Proportion Of Index Research Articles

Morphometrics and ratio of body proportionality of tadpoles of Rhinella icterica (Anura, Bufonidae) at different developmental stages

The plasticity of the anurans' development is probably related to their great ecological and geographic diversity. Therefore, the understanding of environmental occupation by tadpoles is related to their morphological peculiarities. We evaluated the morphologic development of the larval phases 23, 25, 30, 37, 39 and 42 of Rhinella icterica with the aim of establishing the ratio of growth, the increase in corporal mass in relation to growth and the isometry of the corporal variables for each evaluated stage. We submitted the corporal variables to the Multivariate Allometry and the relation between these variables was evaluated using the Principal Components Analysis. We verified the isometric growth and correlation between the different variables, evaluated the growth according to the body mass and established the proportionality ratio between the corporal regions. Each corporal region evaluated presented a fixed proportionality ratio, regardless of the stage, and the size of this portion was found when its proportionality index was multiplied by the tadpole's total length. This study demonstrates that the larval phase of R. icterica presents an isometric growth with proportional development of the corporal parts regardless of the evaluated stage.

Statistical Channel State Information Aided Proportional Fair Scheduling Scheme for Highly Transmit Correlated Channels

In this paper, we consider the downlink heterogeneous scenario with highly transmit correlated channels, and propose two kinds of the statistical channel state information (SCSI) aided proportional fair scheduling (PFS) schemes: (1) signal-to-noise ratio based PFS (SNR PFS) scheme and (2) SNR PFS scheme with threshold, which determine the preferred beamforming vector and proportional fair index by exploiting the SCSI and only send back the instantaneous channel quality indicator (CQI) without the corresponding precoding matrix index at each timeslot. Although the SNR PFS scheme only requires little feedback overhead and low computational complexity, the performance of the SNR PFS scheme is nearly the same as the conventional scheme (i.e., codebook-based PFS scheme). However, with the increasing number of users, a large number of CQI feedbacks will increase the signaling burden. To overcome this obstacle, the proposed SNR PFS scheme with threshold which sets an appropriate feedback threshold to limit the CQI feedbacks with poor channel quality would hardly affect the performance of the scheme. We further derive the approximate rate expressions of the SNR PFS scheme by using probability statistics and the theory of order statistics, whose result is nearly approximated to that of the Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, our simulation results show that the performance of the SNR PFS scheme with β th = ln(K/5) is close to that of the SNR PFS scheme, while it has less limited feedback capacity than the SNR PFS scheme.

Positional Plagiocephaly and Brachycephaly

During the last 2 decades, the incidence of positional plagiocephaly and brachycephaly has increased. Treatment options are conservative and can include physiotherapy and molding helmet therapy. The decision to start helmet therapy is based on patient history and subjective assessment of cranial shape by the physician and the parents. Recently, a noninvasive, objective, reliable, and valid measurement instrument became available: the plagiocephalometry (PCM). Because there are no data available comparing the result of PCM with subjective assessment of cranial shape, we performed the current study. All consecutive children with positional plagiocephaly and brachycephaly admitted to the craniofacial outpatient clinic between October 2008 and July 2009 were included. Physician and parents assessed the cranial shape of the child, using a numeric scale from 1 to 10. In consultation with the parents, the physician decided whether helmet therapy was indicated. Plagiocephalometry was performed after visit to the physician. We included 75 patients in our study. There was a significant correlation between the numeric score from the physician and both the oblique diameter difference index (P < 0.001) and the cranial proportional index (P = 0.023). There was no significant correlation between the numeric score from the parents and both the oblique diameter difference index (P = 0.427) and the cranial proportional index (P = 0.155). There is a significant correlation between the subjective assessment of cranial shape by the physician and PCM results. Plagiocephalometry can be a useful additive tool to assess cranial shape.

