409 research outputs found
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Effects of Supportive Services in a Methadone Treatment Program
A preliminary investigation of the extent to which supportive services contribute to the effectiveness of a methadone treatment program was conducted
Unsupervised Machine Learning for Identifying Challenging Behavior Profiles to Explore Cluster-Based Treatment Efficacy in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Retrospective Data Analysis Study
Background: Challenging behaviors are prevalent among individuals with autism spectrum disorder; however, research exploring the impact of challenging behaviors on treatment response is lacking.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify types of autism spectrum disorder based on engagement in different challenging behaviors and evaluate differences in treatment response between groups.
Methods: Retrospective data on challenging behaviors and treatment progress for 854 children with autism spectrum disorder were analyzed. Participants were clustered based on 8 observed challenging behaviors using k means, and multiple linear regression was performed to test interactions between skill mastery and treatment hours, cluster assignment, and gender.
Results: Seven clusters were identified, which demonstrated a single dominant challenging behavior. For some clusters, significant differences in treatment response were found. Specifically, a cluster characterized by low levels of stereotypy was found to have significantly higher levels of skill mastery than clusters characterized by self-injurious behavior and aggression (P\u3c.003).
Conclusions: These findings have implications on the treatment of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Self-injurious behavior and aggression were prevalent among participants with the worst treatment response, thus interventions targeting these challenging behaviors may be worth prioritizing. Furthermore, the use of unsupervised machine learning models to identify types of autism spectrum disorder shows promise
Constraining Lyman-alpha spatial offsets at from VANDELS slit spectroscopy
We constrain the distribution of spatially offset Lyman-alpha emission
(Ly) relative to rest-frame ultraviolet emission in high
redshift () Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) exhibiting Ly emission
from VANDELS, a VLT/VIMOS slit-spectroscopic survey of the CANDELS Ultra Deep
Survey and Chandra Deep Field South fields (
total). Because slit spectroscopy compresses two-dimensional spatial
information into one spatial dimension, we use Bayesian inference to recover
the underlying Ly spatial offset distribution. We model the
distribution using a 2D circular Gaussian, defined by a single parameter
, the standard deviation expressed in polar
coordinates. Over the entire redshift range of our sample (), we find
kpc ( conf.),
corresponding to arcsec at . We also find that
decreases significantly with redshift. Because
Ly spatial offsets can cause slit-losses, the decrease in
with redshift can partially explain the increase
in the fraction of Ly emitters observed in the literature over this
same interval, although uncertainties are still too large to reach a strong
conclusion. If continues to decrease into the
reionization epoch, then the decrease in Ly transmission from galaxies
observed during this epoch might require an even higher neutral hydrogen
fraction than what is currently inferred. Conversely, if spatial offsets
increase with the increasing opacity of the IGM, slit losses may explain some
of the drop in Ly transmission observed at . Spatially resolved
observations of Ly and UV continuum at are needed to settle the
issue.Comment: Submitted to MNRA
Strategies for Improving Visual Inspection Performance
This paper summarizes recent results obtained in inspection studies including several studies performed by the authors. Both static and dynamic visual inspection tasks are included. Based on these results, a proposed new integrated design procedure for inspection tasks that will approach the optimal design has been formulated. The review of recent research results includes the following primary variables: the speed of the item passing the inspector, the spacing of items, the percentage of defective items, the illumination level, the contrast between the item being inspected and the background, and the effectiveness of individual versus group inspection. The authors have used their research results in combination with the results in the literature to formulate new integrated procedures for designing inspection stations and job procedures. The authors have also analyzed the effects of inspector performance on the overall quality control plans already in use in industry. The economic effects of changes in inspector performance which result from redesign of the inspection task are then demonstrated as a part of the overall design procedure.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline
Stellar Rotation in Young Clusters. I. Evolution of Projected Rotational Velocity Distributions
Open clusters offer us the means to study stellar properties in samples with
well-defined ages and initial chemical composition. Here we present a survey of
projected rotational velocities for a large sample of mainly B-type stars in
young clusters to study the time evolution of the rotational properties of
massive stars. The survey is based upon moderate resolution spectra made with
the WIYN 3.5 m and CTIO 4 m telescopes and Hydra multi-object spectrographs,
and the target stars are members of 19 young open clusters with an age range of
approximately 6 to 73 Myr. We made fits of the observed lines He I 4026, 4387,
4471 and Mg II 4481 using model theoretical profiles to find projected
rotational velocities for a total of 496 OB stars. We find that there are fewer
slow rotators among the cluster B-type stars relative to nearby B stars in the
field. We present evidence consistent with the idea that the more massive B
stars (M > 9 solar masses) spin down during their main sequence phase. However,
we also find that the rotational velocity distribution appears to show an
increase in the numbers of rapid rotators among clusters with ages of 10 Myr
and higher. These rapid rotators appear to be distributed between the zero age
and terminal age main sequence locations in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram,
and thus only a minority of them can be explained as the result of a spin up at
the terminal age main sequence due to core contraction. We suggest instead that
some of these rapid rotators may have been spun up through mass transfer in
close binary systems.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Ap
Stellar Rotation in Young Clusters. II. Evolution of Stellar Rotation and Surface Helium Abundance
We derive the effective temperatures and gravities of 461 OB stars in 19
young clusters by fitting the H-gamma profile in their spectra. We use
synthetic model profiles for rotating stars to develop a method to estimate the
polar gravity for these stars, which we argue is a useful indicator of their
evolutionary status. We combine these results with projected rotational
velocity measurements obtained in a previous paper on these same open clusters.
