1,387 research outputs found
A simple inverse method for the interpretation of pumped flowing fluid electrical conductivity logs
Pumped flowing fluid electrical conductivity (FFEC) logs, also known as pumped borehole dilution testing, is an experimentally easyâtoâperform approach to evaluating vertical variations in the hydraulic conductivity of an aquifer. In contrast to the simplicity of the logging equipment, analysis of the data is complex and laborious. Current methods typically require repeated solution of the advectionâdispersion equation (ADE) for describing the flow in the borehole and comparison with the experimental results. In this paper, we describe a direct solution for determining borehole fluid velocity that bypasses the need for complex numerical computation and repetitive optimization. The method rests on the observation that, while solving the ADE for concentration profile in the borehole (as required for modeling and combined methods) is computationally challenging, the solution for flow distribution along the length of the borehole given concentration data is straightforward. The method can accommodate varying borehole diameters, and uses the fact that multiple profiles are taken in the standard logging approach to reduce the impact of noise. Data from both a simulated borehole and from a field test are successfully analyzed. The method is implemented in a spreadsheet, which is available as supporting information material to this paper
Creating User-Friendly Tools for Data Analysis and Visualization in K-12 Classrooms: A Fortran Dinosaur Meets Generation Y
During the summer of 2007, as part of the second year of a NASA-funded project in partnership with Christopher Newport University called SPHERE (Students as Professionals Helping Educators Research the Earth), a group of undergraduate students spent 8 weeks in a research internship at or near NASA Langley Research Center. Three students from this group formed the Clouds group along with a NASA mentor (Chambers), and the brief addition of a local high school student fulfilling a mentorship requirement. The Clouds group was given the task of exploring and analyzing ground-based cloud observations obtained by K-12 students as part of the Students' Cloud Observations On-Line (S'COOL) Project, and the corresponding satellite data. This project began in 1997. The primary analysis tools developed for it were in FORTRAN, a computer language none of the students were familiar with. While they persevered through computer challenges and picky syntax, it eventually became obvious that this was not the most fruitful approach for a project aimed at motivating K-12 students to do their own data analysis. Thus, about halfway through the summer the group shifted its focus to more modern data analysis and visualization tools, namely spreadsheets and Google(tm) Earth. The result of their efforts, so far, is two different Excel spreadsheets and a Google(tm) Earth file. The spreadsheets are set up to allow participating classrooms to paste in a particular dataset of interest, using the standard S'COOL format, and easily perform a variety of analyses and comparisons of the ground cloud observation reports and their correspondence with the satellite data. This includes summarizing cloud occurrence and cloud cover statistics, and comparing cloud cover measurements from the two points of view. A visual classification tool is also provided to compare the cloud levels reported from the two viewpoints. This provides a statistical counterpart to the existing S'COOL data visualization tool, which is used for individual ground-to-satellite correspondences. The Google(tm) Earth file contains a set of placemarks and ground overlays to show participating students the area around their school that the satellite is measuring. This approach will be automated and made interactive by the S'COOL database expert and will also be used to help refine the latitude/longitude location of the participating schools. Once complete, these new data analysis tools will be posted on the S'COOL website for use by the project participants in schools around the US and the world
Focus on form: A critical review
âFocus on formâ (FonF) is a central construct in task-based language teaching. The term was first introduced by Michael Long to refer to an approach where learnersâ attention is attracted to linguistic forms as they engage in the performance of tasks. It contrasts with a structure-based approach â âfocus on formsâ (FonFs) â where specific linguistic forms are taught directly and explicitly. However, there is perhaps no construct in second language acquisition (SLA) that has proved so malleable and shifted in meaning so much. This review article begins by considering how Longâs original definition of it has stretched over time and then offers an updated definition of the construct based on the view that the term is best used to refer to specific kinds of âactivitiesâ or âproceduresâ rather than to an âapproachâ. A classification of different types of focus-on-form activities/procedures is then presented. There follows a discussion of focus on form from a psycholinguistic and discoursal perspective along with a review of research relevant to these perspectives. The article addresses a number of criticisms that have been levelled against focus on form, with special consideration paid to how focus on form can be utilized in instructional contexts where more traditional (i.e. FonFs) approaches have been the norm