Resource allocation based on subcarrier exchange in multiuser OFDM system

Multi-user orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is one of the most important techniques for next-generation wireless communication systems. The sum capacity and proportional fairness index are two important metrics in OFDM adaptive resource allocation. In existing researches, the two metrics have individually yielded approximately optimal solutions. However, as the two goals seem to contradict each other, it means that they cannot achieve optima simultaneously. This paper presents a resource allocation algorithm based on subcarrier exchange. By relaxing the fairness index, the proposed algorithm can dynamically adjust the fairness requirements. Furthermore, By considering a criterion that minimizes the loss of sum capacity, the proposed algorithm can balance the tradeoff between fairness and sum capacity. In contrast to existing algorithms, our proposal improves performance by approximately 30% in terms of sum capacity, at the expense of approximately 10% reduction in proportional fairness. Moreover, if a malicious user exists, each user in the system can obtain higher ergodic capacity compared with the conventional algorithms. To decrease the complexity, a low-complexity simplified alternative is presented, which outperforms the conventional algorithm with an increase in the number of users. Four numerical simulations are carried out to verify the efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, we discuss in detail the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm.

Standards of Facial Esthetics: An Anthropometric Study

Anthropometry is an art and science used extensively for measuring the soft tissue proportions. While it is true that error is found in measurements of this kind, a great many trends of growth and development and therapy changes can be recorded with a significant degree of accuracy. Facial proportion varies among the different ethnic groups and today, most of the available studies are done on western population. Hence an Anthropometric study was conducted in the local population. The study was carried out with the aim of measuring the facial soft tissue proportion in the local population using anthropometry. Study was done using 100 subjects (50 males and 50 females) with Class I skeletal relationship and pleasing profile. Using standard anthropometric landmarks the various anthropometric measurements and facial proportional indices were determined (both horizontal and vertical) and were compared with that for North American Caucasians. The statistical analysis revealed significant differences in the facial proportion between the two populations.

旅游开发对上海滨海湿地植被的影响

As coastal tourism numbers increase,the impact of tourism on these fragile areas is receiving more academic attention.Coastal tourism impact has impact on natural elements such as water bodies,wetland vegetation and soil.Coastal wetland vegetation is an integral part of coastal wetland eco-systems and plays an important role in water impoundment and the reduction of wind erosion and sea water erosion and hence is an important focus for research.Current tourism environmental impact studies focus on the direct impact of tourist activities on the natural environmental,and research on tourism development′s impact on the natural environmental elements are comparatively rare,especially on coastal tourism development′s impact on wetland vegetation.Therefore,this paper examines the Fengxian coastal tourism area and in particular Fengxian Bihaijinsha and the Jinshan urban beach district near Shanghai.Random sampling of the vegetation in these intensely tourist-developed areas using typical sample plot and standard quadrat methods was applied to study species biodiversity and thus to analyze the impact of different tourism development methods on coastal wetland vegetation. This study examined 13 plots in the Fengxian costal tourism area,7 plots in Fengxian Bihaijinsha,and 10 plots in Jinshan Urban Beach,and calculated the coastal vegetation biodiversity.It then calculated select species numbers,local species proportion and biodiversity indexes to evaluate the impact of tourism development on wetland vegetation.The results indicate:(1) coastal tourist development can be divided to isolated,semi-isolated and open types based on the characteristics of tourism development and the water-area.Different tourist development approaches and types have different levels of influence on coastal wetland vegetation;(2) compared with the semi-isolated and the open types,isolated type tourism development can improve species number respectively by 33 species and 45 ones;however,local species proportions decreases from 70% to 26.26% and 21.73%;(3) the more isolated the tourist development is,the higher the biodiversity is.The biodiversities of isolated,semi-isolated and open developed tourism areas as measured by the Shanno-Winner indexes are respective 0.92,1.07 and 1.51,and Simpson indexes are respectively 0.52,0.58 and 0.71;however,the regional evenness index declines as the isolation level increases.The Shanno-Winner evenness index declines from the maximum of 0.71 to 0.52,and the Simpson evenness index declines from a maximum of 0.78 to 0.68;(4) coastal wetland vegetation responds differently to different types of tourist development.The higher the isolation level is,the stronger the regional plantation response level becomes.The respond indexes of plantations in isolated,semi-isolated and open tourist areas are 2.2,2.0 and 1.8 respectively.

