2015 · Progress in Materials Science
Research discovery
Research papers
Search indexed scholarly records by title, author, abstract, DOI, journal, year, citation activity and full-text availability.
1,332 papers found.
2015 · Nature
Deep learning
DOI: 10.1038/nature145392015 · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
NOAA’s HYSPLIT Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling System
Abstract The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT), developed by NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory, is one of the most widely used models for atmospheric trajectory and dispersion calculations. We present the model’s historical evolution over the last 30 years from simple hand-drawn back trajectories to very sophisticated computations of transport, mixing, chemical transformation, and deposition of pollutants and hazardous materials. We highlight recent applications of the HYSPLIT modeling system, including the simulation of atmospheric tracer release experiments, radionuclides, smoke originated from wild fires, volcanic ash, mercury, and wind-blown dust.
DOI: 10.1175/bams-d-14-00110.12015 · The Lancet
Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development
DOI: 10.1016/s0140-6736(15)60160-x2015 · International Journal of Computer Vision
ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge
DOI: 10.1007/s11263-015-0816-y2015 · Biologia
The biology and potential biotechnological applications of Bacillus safensis
DOI: 10.1515/biolog-2015-00622015 · African Health Sciences
Knowledge of birth defects among nursing mothers in a developing country
BACKGROUND: In the absence of established guidelines, where formal screening is unavailable for birth defects, a lot of responsibility is placed on parents in the recognition of these defects. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to determine the awareness of mothers about birth effects in a developing country and assess what they know about the prevention, detection and treatment of children with birth defects. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 714 mothers consecutively selected at two major hospitals in Nigeria between May and December, 2012. Data were collected with interviewer administered questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS and statistical significance set at p <0.05. RESULTS: The participants were aged 17 to 42 years. Only 183 (25.6%) were aware of birth defects. Factors associated with awareness of birth defects were older age, religious belief, better education, higher socioeconomic class, early age at booking and registering at a tertiary care facility. Education, socioeconomic class as well as month and location of booking were found to be independent predictors of awareness of birth defects. CONCLUSION: Mothers in Ibadan, Nigeria, a country without a formal newborn screening programme, have a poor level of awareness about birth defects.
DOI: 10.4314/ahs.v15i1.242015 · Nature Methods
HISAT: a fast spliced aligner with low memory requirements
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.33172015 · Genetics in Medicine
Standards and guidelines for the interpretation of sequence variants: a joint consensus recommendation of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology
DOI: 10.1038/gim.2015.302015 · Nature
Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology
DOI: 10.1038/nature141772015 · CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians
Global cancer statistics, 2012
Cancer constitutes an enormous burden on society in more and less economically developed countries alike. The occurrence of cancer is increasing because of the growth and aging of the population, as well as an increasing prevalence of established risk factors such as smoking, overweight, physical inactivity, and changing reproductive patterns associated with urbanization and economic development. Based on GLOBOCAN estimates, about 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million deaths occurred in 2012 worldwide. Over the years, the burden has shifted to less developed countries, which currently account for about 57% of cases and 65% of cancer deaths worldwide. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among males in both more and less developed countries, and has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among females in more developed countries; breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death among females in less developed countries. Other leading causes of cancer death in more developed countries include colorectal cancer among males and females and prostate cancer among males. In less developed countries, liver and stomach cancer among males and cervical cancer among females are also leading causes of cancer death. Although incidence rates for all cancers combined are nearly twice as high in more developed than in less developed countries in both males and females, mortality rates are only 8% to 15% higher in more developed countries. This disparity reflects regional differences in the mix of cancers, which is affected by risk factors and detection practices, and/or the availability of treatment. Risk factors associated with the leading causes of cancer death include tobacco use (lung, colorectal, stomach, and liver cancer), overweight/obesity and physical inactivity (breast and colorectal cancer), and infection (liver, stomach, and cervical cancer). A substantial portion of cancer cases and deaths could be prevented by broadly applying effective prevention measures, such as tobacco control, vaccination, and the use of early detection tests.
