696 research outputs found
MANOVA modelling of a chiropractic longitudinal study using multiple imputation
No full textThe purpose of this report is to present the detailed statistical analysis of a randomised, placebo-controlled trial comparing two different treatment modalities to an intervention of no known benefit for people with acute or subacute thoracic spine pain.
The therapy arms consist of Spinal Manipulative Therapy (SMT) and Graston Technique (GT) and the placebo is a non-functional ultrasound. A placebo group was utilised because at present there are no proven treatments for non-specific thoracic pain. This trial is registered with the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry. Ethics approval has been granted by Murdoch University Human Research and Ethics Committee, number 2007/274.
The aim of this three arm trial was to test the efficacy of SMT and GT as independent modalities compared to detuned ultrasound for the outcomes of pain and disability. The latter were measured using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and a modified Oswestry Back Pain Disability Index. The study was conducted at the Murdoch University Chiropractic student clinic in Perth, Australia, and the protocol published in Crothers et al (2008).
In this report, Section 2 provides an initial exploratory analysis of the data, Section 3 outlines the statistical models used in the final analysis, Section 4 defines these models in mathematical terms, Section 5 discusses the management of missing values via multiple imputation and Section 6 presents the results of the statistical modelling and hypothesis tests. The clinical study will be published in full elsewhere
Characterisation of the Dicke-Switch Chopper System and AGPM Coronagraph for the NEAR Experiment at the ESO-VLT
No full textAs part of the New Earths in the Alpha Cen Region (NEAR) experiment, VISIR, an imager and spectrometer for the mid-infrared at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory, will be soon upgraded to improve its performance in terms of high contrast and sensitivity for the detection of Earth-like planets in the Alpha Centauri star system, the closest to the Sun. Part of the VISIR upgrade consists in a novel chopper system based on the Dicke-switch concept to suppress the excess low frequency noise (ELFN) suffered by the detector array. The ELFN is a form of temporally correlated noise and can be mitigated by modulating the incident light at high enough frequency. The other main challenge of the NEAR experiment is the need of high contrast to image the circumstellar environment, and it will be achieved with the implementation of an annular groove phase mask (AGPM) coronagraph for the suppression of the starlight. The main goals of the thesis project were the validation of the Dicke-switch chopper systems to assess its ability to mitigate background level and ELFN, and the characterisation of the performance of the AGPM coronagraph in terms of null depth and contrast level. The first part of the laboratory characterisation of the Dicke-switch chopper system focused on the verification of the radiometric flux level achievable by its internal blackbody unit and by the so called artificial sky, a cold blackbody needed to reproduce the background level typical at the VLT, where the combined sky and telescope thermal radiation is the same as the one of a greybody at 280K and 10% emissivity. After the completion of the radiometric tests and mitigation of parasitic light effects caused by reflection of internal and external thermal radiation, the tests to validate the ability of the Dicke-switch chopper system to remove background level and suppress the ELFN started. The obtained results confirm that the Dicke-switch chopper system mitigate the ELFN as done also with pseudo-chopping. This was verified also for large offsets between the flux level of internal blackbody unit and artificial sky. Similarly, the characterisation of the AGPM coronagraph started with the preparation of the laboratory setup, in particular design of the optical setup, alignment of all the optical components and measurement of the optical quality of the system to limit residual aberrations and vignetting. The results of the coronagraphic tests revealed that the two candidate AGPMs for the NEAR campaign, both optimised for wavelengths between 10 and 12.5 μm, are not able to provide the required contrast level and null depth. On the contrary, an older AGPM, spare part of the one currently mounted in VISIR, and thus optimised for wavelengths between 11 and 13.1 μm, provided better coronagraphic performance, and even though it is still not compliant with the requirements, at present it represents the baseline for the NEAR experiment.Aerospace Engineering | Space Systems Engineerin
