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The advent of the information paradigm has shaken many of the principles of archival theory and practice. One key issue is knowing to which extent can digital information be trusted. Digital resources are represented by metadata, and trust consists in demonstrating their authenticity. Since the traditional elements used to verify the authenticity of analog records are not suitable in the digital world, the field faces a major challenge. The use of abundant, pertinent and constantly captured metadata seems to one of the most relevant solutions. This article aims to contribute to tackle this issue by setting the goal of proposing a model that attempts to include the most relevant metadata elements to capture the information that contributes for ascertaining the authenticity of digital archival descriptions. To that end, mixed methods methodology are employed. A qualitative documentary research is used to collect, analyze and interpret a corpus of scientific literature. As a complement, the quantitative technique requirements engineering is used to extract from international description standards the metadata requirements that can assist in the presumption of authenticity. Both approaches are then combined through a critical lens into a single unifying model for authenticity that is deemed as complete as necessary but as simple as possible. The model can be used by organizations or as a contribution to the discussion of authenticity and trustworthiness in digital archival descriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodic revisions of the international classification of diseases (ICD) ensure that the classification reflects new practices and knowledge; however, this complicates retrospective research as diagnoses are coded in different versions. For longitudinal disease trajectory studies, a crosswalk is an essential tool and a comprehensive mapping between ICD-8 and ICD-10 has until now been lacking. In this study, we map all ICD-8 morbidity codes to ICD-10 in the expanded Danish ICD version. We mapped ICD-8 codes to ICD-10, using a many-to-one system inspired by general equivalence mappings such that each ICD-8 code maps to a single ICD-10 code. Each ICD-8 code was manually and unidirectionally mapped to a single ICD-10 code based on medical setting and context. Each match was assigned a score (1 of 4 levels) reflecting the quality of the match and, if applicable, a "flag" signalling choices made in the mapping. We provide the first complete mapping of the 8596 ICD-8 morbidity codes to ICD-10 codes. All Danish ICD-8 codes representing diseases were mapped and 5106 (59.4%) achieved the highest consistency score. Only 334 (3.9%) of the ICD-8 codes received the lowest mapping consistency score. The mapping provides a scaffold for translation of ICD-8 to ICD-10, which enable longitudinal disease studies back to and 1969 in Denmark and to 1965 internationally with further adaption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicles tend to produce more pollutants especially particles at an urban intersection than other segments. Meanwhile, pedestrians at an intersection are inevitably exposed to high particle level and suffered from the health problem. Especially, some particles can deposit in different thoracic areas of the respiratory system and cause serious health problems. Hence, in this paper, the particles from 0.3 to 10 μm in 16 channels were measured to compare the spatio-temporal characteristics of them on the crosswalk and the roadside. Based on the roadside of fixed measurements, submicron particles (< 1 μm) are discovered to have a high relation with traffic signal and exhibit a bimodal distribution pattern in the green phase. On the crosswalk of mobile measurements, submicron particles present decreasing trend along the crosswalk while crossing. Additionally, mobile measurements were conducted across six time intervals that correspond to different pedestrian's journey when passing the crosswalk. The results showed that all size particles in the first three journeys present high concentrations than that in other journeys. Furthermore, pedestrian exposure to all 16 channel particles was assessed. The total and regional deposition fractions of these particles in different sizes and age groups are determined. What ought to be paid attention to is that these real-world measurement results contribute to advancing the understanding of pedestrian exposure to size-fractionated particles on crosswalk and assisting the pedestrian to make better informed choice so as to limit particle exposure in these pollution hotspots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the Core Outcome Measures Index (COMI) are two commonly used self-rating outcome instruments in patients with lumbar spinal disorders. No formal crosswalk between them exists that would otherwise allow the scores of one to be interpreted in terms of the other. We aimed to create such a mapping function. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of ODI and COMI data previously collected from 3324 patients (57 ± 17y; 60.3% female) at baseline and 1y after surgical or conservative treatment. Correlations between scores and Cohen's kappa for agreement (κ) regarding achievement of the minimal clinically important change (MCIC) score on each instrument (ODI, 12.8 points; COMI, 2.2 points) were calculated, and regression models were built. The latter were tested for accuracy in an independent set of registry data from 634 patients (60 ± 15y; 56.8% female). Results: All pairs of measures were significantly positively correlated (baseline, 0.73; 1y follow-up (FU), 0.84; change-scores, 0.73). MCIC for COMI was achieved in 53.9% patients and for ODI, in 52.4%, with 78% agreement on an individual basis (κ = 0.56). Standard errors for the regression slopes and intercepts were low, indicating excellent prediction at the group level, but root mean square residuals (reflecting individual error) were relatively high. ODI was predicted as COMI × 7.13–4.20 (at baseline), COMI × 6.34 + 2.67 (at FU) and COMI × 5.18 + 1.92 (for change-score); COMI was predicted as ODI × 0.075 + 3.64 (baseline), ODI × 0.113 + 0.96 (FU), and ODI × 0.102 + 1.10 (change-score). ICCs were 0.63–0.87 for derived versus actual scores. Conclusion: Predictions at the group level were very good and met standards justifying the pooling of data. However, we caution against using individual