Sampling Strategy for a Large Scale Indoor Radiation Survey - A Pilot Project

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Buchstaller ◽  
Seraphim Alvanides

The aims of this paper are twofold. First, we locate the most effective human geographical methods for sampling across space in large-scale dialectological projects. We propose two geographical concepts as a basis for sampling decisions: Geo-demographic classification, which is a multidimensional method used for the socio-economic grouping of areas; we also develop an updated version of functional regions that can be used in sociolinguistic research. We then report on the results of a pilot project that applies these models to collect data regarding the acceptability of vernacular morphosyntactic forms in the North East of England. Following the method of natural breaks advocated for dialectology by Horvath & Horvath (2002), we interpret breaks in the probabilistic patterns as areas of dialect transitions. This study contributes to the debate about the role and limitations of spatiality in linguistic analysis. It intends to broaden our knowledge about the interfaces between human geography and dialectology.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayyaz Minhas ◽  
Dimitris Grammatopoulos ◽  
Lawrence Young ◽  
Imran Amin ◽  
David Snead ◽  
...  

AbstractOne of the challenges in the current COVID-19 crisis is the time and cost of performing tests especially for large-scale population surveillance. Since, the probability of testing positive in large population studies is expected to be small (<15%), therefore, most of the test outcomes will be negative. Here, we propose the use of agglomerative sampling which can prune out multiple negative cases in a single test by intelligently combining samples from different individuals. The proposed scheme builds on the assumption that samples from the population may not be independent of each other. Our simulation results show that the proposed sampling strategy can significantly increase testing capacity under resource constraints: on average, a saving of ~40% tests can be expected assuming a positive test probability of 10% across the given samples. The proposed scheme can also be used in conjunction with heuristic or Machine Learning guided clustering for improving the efficiency of large-scale testing further. The code for generating the simulation results for this work is available here: https://github.com/foxtrotmike/AS.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Davini ◽  
Jost von Hardenberg ◽  
Susanna Corti ◽  
Hannah M. Christensen ◽  
Stephan Juricke ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Climate SPHINX (Stochastic Physics HIgh resolutioN eXperiments) project is a comprehensive set of ensemble simulations aimed at evaluating the sensitivity of present and future climate to model resolution and stochastic parameterisation. The EC-Earth Earth-System Model is used to explore the impact of stochastic physics in a large ensemble of 30-year climate integrations at five different atmospheric horizontal resolutions (from 125 km up to 16 km). The project includes more than 120 simulations in both a historical scenario (1979–2008) and a climate change projection (2039–2068), together with coupled transient runs (1850–2100). A total of 20.4 million core hours have been used, made available from a single year grant from PRACE (the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and close to 1.5 PBytes of output data have been produced on SuperMUC IBM Petascale System at the Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ) in Garching, Germany. About 140 TBytes of post-processed data are stored on the CINECA supercomputing center archives and are freely accessible to the community thanks to an EUDAT Data Pilot project. This paper presents the technical and scientific setup of the experiments, including the details on the forcing used for the simulations performed, defining the SPHINX v1.0 protocol. In addition, an overview of preliminary results is given: an improvement in the simulation of Euro-Atlantic atmospheric blocking following resolution increases is observed. It is also shown that including stochastic parameterisation in the low resolution runs helps to improve some aspects of the tropical climate – specifically the Madden-Julian Oscillation and the tropical rainfall variability. These findings show the importance of representing the impact of small scale processes on the large scale climate variability either explicitly (with high resolution simulations) or stochastically (in low resolution simulations).


2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. M. McClure-Griffiths ◽  
John M. Dickey ◽  
B. M. Gaensler ◽  
A. J. Green ◽  
R. F. Haynes ◽  
...  

AbstractWe present preliminary results from the Southern Galactic Plane Survey (SGPS) Test Region and Parkes data. As part of the pilot project for the Southern Galactic Plane Survey, observations of a Test Region (325·5° ≤l ≤ 333·5°; −0·5° ≤ b ≤ 3·5°) were completed in December 1998. Single-dish observations of the full survey region (253° ≤ l ≤ 358 ° |b| ≤ 1°) with the Parkes Radio Telescope were completed in March 2000. We present a sample of SGPS H I data, with particular attention to the smallest-and largest-scale structures seen in absorption and emission, respectively. On the large scale, we detect many prominent H I shells. On the small scale, we note extremely compact, cold clouds seen in H I self-absorption. We explore how these two classes of objects probe opposite ends of the H I spatial power spectrum.


2009 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
S C Sheppard ◽  
S. Bittman ◽  
M. Beaulieu ◽  
M I Sheppard

Environmental issues related to agriculture, and especially to animal production, are prominent in the regulatory agenda and are an area where the general public expects improvements. Many of the issues can be mitigated with changes in farm management practices. There is considerable potential for improvement, but before actions are recommended or mandated, it is important to document what are the current management practices and how they vary across the country and with farm size. This is the first of a series of papers that describes a large-scale livestock farm practices survey (LFPS) conducted across livestock farms in Canada, emphasizing manure nitrogen (N) management as it affects ammonia (NH3) emissions to the atmosphere. However, the survey results have much broader applicability. In this paper, the development of the survey and sampling strategy is described along with the results for the three main poultry sectors in Canada: broiler, layer and turkey. Husbandry in each poultry sector is generally uniform, but there were statistically significant regional differences in feeding practices and feed conversion efficiencies, and these imply differences in N excretion rates. Farm size was seldom significant as a covariate, suggesting that both small and large poultry farms have adopted similar husbandry and feeding practices. Key words: Manure, best management practices, emissions, odor


