Sample records for desperate times call

  1. Should desperate volunteers be included in randomised controlled trials?

    PubMed Central

    Allmark, P; Mason, S

    2006-01-01

    Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) sometimes recruit participants who are desperate to receive the experimental treatment. This paper defends the practice against three arguements that suggest it is unethical first, desperate volunteers are not in equipoise. Second clinicians, entering patients onto trials are disavowing their therapeutic obligation to deliver the best treatment; they are following trial protocols rather than delivering individualised care. Research is not treatment; its ethical justification is different. Consent is crucial. Third, desperate volunteers do not give proper consent: effectively, they are coerced. This paper responds by advocating a notion of equipoise based on expert knowledge and widely shared values. Where such collective, expert equipoise exists there is a prima facie case for an RCT. Next the paper argues that trial entry does not involve clinicians disavowing their therapeutic obligation; individualised care based on insufficient evidence is not in patients best interest. Finally, it argues that where equipoise exists it is acceptable to limit access to experimental agents; desperate volunteers are not coerced because their desperation does not translate into a right to receive what they desire. PMID:16943339

  2. Should desperate volunteers be included in randomised controlled trials?

    PubMed

    Allmark, P; Mason, S

    2006-09-01

    Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) sometimes recruit participants who are desperate to receive the experimental treatment. This paper defends the practice against three arguments that suggest it is unethical first, desperate volunteers are not in equipoise. Second clinicians, entering patients onto trials are disavowing their therapeutic obligation to deliver the best treatment; they are following trial protocols rather than delivering individualised care. Research is not treatment; its ethical justification is different. Consent is crucial. Third, desperate volunteers do not give proper consent: effectively, they are coerced. This paper responds by advocating a notion of equipoise based on expert knowledge and widely shared values. Where such collective, expert equipoise exists there is a prima facie case for an RCT. Next the paper argues that trial entry does not involve clinicians disavowing their therapeutic obligation; individualised care based on insufficient evidence is not in patients best interest. Finally, it argues that where equipoise exists it is acceptable to limit access to experimental agents; desperate volunteers are not coerced because their desperation does not translate into a right to receive what they desire.

  3. Exciting Times Call for Collaboration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jensen, Eric P.

    2008-01-01

    Brain science already has much to contribute to education and will become even more important in the future. Brain research is not going away; it is increasing and will continue to do so. As such, educators need better tools to deal with it. In this article, the author argues that educators desperately need new understandings, new ways to think…

  4. The desperate dozen: Fishes on the brink

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Welsh, Stuart A.

    2008-01-01

    IT IS NO SECRET THAT OUR NATIVE AQUATIC ANIMALS ARE IN DECLINE. There are currently 582 species of animals on the Federal list of endangered and threatened species, 268 of these (46%) are found in freshwater habitats. Of the amazing assemblage of 675 fishes found in southeastern waters, more than a quarter are considered imperiled. While all of the Earth’s ecosystems are in trouble, freshwater habitats are recognized to be at severe risk because of their scarcity and the high demands placed on them by humans. The combined effects of agriculture, damming, dredging, construction, logging, overharvest, and pollution are destroying this critical resource for animals, plants, and even ourselves. This major conservation crisis calls for immediate action to conserve and protect the remaining populations and their habitats. The Southeastern Fishes Council (SFC), a nonprofit scientific organization dedicated to the study and conservation of freshwater and coastal fishes of the southeastern United States, is one of the many organizations attempting to reverse the decline of our southeast aquatic habitats and their rich biodiversity. One of the most important steps in conservation is prioritization. The SFC sought to determine where conservation actions would have the largest impact on preventing loss of our freshwater diversity. We decided to focus our efforts on the Desperate Dozen, the 12 fish species we identified as most likely to become extinct in the Southeast. We chose this list in order to reverse their precipitous decline and assist in putting them on the path to recovery. These twelve species are not currently economically important to humans, and their extinction could easily go unnoticed by all but conservation biologists and ichthyologists. Even so, their conservation matters. These species are the canaries in the coal mine, alerting us to the problem that something is very, very wrong in our backyards. Fishes that were once widespread in larger rivers, such

  5. A "desperation-reaction" model of medical diffusion.

    PubMed Central

    Warner, K E

    1975-01-01

    Knowledge about the adoption and diffusion of innovations is briefly reviewed. A model is then proposed to explain how certain innovations, intended to address dire medical problems, might diffuse in a manner not previously reported, with extensive diffusion occurring during what would be a period of small-scale experimentation and limited adoption in the conventional innovation-diffusion environment. The model is illustrated with findings from a case study of the diffusion of drug therapies for four types of leukemia. Possible implications of "desperation-reaction" diffusion are suggested. PMID:1065622

  6. 29 CFR 785.17 - On-call time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false On-call time. 785.17 Section 785.17 Labor Regulations... INTERPRETATION NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO REGULATIONS HOURS WORKED Application of Principles Waiting Time § 785.17 On-call time. An employee who is required to remain on call on the employer's premises or so close...

  7. 29 CFR 785.17 - On-call time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false On-call time. 785.17 Section 785.17 Labor Regulations... INTERPRETATION NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO REGULATIONS HOURS WORKED Application of Principles Waiting Time § 785.17 On-call time. An employee who is required to remain on call on the employer's premises or so close...

  8. Note to Budget Cutters: The Arts Are Good Business--Multiple Studies Point to Arts Education as an Important Economic Engine

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olson, Catherine Applefeld

    2009-01-01

    They say desperate times call for desperate measures. But in this time of economic uncertainty, the desperate cutting of budgets for arts funding and, by extension, all types of arts education, including music, is not prudent. That is the consensus of several national and local studies, which converge on a single point--that the arts actually can…

  9. Desperately seeking parenthood: neonatal nurses reflect on parental anguish.

    PubMed

    Green, Janet; Darbyshire, Philip; Adams, Anne; Jackson, Debra

    2015-07-01

    This paper aims to explore the ways in which neonatal nurses understand the experience of parents who have experienced infertility, conceived a baby via in vitro fertilisation and delivered an extremely premature infant. The chance of a poor long-term outcome for the baby is significant; therefore, parental anguish plays out in the neonatal intensive care. Current literature suggests that infertility is a significant issue for ageing women and many couples experience multiple cycles of invitro-fertilisation (IVF) treatment to achieve a pregnancy. Babies conceived through IVF are more likely to have genetic disorders, and be born prematurely. When the baby is born through IVF and is also born extremely prematurely, it creates a crisis situation for the parents. This paper will focus on the parental anguish of achieving a pregnancy through IVF to see the baby born extremely prematurely (defined as ≤ 24-week gestation). It will examine parental anguish from caregiver perspective of the neonatal nurse who supports the parents through this very difficult time. This study used interviews with neonatal nurses, and drew insights from interpretative phenomenology. This research used a combination of a questionnaire and a series of interviews in a qualitative study informed by phenomenology. The analysis of the interview data involved the creation of key themes following extensive coding of thematic statements and the analysis of the emerging themes. This paper outlines the neonatal nurses' understanding of parental anguish and overwhelming sadness in parents whose baby was conceived by IVF, and was also born extremely prematurely. The theme of 'seeking parenthood' was synthesised from two sub-themes - 'longing for a baby' and 'the desperation to become parents'. This study identified that neonatal nurses bear witness to parental anguish as their hopes of taking home a live baby might not be realised. The time, effort and money required to achieve a pregnancy does not mean

  10. Exploring the relationship between patient call-light use rate and nurse call-light response time in acute care settings.

    PubMed

    Tzeng, Huey-Ming; Larson, Janet L

    2011-03-01

    Patient call-light usage and nurse responsiveness to call lights are two intertwined concepts that could affect patients' safety during hospital stays. Little is known about the relationship between call-light usage and call-light response time. Consequently, this exploratory study examined the relationship between the patient-initiated call-light use rate and the nursing staff's average call-light response time in a Michigan community hospital. It used hospital archived data retrieved from the call-light tracking system for the period from February 2007 through June 2008. Curve estimation regression and multiple regression analyses were conducted. The results showed that the call-light response time was not affected by the total nursing hours or RN hours. The nurse call-light response time was longer when the patient call-light use rate was higher and the average length of stay was shorter. It is likely that a shorter length of stay contributes to the nursing care activity level on the unit because it is associated with a higher frequency of patient admissions/discharges and treatment per patient-day. This suggests that the nursing care activity level on the unit and number of call-light alarms could affect nurse call-light response time, independently of the number of nurses available to respond.

  11. Call progress time measurement in IP telephony

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khasnabish, Bhumip

    1999-11-01

    Usually a voice call is established through multiple stages in IP telephony. In the first stage, a phone number is dialed to reach a near-end or call-originating IP-telephony gateway. The next stages involve user identification through delivering an m-digit user-id to the authentication and/or billing server, and then user authentication by using an n- digit PIN. After that, the caller is allowed (last stage dial tone is provided) to dial a destination phone number provided that authentication is successful. In this paper, we present a very flexible method for measuring call progress time in IP telephony. The proposed technique can be used to measure the system response time at every stage. It is flexible, so that it can be easily modified to include new `tone' or a set of tones, or `voice begin' can be used in every stage to detect the system's response. The proposed method has been implemented using scripts written in Hammer visual basic language for testing with a few commercially available IP telephony gateways.

  12. Desperate Housewives: An Analysis of the Characterisations of Female Gamblers Portrayed in Gambling Movies in Hong Kong

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ohtsuka, Keis; Chan, Chi Chuen

    2009-01-01

    This article examines portrayals of female gamblers in recent Hong Kong movies. The authors report that the depiction of female gamblers is very different from that of male gamblers in the movies made in the same period. Whereas the male gamblers are pitching a lonely and desperate battle against an evil opponent, the female gamblers portrayed in…

  13. Living in hope and desperate for a miracle: NICU nurses perceptions of parental anguish.

    PubMed

    Green, Janet

    2015-04-01

    The birth of an extremely premature baby is a tragedy, and it is only natural that the parents will rely on the spiritual and religious beliefs that guide the rest of their lives. At this difficult time, parents with strong religious beliefs will hope for divine intervention and pray for a miracle. This paper outlines the difficulties experienced by neonatal nurses when caring for an extremely premature baby whose parents hold on to hope and their belief in divine intervention and a miracle. Data were collected via a questionnaire to Australian neonatal nurses and semi-structured interviews with 24 neonatal nurses in NSW, Australia. A qualitative approach was used to analyse the data. The theme of "hoping for a miracle" was captured by two sub-themes "praying for a miracle" and "oscillating between hope and despair". For some families, the hope of divine intervention seemed all consuming, and the nurses were witness to the desperation and disappointment of families when a miracle was not forthcoming.

  14. Rapid response team calls that overlap in time: incidence, consequences and patient outcomes.

    PubMed

    Flabouris, Arthas; Mesecke, Michelle

    2017-09-01

    To investigate overlap rapid response team (RRT) calls, factors associated with overlap calls, and their impact on RRT call times and patient outcomes. Review of prospectively collected, linked clinical and administrative datasets, at a public adult tertiary hospital during July 2013 to May 2016. There were 11 669 RRT calls to 7223 patients, of which 10 868 calls (93.1%) were to inpatients. The median number of daily calls was 12 (interquartile range [IQR], 9-15 calls; range, 2-29 calls). The median number of daily calls per 1000 hospital admissions was 56.3 (IQR, 41.3- 78.9 calls/1000 admissions; range, 8.3-231.5 calls/1000 admissions), and the median proportion of the day spent at RRT calls was 22.8% (IQR, 16.9%-30.5%). In total, 4575 (39.2%) calls overlapped. Overlap calls, compared with non-overlap calls, had similar patient characteristics, but a longer response time (4 min v 3 min; P < 0.001) and scene time (20 min v 34 min; P < 0.001). The daily number of calls correlated with the number of overnight-stay hospital admissions (r = 0.104; P = 0.001), but not with the total number of hospital admissions (r = -0.035; P = 0.258). The number of overlap calls correlated with the number of RRT calls (r = 0.786; P < 0.001), and also correlated with the proportion of the day spent at RRT calls (r = 0.762; P < 0.001). Overlap calls, compared with non-overlap calls, were more likely to result in an ICU admission (484 calls [11.2%] v 571 calls [8.7%]; P < 0.001). In contrast, efferent limb failure (815 calls [17.8%] v 1195 calls [16.8%]; P = 0.389) and hospital mortality (496 calls [19.3%] v 781 calls [19.6%]; P = 0.823) was similar for overlap and nonoverlap calls, respectively. Overlap RRT calls are common and influenced by overall RRT and hospital activity. They are more likely to be associated with longer response and scene times and unanticipated ICU admissions.

  15. Wireless cellular networks with Pareto-distributed call holding times

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rodriguez-Dagnino, Ramon M.; Takagi, Hideaki

    2001-07-01

    Nowadays, there is a growing interest in providing internet to mobile users. For instance, NTT DoCoMo in Japan deploys an important mobile phone network with that offers the Internet service, named 'i-mode', to more than 17 million subscribers. Internet traffic measurements show that the session duration of Call Holding Time (CHT) has probability distributions with heavy-tails, which tells us that they depart significantly from the traffic statistics of traditional voice services. In this environment, it is particularly important to know the number of handovers during a call for a network designer to make an appropriate dimensioning of virtual circuits for a wireless cell. The handover traffic has a direct impact on the Quality of Service (QoS); e.g. the service disruption due to the handover failure may significantly degrade the specified QoS of time-constrained services. In this paper, we first study the random behavior of the number of handovers during a call, where we assume that the CHT are Pareto distributed (heavy-tail distribution), and the Cell Residence Times (CRT) are exponentially distributed. Our approach is based on renewal theory arguments. We present closed-form formulae for the probability mass function (pmf) of the number of handovers during a Pareto distributed CHT, and obtain the probability of call completion as well as handover rates. Most of the formulae are expressed in terms of the Whittaker's function. We compare the Pareto case with cases of $k(subscript Erlang and hyperexponential distributions for the CHT.

  16. Effect of the number of request calls on the time from call to hospital arrival: a cross-sectional study of an ambulance record database in Nara prefecture, Japan.

    PubMed

    Hanaki, Nao; Yamashita, Kazuto; Kunisawa, Susumu; Imanaka, Yuichi

    2016-12-09

    In Japan, ambulance staff sometimes must make request calls to find hospitals that can accept patients because of an inadequate information sharing system. This study aimed to quantify effects of the number of request calls on the time interval between an emergency call and hospital arrival. A cross-sectional study of an ambulance records database in Nara prefecture, Japan. A total of 43 663 patients (50% women; 31.2% aged 80 years and over): (1) transported by ambulance from April 2013 to March 2014, (2) aged 15 years and over, and (3) with suspected major illness. The time from call to hospital arrival, defined as the time interval from receipt of an emergency call to ambulance arrival at a hospital. The mean time interval from emergency call to hospital arrival was 44.5 min, and the mean number of requests was 1.8. Multilevel linear regression analysis showed that ∼43.8% of variations in transportation times were explained by patient age, sex, season, day of the week, time, category of suspected illness, person calling for the ambulance, emergency status at request call, area and number of request calls. A higher number of request calls was associated with longer time intervals to hospital arrival (addition of 6.3 min per request call; p<0.001). In an analysis dividing areas into three groups, there were differences in transportation time for diseases needing cardiologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons and orthopaedists. The study revealed 6.3 additional minutes needed in transportation time for every refusal of a request call, and also revealed disease-specific delays among specific areas. An effective system should be collaboratively established by policymakers and physicians to ensure the rapid identification of an available hospital for patient transportation in order to reduce the time from the initial emergency call to hospital arrival. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a

  17. Effect of the number of request calls on the time from call to hospital arrival: a cross-sectional study of an ambulance record database in Nara prefecture, Japan

    PubMed Central

    Hanaki, Nao; Yamashita, Kazuto; Kunisawa, Susumu; Imanaka, Yuichi

    2016-01-01

    Objectives In Japan, ambulance staff sometimes must make request calls to find hospitals that can accept patients because of an inadequate information sharing system. This study aimed to quantify effects of the number of request calls on the time interval between an emergency call and hospital arrival. Design and setting A cross-sectional study of an ambulance records database in Nara prefecture, Japan. Cases A total of 43 663 patients (50% women; 31.2% aged 80 years and over): (1) transported by ambulance from April 2013 to March 2014, (2) aged 15 years and over, and (3) with suspected major illness. Primary outcome measures The time from call to hospital arrival, defined as the time interval from receipt of an emergency call to ambulance arrival at a hospital. Results The mean time interval from emergency call to hospital arrival was 44.5 min, and the mean number of requests was 1.8. Multilevel linear regression analysis showed that ∼43.8% of variations in transportation times were explained by patient age, sex, season, day of the week, time, category of suspected illness, person calling for the ambulance, emergency status at request call, area and number of request calls. A higher number of request calls was associated with longer time intervals to hospital arrival (addition of 6.3 min per request call; p<0.001). In an analysis dividing areas into three groups, there were differences in transportation time for diseases needing cardiologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons and orthopaedists. Conclusions The study revealed 6.3 additional minutes needed in transportation time for every refusal of a request call, and also revealed disease-specific delays among specific areas. An effective system should be collaboratively established by policymakers and physicians to ensure the rapid identification of an available hospital for patient transportation in order to reduce the time from the initial emergency call to hospital arrival. PMID:27940625

  18. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Executive Powers, Individual Rights, and Guantanamo Bay Prison

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Brien, Jason L.; Barbieri, Kyle T.

    2012-01-01

    In the recent past, and especially since September 11, 2001, many democratic nations have been forced to deal with the threat of attacks on their land. Former U.S. President George W. Bush famously labeled this challenge the "War on Terror." Examining how nations address this issue offers a golden opportunity for social studies teachers…

  19. A "No Prescriptives, Please" Proposal Postscript: When Desperate Times Require Desperate Measures

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robinson, Daniel H.; Levin, Joel R.

    2013-01-01

    We appreciate the thoughtful reactions of our colleagues to the "no prescriptives, please" proposal of Robinson et al. (2013), as well as the opportunity to respond to them. For the most part, our colleagues seem to agree that a problem exists in terms of unwarranted recommendations for practice appearing too often in educational…

  20. Desperately seeking sociology: nursing student perceptions of sociology on nursing courses.

    PubMed

    Edgley, Alison; Timmons, Stephen; Crosbie, Brian

    2009-01-01

    This paper will present the findings of a qualitative study exploring the perceptions of students confronted by a requirement to learn sociology within a nursing curriculum. Those teaching sociology have a variety of explanations (more or less desperate), seeking to justify its place on the nursing curriculum. While there may be no resolution to the debate, the dispute thus far, has largely been between sociology and nursing academics. Absent from this debate are the voices of students 'required' to learn both nursing and sociology. What do students make of this contested territory? When students are trying to learn their trade, and know how to practice safely and efficaciously what do they make of the sociological imagination? How realistic is it to expect students to grasp both the concrete and practical with the imaginative and critical? Findings from this qualitative, focus group study suggest that students do indeed find learning sociology within a nursing curriculum "unsettling". It would seem that students cope in a number of ways. They fragment and compartmentalise knowledge(s); they privilege the interception of experiential learning on the path between theory and practice; and yet they appear to employ sociological understanding to account for nursing's gendered and developing professional status.

  1. Reducing call-to-needle times: the critical role of pre-hospital thrombolysis.

    PubMed

    Smith, J A L; Jennings, K P; Anderson, E A; Green, P; Hillis, G S

    2004-10-01

    Current guidelines recommend that patients with acute myocardial infarction should receive thrombolysis within 60 min of seeking professional help. To compare current rates of pre-hospital thrombolysis in Grampian with historical data, and assess the effect of pre-hospital thrombolysis on the proportion of patients achieving 'call-to-needle' times within national guidelines. Prospective audit. Data were collected on all patients (n=535) admitted to the coronary care unit and thrombolysed, either in hospital or in the community from July 2000 to June 2002, using standardized forms. One hundred and thirty-three patients (25%) received pre-hospital thrombolysis and 402 (75%) received in-hospital thrombolysis. This compares with a 19% (195/1046) pre-hospital thrombolysis rate in the mid-1990s (p=0.005). Median 'call-to-needle' times were 45 min for pre-hospital thrombolysis and 105 min for patients who received in-hospital thrombolysis (p < 0.001). Only 24% (96/396) of patients receiving in-hospital thrombolysis were treated within the recommended guideline, vs. 79% (88/111) of pre-hospital thrombolysis patients (p <0.001). Pre-hospital thrombolysis rates in Grampian are increasing. Administration of thrombolysis in the community greatly increases the proportion of patients achieving a 'call-to-needle' time of 60 min, with a median time saving of approximately 1 h.

  2. 5 CFR 551.431 - Time spent on standby duty or in an on-call status.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... § 551.431 Time spent on standby duty or in an on-call status. (a)(1) An employee is on duty, and time... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Time spent on standby duty or in an on-call status. 551.431 Section 551.431 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL...

  3. 5 CFR 551.431 - Time spent on standby duty or in an on-call status.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... § 551.431 Time spent on standby duty or in an on-call status. (a)(1) An employee is on duty, and time... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Time spent on standby duty or in an on-call status. 551.431 Section 551.431 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL...

  4. Near Real-Time Call Detail Record ETL Flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cochinwala, Munir; Panagos, Euthimios

    Telecommunication companies face significant business challenges as they strive to reduce subscriber churn and increase average revenue per user (ARPU) by offering new services and incorporating new functionality into existing services. The increased number of service offerings and available functionality result in an ever growing volume of call detail records (CDRs). For many services (e.g., pre-paid), CDRs need to be processed and analyzed in near real-time for several reasons, including charging, on-line subscriber access to their accounts, and analytics for predicting subscriber usage and preventing fraudulent activity. In this paper, we describe the challenges associated with near real-time extract, transform, and load (ETL) of CDR data warehouse flows for supporting both the operational and business intelligence needs of telecommunication services, and we present our approach to addressing these challenges.

  5. Time-frequency and advanced frequency estimation techniques for the investigation of bat echolocation calls.

    PubMed

    Kopsinis, Yannis; Aboutanios, Elias; Waters, Dean A; McLaughlin, Steve

    2010-02-01

    In this paper, techniques for time-frequency analysis and investigation of bat echolocation calls are studied. Particularly, enhanced resolution techniques are developed and/or used in this specific context for the first time. When compared to traditional time-frequency representation methods, the proposed techniques are more capable of showing previously unseen features in the structure of bat echolocation calls. It should be emphasized that although the study is focused on bat echolocation recordings, the results are more general and applicable to many other types of signal.

  6. Timing matters: sonar call groups facilitate target localization in bats.

    PubMed

    Kothari, Ninad B; Wohlgemuth, Melville J; Hulgard, Katrine; Surlykke, Annemarie; Moss, Cynthia F

    2014-01-01

    To successfully negotiate a cluttered environment, an echolocating bat must control the timing of motor behaviors in response to dynamic sensory information. Here we detail the big brown bat's adaptive temporal control over sonar call production for tracking prey, moving predictably or unpredictably, under different experimental conditions. We studied the adaptive control of vocal-motor behaviors in free-flying big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, as they captured tethered and free-flying insects, in open and cluttered environments. We also studied adaptive sonar behavior in bats trained to track moving targets from a resting position. In each of these experiments, bats adjusted the features of their calls to separate target and clutter. Under many task conditions, flying bats produced prominent sonar sound groups identified as clusters of echolocation pulses with relatively stable intervals, surrounded by longer pulse intervals. In experiments where bats tracked approaching targets from a resting position, bats also produced sonar sound groups, and the prevalence of these sonar sound groups increased when motion of the target was unpredictable. We hypothesize that sonar sound groups produced during flight, and the sonar call doublets produced by a bat tracking a target from a resting position, help the animal resolve dynamic target location and represent the echo scene in greater detail. Collectively, our data reveal adaptive temporal control over sonar call production that allows the bat to negotiate a complex and dynamic environment.

  7. Timing matters: sonar call groups facilitate target localization in bats

    PubMed Central

    Kothari, Ninad B.; Wohlgemuth, Melville J.; Hulgard, Katrine; Surlykke, Annemarie; Moss, Cynthia F.

    2014-01-01

    To successfully negotiate a cluttered environment, an echolocating bat must control the timing of motor behaviors in response to dynamic sensory information. Here we detail the big brown bat's adaptive temporal control over sonar call production for tracking prey, moving predictably or unpredictably, under different experimental conditions. We studied the adaptive control of vocal-motor behaviors in free-flying big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, as they captured tethered and free-flying insects, in open and cluttered environments. We also studied adaptive sonar behavior in bats trained to track moving targets from a resting position. In each of these experiments, bats adjusted the features of their calls to separate target and clutter. Under many task conditions, flying bats produced prominent sonar sound groups identified as clusters of echolocation pulses with relatively stable intervals, surrounded by longer pulse intervals. In experiments where bats tracked approaching targets from a resting position, bats also produced sonar sound groups, and the prevalence of these sonar sound groups increased when motion of the target was unpredictable. We hypothesize that sonar sound groups produced during flight, and the sonar call doublets produced by a bat tracking a target from a resting position, help the animal resolve dynamic target location and represent the echo scene in greater detail. Collectively, our data reveal adaptive temporal control over sonar call production that allows the bat to negotiate a complex and dynamic environment. PMID:24860509

  8. Geographic-time distribution of ambulance calls in Singapore: utility of geographic information system in ambulance deployment (CARE 3).

    PubMed

    Ong, Marcus E H; Ng, Faith S P; Overton, Jerry; Yap, Susan; Andresen, Derek; Yong, David K L; Lim, Swee Han; Anantharaman, V

    2009-03-01

    Pre-hospital ambulance calls are not random events, but occur in patterns and trends that are related to movement patterns of people, as well as the geographical epidemiology of the population. This study describes the geographic-time epidemiology of ambulance calls in a large urban city and conducts a time demand analysis. This will facilitate a Systems Status Plan for the deployment of ambulances based on the most cost effective deployment strategy. An observational prospective study looking at the geographic-time epidemiology of all ambulance calls in Singapore. Locations of ambulance calls were spot mapped using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. Ambulance response times were mapped and a demand analysis conducted by postal districts. Between 1 January 2006 and 31 May 2006, 31,896 patients were enrolled into the study. Mean age of patients was 51.6 years (S.D. 23.0) with 60.0% male. Race distribution was 62.5% Chinese, 19.4% Malay, 12.9% Indian and 5.2% others. Trauma consisted 31.2% of calls and medical 68.8%. 9.7% of cases were priority 1 (most severe) and 70.1% priority 2 (moderate severity). Mean call receipt to arrival at scene was 8.0 min (S.D. 4.8). Call volumes in the day were almost twice those at night, with the most calls on Mondays. We found a definite geographical distribution pattern with heavier call volumes in the suburban town centres in the Eastern and Southern part of the country. We characterised the top 35 districts with the highest call volumes by time periods, which will form the basis for ambulance deployment plans. We found a definite geographical distribution pattern of ambulance calls. This study demonstrates the utility of GIS with despatch demand analysis and has implications for maximising the effectiveness of ambulance deployment.

  9. From nestling calls to fledgling silence: adaptive timing of change in response to aerial alarm calls.

    PubMed

    Magrath, Robert D; Platzen, Dirk; Kondo, Junko

    2006-09-22

    Young birds and mammals are extremely vulnerable to predators and so should benefit from responding to parental alarm calls warning of danger. However, young often respond differently from adults. This difference may reflect: (i) an imperfect stage in the gradual development of adult behaviour or (ii) an adaptation to different vulnerability. Altricial birds provide an excellent model to test for adaptive changes with age in response to alarm calls, because fledglings are vulnerable to a different range of predators than nestlings. For example, a flying hawk is irrelevant to a nestling in a enclosed nest, but is dangerous to that individual once it has left the nest, so we predict that young develop a response to aerial alarm calls to coincide with fledging. Supporting our prediction, recently fledged white-browed scrubwrens, Sericornis frontalis, fell silent immediately after playback of their parents' aerial alarm call, whereas nestlings continued to calling despite hearing the playback. Young scrubwrens are therefore exquisitely adapted to the changing risks faced during development.

  10. Calling Behavior, Copulation Time, and Reproductive Compatibility of Corn-Strain Fall Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) From Populations in Mexico.

    PubMed

    Cruz-Esteban, Samuel; Rojas, Julio C; Malo, Edi A

    2017-08-01

    The calling behavior, mating time, and the reproductive compatibility of virgin adults of fall armyworms, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), were studied in this work. Larvae were collected on maize (Zea mays L.) from six states located on the Pacific coast (Chiapas, Michoacán, and Sinaloa), on the Gulf of Mexico (Veracruz and Yucatan), and in central Mexico (Morelos). Before the experiments, insects were reared under laboratory conditions for one generation. We recorded the age at which females called for the first time, the onset time of calling, the duration of calling, the onset time of copulation, and the duration of copulation. The calling rhythms of the six populations were dissimilar. Females from all populations began to call in the second or third scotophase. The time for onset of calling and the duration of calling were significantly different among the S. frugiperda populations studied. Spodoptera frugiperda pairs from Sinaloa, Veracruz, Yucatan, and Morelos started to copulate earlier than the pairs from Chiapas and Michoacán. Pairs from Veracruz and Yucatan copulated longer than those from Michoacán, Morelos, Chiapas, and Sinaloa. Our crossing experiment using females and males from the six populations showed that individuals from different populations could copulate and produce fertile offspring. Thus, although the S. frugiperda populations showed variability in the timing of reproduction, the populations were not reproductively incompatible, which indicated that geographic distance has not led to reproductive isolation in corn-strain populations of S. frugiperda in Mexico. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  11. Time's up.

    PubMed

    2001-03-07

    IT'S NEARLY 18 months since Nursing Standard and the RCN launched Making Time, the campaign designed to arm nurses and their managers with the information they need to implement employee-friendly policies. The campaign was designed to give impetus to the many fine words and policy statements (see box right) coming from government ministers as they tried to confront desperate staff shortages. It became more and more apparent that a better life-work balance would result in improved staff retention, more returners to the profession and even enhanced recruitment.

  12. Wheels-Off Time Uncertainty Impact on Benefits of Early Call for Release Scheduling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Palopo, Kee; Chatterji, Gano B.; Almog, Noam

    2017-01-01

    Arrival traffic scenarios with 808 flights from 173 airports to Houston George Bush International airport are simulated to determine if Call For Release flights can receive a benefit in terms of less delay over other flights by scheduling prior to gate pushback (look-ahead in time) as opposed to at gate pushback. Call for Release flights are departures that require approval from Air Route Traffic Control Center prior to release. Realism is brought to the study by including gate departure delay and taxi-out delay uncertainties for the 77 major U. S. airports. Gate departure delay uncertainty is assumed to increase as a function of look-ahead time. Results show that Call For Release flights from an airport within the freeze horizon (a region surrounding the arrival airport) can get an advantage over other flights to a capacity constrained airport by scheduling prior to gate pushback, provided the wheels-off time uncertainty with respect to schedule is controlled to a small value, such as within a three-minute window. Another finding of the study is that system delay, measured as the sum of arrival delays, is smaller when flights are scheduled in the order of arrival compared to in the order of departure. Because flights from airports within the freeze horizon are scheduled in the order of departure, an increase in the number of internal airports with a larger freeze horizon increases system delay. Delay in the given scenario was found to increase by 126% (from 13.8 hours to 31.2 hours) as freeze horizon was increased from 30-minutes to 2-hours in the baseline scenario.

  13. Expanding potential of radiofrequency nurse call systems to measure nursing time in patient rooms.

    PubMed

    Fahey, Linda; Dunn Lopez, Karen; Storfjell, Judith; Keenan, Gail

    2013-05-01

    The objective of this study was to determine the utility and feasibility of using data from a nurse call system equipped with radiofrequency identification data (RFID) to measure nursing time spent in patient rooms. Increasing the amount of time nurses spend with hospitalized patients has become a focus after several studies demonstrating that nurses spend most of their time in nondirect care activities rather than delivering patient care. Measurement of nursing time spent in direct care often involves labor-intensive time and motion studies, making frequent or continuous monitoring impractical. Mixed methods were used for this descriptive study. We used 30 days of data from an RFID nurse call system collected on 1 unit in a community hospital to examine nurses time spent in patient rooms. Descriptive statistics were applied to calculate this percentage by role and shift. Data technologists were surveyed to assess how practical the access of data would be in a hospital setting for use in monitoring nursing time spent in patient rooms. The system captured 7393 staff hours. Of that time, 7% did not reflect actual patient care time, so these were eliminated from further analysis. The remaining 6880 hours represented 91% of expected worked time. RNs and nursing assistants spent 33% to 36% of their time in patient rooms, presumably providing direct care. Radiofrequency identification data technology was found to provide feasible and accurate means for capturing and evaluating nursing time spent in patient rooms. Depending on the outcomes per unit, leaders should work with staff to maximize patient care time.

  14. Improving patient care over weekends by reducing on-call work load and better time management.

    PubMed

    Gardezi, Syed Anjum Ali

    2014-01-01

    The Royal College of Physicians states that "handover, particularly of temporary 'on-call' responsibility, has been identified as a point at which errors are likely to occur."[1] Working a weekend on-call covering medical wards is often busy and stressful for all junior doctors. The high volume of routine and unplanned tasks make the situation even worse. In Nevill Hall hospital Abergavenny, we measured the workload on a junior doctor for medical ward cover on weekends by counting the number of times he/she was bleeped for routine tasks. Initial study demonstrated that on average 30-40% of time on a long day shift was spent on jobs which could have been done on the preceding Friday. The "FRIDAYS" checklist was introduced for clinical staff (particularly junior doctors) to identify these jobs. According to this model, all the junior doctors were encouraged to review: F: Phlebotomy R: Rewriting drug charts I: IV fluids D: discharge summaries A: Antibiotic review Y: Yellow book/Warfarin dose S: Status of resuscitation and escalation plans before leaving the wards on Friday afternoon. This implementation successfully showed reduction in weekend workload, allowing the ward cover to be focused on care and safety of comparatively sick patients while at the same time reducing the stress for the on-call team.

  15. Documentation of limitation of medical therapy at the time of a rapid response team call.

    PubMed

    Sundararajan, K; Flabouris, A; Keeshan, Alexander; Cramey, Tracey

    2014-05-01

    The aims of the present study were to: (1) describe the documentation process of limitation of medical therapy (LMT) orders at the time of a rapid response team (RRT) call; and (2) compare documented LMT orders not associated with an RRT call (control, Group 1) with LMT orders documented at the time of an RRT call (Group 2). A descriptive study, over a 6-month period (February-August 2011), involving the review of the medical records of patients prospectively identified as either Group 1 or Group 2. There were 994 RRT calls; of these, 50 patients (5%) had an LMT order documented by the RRT. A cardiac arrest was the trigger for the RRT for six patients (12%). Patients in Group 1 (n=50) and Group 2 were of similar median age (80.5 vs 78.5 years; P=0.30), LMTs were recorded at a similar time of day (15:30 vs 15:55 hours; P=0.52) and day of the week (weekend: 32% vs 35%; P=0.72). Comparing group 2 with Group 1, the RRT was less likely to document a not-for-resuscitation (NFR; 31 (62%) vs 49 (98%); P<0.01) or a not-for-ICU (NFICU; 18 (36%) vs 41 (82%); P<0.01) order, but more likely to document a not-for-RRT call (NFRRT; 31 (62%) vs 22 (44%); P=0.04) and modified RRT calling criteria (MRRT; 4 (8%) vs 0 (0%); P=0.04) orders. For Group 2 compared with Group 1 orders, involvement of the patient in the decision making process (9 (18%) vs 25 (50%); P<0.01) or the next of kin (29 (58%) vs 45 (90%); P<0.01) was documented less often. Documentation of LMT orders at the time of an RRT call is less likely to include documented involvement of patients or their next of kin, and is more likely to be an NFRRT or MRRT order. These findings have implications for overall clinical governance. What is known about the topic? RRT are not infrequently involved in documenting LMT orders. What does this paper add? This is the first study in Australasia to look into the timing and circumstances surrounding the issuing of a NFR order during an RRT call. The study findings clarify the type of LMT

  16. "When you're desperate you'll ask anybody": young people's social sources of tobacco.

    PubMed

    Marsh, Louise; Dawson, Anna; McGee, Rob

    2013-04-01

    This study sought to examine young New Zealand smokers' access to social supplies of cigarettes. A qualitative investigation using 10 focus groups with 66 current young smokers, aged between 15 and 17 years, was conducted throughout New Zealand, between October and December 2011. Transcripts from the focus groups were analysed using NVivo to code the data, from which common themes and critical issues were identified. Family was one of the main sources of tobacco for the young smokers in this study and parents were the leading source, often purchasing tobacco for their children to smoke. Sharing tobacco within groups of friends was also very common. Additional methods were used when young smokers were desperate, including stealing, 'butt scabbing' and asking strangers. Both family and social networks continue to support smoking and supply tobacco to young people. While these networks operate, young people will continue to smoke, despite increased regulations on commercial sales to minors. Restrictions on commercial sales of tobacco to minors are increasing; however, many young people use multiple sources of tobacco, including social sources. It is likely that young people will increasingly use these social sources in the future. Interventions other than purchase restrictions are important for reducing minors' access to tobacco. © 2013 The Authors. ANZJPH © 2013 Public Health Association of Australia.

  17. A call center primer.

    PubMed

    Durr, W

    1998-01-01

    Call centers are strategically and tactically important to many industries, including the healthcare industry. Call centers play a key role in acquiring and retaining customers. The ability to deliver high-quality and timely customer service without much expense is the basis for the proliferation and expansion of call centers. Call centers are unique blends of people and technology, where performance indicates combining appropriate technology tools with sound management practices built on key operational data. While the technology is fascinating, the people working in call centers and the skill of the management team ultimately make a difference to their companies.

  18. Calibrating passive acoustic monitoring: correcting humpback whale call detections for site-specific and time-dependent environmental characteristics.

    PubMed

    Helble, Tyler A; D'Spain, Gerald L; Campbell, Greg S; Hildebrand, John A

    2013-11-01

    This paper demonstrates the importance of accounting for environmental effects on passive underwater acoustic monitoring results. The situation considered is the reduction in shipping off the California coast between 2008-2010 due to the recession and environmental legislation. The resulting variations in ocean noise change the probability of detecting marine mammal vocalizations. An acoustic model was used to calculate the time-varying probability of detecting humpback whale vocalizations under best-guess environmental conditions and varying noise. The uncorrected call counts suggest a diel pattern and an increase in calling over a two-year period; the corrected call counts show minimal evidence of these features.

  19. ParticleCall: A particle filter for base calling in next-generation sequencing systems

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background Next-generation sequencing systems are capable of rapid and cost-effective DNA sequencing, thus enabling routine sequencing tasks and taking us one step closer to personalized medicine. Accuracy and lengths of their reads, however, are yet to surpass those provided by the conventional Sanger sequencing method. This motivates the search for computationally efficient algorithms capable of reliable and accurate detection of the order of nucleotides in short DNA fragments from the acquired data. Results In this paper, we consider Illumina’s sequencing-by-synthesis platform which relies on reversible terminator chemistry and describe the acquired signal by reformulating its mathematical model as a Hidden Markov Model. Relying on this model and sequential Monte Carlo methods, we develop a parameter estimation and base calling scheme called ParticleCall. ParticleCall is tested on a data set obtained by sequencing phiX174 bacteriophage using Illumina’s Genome Analyzer II. The results show that the developed base calling scheme is significantly more computationally efficient than the best performing unsupervised method currently available, while achieving the same accuracy. Conclusions The proposed ParticleCall provides more accurate calls than the Illumina’s base calling algorithm, Bustard. At the same time, ParticleCall is significantly more computationally efficient than other recent schemes with similar performance, rendering it more feasible for high-throughput sequencing data analysis. Improvement of base calling accuracy will have immediate beneficial effects on the performance of downstream applications such as SNP and genotype calling. ParticleCall is freely available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/particlecall. PMID:22776067

  20. Changes in How Students Use and Are Called Homophobic Epithets over Time: Patterns Predicted by Gender, Bullying, and Victimization Status

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Poteat, V. Paul; O'Dwyer, Laura M.; Mereish, Ethan H.

    2012-01-01

    This longitudinal study tested for changes in how students used and were called homophobic epithets as they progressed through high school. Boys used and were called these epithets with increased frequency over time, whereas girls reported decreases on both. Distinct gender socialization processes may contribute to these different patterns for…

  1. Uncertain call likelihood negatively affects sleep and next-day cognitive performance while on-call in a laboratory environment.

    PubMed

    Sprajcer, Madeline; Jay, Sarah M; Vincent, Grace E; Vakulin, Andrew; Lack, Leon; Ferguson, Sally A

    2018-05-11

    On-call working arrangements are employed in a number of industries to manage unpredictable events, and often involve tasks that are safety- or time-critical. This study investigated the effects of call likelihood during an overnight on-call shift on self-reported pre-bed anxiety, sleep and next-day cognitive performance. A four-night laboratory-based protocol was employed, with an adaptation, a control and two counterbalanced on-call nights. On one on-call night, participants were instructed that they would definitely be called during the night, while on the other on-call night they were told they may be called. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory form x-1 was used to investigate pre-bed anxiety, and sleep was assessed using polysomnography and power spectral analysis of the sleep electroencephalographic analysis. Cognitive performance was assessed four times daily using a 10-min psychomotor vigilance task. Participants felt more anxious before bed when they were definitely going to be called, compared with the control and maybe conditions. Conversely, participants experienced significantly less non-rapid eye movement and stage two sleep and poorer cognitive performance when told they may be called. Further, participants had significantly more rapid eye movement sleep in the maybe condition, which may be an adaptive response to the stress associated with this on-call condition. It appears that self-reported anxiety may not be linked with sleep outcomes while on-call. However, this research indicates that it is important to take call likelihood into consideration when constructing rosters and risk-management systems for on-call workers.

  2. Improving patient care over weekends by reducing on-call work load and better time management

    PubMed Central

    Gardezi, Syed Anjum Ali

    2014-01-01

    The Royal College of Physicians states that “handover, particularly of temporary ‘on-call’ responsibility, has been identified as a point at which errors are likely to occur.”[1] Working a weekend on-call covering medical wards is often busy and stressful for all junior doctors. The high volume of routine and unplanned tasks make the situation even worse. In Nevill Hall hospital Abergavenny, we measured the workload on a junior doctor for medical ward cover on weekends by counting the number of times he/she was bleeped for routine tasks. Initial study demonstrated that on average 30–40% of time on a long day shift was spent on jobs which could have been done on the preceding Friday. The “FRIDAYS” checklist was introduced for clinical staff (particularly junior doctors) to identify these jobs. According to this model, all the junior doctors were encouraged to review: F: Phlebotomy R: Rewriting drug charts I: IV fluids D: discharge summaries A: Antibiotic review Y: Yellow book/Warfarin dose S: Status of resuscitation and escalation plans before leaving the wards on Friday afternoon. This implementation successfully showed reduction in weekend workload, allowing the ward cover to be focused on care and safety of comparatively sick patients while at the same time reducing the stress for the on-call team. PMID:26734257

  3. Calling 911! What role does the pediatrician play?

    PubMed

    Grossman, Devin; Kunkov, Sergey; Kaplan, Carl; Crain, Ellen F

    2013-06-01

    The objective of this study was to compare admission rates and medical interventions among children whose caregivers called their child's primary care provider (PCP) before taking an ambulance to the pediatric emergency department (PED) versus those who did not. This was a prospective cohort study of patients brought to an urban, public hospital PED via emergency medical system (EMS). Children were included if the caregiver called 911 to have them transported via EMS and was present in the PED. The main variable was whether the child's PCP was called before EMS utilization. Study outcomes were medical interventions, such as intravenous line insertion or laboratory tests, and hospital admission. χ Test and logistic regression were used to evaluate the relationship of the main variable to the study outcomes. Six hundred fourteen patients met inclusion criteria and were enrolled. Five hundred eighty-five patients (95.3%) were reported to have a PCP. Seventy-four caregivers (12.1%) called their child's PCP before calling EMS. Two hundred seventy-seven patients (45.1%) had medical interventions performed; of these, 42 (15.2%) called their PCP (P = 0.03). Forty-two patients (6.8%) were admitted; among these, 14 (33.3%) called their PCP (P < 0.01). Adjusting for triage level, patients whose caregiver called the PCP before calling EMS were 3.2 times (95% confidence interval, 1.9-5.2 times) more likely to be admitted and 1.7 times (95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.9 times) more likely to have a medical intervention compared with patients whose caregivers did not call their child's PCP. Children were more likely to be admitted or require a medical intervention if their caregiver called their PCP before calling EMS. The availability of a PCP for telephone triage may help to optimize EMS utilization.

  4. Acoustic signalling for mate attraction in crickets: Abdominal ganglia control the timing of the calling song pattern.

    PubMed

    Jacob, Pedro F; Hedwig, Berthold

    2016-08-01

    Decoding the neural basis of behaviour requires analysing how the nervous system is organised and how the temporal structure of motor patterns emerges from its activity. The stereotypical patterns of the calling song behaviour of male crickets, which consists of chirps and pulses, is an ideal model to study this question. We applied selective lesions to the abdominal nervous system of field crickets and performed long-term acoustic recordings of the songs. Specific lesions to connectives or ganglia abolish singing or reliably alter the temporal features of the chirps and pulses. Singing motor control appears to be organised in a modular and hierarchically fashion, where more posterior ganglia control the timing of the chirp pattern and structure and anterior ganglia the timing of the pulses. This modular organisation may provide the substrate for song variants underlying calling, courtship and rivalry behaviour and for the species-specific song patterns in extant crickets. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. 40 CFR 155.48 - Data Call-In.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Data Call-In. 155.48 Section 155.48... STANDARDS AND REGISTRATION REVIEW Registration Review Procedures § 155.48 Data Call-In. The Agency may issue a Data Call-In notice under FIFRA section 3(c)(2)(B) at any time if the Agency believes that the...

  6. Development of echolocation calls and neural selectivity for echolocation calls in the pallid bat.

    PubMed

    Razak, Khaleel A; Fuzessery, Zoltan M

    2015-10-01

    Studies of birdsongs and neural selectivity for songs have provided important insights into principles of concurrent behavioral and auditory system development. Relatively little is known about mammalian auditory system development in terms of vocalizations or other behaviorally relevant sounds. This review suggests echolocating bats are suitable mammalian model systems to understand development of auditory behaviors. The simplicity of echolocation calls with known behavioral relevance and strong neural selectivity provides a platform to address how natural experience shapes cortical receptive field (RF) mechanisms. We summarize recent studies in the pallid bat that followed development of echolocation calls and cortical processing of such calls. We also discuss similar studies in the mustached bat for comparison. These studies suggest: (1) there are different developmental sensitive periods for different acoustic features of the same vocalization. The underlying basis is the capacity for some components of the RF to be modified independent of others. Some RF computations and maps involved in call processing are present even before the cochlea is mature and well before use of echolocation in flight. Others develop over a much longer time course. (2) Normal experience is required not just for refinement, but also for maintenance, of response properties that develop in an experience independent manner. (3) Experience utilizes millisecond range changes in timing of inhibitory and excitatory RF components as substrates to shape vocalization selectivity. We suggest that bat species and call diversity provide a unique opportunity to address developmental constraints in the evolution of neural mechanisms of vocalization processing. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. Development of echolocation calls and neural selectivity for echolocation calls in the pallid bat

    PubMed Central

    Razak, Khaleel A.; Fuzessery, Zoltan M.

    2014-01-01

    Studies of birdsongs and neural selectivity for songs have provided important insights into principles of concurrent behavioral and auditory system development. Relatively little is known about mammalian auditory system development in terms of vocalizations, or other behaviorally relevant sounds. This review suggests echolocating bats are suitable mammalian model systems to understand development of auditory behaviors. The simplicity of echolocation calls with known behavioral relevance and strong neural selectivity provides a platform to address how natural experience shapes cortical receptive field (RF) mechanisms. We summarize recent studies in the pallid bat that followed development of echolocation calls and cortical processing of such calls. We also discuss similar studies in the mustached bat for comparison. These studies suggest: (1) there are different developmental sensitive periods for different acoustic features of the same vocalization. The underlying basis is the capacity for some components of the RF to be modified independent of others. Some RF computations and maps involved in call processing are present even before the cochlea is mature and well before use of echolocation in flight. Others develop over a much longer time course. (2) Normal experience is required not just for refinement, but also for maintenance, of response properties that develop in an experience independent manner. (3) Experience utilizes millisecond range changes in timing of inhibitory and excitatory RF components as substrates to shape vocalization selectivity. We suggest that bat species and call diversity provide a unique opportunity to address developmental constraints in the evolution of neural mechanisms of vocalization processing. PMID:25142131

  8. Patient satisfaction with wait times at an emergency ophthalmology on-call service.

    PubMed

    Chan, Brian J; Barbosa, Joshua; Moinul, Prima; Sivachandran, Nirojini; Donaldson, Laura; Zhao, Lily; Mullen, Sarah J; McLaughlin, Christopher R; Chaudhary, Varun

    2018-04-01

    To assess patient satisfaction with emergency ophthalmology care and determine the effect provision of anticipated appointment wait time has on scores. Single-centre, randomized control trial. Fifty patients triaged at the Hamilton Regional Eye Institute (HREI) from November 2015 to July 2016. Fifty patients triaged for next-day appointments at the HREI were randomly assigned to receive standard-of-care preappointment information or standard-of-care information in addition to an estimated appointment wait time. Patient satisfaction with care was assessed postvisit using the modified Judgements of Hospital Quality Questionnaire (JHQQ). In determining how informing patients of typical wait times influenced satisfaction, the Mann-Whitney U test was performed. As secondary study outcomes, we sought to determine patient satisfaction with the intervention material using the Fisher exact test and the effect that wait time, age, sex, education, mobility, and number of health care providers seen had on satisfaction scores using logistic regression analysis. The median JHQQ response was "very good" (4/5) and between "very good" and "excellent" (4.5/5) in the intervention and control arms, respectively. There was no difference in patient satisfaction between the cohorts (Mann-Whitney U = 297.00, p = 0.964). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that wait times influenced patient satisfaction (OR = 0.919, 95% CI 0.864-0.978, p = 0.008). Of the intervention arm patients, 92.0% (N = 23) found the preappointment information useful, whereas only 12.5% (N = 3) of the control cohort patients noted the same (p < 0.001). Provision of anticipated wait time information to patients in an emergency on-call ophthalmology clinic did not influence satisfaction with care as captured by the JHQQ. Copyright © 2018 Canadian Ophthalmological Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Decreased Time from 9-1-1 Call to PCI among Patients Experiencing STEMI Results in a Decreased One Year Mortality.

    PubMed

    Studnek, Jonathan R; Infinger, Allison; Wilson, Hadley; Niess, Gary; Jackson, Patrick; Swanson, Doug

    2018-03-29

    The impact on mortality due to prompt recognition of ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) patients by EMS has not been well described. The objective of this study was to describe the association between the time interval, 9-1-1 call to percutaneous intervention (PCI), and mortality at one year. This retrospective analysis included patients that were transported by EMS as a "code STEMI" and underwent PCI.  Total time from 9-1-1 call to PCI was calculated for each patient and was the independent variable of interest. Each patient's mortality status at one year was the outcome variable, collected by querying medical records and the national death index. Confounding variables were abstracted from hospital records. Logistic regression was conducted to determine the likelihood of survival given differences in time to PCI. A total of 550 patients were included in the analyses of which 68% were male with an average age 59.8 (SD 12.8). Mean reperfusion time was 81.8 min (SD 20.0) and was significantly lower in patients alive at one year (80.8 min, SD 19.7) vs. deceased at one year (93.9 min, SD 19.6), respectively. Odds of survival at one year decreased by 3% (OR 0.97; 95% CI 0.96-0.99) for every one minute increase in time to PCI. This relationship practically represents a 30% increase in mortality for every 10 minute delay from 9-1-1 call to PCI. The model produced suggests that a linear relationship exists between time to PCI and mortality in the prehospital environment with the probability of survival decreasing significantly as time to PCI increases.

  10. Optimizing Call Patterns for Landline and Cell Phone Surveys.

    PubMed

    Reimer, Becky; Roth, Veronica; Montgomery, Robert

    2012-01-01

    Cell phone surveys have become increasingly popular and researchers have noted major challenges in conducting cost-effective surveys while achieving high response rates. Previous work has shown that calling strategies that maximize both respondent contact and completed interviews for landline surveys may not be the most cost-effective for cell phone surveys. For example, Montgomery, et al. (2011) found important differences between landline and cell samples for best times to call and declines in contact rates after repeated dialing. Using paradata from the 2010 and 2011 National Flu Surveys (sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), we investigate differences in calling outcomes between landline and cell surveys. Specifically, we predict respondent contact and interview completion using logistic regression models that examine the impact of calling on particular days of the week, certain times of the day, number of previous calls, outcomes of previous calls and length of time between calls. We discuss how these differences can be used to increase the likelihood of contacting cooperative respondents and completing interviews for both sample types.

  11. Calling behaviour under climate change: geographical and seasonal variation of calling temperatures in ectotherms.

    PubMed

    Llusia, Diego; Márquez, Rafael; Beltrán, Juan F; Benítez, Maribel; do Amaral, José P

    2013-09-01

    Calling behaviour is strongly temperature-dependent and critical for sexual selection and reproduction in a variety of ectothermic taxa, including anuran amphibians, which are the most globally threatened vertebrates. However, few studies have explored how species respond to distinct thermal environments at time of displaying calling behaviour, and thus it is still unknown whether ongoing climate change might compromise the performance of calling activity in ectotherms. Here, we used new audio-trapping techniques (automated sound recording and detection systems) between 2006 and 2009 to examine annual calling temperatures of five temperate anurans and their patterns of geographical and seasonal variation at the thermal extremes of species ranges, providing insights into the thermal breadths of calling activity of species, and the mechanisms that enable ectotherms to adjust to changing thermal environments. All species showed wide thermal breadths during calling behaviour (above 15 °C) and increases in calling temperatures in extremely warm populations and seasons. Thereby, calling temperatures differed both geographically and seasonally, both in terrestrial and aquatic species, and were 8-22 °C below the specific upper critical thermal limits (CTmax ) and strongly associated with the potential temperatures of each thermal environment (operative temperatures during the potential period of breeding). This suggests that calling behaviour in ectotherms may take place at population-specific thermal ranges, diverging when species are subjected to distinct thermal environments, and might imply plasticity of thermal adjustment mechanisms (seasonal and developmental acclimation) that supply species with means of coping with climate change. Furthermore, the thermal thresholds of calling at the onset of the breeding season were dissimilar between conspecific populations, suggesting that other factors besides temperature are needed to trigger the onset of reproduction. Our

  12. Is alarm calling risky? Marmots avoid calling from risky places.

    PubMed

    Collier, Travis C; Blumstein, Daniel T; Girod, Lewis; Taylor, Charles E

    2010-12-01

    Alarm calling is common in many species. A prevalent assumption is that calling puts the vocalizing individual at increased risk of predation. If calling is indeed costly, we need special explanations for its evolution and maintenance. In some, but not all species, callers vocalize away from safety and thus may be exposed to an increased risk of predation. However, for species that emit bouts with one or a few calls, it is often difficult to identify the caller and find the precise location where a call was produced. We analyzed the spatial dynamics of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) alarm calling using an acoustic localization system to determine the location from which calls were emitted. Marmots almost always called from positions close to the safety of their burrows, and, if they produced more than one alarm call, tended to end their calling bouts closer to safety than they started them. These results suggest that for this species, potential increased predation risk from alarm calling is greatly mitigated and indeed calling may have limited predation costs.

  13. Is alarm calling risky? Marmots avoid calling from risky places

    PubMed Central

    Collier, Travis C.; Blumstein, Daniel T.; Girod, Lewis; Taylor, Charles E.

    2010-01-01

    Alarm calling is common in many species. A prevalent assumption is that calling puts the vocalizing individual at increased risk of predation. If calling is indeed costly, we need special explanations for its evolution and maintenance. In some, but not all species, callers vocalize away from safety and thus may be exposed to an increased risk of predation. However, for species that emit bouts with one or a few calls, it is often difficult to identify the caller and find the precise location where a call was produced. We analyzed the spatial dynamics of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) alarm calling using an acoustic localization system to determine the location from which calls were emitted. Marmots almost always called from positions close to the safety of their burrows, and, if they produced more than one alarm call, tended to end their calling bouts closer to safety than they started them. These results suggest that for this species, potential increased predation risk from alarm calling is greatly mitigated and indeed calling may have limited predation costs. PMID:21116460

  14. Physician-staffed emergency helicopter reduces transportation time from alarm call to highly specialized centre.

    PubMed

    Fjaeldstad, Alexander; Kirk, Morten Hasager; Knudsen, Lars; Bjerring, Jesper; Christensen, Erika F

    2013-07-01

    Since 2007, the number of Danish emergency departments has decreased from 44 to 21. Longer distances to specialized treatment have increased the demand for advanced prehospital treatment. A Danish 24/7 Helicopter Emergency Medical System (HEMS) project in western Denmark was initiated on 6 January 2011. The HEMS provides prehospital care delivered by a specialized anaesthesiologist. This study evaluated the effect of HEMS on the time to treatment by a physician (time-to-doctor) and the time from a 112 emergency call to arrival at the highly specialized centre (time-to-centre) for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or severe injury (Injury Severity Score > 15). In this prospective study with a matched historical control group, the time-to-doctor and the time-to-centre for patients with STEMI or severe injury transported by HEMS were compared with geographically matched patients with the same diagnoses and who were transported by ambulance. Time-to-centre was reduced from 102 to 84 min. for STEMI and from 322 to 97 min. for severely injured patients after HEMS implementation. HEMS did not substantially reduce time-to-doctor, mainly because of increased availability of physician-staffed cars. In 56% of cases, HEMS was dispatched secondarily more than 30 min. after the ambulance had been dispatched. Using HEMS reduced time to arrival at a highly specialized centre for patients with STEMI or severe injury. Simultaneous dispatch of an ambulance and HEMS shows potential for further reduction in the time-to-centre and the time-to-doctor. not relevant. The trial is registered at the Danish Data Protection Agency.

  15. Consumer Experiences Calling Toll-Free Corporate Hotlines.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Charles L.; Smart, Denise T.

    1994-01-01

    Finds that dimensions that contribute to caller satisfaction (of toll-free corporate hotlines) included operator characteristics such as knowledge, courtesy, and interest; specific behaviors such as apologizing for a problem, thanking the consumer for calling, and encouraging them to call again; and reducing time placed on "hold." (SR)

  16. On-call work: To sleep or not to sleep? It depends.

    PubMed

    Ferguson, Sally A; Paterson, Jessica L; Hall, Sarah J; Jay, Sarah M; Aisbett, Brad

    On-call working time arrangements are increasingly common, involve work only in the event of an unpredictable incident and exist primarily outside of standard hours. Like other non-standard working time arrangements, on-call work disrupts sleep and can therefore have negative effects on health, safety and performance. Unlike other non-standard working time arrangements, on-call work often allows sleep opportunities between calls. Any sleep obtained during on-call periods will be beneficial for waking performance. However, there is evidence that sleep while on call may be of substantially reduced restorative value because of the expectation of receiving the call and apprehension about missing the call. In turn, waking from sleep to respond to a call may be associated with temporary increases in performance impairment. This is dependent on characteristics of both the preceding sleep, the tasks required upon waking and the availability and utility of any countermeasures to support the transition from sleep to wake. In this paper, we critically evaluate the evidence both for and against sleeping during on-call periods and conclude that some sleep, even if it is of reduced quality and broken by repeated calls, is a good strategy. We also note, however, that organisations utilising on-call working time arrangements need to systematically manage the likelihood that on-call sleep can be associated with temporary performance impairments upon waking. Given that the majority of work in this area has been laboratory-based, there is a significant need for field-based investigations of the magnitude of sleep inertia, in addition to the utility of sleep inertia countermeasures. Field studies should include working with subject matter experts to identify the real-world impacts of changes in performance associated with sleeping, or not sleeping, whilst on call.

