Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment NASA Electra Boundary Layer Flights Data Report

The objective of this research was to obtain high resolution measurements of the height of the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL) during cold air outbreaks using an Airborne Lidar System. The research was coordinated with other investigators participating in the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE). An objective computerized scheme was developed to obtain the Boundary Layer Height from the Lidar Data. The algorithm was used on each of the four flight days producing a high resolution data set of the MABL height over the GALE experiment area. Plots of the retrieved MABL height as well as tabular data summaries are presented

Haze in the Klang Valley of Malaysia

Continuous measurements of dry aerosol light scattering (Bsp) were made at two sites in the Klang Valley of Malaysia between December 1998 and December 2000. In addition 24-h PM2.5 samples were collected on a one-day-in-six cycle and the chemical composition of the aerosol was determined. Periods of excessive haze were defined as 24-h average Bsp values greater than 150 Mm-1 and these occurred on a number of occasions, between May and September 1999, during May 2000, and between July and September 2000. The evidence for smoke being a significant contributor to aerosol during periods of excessive haze is discussed and includes features of the aerosol chemistry, the diurnal cycle of Bsp, and the coincidence of forest fires on Sumatra during the southwest (SW) monsoon period, as well as transport modelling for one week of the southwest Monsoon of 2000. The study highlights that whilst transboundary smoke is a major contributor to poor visibility in the Klang Valley, smoke from fires on Peninsular Malaysia is also a contributor, and at all times, the domestic source of secondary particle production is present

The “contagious” clinician

The many new airborne viral pathogens such as coronavirus (Covid-19), the novel variant (SARS-CoV-2), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory distress syndrome (MERS), have brought about a whole new avalanche of problems. These airborne pathogens are all highly contagious and transmissible, especially in the dental setting where the procedures and machinery used may generate enormous amounts of aerosol spray. This is an ideal vector for air/ droplet spread. Most dentists have implemented screening procedures to determine if their patients are well enough to be treated, and have begun wearing a full gamut of personal protective clothing (PPE). Nonetheless, a concern that has received limited attention in the literature is the “contagious clinician” who continues to work and who may pose a risk of infecting their patients. This paper explores both the patient’s rights to quality care in a safe and healthy environment, as well as the clinician’s rights to determine for themselves if they are mentally and physically competent to practice. It also poses questions about whether health care practitioners can be mandated to be inoculated against potentially life-threatening and highly infectious agents

Labeling Uncertainty in Multitarget Tracking

In multitarget tracking, the problem of track labeling (assigning labels to tracks) is an ongoing research topic. The existing literature, however, lacks an appropriate measure of uncertainty related to the assigned labels that has a sound mathematical basis as well as clear practical meaning to the user. This is especially important in a situation where well separated targets move in close proximity with each other and thereafter separate again; in such a situation, it is well known that there will be confusion on target identities, also known as "mixed labeling." In this paper, we specify comprehensively the necessary assumptions for a Bayesian formulation of the multitarget tracking and labeling (MTTL) problem to be meaningful. We provide a mathematical characterization of the labeling uncertainties with clear physical interpretation. We also propose a novel labeling procedure that can be used in combination with any existing (unlabeled) MTT algorithm to obtain a Bayesian solution to the MTTL problem. One advantage of the resulting solution is that it readily provides the labeling uncertainty measures. Using the mixed labeling phenomenon in the presence of two targets as our test bed, we show with simulation results that an unlabeled multitarget sequential Monte Carlo (M-SMC) algorithm that employs sequential importance resampling (SIR) augmented with our labeling procedure performs much better than its "naive" extension, the labeled SIR M-SMC filter

General scaling of maximum degree of synchronization in noisy complex networks

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

De status van het rekeninstrumentarium STONE 2.0

Het STONE-ontwikkelingstraject is gestart in 1993 door Wageningen UR, RIVM en RIZA. STONE is ook een netwerk van deskundigen om als discussieplatform te dienen voor wetenschappers en gebruikers. Voorjaar 2001 is een nieuwe ruimtelijke schematisering van Nederland opgeleverd en zijn nieuwe modulen voor berekening van de gewasopname, denitrificatie en mineralisatie van organisch stof geomplementeerd. Dit resulteerde in STONE 2.0. STONE 2.0 genereert uitvoer voor 6405 unieke combinaties (voornamelijk van landgebruik, bodemtype en hydrologie) voor tiendaagse periodes tussen 1986 en 2000. Prognoses kunnen worden berekend tot het jaar 2100. Interpretatie van de resultaten is alleen geoorloofd voor grotere ruimtelijke eenheden (indicatief 250 kmr) en voor meerjarige gemiddelden van nutriëntconcentraties en -fluxen. De meest robuuste resultaten van STONE 2.0 zijn de nitraatgehalten in het bovenste grondwater en de mate van fosfaatverzadiging van de bodem, en met name de resultaten op nationale schaal. Toepassingsmogelijkheden van STONE 2.0 op het gebied van milieubeleid zijn groot. STONE wordt sinds najaar 2001 toegepast voor berekeningen ten behoeve van de evaluatie van het mestbeleid, voor de Milieubalans en Milieuverkenningen, voor rapportages aan de Europese Commissie, en voor rapportages aan diverse nationale en internationale commissies. Sinds juli 2001 is een intensief traject ingezet van aanvullende toetsing/onzekerheidsanalyse en documentatie/review van STONE 2.0

Shigellosis and AIDS : Report of a case and brief review of the literature

Contains fulltext : 4491.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Detection of Dural Metastases Before the Onset of Clinical Symptoms by 16 alpha-[F-18]Fluoro-17 beta-Estradiol PET in a Patient With Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

We offer an illustrative case about estrogen receptor (ER) imaging (also known as 16 alpha-[F-18]fluoro-17 beta-estradiol ([F-18]-FES) PET) and the detection of metastatic lesions in the dural region. We present a case of a woman with ER-positive metastatic breast cancer and high [F-18]-FES uptake in the dural region on PET imaging, without associated clinical symptoms. These lesions were missed on [F-18]-FDG PET because of physiological [F-18]-FDG uptake in the brain. This case highlighted some difficulties in the interpretation of imaging of brain metastases and demonstrated the added value of [F-18]-FES PET imaging. [F-18]-FES PET could be used to prove the presence of ER-positive metastases in the brain