195 research outputs found
The state of theory in three premier advertising journals : a research note
Despite its importance, little is known about the prevalence of theory in the literature on advertising research. Utilising a content analysis of the three premier advertising journals over an 11-year period, it is found that only 17% of articles have made explicit use of theory. Psychology is the discipline from which the greatest number of articles drew their theoretical frameworks, followed by sociology and economics – indeed, theories from marketing and advertising are in the minority. Limitations are noted and implications of the results are discussed.peer-reviewe
10 Years of Object-Oriented Analysis on H1
Over a decade ago, the H1 Collaboration decided to embrace the
object-oriented paradigm and completely redesign its data analysis model and
data storage format. The event data model, based on the RooT framework,
consists of three layers - tracks and calorimeter clusters, identified
particles and finally event summary data - with a singleton class providing
unified access. This original solution was then augmented with a fourth layer
containing user-defined objects.
This contribution will summarise the history of the solutions used, from
modifications to the original design, to the evolution of the high-level
end-user analysis object framework which is used by H1 today. Several important
issues are addressed - the portability of expert knowledge to increase the
efficiency of data analysis, the flexibility of the framework to incorporate
new analyses, the performance and ease of use, and lessons learned for future
projects.Comment: 14th International Workshop on Advanced Computing and Analysis
Techniques in Physics Researc
Pt/carbon xerogel catalysts for PEM fuel cells
International audienceCarbon xerogels have been used to replace carbon black as catalyst support at the cathode of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells in order to decrease the mass transport limitations in this electrode. Carbon xerogels are very clean nanostructured carbons with well-defined pore texture, which allows forbetter reactant/product diffusion. Pt/carbon xerogel catalysts with high metal dispersion (nanoparticles ca. 2 nm in size) and high metal content (~ 25 wt.%) can be engineered via rational synthesis methods such as the 'Strong Electrostatic Adsorption' technique. The results show that choosing correctly the average pore texture of the carbon xerogel allows for minimizing the diffusion overpotential of the H2/air cell. However, the catalyst characterization indicates that the presence of chlorine, coming from H2PtCl6, induces a dramatic decrease of the Pt utilization ratio in the final PEMFC catalytic layer. To remove chlorine, a reduction of the catalyst at 450°C, at least, is necessary
Animal exploitation in the Upper Tigris River valley (Turkey) between the 3rd and the 1st millennia BC
The prehistory and ancient history of the Upper Tigris River valley (in southern Turkey) was poorly known until recently, due to a lack of archaeological researches. Since the last decade, numerous research projects are taking place in this area in order to document the cultural heritage which will be flooded by the lake of the Ilısu Dam in a near future. Despite the recent growth of archaeological investigations between the cities of Bismil and Siirt, many important fields of research haven’t been targeted yet. It is the case for one of the main socioeconomic components of ancient societies: the exploitation of resources from animal origin. This large field of research encompasses many issues related to, among others, the use of the landscape, the economic system and the existence of cultural constraints. In order to answer these questions, the faunal remains from seven settlements were studied. These sites are located on the banks of the Tigris, Botan and Bitlis Rivers. Assemblages were selected from layers dated from the 3rd to the 1st millennia BC. This chronological range has the advantage to be represented in all the selected sites. It was also a period of rapid changes in the political background of the region, with well-defined economic and cultural entities. The study of the faunal remains enables to compare all these settlements in terms of subsistence strategies and socioeconomic choices. It appeared that a diversity of animal exploitation patterns existed in all the chronological phases considered. Besides the exploitation of the main domestic mammals such as cattle, pig and sheep and goat, the exploitations of red deer and equid were important variables. It is argued here that this variability is related to peculiar choices made by the communities inhabiting these settlements. Depending on the period, these choices seem to have been influenced by local environmental conditions on one hand and economic specializations on another hand. The variability in the patterns of animal exploitation should be taken into account when the issue of subsistence strategy is