Assessment of dizziness among older patients at a family practice clinic: a chart audit study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pimlott Nicholas JG

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Dizziness is a common complaint among the elderly with a prevalence of over 30% in people over the age of 65. Although it is a common problem the assessment and management of dizziness in the elderly is challenging for family physicians. There is little published research which assesses the quality of dizziness assessment and management by family physicians. Methods We conducted a retrospective, chart audit study of patients with dizziness attending the Sunnybrook Family Practice Center of Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Center (SWCHSC in Toronto. We audited a random sample of 50 charts of patients from 310 eligible charts. Quality indicators across all dizziness subtypes were assessed. These quality indicators included: onset and course of symptoms; symptoms in patients' own words; number of medications used; postural blood pressure changes; symptoms of depression or anxiety; falls; syncope; diagnosis; outcome; specialty referrals. Quality indicators specific to each dizziness subtype were also audited. Results 310 charts satisfied inclusion criteria with 20 charts excluded and 50 charts were randomly generated. Documentation of key quality indicators in the management of dizziness was sub-optimal. Charts documenting patients' dizziness symptoms in their own words were more likely to have a clinical diagnosis compared to charts without (P = 0.002. Conclusions Documentation of selected key quality indicators could be improved, especially that of patients' symptoms in their own words.

Development of Markup Language for Medical Record Charting: A Charting Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Won-Mo; Chae, Younbyoung; Jang, Bo-Hyoung

2015-01-01

Nowadays a lot of trials for collecting electronic medical records (EMRs) exist. However, structuring data format for EMR is an especially labour-intensive task for practitioners. Here we propose a new mark-up language for medical record charting (called Charting Language), which borrows useful properties from programming languages. Thus, with Charting Language, the text data described in dynamic situation can be easily used to extract information.

Growth Charts (For Parents)

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Growth Charts KidsHealth / For Parents / Growth Charts What's in ... Problem? Print en español Tablas de crecimiento About Growth Charts Look at any class picture, and you' ...

Surface Prognostic Charts

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Surface Prognostic Charts are historical surface prognostic (forecast) charts created by the United States Weather Bureau. They include fronts, isobars, cloud, and...

Computing exact bundle compliance control charts via probability generating functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Binchao; Matis, Timothy; Benneyan, James

2016-06-01

Compliance to evidenced-base practices, individually and in 'bundles', remains an important focus of healthcare quality improvement for many clinical conditions. The exact probability distribution of composite bundle compliance measures used to develop corresponding control charts and other statistical tests is based on a fairly large convolution whose direct calculation can be computationally prohibitive. Various series expansions and other approximation approaches have been proposed, each with computational and accuracy tradeoffs, especially in the tails. This same probability distribution also arises in other important healthcare applications, such as for risk-adjusted outcomes and bed demand prediction, with the same computational difficulties. As an alternative, we use probability generating functions to rapidly obtain exact results and illustrate the improved accuracy and detection over other methods. Numerical testing across a wide range of applications demonstrates the computational efficiency and accuracy of this approach.

Software tool for physics chart checks.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, H Harold; Wu, Yu; Yang, Deshan; Mutic, Sasa

2014-01-01

Physics chart check has long been a central quality assurance (QC) measure in radiation oncology. The purpose of this work is to describe a software tool that aims to accomplish simplification, standardization, automation, and forced functions in the process. Nationally recognized guidelines, including American College of Radiology and American Society for Radiation Oncology guidelines and technical standards, and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group reports were identified, studied, and summarized. Meanwhile, the reported events related to physics chart check service were analyzed using an event reporting and learning system. A number of shortfalls in the chart check process were identified. To address these problems, a software tool was designed and developed under Microsoft. Net in C# to hardwire as many components as possible at each stage of the process. The software consists of the following 4 independent modules: (1) chart check management; (2) pretreatment and during treatment chart check assistant; (3) posttreatment chart check assistant; and (4) quarterly peer-review management. The users were a large group of physicists in the author's radiation oncology clinic. During over 1 year of use the tool has proven very helpful in chart checking management, communication, documentation, and maintaining consistency. The software tool presented in this work aims to assist physicists at each stage of the physics chart check process. The software tool is potentially useful for any radiation oncology clinics that are either in the process of pursuing or maintaining the American College of Radiology accreditation.

Trade-off study of liquid-metal self-cooled blankets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gohar, Y.

1986-01-01

A trade-off study of liquid-metal self-cooled blankets was carried out to define the performance of these blankets with respect to the main functions in a fusion reactor, and to determine the potential to operate at the maximum possible values of the performance parameters. The main purpose is to improve the reactor economics by maximizing the blanket energy multiplication factor, reduce the capital cost of the reactor, and satisfy the design requirements. The main parameters during the course of the study were the tritium breeding ratio (TBR), the blanket energy multiplication factor, the energy fraction lost to the shield, the 6 Li enrichment in the breeder material, the total blanket thickness, the reflector material selection, and the compositions of the different blanket zones. Also, the impact of different reactor design choices on the performance parameters was analyzed. The effect of the impurity control system (limiter or divertor), the material choice for the limiter, the elimination of tritium breeding from the inboard section of tokamak reactors, the coolant choice for the nonbreeding inboard blanket, and the neutron source distribution were part of the trade-off study. In addition, tritium breeding benchmark calculations were performed to study the impact of the use of different transport codes and nuclear data libraries. The importance and the negative effect of high TBR on the energy multiplication motivated the benchmark calculations

APPLICATION OF U-CHART AND C-CHART IN TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESS OF PRIMARY WOOD PROCESSING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Damjan Stanojević

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Control charts are statistical methods of quality control. Basically it is a graph where the abscissa represents the order of control, and the ordinate is marked with parameter values, which are controled by samples over a certain size. Using charts determine varying quality and also related the stability and capacity of the production process in relation to the established control limits. Dr. Schuchardt, which can be regarded as the creator of control charts, says that their mission: to maintain the production process in a state of control, to lead the production process into a state of control, to show that the state of control has been achieved. According to Dr. Schuchardt „for a phenomenon is said to be controlled if based on current data we can predict, at least within certain limits, how the phenomenon will change in the future. Here, under certain prediction within limits means that we can determine, at least approximately, the probability that the phenomenon is found within the given limits“. Control charts for attribute quality characteristics are: p- control chart, m- control chart, u- control chart, c- control chart.

Electric-powered passenger vehicle design study program. Task 1. Tradeoff studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rowlett, B.H.

1976-09-16

Using the baseline vehicle and power system design established previously to meet the performance goals of the program, three power system computer simulation programs were prepared for the basic vehicle tradeoff studies. These programs simulate the performance of the power system and vehicle over different types of driving conditions such as maximum power acceleration, deceleration, city driving cycles, and hill climbing, and permit accurate determination of the benefits of the unique hybrid power system, the total energy required for the suburban city driving cycle, and the extremes of the operating envelopes of the components so that component design options can be defined and studied. Component design tradeoff studies were conducted, including sensitivity studies to show the criticality of the various losses and unknowns in the analytical models. Also, preliminary vehicle layout studies were performed to determine the best locations of the power system and the batteries. Three basic design options are identified for further study. Economic studies were initiated using analytical models to establish the complete vehicle weight and cost breakdowns. Preliminary reliability and safety studies were completed, and maintainability and safety certification criteria established. The detailed analysis of the power system has verified the feasibility of the system and of the performance expectations. Also, the feasibility of energy recovery from regenerative braking has been confirmed. The sensitivity analysis of the power system shows that sufficient margin for unknown design variables is provided. The preliminary economic analysis indicates that the most difficult objective of the study will be the selection of the cost and weight relationships which are required to achieve the overall cost objectives.

A PIP chart for nuclear plant safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Tatsujiro; Yamaoka, Taiji

1992-01-01

While it is known that social and political aspects of nuclear safety issues are important, little study has been done on identifying the breadth of stakeholders whose policies have important influences over nuclear plant safety in a comprehensive way. The objectives of this study are to develop a chart that visually identifies important stakeholders and their policies and illustrates these influences in a hierarchical representation so that the relationship between stakeholders and nuclear safety will be better understood. This study is based on a series of extensive interviews with major stakeholders, such as nuclear plant managers, corporate planning vice presidents, state regulators, news media, and public interest groups, and focuses on one US nuclear power plant. Based on the interview results, the authors developed a conceptual policy influence paths (PIP) chart. The PIP chart illustrates the hierarchy of influence among stakeholders. The PIP chart is also useful in identifying possible stakeholders who can be easily overlooked without the PIP chart. In addition, it shows that influence flow is circular rather than linear in one direction

ICAO Aeronautical chart production: aerodrome obstruction charts from small–format aerial digital imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Padro Molina

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Aeronautical charts and aerodrome obstruction charts, provide information about obstacles around the airport, so pilots and air traffic controllers can comply with the procedures and limitations of its utilization. Safety in aviation demands updated and precise aeronautical charts production, adopting the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO. In this paper the methodology employed to generate obstruction charts for five airports in Mexico, using aerial digital imagery obtained with small–format cameras, is described. Through two aerial surveys on each airport, from 10 000 and 5 000 feet above ground level, two orthomosaics were generated covering the airport influence area, the runway, and the obstacle limitation surfaces: approach/Take–off climb, transitional, inner horizontal, and conical. Using stereopair photointerpretation most of the obstacles were identified, and by means of the orthomosaics; aerodrome charts, and aerodrome obstruction charts types A, B and C, were generated. Using satellite geodetic receivers, 18 points were surveyed on each runway in order to obtain its dimensions, and to establish ground control points for mosaics generation. Throughout detailed field work, height and location of the obstacles were verified, and finally, after several reviewing processes by aeronautical authorities, generation of ICAO charts was concluded when all airport maps were integrated in a Geographical Information System.

Spectral Imaging of Portolan Charts

Science.gov (United States)

France, Fenella G.; Wilson, Meghan A.; Ghez, Anita

2018-05-01

Spectral imaging of Portolan Charts, early nautical charts, provided extensive new information about their construction and creation. The origins of the portolan chart style have been a continual source of perplexity to numerous generations of cartographic historians. The spectral imaging system utilized incorporates a 50 megapixel mono-chrome camera with light emitting diode (LED) illumination panels that cover the range from 365 nm to 1050 nm to capture visible and non-visible information. There is little known about how portolan charts evolved, and what influenced their creation. These early nautical charts began as working navigational tools of medieval mariners, initially made in the 1300s in Italy, Portugal and Spain; however the origin and development of the portolan chart remained shrouded in mystery. Questions about these early navigational charts included whether colorants were commensurate with the time period and geographical location, and if different, did that give insight into trade routes, or possible later additions to the charts? For example; spectral data showed the red pigment on both the 1320 portolan chart and the 1565 Galapagos Islands matched vermillion, an opaque red pigment used since antiquity. The construction of these charts was also of great interest. Spectral imaging with a range of illumination modes revealed the presence of a "hidden circle" often referred to in relation to their construction. This paper will present in-depth analysis of how spectral imaging of the Portolans revealed similarities and differences, new hidden information and shed new light on construction and composition.

Dental x-ray validation study: comparison of information from patient interviews and dental charts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preston-Martin, S.; Bernstein, L.; Maldonado, A.A.; Henderson, B.E.; White, S.C.

1985-01-01

Information was collected from dentists of a subset of participants in a case-control interview study conducted in Los Angeles County, California, in August 1980-August 1981 to evaluate the relationship of dental x-rays to tumors of the parotid gland. Complete dental charts were available from 142 dentists of 84 cases and from 130 dentists of 79 control. Analysis of data from these interview chart comparisons indicates that recall appears to be unbiased since the measures of agreement between interview and dental chart data are similar for cases and controls. The authors further conclude that interview data alone may be used for case-control comparisons of dental x-ray exposure and would, because of unbiased misclassification, tend to underestimate the relative risks. 12 references, 3 tables

Comparison of reading speed with 3 different log-scaled reading charts.

Science.gov (United States)

Buari, Noor Halilah; Chen, Ai-Hong; Musa, Nuraini

2014-01-01

A reading chart that resembles real reading conditions is important to evaluate the quality of life in terms of reading performance. The purpose of this study was to compare the reading speed of UiTM Malay related words (UiTM-Mrw) reading chart with MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart. Fifty subjects with normal sight were randomly recruited through randomized sampling in this study (mean age=22.98±1.65 years). Subjects were asked to read three different near charts aloud and as quickly as possible at random sequence. The charts were the UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart, MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart, respectively. The time taken to read each chart was recorded and any errors while reading were noted. Reading performance was quantified in terms of reading speed as words per minute (wpm). The mean reading speed for UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart, MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart was 200±30wpm, 196±28wpm and 194±31wpm, respectively. Comparison of reading speed between UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart and MNread Acuity Chart showed no significant difference (t=-0.73, p=0.72). The same happened with the reading speed between UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart (t=-0.97, p=0.55). Bland and Altman plot showed good agreement between reading speed of UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart with MNread Acuity Chart with the Colenbrander Reading Chart. UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart in Malay language is highly comparable with standardized charts and can be used for evaluating reading speed. Copyright © 2013 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

The prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes of medication trade-offs in kidney and liver transplant recipients: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Serper, Marina; Reese, Peter P; Patzer, Rachel R; Levitsky, Josh; Wolf, Michael S

2017-11-25

High out-of-pocket medication costs negatively impact adherence in transplantation. We evaluated the association of "medication trade-offs"-defined as choosing to spend money on other expenses over medications-with medication nonadherence and transplant outcomes. From 2011 to 2012, we performed a prospective study of 201 transplanted recipients (n = 103 liver, n = 98 kidney and) at two large US transplant centers. Structured interviews assessed socio-demographics, medication adherence, and medication trade-offs. Multivariable models assessing risk factors for medications trade-offs and the association between medications trade-offs and post-transplant hospital admissions were performed. A total of 17% of patients reported medication trade-offs; the most common trade-offs were inability to afford a prescription in the past 12 months and making choices between prescriptions and food. In multivariable analysis, insurance type (RR: 2.97, 95% CI: 1.19-7.40), limited health literacy (RR: 2.64, 95% CI: 1.23-5.64), and ≥3 comorbid conditions (RR: 2.48, 95% CI: 1.09-5.62; all P trade-offs. Patients with trade-offs were more likely to report nonadherence to medications (mean adherence: 77 ± 23% with trade-offs vs. 89 ± 19% without trade-offs, P trade-offs was associated with post-transplant hospital admissions (RR 1.64, 95% CI 1.14-2.35, P < 0.01). Assessments of financial barriers are warranted in clinical practice to identify nonadherence and improve post-transplant outcomes. © 2017 Steunstichting ESOT.

Fractional smith chart theory

KAUST Repository

Shamim, Atif

2011-03-01

For the first time, a generalized Smith chart is introduced here to represent fractional order circuit elements. It is shown that the standard Smith chart is a special case of the generalized fractional order Smith chart. With illustrations drawn for both the conventional integer based lumped elements and the fractional elements, a graphical technique supported by the analytical method is presented to plot impedances on the fractional Smith chart. The concept is then applied towards impedance matching networks, where the fractional approach proves to be much more versatile and results in a single element matching network for a complex load as compared to the two elements in the conventional approach. © 2010 IEEE.

INIS: Terminology charts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1970-08-01

This document is one in a series of publications known as the INIS Reference Series. It is to be used in conjunction with the INIS indexing manual and the INIS thesaurus for the preparation of input to the INIS database. The thesaurus and terminology charts in their first edition (Rev.0) were produced as the result of an agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Except for minor changes the terminology and the interrelationships between terms are those of the December 1969 edition of the Euratom Thesaurus. The purpose of the terminology harts is to display the descriptors of the thesaurus in the context of their hierarchical and other semantic relationships. Hierarchically related terms are grouped in clusters, each representing one of the principal concepts of a subject field. The descriptors are grouped around or under the broadest term of the clusters which is printed in upper case. The hierarchical relationships within the clusters are shown by the arrangement of the terms in smaller boxes within the larger boxes circumscribing the clusters. The clusters are connected by lines of various thickness, representing the other (mostly non-hierarchical) relationships. These connections are the equivalent to 'see also' and 'related term' cross-references. The thickness of the lines represents the strength of the semantic relations, or, in the practice of a retrieval system the probability that one term replacing a connected term in a query, will still yield pertinent references. The figures accompanying the descriptors represent their frequency of assignment to the first 987,000 documents stored in the Euratom system (May 1970). They are presented in order to show the relative importance of the descriptors within the subject field. The asterisks (*) accompanying descriptors in the charts refer to descriptors, for which a scope note can be found in the INIS: Thesaurus at the time the charts went

INIS: Terminology charts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1970-08-01

This document is one in a series of publications known as the INIS Reference Series. It is to be used in conjunction with the INIS indexing manual and the INIS thesaurus for the preparation of input to the INIS database. The thesaurus and terminology charts in their first edition (Rev.0) were produced as the result of an agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Except for minor changes the terminology and the interrelationships between terms are those of the December 1969 edition of the Euratom Thesaurus. The purpose of the terminology harts is to display the descriptors of the thesaurus in the context of their hierarchical and other semantic relationships. Hierarchically related terms are grouped in clusters, each representing one of the principal concepts of a subject field. The descriptors are grouped around or under the broadest term of the clusters which is printed in upper case. The hierarchical relationships within the clusters are shown by the arrangement of the terms in smaller boxes within the larger boxes circumscribing the clusters. The clusters are connected by lines of various thickness, representing the other (mostly non-hierarchical) relationships. These connections are the equivalent to 'see also' and 'related term' cross-references. The thickness of the lines represents the strength of the semantic relations, or, in the practice of a retrieval system the probability that one term replacing a connected term in a query, will still yield pertinent references. The figures accompanying the descriptors represent their frequency of assignment to the first 987,000 documents stored in the Euratom system (May 1970). They are presented in order to show the relative importance of the descriptors within the subject field. The asterisks (*) accompanying descriptors in the charts refer to descriptors, for which a scope note can be found in the INIS: Thesaurus at the time the charts went

Conceptualising and managing trade-offs in sustainability assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrison-Saunders, Angus; Pope, Jenny

2013-01-01

One of the defining characteristics of sustainability assessment as a form of impact assessment is that it provides a forum for the explicit consideration of the trade-offs that are inherent in complex decision-making processes. Few sustainability assessments have achieved this goal though, and none has considered trade-offs in a holistic fashion throughout the process. Recent contributions such as the Gibson trade-off rules have significantly progressed thinking in this area by suggesting appropriate acceptability criteria for evaluating substantive trade-offs arising from proposed development, as well as process rules for how evaluations of acceptability should occur. However, there has been negligible uptake of these rules in practice. Overall, we argue that there is inadequate consideration of trade-offs, both process and substantive, throughout the sustainability assessment process, and insufficient considerations of how process decisions and compromises influence substantive outcomes. This paper presents a framework for understanding and managing both process and substantive trade-offs within each step of a typical sustainability assessment process. The framework draws together previously published literature and offers case studies that illustrate aspects of the practical application of the framework. The framing and design of sustainability assessment are vitally important, as process compromises or trade-offs can have substantive consequences in terms of sustainability outcomes delivered, with the choice of alternatives considered being a particularly significant determinant of substantive outcomes. The demarcation of acceptable from unacceptable impacts is a key aspect of managing trade-offs. Offsets can be considered as a form of trade-off within a category of sustainability that are utilised to enhance preferred alternatives once conditions of impact acceptability have been met. In this way they may enable net gains to be delivered; another imperative

Conceptualising and managing trade-offs in sustainability assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morrison-Saunders, Angus, E-mail: A.Morrison-Saunders@murdoch.edu.au [School of Geo and Spatial Sciences, North West University (South Africa); School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University (Australia); Pope, Jenny [School of Geo and Spatial Sciences, North West University (South Africa); Integral Sustainability (Australia); Curtin University (Australia)

2013-01-15

One of the defining characteristics of sustainability assessment as a form of impact assessment is that it provides a forum for the explicit consideration of the trade-offs that are inherent in complex decision-making processes. Few sustainability assessments have achieved this goal though, and none has considered trade-offs in a holistic fashion throughout the process. Recent contributions such as the Gibson trade-off rules have significantly progressed thinking in this area by suggesting appropriate acceptability criteria for evaluating substantive trade-offs arising from proposed development, as well as process rules for how evaluations of acceptability should occur. However, there has been negligible uptake of these rules in practice. Overall, we argue that there is inadequate consideration of trade-offs, both process and substantive, throughout the sustainability assessment process, and insufficient considerations of how process decisions and compromises influence substantive outcomes. This paper presents a framework for understanding and managing both process and substantive trade-offs within each step of a typical sustainability assessment process. The framework draws together previously published literature and offers case studies that illustrate aspects of the practical application of the framework. The framing and design of sustainability assessment are vitally important, as process compromises or trade-offs can have substantive consequences in terms of sustainability outcomes delivered, with the choice of alternatives considered being a particularly significant determinant of substantive outcomes. The demarcation of acceptable from unacceptable impacts is a key aspect of managing trade-offs. Offsets can be considered as a form of trade-off within a category of sustainability that are utilised to enhance preferred alternatives once conditions of impact acceptability have been met. In this way they may enable net gains to be delivered; another imperative

Accuracy of nurse documentation of delirium symptoms in medical charts.

Science.gov (United States)

Voyer, Philippe; Cole, Martin G; McCusker, Jane; St-Jacques, Sylvie; Laplante, Johanne

2008-04-01

The purpose of this study undertaken in an acute care hospital was to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of the documentation of nurse-reported delirium symptoms in medical charts. This is a descriptive study based on the clinical assessments of a study nurse and nursing notes in the medical charts of 226 delirious older patients newly admitted to an acute care hospital. The results of this prospective validation study indicated that documentation of delirium symptoms is poor. Disorientation, agitation and altered level of consciousness were the three symptoms yielding a higher level of sensitivity, but even so said symptoms were reported in less than a third of the medical charts. Univariate analysis suggested that higher comorbidity level, more severe symptoms of delirium and the use of physical restraints were associated with more valid documentation of delirium symptoms in medical charts. Lastly, this study corroborates results of previous studies, indicating that documentation of delirium symptoms in medical charts can be improved. Future study should target improving nurse documentation of delirium symptoms in medical charts.

WWW chart of the nuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Xiaolong; Zhou Chunmei; Zhuang Youxiang; Zhao Zhixiang; Golashvili, T.V.; Chechev, V.P.

2000-01-01

WWW chart of the nuclides was established on the basis of the latest evaluations of nuclear structure and decay data. By viewing WWW chart of the nuclides, one can retrieve the fundamental data of nuclide such as atomic mass, abundance, spin and parity; the decay mode, branching ratio, half-life and Q-value of radioactive nuclide, energy and intensity of strong γ-ray, etc. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of WWW chart of the nuclides is: http://myhome.py.gd.cn/chart/index,asp

An appraisal of the enzyme stability-activity trade-off.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Scott R

2017-07-01

A longstanding idea in evolutionary physiology is that an enzyme cannot jointly optimize performance at both high and low temperatures due to a trade-off between stability and activity. Although a stability-activity trade-off has been observed for well-characterized examples, such a trade-off is not imposed by any physical chemical constraint. To better understand the pervasiveness of this trade-off, I investigated the stability-activity relationship for comparative biochemical studies of purified orthologous enzymes identified by a literature search. The nature of this relationship varied greatly among studies. Notably, studies of enzymes with low mean synonymous nucleotide sequence divergence were less likely to exhibit the predicted negative correlation between stability and activity. Similarly, a survey of directed evolution investigations of the stability-activity relationship indicated that these traits are often uncoupled among nearly identical yet phenotypically divergent enzymes. This suggests that the presumptive trade-off often reported for investigations of enzymes with high mean sequence divergence may in some cases instead be a consequence of the degeneration over time of enzyme function in unselected environments, rather than a direct effect of thermal adaptation. The results caution against the general assertion of a stability-activity trade-off during enzyme adaptation. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Multivariate Statistical Process Control Charts: An Overview

OpenAIRE

Bersimis, Sotiris; Psarakis, Stelios; Panaretos, John

2006-01-01

In this paper we discuss the basic procedures for the implementation of multivariate statistical process control via control charting. Furthermore, we review multivariate extensions for all kinds of univariate control charts, such as multivariate Shewhart-type control charts, multivariate CUSUM control charts and multivariate EWMA control charts. In addition, we review unique procedures for the construction of multivariate control charts, based on multivariate statistical techniques such as p...

The Hill Chart Calculation for Pelton Runner Models using the HydroHillChart - Pelton Module Software

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adelina Bostan

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The Pelton turbines industrial design is based on the hill chart characteristics obtained by measuring the models. Primary data measurements used to obtain the hill chart can be processed graphically, by hand or by using graphic programs respectively CAD programs; the HydroHillChart - Pelton module software is a specialized tool in achieving the hill chart, using interpolation cubic spline functions. Thereby, based on measurements of several models of Pelton turbines, a computerized library, used to design industrial Pelton turbines can be created. The paper presents the universal characteristics calculated by using the HydroHillChart - Pelton module software for a series of Pelton runners.

Control chart applications in healthcare: a literature review

Science.gov (United States)

Suman, Gaurav; Prajapati, DeoRaj

2018-05-01

The concept of Statistical process control (SPC) was given by the physicist Walter Shewhart in order to improve the industrial manufacturing. The SPC was firstly applied in laboratory and after then shifted to patient level in hospitals. As there is more involvement of human in healthcare, the chances of errors are also more. SPC i.e., control chart can help in determining the source of errors by identifying the special and common causes of variations. This paper presents the review of literature on the application of SPC and control chart in healthcare sector. Forty articles are selected out of 142 potentially relevant searched studies. Selected studies are categorised into eight departments. Literature survey shows that most of work on control chart applications in healthcare is carried out in Surgery, Emergency and Epidemiology departments. US, UK and Australia are the main customers where maximum amount of work was done. The US is the country where control chart in healthcare sector have been used at regular interval. This shows the gap of deploying control chart in different departments and different countries as well. The CUSUM and EWMA chart came into picture in healthcare sector after 2008 and are used at regular interval.

SMART AERONAUTICAL CHART MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DESIGN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. E. Pakdil

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Civil aviation is developing rapidly, and the number of domestic and international operations is increasing exponentially every year than the previous one. Airline companies with increased air traffic and the number of passengers increase the demand of new aircrafts. An aircraft needs not only fuel but also pilot and aeronautical information (charts, digital navigation information, flight plan, and etc. to perform flight operation. One of the most important components in aeronautical information is the terminal chart. Authorized institution in every state is responsible to publish their terminal charts for certain periods. Although these charts are produced in accordance with ICAO’s Annex 4 and Annex 15, cartographic representation and page layout differs in each state’s publication. This situation makes difficult to read them by pilots. In this paper, standard instrument departure (SID charts are analysed to produce by use of cutting-edge and competitive technologies instead of classical computer-aided drawing and vector based graphic applications that are currently used by main chart producers. The goal is to design efficient and commercial chart management system that is able to produce aeronautical charts with same cartographic representation for all states.

Trade-offs across space, time, and ecosystem services

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, J.P.; Beard, T.D.; Bennett, E.M.; Cumming, Graeme S.; Cork, S.J.; Agard, J.; Dobson, A.P.; Peterson, G.D.

2006-01-01

Ecosystem service (ES) trade-offs arise from management choices made by humans, which can change the type, magnitude, and relative mix of services provided by ecosystems. Trade-offs occur when the provision of one ES is reduced as a consequence of increased use of another ES. In some cases, a trade-off may be an explicit choice; but in others, trade-offs arise without premeditation or even awareness that they are taking place. Trade-offs in ES can be classified along three axes: spatial scale, temporal scale, and reversibility. Spatial scale refers to whether the effects of the trade-off are felt locally or at a distant location. Temporal scale refers to whether the effects take place relatively rapidly or slowly. Reversibility expresses the likelihood that the perturbed ES may return to its original state if the perturbation ceases. Across all four Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios and selected case study examples, trade-off decisions show a preference for provisioning, regulating, or cultural services (in that order). Supporting services are more likely to be "taken for granted." Cultural ES are almost entirely unquantified in scenario modeling; therefore, the calculated model results do not fully capture losses of these services that occur in the scenarios. The quantitative scenario models primarily capture the services that are perceived by society as more important - provisioning and regulating ecosystem services - and thus do not fully capture trade-offs of cultural and supporting services. Successful management policies will be those that incorporate lessons learned from prior decisions into future management actions. Managers should complement their actions with monitoring programs that, in addition to monitoring the short-term provisions of services, also monitor the long-term evolution of slowly changing variables. Policies can then be developed to take into account ES trade-offs at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Successful strategies will

Trade-offs across Space, Time, and Ecosystem Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jon Paul. Rodríguez

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Ecosystem service (ES trade-offs arise from management choices made by humans, which can change the type, magnitude, and relative mix of services provided by ecosystems. Trade-offs occur when the provision of one ES is reduced as a consequence of increased use of another ES. In some cases, a trade-off may be an explicit choice; but in others, trade-offs arise without premeditation or even awareness that they are taking place. Trade-offs in ES can be classified along three axes: spatial scale, temporal scale, and reversibility. Spatial scale refers to whether the effects of the trade-off are felt locally or at a distant location. Temporal scale refers to whether the effects take place relatively rapidly or slowly. Reversibility expresses the likelihood that the perturbed ES may return to its original state if the perturbation ceases. Across all four Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios and selected case study examples, trade-off decisions show a preference for provisioning, regulating, or cultural services (in that order. Supporting services are more likely to be "taken for granted." Cultural ES are almost entirely unquantified in scenario modeling; therefore, the calculated model results do not fully capture losses of these services that occur in the scenarios. The quantitative scenario models primarily capture the services that are perceived by society as more important - provisioning and regulating ecosystem services - and thus do not fully capture trade-offs of cultural and supporting services. Successful management policies will be those that incorporate lessons learned from prior decisions into future management actions. Managers should complement their actions with monitoring programs that, in addition to monitoring the short-term provisions of services, also monitor the long-term evolution of slowly changing variables. Policies can then be developed to take into account ES trade-offs at multiple spatial and temporal scales

A New Attribute Control Chart using Multiple Dependent State Repetitive Sampling

KAUST Repository

Aldosari, Mansour Sattam; Aslam, Muhammad; Jun, Chi-Hyuck

2017-01-01

In this manuscript, a new attribute control chart using multiple dependent state repetitive sampling is designed. The operational procedure and structure of the proposed control chart is given. The required measures to determine the average run length (ARL) for in-control and out-of-control processes are given. Tables of ARLs are reported for various control chart parameters. The proposed control chart is more sensitive in detecting a small shift in the process as compared to the existing attribute control charts. The simulation study shows the efficiency of the proposed chart over the existing charts. An example is given for the illustration purpose.

A New Attribute Control Chart using Multiple Dependent State Repetitive Sampling

KAUST Repository

Aldosari, Mansour Sattam

2017-03-25

In this manuscript, a new attribute control chart using multiple dependent state repetitive sampling is designed. The operational procedure and structure of the proposed control chart is given. The required measures to determine the average run length (ARL) for in-control and out-of-control processes are given. Tables of ARLs are reported for various control chart parameters. The proposed control chart is more sensitive in detecting a small shift in the process as compared to the existing attribute control charts. The simulation study shows the efficiency of the proposed chart over the existing charts. An example is given for the illustration purpose.

Screening efficacy of a simplified logMAR chart

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naganathan Muthuramalingam

2016-04-01

Aim: This study evaluates the efficacy of a simplified logMAR chart, designed for VA testing over the conventional Snellen chart, in a school-based vision-screening programme. Methods: We designed a simplified logMAR chart by employing the principles of the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS chart in terms of logarithmic letter size progression, inter-letter spacing, and inter-line spacing. Once the simplified logMAR chart was validated by students in the Elite school vision-screening programme, we set out to test the chart in 88 primary and middle schools in the Tiruporur block of Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu. One school teacher in each school was trained to screen a cross-sectional population of 10 354 primary and secondary school children (girls: 5488; boys: 4866 for VA deficits using a new, simplified logMAR algorithm. An experienced paediatric optometrist was recruited to validate the screening methods and technique used by the teachers to collect the data. Results: The optometrist screened a subset of 1300 school children from the total sample. The optometrist provided the professional insights needed to validate the clinical efficacy of the simplified logMAR algorithm and verified the reliability of the data collected by the teachers. The mean age of children sampled for validation was 8.6 years (range: 9–14 years. The sensitivity and the specificity of the simplified logMAR chart when compared to the standard logMAR chart were found to be 95% and 98%, respectively. Kappa value was 0.97. Sensitivity of the teachers’ screening was 66.63% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 52.73–77.02 and the specificity was 98.33% (95% CI: 97.49–98.95. Testing of VA was done under substandard illumination levels in 87% of the population. A total of 10 354 children were screened, 425 of whom were found to have some form of visual and/or ocular defect that was identified by the teacher or optometrist. Conclusion: The simplified logMAR testing algorithm

Analysis of the Perfect Table Fuzzy Rainbow Tradeoff

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Byoung-Il Kim

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Cryptanalytic time memory tradeoff algorithms are tools for inverting one-way functions, and they are used in practice to recover passwords that restrict access to digital documents. This work provides an accurate complexity analysis of the perfect table fuzzy rainbow tradeoff algorithm. Based on the analysis results, we show that the lesser known fuzzy rainbow tradeoff performs better than the original rainbow tradeoff, which is widely believed to be the best tradeoff algorithm. The fuzzy rainbow tradeoff can attain higher online efficiency than the rainbow tradeoff and do so at a lower precomputation cost.

A Reference-Dependent Regret Model for Deterministic Trade-off Studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kujawski, Edouard

2005-02-25

Today's typical multi-criteria decision analysis is based on classical expected utility theory that assumes a mythical ''Rational Individual'' immune to psychological influences such as anticipated regret. It is therefore in conflict with rational individuals who trade-off some benefits and forgo the alternative with the highest total classical utility for a more balanced alternative in order to reduce their levels of anticipated regret. This paper focuses on decision making under certainty. It presents a reference-dependent regret model (RDRM) in which the level of regret that an individual experiences depends on the absolute values rather than the differences of the utilities of the chosen and forgone alternatives. The RDRM best choice may differ from the conventional linear additive utility model, the analytic hierarchy process, and the regret theory of Bell and Loomes and Sugden. Examples are presented that indicate that RDRM is the better predictive descriptor for decision making under certainty. RDRM satisfies transitivity of the alternatives under pairwise comparisons and models rank reversal consistent with observed reasonable choices under dynamic or distinct situations. Like regret theory, the RDRM utilities of all the alternatives under consideration are interrelated. For complex trade-off studies regret is incorporated as an element of a cost-utility-regret analysis that characterizes each alternative in terms of its monetary cost, an aggregate performance utility, and a regret value. This provides decision makers adequate information to compare the alternatives and depending on their values they may trade-off some performance and/or cost to avoid high levels of regret. The result is a well-balanced alternative often preferred by reasonable decision makers to the optimal choice of classical multi-attribute utility analysis. The model can readily be extended to incorporate rejoicing to suit decision makers who seek it. The

Age-dependent trade-offs between immunity and male, but not female, reproduction.

Science.gov (United States)

McNamara, Kathryn B; van Lieshout, Emile; Jones, Therésa M; Simmons, Leigh W

2013-01-01

Immune function is costly and must be traded off against other life-history traits, such as gamete production. Studies of immune trade-offs typically focus on adult individuals, yet the juvenile stage can be a highly protracted period when reproductive resources are acquired and immune challenges are ubiquitous. Trade-offs during development are likely to be important, yet no studies have considered changes in adult responses to immune challenges imposed at different stages of juvenile development. By manipulating the timing of a bacterial immune challenge to the larvae of the cotton bollworm moth, we examined potential trade-offs between investment into immunity at different stages of juvenile development (early or late) and subsequent adult reproductive investment into sperm or egg production. Our data reveal an age-dependent trade-off between juvenile immune function and adult male reproductive investment. Activation of the immune response during late development resulted in a reduced allocation of resources to eupyrene (fertilizing) sperm production. Immune activation from the injection procedure itself (irrespective of whether individuals were injected with an immune elicitor or a control solution) also caused reproductive trade-offs; males injected early in development produced fewer apyrene (nonfertilizing) sperm. Contrary to many other studies, our study demonstrates these immune trade-offs under ad libitum nutritional conditions. No trade-offs were observed between female immune activation and adult reproductive investment. We suggest the differences in trade-offs observed between male sperm types and the absence of reproductive trade-offs in females may be the result of ontogenetic differences in gamete production in this species. Our data reveal developmental windows when trade-offs between immune function and gametic investment are made, and highlight the importance of considering multiple developmental periods when making inferences regarding the

The Usage of Time Series Control Charts for Financial Process Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kovářík Martin

2012-09-01

Full Text Available We will deal with financial proceedings of the company using methods of SPC (Statistical Process Control, specifically through time series control charts. The paper will outline the intersection of two disciplines which are econometrics and statistical process control. The theoretical part will discuss the methodology of time series control charts and in the research part there will be this methodology demonstrated in three case studies. The first study will focus on the regulation of simulated financial flows for a company by CUSUM control chart. The second study will involve the regulation of financial flows for a heteroskedastic financial process by EWMA control chart. The last case study of our paper will be devoted to applications of ARIMA, EWMA and CUSUM control charts in the financial data that are sensitive to the mean shifting while calculating the autocorrelation in the data. In this paper, we highlight the versatility of control charts not only in manufacturing but also in managing the financial stability of cash flows.

Control of control charts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sri Nurdiati, S.N.

2005-01-01

Although the Shewhart chart is widely used in practice because of its simplicity, applying this control chart to monitor the mean of a process may lead to two types of problems. The first concerns the typically unknown parameters involved in the distribution, while the second concerns the validity

International chart of the nuclides. 2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golashvili, T.V.; Kupriyanov, V.M.; Lbov, A.A.

2002-01-01

The International Chart of Nuclides - 2001 has been developed taking into account the data obtained in 1998-2001. Unlike widespread nuclide charts the present Chart of Nuclides contains EVALUATED values of the main characteristics. These values are supplied with the standard deviations. (author)

Shewhart control charts in new perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albers, Willem/Wim; Kallenberg, W.C.M.

2007-01-01

The effects of estimating parameters and the violation of the assumption of normality when dealing with control charts are discussed. Corrections for estimating errors and extensions of the normal control chart to parametric and nonparametric charts are investigated. The underlying theory is

NNDC Chart of Nuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sonzogni, A.

2008-01-01

The National Nuclear Data Center has recently developed an interactive chart of nuclides, http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/, that provides nuclear structure and decay data. Since its implementation, it has proven to be one of the most popular web products. The information presented is derived from the ENSDF and Nuclear Wallet Card databases. Experimentally known nuclides are represented by a cell in chart with the number of neutrons on the horizontal axis and the number of protons on the vertical axis. The color of the cell is used to indicate the ground state half-life or the ground state predominant decay mode. (author)

Flowcharting with D-charts

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, D.

1985-01-01

A D-Chart is a style of flowchart using control symbols highly appropriate to modern structured programming languages. The intent of a D-Chart is to provide a clear and concise one-for-one mapping of control symbols to high-level language constructs for purposes of design and documentation. The notation lends itself to both high-level and code-level algorithmic description. The various issues that may arise when representing, in D-Chart style, algorithms expressed in the more popular high-level languages are addressed. In particular, the peculiarities of mapping control constructs for Ada, PASCAL, FORTRAN 77, C, PL/I, Jovial J73, HAL/S, and Algol are discussed.

Assessing trade-offs in large marine protected areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Tammy E; Epstein, Graham; Aguilera, Stacy E; Brooks, Cassandra M; Cox, Michael; Evans, Louisa S; Maxwell, Sara M; Nenadovic, Mateja; Ban, Natalie C

2018-01-01

Large marine protected areas (LMPAs) are increasingly being established and have a high profile in marine conservation. LMPAs are expected to achieve multiple objectives, and because of their size are postulated to avoid trade-offs that are common in smaller MPAs. However, evaluations across multiple outcomes are lacking. We used a systematic approach to code several social and ecological outcomes of 12 LMPAs. We found evidence of three types of trade-offs: trade-offs between different ecological resources (supply trade-offs); trade-offs between ecological resource conditions and the well-being of resource users (supply-demand trade-offs); and trade-offs between the well-being outcomes of different resource users (demand trade-offs). We also found several divergent outcomes that were attributed to influences beyond the scope of the LMPA. We suggest that despite their size, trade-offs can develop in LMPAs and should be considered in planning and design. LMPAs may improve their performance across multiple social and ecological objectives if integrated with larger-scale conservation efforts.

Near-term hybrid vehicle program, phase 1. Appendix B: Design trade-off studies report. Volume 2: Supplement to design trade-off studies

Science.gov (United States)

1979-01-01

Results of studies leading to the preliminary design of a hybrid passenger vehicle which is projected to have the maximum potential for reducing petroleum consumption in the near term are presented. Heat engine/electric hybrid vehicle tradeoffs, assessment of battery power source, and weight and cost analysis of key components are among the topics covered. Performance of auxiliary equipment, such as power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, lighting and electrical accessories, heating and ventilation is discussed along with the selection of preferred passenger compartment heating procedure for the hybrid vehicle. Waste heat from the engine, thermal energy storage, and an auxiliary burner are among the approaches considered.

Co-existence of multiple trade-off currencies shapes evolutionary outcomes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alan A Cohen

Full Text Available Evolutionary studies often assume that energy is the primary resource (i.e. "currency" at the heart of the survival-reproduction trade-off, despite recent evidence to the contrary. The evolutionary consequences of having a single trade-off currency versus multiple competing currencies are unknown. Using simulations, we modeled the evolution of either a single physiological currency between reproduction and survival, or of multiple such currencies. For a wide array of model specifications varying functional forms and strengths of the trade-offs, we show that the presence of multiple currencies (e.g. nutrients, time generally results in the evolution of higher lifetime reproductive success through partial circumvention of such trade-offs. Evolution of the underlying physiology is also more highly contingent with multiple currencies. These results challenge the paradigm of a single survival-reproduction trade-off as central to life history evolution, suggesting greater roles for physiological constraints and contingency, and implying potential selection for evolution of multiple trade-off currencies.

Co-existence of multiple trade-off currencies shapes evolutionary outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Isaksson, Caroline; Salguero-Gómez, Roberto

2017-01-01

Evolutionary studies often assume that energy is the primary resource (i.e. “currency”) at the heart of the survival-reproduction trade-off, despite recent evidence to the contrary. The evolutionary consequences of having a single trade-off currency versus multiple competing currencies are unknown. Using simulations, we modeled the evolution of either a single physiological currency between reproduction and survival, or of multiple such currencies. For a wide array of model specifications varying functional forms and strengths of the trade-offs, we show that the presence of multiple currencies (e.g. nutrients, time) generally results in the evolution of higher lifetime reproductive success through partial circumvention of such trade-offs. Evolution of the underlying physiology is also more highly contingent with multiple currencies. These results challenge the paradigm of a single survival-reproduction trade-off as central to life history evolution, suggesting greater roles for physiological constraints and contingency, and implying potential selection for evolution of multiple trade-off currencies. PMID:29216275

On the cost/delay tradeoff of wireless delay tolerant geographic routing

OpenAIRE

Tasiopoulos, Argyrios; Tsiaras, Christos; Toumpis, Stavros

2012-01-01

In Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), there is a fundamental tradeoff between the aggregate transport cost of a packet and the delay in its delivery. We study this tradeoff in the context of geographical routing in wireless DTNs.We ?rst specify the optimal cost/delay tradeoff, i.e., the tradeoff under optimal network operation, using a dynamic network construction termed the Cost/Delay Evolving Graph (C/DEG) and the Optimal Cost/Delay Curve (OC/DC), a function that gives the minimum possible agg...

Weighing Rain Gauge Recording Charts

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Weighing rain gauge charts record the amount of precipitation that falls at a given location. The vast majority of the Weighing Rain Gauge Recording Charts...

NOAA Raster Navigational Charts (RNC)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA, National Ocean Service, Office of Coast Survey, Marine Chart Division is responsible to build and maintain a suite of more than 1000 nautical charts that are...

Construction and validation of a Tamil logMAR chart.

Science.gov (United States)

Varadharajan, Srinivasa; Srinivasan, Krithica; Kumaresan, Brindha

2009-09-01

To design, construct and validate a new Tamil logMAR visual acuity chart based on current recommendations. Ten Tamil letters of equal legibility were identified experimentally and were used in the chart. Two charts, one internally illuminated and one externally illuminated, were constructed for testing at 4 m distance. The repeatability of the two charts was tested. For validation, the two charts were compared with a standard English logMAR chart (ETDRS). When compared to the ETDRS chart, a difference of 0.06 +/- 0.07 and 0.07 +/- 0.07 logMAR was found for the internally and externally illuminated charts respectively. Limits of agreement between the internally illuminated Tamil logMAR chart and ETDRS chart were found to be (-0.08, 0.19), and (-0.07, 0.20) for the externally illuminated chart. The test - retest results showed a difference of 0.02 +/- 0.04 and 0.02 +/- 0.06 logMAR for the internally and externally illuminated charts respectively. Limits of agreement for repeated measurements for the internally illuminated Tamil logMAR chart were found to be (-0.06, 0.10), and (-0.10, 0.14) for the externally illuminated chart. The newly constructed Tamil logMAR charts have good repeatability. The difference in visual acuity scores between the newly constructed Tamil logMAR chart and the standard English logMAR chart was within acceptable limits. This new chart can be used for measuring visual acuity in the literate Tamil population.

A case study in Gantt charts as historiophoty: A century of psychology at the University of Alberta.

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Michael R W

2013-05-01

History is typically presented as historiography, where historians communicate via the written word. However, some historians have suggested alternative formats for communicating and thinking about historical information. One such format is known as historiophoty, which involves using a variety of visual images to represent history. The current article proposes that a particular type of graph, known as a Gantt chart, is well suited for conducting historiophoty. When used to represent history, Gantt charts provide a tremendous amount of information. Furthermore, the spatial nature of Gantt charts permits other kinds of spatial operations to be performed on them. This is illustrated with a case study of the history of a particular psychology department. The academic year 2009-2010 marked the centennial of psychology at the University of Alberta. This centennial was marked by compiling a list of its full-time faculty members for each year of its history. This historiography was converted into historiophoty by using it as the source for the creation of a Gantt chart. The current article shows how the history of psychology at the University of Alberta is revealed by examining this Gantt chart in a variety of different ways. This includes computing simple descriptive statistics from the chart, creating smaller versions of the Gantt to explore departmental demographics, and using image processing methods to provide measures of departmental stability throughout its history. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Pelvic floor physical therapy for lifelong vaginismus: a retrospective chart review and interview study.

Science.gov (United States)

Reissing, Elke D; Armstrong, Heather L; Allen, Caroline

2013-01-01

Pelvic floor physical therapy is used in the treatment of sexual pain disorders; however, women with lifelong vaginismus have not yet been included in treatment studies or have not been differentiated from women with acquired vaginismus and/or dyspareunia. This retrospective chart review and interview study was intended to obtain initial information on physical therapy interventions, course, and outcome in women who have never been able to experience vaginal intercourse. The files of 53 women, consecutively treated at one physical therapy clinic, were included in the chart review; 13 of these women volunteered to be interviewed. The chart review revealed significant pelvic floor pathology and an average treatment course of 29 sessions. Internal manual techniques were found to be most effective, followed by patient education, dilatation exercises, and home exercises. Although participants were very satisfied with the physical therapy, some symptoms, such as pain, anxiety/fear, and pelvic floor tension remained and scores on the Female Sexual Distress Scale and Female Sexual Function Index indicated clinical levels of sexual distress and impaired sexual function after treatment. Although there appears to be no linear relation between symptom reduction and healthy sexual function, this initial information suggests that physical therapy may be a promising treatment option for some women with lifelong vaginismus and merits further evaluation.

Chart Series

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) offers several different Chart Series with data on beneficiary health status, spending, operations, and quality...

