121 research outputs found
ASSESSMENT OF SOME KRIGING METHODS FOR MAPPING THE SOIL ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY: CASE STUDY OF SOUTHEASTERN COAST OF CASPIAN SEA OF IRAN
No full textThis study assessed kriging methods for mapping soil electrical conductivity (EC) in Southeastern, Coastal region of the Caspian Sea of Iran. The coordinates of the study area were Longitude=47.975896177 Latitude=36.995353646224 and Longitude=48.209973627223 Latitude=37.241702530966 which covered approximately 500 km2 of land area. The average maximum and minimum temperatures are 22.3 ºC and 13 ºC, respectively. Sampling points were selected from seven (7) rows each containing 20 points (where 4 points had been lost from the last row). The soils were sampled from 136 locations at 0-20 cm deep in order to measure soil EC. Soil EC maps showing unique management zones due to EC results were created using ordinary kriging, universal kriging, log-normal kriging and inverse distance weighting (IDW) using ArcGIS software version 10.4.1 GS+ v 5.1 and SPSS v 16. Results indicated that log-normal kriging was the most accurate method for predicting and mapping soil EC. All four statistical methods suggest that the lowest soil salinity occurred in the Southeastern region and the highest EC was recorded in the Northwestern of the study area. Furthermore, the lowest soil EC was observed in agricultural activities involved soil tillage and soil draining, which are far from the present shoreline
Report of the Working Group `Overall Blood Supply Strategy with Regard to Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD)'
No full textAn overview of the ATLAS High Level Trigger Dataflow and Supervision.
No full textThe ATLAS high-level trigger (HLT) system provides software-based event selection after the initial LVL1 hardware trigger. It is composed of two stages, the LVL2 trigger and the event filter (EF). The LVL2 trigger performs event selection with optimized algorithms using selected data guided by Region of Interest pointers provided by the LVL1 trigger. Those events selected by LVL2 are built into complete events, which are passed to the EF for a further stage of event selection and classification using off-line algorithms. Events surviving the EF selection are passed for off-line storage. The two stages of HLT are implemented on processor farms. The concept of distributing the selection process between LVL2 and EF is a key element in the architecture, which allows it to be flexible to changes (luminosity, detector knowledge, background conditions, etc.) Although there are some differences in the requirements between these subsystems there are many commonalities. An overview of the dataflow (event selection) and supervision (control, configuration, monitoring) activities in the HLT is given, highlighting where commonalities between the two subsystems can be exploited and indicating where requirements dictate that implementations differ. An HLT prototype system has been built at CERN. Functional testing is being carried out in order to validate the HLT architecture
Chromatographic Process Identification for Protein C Purification Using Frequency Response Analysis
No full text
Viral dynamics during structured treatment interruptions of chronic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection
No full textAlthough antiviral agents which block human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication can result in long-term suppression of viral loads to undetectable levels in plasma, long-term therapy fails to eradicate virus, which generally rebounds after a single treatment interruption. Multiple structured treatment interruptions (STIs) have been suggested as a possible strategy that may boost HIV-specific immune responses and control viral replication. We analyze viral dynamics during four, consecutive STI cycles in 12 chronically infected patients with a history (>2 years) of viral suppression under highly active antiretroviral therapy. We fitted a simple model of viral rebound to the viral load data from each patient by using a novel statistical approach that allows us to overcome problems of estimating viral dynamics parameters when there are many viral load measurements below the limit of detection. There is an approximate halving of the average viral growth rate between the first and fourth STI cycles, yet the average time between treatment interruption and detection of viral loads in the plasma is approximately the same in the first and fourth interruptions. We hypothesize that reseeding of viral reservoirs during treatment interruptions can account for this discrepancy, although factors such as stochastic effects and the strength of HIV-specific immune responses may also affect the time to viral rebound. We also demonstrate spontaneous drops in viral load in later STIs, which reflect fluctuations in the rates of viral production and/or clearance that may be caused by a complex interaction between virus and target cells and/or immune responses
Short-term Forecasting Tools for Agricultural Nutrient Management