discussed at an inter-regional scale. Indeed, the Upper Tigris area, and especially the small rural settlements studied here, shows a picture much less homogeneous than expected. It is also argued that small settlements embedded in a rural environment should be also studied beside the main large urban settlements. These smaller settlements played an important role in the socioeconomic complexity of the Bronze and Iron Age. Finally, it is argued that small faunal assemblages have a great analytical value when they are studied by the same researcher in order to increase the possibility to compare them with each other. Considering several assemblages together, as it is possible in case of large-scale salvage programs, enables, with the help of multivariate analyses, to confirm the reliability of the patterns observed
Energy Resolution Performance of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter
The energy resolution performance of the CMS lead tungstate crystal electromagnetic calorimeter is presented. Measurements were made with an electron beam using a fully equipped supermodule of the calorimeter barrel. Results are given both for electrons incident on the centre of crystals and for electrons distributed uniformly over the calorimeter surface. The electron energy is reconstructed in matrices of 3 times 3 or 5 times 5 crystals centred on the crystal containing the maximum energy. Corrections for variations in the shower containment are applied in the case of uniform incidence. The resolution measured is consistent with the design goals
Maternal Antibiotic-Induced Early Changes in Microbial Colonization Selectively Modulate Colonic Permeability and Inducible Heat Shock Proteins, and Digesta Concentrations of Alkaline Phosphatase and TLR-Stimulants in Swine Offspring
Elevated intake of high energy diets is a risk factor for the development of metabolic diseases and obesity. High fat diets cause alterations in colonic microbiota composition and increase gut permeability to bacterial lipopolysaccharide, and subsequent low-grade chronic inflammation in mice. Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases are increasing worldwide and may involve alterations in microbiota-host dialog. Metabolic disorders appearing in later life are also suspected to reflect changes in early programming. However, how the latter affects the colon remains poorly studied. Here, we hypothesized that various components of colonic physiology, including permeability, ion exchange and protective inducible heat shock proteins (HSP) are influenced in the short- and long-terms by early disturbances in microbial colonization. The hypothesis was tested in a swine model. Offspring were born to control mothers (n = 12) or mothers treated with the antibiotic (ATB) amoxicillin around parturition (n = 11). Offspring were slaughtered between 14 and 42 days of age to study short-term effects. For long-term effects, young adult offspring from the same litters consumed a normal or a palm oil-enriched diet for 4 weeks between 140 and 169 days of age. ATB treatment transiently modified maternal fecal microbiota although the minor differences observed for offspring colonic microbiota were nonsignificant. In the short-term, consistently higher HSP27 and HSP70 levels and transiently increased horseradish peroxidase permeability in ATB offspring colon were observed. Importantly, long-term consequences included reduced colonic horseradish peroxidase permeability, and increased colonic digesta alkaline phosphatase (AP) and TLR2- and TLR4-stimulant concentrations in rectal digesta in adult ATB offspring. Inducible HSP27 and HSP70 did not change. Interactions between early ATB treatment and later diet were noted for paracellular permeability and concentrations of colonic digesta AP. In conclusion, our data suggest that early ATB-induced changes in bacterial colonization modulate important aspects of colonic physiology in the short- and longterms
Ongoing burden and recent trends in severe hospitalised hypoglycaemia events in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Scotland:A nationwide cohort study 2016–2022
Aims: We examined severe hospitalised hypoglycaemia (SHH) rates in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Scotland during 2016–2022, stratifying by sociodemographics. Methods: Using the Scottish National diabetes register (SCI-Diabetes), we identified people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes alive anytime during 2016–2022. SHH events were determined through linkage to hospital admission and death registry data. We calculated annual SHH rates overall and by age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Summary estimates of time and stratum effects were obtained by fitting adjusted generalised additive models using R package mgcv. Results: Rates for those under 20 with type 1 diabetes reached their minimum at the 2020–2021 transition, 30% below the study period average. A gradual decline over time also occurred among 20–49-year-olds with type 1 diabetes. Overall, females had 15% higher rates than males with type 2 diabetes (rate ratio 1.15, 95% CI 1.08–1.22). People in the most versus least deprived quintile experienced 2.58 times higher rates (95% CI 2.27–2.93) in type 1 diabetes and 2.33 times higher (95% CI 2.08–2.62) in type 2 diabetes. Conclusions: Despite advances in care, SHH remains a significant problem in diabetes. Future efforts must address the large socioeconomic disparities in SHH risks.</p
