Significant Scale Differences Research Articles

An Integrated Approach to Registration and Fusion of Hyperspectral and Multispectral Images

Combining a hyperspectral (HS) image and a multispectral (MS) image - an example of image fusion - can result in a spatially and spectrally high-resolution image. Despite the plethora of fusion algorithms in remote sensing, a necessary prerequisite, namely registration, is mostly ignored. This limits their application to well-registered images from the same source. In this article, we propose and validate an integrated registration and fusion approach (code available at https://github.com/zhouyuanzxcv/Hyperspectral). The registration algorithm minimizes a least-squares (LSQ) objective function with the point spread function (PSF) incorporated together with a nonrigid freeform transformation applied to the HS image and a rigid transformation applied to the MS image. It can handle images with significant scale differences and spatial distortion. The fusion algorithm takes the full high-resolution HS image as an unknown in the objective function. Assuming that the pixels lie on a low-dimensional manifold invariant to local linear transformations from spectral degradation, the fusion optimization problem leads to a closed-form solution. The method was validated on the Pavia University, Salton Sea, and the Mississippi Gulfport datasets. When the proposed registration algorithm is compared to its rigid variant and two mutual information-based methods, it has the best accuracy for both the nonrigid simulated dataset and the real dataset, with an average error less than 0.15 pixels for nonrigid distortion of maximum 1 HS pixel. When the fusion algorithm is compared with current state-of-the-art algorithms, it has the best performance on images with registration errors as well as on simulations that do not consider registration effects.

Habitat Delineation in Highly Variable Marine Environments

The structure of the phytoplankton community in surface waters is the consequence of complex interactions between physical and chemical properties of the upper water column as well as interaction within the general biological community. Understanding the structure of phytoplankton communities is especially challenging in highly variable and dynamic marine environments. A variety of strategies have been employed to delineate marine planktonic habitats, including both biogeochemical and water mass based approaches. These methods have led to fundamental improvements in our understanding of marine phytoplankton distributions, but they are often difficult to apply to systems with physical and chemical properties and forcings that vary greatly over relatively short spatial or temporal scales. In this study, we have developed a method of dynamic habitat delineation based on environmental variables that are biologically relevant, that integrate over varying time scales, and that are derived from standard oceanographic measurements. As a result, this approach is widely applicable, simple to implement, and effective in resolving the spatial distribution of phytoplankton communities. As a test of our approach, we have applied it to the Amazon River influenced Western Tropical North Atlantic (WTNA) and to the South China Sea (SCS), which is influenced by both the Mekong River and seasonal coastal upwelling. These two systems differ substantially in their spatial and temporal scales, nutrient sources/sinks, and hydrographic complexity, providing a robust test of the applicability of our analysis. Despite their significant differences in scale and character, our approach generated statistically robust habitat classifications that were clearly relevant to surface phytoplankton communities. Additional analysis of the habitat-defining variables themselves can provide insight into the processes acting to shape phytoplankton communities in each habitat. Finally, by demonstrating the biological relevance of the generated habitats, we gain insights into the conditions promoting the growth of distinct communities and the factors that lead to mismatches between environmental conditions and phytoplankton community structure.

The Effect Range of Motion (Rom) Exercise on Lower Extremities Joint Pain Level for Elderly at Gampong Tanjung Selamat Kec. Darussalam Kab. Aceh Besar

