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Nt1310 Unit 1 Exercise 4

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Fig. 4 shows that the fit of this sum to the original data is robust. The annual and semi-annual frequencies are seen to reproduce or account for most of the pattern in the hospital admission data, indicating that asthma is very seasonal in El Paso. The fall peak occurs at the end of the rainy season; the spring during the severe dry season winds. Note amplitude and phase shifts associated with the 2006 July-August monsoon. The fall asthma peak occurred a month early, with extreme intensity.

This process of Fourier transform and back-transform establishes the essential frequency components of the temporal data while eliminating high-frequency noise. This is a powerful technique to:
(1) Establish the existence of periodicity in a temporal data …show more content…

In the frequency domain (Fig. 7) neither Brownsville nor El Paso has any high-amplitude peaks corresponding to an integer number of
Fig. 7 Left - Fracture admissions for 3 Texas cities, time domain. Right – Fourier transform, frequency domain. cpy. As seen in the time domain as well, the distribution of fracture in time is essentially random. In striking contrast, Houston shows 5 prominent, high-amplitude frequency peaks at the 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 integers of cpy. Other prominent non-integer peaks also are present. In the time domain, it is seen that this complex set of frequency peaks mathematically recreates a single prominent cycle of “negative” peaks, corresponding to a low point in fracture admissions around late January of each year. Why are fractures seasonal in Houston? Studies in other regions indicate a seasonal hip fracture in the elderly, typically associated with winter slips on ice (ice storms are unusual in Houston) or shortened daylight. Here, Houston exhibits an annual winter fracture minimum. The amplitude of the peaks leaves no doubt that this finding cannot be an artifact of the data or its processing. Nor is it likely an artifact of some peculiarity of the Houston health care system or its hospital admissions

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