Rescaling Egocentric Vision: Collection, Pipeline and Challenges for EPIC-KITCHENS-100
This paper introduces the pipeline to extend the largest dataset in egocentric vision, EPIC-KITCHENS. The effort culminates in EPIC-KITCHENS-100, a collection of 100 hours, 20M frames, 90K actions in 700 variable-length videos, capturing long-term unscripted activities in 45 environments, using head-mounted cameras. Compared to its previous version (Damen in Scaling egocentric vision: ECCV, 2018), EPIC-KITCHENS-100 has been annotated using a novel pipeline that allows denser (54% more actions per minute) and more complete annotations of fine-grained actions (+128% more action segments). This collection enables new challenges such as action detection and evaluating the âtest of timeââi.e. whether models trained on data collected in 2018 can generalise to new footage collected two years later. The dataset is aligned with 6 challenges: action recognition (full and weak supervision), action detection, action anticipation, cross-modal retrieval (from captions), as well as unsupervised domain adaptation for action recognition. For each challenge, we define the task, provide baselines and evaluation metrics.Published versionResearch at Bristol is supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Program (DTP), EPSRC Fellowship UMPIRE (EP/T004991/1). Research at Catania is sponsored by Piano della Ricerca 2016-2018 linea di Intervento 2 of DMI, by MISE - PON I&C 2014-2020, ENIGMA project (CUP: B61B19000520008) and by MIUR AIM - Attrazione e Mobilita Internazionale Linea 1 - AIM1893589 - CUP E64118002540007
Impact of an interatrial shunt device on survival and heart failure hospitalization in patients with preserved ejection fraction
Aims:
Impaired left ventricular diastolic function leading to elevated left atrial pressures, particularly during exertion, is a key driver of symptoms and outcomes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Insertion of an interatrial shunt device (IASD) to reduce left atrial pressure in HFpEF has been shown to be associated with shortâterm haemodynamic and symptomatic benefit. We aimed to investigate the potential effects of IASD placement on HFpEF survival and heart failure hospitalization (HFH).
Methods and results:
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction patients participating in the Reduce Elevated Left Atrial Pressure in Patients with Heart Failure study (Corvia Medical) of an IASD were followed for a median duration of 739 days. The theoretical impact of IASD implantation on HFpEF mortality was investigated by comparing the observed survival of the study cohort with the survival predicted from baseline data using the Metaâanalysis Global Group in Chronic Heart Failure heart failure risk survival score. Baseline and postâIASD implant parameters associated with HFH were also investigated. Based upon the individual baseline demographic and cardiovascular profile of the study cohort, the Metaâanalysis Global Group in Chronic Heart Failure scoreâpredicted mortality was 10.2/100 pt years. The observed mortality rate of the IASDâtreated cohort was 3.4/100 pt years, representing a 33% lower rate (P = 0.02). By KaplanâMeier analysis, the observed survival in IASD patients was greater than predicted (P = 0.014). Baseline parameters were not predictive of future HFH events; however, poorer exercise tolerance and a higher workloadâcorrected exercise pulmonary capillary wedge pressure at the 6 months postâIASD study were associated with HFH.
Conclusions:
The current study suggests IASD implantation may be associated with a reduction in mortality in HFpEF. Largeâscale ongoing randomized studies are required to confirm the potential benefit of this therapy
Coâproduction of health and social science research with vulnerable children and young people: A rapid review
Background
The term âcare-experiencedâ refers to anyone who is currently in care or has been in care at any stage in their life. A complex interplay of factors leads to care-experienced children and young people (CECYP) experiencing poorer oral health and access to dental care than their peers. A rapid review of the co-production of health and social care research with vulnerable children and young people (CYP) was carried out to inform the development of a co-produced research project exploring the oral health behaviours and access to dental services of CECYP. Here, âco-productionâ refers to the involvement of CYP in the planning or conduct of research with explicit roles in which they generate ideas, evidence and research outputs.
