The SPARC Data Initiative: Comparison of upper troposphere/lower stratosphere ozone climatologies from limb-viewing instruments and the nadir-viewing Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer

We present the first comprehensive intercomparison of currently available satellite ozone climatologies in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UTLS) (300–70 hPa) as part of the Stratosphere-troposphere Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC) Data Initiative. The Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument is the only nadir-viewing instrument in this initiative, as well as the only instrument with a focus on tropospheric composition. We apply the TES observational operator to ozone climatologies from the more highly vertically resolved limb-viewing instruments. This minimizes the impact of differences in vertical resolution among the instruments and allows identification of systematic differences in the large-scale structure and variability of UTLS ozone. We find that the climatologies from most of the limb-viewing instruments show positive differences (ranging from 5 to 75%) with respect to TES in the tropical UTLS, and comparison to a “zonal mean” ozonesonde climatology indicates that these differences likely represent a positive bias for p ≤ 100 hPa. In the extratropics, there is good agreement among the climatologies regarding the timing and magnitude of the ozone seasonal cycle (differences in the peak-to-peak amplitude of <15%) when the TES observational operator is applied, as well as very consistent midlatitude interannual variability. The discrepancies in ozone temporal variability are larger in the tropics, with differences between the data sets of up to 55% in the seasonal cycle amplitude. However, the differences among the climatologies are everywhere much smaller than the range produced by current chemistry-climate models, indicating that the multiple-instrument ensemble is useful for quantitatively evaluating these models.

Evaluation of sensor configurations for robotic surgical instruments

Designing surgical instruments for robotic-assisted minimally-invasive surgery (RAMIS) is challenging due to constraints on the number and type of sensors imposed by considerations such as space or the need for sterilization. A new method for evaluating the usability of virtual teleoperated surgical instruments based on virtual sensors is presented. This method uses virtual prototyping of the surgical instrument with a dual physical interaction, which allows testing of different sensor configurations in a real environment. Moreover, the proposed approach has been applied to the evaluation of prototypes of a two-finger grasper for lump detection by remote pinching. In this example, the usability of a set of five different sensor configurations, with a different number of force sensors, is evaluated in terms of quantitative and qualitative measures in clinical experiments with 23 volunteers. As a result, the smallest number of force sensors needed in the surgical instrument that ensures the usability of the device can be determined. The details of the experimental setup are also included.

Independent uncertainty estimates for coefficient based sea surface temperature retrieval from the Along-Trck Scanning Radiometer instruments

We establish a methodology for calculating uncertainties in sea surface temperature estimates from coefficient based satellite retrievals. The uncertainty estimates are derived independently of in-situ data. This enables validation of both the retrieved SSTs and their uncertainty estimate using in-situ data records. The total uncertainty budget is comprised of a number of components, arising from uncorrelated (eg. noise), locally systematic (eg. atmospheric), large scale systematic and sampling effects (for gridded products). The importance of distinguishing these components arises in propagating uncertainty across spatio-temporal scales. We apply the method to SST data retrieved from the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) and validate the results for two different SST retrieval algorithms, both at a per pixel level and for gridded data. We find good agreement between our estimated uncertainties and validation data. This approach to calculating uncertainties in SST retrievals has a wider application to data from other instruments and retrieval of other geophysical variables.

Reliability, validity and acceptability of modified response formats of APD instruments for children using AAC

A pilot study consisting of a parent questionnaire, four APD tests and an acceptability questionnaire were presented to normal hearing and cognitively developing children between the ages of 8-12 years. Responses to a standard and modified response format of the APD tests were obtained over two test sessions. Results indicated that the modified response formats of the four APD tests were acceptable, fairly reliable and three out of the four APD tests were valid.

