Equivalent Scales Research Articles

Conducting cross-cultural, multi-lingual or multi-country scale development and validation in health care research: A 10-step framework based on a scoping review.

Valid, reliable and cross-cultural equivalent scales and measurement instruments that enable comparisons across diverse populations in different countries are important for global health research and practice. We developed a 10-step framework through a scoping review of the common strategies and techniques used for scale development and validation in a cross-cultural, multi-lingual, or multi-country setting, especially in health care research. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO for peer-reviewed studies that collected data from two or more countries or in two or more languages at any stages of scale development or validation and published between 2010-22. We categorised the techniques into three commonly used scale development and validation stages (item generation, scale development, and scale evaluation) as well as during the translation stage. We described the most commonly used techniques at each stage. We identified 141 studies that were included in the analysis. We summarised 14 common techniques and strategies, including focus groups or interviews with diverse target populations, and involvement of measurement experts and linguists for item content validity expert panel at the item generation stage; back-and-forth translation, collaborative team approach for the translation stage; cognitive interviews and different recruitment strategies and incentives in different settings for scale development stage; and three approaches for measurement invariance (multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, differential item functioning and multiple indicator multiple causes) for scale evaluation stage. We provided a 10-step framework for cross-cultural, multi-lingual or multi-country scale development and validation based on these techniques and strategies. More research and synthesis are needed to make scale development more culturally competent and enable scale application to better meet local health and development needs.

Disentangling slope‐scale spatial variability of saturated hydraulic conductivity in the black soil region of northeast China using noise‐assisted multivariate empirical mode decomposition

AbstractReliable estimates of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) are usually difficult to obtain, as Ks is regulated by a variety of soil processes acting at different spatial scales that may obscure each other's impacts. We hypothesized that these scale‐specific relationships could be well characterized with the aid of the noise‐assisted multivariate empirical mode decomposition (NA‐MEMD), thereby serving as a solid foundation for an accurate Ks prediction. The objective was to evaluate whether the incorporation of NA‐MEMD could improve the estimation of Ks based on the multiscale associations it unraveled. On a typical slope transect of 860 m in the black soil region of northeast China, Ks, mollic epipedon thickness, bulk density, soil organic carbon content, total (ϕ) and effective porosities (ϕe), and particle size distribution were investigated at every 20 m. Prior to NA‐MEMD, Ks was most strongly correlated with ϕe, and the linear regression models based on ϕe solely were satisfactory for Ks estimation at the scale of investigation. Adding other predictors significantly improved Ks prediction in calibration, but impaired it in validation. Upon decomposition by NA‐MEMD, Ks was found to be significantly associated with each attribute at two scales of oscillation at least. Summing up the estimates of each Ks component derived from the properties at the equivalent oscillation scales, the results outperformed the traditional multiple linear regressions made at the investigation scale, when the same sets of predictors were used. The application of NA‐MEMD, moreover, could save the tedious measurements of ϕe and ϕ. Excluding these two porosity‐related properties, Ks estimates obtained by incorporating NA‐MEMD were statistically similar or even better than those involving them before NA‐MEMD. These findings demonstrate the great potential of NA‐MEMD in untangling scale‐dependent relationships of Ks with various processes and hold important implications for future estimations of Ks and other hydraulic properties in the black soil region of northeast China and similar regions.

How Does Energy Intake Change in China? A Life Cycle Perspective.

China's population is showing the characteristics of "fewer children" and "aging", which will have a long-term and far-reaching impact on the food and nutritional needs of China and the world. In this paper, adult equivalent scale (AES) variables representing the household population structure were introduced into the energy intake model to quantify the impact of population structure changes on energy intake and reveal the characteristics of energy intake changes in the life cycle of Chinese residents. It is found that the change in the population structure has a significant impact on the energy intake of urban households in China, and the elasticity is 0.446. The energy intake of Chinese elderly over the age of 60 shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing, especially after the age of 65, which indicates that the aging will promote a decline in food consumption in China. The energy intake of 1-10-year-old children, 22-30 year old, and 40-45 year old women all showed a change of first a decrease and then an increase, which may be related to parents' care for young children and women with children's management of body size. The average household size expressed by the adult equivalent scales of energy consumption is 2.341, which is smaller than the 3.052 calculated by the population number. The conclusion indicates that the prediction of the food and nutritional demand should be adjusted according to the changes and differences in accordance with the intensification of "fewer children" and "aging", as well as the life cycle changes in residents' energy intake, which is conducive to the formulation of food and nutrition security policies.