  17. Are EMS call volume predictions based on demand pattern analysis accurate?

    PubMed

    Brown, Lawrence H; Lerner, E Brooke; Larmon, Baxter; LeGassick, Todd; Taigman, Michael

    2007-01-01

    Most EMS systems determine the number of crews they will deploy in their communities and when those crews will be scheduled based on anticipated call volumes. Many systems use historical data to calculate their anticipated call volumes, a method of prediction known as demand pattern analysis. To evaluate the accuracy of call volume predictions calculated using demand pattern analysis. Seven EMS systems provided 73 consecutive weeks of hourly call volume data. The first 20 weeks of data were used to calculate three common demand pattern analysis constructs for call volume prediction: average peak demand (AP), smoothed average peak demand (SAP), and 90th percentile rank (90%R). The 21st week served as a buffer. Actual call volumes in the last 52 weeks were then compared to the predicted call volumes by using descriptive statistics. There were 61,152 hourly observations in the test period. All three constructs accurately predicted peaks and troughs in call volume but not exact call volume. Predictions were accurate (+/-1 call) 13% of the time using AP, 10% using SAP, and 19% using 90%R. Call volumes were overestimated 83% of the time using AP, 86% using SAP, and 74% using 90%R. When call volumes were overestimated, predictions exceeded actual call volume by a median (Interquartile range) of 4 (2-6) calls for AP, 4 (2-6) for SAP, and 3 (2-5) for 90%R. Call volumes were underestimated 4% of time using AP, 4% using SAP, and 7% using 90%R predictions. When call volumes were underestimated, call volumes exceeded predictions by a median (Interquartile range; maximum under estimation) of 1 (1-2; 18) call for AP, 1 (1-2; 18) for SAP, and 2 (1-3; 20) for 90%R. Results did not vary between systems. Generally, demand pattern analysis estimated or overestimated call volume, making it a reasonable predictor for ambulance staffing patterns. However, it did underestimate call volume between 4% and 7% of the time. Communities need to determine if these rates of over

  18. TPMG Northern California appointments and advice call center.

    PubMed

    Conolly, Patricia; Levine, Leslie; Amaral, Debra J; Fireman, Bruce H; Driscoll, Tom

    2005-08-01

    Kaiser Permanente (KP) has been developing its use of call centers as a way to provide an expansive set of healthcare services to KP members efficiently and cost effectively. Since 1995, when The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) began to consolidate primary care phone services into three physical call centers, the TPMG Appointments and Advice Call Center (AACC) has become the "front office" for primary care services across approximately 89% of Northern California. The AACC provides primary care phone service for approximately 3 million Kaiser Foundation Health Plan members in Northern California and responds to approximately 1 million calls per month across the three AACC sites. A database records each caller's identity as well as the day, time, and duration of each call; reason for calling; services provided to callers as a result of calls; and clinical outcomes of calls. We here summarize this information for the period 2000 through 2003.

  19. Lunar phases and crisis center telephone calls.

    PubMed

    Wilson, J E; Tobacyk, J J

    1990-02-01

    The lunar hypothesis, that is, the notion that lunar phases can directly affect human behavior, was tested by time-series analysis of 4,575 crisis center telephone calls (all calls recorded for a 6-month interval). As expected, the lunar hypothesis was not supported. The 28-day lunar cycle accounted for less than 1% of the variance of the frequency of crisis center calls. Also, as hypothesized from an attribution theory framework, crisis center workers reported significantly greater belief in lunar effects than a non-crisis-center-worker comparison group.

  20. Just-In-Time Logistics

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-02-07

    consumer confidence will boost and “just- in-time” logistics will be the lighter and leaner combat logistics support the Marine Corps has desperately...stove-piped logistics systems have done little to build customer or “warrior confidence”. Customers who requesting assets from the supply system...have become used to waiting thirty plus days to receive the asset. Consumers outside of the Marine Corps would refuse to accept such delays, but

  1. The association between advertising and calls to a tobacco quitline.

    PubMed

    Mosbaek, Craig H; Austin, Donald F; Stark, Michael J; Lambert, Lori C

    2007-12-01

    This study assessed the cost effectiveness of different types of television and radio advertisements and the time of day in which advertisements were placed in generating calls to the Oregon tobacco quitline. Cost effectiveness was measured by cost per call, calculated as the cost of advertising divided by the number of quitline calls generated by that advertising. Advertising was bought in one-week or two-week blocks and included 27 daytime television buys, 22 evening television buys and 31 radio buys. Cost effectiveness varied widely by medium, time of day and advertisement used. Daytime television was seven times more cost effective than evening television and also more cost effective than radio. The most effective advertisements at generating quitline calls were real life testimonials by people who lost family members to tobacco and advertisements that deal practically with how to quit. Placement of television advertisements during the day versus the evening can increase an advertisement's effectiveness in generating calls to a quitline. Some advertising messages were more effective than others in generating calls to a quitline. Quitline providers can apply findings from previous research when planning media campaigns. In addition, call volume should be monitored in order to assess the cost effectiveness of different strategies to promote use of the quitline.

  2. 47 CFR 25.284 - Emergency Call Center Service.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... service to the extent that they offer real-time, two way switched voice service that is interconnected... provider to reuse frequencies and/or accomplish seamless hand-offs of subscriber calls. Emergency Call Center personnel must determine the emergency caller's phone number and location and then transfer or...

  3. 47 CFR 25.284 - Emergency Call Center Service.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... service to the extent that they offer real-time, two way switched voice service that is interconnected... provider to reuse frequencies and/or accomplish seamless hand-offs of subscriber calls. Emergency Call Center personnel must determine the emergency caller's phone number and location and then transfer or...

  4. 47 CFR 25.284 - Emergency Call Center Service.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... service to the extent that they offer real-time, two way switched voice service that is interconnected... provider to reuse frequencies and/or accomplish seamless hand-offs of subscriber calls. Emergency Call Center personnel must determine the emergency caller's phone number and location and then transfer or...

  5. 47 CFR 25.284 - Emergency Call Center Service.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... service to the extent that they offer real-time, two way switched voice service that is interconnected... provider to reuse frequencies and/or accomplish seamless hand-offs of subscriber calls. Emergency Call Center personnel must determine the emergency caller's phone number and location and then transfer or...

  6. Tracking urban human activity from mobile phone calling patterns

    PubMed Central

    Ghosh, Asim; Bhattacharya, Kunal; Dunbar, Robin I. M.; Kaski, Kimmo

    2017-01-01

    Timings of human activities are marked by circadian clocks which in turn are entrained to different environmental signals. In an urban environment the presence of artificial lighting and various social cues tend to disrupt the natural entrainment with the sunlight. However, it is not completely understood to what extent this is the case. Here we exploit the large-scale data analysis techniques to study the mobile phone calling activity of people in large cities to infer the dynamics of urban daily rhythms. From the calling patterns of about 1,000,000 users spread over different cities but lying inside the same time-zone, we show that the onset and termination of the calling activity synchronizes with the east-west progression of the sun. We also find that the onset and termination of the calling activity of users follows a yearly dynamics, varying across seasons, and that its timings are entrained to solar midnight. Furthermore, we show that the average mid-sleep time of people living in urban areas depends on the age and gender of each cohort as a result of biological and social factors. PMID:29161270

  7. Tracking urban human activity from mobile phone calling patterns.

    PubMed

    Monsivais, Daniel; Ghosh, Asim; Bhattacharya, Kunal; Dunbar, Robin I M; Kaski, Kimmo

    2017-11-01

    Timings of human activities are marked by circadian clocks which in turn are entrained to different environmental signals. In an urban environment the presence of artificial lighting and various social cues tend to disrupt the natural entrainment with the sunlight. However, it is not completely understood to what extent this is the case. Here we exploit the large-scale data analysis techniques to study the mobile phone calling activity of people in large cities to infer the dynamics of urban daily rhythms. From the calling patterns of about 1,000,000 users spread over different cities but lying inside the same time-zone, we show that the onset and termination of the calling activity synchronizes with the east-west progression of the sun. We also find that the onset and termination of the calling activity of users follows a yearly dynamics, varying across seasons, and that its timings are entrained to solar midnight. Furthermore, we show that the average mid-sleep time of people living in urban areas depends on the age and gender of each cohort as a result of biological and social factors.

  8. The association between advertising and calls to a tobacco quitline

    PubMed Central

    Mosbaek, Craig H; Austin, Donald F; Stark, Michael J; Lambert, Lori C

    2007-01-01

    Objective This study assessed the cost effectiveness of different types of television and radio advertisements and the time of day in which advertisements were placed in generating calls to the Oregon tobacco quitline. Design Cost effectiveness was measured by cost per call, calculated as the cost of advertising divided by the number of quitline calls generated by that advertising. Advertising was bought in one‐week or two‐week blocks and included 27 daytime television buys, 22 evening television buys and 31 radio buys. Results Cost effectiveness varied widely by medium, time of day and advertisement used. Daytime television was seven times more cost effective than evening television and also more cost effective than radio. The most effective advertisements at generating quitline calls were real life testimonials by people who lost family members to tobacco and advertisements that deal practically with how to quit. Conclusions Placement of television advertisements during the day versus the evening can increase an advertisement's effectiveness in generating calls to a quitline. Some advertising messages were more effective than others in generating calls to a quitline. Quitline providers can apply findings from previous research when planning media campaigns. In addition, call volume should be monitored in order to assess the cost effectiveness of different strategies to promote use of the quitline. PMID:18048626

  9. When They Talk about CALL: Discourse in a Required CALL Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kessler, Greg

    2010-01-01

    This study investigates preservice teachers' discourse about CALL in a required CALL class which combines theory and practice. Thirty-three students in a Linguistics MA program CALL course were observed over a 10-week quarter. For all of these students, it was their first formal exposure to CALL as a discipline. Communication in the class…

  10. Hourly associations between heat and ambulance calls.

    PubMed

    Guo, Yuming

    2017-01-01

    The response speed of ambulance calls is very crucial to rescue patients suffering immediately life threatening conditions. The serious health outcomes might be caused by exposing to extreme heat only several hours before. However, limited evidence is available on this topic. This study aims to examine the hourly association between heat and ambulance calls, to improve the ambulance services and to better protect health. Hourly data on ambulance calls for non-accidental causes, temperature and air pollutants (PM 10 , NO 2 , and O 3 ) were collected from Brisbane, Australia, during 2001 and 2007. A time-stratified case-crossover design was used to examine the associations between hourly ambulance calls and temperature during warm season (Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, and Mar), while adjusting for potential confounders. Stratified analyses were performed for sex and age groups. Ambulance calls peaked at 10am for all groups, except those aged <15 years at 19pm, while temperature was hottest at 13pm. The hourly heat-ambulance calls relationships were non-linear for all groups, with thresholds between 27 °C and 31 °C. The associations appeared immediately, and lasted for about 24 h. There were no significant modification effect by sex and age. The findings suggest that hot hourly temperatures (>27 °C) increase the demands of ambulance. This information is helpful to increase the efficiency of ambulance service then save lives, for example, preparing more ambulance before appearance of extremely hot temperature in combination with weather forecast. Also, people should better arrange their time for outdoor activities to avoid exposing to extreme hot temperatures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. The composition of intern work while on call.

    PubMed

    Fletcher, Kathlyn E; Visotcky, Alexis M; Slagle, Jason M; Tarima, Sergey; Weinger, Matthew B; Schapira, Marilyn M

    2012-11-01

    The work of house staff is being increasingly scrutinized as duty hours continue to be restricted. To describe the distribution of work performed by internal medicine interns while on call. Prospective time motion study on general internal medicine wards at a VA hospital affiliated with a tertiary care medical center and internal medicine residency program. Internal medicine interns. Trained observers followed interns during a "call" day. The observers continuously recorded the tasks performed by interns, using customized task analysis software. We measured the amount of time spent on each task. We calculated means and standard deviations for the amount of time spent on six categories of tasks: clinical computer work (e.g., writing orders and notes), non-patient communication, direct patient care (work done at the bedside), downtime, transit and teaching/learning. We also calculated means and standard deviations for time spent on specific tasks within each category. We compared the amount of time spent on the top three categories using analysis of variance. The largest proportion of intern time was spent in clinical computer work (40 %). Thirty percent of time was spent on non-patient communication. Only 12 % of intern time was spent at the bedside. Downtime activities, transit and teaching/learning accounted for 11 %, 5 % and 2 % of intern time, respectively. Our results suggest that during on call periods, relatively small amounts of time are spent on direct patient care and teaching/learning activities. As intern duty hours continue to decrease, attention should be directed towards preserving time with patients and increasing time in education.

  12. Sharing programming resources between Bio* projects through remote procedure call and native call stack strategies.

    PubMed

    Prins, Pjotr; Goto, Naohisa; Yates, Andrew; Gautier, Laurent; Willis, Scooter; Fields, Christopher; Katayama, Toshiaki

    2012-01-01

    Open-source software (OSS) encourages computer programmers to reuse software components written by others. In evolutionary bioinformatics, OSS comes in a broad range of programming languages, including C/C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, and R. To avoid writing the same functionality multiple times for different languages, it is possible to share components by bridging computer languages and Bio* projects, such as BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, BioJava, and R/Bioconductor. In this chapter, we compare the two principal approaches for sharing software between different programming languages: either by remote procedure call (RPC) or by sharing a local call stack. RPC provides a language-independent protocol over a network interface; examples are RSOAP and Rserve. The local call stack provides a between-language mapping not over the network interface, but directly in computer memory; examples are R bindings, RPy, and languages sharing the Java Virtual Machine stack. This functionality provides strategies for sharing of software between Bio* projects, which can be exploited more often. Here, we present cross-language examples for sequence translation, and measure throughput of the different options. We compare calling into R through native R, RSOAP, Rserve, and RPy interfaces, with the performance of native BioPerl, Biopython, BioJava, and BioRuby implementations, and with call stack bindings to BioJava and the European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite. In general, call stack approaches outperform native Bio* implementations and these, in turn, outperform RPC-based approaches. To test and compare strategies, we provide a downloadable BioNode image with all examples, tools, and libraries included. The BioNode image can be run on VirtualBox-supported operating systems, including Windows, OSX, and Linux.

  13. Calling behavior of blue and fin whales off California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oleson, Erin Marie

    Passive acoustic monitoring is an effective means for evaluating cetacean presence in remote regions and over long time periods, and may become an important component of cetacean abundance surveys. To use passive acoustic recordings for abundance estimation, an understanding of the behavioral ecology of cetacean calling is crucial. In this dissertation, I develop a better understanding of how blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin (B. physalus ) whales use sound with the goal of evaluating passive acoustic techniques for studying their populations. Both blue and fin whales produce several different call types, though the behavioral and environmental context of these calls have not been widely investigated. To better understand how calling is used by these whales off California I have employed both new technologies and traditional techniques, including acoustic recording tags, continuous long-term autonomous acoustic recordings, and simultaneous shipboard acoustic and visual surveys. The outcome of these investigations has led to several conclusions. The production of blue whale calls varies with sex, behavior, season, location, and time of day. Each blue whale call type has a distinct behavioral context, including a male-only bias in the production of song, a call type thought to function in reproduction, and the production of some calls by both sexes. Long-term acoustic records, when interpreted using all call types, provide a more accurate measure of the local seasonal presence of whales, and how they use the region annually, seasonally and daily. The relative occurrence of different call types may indicate prime foraging habitat and the presence of different segments of the population. The proportion of animals heard calling changes seasonally and geographically relative to the number seen, indicating the calibration of acoustic and visual surveys is complex and requires further study on the motivations behind call production and the behavior of calling whales

  14. Increasing Role of Nurse Practitioners in House Call Programs.

    PubMed

    Yao, Nengliang Aaron; Rose, Karen; LeBaron, Virginia; Camacho, Fabian; Boling, Peter

    2017-04-01

    Residence-based primary care provides homebound frail patients with a care plan that is individually tailored to manage multiple chronic conditions and functional limitations using a variety of resources. We (1) examine the visit volume and Medicare payments for residence-based health care provided by nurse practitioners (NPs) in the Medicare fee-for-service environment; (2) compare NP's residential visits to those of internists and family physicians; and (3) compare the geographical service area of full-time house call NPs versus NPs who make nursing facility visits a major portion of their work. An observational study using secondary data. Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data. Medicare beneficiaries. Medicare payments for home and domiciliary care visits, the number of residence-based medical visits, provider volume, geographical distribution of full-time house call providers. About 3,300 NPs performed over 1.1 million home and domiciliary care visits in 2013, accounting for 22% of all residential visits to Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. A total of 310 NPs individually made more than 1,000 residential visits (defined as a full-time house call provider); among full-time house call providers, including physicians, NPs are now the most common provider type. There are substantial variations in the geographic distribution of full-time house call NPs, internists, and family physicians. Full time NP's service area is about 30% larger than family physicians and internists. Nursing home residents are far more likely to receive NP visits than are homebound persons receiving home visits. NPs are now the largest type of provider delivering residence-based care and NPs provide care over the largest geographical service area. However, the vast majority of frail Americans are more likely to receive NP's care in a nursing facility versus at home. © 2016, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2016, The American Geriatrics Society.

  15. Vulnerability of nontarget goose species to hunting with electronic snow goose calls

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Caswell, J.H.; Afton, A.D.; Caswell, F.D.

    2003-01-01

    Since 1999, use of electronic calls has been legal for hunting lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens; hereafter snow geese) during special seasons or times of day when other waterfowl species could not be hunted in prairie Canada. Prior to expanding the use of electronic calls for hunting snow geese during fall hunting seasons, effects of these calls on nontarget goose species must be examined. Accordingly, we examined the vulnerability of Canada (Branta canadensis) and white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons) (dark geese) to electronic snow goose calls and 3 goose decoy sets (dark, mixed, and white) during the 1999 fall hunting seasons in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Canada geese were 2.3 times more likely to fly within gun range (P<0.001) and the mean number killed/hour/hunter was 2.5 times greater (P=0.043) during control periods when hunters were silent or used traditional calling methods (i.e., hand-held and voice calls) than when hunters used electronic snow goose calls. Flock response and kill rate for Canada geese declined as proportions of white decoys increased in decoy sets (P<0.001). White-fronted geese were 1.8 times more likely to fly within gun range (P=0.050) and the mean number killed/hour/hunter was 5.0 times greater (P=0.022) during control periods than during periods when electronic snow goose calls were used. Flock response for white-fronted geese also declined as the proportion of white decoys increased in decoy sets (P<0.001). The legalization of electronic snow goose calls during fall hunting seasons in prairie Canada should not result in increased harvest of nontarget dark geese.

  16. Telephone calls by individuals with cancer.

    PubMed

    Flannery, Marie; McAndrews, Leanne; Stein, Karen F

    2013-09-01

    To describe symptom type and reporting patterns found in spontaneously initiated telephone calls placed to an ambulatory cancer center practice. Retrospective, descriptive. Adult hematology oncology cancer center. 563 individuals with a wide range of oncology diagnoses who initiated 1,229 telephone calls to report symptoms. Raw data were extracted from telephone forms using a data collection sheet with 23 variables obtained for each phone call, using pre-established coding criteria. A literature-based, investigator-developed instrument was used for the coding criteria and selection of which variables to extract. Symptom reporting, telephone calls, pain, and symptoms. A total of 2,378 symptoms were reported by telephone during the four months. At least 10% of the sample reported pain (38%), fatigue (16%), nausea (16%), swelling (12%), diarrhea (12%), dyspnea (10%), and anorexia (10%). The modal response was to call only one time and to report only one symptom (55%). Pain emerged as the symptom that most often prompted an individual to pick up the telephone and call. Although variation was seen in symptom reporting, an interesting pattern emerged with an individual reporting on a solitary symptom in a single telephone call. The emergence of pain as the primary symptom reported by telephone prompted educational efforts for both in-person clinic visit management of pain and prioritizing nursing education and protocol management of pain reported by telephone. Report of symptoms by telephone can provide nurses unique insight into patient-centered needs. Although pain has been an important focus of education and research for decades, it remains a priority for individuals with cancer. A wide range in symptom reporting by telephone was evident.

  17. [Work-family conflict in call center].

    PubMed

    Ghislieri, Chiara; Ricotta, Simona; Colombo, Lara

    2012-01-01

    The working environment of call centers, which have seen a significant growth in recent years, has been the subject of several studies aiming at understanding its specific dynamics, with particular attention to the possible causes of stress and discomfort. Despite the fact that the work-family conflict is considered a source of stress responsible for undermining workers' well-being, and as such has been explored in many work environments, there is still very little research specific to call centers. This study had the following aims: to explore work-family conflict perceived by call-center operators taking account of any differences related to respondents'professional and personal characteristics; to understand which demands and resources can have an impact on work-family conflict in this context. The study was carried out on a sample of 898 call center operators in a telecommunications company through the administration of a self-reporting questionnaire. Data analysis included: t-test, one-way analysis of variance, linear correlations and multiple regressions. A higher perception of work-family conflict among workers having a full-time contract was observed compared to those having part-time contracts. Multiple regression analysis identified as sources of influence on work-family conflict: emotional dissonance, uneasiness due customer dissatisfaction, workload, avoidance coping and working hours. Work-family conflict in the context studied is not particularly critical: it is in part influenced by professional and personal characteristics of respondents and primarily caused by work demands. Managerial implications are discussed, especially referred to training activities.

  18. 29 CFR 778.221 - “Call-back” pay.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false âCall-backâ pay. 778.221 Section 778.221 Labor Regulations...Regular Rateâ Payments Not for Hours Worked § 778.221 “Call-back” pay. (a) General. In the interest of... payments consist of a specified number of hours' pay at the applicable straight time or overtime rates...

  19. 47 CFR 22.921 - 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... programming in the mobile unit that determines the handling of a non-911 call and permit the call to be... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.921 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode. Mobile telephones manufactured after February 13, 2000 that are capable of...

  20. Research on CALL.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pederson, Kathleen Marshall

    The status of research on computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is explored beginning with a historical perspective of research on the language laboratory, followed by analyses of applied research on CALL. A theoretical base is provided to illustrate the need for more basic research on CALL that considers computer capabilities, learner…

  1. Common reasons why acne patients call the office.

    PubMed

    Barnes, Lauren E; Al-Dabagh, Amir; Huang, William W; Feldman, Steven R

    2014-05-16

    Communication between physicians and patients is essential to providing proper medical care. At times, patients leave visits with insufficiently addressed questions. These questions prompt patients to call the clinic for additional information, which disrupts the flow of care, delays proper treatment, and reduces patient satisfaction. We aim to examine acne patients' post-visit questions to develop interventions to improve patient education and reduce call backs. A retrospective electronic medical record chart review was performed involving Wake Forest Baptist Health Dermatology clinic visits between October 1, 2012 and October 31, 2012. We identified acne patients using clinic visit notes and recorded their telephone calls to the clinic between October 1, 2012 and March 29, 2013. Of 315 acne patients, 31 (9.8%) called the clinic. Isotretinoin was the subject of 66.7% of the calls, half of which involved questions about potential side effects. Other calls addressed topical medications, acne symptoms, and pharmacy requests. The study involved one center and email and fax correspondence was not captured. We found gaps in communication sufficient to require patients to call in for support, specifically regarding oral isotretinoin treatment. Interventions to address these questions have the potential to improve quality of care.

  2. Leveraging Call Center Logs for Customer Behavior Prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Parvathy, Anju G.; Vasudevan, Bintu G.; Kumar, Abhishek; Balakrishnan, Rajesh

    Most major businesses use business process outsourcing for performing a process or a part of a process including financial services like mortgage processing, loan origination, finance and accounting and transaction processing. Call centers are used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests through outbound and inbound calls to customers on behalf of a business. In this paper we deal specifically with the call centers notes from banks. Banks as financial institutions provide loans to non-financial businesses and individuals. Their call centers act as the nuclei of their client service operations and log the transactions between the customer and the bank. This crucial conversation or information can be exploited for predicting a customer’s behavior which will in turn help these businesses to decide on the next action to be taken. Thus the banks save considerable time and effort in tracking delinquent customers to ensure minimum subsequent defaulters. Majority of the time the call center notes are very concise and brief and often the notes are misspelled and use many domain specific acronyms. In this paper we introduce a novel domain specific spelling correction algorithm which corrects the misspelled words in the call center logs to meaningful ones. We also discuss a procedure that builds the behavioral history sequences for the customers by categorizing the logs into one of the predefined behavioral states. We then describe a pattern based predictive algorithm that uses temporal behavioral patterns mined from these sequences to predict the customer’s next behavioral state.

  3. The Influence of Judgment Calls on Meta-Analytic Findings.

    PubMed

    Tarrahi, Farid; Eisend, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Previous research has suggested that judgment calls (i.e., methodological choices made in the process of conducting a meta-analysis) have a strong influence on meta-analytic findings and question their robustness. However, prior research applies case study comparison or reanalysis of a few meta-analyses with a focus on a few selected judgment calls. These studies neglect the fact that different judgment calls are related to each other and simultaneously influence the outcomes of a meta-analysis, and that meta-analytic findings can vary due to non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses (e.g., variations of effects over time). The current study analyzes the influence of 13 judgment calls in 176 meta-analyses in marketing research by applying a multivariate, multilevel meta-meta-analysis. The analysis considers simultaneous influences from different judgment calls on meta-analytic effect sizes and controls for alternative explanations based on non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses. The findings suggest that judgment calls have only a minor influence on meta-analytic findings, whereas non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses are more likely to explain differences in meta-analytic findings. The findings support the robustness of meta-analytic results and conclusions.

  4. Student Evaluation of CALL Tools during the Design Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nesbitt, Dallas

    2013-01-01

    This article discusses the comparative effectiveness of student input at different times during the design of CALL tools for learning kanji, the Japanese characters of Chinese origin. The CALL software "package" consisted of tools to facilitate the writing, reading and practising of kanji characters in context. A pre-design questionnaire…

  5. The Parent Loan Trap

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Marian; Supiano, Beckie; Fuller, Andrea

    2012-01-01

    As the cost of college has spiraled ever upward and median family income has fallen, the loan program, called Parent PLUS, has become indispensable for increasing numbers of parents desperate to make their children's college plans work. Last year the government disbursed $10.6-billion in Parent PLUS loans to just under a million families. Even…

  6. 47 CFR 22.921 - 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode. 22.921 Section 22.921 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.921 911 call processing...

  7. 47 CFR 22.921 - 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode. 22.921 Section 22.921 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.921 911 call processing...

  8. Referential calls coordinate multi-species mobbing in a forest bird community.

    PubMed

    Suzuki, Toshitaka N

    2016-01-01

    Japanese great tits ( Parus minor ) use a sophisticated system of anti-predator communication when defending their offspring: they produce different mobbing calls for different nest predators (snake versus non-snake predators) and thereby convey this information to conspecifics (i.e. functionally referential call system). The present playback experiments revealed that these calls also serve to coordinate multi-species mobbing at nests; snake-specific mobbing calls attracted heterospecific individuals close to the sound source and elicited snake-searching behaviour, whereas non-snake mobbing calls attracted these birds at a distance. This study demonstrates for the first time that referential mobbing calls trigger different formations of multi-species mobbing parties.

  9. Need for recovery among male technical distal on-call workers.

    PubMed

    van de Ven, Hardy A; Bültmann, Ute; de Looze, Michiel P; Koolhaas, Wendy; Kantermann, Thomas; Brouwer, Sandra; van der Klink, Jac J L

    2015-01-01

    The objectives of this study were to (1) examine whether need for recovery differs between workers (i) not on-call, (ii) on-call but not called and (iii) on-call and called, and (2) investigate the associations between age, health, work and social characteristics with need for recovery for the three scenarios (i-iii). Cross-sectional data of N = 169 Dutch distal on-call workers were analysed with multivariate logistic regression. Need for recovery differed significantly between the three scenarios (i-iii), with lowest need for recovery for scenario (i) 'not on-call' and highest need for recovery for scenario (iii) 'on-call and called'. Poor mental health and high work-family interference were associated with higher need for recovery in all three scenarios (i-iii), whereas high work demands was only associated with being on-call (ii and iii). The results suggest that the mere possibility of being called affects the need for recovery, especially in workers reporting poor mental health, high-work demands and work-family interference. Practitioner summary: On-call work is a scarcely studied but demanding working time arrangement. We examined need for recovery and its associations with age, health, work and social characteristics among distal on-call workers. The results suggest that the mere possibility of being called can affect worker well-being and need for recovery.

  10. Impacts of extreme heat on emergency medical service calls in King County, Washington, 2007-2012: relative risk and time series analyses of basic and advanced life support.

    PubMed

    Calkins, Miriam M; Isaksen, Tania Busch; Stubbs, Benjamin A; Yost, Michael G; Fenske, Richard A

    2016-01-28

    Exposure to excessive heat kills more people than any other weather-related phenomenon, aggravates chronic diseases, and causes direct heat illness. Strong associations between extreme heat and health have been identified through increased mortality and hospitalizations and there is growing evidence demonstrating increased emergency department visits and demand for emergency medical services (EMS). The purpose of this study is to build on an existing regional assessment of mortality and hospitalizations by analyzing EMS demand associated with extreme heat, using calls as a health metric, in King County, Washington (WA), for a 6-year period. Relative-risk and time series analyses were used to characterize the association between heat and EMS calls for May 1 through September 30 of each year for 2007-2012. Two EMS categories, basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS), were analyzed for the effects of heat on health outcomes and transportation volume, stratified by age. Extreme heat was model-derived as the 95th (29.7 °C) and 99th (36.7 °C) percentile of average county-wide maximum daily humidex for BLS and ALS calls respectively. Relative-risk analyses revealed an 8 % (95 % CI: 6-9 %) increase in BLS calls, and a 14 % (95 % CI: 9-20 %) increase in ALS calls, on a heat day (29.7 and 36.7 °C humidex, respectively) versus a non-heat day for all ages, all causes. Time series analyses found a 6.6 % increase in BLS calls, and a 3.8 % increase in ALS calls, per unit-humidex increase above the optimum threshold, 40.7 and 39.7 °C humidex respectively. Increases in "no" and "any" transportation were found in both relative risk and time series analyses. Analysis by age category identified significant results for all age groups, with the 15-44 and 45-64 year old age groups showing some of the highest and most frequent increases across health conditions. Multiple specific health conditions were associated with increased risk of an EMS call including abdominal

  11. 47 CFR 22.921 - 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false 911 call processing procedures; 911-only... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.921 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode. Mobile telephones manufactured after February 13, 2000 that are capable of...

  12. 47 CFR 22.921 - 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false 911 call processing procedures; 911-only... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.921 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode. Mobile telephones manufactured after February 13, 2000 that are capable of...

  13. Scaling of echolocation call parameters in bats.

    PubMed

    Jones, G

    1999-12-01

    I investigated the scaling of echolocation call parameters (frequency, duration and repetition rate) in bats in a functional context. Low-duty-cycle bats operate with search phase cycles of usually less than 20 %. They process echoes in the time domain and are therefore intolerant of pulse-echo overlap. High-duty-cycle (>30 %) species use Doppler shift compensation, and they separate pulse and echo in the frequency domain. Call frequency scales negatively with body mass in at least five bat families. Pulse duration scales positively with mass in low-duty-cycle quasi-constant-frequency (QCF) species because the large aerial-hawking species that emit these signals fly fast in open habitats. They therefore detect distant targets and experience pulse-echo overlap later than do smaller bats. Pulse duration also scales positively with mass in the Hipposideridae, which show at least partial Doppler shift compensation. Pulse repetition rate corresponds closely with wingbeat frequency in QCF bat species that fly relatively slowly. Larger, fast-flying species often skip pulses when detecting distant targets. There is probably a trade-off between call intensity and repetition rate because 'whispering' bats (and hipposiderids) produce several calls per predicted wingbeat and because batches of calls are emitted per wingbeat during terminal buzzes. Severe atmospheric attenuation at high frequencies limits the range of high-frequency calls. Low-duty-cycle bats that call at high frequencies must therefore use short pulses to avoid pulse-echo overlap. Rhinolophids escape this constraint by Doppler shift compensation and, importantly, can exploit advantages associated with the emission of both high-frequency and long-duration calls. Low frequencies are unsuited for the detection of small prey, and low repetition rates may limit prey detection rates. Echolocation parameters may therefore constrain maximum body size in aerial-hawking bats.

  14. Eight Leadership Emergency Codes Worth Calling.

    PubMed

    Freed, David H

    Hospitals have a contemporary opportunity to change themselves before attempting to transform the larger US health care system. However, actually implementing change is much more easily described than accomplished in practice. This article calls out 8 dysfunctional behaviors that compromise professional standards at the ground level of the hospital. The construct of calling a code when one witnesses such behaviors is intended to make it safe for leaders to "See something, say something" and confront them in real time. The coordinated continuum of services that health care reform seeks to attain will not emerge until individual hospital organizations prepare themselves to operate better in their own spaces and the ones that immediately surround them.

  15. A History of Commitment in CALL.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jamieson, Joan

    The evolution of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is examined, focusing on what has changed and what has not changed much during that time. A variety of changes are noted: the development of multimedia capabilities, color, animation, and technical improvement of audio and video quality; availability of databases, better fit between…

  16. Educator and participant perceptions and cost analysis of stage-tailored educational telephone calls.

    PubMed

    Esters, Onikia N; Boeckner, Linda S; Hubert, Melanie; Horacek, Tanya; Kritsch, Karen R; Oakland, Mary J; Lohse, Barbara; Greene, Geoffrey; Nitzke, Susan

    2008-01-01

    To identify strengths and weaknesses of nutrition education via telephone calls as part of a larger stage-of-change tailored intervention with mailed materials. Evaluative feedback was elicited from educators who placed the calls and respondents who received the calls. An internet and telephone survey of 10 states in the midwestern United States. 21 educators in 10 states reached via the internet and 50 young adults reached via telephone. VARIABLES MEASURED AND ANALYSIS: Rankings of intervention components, ratings of key aspects of educational calls, and cost data (as provided by a lead researcher in each state) were summarized via descriptive statistics. RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS: Educational calls used 6 to 17 minutes of preparation time, required 8 to 15 minutes of contact time, and had a mean estimated cost of $5.82 per call. Low-income young adults favored print materials over educational calls. However, the calls were reported to have positive effects on motivating participants to set goals. Educators who use educational telephone calls to reach young adults, a highly mobile target audience, may require a robust and flexible contact plan.

  17. Effects of night-time on-call work on heart rate variability before bed and sleep quality in visiting nurses.

    PubMed

    Kikuchi, Yukiko; Ishii, Noriko; Kodama, Hideya

    2018-05-28

    In Japan, many visiting nurses work carrying cell phones to respond to calls from users even at night (on-call work). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether on-call work affected heart rate variability (HRV) before bed and decreased sleep quality in visiting nurses even if their sleep was not interrupted due to actual calls. Thirty-one visiting nurses (mean age, 49.8 years; standard deviation, 6.3 years) were asked to record their 2.5-min resting HRV before bed, and to undergo one-channel sleep electroencephalography (EEG) and subjective sleep evaluations upon waking (Oguri, Shirakawa, and Azumi Sleep Inventory) at home for 4-5 consecutive days, including both on-call and non-on-call days. Paired data sets of outcome measures, including HRV parameters, sleep macrostructure variables, and subjective sleep quality scores between on-call and non-on-call days were compared; the most recent measurements for each category were used for each subject. There were no differences in HRV measures and objective sleep EEG variables. A significant increase in "sleepiness on rising" and a decrease in "feeling refreshed" were observed on on-call days (P = 0.019 and 0.021, respectively), and younger subjects (≤ 51 years old) demonstrated a significant reduction in "sleepiness on rising" (significant interaction effect, P = 0.029). Adverse effects of on-call work on sleep quality in most visiting nurses are thought to be subjective, and relatively young nurses tend to notice a decrease in sleep quality. On-call work itself does not appear to be a substantial stressor that could affect HRV and sleep structure.

  18. Mobile telephones: a comparison of radiated power between 3G VoIP calls and 3G VoCS calls.

    PubMed

    Jovanovic, Dragan; Bragard, Guillaume; Picard, Dominique; Chauvin, Sébastien

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to assess the mean RF power radiated by mobile telephones during voice calls in 3G VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) using an application well known to mobile Internet users, and to compare it with the mean power radiated during voice calls in 3G VoCS (Voice over Circuit Switch) on a traditional network. Knowing that the specific absorption rate (SAR) is proportional to the mean radiated power, the user's exposure could be clearly identified at the same time. Three 3G (High Speed Packet Access) smartphones from three different manufacturers, all dual-band for GSM (900 MHz, 1800 MHz) and dual-band for UMTS (900 MHz, 1950 MHz), were used between 28 July and 04 August 2011 in Paris (France) to make 220 two-minute calls on a mobile telephone network with national coverage. The places where the calls were made were selected in such a way as to describe the whole range of usage situations of the mobile telephone. The measuring equipment, called "SYRPOM", recorded the radiation power levels and the frequency bands used during the calls with a sampling rate of 20,000 per second. In the framework of this study, the mean normalised power radiated by a telephone in 3G VoIP calls was evaluated at 0.75% maximum power of the smartphone, compared with 0.22% in 3G VoCS calls. The very low average power levels associated with use of 3G devices with VoIP or VoCS support the view that RF exposure resulting from their use is far from exceeding the basic restrictions of current exposure limits in terms of SAR.

  19. What do first-time mothers worry about? A study of usage patterns and content of calls made to a postpartum support telephone hotline.

    PubMed

    Osman, Hibah; Chaaya, Monique; El Zein, Lama; Naassan, Georges; Wick, Livia

    2010-10-15

    Telephone hotlines designed to address common concerns in the early postpartum could be a useful resource for parents. Our aim was to test the feasibility of using a telephone as an intervention in a randomized controlled trial. We also aimed to test to use of algorithms to address parental concerns through a telephone hotline. Healthy first-time mothers were recruited from postpartum wards of hospitals throughout Lebanon. Participants were given the number of a 24-hour telephone hotline that they could access for the first four months after delivery. Calls were answered by a midwife using algorithms developed by the study team whenever possible. Callers with medical complaints were referred to their physicians. Call patterns and content were recorded and analyzed. Eighty-four of the 353 women enrolled (24%) used the hotline. Sixty percent of the women who used the service called more than once, and all callers reported they were satisfied with the service. The midwife received an average of three calls per day and most calls occurred during the first four weeks postpartum. Our algorithms were used to answer questions in 62.8% of calls and 18.6% of calls required referral to a physician. Of the questions related to mothers, 66% were about breastfeeding. Sixty percent of questions related to the infant were about routine care and 23% were about excessive crying. Utilization of a telephone hotline service for postpartum support is highest in the first four weeks postpartum. Most questions are related to breastfeeding, routine newborn care, and management of a fussy infant. It is feasible to test a telephone hotline as an intervention in a randomized controlled trial. Algorithms can be developed to provide standardized answers to the most common questions.

  20. PACS and teleradiology for on-call support of abdominal imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horii, Steven C.; Garra, Brian S.; Mun, Seong K.; Zeman, Robert K.; Levine, Betty A.; Fielding, Robert

    1991-07-01

    One aspect of the Georgetown image management and communications system (IMACS or PACS) is a built-in capability to support teleradiology. Unlike many dedicated teleradiology systems, the support of this capability as a part of PACS means that any acquired images are remotely accessible, not just those specifically input for transmission. Over the past one and one-half years, two radiologists (SCH, BSG) in the abdominal imaging division of the department of radiology have been accumulating experience with teleradiology for on-call support of emergency abdominal imaging, chiefly in ultrasound. As of the time of this writing, use of the system during on-call (one of these attending radiologists primarily responsible) or back-up call (the attending responsible for the Fellow on primary call) has resulted in a marked reduction in the number of times one of them has to drive to the hospital at night or over the weekend. Approximately 80% of the time, use of the teleradiology system obviates having to go in to review a case. The remainder of the time, the radiologist has to perform a procedure (e.g., abscess drainage) or a scan (e.g., complex Doppler study) himself. This paper reviews the system used for teleradiology, how it is electronically and operationally integrated with the PACS, the clinical benefits and disadvantages of this use, and radiologist and referring physician acceptance.

  1. Perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction: testing a moderated, multiple mediator model.

    PubMed

    Duffy, Ryan D; Bott, Elizabeth M; Allan, Blake A; Torrey, Carrie L; Dik, Bryan J

    2012-01-01

    The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated the relations of perceiving a calling with career commitment and work meaning, such that these relations were more robust for those with a stronger sense they were living their calling. Additionally, a moderated, multiple mediator model was run to examine the mediating role of career commitment and work meaning in the relation of perceiving a calling and job satisfaction, while accounting for the moderating role of living a calling. Results indicated that work meaning and career commitment fully mediated the relation between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. However, the indirect effects of work meaning and career commitment were only significant for individuals with high levels of living a calling, indicating the importance of living a calling in the link between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

  2. Resourcefulness, Desperation, Shame, Gratitude and Powerlessness: Common Themes Emerging from A Study of Food Bank Use in Northeast Scotland.

    PubMed

    Douglas, Flora; Sapko, Jennifer; Kiezebrink, Kirsty; Kyle, Janet

    2015-01-01

    There is growing policy maker and public concern about current trends in food bank use in Scotland. Yet little is known about the experiences of those seeking help from food banks in this country. This research aimed to address this issue by studying the use and operation of a food bank situated in a rich northeast city during January and June 2014. The study aimed to establish who was seeking help from the food bank, their reasons for doing so, and what those who did thought of, and dealt with the food they received from it. Consequently, an audit of the food bank's client database, four months of participant observation based in the food bank, and seven face-to-face interviews with current and former food bank clients were conducted. The audit revealed that clients came from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, with men more likely to access it compared to women. Debt and social security benefit delays were cited as the main reasons for doing so. Qualitative data confirmed that sudden and unanticipated loss of income was a key driver of use. Resourcefulness in making donated food last as long as possible, keeping fuel costs low, and concern to minimise food waste were commonly described by participants. Desperation, gratitude, shame and powerlessness were also prevalent themes. Furthermore, clients were reluctant to ask for food they normally ate, as they were acutely aware that the food bank had little control over what it was able offer. Insights from this study suggest that recent UK policy proposals to address food poverty may have limited impact, without concomitant effort to address material disadvantage. Research is urgently required to determine the precise nature and extent of household level food insecurity in Scotland, and to consider monitoring for adverse physical and mental health outcomes for those affected by it.

  3. Resourcefulness, Desperation, Shame, Gratitude and Powerlessness: Common Themes Emerging from A Study of Food Bank Use in Northeast Scotland

    PubMed Central

    Douglas, Flora; Sapko, Jennifer; Kiezebrink, Kirsty; Kyle, Janet

    2015-01-01

    There is growing policy maker and public concern about current trends in food bank use in Scotland. Yet little is known about the experiences of those seeking help from food banks in this country. This research aimed to address this issue by studying the use and operation of a food bank situated in a rich northeast city during January and June 2014. The study aimed to establish who was seeking help from the food bank, their reasons for doing so, and what those who did thought of, and dealt with the food they received from it. Consequently, an audit of the food bank's client database, four months of participant observation based in the food bank, and seven face-to-face interviews with current and former food bank clients were conducted. The audit revealed that clients came from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, with men more likely to access it compared to women. Debt and social security benefit delays were cited as the main reasons for doing so. Qualitative data confirmed that sudden and unanticipated loss of income was a key driver of use. Resourcefulness in making donated food last as long as possible, keeping fuel costs low, and concern to minimise food waste were commonly described by participants. Desperation, gratitude, shame and powerlessness were also prevalent themes. Furthermore, clients were reluctant to ask for food they normally ate, as they were acutely aware that the food bank had little control over what it was able offer. Insights from this study suggest that recent UK policy proposals to address food poverty may have limited impact, without concomitant effort to address material disadvantage. Research is urgently required to determine the precise nature and extent of household level food insecurity in Scotland, and to consider monitoring for adverse physical and mental health outcomes for those affected by it. PMID:29546112

  4. Obesity in African-American Women--The Time Bomb is Ticking: An Urgent Call for Change.

    PubMed

    Fowler, Barbara A

    2015-12-01

    The "time bomb is ticking" because there is an obesity crisis associated with higher rates of chronic diseases such as stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer in African-American women compared to White women. African-American women incur higher medical costs from hospitalizations, decreased productivity in the work setting, lost wages, the needfor medical benefits and pharmacy-associated costs, and more time away from family than White women. Numerous factors, such as the socio-cultural context of eating, acceptance of a larger weight status, the emotionally liberating effects offood, and preference for highfat and high caloric, sugary-content, and sodium-laden food influences the obesity crisis in African-American women. The interplay of poverty and lower socioeconomic status, residential segregation, health literacy, availability of fast foods and scarce produce in local convenience food marts, physical inactivity, and conflicting messages from social media public service announcements (PSAs) and ads in national magazines affect the obesity crisis in African-American women. There is an urgent call for sustainable, community-driven health policy initiatives that improve access to healthy foods in lower-income, minority communities. Furthermore, African-American women are challenged to modify their health behaviors by preparing healthy meals for themselves and theirfamilies, and by engaging in physical activity.

  5. Similar call signs

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-08-18

    This presentation was given at the Partnership for Safety Meeting in Washington, DC. It examines the similarities that are found when calls signs are visually similar or similar sounding. Visually similar call signs increase the chances of controller...

  6. Application of a smartphone nurse call system for nursing care.

    PubMed

    Chuang, Shu-Ting; Liu, Yi-Fang; Fu, Zi-Xuan; Liu, Kuang-Chung; Chien, Sou-Hsin; Lin, Chin-Lon; Lin, Pi-Yu

    2015-02-01

    Traditionally, a patient presses the nurse call button and alerts the central nursing station. This system cannot reach the primary care nurse directly. The aim of this study was to apply a new smartphone system through the cloud system and information technology that linked a smartphone and a mobile nursing station for nursing care service. A smartphone and mobile nursing station were integrated into a smartphone nurse call system through the cloud and information technology for better nursing care. Waiting time for a patient to contact the most responsible nurse was reduced from 3.8 min to 6 s. The average time for pharmacists to locate the nurse for medication problem was reduced from 4.2 min to 1.8 min by the new system. After implementation of the smartphone nurse call system, patients received a more rapid response. This improved patients' satisfaction and reduced the number of complaints about longer waiting time due to the shortage of nurses.

  7. Standpoints: A Call for New Research on New and Multi-Literacies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moje, Elizabeth Birr

    2009-01-01

    This essay is a call for a continued attention to all that is new and multiple in texts, media, and literacy practices. At the same time, it is a call for rigor and systematicity. It is a call for new ways of theorizing and analyzing the new and for positioning it in relation to the "old." Indeed, the author argues for an analysis of new and old…

  8. High call volume at poison control centers: identification and implications for communication

    PubMed Central

    CARAVATI, E. M.; LATIMER, S.; REBLIN, M.; BENNETT, H. K. W.; CUMMINS, M. R.; CROUCH, B. I.; ELLINGTON, L.

    2016-01-01

    Context High volume surges in health care are uncommon and unpredictable events. Their impact on health system performance and capacity is difficult to study. Objectives To identify time periods that exhibited very busy conditions at a poison control center and to determine whether cases and communication during high volume call periods are different from cases during low volume periods. Methods Call data from a US poison control center over twelve consecutive months was collected via a call logger and an electronic case database (Toxicall®). Variables evaluated for high call volume conditions were: (1) call duration; (2) number of cases; and (3) number of calls per staff member per 30 minute period. Statistical analyses identified peak periods as busier than 99% of all other 30 minute time periods and low volume periods as slower than 70% of all other 30 minute periods. Case and communication characteristics of high volume and low volume calls were compared using logistic regression. Results A total of 65,364 incoming calls occurred over 12 months. One hundred high call volume and 4885 low call volume 30 minute periods were identified. High volume periods were more common between 1500 and 2300 hours and during the winter months. Coded verbal communication data were evaluated for 42 high volume and 296 low volume calls. The mean (standard deviation) call length of these calls during high volume and low volume periods was 3 minutes 27 seconds (1 minute 46 seconds) and 3 minutes 57 seconds (2 minutes 11 seconds), respectively. Regression analyses revealed a trend for fewer overall verbal statements and fewer staff questions during peak periods, but no other significant differences for staff-caller communication behaviors were found. Conclusion Peak activity for poison center call volume can be identified by statistical modeling. Calls during high volume periods were similar to low volume calls. Communication was more concise yet staff was able to maintain a good

  9. High call volume at poison control centers: identification and implications for communication.

    PubMed

    Caravati, E M; Latimer, S; Reblin, M; Bennett, H K W; Cummins, M R; Crouch, B I; Ellington, L

    2012-09-01

    High volume surges in health care are uncommon and unpredictable events. Their impact on health system performance and capacity is difficult to study. To identify time periods that exhibited very busy conditions at a poison control center and to determine whether cases and communication during high volume call periods are different from cases during low volume periods. Call data from a US poison control center over twelve consecutive months was collected via a call logger and an electronic case database (Toxicall®).Variables evaluated for high call volume conditions were: (1) call duration; (2) number of cases; and (3) number of calls per staff member per 30 minute period. Statistical analyses identified peak periods as busier than 99% of all other 30 minute time periods and low volume periods as slower than 70% of all other 30 minute periods. Case and communication characteristics of high volume and low volume calls were compared using logistic regression. A total of 65,364 incoming calls occurred over 12 months. One hundred high call volume and 4885 low call volume 30 minute periods were identified. High volume periods were more common between 1500 and 2300 hours and during the winter months. Coded verbal communication data were evaluated for 42 high volume and 296 low volume calls. The mean (standard deviation) call length of these calls during high volume and low volume periods was 3 minutes 27 seconds (1 minute 46 seconds) and 3 minutes 57 seconds (2 minutes 11 seconds), respectively. Regression analyses revealed a trend for fewer overall verbal statements and fewer staff questions during peak periods, but no other significant differences for staff-caller communication behaviors were found. Peak activity for poison center call volume can be identified by statistical modeling. Calls during high volume periods were similar to low volume calls. Communication was more concise yet staff was able to maintain a good rapport with callers during busy call periods

  10. Compare Gene Calls

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ecale Zhou, Carol L.

    2016-07-05

    Compare Gene Calls (CGC) is a Python code used for combining and comparing gene calls from any number of gene callers. A gene caller is a computer program that predicts the extends of open reading frames within genomes of biological organisms.

  11. A Call to Arms: Wartime Blood Donor Recruitment.

    PubMed

    Wang, Jean Cy

    2018-01-01

    To ensure an adequate blood supply, blood collection agencies must design campaigns to recruit and maintain an active donor pool. Such campaigns generally appeal to altruism and humanitarianism, which donors most commonly cite as their reasons for donating. However, large donor registries and the widespread recruitment campaigns that sustain them did not become a necessity until the technology for the collection, storage, and transfusion of blood had advanced to a point that enabled the establishment of transfusion services that could provide large amounts of stored blood to meet high demands. The realization of these milestones was one of the most important medical achievements of the Great War: the desperate need for blood created by war drove earlier adoption of scientific discoveries that might otherwise have been neglected. The medical advances of the Great War in turn enabled the establishment of wide-ranging transfusion services to aid combatants during the Spanish Civil War and Second World War. These services required the support of large civilian donor bases, and donor campaigns tapped into the patriotic feelings of civilians at home. This review will highlight some of the messages and media that were used to recruit blood donors in Spain, Britain, Canada, and the United States during wartime. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Time-resolved fluorescence imaging of slab gels for lifetime base-calling in DNA sequencing applications.

    PubMed

    Lassiter, S J; Stryjewski, W; Legendre, B L; Erdmann, R; Wahl, M; Wurm, J; Peterson, R; Middendorf, L; Soper, S A

    2000-11-01

    A compact time-resolved near-IR fluorescence imager was constructed to obtain lifetime and intensity images of DNA sequencing slab gels. The scanner consisted of a microscope body with f/1.2 relay optics onto which was mounted a pulsed diode laser (repetition rate 80 MHz, lasing wavelength 680 nm, average power 5 mW), filtering optics, and a large photoactive area (diameter 500 microns) single-photon avalanche diode that was actively quenched to provide a large dynamic operating range. The time-resolved data were processed using electronics configured in a conventional time-correlated single-photon-counting format with all of the counting hardware situated on a PC card resident on the computer bus. The microscope head produced a timing response of 450 ps (fwhm) in a scanning mode, allowing the measurement of subnano-second lifetimes. The time-resolved microscope head was placed in an automated DNA sequencer and translated across a 21-cm-wide gel plate in approximately 6 s (scan rate 3.5 cm/s) with an accumulation time per pixel of 10 ms. The sampling frequency was 0.17 Hz (duty cycle 0.0017), sufficient to prevent signal aliasing during the electrophoresis separation. Software (written in Visual Basic) allowed acquisition of both the intensity image and lifetime analysis of DNA bands migrating through the gel in real time. Using a dual-labeling (IRD700 and Cy5.5 labeling dyes)/two-lane sequencing strategy, we successfully read 670 bases of a control M13mp18 ssDNA template using lifetime identification. Comparison of the reconstructed sequence with the known sequence of the phage indicated the number of miscalls was only 2, producing an error rate of approximately 0.3% (identification accuracy 99.7%). The lifetimes were calculated using maximum likelihood estimators and allowed on-line determinations with high precision, even when short integration times were used to construct the decay profiles. Comparison of the lifetime base calling to a single

  13. Calls to Florida Poison Control Centers about mercury: Trends over 2003-2013.

    PubMed

    Gribble, Matthew O; Deshpande, Aniruddha; Stephan, Wendy B; Hunter, Candis M; Weisman, Richard S

    2017-11-01

    The aim of this analysis was to contrast trends in exposure-report calls and informational queries (a measure of public interest) about mercury to the Florida Poison Control Centers over 2003-2013. Poison-control specialists coded calls to Florida Poison Control Centers by substance of concern, caller demographics, and whether the call pertained to an exposure event or was an informational query. For the present study, call records regarding mercury were de-identified and provided along with daily total number of calls for statistical analysis. We fit Poisson models using generalized estimating equations to summarize changes across years in counts of daily calls to Florida Poison Control Centers, adjusting for month. In a second stage of analysis, we further adjusted for the total number of calls each day. We also conducted analyses stratified by age of the exposed. There was an overall decrease over 2003-2013 in the number of total calls about mercury [Ratio per year: 0.89, 95% CI: (0.88, 0.90)], and calls about mercury exposure [Ratio per year: 0.84, 95% CI: (0.83, 0.85)], but the number of informational queries about mercury increased over this time [Ratio per year: 1.15 (95% CI: 1.12, 1.18)]. After adjusting for the number of calls of that type each day (e.g., call volume), the associations remained similar: a ratio of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.87, 0.89) per year for total calls, 0.85 (0.83, 0.86) for exposure-related calls, and 1.17 (1.14, 1.21) for informational queries. Although, the number of exposure-related calls decreased, informational queries increased over 2003-2013. This might suggest an increased public interest in mercury health risks despite a decrease in reported exposures over this time period. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Calling, Vocational Development, and Well Being: A Longitudinal Study of Medical Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duffy, Ryan D.; Manuel, R. Stephen; Borges, Nicole J.; Bott, Elizabeth M.

    2011-01-01

    The present study investigated the relation of calling to the vocational development and well-being of a sample of medical students. Students were surveyed at two time points: prior to beginning the first year of medical school and prior to beginning the third year of medical school. At each time point, calling moderately correlated with positive…

  15. Towards Agent-Oriented Approach to a Call Management System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ashamalla, Amir Nabil; Beydoun, Ghassan; Low, Graham

    There is more chance of a completed sale if the end customers and relationship managers are suitably matched. This in turn can reduce the number of calls made by a call centre reducing operational costs such as working time and phone bills. This chapter is part of ongoing research aimed at helping a CMC to make better use of its personnel and equipment while maximizing the value of the service it offers to its client companies and end customers. This is accomplished by ensuring the optimal use of resources with appropriate real-time scheduling and load balancing and matching the end customers to appropriate relationship managers. In a globalized market, this may mean taking into account the cultural environment of the customer, as well as the appropriate profile and/or skill of the relationship manager to communicate effectively with the end customer. The chapter evaluates the suitability of a MAS to a call management system and illustrates the requirement analysis phase using i* models.

  16. Perceiving a Calling, Living a Calling, and Job Satisfaction: Testing a Moderated, Multiple Mediator Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duffy, Ryan D.; Bott, Elizabeth M.; Allan, Blake A.; Torrey, Carrie L.; Dik, Bryan J.

    2012-01-01

    The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated…

  17. Analysis of pilot response time to time-critical air traffic control calls

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1991-08-01

    One of the most important time-critical air traffic control messages for a pilot is one : that required an immediate maneuver for traffic avoidance. This study examines the time : required for an air traffic controller to successfully transmit such a...

  18. Environmental Influences on Diel Calling Behavior in Baleen Whales

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-09-30

    to allow known calls (e.g., right whale upcall and gunshot, fin whale 20- Hz pulses, humpback whale downsweeps, sei whale low-frequency downsweeps...fin, humpback , sei, and North Atlantic right whales . Real-time detections were evaluated after recovery of the gliders by (1) comparing the acoustic...from both an aircraft and ship. The overall false detection rate for individual calls was 14%, and for right, humpback , and fin whales , false

  19. Ranging bowhead whale calls in a shallow-water dispersive waveguide.

    PubMed

    Abadi, Shima H; Thode, Aaron M; Blackwell, Susanna B; Dowling, David R

    2014-07-01

    This paper presents the performance of three methods for estimating the range of broadband (50-500 Hz) bowhead whale calls in a nominally 55-m-deep waveguide: Conventional mode filtering (CMF), synthetic time reversal (STR), and triangulation. The first two methods use a linear vertical array to exploit dispersive propagation effects in the underwater sound channel. The triangulation technique used here, while requiring no knowledge about the propagation environment, relies on a distributed array of directional autonomous seafloor acoustics recorders (DASARs) arranged in triangular grid with 7 km spacing. This study uses simulations and acoustic data collected in 2010 from coastal waters near Kaktovik, Alaska. At that time, a 12-element vertical array, spanning the bottom 63% of the water column, was deployed alongside a distributed array of seven DASARs. The estimated call location-to-array ranges determined from CMF and STR are compared with DASAR triangulation results for 19 whale calls. The vertical-array ranging results are generally within ±10% of the DASAR results with the STR results providing slightly better agreement. The results also indicate that the vertical array can range calls over larger ranges and with greater precision than the particular distributed array discussed here, whenever the call locations are beyond the distributed array boundaries.

