We discuss the ways in which atmospheric numerical models can be shown to have both predictive and explanatory value. This argument rests largely on the established predictive value of numerical weather forecasts, and can be extended to atmospheric models at largerand smaller scales. We demonstrate that atmospheric modellers have not been particularly critical about the logical basis of model e...

The Avogadro constant has long been defined as the number of molecules of a substance in a gram molecular weight [1]. In a modern parlance, it is a fundamental physical constant representing the number of entities comprising 1 mol. It is clear that any modification to the definition of macroscopic (kilogram) or microscopic mass scales (atomic mass) will affect the numerical value of the Avogadr...

Few studies have examined heat vulnerability on a sub-metropolitan area level. This paper presents an analysis of heat vulnerability across Ohio (USA) on a county level. Each county is classified as ‘urban’, ‘suburban’, or ‘rural’. Four different criteria defining what is meteorologically ‘oppressive’ are evaluated individually. Each of these criteria is associated with an increase in mortality...

BACKGROUND While the "widowhood effect" is well known, there is substantial heterogeneity in the magnitude of effects reported in different studies. We conducted a meta-analysis of widowhood and mortality, focusing on longitudinal studies with follow-up from the time of bereavement. METHODS AND FINDINGS A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to calculate the overall relative risk (RR) f...

BACKGROUND A critical component that influences the measurement properties of a patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument is the rating scale. Yet, there is a lack of general consensus regarding optimal rating scale format, including aspects of question structure, the number and the labels of response categories. This study aims to explore the characteristics of rating scales that function well...