Nimbus power systems /1960 - 1969/

Power supply subsystems for use on Nimbus satellite progra

System Dynamics Modeling for Traumatic Brain Injury: Mini-review of Applications

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a highly complex phenomenon involving a cascade of disruptions across biomechanical, neurochemical, neurological, cognitive, emotional, and social systems. Researchers and clinicians urgently need a rigorous conceptualization of brain injury that encompasses nonlinear and mutually causal relations among the factors involved, as well as sources of individual variation in recovery trajectories. System dynamics, an approach from systems science, has been used for decades in fields such as management and ecology to model nonlinear feedback dynamics in complex systems. In this mini-review, we summarize some recent uses of this approach to better understand acute injury mechanisms, recovery dynamics, and care delivery for TBI. We conclude that diagram-based approaches like causal-loop diagramming have the potential to support the development of a shared paradigm of TBI that incorporates social support aspects of recovery. When developed using adequate data from large-scale studies, simulation modeling presents opportunities for improving individualized treatment and care delivery

System Dynamics Modeling for Cancer Prevention and Control: A systematic review

Cancer prevention and control requires consideration of complex interactions between multilevel factors. System dynamics modeling, which consists of diagramming and simulation approaches for understanding and managing such complexity, is being increasingly applied to cancer prevention and control, but the breadth, characteristics, and quality of these studies is not known. We searched PubMed, Scopus, APA PsycInfo, and eight peer-reviewed journals to identify cancer-related studies that used system dynamics modeling. A dual review process was used to determine eligibility. Included studies were assessed using quality criteria adapted from prior literature and mapped onto the cancer control continuum. Characteristics of studies and models were abstracted and qualitatively synthesized. 32 studies met our inclusion criteria. A mix of simulation and diagramming approaches were used to address diverse topics, including chemotherapy treatments (16%), interventions to reduce tobacco or e-cigarettes use (16%), and cancer risk from environmental contamination (13%). Models spanned all focus areas of the cancer control continuum, with treatment (44%), prevention (34%), and detection (31%) being the most common. The quality assessment of studies was low, particularly for simulation approaches. Diagramming-only studies more often used participatory approaches. Involvement of participants, description of model development processes, and proper calibration and validation of models showed the greatest room for improvement. System dynamics modeling can illustrate complex interactions and help identify potential interventions across the cancer control continuum. Prior efforts have been hampered by a lack of rigor and transparency regarding model development and testing. Supportive infrastructure for increasing awareness, accessibility, and further development of best practices of system dynamics for multidisciplinary cancer research is needed

Mapping Mental Models Through an Improved Method for Identifying Causal Structures in Qualitative Data

Qualitative data are commonly used in the development of system dynamicsmodels, but methods for systematically identifying causal structures in qualita-tive data have not been widely established. This article presents a modifiedprocess for identifying causal structures (e.g., feedback loops) that are commu-nicated implicitly or explicitly and utilizes software to make coding, tracking,and model rendering more efficient. This approach draws from existingmethods, system dynamics best practice, and qualitative data analysis tech-niques. Steps of this method are presented along with a description of causalstructures for an audience new to system dynamics. The method is applied to aset of interviews describing mental models of clinical practice transformationfrom an implementation study of screening and treatment for unhealthy alco-hol use in primary care. This approach has the potential to increase rigour andtransparency in the use of qualitative data for model building and to broadenthe user base for causal-loop diagramming

Costs of Illness in the 1993 Waterborne Cryptosporidium Outbreak, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

To assess the total medical costs and productivity losses associated with the 1993 waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including the average cost per person with mild, moderate, and severe illness, we conducted a retrospective cost-of-illness analysis using data from 11 hospitals in the greater Milwaukee area and epidemiologic data collected during the outbreak. The total cost of outbreak-associated illness was $96.2 million:$31.7 million in medical costs and $64.6 million in productivity losses. The average total costs for persons with mild, moderate, and severe illness were$116, $475, and$7,808, respectively. The potentially high cost of waterborne disease outbreaks should be considered in economic decisions regarding the safety of public drinking water supplies

Geometrical Properties of Two-Dimensional Interacting Self-Avoiding Walks at the Theta-Point

We perform a Monte Carlo simulation of two-dimensional N-step interacting self-avoiding walks at the theta point, with lengths up to N=3200. We compute the critical exponents, verifying the Coulomb-gas predictions, the theta-point temperature T_theta = 1.4986(11), and several invariant size ratios. Then, we focus on the geometrical features of the walks, computing the instantaneous shape ratios, the average asphericity, and the end-to-end distribution function. For the latter quantity, we verify in detail the theoretical predictions for its small- and large-distance behavior.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure

No Radio Bursts Detected from FIRST J141918.9+394036 in Green Bank Telescope Observations

Precise localization of the first-known repeating fast radio burst source, FRB 121102 (Spitler et al. 2016; Chatterjee et al. 2017), led to its association with a star-forming region inside a low-metallicity dwarf host galaxy (Tendulkar et al. 2017). This host environment is similar to that typically associated with long gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and superluminous supernovae, potentially linking these astrophysical phenomena (Metzger et al. 2017). In addition, the bursting source is found to be spatially coincident with a compact (< 0.7 pc; Marcote et al. 2017), persistent radio source (Chatterjee et al. 2017). Ofek (2017) identified similar radio sources in the Very Large Array FIRST survey (Becker et al. 1995). One of these sources, FIRST J141918.9+394036 (hereafter FIRST J1419+3940), was identified as a radio transient decaying in brightness by a factor of ~50 over several decades (Law et al. 2018). Very-long-baseline radio interferometric observations support the theory that FIRST J1419+3940 is the afterglow of a long GRB, based on the inferred physical size of the emission region (1.6 ± 0.3 pc; Marcote et al. 2019)

No Radio Bursts Detected from FIRST J141918.9+394036 in Green Bank Telescope Observations

Precise localization of the first-known repeating fast radio burst source, FRB 121102 (Spitler et al. 2016; Chatterjee et al. 2017), led to its association with a star-forming region inside a low-metallicity dwarf host galaxy (Tendulkar et al. 2017). This host environment is similar to that typically associated with long gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and superluminous supernovae, potentially linking these astrophysical phenomena (Metzger et al. 2017). In addition, the bursting source is found to be spatially coincident with a compact (< 0.7 pc; Marcote et al. 2017), persistent radio source (Chatterjee et al. 2017). Ofek (2017) identified similar radio sources in the Very Large Array FIRST survey (Becker et al. 1995). One of these sources, FIRST J141918.9+394036 (hereafter FIRST J1419+3940), was identified as a radio transient decaying in brightness by a factor of ~50 over several decades (Law et al. 2018). Very-long-baseline radio interferometric observations support the theory that FIRST J1419+3940 is the afterglow of a long GRB, based on the inferred physical size of the emission region (1.6 ± 0.3 pc; Marcote et al. 2019)