611 research outputs found
A systematic review of models to predict recruitment to multicentre clinical trials
No full textAbstract Background Less than one third of publicly funded trials managed to recruit according to their original plan often resulting in request for additional funding and/or time extensions. The aim was to identify models which might be useful to a major public funder of randomised controlled trials when estimating likely time requirements for recruiting trial participants. The requirements of a useful model were identified as usability, based on experience, able to reflect time trends, accounting for centre recruitment and contribution to a commissioning decision. Methods A systematic review of English language articles using MEDLINE and EMBASE. Search terms included: randomised controlled trial, patient, accrual, predict, enrol, models, statistical; Bayes Theorem; Decision Theory; Monte Carlo Method and Poisson. Only studies discussing prediction of recruitment to trials using a modelling approach were included. Information was extracted from articles by one author, and checked by a second, using a pre-defined form. Results Out of 326 identified abstracts, only 8 met all the inclusion criteria. Of these 8 studies examined, there are five major classes of model discussed: the unconditional model, the conditional model, the Poisson model, Bayesian models and Monte Carlo simulation of Markov models. None of these meet all the pre-identified needs of the funder. Conclusions To meet the needs of a number of research programmes, a new model is required as a matter of importance. Any model chosen should be validated against both retrospective and prospective data, to ensure the predictions it gives are superior to those currently used.</p
Moloha Barnard 1946
No full textGenus Moloha Barnard, 1946 Type species Latreillopsis alcocki Stebbing, 1920, by original designation. Remarks Most workers (e.g., Gordon 1950; Serène & Lohavanijaya 1973; Guinot & Richer de Forges 1995; Ahyong et al. 2009; Garassino 2009) cite the author of Moloha as “Barnard, 1947”. This is incorrect. Evenhuis (2003) dated the volume of the journal concerned as 29 April 1946. The genus should therefore be cited as Moloha Barnard, 1946. In that paper, Barnard also described two new genera (Eudromidia and Speodromia) and 10 new species (Dromidia aegibotus, D. dissothrix, Dromidiopsis cornuta (at present Dromidia), Cryptodromidiopsis lepidota (at present Dromidia), Hexapus stebbingi (at present Tritoplax), Rhynchoplax bovis (at present Neorhynchoplax), Heteronucia angulata, Dehaanius undulatus (at present Acanthonyx), Portumnus mcleayi (at present Xaiva) and Lybia plumosa) from South Africa. The author and date for all these taxa should be “ Barnard, 1946 ” as well.Published as part of Ng, Peter K. L. & Kumar, Appukuttannair Biju, 2015, The species of Moloha Barnard, 1946, from the western Indian Ocean, with the description of a new species from India (Crustacea: Brachyura: Homolidae), pp. 1-25 in European Journal of Taxonomy 166 on page 2, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2015.166, http://zenodo.org/record/380572
A critical edition of Derek Walcott's Omeros
No full textThe thesis is a Critical Edition of Derek Walcott’s Omeros, consisting of a Critical
Introduction and Annotations. The Critical Introduction analyses:
- Narrative
- Settings
- Metaphor and Paronomasia
- Symbolism
- Historiography
- Intertexts
- Dualism
- Autobiography
- Dialects
- Prosody.
The Annotations comment on more than 1000 references that may be obscure and on
specifics of narrative, language and prosody.
This study presents new conclusions about some aspects of Omeros:
- It challenges the prevailing view that the work is written substantially in a
variation of terza rima and shows that regular quatrains predominate.
- It demonstrates ways in which the metrics follow the sense of the narrative and
takes a more balanced position on the use of Caribbean as opposed to classical
metrics than that put forward previously.
- It identifies a paragraphic structure to the verse.
- It proposes a new prosodic structure for the significant Chapter XXX/iii.
- It extends Walcott’s recognised use of numerology into word counting the
names of characters.
- It develops the idea of Walcott’s dualism and his use of pairing and
contradiction as a dialectical method.
- It defines his wide use of paronomasia and shows that many of the puns have a
metaphorical aspect beyond mere word-play.
- It analyses some of Walcott’s symbolism.
- It identifies intertextual links to his earlier works and to some thirty other
writers, and suggests homage to Hemingway and possibly Heaney.
- It provides the first complete analysis of Walcott’s rhyme types in Omeros.
