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Abstract: There is little doubt surrounding the benefits of the Nutrition Care Process and International Dietetics and Nutrition Terminology (IDNT) to dietetics practice; however, evidence to support the most efficient method of incorporating these into practice is lacking. The main objective of our study was to compare the efficiency and effectiveness of an electronic and a manual paper-based system for capturing the Nutrition Care Process and IDNT in a single in-center hemodialysis unit. A cohort of 56 adult patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis were followed for 12 months. During the first 6 months, patients received the usual standard care, with documentation via a manual paper-based system. During the following 6-month period (Months 7 to 12), nutrition care was documented by an electronic system. Workload efficiency, number of IDNT codes used related to nutrition-related diagnoses, interventions, monitoring and evaluation using IDNT, nutritional status using the scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment Tool of Quality of Life were the main outcome measures. Compared with paper-based documentation of nutrition care, our study demonstrated that an electronic system improved the efficiency of total time spent by the dietitian by 13 minutes per consultation. There were also a greater number of nutrition-related diagnoses resolved using the electronic system compared with the paper-based documentation (P<0.001). In conclusion, the implementation of an electronic system compared with a paper-based system in a population receiving hemodialysis resulted in significant improvements in the efficiency of nutrition care and effectiveness related to patient outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Self-monitoring has traditionally been done using a paper record, which can be tedious and burdensome. A personal digital assistant (PDA) with dietary software can provide an alternative to a paper record. The study aimed to describe the differences in dietary changes at 6 months between participants randomly assigned to use a paper record or PDA for self-monitoring in a clinical trial of weight-loss treatment. Self-monitoring adherence and changes in weight and diet were assessed between 2006 and 2009. The sample (n=192) was 84% female and 78% white, with a mean age of 49 years and body mass index (calculated as kg/m2) of 34.1. At baseline, the groups did not differ in energy intake, percent calories from fat, and number of servings of the examined food groups. At 6 months, both groups had significant reductions in weight, energy intake, and percent calories from total fat and saturated fatty acids (P<0.001); no between-group differences were found. Compared to the paper record group, the PDA group significantly increased consumption of fruit (P=0.02) and vegetables (P=0.04) and decreased consumption of refined grains (P=0.02). Interactions among self-monitoring and the two groups were found in relation to changes in percent calories from total fat (P=0.02), monounsaturated fatty acids (P=0.002), and trans-fatty acids (P=0.04). Frequent self-monitoring was significantly associated with total sugar (P=0.02) and added sugar (P=0.01) intake in both groups. Our findings suggest that use of a PDA for self-monitoring might improve self-awareness of behavior and dietary changes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Contingency tables may be required to perform chi-test analyses. This provides pointers as to how to do this in Microsoft Excel and explains how to set up methods to calculate confidence intervals for proportions, including proportions with zero numerators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to neuro-oncologic care in Nigeria has grown exponentially since the first reported cases in the mid-1960s. In this systematic review and pooled analysis, we characterize the growth of neurosurgical oncology in Nigeria and build a reference paper to direct efforts to expand this field. We performed an initial literature search of several article databases and gray literature sources. We included and subsequently screened articles published between 1962 and 2021. Several variables were extracted from each study, including the affiliated hospital, the number of patients treated, patient sex, tumor pathology, the types of imaging modalities used for diagnosis, and the interventions used for each individual. Change in these variables was assessed using Chi-squared independence tests and univariate linear regression when appropriate. A total of 147 studies were identified, corresponding to 5,760 patients. Over 4000 cases were reported in the past 2 decades from 21 different Nigerian institutions. The types of tumors reported have increased over time, with increasingly more patients being evaluated via computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). There is also a prevalent use of radiotherapy, though chemotherapy remains an underreported treatment modality. This study highlights key trends regarding the prevalence and management of neuro-oncologic pathologies within Nigeria. Further studies are needed to continue to learn and guide the future growth of this field in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we focus on the distributed cyber attack detection and physical fault diagnosis problem for a class of interconnected large-scale systems (ILSSs). In the proposed scheme, apart from node measurement, edge measurement is also used to construct distributed Kalman filter to estimate the state of each subsystem. The gain matrices of Kalman filter are determined by minimizing the covariance of estimation error in the attack-free and fault-free case, which reduces the false alarm rate of cyber attack detection and physical fault diagnosis. Based on this filter, a bank of adjacent residual generators is constructed to characterize the influence of cyber attack on the edge measurement, and the Chi-square test is used to detect whether the received edge measurements are attacked. At the same time, a local residual generator is constructed for each subsystem to characterize the influence of physical faults on it, and the residual signal is evaluated by variance and directional residual, so as to make distributed fault detection and isolation of each subsystem. It is worth noting that at each step, each subsystem first performs attack detection on the received edge measurements, and then estimates its own state using the attack-free edge measurements and node measurement, which further improves the accuracy of fault detection and isolation. In addition, a sufficient condition that ensuring the mean square exponential boundedness of the estimation error is given. Finally, the proposed scheme is verified by an illustrative example. • A distributed Kalman filter using both node and edge measurements is proposed. • The gain matrices are determined by minimizing the estimation error covariance. • The adjacent residuals are tested by Chi-square test. • The local residual is evaluated by variance and directional residual. • The proposed scheme is completely distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intratympanic steroid injection (ITSI) can be an effective treatment for sudden sensorineural hearing loss or Meniere's disease. Tympanic membrane (TM) perforation after ITSI is a major complication which needs additional treatment. The purpose of this study is to assess the factors associated with TM perforation after ITSI. We obtained the clinical data of patients who underwent ITSI treatment at the Department of Otolaryngology JR Tokyo General Hospital from April 2013 to March 2021. The data included age, sex, treated side, number of injections, average interval between injections, TM anesthesia with Zentöl solution, which contains phenol, any history of diabetes and any concurrent use of oral or intravenous steroids. We evaluated the association between these variables and TM perforation after ITSI using the Student's t-test, the chi-squared test, univariate logistic regression analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis. TM perforation was defined as a case in which perforation was observed at least once during outpatient visits. Records of 205 ears in 190 patients were analyzed. The overall proportion of TM perforation in the early period after ITSI was 12.7% (26 out of 205 ears), which decreased to 9.3% (19 out of 205 ears) and 5.9% (12 out of 205 ears) at the 1- and 3-month follow-ups, respectively. The proportion of TM perforation in the early period after ITSI without TM anesthesia was 3.5% (5 ears out of 145 ears), which decreased to 1.4% (2 ears) or 0% at the 1- or 3- month follow-ups, respectively. The use of tympanic anesthetics which contain phenol was significantly associated with TM perforation in univariate logistic regression analysis (odds ratio: 15.08, 95% confidence interval: 5.34–42.56, p < 0.001) and in multivariate analysis (odds ratio: 20.76, 95% confidence interval: 6.31–68.3, p < 0.001). All TM perforation cases without TM anesthesia healed spontaneously or with paper tympanic closure treatment. TM perforation in 6 ears out of 21 ears with TM anesthesia did not heal during the follow-up. The overall proportion of TM perforations from the early period after ITSI was 12.7%, 9.3% at the 1-month post-ITSI outpatient follow-up, 5.9% at the 3-month post-ITSI outpatient follow-up. Tympanic anesthesia was significantly associated with TM perforation after ITSI, which indicated that TM anesthesia with solutions containing phenol is not recommended for ITSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Hyland's model of interactional metadiscourse (2005; 2005a), this paper investigates the distribution of interactional metadiscourse in news commentaries of China Daily (CD) and The New York Times (NYT), two leading newspapers in China and the United States. The corpus retrieved includes 60 news commentaries on the topic of COVID-19 covering six months from January to June, 2022 when the resurgence of COVID-19 in China has aroused public debates and attracted world-wide media attention. This study reveals that both stance and engagement, are frequently employed in CD and NYT. Nevertheless, the occurrences of interactional features in NYT are far more frequent than those in CD, which reflects a higher level of explicit interaction of the former. Results of chi-square test of the sub-categorical interactional metadiscourse mark significant differences in the distribution of hedges, self-mention and engagement markers between the two corpora. NYT