Aim
To learn how to meaningfully involve vulnerable CYP in the co-production of health and social science research.
Objectives
To identify: Different approaches to facilitating the engagement of vulnerable CYP in co-production of health and social science research; different activities carried out in such approaches, challenges to engaging vulnerable CYP in co-production of health and social science research and ways to overcome them and areas of best practice in relation to research co-production with vulnerable CYP.
Search Strategy
A rapid review of peer-reviewed articles was conducted in six databases (MEDLINE, Embase, SocINDEX, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Science) and grey literature to identify studies that engaged vulnerable CYP in co-approaches to health and social research.
Main Results
Of 1394 documents identified in the search, 40 were included and analysed. A number of different approaches to co-production were used in the studies. The CYP was involved in a range of activities, chiefly the development of data collection tools, data collection and dissemination. Individual challenges for CYP and researchers, practical and institutional factors and ethical considerations impacted the success of co-production.
Discussion and Conclusion
Co-production of health and social science with vulnerable CYP presents challenges to researchers and CYP calling for all to demonstrate reflexivity and awareness of biases, strengths and limitations. Used appropriately and well, co-production offers benefits to researchers and CYP and can contribute to research that reflects the needs of vulnerable CYP. Adherence to the key principles of inclusion, safeguarding, respect and well-being facilitates this approach.
Patient and Public Contribution
Members of our patient and public involvement and stakeholder groups contributed to the interpretation of the review findings. This manuscript was written together with a young care leaver, Skye Boswell, who is one of the authors. She contributed to the preparation of the manuscript, reviewing the findings and their interpretation
Poor survival outcomes in HER2 positive breast cancer patients with low grade, node negative tumours
We present a retrospective analysis on a cohort of low-grade, node-negative patients showing that human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status significantly affects the survival in this otherwise very good prognostic group. Our results provide support for the use of adjuvant trastuzumab in patients who are typically classified as having very good prognosis, not routinely offered standard chemotherapy, and who as such do not fit current UK prescribing guidelines for trastuzumab
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Evaluation of Lateglacial temperatures in the Southern Alps of New Zealand based on glacier modelling at Irishman Stream, Ben Ohau Range
Climate proxy records from the middle to high latitude Southern Hemisphere indicate that a Lateglacial (15,000-11,500 years ago) climate reversal, approximately coeval with the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR), interrupted a warming trend during deglaciation. In New Zealand, some palaeoclimate proxy records indicate a cool episode during the ACR (ca 14,500-12,500 years ago), while others do not express a significant change in climate. Recently published moraine maps and ages present an opportunity to improve the palaeoclimate interpretation through numerical modelling of glaciers. We use a coupled energy-balance and ice-flow model to quantify palaeoclimate from past glacier extent constrained by mapped and dated moraines in the headwaters of Irishman Stream, a high-elevation catchment in the Southern Alps. First, a suite of steady-state model runs is used to identify the temperature and precipitation forcing required to fit the modelled glacier to well-dated Lateglacial moraine crests. Second, time dependent glacier simulations forced by a nearby proxy temperature record derived from chironomids are used to assess the fit with the glacial geomorphic record. Steady-state experiments using an optimal parameter set demonstrate that the conditions under which the 13,000 year old moraine formed were 2.3-3.2 *C colder than present with the range in temperature corresponding to a +/- 20% variance in precipitation relative to the present-day. This reconstructed climate change relative to the present-day corresponds to an equilibrium-line altitude of ca 2000 +/- 40 m above sea level (asl), which is ca 400 m lower than present. Time-dependent simulations of glacier length produce ice advance to within 100 m of the 13,000 year old terminal moraine, indicating that the chironomid-based temperature forcing and moraine record provide consistent information about past climate. Our results, together with other climate proxy reconstructions from pollen records and marine sediment cores, support the notion that temperatures during the ACR in New Zealand were ~2-3 *C cooler than today
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