Ecosystem service trade-offs and their influencing factors: A case study in the Loess Plateau of China.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Qiang; Zhao, Wenwu; Fu, Bojie; Ding, Jingyi; Wang, Shuai

2017-12-31

Soil erosion control (SEC), carbon sequestration (CAS), and soil moisture (SMO) strongly interact in the semi-arid Loess Plateau. Since SMO has supportive effects on SEC and CAS, it can be considered as ecosystem service (ES), and there is an immediate need to coordinate the relationships among these ecosystem services (ESs) to promote the sustainability of vegetation recovery. In this study, we quantified the ESs, ES trade-offs, and the environmental factors in 151 sample plots in the Ansai watershed, and we used a redundancy analysis (RDA) to clarify the effects of environmental factors on these ESs and their trade-offs. The results were as follows: (1) the general trend in the SEC of vegetation types was Robinia pseudoacacia (CH)>native grass (NG)>small arbor (ST)>Hippophae rhamnoides (SJ)>artificial grass (AG)>Caragana korshinskii (NT)>apple orchard (GY)>crop (CP); the CAS trend was CH>SJ>NT>AG>CP>ST>GY>NG; and the SMO trend was CP>NG>GY>AG>SJ>ST>CH>NT. (2) For SEC-SMO trade-offs, the influence of vegetation type, altitude, silt and sand composition was dominant. The arrangement of NG, AG, and SJ could decrease the extent of the trade-offs. (3) For CAS-SMO trade-offs, vegetation coverage and types were the dominant factors, but the effects were not complex. The extent of these trade-offs was lowest for NT, and that for SJ was the second lowest. (4) Considering the relationships among the three ESs, SJ was the most appropriate afforestation plant. Combing the vegetation types, slope position, slope gradient, and soil properties could regulate these ES relationships. The dominant factors influencing ES trade-offs varied among the different soil layers, so we must consider the corresponding influencing factors to regulate ESs. Moreover, manual management measures were also important for coordinating the ES relationships. Our research provides a better understanding of the mechanisms influencing the relationships among ESs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All

Tactile acuity charts: a reliable measure of spatial acuity.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruns, Patrick; Camargo, Carlos J; Campanella, Humberto; Esteve, Jaume; Dinse, Hubert R; Röder, Brigitte

2014-01-01

For assessing tactile spatial resolution it has recently been recommended to use tactile acuity charts which follow the design principles of the Snellen letter charts for visual acuity and involve active touch. However, it is currently unknown whether acuity thresholds obtained with this newly developed psychophysical procedure are in accordance with established measures of tactile acuity that involve passive contact with fixed duration and control of contact force. Here we directly compared tactile acuity thresholds obtained with the acuity charts to traditional two-point and grating orientation thresholds in a group of young healthy adults. For this purpose, two types of charts, using either Braille-like dot patterns or embossed Landolt rings with different orientations, were adapted from previous studies. Measurements with the two types of charts were equivalent, but generally more reliable with the dot pattern chart. A comparison with the two-point and grating orientation task data showed that the test-retest reliability of the acuity chart measurements after one week was superior to that of the passive methods. Individual thresholds obtained with the acuity charts agreed reasonably with the grating orientation threshold, but less so with the two-point threshold that yielded relatively distinct acuity estimates compared to the other methods. This potentially considerable amount of mismatch between different measures of tactile acuity suggests that tactile spatial resolution is a complex entity that should ideally be measured with different methods in parallel. The simple test procedure and high reliability of the acuity charts makes them a promising complement and alternative to the traditional two-point and grating orientation thresholds.

Engineering report. Part 2: NASA wheel and brake material tradeoff study for space shuttle type environmental requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Bok, L. D.

1973-01-01

The study included material selection and trade-off for the structural components of the wheel and brake optimizing weight vs cost and feasibility for the space shuttle type application. Analytical methods were used to determine section thickness for various materials, and a table was constructed showing weight vs. cost trade-off. The wheel and brake were further optimized by considering design philosophies that deviate from standard aircraft specifications, and designs that best utilize the materials being considered.

The Implications of Diagnosis of Small for Gestational Age Fetuses Using European and South Asian Growth Charts: An Outcome-Based Comparative Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianpaolo Maso

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The antenatal condition of small for gestational age (SGA is significantly associated with perinatal morbidity and mortality and it is known that there are significant differences in birth weight and fetal size among different populations. The aim of our study was to assess the impact on outcomes of the diagnosis of SGA according to Bangladeshi and European antenatal growth charts in Sri Lankan population. The estimated fetal weight before delivery was retrospectively reviewed according to Bangladeshi and European growth references. Three groups were identified: Group 1-SGA according to Bangladeshi growth chart; Group 2-SGA according to European growth chart but not having SGA according to Bangladeshi growth chart; Group 3-No SGA according to both charts. There was a difference in prevalence of SGA between Bangladeshi and European growth charts: 12.7% and 51.7%, respectively. There were statistically significant higher rates in emergency cesarean section, fetal distress in labour, and intrauterine death (P<0.001 in Group 1 compared with Group, 2 and 3. No differences of outcomes occurred between Groups 2 and 3. Our study demonstrated that only cases diagnosed as SGA according to population-based growth charts are at risk of adverse outcome. The use of inappropriate prenatal growth charts might lead to misdiagnosis and potential unnecessary interventions.

Trade-Off Study for an STC 70 W Stirling Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Songgang; Peterson, Allen A.; Augenblick, Jack E.

2005-02-01

A high-efficiency, low-weight free-piston Stirling generator, RG-70L, has been conceptually designed. This paper reports the detailed trade-off study of newly designed RG-70L. The trades of operating frequency and piston/displacer strokes on Stirling convertor mass and efficiency are discussed. This paper shows how the operating frequency and strokes were optimized based on the trades. Losses associated with increased frequency were fully investigated and the results are discussed in the paper. Various optional linear alternator configurations are also presented and the estimated masses are reported.

48 CFR 15.101-1 - Tradeoff process.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Tradeoff process. 15.101-1... AND CONTRACT TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Source Selection Processes and Techniques 15.101-1 Tradeoff process. (a) A tradeoff process is appropriate when it may be in the best interest of the...

Reason for hospital admission: a pilot study comparing patient statements with chart reports.

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Zackary; Dembitzer, Anne; Beach, Mary Catherine

2013-01-01

Providers and patients bring different understandings of health and disease to their encounters in the hospital setting. The literature to date only infrequently addresses patient and provider concordance on the reported reason for hospitalization, that is, whether they express this reason in similar ways. An agreement or common ground between such understandings can serve as a basis for future communication regarding an illness and its treatment. We interviewed a convenience sample of patients on the medical wards of an urban academic medical center. We asked subjects to state the reason why their doctors admitted them to the hospital, and then compared their statement with the reason in the medical record. We defined concordance on reported reason for hospitalization as agreement between the patient's report and the reason abstracted from the chart. We interviewed and abstracted chart data from a total of 46 subjects. Concordance on reported reason for hospitalization was present in 24 (52%) and discordance in 17 (37%); 5 patients (11%) could not give any reason for their hospitalization. Among the 17 patients whose report was discordant with their chart, 12 (71%) reported a different organ system than was recorded in the chart. A significant proportion of medical inpatients could not state their physicians' reason for admission. In addition, patients who identify a different reason for hospitalization than the chart often give a different organ system altogether. Providers should explore patient understanding of the reason for their hospitalization to facilitate communication and shared decision making.

Tactile acuity charts: a reliable measure of spatial acuity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick Bruns

Full Text Available For assessing tactile spatial resolution it has recently been recommended to use tactile acuity charts which follow the design principles of the Snellen letter charts for visual acuity and involve active touch. However, it is currently unknown whether acuity thresholds obtained with this newly developed psychophysical procedure are in accordance with established measures of tactile acuity that involve passive contact with fixed duration and control of contact force. Here we directly compared tactile acuity thresholds obtained with the acuity charts to traditional two-point and grating orientation thresholds in a group of young healthy adults. For this purpose, two types of charts, using either Braille-like dot patterns or embossed Landolt rings with different orientations, were adapted from previous studies. Measurements with the two types of charts were equivalent, but generally more reliable with the dot pattern chart. A comparison with the two-point and grating orientation task data showed that the test-retest reliability of the acuity chart measurements after one week was superior to that of the passive methods. Individual thresholds obtained with the acuity charts agreed reasonably with the grating orientation threshold, but less so with the two-point threshold that yielded relatively distinct acuity estimates compared to the other methods. This potentially considerable amount of mismatch between different measures of tactile acuity suggests that tactile spatial resolution is a complex entity that should ideally be measured with different methods in parallel. The simple test procedure and high reliability of the acuity charts makes them a promising complement and alternative to the traditional two-point and grating orientation thresholds.

Radar Chart

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Radar Chart collection is an archived product of summarized radar data. The geographic coverage is the 48 contiguous states of the United States. These hourly...

Trade-off analysis in the Northern Andes to study the dynamics in agricultural land use

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stoorvogel, J.J.; Antle, J.M.; Crissman, C.C.

2004-01-01

In this paper we hypothesize that land use change can be induced by non-linearities and thresholds in production systems that impact farmers' decision making. Tradeoffs between environmental and economic indicators is a useful way to represent dynamic properties of agricultural systems. The Tradeoff

Growth charts of human development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Buuren, Stef

2014-01-01

This article reviews and compares two types of growth charts for tracking human development over age. Both charts assume the existence of a continuous latent variable, but relate to the observed data in different ways. The D-score diagram summarizes developmental indicators into a single aggregate

The Conjugate Acid-Base Chart.

Science.gov (United States)

Treptow, Richard S.

1986-01-01

Discusses the difficulties that beginning chemistry students have in understanding acid-base chemistry. Describes the use of conjugate acid-base charts in helping students visualize the conjugate relationship. Addresses chart construction, metal ions, buffers and pH titrations, and the organic functional groups and nonaqueous solvents. (TW)

Using Statistical Process Control Charts to Study Stuttering Frequency Variability during a Single Day

Science.gov (United States)

Karimi, Hamid; O'Brian, Sue; Onslow, Mark; Jones, Mark; Menzies, Ross; Packman, Ann

2013-01-01

Purpose: Stuttering varies between and within speaking situations. In this study, the authors used statistical process control charts with 10 case studies to investigate variability of stuttering frequency. Method: Participants were 10 adults who stutter. The authors counted the percentage of syllables stuttered (%SS) for segments of their speech…

Performance trade-offs and ageing in the 'world's greatest athletes'.

Science.gov (United States)

Careau, Vincent; Wilson, Robbie S

2017-08-16

The mechanistic foundations of performance trade-offs are clear: because body size and shape constrains movement, and muscles vary in strength and fibre type, certain physical traits should act in opposition with others (e.g. sprint versus endurance). Yet performance trade-offs are rarely detected, and traits are often positively correlated. A potential resolution to this conundrum is that within -individual performance trade-offs can be masked by among -individual variation in 'quality'. Although there is a current debate on how to unambiguously define and account for quality, no previous studies have partitioned trait correlations at the within- and among-individual levels. Here, we evaluate performance trade-offs among and within 1369 elite athletes that performed in a total of 6418 combined-events competitions (decathlon and heptathlon). Controlling for age, experience and wind conditions, we detected strong trade-offs between groups of functionally similar events (throwing versus jumping versus running) occurring at the among-individual level. We further modelled individual (co)variation in age-related plasticity of performance and found previously unseen trade-offs in throwing versus running performance that manifest through ageing. Our results verify that human performance is limited by fundamental genetic, environmental and ageing constraints that preclude the simultaneous improvement of performance in multiple dimensions. Identifying these constraints is fundamental to understanding performance trade-offs and predicting the ageing of motor function. © 2017 The Author(s).

[Growth charts: Impact on the prevalence of nutritional disorders].

Science.gov (United States)

Polo Martín, P; Abellan, J J; Nájar Godoy, M I; Álvarez de Laviada Mulero, T

2015-05-01

The references used to assess child growth in Spain are the graphs of the Orbegozo Foundation and the charts of the World Health Organization (WHO). The objective of this study is to analyze the differences between the two charts for weight, height and body mass index, and assess their relevance to identify growth or nutritional problems. The values of the extreme percentiles of height, weight and body mass index for each sex from 0 to 10 years in both charts are compared. For each value Absolute differences and Z scores are calculated for each value. To evaluate the impact on the prevalence of the various nutritional or growth disorders the location of the value of the respective percentiles of in each of the charts were assessed. Significant differences were observed between the 3th percentile of height and weight, 97th of weight, and 85th and 97th of body mass index. Marked differences were observed for the extreme values of body mass index. During the first years, the Orbegozo charts overestimate the prevalence of malnutrition (between 2% and 19% depending on age and sex) compared to the WHO charts. In subsequent ages Orbegozo underestimates WHO between 0.7% and 2.89%. Orbegozo underestimates the prevalence of overweight (between 2.5% and 14.8%) compared to the WHO charts. The 97th percentile of Body mass index in the Orbegozo charts corresponds in most cases with WHO percentiles above 99.99%. The two charts analyzed have significant differences from a clinical and the public health point of view, in the estimation of overweight/obesity and malnutrition. Copyright © 2014 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Temporal trade-offs in psychophysics.

Science.gov (United States)

Barack, David L; Gold, Joshua I

2016-04-01

Psychophysical techniques typically assume straightforward relationships between manipulations of real-world events, their effects on the brain, and behavioral reports of those effects. However, these relationships can be influenced by many complex, strategic factors that contribute to task performance. Here we discuss several of these factors that share two key features. First, they involve subjects making flexible use of time to process information. Second, this flexibility can reflect the rational regulation of information-processing trade-offs that can play prominent roles in particular temporal epochs: sensitivity to stability versus change for past information, speed versus accuracy for current information, and exploitation versus exploration for future goals. Understanding how subjects manage these trade-offs can be used to help design and interpret psychophysical studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Air Emissions Sources, Charts and Maps

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Air Emissions provides (1) interactive charts supporting national, state, or county charts, (2) county maps of criteria air pollutant emissions for a state, and (3)...

Rate-cost tradeoffs in control

KAUST Repository

Kostina, Victoria; Hassibi, Babak

2017-01-01

function is the mean-square deviation of the system state from the desired state. We study the fundamental tradeoff between the communication rate r bits/sec and the limsup of the expected cost b, and show a lower bound on the rate necessary to attain b

Making SPC easier with zone control charts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lanning, B.

1995-01-01

The zone control chart is a simple, easy to learn statistical process control (SPC) tool that can be applied to any process where the data are normally distributed. Several Shewhart runs rules are incorporated into a simple scoring system, with a single rule to determine when a process is out of control. Zone charts have average run lengths (ARLs) for detecting shifts in the process mean which, for most cases, are uniformly better than the standard control charts. This paper presents the simplified methodology behind the zone control chart

Google Charts Testing | CRDI - Centre de recherches pour le ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Google Charts Testing. The following item is a demo of Google GeoChart. Please note that geo chart can only recognize country name or city name rather than location or address (that is google my map's expertise). Additionally, Geo chart does support title and legend. To render geo chart properly, please get a ...

NOAA Seamless Raster Navigational Charts (RNC)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NOAA Seamless Raster Chart Server provides a seamless collarless mosaic of the NOAA Raster Navigational Charts (RNC). The RNC are a collection of approximately...

Monitoring Poisson observations using combined applications of Shewhart and EWMA charts

Science.gov (United States)

Abujiya, Mu'azu Ramat

2017-11-01

The Shewhart and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) charts for nonconformities are the most widely used procedures of choice for monitoring Poisson observations in modern industries. Individually, the Shewhart EWMA charts are only sensitive to large and small shifts, respectively. To enhance the detection abilities of the two schemes in monitoring all kinds of shifts in Poisson count data, this study examines the performance of combined applications of the Shewhart, and EWMA Poisson control charts. Furthermore, the study proposes modifications based on well-structured statistical data collection technique, ranked set sampling (RSS), to detect shifts in the mean of a Poisson process more quickly. The relative performance of the proposed Shewhart-EWMA Poisson location charts is evaluated in terms of the average run length (ARL), standard deviation of the run length (SDRL), median run length (MRL), average ratio ARL (ARARL), average extra quadratic loss (AEQL) and performance comparison index (PCI). Consequently, all the new Poisson control charts based on RSS method are generally more superior than most of the existing schemes for monitoring Poisson processes. The use of these combined Shewhart-EWMA Poisson charts is illustrated with an example to demonstrate the practical implementation of the design procedure.

Repeatability of an automated Landolt C test, compared with the early treatment of diabetic retinopathy study (ETDRS) chart testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruamviboonsuk, Paisan; Tiensuwan, Montip; Kunawut, Catleya; Masayaanon, Patcharapim

2003-10-01

To evaluate the repeatability of visual acuity scores from the automated test and compare them with the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) chart. Instrument validation study based on a model of repeatability study in two observations. SMETHODS: a prospective, clinic-based, comparative study. A total of 206 participants without ocular diseases and refractive errors in their right eyes were randomly enrolled in the automated group in which 107 participants performed the automated test and the ETDRS group in which 99 participants read the ETDRS chart. All participants were tested with only their right eyes without corrections at 4 meters and came back to have the same tests 1 week later. The automated test used the Landolt rings as optotypes and was conducted by a low-ended personal computer with a 15-inch monitor and a wireless keyboard. The "letter" score calculated by counting every correct response to optotypes, and the "threshold curve" score interpreted from the optotype size at the midpoint of a visual acuity threshold curve. The 95% confidence interval of test-retest of visual acuity scores from the automated test are comparable to the ETDRS chart (.143 compared with.125 for letter scores,.145 compared with.122 for threshold curve scores). The score repeatabilities, calculated from the standard deviations of test-retest, from the automated test are also comparable to the ETDRS chart (.201 compared with.177 for letter scores,.206 compared with.172 for threshold curve scores). All comparisons demonstrated no statistical difference (P >.05). The automated testing system in this study enables practical measuring visual acuity by the Landolt rings. The system's repeatability, which is comparable to the ETDRS chart, supports its role as an alternative tool for measuring outcome in new clinical research. Its ability to practically generate visual acuity threshold curves may also be useful in future clinical research studies.

Development of a fetal weight chart using serial trans-abdominal ultrasound in an East African population

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmiegelow, Christentze; Scheike, Thomas; Oesterholt, Mayke

2012-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To produce a fetal weight chart representative of a Tanzanian population, and compare it to weight charts from Sub-Saharan Africa and the developed world. METHODS: A longitudinal observational study in Northeastern Tanzania. Pregnant women were followed throughout pregnancy with serial...... trans-abdominal ultrasound. All pregnancies with pathology were excluded and a chart representing the optimal growth potential was developed using fetal weights and birth weights. The weight chart was compared to a chart from Congo, a chart representing a white population, and a chart representing...... a white population but adapted to the study population. The prevalence of SGA was assessed using all four charts. RESULTS: A total of 2193 weight measurements from 583 fetuses/newborns were included in the fetal weight chart. Our chart had lower percentiles than all the other charts. Most importantly...

The influence of the composition of tradeoffs on the generation of differentiated cells

Science.gov (United States)

Amado, André; Campos, Paulo R. A.

2017-06-01

We study the emergence of cell differentiation under the influence of tradeoffs between the different functions the cell needs to perform. In the model, the viability of a given colony, i.e. the chance to survive and then form propagules, is determined by the capability of its lower level units to perform different functions. Due to the existence of tradeoffs, it can be evolutionarily advantageous for the colony to evolve the division of labor whereby the cells can suppress their contributions to some of the activities through the activation of regulatory genes. Our simulation results show that cell differentiation is more likely as the number of tradeoffs increases, but the outcome also depends on their strength. We observe the existence of critical values for the minimum number of tradeoffs and their strength beyond that maximum cell differentiation can be attained. The occurrence of a maximum tradeoff strength beyond which the population is no longer viable imposes an upper level of constraint to the system. This maximum tradeoff strength decreases with the number of tradeoffs. Besides the statistical study of the model, as a concrete example, we apply the model to a simplified cyanobacteria system. In this line, variations of this model can be applied to a variety of systems when the underlying tradeoffs are known or can be estimated.

prepare_taxa_charts.py: A Python program to automate generation of publication ready taxonomic pie chart images from QIIME.

Science.gov (United States)

Lakhujani, Vijay; Badapanda, Chandan

2017-06-01

QIIME (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology) is one of the most popular open-source bioinformatics suite for performing metagenome, 16S rRNA amplicon and Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) data analysis. Although, it is very comprehensive and powerful tool, it lacks a method to provide publication ready taxonomic pie charts. The script plot_taxa_summary . py bundled with QIIME generate a html file and a folder containing taxonomic pie chart and legend as separate images. The images have randomly generated alphanumeric names. Therefore, it is difficult to associate the pie chart with the legend and the corresponding sample identifier. Even if the option to have the legend within the html file is selected while executing plot_taxa_summary . py , it is very tedious to crop a complete image (having both the pie chart and the legend) due to unequal image sizes. It requires a lot of time to manually prepare the pie charts for multiple samples for publication purpose. Moreover, there are chances of error while identifying the pie chart and legend pair due to random alphanumeric names of the images. To bypass all these bottlenecks and make this process efficient, we have developed a python based program, prepare_taxa_charts . py , to automate the renaming, cropping and merging of taxonomic pie chart and corresponding legend image into a single, good quality publication ready image. This program not only augments the functionality of plot_taxa_summary . py but is also very fast in terms of CPU time and user friendly.

NuChart: an R package to study gene spatial neighbourhoods with multi-omics annotations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Merelli

Full Text Available Long-range chromosomal associations between genomic regions, and their repositioning in the 3D space of the nucleus, are now considered to be key contributors to the regulation of gene expression and important links have been highlighted with other genomic features involved in DNA rearrangements. Recent Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C measurements performed with high throughput sequencing (Hi-C and molecular dynamics studies show that there is a large correlation between colocalization and coregulation of genes, but these important researches are hampered by the lack of biologists-friendly analysis and visualisation software. Here, we describe NuChart, an R package that allows the user to annotate and statistically analyse a list of input genes with information relying on Hi-C data, integrating knowledge about genomic features that are involved in the chromosome spatial organization. NuChart works directly with sequenced reads to identify the related Hi-C fragments, with the aim of creating gene-centric neighbourhood graphs on which multi-omics features can be mapped. Predictions about CTCF binding sites, isochores and cryptic Recombination Signal Sequences are provided directly with the package for mapping, although other annotation data in bed format can be used (such as methylation profiles and histone patterns. Gene expression data can be automatically retrieved and processed from the Gene Expression Omnibus and ArrayExpress repositories to highlight the expression profile of genes in the identified neighbourhood. Moreover, statistical inferences about the graph structure and correlations between its topology and multi-omics features can be performed using Exponential-family Random Graph Models. The Hi-C fragment visualisation provided by NuChart allows the comparisons of cells in different conditions, thus providing the possibility of novel biomarkers identification. NuChart is compliant with the Bioconductor standard and it is freely

Chart Audit and Chart Stimulated Recall as Methods of Needs Assessment in Continuing Professional Health Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Affleck, Louise; Jennett, Penny

1998-01-01

Chart audit (assessment of patient medical records) is a cost-effective continuing-education needs-assessment method. Chart stimulated recall, in which physicians' memory of particular cases is stimulated by records, potentially increases content validity and exploration of clinical reasoning as well as the context of clinical decisions. (SK)

The making of Andersen’s liquefaction chart

OpenAIRE

Sabaliauskas, Tomas; Ibsen, Lars Bo

2017-01-01

Andersen’s chart (Andersen & Berre, 1999) is a graphical method of observing cyclic soil response. It allows observing soil response to various stress amplitudes that can lead to liquefaction, excess plastic deformation stabilizing soil response.The process of obtaining the original chart has been improved. Algorithm based approximation is introduced. Pore pressure dependent ultimate bearing capacity normalization factor is introduced to normalize the chart.

The evolution of trade-offs under directional and correlational selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Roff, Derek A; Fairbairn, Daphne J

2012-08-01

Using quantitative genetic theory, we develop predictions for the evolution of trade-offs in response to directional and correlational selection. We predict that directional selection favoring an increase in one trait in a trade-off will result in change in the intercept but not the slope of the trade-off function, with the mean value of the selected trait increasing and that of the correlated trait decreasing. Natural selection will generally favor an increase in some combination of trait values, which can be represented as directional selection on an index value. Such selection induces both directional and correlational selection on the component traits. Theory predicts that selection on an index value will also change the intercept but not the slope of the trade-off function but because of correlational selection, the direction of change in component traits may be in the same or opposite directions. We test these predictions using artificial selection on the well-established trade-off between fecundity and flight capability in the cricket, Gryllus firmus and compare the empirical results with a priori predictions made using genetic parameters from a separate half-sibling experiment. Our results support the predictions and illustrate the complexity of trade-off evolution when component traits are subject to both directional and correlational selection. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution© 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

A retrospective chart review of pirfenidone-treated patients in Sweden: the REPRIS study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carl Magnus Sköld

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF is a chronic, progressive lung disease that usually results in respiratory failure and death. Pirfenidone was approved as the first licensed therapy for IPF in Europe based on phase III trials where patients with a forced vital capacity (FVC >50% of predicted were included. The aim of this study was to characterise patients treated with pirfenidone in Swedish clinical practice and to describe the adherence to the reimbursement restriction since reimbursement was only applied for patients with FVC below 80% of predicted. Methods: This was a retrospective, observational chart review of IPF patients treated with pirfenidone from three Swedish university clinics. Patients initiated on treatment during the period 28 June 2012 to 20 November 2014 were included. Data on patient characteristics, basis of diagnosis, treatment duration, quality of life, and adverse drug reactions (ADRs were collected from medical charts. Results: Forty-four patients were screened and 33 were included in the study. The mean treatment duration from start of pirfenidone until discontinuation or end of study was 38 weeks. At the initiation of pirfenidone treatment, FVC was 62.7% (12.1 [mean (SD], diffusion capacity (DLco was 45.1% (13.8 of predicted, and the ratio of forced expiratory volume on 1 sec (FEV1 to FVC was 0.78 (0.1. The percentage of patients with an FVC between 50 and 80% was 87%. Ten of the patients had ADRs including gastrointestinal and skin-related events, cough and signs of impaired hepatic function, but this led to treatment discontinuation in only two patients. Conclusion: Data from this chart review showed that adherence to the Swedish reimbursement restriction was followed in the majority of patients during the study period. At the start of pirfenidone treatment, lung function, measured as FVC, was lower in the present cohort of Swedish IPF patients compared with other registry and real-life data. About a

Study on the quality of FRP fishing vessel based on improved Fishbone Chart

Science.gov (United States)

Sui, J. H.; Yu, Y. F.; Du, Q. F.; Jiang, D. W.

2018-01-01

The construction quality of FRP fishing vessels influences their production, use and industry development. In order to explore the factors that affect the construction quality of FRP fishing vessels, key factors affecting the construction quality of FRP fishing vessels are determined based on the quality problems of FRP fishing vessels constructed. The improved Fishbone Chart is used to analyze the eight factors of “human, machine, material, process, environment, inspection, design and information”. Taking the factors that affect the construction quality of FRP fishing vessels as the central target, the eight influencing factors were condensed into five aspects and a composite Fishbone Chart is drawn. The Fishbone Chart is used as the basic model, the influencing factors are sorted, screened and discriminated, and the system model convenient for construction site management and control is established. Finally, the causes of poor construction of FRP fishing vessels are analyzed and discussed, and relevant suggestions are put forward.

Feeding by numbers: an ethnographic study of how breastfeeding women understand their babies' weight charts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dykes Fiona

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Weighing breastfed babies has been the subject of some controversy as the previous international growth chart was largely based on data from infants fed infant formula. The concern that professionals may be misled by the charts into suggesting to mothers that they supplement unnecessarily was a major impetus for the World Health Organization's investment in a new growth chart. Evidence of interpretation in practice has been scant. Methods An ethnographic study was conducted in a town in the Northwest of England to investigate this issue. In the first phase, women and health visitors were observed in the well-child clinic during clinic sessions and breastfeeding group meetings. In the second phase, longitudinal interviews with 14 women were conducted. Each woman was interviewed up to three times in the first six months after the birth of her baby, with a total of 35 interviews. Results Mothers and health visitors focussed on weight gain with frequent weighing and attention to even minor fluctuations of the plotted line being evident. Women felt it important to ensure their baby's weight followed a centile, and preferred for this to be the fiftieth centile. Interventions included giving infant formula and solids as well as changing what the mother ate and drank. Women also described how they worried about their baby's weight. Little effective support by health professionals with breastfeeding technique was observed. Conclusion Babies were weighed more often than officially recommended, with weighing and plotting being at the core of each clinic visit. The plotted weight chart exerted a powerful influence on both women's and health visitors' understanding of the adequacy of breastfeeding. They appeared to rate the regular progression of weight gains along the chart centiles more highly than continued or exclusive breastfeeding. Thus weighing and visual charting of weight constituted a form of surveillance under the medical gaze

HydroHillChart – Francis module. Software used to Calculate the Hill Chart of the Francis Hydraulic Turbines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dorian Nedelcu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the Hydro Hill Chart - Francis module application, used to calculate the hill chart of the Pelton, Francis and Kaplan hydraulic turbine models, by processing the data measured on the stand. After describing the interface and menu, the input data is graphically presented and the universal characteristic for measuring scenarios ao=const. and n11=const is calculated. Finally, the two calculated hill charts are compared through a graphical superimposition of the isolines.

The Geometry of Nutrient Space-Based Life-History Trade-Offs: Sex-Specific Effects of Macronutrient Intake on the Trade-Off between Encapsulation Ability and Reproductive Effort in Decorated Crickets.

Science.gov (United States)

Rapkin, James; Jensen, Kim; Archer, C Ruth; House, Clarissa M; Sakaluk, Scott K; Castillo, Enrique Del; Hunt, John

2018-04-01

Life-history theory assumes that traits compete for limited resources, resulting in trade-offs. The most commonly manipulated resource in empirical studies is the quantity or quality of diet. Recent studies using the geometric framework for nutrition, however, suggest that trade-offs are often regulated by the intake of specific nutrients, but a formal approach to identify and quantify the strength of such trade-offs is lacking. We posit that trade-offs occur whenever life-history traits are maximized in different regions of nutrient space, as evidenced by nonoverlapping 95% confidence regions of the global maximum for each trait and large angles (θ) between linear nutritional vectors and Euclidean distances (d) between global maxima. We then examined the effects of protein and carbohydrate intake on the trade-off between reproduction and aspects of immune function in male and female Gryllodes sigillatus. Female encapsulation ability and egg production increased with the intake of both nutrients, whereas male encapsulation ability increased with protein intake but calling effort increased with carbohydrate intake. The trade-offs between traits was therefore larger in males than in females, as demonstrated by significant negative correlations between the traits in males, nonoverlapping 95% confidence regions, and larger estimates of θ and d. Under dietary choice, the sexes had similar regulated intakes, but neither optimally regulated nutrient intake for maximal trait expression. We highlight the fact that greater consideration of specific nutrient intake is needed when examining nutrient space-based trade-offs.

General tradeoff relations of quantum nonlocality in the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt scenario

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Su, Hong-Yi, E-mail: hongyisu@chonnam.ac.kr [Department of Physics Education, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757 (Korea, Republic of); Chen, Jing-Ling [Theoretical Physics Division, Chern Institute of Mathematics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071 (China); Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543 (Singapore); Hwang, Won-Young, E-mail: wyhwang@jnu.ac.kr [Department of Physics Education, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757 (Korea, Republic of)

2017-02-15

General tradeoff relations present in nonlocal correlations of bipartite systems are studied, regardless of any specific quantum states and measuring directions. Extensions to multipartite scenarios are possible and very promising. Tsirelson’s bound can be derived out in particular. The close connection with uncertainty relations is also presented and discussed. - Highlights: • Quantum violation of CHSH inequalities is found to satisfy tradeoff relations. • Tsirelson’s bound for quantum mechanics can be directly implied from these tradeoffs. • Tradeoff relations shed new light on uncertainty relations in summation forms.

Transmission Line Adapted Analytical Power Charts Solution

Science.gov (United States)

Sakala, Japhet D.; Daka, James S. J.; Setlhaolo, Ditiro; Malichi, Alec Pulu

2017-08-01

The performance of a transmission line has been assessed over the years using power charts. These are graphical representations, drawn to scale, of the equations that describe the performance of transmission lines. Various quantities that describe the performance, such as sending end voltage, sending end power and compensation to give zero voltage regulation, may be deduced from the power charts. Usually required values are read off and then converted using the appropriate scales and known relationships. In this paper, the authors revisit this area of circle diagrams for transmission line performance. The work presented here formulates the mathematical model that analyses the transmission line performance from the power charts relationships and then uses them to calculate the transmission line performance. In this proposed approach, it is not necessary to draw the power charts for the solution. However the power charts may be drawn for the visual presentation. The method is based on applying derived equations and is simple to use since it does not require rigorous derivations.

Chart of the nuclides - Strasbourg 1990

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antony, M.S.

1991-01-01

Data were compiled for a nuclide chart over the last two years. The compilation is complete to the end of September 1990. The chart includes about 30000 data. Decay modes are represented by colours. Announcement capabilities and prices are given. (G.P.) 3 refs

Obtaining the Andersen's chart, triangulation algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sabaliauskas, Tomas; Ibsen, Lars Bo

Andersen’s chart (Andersen & Berre, 1999) is a graphical method of observing cyclic soil response. It allows observing soil response to various stress amplitudes that can lead to liquefaction, excess plastic deformation or stabilizing soil response. The process of obtaining the original chart has...

49 CFR 236.718 - Chart, dog.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Chart, dog. 236.718 Section 236.718 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF... OF SIGNAL AND TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND APPLIANCES Definitions § 236.718 Chart, dog. A...

Environmentally induced development costs underlie fitness tradeoffs.

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, Greg M; Wilkinson, Melanie J; Aguirre, J David; Blows, Mark W; Ortiz-Barrientos, Daniel

2018-06-01

Local adaptation can lead to genotype-by-environment interactions, which can create fitness tradeoffs in alternative environments, and govern the distribution of biodiversity across geographic landscapes. Exploring the ecological circumstances that promote the evolution of fitness tradeoffs requires identifying how natural selection operates and during which ontogenetic stages natural selection is strongest. When organisms disperse to areas outside their natural range, tradeoffs might emerge when organisms struggle to reach key life history stages, or alternatively, die shortly after reaching life history stages if there are greater risks of mortality associated with costs to developing in novel environments. We used multiple populations from four ecotypes of an Australian native wildflower (Senecio pinnatifolius) in reciprocal transplants to explore how fitness tradeoffs arise across ontogeny. We then assessed whether the survival probability for plants from native and foreign populations was contingent on reaching key developmental stages. We found that fitness tradeoffs emerged as ontogeny progressed when native plants were more successful than foreign plants at reaching seedling establishment and maturity. Native and foreign plants that failed to reach seedling establishment died at the same rate, but plants from foreign populations died quicker than native plants after reaching seedling establishment, and died quicker regardless of whether they reached sexual maturity or not. Development rates were similar for native and foreign populations, but changed depending on the environment. Together, our results suggest that natural selection for environment-specific traits early in life history created tradeoffs between contrasting environments. Plants from foreign populations were either unable to develop to seedling establishment, or they suffered increased mortality as a consequence of reaching seedling establishment. The observation of tradeoffs together with

Customized versus population-based birth weight charts for the detection of neonatal growth and perinatal morbidity in a cross-sectional study of term neonates.

Science.gov (United States)

Carberry, Angela E; Raynes-Greenow, Camille H; Turner, Robin M; Jeffery, Heather E

2013-10-15

Customized birth weight charts that incorporate maternal characteristics are now being adopted into clinical practice. However, there is controversy surrounding the value of these charts in the prediction of growth and perinatal outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess the use of customized charts in predicting growth, defined by body fat percentage, and perinatal morbidity. A total of 581 term (≥37 weeks' gestation) neonates born in Sydney, Australia, in 2010 were included. Body fat percentage measurements were taken by using air displacement plethysmography. Objective composite measurements of perinatal morbidity were used to identify neonates who had poor outcomes; these data were extracted from medical records. The value of customized charts was assessed by calculating positive predictive values, negative predictive values, and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Customized versus population-based charts did not improve the prediction of either low body fat percentage (59% vs. 66% positive predictive value and 87% vs. 89% negative predictive value, respectively) or high body fat percentage (48% vs. 53% positive predictive value and 90% vs. 89% negative predictive value, respectively). Customized charts were not better than population-based charts at predicting perinatal morbidity (for customized charts, odds ratio = 1.02, 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 1.04; for population-based charts, odds ratio = 1.03, 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 1.05) per percentile decrease in birth weight. Customized birth weight charts do not provide significant improvements over population-based charts in predicting neonatal growth and morbidity.

U.S. Pacific Command > Organization > Organization Chart

Science.gov (United States)

Responsibility USPACOM Previous Commanders Organization Organization Chart Media News Flickr Photos Video Directory Media Inquiries Home : Organization : Organization Chart About DoD DoD Careers Join the Military

Smart Book Charts

Science.gov (United States)

Chinnapongse, Ronald L.

2015-01-01

Smart book charts for TPSM: Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET), Conformal Ablative TPS (CA-TPS), 3D Woven Multifunctional Ablative TPS (3D MAT), and Adaptable, Deployable, Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT).

Chart of the nuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshizawa, Y.; Horiguchi, T.; Yamada, M.

1980-01-01

In this chart, four colors are use to classify nuclides according to their half-lives. The different symbols are also to show the decay modes and their percentage in each nuclide. Four tables are provided on the back of the chart. Table 1 is the ordinary periodic Table. Table 2 provides fundamental constants used for nuclear physics. Tables 3 lists the physical constants (mean density, ionization potential, melting point, and boiling point) of all elements. Table 4 provides the gamma-ray intensity standards. Half-lives, energy, relative intensity, and intensity per decay are list for 33 nuclides. (J.P.N.)

47 CFR 73.333 - Engineering charts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Engineering charts. 73.333 Section 73.333 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES FM Broadcast Stations § 73.333 Engineering charts. This section consists of the following Figures 1, 1a, 2, and...

Competing values, tensions and trade-offs in management of nuclear power plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Reiman, Teemu; Rollenhagen, Carl

2012-01-01

The specific goal of the study is to look how tensions, competing values and trade-offs manifest in the management of nuclear power plants. Second goal is to inspect how existing frameworks, such as Competing Values Framework, can be used to model the tensions. Empirical data consists of thirty interviews that were conducted as part of a NKS study on safety culture in the Nordic nuclear branch. Eight trade-offs are identified based on a grounded theory based analysis of the interview data. The competing values and potential tensions involved in the trade-offs are discussed.

Photovoltaic subsystem optimization and design tradeoff study. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stolte, W.J.

1982-03-01

Tradeoffs and subsystem choices are examined in photovoltaic array subfield design, power-conditioning sizing and selection, roof- and ground-mounted structure installation, energy loss, operating voltage, power conditioning cost, and subfield size. Line- and self-commutated power conditioning options are analyzed to determine the most cost-effective technology in the megawatt power range. Methods for reducing field installation of flat panels and roof mounting of intermediate load centers are discussed, including the cost of retrofit installations.

Application of a binomial cusum control chart to monitor one drinking water indicator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisa Henning

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to analyze the use of a binomial cumulative sum chart (CUSUM to monitor the presence of total coliforms, biological indicators of quality of water supplies in water treatment processes. The sample series were monthly taken from a water treatment plant and were analyzed from 2007 to 2009. The statistical treatment of the data was performed using GNU R, and routines were created for the approximation of the upper limit of the binomial CUSUM chart. Furthermore, a comparative study was conducted to investigate whether there is a significant difference in sensitivity between the use of CUSUM and the traditional Shewhart chart, the most commonly used chart in process monitoring. The results obtained demonstrate that this study was essential for making the right choice in selecting a chart for the statistical analysis of this process.

HOTELLING'S T2 CONTROL CHARTS BASED ON ROBUST ESTIMATORS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SERGIO YÁÑEZ

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Under the presence of multivariate outliers, in a Phase I analysis of historical set of data, the T 2 control chart based on the usual sample mean vector and sample variance covariance matrix performs poorly. Several alternative estimators have been proposed. Among them, estimators based on the minimum volume ellipsoid (MVE and the minimum covariance determinant (MCD are powerful in detecting a reasonable number of outliers. In this paper we propose a T 2 control chart using the biweight S estimators for the location and dispersion parameters when monitoring multivariate individual observations. Simulation studies show that this method outperforms the T 2 control chart based on MVE estimators for a small number of observations.

Two-dimensional phase fraction charts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morral, J.E.

1984-01-01

A phase fraction chart is a graphical representation of the amount of each phase present in a system as a function of temperature, composition or other variable. Examples are phase fraction versus temperature charts used to characterize specific alloys and as a teaching tool in elementary texts, and Schaeffler diagrams used to predict the amount of ferrite in stainless steel welds. Isothermal-transformation diagrams (TTT diagrams) are examples that give phase (or microconstituent) amount versus temperature and time. The purpose of this communication is to discuss the properties of two-dimensional phase fraction charts in more general terms than have been reported before. It is shown that they can represent multi-component, multiphase equilibria in a way which is easier to read and which contains more information than the isotherms and isopleths of multi-component phase diagrams

Barograms / Barograph Charts

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Barograms are weekly rectangular charts recording barometric pressure at a given station. The barograph is an instrument that makes a continuous pen and ink trace of...

Constraints, Trade-offs and the Currency of Fitness.

Science.gov (United States)

Acerenza, Luis

2016-03-01

Understanding evolutionary trajectories remains a difficult task. This is because natural evolutionary processes are simultaneously affected by various types of constraints acting at the different levels of biological organization. Of particular importance are constraints where correlated changes occur in opposite directions, called trade-offs. Here we review and classify the main evolutionary constraints and trade-offs, operating at all levels of trait hierarchy. Special attention is given to life history trade-offs and the conflict between the survival and reproduction components of fitness. Cellular mechanisms underlying fitness trade-offs are described. At the metabolic level, a linear trade-off between growth and flux variability was found, employing bacterial genome-scale metabolic reconstructions. Its analysis indicates that flux variability can be considered as the currency of fitness. This currency is used for fitness transfer between fitness components during adaptations. Finally, a discussion is made regarding the constraints which limit the increase in the amount of fitness currency during evolution, suggesting that occupancy constraints are probably the main restrictions.

15 CFR 738.3 - Commerce Country Chart structure.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Commerce Country Chart structure. 738.3 Section 738.3 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade... COMMERCE CONTROL LIST OVERVIEW AND THE COUNTRY CHART § 738.3 Commerce Country Chart structure. (a) Scope...

Growth charts for children with Ellis–van Creveld syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Eilers, Paul H. C.; Lawrence, Kate; Hennekam, Raoul C. M.; Versteegh, Florens G. A.

2010-01-01

Ellis–van Creveld (EvC) syndrome is a congenital malformation syndrome with marked growth retardation. In this study, specific growth charts for EvC patients were derived to allow better follow-up of growth and earlier detection of growth patterns unusual for EvC. With the use of 235 observations of 101 EvC patients (49 males, 52 females), growth charts for males and females from 0 to 20 years of age were derived. Longitudinal and cross-sectional data were collected from an earlier review of growth data in EvC, a database of EvC patients, and from recent literature. To model the growth charts, the GAMLSS package for the R statistical program was used. Height of EvC patients was compared to healthy children using Dutch growth charts. Data are presented both on a scale for age and on a scale for the square root of age. Compared to healthy Dutch children, mean height standard deviation score values for male and female EvC patients were −3.1 and −3.0, respectively. The present growth charts should be useful in the follow-up of EvC patients. Most importantly, early detection of growth hormone deficiency, known to occur in EvC, will be facilitated. PMID:20830486

Growth charts for children with Ellis-van Creveld syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Verbeek, Sabine; Eilers, Paul H C; Lawrence, Kate; Hennekam, Raoul C M; Versteegh, Florens G A

2011-02-01

Ellis-van Creveld (EvC) syndrome is a congenital malformation syndrome with marked growth retardation. In this study, specific growth charts for EvC patients were derived to allow better follow-up of growth and earlier detection of growth patterns unusual for EvC. With the use of 235 observations of 101 EvC patients (49 males, 52 females), growth charts for males and females from 0 to 20 years of age were derived. Longitudinal and cross-sectional data were collected from an earlier review of growth data in EvC, a database of EvC patients, and from recent literature. To model the growth charts, the GAMLSS package for the R statistical program was used. Height of EvC patients was compared to healthy children using Dutch growth charts. Data are presented both on a scale for age and on a scale for the square root of age. Compared to healthy Dutch children, mean height standard deviation score values for male and female EvC patients were -3.1 and -3.0, respectively. The present growth charts should be useful in the follow-up of EvC patients. Most importantly, early detection of growth hormone deficiency, known to occur in EvC, will be facilitated.

Preparation of exposures charts for X-ray tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zoofan, B.

1988-01-01

An exposure chart is a fundamental graph which provides guidance of the exposure conditions in relation to the thickness for a given specimen. It must be prepared specially for the X-ray unit and the type of the film to be used. Although exposure charts are available for each particular X-ray tube from its manufacturer, individual radiographic laboratory should be able to prepare its own exposure charts in a precise manner. Here a typical procedure to prepare such a chart is provided in a practical way with some necessary recommendations

Interactive SIGHT: textual access to simple bar charts

Science.gov (United States)

Demir, Seniz; Oliver, David; Schwartz, Edward; Elzer, Stephanie; Carberry, Sandra; Mccoy, Kathleen F.; Chester, Daniel

2010-12-01

Information graphics, such as bar charts and line graphs, are an important component of many articles from popular media. The majority of such graphics have an intention (a high-level message) to communicate to the graph viewer. Since the intended message of a graphic is often not repeated in the accompanying text, graphics together with the textual segments contribute to the overall purpose of an article and cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, these visual displays are provided in a format which is not readily accessible to everyone. For example, individuals with sight impairments who use screen readers to listen to documents have limited access to the graphics. This article presents a new accessibility tool, the Interactive SIGHT (Summarizing Information GrapHics Textually) system, that is intended to enable visually impaired users to access the knowledge that one would gain from viewing information graphics found on the web. The current system, which is implemented as a browser extension that works on simple bar charts, can be invoked by a user via a keystroke combination while navigating the web. Once launched, Interactive SIGHT first provides a brief summary that conveys the underlying intention of a bar chart along with the chart's most significant and salient features, and then produces history-aware follow-up responses to provide further information about the chart upon request from the user. We present two user studies that were conducted with sighted and visually impaired users to determine how effective the initial summary and follow-up responses are in conveying the informational content of bar charts, and to evaluate how easy it is to use the system interface. The evaluation results are promising and indicate that the system responses are well-structured and enable visually impaired users to answer key questions about bar charts in an easy-to-use manner. Post-experimental interviews revealed that visually impaired participants were very satisfied with

Candlestick Charting and Trading Volume: Evidence from Bursa Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Chin, Chee-Ling; Jais, Mohamad; Balia, Sophee Sulong; Ahmad, Ayoib Che; Abidin, Azlan Zainol

2016-01-01

Technical analysis is deemed to be a futile practice among academicians who propose efficient market hypothesis, typically the weak form market efficiency which strongly protests the application of past prices and trading volume data for prediction of future market movement. As candlestick charting is one of the oldest technical indicators for short term investment, therefore this study examines the predictability of candlestick charting with combination to trading volume for Malaysian stock ...

Trade-offs in online purchase decisions : two empirical studies in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Odekerken-Schröder, G.; Wetzels, M.G.M.

2003-01-01

The Internet offers firms a new way to market their products and services and to interact with their end-consumers. While many firms have developed websites, very little is known about the trade-offs consumers are willing to make when making online purchases. With millions of websites competing for

Evaluation of statistical control charts for on-line radiation monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hughes, L.D.; DeVol, T.A.

2008-01-01

Statistical control charts are presented for the evaluation of time series radiation counter data from flow cells used for monitoring of low levels of 99 TcO 4 - in environmental solutions. Control chart methods consisted of the 3-sigma (3σ) chart, the cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart, and the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart. Each method involves a control limit based on the detector background which constitutes the detection limit. Both the CUSUM and EWMA charts are suitable to detect and estimate sample concentration requiring less solution volume than when using a 3? control chart. Data presented here indicate that the overall accuracy and precision of the CUSUM method is the best. (author)

Fitness tradeoffs of antibiotic resistance in extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli.

