Federal Student Aid Handbook, 2006-2007. Volume 6: Campus-Based Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2006

2006-01-01

The Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), and Federal Work-Study (FWS) programs are called "campus-based" programs because each school is responsible for administering them on its own campus. This volume gives guidance on issues specific to the administration of the campus-based programs.…

Conducting Multi-Generational Qualitative Research in Education: An Experiment in Grounded Theory. Black Studies and Critical Thinking. Volume 5

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Donald R.

2011-01-01

This book outlines a methodology for viewing multiple generations of African Americans, specifically those who were called or called themselves Negro, Colored, Black, or African American (NCBAA). Within this framework, African Americans of varying ages describe their lives and educational experiences, allowing researchers to address a variety of…

Using an integrated information system to reduce interruptions and the number of non-relevant contacts in the inpatient pharmacy at tertiary hospital.

PubMed

Binobaid, Saleh; Almeziny, Mohammed; Fan, Ip-Shing

2017-07-01

Patient care is provided by a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals intended for high-quality and safe patient care. Accordingly, the team must work synergistically and communicate efficiently. In many hospitals, nursing and pharmacy communication relies mainly on telephone calls. In fact, numerous studies have reported telephone calls as a source of interruption for both pharmacy and nursing operations; therefore, the workload increases and the chance of errors raises. This report describes the implementation of an integrated information system that possibly can reduce telephone calls through providing real-time tracking capabilities and sorting prescriptions urgency, thus significantly improving traceability of all prescriptions inside pharmacy. The research design is based on a quasi-experiment using pre-post testing using the continuous improvement approach. The improvement project is performed using a six-step method. A survey was conducted in Prince Sultan Military Medical City (PSMMC) to measure the volume and types of telephone calls before and after implementation to evaluate the impact of the new system. Beforehand of the system implementation, during the two-week measurement period, all pharmacies received 4466 calls and the majority were follow-up calls. Subsequently of the integrated system rollout, there was a significant reduction ( p  > 0.001) in the volume of telephone calls to 2630 calls; besides, the calls nature turned out to be more professional inquiries ( p  > 0.001). As a result, avoidable interruptions and workload were decreased.

Communication Patterns in the Perioperative Environment During Epic Electronic Health Record System Implementation.

PubMed

Friend, Tynan H; Jennings, Samantha J; Levine, Wilton C

2017-02-01

In April 2016, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) went live with the Epic electronic health records (EHR) system, replacing a variety of EHRs that previously existed in different departments throughout the hospital. At the time of implementation, the Vocera® Badge Communication System, a wireless hands-free communication device distributed to perioperative team members, had increased perioperative communication flow and efficiency. As a quality improvement effort to better understand communication patterns during an EHR go-live, we monitored our Vocera call volume and user volume before, during and after our go-live. We noticed that call volume and user volume significantly increased during our immediate go-live period and quickly returned to baseline levels. We also noticed that call volume increased during periods of unplanned EHR downtime long after our immediate go-live period. When planning the implementation of a new EHR, leadership must plan for and support this critical communication need at the time of the go-live and must also be aware of these needs during unplanned downtime.

[A comparison between prostatic volume measured during suprapubic ultrasonography (TAUS) and volume of the enucleated gland after open prostatectomy].

PubMed

Szewczyk, Wojciech; Prajsner, Andrzej; Kozina, Janusz; Login, Tomasz; Kaczorowski, Marek

2004-01-01

General practitioner very often uses transabdominal ultrasonograpy (TAUS) in order to measure prostatic volume. Using this method it is rather impossible to distinguish between tissue of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatic tissue which forms so called surgical capsule of BPH. The aim of this study was a comparison of prostatic volume measured during suprapubic (transabdominal) ultrasonography and volume of the enucleated gland after open prostatectomy. Regarding the results authors created a nomogram based on TAUS measurement of the prostate which helps to predict the volume of BPH. They also stated that surgical capsule of the BPH makes about 1/3 of the whole volume of the prostate measured by TAUS.

Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of television, radio and print advertisements in promoting the New York smokers' quitline.

PubMed

Farrelly, Matthew C; Hussin, Altijani; Bauer, Ursula E

2007-12-01

This study assessed the relative effectiveness and cost effectiveness of television, radio and print advertisements to generate calls to the New York smokers' quitline. Regression analysis was used to link total county level monthly quitline calls to television, radio and print advertising expenditures. Based on regression results, standardised measures of the relative effectiveness and cost effectiveness of expenditures were computed. There was a positive and statistically significant relation between call volume and expenditures for television (p<0.01) and radio (p<0.001) advertisements and a marginally significant effect for expenditures on newspaper advertisements (p<0.065). The largest effect was for television advertising. However, because of differences in advertising costs, for every $1000 increase in television, radio and newspaper expenditures, call volume increased by 0.1%, 5.7% and 2.8%, respectively. Television, radio and print media all effectively increased calls to the New York smokers' quitline. Although increases in expenditures for television were the most effective, their relatively high costs suggest they are not currently the most cost effective means to promote a quitline. This implies that a more efficient mix of media would place greater emphasis on radio than television. However, because the current study does not adequately assess the extent to which radio expenditures would sustain their effectiveness with substantial expenditure increases, it is not feasible to determine a more optimal mix of expenditures.

AHPCRC (Army High Performance Computing Research Center) Bulletin. Volume 3, Issue 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

release; distribution is unlimited. Multiscale Modeling of Materials The rotating reflector antenna associated with airport traffic control systems is...batteries and phased-array antennas . Power and efficiency studies evaluate on-board HPC systems and advanced image processing applications. 2010 marked...giving way in some applications to a newer technology called the phased array antenna system (sometimes called a beamformer, example shown at right

Crystallization and dynamical arrest of attractive hard spheres.

PubMed

Babu, Sujin; Gimel, Jean-Christophe; Nicolai, Taco

2009-02-14

Crystallization of hard spheres interacting with a square well potential was investigated by numerical simulations using so-called Brownian cluster dynamics. The phase diagram was determined over a broad range of volume fractions. The crystallization rate was studied as a function of the interaction strength expressed in terms of the second virial coefficient. For volume fractions below about 0.3 the rate was found to increase abruptly with increasing attraction at the binodal of the metastable liquid-liquid phase separation. The rate increased until a maximum was reached after which it decreased with a power law dependence on the second virial coefficient. Above a critical percolation concentration, a transient system spanning network of connected particles was formed. Crystals were formed initially as part of the network, but eventually crystallization led to the breakup of the network. The lifetime of the transient gels increased very rapidly over a small range of interaction energies. Weak attraction destabilized the so-called repulsive crystals formed in pure hard sphere systems and shifted the coexistence line to higher volume fractions. Stronger attraction led to the formation of a denser, so-called attractive, crystalline phase. Nucleation of attractive crystals in the repulsive crystalline phase was observed close to the transition.

The relation between media promotions and service volume for a statewide tobacco quitline and a web-based cessation program

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background This observational study assessed the relation between mass media campaigns and service volume for a statewide tobacco cessation quitline and stand-alone web-based cessation program. Methods Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify how weekly calls to a cessation quitline and weekly registrations to a web-based cessation program are related to levels of broadcast media, media campaigns, and media types, controlling for the impact of external and earned media events. Results There was a positive relation between weekly broadcast targeted rating points and the number of weekly calls to a cessation quitline and the number of weekly registrations to a web-based cessation program. Additionally, print secondhand smoke ads and online cessation ads were positively related to weekly quitline calls. Television and radio cessation ads and radio smoke-free law ads were positively related to web program registration levels. There was a positive relation between the number of web registrations and the number of calls to the cessation quitline, with increases in registrations to the web in 1 week corresponding to increases in calls to the quitline in the subsequent week. Web program registration levels were more highly influenced by earned media and other external events than were quitline call volumes. Conclusion Overall, broadcast advertising had a greater impact on registrations for the web program than calls to the quitline. Furthermore, registrations for the web program influenced calls to the quitline. These two findings suggest the evolving roles of web-based cessation programs and Internet-use practices should be considered when creating cessation programs and media campaigns to promote them. Additionally, because different types of media and campaigns were positively associated with calls to the quitline and web registrations, developing mass media campaigns that offer a variety of messages and communicate through different types of media to motivate tobacco users to seek services appears important to reach tobacco users. Further research is needed to better understand the complexities and opportunities involved in simultaneous promotion of quitline and web-based cessation services. PMID:22177237

The relation between media promotions and service volume for a statewide tobacco quitline and a web-based cessation program.

PubMed

Schillo, Barbara A; Mowery, Andrea; Greenseid, Lija O; Luxenberg, Michael G; Zieffler, Andrew; Christenson, Matthew; Boyle, Raymond G

2011-12-16

This observational study assessed the relation between mass media campaigns and service volume for a statewide tobacco cessation quitline and stand-alone web-based cessation program. Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify how weekly calls to a cessation quitline and weekly registrations to a web-based cessation program are related to levels of broadcast media, media campaigns, and media types, controlling for the impact of external and earned media events. There was a positive relation between weekly broadcast targeted rating points and the number of weekly calls to a cessation quitline and the number of weekly registrations to a web-based cessation program. Additionally, print secondhand smoke ads and online cessation ads were positively related to weekly quitline calls. Television and radio cessation ads and radio smoke-free law ads were positively related to web program registration levels. There was a positive relation between the number of web registrations and the number of calls to the cessation quitline, with increases in registrations to the web in 1 week corresponding to increases in calls to the quitline in the subsequent week. Web program registration levels were more highly influenced by earned media and other external events than were quitline call volumes. Overall, broadcast advertising had a greater impact on registrations for the web program than calls to the quitline. Furthermore, registrations for the web program influenced calls to the quitline. These two findings suggest the evolving roles of web-based cessation programs and Internet-use practices should be considered when creating cessation programs and media campaigns to promote them. Additionally, because different types of media and campaigns were positively associated with calls to the quitline and web registrations, developing mass media campaigns that offer a variety of messages and communicate through different types of media to motivate tobacco users to seek services appears important to reach tobacco users. Further research is needed to better understand the complexities and opportunities involved in simultaneous promotion of quitline and web-based cessation services.

Radar target classification studies: Software development and documentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamis, A.; Garber, F.; Walton, E.

1985-09-01

Three computer programs were developed to process and analyze calibrated radar returns. The first program, called DATABASE, was developed to create and manage a random accessed data base. The second program, called FTRAN DB, was developed to process horizontal and vertical polarizations radar returns into different formats (i.e., time domain, circular polarizations and polarization parameters). The third program, called RSSE, was developed to simulate a variety of radar systems and to evaluate their ability to identify radar returns. Complete computer listings are included in the appendix volumes.

Critical Pedagogy in the New Dark Ages: Challenges and Possibilities. Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education. Volume 422

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nikolakaki, Maria, Ed.

2012-01-01

This book unmasks the neoliberal ideology that led modern civilization to withdraw from its previous accomplishments into what may be called the new Dark Ages. The international group of contributors to this volume aggressively rejects the siege of society by capitalism and the resulting deterioration. These authors engage a critical pedagogy that…

Awareness Effects of a Youth Suicide Prevention Media Campaign in Louisiana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenner, Eric; Jenner, Lynne Woodward; Matthews-Sterling, Maya; Butts, Jessica K.; Williams, Trina Evans

2010-01-01

Research on the efficacy of mediated suicide awareness campaigns is limited. The impacts of a state-wide media campaign on call volumes to a national hotline were analyzed to determine if the advertisements have raised awareness of the hotline. We use a quasi-experimental design to compare call volumes from ZIP codes where and when the campaign is…

Network Centric Warfare Case Study. U.S. V Corps and 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) During Operation Iraq Freedom Combat Operations (Mar-Apr 2003). Volume 1: Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-11-01

Command Historian , and the personnel from the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) for their assistance in gaining access to the many documents that...after the Network Centric Warfare Case Study operations. The Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL), the V Corps Command Historian , and other... Historian , Dr. Charles Kirkpatrick, in Heidelberg, Germany, assisted in this effort. Nu- merous documents were collected, both unclassified and classified

Effectiveness of a mass media campaign in promoting HIV testing information seeking among African American women.

PubMed

Davis, Kevin C; Uhrig, Jennifer; Rupert, Douglas; Fraze, Jami; Goetz, Joshua; Slater, Michael

2011-10-01

"Take Charge. Take the Test." (TCTT), a media campaign promoting HIV testing among African American women, was piloted in Cleveland and Philadelphia from October 2006 to October 2007. This study assesses TCTT's effectiveness in promoting HIV testing information seeking among target audiences in each pilot city. The authors analyzed data on telephone hotlines promoted by the campaign and the www.hivtest.org Web site to examine trends in hotline calls and testing location searches before, during, and after the campaign. Cleveland hotline data were available from October 1, 2005, through February 28, 2008, for a total of 29 months (N = 126 weeks). Philadelphia hotline data were available from May 1, 2006, through February 28, 2008, for a total of 22 months (N = 96 weeks). The authors assessed the relation between market-level measures of the campaign's advertising activities and trends in hotline call volume and testing location searches. They found a significant relation between measures of TCTT advertising and hotline calls. Specifically, they found that increases in advertising gross ratings points were associated with increases in call volume, controlling for caller demographics and geographic location. The campaign had similar effects on HIV testing location searches. Overall, it appears the campaign generated significant increases in HIV information seeking. Results are consistent with other studies that have evaluated the effects of media campaigns on similar forms of information seeking. This study illustrates useful methods for evaluating campaign effects on information seeking with data on media implementation, hotline calls, and zip code-based searches for testing locations.

Manual lymphatic drainage in chronic venous disease: a duplex ultrasound study.

PubMed

Dos Santos Crisóstomo, Rute Sofia; Candeias, Miguel Sandu; Ribeiro, Ana Margarida Martins; da Luz Belo Martins, Catarina; Armada-da-Silva, Paulo As

2014-12-01

To compare the effect of call-up and reabsorption maneuvers of manual lymphatic drainage on blood flow in femoral vein and great saphenous vein in patients with chronic venous disease and healthy controls. Forty-one subjects participated in this study (mean age: 42.68(15.23)), 23 with chronic venous disease (chronic venous disease group) with clinical classification C1-5 of clinical-etiological-anatomical-pathological (CEAP) and 18 healthy subjects (control group). Call-up and reabsorption maneuvers were randomly applied in the medial aspect of the thigh. The cross-sectional areas, as well as the peak and the mean blood flow velocity at femoral vein and great saphenous vein, were assessed by Duplex ultrasound at the baseline and during maneuvers. The venous flow volume changes were calculated. The venous flow volume in femoral vein and great saphenous vein increased during both manual lymphatic drainage maneuvers and in both groups (P < 0.05). The two maneuvers had a similar effect on femoral vein and great saphenous vein hemodynamics, and in both the chronic venous disease and control groups. As a result of the call-up maneuver, the flow volume augmentations, as a result of call-up maneuver, decreased with the severity of chronic venous disease in those patients measured by the clinical classification of CEAP (r = -0.64; P = 0.03). Manual lymphatic drainage increases the venous blood flow in the lower extremity with a magnitude that is independent from the specific maneuver employed or the presence of chronic venous disease. Therefore, manual lymphatic drainage may be an alternative strategy for the treatment and prevention of venous stasis complications in chronic venous disease. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of television, radio and print advertisements in promoting the New York smokers' quitline

PubMed Central

Farrelly, Matthew C; Hussin, Altijani; Bauer, Ursula E

2007-01-01

Objectives This study assessed the relative effectiveness and cost effectiveness of television, radio and print advertisements to generate calls to the New York smokers' quitline. Methods Regression analysis was used to link total county level monthly quitline calls to television, radio and print advertising expenditures. Based on regression results, standardised measures of the relative effectiveness and cost effectiveness of expenditures were computed. Results There was a positive and statistically significant relation between call volume and expenditures for television (p<0.01) and radio (p<0.001) advertisements and a marginally significant effect for expenditures on newspaper advertisements (p<0.065). The largest effect was for television advertising. However, because of differences in advertising costs, for every $1000 increase in television, radio and newspaper expenditures, call volume increased by 0.1%, 5.7% and 2.8%, respectively. Conclusions Television, radio and print media all effectively increased calls to the New York smokers' quitline. Although increases in expenditures for television were the most effective, their relatively high costs suggest they are not currently the most cost effective means to promote a quitline. This implies that a more efficient mix of media would place greater emphasis on radio than television. However, because the current study does not adequately assess the extent to which radio expenditures would sustain their effectiveness with substantial expenditure increases, it is not feasible to determine a more optimal mix of expenditures. PMID:18048625

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.

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

The influence of unemployment and divorce rate on child help-seeking behavior about violence, relationships, and other issues.

PubMed

van Dolen, Willemijn M; Weinberg, Charles B; Ma, Leiming

2013-01-01

This study examined the influence of community unemployment and divorce rate on child help-seeking behavior about violence and relationships via a telephone and Internet helpline. Time series analysis was conducted on monthly call volumes to a child helpline ('De Kindertelefoon') in the Netherlands from 2003 to 2008 and on the topics discussed (primarily Violence and Relationships) from 1994 to 2008 in answered calls and chats. As unemployment rises, the number of calls to the helpline increases. With increased unemployment, the share of conversations about violence and about relationships is found to be higher. When the divorce rate goes up, the number of calls to the helpline increases, but the share of Violence and of Relationships decreases. In addition, the share of contacts about Violence is increasing over time, while the share about Relationships is decreasing. Furthermore, the showing of violent movies is associated with fewer attempted helpline calls. Finally, seasonal variation in call volumes and the shares of calls about Violence and Relationships are found. Our data provide a unique and direct perspective on child help-seeking behavior. Our results suggest that more resources need to be devoted to resolving children's problems during times of unemployment as they seek more help particularly with respect to violence. Increased training of counselors with regard to children reporting incidents of violence is particularly important, as the share of contacts about violence is increasing over time and during a recession. Resources are especially needed as, on average, less than half of the calls to child helplines are actually answered. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Excessive vitamin D content of a standard iron-deficient diet for rats.

PubMed

Triggs, S M; Bailey-Wood, R

1976-03-01

1. The observation that thyroid C cell hyperplasia occurred in rats given the iron-deficient diet described by McCall, Newman, O'Brien, Valberg & Witts (1962) prompted a closer study of the preparation and constituents of this diet. 2. It became apparent that there was a discrepancy between the amounts of fat-soluble vitamins in the dietary formulation reported and the supposed final content of the diet. A diet prepared as described by McCall et al. (1962) contains 1000 mug (40 000 i.u.) ergocalciferol and 10 mug (14 500 i.u.) retinyl palmitate/kg. 3. An experiment was designed to study the effect of Fe-deficient and Fe-supplemented, high-vitamin-D diets, and an Fe-supplemented, normal-vitamin-D diet, on thyroid C cell volume and serum calcium concentration. 4. Thyroid C cell volumes and serum Ca concentrations were significantly higher in both groups given excess vitamin D than in the group given the Fe-supplemented, normal-vitamin-D diet. It is evident therefore, that hypervitaminosis D was the cause of the morphological and biochemical changes found in rats given the McCall et al. (1962) diet.

Numerical analysis on the cutting and finishing efficiency of MRAFF process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lih, F. L.

2016-03-01

The aim of the present research is to conduct a numerical study of the characteristic of a two-phase magnetorheological fluid with different operation conditions by the finite volume method called SIMPLE with an add-on MHD code.

Web-based volume slicer for 3D electron-microscopy data from EMDB

PubMed Central

Salavert-Torres, José; Iudin, Andrii; Lagerstedt, Ingvar; Sanz-García, Eduardo; Kleywegt, Gerard J.; Patwardhan, Ardan

2016-01-01

We describe the functionality and design of the Volume slicer – a web-based slice viewer for EMDB entries. This tool uniquely provides the facility to view slices from 3D EM reconstructions along the three orthogonal axes and to rapidly switch between them and navigate through the volume. We have employed multiple rounds of user-experience testing with members of the EM community to ensure that the interface is easy and intuitive to use and the information provided is relevant. The impetus to develop the Volume slicer has been calls from the EM community to provide web-based interactive visualisation of 2D slice data. This would be useful for quick initial checks of the quality of a reconstruction. Again in response to calls from the community, we plan to further develop the Volume slicer into a fully-fledged Volume browser that provides integrated visualisation of EMDB and PDB entries from the molecular to the cellular scale. PMID:26876163

A New School of Health Professions. Volume 2. Appendices to the Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA. School of Medical Sciences.

The document contains 22 appendixes which were cross-referenced in the final report of a study on the University of the Pacific's interdisciplinary program called School of Health Professions (SHP). Items include the following: (1-A) obesity study guide; (1-B) diabetes mellitus study guide; (1-C) hypertension study guide; (2) identification and…

Fluid imbalance

MedlinePlus

... up in the body. This is called fluid overload (volume overload). This can lead to edema (excess fluid in ... Water imbalance; Fluid imbalance - dehydration; Fluid buildup; Fluid overload; Volume overload; Loss of fluids; Edema - fluid imbalance; ...

Deliverology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nordstrum, Lee E.; LeMahieu, Paul G.; Dodd, Karen

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume elaborating different approaches to quality improvement in education. This paper aims to delineate a methodology called Deliverology. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core principles and a case study showing an application of Deliverology in the…

Association between mobile phone traffic volume and road crash fatalities: A population-based case-crossover study.

PubMed

Gariazzo, Claudio; Stafoggia, Massimo; Bruzzone, Silvia; Pelliccioni, Armando; Forastiere, Francesco

2018-06-01

Use of mobile phones while driving is known to cause crashes with possible fatalities. Different habits of mobile phone use might be distracting forces and display differential impacts on accident risk; the assessment of the relative importance is relevant to implement prevention, mitigation, and control measures. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the use of mobile phones at population level and road crash fatalities in large urban areas. Data on road crashes with fatalities were collected from seven Italian metropolitan areas and matched in time and space with high resolution mobile phone traffic volume data about calls, texts, Internet connections and upload/download data. A case-crossover study design was applied to estimate the relative risks of road accident for increases in each type of mobile phone traffic volumes in underlying population present in the small areas where accidents occurred. Effect modification was evaluated by weekday/weekend, hour of the day, meteorological conditions, and street densities. Positive associations between road crashes rates and the number of calls, texts, and Internet connections were found, with incremental risks of 17.2% (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 7.7, 27.6), 8.4% (CI 0.7, 16.8), and 54.6% (CI 34.0, 78.5) per increases (at 15 min intervals) of 5 calls/100 people, 3 text/100 people, and 40 connections/100 people, respectively. Small differences across cities were detected. Working days, nighttime and morning hours were associated with greater phone use and more road accidents. The relationship between mobile phone use and road fatalities at population level is strong. Strict controls on cellular phone in the vehicle may results in a large health benefit. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

REXOR 2 rotorcraft simulation model. Volume 1: Engineering documentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reaser, J. S.; Kretsinger, P. H.

1978-01-01

A rotorcraft nonlinear simulation called REXOR II, divided into three volumes, is described. The first volume is a development of rotorcraft mechanics and aerodynamics. The second is a development and explanation of the computer code required to implement the equations of motion. The third volume is a user's manual, and contains a description of code input/output as well as operating instructions.

Primary Teachers' Conceptions about the Concept of Volume: The Case of Volume-Measurable Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saiz, Mariana

2003-01-01

In this paper part of the results obtained by a research project called "Primary Teachers' Thinking about the Concept of Volume and its Teaching", performed from 1997 to 2001, are reported. This paper focuses in one of the two main objectives of the aforementioned research: To describe the mental object volume of the participant…

EVALUATION OF THE HIGH VOLUME COLLECTION SYSTEM (HVCS) FOR QUANTIFYING FUGITIVE ORGANIC VAPOR LEAKS

EPA Science Inventory

The report discusses a recently developed measurements technique that offers the potential for providing an easy-to-use and cost effective means to directly measure organic vapor leaks. The method, called High Volume Collection System (HVCS), uses a high volume sampling device an...

Calibration of automatic performance measures - speed and volume data : volume 1, evaluation of the accuracy of traffic volume counts collected by microwave sensors.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-09-01

Over the past few years, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has developed a system called the : Signal Performance Metrics System (SPMS) to evaluate the performance of signalized intersections. This system : currently provides data summarie...

Program Flow Analyzer. Volume 3

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-08-01

metrics are defined using these basic terms. Of interest is another measure for the size of the program, called the volume: V N x log 2 n. 5 The unit of...correlated to actual data and most useful for test. The formula des - cribing difficulty may be expressed as: nl X N2D - 2 -I/L *Difficulty then, is the...linearly independent program paths through any program graph. A maximal set of these linearly independent paths, called a "basis set," can always be found

Using telephony data to facilitate discovery of clinical workflows.

PubMed

Rucker, Donald W

2017-04-19

Discovery of clinical workflows to target for redesign using methods such as Lean and Six Sigma is difficult. VoIP telephone call pattern analysis may complement direct observation and EMR-based tools in understanding clinical workflows at the enterprise level by allowing visualization of institutional telecommunications activity. To build an analytic framework mapping repetitive and high-volume telephone call patterns in a large medical center to their associated clinical units using an enterprise unified communications server log file and to support visualization of specific call patterns using graphical networks. Consecutive call detail records from the medical center's unified communications server were parsed to cross-correlate telephone call patterns and map associated phone numbers to a cost center dictionary. Hashed data structures were built to allow construction of edge and node files representing high volume call patterns for display with an open source graph network tool. Summary statistics for an analysis of exactly one week's call detail records at a large academic medical center showed that 912,386 calls were placed with a total duration of 23,186 hours. Approximately half of all calling called number pairs had an average call duration under 60 seconds and of these the average call duration was 27 seconds. Cross-correlation of phone calls identified by clinical cost center can be used to generate graphical displays of clinical enterprise communications. Many calls are short. The compact data transfers within short calls may serve as automation or re-design targets. The large absolute amount of time medical center employees were engaged in VoIP telecommunications suggests that analysis of telephone call patterns may offer additional insights into core clinical workflows.

Increasing reach of quitline services in a US state with comprehensive tobacco treatment.

PubMed

Woods, Susan Swartz; Haskins, Amy E

2007-12-01

The population reach of tobacco quitlines is an important measure of treatment seeking and penetration of services. Maine offers an opportunity to examine temporal changes in quitline reach and referral sources in the context of a comprehensive tobacco treatment programme. The impact of a $1.00 cigarette tax increase is also examined. This is a descriptive analysis of Maine Tobacco Helpline call volume September 2001 to December 2006. Annual reach was estimated using a cross sectional state surveillance survey. Weekly call volume was examined during 2005, a year of marked changes in tobacco taxes and quitline resources. Referral patterns were analysed yearly. Maine's Tobacco Helpline observed more than a threefold increase in population reach during a four year interval, from 1.9% to over 6% per year. Calls increased substantially in 2005, concurrent with added hours of operation and a rise in the cigarette tax. Over time, callers increasingly reported hearing about the quitline from health professionals, from 10% in 2001 to 38% in 2006. Tobacco treatment programmes offering free nicotine therapy and professional medical education can drive quitline utilisation over time. Call volume can also be affected by quitline operational and policy changes that promote the reduction of tobacco use.

Slurry combustion. Volume 2: Appendices, Final report

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

Essenhigh, R.

1993-06-01

Volume II contains the following appendices: coal analyses and slurryability characteristics; listings of programs used to call and file experimental data, and to reduce data in enthalpy and efficiency calculations; and tabulated data sets.

Iridium-Knife: Another knife in radiation oncology.

PubMed

Milickovic, Natasa; Tselis, Nikolaos; Karagiannis, Efstratios; Ferentinos, Konstantinos; Zamboglou, Nikolaos

Intratarget dose escalation with superior conformity is a defining feature of three-dimensional (3D) iridium-192 ( 192 Ir) high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy (BRT). In this study, we analyzed the dosimetric characteristics of interstitial 192 Ir HDR BRT for intrathoracic and cerebral malignancies. We examined the dose gradient sharpness of HDR BRT compared with that of linear accelerator-based stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy, usually called X-Knife, to demonstrate that it may as well be called a Knife. Treatment plans for 10 patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme or intrathoracic malignancies, five of each entity, treated with X-Knife (stereotactic radiosurgery for glioblastoma multiforme and stereotactic body radiation therapy for intrathoracic malignancies) were replanned for simulated HDR BRT. For 3D BRT planning, we used identical structure sets and dose prescription as for the X-Knife planning. The indices for qualitative treatment plan analysis encompassed planning target volume coverage, conformity, dose falloff gradient, and the maximum dose-volume limits to different organs at risk. Volume coverage in HDR plans was comparable to that calculated for X-Knife plans with no statistically significant difference in terms of conformity. The dose falloff gradient-sharpness-of the HDR plans was considerably steeper compared with the X-Knife plans. Both 3D 192 Ir HDR BRT and X-Knife are effective means for intratarget dose escalation with HDR BRT achieving at least equal conformity and a steeper dose falloff at the target volume margin. In this sense, it can reasonably be argued that 3D 192 Ir HDR BRT deserves also to be called a Knife, namely Iridium-Knife. Copyright © 2017 American Brachytherapy Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic-thresholding level set: a novel computer-aided volumetry method for liver tumors in hepatic CT images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Wenli; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Harris, Gordon J.

2007-03-01

Measurement of the volume of focal liver tumors, called liver tumor volumetry, is indispensable for assessing the growth of tumors and for monitoring the response of tumors to oncology treatments. Traditional edge models, such as the maximum gradient and zero-crossing methods, often fail to detect the accurate boundary of a fuzzy object such as a liver tumor. As a result, the computerized volumetry based on these edge models tends to differ from manual segmentation results performed by physicians. In this study, we developed a novel computerized volumetry method for fuzzy objects, called dynamic-thresholding level set (DT level set). An optimal threshold value computed from a histogram tends to shift, relative to the theoretical threshold value obtained from a normal distribution model, toward a smaller region in the histogram. We thus designed a mobile shell structure, called a propagating shell, which is a thick region encompassing the level set front. The optimal threshold calculated from the histogram of the shell drives the level set front toward the boundary of a liver tumor. When the volume ratio between the object and the background in the shell approaches one, the optimal threshold value best fits the theoretical threshold value and the shell stops propagating. Application of the DT level set to 26 hepatic CT cases with 63 biopsy-confirmed hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and metastases showed that the computer measured volumes were highly correlated with those of tumors measured manually by physicians. Our preliminary results showed that DT level set was effective and accurate in estimating the volumes of liver tumors detected in hepatic CT images.

The Planning, Implementation, and Movement of an Academic Library Collection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurkul, Donna Lee

1983-01-01

Discusses methodology, logistics, and time/cost study of planning, implementation, and relocation of 682,810 volume Smith College Library collection into its newly constructed and renovated facility. Call number sequence location, collection movement phasing and formulas for sequence distribution, and personnel requirements are noted. Elementary…

Lean for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeMahieu, Paul G.; Nordstrum, Lee E.; Greco, Patricia

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume that aims to elaborate different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called Lean for Education. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core concepts and a case study demonstrating an application in US education,…

Gender and Leadership: A Call to Action.

PubMed

Shea, Heather D; Renn, Kristen A

2017-06-01

In the final chapter of this volume, the authors provide a call to action for changes in the way educators conceptualize gender, particularly within the context of leadership development and education. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company.

The impact of TV mass media campaigns on calls to a National Quitline and the use of prescribed nicotine replacement therapy: a structural vector autoregression analysis

PubMed Central

Haghpanahan, Houra; Mackay, Daniel F.; Pell, Jill P.; Bell, David; Langley, Tessa

2017-01-01

Abstract Aims To estimate (1) the immediate impact; (2) the cumulative impact; and (3) the duration of impact of Scottish tobacco control TV mass media campaigns (MMCs) on smoking cessation activity, as measured by calls to Smokeline and the volume of prescribed nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Design Multivariate time–series analysis using secondary data on population level measures of exposure to TV MMCs broadcast and smoking cessation activity between 2003 and 2012. Setting and participants Population of Scotland. Measurements Adult television viewer ratings (TVRs) as a measure of exposure to Scottish mass media campaigns in the adult population; monthly calls to NHS Smokeline; and the monthly volume of prescribed NRT as measured by gross ingredient costs (GIC). Findings Tobacco control TVRs were associated with an increase in calls to Smokeline but not an increase in the volume of prescribed NRT. A 1 standard deviation (SD) increase of 194 tobacco control TVRs led to an immediate and significant increase of 385.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 171.0, 600.7] calls to Smokeline (unadjusted model) within 1 month. When adjusted for seasonality the impact was reduced, but the increase in calls remained significant (226.3 calls, 95% CI = 37.3, 415.3). The cumulative impact on Smokeline calls remained significant for 6 months after broadcast in the unadjusted model and 18 months in the adjusted model. However, an increase in tobacco control TVRs of 194 failed to have a significant impact on the GIC of prescribed NRT in either the unadjusted (£1361.4, 95% CI = –£9138.0, £11860.9) or adjusted (£6297.1, 95% CI = –£2587.8, £15182.1) models. Conclusions Tobacco control television mass media campaigns broadcast in Scotland between 2003 and 2012 were effective in triggering calls to Smokeline, but did not increase significantly the use of prescribed nicotine replacement therapy by adult smokers. The impact on calls to Smokeline occurred immediately within 1 month of broadcast and was sustained for at least 6 months. PMID:28192615

Cross-sectional analysis of patient phone calls to an inflammatory bowel disease clinic.

PubMed

Corral, Juan E; Yarur, Andres J; Diaz, Liege; Simmons, Okeefe L; Sussman, Daniel A

2015-01-01

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) require close follow up and frequently utilize healthcare services. We aimed to identify the main reasons that prompted patient calls to gastroenterology providers and further characterize the "frequent callers". This retrospective cross-sectional study included all phone calls registered in medical records of IBD patients during 2012. Predictive variables included demographics, psychiatric history, IBD phenotype, disease complications and medical therapies. Primary outcome was the reason for call (symptoms, medication refill, procedures and appointment issues). Secondary outcome was the frequency of changes in management prompted by the call. 209 patients participated in 526 calls. The mean number of calls per patient was 2.5 (range 0-27); 49 (23.4%) patients met the criterion of "frequent caller". Frequent callers made or received 75.9% of all calls. Crohn's disease, anxiety, extra-intestinal manifestations and high sedimentation rate were significantly associated with higher call volume. 85.7% of frequent callers had at least one call that prompted a therapeutic intervention, compared to 18.9% of non-frequent callers (P<0.001). The most common interventions were ordering laboratory or imaging studies (15.4%), dose adjustments (12.1%), changes in medication class (8.4%), and expediting clinic visits (8.4%). Most phone calls originated from a minority of patients. Repeated calling by the same patient and new onset of gastrointestinal (GI) and non-GI symptoms were important factors predicting the order of diagnostic modalities or therapeutic changes in care. Triaging calls to IBD healthcare providers for patients more likely to require a change in management may improve healthcare delivery.

T-F and S/DOE Gladys McCall No. 1 well, Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Geopressured-geothermal well report, Volume II. Well workover and production testing, February 1982-October 1985. Final report. Appendices 1-7

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

Not Available

1985-01-01

These appendices contain the following reports: (1) investigation of coupling failure from the Gladys McCall No. 1 well; (2) failure analysis - oil well casing coupling; (3) technical remedial requirements for 5-inch production tubing string; (4) reservoir limit test data for sand zone No. 9; (5) reservoir fluid study - sand zone No. 9; (6) engineering interpretation of exploration drawdown tests; and (7) reservoir analysis. (ACR)

Measurement of early age shrinkage of Virginia concrete mixtures.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

Concrete volume changes throughout its service life. The total in-service volume change is the resultant of applied loads and shrinkage. When loaded, concrete undergoes an instantaneous elastic deformation and a slow inelastic deformation called cree...

The Coast Artillery Journal. Volume 72, Number 2, February 1930

DTIC Science & Technology

1930-02-01

hmlisfar further study alang this line, we shall also.co.nfine ourselvesto the "cantact" effect of this agent, as distinguished fram what we may call its...study alang the lines we are nGW cansidering. Mustard is an aily liquid af abo.utthe cam-listencyaf heavy lubricating oil. Dispersed either by artillery

Flight dynamics analysis and simulation of heavy lift airships. Volume 5: Programmer's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ringland, R. F.; Tischler, M. B.; Jex, H. R.; Emmen, R. D.; Ashkenas, I. L.

1982-01-01

The Programmer's Manual contains explanations of the logic embodied in the various program modules, a dictionary of program variables, a subroutine listing, subroutine/common block/cross reference listing, and a calling/called subroutine cross reference listing.

A Call for Statistical Reform in EAQ

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrd, Jimmy K.

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review research published by Educational Administration Quarterly (EAQ) during the past 10 years to determine if confidence intervals and effect sizes were being reported as recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual. Research Design: The author examined 49 volumes of…

Comparative Study of University Administration. Management Forum; Volume 3 No. 1 January 1974.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stone, Donald C.

This document calls attention to some of the interesting institutional and administrative characteristics of universities. Eight background propositions are suggested; (1) Universities are a special kind of public political institution. (2) Universities will increasingly be subject to political pressures, crosscurrents, and conflict. (3) There are…

Six Sigma in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeMahieu, Paul G.; Nordstrum, Lee E.; Cudney, Elizabeth A.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume that aims to elaborate different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called Six Sigma. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core principles and a case study demonstrating an application of Six Sigma in a…

Positive Deviance: Learning from Positive Anomalies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeMahieu, Paul G.; Nordstrum, Lee E.; Gale, Dick

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume, each elaborating different approaches to quality improvement in education. The purpose of this paper is to delineate a methodology called positive deviance. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core principles and a case study demonstrating an…

Evaluation of hybrid inverse planning and optimization (HIPO) algorithm for optimization in real-time, high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy for prostate.

PubMed

Pokharel, Shyam; Rana, Suresh; Blikenstaff, Joseph; Sadeghi, Amir; Prestidge, Bradley

2013-07-08

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the HIPO planning and optimization algorithm for real-time prostate HDR brachytherapy. This study consists of 20 patients who underwent ultrasound-based real-time HDR brachytherapy of the prostate using the treatment planning system called Oncentra Prostate (SWIFT version 3.0). The treatment plans for all patients were optimized using inverse dose-volume histogram-based optimization followed by graphical optimization (GRO) in real time. The GRO is manual manipulation of isodose lines slice by slice. The quality of the plan heavily depends on planner expertise and experience. The data for all patients were retrieved later, and treatment plans were created and optimized using HIPO algorithm with the same set of dose constraints, number of catheters, and set of contours as in the real-time optimization algorithm. The HIPO algorithm is a hybrid because it combines both stochastic and deterministic algorithms. The stochastic algorithm, called simulated annealing, searches the optimal catheter distributions for a given set of dose objectives. The deterministic algorithm, called dose-volume histogram-based optimization (DVHO), optimizes three-dimensional dose distribution quickly by moving straight downhill once it is in the advantageous region of the search space given by the stochastic algorithm. The PTV receiving 100% of the prescription dose (V100) was 97.56% and 95.38% with GRO and HIPO, respectively. The mean dose (D(mean)) and minimum dose to 10% volume (D10) for the urethra, rectum, and bladder were all statistically lower with HIPO compared to GRO using the student pair t-test at 5% significance level. HIPO can provide treatment plans with comparable target coverage to that of GRO with a reduction in dose to the critical structures.

Gulf Coast geopressured-geothermal program summary report compilation. Volume 2-B: Resource description, program history, wells tested, university and company based research, site restoration

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

John, C.J.; Maciasz, G.; Harder, B.J.

1998-06-01

The US Department of Energy established a geopressured-geothermal energy program in the mid 1970`s as one response to America`s need to develop alternate energy resources in view of the increasing dependence on imported fossil fuel energy. This program continued for 17 years and approximately two hundred million dollars were expended for various types of research and well testing to thoroughly investigate this alternative energy source. This volume describes the following studies: Design well program; LaFourche Crossing; MG-T/DOE Amoco Fee No. 1 (Sweet Lake); Environmental monitoring at Sweet Lake; Air quality; Water quality; Microseismic monitoring; Subsidence; Dow/DOE L.R. Sweezy No. 1more » well; Reservoir testing; Environmental monitoring at Parcperdue; Air monitoring; Water runoff; Groundwater; Microseismic events; Subsidence; Environmental consideration at site; Gladys McCall No. 1 well; Test results of Gladys McCall; Hydrocarbons in production gas and brine; Environmental monitoring at the Gladys McCall site; Pleasant Bayou No. 2 well; Pleasant Bayou hybrid power system; Environmental monitoring at Pleasant Bayou; and Plug abandonment and well site restoration of three geopressured-geothermal test sites. 197 figs., 64 tabs.« less

DIVWAG Model Documentation. Volume II. Programmer/Analyst Manual. Part 3. Chapter 9 Through 12.

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-07-01

entered through a routine, NAM2, that calls the segment controlling routine NBARAS. (4) Segment 3, controlled by the routine NFIRE , simulates round...nuclear fire, NAM calls in sequence the routines NFIRE (segment 3), ASUNIT (segment 2), SASSMT (segment 4), and NFIRE (segment 3). These calls simulate...this is a call to NFIRE (ISEG equals one or two), control goes to block L2. (2) Block 2. If this is to assess a unit passing through a nuclear barrier

QUEST for Quality for Students: Institutional Analysis. Volume 2, Part 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saarela, Henni; Gavra, Alina

2013-01-01

This publication is the second part of Volume 2 of the project called "QUEST for Quality for Students", or "QUEST" for short, run by the European Students' Union (ESU). It follows-up on the research work that has been completed in the last three years, the results of which are presented in Volume 1 and the first part of Volume…

Youth Attitude Tracking Study. Volume 1. Spring 1979.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-08-01

2.5 .3 + .5 no " Men with guns . 1 .2 + .1 no m Slogans (e.g., Navy Makes Boys Into Men) .1 .2 + .1 no Men with...survey. Thank you. TO HAKE THIS A VALID INTERVIEW, PLEASE RECORD THE TA, STATE AND COUNTY NUNBER FRON YOUR CALL RECORD PORN . (TA) (STATE

Federal Student Aid Handbook, 2002-2003. Volume 4: Campus-Based Common Provisions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office of Federal Student Aid (ED), Washington, DC.

The Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), and Federal Work-Study (FWS) programs are called "campus-based" programs because each school is responsible for administering them on its own campus. A school applies for and receives funds from the U.S. Department of Education, and the school's…

Law and Order in the Classroom: Reconsidering "A Course on Citizenship," 1914

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, Lindsay

2013-01-01

This article explores the tension between social control and democratic participation in the first American peace education curriculum, "A Course in Citizenship" (1914). Previously, this "Course" has been read as a case study of progressive era peace education, during which the call to teach democratically increased in volume. Building on this…

Inventing a Discipline: Rhetoric Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Young.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goggin, Maureen Daly, Ed.

Heeding the call of noted rhetoric scholar Richard E. Young to engage in serious, scholarly investigations of the assumptions that underlie established practices and habits about writing, the contributors to this critical volume study a diverse array of disciplinary issues, situate their work in a wide matrix of theoretical perspectives, and…

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.

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 23, Number 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2015-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is EUROCALL's open access online scientific journal. Regular sections include: (1) Reports on EUROCALL Special Interest Groups: up-to-date information on SIG activities; (2) Projects: reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects; (3) Recommended websites: reports and reviews of examples of good practice…

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 24, Number 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2016-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is EUROCALL's open access online scientific journal. Regular sections include: (1) Reports on EUROCALL Special Interest Groups: up-to-date information on SIG activities; (2) Projects: reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects; (3) Recommended websites: reports and reviews of examples of good practice…

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 21, Number 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2013-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is published online biannually by the European Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL). This issue offers regular sections on: (1) up-to-date information on Special Interest Groups; (2) reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects in which EUROCALL members participate; (3) reports…

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 23, Number 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2015-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is EUROCALL's open access online scientific journal. Regular sections include: (1) Reports on EUROCALL Special Interest Groups: up-to-date information on SIG activities; (2) Projects: reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects; (3) Recommended websites: reports and reviews of examples of good practice…

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 20, Number 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2012-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is published online biannually by the European Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL). This issue offers regular sections on: (1) up-to-date information on Special Interest Groups; (2) reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects in which EUROCALL members participate; (3) reports…

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 22, Number 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2014-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is EUROCALL's open access online scientific journal. Regular sections include: (1) Reports on EUROCALL Special Interest Groups: up-to-date information on SIG activities; (2) Projects: reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects; (3) Recommended websites: reports and reviews of examples of good practice…

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 24, Number 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2016-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is EUROCALL's open access online scientific journal. Regular sections include: (1) Reports on EUROCALL Special Interest Groups: up-to-date information on SIG activities; (2) Projects: reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects; (3) Recommended websites: reports and reviews of examples of good practice…

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 21, Number 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2013-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is EUROCALL's open access online scientific journal. Regular sections include: (1) Reports on EUROCALL Special Interest Groups: up-to-date information on SIG activities; (2) Projects: reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects; (3) Recommended websites: reports and reviews of examples of good practice…

The EUROCALL Review, Volume 22, Number 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana, Ed.