We find that the more massive B-stars experience a spin down as predicted by
the theories for the evolution of rotating stars. Furthermore, we find that the
members of binary stars also experience a marked spin down with advanced
evolutionary state due to tidal interactions. We also derive non-LTE-corrected
helium abundances for most of the sample by fitting the He I 4026, 4387, 4471
lines. A large number of helium peculiar stars are found among cooler stars
with Teff < 23000 K. The analysis of the high mass stars (8.5 solar masses < M
< 16 solar masses) shows that the helium enrichment process progresses through
the main sequence (MS) phase and is greater among the faster rotators. This
discovery supports the theoretical claim that rotationally induced internal
mixing is the main cause of surface chemical anomalies that appear during the
MS phase. The lower mass stars appear to have slower rotation rates among the
low gravity objects, and they have a large proportion of helium peculiar stars.
We suggest that both properties are due to their youth. The low gravity stars
are probably pre-main sequence objects that will spin up as they contract.
These young objects very likely host a remnant magnetic field from their natal
cloud, and these strong fields sculpt out surface regions with unusual chemical
abundances.Comment: 50 pages 18 figures, accepted by Ap
Urological research in sub-Saharan Africa: a retrospective cohort study of abstracts presented at the Nigerian association of urological surgeons conferences
Evolutionary paths to and from the red sequence: Star formation and HI properties of transition galaxies at z~0
(Abridged) We investigate the properties of galaxies between the blue and the
red sequence (i.e., the transition region) by combining UV and NIR imaging to
HI line observations for a volume-limited sample of nearby galaxies. We confirm
the existence of a tight relation between colour and HI-fraction across all the
range of colours, although outside the blue cloud this trend becomes gradually
weaker. Transition galaxies are divided into two different families, according
to their atomic hydrogen content. HI-deficient galaxies are the majority of
transition galaxies in our sample. They are found in high density environments
and all their properties are consistent with a quenching of the star formation
via gas stripping. However, while the migration from the blue cloud is
relatively quick (i.e., <=1 Gyr), a longer amount of time (a few Gyr at least)
seems required to completely suppress the star formation and reach the red
sequence. At all masses, migrating HI-deficient galaxies are mainly disks,
implying that the mechanism responsible for today's migration in clusters
cannot have played a significant role in the creation of the red sequence at
high-redshift. Conversely, HI-normal transition galaxies are a more
heterogeneous population. A fraction of these objects show evidence for
accretion/minor-merging events suggesting that at least part of the HI
reservoir has an external origin. The detailed evolution of such systems is
still unclear, but our analysis suggests that some galaxies might have migrated
back from the red sequence after accretion events. Our study clearly shows the
variety of evolutionary paths leading to the transition region and suggests
that the transition galaxies may not be always associated with systems quickly
migrating from the blue to the red sequence.Comment: 19 pages, 11 Figures, 1 Table. MNRAS in press. High resolution
version available at
http://www.astro.cardiff.ac.uk/pub/Luca.Cortese/papers/mnras09_1159_hires.p
Comparing the observational instability regions for pulsating pre-main sequence and classical Scuti stars
A comparison of the hot and cool boundaries of the classical instability
strip with observations has been an important test for stellar structure and
evolution models of post- and main sequence stars. Over the last few years, the
number of pulsating pre-main sequence (PMS) stars has increased significantly:
36 PMS pulsators and candidates are known as of June 2007. This number allows
to investigate the location of the empirical PMS instability region and to
compare its boundaries to those of the classical (post- and main sequence)
instability strip. Due to the structural differences of PMS and (post-)main
sequence stars, the frequency spacings for nonradial modes will be measurably
different, thus challenging asteroseismology as a diagnostic tool.Comment: accepted by Ap
From the Top to the Bottom of the Main Sequence: A Complete Mass Function of the Young Open Cluster M35
We present very deep and accurate photometry of the open cluster M35 (VRIc
filters). We have covered a region of 27.5x27.5 square arcmin.
The data range from Ic=12.5 to 23.5 mag, and the color intervals are
0.4\le(V-I)c\le3.0, 0.5\le(R-I)c\le2.5. Roughly, these values span from 1.6
M_\odot down to the substellar limit. By using the location of the stars on
color-magnitude and color-color diagrams, we have selected candidate members of
this cluster. We have merged our sample with previously published data and
obtained a color-magnitude diagram for the complete stellar population of the
cluster, covering the spectral range early B - mid M. The Mass Function
increases monotonically, when plotted in a log-log form, until it reaches ~0.8
M_\odot (\alpha=2.59). It remains shallower for less massive stars (\alpha=0.81
for 0.8-0.2 M_\odot), whereas a decrease ins observed for stars close to the
substellar regime. The total mass of the cluster is ~1600 M_\odot in the area
covered by this study.Comment: Accepted ApJ (Jan 10, 2001 issue
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