Science.gov (United States)

Basra, Prabh; Alsaadi, Ahlam; Bernal-Astrain, Gabriel; O'Sullivan, Michael Liam; Hazlett, Bryn; Clarke, Leah Marie; Schoenrock, Andrew; Pitre, Sylvain; Wong, Alex

2018-02-07

Evolutionary trade-offs occur when selection on one trait has detrimental effects on other traits. In pathogenic microbes, it has been hypothesized that antibiotic resistance trades off with fitness in the absence of antibiotic. While studies of single resistance mutations support this hypothesis, it is unclear whether trade-offs are maintained over time, due to compensatory evolution and broader effects of genetic background. Here, we leverage natural variation in 39 extra-intestinal clinical isolates of Escherichia coli to assess trade-offs between growth rates and resistance to fluoroquinolone and cephalosporin antibiotics. Whole genome sequencing identifies a broad range of clinically relevant resistance determinants in these strains. We find evidence for a negative correlation between growth rate and antibiotic resistance, consistent with a persistent trade-off between resistance and growth. However, this relationship is sometimes weak, and depends on the environment in which growth rates are measured. Using in vitro selection experiments, we find that compensatory evolution in one environment does not guarantee compensation in other environments. Thus, even in the face of compensatory evolution and other genetic background effects, resistance may be broadly costly, supporting the use of drug restriction protocols to limit the spread of resistance. Furthermore, our study demonstrates the power of using natural variation to study evolutionary trade-offs in microbes. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Stocking chart for upland central hardwoods

Science.gov (United States)

Martin E. Dale; Donald E. Hilt

1989-01-01

The upland hardwoods stocking chart, introduced by Gingrich in 1967, has become one of the forest manager's most useful tools. The chart allows you to determine the condition of the present stand in relation to a stocking standard. The stocking of a stand is extremely helpful in prescribing various silvicultural treatments such as intermediate thinnings,...

A social-ecological analysis of ecosystem services supply and trade-offs in European wood-pastures

Science.gov (United States)

Hartel, Tibor

2018-01-01

Wood-pastures are complex social-ecological systems (SES), which are the product of long-term interaction between society and its surrounding landscape. Traditionally characterized by multifunctional low-intensity management that enhanced a wide range of ecosystem services (ES), current farm management has shifted toward more intensive farm models. This study assesses the supply of ES in four study areas dominated by managed wood-pastures in Spain, Sweden, and Romania. On the basis of 144 farm surveys and the use of multivariate techniques, we characterize farm management and structure in the study areas and identify the trade-offs in ES supply associated with this management. We link these trade-offs to multiple factors that characterize the landholding: economic, social, environmental, technological, and governance. Finally, we analyze how landholders’ values and perspectives have an effect on management decisions. Results show a differentiated pattern of ES supply in the four study areas. We identified four types of trade-offs in ES supply that appear depending on what is being promoted by the farm management and that are associated with different dimensions of wood-pasture management: productivity-related trade-offs, crop production–related trade-offs, multifunctionality-related trade-offs, and farm accessibility–related trade-offs. These trade-offs are influenced by complex interactions between the properties of the SES, which have a direct influence on landholders’ perspectives and motivations. The findings of this paper advance the understanding of the dynamics between agroecosystems and society and can inform system-based agricultural and conservation policies. PMID:29732404

Square chart of nuclides with the best coordinates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yuying

2001-01-01

It analyzes upper limiting feature of even Z=60-82 in different charts of nuclides. It has illustrated that the break line of upper limiting Z=60-82 in the chart of nucleus with proton number Z and neutron number N, parameters Z and H (=N-Z), two new parameters S(=2Z-N) and H, and parameters K (=S-H) and H, in proper order, it shows that the break line trends from the left lower to the right upper, the line alternates with horizontal and vertical, and the line trends from the right lower to the left upper. Here it finds that the square chart of nuclides places the middle among these charts. It shows that nuclei distribution is concentrated, so are scope of whole region of nuclides in the different charts of nuclides

CHART in lung cancer: Economic evaluation and incentives for implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lievens, Yolande; Kesteloot, Katrien; Bogaert, Walter van den

2005-01-01

Background and purpose: To investigate the financial consequences and the impact on daily implementation of CHART in lung cancer. Patients and methods: A cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis were performed using Markov models, comparing the early and delayed costs and effects of CHART for NSCLC over a 4-year time span from a societal viewpoint. The outcome estimates were based on the CHART literature, the cost estimates on the standard practice of the Leuven University Hospitals, the radiotherapy costs being derived from an activity-based costing (ABC) programme developed in the department. Results: The additional societal cost per life-year gained was EURO 9164, the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year EURO 11,576. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these results, the incremental cost-utility ratio remaining well under 20,000 EURO /QALY in all tested circumstances. The threshold analyses found the results of the study to be sensitive to the cost of CHART and to the quality of life after treatment. More specifically, standard treatment would become the optimal treatment if CHART would have a higher cost or would result in more long-term side effects. Conclusion: CHART should not be denied to patients with NSCLC on the basis of clinical or economic arguments. Other factors such as socio-economical, institutional, practical departmental and physician-bound barriers most probably explain the lack of implementation into daily practice

A robust standard deviation control chart

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schoonhoven, M.; Does, R.J.M.M.

2012-01-01

This article studies the robustness of Phase I estimators for the standard deviation control chart. A Phase I estimator should be efficient in the absence of contaminations and resistant to disturbances. Most of the robust estimators proposed in the literature are robust against either diffuse

A COMPARISON OF SOME ROBUST BIVARIATE CONTROL CHARTS FOR INDIVIDUAL OBSERVATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moustafa Omar Ahmed Abu - Shawiesh

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper proposed and considered some bivariate control charts to monitor individual observations from a statistical process control. Usual control charts which use mean and variance-covariance estimators are sensitive to outliers. We consider the following robust alternatives to the classical Hoteling's T2: T2MedMAD, T2MCD, T2MVE a simulation study has been conducted to compare the performance of these control charts. Two real life data are analyzed to illustrate the application of these robust alternatives.

Color Charts, Esthetics, and Subjective Randomness

Science.gov (United States)

Sanderson, Yasmine B.

2012-01-01

Color charts, or grids of evenly spaced multicolored dots or squares, appear in the work of modern artists and designers. Often the artist/designer distributes the many colors in a way that could be described as "random," that is, without an obvious pattern. We conduct a statistical analysis of 125 "random-looking" art and design color charts and…

Dynamical trade-offs arise from antagonistic coevolution and decrease intraspecific diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Weini; Traulsen, Arne; Werner, Benjamin; Hiltunen, Teppo; Becks, Lutz

2017-12-12

Trade-offs play an important role in evolution. Without trade-offs, evolution would maximize fitness of all traits leading to a "master of all traits". The shape of trade-offs has been shown to determine evolutionary trajectories and is often assumed to be static and independent of the actual evolutionary process. Here we propose that coevolution leads to a dynamical trade-off. We test this hypothesis in a microbial predator-prey system and show that the bacterial growth-defense trade-off changes from concave to convex, i.e., defense is effective and cheap initially, but gets costly when predators coevolve. We further explore the impact of such dynamical trade-offs by a novel mathematical model incorporating de novo mutations for both species. Predator and prey populations diversify rapidly leading to higher prey diversity when the trade-off is concave (cheap). Coevolution results in more convex (costly) trade-offs and lower prey diversity compared to the scenario where only the prey evolves.

Development of Growth Charts of Pakistani Children Aged 4-15 Years Using Quantile Regression: A Cross-sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Iftikhar, Sundus; Khan, Nazeer; Siddiqui, Junaid S; Baig-Ansari, Naila

2018-02-02

Background Growth charts are essential tools used by pediatricians as well as public health researchers in assessing and monitoring the well-being of pediatric populations. Development of these growth charts, especially for children above five years of age, is challenging and requires current anthropometric data and advanced statistical analysis. These growth charts are generally presented as a series of smooth centile curves. A number of modeling approaches are available for generating growth charts and applying these on national datasets is important for generating country-specific reference growth charts. Objective To demonstrate that quantile regression (QR) as a viable statistical approach to construct growth reference charts and to assess the applicability of the World Health Organization (WHO) 2007 growth standards to a large Pakistani population of school-going children. Methodology This is a secondary data analysis using anthropometric data of 9,515 students from a Pakistani survey conducted between 2007 and 2014 in four cities of Pakistan. Growth reference charts were created using QR as well as the LMS (Box-Cox transformation (L), the median (M), and the generalized coefficient of variation (S)) method and then compared with WHO 2007 growth standards. Results Centile values estimated by the LMS method and QR procedure had few differences. The centile values attained from QR procedure of BMI-for-age, weight-for-age, and height-for-age of Pakistani children were lower than the standard WHO 2007 centile. Conclusion QR should be considered as an alternative method to develop growth charts for its simplicity and lack of necessity to transform data. WHO 2007 standards are not suitable for Pakistani children.

A new Snellen's visual acuity chart with 'Indian' numerals.

OpenAIRE

Al-Salem, M

1987-01-01

'Indian' numerals, which are popular among the Arab population, were used to devise a new Snellen's visual acuity chart. The new chart has the advantages of a reading chart. It keeps the patient's interest, does not miss alexic patients, and is quicker to perform. It is also devoid of the many disadvantages of a kinetic response chart (the capital E letter or Landolt's broken rings), especially that of the limited option of test objects.

Karlsruhe nuclide chart - new 9. edition 2015

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soti, Zsolt [European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), Postfach 2340, DE-76125 Karlsruhe, (Germany); Magill, Joseph; Pfennig, Gerda; Derher, Raymond [Nucleonica GmbH, c/o European Commission, Postfach 2340, DE-76125 Karlsruhe, (Germany)

2015-07-01

Following the success of the 8. Edition of the Karlsruhe Nuclide Chart 2012, a new edition is planned for 2015. Since the 2012 edition, more than 100 nuclides have been discovered and about 1400 nuclides have been updated. In summary, the new 9. edition contains decay and radiation data on approximately 3230 ground state nuclides and 740 isomers from 118 chemical elements. The accompanying booklet provides a detailed explanation of the nuclide box structure used in the Chart. An expanded section contains many additional nuclide decay schemes to aid the user to interpret the highly condensed information in the nuclide boxes. The booklet contains - in addition to the latest values of the physical constants and physical properties - a periodic table of the elements, tables of new and updated nuclides, and a difference chart showing the main changes in the Chart graphically. (authors)

Electronic growth charts: watching our patients grow.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Cynthia A; Carstens, Kimberly; Villamayor, Precy

2005-01-01

Pediatric Growth Charts have been used in the pediatric community since 1977. The first growth charts were developed by the National Center for Health Statistics as a clinical tool for health care professionals. The growth charts, revised in 2000, by the Center for Disease Control consists of a series of percentile curves for selected body measurements in children [1]. Capitalizing on the benefits of our Electronic Medical Record (EMR), and as a byproduct of nursing electronic documentation of routine heights, weights, and frontal occipital circumferences, our system plots the routine measurements without additional intervention by the staff. Clinicians can view the graphs online or generate printed reports as needed during routine examination for outpatient or hospitalized care. This abstract outlines the background, design process, programming rules utilized to plot growth curves, and the evaluation of the electronic CDC growth charts in our organization.

Karlsruhe nuclide chart - new 9. edition 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soti, Zsolt; Magill, Joseph; Pfennig, Gerda; Derher, Raymond

2015-01-01

Following the success of the 8. Edition of the Karlsruhe Nuclide Chart 2012, a new edition is planned for 2015. Since the 2012 edition, more than 100 nuclides have been discovered and about 1400 nuclides have been updated. In summary, the new 9. edition contains decay and radiation data on approximately 3230 ground state nuclides and 740 isomers from 118 chemical elements. The accompanying booklet provides a detailed explanation of the nuclide box structure used in the Chart. An expanded section contains many additional nuclide decay schemes to aid the user to interpret the highly condensed information in the nuclide boxes. The booklet contains - in addition to the latest values of the physical constants and physical properties - a periodic table of the elements, tables of new and updated nuclides, and a difference chart showing the main changes in the Chart graphically. (authors)

Time contour expression of limited range phenomena on stack chart; Jugo chart jo deno kyokuchi gensho jikan contour

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kametani, T

1997-05-27

Time contour expression of limited range phenomena on stack chart is examined for further improvement on the result of the ultimate interpretation in the seismic reflection survey. The policy is made clear from the beginning that local phenomena are to be discussed, and data prior CMP stacking is interpreted in detail. For this purpose, it is effective to make use of the time contour expression in the midpoint-offset plane simultaneously with the CMP and COP panels. For the review of data prior to CMP stacking, it is convenient to use the CMP (CDP) stacking chart in which the data is arranged methodically. In this chart, all the channels which are crude data prior to stacking are plotted on midpoint-offset coordinates, which plane is called the MOD (Midpoint Offset Domain) panel. Various panels can be chosen unrestrictedly, and their mutual relations can be easily grasped. When data points are given a time axis, they can be expressed in a time contour. Studies are conducted about the underground structure, multiple reflection paths divided by it, and characteristics of detour reflection attributable to faults. 4 refs., 9 figs.

User compliance with documenting on a track and trigger-based observation and response chart: a two-phase multi-site audit study.

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Doug; Allen, Emily; McKinley, Sharon; Perry, Lin; Duffield, Christine; Fry, Margaret; Gallagher, Robyn; Iedema, Rick; Roche, Michael

2017-12-01

To examine user compliance and completeness of documentation with a newly designed observation and response chart and whether a rapid response system call was triggered when clinically indicated. Timely recognition and responses to patient deterioration in hospital general wards remain a challenge for healthcare systems globally. Evaluating practice initiatives to improve recognition and response are required. Two-phase audit. Following introduction of the charts in ten health service sites in Australia, an audit of chart completion was conducted during a short trial for initial usability (Phase 1; 2011). After chart adoption as routine use in practice, retrospective and prospective chart audits were conducted (Phase 2; 2012). Overall, 818 and 1,058 charts were audited during the two phases respectively. Compliance was mixed but improved with the new chart (4%-14%). Contrary to chart guidelines, numbers rather than dots were written in the graphing section in 60% of cases. Rates of recognition of abnormal vital signs improved slightly with new charts in use, particularly for higher levels of surveillance and clinical review. Based on local calling criteria, an emergency call was initiated in 33% of cases during the retrospective audit and in 41% of cases with the new chart. User compliance was less than optimal, limiting full function of the chart sections and compliance with local calling criteria. Overcoming apparent behavioural and work culture barriers may improve chart completion, aiding identification of abnormal vital signs and triggering a rapid response system activation when clinical deterioration is detected. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A possible tradeoff between developmental rate and pathogen ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

related tradeoffs is that they are mediated via the conflict- ... Keywords. life-history evolution; tradeoff; development time; immune function; pathogen; Drosophila. Journal of Genetics .... This work was supported in parts by funds from Depart-.

Effectiveness of a fluid chart in outpatient management of suspected dengue fever: A pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nasir, Nazrila Hairin; Mohamad, Mohazmi; Lum, Lucy Chai See; Ng, Chirk Jenn

2017-01-01

Dengue infection is the fastest spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. One of the complications of dengue is dehydration which, if not carefully monitored and treated, may lead to shock, particularly in those with dengue haemorrhagic fever. WHO has recommended oral fluid intake of five glasses or more for adults who are suspected to have dengue fever. However, there have been no published studies looking at self-care intervention measures to improve oral fluid intake among patients suspected of dengue fever. To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of using a fluid chart to improve oral fluid intake in patients with suspected dengue fever in a primary care setting. This feasibility study used a randomized controlled study design. The data was collected over two months at a primary care clinic in a teaching hospital. The inclusion criteria were: age > 12 years, patients who were suspected to have dengue fever based on the assessment by the primary healthcare clinician, fever for > three days, and thrombocytopenia (platelets dengue home care card. The intervention group received the fluid chart and a cup (200ml). Baseline clinical and laboratory data, 24-hour fluid recall (control group), and fluid chart were collected. The main outcomes were: hospitalization rates, intravenous fluid requirement and total oral fluid intake. Among the 138 participants who were included in the final analysis, there were fewer hospital admissions in the intervention group (n = 7, 10.0%) than the control group (n = 12, 17.6%) (p = 0.192). Similarly, fewer patients (n = 9, 12.9%) in the intervention group required intravenous fluid compared to the control group (n = 15, 22.1%), (p = 0.154). There was an increase in the amount of daily oral fluid intake in the intervention group (about 3,000 ml) compared to the control group (about 2,500 ml, p = 0.521). However, these differences did not reach statistical significance. This is a feasible and acceptable study to perform in

Energy Efficiency - Spectral Efficiency Trade-off: A Multiobjective Optimization Approach

KAUST Repository

Amin, Osama

2015-04-23

In this paper, we consider the resource allocation problem for energy efficiency (EE) - spectral efficiency (SE) trade-off. Unlike traditional research that uses the EE as an objective function and imposes constraints either on the SE or achievable rate, we propound a multiobjective optimization approach that can flexibly switch between the EE and SE functions or change the priority level of each function using a trade-off parameter. Our dynamic approach is more tractable than the conventional approaches and more convenient to realistic communication applications and scenarios. We prove that the multiobjective optimization of the EE and SE is equivalent to a simple problem that maximizes the achievable rate/SE and minimizes the total power consumption. Then we apply the generalized framework of the resource allocation for the EE-SE trade-off to optimally allocate the subcarriers’ power for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with imperfect channel estimation. Finally, we use numerical results to discuss the choice of the trade-off parameter and study the effect of the estimation error, transmission power budget and channel-to-noise ratio on the multiobjective optimization.

Energy Efficiency - Spectral Efficiency Trade-off: A Multiobjective Optimization Approach

KAUST Repository

Amin, Osama; Bedeer, Ebrahim; Ahmed, Mohamed; Dobre, Octavia

2015-01-01

In this paper, we consider the resource allocation problem for energy efficiency (EE) - spectral efficiency (SE) trade-off. Unlike traditional research that uses the EE as an objective function and imposes constraints either on the SE or achievable rate, we propound a multiobjective optimization approach that can flexibly switch between the EE and SE functions or change the priority level of each function using a trade-off parameter. Our dynamic approach is more tractable than the conventional approaches and more convenient to realistic communication applications and scenarios. We prove that the multiobjective optimization of the EE and SE is equivalent to a simple problem that maximizes the achievable rate/SE and minimizes the total power consumption. Then we apply the generalized framework of the resource allocation for the EE-SE trade-off to optimally allocate the subcarriers’ power for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with imperfect channel estimation. Finally, we use numerical results to discuss the choice of the trade-off parameter and study the effect of the estimation error, transmission power budget and channel-to-noise ratio on the multiobjective optimization.

Tradeoffs around crop residue biomass in smallholder crop-livestock systems - What's next?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tittonell, P.A.; Gérard, B.; Erenstein, O.

2015-01-01

Much has been written on the tradeoffs that smallholder farmers face when having to allocate their biomass resources among competing objectives such as feed, fuel, mulch, compost or the market. This paper summarises yet a new body of evidence from 10 studies on tradeoffs in the allocation of cereal

Toward developing a standardized Arabic continuous text reading chart.

Science.gov (United States)

Alabdulkader, Balsam; Leat, Susan Jennifer

Near visual acuity is an essential measurement during an oculo-visual assessment. Short duration continuous text reading charts measure reading acuity and other aspects of reading performance. There is no standardized version of such chart in Arabic. The aim of this study is to create sentences of equal readability to use in the development of a standardized Arabic continuous text reading chart. Initially, 109 Arabic pairs of sentences were created for use in constructing a chart with similar layout to the Colenbrander chart. They were created to have the same grade level of difficulty and physical length. Fifty-three adults and sixteen children were recruited to validate the sentences. Reading speed in correct words per minute (CWPM) and standard length words per minute (SLWPM) was measured and errors were counted. Criteria based on reading speed and errors made in each sentence pair were used to exclude sentence pairs with more outlying characteristics, and to select the final group of sentence pairs. Forty-five sentence pairs were selected according to the elimination criteria. For adults, the average reading speed for the final sentences was 166 CWPM and 187 SLWPM and the average number of errors per sentence pair was 0.21. Childrens' average reading speed for the final group of sentences was 61 CWPM and 72 SLWPM. Their average error rate was 1.71. The reliability analysis showed that the final 45 sentence pairs are highly comparable. They will be used in constructing an Arabic short duration continuous text reading chart. Copyright © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Costs of conventional radical radiotherapy versus continuous hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (CHART) in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer or carcinoma of the bronchus. Medical Research Council CHART Steering Committee.

Science.gov (United States)

Coyle, D; Drummond, M F

1997-01-01

The objective of this study was to compare the costs of treatment with continuous hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (CHART) and those of conventional radiotherapy for patients with (1) head and neck cancer and (2) carcinoma of the bronchus. The study was conducted concurrently with two multicentre randomized controlled trials. Data were collected on the use of hospital and community service resources and patients' travel for treatment. Data on resource use up to 3 months after entry to the study were available for 526 head and neck patients (314 receiving CHART and 212 conventional therapy) and 284 bronchus patients (175 CHART and 109 conventional therapy). For patients with head and neck cancer, CHART cost Pounds 1092 (P hostel facilities. The results of this cost analysis will help to facilitate a decision about whether the benefits of CHART, as determined by the clinical trials, are worth the additional costs of hospital-based resource use. The collection of detailed patient-specific resource-use data from a number of centres allows the determination of ways for reducing the cost differential between therapies and making CHART a more cost effective treatment alternative.

Inaccurate Dental Charting in an Audit of 1128 General Dental Practice Records.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Nathan L; Jephcote, Victoria E L

2017-03-01

Fourteen dentists at different practices in the UK assessed the dental charts of 1128 patients who were new to the dentist but not new to the practice; 44% of the dental charts were found to be inaccurate. Inaccuracy of the individual practice-based charts ranged between 16% for the best performing practices to 83% for the worst: 5% of dental charts had too many teeth charted and 5% had too few teeth charted; 13% of charts had missed amalgam restorations and 18% had missed tooth-coloured restorations; 5% of charts had amalgam restorations recorded but with the surfaces incorrect (eg an MO restoration charted but a DO restoration actually present); 9% of charts had tooth-coloured restoration surfaces incorrectly recorded. For 7.5% of charts, amalgams were charted but not actually present. Other inaccuracies were also noted. The authors reinforce the requirements of the GDC, the advice of defence organizations, and the forensic importance of accurate dental charts. Clinical relevance: Dental charting forms part of the patient’s dental records, and the GDC requires dentists to maintain complete and accurate dental records.

BED-time charts and their application to the problems of interruptions in external beam radiotherapy treatments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sinclair, Judith A.; Oates, Jason P.; Dale, Roger G.

1999-01-01

Purpose: The use of radiobiological modelling to examine the likely consequences of interruptions to radiotherapy schedules and to assess various compensatory measures. Methods and Materials: An effect-time graphical display, the BED-time chart, has been developed using the linear-quadratic (LQ) model. This is used to examine the effects on tumour and normal tissues of treatment interruption scenarios representative of clinical situations. The mathematical criteria governing successful salvage have also been drafted and applied to typical situations. Results: The successful salvage of an interrupted treatment is dependent on a number of interacting factors and the method presented here can be used to examine the trade-offs that exist. Although the mathematics may be complex, it is shown that the dilemmas posed by an interrupted treatment may be more easily appreciated with reference to BED-time charts. These may therefore have a useful role as a teaching aid for portraying a wider variety of radiotherapy problems and also in the documentation of interruptions to treatment and the measures taken to compensate for them. Conclusions: Interruptions to radiotherapy regimes are undesirable and compensatory measures need to be initiated as soon as possible after the gap, with a view to completing the amended treatment within the originally prescribed treatment time. Adequate compensation is particularly difficult for long gaps and gaps which occur towards the end of the scheduled treatment. Modelling exercises can help establish guidelines on the available windows of opportunity

Memory-type control charts for monitoring the process dispersion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abbas, N.; Riaz, M.; Does, R.J.M.M.

2014-01-01

Control charts have been broadly used for monitoring the process mean and dispersion. Cumulative sum (CUSUM) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts are memory control charts as they utilize the past information in setting up the control structure. This makes CUSUM and

National Forecast Charts

Science.gov (United States)

code. Press enter or select the go button to submit request Local forecast by "City, St" or Prediction Center on Twitter NCEP Quarterly Newsletter WPC Home Analyses and Forecasts National Forecast to all federal, state, and local government web resources and services. National Forecast Charts

HydroHillChart – Pelton module. Software used to Calculate the Hill Chart of the Pelton Hydraulic Turbines

OpenAIRE

Dorian Nedelcu; Adelina Bostan; Florin Peris-Bendu

2015-01-01

The paper presents the HydroHillChart - Pelton module application, used to calculate the hill chart of the Pelton hydraulic turbine models, by processing the data measured on the stand. In addition, the tools offered by the application such as: interface, menu, input data, numerical and graphical results, etc. are described.

Second-generation mobile satellite system. A conceptual design and trade-off study

Science.gov (United States)

Sue, M. K.; Park, Y. H.

1985-01-01

In recent years, interest has grown in the mobile satellite (MSAT) system, a satellite-based communications system capable of providing integrated voice and data services to a large number of users. To explore the potential of a commercial mobile satellite system (MSS) beyond the horizon of the first generation, using technologies of the 1990's and to assist MSAT-X in directing its efforts, a conceptual design has been performed for a second-generation system to be launched around the mid-1990's. The design goal is to maximize the number of satellite channels and/or minimize the overall life-cycle cost, subject to the constraint of utilizing a commercial satellite bus with minimum modifications. To provide an optimal design, a series of trade-offs are performed, including antenna sizing, feed configurations, and interference analysis. Interference is a serious problem for MSAT and often an overlapping feed design is required to reduce interbeam interference. The trade-off studies will show that a simple non-overlapping feed is sufficient for the second-generation system, thus avoiding the need for the complicated beam-forming network that is associated with the overlapping feed designs. In addition, a system that operates at L-band, an alternative frequency band that is being considered by some for possible MSAT applications, is also presented.

Do Managers Face a Performance Trade-off?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Maria Falk

2017-01-01

equity, accountability, and procedural justice. However, our knowledge of whether such trade-offs exist is scarce. Using an administrative 10-year panel data set of Danish public schools and principals, this paper analyzes trade-offs between production performance (measured by student performance...... and student pass rate) and process performance (measured by equity, accountability, and procedural justice). Results show no evidence of trade-offs. In contrast, principals who succeed in raising student performance generally also succeed in securing high pass rates, high equity, high accountability, and high...... procedural justice. These results suggest that managers who are able to secure high performance on one dimension of performance will likely also be high performing on other performance dimensions....

Parent-offspring conflict and the genetic trade-offs shaping parental investment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kölliker, Mathias; Boos, Stefan; Wong, Janine W Y; Röllin, Lilian; Stucki, Dimitri; Raveh, Shirley; Wu, Min; Meunier, Joël

2015-04-16

The genetic conflict between parents and their offspring is a cornerstone of kin selection theory and the gene-centred view of evolution, but whether it actually occurs in natural systems remains an open question. Conflict operates only if parenting is driven by genetic trade-offs between offspring performance and the parent's ability to raise additional offspring, and its expression critically depends on the shape of these trade-offs. Here we investigate the occurrence and nature of genetic conflict in an insect with maternal care, the earwig Forficula auricularia. Specifically, we test for a direct response to experimental selection on female future reproduction and correlated responses in current offspring survival, developmental rate and growth. The results demonstrate genetic trade-offs that differ in shape before and after hatching. Our study not only provides direct evidence for parent-offspring conflict but also highlights that conflict is not inevitable and critically depends on the genetic trade-offs shaping parental investment.

A Goal Oriented Approach for Modeling and Analyzing Security Trade-Offs

Science.gov (United States)

Elahi, Golnaz; Yu, Eric

In designing software systems, security is typically only one design objective among many. It may compete with other objectives such as functionality, usability, and performance. Too often, security mechanisms such as firewalls, access control, or encryption are adopted without explicit recognition of competing design objectives and their origins in stakeholder interests. Recently, there is increasing acknowledgement that security is ultimately about trade-offs. One can only aim for "good enough" security, given the competing demands from many parties. In this paper, we examine how conceptual modeling can provide explicit and systematic support for analyzing security trade-offs. After considering the desirable criteria for conceptual modeling methods, we examine several existing approaches for dealing with security trade-offs. From analyzing the limitations of existing methods, we propose an extension to the i* framework for security trade-off analysis, taking advantage of its multi-agent and goal orientation. The method was applied to several case studies used to exemplify existing approaches.

The making of Andersen’s liquefaction chart

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sabaliauskas, Tomas; Ibsen, Lars Bo

Andersen’s chart (Andersen & Berre, 1999) is a graphical method of observing cyclic soil response. It allows observing soil response to various stress amplitudes that can lead to liquefaction, excess plastic deformation stabilizing soil response.The process of obtaining the original chart has been...

47 CFR 73.699 - TV engineering charts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false TV engineering charts. 73.699 Section 73.699 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES Television Broadcast Stations § 73.699 TV engineering charts. This section consists of the following Figures...

Chart of nuclides relating to neutron activation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okada, Minoru

1981-09-01

This chart is for frequent use in the prediction of the product species of neutron activation. The first edition of the chart has been made in 1976 after the repeated trial preparation. It has the following good points. (1) Any letter in chart is as large as one can read easily. [This condition has been obtained by the selection of items to be shown in chart. They are the name (the symbol of element, mass number, and half-life) of nuclide or of isomer, and the type of decay.]. (2) Decay product has been shown indirectly for branchings with two-step decay via short-lived daughter in an excited state. [This matter has been realized by use of the new mode of indication.] (3) Nuclides shown in chart are (a) naturally occurring nuclides and (b) nuclides formed from naturally occurring nuclides through one of the following reactions: (n, γ), (n, n'), (n, p), (n, α), (n, 2n), (n, pn), (n, 3n), (n, αn), (n, t), (n, 3 He), (n, 2p), and (n, γ)(n, γ). In the revision of the first edition, some modes of indication have become a little simpler, and the isomers of shorter half-lives (0.1 - 1 μs) have been added. (author)

A comparison of carbon allocation schemes: On the equity-efficiency tradeoff

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pan, Xunzhang; Teng, Fei; Wang, Gehua

2014-01-01

In the long-term stabilization targets of greenhouse gases concentrations, various carbon emission rights allocation schemes have been proposed. To compare and evaluate them, the most essential is the equity-efficiency tradeoff. This paper measures the equity and the efficiency in the global rather than the narrower national perspective. Specifically, the equity of the first allocation is quantified by the carbon Gini coefficient defined by per capita cumulative emission, and the economic efficiency to accomplish obligations is described with the discounted global abatement costs. Under 20 key allocation schemes, the numerical comparison on the equity-efficiency tradeoff side is carried out through the Equitable Access to Sustainable Development model. Our studies indicate that the equity and the efficiency of future emission space allocation approximately show a three-stage relationship. - Highlights: • The equity-efficiency tradeoff among 20 key allocation schemes is carried out. • Both the equity and the efficiency are measured in the global perspective. • The Equitable Access to Sustainable Development model is adopted as the study tool. • A practical trade framework is indispensable to efficiently address climate change. • The equity and the efficiency generally show a three-stage tradeoff relationship

Nuclear industry chart

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1975-01-01

As part of a survey on Switzerland a pull-out organisation chart is presented of the nuclear industry showing Swiss government bodies and industrial concerns. Their interests, connections with each other and their associations with international and other national organizations and firms are indicated. (U.K.)

HydroHillChart – Pelton module. Software used to Calculate the Hill Chart of the Pelton Hydraulic Turbines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dorian Nedelcu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the HydroHillChart - Pelton module application, used to calculate the hill chart of the Pelton hydraulic turbine models, by processing the data measured on the stand. In addition, the tools offered by the application such as: interface, menu, input data, numerical and graphical results, etc. are described.

Trade-Off and Synergy among Ecosystem Services in the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Region of China.

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Keyu; Li, Jing; Yang, Xiaonan

2015-11-03

Natural ecosystems provide society with important goods and services. With rapidly increasing populations and excessive utilization of natural resources, humans have been enhancing the production of some services at the expense of others. Although the need for certain trade-offs between conservation and development is urgent, having only a small number of efficient methods to assess such trade-offs has impeded progress. This study focuses on the evaluation of ecosystem services under different land use schemes. It reveals the spatial and temporal distributions of and changes in ecosystem services. Based on a correlation rate model and distribution mapping, the trade-offs and synergies of these ecosystem services can be found. Here, we also describe a new simple approach to quantify the relationships of every trade-off and synergy. The results show that all ecosystem services possess trade-offs and synergies in the study area. The trend of improving carbon sequestration and water interception indicate that these key ecosystem services have the strongest synergy. And the decrease in regional agricultural production and other services, except water yield, may be considered as trade-offs. The synergy between water yield and agricultural production was the most significant, while the trade-off between water interception and carbon sequestration was the most apparent, according to our interaction quantification model. The results of this study have implications for planning and monitoring the future management of natural capital and ecosystem services, and can be integrated into land use decision-making.

Trade-Off and Synergy among Ecosystem Services in the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Region of China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keyu Qin

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Natural ecosystems provide society with important goods and services. With rapidly increasing populations and excessive utilization of natural resources, humans have been enhancing the production of some services at the expense of others. Although the need for certain trade-offs between conservation and development is urgent, having only a small number of efficient methods to assess such trade-offs has impeded progress. This study focuses on the evaluation of ecosystem services under different land use schemes. It reveals the spatial and temporal distributions of and changes in ecosystem services. Based on a correlation rate model and distribution mapping, the trade-offs and synergies of these ecosystem services can be found. Here, we also describe a new simple approach to quantify the relationships of every trade-off and synergy. The results show that all ecosystem services possess trade-offs and synergies in the study area. The trend of improving carbon sequestration and water interception indicate that these key ecosystem services have the strongest synergy. And the decrease in regional agricultural production and other services, except water yield, may be considered as trade-offs. The synergy between water yield and agricultural production was the most significant, while the trade-off between water interception and carbon sequestration was the most apparent, according to our interaction quantification model. The results of this study have implications for planning and monitoring the future management of natural capital and ecosystem services, and can be integrated into land use decision-making.

46 CFR 232.3 - Chart of accounts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... stated in any revision to generally accepted accounting principles, the meaning of the latter shall... UNIFORM FINANCIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS § 232.3 Chart of accounts. (a) Purpose of accounts. A contractor shall use this chart of accounts as a guide for preparing the financial statements and for other...

33 CFR 164.33 - Charts and publications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

...) PORTS AND WATERWAYS SAFETY NAVIGATION SAFETY REGULATIONS § 164.33 Charts and publications. (a) Each vessel must have the following: (1) Marine charts of the area to be transited, published by the National... tables published by private entities using data provided by the National Ocean Service. (ii) Tidal...

21 CFR 886.1150 - Visual acuity chart.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Visual acuity chart. 886.1150 Section 886.1150 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES OPHTHALMIC DEVICES Diagnostic Devices § 886.1150 Visual acuity chart. (a) Identification...

Robust Control Charts for Time Series Data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Croux, C.; Gelper, S.; Mahieu, K.

2010-01-01

This article presents a control chart for time series data, based on the one-step- ahead forecast errors of the Holt-Winters forecasting method. We use robust techniques to prevent that outliers affect the estimation of the control limits of the chart. Moreover, robustness is important to maintain

Sticker charts: a method for improving adherence to treatment of chronic diseases in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Luersen, Kara; Davis, Scott A; Kaplan, Sebastian G; Abel, Troy D; Winchester, Woodrow W; Feldman, Steven R

2012-01-01

Poor adherence is a common problem and may be an underlying cause of poor clinical outcomes. In pediatric populations, positive reinforcement techniques such as sticker charts may increase motivation to adhere to treatment regimens. To review the use of sticker charts to improve adherence in children with chronic disease, Medline and PsycINFO searches were conducted using the key words "positive reinforcement OR behavior therapy" and "adherence OR patient compliance" and "child." Randomized controlled retrospective cohort or single-subject-design studies were selected. Studies reporting adherence to the medical treatment of chronic disease in children using positive reinforcement techniques were included in the analysis. The systematic search was supplemented by identifying additional studies identified through the reference lists and authors of the initial articles found. Positive reinforcement techniques such as sticker charts increase adherence to medical treatment regimens. In several studies, this effect was maintained for months after the initial intervention. Better adherence correlated with better clinical outcomes in some, but not all, studies. Few studies examining the use of sticker charts were identified. Although single-subject-design studies are useful in establishing the effect of a behavioral intervention, larger randomized controlled trials would help determine the precise efficacy of sticker chart interventions. Adherence to medical treatments in children can be increased using sticker charts or other positive reinforcement techniques. This may be an effective means to encourage children with atopic dermatitis to apply their medications and improve clinical outcomes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Environmental trade-offs of tunnels vs cut-and-cover subways

Science.gov (United States)

Walton, M.

1978-01-01

Heavy construction projects in cities entail two kinds of cost - internal cost, which can be defined in terms of payments from one set of parties to another, and external cost, which is the cost borne by the community at large as the result of disutilities entailed in construction and operation. Environmental trade-offs involve external costs, which are commonly difficult to measure. Cut-and-cover subway construction probably entails higher external and internal cost than deep tunnel construction in many urban geological environments, but uncertainty concerning the costs and environmental trade-offs of tunneling leads to limited and timid use of tunneling by American designers. Thus uncertainty becomes a major trade-off which works against tunneling. The reverse is true in Sweden after nearly 30 years of subway construction. Econometric methods for measuring external costs exist in principle, but are limited in application. Economic theory based on market pressure does not address the real problem of urban environmental trade-offs. Nevertheless, the problem of uncertainty can be addressed by comparative studies of estimated and as-built costs of cut-and-cover vs tunnel projects and a review of environmental issues associated with such construction. Such a study would benefit the underground construction industry and the design of transportation systems. It would also help solve an aspect of the urban problem. ?? 1978.

Validation of Computed Radiography (CR) Exposure Chart for Stainless Steel and Aluminium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nassir, M.A.; Khairul Anuar Mohd Salleh; Arshad Yassin

2015-01-01

Computed radiography (CR) is a technique that is currently used to complement the conventional radiography in Non Destructive Testing (NDT). With CR, phosphorous base imaging plate (IP) is used to acquire digital radiographic images. The degree of absorption by the IP is proportional to the intensity of the dose received. The IP stores latent image which subsequently digitized by the CR reader. Prior to radiography exposure, the radiation dosage is determined by referring to the exposure chart. Exposure chart is one of the most important tools for achieving acceptable quality radiographs. Therefore, it is important to have a reliable and accurate exposure chart. The aim of this study is to test and validate exposure charts that were developed based on the statistical analysis of the digital radiographic grey values. The charts produced were for stainless steel and aluminum. According to EN 14784-2:2005, acceptable normalized signal-to-noise ratio (SNR N ) for testing class A and class B shall have minimum 70 and 120 respectively. (author)

Adherence to the Australian National Inpatient Medication Chart: the efficacy of a uniform national drug chart on improving prescription error.

Science.gov (United States)

Atik, Alp

2013-10-01

In 2006, the National Inpatient Medication Chart (NIMC) was introduced as a uniform medication chart in Australian public hospitals with the aim of reducing prescription error. The rate of regular medication prescription error in the NIMC was assessed. Data was collected using the NIMC Audit Tool and analyzed with respect to causes of error per medication prescription and per medication chart. The following prescription requirements were assessed: date, generic drug name, route of administration, dose, frequency, administration time, indication, signature, name and contact details. A total of 1877 medication prescriptions were reviewed. 1653 prescriptions (88.07%) had no contact number, 1630 (86.84%) did not have an indication, 1230 and 675 (35.96%) used a drug's trade name. Within 261 medication charts, all had at least one entry, which did not include an indication, 258 (98.85%) had at least one entry, which did not have a contact number and 200 (76.63%) had at least one entry, which used a trade name. The introduction of a uniform national medication chart is a positive step, but more needs to be done to address the root causes of prescription error. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

32 CFR 728.93 - Chart of adjuncts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Chart of adjuncts. 728.93 Section 728.93 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE FOR ELIGIBLE PERSONS AT NAVY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT FACILITIES Adjuncts to Medical Care § 728.93 Chart of...

Robust control charts in statistical process control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nazir, H.Z.

2014-01-01

The presence of outliers and contaminations in the output of the process highly affects the performance of the design structures of commonly used control charts and hence makes them of less practical use. One of the solutions to deal with this problem is to use control charts which are robust

Crude versus case-mix-adjusted control charts for safety monitoring in thyroid surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Duclos, Antoine; Voirin, Nicolas; Touzet, Sandrine; Soardo, Pietro; Schott, Anne-Marie; Colin, Cyrille; Peix, Jean-Louis; Lifante, Jean-Christophe

2010-12-01

Patient-safety monitoring based on health-outcome indicators can lead to misinterpretation of changes in case mix. This study aimed to compare the detection of indicator variations between crude and case-mix-adjusted control charts using data from thyroid surgeries. The study population included each patient who underwent thyroid surgery in a teaching hospital from January 2006 to May 2008. Patient safety was monitored according to two indicators, which are immediately recognisable postoperative complications: recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy and hypocalcaemia. Each indicator was plotted monthly on a p-control chart using exact limits. The weighted κ statistic was calculated to measure the agreement between crude and case-mix-adjusted control charts. We evaluated the outcomes of 1405 thyroidectomies. The overall proportions of immediate recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy and hypocalcaemia were 7.4% and 20.5%, respectively. The proportion of agreement in the detection of indicator variations between the crude and case-mix-adjusted p-charts was 95% (95% CI 85% to 99%). The strength of the agreement was κ = 0.76 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.98). The single special cause of variation that occurred was only detected by the case-mix-adjusted p-chart. There was good agreement in the detection of indicator variations between crude and case-mix-adjusted p-charts. The joint use of crude and adjusted charts seems to be a reasonable approach to increase the accuracy of interpretation of variations in outcome indicators.

Improvement of WWW chart of the nuclides interface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okamoto, Tsutomu; Minato, Futoshi; Iwamoto, Osamu; Koura, Hiroyuki

2016-03-01

The booklet 'chart of the nuclides' is issued every 4 years since 1976 from Nuclear Data Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The chart of the nuclides for WWW (World Wide Web) was developed in 1999 in order to be available from the Internet browser. The Internet connection speeds, browser functions and JavaScript libraries has, however, progressed at present compared with the Internet technology in those days. In connection with the release of the 2014 edition of the chart of the nuclides, the interface of the WWW chart of the nuclides has been improved by introducing new Internet technologies aiming at enhancing convenience on accessibilities via browsers. We introduced a scrolling screen that would make capabilities of easy screen movement on a map with the addition of the drag scrolling function. Considering smart phone access, the light-weight edition which introduced automatic switch was prepared. The new system results in reduction in access time and usefulness in mobile environment. The method of making figures of the chart was reconsidered due to addition of new decay schemes to the 2014 edition. SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) was adopted so as to make figures easily. It is concluded that the accessibilities of WWW chart of the nuclides are substantially improved from the previous version by introducing the new technologies. (author)

Dental Charting. Learning Activities, Unit Tests, Progress Chart, and Work Sheet.

Science.gov (United States)

Texas Univ., Austin. Center for Occupational Curriculum Development.

These materials are part of a series dealing with skills and information needed by students in dental assisting. The individualized student materials are suitable for classroom, laboratory, or cooperative training programs. These student materials, designed to be used with the Dental Charting Student Manual, consist of learning activities, unit…

Weldability charts for constructional steels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ion, J C; Ashby, M F

2012-01-01

The weldability of materials is still a poorly understood concept; a quantitative assessment remains elusive. The variables associated with welding are reduced here into two groups - processing parameters and material properties - from which two characteristic indices are defined and used as the basis of weldability charts. For the case of constructional steels, a carbon equivalent characterises both heat affected zone hardenability and the maximum hardness developed after solid state phase transformations. The welding process is characterised by its energy input. A mathematical model is used to establish relationships between the indices, which are displayed on charts as contours of microstructure and hardness.

CDC Child Growth Charts

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — CDC child growth charts consist of a series of percentile curves that illustrate the distribution of selected body measurements in U.S. children. Pediatric growth...

Visualizing a Procedure with Nassi-Schneiderman Charts.

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Edmond H.

1990-01-01

Argues that Nassi-Schneiderman (NS) charts, when used to diagram human procedures, can eliminate prose ambiguities. Asserts that these devices provide most of the advantages of decision tables and trees. Suggests using NS charts in testing the logic and completeness of traditional procedures, or even in place of many traditional publications. (SG)

Development and clinical application of a color pediatric visual acuity chart

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shu-Guo Yin

2014-12-01

Full Text Available AIM: To introduce a new color pediatric visual acuity chart and its clinical application.METHODS:The color pediatric visual acuity chart was designed based on principle of visual angle. The optotype on the color chart had graphics. The progression rate of optotype size between 2 lines was 10(101/2 and 1.2589. A regular geometric progression of optotype sizes and distribution was employed to arrange 8 lines with 11 optotype on the color chart. The testing distance was 3m. The visual acuity score could be recorded as logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution notation or decimal notation. The reliability of naked distant measurements with this new chart was tested in one eye of 100 children(4 ～6 years oldtaking the Chinese national standard logarithm visual acuity chart standard. RESULTS: The color pediatric visual acuity chart and logarithmic chart controls, visual acuity test results that in the two groups had no significant difference(t=1.2671, P>0.05. Two sets of vision data existed positive correlation(r=0.924, PCONCLUSION:Children are easier to accept used new color pediatric visual acuity chart to inspect vision. New chart is reliability and apply to children's vision screening.

Design chart of optimum current leads

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishibashi, K.; Katase, A.; Maechata, K.

1986-01-01

The heat flow through current leads is one of major heat losses in a superconducting magnet system. To reduce the heat flow, current leads have been optimized in a complex way by varying such quantities as conductor length, cross-sectional area, heat transfer coefficient and cooling perimeter. Therefore, this study is made to simplify the design procedure, and to explain the general characteristics of the current leads. A new combined parameter which takes turbulent flow into account is introduced in the present work to enable us to draw a useful design chart. This chart gives, to a wide variety of current leads, detailed information about the optimum design-viz. geometric dimensions, heat flow into liquid helium, and pressure drop of the cooling gas. Change of the cross-sectional area along the conductor may improve the current lead performance. The effects of this area change are examined in detail

Time-Space Trade-Offs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pagter, Jakob Illeborg

. The area of time-space trade-offs deals with both upper and lower bounds and both are interesting, theoretically as well as practically. The viewpoint of this dissertation is theoretical, but we believe that some of our results can find applications in practice as well. The last four years has witnessed...... perspective hierarchical memory layout models are the most interesting. Such models are called external memory models, in contrast to the internal memory models discussed above. Despite the fact that space might be of great relevance when solving practical problems on real computers, no theoretical model...... capturing space (and time simultaneously) has been defined. We introduce such a model and use it to prove so-called IOspace trade-offs for Sorting. Building on the abovementioned techniques for time-space efficient internal memory Sorting, we develop the first IO-space efficient external memory Sorting...

Culture impacts the magnitude of the emotion-induced memory trade-off effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Gutchess, Angela; Garner, Lauryn; Ligouri, Laura; Konuk, Ayse Isilay; Boduroglu, Aysecan

2017-10-04

The present study assessed the extent to which culture impacts the emotion-induced memory trade-off effect. This trade-off effect occurs because emotional items are better remembered than neutral ones, but this advantage comes at the expense of memory for backgrounds such that neutral backgrounds are remembered worse when they occurred with an emotional item than with a neutral one. Cultures differ in their prioritisation of focal object versus contextual background information, with Westerners focusing more on objects and Easterners focusing more on backgrounds. Americans, a Western culture, and Turks, an Eastern-influenced culture, incidentally encoded positive, negative, and neutral items placed against neutral backgrounds, and then completed a surprise memory test with the items and backgrounds tested separately. Results revealed a reduced trade-off for Turks compared to Americans. Although both groups exhibited an emotional enhancement in item memory, Turks did not show a decrement in memory for backgrounds that had been paired with emotional items. These findings complement prior ones showing reductions in trade-off effects as a result of task instructions. Here, we suggest that a contextual-focus at the level of culture can mitigate trade-off effects in emotional memory.

