Confusion Problems Research Articles

The SOFG Anatomy Entry List (SAEL): an annotation tool for functional genomics data.

A great deal of data in functional genomics studies needs to be annotated with low-resolution anatomical terms. For example, gene expression assays based on manually dissected samples (microarray, SAGE, etc.) need high-level anatomical terms to describe sample origin. First-pass annotation in high-throughput assays (e.g. large-scale in situ gene expression screens or phenotype screens) and bibliographic applications, such as selection of keywords, would also benefit from a minimum set of standard anatomical terms. Although only simple terms are required, the researcher faces serious practical problems of inconsistency and confusion, given the different aims and the range of complexity of existing anatomy ontologies. A Standards and Ontologies for Functional Genomics (SOFG) group therefore initiated discussions between several of the major anatomical ontologies for higher vertebrates. As we report here, one result of these discussions is a simple, accessible, controlled vocabulary of gross anatomical terms, the SOFG Anatomy Entry List (SAEL). The SAEL is available from http://www.sofg.org and is intended as a resource for biologists, curators, bioinformaticians and developers of software supporting functional genomics. It can be used directly for annotation in the contexts described above. Importantly, each term is linked to the corresponding term in each of the major anatomy ontologies. Where the simple list does not provide enough detail or sophistication, therefore, the researcher can use the SAEL to choose the appropriate ontology and move directly to the relevant term as an entry point. The SAEL links will also be used to support computational access to the respective ontologies.

A General Formulation of the Source Confusion Statistics and Application to Infrared Galaxy Surveys

Source confusion has been a long-standing problem in the astronomical history. In the previous formulation of the confusion problem, sources are assumed to be distributed homogeneously on the sky. This fundamental assumption is, however, not realistic in many applications. In this work, by making use of the point field theory, we derive general analytic formulae for the confusion problems with arbitrary distribution and correlation functions. As a typical example, we apply these new formulae to the source confusion of infrared galaxies. We first calculate the confusion statistics for power-law galaxy number counts as a test case. When the slope of differential number counts, γ, is steep, the confusion limits become much brighter and the probability distribution function (PDF) of the fluctuation field is strongly distorted. Then we estimate the PDF and confusion limits based on the realistic number count model for infrared galaxies. The gradual flattening of the slope of the source counts makes the clustering effect rather mild. Clustering effects result in an increase of the limiting flux density with ~10%. In this case, the peak probability of the PDF decreases up to ~15% and its tail becomes heavier. Although the effects are relatively small, they will be strong enough to affect the estimation of galaxy evolution from number count or fluctuation statistics. We also comment on future submillimeter observations.

T Tauri Multiple Systems

New high-resolution adaptive optics systems provide an unprecedentedly detailed view of nearby star forming regions. In particular, young nearby T Tauri stars can be probed at much smaller physical scales (a few AU) than possible just a decade ago (several tens of AU). Of major importance is closing the sensitivity gap between imaging and spectral surveys for stellar companions. This allows for 1) calibration of pre-main-sequence evolutionary tracks by obtaining accurate dynamical masses, 2) resolving confusion problems arising by placing unresolved systems in colour-magnitude diagrams, and 3) well defined and determined multiplicity fractions of young stellar systems, important for discriminating star formation scenarios. This article briefly reviews the current status of high resolution imaging of T Tauri multiple systems, and what we can expect to learn from them in the near future.

Well-defined generalized stochastic petri nets: a net-level method to specify priorities

Generalized stochastic Petri nets (GSPN), with immediate transitions, are extensively used to model concurrent systems in a wide range of application domains, particularly including software and hardware aspects of computer systems, and their interactions. These models are typically used for system specification, logical and performance analysis, or automatic code generation. In order to keep modeling separate from the analysis and to gain in efficiency and robustness of the modeling process, the complete specification of the stochastic process underlying a model should be guaranteed at the net level, without requiring the generation and exploration of the state space. In this paper, we propose a net-level method that guides the modeler in the task of defining the priorities (and weights) of immediate transitions in a GSPN model, to deal with confusion and conflict problems. The application of this method ensures well-definition without reducing modeling flexibility or expressiveness.

The Collective Self and the Ethnopolitical Movement: "rhizomes" and "taproots" in the Amazon

The present situation in the Amazon is frequently characterized by political tensions between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. As a consequence, indigenous peoples are organizing in order to defend themselves and their land against the encroachment of representatives from the national society. To the Matsigenka, who live in the monta a of southeastern Peru, this process is relatively recent, and so is the conceptualization of ensuing conflicts in ethnic terms. Although ethnic criteria for constructing social identity is still largely alien to most Matsigenka, it has, to the indigenous organizations, come to serve as the model for defining political issues mainly because it is imposed by the dominant national society, which defines the rules. At the same time, categories of beings that are defined in notions of the cosmogony remain a significant factor in the Matsigenka conceptualization of the social world. The employment of two parallel models for constructing identity, which are occasionally conflicting, produces both conceptual confusion and organizational problems for the Matsigenka ethno-political movement.

