Mining data from intensive care patients

In this paper we describe the application of data mining methods for predicting the evolution of patients in an intensive care unit. We discuss the importance of such methods for health care and other application domains of engineering. We argue that this problem is an important but challenging one for the current state of the art data mining methods and explain what improvements on current methods would be useful. We present a promising study on a preliminary data set that demonstrates some of the possibilities in this area.     

Inhibiting and deactivating effects of water on the selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide with ammonia over MnOx/Al2O3

The effect of water on the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of nitric oxide with ammonia over alumina supported with 2–15 wt.-% manganese oxide was investigated in the temperature range 385–600 K, with the emphasis on the low side of this temperature window. Studies on the effect of 1–5 vol.-% water vapour on the SCR reaction rate and selectivity were combined with TPD experiments to reveal the influence of water on the adsorption of the single SCR reactants. It turned out that the activity decrease due to water addition can be divided into a reversible inhibition and an irreversible deactivation. Inhibition is caused by molecular adsorption of water. TPD studies showed that water can adsorb competitively with both ammonia and nitric oxide. Additional kinetic experiments revealed that adsorbed ammonia is present in excess on the catalyst surface, even in the presence of water. Reduced nitric oxide adsorption is responsible for the observed reversible decrease in the reaction rate; the fractional reaction order changes from 0.79 in the absence of water to 1.07 in its presence. Deactivation is probably due to the dissociative adsorption of water, resulting in the formation of additional surface hydroxyls. As the amount of surface hydroxyls formed is limited to a saturation level, the deactivating effect on the catalyst is limited too. The additional hydroxyls condense and desorb in the temperature range 525–775 K, resulting in a lower degree of deactivation at higher temperature. A high temperature treatment at 775 K results in a complete regeneration. The amount of surface hydroxyls formed per unit surface area decreases at increasing MnO_x-loading. The selectivity to the production of nitrogen is enhanced significantly by the presence of gas phase water.     

Child negative emotionality and parenting from infancy to preschool: A meta-analytic review.

This meta-analytic review (k = 62 studies; N = 7,613 mother-child dyads) shows that effect sizes for the association between child negative emotionality and parenting were generally small and were moderated by sample and measurement characteristics. The association between more child negative emotionality and less supportive parenting was relatively strong in lower socioeconomic status families, reversed in higher socioeconomic status families, and limited to studies with relatively high percentages of participants from ethnic minorities and studies using parent report to assess negative emotionality. Higher levels of child negative emotionality were associated with more restrictive control in samples with less than 75% 1st-born children, as well as in infants and preschoolers, and in studies using parent report or composite measures to assess both negative emotionality and restrictive parenting. Finally, more child negative emotionality was associated with less inductive control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gas—Liquid Mass Transfer Coefficient in Stirred Tank Reactors

Volumetric gas—liquid mass transfer coefficient (k_La) data available in the literature for larger tanks (T = 0.39 m to 2.7 m) have been analyzed on the basis of relative dispersion parameter, N/N_cd. It was observed that at a given superficial gas velocity (V_G), k_La values were approximately the same irrespective of geometric configuration (size of the tank, type and size of the impellers, type of the sparger, etc.) at a particular N/N_cd. A single correlation based on N/N_cd is presented which shows satisfactory agreement with the k_La data of different workers.     

Gas Hold‐Up in Stirred Tank Reactors in the Presence of Inorganic Electrolytes

Gas hold‐up (?_G) in air‐aqueous electrolyte solutions in stirred tank reactors (STR) is correlated using a relative gas dispersion parameter, N/N_cd and a surface tension factor (STF), (c/z)(dδ/dc)². For electrolyte concentration below transition concentration (c_t) a single correlation in the form of ?_G = f(N/N_cd, vvm, STF) shows good agreement with gas hold‐up data over a wide range of system and operating conditions. Above ct no effect of STF on gas hold‐up is observed and the correlation obtained is of the form ?_G = f(N/N_cd, vvm). Data available in the literature on large STR show good fit with the proposed correlation.     

On the Relation of Job Insecurity,Job Autonomy,Innovative Work Behaviour and the Mediating Effect of Work Engagement

European policy is focusing on innovation as a way out of the economic crisis. At the same time, job insecurity is rising as Europe is still in crisis. In this paper, we examine whether job insecurity affects the innovative work behaviour of employees by focusing on the relation between job insecurity, job autonomy, work engagement and innovative work behaviour (IWB). Using employee level survey data, we use structural equation modelling to disentangle the relations between these variables. The partially mediated model shows the best fit with the data. This model shows that job insecurity and autonomy are both directly and indirectly, through work engagement, related with IWB. For autonomy these relations are positive, while they are negative (and smaller) for job insecurity. Moreover, a negative covariance is observed between job insecurity and autonomy.     

Effect of calcium aluminate cement variety on the hydration of portland cement in blended system

Two kinds of CACs with different monocalcium aluminate（CA） contents were used in the PC/CAC（PAC） mixtures. Effects of CA and CACs on the properties of PAC were analyzed by setting times and the compressive strength tests, and also by means of calorimetry, XRD, DTA-TG and ESEM. The experimental results show that the compressive strength of the PAC mortars decreases with increasing content of CAC while it declines sharply with a higher content of CA in CAC. Compared with neat PC paste, the content of calcium hydroxide in hydrates of PAC paste decreases significantly, and the hydration time of PC is prominently prolonged. Additionally, the higher the content of CA in CAC, the more obviously the hydration of PC is delayed, confi rming that the CA phase in CAC plays an important role in the delay of PC hydration.     

Marketing Activities to Support ‘Moderately Novel’ Product Innovation: Insights from the Chemical Industry

Scholars often follow a contingency approach to study which marketing activities are suitable for a particular type of product innovation project, thereby making a distinction between incremental and radical innovation only. ‘Moderately novel’ projects, which have intermediate levels of newness, have therefore not been given due attention. This paper focuses on market intelligence generation and the creation of cross‐functional linkages as marketing activities that are important in the context of moderately novel product innovation. In addition, the organizational position of the marketers involved in these activities is dealt with. Based on the analysis of four successful projects in the chemical industry, we argue, firstly, that moderately novel innovation projects have their own particular sets of marketing practices and, secondly, that differences exist between projects aiming at a new market segment and projects in which novelty is not related to market segment but to other market dimensions. These differences are especially salient in early project phases. These findings are pertinent to research on the role of marketers in product innovation, and to the study of organizational ambidexterity.     

Scalable digital hardware for a trapped ion quantum computer

Quantum Information Processing - Many of the challenges of scaling quantum computer hardware lie at the interface between the qubits and the classical control signals used to manipulate them....     

Efficient tracking of the dominant eigenspace of a normalized kernel matrix

Various machine learning problems rely on kernel-based methods. The power of these methods resides in the ability to solve highly nonlinear problems by reformulating them in a linear context. The dominant eigenspace of a (normalized) kernel matrix is often required. Unfortunately, the computational requirements of the existing kernel methods are such that the applicability is restricted to relatively small data sets. This letter therefore focuses on a kernel-based method for large data sets. More specifically, a numerically stable tracking algorithm for the dominant eigenspace of a normalized kernel matrix is proposed, which proceeds by an updating (the addition of a new data point) followed by a downdating (the exclusion of an old data point) of the kernel matrix. Testing the algorithm on some representative case studies reveals that a very good approximation of the dominant eigenspace is obtained, while only a minimal amount of operations and memory space per iteration step is required.