jacob, Lorraine

2015-09-01

This research was designed to investigate the conceptualisations and thinking strategies Indigenous Australian students use in counting tasks. Eighteen Aboriginal students, in years 1 to 11 at a remote community school, were interviewed using standard counting tasks and a `counting' task that involved fetching `maku' (witchetty grubs) to have enough to give a maku to each person in a picture. The tasks were developed with, and the interviews conducted by, an Aboriginal research assistant, to ensure appropriate cultural and language contexts. A main finding was that most of the students did not see the need to use counting to make equivalent sets, even though they were able to demonstrate standard counting skills. The findings highlight a need to further examine the world views, orientations and related mathematical concepts and processes that Indigenous students bring to school.

Telomeres and replicative senescence: Is it only length that counts?

Science.gov (United States)

von Zglinicki, T

2001-07-26

Telomeres are well established as a major 'replicometer', counting the population doublings in primary human cell cultures and ultimately triggering replicative senescence. However, neither is the pace of this biological clock inert, nor is there a fixed threshold telomere length acting as the universal trigger of replicative senescence. The available data suggest that opening of the telomeric loop and unscheduled exposure of the single-stranded G-rich telomeric overhang might act like a semaphore to signal senescent cell cycle arrest. Short telomere length, telomeric single-strand breaks, low levels of loop-stabilizing proteins, or other factors may trigger this opening of the loop. Thus, both telomere shortening and the ultimate signalling into senescence are able to integrate different environmental and genetic factors, especially oxidative stress-mediated damage, which might otherwise become a thread to genomic stability.

Count-to-count time interval distribution analysis in a fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez-Navarro Gomez, A.

1973-01-01

The most important kinetic parameters have been measured at the zero power fast reactor CORAL-I by means of the reactor noise analysis in the time domain, using measurements of the count-to-count time intervals. (Author) 69 refs

Voice of the Researcher: Extending the Limits of What Counts as Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen John Quaye

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Social sciences research is entrenched with particular values, beliefs, norms, and practices that students, faculty, and researchers reproduce over time. In this article, the author argues for extending what counts as research within the social sciences to be more inclusive of differing methodologies and writing genres. Using personal narrative, diaries, and poetry, the author demonstrates unconventional ways of thinking about, doing, and writing research. He situates his personal experiences as a Ghanaian/American student within relevant literature to illuminate the merging of his home cultural values with those of the academic community and the contradictions and struggles associated with this process. Ultimately, the story portrays the journey of a graduate student as he challenges traditional research norms to open up spaces for underrepresented students to feel more at home within academe.

Determination of plutonium-241 by liquid scintillation counting method and its application to environmental samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, Miki; Amano, Hikaru

1997-03-01

Radionuclides are usually measured by gross counting mode in liquid scintillator counting (LSC) which measures both α and β pulses. This method can easily measure radioactivities, but its background counting is high. Recently reported α-β pulse shape discrimination method (α-β PSD method) in LSC which distinguishes α pulses from β pulses, shows low background counting, so it makes the detection limit lower. The aim of this research is to develop the best method for the determination of 241 Pu which is β-emitter, and Pu isotopes of α-emitters which have long half-lives and stay long in animal body. In this research, two LSC machines was carried out in different scintillators, vial volumes, measurement modes and so on. The following things were found. 1. The liquid scintillator based on naphthalene is proved to be the best separator of α-ray from β-ray, because it acts quickly in energy translation procedure between solvent and aromatic compounds. 2. α-β PSD method makes the background counting rate ten times lower than usual method. It makes the measurement performance better. 3. It is possible to determine 241 Pu in environmental samples around Chernobyl by the combination of LSC and radiochemical separation methods. (author)

The effect of volume and quenching on estimation of counting efficiencies in liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knoche, H.W.; Parkhurst, A.M.; Tam, S.W.

1979-01-01

The effect of volume on the liquid scintillation counting performance of 14 C-samples has been investigated. A decrease in counting efficiency was observed for samples with volumes below about 6 ml and those above about 18 ml when unquenched samples were assayed. Two quench-correction methods, sample channels ratio and external standard channels ratio, and three different liquid scintillation counters, were used in an investigation to determine the magnitude of the error in predicting counting efficiencies when small volume samples (2 ml) with different levels of quenching were assayed. The 2 ml samples exhibited slightly greater standard deviations of the difference between predicted and determined counting efficiencies than did 15 ml samples. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the errors indicate that if the sample channels ratio method of quench correction is employed, 2 ml samples may be counted in conventional counting vials with little loss in counting precision. (author)

TasselNet: counting maize tassels in the wild via local counts regression network.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Hao; Cao, Zhiguo; Xiao, Yang; Zhuang, Bohan; Shen, Chunhua

2017-01-01

Accurately counting maize tassels is important for monitoring the growth status of maize plants. This tedious task, however, is still mainly done by manual efforts. In the context of modern plant phenotyping, automating this task is required to meet the need of large-scale analysis of genotype and phenotype. In recent years, computer vision technologies have experienced a significant breakthrough due to the emergence of large-scale datasets and increased computational resources. Naturally image-based approaches have also received much attention in plant-related studies. Yet a fact is that most image-based systems for plant phenotyping are deployed under controlled laboratory environment. When transferring the application scenario to unconstrained in-field conditions, intrinsic and extrinsic variations in the wild pose great challenges for accurate counting of maize tassels, which goes beyond the ability of conventional image processing techniques. This calls for further robust computer vision approaches to address in-field variations. This paper studies the in-field counting problem of maize tassels. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a plant-related counting problem is considered using computer vision technologies under unconstrained field-based environment. With 361 field images collected in four experimental fields across China between 2010 and 2015 and corresponding manually-labelled dotted annotations, a novel Maize Tassels Counting ( MTC ) dataset is created and will be released with this paper. To alleviate the in-field challenges, a deep convolutional neural network-based approach termed TasselNet is proposed. TasselNet can achieve good adaptability to in-field variations via modelling the local visual characteristics of field images and regressing the local counts of maize tassels. Extensive results on the MTC dataset demonstrate that TasselNet outperforms other state-of-the-art approaches by large margins and achieves the overall best counting

TasselNet: counting maize tassels in the wild via local counts regression network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Lu

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurately counting maize tassels is important for monitoring the growth status of maize plants. This tedious task, however, is still mainly done by manual efforts. In the context of modern plant phenotyping, automating this task is required to meet the need of large-scale analysis of genotype and phenotype. In recent years, computer vision technologies have experienced a significant breakthrough due to the emergence of large-scale datasets and increased computational resources. Naturally image-based approaches have also received much attention in plant-related studies. Yet a fact is that most image-based systems for plant phenotyping are deployed under controlled laboratory environment. When transferring the application scenario to unconstrained in-field conditions, intrinsic and extrinsic variations in the wild pose great challenges for accurate counting of maize tassels, which goes beyond the ability of conventional image processing techniques. This calls for further robust computer vision approaches to address in-field variations. Results This paper studies the in-field counting problem of maize tassels. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a plant-related counting problem is considered using computer vision technologies under unconstrained field-based environment. With 361 field images collected in four experimental fields across China between 2010 and 2015 and corresponding manually-labelled dotted annotations, a novel Maize Tassels Counting (MTC dataset is created and will be released with this paper. To alleviate the in-field challenges, a deep convolutional neural network-based approach termed TasselNet is proposed. TasselNet can achieve good adaptability to in-field variations via modelling the local visual characteristics of field images and regressing the local counts of maize tassels. Extensive results on the MTC dataset demonstrate that TasselNet outperforms other state-of-the-art approaches by large

Isospectral discrete and quantum graphs with the same flip counts and nodal counts

Science.gov (United States)

Juul, Jonas S.; Joyner, Christopher H.

2018-06-01

The existence of non-isomorphic graphs which share the same Laplace spectrum (to be referred to as isospectral graphs) leads naturally to the following question: what additional information is required in order to resolve isospectral graphs? It was suggested by Band, Shapira and Smilansky that this might be achieved by either counting the number of nodal domains or the number of times the eigenfunctions change sign (the so-called flip count) (Band et al 2006 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 39 13999–4014 Band and Smilansky 2007 Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 145 171–9). Recent examples of (discrete) isospectral graphs with the same flip count and nodal count have been constructed by Ammann by utilising Godsil–McKay switching (Ammann private communication). Here, we provide a simple alternative mechanism that produces systematic examples of both discrete and quantum isospectral graphs with the same flip and nodal counts.

Counting It Twice.

Science.gov (United States)

Schattschneider, Doris

1991-01-01

Provided are examples from many domains of mathematics that illustrate the Fubini Principle in its discrete version: the value of a summation over a rectangular array is independent of the order of summation. Included are: counting using partitions as in proof by pictures, combinatorial arguments, indirect counting as in the inclusion-exclusion…

Low White Blood Cell Count

Science.gov (United States)

Symptoms Low white blood cell count By Mayo Clinic Staff A low white blood cell count (leukopenia) is a decrease ... of white blood cell (neutrophil). The definition of low white blood cell count varies from one medical ...

Consequences count: against absolutism at the end of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Snelling, Paul C

2004-05-01

There has been a considerable amount of debate in the nursing literature about euthanasia, and especially the distinctions between acts and omissions, and killing and letting die. These distinctions are required by opponents of euthanasia to justify allowing some cases of passive euthanasia while forbidding all cases of active euthanasia. This paper adds to the debate by arguing that the position that absolutely forbids euthanasia is theoretically inconsistent. The paper first considers the place of moral theory in analysing moral problems, within the framework of the principles of biomedical ethics. It is argued that despite a moral pluralism that operates in many areas, the legal status of euthanasia is based upon an absolute deontological position against deliberate killing, which cannot be overridden by appeals to favourable consequences. In order that certain forms of passive euthanasia can be allowed, this position allows distinctions within three pairs of concepts--acts and omissions, killing and letting die, and ordinary and extraordinary means. A further method of justifying certain actions near the end of life is the doctrine of double effect. These paired concepts and the doctrine of double effect are analysed with special reference to their consequences. The application of the doctrine of double effect and the three distinctions relies on consideration of their consequences, allowing in practice what in theory is denied. This is important because it weakens the absolute case against euthanasia, which disallows any direct consequentialist appeal. If consequences count in the application of the doctrine and the distinctions, then they should also count directly prior to their application. This strengthens the argument for active euthanasia in certain cases.

Tuition reduction is the key factor determining tax burden of graduate students under the Tax Cuts and Job Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawston, Patricia M; Parker, Michael T

2017-01-01

Background : The proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R.1) has stirred significant public debate on the future of American economics.  While supporters of the plan have championed it as a necessity for economic revitalization, detractors have pointed out areas of serious concern, particularly for low- and middle-income Americans.  One particularly alarming facet of the plan is the radical change to education finance programs and taxation of students in higher education.  Methods :  By analyzing actual income and tuition of a public and a private university student, as well as the 'average' graduate student, we investigated the effect of both the House and Senate versions of H.R. 1 on taxation of students of various family structures.  Results :  Our findings indicate that taxable tuition would be the greatest contributor to graduate student tax burden across all four categories of filing status.  However, when tuition reduction is upheld or a student is on sustaining fees rather than full tuition, graduate students would realize decreases in taxation. Conclusions :  Overall, we conclude that removal of tuition reduction would result in enormous tax burdens for graduate students and their families and that these effects are dependent not only on the status of the student in their degree program but also on their tuition and stipend, and therefore the institution they attend.

78 FR 77487 - Renewal of Agency Information Collection for IDEIA Part B and C Child Count

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-23

... Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) Part B and C Child Count authorized by OMB Control Number 1076-0176. This... for special education and related services for Indian children aged 0 to 5 with disabilities on... children aged 0 to 2 covered by IDEIA Part C. In IDEIA Part B--Assistance for Education of All Children...

Accountability, Inequality, and Achievement: The Effects of the No Child Left Behind Act on Multiple Measures of Student Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer L. Jennings

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Scholars continue to debate whether gains on the state tests used for accountability generalize to other measures of student achievement. Using panel data on students from a large urban school district, we estimate the impact of accountability pressure related to the No Child Left Behind Act on two measures of academic achievement: the state test and an “audit” test that is not tied to the accountability system. Overall, we find that accountability pressure is associated with increased state test scores in math and lower audit math and reading test scores. However, the sources of state and audit test score divergence varied by students’ race. Black students in schools facing the most accountability pressure made no gains on state tests, and their losses on audit math tests were twice as large as those of Hispanic students. These findings highlight the importance of better understanding the mechanisms that produce heterogeneous effects of accountability pressure across achievement measures and subgroups.

Hanford whole body counting manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmer, H.E.; Brim, C.P.; Rieksts, G.A.; Rhoads, M.C.

1987-05-01

This document, a reprint of the Whole Body Counting Manual, was compiled to train personnel, document operation procedures, and outline quality assurance procedures. The current manual contains information on: the location, availability, and scope of services of Hanford's whole body counting facilities; the administrative aspect of the whole body counting operation; Hanford's whole body counting facilities; the step-by-step procedure involved in the different types of in vivo measurements; the detectors, preamplifiers and amplifiers, and spectroscopy equipment; the quality assurance aspect of equipment calibration and recordkeeping; data processing, record storage, results verification, report preparation, count summaries, and unit cost accounting; and the topics of minimum detectable amount and measurement accuracy and precision. 12 refs., 13 tabs

Validy and Reliability of two Working Memory Tests: Aritmetic Amplitude and Counting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Burin, Débora I.

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Working Memory is a memory system involved in the storage and concurrent processing of information (Baddeley, 2000. Arithmetic Span (Conway et al., 2005 and Counting Span (Conway, et al. 2005 are two traditional verbal working memory capacity tasks. The aim of this article is to present reliability and validity data of Arithmetic and Counting Span Tasks. They were administered, along with Reading Span task, to 88 university students with a mean age of 23.10 years. The reliability analysis showed an excellent internal consistency, and a one factor model with a very good fit to the data was observed using a confirmatory factor analysis. These results indicate that both tasks are reliable and valid measures to assess verbal working memory capacity.

Platelet count evolution as a predictor of outcome after splenectomy for immune thrombocytopenic purpura.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Moonhwan; Park, Keun Myoung; Shin, Woo Young; Choe, Yun-Mee; Lee, Keon-Young; Ahn, Seung-Ik

2017-04-01

Splenectomy is the definitive second-line therapy for refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), and has a reported response rate of 50-80%. Medical attention should be reconsidered when there is no evidence of accessory spleen in refractory ITP patients after splenectomy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether platelet count evolution differs between patients with a successful or unsuccessful result after splenectomy for ITP. Archived records of 104 consecutive patients that underwent splenectomy for ITP were reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups (failures and successes) using a final follow-up platelet count of 100,000/μL as a cut-off. Platelet count evolutions in these two groups were compared using the Student's t test. Successes and failures were found to have significantly different platelet counts from two days postoperatively (P = 0.016). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.630 (95% confidence interval, 0.518-0.741, P = 0.030), and when a cut-off value of 100,000/μL was used, sensitivity and specificity were 68.2 and 51.2%, respectively. To obtain positive and negative predictive values exceeding 50%, additional platelet counts were required at one week and one month after splenectomy. We propose a protocol for ITP follow-up after splenectomy.

CalCOFI Egg Counts

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish egg counts and standardized counts for eggs captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets], and...

Journal of College Student Development

OpenAIRE

Janosik, S. M.; Gehring, D. D.

2003-01-01

In this national study on the impact of the Clery Campus Crime Disclosure and Reporting Act, 305 college administrators distributed questionnaires to 9,150 undergraduate students. Student knowledge of the Act and changes in student behavior were minimal and varied by gender, victim status, institution type, and institution size.

Count-doubling time safety circuit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keefe, D.J.; McDowell, W.P.; Rusch, G.K.

1981-01-01

There is provided a nuclear reactor count-factor-increase time monitoring circuit which includes a pulse-type neutron detector, and means for counting the number of detected pulses during specific time periods. Counts are compared and the comparison is utilized to develop a reactor scram signal, if necessary

Count-doubling time safety circuit

Science.gov (United States)

Rusch, Gordon K.; Keefe, Donald J.; McDowell, William P.

1981-01-01

There is provided a nuclear reactor count-factor-increase time monitoring circuit which includes a pulse-type neutron detector, and means for counting the number of detected pulses during specific time periods. Counts are compared and the comparison is utilized to develop a reactor scram signal, if necessary.

Identifying the Value of the ACT Score as a Predictor of Student Success in Respiratory Care, Radiography, and Nursing at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College

Science.gov (United States)

Parrott-Robbins, Rebecca Jon

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate--by utilizing data obtained from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) PeopleSoft database-- whether the American College Testing (ACT) assessment was a predictor of student success for students who had graduated from respiratory, radiography, and nursing programs at Southeast…

Summative Self-Assessment in Higher Education: Implications of Its Counting towards the Final Mark

Science.gov (United States)

Tejeiro, Ricardo A.; Gomez-Vallecillo, Jorge L.; Romero, Antonio F.; Pelegrina, Manuel; Wallace, Agustin; Emberley, Enrique

2012-01-01

Introduction: Our study aims at assessing the validity of summative criteria-referenced self-assessment in higher education, and in particular, if that validity varies when the professor counts self-assessment toward the final mark. Method: One hundred and twenty-two first year students from two groups in Teacher Education at the Universidad de…

Galaxy number counts: Pt. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metcalfe, N.; Shanks, T.; Fong, R.; Jones, L.R.

1991-01-01

Using the Prime Focus CCD Camera at the Isaac Newton Telescope we have determined the form of the B and R galaxy number-magnitude count relations in 12 independent fields for 21 m ccd m and 19 m ccd m 5. The average galaxy count relations lie in the middle of the wide range previously encompassed by photographic data. The field-to-field variation of the counts is small enough to define the faint (B m 5) galaxy count to ±10 per cent and this variation is consistent with that expected from galaxy clustering considerations. Our new data confirm that the B, and also the R, galaxy counts show evidence for strong galaxy luminosity evolution, and that the majority of the evolving galaxies are of moderately blue colour. (author)

Americans with Disabilities Act Scavenger Hunt

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsey, Ursula

2018-01-01

This article describes a scavenger hunt for Business Law students. Specifically, students compete in this scavenger hunt to identify accessible design features on campus to undergird their study of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title III of the ADA prohibits public accommodations from discriminating on the basis of…

Counting statistics in radioactivity measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, J.

1975-01-01

The application of statistical methods to radioactivity measurement problems is analyzed in several chapters devoted successively to: the statistical nature of radioactivity counts; the application to radioactive counting of two theoretical probability distributions, Poisson's distribution law and the Laplace-Gauss law; true counting laws; corrections related to the nature of the apparatus; statistical techniques in gamma spectrometry [fr

Weighted Student Formula: Putting Funds Where They Count in Education Reform

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Bruce S.; DeRoche, Timothy R.; Ouchi, William G.; Segal, Lydia G.; Brown, Carolyn

2006-01-01

Ever since the publication of "A Nation At Risk" in 1983, Americans have been preoccupied with two problems regarding public education: (1) student performance is unsatisfactory to most Americans despite large increases in real spending per student; and despite several attempts at reforming curricula, teacher training, testing, and other…

Correlation between total lymphocyte count, hemoglobin, hematocrit and CD4 count in HIV patients in Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Emuchay, Charles Iheanyichi; Okeniyi, Shemaiah Olufemi; Okeniyi, Joshua Olusegun

2014-04-01

The expensive and technology limited setting of CD4 count testing is a major setback to the initiation of HAART in a resource limited country like Nigeria. Simple and inexpensive tools such as Hemoglobin (Hb) measurement and Total Lymphocyte Count (TLC) are recommended as substitute marker. In order to assess the correlations of these parameters with CD4 count, 100 "apparently healthy" male volunteers tested HIV positive aged ≥ 20 years but ≤ 40 years were recruited and from whom Hb, Hct, TLC and CD4 count were obtained. The correlation coefficients, R, the Nash-Sutcliffe Coefficient of Efficiency (CoE) and the p-values of the ANOVA model of Hb, Hct and TLC with CD4 count were assessed. The assessments show that there is no significant relationship of any of these parameters with CD4 count and the correlation coefficients are very weak. This study shows that Hb, Hct and TLC cannot be substitute for CD4 count as this might lead to certain individuals' deprivation of required treatment.

PERSONAL AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ACT OF DISCOVERY.

Science.gov (United States)

OSTRANDER, EDWARD R.

HOW STUDENTS SAY THEY LEARN WAS INVESTIGATED. INTERVIEWS WITH A RANDOM SAMPLE OF 74 WOMEN STUDENTS POSED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE, FREQUENCY, PATTERNS, AND CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH ACTS OF DISCOVERY TAKE PLACE IN THE ACADEMIC SETTING. STUDENTS WERE ASSIGNED DISCOVERY RATINGS BASED ON READINGS OF TYPESCRIPTS. EACH STUDENT WAS CLASSIFIED AND…

It counts who counts: an experimental evaluation of the importance of observer effects on spotlight count estimates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sunde, Peter; Jessen, Lonnie

2013-01-01

observers with respect to their ability to detect and estimate distance to realistic animal silhouettes at different distances. Detection probabilities were higher for observers experienced in spotlighting mammals than for inexperienced observers, higher for observers with a hunting background compared...... with non-hunters and decreased as function of age but were independent of sex or educational background. If observer-specific detection probabilities were applied to real counting routes, point count estimates from inexperienced observers without a hunting background would only be 43 % (95 % CI, 39...

You can count on the motor cortex: Finger counting habits modulate motor cortex activation evoked by numbers

Science.gov (United States)

Tschentscher, Nadja; Hauk, Olaf; Fischer, Martin H.; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

2012-01-01

The embodied cognition framework suggests that neural systems for perception and action are engaged during higher cognitive processes. In an event-related fMRI study, we tested this claim for the abstract domain of numerical symbol processing: is the human cortical motor system part of the representation of numbers, and is organization of numerical knowledge influenced by individual finger counting habits? Developmental studies suggest a link between numerals and finger counting habits due to the acquisition of numerical skills through finger counting in childhood. In the present study, digits 1 to 9 and the corresponding number words were presented visually to adults with different finger counting habits, i.e. left- and right-starters who reported that they usually start counting small numbers with their left and right hand, respectively. Despite the absence of overt hand movements, the hemisphere contralateral to the hand used for counting small numbers was activated when small numbers were presented. The correspondence between finger counting habits and hemispheric motor activation is consistent with an intrinsic functional link between finger counting and number processing. PMID:22133748

Total lymphocyte count and subpopulation lymphocyte counts in relation to dietary intake and nutritional status of peritoneal dialysis patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Grzegorzewska, Alicja E; Leander, Magdalena

2005-01-01

Dietary deficiency causes abnormalities in circulating lymphocyte counts. For the present paper, we evaluated correlations between total and subpopulation lymphocyte counts (TLC, SLCs) and parameters of nutrition in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Studies were carried out in 55 patients treated with PD for 22.2 +/- 11.4 months. Parameters of nutritional status included total body mass, lean body mass (LBM), body mass index (BMI), and laboratory indices [total protein, albumin, iron, ferritin, and total iron binding capacity (TIBC)]. The SLCs were evaluated using flow cytometry. Positive correlations were seen between TLC and dietary intake of niacin; TLC and CD8 and CD16+56 counts and energy delivered from protein; CD4 count and beta-carotene and monounsaturated fatty acids 17:1 intake; and CD19 count and potassium, copper, vitamin A, and beta-carotene intake. Anorexia negatively influenced CD19 count. Serum albumin showed correlations with CD4 and CD19 counts, and LBM with CD19 count. A higher CD19 count was connected with a higher red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. Correlations were observed between TIBC and TLC and CD3 and CD8 counts, and between serum Fe and TLC and CD3 and CD4 counts. Patients with a higher CD19 count showed a better clinical-laboratory score, especially less weakness. Patients with a higher CD4 count had less expressed insomnia. Quantities of ingested vitamins and minerals influence lymphocyte counts in the peripheral blood of PD patients. Evaluation of TLC and SLCs is helpful in monitoring the effectiveness of nutrition in these patients.

The Relationship between Upper-Level Math Course Completion and ACT Math Sub Score Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Dial, Larry Michael

2016-01-01

More high school students are taking the ACT and more students are taking it at an earlier age. States such as Missouri are now testing all public and charter school students during their junior year to use the ACT as a formative assessment to drive discussions about student schedules, plans of study, and course offerings. With more data from more…

Steps Counts among Middle School Students Vary with Aerobic Fitness Level

Science.gov (United States)

Le Masurier, Guy C.; Corbin, Charles B.

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine if steps/day taken by middle school students varied based on aerobic fitness classification. Middle school students (N = 223; 112 girls, 111 boys) were assigned to three aerobic fitness categories (HIGH, MOD, LOW) based on results of the FITNESSGRAM PACER test. Four weekdays of pedometer monitoring…

Building counting by traditional game: Mathematics Program for Young Children

OpenAIRE

Nasrullah Nasrullah; Zulkardi Zulkardi

2011-01-01

In line with design research, the use of Bermain Satu Rumah (BSR) as traditional  game to support children’s counting classroom wherein students are encouraged to construct mathematical understanding. Number in traditional games is an interesting aspect that is helpful for children to encounter numerous situations that bring them into contact with sounds, symbols and meanings that relate to numbers. Bermain satu rumah as starting activity would be media to enhance student’s sense of number as...

A care improvement program acting as a powerful learning environment to support nursing students learning facilitation competencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Jukema, Jan S; Harps-Timmerman, Annelies; Stoopendaal, Annemiek; Smits, Carolien H M

2015-11-01

Change management is an important area of training in undergraduate nursing education. Successful change management in healthcare aimed at improving practices requires facilitation skills that support teams in attaining the desired change. Developing facilitation skills in nursing students requires formal educational support. A Dutch Regional Care Improvement Program based on a nationwide format of change management in healthcare was designed to act as a Powerful Learning Environment for nursing students developing competencies in facilitating change. This article has two aims: to provide comprehensive insight into the program components and to describe students' learning experiences in developing their facilitation skills. This Dutch Regional Care Improvement Program considers three aspects of a Powerful Learning Environment: self-regulated learning; problem-based learning; and complex, realistic and challenging learning tasks. These three aspects were operationalised in five distinct areas of facilitation: increasing awareness of the need for change; leadership and project management; relationship building and communication; importance of the local context; and ongoing monitoring and evaluation. Over a period of 18 months, 42 nursing students, supported by trained lecturer-coaches, took part in nine improvement teams in our Regional Care Improvement Program, executing activities in all five areas of facilitation. Based on the students' experiences, we propose refinements to various components of this program, aimed at strengthenin the learning environment. There is a need for further detailed empirical research to study the impact this kind of learning environment has on students developing facilitation competencies in healthcare improvement. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Heterogeneous counting on filter support media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Long, E.; Kohler, V.; Kelly, M.J.

1976-01-01

Many investigators in the biomedical research area have used filter paper as the support for radioactive samples. This means that a heterogeneous counting of sample sometimes results. The count rate of a sample on a filter will be affected by positioning, degree of dryness, sample application procedure, the type of filter, and the type of cocktail used. Positioning of the filter (up or down) in the counting vial can cause a variation of 35% or more when counting tritiated samples on filter paper. Samples of varying degrees of dryness when added to the counting cocktail can cause nonreproducible counts if handled improperly. Count rates starting at 2400 CPM initially can become 10,000 CPM in 24 hours for 3 H-DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) samples dried on standard cellulose acetate membrane filters. Data on cellulose nitrate filters show a similar trend. Sample application procedures in which the sample is applied to the filter in a small spot or on a large amount of the surface area can cause nonreproducible or very low counting rates. A tritiated DNA sample, when applied topically, gives a count rate of 4,000 CPM. When the sample is spread over the whole filter, 13,400 CPM are obtained with a much better coefficient of variation (5% versus 20%). Adding protein carrier (bovine serum albumin-BSA) to the sample to trap more of the tritiated DNA on the filter during the filtration process causes a serious beta absorption problem. Count rates which are one-fourth the count rate applied to the filter are obtained on calibrated runs. Many of the problems encountered can be alleviated by a proper choice of filter and the use of a liquid scintillation cocktail which dissolves the filter. Filter-Solv has been used to dissolve cellulose nitrate filters and filters which are a combination of cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate. Count rates obtained for these dissolved samples are very reproducible and highly efficient

Automated Discovery of Speech Act Categories in Educational Games

Science.gov (United States)

Rus, Vasile; Moldovan, Cristian; Niraula, Nobal; Graesser, Arthur C.

2012-01-01

In this paper we address the important task of automated discovery of speech act categories in dialogue-based, multi-party educational games. Speech acts are important in dialogue-based educational systems because they help infer the student speaker's intentions (the task of speech act classification) which in turn is crucial to providing adequate…

Regression models for categorical, count, and related variables an applied approach

CERN Document Server

Hoffmann, John P

2016-01-01

Social science and behavioral science students and researchers are often confronted with data that are categorical, count a phenomenon, or have been collected over time. Sociologists examining the likelihood of interracial marriage, political scientists studying voting behavior, criminologists counting the number of offenses people commit, health scientists studying the number of suicides across neighborhoods, and psychologists modeling mental health treatment success are all interested in outcomes that are not continuous. Instead, they must measure and analyze these events and phenomena in a discrete manner.   This book provides an introduction and overview of several statistical models designed for these types of outcomes--all presented with the assumption that the reader has only a good working knowledge of elementary algebra and has taken introductory statistics and linear regression analysis.   Numerous examples from the social sciences demonstrate the practical applications of these models. The chapte...

LAWRENCE RADIATION LABORATORY COUNTING HANDBOOK

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Group, Nuclear Instrumentation

1966-10-01

The Counting Handbook is a compilation of operational techniques and performance specifications on counting equipment in use at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley. Counting notes have been written from the viewpoint of the user rather than that of the designer or maintenance man. The only maintenance instructions that have been included are those that can easily be performed by the experimenter to assure that the equipment is operating properly.

Does platelet count in platelet-rich plasma influence slope, maximal amplitude and lag phase in healthy individuals? Results of light transmission aggregometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandrashekar, Vani

2015-01-01

Light transmission aggregometry lacks in standardisation and normal reference values are not widely available. The aims of our study were to establish reference ranges for aggregation, slope and lag phase in healthy controls with platelet counts between 150 and 450 × 10(9)/l in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) as well as evaluate the influence of platelet count. Ninety-nine subjects were evaluated with four agonists and divided into two groups based on platelet count and the groups were compared by Student's t-test. There was no difference between the means of the two groups for amplitude and slope barring the lag phase for collagen. Platelet counts between 150 and 450 × 10(9)/l have no effects on light transmission aggregometry and hence adjustment of platelet count is not necessary.

Discrete calculus methods for counting

CERN Document Server

Mariconda, Carlo

2016-01-01

This book provides an introduction to combinatorics, finite calculus, formal series, recurrences, and approximations of sums. Readers will find not only coverage of the basic elements of the subjects but also deep insights into a range of less common topics rarely considered within a single book, such as counting with occupancy constraints, a clear distinction between algebraic and analytical properties of formal power series, an introduction to discrete dynamical systems with a thorough description of Sarkovskii’s theorem, symbolic calculus, and a complete description of the Euler-Maclaurin formulas and their applications. Although several books touch on one or more of these aspects, precious few cover all of them. The authors, both pure mathematicians, have attempted to develop methods that will allow the student to formulate a given problem in a precise mathematical framework. The aim is to equip readers with a sound strategy for classifying and solving problems by pursuing a mathematically rigorous yet ...

The Kruskal Count

OpenAIRE

Lagarias, Jeffrey C.; Rains, Eric; Vanderbei, Robert J.

2001-01-01

The Kruskal Count is a card trick invented by Martin J. Kruskal in which a magician "guesses" a card selected by a subject according to a certain counting procedure. With high probability the magician can correctly "guess" the card. The success of the trick is based on a mathematical principle related to coupling methods for Markov chains. This paper analyzes in detail two simplified variants of the trick and estimates the probability of success. The model predictions are compared with simula...

CD4 cell count and viral load-specific rates of AIDS, non-AIDS and deaths according to current antiretroviral use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mocroft, Amanda; Phillips, Andrew N; Gatell, Jose

2013-01-01

CD4 cell count and viral loads are used in clinical trials as surrogate endpoints for assessing efficacy of newly available antiretrovirals. If antiretrovirals act through other pathways or increase the risk of disease this would not be identified prior to licensing. The aim of this study...

SPERM COUNT DISTRIBUTIONS IN FERTILE MEN

Science.gov (United States)

Sperm concentration and count are often used as indicators of environmental impacts on male reproductive health. Existing clinical databases may be biased towards subfertile men with low sperm counts and less is known about expected sperm count distributions in cohorts of fertil...

Combinatorial Tasks and Outcome Listing: Examining Productive Listing among Undergraduate Students

Science.gov (United States)

Lockwood, Elise; Gibson, Bryan R.