Insights from life history theory for an explicit treatment of trade-offs in conservation biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Charpentier, Anne

2015-06-01

As economic and social contexts become more embedded within biodiversity conservation, it becomes obvious that resources are a limiting factor in conservation. This recognition is leading conservation scientists and practitioners to increasingly frame conservation decisions as trade-offs between conflicting societal objectives. However, this framing is all too often done in an intuitive way, rather than by addressing trade-offs explicitly. In contrast, the concept of trade-off is a keystone in evolutionary biology, where it has been investigated extensively. I argue that insights from evolutionary theory can provide methodological and theoretical support to evaluating and quantifying trade-offs in biodiversity conservation. I reviewed the diverse ways in which trade-offs have emerged within the context of conservation and how advances from evolutionary theory can help avoid the main pitfalls of an implicit approach. When studying both evolutionary trade-offs (e.g., reproduction vs. survival) and conservation trade-offs (e.g., biodiversity conservation vs. agriculture), it is crucial to correctly identify the limiting resource, hold constant the amount of this resource when comparing different scenarios, and choose appropriate metrics to quantify the extent to which the objectives have been achieved. Insights from studies in evolutionary theory also reveal how an inadequate selection of conservation solutions may result from considering suboptimal rather than optional solutions when examining whether a trade-off exits between 2 objectives. Furthermore, the shape of a trade-off curve (i.e., whether the relationship between 2 objectives follows a concave, convex, or linear form) is known to affect crucially the definition of optimal solutions in evolutionary biology and very likely affects decisions in biodiversity conservation planning too. This interface between evolutionary biology and biodiversity conservation can therefore provide methodological guidance to

Comparison of customised growth charts v. standard population

African Journals Online (AJOL)

pregnant diabetic population using population-based growth charts and customised growth charts. Methods. ... Of the patients, 44 had type 1, 66 type 2 and 173 gestational diabetes. The growth of .... with diabetic ketoacidosis, of whom one.

Finding charts for southern IRAS galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutherland, W.J.; Maddox, S.J.; Saunders, W.

1991-01-01

Using the APM Galaxy Survey, we have generated a collection of finding charts for 4614 sources with non-stellar colours in the IRAS Faint Source Catalogue south of δ= -17.5 o . Over 90 per cent of the sources are reliably identified with an optical object, and we provide 1-arcsec positions and B J magnitudes for these. We will provide paper copies of the charts on request, at a small charge to cover photocopying costs. (author)

The European chart of territorial planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

In this chapter the European chart of territorial planning is included. This European chart contains next chapters: Introduction; The mission of the territorial planning; The basic aims; Realization of aims of the territorial planning; The confirmation of the European co-operation. In the Appendix the Specific aims: (1) The village territory; (2) The urban territory; (3) The boundary territory; (4) The mountain territory; (5) The structurally weak territory; (6) The decaying territory; (7) The coastal territories and islands

Statistical process control charts for monitoring military injuries.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuh, Anna; Canham-Chervak, Michelle; Jones, Bruce H

2017-12-01

An essential aspect of an injury prevention process is surveillance, which quantifies and documents injury rates in populations of interest and enables monitoring of injury frequencies, rates and trends. To drive progress towards injury reduction goals, additional tools are needed. Statistical process control charts, a methodology that has not been previously applied to Army injury monitoring, capitalise on existing medical surveillance data to provide information to leadership about injury trends necessary for prevention planning and evaluation. Statistical process control Shewhart u-charts were created for 49 US Army installations using quarterly injury medical encounter rates, 2007-2015, for active duty soldiers obtained from the Defense Medical Surveillance System. Injuries were defined according to established military injury surveillance recommendations. Charts display control limits three standard deviations (SDs) above and below an installation-specific historical average rate determined using 28 data points, 2007-2013. Charts are available in Army strategic management dashboards. From 2007 to 2015, Army injury rates ranged from 1254 to 1494 unique injuries per 1000 person-years. Installation injury rates ranged from 610 to 2312 injuries per 1000 person-years. Control charts identified four installations with injury rates exceeding the upper control limits at least once during 2014-2015, rates at three installations exceeded the lower control limit at least once and 42 installations had rates that fluctuated around the historical mean. Control charts can be used to drive progress towards injury reduction goals by indicating statistically significant increases and decreases in injury rates. Future applications to military subpopulations, other health outcome metrics and chart enhancements are suggested. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Trait-fitness relationships determine how trade-off shapes affect species coexistence.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrlich, Elias; Becks, Lutz; Gaedke, Ursula

2017-12-01

Trade-offs between functional traits are ubiquitous in nature and can promote species coexistence depending on their shape. Classic theory predicts that convex trade-offs facilitate coexistence of specialized species with extreme trait values (extreme species) while concave trade-offs promote species with intermediate trait values (intermediate species). We show here that this prediction becomes insufficient when the traits translate non-linearly into fitness which frequently occurs in nature, e.g., an increasing length of spines reduces grazing losses only up to a certain threshold resulting in a saturating or sigmoid trait-fitness function. We present a novel, general approach to evaluate the effect of different trade-off shapes on species coexistence. We compare the trade-off curve to the invasion boundary of an intermediate species invading the two extreme species. At this boundary, the invasion fitness is zero. Thus, it separates trait combinations where invasion is or is not possible. The invasion boundary is calculated based on measurable trait-fitness relationships. If at least one of these relationships is not linear, the invasion boundary becomes non-linear, implying that convex and concave trade-offs not necessarily lead to different coexistence patterns. Therefore, we suggest a new ecological classification of trade-offs into extreme-favoring and intermediate-favoring which differs from a purely mathematical description of their shape. We apply our approach to a well-established model of an empirical predator-prey system with competing prey types facing a trade-off between edibility and half-saturation constant for nutrient uptake. We show that the survival of the intermediate prey depends on the convexity of the trade-off. Overall, our approach provides a general tool to make a priori predictions on the outcome of competition among species facing a common trade-off in dependence of the shape of the trade-off and the shape of the trait

Earth Observatory Satellite system definition study. Report no. 1: Orbit/launch vehicle tradeoff studies and recommendations

Science.gov (United States)

1974-01-01

A study was conducted to determine the recommended orbit for the Earth Observatory Satellite (EOS) Land Resources Mission. It was determined that a promising sun synchronous orbit is 366 nautical miles when using an instrument with a 100 nautical mile swath width. The orbit has a 17 day repeat cycle and a 14 nautical mile swath overlap. Payloads were developed for each mission, EOS A through F. For each mission, the lowest cost booster that was capable of lifting the payload to the EOS orbit was selected. The launch vehicles selected for the missions are identified on the basis of tradeoff studies and recommendations. The reliability aspects of the launch vehicles are analyzed.

An Exponentially Weighted Moving Average Control Chart for Bernoulli Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spliid, Henrik

2010-01-01

of the transformation is given and its limit for small values of p is derived. Control of high yield processes is discussed and the chart is shown to perform very well in comparison with both the most common alternative EWMA chart and the CUSUM chart. The construction and the use of the proposed EWMA chart......We consider a production process in which units are produced in a sequential manner. The units can, for example, be manufactured items or services, provided to clients. Each unit produced can be a failure with probability p or a success (non-failure) with probability (1-p). A novel exponentially...... weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart intended for surveillance of the probability of failure, p, is described. The chart is based on counting the number of non-failures produced between failures in combination with a variance-stabilizing transformation. The distribution function...

Great Lakes Ice Charts

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Charts show ice extent and concentration three times weekly during the ice season, for all lakes except Ontario, from the 1973/74 ice season through the 2001/2002...

Stakeholders' Responses to CSR Tradeoffs: When Other-Orientation and Trust Trump Material Self-Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Bridoux, Flore; Stofberg, Nicole; Den Hartog, Deanne

2016-01-01

When investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR), managers may strive for a win-win scenario where all stakeholders end up better off, but they may not always be able to avoid trading off stakeholders' interests. To provide guidance to managers who have to make tradeoffs, this study used a vignette-based experiment to explore stakeholders' intention to associate with a firm (i.e., buy from or become an employee) that trades off CSR directed at the stakeholders' own group (self-directed CSR) and CSR directed at another stakeholder group (other-directed CSR). Results show that stakeholders were not systematically more attracted to a firm that favors their own group over another stakeholder group. Specifically, stakeholders' other-orientation moderated their reaction to tradeoffs: stakeholders higher on other-orientation were willing to forego some material benefits to associate with a firm that treated suppliers in developing countries significantly better than its competitors, whereas stakeholders lower on other-orientation were more attracted to a firm favoring their own stakeholder group. Other-orientation also moderated reactions to tradeoffs involving the environment, although high CSR directed at the environment did not compensate for low self-directed CSR even for stakeholders higher on other-orientation. Second, the vignette study showed that trust mediated the relationship between tradeoffs and stakeholders' reactions. The study contributes first and foremost to the burgeoning literature on CSR tradeoffs and to the multimotive approach to CSR, which claims that other motives can drive stakeholders' reactions to CSR in addition to self-interest. First, it provides further evidence that studying CSR tradeoffs is important to understand both (prospective) employees' and customers' reactions to CSR-related activities. Second, it identifies other-orientation as a motive-related individual difference that explains heterogeneity in stakeholders' reactions to

Stakeholders' Responses to CSR Tradeoffs: When Other-Orientation and Trust Trump Material Self-Interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Bridoux, Flore; Stofberg, Nicole; Den Hartog, Deanne

2015-01-01

When investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR), managers may strive for a win-win scenario where all stakeholders end up better off, but they may not always be able to avoid trading off stakeholders' interests. To provide guidance to managers who have to make tradeoffs, this study used a vignette-based experiment to explore stakeholders' intention to associate with a firm (i.e., buy from or become an employee) that trades off CSR directed at the stakeholders' own group (self-directed CSR) and CSR directed at another stakeholder group (other-directed CSR). Results show that stakeholders were not systematically more attracted to a firm that favors their own group over another stakeholder group. Specifically, stakeholders' other-orientation moderated their reaction to tradeoffs: stakeholders higher on other-orientation were willing to forego some material benefits to associate with a firm that treated suppliers in developing countries significantly better than its competitors, whereas stakeholders lower on other-orientation were more attracted to a firm favoring their own stakeholder group. Other-orientation also moderated reactions to tradeoffs involving the environment, although high CSR directed at the environment did not compensate for low self-directed CSR even for stakeholders higher on other-orientation. Second, the vignette study showed that trust mediated the relationship between tradeoffs and stakeholders' reactions. The study contributes first and foremost to the burgeoning literature on CSR tradeoffs and to the multimotive approach to CSR, which claims that other motives can drive stakeholders' reactions to CSR in addition to self-interest. First, it provides further evidence that studying CSR tradeoffs is important to understand both (prospective) employees' and customers' reactions to CSR-related activities. Second, it identifies other-orientation as a motive-related individual difference that explains heterogeneity in stakeholders' reactions to

Stakeholders’ responses to CSR tradeoffs: When other-orientation and trust trump material self-interest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flore eBridoux

2016-01-01

Full Text Available When investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR, managers may strive for a win-win scenario where all stakeholders end up better off, but they may not always be able to avoid trading off stakeholders’ interests. To provide guidance to managers who have to make tradeoffs, this study used a vignette-based experiment to explore stakeholders’ intention to associate with a firm (i.e., buy from or become an employee that trades off CSR directed at the stakeholders’ own group (self-directed CSR and CSR directed at another stakeholder group (other-directed CSR. Results show that stakeholders were not systematically more attracted to a firm that favors their own group over another stakeholder group. Specifically, stakeholders’ other-orientation moderated their reaction to tradeoffs: stakeholders higher on other-orientation were willing to forego some material benefits to associate with a firm that treated suppliers in developing countries significantly better than its competitors, whereas stakeholders lower on other-orientation were more attracted to a firm favoring their own stakeholder group. Other-orientation also moderated reactions to tradeoffs involving the environment, although high CSR directed at the environment did not compensate for low self-directed CSR even for stakeholders higher on other-orientation. Second, the vignette study showed that trust mediated the relationship between tradeoffs and stakeholders’ reactions. The study contributes first and foremost to the burgeoning literature on CSR tradeoffs and to the multimotive approach to CSR, which claims that other motives can drive stakeholders’ reactions to CSR in addition to self-interest. First, it provides further evidence that studying CSR tradeoffs is important to understand both (prospective employees’ and customers’ reactions to CSR-related activities. Second, it identifies other-orientation as a motive-related individual difference that explains

SU-F-T-96: A New Paradigm of Weekly Chart Checking for Radiation Therapy Clinics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tan, J; Pompos, A; Jiang, S; Yan, Y

2016-01-01

Purpose: To put forth an innovative clinical paradigm for weekly chart checking so that treatment status is periodically checked accurately and efficiently. This study also aims to help optimize the chart checking clinical workflow in a busy radiation therapy clinic. Methods: It is mandated by the Texas Administrative code to check patient charts of radiation therapy once a week or every five fractions, however it varies drastically among institutions in terms of when and how it is done. Some do it every day, but a lot of efforts are wasted on opening ineligible charts; some do it on a fixed day but the distribution of intervals between subsequent checks is not optimal. To establish an optimal chart checking procedure, a new paradigm was developed to achieve 1) charts are checked more accurately and more efficiently; 2) charts are checked on optimal days without any miss; 3) workload is evened out throughout a week when multiple physicists are involved. All active charts will be accessed by querying the R&V system. Priority is assigned to each chart based on the number of days before the next due date followed by sorting and workload distribution steps. New charts are also taken into account when distributing the workload so it is reasonably even throughout the week. Results: Our clinical workflow became more streamlined and smooth. In addition, charts get checked in a more timely fashion so that errors would get caught earlier should they occur. Conclusion: We developed a new weekly chart checking diagram. It helps physicists check charts in a timely manner, saves their time in busy clinics, and consequently reduces possible errors.

SU-F-T-96: A New Paradigm of Weekly Chart Checking for Radiation Therapy Clinics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tan, J; Pompos, A; Jiang, S; Yan, Y [UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: To put forth an innovative clinical paradigm for weekly chart checking so that treatment status is periodically checked accurately and efficiently. This study also aims to help optimize the chart checking clinical workflow in a busy radiation therapy clinic. Methods: It is mandated by the Texas Administrative code to check patient charts of radiation therapy once a week or every five fractions, however it varies drastically among institutions in terms of when and how it is done. Some do it every day, but a lot of efforts are wasted on opening ineligible charts; some do it on a fixed day but the distribution of intervals between subsequent checks is not optimal. To establish an optimal chart checking procedure, a new paradigm was developed to achieve 1) charts are checked more accurately and more efficiently; 2) charts are checked on optimal days without any miss; 3) workload is evened out throughout a week when multiple physicists are involved. All active charts will be accessed by querying the R&V system. Priority is assigned to each chart based on the number of days before the next due date followed by sorting and workload distribution steps. New charts are also taken into account when distributing the workload so it is reasonably even throughout the week. Results: Our clinical workflow became more streamlined and smooth. In addition, charts get checked in a more timely fashion so that errors would get caught earlier should they occur. Conclusion: We developed a new weekly chart checking diagram. It helps physicists check charts in a timely manner, saves their time in busy clinics, and consequently reduces possible errors.

Control Charts for Processes with an Inherent Between-Sample Variation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Jarošová

2018-06-01

Full Text Available A number of processes to which statistical control is applied are subject to various effects that cause random changes in the mean value. The removal of these fluctuations is either technologically impossible or economically disadvantageous under current conditions. The frequent occurrence of signals in the Shewhart chart due to these fluctuations is then undesirable and therefore the conventional control limits need to be extended. Several approaches to the design of the control charts with extended limits are presented in the paper and applied on the data from a real production process. The methods assume samples of size greater than 1. The performance of the charts is examined using the operating characteristic and average run length. The study reveals that in many cases, reducing the risk of false alarms is insufficient.

Boldness predicts an individual's position along an exploration-exploitation foraging trade-off.

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, Samantha C; Pinaud, David; Weimerskirch, Henri

2017-09-01

Individuals do not have complete information about the environment and therefore they face a trade-off between gathering information (exploration) and gathering resources (exploitation). Studies have shown individual differences in components of this trade-off but how stable these strategies are in a population and the intrinsic drivers of these differences is not well understood. Top marine predators are expected to experience a particularly strong trade-off as many species have large foraging ranges and their prey often have a patchy distribution. This environment leads these species to exhibit pronounced exploration and exploitation phases but differences between individuals are poorly resolved. Personality differences are known to be important in foraging behaviour but also in the trade-off between exploration and exploitation. Here we test whether personality predicts an individual exploration-exploitation strategy using wide ranging wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) as a model system. Using GPS tracking data from 276 wandering albatrosses, we extract foraging parameters indicative of exploration (searching) and exploitation (foraging) and show that foraging effort, time in patch and size of patch are strongly correlated, demonstrating these are indicative of an exploration-exploitation (EE) strategy. Furthermore, we show these are consistent within individuals and appear stable in the population, with no reproductive advantage. The searching and foraging behaviour of bolder birds placed them towards the exploration end of the trade-off, whereas shy birds showed greater exploitation. This result provides a mechanism through which individual foraging strategies may emerge. Age and sex affected components of the trade-off, but not the trade-off itself, suggesting these factors may drive behavioural compensation to maintain resource acquisition and this was supported by the evidence that there were no fitness consequence of any EE trait nor the trade-off

Chesapeake Highway Advisories Routing Traffic, Chart, Business Plan

Science.gov (United States)

1996-10-01

THE BUSINESS PLAN IS ORGANIZED INTO FOUR MAJOR SECTIONS. THE FIRST SECTION IS INTRODUCTORY IN NATURE AND PROVIDES BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON ITS AND THE CHART PROGRAM IN MARYLAND. IT INCLUDES THE CHART MISSION, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES, AS WELL AS OVERVIE...

PROSPECTIVE EVALUATION OF VISUAL ACUITY AGREEMENT BETWEEN STANDARD EARLY TREATMENT DIABETIC RETINOPATHY STUDY CHART AND A HANDHELD EQUIVALENT IN EYES WITH RETINAL PATHOLOGY.

Science.gov (United States)

Rahimy, Ehsan; Reddy, Sahitya; DeCroos, Francis Char; Khan, M Ali; Boyer, David S; Gupta, Omesh P; Regillo, Carl D; Haller, Julia A

2015-08-01

To evaluate the visual acuity agreement between a standard back-illuminated Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) chart and a handheld internally illuminated ETDRS chart. Two-center prospective study. Seventy patients (134 eyes) with retinal pathology were enrolled between October 2012 and August 2013. Visual acuity was measured using both the ETDRS chart and the handheld device by masked independent examiners after best protocol refraction. Examination was performed in the same room under identical illumination and testing conditions. The mean number of letters seen was 63.0 (standard deviation: 19.8 letters) and 61.2 letters (standard deviation: 19.1 letters) for the ETDRS chart and handheld device, respectively. Mean difference per eye between the ETDRS and handheld device was 1.8 letters. A correlation coefficient (r) of 0.95 demonstrated a positive linear correlation between ETDRS chart and handheld device measured acuities. Intraclass correlation coefficient was performed to assess the reproducibility of the measurements made by different observers measuring the same quantity and was calculated to be 0.95 (95% confidence interval: 0.93-0.96). Agreement was independent of retinal disease. The strong correlation between measured visual acuity using the ETDRS and handheld equivalent suggests that they may be used interchangeably, with accurate measurements. Potential benefits of this device include convenience and portability, as well as the ability to assess ETDRS visual acuity without a dedicated testing lane.

The cricket and the ant : Organizational trade-offs in changing environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peli, Gabor; Bruggeman, Jeroen

2007-01-01

Organizations face trade-offs when they adopt strategies in changing resource environments. The type of trade-off depends on the type of resource change. This paper offers an organizational trade-off model for quantitative resource changes. We call it the "Cricket and Ant" (CA) model, because the

APLIKASI GANTT CHART PADA ALGORITMA PENJADUALAN PROSES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sri Handayani

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Operating system is a compulsory subject taken in the Information Technology Student FTIK - USM . In the discussion of the material management process of the operating systems course , there are some scheduling algorithm which processes need to be understood and any existing process scheduling algorithm presented in the form of Grantt Charts . Because of the difficulties experienced by students in understanding the process of scheduling algorithms by an Operating System become researchers inspiration to conduct this study to make an application Grantt Chart.. This study uses a waterfall system development , where the flow will follow the research the phase in waterfall . This application will be built using Visual Basic 6 .  The purpose of this research is to produce an application of learning are presented in graphical form to facilitate students in understanding the material scheduling process performed by an operating system so that students can also understand how a computer can do multiple processes simultaneously.

Simbol-X Background Minimization: Mirror Spacecraft Passive Shielding Trade-off Study

Science.gov (United States)

Fioretti, V.; Malaguti, G.; Bulgarelli, A.; Palumbo, G. G. C.; Ferri, A.; Attinà, P.

2009-05-01

The present work shows a quantitative trade-off analysis of the Simbol-X Mirror Spacecraft (MSC) passive shielding, in the phase space of the various parameters: mass budget, dimension, geometry and composition. A simplified physical (and geometrical) model of the sky screen, implemented by means of a GEANT4 simulation, has been developed to perform a performance-driven mass optimization and evaluate the residual background level on Simbol-X focal plane.

A Combined Control Chart for Identifying Out–Of–Control Points in Multivariate Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marroquín–Prado E.

2010-10-01

Full Text Available The Hotelling's T2 control chart is widely used to identify out–of–control signals in multivariate processes. However, this chart is not sensitive to small shifts in the process mean vec tor. In this work we propose a control chart to identify out–of–control signals. The proposed chart is a combination of Hotelling's T2 chart, M chart proposed by Hayter et al. (1994 and a new chart based on Principal Components. The combination of these charts identifies any type and size of change in the process mean vector. Us ing simulation and the Average Run Length (ARL, the performance of the proposed control chart is evaluated. The ARL means the average points within control before an out–of–control point is detected, The results of the simulation show that the proposed chart is more sensitive that each one of the three charts individually

47 CFR 73.599 - NCE-FM engineering charts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false NCE-FM engineering charts. 73.599 Section 73.599 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES Noncommercial Educational FM Broadcast Stations § 73.599 NCE-FM engineering charts. This...

Managing trade-offs in landscape restoration and revegetation projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Maron, Martine; Cockfield, Geoff

2008-12-01

Landscape restoration projects often have multiple and disparate conservation, resource enhancement, and sometimes economic objectives, since projects that seek to meet more than one objective tend to be viewed more positively by funding agencies and the community. The degree to which there are trade-offs among desired objectives is an important variable for decision makers, yet this is rarely explicitly considered. In particular, the existence of ecological thresholds has important implications for decision-making at both the project level and the regional level. We develop a model of the possibilities and choices for an agency seeking to achieve two environmental objectives in a region through revegetation of a number of sites. A graphical model of the production possibilities sets for a single revegetation project is developed, and different trade-off relationships are discussed and illustrated. Then the model is used to demonstrate the possibilities for managing all such projects within a region. We show that, where there are thresholds in the trade-off relationship between two objectives, specialization (single- or dominant-objective projects) should be considered. This is illustrated using a case study in which revegetation is used to meet avian biodiversity and salinity mitigation objectives. We conclude that where there are sufficient scientific data, explicit consideration of different types of trade-offs can assist in making decisions about the most efficient mix and type of projects to better achieve a range of objectives within a region.

Robust Optimization for Time-Cost Tradeoff Problem in Construction Projects

OpenAIRE

Li, Ming; Wu, Guangdong

2014-01-01

Construction projects are generally subject to uncertainty, which influences the realization of time-cost tradeoff in project management. This paper addresses a time-cost tradeoff problem under uncertainty, in which activities in projects can be executed in different construction modes corresponding to specified time and cost with interval uncertainty. Based on multiobjective robust optimization method, a robust optimization model for time-cost tradeoff problem is developed. In order to illus...

Customized Fetal Growth Charts for Parents' Characteristics, Race, and Parity by Quantile Regression Analysis: A Cross-sectional Multicenter Italian Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghi, Tullio; Cariello, Luisa; Rizzo, Ludovica; Ferrazzi, Enrico; Periti, Enrico; Prefumo, Federico; Stampalija, Tamara; Viora, Elsa; Verrotti, Carla; Rizzo, Giuseppe

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to construct fetal biometric charts between 16 and 40 weeks' gestation that were customized for parental characteristics, race, and parity, using quantile regression analysis. In a multicenter cross-sectional study, 8070 sonographic examinations from low-risk pregnancies between 16 and 40 weeks' gestation were analyzed. The fetal measurements obtained were biparietal diameter, head circumference, abdominal circumference, and femur diaphysis length. Quantile regression was used to examine the impact of parental height and weight, parity, and race across biometric percentiles for the fetal measurements considered. Paternal and maternal height were significant covariates for all of the measurements considered (P < .05). Maternal weight significantly influenced head circumference, abdominal circumference, and femur diaphysis length. Parity was significantly associated with biparietal diameter and head circumference. Central African race was associated with head circumference and femur diaphysis length, whereas North African race was only associated with femur diaphysis length. In this study we constructed customized biometric growth charts using quantile regression in a large cohort of low-risk pregnancies. These charts offer the advantage of defining individualized normal ranges of fetal biometric parameters at each specific percentile corrected for parental height and weight, parity, and race. This study supports the importance of including these variables in routine sonographic screening for fetal growth abnormalities.

On the Mathematics behind the CUSUM Control Charts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Henrik

1998-01-01

This paper describes the mathematics behind CUSUM control charts. An introduction to CUSUM charts is found in (Madsen 1998).CUSUM charts are well suited for checking a measuring system in operation for any departure from some target or specified values. In general they can be used for:- detecting...... a drift (or shift in the level) of the measuring system, and- detecting a change of the precision of the measuring system.In both cases the CUSUM procedure contains methods for estimating the shift such that maintenance (e.g. recalibration) can take place.The CUSUM procedure is described in ISO/CD 7871...

Applying Nightingale charts to evaluate the heterogeneity of biomedical waste in a Hospital

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janini Cristina Paiz

2014-12-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: to evaluate the heterogeneity of biomedical waste (BW using Nightingale charts.METHOD: cross-sectional study consisting of data collection on wastes (direct observation of receptacles, physical characterisation, and gravimetric composition, development of a Management Information System, and creation of statistical charts.RESULTS: the wastes with the greatest degree of heterogeneity are, in order, recyclable, infectious, and organic wastes; chemical waste had the most efficient segregation; Nightingale charts are useful for quick visualisation and systematisation of information on heterogeneity.CONCLUSION: the development of a management information system and the use of Nightingale charts allows for the identification and correction of errors in waste segregation, which increase health risks and contamination by infectious and chemical wastes and reduce the sale and profit from recyclables.

Condition-Dependent Trade-Off Between Weapon Size and Immunity in Males of the European Earwig.

Science.gov (United States)

Körner, Maximilian; Vogelweith, Fanny; Foitzik, Susanne; Meunier, Joël

2017-08-11

Investigating the expression of trade-offs between key life-history functions is central to our understanding of how these functions evolved and are maintained. However, detecting trade-offs can be challenging due to variation in resource availability, which masks trade-offs at the population level. Here, we investigated in the European earwig Forficula auricularia whether (1) weapon size trades off with three key immune parameters - hemocyte concentration, phenoloxidase and prophenoloxidase activity - and whether (2) expression and strength of these trade-offs depend on male body condition (body size) and/or change after an immune challenge. Our results partially confirmed condition dependent trade-offs between weapon size and immunity in male earwigs. Specifically, we found that after an immune challenge, weapon size trades off with hemocyte concentrations in low-condition, but not in good-condition males. Contrastingly, weapon size was independent of pre-challenge hemocyte concentration. We also found no trade-off between weapon size and phenoloxidase activity, independent of body condition and immune challenge. Overall, our study reveals that trade-offs with sexual traits may weaken or disappear in good-condition individuals. Given the importance of weapon size for male reproductive success, our results highlight how low-condition individuals may employ alternative life-history investment strategies to cope with resource limitation.

Ethical and legal questions as regards filling out dental clinical charts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauro Henrique Nogueira Guimarãe de Abreu

Full Text Available Objective: Evaluate imperfections in filling out dental clinical history charts of patients attended at the “Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros – Unimontes”, in 2005, from the ethical and legal aspects. Method: Descriptive statistical analysis, Pearson’s correlation, Chi-Square test (p<0.05 with Bonferroni correction in a contingency table (p<0.003 tests were performed, and Anova – Tukey (p<0.05 were calculate using SPSS software. This study was conducted using 881 clinical history charts of 19 subjects. Results: The highest percentage of charts concerned Stomatology (12% and 8 th period of the course (25%. The majority (63.3% of chartshad fields left blank and in 68% the handwriting was illegible. Unjustifiable erasures were found in 74.7% of charts. The majority of charts (98% were filled out in ink. The treatment plan was signed by course tutor in 83% of the cases. The term of consent was signed in the 94.9 % of the charts. As regards mistakes, 5.1% of documents had one error; 42% two errors; 23.5% three or more errors (average 1.89(± 0.9; percentile 25%=1; 50%=2 and 75%=2. The difference in the proportion of errors as regards filling out all fields differed statistically among the periods (p<0.05. Conclusion: It was concluded that an alarming number of documents were filled out incorrectly. The worst filling out performance was shown in the 5th, 6th and 7th periods (p<0.05.

Experimental manipulation reveals a trade-off between weapons and testes.

Science.gov (United States)

Somjee, U; Miller, C W; Tatarnic, N J; Simmons, L W

2018-01-01

Theory predicts a trade-off between sexually selected weapons used to secure mates and post-copulatory traits used to maximize fertilization success. However, individuals that have a greater capacity to acquire resources from the environment may invest more in both pre- and post-copulatory traits, and trade-offs may not be readily apparent. Here, we manipulate the phenotype of developing individuals to examine allocation trade-offs between weapons and testes in Mictis profana (Hemiptera: Coreidae), a species where the hind legs are sexually selected weapons used in contests over access to females. We experimentally prevented males from developing weapons by inducing them to autotomize their hind legs before the final moult to adulthood. We compared trait expression in this group to males where autotomy was induced in the mid-legs, which are presumably not under sexual selection to the same extent. We found males without weapons invested proportionally more in testes mass than those with their mid-legs removed. Males that developed to adulthood without weapons did not differ from the mid-leg removal group in other traits potentially under precopulatory sexual selection, other post-copulatory traits or naturally selected traits. In addition, a sample of adult males from the same population in the wild revealed a positive correlation between investment in testes and weapons. Our study presents a critical contribution to a growing body of literature suggesting the allocation of resources to pre- and post-copulatory sexual traits is influenced by a resource allocation trade-off and that this trade-off may only be revealed with experimental manipulation. © 2017 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2017 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Cancer and Longevity--Is There a Trade-off?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Kaare; Pedersen, Jacob K; Hjelmborg, Jacob V B

2012-01-01

Animal models and a few human studies have suggested a complex interaction between cancer risk and longevity indicating a trade-off where low cancer risk is associated with accelerating aging phenotypes and, vice versa, that longevity potential comes with the cost of increased cancer risk...

Negative Binomial charts for monitoring high-quality processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albers, Willem/Wim

Good control charts for high quality processes are often based on the number of successes between failures. Geometric charts are simplest in this respect, but slow in recognizing moderately increased failure rates p. Improvement can be achieved by waiting until r > 1 failures have occurred, i.e. by

48 CFR 252.245-7000 - Government-furnished mapping, charting, and geodesy property.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... mapping, charting, and geodesy property. 252.245-7000 Section 252.245-7000 Federal Acquisition Regulations..., charting, and geodesy property. As prescribed in 245.107-70, use the following clause: Government-Furnished Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy Property (DEC 1991) (a) Definition—Mapping, charting, and geodesy (MC&G...

Development of disease-specific growth charts in Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsuyoshi Isojima

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Many congenital diseases are associated with growth failure, and patients with these diseases have specific growth patterns. As the growth patterns of affected individuals differ from those of normal populations, it is challenging to detect additional conditions that can influence growth using standard growth charts. Disease-specific growth charts are thus very useful tools and can be helpful for understanding the growth pattern and pathogenesis of congenital diseases. In addition, disease-specific growth charts allow doctors to detect deviations from the usual growth patterns for early diagnosis of an additional condition and can be used to evaluate the effects of growth-promoting treatment for patients. When developing these charts, factors that can affect the reliability of the charts should be considered. These factors include the definition of the disease with growth failure, selection bias in the measurements used to develop the charts, secular trends of the subjects, the numbers of subjects of varying ages and ethnicities, and the statistical method used to develop the charts. In this review, we summarize the development of disease-specific growth charts for Japanese individuals with Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome and evaluate the efforts to collect unbiased measurements of subjects with these diseases. These charts were the only available disease-specific growth charts of Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome for Asian populations and were developed using a Japanese population. Therefore, when these charts are adopted for Asian populations other than Japanese, different growth patterns should be considered.

Development of disease-specific growth charts in Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Isojima, Tsuyoshi; Yokoya, Susumu

2017-12-01

Many congenital diseases are associated with growth failure, and patients with these diseases have specific growth patterns. As the growth patterns of affected individuals differ from those of normal populations, it is challenging to detect additional conditions that can influence growth using standard growth charts. Disease-specific growth charts are thus very useful tools and can be helpful for understanding the growth pattern and pathogenesis of congenital diseases. In addition, disease-specific growth charts allow doctors to detect deviations from the usual growth patterns for early diagnosis of an additional condition and can be used to evaluate the effects of growth-promoting treatment for patients. When developing these charts, factors that can affect the reliability of the charts should be considered. These factors include the definition of the disease with growth failure, selection bias in the measurements used to develop the charts, secular trends of the subjects, the numbers of subjects of varying ages and ethnicities, and the statistical method used to develop the charts. In this review, we summarize the development of disease-specific growth charts for Japanese individuals with Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome and evaluate the efforts to collect unbiased measurements of subjects with these diseases. These charts were the only available disease-specific growth charts of Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome for Asian populations and were developed using a Japanese population. Therefore, when these charts are adopted for Asian populations other than Japanese, different growth patterns should be considered.

Land management influences trade-offs and the total supply of ecosystem services in alpine grassland in Tibet, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Junxi; Zhao, Yan; Yu, Chengqun; Luo, Liming; Pan, Ying

2017-05-15

Developing sustainable use patterns for alpine grassland in Tibet is the primary challenge related to conserving these vulnerable ecosystems of the 'world's third pole' and guaranteeing the well-being of local inhabitants. This challenge requires researchers to think beyond the methods of most current studies that are limited to a single aspect of conservation or productivity, and focus on balancing various needs. An analysis of trade-offs involving ecosystem services provides a framework that can be used to quantify the type of balancing needed. In this study, we measured variations in four types of ecosystem services under five types of grassland management including grazing exclusion, sowing, combined plowing and grazing exclusion, combined plowing and sowing, and natural grassland, from 2013 to 2015. In addition, we accessed the existence and changing patterns of ecosystem service trade-offs using Spearman coefficients and a trade-off index. The results revealed the existence of trade-offs among provisioning and regulating services. Plowing and sowing could convert the trade-off relationships into synergies immediately. Grazing exclusion reduced the level of trade-offs gradually over time. Thus, the combined plowing and sowing treatment promoted the total supply of multiple ecosystem services when compared with natural grassland. We argue that the variations in dry matter allocation to above- and belowground serve as one cause of the variation in trade-off relationships. Another cause for variation in trade-offs is the varied species competition between selection effects and niche complementarity. Our study provides empirical evidence that the effects of trade-offs among ecosystem services could be reduced and even converted into synergies by optimizing management techniques. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Payload system tradeoffs for mobile communications satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Moody, H. J.

1990-01-01

System level trade-offs carried out during Mobile Satellite (M-SAT) design activities are described. These trade-offs relate to the use of low level beam forming, flexible power and spectrum distribution, and selection of the number of beams to cover the service area. It is shown that antenna performance can be improved by sharing horns between beams using a low level beam forming network (BFN). Additionally, greatly increased power utilization is possible using a hybrid matrix concept to share power between beams.

Overview of homogeneous versus heterogeneous core configuration trade-off studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Y.I.

1982-01-01

The most significant development in core design trend in the U.S. LMFBR program has been the increased attention given to the heterogeneous core design concept. In recent years, numerous core configuration trade-off studies have been carried out to quantify advantages and disadvantages of the heterogeneous concept relative to the homogeneous concept, and a consensus is emerging among the U.S. core designers. It appears that the technical and economic performance differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous core designs are very small; however, the heterogeneous concept provides a definite safety/licensing advantage. he technical and economic performance comparison between homogeneous and heterogeneous core configurations is difficult to quantify. In fact, in most cases, the perceived advantages and/or disadvantages are dictated by the consistency in the comparison (optimized for one concept versus non-optimized for the other, etc.) rather than by any inherent differences. Some of the technical and economic issues relevant to the homogeneous versus heterogeneous comparison are summarized

Overview of homogeneous versus heterogeneous core configuration trade-off studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chang, Y I [Applied Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL (United States)

1982-01-01

The most significant development in core design trend in the U.S. LMFBR program has been the increased attention given to the heterogeneous core design concept. In recent years, numerous core configuration trade-off studies have been carried out to quantify advantages and disadvantages of the heterogeneous concept relative to the homogeneous concept, and a consensus is emerging among the U.S. core designers. It appears that the technical and economic performance differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous core designs are very small; however, the heterogeneous concept provides a definite safety/licensing advantage. he technical and economic performance comparison between homogeneous and heterogeneous core configurations is difficult to quantify. In fact, in most cases, the perceived advantages and/or disadvantages are dictated by the consistency in the comparison (optimized for one concept versus non-optimized for the other, etc.) rather than by any inherent differences. Some of the technical and economic issues relevant to the homogeneous versus heterogeneous comparison are summarized.

Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff in Olfaction

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Rinberg, Dmitry; Koulakov, ALexel; Gelperin, Alan

2006-01-01

The basic psychophysical principle of speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) has been used to understand key aspects of neuronal information processing in vision and audition, but the principle of SAT is still debated in olfaction...

The effectiveness of robust RMCD control chart as outliers’ detector

Science.gov (United States)

Darmanto; Astutik, Suci

2017-12-01

A well-known control chart to monitor a multivariate process is Hotelling’s T 2 which its parameters are estimated classically, very sensitive and also marred by masking and swamping of outliers data effect. To overcome these situation, robust estimators are strongly recommended. One of robust estimators is re-weighted minimum covariance determinant (RMCD) which has robust characteristics as same as MCD. In this paper, the effectiveness term is accuracy of the RMCD control chart in detecting outliers as real outliers. In other word, how effectively this control chart can identify and remove masking and swamping effects of outliers. We assessed the effectiveness the robust control chart based on simulation by considering different scenarios: n sample sizes, proportion of outliers, number of p quality characteristics. We found that in some scenarios, this RMCD robust control chart works effectively.

Photometric Compliance of Tablet Screens and Retro-Illuminated Acuity Charts As Visual Acuity Measurement Devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Livingstone, I A T; Tarbert, C M; Giardini, M E; Bastawrous, A; Middleton, D; Hamilton, R

2016-01-01

Mobile technology is increasingly used to measure visual acuity. Standards for chart-based acuity tests specify photometric requirements for luminance, optotype contrast and luminance uniformity. Manufacturers provide some photometric data but little is known about tablet performance for visual acuity testing. This study photometrically characterised seven tablet computers (iPad, Apple inc.) and three ETDRS (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study) visual acuity charts with room lights on and off, and compared findings with visual acuity measurement standards. Tablet screen luminance and contrast were measured using nine points across a black and white checkerboard test screen at five arbitrary brightness levels. ETDRS optotypes and adjacent white background luminance and contrast were measured. All seven tablets (room lights off) exceeded the most stringent requirement for mean luminance (≥ 120 cd/m2) providing the nominal brightness setting was above 50%. All exceeded contrast requirement (Weber ≥ 90%) regardless of brightness setting, and five were marginally below the required luminance uniformity threshold (Lmin/Lmax ≥ 80%). Re-assessing three tablets with room lights on made little difference to mean luminance or contrast, and improved luminance uniformity to exceed the threshold. The three EDTRS charts (room lights off) had adequate mean luminance (≥ 120 cd/m2) and Weber contrast (≥ 90%), but all three charts failed to meet the luminance uniformity standard (Lmin/Lmax ≥ 80%). Two charts were operating beyond manufacturer's recommended lamp replacement schedule. With room lights on, chart mean luminance and Weber contrast increased, but two charts still had inadequate luminance uniformity. Tablet computers showed less inter-device variability, higher contrast, and better luminance uniformity than charts in both lights-on and lights-off environments, providing brightness setting was >50%. Overall, iPad tablets matched or marginally out

Photometric Compliance of Tablet Screens and Retro-Illuminated Acuity Charts As Visual Acuity Measurement Devices.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I A T Livingstone

Full Text Available Mobile technology is increasingly used to measure visual acuity. Standards for chart-based acuity tests specify photometric requirements for luminance, optotype contrast and luminance uniformity. Manufacturers provide some photometric data but little is known about tablet performance for visual acuity testing. This study photometrically characterised seven tablet computers (iPad, Apple inc. and three ETDRS (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study visual acuity charts with room lights on and off, and compared findings with visual acuity measurement standards. Tablet screen luminance and contrast were measured using nine points across a black and white checkerboard test screen at five arbitrary brightness levels. ETDRS optotypes and adjacent white background luminance and contrast were measured. All seven tablets (room lights off exceeded the most stringent requirement for mean luminance (≥ 120 cd/m2 providing the nominal brightness setting was above 50%. All exceeded contrast requirement (Weber ≥ 90% regardless of brightness setting, and five were marginally below the required luminance uniformity threshold (Lmin/Lmax ≥ 80%. Re-assessing three tablets with room lights on made little difference to mean luminance or contrast, and improved luminance uniformity to exceed the threshold. The three EDTRS charts (room lights off had adequate mean luminance (≥ 120 cd/m2 and Weber contrast (≥ 90%, but all three charts failed to meet the luminance uniformity standard (Lmin/Lmax ≥ 80%. Two charts were operating beyond manufacturer's recommended lamp replacement schedule. With room lights on, chart mean luminance and Weber contrast increased, but two charts still had inadequate luminance uniformity. Tablet computers showed less inter-device variability, higher contrast, and better luminance uniformity than charts in both lights-on and lights-off environments, providing brightness setting was >50%. Overall, iPad tablets matched or marginally out

Quality Control Charts in Large-Scale Assessment Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Schafer, William D.; Coverdale, Bradley J.; Luxenberg, Harlan; Jin, Ying

2011-01-01

There are relatively few examples of quantitative approaches to quality control in educational assessment and accountability contexts. Among the several techniques that are used in other fields, Shewart charts have been found in a few instances to be applicable in educational settings. This paper describes Shewart charts and gives examples of how…

46 CFR 109.565 - Charts and nautical publications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Charts and nautical publications. 109.565 Section 109... OPERATIONS Miscellaneous § 109.565 Charts and nautical publications. The master or person in charge of a self...) Notices to mariners. (f) Tide Tables. (g) Current Tables. (h) All other nautical publications necessary. 1...

An Assessment of Statistical Process Control-Based Approaches for Charting Student Evaluation Scores

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Xin; Wardell, Don; Verma, Rohit

2006-01-01

We compare three control charts for monitoring data from student evaluations of teaching (SET) with the goal of improving student satisfaction with teaching performance. The two charts that we propose are a modified "p" chart and a z-score chart. We show that these charts overcome some of the shortcomings of the more traditional charts…

Trade-off analysis of ecosystem services in Eastern Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruijs, A.; Wossink, Ada; Kortelainen, M.; Alkemade, R.; Schulp, C.J.E.

2013-01-01

In this paper we assess trade-offs between ecosystem services in a spatially explicit manner. From a supply side perspective, we estimate opportunity costs, which reflect in monetary terms the trade-offs between ecosystem services due to a marginal land use change. These are based on estimation of

Monitoring a PVC batch process with multivariate statistical process control charts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tates, A. A.; Louwerse, D. J.; Smilde, A. K.; Koot, G. L. M.; Berndt, H.

1999-01-01

Multivariate statistical process control charts (MSPC charts) are developed for the industrial batch production process of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). With these MSPC charts different types of abnormal batch behavior were detected on-line. With batch contribution plots, the probable causes of these

MO-A-BRB-00: Electronic Charting in EBRT and Brachytherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-01-01

The process of converting to an electronic chart for radiation therapy can be daunting. It requires a dedicated committee to first research and choose appropriate software, to review the entire documentation policy and flow of the clinic, to convert this system to electronic form or if necessary, redesign the system to more easily conform to the electronic process. Those making the conversion and those who already use electronic charting would benefit from the shared experience of those who have been through the process in the past. Therefore TG262 was convened to provide guidance on electronic charting for external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy. This course will present the results of an internal survey of task group members on EMR practices in External Beam Radiation Therapy as well as discuss important issues in EMR development and structure for both EBRT and brachytherapy. Learning Objectives: Be familiarized with common practices and pitfalls in development and maintenance of an electronic chart in Radiation Oncology Be familiarized with important issues related to electronic charting in External Beam Radiation Therapy Be familiarized with important issues related to electronic charting in Brachytherapy

Robust Optimization for Time-Cost Tradeoff Problem in Construction Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming Li

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Construction projects are generally subject to uncertainty, which influences the realization of time-cost tradeoff in project management. This paper addresses a time-cost tradeoff problem under uncertainty, in which activities in projects can be executed in different construction modes corresponding to specified time and cost with interval uncertainty. Based on multiobjective robust optimization method, a robust optimization model for time-cost tradeoff problem is developed. In order to illustrate the robust model, nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II is modified to solve the project example. The results show that, by means of adjusting the time and cost robust coefficients, the robust Pareto sets for time-cost tradeoff can be obtained according to different acceptable risk level, from which the decision maker could choose the preferred construction alternative.

Reproductive tradeoffs and yolk steroids in female leopard geckos, Eublepharis macularius.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhen, T; Crews, D; Fivizzani, A; Elf, P

2006-11-01

Life history theory predicts tradeoffs among reproductive traits, but the physiological mechanisms underlying such tradeoffs remain unclear. Here we examine reproductive tradeoffs and their association with yolk steroids in an oviparous lizard. Female leopard geckos lay two eggs in a clutch, produce multiple clutches in a breeding season, and reproduce for several years. We detected a significant tradeoff between egg size and the number of clutches laid by females during their first two breeding seasons. Total reproductive effort was strongly condition-dependent in the first season, but much less so in the second season. Although these and other tradeoffs were unmistakable, they were not associated with levels of androstenedione, oestradiol, or testosterone in egg yolk. Female condition and egg size, however, were inversely related to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels in egg yolk. Finally, steroid levels in egg yolk were not directly related to steroid levels in the maternal circulation when follicles were developing, indicating that steroid transfer to eggs is regulated. These findings suggest that maternal allocation of DHT could mitigate tradeoffs that lead to poor offspring quality (i.e. poor female condition) and small offspring size (i.e. small egg size).

Development of gamma exposure chart (Selenium-75) for Industrial Radiography Application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sapizah Rahim; Shaharudin Sayuti; Noorhazleena Azaman

2011-01-01

Radiographic exposure can be determined by either trial exposure, reference to previous data or using exposure chart. Without previous data, exposure chart is the easiest and economic way to achieve correct exposure. It will minimize re-shoot and time. This paper presents the development of gamma exposure chart for Selenium-75 source. Film radiography method has been chosen for this development using steel step wedge blocks. Agfa Structurix D7 films have been used during the exposure and the optical density of the films was measured by using X-Rite densitometer. Method of development of the chart is explained. The chart is tested on pipe and welded plate test sample and the results are discussed. (author)

Charts for Guiding Adjustments of Irrigation Interval to Actual Weather Conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kipkorir, E.C.

2002-01-01

Major problems in irrigation management at short time-step during the season are unreliability of rainfall and absence of guidance. By considering the climate of region, crop and soil characteristics, the irrigation method and local irrigation practices, this paper presents the concept of irrigation charts. The charts are based on soil water technique. As an example irrigation chart for a typical irrigation system located in the semi-arid area in Naivasha, Kenya is presented. The chart guides the user in adjustment of irrigation interval to the actual weather conditions throughout the growing season. It is believed that the simplicity of the chart makes it a useful tool for a better utilisation of the limited irrigation water

A computer-controlled conformal radiotherapy system. IV: Electronic chart

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fraass, Benedick A.; McShan, Daniel L.; Matrone, Gwynne M.; Weaver, Tamar A.; Lewis, James D.; Kessler, Marc L.