BACKGROUND : Joint pain is a condition that often experienced for elderly and caused by a degenerative disease that causes reduced joint synovial fluid and give a pain and joint stiffness. ROM excercise is an exercise to increasing flexibility of muscles and joints.
 PURPOSE : The purpose of this research was to find out the effect of ROM excercise on lower extremities joint pain level for elderly.
 METHODS : The method of this research was a quasi experimental research design consisted of pre and postest without control. The data collected by 6 time for 2 weeks, with amount of sample counted 33 respondents. The level of the lower extremities joint pain was measured by VAS pain scale. The data were analyzed with SPSS 17 program with non parametric statistic test, to see the scale of lower extremities joint pain in elderly when there was no movement was measured by McNemar test, while moving (walk) and to see the general lower extremities pain scale before and after ROM exercise was measured by Marginal Homogenity test.
 RESULTS : The research result showed the differences of joint pain scale before and after ROM exercise when the elderly has no movement (p value = 0,05), and there is a differences for pain scale before and after ROM exercise when the elderly has movement (p value = 0,005). Generally, there is a difference joint pain level between before and after ROM exercise (p value = 0,014).
 CONCLUSIONS : After doing ROM exercise for 6 times, the reduction of joint pain in elderly was occured. When there was no any movement, the level of low joint pain in elderly before ROM exercise was about 30,3% to being 3% after ROM exercise. When moving (walk) the level of low joint pain which is being suffering by elderly from 54% before ROM exercise being 36,4% after ROM exercise. While generally before ROM exercise, the level of medium joint pain in elderly was about 15,2% before ROM exercise being null (0%), means that no body suffers joint pain after ROM exercise. Statistically, based on non-parametric test by McNemar and Marginal Homogeneity test, there was the significant difference in scale of average scores in joint pain before and after ROM exercise when there was no any movement with P-value 0,004 and when the was a movement (walk) P-value 0,005. Generally, there was the difference in avarage scores in joint pain in elderly before and after ROM exercise with P-Value 0,014. So, ROM exercise can be used as a way to decrease the scale of joint pain in erderly.

Geomorphologic Skewness of Hydrologic Response

This paper investigates positively skewed shape of instantaneous unit hydrograph (IUH), one of the universal features of hydrologic response function. An analytical expression of statistical moments for IUH is derived in the framework of width function based geomorphologic IUH (GIUH) theory being interpreted by the concept of hydrodynamic, geomorphologic and kinematic dispersion. Within the extent of a river basin there is a significant scale difference between hillslope and channel flow path length. Even though the former has much smaller length scale its variation coefficient tends to be higher and skewness coefficient has a different trend than the latter. Kinematic heterogeneity has larger influence on the shape of IUH rather than hydrodynamic heterogeneity. Furthermore, its combined effect with geomorphologic heterogeneity can be a major cause of skewing hydrologic response function. Through transformation of width function into GIUH statistical properties of hillslope and channel flow path length can be imprinted on the shape of hydrologic response function in the form of dimensionless statistics.

Abstract P129: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Multivariate Lipid Distributions Across Time and Race/Ethnic Groups: United States, 2003-2012

Plasma concentrations of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) are important risk factors for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and are widely-used as targets for therapeutic intervention. Consideration of the multivariate distribution of these lipid traits could be informative for studies involving pleiotropic genetic variants, variants associated with more than one lipid outcome, but featuring only univariate lipid outcome models. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is one way to characterize the multivariate distribution of biologically plausible, related indicators such as lipids with a continuous latent factor. Although CFA has been used to characterize metabolic syndrome, a cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor involving many correlated indicators, dyslipidemia is a CVD risk factor that remains relatively unexplored in this literature. Thus, the primary aim of this study is to conduct CFA with LDL-C, HDL-C and TG as indicators representing a single continuous latent lipid factor and assess its suitability as an outcome measure in a United States representative sample by racial/ethnic groups stratified by age and gender over five 2-year time periods (2003-2004, 2005-2006, 2007-2008, 2009-2010, 2011-2012) from NHANES. First, we used principal component analyses (PCA) to visually examine clustering by race and gender in biplots. Second, we tested for scale differences in the lipid factor across a) calendar time and b) racial/ethnic groups (Mexican-American, non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Other Hispanic and Other race/ethnicity). All analyses were stratified by medication use, gender and three age groups: 12-19 years, 20 to 49 years and 50-80 years, and adjusted for age and body mass index (BMI). We found significant scale differences across racial/ethnic groups. In particular, the center of the distribution differed across racial/ethnic groups for ages 12-19 years (p<0.0001), 20-49 years (p<0.0001) and 50-80 years (p<0.0001), suggesting joint distributions of TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C vary across racial/ethnic groups. In summary, one continuous latent factor representing all three lipids and their concomitant associations provides a means to characterize lipid values simultaneously and can serve as an outcome when studying exposures influencing multiple lipid values, pleiotropic genetic variants being just one example of many. Differences in the lipid latent factor across racial/ethnic groups emphasizes distinct multivariate distributions necessitating stratification. Limited analyses exist using this CFA framework for lipids, and future efforts considering the joint distribution of lipids may improve our understanding of the genetic architecture of dyslipidemia.