employs greater number of all the three subcategories, indicating NYT writers' attempts to both express a clear personal stance to their views and to closely align with readers, whereas CD shows a strong tendency of conveying their evaluations and commitment towards propositions by employing stance nearly three times as many as engagement. • Interactional metadiscourse is frequently used in news commentaries. • The New York Times employs both stance and engagement more frequently. • China Daily inclines to explicitly manifest its stance towards propositions. • The New York Times conveys a clear stance as well as closely aligns with readers. • Significant differences are marked in the use of hedges, self-mention and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first paper evaluating the efficacy of laser Doppler imager in diagnosis of pulpal vitality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the diagnostic benefits of laser Doppler imaging and electric pulp test (EPT) in dental trauma. Seven patients were selected for pulp vitality evaluation in Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital between 2018 and 2019. EPT and laser Doppler imager evaluation were performed for patients with traumatic injury to teeth. Statistical methods included the Kappa consistency test and the chi-square test. In addition, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the area under the curve (AUC) were used. There was a significant difference in Doppler flow values between the severe trauma group and the mild trauma group, regardless of patient self-reported symptoms (P = 0.043) or physicians' diagnostic classification (P = 0.018). For an EPT instrument, the Kappa coefficient was 0.67 and 1-year pulpal status findings were highly consistent (P < 0.001). Using a Doppler instrument, the Kappa coefficient was 0.85. According to the ROC curve, the AUC for EPT was 0.94, the AUC for Doppler was 1, and the optimal cut-off value was 31.55, indicating that both were superior diagnostic tools. Both laser Doppler imager and EPT can be used as tools for diagnosing traumatic pulp necrosis. Doppler imaging instruments allow for a more timely and accurate assessment of pulp vitality in dental trauma. In the future, ongoing research and related training are necessary for interpretation of Doppler data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of small pieces of space debris (less than 2 mm in size) that ground-based observations are unable to detect can cause fatal damage to a spacecraft. Accordingly, to monitor the environment of these small pieces, in-situ measurements that utilize on-orbit impact sensors capable of detecting small objects are being advanced. One of the advantages of in-situ measurements is its capability to derive data with high time resolution, thus allowing the investigation of changes in the aforementioned environment. In this paper, two statistical methods—one based on the chi-squared test and the other on the Akaike Information Criterion—are proposed to detect environmental changes, and an equation that clarifies the correlation between the impact detector area, measurement duration, and limit of the detectable extent of change is derived. One of the proposed methods can also estimate the extent of environmental changes. To evaluate these methods and the derived equation, numerical simulations are conducted. The outcome of this study affords a quantitative assessment of changes in the environment of small pieces of space debris and is anticipated to contribute to the improvement of systems designed for investigating the such changes using in-situ measurements. • Statistical methods proposed in this paper assess the debris environmental changes. • The detectability equation clarifies the requirements on the in-situ measurements. • Numerical Simulations were conducted to evaluate the proposed methods and equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity is a global disease with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese according to the world health organization figures. This paper aims to explore the links between obesity and mortality in COVID-19. Electronic search was made for the papers studying obesity as a risk factor for mortality following COVID-19 infection. Three authors independently selected the papers and agreed for final inclusion. The outcomes were the age, gender, body mass index, severe comorbidities, respiratory support and the critical illness related mortality in COVID-19. 572 publications were identified and 42 studies were selected including one unpublished study data. Only 14 studies were selected for quantitative analysis. All the primary points but the gender are significantly associated with COVID-19 mortality. The age >70, [odd ratio (OR): 0.17, CI; 95%, P-value: <0.00001], gender [OR: 0.89; CI: 95%, P-value: 0.32], BMI > 25 kg/m2 [OR: 3.68, CI: 95%, P-value: <0.003], severe comorbidities [OR: 1.84, CI:95%, P-value: <0.00001], advanced respiratory support [OR: 6.98, CI: 95%, P-value: <0.00001], and critical illness [OR: 2.03, CI: 95%, P-value: <0.00001]. Patients with obesity are at high risk of mortality from COVID-19 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our aim was to establish the recurrence rate of odontogenic myxoma after different treatments. Our search covered papers from 1972-2017 from different sources. The papers were evaluated and critically appraised by two independent investigators. The recurrence rate and 95% CI were calculated in relation to each specific treatment, and the chi squared test was calculated to find out if there was any significant difference in the recurrence rate between conservative treatment and resection. The overall recurrence rate was 5 of 39 patients (13%) during a mean follow up period of 10 years. With conservative treatment the recurrence rate was 4/22 (19%) (mean follow up 11 years) and after resection it was 1/17 (6%) (mean follow up nine years). Maxillary lesions were more likely to recur than mandibular ones. Quality of life variables such as disfigurement and neural deficit were more common after resection than with conservative treatment. The frequency of recurrence was relatively low over 10 years' follow up, irrespective of whether resection or a more conservative approach was used, despite being slightly lower (as might be expected) after resection. Conservative treatment should be considered first to avoid resection-associated morbidity and the effect on the quality of life. Maxillary lesions have more room to spread before they are clinically evident, making them difficult to treat optimally and contributing to the recurrence rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to examine the psychometric properties of a modified version of the Self-Efficacy in Clinical Teaching Scale with a sample of undergraduate nursing students. Enhancing nursing students' self-efficacy in clinical teaching is important for developing their clinical teaching capabilities, which ultimately contributes to safe quality healthcare. Little is known about nursing students' self-efficacy in clinical teaching, potentially due to a lack of validated instruments to measure their self-efficacy in clinical teaching. This study used a cross-sectional survey design. In 2022, a convenience sample of Year 2 and Year 3 nursing students in an Australian Bachelor of Nursing Program completed the modified Self-Efficacy in Clinical Teaching Scale. The scale's construct validity was assessed using known-group measures (year level and peer teaching experience) and confirmatory factor analysis. Concurrent validity was established through correlation with a visual analogue scale and reliability was tested with Cronbach's alpha. Three hundred and nineteen surveys were analysed. The mean total self-efficacy in clinical teaching score for Year 2 participants was significantly lower than that of Year 3 participants (mean difference = −11.13, 95 % CI [-16.33, −5.93]). Participants with peer teaching experience had a significantly higher mean total score compared with those without peer teaching experience (mean difference = 15.32, 95 % CI [8.74, 21.91]). The scale's relative chi-square test was acceptable (CMIN/df = 4.69); other fit indices were within or just outside acceptable parameters (RMSEA =.11; SRMR =.039; NFI =.89; RFI =.88; IFI =.91; TLI =.90; CFI =.91). There was a strong correlation between participants' total self-efficacy in clinical teaching scores and their visual analogue scale scores (r =.83, n = 314, p <.001 [two-tailed]). Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was.98. The modified Self-Efficacy in Clinical Teaching Scale was sensitive to student year level and peer teaching experience. When subjected to confirmatory factor analysis, the scale's model was an acceptable fit across several indices. These findings support an argument for the scale's construct validity. Total self-efficacy scores were strongly correlated with visual analogue scales, suggesting concurrent validity. Using Cronbach's alpha, the scale was found to be reliable, however may benefit from a reduction of item numbers. The modified Self-Efficacy in Clinical Teaching Scale may support future investigations of undergraduate nursing students' self-efficacy in clinical teaching and contribute to an understanding of health professional students' self-efficacy in clinical teaching across disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Likelihood ratio test is based on the ratio of the maximum values of likelihood functions on the whole parameter space and the null space, respectively. However, the likelihood ratio test is sometimes intractable such as the skew-normal distribution because of the irregular likelihood behavior. In this paper, we investigate the testing problem concerning the skew parameter based on Bayes factor, which is just the ratio of the integrals of the likelihoods. Like Wilks phenomenon of the classical likelihood ratio, the asymptotic chi-square distributions of some linear functions of the logarithms of Bayes factors are derived. Then selecting appropriate prior, we can construct tests with asymptotically nominal significance level. At the same time, we give the local power of the tests, which is the same as the power of classical likelihood ratio tests. We also provide an exact test based on the Bayes factor with specific prior, which is competitive with existing tests. Simulation studies show that our tests are effective. • The skew parameter of the skew normal distribution is tested with Bayes factor. • The asymptotic chi-square distributions of the test statistics are derived. • An