Effect of spatial distribution of daily rainfall on interior catchment response of a distributed hydrological model

International audienceWe investigate the effect of spatial variability of daily rainfall on soil moisture, groundwater level and discharge using a physically-based, fully-distributed hydrological model. This model is currently in use with the district water board and is considered to represent reality. We focus on the effect of rainfall spatial variability on day-to-day variability of the interior catchment response, as well as on its effect on the general hydrological behaviour of the catchment. The study is performed in a flat rural catchment (135 km2) in the Netherlands, where the climate is semi-humid (average precipitation 800 mm/year, evapotranspiration 550 mm/year) and rainfall is predominantly stratiform (i.e. large scale). Both range-corrected radar data (resolution 2.5×2.5 km2) as well as data from a dense network of 30 raingauges are used, observed for the period March?October 2004. Eight different rainfall scenarios, either spatially distributed or spatially uniform, are used as input for the hydrological model. The main conclusions from this study are: (i) using a single raingauge as rainfall input carries a great risk for the prediction of discharge, groundwater level and soil moisture, especially if the raingauge is situated outside the catchment; (ii) taking into account the spatial variability of rainfall instead of using areal average rainfall as input for the model is needed to get insight into the day-to-day spatial variability of discharge, groundwater level and soil moisture content; (iii) to get insight into the general behaviour of the hydrological system it is sufficient to use correct predictions of areal average rainfall over the catchment

The BeppoSAX WFC X-ray source catalogue

We present the catalogue of X-ray sources detected by the two Wide Field Cameras (WFCs) in complete observations on board BeppoSAX during its 6 years of operational lifetime, between April 1996 and April 2002. The BeppoSAX WFCs were coded mask instruments sensitive in the 2-28 keV energy band with a 40x40 square degree fields of view, pointing in opposite directions and perpendicularly to the BeppoSAX Narrow Field Instruments (NFI). The WFCs were usually operated simultaneously to NFI observations, each lasting up to several days. WFCs observed thus the entire sky several times with a typical sensitivity of 2 to 10 mCrab. A systematic analysis of all WFC observations in the BeppoSAX archive has been carried out using the latest post-mission release of the WFC analysis software and calibrations. The catalogue includes 253 distinct sources, obtained from a total sample of 8253 WFC detections. We describe the basic statistical properties of the sample and present a six-year history of two celestial calibration X-ray sources.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, Catalogue, Accepted for publication on A&

Методические подходы к оценке возможности реализации инновационных стратегий

Целью данной статьи является рассмотрение методических подходов к оценке возможности реализации инновационных стратегий

Theoretical study of dark resonances in micro-metric thin cells

We investigate theoretically dark resonance spectroscopy for a dilute atomic vapor confined in a thin (micro-metric) cell. We identify the physical parameters characterizing the spectra and study their influence. We focus on a Hanle-type situation, with an optical irradiation under normal incidence and resonant with the atomic transition. The dark resonance spectrum is predicted to combine broad wings with a sharp maximum at line-center, that can be singled out when detecting a derivative of the dark resonance spectrum. This narrow signal derivative, shown to broaden only sub-linearly with the cell length, is a signature of the contribution of atoms slow enough to fly between the cell windows in a time as long as the characteristic ground state optical pumping time. We suggest that this dark resonance spectroscopy in micro-metric thin cells could be a suitable tool for probing the effective velocity distribution in the thin cell arising from the atomic desorption processes, and notably to identify the limiting factors affecting desorption under a grazing incidence.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures theoretical articl

A comparison of the CAM-ICU and the NEECHAM Confusion Scale in intensive care delirium assessment: an observational study in non-intubated patients

No summary availabl

An Animal-Assisted Intervention Study in the Nursing Home: Lessons Learned

AAI studies in the nursing home pose a specific set of challenges. In this article the practical and ethical issues encountered during a Dutch psychogeriatric nursing home AAI study are addressed with the aim of sharing our experiences for future researchers as well as AAI practitioners in general. In our study we compared three groups of clients with dementia who participated in group sessions of either visiting dog teams, visiting FurReal Friend robot animals, or visiting students (control group) and monitored the effect on social interaction and neuropsychiatric symptoms through video analysis and questionnaires. We encountered the following four categories of challenges during our study. Participant-related challenges include the legal implications of working with vulnerable patients, the practical implications of a progressive neurodegenerative disease with accompanying memory loss and behavioral problems, and the ethical implications of the use of robot animals for people with diminished cognitive functions. A very important challenge involves the selection of the participating dogs and ensuring animal welfare during the study. We partnered with a local university of applied sciences to help us successfully address these issues. The nursing home setting poses several practical challenges due to its inherent organizational structure, the high workload of nursing home staff, and an often suboptimal environment for a controlled randomized trial, especially when comparing nonpharmacological interventions. Balancing the desire for scientifically sound procedures with the practical limitations of a nursing home setting is often difficult and requires specific considerations