2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 1163-1169
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Craig ◽  
Tom Pride

ABSTRACT The use of pilot studies can be a useful tool in determining the most appropriate location, method and design for a large scale restoration project. This paper provides a case study where Trustees implemented a small pilot project and feasibility study to determine the best approach for a large scale oyster reef creation project. While the specific case study is the result of a CERCLA settlement (Alafia River Acid Spill of 1997), this model is transferable to other instances where Trustees are scoping for the most appropriate sites and methods to conduct settlement funded restoration. The Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment on which the case settlement was based called for creation of approximately 4 acres of oyster reef in addition to 4 acres of estuarine marsh restoration. Through an initial scoping process, the Trustees determined that more information was needed to select the most appropriate locations and techniques to implement the large scale oyster restoration project. The Trustees identified 3 general locations with potential for larger scale oyster reef creation. A portion of settlement funding was used to contract for construction and monitoring of an oyster reef pilot project to examine the efficacy of oyster reef construction at the three locations using 4 different cultch materials. At each of the locations, 4 small reefs (approximately 75’ × 20’) were constructed and monitored for spat set, oyster survival and growth as well as subsidence. A baseline construction report and final monitoring report detailed the results. In addition, a separate report was completed that outlined the feasibility of constructing a 4 acre oyster reef in Hillsborough Bay, FL. This report included several construction considerations such as local sources and costs of cultch materials, shipping/transport, staging areas, construction equipment as well as potential local contractors. This paper reports the results of the oyster pilot project and feasibility report as well as lessons learned from each approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-324
Author(s):  
Ismee Tames

Abstract Digital Access to the Legal Files of those tried for Nazi collaboration in the Netherlands: Possibilities and ImpossibilitiesThis article reflects on the findings of a pilot project called Triado that digitized a sample of the 4km of legal files created by the Special Jurisdiction for investigating Dutch Nazi collaboration (CABR) in the years after the Second World War. We show that large scale digitization may help to analyze complex historical sources in new ways, thus deepening our understanding of the consequences of war and genocide. However, this can be achieved only if all specialists involved develop ways to deal with ambiguity in the sources: instead of disambiguation we need mixed approaches that allow for data to have multiple meanings and for interpretation of meaning to change over time. This article offers suggestions and gives a brief overview of some of the possibilities for researchers and lay users of digitized historical sources.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Smith ◽  
Luis Roberto Silva Vara ◽  
Harry Dixon ◽  
Victoria Barlow ◽  
Alan Jenkins ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;Consistent hydrological status and outlook information across transboundary basins or regions of shared hydrological interest are not often available. Furthermore, whilst large-scale modelling capabilities are continually improving, there is an information and confidence gap between locally informed hydrological status information products and those developed globally.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;HydroSOS is World Meteorological Organisation initiative that aims to increase global resilience to hydro-climatic risks through the production of hydrological status and outlooks assessments at different scales around the world. Currently in a pilot phase, HydroSOS is being developed through a collaboration between National Hydrometeorological Services, transboundary basin organisations, global modelling centres and the research community. The system will provide an appraisal of where current hydrological status is different from &amp;#8220;normal&amp;#8221;, as well as sub-seasonal to seasonal outlooks indicating whether this is likely to get better or worse over the coming weeks and months.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The HydroSOS programme consists of five main activity streams:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Increasing the interoperability of hydrological status and outlook products through &lt;strong&gt;Common Technical Specifications.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Increasing national capabilities to generate hydrological status and sub-seasonal to seasonal outlook products through &lt;strong&gt;Guidance on Methods and Tools.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Increasing the utility of large-scale hydrological status and outlook modelling through &lt;strong&gt;Co-design of Global Products&lt;/strong&gt;, with international partners working from local to global scale.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Increasing shared production of transboundary hydrological status and outlook products through &lt;strong&gt;Regional Pilots&lt;/strong&gt;, initially in South Asia and the Lake Victoria Basin.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Integration of hydrological status and outlook products for national, regional and global users through a &lt;strong&gt;Demonstration Portal.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;This PICO contribution will present progress in the pilot project to date, including a hands-on demonstration of the web portal.&lt;/p&gt;


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e11539-e11539
Author(s):  
Mashrafi Ahmed ◽  
Tahmina Begum

e11539 Background: Ki-67 is a proliferation marker expressed during cell cycle. ASCO does not recommend this biomarker to be done routinely in breast cancer. As triple negative breast cancer lacks all the ASCO recommended biomarkers (estrogen, progesterone and HER-2 gene), non-recommended markers may carry significant prognostic value in different demographic population. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted on patients who were diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer at Saint Joseph Hospital, Chicago from 2005 to 2010. We analyzed the data for Ki67 value among age group, race, menstrual status, tumor histology, stage, treatment given and outcome of the treatment. The data was obtained from medical record, cancer registry and department of pathology. Results: Only 35 cases were found retrospectively. The mean age was 55.6 year. Nearly 47% were African American, 38% White and rest was other races. Most of the cases (71%) were post-menopausal. The average follow-up was 214 days with nearly 62% patients remained disease free, 21% suffered from relapse but alive and 18% died from relapse. The analysis of data is presented here in tabulated form. Conclusions: In our study, we could not reach to statistical significance mostly due to small size of the population. Being a rare subtype of breast cancer, a single center data analysis is not sufficient. This pilot study will encourage us to go for a large scale study involving multi-center or cancer registry data of the state of Illinois. [Table: see text] [Table: see text] [Table: see text] [Table: see text] [Table: see text]


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