2014-01-01

"The EUROCALL Review" is EUROCALL's open access online scientific journal. Regular sections include: (1) Reports on EUROCALL Special Interest Groups: up-to-date information on SIG activities; (2) Projects: reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects; (3) Recommended websites: reports and reviews of examples of good practice…

78 FR 62683 - Mark G. Medinnus, D.D.S.; Decision and Order

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-22

... called four witnesses to testify and introduced documentary evidence. [Transcript (``Tr.'') Volume I-II]. The Respondent called two witnesses to testify, including himself, and introduced documentary evidence... five years. [Resp. Exh. A86]. In addition, on June 23, 2004, the Office of Personnel Management (``OPM...

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.

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

Student Financial Aid Handbook, 2001-2002. Volume 4: Campus-Based Common Provisions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Education, Washington, DC. Student Financial Assistance.

The Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), and Federal Work-Study (FWS) programs are called "campus-based" programs because each school is responsible for administering them on its own campus. A school applies for and receives funds direct from the U.S. Department of Education, and the school's…

Student Financial Aid Handbook, 2000-2001. Volume 4: Campus-Based Common Provisions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Education, Washington, DC. Student Financial Assistance.

The Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), and Federal Work-Study (FWS) programs are called "campus-based" programs because each school is responsible for administering them on its own campus. A school applies for and receives funds direct from the U.S. Department of Education, and the school's…

School Leadership in Times of Urban Reform. Topics in Educational Leadership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bizar, Marilyn, Ed.; Barr, Rebecca, Ed.

Many urban schools are undergoing restructuring due to the problems they face and their resistance to traditional solutions. This volume deals with the various ways in which eight case-study schools in Chicago implemented strategies that called for whole-school change and system reform. The book is comprised of 10 chapters: (1)…

Assessing the Impact of Culture-Based Education. The Claremont Letter. Volume 5, Issue 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Scott

2011-01-01

The author has over the past several years been involved with Hawai'i's Kamehameha Schools on a project called the Hawaiian Cultural Influences in Education (HCIE) study. Kamehameha Schools was established to provide educational opportunities to improve the capability and well being of people of Hawaiian ancestry. In this paper the author…

Ecuadorian Quecha Basic Course. Part II: Introduction and Pre-Class Modules.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ott, Clarence Eric; And Others

The second of a two-volume series on Ecuadorian Quechua, this text contains 15 units of preclass instructional material designed for individualized study with the use of accompanying tapes. Each unit of the course has a homework section, called a module, to be completed before classwork may be started. Cartoon figures illustrate the instructional…

Footing the bill: patient portals, part I.

PubMed

Lawrence, Daphne

2009-05-01

Tie financial portal strategy into overall portal strategy. Savings from patient portals for finance come in the areas of call center volumes, bill pay, scheduling, and increased volume. Financial functions on the patient portal should be balanced with clinical functions. Improve the revenue cycle process before going to a portal.

Text and Illustration Processing System (TIPS) User’s Manual. Volume 1. Text Processing System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-01

m.st De in tre file citalog. To copy a file, begin by calling up the file. Access the Main Menu and, T<ESSq: 2 - Edit an Existing File After you have...23 III MAKING REVISIONS............................................ 24 Call Up an Existing File...above the keyboard is called a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). It displays information as you key it in. A CURSOR is an underscore character on the screen which

Family planning hotline.

PubMed

Dabbs, K

1970-01-01

Since last March, a family planning hotline has been putting the caller in touch with the Family Planning Information Service. This is possibly the 1st centralized referral and information service for family planning in any major city in the U.S. Each months this fall 1400 New Yorkers called the hotline number to obtain information about family planning, infertility, abortion, and voluntary sterilization. Several major parallel developments made the creation of the Family Planning Information Service possible and strengthened its changes of success. The service is headed by a registered nurse who is assisted by 2 specially trained nonprofessional staff members. The unit is housed in Planned Parenthood's Manhattan headquarters. The Service has a special telephone number which is listed in all telephone directories. A number of promotional devices have been used to build and maintain the volume of inquiries. The results of the intensive work to develop and maintain the service have been dramatic. From a monthly volume of 300 calls in March, the figure in May had reached 670. In July there were 962 inquiries and in October the figure rose to 1421. About 90% of these calls are from women. By far the largest number of requests for information have concerned contraception and where such services can be obtained. Over 200 calls have been inquires about infertility problems, and 361 calls have concerned abortion. More than 100 calls have been about sterilization, with men outnumbering women 2:1.

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.

Aircraft Alerting Systems Standardization Study. Volume I. Candidate System Validation and Time-Critical Display Evaluation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-01

SELCAL FLT ALT ATNI AUO ALT BRK CANSELCAL OVSO CALL CONTRL ALRT _ I7CT be SPLR b 0 11CALL Figure 5.4.4-1 Pilot’s Response Panel Figure 5.4.4-2 Flight...Galley bus off 27 GLY BUS OFF A RP ELEC CYCLE SWITCH Utility bus off 28 UTIL BUS OFF A RP ELEC CYCLE SWITCH Right engine 29 R ENG HYD PUMP A RP HYD...CYCLE SWITCH hydraulic pump Left engine 30 L ENG FIRE DET A RP FIRE RP FIRE fire detector Left brake overheat 31 L BRAKE OVHT A RP BRK RP BRK Right

OSIRIS and SOMBRERO Inertial Fusion Power Plant Designs, Volume 2: Designs, Assessments, and Comparisons

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

Meier, W. R.; Bieri, R. L.; Monsler, M. J.

1992-03-01

This is a comprehensive design study of two Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) electric power plants. Conceptual designs are presented for a fusion reactor (called Osiris) using an induction-linac heavy-ion beam driver, and another (called SOMBRERO) using a KrF laser driver. The designs covered all aspects of IFE power plants, including the chambers, heat transport and power conversion systems, balance-of-plant facilities, target fabrication, target injection and tracking, as well as the heavy-ion and KrF drivers. The point designs were assessed and compared in terms of their environmental & safety aspects, reliability and availability, economics, and technology development needs.

Standard error of estimated average timber volume per acre under point sampling when trees are measured for volume on a subsample of all points.

Treesearch

Floyd A. Johnson

1961-01-01

This report assumes a knowledge of the principles of point sampling as described by Grosenbaugh, Bell and Alexander, and others. Whenever trees are counted at every point in a sample of points (large sample) and measured for volume at a portion (small sample) of these points, the sampling design could be called ratio double sampling. If the large...

Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, Volume II

Treesearch

Alan E. Watson; Greg H. Aplet; John C. Hendee

2000-01-01

The papers contained in Volume II of these Proceedings represent a combination of papers originally scheduled for the delayed 1997 meeting of the World Wilderness Congress and those submitted in response to a second call for papers when the Congress was rescheduled for October 24-29, 1998, in Bangalore, India. Just as in Volume I, the papers are divided into seven...

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

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.

The Gift Code User Manual. Volume I. Introduction and Input Requirements

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-07-01

REPORT & PERIOD COVERED ‘TII~ GIFT CODE USER MANUAL; VOLUME 1. INTRODUCTION AND INPUT REQUIREMENTS FINAL 6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER ?. AuTHOR(#) 8...reverua side if neceaeary and identify by block number] (k St) The GIFT code is a FORTRANcomputerprogram. The basic input to the GIFT ode is data called

Schools & the Courts. Volume I: Desegregation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenberg, Jack; And Others

Eight papers examining different aspects of the effects of court decisions on education are contained in this book, the first of two volumes. The papers were solicited from scholars in the fields of law, political science, sociology, and education in conjunction with a 1979 conference held in Madison, Wisconsin. The conference was called to…

Workplace Learning Curriculum Guides. Volume V: Functional Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colorado Community Coll. and Occupational Education System, Denver.

This volume, one of a series of eight curriculum guides compiled by the Colorado Workplace Learning Initiative: 1991-92, includes five courses on functional skills for a workplace literacy curriculum. Introductory materials include a table of contents, a list of the curriculum topics covered in each guide, and a section called "Hello…

Nonlinear bivariate dependency of price-volume relationships in agricultural commodity futures markets: A perspective from Multifractal Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Ling-Yun; Chen, Shu-Peng

2011-01-01

Nonlinear dependency between characteristic financial and commodity market quantities (variables) is crucially important, especially between trading volume and market price. Studies on nonlinear dependency between price and volume can provide practical insights into market trading characteristics, as well as the theoretical understanding of market dynamics. Actually, nonlinear dependency and its underlying dynamical mechanisms between price and volume can help researchers and technical analysts in understanding the market dynamics by integrating the market variables, instead of investigating them in the current literature. Therefore, for investigating nonlinear dependency of price-volume relationships in agricultural commodity futures markets in China and the US, we perform a new statistical test to detect cross-correlations and apply a new methodology called Multifractal Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (MF-DCCA), which is an efficient algorithm to analyze two spatially or temporally correlated time series. We discuss theoretically the relationship between the bivariate cross-correlation exponent and the generalized Hurst exponents for time series of respective variables. We also perform an empirical study and find that there exists a power-law cross-correlation between them, and that multifractal features are significant in all the analyzed agricultural commodity futures markets.

Call for Papers. Correctional Education Association International Conference (39th, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 1-4, 1984).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Correctional Education Association.

Authors and titles of the 15 papers in this volume are as follows: "A Follow-up Study of Vocational Education Graduates from the Ohio Central School System during Fiscal Year 1979" (Earl R. Schaeffer, Theodore P. Shannon); "Legal and Policy Dimensions of Functional Illiteracy among Post-Secondary Inmate Students" (Paul Moke, Jarrell Holloway);…

Universal Telephone Service: Ready for the 21st Century? 1991 Annual Review of the Institute for Information Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aspen Inst., Queenstown, MD.

The common theme linking the contributions to this volume concerns the future of universal telecommunications service. The goal of having a universal telecommunications service has historically been to keep charges low enough that all but the poorest Americans could afford to make and receive telephone calls, even if they lived in remote and…

The Influence of Unemployment and Divorce Rate on Child Help-Seeking Behavior about Violence, Relationships, and Other Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Dolen, Willemijn M.; Weinberg, Charles B.; Ma, Leiming

2013-01-01

Objective: This study examined the influence of community unemployment and divorce rate on child help-seeking behavior about violence and relationships via a telephone and Internet helpline. Methods: Time series analysis was conducted on monthly call volumes to a child helpline ("De Kindertelefoon") in the Netherlands from 2003 to 2008…

Fit To Teach: Teacher Education in International Perspective. Vol. 8, Center for Cross-cultural Education Lecture Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gumbert, Edgar B., Ed.

This volume examines teacher education in countries having vigorous reform movements, along with their potential to influence other countries. The issue of teacher education in liberal and people's democracies as well as in industrial and developing countries is studied. Attention is called to such topics as aims and content of teacher education;…

Ammunition Resupply Model. Volume II. Programmers Manual.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-03-01

pointer tables. If the placement is successful the flag ( ICHECK ) is set equal to 1. COMMON BLOCKS: EVENTS CALLS: NONE IS CALLED BY: SCHED CALLING PARAMETERS...decimal portion of the event time multiplied by 3600. ICHECK - 0 if no room on the file, I if there is room on the file. LOCAL ARRAYS: JFORE (1024...8217EVT, ITH, I-IS, !CHECK) C PUTEVT PLACES AN EVENT RECORD IN -THE QUEUE IN CHRONOLOGICAL C ORDER A,1D UPDATES THE QUEUE DIRECTORY. ICHECK FLAG SET C IF

Hiring Process | NREL

Science.gov Websites

in applying for more than one open position, submit separate applications for each position. Can I call about a specific job posting? We receive a high volume of calls, so one-on-one conversations are free to connect with one of our recruiters on LinkedIn, or speak with NREL representatives at upcoming

Nuclear apoptotic volume decrease in individual cells: Confocal microscopy imaging and kinetic modeling.

PubMed

Khalo, Irina V; Konokhova, Anastasiya I; Orlova, Darya Y; Trusov, Konstantin V; Yurkin, Maxim A; Bartova, Eva; Kozubek, Stanislav; Maltsev, Valeri P; Chernyshev, Andrei V

2018-05-30

The dynamics of nuclear morphology changes during apoptosis remains poorly investigated and understood. Using 3D time-lapse confocal microscopy we performed a study of early-stage apoptotic nuclear morphological changes induced by etoposide in single living HepG2 cells. These observations provide a definitive evidence that nuclear apoptotic volume decrease (AVD) is occurring simultaneously with peripheral chromatin condensation (so called "apoptotic ring"). In order to describe quantitatively the dynamics of nuclear morphological changes in the early stage of apoptosis we suggest a general molecular kinetic model, which fits well the obtained experimental data in our study. Results of this work may clarify molecular mechanisms of nuclear morphology changes during apoptosis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International Education Act: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Education of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Eighty-Ninth Congress, Second Session on S. 2874 and H.R. 14643.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare.

Testimony presented at hearings for a bill to provide for the strengthening of American educational resources for international studies and research is contained in this volume. The bill and its amendments, which are reproduced, call for the establishment of centers for advanced international studies grants to strengthen undergraduate programs in…

Variation in lung volumes and capacities among young males in relation to height.

PubMed

Bhatti, Urooj; Rani, Keenjher; Memon, Muhammad Qasim

2014-01-01

Vital Capacity (VC) is defined as a change in volume of lung after maximal inspiration followed by maximal expiration is called Vital Capacity of lungs. It is the sum of tidal volume, inspiratory reserve volume .and expiratory reserve volume. Vital capacity of normal adults ranges between 3 to 5 litres. A number of physiological factors like age, gender, height and ethnicity effect lung volumes. The reference values of lung volume and capacities were calculated previously and those studies played pivotal role in establishing the fact that air volume capacities measured in an individual fall within a wide range among healthy persons of same age, gender and height buit with different ethnicity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the changes in vital capacity in with height and gender. This cross-sectional study included 74 male students in the Department of Physiology, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro during January-March, 2014. The volunteers were divided into 2 groups of height ≤ 167.4 cm and > 167.4 cm. The volunteers' height was measured in cm. Vital capacity of the subjects was measured using standard protocol. Mean ± SD of age, height and vital capacity were calculated. Mean vital capacity in students with height > 167.4 cm was higher than average vital capacity of students with height ≤ 167.4 cm. It might be due to the increased surface area of the lungs in relation with increasing height. There are variations in vital capacity of individuals in relation to their heights, within the same ethnic and age groups.

Success of capture of toads improved by manipulating acoustic characteristics of lures.

PubMed

Muller, Benjamin J; Schwarzkopf, Lin

2017-11-01

Management of invasive vertebrates is a crucial component of conservation. Trapping reproductive adults is often effective for control, and modification of traps may greatly increase their attractiveness to such individuals. Cane toads (Rhinella marina) are invasive, and males use advertisement vocalisations to attract reproductive females. In amphibians, including toads, specific structural parameters of calls (e.g. dominant frequency and pulse rate) may be attractive to females. Some cane toad traps use an artificial advertisement vocalisation to attract toads. We determined whether variation of the call's parameters (volume, dominant frequency and pulse rate) could increase the capture rate of gravid females. Overall, traps equipped with loud calls (80 dB at 1 m) caught significantly more toads, and proportionally more gravid females, than traps with quiet calls (60 dB at 1 m), and traps with low dominant frequency calls caught more gravid females than traps with median frequency calls. Traps with high pulse rate calls attracted more females than traps with low pulse rate calls. Approximately 91% of the females trapped using a low frequency and high pulse rate combination call were gravid, whereas in traps using a call with population median parameters only approximately 75% of captured females were gravid. Calls that indicated large-bodied males (low frequency) with high energy reserves (high pulse rate) are often attractive to female anurans and were effective lures for female toads in our study. The design of future trapping regimes should account for behavioural preferences of the target sex. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Development and evaluation of an automatic method for the study of platelet osmotic response.

PubMed

Gigout, T; Blondel, W; Didelon, J; Latger, V; Dumas, D; Schooneman, F; Stoltz, J F

1999-01-01

Study of the osmotic resistance to hypotonic medium of platelets has often been suggested as a global test to assess the viability of these cells in transfusion or to study modification during haematological pathologies. A number of authors have analysed the behaviour of platelets in hypotonic media by a variety of methods (cell count, determinations of substances released, morphology, etc.), but most studies are currently based on the so-called "Hypotonic Shock Response" test (HSR). In this study, the authors describe a new automated and reproducible apparatus, called fragilimeter, using slow dialysis to assess platelet osmotic resistance. The variations in light transmission through a platelet suspension according to ionic strength are linked to the change in cellular volume and lysis and characterise the osmotic behaviour of the cells. The results revealed the good reproducibility and sensibility of the technique. This apparatus allows also the realisation of the "HSR" test.

Science in History, Volume 2: The Scientific and Industrial Revolutions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernal, J. D.

This volume, the second of four, includes parts four and five of the eight parts in the series. Part Four deals with what is called the Scientific Revolution from 1440-1690. This "revolution" is divided into three phases: Phase 1 (1440-1540) includes the Renaissance and the Reformation, during which the world-picture adopted from classical times…

Change Matters: Critical Essays on Moving Social Justice Research from Theory to Policy. Critical Qualitative Research. Volume 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, S. J., Ed.; Kirkland, David E., Ed.

2010-01-01

"Change Matters," written by leading scholars committed to social justice in English education, provides researchers, university instructors, and preservice and inservice teachers with a framework that pivots social justice toward policy. The chapters in this volume detail rationales about generating social justice theory in what Freire calls "the…

Advocates Call for a New Approach after the Era of "Abstinence-Only" Sex Education. Guttmacher Policy Review. Volume 12, Number 1, Winter 2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boonstra, Heather D.

2009-01-01

In 1981, the first grants for what later came to be called "abstinence-only" programs were authorized under the Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA). Sponsored by congressional family planning opponents, AFLA was promoted as a "family-centered" alternative to contraceptive counseling and services to teenagers; instead, this…

Software Design Document SAF Simulation Host CSCI (8). Volume 1, Sections 1.0 - 2.7

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-01

list for the patch, testing edges matching grid-loc-woni for intervisibility blocks. Calls Function IWhere Described Icheck edges Sec. 2.6.7.1.8 Table...edges matching grid-loc-word for intervisibility blocks. Calls Function Where Described check box Sec. 2.6.7.1.31 treelines Sec. 2.6.7.1.16 Icheck edges

Assessment of targeted automated messages on herpes zoster immunization numbers in an independent community pharmacy.

PubMed

Bedwick, Brian W; Garofoli, Gretchen K; Elswick, Betsy M

To evaluate the impact of an automated phone call by a pharmacy owner on the number of herpes zoster vaccinations given in the independent community pharmacy setting, compare herpes zoster immunization numbers in the 3 months during the previous year to the 3 months during the intervention, and assess patient satisfaction with the automated phone call service. This prospective study took place in an independent community pharmacy. A message was recorded by the pharmacy owner using a telephone-message program that notified patients aged 60 and older that the herpes zoster vaccine is recommended for them. This message was sent out monthly for a total of 3 months. Patients who received this vaccine in the 3 months following the initial phone call were surveyed to determine their reason for receiving the vaccine, and to assess satisfaction with the phone call. The total number of herpes zoster immunizations given at the pharmacy during the study period was compared to the total given at the pharmacy during the same period of the previous year. A total of 25 participants received the herpes zoster vaccine at the pharmacy during the study period, compared to 16 during the control period. Receiving the phone call was the most commonly cited reason for receiving the vaccine, followed by doctor recommendation. Of the 18 participants who received the call, 12 stated that they would be very likely to respond to similar phone calls in the future. These results demonstrate that using a targeted, automated phone call directed at eligible patients appears to have a positive effect on their willingness to receive the herpes zoster vaccine and may lead to an increase in vaccination numbers among eligible patients. Various factors must be considered before implementation of this service, including cost and added call volume. Copyright © 2017 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sparse PDF Volumes for Consistent Multi-Resolution Volume Rendering.

PubMed

Sicat, Ronell; Krüger, Jens; Möller, Torsten; Hadwiger, Markus

2014-12-01

This paper presents a new multi-resolution volume representation called sparse pdf volumes, which enables consistent multi-resolution volume rendering based on probability density functions (pdfs) of voxel neighborhoods. These pdfs are defined in the 4D domain jointly comprising the 3D volume and its 1D intensity range. Crucially, the computation of sparse pdf volumes exploits data coherence in 4D, resulting in a sparse representation with surprisingly low storage requirements. At run time, we dynamically apply transfer functions to the pdfs using simple and fast convolutions. Whereas standard low-pass filtering and down-sampling incur visible differences between resolution levels, the use of pdfs facilitates consistent results independent of the resolution level used. We describe the efficient out-of-core computation of large-scale sparse pdf volumes, using a novel iterative simplification procedure of a mixture of 4D Gaussians. Finally, our data structure is optimized to facilitate interactive multi-resolution volume rendering on GPUs.

The application of symmetry and centricity to polychordal wedge harmony in "Motherchord"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cathey, Tully J.

This dissertation is in two volumes. Volume I is an analytical paper in two parts. Part I presents a polychordal harmonic system called the "The Desire Matrix Harmonic System," that was used to compose a work for large orchestra called "Motherchord" (Volume II). The polychords are comprised of two triadic units and of major triads only, built on two pairs of intersecting chromatic scales. The system embraces pitch-centric characteristics as well as symmetry. Scales, or tone sets, are derived from the polychords and used for melodic and contrapuntal purposes. Compositional procedures are developed, and a matrix of polychordal wedges is assembled that serves as a further compositional device. Part II of the paper is an analysis of the formal structure of "Motherchord." "Motherchord" is a one-movement composition of approximately seventeen minutes and forty seconds duration. It is divided into seven parts, but proceeds from beginning to end without a break in sound. The title of the work derives from the central tonic polychord.

Cosmological singularity resolution from quantum gravity: The emergent-bouncing universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alesci, Emanuele; Botta, Gioele; Cianfrani, Francesco; Liberati, Stefano

2017-08-01

Alternative scenarios to the big bang singularity have been subject of intense research for several decades by now. Most popular in this sense have been frameworks were such singularity is replaced by a bounce around some minimal cosmological volume or by some early quantum phase. This latter scenario was devised a long time ago and referred as an "emergent universe" (in the sense that our universe emerged from a constant volume quantum phase). We show here that within an improved framework of canonical quantum gravity (the so-called quantum reduced loop gravity) the Friedmann equations for cosmology are modified in such a way to replace the big bang singularity with a short bounce preceded by a metastable quantum phase in which the volume of the universe oscillates between a series of local maxima and minima. We call this hybrid scenario an "emergent-bouncing universe" since after a pure oscillating quantum phase the classical Friedmann spacetime emerges. Perspective developments and possible tests of this scenario are discussed in the end.

Fast High Resolution Volume Carving for 3D Plant Shoot Reconstruction

PubMed Central

Scharr, Hanno; Briese, Christoph; Embgenbroich, Patrick; Fischbach, Andreas; Fiorani, Fabio; Müller-Linow, Mark

2017-01-01

Volume carving is a well established method for visual hull reconstruction and has been successfully applied in plant phenotyping, especially for 3d reconstruction of small plants and seeds. When imaging larger plants at still relatively high spatial resolution (≤1 mm), well known implementations become slow or have prohibitively large memory needs. Here we present and evaluate a computationally efficient algorithm for volume carving, allowing e.g., 3D reconstruction of plant shoots. It combines a well-known multi-grid representation called “Octree” with an efficient image region integration scheme called “Integral image.” Speedup with respect to less efficient octree implementations is about 2 orders of magnitude, due to the introduced refinement strategy “Mark and refine.” Speedup is about a factor 1.6 compared to a highly optimized GPU implementation using equidistant voxel grids, even without using any parallelization. We demonstrate the application of this method for trait derivation of banana and maize plants. PMID:29033961

Science in History, Volume 4: The Social Sciences, Conclusion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernal, J. D.

This volume, the last of four, includes parts seven and eight of the eight parts in the series. Part Seven deals with the sciences of society which are described as the latest and most imperfect of the sciences. It is doubtful if, in their present form, they can be called sciences at all. The historical development of the social sciences is traced…

Sex differences and structural brain maturation from childhood to early adulthood.

PubMed

Koolschijn, P Cédric M P; Crone, Eveline A

2013-07-01

Recent advances in structural brain imaging have demonstrated that brain development continues through childhood and adolescence. In the present cross-sectional study, structural MRI data from 442 typically developing individuals (range 8-30) were analyzed to examine and replicate the relationship between age, sex, brain volumes, cortical thickness and surface area. Our findings show differential patterns for subcortical and cortical areas. Analysis of subcortical volumes showed that putamen volume decreased with age and thalamus volume increased with age. Independent of age, males demonstrated larger amygdala and thalamus volumes compared to females. Cerebral white matter increased linearly with age, at a faster pace for females than males. Gray matter showed nonlinear decreases with age. Sex-by-age interactions were primarily found in lobar surface area measurements, with males demonstrating a larger cortical surface up to age 15, while cortical surface in females remained relatively stable with increasing age. The current findings replicate some, but not all prior reports on structural brain development, which calls for more studies with large samples, replications, and specific tests for brain structural changes. In addition, the results point toward an important role for sex differences in brain development, specifically during the heterogeneous developmental phase of puberty. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

Naval Medical Research and Development News. Volume 8, Issue 6

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

infection during pregnancy can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects, the CDC says. In May 2015, the... survey with a focus on a variety of topics, including physical and mental health, the quality of marital and family relationships, work/ family...mechanisms. The study is longitudinal and seeks to follow spouses for 21 or more years, with follow-up surveys requested approximately every

24/7/365 in-house radiologist coverage: effect on resident education.

PubMed

Collins, Jannette; Gruppen, Larry D; Bailey, Janet E; Bokhari, Syed Ahmad Jamal; Paladin, Angelisa M; Robbins, Jessica; White, Richard D

2014-07-01

To compare programs with and without 24-hour/7 days a week/365 days a year (24/7/365) in-house radiologist coverage regarding resident perceptions of their on-call experience, volume of resident dictations on call, and report turnaround time. Residents from six academic radiology departments were invited to participate in an 11-item online survey. Survey items were related to workload, level of autonomy, faculty feedback, comfort level, faculty supervision, and overall educational experience while on call from 8 pm to 8 am. Each site provided data on imaging volume, radiologist coverage, volume of examinations dictated by residents, number of residents on call, and report turnaround time from 8 pm to 8 am. F-ratios and eta-squares were calculated to determine the relationships between dependent and independent variables. A P value < .05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 146 (67%) of 217 residents responded. Residents in programs with 24/7/365 in-house radiologist coverage dictated a lower percentage of examinations (46%) compared with other residents (81%) and rated faculty feedback more positively (mean 3.8 vs. 3.3) but rated their level of autonomy (mean 3.6 vs. 4.5) and educational experience (mean 3.6 vs. 4.2) more negatively (all P < .05). Report turnaround time was lower in programs with 24/7/365 coverage than those without (mean 1.7 hours vs. 9.1 hours). The majority of resident comments were negative and related to loss of autonomy with 24/7/365 coverage. More rapid report turnaround time related to 24/7/365 coverage may come at the expense of resident education. Copyright © 2014 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Traditional and Innovative Promotional Strategies of Tobacco Cessation Services: A Review of the Literature

PubMed Central

Momin, Behnoosh; Neri, Antonio; McCausland, Kristen; Duke, Jennifer; Hansen, Heather; Kahende, Jennifer; Zhang, Lei; Stewart, Sherri L.

2017-01-01

Introduction An estimated 43.5 million American adults currently smoke cigarettes. Well-designed tobacco education campaigns with adequate reach increase cessation and reduce tobacco use. Smokers report great interest in quitting but few use effective treatments including quitlines. This review examined traditional (TV, radio, print ads) versus innovative tobacco cessation (internet, social media) promotions for quitline services. Methods Between November 2011 and January 2012, searches were conducted on EBSCO, PubMed, Wilson, OCLC, CQ Press, Google Scholar, Gale, LexisNexis, and JSTOR. Results Existing literature shows that the amount of radio and print advertising, and promotion of free cessation medications increases quitline (QL) call volume. Television advertising volume seems to be the best predictor of QL service awareness. Much of the literature on Internet advertising compares the characteristics of participants recruited for studies through various channels. The majority of the papers indicated that Internet-recruited participants were younger; this was the only demographic characteristic with high agreement across studies. Conclusions Traditional media was only studied within mass media campaigns with TV ads having a consistent impact on increasing calls to quitlines, therefore, it is hard to distinguish the impact of traditional media as an independent QL promotion intervention. With innovative media, while many QL services have a presence on social media sites, there is no literature on evaluating the effectiveness of these channels for quitline promotion. PMID:24515948

Traditional and innovative promotional strategies of tobacco cessation services: a review of the literature.

PubMed

Momin, Behnoosh; Neri, Antonio; McCausland, Kristen; Duke, Jennifer; Hansen, Heather; Kahende, Jennifer; Zhang, Lei; Stewart, Sherri L

2014-08-01

An estimated 43.5 million American adults currently smoke cigarettes. Well-designed tobacco education campaigns with adequate reach increase cessation and reduce tobacco use. Smokers report great interest in quitting but few use effective treatments including quitlines (QLs). This review examined traditional (TV, radio, print ads) versus innovative tobacco cessation (internet, social media) promotions for QL services. Between November 2011 and January 2012, searches were conducted on EBSCO, PubMed, Wilson, OCLC, CQ Press, Google Scholar, Gale, LexisNexis, and JSTOR. Existing literature shows that the amount of radio and print advertising, and promotion of free cessation medications increases QL call volume. Television advertising volume seems to be the best predictor of QL service awareness. Much of the literature on Internet advertising compares the characteristics of participants recruited for studies through various channels. The majority of the papers indicated that Internet-recruited participants were younger; this was the only demographic characteristic with high agreement across studies. Traditional media was only studied within mass media campaigns with TV ads having a consistent impact on increasing calls to QLs, therefore, it is hard to distinguish the impact of traditional media as an independent QL promotion intervention. With innovative media, while many QL services have a presence on social media sites, there is no literature on evaluating the effectiveness of these channels for quitline promotion.

'Predatory' open access: a longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics.

PubMed

Shen, Cenyu; Björk, Bo-Christer

2015-10-01

A negative consequence of the rapid growth of scholarly open access publishing funded by article processing charges is the emergence of publishers and journals with highly questionable marketing and peer review practices. These so-called predatory publishers are causing unfounded negative publicity for open access publishing in general. Reports about this branch of e-business have so far mainly concentrated on exposing lacking peer review and scandals involving publishers and journals. There is a lack of comprehensive studies about several aspects of this phenomenon, including extent and regional distribution. After an initial scan of all predatory publishers and journals included in the so-called Beall's list, a sample of 613 journals was constructed using a stratified sampling method from the total of over 11,000 journals identified. Information about the subject field, country of publisher, article processing charge and article volumes published between 2010 and 2014 were manually collected from the journal websites. For a subset of journals, individual articles were sampled in order to study the country affiliation of authors and the publication delays. Over the studied period, predatory journals have rapidly increased their publication volumes from 53,000 in 2010 to an estimated 420,000 articles in 2014, published by around 8,000 active journals. Early on, publishers with more than 100 journals dominated the market, but since 2012 publishers in the 10-99 journal size category have captured the largest market share. The regional distribution of both the publisher's country and authorship is highly skewed, in particular Asia and Africa contributed three quarters of authors. Authors paid an average article processing charge of 178 USD per article for articles typically published within 2 to 3 months of submission. Despite a total number of journals and publishing volumes comparable to respectable (indexed by the Directory of Open Access Journals) open access journals, the problem of predatory open access seems highly contained to just a few countries, where the academic evaluation practices strongly favor international publication, but without further quality checks.

Three-dimensional histology: tools and application to quantitative assessment of cell-type distribution in rabbit heart

PubMed Central

Burton, Rebecca A.B.; Lee, Peter; Casero, Ramón; Garny, Alan; Siedlecka, Urszula; Schneider, Jürgen E.; Kohl, Peter; Grau, Vicente

2014-01-01

Aims Cardiac histo-anatomical organization is a major determinant of function. Changes in tissue structure are a relevant factor in normal and disease development, and form targets of therapeutic interventions. The purpose of this study was to test tools aimed to allow quantitative assessment of cell-type distribution from large histology and magnetic resonance imaging- (MRI) based datasets. Methods and results Rabbit heart fixation during cardioplegic arrest and MRI were followed by serial sectioning of the whole heart and light-microscopic imaging of trichrome-stained tissue. Segmentation techniques developed specifically for this project were applied to segment myocardial tissue in the MRI and histology datasets. In addition, histology slices were segmented into myocytes, connective tissue, and undefined. A bounding surface, containing the whole heart, was established for both MRI and histology. Volumes contained in the bounding surface (called ‘anatomical volume’), as well as that identified as containing any of the above tissue categories (called ‘morphological volume’), were calculated. The anatomical volume was 7.8 cm3 in MRI, and this reduced to 4.9 cm3 after histological processing, representing an ‘anatomical’ shrinkage by 37.2%. The morphological volume decreased by 48% between MRI and histology, highlighting the presence of additional tissue-level shrinkage (e.g. an increase in interstitial cleft space). The ratio of pixels classified as containing myocytes to pixels identified as non-myocytes was roughly 6:1 (61.6 vs. 9.8%; the remaining fraction of 28.6% was ‘undefined’). Conclusion Qualitative and quantitative differentiation between myocytes and connective tissue, using state-of-the-art high-resolution serial histology techniques, allows identification of cell-type distribution in whole-heart datasets. Comparison with MRI illustrates a pronounced reduction in anatomical and morphological volumes during histology processing. PMID:25362175

Global warming alters sound transmission: differential impact on the prey detection ability of echolocating bats

PubMed Central

Luo, Jinhong; Koselj, Klemen; Zsebők, Sándor; Siemers, Björn M.; Goerlitz, Holger R.

2014-01-01

Climate change impacts the biogeography and phenology of plants and animals, yet the underlying mechanisms are little known. Here, we present a functional link between rising temperature and the prey detection ability of echolocating bats. The maximum distance for echo-based prey detection is physically determined by sound attenuation. Attenuation is more pronounced for high-frequency sound, such as echolocation, and is a nonlinear function of both call frequency and ambient temperature. Hence, the prey detection ability, and thus possibly the foraging efficiency, of echolocating bats and susceptible to rising temperatures through climate change. Using present-day climate data and projected temperature rises, we modelled this effect for the entire range of bat call frequencies and climate zones around the globe. We show that depending on call frequency, the prey detection volume of bats will either decrease or increase: species calling above a crossover frequency will lose and species emitting lower frequencies will gain prey detection volume, with crossover frequency and magnitude depending on the local climatic conditions. Within local species assemblages, this may cause a change in community composition. Global warming can thus directly affect the prey detection ability of individual bats and indirectly their interspecific interactions with competitors and prey. PMID:24335559

Global warming alters sound transmission: differential impact on the prey detection ability of echolocating bats.

PubMed

Luo, Jinhong; Koselj, Klemen; Zsebok, Sándor; Siemers, Björn M; Goerlitz, Holger R

2014-02-06

Climate change impacts the biogeography and phenology of plants and animals, yet the underlying mechanisms are little known. Here, we present a functional link between rising temperature and the prey detection ability of echolocating bats. The maximum distance for echo-based prey detection is physically determined by sound attenuation. Attenuation is more pronounced for high-frequency sound, such as echolocation, and is a nonlinear function of both call frequency and ambient temperature. Hence, the prey detection ability, and thus possibly the foraging efficiency, of echolocating bats and susceptible to rising temperatures through climate change. Using present-day climate data and projected temperature rises, we modelled this effect for the entire range of bat call frequencies and climate zones around the globe. We show that depending on call frequency, the prey detection volume of bats will either decrease or increase: species calling above a crossover frequency will lose and species emitting lower frequencies will gain prey detection volume, with crossover frequency and magnitude depending on the local climatic conditions. Within local species assemblages, this may cause a change in community composition. Global warming can thus directly affect the prey detection ability of individual bats and indirectly their interspecific interactions with competitors and prey.

US long distance fiber optic networks: Technology, evolution and advanced concepts. Volume 1: Executive summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

Over the past two decades, fiber optics has emerged as a highly practical and cost-efficient communications technology. Its competitiveness vis-a-vis other transmission media, especially satellite, has become a critical question. This report studies the likely evolution and application of fiber optic networks in the United States to the end of the century. The outlook for the technology of fiber systems is assessed and forecast, scenarios of the evolution of fiber optic network development are constructed, and costs to provide service are determined and examined parametrically as a function of network size and traffic carried. Volume 1 consists of the Executive Summary. Volume 2 focuses on fiber optic technology and long distance fiber optic networks. Volume 3 develops a traffic and financial model of a nationwide long distance transmission network. Among the study's most important conclusions are: revenue requirements per circuit for LATA-to-LATA fiber optic links are less than one cent per call minute; multiplex equipment, which is likely to be required in any competing system, is the largest contributor to circuit costs; the potential capacity of fiber optic cable is very large and as yet undefined; and fiber optic transmission combined with other network optimization schemes can lead to even lower costs than those identified in this study.

Counter-current chromatography: simple process and confusing terminology.

PubMed

Conway, Walter D

2011-09-09

The origin of counter-current chromatography is briefly stated, followed by a description of the mechanism of elution of solutes, which illustrates the elegance and simplicity of the technique. The CCC retention equation can be mentally derived from three facts; that a substance with a distribution coefficient of 0 elutes at the mobile phase solvent front (one mobile phase volume); and one with a distribution coefficient of 1 elutes at the column volume of mobile phase; and solutes with higher distribution coefficients elute at additional multiples of the stationary phase volume. The pattern corresponds to the classical solute retention equation for chromatography, V(R)=V(M)+K(C)V(S), K(C) not being limited to integer values. This allows the entire pattern of solute retention to be visualized on the chromatogram. The high volume fraction of stationary phase in CCC greatly enhances resolution. A survey of the names, symbols and definitions of several widely used chromatography and liquid-liquid distribution parameters in the IUPAC Gold Book and in a recent summary in LC-GC by Majors and Carr revealed numerous conflicts in both names and definitions. These will retard accurate dissemination of CCC research unless the discordance is resolved. It is proposed that the chromatography retention parameter, K(C), be called the distribution coefficient and that a new biphasic distribution parameter, K(Δ(A)), be defined for CCC and be called the species partition ratio. The definition of V(M) should be clarified. V(H) is suggested to represent the holdup volume and V(X) is suggested for the extra-column volume. H(V) and H(L) are suggested to represent the volume and length of a theoretical plate in CCC. Definitions of the phase ratio, β, conflict and should be clarified. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sparse PDF Volumes for Consistent Multi-Resolution Volume Rendering

PubMed Central

Sicat, Ronell; Krüger, Jens; Möller, Torsten; Hadwiger, Markus

2015-01-01

This paper presents a new multi-resolution volume representation called sparse pdf volumes, which enables consistent multi-resolution volume rendering based on probability density functions (pdfs) of voxel neighborhoods. These pdfs are defined in the 4D domain jointly comprising the 3D volume and its 1D intensity range. Crucially, the computation of sparse pdf volumes exploits data coherence in 4D, resulting in a sparse representation with surprisingly low storage requirements. At run time, we dynamically apply transfer functions to the pdfs using simple and fast convolutions. Whereas standard low-pass filtering and down-sampling incur visible differences between resolution levels, the use of pdfs facilitates consistent results independent of the resolution level used. We describe the efficient out-of-core computation of large-scale sparse pdf volumes, using a novel iterative simplification procedure of a mixture of 4D Gaussians. Finally, our data structure is optimized to facilitate interactive multi-resolution volume rendering on GPUs. PMID:26146475

Theoretical Considerations of the Prigogine-Defay Ration with Regard to the Glass-Forming Ability of Drugs from Undercooled Melts

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

Wyttenbach, Nicole; Kirchmeyer, Wiebke; Alsenz, Jochem

Drug behavior in undercooled melts is highly important for pharmaceutics with regard to amorphous solid dispersions, and therefore, categories were recently introduced that differentiate glass formers (GFs) from other drugs that are nonglass formers (nGFs). The present study is based on the assumption that molecular properties relevant for the so-called Prigogine–Defay (PD) ratio would be indicative of a drug’s glass-forming ability. The PD ratio depends in theory on the entropy of fusion and molar volume. Experimental data were gathered from a broad set of pharmaceutical compounds (n = 54) using differential scanning calorimetry. The obtained entropy of fusion and molarmore » volume were indeed found to significantly discriminate GFs from nGFs. In a next step, the entropy of fusion was predicted by different in silico methods. A first group contribution method provided rather unreliable estimates for the entropy of fusion, while an alternative in silico approach seemed more promising for drug categorization. Thus, a significant discrimination model employed molar volume, a so-called effective hydrogen bond number, and effective number of torsional bonds (or torsional units) to categorize GFs and nGFs (p ≤ 0.0000). The results led to new insights into drug vitrification and to practical rules of thumb. The latter may serve as guidance in pharmaceutical profiling and early formulation development with respect to amorphous drug formulations.« less

Neurologic Outcomes After Low-Volume, Ultrasound-Guided Interscalene Block and Ambulatory Shoulder Surgery.

PubMed

Rajpal, Gaurav; Winger, Daniel G; Cortazzo, Megan; Kentor, Michael L; Orebaugh, Steven L

2016-01-01

Postoperative neurologic symptoms after interscalene block and shoulder surgery have been reported to be relatively frequent. Reports of such symptoms after ultrasound-guided block have been variable. We evaluated 300 patients for neurologic symptoms after low-volume, ultrasound-guided interscalene block and arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Patients underwent ultrasound-guided interscalene block with 16 to 20 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine or a mix of 0.2% bupivacaine/1.2% mepivacaine solution, followed by propofol/ketamine sedation for ambulatory arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Patients were called at 10 days for evaluation of neurologic symptoms, and those with persistent symptoms were called again at 30 days, at which point neurologic evaluation was initiated. Details of patient demographics and block characteristics were collected to assess any association with persistent neurologic symptoms. Six of 300 patients reported symptoms at 10 days (2%), with one of these patients having persistent symptoms at 30 days (0.3%). This was significantly lower than rates of neurologic symptoms reported in preultrasound investigations with focused neurologic follow-up and similar to other studies performed in the ultrasound era. There was a modest correlation between the number of needle redirections during the block procedure and the presence of postoperative neurologic symptoms. Ultrasound guidance of interscalene block with 16- to 20-mL volumes of local anesthetic solution results in a lower frequency of postoperative neurologic symptoms at 10 and 30 days as compared with investigations in the preultrasound period.

3D medical volume reconstruction using web services.

PubMed

Kooper, Rob; Shirk, Andrew; Lee, Sang-Chul; Lin, Amy; Folberg, Robert; Bajcsy, Peter

2008-04-01

We address the problem of 3D medical volume reconstruction using web services. The use of proposed web services is motivated by the fact that the problem of 3D medical volume reconstruction requires significant computer resources and human expertise in medical and computer science areas. Web services are implemented as an additional layer to a dataflow framework called data to knowledge. In the collaboration between UIC and NCSA, pre-processed input images at NCSA are made accessible to medical collaborators for registration. Every time UIC medical collaborators inspected images and selected corresponding features for registration, the web service at NCSA is contacted and the registration processing query is executed using the image to knowledge library of registration methods. Co-registered frames are returned for verification by medical collaborators in a new window. In this paper, we present 3D volume reconstruction problem requirements and the architecture of the developed prototype system at http://isda.ncsa.uiuc.edu/MedVolume. We also explain the tradeoffs of our system design and provide experimental data to support our system implementation. The prototype system has been used for multiple 3D volume reconstructions of blood vessels and vasculogenic mimicry patterns in histological sections of uveal melanoma studied by fluorescent confocal laser scanning microscope.

Dynamic Displays for Tactical Planning. Volume 3. Software Documentation

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-12-01

MJiILI1Y ILLJS. 2 CALL SELuIT(TYPE) CALL UIILT IF (ITSIW(1U bd-’ITE(lt) IiJPL C-ALL uSl T (’Y,iJ) I~21) J-I,6 CALL GFUi-(23JO+J) 25 CONT INUE Tu 3, 4s...ANtj E EV EfTS DU, I NG (,’C iF L -9L AY fp SP,)27 )u ~T’ PLi MAALNT=Lij CALL t3ULT 1- I ITS.( 2) .AD.l I Soil 3)) kLA ( 19, i ~)E* LY 70o FL-vkt;AT(Ui...ORTURN ~. **~ALL 3AS USER T~j SLLECT A S’-iLbN .)1SPLAYEU) EATITY USL ~u b-iL C ** LIGHTPEN. THE ENTITY(S) ARE PREVIOUSLY MADL LIGH-TPEN i.,SlIVL. ENTI TY=O

Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study of Information Management for Net-Centric Operations. Volume 2. Operations Panel Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-04-01

and/or time de-confliction to insure safe separation of component forces. For example, in the Vietnam era, Air Force units were employed in the Hanoi...systems and people to exploit it. For example, Accenture (Accenture.com), a $15 billion global management consulting and technology services company ...information managers (called knowledge managers) to functional specialties, such as oil, gas, insurance , and pharmaceuticals. Information managers collect

Water Penetration Photogrammetry. Volume 1. Feasibility and Evaluation Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

so-called ’ yellow substance,’ which occurs frequently in coastal waters. It shifts the best propagation wavelengths toward the green region...Stereophotogrammetric Method for the Investigation of Underwater Relief. Geodesy and Aerophotog., n. 1 . (2) Specht , M. R., D. Needier, and N. L...sensitive, yellow dye-forming layer in color film (e.g., Current, 1969; Willard, 1969) or the use of a yellow filter (Wratten No. 12) (e.g., Lepley, 1968

Regional hippocampal volumes and development predict learning and memory.

