Classifying patients by their characteristics and clinical presentations; the use of latent class analysis

In this article, we introduce the general statistical analysis approach known as latent class analysis and discuss some of the issues associated with this type of analysis in practice. Two recent examples from the respiratory health literature are used to highlight the types of research questions that have been addressed using this approach.

Isolation and characterization of 21 polymorphic microsatellite loci in the iconic Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, using the Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing platform

We isolated and characterized 21 microsatellite loci in the vulnerable and iconic Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri. Loci were screened across eight individuals from the Burnett River and 40 individuals from the Pine River. Genetic diversity was low with between one and six alleles per locus within populations and a maximum expected heterozygosity of 0.774. These loci will now be available to assess effective population sizes and genetic structure in N. forsteri across its natural range in South East Queensland, Australia.

A Bayesian latent class safety performance function for identifying motor vehicle crash blackspots

The current state of the practice in Blackspot Identification (BSI) utilizes safety performance functions based on total crash counts to identify transport system sites with potentially high crash risk. This paper postulates that total crash count variation over a transport network is a result of multiple distinct crash generating processes including geometric characteristics of the road, spatial features of the surrounding environment, and driver behaviour factors. However, these multiple sources are ignored in current modelling methodologies in both trying to explain or predict crash frequencies across sites. Instead, current practice employs models that imply that a single underlying crash generating process exists. The model mis-specification may lead to correlating crashes with the incorrect sources of contributing factors (e.g. concluding a crash is predominately caused by a geometric feature when it is a behavioural issue), which may ultimately lead to inefficient use of public funds and misidentification of true blackspots. This study aims to propose a latent class model consistent with a multiple crash process theory, and to investigate the influence this model has on correctly identifying crash blackspots. We first present the theoretical and corresponding methodological approach in which a Bayesian Latent Class (BLC) model is estimated assuming that crashes arise from two distinct risk generating processes including engineering and unobserved spatial factors. The Bayesian model is used to incorporate prior information about the contribution of each underlying process to the total crash count. The methodology is applied to the state-controlled roads in Queensland, Australia and the results are compared to an Empirical Bayesian Negative Binomial (EB-NB) model. A comparison of goodness of fit measures illustrates significantly improved performance of the proposed model compared to the NB model. The detection of blackspots was also improved when compared to the EB-NB model. In addition, modelling crashes as the result of two fundamentally separate underlying processes reveals more detailed information about unobserved crash causes.

Role of magnesium ion on the interaction between chromomycin A3 and deoxyribonucleic acid

Abstract is not available.

Does manure management affect the latent greenhouse gas emitting potential of livestock manures?

With livestock manures being increasingly sought as alternatives to costly synthetic fertilisers, it is imperative that we understand and manage their associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here we provide the first dedicated assessment into how the GHG emitting potential of various manures responds to the different stages of the manure management continuum (e.g., from feed pen surface vs stockpiled). The research is important from the perspective of manure application to agricultural soils. Manures studied included: manure from beef feedpen surfaces and stockpiles; poultry broiler litter (8-week batch); fresh and composted egg layer litter; and fresh and composted piggery litter. Gases assessed were methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), the two principal agricultural GHGs. We employed proven protocols to determine the manures’ ultimate CH4 producing potential. We also devised a novel incubation experiment to elucidate their N2O emitting potential; a measure for which no established methods exist. We found lower CH4 potentials in manures from later stages in their management sequence compared with earlier stages, but only by a factor of 0.65×. Moreover, for the beef manures this decrease was not significant (P < 0.05). Nitrous oxide emission potential was significantly positively (P < 0.05) correlated with C/N ratios yet showed no obvious relationship with manure management stage. Indeed, N2O emissions from the composted egg manure were considerably (13×) and significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of the fresh egg manure. Our study demonstrates that manures from all stages of the manure management continuum potentially entail significant GHG risk when applied to arable landscapes. Efforts to harness manure resources need to account for this.

Synthesis of Azo Coupled Crown Ethers Containing Transition Metal and other Chromophoric Environments and Their Ion Complexation Properties

The crown ethers, 2,3-benzo-1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxa-cyclopentadeca-2-ene and 2,3, ll,12-dibenzo-l,4,7,10,13,16-hexaoxscyclooctadeca-2,11-diene are incorporated into H,N'-ethylenebis(acetylacetoneimino) nickel(II) and copper(II), phenol, and β-naphthol by diazo coupling reactions. The selective nature of the coupling reaction has-been demonstrated by the isolation of both asymmetric mono- and symmetric bis(glyoxalarylcrownhydrazoneimino) metal(II) complexes. An interesting binuclear complex containing two intramolecularly rearranged (glyoxal-hydrazonearylimino) metal(II) groups joined by 18-crown-6 result8 when bis(arenediazonium)-18-crown-6 is coupled with the metal(I1) Schiff bases. The substituted ethers form cationic salts with NaClO4, KCNS, NH4CNS, 14g(CNS)2 and Ca(CNS)2. All the synthesised ethers exhibit ion selectivity sequence as K+ > Na+ and Ca2+ > Mg2+.

Reactive state selectivity in photodimerization through micellar counter-ion effects: photodimerization of acenaphthylenes

Photodimerization of acenaphthylene and 5,6-dichloroacenaphthylene solubilized in sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS), cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC), dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and Triton X-100 micelles gives a mixture of cis and trans dimers. The magnitude of the cis:trans ratio is sensitive to the type of micelle used. In CTAB micelles the heavy atom effect of the bromide counter-ions leads to an increased triplet-derived trans dimer yield, whereas in micelles with light atom counter-ions (CTAC, DTAC and SDS) the singlet-derived cis dimer predominates.

Propagation of ion-acoustic waves in a multi-component plasma

The authors derive the Korteweg-de Vries equation in a multicomponent plasma that includes any number of positive and negative ions. The solitary wave solutions are also found explicitly for the case of isothermal and non-isothermal electrons.

Electron paramagnetic resonance study of vanadyl ion in K2Zn(SO4)2·6H2O and K2Mg(SO4)2·6H2O

EPR study of the vanadyl ion has been carried out in its paramagnetically dilute form in K2Zn(SO4)2·6H2O and K2Mg(SO4)2·6H2O at room temperature at X-band. The vanadyl ion enters the divalent metal site and preferentially orients itself in the direction of the water molecules forming the octahedron and forms the vanadyl sulfate pentahydrate complex. The g and A tensorscorresponding to the two populous V-O orientations have been analyzed to obtain the principal values and their direction cosines with respect to the crystallographics axes. It is found that the g and A tensor have the same principal frames of reference within the limits of eperimental error. A correlation between the metal-water distance and the populations of the different V-O orientations is observed.

Nonlinear saturation of ion-acoustic instability

It is proposed that the wave mediated indirect wave-particle interaction may be responsible for nonlinear saturation of current driven low frequency ion-acoustic turbulence. This process decreases the growth rate and increases the damping rate of the wave. Comparison has been made with some experiments.