  20. Determining Resident Sleep During and After Call With Commercial Sleep Monitoring Devices.

    PubMed

    Morhardt, Duncan R; Luckenbaugh, Amy; Goldstein, Cathy; Faerber, Gary J

    2017-08-01

    To demonstrate that commercial activity monitoring devices (CAMDs) are practical for monitoring resident sleep while on call. Studies that have directly monitored resident sleep are limited, likely owing to both cost and difficulty in study interpretation. The advent of wearable CAMDs that estimate sleep presents the opportunity to more readily evaluate resident sleep in physically active settings and "home call," a coverage arrangement familiar to urology programs. Twelve urology residents were outfitted with Fitbit Flex devices during "home call" for a total of 57 (out of 64, or 89%) call or post-call night pairs. Residents were surveyed with the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS), a single-question alertness survey. Time in bed (TIB) was "time to bed" to "rise for day." Fitbit accelerometers register activity as follows: (1) not moving; (2) minimal movement or restless; or (3) above threshold for accelerometer to register steps. Total sleep time (TST) was the number of minutes in level 1 activity during TIB. Sleep efficiency (SE) was defined as TST divided by TIB. While on call, 10 responding (of 12 available, 83%) residents on average reported TIB as 347 minutes, TST as 165 minutes, and had an SE of 47%. Interestingly, SSS responses did not correlate with sleep parameters. Post-call sleep demonstrated increases in TIB, SE, and TST (+23%, +15%, and +44%, respectively) while sleepiness was reduced by 22%. We demonstrate that urologic residents can consistently wear CAMDs while on home call. SSS did not correlate with Fitbit-estimated sleep duration. Further study with such devices may enhance sleep deprivation recognition to improve resident sleep. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Behavioral Context of Call Production by Eastern North Pacific Blue Whales

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-01-25

    pairs occurring in a repeated song sequence; B calls from a different blue whale are also evident; spectrogram parameters: fast Fourier transform (FFT...Acoustic data were viewed in spectrogram form ( fast Fourier transform [FFT] length 1 s, 80% overlap, Hanning window) to de- termine the presence of calls...dura- tion to song A and B units (Table 2), but the intermit - tent timing clearly distinguishes them from song. Whales producing singular calls were

  2. 1What do first-time mothers worry about? A study of usage patterns and content of calls made to a postpartum support telephone hotline

    PubMed Central

    2010-01-01

    Background Telephone hotlines designed to address common concerns in the early postpartum could be a useful resource for parents. Our aim was to test the feasibility of using a telephone as an intervention in a randomized controlled trial. We also aimed to test to use of algorithms to address parental concerns through a telephone hotline. Methods Healthy first-time mothers were recruited from postpartum wards of hospitals throughout Lebanon. Participants were given the number of a 24-hour telephone hotline that they could access for the first four months after delivery. Calls were answered by a midwife using algorithms developed by the study team whenever possible. Callers with medical complaints were referred to their physicians. Call patterns and content were recorded and analyzed. Results Eighty-four of the 353 women enrolled (24%) used the hotline. Sixty percent of the women who used the service called more than once, and all callers reported they were satisfied with the service. The midwife received an average of three calls per day and most calls occurred during the first four weeks postpartum. Our algorithms were used to answer questions in 62.8% of calls and 18.6% of calls required referral to a physician. Of the questions related to mothers, 66% were about breastfeeding. Sixty percent of questions related to the infant were about routine care and 23% were about excessive crying. Conclusions Utilization of a telephone hotline service for postpartum support is highest in the first four weeks postpartum. Most questions are related to breastfeeding, routine newborn care, and management of a fussy infant. It is feasible to test a telephone hotline as an intervention in a randomized controlled trial. Algorithms can be developed to provide standardized answers to the most common questions. PMID:20946690

  3. Dispatch-assisted CPR: where are the hold-ups during calls to emergency dispatchers? A preliminary analysis of caller-dispatcher interactions during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest using a novel call transcription technique.

    PubMed

    Clegg, Gareth R; Lyon, Richard M; James, Scott; Branigan, Holly P; Bard, Ellen G; Egan, Gerry J

    2014-01-01

    Survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is dependent on the chain of survival. Early recognition of cardiac arrest and provision of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are key determinants of OHCA survival. Emergency medical dispatchers play a key role in cardiac arrest recognition and giving telephone CPR advice. The interaction between caller and dispatcher can influence the time to bystander CPR and quality of resuscitation. We sought to pilot the use of emergency call transcription to audit and evaluate the holdups in performing dispatch-assisted CPR. A retrospective case selection of 50 consecutive suspected OHCA was performed. Audio recordings of calls were downloaded from the emergency medical dispatch centre computer database. All calls were transcribed using proprietary software and voice dialogue was compared with the corresponding stage on the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS). Time to progress through each stage and number of caller-dispatcher interactions were calculated. Of the 50 downloaded calls, 47 were confirmed cases of OHCA. Call transcription was successfully completed for all OHCA calls. Bystander CPR was performed in 39 (83%) of these. In the remaining cases, the caller decided the patient was beyond help (n = 7) or the caller said that they were physically unable to perform CPR (n = 1). MPDS stages varied substantially in time to completion. Stage 9 (determining if the patient is breathing through airway instructions) took the longest time to complete (median = 59 s, IQR 22-82 s). Stage 11 (giving CPR instructions) also took a relatively longer time to complete compared to the other stages (median = 46 s, IQR 37-75 s). Stage 5 (establishing the patient's age) took the shortest time to complete (median = 5.5s, IQR 3-9s). Transcription of OHCA emergency calls and caller-dispatcher interaction compared to MPDS stage is feasible. Confirming whether a patient is breathing and completing CPR instructions required the

  4. Antismoking television advertising and socioeconomic variations in calls to Quitline.

    PubMed

    Siahpush, Mohammad; Wakefield, Melanie; Spittal, Matt; Durkin, Sarah

    2007-04-01

    To assess the socioeconomic variations in call rates to the Quitline (Victoria, Australia) and in the impact of anti-tobacco television advertising on call rates. The outcome measure was the number of calls to the Quitline in Victoria for each week for each socioeconomic group for the period January 2001 to March 2004. Socioeconomic status (SES) was derived from the caller's postcode using the Index of Socioeconomic Disadvantage provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The exposure measure was weekly Target Audience Rating Points (TARPs, a standard measure of television advertising weight) for anti-tobacco advertising broadcast in Victoria over the same period. Negative binomial regression was used to examine the interaction of SES and TARPs in their effect on the number of Quitline calls. SES and call rates were positively associated. Adjusted call rate was 57% (95% CI 45% to 69%) higher in the highest than the lowest SES quintile. SES differences in call rates were stable over time. In the study period, the effect of the presence or increasing levels of antismoking TARPs on call rates did not vary across categories of SES. In the study period, different SES groups had a similar level of responsiveness to antismoking television advertisements, at least as measured by the rate of calls to the Quitline. However, the present media campaigns are not likely to diminish SES differences in call rates, and more needs to be done to encourage disadvantaged groups to call the Quitline.

  5. What Are We Really Afraid Of? The Practitioner View of the Terrorist Threat in the United States

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-03-01

    theories that provide explanations for the creation of almost all motivated terrorists- anomie and strain. Consider the foundations of Emile ...Durkheim’s classic theory. Durkheim called the uniformity found in a mechanical (modern) society the collective conscience. To the extent that a society...ostracism and later criminal sanctions drive these groups to desperate measures. Durkheim argued, "society cannot be formed without our being

  6. Development and Validation of the Calling and Vocation Questionnaire (CVQ) and Brief Calling Scale (BCS)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dik, Bryan J.; Eldridge, Brandy M.; Steger, Michael F.; Duffy, Ryan D.

    2012-01-01

    Research on work as a calling is limited by measurement concerns. In response, the authors introduce the multidimensional Calling and Vocation Questionnaire (CVQ) and the Brief Calling scale (BCS), instruments assessing presence of, and search for, a calling. Study 1 describes CVQ development using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis…

  7. Antismoking television advertising and socioeconomic variations in calls to Quitline

    PubMed Central

    Siahpush, Mohammad; Wakefield, Melanie; Spittal, Matt; Durkin, Sarah

    2007-01-01

    Objective To assess the socioeconomic variations in call rates to the Quitline (Victoria, Australia) and in the impact of anti‐tobacco television advertising on call rates. Design The outcome measure was the number of calls to the Quitline in Victoria for each week for each socioeconomic group for the period January 2001 to March 2004. Socioeconomic status (SES) was derived from the caller's postcode using the Index of Socioeconomic Disadvantage provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The exposure measure was weekly Target Audience Rating Points (TARPs, a standard measure of television advertising weight) for anti‐tobacco advertising broadcast in Victoria over the same period. Negative binomial regression was used to examine the interaction of SES and TARPs in their effect on the number of Quitline calls. Results SES and call rates were positively associated. Adjusted call rate was 57% (95% CI 45% to 69%) higher in the highest than the lowest SES quintile. SES differences in call rates were stable over time. In the study period, the effect of the presence or increasing levels of antismoking TARPs on call rates did not vary across categories of SES. Conclusions In the study period, different SES groups had a similar level of responsiveness to antismoking television advertisements, at least as measured by the rate of calls to the Quitline. However, the present media campaigns are not likely to diminish SES differences in call rates, and more needs to be done to encourage disadvantaged groups to call the Quitline. PMID:17372288

  8. Desperately seeking aliens

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aldiss, Brian W.

    2001-02-01

    Belief that intelligent life is commonplace in the Universe was taken for granted by scholars and scientists until well into the nineteenth century. Space travel since the late 1950s reignited the debate, which even now attracts discussion by serious, professional scientists. And although statisticians might lobby that life must surely exist somewhere in the Universe, the evolution of what we perceive as 'intelligent life' seems utterly improbable - elsewhere as well as on Earth. Can we free ourselves of our animist fantasies and accept that all alien forms of intelligent life are, and always have been, imaginary?

  9. CallWall: tracking resident calls to improve clinical utilization of pathology laboratories.

    PubMed

    Buck, Thomas P; Connor, Ian M; Horowitz, Gary L; Arnaout, Ramy A

    2011-07-01

    Clinical pathology (CP) laboratories are used for millions of tests each year. These lead to thousands of calls to CP residents. However, although laboratory utilization is a frequent topic of study, clinical utilization--the content of the interactions between clinicians and CP residents--is not. Because it reflects questions about laboratory utilization, clinical utilization could suggest ways to improve both training and care by reducing diagnostic error. To build and implement a secure, scalable Web-based system to allow CP residents at any hospital to track the calls they receive, the interaction's context, and the action taken as a result, with evidence where applicable, and to use this system to report on clinical utilization at a major academic hospital. Entries were analyzed from a nearly year-long period to describe the clinical utilization of CP at a large academic teaching hospital. Sixteen residents logged 847 calls during 10 months, roughly evenly distributed among transfusion medicine, chemistry, microbiology, and hematopathology. Calls covered 94 different analytes in chemistry and 71 different organisms or tests in microbiology. Analysis revealed areas where CP can improve clinical care through educating the clinical services, for example, about ordering Rh immune globulin, testosterone testing, and diagnosis of tick-borne diseases. Documenting calls also highlighted patterns among residents. Clinical utilization is a potentially rich knowledge base for improving patient care and resident training. Our resident call-tracking system is a useful way for measuring clinical utilization and mining it for actionable information.

  10. Calling Behavior of Male Acheta domesticus Crickets Infected with Paragordius varius (Nematomorpha: Gordiida).

    PubMed

    Barquin, A; McGehee, B; Sedam, R T; Gordy, W L; Hanelt, B; de Valdez, M R Wise

    2015-08-01

    It is well established that parasites in the phylum Nematomorpha induce suicide behavior of their insect hosts to bring adult worms to the appropriate habitat for emergence. It is not well established, however, whether other nematomorph-induced behavioral alterations occur before worm emergence. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effect of the nematomorph Paragordius varius on the calling behavior of the male house cricket Acheta domesticus . We hypothesized that cricket calling, an energetically expensive and risky behavior, would be a potential target for nematomorph-induced behavioral alterations. We assessed if and how infection with P. varius affects A. domesticus calling behavior and whether the presence of wings at time of exposure to P. varius influenced changes in calling behavior. We recorded the calling behavior of male A. domesticus over the course of their infection after exposure to P. various before or after wing development. Additionally, we assessed whether winged crickets were "callers" or "noncallers" before exposure. We found that regardless of cricket developmental stage (or age) at time of infection, infected crickets spent significantly less time calling than their uninfected counterparts but only during the later stages of infection. Developmental stage at infection did affect whether crickets became callers: when infected before wing development significantly more uninfected crickets initiated calling; there was no difference between infected and uninfected crickets when infected as winged adults. Infection was a factor in whether callers stopped calling, with more infected crickets ceasing to call than uninfected crickets. This is the first study to show that infection with nematomorphs affects calling behavior of their insect host. Cricket calling behavior is immensely complex and although it was difficult to elucidate the adaptive nature of these parasite-induced behavioral changes, this study lays the groundwork for future

  11. 'Resuscitation' of extremely preterm and/or low-birth-weight infants - time to 'call it'?

    PubMed

    O'Donnell, Colm P F

    2008-01-01

    Since ancient times, various methods have been used to revive apparently stillborn infants; many were of dubious efficacy and had the potential to cause harm. Based largely on studies of acutely asphyxiated term animal models, clinical assessment and positive pressure ventilation have become the cornerstones of neonatal resuscitation over the last 40 years. Over the last 25 years, care of extremely preterm infants in the delivery room has evolved from a policy of indifference to one of increasingly aggressive support. The survival of these infants has improved considerably in recent years; this has not, however, necessarily been due to more aggressive resuscitation. Urban myths have evolved that all extremely preterm infants died before they were intubated, and that all such infants need to immediately intubated or they will quickly die. This has never been true. Clinical assessment of infants at birth is subjective. Also, many techniques used to support preterm infants at birth have not been well studied and there is evidence that they may be harmful. It may thus be argued that many of our well-intentioned resuscitation interventions are of dubious efficacy and have the potential to cause harm. 'Resuscitation' is an emotive term which means 'restoration of life'. Death, thankfully, is a rare presentation in the delivery room. Therefore, concerning neonatal 'resuscitation', it is time to 'call it' something else. This will allow us to dispassionately distinguish preterm infants who are dead, or nearly dead, from those who are merely at high risk of parenchymal lung disease. We may then be able to refine our interventions and determine what methods of support benefit these infants most. (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  12. Using the time and motion method to study clinical work processes and workflow: methodological inconsistencies and a call for standardized research.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Kai; Guo, Michael H; Hanauer, David A

    2011-01-01

    To identify ways for improving the consistency of design, conduct, and results reporting of time and motion (T&M) research in health informatics. We analyzed the commonalities and divergences of empirical studies published 1990-2010 that have applied the T&M approach to examine the impact of health IT implementation on clinical work processes and workflow. The analysis led to the development of a suggested 'checklist' intended to help future T&M research produce compatible and comparable results. We call this checklist STAMP (Suggested Time And Motion Procedures). STAMP outlines a minimum set of 29 data/ information elements organized into eight key areas, plus three supplemental elements contained in an 'Ancillary Data' area, that researchers may consider collecting and reporting in their future T&M endeavors. T&M is generally regarded as the most reliable approach for assessing the impact of health IT implementation on clinical work. However, there exist considerable inconsistencies in how previous T&M studies were conducted and/or how their results were reported, many of which do not seem necessary yet can have a significant impact on quality of research and generalisability of results. Therefore, we deem it is time to call for standards that can help improve the consistency of T&M research in health informatics. This study represents an initial attempt. We developed a suggested checklist to improve the methodological and results reporting consistency of T&M research, so that meaningful insights can be derived from across-study synthesis and health informatics, as a field, will be able to accumulate knowledge from these studies.

  13. Echolocation calls and communication calls are controlled differentially in the brainstem of the bat Phyllostomus discolor

    PubMed Central

    Fenzl, Thomas; Schuller, Gerd

    2005-01-01

    Background Echolocating bats emit vocalizations that can be classified either as echolocation calls or communication calls. Neural control of both types of calls must govern the same pool of motoneurons responsible for vocalizations. Electrical microstimulation in the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) elicits both communication and echolocation calls, whereas stimulation of the paralemniscal area (PLA) induces only echolocation calls. In both the PAG and the PLA, the current thresholds for triggering natural vocalizations do not habituate to stimuli and remain low even for long stimulation periods, indicating that these structures have relative direct access to the final common pathway for vocalization. This study intended to clarify whether echolocation calls and communication calls are controlled differentially below the level of the PAG via separate vocal pathways before converging on the motoneurons used in vocalization. Results Both structures were probed simultaneously in a single experimental approach. Two stimulation electrodes were chronically implanted within the PAG in order to elicit either echolocation or communication calls. Blockade of the ipsilateral PLA site with iontophoretically application of the glutamate antagonist kynurenic acid did not impede either echolocation or communication calls elicited from the PAG. However, blockade of the contralateral PLA suppresses PAG-elicited echolocation calls but not communication calls. In both cases the blockade was reversible. Conclusion The neural control of echolocation and communication calls seems to be differentially organized below the level of the PAG. The PLA is an essential functional unit for echolocation call control before the descending pathways share again the final common pathway for vocalization. PMID:16053533

  14. Clapping in time parallels literacy and calls upon overlapping neural mechanisms in early readers.

    PubMed

    Bonacina, Silvia; Krizman, Jennifer; White-Schwoch, Travis; Kraus, Nina

    2018-05-12

    The auditory system is extremely precise in processing the temporal information of perceptual events and using these cues to coordinate action. Synchronizing movement to a steady beat relies on this bidirectional connection between sensory and motor systems, and activates many of the auditory and cognitive processes used when reading. Here, we use Interactive Metronome, a clinical intervention technology requiring an individual to clap her hands in time with a steady beat, to investigate whether the links between literacy and synchronization skills, previously established in older children, are also evident in children who are learning to read. We tested 64 typically developing children (ages 5-7 years) on their synchronization abilities, neurophysiological responses to speech in noise, and literacy skills. We found that children who have lower variability in synchronizing have higher phase consistency, higher stability, and more accurate envelope encoding-all neurophysiological response components linked to language skills. Moreover, performing the same task with visual feedback reveals links with literacy skills, notably processing speed, phonological processing, word reading, spelling, morphology, and syntax. These results suggest that rhythm skills and literacy call on overlapping neural mechanisms, supporting the idea that rhythm training may boost literacy in part by engaging sensory-motor systems. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

  15. The Relationship of On-Call Work with Fatigue, Work-Home Interference, and Perceived Performance Difficulties.

    PubMed

    Ziebertz, Carla M; van Hooff, Madelon L M; Beckers, Debby G J; Hooftman, Wendela E; Kompier, Michiel A J; Geurts, Sabine A E

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the relationship between on-call duty exposure (active and total on-call hours a month, number of calls per duty) and employees' experiences of being on-call (stress due to unpredictability, ability to relax during inactive on-call periods, restrictions during on-call duties, on-call work demands, and satisfaction with compensation for on-call duties) on the one hand and fatigue, strain-based and time-based work-home interference (WHI), and perceived on-call performance difficulties (PPD) on the other hand. Cross-sectional survey data were collected among a large heterogeneous sample of Dutch employees (N = 5437). The final sample consisted of 157 on-call workers (23-69 years, 71% males). Data were analyzed by means of hierarchical regression analyses (controlling for age and job characteristics). Differences in on-call work exposure were not systematically related to fatigue, WHI, and PPD (all p's >0.50). The experience of being on-call explained a medium proportion of the variation in fatigue and strain-based WHI and a medium to large proportion of the variation in time-based WHI and PPD over and above the control variables. Our results suggest that it is employees' experience of being on-call, especially the experience of stress due to the unpredictability, rather than the amount of exposure, that is related to fatigue, WHI, and perceived on-call performance difficulties.

  16. Black-Scholes finite difference modeling in forecasting of call warrant prices in Bursa Malaysia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mansor, Nur Jariah; Jaffar, Maheran Mohd

    2014-07-01

    Call warrant is a type of structured warrant in Bursa Malaysia. It gives the holder the right to buy the underlying share at a specified price within a limited period of time. The issuer of the structured warrants usually uses European style to exercise the call warrant on the maturity date. Warrant is very similar to an option. Usually, practitioners of the financial field use Black-Scholes model to value the option. The Black-Scholes equation is hard to solve analytically. Therefore the finite difference approach is applied to approximate the value of the call warrant prices. The central in time and central in space scheme is produced to approximate the value of the call warrant prices. It allows the warrant holder to forecast the value of the call warrant prices before the expiry date.

  17. [A relational database to store Poison Centers calls].

    PubMed

    Barelli, Alessandro; Biondi, Immacolata; Tafani, Chiara; Pellegrini, Aristide; Soave, Maurizio; Gaspari, Rita; Annetta, Maria Giuseppina

    2006-01-01

    Italian Poison Centers answer to approximately 100,000 calls per year. Potentially, this activity is a huge source of data for toxicovigilance and for syndromic surveillance. During the last decade, surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks have drawn the attention of public health institutions due to the threat of terrorism and high-profile disease outbreaks. Poisoning surveillance needs the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of harmonised data about poisonings from all Poison Centers for use in public health action to reduce morbidity and mortality and to improve health. The entity-relationship model for a Poison Center relational database is extremely complex and not studied in detail. For this reason, not harmonised data collection happens among Italian Poison Centers. Entities are recognizable concepts, either concrete or abstract, such as patients and poisons, or events which have relevance to the database, such as calls. Connectivity and cardinality of relationships are complex as well. A one-to-many relationship exist between calls and patients: for one instance of entity calls, there are zero, one, or many instances of entity patients. At the same time, a one-to-many relationship exist between patients and poisons: for one instance of entity patients, there are zero, one, or many instances of entity poisons. This paper shows a relational model for a poison center database which allows the harmonised data collection of poison centers calls.

  18. Using Poison Center Exposure Calls to Predict Methadone Poisoning Deaths

    PubMed Central

    Dasgupta, Nabarun; Davis, Jonathan; Jonsson Funk, Michele; Dart, Richard

    2012-01-01

    Purpose There are more drug overdose deaths in the Untied States than motor vehicle fatalities. Yet the US vital statistics reporting system is of limited value because the data are delayed by four years. Poison centers report data within an hour of the event, but previous studies suggested a small proportion of poisoning deaths are reported to poison centers (PC). In an era of improved electronic surveillance capabilities, exposure calls to PCs may be an alternate indicator of trends in overdose mortality. Methods We used PC call counts for methadone that were reported to the Researched Abuse, Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS®) System in 2006 and 2007. US death certificate data were used to identify deaths due to methadone. Linear regression was used to quantify the relationship of deaths and poison center calls. Results Compared to decedents, poison center callers tended to be younger, more often female, at home and less likely to require medical attention. A strong association was found with PC calls and methadone mortality (b = 0.88, se = 0.42, t = 9.5, df = 1, p<0.0001, R2 = 0.77). These findings were robust to large changes in a sensitivity analysis assessing the impact of underreporting of methadone overdose deaths. Conclusions Our results suggest that calls to poison centers for methadone are correlated with poisoning mortality as identified on death certificates. Calls received by poison centers may be used for timely surveillance of mortality due to methadone. In the midst of the prescription opioid overdose epidemic, electronic surveillance tools that report in real-time are powerful public health tools. PMID:22829925

  19. "How can I help?" Nurse call openings on a cancer helpline and implications for call progressivity.

    PubMed

    Leydon, Geraldine Marie; Ekberg, Katie; Drew, Paul

    2013-07-01

    Helplines are a key service used for information and support by people affected by cancer. Little is known about the process of delivering and seeking cancer related telephone help. Using conversation analysis 52 calls between callers and specialist nurses on a major UK cancer helpline are analysed; focusing on the openings of helpline calls by specialist nurses. The helpline involves a triage system from a frontline call-taker to a specialist nurse. The triage system introduces challenges to the interactions for nurses and callers. This paper demonstrates how calls commence, and outlines implications for how they progress. Four key elements to the nurse's initial opening of the call were identified, which together contribute to managing an effective transition from the frontline call-taker to the current call with the specialist cancer nurse. The smooth exchange of information and provision of support in a trusted call environment is a critical goal of the cancer helpline; an effective call opening in a triage environment may significantly optimise the possibility of this goal being realised. A simple strategy is recommended to avoid the difficulties identified, a script for how the triaged call openings may be optimally formulated. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Call-handlers' working conditions and their subjective experience of work: a transversal study.

    PubMed

    Croidieu, Sophie; Charbotel, Barbara; Vohito, Michel; Renaud, Liliane; Jaussaud, Joelle; Bourboul, Christian; Ardiet, Dominique; Imbard, Isabelle; Guerin, Anne Céline; Bergeret, Alain

    2008-10-01

    The present study sought to describe call-center working conditions and call-handlers' subjective experience of their work. A transversal study was performed in companies followed by the 47 occupational physicians taking part. A dedicated questionnaire included one part on working conditions (work-station organization, task types, work schedules, and controls) and another on the perception of working conditions. Psychosocial risk factors were explored by three dimensions of the Karasek questionnaire, decision latitude, psychological demands and social support. A descriptive stage characterized the population and quantified the frequency of the various types of work organization, working conditions and perception. Certain working conditions data were crossed with perception data. The total sample comprised 2,130 call-handlers from around 100 different companies. The population was 71.9% female, with a mean age of 32.4 years. The general educational level was high, with 1,443 (68.2%) of call-handlers having at least 2 years' higher education; 1,937 of the workers (91.2%) had permanent work contracts. Some working situations were found to be associated with low decision latitude and high psychological demands: i.e., where the schedule (full-time or part-time) was imposed, where the call-handlers had not chosen to work in a call-center, or where they received prior warning of controls. Moreover, the rate of low decision latitude and high psychological demands increased with seniority in the job. The rate of low decision latitude increased with the size of the company and was higher when call duration was imposed and when the call-handlers handled only incoming calls. The rate of high psychological demands was higher when call-handlers handled both incoming and outgoing calls. This study confirmed the high rate of psychosocial constraints for call-handlers and identified work situations at risk.

  1. The Relationship of On-Call Work with Fatigue, Work-Home Interference, and Perceived Performance Difficulties

    PubMed Central

    Ziebertz, Carla M.; van Hooff, Madelon L. M.; Beckers, Debby G. J.; Hooftman, Wendela E.; Kompier, Michiel A. J.; Geurts, Sabine A. E.

    2015-01-01

    Objectives. This study examined the relationship between on-call duty exposure (active and total on-call hours a month, number of calls per duty) and employees' experiences of being on-call (stress due to unpredictability, ability to relax during inactive on-call periods, restrictions during on-call duties, on-call work demands, and satisfaction with compensation for on-call duties) on the one hand and fatigue, strain-based and time-based work-home interference (WHI), and perceived on-call performance difficulties (PPD) on the other hand. Methods. Cross-sectional survey data were collected among a large heterogeneous sample of Dutch employees (N = 5437). The final sample consisted of 157 on-call workers (23–69 years, 71% males). Data were analyzed by means of hierarchical regression analyses (controlling for age and job characteristics). Results. Differences in on-call work exposure were not systematically related to fatigue, WHI, and PPD (all p's >0.50). The experience of being on-call explained a medium proportion of the variation in fatigue and strain-based WHI and a medium to large proportion of the variation in time-based WHI and PPD over and above the control variables. Conclusions. Our results suggest that it is employees' experience of being on-call, especially the experience of stress due to the unpredictability, rather than the amount of exposure, that is related to fatigue, WHI, and perceived on-call performance difficulties. PMID:26558276

  2. Long-range acoustic detection and localization of blue whale calls in the northeast Pacific Ocean.

    PubMed

    Stafford, K M; Fox, C G; Clark, D S

    1998-12-01

    Analysis of acoustic signals recorded from the U.S. Navy's SOund SUrveillance System (SOSUS) was used to detect and locate blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) calls offshore in the northeast Pacific. The long, low-frequency components of these calls are characteristic of calls recorded in the presence of blue whales elsewhere in the world. Mean values for frequency and time characteristics from field-recorded blue whale calls were used to develop a simple matched filter for detecting such calls in noisy time series. The matched filter was applied to signals from three different SOSUS arrays off the coast of the Pacific Northwest to detect and associate individual calls from the same animal on the different arrays. A U.S. Navy maritime patrol aircraft was directed to an area where blue whale calls had been detected on SOSUS using these methods, and the presence of vocalizing blue whale was confirmed at the site with field recordings from sonobuoys.

  3. An ontology-based nurse call management system (oNCS) with probabilistic priority assessment

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only make calls with a button which is fixed to a wall of a room. Moreover, the system does not take into account various factors specific to a situation. In the future, there will be an evolution to a mobile button for each patient so that they can walk around freely and still make calls. The system would become person-oriented and the available context information should be taken into account to assign the correct nurse to a call. The aim of this research is (1) the design of a software platform that supports the transition to mobile and wireless nurse call buttons in hospitals and residential care and (2) the design of a sophisticated nurse call algorithm. This algorithm dynamically adapts to the situation at hand by taking the profile information of staff members and patients into account. Additionally, the priority of a call probabilistically depends on the risk factors, assigned to a patient. Methods The ontology-based Nurse Call System (oNCS) was developed as an extension of a Context-Aware Service Platform. An ontology is used to manage the profile information. Rules implement the novel nurse call algorithm that takes all this information into account. Probabilistic reasoning algorithms are designed to determine the priority of a call based on the risk factors of the patient. Results The oNCS system is evaluated through a prototype implementation and simulations, based on a detailed dataset obtained from Ghent University Hospital. The arrival times of nurses at the location of a call, the workload distribution of calls amongst nurses and the assignment of priorities to calls are compared for the oNCS system and the current, place-oriented nurse call system. Additionally, the performance of the system is discussed. Conclusions The execution time of the nurse call algorithm is on average 50.333 ms. Moreover, the oNCS system significantly improves the assignment of nurses

  4. Exploratory analysis of real personal emergency response call conversations: considerations for personal emergency response spoken dialogue systems.

    PubMed

    Young, Victoria; Rochon, Elizabeth; Mihailidis, Alex

    2016-11-14

    The purpose of this study was to derive data from real, recorded, personal emergency response call conversations to help improve the artificial intelligence and decision making capability of a spoken dialogue system in a smart personal emergency response system. The main study objectives were to: develop a model of personal emergency response; determine categories for the model's features; identify and calculate measures from call conversations (verbal ability, conversational structure, timing); and examine conversational patterns and relationships between measures and model features applicable for improving the system's ability to automatically identify call model categories and predict a target response. This study was exploratory and used mixed methods. Personal emergency response calls were pre-classified according to call model categories identified qualitatively from response call transcripts. The relationships between six verbal ability measures, three conversational structure measures, two timing measures and three independent factors: caller type, risk level, and speaker type, were examined statistically. Emergency medical response services were the preferred response for the majority of medium and high risk calls for both caller types. Older adult callers mainly requested non-emergency medical service responders during medium risk situations. By measuring the number of spoken words-per-minute and turn-length-in-words for the first spoken utterance of a call, older adult and care provider callers could be identified with moderate accuracy. Average call taker response time was calculated using the number-of-speaker-turns and time-in-seconds measures. Care providers and older adults used different conversational strategies when responding to call takers. The words 'ambulance' and 'paramedic' may hold different latent connotations for different callers. The data derived from the real personal emergency response recordings may help a spoken dialogue system

  5. Telephone calls postdischarge from hospital to home: a literature review.

    PubMed

    Hand, Kristin E; Cunningham, Regina S

    2014-02-01

    The oncology population is particularly affected by hospital readmissions because hospitalized patients with cancer often have complex needs. The complexity and diversity of care requirements create substantial challenges in planning for appropriate postdischarge support. Implementing postdischarge telephone calls in the population of patients with cancer could offer a low-cost intervention to address the complex needs of patients during the transition from hospital to home. The goal of the current literature review is to provide an understanding about postdischarge telephone calls in patients with cancer. Findings from this review support the notion that discharge phone calls could improve care continuity for patients transitioning from hospital to home. The literature review outlines information related to telephone call content, timing, and structure for healthcare systems that want to use a postdischarge telephone intervention for patients with cancer. However, additional research is needed to develop and test cancer-specific protocols.

  6. Advertisement-call modification, male competition and female preference in the bird-voiced treefrog Hyla avivoca

    PubMed Central

    Martínez-Rivera, Carlos César; Gerhardt, H. Carl

    2009-01-01

    Senders and receivers influence dynamic characteristics of the signals used for mate attraction over different time scales. On a moment-to-moment basis, interactions among senders competing for a mate influence dynamic characteristics, whereas the preferences of receivers of the opposite gender exert an influence over evolutionary time. We observed and recorded the calling patterns of the bird-voiced treefrog Hyla avivoca, to assess how the dynamic characters of calls vary during interactions among groups of males in a chorus. This question was also addressed using playback experiments with males. Playback experiments with females showed how changes in dynamic call properties are likely to affect male mating success. Frogs calling in pairs, groups, or in response to playbacks produced longer calls than did isolated males. During call overlap, males often increased the duration of the silent interval (gaps) between the pulses of their calls so that the pulses of the calls of two neighbors interdigitated. This change resulted in increased variability of pulse rate, a traditionally static acoustic property; however, males also produced high proportions of non-overlapped calls in which variability in pulse rate was low and had species-typical values. Females preferred long calls to short and average-duration calls, and non-overlapped calls to overlapped calls. Given a choice between pairs of overlapped calls, females preferred pairs in which the proportion of overlap was low and pairs in which the pulses of such calls interdigitated completely. The observed patterns of vocal competition thus reflect the preferences of conspecific females, which have influenced the evolution of the calling behavior of H. avivoca. PMID:19789730

  7. 78 FR 76218 - Rural Call Completion

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-17

    ... calls to rural areas, and enforce restrictions against blocking, choking, reducing, or restricting calls... to alert the Commission of systemic problems receiving calls from a particular originating long... associated with completing calls to rural areas. These rules will also enhance our ability to enforce...

  8. Influence of atmospheric properties on detection of wood-warbler nocturnal flight calls

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horton, Kyle G.; Stepanian, Phillip M.; Wainwright, Charlotte E.; Tegeler, Amy K.

    2015-10-01

    Avian migration monitoring can take on many forms; however, monitoring active nocturnal migration of land birds is limited to a few techniques. Avian nocturnal flight calls are currently the only method for describing migrant composition at the species level. However, as this method develops, more information is needed to understand the sources of variation in call detection. Additionally, few studies examine how detection probabilities differ under varying atmospheric conditions. We use nocturnal flight call recordings from captive individuals to explore the dependence of flight call detection on atmospheric temperature and humidity. Height or distance from origin had the largest influence on call detection, while temperature and humidity also influenced detectability at higher altitudes. Because flight call detection varies with both atmospheric conditions and flight height, improved monitoring across time and space will require correction for these factors to generate standardized metrics of songbird migration.

  9. Environmental Influences On Diel Calling Behavior In Baleen Whales

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-09-30

    and calm seas were infrequent and short (Figure 1b), making traditional shipboard marine mammal observations difficult. The real time detection...first use of real-time detection and reporting of marine mammal calls from autonomous underwater vehicles to adaptively plan research activities. 3...conferences: • 6th International Workshop on Detection, Classification, Localization, and Density Estimation (DCLDE) of Marine Mammals using

  10. To call or not to call--that is the question (while driving).

    PubMed

    Tractinsky, Noam; Ram, Efrat Soffer; Shinar, David

    2013-07-01

    We studied whether decisions to engage in cell phone conversation while driving and the consequences of such decisions are related to the driver's age, to the road conditions (demands of the driving task), and to the driver's role in initiating the phone call (i.e. the driver as caller vs. as receiver). Two experiments were performed in a driving simulator in which driver age, road conditions and phone conversation, as a secondary task, were manipulated. Engagement in cell phone conversations, performance in the driving and the conversation tasks, and subjective effort assessment were recorded. In general, drivers were more willing to accept incoming calls than to initiate calls. In addition, older and younger drivers were more susceptible to the deleterious effects of phone conversations while driving than middle aged/experienced drivers. While older drivers were aware of this susceptibility by showing sensitivity to road conditions before deciding whether to engage in a call or not, young drivers showed no such sensitivity. The results can guide the development of young driver training programs and point at the need to develop context-aware management systems of in-vehicle cell phone conversations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. A Time and Place: The Role of Social Workers in Improving End-of-Life Care.

    PubMed

    Peres, Judith

    2016-01-01

    Americans are living longer, but dying after a prolonged period of management of multiple chronic illnesses and functional disabilities. Despite waves of public and professional activity targeted toward improving care for the dying and supporting the families, gaps in care and challenges in end-of-life care persist. Contentious issues such as the so-called "death panels" or physician payment for discussion of advance directives and care wishes at the end of life; aid in dying; and regarding individuals who actively choose death (case of Brittney Maynard) are continually debated in the public media. Progress toward improvement in the experience of dying remains incremental and change has been slow. With the release of a second Institute of Medicine ( 2014 ) report devoted to what it means to die in America in the 21st century, momentum and opportunity for change may increase. If this is to happen, social workers will need to deliver the range of biopsychosocial care that patients and families so desperately need. However, holistic care of the individual will only improve, if the nation also addresses ongoing systemic problems in financing, policy, and service delivery in end-of-life care.

  12. Inexpensive and Highly Reproducible Cloud-Based Variant Calling of 2,535 Human Genomes

    PubMed Central

    Shringarpure, Suyash S.; Carroll, Andrew; De La Vega, Francisco M.; Bustamante, Carlos D.

    2015-01-01

    Population scale sequencing of whole human genomes is becoming economically feasible; however, data management and analysis remains a formidable challenge for many research groups. Large sequencing studies, like the 1000 Genomes Project, have improved our understanding of human demography and the effect of rare genetic variation in disease. Variant calling on datasets of hundreds or thousands of genomes is time-consuming, expensive, and not easily reproducible given the myriad components of a variant calling pipeline. Here, we describe a cloud-based pipeline for joint variant calling in large samples using the Real Time Genomics population caller. We deployed the population caller on the Amazon cloud with the DNAnexus platform in order to achieve low-cost variant calling. Using our pipeline, we were able to identify 68.3 million variants in 2,535 samples from Phase 3 of the 1000 Genomes Project. By performing the variant calling in a parallel manner, the data was processed within 5 days at a compute cost of $7.33 per sample (a total cost of $18,590 for completed jobs and $21,805 for all jobs). Analysis of cost dependence and running time on the data size suggests that, given near linear scalability, cloud computing can be a cheap and efficient platform for analyzing even larger sequencing studies in the future. PMID:26110529

  13. Sub-Saharan Africa Report, No. 2826

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-07-27

    19th OAU Summit in Addis Ababa the outgoing secretary-general is reported to have appealed to the Heads of State and Government for the development...Secondly, he did not address his appeal to any particular government or governments who might have the capacity for such an undertaking. Others may... interpret his call as the desperate cry’ in the wilderness of a frustrated intellectual divorced from the realities of the concrete world of

  14. Male discrimination of receptive and unreceptive female calls by temporal features

    PubMed Central

    Elliott, Taffeta M.; Kelley, Darcy B.

    2012-01-01

    Summary In murky, crowded ponds in South Africa, female clawed frogs, Xenopus laevis (Daudin), vocalize to signal reproductive state. Female calls consist of acoustically similar clicks delivered in trains with characteristic rates. The rapping call of a sexually receptive female has a more rapid click rate [81 ms mean interclick interval (ICI)] than the ticking call of an unreceptive female (219 ms ICI). Rapping stimulates male advertisement calling, whereas ticking suppresses an already calling male. We examined how males label and discriminate female click rates. A labeling boundary experiment revealed that males perceive click rates between the means of rapping and ticking as lying on a continuum. They respond to 98 and 160 ms ICI as though to rapping and ticking, respectively. However, calling evoked by a click rate equally common to both calls (120 ms ICI) did not differ from the response to either rapping or ticking. A second experiment evaluated whether males discriminate click rates both labeled as ticking (180 and 219 ms ICI). Ticking suppresses advertising males, and suppressed males habituate (resume calling) to prolonged ticking. Both ticking stimuli suppressed males with equal effectiveness, and males habituated in equivalent amounts of time. When the stimulus was switched during habituation, no dishabituation occurred. We conclude that male labeling of click trains as rapping or ticking reflects an ambiguity resulting from the overlap in ICIs naturally occurring in the calls. Males do not respond differentially to click rates within the ticking category. Males thus combine discriminating and non-discriminating strategies in responding to the salient feature of female calls. PMID:17690231

  15. CALL Essentials: Principles and Practice in CALL Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Egbert, Joy

    2005-01-01

    Computers and the Internet offer innovative teachers exciting ways to enhance their pedagogy and capture their students' attention. These technologies have created a growing field of inquiry, computer-assisted language learning (CALL). As new technologies have emerged, teaching professionals have adapted them to support teachers and learners in…

  16. Alcohol as a Factor in 911 Calls in Denver.

    PubMed

    Joseph, Daniel; Vogel, Jody A; Smith, C Sam; Barrett, Whitney; Bryskiewicz, Gary; Eberhardt, Aaron; Edwards, David; Rappaport, Lara; Colwell, Christopher B; McVaney, Kevin E

    2018-02-08

    Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with a substantial number of emergency department visits annually and is responsible for a significant number of lives lost each year in the United States. However, a minimal amount is known about the impact of alcohol on the EMS system. The primary objective was to determine the proportion of 9-1-1 calls in Denver, Colorado in which (1) alcohol was a contributing factor or (2) the individual receiving EMS services had recently ingested alcohol. The secondary objectives were to compare the characteristics of EMS calls and to estimate the associated costs. This was a prospective observational cohort study of EMS calls for adults from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2014. Primary outcomes for the study were alcohol as a contributing factor to the EMS call and recent alcohol consumption by the patient receiving EMS services. Logistic regression was utilized to determine the associations between EMS call characteristics and the outcomes. Cost was estimated using historic data. During the study period, 169,642 EMS calls were completed by the Denver Health Paramedic Division. Of these 71% were medical and 29% were trauma-related. The median age was 45 (interquartile range [IQR] 29-59) years, and 55% were male. 50,383 calls (30%) had alcohol consumption, and 49,165 (29%) had alcohol as a contributing factor. Alcohol related calls were associated with male sex, traumatic injuries including head trauma, emergent response, use of airway adjuncts, cardiac monitoring, glucose measurement, use of restraints, use of spinal precautions, and administration of medications for sedation. Estimated costs to the EMS system due to alcohol intoxication exceeded $14 million dollars over the study period and required in excess of 37 thousand hours of paramedic time. Compared to 9-1-1 calls that do not involve alcohol, alcohol-related calls are more likely to involve male patients, emergent response, traumatic injuries, advanced monitoring, airway

  17. Callings and Organizational Behavior

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elangovan, A. R.; Pinder, Craig C.; McLean, Murdith

    2010-01-01

    Current literature on careers, social identity and meaning in work tends to understate the multiplicity, historical significance, and nuances of the concept of calling(s). In this article, we trace the evolution of the concept from its religious roots into secular realms and develop a typology of interpretations using occupation and religious…

  18. VIPER: a web application for rapid expert review of variant calls.

    PubMed

    Wöste, Marius; Dugas, Martin

    2018-06-01

    With the rapid development in next-generation sequencing, cost and time requirements for genomic sequencing are decreasing, enabling applications in many areas such as cancer research. Many tools have been developed to analyze genomic variation ranging from single nucleotide variants to whole chromosomal aberrations. As sequencing throughput increases, the number of variants called by such tools also grows. Often employed manual inspection of such calls is thus becoming a time-consuming procedure. We developed the Variant InsPector and Expert Rating tool (VIPER) to speed up this process by integrating the Integrative Genomics Viewer into a web application. Analysts can then quickly iterate through variants, apply filters and make decisions based on the generated images and variant metadata. VIPER was successfully employed in analyses with manual inspection of more than 10 000 calls. VIPER is implemented in Java and Javascript and is freely available at https://github.com/MarWoes/viper. marius.woeste@uni-muenster.de. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

  19. Hospital emergency on-call coverage: is there a doctor in the house?

    PubMed

    O'Malley, Ann S; Draper, Debra A; Felland, Laurie E

    2007-11-01

    The nation's community hospitals face increasing problems obtaining emergency on-call coverage from specialist physicians, according to findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) 2007 site visits to 12 nationally representative metropolitan communities. The diminished willingness of specialist physicians to provide on-call coverage is occurring as hospital emergency departments confront an ever-increasing demand for services. Factors influencing physician reluctance to provide on-call coverage include decreased dependence on hospital admitting privileges as more services shift to non-hospital settings; payment for emergency care, especially for uninsured patients; and medical liability concerns. Hospital strategies to secure on-call coverage include enforcing hospital medical staff bylaws that require physicians to take call, contracting with physicians to provide coverage, paying physicians stipends, and employing physicians. Nonetheless, many hospitals continue to struggle with inadequate on-call coverage, which threatens patients' timely access to high-quality emergency care and may raise health care costs.

  20. When seconds count: A study of communication variables in the opening segment of emergency calls.

    PubMed

    Penn, Claire; Koole, Tom; Nattrass, Rhona

    2017-09-01

    The opening sequence of an emergency call influences the efficiency of the ambulance dispatch time. The greeting sequences in 105 calls to a South African emergency service were analysed. Initial results suggested the advantage of a specific two-part opening sequence. An on-site experiment aimed at improving call efficiency was conducted during one shift (1100 calls). Results indicated reduced conversational repairs and a significant reduction of 4 seconds in mean call length. Implications for systems and training are derived.

  1. The influence of bat echolocation call duration and timing on auditory encoding of predator distance in noctuoid moths.

    PubMed

    Gordon, Shira D; Ter Hofstede, Hannah M

    2018-03-22

    Animals co-occur with multiple predators, making sensory systems that can encode information about diverse predators advantageous. Moths in the families Noctuidae and Erebidae have ears with two auditory receptor cells (A1 and A2) used to detect the echolocation calls of predatory bats. Bat communities contain species that vary in echolocation call duration, and the dynamic range of A1 is limited by the duration of sound, suggesting that A1 provides less information about bats with shorter echolocation calls. To test this hypothesis, we obtained intensity-response functions for both receptor cells across many moth species for sound pulse durations representing the range of echolocation call durations produced by bat species in northeastern North America. We found that the threshold and dynamic range of both cells varied with sound pulse duration. The number of A1 action potentials per sound pulse increases linearly with increasing amplitude for long-duration pulses, saturating near the A2 threshold. For short sound pulses, however, A1 saturates with only a few action potentials per pulse at amplitudes far lower than the A2 threshold for both single sound pulses and pulse sequences typical of searching or approaching bats. Neural adaptation was only evident in response to approaching bat sequences at high amplitudes, not search-phase sequences. These results show that, for short echolocation calls, a large range of sound levels cannot be coded by moth auditory receptor activity, resulting in no information about the distance of a bat, although differences in activity between ears might provide information about direction. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  2. Voice over internet protocol with prepaid calling card solutions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gunadi, Tri

    2001-07-01

    The VoIP technology is growing up rapidly, it has big network impact on PT Telkom Indonesia, the bigger telecommunication operator in Indonesia. Telkom has adopted VoIP and one other technology, Intelligent Network (IN). We develop those technologies together in one service product, called Internet Prepaid Calling Card (IPCC). IPCC is becoming new breakthrough for the Indonesia telecommunication services especially on VoIP and Prepaid Calling Card solutions. Network architecture of Indonesia telecommunication consists of three layer, Local, Tandem and Trunck Exchange layer. Network development researches for IPCC architecture are focus on network overlay hierarchy, Internet and PSTN. With this design hierarchy the goal of Interworking PSTN, VoIP and IN calling card, become reality. Overlay design for IPCC is not on Trunck Exchange, this is the new architecture, these overlay on Tandem and Local Exchange, to make the faster call processing. The nodes added: Gateway (GW) and Card Management Center (CMC) The GW do interfacing between PSTN and Internet Network used ISDN-PRA and Ethernet. The other functions are making bridge on circuit (PSTN) with packet (VoIP) based and real time billing process. The CMC used for data storage, pin validation, report activation, tariff system, directory number and all the administration transaction. With two nodes added the IPCC service offered to the market.

  3. An MIP model to schedule the call center workforce and organize the breaks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Türker, Turgay; Demiriz, Ayhan

    2016-06-01

    In modern economies, companies place a premium on managing their workforce efficiently especially in labor intensive service sector, since the services have become the significant portion of the economies. Tour scheduling is an important tool to minimize the overall workforce costs while satisfying the minimum service level constraints. In this study, we consider the workforce management problem of an inbound call-center while satisfying the call demand within the short time periods with the minimum cost. We propose a mixed-integer programming model to assign workers to the daily shifts, to determine the weekly off-days, and to determine the timings of lunch and other daily breaks for each worker. The proposed model has been verified on the weekly demand data observed at a specific call center location of a satellite TV operator. The model was run on both 15 and 10 minutes demand estimation periods (planning time intervals).

  4. Altai pika (Ochotona alpina) alarm calls: individual acoustic variation and the phenomenon of call-synchronous ear folding behavior.

    PubMed

    Volodin, Ilya A; Matrosova, Vera A; Frey, Roland; Kozhevnikova, Julia D; Isaeva, Inna L; Volodina, Elena V

    2018-06-11

    Non-hibernating pikas collect winter food reserves and store them in hay piles. Individualization of alarm calls might allow discrimination between colony members and conspecifics trying to steal food items from a colony pile. We investigated vocal posture, vocal tract length, and individual acoustic variation of alarm calls, emitted by wild-living Altai pikas Ochotona alpina toward a researcher. Recording started when a pika started calling and lasted as long as possible. The alarm call series of 442 individual callers from different colonies consisted of discrete short (0.073-0.157 s), high-frequency (7.31-15.46 kHz), and frequency-modulated calls separated by irregular intervals. Analysis of 442 discrete calls, the second of each series, revealed that 44.34% calls lacked nonlinear phenomena, in 7.02% nonlinear phenomena covered less than half of call duration, and in 48.64% nonlinear phenomena covered more than half of call duration. Peak frequencies varied among individuals but always fitted one of three maxima corresponding to the vocal tract resonance frequencies (formants) calculated for an estimated 45-mm oral vocal tract. Discriminant analysis using variables of 8 calls per series of 36 different callers, each from a different colony, correctly assigned over 90% of the calls to individuals. Consequently, Altai pika alarm calls are individualistic and nonlinear phenomena might further increase this acoustic individualization. Additionally, video analysis revealed a call-synchronous, very fast (0.13-0.23 s) folding, depression, and subsequent re-expansion of the pinna confirming an earlier report of this behavior that apparently contributes to protecting the hearing apparatus from damage by the self-generated high-intensity alarm calls.

  5. Factors Affecting the Vocational Calling of Laboratory Animal Care and Research Employees

    PubMed Central

    Boivin, Gregory P; Markert, Ronald J

    2016-01-01

    We surveyed laboratory animal care and research workers to determine the factors affecting their vocational calling. The survey comprised 56 questions in 4 groups: passion, job stability or happiness, work volition, and demographics. We hypothesized that personnel who worked in the field a longer time, were older, had higher education levels, were involved with AALAS, and in higher positions in their organization were more likely to indicate a calling to the laboratory animal care field. In addition, we hypothesized that job satisfaction and classifying one's job as a calling were positively related to organizational support and work volition. Overall, 44% of respondents categorized their work as at least partially a calling. Those working at a higher level in the position of laboratory animal technician and in the organization were more likely to view their work as a calling. Increasing education level was related to work being a calling. Overall, vocational calling was significantly associated with higher pay, but technicians were the only subgroup where calling and higher pay were significantly related. Vocational calling and job satisfaction were associated with organizational support. For our sample of workers in the animal care field, other factors analyzed were not related to work being considered a calling. Leaders in the field of animal care may find our survey results valuable as they strive to adapt their organization's structure to the perceptions of their workforce with regard to their sense of calling. PMID:27931315

  6. Bat echolocation calls facilitate social communication

    PubMed Central

    Knörnschild, Mirjam; Jung, Kirsten; Nagy, Martina; Metz, Markus; Kalko, Elisabeth

    2012-01-01

    Bat echolocation is primarily used for orientation and foraging but also holds great potential for social communication. The communicative function of echolocation calls is still largely unstudied, especially in the wild. Eavesdropping on vocal signatures encoding social information in echolocation calls has not, to our knowledge, been studied in free-living bats so far. We analysed echolocation calls of the polygynous bat Saccopteryx bilineata and found pronounced vocal signatures encoding sex and individual identity. We showed experimentally that free-living males discriminate approaching male and female conspecifics solely based on their echolocation calls. Males always produced aggressive vocalizations when hearing male echolocation calls and courtship vocalizations when hearing female echolocation calls; hence, they responded with complex social vocalizations in the appropriate social context. Our study demonstrates that social information encoded in bat echolocation calls plays a crucial and hitherto underestimated role for eavesdropping conspecifics and thus facilitates social communication in a highly mobile nocturnal mammal. PMID:23034703

  7. Bat echolocation calls facilitate social communication.

    PubMed

    Knörnschild, Mirjam; Jung, Kirsten; Nagy, Martina; Metz, Markus; Kalko, Elisabeth

    2012-12-07

    Bat echolocation is primarily used for orientation and foraging but also holds great potential for social communication. The communicative function of echolocation calls is still largely unstudied, especially in the wild. Eavesdropping on vocal signatures encoding social information in echolocation calls has not, to our knowledge, been studied in free-living bats so far. We analysed echolocation calls of the polygynous bat Saccopteryx bilineata and found pronounced vocal signatures encoding sex and individual identity. We showed experimentally that free-living males discriminate approaching male and female conspecifics solely based on their echolocation calls. Males always produced aggressive vocalizations when hearing male echolocation calls and courtship vocalizations when hearing female echolocation calls; hence, they responded with complex social vocalizations in the appropriate social context. Our study demonstrates that social information encoded in bat echolocation calls plays a crucial and hitherto underestimated role for eavesdropping conspecifics and thus facilitates social communication in a highly mobile nocturnal mammal.

  8. Field Crickets Compensate for Unattractive Static Long-Distance Call Components by Increasing Dynamic Signalling Effort

    PubMed Central

    McAuley, Emily M.

    2016-01-01

    The evolution of multiple sexual signals presents a dilemma since individuals selecting a mate should pay attention to the most honest signal and ignore the rest; however, multiple signals may evolve if, together, they provide more information to the receiver than either one would alone. Static and dynamic signals, for instance, can act as multiple messages, providing information on different aspects of signaller quality that reflect condition at different time scales. While the nature of static signals makes them difficult or impossible for individuals to augment, dynamic signals are much more susceptible to temporary fluctuations in effort. We investigated whether male Texas field crickets, Gryllus texensis, that produce unattractive static signals compensate by dynamically increasing their calling effort. Our findings lend partial support to the compensation hypothesis, as males that called at unattractive carrier frequencies (a static trait) spent more time calling each night (a dynamic trait). Interestingly, this finding was most pronounced in males that called with attractive pulse characteristics (static traits) but did not occur in males that called with unattractive pulse characteristics. Males that signalled with unattractive pulse characteristics (duration and pause) spent less time calling through the night. Our correlative findings on wild caught males suggest that only males that signal with attractive pulse characteristics may be able to afford to pay the costs of both trait exaggeration and increased calling effort to compensate for poor carrier frequencies. PMID:27936045

  9. Field Crickets Compensate for Unattractive Static Long-Distance Call Components by Increasing Dynamic Signalling Effort.

    PubMed

    McAuley, Emily M; Bertram, Susan M

    2016-01-01

    The evolution of multiple sexual signals presents a dilemma since individuals selecting a mate should pay attention to the most honest signal and ignore the rest; however, multiple signals may evolve if, together, they provide more information to the receiver than either one would alone. Static and dynamic signals, for instance, can act as multiple messages, providing information on different aspects of signaller quality that reflect condition at different time scales. While the nature of static signals makes them difficult or impossible for individuals to augment, dynamic signals are much more susceptible to temporary fluctuations in effort. We investigated whether male Texas field crickets, Gryllus texensis, that produce unattractive static signals compensate by dynamically increasing their calling effort. Our findings lend partial support to the compensation hypothesis, as males that called at unattractive carrier frequencies (a static trait) spent more time calling each night (a dynamic trait). Interestingly, this finding was most pronounced in males that called with attractive pulse characteristics (static traits) but did not occur in males that called with unattractive pulse characteristics. Males that signalled with unattractive pulse characteristics (duration and pause) spent less time calling through the night. Our correlative findings on wild caught males suggest that only males that signal with attractive pulse characteristics may be able to afford to pay the costs of both trait exaggeration and increased calling effort to compensate for poor carrier frequencies.

  10. Are there high-risk groups among physicians that are more vulnerable to on-call work?

    PubMed

    Heponiemi, Tarja; Aalto, Anna-Mari; Pekkarinen, Laura; Siuvatti, Eeva; Elovainio, Marko

    2015-05-01

    Work done in the emergency departments is one stressful aspect of physicians' work. Numerous previous studies have highlighted the stressfulness of on-call work and especially of night on call. In addition, previous studies suggest that there may be individual differences in adjusting to changes in circadian rhythms and on-call work. The objective of this study was to examine whether physicians' on-call work is associated with perceived work-related stress factors and job resources and whether there are groups that are more vulnerable to on-call work according to sex, age, and specialization status. This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study among 3230 Finnish physicians (61.5% women). The analyses were conducted using analyses of covariance adjusted for sex, age, specialization status, and employment sector. Physicians with on-call duties had more time pressure and stress related to team work and patient information systems compared with those who did not have on-call duties. In addition, they had less job control opportunities and experienced organization as less fair and team climate as worse. Older physicians and specialists seemed to be especially vulnerable to on-call work regarding stress factors, whereas younger and specialist trainees seemed vulnerable to on-call work regarding job resources. Focusing on team issues and resources is important for younger physicians and trainees having on-call duties, whereas for older and specialists, attention should be focused on actual work load and time pressure. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Outsourcing your medical practice call center: how to choose a vendor to ensure regulatory compliance.

    PubMed

    Johnson, Bill

    2014-01-01

    Medical practices receive hundreds if not thousands of calls every week from patients, payers, pharmacies, and others. Outsourcing call centers can be a smart move to improve efficiency, lower costs, improve customer care, ensure proper payer management, and ensure regulatory compliance. This article discusses how to know when it's time to move to an outsourced call center, the benefits of making the move, how to choose the right call center, and how to make the transition. It also provides tips on how to manage the call center to ensure the objectives are being met.

  12. Effects of noise levels and call types on the source levels of killer whale calls.

    PubMed

    Holt, Marla M; Noren, Dawn P; Emmons, Candice K

    2011-11-01

    Accurate parameter estimates relevant to the vocal behavior of marine mammals are needed to assess potential effects of anthropogenic sound exposure including how masking noise reduces the active space of sounds used for communication. Information about how these animals modify their vocal behavior in response to noise exposure is also needed for such assessment. Prior studies have reported variations in the source levels of killer whale sounds, and a more recent study reported that killer whales compensate for vessel masking noise by increasing their call amplitude. The objectives of the current study were to investigate the source levels of a variety of call types in southern resident killer whales while also considering background noise level as a likely factor related to call source level variability. The source levels of 763 discrete calls along with corresponding background noise were measured over three summer field seasons in the waters surrounding the San Juan Islands, WA. Both noise level and call type were significant factors on call source levels (1-40 kHz band, range of 135.0-175.7 dB(rms) re 1 [micro sign]Pa at 1 m). These factors should be considered in models that predict how anthropogenic masking noise reduces vocal communication space in marine mammals.

  13. Mitigating Handoff Call Dropping in Wireless Cellular Networks: A Call Admission Control Technique

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ekpenyong, Moses Effiong; Udoh, Victoria Idia; Bassey, Udoma James

    2016-06-01

    Handoff management has been an important but challenging issue in the field of wireless communication. It seeks to maintain seamless connectivity of mobile users changing their points of attachment from one base station to another. This paper derives a call admission control model and establishes an optimal step-size coefficient (k) that regulates the admission probability of handoff calls. An operational CDMA network carrier was investigated through the analysis of empirical data collected over a period of 1 month, to verify the performance of the network. Our findings revealed that approximately 23 % of calls in the existing system were lost, while 40 % of the calls (on the average) were successfully admitted. A simulation of the proposed model was then carried out under ideal network conditions to study the relationship between the various network parameters and validate our claim. Simulation results showed that increasing the step-size coefficient degrades the network performance. Even at optimum step-size (k), the network could still be compromised in the presence of severe network crises, but our model was able to recover from these problems and still functions normally.