PubMed

Tamnes, Christian K; Walhovd, Kristine B; Engvig, Andreas; Grydeland, Håkon; Krogsrud, Stine K; Østby, Ylva; Holland, Dominic; Dale, Anders M; Fjell, Anders M

2014-01-01

The hippocampus is an anatomically and functionally heterogeneous structure, but longitudinal studies of its regional development are scarce and it is not known whether protracted maturation of the hippocampus in adolescence is related to memory development. First, we investigated hippocampal subfield development using 170 longitudinally acquired brain magnetic resonance imaging scans from 85 participants aged 8-21 years. Hippocampal subfield volumes were estimated by the use of automated segmentation of 7 subfields, including the cornu ammonis (CA) sectors and the dentate gyrus (DG), while longitudinal subfield volumetric change was quantified using a nonlinear registration procedure. Second, associations between subfield volumes and change and verbal learning/memory across multiple retention intervals (5 min, 30 min and 1 week) were tested. It was hypothesized that short and intermediate memory would be more closely related to CA2-3/CA4-DG and extended, remote memory to CA1. Change rates were significantly different across hippocampal subfields, but nearly all subfields showed significant volume decreases over time throughout adolescence. Several subfield volumes were larger in the right hemisphere and in males, while for change rates there were no hemisphere or sex differences. Partly in support of the hypotheses, greater volume of CA1 and CA2-3 was related to recall and retention after an extended delay, while longitudinal reduction of CA2-3 and CA4-DG was related to learning. This suggests continued regional development of the hippocampus across adolescence and that volume and volume change in specific subfields differentially predict verbal learning and memory over different retention intervals, but future high-resolution studies are called for. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Constraining explosive volcanism: subjective choices during estimates of eruption magnitude

USGS Publications Warehouse

Klawonn, Malin; Houghton, Bruce F.; Swanson, Don; Fagents, Sarah A.; Wessel, Paul; Wolfe, Cecily J.

2014-01-01

When estimating the magnitude of explosive eruptions from their deposits, individuals make three sets of critical choices with respect to input data: the spacing of sampling sites, the selection of contour intervals to constrain the field measurements, and the hand contouring of thickness/isomass data, respectively. Volcanologists make subjective calls, as there are no accepted published protocols and few accounts of how these choices will impact estimates of eruption magnitude. Here, for the first time, we took a set of unpublished thickness measurements from the 1959 Kīlauea Iki pyroclastic fall deposit and asked 101 volcanologists worldwide to hand contour the data. First, there were surprisingly consistent volume estimates across maps with three different sampling densities. Second, the variability in volume calculations imparted by individuals’ choices of contours is also surprisingly low and lies between s = 5 and 8 %. Third, volume estimation is insensitive to the extent to which different individuals “smooth” the raw data in constructing contour lines. Finally, large uncertainty is associated with the construction of the thinnest isopachs, which is likely to underestimate the actual trend of deposit thinning. The net result is that researchers can have considerable confidence in using volume or dispersal data from multiple authors and different deposits for comparative studies. These insights should help volcanologists around the world to optimize design and execution of field-based studies to characterize accurately the volume of pyroclastic deposits.

Constraining explosive volcanism: subjective choices during estimates of eruption magnitude

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klawonn, Malin; Houghton, Bruce F.; Swanson, Donald A.; Fagents, Sarah A.; Wessel, Paul; Wolfe, Cecily J.

2014-02-01

When estimating the magnitude of explosive eruptions from their deposits, individuals make three sets of critical choices with respect to input data: the spacing of sampling sites, the selection of contour intervals to constrain the field measurements, and the hand contouring of thickness/isomass data, respectively. Volcanologists make subjective calls, as there are no accepted published protocols and few accounts of how these choices will impact estimates of eruption magnitude. Here, for the first time, we took a set of unpublished thickness measurements from the 1959 Kīlauea Iki pyroclastic fall deposit and asked 101 volcanologists worldwide to hand contour the data. First, there were surprisingly consistent volume estimates across maps with three different sampling densities. Second, the variability in volume calculations imparted by individuals' choices of contours is also surprisingly low and lies between s = 5 and 8 %. Third, volume estimation is insensitive to the extent to which different individuals "smooth" the raw data in constructing contour lines. Finally, large uncertainty is associated with the construction of the thinnest isopachs, which is likely to underestimate the actual trend of deposit thinning. The net result is that researchers can have considerable confidence in using volume or dispersal data from multiple authors and different deposits for comparative studies. These insights should help volcanologists around the world to optimize design and execution of field-based studies to characterize accurately the volume of pyroclastic deposits.

A mass-balanced definition of corrected retention volume in gas chromatography.

PubMed

Kurganov, A

2007-05-25

The mass balance equation of a chromatographic system using a compressible moving phase has been compiled for mass flow of the mobile phase instead of traditional volumetric flow allowing solution of the equation in an analytical form. The relation obtained correlates retention volume measured under ambient conditions with the partition coefficient of the solute. Compared to the relation in the ideal chromatographic system the equation derived contains an additional correction term accounting for the compressibility of the moving phase. When the retention volume is measured under the mean column pressure and column temperature the correction term is reduced to unit and the relation is simplified to those known for the ideal system. This volume according to International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is called the corrected retention volume.

Microscale Regenerative Heat Exchanger

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moran, Matthew E.; Stelter, Stephan; Stelter, Manfred

2006-01-01

The device described herein is designed primarily for use as a regenerative heat exchanger in a miniature Stirling engine or Stirling-cycle heat pump. A regenerative heat exchanger (sometimes called, simply, a "regenerator" in the Stirling-engine art) is basically a thermal capacitor: Its role in the Stirling cycle is to alternately accept heat from, then deliver heat to, an oscillating flow of a working fluid between compression and expansion volumes, without introducing an excessive pressure drop. These volumes are at different temperatures, and conduction of heat between these volumes is undesirable because it reduces the energy-conversion efficiency of the Stirling cycle.

Calculating phase equilibrium properties of plasma pseudopotential model using hybrid Gibbs statistical ensemble Monte-Carlo technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butlitsky, M. A.; Zelener, B. B.; Zelener, B. V.

2015-11-01

Earlier a two-component pseudopotential plasma model, which we called a “shelf Coulomb” model has been developed. A Monte-Carlo study of canonical NVT ensemble with periodic boundary conditions has been undertaken to calculate equations of state, pair distribution functions, internal energies and other thermodynamics properties of the model. In present work, an attempt is made to apply so-called hybrid Gibbs statistical ensemble Monte-Carlo technique to this model. First simulation results data show qualitatively similar results for critical point region for both methods. Gibbs ensemble technique let us to estimate the melting curve position and a triple point of the model (in reduced temperature and specific volume coordinates): T* ≈ 0.0476, v* ≈ 6 × 10-4.

Accuracy of Screening Mammography Interpretation by Characteristics of Radiologists

PubMed Central

Barlow, William E.; Chi, Chen; Carney, Patricia A.; Taplin, Stephen H.; D’Orsi, Carl; Cutter, Gary; Hendrick, R. Edward; Elmore, Joann G.

2011-01-01

Background Radiologists differ in their ability to interpret screening mammograms accurately. We investigated the relationship of radiologist characteristics to actual performance from 1996 to 2001. Methods Screening mammograms (n = 469 512) interpreted by 124 radiologists were linked to cancer outcome data. The radiologists completed a survey that included questions on demographics, malpractice concerns, years of experience interpreting mammograms, and the number of mammograms read annually. We used receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis to analyze variables associated with sensitivity, specificity, and the combination of the two, adjusting for patient variables that affect performance. All P values are two-sided. Results Within 1 year of the mammogram, 2402 breast cancers were identified. Relative to low annual interpretive volume (≤1000 mammograms), greater interpretive volume was associated with higher sensitivity (P = .001; odds ratio [OR] for moderate volume [1001–2000] = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.18 to 2.39; OR for high volume [>2000] = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.36 to 2.63). Specificity decreased with volume (OR for 1001–2000 = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.52 to 0.83; OR for more than 2000 = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.60 to 0.96), compared with 1000 or less (P = .002). Greater number of years of experience interpreting mammograms was associated with lower sensitivity (P = .001), but higher specificity (P = .003). ROC analysis using the ordinal BI-RADS interpretation showed an association between accuracy and both previous mammographic history (P = .012) and breast density (P<.001). No association was observed between accuracy and years interpreting mammograms (P = .34) or mammography volume (P = .94), after adjusting for variables that affect the threshold for calling a mammogram positive. Conclusions We found no evidence that greater volume or experience at interpreting mammograms is associated with better performance. However, they may affect sensitivity and specificity, possibly by determining the threshold for calling a mammogram positive. Increasing volume requirements is unlikely to improve overall mammography performance. PMID:15601640

Unique voices in harmony: Call-and-response to address race and physics teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cochran, Geraldine L.; White, Gary D.

2017-09-01

In the February 2016 issue of The Physics Teacher, we announced a call for papers on race and physics teaching. The response was muted at first, but has now grown to a respectable chorale-sized volume. As the manuscripts began to come in and the review process progressed, Geraldine Cochran graciously agreed to come on board as co-editor for this remarkable collection of papers, to be published throughout the fall of 2017 in TPT. Upon reviewing the original call and the responses from the physics community, the parallels between generating this collection and the grand call-and-response tradition became compelling. What follows is a conversation constructed by the co-editors that is intended to introduce the reader to the swell of voices that responded to the original call. The authors would like to thank Pam Aycock for providing many useful contributions to this editorial.

Studies on Decomposition and Combustion Mechanism of Solid Fuel Rich Propellants

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-30

thrust to cruise at supersonic speed. This was followed by the test of large diameter ramjet called burner test vehicle (BTV). Advanced low volume...propellant surface. Vernekar et al (43) found that in pressed AP-Al pellets , maximum burn rate is obtained at intermediate metal content. Jain et al...conjunction with high pressure window strand burner . They found that the propellant combustion was irregular and regression rate varied from 0.3 to 3

In Contact! Case Studies from the Long War. Volume I

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

lull, Bellavia called his platoon sergeant, Cantrell, on his radio. Cantrell, who was not with Meno, immediately responded yelling into the mike ...at <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107644.html>, accessed 12 June 2006. 3. Mike Tucker, Among Warriors in Iraq: True Grit, Special Ops, and...SGT Kennedy SPC Detman SPC Hubbard SPC Graff SPC Harris SPC Rullo SPC Kinzer SPC Sharples SPC Heesacker SPC Birkel SPC Schrad Regulator 3 SSG Castro SPC

Chemical Vapor Sensing with Monolayer MoS2

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-04

show great potential for future nanoscale electronic devices. The high surface-to-volume ratio is a natural asset for applications such as chemical...For the devices in this study, 3 bulk sources of MoS2 were used. One piece was obtained from a colleague’s tribology research project (called the...devices were ~20 cm2/Vs. Although the conductance of our monolayer MoS2 devices can be increased significantly by application of a back gate

Deepwater Ports Approach/Exit Hazard and Risk Assessment.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-02-01

study results reflect a less structured view of the real world, as opposed to the neat technical framework of analysts and engineers . There may...offshore at which the 1. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , Waterborne Commerce of the United States, (Washington , D.C., 1969-1976), Volume 2. 2. This...multivessel casual ties. The number of tanker port calls was extracted from U.S. V Waterborne Commerce data published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Shock and Vibration Digest. Volume 12, Number 8,

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-08-01

half tme coefficient of 0.315 in the above lamina. Sequential delamination began when a strip equation because two surfaces are formed). of width D in...a striker plate. Each specimen study of the two-dimensional ( plane -strain) response was subjected to two separate impact loadings: an of an elastic...laminated plate; they used a finite ele- in- plane impact and a so-called shear-bending impact. ment/normal mode technique. The physical behavior The

Acute effects of 30 minutes of exposure to a smartphone call on in vitro platelet function

PubMed Central

Lippi, Giuseppe; Danese, Elisa; Brocco, Giorgio; Gelati, Matteo; Salvagno, Gian Luca; Montagnana, Martina

2017-01-01

Background Significant concerns are now regularly raised about the safety of excessive mobile phone use. This study was aimed to assess the acute effects of radiofrequency waves emitted by a commercial smartphone on platelet function. Materials and methods Two sequential citrated blood samples were collected from 16 healthy volunteers recruited from laboratory staff. The first sample was placed in a plastic rack, 1 cm distant from a commercial smartphone receiving a 30-min call and emitting 900 MHz radiofrequency waves. The second sample was placed in another plastic rack, isolated from radiofrequency wave sources, for the same period. The platelet count and the mean platelet volume were then assessed in all blood samples, whereas platelet function was evaluated using the platelet function analyser-100 (PFA-100). Results A 30-min exposure of citrated blood to smartphone radiofrequency waves induced significant prolongation of collagen-epinephrine aggregation (median increase, 10%) and a considerable increase of mean platelet volume (median increase, 5%), whereas collagen-adenosine diphosphate aggregation and platelet count remained unchanged. Discussion This study demonstrates that smartphone radiofrequency waves induce significant perturbation of platelet structure and function, thus providing further support to concerns regarding excessive use of mobile phones. Caution should also be taken with regards to blood products containing platelets, which should be kept far away from mobile phones and smartphones throughout the production pipeline and storage period. PMID:27177410

Acute effects of 30 minutes of exposure to a smartphone call on in vitro platelet function.

PubMed

Lippi, Giuseppe; Danese, Elisa; Brocco, Giorgio; Gelati, Matteo; Salvagno, Gian Luca; Montagnana, Martina

2017-05-01

Significant concerns are now regularly raised about the safety of excessive mobile phone use. This study was aimed to assess the acute effects of radiofrequency waves emitted by a commercial smartphone on platelet function. Two sequential citrated blood samples were collected from 16 healthy volunteers recruited from laboratory staff. The first sample was placed in a plastic rack, 1 cm distant from a commercial smartphone receiving a 30-min call and emitting 900 MHz radiofrequency waves. The second sample was placed in another plastic rack, isolated from radiofrequency wave sources, for the same period. The platelet count and the mean platelet volume were then assessed in all blood samples, whereas platelet function was evaluated using the platelet function analyser-100 (PFA-100). A 30-min exposure of citrated blood to smartphone radiofrequency waves induced significant prolongation of collagen-epinephrine aggregation (median increase, 10%) and a considerable increase of mean platelet volume (median increase, 5%), whereas collagen-adenosine diphosphate aggregation and platelet count remained unchanged. This study demonstrates that smartphone radiofrequency waves induce significant perturbation of platelet structure and function, thus providing further support to concerns regarding excessive use of mobile phones. Caution should also be taken with regards to blood products containing platelets, which should be kept far away from mobile phones and smartphones throughout the production pipeline and storage period.

Internet Protocol Handbook. Volume 4. The Domain Name System (DNS) handbook

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-08-01

Mockapetris [Page 1] 4-11 INTERNET PROTOCOL HA TDBOOK - Voue Four 1989 RFC 1034 Domain Concepts and Facilities November 1987 bandwidth consumed in distributing...Domain Names- Concepts and Facilities KFC 1034 RFC 1034 Domain Concepts and Facilities November 1’)87 - Queries contain a bit called recursion desired...during periodic sweeps to reclaim the memory consumed by old RRS. Mockapetris [Page 33] 4-43 INTERNET PROTOCOL HANDBOOK - Volume Four 1989 RFC 1034

Demonstration to characterize watershed runoff potential by microwave techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blanchard, B. J.

1977-01-01

Characteristics such as storage capacity of the soil, volume of storage in vegetative matter, and volume of storage available in local depressions are expressed in empirical watershed runoff equations as one or more coefficients. Conventional techniques for estimating coefficients representing the spatial distribution of these characteristics over a watershed drainage area are subjective and produce significant errors. Characteristics of the wear surface are described as a single coefficient called the curve number.

The Coast Artillery Journal. Volume 65, Number 2, August 1926

DTIC Science & Technology

1926-08-01

giving rotation in azimuth and elevation. The binaural principle was again used, the horns being connected by pairs to the ears of operators. They turned...regular antiaircraft regiments. 126 THE COAST ARTILLERY JOURNAL The sound locator depends for operation upon the binaural prin- ciple or the binaural ...ears and brain to determine direction acoustically is-called the. "hinaural sense" the effect of the sound wave on the ears is called the " binaural

International Law and the Changing Character of War. Volume 87

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

38. Id. 39. See Londono, supra note 25. 40. See, e.g., Rowan Scarborough, Pentagon Notebook: McPeak calls McCain too fat , WASHINGTON TIMES, June 26...jet fight- ers."), available at http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jun/26/pentagon-notebook-mcpeak -calls-mccain-too- fat /?page=2. 41. Michael Hoffman...involve "not just reasoning with opponents, but also bringing pressure, arm twisting, encouraging sanctions, and shaming ." 114 The concept of framing

Squeeze strengthening of magnetorheological fluids using mixed mode operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becnel, A. C.; Sherman, S. G.; Hu, W.; Wereley, N. M.

2015-05-01

This research details a novel method of increasing the shear yield stress of magnetorheological fluids by combining shear and squeeze modes of operation to manipulate particle chain structures, so-called squeeze strengthening. Using a custom built Searle cell magnetorheometer, which is a model device emulating a rotary magnetorheological energy absorber (MREA), the contribution of squeeze strengthening to the total controllable yield force is experimentally investigated. Using an eccentric rotating inner cylinder, characterization data from large (1 mm) and small (0.25 mm) nominal gap geometries are compared to investigate the squeeze strengthening effect. Details of the experimental setup and method are presented, and a hybrid model is used to explain experimental trends. This study demonstrates that it is feasible, utilizing squeeze strengthening to increase yield stress, to either (1) design a rotary MREA of a given volume to achieve higher energy absorption density (energy absorbed normalized by active fluid volume), or (2) reduce the volume of a given rotary MREA to achieve the same energy absorption density.

SLS launched missions concept studies for LUVOIR mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.

2015-09-01

NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. The multi-center ATLAST Team is working to meet these needs. The MSFC Team is examining potential concepts that leverage the advantages of the SLS (Space Launch System). A key challenge is how to affordably get a large telescope into space. The JWST design was severely constrained by the mass and volume capacities of its launch vehicle. This problem is solved by using an SLS Block II-B rocket with its 10-m diameter x 30-m tall fairing and estimated 45 mt payload to SE-L2. Previously, two development study cycles produced a detailed concept called ATLAST-8. Using ATLAST-8 as a point of departure, this paper reports on a new ATLAST-12 concept. ATLAST-12 is a 12-m class segmented aperture LUVOIR with an 8-m class center segment. Thus, ATLAST-8 is now a de-scope option.

SLS Launched Missions Concept Studies for LUVOIR Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.

2015-01-01

NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-meter Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-meter class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. The multi-center ATLAST Team is working to meet these needs. The MSFC Team is examining potential concepts that leverage the advantages of the SLS (Space Launch System). A key challenge is how to affordably get a large telescope into space. The JWST design was severely constrained by the mass and volume capacities of its launch vehicle. This problem is solved by using an SLS Block II-B rocket with its 10-m diameter x 30-m tall fairing and 45 mt payload to SE-L2. Previously, two development study cycles produced a detailed concept called ATLAST-8. Using ATLAST-8 as a point of departure, this paper reports on a new ATLAST-12 concept. ATLAST-12 is a 12-meter class segmented aperture LUVOIR with an 8-m class center segment. Thus, ATLAST-8 is now a de-scope option.

Mapping the MRI voxel volume in which thermal noise matches physiological noise--implications for fMRI.

PubMed

Bodurka, J; Ye, F; Petridou, N; Murphy, K; Bandettini, P A

2007-01-15

This work addresses the choice of the imaging voxel volume in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Noise of physiological origin that is present in the voxel time course is a prohibitive factor in the detection of small activation-induced BOLD signal changes. If the physiological noise contribution dominates over the temporal fluctuation contribution in the imaging voxel, further increases in the voxel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) will have diminished corresponding increases in temporal signal-to-noise (TSNR), resulting in reduced corresponding increases in the ability to detect activation induced signal changes. On the other hand, if the thermal and system noise dominate (suggesting a relatively low SNR) further decreases in SNR can prohibit detection of activation-induced signal changes. Here we have proposed and called the "suggested" voxel volume for fMRI the volume where thermal plus system-related and physiological noise variances are equal. Based on this condition we have created maps of fMRI suggested voxel volume from our experimental data at 3T, since this value will spatially vary depending on the contribution of physiologic noise in each voxel. Based on our fast EPI segmentation technique we have found that for gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) brain compartments the mean suggested cubical voxel volume is: (1.8 mm)3, (2.1 mm)3 and (1.4 mm)3, respectively. Serendipitously, (1.8 mm)3 cubical voxel volume for GM approximately matches the cortical thickness, thus optimizing BOLD contrast by minimizing partial volume averaging. The introduced suggested fMRI voxel volume can be a useful parameter for choice of imaging volume for functional studies.

The big bang of hemofiltration: the beginning of a new era in the third millennium for extra-corporeal blood purification!

PubMed

Honore', P M; Joannes-Boyau, O; Merson, L; Boer, W; Piette, V; Galloy, A-C; Janvier, G

2006-07-01

Since the last decade, hemofiltration and especially high volume hemofiltration has rapidly evolved from a somewhat experimental treatment towards a potentially effective 'adjunctive' therapy in severe septic shock and especially refractory or catecholamine resistant hypodynamic septic shock. Nevertheless, this approach lacks prospective randomized studies (PRT'S) evaluating the critical role of early hemofiltration in sepsis. An important step forward which could be called the 'big bang' in term of hemofiltration was the publication of a PRT in patients with acute renal failure (ARF) (1). Before this study (2), nobody believed that hemofiltration could change the survival rate in intensive care. Since that big bang, many physicians consider that hemofiltration at a certain dose can change the survival rate in intensive care. So the world of hemofiltration in ICU is not a definitive world, it is still in expansion. Indeed, we now have to try to define what will be the exact dose we need in septic acute renal failure. This dose might well be 'higher' than 35 ml/kg/hour in the septic acute renal failure 'group' as suggested by many studies (2-5). At present, it is the issue of continuous dose of high volume hemofiltration that has to be tested in future randomized studies. Since the Vicenza study (2) has shown that 35 ml/kg/h is the best dose in terms of survival, dealing with non septic acute renal failure in ICU, several studies from different groups have shown that, in septic acute renal failure, a higher dose might correlate with better survival. This has also been shown in some way by the study of the 'Vicenza group' but not with a statistically significant value (2). New PRT'S have just started in Europe like the IVOIRE study (hIgh VOlume in Intensive caRE) (6) and the RENAL study. Another large study is looking more basically at dose in non septic acute renal failure in Australasia and is led by the group of Rinaldo Bellomo in Melbourne (7) as well as the ATN study (8) led by Palevsky and colleagues in the USA, also testing the importance of dose in the treatment for ARF. Nevertheless, 'early goal-directed hemofiltration therapy' like early goal directed therapy (9) has to be studied in our critical ill patients. Regarding this issue, fewer studies, mainly retrospective exist, but again the IVOIRE study (6) will address this issue by studying septic patients with acute renal injury according to the Rifle classification (10). So, this review focuses on the early application and on the adequate dose of continuous high volume hemofiltration in septic shock in order to improve not only hemodynamics, but survival in this very severely ill cohort of patients. This could well be called the 'big bang of hemofiltration' as one could never have anticipated that an adequate dose of hemofiltration could markedly influence the survival rate of ICU-septic acute renal failure patients. On top of the use of early and adequate dose of hemofiltration in sepsis, a higher dose could also provide better renal recovery rate and reduce the risk of associate chronic dialysis in these patients. Furthermore, this paper also reviews 'brand' new theories regarding the rationale for hemofiltration in sepsis. Finally, this paper also addresses the so-called negative studies as well anticipated side effects.

The Influence of State-Specific Quitline Numbers on Call Volume During a National Tobacco Education Campaign Promoting 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

PubMed

Zhang, Lei; Malarcher, Ann; Mann, Nathan; Campbell, Kelsey; Davis, Kevin; Anderson, Christopher; Alexander, Robert; Rodes, Robert

2016-08-01

Previous research has shown that the first federally funded national tobacco education campaign (Tips) increased calls to the national quitline portal (1-800-QUIT-NOW). Quitlines in 13 states have alternate state-specific telephone numbers. This study examined quitline calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW in states with and without alternate numbers during the Tips campaign. We used data on calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW from all US states and the District of Columbia from 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after the 2012 Tips campaign. Similar data were obtained for California's alternate number, 1-800-NO-BUTTS. Multivariate linear models examined whether an interaction existed between Tips exposure, as measured by gross rating points, and presence of an alternate quitline number as well as the effect of Tips on calls to California's 1-800-NO-BUTTS. Having an alternate quitline number did not affect the rate of increase in calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW, but it was associated with lower absolute numbers of calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW. On average, states with alternate numbers had 98 fewer calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW per week in a given area code than those without an alternate number (P < .001). In California, Tips gross rating points were positively correlated with calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW (b = 38.5, P < .001) and to 1-800-NO-BUTTS (b = 14.1, P < .05). The Tips campaign had the same effect in increasing calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW in states with and without alternate quitline numbers and had a modest spillover effect on calls to California's alternate number. States may consider the advantages and disadvantages of having alternate quitline numbers given continued national promotions of 1-800-QUIT-NOW. This is the first study that assesses whether the impact of a national tobacco education campaign promoting the national quitline portal number was influenced by the presence of state-specific quitline numbers and whether there was any spillover effect on calls to states' alternate quitline numbers. This study provides important information for states to consider the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining state-specific quitline numbers. © Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco 2016. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

CleanFleet final report. Volume 1, summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-12-01

The South Coast Alternative Fuels Demonstration, called CleanFleet, was conducted in the Los Angeles area from April 1992 through September 1994. The demonstration consisted of 111 package delivery vans operating on five alternative fuels and the con...

Evaluation of models for predicting (total) creep of prestressed concrete mixtures.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

Concrete experiences volume changes throughout its service life. When loaded, concrete experiences an instantaneous recoverable elastic deformation and a slow inelastic deformation called creep. Creep of concrete is composed of two components, basic ...

Functional Requirements of a Target Description System for Vulnerability Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-11-01

called GIFT .1,2 Together the COMGEOM description model and GIFT codes make up the BRL’s target description system. The significance of a target...and modifying target descriptions are described. 1 Lawrence W. Bain, Jr. and Mathew J. Reisinger, "The GIFT Code User Manual; Volume 1...34The GIFT Code User Manual; Volume II, The Output Options," unpublished draft of BRL report. II. UNDERLYING PHILOSOPHY The BRL has a computer

Specification/Verification of Temporal Properties for Distributed Systems: Issues and Approaches. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-02-01

copies Pl ,...,P. of a multiple module fp resolve nondeterminism (local or global) in an identical manner. 5. The copies PI,...,P, axe physically...recovery block. A recovery block consists of a conventional block (like in ALGOL or PL /I) which is provided with a means of error detection, called an...improved failures model for communicating processes. In Proceeding. NSF- SERC Seminar on Concurrency, volume 197 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science

The Black Cloud Phenomenon in Hand Surgery.

PubMed

Zhao, Emily; Tiedeken, Nathan; Wang, William; Fowler, John

2018-04-01

The term black cloud for a surgeon is generally used to describe someone who is unusually busy compared with his or her counterparts, and it is a superstition that tends to pervade the medical world. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether black clouds exist in hand surgery. We examined one academic year's worth of hand surgery-specific call at a level I trauma center and tabulated the number of hand-related patient transfers and add-on cases per surgeon. Each surgeon was given a black cloud rating by the fellows who were in training that year. Correlations were made between the black cloud rating and the surgeons' call volume. There were 12 surgeons who shared 365 days of hand call, and 5 of them are hand surgery fellowship trained. Those 5 surgeons tended to be busier on their call days, with more cases added on overnight and the next day, and also had worse black cloud ratings than the 7 non-hand fellowship trained surgeons. In regard to hand surgery, while true emergencies occur and require emergent intervention, how busy hand surgeons may be during call may be influenced by a variety of factors not related to their patients' problems but rather their daily schedules, their hospitals' ability to facilitate add-on cases, and their rapport with their fellow surgeons to share case loads.

The DISAM Journal of International Security Assistance Management. Volume 30, Number 1, March 2008

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

annexation of a little patch of ground called Sudetenland? Or a French defeat at a place called Dien Bien Phu? Or the return of an obscure cleric to...chats on personal, non-work related subjects – including politics and religion. Family (children), sports, travel, and cuisine are safe...lieu of 2 standard forms can be approved on a case-by- forms or translated versions (Spanish, case basis. The request and forms French , etc.) need

Air and Space Power Journal. Volume 30, Number 3, Fall 2016

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-01

smarter ways to do business. —Gen Larry Spencer Former Air Force Vice-Chief of Staff General Spencer’s call to managerial arms is certainly one that our...weaknesses exploitable by an enemy. 20. James G. March and Herbert A. Simon, Organizations (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1958), 140, 146. 21. Graham T...eight years,” said Gen Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle during a September 2015 talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington

Capability Surprise (Report of the Defense Science Board 2008 Summer Study). Volume 1: Main Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

fact, this has already happened, at least to a degree. Gen. James Mattis sent a memo in March 2009 to Defense Secretary Robert Gates calling for the... bio , but with a focus on threats to military operations, we chose not to. “Surprising” surprises—those many that the nation might have known about...Victor 3/Akula Quieting Undetected use of foreign technology Prepared because we had anticipated capability in general Soviet Bio -weapons Program

GREAT I: A Study of the Upper Mississippi River. Volume 1. Main Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-09-01

management of the river system and its interrelated Ensure necessary capability to components within the river corridor . maintain the total river...stem corridor will is a complex resource. It means many probably directly modify many or all things to many people. To call it a other components of the...resource in the "resource" implies that it is some- main stem corridor , Any description thing which man can draw on to satisfy of the Upper

Adjustment of Jacobs' formulation to the case of Mercury

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiappini, M.; de Santis, A.

1991-04-01

Magnetic investigations play an important role in studies on the constitution of planetary interiors. One of these techniques (the so-called Jacobs' formulation), appropriately modified, has been applied to the case of Mercury. According to the results found, the planet, supposed to be divided internally as the earth (crust-mantle-core), would have a core/planet volume ratio of 28 percent, much greater than the earth's core percentage (16 percent). This result is in agreement with previous work which used other independent methods.

Effects of weather conditions on emergency ambulance calls for acute coronary syndromes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vencloviene, Jone; Babarskiene, Ruta; Dobozinskas, Paulius; Siurkaite, Viktorija

2015-08-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between weather conditions and daily emergency ambulance calls for acute coronary syndromes (ACS). The study included data on 3631 patients who called the ambulance for chest pain and were admitted to the department of cardiology as patients with ACS. We investigated the effect of daily air temperature ( T), barometric pressure (BP), relative humidity, and wind speed (WS) to detect the risk areas for low and high daily volume (DV) of emergency calls. We used the classification and regression tree method as well as cluster analysis. The clusters were created by applying the k-means cluster algorithm using the standardized daily weather variables. The analysis was performed separately during cold (October-April) and warm (May-September) seasons. During the cold period, the greatest DV was observed on days of low T during the 3-day sequence, on cold and windy days, and on days of low BP and high WS during the 3-day sequence; low DV was associated with high BP and decreased WS on the previous day. During June-September, a lower DV was associated with low BP, windless days, and high BP and low WS during the 3-day sequence. During the warm period, the greatest DV was associated with increased BP and changing WS during the 3-day sequence. These results suggest that daily T, BP, and WS on the day of the ambulance call and on the two previous days may be prognostic variables for the risk of ACS.

Statistical self-similarity of hotspot seamount volumes modeled as self-similar criticality

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tebbens, S.F.; Burroughs, S.M.; Barton, C.C.; Naar, D.F.

2001-01-01

The processes responsible for hotspot seamount formation are complex, yet the cumulative frequency-volume distribution of hotspot seamounts in the Easter Island/Salas y Gomez Chain (ESC) is found to be well-described by an upper-truncated power law. We develop a model for hotspot seamount formation where uniform energy input produces events initiated on a self-similar distribution of critical cells. We call this model Self-Similar Criticality (SSC). By allowing the spatial distribution of magma migration to be self-similar, the SSC model recreates the observed ESC seamount volume distribution. The SSC model may have broad applicability to other natural systems.

Multiple volume compressor for hot gas engine

DOEpatents

Stotts, Robert E.

1986-01-01

A multiple volume compressor for use in a hot gas (Stirling) engine having a plurality of different volume chambers arranged to pump down the engine when decreased power is called for and return the working gas to a storage tank or reservoir. A valve actuated bypass loop is placed over each chamber which can be opened to return gas discharged from the chamber back to the inlet thereto. By selectively actuating the bypass valves, a number of different compressor capacities can be attained without changing compressor speed whereby the capacity of the compressor can be matched to the power available from the engine which is used to drive the compressor.

Structural brain development between childhood and adulthood: Convergence across four longitudinal samples.

PubMed

Mills, Kathryn L; Goddings, Anne-Lise; Herting, Megan M; Meuwese, Rosa; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne; Crone, Eveline A; Dahl, Ronald E; Güroğlu, Berna; Raznahan, Armin; Sowell, Elizabeth R; Tamnes, Christian K

2016-11-01

Longitudinal studies including brain measures acquired through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have enabled population models of human brain development, crucial for our understanding of typical development as well as neurodevelopmental disorders. Brain development in the first two decades generally involves early cortical grey matter volume (CGMV) increases followed by decreases, and monotonic increases in cerebral white matter volume (CWMV). However, inconsistencies regarding the precise developmental trajectories call into question the comparability of samples. This issue can be addressed by conducting a comprehensive study across multiple datasets from diverse populations. Here, we present replicable models for gross structural brain development between childhood and adulthood (ages 8-30years) by repeating analyses in four separate longitudinal samples (391 participants; 852 scans). In addition, we address how accounting for global measures of cranial/brain size affect these developmental trajectories. First, we found evidence for continued development of both intracranial volume (ICV) and whole brain volume (WBV) through adolescence, albeit following distinct trajectories. Second, our results indicate that CGMV is at its highest in childhood, decreasing steadily through the second decade with deceleration in the third decade, while CWMV increases until mid-to-late adolescence before decelerating. Importantly, we show that accounting for cranial/brain size affects models of regional brain development, particularly with respect to sex differences. Our results increase confidence in our knowledge of the pattern of brain changes during adolescence, reduce concerns about discrepancies across samples, and suggest some best practices for statistical control of cranial volume and brain size in future studies. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Four-Dimensional Positron Emission Tomography: Implications for Dose Painting of High-Uptake Regions

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

Aristophanous, Michalis, E-mail: maristophanous@lroc.harvard.edu; Yap, Jeffrey T.; Killoran, Joseph H.

Purpose: To investigate the behavior of tumor subvolumes of high [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake as seen on clinical four-dimensional (4D) FDG-positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Methods and Materials: Four-dimensional FDG-PET/computed tomography scans from 13 patients taken before radiotherapy were available. The analysis was focused on regions of high uptake that are potential dose-painting targets. A total of 17 lesions (primary tumors and lymph nodes) were analyzed. On each one of the five phases of the 4D scan a classification algorithm was applied to obtain the region of highest uptake and segment the tumor volume. We looked at the behavior of bothmore » the high-uptake subvolume, called 'Boost,' and the segmented tumor volume, called 'Target.' We measured several quantities that characterize the Target and Boost volumes and quantified correlations between them. Results: The behavior of the Target could not always predict the behavior of the Boost. The shape deformation of the Boost regions was on average 133% higher than that of the Target. The gross to internal target volume expansion was on average 27.4% for the Target and 64% for the Boost, a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). Finally, the inhale-to-exhale phase (20%) had the highest shape deformation for the Boost regions. Conclusions: A complex relationship between the measured quantities for the Boost and Target volumes is revealed. The results suggest that in cases in which advanced therapy techniques such as dose painting are being used, a close examination of the 4D PET scan should be performed.« less

[Dietary composition, echolocation pulses and morphological measurements of the long-fingered bat Miniopterus fuliginosus (Chiroptera: Vespertilioninae)].

PubMed

Hu, Kai-Liang; Wei, Li; Zhu, Teng-Teng; Wang, Xu-Zhong; Zhang, Li-Biao

2011-04-01

We investigated food (insect) availability in foraging areas utilized by the long-fingered bat Miniopterus fuliginosus using light traps, fish netting and fecal analysis. The dominant preys of M. fuliginosus were Lepidoptera (55%, by volume percent) and Coleoptera (38%) of a relatively large body size. M. fuliginosus has relatively long, narrow wings and a wing span of 6.58+/-0.12 and high wing loading of 9.85+/-0.83 N/m2. The echolocation calls of free flying M. fuliginosus were FM signals, with a pulse duration of 1.45+/-0.06 ms, interpulse interval of 63.08+/-21.55 ms, and low dominant frequency of 44.50+/-2.26 kHz. This study shows that the morphological characteristics and echolocation calls of long-fingered bats are closely linked to their predatory behavior.

CleanFleet final report. Volume 4, fuel economy

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-12-01

The South Coast Alternative Fuels Demonstration, called CleanFleet, was conducted in the Los Angeles area from April 1992 through September 1994. The demonstration consisted of 111 package delivery vans operating on five alternative fuels and the con...

CleanFleet final report. Volume 6, occupational hygiene

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-12-01

The South Coast Alternative Fuels Demonstration, called CleanFleet, was conducted in the Los Angeles area from April 1992 through September 1994. The demonstration consisted of 111 package delivery vans operating on five alternative fuels and the con...

CleanFleet final report. Volume 5, employee attitude assessment

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-12-01

The South Coast Alternative Fuels Demonstration, called CleanFleet, was conducted in the Los Angeles area from April 1992 through September 1994. The demonstration consisted of 111 package delivery vans operating on five alternative fuels and the con...

Deterioration of abstract reasoning ability in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: correlation with regional grey matter volume loss revealed by diffeomorphic anatomical registration through exponentiated lie algebra analysis.

PubMed

Yoshiura, Takashi; Hiwatashi, Akio; Yamashita, Koji; Ohyagi, Yasumasa; Monji, Akira; Takayama, Yukihisa; Kamano, Norihiro; Kawashima, Toshiro; Kira, Jun-Ichi; Honda, Hiroshi

2011-02-01

To determine which brain regions are relevant to deterioration in abstract reasoning as measured by Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) in the context of dementia. MR images of 37 consecutive patients including 19 with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 18 with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were administered the CPM. Regional grey matter (GM) volume was evaluated according to the regimens of voxel-based morphometry, during which a non-linear registration algorithm called Diffeomorphic Anatomical Registration Through Exponentiated Lie algebra was employed. Multiple regression analyses were used to map the regions where GM volumes were correlated with CPM scores. The strongest correlation with CPM scores was seen in the left middle frontal gyrus while a region with the largest volume was identified in the left superior temporal gyrus. Significant correlations were seen in 14 additional regions in the bilateral cerebral hemispheres and right cerebellum. Deterioration of abstract reasoning ability in AD and aMCI measured by CPM is related to GM loss in multiple regions, which is in close agreement with the results of previous activation studies.

Effect of maleic anhydride treatment on the mechanical properties of sansevieria fiber/vinyl ester composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pradipta, Rangga; Mardiyati, Steven, Purnomo, Ikhsan

2017-03-01

Sanseviera trifasciata commonly called mother-in-law tongue also known as snake plant is native to Indonesia, India and Africa. Sansevieria is a new fiber in composite research and has showed promising properties as reinforcement material in polymer matrix composites. Chemical treatment on reinforcing fiber is crucial to reduce hydrophilic tendency and thus improve compatibility with the matrix. In this study, effect of maleic anhydride as chemical treatment on the mechanical properties of Sansevieria fiber/vinyl ester composite was investigated. Sansevieria fibers were immersed by using NaOH 3% for two hours at 100°C and then treated by using maleic anhydrate for two hours at 120°C. Composites were prepared by solution casting with various volume fractions of fiber; 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%. Actual density, volume fraction of void and mechanical properties of composite were conducted according to ASTM standard testing methods D792, D3171 and D3039. It was found that mechanical properties of composites increased as volume fractions of fiber was increased. The highest tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of composites were 57.45 MPa and 3.47 GPa respectively, obtained from composites with volume fraction of fiber 10%.

Limitations of the planning organ at risk volume (PRV) concept.

PubMed

Stroom, Joep C; Heijmen, Ben J M

2006-09-01

Previously, we determined a planning target volume (PTV) margin recipe for geometrical errors in radiotherapy equal to M(T) = 2 Sigma + 0.7 sigma, with Sigma and sigma standard deviations describing systematic and random errors, respectively. In this paper, we investigated margins for organs at risk (OAR), yielding the so-called planning organ at risk volume (PRV). For critical organs with a maximum dose (D(max)) constraint, we calculated margins such that D(max) in the PRV is equal to the motion averaged D(max) in the (moving) clinical target volume (CTV). We studied margins for the spinal cord in 10 head-and-neck cases and 10 lung cases, each with two different clinical plans. For critical organs with a dose-volume constraint, we also investigated whether a margin recipe was feasible. For the 20 spinal cords considered, the average margin recipe found was: M(R) = 1.6 Sigma + 0.2 sigma with variations for systematic and random errors of 1.2 Sigma to 1.8 Sigma and -0.2 sigma to 0.6 sigma, respectively. The variations were due to differences in shape and position of the dose distributions with respect to the cords. The recipe also depended significantly on the volume definition of D(max). For critical organs with a dose-volume constraint, the PRV concept appears even less useful because a margin around, e.g., the rectum changes the volume in such a manner that dose-volume constraints stop making sense. The concept of PRV for planning of radiotherapy is of limited use. Therefore, alternative ways should be developed to include geometric uncertainties of OARs in radiotherapy planning.

Three-Dimensional Medical Image Analysis Using Local Dynamic Algorithm Selection on a Multiple-Instruction, Multiple-Data Architecture

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-01-01

is represented by a number, called a Hounsfield Unit (HU), which represents the attenuation within the volume relative to the attenuation of the same...volume of water. Hounsfield Unit values range from -1000 to +3000, with a value of zero assigned to the attenuation of water. A HU value of -1000...represented by a 3D array. Each array element represents a single voxel, and the value of the array entry is the corresponding scaled Hounsfield Unit value

Naval War College Review. Volume 66, Number 3, Summer 2013

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

of-fered a wake - up call in a speech to the Marine Corps Association in 2010: “It [is] time to redefine the purpose and size of the Marine Corps.” The...bring to private industry. In a recent Harvard Business review article, Boris Groysberg and his colleagues note that former military officers make up ...naval war college review Naval War College Press 686 Cushing road Newport, rI 02841-1207 Summer 2013 Volume 66, Number 3 Report Documentation Page

Einstein unmasked

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, Brian

2008-09-01

This is a remarkable and, at times, bewilderingly diverse volume. Consisting of 20 essays that represent the proceedings of a conference held in 2005 in Berlin, Germany, during the International Year of Physics, it offers insights into Einstein's influence on a swathe of human activity. In the introduction the distinguished editors make some remarkable claims for the book, calling it "an unique attempt" and saying that "there is no better introduction to...string theory", while the first essay states "Not since Newton's Principia..." Clearly this is a volume that aspires to high standards.

Systems Design and Pilot Operation of a Regional Center for Technical Processing for the Libraries of the New England State Universities. NELINET, New England Library Information Network. Progress Report, July 1, 1967 - March 30, 1968, Volume II, Appendices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agenbroad, James E.; And Others

Included in this volume of appendices to LI 000 979 are acquisitions flow charts; a current operations questionnaire; an algorithm for splitting the Library of Congress call number; analysis of the Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC II) format; production problems and decisions; operating procedures for information transmittal in the New England…

Development of the ultrastructure of sonic muscles: a kind of neoteny?

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Drumming muscles of some sound-producing fish are ‘champions’ of contraction speed, their rate setting the fundamental frequency. In the piranha, contraction of these muscles at 150 Hz drives a sound at the same frequency. Drumming muscles of different not closely related species show evolutionary convergences. Interestingly, some characters of sonic muscles can also be found in the trunk muscles of newly hatched larvae that are able to maintain tail beat frequencies up to 100 Hz. The aim of this work was to study the development of sound production and sonic and epaxial muscles simultaneously in the red bellied piranhas (Pygocentrus nattereri) to seek for possible common characteristics. Results Call, pulse and period durations increased significantly with the fish size, but the call dominant frequencies decreased, and the number of pulses and the call amplitude formed a bell curve. In epaxial muscles, the fibre diameters of younger fish are first positioned in the graphical slope corresponding to sonic muscles, before diverging. The fibre diameter of older fish trunk muscles was bigger, and the area of the myofibrils was larger than in sonic muscles. Moreover, in two of the biggest fish, the sonic muscles were invaded by fat cells and the sonic muscle ultrastructure was similar to the epaxial one. These two fish were also unable to produce any sound, meaning they lost their ability to contract quickly. Conclusions The volume occupied by myofibrils determines the force of contraction, the volume of sarcoplasmic reticulum sets the contraction frequency, and the volume of mitochondria sets the level of sustained performance. The functional outcomes in muscles are all attributable to shifts in the proportions of those structures. A single delay in the development restricts the quantity of myofibrils, maintains a high proportion of space in the sarcoplasm and develops sarcoplasmic reticulum. High-speed sonic muscles could thus be skeletal muscles with delayed development. This hypothesis has the advantage that it could easily explain why high-speed sonic muscles have evolved so many times in different lineages. PMID:24507247

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.