2016-01-01

Although counting problems are easy to state and provide rich, accessible problem-solving situations, there is much evidence that students struggle with solving counting problems correctly. With combinatorics (and the study of counting problems) becoming increasingly prevalent in K-12 and undergraduate curricula, there is a need for researchers to…

Effect of school wellness policies and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on food-consumption behaviors of students, 2006-2016: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Mansfield, Jennifer L; Savaiano, Dennis A

2017-07-01

Federal regulation mandates that the US National School Lunch Program nutrition standards align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. As students consume a substantial proportion of their nutrition during school lunch, increasing access to healthy foods is proposed to improve student dietary outcomes. The purpose of this review is to assess whether policy changes impacted food-consumption behaviors of students during periods when (1) school wellness policies were implemented (2006-2007); (2) the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was passed (2010-2012); and (3) the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was implemented (2012-present). PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct were searched for primary research studies. Policy evaluations and interventions implemented from 2006 to 2016 were included. A total of 31 studies evaluating plate waste, dietary intake, food selection, and/or purchasing patterns were identified and reviewed. Fourteen of 19 intervention and longitudinal observation studies reported improved food-consumption behaviors (increased selection, intake, and sales of healthy foods, and decreased plate waste). Only 2 of 12 one-time observation studies reported food-consumption behaviors meeting target nutrition standards. The majority of studies indicated that increasing access to healthy foods during school lunch improved students' dietary intakes. Challenges related to study design, adaptation period, quality of foods, and policy implementation likely affect a school lunch program's ability to impact students' food-consumption behaviors. Ongoing evaluation of these programs is warranted. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Bayesian analysis of energy and count rate data for detection of low count rate radioactive sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Klumpp, John; Brandl, Alexander

2015-03-01

A particle counting and detection system is proposed that searches for elevated count rates in multiple energy regions simultaneously. The system analyzes time-interval data (e.g., time between counts), as this was shown to be a more sensitive technique for detecting low count rate sources compared to analyzing counts per unit interval (Luo et al. 2013). Two distinct versions of the detection system are developed. The first is intended for situations in which the sample is fixed and can be measured for an unlimited amount of time. The second version is intended to detect sources that are physically moving relative to the detector, such as a truck moving past a fixed roadside detector or a waste storage facility under an airplane. In both cases, the detection system is expected to be active indefinitely; i.e., it is an online detection system. Both versions of the multi-energy detection systems are compared to their respective gross count rate detection systems in terms of Type I and Type II error rates and sensitivity.

A Model of Students' Combinatorial Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

Lockwood, Elise

2013-01-01

Combinatorial topics have become increasingly prevalent in K-12 and undergraduate curricula, yet research on combinatorics education indicates that students face difficulties when solving counting problems. The research community has not yet addressed students' ways of thinking at a level that facilitates deeper understanding of how students…

Total bacterial count and somatic cell count in refrigerated raw milk stored in communal tanks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edmar da Costa Alves

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The current industry demand for dairy products with extended shelf life has resulted in new challenges for milk quality maintenance. The processing of milk with high bacterial counts compromises the quality and performance of industrial products. The study aimed to evaluate the total bacteria counts (TBC and somatic cell count (SCC in 768 samples of refrigerated raw milk, from 32 communal tanks. Samples were collected in the first quarter of 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and analyzed by the Laboratory of Milk Quality - LQL. Results showed that 62.5%, 37.5%, 15.6% and 27.1% of the means for TBC in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively, were above the values established by legislation. However, we observed a significant reduction in the levels of total bacterial count (TBC in the studied periods. For somatic cell count, 100% of the means indicated values below 600.000 cells/mL, complying with the actual Brazilian legislation. The values found for the somatic cell count suggests the adoption of effective measures for the sanitary control of the herd. However, the results must be considered with caution as it highlights the need for quality improvements of the raw material until it achieves reliable results effectively.

People counting in classroom based on video surveillance

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Quanbin; Huang, Xiang; Su, Juan

2014-11-01

Currently, the switches of the lights and other electronic devices in the classroom are mainly relied on manual control, as a result, many lights are on while no one or only few people in the classroom. It is important to change the current situation and control the electronic devices intelligently according to the number and the distribution of the students in the classroom, so as to reduce the considerable waste of electronic resources. This paper studies the problem of people counting in classroom based on video surveillance. As the camera in the classroom can not get the full shape contour information of bodies and the clear features information of faces, most of the classical algorithms such as the pedestrian detection method based on HOG (histograms of oriented gradient) feature and the face detection method based on machine learning are unable to obtain a satisfied result. A new kind of dual background updating model based on sparse and low-rank matrix decomposition is proposed in this paper, according to the fact that most of the students in the classroom are almost in stationary state and there are body movement occasionally. Firstly, combining the frame difference with the sparse and low-rank matrix decomposition to predict the moving areas, and updating the background model with different parameters according to the positional relationship between the pixels of current video frame and the predicted motion regions. Secondly, the regions of moving objects are determined based on the updated background using the background subtraction method. Finally, some operations including binarization, median filtering and morphology processing, connected component detection, etc. are performed on the regions acquired by the background subtraction, in order to induce the effects of the noise and obtain the number of people in the classroom. The experiment results show the validity of the algorithm of people counting.

Rainflow counting revisited

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soeker, H [Deutsches Windenergie-Institut (Germany)

1996-09-01

As state of the art method the rainflow counting technique is presently applied everywhere in fatigue analysis. However, the author feels that the potential of the technique is not fully recognized in wind energy industries as it is used, most of the times, as a mere data reduction technique disregarding some of the inherent information of the rainflow counting results. The ideas described in the following aim at exploitation of this information and making it available for use in the design and verification process. (au)

Radon counting statistics - a Monte Carlo investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, A.G.

1996-01-01

Radioactive decay is a Poisson process, and so the Coefficient of Variation (COV) of open-quotes nclose quotes counts of a single nuclide is usually estimated as 1/√n. This is only true if the count duration is much shorter than the half-life of the nuclide. At longer count durations, the COV is smaller than the Poisson estimate. Most radon measurement methods count the alpha decays of 222 Rn, plus the progeny 218 Po and 214 Po, and estimate the 222 Rn activity from the sum of the counts. At long count durations, the chain decay of these nuclides means that every 222 Rn decay must be followed by two other alpha decays. The total number of decays is open-quotes 3Nclose quotes, where N is the number of radon decays, and the true COV of the radon concentration estimate is 1/√(N), √3 larger than the Poisson total count estimate of 1/√3N. Most count periods are comparable to the half lives of the progeny, so the relationship between COV and count time is complex. A Monte-Carlo estimate of the ratio of true COV to Poisson estimate was carried out for a range of count periods from 1 min to 16 h and three common radon measurement methods: liquid scintillation, scintillation cell, and electrostatic precipitation of progeny. The Poisson approximation underestimates COV by less than 20% for count durations of less than 60 min

Hanford whole body counting manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmer, H.E.; Rieksts, G.A.; Lynch, T.P.

1990-06-01

This document describes the Hanford Whole Body Counting Program as it is administered by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) in support of the US Department of Energy--Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) and its Hanford contractors. Program services include providing in vivo measurements of internally deposited radioactivity in Hanford employees (or visitors). Specific chapters of this manual deal with the following subjects: program operational charter, authority, administration, and practices, including interpreting applicable DOE Orders, regulations, and guidance into criteria for in vivo measurement frequency, etc., for the plant-wide whole body counting services; state-of-the-art facilities and equipment used to provide the best in vivo measurement results possible for the approximately 11,000 measurements made annually; procedures for performing the various in vivo measurements at the Whole Body Counter (WBC) and related facilities including whole body counts; operation and maintenance of counting equipment, quality assurance provisions of the program, WBC data processing functions, statistical aspects of in vivo measurements, and whole body counting records and associated guidance documents. 16 refs., 48 figs., 22 tabs

Platelet Count and Plateletcrit

African Journals Online (AJOL)

strated that neonates with late onset sepsis (bacteremia after 3 days of age) had a dramatic increase in MPV and. PDW18. We hypothesize that as the MPV and PDW increase and platelet count and PCT decrease in sick children, intui- tively, the ratio of MPV to PCT; MPV to Platelet count,. PDW to PCT, PDW to platelet ...

An Adaptive Smoother for Counting Measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kondrasovs Vladimir; Coulon Romain; Normand Stephane

2013-06-01

Counting measurements associated with nuclear instruments are tricky to carry out due to the stochastic process of the radioactivity. Indeed events counting have to be processed and filtered in order to display a stable count rate value and to allow variations monitoring in the measured activity. Smoothers (as the moving average) are adjusted by a time constant defined as a compromise between stability and response time. A new approach has been developed and consists in improving the response time while maintaining count rate stability. It uses the combination of a smoother together with a detection filter. A memory of counting data is processed to calculate several count rate estimates using several integration times. These estimates are then sorted into the memory from short to long integration times. A measurement position, in terms of integration time, is then chosen into this memory after a detection test. An inhomogeneity into the Poisson counting process is detected by comparison between current position estimate and the other estimates contained into the memory in respect with the associated statistical variance calculated with homogeneous assumption. The measurement position (historical time) and the ability to forget an obsolete data or to keep in memory a useful data are managed using the detection test result. The proposed smoother is then an adaptive and a learning algorithm allowing an optimization of the response time while maintaining measurement counting stability and converging efficiently to the best counting estimate after an effective change in activity. This algorithm has also the specificity to be low recursive and thus easily embedded into DSP electronics based on FPGA or micro-controllers meeting 'real life' time requirements. (authors)

The efficacy of biodegradable liquid scintillation counting cocktails

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klein, R.C.; Gershey, E.L.

1990-01-01

Liquid scintillation counting (LSC) waste once accounted for ∼50% of the low-level radioactive wastes generated by academic and biomedial research. Strict regulations banning the land burial of organic liquids led the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deregulate very low level LSC waste (10CFR20.306 of the Code of Federal Regulations) in 1981. Today, LSC waste containing ≤0.05 μCi/ml of 3 H or 14 C is generally incinerated as flammable liquid. Several manufacturers are now offering cocktails that contain long-chain and multiringed aromatic compounds that have not been identified as hazardous by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (40CFR261) or the Clean Water Act (40CFR122). In addition to lower toxicity and higher flash points than their predecessors, these new cocktails are being advertised as biodegradable. Simple exclusion from the relatively short EPA lists of hazardous chemicals, however, may only reflect insufficient study. Five cocktail solvent families were identified by gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry: meta- and ortho-xylenes, trimethylbenzene isomers, linear alkylbenzenes, 1-phenyl-1-(3,4-xylyl)-ethane, and diisopropylnaphthalene. Cocktail efficiencies were determined for tritiated samples commonly found in biomedical research by the internal standard method

Change in platelet count in patients with hypersplenism subjected to liver transplantation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Júlio Cezar Uili Coelho

2011-09-01

Full Text Available CONTEXT: Most patients subjected to liver transplantation presents hypersplenism, which is reversed after the operation. However, some patients remain with moderate to intense hypersplenism. OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of liver transplantation on platelet count in patients with hypersplenism. METHOD: Of a total of 233 patients who underwent liver transplantation, 162 were excluded from the present study because of occurrence of steroid-resistant rejection, absence of hypersplenism before the transplantation, absence of follow-up for at least 2 years or incomplete exams data. The electronic study protocols of the remaining 71 patients were reviewed to determine the demographics, etiology of cirrhosis, and results of pathologic examination of the explanted liver. Serial platelet count was obtained from the study protocol on the day before liver transplantation and 1, 2, 4, and 6 months and 1 year after liver transplantation. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student's t-test, chi-square test, and Spearman's correlation test. RESULTS: Posttransplant platelet count at all time intervals was significantly higher than the pretransplant value (P100,000/mm³ in 58 patients (81.7% 1 month after liver transplantation. Twelve patients (16.9% remained with thrombocytopenia 1 year after liver transplantation. Three patients (4.2% had recurrence of thrombocytopenia within 1 year after liver transplantation. There was no correlation between pretransplant platelet count and the Child-Pugh class or the MELD score. CONCLUSION: Liver transplantation reverses hypersplenism in most patients.

75 FR 20346 - Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-19

... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of an altered system of records. SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act), 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 552a, the Chief Operating...

Counting probe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsumoto, Haruya; Kaya, Nobuyuki; Yuasa, Kazuhiro; Hayashi, Tomoaki

1976-01-01

Electron counting method has been devised and experimented for the purpose of measuring electron temperature and density, the most fundamental quantities to represent plasma conditions. Electron counting is a method to count the electrons in plasma directly by equipping a probe with the secondary electron multiplier. It has three advantages of adjustable sensitivity, high sensitivity of the secondary electron multiplier, and directional property. Sensitivity adjustment is performed by changing the size of collecting hole (pin hole) on the incident front of the multiplier. The probe is usable as a direct reading thermometer of electron temperature because it requires to collect very small amount of electrons, thus it doesn't disturb the surrounding plasma, and the narrow sweep width of the probe voltage is enough. Therefore it can measure anisotropy more sensitively than a Langmuir probe, and it can be used for very low density plasma. Though many problems remain on anisotropy, computer simulation has been carried out. Also it is planned to provide a Helmholtz coil in the vacuum chamber to eliminate the effect of earth magnetic field. In practical experiments, the measurement with a Langmuir probe and an emission probe mounted to the movable structure, the comparison with the results obtained in reverse magnetic field by using a Helmholtz coil, and the measurement of ionic sound wave are scheduled. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

A mind you can count on: validating breath counting as a behavioral measure of mindfulness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel B Levinson

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Mindfulness practice of present moment awareness promises many benefits, but has eluded rigorous behavioral measurement. To date, research has relied on self-reported mindfulness or heterogeneous mindfulness trainings to infer skillful mindfulness practice and its effects. In four independent studies with over 400 total participants, we present the first construct validation of a behavioral measure of mindfulness, breath counting. We found it was reliable, correlated with self-reported mindfulness, differentiated long-term meditators from age-matched controls, and was distinct from sustained attention and working memory measures. In addition, we employed breath counting to test the nomological network of mindfulness. As theorized, we found skill in breath counting associated with more meta-awareness, less mind wandering, better mood, and greater nonattachment (i.e. less attentional capture by distractors formerly paired with reward. We also found in a randomized online training study that 4 weeks of breath counting training improved mindfulness and decreased mind wandering relative to working memory training and no training controls. Together, these findings provide the first evidence for breath counting as a behavioral measure of mindfulness.

Building and Activating Students' Background Knowledge: It's What They Already Know That Counts

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy; Lapp, Diane

2012-01-01

Students enter the middle grades with varying amounts of background knowledge. Teachers must assess student background knowledge for gaps or misconceptions and then provide instruction to build on that base. This article discusses effective strategies for assessing and developing students' background knowledge so they can become independent…

Principles of correlation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, J.W.

1975-01-01

A review is given of the various applications which have been made of correlation techniques in the field of nuclear physics, in particular for absolute counting. Whereas in most cases the usual coincidence method will be preferable for its simplicity, correlation counting may be the only possible approach in such cases where the two radiations of the cascade cannot be well separated or when there is a longliving intermediate state. The measurement of half-lives and of count rates of spurious pulses is also briefly discussed. The various experimental situations lead to different ways the correlation method is best applied (covariance technique with one or with two detectors, application of correlation functions, etc.). Formulae are given for some simple model cases, neglecting dead-time corrections

Development of a single-photon-counting camera with use of a triple-stacked micro-channel plate.

Science.gov (United States)

Yasuda, Naruomi; Suzuki, Hitoshi; Katafuchi, Tetsuro

2016-01-01

At the quantum-mechanical level, all substances (not merely electromagnetic waves such as light and X-rays) exhibit wave–particle duality. Whereas students of radiation science can easily understand the wave nature of electromagnetic waves, the particle (photon) nature may elude them. Therefore, to assist students in understanding the wave–particle duality of electromagnetic waves, we have developed a photon-counting camera that captures single photons in two-dimensional images. As an image intensifier, this camera has a triple-stacked micro-channel plate (MCP) with an amplification factor of 10(6). The ultra-low light of a single photon entering the camera is first converted to an electron through the photoelectric effect on the photocathode. The electron is intensified by the triple-stacked MCP and then converted to a visible light distribution, which is measured by a high-sensitivity complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor. Because it detects individual photons, the photon-counting camera is expected to provide students with a complete understanding of the particle nature of electromagnetic waves. Moreover, it measures ultra-weak light that cannot be detected by ordinary low-sensitivity cameras. Therefore, it is suitable for experimental research on scintillator luminescence, biophoton detection, and similar topics.

Kindness counts: prompting prosocial behavior in preadolescents boosts peer acceptance and well-being.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristin Layous

Full Text Available At the top of parents' many wishes is for their children to be happy, to be good, and to be well-liked. Our findings suggest that these goals may not only be compatible but also reciprocal. In a longitudinal experiment conducted in 19 classrooms in Vancouver, 9- to 11-year olds were instructed to perform three acts of kindness (versus visit three places per week over the course of 4 weeks. Students in both conditions improved in well-being, but students who performed kind acts experienced significantly bigger increases in peer acceptance (or sociometric popularity than students who visited places. Increasing peer acceptance is a critical goal, as it is related to a variety of important academic and social outcomes, including reduced likelihood of being bullied. Teachers and interventionists can build on this study by introducing intentional prosocial activities into classrooms and recommending that such activities be performed regularly and purposefully.

Delta count-rate monitoring system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Etten, D.; Olsen, W.A.

1985-01-01

A need for a more effective way to rapidly search for gamma-ray contamination over large areas led to the design and construction of a very sensitive gamma detection system. The delta count-rate monitoring system was installed in a four-wheel-drive van instrumented for environmental surveillance and accident response. The system consists of four main sections: (1) two scintillation detectors, (2) high-voltage power supply amplifier and single-channel analyzer, (3) delta count-rate monitor, and (4) count-rate meter and recorder. The van's 6.5-kW generator powers the standard nuclear instrument modular design system. The two detectors are mounted in the rear corners of the van and can be run singly or jointly. A solid-state bar-graph count-rate meter mounted on the dashboard can be read easily by both the driver and passenger. A solid-state strip chart recorder shows trends and provides a permanent record of the data. An audible alarm is sounded at the delta monitor and at the dashboard count-rate meter if a detected radiation level exceeds the set background level by a predetermined amount

DC KIDS COUNT e-Databook Indicators

Science.gov (United States)

DC Action for Children, 2012

2012-01-01

This report presents indicators that are included in DC Action for Children's 2012 KIDS COUNT e-databook, their definitions and sources and the rationale for their selection. The indicators for DC KIDS COUNT represent a mix of traditional KIDS COUNT indicators of child well-being, such as the number of children living in poverty, and indicators of…

In vivo counting of uranium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmer, H.E.

1985-03-01

A state-of-the-art radiation detector system consisting of six individually mounted intrinsic germanium planar detectors, each 20 cm 2 by 13 mm thick, mounted together such that the angle of the whole system can be changed to match the slope of the chest of the person being counted, is described. The sensitivity of the system for counting uranium and plutonium in vivo and the precedures used in calibrating the system are also described. Some results of counts done on uranium mill workers are presented. 15 figs., 2 tabs

A Study of the Relationship between the ACT College Mathematics Readiness Standard and College Mathematics Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Harwell, Michael; Moreno, Mario; Post, Thomas

2016-01-01

This study examined the relationship between the American College Testing (ACT) college mathematics readiness standard and college mathematics achievement using a sample of students who met or exceeded the minimum 3 years high school mathematics coursework recommended by ACT. According to ACT, a student who scores 22 or higher on the ACT…

Alpha scintillation radon counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucas, H.F. Jr.

1977-01-01

Radon counting chambers which utilize the alpha-scintillation properties of silver activated zinc sulfide are simple to construct, have a high efficiency, and, with proper design, may be relatively insensitive to variations in the pressure or purity of the counter filling. Chambers which were constructed from glass, metal, or plastic in a wide variety of shapes and sizes were evaluated for the accuracy and the precision of the radon counting. The principles affecting the alpha-scintillation radon counting chamber design and an analytic system suitable for a large scale study of the 222 Rn and 226 Ra content of either air or other environmental samples are described. Particular note is taken of those factors which affect the accuracy and the precision of the method for monitoring radioactivity around uranium mines

Equivalence of truncated count mixture distributions and mixtures of truncated count distributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Böhning, Dankmar; Kuhnert, Ronny

2006-12-01

This article is about modeling count data with zero truncation. A parametric count density family is considered. The truncated mixture of densities from this family is different from the mixture of truncated densities from the same family. Whereas the former model is more natural to formulate and to interpret, the latter model is theoretically easier to treat. It is shown that for any mixing distribution leading to a truncated mixture, a (usually different) mixing distribution can be found so that the associated mixture of truncated densities equals the truncated mixture, and vice versa. This implies that the likelihood surfaces for both situations agree, and in this sense both models are equivalent. Zero-truncated count data models are used frequently in the capture-recapture setting to estimate population size, and it can be shown that the two Horvitz-Thompson estimators, associated with the two models, agree. In particular, it is possible to achieve strong results for mixtures of truncated Poisson densities, including reliable, global construction of the unique NPMLE (nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator) of the mixing distribution, implying a unique estimator for the population size. The benefit of these results lies in the fact that it is valid to work with the mixture of truncated count densities, which is less appealing for the practitioner but theoretically easier. Mixtures of truncated count densities form a convex linear model, for which a developed theory exists, including global maximum likelihood theory as well as algorithmic approaches. Once the problem has been solved in this class, it might readily be transformed back to the original problem by means of an explicitly given mapping. Applications of these ideas are given, particularly in the case of the truncated Poisson family.

ACT Participation and Performance for Montgomery County Public Schools Students [2014]. Memorandum

Science.gov (United States)

Sanderson, Geoffrey T.

2014-01-01

The Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS) Class of 2014 consistently outperformed graduates across Maryland and the nation on all sections of the ACT, according to the ACT, Inc. annual report that was released Wednesday, August 20, 2014. Thirty percent of the graduates in the MCPS Class of 2014 took the ACT exam. According to the ACT,…

Prediction of Optimal Daily Step Count Achievement from Segmented School Physical Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryan D. Burns

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Optimizing physical activity in childhood is needed for prevention of disease and for healthy social and psychological development. There is limited research examining how segmented school physical activity patterns relate to a child achieving optimal physical activity levels. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive relationship between step counts during specific school segments and achieving optimal school (6,000 steps/day and daily (12,000 steps/day step counts in children. Participants included 1,714 school-aged children (mean age = 9.7±1.0 years recruited across six elementary schools. Physical activity was monitored for one week using pedometers. Generalized linear mixed effects models were used to determine the adjusted odds ratios (ORs of achieving both school and daily step count standards for every 1,000 steps taken during each school segment. The school segment that related in strongest way to a student achieving 6,000 steps during school hours was afternoon recess (OR = 40.03; P<0.001 and for achieving 12,000 steps for the entire day was lunch recess (OR = 5.03; P<0.001. School segments including lunch and afternoon recess play an important role for optimizing daily physical activity in children.

Blood Count Tests: MedlinePlus Health Topic

Science.gov (United States)

... Spanish WBC count (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Blood Count Tests ... WBC count Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Bleeding Disorders Blood Laboratory Tests National Institutes of ...

Evaluation of lactate, white blood cell count, neutrophil count, procalcitonin and immature granulocyte count as biomarkers for sepsis in emergency department patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Karon, Brad S; Tolan, Nicole V; Wockenfus, Amy M; Block, Darci R; Baumann, Nikola A; Bryant, Sandra C; Clements, Casey M

2017-11-01

Lactate, white blood cell (WBC) and neutrophil count, procalcitonin and immature granulocyte (IG) count were compared for the prediction of sepsis, and severe sepsis or septic shock, in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). We prospectively enrolled 501 ED patients with a sepsis panel ordered for suspicion of sepsis. WBC, neutrophil, and IG counts were measured on a Sysmex XT-2000i analyzer. Lactate was measured by i-STAT, and procalcitonin by Brahms Kryptor. We classified patients as having sepsis using a simplification of the 1992 consensus conference sepsis definitions. Patients with sepsis were further classified as having severe sepsis or septic shock using established criteria. Univariate receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to determine odds ratio (OR), area under the ROC curve (AUC), and sensitivity/specificity at optimal cut-off for prediction of sepsis (vs. no sepsis), and prediction of severe sepsis or septic shock (vs. no sepsis). There were 267 patients without sepsis; and 234 with sepsis, including 35 patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. Lactate had the highest OR (1.44, 95th% CI 1.20-1.73) for the prediction of sepsis; while WBC, neutrophil count and percent (neutrophil/WBC) had OR>1.00 (psepsis or septic shock, with an odds ratio (95th% CI) of 2.70 (2.02-3.61) and AUC 0.89 (0.82-0.96). Traditional biomarkers (lactate, WBC, neutrophil count, procalcitonin, IG) have limited utility in the prediction of sepsis. Copyright © 2017 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Serum Copper Level Significantly Influences Platelet Count, Lymphocyte Count and Mean Cell Hemoglobin in Sickle Cell Anemia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Okocha Chide

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Background Changes in serum micro nutrients levels affect a number of critically important metabolic processes; these could potentially influence blood counts and ultimately disease presentation in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA. Objectives To evaluate the influence of serum micro-nutrients levels; zinc, copper, selenium and magnesium on blood counts in steady state SCA patients. Methods A cross sectional study that involved 28 steady state adult SCA subjects. Seven milliliters (mls of blood was collected; 3 mls was for hemoglobin electrophoresis and full blood count determination while 4 mls was for measurement of serum micro nutrients levels, by the atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Correlation between serum micro-nutrient levels and blood counts was done by the Pearson’s linear regression. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review board and each participant gave informed consent. All data was analyzed by SPSS software version 20. Results There was a significant correlation between serum copper levels and mean cell hemoglobin (MCH, platelet and lymphocyte counts (r = 0.418; P = 0.02, r = -0.376; P = 0.04 and r = -0.383; P = 0.04, respectively. There were no significant correlations between serum levels of other micro nutrients (selenium, zinc and magnesium and blood counts. Conclusions Copper influences blood count in SCA patients probably by inducing red cell haemolysis, oxidant tissue damage and stimulating the immune system.

Assessment of the effect of probiotic curd consumption on salivary pH and streptococcus mutans counts.

Science.gov (United States)

Sudhir, R; Praveen, P; Anantharaj, A; Venkataraghavan, Karthik

2012-07-01

Antimicrobial methods of controlling dental caries that include probiotic agents can play a valuable role in establishing caries control in children at moderate to high risk for developing dental caries. Several studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of use of various Probiotic products including curd. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of short-term consumption of probiotic curd containing Lactobacillus acidophilus and normal curd on salivary Streptococcus Mutans counts, as well as salivary pH. Forty, caries-free, 10-12 years old children were selected and randomly allocated to two groups. Test Group consisted of 20 children who consumed 200ml of probiotic curd daily for 30 days. Control Group consisted of 20 children who were given 200ml of regular curd for 30 days. Salivary pH and salivary Streptococcus Mutans counts were recorded at baseline and after 30 days and statistically compared using the Student's t-test. Consumption of probiotic curd resulted in a statistically significant reduction in S. Mutans colony counts (PpH (P>0.05) in both the groups. Short-term consumption of probiotic curds can reduce oral S. Mutans counts. However, this caused a slight reduction in salivary pH.

Correction for decay during counting in gamma spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nir-El, Y.

2013-01-01

A basic result in gamma spectrometry is the count rate of a relevant peak. Correction for decay during counting and expressing the count rate at the beginning of the measurement can be done by a multiplicative factor that is derived from integrating the count rate over time. The counting time substituted in this factor must be the live time, whereas the use of the real-time is an error that underestimates the count rate by about the dead-time (DT) (in percentage). This error of underestimation of the count rate is corroborated in the measurement of a nuclide with a high DT. The present methodology is not applicable in systems that include a zero DT correction function. (authors)

Interpretation of galaxy counts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tinsely, B.M.

1980-01-01

New models are presented for the interpretation of recent counts of galaxies to 24th magnitude, and predictions are shown to 28th magnitude for future comparison with data from the Space Telescope. The results supersede earlier, more schematic models by the author. Tyson and Jarvis found in their counts a ''local'' density enhancement at 17th magnitude, on comparison with the earlier models; the excess is no longer significant when a more realistic mixture of galaxy colors is used. Bruzual and Kron's conclusion that Kron's counts show evidence for evolution at faint magnitudes is confirmed, and it is predicted that some 23d magnitude galaxies have redshifts greater than unity. These may include spheroidal systems, elliptical galaxies, and the bulges of early-type spirals and S0's, seen during their primeval rapid star formation

Patterns of faecal nematode egg shedding after treatment of sheep with a long-acting formulation of moxidectin.

Science.gov (United States)

Crilly, James Patrick; Jennings, Amy; Sargison, Neil

2015-09-15

Much of the current information on the effects of long-acting anthelmintics on nematode populations derives either from research farms or mathematical models. A survey was performed with the aim of establishing how moxidectin is currently being used on sheep farms in the south-east of Scotland. A study was undertaken on a subsection of the surveyed farms to examine the effects of long-acting moxidectin treatments in both spring and autumn on faecal nematode egg output. The survey showed that whole flock treatments of injectable 2% moxidectin were used to control sheep scab on 21% of farms. Injectable 2% moxidectin and oral moxidectin were used to control the periparturient rise in faecal nematode egg shedding by ewes on 13% and 55% of farms respectively. The effects of injectable 2% moxidectin treatment on faecal nematode egg shedding post-treatment in both the autumn and spring were investigated by faecal nematode egg counts at the time of treatment and at 2-weekly interval thereafter on eight and six farms in the autumn and spring, respectively. Faecal egg shedding recommenced at 8 weeks (autumn) and 4 weeks (spring) post-treatment. Counts increased to a peak and then declined. The mean (95% confidence interval) peak counts post-treatment were 2.8 (0.6, 5.1), 3.6 (1.7, 5.5) and 53.5 (25.1, 82.0) eggs per gram (EPG) for autumn-treated ewes, autumn-treated lambs and spring-treated ewes respectively. The spring treated sheep showed a statistically significantly earlier return to faecal egg shedding (p=0.0125, p=0.0342) compared to both other groups, statistically significantly higher peak in egg counts than the autumn treated sheep (pegg counts (p=0.0148). There was no statistically significant difference in the timing of the peak FECs between autumn and spring (p=0.211). The FECs of all groups of sheep treated with an injectable long-acting formulation of moxidectin became positive earlier than would be expected from the period of persistence given on the datasheet

Total lymphocyte count as a substitute to cd4 count in management of hiv infected individuals in resource limited society

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daud, M.Y.; Qazi, R.A.

2015-01-01

Pakistan is a resource limited society and gold standard parameters to monitor HIV disease activity are very costly. The objective of the study was to evaluate total lymphocyte count (TLC) as a surrogate to CD4 count to monitor disease activity in HIV/AIDS in resource limited society. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out at HIV/AIDS treatment centre, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad. A total of seven hundred and seventy four (774) HIV positive patients were enrolled in this study, and their CD4 count and total lymphocyte count were checked to find any correlation between the two by using Spearman ranked correlation coefficient. Results: The mean CD4 count was (434.30 ± 269.23), with minimum CD4 count of (9.00), and maximum of (1974.00). The mean total lymphocyte count (TLC) was (6764.0052 ± 2364.02) with minimum TLC (1200.00) and maximum TLC was (20200.00). Using the Pearson's correlation (r) there was a significant and positive correlation between TLC and CD4 count. (r2=0.127 and p=0.000) at 0.01 level. Conclusion: Our study showed a significant positive correlation between CD4 count and total lymphocyte count (TLC), so TLC can be used as a marker of disease activity in HIV infected patients. (author)

76 FR 7767 - Student Health Insurance Coverage

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-11

... Student Health Insurance Coverage AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. ACTION... health insurance coverage under the Public Health Service Act and the Affordable Care Act. The proposed rule would define ``student health insurance [[Page 7768

Changes in heparin dose response slope during cardiac surgery: possible result in inaccuracy in predicting heparin bolus dose requirement to achieve target ACT.

Science.gov (United States)

Ichikawa, Junko; Mori, Tetsu; Kodaka, Mitsuharu; Nishiyama, Keiko; Ozaki, Makoto; Komori, Makiko

2017-09-01

The substantial interpatient variability in heparin requirement has led to the use of a heparin dose response (HDR) technique. The accuracy of Hepcon-based heparin administration in achieving a target activated clotting time (ACT) using an HDR slope remains controversial. We prospectively studied 86 adult patients scheduled for cardiac surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass. The total dose of calculated heparin required for patient and pump priming was administered simultaneously to achieve a target ACT of 450 s for HDR on the Hepcon HMS system. Blood samples were obtained after the induction of anesthesia, at 3 min after heparin administration and after the initiation of CPB to measure kaolin ACT, HDR slope, whole-blood heparin concentration based on the HDR slope and anti-Xa heparin concentration, antithrombin and complete blood count. The target ACT of 450 s was not achieved in 68.6% of patients. Compared with patients who achieved the target ACT, those who failed to achieve their target ACT had a significantly higher platelet count at baseline. Correlation between the HDR slope and heparin sensitivity was poor. Projected heparin concentration and anti-Xa heparin concentration are not interchangeable based on the Bland-Altman analysis. It can be hypothesized that the wide discrepancy in HDR slope versus heparin sensitivity may be explained by an inaccurate prediction of the plasma heparin level and/or the change in HDR of individual patients, depending on in vivo factors such as extravascular sequestration of heparin, decreased intrinsic antithrombin activity level and platelet count and/or activity.

Using the "No Child Left Behind Act" To Improve Schools in Your State: A Tool Kit for Business Leaders. Information Resources for Business Leadership To Increase Student Achivement under the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001."

Science.gov (United States)

Business Roundtable, Washington, DC.

