Analysis of geographical disparities in temporal trends of health outcomes using space–time joinpoint regression

Analyzing temporal trends in health outcomes can provide a more comprehensive picture of the burden of a disease like cancer and generate new insights about the impact of various interventions. In the United States such an analysis is increasingly conducted using joinpoint regression outside a spatial framework, which overlooks the existence of significant variation among U.S. counties and states with regard to the incidence of cancer. This paper presents several innovative ways to account for space in joinpoint regression: (1) prior filtering of noise in the data by binomial kriging and use of the kriging variance as measure of reliability in weighted least-square regression, (2) detection of significant boundaries between adjacent counties based on tests of parallelism of time trends and confidence intervals of annual percent change of rates, and (3) creation of spatially compact groups of counties with similar temporal trends through the application of hierarchical cluster analysis to the results of boundary analysis. The approach is illustrated using time series of proportions of prostate cancer late-stage cases diagnosed yearly in every county of Florida since 1980s. The annual percent change (APC) in late-stage diagnosis and the onset years for significant declines vary greatly across Florida. Most counties with non-significant average APC are located in the north-western part of Florida, known as the Panhandle, which is more rural than other parts of Florida. The number of significant boundaries peaked in the early 1990s when prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test became widely available, a temporal trend that suggests the existence of geographical disparities in the implementation and/or impact of the new screening procedure, in particular as it began available.     

Statistical diagnosis and gross error test for semiparametric linear model

This paper systematically studies the statistical diagnosis and hypothesis testing for the semiparametric linear regression model according to the theories and methods of the statistical diagnosis and hypothesis testing for parametric regression model. Several diagnostic measures and the methods for gross error testing are derived. Especially, the global and local influence analysis of the gross error on the parameter X and the nonparameter s are discussed in detail; at the same time, the paper proves that the data point deletion model is equivalent to the mean shift model for the semiparametric regression model. Finally, with one simulative computing example, some helpful conclusions are drawn.     

Relation of the Second Type Thermal Helicity to Precipitation of Landfalling Typhoons: A Case Study of Typhoon Talim

This study utilized the MM5 mesoscale model to simulate the landfalling process of Typhoon Talim. The simulated typhoon track, weather patterns, and rainfall process are consistent with the observation. Using the simulation results, the relation of the second type thermal helicity (H ₂) to rainfall caused by the landfalling typhoon Talim was analyzed. The results show that H ₂ could well indicate the heavy inland rainfall but it did not perform as well as the helicity in predicting rainfall during the beginning stage of the typhoon landfall. In particular, H ₂ was highly correlated with rainfall of Talim at 1-h lead time. For 1–5-h lead time, it also had a higher correlation with rainfall than the helicity did, and thus showing a better potential in forecasting rainfall intensification. Further analyses have shown that when Talim was in the beginning stage of landfall, 1) the 850–200-hPa vertical wind shear around the Talim center was quite small (about 5 m s⁻¹); 2) the highest rainfall was to the right of the Talim track and in the area with a 300-km radius around the Talim center, exhibiting no obvious relation to low-level temperature advection, low-level air convergence, and upper-level divergence; 3) the low-level relative vorticity reflected the rainfall change quite well, which was the main reason why helicity had a better performance than H ₂ in this period. However, after Talim moved inland further, 1) it weakened gradually and was increasingly affected by the northern trough; 2) the vertical wind shear was enhanced as well; 3) the left side of the down vertical wind shear lay in the Lushan and Dabieshan mountain area, which could have contributed to triggering a secondary vertical circulation, helping to produce the heavy rainfall over there; hence, H ₂ showed a better capacity to reflect the rainfall change during this stage.     

On the Forced Tangentially-Averaged Radial-Vertical Circulation within Vortices. Part II: The Transformation of Tropical Storm Haima (2004)

A real case study for the transformation of Tropical Storm (TS) Haima (2004) into an extratropical cyclone (EC) is carried out numerically since,after landfall,Haima (2004) (as an EC) brought severe weather to a large area (from the south to the north) in China during 13-16 September 2004.With the linear diagnostic model (derived in a previous study) for the tangentially-averaged radial-vertical circulation within vortices moving on the spherical Earth,Haima’s (2004) life cycle is reconstructed noticeably well.Therefore,the major contributor could be identified confidently for Haima’s (2004) extratropical transition based on the diagnostic model outputs.The quantitative comparison shows that up to a 90% contribution to the innerregion updraft and a 55% contribution to the upper-layer outflow come from latent heating during Haima’s (2004) TS stage.Up to a 90% contribution to the inner-region updraft and nearly a 100% contribution to the upper-layer outflow come from the upper-layer eddy angular momentum advection (EAMA) during Haima’s (2004) EC stage.Representing the asymmetric structure of the storm,the predominantly positive contribution of the upper-layer EAMA to Haima’s (2004) transformation is closely associated with the Sshaped westerlies in the upper layer with two jets.One jet in the cyclonic-curvature area carries cyclonic angular momentum into the storm,and the other jet in the anticyclonic-curvature area carries anticyclonic angular momentum out of the storm.Consequently,the newly-increased cyclonic tangential wind is deflected by the Coriolis force to the right to form the upper-layer outflow accompanied by the central-area rising motion,leading to Haima’s (2004) extratropical transition after its landfall.     