exact test is provided for specific prior. • Jeffreys prior and a prior based on the uniform are compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of infectious disease as a cause of death is undeniable. The affect infectious disease may have on decomposition after death is less well established. Furthermore, virtually no information is available regarding the effects of burial conditions in such circumstances, despite that numerous clandestine burials occur each year. Although many aspects of post-mortem pathology are well understood and provide frequent insight in medicolegal investigation, where buried bodies are concerned, there is great variation in the decomposition processes, depending on extrinsic and intrinsic conditions. Criminal burials and hurriedly dug clandestine graves are seldom deeper than 120 cm allowing access to certain invertebrates, excluding others that only develop in unburied bodies. Numerous studies have reported on such clandestine graves with a purpose to facilitate forensic investigation, but our knowledge of decomposition in deeper graves lags behind, despite several often-cited papers of over a century ago. The poor level of detail in deep-grave knowledge is in part due to resource deficiencies and ethical considerations, but in part due to lack of thorough investigation of the data in papers of often cited prior work. To this end, a metadata analysis assessed a paper written by Dr. Murray Galt Motter in 1898, providing detail of 150 disinterment events with linked medical records from City of Washington cemeteries. This paper, written more than a hundred years ago, was largely descriptive and the detailed data provided in a summary table were never fully analysed. The paper is often quoted despite these obvious oversights. The present study revisits this work, applying a frequency statistical analysis conducted using categorical data and chi-squared analysis. This new analysis reveals patterns and relationships so long 'locked-up' within the body of the table and provides greater understanding of the effect of infectious disease on the abundance of species in the entomofauna associated with deeply buried remains. The data confirm that the presence of adipocere (saponification) is detrimental to development of soil entomofauna ((X 2 = 6·64, df = 1, p < 0·01)). Some species, in particular Proisotoma sepulcralis (Collembola), Eleusis pallida (Coleoptera) and Conicera tibialis (Diptera), were positively influenced by association with infectious disease cases (p < 0·01) while only Piophila casei (Diptera) demonstrated a negative association (p < 0·05). Furthermore, the presence of peri-mortem infectious disease, while not necessarily a cause of death, influences post-mortem colonisation of the buried body by insects. The abundance of some species is enhanced, suggesting that bacterial burdens enhance decomposition in a manner favourable to insect feeding and hence abundance, by releasing compounds that the entomofauna feeds on. Unlabelled Image • Peri-mortem infection significantly affects decompositional of buried cadavers. • Entomofauna of buried cadavers is significantly affected by Peri-mortem infection. • Abundance of some Collembola, Coleoptera and Diptera increases with infectious burial/ • These indicator species show potential for investigating post-mortem interval/ • Presence or absence of peri-mortem infection can be determined post-mortem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents further contributions to smart grids cyber-physical security as a malicious data attack. The contributions are twofold. First, a formal proof of how parameter errors spread out on the measurement function having a parameter with error. The largest composed measurement error property, in its normalized form, is then demonstrated for this case of error. Second, a methodology for smart grid cyber-physical malicious data injection correction is presented. Current state of the art solutions corrects simultaneous attacks assuming measurements or parameters without error. However, how may one correct a measurement if the parameter might be simultaneously in error or the other way around? In this paper, a relaxed model strategy for such is presented. Attacks are processed simultaneously and analyzed using only the framework of measurement gross error analysis. Cyber-attack detection is made through a Chi-square ( χ 2 ) Hypothesis Testing ( HT ) applied to the normalized composed measurement error ( CME N ). Composed errors are estimated with measurements’ innovation index ( II ). Cyber-attack identification is made through the largest normalized error test property. Cyber-attack correction is made considering cyber-attack type and using the composed normalized error ( CNE ) in a relaxed model strategy. The proposed solution works for malicious measurement and parameter data attacks. Still, the state estimation software does not need major changes. Validation is made on the IEEE 14-bus and 57-bus systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a tailored Symptom Allergy Indication Direction Self-care (SAIDS) counseling by pharmacists on consumers' correct understanding of over-the-counter (OTC) medication use.Methods: This study used a time-based sampling of two independent cohorts at a single community pharmacy in Taiwan for two years beginning in December 2018. In the control cohort, participants received conventional counseling for the OTCs they selected. In the intervention cohort, participants received SAIDS counseling along with pointing out OTC package label instructions. A paper-and-pencil survey was administered face-to-face to evaluate participants' understanding for the correct use of OTCs. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to evaluate the effect of the SAIDS approach on cohorts' understanding of OTC use.Results: Compared with conventional OTC counseling, participants reported better understanding regarding potential side effects of OTCs that they acquired (p < 0.001) and were more aware of strategies to cope with the associated side effects (p < 0.001).Conclusions and Practice Implications: Despite the time constraints that pharmacists often can offer to each customer, the SAIDS counseling approach may refine the structure and effectiveness of pharmacists' OTC counseling skills and thereby improve consumers' understanding of their ailments and self-care medications in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Reliability evaluation of V2V traffic states using measurements from onboard sensors. • Reliable cooperative string stable control for CAVs under communication cyberattacks. • String stability proof for CACC system considering falsified states. This study proposes a reliable longitudinal distributed control strategy for connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) in the presence of communication cyberattacks. The proposed strategy is designed to utilize dependable measurements from onboard sensors to evaluate the reliability of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) information and enhance the platoon string stability in an integrated manner. Specifically, this paper proposes a real-time reliability evaluation mechanism for the ego vehicle based on sensing and communication information from multiple predecessors, employing an upper-tailed chi-squared test. The mechanism is then incorporated into a distributed multi-predecessor linear feedback controller to adaptively weigh the preceding vehicles' information, ensuring robustness against cyberattacks and maintaining the string stability of the vehicular platoon. To better understand the whole framework, sufficient conditions of true string stability and pseudo string stability are theoretically derived, unveiling the disturbance amplification jointly impacted by measurement accuracy of onboard sensors, cyberattack severity in V2V communication, and control parameters. Numerical experiments are conducted to validate the controller across various types of communication cyberattacks. The results suggest that the proposed control strategy can significantly alleviate the impact of cyberattacks and simultaneously dampen traffic oscillations effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating the density function of a Chi-squared variable on the basis of observations of another Chi-squared variable and a normal variable under the Kullback–Leibler divergence. We assume that these variables have a common unknown scale parameter and that the mean of the normal variable is also unknown. We compare the risk functions of two Bayesian predictive densities: one with respect to a hierarchical shrinkage prior and the other based on a noninformative prior. The hierarchical Bayesian predictive density depends on the normal variable while the Bayesian predictive density based on the noninformative prior does not. Sufficient conditions for the former to dominate the latter are obtained. These predictive densities are compared by simulation. • Bayesian predictive density estimation for a Chi-squared model using information from a normal observation. • Unknown mean and variance. • Dominance results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double diapering may help to maintain a baby's hips in flexion and abduction posture, but the efficacy in facilitating hip maturation has never been verified. We investigated whether double diapering results in greater improvement of the alpha angle in newborn babies. This prospective study enrolled newborns with Graf type IIa immature hips and assigned them to the double-diaper or single-diaper group by the day of birth in a week. Parents were instructed on proper hip positioning, except for diapering. Change in the alpha angle from newborn to 1 month after birth, rate of improvement to bilateral Graf type I hips in 1 month, and number of ultrasound examinations and orthopaedic clinic visits in the first year were compared between the two groups. Seventy newborns with 102 type IIa hips were included from January to December 2017. They were allocated to the double-diaper group (n = 33) and single-diaper group (n = 37). With a comparable sex ratio, gestational age, and newborn alpha angle, the double-diaper group had a greater increase of alpha angles in 1 month than the single-diaper group (+7.9° vs. +5.2°, t-test, p = 0.011). Twenty-eight babies in the double-diaper group (84.8%) and 20 babies in the single-diaper group (54.1%) improved to having bilateral Graf type I hips (chi-square test, p = 0.006). Under the same clinical management pathway, subsequent clinical visits and hip ultrasounds before 1 year were