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Measured Characteristics (measured + characteristic)
Selected AbstractsDifferences in the measured alcohol content of drinks between black, white and Hispanic men and women in a US national sampleADDICTION, Issue 9 2009William C. Kerr ABSTRACT Aims To measure and describe drink alcohol content differences between Hispanic, non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black men and women in the United States. Design A telephone survey re-interview of 397 respondents who participated originally in the 2005 National Alcohol Survey, of whom 306 provided complete information on home drinks. Setting United States. Participants Adults aged 18 years and older from across the United States. Measurements Direct measurement by respondents of simulated drink pours in respondents' own glassware using a provided beaker and reported beverage brands were used to calculate drink alcohol content. Findings Black men were found to have the largest overall mean drink alcohol content at 0.79 oz (23 ml) of alcohol. This was significantly larger than the mean for white men or for black women and added 30% to black men's monthly alcohol intake when applied to their reported number of drinks. Spirits drinks were found to be particularly large for men. Multivariate models indicated that drink alcohol content differences are attributable more to income and family structure differences than to unmeasured cultural factors tied to race or ethnicity per se. Models predicting alcohol-related consequences and dependence indicate that adjusting drink alcohol content improves model fit and reduces differences between race/ethnicity defined groups. Conclusions Differences in drink alcohol content by gender, race/ethnicity and beverage type choice should be considered in comparisons of drinking patterns and alcohol-related outcomes. Observed differences can be explained partially by measured characteristics regarding family structure and income. [source] Surveying older people from minority ethnic groups: an evaluation of a primary care sampling method for UK African-Caribbean eldersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 4 2002Dr Robert Stewart Abstract There are substantial logistical difficulties in conducting community surveys of minority ethnic group populations. Primary care lists have been identified as an important potential resource but the representativeness of samples derived through this method has received little evaluation. In a community survey of psychiatric morbidity, African-Caribbean people aged 55,75 were identified by practice staff from registration lists for seven primary care teams in south London. The sensitivity of the process was evaluated by contacting a random sample of people whose ethnicity was not known. Participants aged 65,75 (n = 174) were also compared to a similarly aged group sampled through household enumeration (n = 34) with respect to demographic factors, risk factors for vascular disease, depression and cognitive function. For those with correct addresses, the identified group was estimated to include 72% of the potentially eligible population. Only 8% of contacted people were found not to be eligible in terms of ethnicity. Compared to the household enumeration sample, the primary care sample had marginally higher socio-economic status but was similar with respect to all other measured characteristics. Primary care list sampling with staff-assigned ethnicity therefore appeared highly specific, reasonably sensitive, and did not seem to introduce substantial bias for this population. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] A novel crossed slotted patch dual-mode bandpass filter with two transmission zerosMICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 3 2008Sean Wu Abstract This article presents a miniaturized dual-mode bandpass filter (BPF) with two transmission zeros and low insertion-loss using crossed slotted patch resonator. The BPF is mainly formed by a ,/2 patch resonator which is a pair of crossed slots with unequal widths is embedded in the center. By tuning the perturbation element, which resulted from the unequal slot widths along the diagonal, two resonant modes are excited and a pair of transmission zeros are generated to improve the selectivity of the BPF performance. The proposed filter at center frequency (f0) of 1.55 GHz has very good measured characteristics including the bandwidth of 1.49,1.62 GHz (3-dB fractional bandwidth of 8.4%), low insertion loss of 1.74 ± 0.35 dB. The measured filter performance is in good agreement with the simulated response. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 741,744, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23219 [source] Design of parallel coupled-line microstrip wideband bandpass filter using stepped-impedance resonatorsMICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 4 2007Cheng-Yuan Hung Abstract In this article, a parallel coupled-line microstrip wideband bandpass filter (PCM-WBF) using stepped-impedance resonators (SIRs) is designed and implemented on commercial printed circuit board (PCB) of RT/Duroid 5880 substrate. The first two resonant modes of the SIR are coupled together and they are applied to create a wide passband. The proposed filter at center frequency f0 of 5.76 GHz has very good measured characteristics including a bandwidth of 3.63,7.92 GHz (3-dB fractional bandwidth of 74%) and a low insertion loss of ,1 ± 0.9 dB. Experimental results of the fabricated filter show a good agreement with the predict results. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 795,798, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22260 [source] A hairpin line wideband bandpass filter design with embedded open stubsMICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 4 2007Cheng-Yuan Hung Abstract In this paper, a compact three-poles hairpin line wideband bandpass filter with several embedded open stubs to improve the stopband is designed and implemented on print circuit board substrate. This filter at center frequency f0 of 4.25 GHz has presented almost very good measured characteristics, including the bandwidth of 3.1,5.4 GHz (3-dB fractional bandwidth of 54%), low insertion loss of ,0.7 ± 0.4 dB, sharp rejection due to two transmission zeros in the passband edge created by interstage coupling, and wide stopband rejection greater than 15 dB from 5.6 to 11 GHz. Experimental results of the fabricated filter show a good agreement with the predict results. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 934,936, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22302 [source] Cd2+/NH3 treatment of Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 thin-film solar cell absorbers: a model for the performance-enhancing processes in the partial electrolytePROGRESS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS: RESEARCH & APPLICATIONS, Issue 7 2005M. Bär Abstract To obtain highly efficient chalcopyrite-based thin-film solar cells where the conventionally used CdS buffer is replaced by a ZnO layer prepared by the ILGAR (ion layer gas reaction) process, the Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 absorber has to be pretreated in a Cd2+/NH3 solution. Based on the measured characteristics of the pH-value in the Cd2+/NH3 solution during the treatment, a model of the processes in the bath can be established. The conclusions are correlated with results from X-ray-photoelectron and X-ray-excited Auger electron spectroscopy of the Cd2+/NH3 -treated Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 surface, giving an explanation for the observed formation of Cd-compounds on the surface of the absorber. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A Generalized Estimator of the Attributable Benefit of an Optimal Treatment RegimeBIOMETRICS, Issue 2 2010Jason Brinkley Summary For many diseases where there are several treatment options often there is no consensus on the best treatment to give individual patients. In such cases, it may be necessary to define a strategy for treatment assignment; that is, an algorithm that dictates the treatment an individual should receive based on their measured characteristics. Such a strategy or algorithm is also referred to as a treatment regime. The optimal treatment regime is the strategy that would provide the most public health benefit by minimizing as many poor outcomes as possible. Using a measure that is a generalization of attributable risk (AR) and notions of potential outcomes, we derive an estimator for the proportion of events that could have been prevented had the optimal treatment regime been implemented. Traditional AR studies look at the added risk that can be attributed to exposure of some contaminant; here we will instead study the benefit that can be attributed to using the optimal treatment strategy. We will show how regression models can be used to estimate the optimal treatment strategy and the attributable benefit of that strategy. We also derive the large sample properties of this estimator. As a motivating example, we will apply our methods to an observational study of 3856 patients treated at the Duke University Medical Center with prior coronary artery bypass graft surgery and further heart-related problems requiring a catheterization. The patients may be treated with either medical therapy alone or a combination of medical therapy and percutaneous coronary intervention without a general consensus on which is the best treatment for individual patients. [source] | |||||||||||||