Refugee families during asylum seeking

The mental health of refugee families with children during the asylum period is a neglectedresearch area in psychiatry. The present paper describes the situation of 10 refugee familiesresiding at an asylum centre in Finland. Case vignettes are presented to illustrate the situationsof these families. The study shows a high rate of depressive and post-traumatic stress disorderrelatedsymptoms among adult refugees. The case vignettes suggest that during the asylumperiod, many children and adult members of the family are not in a post-traumatic situation, butthey live constantly in a distressing situation. The foremost distress amongst the asylum seekersappeared to be fear of deportation and separation from family members. Most of the adults andall children had not received any psychiatric or psychotherapeutic assessment or treatment. It islikely that current procedures for dealing with the asylum seekers contributes to the level ofstress, family confusion and psychiatric problems in already traumatized refugee families.

Multiple Sclerosis and Economic Well-Being: Role of Health, Age, and Duration of Illness

This study used quantitative and qualitative techniques to examine the role of health, age, and duration of illness among people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in their economic well-being. Participants were 113 adults (31 males and 82 females) with MS who lived in urban and rural regions of Australia. The results demonstrated that health and age had a significant impact on both the economic well-being and psychological adjustment of people who contract this disorder. Different health variables predicted different aspects of economic well-being. Fatigue was the major health variable that predicted costs of MS and economic pressure, with age also predicting economic pressure, whereas income levels were predicted by cognitive confusion and mobility problems. Duration of illness, gender, and urban/rural location were not significant predictors of the economic variables. These results demonstrate the importance of obtaining multiple measures of economic well-being, as well as a broad range of health-related measures, in determining the impact of MS on the economic well-being of people with this disorder.

Young massive stars in the ISOGAL survey

The 7 and 15 μm observations of selected fields in the Galactic Plane obtained with ISOCAM during the ISOGAL program offer a unique possibility to search for previously unknown YSOs, undetected by IRAS because of lower sensitivity or confusion problems. In a previous paper (Felli et al. [CITE]) we established criteria of general validity to select YSOs from the much larger population of Post Main Sequence (Post-MS) stars present in the ISOGAL fields by comparing radio and IR observations of five fields located at . The selection was based primarily on the position of the point sources in the [15]–[7]–[15] diagram, which involves only ISOGAL data and allows to find possible YSOs using the survey data alone. In the present work we revise the adopted criteria by comparing radio-identified UC HII regions and ISOGAL observations over a much larger region. The main indications of the previous analysis are confirmed, but the criteria for selecting YSO candidates had to be revised to select only bright objects, in order to limit the contamination of the sample by Post-MS stars. The revised criteria (, ) are then used to extract YSO candidates from the ISOGAL Point Source Catalogue in preparation. We select a total of 715 YSO candidates, corresponding to ~2% of the sources with good detections at 7 and 15 μm. The results are presented in a table form that provides an unique input list of small diameter, ≤6´´, Galactic YSO candidates. The global properties of the sample of YSO candidates are briefly discussed.

Globular Clusters at High Redshift

Globular clusters will be present at high redshifts near the very beginning of the galaxy formation process. Stellar evolution ensures that they will be much more luminous than today. We show that the redshift distribution at nanojansky levels should be very broad, extending up to the redshift of formation. A bracketing range of choices for the redshift of formation, spectral energy evolution models, and population density evolution leads to the conclusion that the sky densities should be around 107 per square degree at 1 nJy (mAB = 31.4 mag) in bands around 4 μm. Such high sky densities begin to present a confusion problem at these wavelengths to diffraction-limited 6 m class telescopes. These starlike, low metallicity clusters will be a significant foreground population for first light object searches. On the other hand, they are an exceptionally interesting second light population in their own right. Depending on the details of galaxy assembly, the clusters will have a noticeable cross-correlation with galaxies on scales of about 20'' or less, depending on the details of the buildup of galaxy assembly after globular cluster formation. High-redshift globular clusters will be an accessible, direct probe of the earliest stages of the formation of galaxies and the buildup of metals in the universe.

Deep Imaging of SNRs at Low Frequencies Using the GMRT

Radio observations of large Supernova Remnants (SNRs) in the Galaxy are plagued with the problems of confusion and limitations of synthesis telescopes in imaging the emission at large angular scales. Since most SNRs are brighter at low radio frequencies, and the contamination due to thermal emission is reduced, deep and high resolution imaging of Galactic SNRs at meterwave lengths is most useful in their detection and classification. Relatively high resolution and sensitivity over a large range of angular scales provided by the GMRT at meterwave lengths makes it an ideal instrument for detailed multi-frequency imaging of Galactic SNRs.