Impact on the Australian Quitline of new graphic cigarette pack warnings including the Quitline number

PubMed Central

Miller, C L; Hill, D J; Quester, P G; Hiller, J E

2009-01-01

Background: In March 2006, Australia introduced graphic pictorial warnings on cigarette packets. For the first time, packs include the Quitline number. Objective: To measure the combined effect of graphic cigarette pack warnings and printing the Quitline number on packs on calls to the Australian Quitline service. Methods: Calls to the Australian Quitline were monitored over 4 years, 2 years before and after the new packets were introduced. Results: There were twice as many calls to the Quitline in 2006 (the year of introduction), as there were in each of the preceding 2 years. The observed increase in calls exceeds that explained by the accompanying television advertising alone. While call volume tapered back in 2007, it remained at a level higher than before the introduction of new packets. No change was observed in the proportion of first time callers. Conclusion: Introducing graphic cigarette packet warnings and the Quitline number on cigarette packets boosts demand for Quitline services, with likely flow on effects to cessation. PMID:19211613

BMP MODELING CONCEPTS AND SIMULATION

EPA Science Inventory

In order to minimize impacts of urban nonpoint source pollution and associated costs of control (storage and treatment) associated with wet-weather flows (WWFs), stormwater runoff volumes and pollutant loads must be reduced. A number of control strategies and so-called “best man...

CleanFleet final report. Volume 3, vehicle maintenance and durability

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-12-01

The South Coast Alternative Fuels Demonstration, called CleanFleet, was conducted in the Los Angeles area from April 1992 through September 1994. The demonstration consisted of 111 package delivery vans operating on five alternative fuels and the con...

CleanFleet final report. Volume 2, project design and implementation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-12-01

The South Coast Alternative Fuels Demonstration, called CleanFleet, was conducted in the Los Angeles area from April 1992 through September 1994. The project evaluated five alternative motor fuels in commercial fleet service over a two-year period. T...

(Lack of) Measurable Clinical or Knowledge Gains From Resident Participation in Noon Conference.

PubMed

Meyer, Nathaniel B; Gaetke-Udager, Kara; Shampain, Kimberly L; Spencer, Amy; Cohan, Richard H; Davenport, Matthew S

2018-06-01

The objective of this study was to determine whether noon conference attendance by diagnostic radiology residents is predictive of measurable performance. This single-center retrospective Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant cross-sectional study was considered "not regulated" by the institutional review board. All diagnostic radiology residents who began residency training from 2008 to 2012 were included (N = 54). Metrics of clinical performance and knowledge were collected, including junior and senior precall test results, American Board of Radiology scores (z-score transformed), American College of Radiology in-training scores (years 1-3), on-call "great call" and minor and major discrepancy rates, on-call and daytime case volumes, and training rotation scores. Multivariate regression models were constructed to determine if conference attendance, match rank order, or starting year could predict these outcomes. Pearson bivariate correlations were calculated. Senior precall test results were moderately correlated with American Board of Radiology (r = 0.41) and American College of Radiology (r = 0.38-0.48) test results and mean rotation scores (r = 0.41), indicating moderate internal validity. However, conference attendance, match rank order, and year of training did not correlate with (r = -0.16-0.16) or predict (P > .05) measurable resident knowledge. On multivariate analysis, neither match rank order (P = .14-.96) nor conference attendance (P = .10-.88) predicted measurable clinical efficiency or accuracy. Year started training predicted greater cross-sectional case volume (P < .0001, β = 0.361-0.516) and less faculty-to-resident feedback (P < 0.0001, β = [-0.628]-[-0.733]). Residents with lower conference attendance are indistinguishable from those who attend more frequently in a wide range of clinical and knowledge-based performance assessments, suggesting that required attendance may not be necessary to gain certain measurable core competencies. Copyright © 2018 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Primary Care DirectConnect: How the Marriage of Call Center Technology and the EMR Brought Dramatic Results-A Service Quality Improvement Study.

PubMed

Bowman, Brent; Smith, Scott

2010-01-01

Of the key Health Plan patient satisfaction measures used in Kaiser Permanente Colorado, ease of contacting the physician's office with a medical question was consistently rated as the lowest quarterly patient satisfaction measure. Furthermore, medical office staff had become dissatisfied with their inability to contact patients who had previously left messages. In addition to the shear volume of messages, the return calls were often unanswered, leading to subsequent attempts to reach patients, creating additional work for medical office staff.DirectConnect-the project name for a system and set of processes focused on improving patient satisfaction with the ability to contact Primary Care delivery teams by telephone-focuses on isolating medical advice calls from the other types of calls handled by the centralized Call Center. The system identifies the patient using his/her unique electronic medical record number, then automatically routes medical advice calls directly to the appropriate Primary Care Physician (PCP) or staff. The clinician may then evaluate and respond to the patient's need quickly, thus managing more of their panel's requests in real time.How is DirectConnect different from simply having the patient contact their PCP's office directly? The primary difference is "one-number" convenience that allows all patients to dial one number to access their PCP's team. In addition, calls are routed to various staff as available to reduce long telephone queues and wait times.The DirectConnect system has resulted in statistically significant improvement in key service quality measures. Patient satisfaction improved from a pre-implementation nine quarter mean of 55.9% to a post-implementation 12 quarter mean of 70.2%. Fourteen percent to 17% of all Primary Care calls are now handled by the patient's home medical office team, creating a 54% improvement in the centralized Call Center's speed of answering calls in the first quarter post implementation-making no additions to medical office staffing levels. The efficiencies gained by directly connecting medical advice-seeking patients with their Primary Care team resulted in an estimated savings of 198 and 247 cumulative hours per week in unnecessary telephone work for Call Center and medical office staff regionwide.

The allometry of the arcuate body in the postembryonic development of the giant house spider Eratigena atrica.

PubMed

Napiórkowska, Teresa; Kobak, Jarosław

2018-03-10

The brain of arachnids contains a special neuropil area called the arcuate body (AB), whose function has been widely discussed. Its growth and proportion in the brain volume during postembryogenesis have been investigated only in several spider species. Our allometric study is aimed at determining to what extent the development of the AB in Eratigena atrica, a spider with unique biology and behaviour, is similar to the development of this body in other species. We put forward a hypothesis of allometric growth of this body in relation to the volume of the central nervous system (CNS) and its neuropil as well as in relation to the volume of the brain and its neuropil. The analysis of paraffin embedded, H + E stained histological preparations confirmed our hypothesis. The AB developed more slowly than the CNS and the neuropil of both the brain and the CNS. In contrast, it exhibited positive allometry in relation to the volume of the brain. This body increased more than nine times within the postembryonic development. Its proportion in the brain volume varied; the lowest was recorded in larvae and nymphs I; then, it increased in nymphs VI and decreased to 2.93% in nymphs X. We conclude that in Eratigena atrica, the AB develops differently that in orb-weaver and wandering spiders. There is no universal model of the AB development, although in adult spiders, regardless of their behaviour, the proportion of this area in the brain volume is similar.

Convexity, Jensen's inequality, and benefits of noisy or biologically variable life support (Keynote Address)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mutch, W. Alan C.

2005-05-01

Life support with a mechanical ventilator is used to manage patients with a variety of lung diseases including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Recently, management of ARDS has concentrated on ventilating at lower airway pressure using lower tidal volume. A large international study demonstrated a 22% reduction in mortality with the low tidal volume approach. The potential advantages of adding physiologic noise with fractal characteristics to the respiratory rate and tidal volume as delivered by a mechanical ventilator are discussed. A so-called biologically variable ventilator (BVV), incorporating such noise, has been developed. Here we show that the benefits of noisy ventilation - at lower tidal volumes - can be deduced from a simple probabilistic result known as Jensen"s Inequality. Using the local convexity of the pressure-volume relationship in the lung we demonstrate that the addition of noise results in higher mean tidal volume or lower mean airway pressure. The consequence is enhanced gas exchange or less stress on the lungs, both clinically desirable. Jensen"s Inequality has important considerations in engineering, information theory and thermodynamics. Here is an example of the concept applied to medicine that may have important considerations for the clinical management of critically ill patients. Life support devices, such as mechanical ventilators, are of vital use in critical care units and operating rooms. These devices usually have monotonous output. Improving mechanical ventilators and other life support devices may be as simple as adding noise to their output signals.

Rootkit Detection Using a Cross-View Clean Boot Method

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

FindNextFile: [2] Kernel32.dll 4. SSDTHooks r -- ... CALL NtQueryDirectoryFile 5. Code Patch ing - 6. Layered Driver 4 NtQueryDirectoryFile : 7...NTFS Driver 0 Volume Manger Disk Driver [2] I. Disk Driver r ! J IAT hooks take advantage of function calls in applications [13]. When an...f36e923898161fa7be50810288e2f48a 61 Appendix D: Windows Source Code Windows Batch File @echo o f f py thon walk . py pause shutdown − r − t 0 Walk.py in

Using natural archives to track sources and long-term trends of pollution: some final thoughts and suggestions for future directions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Blais, Jules M.; Rosen, Michael R.; Smol, John P.

2015-01-01

Newly produced, as well as some so-called legacy contaminants, continue to be released into the environment at an accelerated rate. Given the general lack of integrated, direct monitoring programs, the use of natural archival records of contaminants will almost certainly continue to increase. We conclude this volume with a short chapter highlighting some of our final thoughts, with a focus on a call to action to develop and apply methodologies to assess the fidelity of the archival record.

The Middle Ages: Family Life.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

School Library Media Activities Monthly, 1996

1996-01-01

Describes a four-volume reference set for elementary and middle school students called "The Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia for Students" edited by William Chester Jordan. Provides a sample lesson which includes library media skills objectives, curriculum objectives, grade levels, resources, instructional roles, activity and procedures for…

METHODS FOR OPTIMIZING URBAN WET-WEATHER CONTROL SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

To minimize impacts of urban nonpoint source pollution and associated costs of control (storage and treatment) associated with wet-weather flows (WWFs), stormwater runoff volumes and pollutant loads must be reduced. A number of control strategies, so-called “best management pract...

ASTROS Enhancements. Volume 2. ASTRO Programmer’s Manual

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-03-01

MMGETB ( ’ BMAT ’, ’RSP’, N*M, ’MAXT’, IB, ISTAT ) CALL MMGETB ( ’CMAT’, ’RSP’, N*M, ’MAXT’, IC, ISTAT ) DO 100 I = 1, N*M II =I - 1 Z ( IC + II ) = Z

AAHE Bulletin, 1999-2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendley, Vicky, Ed.

2000-01-01

The 10 issues of this organizational journal provide news columns, calls for proposals, conference information, and several major articles. Articles in this volume include: (1) "New Path, Same Goal: An Interview with Blenda Wilson" (Miller); (2) "Making a Difference: Service Learning as an Activism Catalyst and Community…

PRISM: An open source framework for the interactive design of GPU volume rendering shaders.

PubMed

Drouin, Simon; Collins, D Louis

2018-01-01

Direct volume rendering has become an essential tool to explore and analyse 3D medical images. Despite several advances in the field, it remains a challenge to produce an image that highlights the anatomy of interest, avoids occlusion of important structures, provides an intuitive perception of shape and depth while retaining sufficient contextual information. Although the computer graphics community has proposed several solutions to address specific visualization problems, the medical imaging community still lacks a general volume rendering implementation that can address a wide variety of visualization use cases while avoiding complexity. In this paper, we propose a new open source framework called the Programmable Ray Integration Shading Model, or PRISM, that implements a complete GPU ray-casting solution where critical parts of the ray integration algorithm can be replaced to produce new volume rendering effects. A graphical user interface allows clinical users to easily experiment with pre-existing rendering effect building blocks drawn from an open database. For programmers, the interface enables real-time editing of the code inside the blocks. We show that in its default mode, the PRISM framework produces images very similar to those produced by a widely-adopted direct volume rendering implementation in VTK at comparable frame rates. More importantly, we demonstrate the flexibility of the framework by showing how several volume rendering techniques can be implemented in PRISM with no more than a few lines of code. Finally, we demonstrate the simplicity of our system in a usability study with 5 medical imaging expert subjects who have none or little experience with volume rendering. The PRISM framework has the potential to greatly accelerate development of volume rendering for medical applications by promoting sharing and enabling faster development iterations and easier collaboration between engineers and clinical personnel.

PRISM: An open source framework for the interactive design of GPU volume rendering shaders

PubMed Central

Collins, D. Louis

2018-01-01

Direct volume rendering has become an essential tool to explore and analyse 3D medical images. Despite several advances in the field, it remains a challenge to produce an image that highlights the anatomy of interest, avoids occlusion of important structures, provides an intuitive perception of shape and depth while retaining sufficient contextual information. Although the computer graphics community has proposed several solutions to address specific visualization problems, the medical imaging community still lacks a general volume rendering implementation that can address a wide variety of visualization use cases while avoiding complexity. In this paper, we propose a new open source framework called the Programmable Ray Integration Shading Model, or PRISM, that implements a complete GPU ray-casting solution where critical parts of the ray integration algorithm can be replaced to produce new volume rendering effects. A graphical user interface allows clinical users to easily experiment with pre-existing rendering effect building blocks drawn from an open database. For programmers, the interface enables real-time editing of the code inside the blocks. We show that in its default mode, the PRISM framework produces images very similar to those produced by a widely-adopted direct volume rendering implementation in VTK at comparable frame rates. More importantly, we demonstrate the flexibility of the framework by showing how several volume rendering techniques can be implemented in PRISM with no more than a few lines of code. Finally, we demonstrate the simplicity of our system in a usability study with 5 medical imaging expert subjects who have none or little experience with volume rendering. The PRISM framework has the potential to greatly accelerate development of volume rendering for medical applications by promoting sharing and enabling faster development iterations and easier collaboration between engineers and clinical personnel. PMID:29534069

Validation of geometric measurements of the left atrium and pulmonary veins for analysis of reverse structural remodeling following ablation therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rettmann, M. E.; Holmes, D. R., III; Gunawan, M. S.; Ge, X.; Karwoski, R. A.; Breen, J. F.; Packer, D. L.; Robb, R. A.

2012-03-01

Geometric analysis of the left atrium and pulmonary veins is important for studying reverse structural remodeling following cardiac ablation therapy. It has been shown that the left atrium decreases in volume and the pulmonary vein ostia decrease in diameter following ablation therapy. Most analysis techniques, however, require laborious manual tracing of image cross-sections. Pulmonary vein diameters are typically measured at the junction between the left atrium and pulmonary veins, called the pulmonary vein ostia, with manually drawn lines on volume renderings or on image cross-sections. In this work, we describe a technique for making semi-automatic measurements of the left atrium and pulmonary vein ostial diameters from high resolution CT scans and multi-phase datasets. The left atrium and pulmonary veins are segmented from a CT volume using a 3D volume approach and cut planes are interactively positioned to separate the pulmonary veins from the body of the left atrium. The cut plane is also used to compute the pulmonary vein ostial diameter. Validation experiments are presented which demonstrate the ability to repeatedly measure left atrial volume and pulmonary vein diameters from high resolution CT scans, as well as the feasibility of this approach for analyzing dynamic, multi-phase datasets. In the high resolution CT scans the left atrial volume measurements show high repeatability with approximately 4% intra-rater repeatability and 8% inter-rater repeatability. Intra- and inter-rater repeatability for pulmonary vein diameter measurements range from approximately 2 to 4 mm. For the multi-phase CT datasets, differences in left atrial volumes between a standard slice-by-slice approach and the proposed 3D volume approach are small, with percent differences on the order of 3% to 6%.

Use of a Parabolic Microphone to Detect Hidden Subjects in Search and Rescue.

PubMed

Bowditch, Nathaniel L; Searing, Stanley K; Thomas, Jeffrey A; Thompson, Peggy K; Tubis, Jacqueline N; Bowditch, Sylvia P

2018-03-01

This study compares a parabolic microphone to unaided hearing in detecting and comprehending hidden callers at ranges of 322 to 2510 m. Eight subjects were placed 322 to 2510 m away from a central listening point. The subjects were concealed, and their calling volume was calibrated. In random order, subjects were asked to call the name of a state for 5 minutes. Listeners with parabolic microphones and others with unaided hearing recorded the direction of the call (detection) and name of the state (comprehension). The parabolic microphone was superior to unaided hearing in both detecting subjects and comprehending their calls, with an effect size (Cohen's d) of 1.58 for detection and 1.55 for comprehension. For each of the 8 hidden subjects, there were 24 detection attempts with the parabolic microphone and 54 to 60 attempts by unaided listeners. At the longer distances (1529-2510 m), the parabolic microphone was better at detecting callers (83% vs 51%; P<0.00001 by χ 2 ) and comprehension (57% vs 12%; P<0.00001). At the shorter distances (322-1190 m), the parabolic microphone offered advantages in detection (100% vs 83%; P=0.000023) and comprehension (86% vs 51%; P<0.00001), although not as pronounced as at the longer distances. Use of a 66-cm (26-inch) parabolic microphone significantly improved detection and comprehension of hidden calling subjects at distances between 322 and 2510 m when compared with unaided hearing. This study supports the use of a parabolic microphone in search and rescue to locate responsive subjects in favorable weather and terrain. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Oil Formation Volume Factor Determination Through a Fused Intelligence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gholami, Amin

2016-12-01

Volume change of oil between reservoir condition and standard surface condition is called oil formation volume factor (FVF), which is very time, cost and labor intensive to determine. This study proposes an accurate, rapid and cost-effective approach for determining FVF from reservoir temperature, dissolved gas oil ratio, and specific gravity of both oil and dissolved gas. Firstly, structural risk minimization (SRM) principle of support vector regression (SVR) was employed to construct a robust model for estimating FVF from the aforementioned inputs. Subsequently, an alternating conditional expectation (ACE) was used for approximating optimal transformations of input/output data to a higher correlated data and consequently developing a sophisticated model between transformed data. Eventually, a committee machine with SVR and ACE was constructed through the use of hybrid genetic algorithm-pattern search (GA-PS). Committee machine integrates ACE and SVR models in an optimal linear combination such that makes benefit of both methods. A group of 342 data points was used for model development and a group of 219 data points was used for blind testing the constructed model. Results indicated that the committee machine performed better than individual models.

REVIEW: High pressure NMR study of proteins - seeking roots for function, evolution, disease and food applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akasaka, Kazuyuki

2010-12-01

NMR experiments at variable pressure reveal a wide range of conformation of a globular protein spanning from within the folded ensemble to the fully unfolded ensemble, herewith collectively called "high-energy conformers". The observation of "high-energy conformers" in a wide variety of globular proteins has led to the "volume theorem": the partial molar volume of a protein decreases with the decrease in its conformational order. Since "high-energy conformers" are intrinsically more reactive than the basic folded conformer, they could play decisive roles in all phenomena of proteins, namely function, environmental adaptation and misfolding. Based on the information on high-energy conformers and the rules on their partial volume in its monomeric state and amyloidosis, one may have a general view on what is happening on proteins under pressure. Moreover, one may even choose a high-energy conformer of a protein with pressure as variable for a particular purpose. Bridging "high-energy conformers" to macroscopic pressure effects could be a key to success in pressure application to biology, medicine, food technology and industry in the near future.

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.

Geological Studies of the Salmon River Suture Zone and Adjoining Areas, West-Central Idaho and Eastern Oregon

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kuntz, Mel A.; Snee, Lawrence W.

2007-01-01

The papers in this volume describe petrologic, structural, and geochemical studies related to geographic areas adjacent to and including the Salmon River suture zone. We therefore start this volume by defining and giving a general description of that suture zone. The western margin of the North American continent was the setting for complex terrane accretion and large-scale terrane translation during Late Cretaceous and Eocene time. In western Idaho, the boundary that separates the Paleozoic-Mesozoic accreted oceanic, island-arc rocks on the west from Precambrian continental metamorphic and sedimentary rocks on the east is called the Salmon River suture zone (SRSZ). Readers will note that the term 'Salmon River suture zone' is used in the title of this volume and in the text of several of the papers and the term 'western Idaho suture zone' is used in several other papers in this volume. Both terms refer to the same geologic feature and reflect historical usage and custom; thus no attempt has been made by the editors to impose or demand a single term by the various authors of this volume. The suture zone is marked by strong lithologic and chemical differences. Rocks adjacent to the suture zone are characterized by high-grade metamorphism and much structural deformation. In addition, the zone was the locus of emplacement of plutons ranging in composition from tonalite to monzogranite during and after the final stages of accretion of the oceanic terrane to the North American continent. The contents of this paper consists of seven chapters.

The training intensity distribution among well-trained and elite endurance athletes

PubMed Central

Stöggl, Thomas L.; Sperlich, Billy

2015-01-01

Researchers have retrospectively analyzed the training intensity distribution (TID) of nationally and internationally competitive athletes in different endurance disciplines to determine the optimal volume and intensity for maximal adaptation. The majority of studies present a “pyramidal” TID with a high proportion of high volume, low intensity training (HVLIT). Some world-class athletes appear to adopt a so-called “polarized” TID (i.e., significant % of HVLIT and high-intensity training) during certain phases of the season. However, emerging prospective randomized controlled studies have demonstrated superior responses of variables related to endurance when applying a polarized TID in well-trained and recreational individuals when compared with a TID that emphasizes HVLIT or threshold training. The aims of the present review are to: (1) summarize the main responses of retrospective and prospective studies exploring TID; (2) provide a systematic overview on TIDs during preparation, pre-competition, and competition phases in different endurance disciplines and performance levels; (3) address whether one TID has demonstrated greater efficacy than another; and (4) highlight research gaps in an effort to direct future scientific studies. PMID:26578968

The training intensity distribution among well-trained and elite endurance athletes.

PubMed

Stöggl, Thomas L; Sperlich, Billy

2015-01-01

Researchers have retrospectively analyzed the training intensity distribution (TID) of nationally and internationally competitive athletes in different endurance disciplines to determine the optimal volume and intensity for maximal adaptation. The majority of studies present a "pyramidal" TID with a high proportion of high volume, low intensity training (HVLIT). Some world-class athletes appear to adopt a so-called "polarized" TID (i.e., significant % of HVLIT and high-intensity training) during certain phases of the season. However, emerging prospective randomized controlled studies have demonstrated superior responses of variables related to endurance when applying a polarized TID in well-trained and recreational individuals when compared with a TID that emphasizes HVLIT or threshold training. The aims of the present review are to: (1) summarize the main responses of retrospective and prospective studies exploring TID; (2) provide a systematic overview on TIDs during preparation, pre-competition, and competition phases in different endurance disciplines and performance levels; (3) address whether one TID has demonstrated greater efficacy than another; and (4) highlight research gaps in an effort to direct future scientific studies.

Exterior dimension of fat fractals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grebogi, C.; Mcdonald, S. W.; Ott, E.; Yorke, J. A.

1985-01-01

Geometric scaling properties of fat fractal sets (fractals with finite volume) are discussed and characterized via the introduction of a new dimension-like quantity which is called the exterior dimension. In addition, it is shown that the exterior dimension is related to the 'uncertainty exponent' previously used in studies of fractal basin boundaries, and it is shown how this connection can be exploited to determine the exterior dimension. Three illustrative applications are described, two in nonlinear dynamics and one dealing with blood flow in the body. Possible relevance to porous materials and ballistic driven aggregation is also noted.

Perspectives on Policy and the Value of Nursing Science in a Big Data Era.

PubMed

Gephart, Sheila M; Davis, Mary; Shea, Kimberly

2018-01-01

As data volume explodes, nurse scientists grapple with ways to adapt to the big data movement without jeopardizing its epistemic values and theoretical focus that celebrate while acknowledging the authority and unity of its body of knowledge. In this article, the authors describe big data and emphasize ways that nursing science brings value to its study. Collective nursing voices that call for more nursing engagement in the big data era are answered with ways to adapt and integrate theoretical and domain expertise from nursing into data science.

Telecommunications in Education (T.I.E.) News. 1996-1997.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owen, Trevor, Ed.

1997-01-01

This document consists of one volume year (four quarterly issues) of the journal "Telecommunications in Education News." Each issue contains a call for articles and three regular columns: "Editor's Message" (Trevor Owen), "President's Message" (Chuck Lynd), and "NewsBits" (Gleason Sackman, Ed.). Article…

The Achiever. Volume 4, Number 4

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashby, Nicole, Ed.

2005-01-01

"The Achiever" is published semi-monthly during the school year for parents and community leaders. Each issue contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Spellings Calls High School Reform a 'National Priority'"; (2) "Leading…

Identification and feasibility test of specialized rural pedestrian safety training. Volume 1, Program development and evaluation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-03-01

This report describes the development and evaluation of a K-12 pedestrian safety curriculum for suburban and rural schools. The three program curriculum, called PEDSAFE, was developed to combat pedestrian accidents which victimize suburban/rural chil...

Divert to ULTRA: differences in infused volumes and clearance in two on-line hemodiafiltration treatments.

PubMed

Panichi, Vincenzo; De Ferrari, Giacomo; Saffioti, Stefano; Sidoti, Antonino; Biagioli, Marina; Bianchi, Stefano; Imperiali, Patrizio; Gabbrielli, Claudio; Conti, Paolo; Patrone, Pietro; Falqui, Valeria; Rombolà, Giuseppe; Mura, Carlo; Icardi, Andrea; Mulas, Donatella; Rosati, Alberto; Santori, Francesco; Mannarino, Antonio; Tomei, Valeria; Bertucci, Andrea; Steckiph, Denis; Palla, Roberto

2012-06-01

Mixed diffusive-convective dialysis therapies offer greater removal capabilities than conventional dialysis. The aim of this study was to compare two different on-line, post-dilution hemodiafiltration (HDF) treatments with regard to achieved convective volume and middle-molecule dialysis efficiency: standard volume control (sOL-HDF) and automated control of the transmembrane pressure (TMP) (UC-HDF). We enrolled 30 ESRD patients (55.9 ± 14.0 years, 20/10 M/F) in a randomized, prospective, cross-over study. The patients received a 3-month period of sOL-HDF followed by UC-HDF for a further 3 months, or vice versa, using the same dialysis machine. In sOL-HDF, fixed exchange volumes were set according to a filtration fraction greater than or equal to 25%. In UC-HDF therapy, the exchanged volume was driven by a biofeedback system controlling the TMP and its set point in a double loop. Patients maintained their treatment time, dialyzer, blood flow rate, and anticoagulant regimen unchanged throughout the study. Greater convective volumes were achieved in UC-HDF than in sOL-HDF (23.8 ± 3.9 vs.19.8 ± 4.8 L; p<0.001) with high pre-dialysis Ht value (sOL-HDF 34.0 ± 4.5% and UC-HDF 34.0 ± 4.4%; p = 0.91). The average clearance values of ß2m and P were higher in UC-HDF than in sOL-HDF (respectively 123 ± 24 vs. 111 ± 22 ml/min, p<0.002 and 158 ± 26 vs. 152 ± 25 ml/min, p<0.05). Moreover, the UC-HDF mode led to a significantly increased rate of call-free sessions from 88% to 97% (p<0.0001). This study showed that the biofeedback module, applied to the automatic control of TMP in on-line HDF, results in higher convective volumes and correspondingly higher ß2m and P clearances. By making the HDF treatment more automated and less complex to perform, it significantly reduced the staff workload.

The Gaseous Explosive Reaction : The Effect of Inert Gases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevens, F W

1928-01-01

Attention is called in this report to previous investigations of gaseous explosive reactions carried out under constant volume conditions, where the effect of inert gases on the thermodynamic equilibrium was determined. The advantage of constant pressure methods over those of constant volume as applied to studies of the gaseous explosive reaction is pointed out and the possibility of realizing for this purpose a constant pressure bomb mentioned. The application of constant pressure methods to the study of gaseous explosive reactions, made possible by the use of a constant pressure bomb, led to the discovery of an important kinetic relation connecting the rate of propagation of the zone of explosive reaction within the active gases, with the initial concentrations of those gases: s = K(sub 1)(A)(sup n1)(B)(sup n2)(C)(sup n3)------. By a method analogous to that followed in determining the effect of inert gases on the equilibrium constant K, the present paper records an attempt to determine their kinetic effect upon the expression given above.

Positron accumulation effect in particles embedded in a low-density matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dryzek, Jerzy; Siemek, Krzysztof

2015-02-01

Systematic studies of the so-called positron accumulation effect for samples with particles embedded in a matrix are reported. This effect is related to energetic positrons which penetrate inhomogeneous medium. Due to differences in the linear absorption coefficient, different amounts of positrons are accumulated and annihilate in the identical volume of both materials. Positron lifetime spectroscopy and Doppler broadening of the annihilation line using Na-22 positrons were applied to the studies of the epoxy resin samples with embedded micro-sized particles of transition metals, i.e., Ni, Sn, Mo, W, and nonmetal particles, i.e., Si and NaF. The significant difference between the determined fraction of positrons annihilating in the particles and the particle volume fraction indicates the positron accumulation effect. The simple phenomenological model and Monte Carlo simulations are able to describe the main features of the obtained dependencies. The aluminum alloy with embedded Sn nanoparticles is also considered for demonstration differences between the accumulation and another related effect, i.e., the positron affinity.

Solid Geometric Modeling - The Key to Improved Materiel Acquisition from Concept to Deployment

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-09-01

M. J. Reisinger, "The GIFT Code User Manual; Volume I, Introduction and Input Requirements (U)," BRL Report No. 1802, July 1975. AD# A078364. 8 G...G. Kuehl, L. W. Bain, Jr., M. J. Reisinger, "The GIFT Code User Manual; Volume II, The Output Options (U)," USA ARRAOCOM Report No. 02189, Sep 79, AD...A078364 . • These results are plotted by a code called RunShot written by L. M. Rybak which takes input from GIFT and plots color shotlines on a

User's operating procedures. Volume 3: Projects directorate information programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haris, C. G.; Harris, D. K.

1985-01-01

A review of the user's operating procedures for the scout project automatic data system, called SPADS is presented. SPADS is the results of the past seven years of software development on a prime mini-computer. SPADS was developed as a single entry, multiple cross-reference data management and information retrieval system for the automation of Project office tasks, including engineering, financial, managerial, and clerical support. This volume, three of three, provides the instructions to operate the projects directorate information programs in data retrieval and file maintenance via the user friendly menu drivers.

Comparison of human septal nuclei MRI measurements using automated segmentation and a new manual protocol based on histology

PubMed Central

Butler, Tracy; Zaborszky, Laszlo; Pirraglia, Elizabeth; Li, Jinyu; Wang, Xiuyuan Hugh; Li, Yi; Tsui, Wai; Talos, Delia; Devinsky, Orrin; Kuchna, Izabela; Nowicki, Krzysztof; French, Jacqueline; Kuzniecky, Rubin; Wegiel, Jerzy; Glodzik, Lidia; Rusinek, Henry; DeLeon, Mony J.; Thesen, Thomas

2014-01-01

Septal nuclei, located in basal forebrain, are strongly connected with hippocampi and important in learning and memory, but have received limited research attention in human MRI studies. While probabilistic maps for estimating septal volume on MRI are now available, they have not been independently validated against manual tracing of MRI, typically considered the gold standard for delineating brain structures. We developed a protocol for manual tracing of the human septal region on MRI based on examination of neuroanatomical specimens. We applied this tracing protocol to T1 MRI scans (n=86) from subjects with temporal epilepsy and healthy controls to measure septal volume. To assess the inter-rater reliability of the protocol, a second tracer used the same protocol on 20 scans that were randomly selected from the 72 healthy controls. In addition to measuring septal volume, maximum septal thickness between the ventricles was measured and recorded. The same scans (n=86) were also analysed using septal probabilistic maps and Dartel toolbox in SPM. Results show that our manual tracing algorithm is reliable, and that septal volume measurements obtained via manual and automated methods correlate significantly with each other (p<001). Both manual and automated methods detected significantly enlarged septal nuclei in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy in accord with a proposed compensatory neuroplastic process related to the strong connections between septal nuclei and hippocampi. Septal thickness, which was simple to measure with excellent inter-rater reliability, correlated well with both manual and automated septal volume, suggesting it could serve as an easy-to-measure surrogate for septal volume in future studies. Our results call attention to the important though understudied human septal region, confirm its enlargement in temporal lobe epilepsy, and provide a reliable new manual delineation protocol that will facilitate continued study of this critical region. PMID:24736183

Comparison of human septal nuclei MRI measurements using automated segmentation and a new manual protocol based on histology.

PubMed

Butler, Tracy; Zaborszky, Laszlo; Pirraglia, Elizabeth; Li, Jinyu; Wang, Xiuyuan Hugh; Li, Yi; Tsui, Wai; Talos, Delia; Devinsky, Orrin; Kuchna, Izabela; Nowicki, Krzysztof; French, Jacqueline; Kuzniecky, Rubin; Wegiel, Jerzy; Glodzik, Lidia; Rusinek, Henry; deLeon, Mony J; Thesen, Thomas

2014-08-15

Septal nuclei, located in basal forebrain, are strongly connected with hippocampi and important in learning and memory, but have received limited research attention in human MRI studies. While probabilistic maps for estimating septal volume on MRI are now available, they have not been independently validated against manual tracing of MRI, typically considered the gold standard for delineating brain structures. We developed a protocol for manual tracing of the human septal region on MRI based on examination of neuroanatomical specimens. We applied this tracing protocol to T1 MRI scans (n=86) from subjects with temporal epilepsy and healthy controls to measure septal volume. To assess the inter-rater reliability of the protocol, a second tracer used the same protocol on 20 scans that were randomly selected from the 72 healthy controls. In addition to measuring septal volume, maximum septal thickness between the ventricles was measured and recorded. The same scans (n=86) were also analyzed using septal probabilistic maps and DARTEL toolbox in SPM. Results show that our manual tracing algorithm is reliable, and that septal volume measurements obtained via manual and automated methods correlate significantly with each other (p<.001). Both manual and automated methods detected significantly enlarged septal nuclei in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy in accord with a proposed compensatory neuroplastic process related to the strong connections between septal nuclei and hippocampi. Septal thickness, which was simple to measure with excellent inter-rater reliability, correlated well with both manual and automated septal volume, suggesting it could serve as an easy-to-measure surrogate for septal volume in future studies. Our results call attention to the important though understudied human septal region, confirm its enlargement in temporal lobe epilepsy, and provide a reliable new manual delineation protocol that will facilitate continued study of this critical region. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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.

Studies in astronomical time series analysis. IV - Modeling chaotic and random processes with linear filters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scargle, Jeffrey D.

1990-01-01

While chaos arises only in nonlinear systems, standard linear time series models are nevertheless useful for analyzing data from chaotic processes. This paper introduces such a model, the chaotic moving average. This time-domain model is based on the theorem that any chaotic process can be represented as the convolution of a linear filter with an uncorrelated process called the chaotic innovation. A technique, minimum phase-volume deconvolution, is introduced to estimate the filter and innovation. The algorithm measures the quality of a model using the volume covered by the phase-portrait of the innovation process. Experiments on synthetic data demonstrate that the algorithm accurately recovers the parameters of simple chaotic processes. Though tailored for chaos, the algorithm can detect both chaos and randomness, distinguish them from each other, and separate them if both are present. It can also recover nonminimum-delay pulse shapes in non-Gaussian processes, both random and chaotic.

Rain volume estimation over areas using satellite and radar data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doneaud, A. A.; Vonderhaar, T. H.

1985-01-01

An investigation of the feasibility of rain volume estimation using satellite data following a technique recently developed with radar data called the Arera Time Integral was undertaken. Case studies were selected on the basis of existing radar and satellite data sets which match in space and time. Four multicell clusters were analyzed. Routines for navigation remapping amd smoothing of satellite images were performed. Visible counts were normalized for solar zenith angle. A radar sector of interest was defined to delineate specific radar echo clusters for each radar time throughout the radar echo cluster lifetime. A satellite sector of interest was defined by applying small adjustments to the radar sector using a manual processing technique. The radar echo area, the IR maximum counts and the IR counts matching radar echo areas were found to evolve similarly, except for the decaying phase of the cluster where the cirrus debris keeps the IR counts high.

Quantitative Microstructure Characterization of a NMC Electrode

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

Usseglio Viretta, Francois L; Smith, Kandler A

Performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is strongly influenced by the porous microstructure of their electrodes. In this work, 3D microstructures of calendared and un-calendared positive electrode LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC) have been investigated in order to extract relevant properties useful for battery modeling. Transport (volume fraction, connectivity, particle size and tortuosity) and electrochemical (specific surface area) properties have been calculated for the pore and the active material. Special attention has been paid to determine the size of the so-called representative volume element (RVE) required to be statistically representative of the heterogeneous medium. Several parameters have been calculated using a panel of differentmore » numerical methods in order to compare their results. Besides, the image level of detail has been evaluated (using original criteria based upon edge detection) to assess the overall data quality available for the study.« less

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.

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

Army War College Review: Student Publications. Volume 2, Issue 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-01

2011 (called the Jasmine Revolution), Obama employed carrots and sticks in a year-long effort to promote a relatively fair and free election... essence , serves to justify terrorist executions for both terrorists and their supporters. Denying even the possibility of negotiation not only serves

AAHE Bulletin, 1998-99.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchese, Theodore J., Ed.

1999-01-01

The 10 issues of this organizational journal provide news columns, calls for proposals, conference information, and several major articles. Articles in this volume include: "Restructure? You Bet! An Interview with Change Expert Alan E. Guskin" (Ted Marchese); "The State of the 'Engaged Campus'" (Barbara A. Holland and Sherril B. Gelmon); "What…

Assessing Growth of Student Reasoning Skills in Honors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood-Nartker, Jeanneane; Hinck, Shelly; Hullender, Ren

2016-01-01

Assessment and evaluation practices within honors programs have attracted considerable attention within the honors academic community, e.g., the spring/summer 2006 volume of the "Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council." Calls for carefully created and constructed assessment activities within honors programs have met with mixed…

Design-Based Implementation Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeMahieu, Paul G.; Nordstrum, Lee E.; Potvin, Ashley Seidel

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper is second of seven in this volume elaborating different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called design-based implementation research (DBIR). The approach used in this paper is aimed at iteratively improving the quality of classroom teaching and learning practices in defined problem…

Military Review. Volume 90, Number 2, March-April 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

because their families’ survival depends on the child working elsewhere. Yet, the local population may greatly appreciate water wells and irrigation...terror he associated with flashbacks he called “war porn .” Properly diagnosed with PTSD in 2001, Doucette found relief after he began treatment and

Educational Reform: A Deweyan Perspective. Critical Educational Practice. Volume 10.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simpson, Douglas J.; Jackson, Michael J. B.

This book re-examines the reflective, controversial voice of John Dewey. Educators and policymakers must take into account various social, political, economic, philosophical, and professional considerations that influence both formal and informal education. Following the introduction by Harvey Neufeldt called "School Reform in Dewey's…

Three-Dimensional High-Order Spectral Finite Volume Method for Unstructured Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Yen; Vinokur, Marcel; Wang, Z. J.; Kwak, Dochan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Many areas require a very high-order accurate numerical solution of conservation laws for complex shapes. This paper deals with the extension to three dimensions of the Spectral Finite Volume (SV) method for unstructured grids, which was developed to solve such problems. We first summarize the limitations of traditional methods such as finite-difference, and finite-volume for both structured and unstructured grids. We then describe the basic formulation of the spectral finite volume method. What distinguishes the SV method from conventional high-order finite-volume methods for unstructured triangular or tetrahedral grids is the data reconstruction. Instead of using a large stencil of neighboring cells to perform a high-order reconstruction, the stencil is constructed by partitioning each grid cell, called a spectral volume (SV), into 'structured' sub-cells, called control volumes (CVs). One can show that if all the SV cells are partitioned into polygonal or polyhedral CV sub-cells in a geometrically similar manner, the reconstructions for all the SVs become universal, irrespective of their shapes, sizes, orientations, or locations. It follows that the reconstruction is reduced to a weighted sum of unknowns involving just a few simple adds and multiplies, and those weights are universal and can be pre-determined once for all. The method is thus very efficient, accurate, and yet geometrically flexible. The most critical part of the SV method is the partitioning of the SV into CVs. In this paper we present the partitioning of a tetrahedral SV into polyhedral CVs with one free parameter for polynomial reconstructions up to degree of precision five. (Note that the order of accuracy of the method is one order higher than the reconstruction degree of precision.) The free parameter will be determined by minimizing the Lebesgue constant of the reconstruction matrix or similar criteria to obtain optimized partitions. The details of an efficient, parallelizable code to solve three-dimensional problems for any order of accuracy are then presented. Important aspects of the data structure are discussed. Comparisons with the Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method are made. Numerical examples for wave propagation problems are presented.

Regional gray matter volume in the posterior precuneus is associated with general self-efficacy.

PubMed

Sugiura, Ayaka; Aoki, Ryuta; Murayama, Kou; Yomogida, Yukihito; Haji, Tomoki; Saito, Atsuko; Hasegawa, Toshikazu; Matsumoto, Kenji

2016-12-14

Motivation in doing a task is influenced not only by the expected outcome of the task but also by the belief that one has in successfully executing the task. Over time, individuals accumulate experiences that contribute toward a general belief in one's overall ability to successfully perform tasks, which is called general self-efficacy (GSE). We investigated the relationship between regional gray matter volume and individual differences in GSE. Brain anatomy was analyzed using magnetic resonance images obtained from 64 healthy right-handed participants who had completed Sherer's GSE scale. After controlling for other factors related to motivation, age, sex, and total gray matter volume of each participant, results showed that regional gray matter volume in the posterior part of the precuneus significantly and positively correlated with the GSE score. These results suggest that one's accumulated experiences of success and failure, which contribute toward GSE, also influence the anatomical characteristics of the precuneus.

Modular acute system for general surgery: hand over the operation, not the patient.

PubMed

Poole, Garth H; Glyn, Tamara; Srinivasa, Sanket; Hill, Andrew G

2012-03-01

Various models have been proposed to effectively provide acute surgical care in Australasia. Recently, General Surgeons Australia (GSA) has published a 12-point plan with guiding principles on this matter. This study describes a model of providing acute general surgical care in a high-volume institution, evaluates clinical outcomes and critically appraises the system against the GSA 12-point plan. The acute care system is qualitatively described with quantitative measures of workload. The outcomes of acute laparoscopic cholecystectomy were used as a proxy of system performance. The system was critically appraised against the GSA 12-point plan. Teams are on call once per week with each surgeon on call once per fortnight. The three key elements of acute management - collecting patients, post-acute ward round and operating - are treated as modules. The patient remains under the care of the admitting consultant but is often operated on by another team. From June 2009 to 2010, there were 7429 acute general surgical admissions (mean: 20.4 patients per day) with 2999 acute operations (mean: 8.4 operations per day). The other activities of the department were not compromised. In that time, 388 acute laparoscopic cholecystectomies were performed with a conversion rate of 1.3% and no major bile duct injury. The system is compatible with the GSA 12-point plan. This study describes an efficient and safe system for providing acute general surgical care in a high-volume setting with satisfactory clinical outcomes. It is compatible with the GSA 12-point plan. © 2012 The Authors. ANZ Journal of Surgery © 2012 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

In vitro performance testing of a pediatric oxygenator with an integrated pulsatile pump.

PubMed

Borchardt, Ralf; Schlanstein, Peter; Mager, Ilona; Arens, Jutta; Schmitz-Rode, Thomas; Steinseifer, Ulrich

2012-01-01

For different lung and heart diseases (e.g., acute respiratory distress syndrome, congenital heart failure, and cardiomyopathy) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is a well-established therapy, particularly in the field of neonatal and pediatric medicine. To reduce the priming volume of the extracorporeal circuit, different components can be combined. In this study, an oval-shaped oxygenator (called ExMeTrA) with integrated pulsatile pump was tested in vitro using porcine blood. A feasibility study regarding the performance of collapsing and expanding silicone tubes within an oxygenator fiber bundle as a pulsatile pump was previously completed with successful results. The findings of this study improve upon the previous feasibility results, particularly in terms of gas exchange and filling volume. Five modules were manufactured in sizes of 20 ± 2.2 ml (priming volume) with fiber surface areas of 0.24 ± 0.027 m(2) and an analytically calculated volume pumping capacity of 692 ± 75 ml/min. The modules were made of polymethylpentene fibers with dense outer layer to permit long-term applications. The gas exchange rates at a gas/blood flow ratio of 2:1 were between 64 and 72.7 ml(O)(2)/l(blood) and between 62.5 and 81.5 ml/l(blood), depending on the blood flow. The individual module's pumping capacity ranged from 200-500 ml/min thus providing room for further improvements. In order to enhance the pumping capacity while maintaining sufficient gas exchange rates future optimization, adjustments will be made to the inlet and outlet geometries.

Loading the Saturn I S-IV Stage into Pregnant Guppy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1965-01-01

The photograph shows the loading operation of the Saturn I S-IV stage (second stage) into the Pregnant Guppy at the Redstone Airfield, Huntsville, Alabama. The Pregnant Guppy was a Boeing B-377 Stratocruiser modified to transport various stages of Saturn launch vehicles. The modification project called for lengthening the fuselage to accommodate the S-IV stage. After the flight test of that modification, phase two called for the enlargement of the plane's cabin section to approximately double its normal volume. The fuselage separated just aft of the wing's trailing edge to load and unload the S-IV and other cargoes.

