Space Transportation System Meteorological Expert

Computers are being used today to build the expert systems of tomorrow. Expert systems are computer programs that are smart about a domain in the way that people are smart. Expert systems technology is being applied to weather forecasting to support Shuttle operations for launch and for ground processing at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The Space Transportation System Meterological ExperT (STSMET) is a long term project, now-in its third year, to capture general Shuttle operational weather forecasting expertise specific to our locale, to apply it to Shuttle operational weather forecasting tasks at the Cape Canaveral Forecast Facility (CCFF) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), and to ultimately provide an on-line, real-time operational aid to the duty forecasters in performing their tasks. The first domain addressed by the project has been summer thunderstorms. The effort to represent this knowledge and a control structure to reason about it has resulted in an approach that we call scenario-based reasoning. Other meteorological domains on our agenda are frontal weather phenomena, visibility including fog, and wind shear. We believe that scenario-based reasoning is also applicable to these other meteorological domains. The specific operational tasks to which to apply the general knowledge about summer thunderstorms are being identified during this phase of the contract. The project is being developed using state-of-the-art hardware and software: a Symbolics Lisp Machine, Zetalisp and Automated Reasoning Tool (ART), an expert system shell. Scenario-based reasoning appears to have applications outside of weather forecasting. The abilities of a scenario-based system to reason qualitatively, to reason over time, and to reason across scale are all applicable to planning in autonomous systems. With further research, we expect to add analogical reasoning to the abilities of scenario-based reasoning

The Social Fund - current role and future direction

This report considers the role of the discretionary Social Fund in combating poverty and possible reforms to the scheme. It is mainly based upon secondary analysis of the Family Resources Survey and the Expenditure and Food Survey and qualitative research with benefit recipients: both discretionary Social Fund applicants and nonapplicants, and people from a range of socio-economic backgrounds. Participants in the qualitative research discussed times of particular financial hardship, experiences of the Social Fund and possible reforms to the Social Fund

ISA-TAB-Nano: A Specification for Sharing Nanomaterial Research Data in Spreadsheet-based Format

BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION: The high-throughput genomics communities have been successfully using standardized spreadsheet-based formats to capture and share data within labs and among public repositories. The nanomedicine community has yet to adopt similar standards to share the diverse and multi-dimensional types of data (including metadata) pertaining to the description and characterization of nanomaterials. Owing to the lack of standardization in representing and sharing nanomaterial data, most of the data currently shared via publications and data resources are incomplete, poorly-integrated, and not suitable for meaningful interpretation and re-use of the data. Specifically, in its current state, data cannot be effectively utilized for the development of predictive models that will inform the rational design of nanomaterials. RESULTS: We have developed a specification called ISA-TAB-Nano, which comprises four spreadsheet-based file formats for representing and integrating various types of nanomaterial data. Three file formats (Investigation, Study, and Assay files) have been adapted from the established ISA-TAB specification; while the Material file format was developed de novo to more readily describe the complexity of nanomaterials and associated small molecules. In this paper, we have discussed the main features of each file format and how to use them for sharing nanomaterial descriptions and assay metadata. CONCLUSION: The ISA-TAB-Nano file formats provide a general and flexible framework to record and integrate nanomaterial descriptions, assay data (metadata and endpoint measurements) and protocol information. Like ISA-TAB, ISA-TAB-Nano supports the use of ontology terms to promote standardized descriptions and to facilitate search and integration of the data. The ISA-TAB-Nano specification has been submitted as an ASTM work item to obtain community feedback and to provide a nanotechnology data-sharing standard for public development and adoption

Technologies for recovery of energy from wastewaters: Applicability and potential in South Africa

This study explored technologies for recovering energy from wastewater through production of biomass, combustion and gasification, generation of biogas, production of bioethanol, heat recovery and microbial fuel cells. A first order desktop analysis of the potential for applying these solutions to wastewaters in South Africa revealed that 3 200 to 9 000 MWth of energy has potential for recovery, equating to at most 7% of South Africa’s current electrical power supply. Formal and informal animal husbandry, fruit and beverage industries and domestic blackwater were identified as wastewaters with the greatest potential for energy recovery. Of the reviewed technologies, anaerobic digestion shows applicability to the widest range of feedstocks. Net energy generated, reduction in pollution, and water reclamation are identified as the main benefits, but additional benefits such as certified emission reductions, fertiliser production and the production of secondary products may dictate the economic feasibility

Technologies for recovery of energy from wastewaters: Applicability and potential in South Africa

This study explored technologies for recovering energy from wastewater through production of biomass, combustion and gasification, generation of biogas, production of bioethanol, heat recovery and microbial fuel cells. A first order desktop analysis of the potential for applying these solutions to wastewaters in South Africa revealed that 3 200 to 9 000 MWth of energy has potential for recovery, equating to at most 7% of South Africa’s current electrical power supply. Formal and informal animal husbandry, fruit and beverage industries and domestic blackwater were identified as wastewaters with the greatest potential for energy recovery. Of the reviewed technologies, anaerobic digestion shows applicability to the widest range of feedstocks. Net energy generated, reduction in pollution, and water reclamation are identified as the main benefits, but additional benefits such as certified emission reductions, fertiliser production and the production of secondary products may dictate the economic feasibility

