Search results for "Comparability"

2021

Abstract Terrestrial Essential Climate Variables, known as terrestrial ECVs, are key sources of information for both application- and scientific- oriented research. A large number of global terrestrial ECV products have been derived from satellite observations, and more are forthcoming. To unlock the full potential of these products, end-users need to know their uncertainties and error magnitudes. Due to the lack of conformity among validation strategies, a wide range of validation approaches have been employed to assess the quality of these products, and have resulted in reduced comparability even for the same terrestrial ECV. Addressing this challenge in validation practices requires the …

Clinical evidence continuous medical education: a randomised educational trial of an open access e-learning program for transferring evidence-based i…

2008

Abstract Background In an effort to ensure that all physicians have access to valid and reliable evidence on drug effectiveness, the Italian Drug Agency sponsored a free-access e-learning system, based on Clinical Evidence, called ECCE. Doctors have access to an electronic version and related clinical vignettes. Correct answers to the interactive vignettes provide Continuing Medical Education credits. The aims of this trial are to establish whether the e-learning program (ECCE) increases physicians' basic knowledge about common clinical scenarios, and whether ECCE is superior to the passive diffusion of information through the printed version of Clinical Evidence. Design All Italian doctors…

Assessment of somatoform disorders: a review of strategies and instruments.

2003

We provide an overview of methods and instruments developed for the assessment of somatoform disorders. Four diagnostic purposes have been identified: (i) classification according to a diagnostic system; (ii) screening for probable cases; (iii) dimensional measurement of syndrome severity; and (iv) assessment of associated clinical features. Existing instruments designed for each of these strategies are described, including specifications of their psychometric properties, particular features, advantages and disadvantages. A conclusion of this review is that the currently existing ‘family of assessment instruments’ in the field of somatoform disorders should be used to improve the comparabil…

Comparative Analysis of Governmental Accounting Diversity in the European Union

2013

Abstract Comparability of governmental financial reporting in the EU presents important problems, as long as the preparation of budget information is not harmonized and National Accounts works as the only reference to verify compliance with stability objectives. Understanding the differences between the magnitudes indicative of budgetary discipline and the diversity of accounting policies is of paramount importance, especially for the Eurozone. This paper quantifies and analyzes the differences between financial and budgetary reporting policies of EU members, identifies the main factors that determine their diversity and analyzes the results in light of the different traditions of public ad…

Applications of Bond-Based 3D-Chiral Quadratic Indices in QSAR Studies Related to Central Chirality Codification

2009

The concept of bond-based quadratic indices is generalized to codify chemical structure information for chiral drugs, making use of a trigonometric 3D-chirality correction factor. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this novel approach in drug design, we have modeled several well-known data sets. In particularly, Cramer's steroid data set has become a benchmark for the assessment of novel QSAR methods. This data set has been used by several researchers using 3D-QSAR approaches. Therefore, it is selected by us for the shake of comparability. In addition, to evaluate the effectiveness of this novel approach in drug design, we model the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activity o…

Meta-analyses of studies on the association between electromagnetic fields and childhood cancer.

1996

During the last 15 years several studies have investigated a possible relationship between exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) and childhood cancer. There is considerable variation between these studies with respect to methods of exposure assessment and reported results. Methods of exposure assessment range from simple visual criteria to costly and time consuming measurements or estimations of electric flux density. Additional individual refinements further hinder the comparability of results. We carried out several meta-analyses of data published so far taking into account the heterogeneity between studies as far as possible. Our particular interest was to investigate a potential dose…

Data sets for energy rating of photovoltaic modules

2013

Abstract A proposal for generating standard climatic data sets for use in energy rating of photovoltaic (PV) modules is presented which will give a good comparability between different technologies. The current proposal of standard data sets consisting of “typical days” do not give realistic estimates of PV performance and thus is not sufficient as a rating standard. A dataset striking the balance between being significant for any location but does not consisting of too much data is required. A method to generate such a dataset is presented, meeting all the requirements of an international standard while being sufficiently accurate to differentiate between different devices of different man…

Stochastic Learning for SAT- Encoded Graph Coloring Problems

2010

The graph coloring problem (GCP) is a widely studied combinatorial optimization problem due to its numerous applications in many areas, including time tabling, frequency assignment, and register allocation. The need for more efficient algorithms has led to the development of several GC solvers. In this paper, the authors introduce a team of Finite Learning Automata, combined with the random walk algorithm, using Boolean satisfiability encoding for the GCP. The authors present an experimental analysis of the new algorithm’s performance compared to the random walk technique, using a benchmark set containing SAT-encoding graph coloring test sets.

Bond-based 3D-chiral linear indices: Theory and QSAR applications to central chirality codification

2008

The recently introduced non-stochastic and stochastic bond-based linear indices are been generalized to codify chemical structure information for chiral drugs, making use of a trigonometric 3D-chirality correction factor. These improved modified descriptors are applied to several well-known data sets to validate each one of them. Particularly, Cramer's steroid data set has become a benchmark for the assessment of novel quantitative structure activity relationship methods. This data set has been used by several researchers using 3D-QSAR approaches such as Comparative Molecular Field Analysis, Molecular Quantum Similarity Measures, Comparative Molecular Moment Analysis, E-state, Mapping Prope…

The International Measurement Evaluation Programme (IMEP) IMEP-6: "Trace elements in water"

1998

The sixth round of the International Measurement Evaluation Programme (IMEP) is presented. The programme offers reference values, established by primary methods of measurement, against which participating laboratories can evaluate their performance. The degree of comparability is thus established against the most objective references available at present. In IMEP-6, reference values for total concentrations of 14 trace elements in a synthetic and a natural water were established mainly by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS). For the majority of the measurands, results traceable to the international system of units (SI) and having expanded uncertainties, U (k=2), of 2% could be establi…