3D geometric split-merge segmentation of brain MRI datasets.

PubMed

Marras, Ioannis; Nikolaidis, Nikolaos; Pitas, Ioannis

2014-05-01

In this paper, a novel method for MRI volume segmentation based on region adaptive splitting and merging is proposed. The method, called Adaptive Geometric Split Merge (AGSM) segmentation, aims at finding complex geometrical shapes that consist of homogeneous geometrical 3D regions. In each volume splitting step, several splitting strategies are examined and the most appropriate is activated. A way to find the maximal homogeneity axis of the volume is also introduced. Along this axis, the volume splitting technique divides the entire volume in a number of large homogeneous 3D regions, while at the same time, it defines more clearly small homogeneous regions within the volume in such a way that they have greater probabilities of survival at the subsequent merging step. Region merging criteria are proposed to this end. The presented segmentation method has been applied to brain MRI medical datasets to provide segmentation results when each voxel is composed of one tissue type (hard segmentation). The volume splitting procedure does not require training data, while it demonstrates improved segmentation performance in noisy brain MRI datasets, when compared to the state of the art methods. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Initial parametric study of the flammability of plume releases in Hanford waste tanks

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

Antoniak, Z.I.; Recknagle, K.P.

This study comprised systematic analyses of waste tank headspace flammability following a plume-type of gas release from the waste. First, critical parameters affecting plume flammability were selected, evaluated, and refined. As part of the evaluation the effect of ventilation (breathing) air inflow on the convective flow field inside the tank headspace was assessed, and the magnitude of the so-called {open_quotes}numerical diffusion{close_quotes} on numerical simulation accuracy was investigated. Both issues were concluded to be negligible influences on predicted flammable gas concentrations in the tank headspace. Previous validation of the TEMPEST code against experimental data is also discussed, with calculated results inmore » good agreements with experimental data. Twelve plume release simulations were then run, using release volumes and flow rates that were thought to cover the range of actual release volumes and rates. The results indicate that most plume-type releases remain flammable only during the actual release ends. Only for very large releases representing a significant fraction of the volume necessary to make the entire mixed headspace flammable (many thousands of cubic feet) can flammable concentrations persist for several hours after the release ends. However, as in the smaller plumes, only a fraction of the total release volume is flammable at any one time. The transient evolution of several plume sizes is illustrated in a number of color contour plots that provide insight into plume mixing behavior.« less

Financial Analysis of the Northeast Corridor Development Project : Volume 1. Main Text and Appendixes A Through D.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-11-01

A high speed passenger rail service between Washington, D.C., and Boston was called for in the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973. Planning for the service has been conducted by the Office of Northeast Corridor Development in the Federal Railro...

Training Community Modeling and Simulation Business Plan, 2007 Edition. Volume 2: Data Call Responses and Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-02-01

services; and • Other reconstruction assistance. D-14 17. Train Forces on Military Assistance to Civil Authorities ( MACA ) Develop environments...for training in the planning and execution of MACA in support of disaster relief (natural and man-made), military assistance for civil disturbances

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 1996-97.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hixson, Adalyn, Ed.; Gilroy, Marilyn, Ed.

1997-01-01

This document consists of all of Volume 7 (26 issues) of the journal, "The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education," a biweekly journal that addresses issues in higher education for Hispanic Americans. Each issue presents several feature articles, a policy update called "Outlook on Washington," and a sample student success story.…

Exciting Changes Coming to LSHSS! You Are Invited to Participate!

PubMed

Gray, Shelley

2016-10-01

In this editorial, the Editor of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS) describes important changes coming to LSHSS and all ASHA journals and calls for readers to voice their opinion regarding important topics and formats they would like to see included in future LSHSS volumes.

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 1997-98.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hixson, Adalyn, Ed.

1998-01-01

This document consists of all of Volume 8 (26 issues) of the journal, "The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education," a biweekly journal that addresses issues in higher education for Hispanic Americans. Each issue presents several feature articles, a policy update column called "Outlook on Washington", a description of an exemplary…

Grammar and the Lexicon. Working Papers in Linguistics 16.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

University of Trondheim Working Papers in Linguistics, 1993

1993-01-01

In this volume, five working papers are presented. "Minimal Signs and Grammar" (Lars Hellan) proposes that a significant part of the "production" of grammar is incremental, building larger and larger constructs, with lexical objects called minimal signs as the first steps. It also suggests that the basic lexical information in…

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 1998-1999.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hixson, Adalyn, Ed.

1999-01-01

This document consists of all 26 issues of Volume 9 of "The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education," a biweekly journal that addresses issues in higher education for Hispanic Americans. Each issue contains several feature articles, a policy update column called "Outlook on Washington," a description of an exemplary program, and a…

[State Program of Jobs for the Future. Volume III.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jobs for the Future, Inc., West Somerville, MA.

This document contains action plans for four states (Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri) involved in the Jobs for the Future program designed to enhance states' ability to handle economic change. The first section, "A Call to Action," discusses what Colorado's public and private sectors must consider doing to meet the…

Beyond the Handshakes: An Examination of University-School Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karwin, Thomas J., Ed.

The California Academic Partnership Program (called CAPP-Eisenhower in recognition of the act of Congress that funded the program) was established in 1983 to facilitate collaboration between secondary and postsecondary institutions. This volume, the program's final product, offers 16 papers in 3 sections, providing, respectively, highlights of the…

Naval Law Review. Volume 62

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

prosecute war crimes in defense of the Nation.3 As explained by William Winthrop, who has been called the “ Blackstone of Military Law,”4 such...44 See 3 WILLIAM BLACKSTONE , COMMENTARIES 373-74 (1768). 45 Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 50 (2004).  46 Tennessee v. Street, 471 U.S

An Ethical Frame for Research with Immigrant Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Jacqueline; Hernández, María G.; Saetermoe, Carrie L.; Suárez-Orozco, Carola

2013-01-01

In this introduction, the editors give an overview of the ways the volume addresses the growing individual and institutional calls for increased clarity and rigor in methodological, ethical, and practical research policies and guidelines for conducting research with immigrant individuals, families, and communities. In addition to summarizing the…

Technological Change, Globalization, and the Community College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romano, Richard M.; Dellow, Donald A.

2009-01-01

In early nineteenth-century England, workers now known as Luddites roamed the countryside destroying machinery that they saw as creating unemployment and upsetting their traditional way of life. They believed that the growing mechanization of production, what people would now call technological change, and the expanding volume of trade ushered in…

Mass Digitization of Books

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coyle, Karen

2006-01-01

Mass digitization of the bound volumes that we generally call "books" has begun, and, thanks to the interest in Google and all that it does, it is getting widespread media attention. The Open Content Alliance (OCA), a library initiative formed after Google announced its library book digitization project, has brought library digitization projects…

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 2000-2001.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hixson, Adalyn, Ed.

2001-01-01

This document consists of all 25 issues of Volume 11 of "The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education," a biweekly journal that addresses issues in higher education for Hispanic Americans. Each issue contains several feature articles, a policy update column called "Outlook on Washington," a description of an exemplary program, and…

77 FR 45656 - Decision and Order; Perry T. Dobyns, M.D.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-01

...]. At the hearing, counsel for the DEA called one witness to testify and introduced documentary evidence. The Respondent testified and introduced documentary evidence. [Transcript (``Tr.'') Volume I]. After...-weekly for a period of time and to see a psychiatrist for medication management. [Resp. Exh. D; Tr. 69-70...

47 CFR 64.1310 - Payphone compensation procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... clearinghouse website. If a Completing Carrier chooses to post the sworn statement on its website, the... and access numbers dialed and completed by the Completing Carrier from each of that payphone service provider's payphones and the ANI for each payphone; (ii) The volume of calls for each number identified in...

47 CFR 64.1310 - Payphone compensation procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... clearinghouse website. If a Completing Carrier chooses to post the sworn statement on its website, the... and access numbers dialed and completed by the Completing Carrier from each of that payphone service provider's payphones and the ANI for each payphone; (ii) The volume of calls for each number identified in...

47 CFR 64.1310 - Payphone compensation procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... clearinghouse website. If a Completing Carrier chooses to post the sworn statement on its website, the... and access numbers dialed and completed by the Completing Carrier from each of that payphone service provider's payphones and the ANI for each payphone; (ii) The volume of calls for each number identified in...

47 CFR 64.1310 - Payphone compensation procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... clearinghouse website. If a Completing Carrier chooses to post the sworn statement on its website, the... and access numbers dialed and completed by the Completing Carrier from each of that payphone service provider's payphones and the ANI for each payphone; (ii) The volume of calls for each number identified in...

Evaluation of video detection systems, volume 1 : effects of configuration changes in the performance of video detection systems.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-10-01

The effects of modifying the configuration of three video detection (VD) systems (Iteris, Autoscope, and Peek) : are evaluated in daytime and nighttime conditions. Four types of errors were used: false, missed, stuck-on, and : dropped calls. The thre...

Evaluation of Effects of Fire on the I-465 Mainline Bridges : Volume II

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

Currently, when a bridge has been involved in a fire loading, DOT and inspectors are called to determine if the bridge is passable to : traffic. Inspectors must close the bridge for an indefinite period of time to take material samples from the bridg...

Trip generation rates, peaking characteristics, and vehicle mix characteristics of special West Virginia generators : Volume 2, appendices.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-02-01

For a number of land uses, published trip rates were not appropriate for application in West Virginia. There are a number of so-called special genertators, which are either unique to West Virginia (i.e., regional jails) or have assumed increased impo...

76 FR 34995 - Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-15

... call volume data from the National Quitline Data Warehouse (NQDW, OMB No. 0920-0856, exp. 7/31/2012...] Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations In compliance with the... on proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will...

Codeformation processing of mechanically-dissimilar metal/intermetallic composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marte, Judson Sloan

A systematic and scientific approach has been applied to the study of codeformation processing. A series of composites having mechanically-dissimilar phases were developed in which the high temperature flow behavior of the reinforcement material could be varied independent of the matrix. This was accomplished through the use of a series of intermetallic matrix composites (IMCs) as discontinuous reinforcements in an otherwise conventional metal matrix composite. The IMCs are produced using an in-situ reaction synthesis technique, called the XD(TM) process. The temperature of the exothermic synthesis reaction, called the adiabatic temperature, has been calculated and shown to increase with increasing volume percentage of TiB2 reinforcement. Further, this temperature has been shown to effect the size and spacing of the TiB2, microstructural features which are often used in discontinuous composite strength models. Study of the high temperature flow behavior of the components of the metal/IMC composite is critical to the development of an understanding of codeformation. A series of compression tests performed at 1000° to 1200°C and strain-rates of 10-3 and 10-4 sec-1. Peak flow stresses were used to evaluate the influence of material properties and process conditions. These data were incorporated into phenomenologically-based constitutive equations that have been used to predict the flow behavior. It has been determined that plastic deformation of the IMCs occurs readily, and is largely TiB2 independent, at temperatures approaching the melting point of the intermetallic matrices. Ti-6Al-4V/IMC powder blends were extruded at high temperatures to achieve commensurately deformed microstructures. The results of codeformation processing were analyzed in terms of the plastic strain of the IMC particulates. IMC particle deformation was shown to increase with increasing IMC particle size, volume percentage of IMC, extrusion temperature, homologous temperature, extrusion strain-rate, and decreasing TiB2 reinforcement within the IMCs. A series of finite element models were developed to simulate codeformation processing via the extrusion of a discontinuously-reinforced composite. The results were evaluated through comparison between average equivalent strain in matrix and reinforcement elements. These results show that codeformation should increase with increasing volume percentage of IMC, homologous temperature, volume percentage of IMC, and decreasing IMC particle size. With the exception of the particle size, these results correlate to those of the experimental extrusion analysis.

Role of More Active Identification of Brain-Dead Cases in Increasing Organ Donation.

PubMed

Sadegh Beigee, Farahnaz; Mohsenzadeh, Mojtaba; Shahryari, Shagin; Mojtabaee, Meysam

2017-02-01

Organ donor shortage is a worldwide problem, resulting in 10% to 30% mortality rates for patients on wait lists for organ transplant. For brain-dead patients in Iran, it is mandatory for intensive care unit patients with Glasgow Coma Scale below 5/15 to be reported to an organ procurement unit. However, this process has not been functioning effectively. Here, we present the effects of changing the strategies on detecting brain-dead cases on the organ donor pool. From March 2015 to March 2016, we changed our strategy in active detection of brain-dead cases. Since March 2015, our newly established protocol for active detection of brain-dead cases includes the following changes: (1) instead of calling high-volume intensive care units 3 times per week, we switched to calling every day in the morning; (2) instead of calling low-volume intensive care units 1 time per week, we switched to calling 3 times per week; (3) we included intensive care units (cardiac and general), neurosurgery, and emergency departments, as well as nursing supervisor offices, in our call and visit lists; and (4) we increased visits to wards by our trained staff as inspectors. From March 2015 to March 2016, the number of reported suspected brain-dead cases has increased from 224 to 460 per year, with proven brain death increasing from 180 to 306 cases. The actual number of donors has also increased, from 116 to 165 donations (53% increase) over 1 year. More proactive strategies have had significant effects on brain-dead detection, resulting in significantly increased donor pools and organ donations. In countries with low cooperation of hospital staff, more proactive engagement in detecting brain-dead cases is a good solution to prevent loss of potential organ donors, with a final result of decreasing wait list mortality.

The Iridium (tm) system: Personal communications anytime, anyplace

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hatlelid, John E.; Casey, Larry

1993-01-01

The Iridium system is designed to provide handheld personal communications between diverse locations around the world at any time and without prior knowledge of the location of the personal units. This paper provides an overview of the system, the services it provides, its operation, and an overview of the commercial practices and relatively high volume satellite production techniques which will make the system cost effective. A constellation of 66 satellites will provide an orbiting, spherical-shell, infrastructure for this global calling capability. The satellites act as tall cellular towers and allow convenient operation for portable handheld telephones. The system will provide a full range of services including voice, paging, data, geolocation, and fax capabilities. Motorola is a world leader in the production of high volume, high quality, reliable telecommunications hardware. One of Iridium's goals is to apply these production techniques to high reliability space hardware. Concurrent engineering, high performance work teams, advanced manufacturing technologies, and improved assembly and test methods are some of the techniques that will keep the Iridium system cost effective. Mobile, global, flexible personal communications are coming that will allow anyone to call or receive a call from/to anyplace at anytime. The Iridium system will provide communications where none exist today. This connectivity will allow increased information transfer, open new markets for various business endeavors, and in general increase productivity and development.

The Iridium (tm) system: Personal communications anytime, anyplace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hatlelid, John E.; Casey, Larry

The Iridium system is designed to provide handheld personal communications between diverse locations around the world at any time and without prior knowledge of the location of the personal units. This paper provides an overview of the system, the services it provides, its operation, and an overview of the commercial practices and relatively high volume satellite production techniques which will make the system cost effective. A constellation of 66 satellites will provide an orbiting, spherical-shell, infrastructure for this global calling capability. The satellites act as tall cellular towers and allow convenient operation for portable handheld telephones. The system will provide a full range of services including voice, paging, data, geolocation, and fax capabilities. Motorola is a world leader in the production of high volume, high quality, reliable telecommunications hardware. One of Iridium's goals is to apply these production techniques to high reliability space hardware. Concurrent engineering, high performance work teams, advanced manufacturing technologies, and improved assembly and test methods are some of the techniques that will keep the Iridium system cost effective. Mobile, global, flexible personal communications are coming that will allow anyone to call or receive a call from/to anyplace at anytime. The Iridium system will provide communications where none exist today. This connectivity will allow increased information transfer, open new markets for various business endeavors, and in general increase productivity and development.

The Impact of Hospital’s Cardiac Specialization on Outcomes after Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery: Analysis of Medicare Claims Data

PubMed Central

Girotra, Saket; Lu, Xin; Popescu, Ioana; Vaughan-Sarrazin, Mary; Horwitz, Phillip A.; Cram, Peter

2011-01-01

Background Hospital volume has been widely embraced as a proxy measure for hospital quality; little attention has been focused on an alternative quality measure-hospital specialization. Even though specialization occurs on a continuum, previous studies have only focused on a small number of highly specialized hospitals (single-specialty hospitals). Studies on the broad relationship between hospital specialization and outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are limited. Methods and Results We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 705,084 Medicare patients (1130 hospitals) who underwent CABG during 2001-2005. We stratified hospitals into quintiles based on their degree of cardiac specialization (proportion of a hospital’s Medicare discharges classified as Major Diagnostic Category 5 – cardiovascular diseases). We compared patient and hospital characteristics and outcomes across quintiles of cardiac specialization. Patient characteristics were generally similar across quintiles, but mean annual CABG volume increased progressively from quintile 1 (least-specialized) to quintile 5 (most-specialized). Unadjusted 30-day mortality was similar at hospitals in quintiles 1-4 (4.8%), except quintile 5 where mortality was lower (4.3%). A strong inverse association was seen between hospital cardiac specialization and 30-day mortality after adjustment for patient characteristics (P trend=0.001). However, this was no longer significant after additional adjustment for CABG volume (P trend=0.65). Results were similar for other mortality outcomes and length of stay. Conclusions After accounting for patient characteristics and CABG volume, greater cardiac specialization was not associated with clinically significant improvement in patient outcomes. This study calls into question the benefit of cardiac specialization for the vast majority of CABG-performing U.S. hospitals. PMID:20923993

Primary Care DirectConnect: How the Marriage of Call Center Technology and the EMR Brought Dramatic Results—A Service Quality Improvement Study

PubMed Central

Bowman, Brent; Smith, Scott

2010-01-01

Of the key Health Plan patient satisfaction measures used in Kaiser Permanente Colorado, ease of contacting the physician's office with a medical question was consistently rated as the lowest quarterly patient satisfaction measure. Furthermore, medical office staff had become dissatisfied with their inability to contact patients who had previously left messages. In addition to the shear volume of messages, the return calls were often unanswered, leading to subsequent attempts to reach patients, creating additional work for medical office staff. DirectConnect—the project name for a system and set of processes focused on improving patient satisfaction with the ability to contact Primary Care delivery teams by telephone—focuses on isolating medical advice calls from the other types of calls handled by the centralized Call Center. The system identifies the patient using his/her unique electronic medical record number, then automatically routes medical advice calls directly to the appropriate Primary Care Physician (PCP) or staff. The clinician may then evaluate and respond to the patient's need quickly, thus managing more of their panel's requests in real time. How is DirectConnect different from simply having the patient contact their PCP's office directly? The primary difference is “one-number” convenience that allows all patients to dial one number to access their PCP's team. In addition, calls are routed to various staff as available to reduce long telephone queues and wait times. The DirectConnect system has resulted in statistically significant improvement in key service quality measures. Patient satisfaction improved from a pre-implementation nine quarter mean of 55.9% to a post-implementation 12 quarter mean of 70.2%. Fourteen percent to 17% of all Primary Care calls are now handled by the patient's home medical office team, creating a 54% improvement in the centralized Call Center's speed of answering calls in the first quarter post implementation—making no additions to medical office staffing levels. The efficiencies gained by directly connecting medical advice-seeking patients with their Primary Care team resulted in an estimated savings of 198 and 247 cumulative hours per week in unnecessary telephone work for Call Center and medical office staff regionwide. PMID:20740112

Dose constraints for moderate hypofractionated radiotherapy for prostate cancer: The French genito-urinary group (GETUG) recommendations.

PubMed

Langrand-Escure, J; de Crevoisier, R; Llagostera, C; Créhange, G; Delaroche, G; Lafond, C; Bonin, C; Bideault, F; Sargos, P; Belhomme, S; Pasquier, D; Latorzeff, I; Supiot, S; Hennequin, C

2018-04-01

Considering recent phase III trials results, moderate hypofractionated radiotherapy can be considered as a standard treatment for low and intermediate risk prostate cancer management. This assessment call for a framework allowing homogeneous and reproducible practices in the different centers using this radiotherapy schedule. The French Genito-Urinary Group (GETUG) provides here recommendations for daily practice of moderate hypofractionated radiotherapy for prostate cancer, with indications, dose, fractionation, pre-treatment planning, volume of interest delineation (target volume and organs at risk) and margins, dose constraints and radiotherapy techniques. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier SAS.

Small Aircraft Transportation System Higher Volume Operations Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abbott, Terence S.; Consiglio, Maria C.; Baxley, Brian T.; Williams, Daniel M.; Jones, Kenneth M.; Adams, Catherine A.

2006-01-01

This document defines the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) Higher Volume Operations concept. The general philosophy underlying this concept is the establishment of a newly defined area of flight operations called a Self-Controlled Area (SCA). Within the SCA, pilots would take responsibility for separation assurance between their aircraft and other similarly equipped aircraft. This document also provides details for a number of off-nominal and emergency procedures which address situations that could be expected to occur in a future SCA. The details for this operational concept along with a description of candidate aircraft systems to support this concept are provided.

COMPARATIVE DETERMINATION OF BLOOD VOLUME WITH EVANS BLUE AND Cr$sup 51$ IN HEALTHY SUBJECTS AND POLYCYTHEMIA PATIENTS TREATED WITH P$sup 3$$sup 2$ (in German)

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

Schneider, K.W.; Becker, G.

1962-09-12

Blood volume was determined by the Evans blue and the Cr/sup 51/ methods in 40 normals and 17 cases of polycythemia. In normals there was good agreement of the results of both methods, however, in polycythemia differences were observed. With the Crsl-method the erythrocyte volume was found to be lower than with the Evans blue technique although the difference was not significant. When the active circulating blood volume is determined, the introduction of a correction factor for the so-called body hematocrit is not necessary. lt is possible that the difference between venous hematocrit and the quotient Evans blueplasma volume/Cr/sup 51/more » erythrocyte volume is caused by an increase of the error due to the trapped plasma. In case with increased hematocrit values the plasma volume should be determined by Evans blue and the erythrocyte volume by Cr/ sup 51/. In polycythemia the mean values were lower the those previously estimated by Seyderheim and Lampe. In the untreated state of polycythemia the mean plasma volume is reduced; in 80% of the cases a reduction was found initially. With successful treatment the plasma volume increased. Treatment consisted of injection of 0.08-0.09 mC P/sup 32/ per kg body wt, which was repeated three months later if necessary. Half the patients required only one such dose for remission; only one required three doses. Improvement in plasma volume showed no correlation with the size of the spleen or the presence of hypertension. The venous pressure was normal in all cases. Circulation time was variable but showed a tendency to become shorter following treatment with P/sup 32/. Renal function studies are discussed. Creatinine-clearance and phenolsulfonphthalein (PSP) excretion were often reduced, and albuminuria, hematuria, and azotemia were present. With clinical improvement after P/sup 32/ treatment these symptoms are reversible except for the reduced PSP excretion. (BBB)« less

3D tumor measurement in cone-beam CT breast imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zikuan; Ning, Ruola

2004-05-01

Cone-beam CT breast imaging provides a digital volume representation of a breast. With a digital breast volume, the immediate task is to extract the breast tissue information, especially for suspicious tumors, preferably in an automatic manner or with minimal user interaction. This paper reports a program for three-dimensional breast tissue analysis. It consists of volumetric segmentation (by globally thresholding), subsegmentation (connection-based separation), and volumetric component measurement (volume, surface, shape, and other geometrical specifications). A combination scheme of multi-thresholding and binary volume morphology is proposed to fast determine the surface gradients, which may be interpreted as the surface evolution (outward growth or inward shrinkage) for a tumor volume. This scheme is also used to optimize the volumetric segmentation. With a binary volume, we decompose the foreground into components according to spatial connectedness. Since this decomposition procedure is performed after volumetric segmentation, it is called subsegmentation. The subsegmentation brings the convenience for component visualization and measurement, in the whole support space, without interference from others. Upon the tumor component identification, we measure the following specifications: volume, surface area, roundness, elongation, aspect, star-shapedness, and location (centroid). A 3D morphological operation is used to extract the cluster shell and, by delineating the corresponding volume from the grayscale volume, to measure the shell stiffness. This 3D tissue measurement is demonstrated with a tumor-borne breast specimen (a surgical part).

Refining the detection of the zero crossing for the three-gluon vertex in symmetric and asymmetric momentum subtraction schemes

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

Boucaud, Ph.; De Soto, F.; Rodriguez-Quintero, J.

This article reports on the detailed study of the three-gluon vertex in four-dimensional $SU(3)$ Yang-Mills theory employing lattice simulations with large physical volumes and high statistics. A meticulous scrutiny of the so-called symmetric and asymmetric kinematical configurations is performed and it is shown that the associated form-factor changes sign at a given range of momenta. Here, the lattice results are compared to the model independent predictions of Schwinger-Dyson equations and a very good agreement among the two is found.

Refining the detection of the zero crossing for the three-gluon vertex in symmetric and asymmetric momentum subtraction schemes

DOE PAGES

Boucaud, Ph.; De Soto, F.; Rodriguez-Quintero, J.; ...

2017-06-14

This article reports on the detailed study of the three-gluon vertex in four-dimensional $SU(3)$ Yang-Mills theory employing lattice simulations with large physical volumes and high statistics. A meticulous scrutiny of the so-called symmetric and asymmetric kinematical configurations is performed and it is shown that the associated form-factor changes sign at a given range of momenta. Here, the lattice results are compared to the model independent predictions of Schwinger-Dyson equations and a very good agreement among the two is found.

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

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.

Efficacy of a new device to optimize positive pressure ventilation via face mask in edentulous patients: a randomized trial.

PubMed

Niño, Maria C; Pauwels, Andres; Raffan, Fernando; Arango, Enrique; Romero, David J; Benitez, Daniel

2017-04-01

Mask ventilation is routinely performed during anesthesia. Under some circumstances, it might be difficult to perform, such as in edentulous patients, due to inadequate mask seal. We developed a new device called NIPARA and studied its use For ventilation optimization in edentulous patients. This randomized controlled trial included edentulous adults who had no other predictors of difficult airway, scheduled to undergo general anesthesia. Patients were assigned either to the NIPARA device group or to the control group (oral airway only). The primary outcomes were peak inspiratory pressure and tidal volume values of the first 14 breaths. The secondary outcome was the incidence of complications. Data from 37 patients were collected during a one-year period (twenty in the NIPARA device group and 17 in the control group). The difference in mean PIP was not statistically significant. The tidal volume was 1.5 times greater in the NIPARA group than in the control group. One patient from the intervention group had minimal oral trauma. In the administration of face mask ventilation, NIPARA is an effective device that significantly improves the tidal volume administered in edentulous patients.

Röntgen spheres around active stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Locci, Daniele; Cecchi-Pestellini, Cesare; Micela, Giuseppina; Ciaravella, Angela; Aresu, Giambattista

2018-01-01

X-rays are an important ingredient of the radiation environment of a variety of stars of different spectral types and age. We have modelled the X-ray transfer and energy deposition into a gas with solar composition, through an accurate description of the electron cascade following the history of the primary photoelectron energy deposition. We test and validate this description studying the possible formation of regions in which X-rays are the major ionization channel. Such regions, called Röntgen spheres may have considerable importance in the chemical and physical evolution of the gas embedding the emitting star. Around massive stars the concept of Röntgen sphere appears to be of limited use, as the formation of extended volumes with relevant levels of ionization is efficient just in a narrow range of gas volume densities. In clouds embedding low-mass pre-main-sequence stars significant volumes of gas are affected by ionization levels exceeding largely the cosmic-ray background ionization. In clusters arising in regions of vigorous star formation X-rays create an ionization network pervading densely the interstellar medium, and providing a natural feedback mechanism, which may affect planet and star formation processes.

Digital Analytics in Professional Work and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Richard; Fenwick, Tara

2016-01-01

In a wide range of fields, professional practice is being transformed by the increasing influence of digital analytics: the massive volumes of big data, and software algorithms that are collecting, comparing and calculating that data to make predictions and even decisions. Researchers in a number of social sciences have been calling attention to…

Expert Systems on Multiprocessor Architectures. Volume 4. Technical Reports

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-01

Floated-Current-Time0 -> The time that this function is called in user time uflts, expressed as a floating point number. Halt- Poligono Arrests the...default a statistics file will be printed out, if it can be. To prevent this make No-Statistics true. Unhalt- Poligono Unarrests the process in which the

Update of development on the new Audi NSU rotary engine generation. [for application to aircraft engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanbasshuysen, R.

1978-01-01

Rotary engines with a chamber volume of 750 cc as a two rotor automotive powerplant, called KKM 871 are described. This engine is compared to a 3 liter or 183 cubic inch, six-cylinder reciprocating engine. Emphasis is placed on exhaust emission control and fuel economy.

Children's Influence on Family Dynamics: The Neglected Side of Family Relationships.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crouter, Ann C.; Booth, Alan

The central premise of this volume is that children bring personal qualities to their relationships with other family members that help shape family interaction, relationships, and even processes that family researchers have called "parenting." The chapters address how children's personal qualities make their mark on families in ways that may in…

The Promise of a Literacy Reform Effort in the Upper Elementary Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walpole, Sharon; Amendum, Steven; Pasquarella, Adrian; Strong, John Z.; McKenna, Michael C.

2017-01-01

We compared year-long gains in fluency and comprehension in grades 3-5 in 3 treatment and 4 comparison schools. Treatment schools implemented a comprehensive school reform (CSR) program called Bookworms. The program employed challenging text and emphasized high text volume, aggressive vocabulary and knowledge building, and contextualized strategy…

Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress. Volume 8, Number 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amos, Jason, Ed.

2008-01-01

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) NCLB Anniversary Prompts Renewed Calls for Reauthorization: Growth Models, High School Reform Emerge as Points of…

Numerical nonlinear inelastic analysis of stiffened shells of revolution. Volume 4: Satellite-1P program for STARS-2P digital computer program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Svalbonas, V.; Ogilvie, P.

1975-01-01

A special data debugging package called SAT-1P created for the STARS-2P computer program is described. The program was written exclusively in FORTRAN 4 for the IBM 370-165 computer, and then converted to the UNIVAC 1108.

Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress. Volume 5, Number 8

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amos, Jason, Ed.

2005-01-01

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) New Report Offers Recommendations for Defining and Improving Graduation Rates: Calls for New Federal Funding Stream…

Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress. Volume 11, Number 9

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amos, Jason, Ed.

2011-01-01

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Engineering Solutions to the National Crisis in Literacy": Alliance Brief Calls for Alignment Between…

A Computer-Interfaced Drop Counter as an Inexpensive Fraction Collector for Column Chromatography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nash, Barbara T.

2008-01-01

A computer-interfaced drop counter is described that serves as an inexpensive alternative to a fraction collector for column chromatography experiments. Undergraduate biochemistry laboratories frequently do not have the budget to purchase fraction collectors. Protocols that call for the manual measurement of fraction volumes as well as the manual…

Educating the Democratic Mind. SUNY Series, Democracy and Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Walter C., Ed.

This volume features 16 essays about educating young people for the amorphous state called democracy. The collections addresses the central questions: (1) How and what might children be taught so that they respond well and creatively to the demands of an increasingly diverse society that is organized under and struggling to realize the democratic…

The Role of Families and Pre-School in Educational Disadvantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sylva, Kathy

2014-01-01

In the first volume of the "Oxford Review of Education" Jerome Bruner (1975) showed how the upbringing of the very young is influenced by poverty, and how different kinds of upbringing shape human development. He called the paper "Poverty and childhood" and baldly stated "With respect to virtually any criterion of equal…

On Campus with Women, 1998-1999.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reiss, Susan, Ed.

1999-01-01

The four issues in this newsletter volume present information on the status and education of women. The focus of issue 1 is on gains women have made in higher education, including enrollment and faculty and administrator positions. Issue 2 focuses on what is called "The Complex Salary Equation" and discusses salary issues and the working…

Implementation Science: Understanding and Finding Solutions to Variation in Program Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nordstrum, Lee E.; LeMahieu, Paul G.; Berrena, Elaine

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume elaborating upon different approaches to quality improvement in education. This paper aims to delineate a methodology called Implementation Science, focusing on methods to enhance the reach, adoption, use and maintenance of innovations and discoveries in diverse education contexts.…

In Situ Clay Formation: Evaluation of a Proposed New Technology for Stable Containment Barriers

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-01

situ layered double hydroxide precipitation........... 23 4.2.1 Solution preparation and column mixing...22 Table 4.2 Summary of in situ precipitation of layered double hydroxide (LDH...effect on permeability for the smallest volume precipitated is sheet silicates or layered -clay phases (hereafter called “clays”). In natural

Development Of A Navier-Stokes Computer Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yoon, Seokkwan; Kwak, Dochan

1993-01-01

Report discusses aspects of development of CENS3D computer code, solving three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations of compressible, viscous, unsteady flow. Implements implicit finite-difference or finite-volume numerical-integration scheme, called "lower-upper symmetric-Gauss-Seidel" (LU-SGS), offering potential for very low computer time per iteration and for fast convergence.

76 FR 51984 - Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-19

... promotional activities and permission to extract de-identified QL call volume data from the National Quitline Data Warehouse (NQDW, OMB No. 0920-0856, exp. 7/31/2012). Information will be transmitted to CDC on a... client intake data, i.e., information obtained from clients when they request tobacco cessation services...

Intravenous volume tomographic pulmonary angiography imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ning, Ruola; Strang, John G.; Chen, Biao; Conover, David L.; Yu, Rongfeng

1999-05-01

This study presents a new intravenous (IV) tomographic angiography imaging technique, called intravenous volume tomographic digital angiography (VTDA) for cross sectional pulmonary angiography. While the advantages of IV-VTDA over spiral CT in terms of volume scanning time and resolution have been validated and reported in our previous papers for head and neck vascular imaging, the superiority of IV-VTDA over spiral CT for cross sectional pulmonary angiography has not been explored yet. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the advantage of isotropic resolution of IV-VTDA in the x, y and z directions through phantom and animal studies, and to explore its clinical application for detecting clots in pulmonary angiography. A prototype image intensifier-based VTDA imaging system has been designed and constructed by modifying a GE 8800 CT scanner. This system was used for a series of phantom and dog studies. A pulmonary vascular phantom was designed and constructed. The phantom was scanned using the prototype VTDA system for direct 3D reconstruction. Then the same phantom was scanned using a GE CT/i spiral CT scanner using the routine pulmonary CT angiography protocols. IV contrast injection and volume scanning protocols were developed during the dog studies. Both VTDA reconstructed images and spiral CT images of the specially designed phantom were analyzed and compared. The detectability of simulated vessels and clots was assessed as the function of iodine concentration levels, oriented angles, and diameters of the vessels and clots. A set of 3D VTDA reconstruction images of dog pulmonary arteries was obtained with different IV injection rates and isotropic resolution in the x, y and z directions. The results of clot detection studies in dog pulmonary arteries have also been shown. This study presents a new tomographic IV angiography imaging technique for cross sectional pulmonary angiography. The results of phantom and animal studies indicate that IV-VTDA is superior to spiral CT for cross sectional pulmonary angiography.

Real-time access of large volume imagery through low-bandwidth links

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phillips, James; Grohs, Karl; Brower, Bernard; Kelly, Lawrence; Carlisle, Lewis; Pellechia, Matthew

2010-04-01

Providing current, time-sensitive imagery and geospatial information to deployed tactical military forces or first responders continues to be a challenge. This challenge is compounded through rapid increases in sensor collection volumes, both with larger arrays and higher temporal capture rates. Focusing on the needs of these military forces and first responders, ITT developed a system called AGILE (Advanced Geospatial Imagery Library Enterprise) Access as an innovative approach based on standard off-the-shelf techniques to solving this problem. The AGILE Access system is based on commercial software called Image Access Solutions (IAS) and incorporates standard JPEG 2000 processing. Our solution system is implemented in an accredited, deployable form, incorporating a suite of components, including an image database, a web-based search and discovery tool, and several software tools that act in concert to process, store, and disseminate imagery from airborne systems and commercial satellites. Currently, this solution is operational within the U.S. Government tactical infrastructure and supports disadvantaged imagery users in the field. This paper presents the features and benefits of this system to disadvantaged users as demonstrated in real-world operational environments.

The Environmental Heat Flux Routine, Version 4 (EHFR-4) and Multiple Reflections Routine (MRR). Volume 2: Programmers reference manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dietz, J. B.

1973-01-01

The EHFR program reference information which is presented consists of the following subprogram detailed data: purpose-description of the routine, a list of the calling programs, an argument list description, nomenclature definition, flow charts, and a compilation listing of each subprogram. Each of the EHFR subprograms were developed specifically for this routine and do not have an applicability of a general nature. Single precision accuracy available on the Univac 1108 is used exclusively in all but two of the 31 EHFR subprograms. The double precision variables required are identified in the nomenclature definition of the two subprograms that require them. A concise definition of the purpose, function, and capabilities is made in the subprogram description. The description references the appropriate Volume 1 sections of the report which contain the applicable detailed definitions, governing equations, and assumptions used. The compilation listing of each subprogram defines the program/data storage requirements, identifies the labeled block common data required, and identifies other subprograms called during execution. For Vol. 1, see N73-31842.

Scheimpflug with computational imaging to extend the depth of field of iris recognition systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinharoy, Indranil

Despite the enormous success of iris recognition in close-range and well-regulated spaces for biometric authentication, it has hitherto failed to gain wide-scale adoption in less controlled, public environments. The problem arises from a limitation in imaging called the depth of field (DOF): the limited range of distances beyond which subjects appear blurry in the image. The loss of spatial details in the iris image outside the small DOF limits the iris image capture to a small volume-the capture volume. Existing techniques to extend the capture volume are usually expensive, computationally intensive, or afflicted by noise. Is there a way to combine the classical Scheimpflug principle with the modern computational imaging techniques to extend the capture volume? The solution we found is, surprisingly, simple; yet, it provides several key advantages over existing approaches. Our method, called Angular Focus Stacking (AFS), consists of capturing a set of images while rotating the lens, followed by registration, and blending of the in-focus regions from the images in the stack. The theoretical underpinnings of AFS arose from a pair of new and general imaging models we developed for Scheimpflug imaging that directly incorporates the pupil parameters. The model revealed that we could register the images in the stack analytically if we pivot the lens at the center of its entrance pupil, rendering the registration process exact. Additionally, we found that a specific lens design further reduces the complexity of image registration making AFS suitable for real-time performance. We have demonstrated up to an order of magnitude improvement in the axial capture volume over conventional image capture without sacrificing optical resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. The total time required for capturing the set of images for AFS is less than the time needed for a single-exposure, conventional image for the same DOF and brightness level. The net reduction in capture time can significantly relax the constraints on subject movement during iris acquisition, making it less restrictive.

Variations in the sonographic measurement techniques of BI-RADS 3 breast masses.

PubMed

Francisco, Juliana; Jales, Rodrigo Menezes; de Oliveira, André Desuó Bueno; Arguello, Carlos Henrique Francisco; Derchain, Sophie

2017-06-01

To evaluate the differences in sonographic (US) distance and volume measurements from different sonologists and identify the optimal parameters to avoid clinically relevant variations in the measurement of BI-RADS 3 breast masses. For this cross-sectional study with prospectively collected data, four physicians with various levels of experience in US, herein called sonologists, performed distance and volume US measurements of 80 masses classified as BI-RADS 3. The Cochran Q test was used to compare the matched sets of rates of clinically relevant variability between all pairs of sonologists' measurements. There were clinically relevant differences between sonologists in the measurements of the longest diameter (range, 17.5-43.7%, p = 0.003), the longest diameter perpendicular to the previous one (anteroposterior diameter) (17.5-33.7%, p = 0.06), the third diameter orthogonal to the plane defined by the previous two (transverse diameter) (28.7-55%, p = 0.001), and at least two of those three diameters (18.7-38.7%, p = 0.015). The smallest clinically relevant differences were observed with volume measurements (range of differences, 6.2-13.7%, p = 0.51). Volume measurement technique was associated with the least variations, whereas distance measurements, which are used routinely, were associated with unacceptable rates of clinically relevant variations. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 45:252-260, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Automated 3D Ultrasound Image Segmentation to Aid Breast Cancer Image Interpretation

PubMed Central

Gu, Peng; Lee, Won-Mean; Roubidoux, Marilyn A.; Yuan, Jie; Wang, Xueding; Carson, Paul L.

2015-01-01

Segmentation of an ultrasound image into functional tissues is of great importance to clinical diagnosis of breast cancer. However, many studies are found to segment only the mass of interest and not all major tissues. Differences and inconsistencies in ultrasound interpretation call for an automated segmentation method to make results operator-independent. Furthermore, manual segmentation of entire three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound volumes is time-consuming, resource-intensive, and clinically impractical. Here, we propose an automated algorithm to segment 3D ultrasound volumes into three major tissue types: cyst/mass, fatty tissue, and fibro-glandular tissue. To test its efficacy and consistency, the proposed automated method was employed on a database of 21 cases of whole breast ultrasound. Experimental results show that our proposed method not only distinguishes fat and non-fat tissues correctly, but performs well in classifying cyst/mass. Comparison of density assessment between the automated method and manual segmentation demonstrates good consistency with an accuracy of 85.7%. Quantitative comparison of corresponding tissue volumes, which uses overlap ratio, gives an average similarity of 74.54%, consistent with values seen in MRI brain segmentations. Thus, our proposed method exhibits great potential as an automated approach to segment 3D whole breast ultrasound volumes into functionally distinct tissues that may help to correct ultrasound speed of sound aberrations and assist in density based prognosis of breast cancer. PMID:26547117

Automated 3D ultrasound image segmentation for assistant diagnosis of breast cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yuxin; Gu, Peng; Lee, Won-Mean; Roubidoux, Marilyn A.; Du, Sidan; Yuan, Jie; Wang, Xueding; Carson, Paul L.

2016-04-01

Segmentation of an ultrasound image into functional tissues is of great importance to clinical diagnosis of breast cancer. However, many studies are found to segment only the mass of interest and not all major tissues. Differences and inconsistencies in ultrasound interpretation call for an automated segmentation method to make results operator-independent. Furthermore, manual segmentation of entire three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound volumes is time-consuming, resource-intensive, and clinically impractical. Here, we propose an automated algorithm to segment 3D ultrasound volumes into three major tissue types: cyst/mass, fatty tissue, and fibro-glandular tissue. To test its efficacy and consistency, the proposed automated method was employed on a database of 21 cases of whole breast ultrasound. Experimental results show that our proposed method not only distinguishes fat and non-fat tissues correctly, but performs well in classifying cyst/mass. Comparison of density assessment between the automated method and manual segmentation demonstrates good consistency with an accuracy of 85.7%. Quantitative comparison of corresponding tissue volumes, which uses overlap ratio, gives an average similarity of 74.54%, consistent with values seen in MRI brain segmentations. Thus, our proposed method exhibits great potential as an automated approach to segment 3D whole breast ultrasound volumes into functionally distinct tissues that may help to correct ultrasound speed of sound aberrations and assist in density based prognosis of breast cancer.

Source fields reconstruction with 3D mapping by means of the virtual acoustic volume concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forget, S.; Totaro, N.; Guyader, J. L.; Schaeffer, M.

2016-10-01

This paper presents the theoretical framework of the virtual acoustic volume concept and two related inverse Patch Transfer Functions (iPTF) identification methods (called u-iPTF and m-iPTF depending on the chosen boundary conditions for the virtual volume). They are based on the application of Green's identity on an arbitrary closed virtual volume defined around the source. The reconstruction of sound source fields combines discrete acoustic measurements performed at accessible positions around the source with the modal behavior of the chosen virtual acoustic volume. The mode shapes of the virtual volume can be computed by a Finite Element solver to handle the geometrical complexity of the source. As a result, it is possible to identify all the acoustic source fields at the real surface of an irregularly shaped structure and irrespective of its acoustic environment. The m-iPTF method is introduced for the first time in this paper. Conversely to the already published u-iPTF method, the m-iPTF method needs only acoustic pressure and avoids particle velocity measurements. This paper is focused on its validation, both with numerical computations and by experiments on a baffled oil pan.

An evaluation of volume-based morphometry for prediction of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

PubMed Central

Schmitter, Daniel; Roche, Alexis; Maréchal, Bénédicte; Ribes, Delphine; Abdulkadir, Ahmed; Bach-Cuadra, Meritxell; Daducci, Alessandro; Granziera, Cristina; Klöppel, Stefan; Maeder, Philippe; Meuli, Reto; Krueger, Gunnar

2014-01-01

Voxel-based morphometry from conventional T1-weighted images has proved effective to quantify Alzheimer's disease (AD) related brain atrophy and to enable fairly accurate automated classification of AD patients, mild cognitive impaired patients (MCI) and elderly controls. Little is known, however, about the classification power of volume-based morphometry, where features of interest consist of a few brain structure volumes (e.g. hippocampi, lobes, ventricles) as opposed to hundreds of thousands of voxel-wise gray matter concentrations. In this work, we experimentally evaluate two distinct volume-based morphometry algorithms (FreeSurfer and an in-house algorithm called MorphoBox) for automatic disease classification on a standardized data set from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Results indicate that both algorithms achieve classification accuracy comparable to the conventional whole-brain voxel-based morphometry pipeline using SPM for AD vs elderly controls and MCI vs controls, and higher accuracy for classification of AD vs MCI and early vs late AD converters, thereby demonstrating the potential of volume-based morphometry to assist diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. PMID:25429357

Interfacial effect on physical properties of composite media: Interfacial volume fraction with non-spherical hard-core-soft-shell-structured particles.