significantly reduced in the double-diaper group. Double diapering enhances hip maturation and reduces clinical costs in newborns with physiological immature hips, but the therapeutic role for hip dysplasia requires further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider admixture models which are two-component mixture distributions having one known component. This is the case when a gold standard reference component is well known, and when a population contains such a component plus another one with different features. When two populations are drawn from such models, we propose a penalized χ 2 -type testing procedure allowing a pairwise comparison of the unknown components, i.e. to test the equality of their residual features densities, under a symmetry condition. A numerical study is carried out from a large range of simulation setups to illustrate the asymptotic properties of our test. Moreover the testing procedure is applied on a real-world case: galaxy velocities datasets, where stars heliocentric velocities mixed with the Milky Way are compared. • We propose a penalized χ 2 -type testing procedure allowing for a pairwise comparison of the unknown components two-component mixture distributions having one known component. • Allowing for a pairwise comparison of the unknown components. • The two-sample test is valid when the unknown densities are symmetric. • This symmetric case includes the well-known Gaussian mixtures, as well as uniform, Student, or Laplace mixtures, which are very important cases encountered for instance in gene expression in multiclass microarrays. • The method is very simple to implement as illustrated on recent data related to the galaxies' velocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to report the incidence of orbital haematoma formation following the repair of orbital fractures with silicone, polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE), and poly-L-lactic acid/hydroxyapatite (PLLA/HA) implants. This retrospective review examined 234 patients (235 sides) who underwent repair of orbital wall fractures over a six-year period. Of these, 36 patients received a silicone sheet; 49 patients received a silicone sheet with superimposed PTFE implant; and 149 patients (150 sides) received PTFE with or without an underlying PLLA/HA implant. Orbital haematomas were documented in 13 out of 36 patients (36.1%) who underwent fracture repair with a silicone sheet; seven out of 49 patients (14.3%) who had a silicone sheet with a superimposed PTFE implant; and three out of 150 sides (2.0%) with PTFE with or without underlying PLLA/HA. The difference in incidence of orbital haematoma formation was significant among the groups (p < 0.001, Pearson's chi squared test). In the silicone sheet group, haematomas formed within two weeks of surgery in 11 patients (84.6%). In the silicone sheet with superimposed PTFE implant group, five patients (71.4%) developed orbital haematomas no earlier than after two weeks postoperatively. This study showed that the incidence of orbital haematoma formation following orbital fracture repair is different among the implant materials. The use of PTFE and PLLA/HA implants may minimise this complication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present case series, based on dental literature, aimed to identify factors that influence the final treatment decision for patients affected by mandibular canine transmigration using individual data from case reports in the literature. The protocol used for data synthesis was prepared following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. An online search was conducted and included studies published up until September of 2019 (MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Scielo, and Conricyt). A chi squared test was used to evaluate associations between the treatment choice and gender, age, Mupparapu classification, and the presence of oral pathologies or dental anomalies (p < 0.05). A multinomial logistic regression was used to evaluate the individual case report data to determine the effect of the explanatory variables for treatment selection. Seventy-six papers fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Surgical removal (46.71%) and radiographic monitoring (38.16%) were the most common treatments reported. Age, Muppararu classification, and the presence of oral pathologies were significantly associated with the treatment option (p < 0.05). In conclusion, surgical removal and radiographic monitoring are the most frequently reported treatments for mandibular canine transmigration. Age, Mupparapu type, presence of oral pathologies, and qualitative aspects such as emotional reasons are relevant for the decision regarding treatment approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analytical methodology for smart grids cyber-physical security based on gross error analysis. The presented methodology is built on the Weighted Least Square (WLS) state estimator (SE) formulation. Although cyber-physical security is a wide subject, in this paper Cyber-Attacks are modeled as bad data. Detection, identification and correction of multiple and simultaneous cyber-attacks on power grid's SCADA system, or network database, are investigated. Cyber-attack detection is made through a Chi-square ( χ 2 ) Hypothesis Testing (HT) applied to the composed measurement error ( CME ). Composed errors are estimated with measurements’ innovation index ( II ). Cyber-attack identification is made through the Largest Normalized Error Test property. Cyber-attack correction is made considering cyber-attack type and using the composed normalized error ( CNE ). One important advantage of the presented method is it does not require a previous knowledge of how the attack was performed, as far as it is restricted to a change of measurements, parameters or topology, since the error is estimated and then the bad data is corrected. A significant advantage of this correction is that it avoids potential local or global unobservable conditions, since it does not delete any measurement of the measurement set. Validation of the proposed methodology is made on the IEEE 14-bus and 57-bus systems. Simulations show the reliability and robustness of the proposed methodology even when the cyber-attack occurs simultaneously on SCADA data and network database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a generalization of chaotic systems using two-dimensional affine transformations with six introduced parameters to achieve scaling, reflection, rotation, translation and/or shearing. Hence, the location of the strange attractor in space can be controlled without changing its chaotic dynamics. In addition, the embedded parameters enhance the randomness and sensitivity of the system and control its response. This approach overpasses performing the transformations as post-processing stages by applying them on the resulting time series. Trajectory control through dynamic parameters is demonstrated. Simulation results validate the proposed analysis for both the simplest and Lorenz chaotic systems. An image encryption scheme is implemented using transformed Lorenz system resulting in a more secure encryption scheme in comparison to Lorenz and other recent related works. The scheme exhibits good performance when assessed using the PRNG properties, encrypted image histogram and its uniformity through chi square test, pixel correlation, Mean Squared Error (MSE), entropy, Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) test, key space, key sensitivity, resistance to differential, ciphertext-only, known plaintext, and chosen plaintext attacks, robustness against noise and computation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this multi-study paper, we adopted a mixed methods approach to examine the motivational profiles of sub-elite student footballers participating in UK university sport, in relation to their wellbeing, burnout, and drop-out intentions. In Study 1 we used a cross-sectional survey design to collect quantitative measures of motivational regulations, wellbeing, burnout, and drop-out intentions in 260 (n = 129 female) and (n = 131 male) sub-elite university footballers from UK universities (M age = 20.7 y, SD = 1.5 y). Latent profile analysis revealed five distinct motivational regulation profiles that we deemed ranged from less to more motivationally adaptive in the following order: High-controlled, Amotivated (n = 27), Very-low Motivation (n = 32), Average Motivation (n = 104), High-autonomous, High-controlled (n = 38), and High-autonomous, Low-controlled (n = 59). Wald chi-square tests revealed between-profile differences in wellbeing (χ2 = 115, p <.001), burnout (reduced accomplishment: χ2 = 74, p <.001, exhaustion: χ2 = 34, p <.001, devaluation: χ2 = 121, p <.001), and drop-out intentions (university football: χ2 = 40, p <.001, football in general: χ2 = 91, p <.001). Pairwise comparisons suggested more adaptive motivational profiles had higher wellbeing, and lower burnout and drop-out intentions, than less adaptive profiles. Subsequently, in Study 2 we qualitatively explored the experiences of footballers from the different motivational profiles. We purposefully sampled 2–4 participants from each of the five motivational profiles to take part in focus groups, resulting in a total of 15 participants (M age = 21.6 y, SD = 1.41 y; n = 8 female, n = 7 male). Results revealed commonalities across the motivational profiles, including that while motivation was complex, individualized, dynamic and interactive in nature; a central, underlying motivator for all players was their passion for football. However, results also suggested that compared to those from less motivationally adaptive profiles, those from more adaptive profiles tended to perceive the environment more positively and tended to feel more valued by those around them. Thus, protecting players' passion for football and helping them feel more valued within their university-sport environment may support players in remaining in, or moving towards, more adaptive motivational regulation profiles and experiencing associated positive outcomes. • The motivational profiles of sub-elite student footballers participating in UK university sport were examined. • Underpinned by critical realism, a multi-study mixed methods approach was adopted. • Adaptive motivational regulation profiles were associated with positive outcomes (Study 1). • A passion for football and feeling valued within the university sport environment were key themes (Study 2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the awareness and attitudes towards traceability