scholarly journals Preliminary Evaluation of the Error Budgets in the TALIS Measurements and Their Impact on the Retrievals

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenyu Wang ◽  
Zhenzhan Wang ◽  
Yongqiang Duan
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Chemical Constituents ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Local Oscillator ◽  
Antenna Pattern ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Good Precision ◽  
Science Center ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Hot Target

The THz Atmospheric Limb Sounder (TALIS) is a Chinese sub-millimeter limb sounder being designed by National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to measure the temperature and chemical constituents vertically in the middle and upper atmosphere, with good precision and vertical resolution. This paper presents a simulation study that assesses the measurement errors and their impacts on the retrievals. Three error sources, including instrument uncertainties, calibration errors and a priori errors, are considered. The sideband weight uncertainty, the local oscillator, the pointing angle offsets and the measurement noise (NEDT), are considered as instrument uncertainties. Calibration errors consist of the hot target offset, the nonlinearity residual of the two-point calibration, use of the Rayleigh–Jeans (R–J) approximation and the choice of the antenna pattern. A priori profile errors of temperature, pressure and species are also considered. The results suggest that the antenna pattern mainly affects the retrievals in the troposphere. The NEDT is a major error source affecting all of the retrievals. The R–J approximation has a great impact upon the retrievals at 643 GHz, and should not be used. The local oscillator offset leads to an obvious error above 50 km. The effect of nonlinearity residuals cannot be neglected above 70 km. The impact of the sideband weight uncertainty and the hot target offset are relatively small. The pointing and the a priori errors can be neglected in most observation regions.

A method to assess the performance of growth intercept models in British Columbia

2001 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon D. Nigh ◽  
Patrick J. Martin
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Sampling Error ◽  
Site Index ◽  
Model Error ◽  
Good Precision ◽  
Interior Spruce ◽  
Validation Procedure ◽  
Growth Intercept ◽  
The Impact

An active program of developing growth intercept models in British Columbia is underway. In lieu of a proper validation procedure, we devised a method of assessing the growth intercept models, which we describe and demonstrate for interior spruce. Four sources of error in the site index predictions of the growth intercept models are examined: measurement, sampling, model, and application error. The impact of the measurement errors tend to be intolerably large at young ages, decreasing to acceptable levels as the trees near the index age. Sampling error was small in our example. The tested models were unbiased and have good precision. An analysis of the application error indicated that the growth intercept models may underestimate site index. Key words: Application bias, measurement error, model error, sampling error, spruce, validation

The Impact of Competitive Quasi-Market on Service Delivery in Benue State University, Makurdi Nigeria

GIS Business ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
Idoko Peter
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Secondary Source ◽  
State University ◽  
Ordinary Least Square ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This research the impact of competitive quasi market on service delivery in Benue State University, Makurdi Nigeria. Both primary and secondary source of data and information were used for the study and questionnaire was used to extract information from the purposively selected respondents. The population for this study is one hundred and seventy three (173) administrative staff of Benue State University selected at random. The statistical tools employed was the classical ordinary least square (OLS) and the probability value of the estimates was used to tests hypotheses of the study. The result of the study indicates that a positive relationship exist between Competitive quasi marketing in Benue State University, Makurdi Nigeria (CQM) and Transparency in the service delivery (TRSP) and the relationship is statistically significant (p<0.05). Competitive quasi marketing (CQM) has a negative effect on Observe Competence in Benue State University, Makurdi Nigeria (OBCP) and the relationship is not statistically significant (p>0.05). Competitive quasi marketing (CQM) has a positive effect on Innovation in Benue State University, Makurdi Nigeria (INVO) and the relationship is statistically significant (p<0.05) and in line with a priori expectation. This means that a unit increases in Competitive quasi marketing (CQM) will result to a corresponding increase in innovation in Benue State University, Makurdi Nigeria (INVO) by a margin of 22.5%. It was concluded that government monopoly in the provision of certain types of services has greatly affected the quality of service experience in the institution. It was recommended among others that the stakeholders in the market has to be transparent so that the system will be productive to serve the society effectively

scholarly journals Frame me if you must: PrEP framing and the impact on adherence to HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. S439-S439
Author(s):  
Eric Ellorin ◽  
Jill Blumenthal ◽  
Sonia Jain ◽  
Xiaoying Sun ◽  
Katya Corado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
Gay Community ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Exposure Prophylaxis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Actual Prevalence ◽  
Tenofovir Diphosphate