Impact of deposition and laser densification of Silicalite-1 films on their optical characteristics

Although the field of integrated optics has advanced tremendously in the past two decades, the state-of-the-art still lags behind its electronic counterpart, particularly in the development and integration of new optical materials systems. Nanostructured materials, and in particular, porous, nanostructured materials, often have unique and complex relationships between their structure and their resulting optoelectronic properties. These relationships may be tailored during or after synthesis or deposition, leading to potentially intriguing new material systems suitable for various applications in integrated optics (tunable lasers, waveguides, transmitters, etc.) in the visible or near infrared regions. Zeolites represent a unique example of this material class; with their uniform microporosity and structural symmetry, their physicochemical and optoelectronic properties may be tailored to present a broad range of structures, compositions, surface areas, chemical and thermal stabilities, refractive index, dielectric constants, etc. Here, we synthesize a model zeolite system, silicalite-1 (MFI), in film form and characterize the resulting films both before and after partial laser densification to evaluate its potential for integrated optics. We use scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and ellipsometry to determine the crystallinity, film thickness, surface coverage, crystal size, and crystal habit of the MFI films. We explore the fundamental optical properties of these films, such as index of refraction, and absorption and transparency windows, as a function of deposition method and film orientation. Within these parameters, we discuss their potential versatility and how slight structural changes induced via CO2 laser-assisted densification impact their resulting IR and Raman characteristics. The resulting randomly- and b-oriented films of thickness 94.32–510.31 nm showed the ability to reach a range of refractive indices (1.327–1.678), depending on film orientation, deposition technique, and crystallization time. The intensities of their IR (1400–400 cm−1) and relative Raman (1500–600 cm−1) absorption regions indicate an increase in crystallinity with laser irradiation from 10 to 20% power, however, crystallinity then decreases above 30% laser irradiation. These changes are all possible without changes in the overall composition. Determining these fundamental optical properties will allow us to explore the functionality of these materials for a wider array of applications in optics and electronics, where nanostructured materials can make a significant difference in scale, cost, efficiency, and overall performance. The results of this study will help determine the suitability of zeolites for optoelectronic materials, and will broaden their usage in optical computing, signal processing, and a new generation of optical components.

Application of the Surface Wave Survey Method on Multi-Scale Engineering Problems: Laboratory and Field Testing Case Studies

Abstract The geometric dispersion of surface waves offers the feature to infer the properties of a medium. The surface wave survey method is under continuous evolution and its applications include the noninvasive characterization of a medium at a small scale and the earthquake geotechnical survey at a large scale. Despite the significant difference in scales, these applications generally utilize the propagation of the surface waves along the boundary of a layered medium. This paper discusses standard steps involved in surface wave surveys. Two application case studies are conducted and presented in detail. In the small scale laboratory application case, a nondestructive testing (NDT) methodology is proposed for the coating investigation using laser interferometric measurements of surface waves. In the large scale field application, an accelerometer-based passive surface wave survey is designed for earthquake geotechnical engineering site characterization. Finally, recommendations for practical application of surface waves in multi-scale engineering problems are presented.