This tool kit is intended to help business leaders seize specific opportunities to partner with educators and political leaders in the next year to implement reforms called for by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which provides new accountability measures and resources to raise the achievement of students throughout the United States. The…

What Are the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks? Information Brief

Science.gov (United States)

ACT, Inc., 2013

2013-01-01

The ACT College Readiness Benchmarks are the minimum ACT® college readiness assessment scores required for students to have a high probability of success in credit-bearing college courses--English Composition, social sciences courses, College Algebra, or Biology. This report identifies the College Readiness Benchmarks on the ACT Compass scale…

A counting-card circuit based on PCI bus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi Jing; Li Yong; Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou; Su Hong; Dong Chengfu; Li Xiaogang; Ma Xiaoli

2004-01-01

A counting-card circuit based on PCI bus that we developed recently used for advanced personal computer will be introduced in this paper briefly. The maximum count capacity of this counting-card is 10 9 -1, ranging from 0 to 999 999 999, the maximum counting time range, 1 x 10 6 s, can be set in 1 cycle, the maximum counting rate is 20 MHz for positive input. (authors)

TU-FG-209-03: Exploring the Maximum Count Rate Capabilities of Photon Counting Arrays Based On Polycrystalline Silicon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liang, A K; Koniczek, M; Antonuk, L E; El-Mohri, Y; Zhao, Q [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: Photon counting arrays (PCAs) offer several advantages over conventional, fluence-integrating x-ray imagers, such as improved contrast by means of energy windowing. For that reason, we are exploring the feasibility and performance of PCA pixel circuitry based on polycrystalline silicon. This material, unlike the crystalline silicon commonly used in photon counting detectors, lends itself toward the economic manufacture of radiation tolerant, monolithic large area (e.g., ∼43×43 cm2) devices. In this presentation, exploration of maximum count rate, a critical performance parameter for such devices, is reported. Methods: Count rate performance for a variety of pixel circuit designs was explored through detailed circuit simulations over a wide range of parameters (including pixel pitch and operating conditions) with the additional goal of preserving good energy resolution. The count rate simulations assume input events corresponding to a 72 kVp x-ray spectrum with 20 mm Al filtration interacting with a CZT detector at various input flux rates. Output count rates are determined at various photon energy threshold levels, and the percentage of counts lost (e.g., due to deadtime or pile-up) is calculated from the ratio of output to input counts. The energy resolution simulations involve thermal and flicker noise originating from each circuit element in a design. Results: Circuit designs compatible with pixel pitches ranging from 250 to 1000 µm that allow count rates over a megacount per second per pixel appear feasible. Such rates are expected to be suitable for radiographic and fluoroscopic imaging. Results for the analog front-end circuitry of the pixels show that acceptable energy resolution can also be achieved. Conclusion: PCAs created using polycrystalline silicon have the potential to offer monolithic large-area detectors with count rate performance comparable to those of crystalline silicon detectors. Further improvement through detailed circuit

Effects of Student Pairing and Public Review on Physical Activity during School Recess

Science.gov (United States)

Zerger, Heather M.; Miller, Bryon G.; Valbuena, Diego; Miltenberger, Raymond G.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of student pairing and feedback during recess on children's step counts. During baseline, participants wore a sealed pedometer during recess. During intervention, we paired participants with higher step counts with participants with lower step counts. We encouraged teams to compete for the…

Recursive algorithms for phylogenetic tree counting.

Science.gov (United States)

Gavryushkina, Alexandra; Welch, David; Drummond, Alexei J

2013-10-28

In Bayesian phylogenetic inference we are interested in distributions over a space of trees. The number of trees in a tree space is an important characteristic of the space and is useful for specifying prior distributions. When all samples come from the same time point and no prior information available on divergence times, the tree counting problem is easy. However, when fossil evidence is used in the inference to constrain the tree or data are sampled serially, new tree spaces arise and counting the number of trees is more difficult. We describe an algorithm that is polynomial in the number of sampled individuals for counting of resolutions of a constraint tree assuming that the number of constraints is fixed. We generalise this algorithm to counting resolutions of a fully ranked constraint tree. We describe a quadratic algorithm for counting the number of possible fully ranked trees on n sampled individuals. We introduce a new type of tree, called a fully ranked tree with sampled ancestors, and describe a cubic time algorithm for counting the number of such trees on n sampled individuals. These algorithms should be employed for Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo inference when fossil data are included or data are serially sampled.

Photon-counting image sensors

CERN Document Server

Teranishi, Nobukazu; Theuwissen, Albert; Stoppa, David; Charbon, Edoardo

2017-01-01

The field of photon-counting image sensors is advancing rapidly with the development of various solid-state image sensor technologies including single photon avalanche detectors (SPADs) and deep-sub-electron read noise CMOS image sensor pixels. This foundational platform technology will enable opportunities for new imaging modalities and instrumentation for science and industry, as well as new consumer applications. Papers discussing various photon-counting image sensor technologies and selected new applications are presented in this all-invited Special Issue.

Platelet counting using the Coulter electronic counter.

Science.gov (United States)

Eggleton, M J; Sharp, A A

1963-03-01

A method for counting platelets in dilutions of platelet-rich plasm using the Coulter electronic counter is described.(1) The results obtained show that such platelet counts are at least as accurate as the best methods of visual counting. The various technical difficulties encountered are discussed.

Automated uranium analysis by delayed-neutron counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kunzendorf, H.; Loevborg, L.; Christiansen, E.M.

1980-10-01

Automated uranium analysis by fission-induced delayed-neutron counting is described. A short description is given of the instrumentation including transfer system, process control, irradiation and counting sites, and computer operations. Characteristic parameters of the facility (sample preparations, background, and standards) are discussed. A sensitivity of 817 +- 22 counts per 10 -6 g U is found using irradiation, delay, and counting times of 20 s, 5 s, and 10 s, respectively. Presicion is generally less than 1% for normal geological samples. Critical level and detection limits for 7.5 g samples are 8 and 16 ppb, respectively. The importance of some physical and elemental interferences are outlined. Dead-time corrections of measured count rates are necessary and a polynomical expression is used for count rates up to 10 5 . The presence of rare earth elements is regarded as the most important elemental interference. A typical application is given and other areas of application are described. (auther)

Count rate effect in proportional counters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bednarek, B.

1980-01-01

A new concept is presented explaining changes in spectrometric parameters of proportional counters which occur due to varying count rate. The basic feature of this concept is that the gas gain of the counter remains constant in a wide range of count rate and that the decrease in the pulse amplitude and the detorioration of the energy resolution observed are the results of changes in the shape of original current pulses generated in the active volume of the counter. In order to confirm the validity of this statement, measurements of the gas amplification factor have been made in a wide count rate range. It is shown that above a certain critical value the gas gain depends on both the operating voltage and the count rate. (author)

Resonance ionization spectroscopy: Counting noble gas atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hurst, G.S.; Payne, M.G.; Chen, C.H.; Willis, R.D.; Lehmann, B.E.; Kramer, S.D.

1981-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe new work on the counting of noble gas atoms, using lasers for the selective ionization and detectors for counting individual particles (electrons or positive ions). When positive ions are counted, various kinds of mass analyzers (magnetic, quadrupole, or time-of-flight) can be incorporated to provide A selectivity. We show that a variety of interesting and important applications can be made with atom-counting techniques which are both atomic number (Z) and mass number (A) selective. (orig./FKS)

Improving the counting efficiency in time-correlated single photon counting experiments by dead-time optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peronio, P.; Acconcia, G.; Rech, I.; Ghioni, M. [Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano (Italy)

2015-11-15

Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) has been long recognized as the most sensitive method for fluorescence lifetime measurements, but often requiring “long” data acquisition times. This drawback is related to the limited counting capability of the TCSPC technique, due to pile-up and counting loss effects. In recent years, multi-module TCSPC systems have been introduced to overcome this issue. Splitting the light into several detectors connected to independent TCSPC modules proportionally increases the counting capability. Of course, multi-module operation also increases the system cost and can cause space and power supply problems. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach based on a new detector and processing electronics designed to reduce the overall system dead time, thus enabling efficient photon collection at high excitation rate. We present a fast active quenching circuit for single-photon avalanche diodes which features a minimum dead time of 12.4 ns. We also introduce a new Time-to-Amplitude Converter (TAC) able to attain extra-short dead time thanks to the combination of a scalable array of monolithically integrated TACs and a sequential router. The fast TAC (F-TAC) makes it possible to operate the system towards the upper limit of detector count rate capability (∼80 Mcps) with reduced pile-up losses, addressing one of the historic criticisms of TCSPC. Preliminary measurements on the F-TAC are presented and discussed.

Mobbing of Working Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandra Rodrigues Jacoby

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Workplace mobbing has become a common topic. Taking into account the increasing reports of this act, this study was aimed at investigating the prevalence of mobbing in relation to university students who work and also ascertaining the most frequent biosociodemographic and work characteristics of the group of workers who were mobbed. The sample was composed of 457 working students living in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and usedas instruments a Biosociodemographic and Employment questionnaire and the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ. It could be observed that 89.3% of the students had a mobbing score according to the NAQ – objective measure. As per the subjective measure, 11.2% of the participants stated to having beenmobbed. High rates of the practice of hostile acts in the workplace can be noted, but these are often viewed as mundane and normal acts in the workplace. In conclusion, it is necessary to seek alternatives in order to overcome this problem, which already affects a significant number of workers.

CalCOFI Larvae Counts Positive Tows

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for eggs captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

Set of counts by scintillations for atmospheric samplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Appriou, D.; Doury, A.

1962-01-01

The author reports the development of a scintillation-based counting assembly with the following characteristics: a photo-multiplier with a wide photo-cathode, a thin plastic scintillator for the counting of beta + alpha (and possibility of mounting an alpha scintillator), a relatively small own motion with respect to activities to be counted, a weakly varying efficiency. The authors discuss the counting objective, present equipment tests (counter, proportional amplifier and pre-amplifier, input drawer). They describe the apparatus operation, discuss the selection of scintillators, report the study of the own movement (electron-based background noise, total background noise, background noise reduction), discuss counts (influence of the external source, sensitivity to alpha radiations, counting homogeneity, minimum detectable activity) and efficiencies

Track counting in radon dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fesenbeck, Ingo; Koehler, Bernd; Reichert, Klaus-Martin

2013-01-01

The newly developed, computer-controlled track counting system is capable of imaging and analyzing the entire area of nuclear track detectors. The high optical resolution allows a new analysis approach for the process of automated counting using digital image processing technologies. This way, higher exposed detectors can be evaluated reliably by an automated process as well. (orig.)

CalCOFI Egg Counts Positive Tows

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish egg counts and standardized counts for eggs captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets], and...

Regression Models For Multivariate Count Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yiwen; Zhou, Hua; Zhou, Jin; Sun, Wei

2017-01-01

Data with multivariate count responses frequently occur in modern applications. The commonly used multinomial-logit model is limiting due to its restrictive mean-variance structure. For instance, analyzing count data from the recent RNA-seq technology by the multinomial-logit model leads to serious errors in hypothesis testing. The ubiquity of over-dispersion and complicated correlation structures among multivariate counts calls for more flexible regression models. In this article, we study some generalized linear models that incorporate various correlation structures among the counts. Current literature lacks a treatment of these models, partly due to the fact that they do not belong to the natural exponential family. We study the estimation, testing, and variable selection for these models in a unifying framework. The regression models are compared on both synthetic and real RNA-seq data.

Evaluating the effectiveness of real-time feedback on the bedside hand hygiene behaviors of nursing students.

Science.gov (United States)

Ott, Lora K; Irani, Vida R

2015-05-01

Traditional hand hygiene teaching methods lack long-term effectiveness. A longitudinal, within-subject design explored the influence of real-time hand microbe feedback and a critical-thinking decision exercise on nursing student hand hygiene behaviors. In three community hospitals, the students' (n = 68) hand swabs were tested for normal flora, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus at three time points. Students completed the Partnering to Heal (PTH) online exercise on hospital-acquired infection prevention decisions. Normal flora colony counts decreased across the semester and MRSA-positive cultures increased in frequency and colony counts. MRSA-positive cultures were not associated with caring for patients in isolation precautions. Significantly higher colony counts were noted in the students who completed the PTH than those who did not complete the PTH. This study explores innovative pedagogy bringing the nonvisible microbial risk to the consciousness of nursing students in an attempt to change hand hygiene behaviors. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

The contribution of simple random sampling to observed variations in faecal egg counts.

Science.gov (United States)

Torgerson, Paul R; Paul, Michaela; Lewis, Fraser I

2012-09-10

It has been over 100 years since the classical paper published by Gosset in 1907, under the pseudonym "Student", demonstrated that yeast cells suspended in a fluid and measured by a haemocytometer conformed to a Poisson process. Similarly parasite eggs in a faecal suspension also conform to a Poisson process. Despite this there are common misconceptions how to analyse or interpret observations from the McMaster or similar quantitative parasitic diagnostic techniques, widely used for evaluating parasite eggs in faeces. The McMaster technique can easily be shown from a theoretical perspective to give variable results that inevitably arise from the random distribution of parasite eggs in a well mixed faecal sample. The Poisson processes that lead to this variability are described and illustrative examples of the potentially large confidence intervals that can arise from observed faecal eggs counts that are calculated from the observations on a McMaster slide. Attempts to modify the McMaster technique, or indeed other quantitative techniques, to ensure uniform egg counts are doomed to failure and belie ignorance of Poisson processes. A simple method to immediately identify excess variation/poor sampling from replicate counts is provided. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Validity of total leucocytes count and neutrophil count (differential leucocytes) in diagnosing suspected acute appendicitis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anwar, M.W.; Abid, I.

2012-01-01

Objective: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of Total Leucocytes Count (TLC) with Neutrophil count; Differential Leucocytes Count (DLC) in diagnosing cases of suspected acute appendicitis. Study design: Validation study. Place and duration of the study: Department of Surgery, Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Rawalpindi, from April 2008 to October 2008. Method: A total of 100 patients of Pain right iliac fossae who underwent appendicectomy were included. Detailed history of all the patients was taken for pain in right lower abdomen, its severity, its nature, relieving or provoking factors. Clinical examination was done in detail. Total and Differential Leucocytes Count was done. Every patient's appendix was examined grossly after appendicectomy for evidence of appendicitis. Diagnostic measures of TLC and DLC were calculated by standard formulas. Results: Sensitivity and specificity of TLC is 86.9% and 81.25% respectively and that of DLC is 82% and 68.75% respectively. Accuracy was 86% for TLC and 80% for DLC. Conclusion: TLC is more sensitive, specific and accurate test as compared to DLC and it should be used as diagnostic aid for suspected acute appendicitis cases. (author)

Prevalence of plagiarism among medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Bilić-Zulle, Lidija; Frković, Vedran; Turk, Tamara; Azman, Josip; Petrovecki, Mladen

2005-02-01

To determine the prevalence of plagiarism among medical students in writing essays. During two academic years, 198 second year medical students attending Medical Informatics course wrote an essay on one of four offered articles. Two of the source articles were available in an electronic form and two in printed form. Two (one electronic and one paper article) were considered less complex and the other two more complex. The essays were examined using plagiarism detection software "WCopyfind," which counted the number of matching phrases with six or more words. Plagiarism rate, expressed as the percentage of the plagiarized text, was calculated as a ratio of the absolute number of matching words and the total number of words in the essay. Only 17 (9%) of students did not plagiarize at all and 68 (34%) plagiarized less than 10% of the text. The average plagiarism rate (% of plagiarized text) was 19% (5-95% percentile=0-88). Students who were strictly warned not to plagiarize had a higher total word count in their essays than students who were not warned (P=0.002) but there was no difference between them in the rate of plagiarism. Students with higher grades in Medical Informatics exam plagiarized less than those with lower grades (P=0.015). Gender, subject source, and complexity had no influence on the plagiarism rate. Plagiarism in writing essays is common among medical students. An explicit warning is not enough to deter students from plagiarism. Detection software can be used to trace and evaluate the rate of plagiarism in written student assays.

Enhanced counting efficiency of Cerenkov radiation from bismuth-210

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peck, G.A.; Smith, J.D.

1998-01-01

This paper describes the measurement of 210 Bi by Cerenkov counting in a commercial liquid scintillation counter. The counting efficiency in water is 0.17 counts per second per Becquerel (17%). When the enhancers Triton X-100 (15% v/v) and sodium salicylate (1% m/v) are added to the solution the counting efficiency for 210 Bi increases from 17% to 75%. The 210 Po daughter of 210 Bi causes interference of 0.85 counts per second per Becquerel in the presence of the enhancers but not in water. When 210 Bi and 210 Po are present in secular equilibrium the total counting efficiency is 160%. When 210 Bi and 210 Po are not in secular equilibrium the 210 Po can be removed immediately before counting by plating onto silver foil. The use of the enhancers gives a substantial increase in counting efficiency compared to counting in water. Compared with solutions used in liquid scintillation counting the enhancer solution is inexpensive and can be disposed of without environmental hazard. (author)

Clean Hands Count

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Design and development of multiple sample counting setup

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rath, D.P.; Murali, S.; Babu, D.A.R.

2010-01-01

Full text: The analysis of active samples on regular basis for ambient air activity and floor contamination from radio chemical lab accounts for major chunk of the operational activity in Health Physicist's responsibility. The requirement for daily air sample analysis on immediate counting and delayed counting from various labs in addition to samples of smear swipe check of lab led to the urge for development of system that could cater multiple sample analysis in a time programmed manner on a single sample loading. A multiple alpha/beta counting system for counting was designed and fabricated. It has arrangements for loading 10 samples in slots in order, get counted in a time programmed manner with results displayed and records maintained in PC. The paper describes the design and development of multiple sample counting setup presently in use at the facility has resulted in reduction of man-hour consumption in counting and recording of the results

Automated vehicle counting using image processing and machine learning

Science.gov (United States)

Meany, Sean; Eskew, Edward; Martinez-Castro, Rosana; Jang, Shinae

2017-04-01

Vehicle counting is used by the government to improve roadways and the flow of traffic, and by private businesses for purposes such as determining the value of locating a new store in an area. A vehicle count can be performed manually or automatically. Manual counting requires an individual to be on-site and tally the traffic electronically or by hand. However, this can lead to miscounts due to factors such as human error A common form of automatic counting involves pneumatic tubes, but pneumatic tubes disrupt traffic during installation and removal, and can be damaged by passing vehicles. Vehicle counting can also be performed via the use of a camera at the count site recording video of the traffic, with counting being performed manually post-recording or using automatic algorithms. This paper presents a low-cost procedure to perform automatic vehicle counting using remote video cameras with an automatic counting algorithm. The procedure would utilize a Raspberry Pi micro-computer to detect when a car is in a lane, and generate an accurate count of vehicle movements. The method utilized in this paper would use background subtraction to process the images and a machine learning algorithm to provide the count. This method avoids fatigue issues that are encountered in manual video counting and prevents the disruption of roadways that occurs when installing pneumatic tubes

Calculating concentration of inhaled radiolabeled particles from external gamma counting: External counting efficiency and attenuation coefficient of thorax

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langenback, E.G.; Foster, W.M.; Bergofsky, E.H.

1989-01-01

We determined the overall external counting efficiency of radiolabeled particles deposited in the sheep lung. This efficiency permits the noninvasive calculation of the number of particles and microcuries from gamma-scintillation lung images of the live sheep. Additionally, we have calculated the attenuation of gamma radiation (120 keV) by the posterior chest wall and the gamma-scintillation camera collection efficiency of radiation emitted from the lung. Four methods were employed in our experiments: (1) by light microscopic counting of discrete carbonized polystyrene particles with a count median diameter (CMD) of 2.85 microns and tagged with cobalt-57, we delineated a linear relationship between the number of particles and the emitted counts per minute (cpm) detected by well scintillation counting; (2) from this conversion relationship we determined the number of particles inhaled and deposited in the lungs by scintillation counting fragments of dissected lung at autopsy; (3) we defined a linear association between the number of particles or microcuries contained in the lung and the emitted radiation as cpm detected by a gamma scintillation camera in the live sheep prior to autopsy; and (4) we compared the emitted radiation from the lungs of the live sheep to that of whole excised lungs in order to calculate the attenuation coefficient (ac) of the chest wall. The mean external counting efficiency was 4.00 X 10(4) particles/cpm (5.1 X 10(-3) microCi/cpm), the camera collection efficiency was 1 cpm/10(4) disintegrations per minute (dpm), and the ac had a mean of 0.178/cm. The external counting efficiency remained relatively constant over a range of particles and microcuries, permitting a more general use of this ratio to estimate number of particles or microcuries depositing after inhalation in a large mammalian lung if a similarly collimated gamma camera system is used

Clean Hands Count

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Clean Hands Count

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Algorithm for counting large directed loops

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bianconi, Ginestra [Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste (Italy); Gulbahce, Natali [Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM 87545 (United States)

2008-06-06

We derive a Belief-Propagation algorithm for counting large loops in a directed network. We evaluate the distribution of the number of small loops in a directed random network with given degree sequence. We apply the algorithm to a few characteristic directed networks of various network sizes and loop structures and compare the algorithm with exhaustive counting results when possible. The algorithm is adequate in estimating loop counts for large directed networks and can be used to compare the loop structure of directed networks and their randomized counterparts.

Logistic regression for dichotomized counts.

Science.gov (United States)

Preisser, John S; Das, Kalyan; Benecha, Habtamu; Stamm, John W

2016-12-01

Sometimes there is interest in a dichotomized outcome indicating whether a count variable is positive or zero. Under this scenario, the application of ordinary logistic regression may result in efficiency loss, which is quantifiable under an assumed model for the counts. In such situations, a shared-parameter hurdle model is investigated for more efficient estimation of regression parameters relating to overall effects of covariates on the dichotomous outcome, while handling count data with many zeroes. One model part provides a logistic regression containing marginal log odds ratio effects of primary interest, while an ancillary model part describes the mean count of a Poisson or negative binomial process in terms of nuisance regression parameters. Asymptotic efficiency of the logistic model parameter estimators of the two-part models is evaluated with respect to ordinary logistic regression. Simulations are used to assess the properties of the models with respect to power and Type I error, the latter investigated under both misspecified and correctly specified models. The methods are applied to data from a randomized clinical trial of three toothpaste formulations to prevent incident dental caries in a large population of Scottish schoolchildren. © The Author(s) 2014.

Housing Inventory Count

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Housing and Urban Development — This report displays the data communities reported to HUD about the nature of their dedicated homeless inventory, referred to as their Housing Inventory Count (HIC)....

Multiple-Event, Single-Photon Counting Imaging Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xinyu; Cunningham, Thomas J.; Sun, Chao; Wang, Kang L.

2011-01-01

The single-photon counting imaging sensor is typically an array of silicon Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes that are monolithically integrated with CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) readout, signal processing, and addressing circuits located in each pixel and the peripheral area of the chip. The major problem is its single-event method for photon count number registration. A single-event single-photon counting imaging array only allows registration of up to one photon count in each of its pixels during a frame time, i.e., the interval between two successive pixel reset operations. Since the frame time can t be too short, this will lead to very low dynamic range and make the sensor merely useful for very low flux environments. The second problem of the prior technique is a limited fill factor resulting from consumption of chip area by the monolithically integrated CMOS readout in pixels. The resulting low photon collection efficiency will substantially ruin any benefit gained from the very sensitive single-photon counting detection. The single-photon counting imaging sensor developed in this work has a novel multiple-event architecture, which allows each of its pixels to register as more than one million (or more) photon-counting events during a frame time. Because of a consequently boosted dynamic range, the imaging array of the invention is capable of performing single-photon counting under ultra-low light through high-flux environments. On the other hand, since the multiple-event architecture is implemented in a hybrid structure, back-illumination and close-to-unity fill factor can be realized, and maximized quantum efficiency can also be achieved in the detector array.

A Model for Forecasting Enlisted Student IA Billet Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

IA execution ........................................... 4   Figure 2.   Learning center to resource sponsor alignment...initial entry training” [3]. 4 Figure 1. Training that counts as student IA execution The second type of chargeable training is the...Reference [ 4 ] describes the process the Navy uses to build the student IA program. It comprises three steps. The first is to forecast student IA E

Lazy reference counting for the Microgrid

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poss, R.; Grelck, C.; Herhut, S.; Scholz, S.-B.

2012-01-01

This papers revisits non-deferred reference counting, a common technique to ensure that potentially shared large heap objects can be reused safely when they are both input and output to computations. Traditionally, thread-safe reference counting exploit implicit memory-based communication of counter

Clean Hands Count

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Preverbal and verbal counting and computation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallistel, C R; Gelman, R

1992-08-01

We describe the preverbal system of counting and arithmetic reasoning revealed by experiments on numerical representations in animals. In this system, numerosities are represented by magnitudes, which are rapidly but inaccurately generated by the Meck and Church (1983) preverbal counting mechanism. We suggest the following. (1) The preverbal counting mechanism is the source of the implicit principles that guide the acquisition of verbal counting. (2) The preverbal system of arithmetic computation provides the framework for the assimilation of the verbal system. (3) Learning to count involves, in part, learning a mapping from the preverbal numerical magnitudes to the verbal and written number symbols and the inverse mappings from these symbols to the preverbal magnitudes. (4) Subitizing is the use of the preverbal counting process and the mapping from the resulting magnitudes to number words in order to generate rapidly the number words for small numerosities. (5) The retrieval of the number facts, which plays a central role in verbal computation, is mediated via the inverse mappings from verbal and written numbers to the preverbal magnitudes and the use of these magnitudes to find the appropriate cells in tabular arrangements of the answers. (6) This model of the fact retrieval process accounts for the salient features of the reaction time differences and error patterns revealed by experiments on mental arithmetic. (7) The application of verbal and written computational algorithms goes on in parallel with, and is to some extent guided by, preverbal computations, both in the child and in the adult.

Determining Gate Count Reliability in a Library Setting

OpenAIRE

Jeffrey Phillips

2016-01-01

Objective – Patron counts are a common form of measurement for library assessment. To develop accurate library statistics, it is necessary to determine any differences between various counting devices. A yearlong comparison between card reader turnstiles and laser gate counters in a university library sought to offer a standard percentage of variance and provide suggestions to increase the precision of counts. Methods – The collection of library exit counts identified the differences be...

Tuition reduction is the key factor determining tax burden of graduate students under the Tax Cuts and Job Act [version 2; referees: 2 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia M. Lawston

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Background: The proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R.1 has stirred significant public debate on the future of American economics.  While supporters of the plan have championed it as a necessity for economic revitalization, detractors have pointed out areas of serious concern, particularly for low- and middle-income Americans.  One particularly alarming facet of the plan is the radical change to education finance programs and taxation of students in higher education.  Methods:  By analyzing actual income and tuition of a public and a private university student, as well as the ‘average’ graduate student, we investigated the effect of both the House and Senate versions of H.R. 1 on taxation of students of various family structures.  Results:  Our findings indicate that taxable tuition would be the greatest contributor to graduate student tax burden across all four categories of filing status.  However, when tuition reduction is upheld or a student is on sustaining fees rather than full tuition, graduate students would realize decreases in taxation. Conclusions:  Overall, we conclude that removal of tuition reduction would result in enormous tax burdens for graduate students and their families and that these effects are dependent not only on the status of the student in their degree program but also on their tuition and stipend, and therefore the institution they attend.

Counting Word Frequencies with Python

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William J. Turkel

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Your list is now clean enough that you can begin analyzing its contents in meaningful ways. Counting the frequency of specific words in the list can provide illustrative data. Python has an easy way to count frequencies, but it requires the use of a new type of variable: the dictionary. Before you begin working with a dictionary, consider the processes used to calculate frequencies in a list.

Computerized radioautographic grain counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKanna, J.A.; Casagrande, V.A.

1985-01-01

In recent years, radiolabeling techniques have become fundamental assays in physiology and biochemistry experiments. They also have assumed increasingly important roles in morphologic studies. Characteristically, radioautographic analysis of structure has been qualitative rather than quantitative, however, microcomputers have opened the door to several methods for quantifying grain counts and density. The overall goal of this chapter is to describe grain counting using the Bioquant, an image analysis package based originally on the Apple II+, and now available for several popular microcomputers. The authors discuss their image analysis procedures by applying them to a study of development in the central nervous system

Cerenkov counting and Cerenkov-scintillation counting with high refractive index organic liquids using a liquid scintillation counter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiebe, L.I.; Helus, F.; Maier-Borst, W.

1978-01-01

18 F and 14 C radioactivity was measured in methyl salicylate (MS), a high refractive index hybrid Cherenkov-scintillation generating medium, using a liquid scintillation counter. At concentrations of up to 21.4%, in MS, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) quenched 14 C fluorescence, and with a 10-fold excess of DMSO over MS, 18 F count rates were reduced below that for DMSO alone, probably as a result of concentration-independent self-quenching due to 'dark-complex' formation. DMSO in lower concentrations did not reduce the counting efficiency of 18 F in MS. Nitrobenzene was a concentration-dependent quencher for both 14 C and 18 F in MS. Chlorobenzene (CB) and DMSO were both found to be weak Cherenkov generators with 18 F. Counting efficiencies for 18 F in MS, CB, and DMSO were 50.3, 7.8 and 4.3% respectively in the coincidence counting mode, and 58.1, 13.0 and 6.8% in the singles mode. 14 C efficiencies were 14.4 and 22.3% for coincidence and singles respectively, and 15.3 and 42.0% using a modern counter designed for coincidence and single photon counting. The high 14 C and 18 F counting efficiency in MS are discussed with respect to excitation mechanism, on the basis of quench and channels ratios changes observed. It is proposed that MS functions as an efficient Cherenkov-scintillation generator for high-energy beta emitters such as 18 F, and as a low-efficiency scintillator for weak beta emitting radionuclides such as 14 C. (author)

Relationship between salivary flow rates and Candida albicans counts.

Science.gov (United States)

Navazesh, M; Wood, G J; Brightman, V J

1995-09-01

Seventy-one persons (48 women, 23 men; mean age, 51.76 years) were evaluated for salivary flow rates and Candida albicans counts. Each person was seen on three different occasions. Samples of unstimulated whole, chewing-stimulated whole, acid-stimulated parotid, and candy-stimulated parotid saliva were collected under standardized conditions. An oral rinse was also obtained and evaluated for Candida albicans counts. Unstimulated and chewing-stimulated whole flow rates were negatively and significantly (p Candida counts. Unstimulated whole saliva significantly (p Candida counts of 0 versus or = 500 count. Differences in stimulated parotid flow rates were not significant among different levels of Candida counts. The results of this study reveal that whole saliva is a better predictor than parotid saliva in identification of persons with high Candida albicans counts.

Reticulocyte Count Test

Science.gov (United States)

... htm. (2004 Summer). Immature Reticulocyte Fraction(IRF). The Pathology Center Newsletter v9(1). [On-line information]. Available ... Company, Philadelphia, PA [18th Edition]. Levin, M. (2007 March 8, Updated). Reticulocyte Count. MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia [On- ...

Temporal trends in sperm count

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Levine, Hagai; Jørgensen, Niels; Martino-Andrade, Anderson

2017-01-01

a predefined protocol 7518 abstracts were screened and 2510 full articles reporting primary data on SC were reviewed. A total of 244 estimates of SC and TSC from 185 studies of 42 935 men who provided semen samples in 1973-2011 were extracted for meta-regression analysis, as well as information on years.......006, respectively). WIDER IMPLICATIONS: This comprehensive meta-regression analysis reports a significant decline in sperm counts (as measured by SC and TSC) between 1973 and 2011, driven by a 50-60% decline among men unselected by fertility from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Because......BACKGROUND: Reported declines in sperm counts remain controversial today and recent trends are unknown. A definitive meta-analysis is critical given the predictive value of sperm count for fertility, morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE: To provide a systematic review and meta-regression...

CERNDxCTA counting mode chip

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moraes, D.; Kaplon, J.; Nygard, E.

2008-01-01

This ASIC is a counting mode front-end electronic optimized for the readout of CdZnTe/CdTe and silicon sensors, for possible use in applications where the flux of ionizing radiation is high. The chip is implemented in 0.25 μm CMOS technology. The circuit comprises 128 channels equipped with a transimpedance amplifier followed by a gain shaper stage with 21 ns peaking time, two discriminators and two 18-bit counters. The channel architecture is optimized for the detector characteristics in order to achieve the best energy resolution at counting rates of up to 5 M counts/second. The amplifier shows a linear sensitivity of 118 mV/fC and an equivalent noise charge of about 711 e - , for a detector capacitance of 5 pF. Complete evaluation of the circuit is presented using electronic pulses and pixel detectors

FEATURES OF STUDENT PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELLING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Dorina PASCA

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Student psychological counseling is one of the means to acknowledge student identity by employing counseling tools that allow the psychologist to make use of a set of skills essential in achieving envisaged outcomes. To act as counseling psychologist for students is to guide actions by the five wh- questions: who (the client is, why (the counselor is approached, who (the counselor talks to, what (problem the student has to tackle, how (the problem can be solved. Some of the most important features that contribute to solving student problems are the counselor’s deontology, trustworthiness and attitude that are to be relied on without impeding the client’s personality traits. Thus, developing awareness of the features underlying student psychological counseling and acting accordingly is the real test for any professional in the field. Therefore, the real challenge is not being in the lion’s den, but living with it.