Abstract Background “PrEP whore” has been used both as a pejorative by PrEP opponents in the gay community and, reactively, by PrEP advocates as a method to reclaim the label from stigmatization and “slut-shaming.” The actual prevalence and impact of such PrEP-directed stigma on adherence have been insufficiently studied. Methods CCTG 595 was a randomized controlled PrEP demonstration project in 398 HIV-uninfected MSM and transwomen. Intracellular tenofovir-diphosphate (TFV-DP) levels at weeks 12 and 48 were used as a continuous measure of adherence. At study visits, participants were asked to describe how they perceived others’ reactions to them being on PrEP. These perceptions were categorized a priori as either “positively framed,” “negatively framed,” or both. We used Wilcoxon rank-sum to determine the association between positive and negative framing and TFV-DP levels at weeks 12 and 48. Results By week 4, 29% of participants reported perceiving positive reactions from members of their social groups, 5% negative, and 6% both. Reporting decreased over 48 weeks, but positive reactions were consistently reported more than negative. At week 12, no differences in mean TFV-DP levels were observed in participants with positively-framed reactions compared with those reporting no outcome or only negatively-framed (1338 [IQR, 1036-1609] vs. 1281 [946-1489] fmol/punch, P = 0.17). Additionally, no differences were observed in those with negative reactions vs. those without (1209 [977–1427] vs. 1303 [964–1545], P = 0.58). At week 48, mean TFV-DP levels trended toward being higher among those that report any reaction, regardless if positive (1335 [909–1665] vs. 1179 [841–1455], P = 0.09) or negative (1377 [1054–1603] vs. 1192 [838–1486], P = 0.10) than those reporting no reaction. At week 48, 46% of participants reported experiencing some form of PrEP-directed judgment, 23% reported being called “PrEP whore,” and 21% avoiding disclosing PrEP use. Conclusion Over 48 weeks, nearly half of participants reported some form of judgment or stigmatization as a consequence of PrEP use. However, individuals more frequently perceived positively framed reactions to being on PrEP than negative. Importantly, long-term PrEP adherence does not appear to suffer as a result of negative PrEP framing. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

scholarly journals An Evaluation Methodology for Interactive Reinforcement Learning with Simulated Users

Biomimetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Adam Bignold ◽  
Francisco Cruz ◽  
Richard Dazeley ◽  
Peter Vamplew ◽  
Cameron Foale
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
External Information ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Learning Agents ◽  
Learning Agent ◽  
Knowledge Bias ◽  
The Impact

Interactive reinforcement learning methods utilise an external information source to evaluate decisions and accelerate learning. Previous work has shown that human advice could significantly improve learning agents’ performance. When evaluating reinforcement learning algorithms, it is common to repeat experiments as parameters are altered or to gain a sufficient sample size. In this regard, to require human interaction every time an experiment is restarted is undesirable, particularly when the expense in doing so can be considerable. Additionally, reusing the same people for the experiment introduces bias, as they will learn the behaviour of the agent and the dynamics of the environment. This paper presents a methodology for evaluating interactive reinforcement learning agents by employing simulated users. Simulated users allow human knowledge, bias, and interaction to be simulated. The use of simulated users allows the development and testing of reinforcement learning agents, and can provide indicative results of agent performance under defined human constraints. While simulated users are no replacement for actual humans, they do offer an affordable and fast alternative for evaluative assisted agents. We introduce a method for performing a preliminary evaluation utilising simulated users to show how performance changes depending on the type of user assisting the agent. Moreover, we describe how human interaction may be simulated, and present an experiment illustrating the applicability of simulating users in evaluating agent performance when assisted by different types of trainers. Experimental results show that the use of this methodology allows for greater insight into the performance of interactive reinforcement learning agents when advised by different users. The use of simulated users with varying characteristics allows for evaluation of the impact of those characteristics on the behaviour of the learning agent.