  14. Mainstream media and the social determinants of health in Canada: is it time to call it a day?

    PubMed

    Raphael, Dennis

    2011-06-01

    This article explores the dearth of coverage of the social determinants of health by the Canadian mainstream media. It is argued that this neglect is primarily a reflection of political and economic societal structures that has been associated with increasing corporate control of the mainstream media. Applying a critical political economy lens, it is argued that the barriers to having the Canadian mainstream media report on the social determinants of health are so numerous that it may indeed be 'time to call it a day' in regard to having them assist in the dissemination of social determinants of health findings. Recognizing this reality should spur the development of alternative means of communicating with the public in order to develop a citizens' movement to create health-promoting public policy. Recent dissemination efforts related to the Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts provide an example of how this might be accomplished.

  15. Using accelerometers to determine the calling behavior of tagged baleen whales.

    PubMed

    Goldbogen, J A; Stimpert, A K; DeRuiter, S L; Calambokidis, J; Friedlaender, A S; Schorr, G S; Moretti, D J; Tyack, P L; Southall, B L

    2014-07-15

    Low-frequency acoustic signals generated by baleen whales can propagate over vast distances, making the assignment of calls to specific individuals problematic. Here, we report the novel use of acoustic recording tags equipped with high-resolution accelerometers to detect vibrations from the surface of two tagged fin whales that directly match the timing of recorded acoustic signals. A tag deployed on a buoy in the vicinity of calling fin whales and a recording from a tag that had just fallen off a whale were able to detect calls acoustically but did not record corresponding accelerometer signals that were measured on calling individuals. Across the hundreds of calls measured on two tagged fin whales, the accelerometer response was generally anisotropic across all three axes, appeared to depend on tag placement and increased with the level of received sound. These data demonstrate that high-sample rate accelerometry can provide important insights into the acoustic behavior of baleen whales that communicate at low frequencies. This method helps identify vocalizing whales, which in turn enables the quantification of call rates, a fundamental component of models used to estimate baleen whale abundance and distribution from passive acoustic monitoring. © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  16. Pakistan's experience with kidney transplantation and trade: a call for international solidarity.

    PubMed

    Moazam, Farhat; Jafarey, Aamir

    2014-01-01

    Pakistan has taken a long and tortuous road towards curbing the trade in organs within its borders. Yet, despite the phenomenal gains, several challenges remain in this area. For example, robust and sustainable deceased donor programmes must be established to meet the needs of a country which has a high prevalence of kidney disease and failure. Further, it is necessary to offer an alternative source of organs for transplantation to desperate patients who resort to buying these from the "market". Cultural factors and religious beliefs about the sanctity and inviolability of the corpse, as well as the lack of public and professional education regarding the procurement of organs from the deceased, pose considerable barriers that must be surmounted. We believe it is equally important that transplant professionals and the governments of affluent countries consider measures to discourage, if not prevent, their citizens from travelling to impoverished countries such as Pakistan to buy organs. Without a commitment, ethical and legal, to international solidarity in this matter, the goals that are already difficult for developing countries to achieve, ie, establishing deceased donor programmes and bringing an end to organ trafficking, will be even harder to achieve.

  17. Prolonged sedentary time and physical activity in workplace and non-work contexts: a cross-sectional study of office, customer service and call centre employees.

    PubMed

    Thorp, Alicia A; Healy, Genevieve N; Winkler, Elisabeth; Clark, Bronwyn K; Gardiner, Paul A; Owen, Neville; Dunstan, David W

    2012-10-26

    To examine sedentary time, prolonged sedentary bouts and physical activity in Australian employees from different workplace settings, within work and non-work contexts. A convenience sample of 193 employees working in offices (131), call centres (36) and customer service (26) was recruited. Actigraph GT1M accelerometers were used to derive percentages of time spent sedentary (<100 counts per minute; cpm), in prolonged sedentary bouts (≥20 minutes or ≥30 minutes), light-intensity activity (100-1951 cpm) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA; ≥1952 cpm). Using mixed models adjusted for confounders, these were compared for: work days versus non-work days; work hours versus non-work hours (work days only); and, across workplace settings. Working hours were mostly spent sedentary (77.0%, 95%CI: 76.3, 77.6), with approximately half of this time accumulated in prolonged bouts of 20 minutes or more. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in all outcomes between workdays and non-work days, and, on workdays, between work- versus non-work hours. Results consistently showed "work" was more sedentary and had less light-intensity activity, than "non-work". The period immediately after work appeared important for MVPA. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in all sedentary and activity outcomes occurring during work hours across the workplace settings. Call-centre workers were generally the most sedentary and least physically active at work; customer service workers were typically the least sedentary and the most active at work. The workplace is a key setting for prolonged sedentary time, especially for some occupational groups, and the potential health risk burden attached requires investigation. Future workplace regulations and health promotion initiatives for sedentary occupations to reduce prolonged sitting time should be considered.

  18. Prolonged sedentary time and physical activity in workplace and non-work contexts: a cross-sectional study of office, customer service and call centre employees

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background To examine sedentary time, prolonged sedentary bouts and physical activity in Australian employees from different workplace settings, within work and non-work contexts. Methods A convenience sample of 193 employees working in offices (131), call centres (36) and customer service (26) was recruited. Actigraph GT1M accelerometers were used to derive percentages of time spent sedentary (<100 counts per minute; cpm), in prolonged sedentary bouts (≥20 minutes or ≥30 minutes), light-intensity activity (100–1951 cpm) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA; ≥1952 cpm). Using mixed models adjusted for confounders, these were compared for: work days versus non-work days; work hours versus non-work hours (work days only); and, across workplace settings. Results Working hours were mostly spent sedentary (77.0%, 95%CI: 76.3, 77.6), with approximately half of this time accumulated in prolonged bouts of 20 minutes or more. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in all outcomes between workdays and non-work days, and, on workdays, between work- versus non-work hours. Results consistently showed “work” was more sedentary and had less light-intensity activity, than “non-work”. The period immediately after work appeared important for MVPA. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in all sedentary and activity outcomes occurring during work hours across the workplace settings. Call-centre workers were generally the most sedentary and least physically active at work; customer service workers were typically the least sedentary and the most active at work. Conclusion The workplace is a key setting for prolonged sedentary time, especially for some occupational groups, and the potential health risk burden attached requires investigation. Future workplace regulations and health promotion initiatives for sedentary occupations to reduce prolonged sitting time should be considered. PMID:23101767

  19. An Improved Call Admission Control Mechanism with Prioritized Handoff Queuing Scheme for BWA Networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chowdhury, Prasun; Saha Misra, Iti

    2014-10-01

    Nowadays, due to increased demand for using the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) networks in a satisfactory manner a promised Quality of Service (QoS) is required to manage the seamless transmission of the heterogeneous handoff calls. To this end, this paper proposes an improved Call Admission Control (CAC) mechanism with prioritized handoff queuing scheme that aims to reduce dropping probability of handoff calls. Handoff calls are queued when no bandwidth is available even after the allowable bandwidth degradation of the ongoing calls and get admitted into the network when an ongoing call is terminated with a higher priority than the newly originated call. An analytical Markov model for the proposed CAC mechanism is developed to analyze various performance parameters. Analytical results show that our proposed CAC with handoff queuing scheme prioritizes the handoff calls effectively and reduces dropping probability of the system by 78.57% for real-time traffic without degrading the number of failed new call attempts. This results in the increased bandwidth utilization of the network.

  20. Close-Call Action Log Form

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Spuler, Linda M.; Ford, Patricia K.; Skeete, Darren C.; Hershman, Scot; Raviprakash, Pushpa; Arnold, John W.; Tran, Victor; Haenze, Mary Alice

    2005-01-01

    "Close Call Action Log Form" ("CCALF") is the name of both a computer program and a Web-based service provided by the program for creating an enhanced database of close calls (in the colloquial sense of mishaps that were avoided by small margins) assigned to the Center Operations Directorate (COD) at Johnson Space Center. CCALF provides a single facility for on-line collaborative review of close calls. Through CCALF, managers can delegate responses to employees. CCALF utilizes a pre-existing e-mail system to notify managers that there are close calls to review, but eliminates the need for the prior practices of passing multiple e-mail messages around the COD, then collecting and consolidating them into final responses: CCALF now collects comments from all responders for incorporation into reports that it generates. Also, whereas it was previously necessary to manually calculate metrics (e.g., numbers of maintenance-work orders necessitated by close calls) for inclusion in the reports, CCALF now computes the metrics, summarizes them, and displays them in graphical form. The reports and all pertinent information used to generate the reports are logged, tracked, and retained by CCALF for historical purposes.

  1. Calling in Work: Secular or Sacred?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Steger, Michael F.; Pickering, N. K.; Shin, J. Y.; Dik, B. J.

    2010-01-01

    Recent scholarship indicates that people who view their work as a calling are more satisfied with their work and their lives. Historically, calling has been regarded as a religious experience, although modern researchers frequently have adopted a more expansive and secular conceptualization of calling, emphasizing meaning and personal fulfillment…

  2. Hornbills can distinguish between primate alarm calls.

    PubMed Central

    Rainey, Hugo J.; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Slater, Peter J. B.

    2004-01-01

    Some mammals distinguish between and respond appropriately to the alarm calls of other mammal and bird species. However, the ability of birds to distinguish between mammal alarm calls has not been investigated. Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) produce different alarm calls to two predators: crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and leopards (Panthera pardus). Yellow-casqued hornbills (Ceratogymna elata) are vulnerable to predation by crowned eagles but are not preyed on by leopards and might therefore be expected to respond to the Diana monkey eagle alarm call but not to the leopard alarm call. We compared responses of hornbills to playback of eagle shrieks, leopard growls, Diana monkey eagle alarm calls and Diana monkey leopard alarm calls and found that they distinguished appropriately between the two predator vocalizations as well as between the two Diana monkey alarm calls. We discuss possible mechanisms leading to these responses. PMID:15209110

  3. Calling behavior of spotted owls in Northern Arizona

    Treesearch

    Jospeh L. Ganey

    1990-01-01

    I studied the calling behavior of radio-tagged Mexican Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis lucida) in northern Arizona. Owls used a variety of calls, with three call types (Four-note Location Call, Contact Call, and Bark Series) accounting for 86% of calling bouts heard. These calls were used by both sexes, but in significantly different proportions....

  4. Conference calls.

    PubMed

    2002-07-01

    Last minute places were still available as Emergency Nurse went to press at an RCN A&E Nursing Association symposium on July 2 to examine the impact of the Department of Health's Reforming Emergency Care strategy. For details of the event, to be held at Cheadle, Cheshire, call Grant Williams on 07771 740243.

  5. Call intercalation in dyadic interactions in natural choruses of Johnstone's whistling frog Eleutherodactylus johnstonei (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae).

    PubMed

    Tárano, Zaida; Carballo, Luisana

    2016-05-01

    Communal signaling increases the likelihood of acoustic interference and impairs mate choice; consequently, mechanisms of interference avoidance are expected. Adjustment of the timing of the calls between signalers, specifically call alternation, is probably the most efficient strategy. For this reason, in the present study we analyzed call timing in dyads of males of E. johnstonei in six natural assemblages. We addressed whether males entrain their calls with those of other males at the assemblage and if they show selective attention in relation to perceived amplitude of the other males' calls, inter-male distance, or intrinsic call features (call duration, period or dominant frequency). We expected males to selectively attend to closer or louder males and/or to those of higher or similar attractiveness for females than themselves, because those would be their strongest competitors. We found that most males intercalated their calls with those of at least one male. In assemblages of 3 individuals, males seemed to attend to a fixed number of males regardless of their characteristics. In assemblages of more than 3 individuals, the perceived amplitude of the call of the neighboring male was higher, and the call periods of the males were more similar in alternating dyads than in the non-alternating ones. At the proximate level, selective attention based on perceived amplitude may relate to behavioral hearing thresholds. Selective attention based on the similarity of call periods may relate to the properties of the call oscillators controlling calling rhythms. At the ultimate level, selective attention may be related to the likelihood of acoustic competition for females. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Using Call Detail Records for Modeling Coastal Recreation Behavior

    EPA Science Inventory

    Call data records (CDR) are data from cellular phone networks that can be used to understand human mobility or where people go spatially. They can be used to estimate visitation to an area such as a coastal access point for a given time window, as well as provide information on t...

  7. Capturing Accurate and Useful Information on Medication-Related Telenursing Triage Calls.

    PubMed

    Lake, R; Li, L; Baysari, M; Byrne, M; Robinson, M; Westbrook, J I

    2016-01-01

    Registered nurses providing telenursing triage and advice services record information on the medication related calls they handle. However the quality and consistency of these data were rarely examined. Our aim was to examine medication related calls made to the healthdirect advice service in November 2014, to assess their basic characteristics and how the data entry format influenced information collected and data consistency. Registered nurses selected the patient question type from a range of categories, and entered the medications involved in a free text field. Medication names were manually extracted from the free text fields. We also compared the selected patient question type with the free text description of the call, in order to gauge data consistency. Results showed that nurses provided patients with advice on medication-related queries in a timely matter (the median call duration of 9 minutes). From 1835 calls, we were able to identify and classify 2156 medications into 384 generic names. However, in 204 cases (11.2% of calls) no medication name was entered. A further 308 (15.0%) of the medication names entered were not identifiable. When we compared the selected patient question with the free text description of calls, we found that these were consistent in 63.27% of cases. Telenursing and triage advice services provide a valuable resource to the public with quick and easily accessible advice. To support nurses provide quality services and record accurate information about the queries, appropriate data entry format and design would be beneficial.

  8. Women's questions about medicines in pregnancy - An analysis of calls to an Australian national medicines call centre.

    PubMed

    Pijpers, Eva L; Kreijkamp-Kaspers, Sanne; McGuire, Treasure M; Deckx, Laura; Brodribb, Wendy; van Driel, Mieke L

    2017-06-01

    For many medicines, safe use during pregnancy is not established and adherence is often poor due to safety concerns. Therefore, it is important to identify consumers' medicines information needs during pregnancy. A retrospective, mixed methods analysis was conducted on eight years of pregnancy-related calls to an Australian national medicines call centre. The call profile of pregnancy and non-pregnancy-related questions were compared. Medicines involved in pregnancy calls were categorised by class (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC)3 level), and Therapeutic Goods Administration pregnancy category. Questions in these calls were also themed by pregnancy stage. We identified 4573 pregnancy-related and 118 547 non-pregnancy-related calls. The caller profile for pregnancy-related calls was female (93.7%), asking for herself (83.0%), and while 70.1% of questions involved one medicine, 9.6% involved three or more medicines. Pregnancy enquiries were prompted more often by conflicting information, inadequate information or desire for a second opinion. For 1166 calls, where the stage of pregnancy was available, most questions concerned safety. Medication classified as 'safe' during pregnancy accounted for 34% of these questions. After antidepressants, most calls were made about over-the-counter (OTC) medicines (paracetamol, dexchlorpheniramine, codeine). Safe treatment for everyday conditions was of increasing concern as the pregnancy progressed. Pregnant women are concerned about the safety of medication use in pregnancy and a significant proportion overestimate risk. Psychotropic medication and fertility are strong drivers to seek information during preconception. Everyday illnesses and self-medication with OTC medication are a common concern throughout pregnancy, even though many medicines are safe to use. © 2016 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

  9. Site specific passive acoustic detection and densities of humpback whale calls off the coast of California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Helble, Tyler Adam

    Passive acoustic monitoring of marine mammal calls is an increasingly important method for assessing population numbers, distribution, and behavior. Automated methods are needed to aid in the analyses of the recorded data. When a mammal vocalizes in the marine environment, the received signal is a filtered version of the original waveform emitted by the marine mammal. The waveform is reduced in amplitude and distorted due to propagation effects that are influenced by the bathymetry and environment. It is important to account for these effects to determine a site-specific probability of detection for marine mammal calls in a given study area. A knowledge of that probability function over a range of environmental and ocean noise conditions allows vocalization statistics from recordings of single, fixed, omnidirectional sensors to be compared across sensors and at the same sensor over time with less bias and uncertainty in the results than direct comparison of the raw statistics. This dissertation focuses on both the development of new tools needed to automatically detect humpback whale vocalizations from single-fixed omnidirectional sensors as well as the determination of the site-specific probability of detection for monitoring sites off the coast of California. Using these tools, detected humpback calls are "calibrated" for environmental properties using the site-specific probability of detection values, and presented as call densities (calls per square kilometer per time). A two-year monitoring effort using these calibrated call densities reveals important biological and ecological information on migrating humpback whales off the coast of California. Call density trends are compared between the monitoring sites and at the same monitoring site over time. Call densities also are compared to several natural and human-influenced variables including season, time of day, lunar illumination, and ocean noise. The results reveal substantial differences in call densities

  10. ICALL's Relevance to CALL

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ward, Monica

    2017-01-01

    The term Intelligent Computer Assisted Language Learning (ICALL) covers many different aspects of CALL that add something extra to a CALL resource. This could be with the use of computational linguistics or Artificial Intelligence (AI). ICALL tends to be not very well understood within the CALL community. There may also be the slight fear factor…

  11. Secure, web-accessible call rosters for academic radiology departments.

    PubMed

    Nguyen, A V; Tellis, W M; Avrin, D E

    2000-05-01

    Traditionally, radiology department call rosters have been posted via paper and bulletin boards. Frequently, changes to these lists are made by multiple people independently, but often not synchronized, resulting in confusion among the house staff and technical staff as to who is on call and when. In addition, multiple and disparate copies exist in different sections of the department, and changes made would not be propagated to all the schedules. To eliminate such difficulties, a paperless call scheduling application was developed. Our call scheduling program allowed Java-enabled web access to a database by designated personnel from each radiology section who have privileges to make the necessary changes. Once a person made a change, everyone accessing the database would see the modification. This eliminates the chaos resulting from people swapping shifts at the last minute and not having the time to record or broadcast the change. Furthermore, all changes to the database were logged. Users are given a log-in name and password and can only edit their section; however, all personnel have access to all sections' schedules. Our applet was written in Java 2 using the latest technology in database access. We access our Interbase database through the DataExpress and DB Swing (Borland, Scotts Valley, CA) components. The result is secure access to the call rosters via the web. There are many advantages to the web-enabled access, mainly the ability for people to make changes and have the changes recorded and propagated in a single virtual location and available to all who need to know.

  12. Multi-species call-broadcast improved detection of endangered Yuma clapper rail compared to single-species call-broadcast

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nadeau, Christopher P.; Conway, Courtney J.; Piest, Linden; Burger, William P.

    2013-01-01

    Broadcasting calls of marsh birds during point-count surveys increases their detection probability and decreases variation in the number of birds detected across replicate surveys. However, multi-species monitoring using call-broadcast may reduce these benefits if birds are reluctant to call once they hear broadcasted calls of other species. We compared a protocol that uses call-broadcast for only one species (Yuma clapper rail [Rallus longirostris yumanensis]) to a protocol that uses call-broadcast for multiple species. We detected more of each of the following species using the multi-species protocol: 25 % more pied-billed grebes, 160 % more American bitterns, 52 % more least bitterns, 388 % more California black rails, 12 % more Yuma clapper rails, 156 % more Virginia rails, 214 % more soras, and 19 % more common gallinules. Moreover, the coefficient of variation was smaller when using the multi-species protocol: 10 % smaller for pied-billed grebes, 38 % smaller for American bitterns, 19 % smaller for least bitterns, 55 % smaller for California black rails, 5 % smaller for Yuma clapper rails, 38 % smaller for Virginia rails, 44 % smaller for soras, and 8 % smaller for common gallinules. Our results suggest that multi-species monitoring approaches may be more effective and more efficient than single-species approaches even when using call-broadcast.

  13. Competitive pressures affect sexual signal complexity in Kurixalus odontotarsus: insights into the evolution of compound calls

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Male-male vocal competition in anuran species is critical for mating success; however, it is also energetically demanding and highly time-consuming. Thus, we hypothesized that males may change signal elaboration in response to competition in real time. Male serrate-legged small treefrogs (Kurixalus odontotarsus) produce compound calls that contain two kinds of notes, harmonic sounds called ‘A notes’ and short broadband sounds called ‘B notes’. Using male evoked vocal response experiments, we found that competition influences the temporal structure and complexity of vocal signals produced by males. Males produce calls with a higher ratio of notes:call, and more compound calls including more A notes but fewer B notes with contest escalation. In doing so, males minimize the energy costs and maximize the benefits of competition when the level of competition is high. This means that the evolution of sexual signal complexity in frogs may be susceptible to selection for plasticity related to adjusting performance to the pressures of competition, and supports the idea that more complex social contexts can lead to greater vocal complexity. PMID:29175862

  14. Characteristics of calls to the Israeli hotline during the Intifada.

    PubMed

    Gilat, Itzhak; Latzer, Yael

    2007-08-01

    The present study examined the help-seeking characteristics of callers to the ten Israeli hotline centers during the Intifada - the Palestinian uprising in the Israeli administered territories. The research method combined quantitative and qualitative analyses of the volunteers' written reports. The quantitative analysis was conducted on a sample of 21,315 structured forms, and the qualitative content analysis was carried out on a sample of 498 verbal descriptions of calls. The quantitative analysis revealed a U-shaped curve illustrating the frequency of Intifada-related calls in relation to the time of the study. The qualitative analysis showed that the main complaints of the callers were focused on direct and masked manifestations of anxiety and feelings of helplessness. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of understanding the unique psychological response to a new kind of stress, as seen from the perspective of calls to a hotline.

  15. Effect of public awareness campaigns on calls to ambulance across Australia.

    PubMed

    Bray, Janet E; Straney, Lahn; Barger, Bill; Finn, Judith

    2015-05-01

    The National Stroke Foundation of Australia has run 12 public awareness campaigns since 2004. Campaign exposure and funding has varied annually and regionally during this time. The aim of this study was to measure the effect of campaigns on calls to ambulance for stroke across Australia in exposed regions (paid or pro bono advertising). All ambulance services in Australia provided monthly ambulance dispatch data between January 2003 and June 2014. We performed multivariable regression to measure the effect of campaign exposure on the volume of stroke-related emergency calls, after controlling for confounders. The final model indicated that 11 of the 12 National Stroke Foundation campaigns were associated with increases in the volume of stroke-related calls (varying between 1% and 9.9%) in regions with exposure to advertising. This increase lasted ≈3 months, with an additional 10.2% relative increase in the volume of the calls in regions with paid advertising. We found no significant additional effect of the campaigns on stroke calls where ambulance services are publicly funded. The National Stroke Foundation stroke awareness campaigns are associated with increases to calls to ambulance for stroke in regions receiving advertising and promotion. Research is now required to examine whether this increased use in ambulance is for appropriate emergencies. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

  16. Economic evaluation of the differential benefits of home visits with telephone calls and telephone calls only in transitional discharge support.

    PubMed

    Wong, Frances Kam Yuet; So, Ching; Chau, June; Law, Antony Kwan Pui; Tam, Stanley Ku Fu; McGhee, Sarah

    2015-01-01

    home visits and telephone calls are two often used approaches in transitional care, but their differential economic effects are unknown. to examine the differential economic benefits of home visits with telephone calls and telephone calls only in transitional discharge support. cost-effectiveness analysis conducted alongside a randomised controlled trial (RCT). patients discharged from medical units randomly assigned to control (control, N = 210), home visits with calls (home, N = 196) and calls only (call, N = 204). cost-effectiveness analyses were conducted from the societal perspective comparing monetary benefits and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained. the home arm was less costly but less effective at 28 days and was dominating (less costly and more effective) at 84 days. The call arm was dominating at both 28 and 84 days. The incremental QALY for the home arm was -0.0002/0.0008 (28/84 days), and the call arm was 0.0022/0.0104 (28/84 days). When the three groups were compared, the call arm had a higher probability being cost-effective at 84 days but not at 28 days (home: 53%, call: 35% (28 days) versus home: 22%, call: 73% (84 days)) measuring against the NICE threshold of £20,000. the original RCT showed that the bundled intervention involving home visits and calls was more effective than calls only in the reduction of hospital readmissions. This study adds a cost perspective to inform policymakers that both home visits and calls only are cost-effective for transitional care support, but calls only have a higher chance of being cost-effective for a sustained period after intervention. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.

  17. Effect of introduction of electronic patient reporting on the duration of ambulance calls.

    PubMed

    Kuisma, Markku; Väyrynen, Taneli; Hiltunen, Tuomas; Porthan, Kari; Aaltonen, Janne

    2009-10-01

    We examined the effect of the change from paper records to the electronic patient records (EPRs) on ambulance call duration. We retrieved call duration times 6 months before (group 1) and 6 months after (group 2) the introduction of EPR. Subgroup analysis of group 2 was fulfilled depending whether the calls were made during the first or last 3 months after EPR introduction. We analyzed 37 599 ambulance calls (17 950 were in group 1 and 19 649 were in group 2). The median call duration in group 1 was 48 minutes and in group 2 was 49 minutes (P = .008). In group 2, call duration was longer during the first 3 months after EPR introduction. In multiple linear regression analysis, urgency category (P < .0001), unit level (P < .0001), and transportation decision (P < .0001) influenced the call duration. The documentation method was not a significant factor. Electronic patient record system can be implemented in an urban ambulance service in such a way that documentation method does not become a significant factor in determining call duration in the long run. Temporary performance drop during the first 3 months after introduction was noticed, reflecting adaptation process to a new way of working.

  18. SEE: improving nurse-patient communications and preventing software piracy in nurse call applications.

    PubMed

    Unluturk, Mehmet S

    2012-06-01

    Nurse call system is an electrically functioning system by which patients can call upon from a bedside station or from a duty station. An intermittent tone shall be heard and a corridor lamp located outside the room starts blinking with a slow or a faster rate depending on the call origination. It is essential to alert nurses on time so that they can offer care and comfort without any delay. There are currently many devices available for a nurse call system to improve communication between nurses and patients such as pagers, RFID (radio frequency identification) badges, wireless phones and so on. To integrate all these devices into an existing nurse call system and make they communicate with each other, we propose software client applications called bridges in this paper. We also propose a window server application called SEE (Supervised Event Executive) that delivers messages among these devices. A single hardware dongle is utilized for authentication and copy protection for SEE. Protecting SEE with securities provided by dongle only is a weak defense against hackers. In this paper, we develop some defense patterns for hackers such as calculating checksums in runtime, making calls to dongle from multiple places in code and handling errors properly by logging them into database.

  19. Ontogenetic variation of heritability and maternal effects in yellow-bellied marmot alarm calls.

    PubMed

    Blumstein, Daniel T; Nguyen, Kathy T; Martin, Julien G A

    2013-05-07

    Individuals of many species produce distinctive vocalizations that may relay potential information about the signaller. The alarm calls of some species have been reported to be individually specific, and this distinctiveness may allow individuals to access the reliability or kinship of callers. While not much is known generally about the heritability of mammalian vocalizations, if alarm calls were individually distinctive to permit kinship assessment, then call structure should be heritable. Here, we show conclusively for the first time that alarm call structure is heritable. We studied yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) and made nine quantitative measurements of their alarm calls. With a known genealogy, we used the animal model (a statistical technique) to estimate alarm call heritability. In juveniles, only one of the measured variables had heritability significantly different from zero; however, most variables had significant maternal environmental effects. By contrast, yearlings and adults had no significant maternal environmental effects, but the heritability of nearly all measured variables was significantly different from zero. Some, but not all of these heritable effects were significantly different across age classes. The presence of significantly non-zero maternal environmental effects in juveniles could reflect the impact of maternal environmental stresses on call structure. Regardless of this mechanism, maternal environmental effects could permit kinship recognition in juveniles. In older animals, the substantial genetic basis of alarm call structure suggests that calls could be used to assess kinship and, paradoxically, might also suggest a role of learning in call structure.

  20. Ontogenetic variation of heritability and maternal effects in yellow-bellied marmot alarm calls

    PubMed Central

    Blumstein, Daniel T.; Nguyen, Kathy T.; Martin, Julien G. A.

    2013-01-01

    Individuals of many species produce distinctive vocalizations that may relay potential information about the signaller. The alarm calls of some species have been reported to be individually specific, and this distinctiveness may allow individuals to access the reliability or kinship of callers. While not much is known generally about the heritability of mammalian vocalizations, if alarm calls were individually distinctive to permit kinship assessment, then call structure should be heritable. Here, we show conclusively for the first time that alarm call structure is heritable. We studied yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) and made nine quantitative measurements of their alarm calls. With a known genealogy, we used the animal model (a statistical technique) to estimate alarm call heritability. In juveniles, only one of the measured variables had heritability significantly different from zero; however, most variables had significant maternal environmental effects. By contrast, yearlings and adults had no significant maternal environmental effects, but the heritability of nearly all measured variables was significantly different from zero. Some, but not all of these heritable effects were significantly different across age classes. The presence of significantly non-zero maternal environmental effects in juveniles could reflect the impact of maternal environmental stresses on call structure. Regardless of this mechanism, maternal environmental effects could permit kinship recognition in juveniles. In older animals, the substantial genetic basis of alarm call structure suggests that calls could be used to assess kinship and, paradoxically, might also suggest a role of learning in call structure. PMID:23466987

  1. 1 CFR 19.4 - Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... special days or events. 19.4 Section 19.4 General Provisions ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL... PROCLAMATIONS § 19.4 Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events. Except as may be... calling for the observance of special days, or other periods of time, or events, shall be assigned by the...

  2. 1 CFR 19.4 - Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... special days or events. 19.4 Section 19.4 General Provisions ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL... PROCLAMATIONS § 19.4 Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events. Except as may be... calling for the observance of special days, or other periods of time, or events, shall be assigned by the...

  3. 1 CFR 19.4 - Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... special days or events. 19.4 Section 19.4 General Provisions ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL... PROCLAMATIONS § 19.4 Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events. Except as may be... calling for the observance of special days, or other periods of time, or events, shall be assigned by the...

  4. 1 CFR 19.4 - Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... special days or events. 19.4 Section 19.4 General Provisions ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL... PROCLAMATIONS § 19.4 Proclamations calling for the observance of special days or events. Except as may be... calling for the observance of special days, or other periods of time, or events, shall be assigned by the...

  5. Sleep and recovery in physicians on night call: a longitudinal field study.

    PubMed

    Malmberg, Birgitta; Kecklund, Göran; Karlson, Björn; Persson, Roger; Flisberg, Per; Ørbaek, Palle

    2010-08-15

    It is well known that physicians' night-call duty may cause impaired performance and adverse effects on subjective health, but there is limited knowledge about effects on sleep duration and recovery time. In recent years occupational stress and impaired well-being among anaesthesiologists have been frequently reported for in the scientific literature. Given their main focus on handling patients with life-threatening conditions, when on call, one might expect sleep and recovery to be negatively affected by work, especially in this specialist group. The aim of the present study was to examine whether a 16-hour night-call schedule allowed for sufficient recovery in anaesthesiologists compared with other physician specialists handling less life-threatening conditions, when on call. Sleep, monitored by actigraphy and Karolinska Sleep Diary/Sleepiness Scale on one night after daytime work, one night call, the following first and second nights post-call, and a Saturday night, was compared between 15 anaesthesiologists and 17 paediatricians and ear, nose, and throat surgeons. Recovery patterns over the days after night call did not differ between groups, but between days. Mean night sleep for all physicians was 3 hours when on call, 7 h both nights post-call and Saturday, and 6 h after daytime work (p < 0.001). Scores for mental fatigue and feeling well rested were poorer post-call, but returned to Sunday morning levels after two nights' sleep. Despite considerable sleep loss during work on night call, and unexpectedly short sleep after ordinary day work, the physicians' self-reports indicate full recovery after two nights' sleep. We conclude that these 16-hour night duties were compatible with a short-term recovery in both physician groups, but the limited sleep duration in general still implies a long-term health concern. These results may contribute to the establishment of safe working hours for night-call duty in physicians and other health-care workers.

  6. Sleep and recovery in physicians on night call: a longitudinal field study

    PubMed Central

    2010-01-01

    Background It is well known that physicians' night-call duty may cause impaired performance and adverse effects on subjective health, but there is limited knowledge about effects on sleep duration and recovery time. In recent years occupational stress and impaired well-being among anaesthesiologists have been frequently reported for in the scientific literature. Given their main focus on handling patients with life-threatening conditions, when on call, one might expect sleep and recovery to be negatively affected by work, especially in this specialist group. The aim of the present study was to examine whether a 16-hour night-call schedule allowed for sufficient recovery in anaesthesiologists compared with other physician specialists handling less life-threatening conditions, when on call. Methods Sleep, monitored by actigraphy and Karolinska Sleep Diary/Sleepiness Scale on one night after daytime work, one night call, the following first and second nights post-call, and a Saturday night, was compared between 15 anaesthesiologists and 17 paediatricians and ear, nose, and throat surgeons. Results Recovery patterns over the days after night call did not differ between groups, but between days. Mean night sleep for all physicians was 3 hours when on call, 7 h both nights post-call and Saturday, and 6 h after daytime work (p < 0.001). Scores for mental fatigue and feeling well rested were poorer post-call, but returned to Sunday morning levels after two nights' sleep. Conclusions Despite considerable sleep loss during work on night call, and unexpectedly short sleep after ordinary day work, the physicians' self-reports indicate full recovery after two nights' sleep. We conclude that these 16-hour night duties were compatible with a short-term recovery in both physician groups, but the limited sleep duration in general still implies a long-term health concern. These results may contribute to the establishment of safe working hours for night-call duty in physicians and

  7. Segmental structure in banded mongoose calls.

    PubMed

    Fitch, W Tecumseh

    2012-12-03

    In complex animal vocalizations, such as bird or whale song, a great variety of songs can be produced via rearrangements of a smaller set of 'syllables', known as 'phonological syntax' or 'phonocoding' However, food or alarm calls, which function as referential signals, were previously thought to lack such combinatorial structure. A new study of calls in the banded mongoose Mungos mungo provides the first evidence of phonocoding at the level of single calls. The first portion of the call provides cues to the identity of the caller, and the second part encodes its current activity. This provides the first example known in animals of something akin to the consonants and vowels of human speech.

  8. Effects of an appointment reminder call on patient show rates.

    PubMed

    Gariti, P; Alterman, A I; Holub-Beyer, E; Volpicelli, J R; Prentice, N; O'Brien, C P

    1995-01-01

    A pilot study (N = 80) was conducted to determine if (1) prospective substance-dependent patients randomly selected to be reminded (TC) of their scheduled intake evaluation the day before their first appointment would have a higher show rate than those not contacted (NC); and (2) if TC subjects administered a satisfaction questionnaire 1-3 days after intake would exhibit higher treatment retention rates at one week and one month posttreatment entry than NC subjects not exposed to the questionnaire. The findings suggest that reminding prospective patients of their initial scheduled appointments and following up with phone calls to those who fail to show can improve the rate at which patients will initiate treatment, provided initial appointments are scheduled in a timely manner (7 days or less). Similarly, the combination of the reminder call and the satisfaction questionnaire were associated with higher treatment retention rates for those whose initial appointments were scheduled in a timely manner.

  9. Stereotypy and variability of social calls among clustering female big-footed myotis (Myotis macrodactylus).

    PubMed

    Xiao, Yan-Hong; Wang, Lei; Hoyt, Joseph R; Jiang, Ting-Lei; Lin, Ai-Qing; Feng, Jiang

    2018-03-18

    Echolocating bats have developed advanced auditory perception systems, predominantly using acoustic signaling to communicate with each other. They can emit a diverse range of social calls in complex behavioral contexts. This study examined the vocal repertoire of five pregnant big-footed myotis bats (Myotis macrodactylus). In the process of clustering, the last individual to return to the colony (LI) emitted social calls that correlated with behavior, as recorded on a PC-based digital recorder. These last individuals could emit 10 simple monosyllabic and 27 complex multisyllabic types of calls, constituting four types of syllables. The social calls were composed of highly stereotyped syllables, hierarchically organized by a common set of syllables. However, intra-specific variation was also found in the number of syllables, syllable order and patterns of syllable repetition across call renditions. Data were obtained to characterize the significant individual differences that existed in the maximum frequency and duration of calls. Time taken to return to the roost was negatively associated with the diversity of social calls. Our findings indicate that variability in social calls may be an effective strategy taken by individuals during reintegration into clusters of female M. macrodactylus.

  10. House Calls: California Program For Homebound Patients Reduces Monthly Spending, Delivers Meaningful Care.

    PubMed

    Melnick, Glenn A; Green, Lois; Rich, Jeremy

    2016-01-01

    In 2009 HealthCare Partners Affiliates Medical Group, based in Southern California, launched House Calls, an in-home program that provides, coordinates, and manages care primarily for recently discharged high-risk, frail, and psychosocially compromised patients. Its purpose is to reduce preventable emergency department visits and hospital readmissions. We present data over time from this well-established program to provide an example for other new programs that are being established across the United States to serve this population with complex needs. The findings show that the initial House Calls structure, staffing patterns, and processes differed across the geographic areas that it served, and that they also evolved over time in different ways. In the same time period, all areas experienced a reduction in operating costs per patient and showed substantial reductions in monthly per patient health care spending and hospital utilization after enrollment in the House Calls program, compared to the period before enrollment. Despite more than five years of experience, the program structure continues to evolve and adjust staffing and other features to accommodate the dynamic nature of this complex patient population. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

  11. Calling under pressure: short-finned pilot whales make social calls during deep foraging dives

    PubMed Central

    Jensen, Frants H.; Perez, Jacobo Marrero; Johnson, Mark; Soto, Natacha Aguilar; Madsen, Peter T.

    2011-01-01

    Toothed whales rely on sound to echolocate prey and communicate with conspecifics, but little is known about how extreme pressure affects pneumatic sound production in deep-diving species with a limited air supply. The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is a highly social species among the deep-diving toothed whales, in which individuals socialize at the surface but leave their social group in pursuit of prey at depths of up to 1000 m. To investigate if these animals communicate acoustically at depth and test whether hydrostatic pressure affects communication signals, acoustic DTAGs logging sound, depth and orientation were attached to 12 pilot whales. Tagged whales produced tonal calls during deep foraging dives at depths of up to 800 m. Mean call output and duration decreased with depth despite the increased distance to conspecifics at the surface. This shows that the energy content of calls is lower at depths where lungs are collapsed and where the air volume available for sound generation is limited by ambient pressure. Frequency content was unaffected, providing a possible cue for group or species identification of diving whales. Social calls may be important to maintain social ties for foraging animals, but may be impacted adversely by vessel noise. PMID:21345867

  12. Calling under pressure: short-finned pilot whales make social calls during deep foraging dives.

    PubMed

    Jensen, Frants H; Perez, Jacobo Marrero; Johnson, Mark; Soto, Natacha Aguilar; Madsen, Peter T

    2011-10-22

    Toothed whales rely on sound to echolocate prey and communicate with conspecifics, but little is known about how extreme pressure affects pneumatic sound production in deep-diving species with a limited air supply. The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is a highly social species among the deep-diving toothed whales, in which individuals socialize at the surface but leave their social group in pursuit of prey at depths of up to 1000 m. To investigate if these animals communicate acoustically at depth and test whether hydrostatic pressure affects communication signals, acoustic DTAGs logging sound, depth and orientation were attached to 12 pilot whales. Tagged whales produced tonal calls during deep foraging dives at depths of up to 800 m. Mean call output and duration decreased with depth despite the increased distance to conspecifics at the surface. This shows that the energy content of calls is lower at depths where lungs are collapsed and where the air volume available for sound generation is limited by ambient pressure. Frequency content was unaffected, providing a possible cue for group or species identification of diving whales. Social calls may be important to maintain social ties for foraging animals, but may be impacted adversely by vessel noise.

  13. Segmental structure in banded mongoose calls

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    In complex animal vocalizations, such as bird or whale song, a great variety of songs can be produced via rearrangements of a smaller set of 'syllables', known as 'phonological syntax' or 'phonocoding' However, food or alarm calls, which function as referential signals, were previously thought to lack such combinatorial structure. A new study of calls in the banded mongoose Mungos mungo provides the first evidence of phonocoding at the level of single calls. The first portion of the call provides cues to the identity of the caller, and the second part encodes its current activity. This provides the first example known in animals of something akin to the consonants and vowels of human speech. See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/10/97 PMID:23206277

  14. Implications of National Anesthesia Workload on the Staffing of a Call Center: The Malignant Hyperthermia Consultant Hotline.

    PubMed

    Dexter, Franklin; Rosenberg, Henry; Epstein, Richard H; Semo, Judith Jurin; Litman, Ronald S

    2015-08-01

    Recently, we analyzed data from the American Society of Anesthesiologist's (ASA) Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI) to report the United States (U.S.) anesthesia workload by time of day and day of the week. The AQI data were reported using the Central Time zone. Times for the N = 613 calls to the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States (MHAUS) Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) Hotline from August 1, 2012, through March 7, 2014, were adjusted similarly. The MH Hotline effectively provides at all times to each anesthesia group an additional board-certified anesthesiologist who has expertise in managing, diagnosing, and/or preventing MH crises. We compared the timing of calls with the MH Hotline consultants relative to times of most anesthesia workload nationally. The interval 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM Central Time on regular workdays accounted for most (P < 0.0001) calls to the MH Hotline (62.5% ± 2.0% [mean ± standard error]). However, the interval accounted for significantly less than the 82.2% of anesthesia minutes and 84.5% of general anesthesia minutes during that interval nationally (both P < 0.0001). Thus, most calls to the MH Hotline occurred when anesthesia groups nationwide were the busiest. Weekends accounted for 15.3% ± 1.5% of MH Hotline calls, significantly greater than the rates of 5.2% of anesthesia minutes and 4.3% of general anesthesia minutes during weekends nationally (both P < 0.0001). Thus, the MH Hotline was used proportionately more often when anesthesia providers have fewer colleagues present and available for consultation (all P < 0.0001). These findings may be expected of other (future) national support centers for anesthesia.

  15. Outsourcing an Effective Postdischarge Call Program

    PubMed Central

    Meek, Kevin L.; Williams, Paula; Unterschuetz, Caryn J.

    2018-01-01

    To improve patient satisfaction ratings and decrease readmissions, many organizations utilize internal staff to complete postdischarge calls to recently released patients. Developing, implementing, monitoring, and sustaining an effective call program can be challenging and have eluded some of the renowned medical centers in the country. Using collaboration with an outsourced vendor to bring state-of-the-art call technology and staffed with specially trained callers, health systems can achieve elevated levels of engagement and satisfaction for their patients postdischarge. PMID:29494453

  16. Calling to Nursing: Concept Analysis.

    PubMed

    Emerson, Christie

    The aims of this article are (a) to analyze the concept of a calling as it relates nursing and (b) to develop a definition of calling to nursing with the detail and clarity needed to guide reliable and valid research. The classic steps described by Walker and Avant are used for the analysis. Literature from several disciplines is reviewed including vocational psychology, Christian career counseling, sociology, organizational management, and nursing. The analysis provides an operational definition of a calling to nursing and establishes 3 defining attributes of the concept: (a) a passionate intrinsic motivation or desire (perhaps with a religious component), (b) an aspiration to engage in nursing practice, as a means of fulfilling one's purpose in life, and (c) the desire to help others as one's purpose in life. Antecedents to the concept are personal introspection and cognitive awareness. Positive consequences to the concept are improved work meaningfulness, work engagement, career commitment, personal well-being, and satisfaction. Negative consequences of having a calling might include willingness to sacrifice well-being for work and problems with work-life balance. Following the concept analysis, philosophical assumptions, contextual factors, interdisciplinary work, research opportunities, and practice implications are discussed.

  17. Press Calls | NOAA Gulf Spill Restoration

    Science.gov Websites

    Projects Near You Strategic Frameworks Monitoring and Adaptive Management Restoration Areas Alabama Florida Archive Home Press Calls Press Calls Gulf Spill Restoration Menu Home Restoration Areas About Us Data How

  18. Neural-tree call admission controller for ATM networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rughooputh, Harry C. S.

    1999-03-01

    Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) has been recommended by ITU-T as the transport method for broadband integrated services digital networks. In high-speed ATM networks different types of multimedia traffic streams with widely varying traffic characteristics and Quality of Service (QoS) are asynchronously multiplexed on transmission links and switched without window flow control as found in X.25. In such an environment, a traffic control scheme is required to manage the required QoS of each class individually. To meet the QoS requirements, Bandwidth Allocation and Call Admission Control (CAC) in ATM networks must be able to adapt gracefully to the dynamic behavior of traffic and the time-varying nature of the network condition. In this paper, a Neural Network approach for CAC is proposed. The call admission problem is addressed by designing controllers based on Neural Tree Networks. Simulations reveal that the proposed scheme is not only simple but it also offers faster response than conventional neural/neuro-fuzzy controllers.

  19. Evolution of advertisement calls in African clawed frogs

    PubMed Central

    Tobias, Martha L.; Evans, Ben J.; Kelley, Darcy B.

    2014-01-01

    Summary For most frogs, advertisement calls are essential for reproductive success, conveying information on species identity, male quality, sexual state and location. While the evolutionary divergence of call characters has been examined in a number of species, the relative impacts of genetic drift or natural and sexual selection remain unclear. Insights into the evolutionary trajectory of vocal signals can be gained by examining how advertisement calls vary in a phylogenetic context. Evolution by genetic drift would be supported if more closely related species express more similar songs. Conversely, a poor correlation between evolutionary history and song expression would suggest evolution shaped by natural or sexual selection. Here, we measure seven song characters in 20 described and two undescribed species of African clawed frogs (genera Xenopus and Silurana) and four populations of X. laevis. We identify three call types — click, burst and trill — that can be distinguished by click number, call rate and intensity modulation. A fourth type is biphasic, consisting of two of the above. Call types vary in complexity from the simplest, a click, to the most complex, a biphasic call. Maximum parsimony analysis of variation in call type suggests that the ancestral type was of intermediate complexity. Each call type evolved independently more than once and call type is typically not shared by closely related species. These results indicate that call type is homoplasious and has low phylogenetic signal. We conclude that the evolution of call type is not due to genetic drift, but is under selective pressure. PMID:24723737

  20. 46 CFR 169.750 - Radio call sign.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Radio call sign. 169.750 Section 169.750 Shipping COAST... Control, Miscellaneous Systems, and Equipment Markings § 169.750 Radio call sign. Each vessel certificated for exposed or partially protected water service must have its radio call sign permanently displayed...

  1. Longitudinal Associations of Homophobic Name-Calling Victimization With Psychological Distress and Alcohol Use During Adolescence.

    PubMed

    Tucker, Joan S; Ewing, Brett A; Espelage, Dorothy L; Green, Harold D; de la Haye, Kayla; Pollard, Michael S

    2016-07-01

    Homophobic victimization, and specifically name-calling, has been associated with greater psychological distress and alcohol use in adolescents. This longitudinal study examines whether sexual orientation moderates these associations and also differentiates between the effects of name-calling from friends and nonfriends. Results are based on 1,325 students from three Midwestern high schools who completed in-school surveys in 2012 and 2013. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the associations among homophobic name-calling victimization and changes in anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and alcohol use one year later, controlling for other forms of victimization and demographics. Homophobic name-calling victimization by friends was not associated with changes in psychological distress or alcohol use among either students who self-identified as heterosexual or those who self-identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB). In contrast, homophobic name-calling by nonfriends was associated with increased psychological distress over a one-year period among LGB students and increased drinking among heterosexual students. Homophobic name-calling victimization, specifically from nonfriends, can adversely affect adolescent well-being over time and, thus, is important to address in school-based bullying prevention programs. School staff and parents should be aware that both LGB and heterosexual adolescents are targets of homophobic name-calling but may tend to react to this type of victimization in different ways. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms through which homophobic victimization increases the risk of psychological distress and alcohol use over time. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.

  2. Ambulance Services at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia and Hospital Kota Bharu: A Retrospective Study of Calls

    PubMed Central

    Shah Che Hamzah, Mohd Shaharudin; Ahmad, Rashidi; Nik Abdul Rahman, Nik Hisamuddin; Pardi, Kasmah Wati; Jaafar, Naimah; Wan Adnan, Wan Aasim; Jaalam, Kamaruddin; Sahil Jamalullail, Syed Mohsin

    2005-01-01

    This retrospective study attempted to identify the pattern of ambulance calls for the past two years at the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) and Hospital Kota Bharu (HKB). This study will provide a simple method of acquiring information related to ambulance response time (ART) and to test whether it met the international standards and needs of the client. Additionally, this paper takes into account the management of emergency calls. This included ambulance response time, which was part of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) episode: onset of ART, which started when details like phone number of the caller, exact location of the incident and the nature of the main complaint had been noted. ART ended when the emergency team arrived at the scene of incident. Information regarding ambulance calls from the record offices of HUSM and HKB was recorded for the year 2001 and 2002, tabulated and analyzed. There was a significant difference in the total number of calls managed by HUSM and HKB in the year 2001. It was noted that 645 calls were managed by HUSM while 1069 calls were recorded at HKB. In the year 2002, however, HUSM led with 613 extra numbers of calls as compare to HKB with 1193 numbers of calls. The pattern of ambulance calls observed is thought to possibly be influenced by social activities like local festivities, school holidays and the seasons. Further, it is observed that no studies were previously undertaken to compare the ART at both the HUSM and HKB to that of the international standards. In fact, a literature review undertaken so far showed no similar studies have been done for the whole Malaysia. PMID:22605956

  3. Physician alert: the legal risks associated with 'on-call' duties in the USA.

    PubMed

    Paterick, Zachary R; Patel, Nachiket J; Paterick, Timothy Edward

    2018-06-13

    On-call physicians encounter a diverse aggregate of interfaces with sundry persons concerning patient care that may surface potential legal peril. The duties and obligations of an on-call physician, who must act as a fiduciary to all patients, create a myriad of circumstances where there is a risk of falling prey to legal ambiguities. The understanding of the doctor-patient relationship, the obligations of physicians under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the meaning of medical informed consent and the elements of negligence will help physicians avoid the legal risk associated with the various encounters of being on call. After introducing the legal concepts, we will explore the interactions that may put physicians at legal risk and outline how to mitigate that risk. Being on call is time consuming and arduous. While on call, physicians have a duty to act morally and ethically in the best interest of the patients. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  4. Knowledge of the 911 Good Samaritan Law and 911-calling behavior of overdose witnesses.

    PubMed

    Jakubowski, Andrea; Kunins, Hillary V; Huxley-Reicher, Zina; Siegler, Anne

    2017-10-03

    Overdose deaths tripled between 1999 and 2014. Most fatal overdoses are witnessed, offering an opportunity for bystanders to call 911. However, fear of arrest may prevent them from calling authorities. Many states have passed 911 Good Samaritan laws that protects the 911 caller and overdose victim from prosecution for drug possession. Little is known, however, about whether the law affects 911-calling behavior of overdose witnesses. This study investigated the relationship between knowledge of a 911 Good Samaritan Law (GSL) and 911-calling behavior of study participants trained in opioid overdose rescue. 351 individuals (N = 351) trained in overdose rescue and educated about the New York State GSL were enrolled in a prospective longitudinal study. Trained researchers conducted baseline and 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up surveys with study participants to assess participant knowledge of the GSL and responses to witnessed overdoses. At the 12-month follow-up, participants had witnessed 326 overdoses. In the overdose events where the participant had correct knowledge of the GSL at the time of the event, the odds of a bystander calling 911 were over 3 times greater than when the witness had incorrect knowledge of the GSL (odds ratio [OR] = 3.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.4-7.5). This association remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, race of the witness, and overdose setting (adjusted OR [AOR] = 3.6, 95% CI: 1.4-9.4). This study shows a clear association between knowledge of the GSL and 911-calling behavior. Legislation that protects overdose responders along with public awareness of the law may be an effective strategy to increase rates of 911-calling in response to overdose events and decrease overdose-related mortality.

  5. Parallel female preferences for call duration in a diploid ancestor of an allotetraploid treefrog.

    PubMed

    Bee, Mark A

    2008-09-01

    The gray treefrog species complex (Hyla chrysoscelis and H. versicolor) comprises a single allotetraploid species (H. versicolor) that arose multiple times from hybrid matings between an extant diploid species (H. chrysoscelis) and at least two other extinct diploid treefrogs. While previous studies have investigated female preferences for call duration in the tetraploid, we know little about these preferences in its putative diploid anscestors. Here, I report results from two-choice phonotaxis experiments investigating call duration preferences in H. chrysoscelis. Females preferred an average-length call over shorter-than-average calls (0.5-2.0 standard deviations [SD] below average), and they preferred longer-than-average calls over average or shorter-than-average calls if the difference in pulse number was at least 2.0 SD. When the amplitude of the longer alternative was attenuated by 6 dB, females still preferred an average-length call over a shorter-than-average call, but there was no preference for longer-than-average calls over an average call. In the presence of chorus noise, female preferences for both average and longer-than-average calls over shorter alternatives were weakened or reversed. Together, the results from this study reveal patterns of female preferences for call duration that are strikingly similar among two members of a species complex with a novel evolutionary history. In both species, female preferences are directional, nonlinear, and limited by environmental noise. Furthermore, these results also highlight the need for caution in studies of sexual selection when extrapolating from patterns of female preference obtained under ideal laboratory conditions to conclusions about how those preferences are expressed in the real world.

  6. Wake-Up Call.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sartorius, Tara Cady

    2002-01-01

    Focuses on the artist, Laquita Thomson, whose inspiration are the stars and space. Discusses her series called, "Celestial Happenings: Stars Fell on Alabama." Describes one event that inspired an art work when a meteor crashed into an Alabama home. Includes lessons for various subject areas. (CMK)

  7. 29 CFR 1912.25 - Call of meetings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 7 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Call of meetings. 1912.25 Section 1912.25 Labor Regulations...) ADVISORY COMMITTEES ON STANDARDS Operation of Advisory Committees § 1912.25 Call of meetings. No advisory committee shall hold any meeting except at the call of, or with the advance approval, of the Assistant...

  8. Non-song social call bouts of migrating humpback whales

    PubMed Central

    Rekdahl, Melinda L.; Dunlop, Rebecca A.; Goldizen, Anne W.; Garland, Ellen C.; Biassoni, Nicoletta; Miller, Patrick; Noad, Michael J.

    2015-01-01

    The use of stereotyped calls within structured bouts has been described for a number of species and may increase the information potential of call repertoires. Humpback whales produce a repertoire of social calls, although little is known about the complexity or function of these calls. In this study, digital acoustic tag recordings were used to investigate social call use within bouts, the use of bouts across different social contexts, and whether particular call type combinations were favored. Call order within bouts was investigated using call transition frequencies and information theory techniques. Call bouts were defined through analysis of inter-call intervals, as any calls within 3.9 s of each other. Bouts were produced significantly more when new whales joined a group compared to groups that did not change membership, and in groups containing multiple adults escorting a female and calf compared to adult only groups. Although social calls tended to be produced in bouts, there were few repeated bout types. However, the order in which most call types were produced within bouts was non-random and dependent on the preceding call type. These bouts appear to be at least partially governed by rules for how individual components are combined. PMID:26093396

  9. Non-song social call bouts of migrating humpback whales.

    PubMed

    Rekdahl, Melinda L; Dunlop, Rebecca A; Goldizen, Anne W; Garland, Ellen C; Biassoni, Nicoletta; Miller, Patrick; Noad, Michael J

    2015-06-01

    The use of stereotyped calls within structured bouts has been described for a number of species and may increase the information potential of call repertoires. Humpback whales produce a repertoire of social calls, although little is known about the complexity or function of these calls. In this study, digital acoustic tag recordings were used to investigate social call use within bouts, the use of bouts across different social contexts, and whether particular call type combinations were favored. Call order within bouts was investigated using call transition frequencies and information theory techniques. Call bouts were defined through analysis of inter-call intervals, as any calls within 3.9 s of each other. Bouts were produced significantly more when new whales joined a group compared to groups that did not change membership, and in groups containing multiple adults escorting a female and calf compared to adult only groups. Although social calls tended to be produced in bouts, there were few repeated bout types. However, the order in which most call types were produced within bouts was non-random and dependent on the preceding call type. These bouts appear to be at least partially governed by rules for how individual components are combined.

  10. Passive acoustic monitoring, development of disturbance calls and differentiation of disturbance and advertisement calls in the Argentine croaker Umbrina canosai (Sciaenidae).

    PubMed

    Tellechea, J S; Fine, M L; Norbis, W

    2017-04-01

    Disturbance and advertisement calls of the Argentine croaker Umbrina canosai were recorded from coastal Uruguayan waters. Dissections indicate typical sciaenid extrinsic swimbladder muscles present exclusively in males. Disturbance calls were produced when captive U. canosai were startled, chased with a net or grabbed by the tail. Calls were unusual for sciaenids because each pulse consisted of multiple cycles. The number of cycles per pulse and dominant frequency did not change with U. canosai size, but pulse duration and interpulse interval increased. Advertisement calls were recorded from unseen choruses in the field and confirmed with captive individuals in a large tank. Advertisement calls were recorded throughout the known range of the species in Uruguay indicating a continuous belt of spawning populations. Tank recordings of the same individuals permitted explicit comparisons between the two calls. Advertisement call pulses averaged 2·4 more cycles (11·0-8·6) although pulses of both calls were basically similar as were durations and dominant frequencies. Pulse number, however, differed markedly, averaging 13·6 and 3·4 pulses for disturbance and advertisement calls respectively. Furthermore, disturbance calls were produced as a rapid series with an interpulse interval of 26-31 ms whereas advertisement call patterns were less stereotyped and ranged from <100 to 450 ms. Multicycle pulses distinguished U. canosai from other sympatric sciaenids. © 2017 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

  11. Campbell's monkeys use affixation to alter call meaning.

    PubMed

    Ouattara, Karim; Lemasson, Alban; Zuberbühler, Klaus

    2009-11-12

    Human language has evolved on a biological substrate with phylogenetic roots deep in the primate lineage. Here, we describe a functional analogy to a common morphological process in human speech, affixation, in the alarm calls of free-ranging adult Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli campbelli). We found that male alarm calls are composed of an acoustically variable stem, which can be followed by an acoustically invariable suffix. Using long-term observations and predator simulation experiments, we show that suffixation in this species functions to broaden the calls' meaning by transforming a highly specific eagle alarm to a general arboreal disturbance call or by transforming a highly specific leopard alarm call to a general alert call. We concluded that, when referring to specific external events, non-human primates can generate meaningful acoustic variation during call production that is functionally equivalent to suffixation in human language.

  12. Effectiveness of the call in beach volleyball attacking play.

    PubMed

    Künzell, Stefan; Schweikart, Florian; Köhn, Daniel; Schläppi-Lienhard, Olivia

    2014-12-09

    In beach volleyball the setter has the opportunity to give her or his hitter a "call". The call intends that the setter suggests to her or his partner where to place the attack in the opponent's court. The effectiveness of a call is still unknown. We investigated the women's and men's Swiss National Beach Volleyball Championships in 2011 and analyzed 2185 attacks. We found large differences between female and male players. While men called in only 38.4% of attacks, women used calls in 85.5% of attacks. If the male players followed a given call, 63% of the attacks were successful. The success rate of attacks without any call was 55.8% and 47.6% when the call was ignored. These differences were not significant (χ(2)(2) = 4.55, p = 0.103). In women's beach volleyball, the rate of successful attacks was 61.5% when a call was followed, 35% for attacks without a call, and 42.6% when a call was ignored. The differences were highly significant (χ(2)(2) = 23.42, p < 0.0005). Taking into account the findings of the present study, we suggested that the call was effective in women's beach volleyball, while its effect in men's game was unclear. Considering the quality of calls we indicate that there is a significant potential to increase the effectiveness of a call.