Cohesive Zone Model for the Interface of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes and Copper: Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Due to their superior mechanical and electrical properties, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have the potential to be used in many nano-/micro-electronic applications, e.g., through silicon vias (TSVs), interconnects, transistors, etc. In particular, use of MWCNT bundles inside annular cylinders of copper (Cu) as TSV is proposed in this study. However, the significant difference in scale makes it difficult to evaluate the interfacial mechanical integrity. Cohesive zone models (CZM) are typically used at large scale to determine the mechanical adherence at the interface. However, at molecular level, no routine technique is available. Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations is used to determine the stresses that are required to separate MWCNTs from a copper slab and generate normal stress–displacement curves for CZM. Only van der Waals (vdW) interaction is considered for MWCNT/Cu interface. A displacement controlled loading was applied in a direction perpendicular to MWCNT's axis in different cases with different number of walls and at different temperatures and CZM is obtained for each case. Furthermore, their effect on the CZM key parameters (normal cohesive strength (σmax) and the corresponding displacement (δn) has been studied. By increasing the number of the walls of the MWCNT, σmax was found to nonlinearly decrease. Displacement at maximum stress, δn, showed a nonlinear decrease as well with increasing the number of walls. Temperature effect on the stress–displacement curves was studied. When temperature was increased beyond 1 K, no relationship was found between the maximum normal stress and temperature. Likewise, the displacement at maximum load did not show any dependency to temperature.

Measures of giant panda habitat selection across multiple spatial scales for species conservation

AbstractExamining ecological processes across spatial scales is crucial as animals select and use resources at different scales. We carried out field surveys in September 2005, March–September 2006, and April 2007, and used ecological niche factor analysis to determine habitat preferences for the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) across 4 spatial scales: daily movement, core range, home range, and seasonal elevational migration. We found that giant pandas prefer conifer forest and mixed forest at higher than average elevation (2,157 m) of study area in the 4 scale models. However, we also observed significant scale differences in habitat selection. The strength of habitat preference increased with scale for the 2 disturbed forests (sparse forest and fragmented forest), and decreased with scale for 0–30° gentle slope and south‐ and north‐facing aspect. Furthermore, habitat suitability patterns were scale‐dependent. These findings highlight the need to determine species–environment associations across multiple scales for habitat management and species conservation. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.

Reliability and validity of an instrument for assessing patients’ perceptions about medications for diabetes: the PAM-D

To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Perceptions About Medications for Diabetes (PAM-D) instrument. The item pool was generated from a literature review and 18 focus groups of Type 2 diabetes patients. Surveys were mailed to 1,000 low-income diabetes patients; 362 were returned; 65 of 100 re-test surveys were returned. This paper uses data from 343 Type 2 respondents. Mean age and age diagnosed were 59 and 48, respectively; 72% female; 52% African American; 51% were taking oral antihyperglycemic agents [OHA] monotherapy, 18% insulin monotherapy, and 28% insulin plus OHA. The initial 66 items were reduced to 37 across nine scales: scheduling flexibility, portability convenience, regimen inconvenience, medication effectiveness, difficulty remembering medications, gastrointestinal, hypoglycemia-related, and weight/edema physical side effects, and emotional side effects. Scale reliabilities ranged from 0.71 to 0.92 (coefficient alpha) and from 0.54 to 0.83 (test-retest coefficient, 37-81-day interval); factor loadings ranged from 0.35 to 0.86 (median, 0.67); significant scale differences across medication groups (insulin, OHA, insulin plus OHA) were consistent with a priori hypotheses. The PAM-D has substantial reliability and validity in a low-income, inner-city population of Type 2 diabetes patients and may be valuable for understanding multidimensional perceptions driving patients' treatment preferences.

Measuring strategic decision making efficiency in different country contexts: A comparison of British and Turkish firms

This paper compares the relative efficiency of the strategic decision making (SDM) processes of British and Turkish firms. The technique of data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to measure the relative efficiency of these firms. The evidence obtained by the DEA analysis reveals that the Turkish firms tend to be superior to the British firms in terms of their SDM efficiency. There is a significant difference in scale returns with respect to the country of origin of the firms. The analysis of the improvement potential of inputs indicates that Turkish firms place more emphasis on managing environmental turbulence to enhance their SDM efficiency, while British firms tend to overly focus on the design of an appropriate organizational structure. However, no significant difference was noted between the two groups of firms with regard to the level of resources and effort exerted on formal strategic planning practices. The analysis of output deficits reveals that there is a significant difference between British and Turkish firms in the sources of inefficiency.