A Systematic Literature Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Comparative Efficacy of Topical Fixed-Dose Combination Treatments for Moderate to Severe Acne Vulgaris

INTRODUCTION: Several topical and oral monotherapies/combination treatments are available for treating patients with moderate to severe acne vulgaris and a few are currently under review with the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Among these treatments, topical fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) are widely used in the US. No study has assessed the comparative efficacy of topical FDCs based on the treatment success endpoint of the proportion of patients achieving ≥2 grade reduction AND "Clear" or "Almost clear” status by week 12 on an Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA) or equivalent scales. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) and network meta-analysis (NMA) to compare the efficacy of topical FDCs for the treatment of moderate to severe acne.
 STUDY DESCRIPTION: An SLR was conducted for identifying randomized controlled trials (RCTs), that included at least one topical FDC (currently approved/under review with FDA) arm, in academic (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, PEDE, and NHS EED) and non-academic databases (HTA databases, conference abstracts databases, and trial registries). The search was conducted in May 2022, based on a pre-specified inclusion/exclusion criterion. RCTs included in the analysis evaluated acne severity using IGA or equivalent (Evaluator's Global Severity Score, Investigator’s Static Global Assessment) scales. A Bayesian network meta-regression was conducted, using the proportion of patients with moderate acne, inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesion counts at baseline as covariates to account for acne severity.
 RESULTS: Twelve Phase II/III/IV RCTs were identified from 5,159 citations comprising 8,349 patients across 8 treatment groups. The odds ratio for treatment success with topical FDC of clindamycin phosphate 1.2%, adapalene 0.15%, and benzoyl peroxide 3.1% (first triple agent FDC) gel was estimated to be 7.61 (95% Credible Interval: 4.44 –13.20) in comparison to Vehicle gel. Comparative effectiveness ranking demonstrated that the topical triple agent FDC gel was the most effective treatment with surface under cumulative ranking of 100%.
 CONCLUSION: Based on this SLR/NMA, the topical triple agent FDC of clindamycin phosphate 1.2%, adapalene 0.15%, and benzoyl peroxide 3.1% gel, which is currently under FDA review (PDUFA date 10/20/2023), was clinically superior to all other topical FDC treatments for moderate to severe acne vulgaris.

Semantic Attention and Structured Model for Weakly Supervised Instance Segmentation in Optical and SAR Remote Sensing Imagery

Instance segmentation in remote sensing (RS) imagery aims to predict the locations of instances and represent them with pixel-level masks. Thanks to the more accurate pixel-level information for each instance, instance segmentation has enormous potential applications in resource planning, urban surveillance, and military reconnaissance. However, current RS imagery instance segmentation methods mostly follow the fully supervised paradigm, relying on expensive pixel-level labels. Moreover, remote sensing imagery suffers from cluttered backgrounds and significant variations in target scales, making segmentation challenging. To accommodate these limitations, we propose a semantic attention enhancement and structured model-guided multi-scale weakly supervised instance segmentation network (SASM-Net). Building upon the modeling of spatial relationships for weakly supervised instance segmentation, we further design the multi-scale feature extraction module (MSFE module), semantic attention enhancement module (SAE module), and structured model guidance module (SMG module) for SASM-Net to enable a balance between label production costs and visual processing. The MSFE module adopts a hierarchical approach similar to the residual structure to establish equivalent feature scales and to adapt to the significant scale variations of instances in RS imagery. The SAE module is a dual-stream structure with semantic information prediction and attention enhancement streams. It can enhance the network’s activation of instances in the images and reduce cluttered backgrounds’ interference. The SMG module can assist the SAE module in the training process to construct supervision with edge information, which can implicitly lead the model to a representation with structured inductive bias, reducing the impact of the low sensitivity of the model to edge information caused by the lack of fine-grained pixel-level labeling. Experimental results indicate that the proposed SASM-Net is adaptable to optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) RS imagery instance segmentation tasks. It accurately predicts instance masks without relying on pixel-level labels, surpassing the segmentation accuracy of all weakly supervised methods. It also shows competitiveness when compared to hybrid and fully supervised paradigms. This research provides a low-cost, high-quality solution for the instance segmentation task in optical and SAR RS imagery.