Change in upper lip height and nostril sill after alveolar bone grafting in unilateral cleft lip alveolus patients

Alveolar bone grafting is known to reduce nasal asymmetry by supporting a defective alar base and a sunken nostril. However, there are no studies which include details of changes to the upper lip with appropriate measurements. The purpose of this study was to measure the change in the upper lip height and nostril sill after alveolar bone grafting, using photogrammetry. The study included 18 unilateral cleft lip alveolus (UCLA) patients who were diagnosed with unilateral cleft lip and palate (mean age, 9.87 years). The patients underwent alveolar bone grafting with iliac bone between June 2007 and June 2008. The average follow-up period was 16.6 months. The average bone graft volume was 2.39 cm(3). We obtained photographs of the frontal, lateral and basal views using standardised photographic techniques. We defined 14 landmarks and measured the distance of 11 points (distance items) for the determination of upper lip height, upper lip projection and nostril sill elevation. We defined the proportion index as the ratio of the cleft side to non-cleft side or reference line (R). We compared the preoperative proportion index with the postoperative proportion index for each distance items. The height of the upper lip increased significantly in four of five distance items. The projection of the upper lip was more prominent, but it was not statistically significant. The nostril sill was significantly elevated in all four distance items. The height of the upper lip was elongated and the nostril sill was elevated after alveolar bone grafting in UCLA patients.

Investigation into the use of photoanthropometry in facial image comparison

Photoanthropometry is a metric based facial image comparison technique. Measurements of the face are taken from an image using predetermined facial landmarks. Measurements are then converted to proportionality indices (PIs) and compared to PIs from another facial image. Photoanthropometry has been presented as a facial image comparison technique in UK courts for over 15 years. It is generally accepted that extrinsic factors (e.g. orientation of the head, camera angle and distance from the camera) can cause discrepancies in anthropometric measurements of the face from photographs. However there has been limited empirical research into quantifying the influence of such variables. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of photoanthropometric measurements between different images of the same individual taken with different angulations of the camera. The study examined the facial measurements of 25 individuals from high resolution photographs, taken at different horizontal and vertical camera angles in a controlled environment. Results show that the degree of variability in facial measurements of the same individual due to variations in camera angle can be as great as the variability of facial measurements between different individuals. Results suggest that photoanthropometric facial comparison, as it is currently practiced, is unsuitable for elimination purposes. Preliminary investigations into the effects of distance from camera and image resolution in poor quality images suggest that such images are not an accurate representation of an individuals face, however further work is required.

Using simulation to explore the functional relationships of terrestrial carnivore population indices

Population indices based on visits to detection stations commonly are used to monitor wildlife populations. Inferences about populations are based on 1 of 2 measures: (1) change in the proportion of stations visited at least once or (2) change in the cumulative number of visits by unique individuals. The functional relationships between index responses and population density is poorly understood and can lead to misinterpretation of index data when an incorrect functional relationship (e.g. linear) is assumed. We created a flexible simulation environment to study the response of detection-based population indices under a wide variety of conditions meant to reflect species life history and study design. Proportional indices exhibited non-linear saturating responses to changes in population density while cumulative indices responded linearly. Shapes of responses were functions of home range sizes, individual detection probabilities, and spatial arrangement of animals and sampling stations. Non-linear relationships of proportional indices lead to under-estimation of mean population density when data are aggregated from multiple detection stations deployed in a heterogeneous landscape. Cumulative indices have significant statistical advantages over proportional indices including smaller sample sizes required to detect density change, linearity, consistent index responses across a wide range of densities, and ability to aggregate data to meet minimum sample size requirements. Our simulation provides a flexible tool for the interpretation of station-based population indices.