  13. Behavioral evidence for community-wide species discrimination from echolocation calls in bats.

    PubMed

    Schuchmann, Maike; Siemers, Björn M

    2010-07-01

    Recognizing species identity is crucial for many aspects of animal life and is often mediated by acoustic signals. Although most animals are able to distinguish acoustic signals of their own species from other sympatrically occurring species, it is yet unknown whether animals can distinguish among acoustic signals of different closely related sympatric species. In this context, echolocating bats are a particularly interesting model system: their echolocation system evolved primarily for spatial orientation and foraging, but recent studies indicate that echolocation also has an important communicative function. Yet, the role of echolocation calls for species discrimination and thus potentially for interspecific communication has not been investigated. Using a behavioral discrimination assay, we found that two species of wild horseshoe bats could discriminate calls of their own species from those of three sympatric congeneric species. We further show that the bats were able to discriminate between echolocation calls of different congeneric species from the local community. In both cases, discrimination ability was high despite strong overlap of species' call frequency bands. This study provides the first experimental evidence for species discrimination based on echolocation calls. On a more general level, it shows for the first time that animals can distinguish among acoustic signals of different closely related and ecologically similar species from their local community.

  14. Last Call at Loon Lake: Counter-Narratives in Human Ecology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gaylie, Veronica

    2014-01-01

    In cultures of excess, the challenge is to see. In a time of climate change, how will humans find the questions, the reflections, the poems, or the prayers that will bring ecological justice and peace? This writing begins a response to the call made on the last day of our gathering at Loon Lake for a "commonist manifesto" around…

  15. Feasibility of using a pediatric call center as part of a quality improvement effort to prevent hospital readmission.

    PubMed

    Kirsch, Sallie Davis; Wilson, Lauren S; Harkins, Michelle; Albin, Dawn; Del Beccaro, Mark A

    2015-01-01

    The primary aim of this intervention was to assess the feasibility of using call center nurses who are experts in telephone triage to conduct post discharge telephone calls, as part of a quality improvement effort to prevent hospital readmission. Families of patients with bronchiolitis were called between 24 and 48 hours after discharge. The calls conducted by the nurses were efficient (average time was 12 minutes), and their assessments helped to identify gaps in inpatient family education. Overall, the project demonstrated the efficacy in readmission prevention by using nurses who staff a call center to conduct post-hospitalization telephone calls. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Communication calls produced by electrical stimulation of four structures in the guinea pig brain

    PubMed Central

    Green, David B.; Shackleton, Trevor M.; Grimsley, Jasmine M. S.; Zobay, Oliver; Palmer, Alan R.

    2018-01-01

    One of the main central processes affecting the cortical representation of conspecific vocalizations is the collateral output from the extended motor system for call generation. Before starting to study this interaction we sought to compare the characteristics of calls produced by stimulating four different parts of the brain in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). By using anaesthetised animals we were able to reposition electrodes without distressing the animals. Trains of 100 electrical pulses were used to stimulate the midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG), hypothalamus, amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Each structure produced a similar range of calls, but in significantly different proportions. Two of the spontaneous calls (chirrup and purr) were never produced by electrical stimulation and although we identified versions of chutter, durr and tooth chatter, they differed significantly from our natural call templates. However, we were routinely able to elicit seven other identifiable calls. All seven calls were produced both during the 1.6 s period of stimulation and subsequently in a period which could last for more than a minute. A single stimulation site could produce four or five different calls, but the amygdala was much less likely to produce a scream, whistle or rising whistle than any of the other structures. These three high-frequency calls were more likely to be produced by females than males. There were also differences in the timing of the call production with the amygdala primarily producing calls during the electrical stimulation and the hypothalamus mainly producing calls after the electrical stimulation. For all four structures a significantly higher stimulation current was required in males than females. We conclude that all four structures can be stimulated to produce fictive vocalizations that should be useful in studying the relationship between the vocal motor system and cortical sensory representation. PMID:29584746

  17. Communication calls produced by electrical stimulation of four structures in the guinea pig brain.

    PubMed

    Green, David B; Shackleton, Trevor M; Grimsley, Jasmine M S; Zobay, Oliver; Palmer, Alan R; Wallace, Mark N

    2018-01-01

    One of the main central processes affecting the cortical representation of conspecific vocalizations is the collateral output from the extended motor system for call generation. Before starting to study this interaction we sought to compare the characteristics of calls produced by stimulating four different parts of the brain in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). By using anaesthetised animals we were able to reposition electrodes without distressing the animals. Trains of 100 electrical pulses were used to stimulate the midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG), hypothalamus, amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Each structure produced a similar range of calls, but in significantly different proportions. Two of the spontaneous calls (chirrup and purr) were never produced by electrical stimulation and although we identified versions of chutter, durr and tooth chatter, they differed significantly from our natural call templates. However, we were routinely able to elicit seven other identifiable calls. All seven calls were produced both during the 1.6 s period of stimulation and subsequently in a period which could last for more than a minute. A single stimulation site could produce four or five different calls, but the amygdala was much less likely to produce a scream, whistle or rising whistle than any of the other structures. These three high-frequency calls were more likely to be produced by females than males. There were also differences in the timing of the call production with the amygdala primarily producing calls during the electrical stimulation and the hypothalamus mainly producing calls after the electrical stimulation. For all four structures a significantly higher stimulation current was required in males than females. We conclude that all four structures can be stimulated to produce fictive vocalizations that should be useful in studying the relationship between the vocal motor system and cortical sensory representation.

  18. After-hours on-call: the effect on paediatricians' spouses and families.

    PubMed

    Emmett, Brierley M; Dovey, Susan M; Wheeler, Benjamin J

    2013-03-01

    The after-hours or on-call component of a paediatrician's work has implications for their spouse and family. Little is known about the specifics and extent of this impact. We aimed to understand the potential positive and negative impacts of this important aspect of a paediatrician's work. The spouses (nine female and one male) of 10 practising paediatricians, who are providing care in a variety of hospital settings within New Zealand, were interviewed using an open-questioning technique. Interviews were analysed by a qualitative line-by-line thematic method in order to categorise the perceived impact of their spouses' on-call work on themselves and their families. Participants reported multiple effects of after-hours on-call on themselves, their paediatrician partners and their families. Negative themes included sleep deprivation, restrictions on life-style and living location (specifically home proximity to hospital), spousal sacrifice, intimacy and communication challenges, and diminished quality time with children. Positive themes highlighted professional rewards, financial security and adaptability. Themes were consistent across age, length of relationship, spousal occupation and the presence of children. The intensity of these impacts for our participants appeared to vary depending on the degree of marital support and frequency of on-call. After-hours on-call has a generally negative impact on paediatricians' spouses and families. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2013 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

  19. Source levels of foraging humpback whale calls.

    PubMed

    Fournet, Michelle E H; Matthews, Leanna P; Gabriele, Christine M; Mellinger, David K; Klinck, Holger

    2018-02-01

    Humpback whales produce a wide range of low- to mid-frequency vocalizations throughout their migratory range. Non-song "calls" dominate this species' vocal repertoire while on high-latitude foraging grounds. The source levels of 426 humpback whale calls in four vocal classes were estimated using a four-element planar array deployed in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Southeast Alaska. There was no significant difference in source levels between humpback whale vocal classes. The mean call source level was 137 dB RMS re 1 μPa @ 1 m in the bandwidth of the call (range 113-157 dB RMS re 1 μPa @ 1 m), where bandwidth is defined as the frequency range from the lowest to the highest frequency component of the call. These values represent a robust estimate of humpback whale source levels on foraging grounds and should append earlier estimates.

  20. Systems configured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a service representative

    DOEpatents

    Harris, Scott H.; Johnson, Joel A.; Neiswanger, Jeffery R.; Twitchell, Kevin E.

    2004-03-09

    The present invention includes systems configured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a customer service representative. In one embodiment of the invention, a system configured to distribute a telephone call within a network includes a distributor adapted to connect with a telephone system, the distributor being configured to connect a telephone call using the telephone system and output the telephone call and associated data of the telephone call; and a plurality of customer service representative terminals connected with the distributor and a selected customer service representative terminal being configured to receive the telephone call and the associated data, the distributor and the selected customer service representative terminal being configured to synchronize, application of the telephone call and associated data from the distributor to the selected customer service representative terminal.

  1. Integrated Language Skills CALL Course Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Watson, Kevin; Agawa, Grant

    2013-01-01

    The importance of a structured learning framework or interrelated frameworks is the cornerstone of a solid English as a foreign language (EFL) computer-assisted language learning (CALL) curriculum. While the benefits of CALL are widely promoted in the literature, there is often an endemic discord separating theory and practice. Oftentimes the…

  2. Reducing juvenile delinquency with automated cell phone calls.

    PubMed

    Burraston, Bert O; Bahr, Stephen J; Cherrington, David J

    2014-05-01

    Using a sample of 70 juvenile probationers (39 treatment and 31 controls), we evaluated the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program that combined cognitive-behavioral training and automated phone calls. The cognitive-behavioral training contained six 90-min sessions, one per week, and the phone calls occurred twice per day for the year following treatment. Recidivism was measured by whether they were rearrested and the total number of rearrests during the 1st year. To test the impact of the phone calls, those who received phone calls were divided into high and low groups depending on whether they answered more or less than half of their phone calls. Those who completed the class and answered at least half of their phone calls were less likely to have been arrested and had fewer total arrests.

  3. Automated surveillance of 911 call data for detection of possible water contamination incidents.

    PubMed

    Haas, Adam J; Gibbons, Darcy; Dangel, Chrissy; Allgeier, Steve

    2011-03-30

    Drinking water contamination, with the capability to affect large populations, poses a significant risk to public health. In recent water contamination events, the impact of contamination on public health appeared in data streams monitoring health-seeking behavior. While public health surveillance has traditionally focused on the detection of pathogens, developing methods for detection of illness from fast-acting chemicals has not been an emphasis. An automated surveillance system was implemented for Cincinnati's drinking water contamination warning system to monitor health-related 911 calls in the city of Cincinnati. Incident codes indicative of possible water contamination were filtered from all 911 calls for analysis. The 911 surveillance system uses a space-time scan statistic to detect potential water contamination incidents. The frequency and characteristics of the 911 alarms over a 2.5 year period were studied. During the evaluation, 85 alarms occurred, although most occurred prior to the implementation of an additional alerting constraint in May 2009. Data were available for analysis approximately 48 minutes after calls indicating alarms may be generated 1-2 hours after a rapid increase in call volume. Most alerts occurred in areas of high population density. The average alarm area was 9.22 square kilometers. The average number of cases in an alarm was nine calls. The 911 surveillance system provides timely notification of possible public health events, but did have limitations. While the alarms contained incident codes and location of the caller, additional information such as medical status was not available to assist validating the cause of the alarm. Furthermore, users indicated that a better understanding of 911 system functionality is necessary to understand how it would behave in an actual water contamination event.

  4. Mobile phone call data as a regional socio-economic proxy indicator.

    PubMed

    Šćepanović, Sanja; Mishkovski, Igor; Hui, Pan; Nurminen, Jukka K; Ylä-Jääski, Antti

    2015-01-01

    The advent of publishing anonymized call detail records opens the door for temporal and spatial human dynamics studies. Such studies, besides being useful for creating universal models for mobility patterns, could be also used for creating new socio-economic proxy indicators that will not rely only on the local or state institutions. In this paper, from the frequency of calls at different times of the day, in different small regional units (sub-prefectures) in Côte d'Ivoire, we infer users' home and work sub-prefectures. This division of users enables us to analyze different mobility and calling patterns for the different regions. We then compare how those patterns correlate to the data from other sources, such as: news for particular events in the given period, census data, economic activity, poverty index, power plants and energy grid data. Our results show high correlation in many of the cases revealing the diversity of socio-economic insights that can be inferred using only mobile phone call data. The methods and the results may be particularly relevant to policy-makers engaged in poverty reduction initiatives as they can provide an affordable tool in the context of resource-constrained developing economies, such as Côte d'Ivoire's.

  5. Mobile Phone Call Data as a Regional Socio-Economic Proxy Indicator

    PubMed Central

    Šćepanović, Sanja; Mishkovski, Igor; Hui, Pan; Nurminen, Jukka K.; Ylä-Jääski, Antti

    2015-01-01

    The advent of publishing anonymized call detail records opens the door for temporal and spatial human dynamics studies. Such studies, besides being useful for creating universal models for mobility patterns, could be also used for creating new socio-economic proxy indicators that will not rely only on the local or state institutions. In this paper, from the frequency of calls at different times of the day, in different small regional units (sub-prefectures) in Côte d'Ivoire, we infer users' home and work sub-prefectures. This division of users enables us to analyze different mobility and calling patterns for the different regions. We then compare how those patterns correlate to the data from other sources, such as: news for particular events in the given period, census data, economic activity, poverty index, power plants and energy grid data. Our results show high correlation in many of the cases revealing the diversity of socio-economic insights that can be inferred using only mobile phone call data. The methods and the results may be particularly relevant to policy-makers engaged in poverty reduction initiatives as they can provide an affordable tool in the context of resource-constrained developing economies, such as Côte d'Ivoire's. PMID:25897957

  6. Speech-Like Rhythm in a Voiced and Voiceless Orangutan Call

    PubMed Central

    Lameira, Adriano R.; Hardus, Madeleine E.; Bartlett, Adrian M.; Shumaker, Robert W.; Wich, Serge A.; Menken, Steph B. J.

    2015-01-01

    The evolutionary origins of speech remain obscure. Recently, it was proposed that speech derived from monkey facial signals which exhibit a speech-like rhythm of ∼5 open-close lip cycles per second. In monkeys, these signals may also be vocalized, offering a plausible evolutionary stepping stone towards speech. Three essential predictions remain, however, to be tested to assess this hypothesis' validity; (i) Great apes, our closest relatives, should likewise produce 5Hz-rhythm signals, (ii) speech-like rhythm should involve calls articulatorily similar to consonants and vowels given that speech rhythm is the direct product of stringing together these two basic elements, and (iii) speech-like rhythm should be experience-based. Via cinematic analyses we demonstrate that an ex-entertainment orangutan produces two calls at a speech-like rhythm, coined “clicks” and “faux-speech.” Like voiceless consonants, clicks required no vocal fold action, but did involve independent manoeuvring over lips and tongue. In parallel to vowels, faux-speech showed harmonic and formant modulations, implying vocal fold and supralaryngeal action. This rhythm was several times faster than orangutan chewing rates, as observed in monkeys and humans. Critically, this rhythm was seven-fold faster, and contextually distinct, than any other known rhythmic calls described to date in the largest database of the orangutan repertoire ever assembled. The first two predictions advanced by this study are validated and, based on parsimony and exclusion of potential alternative explanations, initial support is given to the third prediction. Irrespectively of the putative origins of these calls and underlying mechanisms, our findings demonstrate irrevocably that great apes are not respiratorily, articulatorilly, or neurologically constrained for the production of consonant- and vowel-like calls at speech rhythm. Orangutan clicks and faux-speech confirm the importance of rhythmic speech antecedents

  7. Seasonal variability and detection range modeling of baleen whale calls in the Gulf of Alaska, 1999-2002.

    PubMed

    Stafford, Kathleen M; Mellinger, David K; Moore, Sue E; Fox, Christopher G

    2007-12-01

    Five species of large whales, including the blue (Balaenoptera musculus), fin (B. physalus), sei (B. borealis), humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae), and North Pacific right (Eubalaena japonica), were the target of commercial harvests in the Gulf of Alaska (GoA) during the 19th through mid-20th Centuries. Since this time, there have been a few summer time visual surveys for these species, but no overview of year-round use of these waters by endangered whales primarily because standard visual survey data are difficult and costly. From October 1999-May 2002, moored hydrophones were deployed in six locations in the GoA to record whale calls. Reception of calls from fin, humpback, and blue whales and an unknown source, called Watkins' whale, showed seasonal and geographic variation. Calls were detected more often during the winter than during the summer, suggesting that animals inhabit the GoA year-round. To estimate the distance at which species-diagnostic calls could be heard, parabolic equation propagation loss models for frequencies characteristic of each of each call type were run. Maximum detection ranges in the subarctic North Pacific ranged from 45 to 250 km among three species (fin, humpback, blue), although modeled detection ranges varied greatly with input parameters and choice of ambient noise level.

  8. Medical Decisions of Pediatric Residents Turn Riskier after a 24-Hour Call with No Sleep.

    PubMed

    Aran, Adi; Wasserteil, Netanel; Gross, Itai; Mendlovic, Joseph; Pollak, Yehuda

    2017-01-01

    Despite a gradual reduction in the workload during residency, 24-hour calls are still an integral part of most training programs. While sleep deprivation increases the risk propensity, the impact on medical risk taking has not been studied. This study aimed to assess the clinical decision making and psychomotor performance of pediatric residents following a limited nap time during a 24-hour call. A neurocognitive battery (IntegNeuro) and a medical decision questionnaire were completed by 44 pediatric residents at 2 time points: after a 24-hour call and following 3 nights with no calls (sleep ≥5 hours). To monitor sleep, residents wore actigraphs and completed sleep logs. Nap time during the shift was <1 hour in 14 cases (32%), 1 to 2 hours in 16 cases (35%), and 2 to 3 hours in 14 cases (32%). Residents who napped less than 1 hour chose the riskier medical option in 50% of cases compared with 36% when answering the same questionnaire after 3 nights with no calls (P = 0.002). This effect was not found in residents who napped 1 to 2 hours (no change in risk taking) or 2 to 3 hours (4% decreased risk taking) (difference between groups, P = 0.001). Risk-taking tendency inversely correlated with sustained attention scores (Pearson = -0.433, P = 0.003). Sustained attention was the neurocognitive domain most affected by sleep deprivation (effect size = 0.29, P = 0.025). This study suggests that residents napping less than an hour during a night shift are prone to riskier clinical decisions. Hence, enabling residents to nap at least 1 hour during shifts is recommended. © The Author(s) 2016.

  9. Called to a Higher Duty: 1945-1961. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barbieri, Kim E.

    This document represents the fourth part of a five-part curriculum series on the life and times of Dwight D. Eisenhower covers Eisenhower's life from the end of World War II through the series of events that led him to accept the people's call to the presidency. This curriculum highlights Eisenhower's 2 terms of office as the 34th U.S. President.…

  10. CALL on Mac.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fukuzawa, Jeannette L.; Lubin, Jan M.

    Five computer programs for the Macintosh that are geared for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) are described. All five programs allow the teacher to input material. The first program allows entry of new vocabulary lists including definition, a sentence in which the exact word is used, a fill-in-the-blank exercise, and the word's phonetics…

  11. Does Vessel Noise Affect Oyster Toadfish Calling Rates?

    PubMed

    Luczkovich, Joseph J; Krahforst, Cecilia S; Hoppe, Harry; Sprague, Mark W

    2016-01-01

    The question we addressed in this study is whether oyster toadfish respond to vessel disturbances by calling less when vessels with lower frequency spectra are present in a sound recording and afterward. Long-term data recorders were deployed at the Neuse (high vessel-noise site) and Pamlico (low vessel-noise site) Rivers. There were many fewer toadfish detections at the high vessel-noise site than the low-noise station. Calling rates were lower in the high-boat traffic area, suggesting that toadfish cannot call over loud vessel noise, reducing the overall calling rate, and may have to call more often when vessels are not present.

  12. The Phonetics and Phonology of the Polish Calling Melodies.

    PubMed

    Arvaniti, Amalia; Żygis, Marzena; Jaskuła, Marek

    2016-01-01

    Two calling melodies of Polish were investigated, the routine call, used to call someone for an everyday reason, and the urgent call, which conveys disapproval of the addressee's actions. A Discourse Completion Task was used to elicit the two melodies from Polish speakers using twelve names from one to four syllables long; there were three names per syllable count, and speakers produced three tokens of each name with each melody. The results, based on eleven speakers, show that the routine calling melody consists of a low F0 stretch followed by a rise-fall-rise; the urgent calling melody, on the other hand, is a simple rise-fall. Systematic differences were found in the scaling and alignment of tonal targets: the routine call showed late alignment of the accentual pitch peak, and in most instances lower scaling of targets. The accented vowel was also affected, being overall louder in the urgent call. Based on the data and comparisons with other Polish melodies, we analyze the routine call as LH* !H-H% and the urgent call as H* L-L%. We discuss the results and our analysis in light of recent findings on calling melodies in other languages, and explore their repercussions for intonational phonology and the modeling of intonation. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  13. Effects of traffic noise on the calling behavior of two Neotropical hylid frogs

    PubMed Central

    Cechin, Sonia; Antunes, Rógger; Borges-Martins, Márcio

    2017-01-01

    Anthropogenic disturbance has been pointed to as one of the major causes of the world´s biodiversity crisis. Among them, noise pollution is a potential underestimated threat, projected to increase in the next decades accompanying urban expansion. Rising levels of noise pollution may result in negative impacts on species highly dependent on acoustic communication. Amphibians have long served as model organisms for investigating animal acoustic communication because their reproduction depends on transmitting and receiving acoustic signals. A few studies have investigated the effects of anthropogenic noise on anurans, but there is still limited knowledge on how it affects them. In this study, we test the effect of two intensities of traffic noise on calling males of two Neotropical treefrogs species. We expect to record more changes in call parameters, to avoid masking effect, at higher intensity noise treatments, and in the species with higher call/noise frequency overlap. We performed a set of field playback experiments exposing male frogs to road noise at two different intensities (65dB and 75dB). Focal species are Boana bischoffi (high call/noise frequency overlap) and B. leptolineata (low call/noise frequency overlap). Both species changed acoustic parameters during or after the exposure to traffic noise. Advertisement call rate of B. bischoffi decreased during road noise, and dominant frequency decreased over time. Call length of B. leptolineata increased or decreased, depending on the order of noise intensity. We also observed spatial displacement in both species, which moved away from the noise source. Our results provide evidence that traffic noise affects anuran calling behavior, and noise intensity is an important factor affecting how species respond. PMID:28854253

  14. Effects of traffic noise on the calling behavior of two Neotropical hylid frogs.

    PubMed

    Caorsi, Valentina Zaffaroni; Both, Camila; Cechin, Sonia; Antunes, Rógger; Borges-Martins, Márcio

    2017-01-01

    Anthropogenic disturbance has been pointed to as one of the major causes of the world´s biodiversity crisis. Among them, noise pollution is a potential underestimated threat, projected to increase in the next decades accompanying urban expansion. Rising levels of noise pollution may result in negative impacts on species highly dependent on acoustic communication. Amphibians have long served as model organisms for investigating animal acoustic communication because their reproduction depends on transmitting and receiving acoustic signals. A few studies have investigated the effects of anthropogenic noise on anurans, but there is still limited knowledge on how it affects them. In this study, we test the effect of two intensities of traffic noise on calling males of two Neotropical treefrogs species. We expect to record more changes in call parameters, to avoid masking effect, at higher intensity noise treatments, and in the species with higher call/noise frequency overlap. We performed a set of field playback experiments exposing male frogs to road noise at two different intensities (65dB and 75dB). Focal species are Boana bischoffi (high call/noise frequency overlap) and B. leptolineata (low call/noise frequency overlap). Both species changed acoustic parameters during or after the exposure to traffic noise. Advertisement call rate of B. bischoffi decreased during road noise, and dominant frequency decreased over time. Call length of B. leptolineata increased or decreased, depending on the order of noise intensity. We also observed spatial displacement in both species, which moved away from the noise source. Our results provide evidence that traffic noise affects anuran calling behavior, and noise intensity is an important factor affecting how species respond.

  15. Longitudinal Examination of the Bullying-Sexual Violence Pathway across Early to Late Adolescence: Implicating Homophobic Name-Calling.

    PubMed

    Espelage, Dorothy L; Basile, Kathleen C; Leemis, Ruth W; Hipp, Tracy N; Davis, Jordan P

    2018-03-02

    The Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway theory has indicated that bullying perpetration predicts sexual violence perpetration among males and females over time in middle school, and that homophobic name-calling perpetration moderates that association among males. In this study, the Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway theory was tested across early to late adolescence. Participants included 3549 students from four Midwestern middle schools and six high schools. Surveys were administered across six time points from Spring 2008 to Spring 2013. At baseline, the sample was 32.2% White, 46.2% African American, 5.4% Hispanic, and 10.2% other. The sample was 50.2% female. The findings reveal that late middle school homophobic name-calling perpetration increased the odds of perpetrating sexual violence in high school among early middle school bullying male and female perpetrators, while homophobic name-calling victimization decreased the odds of high school sexual violence perpetration among females. The prevention of bullying and homophobic name-calling in middle school may prevent later sexual violence perpetration.

  16. When Crises Call

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kisch, Marian

    2012-01-01

    Natural disasters, as well as crises of the man-made variety, call on leaders of school districts to manage scenarios impossible to predict and for which no amount of training can adequately prepare. One thing all major crises hold in common is their far-reaching effects, which can run the gamut from personal safety and mental well-being to the…

  17. CoVaCS: a consensus variant calling system.

    PubMed

    Chiara, Matteo; Gioiosa, Silvia; Chillemi, Giovanni; D'Antonio, Mattia; Flati, Tiziano; Picardi, Ernesto; Zambelli, Federico; Horner, David Stephen; Pesole, Graziano; Castrignanò, Tiziana

    2018-02-05

    The advent and ongoing development of next generation sequencing technologies (NGS) has led to a rapid increase in the rate of human genome re-sequencing data, paving the way for personalized genomics and precision medicine. The body of genome resequencing data is progressively increasing underlining the need for accurate and time-effective bioinformatics systems for genotyping - a crucial prerequisite for identification of candidate causal mutations in diagnostic screens. Here we present CoVaCS, a fully automated, highly accurate system with a web based graphical interface for genotyping and variant annotation. Extensive tests on a gold standard benchmark data-set -the NA12878 Illumina platinum genome- confirm that call-sets based on our consensus strategy are completely in line with those attained by similar command line based approaches, and far more accurate than call-sets from any individual tool. Importantly our system exhibits better sensitivity and higher specificity than equivalent commercial software. CoVaCS offers optimized pipelines integrating state of the art tools for variant calling and annotation for whole genome sequencing (WGS), whole-exome sequencing (WES) and target-gene sequencing (TGS) data. The system is currently hosted at Cineca, and offers the speed of a HPC computing facility, a crucial consideration when large numbers of samples must be analysed. Importantly, all the analyses are performed automatically allowing high reproducibility of the results. As such, we believe that CoVaCS can be a valuable tool for the analysis of human genome resequencing studies. CoVaCS is available at: https://bioinformatics.cineca.it/covacs .

  18. A comparison of calls subjected to a malpractice claim versus 'normal calls' within the Swedish healthcare direct: a case-control study.

    PubMed

    Ernesäter, Annica; Engström, Maria; Winblad, Ulrika; Holmström, Inger K

    2014-10-03

    The purpose of this study is to compare communication patterns in calls subjected to a malpractice claim with matched controls. In many countries, telephone advice nursing is patients' first contact with healthcare. Telenurses' assessment of callers' symptoms and needs are based on verbal communication only, and problems with over-triage and under-triage have been reported. A total sample of all reported medical errors (n=33) during the period 2003-2010 within Swedish Healthcare Direct was retrieved. Corresponding calls were thereafter identified and collected as sound files from the manager in charge at the respective call centres. For technical reasons, calls from four of the cases were not possible to retrieve. For the present study, matched control calls (n=26) based on the patient's age, gender and main symptom presented by the caller were collected. Male patients were in majority (n=16), and the most common reasons for calling were abdominal pain (n=10) and chest pain (n=5). There were statistically significant differences between the communication in the cases and controls: telenurses used fewer open-ended medical questions (p<0.001) in the cases compared to the control calls; callers provided telenurses with more medical information in the control calls compared to the cases (p=0.001); and telenurses used more facilitation and patient activation activities in the control calls (p=0.034), such as back-channel response (p=0.001), compared to the cases. The present study shows that telenurses in malpractice claimed calls used more closed-ended questioning compared to those in control calls, who used more open-ended questioning and back-channel response, which provided them with richer medical descriptions and more information from the caller. Hence, these communicative techniques are important in addition to solid medical and nursing competence and sound decision aid systems. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not

  19. Twelve years of tracking 52-Hz whale calls from a unique source in the North Pacific

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Watkins, William A.; Daher, Mary Ann; George, Joseph E.; Rodriguez, David

    2004-12-01

    A unique whale call with 50-52 Hz emphasis from a single source has been tracked over 12 years in the central and eastern North Pacific. These calls, referred to as 52-Hz calls, were monitored and analyzed from acoustic data recorded by hydrophones of the US Navy Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) and other arrays. The calls were noticed first in 1989, and have been detected and tracked since 1992. No other calls with similar characteristics have been identified in the acoustic data from any hydrophone system in the North Pacific basin. Only one series of these 52-Hz calls has been recorded at a time, with no call overlap, suggesting that a single whale produced the calls. The calls were recorded from August to February with most in December and January. The species producing these calls is unknown. The tracks of the 52-Hz whale were different each year, and varied in length from 708 to 11,062 km with travel speeds ranging from 0.7 to 3.8 km/h. Tracks included (A) meandering over short ranges, (B) predominantly west-to-east movement, and (C) mostly north-to-south travel. These tracks consistently appeared to be unrelated to the presence or movement of other whale species (blue, fin and humpback) monitored year-round with the same hydrophones.

  20. Automated surveillance of 911 call data for detection of possible water contamination incidents

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Drinking water contamination, with the capability to affect large populations, poses a significant risk to public health. In recent water contamination events, the impact of contamination on public health appeared in data streams monitoring health-seeking behavior. While public health surveillance has traditionally focused on the detection of pathogens, developing methods for detection of illness from fast-acting chemicals has not been an emphasis. Methods An automated surveillance system was implemented for Cincinnati's drinking water contamination warning system to monitor health-related 911 calls in the city of Cincinnati. Incident codes indicative of possible water contamination were filtered from all 911 calls for analysis. The 911 surveillance system uses a space-time scan statistic to detect potential water contamination incidents. The frequency and characteristics of the 911 alarms over a 2.5 year period were studied. Results During the evaluation, 85 alarms occurred, although most occurred prior to the implementation of an additional alerting constraint in May 2009. Data were available for analysis approximately 48 minutes after calls indicating alarms may be generated 1-2 hours after a rapid increase in call volume. Most alerts occurred in areas of high population density. The average alarm area was 9.22 square kilometers. The average number of cases in an alarm was nine calls. Conclusions The 911 surveillance system provides timely notification of possible public health events, but did have limitations. While the alarms contained incident codes and location of the caller, additional information such as medical status was not available to assist validating the cause of the alarm. Furthermore, users indicated that a better understanding of 911 system functionality is necessary to understand how it would behave in an actual water contamination event. PMID:21450105

  1. Identification of chemicals emitted by calling males of the Sapote fruit fly, Anastrepha serpentina.

    PubMed

    Robacker, David C; Aluja, Martin; Bartelt, Robert J; Patt, Joseph

    2009-05-01

    Emissions from sexually active Anastrepha serpentina males were collected by solid-phase microextraction. Calling behavior of wild-type males showed no clear peak during the day, except that it was evident less frequently immediately after daybreak and just before dark. Calling by laboratory males was highest between 8 and 11 h after onset of the photophase, and mating by wild flies occurred mostly between 6 and 10 h after onset of the photophase. Two major components of male emissions were identified as 2,5-dimethylpyrazine (DMP) and 3,6-dihydro-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (DHDMP). DHDMP was synthesized, and the identity of the natural product confirmed by comparison of gas chromatographic retention times and mass spectrum. Emissions of DMP and DHMP were greatest during peak calling behavior, with males emitting up to 1.8 and 3.3 microg/h of DMP and DHDMP, respectively. A minor component, which did not vary with time of day, was identified as 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine. To our knowledge, this is the first report of 3,6-dihydro-2,5-dimethylpyrazine in nature.

  2. 47 CFR 80.225 - Requirements for selective calling equipment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... selective calling (DSC) equipment and selective calling equipment installed in ship and coast stations, and...-STD, “RTCM Recommended Minimum Standards for Digital Selective Calling (DSC) Equipment Providing... Class ‘D’ Digital Selective Calling (DSC)—Methods of testing and required test results,” March 2003. ITU...

  3. Linking Calling Orientations to Organizational Attachment via Organizational Instrumentality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cardador, M. Teresa; Dane, Erik; Pratt, Michael G.

    2011-01-01

    Despite an emerging interest in callings, researchers know little about whether calling orientations matter in the workplace. We explore the under-examined relationship between a calling orientation and employees' attachment to their organizations. Although some theory suggests that callings may be negatively related to organizational attachment,…

  4. The vocal repertoire of the African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus): structure and function of calls.

    PubMed

    Favaro, Livio; Ozella, Laura; Pessani, Daniela

    2014-01-01

    The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is a highly social and vocal seabird. However, currently available descriptions of the vocal repertoire of African Penguin are mostly limited to basic descriptions of calls. Here we provide, for the first time, a detailed description of the vocal behaviour of this species by collecting audio and video recordings from a large captive colony. We combine visual examinations of spectrograms with spectral and temporal acoustic analyses to determine vocal categories. Moreover, we used a principal component analysis, followed by signal classification with a discriminant function analysis, for statistical validation of the vocalisation types. In addition, we identified the behavioural contexts in which calls were uttered. The results show that four basic vocalisations can be found in the vocal repertoire of adult African Penguin, namely a contact call emitted by isolated birds, an agonistic call used in aggressive interactions, an ecstatic display song uttered by single birds, and a mutual display song vocalised by pairs, at their nests. Moreover, we identified two distinct vocalisations interpreted as begging calls by nesting chicks (begging peep) and unweaned juveniles (begging moan). Finally, we discussed the importance of specific acoustic parameters in classifying calls and the possible use of the source-filter theory of vocal production to study penguin vocalisations.

  5. Which types of televised anti-tobacco campaigns prompt more quitline calls from disadvantaged groups?

    PubMed

    Durkin, Sarah J; Wakefield, Melanie A; Spittal, Matthew J

    2011-12-01

    To examine the efficacy of different types of mass media ads in driving lower socio-economic smokers (SES) to utilize quitlines. This study collected all 33 719 calls to the Victorian quitline in Australia over a 2-year period. Negative binomial regressions examined the relationship between weekly levels of exposure to different types of anti-smoking ads and quitline calls, after adjusting for covariates. Interaction terms were added to determine whether relationships differed by SES. In total, smokers were exposed 88.39 times to anti-smoking ads over the 2-year period, as estimated by target audience ratings points. Higher emotion narrative ad exposure had the strongest association with quitline calls, increasing call rates by 13% for every additional ad exposure per week (per 100 points, rate ratio = 1.132, P = 0.001). Substantially, greater increases in calls to quitline from lower SES groups were observed when higher emotion narrative ads were on air compared with when other ad types were on air, and this advantage was not as strong among higher SES groups. Airing higher emotion narrative anti-smoking ads may contribute to reducing, but not eliminating, socio-economic disparities in calls to the quitline through maximizing the responses of the lower SES smokers.

  6. Comparison of Medical Priority Dispatch (MPD) and Criteria Based Dispatch (CBD) relating to cardiac arrest calls.

    PubMed

    Hardeland, Camilla; Olasveengen, Theresa M; Lawrence, Rob; Garrison, Danny; Lorem, Tonje; Farstad, Gunnar; Wik, Lars

    2014-05-01

    Prompt emergency medical service (EMS) system activation with rapid delivery of pre-hospital treatment is essential for patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The two most commonly used dispatch tools are Medical Priority Dispatch (MPD) and Criteria Based Dispatch (CBD). We compared cardiac arrest call processing using these two dispatch tools in two different dispatch centres. Observational study of adult EMS confirmed (non-EMS witnessed) OHCA calls during one year in Richmond, USA (MPD) and Oslo, Norway (CBD). Patients receiving CPR prior to call, interrupted calls or calls where the caller did not have access to the patients were excluded from analysis. Dispatch logs, ambulance records and digitalized dispatcher and caller voice recordings were compared. The MPDS-site processed 182 cardiac arrest calls and the CBD-site 232, of which 100 and 140 calls met the inclusion criteria, respectively. The recognition of cardiac arrest was not different in the MPD and CBD systems; 82% vs. 77% (p=0.42), and pre-EMS arrival CPR instructions were offered to 81% vs. 74% (p=0.22) of callers, respectively. Time to ambulance dispatch was median (95% confidence interval) 15 (13, 17) vs. 33 (29, 36) seconds (p<0.001) and time to chest compression delivery; 4.3 (3.7, 4.9) vs. 3.7 (3.0, 4.1)min for the MPD and CBD systems, respectively (p=0.05). Pre-arrival CPR instructions were offered faster and more frequently in the CBD system, but in both systems chest compressions were delayed 3-4min. Earlier recognition of cardiac arrest and improved CPR instructions may facilitate earlier lay rescuer CPR. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Air pollution and doctors' house calls for respiratory diseases in the Greater Paris area (2000-3).

    PubMed

    Chardon, Benoit; Lefranc, Agnès; Granados, Denis; Grémy, Isabelle

    2007-05-01

    This study describes the short-term relationships between the daily levels of PM10, PM2.5, NO2 and the number of doctors' house calls for asthma, upper respiratory diseases (URD) and lower respiratory diseases (LRD) in Greater Paris for the years 2000-3. Doctors' house calls are a relevant health indicator for the study of short-term health effects of air pollution. Indeed, it is potentially more sensitive than indicators such as general hospital admissions due to the severity of diseases motivating the call. In this study, time-series analysis was used. The daily numbers of doctor's house calls were adjusted for time trends, seasonal factors, day of the week, influenza, weather and pollen. Up to 15 days of lag between exposure and health effects was considered using distributed lag models. A total of about 1,760,000 doctors' house calls for all causes occurred during the study period, among which 8027 were for asthma, 52,928 for LRD and 74,845 for URD. No significant increase in risk was found between air pollution and doctors' house calls for asthma. No significant association was found between NO2 and doctors' house calls. An increase of 10 microg/m3 in the mean levels of PM10 and PM2.5 encountered during the 3 previous days was associated with an increase of 3% (0.8% and 5.3%) and 5.9% (2.9% and 9.0%) in the number of doctor's house calls for URD and LRD, respectively. Considering up to 15 days between exposure and health outcomes, effects persist until 4 days after exposure and then decrease progressively. No morbidity displacement was observed. This study shows a significant heath effect of ambient particles (PM2.5 and PM10). When compared to the RRs obtained for mortality or hospital admissions in the same area, the values of the RRs obtained in this study confirm the higher sensibility of doctor's house calls for respiratory diseases as a health indicator.

  8. 47 CFR 90.241 - Radio call box operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Safety Pool for operation of radio call boxes to be used by the public to request fire, police, ambulance... Public Safety Pool for highway call box systems subject to the following requirements: (1) Call box...) above the ground, the natural formation, or the existing man-made structure (other than an antenna...

  9. 47 CFR 90.241 - Radio call box operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Safety Pool for operation of radio call boxes to be used by the public to request fire, police, ambulance... Public Safety Pool for highway call box systems subject to the following requirements: (1) Call box...) above the ground, the natural formation, or the existing man-made structure (other than an antenna...

  10. [Perception of shift work, burnout and sleep disturbances: a study among call centre operators].

    PubMed

    Consiglio, Chiara; Tinelli, Erica

    2016-01-20

    Shift work is often considered to be a factor that can negatively affect health and sleep quality. However, it is usually considered as a structural factor of the job and not as a perception of a work demand. The study aimed at analyzing the relationship between perception of shift work, burnout and sleep disturbances in a potentially stressful context, namely the call centre setting. Call centre operators (N=510) completed a questionnaire encompassing the following scales: perceptions of shift work, monotony, time pressure, exhaustion, cynicism and sleep disturbances. We conducted two hierarchical regressions in order to analyze the contribution of the perception of shift work on burnout dimensions (exhaustion and cynicism), beyond the contribution of socio-demographical variables, and of two specific job stressors for call centre operators, namely monotony and time pressure. The mediating role of exhaustion and cynicism between the perception of shift work and sleep disturbances was also explored. The perception of shift work was associated with operators' burnout, beyond the effect of socio-demographic variables and other job stressors. In addition, the relationship between the perception of shift work and sleep disturbances was fully mediated by exhaustion and partially mediated by cynicism. Perceived shift work may represent a risk factor for the health of call centre operators that should be monitored and possibly managed through specific organizational interventions.

  11. Tough Calls in Tough Times.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lyman, Linda

    1992-01-01

    Analyzes school boards' response, in terms of crisis decision making, to a situation in which a superintendent was charged and later convicted of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old female student. Cites "Crucial Decisions," by Irving Janis, and offers recommendations to help board members be more effective decision makers. Presents an outline of…

  12. Potential Paradigms and Possible Problems for CALL.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillips, Martin

    1987-01-01

    Describes three models of CALL (computer assisted language learning) activity--games, the expert system, and the prosthetic approaches. A case is made for CALL development within a more instrumental view of the role of computers. (Author/CB)

  13. From calls to communities: a model for time-varying social networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laurent, Guillaume; Saramäki, Jari; Karsai, Márton

    2015-11-01

    Social interactions vary in time and appear to be driven by intrinsic mechanisms that shape the emergent structure of social networks. Large-scale empirical observations of social interaction structure have become possible only recently, and modelling their dynamics is an actual challenge. Here we propose a temporal network model which builds on the framework of activity-driven time-varying networks with memory. The model integrates key mechanisms that drive the formation of social ties - social reinforcement, focal closure and cyclic closure, which have been shown to give rise to community structure and small-world connectedness in social networks. We compare the proposed model with a real-world time-varying network of mobile phone communication, and show that they share several characteristics from heterogeneous degrees and weights to rich community structure. Further, the strong and weak ties that emerge from the model follow similar weight-topology correlations as real-world social networks, including the role of weak ties.

  14. 75 FR 44181 - Mevinphos; Proposed Data Call-in Order for Pesticide Tolerance

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-28

    ... are most often collected in a study called the comparative cholinesterase assay (CCA). Since that time....1520 Processing studies Not Required 24 months (tomatoes) 870.6300 Comparative 6 months 12 months... mevinphos including: 1. A developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) study in rats (with expanded protocol to extend...

  15. Best practices for world-class call centers.

    PubMed

    1998-11-01

    Quality, not quantity, counts more in performance measures for best-practice call centers. Spend money on effective upfront training to save later through increased employee and customer loyalty. Give structured feedback and strong internal support to call-center representatives.

  16. 47 CFR 90.241 - Radio call box operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Radio call box operations. 90.241 Section 90... PRIVATE LAND MOBILE RADIO SERVICES Non-Voice and Other Specialized Operations § 90.241 Radio call box... Safety Pool for operation of radio call boxes to be used by the public to request fire, police, ambulance...

  17. 47 CFR 90.241 - Radio call box operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Radio call box operations. 90.241 Section 90... PRIVATE LAND MOBILE RADIO SERVICES Non-Voice and Other Specialized Operations § 90.241 Radio call box... Safety Pool for operation of radio call boxes to be used by the public to request fire, police, ambulance...

  18. 47 CFR 90.241 - Radio call box operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Radio call box operations. 90.241 Section 90... PRIVATE LAND MOBILE RADIO SERVICES Non-Voice and Other Specialized Operations § 90.241 Radio call box... Safety Pool for operation of radio call boxes to be used by the public to request fire, police, ambulance...

  19. Correlates of Gay-Related Name-Calling in Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slaatten, Hilde; Hetland, Jørn; Anderssen, Norman

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine whether attitudes about gay-related name-calling, social norms concerning gay-related name-calling among co-students, teacher intervention, and school-related support would predict whether secondary school pupils had called another pupil a gay-related name during the last month. A total of 921 ninth-grade…

  20. 47 CFR 32.6621 - Call completion services.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Call completion services. 32.6621 Section 32.6621 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Instructions for Expense Accounts § 32.6621 Call...

  1. Coaching "Callings" throughout the Adult Life Cycle.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hudson, Frederic M.

    2001-01-01

    The process of "callings" continues throughout life. Coaching can connect the present to the future in a meaningful way. Callings represent a value shift requiring revision of the nature and scope of one's central purpose in life and meaningful activities. (JOW)

  2. "It's tough hanging-up a call": The relationships between calling and work hours, psychological detachment, sleep quality, and morning vigor.

    PubMed

    Clinton, Michael E; Conway, Neil; Sturges, Jane

    2017-01-01

    It has been argued that when people believe that their work is a calling, it can often be experienced as an intense and consuming passion with significant personal meaning. While callings have been demonstrated to have several positive outcomes for individuals, less is known about the potential downsides for those who experience work in this way. This study develops a multiple-meditation model proposing that, while the intensity of a calling has a positive direct effect on work-related vigor, it motivates people to work longer hours, which both directly and indirectly via longer work hours, limits their psychological detachment from work in the evenings. In turn, this process reduces sleep quality and morning vigor. Survey and diary data of 193 church ministers supported all hypotheses associated with this model. This implies that intense callings may limit the process of recovery from work experiences. The findings contribute to a more balanced theoretical understanding of callings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Predictors of In-Hospital Mortality After Rapid Response Team Calls in a 274 Hospital Nationwide Sample.

    PubMed

    Shappell, Claire; Snyder, Ashley; Edelson, Dana P; Churpek, Matthew M

    2018-07-01

    Despite wide adoption of rapid response teams across the United States, predictors of in-hospital mortality for patients receiving rapid response team calls are poorly characterized. Identification of patients at high risk of death during hospitalization could improve triage to intensive care units and prompt timely reevaluations of goals of care. We sought to identify predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients who are subjects of rapid response team calls and to develop and validate a predictive model for death after rapid response team call. Analysis of data from the national Get with the Guidelines-Medical Emergency Team event registry. Two-hundred seventy four hospitals participating in Get with the Guidelines-Medical Emergency Team from June 2005 to February 2015. 282,710 hospitalized adults on surgical or medical wards who were subjects of a rapid response team call. None. The primary outcome was death during hospitalization; candidate predictors included patient demographic- and event-level characteristics. Patients who died after rapid response team were older (median age 72 vs 66 yr), were more likely to be admitted for noncardiac medical illness (70% vs 58%), and had greater median length of stay prior to rapid response team (81 vs 47 hr) (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). The prediction model had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.78 (95% CI, 0.78-0.79), with systolic blood pressure, time since admission, and respiratory rate being the most important variables. Patients who die following rapid response team calls differ significantly from surviving peers. Recognition of these factors could improve postrapid response team triage decisions and prompt timely goals of care discussions.

  4. Alarm Fatigue vs User Expectations Regarding Context-Aware Alarm Handling in Hospital Environments Using CallMeSmart.

    PubMed

    Solvoll, Terje; Arntsen, Harald; Hartvigsen, Gunnar

    2017-01-01

    Surveys and research show that mobile communication systems in hospital settings are old and cause frequent interruptions. In the quest to remedy this, an Android based communication system called CallMeSmart tries to encapsulate most of the frequent communication into one hand held device focusing on reducing interruptions and at the same time make the workday easier for healthcare workers. The objective of CallMeSmart is to use context-awareness techniques to automatically monitor the availability of physicians' and nurses', and use this information to prevent or route phone calls, text messages, pages and alarms that would otherwise compromise patient care. In this paper, we present the results from interviewing nurses on alarm fatigue and their expectations regarding context-aware alarm handling using CallMeSmart.

  5. Septic shock: desperately seeking treatment.

    PubMed

    Huet, Olivier; Chin-Dusting, Jaye P F

    2014-01-01

    Septic shock results from the dysregulation of the innate immune response following infection. Despite major advances in fundamental and clinical research, patients diagnosed with septic shock still have a poor prognostic outcome, with a mortality rate of up to 50%. Indeed, the reasons leading to septic shock are still poorly understood. First postulated 30 years ago, the general view of septic shock as an acute and overwhelming inflammatory response still prevails today. Recently, the fact that numerous clinical trials have failed to demonstrate any positive medical outcomes has caused us to question our fundamental understanding of this condition. New and sophisticated technologies now allow us to accurately profile the various stages and contributory components of the inflammatory response defining septic shock, and many studies now report a more complex inflammatory response, particularly during the early phase of sepsis. In addition, novel experimental approaches, using more clinically relevant animal models, to standardize and stratify research outcomes are now being argued for. In the present review, we discuss the most recent findings in relation to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in septic shock, and highlight the attempts made to improve animal experimental models. We also review recent studies reporting promising results with two vastly different therapeutic approaches influencing the renin-angiotensin system and applying mesenchymal stem cells for clinical intervention.

  6. Desperately Seeking Special Ed Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Butler, Kevin

    2008-01-01

    It's no secret that the dearth of special education teachers has created huge headaches for district human resources departments, especially in suburban and rural areas. In addition to insufficient numbers of candidates applying for special education jobs, retention of special education teachers is an ever-greater problem, as research indicates…

  7. 47 CFR 10.510 - Call preemption prohibition.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Call preemption prohibition. 10.510 Section 10.510 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM Equipment Requirements § 10.510 Call preemption prohibition. Devices marketed for public use under part 10...

  8. A call to strengthen the global strategy against schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis: the time is now.

    PubMed

    Lo, Nathan C; Addiss, David G; Hotez, Peter J; King, Charles H; Stothard, J Russell; Evans, Darin S; Colley, Daniel G; Lin, William; Coulibaly, Jean T; Bustinduy, Amaya L; Raso, Giovanna; Bendavid, Eran; Bogoch, Isaac I; Fenwick, Alan; Savioli, Lorenzo; Molyneux, David; Utzinger, Jürg; Andrews, Jason R

    2017-02-01

    In 2001, the World Health Assembly (WHA) passed the landmark WHA 54.19 resolution for global scale-up of mass administration of anthelmintic drugs for morbidity control of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, which affect more than 1·5 billion of the world's poorest people. Since then, more than a decade of research and experience has yielded crucial knowledge on the control and elimination of these helminthiases. However, the global strategy has remained largely unchanged since the original 2001 WHA resolution and associated WHO guidelines on preventive chemotherapy. In this Personal View, we highlight recent advances that, taken together, support a call to revise the global strategy and guidelines for preventive chemotherapy and complementary interventions against schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis. These advances include the development of guidance that is specific to goals of morbidity control and elimination of transmission. We quantify the result of forgoing this opportunity by computing the yearly disease burden, mortality, and lost economic productivity associated with maintaining the status quo. Without change, we estimate that the population of sub-Saharan Africa will probably lose 2·3 million disability-adjusted life-years and US$3·5 billion of economic productivity every year, which is comparable to recent acute epidemics, including the 2014 Ebola and 2015 Zika epidemics. We propose that the time is now to strengthen the global strategy to address the substantial disease burden of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. A call to strengthen the global strategy for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis: the time is now

    PubMed Central

    Lo, Nathan C.; Addiss, David G.; Hotez, Peter J.; King, Charles H.; Stothard, J. Russell; Evans, Darin S.; Colley, Daniel G.; Lin, William; Coulibaly, Jean T.; Bustinduy, Amaya L.; Raso, Giovanna; Bendavid, Eran; Bogoch, Isaac I.; Fenwick, Alan; Savioli, Lorenzo; Molyneux, David; Utzinger, Jürg; Andrews, Jason R.

    2016-01-01

    Summary In 2001, the World Health Assembly (WHA) passed the landmark WHA 54.19 resolution for global scale up of mass administration of anthelminthic drugs for morbidity control of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), which affect over 1.5 billion of the world's poorest people. Since then, over a decade of research and experience has yielded critical new knowledge on the control and elimination of these helminthiases. However, the global strategy has remained largely unchanged since the original 2001 WHA resolution and associated World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on preventive chemotherapy. Here, we highlight recent advances that, taken together, support a call to revise the global strategy and guidelines for preventive chemotherapy and complementary interventions against schistosomiasis and STH. This includes the development of guidance that is specific to goals of “morbidity control” and “elimination of transmission.” We quantify the result of forgoing this opportunity by computing the yearly disease burden, mortality, and lost economic productivity associated with maintaining status quo. Without change, we estimate that the population of sub-Saharan Africa will likely lose 2.3 million disability-adjusted life years and US$3.5 billion of economic productivity every year, which is comparable to recent acute epidemics, including the 2014 Ebola and 2015 Zika epidemics. We propose that the time is now to strengthen the global strategy to address the substantial disease burden of schistosomiasis and STH. PMID:27914852

  10. A Call to Action to Address Gender Equity Within Our Specialty: Time's Up on Waiting for Change.

    PubMed

    Baecher-Lind, Laura; Abbott, Jodi; Atkins, Katharyn Meredith; Nijjar, J Biba; Royce, Celeste; Schiff, Lauren; Ricciotti, Hope A

    2018-06-01

    Although national attention has been focused on sexual harassment and gender inequity in the United States, leaders within the obstetrics and gynecology community have remained relatively silent. Sexual harassment and gender inequity remain pervasive in our specialty. This article serves as a call to action for leadership as well as physicians within obstetrics and gynecology to implement ethical and evidence-based approaches to reduce gender inequity and improve workplace culture within our specialty.

  11. Significant acceleration of emergency response using smartphone geolocation data and a worldwide emergency call support system.

    PubMed

    Weinlich, Michael; Kurz, Peter; Blau, Melissa B; Walcher, Felix; Piatek, Stefan

    2018-01-01

    When patients are disorientated or experience language barriers, it is impossible to activate the emergency response system. In these cases, the delay for receiving appropriate help can extend to several hours. A worldwide emergency call support system (ECSS), including geolocation of modern smartphones (GPS, WLAN and LBS), was established referring to E911 and eCall systems. The system was tested for relevance in quickly forwarding abroad emergency calls to emergency medical services (EMS). To verify that geolocation data from smartphones are exact enough to be used for emergency cases, the accuracy of GPS (global positioning system), Wi-Fi (wireless LAN network) and LBS (location based system) was tested in eleven different countries and compared to actual location. The main objective was analyzed by simulation of emergencies in different countries. The time delay in receiving help in unsuccessful emergency call cases by using the worldwide emergency call support system (ECSS) was measured. GPS is the gold standard to locate patients with an average accuracy of 2.0 ± 3.3 m. Wi-Fi can be used within buildings with an accuracy of 7.0 ± 24.1 m. Using ECSS, the emergency call leads to a successful activation of EMS in 22.8 ± 10.8 min (Median 21 min). The use of a simple app with one button to touch did never cause any delay. The worldwide emergency call support system (ECSS) significantly improves the emergency response in cases of disorientated patients or language barriers. Under circumstances without ECSS, help can be delayed by 2 or more hours and might have relevant lifesaving effects. This is the first time that Wi-Fi geolocation could prove to be a useful improvement in emergencies to enhance GPS, especially within or close to buildings.

  12. National randomized controlled trial of virtual house calls for Parkinson disease.

    PubMed

    Beck, Christopher A; Beran, Denise B; Biglan, Kevin M; Boyd, Cynthia M; Dorsey, E Ray; Schmidt, Peter N; Simone, Richard; Willis, Allison W; Galifianakis, Nicholas B; Katz, Maya; Tanner, Caroline M; Dodenhoff, Kristen; Aldred, Jason; Carter, Julie; Fraser, Andrew; Jimenez-Shahed, Joohi; Hunter, Christine; Spindler, Meredith; Reichwein, Suzanne; Mari, Zoltan; Dunlop, Becky; Morgan, John C; McLane, Dedi; Hickey, Patrick; Gauger, Lisa; Richard, Irene Hegeman; Mejia, Nicte I; Bwala, Grace; Nance, Martha; Shih, Ludy C; Singer, Carlos; Vargas-Parra, Silvia; Zadikoff, Cindy; Okon, Natalia; Feigin, Andrew; Ayan, Jean; Vaughan, Christina; Pahwa, Rajesh; Dhall, Rohit; Hassan, Anhar; DeMello, Steven; Riggare, Sara S; Wicks, Paul; Achey, Meredith A; Elson, Molly J; Goldenthal, Steven; Keenan, H Tait; Korn, Ryan; Schwarz, Heidi; Sharma, Saloni; Stevenson, E Anna; Zhu, William

    2017-09-12

    To determine whether providing remote neurologic care into the homes of people with Parkinson disease (PD) is feasible, beneficial, and valuable. In a 1-year randomized controlled trial, we compared usual care to usual care supplemented by 4 virtual visits via video conferencing from a remote specialist into patients' homes. Primary outcome measures were feasibility, as measured by the proportion who completed at least one virtual visit and the proportion of virtual visits completed on time; and efficacy, as measured by the change in the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39, a quality of life scale. Secondary outcomes included quality of care, caregiver burden, and time and travel savings. A total of 927 individuals indicated interest, 210 were enrolled, and 195 were randomized. Participants had recently seen a specialist (73%) and were largely college-educated (73%) and white (96%). Ninety-five (98% of the intervention group) completed at least one virtual visit, and 91% of 388 virtual visits were completed. Quality of life did not improve in those receiving virtual house calls (0.3 points worse on a 100-point scale; 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.0 to 2.7 points; p = 0.78) nor did quality of care or caregiver burden. Each virtual house call saved patients a median of 88 minutes (95% CI 70-120; p < 0.0001) and 38 miles per visit (95% CI 36-56; p < 0.0001). Providing remote neurologic care directly into the homes of people with PD was feasible and was neither more nor less efficacious than usual in-person care. Virtual house calls generated great interest and provided substantial convenience. NCT02038959. This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with PD, virtual house calls from a neurologist are feasible and do not significantly change quality of life compared to in-person visits. The study is rated Class III because it was not possible to mask patients to visit type. © 2017 American Academy of Neurology.