Cultural Adaptation of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 in Hindi for Use with Patients with Cancer in Community Palliative Care Settings.

Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in Indian settings is yet not very often used in palliative care with the Hindi-speaking population. The Hindi version of PHQ-9 is available but its cultural adaptation to the Hindi-speaking population in North India receiving palliative care services is required to be tested. PHQ-9 as a depression screening questionnaire may help to identify depression symptoms among patients with cancer. This study aimed to examine the cultural equivalence of PHQ-9 Hindi for use with patients with cancer receiving palliative care services in North India. Based on the standard methodology of translation and adaptation of the scale, the following process was used: (i) Two focused group discussions with 17 experts working in a cancer palliative care setting, (ii) qualitative interviewing with 11 patients, and (iii) research team review. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and item-wise content analysis was conducted. A few difficult phrases in the original PHQ-9 were 'dilchaspi', 'avasadgrast', 'kam urja', 'nakaam', parivar ko neecha dhikhana and 'ashthir' which were changed to Kam Mann Lagna, Mann Dukhi hona, kamjori, saksham nahi hain' 'asafal', Parivar ko nirash karna' and 'bechain,' respectively. Two items, namely no. 6 and 8 were changed to shorten the length for appropriately conveying the meaning. Hindi language involves various dialects which change from region to region bringing variations in understanding the meaning of the words. It is recommended that culturally equivalent scales are used in practice and research. PHQ-9 is now culturally adapted for the Hindi-speaking population in North India. PHQ-9 will help identidy depressive symptoms at an early stage. Psychometric testing of PHQ-9 is underway.

Hyperbolicity, Mach Lines, and Super-Shear Mode III Steady-State Fracture in Magneto-Flexoelectric Materials, Part II: Crack-Tip Asymptotics

Abstract In our previous study (Part I), the anti-plane steady-state hyperbolic mode III fracture of a magneto-flexoelectric material was solved for the displacement, the polarization, and the magnetic fields. The solution, however, was based on the assumption of the development of strain discontinuities, and the propagation of the crack-tip was related to a critical shear strain. However, in the current study, the asymptotic details of the fields close to the crack-tip were investigated. The asymptotic analysis assumes strain continuity at the crack-tip (discontinuity in the strain gradients) and reveals the existence of a positive dynamic J-integral. The asymptotic analysis was performed not only for hyperbolic but also for elliptic conditions, and the energy release rate was calculated as a function of the crack-tip velocity in both regimes. These results are very different from those predicted by classical singular elastodynamics, where the dynamic J-integral is zero when super-shear is attained and there can be only an elliptic solution. Moreover, the results are very useful for couple-stress elastodynamics where equivalent length scales are present due to the analogy with flexoelectricity.