are examined in the food supply chain (FSC) within UK Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The objective of this paper is to test some propositions found in the literature, and understand whether or not SMEs in the UK are aware of the main objectives of traceability and what importance is given in term of relevance and intention to invest in their traceability systems. This study employed a survey strategy by means of a questionnaire that was sent to food and drink companies operating in the FSC. 146 SMEs answered the questionnaire. Answers were analysed by means of quantitative tools (i.e. contingency tables; Chi-squared test; and Spearman's rank correlation). The findings show that UK SMEs are aware of the main purposes of traceability systems such as recall cost reduction, rapid recalls, and the improvement of food safety and quality, while there is a, misguided, belief that traceability systems can reduce the probability of recalls. The attitude towards traceability is found to be positive in term of recognition of its importance but an unwillingness to invest in traceability systems' enhancement is also found. The findings pose a question mark as to whether or not companies see traceability systems as a strategic tool. This study fills the gap found in the literature where few recent academic papers focused attention on SMEs awareness and attitudes towards traceability in the FSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about innovative restaurants in the single-asset (sun-sea-sand) mass-tourism city of Antalya, and focuses on the supply side of the restaurant market. The broader aim of the paper is to show that the mass-tourism city of Antalya is more differentiated than one might expect. The specific aim of the paper is to find out what types of restaurants are more innovative than others and in what types of tourism places in the city they are located. The empirical research is based on interviews with 54 managers and chefs, the results of which are analysed with quantitative methods of relational analysis such as correspondence- and chi-square analysis. The main result of the empirical research is that high-quality restaurants, visited by a mix of locals and tourists, and are located in a specific urban places, are most innovative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to investigate the attributes of walkable environments from the perspective of seniors in the Island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. The research is based on a combination of statistical analysis of travel diary data and field work to conduct walkability audits. The approach follows a sequence of logical steps. The first step involves the estimation of a travel behavior model walking by seniors (people 65 years or older). The results of this model, in combination with cluster analysis, are used to identify sites where the model systematically under- or over-predicts walking. Subsequently, sites are targeted for walkability audits. It then becomes possible to assess the presence or absence of attributes of built environments where walking is more or less common than other factors would predict. A walkability audit of 403 street segments was used to proof the concept in this paper. The audited items were summarized in contingency tables and tested with the chi-squared test of independence to identify streetscape elements that correlate with walking for transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a statistical data analysis toolkit, PAPIRUS, designed to perform the model calibration, uncertainty propagation, Chi-square linearity test, and sensitivity analysis for both linear and nonlinear problems. The PAPIRUS was developed by implementing multiple packages of methodologies, and building an interface between an engineering simulation code and the statistical analysis algorithms. A parallel computing framework is implemented in the PAPIRUS with multiple computing resources and proper communications between the server and the clients of each processor. It was shown that even though a large amount of data is considered for the engineering calculation, the distributions of the model parameters and the calculation results can be quantified accurately with significant reductions in computational effort. A general description about the PAPIRUS with a graphical user interface is presented in Section 2 . Sections 2.1–2.5 present the methodologies of data assimilation, uncertainty propagation, Chi-square linearity test, and sensitivity analysis implemented in the toolkit with some results obtained by each module of the software. Parallel computing algorithms adopted in the framework to solve multiple computational problems simultaneously are also summarized in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text feature selection is an importance step in text classification and directly affects the classification performance. Classic feature selection methods mainly include document frequency (DF), information gain (IG), mutual information (MI), chi-square test (CHI). Theoretically, these methods are difficult to get improvement due to the deficiency of their mathematical models. In order to further improve effect of feature selection, many researches try to add intelligent optimization algorithms into feature selection method, such as improved ant colony algorithm and genetic algorithms, etc. Compared to the ant colony algorithm and genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) is simpler to implement and can find the optimal point quickly. Thus, this paper attempt to improve the effect of text feature selection through PSO. By analyzing current achievements of improved PSO and characteristic of classic feature selection methods, we have done many explorations in this paper. Above all, we selected the common PSO model, the two improved PSO models based respectively on functional inertia weight and constant constriction factor to optimize feature selection methods. Afterwards, according to constant constriction factor, we constructed a new functional constriction factor and added it into traditional PSO model. Finally, we proposed two improved PSO models based on both functional constriction factor and functional inertia weight, they are respectively the synchronously improved PSO model and the asynchronously improved PSO model. In our experiments, CHI was selected as the basic feature selection method. We improved CHI through using the six PSO models mentioned above. The experiment results and significance tests show that the asynchronously improved PSO model is the best one among all models both in the effect of text classification and in the stability of different dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-based optical tracking systems used in space surveillance provide no range information, and an observed arc is too short compared to the orbital period to provide enough dynamical information, especially for objects in low Earth orbit. Thus, multiple arcs of tracking data should be accumulated and associated in case of long-range orbit prediction. In this paper, a strategy to associate multiple orbit solutions and obtain accurate orbit solution to predict long-term trajectory using an optical space surveillance system is proposed and analyzed. The strategy consists of three steps: unscented batch estimation, chi-square testing, and element fitting. Each step is validated by numerical simulations, and the practical applicability is verified by applying actual tracking data from the Optical Wide-field Patrol Network (OWL-Net). In both the simulations and the practical cases, the associations are well determined, and the post-fit orbit solution provides a predicted trajectory error of 20 km for a week. The proposed strategy is a standalone process requiring no additional observations or orbit database, and it supports successive tracking by optical equipment with a restricted field of view. • A strategy to confirm the correlation of multiple orbit solutions is proposed. • The strategy consists of estimation, correlation testing, and element-fitting. • Each step is validated by numerical simulations. • The proposed process is applied to actual tracking data. • The proposed strategy supports successive tracking by optical system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is time consuming, performing direct observations of the feeding choices of grazing herbivores remains the reference method because it does not require any destructive vegetation sampling and limits bias associated with the use of indirect markers. It is also the only method for characterizing the use of vegetation patches. These observations are usually performed during the diurnal period only; however, equids graze 16 h per day on average, with 20–50% of their grazing occurring during the nocturnal period. The objective of this paper was to test the representativeness of diurnal observations of horses' feeding choices to characterize their daily diet. We used an experimental dataset of 54 paired observations of the diurnal and daily (24-h period) diet composition in horses grazing a pasture with differing sward characteristics according to the stocking rate and season. Four classes of bites were considered based on the sward height and vegetation stage, which are key factors affecting selection by horses. The H0 indicated that the 24-h observations of horses' feeding choices among the four bite types could be correctly predicted by diurnal observations. Using a chi-square test of adequacy to a multinomial distribution, we expected the set of variables to follow a chi-square distribution, with k-1 (k = four bite types) degrees of freedom, under H0. We first used a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, which showed adequate observed values relative to the expected distribution (p = 0.67). Then, a Bayesian approach was used to estimate the chi-square distribution with parameter υ that best fit our data, and we found that the probability that H0 was true, which was defined as p (υ ≤ 3), was equal to p = 0.92. An analysis of the chi-square residuals did not reveal any bias in the prediction of the different bite types. Finally, the Bray-Curtis similarity indexes used to characterize prediction quality were very high (i.e., > 90%) regardless of the stocking rate and season. All these results indicate a high level of confidence in the hypothesis that the effects of sward structure on the daily diet composition of grazing horses can be predicted by diurnal observations. This methodological advance will help increase the number of observation days and animals