606,818 research outputs found
Adverse Effects of Cholinesterase Inhibitors in Dementia, According to the Pharmacovigilance Databases of the United-States and Canada.
This survey analyzes two national pharmacovigilance databases in order to determine the major adverse reactions observed with the use of cholinesterase inhibitors in dementia. We conducted a statistical analysis of the Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) and the Canada Vigilance Adverse Reaction Database (CVARD) concerning the side effects of cholinesterase inhibitors. The statistics calculated for each adverse event were the frequency and the reporting odds ratios (ROR). A total of 9877 and 2247 reports were extracted from the FAERS and CVARD databases, respectively. A disproportionately higher frequency of reports of death as an adverse event for rivastigmine, compared to the other acetylcholinesterase inhibiting drugs, was observed in both the FAERS (ROR = 3.42; CI95% = 2.94-3.98; P<0.0001) and CVARD (ROR = 3.67; CI95% = 1.92-7.00; P = 0.001) databases. While cholinesterase inhibitors remain to be an important therapeutic tool against Alzheimer's disease, the disproportionate prevalence of fatal outcomes with rivastigmine compared with alternatives should be taken into consideration
Business, corruption and crime in Croatia ; the impact of bribery and other crime on private enterprise
Survey on business executives'/owners' experience of corruption and assessing corruption patterns by sector and business size would be a valuable source of data on corruption as an obstacle for doing business in our country. The results should serve to improve anti-corruption policy measures and incentive business climate in Croatia. Further use of data for advanced analysis and their international comparability would ensure the solid corruption statistics database and benchmarking indicators for the future. The target population surveyed in Croatia will be businesses from 4-6 main economic sectors and in three different business sizes, in terms of the number of employees. The net survey sample is 1500 repondents. Data will be collected by CATI or face-to-face CAPI assisted methods, depending on the results of the pilot survey. The fieldwork will be conducted by subcontracting market research agency. The main outputs of the project are: a database in the SPSS system, statistical tables per tabulation plan and survey report in English and Croatian. The report will be presented to the public and national stakeholders at the public launch event
Hydrologic Simulations of the Maquoketa River Watershed Using SWAT Working Paper 09-WP 49,June 2009
This paper describes the application of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT)
model to the Maquoketa River watershed, located in northeast Iowa. The inputs to the model
were obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency’s geographic information/database
system called Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS).
Climatic data from six weather stations located in and around the watershed, and measured
streamflow data from a U.S. Geological Survey gage station at the watershed outlet were
used in the sensitivity analysis of SWAT model parameters as well as its calibration and
validation for watershed hydrology and streamflow. A sensitivity analysis was performed
using an influence coefficient method to evaluate surface runoff and base flow variations in response to changes in model input hydrologic parameters. The curve number, evaporation
compensation factor, and soil available water capacity were found to be the most sensitive
parameters among eight selected parameters when applying SWAT to the Maquoketa River
watershed. Model calibration, facilitated by the sensitivity analysis, was performed for the period 1988 through 1993, and validation was performed for 1982 through 1987. The model performance was evaluated by well-established statistical methods and was found to explain at least 86% and 69% of the variability in the measured stream flow data for the calibration and validation periods, respectively. This initial hydrologic modeling analysis will facilitate future applications of SWAT to the Maquoketa River watershed for various watershed analysis, including water quality
Desenvolupament d’un sofware per l’explotació de bases de dades periòdiques. Dades del CIS
(cat) Cada any el CIS elabora una enquesta periòdica amb el títol Opinión pública y política
fiscal on demana als entrevistats una sèrie de preguntes sobre la seva persona, com
per exemple: edat, nivell socioeconòmic, estatus, etc. També demana l’opinió que té
l’entrevistat sobre els impostos i com aquests els administra l’Estat. Aquesta enquesta
s’ha fet durant els últims vint-i-un anys, és a dir, tenim una base de dades que canvia
en el temps, una sèrie temporal. L’objectiu principal d’aquest treball és implementar un
sistema informàtic interactiu que faciliti l’explotació d’aquesta base de dades mitjançant
les eines estadístiques més elementals i altres més avançades utilitzant tècniques pròpies
d’anàlisi multivariant.(eng) Each year the CIS draws up a periodic survey under the title Opinión pública y política
fiscal where he asks the interviewees a series of questions about his person, such as for
example: age, socio-economic status, status, etc. He also asks for his opinion the interviewee
about taxes and how these are administered by the State. This survey It has been
done for the last twenty-one years, that is, we have a database that changes in time, a
temporary series. The main objective of this work is to implement a Interactive computer
system that facilitates the exploitation of this database through the most basic statistical
tools and other more advanced using own techniques of multivariate analysis.
