Escaping the pushpin paradigm in geographic information science: (re)presenting national crime data

In 2011 the Home Office released the police.uk website, which provided a high-resolution map of recent crime data for the national extents of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Through this free service, crimes were represented as points plotted on top of a Google map, visible down to a street level of resolution. However, in order to maintain confidentiality and to comply with data disclosure legislation, individual-level crimes were aggregated into points that represented clusters of events that were located over a series of streets. However, with aggregation the representation of crimes as points becomes problematic, engendering spurious precision over where crimes occurred. Given obvious public sensitivity to such information, there are social imperatives for appropriate representation of crime data, and as such, in this paper we present a method of translating the ‘point’ crime events into a new representational form that is tied to street network geography; presenting these results in an alternate national crime mapping portal http://www.policestreets.co.u

A robust sequential hypothesis testing method for brake squeal localisation

This contribution deals with the in situ detection and localisation of brake squeal in an automobile. As brake squeal is emitted from regions known a priori, i.e., near the wheels, the localisation is treated as a hypothesis testing problem. Distributed microphone arrays, situated under the automobile, are used to capture the directional properties of the sound field generated by a squealing brake. The spatial characteristics of the sampled sound field is then used to formulate the hypothesis tests. However, in contrast to standard hypothesis testing approaches of this kind, the propagation environment is complex and time-varying. Coupled with inaccuracies in the knowledge of the sensor and source positions as well as sensor gain mismatches, modelling the sound field is difficult and standard approaches fail in this case. A previously proposed approach implicitly tried to account for such incomplete system knowledge and was based on ad hoc likelihood formulations. The current paper builds upon this approach and proposes a second approach, based on more solid theoretical foundations, that can systematically account for the model uncertainties. Results from tests in a real setting show that the proposed approach is more consistent than the prior state-of-the-art. In both approaches, the tasks of detection and localisation are decoupled for complexity reasons. The localisation (hypothesis testing) is subject to a prior detection of brake squeal and identification of the squeal frequencies. The approaches used for the detection and identification of squeal frequencies are also presented. The paper, further, briefly addresses some practical issues related to array design and placement. (C) 2019 Author(s)

Impact of safety-engineered devices on the incidence of occupational blood and body fluid exposures among healthcare personnel in an Academic Facility, 2000-2014

background. Legislative actions and advanced technologies, particularly dissemination of safety-engineered devices, have aided in protecting healthcare personnel from occupational blood and body fluid exposures (BBFE). objective. To investigate the trends in BBFE among healthcare personnel over 15 years and the impact of safety-engineered devices on the incidence of percutaneous injuries as well as features of injuries associated with these devices. methods. Retrospective cohort study at University of North Carolina Hospitals, a tertiary care academic facility. Data on BBFE in healthcare personnel were extracted from Occupational Health Service records (2000'2014). Exposures associated with safety-engineered and conventional devices were compared. Generalized linear models were applied to measure the annual incidence rate difference by exposure type over time. results. A total of 4,300 BBFE, including 3,318 percutaneous injuries (77%), were reported. The incidence rate for overall BBFE was significantly reduced during 2000'2014 (incidence rate difference, 1.72; P=.0003). The incidence rate for percutaneous injuries was also dramatically reduced during 2001'2006 (incidence rate difference, 1.37; P= .0079) but was less changed during 2006'2014. Percutaneous injuries associated with safety-engineered devices accounted for 27% of all BBFE. BBFE was most commonly due to injecting through skin, placing intravenous catheters, and blood drawing. conclusions. Our study revealed significant overall reduction in BBFE and percutaneous injuries likely due in part to the impact of safetyengineered devices but also identified that a considerable proportion of percutaneous injuries is now associated with these devices. Additional prevention strategies are needed to further reduce percutaneous injuries and improve design of safety-engineered devices

Fast Photon Detection for Particle Identification with COMPASS RICH-1

Particle identification at high rates is an important challenge for many current and future high-energy physics experiments. The upgrade of the COMPASS RICH-1 detector requires a new technique for Cherenkov photon detection at count rates of several $10^6$ per channel in the central detector region, and a read-out system allowing for trigger rates of up to 100 kHz. To cope with these requirements, the photon detectors in the central region have been replaced with the detection system described in this paper. In the peripheral regions, the existing multi-wire proportional chambers with CsI photocathode are now read out via a new system employing APV pre-amplifiers and flash ADC chips. The new detection system consists of multi-anode photomultiplier tubes (MAPMT) and fast read-out electronics based on the MAD4 discriminator and the F1-TDC chip. The RICH-1 is in operation in its upgraded version for the 2006 CERN SPS run. We present the photon detection design, constructive aspects and the first Cherenkov light in the detector.Comment: Proceedings of the Imaging 2006 conference, Stockholm, Sweden, 27-30 June 2006, 5 pages, 6 figures, to appear in NIM A; corrected typo in caption of Fig.