PAIN IN FIBROMYALGIA AND DISCRIMINATIVE POWER OF THE INSTRUMENTS: VISUAL ANALOG SCALE, DOLORIMETRY AND THE MCGILL PAIN QUESTIONNAIRE

Objective: The aim of this study was to verify the discriminative power of the most widely used pain assessment instruments. Methods: The sample consisted of 279 subjects divided into Fibromyalgia Group (FM- 205 patients with fibromyalgia) and Control Group (CG-74 healthy subjects), mean age 49.29 +/- 10.76 years. Only 9 subjects were male, 6 in FM and 3 in CG. FM were outpatients from the Rheumatology Clinic of the University of Sao Paulo - Hospital das Clinicas (HCFMUSP); the CG included people accompanying patients and hospital staff with similar socio-demographic characteristics. Three instruments were used to assess pain: the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and the Dolorimetry, to measure pain threshold on tender points (generating the TP index). In order to assess the discriminative power of the instruments, the measurements obtained were submitted to descriptive analysis and inferential analysis using ROC Curve - sensibility (S), specificity (S I) and area under the curve (AUC) - and Contingence tables with Chi-square Test and odds ratio. Significance level was 0.05. Results: Higher sensibility, specificity and area under the curve was obtained by VAS (80%, 80% and 0.864, respectively), followed by Dolorimetry (S 77%, S177% and AUC 0.851), McGill Sensory (S 72%, S167% and AUC 0.765) and McGill Affective (S 69%, S1 67% and AUC 0.753). Conclusions: VAS presented the higher sensibility, specificity and AUC, showing the greatest discriminative power among the instruments. However, these values are considerably similar to those of Dolorimetry.

Center for the Study of Free Reed Instruments Collection, 1947-2011 Finding Aid

The Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments Collection is an archival collection at the City University of New York Graduate Center’s Mina Rees Library which contains materials donated by Professor Allan W. Atlas, related to free-reed instruments and the International Concertina Association.

Policy instruments to improve energy efficiency in buildings

The newly adopted energy efficiency directive (2012/27/EU) highlights the importance of energy efficiency in reaching the Union’s 2020 targets. The directive commits member states to defining national energy efficiency targets (art. 3), achieving yearly energy savings of 1.5% of the annual energy sales through the energy efficiency obligation scheme (art. 7), and providing a long-term strategy for the building sector that aims at a 3% refurbishment rate for public buildings (art. 4+5). Buildings currently account for 40% of energy use in most countries, putting them among the largest end-use sectors. This report takes a closer look at the best practices for implementing increasing energy efficiency in different regions and countries in Europe. The final aim is to identify some policy tools to be suggested to the region of Dalarna (Dalarna having been chosen as the pilot county in Sweden) as a means of implementing energy efficiency in the building sector. The final objective is to give analysts and decision-makers a better analytical foundation to explore future policy development in the area of buildings to be proposed and tested at the regional level in Dalarna and later at the national level in Sweden.

Wald tests for IV regression with weak instruments

This dissertation deals with the problem of making inference when there is weak identification in models of instrumental variables regression. More specifically we are interested in one-sided hypothesis testing for the coefficient of the endogenous variable when the instruments are weak. The focus is on the conditional tests based on likelihood ratio, score and Wald statistics. Theoretical and numerical work shows that the conditional t-test based on the two-stage least square (2SLS) estimator performs well even when instruments are weakly correlated with the endogenous variable. The conditional approach correct uniformly its size and when the population F-statistic is as small as two, its power is near the power envelopes for similar and non-similar tests. This finding is surprising considering the bad performance of the two-sided conditional t-tests found in Andrews, Moreira and Stock (2007). Given this counter intuitive result, we propose novel two-sided t-tests which are approximately unbiased and can perform as well as the conditional likelihood ratio (CLR) test of Moreira (2003).