PubMed

Xu, Wenxiang; Duan, Qinglin; Ma, Huaifa; Chen, Wen; Chen, Huisu

2015-11-02

Interfaces are known to be crucial in a variety of fields and the interfacial volume fraction dramatically affects physical properties of composite media. However, it is an open problem with great significance how to determine the interfacial property in composite media with inclusions of complex geometry. By the stereological theory and the nearest-surface distribution functions, we first propose a theoretical framework to symmetrically present the interfacial volume fraction. In order to verify the interesting generalization, we simulate three-phase composite media by employing hard-core-soft-shell structures composed of hard mono-/polydisperse non-spherical particles, soft interfaces, and matrix. We numerically derive the interfacial volume fraction by a Monte Carlo integration scheme. With the theoretical and numerical results, we find that the interfacial volume fraction is strongly dependent on the so-called geometric size factor and sphericity characterizing the geometric shape in spite of anisotropic particle types. As a significant interfacial property, the present theoretical contribution can be further drawn into predicting the effective transport properties of composite materials.

Interfacial effect on physical properties of composite media: Interfacial volume fraction with non-spherical hard-core-soft-shell-structured particles

PubMed Central

Xu, Wenxiang; Duan, Qinglin; Ma, Huaifa; Chen, Wen; Chen, Huisu

2015-01-01

Interfaces are known to be crucial in a variety of fields and the interfacial volume fraction dramatically affects physical properties of composite media. However, it is an open problem with great significance how to determine the interfacial property in composite media with inclusions of complex geometry. By the stereological theory and the nearest-surface distribution functions, we first propose a theoretical framework to symmetrically present the interfacial volume fraction. In order to verify the interesting generalization, we simulate three-phase composite media by employing hard-core-soft-shell structures composed of hard mono-/polydisperse non-spherical particles, soft interfaces, and matrix. We numerically derive the interfacial volume fraction by a Monte Carlo integration scheme. With the theoretical and numerical results, we find that the interfacial volume fraction is strongly dependent on the so-called geometric size factor and sphericity characterizing the geometric shape in spite of anisotropic particle types. As a significant interfacial property, the present theoretical contribution can be further drawn into predicting the effective transport properties of composite materials. PMID:26522701

Academic Medicine and Medical Professionalism: A Legacy and a Portal Into An Evolving Field of Educational Scholarship.

PubMed

Hafferty, Frederic W

2017-09-05

In this Invited Commentary, the author examines two curated Academic Medicine volumes showcasing foundational research and key writings on professionalism in medicine and medical education, collectively spanning from 1994 to 2016. The author reviews the beginnings of the medical professionalism movement and examines how the trends and themes reflected in the first volume-specifically the work to define, assess, and institutionalize professionalism-capture key elements in this movement. He then examines how the trends and themes in the second volume align with and build on those from the first, noting two themes that extend across a number of second volume articles: a unit-of-analysis issue and the challenge of context. The author identifies several topics that have yet to be adequately mined and calls attention to two bridge-spanning articles in the second volume that, respectively, take us into the future (around the topic of identify formation) and back to the past (on the hidden curriculum). Finally, the author reflects on "directions home" in medicine's noble search for its moral core and collective identity.

Fluence map optimization (FMO) with dose-volume constraints in IMRT using the geometric distance sorting method.

PubMed

Lan, Yihua; Li, Cunhua; Ren, Haozheng; Zhang, Yong; Min, Zhifang

2012-10-21

A new heuristic algorithm based on the so-called geometric distance sorting technique is proposed for solving the fluence map optimization with dose-volume constraints which is one of the most essential tasks for inverse planning in IMRT. The framework of the proposed method is basically an iterative process which begins with a simple linear constrained quadratic optimization model without considering any dose-volume constraints, and then the dose constraints for the voxels violating the dose-volume constraints are gradually added into the quadratic optimization model step by step until all the dose-volume constraints are satisfied. In each iteration step, an interior point method is adopted to solve each new linear constrained quadratic programming. For choosing the proper candidate voxels for the current dose constraint adding, a so-called geometric distance defined in the transformed standard quadratic form of the fluence map optimization model was used to guide the selection of the voxels. The new geometric distance sorting technique can mostly reduce the unexpected increase of the objective function value caused inevitably by the constraint adding. It can be regarded as an upgrading to the traditional dose sorting technique. The geometry explanation for the proposed method is also given and a proposition is proved to support our heuristic idea. In addition, a smart constraint adding/deleting strategy is designed to ensure a stable iteration convergence. The new algorithm is tested on four cases including head-neck, a prostate, a lung and an oropharyngeal, and compared with the algorithm based on the traditional dose sorting technique. Experimental results showed that the proposed method is more suitable for guiding the selection of new constraints than the traditional dose sorting method, especially for the cases whose target regions are in non-convex shapes. It is a more efficient optimization technique to some extent for choosing constraints than the dose sorting method. By integrating a smart constraint adding/deleting scheme within the iteration framework, the new technique builds up an improved algorithm for solving the fluence map optimization with dose-volume constraints.

Flow tests of the Gladys McCall well. Appendix A, Gladys McCall Site (Cameron Parish, LA): Final report, October 1985--October 1990

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

Randolph, P.L.; Hayden, C.G.; Rogers, L.A.

1992-04-01

This report pulls together the data from all of the geopressured-geothermal field research conducted at the Gladys McCall well. The well produced geopressured brine containing dissolved natural gas from the Lower Miocene sands at a depth of 15,150 to 16,650 feet. More than 25 million barrels of brine and 727 million standard cubic feet of natural gas were produced in a series of flow tests between December 1982 and October 1987 at various brine flow rates up to 28,000 barrels per day. Initial short-term flow tests for the Number 9 Sand found the permeability to be 67 to 85 mdmore » (millidarcies) for a brine volume of 85 to 170 million barrels. Initial short-term flow tests for the Number 8 Sand found a permeability of 113 to 132 md for a reservoir volume of 430 to 550 million barrels of brine. The long-term flow and buildup test of the Number 8 Sand found that the high-permeability reservoir connected to the wellbore (measured by the short-term flow test) was connected to a much larger, low-permeability reservoir. Numerical simulation of the flow and buildup tests required this large connected reservoir to have a volume of about 8 billion barrels (two cubic miles of reservoir rock) with effective permeabilities in the range of 0.2 to 20 md. Calcium carbonate scale formation in the well tubing and separator equipment was a problem. During the first 2 years of production, scale formation was prevented in the surface equipment by injection of an inhibitor upstream of the choke. Starting in 1985, scale formation in the production tubing was successfully prevented by injecting inhibitor ``pills`` directly into the reservoir. Corrosion and/or erosion of surface piping and equipment, as well as disposal well tubing, was also significant.« less

OPTMAIN- A FORTRAN CODE FOR THE CALCULATION OF PROBE VOLUME GEOMETRY CHANGES IN A LASER ANEMOMETRY SYSTEM CAUSED BY WINDOW REFRACTION

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Owen, A. K.

1994-01-01

The laser anemometer has provided the fluid dynamicist with a powerful tool for nonintrusively measuring fluid velocities. One of the more common types of laser anemometers, the laser fringe anemometer, divides a single laser beam into two parallel beams and then focuses them on a point in space called the "probe volume" (PV) where the fluid velocity is measured. Many applications using this method for measuring fluid velocities require the observation of fluids through a window. The passage of the laser beams through materials having different indices of refraction has the following effects: 1) the position of the probe volume will change; 2) the beams will uncross, i.e., no longer lie in the same plane at the probe volume location; and 3) for nonflat plate windows, the crossing angle of the two beams will change. OPTMAIN uses a ray tracing technique, which is not restricted to special cases, to study the changes in probe volume geometry and position due to refraction effects caused by both flat and general smooth windows. Input parameters are the indices of refraction on both sides of the window and of the window itself, the window shape, the assumed position of the probe volume and the actual position of the focusing lens relative to the window, the orientation of the plane which contains the laser beams, the beam crossing angle, and the laser beam wavelength. OPTMAIN is written in FORTRAN 77 for interactive execution. It has been implemented on a DEC VAX 11/780 under VMS 5.0 with a virtual memory requirement of 50K. OPTMAIN was developed in 1987.

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. Additionally, this model can be applied to other vocal taxonomic groups provided the necessary acoustic parameters are determined, including the frequency parameters and perception thresholds. Reduction in acoustic habitat by anthropogenic noise may emerge as a compounding environmental stressor for an already sensitive taxonomic group.

Effects of volume change on the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of Sphagnum moss

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Golubev, V.; Whittington, P.

2018-04-01

Due to the non-vascular nature of Sphagnum mosses, the capitula (growing surface) of the moss must rely solely on capillary action to receive water from beneath. Moss subsides and swells in accordance with water table levels, an effect called "mire-breathing", which has been thought to be a self-preservation mechanism, although no systematic studies have been done to demonstrate exactly how volume change affects hydrophysical properties of moss. In this study, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (Kunsat) and water content of two different species of Sphagnum moss were measured at different compression rates, up to the maximum of 77%. The findings show that the Kunsat increases by up to an order of magnitude (10×) with compression up to a certain bulk density of the moss, after which higher levels of compression result in lowered unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. This was coupled with an increase in soil water retention with increased compression. The increase of the Kunsat with compression suggests that the mire-breathing effect should be considered a self-preservation mechanism to provide sufficient amount of water to growing moss in times of low water availability.

Impact of dynamically changing land cover on runoff process: the case of Iligan river basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salcedo, Stephanie Mae B.; Suson, Peter D.; Milano, Alan E.; Ignacio, Ma. Teresa T.

2016-10-01

Iligan river basin located in Northern Mindanao, Philippines covers 165.7 km2 of basin area. In December 2011, tropical storm Sendong (Washi) hit Iligan City, leaving a trail of wrecked infrastructures and about 490 persons reported dead. What transpired was a wake up call to mitigate future flood disasters. Fundamental to mitigation is understanding runoff behavior inside a basin considering that this is the main source of flooding. For this reason, the present study evaluated total runoff volume, peak discharge and lag time given land cover scenarios in four different years- 1973, 1989, 1998 and 2008. IFSAR and LIDAR DEM were integrated to generate the basin model in ArcGIS. HEC-HMS was used in simulating models for each scenario with Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS CN) as the loss parameter method. Four simulation models of the runoff with varying CN values were established using RIDF as rainfall input with 5 year, 10 year, 25 year, 50 year and 100 year Rainfall Return Period (RRP). Total Runoff volume, peak discharge and lag time were progressively higher from 1973 to 2008 with 1989 land cover as exception where runoff parameters was its lowest. The total runoff volume, peak discharge and lag time is governed by vegetation type. When vegetation is characterized predominantly with woody perennials, runoff volume and peak time is lower. Conversely, when the presence of woody perennials is minimal, these parameters are higher. This study shows that an important way to mitigate flooding is to reduce surface runoff by maintaining vegetation predominantly composed of woody perennials.

The impact of patient telephone call after discharge on likelihood to recommend in an academic emergency department.

PubMed

Guss, David A; Gray, Siobhan; Castillo, Edward M

2014-04-01

Patient satisfaction is a common parameter tracked by health care systems, and likely influences patient provider choice and may impact insurer payment. Achieving high satisfaction in an academic emergency department (ED) can be a daunting task due to variable volumes, acuity, and overcrowding. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a postdischarge telephone call by a staff member after discharge from the ED on patient satisfaction. This was a prospective cohort study conducted in the two University of California San Diego Health System EDs. Press Ganey patient satisfaction surveys are mailed to a random sample of 50% of all discharged patients. In August 2010 a program of MD and RN telephone call back 1 to 5 days after the ED visit was initiated. In conjunction with this program, a custom question was added to the standard survey, "Called back after discharge, Yes/No?" All surveys returned between September 22, 2010 and December 7, 2010 were reviewed, and those that chose to self-identify were selected to allow for ED chart review. The key outcome variable "likelihood to recommend score" was dichotomized into the highest category, 5 (very good) and remaining levels, 1-4 (very poor, poor, fair, good). ED records were abstracted for data on waiting time (WT), length of stay (LOS), and triage class (TC). These variables were selected because they have been shown to impact patient satisfaction in prior studies. Likelihood to recommend ratings for those reporting "Yes" to call back were compared to those reporting "No" to call back. Summary statistics were generated for patient characteristics in the "Yes" and "No" groups. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals (CIs) for all counts and proportions were calculated with the "exact" method. A logistic regression model was constructed assessing odds ratio (OR) for likelihood-to-recommend score 5 while controlling for the variables of WT, LOS, and TC. In the study period, about 5000 surveys were mailed, 507 were returned, and 368 self-identified. Of those that self-identified, 136 patients answered "Yes" to the callback question and 232 answered "No." The mean age for those indicating "Yes" was 55.8 years (CI 52.9-58.7), and for those indicating "No," 50.7 years (CI 47.9-53.5). Gender and triage code were similar between the two groups. Among those answering "Yes," 89.0% (CI 82.5-93.7) provided a "5" rating for "likelihood to recommend," compared to 55.6% (CI 49.0-62.1) who replied "No" for call back. The logistic regression model generated an OR of 6.35 (CI 3.4-11.7) for providing a level 5 rating for "likelihood to recommend" for patients reporting "Yes" for call back after controlling for WT, LOS, and TC. In the study institution, patients that are called back are much more likely to have a favorable impression of the visit as assessed by likelihood to recommend regardless of WT, LOS, or TC. These data support "call back" as an effective strategy to improve ED patient satisfaction. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Potential Large Decadal Missions Enabled by Nasas Space Launch System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.; Schnell, Andrew; Smith, David Alan; Jackman, Angela; Warfield, Keith R.

2016-01-01

Large space telescope missions have always been limited by their launch vehicle's mass and volume capacities. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was specifically designed to fit inside the Space Shuttle and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is specifically designed to fit inside an Ariane 5. Astrophysicists desire even larger space telescopes. NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. NASA's "Planning for the 2020 Decadal Survey" calls for a Habitable Exoplanet Imaging (HabEx) and a LUVOIR as well as Far-IR and an X-Ray Surveyor missions. Packaging larger space telescopes into existing launch vehicles is a significant engineering complexity challenge that drives cost and risk. NASA's planned Space Launch System (SLS), with its 8 or 10-m diameter fairings and ability to deliver 35 to 45-mt of payload to Sun-Earth-Lagrange-2, mitigates this challenge by fundamentally changing the design paradigm for large space telescopes. This paper reviews the mass and volume capacities of the planned SLS, discusses potential implications of these capacities for designing large space telescope missions, and gives three specific mission concept implementation examples: a 4-m monolithic off-axis telescope, an 8-m monolithic on-axis telescope and a 12-m segmented on-axis telescope.

Improving outpatient access and patient experiences in academic ambulatory care.

PubMed

O'Neill, Sarah; Calderon, Sherry; Casella, Joanne; Wood, Elizabeth; Carvelli-Sheehan, Jayne; Zeidel, Mark L

2012-02-01

Effective scheduling of and ready access to doctor appointments affect ambulatory patient care quality, but these are often sacrificed by patients seeking care from physicians at academic medical centers. At one center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the authors developed interventions to improve the scheduling of appointments and to reduce the access time between telephone call and first offered appointment. Improvements to scheduling included no redirection to voicemail, prompt telephone pickup, courteous service, complete registration, and effective scheduling. Reduced access time meant being offered an appointment with a physician in the appropriate specialty within three working days of the telephone call. Scheduling and access were assessed using monthly "mystery shopper" calls. Mystery shoppers collected data using standardized forms, rated the quality of service, and transcribed their interactions with schedulers. Monthly results were tabulated and discussed with clinical leaders; leaders and frontline staff then developed solutions to detected problems. Eighteen months after the beginning of the intervention (in June 2007), which is ongoing, schedulers had gone from using 60% of their registration skills to over 90%, customer service scores had risen from 2.6 to 4.9 (on a 5-point scale), and average access time had fallen from 12 days to 6 days. The program costs $50,000 per year and has been associated with a 35% increase in ambulatory volume across three years. The authors conclude that academic medical centers can markedly improve the scheduling process and access to care and that these improvements may result in increased ambulatory care volume.

Designing astrophysics missions for NASA's Space Launch System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.; Schnell, Andrew; Smith, David Alan; Jackman, Angela; Warfield, Keith R.

2016-10-01

Large space telescope missions have always been limited by their launch vehicle's mass and volume capacities. The Hubble Space Telescope was specifically designed to fit inside the Space Shuttle and the James Webb Space Telescope was specifically designed to fit inside an Ariane 5. Astrophysicists desire even larger space telescopes. NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultrahigh-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. NASA's "Planning for the 2020 Decadal Survey" calls for a Habitable Exoplanet Imaging (HabEx) and an LUVOIR as well as Far-IR and an X-ray Surveyor missions. Packaging larger space telescopes into existing launch vehicles is a significant engineering complexity challenge that drives cost and risk. NASA's planned Space Launch System (SLS), with its 8- or 10-m diameter fairings and ability to deliver 35 to 45 mt of payload to Sun-Earth-Lagrange-2, mitigates this challenge by fundamentally changing the design paradigm for large space telescopes. This paper introduces the mass and volume capacities of the planned SLS, provides a simple mass allocation recipe for designing large space telescope missions to this capacity, and gives three specific mission concept implementation examples: a 4-m monolithic off-axis telescope, an 8-m monolithic on-axis telescope, and a 12-m segmented on-axis telescope.

Potential large missions enabled by NASA's space launch system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.; Schnell, Andrew; Smith, David A.; Jackman, Angela; Warfield, Keith R.

2016-07-01

Large space telescope missions have always been limited by their launch vehicle's mass and volume capacities. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was specifically designed to fit inside the Space Shuttle and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is specifically designed to fit inside an Ariane 5. Astrophysicists desire even larger space telescopes. NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. NASA's "Planning for the 2020 Decadal Survey" calls for a Habitable Exoplanet Imaging (HabEx) and a LUVOIR as well as Far-IR and an X-Ray Surveyor missions. Packaging larger space telescopes into existing launch vehicles is a significant engineering complexity challenge that drives cost and risk. NASA's planned Space Launch System (SLS), with its 8 or 10-m diameter fairings and ability to deliver 35 to 45-mt of payload to Sun-Earth-Lagrange-2, mitigates this challenge by fundamentally changing the design paradigm for large space telescopes. This paper reviews the mass and volume capacities of the planned SLS, discusses potential implications of these capacities for designing large space telescope missions, and gives three specific mission concept implementation examples: a 4-m monolithic off-axis telescope, an 8-m monolithic on-axis telescope and a 12-m segmented on-axis telescope.

Sheet-scanned dual-axis confocal microscopy using Richardson-Lucy deconvolution.

PubMed

Wang, D; Meza, D; Wang, Y; Gao, L; Liu, J T C

2014-09-15

We have previously developed a line-scanned dual-axis confocal (LS-DAC) microscope with subcellular resolution suitable for high-frame-rate diagnostic imaging at shallow depths. Due to the loss of confocality along one dimension, the contrast (signal-to-background ratio) of a LS-DAC microscope is deteriorated compared to a point-scanned DAC microscope. However, by using a sCMOS camera for detection, a short oblique light-sheet is imaged at each scanned position. Therefore, by scanning the light sheet in only one dimension, a thin 3D volume is imaged. Both sequential two-dimensional deconvolution and three-dimensional deconvolution are performed on the thin image volume to improve the resolution and contrast of one en face confocal image section at the center of the volume, a technique we call sheet-scanned dual-axis confocal (SS-DAC) microscopy.

Displacement cascades in a borosilicate glass: Influence of the level of polymerization on the cascade morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delaye, J. M.; Ghaleb, D.

1998-02-01

We have performed some molecular dynamics calculations of displacement cascades in a simplified nuclear glass (SiO 2 + B 2O 3 + Na 2O + Al 2O 3 + ZrO 2). We have observed that the damaged volume at the end of the collision sequence can be divided into a so called highly damaged volume and lightly damaged volume. The aim of this paper is to propose an explanation of this phenomenon by considering that some regions are easy to cross by the projectile and others are difficult to cross by the projectile. Regions which are easy to cross correspond to those containing Na atoms with a low level of polymerisation, and regions which are difficult to cross are areas no containing Na atoms with a high level of polymerisation.

Calbindin-D28k immunoreactivity is a marker for a subdivision of the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area of the rat: developmental profile and gonadal steroid modulation.

PubMed

Sickel, M J; McCarthy, M M

2000-05-01

Calbindin-D28k (calbindin) is a 28 kilodalton calcium binding protein which potentially plays a role in neuroprotection. We report here the normal development and gonadal steroid modulation of a sexually dimorphic group of calbindin immunoreactive cells within the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN) which we call the calbindin-immunoreactive SDN or CALB-SDN. Beginning on PN2, a faintly immunoreactive CALB-SDN is present, however, the volume is not sexually dimorphic. On PN4, the staining of the CALB-SDN appears more robust but the volume is still not sexually dimorphic. By PN8 and extending through PN12 and PN26, the latest age analysed, the volume of the CALB-SDN is larger in males by two- to fourfold. Cresyl violet counterstain reveals a similar developmental profile of the SDN as well as clusters of darkly staining calbindin immunonegative cells which lie around the CALB-SDN. Castration of males on PN0 decreases the volume of the CALB-SDN by PN12 and administration on the day of birth and PN1 of either testosterone propionate or oestradiol benzoate, but not dihydrotestosterone propionate to females increases the volume of the CALB-SDN by PN12. By demonstrating the sexual dimorphism and gonadal steroid modulation of the CALB-SDN, we hereby establish that calbindin is a specific marker of a subdivision of the SDN and can be used as such in future studies.

The Influence of Spatial Variation in Chromatin Density Determined by X-Ray Tomograms on the Time to Find DNA Binding Sites

PubMed Central

Larabell, Carolyn A.; Le Gros, Mark A.; McQueen, David M.; Peskin, Charles S.

2014-01-01

In this work, we examine how volume exclusion caused by regions of high chromatin density might influence the time required for proteins to find specific DNA binding sites. The spatial variation of chromatin density within mouse olfactory sensory neurons is determined from soft X-ray tomography reconstructions of five nuclei. We show that there is a division of the nuclear space into regions of low-density euchromatin and high-density heterochromatin. Volume exclusion experienced by a diffusing protein caused by this varying density of chromatin is modeled by a repulsive potential. The value of the potential at a given point in space is chosen to be proportional to the density of chromatin at that location. The constant of proportionality, called the volume exclusivity, provides a model parameter that determines the strength of volume exclusion. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the mean time for a protein to locate a binding site localized in euchromatin is minimized for a finite, nonzero volume exclusivity. For binding sites in heterochromatin, the mean time is minimized when the volume exclusivity is zero (the protein experiences no volume exclusion). An analytical theory is developed to explain these results. The theory suggests that for binding sites in euchromatin there is an optimal level of volume exclusivity that balances a reduction in the volume searched in finding the binding site, with the height of effective potential barriers the protein must cross during the search process. PMID:23955281

User's operating procedures. Volume 2: Scout project financial analysis program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harris, C. G.; Haris, D. K.

1985-01-01

A review is presented of the user's operating procedures for the Scout Project Automatic Data system, called SPADS. SPADS is the result of the past seven years of software development on a Prime mini-computer located at the Scout Project Office, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. SPADS was developed as a single entry, multiple cross-reference data management and information retrieval system for the automation of Project office tasks, including engineering, financial, managerial, and clerical support. This volume, two (2) of three (3), provides the instructions to operate the Scout Project Financial Analysis program in data retrieval and file maintenance via the user friendly menu drivers.

Effect of buoyancy on fuel containment in an open-cycle gas-core nuclear rocket engine.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Putre, H. A.

1971-01-01

Analysis aimed at determining the scaling laws for the buoyancy effect on fuel containment in an open-cycle gas-core nuclear rocket engine, so conducted that experimental conditions can be related to engine conditions. The fuel volume fraction in a short coaxial flow cavity is calculated with a programmed numerical solution of the steady Navier-Stokes equations for isothermal, variable density fluid mixing. A dimensionless parameter B, called the Buoyancy number, was found to correlate the fuel volume fraction for large accelerations and various density ratios. This parameter has the value B = 0 for zero acceleration, and B = 350 for typical engine conditions.

Method for generating a mesh representation of a region characterized by a trunk and a branch thereon

DOEpatents

Shepherd, Jason [Albuquerque, NM; Mitchell, Scott A [Albuquerque, NM; Jankovich, Steven R [Anaheim, CA; Benzley, Steven E [Provo, UT

2007-05-15

The present invention provides a meshing method, called grafting, that lifts the prior art constraint on abutting surfaces, including surfaces that are linking, source/target, or other types of surfaces of the trunk volume. The grafting method locally modifies the structured mesh of the linking surfaces allowing the mesh to conform to additional surface features. Thus, the grafting method can provide a transition between multiple sweep directions extending sweeping algorithms to 23/4-D solids. The method is also suitable for use with non-sweepable volumes; the method provides a transition between meshes generated by methods other than sweeping as well.

Detection of a Pool in Semi-Continuous Castings Made of Heat-Treatable Aluminum Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krushenko, G. G.; Nazarov, V. P.

2017-12-01

Various products (sheets, sections, etc.) manufactured by metal forming (rolled products, forged pieces, etc.) from semi-continuous castings are widely used in the aerospace industry. The so-called pool, which is the conical volume of a liquid metal, exists at the top of the liquid metal. Experience demonstrates that the geometry, the depth, and the shape of the pool substantially affect the structure formation in a casting and its quality. The application of a titanium nitride nanopowder, which is introduced in a melt in the volume of a rod, as a modifier allowed us to find the exact geometry of the pool.

Memory Network For Distributed Data Processors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bolen, David; Jensen, Dean; Millard, ED; Robinson, Dave; Scanlon, George

1992-01-01

Universal Memory Network (UMN) is modular, digital data-communication system enabling computers with differing bus architectures to share 32-bit-wide data between locations up to 3 km apart with less than one millisecond of latency. Makes it possible to design sophisticated real-time and near-real-time data-processing systems without data-transfer "bottlenecks". This enterprise network permits transmission of volume of data equivalent to an encyclopedia each second. Facilities benefiting from Universal Memory Network include telemetry stations, simulation facilities, power-plants, and large laboratories or any facility sharing very large volumes of data. Main hub of UMN is reflection center including smaller hubs called Shared Memory Interfaces.

On fixed-area plot sampling for downed coarse woody debris

Treesearch

Jeffrey H. Gove; Paul C. Van Deusen

2011-01-01

The use of fixed-area plots for sampling down coarse woody debris is reviewed. A set of clearly defined protocols for two previously described methods is established and a new method, which we call the 'sausage' method, is developed. All methods (protocols) are shown to be unbiased for volume estimation, but not necessarily for estimation of population...

Contemporary American Success Stories: Famous People of Hispanic Heritage. Volume VI. A Mitchell Lane Multicultral Biography Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1997

The term "Hispanic" is an umbrella term that encompasses people from many nationalities, all races, and many social and cultural groups. Hispanics are also collectively called Latinos. The biographies in this series represent the diversity of Hispanic heritage in the United States. The people featured are contemporary figures of…

Compendium of Abstracts. Volume 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-01

researched for various applications such as self - healing and fluid transport. One method of creating these vascular systems is through a process called...Daniel J. Dexterous robotic manipulators that rely on joystick type interfaces for teleoperation require considerable time and effort to master...and lack an intuitive basis for human- robot interaction. This hampers operator performance, increases cognitive workload, and limits overall

Innovative Science and Technology (IST) in Support of SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) BM/C3 (Battle Management/Command, Control and Communications)

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-08-01

primitive model would be unthinkable. Similarly, while human operators once made plugboard connections to complete telephone circuits for long-distance...calls, the current volume of U.S. long-distance telephone traffic could not be serviced if the entire U.S. population sat before telephone plugboards

Achieving a Quantitatively Literate Citizenry: Resources and Community to Support National Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grawe, Nathan D.

2012-01-01

In the National Council on Education and the Disciplines' (NCED) 2001 Mathematics and Democracy, Lynn Steen vividly declares, "The world of the twenty-first century is a world awash in numbers". In that volume, Steen and his collaborators articulate a clear call for broad reforms to prepare students for the ubiquitous need for quantitative…

Reference Manual, Background Materials for the CONUS Volumes,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-04-25

operating cathode tube. He demonstrated that invisible rays emanating from the cathode tube were responsible for darken- ing the film. He called these...N 141 - - -. , * -.. *** *** ~ .*.( .*~- - ’.- - * -.-. - -. APPENDIX B (continued) AM n i in vi U% V’ I-I- 4 i nCA 4 CA le3 i 3 A .US w4 w’ . a L" P

Silver(II) Oxide or Silver(I,III) Oxide?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tudela, David

2008-01-01

The often called silver peroxide and silver(II) oxide, AgO or Ag[subscript 2]O[subscript 2], is actually a mixed oxidation state silver(I,III) oxide. A thermochemical cycle, with lattice energies calculated within the "volume-based" thermodynamic approach, explain why the silver(I,III) oxide is more stable than the hypothetical silver(II) oxide.…

NOAA Photo Library

Science.gov Websites

NOAA Photo Library Banner Takes you to the Top Page Takes you to the About this Site page. Takes Collections page. Takes you to the search page. Takes you to the Links page. NOAA Photo Library Image the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin ....", 1806. Volume II, p. 26. Library Call Number PS745 .A2 1806

Information Technology & Multimedia in English Language Teaching. Selected Papers from the ITMELT '99 Conference (Hong Kong, November 6-7, 1999).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, Bruce, Ed.; Cruikshank, Don, Ed.; Gardner, David, Ed.; James, Jeff, Ed.; Keobke, Ken, Ed.

This edited volume of conference papers includes the following: "The Mystery Photo Album: Defining a CALL Paradigm" (Ken Keobke); "Lexicon-Driven Learning on the Internet: A Design Strategy for a World Wide Web 'Virtual Language Learning Classroom'" (Chris Greaves); "Giving Students Something To Do with Concordance…

Moral Education and Education in Altruism: Two Replies to Michael Hand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, John

2016-01-01

This article is a critical discussion of two recent papers by Michael Hand on moral education. The first is his "Towards a Theory of Moral Education", published in the "Journal of Philosophy of Education" in 2014 (Volume 48, Issue 4). The second is a chapter called "Beyond Moral Education?" in an edited book of new…

Generating the Power of a Diverse Collective by Following Women's Approaches to Leadership. The Claremont Letter. Volume 4, Issue 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grogan, Margaret

2010-01-01

Charol Shakeshaft and Margaret Grogan have just finished a book called "Women and Educational Leadership" for a leadership series published by Jossey-Bass. For those engaged in the preparation and development of school leaders, women's leadership is thus recognized along with Distributed Leadership, Turnaround Leadership, Ethical…

Army Sustainment. Volume 43, Issue 3, May-June 2011

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

data entry, which produces a decrease in errors and also an increase in efficiency because automatic reading saves time . Today’s RFID...company, and even pla- toon, level . This push does not necessarily call for drastic adjustments to the personnel and equipment structure of the company...specialists. This increased capability would allow more streamlined processes for submitting

Contemporary American Success Stories: Famous People of Hispanic Heritage. Volume IV. A Mitchell Lane Multicultral Biography Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marvis, Barbara J.

The term "Hispanic" is an umbrella term that encompasses people from many nationalities, all races, and many social and cultural groups. Hispanics are also collectively called Latinos. The biographies in this series represent the diversity of Hispanic heritage in the United States. The people featured are contemporary figures of…

Forest control and regulation ... a comparison of traditional methods and alternatives

Treesearch

LeRoy C. Hennes; Michael J. Irving; Daniel I. Navon

1971-01-01

Two traditional techniques of forest control and regulation-formulas and area-volume check-are compared to linear programing, as used in a new computerized planning system called Timber Resource Allocation Method ( Timber RAM). Inventory data from a National Forest in California illustrate how each technique is used. The traditional methods are simpler to apply and...

Excellence in Education. Perspectives on Policy and Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altbach, Philip G., Ed.; And Others

The current reform movement in education is investigated in this book through analysis of the many reports on the state of the nation's schools collectively called the excellence reports. Five areas of investigation are focused upon in this volume: (1) an overview of what the excellence reports say; (2) a consideration of the social, political,…

STEM Policy and Science Education: Scientistic Curriculum and Sociopolitical Silences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gough, Annette

2015-01-01

This essay responds to the contribution of Volny Fages and Virginia Albe, in this volume, to the field of research in science education, and places it in the context of the plethora of government and industry policy documents calling for more Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in schools and universities and the…

Journal of Special Operations Medicine, Volume 2, Edition 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

34civilian" talk and loan it to anyone who shows even the slightest interest in viewing it. Following the awarding of my MBA, I took a position with Amway ...performing different tasks with Amway . The culmination of all this work came throughout the 1990s when I worked in an area called New Market Development. While

Classroom Notes Plus: A Quarterly of Teaching Ideas, 2004-2005

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Council of Teachers of English, 2005

2005-01-01

This document is a compilation of the four issues in the 22nd volume of "Classroom Notes Plus." The August 2004 issue includes: Celebrating Our Names (Nitza Agam); Group Resume (Jennifer L. Alex); There's Much to Learn from Listening (Ann McKenna); Roll Call Turns into Brainstorming (John R. Banks); Create Your Own Museum (Jennifer Collison);…

Group Communication through Computers. Volume 1: Design and Use of the FORUM System. IFF Report R-32.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vallee, Jacques; And Others

To explore the feasibility and usefulness of group communication via computer, a system called FORUM was constructed and used in research and management tasks using ARPANET, an international computer network. Working softward and data regarding the dynamics of groups using network communication were developed, and a prototype hardware system for…

Managing for water-use efficient wood production in Eucalyptus globulus plantations

Treesearch

Donald A. White; John F. McGrath; Michael G. Ryan; Michael Battaglia; Daniel S. Mendham; Joe Kinal; Geoffrey M. Downes; D. Stuart Crombie; Mark E. Hunt

2014-01-01

This paper tests the hypothesis that thinning and nitrogen fertiliser can increase the mass of wood produced per volume of water used (evapotranspiration) by plantations of Eucalyptus globulus. We have called this plantation water productivity (PWPWOOD) and argue that, for a given genotype, this term integrates the effects of management, site and climate on both...

The Quality of Life in Eight American Cities: Selected Indicators of Urban Conditions and Trends.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ontell, Robert

This volume summarizes a two-year research project funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development through the National League of Cities. The National League of Cities, which manages an urban research program called the Urban Observatory subcontracted the work to member Observatories in the cities of Albuquerque, Atlanta, Denver, Kansas…

Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress. Volume 11, Number 6

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amos, Jason, Ed.

2011-01-01

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Obama Sets Timeline for NCLB Revamp: President Calls on Congress to Send Him an Education Reform Bill "Before…

Higher Education Systems 3.0: Harnessing Systemness, Delivering Performance. Critical Issues in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane, Jason E., Ed.; Johnstone, D. Bruce, Ed.

2013-01-01

This thought-provoking volume brings together scholars and system leaders to analyze some of the most pressing and complex issues now facing higher education systems and society. Higher Education Systems 3.0 focuses on the remaking of higher education coordination in an era of increased accountability, greater calls for productivity, and…

Reflections Beneath the Surface: We Are More than You See.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bass, Bruce; And Others

This volume is a sampling of 18 pieces of writing by students in a workplace education writing course called Advanced Writing. It contains the following poems, fiction, and nonfiction written in and outside of class: "Artist" (Bruce Bass); "Tuesday Morning" (Kathy Colon); "House" (Lee Christian); "Life" (Alice Chapin); "A Cat Story" (Jane E.…

The Apparel Industry and Codes of Conduct: A Solution to the International Child Labor Problem?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bureau of International Labor Affairs (DOL), Washington, DC.

Corporate codes of conduct prohibiting the use of child labor are becoming more common as consumers are increasingly calling upon companies to take responsibility for the conditions under which the goods they sell are manufactured. This report (the third volume in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs' international child labor series) details…

Call for Papers. Correctional Education Association 1986 Annual Conference (Cincinnati, Ohio, July 6-9, 1986).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Littlefield, John F., Ed.

The 13 papers in this volume are: "Behind Bars with CBE--Look What's Happening to Inmate Training" (Beverly A. Stitt, Rita Noel); "Communication Skills: Relevance, Respect, Responsibility and the Process of Change" (Meredith Whaley); "The Educational Needs of Inmates in the Kingston Prison for Women" (Richard Volpe, Colleen Kearney); "The Effects…

Dose-volume metrics and their relation to memory performance in pediatric brain tumor patients: A preliminary study.

PubMed

Raghubar, Kimberly P; Lamba, Michael; Cecil, Kim M; Yeates, Keith Owen; Mahone, E Mark; Limke, Christina; Grosshans, David; Beckwith, Travis J; Ris, M Douglas

2018-06-01

Advances in radiation treatment (RT), specifically volumetric planning with detailed dose and volumetric data for specific brain structures, have provided new opportunities to study neurobehavioral outcomes of RT in children treated for brain tumor. The present study examined the relationship between biophysical and physical dose metrics and neurocognitive ability, namely learning and memory, 2 years post-RT in pediatric brain tumor patients. The sample consisted of 26 pediatric patients with brain tumor, 14 of whom completed neuropsychological evaluations on average 24 months post-RT. Prescribed dose and dose-volume metrics for specific brain regions were calculated including physical metrics (i.e., mean dose and maximum dose) and biophysical metrics (i.e., integral biological effective dose and generalized equivalent uniform dose). We examined the associations between dose-volume metrics (whole brain, right and left hippocampus), and performance on measures of learning and memory (Children's Memory Scale). Biophysical dose metrics were highly correlated with the physical metric of mean dose but not with prescribed dose. Biophysical metrics and mean dose, but not prescribed dose, correlated with measures of learning and memory. These preliminary findings call into question the value of prescribed dose for characterizing treatment intensity; they also suggest that biophysical dose has only a limited advantage compared to physical dose when calculated for specific regions of the brain. We discuss the implications of the findings for evaluating and understanding the relation between RT and neurocognitive functioning. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Flight Technical Error Analysis of the SATS Higher Volume Operations Simulation and Flight Experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Daniel M.; Consiglio, Maria C.; Murdoch, Jennifer L.; Adams, Catherine H.

2005-01-01

This paper provides an analysis of Flight Technical Error (FTE) from recent SATS experiments, called the Higher Volume Operations (HVO) Simulation and Flight experiments, which NASA conducted to determine pilot acceptability of the HVO concept for normal operating conditions. Reported are FTE results from simulation and flight experiment data indicating the SATS HVO concept is viable and acceptable to low-time instrument rated pilots when compared with today s system (baseline). Described is the comparative FTE analysis of lateral, vertical, and airspeed deviations from the baseline and SATS HVO experimental flight procedures. Based on FTE analysis, all evaluation subjects, low-time instrument-rated pilots, flew the HVO procedures safely and proficiently in comparison to today s system. In all cases, the results of the flight experiment validated the results of the simulation experiment and confirm the utility of the simulation platform for comparative Human in the Loop (HITL) studies of SATS HVO and Baseline operations.

Dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography images transit time and quantifies microvascular plasma volume and flow in the retina and choriocapillaris

PubMed Central

Merkle, Conrad W.; Leahy, Conor; Srinivasan, Vivek J.

2016-01-01

Despite the prevalence of optical imaging techniques to measure hemodynamics in large retinal vessels, quantitative measurements of retinal capillary and choroidal hemodynamics have traditionally been challenging. Here, a new imaging technique called dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography (DyC-OCT) is applied in the rat eye to study microvascular blood flow in individual retinal and choroidal layers in vivo. DyC-OCT is based on imaging the transit of an intravascular tracer dynamically as it passes through the field-of-view. Hemodynamic parameters can be determined through quantitative analysis of tracer kinetics. In addition to enabling depth-resolved transit time, volume, and flow measurements, the injected tracer also enhances OCT angiograms and enables clear visualization of the choriocapillaris, particularly when combined with a post-processing method for vessel enhancement. DyC-OCT complements conventional OCT angiography through quantification of tracer dynamics, similar to fluorescence angiography, but with the important added benefit of laminar resolution. PMID:27867732

Dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography images transit time and quantifies microvascular plasma volume and flow in the retina and choriocapillaris.

PubMed

Merkle, Conrad W; Leahy, Conor; Srinivasan, Vivek J

2016-10-01

Despite the prevalence of optical imaging techniques to measure hemodynamics in large retinal vessels, quantitative measurements of retinal capillary and choroidal hemodynamics have traditionally been challenging. Here, a new imaging technique called dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography (DyC-OCT) is applied in the rat eye to study microvascular blood flow in individual retinal and choroidal layers in vivo . DyC-OCT is based on imaging the transit of an intravascular tracer dynamically as it passes through the field-of-view. Hemodynamic parameters can be determined through quantitative analysis of tracer kinetics. In addition to enabling depth-resolved transit time, volume, and flow measurements, the injected tracer also enhances OCT angiograms and enables clear visualization of the choriocapillaris, particularly when combined with a post-processing method for vessel enhancement. DyC-OCT complements conventional OCT angiography through quantification of tracer dynamics, similar to fluorescence angiography, but with the important added benefit of laminar resolution.

Antibiotic-prescribing habits among Norwegian dentists: a survey over 25 years (1990-2015).

PubMed

Preus, Hans R; Fredriksen, Karen W; Vogsland, Andrea E; Sandvik, Leiv; Grytten, Jostein I

2017-08-01

Bacterial antibiotic resistance is a steadily growing global problem, which today is compared with issues such as global warming, ozone depletion, and extinction of species. Consequently, calls come from global, Pan-European, and national authorities to gain insight into, limit, and stringently qualify the use of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine, as well as in food production. Dentists are not considered to be frequent prescribers of antibiotics. However, few studies have identified how much, and in which situations, dentists prescribe such drugs. The aims of the present study were to survey Norwegian dentists' antibiotic-prescribing habits in 2015 and to compare the findings with previous studies (1990 and 2004) and with the actual numbers of dispensed prescriptions obtained from the 'Norwegian National Prescription Register'. The results from 1990 to 2004 show that there was a general increase in antibiotic prescriptions by Norwegian dentists, followed by a reduction or flattening of the prescription volume curve from 2004 to 2015. Despite this, possibilities for further improvements have been identified and recommendations given for targeted campaigns to reduce the prescription volume in dentistry by a further 30%, which has been ordered by the Norwegian National Assembly. © 2017 Eur J Oral Sci.

An approach to efficient mobility management in intelligent networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murthy, K. M. S.

1995-01-01

Providing personal communication systems supporting full mobility require intelligent networks for tracking mobile users and facilitating outgoing and incoming calls over different physical and network environments. In realizing the intelligent network functionalities, databases play a major role. Currently proposed network architectures envision using the SS7-based signaling network for linking these DB's and also for interconnecting DB's with switches. If the network has to support ubiquitous, seamless mobile services, then it has to support additionally mobile application parts, viz., mobile origination calls, mobile destination calls, mobile location updates and inter-switch handovers. These functions will generate significant amount of data and require them to be transferred between databases (HLR, VLR) and switches (MSC's) very efficiently. In the future, the users (fixed or mobile) may use and communicate with sophisticated CPE's (e.g. multimedia, multipoint and multisession calls) which may require complex signaling functions. This will generate volumness service handling data and require efficient transfer of these message between databases and switches. Consequently, the network providers would be able to add new services and capabilities to their networks incrementally, quickly and cost-effectively.

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.

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.

The Dose–Response Relationship Between Tobacco Education Advertising and Calls to Quitlines in the United States, March–June, 2012

PubMed Central

Alexander, Robert L.; Shafer, Paul; Mann, Nathan; Malarcher, Ann; Zhang, Lei

2015-01-01

Introduction We estimated changes in call volume in the United States in response to increases in advertising doses of the Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) campaign, the first federal national tobacco education campaign, which aired for 12 weeks from March 19 to June 10, 2012. We also measured the effectiveness of ad taglines that promoted calls directly with a quitline number (1-800-QUIT-NOW) and indirectly with a cessation help website (Smokefree.gov). Methods Multivariate regressions estimated the weekly number of calls to 1–800-QUIT-NOW by area code as a function of weekly market-level gross rating points (GRPs) from CDC’s Tips campaign in 2012. The number of quitline calls attributable solely to Tips was predicted. Results For quitline-tagged ads, an additional 100 television GRPs per week was associated with an increase of 89 calls per week in a typical area code in the United States (P < .001). The same unit increase in advertising GRPs for ads tagged with Smokefree.gov was associated with an increase of 29 calls per week in any given area code (P < .001). We estimated that the Tips campaign was responsible for more than 170,000 additional calls to 1–800-QUIT-NOW during the campaign and that it would have generated approximately 140,000 additional calls if all ads were tagged with 1–800-QUIT-NOW. Conclusion For campaign planners, these results make it possible to estimate 1) the likely impact of tobacco prevention media buys and 2) the additional quitline capacity needed at the national level should future campaigns of similar scale use 1–800-QUIT-NOW taglines exclusively. PMID:26542143

The Dose-Response Relationship Between Tobacco Education Advertising and Calls to Quitlines in the United States, March-June, 2012.