Integrated Database for Rapid Mass Movements in Norway
Rapid mass movements include all kinds of slides in geological material, snow or ice. Traditionally, information about such events is collected separately in different databases covering selected geographical regions and event types. In Norway the terrain is susceptible to all types of rapid mass movements ranging from single rocks hitting roads and houses to large avalanches and huge rock falls where entire mountainsides collapse into fjords creating flood waves and endangering large areas. In addition, quick clay slides occur in desalinated marine sediments in south eastern and mid Norway. For the authorities and inhabitants of endangered areas, the type of treat is of minor importance and mitigation measures have to consider all types of mass movements. This demand asks for a national overview over all registered slide events that allows fast and easy access to the available data. Therefore an integrated national database for all kind of rapid mass movements was developed. The database is built around the single slide event. Only three data entries are mandatory: Time, location and type of slide. The remaining optional information enables registration of detailed information about the terrain, involved materials and damages. Pictures, movies and other documentation can be uploaded into the database. A web based graphical user interface was developed that allows entering new slides, editing and search for slide events. An integration of the database into a GIS system is currently under development. Datasets from various national sources like the road authorities and geological survey were imported into the database. Today, the database contains 21,000 slide events from the last 500 hundred years covering the entire country. A first analysis of the data shows that most slide registrations cover snow avalanche and rock fall events followed by debris slide events. Most events are registered in the steep fjord terrain of the Norwegian west coast, but major slides are registered all over the country. Avalanches clearly account for most fatalities, while large rock avalanche events causing flood waves are the most severe single events. The data is strongly influenced by the personal engagement of local observers and varying observation routines. This database gives a unique source for statistical analysis of slide events, risk analysis and the relation between slides and climate
The color excess of quasars with intervening DLA systems- Analysis of the SDSS data release five
We analyzed the spectroscopic and photometric database of the 5th data
release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to search for evidence of the
quasar reddening produced by dust embedded in intervening damped Ly alpha (DLA)
systems. From a list of 5164 quasars in the interval of emission redshift 2.25
/= 4, we built
up an "absorption sample" of 248 QSOs with a single DLA system in the interval
of absorption redshift 2.2 < z_a </= 3.5 and a "pool" of 1959 control QSOs
without DLA systems or strong metal systems. For each QSO of the absorption
sample we extracted from the pool a subset of control QSOs that are closest in
redshift and magnitude. The mean color of this subset was used as a zero point
to measure the "deviation from the mean color" of individual DLA-QSOs, Delta_i.