Efficient use of the Noise Budget at Schiphol Airport through Minimax Optimization of Runway Allocations
No full textThis paper presents the development of a runway allocation planning tool that seeks to maximize the permissible number of flight operations into and out of an airport within a given annual noise budget. Although the model that underlies the planning tool is generic in nature, the tool has been customized for application to a specific airport, viz. Amsterdam airport Schiphol in the Netherlands. The noise budget regulations applicable at Schiphol stipulate limits on the annual cumulative noise loads at a large number of enforcement points arranged around the airport. To ensure an equitable distribution of the cumulative noise load at the enforcement points, an efficient allocation and distribution of the annual flight movements over available runways and routes is required that takes weather induced restrictions into account. To this end, a Linear Programming (LP) optimization formulation has been developed that implements a minimax performance criterion that aims to minimize the maximum cumulative noise load value occurring at any of the enforcement points. The numerical results obtained for the operational year 2005 clearly demonstrate the potential of the tool to maximize the yearly number of flight movements within the assigned noise budget.Control & OperationsAerospace Engineerin
Experimental characterisation of self-healing in reconstituted Boom Clay
No full textGreen Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Geo-engineerin
The Methodological Reflection about the Criticism to Hu Hong in The Doubt of Zhi Yan by Zhu Hsi
No full text本文討論《知言疑義》中朱熹對胡宏的批評意見，企圖澄清兩造思路的差異，從而各自呈現兩家思維的特色與要點。《知言疑義》中胡宏的文句多半是本體工夫論合構的發言，因此語多跳躍，致引朱熹之批評。朱熹即由性善論的本體論立場批評胡宏有「性無善惡」之說，及由存有論思路的「心統性情說」批評胡宏的心性相關語句之不佳，以及由「未發涵養已發察識」的工夫次第思路批評胡宏並未重視平日涵養一節。本文將藉由作者所提之「實踐哲學的解釋架構」，以及「存有論哲學」的問題意識分析，以澄清兩造哲學問題意識的不同，因而並未形成真正的衝突，從而亦藉此說明朱熹與胡宏各自論學之重點意旨。The discussion in this article is about the criticism to Hu Hong in The doubt of Zhi yan Proposed by Zhu Hsi. The author is aiming to clear the dissimilar way of thinking between the two philosophers to the effect that both their significant theory could be appeared. Hu Hong’s philosophical announcement always integrates the ontological and practical theory, which results to the ambiguity and give rise to the criticism from Zhu Hsi. Zhu Hsi possessed the position of the goodness of nature to query Hu Hong about his no good and no evil opinion toward the theory of the human nature. In the definition of the mind and nature, master Zhu Hsi proposed the mind comprise the nature and the felling and argued with Hu Hong’s different opining. Concerning about the practical procedure theory, Zhu Hsi insist the cultivation should be built on daily life, and critic Hu Hong’s philosophy being short of this understanding. In this article the author will use the interpretational structure of the practical theory and the theory of being to analyze the different consciousness in these two systems and suggest that there exist no real conflict between them so as to explain both their philosophical thinking
St. Scholastica's interactive timeline exhibition
No full textCurrently, the information on the history of the Benedictine Sisters and St. Scholastica's College is scattered around in various PowerPoint presentations, websites, and off course books and other analog media. For the Museum Archives, a more structured exhibition is aimed for, allowing visitors to browse the history of the Philippines, the Benedictine sisters and St. Scholastica's College in the past 100 years. This interactive exhibit will be the center piece of the Museum Archives of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters in the Philippines. We are to design such a system, and start to implement it. Also, we should ensure continuity of the project by making the staff familiar with the system. This way they can take it along after we are gone, maintaining it as its database growsElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
www.website4free.co.nz