values for treatment decisions, e.g. attempting to monitor patients over time, first with one instrument and then with the other, due to the lower statistical precision at the individual level. The ability to convert scores via the developed mapping function should open up more centres/registries for collaboration and facilitate the combining of data in meta-analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To create a crosswalk that predicts Short Form 6D (SF-6D) utilities from Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC) scores. Methods: The data come from prostate cancer patients enrolled in the North Carolina Prostate Cancer Comparative Effectiveness & Survivorship Study (NC ProCESS, N = 1016). Cross-sectional data from 12- to 24-month follow-up were used as estimation and validation datasets, respectively. Participants' SF-12 scores were used to generate SF-6D utilities in both datasets. Beta regression mixture models were used to evaluate SF-6D utilities as a function of MAX-PC scores, race, education, marital status, income, employment status, having health insurance, year of cancer diagnosis and clinically significant prostate cancer-related anxiety (PCRA) status in the estimation dataset. Models' predictive accuracies (using mean absolute error [MAE], root mean squared error [RMSE], Akaike information criterion [AIC] and Bayesian information criterion [BIC]) were examined in both datasets. The model with the highest prediction accuracy and the lowest prediction errors was selected as the crosswalk. Results: The crosswalk had modest prediction accuracy (MAE = 0.092, RMSE = 0.114, AIC = − 2708 and BIC = − 2595.6), which are comparable to prediction accuracies of other SF-6D crosswalks in the literature. About 24% and 52% of predictions fell within ± 5% and ± 10% of observed SF-6D, respectively. The observed mean disutility associated with acquiring clinically significant PCRA is 0.168 (standard deviation = 0.179). Conclusion: This study provides a crosswalk that converts MAX-PC scores to SF-6D utilities for economic evaluation of clinically significant PCRA treatment options for prostate cancer survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compliance behavior of pedestrians at controlled intersections is an important determinant of the number of crashes involving pedestrians at those intersections. The objective of this study was to explore compliance behavior of the pedestrians at vehicular traffic signals and traffic-police-controlled intersections in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Two types of compliance behavior were examined: compliance with vehicular traffic signals and traffic police direction, and compliance with crosswalk. First, factors influencing each compliance behavior of pedestrians were identified from the existing literature and correlation test results. With those identified factors, two discrete choice models were developed: a multinomial logistic (MNL) model for explaining the compliance behavior with vehicular traffic signals and traffic police direction, and a binary (BLR) model for exploring the compliance behavior with crosswalk. The results of the MNL model showed that compliance behavior was significantly associated with intersection control type, gender, crossing group, baggage handling by pedestrian, and vehicle flow. Whereas, the BLR model showed that compliance with crosswalk was significantly influenced by age of the pedestrians, compliance with intersection control direction by pedestrians, and vehicle flow. These findings would help the policy-makers to take countermeasures to alleviate traffic safety related problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of the adequacy of sight distance at roundabout is usually performed graphically as no quantitative guidelines are available for the lateral clearance needs. This paper presents analytical lateral clearance models to satisfy Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) at unsymmetrical single-lane roundabouts (with different entry and exit radii). The models are developed for three critical locations: approach sight distance, sight distance to exist crosswalk, and circulatory roadway sight distance. Two cases of approach sight distance are presented: sight distance to the crosswalk and sight distance to the yield line. The required lateral clearance at any specified point along the curve can also be determined. Design aids for the required maximum lateral clearance are established for the three locations of sight distance based on accurate SSD formula that accounts for effect of the radial deceleration component of the vehicle. For the circulatory roadway sight distance, infeasible combinations of the circulatory roadway radius and speed are identified based on acceptable driver's field of peripheral vision. The models and results of this paper, which are applicable to both symmetrical and unsymmetrical roundabouts, should be of interest to highway engineers and designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) is the most extensive inventory of wetland resources in the U.S., but it has limited ability to contribute to characterizations of wetland functions. We provide a methodology for reclassifying NWI polygons into Hydrogeomorphic (HGM) classes to facilitate monitoring wetland functions. We conducted this reclassification using spatial and attribute queries within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for wetlands in central Oklahoma. Once classified, 149 randomly selected wetlands in four HGM classes (depressional, lacustrine fringe, riverine, and impounded depressional) were field verified. The overall accuracy of the GIS classification was 60%. Inherent issues with NWI due to attribute accuracy, spatial accuracy, and map age accounted for >50% of the misclassified sites in this analysis. The results from this analysis were also used to provide an inventory of wetlands in each HGM class and subclass based on user's accuracy metrics. Reclassifying NWI polygons into HGM classes can assist with determining the spatial distribution and relative abundance of specific wetland classes which allows for more focused wetland restoration and monitoring efforts. However, the error rate associated with reclassification should be calculated to ensure that incorrect conclusions are not drawn regarding the abundance of HGM wetland classes and their associated functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]