In its analysis of Omeros and in the Annotations it has included commentary from
across the critical literature, to provide some sense of other views on Walcott’s
writing, and has included as many as possible of Walcott’s own comments on Omeros
and on the writer’s task, as a background to understanding the poem
Metopa dawsoni J.L. Barnard 1962
No full text<i>Metopa dawsoni</i> J.L. Barnard, 1962 <p> <i>Metopa dawsoni</i> Barnard 1962: 139 –142, figs 10 and 11 Barnard 1964: 246</p> <p> <b>Type locality:</b> Southern California (Barnard, 1962)</p> <p> <b>Material examined.</b> Morphological examination: NMNH 106858-59, Southern California. Barnard No 6098. female, 5mm. 33°38’45”N, 118°14’45”W, 44,5m Feb1959. (from type locality, but not same lot as type, ID by JL Barnard)</p> <p>See figures 5, 6 and 7.</p> <p> <b>Morphological description.</b> Female, 5mm.</p> <p>Head: epistome small and rounded, cephalic lobe rounded; eye 1/3 of head length, round and well defined. Antenna 1 (Fig. 5): long and slender, subequal to body length, peduncle article 2 longer than article 1, flagellum 13–15-articulate, minute thin and simple setules on each article; no accessory flagellum observed. Antenna 2 (Fig. 5): long and slender, slightly shorter than antenna 1; article 4 approximately as long as article 5, peduncle approximately 3x flagellum length; flagellum 8-articulate, each article with two minute simple setae. Mandible (Fig. 5): mandibular palp 3-articulate, article 1 short and article 3 minute; cross-section circular, long thin simple setae on two outer articles; lacinia mobilis and incisor well developed and serrate; no molar. Maxilla 1 (Fig. 5): inner plate with one distal simple seta; outer plate with four cuspidate, one conate and two simple setae and one smooth tooth apically, a row of simple setae along inner margin; palp 1- articulate, reaching 1.5x length of outer plate, with a series of serrate cuspidate teeth apically (sadly, this was not very well visible in the microscopic slide, and is missing in the illustration). Maxilla 2 (Fig. 5): outer plate in normal position to inner plate, slightly longer; both plates with simple setae apically: three on inner plate and 10 on outer. Maxilliped (Fig. 5): slender, inner plate partly divided, with one small simple seta apically on each lobe; outer plate a very small lobe reaching less than 1/5 length of palp article 1; palp 4-articulate, sparsely setose with a thin and short cushion at inner distal margin of article 3, article 4 with a dense row of thin short setae along inner margin.</p> <p>Pereon: smooth. Gnathopod 1 (Fig. 6): simple; coxa subquadrate; basis linear with long simple setae along anterior margin; ischium subquadrate; merus distal margin not free, a cushion of short simple setae on distal margin and a few type A setae (Tandberg and Vader 2009) along apical margin; carpus long, a row of long simple setae along distal margin; propodus shorter and less broad than carpus, no palm, few long simple setae on distal margin; dactylus smooth, reaching 1/3 length of propodus, row of simple setae on distal margin. Gnathopod 2 (Fig. 6): coxa covering coxa 1, directed forwards, oval; merus long and thin; carpus with ridges along anterior margin, triangular, a row of type A setae along distal margin; propodus broader than carpus, palm nearly transverse, slightly oblique, nearly smooth, but with a sharp tooth at palmar corner, setae along palm, posterior margin straight, slightly longer than palm; dactylus as long as palm, smooth, weakly curved. Pereopods 3 and 4 (Fig. 6): simple and slender; coxa 3 subrectangular, coxa 4 triangular, ventral margin rounded, dactyli simple. Pereopod 5 (Fig. 7): basis slender; meral lobe 1/2 of carpus; dacylus reaching 1/2 length of propodus, simple; medium length simple setae along both margins of entire leg. Pereopods 6 and 7 (Fig. 7): stronger than P5; coxae small; bases posteriorly expanded; meral lobe nearly as long as or as long as carpus, respectively; dactyli reaching 1/2 length of propodus, smooth and with weakly crenulate anterior margin, respectively; medium length simple setae on both margins of both legs.</p> <p>Urosome (Fig. 7): smooth. Epimeral plate 3 (Fig. 7): rectangular with rounded corner. Uropod 1 (Fig. 7): longer than uropod 2; biramous; peduncle longer than rami, rami subequal in length; peduncle one with short seta apically, inner ramus with two and outer ramus with three setae. Uropod 2 (Fig. 7): longer than uropod 3; biramous; peduncle slightly shorter than inner ramus; inner ramus longer than outer ramus; peduncle with three setae, rami each with two setae. Uropod 3 (Fig. 7): uniramous; ramus with two articles; peduncle shorter than ramus; peduncle and ramus each with two setae. Telson (Fig. 7): rounded, weakly boat-shaped, two robust setae on each side.</p> <p> <b>Ecology:</b> lives at "medium depths” off south California/ Baja California from 12–185m, in greatest masses (appr. 1 specimen / m2) deeper than 50m. (Barnard 1964)</p> <p> <b>Distribution:</b> only known from around the type locality (Barnard 1962) off Southern California: Pt Argüello, Baja Cristobál and Baja California.</p> <p> <b>Discussion:</b> This species is very well described by Barnard. The main reason it is included here, in addition to giving a description of the mouthparts, which are not in Barnard’s description, is to make a complete redescription of all " type "/author-identified material of <i>Metopa</i> for a phylogenetic revision that is planned (Tandberg, Krapp-Schickel & Vader, in prep). Barnard (1962) notes an accessory flagellum "forming a minute bump" in the diagnosis of the male, but nothing is observed on antennae in female. This accessory flagellum was not observed in this study. As the specimen described here is a female, the specific morphology of gnathopod 2 for males will have to be extracted from Barnard (1962), where it is stated as having pereopod margin weakly crenulate with a deep excavation, dactylus not as long as palm, and merus being produced anteriorly.