No full textReport on the planning, design, development and testing of the 'content management' management website 'website4free.co.nz'. The goal of this project was to develop a system that will allow the users to register and build their own website base on a chosen template.Computer ScienceElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
DENC Docs
No full textInformatie over het ontwerp- en implementatietraject van een document beheer systeem met affiniteit voor bouwkundige documenten.Web Information SystemsElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Combined Inspection Module (CIM)
No full textExpex is als praktijkgericht inspectie- en adviesbureau werkzaam op de bestaande vastgoedmarkt. Het bedrijf brengt verscheidene adviezen en rapportages uit naar aanleiding van uitgevoerde inspecties. Voorbeelden hiervan zijn onder andere het Meerjarig Onderhouds Prognose (MJOP) over woningen van woningcoraties en Energie Prestatie Label (EPA). Veel van de benodigde informatie voor een advies verzamelen zij door de woning te bekijken. Vaak worden inspecties volgens een vaste methodiek uitgevoerd om de relevante onderdelen van de woning te inspecteren. Ten tijde van de start van dit pro ject vullen de inspecteurs bij Expex de inspecties die ze uitvoeren handmatig op papier in. Het probleem zit in het feit dat het achteraf, handmatig invoeren zorgt voor een minder effcie verwerking van de verzamelde technische gegevens, immers moeten deze verkregen gegevens nogmaals in digitale vorm worden ingevoerd in het systeem. Daarnaast komt steeds vaker voor dat er verschillende combinaties van inspecties uitgevoerd moeten worden. Aangezien iedere inspectie haar eigen speci?eke inspectieformulier kent, zorgt dit ervoor dat de inspecteur mogelijk onnodig veel dezelfde gegevens nogmaals moeten verzamelen en invullen. Om deze situatie te kunnen verbeteren, was men binnen Expex reeds op zoek naar een goede softwareoplossing, zodat het mogelijk wordt om inspecties gecombineerd uit te voeren en alle benodigde gegevens meteen in digitale vorm te verzamelen. Echter was er geen dergelijk, speci?ek softwareproduct voor hun probleem op de markt te vinden. Het ontwikkelde softwareprototype, Combined Inspection Module (CIM), ondersteunt de inspecteurs om diverse, gecombineerde inspecties op locatie uit te voeren. Het systeem leidt hem op een goede, effcie wijze door de inspectie en biedt de inspecteur tevens de zekerheid dat hij voldoende gegevens voor de gecombineerde inspectie heeft verzameld. Een extra functionaliteit dat CIM de inspecteur biedt is de validatie waarbij wordt nagegaan of de inspecteur voldoende gegevens heeft verzameld om zijn advies dan wel rapportage te kunnen uitbrengen. Tijdens de ontwikkeling van CIM bleek vooral het combineren van inspecties een grote uitdaging. Helaas bleek het uit praktische overwegingen niet mogelijk te zijn om inspecties volledig automatisch door het systeem te combineren. Desondanks biedt CIM de inspecteur de mogelijkheid om handmatig op een gemakkelijke wijze de inspecties te combineren. Het grootste voordeel is dat de inspecteur te maken heeft met slechts gecombineerde inspectie en de bijbehorende validatie. De gegevens worden in digitale vorm verzameld, zodat het invullen van een aantal verschillend opgebouwde inspectieformulieren tot het verleden toebehoort. Tenslotte biedt CIM de inspecteur voor iedere (gecombineerde) inspectie dezelfde, vertrouwde user interface en kunnen in de toekomst de verzamelde gegevens direct exporteren naar de verschillende softwarepakketten, zodat ook het achteraf op kantoor alle gegevens moeten invullen in verschillende softwarepakketten tot het verleden behoort. Al met al zorgen de genoemde voordelen die CIM de inspecteur biedt ervoor, dat de inspecteur een stuk efficier zijn werk kan verrichten en veel minder tijd kwijt is aan onnodig papierwerk en het invoeren van verzamelde gegevens in de softwarepakketten. Expex heeft met het ontwikkelde softwareprototype CIM een nieuw concurrentievoordeel op de bestaande vastgoedmarkt.Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Greetinq - VoiceFeeds System
No full textIn this report we will be talking about our 5 ½ month internship at “Greetinq”. The internship is meant as a Bachelor-project at the TU-Delft and we were given the task of building a prototype system for them called \u84VoiceFeeds?.Technische Informatica Software TechnologieComputer ScienceElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
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