Association between rheumatoid arthritis disease activity, progression of functional limitation and long-term risk of orthopaedic surgery : Combined analysis of two prospective cohorts supports EULAR treat to target DAS thresholds

Objectives: To examine the association between disease activity in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), functional limitation and long-term orthopaedic episodes. Methods: Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) disability scores were collected from two longitudinal early RA inception cohorts in routine care; Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Study and Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Network from 1986 to 2012. The incidence of major and intermediate orthopaedic surgical episodes over 25 years was collected from national data sets. Disease activity was categorised by mean disease activity score (DAS28) annually between years 1 and 5; remission (RDAS≤2.6), low (LDAS>2.6-3.2), low-moderate (LMDAS≥3.2-4.19), high-moderate (HMDAS 4.2-5.1) and high (HDAS>5.1). Results: Data from 2045 patients were analysed. Patients in RDAS showed no HAQ progression over 5 years, whereas there was a significant relationship between rising DAS28 category and HAQ at 1 year, and the rate of HAQ progression between years 1 and 5. During 27 986 person-years follow-up, 392 intermediate and 591 major surgeries were observed. Compared with the RDAS category, there was a significantly increased cumulative incidence of intermediate surgery in HDAS (OR 2.59 CI 1.49 to 4.52) and HMDAS (OR 1.8 CI 1.05 to 3.11) categories, and for major surgery in HDAS (OR 2.48 CI 1.5 to 4.11), HMDAS (OR 2.16 CI 1.32 to 3.52) and LMDAS (OR 2.07 CI 1.28 to 3.33) categories. There was no significant difference in HAQ progression or orthopaedic episodes between RDAS and LDAS categories. Conclusions: There is an association between disease activity and both poor function and long-term orthopaedic episodes. This illustrates the far from benign consequences of persistent moderate disease activity, and supports European League Against Rheumatism treat to target recommendations to secure low disease activity or remission in all patients.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Health trajectories in regeneration areas in England:the impact of the New Deal for Communities intervention

BACKGROUND: A large body of evidence documents the adverse relationship between concentrated deprivation and health. Among the evaluations of regeneration initiatives to tackle these spatial inequalities, few have traced the trajectories of individuals over time and fewer still have employed counterfactual comparison. We investigate the impact of one such initiative in England, the New Deal for Communities (NDC), which ran from 1999 to 2011, on socioeconomic inequalities in health trajectories. METHODS: Latent Growth Curve modelling of within-person changes in self-rated health, mental health and life satisfaction between 2002 and 2008 of an analytical cohort of residents of 39 disadvantaged areas of England in which the NDC was implemented, compared with residents of comparator, non-intervention areas, focusing on: (1) whether differences over time in outcomes can be detected between NDC and comparator areas and (2) whether interventions may have altered socioeconomic differences in outcomes. RESULTS: No evidence was found for an overall improvement in the three outcomes, or for significant differences in changes in health between respondents in NDC versus comparator areas. However, we found a weakly significant gap in life satisfaction and mental health between high and low socioeconomic status individuals in comparator areas which widened over time to a greater extent than in NDC areas. Change over time in the three outcomes was non-linear: individual improvements among NDC residents were largest before 2006. CONCLUSIONS: There is limited evidence that the NDC moderated the impact of socioeconomic factors on mental health and life satisfaction trajectories. Furthermore, any NDC impact was strongest in the first 6 years of the programmes

ISA-TAB-Nano: A Specification for Sharing Nanomaterial Research Data in Spreadsheet-based Format

Background and motivation: The high-throughput genomics communities have been successfully using standardized spreadsheet-based formats to capture and share data within labs and among public repositories. The nanomedicine community has yet to adopt similar standards to share the diverse and multi-dimensional types of data (including metadata) pertaining to the description and characterization of nanomaterials. Owing to the lack of standardization in representing and sharing nanomaterial data, most of the data currently shared via publications and data resources are incomplete, poorly-integrated, and not suitable for meaningful interpretation and re-use of the data. Specifically, in its current state, data cannot be effectively utilized for the development of predictive models that will inform the rational design of nanomaterials. Results: We have developed a specification called ISA-TAB-Nano, which comprises four spreadsheet-based file formats for representing and integrating various types of nanomaterial data. Three file formats (Investigation, Study, and Assay files) have been adapted from the established ISA-TAB specification; while the Material file format was developed de novo to more readily describe the complexity of nanomaterials and associated small molecules. In this paper, we have discussed the main features of each file format and how to use them for sharing nanomaterial descriptions and assay metadata. Conclusion: The ISA-TAB-Nano file formats provide a general and flexible framework to record and integrate nanomaterial descriptions, assay data (metadata and endpoint measurements) and protocol information. Like ISA-TAB, ISA-TAB-Nano supports the use of ontology terms to promote standardized descriptions and to facilitate search and integration of the data. The ISA-TAB-Nano specification has been submitted as an ASTM work item to obtain community feedback and to provide a nanotechnology data-sharing standard for public development and adoption

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.]