1,200 research outputs found
Sample Size Determination to Evaluate the Impact of Highway Improvements
This paper was prepared for the Department of Transport, as a
support document to a main report on the feasibility of
measuring responses to highway improvements. The paper
discusses the statistical issues involved, particularly as
regards the determination of suitable sample sizes. Worked
examples are provided, using such data on ambient variability
and adjustment factors as were available to us. Some of the
data is included as an appendix where it was felt to be
otherwise not easily available.
The note asks two sort of questions. Firstly, what is the
minimum sample size to take to be a certain percent confident
that a given quantity lies in a range of a given width.
Secondly, what sample sizes should be taken in Before and After
studies so as to be a certain percent confident that a change in
a quantity by a given amount will be detected as a statistically
significant difference at some chosen significance level.
Three sorts of quantities are discussed:
- total flows past a point, which may be counted by loops, tubes
or manually;
- partial flows, such as a particular 0-D flow, which require
roadside interviews;
- journey times over particular links
Ambiguities in the partial-wave analysis of pseudoscalar-meson photoproduction
Ambiguities in pseudoscalar-meson photoproduction, arising from incomplete
experimental data, have analogs in pion-nucleon scattering. Amplitude
ambiguities have important implications for the problems of amplitude
extraction and resonance identification in partial-wave analysis. The effect of
these ambiguities on observables is described. We compare our results with
those found in earlier studies.Comment: 12 pages of text. No figure
Atl1 Regulates Choice between Global Genome and Transcription-Coupled Repair of O6-Alkylguanines
Nucleotide excision repair (NER) has long been known to remove DNA lesions induced by chemical carcinogens, and the molecular mechanism has been partially elucidated. Here we demonstrate that in Schizosaccharomyces pombe a DNA recognition protein, alkyltransferase-like 1 (Atl1), can play a pivotal role in selecting a specific NER pathway, depending on the nature of the DNA modification. The relative ease of dissociation of Atl1 from DNA containing small O6-alkylguanines allows accurate completion of global genome repair (GGR), whereas strong Atl1 binding to bulky O6-alkylguanines blocks GGR, stalls the transcription machinery, and diverts the damage to transcription-coupled repair. Our findings redraw the initial stages of the NER process in those organisms that express an alkyltransferase-like gene and raise the question of whether or not O6-alkylguanine lesions that are poor substrates for the alkyltransferase proteins in higher eukaryotes might, by analogy, signal such lesions for repair by NER
Recommended from our members
Symbolic knowledge extraction from trained neural networks: A sound approach
Although neural networks have shown very good performance in many application domains, one of their main drawbacks lies in the incapacity to provide an explanation for the underlying reasoning mechanisms.
The “explanation capability” of neural networks can be achieved by the extraction of symbolic knowledge. In this paper, we present a new method of extraction that captures nonmonotonic rules encoded in the network, and prove that such a method is sound.
We start by discussing some of the main problems of knowledge extraction methods. We then discuss how these problems may be ameliorated. To this end, a partial ordering on the set of input vectors of a network is defined, as well as a number of pruning and simplification rules. The pruning rules are then used to reduce the search space of the extraction algorithm during a pedagogical extraction, whereas the simplification rules are used to reduce the size of the extracted set of rules. We show that, in the case of regular networks, the extraction algorithm is sound and complete.
We proceed to extend the extraction algorithm to the class of non-regular networks, the general case. We show that non-regular networks always contain regularities in their subnetworks. As a result, the underlying extraction method for regular networks can be applied, but now in a decompositional fashion. In order to combine the sets of rules extracted from each subnetwork into the final set of rules, we use a method whereby we are able to keep the soundness of the extraction algorithm.
Finally, we present the results of an empirical analysis of the extraction system, using traditional examples and real-world application problems. The results have shown that a very high fidelity between the extracted set of rules and the network can be achieved
Diffusive limit for a quantum linear Boltzmann dynamics
In this article, I study the diffusive behavior for a quantum test particle
interacting with a dilute background gas. The model I begin with is a reduced
picture for the test particle dynamics given by a quantum linear Boltzmann
equation in which the gas particle scattering is assumed to occur through a
hard-sphere interaction. The state of the particle is represented by a density
matrix that evolves according to a translation-covariant Lindblad equation. The
main result is a proof that the particle's position distribution converges to a
Gaussian under diffusive rescaling.Comment: 51 pages. I have restructured Sections 2-4 from the previous version
and corrected an error in the proof of Proposition 7.