</p> <p> Barnard (1962) proposes it very close to <i>Metopa wiesei</i> Gurjanova 1933, from which it differs by the “angle of projection of the last tooth on the finger-hinge process of male gnathopod 2” and the relative lengths of the carpus and dactylus of gnathopod 1 (<i>M. dawsoni</i> having a longer carpus and shorter dactylus than <i>M. wiesei</i>). It is also proposed to be close to <i>Metopa alderi</i> (Bate, 1857), but also from this species it differs by its long carpus of gnathopod 1, in addition to the “telsonic spines”. It is also separated from <i>Metopa boeckii</i> Sars, 1895 and <i>Metopa robusta</i> Sars, 1895 by the form of their gnathopods.</p>Published as part of <i>Tandberg, Anne Helene S., 2009, A redescription of Metopa species (Amphipoda, Stenothoidae) based on the type material. 2. The United States National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), pp. 43-68 in Zootaxa 2309</i> on pages 49-53, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/191826">10.5281/zenodo.191826</a>
Mineralogical compositions of sediment samples from the San Francisco Bay coastal system
No full textThe mineralogical compositions of 119 samples collected from throughout the San Francisco Bay coastal system, including bayfloor and seafloor, area beaches, cliff outcrops, and major drainages, were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Comparison of the mineral concentrations and application of statistical cluster analysis of XRD spectra allowed for the determination of provenances and transport pathways. The use of XRD mineral identifications provides semi-quantitative compositions needed for comparisons of beach and offshore sands with potential cliff and river sources, but the innovative cluster analysis of XRD diffraction spectra provides a unique visualization of how groups of samples within the San Francisco Bay coastal system are related so that sand-sized sediment transport pathways can be inferred.
The main vector for sediment transport as defined by the XRD analysis is from San Francisco Bay to the outer coast, where the sand then accumulates on the ebb tidal delta and also moves alongshore. This mineralogical link defines a critical pathway because large volumes of sediment have been removed from the Bay over the last century via channel dredging, aggregate mining, and borrow pit mining, with comparable volumes of erosion from the ebb tidal delta over the same period, in addition to high rates of shoreline retreat along the adjacent, open-coast beaches. Therefore, while previously only a temporal relationship was established, the transport pathway defined by mineralogical and geochemical tracers support the link between anthropogenic activities in the Bay and widespread erosion outside the Bay. The XRD results also establish the regional and local importance of sediment derived from cliff erosion, as well as both proximal and distal fluvial sources. This research is an important contribution to a broader provenance study aimed at identifying the driving forces for widespread geomorphic change in a heavily urbanized coastal-estuarine system
Recommended from our members
A Numerical Modeling Approach to Investigate Opportunity for Nature-based Shorelines in Urban Estuaries
No full textUrban estuaries are at risk of increased flooding due to storms and accelerating sea level rise (SLR) caused by anthropogenic climate change. This high and rising risk is forcing coastal communities to develop adaptation strategies. While gray infrastructure (walls, levees, berms) has historically been used to protect coastal communities from flooding, over recent decades nature-based solutions have emerged as a management approach to adapt to increasing flood risk. However, nature-based solutions have yet to be widely treated with the same rigor as traditional engineering solutions, both in hydrodynamic modeling and in policy related to urban planning and flood risk management. This dissertation uses coastal engineering and risk management tools, social and economic data, and stakeholder and practitioner perspectives to assess the utility and limitations of marsh habitat conservation and restoration as a flood defense strategy in the largest urban estuary in California, San Francisco Bay. This suite of research shows that marsh conservation and restoration can be cost-effective paths to reduce coastal flood risk in an era of global climate change and accelerating SLR, providing community safety and co-benefits including improved habitat, carbon sequestration, and recreation opportunities. Results support policy that facilitates conservation and restoration of existing and historical marsh habitat and incorporates habitat and green infrastructure into risk science and insurance
Design Strategies for Nutrient Removal Plant
No full textThe first full-scale Bardenpho plant in the colder regions of North America was constructed in Kelowna and operated for about two years. The design was based on criteria developed by Barnard (1974) and based on experience of the design of similar plants in South Africa. Maximum flexibility leaving the operator many options for optimization was allowed. Effluent ortho-phosphate, nitrate and ammonia concentration averaged 0.43, 2.05 and 0.78 mg/ℓ respectively over the first year of operation. Operating results are compared with design predictions. Some results are presented and the design was tested using theories developed by Ekama et al (1984) whose models predicted that no phosphate removal would be possible.