The influence of free stream turbulence on the development of a wind turbine wake

The wake of an isolated model-scale wind turbine is analysed in a set of inflow conditions having free stream turbulence intensity between 3 % and 12 %, and integral time scales in the range of 0.1–10 times the convective time scale based on the turbine diameter. It is observed that the wake generated by the turbine evolves more rapidly, with the onset of the wake evolution being closer to the turbine, for high turbulence intensity and low integral time scale flows, in accordance with literature, while flows at higher integral time scales result in a slow wake evolution, akin to that generated by low-turbulence inflow conditions despite the highly turbulent ambient condition. The delayed onset of the wake evolution is connected to the stability of the shear layer enveloping the near-wake, which is favoured for low-turbulence or high-integral time scale flows, and to the stability of the helical vortex set surrounding the wake, as this favours interaction events and prevents momentum exchange at the wake boundary which hinder wake evolution. The rate at which the velocity in the wake recovers to undisturbed conditions is instead analytically shown to be a function of the Reynolds shear stress at the wake centreline, an observation that is confirmed by measurements. The rate of production of Reynolds shear stress in the wake is then connected to the power harvested by the turbine to explain the differences between flows at equivalent turbulence intensity and different integral time scales. The wake recovery rate, and by extension the behaviour of the turbine wake in high-integral time scale flows, is seen to be a linear function of the free stream turbulence intensity for flows with Kolmogorov-like turbulence spectrum, in accordance with literature. This relation is seen not to hold for flows with different free stream turbulence spectral distribution; however, this trend is recovered if the contributions of low frequency velocity components to the turbulence intensity are ignored or filtered out from the computation.

Thermal transport during drop-on-drop impact on a heated superhydrophobic substrate

Interaction of multiple liquid droplets is ubiquitous in various engineering systems, for example, spray cooling in various forms, which is an attractive option to manage high heat flux applications. Thermal transport phenomena ensuing during drop-on-drop impact is numerically investigated here. One drop (Droplet #1) is kept stationary and in quasi-equilibrium on a heated superhydrophobic solid substrate, while the second drop (Droplet #2) is impacted vertically on it with a certain Weber number (We Droplet #2 = 1.0, 4.0, and 8.2). The evolution of both droplets in different phases of impact, such as spreading, receding, and bounce-off regimes, along with associated heat transfer is scrutinized. The dependence of transport characteristics on various control parameters such as impact velocity of drop, volume ratio, fluid properties, and wall temperature are investigated. Distinct heat transfer trends are observed with the considered We number of impacting droplet (Droplet #2) being = 1.0, 4.0, and 8.2, respectively. Smaller droplet impacting with higher impact velocity results in more effective heat transfer as compared to a large droplet with small velocity, both having identical We number. To ease the analysis, comparison of heat transfer during drop-on-drop impact with a single droplet impact, having an equivalent diameter and velocity scales of the former drop-on-drop case, is also presented. It is revealed that the resulting heat transfer, with velocity scale based on momentum balance, is underpredicted, as compared to drop-on-drop impact. If the actual impact velocity of impacting droplet is taken, then the heat transfer gets overpredicted. Accordingly, analysis suggests that the appropriate representative velocity scale will be in-between these two bounds, which will accurately predict the heat transfer during drop-on-drop impact.

Validation of the severe respiratory insufficiency questionnaire for Chile

BackgroundLong-term home non-invasive ventilation (LTH-NIV) has an impact on the health-related quality of life of patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure (CRF) of different causes. There are generic and specific questionnaires for respiratory diseases. In 2003 a specific questionnaire was developed for patients with CRF in LTH-NIV, called the Severe Respiratory Insufficiency (SRI) questionnaire, which has been shown to be reproducible and reliable and has been validated in several languages.The aim of the study was to translate and culturally adapt the SRI questionnaire for adult Chilean patients under LTH-NIV, and to assess its psychometric properties.MethodsThe Chilean version of the SRI was obtained using the translation-back translation method, which was then applied by cross-sectional study to a non-probabilistic convenience sample of stable patients from five regions of Chile. The validated Chilean version of the SRI questionnaire and SF-36 (gold standard) questionnaire were applied, demographic and ventilatory data were collected. Reliability was analysed using Cronbach’s alpha and intraclass correlation (test–retest). Construct validity was tested using exploratory factor analysis (principal component extraction and equimax orthogonal rotation) and hypothesis testing (Mann–Whitney test). Convergent criterion validity was tested using Spearman’s rho.ResultsThe sample comprised 248 patients, 132 women (53.2%), median age (IQR) was 62 years (51–75), 146 patients (58.9%) were 60 years or older, 40% had a low education level. The mean ± SD completion time of the questionnaire was 18.8 ± 9.1 min, and 100% of the items were answered. The questionnaire was self-applied by 46.8% of the sample. The validated Chilean version of the SRI questionnaire showed very good overall reliability (0.95) and by scales (> 0.7). It showed a good correlation with the SF-36, with equivalent scales, a rotated matrix with 8 factors and hypotheses that explain the underlying constructs.ConclusionsThe validated Chilean version of the SRI questionnaire has good psychometric properties. It is feasible, valid, and reliable for application to evaluate patients with CRF in LTH-NIV. It was found to be sensitive to assess the characteristics of the local population.

