10,230 research outputs found
Expert Finding by Capturing Organisational Knowledge from Legacy Documents
Organisations capitalise on their best knowledge through the improvement of shared expertise which leads to a higher level of productivity and competency. The recognition of the need to foster the sharing of expertise has led to the development of expert finder systems that hold pointers to experts who posses specific knowledge in organisations. This paper discusses an approach to locating an expert through the application of information retrieval and analysis processes to an organization’s existing information resources, with specific reference to the engineering design domain. The approach taken was realised through an expert finder system framework. It enables the relationships of heterogeneous information sources with experts to be factored in modelling individuals’ expertise. These valuable relationships are typically ignored by existing expert finder systems, which only focus on how documents relate to their content. The developed framework also provides an architecture that can be easily adapted to different organisational environments. In addition, it also allows users to access the expertise recognition logic, giving them greater trust in the systems implemented using this framework. The framework were applied to real world application and evaluated within a major engineering company
Investigation in haemodynamic stability during intermittent haemodialysis in the critically ill
No abstract available
An investigation into the effects of commencing haemodialysis in the critically ill
<b>Introduction:</b>
We have aimed to describe haemodynamic changes when haemodialysis is instituted in the critically ill. 3
hypotheses are tested: 1)The initial session is associated with cardiovascular instability, 2)The initial session is
associated with more cardiovascular instability compared to subsequent sessions, and 3)Looking at unstable
sessions alone, there will be a greater proportion of potentially harmful changes in the initial sessions compared
to subsequent ones.
<b>Methods:</b>
Data was collected for 209 patients, identifying 1605 dialysis sessions. Analysis was performed on hourly
records, classifying sessions as stable/unstable by a cutoff of >+/-20% change in baseline physiology
(HR/MAP). Data from 3 hours prior, and 4 hours after dialysis was included, and average and minimum values
derived. 3 time comparisons were made (pre-HD:during, during HD:post, pre-HD:post). Initial sessions were
analysed separately from subsequent sessions to derive 2 groups. If a session was identified as being unstable,
then the nature of instability was examined by recording whether changes crossed defined physiological ranges.
The changes seen in unstable sessions could be described as to their effects: being harmful/potentially harmful,
or beneficial/potentially beneficial.
<b>Results:</b>
Discarding incomplete data, 181 initial and 1382 subsequent sessions were analysed. A session was deemed to
be stable if there was no significant change (>+/-20%) in the time-averaged or minimum MAP/HR across time
comparisons. By this definition 85/181 initial sessions were unstable (47%, 95% CI SEM 39.8-54.2). Therefore
Hypothesis 1 is accepted. This compares to 44% of subsequent sessions (95% CI 41.1-46.3). Comparing these
proportions and their respective CI gives a 95% CI for the standard error of the difference of -4% to 10%.
Therefore Hypothesis 2 is rejected. In initial sessions there were 92/1020 harmful changes. This gives a
proportion of 9.0% (95% CI SEM 7.4-10.9). In the subsequent sessions there were 712/7248 harmful changes.
This gives a proportion of 9.8% (95% CI SEM 9.1-10.5). Comparing the two unpaired proportions gives a
difference of -0.08% with a 95% CI of the SE of the difference of -2.5 to +1.2. Hypothesis 3 is rejected. Fisher’s
exact test gives a result of p=0.68, reinforcing the lack of significant variance.
<b>Conclusions:</b>
Our results reject the claims that using haemodialysis is an inherently unstable choice of therapy. Although
proportionally more of the initial sessions are classed as unstable, the majority of MAP and HR changes are
beneficial in nature
Type Ia Supernovae and Accretion Induced Collapse
Using the population synthesis binary evolution code StarTrack, we present
theoretical rates and delay times of Type Ia supernovae arising from various
formation channels. These channels include binaries in which the exploding
white dwarf reaches the Chandrasekhar mass limit (DDS, SDS, and helium-rich
donor scenario) as well as the sub-Chandrasekhar mass scenario, in which a
white dwarf accretes from a helium-rich companion and explodes as a SN Ia
before reaching the Chandrasekhar mass limit. We find that using a common
envelope parameterization employing energy balance with alpha=1 and lambda=1,
the supernova rates per unit mass (born in stars) of sub-Chandrasekhar mass SNe
Ia exceed those of all other progenitor channels at epochs t=0.7 - 4 Gyr for a
burst of star formation at t=0. Additionally, the delay time distribution of
the sub-Chandrasekhar model can be divided in to two distinct evolutionary
channels: the `prompt' helium-star channel with delay times < 500 Myr, and the
`delayed' double white dwarf channel with delay times > 800 Myr spanning up to
a Hubble time. These findings are in agreement with recent
observationally-derived delay time distributions which predict that a large
number of SNe Ia have delay times < 1 Gyr, with a significant fraction having
delay times < 500 Myr. We find that the DDS channel is also able to account for
the observed rates of SNe Ia. However, detailed simulations of white dwarf
mergers have shown that most of these mergers will not lead to SNe Ia but
rather to the formation of a neutron star via accretion-induced collapse. If
this is true, our standard population synthesis model predicts that the only
progenitor channel which can account for the rates of SNe Ia is the
sub-Chandrasekhar mass scenario, and none of the other progenitors considered
