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Consistent Performance (consistent + performance)
Selected AbstractsUsing a Geographic Information System to identify areas with potential for off-target pesticide exposureENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 8 2006Thomas G. Pfleeger Abstract In many countries, numerous tests are required as part of the risk assessment process before chemical registration to protect human health and the environment from unintended effects of chemical releases. Most of these tests are not based on ecological or environmental relevance but, rather, on consistent performance in the laboratory. A conceptual approach based on Geographic Information System (GIS) technology has been developed to identify areas that are vulnerable to nontarget chemical exposure. This GIS-based approach uses wind speed, frequency of those winds, pesticide application rates, and spatial location of agricultural crops to identify areas with the highest potential for pesticide exposure. A test scenario based on an incident in Idaho (USA) was used to identify the relative magnitude of risk from off-target movement of herbicides to plants in the conterminous United States. This analysis indicated that the western portion of the Corn Belt, the central California valley, southeastern Washington, the Willamette Valley of Oregon, and agricultural areas bordering the Great Lakes are among those areas in the United States that appear to have the greatest potential for off-target movement of herbicides via drift. Agricultural areas, such as the Mississippi River Valley and the southeastern United States, appears to have less potential, possibly due to lower average wind speeds. Ecological risk assessments developed for pesticide registration would be improved by using response data from species common to high-risk areas instead of extrapolating test data from species unrelated to those areas with the highest potential for exposure. [source] Bilateral medial temporal lobe damage does not affect lexical or grammatical processing: Evidence from amnesic patient H.M.HIPPOCAMPUS, Issue 4 2001Elizabeth A. Kensinger Abstract In the most extensive investigation to date of language in global amnesia, we acquired data from experimental measures and examined longitudinal data from standardized tests, to determine whether language function was preserved in the amnesic patient H.M. The experimental measures indicated that H.M. performed normally on tests of lexical memory and grammatical function, relative to age- and education-matched control participants. Longitudinal data from four Wechsler subtests (Information, Comprehension, Similarities, and Vocabulary), that H.M. had taken 20 times between 1953 (preoperatively) and 2000, indicated consistent performance across time, and provided no evidence of a lexical memory decrement. We conclude that medial temporal lobe structures are not critical for retention and use of already acquired lexical information or for grammatical processing. They are, however, required for acquisition of lexical information, as evidenced in previous studies revealing H.M.'s profound impairment at learning new words. Hippocampus 2001;11:347,360. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Biofiltration of nuisance sulfur gaseous odors from a meat rendering plantJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 12 2002Zarook Shareefdeen Abstract This paper presents a case study of a commercial biofilter, treating air streams contaminated with several odorous compounds including dimethyl sulfide, ammonia, methanethiol, hydrogen sulfide and ethylamine. The biofilter is packed with a proprietary wood-based (BIOMIXÔ) medium which is designed to provide a good biological environment, pH buffer capacity, low pressure drop and resistance to compaction. This commercial biofilter treats a contaminated air volume of 15,000 actual cubic feet per minute (acfm) from a meat rendering and wastewater treatment operation with a 30-s empty bed residence time. The case study includes a novel gas sampling procedure and characterization of biofilter air streams through a mobile Fourier transform infrared system and olfactometer analysis. The results confirmed the good distribution of air, moisture and bacterial population across the medium. Four years of consistent performance of this commercial biofilter with >99% removal of 24,500 odor units demonstrates that biofilters can be successfully applied for the removal of highly odorous gaseous sulfur compounds. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Multiple horizons and information in USDA production forecastsAGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008Dwight R. Sanders United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) livestock production forecasts are evaluated for their information content across multiple forecast horizons using the direct test developed by Vuchelen and Gutierrez (2005). Forecasts are explicitly tested for rationality (unbiased and efficient) as well as for incremental information out to three-quarters ahead. The results suggest that although the forecasts are often not rational, they typically do provide the forecast user with unique information at each horizon. Turkey and milk production forecasts are found to provide the most consistent performance, while beef production forecasts provide little information beyond the two-quarter horizon. [C53, Q13] © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Predicting LDC debt rescheduling: performance evaluation of OLS, logit, and neural network modelsJOURNAL OF FORECASTING, Issue 8 2001Douglas K. Barney Abstract Empirical studies in the area of sovereign debt have used statistical models singularly to predict the probability of debt rescheduling. Unfortunately, researchers have made few efforts to test the reliability of these model predictions or to identify a superior prediction model among competing models. This paper tested neural network, OLS, and logit models' predictive abilities regarding debt rescheduling of less developed countries (LDC). All models predicted well out-of-sample. The results demonstrated a consistent performance of all models, indicating that researchers and practitioners can rely on neural networks or on the traditional statistical models to give useful predictions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Assessment of inhalation technique and determinants of incorrect performance among children with asthmaPEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY, Issue 11 2006Mandeep Walia MD Abstract The objective of our study was to evaluate the pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) with holding chamber technique of asthmatic children attending out patient pediatric chest clinic and determine factors associated with incorrect technique. All patients had previously received instructions regarding inhalation technique. The inhalation technique was assessed on a five-point checklist, four of which were considered essential. Two hundred and thirteen children (mean,±,SD age, 7.3,±,3.8 years; 151 boys) completed the study. Children were using their inhaler for a median duration of 6 months (range 1,96 months). One hundred and eighty-eight patients (88.3%) performed all essential steps correctly. The commonest mistake among the essential steps was not shaking the inhaler (n,=,21, 9.9%) followed by inability to make a tight seal around the mouthpiece of the holding chamber (n,=,12, 5.6%). Correct technique was not affected by gender, asthma severity and socio-economic indices: education level of parents, percapita monthly income, rural or urban background. Our study indicates that a large majority of children from a developing country setting, irrespective of lower education and income levels can be successfully educated to appropriately use inhalation device. Inhalation performance is not affected by socio-economic background of the patients. Comprehensive inhalation instructions and monitoring at each visit are however critical to ensure reliable and consistent performance of correct technique among asthmatic children. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2006, 41:1082,1087. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||