Final-State Phases in , and Decays
The final-state phases in , and decays
appear to follow a pattern similar to those in , , and decays. Each set of processes is characterized by
three charge states but only two independent amplitudes, so the amplitudes form
triangles in the complex plane. For the first two sets the triangles appear to
have non-zero area, while for the or decays the areas
of the triangles are consistent with zero. Following an earlier discussion of
this behavior for decays, a similar analysis is performed for B decays, and
the relative phases and magnitudes of contributing amplitudes are determined.
The significance of recent results on \ob \to D^{(*)0} \bar{K}^{(*)0} is
noted. Open theoretical and experimental questions are indicated.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. D.
References added; comments on new experimental results and analysi
Retrospective source attribution for source-oriented sampling
Previous work successfully implemented a novel system that uses a single particle mass spectrometer to conditionally sample size-segregated, source-oriented particles from the ambient atmosphere in real-time. The underlying hypothesis is that the composition of individual particles is a metric of particle source and thus sampling particles based on composition should be synonymous with sampling based on source. System operation relies on real-time pattern recognition to control the actuation of different ChemVol samplers, where each ChemVol is associated with a unique composition signature. In the current work, a synthesis of data collected during these studies is used in retrospect to reconcile the actual source combinations contributing to the particles collected by each ChemVol. Source attribution is based on correlations between ChemVol sampling periods and coincident wind direction and temporal emissions patterns, coupled to knowledge of single particle composition and surrounding sources. Residential and commercial cooking, vehicular emissions, residential heating and highly processed regional background PM were identified as the major sources. Results show that real-time patterns in single particle mixing state correctly identified specific sources and that these sources were successfully separated into different ChemVols for both summer and winter seasons
The Importance of Time Congruity in the Organisation.
In 1991 Kaufman, Lane, and Lindquist proposed that time congruity in terms of an individual's time preferences and the time use methods of an organisation would lead to satisfactory performance and enhancement of quality of work and general life. The research reported here presents a study which uses commensurate person and job measures of time personality in an organisational setting to assess the effects of time congruity on one aspect of work life, job-related affective well-being. Results show that time personality and time congruity were found to have direct effects on well-being and the influence of time congruity was found to be mediated through time personality, thus contributing to the person–job (P–J) fit literature which suggests that direct effects are often more important than indirect effects. The study also provides some practical examples of ways to address some of the previously cited methodological issues in P–J fit research
Ecological restoration of agricultural land can improve its contribution to economic development.
Given the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture, there is an urgent need to reduce the impact of food production on biodiversity. Ecological restoration of farmland could potentially contribute to this goal. While the positive impacts of ecological restoration on biodiversity are well established, less evidence is available regarding impacts on economic development and employment. Potentially, prospects for economic development could be enhanced by ecological restoration though increased provision of ecosystem services, on which some economic activity depends. Here we examined this issue through the development of contrasting land use scenarios for the county of Dorset, southern England. Two scenarios of future agricultural expansion were compared with two scenarios of landscape-scale ecological restoration and the current situation. Impacts on provision of multiple ecosystem services (ES) were explored using InVEST models and proxy values for different land cover types. Impacts on economic employment were examined using an economic input-output model, which was adjusted for variation in ES flows using empirically determined ES dependency values for different economic sectors. Using the unadjusted input-output model, the scenarios had only a slight economic impact (≤ 0.3% Gross Value Added, GVA). Conversely, when the input-output model was adjusted to take account of ES flows, GVA increased by up to 5.4% in the restoration scenarios, whereas under the scenario with greatest agricultural expansion, GVA was reduced by -4.5%. Similarly, employment increased by up to 6.7% following restoration, compared to declines of up to -5.6% following maximum agricultural expansion. These results show that the economic contribution of rural land is far greater than that attributable to agricultural production alone. Landscape-scale restoration of agricultural land can potentially increase the contribution of farmland to economic development and employment, by increasing flows of multiple ES to the many economic sectors that depend on them
- …