in future studies and accurately define the number of factors that can be tested simultaneously. • While horses graze at night most papers do not consider nocturnal feeding choices. • The height and stage of plants used daily can be predicted by diurnal observations. • Similarity between diurnal and daily diet composition is higher than 90%. • This methodological advance will simplify future studies on grazing horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) has been widely used by health professionals. However, no study in Brazil has investigated the data regarding the knowledge and difficulties related to EBP from a representative sample of physical therapists. Objective: To identify behavior, knowledge, skills, resources, opinions and perceived barriers of Brazilian physical therapists from the state of São Paulo regarding EBP. Method: A customized questionnaire about behavior, knowledge, skills, resources, opinions and perceived barriers regarding EBP was sent by email to a sample of 490 physical therapists registered by the Registration Board of São Paulo, Brazil. Physical therapists who did not respond to the questionnaire were contacted by telephone and/or letter. The data were analyzed descriptively. Results: The final response rate was 64.4% (316/490). Because 60 physical therapists were no longer practicing, 256 answers were analyzed. The physical therapists reported that they routinely read scientific papers (89.5%) as a resource for professional development, followed by continuing education courses (88.3%) and books (86.3%). Approximately 35% of the respondents reported a clear understanding of the implementation of research findings in their practice; approximately 37% reported no difficulties in critically appraising scientific papers; and 67.2% strongly agreed that EBP is important for their practice. The most commonly reported barriers were related to difficulties in obtaining full-text papers (80.1%), using EBP may represent higher cost (80.1%) and the language of publication of the papers (70.3%). Conclusion: Physical therapists from São Paulo state believe that they have knowledge and skills to use EBP. Although they have favorable opinions regarding its implementation, they still encounter difficulties in implementing EBP successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pressure ulcers are considered to be an adverse outcome of care that should never occur in clinical practice. The formation of a pressure ulcer is also perceived to be an indicator of poor quality nursing care. Therefore, pressure ulcer prevention is a priority for nurses, healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations throughout the world. A key factor in pressure ulcer prevention and management is individual nurse decision making. Objectives: To synthesise the literature on the judgement and decision making of nurses in relation to the assessment, prevention, grading and management of pressure ulcers in all care settings (hospital and community). Design: A systematic search of published literature relating to judgement and decision making in nurses, with a focus on the prevention and management of pressure ulcers. Methods: A search of electronic databases from 1992 to present, together with hand searching of the reference lists of retrieved publications, to identify published papers that reported results of studies evaluating the decision making of nurses in relation to the prevention and management of pressure ulcers. Abstracts were independently reviewed by two authors and full text of potentially relevant articles retrieved. Each paper included in this systematic review was evaluated using recognised appraisal criteria relevant to the specific study design. Included papers provided empirical data on key aspects of nurses' pressure ulcer related judgements and decision making. Data were synthesised into themes using narrative analysis. Results: Sixteen studies and one systematic review were included in the review, focusing on pressure ulcer risk assessment, pressure ulcer prevention, grading of pressure ulcers and treatment decisions. The results indicated that assessment tools were not routinely used to identify pressure ulcer risk, and that nurses rely on their own knowledge and experience rather than research evidence to decide what skin care to deliver. Conclusions: Emphasising pressure ulcer risk assessment and pressure ulcer grading in clinical practice is unlikely to deliver improved outcomes. Further research into nurses' pressure ulcer related judgements and decision making is needed and clinicians must focus on the consistent delivery of high quality care to prevent and mange pressure ulcers to all patients in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We will monitor compliance with the intervention and adverse events. • Data will be analyzed following intention-to-treat principles. • A cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed. This a priori statistical analysis plan describes the methods of analysis for the Trial Of Prevention Strategies for low back pain (TOPS). TOPS aimed to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of exercise and education classes compared with a minimal intervention control in preventing recurrence of low back pain (LBP) in people who have recently recovered from an episode of LBP. TOPS is a superiority, pragmatic, parallel-group randomized controlled trial with allocation concealment, blinded outcome assessors, and intention-to-treat analysis. Participants were randomized to a physical therapist-led exercise and education program for 12 weeks or minimal intervention. The primary outcome was days to recurrence of an episode of LBP. The three key secondary outcomes were days to recurrence of an episode of LBP resulting in (1) activity limitation, (2) care seeking for LBP; and (3) work absence of at least 1 day. Differences in survival curves for the primary (days to recurrence) and secondary outcome (days to LBP with activity limitation, days to care seeking due to LBP, and days to work absence due to LBP) will be compared using Cox regression. Hazard ratios (HRs) and median survival times with 95% confidence intervals (CI) will be calculated. The number of adverse events, including serious adverse events will be reported and the proportion of adverse events between groups will be compared using a Chi-squared test. This paper will provide a detailed description of the planned analyses for the TOPS trial. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12615000939594). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main contributions of the proposed MFPCA method are as follows: • It takes the unique advantage of DiPCA, PCA and KPCA methods in modeling different features and then develops a monitoring index through combining these features for real-time process monitoring. • The dynamic, linear and nonlinear features contained in the process data are considered simultaneously and the abnormal variations of these features can be reflected in the corresponding subspaces. • Finally, the proposed MFPCA method can provide a better monitoring performance for nonlinear dynamic processes and it is easier to interpret the fault detection result. Principal component analysis (PCA) and its modified methods have been widely applied in industrial process monitoring. In practice, industrial processes are with disparate characteristics, the process monitoring system should consider as many process characteristics as possible, such as dynamic and nonlinear characteristics. In this paper, a multi-feature extraction technique based on PCA is proposed for nonlinear dynamic process monitoring. The proposed method integrates dynamic inner PCA (DiPCA), PCA and kernel PCA (KPCA) methods through a serial structure to extract the dynamic, linear and nonlinear features among the process data. Along with the proposed method, the original data space is decomposed into several orthogonal subspaces, in which abnormal variations of different features can be monitored. For real-time process monitoring, a combined Hotelling's T 2 statistic based on the extracted multi-feature and a squared prediction error (SPE or Q) statistic are established. Case studies on a numerical example and the Tennessee Eastman process are carried out to demonstrate the superior process monitoring performance of the proposed method compared with other relevant methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thin-walled deck grillages are prone to deformation in lifting process of ship blocks construction due to huge rope tension loads. Optimizing hoisting scheme with the aid of CAE analysis techniques before implementing is conductive to controlling structure deformation. A deformation prediction method based on generative adversarial network (Def-GAN) is developed in this paper to perform quick-response and precise deformation predictions under a given hoisting scheme of deck grillages. This artificial intelligence network model has an adversarial architecture and comprises a pair of submodels, namely generator and discriminator. The datasets including lifting conditions and deformation distributions of deck grillages are set up to train and test the Def-GAN model. The deformation distributions in datasets are obtained from a series of FEM analyses. An image coding and mapping algorithm is employed to deal with input data of lifting conditions and output data of deformation distributions respectively. The results show that the predictive model achieved an R-squared accuracy of 0.997 and a mean squared error of 0.005 compared to numerical results for the test dataset. In addition to predicting deformation of grillages lifting, the Def-GAN model is a promising candidate tool for hoisting scheme optimization. • Data-driven Def-GAN network consisting of the generator and discriminator is established. • Lifting deformations of deck grillages are predicted by the developed network model. • Influence of various lifting conditions on the robustness of predictive model is analyzed. • Prediction accuracy of the well-trained model is verified by an independent database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper presents a new decentralized Kalman filter (DKF) framework. • A novel integration of RANSAC into DKF framework, called DKF-RANSAC, is proposed. • This DKF-RANSAC can detect and isolate faulty nodes in a network of sensors. • An approach for minimizing the iterations in the RANSAC is presented. • This algorithm is validated and compared by simulations on a target tracking problem. This paper presents a new decentralized Kalman filter (DKF) framework