Testing resilience thinking in a poverty context: Experience from the Niger River basin

Resilience thinking is an important addition to the range of frameworks and approaches that can be used to understand and manage complex social–ecological systems like small-scale fisheries. However, it is yet to lead to better environmental or development outcomes for fisheries stakeholders in terms of food security, improved livelihoods and ecological sustainability. This paper takes an empirical approach by focusing on the fundamentals of resilience thinking to evaluate its usefulness in developing relevant management interventions in small-scale fisheries in the Niger River Basin in West Africa. The paper presents the outputs of a participatory assessment exercise where both fishery communities and local experts were involved at two different scales. The resilience frame used was designed to facilitate the identification of socially defined thresholds that help delineate the desirability of the current system configuration and provides a diagnosis framework that tailors management solutions to problems in local context. The analysis highlights some key contributions from resilience thinking to the challenge of diagnosis in small-scale fisheries management in developing countries, as well as important contributions that emerge from taking a pragmatic and critical approach to its application.     

地下水环境健康分功能模糊评价方法

以往的地下水环境健康研究忽视了单个地下水功能对地下水环境健康的决定作用,因此当不同功能的健康程度差别较大时,地下水环境健康的模糊评价结果被平均化,而得到不合理的结论。提出分功能模糊评价方法,并用其评价郑州、开封、新乡和濮阳四城市地下水环境健康状况。结果表明:分功能模糊评价方法不仅可以得到研究区地下水环境的整体健康状况,而且能得到地下水环境不同的功能或属性的健康状况,能够反映研究区地下水的保护、开发和管理的重点。此外,虽然采用数学方法选择评价因子能够避免人类的主观臆断,提高工作效率,但它可能会忽略重要因子或引入扰动因子,所以需要人工检查数学方法筛选出的评价因子。客观赋权方法无法根据各因子的实际意义给出各因子的合理权重,因此需要人工检查和调整各因子权重的分配,从而避免得出错误的评价结果。     

云南省元阳县传统水稻梯田的农业土壤评价

作为元阳水稻梯田农业生态系统可持续性评价的一部分,本文调查了箐口流域梯地的自然生物环境,评价了农业土壤的土壤肥力,采用地质—地貌—土壤信息相结合的方法建立了土壤—景观之间的组合模式。研究确定了人为、气候、地形因素为影响土壤形成的主要因素,评价了土壤潜在生产力以及相关的限制因子,并根据FAO体系,确定并划分了主要的土壤类型。研究结果表明：土壤肥力的空间分布相当均一;土壤属酸性,阳离子代换量和养分储量总体较低;农业生态系统在较大程度上受哈尼群众人为活动的影响,成功维持了相对活跃的养分循环系统。目前的研究集中在：（1） 本研究区域在整个哈尼梯田系统中的代表性评价;（2） 田间水平上的养分循环研究;（3） 土壤特性对作物产量的影响;（4） 将田间水平的研究结果应用于更大的空间单元。     

2003年夏季华南持续高温天气过程及热力诊断

利用华南观测的逐日最高气温资料和NCEP逐日再分析资料,对2003年6月29日—8月15日华南持续高温过程的大气环流背景、动力和热力条件进行了诊断分析。结果表明,2003年6月29日—8月15日华南大范围持续高温的前2段高温峰期与副高有关,第3段高温期大陆高压有关,而且3次高温过程都与热带气旋外围下沉气流有密切联系,而前2次持续高温的缓解都与热带气旋登陆和影响华南地区有密切联系。热力诊断发现,3段持续高温期间,近地层大气的局地增温主要是由非绝热加热作用(白天地表感热通量和地面长波辐射加热)造成的,水平温度平流对局地增温作用有负贡献。高温天气过程的晴空少云天气背景有利于白天太阳辐射加热地面,并可造成明显的地面感热通量和地面长波辐射加热近地面层大气,从而导致了持续高温天气过程。     

基于March算法的三态内容寻址存储器的故障诊断及实现

介绍了三态内容寻址存储器的硬件组成,分析了三态内容寻址存储器的工作原理,结合March算法的理论设计了三态内容寻址存储器故障诊断的方法,并介绍了故障检测的流程,在VxWorks的操作系统下以Tornado为开发平台实现了三态内容寻址存储器的故障诊断功能,最后给出了实验结果。实际应用表明结果可靠性能高能满足用户的需求。     

陕西一次强沙尘暴过程诊断与分析

2006年陕西共发生沙尘天气13次,其中4月11日的沙尘天气最为严重,危害最大,这也是陕西近10 a来最为严重的一次沙尘暴天气过程。这次沙尘天气带来一系列的天气演变过程,它持续时间虽然只有8~9 h,但覆盖面积大,影响范围广,全省70%~80%左右的区域都受到了影响。运用FY-2卫星红外云图及MICAPS2.0模式中的数值预报进行分析,发现红外云图呈现出异常状态,高低空形势配合较好,气压梯度、温度梯度密集,狂风突起等状况,试图揭示与解读沙尘天气在发生过程中某些气象因子的特征及其对沙尘天气的影响机理,为今后预报沙尘暴强度和发生区域提供一定的理论依据。