scholarly journals Using Unstated Cases to Correct for COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak and Its Impact on Easing the Intervention for Qatar

Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 463
Author(s):  
Narjiss Sallahi ◽  
Heesoo Park ◽  
Fedwa El Mellouhi ◽  
Mustapha Rachdi ◽  
Idir Ouassou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Epidemiological Models ◽  
Sir Epidemic Model ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
Epidemiological Modeling ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Sir Epidemic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Case Data

Epidemiological Modeling supports the evaluation of various disease management activities. The value of epidemiological models lies in their ability to study various scenarios and to provide governments with a priori knowledge of the consequence of disease incursions and the impact of preventive strategies. A prevalent method of modeling the spread of pandemics is to categorize individuals in the population as belonging to one of several distinct compartments, which represents their health status with regard to the pandemic. In this work, a modified SIR epidemic model is proposed and analyzed with respect to the identification of its parameters and initial values based on stated or recorded case data from public health sources to estimate the unreported cases and the effectiveness of public health policies such as social distancing in slowing the spread of the epidemic. The analysis aims to highlight the importance of unreported cases for correcting the underestimated basic reproduction number. In many epidemic outbreaks, the number of reported infections is likely much lower than the actual number of infections which can be calculated from the model’s parameters derived from reported case data. The analysis is applied to the COVID-19 pandemic for several countries in the Gulf region and Europe.

scholarly journals Identification and Quantification of Olive Oil Quality Parameters Using an Electronic Nose

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 674
Author(s):  
Nawaf Abu-Khalaf
Keyword(s):  
Olive Oil ◽  
Electronic Nose ◽  
Chemical Sensor ◽  
Chemical Constituents ◽  
Oil Quality ◽  
Quality Parameters ◽  
Signal Acquisition ◽  
Good Precision ◽  
Olive Oil Quality ◽  
Quality Categories

An electronic nose (EN), which is a kind of chemical sensor, was employed to check olive oil quality parameters. Fifty samples of olive oil, covering the four quality categories extra virgin, virgin, ordinary virgin and lampante, were gathered from different Palestinian cities. The samples were analysed chemically using routine tests and signals for each chemical were obtained using EN. Each signal acquisition represents the concentration of certain chemical constituents. Partial least squares (PLS) models were used to analyse both chemical and EN data. The results demonstrate that the EN was capable of modelling the acidity parameter with a good performance. The correlation coefficients of the PLS-1 model for acidity were 0.87 and 0.88 for calibration and validation sets, respectively. Furthermore, the values of the standard error of performance to standard deviation (RPD) for acidity were 2.61 and 2.68 for the calibration and the validation sets, respectively. It was found that two principal components (PCs) in the PLS-1 scores plot model explained 86% and 5% of EN and acidity variance, respectively. PLS-1 scores plot showed a high performance in classifying olive oil samples according to quality categories. The results demonstrated that EN can predict/model acidity with good precision. Additionally, EN was able to discriminate between diverse olive oil quality categories.

scholarly journals A Whole Virion Vaccine for COVID-19 Produced via a Novel Inactivation Method and Preliminary Demonstration of Efficacy in an Animal Challenge Model

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
Izabela K Ragan ◽  
Lindsay M Hartson ◽  
Taru S Dutt ◽  
Andres Obregon-Henao ◽  
Rachel M Maison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Candidate ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Neutralizing Antibody ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Post Challenge ◽  
Vaccine Candidates ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated intense interest in the rapid development and evaluation of vaccine candidates for this disease and other emerging diseases. Several novel methods for preparing vaccine candidates are currently undergoing clinical evaluation in response to the urgent need to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In many cases, these methods rely on new approaches for vaccine production and immune stimulation. We report on the use of a novel method (SolaVAX) for production of an inactivated vaccine candidate and the testing of that candidate in a hamster animal model for its ability to prevent infection upon challenge with SARS-CoV-2 virus. The studies employed in this work included an evaluation of the levels of neutralizing antibody produced post-vaccination, levels of specific antibody sub-types to RBD and spike protein that were generated, evaluation of viral shedding post-challenge, flow cytometric and single cell sequencing data on cellular fractions and histopathological evaluation of tissues post-challenge. The results from this preliminary evaluation provide insight into the immunological responses occurring as a result of vaccination with the proposed vaccine candidate and the impact that adjuvant formulations, specifically developed to promote Th1 type immune responses, have on vaccine efficacy and protection against infection following challenge with live SARS-CoV-2. This data may have utility in the development of effective vaccine candidates broadly. Furthermore, the results of this preliminary evaluation suggest that preparation of a whole virion vaccine for COVID-19 using this specific photochemical method may have potential utility in the preparation of one such vaccine candidate.