to detect and isolate faulty nodes in a network of sensors. The Chi-square test is a well-versed fault detection method. However, if error in the predicted state estimate is not within bounds defined by the predicted error covariance matrix, the Chi-square test fails. In order to detect faults (also known as outliers) in measurements, the random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm has been widely used in computer vision applications. We propose a novel integration of RANSAC into DKF framework, named as the DKF-RANSAC algorithm, that uses the information and information matrix of the connecting nodes to formulate a hypothesis to detect faulty nodes. An approach for minimizing the iterations in the RANSAC algorithm using the Chi-square test is also presented. The proposed DKF-RANSAC algorithm is validated on a target tracking problem. A simulation study shows that this algorithm identifies the faulty nodes correctly and isolates them, as well as handles incorrect initialization error simultaneously. The proposed DKF-RANSAC algorithm is also compared with the well-known Chi-square test as well as an adaptive DKF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Dietary self-monitoring is linked to improved weight loss success. Mobile technologies, such as smartphone applications (apps), might allow for improved dietary tracking adherence. The authors assessed the use of a popular smartphone app for dietary self-monitoring and weight loss by comparing it with traditional diet counseling and entry methods. Methods: Diet tracking and weight loss were compared across participants during an 8-week weight loss trial. Participants tracked intake using 1 of 3 methods: the mobile app “Lose It!”, the memo feature on a smartphone, or a traditional paper-and-pencil method. Results: App users (n = 19) recorded dietary data more consistently compared with the paper-and-pencil group (n = 15; P = .042) but not the memo group (n = 13). All groups lost weight over the course of the study (P = .001), and no difference in weight loss was noted between groups. Conclusions and Implications: Smartphone apps could represent a novel and feasible dietary self-monitoring method for individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To (a) assess the statistical power of nursing research to detect small, medium, and large effect sizes; (b) estimate the experiment-wise Type I error rate in these studies; and (c) assess the extent to which (i) a priori power analyses, (ii) effect sizes (and interpretations thereof), and (iii) confidence intervals were reported. Design: Statistical review. Data sources: Papers published in the 2011 volumes of the 10 highest ranked nursing journals, based on their 5-year impact factors. Review methods: Papers were assessed for statistical power, control of experiment-wise Type I error, reporting of a priori power analyses, reporting and interpretation of effect sizes, and reporting of confidence intervals. The analyses were based on 333 papers, from which 10,337 inferential statistics were identified. Results: The median power to detect small, medium, and large effect sizes was .40 (interquartile range [IQR] = .24-.71), .98 (IQR = .85-1.00), and 1.00 (IQR = 1.00-1.00), respectively. The median experiment-wise Type I error rate was .54 (IQR = .26-.80). A priori power analyses were reported in 28% of papers. Effect sizes were routinely reported for Spearman's rank correlations (100% of papers in which this test was used), Poisson regressions (100%), odds ratios (100%), Kendall's tau correlations (100%), Pearson's correlations (99%), logistic regressions (98%), structural equation modelling/confirmatory factor analyses/path analyses (97%), and linear regressions (83%), but were reported less often for two-proportion z tests (50%), analyses of variance/analyses of covariance/multivariate analyses of variance (18%), t tests (8%), Wilcoxon's tests (8%), Chi-squared tests (8%), and Fisher's exact tests (7%), and not reported for sign tests, Friedman's tests, McNemar's tests, multi-level models, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Effect sizes were infrequently interpreted. Confidence intervals were reported in 28% of papers. Conclusion: The use, reporting, and interpretation of inferential statistics in nursing research need substantial improvement. Most importantly, researchers should abandon the misleading practice of interpreting the results from inferential tests based solely on whether they are statistically significant (or not) and, instead, focus on reporting and interpreting effect sizes, confidence intervals, and significance levels. Nursing researchers also need to conduct and report a priori power analyses, and to address the issue of Type I experiment-wise error inflation in their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A deeper understanding of how human activity-travel behavior is affected by various weather conditions is essential for both policy makers and traffic managers. To unravel the ambiguity in findings reported in the literature, the main objective of this paper is to obtain an accurate assessment of how weather forecasts trigger changes in Flemish activity-travel behavior. To this end, data were collected by means of a stated adaptation experiment, which was administered both on the Internet and via traditional paper-and-pencil questionnaires. To address the main research question of this paper, two statistical techniques were adopted. The first technique is the computation of Pearson chi-square independence tests. The second approach is the estimation of a GEE-MNL-model. The results from both techniques underscore the dual role of weather forecasts on changes in activity-travel behavior. On the one hand, the results clearly illustrate the significant effect of forecasted weather; the likelihood of changes in activity-travel behavior significantly depends on the weather forecasted. On the other hand, different methods of acquiring weather information (exposure, media source, or perceived reliability) do not impact the probability of behavioral adaptations. This duality may be partially attributable to the discrepancy that exists between weather forecasts and true traffic and roadway conditions. Therefore, the implementation of a road weather information system that is directly linked to the weather forecasts is recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Chloroquine (CQ) drug was withdrawn in 1998 as a first-line treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Kenya. This was in response to resistance to the drug in Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite. Investigations were conducted to determine prevalence of CQ resistance genotypes in the parasites in Tiwi, a malaria endemic town in Kenya, before and about a decade after the withdrawal of the drug. Blood samples were collected and spotted on filter papers in 1999 and 2008 from 75 and 77 out-patients respectively with uncomplicated malaria. The sampling was conducted using finger pricking technique. DNA was extracted from individual spots in the papers and screened for the presence of P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (Pfcrt) and multi drug resistance (Pfmdr-1) markers using nested PCR. Nature of mutations (haplotypes) in the Pfcrt and Pfmdr-1 markers in the samples were confirmed using dot blot hybridization technique. Changes in pattern of CQ resistance in the parasite samples in 1999 and 2008 were assessed by Chi Square test. There was a significant (P <0.05) reduction in CQ resistant genotypes of the parasite between 1999 and 2008. Pfmdr and Pfcrt CQ resistant genotypes in 2008 reduced to 54.10 and 63.64% respectively, from 75.39 and 88.0% respectively in 1999. This reduction was accompanied by emergence of Pfcrt specific CQ sensitive (IEK) and intermediate/partially CQ resistant (MET) haplotypes. Results suggest significant reversal of the phenotype of the parasite from chloroquine resistant to wild/sensitive type. The novel haplotypes indicates transitional phase of the parasite to the wild type. Current prevalence of chloroquine resistant genotype is definitely above the threshold for efficacious re-introduction of chloroquine for treatment of malaria in Tiwi. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes the findings of an evaluation of a training course for child protection social workers that aimed to improve their engagement of fathers in child protection assessments and interventions. The two day training course was designed by the research team and aimed to increase awareness of gender issues and develop skills through the use of Motivational Interviewing. The course was developed in the context of a body of literature that has pointed to the gendered nature of child protection work but with little empirical evidence of the effectiveness of training or of the impact of increasing fathers'' involvement in child protection interventions. The evaluation was designed to act as a feasibility study for a potential future randomized controlled trial of the training intervention. The study employed a mixed methods design, including qualitative observations and interviews and quantitative pre- and post-intervention measures of self-efficacy in engaging with fathers, team culture, self-reported engagement of fathers on caseloads and satisfaction with training. This paper reports the quantitative results only. Fifty participants completed the two day training course. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to compare mean responses at t1 and t2. There was little change in team culture. There was, however, a significant increase from pre-test to post-test in social workers'' self-efficacy and self-reported engagement of both non-resident fathers and residential men who were not a risk to children. There was no increase in the engagement of residential fathers who were perceived as presenting a risk to children. The findings indicate that participation in the training intervention may change practitioner attitudes towards the engagement of fathers and increase their engagement of non-abusive fathers. A randomized controlled trial is proposed in order to draw firmer conclusions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Over the last decades, elemental maps have become a powerful tool for the analysis of the spatial distribution of the elements within specimen. In energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) one commonly uses two pre-edge and one post-edge image for the calculation of elemental maps. However, this so called three-window method can introduce serious errors into the extrapolated background for the post-edge window. Since this method uses only two pre-edge windows as data points to calculate a background model that depends on two fit parameters, the quality of the extrapolation can be estimated only statistically assuming that the background model is correct. In this paper, we will discuss a possibility to improve the accuracy and reliability of the background extrapolation by using a third pre-edge window. Since with three data points the extrapolation becomes over-determined, this change permits us to estimate not only the statistical uncertainly of the fit, but also the systematic error by using the experimental data. Furthermore we will discuss in this paper the acquisition parameters that should be used for the energy windows to reach an optimal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the elemental maps. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Security warning is a form of message that is designed to imitate authorized security alerting function to notify, warn and advice user about the consequence of an action by allowing random applications to run on the computer system. On the other hand, regular computer users tend to ignore the security warning that conveys excessive technical messages which are difficult for them to understand and lead to lack of motivation for decision making. Consequently, an online survey has been utilized by a group of 250 participants to gain general insights based on the user's understanding of security warning. This paper describes one main finding utilizing the Chi-Square test. From the finding, it can be suggested that 2 hypotheses were statistically significant in terms of user's understanding and their assessments towards computer security warning. On the other hand, variable of gender indicates with the highest significant values with three statistically significant 0.004, 0.017 and 0.000 respectively The overall results from the test given indicate that for each variable were connected between computer user's skills and their understanding in order to improve security warning in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Driver distraction has become a significant problem in transportation safety. As more portable wireless devices and driver assistance and entertainment systems become available to drivers, the sources of distraction are increasing. Method: Based on the results of different studies in the literature review, this paper categorizes different distraction enablers into six subcategories according to their fundamental characteristics and how they would affect a driver's likelihood of engaging in non-driving related activities. The review also discusses the characteristics and influence of external and internal distractions. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of different distraction sources in fatal crashes with the consideration of a driver's age and sex. Tukey test, chi-square test of independence, Nemenyi post-hoc test, and Marascuilo procedure have been used to investigate the top distraction sources, the trend of distraction-affected fatal crashes, the effect of different distractions on drives in different age groups, and their influence on female and male drivers. Results: It was found that inner cognitive inferences accounted for the greatest proportion of driver engagement in distractions. Young drivers show a larger probability of being distracted by in-vehicle technology-related devices/objects. Within the group of young drivers, female drivers showed a higher probability than their male counterparts of engaging in distracted driving caused by in-vehicle technology-related devices. Among six subcategories of distractions, drivers older than 80 years old were found to be most likely affected by inner cognitive interferences. This study has demonstrated major distraction sources for male drivers and female drivers, and for young, middle-aged, and older drivers. Based on the statistical analyses, the following findings were revealed: • Inner cognitive distractions accounted for the greatest proportion of driver engagement in distractions. • A sex difference of driver engagement in in-vehicle technology-related distractions, on-road distractions, automatic behavioral distractions, inner cognitive distractions, and unknown distractions has been revealed in fatal crashes. • Among all six subcategories of distractions, drivers beyond 80 years old were most likely to engage in inner cognitive distractions. • Both young male and young female had a larger likelihood involving in in-vehicle distractions compared to the other four types of distractions. • Young female drivers had a larger likelihood engaging in in-vehicle technology-related distractions compared to young male drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The proposed systems explore different Gabor orientations for locating flat regions. • Candidate pixels are detected for flat regions with uniform Gabor orientations. • The Markov Chain Code process is used in a new way for groping candidate pixels. • The Chi square similarity measure has been used for finding safe landing zone. • The proposed system outperforms the existing systems in terms of recall, precision and F-measure. Abstract As the demand increases for the use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to monitor natural disasters, protecting territories, spraying, vigilance in urban areas, etc., detecting safe landing zones becomes a new area that has gained interest. This paper presents an intelligent system for detecting regions to navigate a UAV when it requires an emergency landing due to technical causes. The proposed system explores the fact that safe regions in images have flat surfaces, which are extracted using the Gabor Transform. This results in images of different orientations. The proposed system then performs histogram operations on different Gabor-oriented images to select pixels that contribute to the highest peak, as Candidate Pixels (CP), for the respective Gabor-oriented images. Next, to group candidate pixels as one region, we explore Markov Chain Codes (MCCs), which estimate the probability of pixels being classified as candidates with neighboring pixels. This process results in Candidate Regions (CRs) detection. For each image of the respective Gabor orientation, including CRs, the proposed system finds a candidate region that has the highest area and considers it as a reference. We then estimate the degree of similarity between the reference CR with corresponding CRs in the respective Gabor-oriented images using a Chi square distance measure. Furthermore, the proposed system chooses the CR which gives the highest similarity to the reference CR to fuse with that reference, which results in the establishment of safe landing zones for the UAV. Experimental results on images from different situations for safe landing detection show that the proposed system outperforms the existing systems. Furthermore, experimental results on relative success rates for different emergency conditions of UAVs show that the proposed intelligent system is effective and useful compared to the existing UAV safe landing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the growing literature on data-driven learning in ESL/EFL instruction, examining how advanced English learners choose to use corpus tools for error correction on their own following classroom training. Controlled L2 production and survey data from U.S.-based EAP students were collected over the course of four consecutive semesters and then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The research examined how learners approach the correction of different type of errors using corpus tools and which types of errors could be more successfully corrected with these tools. The results of a Chi Square Test indicated that participants' success at error correction depended on the type of error being addressed (p <.001). While local lexicogrammatical errors were chosen by learners to be corrected in over half of all participant revisions, these corrections were inappropriate more often than corrections of register errors. Survey data and qualitative analysis of errors further revealed that participants often struggle with identifying the context of the concordance lines and sorting through multiple lines to identify patterns. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications and pedagogical recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cosmogenic-nuclide surface-exposure data provide important constraints on the thickness, extent and behaviour of ice masses in the geological past. A number of online calculators provide the cosmogenic nuclide community with a means of easily calculating surface-exposure ages. Here we provide a platform for plotting and analysing such data. This paper describes a suite of freely accessible numerical tools for visualising, evaluating and correcting surface-exposure data that are used to reconstruct past glacier and ice sheet geometries. iceTEA (Tools for Exposure Ages) is available as an online interface (http://ice-tea.org) and as MATLAB© code. There are 8 tools, which provide the following functionality: 1) calculate exposure ages from 10Be and 26Al data, 2) plot exposure ages as kernel density estimates and as a horizontal or vertical transect, 3) identify and remove outliers within a dataset, 4) plot nuclide concentrations on a two-isotope diagram and as a function of depth, 5) correct exposure ages for cover of the rock surface, 6) correct ages for changes in relative elevation through time, and estimate 7) average and 8) continuous rates of ice margin retreat or thinning. Three of the tools (1, 5 and 6) perform exposure age calculations, which are based on the framework of CRONUScalc. Results are available as printed text, tables and/or raster (.png) and vector (.eps) graphics files, depending on the tool. These tools are intended to enable users to evaluate complex exposure histories, assess the reliability of exposure ages, explore potential age corrections, and better analyse and understand spatial and temporal patterns within their data. Highlights • iceTEA (Tools for Exposure Ages; http://ice-tea.org) is a suite of 8 numerical tools. • Data can be plotted on a 2-isotope diagram, as density estimates and as a transect. • Exposure ages can be examined with reduced chi-squared and outlier removal tests. • Exposure ages can be corrected for surface cover and relative elevation change. • Rates of ice retreat/thinning can be estimated from linear and spline regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]