1995-01-01

Purpose: The design and implementation of a system for electronically tracking relevant plan, prescription, and treatment data for computer-controlled conformal radiation therapy is described. Methods and Materials: The electronic charting system is implemented on a computer cluster coupled by high-speed networks to computer-controlled therapy machines. A methodical approach to the specification and design of an integrated solution has been used in developing the system. The electronic chart system is designed to allow identification and access of patient-specific data including treatment-planning data, treatment prescription information, and charting of doses. An in-house developed database system is used to provide an integrated approach to the database requirements of the design. A hierarchy of databases is used for both centralization and distribution of the treatment data for specific treatment machines. Results: The basic electronic database system has been implemented and has been in use since July 1993. The system has been used to download and manage treatment data on all patients treated on our first fully computer-controlled treatment machine. To date, electronic dose charting functions have not been fully implemented clinically, requiring the continued use of paper charting for dose tracking. Conclusions: The routine clinical application of complex computer-controlled conformal treatment procedures requires the management of large quantities of information for describing and tracking treatments. An integrated and comprehensive approach to this problem has led to a full electronic chart for conformal radiation therapy treatments

Using patients' charts to assess medical trainees in the workplace: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Wassia, Heidi; Al-Wassia, Rolina; Shihata, Shadi; Park, Yoon Soo; Tekian, Ara

2015-04-01

The objective of this review is to summarize and critically appraise existing evidence on the use of chart stimulated recall (CSR) and case-based discussion (CBD) as an assessment tool for medical trainees. Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched for original articles on the use of CSR or CBD as an assessment method for trainees in all medical specialties. Four qualitative and three observational non-comparative studies were eligible for this review. The number of patient-chart encounters needed to achieve sufficient reliability varied across studies. None of the included studies evaluated the content validity of the tool. Both trainees and assessors expressed high level of satisfaction with the tool; however, inadequate training, different interpretation of the scoring scales and skills needed to give feedback were addressed as limitations for conducting the assessment. There is still no compelling evidence for the use of patient's chart to evaluate medical trainees in the workplace. A body of evidence that is valid, reliable, and documents the educational effect in support of the use of patients' charts to assess medical trainees is needed.

Application of CUSUM charts to detect lameness in a milking robot

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pastell, Matti; Madsen, Henrik

2008-01-01

shown that the weight distribution between limbs changes when cow get lame. In this paper we suggest CUSUM charts to automatically detect lameness based on the measurements. CUSUM charts are statistical based control charts and are well suited for checking a measuring system in operation for any...

The construction of control chart for PM10 functional data

Science.gov (United States)

Shaadan, Norshahida; Jemain, Abdul Aziz; Deni, Sayang Mohd

2014-06-01

In this paper, a statistical procedure to construct a control chart for monitoring air quality (PM10) using functional data is proposed. A set of daily indices that represent the daily PM10 curves were obtained using Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA). By means of an iterative charting procedure, a reference data set that represented a stable PM10 process was obtained. The data were then used as a reference for monitoring future data. The application of the procedure was conducted using seven-year (2004-2010) period of recorded data from the Klang air quality monitoring station located in the Klang Valley region of Peninsular Malaysia. The study showed that the control chart provided a useful visualization tool for monitoring air quality and was capable in detecting abnormality in the process system. As in the case of Klang station, the results showed that with reference to 2004-2008, the air quality (PM10) in 2010 was better than that in 2009.

Identifying mechanisms that structure ecological communities by snapping model parameters to empirically observed tradeoffs.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas Clark, Adam; Lehman, Clarence; Tilman, David

2018-04-01

Theory predicts that interspecific tradeoffs are primary determinants of coexistence and community composition. Using information from empirically observed tradeoffs to augment the parametrisation of mechanism-based models should therefore improve model predictions, provided that tradeoffs and mechanisms are chosen correctly. We developed and tested such a model for 35 grassland plant species using monoculture measurements of three species characteristics related to nitrogen uptake and retention, which previous experiments indicate as important at our site. Matching classical theoretical expectations, these characteristics defined a distinct tradeoff surface, and models parameterised with these characteristics closely matched observations from experimental multi-species mixtures. Importantly, predictions improved significantly when we incorporated information from tradeoffs by 'snapping' characteristics to the nearest location on the tradeoff surface, suggesting that the tradeoffs and mechanisms we identify are important determinants of local community structure. This 'snapping' method could therefore constitute a broadly applicable test for identifying influential tradeoffs and mechanisms. © 2018 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Inland Electronic Navigational Charts (IENC)

Data.gov (United States)

Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, Department of Defense — These Inland Electronic Navigational Charts (IENCs) were developed from available data used in maintenance of Navigation channels. Users of these IENCs should be...

NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Office of Coast Survey (OCS) has been involved in the development of a NOAA Electronic Navigational Chart (NOAA ENC) suite to support the marine transportation...

Control Charts in Healthcare Quality Improvement A Systematic Review on Adherence to Methodological Criteria

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koetsier, A.; van der Veer, S. N.; Jager, K. J.; Peek, N.; de Keizer, N. F.

2012-01-01

Objectives: Use of Shewhart control charts in quality improvement (QI) initiatives is increasing. These charts are typically used in one or more phases of the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle to monitor summaries of process and outcome data, abstracted from clinical information systems, over time. We

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission organization charts and functional statements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-07-01

This document is the US NRC organizational structure and chart as of July 1, 1996. It contains the org charts for the Commission, ACRS, ASLAB, Commission staff offices, Executive Director for Operations, Office of the Inspector General, Program offices, and regional offices.

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission organization charts and functional statements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

This document is the US NRC organizational structure and chart as of July 1, 1996. It contains the org charts for the Commission, ACRS, ASLAB, Commission staff offices, Executive Director for Operations, Office of the Inspector General, Program offices, and regional offices

Exploration of tradeoffs in intensity-modulated radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craft, David; Halabi, Tarek; Bortfeld, Thomas

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study is to calculate Pareto surfaces in multi-criteria radiation treatment planning and to analyse the dependency of the Pareto surfaces on the objective functions used for the volumes of interest. We develop a linear approach that allows us to calculate truly Pareto optimal treatment plans, and we apply it to explore the tradeoff between tumour dose homogeneity and critical structure sparing. We show that for two phantom and two clinical cases, a smooth (as opposed to kinked) Pareto tradeoff curve exists. We find that in the paraspinal cases the Pareto surface is invariant to the response function used on the spinal cord: whether the mean cord dose or the maximum cord dose is used, the Pareto plan database is similar. This is not true for the lung studies, where the choice of objective function on the healthy lung tissue influences the resulting Pareto surface greatly. We conclude that in the special case when the tumour wraps around the organ at risk, e.g. prostate cases and paraspinal cases, the Pareto surface will be largely invariant to the objective function used to model the organ at risk

Muscle trade-offs in a power-amplified prey capture system.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanco, M Mendoza; Patek, S N

2014-05-01

Should animals operating at great speeds and accelerations use fast or slow muscles? The answer hinges on a fundamental trade-off: muscles can be maximally fast or forceful, but not both. Direct lever systems offer a straightforward manifestation of this trade-off, yet the fastest organisms use power amplification, not direct lever action. Power-amplified systems typically use slow, forceful muscles to preload springs, which then rapidly release elastic potential energy to generate high speeds and accelerations. However, a fast response to a stimulus may necessitate fast spring-loading. Across 22 mantis shrimp species (Stomatopoda), this study examined how muscle anatomy correlates with spring mechanics and appendage type. We found that muscle force is maximized through physiological cross-sectional area, but not through sarcomere length. Sit-and-wait predators (spearers) had the shortest sarcomere lengths (fastest contractions) and the slowest strike speeds. The species that crush shells (smashers) had the fastest speeds, most forceful springs, and longest sarcomeres. The origin of the smasher clade yielded dazzlingly high accelerations, perhaps due to the release from fast spring-loading for evasive prey capture. This study offers a new window into the dynamics of force-speed trade-offs in muscles in the biomechanical, comparative evolutionary framework of power-amplified systems. © 2014 The Author(s). Evolution © 2014 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

An Adaptive Tradeoff Algorithm for Multi-issue SLA Negotiation

Science.gov (United States)

Son, Seokho; Sim, Kwang Mong

Since participants in a Cloud may be independent bodies, mechanisms are necessary for resolving different preferences in leasing Cloud services. Whereas there are currently mechanisms that support service-level agreement negotiation, there is little or no negotiation support for concurrent price and timeslot for Cloud service reservations. For the concurrent price and timeslot negotiation, a tradeoff algorithm to generate and evaluate a proposal which consists of price and timeslot proposal is necessary. The contribution of this work is thus to design an adaptive tradeoff algorithm for multi-issue negotiation mechanism. The tradeoff algorithm referred to as "adaptive burst mode" is especially designed to increase negotiation speed and total utility and to reduce computational load by adaptively generating concurrent set of proposals. The empirical results obtained from simulations carried out using a testbed suggest that due to the concurrent price and timeslot negotiation mechanism with adaptive tradeoff algorithm: 1) both agents achieve the best performance in terms of negotiation speed and utility; 2) the number of evaluations of each proposal is comparatively lower than previous scheme (burst-N).

System Behaviour Charts Inform an Understanding of Biodiversity Recovery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon A. Black

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Practitioners working with species and ecosystem recovery typically deal with the complexity of, on one hand, lack of data or data uncertainties and, on the other hand, demand for critical decision-making and intervention. The control chart methods of commercial and industrial and environmental monitoring can complement an ecological understanding of wildlife systems including those situations which incorporate human activities and land use. Systems Behaviour Charts are based upon well-established control chart methods to provide conservation managers with an approach to using existing data and enable insight to aid timely planning of conservation interventions and also complement and stimulate research into wider scientific and ecological questions. When the approach is applied to existing data sets in well-known wildlife conservation cases, the subsequent Systems Behaviour Charts and associated analytical criteria demonstrate insights which would be helpful in averting problems associated with each case example.

TRADE-OFF BETWEEN CARBON STORAGE AND BIOMASS-BASED ENERGY SOURCES ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, THE CASE STUDY FROM THE PROVINCE OF ROVIGO (ITALY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Gissi

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Biomass Based Energy Sources (BBES are an Ecosystem Service (ES which can contribute to achieve EU 2020 targets and to ensure energy security. Their effects on other ESs can be different according to biomass typologies, as energy crops and residuals. In order to plan a Greenhouse Gasses (GHGs efficient supply chain and to maintain ES of carbon storage, as well as other related ESs, effect of feedstock chain on Soil Organic Carbon (SOC should be considered. An ESs approach, based on the cascade model, takes into consideration biological interdependencies and management options to assess trade-offs. This study aims to describe and map trade-off between BBES and carbon storage services in Province of Rovigo (Veneto Region, Italy, a mainly intensive cultivated area. Results show that the trade-offs  between the two ESs is potentially high in large part of the territory (75%, while just 25% expresses low possibility of conflict. Possible management options are discussed in order to minimize trade-off between energy provision and climate change mitigation. This study highlights that ESs approach can provide a suitable tool for decision makers, with respect to biomass feedstock chain, whose effects on ecosystems are often underestimated.

The effect of fetal sex on customized fetal growth charts.

Science.gov (United States)

Rizzo, Giuseppe; Prefumo, Federico; Ferrazzi, Enrico; Zanardini, Cristina; Di Martino, Daniela; Boito, Simona; Aiello, Elisa; Ghi, Tullio

2016-12-01

To evaluate the effect of fetal sex on singleton pregnancy growth charts customized for parental characteristics, race, and parity Methods: In a multicentric cross-sectional study, 8070 ultrasonographic examinations from low-risk singleton pregnancies between 16 and 40 weeks of gestation were considered. The fetal measurements obtained were biparietal diameter (BPD), head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC), and femur length (FL). Quantile regression was used to examine the impact of fetal sex across the biometric percentiles of the fetal measurements considered together with parents' height, weight, parity, and race. Fetal gender resulted to be a significant covariate for BDP, HC, and AC with higher values for male fetuses (p ≤ 0.0009). Minimal differences were found among sexes for FL. Parity, maternal race, paternal height and maternal height, and weight resulted significantly related to the fetal biometric parameters considered independently from fetal gender. In this study, we constructed customized biometric growth charts for fetal sex, parental, and obstetrical characteristics using quantile regression. The use of gender-specific charts offers the advantage to define individualized normal ranges of fetal biometric parameters at each specific centile. This approach may improve the antenatal identification of abnormal fetal growth.

Fusing Multiscale Charts into 3D ENC Systems Based on Underwater Topography and Remote Sensing Image

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to propose an approach to fuse multiscale charts into three-dimensional (3D electronic navigational chart (ENC systems based on underwater topography and remote sensing image. This is the first time that the fusion of multiscale standard ENCs in the 3D ENC system has been studied. First, a view-dependent visualization technology is presented for the determination of the display condition of a chart. Second, a map sheet processing method is described for dealing with the map sheet splice problem. A process order called “3D order” is designed to adapt to the characteristics of the chart. A map sheet clipping process is described to deal with the overlap between the adjacent map sheets. And our strategy for map sheet splice is proposed. Third, the rendering method for ENC objects in the 3D ENC system is introduced. Fourth, our picking-up method for ENC objects is proposed. Finally, we implement the above methods in our system: automotive intelligent chart (AIC 3D electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS. And our method can handle the fusion problem well.

Trade-off study of liquid metal self-cooled blankets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gohar, Y.

1986-01-01

A trade-off study of liquid metal self-cooled blankets was carried out to define the performance of these blankets and to determine the potential to operate at the maximum possible values of the performance parameters. The main parameters considered during the course of this study were the tritium breeding ratio (TBR), the blanket energy multiplication factor, the energy fraction lost to the shield, the lithium-6 enrichment in the breeder material, the total blanket thickness, the reflector material selection, and the compositions of the different blanket zones. The primary results of the study are as follows: a) the lithium-lead blanket achieves a higher TBR with a smaller blanket thickness relative to the lithium blanket; b) the lithium blanket generates more energy per fusion neutron relative to the lithium-lead blanket; c) among the possible reflector materials, the carbon reflector produces the highest TBR; d) the high-Z reflector materials (Mo, Cu, W, or steel) generate more energy per fusion neutron and produce smaller TBRs relative to the carbon reflector; e) lithium-6 enrichment is required for the lithium-lead blanket to reduce the total blanket thickness; and f) the energy deposition per fusion neutron reaches a saturation as the blanket thickness, the fraction of the high-Z material in the reflector, or the reflector zone thickness increases (this allows one to design the blanket for a specific TBR without reducing the energy production)

Phenotypic plasticity in the developmental integration of morphological trade-offs and secondary sexual trait compensation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomkins, Joseph L; Kotiaho, Janne S; Lebas, Natasha R

2005-03-07

Trait exaggeration through sexual selection will tale place alongside other changes in phenotype. Exaggerated morphology might be compensated by parallel changes in traits that support, enhance or facilitate exaggeration: 'secondary sexual trait compensation' (SSTC). Alternatively, exaggeration might be realized at the expense of other traits through morphological trade-offs. For the most part, SSTC has only been examined interspecifically. For these phenomena to be important intraspecifically, the sexual trait must be developmentally integrated with the compensatory or competing trait. We studied developmental integration in two species with different development: the holometabolous beetle Onthophagus taurus and the hemimetabolous earwig Forficula auricularia. Male-dimorphic variation in trait exaggeration was exploited to expose both trade-offs and SSTC. We found evidence for morphological trade-offs in O. taurus, but no F. auricularia, supporting the notion that trade-offs are more likely in closed developmetal systems. However, we found these trade-offs were not limited solely to traits growing close together. Developmental integration of structures involved in SSTC were detected in both species. The developmental integration of SSTC was phenotypically plastic, such that the compensation for relatively larger sexual traits was greater in the exasperated male morphs. Evidence of intraspecific SSTC demands studies of the selective, genetic and developmental architecture of phenotypic integration.

No genetic tradeoffs between hygienic behaviour and individual innate immunity in the honey bee, Apis mellifera.

Science.gov (United States)

Harpur, Brock A; Chernyshova, Anna; Soltani, Arash; Tsvetkov, Nadejda; Mahjoorighasrodashti, Mohammad; Xu, Zhixing; Zayed, Amro

2014-01-01

Many animals have individual and social mechanisms for combating pathogens. Animals may exhibit short-term physiological tradeoffs between social and individual immunity because the latter is often energetically costly. Genetic tradeoffs between these two traits can also occur if mutations that enhance social immunity diminish individual immunity, or vice versa. Physiological tradeoffs between individual and social immunity have been previously documented in insects, but there has been no study of genetic tradeoffs involving these traits. There is strong evidence that some genes influence both innate immunity and behaviour in social insects--a prerequisite for genetic tradeoffs. Quantifying genetic tradeoffs is critical for understanding the evolution of immunity in social insects and for devising effective strategies for breeding disease-resistant pollinator populations. We conducted two experiments to test the hypothesis of a genetic tradeoff between social and individual immunity in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. First, we estimated the relative contribution of genetics to individual variation in innate immunity of honey bee workers, as only heritable traits can experience genetic tradeoffs. Second, we examined if worker bees with hygienic sisters have reduced individual innate immune response. We genotyped several hundred workers from two colonies and found that patriline genotype does not significantly influence the antimicrobial activity of a worker's hemolymph. Further, we did not find a negative correlation between hygienic behaviour and the average antimicrobial activity of a worker's hemolymph across 30 honey bee colonies. Taken together, our work indicates no genetic tradeoffs between hygienic behaviour and innate immunity in honey bees. Our work suggests that using artificial selection to increase hygienic behaviour of honey bee colonies is not expected to concurrently compromise individual innate immunity of worker bees.

The use of principal components and univariate charts to control multivariate processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcela A. G. Machado

2008-04-01

Full Text Available In this article, we evaluate the performance of the T² chart based on the principal components (PC X chart and the simultaneous univariate control charts based on the original variables (SU charts or based on the principal components (SUPC charts. The main reason to consider the PC chart lies on the dimensionality reduction. However, depending on the disturbance and on the way the original variables are related, the chart is very slow in signaling, except when all variables are negatively correlated and the principal component is wisely selected. Comparing the SU , the SUPC and the T² charts we conclude that the SU X charts (SUPC charts have a better overall performance when the variables are positively (negatively correlated. We also develop the expression to obtain the power of two S² charts designed for monitoring the covariance matrix. These joint S² charts are, in the majority of the cases, more efficient than the generalized variance chart.Neste artigo, avaliamos o desempenho do gráfico de T² baseado em componentes principais (gráfico PC e dos gráficos de controle simultâneos univariados baseados nas variáveis originais (gráfico SU X ou baseados em componentes principais (gráfico SUPC. A principal razão para o uso do gráfico PC é a redução de dimensionalidade. Entretanto, dependendo da perturbação e da correlação entre as variáveis originais, o gráfico é lento em sinalizar, exceto quando todas as variáveis são negativamente correlacionadas e a componente principal é adequadamente escolhida. Comparando os gráficos SU X, SUPC e T² concluímos que o gráfico SU X (gráfico SUPC tem um melhor desempenho global quando as variáveis são positivamente (negativamente correlacionadas. Desenvolvemos também uma expressão para obter o poder de detecção de dois gráficos de S² projetados para controlar a matriz de covariâncias. Os gráficos conjuntos de S² são, na maioria dos casos, mais eficientes que o gr

Gulf of Mexico IFR Aeronautical Chart Index - Aeronautical Information Services Digital Products

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — The IFR Enroute Aeronautical Chart series is designed to meet the needs of users who require a digital version chart. This is the visual index to the charts for the...

Proposed colour banded early warning observation charts for South ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Introduction of a colour banded observation chart should be combined with a clear communication strategy. The process should be used to change the organisational culture to be more proactive in initiating early intervention to reduce the burden of unintended complications. Keywords: Observation chart; Physiology; ...

SpeckTackle: JavaScript charts for spectroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Beisken, Stephan; Conesa, Pablo; Haug, Kenneth; Salek, Reza M; Steinbeck, Christoph

2015-01-01

Spectra visualisation from methods such as mass spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy or nuclear magnetic resonance is an essential part of every web-facing spectral resource. The development of an intuitive and versatile visualisation tool is a time- and resource-intensive task, however, most databases use their own embedded viewers and new databases continue to develop their own viewers. We present SpeckTackle, a custom-tailored JavaScript charting library for spectroscopy in life sciences. SpeckTackle is cross-browser compatible and easy to integrate into existing resources, as we demonstrate for the MetaboLights database. Its default chart types cover common visualisation tasks following the de facto 'look and feel' standards for spectra visualisation. SpeckTackle is released under GNU LGPL to encourage uptake and reuse within the community. The latest version of the library including examples and documentation on how to use and extend the library with additional chart types is available online in its public repository.

Of Uberfleas and Krakens: Detecting Trade-offs Using Mixed Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Careau, Vincent; Wilson, Robbie S

2017-08-01

All animals experience performance trade-offs as they complete tasks such as capturing prey, defending territories, acquiring mates, and escaping predators. Why then, is it so hard to detect performance trade-offs at the whole-organismal level? Why do we sometimes even obtain positive correlations between two performance traits that are predicted to be negatively associated? Here we explore two plausible explanations. First, most analyses are based on individual maximal values (i.e., personal best), which could introduce a bias in the correlation estimates. Second, phenotypic correlations alone may be poor indicators of a trade-off when contrasting processes occur at the among- versus within-individual levels. One such scenario is the "big houses big cars" model developed in life-history theory to explain the existence of "uberfleas" that are superior in all regards (because they acquire more resources than others). We highlight that the exact opposite scenario might occur for performance trade-offs, where among-individual trade-offs may be masked by within-individual changes in physical condition. One of the best ways to test among these alternative scenarios is to collect repeated pairs of performance traits and analyze them using multivariate mixed models (MMMs). MMMs allow straightforward and simultaneous examination of trait correlations at the among- and within-individual levels. We use a simple simulation tool (SQuID package in R) to create a population of Krakens, a mythical giant squid-like sea creature whose morphology generates a performance trade-off between swimming speed and strength or ability to sink ships. The simulations showed that using individual maximum values introduces a bias that is particularly severe when individuals differ in the number of repeated samples (ntrial). Finally, we show how MMMs can help detect performance (or any other type of) trade-offs and offer additional insights (e.g., help detect plasticity integration). We hope

Computer programs to make a Chart of the nuclides for WWW

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakagawa, Tsuneo; Katakura, Jun-ichi; Horiguchi, Takayoshi

1999-06-01

Computer programs to make a chart of the nuclides for World Wide Web (WWW) have been developed. The programs make a data file for WWW chart of the nuclides from a data file containing nuclide information in the format similar to ENSDF, by filling unknown half-lives with calculated ones. Then, the WWW chart of the nuclides in the gif format is created from the data file. The programs to make html files and image map files, to select a chart of selected nuclides, and to show various information of nuclides are included in the system. All the programs are written in C language. This report describes the formats of files, the programs and 1998 issue of Chart of the Nuclides made by means of the present programs. (author)

Constructing an exposure chart: step by step (based on standard procedures)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David, Jocelyn L; Cansino, Percedita T.; Taguibao, Angileo P.

2000-01-01

An exposure chart is very important in conducting radiographic inspection of materials. By using an accurate exposure chart, an inspector is able to avoid a trial and error way of determining correct time to expose a specimen, thereby producing a radiograph that has an acceptable density based on a standard. The chart gives the following information: x-ray machine model and brand, distance of the x-ray tube from the film, type and thickness of intensifying screens, film type, radiograph density, and film processing conditions. The methods of preparing an exposure chart are available in existing radiographic testing manuals. These described methods are presented in step by step procedures, covering the actual laboratory set-up, data gathering, computations, and transformation of derived data into Characteristic Curve and Exposure Chart

Environmental/Thermal Barrier Coatings for Ceramic Matrix Composites: Thermal Tradeoff Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Murthy, Pappu L. M.; Brewer, David; Shah, Ashwin R.

2007-01-01

Recent interest in environmental/thermal barrier coatings (EBC/TBCs) has prompted research to develop life-prediction methodologies for the coating systems of advanced high-temperature ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). Heat-transfer analysis of EBC/TBCs for CMCs is an essential part of the effort. It helps establish the resulting thermal profile through the thickness of the CMC that is protected by the EBC/TBC system. This report documents the results of a one-dimensional analysis of an advanced high-temperature CMC system protected with an EBC/TBC system. The one-dimensional analysis was used for tradeoff studies involving parametric variation of the conductivity; the thickness of the EBC/TBCs, bond coat, and CMC substrate; and the cooling requirements. The insight gained from the results will be used to configure a viable EBC/TBC system for CMC liners that meet the desired hot surface, cold surface, and substrate temperature requirements.

Reassessing the Trade-off Hypothesis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosas, Guillermo; Manzetti, Luigi

2015-01-01

Do economic conditions drive voters to punish politicians that tolerate corruption? Previous scholarly work contends that citizens in young democracies support corrupt governments that are capable of promoting good economic outcomes, the so-called trade-off hypothesis. We test this hypothesis based...

The hyperspectral imaging trade-off

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carstensen, Jens Michael

, this will be the standard situation, and it enables the detection of small spectral features like peaks, valleys and shoulders for a wide range of chemistries. Everything else being equal this is what you would wish for, and hyperspectral imaging is often used in research and in remote sensing because of the needs and cost......Although it has no clear-cut definition, hyperspectral imaging in the UV-Visible-NIR wavelength region seems to mean spectral image sampling in bands from 10 nm width or narrower that enables spectral reconstruction over some wavelength interval. For non-imaging spectral applications...... structures in these projects. However, hyperspectral imaging is a sampling choice within spectral imaging that typically will impose some trade-offs, and these trade-offs will not be optimal for many applications. The purpose of this presentation is to point out and increase the awareness of these trade...

Control charts for location based on different sampling schemes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mehmood, R.; Riaz, M.; Does, R.J.M.M.

2013-01-01

Control charts are the most important statistical process control tool for monitoring variations in a process. A number of articles are available in the literature for the X̄ control chart based on simple random sampling, ranked set sampling, median-ranked set sampling (MRSS), extreme-ranked set

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

Science.gov (United States)

Koura, Hiroyuki

2014-01-01

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

Information-disturbance tradeoff in estimating a unitary transformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisio, Alessandro; D'Ariano, Giacomo Mauro; Perinotti, Paolo; Chiribella, Giulio

2010-01-01

We address the problem of the information-disturbance tradeoff associated to the estimation of a quantum transformation and show how the extraction of information about a black box causes a perturbation of the corresponding input-output evolution. In the case of a black box performing a unitary transformation, randomly distributed according to the invariant measure, we give a complete solution of the problem, deriving the optimal tradeoff curve and presenting an explicit construction of the optimal quantum network.

The offspring quantity–quality trade-off and human fertility variation

Science.gov (United States)

Lawson, David W.; Borgerhoff Mulder, Monique

2016-01-01

The idea that trade-offs between offspring quantity and quality shape reproductive behaviour has long been central to economic perspectives on fertility. It also has a parallel and richer theoretical foundation in evolutionary ecology. We review the application of the quantity–quality trade-off concept to human reproduction, emphasizing distinctions between clutch size and lifetime fertility, and the wider set of forces contributing to fertility variation in iteroparous and sexually reproducing species like our own. We then argue that in settings approximating human evolutionary history, several factors limit costly sibling competition. Consequently, while the optimization of quantity–quality trade-offs undoubtedly shaped the evolution of human physiology setting the upper limits of reproduction, we argue it plays a modest role in accounting for socio-ecological and individual variation in fertility. Only upon entering the demographic transition can fertility limitation be clearly interpreted as strategically orientated to advancing offspring quality via increased parental investment per child, with low fertility increasing descendant socio-economic success, although not reproductive success. We conclude that existing economic and evolutionary literature has often overemphasized the centrality of quantity–quality trade-offs to human fertility variation and advocate for the development of more holistic frameworks encompassing alternative life-history trade-offs and the evolved mechanisms guiding their resolution. PMID:27022072

Ecosystem service trade-offs and synergies misunderstood without landscape history

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanie A. Tomscha

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Dramatic changes in ecosystem services have motivated recent work characterizing their interactions, including identifying trade-offs and synergies. Although time is arguably implicit in these ideas of trade-offs and synergies (e.g., temporal dynamics or changes in ecosystem services, such interactions are routinely inferred based on the spatial relationships among ecosystem services alone (e.g., spatial concordance of ecosystem services indicates synergies, whereas incongruence signifies trade-offs. The limitations of this approach have not been fully explored. We quantified ecosystem service interactions using correlations among contemporary ecosystem services and compared these results to those derived by incorporating change in ecosystem services from an earlier decade. To document change over ~60 years in an urbanizing floodplain, we used aerial photography to map multiple floodplain-associated ecosystem services. Our results demonstrate how incorporating landscape baselines can influence measured synergies and trade-offs. Spatial correlations among contemporary ecosystem services missed several interactions that were detected when using prior baseline ecosystem services. Ignoring the history of ecosystem services and their change over time may result in missed opportunities to foster their synergies and lead to unnecessary trade-offs. Efforts to incorporate ecosystem services into land management should include long-term monitoring and baseline reconstructions of ecosystem services.

14 CFR Section 3 - Chart of Balance Sheet Accounts

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Chart of Balance Sheet Accounts Section 3 Section 3 Aeronautics and Space OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (AVIATION... Balance Sheet Classifications Section 3 Chart of Balance Sheet Accounts [See footnotes at end of table...

Application of Hotelling’s T2 charts in monitoring quality parameters in a drinking water supply system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa, Mafalda T.; Carolino, Elisabete; Oliveira, Teresa A.

2015-01-01

In water supply systems with distribution networkthe most critical aspects of control and Monitoring of water quality, which generates crises system, are the effects of cross-contamination originated by the network typology. The classics of control of quality systems through the application of Shewhart charts are generally difficult to manage in real time due to the high number of charts that must be completed and evaluated. As an alternative to the traditional control systems with Shewhart charts, this study aimed to apply a simplified methodology of a monitoring plan quality parameters in a drinking water distribution, by applying Hotelling’s T 2 charts and supplemented with Shewhart charts with Bonferroni limits system, whenever instabilities with processes were detected

No genetic tradeoffs between hygienic behaviour and individual innate immunity in the honey bee, Apis mellifera.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brock A Harpur

Full Text Available Many animals have individual and social mechanisms for combating pathogens. Animals may exhibit short-term physiological tradeoffs between social and individual immunity because the latter is often energetically costly. Genetic tradeoffs between these two traits can also occur if mutations that enhance social immunity diminish individual immunity, or vice versa. Physiological tradeoffs between individual and social immunity have been previously documented in insects, but there has been no study of genetic tradeoffs involving these traits. There is strong evidence that some genes influence both innate immunity and behaviour in social insects--a prerequisite for genetic tradeoffs. Quantifying genetic tradeoffs is critical for understanding the evolution of immunity in social insects and for devising effective strategies for breeding disease-resistant pollinator populations. We conducted two experiments to test the hypothesis of a genetic tradeoff between social and individual immunity in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. First, we estimated the relative contribution of genetics to individual variation in innate immunity of honey bee workers, as only heritable traits can experience genetic tradeoffs. Second, we examined if worker bees with hygienic sisters have reduced individual innate immune response. We genotyped several hundred workers from two colonies and found that patriline genotype does not significantly influence the antimicrobial activity of a worker's hemolymph. Further, we did not find a negative correlation between hygienic behaviour and the average antimicrobial activity of a worker's hemolymph across 30 honey bee colonies. Taken together, our work indicates no genetic tradeoffs between hygienic behaviour and innate immunity in honey bees. Our work suggests that using artificial selection to increase hygienic behaviour of honey bee colonies is not expected to concurrently compromise individual innate immunity of worker bees.

Borehole DC-12 hydrostratigraphic chart

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gephart, R.E.

1981-09-01

This hydrostratigraphic chart identifies the basic stratigraphy and preliminary hydrologic testing results for Borehole DC-12. This borehole was cored through the Saddle Mountains and Wanapum basalt formations and into the Grande Ronde. Selected zones were hydrologically tested during coring

Borehole DC-14 hydrostratigraphic chart

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gephart, R.E.

1981-09-01

This hydrostratigraphic chart identifies the basic stratigraphy and preliminary hydrologic testing results for Borehole DC-14. This borehole was cored through the Saddle Mountains and Wanapum basalt formations and into the Grande Ronde. Selected zones were hydrologically tested during coring

Borehole DC-15 hydrostratigraphic chart

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gephart, R.E.

1981-09-01

This hydrostratigraphic chart identifies the basic stratigraphy and preliminary hydrologic testing results for Borehole DC-15. This borehole was cored through the Saddle Mountains and Wanapum basalt formations and into the Grande Ronde. Selected zones were hydrologically tested during coring

On the Verge: Costs and Tradeoffs Facing Community College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Cochrane, Debbie; Szabo-Kubitz, Laura

2016-01-01

"On the Verge: Costs and Tradeoffs Facing Community College Students" documents California community college students' struggles to cover college expenses beyond tuition, their experiences with financial aid, and the troubling tradeoffs they face when available resources do not stretch far enough. Consistent with a growing body of…

Subtle Nonlinearity in Popular Album Charts

Science.gov (United States)

Bentley, R. Alexander; Maschner, Herbert D. G.

Large-scale patterns of culture change may be explained by models of self organized criticality, or alternatively, by multiplicative processes. We speculate that popular album activity may be similar to critical models of extinction in that interconnected agents compete to survive within a limited space. Here we investigate whether popular music albums as listed on popular album charts display evidence of self-organized criticality, including a self-affine time series of activity and power-law distributions of lifetimes and exit activity in the chart. We find it difficult to distinguish between multiplicative growth and critical model hypotheses for these data. However, aspects of criticality may be masked by the selective sampling that a "Top 200" listing necessarily implies.

Optimizing time and resource allocation trade-offs for investment into morphological and behavioral defense

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steiner, Uli; Pfeiffer, Thomas

2007-01-01

pronounced at intermediate environmental conditions. Optimizing single traits generally leads to a more pronounced response of the defense traits, which implies that studying single traits leads to an overestimation of their response to predation. Behavioral defense and morphological defense compensate......Prey organisms are confronted with time and resource allocation trade-offs. Time allocation trade-offs partition time, for example, between foraging effort to acquire resources and behavioral defense. Resource allocation trade-offs partition the acquired resources between multiple traits...... for and augment each other depending on predator densities and the effectiveness of the defense mechanisms. In the presence of time constraints, the model shows peak investment into morphological and behavioral defense at intermediate resource levels....

Trade-off analysis for sustainability evaluation: a case study of the Purhepecha region, Mexico

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Speelman, E.N.; Astier, M.; López Ridaura, S.; Leffelaar, P.A.; Ittersum, van M.K.

2006-01-01

This paper describes the use and role of trade-off analysis as a decision-making tool in the implementation of new technologies and sustainability evaluation. As an example, soils in the Purhepecha region in Mexico have been eroding for decades and crop residue retention has been suggested as an

MEASUREMENT ERROR EFFECT ON THE POWER OF CONTROL CHART FOR ZERO-TRUNCATED POISSON DISTRIBUTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashit Chakraborty

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Measurement error is the difference between the true value and the measured value of a quantity that exists in practice and may considerably affect the performance of control charts in some cases. Measurement error variability has uncertainty which can be from several sources. In this paper, we have studied the effect of these sources of variability on the power characteristics of control chart and obtained the values of average run length (ARL for zero-truncated Poisson distribution (ZTPD. Expression of the power of control chart for variable sample size under standardized normal variate for ZTPD is also derived.

Overview of the consortium of hospitals advancing research on tobacco (chart

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riley William T

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Consortium of Hospitals Advancing Research on Tobacco (CHART is a network of six projects and a research coordinating unit funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research. The CHART projects will assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions initiated during hospitalization and continued post-discharge. Methods/design Along with a seventh project funded previously under the NIH Challenge grants, the CHART projects will assess smoking cessation strategies delivered to approximately 10,000 hospitalized smokers across a geographically diverse group of nearly 20 private, public, academic, and community hospitals. The CHART research coordinating unit at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research provides organizational and data coordination support, facilitating the development of common measures for combining data from multiple CHART projects. Discussion The targeted enrollment in CHART, if achieved, will represent the largest, most diverse pooled dataset of hospitalized smokers receiving smoking cessation assistance, and is designed to contribute to the dissemination and implementation of smoking cessation interventions provided by hospital systems.

Arctic Sea Ice Charts from Danish Meteorological Institute, 1893 - 1956

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — From 1893 to 1956, the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) created charts of observed and inferred sea ice extent for each summer month. These charts are based on...

Concordance of chart and billing data with direct observation in dental practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Demko, Catherine A; Victoroff, Kristin Zakariasen; Wotman, Stephen

2008-10-01

The commonly used methods of chart review, billing data summaries and practitioner self-reporting have not been examined for their ability to validly and reliably represent time use and service delivery in routine dental practice. A more thorough investigation of these data sources would provide insight into the appropriateness of each approach for measuring various clinical behaviors. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of commonly used methods such as dental chart review, billing data, or practitioner self-report compared with a 'gold standard' of information derived from direct observation of routine dental visits. A team of trained dental hygienists directly observed 3751 patient visits in 120 dental practices and recorded the behaviors and procedures performed by dentists and hygienists during patient contact time. Following each visit, charts and billing records were reviewed for the performed and billed procedures. Dental providers characterized their frequency of preventive service delivery through self-administered surveys. We standardized the observation and abstraction methods to obtain optimal measures from each of the multiple data sources. Multi-rater kappa coefficients were computed to monitor standardization, while sensitivity, specificity, and kappa coefficients were calculated to compare the various data sources with direct observation. Chart audits were more sensitive than billing data for all observed procedures and demonstrated higher agreement with directly observed data. Chart and billing records were not sensitive for several prevention-related tasks (oral cancer screening and oral hygiene instruction). Provider self-reports of preventive behaviors were always over-estimated compared with direct observation. Inter-method reliability kappa coefficients for 13 procedures ranged from 0.197 to 0.952. These concordance findings suggest that strengths and weaknesses of data collection sources should be considered when investigating

46 CFR 97.05-5 - Charts and nautical publications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Charts and nautical publications. 97.05-5 Section 97.05... OPERATIONS Notice to Mariners and Aids to Navigation § 97.05-5 Charts and nautical publications. As... tables; (g) Current tables; and (h) All other nautical publications necessary. 1 1 For United States...

MINIMIZING GLOVEBOX GLOVE BREACHES, PART IV: CONTROL CHARTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cournoyer, Michael E.; Lee, Michelle B.; Schreiber, Stephen B.

2007-01-01

At the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Plutonium Facility, plutonium. isotopes and other actinides are handled in a glovebox environment. The spread of radiological contamination, and excursions of contaminants into the worker's breathing zone, are minimized and/or prevented through the use of glovebox technology. Evaluating the glovebox configuration, the glovebo gloves are the most vulnerable part of this engineering control. Recognizing this vulnerability, the Glovebox Glove Integrity Program (GGIP) was developed to minimize and/or prevent unplanned openings in the glovebox environment, i.e., glove failures and breaches. In addition, LANL implement the 'Lean Six Sigma (LSS)' program that incorporates the practices of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma technologies and tools to effectively improve administrative and engineering controls and work processes. One tool used in LSS is the use of control charts, which is an effective way to characterize data collected from unplanned openings in the glovebox environment. The benefit management receives from using this tool is two-fold. First, control charts signal the absence or presence of systematic variations that result in process instability, in relation to glovebox glove breaches and failures. Second, these graphical representations of process variation detennine whether an improved process is under control. Further, control charts are used to identify statistically significant variations (trends) that can be used in decision making to improve processes. This paper discusses performance indicators assessed by the use control charts, provides examples of control charts, and shows how managers use the results to make decisions. This effort contributes to LANL Continuous Improvement Program by improving the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and formality of glovebox operations.

The study of insect blood-feeding behaviour: 2. Recording techniques and the use of flow charts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. J. B. Smith

1987-01-01

Full Text Available This paper continues a discussion of approaches and methodologies we have used in our studies of feeding in haematophagous insects. Described are techniques for directly monitoring behaviour: electrical recording of feeding behaviour via resistance changes in the food canal, optical methods for monitoring mouthpart activity, and a computer technique for behavioural event recording. Also described is the use of "flow charts" or "decision diagrams" to model interrelated sequences of behaviours.

Assessing achievement in nephrology training: using clinic chart audits to quantitatively screen competency.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Christina M; Prince, Lisa K; Zwettler, Amy J; Nee, Robert; Oliver, James D; Abbott, Kevin C

2014-11-01

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are complex tasks representing vital physician functions in multiple competencies, used to demonstrate trainee development along milestones. Managing a nephrology outpatient clinic has been proposed as an EPA for nephrology fellowship training. Retrospective cohort study of nephrology fellow outpatient clinic performance using a previously validated chart audit tool. Outpatient encounter chart audits for training years 2008-2009 through 2012-2013, corresponding to participation in the Nephrology In-Training Examination (ITE). A median of 7 auditors (attending nephrologists) audited a mean of 1,686±408 (SD) charts per year. 18 fellows were audited; 12, in both of their training years. Proportion of chart audit and quality indicator deficiencies. Longitudinal deficiency and ITE performance. Among fellows audited in both their training years, chart audit deficiencies were fewer in the second versus the first year (5.4%±2.0% vs 17.3%±7.0%; PITE score less than the 25th percentile for second-year fellows (P=0.03), with no significant association for first-year fellows. Auditor-reported deficiencies declined between the first and second halves of the year (17.0% vs 11.1%; PITE and the nephrology subspecialty board examination. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Coding-Spreading Tradeoff in CDMA Systems

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bolas, Eduardo

2002-01-01

.... Comparing different combinations of coding and spreading with a traditional DS-CDMA, as defined in the IS-95 standard, allows the criteria to be defined for the best coding-spreading tradeoff in CDMA systems...

46 CFR 26.03-4 - Charts and nautical publications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Charts and nautical publications. 26.03-4 Section 26.03... Operating Requirements § 26.03-4 Charts and nautical publications. (a) As appropriate for the intended... navigation possible; (2) “U.S. Coast Pilot” or similar publication; (3) Coast Guard light list; (4) Tide...

One process is not enough! A speed-accuracy tradeoff study of recognition memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Boldini, Angela; Russo, Riccardo; Avons, S E

2004-04-01

Speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) methods have been used to contrast single- and dual-process accounts of recognition memory. In these procedures, subjects are presented with individual test items and are required to make recognition decisions under various time constraints. In this experiment, we presented word lists under incidental learning conditions, varying the modality of presentation and level of processing. At test, we manipulated the interval between each visually presented test item and a response signal, thus controlling the amount of time available to retrieve target information. Study-test modality match had a beneficial effect on recognition accuracy at short response-signal delays (deep than from shallow processing at study only at relatively long response-signal delays (> or =300 msec). The results are congruent with views suggesting that both fast familiarity and slower recollection processes contribute to recognition memory.

Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart

Science.gov (United States)

... Internal Temperature Chart Safe steps in food handling, cooking, and storage are essential in preventing foodborne illness. You can't see, smell, or taste harmful bacteria that may cause illness. In every step of food preparation, follow the four guidelines to keep food safe: ...

Metabolic enzyme cost explains variable trade-offs between microbial growth rate and yield.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meike T Wortel

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Microbes may maximize the number of daughter cells per time or per amount of nutrients consumed. These two strategies correspond, respectively, to the use of enzyme-efficient or substrate-efficient metabolic pathways. In reality, fast growth is often associated with wasteful, yield-inefficient metabolism, and a general thermodynamic trade-off between growth rate and biomass yield has been proposed to explain this. We studied growth rate/yield trade-offs by using a novel modeling framework, Enzyme-Flux Cost Minimization (EFCM and by assuming that the growth rate depends directly on the enzyme investment per rate of biomass production. In a comprehensive mathematical model of core metabolism in E. coli, we screened all elementary flux modes leading to cell synthesis, characterized them by the growth rates and yields they provide, and studied the shape of the resulting rate/yield Pareto front. By varying the model parameters, we found that the rate/yield trade-off is not universal, but depends on metabolic kinetics and environmental conditions. A prominent trade-off emerges under oxygen-limited growth, where yield-inefficient pathways support a 2-to-3 times higher growth rate than yield-efficient pathways. EFCM can be widely used to predict optimal metabolic states and growth rates under varying nutrient levels, perturbations of enzyme parameters, and single or multiple gene knockouts.

Value tradeoffs for the Hanford Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keeney, R.L.; Winterfeldt, D. von [Decision Insights, Inc., Irvine, CA (United States)

1997-09-01

The Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) program at the Hanford Site of the Department of Energy has adopted a logical approach to making decisions that uses decision analysis to structure and analyze decision alternatives and public values to evaluate them. This report is the third in a series to support this effort. The first identified a set of objectives (called {open_quotes}ends objectives{close_quotes}) that characterize the ultimate goals and desires of Hanford decision makers and stakeholders. The second report developed operational measures for these ends objectives (called {open_quotes}ends measures{close_quotes}) and it also developed a set of performance objectives and associated performance measures that are more directly related to how well decision alternatives in the TWRS program perform to achieve the ends objectives. The present report describes the development of quantitative value tradeoffs for both the ends measures and the performance measures. First, five national value experts were interviewed to obtain value tradeoffs for units of the ends measures identified in Keeney and von Winterfeldt (1996). The results of this assessment are shown in Table S1. Second, the implied value tradeoffs for the units of the performance measures were calculated from the value tradeoffs for units of the ends measures provided by the national experts. When calculating the value tradeoffs for the units of the performance measures, very simple quantitative relationships between ends and performance measures were assumed. The results of this calculation are shown in Table S2. The results of this report shown in Tables S1 and S2 should be considered preliminary and largely illustrative of the principles for developing value tradeoffs. The report lists several important caveats and recommendations for how future work can improve on the assessment of value tradeoffs.

Geo structural chart of Uruguay. Scale 1/2.000.000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preciozzi, F.; Spoturno, F.; Heinzen, W.

1979-01-01

This work is about the Geo-Structural Chart of Uruguay , Esca le 1 / 2,000,000. The geological information synthesis in the country, obtained from: published geological work or whose information is registered by laboratory work and geophysical surveys. This Chart will allow an overview of the degree of geological knowledge of Uruguay, restricted to the limits imposed by the scale of this work. The realization of this Chart included a thorough and careful compilation, critical analysis, standardization and interpretation of all geological and geophysical maps available in the country

ROBUSTIFICATION OF MULTIVARIATE CONTROL CHART √|S| IN CONTROL PHASE I

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edwin Dugarte-Peña

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This article, chart robustification based on the square root of the sample generalized variance √|S|, is studied to control the variability of a bivariate normal process in stage 1 of Phase I control, built with observations for rational subgroups, and using the robust estimators, MVE, MCD and estimator S. These charts, are being compared with the usual chart, based on unbiased sample estimator, S, of the covariance matrix, ∑_0, in the presence of outliers from perturbation schemes such as, ∑_0 inflation contamination, and contamination affecting only the correlation. We use as performance measure, the mean squared error in estimating ∑_0, and absolute bias in the estimate, used √(|∑_0 | , about the unbiased estimators for each one of the parameters respectively    built with the rational subgroups that remain after the purification process undertaken in Phase 1 and are consider as the data group that represent the stage of the stable variation process.

Information-disturbance tradeoff in quantum measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maccone, Lorenzo

2006-01-01

We present a simple information-disturbance tradeoff relation valid for any general measurement apparatus: The disturbance between input and output states is lower bounded by the information the apparatus provides in distinguishing these two states

Trade-Off Analysis between Concerns Based on Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Laurito, Abelyn Methanie R.; Takada, Shingo

The identification of functional and non-functional concerns is an important activity during requirements analysis. However, there may be conflicts between the identified concerns, and they must be discovered and resolved through trade-off analysis. Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering (AORE) has trade-off analysis as one of its goals, but most AORE approaches do not actually offer support for trade-off analysis; they focus on describing concerns and generating their composition. This paper proposes an approach for trade-off analysis based on AORE using use cases and the Requirements Conflict Matrix (RCM) to represent compositions. RCM shows the positive or negative effect of non-functional concerns over use cases and other non-functional concerns. Our approach is implemented within a tool called E-UCEd (Extended Use Case Editor). We also show the results of evaluating our tool.

A design chart for long vacuum pipes and shells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krempetz, K.; Grimson, J.; Kelly, P.

1986-01-01

This paper presents a design chart to aid designers in the selection of a wall thickness for long cylindrical shells having atmospheric pressure outside the shell and a pressure less than atmospheric inside the shell. The chart indicates a conservative value for the minimum wall thickness for a given shell diameter and material when the shell is completely evacuated

46 CFR 78.05-5 - Charts and nautical publications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Charts and nautical publications. 78.05-5 Section 78.05... Notice to Mariners and Aids to Navigation § 78.05-5 Charts and nautical publications. As appropriate for... publications necessary. 1 1 For United States vessels in or on the navigable waters of the United States, see...

The unsuitability of HTML-based colour charts for estimating animal colours--a comment on Berggren and Merilä (2004).