The distortion of currencies misalignments on trade Instruments: or why currencies wars are not over

The negotiations of mega agreements between the US and the Pacific countries (TPP) and between the US and the EU (TTIP) are raising the attention of experts on international trade law and economics. TPP and TTIP are proclaimed to be the designers of the rules for the XXI Century. Old trade instruments such as tariffs are said to be no more important for TTIP because tariffs are negligible among those partners but significant to for TPP. Another relevant agreement in negotiation is between the EU and Mercosul, where tariffs are the most important issue in discussion. The main purpose of this paper is to shows that tariff are important for all these agreements, not because of its nominal value, but because the impacts of exchange rate misalignments on tariffs are so significant that all concessions can be distorted by overvalued and by devaluated currencies. The article is divided into several sections: the first gives an introduction to the issue; the second explains the methodologies used to determine exchange rate misalignments and also presents some results for Brazil, US and China; the third summarizes the methodology applied to calculate the impacts of exchange rate misalignments on the level of tariff protection through an exercise of “misalignment tariffication” and examines the effects of exchange rate variations on tariffs and their consequences for the multilateral trading system; the fourth creates a methodology to estimate exchange rates against a basket of currencies (a virtual currency of the World) and a proposal to deal with persistent and significant misalignments related to trade rules. The fifth presents some estimates for the main PTAs. The conclusions are present in the last section

Da leitura da poesia à poesia da leitura: a contribuição da poesia para o Ensino Médio

La poésie occupe, à l école, une place réduite et, la plupart du temps, est reléguée à des dates commémoratives ou, quand utilisée, sert de pretexte à l étude de la grammaire et du vocabulaire. Cette thèse a comme objectif de réfléchir sur l importance de l enseignement de La littérature, et plus spécialement, celui de la poésie dans l enseignement secondaire. A comme principal objectif de montrer la place de la poésie dans l'enseignement secondairepour la formation socio-linguistique, cognitive et affective dês élèves. De plus, tente de démystifier l' idée qu'il est impossible de lire de La littérature et, en particuler, de la poésie, avec des adolescents.Il s agit de proposer des projets afin de travailler de manière adéquate la lecture de poésies en salle de classe par le biais de stratégies productives de lectures littéraires comme celles qui promeuvent la rencontre entre le lecteur et le texte. Pour cela, nous avons réalisé une expérience dans une école publique de l état Du Rio Grande do Norte, dans la commune de Natal, avec des élèves adolescents âgés de 14 à 18 ans. L' expérience a consisté en douze cours de lecture de poésies. Nous avons utilisé, comme instruments de collectes de données, des entrevues, des cahiers de classe et des questionnaires. Les références théoriques adoptées consistent en une bibliographie qui fait référence aux études d esthétique de La réception et de la coopération interprétative comme l ont formulées Jauss (1979), Iser (1996) et Eco (2002); la conception de lecteur et le processus de lecture selon Smith (1989); le socio-interactionnisme de Vigotski (1999; 2000); la médiation (lecture par degré ou scaffolding), de Graves et Graves (1995); la psychologie de l adolescence de Becker (1999), Carvajal (2001) e Gutierra(2003). Les résultats montrent l importance de la présence du médiateur dans La formation du lecteur, sachant qu en plus de contribuer et de potentialiser l intéraction entre le texte et le lecteur, l adhésion des élèves est améliorée. L expérience de vivre la poésie en salle de classe avec dês adolescents sujets de cette recherche, a prouvé qu il est possible, dans l enseignement secondaire, et malgré les difficultés, de réaliser um travail avec la poésie

A recepção do gênero romance na escola: práticas de leitura e formas do trabalho docente