Longitudinal Natural History of Pediatric Subjects Affected with Mucopolysaccharidosis IIIB

To characterize the longitudinal natural history of disease progression in pediatric subjects affected with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IIIB. Sixty-five children with a confirmed diagnosis of MPS IIIB were enrolled into 1 of 2 natural history studies and followed for up to 4years. Cognitive and adaptive behavior functions were analyzed in all subjects, and volumetric magnetic resonance imaging analysis of liver, spleen, and brain, as well as levels of heparan sulfate (HS) and heparan sulfate nonreducing ends (HS-NRE), were measured in a subset of subjects. The majority of subjects with MPS IIIB achieved an apex on both cognition and adaptive behavior age equivalent scales between age 3 and 6years. Development quotients for both cognition and adaptive behaviorfollow a linear trajectory by which subjects reach a nadir with a score <25 for an age equivalent of 24months by age 8years on average and by 13.5years at the latest. All tested subjects (n=22) had HS and HS-NRE levels above the normal range in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma, along with signs of hepatomegaly. Subjects lost an average of 26mL of brain volume (-2.7%) over 48weeks, owing entirely to a loss of cortical gray matter (32mL; -6.5%). MPS IIIB exists along a continuum based on cognitive decline and cortical gray matter atrophy. Although a few individuals with MPS IIIB have an attenuated phenotype, the majority follow predicted trajectories for both cognition and adaptive behavior. ClinicalTrials.gov identifiers NCT02493998, NCT03227042, and NCT02754076.

Estimation of Adult Equivalent Scale for Consumption Expenditure of Food and Non-food Items with Special Reference to Fruits and Vegetables in Rural and Urban Households of Junagadh District of Gujarat

Consumption is an integral part of our life. Consumer patterns change for both micro and macro reasons. The per capita availability of vegetable was 415.76 gms/day and fruits was 228.79 gms/day in 2019-20 in India which was far below the quantity recommended by WHO. Therefore, it is important to understand changing consumption pattern of fruits and vegetables as well as food and non-food items in rural and urban areas.&#x0D; The present study is based on primary data and hence the household data pertaining to the research study from Junagadh district were collected with the help of interview method. The reference period for the study was year 2019-20 i.e. winter (November-2019 to February-2020), summer (March to June-2020) and monsoon (July to October-2020). The data were analyzed using tabular analysis, regression analysis without intercept for calculating adult equivalent scale (AES)&#x0D; The estimates of adult equivalent scales for main commodity group for different seasons for rural households revealed that the females in age group of 20-40 years accounted for the maximum expenditure share in total fruits and vegetables (TFV), total food (TF), total non-food (TNF) and total expenditure (TOT) commodities groups in all the seasons.&#x0D; In urban households, the adolescent (13-20 years) accounted for the largest proportionate share of expenditure in in TFV commodities groups in all the seasons. For TF and TNF commodity groups, 20-40 years male age groups accounted for the highest share in expenditure in winter and summer seasons while adolescent age group (13-20 years) which accounted for the highest expenditure share in summer season. In TOT commodity group, adolescent of 13-20 years accounted for the highest proportionate share of expenditure in winter and summer seasons whereas it was females in age group of (20-40 years in monsoon season.&#x0D; In overall households, the females in age group of 20-40 years accounted for the maximum expenditure share in TFV commodities groups in winter and summer seasons whereas, it was maximum in monsoon season for the males in age group of 20-40 years. For other commodity groups i.e.TF, TNF and TOT in all seasons, the female in 20-40 years age group accounted for the largest proportionate share of expenditure in different seasons.