Comparison of the Hungarian first order triangulation network with the national GPS network using scale and azimuth differences

While the cadastral and topographic maps tie to the classical reference systems and frames, there will be need to know the relation between the classical and GPS-based networks in a particular country. In this study we discuss the scale factor and azimuth discrepancies between the Hungarian first order triangulation and the national GPS network emphasising their practical significance.The comparison of traditional and GPS derived slope and geodesic distances as well as the comparison of the different azimuths make possible the estimation of the scale and orientation differences of the two systems without the knowledge of height and geoid information which may contain additional errors, too.The estimated −4.34 mm/km mean value reflects the significant scale difference, which is similar to the values derived in neighbour countries. The −2.51 arcsec mean azimuth difference reflects the orientation of the two system.

Molecular-dynamics simulation of model polymer nanocomposite rheology and comparison with experiment

The shear-rate dependence of viscosity is studied for model polymer melts containing various concentrations of spherical filler particles by molecular-dynamics simulations, and the results are compared with the experimental results for calcium-carbonate-filled polypropylene. Although there are some significant differences in scale between the simulated model polymer composite and the system used in the experiments, some important qualitative similarities in shear behavior are observed. The trends in the steady-state shear viscosities of the simulated polymer-filler system agree with those seen in the experimental results; shear viscosities, zero-shear viscosities, and the rate of shear thinning are all seen to increase with filler content in both the experimental and simulated systems. We observe a significant difference between the filler volume fraction dependence of the zero-shear viscosity of the simulated system and that of the experimental system that can be attributed to a large difference in the ratio of the filler particle radius to the radius of gyration of the polymer molecules. In the simulated system, the filler particles are so small that they only have a weak effect on the viscosity of the composite at low filler volume fraction, but in the experimental system, the viscosity of the composite increases rapidly with increasing filler volume fraction. Our results indicate that there exists a value of the ratio of the filler particle radius to the polymer radius of gyration such that the zero-shear-rate viscosity of the composite becomes approximately independent of the filler particle volume fraction.

The scaling of frontal cortex in primates and carnivores.

Size has a profound effect on the structure of the brain. Many brain structures scale allometrically, that is, their relative size changes systematically as a function of brain size. Here we use independent contrasts analysis to examine the scaling of frontal cortex in 43 species of mammals including 25 primates and 15 carnivores. We find evidence for significant differences in scaling between primates and carnivores. Primate frontal cortex hyperscales relative to the rest of neocortex and the rest of the brain. The slope of frontal cortex contrasts on rest of cortex contrasts is 1.18 (95% confidence interval, 1.06-1.30) for primates, which is significantly greater than isometric. It is also significantly greater than the carnivore value of 0.94 (95% confidence interval, 0.82-1.07). This finding supports the idea that there are substantial differences in frontal cortex structure and development between the two groups.

Correlation differences in heartbeat fluctuations during rest and exercise.

We study the heartbeat activity of healthy individuals at rest and during exercise. We focus on correlation properties of the intervals formed by successive peaks in the pulse wave and find significant scaling differences between rest and exercise. For exercise the interval series is anticorrelated at short-time scales and correlated at intermediate-time scales, while for rest we observe the opposite crossover pattern--from strong correlations in the short-time regime to weaker correlations at larger scales. We also suggest a physiologically motivated stochastic scenario to provide an intuitive explanation of the scaling differences between rest and exercise.