Nursing management in palliative care

Nurses, have from the very beginning, played a key role in the delivery of palliative care. In all settings of care; home, hospital, or hospice/specialist palliative care unit, nurses lead or participate in the care of patients with far-advanced illness. Two levels of specialist nurses exist, the first are nurses who have undergone post-qualification training in palliative care and who work in a variety of settings using skills gained from this. The second is a distinct role, that of ‘the nurse specialist’. The role of ‘the nurse specialist’ in palliative care developed in the UK from the early 1980’s, and was designed to make expert palliative care more widely available. The goal for specialist nurses was to pass on good practice in the control of symptoms such as pain, and to increase the proportion of patients realising the wish to die at home. Since these early beginnings there has been a rapid expansion in the number of nurse specialists and in specialist palliative care services. For example, in the UK there are now some 2000 specialist nurses funded by the charity Macmillan Cancer Relief, and the government has made funding available to establish nurse specialists for patients with the most common cancers such as lung, breast and colorectal cancer. The rapid expansion of nurse specialists in the UK has been excellent in allowing the provision of high quality services. Roles have largely been developed according to local needs and priorities, and in a somewhat ad hoc manner; there are, as a result, problems of role confusion, role overlap between similar posts, and the need for education, training and research into best practice. There is also a need for evidence from the range of existing service models about the particular contribution of nurses and evidence about outcomes for patients. My intention here is not to review all the literature pertinent to the role of nurses in palliative care, rather, to selectively explore how nurses’ input into patient management. Both levels of palliative care nursing are discussed, at times interchangeably and at other times I will refer more specifically to the work of ‘the nurse specialist’. Nursing management in palliative care is explored under 2 themes: 1. The work of palliative care nurses. 2. The concept of nursing therapy and the contribution of nursing to the management of difficult symptoms.

Phase Calibration Sources in the Northern Sky at Galactic Latitudes |[CLC][ITAL]b[/ITAL][/CLC]| < 2[fdg

The Jodrell Bank–VLA Astrometric Survey (JVAS) of flat-spectrum sources yielded a catalog of 2118 compact radio sources in the northern sky. Those sources are being used as phase calibrators for many synthesis arrays. JVAS suffers from a zone of avoidance because Galactic confusion prevented selection of flat-spectrum sources at |b| < 25. This confusion problem was overcome by selecting variable sources from the GB6 Catalog in the JVAS zone of avoidance. A subset of these sources were observed at 8.5 GHz with the NRAO VLA in the JVAS style, leading to 29 compact radio sources in the zone of avoidance whose positions have been measured to an rms accuracy of about 10 mas or less. This extension of the JVAS lists to lower Galactic latitudes (1) improves the prospects for VLBA phase-referencing of Galactic targets and (2) strengthens the lists' usefulness for studies of the Galactic interstellar medium.

CMB anisotropies: cosmic confusion and polarization

Some physical effects producing Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies are briefly described. The CMB angular power spectrum is calculated -in appropriate cases- with the essential aim of estimating and comparing the effects produced by reionization and gravitational waves; thus a problem of Cosmic Confusion is pointed out. Accurate measurements of the CMB polarization could solve this problem in future. Some comments about the PLANCK mission —ESA project for anisotropy detection— are given.

Truth and Inquiry: A reply to David Bridges

Abstract A distinction is drawn between factual propositions and theoretical propositions. It is accepted that truth can be attributed to factual propositions, but argued that the unproblematic attribution of truth may be restricted to these. For theoretical propositions generally—including those held to be grounded in empirical educational research—it is not clear either how truth is to be attributed, or that any benefit flows from making the attempt. Nor do we need, as Bridges asserts, to know truth, in order to lie, or to query false belief in others. Haack's explanation of what is involved in having rigorous belief is sketched and offered as a basis for guiding the conduct of inquiry, whilst assisting with problems of confusion, methodological misdirection, and doctrinaire exclusivity arising from insisting on truth as a goal, or criterion of inquiry.

The dying patient.

Most terminally ill patients experience symptoms that require treatment as death approaches. The most common symptoms are pain (5% to 51%), dyspnea (28%), oral and respiratory secretions (25%), nausea and vomiting (10% to 14%), confusion (10%), myoclonus (12%), and bowel and bladder problems (over 20%). These symptoms can be well controlled in up to 90% of individuals with appropriate communication; emotional, spiritual, and social support; noninvasive clinical evaluation; and therapy focused on symptom palliation. Types of drugs that are important in symptom control include opioids, co-analgesics, anxiolytics, and anticholinergics. To be effective, these medications must be readily available for use and often need to be given by a non-oral route.

