Application of Knowledge-based Tools in Environmental Decision Support Systems

Decision support system often requires the combined knowledge of multiple domains. A knowledge-based approach is proposed to include not only the process modelling knowledge but also the descriptive knowledge in the integration. Descriptive knowledge such as survey statistics and expert opinions forms the core of a study on the uncertainty of the combined knowledge. It was found that the use of expert systems, neural network and belief causal network assist greatly in the implementation of these concepts. Examples are drawn from the combination of scientific and economic knowledge to solve some acid rain problems.decision support system; knowledge-based system; expert system; causal network

Application of Knowledge-based Tools in Environmental Decision Support Systems

Decision support system often requires the combined knowledge of multiple domains. A knowledge-based approach is proposed to include not only the process modelling knowledge but also the descriptive knowledge in the integration. Descriptive knowledge such as survey statistics and expert opinions forms the core of a study on the uncertainty of the combined knowledge. It was found that the use of expert systems, neural network and belief causal network assist greatly in the implementation of these concepts. Examples are drawn from the combination of scientific and economic knowledge to solve some acid rain problems

Application of Knowledge-based Tools in Environmental Decision Support Systems

Decision support system often requires the combined knowledge of multiple domains. A knowledge-based approach is proposed to include not only the process modelling knowledge but also the descriptive knowledge in the integration. Descriptive knowledge such as survey statistics and expert opinions forms the core of a study on the uncertainty of the combined knowledge. It was found that the use of expert systems, neural network and belief causal network assist greatly in the implementation of these concepts. Examples are drawn from the combination of scientific and economic knowledge to solve some acid rain problems

SABINA + Hong Kong: a territory wide study of prescribing trends and outcomes associated with the use of short-acting β2 agonists in the Chinese population

Background: Excessive use of short-acting β2 agonists (SABA) in patients with asthma continues to be a notable concern due to its link to higher mortality rates. Global relevance of SABA overuse in asthma management cannot be understated, it poses significant health risk to patients with asthma and imposes burden on healthcare systems. This study, as part of global SABINA progamme, aimed to describe the prescribing patterns and clinical outcomes associated with SABA use in the Chinese population. Methods: Retrospective cohort study was conducted using anonymized electronic healthcare records of Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System (CDARS) from Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HA). Patients newly diagnosed with asthma between 2011 and 2018 and aged ≥12 years were included, stratified by SABA use (≤2, 3–6, 7–10, or ≥11 canisters/year) during one-year baseline period since asthma diagnosis date. Patients were followed up from one-year post-index until earliest censoring of events: outcome occurrence and end of study period (31 December 2020). Cox proportional regression and negative binomial regression were used to estimate the mortality risk and frequency of hospital admissions associated with SABA use respectively, after adjusting for age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) dose. Outcomes include all-cause, asthma-related, and respiratory-related mortality, frequency of hospital admissions for any cause, and frequency of hospital admissions due to asthma. Results: 17,782 patients with asthma (mean age 46.7 years, 40.8% male) were included and 59.1% of patients were overusing SABA (≥ 3 canisters per year). Each patient was prescribed a median of 5.61 SABA canisters/year. SABA overuse during baseline period was associated with higher all-cause mortality risk compared to patients with ≤2 canisters/year. Association was dose-dependent, highest risk in those used ≥11 canisters/year (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.13, 1.79) and 3–6 canisters/year (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.50). Higher SABA prescription volume associated with increased frequency of hospital admissions with greatest risk observed in 7–10 canisters/year subgroup (adjusted rate ratio: 4.81, 95% CI: 3.66, 6.37). Conclusions: SABA overuse is prevalent and is associated with increased all-cause mortality risk and frequency of hospital admissions among the patients with asthma in Hong Kong

Cosmological parameters from SDSS and WMAP

We measure cosmological parameters using the three-dimensional power spectrum P(k) from over 200,000 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in combination with WMAP and other data. Our results are consistent with a ``vanilla'' flat adiabatic Lambda-CDM model without tilt (n=1), running tilt, tensor modes or massive neutrinos. Adding SDSS information more than halves the WMAP-only error bars on some parameters, tightening 1 sigma constraints on the Hubble parameter from h~0.74+0.18-0.07 to h~0.70+0.04-0.03, on the matter density from Omega_m~0.25+/-0.10 to Omega_m~0.30+/-0.04 (1 sigma) and on neutrino masses from <11 eV to <0.6 eV (95%). SDSS helps even more when dropping prior assumptions about curvature, neutrinos, tensor modes and the equation of state. Our results are in substantial agreement with the joint analysis of WMAP and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, which is an impressive consistency check with independent redshift survey data and analysis techniques. In this paper, we place particular emphasis on clarifying the physical origin of the constraints, i.e., what we do and do not know when using different data sets and prior assumptions. For instance, dropping the assumption that space is perfectly flat, the WMAP-only constraint on the measured age of the Universe tightens from t0~16.3+2.3-1.8 Gyr to t0~14.1+1.0-0.9 Gyr by adding SDSS and SN Ia data. Including tensors, running tilt, neutrino mass and equation of state in the list of free parameters, many constraints are still quite weak, but future cosmological measurements from SDSS and other sources should allow these to be substantially tightened.Comment: Minor revisions to match accepted PRD version. SDSS data and ppt figures available at http://www.hep.upenn.edu/~max/sdsspars.htm

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Track A Basic Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138319/1/jia218438.pd

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

Hypoadiponectinemia is Related to Sympathetic Activation and Severity of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Study Objectives: Hypoadiponectinemia is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and diabetes mellitus. We hypothesize that adiponectin may be downregulated in sleep apnea through various mechanisms, contributing to cardiometabolic risks. This study investigated the relationship between serum adiponectin and sleep disordered breathing and its potential determinants. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects and setting: Adult men without prevailing medical comorbidity from the sleep clinic in a teaching hospital. Measurements & Results: One hundred thirty-four men underwent polysomnography, with mean age of 43.9 (9.8) years, and median apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 17.1 (5.7, 46.6). Overnight urine samples for catecholamines and blood samples for analyses of insulin, glucose and adiponectin levels from fasting subjects were taken. Insulin resistance was estimated by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR). Magnetic resonance imaging was performed to quantify the amount of abdominal visceral fat. Serum adiponectin level, adjusted for age, body mass index, and visceral fat volume, was significantly lower in subjects with severe obstructive sleep apnea (AHI ≥ 30) compared with those with an AHI of less than 30: 4.0 (3.1, 5.4) versus 5.4 (3.6, 7.9) ?g/mL, P = 0.039. After we adjusted for adiposity, adiponectin levels remained negatively correlated with AHI (P = 0.037), arousal index (P = 0.022), HOMA-IR/fasting insulin (P < 0.001), and urinary norepinephrine and normetanephrine (P < 0.008). In a multiple stepwise regression model, the independent determinants of adiponectin after adjustment for adiposity were HOMA-IR (P < 0.001) and urinary norepinephrine and normetanephrine (P = 0.037). Conclusions: Adiponectin was suppressed in subjects with severe obstructive sleep apnea, independent of obesity. Adiponectin levels were determined by insulin resistance and sympathetic activation, factors that may be totally or partially attributed to sleep disordered breathing.link_to_subscribed_fulltex