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Martin; Cuthill, Innes C

2005-08-30

A variety of techniques are used to study the colours of animal signals, including the use of visual matching to colour charts. This paper aims to highlight why they are generally an unsatisfactory tool for the measurement and classification of animal colours and why colour codes based on HTML (really RGB) standards, as advocated in a recent paper, are particularly inappropriate. There are many theoretical arguments against the use of colour charts, not least that human colour vision differs markedly from that of most other animals. However, the focus of this paper is the concern that, even when applied to humans, there is no simple 1:1 mapping from an RGB colour space to the perceived colours in a chart (the results are both printer- and illumination-dependent). We support our criticisms with data from colour matching experiments with humans, involving self-made, printed colour charts. Colour matching experiments with printed charts involving 11 subjects showed that the choices made by individuals were significantly different between charts that had exactly the same RGB values, but were produced from different printers. Furthermore, individual matches tended to vary under different lighting conditions. Spectrophotometry of the colour charts showed that the reflectance spectra of the charts varied greatly between printers and that equal steps in RGB space were often far from equal in terms of reflectance on the printed charts. In addition to outlining theoretical criticisms of the use of colour charts, our empirical results show that: individuals vary in their perception of colours, that different printers produce strikingly different results when reproducing what should be the same chart, and that the characteristics of the light irradiating the surface do affect colour perception. Therefore, we urge great caution in the use of colour charts to study animal colour signals. They should be used only as a last resort and in full knowledge of their limitations, with

Performance of risk-adjusted control charts to monitor in-hospital mortality of intensive care unit patients: A simulation study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koetsier, Antonie; de Keizer, Nicolette F.; de Jonge, Evert; Cook, David A.; Peek, Niels

2012-01-01

Objectives: Increases in case-mix adjusted mortality may be indications of decreasing quality of care. Risk-adjusted control charts can be used for in-hospital mortality monitoring in intensive care units by issuing a warning signal when there are more deaths than expected. The aim of this study was

Borehole DC-6 hydrostratigraphic chart

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gephart, R.E.

1981-09-01

This hydrostratigraphic chart for Borehole DC-6 identifies the basic stratigraphy and preliminary hydrologic test results. This borehole was cored for obtaining stratigraphic data and only that portion within the Grande Ronde formation remains open for hydrologic testing. The upper two formations were cased and cemented off

About the National Forecast Chart

Science.gov (United States)

code. Press enter or select the go button to submit request Local forecast by "City, St" or Prediction Center on Twitter NCEP Quarterly Newsletter WPC Home Analyses and Forecasts National Forecast to all federal, state, and local government web resources and services. The National Forecast Charts

Data analytics and parallel-coordinate materials property charts

Science.gov (United States)

Rickman, Jeffrey M.

2018-01-01

It is often advantageous to display material properties relationships in the form of charts that highlight important correlations and thereby enhance our understanding of materials behavior and facilitate materials selection. Unfortunately, in many cases, these correlations are highly multidimensional in nature, and one typically employs low-dimensional cross-sections of the property space to convey some aspects of these relationships. To overcome some of these difficulties, in this work we employ methods of data analytics in conjunction with a visualization strategy, known as parallel coordinates, to represent better multidimensional materials data and to extract useful relationships among properties. We illustrate the utility of this approach by the construction and systematic analysis of multidimensional materials properties charts for metallic and ceramic systems. These charts simplify the description of high-dimensional geometry, enable dimensional reduction and the identification of significant property correlations and underline distinctions among different materials classes.

Interactive Financial Charts- Agency Financial Reports

Data.gov (United States)

General Services Administration — For a visual depiction of GSA's Balance Sheet and Statement of Net Cost, please use the interactive charts to view the financial results for fiscal years 2007-2013.

Development of mild steel exposure chart for neutron radiography application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hafizal Yazid; Rafhayudi Jamro; Hishamuddin Husain; Muhammad Rawi Mohd Zin; Razali Kassim; Abd Aziz Mohamed; Azali Muhammad

2004-01-01

A neutron radiography exposure chart for mild steel was developed to facilitate the determination of exposure time when producing neutron radiographs for any given mild steel thickness. A mild steel sample in the form of step wedge (1-10 mm thick) was exposed to thermal neutron using Direct technique. This technique involves exposing x-ray film-Gadolinium converter housed in one film cassette simultaneously to thermal neutron beam. Gadolinium converters with thickness of 0.025 mm and 0.5 mm were used to observe the effect of converter thickness on radiographic density and exposure time. Collected radiographic density data is then calculated based on manufacturer's film characteristic chart and finally exposure chart for mild steel was plotted. This chart could later be used as a guide for estimating exposure time for any given sample thickness providing other conditions are similar (material, film processing, neutron flux, film density and converter thickness). (Author)

Application of Hotelling’s T{sup 2} charts in monitoring quality parameters in a drinking water supply system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costa, Mafalda T., E-mail: mafaldatcosta@gmail.com [UAberta, Portugal and Ministry of Economy, Portuguese Government (Canada); Carolino, Elisabete, E-mail: lizcarolino@gmail.com [ESTeSL-IPL, Research Group Environment and Health of ESTeSL-IPL (Portugal); Oliveira, Teresa A., E-mail: teresa.oliveira@uab.pt [DCeT - Universidade Aberta, and Center of Statistics and Applications of University of Lisbon (Portugal)

2015-03-10

In water supply systems with distribution networkthe most critical aspects of control and Monitoring of water quality, which generates crises system, are the effects of cross-contamination originated by the network typology. The classics of control of quality systems through the application of Shewhart charts are generally difficult to manage in real time due to the high number of charts that must be completed and evaluated. As an alternative to the traditional control systems with Shewhart charts, this study aimed to apply a simplified methodology of a monitoring plan quality parameters in a drinking water distribution, by applying Hotelling’s T{sup 2} charts and supplemented with Shewhart charts with Bonferroni limits system, whenever instabilities with processes were detected.

Tradeoffs Between Branch Mispredictions and Comparisons for Sorting Algorithms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Moruz, Gabriel

2005-01-01

Branch mispredictions is an important factor affecting the running time in practice. In this paper we consider tradeoffs between the number of branch mispredictions and the number of comparisons for sorting algorithms in the comparison model. We prove that a sorting algorithm using O(dnlog n......) comparisons performs Omega(nlogd n) branch mispredictions. We show that Multiway MergeSort achieves this tradeoff by adopting a multiway merger with a low number of branch mispredictions. For adaptive sorting algorithms we similarly obtain that an algorithm performing O(dn(1+log (1+Inv/n))) comparisons must...... perform Omega(nlogd (1+Inv/n)) branch mispredictions, where Inv is the number of inversions in the input. This tradeoff can be achieved by GenericSort by Estivill-Castro and Wood by adopting a multiway division protocol and a multiway merging algorithm with a low number of branch mispredictions....

The role of trade-offs in biodiversity conservation planning: linking ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A recent whole-country planning study for Papua New Guinea illustrates the importance of complementarity-based trade-offs in determining priority areas for biodiversity conservation, and for designing economic instruments such as biodiversity levies and offsets. Two international biodiversity programs provide important ...

Are trade-offs among species' ecological interactions scale dependent? A test using pitcher-plant inquiline species.

Science.gov (United States)

Kneitel, Jamie M

2012-01-01

Trade-offs among species' ecological interactions is a pervasive explanation for species coexistence. The traits associated with trade-offs are typically measured to mechanistically explain species coexistence at a single spatial scale. However, species potentially interact at multiple scales and this may be reflected in the traits among coexisting species. I quantified species' ecological traits associated with the trade-offs expected at both local (competitive ability and predator tolerance) and regional (competitive ability and colonization rate) community scales. The most common species (four protozoa and a rotifer) from the middle trophic level of a pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) inquiline community were used to link species traits to previously observed patterns of species diversity and abundance. Traits associated with trade-offs (competitive ability, predator tolerance, and colonization rate) and other ecological traits (size, growth rate, and carrying capacity) were measured for each of the focal species. Traits were correlated with one another with a negative relationship indicative of a trade-off. Protozoan and rotifer species exhibited a negative relationship between competitive ability and predator tolerance, indicative of coexistence at the local community scale. There was no relationship between competitive ability and colonization rate. Size, growth rate, and carrying capacity were correlated with each other and the trade-off traits: Size was related to both competitive ability and predator tolerance, but growth rate and carrying capacity were correlated with predator tolerance. When partial correlations were conducted controlling for size, growth rate and carrying capacity, the trade-offs largely disappeared. These results imply that body size is the trait that provides the basis for ecological interactions and trade-offs. Altogether, this study showed that the examination of species' traits in the context of coexistence at different scales

Create dynamic charts in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and beyond

CERN Document Server

Scheck, Reinhold

2009-01-01

Extend your Excel 2007 skills-and create more-powerful and compelling charts in less time. Guided by an Excel expert, you'll learn how to turn flat, static charts into dynamic solutions-where you can visualize and manipulate data countless ways with a simple mouse click. Get the hands-on practice and examples you need to produce your own, professional-quality results. No programming required! Maximize the impact of your ideas and data! Learn how your design decisions affect perception and comprehensionMatch the right chart type to your communication objectiveVisualize-then build-your solut

Tradeoff between assessment and control of aquatic invasive species: A case study of sea lamprey management in the St. Marys River

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Jason M.; Wilberg, Michael J.; Adams, Jean V.; Jones, Michael L.

2016-01-01

Allocating resources between the gathering of information to guide management actions and implementing those actions presents an inherent tradeoff. This tradeoff is evident for control of the Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus in the St. Marys River, connecting Lakes Huron and Superior and a major source of parasitic Sea Lampreys to Lake Huron and northern Lake Michigan. Larval Sea Lampreys in the St. Marys River are controlled through the application of Bayluscide, which is applied to areas of high larval density. Bayluscide applications are guided with an annual deepwater electrofishing survey to estimate larval Sea Lamprey density at relatively fine spatial scales. We took a resampling approach to describe the effect of sampling intensity on the success of the larval Sea Lamprey management program and explicitly incorporated the economic tradeoff between assessment and control efforts to maximize numbers of larvae killed in the St. Marys River. When no tradeoff between assessment and control was incorporated, increasing assessment always led to more larvae killed for the same treatment budget. When the tradeoff was incorporated, the sampling intensity that maximized the number of larvae killed depended on the overall budget available. Increased sampling intensities maximized effectiveness under medium to large budgets (US \\$0.4 to \\$2.0 million), and intermediate sampling intensities maximized effectiveness under low budgets. Sea Lamprey control actions based on assessment information outperformed those that were implemented with no assessment under all budget scenarios.

A qualitative study exploring nurses’ attitudes, confidence, and perceived barriers to implementing a traumatic brain injury nursing chart in Uganda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leslie Wynveen

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: In Africa, traumatic brain injuries frequently result from road traffic injuries and assaults. Despite limited resources and the high costs of life-saving neurosurgical interventions, secondary brain injury prevention has the potential for improving outcomes. However, nurses and other medical personnel infrequently monitor vital signs, blood sugar, and pulse oximetry and only sporadically re-assess neurological status. Methods: In one-on-one, semi-structured interviews, 27 nurses from Mulago Hospital’s emergency centre, a tertiary care trauma hospital in Kampala, Uganda, provided feedback regarding a traumatic brain injury-focused education session and use of a nursing chart for detecting secondary brain injury. The interviews explored the nurses’ confidence and perceived barriers to long-term chart implementation and traumatic brain injury care, as well as their ideas for improving this intervention. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded using ATLAS.ti: Qualitative Data Analysis and Research Software (Cleverbridge, Inc., Chicago, USA and Microsoft Word and Excel (Microsoft Office, Redmond, USA for thematic content analysis. Results: Key findings identified in the interviews included the nurses’ attitudes toward the chart and their feelings of increased confidence in assessing and caring for these patients. The main barriers to continuous implementation included inadequate staffing and resources. Conclusion: Nurses were receptive to the education session and nursing chart, and felt that it increased their confidence and improved their ability to care for traumatic brain injured patients. However, lack of supplies, overwhelming numbers of patients, and inadequate staffing interfered with consistent monitoring of patients. The nurses offered various suggestions for improving traumatic brain injury care that should be further investigated. More research is needed to assess the applicability of a standardised

Cartographic Rules and Differences in Nautical Data Visualization on Paper and Electronic Nautical Charts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tea Duplančić Leder

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to present cartographic rules for the production of paper and electronic navigational charts and main differences in compilation, visualisation and representation of nautical information. Major differences between paper nautical charts and ENC are visualisation of nautical data: colour mixing, resolution of represented nautical objects, human control of display representation and fonts and signatures and chart content are described. It is concluded that electronic navigational charts have many advantages and few shortcomings to paper navigational charts.

Congestive Heart Failure Cardiopoietic Regenerative Therapy (CHART-1) trial design.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartunek, Jozef; Davison, Beth; Sherman, Warren; Povsic, Thomas; Henry, Timothy D; Gersh, Bernard; Metra, Marco; Filippatos, Gerasimos; Hajjar, Roger; Behfar, Atta; Homsy, Christian; Cotter, Gad; Wijns, William; Tendera, Michal; Terzic, Andre

2016-02-01

Cardiopoiesis is a conditioning programme that aims to upgrade the cardioregenerative aptitude of patient-derived stem cells through lineage specification. Cardiopoietic stem cells tested initially for feasibility and safety exhibited signs of clinical benefit in patients with ischaemic heart failure (HF) warranting definitive evaluation. Accordingly, CHART-1 is designed as a large randomized, sham-controlled multicentre study aimed to validate cardiopoietic stem cell therapy. Patients (n = 240) with chronic HF secondary to ischaemic heart disease, reduced LVEF (Heart Failure Questionnaire score, 6 min walk test, LV end-systolic volume, and LVEF at 9 months. The secondary efficacy endpoint is the time to cardiovascular death or worsening HF at 12 months. Safety endpoints include mortality, readmissions, aborted sudden deaths, and serious adverse events at 12 and 24 months. The CHART-1 clinical trial is powered to examine the therapeutic impact of lineage-directed stem cells as a strategy to achieve cardiac regeneration in HF populations. On completion, CHART-1 will offer a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of cardiopoietic stem cells in the treatment of chronic ischaemic HF. NCT01768702. © 2015 The Authors European Journal of Heart Failure © 2015 European Society of Cardiology.

Molecular and Neuroendocrine Approaches to Understanding Trade-offs: Food, Sex, Aggression, Stress, and Longevity-An Introduction to the Symposium.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Jill E; Deviche, Pierre

2017-12-01

Life history strategies are composed of multiple fitness components, each of which incurs costs and benefits. Consequently, organisms cannot maximize all fitness components simultaneously. This situation results in a dynamic array of trade-offs in which some fitness traits prevail at the expense of others, often depending on context. The identification of specific constraints and trade-offs has helped elucidate physiological mechanisms that underlie variation in behavioral and physiological life history strategies. There is general recognition that trade-offs are made at the individual and population level, but much remains to be learned concerning the molecular neuroendocrine mechanisms that underlie trade-offs. For example, we still do not know whether the mechanisms that underlie trade-offs at the individual level relate to trade-offs at the population level. To advance our understanding of trade-offs, we organized a group of speakers who study neuroendocrine mechanisms at the interface of traits that are not maximized simultaneously. Speakers were invited to represent research from a wide range of taxa including invertebrates (e.g., worms and insects), fish, nonavian reptiles, birds, and mammals. Three general themes emerged. First, the study of trade-offs requires that we investigate traditional endocrine mechanisms that include hormones, neuropeptides, and their receptors, and in addition, other chemical messengers not traditionally included in endocrinology. The latter group includes growth factors, metabolic intermediates, and molecules of the immune system. Second, the nomenclature and theory of neuroscience that has dominated the study of behavior is being re-evaluated in the face of evidence for the peripheral actions of so-called neuropeptides and neurotransmitters and the behavioral repercussions of these actions. Finally, environmental and ecological contexts continue to be critical in unmasking molecular mechanisms that are hidden when study animals

Use of risk-adjusted CUSUM charts to monitor 30-day mortality in Danish hospitals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rasmussen TB

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Thomas Bøjer Rasmussen, Sinna Pilgaard Ulrichsen, Mette Nørgaard Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark Background: Monitoring hospital outcomes and clinical processes as a measure of clinical performance is an integral part of modern health care. The risk-adjusted cumulative sum (CUSUM chart is a frequently used sequential analysis technique that can be implemented to monitor a wide range of different types of outcomes.Objective: The aim of this study was to describe how risk-adjusted CUSUM charts based on population-based nationwide medical registers were used to monitor 30-day mortality in Danish hospitals and to give an example on how alarms of increased hospital mortality from the charts can guide further in-depth analyses.Materials and methods: We used routinely collected administrative data from the Danish National Patient Registry and the Danish Civil Registration System to create risk-adjusted CUSUM charts. We monitored 30-day mortality after hospital admission with one of 77 selected diagnoses in 24 hospital units in Denmark in 2015. The charts were set to detect a 50% increase in 30-day mortality, and control limits were determined by simulations.Results: Among 1,085,576 hospital admissions, 441,352 admissions had one of the 77 selected diagnoses as their primary diagnosis and were included in the risk-adjusted CUSUM charts. The charts yielded a total of eight alarms of increased mortality. The median of the hospitals’ estimated average time to detect a 50% increase in 30-day mortality was 50 days (interquartile interval, 43;54. In the selected example of an alarm, descriptive analyses indicated performance problems with 30-day mortality following hip fracture surgery and diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Conclusion: The presented implementation of risk-adjusted CUSUM charts can detect significant increases in 30-day mortality within 2 months, on average, in most

Statistical Control Charts: Performances of Short Term Stock Trading in Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dumičić Ksenija

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Background: The stock exchange, as a regulated financial market, in modern economies reflects their economic development level. The stock market indicates the mood of investors in the development of a country and is an important ingredient for growth. Objectives: This paper aims to introduce an additional statistical tool used to support the decision-making process in stock trading, and it investigate the usage of statistical process control (SPC methods into the stock trading process. Methods/Approach: The individual (I, exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA and cumulative sum (CUSUM control charts were used for gaining trade signals. The open and the average prices of CROBEX10 index stocks on the Zagreb Stock Exchange were used in the analysis. The statistical control charts capabilities for stock trading in the short-run were analysed. Results: The statistical control chart analysis pointed out too many signals to buy or sell stocks. Most of them are considered as false alarms. So, the statistical control charts showed to be not so much useful in stock trading or in a portfolio analysis. Conclusions: The presence of non-normality and autocorellation has great impact on statistical control charts performances. It is assumed that if these two problems are solved, the use of statistical control charts in a portfolio analysis could be greatly improved.

A critical review of the hypothesis of a medieval origin for portolan charts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nicolai, R.

2014-01-01

Portolan charts are nautical charts, which appear suddenly in the thirteenth century Mediterranean world, without any discernable development path or predecessors. These charts are remarkable for the high degree of realism and accuracy with which they render the coastlines of their core coverage

Separation from supported employment: a retrospective chart review study.

Science.gov (United States)

West, Michael; Targett, Pamela; Wehman, Paul; Cifu, Gabriella; Davis, Jacob

2015-01-01

The objective of this study was to examine job separations from supported employment (SE). The aim was to identify the types and nature of separations and precipitating events leading to the separation. A retrospective chart review methodology was utilized. The study was conducted in a metropolitan area in the Southeast United States by a university-based SE program. Participants were 47 SE clients who had been placed into and separated from 67 jobs. Using a coding form, information regarding the type of separation and issues that preceded the separation were recorded. Data were aggregated using descriptive statistics. The largest number of separations was due to termination, followed by resignation and mutual consent of the employer and employee. The mean number of issues leading to the separation was 2.2, ranging from one to five. Only eight positive issues were found (compared to 116 negative and 20 neutral), the most prevalent being entry into an educational or training program. Common negative issues included poor work performance, attendance and punctuality problems, conflicts with the supervisor, and social and behavioral issues. The findings of this study illustrate the need to address job retention issues during the job development process, finding the most appropriate person-job fit and workplace culture for each client. The findings also support the need for vigilant and regular communication between the SE program and employers to intervene quickly when problems arise. Separation from Supported Employment (SE) SE is an evidence-based employment practice that has been shown effective across multiple disability groups. Studying job separations can provide valuable information for improving service. Locating the best person-job fit, as well as frequent contract with employers, can help prevent unnecessary job loss.

Control Chart on Semi Analytical Weighting

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, G. S.; Oliveira, C. C.; Silva, T. B. S. C.; Stellato, T. B.; Monteiro, L. R.; Marques, J. R.; Faustino, M. G.; Soares, S. M. V.; Ulrich, J. C.; Pires, M. A. F.; Cotrim, M. E. B.

2018-03-01

Semi-analytical balance verification intends to assess the balance performance using graphs that illustrate measurement dispersion, trough time, and to demonstrate measurements were performed in a reliable manner. This study presents internal quality control of a semi-analytical balance (GEHAKA BG400) using control charts. From 2013 to 2016, 2 weight standards were monitored before any balance operation. This work intended to evaluate if any significant difference or bias were presented on weighting procedure over time, to check the generated data reliability. This work also exemplifies how control intervals are established.

Robust control charts in industrial production of olive oil

Science.gov (United States)

Grilo, Luís M.; Mateus, Dina M. R.; Alves, Ana C.; Grilo, Helena L.

2014-10-01

Acidity is one of the most important variables in the quality analysis and characterization of olive oil. During the industrial production we use individuals and moving range charts to monitor this variable, which is not always normal distributed. After a brief exploratory data analysis, where we use the bootstrap method, we construct control charts, before and after a Box-Cox transformation, and compare their robustness and performance.

PERBANDINGAN MEDIA POWER POINT DENGAN FLIP CHART DALAM MENINGKATKAN PENGETAHUANKESEHATAN GIGI DAN MULUT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oki Nurhidayat

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui apakah ada perbedaan peningkatan pengetahuan kesehatan gigi dan mulut antara menggunakan media power point dan flip chart. Jenis penelitian ini adalah penelitian ekperimen semu, menggunakan metode desain pretes-postes dengan kelompok kontrol. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah siswa SD Negeri Sukorejo 02 dan 03 Gunungpati Semarang Tahun 2011 yang berjumlah 84 siswa. Sampel berjumlah 70 siswa. Instrumen yang digunakan adalah kuesioner. Berdasarkan hasil uji t berpasangan diketahui bahwa terdapat perbedaan yang bermakna antara nilai pretest dan postest pada masing-masing kelompok yaitu kelompok ekperimen (p=0,001 dan kontrol (p=0,001, sedangkan berdasarkan uji t tidak berpasangan diperoleh hasil nilai p=0,006, yang artinya terdapat perbedaan peningkatan pengetahuan kesehatan gigi dan mulut pada siswa sekolah dasar yang signifikan antara post test kelompok I (media power point dan kelompok kontrol (flip chart. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah ada perbedaan peningkatan pengetahuan kesehatan gigi dan mulut antara menggunakan media power point dan flip chart. Purpose of this research is determine whether there is difference improving dental and oral health knowledge between media use power point and flip chart. This type of research is to study quasi ekperiment, using the method of pretest postes control group design. The population in this study were students of SDN Sukorejo 02 and SDN Sukorejo 03 District Gunungpati Semarang in 2011, amounting to 84 students. The Sample is 70 students. Instrument used was a questionnaire. Based on the results of paired t test is known that there were significant differences between pretest and postest value in each group of experimental group (p = 0.001 and controls (p = 0.001, whereas the unpaired t test based on the results obtained p-value = 0.006, which means that there are differences in the increase of knowledge of oral health in primary school students

A randomised multicentre trial of CHART versus conventional radiotherapy in head and neck cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dische, Stanley; Saunders, Michele; Barrett, Ann; Harvey, Angela; Gibson, Della; Parmar, Mahesh

1997-01-01

Background and purpose: Continuous, hyperfractionated, accelerated radiotherapy (CHART) has shown promise of improved tumour control and reduced late morbidity in pilot studies and has now been tested in a multicentre randomised controlled clinical trial. Material and methods: Patients with squamous cell cancer in the main sites within the head and neck region with the general exception of early T1 N0 tumours were entered into the study by 11 centres. There was a 3:2 randomisation to either CHART, where a dose of 54 Gy was given in 36 fractions over 12 days, or to conventional therapy where 66 Gy was given in 33 fractions over 6.5 weeks. A total of 918 patients were included over a 5 year period from March 1990. Results: Acute Morbidity: Acute radiation mucositis was more severe with CHART, occurred earlier but settled sooner and was in nearly all cases healed by 8 weeks in both arms. Skin reactions were less severe and settled more quickly in the CHART treated patients. Tumour control and survival: Life table analyses of loco-regional control, primary tumour control, nodal control, disease-free interval, freedom from metastasis and survival showed no evidence of differences between the two arms. In exploratory subgroup analyses there was evidence of a greater response to CHART in younger patients (P = 0.041) and poorly differentiated tumours appeared to fare better with conventional radiotherapy (P = 0.030). In the larynx there was evidence of a trend towards increasing benefit with more advanced T stage (P = 0.002). Late treatment related morbidity: Osteoradionecrosis occurred in 0.4% of patients after CHART and 1.4% of patients after conventional radiotherapy. The incidence of chondritis or cartilage necrosis was similar in both arms. Life table analysis showed evidence of reduced severity in a number of late morbidities in favour of CHART. These were most striking for skin telangiectasia, superficial and deep ulceration of the mucosa and laryngeal oedema

Sustainability Orientation and Entrepreneurship Orientation: Is There a Tradeoff Relationship between Them?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang Soo Sung

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Sustainability and entrepreneurship are often regarded as binary concepts that have a tradeoff relationship, meaning that the higher the social and environmental consideration, the lower the private and economic benefits. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of individual sustainability orientation on opportunity recognition and sustainable entrepreneurship intention, and examine whether it has a tradeoff relationship with entrepreneurship orientation. The result of this study shows that sustainability orientation has a positive relationship with opportunity recognition and entrepreneurship intention related to sustainability. Analysis of the moderating effects of entrepreneurship orientation reveals the positive effect with sustainability orientation but negative effect with opportunity recognition on sustainable entrepreneurship intention. This study would suggest implications to entrepreneurs on how to balance sustainability and entrepreneurship and promote sustainability entrepreneurship.

Charts for weight loss to detect hypernatremic dehydration and prevent formula supplementing.

Science.gov (United States)

van Dommelen, Paula; Boer, Suzanne; Unal, Sevim; van Wouwe, Jacobus P

2014-06-01

Most breast-fed newborns get the milk they need. However, very rarely milk intake is insufficient mostly as a result of poor breastfeeding techniques. Dramatic weight loss and hypernatremic dehydration may occur. Our aim was to construct charts for weight loss. A case-control study was performed. Charts with standard deviation score (SDS) lines for weight loss in the first month were constructed for 2,359 healthy breast-fed term newborns and 271 cases with breastfeeding-associated hypernatremic dehydration with serum sodium level > 149 mEq/L. Day 0 was defined as the day of birth. Many cases with (or who will develop) hypernatremic dehydration (84%; +1 SDS line) fell below the -1 SDS line at day 3, the -2 SDS line at day 4, and the -2.5 SDS line at day 5 in the chart of the healthy breast-fed newborns. Weight loss of cases with permanent residual symptoms was far below the -2.5 SDS. Already at an early age, weight loss differs between healthy breast-fed newborns and those with hypernatremic dehydration. Charts for weight loss are, therefore, useful tools to detect early, or prevent newborns from developing, breastfeeding-associated hypernatremic dehydration, and also to prevent unnecessary formula supplementing. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Typology Framework for Trade-Offs in Development and Disaster Risk Reduction: A Case Study of Typhoon Haiyan Recovery in Tacloban, Philippines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heidi Tuhkanen

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Development and disaster risk are deeply linked. Disasters reverse development gains; development initiatives influence the risk, vulnerability, and exposure of people, assets, and environments to disasters. Hence, knowledge of key dimensions of the potential trade-offs between development and disaster risk reduction (DRR may inform decision-making processes, goals, and initiatives in ways that have potential to address unsustainable development practices that are commonplace in countries of all economic levels. This paper presents, explores, and tests a conceptual framework for analysing the trade-offs that underpin this relationship as evidenced through policy goals, initiatives, and decision-making processes. We categorise key dimensions of relevant trade-offs into five specific dimensions: (i The aggregation of development and DRR gains and losses, (ii risk prioritisation when seeking to reduce multiple risks, (iii the equity of decision-making processes and outcomes, (iv the balancing of near- and long-term goals, and (v the distribution of power and participation. By framing key questions related to each trade-off dimension, we test the framework in the context of a major disaster recovery process in Tacloban, the Philippines, following Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in November 2013. We consider how decision-making trade-offs can be made more visible and useful in the pursuit of transformative change in development and DRR.

Growth charts for children with Ellis-van Creveld syndrome

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S. Verbeek (Sabine); P.H.C. Eilers (Paul); K.A. Lawrence (Karen); R.C.M. Hennekam (Raoul); F.G. Versteegh (Florens)

2011-01-01

textabstractEllis-van Creveld (EvC) syndrome is a congenital malformation syndrome with marked growth retardation. In this study, specific growth charts for EvC patients were derived to allow better follow-up of growth and earlier detection of growth patterns unusual for EvC. With the use of 235

Growth charts for children with Ellis-van Creveld syndrome

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verbeek, Sabine; Eilers, Paul H. C.; Lawrence, Kate; Hennekam, Raoul C. M.; Versteegh, Florens G. A.

2011-01-01

Ellis-van Creveld (EvC) syndrome is a congenital malformation syndrome with marked growth retardation. In this study, specific growth charts for EvC patients were derived to allow better follow-up of growth and earlier detection of growth patterns unusual for EvC. With the use of 235 observations of

Dynamic probability control limits for risk-adjusted CUSUM charts based on multiresponses.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiang; Loda, Justin B; Woodall, William H

2017-07-20

For a patient who has survived a surgery, there could be several levels of recovery. Thus, it is reasonable to consider more than two outcomes when monitoring surgical outcome quality. The risk-adjusted cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart based on multiresponses has been developed for monitoring a surgical process with three or more outcomes. However, there is a significant effect of varying risk distributions on the in-control performance of the chart when constant control limits are applied. To overcome this disadvantage, we apply the dynamic probability control limits to the risk-adjusted CUSUM charts for multiresponses. The simulation results demonstrate that the in-control performance of the charts with dynamic probability control limits can be controlled for different patient populations because these limits are determined for each specific sequence of patients. Thus, the use of dynamic probability control limits for risk-adjusted CUSUM charts based on multiresponses allows each chart to be designed for the corresponding patient sequence of a surgeon or a hospital and therefore does not require estimating or monitoring the patients' risk distribution. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

MO-A-BRB-02: Considerations and Issues in Electronic Charting for Brachytherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richardson, S.

2015-01-01

The process of converting to an electronic chart for radiation therapy can be daunting. It requires a dedicated committee to first research and choose appropriate software, to review the entire documentation policy and flow of the clinic, to convert this system to electronic form or if necessary, redesign the system to more easily conform to the electronic process. Those making the conversion and those who already use electronic charting would benefit from the shared experience of those who have been through the process in the past. Therefore TG262 was convened to provide guidance on electronic charting for external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy. This course will present the results of an internal survey of task group members on EMR practices in External Beam Radiation Therapy as well as discuss important issues in EMR development and structure for both EBRT and brachytherapy. Learning Objectives: Be familiarized with common practices and pitfalls in development and maintenance of an electronic chart in Radiation Oncology Be familiarized with important issues related to electronic charting in External Beam Radiation Therapy Be familiarized with important issues related to electronic charting in Brachytherapy

The unsuitability of html-based colour charts for estimating animal colours – a comment on Berggren and Merilä (2004

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cuthill Innes C

2005-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A variety of techniques are used to study the colours of animal signals, including the use of visual matching to colour charts. This paper aims to highlight why they are generally an unsatisfactory tool for the measurement and classification of animal colours and why colour codes based on HTML (really RGB standards, as advocated in a recent paper, are particularly inappropriate. There are many theoretical arguments against the use of colour charts, not least that human colour vision differs markedly from that of most other animals. However, the focus of this paper is the concern that, even when applied to humans, there is no simple 1:1 mapping from an RGB colour space to the perceived colours in a chart (the results are both printer- and illumination-dependent. We support our criticisms with data from colour matching experiments with humans, involving self-made, printed colour charts. Results Colour matching experiments with printed charts involving 11 subjects showed that the choices made by individuals were significantly different between charts that had exactly the same RGB values, but were produced from different printers. Furthermore, individual matches tended to vary under different lighting conditions. Spectrophotometry of the colour charts showed that the reflectance spectra of the charts varied greatly between printers and that equal steps in RGB space were often far from equal in terms of reflectance on the printed charts. Conclusion In addition to outlining theoretical criticisms of the use of colour charts, our empirical results show that: individuals vary in their perception of colours, that different printers produce strikingly different results when reproducing what should be the same chart, and that the characteristics of the light irradiating the surface do affect colour perception. Therefore, we urge great caution in the use of colour charts to study animal colour signals. They should be used only as a last

Nuclear industry chart no. 21 - France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1976-01-01

A fold-out chart shows the relationship between the government bodies and industrial concerns. Nuclear power plant orders under the 1970-84 programme are tabulated. A directory is included of national bodies, firms and establishments. (U.K.)

Precision and accuracy of commonly used dental age estimation charts for the New Zealand population.

Science.gov (United States)

Baylis, Stephanie; Bassed, Richard

2017-08-01

Little research has been undertaken for the New Zealand population in the field of dental age estimation. This research to date indicates there are differences in dental developmental rates between the New Zealand population and other global population groups, and within the New Zealand population itself. Dental age estimation methods range from dental development charts to complex biometric analysis. Dental development charts are not the most accurate method of dental age estimation, but are time saving in their use. They are an excellent screening tool, particularly for post-mortem identification purposes, and for assessing variation from population norms in living individuals. The aim of this study was to test the precision and accuracy of three dental development charts (Schour and Massler, Blenkin and Taylor, and the London Atlas), used to estimate dental age of a sample of New Zealand juveniles between the ages of 5 and 18 years old (n=875). Percentage 'best fit' to correct age category and to expected chart stage were calculated to determine which chart was the most precise for the sample. Chronological ages were compared to estimated dental ages using a two-tailed paired t-test (Pcharts tested against the New Zealand population sample, the Blenkin and Taylor Australian charts performed best overall. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Application of Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) Technology to Anatomic Dental Charting

OpenAIRE

Bartling, William C.; Schleyer, Titus K.L.

2003-01-01

Historically, an anatomic dental chart is a compilation of color-coded symbols and numbers used within a template, either paper or computerized, to create a graphic record of a patient’s oral health status. This poster depicts how Geospatial Information System (GIS) technology can be used to create an accurate, current anatomic dental chart that contains detailed information not present in current charting systems.

On the Trade-off between Energy Consumption and Food Quality Loss in Supermarket Refrigeration Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cai, Junping; Jensen, Jørgen Bauck; Skogestad, Sigurd

2008-01-01

This paper studies the trade-off between energy consumption and food quality loss, at varying ambient conditions, in supermarket refrigeration systems. Compared with the traditional operation with pressure control, a large potential for energy savings without extra loss of food quality is demonst......This paper studies the trade-off between energy consumption and food quality loss, at varying ambient conditions, in supermarket refrigeration systems. Compared with the traditional operation with pressure control, a large potential for energy savings without extra loss of food quality...

Valuing trade-offs of river ecosystem services in large hydropower development in Tibet, China

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, B.; Xu, L.

2015-12-01

Hydropower development can be considered as a kind of trade-offs of ecosystem services generated by human activity for their economic and energy demand, because it can increase some river ecosystem services but decrease others. In this context, an ecosystem service trade-off framework in hydropower development was proposed in this paper. It aims to identify the ecological cost of river ecosystem and serve for the ecological compensation during hydropower development, for the hydropower services cannot completely replace the regulating services of river ecosystem. The valuing trade-offs framework was integrated by the influenced ecosystem services identification and ecosystem services valuation, through ecological monitoring and ecological economic methods, respectively. With a case study of Pondo hydropower project in Tibet, China, the valuing trade-offs of river ecosystem services in large hydropower development was illustrated. The typical ecological factors including water, sediment and soil were analyzed in this study to identify the altered river ecosystem services by Pondo hydropower project. Through the field monitoring and valuation, the results showed that the Lhasa River ecosystem services value could be changed annually by Pondo hydropower project with the increment of 5.7E+8CNY, and decrement of 5.1E+7CNY. The ecological compensation for river ecosystem should be focus on water and soil conservation, reservoir dredging and tributaries habitat protection.

News from the Library: The 8th edition Karlsruhe nuclide chart has been released

CERN Multimedia

CERN Library

2012-01-01

The 8th edition of the Karlsruhe Nuclide Chart contains new data not found in the 7th edition.   Since 1958, the well-known Karlsruhe Nuclide Chart has provided scientists with structured, valuable information on the half-lives, decay modes and energies of radioactive nuclides. The chart is used in many disciplines in physics (health physics, radiation protection, nuclear and radiochemistry, astrophysics, etc.) but also in the life and earth sciences (biology, medicine, agriculture, geology, etc.). The 8th edition of the Karlsruhe Nuclide Chart contains new data on 737 nuclides not found in the 7th edition. In total, nuclear data on 3847 experimentally observed ground states and isomers are presented. A new web-based version of this chart is in the final stages of development for use within the Nucleonica Nuclear Science Portal - a portal for which CERN has an institutional license. The chart is also available in paper format.   If you want to buy a paper version of the chart, ple...

Intertemporal Risk-Return Trade-off in Foreign Exchange Rates

OpenAIRE

Christiansen, Charlotte

2010-01-01

We investigate the intertemporal risk-return trade-off of foreign ex-change (FX) rates for ten currencies quoted against the USD. For each currency,we use three risk measures simultaneously that pertain to that currency; its re-alized volatility, its realized skewness, and its value-at-risk. We apply monthlyFX excess returns and monthly FX risk measures calculated from daily ob-servations. We find that there is a positive and signi…cant contemporaneousrisk-return trade-off for most currencies...

Handbook of thermodynamic tables and charts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raznjevic, K.

1976-01-01

A compilation of thermodynamic and thermophysical tables and charts is presented. Numerical values are cited in both technical and SI units. Solid, liquid, vapor, and gaseous forms of organic and inorganic materials are included. 12 figures, 137 tables

Impact of Scribes on Physician Satisfaction, Patient Satisfaction, and Charting Efficiency: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Gidwani, Risha; Nguyen, Cathina; Kofoed, Alexis; Carragee, Catherine; Rydel, Tracy; Nelligan, Ian; Sattler, Amelia; Mahoney, Megan; Lin, Steven

2017-09-01

Scribes are increasingly being used in clinical practice despite a lack of high-quality evidence regarding their effects. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of medical scribes on physician satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and charting efficiency. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in which physicians in an academic family medicine clinic were randomized to 1 week with a scribe then 1 week without a scribe for the course of 1 year. Scribes drafted all relevant documentation, which was reviewed by the physician before attestation and signing. In encounters without a scribe, the physician performed all charting duties. Our outcomes were physician satisfaction, measured by a 5-item instrument that included physicians' perceptions of chart quality and chart accuracy; patient satisfaction, measured by a 6-item instrument; and charting efficiency, measured by time to chart close. Scribes improved all aspects of physician satisfaction, including overall satisfaction with clinic (OR = 10.75), having enough face time with patients (OR = 3.71), time spent charting (OR = 86.09), chart quality (OR = 7.25), and chart accuracy (OR = 4.61) (all P values patient satisfaction. Scribes increased the proportion of charts that were closed within 48 hours (OR =1.18, P =.028). To our knowledge, we have conducted the first randomized controlled trial of scribes. We found that scribes produced significant improvements in overall physician satisfaction, satisfaction with chart quality and accuracy, and charting efficiency without detracting from patient satisfaction. Scribes appear to be a promising strategy to improve health care efficiency and reduce physician burnout. © 2017 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

Discount rates in risk versus money and money versus money tradeoffs.

Science.gov (United States)

Alberini, Anna; Chiabai, Aline

2007-04-01

We use data from a survey of residents of five Italian cities conducted in late spring 2004 to estimate the discount rates implicit in (1) money versus future risk reductions and (2) money versus money tradeoffs. We find that the mean personal discount rate is 0.3-1.7% in (1) and 8.7% in (2). The latter is lower than the discount rates estimated in comparable situations in many recent studies, greater than market interest rates in Italy at the time, and exhibits modest variation with age and gender. The discount rate implicit in money versus risk tradeoffs is within the range of estimates from studies in the United States and Europe, and does not depend on observable individual characteristics. We use split samples to investigate whether a completely abstract risk reduction - one where the risk reduction delivery has been stripped of all specifics, so that respondents should focus on the risks without being distracted by details - results in WTP and discount figures comparable to those from an identified delivery mechanism (a medical test). We find that while WTP for an immediate risk reduction is 42-73% higher with the abstract risk reduction, the discount rate in the money versus risk tradeoffs and the variance of the error term in the WTP equation are the same across the two variants of the questionnaire.

Peran Media Time Lines Chart Dalam Pembelajaran IPS di Sekolah Dasar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dwilusiyana Nurulanjani

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Media plays an important role in the learning process, many research results reveal the media give effect to the improvement of student learning outcomes. Initial findings of the research in class V SDN Sindangjati, Paseh-Sumedang showed students having low historical thinking skills, because the subject of history study in IPS dense subjects contains abstract facts so difficult to understand that impact on students tend to be difficult to remember when and what happens in historical events that are historical thinking skill. Efforts are made to overcome these problems by using media time lines chart. The result of research using Classroom Action Research Method  shows that the media time lines chart can increase the historical thinking skill of the increase is known from the percentage increase of historical thinking skill in cycle I that is 62,50%. Then in cycle II, there is an increase of 87.50%. This means that the media time lines chart on learning IPS historical material events Proclamation can increase historical thinking skills. This means that the historical historical thinking test of social studies learning historical material of the Proclamation event has reached and fulfilled the targeted target of 84.38% previously.

Prioritization of Forest Restoration Projects: Tradeoffs between Wildfire Protection, Ecological Restoration and Economic Objectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin C. Vogler

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The implementation of US federal forest restoration programs on national forests is a complex process that requires balancing diverse socioecological goals with project economics. Despite both the large geographic scope and substantial investments in restoration projects, a quantitative decision support framework to locate optimal project areas and examine tradeoffs among alternative restoration strategies is lacking. We developed and demonstrated a new prioritization approach for restoration projects using optimization and the framework of production possibility frontiers. The study area was a 914,657 ha national forest in eastern Oregon, US that was identified as a national priority for restoration with the goal of increasing fire resiliency and sustaining ecosystem services. The results illustrated sharp tradeoffs among the various restoration goals due to weak spatial correlation of forest stressors and provisional ecosystem services. The sharpest tradeoffs were found in simulated projects that addressed either wildfire risk to the urban interface or wildfire hazard, highlighting the challenges associated with meeting both economic and fire protection goals. Understanding the nature of tradeoffs between restoration objectives and communicating them to forest stakeholders will allow forest managers to more effectively design and implement economically feasible restoration projects.

Memory architecture for efficient utilization of SDRAM: a case study of the computation/memory access trade-off

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gleerup, Thomas Møller; Holten-Lund, Hans Erik; Madsen, Jan

2000-01-01

. In software, forward differencing is usually better, but in this hardware implementation, the trade-off has made it possible to develop a very regular memory architecture with a buffering system, which can reach 95% bandwidth utilization using off-the-shelf SDRAM, This is achieved by changing the algorithm......This paper discusses the trade-off between calculations and memory accesses in a 3D graphics tile renderer for visualization of data from medical scanners. The performance requirement of this application is a frame rate of 25 frames per second when rendering 3D models with 2 million triangles, i...... to use a memory access strategy with write-only and read-only phases, and a buffering system, which uses round-robin bank write-access combined with burst read-access....

Charts of episodes and chronometric duration have implications for provinces such as the Kaapvaal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. de la R. Winter

1997-07-01

Full Text Available An accurate basin analysis and knowledge of its evolutionary development being a prerequisite framework for metallogenic model­ling, a procedure was developed for the Kaapvaal Province to maximise quantitative observational data and constrain assumptions and interpretations. Employing an episodes chart to display various events interactively and its conversion to a geochronometric chart as the geological model, the method was applied to existing stratigraphic studies.

Reliability of FAMACHA© chart for the evaluation of anaemia in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The reliability of FAMACHA© chart for identifying anaemic goats was compared with Packed Cell Volume (PCV). The colour of the lower eyelids was graded with FAMACHA© chart based on FAMACHA© scores (FS) of 1-5. The animals were scored from severely anaemic (white or FS 5) through moderately anaemic (pink or ...

The role of dynamic trade-offs in creating safety—A qualitative study of handover across care boundaries in emergency care

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sujan, Mark; Spurgeon, Peter; Cooke, Matthew

2015-01-01

The paper aims to demonstrate how the study of everyday clinical work can contribute novel insights into a common and stubborn patient safety problem—the vulnerabilities of handover across care boundaries in emergency care. Based on a dialectical interpretation of the empirical evidence gathered in five National Health Service organisations, the paper argues that performance variability is an essential component in the delivery of safe care, as practitioners translate tensions they encounter in their everyday work into safe practices through dynamic trade-offs based on their experience and the requirements of the specific situation. The findings may shed new light on the vulnerabilities of the handover process, and they might help explain why improvements to handover have remained largely elusive and what type of future recommendations may be appropriate for improving patient safety. - Highlights: • Qualitative study of emergency care handover across boundaries. • Description of tensions in everyday clinical work. • Exploration of the role of dynamic trade-offs. • Application of resilience engineering thinking to handover

Trade-off preferences regarding adjuvant endocrine therapy among women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wouters, H.; Maatman, G.A.; Dijk, L. van; Bouvy, M.L.; Vree, R.; Geffen, E.C.G. van; Nortier, J.W.; Stiggelbout, A.M.

2013-01-01

Background: There is substantial nonadherence to effective adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer prevention. We therefore examined patients' trade-offs between the efficacy, side-effects, and regimen duration, and whether trade-offs predicted nonadherence. Patients and methods: Trade-offs

Trade-off preferences regarding adjuvant endocrine therapy among women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wouters, H; Maatman, G A; Van Dijk, L; Bouvy, M L; Vree, R; Van Geffen, E C G; Nortier, J W; Stiggelbout, A M

BACKGROUND: There is substantial nonadherence to effective adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer prevention. We therefore examined patients' trade-offs between the efficacy, side-effects, and regimen duration, and whether trade-offs predicted nonadherence. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Trade-offs

Sibling Competition & Growth Tradeoffs. Biological vs. Statistical Significance

OpenAIRE

Kramer, Karen L.; Veile, Amanda; Ot?rola-Castillo, Erik

2016-01-01

Early childhood growth has many downstream effects on future health and reproduction and is an important measure of offspring quality. While a tradeoff between family size and child growth outcomes is theoretically predicted in high-fertility societies, empirical evidence is mixed. This is often attributed to phenotypic variation in parental condition. However, inconsistent study results may also arise because family size confounds the potentially differential effects that older and younger s...

The effects of parameter estimation on minimizing the in-control average sample size for the double sampling X bar chart

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael B.C. Khoo

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The double sampling (DS X bar chart, one of the most widely-used charting methods, is superior for detecting small and moderate shifts in the process mean. In a right skewed run length distribution, the median run length (MRL provides a more credible representation of the central tendency than the average run length (ARL, as the mean is greater than the median. In this paper, therefore, MRL is used as the performance criterion instead of the traditional ARL. Generally, the performance of the DS X bar chart is investigated under the assumption of known process parameters. In practice, these parameters are usually estimated from an in-control reference Phase-I dataset. Since the performance of the DS X bar chart is significantly affected by estimation errors, we study the effects of parameter estimation on the MRL-based DS X bar chart when the in-control average sample size is minimised. This study reveals that more than 80 samples are required for the MRL-based DS X bar chart with estimated parameters to perform more favourably than the corresponding chart with known parameters.

Soil management shapes ecosystem service provision and trade-offs in agricultural landscapes.