Integrating Speech and Manual Input Devices in Multimodal Cad Systems

This paper reports an investigation of integrating the use of speech recognition and manual input devices in a multimodal CAD system. A functional integration of systems components helped to simplify the system, while optimising the functionality of each input device within the multimodal framework. The system was configured by allocating CAD commands and alphanumeric data to each input device using the frequency of use principle. Two alternative multimodal CAD systems were compared to an all-speech input system using data obtained from 24 subjects. A one-way mixed ANOVA design was used, with the system type as independent variable, and behaviour and performance measures as dependent variables. Behaviour was quantified in terms of frequency and duration of eye movements, hand movements and speech verbalizations, while performance was measured on product quality and production costs. The hybrid systems improved user behaviour, but the inflexible mapping of input devices to task items created memory and confusion problems for users. There were also behaviour and performance tradeoffs in using the systems. The findings raised potential design issues for a multimodal CAD system integrating speech and manual input.

Mechanical heterogeneity and validity of J-dominance in welded joints

Fracture criterion of the J-integral finds wide application in the integrity evaluation of welded components, but there exist some confused problems such as the dependence of the fracture toughness on the strength mis-matching and specimen geometry which need to be clarified. It is rough and unsuitable to attribute the variation of J-integral fracture parameter simply to the effect of mechanical heterogeneity. In the present paper, a two-dimensional finite element method is employed to analyze the distribution and variation of crack tip field of welded joints with different strength mis-matching in four kinds of specimen geometry, and then the validity of J-dominance in welded joints is investigated. It is found that the crack tip field of mis-matched joint is different from that of either the weld metal or base metal of which the joint is composed, but it is situated between those of weld metal and base metal. Under the plane strain, there is obvious difference in stress triaxiality for different strength mis-matched joints. The validity of J-dominance in welded joint can not be obtained by comparing whether the stress triaxiality meets that required by the HRR solution because of the existence of mechanical inhomogeneity. By ascertaining if the stress triaxiality of welded joint near the crack tip is dependent of specimen geometry, the conclusion can be arrived at: for plane stress the validity of J-dominance is valid, whilst for plane strain the validity of J-dominance is lost. Based on the above, attempt has been made to point out that the influence of mechanical heterogeneity on the fracture toughness of weldment arises from the variation of constraint intensity-crack tip stress triaxiality. Compared with the effect of mechanical heterogeneity on the stress triaxiality, the losing of validity of J-dominance in mis-matched joint under plane strain may play a more critical role in the variation of J-integral fracture parameter of weldment.

On the phase problem in electron microscopy: the relationship between structure factors, exit waves, and HREM images.

In electron microscopy, the word phase is used for different physical phenomena, including crystallographic structure-factor phases and the electron wave phases. This has resulted in great confusion, as to whether the phase information is present or lost when an image is recorded. The aim of this paper is to solve this phase confusion problem by studying the relationships between structure factors, exit waves, and high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) images. Three approaches are taken. First phases at different stages of the imaging processes are compared analytically for a crystal that can be considered a weak phase object (WPO). Then these different phases are calculated by the multi-slice method based on dynamical diffraction theory, and their numerical values are compared. Finally, the validity of the theoretical description is checked by comparison with experimental data on a real crystal, Ti(2)S. It is demonstrated that it is possible to obtain accurate structure factor-phases directly from HREM images by crystallographic image processing. The two major methods for structure determination from HREM images-exit wave reconstruction and crystallographic image processing-are compared. It is shown that the information utilised by the two methods as well as the results are essentially the same.

Reasons for referral of very elderly patients to the community dental service in rural England and the implications for developing oral health care services.

To analyse the medical conditions and dental treatment requirements. Retrospective analysis. Rural South West Surrey, England. 100 patients aged 75 or over who were referred for dental treatment to the Community Dental Services (CDS) because of various medical disabilities. Age, sex, medical history including drug intake, dental treatment provided, time taken for treatment. Two-thirds of the patients required domiciliary care; two-thirds had problems of mental confusion. In addition, 89% were dependent on carers. Treatment requirements indicate that the majority of dental care, although time consuming, were simple in nature and within the technical scope of a competent general dental practitioner (GDP). This study implies that the reasons for referral are other than lack of dental skills and may be due to perceived difficulties in managing patients. Further research is recommended to establish whether aspects of patient management are problematic so that resources, including appropriate training programmes, can be developed to enable a quality service to be provided. In the evolving health care system in the United Kingdom (UK) these issues will need to be considered when developing contracts at a local level.

The use of positron emission tomography and computed tomography in the assessment of trismus associated with head and neck malignancy

The assessment of head and neck cancer has traditionally involved clinical examination and anatomical imaging by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We present a case where a problem of clinical confusion and inconclusive radiology was resolved by the use of positron emission tomography (PET) coregistered with CT.