  13. National randomized controlled trial of virtual house calls for Parkinson disease

    PubMed Central

    Beck, Christopher A.; Beran, Denise B.; Biglan, Kevin M.; Boyd, Cynthia M.; Schmidt, Peter N.; Simone, Richard; Willis, Allison W.; Galifianakis, Nicholas B.; Katz, Maya; Tanner, Caroline M.; Dodenhoff, Kristen; Aldred, Jason; Carter, Julie; Fraser, Andrew; Jimenez-Shahed, Joohi; Hunter, Christine; Spindler, Meredith; Reichwein, Suzanne; Mari, Zoltan; Dunlop, Becky; Morgan, John C.; McLane, Dedi; Hickey, Patrick; Gauger, Lisa; Richard, Irene Hegeman; Mejia, Nicte I.; Bwala, Grace; Nance, Martha; Shih, Ludy C.; Singer, Carlos; Vargas-Parra, Silvia; Zadikoff, Cindy; Okon, Natalia; Feigin, Andrew; Ayan, Jean; Vaughan, Christina; Pahwa, Rajesh; Dhall, Rohit; Hassan, Anhar; DeMello, Steven; Riggare, Sara S.; Wicks, Paul; Achey, Meredith A.; Elson, Molly J.; Goldenthal, Steven; Keenan, H. Tait; Korn, Ryan; Schwarz, Heidi; Sharma, Saloni; Stevenson, E. Anna; Zhu, William

    2017-01-01

    Objective: To determine whether providing remote neurologic care into the homes of people with Parkinson disease (PD) is feasible, beneficial, and valuable. Methods: In a 1-year randomized controlled trial, we compared usual care to usual care supplemented by 4 virtual visits via video conferencing from a remote specialist into patients' homes. Primary outcome measures were feasibility, as measured by the proportion who completed at least one virtual visit and the proportion of virtual visits completed on time; and efficacy, as measured by the change in the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire–39, a quality of life scale. Secondary outcomes included quality of care, caregiver burden, and time and travel savings. Results: A total of 927 individuals indicated interest, 210 were enrolled, and 195 were randomized. Participants had recently seen a specialist (73%) and were largely college-educated (73%) and white (96%). Ninety-five (98% of the intervention group) completed at least one virtual visit, and 91% of 388 virtual visits were completed. Quality of life did not improve in those receiving virtual house calls (0.3 points worse on a 100-point scale; 95% confidence interval [CI] −2.0 to 2.7 points; p = 0.78) nor did quality of care or caregiver burden. Each virtual house call saved patients a median of 88 minutes (95% CI 70–120; p < 0.0001) and 38 miles per visit (95% CI 36–56; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Providing remote neurologic care directly into the homes of people with PD was feasible and was neither more nor less efficacious than usual in-person care. Virtual house calls generated great interest and provided substantial convenience. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02038959. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with PD, virtual house calls from a neurologist are feasible and do not significantly change quality of life compared to in-person visits. The study is rated Class III because it was not possible to

  14. Calling at the highway: The spatiotemporal constraint of road noise on Pacific chorus frog communication.

    PubMed

    Nelson, Danielle V; Klinck, Holger; Carbaugh-Rutland, Alexander; Mathis, Codey L; Morzillo, Anita T; Garcia, Tiffany S

    2017-01-01

    Loss of acoustic habitat due to anthropogenic noise is a key environmental stressor for vocal amphibian species, a taxonomic group that is experiencing global population declines. The Pacific chorus frog ( Pseudacris regilla ) is the most common vocal species of the Pacific Northwest and can occupy human-dominated habitat types, including agricultural and urban wetlands. This species is exposed to anthropogenic noise, which can interfere with vocalizations during the breeding season. We hypothesized that Pacific chorus frogs would alter the spatial and temporal structure of their breeding vocalizations in response to road noise, a widespread anthropogenic stressor. We compared Pacific chorus frog call structure and ambient road noise levels along a gradient of road noise exposures in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA. We used both passive acoustic monitoring and directional recordings to determine source level (i.e., amplitude or volume), dominant frequency (i.e., pitch), call duration, and call rate of individual frogs and to quantify ambient road noise levels. Pacific chorus frogs were unable to change their vocalizations to compensate for road noise. A model of the active space and time ("spatiotemporal communication") over which a Pacific chorus frog vocalization could be heard revealed that in high-noise habitats, spatiotemporal communication was drastically reduced for an individual. This may have implications for the reproductive success of this species, which relies on specific call repertoires to portray relative fitness and attract mates. Using the acoustic call parameters defined by this study (frequency, source level, call rate, and call duration), we developed a simplified model of acoustic communication space-time for this species. This model can be used in combination with models that determine the insertion loss for various acoustic barriers to define the impact of anthropogenic noise on the radius of communication in threatened species

  15. Identifying Key Words in 9-1-1 Calls for Stroke: A Mixed Methods Approach.

    PubMed

    Richards, Christopher T; Wang, Baiyang; Markul, Eddie; Albarran, Frank; Rottman, Doreen; Aggarwal, Neelum T; Lindeman, Patricia; Stein-Spencer, Leslee; Weber, Joseph M; Pearlman, Kenneth S; Tataris, Katie L; Holl, Jane L; Klabjan, Diego; Prabhakaran, Shyam

    2017-01-01

    Identifying stroke during a 9-1-1 call is critical to timely prehospital care. However, emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs) recognize stroke in less than half of 9-1-1 calls, potentially due to the words used by callers to communicate stroke signs and symptoms. We hypothesized that callers do not typically use words and phrases considered to be classical descriptors of stroke, such as focal neurologic deficits, but that a mixed-methods approach can identify words and phrases commonly used by 9-1-1 callers to describe acute stroke victims. We performed a mixed-method, retrospective study of 9-1-1 call audio recordings for adult patients with confirmed stroke who were transported by ambulance in a large urban city. Content analysis, a qualitative methodology, and computational linguistics, a quantitative methodology, were used to identify key words and phrases used by 9-1-1 callers to describe acute stroke victims. Because a caller's level of emotional distress contributes to the communication during a 9-1-1 call, the Emotional Content and Cooperation Score was scored by a multidisciplinary team. A total of 110 9-1-1 calls, received between June and September 2013, were analyzed. EMDs recognized stroke in 48% of calls, and the emotional state of most callers (95%) was calm. In 77% of calls in which EMDs recognized stroke, callers specifically used the word "stroke"; however, the word "stroke" was used in only 38% of calls. Vague, non-specific words and phrases were used to describe stroke victims' symptoms in 55% of calls, and 45% of callers used distractor words and phrases suggestive of non-stroke emergencies. Focal neurologic symptoms were described in 39% of calls. Computational linguistics identified 9 key words that were more commonly used in calls where the EMD identified stroke. These words were concordant with terms identified through qualitative content analysis. Most 9-1-1 callers used vague, non-specific, or distractor words and phrases and infrequently

  16. Planning for Desperate Climate Intervention: can it Make Sense?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duncan, Robert

    2014-07-01

    The three National Academies of the United States, working together, authored a comprehensive report in 1992 titled: Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming: Mitigation, Adaptation, and the Science Base. The authors discussed various possible methods of geoengineering to mitigate the adverse climate effects of the slow, steady buildup of greenhouse gasses in the Earth's atmosphere. Subsequently far less expensive, clever designs were developed by inventors such as Bill Gates and his collaborators, and these have been patented. Many of the techniques in this geoengineering proposition were commonly considered as methods of selectively polluting the upper atmosphere to block the solar luminosity, and hence they met with staunch resistance from the international scientific community. At the time, these geoengineering approaches were proposed as a method of countering the slow steady increase of the earth's temperature that was assumed to be a consequence of the increase in concentration of atmospheric molecules that contain carbon, such as CO2 and CH4. Such intentional intervention in a system as complex as the earth's atmosphere was considered by most scientists, including the authors, as reckless. Within this paper, we propose that the less expensive of these geoengineering plans be reconsidered, but that such a system never be deployed or tested at scale unless a genuine climate runaway condition arises in the future. The more economically compelling approaches should be further tested at the `lab bench' level, and in small laboratory-scale tests, and simulations. A comprehensive plan should be developed to manufacture the required materials at scale and to finalize the design of the necessary system, but no such deployment should be entered into at this time. The many risks of an intense, sudden release of greenhouse gasses, mainly methane and carbon dioxide from geologic sources, are reviewed briefly herein. We consider it only prudent to develop an economical

  17. Divergence of a stereotyped call in northern resident killer whales.

    PubMed

    Grebner, Dawn M; Parks, Susan E; Bradley, David L; Miksis-Olds, Jennifer L; Capone, Dean E; Ford, John K B

    2011-02-01

    Northern resident killer whale pods (Orcinus orca) have distinctive stereotyped pulsed call repertoires that can be used to distinguish groups acoustically. Repertoires are generally stable, with the same call types comprising the repertoire of a given pod over a period of years to decades. Previous studies have shown that some discrete pulsed calls can be subdivided into variants or subtypes. This study suggests that new stereotyped calls may result from the gradual modification of existing call types through subtypes. Vocalizations of individuals and small groups of killer whales were collected using a bottom-mounted hydrophone array in Johnstone Strait, British Columbia in 2006 and 2007. Discriminant analysis of slope variations of a predominant call type, N4, revealed the presence of four distinct call subtypes. Similar to previous studies, there was a divergence of the N4 call between members of different matrilines of the same pod. However, this study reveals that individual killer whales produced multiple subtypes of the N4 call, indicating that divergence in the N4 call is not the result of individual differences, but rather may indicate the gradual evolution of a new stereotyped call.

  18. Untrained Forward Observer (UFO) Translator for Call for Fire

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-09-01

    release; distribution is unlimited UNTRAINED FORWARD OBSERVER ( UFO ) TRANSLATOR FOR CALL FOR FIRE by Regan R. King September 2013 Thesis...DATE September 2013 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE UNTRAINED FORWARD OBSERVER ( UFO ) TRANSLATOR FOR CALL...application, which we call the Untrained Forward Observer ( UFO ) Translator, capable of assisting untrained observers in performing Call for Fire by asking a

  19. Vaginal scent marking: effects on ultrasonic calling and attraction of male golden hamsters.

    PubMed

    Johnston, R E; Kwan, M

    1984-11-01

    Male hamsters were tested for their responses to areas that had been scent marked by intact or vaginectomized females to determine the effects of naturally deposited vaginal secretions on male behavior. In the first experiment males produced more ultrasonic courtship calls when investigating areas marked by intact females than areas scented by vaginectomized females, demonstrating that vaginal marks facilitate such calling. In a wind-tunnel preference test situation in which scent-marked alleys and clean alleys served as sources of odor, males approached the scented alley first if it had been freshly marked by intact females but not if it had been scented by vaginectomized females or other males. Thus, the odors of vaginal marks are sufficient to attract males over short distances. After males entered these alleys they showed a preference for odors of both intact and vaginectomized females over no odors, but still spent significantly more time investigating the odors of intact females than those of vaginectomized females. These experiments indicate that vaginal secretions are one of the primary cues that elicit male courtship calling, and the small quantities of vaginal secretions deposited by females in vaginal marks are sufficient to elicit ultrasonic calling and attract males over short distances. Thus it is likely that vaginal scent marking and ultrasonic calling by females interact to facilitate attraction and location of mates during courtship.

  20. An empirical analysis of the corporate call decision

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carlson, Murray Dean

    1998-12-01

    In this thesis we provide insights into the behavior of financial managers of utility companies by studying their decisions to redeem callable preferred shares. In particular, we investigate whether or not an option pricing based model of the call decision, with managers who maximize shareholder value, does a better job of explaining callable preferred share prices and call decisions than do other models of the decision. In order to perform these tests, we extend an empirical technique introduced by Rust (1987) to include the use of information from preferred share prices in addition to the call decisions. The model we develop to value the option embedded in a callable preferred share differs from standard models in two ways. First, as suggested in Kraus (1983), we explicitly account for transaction costs associated with a redemption. Second, we account for state variables that are observed by the decision makers but not by the preferred shareholders. We interpret these unobservable state variables as the benefits and costs associated with a change in capital structure that can accompany a call decision. When we add this variable, our empirical model changes from one which predicts exactly when a share should be called to one which predicts the probability of a call as the function of the observable state. These two modifications of the standard model result in predictions of calls, and therefore of callable preferred share prices, that are consistent with several previously unexplained features of the data; we show that the predictive power of the model is improved in a statistical sense by adding these features to the model. The pricing and call probability functions from our model do a good job of describing call decisions and preferred share prices for several utilities. Using data from shares of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PGE) we obtain reasonable estimates for the transaction costs associated with a call. Using a formal empirical test, we are able to

  1. Calls Forecast for the Moscow Ambulance Service. The Impact of Weather Forecast

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gordin, Vladimir; Bykov, Philipp

    2015-04-01

    We use the known statistics of the calls for the current and previous days to predict them for tomorrow and for the following days. We assume that this algorithm will work operatively, will cyclically update the available information and will move the horizon of the forecast. Sure, the accuracy of such forecasts depends on their lead time, and from a choice of some group of diagnoses. For comparison we used the error of the inertial forecast (tomorrow there will be the same number of calls as today). Our technology has demonstrated accuracy that is approximately two times better compared to the inertial forecast. We obtained the following result: the number of calls depends on the actual weather in the city as well as on its rate of change. We were interested in the accuracy of the forecast for 12-hour sum of the calls in real situations. We evaluate the impact of the meteorological errors [1] on the forecast errors of the number of Ambulance calls. The weather and the Ambulance calls number both have seasonal tendencies. Therefore, if we have medical information from one city only, we should separate the impacts of such predictors as "annual variations in the number of calls" and "weather". We need to consider the seasonal tendencies (associated, e. g. with the seasonal migration of the population) and the impact of the air temperature simultaneously, rather than sequentially. We forecasted separately the number of calls with diagnoses of cardiovascular group, where it was demonstrated the advantage of the forecasting method, when we use the maximum daily air temperature as a predictor. We have a chance to evaluate statistically the influence of meteorological factors on the dynamics of medical problems. In some cases it may be useful for understanding of the physiology of disease and possible treatment options. We can assimilate some personal archives of medical parameters for the individuals with concrete diseases and the relative meteorological archive. As a

  2. 47 CFR 64.605 - Emergency calling requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... Customer Premises Equipment for Persons With Disabilities § 64.605 Emergency calling requirements. (a..., 2008, the requirements of paragraphs (a)(2)(i) and (a)(2)(iv) of this section shall not apply to...: (i) Accept and handle emergency calls and access, either directly or via a third party, a...

  3. 16 CFR 1018.21 - Calling of meetings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Calling of meetings. 1018.21 Section 1018.21 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT Operation of Advisory Committees § 1018.21 Calling of meetings. Advisory committees shall, as a general rule, meet four...

  4. Dispatching function calls across accelerator devices

    DOEpatents

    Jacob, Arpith C.; Sallenave, Olivier H.

    2017-01-10

    In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for dispatching a function call includes receiving, at a supervisor processing element (PE) and from an origin PE, an identifier of a target device, a stack frame of the origin PE, and an address of a function called from the origin PE. The supervisor PE allocates a target PE of the target device. The supervisor PE copies the stack frame of the origin PE to a new stack frame on a call stack of the target PE. The supervisor PE instructs the target PE to execute the function. The supervisor PE receives a notification that execution of the function is complete. The supervisor PE copies the stack frame of the target PE to the stack frame of the origin PE. The supervisor PE releases the target PE of the target device. The supervisor PE instructs the origin PE to resume execution of the program.

  5. Impact of the mass media on calls to the CDC National AIDS Hotline.

    PubMed

    Fan, D P

    1996-06-01

    This paper considers new computer methodologies for assessing the impact of different types of public health information. The example used public service announcements (PSAs) and mass media news to predict the volume of attempts to call the CDC National AIDS Hotline from December 1992 through to the end of 1993. The analysis relied solely on data from electronic databases. Newspaper stories and television news transcripts were obtained from the NEXIS electronic database and were scored by machine for AIDS coverage. The PSA database was generated by computer monitoring of advertising distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and by others. The volume of call attempts was collected automatically by the public branch exchange (PBX) of the Hotline telephone system. The call attempts, the PSAs and the news story data were related to each other using both a standard time series method and the statistical model of ideodynamics. The analysis indicated that the only significant explanatory variable for the call attempts was PSAs produced by the CDC. One possible explanation was that these commercials all included the Hotline telephone number while the other information sources did not.

  6. Advertisement call of Scinax camposseabrai (Bokermann, 1968) (Anura: Hylidae), with comments on the call of three species of the Scinax ruber clade.

    PubMed

    Novaes, Gabriel; Zina, Juliana

    2016-02-25

    Scinax camposseabrai was allocated into the Scinax ruber clade by Caramaschi & Cardoso (2006) by overall similarities as snout not pointed, breeding in open areas, and an advertisement calls with multipulsed notes. This assumption about the call was based solely on an onomatopoeia provided by Bokermann (1968). Herein we provide a formal description of the advertisement call of S. camposseabrai and compare it with described calls of other S. ruber clade species. Additionally, we provide descriptions of the advertisement calls of three sympatric species of the S. ruber clade: S. eurydice (Bokermann), S. pachycrus (Miranda-Ribeiro) and S. cf. x-signatus.

  7. Individual Distinctiveness in Call Types of Wild Western Female Gorillas

    PubMed Central

    Salmi, Roberta; Hammerschmidt, Kurt; Doran-Sheehy, Diane M.

    2014-01-01

    Individually distinct vocalizations play an important role in animal communication, allowing call recipients to respond differentially based on caller identity. However, which of the many calls in a species' repertoire should have more acoustic variability and be more recognizable is less apparent. One proposed hypothesis is that calls used over long distances should be more distinct because visual cues are not available to identify the caller. An alternative hypothesis proposes that close calls should be more recognizable because of their importance in social interactions. To examine which hypothesis garners more support, the acoustic variation and individual distinctiveness of eight call types of six wild western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) females were investigated. Acoustic recordings of gorilla calls were collected at the Mondika Research Center (Republic of Congo). Acoustic variability was high in all gorilla calls. Similar high inter-individual variation and potential for identity coding (PIC) was found for all call types. Discriminant function analyses confirmed that all call types were individually distinct (although for call types with lowest sample size - hum, grumble and scream - this result cannot be generalized), suggesting that neither the distance at which communication occurs nor the call social function alone can explain the evolution of identity signaling in western gorilla communication. PMID:25029238

  8. Oral health knowledge and practice of 12 to 14-year-old Almajaris in Nigeria: A problem of definition and a call to action.

    PubMed

    Idowu, Enoch Abiodun; Afolabi, Adedapo Olanrewaju; Nwhator, Solomon Olusegun

    2016-05-01

    We studied oral health knowledge and practices of 12 to 14-year-old Almajiri boys in northern Nigeria because we found few studies on their health, and none on their oral health. We present our study after explaining the desperate life circumstances and context of Nigeria's approximately 10 million Almajiri youth. Our results, when compared with those of previously studied populations (those most similar in terms of environment, age range, and oral health characteristics) show that the Almajiris fare poorly. Although the international community has paid some attention to the Nigerian Almajiri children's educational needs, there has been little support for health, and none for oral health. We argue that the World Health Organization could better assist Nigeria and these children by assuring that the Almajiris are not excluded from programs targeting children classified as 'street children', and make specific recommendations.

  9. Environmental constraints and call evolution in torrent-dwelling frogs.

    PubMed

    Goutte, Sandra; Dubois, Alain; Howard, Samuel D; Marquez, Rafael; Rowley, Jodi J L; Dehling, J Maximilian; Grandcolas, Philippe; Rongchuan, Xiong; Legendre, Frédéric

    2016-04-01

    Although acoustic signals are important for communication in many taxa, signal propagation is affected by environmental properties. Strong environmental constraints should drive call evolution, favoring signals with greater transmission distance and content integrity in a given calling habitat. Yet, few empirical studies have verified this prediction, possibly due to a shortcoming in habitat characterization, which is often too broad. Here we assess the potential impact of environmental constraints on the evolution of advertisement call in four groups of torrent-dwelling frogs in the family Ranidae. We reconstruct the evolution of calling site preferences, both broadly categorized and at a finer scale, onto a phylogenetic tree for 148 species with five markers (∼3600 bp). We test models of evolution for six call traits for 79 species with regard to the reconstructed history of calling site preferences and estimate their ancestral states. We find that in spite of existing morphological constraints, vocalizations of torrent-dwelling species are most probably constrained by the acoustic specificities of torrent habitats and particularly their high level of ambient noise. We also show that a fine-scale characterization of calling sites allows a better perception of the impact of environmental constraints on call evolution. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  10. Immunisation hotline calls as five-in-one vaccine introduced.

    PubMed

    Fisher-Jeffes, Lisa; Finlay, Fiona

    2006-04-01

    Announcement of the introduction of the five-in-one vaccine (DTaP/IPV/Hib) into the primary immunisation schedule was made on 9 August 2004. In this study all calls to the immunisation hotline were recorded between 9 August 2004 and 19 November 2004, noting who called and the nature of their enquiry. A total of 208 calls were received during the study period, and of these 23 (11.1%) related to the new vaccine. Calls were from parents (10/23, 43%), health visitors (9/23, 39%) and practice nurses (3/23, 13%). A variety of themes were covered in calls including local availability of the five-in-one vaccine, vaccine safety, mercury content and efficacy. Calls not connected with the new vaccine concerned mostly adolescent MMR (17.3%) as there was a local mumps epidemic. Others related to clarification of a child's immunisation status (13.5%), primary MMR immunisation (13.5%), vaccination scheduling or administration difficulties (12%), other schedule (12.5%) and non-schedule vaccines (2.4%), vaccine reactions (2.4%), travel vaccines (6%), BCG (6%), and a few miscellaneous queries (3%). Overall questions about the new five-in-one vaccine accounted for an extra 23 calls to the immunisation hotline during the study period (11.1% of calls).

  11. Dynamic Multiple-Threshold Call Admission Control Based on Optimized Genetic Algorithm in Wireless/Mobile Networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Shengling; Cui, Yong; Koodli, Rajeev; Hou, Yibin; Huang, Zhangqin

    Due to the dynamics of topology and resources, Call Admission Control (CAC) plays a significant role for increasing resource utilization ratio and guaranteeing users' QoS requirements in wireless/mobile networks. In this paper, a dynamic multi-threshold CAC scheme is proposed to serve multi-class service in a wireless/mobile network. The thresholds are renewed at the beginning of each time interval to react to the changing mobility rate and network load. To find suitable thresholds, a reward-penalty model is designed, which provides different priorities between different service classes and call types through different reward/penalty policies according to network load and average call arrival rate. To speed up the running time of CAC, an Optimized Genetic Algorithm (OGA) is presented, whose components such as encoding, population initialization, fitness function and mutation etc., are all optimized in terms of the traits of the CAC problem. The simulation demonstrates that the proposed CAC scheme outperforms the similar schemes, which means the optimization is realized. Finally, the simulation shows the efficiency of OGA.

  12. Artificial Intelligence and CALL.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Underwood, John H.

    The potential application of artificial intelligence (AI) to computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is explored. Two areas of AI that hold particular interest to those who deal with language meaning--knowledge representation and expert systems, and natural-language processing--are described and examples of each are presented. AI contribution…

  13. The So-Called Face

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2002-05-21

    The so-called Face on Mars can be seen slightly above center and to the right in this NASA Mars Odyssey image. This 3-km long knob was first imaged by NASA Viking spacecraft in the 1970 and to some resembled a face carved into the rocks of Mars.

  14. Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau) boatwhistle call detection and patterns within a large-scale oyster restoration site

    PubMed Central

    Bohnenstiehl, DelWayne R.; Eggleston, David B.; Kellogg, M. Lisa; Lyon, R. Patrick

    2017-01-01

    During May 2015, passive acoustic recorders were deployed at eight subtidal oyster reefs within Harris Creek Oyster Sanctuary in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland USA. These sites were selected to represent both restored and unrestored habitats having a range of oyster densities. Throughout the survey, the soundscape within Harris Creek was dominated by the boatwhistle calls of the oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau. A novel, multi-kernel spectral correlation approach was developed to automatically detect these boatwhistle calls using their two lowest harmonic bands. The results provided quantitative information on how call rate and call frequency varied in space and time. Toadfish boatwhistle fundamental frequency ranged from 140 Hz to 260 Hz and was well correlated (r = 0.94) with changes in water temperature, with the fundamental frequency increasing by ~11 Hz for every 1°C increase in temperature. The boatwhistle call rate increased from just a few calls per minute at the start of monitoring on May 7th to ~100 calls/min on May 10th and remained elevated throughout the survey. As male toadfish are known to generate boatwhistles to attract mates, this rapid increase in call rate was interpreted to mark the onset of spring spawning behavior. Call rate was not modulated by water temperature, but showed a consistent diurnal pattern, with a sharp decrease in rate just before sunrise and a peak just after sunset. There was a significant difference in call rate between restored and unrestored reefs, with restored sites having nearly twice the call rate as unrestored sites. This work highlights the benefits of using automated detection techniques that provide quantitative information on species-specific call characteristics and patterns. This type of non-invasive acoustic monitoring provides long-term, semi-continuous information on animal behavior and abundance, and operates effectively in settings that are otherwise difficult to sample. PMID:28792543

  15. Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau) boatwhistle call detection and patterns within a large-scale oyster restoration site.

    PubMed

    Ricci, Shannon W; Bohnenstiehl, DelWayne R; Eggleston, David B; Kellogg, M Lisa; Lyon, R Patrick

    2017-01-01

    During May 2015, passive acoustic recorders were deployed at eight subtidal oyster reefs within Harris Creek Oyster Sanctuary in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland USA. These sites were selected to represent both restored and unrestored habitats having a range of oyster densities. Throughout the survey, the soundscape within Harris Creek was dominated by the boatwhistle calls of the oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau. A novel, multi-kernel spectral correlation approach was developed to automatically detect these boatwhistle calls using their two lowest harmonic bands. The results provided quantitative information on how call rate and call frequency varied in space and time. Toadfish boatwhistle fundamental frequency ranged from 140 Hz to 260 Hz and was well correlated (r = 0.94) with changes in water temperature, with the fundamental frequency increasing by ~11 Hz for every 1°C increase in temperature. The boatwhistle call rate increased from just a few calls per minute at the start of monitoring on May 7th to ~100 calls/min on May 10th and remained elevated throughout the survey. As male toadfish are known to generate boatwhistles to attract mates, this rapid increase in call rate was interpreted to mark the onset of spring spawning behavior. Call rate was not modulated by water temperature, but showed a consistent diurnal pattern, with a sharp decrease in rate just before sunrise and a peak just after sunset. There was a significant difference in call rate between restored and unrestored reefs, with restored sites having nearly twice the call rate as unrestored sites. This work highlights the benefits of using automated detection techniques that provide quantitative information on species-specific call characteristics and patterns. This type of non-invasive acoustic monitoring provides long-term, semi-continuous information on animal behavior and abundance, and operates effectively in settings that are otherwise difficult to sample.

  16. Interspecific signalling between mutualists: food-thieving drongos use a cooperative sentinel call to manipulate foraging partners

    PubMed Central

    Baigrie, Bruce D.; Thompson, Alex M.; Flower, Tom P.

    2014-01-01

    Interspecific communication is common in nature, particularly between mutualists. However, whether signals evolved for communication with other species, or are in fact conspecific signals eavesdropped upon by partners, is often unclear. Fork-tailed drongos (Dicrurus adsimilis) associate with mixed-species groups and often produce true alarms at predators, whereupon associating species flee to cover, but also false alarms to steal associating species' food (kleptoparasitism). Despite such deception, associating species respond to drongo non-alarm calls by increasing their foraging and decreasing vigilance. Yet, whether these calls represent interspecific sentinel signals remains unknown. We show that drongos produced a specific sentinel call when foraging with a common associate, the sociable weaver (Philetairus socius), but not when alone. Weavers increased their foraging and decreased vigilance when naturally associating with drongos, and in response to sentinel call playback. Further, drongos sentinel-called more often when weavers were moving, and weavers approached sentinel calls, suggesting a recruitment function. Finally, drongos sentinel-called when weavers fled following false alarms, thereby reducing disruption to weaver foraging time. Results therefore provide evidence of an ‘all clear’ signal that mitigates the cost of inaccurate communication. Our results suggest that drongos enhance exploitation of a foraging mutualist through coevolution of interspecific sentinel signals. PMID:25080343

  17. Outpatient outcomes and satisfaction in pediatric population: data from the postoperative phone call.

    PubMed

    Brenn, B Randall; Choudhry, Dinesh K; Sacks, Karen

    2016-02-01

    Quality and patient/parent satisfaction are goals for pediatric perioperative services. As part of the implementation of our operating room electronic medical record (EMR), a postoperative phone call questionnaire was developed to assess patients discharged after outpatient surgery. The goal of this initiative was to determine the rate of common postoperative complications and understand reasons for patient/parent dissatisfaction. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained for chart review. The postoperative phone call survey was attempted by our postanesthesia care unit nursing staff on all pediatric outpatients. The call was attempted for 3 days. From 2009 to 2013, more than 37 000 phone records existed in our EMR, Epic Optime (Epic Systems, Verona, WI). These data were extracted to a business intelligence (BI) program, QlikView (Qliktech, Radnor, PA, USA). A BI dashboard was constructed to obtain phone call results for any given time frame from monthly to spanning several years. Complications were logged as 4-point severity rating scales (none, mild, moderate, severe) with descriptions for each level. The BI dashboard calculated the overall and rates by severity for the following: (i) nausea, (ii) vomiting, (iii) pain, (iv) bleeding, (v) hoarseness, and (vi) difficulty eating. Of 42 688 outpatient cases, 37 620 postoperative phone calls were completed for an overall response rate of 88%. Pain, at 11.1%, was the highest reported postoperative complication. The rate of dissatisfaction was reported to be 0.31%. Most patients reporting dissatisfaction (62%) did not report any complications. Contingency coefficient showed that there was little relationship between satisfaction and presence of complications. A postoperative phone survey is cost-effective and appreciated by patients. We found that satisfaction with our perioperative services was not related to the rates of reported complications. Although reducing complications is of utmost importance

  18. 50 CFR 510.4 - Calling of meetings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Calling of meetings. 510.4 Section 510.4 Wildlife and Fisheries MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT § 510.4 Calling of meetings. (a) No committee shall hold any meeting except with the advance approval of...

  19. 31 CFR 50.94 - Data call authority.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Data call authority. 50.94 Section 50.94 Money and Finance: Treasury Office of the Secretary of the Treasury TERRORISM RISK INSURANCE PROGRAM Cap on Annual Liability § 50.94 Data call authority. For the purpose of determining initial or...

  20. Promotion in Call Centres: Opportunities and Determinants

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gorjup, Maria Tatiana; Valverde, Mireia; Ryan, Gerard

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of jobs in call centres by focusing on the opportunities for promotion in this sector. More specifically, the research questions focus on discovering whether promotion is common practise in the call centre sector and on identifying the factors that affect this.…

  1. Spatio-temporal segregation of calling behavior at a multispecies fish spawning site in Little Cayman

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cameron, K. C.; Sirovic, A.; Jaffe, J. S.; Semmens, B.; Pattengill-Semmens, C.; Gibb, J.

    2016-02-01

    Fish spawning aggregation (FSA) sites are extremely vulnerable to over-exploitation. Accurate understanding of the spatial and temporal use of such sites is necessary for effective species management. The size of FSAs can be on the order of kilometers and peak spawning often occurs at night, posing challenges to visual observation. Passive acoustics are an alternative method for dealing with these challenges. An array of passive acoustic recorders and GoPro cameras were deployed during Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) spawning from February 7th to 12th, 2015 at a multispecies spawning aggregation site in Little Cayman, Cayman Islands. In addition to Nassau grouper, at least 10 other species are known to spawn at this location including tiger grouper (Mycteroperca tigris), red hind (Epinephelus guttatus), black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci), and yellowfin grouper (Mycteroperca venenosa). During 5 days of continuous recordings, over 21,000 fish calls were detected. These calls were classified into 15 common types. Species identification and behavioral context of unknown common call types were determined by coupling video recordings collected during this time with call localizations. There are distinct temporal patterns in call production of different species. For example, red hind and yellowfin grouper call predominately at night with yellowfin call rates increasing after midnight, and black grouper call primarily during dusk and dawn. In addition, localization methods were used to reveal how the FSA area was divided among species. These findings facilitate a better understanding of the behavior of these important reef fish species allowing policymakers to more effectively manage and protect them.

  2. Dispatching function calls across accelerator devices

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Jacob, Arpith C.; Sallenave, Olivier H.

    In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for dispatching a function call includes receiving, at a supervisor processing element (PE) and from an origin PE, an identifier of a target device, a stack frame of the origin PE, and an address of a function called from the origin PE. The supervisor PE allocates a target PE of the target device. The supervisor PE copies the stack frame of the origin PE to a new stack frame on a call stack of the target PE. The supervisor PE instructs the target PE to execute the function. The supervisor PE receives a notificationmore » that execution of the function is complete. The supervisor PE copies the stack frame of the target PE to the stack frame of the origin PE. The supervisor PE releases the target PE of the target device. The supervisor PE instructs the origin PE to resume execution of the program.« less

  3. Landscape correlates along mourning dove call-count routes in Mississippi

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Elmore, R.D.; Vilella, F.J.; Gerard, P.D.

    2007-01-01

    Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) call-count surveys in Mississippi, USA, suggest declining populations. We used available mourning dove call-count data to evaluate long-term mourning dove habitat relationships. Dove routes were located in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Deep Loess Province, Mid Coastal Plain, and Hilly Coastal Plain physiographic provinces of Mississippi. We also included routes in the Blackbelt Prairie region of Mississippi and Alabama, USA. We characterized landscape structure and composition within 1.64-km buffers around 10 selected mourning dove call-count routes during 3 time periods. Habitat classes included agriculture, forest, urban, regeneration stands, wetland, and woodlot. We used Akaike's Information Criterion to select the best candidate model. We selected a model containing percent agriculture and edge density that contained approximately 40% of the total variability in the data set. Percent agriculture was positively correlated with relative dove abundance. Interestingly, we found a negative relationship between edge density and dove abundance. Researchers should conduct future research on dove nesting patterns in Mississippi and threshold levels of edge necessary to maximize dove density. During the last 20 years, Mississippi lost more than 800,000 ha of cropland while forest cover represented largely by pine (Pinus taeda) plantations increased by more than 364,000 ha. Our results suggest observed localized declines in mourning dove abundance in Mississippi may be related to the documented conversion of agricultural lands to pine plantations.

  4. Help Options in CALL: A Systematic Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cardenas-Claros, Monica S.; Gruba, Paul A.

    2009-01-01

    This paper is a systematic review of research investigating help options in the different language skills in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). In this review, emerging themes along with is-sues affecting help option research are identified and discussed. We argue that help options in CALL are application resources that do not only seem…

  5. 47 CFR 74.791 - Digital call signs.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... Booster Stations § 74.791 Digital call signs. (a) Digital low power stations. Call signs for digital low power stations will be made up of a prefix consisting of the initial letter K or W followed by the channel number assigned to the station and two additional letters and a suffix consisting of the letters...

  6. 47 CFR 74.791 - Digital call signs.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Booster Stations § 74.791 Digital call signs. (a) Digital low power stations. Call signs for digital low power stations will be made up of a prefix consisting of the initial letter K or W followed by the channel number assigned to the station and two additional letters and a suffix consisting of the letters...

  7. 47 CFR 74.791 - Digital call signs.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... Booster Stations § 74.791 Digital call signs. (a) Digital low power stations. Call signs for digital low power stations will be made up of a prefix consisting of the initial letter K or W followed by the channel number assigned to the station and two additional letters and a suffix consisting of the letters...

  8. 47 CFR 74.791 - Digital call signs.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... Booster Stations § 74.791 Digital call signs. (a) Digital low power stations. Call signs for digital low power stations will be made up of a prefix consisting of the initial letter K or W followed by the channel number assigned to the station and two additional letters and a suffix consisting of the letters...

  9. 17 CFR 140.74 - Delegation of authority to issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40. 140.74 Section 140.74 Commodity and Securities... Functions § 140.74 Delegation of authority to issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40. (a) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission hereby delegates, until such time as the Commission orders otherwise...

  10. 17 CFR 140.74 - Delegation of authority to issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40. 140.74 Section 140.74 Commodity and Securities... Functions § 140.74 Delegation of authority to issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40. (a) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission hereby delegates, until such time as the Commission orders otherwise...

  11. 17 CFR 140.74 - Delegation of authority to issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40. 140.74 Section 140.74 Commodity and Securities... Functions § 140.74 Delegation of authority to issue special calls for Series 03 Reports and Form 40. (a) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission hereby delegates, until such time as the Commission orders otherwise...

  12. Path Models of Vocational Calling in Christian College Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillips, Sheri L.

    2011-01-01

    In the Christian college environment, students are encouraged to understand their vocational calling, yet quantitative research on how college students conceptualize calling is sparse. This correlational study extends the research literature significantly by empirically examining variables that affect sense of vocational calling in 270 college…

  13. 47 CFR 64.3001 - Obligation to transmit 911 calls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Obligation to transmit 911 calls. 64.3001 Section 64.3001 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES... Obligation to transmit 911 calls. All telecommunications carriers shall transmit all 911 calls to a PSAP, to...

  14. 47 CFR 64.3001 - Obligation to transmit 911 calls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Obligation to transmit 911 calls. 64.3001 Section 64.3001 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES... Obligation to transmit 911 calls. All telecommunications carriers shall transmit all 911 calls to a PSAP, to...

  15. 47 CFR 64.3001 - Obligation to transmit 911 calls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Obligation to transmit 911 calls. 64.3001 Section 64.3001 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES... Obligation to transmit 911 calls. All telecommunications carriers shall transmit all 911 calls to a PSAP, to...

  16. 47 CFR 64.3001 - Obligation to transmit 911 calls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Obligation to transmit 911 calls. 64.3001 Section 64.3001 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES... Obligation to transmit 911 calls. All telecommunications carriers shall transmit all 911 calls to a PSAP, to...

  17. 47 CFR 64.3001 - Obligation to transmit 911 calls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Obligation to transmit 911 calls. 64.3001 Section 64.3001 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES... Obligation to transmit 911 calls. All telecommunications carriers shall transmit all 911 calls to a PSAP, to...

  18. Heart rate variability changes in physicians working on night call.

    PubMed

    Malmberg, Birgitta; Persson, Roger; Flisberg, Per; Ørbaek, Palle

    2011-03-01

    Adverse effects by night-call duty have become an important occupational health issue. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the heart rate variability (HRV) differed during recovery from day work and night-call duty between distinct physician specialities. We studied the impact of a 16-h night-call duty on autonomic balance, measured by HRV, among two physician groups differing with respect to having to deal with life-threatening conditions while on call. Nineteen anaesthesiologists (ANEST) and 16 paediatricians and ear, nose and throat surgeons (PENT) were monitored by ambulatory digital Holter electrocardiogram (ECG). Heart rate variability was analysed between 21:00 and 22:00 after an ordinary workday, on night call and in the evening post-call. Absolute and normalized high-frequency power (HF, HFnu) were the main outcome variables, expressing parasympathetic influence on the heart. ANEST had lower HF power than PENT while on night call and post-daytime work (p < 0.05), but not at post-night call. In the whole group of physicians, HFnu was lower on call and post-daytime work compared with post-night-call duty (p < 0.05). The physiological recovery after night duty seemed sufficient in terms of HRV patterns for HFnu, reflecting autonomic balance and did not differ between specialities. However, the less dynamic HRV after daytime work and during night-call duty in the ANEST group may indicate a higher physiological stress level. These results may contribute to the improvement of night-call schedules within the health care sector.

  19. Climate change and frog calls: long-term correlations along a tropical altitudinal gradient.

    PubMed

    Narins, Peter M; Meenderink, Sebastiaan W F

    2014-05-22

    Temperature affects nearly all biological processes, including acoustic signal production and reception. Here, we report on advertisement calls of the Puerto Rican coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) that were recorded along an altitudinal gradient and compared these with similar recordings along the same altitudinal gradient obtained 23 years earlier. We found that over this period, at any given elevation, calls exhibited both significant increases in pitch and shortening of their duration. All of the observed differences are consistent with a shift to higher elevations for the population, a well-known strategy for adapting to a rise in ambient temperature. Using independent temperature data over the same time period, we confirm a significant increase in temperature, the magnitude of which closely predicts the observed changes in the frogs' calls. Physiological responses to long-term temperature rises include reduction in individual body size and concomitantly, population biomass. These can have potentially dire consequences, as coqui frogs form an integral component of the food web in the Puerto Rican rainforest.

  20. Acoustic structures in the alarm calls of Gunnison's prairie dogs.

    PubMed

    Slobodchikoff, C N; Placer, J

    2006-05-01

    Acoustic structures of sound in Gunnison's prairie dog alarm calls are described, showing how these acoustic structures may encode information about three different predator species (red-tailed hawk-Buteo jamaicensis; domestic dog-Canis familaris; and coyote-Canis latrans). By dividing each alarm call into 25 equal-sized partitions and using resonant frequencies within each partition, commonly occurring acoustic structures were identified as components of alarm calls for the three predators. Although most of the acoustic structures appeared in alarm calls elicited by all three predator species, the frequency of occurrence of these acoustic structures varied among the alarm calls for the different predators, suggesting that these structures encode identifying information for each of the predators. A classification analysis of alarm calls elicited by each of the three predators showed that acoustic structures could correctly classify 67% of the calls elicited by domestic dogs, 73% of the calls elicited by coyotes, and 99% of the calls elicited by red-tailed hawks. The different distributions of acoustic structures associated with alarm calls for the three predator species suggest a duality of function, one of the design elements of language listed by Hockett [in Animal Sounds and Communication, edited by W. E. Lanyon and W. N. Tavolga (American Institute of Biological Sciences, Washington, DC, 1960), pp. 392-430].

  1. Teacher Resistance to CALL.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eastment, David

    Despite the evolution of software for computer-assisted language learning (CALL), teacher resistance remains high. Early software for language instruction was almost exclusively designed for drill and practice. That approach was later replaced by a model in which the computer provided a stimulus for students, most often as a partner in games.…

  2. Using Puppets to Teach Schoolchildren to Detect Stroke and Call 911.

    PubMed

    Sharkey, Sonya; Denke, Linda; Herbert, Morley A

    2016-08-01

    To overcome barriers to improved outcomes, we undertook an intervention to teach schoolchildren how to detect a stroke and call emergency medical services (EMS). We obtained permission from parents and guardians to use an 8-min puppet show to instruct the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders about stroke detection, symptomatology, and calling EMS. A pretest and three posttests-one immediately following the presentation, one at 3 months, and a third at 6 months-were administered. Responses from 282 students were evaluable. Significant improvements (p < .001) in knowledge were found through all posttests in identifying what parts of the body stroke affected and through the first two posttests in recognizing symptoms stroke victims experienced. Students demonstrated at pretest a high awareness of EMS and 911 (97.5%) and showed slight, but not significant, improvement over time. © The Author(s) 2016.

  3. 40 CFR 155.48 - Data Call-In.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Data Call-In. 155.48 Section 155.48... STANDARDS AND REGISTRATION REVIEW Registration Review Procedures § 155.48 Data Call-In. The Agency may issue... data are needed to conduct the registration review. The provisions in FIFRA section 3(c)(1), (c)(2)(B...

  4. Female bonobos use copulation calls as social signals

    PubMed Central

    Clay, Zanna; Pika, Simone; Gruber, Thibaud; Zuberbühler, Klaus

    2011-01-01

    During mating events, females of many primate species produce loud and distinct vocalizations known as ‘copulation calls’. The adaptive significance of these signals is considered to be in promoting the caller's direct reproductive success. Here, we investigated copulation calling in bonobos (Pan paniscus), a species in which females produce these vocalizations during sexual interactions with partners of both sexes. Females were more likely to call when mating with males than with females. We also observed a positive relationship between the likelihood of calling and partner rank, regardless of partner sex. Sexual activity generally increased with swelling size (an indicator of reproductive state) and, during their peak swelling, females called more with male than with female partners. Female bonobos are unusual among the non-human primates in terms of their heightened socio-sexuality. Our results suggest that in this species, copulation calls have undergone an evolutionary transition from a purely reproductive to a more general social function, reflecting the intrinsic evolutionary links between vocal behaviour and social cognition. PMID:21325305

  5. 47 CFR 80.359 - Frequencies for digital selective calling (DSC).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Frequencies for digital selective calling (DSC... for digital selective calling (DSC). (a) General purpose calling. The following table describes the calling frequencies for use by authorized ship and coast stations for general purpose DSC. There are three...

  6. 47 CFR 80.359 - Frequencies for digital selective calling (DSC).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Frequencies for digital selective calling (DSC... for digital selective calling (DSC). (a) General purpose calling. The following table describes the... Digital Selective-Calling Equipment in the Maritime Mobile Service,” with Annexes 1 through 5, 2004, and...

  7. Transforming trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas by use of an integrated call center.

    PubMed

    Agrawal, Deepak

    2012-01-01

    There is poor penetration of trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas. On the other hand, mobile penetration in India is now averaging 80% with most families having access to mobile phone. The aim of this study was to assess the implementation and socioeconomic impact of a call center in providing healthcare delivery for patients with head and spinal injuries. This was a prospective observational study carried out over a 6-month period at a level I trauma Center in New Delhi, India. A nine-seater call center was outsourced to a private company and the hospital's electronic medical records were integrated with the call-center operations. The call center was given responsibility of maintaining appointments and scheduling clinics for the whole hospital as well as ensuring follow-up visits. Trained call-center staff handled simple patient queries and referred the rest via email to concerned doctors. A telephonic survey was done prior to the start of call-center operations and after 3 months to assess for user satisfaction. The initial cost of outsourcing the call center was Rs 1.6 lakhs (US$ 4000), with a recurring cost of Rs 80,000 (US$ 2000) per month. A total of 484 patients were admitted in the department of Neurosurgery during the study period. Of these, 63% (n=305) were from rural areas. Patients' overall experience for clinic visits improved markedly following implementation of call center. Patient satisfaction for follow-up visits increased from a mean of 32-96%. Ninety-five percent patients reported a significant decrease in waiting time in clinics 80.4% reporting improved doctor-patient interaction. A total of 52 visits could be postponed/cancelled for patients living in far flung areas resulting in major socioeconomic benefits to these families. As shown by our case study, call centers have the potential to revolutionize delivery of trauma healthcare to rural areas in an extremely cost-effective manner.

  8. Transforming trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas by use of an integrated call center

    PubMed Central

    Agrawal, Deepak

    2012-01-01

    Introduction: There is poor penetration of trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas. On the other hand, mobile penetration in India is now averaging 80% with most families having access to mobile phone. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the implementation and socioeconomic impact of a call center in providing healthcare delivery for patients with head and spinal injuries. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study carried out over a 6-month period at a level I trauma Center in New Delhi, India. A nine-seater call center was outsourced to a private company and the hospital's electronic medical records were integrated with the call-center operations. The call center was given responsibility of maintaining appointments and scheduling clinics for the whole hospital as well as ensuring follow-up visits. Trained call-center staff handled simple patient queries and referred the rest via email to concerned doctors. A telephonic survey was done prior to the start of call-center operations and after 3 months to assess for user satisfaction. Results: The initial cost of outsourcing the call center was Rs 1.6 lakhs (US$ 4000), with a recurring cost of Rs 80,000 (US$ 2000) per month. A total of 484 patients were admitted in the department of Neurosurgery during the study period. Of these, 63% (n=305) were from rural areas. Patients’ overall experience for clinic visits improved markedly following implementation of call center. Patient satisfaction for follow-up visits increased from a mean of 32-96%. Ninety-five percent patients reported a significant decrease in waiting time in clinics 80.4% reporting improved doctor-patient interaction. A total of 52 visits could be postponed/cancelled for patients living in far flung areas resulting in major socioeconomic benefits to these families. Conclusions: As shown by our case study, call centers have the potential to revolutionize delivery of trauma healthcare to rural areas in an

  9. Pulse register phonation in Diana monkey alarm calls

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Riede, Tobias; Zuberbühler, Klaus

    2003-05-01

    The adult male Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) produce predator-specific alarm calls in response to two of their predators, the crowned eagles and the leopards. The acoustic structure of these alarm calls is remarkable for a number of theoretical and empirical reasons. First, although pulsed phonation has been described in a variety of mammalian vocalizations, very little is known about the underlying production mechanism. Second, Diana monkey alarm calls are based almost exclusively on this vocal production mechanism to an extent that has never been documented in mammalian vocal behavior. Finally, the Diana monkeys' pulsed phonation strongly resembles the pulse register in human speech, where fundamental frequency is mainly controlled by subglottal pressure. Here, we report the results of a detailed acoustic analysis to investigate the production mechanism of Diana monkey alarm calls. Within calls, we found a positive correlation between the fundamental frequency and the pulse amplitude, suggesting that both humans and monkeys control fundamental frequency by subglottal pressure. While in humans pulsed phonation is usually considered pathological or artificial, male Diana monkeys rely exclusively on pulsed phonation, suggesting a functional adaptation. Moreover, we were unable to document any nonlinear phenomena, despite the fact that they occur frequently in the vocal repertoire of humans and nonhumans, further suggesting that the very robust Diana monkey pulse production mechanism has evolved for a particular functional purpose. We discuss the implications of these findings for the structural evolution of Diana monkey alarm calls and suggest that the restricted variability in fundamental frequency and robustness of the source signal gave rise to the formant patterns observed in Diana monkey alarm calls, used to convey predator information.

  10. The structure of stereotyped calls reflects kinship and social affiliation in resident killer whales (Orcinus orca).

    PubMed

    Deecke, Volker B; Barrett-Lennard, Lance G; Spong, Paul; Ford, John K B

    2010-05-01

    A few species of mammals produce group-specific vocalisations that are passed on by learning, but the function of learned vocal variation remains poorly understood. Resident killer whales live in stable matrilineal groups with repertoires of seven to 17 stereotyped call types. Some types are shared among matrilines, but their structure typically shows matriline-specific differences. Our objective was to analyse calls of nine killer whale matrilines in British Columbia to test whether call similarity primarily reflects social or genetic relationships. Recordings were made in 1985-1995 in the presence of focal matrilines that were either alone or with groups with non-overlapping repertoires. We used neural network discrimination performance to measure the similarity of call types produced by different matrilines and determined matriline association rates from 757 encounters with one or more focal matrilines. Relatedness was measured by comparing variation at 11 microsatellite loci for the oldest female in each group. Call similarity was positively correlated with association rates for two of the three call types analysed. Similarity of the N4 call type was also correlated with matriarch relatedness. No relationship between relatedness and association frequency was detected. These results show that call structure reflects relatedness and social affiliation, but not because related groups spend more time together. Instead, call structure appears to play a role in kin recognition and shapes the association behaviour of killer whale groups. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that increasing social complexity plays a role in the evolution of learned vocalisations in some mammalian species.

  11. The structure of stereotyped calls reflects kinship and social affiliation in resident killer whales ( Orcinus orca)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deecke, Volker B.; Barrett-Lennard, Lance G.; Spong, Paul; Ford, John K. B.

    2010-05-01

    A few species of mammals produce group-specific vocalisations that are passed on by learning, but the function of learned vocal variation remains poorly understood. Resident killer whales live in stable matrilineal groups with repertoires of seven to 17 stereotyped call types. Some types are shared among matrilines, but their structure typically shows matriline-specific differences. Our objective was to analyse calls of nine killer whale matrilines in British Columbia to test whether call similarity primarily reflects social or genetic relationships. Recordings were made in 1985-1995 in the presence of focal matrilines that were either alone or with groups with non-overlapping repertoires. We used neural network discrimination performance to measure the similarity of call types produced by different matrilines and determined matriline association rates from 757 encounters with one or more focal matrilines. Relatedness was measured by comparing variation at 11 microsatellite loci for the oldest female in each group. Call similarity was positively correlated with association rates for two of the three call types analysed. Similarity of the N4 call type was also correlated with matriarch relatedness. No relationship between relatedness and association frequency was detected. These results show that call structure reflects relatedness and social affiliation, but not because related groups spend more time together. Instead, call structure appears to play a role in kin recognition and shapes the association behaviour of killer whale groups. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that increasing social complexity plays a role in the evolution of learned vocalisations in some mammalian species.

  12. Patient-Provider Communication: Does Electronic Messaging Reduce Incoming Telephone Calls?

    PubMed

    Dexter, Eve N; Fields, Scott; Rdesinski, Rebecca E; Sachdeva, Bhavaya; Yamashita, Daisuke; Marino, Miguel

    2016-01-01

    Internet-based patient portals are increasingly being implemented throughout health care organizations to enhance health and optimize communication between patients and health professionals. The decision to adopt a patient portal requires careful examination of the advantages and disadvantages of implementation. This study aims to investigate 1 proposed advantage of implementation: alleviating some of the clinical workload faced by employees. A retrospective time-series analysis of the correlation between the rate of electronic patient-to-provider messages-a common attribute of Internet-based patient portals-and incoming telephone calls. The rate of electronic messages and incoming telephone calls were monitored from February 2009 to June 2014 at 4 economically diverse clinics (a federally qualified health center, a rural health clinic, a community-based clinic, and a university-based clinic) related to 1 university hospital. All 4 clinics showed an increase in the rate of portal use as measured by electronic patient-to-provider messaging during the study period. Electronic patient-to-provider messaging was significantly positively correlated with incoming telephone calls at 2 of the clinics (r = 0.546, P < .001 and r = 0.543, P < .001). The remaining clinics were not significantly correlated but demonstrated a weak positive correlation (r = 0.098, P = .560 and r = 0.069, P = .671). Implementation and increased use of electronic patient-to-provider messaging was associated with increased use of telephone calls in 2 of the study clinics. While practices are increasingly making the decision of whether to implement a patient portal as part of their system of care, it is important that the motivation behind such a change not be based on the idea that it will alleviate clinical workload. © Copyright 2016 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

  13. The use of an automated interactive voice response system to manage medication identification calls to a poison center.

    PubMed

    Krenzelok, Edward P; Mrvos, Rita

    2009-05-01

    In 2007, medication identification requests (MIRs) accounted for 26.2% of all calls to U.S. poison centers. MIRs are documented with minimal information, but they still require an inordinate amount of work by specialists in poison information (SPI). An analysis was undertaken to identify options to reduce the impact of MIRs on both human and financial resources. All MIRs (2003-2007) to a certified regional poison information center were analyzed to determine call patterns and staffing. The data were used to justify an efficient and cost-effective solution. MIRs represented 42.3% of the 2007 call volume. Optimal staffing would require hiring an additional four full-time equivalent SPI. An interactive voice response (IVR) system was developed to respond to the MIRs. The IVR was used to develop the Medication Identification System that allowed the diversion of up to 50% of the MIRs, enhancing surge capacity and allowing specialists to address the more emergent poison exposure calls. This technology is an entirely voice-activated response call management system that collects zip code, age, gender and drug data and stores all responses as .csv files for reporting purposes. The query bank includes the 200 most common MIRs, and the system features text-to-voice synthesis that allows easy modification of the drug identification menu. Callers always have the option of engaging a SPI at any time during the IVR call flow. The IVR is an efficient and effective alternative that creates better staff utilization.

  14. An introductory orientation to clinical pathology core and on-call responsibilities.

    PubMed

    Pappas, A A; Drew, M J; Flick, J; Fink, L; Fuller, G L; Hough, A J

    1994-05-01

    An introductory 4-week orientation for clinical pathology is described. There were 76 hours of lectures, 74 hours of conferences, and 68 hours of laboratories for a total of 221 hours. During the orientation, all calls handled by the residents were evaluated as to resolution, patient outcome, and interaction required. Eighty calls were received during the orientation from 57 technologists (71%), 16 physicians (20%), and seven nurses (9%). The calls originated concerning the following: blood banking, 37 (46%); hematology, 21 (27%); chemistry, 14 (18%); microbiology, five (6%); and administration, three (4%). Sixty percent of the calls were consultative and 40% were supervisory. Ninety-nine percent were handled appropriately by the residents. Patient outcome was moderately or significantly affected in 44% of all calls, divided between 67% of all consultative calls and 9% of all supervisory calls. Significant pathologist interaction was required in 49% of all calls, divided between 71% of the consultative calls and 16% of the supervisory calls. Using this integrated, dynamic system of resident instruction, on-call experience, and evaluation, residents quickly gain confidence in handling call, didactic clinical consultation, and patient management. The orientation and on-call system described provides for a relevant and dynamic system for resident education.

  15. 49 CFR 198.37 - State one-call damage prevention program.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false State one-call damage prevention program. 198.37... REGULATIONS FOR GRANTS TO AID STATE PIPELINE SAFETY PROGRAMS Adoption of One-Call Damage Prevention Program § 198.37 State one-call damage prevention program. A State must adopt a one-call damage prevention...

  16. Adult meerkats modify close call rate in the presence of pups.

    PubMed

    Wyman, Megan T; Rivers, Pearl R; Muller, Coline; Toni, Pauline; Manser, Marta B

    2017-06-01

    In animals, signaling behavior is often context-dependent, with variation in the probability of emitting certain signals dependent on fitness advantages. Senders may adjust signaling rate depending on receiver identity, presence of audiences, or noise masking the signal, all of which can affect the benefits and costs of signal production. In the cooperative breeding meerkat Suricata suricatta , group members emit soft contact calls, termed as "close calls", while foraging in order to maintain group cohesion. Here, we investigated how the close calling rate during foraging was affected by the presence of pups, that produce continuous, noisy begging calls as they follow older group members. Adults decreased their overall close call rate substantially when pups were foraging with the group in comparison to periods when no pups were present. We suggest this decrease was likely due to a masking effect of the loud begging calls, which makes the close call function of maintaining group cohesion partly redundant as the centrally located begging calls can be used instead to maintain cohesion. There was some support that adults use close calls strategically to attract specific pups based on fitness advantages, that is, as the philopatric sex, females should call more than males and more to female pups than male pups. Dominant females called more than dominant males when a pup was in close proximity, while subordinates showed no sex-based differences. The sex of the nearest pup did not affect the calling rate of adults. The study shows that meerkats modify their close call production depending on benefits gained from calling and provides an example of the flexible use of one calling system in the presence of another, here contact calls versus begging calls, within the same species.

  17. The Bittersweet Task of Running a Grant Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Markin, Karen M.

    2013-01-01

    Running a grant program for the first time can feel overwhelming. The work is time-consuming, requires attention to many details, and is accompanied by pressure from applicants who are desperate for money and prompt decisions. This article presents a list of all of the factors educators have to consider. From establishing a timeline and drafting…

  18. Telephone logs of neurosurgery specialty trainees: a time study.

    PubMed

    Manjunath Prasad, K S; Mahmood, Sajeda; Gregson, Barbara A; Mitchell, Patrick

    2012-04-01

    With a constant debate on working hours and improved patient outcomes, time studies are crucial to obtain and analyse timelines and work components. This includes time spent on communication. The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude and patterns of telephone call episodes in the work schedule of neurosurgery trainees. Logs of handheld telephone sets assigned to neurosurgery specialty trainees in a British regional neurosurgical centre were obtained from the hospital switchboard for a 6-month period. This formed the primary data. Ringtime was added to the talktime for outgoing calls. Monday to Friday, 8 am-5 pm was considered as regular hours and the rest as other hours. The outcome measures used were number and duration of telephone episodes (individual and collective) and the timing of these episodes. During the study period of 6 months, there were 12071 incoming calls and 10712 outgoing calls (total calls-22783). The maximum number of incoming calls/ day/ trainee was in the range of 39-78 while the range for outgoing calls was 36-102. On an average, the on-call trainee made and received 33 and 36 calls respectively in a 24-hour period (mean call duration was 1.7 minutes) which meant that a telephone call intruded into the schedule almost once every 21 minutes. Typically, the on-call trainee spent 138 minutes on the telephone (69 calls) in 24 hours, while on an off-call day it was significantly less at 25 minutes (18 calls). Of the calls, 67% happened out of regular hours. Time spent on the telephone is a significant work component and would have a bearing on timelines.

  19. A Call for Professionalism.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shanker, Albert

    Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), speaks about the national testing of teachers and calls for the creation of a new and better national examination for new teachers. While members of the AFT have a few differences with some of the current reform proposals, the AFT in general supports the overwhelming majority…

  20. Evidence That Calls-Based and Mobility Networks Are Isomorphic

    PubMed Central

    Coscia, Michele; Hausmann, Ricardo

    2015-01-01

    Social relations involve both face-to-face interaction as well as telecommunications. We can observe the geography of phone calls and of the mobility of cell phones in space. These two phenomena can be described as networks of connections between different points in space. We use a dataset that includes billions of phone calls made in Colombia during a six-month period. We draw the two networks and find that the call-based network resembles a higher order aggregation of the mobility network and that both are isomorphic except for a higher spatial decay coefficient of the mobility network relative to the call-based network: when we discount distance effects on the call connections with the same decay observed for mobility connections, the two networks are virtually indistinguishable. PMID:26713730

  1. The Call for an African University: A Critical Reflection

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Wyk, Berte; Higgs, Philip

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, we draw on philosophy (particularly African philosophy) to analyse the call for an African university. The call for an African university may be viewed as a call that insists that all critical and transformative educators in Africa embrace an indigenous African worldview and root their nation's educational paradigms in an indigenous…

  2. Inhibitors of calling behavior of Plodia interpunctella.

    PubMed

    Hirashima, Akinori; Shigeta, Yoko; Eiraku, Tomohiko; Kuwano, Eiichi

    2003-01-01

    Some octopamine agonists were found to suppress the calling behavior of the stored product Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. Compounds were screened using a calling behavior bioassay using female P. interpunctella. Four active derivatives, with inhibitory activity at the nanomolar range, were identified in order of decreasing activity: 2-(1-phenylethylamino)-2-oxazoline > 2-(2-ethyl,6-methylanilino)oxazolidine > 2-(2-methyl benzylamino)-2-thiazoline > 2-(2,6-diethylanilino)thiazolidine. Three-dimensional pharmacophore hypotheses were built from a set of 15 compounds. Among the ten common-featured models generated by the program Catalyst/HipHop, a hypothesis including a hydrogen-bond acceptor lipid, a hydrophobic aromatic and two hydrophobic aliphatic features was considered to be essential for inhibitory activity in the calling behavior. Active compounds mapped well onto all the hydrogen-bond acceptor lipid, hydrophobic aromatic and hydrophobic aliphatic features of the hypothesis. On the other hand, less active compounds were shown not to achieve the energetically favorable conformation that is found in the active molecules in order to fit the 3D common-feature pharmacophore models. The present studies demonstrate that inhibition of calling behavior is via an octopamine receptor.