Seed counting system evaluation using arduino microcontroller

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Fernando Escobar Paim

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The development of automated systems has been highlighted in the most diverse productive sectors, among them, the agricultural sector. These systems aim to optimize activities by increasing operational efficiency and quality of work. In this sense, the present work has the objective of evaluating a prototype developed for seed count in laboratory, using Arduino microcontroller. The prototype of the system for seed counting was built using a dosing mechanism commonly used in seeders, electric motor, Arduino Uno, light dependent resistor and light emitting diode. To test the prototype, a completely randomized design (CRD was used in a two-factorial scheme composed of three groups defined according to the number of seeds (500, 1000 and 1500 seeds tested, three speeds of the dosing disc that allowed the distribution in 17, 21 and 32 seeds per second, with 40 repetitions evaluating the seed counting prototype performance in different speeds. The prototype of the bench counter showed a moderate variability of seed number of counted within the nine tests and a high precision in the seed count on the distribution speeds of 17 and 21 seeds per second (s-1 up to 1500 seeds tested. Therefore, based on the observed results, the developed prototype presents itself as an excellent tool for counting seeds in laboratory.

Using DNA to test the utility of pellet-group counts as an index of deer counts

Science.gov (United States)

T. J. Brinkman; D. K. Person; W. Smith; F. Stuart Chapin; K. McCoy; M. Leonawicz; K. Hundertmark

2013-01-01

Despite widespread use of fecal pellet-group counts as an index of ungulate density, techniques used to convert pellet-group numbers to ungulate numbers rarely are based on counts of known individuals, seldom evaluated across spatial and temporal scales, and precision is infrequently quantified. Using DNA from fecal pellets to identify individual deer, we evaluated the...

Tutorial on X-ray photon counting detector characterization.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Liqiang; Zheng, Bin; Liu, Hong

2018-01-01

Recent advances in photon counting detection technology have led to significant research interest in X-ray imaging. As a tutorial level review, this paper covers a wide range of aspects related to X-ray photon counting detector characterization. The tutorial begins with a detailed description of the working principle and operating modes of a pixelated X-ray photon counting detector with basic architecture and detection mechanism. Currently available methods and techniques for charactering major aspects including energy response, noise floor, energy resolution, count rate performance (detector efficiency), and charge sharing effect of photon counting detectors are comprehensively reviewed. Other characterization aspects such as point spread function (PSF), line spread function (LSF), contrast transfer function (CTF), modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), detective quantum efficiency (DQE), bias voltage, radiation damage, and polarization effect are also remarked. A cadmium telluride (CdTe) pixelated photon counting detector is employed for part of the characterization demonstration and the results are presented. This review can serve as a tutorial for X-ray imaging researchers and investigators to understand, operate, characterize, and optimize photon counting detectors for a variety of applications.

Effect of two additional interventions, test and reflection, added to standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation training on seventh grade students' practical skills and willingness to act: a cluster randomised trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Nord, Anette; Hult, Håkan; Kreitz-Sandberg, Susanne; Herlitz, Johan; Svensson, Leif; Nilsson, Lennart

2017-06-23

The aim of this research is to investigate if two additional interventions, test and reflection, after standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training facilitate learning by comparing 13-year-old students' practical skills and willingness to act. Seventh grade students in council schools of two municipalities in south-east Sweden. School classes were randomised to CPR training only (O), CPR training with a practical test including feedback (T) or CPR training with reflection and a practical test including feedback (RT). Measures of practical skills and willingness to act in a potential life-threatening situation were studied directly after training and at 6 months using a digital reporting system and a survey. A modified Cardiff test was used to register the practical skills, where scores in each of 12 items resulted in a total score of 12-48 points. The study was conducted in accordance with current European Resuscitation Council guidelines during December 2013 to October 2014. 29 classes for a total of 587 seventh grade students were included in the study. The total score of the modified Cardiff test at 6 months was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were the total score directly after training, the 12 individual items of the modified Cardiff test and willingness to act. At 6 months, the T and O groups scored 32 (3.9) and 30 (4.0) points, respectively (ptraining improved the students' acquisition of practical CPR skills. Reflection did not increase further CPR skills. At 6-month follow-up, no intervention effect was found regarding willingness to make a life-saving effort. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Scintillation counting apparatus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noakes, J.E.

1978-01-01

Apparatus is described for the accurate measurement of radiation by means of scintillation counters and in particular for the liquid scintillation counting of both soft beta radiation and gamma radiation. Full constructional and operating details are given. (UK)

Does the thought count? Gratitude understanding in elementary school students.

Science.gov (United States)

Poelker, Katelyn E; Kuebli, Janet E

2014-01-01

Gratitude, although studied throughout history by scholars from diverse backgrounds, has been largely understudied in psychology until recently. The psychological literature on gratitude is expanding, but it is still particularly limited with children. The authors compared younger (first- and second-grade students; n = 30) and older (fourth- and fifth-grade students; n = 27) children on gratitude-related ratings surrounding gift giving vignettes that included either a desirable (e.g., a birthday cupcake) or an undesirable (e.g., a melted ice cream cone) gift. Empathy was also measured. Hierarchical regressions revealed different patterns of predictors for desirable and undesirable gifts. For desirable gifts, liking significantly predicted gratitude and liking predicted effort. For undesirable gifts, older children and those who perceived the target as liking the gift more predicted higher gratitude ratings. Finally, higher gratitude rating predicted both higher ratings of giver effort (i.e., intention or how hard did the giver try to give a nice gift) and liking of the undesirable gifts. More research on children's understanding of gratitude is needed but these results suggest that school-aged children take into account givers' intentions and thoughts behind gift giving in determining feelings of gratitude. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

1 GSPS digitizer based on the FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) standard with low-count pin connector.

CERN Document Server

Vasilyev, Mikhail

2015-01-01

Under the scope of a CERN summer student project, the schematic for ADC based on FMC mezzanine card with 1 GSPS sampling rate and 8 bit resolution was developed. The mezzanine is fully compatible with the standard: FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) [1]. A low-pin count connector was used to connect the mezzanine with the “carrier”. The carrier was an Open Hardware project: Simple PCIe FMC carrier (SPEC).

Project and construction of counting system for neutron probe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monteiro, W.P.

1985-01-01

A counting system was developed for coupling neutron probe aiming to register pulses produced by slow neutron interaction in the detector. The neutron probe consists of fast neutron source, thermal neutron detector, amplifier circuit and pulse counting circuit. The counting system is composed by counting circuit, timer and signal circuit. (M.C.K.)

Counts and colors of faint galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kron, R.G.

1980-01-01

The color distribution of faint galaxies is an observational dimension which has not yet been fully exploited, despite the important constraints obtainable for galaxy evolution and cosmology. Number-magnitude counts alone contain very diluted information about the state of things because galaxies from a wide range in redshift contribute to the counts at each magnitude. The most-frequently-seen type of galaxy depends on the luminosity function and the relative proportions of galaxies of different spectral classes. The addition of color as a measured quantity can thus considerably sharpen the interpretation of galaxy counts since the apparent color depends on the redshift and rest-frame spectrum. (Auth.)

Clean Hands Count

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Dental students' part-time jobs in dental practices in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Poorterman, J H G; Dikkes, B T; Brand, H S

2010-08-01

In the Netherlands, the Individual Health Care Professions Act (IHCP Act) allows dental students, amongst other non-qualified individuals, to work under certain conditions in a dental practice. The aim of the study was to determine how many dental students have part-time employment in dental practice and which professional tasks they carry out. We also asked the dental students their opinion about the IHCP Act. All the enrolled dental students at the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA) in the Netherlands received a questionnaire by e-mail. Within 1 month, two reminders were sent. The response was 44% (427 students). Of the responding students, 71% had paid employment in addition to their study. Twenty-five per cent of all students worked in a dental practice, usually 8 h a week. Study year and age were positively related to working part-time in dental practice. Activities frequently performed were providing chair side assistance, giving oral hygiene instruction, fluoride applications, scaling and root planning. The self-reported knowledge about the IHCP Act was positively related to study year and working in a dental practice. Hardly any information about the requirements of the IHCP Act with regard to delegation of tasks was provided by the employer. Many Dutch dental students work in a dental practice, taking over a variety of tasks. Although the self-reported knowledge about the IHCP Act was relatively high, many dental students expressed the need for more detailed information about the legal aspects of their tasks.

States' Flexibility Waiver Plans for Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards (AA-AAS). Synthesis Report 96

Science.gov (United States)

Lazarus, Sheryl S.; Edwards, Lynn M.; Thurlow, Martha L.; Hodgson, Jennifer R.

2014-01-01

All states have alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. For accountability purposes, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) allows up to 1% of students to be counted as proficient with this assessment option. In 2011 the U.S. Department of…

Cerenkov counting and Cerenkov-scintillation counting with high refractive index organic liquids using a liquid scintillation counter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiebe, L I; Helus, F; Maier-Borst, W [Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg (Germany, F.R.). Inst. fuer Nuklearmedizin

1978-06-01

/sup 18/F and /sup 14/C radioactivity was measured in methyl salicylate (MS), a high refractive index hybrid Cherenkov-scintillation generating medium, using a liquid scintillation counter. At concentrations of up to 21.4%, in MS, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) quenched /sup 14/C fluorescence, and with a 10-fold excess of DMSO over MS, /sup 18/F count rates were reduced below that for DMSO alone, probably as a result of concentration-independent self-quenching due to 'dark-complex' formation. DMSO in lower concentrations did not reduce the counting efficiency of /sup 18/F in MS. Nitrobenzene was a concentration-dependent quencher for both /sup 14/C and /sup 18/F in MS. Chlorobenzene (CB) and DMSO were both found to be weak Cherenkov generators with /sup 18/F. Counting efficiencies for /sup 18/F in MS, CB, and DMSO were 50.3, 7.8 and 4.3% respectively in the coincidence counting mode, and 58.1, 13.0 and 6.8% in the singles mode. /sup 14/C efficiencies were 14.4 and 22.3% for coincidence and singles respectively, and 15.3 and 42.0% using a modern counter designed for coincidence and single photon counting. The high /sup 14/C and /sup 18/F counting efficiency in MS are discussed with respect to excitation mechanism, on the basis of quench and channels ratios changes observed. It is proposed that MS functions as an efficient Cherenkov-scintillation generator for high-energy beta emitters such as /sup 18/F, and as a low-efficiency scintillator for weak beta emitting radionuclides such as /sup 14/C.

Clean Hands Count

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Clean Hands Count

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Clean Hands Count

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Clean Hands Count

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Suicide risk in relation to air pollen counts: a study based on data from Danish registers

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Ping; Waltoft, Berit L; Mortensen, Preben B; Postolache, Teodor T

2013-01-01

Objectives Since the well-observed spring peak of suicide incidents coincides with the peak of seasonal aeroallergens as tree-pollen, we want to document an association between suicide and pollen exposure with empirical data from Denmark. Design Ecological time series study. Setting Data on suicide incidents, air pollen counts and meteorological status were retrieved from Danish registries. Participants 13 700 suicide incidents over 1304 consecutive weeks were obtained from two large areas covering 2.86 million residents. Primary and secondary outcome measures Risk of suicide associated with pollen concentration was assessed using a time series Poisson-generalised additive model. Results We noted a significant association between suicide risk and air pollen counts. A change of pollen counts levels from 0 to ‘10–suicides in the population, and from 0 to ‘30–100’ grains, a relative risk of 1.132. The observed association remained significant after controlling for effects of region, calendar time, temperature, cloud cover and humidity. Meanwhile, we observed a significant sex difference that suicide risk in men started to rise when there was a small increase of air pollen, while the risk in women started to rise until pollen grains reached a certain level. High levels of pollen had slightly stronger effect on risk of suicide in individuals with mood disorder than those without the disorder. Conclusions The observed association between suicide risk and air pollen counts supports the hypothesis that aeroallergens, acting as immune triggers, may precipitate suicide. PMID:23793651

Investigating the Speech Act of Correction in Iraqi EFL Context

Science.gov (United States)

Darweesh, Abbas Deygan; Mehdi, Wafaa Sahib

2016-01-01

The present paper investigates the performance of the Iraqi students for the speech act of correction and how it is realized with status unequal. It attempts to achieve the following aims: (1) Setting out the felicity conditions for the speech act of correction in terms of Searle conditions; (2) Identifying the semantic formulas that realize the…

What Counts as Quality in Education? Australian College of Educators (ACE) National Conference Proceedings (Adelaide, Australia, September 11-12, 2014)

Science.gov (United States)

Ghirelli, Paola S., Ed.

2014-01-01

The 2014 Australian College of Educators (ACE) National Conference was held September 11-12 in Adelaide, Australia, with the theme, "What counts as quality in education?" There has been concern with a general downward trend in Australia's performance on international measures of student achievement, but there is equal concern over the…

SUMS Counts-Related Projects

Data.gov (United States)

Social Security Administration — Staging Instance for all SUMs Counts related projects including: Redeterminations/Limited Issue, Continuing Disability Resolution, CDR Performance Measures, Initial...

Direct photon-counting scintillation detector readout using an SSPM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stapels, Christopher J.; Squillante, Michael R.; Lawrence, William G.; Augustine, Frank L.; Christian, James F.

2007-01-01

Gamma-ray detector technologies, capable of providing adequate energy information, use photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) or silicon avalanche photodiodes to detect the light pulse from a scintillation crystal. A new approach to detect the light from scintillation materials is to use an array of small photon counting detectors, or a 'detector-on-a-chip' based on a novel 'Solid-state Photomultiplier' (SSPM) concept. A CMOS SSPM coupled to a scintillation crystal uses an array of CMOS Geiger photodiode (GPD) pixels to collect light and produce a signal proportional to the energy of the radiation. Each pixel acts as a binary photon detector, but the summed output is an analog representation of the total photon intensity. We have successfully fabricated arrays of GPD pixels in a CMOS environment, which makes possible the production of miniaturized arrays integrated with the detector electronics in a small silicon chip. This detector technology allows for a substantial cost reduction while preserving the energy resolution needed for radiological measurements. In this work, we compare designs for the SSPM detector. One pixel design achieves maximum detection efficiency (DE) for 632-nm photons approaching 30% with a room temperature dark count rate (DCR) of less than 1 kHz for a 30-μm-diameter pixel. We characterize after pulsing and optical cross talk and discuss their effects on the performance of the SSPM. For 30-μm diameter, passively quenched CMOS GPD pixels, modeling suggests that a pixel spacing of approximately 90 μm optimizes the SSPM performance with respect to DE and cross talk

Gender Gaps in High School GPA and ACT Scores: High School Grade Point Average and ACT Test Score by Subject and Gender. Information Brief 2014-12

Science.gov (United States)

ACT, Inc., 2014

2014-01-01

Female students who graduated from high school in 2013 averaged higher grades than their male counterparts in all subjects, but male graduates earned higher scores on the math and science sections of the ACT. This information brief looks at high school grade point average and ACT test score by subject and gender

Change-Point Methods for Overdispersed Count Data

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wilken, Brian A

2007-01-01

.... Although the Poisson model is often used to model count data, the two-parameter gamma-Poisson mixture parameterization of the negative binomial distribution is often a more adequate model for overdispersed count data...

Leveraging multiple datasets for deep leaf counting

OpenAIRE

Dobrescu, Andrei; Giuffrida, Mario Valerio; Tsaftaris, Sotirios A

2017-01-01

The number of leaves a plant has is one of the key traits (phenotypes) describing its development and growth. Here, we propose an automated, deep learning based approach for counting leaves in model rosette plants. While state-of-the-art results on leaf counting with deep learning methods have recently been reported, they obtain the count as a result of leaf segmentation and thus require per-leaf (instance) segmentation to train the models (a rather strong annotation). Instead, our method tre...

Dental hygiene students' part-time jobs in dental practices in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Poorterman, J H G; Dikkes, B T; Brand, H S

2010-05-01

Many students have paid employment while studying. In the Netherlands, the Individual Health Care Professions Act (IHCP Act) allows dental hygiene students to work under certain conditions in a dental practice. The aim of the study was to determine how many dental hygiene students have part-time job employment in dental practice and which professional tasks they carry out. We also asked the dental hygiene students their opinion of the IHCP Act. All the enrolled dental hygiene students (n = 341) at a School of Health in the Netherlands received a questionnaire by email. The response was 52% (176 students). Of the responding students, 75% had paid employment in addition to their study. A proportion of the students (35%) worked in a dental practice. The median number of hours worked per week was eight. Study year, age and prior education were positively related to working part-time in dental practice. Activities frequently performed were giving oral hygiene instruction, fluoride applications, scaling and root planning, providing chair side assistance and giving local anaesthesia. Although the self-reported knowledge about the IHCP Act was high, almost half of the students expressed the need for more detailed legal information. Many dental hygiene students work in a dental practice, taking over a number of tasks usually performed by the dentist. More information in the dental hygiene curriculum about the requirements of the IHCP Act seems desirable.

ReACT!: An Interactive Educational Tool for AI Planning for Robotics

Science.gov (United States)

Dogmus, Zeynep; Erdem, Esra; Patogulu, Volkan

2015-01-01

This paper presents ReAct!, an interactive educational tool for artificial intelligence (AI) planning for robotics. ReAct! enables students to describe robots' actions and change in dynamic domains without first having to know about the syntactic and semantic details of the underlying formalism, and to solve planning problems using…

Divided by Loyalty: The Debate Regarding Loyalty Provisions in the National Defense Education Act of 1958

Science.gov (United States)

Maher, Brent D.

2016-01-01

The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958 was the first federal investment in low-interest student loans and became a precedent for expansion of student loans in the Higher Education Act of 1965. In its controversial loyalty provisions, the NDEA required loan recipients to affirm loyalty to the U.S. government. Between 1958 and 1962,…

Detection limits for radioanalytical counting techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartwell, J.K.

1975-06-01

In low-level radioanalysis it is usually necessary to test the sample net counts against some ''Critical Level'' in order to determine if a given result indicates detection. This is an interpretive review of the work by Nicholson (1963), Currie (1968) and Gilbert (1974). Nicholson's evaluation of three different computational formulas for estimation of the ''Critical Level'' is discussed. The details of Nicholson's evaluation are presented along with a basic discussion of the testing procedures used. Recommendations are presented for calculation of confidence intervals, for reporting of analytical results, and for extension of the derived formula to more complex cases such as multiple background counts, multiple use of a single background count, and gamma spectrometric analysis

Counts of low-Redshift SDSS quasar candidates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeljko Ivezic

2004-01-01

We analyze the counts of low-redshift quasar candidates selected using nine-epoch SDSS imaging data. The co-added catalogs are more than 1 mag deeper than single-epoch SDSS data, and allow the selection of low-redshift quasar candidates using UV-excess and also variability techniques. The counts of selected candidates are robustly determined down to g = 21.5. This is about 2 magnitudes deeper than the position of a change in the slope of the counts reported by Boyle (and others) (1990, 2000) for a sample selected by UV-excess, and questioned by Hawkins and Veron (1995), who utilized a variability-selected sample. Using SDSS data, we confirm a change in the slope of the counts for both UV-excess and variability selected samples, providing strong support for the Boyle (and others) results

Liquid scintillation counting of chlorophyll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fric, F.; Horickova, B.; Haspel-Horvatovic, E.

1975-01-01

A precise and reproducible method of liquid scintillation counting was worked out for measuring the radioactivity of 14 C-labelled chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b solutions without previous bleaching. The spurious count rate caused by luminescence of the scintillant-chlorophyll system is eliminated by using a suitable scintillant and by measuring the radioactivity at 4 to 8 0 C after an appropriate time of dark adaptation. Bleaching of the chlorophyll solutions is necessary only for measuring of very low radioactivity. (author)

International Student Complaint Behaviour: How Do East Asian Students Complain to Their University?

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, David J.; Coates, Nigel F.

2010-01-01

The growing acceptance that students can also be viewed as consumers of higher education (HE) has acted as a catalyst for universities to place greater emphasis on issues such as student satisfaction and retention. Indeed, the UK National Student Survey covered 152 institutions in 2009. However, far less attention has been paid to the concept of…

Secrets to Success in School Nutrition

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Nancy

2011-01-01

Students need more than just "any" lunch or breakfast to do well in school--the "quality" of these meals counts also. Studies have demonstrated the role healthy diets can play in students' academic achievement. That's why President Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act in December 2010. This historic legislation provides free…

Your Voice Counts: Listening to the Voice of High School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Saggers, Beth; Hwang, Yoon-Suk; Mercer, K. Louise

2011-01-01

Supporting students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in inclusive settings presents both opportunities and significant challenges to school communities. This study, which explored the lived experience of nine students with ASD in an inclusive high school in Australia, is based on the belief that by listening to the voices of students, school…

Apology speech act realization in Sarawani Balochi: a case study of male university students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abbas Ali Ahangar

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Adapting Cross Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP taxonomy proposed by Blum-Kulka et al. (1989, this study examines the effect of power and gender of the addressees on the type and number of apology strategies used by (50 Sarawani Baloch male university students (SBMUS.The results, supporting the universality of employing apology strategies, indicate the chosen strategies employed by SBMUS were mostly the same as those used by the participants in other languages mentioned in CCSARP. Nevertheless, SBMUS also employed some different strategies not predicted in that project, reflecting the influence of religious and cultural factors governing Baloch society of Sarawan. Furthermore, power and gender of the addressees mostly does not affect the type and number of apology strategies employed by SBMUS. As to the type and number of strategies, the most frequent strategies were ‘illocutionary force indicating devices’ and the combination of 3 strategies, respectively. It seems that culture, religion, context and the situations in which an apology occurs, have significant effect on the type and number of apology strategies employed by these participants.

Radiation Counting System Software Using Visual Basic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nanda Nagara; Didi Gayani

2009-01-01

It has been created a Gamma Radiation Counting System using interface card, which paired with Personal Computer (PC) and operated by the Visual Basic program. The program was set through varied menu selections such as ”Multi Counting” , ”Counting and Record” and ”View Data”. An interface card for data acquisition was formed by using AMD9513 components as a counter and timer which can be programmed. This counting system was tested and used in waste facility in PTNBR and the result is quite good. (author)

Protecting count queries in study design.

Science.gov (United States)

Vinterbo, Staal A; Sarwate, Anand D; Boxwala, Aziz A

2012-01-01

Today's clinical research institutions provide tools for researchers to query their data warehouses for counts of patients. To protect patient privacy, counts are perturbed before reporting; this compromises their utility for increased privacy. The goal of this study is to extend current query answer systems to guarantee a quantifiable level of privacy and allow users to tailor perturbations to maximize the usefulness according to their needs. A perturbation mechanism was designed in which users are given options with respect to scale and direction of the perturbation. The mechanism translates the true count, user preferences, and a privacy level within administrator-specified bounds into a probability distribution from which the perturbed count is drawn. Users can significantly impact the scale and direction of the count perturbation and can receive more accurate final cohort estimates. Strong and semantically meaningful differential privacy is guaranteed, providing for a unified privacy accounting system that can support role-based trust levels. This study provides an open source web-enabled tool to investigate visually and numerically the interaction between system parameters, including required privacy level and user preference settings. Quantifying privacy allows system administrators to provide users with a privacy budget and to monitor its expenditure, enabling users to control the inevitable loss of utility. While current measures of privacy are conservative, this system can take advantage of future advances in privacy measurement. The system provides new ways of trading off privacy and utility that are not provided in current study design systems.

My Life as a DREAMer Who ACTed beyond the Barriers: From Growing up "Undocumented" in Arizona to a Master's Degree from Harvard

Science.gov (United States)

Vega, Silvia P. Rodriguez

2011-01-01

In this article, the author shares the story of her life as a DREAM Act student who acted beyond the barriers. The DREAM Act, defined as the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, is an effort to establish a path to citizenship for some children of illegal immigrants. Her story begins like the thousands of other students who are…

Alaska Steller Sea Lion Pup Count Database

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This database contains counts of Steller sea lion pups on rookeries in Alaska made between 1961 and 2015. Pup counts are conducted in late June-July. Pups are...

Photon counting and fluctuation of molecular movement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inohara, Koichi

1978-01-01

The direct measurement of the fluctuation of molecular motions, which provides with useful information on the molecular movement, was conducted by introducing photon counting method. The utilization of photon counting makes it possible to treat the molecular system consisting of a small number of molecules like a radioisotope in the detection of a small number of atoms, which are significant in biological systems. This method is based on counting the number of photons of the definite polarization emitted in a definite time interval from the fluorescent molecules excited by pulsed light, which are bound to the marked large molecules found in a definite spatial region. Using the probability of finding a number of molecules oriented in a definite direction in the definite spatial region, the probability of counting a number of photons in a definite time interval can be calculated. Thus the measurable count rate of photons can be related with the fluctuation of molecular movement. The measurement was carried out under the condition, in which the probability of the simultaneous arrival of more than two photons at a detector is less than 1/100. As the experimental results, the resolving power of photon-counting apparatus, the frequency distribution of the number of photons of some definite polarization counted for 1 nanosecond are shown. In the solution, the variance of the number of molecules of 500 on the average is 1200, which was estimated from the experimental data by assuming normal distribution. This departure from the Poisson distribution means that a certain correlation does exist in molecular movement. In solid solution, no significant deviation was observed. The correlation existing in molecular movement can be expressed in terms of the fluctuation of the number of molecules. (Nakai, Y.)

Current status of liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klingler, G.W.

1981-01-01

Scintillation counting of alpha particles has been used since the turn of the century. The advent of pulse shape discrimination has made this method of detection accurate and reliable. The history, concepts and development of scintillation counting and pulse shape discrimination are discussed. A brief look at the ongoing work in the consolidation of components now used for pulse shape discrimination is included

Paramedic student exposure to workplace violence during clinical placements - A cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyle, Malcolm; McKenna, Lisa

2017-01-01

Paramedic students are hesitant to formally report exposure to acts of workplace violence as they feel it may jeopardise their chance of getting a job. The objective of this study was to identify the type and number of workplace violence acts experienced by undergraduate paramedic students whilst on an ambulance clinical placement. This was a cross-sectional study using the Paramedic Workplace Violence Exposure Questionnaire to obtain student exposure to acts of workplace violence which occurred whilst on ambulance clinical placements. The survey response rate was 29.8%. The students' average age was 24.1 years, median age of 23 years, range 18-47 years. There were 32.6% of students who were exposed to at least one act of workplace violence with 56% of these being females. Verbal abuse 18%, and intimidation 17% were the common acts of workplace violence students were exposed to. One female, a nursing/paramedic student, was exposed to sexual harassment on more than one occasion. The findings from this study suggest that paramedic students are exposed to similar rates of workplace violence as full time practising paramedics. Further research is required into workplace violence against students from all professions and what detrimental effect this may have on them. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Causal Effect of Student Mobility on Standardized Test Performance: A Case Study with Possible Implications for Accountability Mandates within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Selya, Arielle S; Engel-Rebitzer, Eden; Dierker, Lisa; Stephen, Eric; Rose, Jennifer; Coffman, Donna L; Otis, Mindy

2016-01-01

This paper presents a limited case study examining the causal inference of student mobility on standardized test performance, within one middle-class high school in suburban Connecticut. Administrative data were used from a district public high school enrolling 319 10th graders in 2010. Propensity score methods were used to estimate the causal effect of student mobility on Math, Science, Reading, and Writing portions of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT), after matching mobile vs. stable students on gender, race/ethnicity, eligibility for free/reduced lunches, and special education status. Analyses showed that mobility was associated with lower performance in the CAPT Writing exam. Follow-up analyses revealed that this trend was only significant among those who were ineligible for free/reduced lunches, but not among eligible students. Additionally, mobile students who were ineligible for free/reduced lunches had lower performance in the CAPT Science exam according to some analyses. Large numbers of students transferring into a school district may adversely affect standardized test performance. This is especially relevant for policies that affect student mobility in schools, given the accountability measures in the No Child Left Behind that are currently being re-considered in the recent Every Student Succeeds Act.

The Causal Effect of Student Mobility on Standardized Test Performance: A Case Study with Possible Implications for Accountability Mandates within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arielle Selya

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a limited case study examining the causal inference of student mobility on standardized test performance, within one middle-class high school in suburban Connecticut. Administrative data were used from a district public high school enrolling 319 10th graders in 2010. Propensity score methods were used to estimate the causal effect of student mobility on Math, Science, Reading, and Writing portions of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT, after matching mobile vs. stable students on gender, race/ethnicity, eligibility for free/reduced lunches, and special education status. Analyses showed that mobility was associated with lower performance in the CAPT Writing exam. Follow-up analyses revealed that this trend was only significant among those who were ineligible for free/reduced lunches, but not among eligible students. Additionally, mobile students who were ineligible for free/reduced lunches had lower performance in the CAPT Science exam according to some analyses. Large numbers of students transferring into a school district may adversely affect standardized test performance. This is especially relevant for policies that affect student mobility in schools, given the accountability measures in the No Child Left Behind that are currently being re-considered in the recent Every Student Succeeds Act.

Rate of Speech and Reading in Second and Fifth Grade Primary Students in Tehran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hourieh Ahadi

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: The purpose of this research is to study the standardization of speaking and reading rates in a group of normal speaker of female students, and to compare them. As the rate of speech is an important variable in the evaluation and treatment of stuttering, cluttering, dysarthria and apraxia. Materials and Method: One hundred of second grade students of primary school and an equal number of fifth grade students participated in this study. All subjects were native speakers of Farsi, who passed an informal, screening test of articulation and speech. None of the subjects had a history of speech, hearing, or neurological disorders. The subjects were asked to read from the 180 words portion of their Farsi book and tell story. Their speech was recorded by using a tape recorder. Then the data were analyzed for word and syllable rate. In transcribing the samples, single morpheme was counted as single word and compound words were counted as two words if they had two free morphemes. Non-word interjections were excluded from word and syllable counts while word interjections and repeated words were included in the count. Independent t-test and paired t-test were used for analyzing. Results: In the second grade students the reading rate is, on the average, 189.4 syllable per minute (SPM(94.9 word per minute(WPM, 3.1 syllable per second(SPS and the talking rate is 189.8 SPM (99.1 WPM, 3.1 SPS and in the fifth grade student the reading rate is 223.9 SPM (119.0 WPM, 3.7SPS and the talking rate is 210.26 SPM (109.5 WPM , 3.4 SPS. Conclusion: The result highlight that in the fifth grade students, reading rates are higher than talking rates while in the second grade they are not, because they do not have enough skills for whole word reading. A remarkable finding in this research is that, reading and talking rates in the fifth grade students are higher than the second grade students.

Counting Possibilia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alfredo Tomasetta

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Timothy Williamson supports the thesis that every possible entity necessarily exists and so he needs to explain how a possible son of Wittgenstein’s, for example, exists in our world:he exists as a merely possible object (MPO, a pure locus of potential. Williamson presents a short argument for the existence of MPOs: how many knives can be made by fitting together two blades and two handles? Four: at the most two are concrete objects, the others being merely possible knives and merely possible objects. This paper defends the idea that one can avoid reference and ontological commitment to MPOs. My proposal is that MPOs can be dispensed with by using the notion of rules of knife-making. I first present a solution according to which we count lists of instructions - selected by the rules - describing physical combinations between components. This account, however, has its own difficulties and I eventually suggest that one can find a way out by admitting possible worlds, entities which are more commonly accepted - at least by philosophers - than MPOs. I maintain that, in answering Williamson’s questions, we count classes of physically possible worlds in which the same instance of a general rule is applied.

Evaluation of misplaced event count rate using a scintillation camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanagimoto, Shin-ichi; Tomomitsu, Tatsushi; Muranaka, Akira

1985-01-01

Misplaced event count rates were evaluated using an acryl scatter body of various thickness and a gamma camera. The count rate in the region of interest (ROI) within the camera view field, which was thought to represent part of the misplaced event count rate, increased as the thickness of the scatter body was increased to 5 cm, followed by a steep decline in the count rate. On the other hand, the ratio of the count rate in the ROI to the total count rate continuously increased as the thickness of the scatter body was increased. As the thickness of the scatter body was increased, the count rates increased, and the increments of increase were greater in the lower energy region of the photopeak than in the higher energy region. In ranges energy other than the photopeak, the influence of the scatter body on the count rate in the ROI was the greatest at 76 keV, which was the lowest energy we examined. (author)

Counting Knights and Knaves

Science.gov (United States)

Levin,Oscar; Roberts, Gerri M.

2013-01-01

To understand better some of the classic knights and knaves puzzles, we count them. Doing so reveals a surprising connection between puzzles and solutions, and highlights some beautiful combinatorial identities.

Determining Gate Count Reliability in a Library Setting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey Phillips

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Objective – Patron counts are a common form of measurement for library assessment. To develop accurate library statistics, it is necessary to determine any differences between various counting devices. A yearlong comparison between card reader turnstiles and laser gate counters in a university library sought to offer a standard percentage of variance and provide suggestions to increase the precision of counts. Methods – The collection of library exit counts identified the differences between turnstile and laser gate counter data. Statistical software helped to eliminate any inaccuracies in the collection of turnstile data, allowing this data set to be the base for comparison. Collection intervals were randomly determined and demonstrated periods of slow, average, and heavy traffic. Results – After analyzing 1,039,766 patron visits throughout a year, the final totals only showed a difference of .43% (.0043 between the two devices. The majority of collection periods did not exceed a difference of 3% between the counting instruments. Conclusion – Turnstiles card readers and laser gate counters provide similar levels of reliability when measuring patron activity. Each system has potential counting inaccuracies, but several methods exist to create more precise totals. Turnstile card readers are capable of offering greater detail involving patron identity, but their high cost makes them inaccessible for libraries with lower budgets. This makes laser gate counters an affordable alternative for reliable patron counting in an academic library.