Science.gov (United States)

Tamburini, Giovanni; De Simone, Serena; Sigura, Maurizia; Boscutti, Francesco; Marini, Lorenzo

2016-08-31

Agroecosystems are principally managed to maximize food provisioning even if they receive a large array of supporting and regulating ecosystem services (ESs). Hence, comprehensive studies investigating the effects of local management and landscape composition on the provision of and trade-offs between multiple ESs are urgently needed. We explored the effects of conservation tillage, nitrogen fertilization and landscape composition on six ESs (crop production, disease control, soil fertility, water quality regulation, weed and pest control) in winter cereals. Conservation tillage enhanced soil fertility and pest control, decreased water quality regulation and weed control, without affecting crop production and disease control. Fertilization only influenced crop production by increasing grain yield. Landscape intensification reduced the provision of disease and pest control. We also found tillage and landscape composition to interactively affect water quality regulation and weed control. Under N fertilization, conventional tillage resulted in more trade-offs between ESs than conservation tillage. Our results demonstrate that soil management and landscape composition affect the provision of several ESs and that soil management potentially shapes the trade-offs between them. © 2016 The Author(s).

Defensive traits exhibit an evolutionary trade-off and drive diversification in ants.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchard, Benjamin D; Moreau, Corrie S

2017-02-01

Evolutionary biologists have long predicted that evolutionary trade-offs among traits should constrain morphological divergence and species diversification. However, this prediction has yet to be tested in a broad evolutionary context in many diverse clades, including ants. Here, we reconstruct an expanded ant phylogeny representing 82% of ant genera, compile a new family-wide trait database, and conduct various trait-based analyses to show that defensive traits in ants do exhibit an evolutionary trade-off. In particular, the use of a functional sting negatively correlates with a suite of other defensive traits including spines, large eye size, and large colony size. Furthermore, we find that several of the defensive traits that trade off with a sting are also positively correlated with each other and drive increased diversification, further suggesting that these traits form a defensive suite. Our results support the hypothesis that trade-offs in defensive traits significantly constrain trait evolution and influence species diversification in ants. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Prototype of a pigments color chart for the digital conservation of ancient murals

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jinxing; Wan, Xiaoxia

2017-03-01

Digital imaging has become a very important technique in the conservation of cultural art relics because it can nondestructively acquire the color and spectral image of cultural art relics for different applications. Imaging accuracy is one of the key factors in digital protection of cultural art relics. In order to improve the color and spectral accuracy for digital imaging of cultural art relics, the idea of making the specific color charts for different kinds of artworks is presented. Taking ancient Chinese Dunhuang murals as the specific object of study, a prototype pigments color chart of the Dunhuang murals (DCC), containing a six-step grayscale and 30 colored pigment samples, is made to investigate its pigment types and painting techniques. Under the premise of considering the difference in the number of samples in color charts, the DCC is tested and compared with the classic and widely used standard Macbeth colorchecker (CC) in two aspects: color correction for RGB imaging and spectral reconstruction for spectral imaging. The results show that the prototype pigments color chart is more effective and exhibits superior performance to the CC in both aspects for digital conservation of the Dunhuang murals.

Toward a New Brewing Control Chart for the 21st Century.

Science.gov (United States)

Melrose, John; Roman-Corrochano, Borja; Montoya-Guerra, Marcela; Bakalis, Serafim

2018-04-23

This paper describes new results from a base model of brewing from a bed of packed coffee grains. The model solves for the diffusion of soluble species out of a distribution of particles into the flow through the bed pore space. It requires a limited set of input parameters. It gives a simple picture of the basic physics of coffee brewing and sets out a set of reduced variables for this process. The importance of bed extraction efficiency is elucidated. A coffee brewing control chart has been widely used to describe the region of ideal coffee brewing for some 50 years. A new chart is needed, however, one that connects actual brewing conditions (weight, flow rate, brew time, grind, etc.) to the yield and strength of brews. The paper shows a new approach to brewing control charts, including brew time and bed extraction efficiency as control parameters. Using the base model, an example chart will be given for a particular grind ratio of coarse to fine particles, and an "espresso regime" will be picked out. From such a chart yield, volume and strength of a brew can be read off at will.

Application of machine learning and expert systems to Statistical Process Control (SPC) chart interpretation

Science.gov (United States)

Shewhart, Mark

1991-01-01

Statistical Process Control (SPC) charts are one of several tools used in quality control. Other tools include flow charts, histograms, cause and effect diagrams, check sheets, Pareto diagrams, graphs, and scatter diagrams. A control chart is simply a graph which indicates process variation over time. The purpose of drawing a control chart is to detect any changes in the process signalled by abnormal points or patterns on the graph. The Artificial Intelligence Support Center (AISC) of the Acquisition Logistics Division has developed a hybrid machine learning expert system prototype which automates the process of constructing and interpreting control charts.

Prevalence of obesity in Italian adolescents: does the use of different growth charts make the difference?

Science.gov (United States)

De Carli, Luca; Spada, Elena; Milani, Silvano; Ganzit, Gian Pasquale; Ghizzoni, Lucia; Raia, Melissa; Coscia, Alessandra; Bertino, Enrico; Bo, Simona

2018-04-01

Since populations are becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, the use of local or international charts is a matter of debate. This study aimed to evaluate how the choice of cut-off thresholds affected prevalence of underweight (UW), overweight (OW), obesity (OB) in 1200 11-12-year Italian adolescents, and how their somatic growth depended on parental origin. The height, weight and body mass index were expressed as standard deviation score (SDS) using Italian (ISPED-2006) and UK (UK-1990) charts. The classification of UW/OW/OB was computed with the IOTF international cut-offs, and thresholds were identified as centiles corresponding to BMI values of 18.5/25.0/30.0 kg/m 2 at 18-year in ISPED-2006 or UK-1990 references. About 30% participants had non-Italian parents, above all from North-Africa and Romania. Referring to the UK-1990 charts, all groups showed negative mean SDS for height, and positive SDS for weight and BMI. Referring to the ISPED-2006 charts, all mean SDS were negative. Percentage of UW individuals was higher in accordance with ISPED-2006 than with UK-1990 charts, whereas percentages of OW/OB were higher with UK-1990 than ISPED-2006 charts. The results obtained using IOFT cut-offs were similar to UK-1990 cut-offs. These results were due to the different shape of age-dependent cut-off centiles. Independently by the parental origin, the percentages of adolescents classified as OW/OB were closer to the expected values using the ISPED-2006 then the UK-1990 cut-offs. The results suggested the use of the Italian references for adolescents with immigrant parents. The use of local charts seems more appropriate at least in Italian adolescents in the age range studied.

Economic opportunities and trade-offs in collaborative forest landscape restoration

Science.gov (United States)

Alan A. Ager; Kevin C. Vogler; Michelle A. Day; John D. Bailey

2017-01-01

We modeled forest restoration scenarios to examine socioeconomic and ecological trade-offs associated with alternative prioritization scenarios. The study examined four US national forests designated as priorities for investments to restore fire resiliency and generate economic opportunities to support local industry. We were particularly interested in economic trade-...

Automatic Extraction of High-Resolution Rainfall Series from Rainfall Strip Charts

Science.gov (United States)

Saa-Requejo, Antonio; Valencia, Jose Luis; Garrido, Alberto; Tarquis, Ana M.

2015-04-01

Soil erosion is a complex phenomenon involving the detachment and transport of soil particles, storage and runoff of rainwater, and infiltration. The relative magnitude and importance of these processes depends on a host of factors, including climate, soil, topography, cropping and land management practices among others. Most models for soil erosion or hydrological processes need an accurate storm characterization. However, this data are not always available and in some cases indirect models are generated to fill this gap. In Spain, the rain intensity data known for time periods less than 24 hours back to 1924 and many studies are limited by it. In many cases this data is stored in rainfall strip charts in the meteorological stations but haven't been transfer in a numerical form. To overcome this deficiency in the raw data a process of information extraction from large amounts of rainfall strip charts is implemented by means of computer software. The method has been developed that largely automates the intensive-labour extraction work based on van Piggelen et al. (2011). The method consists of the following five basic steps: 1) scanning the charts to high-resolution digital images, 2) manually and visually registering relevant meta information from charts and pre-processing, 3) applying automatic curve extraction software in a batch process to determine the coordinates of cumulative rainfall lines on the images (main step), 4) post processing the curves that were not correctly determined in step 3, and 5) aggregating the cumulative rainfall in pixel coordinates to the desired time resolution. A colour detection procedure is introduced that automatically separates the background of the charts and rolls from the grid and subsequently the rainfall curve. The rainfall curve is detected by minimization of a cost function. Some utilities have been added to improve the previous work and automates some auxiliary processes: readjust the bands properly, merge bands when

Application of Special Cause Control Charts to Green Sand Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Perzyk M.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Statistical Process Control (SPC based on the well known Shewhart control charts, is widely used in contemporary manufacturing industry, including many foundries. However, the classic SPC methods require that the measured quantities, e.g. process or product parameters, are not auto-correlated, i.e. their current values do not depend on the preceding ones. For the processes which do not obey this assumption the Special Cause Control (SCC charts were proposed, utilizing the residual data obtained from the time-series analysis. In the present paper the results of application of SCC charts to a green sand processing system are presented. The tests, made on real industrial data collected in a big iron foundry, were aimed at the comparison of occurrences of out-of-control signals detected in the original data with those appeared in the residual data. It was found that application of the SCC charts reduces numbers of the signals in almost all cases It is concluded that it can be helpful in avoiding false signals, i.e. resulting from predictable factors.

Life history trade-offs imposed by dragline use in two money spiders.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonte, Dries; Verduyn, Lieselot; Braeckman, Bart P

2016-01-01

Trade-offs among life history traits are central to understanding the limits of adaptations to stress. In animals, virtually all decisions taken during life are expected to have downstream consequences. To what degree rare, but energy-demanding, decisions carry over to individual performance is rarely studied in arthropods. We used spiders as a model system to test how single investments in silk use - for dispersal or predator escape - affect individual performance. Silk produced for safe lines and as threads for ballooning is of the strongest kind and is energetically costly, especially when resources are limited. We induced dragline spinning in two species of money spider at similar quantities to that under natural conditions and tested trade-offs with lifespan and egg sac production under unlimited prey availability and a dietary restriction treatment. We demonstrate strong trade-offs between dragline spinning and survival and fecundity. Survival trade-offs were additive to those imposed by the dietary treatment, but a reduction in eggs produced after silk use was only prevalent under conditions where food was restricted during the spider's life. Because draglines are not recycled after their use for dispersal or predator escape, their spinning incurs substantial fitness costs in dispersal, especially in environments with prey limitation. Rare but energetically costly decisions related to dispersal or predator escape may thus carry over to adult performance and explain phenotypic heterogeneity in natural populations. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

AMDIS and CHART update. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, I.; Kato, T.; Igarashi, A.

2002-10-01

A working group for updating atomic and molecular collision data in the NIFS database AMDIS (electron scattering) and CHART (ion scattering) has been organized. This group has searched and reviewed literatures for collecting relevant atomic data with are to be included into the database. This is a summary report of the activities of this working group. (author)

Customized vs population-based growth charts to identify neonates at risk of adverse outcome: systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis of observational studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiossi, G; Pedroza, C; Costantine, M M; Truong, V T T; Gargano, G; Saade, G R

2017-08-01

To compare the effectiveness of customized vs population-based growth charts for the prediction of adverse pregnancy outcomes. MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov and The Cochrane Library were searched up to 31 May 2016 to identify interventional and observational studies comparing adverse outcomes among large- (LGA) and small- (SGA) for-gestational-age neonates, when classified according to customized vs population-based growth charts. Perinatal mortality and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of both SGA and LGA neonates, intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD) and neonatal mortality of SGA neonates, and neonatal shoulder dystocia and hypoglycemia as well as maternal third- and fourth-degree perineal lacerations in LGA pregnancies were evaluated. The electronic search identified 237 records that were examined based on title and abstract, of which 27 full-text articles were examined for eligibility. After excluding seven articles, 20 observational studies were included in a Bayesian meta-analysis. Neonates classified as SGA according to customized growth charts had higher risks of IUFD (odds ratio (OR), 7.8 (95% CI, 4.2-12.3)), neonatal death (OR, 3.5 (95% CI, 1.1-8.0)), perinatal death (OR, 5.8 (95% CI, 3.8-7.8)) and NICU admission (OR, 3.6 (95% CI, 2.0-5.5)) than did non-SGA cases. Neonates classified as SGA according to population-based growth charts also had increased risk for adverse outcomes, albeit the point estimates of the pooled ORs were smaller: IUFD (OR, 3.3 (95% CI, 1.9-5.0)), neonatal death (OR, 2.9 (95% CI, 1.2-4.5)), perinatal death (OR, 4.0 (95% CI, 2.8-5.1)) and NICU admission (OR, 2.4 (95% CI, 1.7-3.2)). For LGA vs non-LGA, there were no differences in pooled ORs for perinatal death, NICU admission, hypoglycemia and maternal third- and fourth-degree perineal lacerations when classified according to either the customized or the population-based approach. In contrast, both approaches indicated that LGA neonates are at increased risk for

PARS risk charts: A 10-year study of risk assessment for cardiovascular diseases in Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nizal Sarrafzadegan

Full Text Available This study was designed to develop a risk assessment chart for the clinical management and prevention of the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD in Iranian population, which is vital for developing national prevention programs. The Isfahan Cohort Study (ICS is a population-based prospective study of 6504 Iranian adults ≥35 years old, followed-up for ten years, from 2001 to 2010. Behavioral and cardiometabolic risk factors were examined every five years, while biennial follow-ups for the occurrence of the events was performed by phone calls or by verbal autopsy. Among these participants, 5432 (2784 women, 51.3% were CVD free at baseline examination and had at least one follow-up. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to predict the risk of ischemic CVD events, including sudden cardiac death due to unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and stroke. The model fit statistics such as area under the receiver-operating characteristic (AUROC, calibration chi-square and the overall bias were used to assess the model performance. We also tested the Framingham model for comparison. Seven hundred and five CVD events occurred during 49452.8 person-years of follow-up. The event probabilities were calculated and presented color-coded on each gender-specific PARS chart. The AUROC and Harrell's C indices were 0.74 (95% CI, 0.72-0.76 and 0.73, respectively. In the calibration, the Nam-D'Agostino χ2 was 10.82 (p = 0.29. The overall bias of the proposed model was 95.60%. PARS model was also internally validated using cross-validation. The Android app and the Web-based risk assessment tool were also developed as to have an impact on public health. In comparison, the refitted and recalibrated Framingham models, estimated the CVD incidence with the overall bias of 149.60% and 128.23% for men, and 222.70% and 176.07% for women, respectively. In conclusion, the PARS risk assessment chart is a simple, accurate, and well-calibrated tool for predicting a 10-year

Quality control chart for crushed granite concrete

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ewa E. DESMOND

2016-07-01

Full Text Available A chart for assessing in-situ grade (strength of concrete, has been developed in this study. Four grades of concrete after the Nigerian General Specification for Roads and bridges (NGSRB-C20, C25, C30 and C35, is studied at different water-cement ratios for medium and high slump range. The concrete mixes are made from crushed granite rock as coarse aggregate with river sand as fine aggregate. Compression test on specimens are conducted at curing age of 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 56 days. Results on concrete workability from slump values, and water-cement ratios revealed that specimens with lower water-cement ratio were less workable but had higher strength, compared to mixes with higher water cement ratio. A simple algorithm using nonlinear regression analysis performed on each experimental data set produced Strength-Age (S-A curves which were used to establish a quality control chart. The accuracy of these curves were evaluated by computing average absolute error (AAS, the error of estimate (EoE and the average absolute error of estimate (Abs EoE for each concrete mix. These were done based on the actual average experimental strengths to measure how close the predicted values are to the experimental data set. The absolute average error of estimate (Abs. EoE recorded was less than ±10% tolerance zone for concrete works.

Speed and stamina trade-off in lacertid lizards.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanhooydonck, B; Van Damme, R; Aerts, P

2001-05-01

Morphological and physiological considerations suggest that sprinting ability and endurance capacity put conflicting demands on the design of an animal's locomotor apparatus and therefore cannot be maximized simultaneously. To test this hypothesis, we correlated size-corrected maximal sprint speed and stamina of 12 species of lacertid lizards. Phylogenetically independent contrasts of sprint speed and stamina showed a significant negative relationship, giving support to the idea of an evolutionary trade-off between the two performance measures. To test the hypothesis that the trade-off is mediated by a conflict in morphological requirements, we correlated both performance traits with snout-vent length, size-corrected estimates of body mass and limb length, and relative hindlimb length (the residuals of the relationship between hind- and forelimb length). Fast-running species had hindlimbs that were long compared to their forelimbs. None of the other size or shape variables showed a significant relationship with speed or endurance. We conclude that the evolution of sprint capacity may be constrained by the need for endurance capacity and vice versa, but the design conflict underlying this trade-off has yet to be identified.

Historical Map & Chart Collection of NOAA's Nautical Charts, Hydrographic Surveys, Topographic Surveys, Geodetic Surveys, City Plans, and Civil War Battle Maps Starting from the mid 1700's

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Historical Map and Chart Collection of the Office of Coast Survey contains over 20000 historical maps and charts from the mid 1700s through the late 1900s. These...

The Energy Chart'93

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shervashidze, N.

1993-01-01

The Energy Chart'93 is developed with respect to forthcoming restructuring of energy sector in Bulgaria and contains its main directions for both short- and long-term periods. The priorities are given to: energy supply, stabilization of the existing units, ecological development, domestic energy sources, atomic energy, gas energy, utilization of the available hydrological potential. The leading role of legislation in this area is also pointed out, as well as the regulating function of the Committee of Energy. (author)

Understanding Charts and Graphs.

Science.gov (United States)

1987-07-28

Farenheit degrees, which have no Onaturalo zero ); finally, ratio scales have numbers that are ordered so that the magnitudes of differences are important and...system. They have to do with the very nature of how marks serve as meaningful symbols. In the ideal case, a chart or graph will be absolutely unambiguous...and these laws comprise this principle (see Stevens, 1974). Absolute discriminability: A minimal magnitude of a mark is necessary for it to be detected

Evolutionary tradeoffs, Pareto optimality and the morphology of ammonite shells.

Science.gov (United States)

Tendler, Avichai; Mayo, Avraham; Alon, Uri

2015-03-07

Organisms that need to perform multiple tasks face a fundamental tradeoff: no design can be optimal at all tasks at once. Recent theory based on Pareto optimality showed that such tradeoffs lead to a highly defined range of phenotypes, which lie in low-dimensional polyhedra in the space of traits. The vertices of these polyhedra are called archetypes- the phenotypes that are optimal at a single task. To rigorously test this theory requires measurements of thousands of species over hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Ammonoid fossil shells provide an excellent model system for this purpose. Ammonoids have a well-defined geometry that can be parameterized using three dimensionless features of their logarithmic-spiral-shaped shells. Their evolutionary history includes repeated mass extinctions. We find that ammonoids fill out a pyramid in morphospace, suggesting five specific tasks - one for each vertex of the pyramid. After mass extinctions, surviving species evolve to refill essentially the same pyramid, suggesting that the tasks are unchanging. We infer putative tasks for each archetype, related to economy of shell material, rapid shell growth, hydrodynamics and compactness. These results support Pareto optimality theory as an approach to study evolutionary tradeoffs, and demonstrate how this approach can be used to infer the putative tasks that may shape the natural selection of phenotypes.

Nuclear propulsion tradeoffs for manned Mars missions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walton, L.A.; Malloy, J.D.

1991-01-01

A conjunction class split/sprint manned Mars exploration mission was studied to evaluate tradeoffs in performance characteristics of nuclear thermal rockets. A Particle Bed Reactor-based nuclear thermal rocket was found to offer a 38% to 52% total mass savings compared with a NERVA-based nuclear thermal rocket for this mission. This advantage is primarily due to the higher thrust-to-weight ratio of the Particle Bed Reactor nuclear rocket. The mission is enabled by nuclear thermal rockets. It cannot be performed practically using chemical propulsion

Quantum circuit implementation of the optimal information-disturbance tradeoff of maximally entangled states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang ShengLi; Zou Xubo; Li Ke; Jin Chenhui; Guo Guangcan

2008-01-01

We give a direct derivation for the information-disturbance tradeoff in estimating a maximally entangled state, which was first obtained by Sacchi (2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 220502) in terms of the covariant positive operator valued measurement (POVM) and Jamiolkowski's isomorphism. We find that, the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, which is one of the most powerful tools in deriving the tradeoff for a single-particle pure state still plays a key role in the case of the maximal entanglement estimation. Our result shows that the inequality becomes equality when the optimal tradeoff is achieved. Moreover, we demonstrate that such a tradeoff is physically achievable with a quantum circuit that only involves single- and two-particle logic gates and single-particle measurements

Quality assurance in a radiation oncology unit: the chart round experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fogarty, G.B.; Peters, L.J.; Hornby, C.; Ferguson, H.M.

2001-01-01

Quality assurance ensures that planned treatments eventuate. Programmes must include feedback loops to promptly correct any shortfall in predetermined standards. In March 1999, a weekly Chart Round was introduced to verify that certain items relevant to quality care were being completed for patients of the Head and Neck Radiotherapy Unit at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. The experience was reviewed after 1 year and it was found that the initiation of Chart Rounds has assisted in raising the level of item completion from 80% to 99% in similar groups of patients treated before and after the initiation of the Chart Round. Initiation of the Chart Round has also provided a useful forum for in-house peer-review, education and effective real-time communication between medical and allied health personnel, all of which has further added to the quality of patient care. Copyright (2001) Blackwell Science Pty Ltd

Chart Supplements - Aeronautical Information Services Digital Products

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — The Chart Supplements are searchable by individual airport in PDF format. They contain data on public and joint use airports, seaplane bases, heliports, VFR airport...

Continuous hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (chart) in localized cancer of the esophagus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Powell, Melanie E.B.; Hoskin, Peter J.; Saunders, Michele I.; Foy, Christopher J.W.; Dische, Stanley

1997-01-01

Purpose: To assess the efficacy and toxicity of continuous hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (CHART) in locoregional control compared with a historical group of patients treated with conventionally fractionated radical radiotherapy. Methods and Materials: Between 1985 and 1994, 54 patients with localized esophageal cancer were treated with CHART. Twenty-eight patients received CHART alone (54 Gy in 36 fractions over 12 consecutive days) and 15 were given intravenous mitomycin C and cisplatin on days 10 and 13, respectively. Eleven patients received 40.5 Gy in 27 fractions over 9 days, followed by a single high-dose-rate intraluminal brachytherapy insertion of 15 Gy at 1 cm. Results: Acute toxicity was well tolerated and dysphagia was improved in 35 patients (65%), with 28 (52%) eating a normal diet by week 12. This compares with an improvement in dysphagia score in 72% of the conventionally treated group. The median duration of relief of dysphagia was 7.8 months (range 0-41.4) in the CHART group compared with 5.5 months (range 0-48) in the controls. Strictures developed in 29 patients (61%) and 18 were confirmed on biopsy to be due to recurrent disease. Median survival was 12 months (range 0.5-112) in the CHART group and 15 months (range 3.6-56) in the control patients. Conclusion: CHART is well tolerated and achieves a high rate of local control. Palliation in the short overall treatment time of esophageal cancer is an advantage in these patients whose median survival is only 12 months

"Entrepreneurship policy: Trade-offs and impact in the EU"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Murdock, Karen

2012-01-01

Based on the notion that trade-offs in public policies form the basis of the separation of managed and entrepreneurial economies; this paper investigates the impact of policy on actual entrepreneurship activity in these two categories of economies. Using data from 19 European Union member countries......, the impact that policy trade-offs in the goal, target, location and system of finance have on entrepreneurship activity is measured using ordinary least squares regression. The results indicate that while business regulation negatively impact entrepreneurship activity, the location of policy does not show...

CREATING SHARED VALUE IN THE PRESENCE OF CONFLICTS AND TRADEOFFS: A PARADOX PERSPECTIVE ON BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

OpenAIRE

LaPierre, Karen; Wakayama, Naomi; 若山, 俊弘

2016-01-01

While business and society may engage in mutually beneficial, synergistic interactions, they also face the challenge of managing contentious, tradeoff interactions when their objectives are not aligned. In the diverse fields of studies in business and society, these two modes of business-society interactions have been conceptualized rather separately: mutual gains and synergies in concepts such as social innovation and shared value creation on one hand, and tensions and tradeoffs in studies t...

Planar Poincare chart - A planar graphic representation of the state of light polarization

Science.gov (United States)

Tedjojuwono, Ken K.; Hunter, William W., Jr.; Ocheltree, Stewart L.

1989-01-01

The planar Poincare chart, which represents the complete planar equivalence of the Poincare sphere, is proposed. The four sets of basic lines are drawn on two separate charts for the generalization and convenience of reading the scale. The chart indicates the rotation of the principal axes of linear birefringent material. The relationships between parameters of the two charts are given as 2xi-2phi (orientation angle of the major axis-ellipticity angle) pair and 2alpha-delta (angle of amplitude ratio-phase difference angle) pair. The results are useful for designing and analyzing polarization properties of optical components with birefringent properties.

Visualising Pareto-optimal trade-offs helps move beyond monetary-only criteria for water management decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Hurford, Anthony; Harou, Julien

2014-05-01

Water related eco-system services are important to the livelihoods of the poorest sectors of society in developing countries. Degradation or loss of these services can increase the vulnerability of people decreasing their capacity to support themselves. New approaches to help guide water resources management decisions are needed which account for the non-market value of ecosystem goods and services. In case studies from Brazil and Kenya we demonstrate the capability of many objective Pareto-optimal trade-off analysis to help decision makers balance economic and non-market benefits from the management of existing multi-reservoir systems. A multi-criteria search algorithm is coupled to a water resources management simulator of each basin to generate a set of Pareto-approximate trade-offs representing the best case management decisions. In both cases, volume dependent reservoir release rules are the management decisions being optimised. In the Kenyan case we further assess the impacts of proposed irrigation investments, and how the possibility of new investments impacts the system's trade-offs. During the multi-criteria search (optimisation), performance of different sets of management decisions (policies) is assessed against case-specific objective functions representing provision of water supply and irrigation, hydropower generation and maintenance of ecosystem services. Results are visualised as trade-off surfaces to help decision makers understand the impacts of different policies on a broad range of stakeholders and to assist in decision-making. These case studies show how the approach can reveal unexpected opportunities for win-win solutions, and quantify the trade-offs between investing to increase agricultural revenue and negative impacts on protected ecosystems which support rural livelihoods.

Teori Pecking Order dan Trade-Off dalam Analisis Struktur Modal di Bursa Efek Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D Agus Harjito

2014-06-01

Full Text Available AbstractThis study aims to test the pecking order theory and trade-off theory of capital structure in the analysis of the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Pecking order theory is represented by the variable profitability and growth, while the variables volatility of earnings, tangibility of assets and the size represents a trade-off theory. The company's goal is prosperity of shareholder value. To achieve these objectives the company needs funds from internal sources and external sources. Internal sources in the form of retained earnings, while the external sources of debt and shareholders' approval in the pecking order theory. This study uses the data of financial ratios of the firms during the period 2000-2010. To analyze the data, this study uses a multiple regression with the dependent variable is the debt ratio, while profitability, growth, volatility of earnings, tangibility of assets and size as independent variables. The results show that asset structure and company size has a positive and significant impact on capital structure, while profitability has a negative effect on debt ratios. But company's growth rate has not relationship with the debt ratio or capital structure. Simultaneously, the all independent variables affect capital structure significantly.Keywords: pecking order, trade-off, capital structure, debt rasioAbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji teori pecking order dan teori trade-off dalam analisis struktur modal di Bursa Efek Indonesia. Teori pecking order diwakili oleh variabel profitability dan growth, sementara variabel-variabel volatility of earnings, tangibility of assets dan size mewakili teori trade-off. Tujuan perusahaan adalah memakmurkan nilai pemegang saham. Untuk mencapai tujuan tersebut perusahaan membutuhkan dana yang diperoleh dari sumber internal dan sumber eksternal. Sumber internal berupa laba ditahan, sedangkan sumber eksternal berupa hutang dan saham sebagaimana dijelaskan dalam teori pecking order

Revised Indian Academy of Pediatrics 2015 growth charts for height, weight and body mass index for 5-18-year-old Indian children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaman V Khadilkar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Growth chart committee of Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP has revised growth charts for 5-18-year-old Indian children in Jan 2015. The last IAP growth charts (2007 were based on data collected in 1989-92 which is now >2 decades old. India is in an economic and nutrition transition and hence growth pattern of Indian children has changed over last few years. Thus, it was necessary to produce contemporary, updated growth references for Indian children. The new IAP charts were prepared by collating data from nine groups who had published studies in indexed journals on growth from India in the last decade. Growth charts were constructed from a total of 87022 middle and upper socioeconomic class children (m 54086, f 32936 from all five zones of India. Data from middle and upper socioeconomic class children are likely to have higher prevalence of overweight and obesity and hence growth charts produced on such populations are likely to "normalize" obesity. To remove such unhealthy weights form the data, method suggested by World Health Organization was used to produce weight charts. Thus, the new IAP weight charts are much lower than the recently published studies on affluent Indian children. Since Indian′s are at a higher risk of obesity-related cardiometabolic complications at lower body mass index (BMI, BMI charts adjusted for 23, and 27 adult equivalent cut-offs as per International obesity task force guidelines were constructed. IAP now recommends use of these new charts to replace the 2007 IAP charts.

Designing business charts with Excel based on the standards of HICHERT SUCCESS

CERN Document Server

Gerths, Holger

2014-01-01

This e-book offers a comprehensive range of knowledge for creating professional business charts based on the concept of HICHERT®SUCCESS. Given this knowledge, the SUCCESS rules of designing good business charts can be followed easily. This training is based on one complex example. The tips and trick learned can be transferred to other Excel chart types easily. Contents: Introduction to the HICHERT®SUCCESS design rules.Tips and tricks for Excel 2003 and 2007/2010.Comprehensive trai

Evaluation of extreme temperature events in northern Spain based on process control charts

Science.gov (United States)

Villeta, M.; Valencia, J. L.; Saá, A.; Tarquis, A. M.

2018-02-01

Extreme climate events have recently attracted the attention of a growing number of researchers because these events impose a large cost on agriculture and associated insurance planning. This study focuses on extreme temperature events and proposes a new method for their evaluation based on statistical process control tools, which are unusual in climate studies. A series of minimum and maximum daily temperatures for 12 geographical areas of a Spanish region between 1931 and 2009 were evaluated by applying statistical process control charts to statistically test whether evidence existed for an increase or a decrease of extreme temperature events. Specification limits were determined for each geographical area and used to define four types of extreme anomalies: lower and upper extremes for the minimum and maximum anomalies. A new binomial Markov extended process that considers the autocorrelation between extreme temperature events was generated for each geographical area and extreme anomaly type to establish the attribute control charts for the annual fraction of extreme days and to monitor the occurrence of annual extreme days. This method was used to assess the significance of changes and trends of extreme temperature events in the analysed region. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of an attribute control chart for evaluating extreme temperature events. For example, the evaluation of extreme maximum temperature events using the proposed statistical process control charts was consistent with the evidence of an increase in maximum temperatures during the last decades of the last century.

Nuclear industry chart no. 20 - Sweden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1976-01-01

A folding chart is presented of the Swedish nuclear industry, which shows the government bodies, companies, utilities and other groups who participate in the nuclear field. Their special interests and activities and affiliations with each other and with international organisations are indicated. (U.K.)

ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart 2016/04

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cohen, K.M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/185633374; Finney, S.C.; Gibbard, P.L.

Units of all ranks are in the process of being defined by Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Points (GSSP) for their lowerboundaries, including those of the Archean and Proterozoic, long defined by Global Standard Stratigraphic Ages (GSSA). Charts and detailed information on ratified GSSPs are

ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart 2017/02

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cohen, K.M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/185633374; Harper, D.A.T.; Gibbard, P.L.

Units of all ranks are in the process of being defined by Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Points (GSSP) for their lowerboundaries, including those of the Archean and Proterozoic, long defined by Global Standard Stratigraphic Ages (GSSA). Charts and detailed information on ratified GSSPs are

Ecosystem service trade-offs across global contexts and scales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeannine Cavender-Bares

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Meeting human needs while sustaining the planet's life support systems is the fundamental challenge of our time. What role sustenance of biodiversity and contrasting ecosystem services should play in achieving a sustainable future varies along philosophical, cultural, institutional, societal, and governmental divisions. Contrasting biophysical constraints and perspectives on human well-being arise both within and across countries that span the tropics and temperate zone. Direct sustenance of livelihoods from ecosystem services in East Africa contrasts with the complex and diverse relationships with the land in Mexico and the highly monetary-based economy of the United States. Lack of understanding of the contrasting contexts in which decision-making about trade-offs occurs creates impediments to collective global efforts to sustain the Earth's life support systems. While theoretical notions of the goals of sustainability science seek a unified path forward, realities on the ground present challenges. This Special Feature seeks to provide both an analytical framework and a series of case studies to illuminate impediments posed to sustainability by contrasting biophysical constraints and human perspectives on what should be sustained. The contributors aim to clarify the trade-offs posed to human welfare in sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services and the challenges in managing for a sustainable future in which human well-being is not compromised as compared to today. Our goal is to provide novel insights on how sustainability can be achieved internationally through exploration of constraints, trade-offs, and human values examined at multiple scales, and across geographic regions from a range of cultural perspectives.

Flaw evaluation charts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korosec, D.; Vojvodic Tuma, J.

1999-01-01

The structural integrity of the primary components in pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant is very important in the respect of safe and efficient operation. These components have to be subjected to periodic controls. In the light of fracture mechanics concept, the acceptance criteria for defects (flaws) are developed. Flaw evaluation procedure is necessary, to evaluate the defects regarding their acceptability for further operation. The objective of the flaw evaluation charts is to provide a series of simple graphs as decision maps. that immediate decision may be taken regarding the acceptability of a detected defects, on the basis of ASME Code XI criteria.(author)

On the Use of Ashenhurst Decomposition Chart as an Alternative to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... the Ashenhurst decomposition chart is shown to be a mapping technique which solves this selection problem and enables the design of logic circuits with desirable attributes using multiplexers. The Ashenhurst decomposition chart also serves as a bridging technique between the map based and algorithmic based digital ...

Gestational Weight Gain-for-Gestational Age Z-Score Charts Applied across U.S. Populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Leonard, Stephanie A; Hutcheon, Jennifer A; Bodnar, Lisa M; Petito, Lucia C; Abrams, Barbara

2018-03-01

Gestational weight gain may be a modifiable contributor to infant health outcomes, but the effect of gestational duration on gestational weight gain has limited the identification of optimal weight gain ranges. Recently developed z-score and percentile charts can be used to classify gestational weight gain independent of gestational duration. However, racial/ethnic variation in gestational weight gain and the possibility that optimal weight gain differs among racial/ethnic groups could affect generalizability of the z-score charts. The objectives of this study were (1) to apply the weight gain z-score charts in two different U.S. populations as an assessment of generalisability and (2) to determine whether race/ethnicity modifies the weight gain range associated with minimal risk of preterm birth. The study sample included over 4 million live, singleton births in California (2007-2012) and Pennsylvania (2003-2013). We implemented a noninferiority margin approach in stratified subgroups to determine weight gain ranges for which the adjusted predicted marginal risk of preterm birth (gestation gain between California and Pennsylvania births, and among several racial/ethnic groups in California. The optimal ranges decreased as severity of prepregnancy obesity increased in all groups. The findings support the use of weight gain z-score charts for studying gestational age-dependent outcomes in diverse U.S. populations and do not support weight gain recommendations tailored to race/ethnicity. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Oral cavity evaluation and dental chart registration of coati (Nasua nasua) in captivity

OpenAIRE

Freitas, Elisângela P; Rahal, Sheila Canevese; Teixeira, Carlos Roberto; Teixeira, Rodrigo Hidalgo Friciello; Mendes, Guilherme Martines Teixeira; Gioso, Marco Antonio

2008-01-01

The aims of this study were to develop a dental chart, evaluate any oral cavity disease, develop gypsum models of the dental arches, and to register the occlusions found in coatis (Nasua nasua) in captivity. Formulation of the dental chart was assisted by intraoral radiographs from the head of an adult coati cadaver of the same species with the following dental formula: I 3/3, C 1/1, P 4/3, M 2/2. Seven live coatis of the Nasua nasua species were evaluated. Five of the seven coatis presented ...

Use of Tumor Markers in Gastrointestinal Cancers: Surgeon Perceptions and Cost-Benefit Trade-Off Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Acharya, Amish; Markar, Sheraz R; Matar, Michael; Ni, Melody; Hanna, George B

2017-05-01

Gastrointestinal cancers constitute the third most common cancers worldwide. Tumor markers have long since been used in the postoperative surveillance of these malignancies; however, the true value in clinical practice remains undetermined. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical utility of three tumor markers in colorectal and esophagogastric cancer. A systematic review of the literature was undertaken to elicit the sensitivity, specificity, statistical heterogeneity and ability to predict recurrence and metastases for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen (CA) 19-9 and CA125. European surgeons were surveyed to assess their current practice and the characteristics of tumor markers they most valued. Data from the included studies and survey were combined in a cost-benefit trade-off analysis to assess which tumor markers are of most use in clinical practice. Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were ranked the most desirable characteristics of a tumor marker by those surveyed. Overall, 156 studies were included to inform the cost-benefit trade-off. The cost-benefit trade-off showed that CEA outperformed both CA19-9 and CA125, with lower financial cost and a higher sensitivity, and diagnostic accuracy for metastases at presentation (area under the curve [AUC] 0.70 vs. 0.61 vs. 0.46), as well as similar diagnostic accuracy for recurrence (AUC 0.46 vs. 0.48). Cost-benefit trade-off analysis identified CEA to be the best performing tumor marker. Further studies should seek to evaluate new tumor markers, with investigation tailored to factors that meet the requirements of practicing clinicians.

Seasonal ARMA-based SPC charts for anomaly detection: Application to emergency department systems

KAUST Repository

Kadri, Farid; Harrou, Fouzi; Chaabane, Sondè s; Sun, Ying; Tahon, Christian

2015-01-01

Monitoring complex production systems is primordial to ensure management, reliability and safety as well as maintaining the desired product quality. Early detection of emergent abnormal behaviour in monitored systems allows pre-emptive action to prevent more serious consequences, to improve system operations and to reduce manufacturing and/or service costs. This study reports the design of a new methodology for the detection of abnormal situations based on the integration of time-series analysis models and statistical process control (SPC) tools for the joint development of a monitoring system to help supervising of the behaviour of emergency department services (EDs). The monitoring system developed is able to provide early alerts in the event of abnormal situations. The seasonal autoregressive moving average (SARMA)-based exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) anomaly detection scheme proposed was successfully applied to the practical data collected from the database of the paediatric emergency department (PED) at Lille regional hospital centre, France. The method developed utilizes SARMA as a modelling framework and EWMA for anomaly detection. The EWMA control chart is applied to the uncorrelated residuals obtained from the SARMA model. The detection results of the EWMA chart are compared with two other commonly applied residual-based tests: a Shewhart individuals chart and a Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) control chart.

Seasonal ARMA-based SPC charts for anomaly detection: Application to emergency department systems

KAUST Repository

Kadri, Farid

2015-10-22

Monitoring complex production systems is primordial to ensure management, reliability and safety as well as maintaining the desired product quality. Early detection of emergent abnormal behaviour in monitored systems allows pre-emptive action to prevent more serious consequences, to improve system operations and to reduce manufacturing and/or service costs. This study reports the design of a new methodology for the detection of abnormal situations based on the integration of time-series analysis models and statistical process control (SPC) tools for the joint development of a monitoring system to help supervising of the behaviour of emergency department services (EDs). The monitoring system developed is able to provide early alerts in the event of abnormal situations. The seasonal autoregressive moving average (SARMA)-based exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) anomaly detection scheme proposed was successfully applied to the practical data collected from the database of the paediatric emergency department (PED) at Lille regional hospital centre, France. The method developed utilizes SARMA as a modelling framework and EWMA for anomaly detection. The EWMA control chart is applied to the uncorrelated residuals obtained from the SARMA model. The detection results of the EWMA chart are compared with two other commonly applied residual-based tests: a Shewhart individuals chart and a Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) control chart.

7 CFR 51.2276 - Color chart.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS UNDER THE AGRICULTURAL MARKETING ACT OF 1946... Walnut Color Chart) to which reference is made in §§ 51.2281 and 51.2282 illustrates the four shades of...

ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart 2015/01

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cohen, K.M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/185633374; Finney, S.C.; Gibbard, P.L.

Units of all ranks are in the process of being defined by Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Points (GSSP) for their lower boundaries, including those of the Archean and Proterozoic, long defined by Global Standard Stratigraphic Ages (GSSA). Charts and detailed information on ratified GSSPs are

MO-A-BRB-03: Integration Issues in Electronic Charting for External Beam Therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutlief, S.

2015-01-01

The process of converting to an electronic chart for radiation therapy can be daunting. It requires a dedicated committee to first research and choose appropriate software, to review the entire documentation policy and flow of the clinic, to convert this system to electronic form or if necessary, redesign the system to more easily conform to the electronic process. Those making the conversion and those who already use electronic charting would benefit from the shared experience of those who have been through the process in the past. Therefore TG262 was convened to provide guidance on electronic charting for external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy. This course will present the results of an internal survey of task group members on EMR practices in External Beam Radiation Therapy as well as discuss important issues in EMR development and structure for both EBRT and brachytherapy. Learning Objectives: Be familiarized with common practices and pitfalls in development and maintenance of an electronic chart in Radiation Oncology Be familiarized with important issues related to electronic charting in External Beam Radiation Therapy Be familiarized with important issues related to electronic charting in Brachytherapy

Growth charts of human development.

Science.gov (United States)

van Buuren, Stef

2014-08-01

This article reviews and compares two types of growth charts for tracking human development over age. Both charts assume the existence of a continuous latent variable, but relate to the observed data in different ways. The D-score diagram summarizes developmental indicators into a single aggregate score measuring global development. The relations between the indicators should be consistent with the Rasch model. If true, the D-score is a measure with interval scale properties, and allows for the calculation of meaningful differences both within and across age. The stage line diagram describes the natural development of ordinal indicators. The method models the transition probabilities between successive stages of the indicator as smoothly varying functions of age. The location of each stage is quantified by the mid-P-value. Both types of diagrams assist in identifying early and delayed development, as well as finding differences in tempo. The relevant techniques are illustrated to track global development during infancy and early childhood (0-2 years) and Tanner pubertal stages (8-21 years). New reference values for both applications are provided. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

A retrospective chart study: The pathway to a diagnosis for adults referred for ASD assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geurts, H.M.; Jansen, M.D.

2012-01-01

Charts of 125 adults (18 to 82 years), referred to an autism expert team for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) assessment, were reviewed to explore the pathway to an adulthood ASD diagnosis. The participants first contacted the mental health care clinic at a median age of 19 years (range 2 to 78

Proposal for internet-based Digital Dental Chart for personal dental identification in forensics.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanaoka, Yoichi; Ueno, Asao; Tsuzuki, Tamiyuki; Kajiwara, Masahiro; Minaguchi, Kiyoshi; Sato, Yoshinobu

2007-05-03

A dental chart is very useful as a standard source of evidence in the personal identification of bodies. However, the kind of dental chart available will often vary as a number of types of odontogram have been developed where the visual representation of dental conditions has relied on hand-drawn representation. We propose the Digital Dental Chart (DDC) as a new style of dental chart, especially for open investigations aimed at establishing the identity of unknown bodies. Each DDC is constructed using actual oral digital images and dental data, and is easy to upload onto an Internet website. The DDC is a more useful forensic resource than the standard types of dental chart in current use as it has several advantages, among which are its ability to carry a large volume of information and reproduce dental conditions clearly and in detail on a cost-effective basis.

JDATAVIEWER – JAVA-Based Charting Library

CERN Document Server

Kruk, G

2009-01-01

The JDataViewer is a Java-based charting library developed at CERN, with powerful, extensible and easy to use function editing capabilities. Function edition is heavily used in Control System applications, but poorly supported in products available on the market. The JDataViewer enables adding, removing and modifying function points graphically (using a mouse) or by editing a table of values. Custom edition strategies are supported: developer can specify an algorithm that reacts to the modification of a given point in the function by automatically adapting all other points. The library provides all typical 2D plotting types (scatter, polyline, area, bar, HiLo, contour), as well as data point annotations and data indicators. It also supports common interactors to zoom and move the visible view, or to select and highlight function segments. A clear API is provided to configure and customize all chart elements (colors, fonts, data ranges ...) programmatically, and to integrate non-standard rendering types, inter...

Disguising quantum channels by mixing and channel distance trade-off

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fung, Chi-Hang Fred; Chau, H F

2014-01-01

We consider the reverse problem of the distinguishability of two quantum channels, which we call the disguising problem. Given two quantum channels, the goal here is to make the two channels identical by mixing with some other channels with minimal mixing probabilities. This quantifies how much one channel can disguise as the other. In addition, the possibility to trade-off between the two mixing probabilities allows one channel to be more preserved (less mixed) at the expense of the other. We derive lower- and upper-bounds of the trade-off curve and apply them to a few example channels. Optimal trade-off is obtained in one example. We relate the disguising problem and the distinguishability problem by showing that the former can lower and upper bound the diamond norm. We also show that the disguising problem gives an upper-bound on the key generation rate in quantum cryptography. (paper)

The costs of parental care: a meta-analysis of the trade-off between parental effort and survival in birds.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, E S A; Nakagawa, S

2012-09-01

A fundamental premise of life-history theory is that organisms that increase current reproductive investment suffer increased mortality. Possibly the most studied life-history phenotypic relationship is the trade-off between parental effort and survival. However, evidence supporting this trade-off is equivocal. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to test the generality of this tenet. Using experimental studies that manipulated parental effort in birds, we show that (i) the effect of parental effort on survival was similar across species regardless of phylogeny; (ii) individuals that experienced reduced parental effort had similar survival probabilities than control individuals, regardless of sex; and (iii) males that experienced increased parental effort were less likely to survive than control males, whereas females that experienced increased effort were just as likely to survive as control females. Our results suggest that the trade-off between parental effort and survival is more complex than previously assumed. Finally, our study provides recommendations of unexplored avenues of future research into life-history trade-offs. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

The use of control charts by laypeople and hospital decision-makers for guiding decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidtke, K A; Watson, D G; Vlaev, I

2017-07-01

Graphs presenting healthcare data are increasingly available to support laypeople and hospital staff's decision making. When making these decisions, hospital staff should consider the role of chance-that is, random variation. Given random variation, decision-makers must distinguish signals (sometimes called special-cause data) from noise (common-cause data). Unfortunately, many graphs do not facilitate the statistical reasoning necessary to make such distinctions. Control charts are a less commonly used type of graph that support statistical thinking by including reference lines that separate data more likely to be signals from those more likely to be noise. The current work demonstrates for whom (laypeople and hospital staff) and when (treatment and investigative decisions) control charts strengthen data-driven decision making. We present two experiments that compare people's use of control and non-control charts to make decisions between hospitals (funnel charts vs. league tables) and to monitor changes across time (run charts with control lines vs. run charts without control lines). As expected, participants more accurately identified the outlying data using a control chart than using a non-control chart, but their ability to then apply that information to more complicated questions (e.g., where should I go for treatment?, and should I investigate?) was limited. The discussion highlights some common concerns about using control charts in hospital settings.

Examining Teachers' Behavioral Management Charts: A Comparison of Class Dojo and Paper-Pencil Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Krach, S. Kathleen; McCreery, Michael P.; Rimel, Hillary

2017-01-01

Many teachers report using behavioral management charts in their classrooms as a means of managing student behaviors, but little is known about exactly what behaviors teachers are charting, or specifically how. Misunderstanding over how real-world teachers maintain behavioral charts may cause miscommunication between the teacher and the school…

Predicting coexistence of plants subject to a tolerance-competition trade-off.

Science.gov (United States)

Haegeman, Bart; Sari, Tewfik; Etienne, Rampal S

2014-06-01

Ecological trade-offs between species are often invoked to explain species coexistence in ecological communities. However, few mathematical models have been proposed for which coexistence conditions can be characterized explicitly in terms of a trade-off. Here we present a model of a plant community which allows such a characterization. In the model plant species compete for sites where each site has a fixed stress condition. Species differ both in stress tolerance and competitive ability. Stress tolerance is quantified as the fraction of sites with stress conditions low enough to allow establishment. Competitive ability is quantified as the propensity to win the competition for empty sites. We derive the deterministic, discrete-time dynamical system for the species abundances. We prove the conditions under which plant species can coexist in a stable equilibrium. We show that the coexistence conditions can be characterized graphically, clearly illustrating the trade-off between stress tolerance and competitive ability. We compare our model with a recently proposed, continuous-time dynamical system for a tolerance-fecundity trade-off in plant communities, and we show that this model is a special case of the continuous-time version of our model.