DOI: 10.3322/caac.212622015 · Nucleic Acids Research
limma powers differential expression analyses for RNA-sequencing and microarray studies
limma is an R/Bioconductor software package that provides an integrated solution for analysing data from gene expression experiments. It contains rich features for handling complex experimental designs and for information borrowing to overcome the problem of small sample sizes. Over the past decade, limma has been a popular choice for gene discovery through differential expression analyses of microarray and high-throughput PCR data. The package contains particularly strong facilities for reading, normalizing and exploring such data. Recently, the capabilities of limma have been significantly expanded in two important directions. First, the package can now perform both differential expression and differential splicing analyses of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data. All the downstream analysis tools previously restricted to microarray data are now available for RNA-seq as well. These capabilities allow users to analyse both RNA-seq and microarray data with very similar pipelines. Second, the package is now able to go past the traditional gene-wise expression analyses in a variety of ways, analysing expression profiles in terms of co-regulated sets of genes or in terms of higher-order expression signatures. This provides enhanced possibilities for biological interpretation of gene expression differences. This article reviews the philosophy and design of the limma package, summarizing both new and historical features, with an emphasis on recent enhancements and features that have not been previously described.
DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkv0072015 · 53rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting
Flame Extinction Dynamics of Lean Premixed Bluff-Body Stabilized Flames
There is a crucial need to improve energy conversion efficiencies and minimize the environmental impact of turbulent combustion systems for energy production. Lean premixed turbulent combustion operation will significantly reduce efficiency-based thermal losses and combustion emissions. However, the performance of lean turbulent combustion technology is inevitably limited by the effects of flame extinction. Flames operating at lean conditions are susceptible to stabilization dynamics caused by local reaction extinction; this leads to global flame blowout and termination of the combustion energy production process. An improved understanding and prediction of flame extinction and stability will guide strategies to enhance efficiency, reduce emissions and improve performance of turbulent combustion systems. This research is focused on understanding the physical mechanisms of flame extinction using a newly-developed physics-based model. The novelty of this model is that it interactively couples the physics of the turbulent flow through a dynamic Lagrangian vortex method and the strained flame reaction kinetics using a one-dimensional opposed-jet flame. This innovative modeling strategy effectively captures the dynamic flame stability and extinction for turbulent premixed combustion.
DOI: 10.2514/6.2015-09302015 · Systematic Reviews
Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement
Systematic reviews should build on a protocol that describes the rationale, hypothesis, and planned methods of the review; few reviews report whether a protocol exists. Detailed, well-described protocols can facilitate the understanding and appraisal of the review methods, as well as the detection of modifications to methods and selective reporting in completed reviews. We describe the development of a reporting guideline, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols 2015 (PRISMA-P 2015). PRISMA-P consists of a 17-item checklist intended to facilitate the preparation and reporting of a robust protocol for the systematic review. Funders and those commissioning reviews might consider mandating the use of the checklist to facilitate the submission of relevant protocol information in funding applications. Similarly, peer reviewers and editors can use the guidance to gauge the completeness and transparency of a systematic review protocol submitted for publication in a journal or other medium.
DOI: 10.1186/2046-4053-4-12015 · Open Journal of Statistics
Variance Inflation Factor: As a Condition for the Inclusion of Suppressor Variable(s) in Regression Analysis
Suppression effect in multiple regression analysis may be more common in research than what is currently recognized. We have reviewed several literatures of interest which treats the concept and types of suppressor variables. Also, we have highlighted systematic ways to identify suppression effect in multiple regressions using statistics such as: R2, sum of squares, regression weight and comparing zero-order correlations with Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) respectively. We also establish that suppression effect is a function of multicollinearity; however, a suppressor variable should only be allowed in a regression analysis if its VIF is less than five (5).
DOI: 10.4236/ojs.2015.570752015 · Medical Principles and Practice
Evaluation of High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein and Serum Lipid Profile in Southeastern Nigerian Women with Pre-Eclampsia
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and lipid profile in women with pre-eclampsia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five women with and 35 women without pre-eclampsia, who were in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, were enrolled in this study. Weight in kilogrammes and height in metres were measured to calculate the mean body mass index (BMI) for each group. The diastolic and systolic blood pressures were measured. Lipid profile tests and serum CRP assay were done for all patients. Total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were determined using enzymatic methods, while low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated using Friedewald's formula. RESULTS: The mean values of the BMI were 29.47 ± 6.90 versus 26.14 ± 2.92, of the diastolic blood pressure 109.14 ± 15.41 versus 72.29 ± 9.42 mm Hg and of the systolic blood pressure 170.57 ± 19.55 versus 120.86 ± 17.72 mm Hg for women with and without pre-eclampsia, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (p = 0.012, p = 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). The biochemical analysis also indicated that the women with pre-eclampsia had a significantly higher mean serum CRP (8.57 ± 2.68 vs. 6.46 ± 2.46 mg/l, p = 0.001), TG (2.84 ± 0.45 vs. 1.87 ± 0.38 mmol/l, p = 0.001) and total cholesterol (5.59 ± 0.92 vs. 4.63 ± 0.78 mmol/l, p = 0.001) level but a lower mean HDL-C (1.10 ± 0.12 vs. 1.26 ± 0.15 mmol/l, p = 0.001) level than the controls. There was no statistical difference in the mean LDL-C values between the 2 groups (1.58 ± 0.8 vs. 1.45 ± 0.78 mmol/l, p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Significant changes in CRP as well as TG, total cholesterol and HDL-C were associated with pre-eclampsia in these Southeastern Nigerian women.