Characterization of Potentized (Homeopathic, Anthroposophical and Antihomotoxic) Medicines Registered and Notified In Brazil

Background: Potentized medicines include, according to the Brazilian legislation, homeopathic, anthroposophic, and antihomotoxic medicine and are regulated by the Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA). &#x0D; Aim: This study aims to analyze and describe a profile of potentized medicines manufactured in Brazil, either registered or notified. &#x0D; Methodology: Information was obtained by data analysis related to ANVISA’s electronic medicine registration system. &#x0D; Results: The results, obtained as of September 2012, showed that 106 potentized medicines were registered and 519 were notified. Among the registered medicines, 92.0% were combined and 100.0% of the notified were simple medicines. For registered medicines, there were equivalent manufacturing scales among them, whereas for notified medicines, there was a predominance of centesimal scales. Active pharmaceutical ingredients (API’s) of vegetal origin were the most commonly used for potentized medicine manufacturing processes; the oral route was the most common form of administration. Potentized medicines manufacturing units are more often located in southeast region of Brazil. In addition, homeopathic medicines prevail as registered or notified medicines, followed by anthroposophic medicines.&#x0D; Conclusions: The results of the study are expected to be useful as reference material for ANVISA to improve its regulatory activity as well the industry sector and other stakeholders.

Best Practices for Comparing Ocean Turbulence Measurements across Spatiotemporal Scales

AbstractThe turbulent energy dissipation rate in the ocean can be measured by using rapidly sampling microstructure shear probes, or by applying a finescale parameterization to coarser-resolution density and/or shear profiles. The two techniques require measurements that are on different spatiotemporal scales and generate dissipation rate estimates that also differ in spatiotemporal scale. Since the distribution of the measured energy dissipation rate is closer to lognormal than normal and fluctuates with the strength of the turbulence, averaging the two approaches on equivalent spatiotemporal scales is critical for accurately comparing the two methods. Here, microstructure data from the 1997 Brazil Basin Tracer Release Experiment (BBTRE) is used to demonstrate that comparing averages of the dissipation rate on different spatiotemporal scales can generate spurious discrepancies of up to a factor of order 10 in regions of strong turbulence and smaller biases of up to a factor of 2 in the presence of weaker turbulence.

Approaches to Optimize Medication Data Analysis in Clinical Cohort Studies.

Methods for pharmacoepidemiologic studies of large-scale data repositories are established. Although clinical cohorts of older adults often contain critical information to advance our understanding of medication risk and benefit, the methods best suited to manage medication data in these samples are sometimes unclear and their degree of validation unknown. We sought to provide researchers, in the context of a clinical cohort study of delirium in older adults, with guidance on the methodological tools to use data from clinical cohorts to better understand medication risk factors and outcomes. Prospective cohort study. The Successful Aging After Elective Surgery (SAGES) prospective cohort. A total of 560 older adults (aged ≥70 years) without dementia undergoing elective major surgery. Using the SAGES clinical cohort, methods used to characterize medications were identified, reviewed, analyzed, and distinguished by appropriateness and degree of validation for characterizing pharmacoepidemiologic data in smaller clinical data sets. Medication coding is essential; the American Hospital Formulary System, most often used in the United States, is not preferred over others. Use of equivalent dosing scales (e.g., morphine equivalents) for a single medication class (e.g., opioids) is preferred over multiclass analgesic equivalency scales. Medication aggregation from the same class (e.g., benzodiazepines) is well established; the optimal prevalence breakout for aggregation remains unclear. Validated scale(s) to combine structurally dissimilar medications (e.g., anticholinergics) should be used with caution; a lack of consensus exists regarding the optimal scale. Directed acyclic graph(s) are an accepted method to conceptualize causative frameworks when identifying potential confounders. Modeling-based strategies should be used with evidence-based, a priori variable-selection strategies. As highlighted in the SAGES cohort, the methods used to classify and analyze medication data in clinically rich cohort studies vary in the rigor by which they have been developed and validated.