No full textThe advent of real-time, short-term farm management tools is motivated by the need to protect water quality above and beyond the general guidance offered by existing nutrient management plans. Advances in high-performance computing and hydrologic or climate modeling have enabled rapid dissemination of real-time information that can assist landowners and conservation personnel with short-term management planning. This paper reviews short-term decision support tools for agriculture that are under various stages of development and implementation in the United States: (i) Wisconsin's Runoff Risk Advisory Forecast (RRAF) System, (ii) New York's Hydrologically Sensitive Area Prediction Tool, (iii) Virginia's Saturated Area Forecast Model, (iv) Pennsylvania's Fertilizer Forecaster, (v) Washington's Application Risk Management (ARM) System, and (vi) Missouri's Design Storm Notification System. Although these decision support tools differ in their underlying model structure, the resolution at which they are applied, and the hydroclimates to which they are relevant, all provide forecasts (range 24-120 h) of runoff risk or soil moisture saturation derived from National Weather Service Forecast models. Although this review highlights the need for further development of robust and well-supported short-term nutrient management tools, their potential for adoption and ultimate utility requires an understanding of the appropriate context of application, the strategic and operational needs of managers, access to weather forecasts, scales of application (e.g., regional vs. field level), data requirements, and outreach communication structure.USDA-NRCS Conservation Innovation GrantsThis review was supported, in part, by USDA-NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants to improve P indexing and modeling and to improve short-term forecasting tools for nutrient management planning
An evaluation of the Amblyopia and Strabismus Questionnaire using Rasch analysis
No full textNoPURPOSE. To evaluate whether the Amblyopia and Strabismus Questionnaire (A&SQ) is a suitable instrument for the assessment of vision-related quality-of life (VR-QoL) in individuals with strabismus and/or amblyopia.
METHODS. The A&SQ was completed by 102 individuals, all of whom had amblyopia, strabismus, or both. Rasch analysis was used to evaluate the usefulness of individual questionnaire items (i.e., questions); the response-scale performance; how well the items targeted VR-QoL; whether individual items showed response bias, depending on factors such as whether strabismus was present; and dimensionality.
RESULTS. Items relating to concerns about the appearance of the eyes were applicable only to those with strabismus, and many items showed large ceiling effects. The response scale showed disordered responses and underused response options, which improved after the number of response options was reduced from five to three. This change improved the discriminative ability of the questionnaire (person separation index increased from 1.98 to 2.11). Significant bias was found between strabismic and nonstrabismic respondents. Separate Rasch analyses conducted for subjects with and without strabismus indicated that all A&SQ items seemed appropriate for individuals with strabismus (Rasch infit values between 0.60 and 1.40), but several items fitted the model poorly in amblyopes without strabismus. The AS&Q was not found to be unidimensional.
CONCLUSIONS. The findings highlight the limitations of the A&SQ instrument in the assessment of VR-QoL in subjects with strabismus and especially in those with amblyopia alone. The results suggest that separate instruments are needed to quantify VR-QoL in amblyopes with and without strabismus
Studies for a common selection software environment in ATLAS : from the Level-2 trigger to the offline reconstruction.
No full textThe ATLAS High Level Trigger's (HLT) primary function of event selection will be accomplished with a Level-2 trigger farm and an event filter (EF) farm, both running software components developed in the ATLAS offline reconstruction framework. While this approach provides a unified software framework for event selection, it poses strict requirements on offline components critical for the Level-2 trigger. A Level-2 decision in ATLAS must typically be accomplished within 10 ms and with multiple event processing in concurrent threads. To address these constraints, prototypes have been developed that incorporate elements of the ATLAS data flow, high level trigger, and offline framework software. To realize a homogeneous software environment for offline components in the HLT, the Level-2 Steering Controller was developed. With electron/gamma- and muon-selection slices it has been shown that the required performance can be reached, if the offline components used are carefully designed and optimized for the application in the HLT
Algorithms for the ATLAS High Level Trigger.
No full textFollowing rigorous software design and analysis methods, an object-based architecture has been developed to derive the second- and third-level trigger decisions for the future ATLAS detector at the LHC. The functional components within this system responsible for generating elements of the trigger decisions are algorithms running within the software architecture. Relevant aspects of the architecture are reviewed along with concrete examples of specific algorithms and their performance in "vertical" slices of various physics selection strategies
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