Survey Data Quality in Analyzing Harmonized Indicators of Protest Behavior: A Survey Data Recycling Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110216
Author(s):  
Kazimierz M. Slomczynski ◽  
Irina Tomescu-Dubrow ◽  
Ilona Wysmulek
Keyword(s):  
Data Processing ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Survey Quality ◽  
Survey Error ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
The Impact

This article proposes a new approach to analyze protest participation measured in surveys of uneven quality. Because single international survey projects cover only a fraction of the world’s nations in specific periods, researchers increasingly turn to ex-post harmonization of different survey data sets not a priori designed as comparable. However, very few scholars systematically examine the impact of the survey data quality on substantive results. We argue that the variation in source data, especially deviations from standards of survey documentation, data processing, and computer files—proposed by methodologists of Total Survey Error, Survey Quality Monitoring, and Fitness for Intended Use—is important for analyzing protest behavior. In particular, we apply the Survey Data Recycling framework to investigate the extent to which indicators of attending demonstrations and signing petitions in 1,184 national survey projects are associated with measures of data quality, controlling for variability in the questionnaire items. We demonstrate that the null hypothesis of no impact of measures of survey quality on indicators of protest participation must be rejected. Measures of survey documentation, data processing, and computer records, taken together, explain over 5% of the intersurvey variance in the proportions of the populations attending demonstrations or signing petitions.

scholarly journals Measurement of the Sea Surface Height with Airborne GNSS Reflectometry and Delay Bias Calibration

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3014
Author(s):  
Feng Wang ◽  
Dongkai Yang ◽  
Guodong Zhang ◽  
Jin Xing ◽  
Bo Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Arrival Time ◽  
Elevation Angle ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Sea Surface Height ◽  
Antenna Pattern ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Observation Method ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite ◽  
The Impact

Sea surface height can be measured with the delay between reflected and direct global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals. The arrival time of a feature point, such as the waveform peak, the peak of the derivative waveform, and the fraction of the peak waveform is not the true arrival time of the specular signal; there is a bias between them. This paper aims to analyze and calibrate the bias to improve the accuracy of sea surface height measured by using the reflected signals of GPS CA, Galileo E1b and BeiDou B1I. First, the influencing factors of the delay bias, including the elevation angle, receiver height, wind speed, pseudorandom noise (PRN) code of GPS CA, Galileo E1b and BeiDou B1I, and the down-looking antenna pattern are explored based on the Z-V model. The results show that (1) with increasing elevation angle, receiver height, and wind speed, the delay bias tends to decrease; (2) the impact of the PRN code is uncoupled from the elevation angle, receiver height, and wind speed, so the delay biases of Galileo E1b and BeiDou B1I can be derived from that of GPS CA by multiplication by the constants 0.32 and 0.54, respectively; and (3) the influence of the down-looking antenna pattern on the delay bias is lower than 1 m, which is less than that of other factors; hence, the effect of the down-looking antenna pattern is ignored in this paper. Second, an analytical model and a neural network are proposed based on the assumption that the influence of all factors on the delay bias are uncoupled and coupled, respectively, to calibrate the delay bias. The results of the simulation and experiment show that compared to the meter-level bias before the calibration, the calibrated bias decreases the decimeter level. Based on the fact that the specular points of several satellites are visible to the down-looking antenna, the multi-observation method is proposed to calibrate the bias for the case of unknown wind speed, and the same calibration results can be obtained when the proper combination of satellites is selected.

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