The colors were measured using "BEST" ugriz SDSS imaging data. The mean color
excess of the absorption sample, , was estimated by averaging the individual
color deviations Delta_i. We find = 27 +/- 9 x 10**(-3) mag and
= 54 +/- 12 x 10**(-3) mag. These values are representative of the
reddening of DLA systems at z_a ~ 2.7 in SDSS QSOs with limiting magnitude r
=/~ 20.2. The detection of the mean reddening is confirmed by several
statistical tests. Analysis of the results suggests an origin of the reddening
in dust embedded in the DLA systems, with an SMC-type extinction curve. By
converting the reddening into rest-frame extinction, we derive a mean
dust-to-gas ratio ~ 2 to 4 x 10**(-23) mag cm^2. This value is ~
-1.25 dex lower than the mean dust-to-gas ratio of the Milky Way, in line with
the lower level of metallicity in the present DLA sample.Comment: Accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysics, 17 pages, 10
figure
New Signatures of the Milky Way Formation in the Local Halo and Inner Halo Streamers in the Era of Gaia
We explore the vicinity of the Milky Way through the use of
spectro-photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and high-quality
proper motions derived from multi-epoch positions extracted from the Guide Star
Catalogue II database. In order to identify and characterise streams as relics
of the Milky Way formation, we start with classifying, select, and study
subdwarfs with up to kpc away from the Sun as tracers
of the local halo system. Then, through phase-space analysis, we find
statistical evidence of five discrete kinematic overdensities among of the
fastest-moving stars, and compare them to high-resolution N-body simulations of
the interaction between a Milky-Way like galaxy and orbiting dwarf galaxies
with four representative cases of merging histories. The observed overdensities
can be interpreted as fossil substructures consisting of streamers torn from
their progenitors, such progenitors appear to be satellites on prograde and
retrograde orbits on different inclinations. In particular, of the five
detected overdensities, two appear to be associated, yelding twenty-one
additional main-sequence members, with the stream of Helmi et al. (1999) that
our analysis confirms on a high inclination prograde orbit. The three newly
identified kinematic groups could be associated with the retrograde streams
detected by Dinescu (2002) and Kepley et al. (2007), whatever their origin, the
progenitor(s) would be on retrograde orbit(s) and inclination(s) within the
range . Finally, we use our simulations to
investigate the impact of observational errors and compare the current picture
to the promising prospect of highly improved data expected from the Gaia
mission.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 6 Tables. Accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journa
Multivariate Statistical Analysis Software Technologies for Astrophysical Research Involving Large Data Bases
We developed a package to process and analyze the data from the digital version of the Second Palomar Sky Survey. This system, called SKICAT, incorporates the latest in machine learning and expert systems software technology, in order to classify the detected objects objectively and uniformly, and facilitate handling of the enormous data sets from digital sky surveys and other sources. The system provides a powerful, integrated environment for the manipulation and scientific investigation of catalogs from virtually any source. It serves three principal functions: image catalog construction, catalog management, and catalog analysis. Through use of the GID3* Decision Tree artificial induction software, SKICAT automates the process of classifying objects within CCD and digitized plate images. To exploit these catalogs, the system also provides tools to merge them into a large, complex database which may be easily queried and modified when new data or better methods of calibrating or classifying become available. The most innovative feature of SKICAT is the facility it provides to experiment with and apply the latest in machine learning technology to the tasks of catalog construction and analysis. SKICAT provides a unique environment for implementing these tools for any number of future scientific purposes. Initial scientific verification and performance tests have been made using galaxy counts and measurements of galaxy clustering from small subsets of the survey data, and a search for very high redshift quasars. All of the tests were successful and produced new and interesting scientific results. Attachments to this report give detailed accounts of the technical aspects of the SKICAT system, and of some of the scientific results achieved to date. We also developed a user-friendly package for multivariate statistical analysis of small and moderate-size data sets, called STATPROG. The package was tested extensively on a number of real scientific applications and has produced real, published results
European Information System for Organic Markets (EISFOM QLK5-2002-02400): WP 2: “Data collection and processing systems (DCPS) for the conventional markets” and WP 3: “Data collection and processing systems for organic markets” = Deliverable D2
European markets for organic products are developing fast. In Europe, as other parts of the world, more and more farm land is being converted to organic production. In order to adjust production and consumption levels, detailed market information is needed, especially where decisions with a long-term impact need to be taken, for example on converting specific land or livestock enterprises requiring high levels of investment in glasshouses, housing, processing facilities etc. Since public subsidies (regional / national / European) are heavily involved in these investments, valid, accurate and up-to-date information is essential not only for farmers and growers, but also for policy-makers, consultants, processing industry etc.
EU-research projects such as OFCAP (FAIR3-CT96-1794) and OMIaRD (QLK5-2000-01124) have shown that regional or national data gathering takes place in many countries, but often only very basic data are reported, such as certified organic holdings, land areas and livestock numbers. Important market data, e.g. the amount of production, consumption, international trade or producer and consumer prices, do not exist in most European countries. In some European countries there are only rough estimates of the levels of production and consumption. There is no standardization and data are seldom comparable. Furthermore, detailed information on specific commodities is missing. Hence, investment decisions are taken under conditions of great uncertainty. Likewise, if politicians want to support organic agriculture, they do not know whether it would be better to support production or consumption or to address problems in the marketing channel.