PubMed

Davis, Kevin C; Alexander, Robert L; Shafer, Paul; Mann, Nathan; Malarcher, Ann; Zhang, Lei

2015-11-05

We estimated changes in call volume in the United States in response to increases in advertising doses of the Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) campaign, the first federal national tobacco education campaign, which aired for 12 weeks from March 19 to June 10, 2012. We also measured the effectiveness of ad taglines that promoted calls directly with a quitline number (1-800-QUIT-NOW) and indirectly with a cessation help website (Smokefree.gov). Multivariate regressions estimated the weekly number of calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW by area code as a function of weekly market-level gross rating points (GRPs) from CDC's Tips campaign in 2012. The number of quitline calls attributable solely to Tips was predicted. For quitline-tagged ads, an additional 100 television GRPs per week was associated with an increase of 89 calls per week in a typical area code in the United States (P < .001). The same unit increase in advertising GRPs for ads tagged with Smokefree.gov was associated with an increase of 29 calls per week in any given area code (P < .001). We estimated that the Tips campaign was responsible for more than 170,000 additional calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW during the campaign and that it would have generated approximately 140,000 additional calls if all ads were tagged with 1-800-QUIT-NOW. For campaign planners, these results make it possible to estimate 1) the likely impact of tobacco prevention media buys and 2) the additional quitline capacity needed at the national level should future campaigns of similar scale use 1-800-QUIT-NOW taglines exclusively.

Boundary Element Method in a Self-Gravitating Elastic Half-Space and Its Application to Deformation Induced by Magma Chambers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, M.; Hager, B. H.

2014-12-01

In geophysical applications the boundary element method (BEM) often carries the essential physics in addition to being an efficient numerical scheme. For use of the BEM in a self-gravitating uniform half-space, we made extra effort and succeeded in deriving the fundamental solution analytically in closed-form. A problem that goes deep into the heart of the classic BEM is encountered when we try to apply the new fundamental solution in BEM for deformation field induced by a magma chamber or a fluid-filled reservoir. The central issue of the BEM is the singular integral arising from determination of the boundary values. A widely employed technique is to rescale the singular boundary point into a small finite volume and then shrink it to extract the limits. This operation boils down to the calculation of the so-called C-matrix. Authors in the past take the liberty of either adding or subtracting a small volume. By subtracting a small volume, the C-matrix is (1/2)I on a smooth surface, where I is the identity matrix; by adding a small volume, we arrive at the same C-matrix in the form of I - (1/2)I. This evenness is a result of the spherical symmetry of Kelvin's fundamental solution employed. When the spherical symmetry is broken by gravity, the C-matrix is polarized. And we face the choice between right and wrong, for adding and subtracting a small volume yield different C-matrices. Close examination reveals that both derivations, addition and subtraction of a small volume, are ad hoc. To resolve the issue we revisit the Somigliana identity with a new derivation and careful step-by-step anatomy. The result proves that even though both adding and subtracting a small volume appear to twist the original boundary, only addition essentially modifies the original boundary and consequently modifies the physics of the original problem in a subtle way. The correct procedure is subtraction. We complete a new BEM theory by introducing in full analytical form what we call the singular stress tensor for the fundamental solution. We partition the stress tensor of the fundamental solution into a singular part and a regular part. In this way all singular integrals systematically shift into the easy singular stress tensor. Applications of this new BEM to deformation and gravitational perturbation induced by magma chambers of finite volume will be presented.

Aperiodic Volume Optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerke, Tim D.

Presented in this thesis is an investigation into aperiodic volume optical devices. The three main topics of research and discussion are the aperiodic volume optical devices that we call computer-generated volume holograms (CGVH), defects within periodic 3D photonic crystals, and non-periodic, but ordered 3D quasicrystals. The first of these devices, CGVHs, are designed and investigated numerically and experimentally. We study the performance of multi-layered amplitude computer-generated volume holograms in terms of efficiency and angular/frequency selectivity. Simulation results show that such aperiodic devices can increase diffraction efficiency relative to periodic amplitude volume holograms while maintaining angular and wavelength selectivity. CGVHs are also designed as voxelated volumes using a new projection optimization algorithm. They are investigated using a volumetric diffraction simulation and a standard 3D beam propagation technique as well as experimentally. Both simulation and experiment verify that the structures function according to their design. These represent the first diffractive structures that have the capacity for generating arbitrary transmission and reflection wave fronts and that provide the ability for multiplexing arbitrary functionality given different illumination conditions. Also investigated and discussed in this thesis are 3D photonic crystals and quasicrystals. We demonstrate that these devices can be fabricated using a femtosecond laser direct writing system that is particularly appropriate for fabrication of such arbitrary 3D structures. We also show that these devices can provide 3D partial bandgaps which could become complete bandgaps if fabricated using high index materials or by coating lower index materials with high index metals. Our fabrication method is particularly suited to the fabrication of engineered defects within the periodic or quasi-periodic systems. We demonstrate the potential for fabricating defects within periodic and quasi-periodic systems for the manipulation of light in the IR regime. The general thesis of this document is that aperiodic three-dimensional structures provide additional degrees of freedom that can be utilized to improve on the performance of periodic volume devices. The results we will discuss suggest that, under certain circumstances, a departure from the Bragg paradigm provides enhanced volume diffraction properties.

Is "Safety-in-numbers" theory applies to the pattern of pedestrian accidents in Seoul, South Korea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Y.; Yoon, H.

2016-12-01

Every year, about 1.25 million people die of vehicle-related accidents, among which half are pedestrians with higher vulnerability: pedestrian, cyclists and motorcyclist (World Health Organization, 2016). This urges city governments in the world to strive for pedestrian safety and to apply diverse theories to transportation planning and design. The common belief is that the number of pedestrian accidents is directly and positively associated with the volume of pedestrian, however, another hypothesis, called "safety-in-numbers" effect, tells an opposite story in that accident rates declines with increase of the volume of pedestrian. In this study, we examine first, whether the safety-in-numbers theory applies to the pattern of pedestrian accidents in Seoul, and second, further investigate environmental factors that are associated with the pedestrian safety. On the first count, we use geospatial statistical analyses of the multi-year pedestrian accident data collected by Korea Road Traffic Authority (KoRoad) and the pedestrian volume data collected by SK Telecom (SKT). With Kernel Density Estimation and Bivariate Local Moran's I, we identify spatial clustering of pedestrian accidents in the city, and examine whether those locations match with concentrations of pedestrian volume. On the second count, we use statistical analysis, tobit, poisson and negative binomial regression to investigate relationships between pedestrian volume and number of pedestrian accident for the two types of geographic areas by the results of the aforementioned analysis; Area 1- locations of high volume of pedestrian with high number of accident, Area 2- locations of high volume of pedestrian with low number of accident. For environmental factors potentially explaining pedestrian accidents, we include land use composition, number of traffic lanes, crosswalk presence, pedestrian signal, traffic island and sidewalk width in our analysis. This research will be valuable in city governments' decision making with planning guidelines and political protocols for making safer pedestrian environment.

An Improved Ground Vibration Test Method. Volume 1. Research Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-09-01

Software Listing A-161 IL 1 PAGE 000i FTN4 COMPILER: HP24177 (SEPT. 1974) 000i FTN4.L 0002 C 0003 C VERSION i-3UN-78 PM MRH COMMON: REV D 0004 C O00s...DTADOIYYI,-i) 7MW OOSS I=IPNTMX*3 0056 CALL SETAD(DTADOIZZI,-i) A-163 /i mk PAGE 0002 Y0090 FTN4 COMPILER: HP24177 (SEPT. £974) 0057 CALL GETI(SIZE,I4S...IF(IANS.EQ.2HY ) GOTO 9401 1112 9501 WRITE(I,8120) 113 READ(1,8125) (IT(I),I-1,5) i114 IF(ISSW(14).LT.0) GOTO 200 1115 9505 WRITE(i,8230) 1116 READ(1

Evaluation of whole genome amplified DNA to decrease material expenditure and increase quality.

PubMed

Bækvad-Hansen, Marie; Bybjerg-Grauholm, Jonas; Poulsen, Jesper B; Hansen, Christine S; Hougaard, David M; Hollegaard, Mads V

2017-06-01

The overall aim of this study is to evaluate whole genome amplification of DNA extracted from dried blood spot samples. We wish to explore ways of optimizing the amplification process, while decreasing the amount of input material and inherently the cost. Our primary focus of optimization is on the amount of input material, the amplification reaction volume, the number of replicates and amplification time and temperature. Increasing the quality of the amplified DNA and the subsequent results of array genotyping is a secondary aim of this project. This study is based on DNA extracted from dried blood spot samples. The extracted DNA was subsequently whole genome amplified using the REPLIg kit and genotyped on the PsychArray BeadChip (assessing > 570,000 SNPs genome wide). We used Genome Studio to evaluate the quality of the genotype data by call rates and log R ratios. The whole genome amplification process is robust and does not vary between replicates. Altering amplification time, temperature or number of replicates did not affect our results. We found that spot size i.e. amount of input material could be reduced without compromising the quality of the array genotyping data. We also showed that whole genome amplification reaction volumes can be reduced by a factor of 4, without compromising the DNA quality. Whole genome amplified DNA samples from dried blood spots is well suited for array genotyping and produces robust and reliable genotype data. However, the amplification process introduces additional noise to the data, making detection of structural variants such as copy number variants difficult. With this study, we explore ways of optimizing the amplification protocol in order to reduce noise and increase data quality. We found, that the amplification process was very robust, and that changes in amplification time or temperature did not alter the genotyping calls or quality of the array data. Adding additional replicates of each sample also lead to insignificant changes in the array data. Thus, the amount of noise introduced by the amplification process was consistent regardless of changes made to the amplification protocol. We also explored ways of decreasing material expenditure by reducing the spot size or the amplification reaction volume. The reduction did not affect the quality of the genotyping data.

Gulf of Mexico physical-oceanography program final report: years 1 and 2. Volume 1. Executive summary. Technical report, 1983-1985

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

Not Available

In 1982, Minerals Management Service (MMS) initiated a multi-year program under contract with Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) to study the physical oceanography of the Gulf of Mexico as part of its outer continental shelf environmental-studies programs. This particular program, called the Gulf of Mexico Physical Oceanography Program (GOMPOP), has two primary goals: (1) develop a better understanding and description of conditions and processes governing Gulf circulation; and (2) establish a data base that could be used as initial and boundary conditions by a companion MMS-funded numerical circulation-modeling program. The report presents results from the first two of three yearsmore » of observations in the eastern Gulf.« less

Altruistic suicide: a few reflections.

PubMed

Leenaars, Antoon A

2004-01-01

In the last few centuries, science has become arithmetic, tabular, taxonomic, to explain living creatures, chemical elements and even diseases of the mind. Emile Durkheim attempted to do the same with his enduring volume, Suicide: A Study of Sociology, first published in 1897. Durkheim showed that suicide could be divided into an order: egoistic, altruistic, anomic and fatalistic-here, we focus on the question, who is the altruistic suicide? Durkheim's additional question is raised: When is a motive praiseworthy and when not-when to be called altruistic or heroic, and when terrorist? Further study is warranted-and thus, this opening editorial to an array of studies on the topic, from antiquity to the Christian martyrs into this century, to the act of Sati in India, to the suicide bomber in the Moslem world.

Mapping of land use and geomorphology in the APAPORE project area by LANDSAT satellite data, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parada, N. D. J. (Principal Investigator); Dossantos, A. P.; Kux, H. J.; Sausen, T. M.; Bueno, A. M. T. R.; Desouza, L. F.; Nunes, J. S. D.

1982-01-01

The results of a land use and geomorphological mapping of the so-called Projeto APAPORE area, at Mato Grosso do Sul State are presented. The study was carried out using multispectral scanner (MSS) and return beam vidicon LANDSAT images (channels 5 and 7 for the MSS) at the scale of 1:250,000 from 1980 through visual interpretation. The results indicate that pastureland is the most widespead class and that the agricultural areas re concentrated in the north of the area under study. The area covered with cerradao (arboreous savanna type) has a great areal extention, thus permitting the advance of the agricultural frontier. The geomorphological mapping can be useful to regional planning of future land use within the studied area.

Data Summarization in the Node by Parameters (DSNP): Local Data Fusion in an IoT Environment.

PubMed

Maschi, Luis F C; Pinto, Alex S R; Meneguette, Rodolfo I; Baldassin, Alexandro

2018-03-07

With the advent of the Internet of Things, billions of objects or devices are inserted into the global computer network, generating and processing data at a volume never imagined before. This paper proposes a way to collect and process local data through a data fusion technology called summarization. The main feature of the proposal is the local data fusion, through parameters provided by the application, ensuring the quality of data collected by the sensor node. In the evaluation, the sensor node was compared when performing the data summary with another that performed a continuous recording of the collected data. Two sets of nodes were created, one with a sensor node that analyzed the luminosity of the room, which in this case obtained a reduction of 97% in the volume of data generated, and another set that analyzed the temperature of the room, obtaining a reduction of 80% in the data volume. Through these tests, it has been proven that the local data fusion at the node can be used to reduce the volume of data generated, consequently decreasing the volume of messages generated by IoT environments.

A CFD Analysis of Hydrogen Leakage During On-Pad Purge in the ORION/ARES I Shared Volume

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ajmani, Kumud; Edwards, Daryl A.

2011-01-01

A common open volume is created by the stacking of the Orion vehicle onto the Ares I Upper Stage. Called the Shared Volume, both vehicles contribute to its gas, fluid, and thermal environment. One of these environments is related to hazardous hydrogen gas. While both vehicles use inert purge gas to mitigate any hazardous gas buildup, there are concerns that hydrogen gas may still accumulate and that the Ares I Hazardous Gas Detection System will not be sufficient for monitoring the integrated volume. This Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis has been performed to examine these topics. Results of the analysis conclude that the Ares I Hazardous Gas Detection System will be able to sample the vent effluent containing the highest hydrogen concentrations. A second conclusion is that hydrogen does not accumulate under the Orion Service Module (SM) avionics ring as diffusion and purge flow mixing sufficiently dilute the hydrogen to safe concentrations. Finally the hydrogen concentrations within the Orion SM engine nozzle may slightly exceed the 1 percent volume fraction when the entire worse case maximum full leak is directed vertically into the engine nozzle.

SeaWiFS Postlaunch Technical Report Series Cumulative Index: Volumes 1-23

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hooker, Stanford B. (Editor); Firestone, Elaine R. (Editor)

2003-01-01

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) is the follow-on ocean color instrument to the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), which ceased operations in 1986, after an eight-year mission. SeaWiFS was launched on 1 August 1997, onboard the OrbView-2 satellite, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC). The SeaWiFS Project at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), undertook the responsibility of documenting all aspects of this mission, which is critical to the ocean color and marine science communities. The start of this documentation was titled the SeaWiFS Technical Report Series, which ended after 43 volumes were published. A follow-on series was started, titled the Sea WiFS Postlaunch Technical Report Series. This particular volume of the so-called Postlaunch Series serves as a reference, or guidebook, to the previous 23 volumes and consists of 4 sections including an errata, an index to key words and phrases, a list of acronyms used, and a list of all references cited. The editors will publish a cumulative index of this type after every five volumes.

Variational approach to the volume viscosity of fluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuckerwar, Allan J.; Ash, Robert L.

2006-04-01

The variational principle of Hamilton is applied to develop an analytical formulation to describe the volume viscosity in fluids. The procedure described here differs from those used in the past in that a dissipative process is represented by the chemical affinity and progress variable (sometimes called "order parameter") of a reacting species. These state variables appear in the variational integral in two places: first, in the expression for the internal energy, and second, in a subsidiary condition accounting for the conservation of the reacting species. As a result of the variational procedure, two dissipative terms appear in the Navier-Stokes equation. The first is the traditional volume viscosity term, proportional to the dilatational component of velocity; the second term is proportional to the material time derivative of the pressure gradient. Values of the respective volume viscosity coefficients are determined by applying the resulting volume-viscous Navier-Stokes equation to the case of acoustical propagation and then comparing expressions for the dispersion and absorption of sound. The formulation includes the special case of equilibration of the translational degrees of freedom. As examples, values are tabulated for dry and humid air, argon, and sea water.

One- and two-dimensional search of an equation of state using a newly released 2DRoptimize package

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamal, M.; Reshak, A. H.

2018-05-01

A new package called 2DRoptimize has been released for performing two-dimensional searches of the equation of state (EOS) for rhombohedral, tetragonal, and hexagonal compounds. The package is compatible and available with the WIEN2k package. The 2DRoptimize package performs a convenient volume and c/a structure optimization. First, the package finds the best value for c/a and the associated energy for each volume. In the second step, it calculates the EoS. The package then finds the equation of the c/a ratio vs. volume to calculate the c/a ratio at the optimized volume. In the last stage, by using the optimized volume and c/a ratio, the 2DRoptimize package calculates a and c lattice constants for tetragonal and hexagonal compounds, as well as the a lattice constant with the α angle for rhombohedral compounds. We tested our new package based on several hexagonal, tetragonal, and rhombohedral structures, and the 2D search results for the EOS showed that this method is more accurate than 1D search. Our results agreed very well with the experimental data and they were better than previous theoretical calculations.

Volume gratings and welding of glass/plastic by femtosecond laser direct writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watanabe, Wataru

2018-01-01

Femtosecond laser direct writing is used to fabricate diffractive optical elements in three dimensions and to weld glass and/or plastic. In this paper, we review volume gratings in plastics and welding of glass/plastic by femtosecond laser direct writing. Volume gratings were embedded inside polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) by femtosecond laser pulses. The diffraction efficiency of the gratings increased after fabrication and reached the maximum. After an initial slow decrease within first several days after the fabrication, the efficiency increased again. This phenomena was called regeneration of the grating. We also demonstrate welding of PMMA by dendrite pattern using femtosecond laser pulses. Laser pulses are focused at the interface of two PMMA substrates with an air gap and melted materials in laser-irradiated region spread within a gap of the substrates and dendrite morphology of melted PMMA was observed outside the laser irradiated area. Finally, we show welding of glass/plastic and metal.

Fast Computation of Solvation Free Energies with Molecular Density Functional Theory: Thermodynamic-Ensemble Partial Molar Volume Corrections.

PubMed

Sergiievskyi, Volodymyr P; Jeanmairet, Guillaume; Levesque, Maximilien; Borgis, Daniel

2014-06-05

Molecular density functional theory (MDFT) offers an efficient implicit-solvent method to estimate molecule solvation free-energies, whereas conserving a fully molecular representation of the solvent. Even within a second-order approximation for the free-energy functional, the so-called homogeneous reference fluid approximation, we show that the hydration free-energies computed for a data set of 500 organic compounds are of similar quality as those obtained from molecular dynamics free-energy perturbation simulations, with a computer cost reduced by 2-3 orders of magnitude. This requires to introduce the proper partial volume correction to transform the results from the grand canonical to the isobaric-isotherm ensemble that is pertinent to experiments. We show that this correction can be extended to 3D-RISM calculations, giving a sound theoretical justification to empirical partial molar volume corrections that have been proposed recently.

Science under the Microscope. Northwest Education, Volume 10, Number 3, Spring 2005

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory NWREL, 2004

2004-01-01

Not only does science personally affect lives through the physical world, medicine, and technology, but it's also at the heart of some of the thorniest ethical issues a society faces. From global warming to stem cell research, nuclear capabilities, and the depletion of fossil fuels, the citizens of the 21st century will be called upon to make…

Who Calls the Shots? Sports and University Leadership, Culture, and Decision Making. ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 30, Number 5

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Estler, Suzanne E., Ed.; Nelson, Laurie J., Ed.

2005-01-01

This monograph seeks, through a synthesis of existing literature, to understand better how external forces operating through an enterprise on the academic margins can lead institutions and their leaders to make decisions that appear to many observers to make little sense relative to the institution's mission. Through the athletics enterprise, the…

STUB - a manufacturing system for producing rough dimension cuttings from low-grade lumber

Treesearch

Edwin L. Lucas; Charles J. Gatchell

1976-01-01

A rough mill manufacturing system for producing high-value furniture parts from low-value raw material is described. Called STUB (Short Temporarily Upgraded Boards), the system is designed to convert low-grade hardwood lumber into rough dimension parts. Computer simulation trials showed that more than one-third of the volume of parts produced from No. 2 Common oak...

Midstory removal methods tested for timely release of newly established oak seedlings under oak shelterwoods

Treesearch

Ronald A. Rathfon

2011-01-01

The oak shelterwood method calls for the removal of shade-tolerant, undesirable midstory species to create adequate diffuse light conditions at the forest floor for oak seedling establishment, preferably timed to coincide with a large acorn crop. Injection (INJ) with an herbicide, chainsaw felling and girdling with herbicide application (SAW), and a low-volume basal...

East Europe Report.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-07-08

Pooling of Funds for undeveloped Areas Called Unsatisfactory (Dragoljub Vukovic ; KOMUNIST, 30 May 86) 29 Croatian Role in Kosovo Development...12-13 [Article by Dragoljub Vukovic : "Without Economic Coercion" first paragraph is KOMUNIST introduction] [Text] The volume of investments...broader and more effective cooperation in science and technology must be accelerated. /6662 CSO: 2400/316 48 JpRs~FpD 8 J ">y^t099 POLITICS

Non-industrial private forests: timber supply for an uncertain future.

Treesearch

Ralph J. Alig

1990-01-01

According to U.S. Forest Service estimates (in press), annual timber harvest volume in the United States will have to increase from the 18 billion cubic feet of 1986 to 27 billion cubic feet by 2040 to satisfy increasing demand (Figure 1). It's doubtful that public forest lands can provide much of this additional timber, primarily because of increasing calls for...

Sending out an S.O.S. for SES (Supplemental Educational Services). The Abell Report. Volume 24, No.5

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobson, Joan

2011-01-01

Each year, under the federal program called Supplemental Educational Services (SES), the Baltimore City Public School System (City Schools) pays educational vendors millions of public dollars to tutor thousands of its poorest students in its lowest achieving schools. Established in 2002 by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, SES was created to…

Called to Account: New Directions in School Accountability. Quality Counts. Education Week. Volume 35, Number 16

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Virginia B., Ed.

2016-01-01

For the past decade and a half, the fight to improve America's schools has been fought largely on two fronts: academic standards as one battleground, and accountability the other, with the issue of mandatory testing adding heat to a very public--and increasingly politicized--debate. The questions for policymakers and educators are as direct as…

Analyst Performance Measures. Volume 3. Information Quality Tools for Persistent Surveillanec Data Sets

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-11-01

September 2012 as 88ABW-2012-5092.    Quality expectations of the viewer; for example, film screened in a cinema versus a short clip watched on a...dimension of lightness or luminescence (L) and two color components “a” and “b” is called a LAB. The French Commission Internationale de L’éclairage LAB

Cost of Federal Research Performed by the Universities: A Call for Equity. NACUBO Professional File Volume 9, Number 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Binkley, Max A.

Encouraged by the Federal government, institutions of higher education have entered into agreements with the government to perform basic research in the national interest that also conforms to institutional objectives. For a number of leading institutions, the research mission has become a major function alongside instruction and has provided a…

The Hope for Audacity: Public Identity and Equity Action in Education. Critical Education and Ethics. Volume 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monzo, Lilia D., Ed.; Merz, Alice, Ed.

2012-01-01

"The Hope for Audacity: Public Identity and Equity Action in Education" calls for audacious action from the president and his administration as they attempt to guide educators, policymakers, as well as the general public in thinking critically about education. This book also discusses the role of education faculties in becoming more active agents…

The Cambridge Primary Review: A Reply to R. J. Campbell

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, Michael

2010-01-01

The author was disappointed by R. J. Campbell's sour critique of the Cambridge Primary Review in "FORUM" Volume 52 Number 1 2010. His description of the Review's proposals on curriculum and pedagogy as "backward-looking, cumbersome and partial" is such a bizarre misjudgement that it calls for some response. The author comments in turn on R. J.…

Planning Frontiers in Rural America: Papers and Proceedings of the Boone Conference, Volume II (Boone, North Carolina, March 16-18, 1975).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gade, Ole, Ed.

Representing a broad segment of people interested in rural America, this document presents 16 speeches. Speeches on rural development implementation at Federal, state, and regional levels include: "The Rural Development Concept" (calls for a national rural development policy which provides for a multicommunity, regional framework strengthened by…

Vision Algorithms Catch Defects in Screen Displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2014-01-01

Andrew Watson, a senior scientist at Ames Research Center, developed a tool called the Spatial Standard Observer (SSO), which models human vision for use in robotic applications. Redmond, Washington-based Radiant Zemax LLC licensed the technology from NASA and combined it with its imaging colorimeter system, creating a powerful tool that high-volume manufacturers of flat-panel displays use to catch defects in screens.

What Students Need to Know about the Vietnam War. Footnotes. Volume 14, Number 14

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spector, Ronald

2009-01-01

This essay is based on the author's talk at the FPRI Wachman Center's History Institute for Teachers on "What Students Need to Know about America's Wars, Part 2: 1920-Present," held May 2-3, 2009. Observing that the Vietnam War was the longest and most contested conflict in American history and that it called into question many…

Heart rot of Virginia pine in Maryland

Treesearch

Richard H. Fenton; Frederick H. Berry

1956-01-01

Loggers and sawmill men have been wary of purchasing Virginia pine sawtimber. They point out that a heart rot, locally called "red heart, may spell the difference between profit and loss on a logging job. It is difficult to detect this rot in standing Virginia pine. It is even harder to estimate the volume loss. And total losses can be determined only after...

Dynamics of pollutant discharge in combined sewer systems during rain events: chance or determinism?

PubMed

Hannouche, A; Chebbo, G; Joannis, C

2014-01-01

A large database of continuous flow and turbidity measurements cumulating data on hundreds of rain events and dry weather days from two sites in Paris (called Quais and Clichy) and one in Lyon (called Ecully) is presented. This database is used to characterize and compare the behaviour of the three sites at the inter-events scale. The analysis is probed through three various variables: total volumes and total suspended solids (TSS) masses and concentrations during both wet and dry weather periods in addition to the contributions of diverse-origin sources to event flow volume and TSS load values. The results obtained confirm the previous findings regarding the spatial consistency of TSS fluxes and concentrations between both sites in Paris having similar land uses. Moreover, masses and concentrations are proven to be correlated between Parisian sites in a way that implies the possibility of some deterministic processes being reproducible from one catchment to another for a particular rain event. The results also demonstrate the importance of the contribution of wastewater and sewer deposits to the total events' loads and show that such contributions are not specific to Paris sewer networks.

Did Project Liberty displace community-based medicaid services in New York?

PubMed

Gomes, Carla; McGuire, Thomas G; Foster, M Jameson; Donahue, Sheila A; Felton, Chip J; Essock, Susan M

2006-09-01

This study analyzed how the introduction of Project Liberty services after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks affected agencies' provision of community-based Medicaid mental health services in the New York metropolitan area. Provision of Medicaid mental health services was tracked between January 2000 and June 2003 for provider agencies participating in Project Liberty (N=164) and for a comparison group of mental health provider agencies that did not participate in this program (N=94). Overall, participation in Project Liberty did not significantly affect the volume of Medicaid services provided. However, for agencies with one site, a statistically significant difference was seen; compared with agencies in the comparison group, agencies that participated in Project Liberty claimed a mean+/-SE decrease of $4.66+/-3.57 less in Medicaid services per month per Project Liberty visit. Project Liberty permitted rapid expansion of the total volume of services provided by community-based organizations without interfering with the provision of traditional services, although a modest effect was seen for smaller agencies. Although the results do not imply that "supply side" planning for disaster needs would not improve system response, they do imply that implementation of flexible "demand side" financing can call forth a large volume of new services rapidly and without interfering with other community services.

A generalized threshold model for computing bed load grain size distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Recking, Alain

2016-12-01

For morphodynamic studies, it is important to compute not only the transported volumes of bed load, but also the size of the transported material. A few bed load equations compute fractional transport (i.e., both the volume and grain size distribution), but many equations compute only the bulk transport (a volume) with no consideration of the transported grain sizes. To fill this gap, a method is proposed to compute the bed load grain size distribution separately to the bed load flux. The method is called the Generalized Threshold Model (GTM), because it extends the flow competence method for threshold of motion of the largest transported grain size to the full bed surface grain size distribution. This was achieved by replacing dimensional diameters with their size indices in the standard hiding function, which offers a useful framework for computation, carried out for each indices considered in the range [1, 100]. New functions are also proposed to account for partial transport. The method is very simple to implement and is sufficiently flexible to be tested in many environments. In addition to being a good complement to standard bulk bed load equations, it could also serve as a framework to assist in analyzing the physics of bed load transport in future research.

SUSY’s Ladder: Reframing sequestering at Large Volume

DOE PAGES

Reece, Matthew; Xue, Wei

2016-04-07

Theories with approximate no-scale structure, such as the Large Volume Scenario, have a distinctive hierarchy of multiple mass scales in between TeV gaugino masses and the Planck scale, which we call SUSY's Ladder. This is a particular realization of Split Supersymmetry in which the same small parameter suppresses gaugino masses relative to scalar soft masses, scalar soft masses relative to the gravitino mass, and the UV cutoff or string scale relative to the Planck scale. This scenario has many phenomenologically interesting properties, and can avoid dangers including the gravitino problem, flavor problems, and the moduli-induced LSP problem that plague othermore » supersymmetric theories. We study SUSY's Ladder using a superspace formalism that makes the mysterious cancelations in previous computations manifest. This opens the possibility of a consistent effective field theory understanding of the phenomenology of these scenarios, based on power-counting in the small ratio of string to Planck scales. We also show that four-dimensional theories with approximate no-scale structure enforced by a single volume modulus arise only from two special higher-dimensional theories: five-dimensional supergravity and ten-dimensional type IIB supergravity. As a result, this gives a phenomenological argument in favor of ten dimensional ultraviolet physics which is different from standard arguments based on the consistency of superstring theory.« less

The use and re-use of unsustainable groundwater for irrigation: A global budget

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

Grogan, Danielle S.; Wisser, Dominik; Prusevich, Alex

Depletion of groundwater aquifers across the globe has become a significant concern, as groundwater is an important and often unsustainable source of irrigation water. Simultaneously, the field of water resource management has seen a lively debate over the concepts and metrics used to assess the downstream re-use of agricultural runoff, with most studies focusing on surface water balances. Here, we bring these two lines of research together, recognizing that depletion of aquifers leads to large amounts of groundwater entering surface water storages and flows by way of agricultural runoff. While it is clear that groundwater users will be impacted bymore » reductions in groundwater availability, there is a major gap in our understanding of potential impacts downstream of groundwater pumping locations. We find that the volume of unsustainable groundwater that is re-used for irrigation following runoff from agricultural systems is nearly as large as the volume initially extracted from reservoirs for irrigation. Basins in which the volume of irrigation water re-used is equal to or greater than the volume of water initially used (which is possible due to multiple re-use of the same water) contain 33 million hectares of irrigated land and are home to 1.3 billion people. Some studies have called for increasing irrigation efficiency as a solution to water shortages. We find that with 100% irrigation efficiency, global demand for unsustainable groundwater is reduced by 52%, but not eliminated. In many basins, increased irrigation efficiency leads to significantly decreased river low flows; increasing irrigation efficiency to 70% globally decreases total surface water supplies by ~600 km 3 yr –1. Lastly, these findings illustrate that estimates of aquifer depletion alone underestimate the importance of unsustainable groundwater to sustaining surface water systems and irrigated agriculture.« less

The use and re-use of unsustainable groundwater for irrigation: A global budget

DOE PAGES

Grogan, Danielle S.; Wisser, Dominik; Prusevich, Alex; ...

2017-03-08

Depletion of groundwater aquifers across the globe has become a significant concern, as groundwater is an important and often unsustainable source of irrigation water. Simultaneously, the field of water resource management has seen a lively debate over the concepts and metrics used to assess the downstream re-use of agricultural runoff, with most studies focusing on surface water balances. Here, we bring these two lines of research together, recognizing that depletion of aquifers leads to large amounts of groundwater entering surface water storages and flows by way of agricultural runoff. While it is clear that groundwater users will be impacted bymore » reductions in groundwater availability, there is a major gap in our understanding of potential impacts downstream of groundwater pumping locations. We find that the volume of unsustainable groundwater that is re-used for irrigation following runoff from agricultural systems is nearly as large as the volume initially extracted from reservoirs for irrigation. Basins in which the volume of irrigation water re-used is equal to or greater than the volume of water initially used (which is possible due to multiple re-use of the same water) contain 33 million hectares of irrigated land and are home to 1.3 billion people. Some studies have called for increasing irrigation efficiency as a solution to water shortages. We find that with 100% irrigation efficiency, global demand for unsustainable groundwater is reduced by 52%, but not eliminated. In many basins, increased irrigation efficiency leads to significantly decreased river low flows; increasing irrigation efficiency to 70% globally decreases total surface water supplies by ~600 km 3 yr –1. Lastly, these findings illustrate that estimates of aquifer depletion alone underestimate the importance of unsustainable groundwater to sustaining surface water systems and irrigated agriculture.« less

The use and re-use of unsustainable groundwater for irrigation: a global budget

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grogan, Danielle S.; Wisser, Dominik; Prusevich, Alex; Lammers, Richard B.; Frolking, Steve

2017-03-01

Depletion of groundwater aquifers across the globe has become a significant concern, as groundwater is an important and often unsustainable source of irrigation water. Simultaneously, the field of water resource management has seen a lively debate over the concepts and metrics used to assess the downstream re-use of agricultural runoff, with most studies focusing on surface water balances. Here, we bring these two lines of research together, recognizing that depletion of aquifers leads to large amounts of groundwater entering surface water storages and flows by way of agricultural runoff. While it is clear that groundwater users will be impacted by reductions in groundwater availability, there is a major gap in our understanding of potential impacts downstream of groundwater pumping locations. We find that the volume of unsustainable groundwater that is re-used for irrigation following runoff from agricultural systems is nearly as large as the volume initially extracted from reservoirs for irrigation. Basins in which the volume of irrigation water re-used is equal to or greater than the volume of water initially used (which is possible due to multiple re-use of the same water) contain 33 million hectares of irrigated land and are home to 1.3 billion people. Some studies have called for increasing irrigation efficiency as a solution to water shortages. We find that with 100% irrigation efficiency, global demand for unsustainable groundwater is reduced by 52%, but not eliminated. In many basins, increased irrigation efficiency leads to significantly decreased river low flows; increasing irrigation efficiency to 70% globally decreases total surface water supplies by ∽600 km3 yr-1. These findings illustrate that estimates of aquifer depletion alone underestimate the importance of unsustainable groundwater to sustaining surface water systems and irrigated agriculture.

P04.02 Analysis of 18F-DOPA PET imaging for target volume definition in patients with recurrent glioblastoma treated with proton therapy

PubMed Central

Amelio, D.; Scartoni, D.; Palucci, A.; Vennarini, S.; Giacomelli, I.; Lemoine, S.; Donner, D.; Farace, P.; Chierichetti, F.; Amichetti, M.

2017-01-01

Abstract Introduction: Target volume definition is of critical relevance when re-irradiation is delivered and steep dose gradient irradiation techniques, such as proton therapy (PT), are employed. Aim of the study is to investigate the impact of 18F-DOPA on target volume contouring in recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) patients (pts) undergoing re-irradiation with PT. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We investigated the differences in volume and relationship of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)- vs. DOPA PET-derived gross tumor volumes (GTVs) of 14 rGBM pts re-irradiated with PT between January and November 2016. All pts had been previously treated with photon radiotherapy (60 Gy) with concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide. All the pts received morphological MRI with contrast enhancement medium administration and 18F-DOPA PET-CT study. We used the pathological distribution of 18F-DOPA in brain tissue to identify the so-called Biological Tumor Volume (BTV). Such areas were assessed using a tumor to normal brain ratio > 2. Moreover, any area of contrast enhancement on MRI was used to identify the MRI-based GTV (MRGTV). Definitive GTV included MRGTV plus BTV. Clinical target volume was generated by adding to GTV a 3-mm uniform margin manually corrected in proximity of anatomical barriers. CTV was expanded by 4 mm to create planning target volume. All pts received 36 GyRBE in 18 fractions. Mean values of differently delineated GTVs were compared each other by paired Student’s t-test; p < 0.05 was considered significant. To further compare MRGTV and BTV, the overlapping (MRGTV ^ BTV) and the composite (MRGTV U BTV) volumes were calculated, and a concordance index (CI) was defined as the ratio between the overlap and composite volumes. Results: MRGTV (mean 14.9 ± 14.5 cc) was larger than BTV (mean 10.9 ± 9.8 cc) although this difference was not statistically significant. The composite volume (mean 20.9 ± 14.7 cc) was significantly larger than each single volume (p < 0.006). The overlapping volume (mean 5.7 ± 3.3 cc) was quite small compared to each single volume and suggest that relevant part of MRIGTV is not covered by BTV as well as that relevant part of BTV is not covered by MRGTV. In line with such results we recorded also a low CI (mean 0.26 ± 0.2). The PT irradiation of PET-integrated target volumes provided a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 6 months, while the 6-month PFS rate was 57%; median survival after PT was 8.7 months, while 9-month survival rate was 60%. Conclusions: Target volume definition for rGBM undergoing PT re-irradiation may yield significantly differing results depending upon the imaging modality used for target contouring. Our data suggest that 18F-DOPA PET can detect relevant non-enhancing pathological areas outside the conventional MRGTV ultimately yielding to larger volumes to be irradiated. Influence on clinical outcomes deserves further evaluation.

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/genito-urinary, alcohol/drug, anaphylaxis/allergy, cardiovascular, metabolic/endocrine, diabetes, neurological, heat illness and dehydration, and psychological conditions. Extreme heat increases the risk of EMS calls in King County, WA, with effects demonstrated in relatively younger populations and more health conditions than those identified in previous analyses.

A feasibility study of altered spatial distribution of losses induced by eddy currents in body composition analysis

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Tomographic imaging has revealed that the body mass index does not give a reliable state of overall fitness. However, high measurement costs make the tomographic imaging unsuitable for large scale studies or repeated individual use. This paper reports an experimental investigation of a new electromagnetic method and its feasibility for assessing body composition. The method is called body electrical loss analysis (BELA). Methods The BELA method uses a high-Q parallel resonant circuit to produce a time-varying magnetic field. The Q of the resonator changes when the sample is placed in its coil. This is caused by induced eddy currents in the sample. The new idea in the BELA method is the altered spatial distribution of the electrical losses generated by these currents. The distribution of losses is varied using different excitation frequencies. The feasibility of the method was tested using simplified phantoms. Two of these phantoms were rough estimations of human torso. One had fat in the middle of its volume and saline solution in the outer shell volume. The other had reversed conductivity distributions. The phantoms were placed in the resonator and the change in the losses was measured. Five different excitation frequencies from 100 kHz to 200 kHz were used. Results The rate of loss as a function of frequency was observed to be approximately three times larger for a phantom with fat in the middle of its volume than for one with fat in its outer shell volume. Conclusions At higher frequencies the major signal contribution can be shifted toward outer shell volume. This enables probing the conductivity distribution of the subject by weighting outer structural components. The authors expect that the loss changing rate over frequency can be a potential index for body composition analysis. PMID:21047441

The application of improved flow diverter for first flush management.

PubMed

Mrowiec, M

2010-01-01

The paper presents the investigations on first flush phenomenon based on the total suspended solids (TSS) concentration measurement during selected rainfalls at central part of Czestochowa (Poland) and also the hydrodynamic model of the catchment. The model allows to present the conception of first flush management using an improved flow diverter Septurn. Flow diverters used in the separate sewer systems create a hybrid system called "semi-separate" sewage system, which allows to treat the first flush volume in the waste water treatment plant (WWTP). Proposed construction of the flow diverter makes possible to capture significant part of the pollutant load (TSS) and simultaneously to reduce volume discharges to WWTPs during wet weather.

Performance Analysis and Design Synthesis (PADS) computer program. Volume 2: Program description, part 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The QL module of the Performance Analysis and Design Synthesis (PADS) computer program is described. Execution of this module is initiated when and if subroutine PADSI calls subroutine GROPE. Subroutine GROPE controls the high level logical flow of the QL module. The purpose of the module is to determine a trajectory that satisfies the necessary variational conditions for optimal performance. The module achieves this by solving a nonlinear multi-point boundary value problem. The numerical method employed is described. It is an iterative technique that converges quadratically when it does converge. The three basic steps of the module are: (1) initialization, (2) iteration, and (3) culmination. For Volume 1 see N73-13199.

Using an emergency response infrastructure to help women who experience gender-based violence in Gujarat, India.

PubMed

Newberry, Jennifer A; Mahadevan, Swaminatha; Gohil, Narendrasinh; Jamshed, Roma; Prajapati, Jashvant; Rao, Gv Ramana; Strehlow, Matthew

2016-05-01

Many women who experience gender-based violence may never seek any formal help because they do not feel safe or confident that they will receive help if they try. A public-private-academic partnership in Gujarat, India, established a toll-free telephone helpline - called 181 Abhayam - for women experiencing gender-based violence. The partnership used existing emergency response service infrastructure to link women to phone counselling, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government programmes. In India, the lifetime prevalence of gender-based violence is 37.2%, but less than 1% of women will ever seek help beyond their family or friends. Before implementation of the helpline, there were no toll-free helplines or centralized coordinating systems for government programmes, NGOs and emergency response services. In February 2014, the helpline was launched across Gujarat. In the first 10 months, the helpline assisted 9767 individuals, of which 8654 identified themselves as women. Of all calls, 79% (7694) required an intervention by phone or in person on the day they called and 43% (4190) of calls were by or for women experiencing violence. Despite previous data that showed women experiencing gender-based violence rarely sought help from formal sources, women in Gujarat did use the helpline for concerns across the spectrum of gender-based violence. However, for evaluating the impact of the helpline, the operational definitions of concern categories need to be further clarified. The initial triage system for incoming calls was advantageous for handling high call volumes, but may have contributed to dropped calls.

Using injectable hydrogel markers to assess resimulation for boost target volume definition in a patient undergoing whole-breast radiotherapy

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

Patel, Henal; Goyal, Sharad; Kim, Leonard, E-mail: kimlh@rutgers.edu

Several publications have recommended that patients undergoing whole-breast radiotherapy be resimulated for boost planning. The rationale for this is that the seroma may be smaller when compared with the initial simulation. However, the decision remains whether to use the earlier or later images to define an appropriate boost target volume. A patient undergoing whole-breast radiotherapy had new, injectable, temporary hydrogel fiducial markers placed 1 to 3 cm from the seroma at the time of initial simulation. The patient was resimulated 4.5 weeks later for conformal photon boost planning. Computed tomography (CT) scans acquired at the beginning and the end ofmore » whole-breast radiotherapy showed that shrinkage of the lumpectomy cavity was not matched by a corresponding reduction in the surrounding tissue volume, as demarcated by hydrogel markers. This observation called into question the usual interpretation of cavity shrinkage for boost target definition. For this patient, it was decided to define the boost target volume on the initial planning CT instead of the new CT.« less

Identifying with fictive characters: structural brain correlates of the personality trait ‘fantasy’

PubMed Central

Hänggi, Jürgen; Jancke, Lutz

2014-01-01

The perception of oneself as absorbed in the thoughts, feelings and happenings of a fictive character (e.g. in a novel or film) as if the character’s experiences were one’s own is referred to as identification. We investigated whether individual variation in the personality trait of identification is associated with individual variation in the structure of specific brain regions, using surface and volume-based morphometry. The hypothesized regions of interest were selected on the basis of their functional role in subserving the cognitive processing domains considered important for identification (i.e. mental imagery, empathy, theory of mind and merging) and for the immersive experience called ‘presence’. Controlling for age, sex, whole-brain volume and other traits, identification covaried significantly with the left hippocampal volume, cortical thickness in the right anterior insula and the left dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, and with gray matter volume in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings show that trait identification is associated with structural variation in specific brain regions. The findings are discussed in relation to the potential functional contribution of these regions to identification. PMID:24464847

Formal Methods Specification and Verification Guidebook for Software and Computer Systems. Volume 1; Planning and Technology Insertion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

The Formal Methods Specification and Verification Guidebook for Software and Computer Systems describes a set of techniques called Formal Methods (FM), and outlines their use in the specification and verification of computer systems and software. Development of increasingly complex systems has created a need for improved specification and verification techniques. NASA's Safety and Mission Quality Office has supported the investigation of techniques such as FM, which are now an accepted method for enhancing the quality of aerospace applications. The guidebook provides information for managers and practitioners who are interested in integrating FM into an existing systems development process. Information includes technical and administrative considerations that must be addressed when establishing the use of FM on a specific project. The guidebook is intended to aid decision makers in the successful application of FM to the development of high-quality systems at reasonable cost. This is the first volume of a planned two-volume set. The current volume focuses on administrative and planning considerations for the successful application of FM.

Patient outcome of emergency laparotomy improved with increasing "number of surgeons on-call" in a university hospital: Audit loop.

