Search results for " Nonparametric"
showing 10 items of 335 documents
A blended-learning programme regarding professional ethics in physiotherapy students.
2018
Background: In the university context, assessing students’ attitude, knowledge and opinions when applying an innovative methodological approach to teach professional ethics becomes fundamental to know if the used approach is enough motivating for students. Research objective: To assess the effect of a blended-learning model, based on professional ethics and related to clinical practices, on physiotherapy students’ attitude, knowledge and opinions towards learning professional ethics. Research design and participants: A simple-blind clinical trial was performed (NLM identifier NCT03241693) (control group, n = 64; experimental group, n = 65). Both groups followed clinical practices for 8 mont…
Thalamic Network Oscillations Synchronize Ontogenetic Columns in the Newborn Rat Barrel Cortex
2013
Neocortical areas are organized in columns, which form the basic structural and functional modules of intracortical information processing. Using voltage-sensitive dye imaging and simultaneous multi-channel extracellular recordings in the barrel cortex of newborn rats in vivo, we found that spontaneously occurring and whisker stimulation-induced gamma bursts followed by longer lasting spindle bursts were topographically organized in functional cortical columns already at the day of birth. Gamma bursts synchronized a cortical network of 300-400 µm in diameter and were coherent with gamma activity recorded simultaneously in the thalamic ventral posterior medial (VPM) nucleus. Cortical gamma b…
Automatic regrouping of strata in the goodness-of-fit chi-square test
2019
Pearson’s chi-square test is widely employed in social and health sciences to analyze categorical data and contingency tables. For the test to be valid, the sample size must be large enough to provide a minimum number of expected elements per category. This paper develops functions for regrouping strata automatically no matter where they are located, thus enabling the goodness-of-fit test to be performed within an iterative procedure. The functions are written in Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and in Mathematica. The usefulness and performance of these functions is illustrated by means of a simulation study and the application to different datasets. Finally, the iterative use of …
Labor Productivity Growth: Disentangling Technology and Capital Accumulation
2014
We adopt a counterfactual approach to decompose labor productivity growth into growth of Technological Productivity (TEP), growth of the capital-labor ratio and growth of Total Factor Productivity (TFP). We bring the decomposition to the data using international countrysectoral information spanning from the 1960s to the 2000s and a nonparametric generalized kernel method, which enables us to estimate the production function allowing for heterogeneity across all relevant dimensions: countries, sectors and time. As well as documenting substantial heterogeneity across countries and sectors, we nd average TEP to account for about 44% of labor productivity growth and TEP gaps with respect to the…
Osseointegration of miniscrews: a histomorphometric evaluation.
2007
SUMMARY Mini-implants and miniscrews are commonly used in orthodontics to provide additional temporary intraoral anchorage. Partial osseointegration represents a distinct advantage in orthodontic applications, allowing effective anchorage to be combined with easy insertion and removal. This article reports the histomorphometric fi ndings of the osseointegration of bracket screw bone anchors (BSBAs). In an experimental animal study, four BSBAs were inserted in the alveolar process of the lower jaw in each of fi ve male beagle dogs, aged 6.5 months from the same mother. Eleven screws were lost during the study, nine of them due to lack of primary stability. One screw was removed at the end of…
In vitro activities of antimicrobial agents against Candida species
1999
Objective. Antimicrobial mouthrinses may represent a valid alternative to topical antifungal agents. However, the action of antimicrobials could be affected by the different ingredients incorporated into mouthrinse products. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the in vitro antifungal and fungicidal activities of antimicrobials alone. Study Design. A broth macrodilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration of 4 antimicrobial agents against Candida species. Minimum fungicidal concentration was also determined. Results. All antimicrobials showed antifungal activity against all tested organisms, but cetylpyridinium chloride received significantly low…
Sealing capacity of a photochromatic flowable composite as protective base in nonvital dental bleaching.
2006
Aim To evaluate microleakage of a flowable composite used as a protective isolating base, applied with different adhesive systems. Methodology Seventy root-filled teeth were divided into seven groups. A flowable composite base (Tetric Flow Chroma) was used with three adhesive techniques (Syntac, Excite, Excite DCS; in the three cases with and without acid etching) and in a control group without dentine conditioning or adhesive placement. A 30% hydrogen peroxide solution was applied for 24 h in the pulp chambers, followed by the placement of a dye (silver nitrate) for 4 h. Each tooth was sectioned longitudinally, and examined under 4× magnification to assess the tooth/restoration dye leaka…
Sealing ability of five different retrograde filling materials.
1996
The sealing ability of Amalgam, Harvard-Cement, Diaket, gold-leaf, and Ketac-Endo as retrofilling materials was investigated. Paper cones were fixed with Harvard-Cement in the instrumented roots of 100 extracted human incisors. Apicectomy was performed and a 2-mm-deep retrograde cavity was prepared. Teeth were assigned to five groups (n = 20); each group received a different filling material. Surfaces of the roots were isolated with nail polish. Teeth, were stored in 1% methylene blue dye for 72 h. Roots were sectioned, and the depth of dye penetration was evaluated through a stereomicroscope. Retrofills with Ketac-Endo showed significantly less leakage compared with amalgam. There was no s…
Productivity Polarization and Sectoral Dynamics in European Regions
2007
Abstract We show that the distribution dynamics of productivity in European regions displays polarization with a nonlinear growth path. We investigate the factors explaining this behavior focusing in particular on sectoral composition. The β -convegence analysis reveals that initial shares of Manufacturing and Other Market Services have a nonlinear impact on growth, while spatial effects are not statistically significant. By decomposing the dynamics of aggregate productivity in terms of sectoral dynamics, we show that productivity in Manufacturing, Non Market Services, and Other Market Services does not converge, for the complex interaction of technological spillovers and specialization eff…
Prenatal exposure to mixtures of xenoestrogens and repetitive element DNA methylation changes in human placenta
2014
BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) has previously shown to alter epigenetic marks. OBJECTIVES: In this work we explore whether prenatal exposure to mixtures of xenoestrogens has the potential to alter the placenta epigenome, by studying DNA methylation in retrotransposons as a surrogate of global DNA methylation. METHODS: The biomarker total effective xenoestrogen burden (TEXB) was measured in 192 placentas from participants in the longitudinal INMA Project. DNA methylation was quantitatively assessed by bisulfite pyrosequencing on 10 different retrotransposons including 3 different long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs), 4 short interspersed nuclear …