Ce travail se propose de discuter, dans les domaines de la linguistique appliquée, focalisés dans l enseignement-apprentissage de la langue maternelle, les processus didactique-pédagogique avec lesquels se construisent, interactivement, et s organisent les pratiques de lecture et d écoute du genre roman, en tant qu objet enseigné, dans le contexte du cours de langue portugaise. On cherche ici, spécifiquement, à décrire et à interpréter les différentes manières utilisées par l enseignante pour apprendre la lecture et l écoute du roman Le Petit Prince, d Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, et, par conséquent, la réception de ce genre du discours par les apprenants, résultat des échanges interactifs entre l enseignante et les apprenants pris dans le processus de transposition de savoirs à propos de ce genre. La condition d existence de ces échanges se trouve dans les procédures didactiques de l enseignant lorsqu il propose aux apprenants des activités de la lecture et de l écoute des textes. Dans ce contexte, le corpus dont nous nous occupons se constitue des enregistrements en vidéo, audio et prises de notes dans les carnets de classe des cours de Portugais, pour la période scolaire de 2005, avec un groupe de 5ème année de la formation fondamentale d une école publique fédérale de Belém (PA). Du point de vue théorique-methodologique, nous nous inspirons des contributions de Moita-Lopes (2003) et Geertz (2006), surtout à ce qui concerne la conception et les procédures de constitution et traitement des données selon les présupposés de la recherche ethnographique. Encore du point de vue théorique et pour ce qui concerne l analyse des données, nous utilisons les contributions de Bakhtin (2003), sur les études énonciatif-discoursifs sous une conception dialogique du langage, les contributions issues des domaines des études appliquées et des études en didactiques de langues, dans la section de Psychologie et Sciences de l Éducation de l Université de Genève, coordonnée par Schneuwly, Dolz et ses collaborateurs (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 et 2005) envisageant la construction de l objet enseigné par moyen d instruments didactiques, et, finalement, Rojo (2001 et 2002), et sa discussion sur l apprentissage des capacités de lecture essentielles à la formation du lecteur et producteur à l école. L analyse des données obtenues nous a permis de relever la façon utilisée par le professeur pour enseigner le genre roman, mettant en relief l apprentissage de la lecture par les apprenants à travers les instruments didactiques capables de le faire devenir l objet enseigné

Alcohol screening instruments in elderly male: a population-based survey in metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Comparative study on the effect of ultrasonic instruments on the root surface in vivo

The present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of different ultrasonic instruments on the root surface. Fourteen patients with 35 single root teeth designated for extraction were recruited to the present study. Teeth were assigned to four experimental groups: group 1, piezoelectric ultrasonic device; group 2, magnetostrictive ultrasonic device; group 3, hand instrumentation; and group 4, untreated teeth (control). After instrumentation, the teeth were extracted and the presence of residual deposits (roughness and root surfaces characteristics) were analyzed. The results showed that residual deposits were similar in all tested groups: piezoelectric, 8.7%; magnetostrictive, 9.7%; hand instrumentation, 11.1% and control, 76.4%. There were statistically significant differences between control and all the experimental groups (p < 0.0001). With respect to roughness parameters evaluation, R(a) and R(z) of the roots treated with the different instruments showed a similar pattern (p > 0.05), but for R(t) and R(y), a significant difference was observed (p < 0.05) among hand instrumentation and ultrasonic devices. SEM analysis revealed a similar root surface pattern for the ultrasonic devices, but curettes showed many instrumental scratches, deep gouges, and a relatively large amount of dentin was removed. Within the limits of the study, although the instruments produced similar results, root surfaces instrumentated with curettes were rougher and had more root surface tissue removed than with the ultrasonic device.

Efficacy of NiTi rotary instruments in removing calcium hydroxide dressing residues from root canal walls

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of three rotary instrument systems (K3, ProTaper and Twisted File) in removing calcium hydroxide residues from root canal walls. Thirty-four human mandibular incisors were instrumented with the ProTaper System up to the F2 instrument, irrigated with 2.5% NaOCl followed by 17% EDTA, and filled with a calcium hydroxide intracanal dressing. After 7 days, the calcium hydroxide dressing was removed using the following rotary instruments: G1 - NiTi size 25, 0.06 taper, of the K3 System; G2 - NiTi F2, of the ProTaper System; or G3 - NiTi size 25, 0.06 taper, of the Twisted File System. The teeth were longitudinally grooved on the buccal and lingual root surfaces, split along their long axis, and their apical and cervical canal thirds were evaluated by SEM (×1000). The images were scored and the data were statistically analyzed using the Kruskall Wallis test. None of the instruments removed the calcium hydroxide dressing completely, either in the apical or cervical thirds, and no significant differences were observed among the rotary instruments tested (p > 0.05).