The EU concerted action EISfOM (QLK5-2002-02400) (European Information System for Organic Markets) is attempting to take the first steps in solving these problems. The aim of this concerted action is to build up a framework for reporting valid and reliable data for relevant production and market sectors of the European organic sector in order to meet the needs of policy-makers, farmers, processors, wholesalers and other actors involved in organic markets.
In order to reach this aim, this action was split into several workpackages. This report describes the approach and results of workpackages 2 and 3.
In this first chapter the objective and general approach of these work packages are described.
Chapters 2 and 3 provide an overview of international statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain at the public and the private level. Chapter 4 describes national statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain.
In Chapter 5, an analysis and appraisal is made of the results with regard to organic data collection and processing systems (DCPSs) and their integration into existing common DCPSs. Chapter 6 draws several general conclusions.
Two substantial annexes complete the report, one with the country reports on the situation of data collection and processing in all investigated countries and the other with the first and the second stage questionnaires covering the different data collection levels
Synthesis and final recommendations on the development of a European Information System for Organic Markets. = Deliverable D6 of the European Project EISfOM QLK5-2002-02400
Executive summary
European markets for organic products are growing rapidly, but the market information available in most European countries is woefully inadequate. Often only very basic data such as certified organic holdings and land area are reported, and sometimes not even individual crop areas or livestock numbers. Important market data, such as the amount of production, consumption, international trade or producer and consumer prices, do not exist in most European countries. In some European countries there are only rough estimates of the levels of production and consumption.
There is no standardisation and data are seldom comparable. Furthermore, detailed information on specific commodities is missing. Hence, investment decisions are taken under conditions of great uncertainty. Policy evaluation, including periodic monitoring of the European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming and RDP 2007-2013, will require many other data in addition to those regarding production structures and financial data that are already available, but obtaining this information would require a new EU-wide data collection and processing system (DCPS) to be put in place.
The European Information System for Organic Markets (EISfOM) project is an EUfunded Concerted Action which has analysed and documented the current situation and proposed ways in which organic data collection and processing systems (DCPS) can be improved by means of:
• improvement in the current situation of data collecting and processing systems
for the organic sector
• innovation in data collection and processing systems for the organic sector
• integration of conventional and organic data collection and processing
systems
This report summarises the most relevant findings of the EISfOM project, which are
analysed in the main project reports:
Wolfert, S., Kramer, K. J., Richter, T., Hempfling, G., Lux. S. and Recke, G. (eds.)
(2004). Review of data collection and processing systems for organic and
conventional markets. EISfOM (QLK5-2002-02400) project deliverable submitted
to European Commission. www.eisfom.org/publications.
Recke, G., Hamm, U., Lampkin, N., Zanoli, R., Vitulano, S. and Olmos, S. (eds.)
(2004a) Report on proposals for the development, harmonisation and quality
assurance of organic data collection and processing systems (DCPS). EISfOM
(QLK5-2002-02400) project deliverable submitted to European Commission.
www.eisfom.org/publications.
Recke, G., Willer, H., Lampkin, N. and Vaughan, A. (eds.) (2004b). Development of a
European Information System for Organic Markets – Improving the Scope and
Quality of Statistical Data. Proceedings of the 1st EISfOM European Seminar,
Berlin, Germany, 26-27 April, 2004. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
(FiBL), Frick, Switzerland. www.eisfom.org/publications.
Gleirscher, N., Schermer, M., Wroblewska, M. and Zakowska-Biemans, S. (2005)
Report on the evaluation of the pilot case studies. EISfOM (QLK5-2002-02400)
project deliverable submitted to European Commission.
www.eisfom.org/publications.
QLK5-2002-02400 European Information System for Organic Markets (EISfOM) D6 final report
Rippin, M. and Lampkin, N. (eds.) (2005) Framework for a European Information
System for Organic Markets. Unpublished report of the project European
Information System for Organic Markets (EISfOM) (QLK5-2002-02400).
Rippin, M., Willer, H., Lampkin, N., and Vaughan A. (2006). Towards a European
Framework for Organic Market information, Proceedings of the 2nd EISfOM
European Seminar, Brussels, November 10 and 11, 2005. Research Institute of
Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland. www.eisfom.org/publications
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