Fast photon detection for the COMPASS RICH detector

The COMPASS experiment at the SPS accelerator at CERN uses a large scale Ring Imaging CHerenkov detector (RICH) to identify pions, kaons and protons in a wide momentum range. For the data taking in 2006, the COMPASS RICH has been upgraded in the central photon detection area (25% of the surface) with a new technology to detect Cherenkov photons at very high count rates of several 10^6 per second and channel and a new dead-time free read-out system, which allows trigger rates up to 100 kHz. The Cherenkov photons are detected by an array of 576 visible and ultra-violet sensitive multi-anode photomultipliers with 16 channels each. The upgraded detector showed an excellent performance during the 2006 data taking.Comment: Proceeding of the IPRD06 conference (Siena, Okt. 06

The Fast Read-out System for the MAPMTs of COMPASS RICH-1

A fast readout system for the upgrade of the COMPASS RICH detector has been developed and successfully used for data taking in 2006 and 2007. The new readout system for the multi-anode PMTs in the central part of the photon detector of the RICH is based on the high-sensitivity MAD4 preamplifier-discriminator and the dead-time free F1-TDC chip characterized by high-resolution. The readout electronics has been designed taking into account the high photon flux in the central part of the detector and the requirement to run at high trigger rates of up to 100 kHz with negligible dead-time. The system is designed as a very compact setup and is mounted directly behind the multi-anode photomultipliers. The data are digitized on the frontend boards and transferred via optical links to the readout system. The read-out electronics system is described in detail together with its measured performances.Comment: Proceeding of RICH2007 Conference, Trieste, Oct. 2007. v2: minor change

The use of caspase inhibitors in pulsed-field gel electrophoresis may improve the estimation of radiation-induced DNA repair and apoptosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Radiation-induced DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair can be tested by using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) in agarose-encapsulated cells. However, previous studies have reported that this assay is impaired by the spontaneous DNA breakage in this medium. We investigated the mechanisms of this fragmentation with the principal aim of eliminating it in order to improve the estimation of radiation-induced DNA repair.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Samples from cancer cell cultures or xenografted tumours were encapsulated in agarose plugs. The cell plugs were then irradiated, incubated to allow them to repair, and evaluated by PFGE, caspase-3, and histone H2AX activation (γH2AX). In addition, apoptosis inhibition was evaluated through chemical caspase inhibitors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We confirmed that spontaneous DNA fragmentation was associated with the process of encapsulation, regardless of whether cells were irradiated or not. This DNA fragmentation was also correlated to apoptosis activation in a fraction of the cells encapsulated in agarose, while non-apoptotic cell fraction could rejoin DNA fragments as was measured by γH2AX decrease and PFGE data. We were able to eliminate interference of apoptosis by applying specific caspase inhibitors, and improve the estimation of DNA repair, and apoptosis itself.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The estimation of radiation-induced DNA repair by PFGE may be improved by the use of apoptosis inhibitors. The ability to simultaneously determine DNA repair and apoptosis, which are involved in cell fate, provides new insights for using the PFGE methodology as functional assay.</p

Single extreme low dose/low dose rate irradiation causes alteration in lifespan and genome instability in primary human cells

To investigate the long-term biological effect of extreme low dose ionising radiation, we irradiated normal human fibroblasts (HFLIII) with carbon ions (290 MeV u−1, 70 keV μm−1) and γ-rays at 1 mGy (total dose) once at a low dose rate (1 mGy 6–8 h−1), and observed the cell growth kinetics up to 5 months by continuous culturing. The growth of carbon-irradiated cells started to slow down considerably sooner than that of non-irradiated cells before reaching senescence. In contrast, cells irradiated with γ-rays under similar conditions did not show significant deviation from the non-irradiated cells. A DNA double strand break (DSB) marker, γ-H2AX foci, and a DSB repair marker, phosphorylated DNA-PKcs foci, increased in number when non-irradiated cells reached several passages before senescence. A single low dose/low dose rate carbon ion exposure further raised the numbers of these markers. Furthermore, the numbers of foci for these two markers were significantly reduced after the cells became fully senescent. Our results indicate that high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation (carbon ions) causes different effects than low LET radiation (γ-rays) even at very low doses and that a single low dose of heavy ion irradiation can affect the stability of the genome many generations after irradiation

The COMPASS Experiment at CERN

The COMPASS experiment makes use of the CERN SPS high-intensitymuon and hadron beams for the investigation of the nucleon spin structure and the spectroscopy of hadrons. One or more outgoing particles are detected in coincidence with the incoming muon or hadron. A large polarized target inside a superconducting solenoid is used for the measurements with the muon beam. Outgoing particles are detected by a two-stage, large angle and large momentum range spectrometer. The setup is built using several types of tracking detectors, according to the expected incident rate, required space resolution and the solid angle to be covered. Particle identification is achieved using a RICH counter and both hadron and electromagnetic calorimeters. The setup has been successfully operated from 2002 onwards using a muon beam. Data with a hadron beam were also collected in 2004. This article describes the main features and performances of the spectrometer in 2004; a short summary of the 2006 upgrade is also given.Comment: 84 papes, 74 figure

Preventable patient harm: A multidisciplinary, bundled approach to reducing clostridium difficile infections while using a glutamate dehydrogenase/toxin immunochromatographic assay/nucleic acid amplification test diagnostic algorithm

Health care facility-onset Clostridium difficile infections (HO-CDI) are an important national problem, causing increased morbidity and mortality. HO-CDI is an important metric for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s (CMS) performance measures. Hospitals that fall into the worst-performing quartile in preventing hospital-acquired infections, including HO-CDI, may lose millions of dollars in reimbursement. Under pressure to reduce CDI and without a clear optimal method for C. difficile detection, health care facilities are questioning how best to use highly sensitive nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) to aid in the diagnosis of CDI. Our institution has used a two-step glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH)/toxin immunochromatographic assay/NAAT algorithm since 2009. In 2016, our institution set an organizational goal to reduce our CDI rates by 10% by July 2017. We achieved a statistically significant reduction of 42.7% in our HO-CDI rate by forming a multidisciplinary group to implement and monitor eight key categories of infection prevention interventions over a period of 13 months. Notably, we achieved this reduction without modifying our laboratory algorithm. Significant reductions in CDI rates can be achieved without altering sensitive laboratory testing methods