Genome Replikin Count Predicts Increased Infectivity/Lethality of Viruses

OpenAIRE

Samuel Bogoch; Elenore S. Bogoch

2012-01-01

The genomes of all groups of viruses whose sequences are listed on Pubmed, specimens since 1918, analyzed by a software from Bioradar UK Ltd., contain Replikins which range in concentration from a Replikin Count (number of Replikins per 100 amino acids) of less than 1 to 30 (see accompanying communications for higher Counts in tuberculosis, malaria, and cancer, associated with higher lethality). Counts of less than 4.0 were found in ‘resting’ virus states; Counts greater than 4....

Effects of plutonium redistribution on lung counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swinth, K.L.

1976-01-01

Early counts of Pu deposition in lungs will tend to overestimate lung contents since calibrations are performed with a uniform distribution and since a more favorable geometry exists in contaminated subjects because the activity is closer to the periphery of the lungs. Although the concentration into the outer regions of the lungs continues as evidenced by the autopsy studies, the counts performed by L X-rays will probably underestimate the lung content; because, simplistically, the geometry several years after exposure consists of a spherical shell with a point of activity in the center. This point of activity represents concentration in the lymph nodes from which the 60 keV gamma of 241 Am will be counted, but from which few of the L X-rays will be counted (this is an example of interorgan distribution). When a correction is made to the L X-ray intensity, the lymph node contribution will tend to increase the amount subtracted while correcting for 241 Am X-rays. It is doubtful that the relative increase in X-ray intensity by concentration in the pleural and sub-pleural regions will compensate for this effect. This will make the plutonium burden disappear while the 241 Am can still be detected. This effect has been observed in a case where counts with an intraesophageal probe indicated a substantial lymph node burden. In order to improve the accuracy of in vivo plutonium measurements, an improved understanding of pulmonary distribution and of distribution effects on in vivo counting are required

A Case Study Using CRA to Teach Students with Disabilities to Count Using Flexible Numbers: Applying Skip Counting to Multiplication

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, Anna S.; Hinton, Vanessa M.; Flores, Margaret M.

2018-01-01

Children who struggle in mathematics have a limited understanding of the foundational processes of mathematics. A lack of conceptual understanding causes students to fall behind as they progress through the core curriculum. Children at high risk for developing mathematics disabilities fail to gain numeracy knowledge. The purpose of this case study…

The Michigan Consumer Protection Act of 1976. Consumer Education Training Module.

Science.gov (United States)

Monsma, Charles

This guide for secondary teachers is designed to identify and illustrate specified illegal practices identified in the Michigan Consumer Protection Act of 1976. The guide also explains procedures that a consumer or law-enforcement agency can take to enforce the provisions of this law. Since the act is a broad one, students learn not only about…

Use of pliable bags in liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simonnet, G.; Jacquet, M.A.; Sharif, A.; Engler, R.

1981-01-01

Pliable plastic bags have been used to replace glass or plastic vials for liquid scintillation counting. The two major advantages of this method are the lower cost of the plastic bags and the fact that, per sample, the radioactive waste is significantly reduced. The following parameters have been checked: the impermeability of the bags to various scintillator mixtures and the fact that neither the irregular shape of the bags nor their position in the counting chamber had any effect on the results of the counting. The latter was also constant with time, at least over a period of 10 days. The technique has been used to count the radioactivity of 3 H-DNA precipitates prepared from bacteria and lymphocytes and deposited on filters impregnated with only 200 μl scintillator. It is a method that can be applied to the counting of any samples deposited on filters and insoluble in scintillator. (author)

USE Efficiency -- Universities and Students for Energy Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melandri, Daniela

2010-09-15

Universities and Student for Energy Efficiency is a European Project within the Intelligent Energy Programme. It intends to create a common stream for energy efficiency systems in university buildings. Universities and students are proposed as shining examples for energy efficiency solutions and behaviour. The Project involves 10 countries and has the aim to improve energy efficiency in university buildings. Students are the main actors of the project together with professors and technicians. To act on students means to act on direct future market players in diffusion of public opinions. A strong communication action supports the succeeding of the action.

System and method of liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rapkin, E.

1977-01-01

A method of liquid scintillation counting utilizing a combustion step to overcome quenching effects comprises novel features of automatic sequential introduction of samples into a combustion zone and automatic sequential collection and delivery of combustion products into a counting zone. 37 claims, 13 figures

BMI in relation to sperm count

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sermondade, N; Faure, C; Fezeu, L

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND The global obesity epidemic has paralleled a decrease in semen quality. Yet, the association between obesity and sperm parameters remains controversial. The purpose of this report was to update the evidence on the association between BMI and sperm count through a systematic review...... with meta-analysis. METHODS A systematic review of available literature (with no language restriction) was performed to investigate the impact of BMI on sperm count. Relevant studies published until June 2012 were identified from a Pubmed and EMBASE search. We also included unpublished data (n = 717 men...... studies were included in the meta-analysis, resulting in a sample of 13 077 men from the general population and attending fertility clinics. Data were stratified according to the total sperm count as normozoospermia, oligozoospermia and azoospermia. Standardized weighted mean differences in sperm...

Making Every Diploma Count: Using Extended-Year Graduation Rates to Measure Student Success. Updated

Science.gov (United States)

American Youth Policy Forum, 2012

2012-01-01

States and districts are under increasing pressure to ensure all students complete high school in four years; however, many students who fall off-track on the way to graduation take longer than the traditional four years to earn a high school diploma or its equivalent. Unfortunately, those schools and districts serving overage, under-credit…

Every Drop Counts: Students Develop Public Service Announcements on the Importance of Water Conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Stokes, Nina Christiane; Hull, Mary Margaret

2002-01-01

In today's fast-paced, technological world, it is a constant battle for teachers to find new and exciting ways to challenge and engage their students. One success story involves a unique collaborative project that focuses on water resources and conservation in which students design public service announcements (PSAs) to be produced and aired on…

"The Balancing Act"--Irish Part-Time Undergraduate Students in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Darmody, Merike; Fleming, Bairbre

2009-01-01

While the numbers of part-time students has increased in higher education in Ireland, little is known about these students or about how they balance their study and other commitments. Drawing on a larger study on Irish students' experiences in higher education, this article attempts to address this gap in research and reports on Irish part-time…

1.2 million kids and counting-Mobile science laboratories drive student interest in STEM.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Amanda L; Stapleton, Mary K

2017-05-01

In today's increasingly technological society, a workforce proficient in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills is essential. Research has shown that active engagement by K-12 students in hands-on science activities that use authentic science tools promotes student learning and retention. Mobile laboratory programs provide this type of learning in schools and communities across the United States and internationally. Many programs are members of the Mobile Lab Coalition (MLC), a nonprofit organization of mobile and other laboratory-based education programs built on scientist and educator collaborations. A recent survey of the member programs revealed that they provide an impressive variety of programming and have collectively served over 1.2 million students across the US.

Analysis of General Power Counting Rules in Effective Field Theory

CERN Document Server

Gavela, B M; Manohar, A V; Merlo, L

2016-01-01

We derive the general counting rules for a quantum effective field theory (EFT) in $\\mathsf{d}$ dimensions. The rules are valid for strongly and weakly coupled theories, and predict that all kinetic energy terms are canonically normalized. They determine the energy dependence of scattering cross sections in the range of validity of the EFT expansion. The size of cross sections is controlled by the $\\Lambda$ power counting of EFT, not by chiral counting, even for chiral perturbation theory ($\\chi$PT). The relation between $\\Lambda$ and $f$ is generalized to $\\mathsf{d}$ dimensions. We show that the naive dimensional analysis $4\\pi$ counting is related to $\\hbar$ counting. The EFT counting rules are applied to $\\chi$PT, to Standard Model EFT and to the non-trivial case of Higgs EFT, which combines the $\\Lambda$ and chiral counting rules within a single theory.

Comparing MapReduce and Pipeline Implementations for Counting Triangles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edelmira Pasarella

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A common method to define a parallel solution for a computational problem consists in finding a way to use the Divide and Conquer paradigm in order to have processors acting on its own data and scheduled in a parallel fashion. MapReduce is a programming model that follows this paradigm, and allows for the definition of efficient solutions by both decomposing a problem into steps on subsets of the input data and combining the results of each step to produce final results. Albeit used for the implementation of a wide variety of computational problems, MapReduce performance can be negatively affected whenever the replication factor grows or the size of the input is larger than the resources available at each processor. In this paper we show an alternative approach to implement the Divide and Conquer paradigm, named dynamic pipeline. The main features of dynamic pipelines are illustrated on a parallel implementation of the well-known problem of counting triangles in a graph. This problem is especially interesting either when the input graph does not fit in memory or is dynamically generated. To evaluate the properties of pipeline, a dynamic pipeline of processes and an ad-hoc version of MapReduce are implemented in the language Go, exploiting its ability to deal with channels and spawned processes. An empirical evaluation is conducted on graphs of different topologies, sizes, and densities. Observed results suggest that dynamic pipelines allows for an efficient implementation of the problem of counting triangles in a graph, particularly, in dense and large graphs, drastically reducing the execution time with respect to the MapReduce implementation.

Improving Student Success in Calculus I Using a Co-Requisite Calculus I Lab

Science.gov (United States)

Vestal, Sharon Schaffer; Brandenburger, Thomas; Furth, Alfred

2015-01-01

This paper describes how one university mathematics department was able to improve student success in Calculus I by requiring a co-requisite lab for certain groups of students. The groups of students required to take the co-requisite lab were identified by analyzing student data, including Math ACT scores, ACT Compass Trigonometry scores, and…

Atmospheric mold spore counts in relation to meteorological parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Katial, R. K.; Zhang, Yiming; Jones, Richard H.; Dyer, Philip D.

Fungal spore counts of Cladosporium, Alternaria, and Epicoccum were studied during 8 years in Denver, Colorado. Fungal spore counts were obtained daily during the pollinating season by a Rotorod sampler. Weather data were obtained from the National Climatic Data Center. Daily averages of temperature, relative humidity, daily precipitation, barometric pressure, and wind speed were studied. A time series analysis was performed on the data to mathematically model the spore counts in relation to weather parameters. Using SAS PROC ARIMA software, a regression analysis was performed, regressing the spore counts on the weather variables assuming an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) error structure. Cladosporium was found to be positively correlated (Pmodel was derived for Cladosporium spore counts using the annual seasonal cycle and significant weather variables. The model for Alternaria and Epicoccum incorporated the annual seasonal cycle. Fungal spore counts can be modeled by time series analysis and related to meteorological parameters controlling for seasonallity; this modeling can provide estimates of exposure to fungal aeroallergens.

Mapping Students' Spoken Conceptions of Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Anakin, Megan

2013-01-01

This study expands contemporary theorising about students' conceptions of equality. A nationally representative sample of New Zealand students' were asked to provide a spoken numerical response and an explanation as they solved an arithmetic additive missing number problem. Students' responses were conceptualised as acts of communication and…

Pixel-Cluster Counting Luminosity Measurement in ATLAS

CERN Document Server

McCormack, William Patrick; The ATLAS collaboration

2016-01-01

A precision measurement of the delivered luminosity is a key component of the ATLAS physics program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A fundamental ingredient of the strategy to control the systematic uncertainties affecting the absolute luminosity has been to compare the measurements of several luminometers, most of which use more than one counting technique. The level of consistency across the various methods provides valuable cross-checks as well as an estimate of the detector-related systematic uncertainties. This poster describes the development of a luminosity algorithm based on pixel-cluster counting in the recently installed ATLAS inner b-layer (IBL), using data recorded during the 2015 pp run at the LHC. The noise and background contamination of the luminosity-associated cluster count is minimized by a multi-component fit to the measured cluster-size distribution in the forward pixel modules of the IBL. The linearity, long-term stability and statistical precision of the cluster-counting method are ...

Pixel-Cluster Counting Luminosity Measurement In ATLAS

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(SzGeCERN)782710; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

A precision measurement of the delivered luminosity is a key component of the ATLAS physics program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A fundamental ingredient of the strategy to control the systematic uncertainties affecting the absolute luminosity has been to compare the measure- ments of several luminometers, most of which use more than one counting technique. The level of consistency across the various methods provides valuable cross-checks as well as an estimate of the detector-related systematic uncertainties. This poster describes the development of a luminosity algorithm based on pixel-cluster counting in the recently installed ATLAS inner b-layer (IBL), using data recorded during the 2015 pp run at the LHC. The noise and background contamination of the luminosity-associated cluster count is minimized by a multi-component fit to the measured cluster-size distribution in the forward pixel modules of the IBL. The linearity, long-term stability and statistical precision of the cluster- counting method a...

Investigation of reduction in background counts of clover detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kshetri, Ritesh

2015-01-01

The peak-to-total ratio can be improved by increasing the full energy peak (FEP) counts and/or by decreasing the background counts. It is notable that FEP counts will be effected by mode of operation, while background counts will be effected by both modes of operation and suppression cases. It would be interesting to know if the reduction in background is caused more by active suppression or by add back process. We introduce a simple formalism to investigate the reduction of background counts for different cases-single crystal or add back mode with active or passive suppression. A more sophisticated formalism for modeling a general composite detector had been presented in a series of six recent papers by the author

RCT: Module 2.03, Counting Errors and Statistics, Course 8768

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hillmer, Kurt T. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-04-01

Radiological sample analysis involves the observation of a random process that may or may not occur and an estimation of the amount of radioactive material present based on that observation. Across the country, radiological control personnel are using the activity measurements to make decisions that may affect the health and safety of workers at those facilities and their surrounding environments. This course will present an overview of measurement processes, a statistical evaluation of both measurements and equipment performance, and some actions to take to minimize the sources of error in count room operations. This course will prepare the student with the skills necessary for radiological control technician (RCT) qualification by passing quizzes, tests, and the RCT Comprehensive Phase 1, Unit 2 Examination (TEST 27566) and by providing in the field skills.

Multiple sample, radioactive particle counting apparatus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reddy, R.R.V.; Kelso, D.M.

1978-01-01

An apparatus is described for determining the respective radioactive particle sample count being emitted from radioactive particle containing samples. It includes means for modulating the information on the radioactive particles being emitted from the samples, coded detecting means for sequentially detecting different respective coded combinations of the radioactive particles emitted from more than one but less than all of the samples, and processing the modulated information to derive the sample count for each sample. It includes a single light emitting crystal next to a number of samples, an encoder belt sequentially movable between the crystal and the samples. The encoder belt has a coded array of apertures to provide corresponding modulated light pulses from the crystal, and a photomultiplier tube to convert the modulated light pulses to decodable electrical signals for deriving the respective sample count

CERN_DxCTA counting mode chip

CERN Document Server

Moraes, D; Nygård, E

2008-01-01

This ASIC is a counting mode front-end electronic optimized for the readout of CdZnTe/CdTe and silicon sensors, for possible use in applications where the flux of ionizing radiation is high. The chip is implemented in 0.25 μm CMOS technology. The circuit comprises 128 channels equipped with a transimpedance amplifier followed by a gain shaper stage with 21 ns peaking time, two discriminators and two 18-bit counters. The channel architecture is optimized for the detector characteristics in order to achieve the best energy resolution at counting rates of up to 5 M counts/second. The amplifier shows a linear sensitivity of 118 mV/fC and an equivalent noise charge of about 711 e−, for a detector capacitance of 5 pF. Complete evaluation of the circuit is presented using electronic pulses and pixel detectors.

Allegheny County Traffic Counts

Data.gov (United States)

Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — Traffic sensors at over 1,200 locations in Allegheny County collect vehicle counts for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Data included in the Health...

A multiwire proportional counter for very high counting rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbosa, A.F.; Guedes, G.P.; Tamura, E.; Pepe, I.M.; Oliveira, N.B.

1997-12-01

Preliminary measurements in a proportional counter with two independently counting wires showed that counting rates up to 10 6 counts/s per wire can be reached without critical loss in the true versus measured linearity relation. Results obtained with a detector containing 30 active wires (2 mm pitch) are presented. To each wire is associated a fast pre-amplifier and a discriminator channel. Global counting rates in excess to 10 7 events/s are reported. Data acquisition systems are described for 1D (real time) and 2D (off-line) position sensitive detection systems. (author)

Method of inspecting Raschig rings by neutron absorption counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morris, R.N.; Murri, R.L.; Hume, M.W.

1979-01-01

A neutron counting method for inspecting borosilicate glass Raschig rings and an apparatus designed specifically for this method are discussed. The neutron count ratios for rings of a given thickness show a linear correlation to the boron oxide content of the rings. The count ratio also has a linear relationship to the thickness of rings of a given boron oxide content. Consequently, the experimentally-determined count ratio and physically-measured thickness of Raschig rings can be used to statistically predict their boron oxide content and determine whether or not they meet quality control acceptance criteria

Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth movement and osteoclastic count: An Animal Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Venkataramana, V; Chidambaram, S; Reddy, B Vishnuvardhan; Goud, E V Soma Shekara; Arafath, Mohammed; Krishnan6, Santhana

2014-04-01

Background : The aim of the current study is to examine the effect of systemically administered BP-Pamidronate, on Orthodontic Tooth Movement (OTM) along with osteoclastic quantification in New Zealand white rabbits. Materials & Methods : Twenty rabbits used in the study, were equally divided into 2 groups ; Group-1 as Control & Group-2 as Experimental. A sentalloy NITI closed coil spring (GAC International, USA) of 100 gram force, ligated between the lower first molar and the anterior most incisors of the rabbit has served as orthodontic force element. The BP- Pamidronate was administered at the dosage of 1.5 mg/kg body intra-peritonially, on the 1st, 7th and 14th day of the experiment. On the 21st day both group of animals were sacrificed, mandibles were dissected. The formed diastema between the 1st and 2nd molar was measured on the dissected mandibles using standard metric scale, which is considered as the OTM in the mesial direction. Next, the alveolar bone regions along with intact mesial surfaces were processed for histological investigation (osteoclastic count). Results : The student 't' test has been done to compare the mean values of molar tooth movement and osteoclastic count. Parameter :1 molar tooth movement has shown a significant difference between the control (3.750 ± 0.548 mm) and the experimental group (3.050 ± 0.556 mm) with calculated 'p' value (p-value <0.05) is significant at 0.0110 level. Parameter : 2 osteoclastic count has shown a significant difference between the control (13.335000 ± 0.735856 per square mm.) and the experimental group (11.426900 ± 1.49369 per square mm) calculated 'p' value (p-value <0.05) is significant at 0.003 level. Conclusion : The molar tooth movement and the osteoclastic count were significantly reduced in BP - Pamidronate administered animals than non-drug recipients. How to cite the article: Venkataramana V, Chidambaram S, Reddy BV, Goud EV, Arafath M, Krishnan S. Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth

Gift-Giving in the Podiatric Medical Student-Patient Relationship.

Science.gov (United States)

López, Daniel López; Pazo, Paula Torreiro; Iglesias, Marta E Losa; de Bengoa Vallejo, Ricardo Becerro

2016-09-02

We sought to explore the relationship between the podiatric medical student and the patient as it relates to the act of gift-giving as a sign of gratefulness for the services provided. This article presents the clinical case of a man who visited a podiatric medical student because of pain in his feet and subsequently presented the student with several gifts. Philanthropy, empathy, a positive attitude, treatment instructions, and the time devoted to the patient are some of the reasons why patients offer gifts to podiatric medical students. The relationship between the podiatric medical student and the patient and the act of gift-giving by patients are of ethical concern.

Double counting in LDA + DMFT-The example of NiO

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karolak, M., E-mail: mkarolak@physnet.uni-hamburg.d [I. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Hamburg, Jungiusstrasse 9, D-20355 Hamburg (Germany); Ulm, G.; Wehling, T. [I. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Hamburg, Jungiusstrasse 9, D-20355 Hamburg (Germany); Mazurenko, V. [Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematic Department, Urals State Technical University, 620002, Mira street 19, Yekaterinburg (Russian Federation); Poteryaev, A. [Institute of Metal Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 620041 Yekaterinburg GSP-170 (Russian Federation); Lichtenstein, A. [I. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Hamburg, Jungiusstrasse 9, D-20355 Hamburg (Germany)

2010-07-15

An intrinsic issue of the LDA + DMFT approach is the so called double counting of interaction terms. How to choose the double-counting potential in a manner that is both physically sound and consistent is unknown. We have conducted an extensive study of the charge-transfer system NiO in the LDA + DMFT framework using quantum Monte Carlo and exact diagonalization as impurity solvers. By explicitly treating the double-counting correction as an adjustable parameter we systematically investigated the effects of different choices for the double counting on the spectral function. Different methods for fixing the double counting can drive the result from Mott insulating to almost metallic. We propose a reasonable scheme for the determination of double-counting corrections for insulating systems.

Teaching Speech Acts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teaching Speech Acts

2007-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper I argue that pragmatic ability must become part of what we teach in the classroom if we are to realize the goals of communicative competence for our students. I review the research on pragmatics, especially those articles that point to the effectiveness of teaching pragmatics in an explicit manner, and those that posit methods for teaching. I also note two areas of scholarship that address classroom needs—the use of authentic data and appropriate assessment tools. The essay concludes with a summary of my own experience teaching speech acts in an advanced-level Portuguese class.

Occupational Safety and Health Act: A Responsibility for Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Science Teacher, 1974

1974-01-01

Presents implications of the Occupational Safety and Health Act for science teachers both as workers and as they encourage, in students, the development of positive safety attitudes for future occupations. (PEB)

Gross alpha/beta analyses in water by liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, C.T.; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA; Soliman, V.M.; Perera, S.K.

2005-01-01

The standard procedure for analyzing gross alpha and gross beta in water is evaporation of the sample and radioactivity determination of the resultant solids by proportional counting. This technique lacks precision, and lacks sensitivity for samples with high total dissolved solids. Additionally, the analytical results are dependent on the choice of radionuclide calibration standard and the sample matrix. Direct analysis by liquid scintillation counting has the advantages of high counting efficiencies and minimal sample preparation time. However, due to the small sample aliquants used for analysis, long count times are necessary to reach required detection limits. The procedure proposed consists of evaporating a sample aliquant to dryness, dissolving the resultant solids in a small volume of dilute acid, followed by liquid scintillation counting to determine radioactivity. This procedure can handle sample aliquants containing up to 500 mg of dissolved solids. Various acids, scintillation cocktail mixtures, instrument discriminator settings, and regions of interest (ROI) were evaluated to determine optimum counting conditions. Precision is improved and matrix effects are reduced as compared to proportional counting. Tests indicate that this is a viable alternative to proportional counting for gross alpha and gross beta analyses of water samples. (author)

Application of RI-counting method for posttraumatic CSF rhinorrhea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Takahiko; Terai, Yoshinori; Fujimoto, Shunichiro; Kawauchi, Masamitsu.

1987-01-01

Numerous techniques and procedures have been reported for the evaluation of CSF fistulas. Especially metrizamide CT cisternography and radioisotope (RI) cisternography have been reported to be reliable for localizing the site of CSF leakage, however, it has been difficult to diagnose the existence and the site of CSF leakages in some cases. RI-counting method, measuring RI-count of intranasal cotton pledgets after the intrathecal injection of RI ( 111 In-DTPA) is thought to be the most reliable method for detecting the presence of CSF leakage in these cases. We used six cotton pledgets which were inserted into upper, middle, and lower meatuses on both side. Because the site of pledgets with ghest RI-count has anatomical relationship to the opening of the paranasal sinus, we can surmise the leakage of dural defect and CSF leakage. RI counting method was applied to two patients in whom it was difficult to diagnose the presence of CSF leakage with other procedures. The patients were free in position for four hours after the intrathecal injection of RI, and in the prone position for 30 minutes before RI-counting of intranasal cotton pledgets. After measuring the RI-counts of six pledgets, the counts were compared with each other. The cotton pledget inserted into left middle meatus showed the highest count in both cases. From this result and finding of conventional skull tomography we speculated the site of CSF leakage to be frontal sinus or ethmoid sinus. Operation demonstrated the opening of dura into the frontal sinus in one case, and ethmoid sinus in another case. As mentioned above, RI-counting method has the advantages of detecting the existence and the site of CSF leakage. (author)

2013 Kids Count in Colorado! Community Matters

Science.gov (United States)

Colorado Children's Campaign, 2013

2013-01-01

"Kids Count in Colorado!" is an annual publication of the Children's Campaign, providing state and county level data on child well-being factors including child health, education, and economic status. Since its first release 20 years ago, "Kids Count in Colorado!" has become the most trusted source for data and information on…

Implementation of a nonlinear filter for online nuclear counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coulon, R.; Dumazert, J.; Kondrasovs, V.; Normand, S.

2016-01-01

Nuclear counting is a challenging task for nuclear instrumentation because of the stochastic nature of radioactivity. Event counting has to be processed and filtered to determine a stable count rate value and perform variation monitoring of the measured event. An innovative approach for nuclear counting is presented in this study, improving response time and maintaining count rate stability. Some nonlinear filters providing a local maximum likelihood estimation of the signal have been recently developed, which have been tested and compared with conventional linear filters. A nonlinear filter thus developed shows significant performance in terms of response time and measurement precision. The filter also presents the specificity of easy embedment into digital signal processor (DSP) electronics based on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or microcontrollers, compatible with real-time requirements. © 2001 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved. - Highlights: • An efficient approach based on nonlinear filtering has been implemented. • The hypothesis test provides a local maximum likelihood estimation of the count rate. • The filter ensures an optimal compromise between precision and response time.

Automatic spark counting of alpha-tracks in plastic foils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.; Medveczky, L.; Hunyadi, I.; Nyako, B.

1976-01-01

The possibility of alpha-track counting by jumping spark counter in cellulose acetate and polycarbonate nuclear track detectors was studied. A theoretical treatment is presented which predicts the optimum residual thickness of the etched foils in which completely through-etched tracks (i.e. holes) can be obtained for alpha-particles of various energies and angles of incidence. In agreement with the theoretical prediction it is shown that a successful spark counting of alpha-tracks can be performed even in polycarbonate foils. Some counting characteristics, such as counting efficiency vs particle energy at various etched foil thicknesses, surface spark density produced by electric breakdowns in unexposed foils vs foil thickness, etc. have been determined. Special attention was given to the spark counting of alpha-tracks entering thin detectors at right angle. The applicability of the spark counting technique is demonstrated in angular distribution measurements of the 27 Al(p,α 0 ) 24 Mg nuclear reaction at Ep = 1899 keV resonance energy. For this study 15 μm thick Makrofol-G foils and a jumping spark counter of improved construction were used. (orig.) [de

Low-priced, time-saving, reliable and stable LR-115 counting system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tchorz-Trzeciakiewicz, D.E.

2015-01-01

Nuclear alpha particles leave etches (tracks) when they hit the surface of a LR-115 detector. The density of these tracks is used to measure radon concentration. Counting these tracks by human sense is tedious and time-consuming procedure and may introduce counting error, whereas most available automatic and semiautomatic counting systems are expensive or complex. An uncomplicated, robust, reliable and stable counting system using freely available on the Internet software as Digimizer™ and PhotoScape was developed and proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure was evaluated by comparing the amount of tracks counted by software with the amount of tracks counted manually for 223 detectors. The percentage error for each analysed detector was obtained as a difference between automatic and manual counts divided by manual count. For more than 97% of detectors, the percentage errors oscillated between −3% and 3%. - Highlights: • Semiautomatic, uncomplicated procedure was proposed to count the amount of alpha tracks. • Freely available software on the Internet used as alpha tracks counting system for LR-115. • LR-115 detectors used to measure radon concentration and radon exhalation rate

Color quench correction for low level Cherenkov counting.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsroya, S; Pelled, O; German, U; Marco, R; Katorza, E; Alfassi, Z B

2009-05-01

The Cherenkov counting efficiency varies strongly with color quenching, thus correction curves must be used to obtain correct results. The external (152)Eu source of a Quantulus 1220 liquid scintillation counting (LSC) system was used to obtain a quench indicative parameter based on spectra area ratio. A color quench correction curve for aqueous samples containing (90)Sr/(90)Y was prepared. The main advantage of this method over the common spectra indicators is its usefulness also for low level Cherenkov counting.

Pragmatic Difficulties in the Production of the Speech Act of Apology by Iraqi EFL Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Ghazalli, Mehdi Falih; Al-Shammary, Mohanad A. Amert

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pragmatic difficulties encountered by Iraqi EFL university students in producing the speech act of apology. Although the act of apology is easy to recognize or use by native speakers of English, non-native speakers generally encounter difficulties in discriminating one speech act from another. The…

Road safety performance measures and AADT uncertainty from short-term counts.

Science.gov (United States)

Milligan, Craig; Montufar, Jeannette; Regehr, Jonathan; Ghanney, Bartholomew

2016-12-01

The objective of this paper is to enable better risk analysis of road safety performance measures by creating the first knowledge base on uncertainty surrounding annual average daily traffic (AADT) estimates when the estimates are derived by expanding short-term counts with the individual permanent counter method. Many road safety performance measures and performance models use AADT as an input. While there is an awareness that the input suffers from uncertainty, the uncertainty is not well known or accounted for. The paper samples data from a set of 69 permanent automatic traffic recorders in Manitoba, Canada, to simulate almost 2 million short-term counts over a five year period. These short-term counts are expanded to AADT estimates by transferring temporal information from a directly linked nearby permanent count control station, and the resulting AADT values are compared to a known reference AADT to compute errors. The impacts of five factors on AADT error are considered: length of short-term count, number of short-term counts, use of weekday versus weekend counts, distance from a count to its expansion control station, and the AADT at the count site. The mean absolute transfer error for expanded AADT estimates is 6.7%, and this value varied by traffic pattern group from 5% to 10.5%. Reference percentiles of the error distribution show that almost all errors are between -20% and +30%. Error decreases substantially by using a 48-h count instead of a 24-h count, and only slightly by using two counts instead of one. Weekday counts are superior to weekend counts, especially if the count is only 24h. Mean absolute transfer error increases with distance to control station (elasticity 0.121, p=0.001), and increases with AADT (elasticity 0.857, proad safety performance measures that use AADT as inputs. Analytical frameworks for such analysis exist but are infrequently used in road safety because the evidence base on AADT uncertainty is not well developed. Copyright �

Monitoring Milk Somatic Cell Counts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gheorghe Şteţca

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The presence of somatic cells in milk is a widely disputed issue in milk production sector. The somatic cell counts in raw milk are a marker for the specific cow diseases such as mastitis or swollen udder. The high level of somatic cells causes physical and chemical changes to milk composition and nutritional value, and as well to milk products. Also, the mastitic milk is not proper for human consumption due to its contribution to spreading of certain diseases and food poisoning. According to these effects, EU Regulations established the maximum threshold of admitted somatic cells in raw milk to 400000 cells / mL starting with 2014. The purpose of this study was carried out in order to examine the raw milk samples provided from small farms, industrial type farms and milk processing units. There are several ways to count somatic cells in milk but the reference accepted method is the microscopic method described by the SR EN ISO 13366-1/2008. Generally samples registered values in accordance with the admissible limit. By periodical monitoring of the somatic cell count, certain technological process issues are being avoided and consumer’s health ensured.

A Rich Assessment Task as a Window into Students' Multiplicative Reasoning

Science.gov (United States)

Downton, Ann; Wright, Vince

2016-01-01

This study explored the potential of a rich assessment task to reveal students' multiplicative thinking in respect to a hypothetical learning trajectory. Thirty pairs of students in grades 5 and 6 attempted the task. Twenty-two pairs applied multiplicative structure to find the number of items in arrays. However counting and computational errors…

Investigating the of Explicit Instruction of Apology Speech Act on Pragmatic Development of Iranian EFL Learners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shima Rajabi

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Learning a foreign language requires students to acquire both grammatical knowledge and socio-pragmatic rules of a language. Pragmatic competence as one of the most difficult aspects of language provides several challenges to L2 learners in the process of learning a foreign language. To overcome this problem, EFL teachers should find the most effective way of teaching pragmatic knowledge to their students. Accordingly, the present study investigated the effect of explicit teaching of apology speech act, as an aspect of pragmatic competence, on the Iranian EFL learners’ appropriate use of the mentioned speech act. In so doing, a total of 73 EFL students at intermediate and advanced levels participated in a pre-posttest design research with experimental and control group. Data were collected using a Discourse Completion Test (DCT. The selection of apologetic situations in DCT was based on two variables of social status and social distance. The results revealed that explicit instruction was a facilitative tool that helped students use the proper apology strategies in different situations. Moreover, it was found that L2 proficiency had a significant influence on overall appropriateness of speech act production. Keywords: Explicit instruction; Apology speech act;   Pragmatic competence; Iranian EFL learners

Graphite nodule count and size distribution in thin-walled ductile cast iron

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Karl Martin; Tiedje, Niels Skat

2008-01-01

Graphite nodule count and size distribution have been analysed in thin walled ductile cast iron. The 2D nodule counts have been converted into 3D nodule count by using Finite Difference Method (FDM). Particles having a diameter smaller than 5 µm should be neglected in the nodule count as these ar......Graphite nodule count and size distribution have been analysed in thin walled ductile cast iron. The 2D nodule counts have been converted into 3D nodule count by using Finite Difference Method (FDM). Particles having a diameter smaller than 5 µm should be neglected in the nodule count...... as these are inclusions and micro porosities that do not influence the solidification morphology. If there are many small graphite nodules as in thin walled castings only 3D nodule count calculated by FDM will give reliable results. 2D nodule count and 3D nodule count calculated by simple equations will give too low...