Ongoing burden and recent trends in severe hospitalised hypoglycaemia events in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Scotland:A nationwide cohort study 2016–2022
Aims: We examined severe hospitalised hypoglycaemia (SHH) rates in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Scotland during 2016–2022, stratifying by sociodemographics. Methods: Using the Scottish National diabetes register (SCI-Diabetes), we identified people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes alive anytime during 2016–2022. SHH events were determined through linkage to hospital admission and death registry data. We calculated annual SHH rates overall and by age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Summary estimates of time and stratum effects were obtained by fitting adjusted generalised additive models using R package mgcv. Results: Rates for those under 20 with type 1 diabetes reached their minimum at the 2020–2021 transition, 30% below the study period average. A gradual decline over time also occurred among 20–49-year-olds with type 1 diabetes. Overall, females had 15% higher rates than males with type 2 diabetes (rate ratio 1.15, 95% CI 1.08–1.22). People in the most versus least deprived quintile experienced 2.58 times higher rates (95% CI 2.27–2.93) in type 1 diabetes and 2.33 times higher (95% CI 2.08–2.62) in type 2 diabetes. Conclusions: Despite advances in care, SHH remains a significant problem in diabetes. Future efforts must address the large socioeconomic disparities in SHH risks.</p
Risk factors and prediction of hypoglycaemia using the Hypo-RESOLVE cohort:a secondary analysis of pooled data from insulin clinical trials
AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The objective of the Hypoglycaemia REdefining SOLutions for better liVES (Hypo-RESOLVE) project is to use a dataset of pooled clinical trials across pharmaceutical and device companies in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes to examine factors associated with incident hypoglycaemia events and to quantify the prediction of these events.METHODS: Data from 90 trials with 46,254 participants were pooled. Analyses were done for type 1 and type 2 diabetes separately. Poisson mixed models, adjusted for age, sex, diabetes duration and trial identifier were fitted to assess the association of clinical variables with hypoglycaemia event counts. Tree-based gradient-boosting algorithms (XGBoost) were fitted using training data and their predictive performance in terms of area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) evaluated on test data. Baseline models including age, sex and diabetes duration were compared with models that further included a score of hypoglycaemia in the first 6 weeks from study entry, and full models that included further clinical variables. The relative predictive importance of each covariate was assessed using XGBoost's importance procedure. Prediction across the entire trial duration for each trial (mean of 34.8 weeks for type 1 diabetes and 25.3 weeks for type 2 diabetes) was assessed.RESULTS: For both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, variables associated with more frequent hypoglycaemia included female sex, white ethnicity, longer diabetes duration, treatment with human as opposed to analogue-only insulin, higher glucose variability, higher score for hypoglycaemia across the 6 week baseline period, lower BP, lower lipid levels and treatment with psychoactive drugs. Prediction of any hypoglycaemia event of any severity was greater than prediction of hypoglycaemia requiring assistance (level 3 hypoglycaemia), for which events were sparser. For prediction of level 1 or worse hypoglycaemia during the whole follow-up period, the AUC was 0.835 (95% CI 0.826, 0.844) in type 1 diabetes and 0.840 (95% CI 0.831, 0.848) in type 2 diabetes. For level 3 hypoglycaemia, the AUC was lower at 0.689 (95% CI 0.667, 0.712) for type 1 diabetes and 0.705 (95% CI 0.662, 0.748) for type 2 diabetes. Compared with the baseline models, almost all the improvement in prediction could be captured by the individual's hypoglycaemia history, glucose variability and blood glucose over a 6 week baseline period.CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Although hypoglycaemia rates show large variation according to sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and treatment history, looking at a 6 week period of hypoglycaemia events and glucose measurements predicts future hypoglycaemia risk.</p
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