  3. Recall accuracy of mobile phone calls among Japanese young people.

    PubMed

    Kiyohara, Kosuke; Wake, Kanako; Watanabe, Soichi; Arima, Takuji; Sato, Yasuto; Kojimahara, Noriko; Taki, Masao; Yamaguchi, Naohito

    2016-11-01

    This study aimed to elucidate the recall accuracy of mobile phone calls among young people using new software-modified phone (SMP) technology. A total of 198 Japanese students aged between 10 and 24 years were instructed to use a SMP for 1 month to record their actual call statuses. Ten to 12 months after this period, face-to-face interviews were conducted to obtain the self-reported call statuses during the monitoring period. Using the SMP record as the gold standard of validation, the recall accuracy of phone calls was evaluated. A total of 19% of the participants (34/177) misclassified their laterality (i.e., the dominant side of ear used while making calls), with the level of agreement being moderate (κ-statistics, 0.449). The level of agreement between the self-reports and SMP records was relatively good for the duration of calls (Pearson's r, 0.620), as compared with the number of calls (Pearson's r, 0.561). The recall was prone to small systematic and large random errors for both the number and duration of calls. Such a large random recall error for the amount of calls and misclassification of laterality suggest that the results of epidemiological studies of mobile phone use based on self-assessment should be interpreted cautiously.

  4. House Calls in Private Practice.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whittington, Ronaele

    1985-01-01

    Relates the experiences of a social worker in private practice who offered house calls as an ongoing setting for counseling and psychotherapy to individuals and families. Describes advantages and disadvantages, liability, and target populations. (JAC)

  5. Residency training: the King-Devick test and sleep deprivation: study in pre- and post-call neurology residents.

    PubMed

    Davies, Emma C; Henderson, Sam; Balcer, Laura J; Galetta, Steven L

    2012-04-24

    The current study investigates the effect of sleep deprivation on the speed and accuracy of eye movements as measured by the King-Devick (K-D) test, a <1-minute test that involves rapid number naming. In this cohort study, neurology residents and staff from the University of Pennsylvania Health System underwent baseline followed by postcall K-D testing (n = 25); those not taking call (n = 10) also completed baseline and follow-up K-D testing. Differences in the times and errors between baseline and follow-up K-D scores were compared between the 2 groups. Residents taking call had less improvement from baseline K-D times when compared to participants not taking call (p < 0.0001, Wilcoxon rank sum test). For both groups, the change in K-D time from baseline was correlated to amount of sleep obtained (r(s) = -0.50, p = 0.002) and subjective evaluation of level of alertness (r(s) = 0.33, p = 0.05) but had no correlation to time since last caffeine consumption (r(s) = -0.13, p = 0.52). For those residents on their actual call night, the duration of sleep obtained did not correlate with change in K-D scores from baseline (r(s) = 0.13, p = 0.54). The K-D test is sensitive to the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive functioning, including rapid eye movements, concentration, and language function. As with other measures of sleep deprivation, K-D performance demonstrated significant interindividual variability in vulnerability to sleep deprivation. Severe fatigue appears to reduce the degree of improvement typically observed in K-D testing.

  6. 75 FR 31458 - Infrastructure Protection Data Call Survey

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-03

    ...-0022] Infrastructure Protection Data Call Survey AGENCY: National Protection and Programs Directorate... New Information Collection Request, Infrastructure Protection Data Call Survey. DHS previously... territories are able to achieve this mission, IP requests opinions and information in a survey from IP Data...

  7. [Analysis of 20,000 calls at the cardiovascular hotline of the German Hypertension Society].

    PubMed

    Leiblein, J; Dominiak, P

    2009-11-01

    The cardiovascular hotline of the German Hypertension Society is a telephone information and support service which has been operated since 1992. This retrospective study was aimed at presenting a profile of the callers and the affected persons, a summary of the personal inquiries as well as significant changes over time based on three samples. A total of 55,000 phone calls were made from 1992 to 2007. Data of 20,195 inquiries representing three periods (1992/1993, 1999/2000, 2006/2007) were analysed. There were almost equal numbers of female and male callers. The same applied to the gender of the affected persons. In 80 % of the calls the concerned persons themselves asked for informations. In 12 % relatives called for a parent, occasionally for a child or a friend. In the three samples the average age of the affected persons increased from 56.4 to 63.7 years. In 1992/1993 calls mostly originated from areas of high population density in Germany but gradually from smaller towns, too. In the future more elderly persons will use the hotline and there will be more questions concerning topics of old age. Copyright Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart . New York.

  8. A Call to Action for Research in Digital Learning: Learning without Limits of Time, Place, Path, Pace…or Evidence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cavanaugh, Cathy; Sessums, Christopher; Drexler, Wendy

    2015-01-01

    This essay is a call for rethinking our approach to research in digital learning. It plots a path founded in social trends and advances in education. A brief review of these trends and advances is followed by discussion of what flattened research might look like at scale. Scaling research in digital learning is crucial to advancing understanding…

  9. Low frequency baleen whale calls detected on ocean-bottom seismometers in the Lau basin, southwest Pacific Ocean.

    PubMed

    Brodie, Dana C; Dunn, Robert A

    2015-01-01

    Ten months of broadband seismic data, recorded on six ocean-bottom seismographs located in the Lau Basin, were examined to identify baleen whale species. As the first systematic survey of baleen whales in this part of the southwest Pacific Ocean, this study reveals the variety of species present and their temporal occurrence in and near the basin. Baleen whales produce species-specific low frequency calls that can be identified by distinct patterns in data spectrograms. By matching spectrograms with published accounts, fin, Bryde's, Antarctic blue, and New Zealand blue whale calls were identified. Probable whale sounds that could not be matched to published spectrograms, as well as non-biologic sounds that are likely of volcanogenic origin, were also recorded. Detections of fin whale calls (mid-June to mid-October) and blue whale calls (June through September) suggest that these species migrate through the region seasonally. Detections of Bryde's whale calls (primarily February to June, but also other times of the year) suggest this species resides around the basin nearly year round. The discovery of previously unpublished call types emphasizes the limited knowledge of the full call repertoires of baleen whales and the utility of using seismic survey data to enhance understanding in understudied regions.

  10. The Role of Calling in Military Engagement

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-06-01

    best people will always be good for mission and organizational success, selecting for calling may be the necessary outlet to satisfy retention goals...the long run, leading to greater life satisfaction and commitment. By selecting for and encouraging calling, we can raise standards in all levels of...R., & Tracey, J. B. (2000). The cost of turnover: Putting a price on the learning curve. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly

  11. Programmes and calls for public health research in European countries.

    PubMed

    Conceição, Claudia; Grimaud, Olivier; McCarthy, Mark; Barnhoorn, Floris; Sammut, Marvic; Saliba, Amanda; Katreniakova, Zuzana; Narkauskaité, Laura

    2013-11-01

    Public health research, at population and organizational level, needs to be identified independently within 'health' research from biomedicine and life sciences. In PHIRE (Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe), we investigated the extent and character of public health research calls and programmes in European countries. Country respondents, identified through national member associations of the European Public Health Association completed a standardized recording instrument. Public health research was defined, and the call period limited to the latest full year (2010). Of the 30 countries included (EU 27 plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), there were reports for 25 countries A simple classification of the calls was developed. There were 75 calls and programmes included. Of these, 41 (55%) together were in France and the UK, and 34 in a further 14 countries, while 9 countries reported there were no calls or programmes opened in 2010. Calls were categorized across diseases, behaviours, determinants, services and methodologies. Some calls were broad, while others--particularly in the countries with several calls--were more detailed towards specific issues. Levels of funding varied markedly and were difficult to define. Where stated, in 32 responses, 19 calls were only open to national applicants and 13 from abroad. Most European countries have competitive programmes and calls relevant for public health research, but they are poorly identified. Only a minority of countries present a wide range of topics and specific fields. Effort is needed to develop classifications for public health programmes and calls for public health research, improve information (including financial) collection to enable systematic comparisons and build greater recognition of public health research within research communities, with national and European research funding organizations, and for practitioners and policymakers.

  12. Comply with regulations or risk paying hefty fines: ten tips for choosing call recording to help ensure compliance.

    PubMed

    Johnson, Bill

    2014-01-01

    Medical practices are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for not complying with various governmental regulations, including a variety of HIPAA rules and credit card compliance. One solution to help reduce this risk and avoid fines is to use call recording to help ensure compliance. This article provides readers with key considerations for choosing and implementing a call recording solution for their medical practices to ensure that it will be compliant with key regulations. These tips include being able to customize call recording policies and procedures for their unique needs; providing secure, private storage; allowing easy access for authorized users; secure sharing of call recordings; regulatory compliance training; disaster recovery; and maintaining an audit-ready and compliant-evident state at all times.

  13. Traffic noise drowns out great tit alarm calls.

    PubMed

    Templeton, Christopher N; Zollinger, Sue Anne; Brumm, Henrik

    2016-11-21

    Anthropogenic noise is one of the fastest growing and most ubiquitous types of environmental pollution and can impair acoustic communication in a variety of animals [1]. Recent research has shown that birds can adjust acoustic parameters of their sexual signals (songs) in noisy environments [2,3], yet we know little about other types of vocalizations. Anti-predator signals contain subtle information that is critical for avoiding predation [4,5], and failure to detect these calls [6,7] as a result of anthropogenic noise pollution could have large fitness consequences by negatively impacting survival. We investigated whether traffic noise impacts both the production and perception of avian alarm calls using a combination of lab and field experiments with great tits (Parus major), a songbird that frequently inhabits noise-polluted environments. In response to experimental noise manipulation in controlled laboratory conditions, great tits increased the amplitude, but not the frequency parameters, of their mobbing alarm calls (hereafter 'alarm calls'). Playback experiments conducted in the wild indicate that current levels of road traffic noise mask alarm calls, impeding the ability of great tits to perceive these critical signals. These results show that, despite the vocal adjustments used to compensate for anthropogenic noise, great tits are not able to restore the active space of their calls in even moderately noisy environments. Consequently, birds are likely to suffer from increased predation risk under noise, with likely effects on their behaviour, populations, and community dynamics in noise-polluted areas. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  14. Simple syllabic calls accompany discrete behavior patterns in captive Pteronotus parnellii: an illustration of the motivation-structure hypothesis.

    PubMed

    Clement, Matthew J; Kanwal, Jagmeet S

    2012-01-01

    Mustached bats, Pteronotus parnellii, are highly social and vocal. Individuals of this species roost in tight clusters, and emit an acoustically rich repertoire of calls whose behavioral significance is largely unknown. We recorded their social and vocal behaviors within a colony housed under semi-natural conditions. We also quantified the spatial spread of each bat's roosting location and discovered that this was relatively fixed and roughly confined to an individual's body width. The spatial precision in roosting was accompanied by an equally remarkable match between specific vocalizations and well-timed, discrete, identifiable postures/behaviors, as revealed by logistic regression analysis. The bodily behaviors included crouching, marking, yawning, nipping, flicking, fighting, kissing, inspecting, and fly-bys. Two echolocation-like calls were used to maintain spacing in the colony, two noisy broadband calls were emitted during fights, two tonal calls conveyed fear, and another tonal call signaled appeasement. Overall, the results establish that mustached bats exhibit complex social interactions common to other social mammals. The correspondence of relatively low frequency and noisy, broadband calls with aggression, and of tonal, high frequency calls with fear supports Morton's Motivation-Structure hypothesis, and establishes a link between motivation and the acoustic structure of social calls emitted by mustached bats.

  15. Simple Syllabic Calls Accompany Discrete Behavior Patterns in Captive Pteronotus parnellii: An Illustration of the Motivation-Structure Hypothesis

    PubMed Central

    Clement, Matthew J.; Kanwal, Jagmeet S.

    2012-01-01

    Mustached bats, Pteronotus parnellii, are highly social and vocal. Individuals of this species roost in tight clusters, and emit an acoustically rich repertoire of calls whose behavioral significance is largely unknown. We recorded their social and vocal behaviors within a colony housed under semi-natural conditions. We also quantified the spatial spread of each bat's roosting location and discovered that this was relatively fixed and roughly confined to an individual's body width. The spatial precision in roosting was accompanied by an equally remarkable match between specific vocalizations and well-timed, discrete, identifiable postures/behaviors, as revealed by logistic regression analysis. The bodily behaviors included crouching, marking, yawning, nipping, flicking, fighting, kissing, inspecting, and fly-bys. Two echolocation-like calls were used to maintain spacing in the colony, two noisy broadband calls were emitted during fights, two tonal calls conveyed fear, and another tonal call signaled appeasement. Overall, the results establish that mustached bats exhibit complex social interactions common to other social mammals. The correspondence of relatively low frequency and noisy, broadband calls with aggression, and of tonal, high frequency calls with fear supports Morton's Motivation-Structure hypothesis, and establishes a link between motivation and the acoustic structure of social calls emitted by mustached bats. PMID:22693429

  16. Developmental plasticity of mating calls enables acoustic communication in diverse environments

    PubMed Central

    Beckers, Oliver M; Schul, Johannes

    2008-01-01

    Male calls of the katydid Neoconocephalus triops exhibit substantial developmental plasticity in two parameters: (i) calls of winter males are continuous and lack the verse structure of summer calls and (ii) at equal temperatures, summer males produce calls with a substantially higher pulse rate than winter males. We raised female N. triops under conditions that reliably induced either summer or winter phenotype and tested their preferences for the call parameters that differ between summer and winter males. Neither generation was selective for the presence of verses, but females had strong preferences for pulse rates: only a narrow range of pulse rates was attractive. The attractive ranges did not differ between summer and winter females. Both male pulse rate and female preference for pulse rate changed with ambient temperature, but female preference changed more than the male calls. As a result, the summer call was attractive only at 25°C, whereas the slower winter call was attractive only at 20°C. Thus, developmental plasticity of male calls compensates for differences in temperature dependency between calls and preferences and enables the communication system to function in heterogeneous environments. The potential role of call plasticity during the invasion of new habitats is discussed. PMID:18302998

  17. The evolution of trade-offs: geographic variation in call duration and flight ability in the sand cricket, Gryllus firmus.

    PubMed

    Roff, D A; Crnokrak, P; Fairbairn, D J

    2003-07-01

    Quantitative genetic theory assumes that trade-offs are best represented by bivariate normal distributions. This theory predicts that selection will shift the trade-off function itself and not just move the mean trait values along a fixed trade-off line, as is generally assumed in optimality models. As a consequence, quantitative genetic theory predicts that the trade-off function will vary among populations in which at least one of the component traits itself varies. This prediction is tested using the trade-off between call duration and flight capability, as indexed by the mass of the dorsolateral flight muscles, in the macropterous morph of the sand cricket. We use four different populations of crickets that vary in the proportion of macropterous males (Lab = 33%, Florida = 29%, Bermuda = 72%, South Carolina = 80%). We find, as predicted, that there is significant variation in the intercept of the trade-off function but not the slope, supporting the hypothesis that trade-off functions are better represented as bivariate normal distributions rather than single lines. We also test the prediction from a quantitative genetical model of the evolution of wing dimorphism that the mean call duration of macropterous males will increase with the percentage of macropterous males in the population. This prediction is also supported. Finally, we estimate the probability of a macropterous male attracting a female, P, as a function of the relative time spent calling (P = time spent calling by macropterous male/(total time spent calling by both micropterous and macropterous male). We find that in the Lab and Florida populations the probability of a female selecting the macropterous male is equal to P, indicating that preference is due simply to relative call duration. But in the Bermuda and South Carolina populations the probability of a female selecting a macropterous male is less than P, indicating a preference for the micropterous male even after differences in call duration

  18. Climate change and frog calls: long-term correlations along a tropical altitudinal gradient

    PubMed Central

    Narins, Peter M.; Meenderink, Sebastiaan W. F.

    2014-01-01

    Temperature affects nearly all biological processes, including acoustic signal production and reception. Here, we report on advertisement calls of the Puerto Rican coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) that were recorded along an altitudinal gradient and compared these with similar recordings along the same altitudinal gradient obtained 23 years earlier. We found that over this period, at any given elevation, calls exhibited both significant increases in pitch and shortening of their duration. All of the observed differences are consistent with a shift to higher elevations for the population, a well-known strategy for adapting to a rise in ambient temperature. Using independent temperature data over the same time period, we confirm a significant increase in temperature, the magnitude of which closely predicts the observed changes in the frogs’ calls. Physiological responses to long-term temperature rises include reduction in individual body size and concomitantly, population biomass. These can have potentially dire consequences, as coqui frogs form an integral component of the food web in the Puerto Rican rainforest. PMID:24718765

  19. Call rates of mothers change with maternal experience and with infant characteristics in free-ranging gray-cheeked mangabeys.

    PubMed

    Arlet, Małgorzata E; Veromann, Linda-Liisa; Mänd, Raivo; Lemasson, Alban

    2016-09-01

    Studies have shown that becoming a mother triggers important social changes within females, according to both social experience and infant characteristics, showing different maternal concerns. But how this impacts call usage has been far less studied. Based on 6 months of observations of five free-ranging groups of gray-cheeked mangabeys, we investigated variations in the production of three call types (contact, excitement, and alarm calls) in 29 females of different ages, dominance ranks, and infant rearing experiences: 15 females with infants of different ages and sexes, and 14 females without infants. We found that in females with infants-both maternal and infant characteristics influenced call production in a call type-dependent way. Females produced contact calls at a higher rate during the first month of infant age and after weaning when infants start to move away. Mothers of daughters produced more contact calls than mothers of sons. More excitement calls were recorded for first-time and young mothers and for females with young infants, while alarm call rates were not influenced by any of these factors. Increased mother-infant spatial separation enhanced only contact and excitement call rates. Finally, we found that females with infants vocalized much more than females without infants. Our results contribute to the current debate about the social factors responsible for the flexibility of call usage in nonhuman primates and open new lines for research on mothering behavior in forest-dwelling species. Am. J. Primatol. 78:983-991, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. 47 CFR 25.284 - Emergency Call Center Service.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... mobile satellite service to end-user customers (part 25, subparts A-D) must provide Emergency Call Center... Center personnel must determine the emergency caller's phone number and location and then transfer or otherwise redirect the call to an appropriate public safety answering point. Providers of mobile satellite...

  1. Ultrastructure and composition of Call-Exner bodies in bovine follicles.

    PubMed

    van Wezel, I L; Irving-Rodgers, H F; Sado, Y; Ninomiya, Y; Rodgers, R J

    1999-05-01

    Call-Exner bodies are present in ovarian follicles of a range of species including human and rabbit, and in a range of human ovarian tumors. We have also found structures resembling Call-Exner bodies in bovine preantral and small antral follicles. Hematoxylin and eosin staining of single sections of bovine ovaries has shown that 30% of preantral follicles with more than one layer of granulosa cells and 45% of small (less than 650 microns) antral follicles have at least one Call-Exner body composed of a spherical eosinophilic region surrounded by a rosette of granulosa cells. Alcian blue stains the spherical eosinophilic region of the Call-Exner bodies. Electron microscopy has demonstrated that some Call-Exner bodies contain large aggregates of convoluted basal lamina, whereas others also contain regions of unassembled basal-lamina-like material. Individual chains of the basal lamina components type IV collagen (alpha 1 to alpha 5) and laminin (alpha 1, beta 2 and delta 1) have been immunolocalized to Call-Exner bodies in sections of fresh-frozen ovaries. Bovine Call-Exner bodies are presumably analogous to Call-Exner bodies in other species but are predominantly found in preantral and small antral follicles, rather than large antral follicles. With follicular development, the basal laminae of Call-Exner bodies change in their apparent ratio of type IV collagen to laminin, similar to changes observed in the follicular basal lamina, suggesting that these structures have a common cellular origin.

  2. Sound imaging of nocturnal animal calls in their natural habitat.

    PubMed

    Mizumoto, Takeshi; Aihara, Ikkyu; Otsuka, Takuma; Takeda, Ryu; Aihara, Kazuyuki; Okuno, Hiroshi G

    2011-09-01

    We present a novel method for imaging acoustic communication between nocturnal animals. Investigating the spatio-temporal calling behavior of nocturnal animals, e.g., frogs and crickets, has been difficult because of the need to distinguish many animals' calls in noisy environments without being able to see them. Our method visualizes the spatial and temporal dynamics using dozens of sound-to-light conversion devices (called "Firefly") and an off-the-shelf video camera. The Firefly, which consists of a microphone and a light emitting diode, emits light when it captures nearby sound. Deploying dozens of Fireflies in a target area, we record calls of multiple individuals through the video camera. We conduct two experiments, one indoors and the other in the field, using Japanese tree frogs (Hyla japonica). The indoor experiment demonstrates that our method correctly visualizes Japanese tree frogs' calling behavior. It has confirmed the known behavior; two frogs call synchronously or in anti-phase synchronization. The field experiment (in a rice paddy where Japanese tree frogs live) also visualizes the same calling behavior to confirm anti-phase synchronization in the field. Experimental results confirm that our method can visualize the calling behavior of nocturnal animals in their natural habitat.

  3. TADtool: visual parameter identification for TAD-calling algorithms.

    PubMed

    Kruse, Kai; Hug, Clemens B; Hernández-Rodríguez, Benjamín; Vaquerizas, Juan M

    2016-10-15

    Eukaryotic genomes are hierarchically organized into topologically associating domains (TADs). The computational identification of these domains and their associated properties critically depends on the choice of suitable parameters of TAD-calling algorithms. To reduce the element of trial-and-error in parameter selection, we have developed TADtool: an interactive plot to find robust TAD-calling parameters with immediate visual feedback. TADtool allows the direct export of TADs called with a chosen set of parameters for two of the most common TAD calling algorithms: directionality and insulation index. It can be used as an intuitive, standalone application or as a Python package for maximum flexibility. TADtool is available as a Python package from GitHub (https://github.com/vaquerizaslab/tadtool) or can be installed directly via PyPI, the Python package index (tadtool). kai.kruse@mpi-muenster.mpg.de, jmv@mpi-muenster.mpg.deSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  4. Calling behavior of mass-reared and wild Anastrepha serpentina (Diptera: Tephritidae).

    PubMed

    Castrejón-Gómez, Victor R; Lascares, Shaila; Malo, Edi A; Toledo, Jorge; Rojas, Julio C

    2007-08-01

    The calling behavior of mass-reared and wild males of Anastrepha serpentina (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) was studied both in the laboratory and in field cage tests. In the laboratory, density (1, 5, and 10 males per container), age, and hour of day significantly affected calling behavior. Mass-reared males called independently of density, whereas wild males only called at densities of 5 and 10 individuals. Males of both strains started calling when they were 5-7 d old. The daily pattern of male calling was similar in both strains, starting at 0730 hours, and reaching a peak at 1330-1630 hours. Field cage tests showed that mass-reared males started calling when they were 5d old; the period of peak calling was when males were 8-9 d old. In contrast, wild males began calling when they were 10 d old, reaching peaks when males were 13, 15, and 18 d old. Wild males tended to form leks to call during each day of the experiment, whereas mass-reared males only formed leks during 2 d, both strains displaying very low levels. During field cage tests, males, independently of strain, displayed two calling peaks, one peak in the morning and one peak in the afternoon, whereas males observed in the laboratory only showed a single calling peak. The results are discussed in view of the effects of mass rearing A. serpentina males in relation to potential use of the sterile insect technique.

  5. Vocal repertoire of free-ranging black howler monkeys' (Alouatta pigra): Call types, contexts, and sex-related contributions.

    PubMed

    Briseño-Jaramillo, Margarita; Biquand, Véronique; Estrada, Alejandro; Lemasson, Alban

    2017-05-01

    Alouatta species utter the most powerful primate vocalizations in the Neotropics and are well-known for their loud and long-lasting male howling bouts. However, the diversity of acoustic structures used in these howling bouts, as well as in non-howling contexts, and the relative contribution of the different group members to the entire vocal repertoire, needed to be explored further. This report provides the first detailed description of the vocal repertoire of black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra), focusing on acoustic structures and contexts of emission of both loud and soft calls as well as on the contribution rate of males and females to the different call types. Three free-ranging social groups of black howler monkeys living in Palenque National Park, Mexico were monitored. We identified twelve acoustically discriminable call types, eight described previously and four described here for the first time. A few call types were systematically emitted either isolated or during howling bouts, but most of them could be heard in both calling contexts. Three call types were emitted only by females and two only by males. Adult males' call rates (for the seven shared call types) were higher than those of females but only when considering calls emitted within howling bouts. Our contextual analysis enabled us to divide call types into potential functional categories, according to their degree of contribution, to intra-group versus inter-group interactions and to neutral-positive versus negative situations. We then discussed how socio-ecological factors, notably sex differences in social behaviors, may explain the variability found in the vocal repertoire of this species and compared our findings with the literature on other primate species. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Addressee Errors in ATC Communications: The Call Sign Problem

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Monan, W. P.

    1983-01-01

    Communication errors involving aircraft call signs were portrayed in reports of 462 hazardous incidents voluntarily submitted to the ASRS during an approximate four-year period. These errors resulted in confusion, disorder, and uncoordinated traffic conditions and produced the following types of operational anomalies: altitude deviations, wrong-way headings, aborted takeoffs, go arounds, runway incursions, missed crossing altitude restrictions, descents toward high terrain, and traffic conflicts in flight and on the ground. Analysis of the report set resulted in identification of five categories of errors involving call signs: (1) faulty radio usage techniques, (2) call sign loss or smearing due to frequency congestion, (3) confusion resulting from similar sounding call signs, (4) airmen misses of call signs leading to failures to acknowledge or readback, and (5) controller failures regarding confirmation of acknowledgements or readbacks. These error categories are described in detail and several associated hazard mitigating measures that might be aken are considered.

  7. Nonlinear Acoustics in Cicada Mating Calls Enhance Sound Propagation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-03-01

    NUWC-NPT Reprint Report 11,907 1 March 2009 Nonlinear Acoustics in Cicada Mating Calls Enhance Sound Propagation Derke R. Hughes Albert H...vol. 125, no. 2, February 2009. Nonlinear acoustics in cicada mating calls enhance sound propagation Derke R. Hughes,3 Albert H. Nuttall,h Richard A...2008; revised 31 October 2008; accepted 15 November 2008) An analysis of cicada mating calls, measured in field experiments, indicates that the very

  8. San Diego field operational test of smart call boxes : technical aspects

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    Smart call boxes are devices similar to those used as emergency call boxes in California. The basic call box consists of a microprocessor, a cellular transceiver, and a solar power source. The smart call box system also includes data-collection devic...

  9. 76 FR 17933 - Infrastructure Protection Data Call Survey

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-31

    ... Survey AGENCY: National Protection and Programs Directorate, DHS. ACTION: 60-Day Notice and request for... mission, IP requests opinions and information in a survey from IP Data Call participants regarding the IP Data Call process and the web-based application used to collect the CIKR data. The survey data...

  10. Making judgment calls. The ultimate act of leadership.

    PubMed

    Tichy, Noel M; Bennis, Warren G

    2007-10-01

    According to the traditional view, judgment is an event: You make a decision and then move on. Yet Tichy, of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, and Bennis, of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, found that good leadership judgment occurs not in a single moment but throughout a process. From their research into the complex phenomenon of leadership judgment, the authors also found that most important judgment calls reside in one of three domains: people, strategy, and crisis. Understanding the essence of leadership judgment is crucial. A leader's calls determine an organization's success or failure and deliver the verdict on his or her career. The first phase of the judgment process is preparation--identifying and framing the issue that demands a decision and aligning and mobilizing key stakeholders. Second is the call itself, And third is acting on the call, learning and adjusting along the way. Good leaders use a "story line"--an articulation of a company's identity, direction, and values--to inform their actions throughout the judgment process. Boeing CEO Jim McNerney, for instance, focused on a story line of Boeing as a world-class competitor and ethical leader to make a judgment call that launched the company's recovery from a string of ethical crises. Good leaders also take advantage of "redo loops" throughout the process, reconsidering the parameters of the decision, relabeling the problem, and redefining the goal in a way that more and more people can accept. Procter & Gamble's A.G. Lafley and Best Buy's Brad Anderson have both used redo loops--in preparation and execution, respectively--to strengthen not only support for their calls but also the outcomes.

  11. A varying coefficient model to measure the effectiveness of mass media anti-smoking campaigns in generating calls to a Quitline.

    PubMed

    Bui, Quang M; Huggins, Richard M; Hwang, Wen-Han; White, Victoria; Erbas, Bircan

    2010-01-01

    Anti-smoking advertisements are an effective population-based smoking reduction strategy. The Quitline telephone service provides a first point of contact for adults considering quitting. Because of data complexity, the relationship between anti-smoking advertising placement, intensity, and time trends in total call volume is poorly understood. In this study we use a recently developed semi-varying coefficient model to elucidate this relationship. Semi-varying coefficient models comprise parametric and nonparametric components. The model is fitted to the daily number of calls to Quitline in Victoria, Australia to estimate a nonparametric long-term trend and parametric terms for day-of-the-week effects and to clarify the relationship with target audience rating points (TARPs) for the Quit and nicotine replacement advertising campaigns. The number of calls to Quitline increased with the TARP value of both the Quit and other smoking cessation advertisement; the TARP values associated with the Quit program were almost twice as effective. The varying coefficient term was statistically significant for peak periods with little or no advertising. Semi-varying coefficient models are useful for modeling public health data when there is little or no information on other factors related to the at-risk population. These models are well suited to modeling call volume to Quitline, because the varying coefficient allowed the underlying time trend to depend on fixed covariates that also vary with time, thereby explaining more of the variation in the call model.

  12. A Varying Coefficient Model to Measure the Effectiveness of Mass Media Anti-Smoking Campaigns in Generating Calls to a Quitline

    PubMed Central

    Bui, Quang M.; Huggins, Richard M.; Hwang, Wen-Han; White, Victoria; Erbas, Bircan

    2010-01-01

    Background Anti-smoking advertisements are an effective population-based smoking reduction strategy. The Quitline telephone service provides a first point of contact for adults considering quitting. Because of data complexity, the relationship between anti-smoking advertising placement, intensity, and time trends in total call volume is poorly understood. In this study we use a recently developed semi-varying coefficient model to elucidate this relationship. Methods Semi-varying coefficient models comprise parametric and nonparametric components. The model is fitted to the daily number of calls to Quitline in Victoria, Australia to estimate a nonparametric long-term trend and parametric terms for day-of-the-week effects and to clarify the relationship with target audience rating points (TARPs) for the Quit and nicotine replacement advertising campaigns. Results The number of calls to Quitline increased with the TARP value of both the Quit and other smoking cessation advertisement; the TARP values associated with the Quit program were almost twice as effective. The varying coefficient term was statistically significant for peak periods with little or no advertising. Conclusions Semi-varying coefficient models are useful for modeling public health data when there is little or no information on other factors related to the at-risk population. These models are well suited to modeling call volume to Quitline, because the varying coefficient allowed the underlying time trend to depend on fixed covariates that also vary with time, thereby explaining more of the variation in the call model. PMID:20827036

  13. AI in CALL--Artificially Inflated or Almost Imminent?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schulze, Mathias

    2008-01-01

    The application of techniques from artificial intelligence (AI) to CALL has commonly been referred to as intelligent CALL (ICALL). ICALL is only slightly older than the "CALICO Journal", and this paper looks back at a quarter century of published research mainly in North America and by North American scholars. This "inventory…

  14. Calls to Teen Line: Representative Concerns of Adolescents.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boehm, Kathryn E.; Schondel, Connie K.; Ivoska, William J.; Marlowe, Alison L.; Manke-Mitchell, Laurie

    1998-01-01

    Study examines whether the concerns of teenagers calling a peer listening service are representative of the concerns of teenagers in the area served. Results indicate that students' biggest concerns involve family problems, peer relationships, self-esteem, and school problems. Concludes that calls to the teen line are representative. (Author/GCP)

  15. Dialogue-Based CALL: An Overview of Existing Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bibauw, Serge; François, Thomas; Desmet, Piet

    2015-01-01

    Dialogue-based Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) covers applications and systems allowing a learner to practice the target language in a meaning-focused conversational activity with an automated agent. We first present a common definition for dialogue-based CALL, based on three features: dialogue as the activity unit, computer as the…

  16. Perceived job stress and health complaints at a bank call center: comparison between inbound and outbound services.

    PubMed

    Lin, Yen-Hui; Chen, Chih-Yong; Hong, Wei-Hsien; Lin, Yu-Chao

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated how perceived job stress and health status differ, as well as the relationships to inbound (incoming calls) versus outbound (outgoing calls) calling activities, for call center workers in a bank in Taiwan. The sample bank employed 289 call center workers at the time of the survey, ranging in age from 19 to 54 yr old. Data were obtained on individual factors, health complaints, perceived level job stress, and major job stressors. Overall, 33.5% of outbound operators and 27.1% of inbound operators reported frequently or always experiencing high stress at work, however, the differences between inbound and outbound operators were insignificant. "Having to deal with difficult customers" was the most frequent job stressor for all workers. Musculoskeletal discomfort, eye strain, and hoarse or sore throat were the most prevalent complaints among call center workers. The relationship between perceived job stress and health complaints indicated that workers who perceived higher job stress had significantly increased risk of multiple health problems, including eye strain, tinnitus, hoarse or sore throat, chronic cough with phlegm, chest tightness, irritable stomach or peptic ulcers, and musculoskeletal discomfort (with odds ratios ranging from 2.13 to 8.24). These analytical results suggest that perceived job stress in the call center profoundly affected worker health. This study identified main types of job stressors requiring further investigation.

  17. Impaired laparoscopic performance of novice surgeons due to phone call distraction: a single-centre, prospective study.

    PubMed

    Yang, Cui; Heinze, Julia; Helmert, Jens; Weitz, Juergen; Reissfelder, Christoph; Mees, Soeren Torge

    2017-12-01

    Distractions such as phone calls during laparoscopic surgery play an important role in many operating rooms. The aim of this single-centre, prospective study was to assess if laparoscopic performance is impaired by intraoperative phone calls in novice surgeons. From October 2015 to June 2016, 30 novice surgeons (medical students) underwent a laparoscopic surgery training curriculum including two validated tasks (peg transfer, precision cutting) until achieving a defined level of proficiency. For testing, participants were required to perform these tasks under three conditions: no distraction (control) and two standardised distractions in terms of phone calls requiring response (mild and strong distraction). Task performance was evaluated by analysing time and accuracy of the tasks and response of the phone call. In peg transfer (easy task), mild distraction did not worsen the performance significantly, while strong distraction was linked to error and inefficiency with significantly deteriorated performance (P < 0.05). Precision cutting (difficult task) was not slowed down by mild distraction, but surgical and cognitive errors were significantly increased when participants were distracted (P < 0.05). Compared to mild distraction, participants reported a more severe subjective disturbance when they were diverted by strong distraction (P < 0.05). Our data reveals that phone call distractions result in impaired laparoscopic performance under certain circumstances. To ensure patient safety, phone calls should be avoided as far as possible in operating rooms.

  18. Enhancing Online CALL Design: The Case for Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hemard, Dominique

    2004-01-01

    Whilst the potential of online Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in terms of access, immediacy and exposure is widely acknowledged, as yet remarkably little is known about its impact on the user population, be they language teachers or learners. Indeed, beyond its technological development, online CALL design is still affected by a dearth…

  19. TotalReCaller: improved accuracy and performance via integrated alignment and base-calling.

    PubMed

    Menges, Fabian; Narzisi, Giuseppe; Mishra, Bud

    2011-09-01

    Currently, re-sequencing approaches use multiple modules serially to interpret raw sequencing data from next-generation sequencing platforms, while remaining oblivious to the genomic information until the final alignment step. Such approaches fail to exploit the full information from both raw sequencing data and the reference genome that can yield better quality sequence reads, SNP-calls, variant detection, as well as an alignment at the best possible location in the reference genome. Thus, there is a need for novel reference-guided bioinformatics algorithms for interpreting analog signals representing sequences of the bases ({A, C, G, T}), while simultaneously aligning possible sequence reads to a source reference genome whenever available. Here, we propose a new base-calling algorithm, TotalReCaller, to achieve improved performance. A linear error model for the raw intensity data and Burrows-Wheeler transform (BWT) based alignment are combined utilizing a Bayesian score function, which is then globally optimized over all possible genomic locations using an efficient branch-and-bound approach. The algorithm has been implemented in soft- and hardware [field-programmable gate array (FPGA)] to achieve real-time performance. Empirical results on real high-throughput Illumina data were used to evaluate TotalReCaller's performance relative to its peers-Bustard, BayesCall, Ibis and Rolexa-based on several criteria, particularly those important in clinical and scientific applications. Namely, it was evaluated for (i) its base-calling speed and throughput, (ii) its read accuracy and (iii) its specificity and sensitivity in variant calling. A software implementation of TotalReCaller as well as additional information, is available at: http://bioinformatics.nyu.edu/wordpress/projects/totalrecaller/ fabian.menges@nyu.edu.

  20. Try These Time Management Tips.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bimrose, Jack J.

    1987-01-01

    Offers 12 time management tips for harried school administrators, including using a personal calendar, calling five-minute meetings with secretaries, mail-sorting, delegating or declining certain tasks, controlling visitors, screening phone calls, streamlining meetings, and other ideas. (MLH)

  1. Bats aloft: Variation in echolocation call structure at high altitudes

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Bats alter their echolocation calls in response to changes in ecological and behavioral conditions, but little is known about how they adjust their call structure in response to changes in altitude. This study examines altitudinal variation in the echolocation calls of Brazilian free-tailed bats, T...

  2. A new stratification of mourning dove call-count routes

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Blankenship, L.H.; Humphrey, A.B.; MacDonald, D.

    1971-01-01

    The mourning dove (Zenaidura macroura) call-count survey is a nationwide audio-census of breeding mourning doves. Recent analyses of the call-count routes have utilized a stratification based upon physiographic regions of the United States. An analysis of 5 years of call-count data, based upon stratification using potential natural vegetation, has demonstrated that this uew stratification results in strata with greater homogeneity than the physiographic strata, provides lower error variance, and hence generates greatet precision in the analysis without an increase in call-count routes. Error variance was reduced approximately 30 percent for the contiguous United States. This indicates that future analysis based upon the new stratification will result in an increased ability to detect significant year-to-year changes.

  3. Captains’ Call Kit. Winter 1998/99

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1999-01-01

    suggestions or comments for articles or ways to improve CCK, please write, call or fax a comment to: Editor, Captain’s Call Kit, Naval Media Center, Bldg...aware Sailor, Marine or family mem- ber," Kinsman said. "We put a lot of our emphasis and effort in training our military members and their...and report it, we can intercede before something happens." There may be a threat of retaliation in the wake of the U.S. military strikes against

  4. Outsourcing an Effective Postdischarge Call Program: A Collaborative Approach.

    PubMed

    Meek, Kevin L; Williams, Paula; Unterschuetz, Caryn J

    To improve patient satisfaction ratings and decrease readmissions, many organizations utilize internal staff to complete postdischarge calls to recently released patients. Developing, implementing, monitoring, and sustaining an effective call program can be challenging and have eluded some of the renowned medical centers in the country. Using collaboration with an outsourced vendor to bring state-of-the-art call technology and staffed with specially trained callers, health systems can achieve elevated levels of engagement and satisfaction for their patients postdischarge.

  5. Impact of an after-hours on-call emergency physician on ambulance transports from a county jail.

    PubMed

    Chan, Theodore C; Vilke, Gary M; Smith, Sue; Sparrow, William; Dunford, James V

    2003-01-01

    The authors sought to determine if the availability of an after-hours on-call emergency physician by telephone for consultation to the staff at a county jail would safely reduce ambulance emergency department (ED) transport of inmates in the community. The authors conducted a prospective comparison study during the first ten months of an emergency physician on-call program for the county jail in which prospective data were collected on all consultations, including reason for call and disposition (ambulance, deputy, or no ED transport of inmate). They compared this time with a similar period a year before the program in terms of total ambulance transports from the jail. They also reviewed all hospital and jail medical records to assess for any adverse consequences within one month, or subsequent ambulance transport within 24 hours as a result of inmate care after the consultation call. Total after-hours ambulance transports from the jail decreased significantly from 30.3 transports/month (95% confidence interval [CI], 21.0-39.6) to 9.1 transports/month (95% CI, 4.1-14.0) (p < 0.05). The most common reasons for consultation calls were chest pain (16%), trauma (15%), and abnormal laboratory or radiology results (14%). Of all calls, only 30% resulted in ambulance transport to the ED. On review of records, no adverse outcome or subsequent ambulance transport was identified. The initiation of an on-call emergency physician program for after-hours consultation to jail nursing and law enforcement staff safely reduced ambulance transports from a county jail with no adverse outcomes identified.

  6. An Evaluation Framework for CALL

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McMurry, Benjamin L.; Williams, David Dwayne; Rich, Peter J.; Hartshorn, K. James

    2016-01-01

    Searching prestigious Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) journals for references to key publications and authors in the field of evaluation yields a short list. The "American Journal of Evaluation"--the flagship journal of the American Evaluation Association--is only cited once in both the "CALICO Journal and Language…

  7. 29 CFR 18.614 - Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge. 18.614... interrogation of witnesses by judge. (a) Calling by the judge. The judge may, on the judge's own motion or at... thus called. (b) Interrogation by the judge. The judge may interrogate witnesses, whether called by the...

  8. 29 CFR 18.614 - Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge. 18.614... interrogation of witnesses by judge. (a) Calling by the judge. The judge may, on the judge's own motion or at... thus called. (b) Interrogation by the judge. The judge may interrogate witnesses, whether called by the...

  9. 29 CFR 18.614 - Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge. 18.614... interrogation of witnesses by judge. (a) Calling by the judge. The judge may, on the judge's own motion or at... thus called. (b) Interrogation by the judge. The judge may interrogate witnesses, whether called by the...

  10. 29 CFR 18.614 - Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge. 18.614... interrogation of witnesses by judge. (a) Calling by the judge. The judge may, on the judge's own motion or at... thus called. (b) Interrogation by the judge. The judge may interrogate witnesses, whether called by the...

  11. 29 CFR 18.614 - Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Calling and interrogation of witnesses by judge. 18.614... interrogation of witnesses by judge. (a) Calling by the judge. The judge may, on the judge's own motion or at... thus called. (b) Interrogation by the judge. The judge may interrogate witnesses, whether called by the...

  12. Developing CALL to Meet the Needs of Language Teaching and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jiang, Zhaofeng

    2008-01-01

    This paper illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of CALL. It points out that CALL is influenced by traditional language teaching and learning approaches to some extent. It concludes that what is important in our university system is that CALL design and implementation should match the users' needs, since CALL is not always better than…

  13. Gay Professors Face Less Discrimination, but Many Still Fight for Benefits

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bollag, Burton

    2007-01-01

    Gay and lesbian faculty members may no longer be desperate to hide their true identities in academe, but many are desperately seeking health insurance for their partners. With anti-gay discrimination fading, obtaining health and other benefits for partners is still a major concern for many gay and lesbian academics. A growing number of colleges…

  14. Overnight call: a survey of medical student experiences, attitudes, and skills.

    PubMed

    Corriere, Mark D; Hanson, Janice L; Hemmer, Paul A; Denton, Gerald D

    2013-01-01

    Residency work hour restrictions in 2003 changed medical student participation in overnight call. The goal is to compare experiences, attitudes, and skills between medical students who did and did not participate in overnight call. Using a retrospective cohort design, all students at one medical school received a survey at the end of their 3rd-year internal medicine clerkship. Students at 3 clerkship sites were required to take overnight call, and students at 2 sites were not. One hundred four of 167 (62%) students participated. Sixty-one of 104 (59%) took overnight call. Overnight call students reported improved team relationships and were able to evaluate more unstable "cross-cover" patients. Students who took overnight call were more likely to state it was worthwhile (58% vs. 34%; p = .034). Overnight call led to fatigue and the perception of interference with didactics. Overnight call within the internal medicine clerkship has positive and negative effects. With new residency work hour restrictions, schools may consider innovative ways to preserve the positive experiences while working to minimize fatigue and interference with learning.

  15. Listen to Your Heart? Calling and Receptivity to Career Advice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobrow, Shoshana R.; Tosti-Kharas, Jennifer

    2012-01-01

    This study explores calling in the context of career decision making. Specifically, the authors examine receptivity to advice that discourages individuals from pursuing a professional path in their calling's domain. The authors hypothesize that people with a strong calling will be more likely to ignore negative career advice. In Study 1, a…

  16. [Bioacoustic of the advertisement call of Ceratophrys cranwelli (Anura: Ceratophryidae)].

    PubMed

    Valetti, Julián Alonso; Salas, Nancy Edith; Martino, Adolfo Ludovico

    2013-03-01

    The advertisement call plays an important role in the life history of anuran amphibians, mainly during the breeding season. Call features represent an important character to discriminate species, and sound emissions are very effective to assure or reinforce genetic incompatibility, especially in the case of sibling species. Since frogs are ectotherms, acoustic properties of their calls will vary with temperature. In this study, we described the advertisement call of C. cranwelli, quantifying the temperature effect on its components. The acoustic emissions were recorded during 2007 using a DAT record Sony TCD-100 with stereo microphone ECM-MS907 Sony and tape TDK DAT-RGX 60. As males emit their calls floating in temporary ponds, water temperatures were registered after recording the advertisement calls with a digital thermometer TES 1300+/-0.1 degreeC. Altogether, 54 calls from 18 males were analyzed. The temporal variables of each advertisement call were measured using oscillograms and sonograms and the analyses of dominant frequency were performed using a spectrogram. Multiple correlation analysis was used to identify the temperature-dependent acoustic variables and the temperature effect on these variables was quantified using linear regression models. The advertisement call of C. cranwelli consists of a single pulse group. Call duration, Pulse duration and Pulse interval decreased with the temperature, whereas the Pulse rate increased with temperature. The temperature-dependent variables were standardized at 25 degreeC according to the linear regression model obtained. The acoustic variables that were correlated with the temperature are the variables which emissions depend on laryngeal muscles and the temperature constraints the contractile properties of muscles. Our results indicated that temperature explains an important fraction of the variability in some acoustic variables (79% in the Pulse rate), and demonstrated the importance of considering the effect of

  17. The effect of call libraries and acoustic filters on the identification of bat echolocation.

    PubMed

    Clement, Matthew J; Murray, Kevin L; Solick, Donald I; Gruver, Jeffrey C

    2014-09-01

    Quantitative methods for species identification are commonly used in acoustic surveys for animals. While various identification models have been studied extensively, there has been little study of methods for selecting calls prior to modeling or methods for validating results after modeling. We obtained two call libraries with a combined 1556 pulse sequences from 11 North American bat species. We used four acoustic filters to automatically select and quantify bat calls from the combined library. For each filter, we trained a species identification model (a quadratic discriminant function analysis) and compared the classification ability of the models. In a separate analysis, we trained a classification model using just one call library. We then compared a conventional model assessment that used the training library against an alternative approach that used the second library. We found that filters differed in the share of known pulse sequences that were selected (68 to 96%), the share of non-bat noises that were excluded (37 to 100%), their measurement of various pulse parameters, and their overall correct classification rate (41% to 85%). Although the top two filters did not differ significantly in overall correct classification rate (85% and 83%), rates differed significantly for some bat species. In our assessment of call libraries, overall correct classification rates were significantly lower (15% to 23% lower) when tested on the second call library instead of the training library. Well-designed filters obviated the need for subjective and time-consuming manual selection of pulses. Accordingly, researchers should carefully design and test filters and include adequate descriptions in publications. Our results also indicate that it may not be possible to extend inferences about model accuracy beyond the training library. If so, the accuracy of acoustic-only surveys may be lower than commonly reported, which could affect ecological understanding or management

  18. The effect of call libraries and acoustic filters on the identification of bat echolocation

    PubMed Central

    Clement, Matthew J; Murray, Kevin L; Solick, Donald I; Gruver, Jeffrey C

    2014-01-01

    Quantitative methods for species identification are commonly used in acoustic surveys for animals. While various identification models have been studied extensively, there has been little study of methods for selecting calls prior to modeling or methods for validating results after modeling. We obtained two call libraries with a combined 1556 pulse sequences from 11 North American bat species. We used four acoustic filters to automatically select and quantify bat calls from the combined library. For each filter, we trained a species identification model (a quadratic discriminant function analysis) and compared the classification ability of the models. In a separate analysis, we trained a classification model using just one call library. We then compared a conventional model assessment that used the training library against an alternative approach that used the second library. We found that filters differed in the share of known pulse sequences that were selected (68 to 96%), the share of non-bat noises that were excluded (37 to 100%), their measurement of various pulse parameters, and their overall correct classification rate (41% to 85%). Although the top two filters did not differ significantly in overall correct classification rate (85% and 83%), rates differed significantly for some bat species. In our assessment of call libraries, overall correct classification rates were significantly lower (15% to 23% lower) when tested on the second call library instead of the training library. Well-designed filters obviated the need for subjective and time-consuming manual selection of pulses. Accordingly, researchers should carefully design and test filters and include adequate descriptions in publications. Our results also indicate that it may not be possible to extend inferences about model accuracy beyond the training library. If so, the accuracy of acoustic-only surveys may be lower than commonly reported, which could affect ecological understanding or management

  19. The effect of call libraries and acoustic filters on the identification of bat echolocation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Clement, Matthew; Murray, Kevin L; Solick, Donald I; Gruver, Jeffrey C

    2014-01-01

    Quantitative methods for species identification are commonly used in acoustic surveys for animals. While various identification models have been studied extensively, there has been little study of methods for selecting calls prior to modeling or methods for validating results after modeling. We obtained two call libraries with a combined 1556 pulse sequences from 11 North American bat species. We used four acoustic filters to automatically select and quantify bat calls from the combined library. For each filter, we trained a species identification model (a quadratic discriminant function analysis) and compared the classification ability of the models. In a separate analysis, we trained a classification model using just one call library. We then compared a conventional model assessment that used the training library against an alternative approach that used the second library. We found that filters differed in the share of known pulse sequences that were selected (68 to 96%), the share of non-bat noises that were excluded (37 to 100%), their measurement of various pulse parameters, and their overall correct classification rate (41% to 85%). Although the top two filters did not differ significantly in overall correct classification rate (85% and 83%), rates differed significantly for some bat species. In our assessment of call libraries, overall correct classification rates were significantly lower (15% to 23% lower) when tested on the second call library instead of the training library. Well-designed filters obviated the need for subjective and time-consuming manual selection of pulses. Accordingly, researchers should carefully design and test filters and include adequate descriptions in publications. Our results also indicate that it may not be possible to extend inferences about model accuracy beyond the training library. If so, the accuracy of acoustic-only surveys may be lower than commonly reported, which could affect ecological understanding or management

  20. Smart call box field operational test evaluation : subtest reports

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-05-01

    Smart call boxes are an enhanced version of devices used as emergency call boxes in California. The overall system consists of a microprocessor, a cellular communications transceiver, solar power sources, data collection devices, maintenance computer...

  1. Smart call box field operational test evaluation : summary report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-05-01

    Smart call boxes are an enhanced version of devices used as emergency call boxes in California. The overall system consists of a microprocessor, a cellular communications transceiver, solar power sources, data collection devices, maintenance computer...

  2. Tough times call for bigger brains

    PubMed Central

    Pravosudov, Vladimir V

    2009-01-01

    Memory is crucial for survival in many animals. Spatial memory in particular is important for food-caching species and may be influenced by selective pressures such as climate. The influence of climate on memory may be facilitated through the hippocampus (Hp), the part of the brain responsible in part for spatial memory. In a recent paper, we conducted the first large-scale test of the relationship between memory, the climate and the brain in a single food-caching species, the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). We found that birds from more harsh northern climates had significantly larger hippocampal volumes and more neurons than those from more mild southern latitudes. This work suggests that environmental pressures are capable of influencing specific brain regions, which may result in enhanced memory, and hence survival, in harsh climates. This work gives us a better understanding of how the brain responds to different environments and how animals can adapt to their environment in general. PMID:19641741

  3. Directional frequency and recording (DIFAR) sensors in seafloor recorders to locate calling bowhead whales during their fall migration.

    PubMed

    Greene, Charles R; McLennan, Miles Wm; Norman, Robert G; McDonald, Trent L; Jakubczak, Ray S; Richardson, W John

    2004-08-01

    Bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, migrate west during fall approximately 10-75 km off the north coast of Alaska, passing the petroleum developments around Prudhoe Bay. Oil production operations on an artificial island 5 km offshore create sounds heard by some whales. As part of an effort to assess whether migrating whales deflect farther offshore at times with high industrial noise, an acoustical approach was selected for localizing calling whales. The technique incorporated DIFAR (directional frequency and recording) sonobuoy techniques. An array of 11 DASARs (directional autonomous seafloor acoustic recorders) was built and installed with unit-to-unit separation of 5 km. When two or more DASARs detected the same call, the whale location was determined from the bearing intersections. This article describes the acoustic methods used to determine the locations of the calling bowhead whales and shows the types and precision of the data acquired. Calibration transmissions at GPS-measured times and locations provided measures of the individual DASAR clock drift and directional orientation. The standard error of the bearing measurements at distances of 3-4 km was approximately 1.35 degrees after corrections for gain imbalance in the two directional sensors. During 23 days in 2002, 10,587 bowhead calls were detected and 8383 were localized.

  4. The Additional Uses of CALL in the Endangered Language Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ward, Monica

    2004-01-01

    This paper considers the additional uses of CALL in the Endangered Language (EL) context. It briefly reviews ELs and reports on CALL for ELs in general. It then reviews the extra uses of CALL for ELs; these include changing negative attitudes towards the language, arousing interest in the language and contributing to language maintenance and…

  5. Calling and Career Preparation: Investigating Developmental Patterns and Temporal Precedence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hirschi, Andreas; Herrmann, Anne

    2013-01-01

    The presence of a calling and career development are assumed to be closely related. However, the nature of and reason for this relationship have not been thoroughly investigated. We hypothesized the existence of reciprocal effects between calling and three dimensions of career preparation and assessed the change of the presence of a calling,…

  6. CALL--Past, Present, and Future.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bax, Stephen

    2003-01-01

    Provides a critical examination and reassessment of the history of computer assisted language learning (CALL), and argues for three new strategies--restricted, open, and integrated. Offers definitions and descriptions of the three approaches and argues that they allow a more detailed analysis of institutions and classrooms than earlier analyses.…

  7. A new national smokefree law increased calls to a national quitline.

    PubMed

    Wilson, Nick; Sertsou, Gabriel; Edwards, Richard; Thomson, George; Grigg, Michele; Li, Judy

    2007-05-08

    A law making all indoor workplaces including bars and restaurants smokefree became operational in New Zealand in December 2004. New Zealand has a national free-phone Quitline Service which has been operational since 1999. Previous work has shown that the number of calls to the Quitline are influenced by marketing of the service through media campaigns. We set out to investigate if the smokefree law increased calls to the Quitline. For 24 months prior to the law, and 12 months after the law, data were collected on: (i) Quitline caller registrations and the issuing of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) vouchers by the Quitline Service; (ii) expenditure on Quitline-related television advertising; (iii) expenditure on other smokefree television advertising; and (iv) print media coverage of smoking in major New Zealand newspapers. These data were inputs to a time series analysis using a Box-Jenkins transfer function model. This used the law change as the intervention variable, with the response series being the monthly Quitline caller rates and monthly first time NRT voucher issue rates. The monthly rates of Quitline caller registrations and NRT voucher issues were observed to increase in the months after the law change. The increase in both these outcomes was even greater when considered in terms of per level of Quitline advertising expenditure (though these patterns may have partly reflected marked reductions in advertising expenditure at the time of the law change and hence are of limited validity). In the more robust time series analyses, the law change (intervention variable) had a significant effect (p = 0.025) on increasing the monthly caller registration rate in December 2004. This was after adjusting for the possible effects of Quitline advertising expenditure, print media coverage, and other smoking-related advertising expenditure. The new national smokefree law resulted in increased quitting-related behaviour. This would suggest there is an extra opportunity

  8. A fuzzy call admission control scheme in wireless networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Yufeng; Gong, Shenguang; Hu, Xiulin; Zhang, Yunyu

    2007-11-01

    Scarcity of the spectrum resource and mobility of users make quality of service (QoS) provision a critical issue in wireless networks. This paper presents a fuzzy call admission control scheme to meet the requirement of the QoS. A performance measure is formed as a weighted linear function of new call and handoff call blocking probabilities. Simulation compares the proposed fuzzy scheme with an adaptive channel reservation scheme. Simulation results show that fuzzy scheme has a better robust performance in terms of average blocking criterion.

  9. Feeling like a nurse: re-calling the spirit of nursing.

    PubMed

    Spence, Deborah; Smythe, Elizabeth

    2008-12-01

    To explore the essential meaning of being a nurse. Nine registered nurses were each asked to write a story of a time when they felt like a nurse. Analysis was informed by Heideggerian hermeneutic philosophy, seeking to reveal the phenomenon of "feeling like a nurse." As part of a workshop on phenomenological methodology, participants were invited to reflect on a personal experience of feeling like a nurse. These documents were analyzed according to the method of van Manen. Participants were kept informed throughout each phase. Feelings announce primordial meaning of feeling like a nurse. Nurses experience the call as mood attuned by an anxiety that creates possibilities for authentic caring. It is a way of being that encompasses watching and acting, doing to and caring for, and taking over and giving back. Moreover, it is after the encounter that the essential meaning is more clearly revealed. We argue that there is value in continuing to question the meaning of "being a nurse." Amid a complex and increasingly technological world, this calls the profession to remember the human encounter at the heart of all nursing.

  10. A generalized baleen whale call detection and classification system.

    PubMed

    Baumgartner, Mark F; Mussoline, Sarah E

    2011-05-01

    Passive acoustic monitoring allows the assessment of marine mammal occurrence and distribution at greater temporal and spatial scales than is now possible with traditional visual surveys. However, the large volume of acoustic data and the lengthy and laborious task of manually analyzing these data have hindered broad application of this technique. To overcome these limitations, a generalized automated detection and classification system (DCS) was developed to efficiently and accurately identify low-frequency baleen whale calls. The DCS (1) accounts for persistent narrowband and transient broadband noise, (2) characterizes temporal variation of dominant call frequencies via pitch-tracking, and (3) classifies calls based on attributes of the resulting pitch tracks using quadratic discriminant function analysis (QDFA). Automated detections of sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) downsweep calls and North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) upcalls were evaluated using recordings collected in the southwestern Gulf of Maine during the spring seasons of 2006 and 2007. The accuracy of the DCS was similar to that of a human analyst: variability in differences between the DCS and an analyst was similar to that between independent analysts, and temporal variability in call rates was similar among the DCS and several analysts.