Calorie count - fast food

Science.gov (United States)

... GO About MedlinePlus Site Map FAQs Customer Support Health Topics Drugs & Supplements Videos & Tools Español You Are Here: Home → Medical Encyclopedia → Calorie count - fast food URL of this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/ ...

A multiwire proportional counter for very high counting rates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barbosa, A F; Guedes, G P [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Tamura, E [Laboratorio Nacional de Luz Sincrotron (LNLS), Campinas, SP (Brazil); Pepe, I M; Oliveira, N B [Bahia Univ., Salvador, BA (Brazil). Inst. de Fisica

1997-12-01

Preliminary measurements in a proportional counter with two independently counting wires showed that counting rates up to 10{sup 6} counts/s per wire can be reached without critical loss in the true versus measured linearity relation. Results obtained with a detector containing 30 active wires (2 mm pitch) are presented. To each wire is associated a fast pre-amplifier and a discriminator channel. Global counting rates in excess to 10{sup 7} events/s are reported. Data acquisition systems are described for 1D (real time) and 2D (off-line) position sensitive detection systems. (author) 13 refs., 6 figs.

Counting on fine motor skills: links between preschool finger dexterity and numerical skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Ursula; Suggate, Sebastian P; Schmirl, Judith; Stoeger, Heidrun

2017-10-26

Finger counting is widely considered an important step in children's early mathematical development. Presumably, children's ability to move their fingers during early counting experiences to aid number representation depends in part on their early fine motor skills (FMS). Specifically, FMS should link to children's procedural counting skills through consistent repetition of finger-counting procedures. Accordingly, we hypothesized that (a) FMS are linked to early counting skills, and (b) greater FMS relate to conceptual counting knowledge (e.g., cardinality, abstraction, order irrelevance) via procedural counting skills (i.e., one-one correspondence and correctness of verbal counting). Preschool children (N = 177) were administered measures of procedural counting skills, conceptual counting knowledge, FMS, and general cognitive skills along with parent questionnaires on home mathematics and fine motor environment. FMS correlated with procedural counting skills and conceptual counting knowledge after controlling for cognitive skills, chronological age, home mathematics and FMS environments. Moreover, the relationship between FMS and conceptual counting knowledge was mediated by procedural counting skills. Findings suggest that FMS play a role in early counting and therewith conceptual counting knowledge. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Loss-Free Counting with Digital Signal Processors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markku Koskelo; Dave Hall; Martin Moslinger

2000-01-01

Loss-free-counting (LFC) techniques have frequently been used with traditional analog pulse processing systems to compensate for the time or pulses lost when a spectroscopy system is unavailable (busy) for processing an accepted pulse. With the availability of second-generation digital signal processing (DSP) electronics that offer a significantly improved performance for both high and low count rate applications, the LFC technique has been revisited. Specific attention was given to the high and ultra-high count rate behavior, using high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors with both transistor reset preamplifiers (TRP) and conventional RC preamplifiers. The experiments conducted for this work show that the known LFC techniques further benefit when combined with modern DSP pulse shaping

Computed neutron coincidence counting applied to passive waste assay

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bruggeman, M.; Baeten, P.; De Boeck, W.; Carchon, R. [Nuclear Research Centre, Mol (Belgium)

1997-11-01

Neutron coincidence counting applied for the passive assay of fissile material is generally realised with dedicated electronic circuits. This paper presents a software based neutron coincidence counting method with data acquisition via a commercial PC-based Time Interval Analyser (TIA). The TIA is used to measure and record all time intervals between successive pulses in the pulse train up to count-rates of 2 Mpulses/s. Software modules are then used to compute the coincidence count-rates and multiplicity related data. This computed neutron coincidence counting (CNCC) offers full access to all the time information contained in the pulse train. This paper will mainly concentrate on the application and advantages of CNCC for the non-destructive assay of waste. An advanced multiplicity selective Rossi-alpha method is presented and its implementation via CNCC demonstrated. 13 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.

Computed neutron coincidence counting applied to passive waste assay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruggeman, M.; Baeten, P.; De Boeck, W.; Carchon, R.

1997-01-01

Neutron coincidence counting applied for the passive assay of fissile material is generally realised with dedicated electronic circuits. This paper presents a software based neutron coincidence counting method with data acquisition via a commercial PC-based Time Interval Analyser (TIA). The TIA is used to measure and record all time intervals between successive pulses in the pulse train up to count-rates of 2 Mpulses/s. Software modules are then used to compute the coincidence count-rates and multiplicity related data. This computed neutron coincidence counting (CNCC) offers full access to all the time information contained in the pulse train. This paper will mainly concentrate on the application and advantages of CNCC for the non-destructive assay of waste. An advanced multiplicity selective Rossi-alpha method is presented and its implementation via CNCC demonstrated. 13 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs

Student Media in U.S. Secondary Schools: Associations with School Demographic Characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Bobkowski, Piotr S.; Goodman, Mark; Bowen, Candace Perkins

2012-01-01

This study provides an up-to-date counting of student media in U.S. public high schools. The analysis underscores the importance of school demographic characteristics in predicting whether schools offer student media. The disparities identified here should inform how journalism schools, scholastic journalism organizations, funding agencies, and…

Defining and Acting on Global Health: The Case of Japan and the Refugee Crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claire Leppold

2016-08-01

Full Text Available What counts as global health? There has been limited discourse to date on the ways in which country-level contexts may shape positioning in global health agendas. By reviewing Japan’s response to the refugee crisis, we demonstrate a clash between rhetoric and action on global responsibility, and suggest that cultural and historical factors may be related to the ways of perceiving and acting upon global health.

High Reproducibility of ELISPOT Counts from Nine Different Laboratories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Srividya Sundararaman

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The primary goal of immune monitoring with ELISPOT is to measure the number of T cells, specific for any antigen, accurately and reproducibly between different laboratories. In ELISPOT assays, antigen-specific T cells secrete cytokines, forming spots of different sizes on a membrane with variable background intensities. Due to the subjective nature of judging maximal and minimal spot sizes, different investigators come up with different numbers. This study aims to determine whether statistics-based, automated size-gating can harmonize the number of spot counts calculated between different laboratories. We plated PBMC at four different concentrations, 24 replicates each, in an IFN-γ ELISPOT assay with HCMV pp65 antigen. The ELISPOT plate, and an image file of the plate was counted in nine different laboratories using ImmunoSpot® Analyzers by (A Basic Count™ relying on subjective counting parameters set by the respective investigators and (B SmartCount™, an automated counting protocol by the ImmunoSpot® Software that uses statistics-based spot size auto-gating with spot intensity auto-thresholding. The average coefficient of variation (CV for the mean values between independent laboratories was 26.7% when counting with Basic Count™, and 6.7% when counting with SmartCount™. Our data indicates that SmartCount™ allows harmonization of counting ELISPOT results between different laboratories and investigators.

On Counting Sheep: The Self-Medication and Coping Strategies of University Students Suffering from Primary Insomnia

Science.gov (United States)

Cockcroft, K.; Grasko, D.; Fridjhon, P.

2006-01-01

A factor that affects university students' academic performance is the quantity and quality of their sleep. There is a high rate of insomnia in the general population, but the prevalence of sleep difficulties among university students has not been extensively studied. The current study found that 23 per cent of the researched student population…

A Word Count of Modern Arabic Prose.

Science.gov (United States)

Landau, Jacob M.

This book presents a word count of Arabic prose based on 60 twentieth-century Egyptian books. The text is divided into an alphabetical list and a word frequency list. This word count is intended as an aid in the: (1) writing of primers and the compilation of graded readers, (2) examination of the vocabulary selection of primers and readers…

Negotiating "Fit" in Student Art Work: Classroom Conversations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hafeli, Mary

2000-01-01

Investigates the intentions for and judgments about student artwork from the different perspectives of middle school students and their teachers through teacher-student conversations. Reveals acts of resistance and negotiation as students' ideas, preferences, judgments, and meanings interface with the instructional goals and aesthetic views of the…

Alaska Steller sea lion Count Database (Non-pups)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This database contains counts of adult and juvenile (non-pup) Steller sea lions on rookeries and haulouts in Alaska made between 1904 and 2015. Non-pup counts have...

Proposals of counting method for bubble detectors and their intercomparisons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramalho, Eduardo; Silva, Ademir X.; Bellido, Luis F.; Facure, Alessandro; Pereira, Mario

2009-01-01

The study of neutron's spectrometry and dosimetry has become significantly easier due to relatively new devices called bubble detectors. Insensitive to gamma rays and composed by superheated emulsions, they still are subjects of many researches in Radiation Physics and Nuclear Engineering. In bubble detectors, either exposed to more intense neutron fields or for a long time, when more bubbles are produced, the statistical uncertainty during the dosimetric and spectrometric processes is reduced. A proposal of this nature is set up in this work, which presents ways to perform counting processes for bubble detectors and an updated proceeding to get the irradiated detectors' images in order to make the manual counting easier. Twelve BDS detectors were irradiated by RDS111 cyclotron from IEN's (Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear) and photographed using an assembly specially designed for this experiment. Counting was proceeded manually in a first moment; simultaneously, ImagePro was used in order to perform counting automatically. The bubble counting values, either manual or automatic, were compared and the time to get them and their difficult levels as well. After the bubble counting, the detectors' standardizes responses were calculated in both cases, according to BDS's manual and they were also compared. Among the results, the counting on these devices really becomes very hard at a large number of bubbles, besides higher variations in counting of many bubbles. Because of the good agreement between manual counting and the custom program, the last one revealed a good alternative in practical and economical levels. Despite the good results, the custom program needs of more adjustments in order to achieve more accuracy on higher counting on bubble detectors for neutron measurement applications. (author)

Part-Time Work and Physical Activity in American High School Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Domelen, Dane R

2015-08-01

To compare physical activity (PA) in American high school students who work part-time with those who do not work. Data were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003 to 2006 (n = 791). Work status was self-reported and PA was measured using accelerometers. In males, adjusted for age, race, and poverty-income ratio, workers averaged greater counts per minute, less sedentary time, and greater moderate-to-vigorous PA compared with nonworkers. In females, workers and nonworkers had similar counts per minute, whereas nonworkers had somewhat greater moderate-to-vigorous PA. There was a work-by-school status interaction on sedentary time (P = 0.021), whereby work was associated with less sedentary time among students not on break from school. In American high school students, work is associated with greater PA in males and a different composition of PA in females.

Learning to count begins in infancy: evidence from 18 month olds' visual preferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Slaughter, Virginia; Itakura, Shoji; Kutsuki, Aya; Siegal, Michael

2011-10-07

We used a preferential looking paradigm to evaluate infants' preferences for correct versus incorrect counting. Infants viewed a video depicting six fish. In the correct counting sequence, a hand pointed to each fish in turn, accompanied by verbal counting up to six. In the incorrect counting sequence, the hand moved between two of the six fish while there was still verbal counting to six, thereby violating the one-to-one correspondence principle of correct counting. Experiment 1 showed that Australian 18 month olds, but not 15 month olds, significantly preferred to watch the correct counting sequence. In experiment 2, Australian infants' preference for correct counting disappeared when the count words were replaced by beeps or by Japanese count words. In experiment 3, Japanese 18 month olds significantly preferred the correct counting video only when counting was in Japanese. These results show that infants start to acquire the abstract principles governing correct counting prior to producing any counting behaviour.

Improving EWMA Plans for Detecting Unusual Increases in Poisson Counts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. S. Sparks

2009-01-01

adaptive exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA plan is developed for signalling unusually high incidence when monitoring a time series of nonhomogeneous daily disease counts. A Poisson transitional regression model is used to fit background/expected trend in counts and provides “one-day-ahead” forecasts of the next day's count. Departures of counts from their forecasts are monitored. The paper outlines an approach for improving early outbreak data signals by dynamically adjusting the exponential weights to be efficient at signalling local persistent high side changes. We emphasise outbreak signals in steady-state situations; that is, changes that occur after the EWMA statistic had run through several in-control counts.

School-based intervention to enable school children to act as change agents on weight, physical activity and diet of their mothers: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunawardena, Nalika; Kurotani, Kayo; Indrawansa, Susantha; Nonaka, Daisuke; Mizoue, Tetsuya; Samarasinghe, Diyanath

2016-04-06

School health promotion has been shown to improve the lifestyle of students, but it remains unclear whether school-based programs can influence family health. We developed an innovative program that enables school children to act as change agents in promoting healthy lifestyles of their mothers. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the child-initiated intervention on weight, physical activity and dietary habit of their mothers. A 12-month cluster randomized trial was conducted, with school as a cluster. Participants were mothers with grade 8 students, aged around 13 years, of 20 schools in Homagama, Sri Lanka. Students of the intervention group were trained by facilitators to acquire the ability to assess noncommunicable disease risk factors in their homes and take action to address them, whereas those of the comparison group received no intervention. Body weight, step count and lifestyle of their mothers were assessed at baseline and post-intervention. Multi-level multivariable linear regression and logistic regression were used to assess the effects of intervention on continuous and binary outcomes, respectively. Of 308 study participants, 261 completed the final assessment at 12 month. There was a significantly greater decrease of weight and increase of physical activity in the intervention group. The mean (95% confidence interval) difference comparing the intervention group with the control group was -2.49 (-3.38 to -1.60) kg for weight and -0.99 (-1.40 to -0.58) kg/m(2) for body mass index. The intervention group had a 3.25 (95% confidence interval 1.87-5.62) times higher odds of engaging in adequate physical activity than the control group, and the former showed a greater number of steps than the latter after intervention. The intervention group showed a greater reduction of household purchase of biscuits and ice cream. A program to motivate students to act as change agents of family's lifestyle was effective in decreasing weight and

Upper limits from counting experiments with multiple pipelines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutton, Patrick J

2009-01-01

In counting experiments, one can set an upper limit on the rate of a Poisson process based on a count of the number of events observed due to the process. In some experiments, one makes several counts of the number of events, using different instruments, different event detection algorithms or observations over multiple time intervals. We demonstrate how to generalize the classical frequentist upper limit calculation to the case where multiple counts of events are made over one or more time intervals using several (not necessarily independent) procedures. We show how different choices of the rank ordering of possible outcomes in the space of counts correspond to applying different levels of significance to the various measurements. We propose an ordering that is matched to the sensitivity of the different measurement procedures and show that in typical cases it gives stronger upper limits than other choices. As an example, we show how this method can be applied to searches for gravitational-wave bursts, where multiple burst-detection algorithms analyse the same data set, and demonstrate how a single combined upper limit can be set on the gravitational-wave burst rate.

Pill counts and pill rental: unintended entrepreneurial opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Viscomi, Christopher M; Covington, Melissa; Christenson, Catherine

2013-07-01

Prescription opioid diversion and abuse are becoming increasingly prevalent in many regions of the world, particularly the United States. One method advocated to assess compliance with opioid prescriptions is occasional "pill counts." Shortly before a scheduled appointment, a patient is notified that they must bring in the unused portion of their opioid prescription. It has been assumed that if a patient has the correct number and strength of pills that should be present for that point in a prescription interval that they are unlikely to be selling or abusing their opioids. Two cases are presented where patients describe short term rental of opioids from illicit opioid dealers in order to circumvent pill counts. Pill renting appears to be an established method of circumventing pill counts. Pill counts do not assure non-diversion of opioids and provide additional cash flow to illicit opioid dealers.

Students Engaging in Diversity: Blogging to Learn the History of Jazz

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Anissa Ryan; Reid, Jacqueline Marie; Stewart, Jeffrey C.

2014-01-01

This study examined discursive choices made by the instructor of a Black Studies course in constructing what counted as blogging and the history of jazz; how students showed evidence of meeting the course requirements, and how particular students engaged with issues of race and diversity in their blogs. The instructor required blogging to enable…

The Education Act and Excluded Children. Policy Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodgkin, Rachel

1997-01-01

Discusses the negative assumptions and outcomes of provisions in Britain's Education Act of 1997 dealing with expulsion of students. Presents some statistics on excluded children; discusses likely outcomes such as increased delinquency, parent-school acrimony, and disparity in schools. Describes the role of teachers' unions in drafting the bill…

Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act Best Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Shaver, Marc S.

2017-01-01

Educational institutions continually work to balance between providing students with access to data and protecting copyright owner's exclusive rights. The Copyright Act of 1976, effective in 1978, provided exemptions for live and distance education. As digital technology grew in capability, its capabilities were incorporated in distance education,…

Big drop. [Decline in sperm counts from environmental pollution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Castleman, M.

Statisticians at the University of Copenhagen have published a review of sperm-count studies carried out from 1938-1990. After controlling for such things as counting techniques and sexual activity, they found that average sperm counts have decreased 42% over the last 50 years. After eliminating possible causes such as heat and differences in counting techniques, the only plausible cause left was environmental pollution. This finding correlates with a study performed in 1979 which found abnormally high concentrations of such toxic pollutants as DDT and PCBs in semen. The Copenhagen study suggests that even at low levels of exposure, environmental pollution is having biological consequences.

Fitting a distribution to miccrobial counts: making sense of zeros

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ribeiro Duarte, Ana Sofia; Stockmarr, Anders; Nauta, Maarten

and standard deviation) and the prevalence of contaminated food units (one minus the proportion of “true zeros”) from a set of microbial counts. By running the model with in silico generated concentration and count data, we could evaluate the performance of this method in terms of estimation of the three......Non-detects or left-censored results are inherent to the traditional methods of microbial enumeration in foods. Typically, a low concentration of microorganisms in a food unit goes undetected in plate counts or most probable number (MPN) counts, and produces “artificial zeros”. However......, these “artificial zeros” are only a share of the total number of zero counts resulting from a sample, as their number adds up to the number of “true zeros” resulting from uncontaminated units. In the process of fitting a probability distribution to microbial counts, “artificial” and “true” zeros are usually...

Correction to the count-rate detection limit and sample/blank time-allocation methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvarez, Joseph L.

2013-01-01

A common form of count-rate detection limits contains a propagation of uncertainty error. This error originated in methods to minimize uncertainty in the subtraction of the blank counts from the gross sample counts by allocation of blank and sample counting times. Correct uncertainty propagation showed that the time allocation equations have no solution. This publication presents the correct form of count-rate detection limits. -- Highlights: •The paper demonstrated a proper method of propagating uncertainty of count rate differences. •The standard count-rate detection limits were in error. •Count-time allocation methods for minimum uncertainty were in error. •The paper presented the correct form of the count-rate detection limit. •The paper discussed the confusion between count-rate uncertainty and count uncertainty

Acting Antarctica: science on stage

Science.gov (United States)

Ciceri, Piera; Tizzoni, Paola; Pierro, Luigia

2016-04-01

Key-words: Polar science, Earth science, Theatre, Hands on activities The legendary Antarctic Expedition of sir E. Shackleton and his crew of 27 aboard the Endurance (1914/16) trapped in the Antarctic ice has become the starting point to learn about Polar Science and Climate Change. While the students were involved into this incredible adventure by the astonishing images of the Australian photographer Frank Hurley (who joined the crew), they discovered the world in which this story happened. Students were then involved in hands-on activities and role plays and have become the writers of the play "Uomini a scienza ai confini del mondo". They act the story of Shackelton's expedition and they tell at the same time to the audience about ice pack, ice cores and their role in understanding the past of the climate, physical and geographical characteristic of polar regions, thermal phenomena related to adaptations of polar animals, solar radiation at different latitude, day/night duration. The theater was the place to "stage" some scientific experiments and to explain the current research carried out in polar regions and their importance in climate change studies and to stress some similarities between Antarctica and space. The project was carried out from teachers of science, letters and geography and was born in collaboration with the "Piccolo Teatro di Milano" and the association "Science Under 18" with the support of a professional actor and director and was played for other schools at "EXPO 2015" in Milano (Italy). In our opinion drama activities improve reading comprehension, and both verbal and non-verbal communication skills. To be able to write and to act, students need a deep understanding of contents. Arts, including theatre, are a good key to involve emotionally students. To have an audience different from their own teachers and classmates offers a real task and the opportunity to play and let grow real skills.

Counting Family: Making the Family of International Students Visible in Higher Education Policy and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Doyle, Stephanie; Loveridge, Judith; Faamanatu-Eteuati, Niusila

2016-01-01

This article focuses on a significant group of postgraduate international students overlooked by institutions and policymakers, namely those with accompanying partners and children. The economic importance of international students to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America is highlighted. It is argued…

Modeling Repeated Count Data : Some Extensions of the Rasch Poisson Counts Model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Duijn, M.A.J.; Jansen, Margo

1995-01-01

We consider data that can be summarized as an N X K table of counts-for example, test data obtained by administering K tests to N subjects. The cell entries y(ij) are assumed to be conditionally independent Poisson-distributed random variables, given the NK Poisson intensity parameters mu(ij). The

Two, four, six, eight... stop and count before it is too late! An audit on swab, needle and instrument counts in theatre.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Donnelly, T.

2014-07-01

A concurrent audit was conducted over a four week period to determine if the counting of swabs, needles and instruments for surgery adhered to local policy and recommended guidelines. Data were collected on 30 abdominal surgical procedures. This audit highlighted failings in the count process. It identified poor communication within the multidisciplinary team. There needs to be an increased awareness about local policy, national and international guidelines regarding the counting of swabs, needles and instruments for all surgical procedures.

Limit of sensitivity of low-background counting equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Homann, S.G.

1991-01-01

The Hazards Control Department's Radiological Measurements Laboratory (RML) analyzes many types of sample media in support of the Laboratory's health and safety program. The Department has determined that the equation for the minimum limit of sensitivity, MDC(α,β) = 2.71 + 3.29 (r b t s ) 1/2 is also adequate for RML counting systems with very-low-background levels. This paper reviews the normal distribution case and address the special case of determining the limit of sensitivity of a counting system when the background count rate is well known and small. In the latter case, we must use an exact test procedure based on the binomial distribution. However, the error in using the normal distribution for calculating a detection system's limit of sensitivity is not significant even as the total observed number of counts approaches or equals zero. 2 refs., 4 figs

An Automatic Car Counting System Using OverFeat Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Debojit Biswas

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Automatic car counting is an important component in the automated traffic system. Car counting is very important to understand the traffic load and optimize the traffic signals. In this paper, we implemented the Gaussian Background Subtraction Method and OverFeat Framework to count cars. OverFeat Framework is a combination of Convolution Neural Network (CNN and one machine learning classifier (like Support Vector Machines (SVM or Logistic Regression. With this study, we showed another possible application area for the OverFeat Framework. The advantages and shortcomings of the Background Subtraction Method and OverFeat Framework were analyzed using six individual traffic videos with different perspectives, such as camera angles, weather conditions and time of the day. In addition, we compared the two algorithms above with manual counting and a commercial software called Placemeter. The OverFeat Framework showed significant potential in the field of car counting with the average accuracy of 96.55% in our experiment.

An Automatic Car Counting System Using OverFeat Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Biswas, Debojit; Su, Hongbo; Wang, Chengyi; Blankenship, Jason; Stevanovic, Aleksandar

2017-06-30

Automatic car counting is an important component in the automated traffic system. Car counting is very important to understand the traffic load and optimize the traffic signals. In this paper, we implemented the Gaussian Background Subtraction Method and OverFeat Framework to count cars. OverFeat Framework is a combination of Convolution Neural Network (CNN) and one machine learning classifier (like Support Vector Machines (SVM) or Logistic Regression). With this study, we showed another possible application area for the OverFeat Framework. The advantages and shortcomings of the Background Subtraction Method and OverFeat Framework were analyzed using six individual traffic videos with different perspectives, such as camera angles, weather conditions and time of the day. In addition, we compared the two algorithms above with manual counting and a commercial software called Placemeter. The OverFeat Framework showed significant potential in the field of car counting with the average accuracy of 96.55% in our experiment.

The Copenhagen primary care differential count (CopDiff) database

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Christen Bertel L; Siersma, V.; Karlslund, W.

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: The differential blood cell count provides valuable information about a person's state of health. Together with a variety of biochemical variables, these analyses describe important physiological and pathophysiological relations. There is a need for research databases to explore assoc...... the construction of the Copenhagen Primary Care Differential Count database as well as the distribution of characteristics of the population it covers and the variables that are recorded. Finally, it gives examples of its use as an inspiration to peers for collaboration.......BACKGROUND: The differential blood cell count provides valuable information about a person's state of health. Together with a variety of biochemical variables, these analyses describe important physiological and pathophysiological relations. There is a need for research databases to explore...... Practitioners' Laboratory has registered all analytical results since July 1, 2000. The Copenhagen Primary Care Differential Count database contains all differential blood cell count results (n=1,308,022) from July 1, 2000 to January 25, 2010 requested by general practitioners, along with results from analysis...

Relationship between γ detection dead-time and count correction factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Huailong; Zhang Jianhua; Chu Chengsheng; Hu Guangchun; Zhang Changfan; Hu Gen; Gong Jian; Tian Dongfeng

2015-01-01

The relationship between dead-time and count correction factor was investigated by using interference source for purpose of high γ activity measurement. The count rates maintain several 10 s"-"l with γ energy of 0.3-1.3 MeV for 10"4-10"5 Bq radioactive source. It is proved that the relationship between count loss and dead-time is unconcerned at various energy and various count intensities. The same correction formula can be used for any nuclide measurement. (authors)

Manifold-Based Visual Object Counting.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi; Zou, Yuexian; Wang, Wenwu

2018-07-01

Visual object counting (VOC) is an emerging area in computer vision which aims to estimate the number of objects of interest in a given image or video. Recently, object density based estimation method is shown to be promising for object counting as well as rough instance localization. However, the performance of this method tends to degrade when dealing with new objects and scenes. To address this limitation, we propose a manifold-based method for visual object counting (M-VOC), based on the manifold assumption that similar image patches share similar object densities. Firstly, the local geometry of a given image patch is represented linearly by its neighbors using a predefined patch training set, and the object density of this given image patch is reconstructed by preserving the local geometry using locally linear embedding. To improve the characterization of local geometry, additional constraints such as sparsity and non-negativity are also considered via regularization, nonlinear mapping, and kernel trick. Compared with the state-of-the-art VOC methods, our proposed M-VOC methods achieve competitive performance on seven benchmark datasets. Experiments verify that the proposed M-VOC methods have several favorable properties, such as robustness to the variation in the size of training dataset and image resolution, as often encountered in real-world VOC applications.

Limits of reliability for the measurement of integral count

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erbeszkorn, L.

1979-01-01

A method is presented for exact and approximate calculation of reliability limits of measured nuclear integral count. The formulae are applicable in measuring conditions which assure the Poisson distribution of the counts. The coefficients of the approximate formulae for 90, 95, 98 and 99 per cent reliability levels are given. The exact reliability limits for 90 per cent reliability level are calculated up to 80 integral counts. (R.J.)

Quantitative Compton suppression spectrometry at elevated counting rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Westphal, G.P.; Joestl, K.; Schroeder, P.; Lauster, R.; Hausch, E.

1999-01-01

For quantitative Compton suppression spectrometry the decrease of coincidence efficiency with counting rate should be made negligible to avoid a virtual increase of relative peak areas of coincident isomeric transitions with counting rate. To that aim, a separate amplifier and discriminator has been used for each of the eight segments of the active shield of a new well-type Compton suppression spectrometer, together with an optimized, minimum dead-time design of the anticoincidence logic circuitry. Chance coincidence losses in the Compton suppression spectrometer are corrected instrumentally by comparing the chance coincidence rate to the counting rate of the germanium detector in a pulse-counting Busy circuit (G.P. Westphal, J. Rad. Chem. 179 (1994) 55) which is combined with the spectrometer's LFC counting loss correction system. The normally not observable chance coincidence rate is reconstructed from the rates of germanium detector and scintillation detector in an auxiliary coincidence unit, after the destruction of true coincidence by delaying one of the coincidence partners. Quantitative system response has been tested in two-source measurements with a fixed reference source of 60 Co of 14 kc/s, and various samples of 137 Cs, up to aggregate counting rates of 180 kc/s for the well-type detector, and more than 1400 kc/s for the BGO shield. In these measurements, the net peak areas of the 1173.3 keV line of 60 Co remained constant at typical values of 37 000 with and 95 000 without Compton suppression, with maximum deviations from the average of less than 1.5%

Act Quickly! Seconds Count! Second Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogden, Bob; Hayter, Roy, Ed.

This booklet is designed to help hotel employees know what to do if a fire breaks out in the hotel. It also gives hints and suggestions that will help employees to reduce the risk of a fire occurring. Topics are as follows: an employee's responsibility if a fire breaks out; procedures to follow in the event of fire; mapping fire exits and escape…

More accurate thermal neutron coincidence counting technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baron, N.

1978-01-01

Using passive thermal neutron coincidence counting techniques, the accuracy of nondestructive assays of fertile material can be improved significantly using a two-ring detector. It was shown how the use of a function of the coincidence count rate ring-ratio can provide a detector response rate that is independent of variations in neutron detection efficiency caused by varying sample moderation. Furthermore, the correction for multiplication caused by SF- and (α,n)-neutrons is shown to be separable into the product of a function of the effective mass of 240 Pu (plutonium correction) and a function of the (α,n) reaction probability (matrix correction). The matrix correction is described by a function of the singles count rate ring-ratio. This correction factor is empirically observed to be identical for any combination of PuO 2 powder and matrix materials SiO 2 and MgO because of the similar relation of the (α,n)-Q value and (α,n)-reaction cross section among these matrix nuclei. However the matrix correction expression is expected to be different for matrix materials such as Na, Al, and/or Li. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that for comparison measurements among samples of similar matrix content, it is expected that some function of the singles count rate ring-ratio can be defined to account for variations in the matrix correction due to differences in the intimacy of mixture among the samples. Furthermore the magnitude of this singles count rate ring-ratio serves to identify the contaminant generating the (α,n)-neutrons. Such information is useful in process control

Pedestrian count estimation using texture feature with spatial distribution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongyu Hu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available We present a novel pedestrian count estimation approach based on global image descriptors formed from multi-scale texture features that considers spatial distribution. For regions of interest, local texture features are represented based on histograms of multi-scale block local binary pattern, which jointly constitute the feature vector of the whole image. Therefore, to achieve an effective estimation of pedestrian count, principal component analysis is used to reduce the dimension of the global representation features, and a fitting model between image global features and pedestrian count is constructed via support vector regression. The experimental result shows that the proposed method exhibits high accuracy on pedestrian count estimation and can be applied well in the real world.

Sperm count. Do we need a new reference value?

Science.gov (United States)

Cardona Maya, Walter

2010-03-01

To evaluate the sperm count in fertile men, general population, and infertile men in different regions of the world. Sperm counts were recorded according to their fertility status, proven fertility, men recruited from an andrology/infertility clinic, or healthy men. The average of sperm count in the different studies is lower in infertile men that in fertile men (p>0.001) and in the general population (p>0.001). Based on this analysis the normal sperm count is about 65 million per mL. Using these reference value, only the 25% of the studies in infertile men are above this value, and the 75% studies with fertile men (>65 x 106 sperm/mL).

Detectors for proton counting. Si-APD and scintillation detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kishimoto, Shunji

2008-01-01

Increased intensity of synchrotron radiation requests users to prepare photon pulse detectors having higher counting rates. As detectors for photon counting, silicon-avalanche photodiode (Si-APD) and scintillation detectors were chosen for the fifth series of detectors. Principle of photon detection by pulse and need of amplification function of the detector were described. Structure and working principle, high counting rate measurement system, bunch of electrons vs. counting rate, application example of NMR time spectroscopy measurement and comments for users were described for the Si-APD detector. Structure of scintillator and photomultiplier tube, characteristics of scintillator and performance of detector were shown for the NaI detector. Future development of photon pulse detectors was discussed. (T. Tanaka)

Problems associated with scintillation counting of NaH14CO3 and gel suspension counting of Ba14CO3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacRae, J.C.; Wilson, S.

1978-01-01

Liquid NaH 14 CO 3 was assayed in emulsion-type (NE260 and Unisolve) and dioxan-based (NE250) scintillation cocktails contained in glass or polyethylene vials kept at 2 0 or 24-30 0 C. Different particle size ranges of standard Ba 14 CO 3 were assayed by gel suspension counting in Cabosil scintillation cocktail and in NE260 following solubilisation in EDTA-tetrasodium salt. Initial detectable activities of NaH 14 CO 3 in glass and polyethylene vials in NE250, NE260 and Unisolve were 97 and 96, 68 and 83, 71 and 89% of the true value respectively. Subsequent losses of activity over 7 days with the emulsion-type scintillators was greater from the polyethylene vials. Addition of phenylethylamine to the NE260 and Unisolve cocktails gave the true activity levels for all vials with no loss of activity over 6 days. When different particle size ranges of Standard Ba 14 CO 3 were suspended in Cabosil scintillation cocktail there was considerable variation in counting efficiency (77-88%) with little relationship between particle size and counting efficiency. The relationship between counting efficiency and channels ratio was not sufficiently precise for predictive purposes. Solubilisation of Ba 14 CO 3 in EDTA-tetrasodium salt gave similar counting efficiency and channels ratio values for all samples. (U.K.)

Defining and Acting on Global Health: The Case of Japan and the Refugee Crisis.