The Importance of Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Social Capital for the Well Being of Older Adults in the Community

We aimed to investigate whether social capital (obtaining support through indirect ties such as from neighbors) and social cohesion (interdependencies among neighbors) within neighborhoods positively affect the well being of older adults. Design and Methods: This crosssectional study included 945 of 1,440 (66% response rate) independently living older adults (aged !70 years) in Rotterdam. We fitted a hierarchical random effects model to account for the hierarchical structure of the study design: 945 older adults (Level 1) nested in 72 neighborhoods (Level 2). Results: Univariate analyses showed that being born in the Netherlands, house ownership, education, income, social capital of individuals, neighborhood security, neighborhood services, neighborhood social capital, and neighborhood social cohesion were significantly related to the well being of older adults. Multilevel analyses showed that social capital of individuals, neighborhood services, neighborhood social capital, and neighborhood social cohesion predicted the well being of older adults. Single and poor older adults reported lower well being than did better off and married older adults. However, the effects of marital status and income were mediated by neighborhood services, social capital, and social cohesion. Neighborhood services, social capital, and social cohesion may act as buffer against the adverse effects of being single and poor on the well being of older adults. Implications: The results of this study support the importance of social capital of individuals, as well as social capital within the neighborhood and social cohesion within the neighborhood for well being of older adults. The well being of older adults may also be enhanced through the improvement of quality of neighborhood services

Concordance between nurse-reported quality of care and quality of care as publicly reported by nurse-sensitive indicators

Background: Nurse-sensitive indicators and nurses' satisfaction with the quality of care are two commonly used ways to measure quality of nursing care. However, little is known about the relationship between these kinds of measures. This study aimed to examine concordance between nurse-sensitive screening indicators and nurse-perceived quality of care. Methods: To calculate a composite performance score for each of six Dutch non-university teaching hospitals, the percentage scores of the publicly reported nurse-sensitive indicators: screening of delirium, screening of malnutrition, and pain assessments, were averaged (2011). Nurse-perceived quality ratings were obtained from staff nurses working in the same hospitals by the Dutch Essentials of Magnetism II survey (2010). Concordance between the quality measures was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation. Results: The mean screening performances ranged from 63 % to 93 % across the six hospitals. Nurse-perceived quality of care differed significantly between the hospitals, also after adjusting for nursing experience, educational level, and regularity of shifts. The hospitals with high-levels of nurse-perceived quality were also high-performing hospitals according to nurse-sensitive indicators. The relationship was true for high-performing as well as lower-performing hospitals, with strong correlations between the two quality measures (r S = 0.943, p = 0.005). Conclusions: Our findings showed that there is a significant positive association between objectively measured nurse-sensitive screening indicators and subjectively measured perception of quality. Moreover, the two indicators of quality of nursing care provide corresponding quality rankings. This implies that improving factors that are associated with nurses' perception of what they believe to be quality of care may also lead to better screening processes. Although convergent validity seems to be established, we emphasize that different kinds of quality measures could be used to complement each other, because various stakeholders may assign different values to the quality of nursing care

Формирование и продвижение кредитных продуктов и услуг

Кредитная услуга - одна из составляющих кредитной политики банка. Стремление к максимальному получению прибыли от ее предоставления и увеличению потока клиентов приводит к созданию комплекса (совокупности) услуг, а именно - кредитному продукту. Изучив интересы хозяйствующих субъектов, их потребности, банк может более точно разрабатывать приоритеты кредитной политики во взаимоотношениях с реальным сектором экономики. Обратная зависимость этого фактора - создание конкретного кредитного продукта и построение системы продвижения кредитных услуг, которая призвана осуществлять анализ, диагностику текущей ситуации, обеспечение взаимодействия между банками, нацелить взаимоотношения банка и заемщика на долгосрочную перспективу