  11. Don't Call It School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robb, Daniel

    2006-01-01

    "Homeschooling," "deschooling," and "unschooling" are commonly used terms in the alternative-education world, but each lacks specificity. In this article, the author describes what he discovered during several visits to North Star. Known officially as North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens, it is not as structured as a so-called "free"…

  12. Model-based quality assessment and base-calling for second-generation sequencing data.

    PubMed

    Bravo, Héctor Corrada; Irizarry, Rafael A

    2010-09-01

    Second-generation sequencing (sec-gen) technology can sequence millions of short fragments of DNA in parallel, making it capable of assembling complex genomes for a small fraction of the price and time of previous technologies. In fact, a recently formed international consortium, the 1000 Genomes Project, plans to fully sequence the genomes of approximately 1200 people. The prospect of comparative analysis at the sequence level of a large number of samples across multiple populations may be achieved within the next five years. These data present unprecedented challenges in statistical analysis. For instance, analysis operates on millions of short nucleotide sequences, or reads-strings of A,C,G, or T's, between 30 and 100 characters long-which are the result of complex processing of noisy continuous fluorescence intensity measurements known as base-calling. The complexity of the base-calling discretization process results in reads of widely varying quality within and across sequence samples. This variation in processing quality results in infrequent but systematic errors that we have found to mislead downstream analysis of the discretized sequence read data. For instance, a central goal of the 1000 Genomes Project is to quantify across-sample variation at the single nucleotide level. At this resolution, small error rates in sequencing prove significant, especially for rare variants. Sec-gen sequencing is a relatively new technology for which potential biases and sources of obscuring variation are not yet fully understood. Therefore, modeling and quantifying the uncertainty inherent in the generation of sequence reads is of utmost importance. In this article, we present a simple model to capture uncertainty arising in the base-calling procedure of the Illumina/Solexa GA platform. Model parameters have a straightforward interpretation in terms of the chemistry of base-calling allowing for informative and easily interpretable metrics that capture the variability in

  13. 78 FR 21891 - Rural Call Completion

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-12

    ... traffic may not be blocked, choked, reduced, or restricted, we have learned that carriers often do not... called party, including, for example, by voicemail, answering machine, or fax machine. We calculate a...

  14. Scalable Open Science Approach for Mutation Calling of Tumor Exomes Using Multiple Genomic Pipelines.

    PubMed

    Ellrott, Kyle; Bailey, Matthew H; Saksena, Gordon; Covington, Kyle R; Kandoth, Cyriac; Stewart, Chip; Hess, Julian; Ma, Singer; Chiotti, Kami E; McLellan, Michael; Sofia, Heidi J; Hutter, Carolyn; Getz, Gad; Wheeler, David; Ding, Li

    2018-03-28

    The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cancer genomics dataset includes over 10,000 tumor-normal exome pairs across 33 different cancer types, in total >400 TB of raw data files requiring analysis. Here we describe the Multi-Center Mutation Calling in Multiple Cancers project, our effort to generate a comprehensive encyclopedia of somatic mutation calls for the TCGA data to enable robust cross-tumor-type analyses. Our approach accounts for variance and batch effects introduced by the rapid advancement of DNA extraction, hybridization-capture, sequencing, and analysis methods over time. We present best practices for applying an ensemble of seven mutation-calling algorithms with scoring and artifact filtering. The dataset created by this analysis includes 3.5 million somatic variants and forms the basis for PanCan Atlas papers. The results have been made available to the research community along with the methods used to generate them. This project is the result of collaboration from a number of institutes and demonstrates how team science drives extremely large genomics projects. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Multi-component separation and analysis of bat echolocation calls.

    PubMed

    DiCecco, John; Gaudette, Jason E; Simmons, James A

    2013-01-01

    The vast majority of animal vocalizations contain multiple frequency modulated (FM) components with varying amounts of non-linear modulation and harmonic instability. This is especially true of biosonar sounds where precise time-frequency templates are essential for neural information processing of echoes. Understanding the dynamic waveform design by bats and other echolocating animals may help to improve the efficacy of man-made sonar through biomimetic design. Bats are known to adapt their call structure based on the echolocation task, proximity to nearby objects, and density of acoustic clutter. To interpret the significance of these changes, a method was developed for component separation and analysis of biosonar waveforms. Techniques for imaging in the time-frequency plane are typically limited due to the uncertainty principle and interference cross terms. This problem is addressed by extending the use of the fractional Fourier transform to isolate each non-linear component for separate analysis. Once separated, empirical mode decomposition can be used to further examine each component. The Hilbert transform may then successfully extract detailed time-frequency information from each isolated component. This multi-component analysis method is applied to the sonar signals of four species of bats recorded in-flight by radiotelemetry along with a comparison of other common time-frequency representations.

  16. Conduits to care: call lights and patients' perceptions of communication.

    PubMed

    Montie, Mary; Shuman, Clayton; Galinato, Jose; Patak, Lance; Anderson, Christine A; Titler, Marita G

    2017-01-01

    Call light systems remain the primary means of hospitalized patients to initiate communication with their health care providers. Although there is vast amounts of literature discussing patient communication with their health care providers, few studies have explored patients' perceptions concerning call light use and communication. The specific aim of this study was to solicit patients' perceptions regarding their call light use and communication with nursing staff. Patients invited to this study met the following inclusion criteria: proficient in English, been hospitalized for at least 24 hours, aged ≥21 years, and able to communicate verbally (eg, not intubated). Thirty participants provided written informed consent, were enrolled in the study, and completed interviews. Using qualitative descriptive methods, five major themes emerged from patients' perceptions (namely; establishing connectivity, participant safety concerns, no separation: health care and the call light device, issues with the current call light, and participants' perceptions of "nurse work"). Multiple minor themes supported these major themes. Data analysis utilized the constant comparative methods of Glaser and Strauss. Findings from this study extend the knowledge of patients' understanding of not only why inconsistencies occur between the call light and their nurses, but also why the call light is more than merely a device to initiate communication; rather, it is a direct conduit to their health care and its delivery.

  17. Conduits to care: call lights and patients’ perceptions of communication

    PubMed Central

    Montie, Mary; Shuman, Clayton; Galinato, Jose; Patak, Lance; Anderson, Christine A; Titler, Marita G

    2017-01-01

    Background Call light systems remain the primary means of hospitalized patients to initiate communication with their health care providers. Although there is vast amounts of literature discussing patient communication with their health care providers, few studies have explored patients’ perceptions concerning call light use and communication. The specific aim of this study was to solicit patients’ perceptions regarding their call light use and communication with nursing staff. Methods Patients invited to this study met the following inclusion criteria: proficient in English, been hospitalized for at least 24 hours, aged ≥21 years, and able to communicate verbally (eg, not intubated). Thirty participants provided written informed consent, were enrolled in the study, and completed interviews. Results Using qualitative descriptive methods, five major themes emerged from patients’ perceptions (namely; establishing connectivity, participant safety concerns, no separation: health care and the call light device, issues with the current call light, and participants’ perceptions of “nurse work”). Multiple minor themes supported these major themes. Data analysis utilized the constant comparative methods of Glaser and Strauss. Discussion Findings from this study extend the knowledge of patients’ understanding of not only why inconsistencies occur between the call light and their nurses, but also why the call light is more than merely a device to initiate communication; rather, it is a direct conduit to their health care and its delivery. PMID:29075125

  18. Nutritional effects on male calling behaviour in the variable field cricket.

    PubMed

    Wagner; Hoback

    1999-01-01

    In the variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps, females prefer higher chirp rates and longer chirp durations in male calling song. Higher chirp rates are energetically more expensive to produce, but the energetic cost of calling does not vary with chirp duration. We tested the hypothesis that nutrition affects male chirp rate and chirp duration. Full-sibling brothers of similar age were placed on high- and low-nutrition feeding regimes. There was no effect of feeding regime on male weight; neither group showed a significant change in weight, and the two groups did not differ from each other in weight change. However, males on the high-nutrition feeding regime both called more frequently and called at higher chirp rates when they did call. The two groups did not differ in chirp duration, the duration of pulses within chirps or chirp dominant frequency. These results suggest that females select mates based on one nutrition-dependent call character (chirp rate) and one nutrition-independent call character (chirp duration). In addition, because males in the two groups did not show significant differences in weight change, and because males on the high-nutrition feeding regime engaged in energetically more expensive calling, these results suggest that males invest any excess energy above their basic maintenance requirements in the production of call types that increase their attractiveness to females. The absence of a relationship between body condition and calling song structure for males in the field may be a consequence of this pattern of energy allocation. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

  19. Chancroid - desperate patient makes own diagnosis.

    PubMed

    Barnes, P; Chauhan, M

    2014-09-01

    We report a case of chancroid in a white heterosexual man in the United Kingdom. This patient was seen by four separate health services over a period of five weeks with excruciatingly painful penile ulcers. Despite several negative herpes simplex virus polymerase chain reaction tests and a self-diagnosis of chancroid, he was repeatedly offered multiple courses of aciclovir. This case highlights the need for awareness of alternative diagnoses in persistent cases of genital ulcer disease. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  20. ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT: DESPERATELY SEEKING A PARADIGM

    EPA Science Inventory

    Two competing views of ecosystem management have emerged. One is that ecosystem management is another stage in the continual evolution of the basic management paradigm - one that natural resource managers have followed in North America for a century. The other view is that ecosys...

  1. 47 CFR 64.1505 - Restrictions on collect telephone calls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Restrictions on collect telephone calls. 64.1505 Section 64.1505 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS RULES RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS Interstate Pay-Per-Call and Other...

  2. Implications of Research on Human Memory for CALL Design.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Forester, Lee

    2002-01-01

    Offers a brief overview of what is generally accepted about how human memory works as it applied to computer assisted language learning (CALL). Discusses a number of interactions from various CALL products in light of the research summarized. (Author/VWL)

  3. Non-specific alarm calls trigger mobbing behavior in Hainan gibbons (Nomascus hainanus).

    PubMed

    Deng, Huaiqing; Gao, Kai; Zhou, Jiang

    2016-09-30

    Alarm calls are important defensive behaviors. Here, we report the acoustic spectrum characteristics of alarm calls produced by Hainan gibbons (Nomascus hainanus) inhabiting Bawangling National Nature Reserve in Hainan, China. Analysis of call data collected from 2002-2014 shows that alarm calls are emitted by all family group members, except infants. Alarm behavior included simple short alarming calls (7-10 min) followed by longer variable-frequency mobbing calls lasting 5-12 min. The duration of individual alarming and mobbing calls was 0.078 ± 0.014 s and 0.154 ± 0.041 s at frequency ranges of 520-1000 Hz and 690-3920 Hz, respectively. Alarming call duration was positively associated with group size. The alarm calls can trigger mobbing behavior in Hainan gibbons; this is a defense way of social animals, and first report among the primates' species. The system of vocal alarm behavior described in this critically endangered species is simple and effective.

  4. Lack of association between stroke symptom knowledge and intent to call 911: a population-based survey.

    PubMed

    Fussman, Chris; Rafferty, Ann P; Lyon-Callo, Sarah; Morgenstern, Lewis B; Reeves, Mathew J

    2010-07-01

    Excessive prehospital delay between acute stroke onset and hospital arrival is an ongoing problem. Translating knowledge of stroke warning signs into appropriate action is critical to decrease prehospital delay. Our objectives were to estimate the proportion of Michigan adults who would react appropriately by calling 911 when presented with hypothetical stroke-related scenarios and to examine the association between knowledge of warning signs and calling 911. In 2004, questions regarding initial response to health-related scenarios were added to the Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, a population-based telephone survey of adults. We calculated the proportion of respondents who would call 911 in response to 3 stroke-related scenarios and examined the association between stroke warning sign knowledge and 911 activation. Among 4841 adults, 27.6% (95% CI, 26.2 to 29.0) had adequate knowledge of stroke warning signs (defined as reporting 3 correct warning signs), and 14.0% (95% CI, 12.9 to 15.1) reported they would call 911 for all 3 stroke-related scenarios. Knowledge of specific stroke warning signs was only modestly associated with calling 911 in response to medical scenarios that involved the same stroke symptom (OR, 1.17 to 1.39). Even among those with adequate knowledge of stroke warning signs, only 17.6% (95% CI, 15.5 to 20.0) would call 911 for all 3 stroke scenarios. In this population-based survey, stroke symptom knowledge was not associated with the intent to call 911 for stroke. This study emphasizes the critical role of motivation in addition to symptom knowledge to reducing delay time to hospital arrival for stroke.

  5. Geoethics disgraced by Copernicus in its desperate act of covering up for the IPCC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mörner, Nils-Axel

    2014-05-01

    All my life I have put observational facts in the centre. This is what Leonardo da Vinci called "to read the book of mother Earth". For a geologist this is very natural because this is the core of the geological profession. The IPCC, on the other hand, put all credits on models and scenarios. One of its founders and its first president, Bert Bolin, at a debate in the Geophysical Society of Sweden in 2001, admitted (quotation): "you can order whatever scenario you wish". With this as a background, we can put a recent action by Copernicus at a test with respect to geoethics and normal decency. The idea that the planetary motions affect and control the solar variability is old, but in the stage of an unproven hypothesis. In recent years major advancements have occurred and in 2013, it seemed that time was ripe for a major, multi-authored, reinvestigation. Therefore, a Special Issue of Pattern Recognition in Physics was devoted to: "Pattern in solar variability, their planetary origin and terrestrial impacts". The volume includes 12 separate research papers and General Conclusions, co-authored by 19 prominent scientists. Indeed, they agreed that the driving factor of solar variability must emerge from the planetary beat on the Sun, and by that its emission of luminosity and Solar Wind both factors of which affect the Earth-Moon system. This may be held as a benchmark event in our understanding of the planetary-solar-terrestrial interaction. Furthermore, they noted two implications of this: partly that the old hypothesis was now lifted to a firm theory, maybe even a new paradigm, and partly that we are on our way into a new grand solar minimum which "sheds serious doubts on the issue of a continued, even accelerated, warming as claimed by the IPCC". "We were alarmed by the second implication", Martin Rasmussen, VD of Copernicus, stated, and took the unbelievable decision immediately to close down the entire journal. This happened on January 17 without any discussion

  6. A Conceptual Overview of the History of the CALICO Journal: The Phases of CALL

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fischer, Robert

    2013-01-01

    Over the 30-year history of the "CALICO Journal", various areas of research and development in CALL have come to the fore in articles published in the journal at different points in time. These areas, which reflect the general concerns of the profession, can be conveniently categorized under the general acronym of ICT: Information and…

  7. Desperately seeking targets: the ethics of routine HIV testing in low-income countries.

    PubMed Central

    Rennie, Stuart; Behets, Frieda

    2006-01-01

    The human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) pandemic, and responses to it, have exposed clear political, social and economic inequities between and within nations. The most striking manifestations of this inequity is access to AIDS treatment. In affluent nations, antiretroviral treatment is becoming the standard of care for those with AIDS, while the same treatment is currently only available for a privileged few in most resource-poor countries. Patients without sufficient financial and social capital -- i.e., most people with AIDS -- die each day by the thousands. Recent AIDS treatment initiatives such as the UNAIDS and WHO "3 by 5" programme aim to rectify this symptom of global injustice. However, the success of these initiatives depends on the identification of people in need of treatment through a rapid and massive scale-up of HIV testing. In this paper, we briefly explore key ethical challenges raised by the acceleration of HIV testing in resource-poor countries, focusing on the 2004 policy of routine ("opt-out") HIV testing recommended by UNAIDS and WHO. We suggest that in settings marked by poverty, weak health-care and civil society infrastructures, gender inequalities, and persistent stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS, opt-out HIV-testing policies may become disconnected from the human rights ideals that first motivated calls for universal access to AIDS treatment. We leave open the ethical question of whether opt-out policies should be implemented, but we recommend that whenever routine HIV-testing policies are introduced in resource-poor countries, that their effect on individuals and communities should be the subject of empirical research, human-rights monitoring and ethical scrutiny. PMID:16501715

  8. Lifecycle Librarianship

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crowley, Bill

    2008-01-01

    In a time when information self-service and enhanced competition have sent libraries of all types into an oftentimes desperate search for a renewed sense of purpose, a fundamentally important question takes center stage: How can libraries connect with the deepest aspirations of their service communities? This article describes a new library…

  9. 47 CFR 64.1320 - Payphone call tracking system audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Certified Public Accountants, to determine whether the call tracking system accurately tracks payphone calls... Certified Public Accountants for attestation engagements, the System Audit Report shall consist of: (1) The... the payphone service provider for inspection any documents, including working papers, underlying the...

  10. 47 CFR 64.1320 - Payphone call tracking system audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... Certified Public Accountants, to determine whether the call tracking system accurately tracks payphone calls... Certified Public Accountants for attestation engagements, the System Audit Report shall consist of: (1) The... the payphone service provider for inspection any documents, including working papers, underlying the...

  11. 47 CFR 64.1320 - Payphone call tracking system audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... Certified Public Accountants, to determine whether the call tracking system accurately tracks payphone calls... Certified Public Accountants for attestation engagements, the System Audit Report shall consist of: (1) The... the payphone service provider for inspection any documents, including working papers, underlying the...

  12. 47 CFR 64.1320 - Payphone call tracking system audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... Certified Public Accountants, to determine whether the call tracking system accurately tracks payphone calls... Certified Public Accountants for attestation engagements, the System Audit Report shall consist of: (1) The... the payphone service provider for inspection any documents, including working papers, underlying the...

  13. Longitudinal relationship of work hours, mandatory overtime, and on-call to musculoskeletal problems in nurses.

    PubMed

    Trinkoff, Alison M; Le, Rong; Geiger-Brown, Jeanne; Lipscomb, Jane; Lang, Gary

    2006-11-01

    Nurses are at very high risk for work-related musculoskeletal injury/disorders (MSD) with low back pain/injury being the most frequently occurring MSD. Nurses are also likely to work extended schedules (long hours, on-call, mandatory overtime, working on days off). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of extended work schedules in nurses to MSD. Using a longitudinal, three wave survey of 2,617 registered nurses, Wave 1 work schedule data were related to neck, shoulder, and back (MSD) cases occurring in Waves 2 or 3. Schedule characteristics increasing MSD risk included 13+ hour/days, off-shifts, weekend work, work during time off (while sick, on days off, without breaks), and overtime/on-call. These increases in risk were not explained by psychological demands, but were largely explained by physical demands. Adverse schedules are significantly related to nurse MSD. Healthier schedules, less overtime, and reducing work on days off would minimize risk and recovery time. Copyright (c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  14. Nuthatches eavesdrop on variations in heterospecific chickadee mobbing alarm calls.

    PubMed

    Templeton, Christopher N; Greene, Erick

    2007-03-27

    Many animals recognize the alarm calls produced by other species, but the amount of information they glean from these eavesdropped signals is unknown. We previously showed that black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) have a sophisticated alarm call system in which they encode complex information about the size and risk of potential predators in variations of a single type of mobbing alarm call. Here we show experimentally that red-breasted nuthatches (Sitta canadensis) respond appropriately to subtle variations of these heterospecific "chick-a-dee" alarm calls, thereby evidencing that they have gained important information about potential predators in their environment. This study demonstrates a previously unsuspected level of discrimination in intertaxon eavesdropping.

  15. Wild Birds Use an Ordering Rule to Decode Novel Call Sequences.

    PubMed

    Suzuki, Toshitaka N; Wheatcroft, David; Griesser, Michael

    2017-08-07

    The generative power of human language depends on grammatical rules, such as word ordering, that allow us to produce and comprehend even novel combinations of words [1-3]. Several species of birds and mammals produce sequences of calls [4-6], and, like words in human sentences, their order may influence receiver responses [7]. However, it is unknown whether animals use call ordering to extract meaning from truly novel sequences. Here, we use a novel experimental approach to test this in a wild bird species, the Japanese tit (Parus minor). Japanese tits are attracted to mobbing a predator when they hear conspecific alert and recruitment calls ordered as alert-recruitment sequences [7]. They also approach in response to recruitment calls of heterospecific individuals in mixed-species flocks [8, 9]. Using experimental playbacks, we assess their responses to artificial sequences in which their own alert calls are combined into different orderings with heterospecific recruitment calls. We find that Japanese tits respond similarly to mixed-species alert-recruitment call sequences and to their own alert-recruitment sequences. Importantly, however, tits rarely respond to mixed-species sequences in which the call order is reversed. Thus, Japanese tits extract a compound meaning from novel call sequences using an ordering rule. These results demonstrate a new parallel between animal communication systems and human language, opening new avenues for exploring the evolution of ordering rules and compositionality in animal vocal sequences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Non-specific alarm calls trigger mobbing behavior in Hainan gibbons (Nomascus hainanus)

    PubMed Central

    Deng, Huaiqing; Gao, Kai; Zhou, Jiang

    2016-01-01

    Alarm calls are important defensive behaviors. Here, we report the acoustic spectrum characteristics of alarm calls produced by Hainan gibbons (Nomascus hainanus) inhabiting Bawangling National Nature Reserve in Hainan, China. Analysis of call data collected from 2002–2014 shows that alarm calls are emitted by all family group members, except infants. Alarm behavior included simple short alarming calls (7–10 min) followed by longer variable-frequency mobbing calls lasting 5–12 min. The duration of individual alarming and mobbing calls was 0.078 ± 0.014 s and 0.154 ± 0.041 s at frequency ranges of 520–1000 Hz and 690–3920 Hz, respectively. Alarming call duration was positively associated with group size. The alarm calls can trigger mobbing behavior in Hainan gibbons; this is a defense way of social animals, and first report among the primates’ species. The system of vocal alarm behavior described in this critically endangered species is simple and effective. PMID:27686623

  17. 76 FR 51054 - Notice of Utah's Resource Advisory Council (RAC) Conference Call Meetings on the Statewide Travel...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-17

    ..., 2011, from 3 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. (Mountain Time). The entire RAC will host a conference call on the same topic on September 15, 2011, from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Mountain Time). ADDRESSES: On September 8... meals are the responsibility of the participating public. Juan Palma, State Director. [FR Doc. 2011...

  18. 22 CFR 214.32 - Calling of advisory committee meetings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Calling of advisory committee meetings. 214.32 Section 214.32 Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT Operation of Advisory Committees § 214.32 Calling of advisory committee meetings. (a) No advisory committee...

  19. Implementation of a successful on-call system in clinical chemistry.

    PubMed

    Hobbs, G A; Jortani, S A; Valdes, R

    1997-11-01

    Successful practice of clinical pathology depends on a wide variety of laboratory, clinical, and managerial decisions. The skills needed to make these decisions can most effectively be learned by residents and fellows in pathology using a service-oriented on-call approach. We report our experience implementing an on-call system in the clinical chemistry laboratory at the University of Louisville Hospital (Ky). We detail the guidelines used to establish this system and the elements required for its successful implementation. The system emphasizes a laboratory-initiated approach to linking laboratory results to patient care. From inception of the program during late 1990 through 1995, the number of beeper calls (including clinician contacts) steadily increased and is currently 8 to 20 per week. The on-call system is active 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, thus representing activity on all three laboratory shifts. Types of responses were separated into administrative (12%), analytical (42%), clinical (63%), quality control or quality assurance (12%), and consultation (13%) categories. We also present 6 case reports as examples demonstrating multiple elements in these categories. In 23% of the calls, clinician contact was required and achieved by the fellow or resident on call for the laboratory. The on-call reports are documented and presented informally at weekly on-call report sessions. Emphasis is placed on learning and refinement of investigative skills needed to function as an effective laboratory director. Educational emphasis for the medical staff is in establishing awareness of the presence of the laboratory as an important interactive component of patient care. In addition, we found this program to be beneficial to the hospital and to the department of pathology in fulfilling its clinical service and teaching missions. Our experience may be helpful to other institutions establishing such a program.

  20. Mother goats do not forget their kids’ calls

    PubMed Central

    Briefer, Elodie F.; Padilla de la Torre, Monica; McElligott, Alan G.

    2012-01-01

    Parent–offspring recognition is crucial for offspring survival. At long distances, this recognition is mainly based on vocalizations. Because of maturation-related changes to the structure of vocalizations, parents have to learn successive call versions produced by their offspring throughout ontogeny in order to maintain recognition. However, because of the difficulties involved in following the same individuals over years, it is not clear how long this vocal memory persists. Here, we investigated long-term vocal recognition in goats. We tested responses of mothers to their kids’ calls 7–13 months after weaning. We then compared mothers’ responses to calls of their previous kids with their responses to the same calls at five weeks postpartum. Subjects tended to respond more to their own kids at five weeks postpartum than 11–17 months later, but displayed stronger responses to their previous kids than to familiar kids from other females. Acoustic analyses showed that it is unlikely that mothers were responding to their previous kids simply because they confounded them with the new kids they were currently nursing. Therefore, our results provide evidence for strong, long-term vocal memory capacity in goats. The persistence of offspring vocal recognition beyond weaning could have important roles in kin social relationships and inbreeding avoidance. PMID:22719031

  1. Mother goats do not forget their kids' calls.

    PubMed

    Briefer, Elodie F; Padilla de la Torre, Monica; McElligott, Alan G

    2012-09-22

    Parent-offspring recognition is crucial for offspring survival. At long distances, this recognition is mainly based on vocalizations. Because of maturation-related changes to the structure of vocalizations, parents have to learn successive call versions produced by their offspring throughout ontogeny in order to maintain recognition. However, because of the difficulties involved in following the same individuals over years, it is not clear how long this vocal memory persists. Here, we investigated long-term vocal recognition in goats. We tested responses of mothers to their kids' calls 7-13 months after weaning. We then compared mothers' responses to calls of their previous kids with their responses to the same calls at five weeks postpartum. Subjects tended to respond more to their own kids at five weeks postpartum than 11-17 months later, but displayed stronger responses to their previous kids than to familiar kids from other females. Acoustic analyses showed that it is unlikely that mothers were responding to their previous kids simply because they confounded them with the new kids they were currently nursing. Therefore, our results provide evidence for strong, long-term vocal memory capacity in goats. The persistence of offspring vocal recognition beyond weaning could have important roles in kin social relationships and inbreeding avoidance.

  2. 76 FR 4896 - Call for Candidates

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-27

    ... designated to establish generally accepted accounting principles for federal government entities. Generally, non-federal Board members are selected from the general financial community, the accounting and... FEDERAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ADVISORY BOARD Call for Candidates AGENCY: Federal Accounting...

  3. 47 CFR 80.369 - Distress, urgency, safety, call and reply frequencies.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... assignable to maritime stations for distress, urgency, safety, call and reply radiotelephony communications... by Alaska private fixed stations for calling and listening, but only for establishing communication... public coast stations for call and reply communications. The paired ship frequencies are available for...

  4. Associations Between the Department of Veterans Affairs' Suicide Prevention Campaign and Calls to Related Crisis Lines

    PubMed Central

    Bossarte, Robert M.; Lu, Naiji; Tu, Xin; Stephens, Brady; Draper, John; Kemp, Janet E.

    2014-01-01

    Objective The Transit Authority Suicide Prevention (TASP) campaign was launched by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in a limited number of U.S. cities to promote the use of crisis lines among veterans of military service. Methods We obtained the daily number of calls to the VCL and National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) for six implementation cities (where the campaign was active) and four control cities (where there was no TASP campaign messaging) for a 14-month period. To identify changes in call volume associated with campaign implementation, VCL and NSPL daily call counts for three time periods of equal length (pre-campaign, during campaign, and post-campaign) were modeled using a Poisson log-linear regression with inference based on the generalized estimating equations. Results Statistically significant increases in calls to both the VCL and the NSPL were reported during the TASP campaign in implementation cities, but were not reported in control cities during or following the campaign. Secondary outcome measures were also reported for the VCL and included the percentage of callers who are veterans, and calls resulting in a rescue during the study period. Conclusions Results from this study reveal some promise for suicide prevention messaging to promote the use of telephone crisis services and contribute to an emerging area of research examining the effects of campaigns on help seeking. PMID:25364053

  5. Associations between the Department of Veterans Affairs' suicide prevention campaign and calls to related crisis lines.

    PubMed

    Bossarte, Robert M; Karras, Elizabeth; Lu, Naiji; Tu, Xin; Stephens, Brady; Draper, John; Kemp, Janet E

    2014-01-01

    The Transit Authority Suicide Prevention (TASP) campaign was launched by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in a limited number of U.S. cities to promote the use of crisis lines among veterans of military service. We obtained the daily number of calls to the VCL and National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) for six implementation cities (where the campaign was active) and four control cities (where there was no TASP campaign messaging) for a 14-month period. To identify changes in call volume associated with campaign implementation, VCL and NSPL daily call counts for three time periods of equal length (pre-campaign, during campaign, and post-campaign) were modeled using a Poisson log-linear regression with inference based on the generalized estimating equations. Statistically significant increases in calls to both the VCL and the NSPL were reported during the TASP campaign in implementation cities, but were not reported in control cities during or following the campaign. Secondary outcome measures were also reported for the VCL and included the percentage of callers who are veterans, and calls resulting in a rescue during the study period. Results from this study reveal some promise for suicide prevention messaging to promote the use of telephone crisis services and contribute to an emerging area of research examining the effects of campaigns on help seeking.

  6. Calling and life satisfaction: it's not about having it, it's about living it.

    PubMed

    Duffy, Ryan D; Allan, Blake A; Autin, Kelsey L; Bott, Elizabeth M

    2013-01-01

    The present study examined the relation of career calling to life satisfaction among a diverse sample of 553 working adults, with a specific focus on the distinction between perceiving a calling (sensing a calling to a career) and living a calling (actualizing one's calling in one's current career). As hypothesized, the relation of perceiving a calling to life satisfaction was fully mediated by living a calling. On the basis of this finding, a structural equation model was tested to examine possible mediators between living a calling and life satisfaction. As hypothesized, the relation of living a calling to life satisfaction was partially mediated by job satisfaction and life meaning, and the link between living a calling and job satisfaction was mediated by work meaning and career commitment. Modifications of the model also revealed that the link of living a calling to life meaning was mediated by work meaning. Implications for research and practice are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  7. Nuthatches eavesdrop on variations in heterospecific chickadee mobbing alarm calls

    PubMed Central

    Templeton, Christopher N.; Greene, Erick

    2007-01-01

    Many animals recognize the alarm calls produced by other species, but the amount of information they glean from these eavesdropped signals is unknown. We previously showed that black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) have a sophisticated alarm call system in which they encode complex information about the size and risk of potential predators in variations of a single type of mobbing alarm call. Here we show experimentally that red-breasted nuthatches (Sitta canadensis) respond appropriately to subtle variations of these heterospecific “chick-a-dee” alarm calls, thereby evidencing that they have gained important information about potential predators in their environment. This study demonstrates a previously unsuspected level of discrimination in intertaxon eavesdropping. PMID:17372225

  8. Neural correlates of frog calling: production by two semi-independent generators.

    PubMed

    Schmidt, R S

    1992-09-28

    The anterior preoptic nuclei of the isolated brainstem of male, Northern leopard frogs (Rana p. pipiens) were stimulated electrically and neural correlates of mating calling recorded from the rhombencephalic mating calling pattern generator. Lesions of discrete areas of the brainstem showed that the mating calling generator is separable into two generators, the pretrigeminal nucleus and the classical pulmonary respiration generator (which is approximately co-extensive with the motor nuclei IX-X). Each of these still can produce pulses when isolated from the other. Their interaction changes the expiratory phase of breathing into the vocal phase of calling. All stages of intermediates between these phases could be seen. An updated and simplified model of call production and evolution is presented.

  9. Responses of squirrel monkeys to their experimentally modified mobbing calls

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fichtel, Claudia; Hammerschmidt, Kurt

    2003-05-01

    Previous acoustic analyses suggested emotion-correlated changes in the acoustic structure of squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) vocalizations. Specifically, calls given in aversive contexts were characterized by an upward shift in frequencies, often accompanied by an increase in amplitude. In order to test whether changes in frequencies or amplitude are indeed relevant for conspecific listeners, playback experiments were conducted in which either frequencies or amplitude of mobbing calls were modified. Latency and first orienting response were measured in playback experiments with six adult squirrel monkeys. After broadcasting yaps with increased frequencies or amplitude, squirrel monkeys showed a longer orienting response towards the speaker than after the corresponding control stimuli. Furthermore, after broadcasting yaps with decreased frequencies or amplitude, squirrel monkeys showed a shorter orienting response towards the speaker than after the corresponding manipulated calls with higher frequencies or amplitude. These results suggest that changes in frequencies or amplitude were perceived by squirrel monkeys, indicating that the relationship between call structure and the underlying affective state of the caller agreed with the listener's assessment of the calls. However, a simultaneous increase in frequencies and amplitude did not lead to an enhanced response, compared to each single parameter. Thus, from the receiver's perspective, both call parameters may mutually replace each other.

  10. Heeding the Call for Change: Suggestions for Curricular Action.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Steen, Lynn Arthur, Ed.

    The "call for change" issued by the Board of Governors of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) in "A Call For Change: Recommendations for the Mathematical Preparation of Teachers of Mathematics, 1991" may appear at first glance to concern only the mathematical preparation of teachers. However, two ingredients combine…

  11. Radio advertising increases hospital call center volume by 48%.

    PubMed

    2006-01-01

    Since the fall of 2005, call volume at University of Southern California University Hospital of Los Angeles' call center has increased by nearly 50%. How? The hospital embarked on a long-term radio campaign to promote its presence as a premier academic medical center and to increase patient volume.

  12. Intra- and interspecific calling in a Tropical Owl Community

    Treesearch

    Paula L. Enriquez; J. Luis Rangel Salazar

    1997-01-01

    We studied the intra- and interspecific responses to playback of pre-recorded calls by five tropical humid forest owl species at La Selva preserve in northeastern Costa Rica from April to September 1995. Response to conspecific broadcast calls differed among species (X² = 24.4; df = 1; P Otus guatemalae...

  13. Comparison and evaluation of two exome capture kits and sequencing platforms for variant calling.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Guoqiang; Wang, Jianfeng; Yang, Jin; Li, Wenjie; Deng, Yutian; Li, Jing; Huang, Jun; Hu, Songnian; Zhang, Bing

    2015-08-05

    To promote the clinical application of next-generation sequencing, it is important to obtain accurate and consistent variants of target genomic regions at low cost. Ion Proton, the latest updated semiconductor-based sequencing instrument from Life Technologies, is designed to provide investigators with an inexpensive platform for human whole exome sequencing that achieves a rapid turnaround time. However, few studies have comprehensively compared and evaluated the accuracy of variant calling between Ion Proton and Illumina sequencing platforms such as HiSeq 2000, which is the most popular sequencing platform for the human genome. The Ion Proton sequencer combined with the Ion TargetSeq Exome Enrichment Kit together make up TargetSeq-Proton, whereas SureSelect-Hiseq is based on the Agilent SureSelect Human All Exon v4 Kit and the HiSeq 2000 sequencer. Here, we sequenced exonic DNA from four human blood samples using both TargetSeq-Proton and SureSelect-HiSeq. We then called variants in the exonic regions that overlapped between the two exome capture kits (33.6 Mb). The rates of shared variant loci called by two sequencing platforms were from 68.0 to 75.3% in four samples, whereas the concordance of co-detected variant loci reached 99%. Sanger sequencing validation revealed that the validated rate of concordant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (91.5%) was higher than the SNPs specific to TargetSeq-Proton (60.0%) or specific to SureSelect-HiSeq (88.3%). With regard to 1-bp small insertions and deletions (InDels), the Sanger sequencing validated rates of concordant variants (100.0%) and SureSelect-HiSeq-specific (89.6%) were higher than those of TargetSeq-Proton-specific (15.8%). In the sequencing of exonic regions, a combination of using of two sequencing strategies (SureSelect-HiSeq and TargetSeq-Proton) increased the variant calling specificity for concordant variant loci and the sensitivity for variant loci called by any one platform. However, for the

  14. 49 CFR 198.39 - Qualifications for operation of one-call notification system.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Qualifications for operation of one-call...) PIPELINE SAFETY REGULATIONS FOR GRANTS TO AID STATE PIPELINE SAFETY PROGRAMS Adoption of One-Call Damage Prevention Program § 198.39 Qualifications for operation of one-call notification system. A one-call...

  15. Temporal stability and change in the social call repertoire of migrating humpback whales.

    PubMed

    Rekdahl, Melinda L; Dunlop, Rebecca A; Noad, Michael J; Goldizen, Anne W

    2013-03-01

    Quantifying the stability of a species vocal repertoire is fundamental for further investigations into repertoire function and geographic variation. Changes to the repertoire of sounds used in the song displays of male humpback whales have been well studied. In contrast, little is known about the stability of this species' non-song vocal calls. The stability of the social call repertoire of east Australian humpback whales was investigated from 1997, 2003-2004, and 2008. Out of 46 qualitatively defined call types, 19 were classified as "song-unit calls" that tended to change with the song, and 15 were "inconsistent" and only found in one or two years. Twelve call types were "stable" and present in all years and were commonly produced (64.2% of calls). Stable calls tended to vary in some of the measured call parameters but there was no clear trend between years. This result could indicate that minor changes to calls are not permanent, but reflect individual differences in call production or the graded nature of calls within different social environments. This research has clearly identified stable calls in the call repertoire of humpback whales and while their function is not well understood, their stability suggests an important role in social interactions.

  16. Why the Best Kids' Books Are Written in Blood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alexie, Sherman

    2011-01-01

    The young adult novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is the author's autobiographical story of a poor reservation Indian boy and his desperate and humorous attempts to find a better life. In this article, the author answers critics who want to X-rate his young adult fiction as too violent.

  17. 47 CFR 80.320 - Radiotelephone distress call and message transmission procedure.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... by its call sign or name, to permit direction-finding stations to determine its position. This... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Radiotelephone distress call and message... Procedures Distress, Alarm, Urgency and Safety Procedures § 80.320 Radiotelephone distress call and message...

  18. 47 CFR 64.1320 - Payphone call tracking system audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Payphone call tracking system audits. 64.1320... call tracking system audits. (a) Unless it has entered into an alternative compensation arrangement... Completing Carrier must undergo an audit of its § 64.1310(a)(1) tracking system by an independent third party...

  19. The Influence of Peers During Adolescence: Does Homophobic Name Calling by Peers Change Gender Identity?

    PubMed

    DeLay, Dawn; Lynn Martin, Carol; Cook, Rachel E; Hanish, Laura D

    2018-03-01

    Adolescents actively evaluate their identities during adolescence, and one of the most salient and central identities for youth concerns their gender identity. Experiences with peers may inform gender identity. Unfortunately, many youth experience homophobic name calling, a form of peer victimization, and it is unknown whether youth internalize these peer messages and how these messages might influence gender identity. The goal of the present study was to assess the role of homophobic name calling on changes over the course of an academic year in adolescents' gender identity. Specifically, this study extends the literature using a new conceptualization and measure of gender identity that involves assessing how similar adolescents feel to both their own- and other-gender peers and, by employing longitudinal social network analyses, provides a rigorous analytic assessment of the impact of homophobic name calling on changes in these two dimensions of gender identity. Symbolic interaction perspectives-the "looking glass self"-suggest that peer feedback is incorporated into the self-concept. The current study tests this hypothesis by determining if adolescents respond to homophobic name calling by revising their self-view, specifically, how the self is viewed in relation to both gender groups. Participants were 299 6th grade students (53% female). Participants reported peer relationships, experiences of homophobic name calling, and gender identity (i.e., similarity to own- and other-gender peers). Longitudinal social network analyses revealed that homophobic name calling early in the school year predicted changes in gender identity over time. The results support the "looking glass self" hypothesis: experiencing homophobic name calling predicted identifying significantly less with own-gender peers and marginally more with other-gender peers over the course of an academic year. The effects held after controlling for participant characteristics (e.g., gender), social

  20. Variation between seated and standing/walking postures among male and female call centre operators.

    PubMed

    Toomingas, Allan; Forsman, Mikael; Mathiassen, Svend Erik; Heiden, Marina; Nilsson, Tohr

    2012-03-02

    The dose and time-pattern of sitting has been suggested in public health research to be an important determinant of risk for developing a number of diseases, including cardiovascular disorders and diabetes. The aim of the present study was to assess the time-pattern of seated and standing/walking postures amongst male and female call centre operators, on the basis of whole-shift posture recordings, analysed and described by a number of novel variables describing posture variation. Seated vs. standing/walking was recorded using dichotomous inclinometers throughout an entire work shift for 43 male and 97 female call centre operators at 16 call centres. Data were analysed using an extensive set of variables describing occurrence of and switches between seated and standing/walking, posture similarity across the day, and compliance with standard recommendations for computer work. The majority of the operators, both male and female, spent more than 80% of the shift in a seated posture with an average of 10.4 switches/hour between seated and standing/walking or vice versa. Females spent, on average, 11% of the day in periods of sustained sitting longer than 1 hour; males 4.6% (p = 0.013). Only 38% and 11% of the operators complied with standard recommendations of getting an uninterrupted break from seated posture of at least 5 or 10 minutes, respectively, within each hour of work. Two thirds of all investigated variables showed coefficients of variation between subjects above 0.5. Since work tasks and contractual break schedules were observed to be essentially similar across operators and across days, this indicates that sedentary behaviours differed substantially between individuals. The extensive occurrence of uninterrupted seated work indicates that efforts should be made at call centres - and probably in other settings in the office sector - to introduce more physical variation in terms of standing/walking periods during the work day. We suggest the metrics used in

  1. The development of a malignant tumor is due to a desperate asexual self-cloning process in which cancer stem cells develop the ability to mimic the genetic program of germline cells

    PubMed Central

    Vinnitsky, Vladimir

    2014-01-01

    To date there is no explanation why the development of almost all types of solid tumors occurs sharing a similar scenario: (1) creation of a cancer stem cell (CSC), (2) CSC multiplication and formation of a multicellular tumor spheroid (TS), (3) vascularization of the TS and its transformation into a vascularized primary tumor, (4) metastatic spreading of CSCs, (5) formation of a metastatic TSs and its transformation into metastatic tumors, and (6) potentially endless repetition of this cycle of events. The above gaps in our knowledge are related to the biology of cancer and specifically to tumorigenesis, which covers the process from the creation of a CSC to the formation of a malignant tumor and the development of metastases. My Oncogerminative Theory of Tumorigenesis considers tumor formation as a dynamic self-organizing process that mimics a self-organizing process of early embryo development. In the initial step in that process, gene mutations combined with epigenetic dysregulation cause somatic cells to be reprogrammed into CSCs, which are immortal pseudo-germline cells. Mimicking the behavior of fertilized germline cells, the CSC achieves immortality by passing through the stages of its life-cycle and developing into a pseudo-blastula-stage embryo, which manifests in the body as a malignant tumor. In this view, the development of a malignant tumor from a CSC is a phenomenon of developmental biology, which we named a desperate asexual self-cloning event. The theory explains seven core characteristics of malignant tumors: (1) CSC immortality, (2) multistep development of a malignant tumor from a single CSC, (3) heterogeneity of malignant tumor cell populations, (4) metastatic spread of CSCs, (5) invasive growth, (6) malignant progression, and (7) selective immune tolerance toward cancer cells. The Oncogerminative Theory of Tumorigenesis suggests new avenues for discovery of revolutionary therapies to treat, prevent, and eradicate cancer. PMID:28232878

  2. The effect of predation on begging-call evolution in nestling wood warblers.

    PubMed

    Haskell

    1999-04-01

    I combined a comparative study of begging in ground- and tree-nesting wood warblers (Parulidae) with experimental measures of the predation costs of warbler begging calls. Throughout their development, ground-nesting warbler nestlings had significantly higher-frequency begging calls than did tree-nesting warblers. There was also a trend for ground-nesting birds to have less rapidly modulated calls. There were no consistent associations between nesting site and the amplitude of the calls. Using miniature walkie-talkies hidden inside artificial nests, I reciprocally transplanted the begging calls of 5- and 8-day-old black-throated blue warblers, Dendroica caerulescens (tree-nesting) and ovenbirds, Seiurus aurocapillus (ground-nesting) and measured the corresponding changes in rates of nest predation. For the begging calls of 8-day-old nestlings, but not those of 5-day-olds, the calls of the tree-nesting species coming from ground nests incurred greater costs than did the calls of ground nesters. The reciprocal transplant had little effect on the rate of predation. Tooth imprints on clay eggs placed in artificial nests indicated that eastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus, were responsible for the increased cost of begging for black-throated blue calls coming from the ground. These data suggest that nest predation may be responsible for maintaining some of the interspecific differences in the acoustic structure of begging calls. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

  3. Canceled to Be Called Back: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Canceled Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Scene Calls That Are Later Transferred to a Trauma Center.

    PubMed

    Nolan, Brodie; Ackery, Alun; Nathens, Avery; Sawadsky, Bruce; Tien, Homer

    In our trauma system, helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) can be requested to attend a scene call for an injured patient before arrival by land paramedics. Land paramedics can cancel this response if they deem it unnecessary. The purpose of this study is to describe the frequency of canceled HEMS scene calls that were subsequently transferred to 2 trauma centers and to assess for any impact on morbidity and mortality. Probabilistic matching was used to identify canceled HEMS scene call patients who were later transported to 2 trauma centers over a 48-month period. Registry data were used to compare canceled scene call patients with direct from scene patients. There were 290 requests for HEMS scene calls, of which 35.2% were canceled. Of those canceled, 24.5% were later transported to our trauma centers. Canceled scene call patients were more likely to be older and to be discharged home from the trauma center without being admitted. There is a significant amount of undertriage of patients for whom an HEMS response was canceled and later transported to a trauma center. These patients face similar morbidity and mortality as patients who are brought directly from scene to a trauma center. Copyright © 2018 Air Medical Journal Associates. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. 76 FR 36130 - Call for Candidates

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-21

    ... Budget. FASAB is the body designated to establish generally accepted accounting principles for federal... FEDERAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ADVISORY BOARD Call for Candidates AGENCY: Federal Accounting... candidates. Any applicant who provided the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB or the Board...

  5. Acoustic monitoring indicates a correlation between calling and spawning in captive spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus)

    PubMed Central

    Hoover, Matt; Kehrer, Christopher; Yost, Justin; Brenkert, Karl; O’Donnell, Tim; Denson, Michael R.

    2017-01-01

    Background Fish sound production is widespread throughout many families. Territorial displays and courtship are the most common reasons for fish sound production. Yet, there is still some questions on how acoustic signaling and reproduction are correlated in many sound-producing species. In the present study, our aim was to determine if a quantitative relationship exists between calling and egg deposition in captive spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus). This type of data is essential if passive acoustics is to be used to identify spawning aggregations over large spatial scales and monitor reproductive activity over annual and decadal timeframes. Methods Acoustic recorders (i.e., DSG-Oceans) were placed in three laboratory tanks to record underwater sound over an entire, simulated reproductive season. We enumerated the number of calls, calculated the received sound pressure level, and counted the number of eggs every morning in each tank. Results Spotted seatrout produced three distinct call types characterized as “drums,” “grunts,” and “staccatos.” Spotted seatrout calling increased as the light cycle shifted from 13.5 to 14.5 h of light, and the temperature increased to 27.7 °C. Calling decreased once the temperature fell below 27.7 °C, and the light cycle shifted to 12 h of light. These temperature and light patterns followed the natural reproductive season observed in wild spotted seatrout in the Southeast United States. Spotted seatrout exhibited daily rhythms in calling. Acoustic signaling began once the lights turned off, and calling reached maximum activity approximately 3 h later. Eggs were released only on evenings in which spotted seatrout were calling. In all tanks, spotted seatrout were more likely to spawn when male fish called more frequently. A positive relationship between SPL and the number of eggs collected was found in Tanks 1 and 3. Discussion Our findings indicate that acoustic metrics can predict spawning potential. These

  6. Linking CALL and SLA: Using the IRIS Database to Locate Research Instruments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Handley, Zöe; Marsden, Emma

    2014-01-01

    To establish an evidence base for future computer-assisted language learning (CALL) design, CALL research needs to move away from CALL versus non-CALL comparisons, and focus on investigating the differential impact of individual coding elements, that is, specific features of a technology which might have an impact on learning (Pederson, 1987).…

  7. Electronic Cigarette Exposure: Calls to Wisconsin Poison Control Centers, 2010–2015.

    PubMed

    Weiss, Debora; Tomasallo, Carrie D; Meiman, Jon G; Creswell, Paul D; Melstrom, Paul C; Gummin, David D; Patel, Disa J; Michaud, Nancy T; Sebero, Heather A; Anderson, Henry A

    2016-12-01

    E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine and flavorings by aerosol and have been marketed in the United States since 2007. Because e-cigarettes have increased in popularity, toxicity potential from device misuse and malfunction also has increased. National data indicate that during 2010–2014, exposure calls to US poison control centers increased only 0.3% for conventional cigarette exposures, whereas calls increased 41.7% for e-cigarette exposures. We characterized cigarette and e-cigarette exposure calls to the Wisconsin Poison Center January 1, 2010 through October 10, 2015. We compared cigarette and e-cigarette exposure calls by exposure year, demographic characteristics, caller site, exposure site, exposure route, exposure reason, medical outcome, management site, and level of care at a health care facility. During January 2010 to October 2015, a total of 98 e-cigarette exposure calls were reported, and annual exposure calls increased approximately 17-fold, from 2 to 35. During the same period, 671 single-exposure cigarette calls with stable annual call volumes were reported. E-cigarette exposure calls were associated with children aged ≤5 years (57/98, 58.2%) and adults aged ≥20 years (30/98, 30.6%). Cigarette exposure calls predominated among children aged ≤5 years (643/671, 95.8%). The frequency of e-cigarette exposure calls to the Wisconsin Poison Center has increased and is highest among children aged ≤5 years and adults. Strategies are warranted to prevent future poisonings from these devices, including nicotine warning labels and public advisories to keep e-cigarettes away from children.

  8. A Sinister Bias for Calling Fouls in Soccer

    PubMed Central

    Kranjec, Alexander; Lehet, Matthew; Bromberger, Bianca; Chatterjee, Anjan

    2010-01-01

    Distinguishing between a fair and unfair tackle in soccer can be difficult. For referees, choosing to call a foul often requires a decision despite some level of ambiguity. We were interested in whether a well documented perceptual-motor bias associated with reading direction influenced foul judgments. Prior studies have shown that readers of left-to-right languages tend to think of prototypical events as unfolding concordantly, from left-to-right in space. It follows that events moving from right-to-left should be perceived as atypical and relatively debased. In an experiment using a go/no-go task and photographs taken from real games, participants made more foul calls for pictures depicting left-moving events compared to pictures depicting right-moving events. These data suggest that two referees watching the same play from distinct vantage points may be differentially predisposed to call a foul. PMID:20628648

  9. Air puff-induced 22-kHz calls in F344 rats.

    PubMed

    Inagaki, Hideaki; Sato, Jun

    2016-03-01

    Air puff-induced ultrasonic vocalizations in adult rats, termed "22-kHz calls," have been applied as a useful animal model to develop psychoneurological and psychopharmacological studies focusing on human aversive affective disorders. To date, all previous studies on air puff-induced 22-kHz calls have used outbred rats. Furthermore, newly developed gene targeting technologies, which are essential for further advancement of biomedical experiments using air puff-induced 22-kHz calls, have enabled the production of genetically modified rats using inbred rat strains. Therefore, we considered it necessary to assess air puff-induced 22-kHz calls in inbred rats. In this study, we assessed differences in air puff-induced 22-kHz calls between inbred F344 rats and outbred Wistar rats. Male F344 rats displayed similar total (summed) duration of air puff-induced 22 kHz vocalizations to that of male Wistar rats, however, Wistar rats emitted fewer calls of longer duration, while F344 rats emitted higher number of vocalizations of shorter duration. Additionally, female F344 rats emitted fewer air puff-induced 22-kHz calls than did males, thus confirming the existence of a sex difference that was previously reported for outbred Wistar rats. The results of this study could confirm the reliability of air puff stimulus for induction of a similar amount of emissions of 22-kHz calls in different rat strains, enabling the use of air puff-induced 22-kHz calls in inbred F344 rats and derived genetically modified animals in future studies concerning human aversive affective disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Jamaican Call-In Radio: A Uses and Gratification Analysis.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Surlin, Stuart H.

    Noting that radio call-in programs seem to contain the elements for active audience involvement and participation, a study was conducted to examine the hypothesis that information gain and surveillance are the primary gratifications sought through call-in radio programs, especially in a culture that has a strong oral tradition and relatively few…

  11. 1. AERIAL VIEW, SHOWING MOBILE LAUNCHER. BASE IS CALLED LAUNCH ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    1. AERIAL VIEW, SHOWING MOBILE LAUNCHER. BASE IS CALLED LAUNCH PLATFORM AND TOWER ON RIGHT IS CALLED LAUNCH UMBILICAL TOWER, (LUT). - Mobile Launcher One, Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, Brevard County, FL

  12. Salivary alpha amylase in on-call from home fire and emergency service personnel.

    PubMed

    Hall, Sarah J; Aisbett, Brad; Robertson, Samuel J; Ferguson, Sally A; Turner, Anne I

    2017-11-01

    The effect of working on-call from home on the sympatho-adrenal medullary system activity is currently unknown. This study had two aims, Aim 1: examine salivary alpha amylase awakening response (AAR) and diurnal salivary alpha amylase (sAA) profile in fire and emergency service workers who operate on-call from home following a night on-call with a call (NIGHT-CALL), a night on-call without a call (NO-CALL) and an off-call night (OFF-CALL), and Aim 2: explore whether there was an anticipatory effect of working on-call from home (ON) compared to when there was an off-call (OFF) on the diurnal sAA profile. Participants wore activity monitors, completed sleep and work diaries and collected seven saliva samples a day for one week. AAR area under the curve with respect to ground (AUC G ), AAR area under the curve with respect to increase (AUC I ), AAR reactivity, diurnal sAA slope, diurnal sAA AUC G and mean 12-h sAA concentrations were calculated. Separate generalised estimating equation models were constructed for each variable of interest for each aim. For Aim 1, there were no differences between NIGHT-CALL or NO-CALL and OFF-CALL for any response variable. For Aim 2, there was no difference between any response variable of interest when ON the following night compared to when OFF the following night ( n  = 14). These findings suggest that there is no effect of working on-call from home on sAA, but should be interpreted with caution, as overnight data were not collected. Future research, using overnight heart rate monitoring, could help confirm these findings. © 2017 The authors.

  13. [Bioethical challenges of stem cell tourism].

    PubMed

    Ventura-Juncá, Patricio; Erices, Alejandro; Santos, Manuel J

    2013-08-01

    Stem cells have drawn extraordinary attention from scientists and the general public due to their potential to generate effective therapies for incurable diseases. At the same time, the production of embryonic stem cells involves a serious ethical issue concerning the destruction of human embryos. Although adult stem cells and induced pluripotential cells do not pose this ethical objection, there are other bioethical challenges common to all types of stem cells related particularly to the clinical use of stem cells. Their clinical use should be based on clinical trials, and in special situations, medical innovation, both of which have particular ethical dimensions. The media has raised unfounded expectations in patients and the public about the real clinical benefits of stem cells. At the same time, the number of unregulated clinics is increasing around the world, making direct offers through Internet of unproven stem cell therapies that attract desperate patients that have not found solutions in standard medicine. This is what is called stem cells tourism. This article reviews this situation, its consequences and the need for international cooperation to establish effective regulations to prevent the exploitation of patients and to endanger the prestige of legitimate stem cell research.

  14. Using CALL in the Classroom: Analyzing Student Interactions in an Authentic Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hegelheimer, Volker; Tower, Dustin

    2004-01-01

    Recent CALL research has started to go beyond the comparison of CALL versus non-CALL environments to explore what learners do while going through CALL activities. One important strand within that area has focused on the use and utility of providing learners with opportunities to request modified input. While many studies have carried out research…

  15. Enhancing the Autonomous Use of CALL: A New Curriculum Model in EFL

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Karen; Craig, Hana

    2013-01-01

    This action research study evaluates the effectiveness of a CALL Learner Autonomy (CALL LA) course at a Japanese university. The "C course" blends face-to-face instruction and independent study in a CALL environment. It aims to enhance learners' autonomous use of CALL in the acquisition of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). In this…

  16. Correlated evolution between hearing sensitivity and social calls in bats

    PubMed Central

    Bohn, Kirsten M; Moss, Cynthia F; Wilkinson, Gerald S

    2006-01-01

    Echolocating bats are auditory specialists, with exquisite hearing that spans several octaves. In the ultrasonic range, bat audiograms typically show highest sensitivity in the spectral region of their species-specific echolocation calls. Well-developed hearing in the audible range has been commonly attributed to a need to detect sounds produced by prey. However, bat pups often emit isolation calls with low-frequency components that facilitate mother–young reunions. In this study, we examine whether low-frequency hearing in bats exhibits correlated evolution with (i) body size; (ii) high-frequency hearing sensitivity or (iii) pup isolation call frequency. Using published audiograms, we found that low-frequency hearing sensitivity is not dependent on body size but is related to high-frequency hearing. After controlling for high-frequency hearing, we found that low-frequency hearing exhibits correlated evolution with isolation call frequency. We infer that detection and discrimination of isolation calls have favoured enhanced low-frequency hearing because accurate parental investment is critical: bats have low reproductive rates, non-volant altricial young and must often identify their pups within large crèches. PMID:17148288

  17. Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites and alarm calling in free-living yellow-bellied marmots.

    PubMed

    Blumstein, Daniel T; Patton, Marilyn L; Saltzman, Wendy

    2006-03-22

    When individuals of a variety of species encounter a potential predator, some, but not all, emit alarm calls. To explain the proximate basis of this variation, we compared faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in live-trapped yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) between occasions when they did and did not emit alarm calls. We found that marmots had significantly higher glucocorticoid levels when they called than when they did not call, suggesting that stress or arousal may play an important role in potentiating alarm calls. Marmots are sensitive to variation in the reliability of callers. The present finding provides one possible mechanism underlying caller variation: physiological arousal influences the propensity to emit alarm calls.

  18. Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites and alarm calling in free-living yellow-bellied marmots

    PubMed Central

    Blumstein, Daniel T; Patton, Marilyn L; Saltzman, Wendy

    2005-01-01

    When individuals of a variety of species encounter a potential predator, some, but not all, emit alarm calls. To explain the proximate basis of this variation, we compared faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in live-trapped yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) between occasions when they did and did not emit alarm calls. We found that marmots had significantly higher glucocorticoid levels when they called than when they did not call, suggesting that stress or arousal may play an important role in potentiating alarm calls. Marmots are sensitive to variation in the reliability of callers. The present finding provides one possible mechanism underlying caller variation: physiological arousal influences the propensity to emit alarm calls. PMID:17148318

  19. Duty hours and home call: the experience of plastic surgery residents and fellows.

    PubMed

    Drolet, Brian C; Prsic, Adnan; Schmidt, Scott T

    2014-05-01

    Although resident duty hours are strictly regulated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, there are fewer restrictions on at-home call for residents. To date, no studies have examined the experience of home call for plastic surgery trainees or the impact of home call on patient care and education in plastic surgery. an anonymous electronic survey to plastic surgery trainees at 41 accredited programs. They sought to produce a descriptive assessment of home call and to evaluate the perceived impact of home call on training and patient care. A total of 214 responses were obtained (58.3 percent completion rate). Nearly all trainees reported taking home call (98.6 percent), with 66.7 percent reporting call frequency every third or fourth night. Most respondents (63.3 percent) felt that home call regulations are vague but that Council regulation (44.9 percent) and programmatic oversight (56.5 percent) are adequate. Most (91.2 percent) believe their program could not function without home call and that home call helps to avoid strict duty hour restrictions (71.5 percent). Nearly all respondents (92.3 percent) preferred home call to in-house call. This is the first study to examine how plastic surgery residents experience and perceive home call within the framework of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education duty hour regulations. Most trainees feel the impact of home call is positive for education (50.2 percent) and quality of life (56.5 percent), with a neutral impact on patient care (66.7 percent). Under the Council's increasing regulations, home call provides a balance of education and patient care appropriate for training in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

  20. NAEP Scores Put Spotlight on Standards: Flat Math Results Also Spur Calls for Teaching Reforms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cavanagh, Sean

    2009-01-01

    Fourth grade math scores stagnated for the first time in two decades on a prominent nationwide test, prompting calls for new efforts to improve teacher content knowledge and stirring discussion of the potential benefits of setting more-uniform academic standards across states. The results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress,…