can fully account for the observed rates.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, to appear in proceedings for "Binary Star
Evolution: Mass Loss, Accretion and Mergers
Phonon emission and arrival times of electrons from a single-electron source
In recent charge-pump experiments, single electrons are injected into quantum Hall edge channels at energies significantly above the Fermi level. We consider here the relaxation of these hot edge-channel electrons through longitudinal-optical-phonon emission. Our results show that the probability for an electron in the outermost edge channel to emit one or more phonons en route to a detector some microns distant along the edge channel suffers a double-exponential suppression with increasing magnetic field. This explains recent experimental observations. We also describe how the shape of the arrival-time distribution of electrons at the detector reflects the velocities of the electronic states post phonon emission. We show how this can give rise to pronounced oscillations in the arrival-time-distribution width as a function of magnetic field or electron energy
Detecting the signatures of helium in type Iax supernovae
Recent studies have argued that the progenitor system of type Iax supernovae
must consist of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf accreting from a helium star
companion. Based on existing explosion models invoking the pure deflagration of
carbon-oxygen white dwarfs, we investigate the likelihood of producing spectral
features due to helium in type Iax supernovae. From this scenario, we select
those explosion models producing ejecta and Ni masses that are broadly
consistent with those estimated for type Iax supernovae (0.014 -
0.478~ and - 0.183~, respectively). To this
end, we present a series of models of varying luminosities (~mag) with helium abundances accounting for up to
36\% of the ejecta mass, and covering a range of epochs beginning a few
days before Bband maximum to approximately two weeks after maximum. We find
that the best opportunity for detecting \ion{He}{i} features is at
near-infrared wavelengths, and in the post-maximum spectra of the fainter
members of this class. We show that the optical spectrum of SN~2007J is
potentially consistent with a large helium content (a few 10),
but argue that current models of accretion and material stripping from a
companion struggle to produce compatible scenarios. We also investigate the
presence of helium in all objects with near-infrared spectra. We show that
SNe~2005hk, 2012Z, and 2015H contain either no helium or their helium
abundances are constrained to much lower values
(10). Our results demonstrate the differences in
helium content among type Iax supernovae, perhaps pointing to different
progenitor channels. Either SN~2007J is an outlier in terms of its progenitor
system, or it is not a true member of the type Iax supernova class.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy
and Astrophysic
Postfledging Survival, Movements, and Dispersal of Ring Ouzels (Turdus torquatus)
We thank Invercauld Estate for cooperation with access to Glen Clunie. S. Redpath, J. Wilson, and S. Roos provided valuable comments on the manuscript. This study was funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority. J.L.L. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Instrumentation and Measurements for Electron Emission from Charged Insulators
The electron was first discovered in 1898 by Sir John Joseph Thomson and has since been the subject of detailed study by nearly every scientific discipline. At nearly the same time Heinrich Rudolf Hertz conducted a series of experiments using cathode tubes, high potentials and ultraviolet light. When applying a large potential to a cathode he found that an arching event across the metal plates would occur. In addition, when shining an ultraviolet light on the metal he found that less potential was required to induce the spark. This result, taken together with other electrical phenomena brought about by the shining of light upon metal and was eventually termed the photoelectric effect. The work of Thomson and Hertz represent the beginning of electron emission studies and a body of ideas that pervade nearly all aspects of physics. In particular these ideas tell us a great deal about the nature of physical interactions within solids. In this thesis we will focus on the emission of electrons induced by an incident electron source over a range of energies, in which one can observe changes in emitted electron flux and energy distribution. In particular, when energetic particles impinge on a solid they can impart their energy, exciting electrons within the material. If this energy is sufficient to overcome surface energy barriers such as the work function, electron affinity or surface charge potential, electrons can escape from the material. The extent of electron emission from the material can be quantified as the ratio of incident particle flux to emitted particle flux, and is termed the electron yield
Explaining anomalous responses to treatment in the Intensive Care Unit
The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) provides treatment to critically ill patients. When a patient does not respond as expected to such treatment it can be challenging for clinicians, especially junior clinicians, as they may not have the relevant experience to understand the patient’s anomalous response. Datasets for 10 patients from Glasgow Royal Infirmary’s ICU have been made available to us. We asked several ICU clinicians to review these datasets and to suggest sequences which include anomalous or unusual reactions to treatment. Further, we then asked two ICU clinicians if they agreed with their colleagues’ assessments, and if they did to provide possible explanations for these anomalous sequences. Subsequently we have developed a system which is able to replicate the clinicians’ explanations based on the knowledge contained in its several ontologies; further the system can suggest additional explanations which will be evaluated by the senior consultant
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