Science.gov (United States)

Leppold, Claire; Ozaki, Akihiko; Shimada, Yuki; Morita, Tomohiro; Tanimoto, Tetsuya

2016-05-31

What counts as global health? There has been limited discourse to date on the ways in which country-level contexts may shape positioning in global health agendas. By reviewing Japan's response to the refugee crisis, we demonstrate a clash between rhetoric and action on global responsibility, and suggest that cultural and historical factors may be related to the ways of perceiving and acting upon global health. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Effects of lek count protocols on greater sage-grouse population trend estimates

Science.gov (United States)

Monroe, Adrian; Edmunds, David; Aldridge, Cameron L.

2016-01-01

Annual counts of males displaying at lek sites are an important tool for monitoring greater sage-grouse populations (Centrocercus urophasianus), but seasonal and diurnal variation in lek attendance may increase variance and bias of trend analyses. Recommendations for protocols to reduce observation error have called for restricting lek counts to within 30 minutes of sunrise, but this may limit the number of lek counts available for analysis, particularly from years before monitoring was widely standardized. Reducing the temporal window for conducting lek counts also may constrain the ability of agencies to monitor leks efficiently. We used lek count data collected across Wyoming during 1995−2014 to investigate the effect of lek counts conducted between 30 minutes before and 30, 60, or 90 minutes after sunrise on population trend estimates. We also evaluated trends across scales relevant to management, including statewide, within Working Group Areas and Core Areas, and for individual leks. To further evaluate accuracy and precision of trend estimates from lek count protocols, we used simulations based on a lek attendance model and compared simulated and estimated values of annual rate of change in population size (λ) from scenarios of varying numbers of leks, lek count timing, and count frequency (counts/lek/year). We found that restricting analyses to counts conducted within 30 minutes of sunrise generally did not improve precision of population trend estimates, although differences among timings increased as the number of leks and count frequency decreased. Lek attendance declined >30 minutes after sunrise, but simulations indicated that including lek counts conducted up to 90 minutes after sunrise can increase the number of leks monitored compared to trend estimates based on counts conducted within 30 minutes of sunrise. This increase in leks monitored resulted in greater precision of estimates without reducing accuracy. Increasing count

Developing a Measure of Traffic Calming Associated with Elementary School Students' Active Transport.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, Lisa M; Turner, Lindsey; Slater, Sandy J; Abuzayd, Haytham; Chriqui, Jamie F; Chaloupka, Frank

2014-12-01

The objective of this study is to develop a measure of traffic calming with nationally available GIS data from NAVTEQ and to validate the traffic calming index with the percentage of children reported by school administrators as walking or biking to school, using data from a nationally representative sample of elementary schools in 2006-2010. Specific models, with and without correlated errors, examined associations of objective GIS measures of the built environment, nationally available from NAVTEQ, with the latent construct of traffic calming. The best fit model for the latent traffic calming construct was determined to be a five factor model including objective measures of intersection density, count of medians/dividers, count of low mobility streets, count of roundabouts, and count of on-street parking availability, with no correlated errors among items. This construct also proved to be a good fit for the full measurement model when the outcome measure of percentage of students walking or biking to school was added to the model. The traffic calming measure was strongly, significantly, and positively correlated with the percentage of students reported as walking or biking to school. Applicability of results to public health and transportation policies and practices are discussed.

Single electron counting using a dual MCP assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Yuzhen; Liu, Shulin; Zhao, Tianchi; Yan, Baojun; Wang, Peiliang; Yu, Yang; Lei, Xiangcui; Yang, Luping; Wen, Kaile; Qi, Ming

2016-01-01

The gain, pulse height resolution and peak-to-valley ratio of single electrons detected by using a Chevron configured Microchannel Plate (MCP) assembly are studied. The two MCPs are separated by a 280 µm gap and are biased by four electrodes. The purpose of the study is to determine the optimum bias voltage arrangements for single electron counting. By comparing the results of various bias voltage combinations, we conclude that good performance for the electron counting can be achieved by operating the MCP assembly in saturation mode. In addition, by applying a small reverse bias voltage across the gap while adjusting the bias voltages of the MCPs, optimum performance of electron counting can be obtained. - Highlights: • Dual MCPs assembly with four electrodes using different voltage combinations has been investigated for single electron counting. • Both the MCP voltages and the gap voltage can affect the gain, pulse height resolution and P/V ratio. • A high gain of the first stage MCP, a saturation mode of the second stage MCP and an appropriately reverse gap voltage can improve the resolution greatly. • The optimum voltage arrangements is significant for the design of MCP detectors in single electron counting applications.

Real-time passenger counting by active linear cameras

Science.gov (United States)

Khoudour, Louahdi; Duvieubourg, Luc; Deparis, Jean-Pierre

1996-03-01

The companies operating subways are very much concerned with counting the passengers traveling through their transport systems. One of the most widely used systems for counting passengers consists of a mechanical gate equipped with a counter. However, such simple systems are not able to count passengers jumping above the gates. Moreover, passengers carrying large luggage or bags may meet some difficulties when going through such gates. The ideal solution is a contact-free counting system that would bring more comfort of use for the passengers. For these reasons, we propose to use a video processing system instead of these mechanical gates. The optical sensors discussed in this paper offer several advantages including well defined detection areas, fast response time and reliable counting capability. A new technology has been developed and tested, based on linear cameras. Preliminary results show that this system is very efficient when the passengers crossing the optical gate are well separated. In other cases, such as in compact crowd conditions, reasonable accuracy has been demonstrated. These results are illustrated by means of a number of sequences shot in field conditions. It is our belief that more precise measurements could be achieved, in the case of compact crowd, by other algorithms and acquisition techniques of the line images that we are presently developing.

Spark counting technique with an aluminium oxide film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawai, H.; Koga, T.; Morishima, H.; Niwa, T.; Nishiwaki, Y.

1980-01-01

Automatic spark counting of etch-pits on a polycarbonate film produced by nuclear fission fragments is now used for neutron monitoring in several countries. A method was developed using an aluminium oxide film instead of a polycarbonate as the neutron detector. Aluminium oxide films were prepared as follows: A cleaned aluminium plate as an anode and a nickel plate as a cathode were immersed in dilute sulfuric acid solution and electric current flowed between the electrodes at 12degC for 10-30 minutes. Electric current density was about 10 mA/cm 2 . The aluminium plate was then kept in boiling water for 10-30 minutes for sealing. The thickness of the aluminium oxide layer formed was about 1μm. The aluminium plate attached to a plate of suitable fissionable material, such as uranium or thorium, was irradiated with neutrons and set in a usual spark counter for fission track counting. One electrode was the aluminium plate and the other was an aluminized polyester sheet. Sparked pulses were counted with a usual scaler. The advantage of using spark counting with an aluminium oxide film for neutron monitoring is rapid measurement of neutron exposure, since chemical etching which is indispensable for spark counting with a polycarbonate detector film, is not needed. (H.K.)

Empowering University Students through Physical Fitness for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper reports the findings of a study that investigated 252 University of Ilorin students' awareness of the benefits of physical fitness and the need for empowering them for lifetime productivity. Data were collected using a self developed questionnaire and analysed using frequency counts, percentage and chi-square.

Fluorescent Biosensors Based on Single-Molecule Counting.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Fei; Li, Ying; Tang, Bo; Zhang, Chun-Yang

2016-09-20

Biosensors for highly sensitive, selective, and rapid quantification of specific biomolecules make great contributions to biomedical research, especially molecular diagnostics. However, conventional methods for biomolecular assays often suffer from insufficient sensitivity and poor specificity. In some case (e.g., early disease diagnostics), the concentration of target biomolecules is too low to be detected by these routine approaches, and cumbersome procedures are needed to improve the detection sensitivity. Therefore, there is an urgent need for rapid and ultrasensitive analytical tools. In this respect, single-molecule fluorescence approaches may well satisfy the requirement and hold promising potential for the development of ultrasensitive biosensors. Encouragingly, owing to the advances in single-molecule microscopy and spectroscopy over past decades, the detection of single fluorescent molecule comes true, greatly boosting the development of highly sensitive biosensors. By in vitro/in vivo labeling of target biomolecules with proper fluorescent tags, the quantification of certain biomolecule at the single-molecule level is achieved. In comparison with conventional ensemble measurements, single-molecule detection-based analytical methods possess the advantages of ultrahigh sensitivity, good selectivity, rapid analysis time, and low sample consumption. Consequently, single-molecule detection may be potentially employed as an ideal analytical approach to quantify low-abundant biomolecules with rapidity and simplicity. In this Account, we will summarize our efforts for developing a series of ultrasensitive biosensors based on single-molecule counting. Single-molecule counting is a member of single-molecule detection technologies and may be used as a very simple and ultrasensitive method to quantify target molecules by simply counting the individual fluorescent bursts. In the fluorescent sensors, the signals of target biomolecules may be translated to the

Acceptability of the use of cellular telephone and computer pictures/video for "pill counts" in buprenorphine maintenance treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Welsh, Christopher

2016-01-01

As part of a comprehensive plan to attempt to minimize the diversion of prescribed controlled substances, many professional organization and licensing boards are recommending the use of "pill counts." This study sought to evaluate acceptability of the use of cellular phone and computer pictures/video for "pill counts" by patients in buprenorphine maintenance treatment. Patients prescribed buprenorphine/naloxone were asked a series of questions related to the type(s) of electronic communication to which they had access as well as their willingness to use these for the purpose of performing a "pill/film count." Of the 80 patients, 4 (5 percent) did not have a phone at all. Only 28 (35 percent) had a "smart phone" with some sort of data plan and Internet access. Forty (50 percent) of the patients had a phone with no camera and 10 (12.5 percent) had a phone with a camera but no video capability. All patients said that they would be willing to periodically use the video or camera on their phone or computer to have buprenorphine/naloxone pills or film counted as long as the communication was protected from electronic tampering. With the advent of applications for smart phones that allow for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996-compliant picture/video communication, a number of things can now be done that can enhance patient care as well as reduce the chances of misuse/diversion of prescribed medications. This could be used in settings where a larger proportion of controlled substances are prescribed including medication assisted therapy for opioid use disorders and pain management programs.

Nutritional status and CD4 cell counts in patients with HIV/AIDS receiving antiretroviral therapy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Celia Oliveira dos Santos

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction Even with current highly active antiretroviral therapy, individuals with AIDS continue to exhibit important nutritional deficits and reduced levels of albumin and hemoglobin, which may be directly related to their cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4 cell counts. The aim of this study was to characterize the nutritional status of individuals with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS and relate the findings to the albumin level, hemoglobin level and CD4 cell count. Methods Patients over 20 years of age with AIDS who were hospitalized in a university hospital and were receiving antiretroviral therapy were studied with regard to clinical, anthropometric, biochemical and sociodemographic characteristics. Body mass index, percentage of weight loss, arm circumference, triceps skinfold and arm muscle circumference were analyzed. Data on albumin, hemoglobin, hematocrit and CD4 cell count were obtained from patient charts. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher's exact test, Student's t-test for independent variables and the Mann-Whitney U-test. The level of significance was set to 0.05 (α = 5%. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 17.0 software for Windows. Results Of the 50 patients evaluated, 70% were male. The prevalence of malnutrition was higher when the definition was based on arm circumference and triceps skinfold measurement. The concentrations of all biochemical variables were significantly lower among patients with a body mass index of less than 18.5kg/m2. The CD4 cell count, albumin, hemoglobin and hematocrit anthropometric measures were directly related to each other. Conclusions These findings underscore the importance of nutritional follow-up for underweight patients with AIDS, as nutritional status proved to be related to important biochemical alterations.

An Automatic Car Counting System Using OverFeat Framework

OpenAIRE

Biswas, Debojit; Su, Hongbo; Wang, Chengyi; Blankenship, Jason; Stevanovic, Aleksandar

2017-01-01

Automatic car counting is an important component in the automated traffic system. Car counting is very important to understand the traffic load and optimize the traffic signals. In this paper, we implemented the Gaussian Background Subtraction Method and OverFeat Framework to count cars. OverFeat Framework is a combination of Convolution Neural Network (CNN) and one machine learning classifier (like Support Vector Machines (SVM) or Logistic Regression). With this study, we showed another poss...

Counting SET-free sets

OpenAIRE

Harman, Nate

2016-01-01

We consider the following counting problem related to the card game SET: How many $k$-element SET-free sets are there in an $n$-dimensional SET deck? Through a series of algebraic reformulations and reinterpretations, we show the answer to this question satisfies two polynomiality conditions.

Automation system for optical counting of nuclear tracks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boulyga, S.F.; Boulyga, E.G.; Lomonosova, E.M.; Zhuk, I.V

1999-06-01

An automation system consisting of the microscope, video camera and Pentium PC with frame recorder was created. The system provides counting of nuclear tracks on the SSNTD surface with a resolution of 752 x 582 points, determination of the surface area and main axis of the track. The pattern recognition program was developed for operation in Windows 3.1 (or higher) ensuring a convenient interface with the user. In a comparison of the results on automatic track counting with the more accurate hand mode it was shown that the program enables the tracks to be detected even on images with a rather high noise level. It ensures a high accuracy of track counting being comparable with the accuracy of manual counting for densities of tracks in the range of up to 2{center_dot}10{sup 5} tracks/cm{sup 2}. The automatic system was applied in the experimental investigation of uranium and transuranium elements.

Automation system for optical counting of nuclear tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boulyga, S.F.; Boulyga, E.G.; Lomonosova, E.M.; Zhuk, I.V.

1999-01-01

An automation system consisting of the microscope, video camera and Pentium PC with frame recorder was created. The system provides counting of nuclear tracks on the SSNTD surface with a resolution of 752 x 582 points, determination of the surface area and main axis of the track. The pattern recognition program was developed for operation in Windows 3.1 (or higher) ensuring a convenient interface with the user. In a comparison of the results on automatic track counting with the more accurate hand mode it was shown that the program enables the tracks to be detected even on images with a rather high noise level. It ensures a high accuracy of track counting being comparable with the accuracy of manual counting for densities of tracks in the range of up to 2·10 5 tracks/cm 2 . The automatic system was applied in the experimental investigation of uranium and transuranium elements

Automation system for optical counting of nuclear tracks

CERN Document Server

Boulyga, S F; Lomonosova, E M; Zhuk, I V

1999-01-01

An automation system consisting of the microscope, video camera and Pentium PC with frame recorder was created. The system provides counting of nuclear tracks on the SSNTD surface with a resolution of 752 x 582 points, determination of the surface area and main axis of the track. The pattern recognition program was developed for operation in Windows 3.1 (or higher) ensuring a convenient interface with the user. In a comparison of the results on automatic track counting with the more accurate hand mode it was shown that the program enables the tracks to be detected even on images with a rather high noise level. It ensures a high accuracy of track counting being comparable with the accuracy of manual counting for densities of tracks in the range of up to 2 centre dot 10 sup 5 tracks/cm sup 2. The automatic system was applied in the experimental investigation of uranium and transuranium elements.

Relationship of milking rate to somatic cell count.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, C A; Rischette, S J; Schultz, L H

1986-03-01

Information on milking rate, monthly bucket somatic cell counts, mastitis treatment, and milk production was obtained from 284 lactations of Holstein cows separated into three lactation groups. Significant correlations between somatic cell count (linear score) and other parameters included production in lactation 1 (-.185), production in lactation 2 (-.267), and percent 2-min milk in lactation 2 (.251). Somatic cell count tended to increase with maximum milking rate in all lactations, but correlations were not statistically significant. Twenty-nine percent of cows with milking rate measurements were treated for clinical mastitis. Treated cows in each lactation group produced less milk than untreated cows. In the second and third lactation groups, treated cows had a shorter total milking time and a higher percent 2-min milk than untreated cows, but differences were not statistically significant. Overall, the data support the concept that faster milking cows tend to have higher cell counts and more mastitis treatments, particularly beyond first lactation. However, the magnitude of the relationship was small.

Better Together: Considering Student Interfaith Leadership and Social Change

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, William; Lane, Megan

2014-01-01

On campuses across the country, students and professional staff are considering student interfaith leadership as one way that students act on their core values to make a positive difference in the world. This kind of student leadership can be framed through student leadership models like the social change model of leadership development. Better…

An automated approach for annual layer counting in ice cores

Science.gov (United States)

Winstrup, M.; Svensson, A.; Rasmussen, S. O.; Winther, O.; Steig, E.; Axelrod, A.

2012-04-01

The temporal resolution of some ice cores is sufficient to preserve seasonal information in the ice core record. In such cases, annual layer counting represents one of the most accurate methods to produce a chronology for the core. Yet, manual layer counting is a tedious and sometimes ambiguous job. As reliable layer recognition becomes more difficult, a manual approach increasingly relies on human interpretation of the available data. Thus, much may be gained by an automated and therefore objective approach for annual layer identification in ice cores. We have developed a novel method for automated annual layer counting in ice cores, which relies on Bayesian statistics. It uses algorithms from the statistical framework of Hidden Markov Models (HMM), originally developed for use in machine speech recognition. The strength of this layer detection algorithm lies in the way it is able to imitate the manual procedures for annual layer counting, while being based on purely objective criteria for annual layer identification. With this methodology, it is possible to determine the most likely position of multiple layer boundaries in an entire section of ice core data at once. It provides a probabilistic uncertainty estimate of the resulting layer count, hence ensuring a proper treatment of ambiguous layer boundaries in the data. Furthermore multiple data series can be incorporated to be used at once, hence allowing for a full multi-parameter annual layer counting method similar to a manual approach. In this study, the automated layer counting algorithm has been applied to data from the NGRIP ice core, Greenland. The NGRIP ice core has very high temporal resolution with depth, and hence the potential to be dated by annual layer counting far back in time. In previous studies [Andersen et al., 2006; Svensson et al., 2008], manual layer counting has been carried out back to 60 kyr BP. A comparison between the counted annual layers based on the two approaches will be presented

University Student Agency, Representation, and Activism: A Case Study of Students Studying English at Universite Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar, Senegal)

Science.gov (United States)

Stafford, Casey

2012-01-01

This study explores and interrogates dominant representations of African university students by examining how students conceptualize and act upon their own agency. Using a qualitative case-study approach, the author examines how students actively confront the ideological and material conditions presented by schooling. [The dissertation citations…

Counting Triangles to Sum Squares

Science.gov (United States)

DeMaio, Joe

2012-01-01

Counting complete subgraphs of three vertices in complete graphs, yields combinatorial arguments for identities for sums of squares of integers, odd integers, even integers and sums of the triangular numbers.

The effect of Ramadan fasting on tuberculin skin test and leukocyte count

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jafar Nasiri

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Background & Objectives: Annually, many Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan worldwide. This practice has different favorable medical and physiological effects, such as improved serum lipid profile and blood glucose level due to changes in diet and sleep patterns. It has also been hypothesized that Ramadan fasting may affect the immune system. As reported, Ramadan fasting can influence the immunoglobulin and cytokine levels. Accordingly, tuberculin skin test or purified protein derivative (PPD test, which is a delayed-type hypersensitivity of cellular immune response, may also be affected by Ramadan fasting. Regarding this, the present study aimed to investigate the alteration of PPD test during and after Ramadan. Materials & Methods: A total of 42 males (seminary students who fasted during Ramadan in 2006 were included in the study; however, only 28 cases completed the study. For data collection, the participants underwent blood and tuberculin tests at the fourth week of Ramadan and three months after this month. The white blood cell (WBC count and the tuberculin induration were recorded and compared between the two intervals to evaluate the changes. Results: According to the results of the study, the mean age of the participants was 19.21±3.83 years. Furthermore, the mean tuberculin induration was 9.3±5.4 mm (size range: 2-22 mm on the fourth week of Ramadan, which increased to 9.79±6.8 mm (size range: 3-35 mm three months after this month (P=0.501. The mean count of WBC decreased insignificantly from 5907±1879 mcL to 5601±1362 mcL after Ramadan (P=0.334. Additionally, the mean lymphocytes count decreased significantly from 2292±520/mcL to 2023±486/mcL after this month (P=0.003. Likewise, the lymphocyte (P=0.014 and mean neutrophil percentage also reduced significantly (P0.05. Conclusion: As the findings of the present study indicated, Ramadan fasting induce some changes in the immune status, including lymphocyte and neutrophil

Mutual interference of alpha and beta signals in counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Fengxiang; Ren Wei; Tang Shaohua; Han Suping; Du Xiangyang.

1993-01-01

When multi-wire proportional counters are used for monitoring of mixed contamination of α and β radioactivity, both of the signals should be distinguished as far as possible from requirement of radiation protection. The rules provided by the recommendation standard of International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC) and the national standard of China indicate: For fixed personal surface contamination monitoring assembly, the response of the α-counting channel to β events should be smaller than 1% of response of the α-counting channel to α events, and the response of β-counting channel to β events should be smaller than that of the response of α-counting channel to the same events. To distinguish one kind of signal from another, amplitude discrimination method is used usually. (3 figs)

A new stratification of mourning dove call-count routes

Science.gov (United States)

Blankenship, L.H.; Humphrey, A.B.; MacDonald, D.

1971-01-01

The mourning dove (Zenaidura macroura) call-count survey is a nationwide audio-census of breeding mourning doves. Recent analyses of the call-count routes have utilized a stratification based upon physiographic regions of the United States. An analysis of 5 years of call-count data, based upon stratification using potential natural vegetation, has demonstrated that this uew stratification results in strata with greater homogeneity than the physiographic strata, provides lower error variance, and hence generates greatet precision in the analysis without an increase in call-count routes. Error variance was reduced approximately 30 percent for the contiguous United States. This indicates that future analysis based upon the new stratification will result in an increased ability to detect significant year-to-year changes.

Metal ion levels and lymphocyte counts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Penny, Jeannette Ø; Varmarken, Jens-Erik; Ovesen, Ole

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Wear particles from metal-on-metal arthroplasties are under suspicion for adverse effects both locally and systemically, and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System (RHA) has above-average failure rates. We compared lymphocyte counts in RHA and total hip arthroplasty (THA) an....../ppb. INTERPRETATION: Circulating T-lymphocyte levels may decline after surgery, regardless of implant type. Metal ions-particularly cobalt-may have a general depressive effect on T- and B-lymphocyte levels. Registered with ClinicalTrials.gov under # NCT01113762.......BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Wear particles from metal-on-metal arthroplasties are under suspicion for adverse effects both locally and systemically, and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System (RHA) has above-average failure rates. We compared lymphocyte counts in RHA and total hip arthroplasty (THA....... RESULTS: The T-lymphocyte counts for both implant types declined over the 2-year period. This decline was statistically significant for CD3(+)CD8(+) in the THA group, with a regression coefficient of -0.04 × 10(9)cells/year (95% CI: -0.08 to -0.01). Regression analysis indicated a depressive effect...

Theory and application of Cerenkov counting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ross, H.H.

1976-01-01

The production of Cherenkov radiation by charged particles moving through a transparent medium (the Cherenkov generator) is a strictly physical process that is virtually independent of the chemistry of the medium. Thus, it is possible to calculate easily all of the important parameters of the Cherenkov process such as excitation threshold, emission intensity, spectral distribution, directional characteristics, and time response. The results of many of these physical effects are unknown in conventional liquid scintillation spectroscopy and, therefore, many unique assay techniques have been developed as a result of their consideration. This paper discusses the theoretical basis of the Cherenkov process, explores the unusual characteristics of the phenomenon, and demonstrates how these unusual characteristics can be used to develop equally unusual counting methodologies. Particular emphasis is directed toward an analysis of published data (obtained with conventional liquid scintillation instrumentation) that would be difficult or impossible to obtain with other counting techniques. Also discussed is a new type of sample vial that uses an isolated waveshifting system. The device was specifically designed for Cherenkov counting.

Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth movement and osteoclastic count: An Animal Study

Science.gov (United States)

Venkataramana, V; Chidambaram, S; Reddy, B Vishnuvardhan; Goud, E V Soma Shekara; Arafath, Mohammed; Krishnan, Santhana

2014-01-01

Background : The aim of the current study is to examine the effect of systemically administered BP-Pamidronate, on Orthodontic Tooth Movement (OTM) along with osteoclastic quantification in New Zealand white rabbits. Materials & Methods : Twenty rabbits used in the study, were equally divided into 2 groups ; Group-1 as Control & Group-2 as Experimental. A sentalloy NITI closed coil spring (GAC International, USA) of 100 gram force, ligated between the lower first molar and the anterior most incisors of the rabbit has served as orthodontic force element. The BP- Pamidronate was administered at the dosage of 1.5 mg/kg body intra-peritonially, on the 1st, 7th and 14th day of the experiment. On the 21st day both group of animals were sacrificed, mandibles were dissected. The formed diastema between the 1st and 2nd molar was measured on the dissected mandibles using standard metric scale, which is considered as the OTM in the mesial direction. Next, the alveolar bone regions along with intact mesial surfaces were processed for histological investigation (osteoclastic count). Results : The student ‘t’ test has been done to compare the mean values of molar tooth movement and osteoclastic count. Parameter :1 molar tooth movement has shown a significant difference between the control (3.750 ± 0.548 mm) and the experimental group (3.050 ± 0.556 mm) with calculated ‘p’ value (p-value S, Reddy BV, Goud EV, Arafath M, Krishnan S. Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth movement and olsteoclastic count: An Animal Study. J Int Oral Health 2014;6(2):1-8. PMID:24876695

Explaining Infinite Series--An Exploration of Students' Images

Science.gov (United States)

Champney, Danielle Dawn

2013-01-01

This study uses self-generated representations (SGR)--images produced in the act of explaining--as a means of uncovering what university calculus students understand about infinite series convergence. It makes use of student teaching episodes, in which students were asked to explain to a peer what that student might have missed had they been…

Absolute nuclear material assay using count distribution (LAMBDA) space

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, Manoj K [Pleasanton, CA; Snyderman, Neal J [Berkeley, CA; Rowland, Mark S [Alamo, CA

2012-06-05

A method of absolute nuclear material assay of an unknown source comprising counting neutrons from the unknown source and providing an absolute nuclear material assay utilizing a model to optimally compare to the measured count distributions. In one embodiment, the step of providing an absolute nuclear material assay comprises utilizing a random sampling of analytically computed fission chain distributions to generate a continuous time-evolving sequence of event-counts by spreading the fission chain distribution in time.

Sperm motility and morphology as changing parameters linked to sperm count variations.

OpenAIRE

Dua A; Vaidya S

1996-01-01

Variations in semen analyses of 177 males over a 1 year period were assessed. The average means of total counts, motility, morphology, total motile count and non-motile % were determined for 5 classes of patients ranging from azoospermic to normospermic. Positive relationships between a falling sperm count, a decrease in motility and total motile counts were seen. Also, increasingly, abnormal forms were found with lower sperm counts.

Platelet count is associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer and mortality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vinholt, P J; Hvas, A M; Frederiksen, H

2016-01-01

count (100-450×10(9)/L) and mortality, development of future cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke, or peripheral vascular disease), venous thromboembolism, bleeding or cancer in the general population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a register-based cohort study of 21......,252 adults (≥20years) from the Danish General Suburban Population Study (GESUS). Laboratory results from GESUS were linked to information from national registers regarding morbidity and death. Cox proportional hazard regression was conducted with adjustment for age, sex, smoking status, haemoglobin......, leukocyte count, C-reactive protein and Charlson comorbidity index. RESULTS: We found a U-shaped relationship between mortality and platelet count. Mortality was significantly increased for platelet count 300×10(9)/L. When categorizing platelet count using the interval 201-250×10(9)/L...

A study of cellular counting to determine minimum thresholds for adequacy for liquid-based cervical cytology using a survey and counting protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitchener, Henry C; Gittins, Matthew; Desai, Mina; Smith, John H F; Cook, Gary; Roberts, Chris; Turnbull, Lesley

2015-03-01

Liquid-based cytology (LBC) for cervical screening would benefit from laboratory practice guidelines that define specimen adequacy for reporting of slides. The evidence base required to define cell adequacy should incorporate both ThinPrep™ (TP; Hologic, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA) and SurePath™ (SP; BD Diagnostics, Burlington, NC, USA), the two LBC systems used in the UK cervical screening programmes. The objectives of this study were to determine (1) current practice for reporting LBC in England, Wales and Scotland, (2) a reproducible method for cell counting, (3) the cellularity of slides classified as inadequate, negative or abnormal and (4) the impact of varying cellularity on the likelihood of detecting cytological abnormalities. The study involved four separate arms to pursue each of the four objectives. (1) A questionnaire survey of laboratories was conducted. (2) A standard counting protocol was developed and used by three experienced cytopathologists to determine a reliable and reproducible cell counting method. (3) Slide sets which included a range of cytological abnormalities were each sent to three laboratories for cell counting to study the correlation between cell counts and reported cytological outcomes. (4) Dilution of LBC samples by fluid only (unmixed) or by dilution with a sample containing normal cells (mixed) was performed to study the impact on reporting of reducing either the total cell count or the relative proportion of abnormal to normal cells. The study was conducted within the cervical screening programmes in England, Wales and Scotland, using routinely obtained cervical screening samples, and in 56 participating NHS cervical cytology laboratories. The study involved only routinely obtained cervical screening samples. There was no clinical intervention. The main outcome measures were (1) reliability of counting method, (2) correlation of reported cytology grades with cellularity and (3) levels of detection of abnormal cells in

Study on advancement of in vivo counting using mathematical simulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kinase, Sakae [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

2003-05-01

To obtain an assessment of the committed effective dose, individual monitoring for the estimation of intakes of radionuclides is required. For individual monitoring of exposure to intakes of radionuclides, direct measurement of radionuclides in the body - in vivo counting- is very useful. To advance in a precision in vivo counting which fulfills the requirements of ICRP 1990 recommendations, some problems, such as the investigation of uncertainties in estimates of body burdens by in vivo counting, and the selection of the way to improve the precision, have been studied. In the present study, a calibration technique for in vivo counting application using Monte Carlo simulation was developed. The advantage of the technique is that counting efficiency can be obtained for various shapes and sizes that are very difficult to change for phantoms. To validate the calibration technique, the response functions and counting efficiencies of a whole-body counter installed in JAERI were evaluated using the simulation and measurements. Consequently, the calculations are in good agreement with the measurements. The method for the determination of counting efficiency curves as a function of energy was developed using the present technique and a physiques correction equation was derived from the relationship between parameters of correction factor and counting efficiencies of the JAERI whole-body counter. The uncertainties in body burdens of {sup 137}Cs estimated with the JAERI whole-body counter were also investigated using the Monte Carlo simulation and measurements. It was found that the uncertainties of body burdens estimated with the whole-body counter are strongly dependent on various sources of uncertainty such as radioactivity distribution within the body and counting statistics. Furthermore, the evaluation method of the peak efficiencies of a Ge semi-conductor detector was developed by Monte Carlo simulation for optimum arrangement of Ge semi-conductor detectors for

Differences in meristic counts of the genus Clarias (pisces: clariidae ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Specific differences in meristic counts were exhibited in both the anal fin ray count and the vertebral count in the clariids of Anambra rver, Nigeria. There was a close numerical relationship between the number of anal fin rays and the number of vertebrae. The present study further justifies the taxonomic importance of anal fin ...

Validation of an automated colony counting system for group A Streptococcus.

Science.gov (United States)

Frost, H R; Tsoi, S K; Baker, C A; Laho, D; Sanderson-Smith, M L; Steer, A C; Smeesters, P R

2016-02-08

The practice of counting bacterial colony forming units on agar plates has long been used as a method to estimate the concentration of live bacteria in culture. However, due to the laborious and potentially error prone nature of this measurement technique, an alternative method is desirable. Recent technologic advancements have facilitated the development of automated colony counting systems, which reduce errors introduced during the manual counting process and recording of information. An additional benefit is the significant reduction in time taken to analyse colony counting data. Whilst automated counting procedures have been validated for a number of microorganisms, the process has not been successful for all bacteria due to the requirement for a relatively high contrast between bacterial colonies and growth medium. The purpose of this study was to validate an automated counting system for use with group A Streptococcus (GAS). Twenty-one different GAS strains, representative of major emm-types, were selected for assessment. In order to introduce the required contrast for automated counting, 2,3,5-triphenyl-2H-tetrazolium chloride (TTC) dye was added to Todd-Hewitt broth with yeast extract (THY) agar. Growth on THY agar with TTC was compared with growth on blood agar and THY agar to ensure the dye was not detrimental to bacterial growth. Automated colony counts using a ProtoCOL 3 instrument were compared with manual counting to confirm accuracy over the stages of the growth cycle (latent, mid-log and stationary phases) and in a number of different assays. The average percentage differences between plating and counting methods were analysed using the Bland-Altman method. A percentage difference of ±10 % was determined as the cut-off for a critical difference between plating and counting methods. All strains measured had an average difference of less than 10 % when plated on THY agar with TTC. This consistency was also observed over all phases of the growth

Statistical tests to compare motif count exceptionalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vandewalle Vincent

2007-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Finding over- or under-represented motifs in biological sequences is now a common task in genomics. Thanks to p-value calculation for motif counts, exceptional motifs are identified and represent candidate functional motifs. The present work addresses the related question of comparing the exceptionality of one motif in two different sequences. Just comparing the motif count p-values in each sequence is indeed not sufficient to decide if this motif is significantly more exceptional in one sequence compared to the other one. A statistical test is required. Results We develop and analyze two statistical tests, an exact binomial one and an asymptotic likelihood ratio test, to decide whether the exceptionality of a given motif is equivalent or significantly different in two sequences of interest. For that purpose, motif occurrences are modeled by Poisson processes, with a special care for overlapping motifs. Both tests can take the sequence compositions into account. As an illustration, we compare the octamer exceptionalities in the Escherichia coli K-12 backbone versus variable strain-specific loops. Conclusion The exact binomial test is particularly adapted for small counts. For large counts, we advise to use the likelihood ratio test which is asymptotic but strongly correlated with the exact binomial test and very simple to use.