Retrospective evaluation of the Adjuvant! for breast cancer after 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen (AAT) and other factors for prediction of recurrences (OFPR) following 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen (AT).

e11068 Background: AAT is a computer model that predicts 5 year (yr) relapse rate (PRR) for patients (pts) with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer after AT. We used the Cleveland Clinic surgery database to validate the PRR of AAT and investigate OFPR. Methods: 744 Pts surgery 1/1995–12/1999 were reviewed (Table), and 292 were included. Demographic, pathology, staging, and treatment data were entered into AAT and PRR was calculated. Observed outcome (OO) in each pt (no R, local R, systemic R, death due to breast cancer (BC)/non-BC and unknown causes) was recorded for each pt. The association between AAT, PRR and OO were assessed with Cox proportional hazards analysis (CA), concordance index (CI), and calibration plots (CP). CI was calculated as a measure of discrimination for ATT PRR. CP was visually assessed. Deaths from other causes were treated as competing risks for recurrence. Results: Pts characteristics: median age 62, ductal histology 83%, median tumor size 1.5 cm, and median number of nodes ...

Body mass index and weight-for-length ratio references for infants born at 33–42 weeks gestation: A new tool for anthropometric assessment

The risk of childhood obesity, an increasingly prevalent problem worldwide, might be predictable by early body mass index measurements. This study sought to develop body mass index and weight-for-length ratio references for infants born at 33-42 weeks gestation and to validate these data against the growth curves of the World Health Organization Multicenter Growth Reference Study. Data were collected from the Neonatal Registry of Rabin Medical Center for all healthy singleton babies born live at 33-42 weeks gestation. Crude and smoothed reference tables and graphs for body mass index and weight-for-length ratio by gestational age were created for males and females, separately. Birth weight, length, and body mass index percentiles for full-term neonates were similar to the World Health Organization study, reinforcing the generalizability of our reference charts for infants born at 33-42 weeks. Cutoff values for small for date (<5th, <10th percentile) and large for date (>85th, >95th percentile) infants differed across gestational ages in both pre-term and full-term infants. As body proportionality indexes provide an assessment of body mass and fatness relative to length, we suggest that BMI and Wt/L ratio percentiles be added to weight and length growth curves as a routine intrauterine growth assessment at birth.

Accessibility predicts structural variation of Andean Polylepis forests

High Andean mountain forests, formed almost purely by trees of the genus Polylepis, occur nowadays as scattered remnant patches of a more continuous past distribution. Apparently, the destruction of Polylepis forests has mainly been caused by millennia of human disturbance, although forest distribution may also have fluctuated according to prevailing climatic conditions. Nowadays, the remaining Polylepis forest stands are still threatened by anthropogenic disturbance, which gradually degrades the forests. The aim of our study was to test if the structural variation of Polylepis forest patches, as an indication of forest degradation, can be predicted by accessibility to humans. The study was carried out in the Cordilleras Vilcanota and Vilcabamba, Cuzco, Peru. We used indices of forest biomass and proportion of vegetative regeneration as forest structural variables. First we examined the dependence of these variables on elevation with linear regressions. We did this separately for different Polylepis species and combining the species within humid and dry areas. Thereafter, we used the residual forest structural variation to assess possible relationships with accessibility, quantified as geographical distance to the nearest village, road or market centre. We found several significant relationships between the structural variables and accessibility, which may reflect different landscape related preferences in forest use. The results suggest accessibility can be used for rapid spatial prediction of Polylepis forest degradation, which facilitates identifying Polylepis forests that are potentially the most degraded and therefore in the most urgent need of restoration or conservation activities.

Nasal Growth after Pediatric Septoplasty at Long-term Follow-up

Septoplasty in children is still a matter of open discussion, because it is thought that a surgical procedure on a developing structure might produce some adverse effects on normal nasal growth. The goal of this retrospective study is to evaluate the effects of pediatric nasal septum surgery in a long-term follow-up by anthropometry. Forty-four Italian patients, 25 male patients and 19 female patients, who had undergone septoplasty during childhood using the endonasal approach, were reassessed after a mean follow-up of 12.2 years. Anthropometric recordings were used to identify any growth retardation due to the operation by a comparison with previously published age-specific normative data of North American white subjects. Nasal measurements consisted of five linear parameters, three angular parameters, and three proportional index. There were no significant differences in any of the measures between the sample and controls (p > 0.1) with regard to gender, with the exception of the nasolabial angle measurement. Indeed, the nasolabial angle of the female patients was significantly reduced compared with controls (p = 0.04), whereas that of the male patients was reduced compared with controls (p = 0.08). This measurement seems to be influenced by the type of operation, because it has been noted that the nasolabial angle of patients treated surgically by extracorporeal septoplasty were significantly lower than those of patients treated surgically by conservative septoplasty. Pediatric septoplasty may be indicated in selected cases of obstructing nasal septum deformities. The operation, performed via endonasal approach, does not interfere with the normal growing nasal process.

