Search results for "Funnel"

USE OF FUNNEL PLOTS TO ANALYZE THE STANDARD INCIDENCE RATIOS IN THE PROVINCE OF PALERMO

2014

Funnel plots and choropleth maps in cancer risk communication: a comparison of tools for disseminating population-based incidence data to stakeholders

2017

Background Population-based cancer registries provide epidemiological cancer information, but the indicators are often too complex to be interpreted by local authorities and communities, due to numeracy and literacy limitations. The aim of this paper is to compare the commonly used visual formats to funnel plots to enable local public health authorities and communities to access valid and understandable cancer incidence data obtained at the municipal level. Methods A funnel plot representation of standardised incidence ratio (SIR) was generated for the 82 municipalities of the Palermo Province with the 2003–2011 data from the Palermo Province Cancer Registry (Sicily, Italy). The properties …

‘You play like a Woman!’ Effects of gender stereotype threat on Women's performance in physical and sport activities: A meta-analysis

2018

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this quantitative review was to provide an estimation of the effect of stereotype threat on women's performance in sport. Design This review employed a meta-analytic technique. Method a meta-analysis with random effects model was performed on 24 effects. Publication bias was tested through funnel plots and Egger's regression test. Results Findings show a symmetric distribution of effects, making it possible to conclude that no file-drawer problem affected the collected sample of effects. Aggregating the results of the reviewed studies, a medium effect of stereotype threat manipulation on women's sport performances emerged (d = 0.33). Collected studies were…

Blood metal levels after minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum

2021

Abstract   OBJECTIVES Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) is the most popular surgical approach for paediatric patients with pectus excavatum. A substernal stainless still bar is inserted and left in place for 3 years and then removed. Our goal was to investigate blood metal levels after MIRPE and to correlate them with surgical details, such as the numbers of bars and stabilizers and the length of time the bar was in place. METHODS Blood levels of iron, chromium, manganese, molybdenum and nickel were analysed in 130 teenagers (108 boys and 22 girls) who had MIRPE using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. A total of 62 patients were operated on using MIRPE (study…

Endovascular treatment of large and wide aortic neck: case report and literature review

2017

Large (24–34 mm) and wide (≥35 mm) aortic necks are a contraindication to endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). A 63-year-old man, unfit for conventional surgery, presented a 79 mm abdominal aortic aneurysm with 36.5 mm aortic neck and a 62 mm right common iliac artery aneurysm. He was treated endovascularly with standard commercially available stent-graft using the so-called ‘funnel technique’; by placing a thoracic stent-graft inside a bifurcated device to achieve proximal sealing. The completion angiography and the 6 months follow-up with computed tomography showed no stent-graft migration, limb occlusion or endoleak. The literature review reported 179 cases of large aortic neck managed w…

On the polymer physics origins of protein folding thermodynamics

2016

A remarkable feature of the spontaneous folding of many small proteins is the striking similarity in the thermodynamics of the folding process. This process is characterized by simple two-state thermodynamics with large and compensating changes in entropy and enthalpy and a funnel-like free energy landscape with a free-energy barrier that varies linearly with temperature. One might attribute the commonality of this two-state folding behavior to features particular to these proteins (e.g., chain length, hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance, attributes of the native state) or one might suspect that this similarity in behavior has a more general polymer-physics origin. Here we show that this behavi…

Prediction of flow patterns during silo discharges using a finite element approach and its preliminary experimental verification

2015

Abstract Obtaining a reliable discharge of particulate solids from a storage silo is a prerequisite to securing operational adequacy in solids handling processes. If a silo is poorly designed, an unreliable interrupted discharge often occurs. In this study, an in-house finite element (FE) program was modified to predict the particulate solids flow patterns during discharges from silos, and the effect of a double-cone insert on such flow patterns. In FE modeling, a Eulerian approach was adopted with an assumption of steady-state flow—a state that greatly facilitated investigations on the effects of double-cone inserts on the flow of particulate solids. Predictions were carried out on whether…

Two-state protein-like folding of a homopolymer chain

2010

Many small proteins fold via a first-order "all-or-none" transition directly from an expanded coil to a compact native state. Here we study an analogous direct freezing transition from an expanded coil to a compact crystallite for a simple flexible homopolymer. Wang-Landau sampling is used to construct the 1D density of states for square-well chains of length 128. Analysis within both the micro-canonical and canonical ensembles shows that, for a chain with sufficiently short-range interactions, the usual polymer collapse transition is preempted by a direct freezing or "folding" transition. A 2D free-energy landscape, built via subsequent multi-canonical sampling, reveals a dominant folding …

A radio frequency ring electrode cooler for low-energy ion beams

2004

We are investigating a new concept for ion confinement while buffer-gas-cooling low-energy ion beams. Instead of applying the well-established technique of Radio Frequency Quadrupoles (RFQs) where the ions are transversely confined by a quadratic-pseudo potential we are using a stack of thin ring electrodes supplied by an RF field (RF funnel) which creates a box-shaped potential well. In Monte Carlo simulations we have investigated the transmission behavior and cooling performance of the RF funnel. First experimental investigations with ion currents up to 20 nA revealed a promising transmission characteristic which qualifies the RF funnel as high-current cooler.

X-rays from accretion shocks in T Tauri stars: The case of BP Tau

2005

We present an XMM-Newton observation of the classical T Tauri star BP Tau. In the XMM-Newton RGS spectrum the O {\sc vii} triplet is clearly detected with a very weak forbidden line indicating high plasma densities and/or a high UV flux environment. At the same time concurrent UV data point to a small hot spot filling factor suggesting an accretion funnel shock as the site of the X-ray and UV emission. Together with the X-ray data on TW Hya these new observations suggest such funnels to be a general feature in classical T Tauri stars.