Development and testing of the eye-pointing classification scale for children with cerebral palsy

Purpose The aim of this study was to develop and test a new classification scale to describe looking behaviours (gaze fixations and gaze shifts) in relation to eye-pointing. Methods The Eye-pointing Classification Scale (EpCS) was developed and tested following established procedures for the construction and evaluation of equivalent scales, and involved 2 phases: Drawing on research literature, Phase 1 involved initial drafting of the scale through a series of multi-disciplinary group discussions; evaluation of the scale through a survey procedure, and subsequent expert group evaluation. Phase 2, was an examination of scale reliability and relationships between child characteristics and level of EpCS classification. Results In Phase 1, an initial draft of the scale was developed and then evaluated by 52 participants in 10 countries, leading to its refinement. Subsequent expert evaluation of content, style and structure indicated that no further refinement was required. In Phase 2, the scale achieved excellent levels of reliability in clinical testing. A significant relationship was identified between level of child motor ability and EpCS classification, and level of child language understanding and EpCS classification. Implications for rehabilitation Non-speaking children with severe bilateral cerebral palsy who have limited upper limb movement may communicate by using controlled looking behaviours to point to objects and people, referred to as eye-pointing. However, there is little consensus as to which looking behaviours represent eye-pointing and which do not. The Eye-pointing Classification Scale (EpCS) was developed to describe looking behaviours related to eye-pointing in this population of children The EpCS provides a new robust tool for clinical management and research with children with cerebral palsy.

Excellent light-capture capability of trilobal SiNW for ultra-high JSC in single-nanowire solar cells

Single-nanowire solar cells with a unique light-concentration property are expected to exceed the Shockley–Queisser limit. The architecture of single nanowire is an important factor to regulate its optical performance. We designed a trilobal silicon nanowire (SiNW) with two equivalent scales that possesses superior light-absorption efficiency in the whole wavelength range and shows good tolerance for incident angle. The electric field distribution in this geometry is concentrated in the blade with small equivalent scale and pivot with large equivalent scale, respectively, in the short wavelength range and long wavelength range. Corresponding good light absorption of trilobal SiNW in the two wavelength ranges leads to stronger total light-absorption capacity than that of cylindrical SiNW. Trilobal single-nanowire solar cells can obtain a short-circuit current density ( J SC ) of 647 mA · cm − 2 , which provides a new choice for designing single nanowire with excellent light-capture capability.

Experimental and numerical fitting of model parameters versus the gas pressure using six phase radiative Lee model in AECS PF‐1, 2 and INTI PF for nitrogen, argon, and neon gases