Using conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation method in parameter optimization of land surface processes model

In this paper, we attempted to entend the application of conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation(CNOP) to the optimization of parameters in land surface model. We used the common land model and data of Tongyu station,which is a reference site of the CEOP in the semi-arid regions, and used three key parameters (soil color, soil sand/lay proportion and leaf area index) as parameters to be optimized. Two experiments are designed in our work, namely the single-parameter optimization and the triple-parameter optimization. Notable improvements in simulating sensible heat flux (SH), latent heat flux (LH), soil temperature (TS) and moisture (MS) at shallow layers were achieved by using the optimized parameters. In addition, the latter experiment shows a better performance than the former. All results above illustrate that the application of CNOP method can be extended to parameters optimization of land surface model. And what is more, due to its other advantages, such as the clear mathematical meaning, the simple design structure, and the fast computing speed, it shows a great potential for further applications in parameters optimization of related problems.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) extract consumption darkens liver, lowers blood cholesterol, proportional liver and abdominal fat weights in broiler chickens

A study with 160-day-old broiler chickens was conducted to investigate the effects of Thymus vulgaris (Thyme) extract in drinking water on plasma cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein (HDL-c), low density lipoprotein (LDL-c) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-c), proportional abdominal fat, liver weights and liver color index. The chickens were divided into four groups and received 0 (ZT), 0.2 (LT), 0.4 (MT) or 0.6% (HT) thyme extract from day one to day 42 of age. All the birds receiving the Thyme extract had lower plasma total cholesterol, LDL-c concentrations and proportional liver weights compared with the control birds (P<0.05). Liver absolute weight of MT birds and proportional fat weight of HT birds were lower than those of ZT birds (P<0.05). Liver color index of HT and MT birds was higher than that of ZT birds. In orthogonal comparisons, thyme extract supplementation diminished (P<0.05) the plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-c and VLDL-c, decreased the proportional and absolute liver weight and proportional abdominal fat weight and increased the (P<0.05) liver colour index as compared to control. Significant negative correlation (P<0.01) was found between the thyme extract supplementation and plasma cholesterol, proportional abdominal fat weight and liver proportional weight, and a positive correlation (P<0.01) between the thyme extract supplementation and liver colour index. In conclusion, Thyme consumption in broiler chickens could improve the carcass quality to the consumers and net returns of the producers.

Application of Urban Thermal Environment Monitoring Based on Remote Sensing in Beijing

Abstract Remote sensing has become an important method for monitoring urban thermal environment, but, it is still difficult to analysis the spatio-temporal change of urban thermal environment quantitatively only by ground surface temperature (or brightness temperature). Three indexes on urban thermal environment monitoring are proposed in this paper: heat island intensity, heat field intensity index and heat island proportion index. Based on MODIS surface temperature products and FY3A/MERSI data of two years, urban thermal environment is monitored by remote sensing method in Beijing. The empirical results verify that three indexes proposed in this paper are meaningful in monitoring of urban heat island. It can not only monitor the intensity and changes of the urban heat island in Beijing effectively, but also, it is positive to carrying out meteorological operations in city thermal environment monitoring.

The Impact of Mixed Electoral Representation on Economic Growth: The Case of the Italian Regions

A recent issue in political economy is studying how different institutional systems influence economic performance. This work enriches the scarce empirical literature concerning the effects of mixed electoral systems on economic growth. We estimate a quadratic relationship between the Gallagher proportionality index of an electoral system and the per capita GDP growth using the electoral results of the regional Committee in Italy where in 1995, the mixed electoral representation has been introduced. Our finding is that an intermediate level of proportionality characterizing an electoral rule is more likely to lead to greater rates of economic growth with respect to more “extreme” rules. Moreover, we verified that the way in which corruption affects regional growth depends on the proportionality of the electoral system.