DOI: 10.1159/0003817782015 · Springer series in statistics
Regression Modeling Strategies
This highly anticipated second edition features new chapters and sections, 225 new references, and comprehensive R software. In keeping with the previous edition, this book is about the art and scienc
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-19425-72015 · Journal of Statistical Software
Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using <b>lme4</b>
Maximum likelihood or restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimates of the parameters in linear mixed-effects models can be determined using the lmer function in the lme4 package for R. As for most model-fitting functions in R, the model is described in an lmer call by a formula, in this case including both fixed- and random-effects terms. The formula and data together determine a numerical representation of the model from which the profiled deviance or the profiled REML criterion can be evaluated as a function of some of the model parameters. The appropriate criterion is optimized, using one of the constrained optimization functions in R, to provide the parameter estimates. We describe the structure of the model, the steps in evaluating the profiled deviance or REML criterion, and the structure of classes or types that represents such a model. Sufficient detail is included to allow specialization of these structures by users who wish to write functions to fit specialized linear mixed models, such as models incorporating pedigrees or smoothing splines, that are not easily expressible in the formula language used by lmer.
DOI: 10.18637/jss.v067.i012015 · Journal of Education in Science Environment and H…
Concept Mapping Strategy: An Effective Tool for Improving Students’ Academic Achievement in Biology
The study investigated the use of concept mapping teaching method on secondary school students’ academic achievement in biology. Two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental design with 122 Senior Secondary students selected purposively from two senior secondary schools in Adamawa state. Instrument used for data collection was an achievement test tagged Biology Students’ Achievement Test (BSAT) adapted from WAEC tests 2005 to 2010. The instrument was content validated by three experts and Cronbach alpha formula was used for testing its reliability. The reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained. The treatment lasted for six weeks and data were analyzed using one-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The result revealed that, concept mapping method enhanced students’ academic achievement in biology. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between male and female students in the experimental group. It was recommended that, concept mapping method should be incorporated in the teaching of biology for meaningful learning and that workshops should be organized for in-service and practicing teachers on how to use concept mapping strategy.
DOI: 10.21891/jeseh.065912015 · The American Biology Teacher
A Study of the Literature on Lab-Based Instruction in Biology
We analyzed the practitioner literature on lab-based instruction in biology in The American Biology Teacher between 2007 and 2012. We investigated what laboratory learning looks like in biology classrooms, what topics are addressed, what instructional methods and activities are described, and what is being learned about student outcomes. The practitioner literature reveals a focus on novel and innovative labs, and gaps in some biology topics. There is little description of student learning, but motivation and engagement are a primary concern of authors. There is little evidence of students addressing the nature of science in laboratories, and too few opportunities for authentic exploration of phenomena. We suggest that biology instruction can be strengthened by more rigorous practitioner research through increased professional collaboration between teachers and education researchers, increased focus on the synergy between content and teaching practice, and more rigor in reporting student outcomes.
DOI: 10.1525/abt.2015.77.1.32014 · Advances in virus research
Biology, Etiology, and Control of Virus Diseases of Banana and Plantain
DOI: 10.1016/bs.aivir.2014.10.0062014 · Genome biology
Moderated estimation of fold change and dispersion for RNA-seq data with DESeq2
In comparative high-throughput sequencing assays, a fundamental task is the analysis of count data, such as read counts per gene in RNA-seq, for evidence of systematic changes across experimental conditions. Small replicate numbers, discreteness, large dynamic range and the presence of outliers require a suitable statistical approach. We present DESeq2, a method for differential analysis of count data, using shrinkage estimation for dispersions and fold changes to improve stability and interpretability of estimates. This enables a more quantitative analysis focused on the strength rather than the mere presence of differential expression. The DESeq2 package is available at http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/DESeq2.html webcite.
DOI: 10.1186/s13059-014-0550-82014 · Progress in Nuclear Energy
Ground deposition assessment of radionuclides following a hypothetical release from Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) using atmospheric dispersion model
DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2014.11.0132014 · PubMed