Complete Blood Count (For Parents)

Science.gov (United States)

... Kids Deal With Injections and Blood Tests Blood Culture Anemia Blood Test: Basic Metabolic Panel (BMP) Blood Test: Hemoglobin Basic Blood Chemistry Tests Word! Complete Blood Count (CBC) Medical Tests and Procedures ( ...

Every Student Succeeds Act High School Graduation Rate: Non-Regulatory Guidance

Science.gov (United States)

US Department of Education, 2017

2017-01-01

Student graduation from high school with a regular high school diploma is an important indicator of school success and one of the most significant indicators of student college and career readiness. In addition, there are substantial economic benefits to high school completion. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Education's National…

Sperm motility and morphology as changing parameters linked to sperm count variations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dua A

1996-10-01

Full Text Available Variations in semen analyses of 177 males over a 1 year period were assessed. The average means of total counts, motility, morphology, total motile count and non-motile % were determined for 5 classes of patients ranging from azoospermic to normospermic. Positive relationships between a falling sperm count, a decrease in motility and total motile counts were seen. Also, increasingly, abnormal forms were found with lower sperm counts.

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names CI to CO

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names DH to EC

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names TF to U

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names HJ to ID

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names AN to AR

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names SJ to ST

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names CP to DE

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names C to CE

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names EV to GN

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names V to Z

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names ED to EU

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names SD to SI

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names MB to MO

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names LJ to MA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names AS to BA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names SB to SC

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names MP to NA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names SU to TE

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names PL to PO

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names IE to LA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names A to AM

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names HB to HI

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names OM to OX

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names Q to SA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names PP to PZ

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names GO to HA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names NB to OL

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names LB to LI

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names BCE to BZ

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names CD to CH

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

CalCOFI Larvae Counts, Scientific Names OY to PI

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish larvae counts and standardized counts for larvae captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets],...

Connecting Students to Nature--How Intensity of Nature Experience and Student Age Influence the Success of Outdoor Education Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Braun, Tina; Dierkes, Paul

2017-01-01

Nature connectedness counts as a crucial predictor of pro-environmental behavior. For counteracting today's environmental issues a successful re-connection of individuals to nature is necessary. Besides the promotion of knowledge transfer the aim of the educational program presented in this study is to connect students to their environment. This…

The Endangered Species Act and a Deeper Look at Extinction.

Science.gov (United States)

Borowski, John F.

1992-01-01

Discusses the importance of saving species and dispels myths surrounding the endangered species act as background to three student activities that include a round table debate, writing to congresspeople, and a research project suggestion. Lists reference materials for endangered species. (MCO)

76 FR 26714 - Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-09

... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Department of the Army [Docket ID USA-2011-0010] Privacy Act of 1974; System... specialty, credit hours accumulated, examination and lesson course completion status, assignment history... history, student academic status, curricula, course description, scheduling, testing, academic, graduation...

Point Count Length and Detection of Forest Neotropical Migrant Birds

Science.gov (United States)

Deanna K. Dawson; David R. Smith; Chandler S. Robbins

1995-01-01

Comparisons of bird abundances among years or among habitats assume that the rates at which birds are detected and counted are constant within species. We use point count data collected in forests of the Mid-Atlantic states to estimate detection probabilities for Neotropical migrant bird species as a function of count length. For some species, significant differences...

Global Summit on Student Affairs and Services

African Journals Online (AJOL)

introduced to the 3rd Global Summit on Student Affairs and Services that was hosted by Stellenbosch University (SU) in Cape Town, South Africa, this past .... students to act as partners and change agents in their educational experience.

Men of physics Count Rumford on the nature of heat

CERN Document Server

Brown, Sanborn C

2013-01-01

Men of Physics: Benjamin Thompson—Count Rumford: Count Rumford on the Nature of Heat presents the life and works of Count Rumford, an American-born British physicist and inventor. This book is divided in two parts. The first part gives a biographical sketch of Count Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, who was born on March 23, 1753 and died in 1814. This part also discusses the contemporary caloric theory and the reason why Rumford disbelieved the theory. The second part presents his technical works, discoveries, and contributions in the field of physics. Some of which are his demonstration of the e

Preventing Interpersonal Violence on College Campuses: The Effect of One Act Training on Bystander Intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Alegría-Flores, Kei; Raker, Kelli; Pleasants, Robert K; Weaver, Mark A; Weinberger, Morris

2015-05-22

Sexual assault, stalking, dating violence, and intimate partner violence, herein collectively termed interpersonal violence (IV), are public health problems affecting 20% to 25% of female college students. Currently, One Act is one of the few IV prevention training programs at universities that teach students bystander skills to intervene in low- and high-risk IV situations. The objectives of this study were 1) to evaluate One Act's effects on date rape attitudes and behaviors, and bystanders' confidence, willingness to help, and behavior, and 2) to compare the effects on bystander skills between One Act and Helping Advocates for Violence Ending Now (HAVEN), an IV response training program with similar participants. Data were collected over 2 years, before and after One Act and HAVEN trainings. We measured outcomes with four scales: College Date Rape Attitudes and Behaviors, Bystander Confidence, Willingness to Help, and Bystander Behavior. The analysis compared within- and between-group mean differences in scale scores pre- and post-trainings using linear mixed models. One Act showed improvements for date rape attitudes and behaviors (p trainings' effects on bystander willingness to help and behavior had similar patterns but were not statistically significant. We found a larger positive impact on bystander confidence among students who participated in the bystander prevention training compared with the response training. Further research is needed to improve the measures for bystander behavior and measure the bystander trainings' larger impact on the community. © The Author(s) 2015.

Quality control of radiation counting systems and measurement of minimum detectable activity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Byoung Chul; Han, Sung Sim; Kim, Young Bok; Jee, Kwang Yong; Sohn, Se Chul

2004-01-01

Various radiation counters have been using to determine radioactivity of radwastes for disposal. A radiation counting system was set up using a radiation detector chosen in this study and its stability was investigated through the periodic determination of background and counting efficiencies in accordance with a quality control program to increase the confidence level. The average background level for the γ-spectrometer was 1.59 cps and the average counting level for the standard sample was 45248 dps within 20 confidence levels. The average alpha background level for the low background α/β counting system was 0.31 cpm and the efficiency for alpha counting was 34.38 %. The average beta background level for the α/β counting system was 1.30 cpm and the efficiency for beta counting was 46.5%. The background level in the region of 3H and 14C for the liquid scintillation counting system was 2.52 and 3.31 cpm and the efficiency for alpha counting was 58.5 and 95.6%, respectively. The minimum detectable activity for the γ-spectrometer was found to be 3.2 Bq/mL and 3.8 Bq/mL for the liquid scintillation counter, and 20.5 and 23.0 Bq/mL, respectively for the α and β counting system

Analysis of spatial count data using Kalman smoothing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dethlefsen, Claus

2007-01-01

We consider spatial count data from an agricultural field experiment. Counts of weed plants in a field have been recorded in a project on precision farming. Interest is in mapping the weed intensity so that the dose of herbicide applied at any location can be adjusted to the amount of weed present...

Another Crisis Can We Count on the Reserves?

Science.gov (United States)

1994-05-16

the " marshmallow " of volunteerism is something that is too soft of a concept to be counted upon. It only makes sense to develop a more well-defined...unrealistic. Involuntary activation has proven to be a hollow concept in practice, and planners are reluctant to count on the " marshmallow " of

Material screening with HPGe counting station for PandaX experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, X.; Chen, X.; Fu, C.; Ji, X.; Liu, X.; Xie, P.; Zhang, T.; Mao, Y.; Wang, S.; Wang, H.

2016-01-01

A gamma counting station based on high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector was set up for the material screening of the PandaX dark matter experiments in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. Low background gamma rate of 2.6 counts/min within the energy range of 20 to 2700 keV is achieved due to the well-designed passive shield. The sentivities of the HPGe detetector reach mBq/kg level for isotopes like K, U, Th, and even better for Co and Cs, resulted from the low-background rate and the high relative detection efficiency of 175%. The structure and performance of the counting station are described in this article. Detailed counting results for the radioactivity in materials used by the PandaX dark-matter experiment are presented. The upgrading plan of the counting station is also discussed.

A Gay Immigrant Student's Perspective: Unspeakable Acts in the Language Class

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Cynthia D.

2010-01-01

This article focuses on a subset of the student cohort that has, until recently, been largely hidden from view in the literature of language education: gay immigrants. Little is known about what sorts of classroom experiences gay immigrant students find engaging or alienating, or why this sort of knowledge is needed. This case study uses interview…

Theory of photoelectron counting statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blake, J.

1980-01-01

The purpose of the present essay is to provide a detailed analysis of those theoretical aspects of photoelectron counting which are capable of experimental verification. Most of our interest is in the physical phenomena themselves, while part is in the mathematical techniques. Many of the mathematical methods used in the analysis of the photoelectron counting problem are generally unfamiliar to physicists interested in the subject. For this reason we have developed the essay in such a fashion that, although primary interest is focused on the physical phenomena, we have also taken pains to carry out enough of the analysis so that the reader can follow the main details. We have chosen to present a consistently quantum mechanical version of the subject, in that we follow the Glauber theory throughout. (orig./WL)

Liquid scintillation counting system with automatic gain correction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frank, R.B.

1976-01-01

An automatic liquid scintillation counting apparatus is described including a scintillating medium in the elevator ram of the sample changing apparatus. An appropriate source of radiation, which may be the external source for standardizing samples, produces reference scintillations in the scintillating medium which may be used for correction of the gain of the counting system

Exponential Martingales and Changes of Measure for Counting Processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sokol, Alexander; Hansen, Niels Richard

2015-01-01

We give sufficient criteria for the Doléans-Dade exponential of a stochastic integral with respect to a counting process local martingale to be a true martingale. The criteria are adapted particularly to the case of counting processes and are sufficiently weak to be useful and verifiable, as we i...... illustrate by several examples. In particular, the criteria allow for the construction of for example nonexplosive Hawkes processes, counting processes with stochastic intensities depending on diffusion processes as well as inhomogeneous finite-state Markov processes....

Fast sequential Monte Carlo methods for counting and optimization

CERN Document Server

Rubinstein, Reuven Y; Vaisman, Radislav

2013-01-01

A comprehensive account of the theory and application of Monte Carlo methods Based on years of research in efficient Monte Carlo methods for estimation of rare-event probabilities, counting problems, and combinatorial optimization, Fast Sequential Monte Carlo Methods for Counting and Optimization is a complete illustration of fast sequential Monte Carlo techniques. The book provides an accessible overview of current work in the field of Monte Carlo methods, specifically sequential Monte Carlo techniques, for solving abstract counting and optimization problems. Written by authorities in the

Application of neutron multiplicity counting to waste assay

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pickrell, M.M.; Ensslin, N. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Sharpe, T.J. [North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)

1997-11-01

This paper describes the use of a new figure of merit code that calculates both bias and precision for coincidence and multiplicity counting, and determines the optimum regions for each in waste assay applications. A {open_quotes}tunable multiplicity{close_quotes} approach is developed that uses a combination of coincidence and multiplicity counting to minimize the total assay error. An example is shown where multiplicity analysis is used to solve for mass, alpha, and multiplication and tunable multiplicity is shown to work well. The approach provides a method for selecting coincidence, multiplicity, or tunable multiplicity counting to give the best assay with the lowest total error over a broad spectrum of assay conditions. 9 refs., 6 figs.

Counting statistics and loss corrections for the APS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, W.K.; Mills, D.M.

1992-01-01

It has been suggested that for timing experiments, it might be advantageous to arrange the bunches in the storage ring in an asymmetrical mode. In this paper, we determine the counting losses from pulsed x-ray sources from basic probabilistic arguments and from Poisson statistics. In particular the impact on single photon counting losses of a variety of possible filling modes for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) is examined. For bunches of equal current, a loss of 10% occurs whenever the count rate exceeds 21% of the bunch repetition rate. This changes slightly when bunches containing unequal numbers of particles are considered. The results are applied to several common detector/electronics systems

Counting statistics and loss corrections for the APS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, W.K.; Mills, D.M.

1992-01-01

It has been suggested that for timing experiments, it might be advantageous to arrange the bunches in the storage ring in an asymmetrical mode. In this paper, we determine the counting losses from pulsed x-ray sources from basic probabilistic arguments and from Poisson statistics. In particular the impact on single-photon counting losses of a variety of possible filling modes for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) is examined. For bunches of equal current, a loss of 10% occurs whenever the count rate exceeds 21% of the bunch repetition rate. This changes slightly when bunches containing unequal numbers of particles are considered. The results are applied to several common detector/electronics systems

Accuracy and precision in activation analysis: counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becker, D.A.

1974-01-01

Accuracy and precision in activation analysis was investigated with regard to counting of induced radioactivity. The various parameters discussed include configuration, positioning, density, homogeneity, intensity, radioisotopic purity, peak integration, and nuclear constants. Experimental results are presented for many of these parameters. The results obtained indicate that counting errors often contribute significantly to the inaccuracy and imprecision of analyses. The magnitude of these errors range from less than 1 percent to 10 percent or more in many cases

Remote system for counting of nuclear pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nieves V, J.A.; Garcia H, J.M.; Aguilar B, M.A.

1999-01-01

In this work, it is describe technically the remote system for counting of nuclear pulses, an integral system of the project radiological monitoring in a petroleum distillation tower. The system acquires the counting of incident nuclear particles in a nuclear detector which process this information and send it in serial form, using the RS-485 toward a remote receiver, which can be a Personal computer or any other device capable to interpret the communication protocol. (Author)

77 FR 31606 - Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-29

... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records AGENCY: Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students, Department... Secretary of the Office of English Language Acquisition deletes the following system of records: System...

A Self-Instructional Course in Student Financial Aid Administration. Module 6: General Student Eligibility. Second Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Washington Consulting Group, Inc., Washington, DC.

Module 6 of a 17-module self-instructional course on student financial aid administration (for novice aid administrators and other personnel) presents a systematic introduction to the management of federal financial aid programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act with an emphasis on general student eligibility. Identifying the…

Using Iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycles to Improve Teaching Pedagogy.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Elizabeth J

2018-01-15

Most students entering nursing programs today are members of Generation Y or the Millennial generation, and they learn differently than previous generations. Nurse educators must consider implementing innovative teaching strategies that appeal to the newest generation of learners. The Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle is a framework that can be helpful when planning, assessing, and continually improving teaching pedagogy. This article describes the use of iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to implement a change in teaching pedagogy.

Eosinophil count is positively correlated with coronary artery calcification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Muhei; Fukui, Michiaki; Yamasaki, Masahiro; Hasegawa, Goji; Oda, Yohei; Nakamura, Naoto; Tomiyasu, Ki-ichiro; Akabame, Satoshi; Nakano, Koji

2012-01-01

Recent studies suggested that allergic disorders and increased eosinophil count were associated with atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between eosinophil count and coronary artery calcification (CAC). We performed a cross-sectional study in 1363 consecutive participants with clinical suspicion of coronary heart disease (CHD). We evaluated the relationships between CAC score determined by multislice CT and peripheral eosinophil count as well as major cardiovascular risk factors, including age, body mass index, smoking status, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus (DM), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Sex (P=0.0004), hypertension (P=0.0002), dyslipidemia (P=0.0004) and DM (P=0.0061) were associated with log (CAC+1), respectively. Positive correlations were found between log (CAC+1), and age (r=0.325, P<0.0001) and eosinophil count (r=0.165, P<0.0001). Negative correlations were found between log (CAC+1) and eGFR (r=-0.166, P<0.0001). Multivariate linear regression analysis demonstrated that age (β=0.314, P<0.0001), sex (β=0.124, P<0.0001), hypertension (β=0.084, P=0.0008), DM (β=0.108, P<0.0001), eGFR (β=-0.079, P=0.0021) and eosinophil count (β=0.147, P<0.0001) were independent determinants of log (CAC+1). In conclusion, eosinophil count correlated positively with CAC in participants with clinical suspicion of CHD. (author)

Make My Trip Count 2015

Data.gov (United States)

Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — The Make My Trip Count (MMTC) commuter survey, conducted in September and October 2015 by GBA, the Pittsburgh 2030 District, and 10 other regional transportation...

Platelet Counts, MPV and PDW in Culture Proven and Probable Neonatal Sepsis and Association of Platelet Counts with Mortality Rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, M. S.; Waheed, A.

2014-01-01

Objective: To determine frequency of thrombocytopenia and thrombocytosis, the MPV (mean platelet volume) and PDW (platelet distribution width) in patients with probable and culture proven neonatal sepsis and determine any association between platelet counts and mortality rate. Study Design: Descriptive analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: NICU, Fazle Omar Hospital, from January 2011 to December 2012. Methodology: Cases of culture proven and probable neonatal sepsis, admitted in Fazle Omar Hospital, Rabwah, were included in the study. Platelet counts, MPV and PDW of the cases were recorded. Mortality was documented. Frequencies of thrombocytopenia ( 450000/mm3) were ascertained. Mortality rates in different groups according to platelet counts were calculated and compared by chi-square test to check association. Results: Four hundred and sixty nine patients were included; 68 (14.5%) of them died. One hundred and thirty six (29%) had culture proven sepsis, and 333 (71%) were categorized as probable sepsis. Thrombocytopenia was present in 116 (24.7%), and thrombocytosis was present in 36 (7.7%) cases. Median platelet count was 213.0/mm3. Twenty eight (27.7%) patients with thrombocytopenia, and 40 (12.1%) cases with normal or raised platelet counts died (p < 0.001). Median MPV was 9.30, and median PDW was 12.30. MPV and PDW of the patients who died and who were discharged were not significantly different from each other. Conclusion: Thrombocytopenia is a common complication of neonatal sepsis. Those with thrombocytopenia have higher mortality rate. No significant difference was present between PDW and MPV of the cases who survived and died. (author)

Health Behavior Theory in Popular Calorie Counting Apps: A Content Analysis

OpenAIRE

Davis, Siena F; Ellsworth, Marisa A; Payne, Hannah E; Hall, Shelby M; West, Joshua H; Nordhagen, Amber L

2016-01-01

Background Although the Health & Fitness category of the Apple App Store features hundreds of calorie counting apps, the extent to which popular calorie counting apps include health behavior theory is unknown. Objective This study evaluates the presence of health behavior theory in calorie counting apps. Methods Data for this study came from an extensive content analysis of the 10 most popular calorie counting apps in the Health & Fitness category of the Apple App Store. Results Each app was ...

Problems and precision of the alpha scintillation radon counting system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucas, H.F.; Markuu, F.

1985-01-01

Variations in efficiency as large as 3% have been found for radon scintillation counting systems in which the photomultiplier tubes are sensitive to the thermoluminescent photons emitted by the scintillator after exposure to light or for which the resolution has deteriorated. The additional standard deviation caused by counting a radon chamber on multiple counting systems has been evaluated and the effect, if present, did not exceed about 0.1%. The chambers have been calibrated for the measurement of radon in air, and the standard deviation was equal to statistical counting error combined with a systematic error of 1.1%. 3 references, 2 figures, 2 tables

Daily variability of strongyle fecal egg counts in horses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carstensen, Helena; Larsen, Lene; Ritz, Christian

2013-01-01

Strongyle parasites are ubiquitous in grazing horses and constitute a potential threat to equine health. Feces were collected from six horses four times daily over a period of 5 days. Fecal egg counts (FECs) were performed to identify any diurnal rhythms in strongyle egg shedding and to quantify...... variability at the different levels: individual horses, repeated counts, repeated subsamples, different time points, and different days. No significant differences in FECs were found between the different time points (P = .11). The variables-horse, day, subsample, and egg count-accounted for a variance of 104...... subsamples and repeated egg counts on the same subsamples, whereas the variability of FECs between following days can be considered negligible. The findings of this study have implication for designing and performing field surveillance of strongyle FEC levels and applying the FEC reduction test...

Student certainty answering misconception question: study of Three-Tier Multiple-Choice Diagnostic Test in Acid-Base and Solubility Equilibrium

Science.gov (United States)

Ardiansah; Masykuri, M.; Rahardjo, S. B.

2018-04-01

Students’ concept comprehension in three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test related to student confidence level. The confidence level related to certainty and student’s self-efficacy. The purpose of this research was to find out students’ certainty in misconception test. This research was quantitative-qualitative research method counting students’ confidence level. The research participants were 484 students that were studying acid-base and equilibrium solubility subject. Data was collected using three-tier multiple-choice (3TMC) with thirty questions and students’ questionnaire. The findings showed that #6 item gives the highest misconception percentage and high student confidence about the counting of ultra-dilute solution’s pH. Other findings were that 1) the student tendency chosen the misconception answer is to increase over item number, 2) student certainty decreased in terms of answering the 3TMC, and 3) student self-efficacy and achievement were related each other in the research. The findings suggest some implications and limitations for further research.

Detection and counting systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abreu, M.A.N. de

1976-01-01

Detection devices based on gaseous ionization are analysed, such as: electroscopes ionization chambers, proportional counters and Geiger-Mueller counters. Scintillation methods are also commented. A revision of the basic concepts in electronics is done and the main equipment for counting is detailed. In the study of gama spectrometry, scintillation and semiconductor detectors are analysed [pt

Radiation intensity counting system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, R.J.

1982-01-01

A method is described of excluding the natural dead time of the radiation detector (or eg Geiger-Mueller counter) in a ratemeter counting circuit, thus eliminating the need for dead time corrections. Using a pulse generator an artificial dead time is introduced which is longer than the natural dead time of the detector. (U.K.)

Project BioEYES: Accessible Student-Driven Science for K-12 Students and Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Shuda, Jamie R; Butler, Valerie G; Vary, Robert; Farber, Steven A

2016-11-01

BioEYES, a nonprofit outreach program using zebrafish to excite and educate K-12 students about science and how to think and act like scientists, has been integrated into hundreds of under-resourced schools since 2002. During the week-long experiments, students raise zebrafish embryos to learn principles of development and genetics. We have analyzed 19,463 participating students' pre- and post-tests within the program to examine their learning growth and attitude changes towards science. We found that at all grade levels, BioEYES effectively increased students' content knowledge and produced favorable shifts in students' attitudes about science. These outcomes were especially pronounced in younger students. Having served over 100,000 students, we find that our method for providing student-centered experiences and developing long-term partnerships with teachers is essential for the growth and sustainability of outreach and school collaborations.

25 CFR 700.33 - Act (The Act).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Act (The Act). 700.33 Section 700.33 Indians THE OFFICE OF NAVAJO AND HOPI INDIAN RELOCATION COMMISSION OPERATIONS AND RELOCATION PROCEDURES General Policies and Instructions Definitions § 700.33 Act (The Act). (a) The Act. The Act is Pub. L. 93-531, (88 Stat...

Development of a stained cell nuclei counting system

Science.gov (United States)

Timilsina, Niranjan; Moffatt, Christopher; Okada, Kazunori

2011-03-01

This paper presents a novel cell counting system which exploits the Fast Radial Symmetry Transformation (FRST) algorithm [1]. The driving force behind our system is a research on neurogenesis in the intact nervous system of Manduca Sexta or the Tobacco Hornworm, which was being studied to assess the impact of age, food and environment on neurogenesis. The varying thickness of the intact nervous system in this species often yields images with inhomogeneous background and inconsistencies such as varying illumination, variable contrast, and irregular cell size. For automated counting, such inhomogeneity and inconsistencies must be addressed, which no existing work has done successfully. Thus, our goal is to devise a new cell counting algorithm for the images with non-uniform background. Our solution adapts FRST: a computer vision algorithm which is designed to detect points of interest on circular regions such as human eyes. This algorithm enhances the occurrences of the stained-cell nuclei in 2D digital images and negates the problems caused by their inhomogeneity. Besides FRST, our algorithm employs standard image processing methods, such as mathematical morphology and connected component analysis. We have evaluated the developed cell counting system with fourteen digital images of Tobacco Hornworm's nervous system collected for this study with ground-truth cell counts by biology experts. Experimental results show that our system has a minimum error of 1.41% and mean error of 16.68% which is at least forty-four percent better than the algorithm without FRST.

Can simple mobile phone applications provide reliable counts of respiratory rates in sick infants and children? An initial evaluation of three new applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, James; Gerdtz, Marie; Nicholson, Pat; Crellin, Dianne; Browning, Laura; Simpson, Julie; Bell, Lauren; Santamaria, Nick

2015-05-01

Respiratory rate is an important sign that is commonly either not recorded or recorded incorrectly. Mobile phone ownership is increasing even in resource-poor settings. Phone applications may improve the accuracy and ease of counting of respiratory rates. The study assessed the reliability and initial users' impressions of four mobile phone respiratory timer approaches, compared to a 60-second count by the same participants. Three mobile applications (applying four different counting approaches plus a standard 60-second count) were created using the Java Mobile Edition and tested on Nokia C1-01 phones. Apart from the 60-second timer application, the others included a counter based on the time for ten breaths, and three based on the time interval between breaths ('Once-per-Breath', in which the user presses for each breath and the application calculates the rate after 10 or 20 breaths, or after 60s). Nursing and physiotherapy students used the applications to count respiratory rates in a set of brief video recordings of children with different respiratory illnesses. Limits of agreement (compared to the same participant's standard 60-second count), intra-class correlation coefficients and standard errors of measurement were calculated to compare the reliability of the four approaches, and a usability questionnaire was completed by the participants. There was considerable variation in the counts, with large components of the variation related to the participants and the videos, as well as the methods. None of the methods was entirely reliable, with no limits of agreement better than -10 to +9 breaths/min. Some of the methods were superior to the others, with ICCs from 0.24 to 0.92. By ICC the Once-per-Breath 60-second count and the Once-per-Breath 20-breath count were the most consistent, better even than the 60-second count by the participants. The 10-breath approaches performed least well. Users' initial impressions were positive, with little difference between the

Quality control methods in accelerometer data processing: identifying extreme counts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carly Rich

Full Text Available Accelerometers are designed to measure plausible human activity, however extremely high count values (EHCV have been recorded in large-scale studies. Using population data, we develop methodological principles for establishing an EHCV threshold, propose a threshold to define EHCV in the ActiGraph GT1M, determine occurrences of EHCV in a large-scale study, identify device-specific error values, and investigate the influence of varying EHCV thresholds on daily vigorous PA (VPA.We estimated quantiles to analyse the distribution of all accelerometer positive count values obtained from 9005 seven-year old children participating in the UK Millennium Cohort Study. A threshold to identify EHCV was derived by differentiating the quantile function. Data were screened for device-specific error count values and EHCV, and a sensitivity analysis conducted to compare daily VPA estimates using three approaches to accounting for EHCV.Using our proposed threshold of ≥ 11,715 counts/minute to identify EHCV, we found that only 0.7% of all non-zero counts measured in MCS children were EHCV; in 99.7% of these children, EHCV comprised < 1% of total non-zero counts. Only 11 MCS children (0.12% of sample returned accelerometers that contained negative counts; out of 237 such values, 211 counts were equal to -32,768 in one child. The medians of daily minutes spent in VPA obtained without excluding EHCV, and when using a higher threshold (≥19,442 counts/minute were, respectively, 6.2% and 4.6% higher than when using our threshold (6.5 minutes; p<0.0001.Quality control processes should be undertaken during accelerometer fieldwork and prior to analysing data to identify monitors recording error values and EHCV. The proposed threshold will improve the validity of VPA estimates in children's studies using the ActiGraph GT1M by ensuring only plausible data are analysed. These methods can be applied to define appropriate EHCV thresholds for different accelerometer models.

Application of PSD for low level alpha counting using liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krishnamachari, G.; Vaze, P.K.; Iyer, M.R.

1989-01-01

In the liquid scintillator the light produced by alpha particles decays differently than those produced by electrons. Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) methods are employed to estimate low levels of alpha emitting radionuclides by reducing the background due to either beta or gamma events. An attempt is being made to develop a liquid scintillation counting sytem using a simple PSD circuit to achieve a background of 0.01 counts/min. The PSD circuit is based on measuring zero cross over points to differentiate particle types. The input signal is first differentiated by a delay line and subsequently by a RC circuit. The width of the initial part of the doubly differentiated pulse is different for alpha and beta pulses. This width is converted to amplitude by a time-to-amplitude converter (TAC). The higher amplitude pulses from the TAC are due to alpha particles and they are separated by an integral discriminator. The output from the integral discriminator opens a linear gate to record the pulse height spectrum. The figure of merit of the PSD circuit and background in the alpha energy channel have been worked out using different scintillator types. (author). 4 figs

The Making Assessment Count (MAC consortium maximising assessment and feedback design by working together

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark JP Kerrigan

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The Making Assessment Count (MAC project started at the University of Westminster in 2008. It sought to align staff and student expectations of feedback and support greater use of feed-forward approaches. A baseline analysis of staff views in the School of Life Sciences suggested that students did not make strategic use of the feedback they received. A similar analysis of the student position revealed that as a group they felt that the feedback provided to them was often insufficiently helpful. To address this dichotomy, a MAC process was developed in the School of Life Sciences and trialled with a cohort of about 350 first year undergraduate students. The process was based on a student-centred, three-stage model of feedback: Subject specific, Operational, and Strategic (SOS model. The student uses the subject tutor's feedback on an assignment to complete an online self-review questionnaire delivered by a simple tool. The student answers are processed by a web application called e-Reflect to generate a further feedback report. Contained within this report are personalised graphical representations of performance, time management, satisfaction and other operational feedback designed to help the student reflect on their approach to preparation and completion of future work. The student then writes in an online learning journal, which is shared with their personal tutor to support the personal tutorial process and the student's own development plan (PDP. Since the initial development and implementation of the MAC process within Life Sciences at Westminster, a consortium of universities has worked together to maximise the benefits of the project outcomes and collaboratively explore how the SOS model and e-Reflect can be exploited in different institutional and subject contexts. This paper presents and discusses an evaluation of the use of the MAC process within Life Sciences at Westminster from both staff and student perspective. In addition, the

Temporal aggregation of migration counts can improve accuracy and precision of trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tara L. Crewe

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Temporal replicate counts are often aggregated to improve model fit by reducing zero-inflation and count variability, and in the case of migration counts collected hourly throughout a migration, allows one to ignore nonindependence. However, aggregation can represent a loss of potentially useful information on the hourly or seasonal distribution of counts, which might impact our ability to estimate reliable trends. We simulated 20-year hourly raptor migration count datasets with known rate of change to test the effect of aggregating hourly counts to daily or annual totals on our ability to recover known trend. We simulated data for three types of species, to test whether results varied with species abundance or migration strategy: a commonly detected species, e.g., Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus; a rarely detected species, e.g., Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus; and a species typically counted in large aggregations with overdispersed counts, e.g., Broad-winged Hawk, Buteo platypterus. We compared accuracy and precision of estimated trends across species and count types (hourly/daily/annual using hierarchical models that assumed a Poisson, negative binomial (NB or zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB count distribution. We found little benefit of modeling zero-inflation or of modeling the hourly distribution of migration counts. For the rare species, trends analyzed using daily totals and an NB or ZINB data distribution resulted in a higher probability of detecting an accurate and precise trend. In contrast, trends of the common and overdispersed species benefited from aggregation to annual totals, and for the overdispersed species in particular, trends estimating using annual totals were more precise, and resulted in lower probabilities of estimating a trend (1 in the wrong direction, or (2 with credible intervals that excluded the true trend, as compared with hourly and daily counts.

Is total lymphocyte count related to nutritional markers in hospitalized older adults?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vânia Aparecida LEANDRO-MERHI

Full Text Available ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Older patients are commonly malnourished during hospital stay, and a high prevalence of malnutrition is found in hospitalized patients aged more than 65 years. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether total lymphocyte count is related to other nutritional markers in hospitalized older adults. METHODS Hospitalized older adults (N=131 were recruited for a cross-sectional study. Their nutritional status was assessed by the Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS, anthropometry, and total lymphocyte count. The statistical analyses included the chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and Mann-Whitney test. Spearman's linear correlation coefficient determined whether total lymphocyte count was correlated with the nutritional markers. Multiple linear regression determined the parameters associated with lymphocyte count. The significance level was set at 5%. RESULTS According to the NRS, 41.2% of the patients were at nutritional risk, and 36% had mild or moderate depletion according to total lymphocyte count. Total lymphocyte count was weakly correlated with mid-upper arm circumference (r=0.20507; triceps skinfold thickness (r=0.29036, and length of hospital stay (r= -0.21518. Total lymphocyte count in different NRS categories differed significantly: older adults who were not at nutritional risk had higher mean and median total lymphocyte count ( P =0.0245. Multiple regression analysis showed that higher lymphocyte counts were associated with higher triceps skinfold thicknesses and no nutritional risk according to the NRS. CONCLUSION Total lymphocyte count was correlated with mid-upper arm circumference, triceps skinfold thickness, and nutritional risk according to the NRS. In multiple regression the combined factors that remained associated with lymphocyte count were NRS and triceps skinfold thickness. Therefore, total lymphocyte count may be considered a nutritional marker. Other studies should confirm these findings.

Effect of strategic deworming of village cattle in Uganda with moxidectin pour-on on faecal egg count and pasture larval counts : short communication