Accessing numeric data via flags and tags: A final report on a real world experiment

An experiment is reported which: extended the concepts of data flagging and tagging to the aerospace scientific and technical literature; generated experience with the assignment of data summaries and data terms by documentation specialists; and obtained real world assessments of data summaries and data terms in information products and services. Inclusion of data summaries and data terms improved users' understanding of referenced documents from a subject perspective as well as from a data perspective; furthermore, a radical shift in document ordering behavior occurred during the experiment toward proportionately more requests for data-summarized items

'I have to live with the decisions I make': laying a foundation for decision making for children with life-limiting conditions and life-threatening illnesses.

The relationship between parents and clinician is critical to the care and treatment of children with life-limiting conditions (LLCs) and life-threatening illnesses (LTIs). This relationship is built and maintained largely in consultations. In this article we lay out factors that bear on the success of clinical consultations and the maintenance of the essential clinician-parent relationship at progression or deterioration of LLCs or LTIs. We suggest an approach to engaging parents in conversations about care and treatment that recognises and appreciates the dilemmas which clinicians and parents face and in so doing provides a way for everyone to live with the decisions that are made. A close analysis of a consultation at progression and excerpts of encounters among parents, clinician and researcher are used to illustrate our approach to research, analysis and development of recommendations for clinical practice

Business Simulation Games: Effective Teaching Tools Or Window Dressing?

Business simulations serve as learning platforms that stimulate the “gaming” interest of students, that provide a structured learning environment, and that should help manage the time resources of faculty. Simulations appear to provide a context where students feel learning can take place. However, faculty perception of simulation research is lacking. This study focuses on perceptions of management and marketing faculty in U.S. business schools. Both groups perceive simulations as useful teaching tools for their undergraduate courses; however, neither group views simulations as offering learning opportunities that are superior to traditional methodologies, such as case studies, service learning, or in-class discussions

Large eddy simulation of scalar mixing in jet in a cross-flow

Jet in a Cross-Flow (JICF) is a flow arrangement found in many engineering applications, especially in gas turbine air-fuel mixing. Understanding of scalar mixing in JICF is important for low NOx burner design and operation, and numerical simulation techniques can be used to understand both spatial and temporal variation of air-fuel mixing quality in such applications. In this paper mixing of the jet stream with the cross-flow is simulated by approximating the jet flow as a passive scalar and using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) technique to simulate the turbulent velocity field. A posteriori test is conducted to assess three dynamic Sub-Grid Scale models in modelling jet and cross-flow interaction with the boundary layer flow field. Simulated mean and Reynolds stress component values for velocity field and concentration fields are compared against experimental data to assess the capability of the LES technique, which showed good agreement between numerical and experimental results. Similarly, time mean and RMS values of passive scalar concentration also showed good agreement with experimental data. In addition, LES results are further used to discuss the scalar mixing field in the downstream mixing region

First characterization of a superconducting filter-bank spectrometer for hyper-spectral microwave atmospheric sounding with transition edge sensor readout

We describe the design, fabrication, integration and characterization of a prototype superconducting filter bank with transition edge sensor readout designed to explore millimetre-wave detection at frequencies in the range 40 to 65 GHz. Results indicate highly uniform filter channel placement in frequency and high overall detection efficiency. The route to a full atmospheric sounding instrument in this frequency range is discussed.Centre for Earth Observing Instrumentation UK (CEOI

Secondary non-invasive prenatal screening for fetal trisomy: an effectiveness study in a public health setting.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of secondary screening using non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in a routine NHS setting including test performance, turn-around times (TATs) and no-call (failure to obtain result) rates. To examine the influence of maternal and fetal characteristics on test performance. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort. SETTING: London teaching hospital. SAMPLE: A total of 8651 pregnancies undergoing screening for fetal trisomy using NIPT provided by an NHS cell-free DNA screening laboratory - the SAFE laboratory. METHODS: Screening test evaluation and TATs. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify significant predictors of no-call results and reported by low fetal fraction (40%) and processing failure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Test performance, TATs and no-call rates, factors affecting no-call results. RESULTS: Average TAT was 4.0 days (95% CI 4.0-4.2 days). Test sensitivities for trisomies 21 and 13/18 were 98.9% (95% CI 95.9-99.9%) and 90.4% (95% CI 80.0-96.8%), respectively. The overall no-call rate was 32/8651 (0.37%, 95% CI 0.26-0.52%). The overall risk of a no-call result was influenced by gestational age, dichorionic twin pregnancy, history of malignancy and pregnancies affected by trisomy 13/18, but not by maternal weight or use of low-molecular-weight heparin. CONCLUSIONS: High-throughput NIPT can be effectively embedded into a public health NHS setting. TATs of 4 days and no-calls of <0.5% were well within clinically desirable tolerances. Gestational age, maternal weight, assisted reproductive techniques, use of low-molecular-weight heparin and past history of malignancy did not have major impacts on test no-call rates and should not constitute reasons for withholding the option of NIPT from women. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Turn-around times of 4 days, no-call (test failure) rates of 0.37% and highly accurate NIPT can be successfully embedded in the NHS

The origins of X-ray emission from the hotspots of FRII radio sources

We use new and archival Chandra data to investigate the X-ray emission from a large sample of compact hotspots of FRII radio galaxies and quasars from the 3C catalogue. We find that only the most luminous hotspots tend to be in good agreement with the predictions of a synchrotron self-Compton model with equipartition magnetic fields. At low hotspot luminosities inverse-Compton predictions are routinely exceeded by several orders of magnitude, but this is never seen in more luminous hotspots. We argue that an additional synchrotron component of the X-ray emission is present in low-luminosity hotspots, and that the hotspot luminosity controls the ability of a given hotspot to produce synchrotron X-rays, probably by determining the high-energy cutoff of the electron energy spectrum. It remains plausible that all hotspots are close to the equipartition condition.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures. ApJ accepted. Revised version fixes a typo in one of the Tables and corrects a statement about 3C27

Determination of density and surface tension in ethanol and HFA 134a mixtures

Recent publications of a transient aerodynamic atomization model have highlighted saturated vapor pressure, density, viscosity and surface tension as key properties governing pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) droplet size1, 2, 3. Pharmaceutical pMDI formulations widely use mixtures of propellant and excipients, such as ethanol, but mixing rules for the aforementioned properties are not available in the literature. Hence, composition-dependent surface tension and density were experimentally determined for ethanol-HFA 134a mixtures. The expressions presented of density and surface tension are advantageous to understanding transient flows inside the actuator and atomization of pMDI formulations containing ethanol as a co-solvent 2