Oxide Defects and Damage Processes in Iron-Based Alumina-Formers

In order to examine the nature of incipient defects and damage processes controlling the ultimate breakdown of protective alumina on iron-based alloys, the effects of thermal cycling on scale morphology and adherence were studied for 1200°C exposures that were terminated before the onset of significant spallation. Optical imaging and scanning and transmission electron microscopy were used to compare oxide-metal cross sections from specimens of an oxide-dispersion-strengthened iron aluminide and FeCrAlY that were thermally cycled to those that were isothermally exposed for similar times at temperature. No significant differences in scale and metal-oxide interfacial morphologies/damage were found between the cyclically and isothermally exposed specimens of the respective compositions. These observations suggest that, at least in some cases, the nature of the ultimate scale failure is not set by early-stage oxide or interfacial defect development, but rather by chemical, diffusion, or stress processes affecting interfacial adhesion or by damage that only forms at longer times.

Self-Efficacy and Externality in Adolescence: Theoretical Conceptions and Measurement in New Zealand and German Secondary School Students

It is argued that the development of self-efficacy represents a central aspect of development in adolescence for 3 reasons. First, self-efficacy is an important predictor for actual efficacy and, thus, is a major component of the individual's ability to act suc-cessfully. Second, self-efficacy is a major action-guiding aspect of the self-concept. Third, both aspects can be combined in an action model of personality, which provides the framework for the development of a standardized questionnaire for self-efficacy and externality from a personality psychology point of view. To validate this questionnaire, a study was conducted with 215 New Zealand and 221 German secondary school students ages 16 to 17 years using a German and an English version of the inventory. Item parameters as well as scale parameters of the English and the German versions of the inventory, were satisfactory and comparable. First validity analyses reveal no significant scale differences for girls versus boys; no significant scale differences between New Zealand and German adolescents; and some rather weak, but significant, positive correlations of self-efficacy to academic performance and perceived classroom climate.

Evidence for different scaling of earthquake source parameters for large earthquakes depending on faulting mechanism

Scaling relationships between seismic moment, rupture length, and rupture width have been examined. For this purpose, the data from several previous studies have been merged into a database containing more than 550 events. For large earthquakes, a dependence of scaling on faulting mechanism has been found. Whereas small and large dip-slip earthquakes scale in the same way, the self-similarity of earthquakes breaks down for large strike-slip events. Furthermore, no significant differences in scaling could be found between normal and reverse earthquakes and between earthquakes from different regions. Since the thickness of the seismogenic layer limits fault widths, most strike-slip earthquakes are limited to rupture widths of between 15 and 30 km while the rupture length is not limited. The aspect ratio of dip-slip earthquakes is similar for all earthquake sizes. Hence, the limitation in rupture width seems to control the maximum possible rupture length for these events. The different behaviour of strike-slip and dip-slip earthquakes can be explained by rupture dynamics and geological fault growth. If faults are segmented, with the thickness of the seismogenic layer controlling the length of each segment, strike-slip earthquakes might rupture connected segments more easily than dip-slip events, and thus could produce longer ruptures than dip-slip events of the same width

MMPI profile configurations associated with incestuous and non-incestuous child molesting.

The comparison of MMPI data for 35 males convicted of incest with 28 males convicted of non-incestuous sexual molesting of children showed marked similarity between mean MMPI profiles and profile configurations. Behavioral similarities in the case histories of the groups are supported in large part by their MMPIs. The incestuous sample's higher elevation on the Social Introversion (Si) scale was the only significant scale difference among mean scale profiles. Both groups had mean scale elevations and profile configurations indicative of self-alienation, despondency, rigidity, inhibition, feelings of insecurity, and fear of not being able to function adequately in heterosexual relationships. The incestuous sample appeared more socially introverted, whereas the child molesters demonstrated a more immature level of psycho-sexual functioning. Neither group appeared predisposed toward the use of violence in seeking to satisfy their sexual needs.

Sex differences on the Personal Orientation Inventory.

Differences on the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) between 816 male and 408 female entering freshmen were examined. Females scored consistently and significantly more in the purported self-actualizing direction on the POI scales and subscales than males in this study. Special emphasis was placed upon the pattern of significant scale differences in an effort to derive the meaning of such male-female differences for these and other data. One interpretation is that females may be seeking a college education for more self-actualizing purposes than males. It is suggested that the consistency of such differences be further explored and that sex differences on the POI be considered in future studies of self-actualization.