RESUME
La premierè installation de Bardenpho, à grande échelle dans les régions les plus froides de l'Amérique du Nord a été construite à Kelowna et utilisée pendant plus de deux ans. Le dessin était fondé sur les information de Barnard (1974) et basé sur l'expérience du dessin d'installation sembables en Afrique du Sud. L'installation était flexible et laissait à l'opérateur le choix de plusieurs options pour l'optimisation. La concentration de ortho-phosphate, nitrate et ammoniaque avait les valeurs moyennes de 0,43; 2,05 et 0,78 mg/ℓ respectivement pendant la premiére année de travail. Les resultats sont presentés et la dessin a été mis à l'épreuve en utilisant les théories développées par Ekama et al (1984) dont les modèles ont predit. qu' aucun élimination de phosphate serait possible vu le petit réduction de nitrate qui le modèle ont prédit aux températures plus froides.</jats:p
The Opportunistic Pathogen Propionibacterium acnes: Insights into Typing, Human Disease, Clonal Diversification and CAMP Factor Evolution
No full textWe previously described a Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) scheme based on eight genes that facilitates population genetic and evolutionary analysis of P. acnes. While MLST is a portable method for unambiguous typing of bacteria, it is expensive and labour intensive. Against this background, we now describe a refined version of this scheme based on two housekeeping (aroE; guaA) and two putative virulence (tly; camp2) genes (MLST) that correctly predicted the phylogroup (IA, IA, IB, IC, II, III), clonal complex (CC) and sequence type (ST) (novel or described) status for 91% isolates (n = 372) via cross-referencing of the four gene allelic profiles to the full eight gene versions available in the MLST database (http://pubmlst.org/pacnes/). Even in the small number of cases where specific STs were not completely resolved, the MLST method still correctly determined phylogroup and CC membership. Examination of nucleotide changes within all the MLST loci provides evidence that point mutations generate new alleles approximately 1.5 times as frequently as recombination; although the latter still plays an important role in the bacterium's evolution. The secreted/cell-associated 'virulence' factors tly and camp2 show no clear evidence of episodic or pervasive positive selection and have diversified at a rate similar to housekeeping loci. The co-evolution of these genes with the core genome might also indicate a role in commensal/normal existence constraining their diversity and preventing their loss from the P. acnes population. The possibility that members of the expanded CAMP factor protein family, including camp2, may have been lost from other propionibacteria, but not P. acnes, would further argue for a possible role in niche/host adaption leading to their retention within the genome. These evolutionary insights may prove important for discussions surrounding camp2 as an immunotherapy target for acne, and the effect such treatments may have on commensal lineages
Impact of operational strategies on a sidestream enhanced biological phosphorus removal (S2EBPR) reactor in a carbon limited wastewater plant
No full textWater resource recovery facilities are faced with stringent effluent phosphorus limits to reduce nutrient pollution. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is the most common biological route to remove phosphorus; however, many facilities struggle to achieve consistent performance due to limited carbon availability in the influent wastewater. A promising process to improve carbon availability is through return activated sludge (RAS) fermentation via sidestream EBPR (S2EBPR). In this study, a full-scale S2EBPR pilot was operated with a sidestream plus carbon configuration (SSRC) at a carbon-limited facility. A model based on the pilot test was developed and calibrated in the SUMO platform and used to explore routes for improving orthophosphate (OP) effluent compliance. Modeling results showed that RAS diversion by itself was not sufficient to drive OP removal to permit limits of 1 mg L-1, therefore, other strategies were evaluated. Supplemental carbon addition of MicroC® at 1.90 L min-1 and controlling the phosphorus concentration below 3.5 mgP L-1 in the primary effluent (PE) proved to be valid supplemental strategies to achieve OP removal below 1 mg L-1 most of the time. In particular, the proposed supplemental carbon flow rate would result in an improvement of the rbCOD:P ratio from 17:1 to 26:1. The synergistic approach of RAS diversion and supplemental carbon addition increased the polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAO) population while minimizing the supplemental carbon needed to achieve consistent phosphorus removal. Overall, this pilot and modeling study shows that joint strategies, including RAS diversion, carbon addition and PE control, can be effective to achieve optimal control of OP effluent
Bedform measurements from the San Francisco Bay Coastal System, individual results
No full textProjected coordinate system is Universal Tranverse Mercator (UTM) NAD83 Zone 10N
- …