An ex ante control chart for project monitoring using earned duration management observations

Science.gov (United States)

Mortaji, Seyed Taha Hossein; Noori, Siamak; Noorossana, Rassoul; Bagherpour, Morteza

2017-12-01

In the past few years, there has been an increasing interest in developing project control systems. The primary purpose of such systems is to indicate whether the actual performance is consistent with the baseline and to produce a signal in the case of non-compliance. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in monitoring project's performance indicators, by plotting them on the Shewhart-type control charts over time. However, these control charts are fundamentally designed for processes and ignore project-specific dynamics, which can lead to weak results and misleading interpretations. By paying close attention to the project baseline schedule and using statistical foundations, this paper proposes a new ex ante control chart which discriminates between acceptable (as-planned) and non-acceptable (not-as-planned) variations of the project's schedule performance. Such control chart enables project managers to set more realistic thresholds leading to a better decision making for taking corrective and/or preventive actions. For the sake of clarity, an illustrative example has been presented to show how the ex ante control chart is constructed in practice. Furthermore, an experimental investigation has been set up to analyze the performance of the proposed control chart. As expected, the results confirm that, when a project starts to deflect significantly from the project's baseline schedule, the ex ante control chart shows a respectable ability to detect and report right signals while avoiding false alarms.

Managing unforeseen events in anesthesia: collective trade-off between "understanding" and "doing".

Science.gov (United States)

Cuvelier, L; Falzon, P; Granry, J C; Moll, M C

2012-01-01

This study aims to describe how anesthesia teams handle unforeseen events that may affect the patients' health. More precisely, it investigates the mechanisms of decisions made by anesthesia teams to manage unthought-of situations, i.e. situations that have not been foreseen as "possible" ones before their occurrence. An empirical study, based on the analysis of simulated situations, was conducted in a pediatric anesthesia service of a university hospital in France. The results highlighted three ways of managing unthought-of situations (determined management, cautious management and overwhelmed management). They support the hypothesis of a collective cognitive trade-off, whereby teams would behave as virtual operators, with their own collective trade-off between "understanding" and "doing". The discussion of the results questions the assessment criteria, the safety perspectives we adopt and the possible ways to improve the management of unforeseen situations.

Dual worth trade-off method and its application for solving multiple criteria decision making problems

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Feng Junwen

2006-01-01

To overcome the limitations of the traditional surrogate worth trade-off (SWT) method and solve the multiple criteria decision making problem more efficiently and interactively, a new method labeled dual worth trade-off (DWT) method is proposed. The DWT method dynamically uses the duality theory related to the multiple criteria decision making problem and analytic hierarchy process technique to obtain the decision maker's solution preference information and finally find the satisfactory compromise solution of the decision maker. Through the interactive process between the analyst and the decision maker, trade-off information is solicited and treated properly, the representative subset of efficient solutions and the satisfactory solution to the problem are found. The implementation procedure for the DWT method is presented. The effectiveness and applicability of the DWT method are shown by a practical case study in the field of production scheduling.

NUCLIDES 2000: an electronic chart of the nuclides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galy, J.; Magill, J.

2000-01-01

Radionuclides have many applications in agriculture, medicine, industry and research. For basic information on such radioactive materials, the Chart of the Nuclides has proved to be an indispensable tool for obtaining data on radionuclides and working out qualitatively decay schemes and reaction paths. These Charts are, however, of limited use when one requires quantitative information on the decaying nuclide and its daughters. This was the motivation for the development of the NUCLIDES 2000 software package. The radioactive decay data used in NUCLIDES 2000 is based on the Joint Evaluated File (Jeff) version 2.2. The present version of the program contains decay data on approximately 2700 radionuclides. (authors)

jsGraph and jsNMR—Advanced Scientific Charting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Norman Pellet

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The jsGraph library is a versatile javascript library that allows advanced charting to be rendered interactively in web browsers without relying on server-side image processing. jsGraph is released under the MIT license and is free of charge. While being highly customizable through an intuitive javascript API, jsGraph is optimized to render a large quantity of data in a short amount of time. jsGraphs can display line, scatter, contour or zone series. Examples can be consulted on the project home page [1]. Customization of the chart, its axis and its series is achieved through simple but comprehensive JSON configurations.

A study of Trade-off between Opportunistic Resource Allocation and Interference Alignment in Femtocell Scenarios

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lertwiram, Namzilp; Popovski, Petar; Sakaguchi, Kei

2012-01-01

One of the main problems in wireless heterogeneous networks is interference between macro- and femto-cells. Using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) to create multiple frequency orthogonal sub-channels, this interference can be completely avoided if each sub-channel is exclusiv...... of the communication resources. In this letter we investigate the interactions and the trade-offs between these two strategies....

(W)righting women: constructions of gender, sexuality and race in the psychiatric chart.

Science.gov (United States)

Daley, Andrea; Costa, Lucy; Ross, Lori

2012-01-01

This paper examines the interpretative nature of psychiatry in relation to gender, sexuality and race within the particular time and place of one urban, Canadian, clinical psychiatric setting. We bring women's psychiatric inpatient charts and a critical feminist perspective into dialogue in an effort to focus on gender, sexuality and race in psychiatric narratives on women's madness. The research used a qualitative, retrospective research design to examine the psychiatric narrative as a technique of power as it operates on women. This paper focuses on the overarching theme of 'medicalisation', identified from the analysis of women's psychiatric inpatient charts, including two subthemes: (1) language and composition and (2) decontextualisation. Our analysis suggests that psychiatric chart documentation practices that reproduce gendered, sexualised, and racialised biases and assumptions and decontextualise the social and structural context of women's experiences of madness serve to create the paradox of women's visibility/erasure in psychiatric charts. The paper concludes with an exploration of the significance of women's authorship legitimacy in psychiatric chart documentation.

Control charts for identifying systematic errors using control sera to detect antibody to Salmonella in an indirect ELISA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bak, H.; Barfod, Kristen

2008-01-01

This study evaluated the preparation of Shewhart's control charts using the concept of rational subgroups for monitoring the Salmonella antibody ELISA used for surveillance of Danish pig herds. Control charts were prepared for a buffer control sample, a negative serum sample and a positive serum...

Controversy in the classroom: How eighth-grade and undergraduate students reason about tradeoffs of genetically modified food

Science.gov (United States)

Seethaler, Sherry Lynn

Current issues in science provide a rich context for learning because they can involve complex tradeoffs that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Despite this potential benefit, and the need for citizens to make decisions about such issues, science controversy remains rare in the classroom. Consequently, there is much unknown about how students make sense of complex, multidisciplinary science. This research examined eighth-grade (n = 190) and undergraduate (n = 9) students' reasoning about tradeoffs in the genetically modified food controversy (main study). To extend the findings from the main study, undergraduate students' reasoning was followed as they learned about ten additional science controversies (extension). The studies took place in the context of curricula designed on the basis of the Scaffolded Knowledge Integration Framework, which posits a set of design principles that help students form a rich, integrated network of ideas about a topic. Two new methodologies were developed for this work. The Embedded Perspective of Science Controversy was used to study students' integration of content in their written arguments (main study) and oral and written questions (extension). The Perspective views science controversy as a set of nested levels, where tradeoffs are one of the levels, but connecting to other levels (underlying scientific details, bigger picture context, etc.) is important for the weighing of tradeoffs. A scheme based on Toulmin's (1958) work on argumentation provided a way of comparing the structure of students' arguments. As indicated by pre and post test scores, the curriculum helped both eighth-grade students (t = 11.7, p genetically modified food. In their final papers, both eighth-grade and undergraduate students presented evidence for and against their positions, in contrast with prior literature showing individuals have difficulty coming up with evidence against their positions. The students were also moving across the levels

Evolutionary trade-offs in plants mediate the strength of trophic cascades.

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, Kailen A; Halitschke, Rayko; Kessler, Andre; Agrawal, Anurag A

2010-03-26

Predators determine herbivore and plant biomass via so-called trophic cascades, and the strength of such effects is influenced by ecosystem productivity. To determine whether evolutionary trade-offs among plant traits influence patterns of trophic control, we manipulated predators and soil fertility and measured impacts of a major herbivore (the aphid Aphis nerii) on 16 milkweed species (Asclepias spp.) in a phylogenetic field experiment. Herbivore density was determined by variation in predation and trade-offs between herbivore resistance and plant growth strategy. Neither herbivore density nor predator effects on herbivores predicted the cascading effects of predators on plant biomass. Instead, cascade strength was strongly and positively associated with milkweed response to soil fertility. Accordingly, contemporary patterns of trophic control are driven by evolutionary convergent trade-offs faced by plants.

Trade-offs Between Socio-economic Development and Ecosystem Health under Changing Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

Nazemi, A.; Hassanzadeh, E.; Elshorbagy, A. A.; Wheater, H. S.; Gober, P.; Jardine, T.; Lindenschmidt, K. E.

2017-12-01

Natural and human water systems at regional scales are often developed around key characteristics of streamflow. As a result, changes in streamflow regime can affect both socio-economic activities and freshwater ecosystems. In addition to natural variability and/or climate change, extensive water resource management to support socio-economic growth has also changed streamflow regimes. This study aims at understanding the trade-offs between agricultural expansion in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, and alterations in the ecohydrological characteristics of the Saskatchewan River Delta (SRD) located downstream. Changes in climate along with extensive water resource management have altered the upstream flow regime. Moreover, Saskatchewan is investigating the possible expansion of irrigated agriculture to boost the provincial economy. To evaluate trade-offs across a range of possible scenarios for streamflow changes, the potential increase in provincial net benefit versus potential vulnerability of the SRD was assessed using perturbed flow realizations along with scenarios of irrigation expansion as input to an integrated water resource system model. This study sheds light on the potential variability in trade-offs between economic benefits and ecosystem health under a range of streamflow conditions, with the aim of informing decisions that can benefit both natural and human water systems.

Trade-offs, co-benefits and safeguards: Current debates on the breadth of REDD+.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visseren-Hamakers, I.J.; McDermott, C.; Vijge, M.J.; Cashore, B.

2012-01-01

Fundamental trade-offs exist between different land uses for carbon, livelihoods, economic development, biodiversity, agriculture and energy (especially biofuels). This article analyses the scientific debates on REDD+ trade-offs, co-benefits and safeguards, and shows how the development and expanded

49 CFR 236.338 - Mechanical locking required in accordance with locking sheet and dog chart.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... locking sheet and dog chart. 236.338 Section 236.338 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to... in accordance with locking sheet and dog chart. Mechanical locking shall be in accordance with locking sheet and dog chart currently in effect. ...

A systematic study of even-even nuclei in the nuclear chart by the relativistic mean field theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sumiyoshi, K.; Hirata, D.; Tanihata, I.; Sugahara, Y.; Toki, H. [Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Wako, Saitama (Japan)

1997-03-01

We study systematically the properties of nuclei in the whole mass range up to the drip lines by the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory with deformations as a microscopic framework to provide the data of nuclear structure in the nuclear chart. The RMF theory is a phenomenological many-body framework, in which the self-consistent equations for nucleons and mesons are solved with arbitrary deformation, and has a potential ability to provide all the essential information of nuclear structure such as masses, radii and deformations together with single particle states and wave functions from the effective lagrangian containing nuclear interaction. As a first step toward the whole project, we study the ground state properties of even-even nuclei ranging from Z=8 to Z=120 up to the proton and neutron drip lines in the RMF theory. We adopt the parameter set TMA, which has been determined by the experimental masses and charge radii in a wide mass range, for the effective lagrangian of the RMF theory. We take into account the axially symmetric deformation using the constrained method on the quadrupole moment. We provide the properties of all even-even nuclei with all the possible ground state deformations extracted from the deformation energy curves by the constrained calculations. By studying the calculated ground state properties systematically, we aim to explore the general trend of masses, radii and deformations in the whole region of the nuclear chart. We discuss the agreement with experimental data and the predictions such as magicness and triaxial deformations beyond the experimental frontier. (author)

DE based economic control chart design and application for a typical petrochemical process

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Zhi LI; Feng QIAN; Wenli DU; Weimin ZHONG

2017-01-01

Petrochemical industry plays an important role in the development of the national economy.Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) is one of the most important intermediate raw materials in the petrochemical and chemical fiber industries.PTA production has two parts:p-xylene (PX) oxidation process and crude terephthalic acid (CTA) hydropurification process.The CTA hydropurification process is used to reduce impurities,such as 4-carboxybenzaldehyde,which is produced by a side reaction in the PX oxidation process and is harmful to the polyester industry.From the safety and economic viewpoints,monitoring this process is necessary.Four main faults of this process are analyzed in this study.The common process monitoring methods always use T2 and SPE statistic as control limits.However,the traditional methods do not fully consider the economic viewpoint.In this study,a new economic control chart design method based on the differential evolution (DE) algorithm is developed.The DE algorithm transforms the economic control chart design problem to an optimization problem and is an excellent solution to such problem.Case studies of the main faults of the hydropurification process indicate that the proposed method can achieve minimum profit loss.This method is useful in economic control chart design and can provide guidance for the petrochemical industry.

A trade-off between reproduction and feather growth in the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola Saino

Full Text Available Physiological trade-offs mediated by limiting energy, resources or time constrain the simultaneous expression of major functions and can lead to the evolution of temporal separation between demanding activities. In birds, plumage renewal is a demanding activity, which accomplishes fundamental functions, such as allowing thermal insulation, aerodynamics and socio-sexual signaling. Feather renewal is a very expensive and disabling process, and molt is often partitioned from breeding and migration. However, trade-offs between feather renewal and breeding have been only sparsely studied. In barn swallows (Hirundo rustica breeding in Italy and undergoing molt during wintering in sub-Saharan Africa, we studied this trade-off by removing a tail feather from a large sample of individuals and analyzing growth bar width, reflecting feather growth rate, and length of the growing replacement feather in relation to the stage in the breeding cycle at removal and clutch size. Growth bar width of females and length of the growing replacement feather of both sexes were smaller when the original feather had been removed after clutch initiation. Importantly, in females both growth bar width and replacement feather length were negatively predicted by clutch size, and more strongly so for large clutches and when feather removal occurred immediately after clutch completion. Hence, we found strong, coherent evidence for a trade-off between reproduction, and laying effort in particular, and the ability to generate new feathers. These results support the hypothesis that the derived condition of molting during wintering in long-distance migrants is maintained by the costs of overlapping breeding and molt.

Modified Exponential Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) Control Chart on Autocorrelation Data

Science.gov (United States)

Herdiani, Erna Tri; Fandrilla, Geysa; Sunusi, Nurtiti

2018-03-01

In general, observations of the statistical process control are assumed to be mutually independence. However, this assumption is often violated in practice. Consequently, statistical process controls were developed for interrelated processes, including Shewhart, Cumulative Sum (CUSUM), and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts in the data that were autocorrelation. One researcher stated that this chart is not suitable if the same control limits are used in the case of independent variables. For this reason, it is necessary to apply the time series model in building the control chart. A classical control chart for independent variables is usually applied to residual processes. This procedure is permitted provided that residuals are independent. In 1978, Shewhart modification for the autoregressive process was introduced by using the distance between the sample mean and the target value compared to the standard deviation of the autocorrelation process. In this paper we will examine the mean of EWMA for autocorrelation process derived from Montgomery and Patel. Performance to be investigated was investigated by examining Average Run Length (ARL) based on the Markov Chain Method.

North Atlantic IFR Route Planning Chart GEO-TIFF - Aeronautical Information Services Digital Products

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — North Atlantic Route Chart is designed for FAA Controllers to monitor transatlantic flights, this 5-color chart shows oceanic control areas, coastal navigation aids,...

North Atlantic IFR Route Planning Chart PDF File - Aeronautical Information Services Digital Products

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — North Atlantic Route Chart is designed for FAA Controllers to monitor transatlantic flights, this 5-color chart shows oceanic control areas, coastal navigation aids,...

Measuring service quality trade-offs in Asian distribution channels: A multi-layer perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wetzels, M.G.M.; Ruyter, de J.C.; Lemmink, J.G.A.M.

2000-01-01

In international marketing channels customer service has become an important factor in supplier and purchase decisions. In evaluating supplier performance several trade-offs are taken into account by actors operating at various channel levels. These are trade-offs among customer service elements and

Trade-offs in ecosystem services and varying stakeholder preferences: evaluating conflicts, obstacles, and opportunities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth King

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In efforts to increase human well-being while maintaining the natural systems and processes upon which we depend, navigating the trade-offs that can arise between different ecosystem services is a profound challenge. We evaluated a recently developed simple analytic framework for assessing ecosystem service trade-offs, which characterizes such trade-offs in terms of their underlying biophysical constraints as well as divergences in stakeholders' values for the services in question. Through a workshop and subsequent discussions, we identified four different types of challenging situations under which the framework allows important insights to clarify the nature of stakeholder conflicts, obstacles to promoting more sustainable outcomes, and potential enabling factors to promote efficiency and sustainability of ecosystem service yields. We illustrated the framework's analytical steps by applying them to case studies representing three of the challenging situations. We explored the fourth challenging situation conceptually, using published literature for examples. We examined the potential utility and feasibility of using the framework as a participatory tool in resource management and conflict resolution. We concluded that the framework can be instrumental for promoting pluralism and insightful analysis of trade-offs. The insights offered here may be viewed as hypotheses to be tested and refined as additional unforeseen challenges and benefits are revealed as the framework is put into practice.

The rate-size trade-off structures intraspecific variation in Daphnia ambigua life history parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

DeLong, John P; Hanley, Torrance C

2013-01-01

The identification of trade-offs is necessary for understanding the evolution and maintenance of diversity. Here we employ the supply-demand (SD) body size optimization model to predict a trade-off between asymptotic body size and growth rate. We use the SD model to quantitatively predict the slope of the relationship between asymptotic body size and growth rate under high and low food regimes and then test the predictions against observations for Daphnia ambigua. Close quantitative agreement between observed and predicted slopes at both food levels lends support to the model and confirms that a 'rate-size' trade-off structures life history variation in this population. In contrast to classic life history expectations, growth and reproduction were positively correlated after controlling for the rate-size trade-off. We included 12 Daphnia clones in our study, but clone identity explained only some of the variation in life history traits. We also tested the hypothesis that growth rate would be positively related to intergenic spacer length (i.e. the growth rate hypothesis) across clones, but we found that clones with intermediate intergenic spacer lengths had larger asymptotic sizes and slower growth rates. Our results strongly support a resource-based optimization of body size following the SD model. Furthermore, because some resource allocation decisions necessarily precede others, understanding interdependent life history traits may require a more nested approach.

The rate-size trade-off structures intraspecific variation in Daphnia ambigua life history parameters.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John P DeLong

Full Text Available The identification of trade-offs is necessary for understanding the evolution and maintenance of diversity. Here we employ the supply-demand (SD body size optimization model to predict a trade-off between asymptotic body size and growth rate. We use the SD model to quantitatively predict the slope of the relationship between asymptotic body size and growth rate under high and low food regimes and then test the predictions against observations for Daphnia ambigua. Close quantitative agreement between observed and predicted slopes at both food levels lends support to the model and confirms that a 'rate-size' trade-off structures life history variation in this population. In contrast to classic life history expectations, growth and reproduction were positively correlated after controlling for the rate-size trade-off. We included 12 Daphnia clones in our study, but clone identity explained only some of the variation in life history traits. We also tested the hypothesis that growth rate would be positively related to intergenic spacer length (i.e. the growth rate hypothesis across clones, but we found that clones with intermediate intergenic spacer lengths had larger asymptotic sizes and slower growth rates. Our results strongly support a resource-based optimization of body size following the SD model. Furthermore, because some resource allocation decisions necessarily precede others, understanding interdependent life history traits may require a more nested approach.

Teaching about Modern Germany: Instructional Materials for the Social Studies Classroom. Correlation Charts Indicating Content and Skills Addressed by Each Lesson.

Science.gov (United States)

Goethe House, New York, NY.

This instructional booklet for the social studies classroom is a companion to a series about modern day Germany. The materials describe the documents in the series and present correlation charts for content and skills: (1) "A Kid Like Me across the Sea"; (2) "Communities and Regions"; (3) "Overview of Germany"; (4)…

Corrective Feedback, Spoken Accuracy and Fluency, and the Trade-Off Hypothesis

Science.gov (United States)

Chehr Azad, Mohammad Hassan; Farrokhi, Farahman; Zohrabi, Mohammad

2018-01-01

The current study was an attempt to investigate the effects of different corrective feedback (CF) conditions on Iranian EFL learners' spoken accuracy and fluency (AF) and the trade-off between them. Consequently, four pre-intermediate intact classes were randomly selected as the control, delayed explicit metalinguistic CF, extensive recast, and…

Visualisation of uncertainty for the trade-off triangle used in sustainable agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Paul; Takahashi, Taro; Lee, Michael

2017-04-01

Agriculture at the global-scale is at a critical juncture where competing requirements for maximal production and minimal pollution have led to the concept of sustainable intensification. All farming systems (arable, grasslands, etc.) are part of this debate, where each have particular associated environmental risks such as water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and soil degradation, as well as issues affecting production efficiency, product quality and consumer acceptability, reflected in the development of agricultural sustainability policies. These challenges necessitate multidisciplinary solutions that can only be properly researched, implemented and tested in real-world production systems which are suited to their geographical and climatic production practice. In this respect, various high-profile agricultural data collection experiments have been set up, such as the North Wyke Farm Platform (http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/farmplatform) to research agricultural productivity and ecosystem responses to different management practices. In this farm-scale grasslands experiment, data on hydrology, emissions, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, productivity and livestock welfare/health are collected, that in turn, are converted to trade-off metrics with respect to: (i) economic profits, (ii) societal benefits and (iii) environmental concerns, under the umbrella of sustainable intensification. Similar agriculture research platforms have similar objectives, where data collections are ultimately synthesised into trade-off metrics. Trade-offs metrics can then be usefully visualized via the usual sustainable triangle, with a new triangle for each key time period (e.g. baseline versus post-baseline). This enables a visual assessment of change in sustainability harmony or discord, according to the remit of the given research experiment. In this paper, we discuss different approaches to calculation of the sustainability trade-off metrics that are required from the farm

Large-scale bioenergy production: how to resolve sustainability trade-offs?

Science.gov (United States)

Humpenöder, Florian; Popp, Alexander; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Weindl, Isabelle; Biewald, Anne; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Klein, David; Kreidenweis, Ulrich; Müller, Christoph; Rolinski, Susanne; Stevanovic, Miodrag

2018-02-01

Large-scale 2nd generation bioenergy deployment is a key element of 1.5 °C and 2 °C transformation pathways. However, large-scale bioenergy production might have negative sustainability implications and thus may conflict with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda. Here, we carry out a multi-criteria sustainability assessment of large-scale bioenergy crop production throughout the 21st century (300 EJ in 2100) using a global land-use model. Our analysis indicates that large-scale bioenergy production without complementary measures results in negative effects on the following sustainability indicators: deforestation, CO2 emissions from land-use change, nitrogen losses, unsustainable water withdrawals and food prices. One of our main findings is that single-sector environmental protection measures next to large-scale bioenergy production are prone to involve trade-offs among these sustainability indicators—at least in the absence of more efficient land or water resource use. For instance, if bioenergy production is accompanied by forest protection, deforestation and associated emissions (SDGs 13 and 15) decline substantially whereas food prices (SDG 2) increase. However, our study also shows that this trade-off strongly depends on the development of future food demand. In contrast to environmental protection measures, we find that agricultural intensification lowers some side-effects of bioenergy production substantially (SDGs 13 and 15) without generating new trade-offs—at least among the sustainability indicators considered here. Moreover, our results indicate that a combination of forest and water protection schemes, improved fertilization efficiency, and agricultural intensification would reduce the side-effects of bioenergy production most comprehensively. However, although our study includes more sustainability indicators than previous studies on bioenergy side-effects, our study represents only a small subset of all indicators relevant for the

Inclusion of extremes of prematurity in ventricular index centile charts.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyle, M; Shim, R; Gnanasekaran, R; Tarrant, A; Ryan, S; Foran, A; McCallion, N

2015-06-01

To assess the relationship between ventricular index (VI) measurements and postmenstrual age in preterm infants and to generate centile charts and normal ranges for frontal horn ratio (FHR) for a large contemporary cohort of preterm infants. A retrospective cohort study of 253 infants with birth gestation less than 32 weeks admitted between January 2009 and December 2011 to a tertiary NICU in Ireland. A total of 816 cranial ultrasounds were reviewed. Data collected were grouped according to postmenstrual age at the time of scan from 23 weeks to 45 weeks. Median values for VI show a general trend to increase with gestation. FHR did not significantly change with postmenstrual age at scan with a median value of 0.31. There is a slight increase in VI as gestation at the time of scans increases. These results provide the basis for updated centile charts which we propose for current practice.

Evolutionary trade-offs in kidney injury and repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Yutian; Anders, Hans-Joachim

2017-11-01

Evolutionary medicine has proven helpful to understand the origin of human disease, e.g. in identifying causal roles of recent environmental changes impacting on human physiology (environment-phenotype mismatch). In contrast, diseases affecting only a limited number of members of a species often originate from evolutionary trade-offs for usually physiologic adaptations assuring reproductive success in the context of extrinsic threats. For example, the G1 and G2 variants of the APOL1 gene supporting control of Trypanosoma infection come with the trade-off that they promote the progression of kidney disease. In this review we extend the concept of evolutionary nephrology by discussing how the physiologic adaptations (danger responses) to tissue injury create evolutionary trade-offs that drive histopathological changes underlying acute and chronic kidney diseases. The evolution of multicellular organisms positively selected a number of danger response programs for their overwhelming benefits in assuring survival such as clotting, inflammation, epithelial healing and mesenchymal healing, i.e. fibrosis and sclerosis. Upon kidney injury these danger programs often present as pathomechanisms driving persistent nephron loss and renal failure. We explore how classic kidney disease entities involve insufficient or overshooting activation of these danger response programs for which the underlying genetic basis remains largely to be defined. Dissecting the causative and hierarchical relationships between danger programs should help to identify molecular targets to control kidney injury and to improve disease outcomes.

Middle cerebral artery Doppler reference centile charts for the prediction of fetal anemia in a population from India.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Manisha; Umrawal, Tarul; Singh, Anuradha

2017-12-01

To construct reference charts for the fetal middle cerebral artery (MCA) peak systolic velocity (PSV,) and the corresponding cord blood hemoglobin values at 24-40 weeks of pregnancy for the identification of fetal anemia. In a cross-sectional study, 300 women with a pregnancy duration of 24-40 weeks planned for delivery within 72 hours underwent a Doppler study of the MCA and cord blood hemoglobin estimation at delivery. Regression analysis was used to construct reference charts. The validity of the charts was assessed in 40 fetuses from Rhesus-isoimmunized pregnancies. The MCA PSV and hemoglobin values increased with advancing gestational age. Multiples of the median (MOM) were calculated and reference charts were constructed for mild anemia (MCA PSV 1.29 MOM; hemoglobin 0.8 MOM), moderate anemia (MCA PSV 1.50 MOM; hemoglobin 0.6 MOM), and severe anemia (MCA PSV 1.55 MOM; hemoglobin 0.5 MOM). In the validation sample, the hemoglobin value estimated on the basis of the MCA PSV corresponded with the actual hemoglobin range in 90% of the fetuses. The sensitivity was 92% and the specificity was 95%. The constructed charts are suitable for the evaluation of fetal anemia in the regional population. © 2017 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Progress in the technology of nautical charting

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Joseph, A.

". The article skims through the various aspects of safety of navigation such as nautical charts created by the Arabs in the medieval days of stellar navigation in the Indian Ocean; the contributions by the Chinese, the British, and the Portuguese; hydrographic...

Evaluation of reconstruction techniques in regional cerebral blood flow SPECT using trade-off plots: a Monte Carlo study.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsson, Anna; Arlig, Asa; Carlsson, Gudrun Alm; Gustafsson, Agnetha

2007-09-01

The image quality of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) depends on the reconstruction algorithm used. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate parameters in ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) and to compare systematically with filtered back-projection (FBP) for reconstruction of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) SPECT, incorporating attenuation and scatter correction. The evaluation was based on the trade-off between contrast recovery and statistical noise using different sizes of subsets, number of iterations and filter parameters. Monte Carlo simulated SPECT studies of a digital human brain phantom were used. The contrast recovery was calculated as measured contrast divided by true contrast. Statistical noise in the reconstructed images was calculated as the coefficient of variation in pixel values. A constant contrast level was reached above 195 equivalent maximum likelihood expectation maximization iterations. The choice of subset size was not crucial as long as there were > or = 2 projections per subset. The OSEM reconstruction was found to give 5-14% higher contrast recovery than FBP for all clinically relevant noise levels in rCBF SPECT. The Butterworth filter, power 6, achieved the highest stable contrast recovery level at all clinically relevant noise levels. The cut-off frequency should be chosen according to the noise level accepted in the image. Trade-off plots are shown to be a practical way of deciding the number of iterations and subset size for the OSEM reconstruction and can be used for other examination types in nuclear medicine.

Environmental justice research shows the importance of social feedbacks in ecosystem service trade-offs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil M. Dawson

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In this article, we shine a spotlight on approaches to research ecosystem service trade-offs and critically assess their representation of relevant social dynamics. Although studies linking ecosystem services and human well-being have provided theoretical insights into social and ecological trade-offs, we argue that ecosystem services research has paid insufficient attention to "social feedbacks," people's cognitive and behavioral responses to change. We demonstrate that augmenting ecosystem services research with environmental justice approaches (exploring perceptions of the distribution of costs and benefits, decision making procedures, and recognition of different values and identities can more effectively capture important responses to ecosystem governance. Spatial analysis of land use change, mixed-method assessment of multidimensional well-being, and qualitative environmental justice research were applied in three villages adjacent to Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area in northern Laos. Spatial analysis showed that, from 2006 to 2015, forest clearance for cultivation remained stable within the protected area. Well-being assessment revealed the local population benefited from rapidly increasing incomes, asset ownership, and reduced poverty during that time. In combination, spatial and well-being analyses paint a picture of limited trade-offs, despite growing incentives to exploit protected land and resources through cash crops and high-value forest products. In contrast, results from environmental justice research revealed profound trade-offs between conservation and local practices, and highlight governance deficiencies relating to procedure and recognition. Consequently, formal protected area rules were perceived to be illegitimate by many and actively undermined, for example through negotiated access with alternative authorities. We conclude that although well-being research provides an essential foundation to understand diverse

Notre Dame Nuclear Database: A New Chart of Nuclides

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kevin; Khouw, Timothy; Fasano, Patrick; Mumpower, Matthew; Aprahamian, Ani

2014-09-01

Nuclear data is critical to research fields from medicine to astrophysics. We are creating a database, the Notre Dame Nuclear Database, which can store theoretical and experimental datasets. We place emphasis on storing metadata and user interaction with the database. Users are able to search in addition to the specific nuclear datum, the author(s), the facility where the measurements were made, the institution of the facility, and device or method/technique used. We also allow users to interact with the database by providing online search, an interactive nuclide chart, and a command line interface. The nuclide chart is a more descriptive version of the periodic table that can be used to visualize nuclear properties such as half-lives and mass. We achieve this by using D3 (Data Driven Documents), HTML, and CSS3 to plot the nuclides and color them accordingly. Search capabilities can be applied dynamically to the chart by using Python to communicate with MySQL, allowing for customization. Users can save the customized chart they create to any image format. These features provide a unique approach for researchers to interface with nuclear data. We report on the current progress of this project and will present a working demo that highlights each aspect of the aforementioned features. This is the first time that all available technologies are put to use to make nuclear data more accessible than ever before in a manner that is much easier and fully detailed. This is a first and we will make it available as open source ware.

Desktop publishing and validation of custom near visual acuity charts.

Science.gov (United States)

Marran, Lynn; Liu, Lei; Lau, George

2008-11-01

Customized visual acuity (VA) assessment is an important part of basic and clinical vision research. Desktop computer based distance VA measurements have been utilized, and shown to be accurate and reliable, but computer based near VA measurements have not been attempted, mainly due to the limited spatial resolution of computer monitors. In this paper, we demonstrate how to use desktop publishing to create printed custom near VA charts. We created a set of six near VA charts in a logarithmic progression, 20/20 through 20/63, with multiple lines of the same acuity level, different letter arrangements in each line and a random noise background. This design allowed repeated measures of subjective accommodative amplitude without the potential artifact of familiarity of the optotypes. The background maintained a constant and spatial frequency rich peripheral stimulus for accommodation across the six different acuity levels. The paper describes in detail how pixel-wise accurate black and white bitmaps of Sloan optotypes were used to create the printed custom VA charts. At all acuity levels, the physical sizes of the printed custom optotypes deviated no more than 0.034 log units from that of the standard, satisfying the 0.05 log unit ISO criterion we used to demonstrate physical equivalence. Also, at all acuity levels, log unit differences in the mean target distance for which reliable recognition of letters first occurred for the printed custom optotypes compared to the standard were found to be below 0.05, satisfying the 0.05 log unit ISO criterion we used to demonstrate functional equivalence. It is possible to use desktop publishing to create custom near VA charts that are physically and functionally equivalent to standard VA charts produced by a commercial printing process.

Design and analysis of control charts for standard deviation with estimated parameters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schoonhoven, M.; Riaz, M.; Does, R.J.M.M.

2011-01-01

This paper concerns the design and analysis of the standard deviation control chart with estimated limits. We consider an extensive range of statistics to estimate the in-control standard deviation (Phase I) and design the control chart for real-time process monitoring (Phase II) by determining the

Examination of Routine Use of Prenatal Weight Gain Charts as a Communication Tool for Providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilera, Marijo; Sidebottom, Abbey C; McCool, Brigitte R

2017-10-01

Objectives In 2009 the IOM revised prenatal weight gain guidelines. The primary purpose of this pilot study was to assess if provider education and use of prenatal weight gain charts to track weight gain and counsel patients was associated with better patient and provider knowledge and communication about the guidelines. Methods A prospective non-randomized study conducted in four OB practices (two control, two intervention). Data sources included provider surveys (n = 16 intervention, 21 control), patient surveys (n = 332), and medical records. Intervention clinics received provider education on the IOM guidelines and used patient education materials and prenatal weight gain charts to track weight gain and as a counseling tool. Comparison clinics received no education and did not use the charts or patient education information. Results More patients at intervention clinics (92.3%) reported that a provider gave them advice about weight gain, compared to patients from comparison clinics (66.4%) (p gain (83.1 vs. 64.3%, p = 0.007). Intervention clinic patients were more likely to have knowledge of the guidelines indicated by 72.3% reporting a target weight gain amount within the guidelines versus 50.4% of comparison patients (p gain charts resulted in higher patient reported communication about weight gain from their provider, higher patient satisfaction with those discussions, and better knowledge of the appropriate target weight gain goals.

Multivariate control charts based on net analyte signal (NAS) and Raman spectroscopy for quality control of carbamazepine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rocha, Werickson Fortunato de Carvalho [Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas - UNICAMP, P.O. Box 6154, 13083-970 Campinas, SP (Brazil); National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality, Inmetro, Dimci/Dquim - Directorate of Metrology, Science and Industry/Division of Chemical Metrology, Av. Nossa Senhora das Gracas 50, Building 6, 25250-020, Xerem, Duque de Caxias, RJ (Brazil); Poppi, Ronei Jesus, E-mail: ronei@iqm.unicamp.br [Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas - UNICAMP, P.O. Box 6154, 13083-970 Campinas, SP (Brazil); National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT) for Bioanalytics, 13083-970 Campinas, SP (Brazil)

2011-10-31

Raman spectroscopy and control charts based on the net analyte signal (NAS) were applied to polymorphic characterization of carbamazepine. Carbamazepine presents four polymorphic forms: I-IV (dihydrate). X-ray powder diffraction was used as a reference technique. The control charts were built generating three charts: the NAS chart that corresponds to the analyte of interest (form III in this case), the interference chart that corresponds to the contribution of other compounds in the sample and the residual chart that corresponds to nonsystematic variations. For each chart, statistical limits were developed using samples within the quality specifications. It was possible to identify the different polymorphic forms of carbamazepine present in pharmaceutical formulations. Thus, an alternative method for the quality monitoring of the carbamazepine polymorphic forms after the crystallization process is presented.

Multivariate control charts based on net analyte signal (NAS) and Raman spectroscopy for quality control of carbamazepine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rocha, Werickson Fortunato de Carvalho; Poppi, Ronei Jesus

2011-01-01

Raman spectroscopy and control charts based on the net analyte signal (NAS) were applied to polymorphic characterization of carbamazepine. Carbamazepine presents four polymorphic forms: I-IV (dihydrate). X-ray powder diffraction was used as a reference technique. The control charts were built generating three charts: the NAS chart that corresponds to the analyte of interest (form III in this case), the interference chart that corresponds to the contribution of other compounds in the sample and the residual chart that corresponds to nonsystematic variations. For each chart, statistical limits were developed using samples within the quality specifications. It was possible to identify the different polymorphic forms of carbamazepine present in pharmaceutical formulations. Thus, an alternative method for the quality monitoring of the carbamazepine polymorphic forms after the crystallization process is presented.

SU-G-IeP3-14: Updating Tools for Radiographic Technique Charts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Walz-Flannigan, A; Lucas, J; Buchanan, K; Schueler, B [Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: Manual technique selection in radiography is needed for imaging situations where there is difficulty in proper positioning for AEC, prosthesis, for non-bucky imaging, or for guiding image repeats. Basic information about how to provide consistent image signal and contrast for various kV and tissue thickness is needed to create manual technique charts, and relevant for physicists involved in technique chart optimization. Guidance on technique combinations and rules-of-thumb to provide consistent image signal still in use today are based on measurements with optical density of screen-film combinations and older generation x-ray systems. Tools such as a kV-scale chart can be useful to know how to modify mAs when kV is changed in order to maintain consistent image receptor signal level. We evaluate these tools for modern equipment for use in optimizing proper size scaled techniques. Methods: We used a water phantom to measure calibrated signal change for CR and DR (with grid) for various beam energies. Tube current values were calculated that would yield a consistent image signal response. Data was fit to provide sufficient granularity of detail to compose technique-scale chart. Tissue thickness approximated equivalence to 80% of water depth. Results: We created updated technique-scale charts, providing mAs and kV combinations to achieve consistent signal for CR and DR for various tissue equivalent thicknesses. We show how this information can be used to create properly scaled size-based manual technique charts. Conclusion: Relative scaling of mAs and kV for constant signal (i.e. the shape of the curve) appears substantially similar between film-screen and CR/DR. This supports the notion that image receptor related differences are minor factors for relative (not absolute) changes in mAs with varying kV. However, as demonstrated creation of these difficult to find detailed technique-scales are useful tools for manual chart optimization.

A survival-reproduction trade-off in entomopathogenic nematodes mediated by their bacterial symbionts.

Science.gov (United States)

Emelianoff, Vanya; Chapuis, Elodie; Le Brun, Nathalie; Chiral, Magali; Moulia, Catherine; Ferdy, Jean-Baptiste

2008-04-01

In this work, we investigate the investment of entomopathogenic Steinernema nematodes (Rhabditidae) in their symbiotic association with Xenorhabdus bacteria (Enterobacteriaceae). Their life cycle comprises two phases: (1) a free stage in the soil, where infective juveniles (IJs) of the nematode carry bacteria in a digestive vesicle and search for insect hosts, and (2) a parasitic stage into the insect where bacterial multiplication, nematode reproduction, and production of new IJs occur. Previous studies clearly showed benefits to the association for the nematode during the parasitic stage, but preliminary data suggest the existence of costs to the association for the nematode in free stage. IJs deprived from their bacteria indeed survive longer than symbiotic ones. Here we show that those bacteria-linked costs and benefits lead to a trade-off between fitness traits of the symbiotic nematodes. Indeed IJs mortality positively correlates with their parasitic success in the insect host for symbiotic IJs and not for aposymbiotic ones. Moreover mortality and parasitic success both positively correlate with the number of bacteria carried per IJ, indicating that the trade-off is induced by symbiosis. Finally, the trade-off intensity depends on parental effects and, more generally, is greater under restrictive environmental conditions.

A Systematic Chart Review of Inpatient Population with Childhood Dissociative Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Prabhuswamy, Mukesh; Jairam, Rajeev; Srinath, Shoba; Girimaji, Satish; Seshadri, Shekhar P.

2006-01-01

Objective: To study the socio-demographic factors, clinical characteristics, and long-term outcome of dissociative disorders in inpatient children and adolescents. Methods: Chart data of forty-four subjects (8-15 years) with a diagnosis of dissociative disorder admitted to a specialist Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) unit between September…

Cardiovascular risk assessment in type 2 diabetes mellitus: comparison of the World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension risk prediction charts versus UK Prospective Diabetes Study risk engine.

Science.gov (United States)

Herath, Herath M Meththananda; Weerarathna, Thilak Priyantha; Umesha, Dilini

2015-01-01

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are at higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, and assessment of their cardiac risk is important for preventive strategies. The Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka has recommended World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) charts for cardiac risk assessment in individuals with T2DM. However, the most suitable cardiac risk assessment tool for Sri Lankans with T2DM has not been studied. This study was designed to evaluate the performance of two cardiac risk assessments tools; WHO/ISH charts and UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) risk engine. Cardiac risk assessments were done in 2,432 patients with T2DM attending a diabetes clinic in Southern Sri Lanka using the two risk assessment tools. Validity of two assessment tools was further assessed by their ability to recognize individuals with raised low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and raised diastolic blood pressure in a cohort of newly diagnosed T2DM patients (n=332). WHO/ISH charts identified 78.4% of subjects as low cardiac risk whereas the UKPDS risk engine categorized 52.3% as low cardiac risk (Pengine identified higher proportions of patients (28%) compared to WHO/ISH charts (7%). Approximately 6% of subjects were classified as low cardiac risk (20%. Agreement between the two tools was poor (κ value =0.144, Pengine. Risk assessment by both assessment tools demonstrated poor sensitivity in identifying those with treatable levels of LDL cholesterol and diastolic blood pressure.

Rate-cost tradeoffs in control

KAUST Repository

Kostina, Victoria

2017-02-13

Consider a distributed control problem with a communication channel connecting the observer of a linear stochastic system to the controller. The goal of the controller is minimize a quadratic cost function. The most basic special case of that cost function is the mean-square deviation of the system state from the desired state. We study the fundamental tradeoff between the communication rate r bits/sec and the limsup of the expected cost b, and show a lower bound on the rate necessary to attain b. The bound applies as long as the system noise has a probability density function. If target cost b is not too large, that bound can be closely approached by a simple lattice quantization scheme that only quantizes the innovation, that is, the difference between the controller\\'s belief about the current state and the true state.

Bivariate copulas on the exponentially weighted moving average control chart

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sasigarn Kuvattana

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes four types of copulas on the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA control chart when observations are from an exponential distribution using a Monte Carlo simulation approach. The performance of the control chart is based on the Average Run Length (ARL which is compared for each copula. Copula functions for specifying dependence between random variables are used and measured by Kendall’s tau. The results show that the Normal copula can be used for almost all shifts.

Flexible Design and Operation of a Smart Charging Microgrid (Briefing Charts)

Science.gov (United States)

2014-04-08

release; distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Briefing Charts for SAE World Congress 2014 14. ABSTRACT A microgrid is a controllable ...UNCLASSIFIED Distribution Statement A: Approved for Public Release Flexible Design and Operation of a Smart Charging Microgrid Annette G... control number. 1. REPORT DATE 08 APR 2014 2. REPORT TYPE Briefing Charts 3. DATES COVERED 08-01-2014 to 09-03-2014 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

The effects of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD on the emotion-induced memory trade-off

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katherine R. Mickley Steinmetz

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Many studies of memory changes in individuals with PTSD have focused on memory for trauma. However, it is unclear if these mnemonic differences extend beyond trauma memory to memory for other positive and negative information and if they are specific to individuals with PTSD or extend to other individuals who have experienced trauma. The present study examined the influences of trauma exposure and PTSD on an effect that may parallel tunnel memory in PTSD: the emotion-induced memory trade-off, whereby emotional aspects of an experience are remembered at the expense of the nonemotional context. Three groups (25 with current PTSD, 27 who had experienced trauma but did not have current PTSD, and 25 controls who had neither experienced significant trauma nor met criteria for current PTSD were shown complex visual scenes that included an item (positive, negative, or neutral placed on a neutral background. 45 minutes later, participants underwent a recognition memory test for the items and backgrounds separately. An emotion-induced memory trade-off was said to occur when there was a significant difference in item and background memory for emotional scenes, but not for neutral scenes. People with PTSD, like the other groups, were more likely to remember positive and negative items than neutral items. People with PTSD exhibited a memory trade-off, but this trade-off was no larger than for the non-trauma control group. Trauma-exposed people without a current diagnosis of PTSD did not show a trade-off, because they remembered the items within scenes better than their contexts even for neutral scenes. These results suggest that i the effect of emotion on memory for visual scenes is similar in people with PTSD and control participants, and ii people who have experienced trauma, but do not have PTSD, may have a different way of attending to and remembering visual scenes, exhibiting less of a memory trade-off than either control participants or people with

Improved implementation of the risk-adjusted Bernoulli CUSUM chart to monitor surgical outcome quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Keefe, Matthew J; Loda, Justin B; Elhabashy, Ahmad E; Woodall, William H

2017-06-01

The traditional implementation of the risk-adjusted Bernoulli cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart for monitoring surgical outcome quality requires waiting a pre-specified period of time after surgery before incorporating patient outcome information. We propose a simple but powerful implementation of the risk-adjusted Bernoulli CUSUM chart that incorporates outcome information as soon as it is available, rather than waiting a pre-specified period of time after surgery. A simulation study is presented that compares the performance of the traditional implementation of the risk-adjusted Bernoulli CUSUM chart to our improved implementation. We show that incorporating patient outcome information as soon as it is available leads to quicker detection of process deterioration. Deterioration of surgical performance could be detected much sooner using our proposed implementation, which could lead to the earlier identification of problems. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Results of a multicentre randomised controlled trial of statistical process control charts and structured diagnostic tools to reduce ward-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: the CHART Project.

Science.gov (United States)

Curran, E; Harper, P; Loveday, H; Gilmour, H; Jones, S; Benneyan, J; Hood, J; Pratt, R

2008-10-01

Statistical process control (SPC) charts have previously been advocated for infection control quality improvement. To determine their effectiveness, a multicentre randomised controlled trial was undertaken to explore whether monthly SPC feedback from infection control nurses (ICNs) to healthcare workers of ward-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (WA-MRSA) colonisation or infection rates would produce any reductions in incidence. Seventy-five wards in 24 hospitals in the UK were randomised into three arms: (1) wards receiving SPC chart feedback; (2) wards receiving SPC chart feedback in conjunction with structured diagnostic tools; and (3) control wards receiving neither type of feedback. Twenty-five months of pre-intervention WA-MRSA data were compared with 24 months of post-intervention data. Statistically significant and sustained decreases in WA-MRSA rates were identified in all three arms (Pcontrol wards, but with no significant difference between the control and intervention arms (P=0.23). There were significantly more post-intervention 'out-of-control' episodes (P=0.021) in the control arm (averages of 0.60, 0.28, and 0.28 for Control, SPC and SPC+Tools wards, respectively). Participants identified SPC charts as an effective communication tool and valuable for disseminating WA-MRSA data.

A near-vision chart for children aged 3-5 years old:new designs and clinical applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang-Qing Huang

2014-06-01

.CONCLUSION:The results of this study support the validity and reliability of near visual acuity measurements using the new near-vision chart in children aged 3-5y over a wide range of visual acuities, and the new eye chart was especially suitable for the detection of amblyopia risk factors and low vision examination in children (3-5y of age. It can be applied in routine clinical practice.

Control charts for health care monitoring under intermittent out-of-control behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albers, Willem/Wim

Health care monitoring typically concerns attribute data with very low failure rates. Efficient control charts then signal if the waiting time till r (e.g. r≤5) failures is too small. An interesting alternative is the MAX-chart, which signals if all the associated r waiting times for a single

Control charts for health care monitoring under intermittent out-of-control behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albers, Willem/Wim

2011-01-01

Health care monitoring typically concerns attribute data with very low failure rates. Efficient control charts then signal if the waiting time till r (e.g. r≤5) failures is too small. An interesting alternative is the MAX-chart, which signals if all the associated r waiting times for a single

Neonatal Diagnostics: Towards Dynamic Growth Charts of Neuro-motor control