AbstractAtomic energy commission of syria (AECS) PF‐1, 2 devices were operated in N2 and Ar gases at pressures varied between 0.1–1 mbar and applied voltage of 15 kV on the capacitors bank with capacitance of 25 μF. The voltage, current, and current derivative curves were digitally recorded by Ohmic voltage divider and two Rogowskii coils; one with a big number of turns for current and the other one with a low number of turns for the current derivative. Also, the current curve for the discharge as LCR circuit was recorded to calibrate the current measurement. By integrating the current derivative in time and using the curve of calibrated current, the current curve free of noise has been established. By inserting the geometrical and electrical parameters of two AECS PF‐1, 2 devices, the working gas pressure and the kind of the gas into six phase model which describes the instability in the plasma, and adding the anomalous resistance as a term in the current and voltage equations in the model; the computed curves for voltage and current were found and compared with the obtained experimental curves at the same conditions taking into account the readjustment of model parameters fm, fc, fmr, and fcr until getting a good fitting between the measured and computed currents. This fitting has proved the validity of six phase Lee model and its ability to give a description of plasma focus in the radial phase stage (which consists now of four subradial phases: radial inward shock, radial reflected shock, the pinch phase, and after that the instability phase), which is followed by the expanded phase of plasma focus. In parallel to our work, similar efforts were made on the INTI PF device in Ne; the validity of six phase Lee model was proved by getting a proper fitting between the measured and computed currents under the operational conditions. Moreover, the equivalent resistances and time scales of the anomalous resistance phases were obtained by this method; also, the ratios for PF device classification into two types according to the static inductance of the PF system were determined for N2 and Ar as working gases in AECS‐PF1, 2.

Forest Climax Phenomenon: An Invariance of Scale

We can think of forests as multiscale multispecies networks, constantly evolving toward a climax or potential natural community—the successional process-pattern of natural regeneration that exhibits sensitivity to initial conditions. This is why I look into forest succession in light of the Red Queen hypothesis and focus on the key aspects of ecological self-organisation: dynamical criticality, evolvability and intransitivity. The idea of the review is that forest climax should be associated with habitat dynamics driven by a large continuum of ecologically equivalent time scales, so that the same ecological conclusions could be drawn statistically from any scale. A synthesis of the literature is undertaken in order to (1) present the framework for assessing habitat dynamics and (2) present the types of successional trajectories based on tree regeneration mode in forest gaps. In general, there are four types of successional trajectories within the process-pattern of forest regeneration that exhibits sensitivity to initial conditions: advance reproduction specialists, advance reproduction generalists, early reproduction generalists and early reproduction specialists. A successional trajectory is an expression of a fractal connectivity among certain patterns of natural regeneration in the multiscale multispecies networks of landscape habitats. Theoretically, the organically derived measures of pattern diversity, integrity and complexity, determined by the rates of recruitment, growth and mortality of forest tree species, are the means to test the efficacy of specific interventions to avert the disturbance-related decline in forest regeneration. That is of relevance to the emerging field of biocomplexity research.

Scale-specific controls of sediment yield in karst watersheds

Variations in sediment yield are controlled by many variables that operate at different scales. The relationships between sediment yield and its influencing factors at multiple time scales are still unclear since the underlying processes overlap at diverse scales. The objective of this study was to use multivariate empirical mode decomposition (MEMD) to reveal scale-specific controls on sediment yield. Annual sediment yield and its five influencing factors including runoff, temperature, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and NDVI were collected from 1982 to 2015 from six typical karst watersheds in southwest China. Using MEMD, the different scales of controls on sediment yield were determined by decomposing the data into different intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and residues. Sediment yield was found to be significantly correlated with its potential controlling factors at two or more scales for each watershed, although no significant correlations were observed between sediment yield and some of the influencing factors at the observation scales. The factors controlling sediment yield were found to be scale-specific and varied by watershed, and some factors controlling sediment yield were more deterministic at longer time scales. The scale-specific controlling factors at a particular scale or residue were able to predict sediment yield at each scale (IMF) or residue. Furthermore, sediment yield at the observation scale was predicted by summing up all the IMFs and the residues derived from the factor components at equivalent scales. Runoff and precipitation were the major predictors for sediment yield in all watersheds except in the Hongshui watershed where the temperature and NDVI were the major explanatory variables that predicted overall sediment yield. The predictions of overall sediment yield using MEMD were better (R2 ranges from 0.81 to 0.92) than the predictions of sediment yield made using the original data (R2 ranges from 0.32 to 0.78). This suggests that the complex relationships between sediment yield and associated factors are not captured by single scale (observation scale) analysis. This study shows that MEMD may be a useful tool for revealing the scale-dependent relationships between sediment yield and its controlling factors in karst watersheds.