Constructing indices to detect temporal trends in discarding

Discards refer to the part of the catch not retained on board during commercial fishing operations, and returned to the sea. With numerous legislation, policies, and resolutions in place that seek to minimize or eliminate discards, performance indicators are required to measure progress towards this objective. Indices of discards were developed for the purpose of illustrating changes in overall discard patterns over time. A discard quantity index provides annual changes in total discard quantity, a discard rate index and discard proportion indices demonstrate how discarding behaviour during fishing operations changes with time. Knowledge of the consistency in the reporting of fishing effort and landings as well as in the sampling programme is important in identifying genuine trends. The indices examined show their potential as useful tools as indicators of changing discard patterns and were most powerful when used in combination. By utilizing data from the observer programme for England and Wales, a reduction of 61% between 2002 and 2008 in the weight of discards could be demonstrated. In this case study, the reduction in discard weight could be attributed to reducing levels of fishing effort and diminishing catch weights.

Efeitos dos glicosaminoglicanos e sulfato de condroitina A sobre a cartilagem articular normal e com doença articular degenerativa em cães

Avaliaram-se os efeitos dos precursores dos glicosaminoglicanos (GAG) e do sulfato de condroitina A (SC) sobre a histomorfometria da cartilagem articular normal ou de cartilagem de cães com doença articular degenerativa (DAD) experimental. Os grupos experimentais constituíram-se de animais com articulação direita normal, que não foi submetida a procedimento cirúrgico, e com articulação esquerda osteoartrótica e que foi submetida à intervenção cirúrgica. Os grupos foram subdivididos em animais com articulação não tratada e tratada, portanto: normais (N) (n=5), NGAG (n=5) e NSC (n=4); e osteoartróticos (O) (n=5), OGAG (n=5) e OSC (n=4). Secções de cartilagens do fêmur, da tíbia e da patela foram utilizadas neste estudo. Nos normais (N, NGAG e NSC), não se encontraram lesões que caracterizassem a DAD, embora tenha havido diminuição na celularidade nos de NGAG e NSC, em relação a N. Foram observadas alterações em graus variáveis entre os grupos osteoartróticos. Houve redução acentuada dos condrócitos no grupo O em comparação aos normais enquanto os grupos osteoartróticos tratados apresentaram celularidade semelhante aos normais tratados. Estes resultados foram confirmados pela análise do índice de proporção (IP), que se mostrou elevado em O, indicando menor síntese de proteoglicanos. Não houve diferença significativa entre os IPs dos grupos osteoartróticos tratados (OGAG, OSC) apesar do comportamento distinto do OSC ao assemelhar-se aos grupos N e NSC. Estes resultados sugeriram que o SC agiu na cartilagem osteoartrótica de maneira mais eficaz, reduzindo a perda de proteoglicanos e estimulando a viabilidade celular e a atividade metabólica.

مقایسه ارزش غذایی و بررسی تناسب ارزش تغذیه ای و ریالی اندازه های مختلف ماهی فیتوفاگ (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) در فصل بهار

Silver carp is the major specimen in warm water fish culture system in Iran which is presented in various size and different price. The present study was aimed to compare nutritional value and to investigate proportion of nutritional value and financial of various weight groups of silver carp in spring season. For this purpose silver carp was prepared in market sizes and their dry matter, fat, protein and ash content and fillet yield were determined and the indices of proportion of nutritional value and financial (NP) and justified price difference based on dry matter content (PDdm) were calculate for weight groups. According to obtained results, the more heavy weights of silver carp contain lower moisture but higher fat and energy (p 0.05). Light weight group has a higher (p 0.05), except fat (p<0.05). With regarded to these results, light weight has a better nutritional proportion than medium and heavy weights and the light weight is advised fir buying until that the price difference between light weight and two other one be more than calculated PDdm indices for them. But when the choosing be between medium and heavy groups, both of them have a nutritional value proportionate with their prices. Keywords: Silver carp, Nutritional value, Nutritional and financial value proportion. NP index, PDdm index