PubMed

Hussain, Anwar; Mahmood, Fahad; Teng, Chui; Jafferbhoy, Sadaf; Luke, David; Tsiamis, Achilleas

2017-11-01

Emergency laparotomy is a commonly performed high-mortality surgical procedure. The National Emergency Laparotomy Network (NELA) published an average mortality rate of 11.1% and a median length of stay equivalent to 16.3 days in patients undergoing emergency laparotomy. This study presents a completed audit loop after implementing the change of increasing the number of on-call surgeons in the general surgery rota of a university hospital. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of emergency laparotomy in a single UK tertiary centre after addition of one more consultant in the daily on-call rota. This is a retrospective study involving patients who underwent emergency laparotomy between March to May 2013 (first audit) and June to August 2015 (second audit). The study parameters stayed the same. The adult patients undergoing emergency laparotomy under the general surgical take were included. Appendicectomy, cholecystectomy and simple inguinal hernia repair patients were excluded. Data was collected on patient demographics, ASA, morbidity, 30-day mortality and length of hospital stay. Statistical analysis including logistic regression was performed using SPSS. During the second 3-month period, 123 patients underwent laparotomy compared to 84 in the first audit. Median age was 65(23-93) years. 56.01% cases were ASA III or above in the re-audit compared to 41.9% in the initial audit. 38% patients had bowel anastomosis compared to 35.7% in the re-audit with 4.2% leak rate in the re-audit compared to 16.6% in the first audit. 30-day mortality was 10.50% in the re-audit compared to 21% and median length of hospital stay 11 days in the re-audit compared to 16 days. The lower ASA grade was significantly associated with increased likelihood of being alive, as was being female, younger age and not requiring ITU admission post-operatively. However, having a second on-call consultant was 2.231 times more likely to increase the chances of patients not dying (p = 0.031). Our audit-loop suggests that adding a second consultant to the daily on-call rota significantly reduces postoperative mortality and morbidity. Age, ASA and ITU admission are other independent factors affecting patient outcomes. We suggest this change be applied to other high volume centres across the country to improve the outcomes after emergency laparotomy.

Impedance cardiography: a comparison of cardiac output vs waveform analysis for assessing left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

PubMed

DeMarzo, Arthur P; Kelly, Russell F; Calvin, James E

2007-01-01

Early detection of asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) is beneficial in managing heart failure. Recent studies have cast doubt on the usefulness of cardiac output as an indicator of LVSD. In impedance cardiography (ICG), the dZ/dt waveform has a systolic wave called the E wave. This study looked at measurements of the amplitude and area of the E wave compared with ICG-derived cardiac output, stroke volume, cardiac index, and stroke index as methods of assessing LVSD. ICG data were obtained from patients (n=26) admitted to a coronary care unit. Clinical LVSD severity was stratified into 4 groups (none, mild, moderate, and severe) based on echocardiography data and standard clinical assessment by a cardiologist blinded to ICG data. Statistical analysis showed that the E wave amplitude and area were better indicators of the level of LVSD than cardiac output, stroke volume, cardiac index, or stroke index. ICG waveform analysis has potential as a simple point-of-care test for detecting LVSD in asymptomatic patients at high risk for developing heart failure and for monitoring LVSD in patients being treated for heart failure.

Impact of Reservoir Operation to the Inflow Flood - a Case Study of Xinfengjiang Reservoir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, L.

2017-12-01

Building of reservoir shall impact the runoff production and routing characteristics, and changes the flood formation. This impact, called as reservoir flood effect, could be divided into three parts, including routing effect, volume effect and peak flow effect, and must be evaluated in a whole by using hydrological model. After analyzing the reservoir flood formation, the Liuxihe Model for reservoir flood forecasting is proposed. The Xinfengjiang Reservoir is studied as a case. Results show that the routing effect makes peak flow appear 4 to 6 hours in advance, volume effect is bigger for large flood than small one, and when rainfall focus on the reservoir area, this effect also increases peak flow largely, peak flow effect makes peak flow increase 6.63% to 8.95%. Reservoir flood effect is obvious, which have significant impact to reservoir flood. If this effect is not considered in the flood forecasting model, the flood could not be forecasted accurately, particularly the peak flow. Liuxihe Model proposed for Xinfengjiang Reservoir flood forecasting has a good performance, and could be used for real-time flood forecasting of Xinfengjiang Reservoir.Key words: Reservoir flood effect, reservoir flood forecasting, physically based distributed hydrological model, Liuxihe Model, parameter optimization

Experimental and numerical study of drill bit drop tests on Kuru granite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fourmeau, Marion; Kane, Alexandre; Hokka, Mikko

2017-01-01

This paper presents an experimental and numerical study of Kuru grey granite impacted with a seven-buttons drill bit mounted on an instrumented drop test machine. The force versus displacement curves during the impact, so-called bit-rock interaction (BRI) curves, were obtained using strain gauge measurements for two levels of impact energy. Moreover, the volume of removed rock after each drop test was evaluated by stereo-lithography (three-dimensional surface reconstruction). A modified version of the Holmquist-Johnson-Cook (MHJC) material model was calibrated using Kuru granite test results available from the literature. Numerical simulations of the single drop tests were carried out using the MHJC model available in the LS-DYNA explicit finite-element solver. The influence of the impact energy and additional confining pressure on the BRI curves and the volume of the removed rock is discussed. In addition, the influence of the rock surface shape before impact was evaluated using two different mesh geometries: a flat surface and a hyperbolic surface. The experimental and numerical results are compared and discussed in terms of drilling efficiency through the mechanical specific energy. This article is part of the themed issue 'Experimental testing and modelling of brittle materials at high strain rates'.

Identification of risk factors for post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis in a high volume center.

PubMed

Phillip, Veit; Schwab, Miriam; Haf, David; Algül, Hana

2017-01-01

Pancreatitis is the most common complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Several patients´ or procedure related risk factors for post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) have been suggested. The aim of this study was to validate the risk factors for PEP in a high-volume center. All patients undergoing first time ERCP at a tertiary referral center between December 2010 and October 2013 were retrospectively included. PEP was defined according to the Atlanta Classification. 344 patients were included in the final analysis. The risk to develop PEP was increased in patients with chronic pancreatitis (odds ratio 3.7) and after inadvertent cannulation of the pancreatic duct (odds ratio 2.2), which occurred in 26.5% of the patients. Inadvertent cannulation occurred significantly more frequently in patients with difficult cannulation of the papilla duodeni major (odds ratio 12.7; p<0.001). ERCP on call was associated with an increased risk for difficult cannulation (odds ratio 3.0). Inadvertent cannulation of the pancreatic duct is a procedure related risk factor for PEP. Measurements on preventing inadvertent cannulation of the pancreatic duct should be established and studies on prophylactic measurements should focus particularly on patients with inadvertent cannulation of the pancreatic duct.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Ventilation Study for the Human Powered Centrifuge at the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Son, Chang H.

2012-01-01

The Human Powered Centrifuge (HPC) is a facility that is planned to be installed on board the International Space Station (ISS) to enable crew exercises under the artificial gravity conditions. The HPC equipment includes a "bicycle" for long-term exercises of a crewmember that provides power for rotation of HPC at a speed of 30 rpm. The crewmember exercising vigorously on the centrifuge generates the amount of carbon dioxide of about two times higher than a crewmember in ordinary conditions. The goal of the study is to analyze the airflow and carbon dioxide distribution within Pressurized Multipurpose Module (PMM) cabin when HPC is operating. A full unsteady formulation is used for airflow and CO2 transport CFD-based modeling with the so-called sliding mesh concept when the HPC equipment with the adjacent Bay 4 cabin volume is considered in the rotating reference frame while the rest of the cabin volume is considered in the stationary reference frame. The rotating part of the computational domain includes also a human body model. Localized effects of carbon dioxide dispersion are examined. Strong influence of the rotating HPC equipment on the CO2 distribution detected is discussed.

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

The significant impact of framing coils on long-term outcomes in endovascular coiling for intracranial aneurysms: how to select an appropriate framing coil.

PubMed

Ishida, Wataru; Sato, Masayuki; Amano, Tatsuo; Matsumaru, Yuji

2016-09-01

OBJECTIVE The importance of a framing coil (FC)-the first coil inserted into an aneurysm during endovascular coiling, also called a lead coil or a first coil-is recognized, but its impact on long-term outcomes, including recanalization and retreatment, is not well established. The purposes of this study were to test the hypothesis that the FC is a significant factor for aneurysmal recurrence and to provide some insights on appropriate FC selection. METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed endovascular coiling for 280 unruptured intracranial aneurysms and gathered data on age, sex, aneurysm location, aneurysm morphology, maximal size, neck width, adjunctive techniques, recanalization, retreatment, follow-up periods, total volume packing density (VPD), volume packing density of the FC, and framing coil percentage (FCP; the percentage of FC volume in total coil volume) to clarify the associated factors for aneurysmal recurrence. RESULTS Of 236 aneurysms included in this study, 33 (14.0%) had recanalization, and 18 (7.6%) needed retreatment during a mean follow-up period of 37.7 ± 16.1 months. In multivariate analysis, aneurysm size (odds ratio [OR] = 1.29, p < 0.001), FCP < 32% (OR 3.54, p = 0.009), and VPD < 25% (OR 2.96, p = 0.015) were significantly associated with recanalization, while aneurysm size (OR 1.25, p < 0.001) and FCP < 32% (OR 6.91, p = 0.017) were significant predictors of retreatment. VPD as a continuous value or VPD with any cutoff value could not predict retreatment with statistical significance in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS FCP, which is equal to the FC volume as a percentage of the total coil volume and is unaffected by the morphology of the aneurysm or the measurement error in aneurysm length, width, or height, is a novel predictor of recanalization and retreatment and is more significantly predictive of retreatment than VPD. To select FCs large enough to meet the condition of FCP ≥ 32% is a potential relevant factor for better long-term outcomes. These findings support our hypothesis that the FC is a significant factor for aneurysmal recurrence.

Adolescent prescription ADHD medication abuse is rising along with prescriptions for these medications.

PubMed

Setlik, Jennifer; Bond, G Randall; Ho, Mona

2009-09-01

We sought to better understand the trend for prescription attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication abuse by teenagers. We queried the American Association of Poison Control Center's National Poison Data System for the years of 1998-2005 for all cases involving people aged 13 to 19 years, for which the reason was intentional abuse or intentional misuse and the substance was a prescription medication used for ADHD treatment. For trend comparison, we sought data on the total number of exposures. In addition, we used teen and preteen ADHD medication sales data from IMS Health's National Disease and Therapeutic Index database to compare poison center call trends with likely availability. Calls related to teenaged victims of prescription ADHD medication abuse rose 76%, which is faster than calls for victims of substance abuse generally and teen substance abuse. The annual rate of total and teen exposures was unchanged. Over the 8 years, estimated prescriptions for teenagers and preteenagers increased 133% for amphetamine products, 52% for methylphenidate products, and 80% for both together. Reports of exposure to methylphenidate fell from 78% to 30%, whereas methylphenidate as a percentage of ADHD prescriptions decreased from 66% to 56%. Substance-related abuse calls per million adolescent prescriptions rose 140%. The sharp increase, out of proportion to other poison center calls, suggests a rising problem with teen ADHD stimulant medication abuse. Case severity increased over time. Sales data of ADHD medications suggest that the use and call-volume increase reflects availability, but the increase disproportionately involves amphetamines.

Patterned CoCrMo and Al2 O3 surfaces for reduced free wear debris in artificial joint arthroplasty.

PubMed

Tarabolsi, Mohamad; Klassen, Thomas; Mantwill, Frank; Gärtner, Frank; Siegel, Frank; Schulz, Arndt-Peter

2013-12-01

Surface wear of corresponding tribological pairings is still a major problem in the application of artificial joint surgery. This study aims at developing wear reduced surfaces to utilize them in total joint arthroplasty. Using a pico-second laser, samples of medical CoCrMo metal alloy and Al2 O3 ceramic were patterned by laser material removal. The subsequent tribological investigations employed a ring-on-disc method. The results showed that those samples with modified surfaces show less mass or volume loss than those with a regular, smooth surface. Using calf serum as lubricating medium, the volume loss of the structured CoCrMo samples was eight times lower than that of regular samples. By structuring Al2 O3 surfaces, the wear volume could be reduced by 4.5 times. The results demonstrate that defined surface channels or pits enable the local sedimentation of wear debris. Thus, the amount of free debris could be reduced. Fewer abrasives in the lubricated so-called three-body-wear between the contact surfaces should result in less surface damage. Apart from direct influences on the wear behavior, less amounts of free debris of artificial joints should also be beneficial for avoiding undesired reactions with the surrounding soft tissues. The results from this study are very promising. Future investigations should involve the use of simulators meeting the natural conditions in the joint and in vivo studies with living organisms. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., a Wiley Company.

Fine-grained dengue forecasting using telephone triage services

PubMed Central

Abdur Rehman, Nabeel; Kalyanaraman, Shankar; Ahmad, Talal; Pervaiz, Fahad; Saif, Umar; Subramanian, Lakshminarayanan

2016-01-01

Thousands of lives are lost every year in developing countries for failing to detect epidemics early because of the lack of real-time disease surveillance data. We present results from a large-scale deployment of a telephone triage service as a basis for dengue forecasting in Pakistan. Our system uses statistical analysis of dengue-related phone calls to accurately forecast suspected dengue cases 2 to 3 weeks ahead of time at a subcity level (correlation of up to 0.93). Our system has been operational at scale in Pakistan for the past 3 years and has received more than 300,000 phone calls. The predictions from our system are widely disseminated to public health officials and form a critical part of active government strategies for dengue containment. Our work is the first to demonstrate, with significant empirical evidence, that an accurate, location-specific disease forecasting system can be built using analysis of call volume data from a public health hotline. PMID:27419226

Sales promotion by wholesalers affects general practitioners' prescription behaviours in Japan.

PubMed

Shimura, Hirohisa

2018-01-01

Background : One method for promoting drugs in Japan has been utilizing wholesalers for promotion; however, the effectiveness of the sales promotion has been brought into question. Methods : A total of 74,552 responses were collected from an internet survey of 511 prescribing doctors in hospitals with less than 19 beds, which recalled the visits by wholesalers' sales representatives (MS) in 2014. Each assessed the degree to which MS and/or sales representatives from a pharmaceutical company (MR) influenced a decision to prescribe each drug. The responses were analysed using the chi-square test and Goodman-Kruskal's gamma to evaluate the association between MS calls and doctors' prescription orders. Results : Results showed a significant effect of the MS calls on doctors' behaviours in terms of new drug prescriptions and subsequent behaviours. The results by therapeutic category showed a similar strong influence of the joint calls on new prescriptions on some therapeutic classes. The MS calls significantly influenced doctors to maintain and increase the prescription volume (p < 0.01). Conclusion : This paper demonstrates that sales promotion on the part of MSs and MRs adds value to the prescription decisions. Moreover, results suggest that MSs enhance prescription outcomes in competitive therapeutic categories.

Measuring Associations of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Suicide Prevention Campaign on the Use of Crisis Support Services.

PubMed

Karras, Elizabeth; Lu, Naiji; Zuo, Guoxin; Tu, Xin M; Stephens, Brady; Draper, John; Thompson, Caitlin; Bossarte, Robert M

2016-08-01

Campaigns have become popular in public health approaches to suicide prevention; however, limited empirical investigation of their impact on behavior has been conducted. To address this gap, utilization patterns of crisis support services associated with the Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) suicide prevention campaign were examined. Daily call data for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, VCL, and 1-800-SUICIDE were modeled using a novel semi-varying coefficient method. Analyses reveal significant increases in call volume to both targeted and broad resources during the campaign. Findings underscore the need for further research to refine measurement of the effects of these suicide prevention efforts. © 2016 The American Association of Suicidology.

A Bibliography of Literature on Planned or Implemented Automated Library Projects, Part I; Volume 9, World Survey Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patrinostro, Frank S., Comp.; Sanders, Nancy P., Ed.

The primary purposes of this bibliography are to present an overview of published works which relate to the use of new technologies in library operations, to call attention to a number of valuable reference works published on the subject, and to assist librarians and library systems scientists who are engaged in the planning and/or implementation…

Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs: Arranged from American Indian Ceremonials and Sports.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fletcher, Alice C.

This volume describes and gives instructions for Native American dances and games as gathered by, and in some cases adapted by, an anthropologist working among native peoples at the beginning of the 20th Century. Part I contains dances and songs. The first is called "The Life of the Corn," a drama in five dances. Also included are three…

7TH International Workshop on Laser Physics (LPHYS󈨦) Berlin, Germany July 6-10, 1998 Program and Book of Abstracts: Volume 1.

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-07-01

to a hydrodynamic expansion of the so-called " nanoplasma " into the vacuum. The relative weight of each of these two explosion mechanisms depends on... nanoplasma . In particular, we observe L-shell emission in the case of Krypton and Xenon clusters and K-shell emission for Argon. Our results concern the

Defense AT and L. Volume 45, Number 3

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

CRM ). During the 1980s, the commercial airlines and military invested heavily in CRM training, aiming to increase crew coordination and improve...cockpit management. These CRM training programs focused on human factors train- ing—also called man-machine interfaces—with specific concentration on...leadership and decision making. CRM has evolved over the years with emphasis now placed on the acquisition of timely, appropriate infor- mation

Joint Force Quarterly. Issue 58, 3rd Quarter

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

rise to concerns over the future security of the Soviet nuclear arsenal. Anticipating the possibility of loosely controlled nuclear weapons inside...broader Cooperative Threat Reduction program—an unprecedented effort to reduce nuclear dangers by secur- ing or eliminating Russian weapons systems and...volume is about applications of the biological sciences, here called “biologi- cally inspired innovations,” to the military. Rather than treating

Test of phi(sup 2) model predictions near the (sup 3)He liquid-gas critical point

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barmatz, M.; Zhong, F.; Hahn, I.

2000-01-01

NASA is supporting the development of an experiment called MISTE (Microgravity Scaling Theory Experiment) for future International Space Station mission. The main objective of this flight experiment is to perform in-situ PVT, heat capacity at constant volume, C(sub v) and chi(sub tau), measurements in the asymptotic region near the (sup 3)He liquid-gas critical point.

Use of Aversive Procedures with Persons Who Are Disabled: An Historical Review and Critical Analysis. Volume 2, No. 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guess, Doug; And Others

This monograph addresses the assumptions underlying a resolution calling for a termination of the use of aversive procedures to modify the behavior of persons with severe disabilities that was passed in 1981 by the Executive Board of The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps. It provides both data and arguments to support the original…

Standard & Poor's "Return on Resources" Measure of School Performance. Issue Brief. Volume 1, Issue 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reeder, Brian

2004-01-01

Standard & Poors (S&P) uses a measure they call a Performance Cost Index (PCI) as their measure of a school or district?s ?Return on Resources?. The Performance Cost Index is defined as the average cost per measured ?unit? of student performance. In its simplest form, the Performance Cost Index is calculated as per student expenditures divided by…

Nuclear Weapon Environment Model. Volume II. Computer Code User’s Guide.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-02-01

J.R./IfW-09obArt AT NAME AND ADDRESS 10 PROGRAM ELEMENT PROJECT. TASK ’A a *0 RK UONGANIZATION TRW Defense and Space Systems GroupA 8WOKUINMES One...SIZE I I& DENSITY / DENSITY ZERO ,-NO OR TIME TOO YES LARGE? I CALL SIZER I r SETUP GRID IDIAGNOSTICI -7 PRINT DESIRED NOY-LOOP .? D I INCREMENT Y I I

Teaching Religion, Teaching Truth: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. Religion, Education and Values. Volume 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Astley, Jeff, Ed.; Francis, Leslie J., Ed.; Robbins, Mandy, Ed.; Selcuk, Mualla, Ed.

2012-01-01

Religious educators today are called upon to enable young people to develop as fully-rounded human beings in a multicultural and multi-faith world. It is no longer sufficient to teach about the history of religions: religion is not relegated to the past. It is no longer sufficient to teach about the observable outward phenomena of religions:…

Airman Scholar Journal. Volume 19, Spring 2013

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

of technological prowess and a symbol of ideological victory over communism . The Apollo program, which Stephen Johnson has called the United States...CO,80840 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11 ...Space Deterrence in a Labrynthine World Zachary Crippen and Andrew Hilton Topical Focus: Proliferation and Deterrence 11 Racism: A Stumbling Block to

Naval War College Review. Volume 65, Number 2, Spring 2012

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

warfare doctrine that scarcely exists in today’s American military. Finally, as part of our long-standing effort to understand capabilities and...long before network-centric warfare became a central feature of joint doctrine , the Navy established a program called “Copernicus” to assimilate...exchange data if the right technology, doctrine , tactics, techniques, and procedures were in place. The importance of coalition partners effectively

Analyzing Global Interdependence. Volume I. Analytical Perspectives and Policy Implications,

DTIC Science & Technology

1974-11-01

clearly explored in the school of social psychology called Role Theory. The language of dependency is transmuted into "matrices of possible interactions...imperialism or from sexual differences. The colonial oppression (dependencia) literature is polemical in style and normative in substance. b The orientation... sexual inequality, 7 one can glean several propositions about the dynamic characteristics of the dominant and subordinate members in the dependent

MINIVER upgrade for the AVID system. Volume 2: LANMIN input guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engel, C. D.; Schmitz, C. P.

1983-01-01

In order to effectively incorporate MINIVER into the AVID system, several changes to MINIVER were made. The thermal conduction options in MINIVER were removed and a new Explicit Interactive Thermal Structures (EXITS) code was developed. Many upgrades to the MINIVER code were made and a new Langley version of MINIVER called LANMIN was created. A user input guide for LANMIN is provided.

Software Design Document PVD CSCI (3). Volume 2, Appendices

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-01

FUNCTION: Igeneric -type(Type, Overline) called~y: show Ioverline in overlineif.c, (null) boundary-action in ovline-func.c, (null) Ideparture-action in...2.8.2.2-22 Ideparture-action 2.8.2.2-28 ldeparturejabel 2.8.2.2-27 idone__create_action 2.8.2.2-39 igeneric -size 2.8.2.2-17 lgeneric-type, 2.8.2.2-24

Speaking to the World: Four Protestant Perspectives. Ethics and Public Policy Essay 50.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuhaus, Richard John

This volume contains an address by Richard John Neuhaus entitled "Let the Church Be the Church" in which it is asserted that the crisis in Christian social ethics today is a crisis of faith which calls for spiritual, theological, and ethical renewal. The address is a retrospective look at the Vietnam-era debate between Neuhaus and Paul Ramsey,…

Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin (MIPB). Volume 37, Number 2, April-June 2011

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-01

holds an MA in Anthropology from California State University, Fullerton. 14 Military Intelligence “Harder to Do Than I Thought” Developing...intelligence is anthropological intelligence, no matter what forms it may take. Intelligence is an- thropological because it defi nes what it means...enlightenment. What we anthropologically call culture underlies and contextualizes all of our intelligence. We are culturally dependent creatures of

High-performance GPU-based rendering for real-time, rigid 2D/3D-image registration and motion prediction in radiation oncology.

PubMed

Spoerk, Jakob; Gendrin, Christelle; Weber, Christoph; Figl, Michael; Pawiro, Supriyanto Ardjo; Furtado, Hugo; Fabri, Daniella; Bloch, Christoph; Bergmann, Helmar; Gröller, Eduard; Birkfellner, Wolfgang

2012-02-01

A common problem in image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) of lung cancer as well as other malignant diseases is the compensation of periodic and aperiodic motion during dose delivery. Modern systems for image-guided radiation oncology allow for the acquisition of cone-beam computed tomography data in the treatment room as well as the acquisition of planar radiographs during the treatment. A mid-term research goal is the compensation of tumor target volume motion by 2D/3D Registration. In 2D/3D registration, spatial information on organ location is derived by an iterative comparison of perspective volume renderings, so-called digitally rendered radiographs (DRR) from computed tomography volume data, and planar reference x-rays. Currently, this rendering process is very time consuming, and real-time registration, which should at least provide data on organ position in less than a second, has not come into existence. We present two GPU-based rendering algorithms which generate a DRR of 512×512 pixels size from a CT dataset of 53 MB size at a pace of almost 100 Hz. This rendering rate is feasible by applying a number of algorithmic simplifications which range from alternative volume-driven rendering approaches - namely so-called wobbled splatting - to sub-sampling of the DRR-image by means of specialized raycasting techniques. Furthermore, general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) programming paradigms were consequently utilized. Rendering quality and performance as well as the influence on the quality and performance of the overall registration process were measured and analyzed in detail. The results show that both methods are competitive and pave the way for fast motion compensation by rigid and possibly even non-rigid 2D/3D registration and, beyond that, adaptive filtering of motion models in IGRT. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

High-performance GPU-based rendering for real-time, rigid 2D/3D-image registration and motion prediction in radiation oncology

PubMed Central

Spoerk, Jakob; Gendrin, Christelle; Weber, Christoph; Figl, Michael; Pawiro, Supriyanto Ardjo; Furtado, Hugo; Fabri, Daniella; Bloch, Christoph; Bergmann, Helmar; Gröller, Eduard; Birkfellner, Wolfgang

2012-01-01

A common problem in image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) of lung cancer as well as other malignant diseases is the compensation of periodic and aperiodic motion during dose delivery. Modern systems for image-guided radiation oncology allow for the acquisition of cone-beam computed tomography data in the treatment room as well as the acquisition of planar radiographs during the treatment. A mid-term research goal is the compensation of tumor target volume motion by 2D/3D registration. In 2D/3D registration, spatial information on organ location is derived by an iterative comparison of perspective volume renderings, so-called digitally rendered radiographs (DRR) from computed tomography volume data, and planar reference x-rays. Currently, this rendering process is very time consuming, and real-time registration, which should at least provide data on organ position in less than a second, has not come into existence. We present two GPU-based rendering algorithms which generate a DRR of 512 × 512 pixels size from a CT dataset of 53 MB size at a pace of almost 100 Hz. This rendering rate is feasible by applying a number of algorithmic simplifications which range from alternative volume-driven rendering approaches – namely so-called wobbled splatting – to sub-sampling of the DRR-image by means of specialized raycasting techniques. Furthermore, general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) programming paradigms were consequently utilized. Rendering quality and performance as well as the influence on the quality and performance of the overall registration process were measured and analyzed in detail. The results show that both methods are competitive and pave the way for fast motion compensation by rigid and possibly even non-rigid 2D/3D registration and, beyond that, adaptive filtering of motion models in IGRT. PMID:21782399

SPHYNX: an accurate density-based SPH method for astrophysical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cabezón, R. M.; García-Senz, D.; Figueira, J.

2017-10-01

Aims: Hydrodynamical instabilities and shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysical scenarios. Therefore, an accurate numerical simulation of these phenomena is mandatory to correctly model and understand many astrophysical events, such as supernovas, stellar collisions, or planetary formation. In this work, we attempt to address many of the problems that a commonly used technique, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), has when dealing with subsonic hydrodynamical instabilities or shocks. To that aim we built a new SPH code named SPHYNX, that includes many of the recent advances in the SPH technique and some other new ones, which we present here. Methods: SPHYNX is of Newtonian type and grounded in the Euler-Lagrange formulation of the smoothed-particle hydrodynamics technique. Its distinctive features are: the use of an integral approach to estimating the gradients; the use of a flexible family of interpolators called sinc kernels, which suppress pairing instability; and the incorporation of a new type of volume element which provides a better partition of the unity. Unlike other modern formulations, which consider volume elements linked to pressure, our volume element choice relies on density. SPHYNX is, therefore, a density-based SPH code. Results: A novel computational hydrodynamic code oriented to Astrophysical applications is described, discussed, and validated in the following pages. The ensuing code conserves mass, linear and angular momentum, energy, entropy, and preserves kernel normalization even in strong shocks. In our proposal, the estimation of gradients is enhanced using an integral approach. Additionally, we introduce a new family of volume elements which reduce the so-called tensile instability. Both features help to suppress the damp which often prevents the growth of hydrodynamic instabilities in regular SPH codes. Conclusions: On the whole, SPHYNX has passed the verification tests described below. For identical particle setting and initial conditions the results were similar (or better in some particular cases) than those obtained with other SPH schemes such as GADGET-2, PSPH or with the recent density-independent formulation (DISPH) and conservative reproducing kernel (CRKSPH) techniques.

Segmentation of hospital markets: where do HMO enrollees get care?

PubMed

Escarce, J J; Shea, J A; Chen, W

1997-01-01

Commercially insured and Medicare patients who are not in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) tend to use different hospitals than HMO patients use. This phenomenon, called market segmentation, raises important questions about how hospitals that treat many HMO patients differ from those that treat few HMO patients, especially with regard to quality of care. This study of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery found no evidence that HMOs in southeast Florida systematically channel their patients to high-volume or low-mortality hospitals. These findings are consistent with other evidence that in many areas of the country, incentives for managed care plans to reduce costs may outweigh incentives to improve quality.

Public media communications about H1N1, risk perceptions and immunization behaviours: A Quebec-France comparison.

PubMed

Rousseau, Cécile; Moreau, Nicolas; Dumas, Marie-Pier; Bost, Ida; Lefebvre, Sylvie; Atlani-Duault, Laëtitia

2015-02-01

During the H1N1 pandemic, governments tailored their communications plans in order to influence risk perception and promote public compliance with the public health plan measures. Considering the volume and the content of calls to flu information centres as indicators of the public risk perception, this mixed method study compares the relation between public communications, risk perception and immunization behaviour in Quebec and France. Results suggest that advocating for clear information and coordination between health authorities and the media promotes adherence to preventive behaviour. However, over-exaggerating the risks and minimizing the population's agency may undermine health authority credibility. © The Author(s) 2013.

Dynamic gamma knife radiosurgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luan, Shuang; Swanson, Nathan; Chen, Zhe; Ma, Lijun

2009-03-01

Gamma knife has been the treatment of choice for various brain tumors and functional disorders. Current gamma knife radiosurgery is planned in a 'ball-packing' approach and delivered in a 'step-and-shoot' manner, i.e. it aims to 'pack' the different sized spherical high-dose volumes (called 'shots') into a tumor volume. We have developed a dynamic scheme for gamma knife radiosurgery based on the concept of 'dose-painting' to take advantage of the new robotic patient positioning system on the latest Gamma Knife C™ and Perfexion™ units. In our scheme, the spherical high dose volume created by the gamma knife unit will be viewed as a 3D spherical 'paintbrush', and treatment planning reduces to finding the best route of this 'paintbrush' to 'paint' a 3D tumor volume. Under our dose-painting concept, gamma knife radiosurgery becomes dynamic, where the patient moves continuously under the robotic positioning system. We have implemented a fully automatic dynamic gamma knife radiosurgery treatment planning system, where the inverse planning problem is solved as a traveling salesman problem combined with constrained least-square optimizations. We have also carried out experimental studies of dynamic gamma knife radiosurgery and showed the following. (1) Dynamic gamma knife radiosurgery is ideally suited for fully automatic inverse planning, where high quality radiosurgery plans can be obtained in minutes of computation. (2) Dynamic radiosurgery plans are more conformal than step-and-shoot plans and can maintain a steep dose gradient (around 13% per mm) between the target tumor volume and the surrounding critical structures. (3) It is possible to prescribe multiple isodose lines with dynamic gamma knife radiosurgery, so that the treatment can cover the periphery of the target volume while escalating the dose for high tumor burden regions. (4) With dynamic gamma knife radiosurgery, one can obtain a family of plans representing a tradeoff between the delivery time and the dose distributions, thus giving the clinician one more dimension of flexibility of choosing a plan based on the clinical situations.

TU-AB-202-03: Prediction of PET Transfer Uncertainty by DIR Error Estimating Software, AUTODIRECT

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

Kim, H; Chen, J; Phillips, J

2016-06-15

Purpose: Deformable image registration (DIR) is a powerful tool, but DIR errors can adversely affect its clinical applications. To estimate voxel-specific DIR uncertainty, a software tool, called AUTODIRECT (automated DIR evaluation of confidence tool), has been developed and validated. This work tests the ability of this software to predict uncertainty for the transfer of standard uptake values (SUV) from positron-emission tomography (PET) with DIR. Methods: Virtual phantoms are used for this study. Each phantom has a planning computed tomography (CT) image and a diagnostic PET-CT image set. A deformation was digitally applied to the diagnostic CT to create the planningmore » CT image and establish a known deformation between the images. One lung and three rectum patient datasets were employed to create the virtual phantoms. Both of these sites have difficult deformation scenarios associated with them, which can affect DIR accuracy (lung tissue sliding and changes in rectal filling). The virtual phantoms were created to simulate these scenarios by introducing discontinuities in the deformation field at the lung rectum border. The DIR algorithm from Plastimatch software was applied to these phantoms. The SUV mapping errors from the DIR were then compared to that predicted by AUTODIRECT. Results: The SUV error distributions closely followed the AUTODIRECT predicted error distribution for the 4 test cases. The minimum and maximum PET SUVs were produced from AUTODIRECT at 95% confidence interval before applying gradient-based SUV segmentation for each of these volumes. Notably, 93.5% of the target volume warped by the true deformation was included within the AUTODIRECT-predicted maximum SUV volume after the segmentation, while 78.9% of the target volume was within the target volume warped by Plastimatch. Conclusion: The AUTODIRECT framework is able to predict PET transfer uncertainty caused by DIR, which enables an understanding of the associated target volume uncertainty.« less

Euler Technology Assessment program for preliminary aircraft design employing SPLITFLOW code with Cartesian unstructured grid method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Finley, Dennis B.

1995-01-01

This report documents results from the Euler Technology Assessment program. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of Euler computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes for use in preliminary aircraft design. Both the accuracy of the predictions and the rapidity of calculations were to be assessed. This portion of the study was conducted by Lockheed Fort Worth Company, using a recently developed in-house Cartesian-grid code called SPLITFLOW. The Cartesian grid technique offers several advantages for this study, including ease of volume grid generation and reduced number of cells compared to other grid schemes. SPLITFLOW also includes grid adaptation of the volume grid during the solution convergence to resolve high-gradient flow regions. This proved beneficial in resolving the large vortical structures in the flow for several configurations examined in the present study. The SPLITFLOW code predictions of the configuration forces and moments are shown to be adequate for preliminary design analysis, including predictions of sideslip effects and the effects of geometry variations at low and high angles of attack. The time required to generate the results from initial surface definition is on the order of several hours, including grid generation, which is compatible with the needs of the design environment.

Design of an essentially non-oscillatory reconstruction procedure in finite-element type meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abgrall, Remi

1992-01-01

An essentially non oscillatory reconstruction for functions defined on finite element type meshes is designed. Two related problems are studied: the interpolation of possibly unsmooth multivariate functions on arbitary meshes and the reconstruction of a function from its averages in the control volumes surrounding the nodes of the mesh. Concerning the first problem, the behavior of the highest coefficients of two polynomial interpolations of a function that may admit discontinuities of locally regular curves is studied: the Lagrange interpolation and an approximation such that the mean of the polynomial on any control volume is equal to that of the function to be approximated. This enables the best stencil for the approximation to be chosen. The choice of the smallest possible number of stencils is addressed. Concerning the reconstruction problem, two methods were studied: one based on an adaptation of the so called reconstruction via deconvolution method to irregular meshes and one that lies on the approximation on the mean as defined above. The first method is conservative up to a quadrature formula and the second one is exactly conservative. The two methods have the expected order of accuracy, but the second one is much less expensive than the first one. Some numerical examples are given which demonstrate the efficiency of the reconstruction.

Comparison of air space measurement imaged by CT, small-animal CT, and hyperpolarized Xe MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madani, Aniseh; White, Steven; Santyr, Giles; Cunningham, Ian

2005-04-01

Lung disease is the third leading cause of death in the western world. Lung air volume measurements are thought to be early indicators of lung disease and markers in pharmaceutical research. The purpose of this work is to develop a lung phantom for assessing and comparing the quantitative accuracy of hyperpolarized xenon 129 magnetic resonance imaging (HP 129Xe MRI), conventional computed tomography (HRCT), and highresolution small-animal CT (μCT) in measuring lung gas volumes. We developed a lung phantom consisting of solid cellulose acetate spheres (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 mm diameter) uniformly packed in circulated air or HP 129Xe gas. Air volume is estimated based on simple thresholding algorithm. Truth is calculated from the sphere diameters and validated using μCT. While this phantom is not anthropomorphic, it enables us to directly measure air space volume and compare these imaging methods as a function of sphere diameter for the first time. HP 129Xe MRI requires partial volume analysis to distinguish regions with and without 129Xe gas and results are within %5 of truth but settling of the heavy 129Xe gas complicates this analysis. Conventional CT demonstrated partial-volume artifacts for the 1mm spheres. μCT gives the most accurate air-volume results. Conventional CT and HP 129Xe MRI give similar results although non-uniform densities of 129Xe require more sophisticated algorithms than simple thresholding. The threshold required to give the true air volume in both HRCT and μCT, varies with sphere diameters calling into question the validity of thresholding method.

Quantitative three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) for prostate imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pathak, Sayan D.; Aarnink, Rene G.; de la Rosette, Jean J.; Chalana, Vikram; Wijkstra, Hessel; Haynor, David R.; Debruyne, Frans M. J.; Kim, Yongmin

1998-06-01

With the number of men seeking medical care for prostate diseases rising steadily, the need of a fast and accurate prostate boundary detection and volume estimation tool is being increasingly experienced by the clinicians. Currently, these measurements are made manually, which results in a large examination time. A possible solution is to improve the efficiency by automating the boundary detection and volume estimation process with minimal involvement from the human experts. In this paper, we present an algorithm based on SNAKES to detect the boundaries. Our approach is to selectively enhance the contrast along the edges using an algorithm called sticks and integrate it with a SNAKES model. This integrated algorithm requires an initial curve for each ultrasound image to initiate the boundary detection process. We have used different schemes to generate the curves with a varying degree of automation and evaluated its effects on the algorithm performance. After the boundaries are identified, the prostate volume is calculated using planimetric volumetry. We have tested our algorithm on 6 different prostate volumes and compared the performance against the volumes manually measured by 3 experts. With the increase in the user inputs, the algorithm performance improved as expected. The results demonstrate that given an initial contour reasonably close to the prostate boundaries, the algorithm successfully delineates the prostate boundaries in an image, and the resulting volume measurements are in close agreement with those made by the human experts.

Immature platelet fraction in bacterial sepsis severity assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djuang, M. H.; Ginting, F.; Hariman, H.

2018-03-01

Sepsis is an infection-induced syndrome, mostly caused by bacteria, of organ dysfunctions that caused by host response dysregulations. One of the simplest sepsis-indicator is platelet and its indexes. A new platelet parameter called immature platelet count (IPF) became theinterest in this study. The study aims to see whether IPF could assess sepsis severity by procalcitonin (PCT).Sixty-four of seventy-one patients with increased PCT were included in this cross-sectional study and separated into three groups based on their PCT levels. IPF showed no significance among the three groups (p-value>0.05) while platelet count was significant (p-value<0.05). Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) and Platelet Distribution Width (PDW) showed a strongpositive correlation with IPF. Higher sepsis severity based on PCT showed larger platelet count, as the result of platelet destructions caused by pro-inflammatory cytokines and endotoxins.

Spontaneous Reperfusion after In Situ Thromboembolic Stroke in Mice

PubMed Central

Cho, Tae-Hee; Bolbos, Radu; Langlois, Jean-Baptiste; Hermitte, Laure; Wiart, Marlène; Berthezène, Yves; Nighoghossian, Norbert

2012-01-01

Injection of thrombin into the middle cerebral artery (MCA) of mice has been proposed as a new model of thromboembolic stroke. The present study used sequential multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), including Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (DWI) and Perfusion-Weighted Imaging (PWI), to document MCA occlusion, PWI-DWI mismatch, and lesion development. In the first experiment, complete MCA occlusion and reproducible hypoperfusion were obtained in 85% of animals during the first hour after stroke onset. In the second experiment, 80% of animals showed partial to complete reperfusion during a three-hour follow-up. Spontaneous reperfusion thus contributed to the variability in ischemic volume in this model. The study confirmed the value of the model for evaluating new thrombolytic treatments, but calls for extended MRI follow-up at the acute stage in therapeutic studies. PMID:23166825

Particle size studies to reveal crystallization mechanisms of the metal organic framework HKUST-1 during sonochemical synthesis.

PubMed

Armstrong, Mitchell R; Senthilnathan, Sethuraman; Balzer, Christopher J; Shan, Bohan; Chen, Liang; Mu, Bin

2017-01-01

Systematic studies of key operating parameters for the sonochemical synthesis of the metal organic framework (MOF) HKUST-1(also called CuBTC) were performed including reaction time, reactor volume, sonication amplitude, sonication tip size, solvent composition, and reactant concentrations analyzed through SEM particle size analysis. Trends in the particle size and size distributions show reproducible control of average particle sizes between 1 and 4μm. These results along with complementary studies in sonofragmentation and temperature control were conducted to compare these results to kinetic crystal growth models found in literature to develop a plausible hypothetical mechanism for ultrasound-assisted growth of metal-organic-frameworks composed of a competitive mechanism including constructive solid-on-solid (SOS) crystal growth and a deconstructive sonofragmentation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

Li, K; John R Marsh Cancer Center

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical rationale for Truebeam and Trilogy Linac machines from Varian Medical System as exchangeable treatment modalities in the same radiation oncology department. Methods: Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) plans for different diseases were selected for this study. These disease sites included brain, head and neck, breast, lung, and prostate. The parameters selected for this study were the energy amount, Monitor Unit (MU); dose coverage of target reflected by prescription isodose volume(PIV); dose spillage described by the volume of 50% isodoseline of the prescription; and dose homogeneities represented by the maximum dose (MaxD) and the minimum dose (MinD)more » of target volume (TV) and critical structure (CS). Each percentage difference between the values of these parameters formed an element of a matrix, which was called Similarity Comparison Matrix(SCM). The elements of the SCM were then simplified by dimensional conversion algorithm, which was used to determine clinical similarity between two machines through a single value. Results: For the selected clinical cases in this study, the average percentage differences between Trilogy and Truebeam in MU was 0.28% with standard deviation(SD) 0.66%, PIV was 0.23% with SD 0.20%, Volume at 50% prescription dose was 0.31% with SD at 0.78%, MaxD at TV is 0.26% with SD 0.35%, MinD at TV is −0.04% with SD 0.51%, MaxD in CS is −0.53% with SD 0.92%, and MinD in CS 3.31%, with SD at 2.89%. The sum, product, geometric and harmonic mean for the matrix elements were 19.0%, 0.00%, 0.19%, and 0.00%. Conclusion: A method to compare two machines in clinical level was developed and some reference values were calculated for decision-making in clinical practice, and this strategy could be expanded to different clinical applications.« less

A software communication tool for the tele-ICU.

PubMed

Pimintel, Denise M; Wei, Shang Heng; Odor, Alberto

2013-01-01

The Tele Intensive Care Unit (tele-ICU) supports a high volume, high acuity population of patients. There is a high-volume of incoming and outgoing calls, especially during the evening and night hours, through the tele-ICU hubs. The tele-ICU clinicians must be able to communicate effectively to team members in order to support the care of complex and critically ill patients while supporting and maintaining a standard to improve time to intervention. This study describes a software communication tool that will improve the time to intervention, over the paper-driven communication format presently used in the tele-ICU. The software provides a multi-relational database of message instances to mine information for evaluation and quality improvement for all entities that touch the tele-ICU. The software design incorporates years of critical care and software design experience combined with new skills acquired in an applied Health Informatics program. This software tool will function in the tele-ICU environment and perform as a front-end application that gathers, routes, and displays internal communication messages for intervention by priority and provider.

Euler Technology Assessment for Preliminary Aircraft Design: Compressibility Predictions by Employing the Cartesian Unstructured Grid SPLITFLOW Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Finley, Dennis B.; Karman, Steve L., Jr.

1996-01-01

The objective of the second phase of the Euler Technology Assessment program was to evaluate the ability of Euler computational fluid dynamics codes to predict compressible flow effects over a generic fighter wind tunnel model. This portion of the study was conducted by Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, using an in-house Cartesian-grid code called SPLITFLOW. The Cartesian grid technique offers several advantages, including ease of volume grid generation and reduced number of cells compared to other grid schemes. SPLITFLOW also includes grid adaption of the volume grid during the solution to resolve high-gradient regions. The SPLITFLOW code predictions of configuration forces and moments are shown to be adequate for preliminary design, including predictions of sideslip effects and the effects of geometry variations at low and high angles-of-attack. The transonic pressure prediction capabilities of SPLITFLOW are shown to be improved over subsonic comparisons. The time required to generate the results from initial surface data is on the order of several hours, including grid generation, which is compatible with the needs of the design environment.

The role of the extracellular matrix in tissue distribution of macromolecules in normal and pathological tissues: potential therapeutic consequences.

PubMed

Wiig, Helge; Gyenge, Christina; Iversen, Per Ole; Gullberg, Donald; Tenstad, Olav

2008-05-01

The interstitial space is a dynamic microenvironment that consists of interstitial fluid and structural molecules of the extracellular matrix, such as glycosaminoglycans (hyaluronan and proteoglycans) and collagen. Macromolecules can distribute in the interstitium only in those spaces unoccupied by structural components, a phenomenon called interstitial exclusion. The exclusion phenomenon has direct consequences for plasma volume regulation. Early studies have assigned a major role to collagen as an excluding agent that accounts for the sterical (geometrical) exclusion. More recently, it has been shown that the contribution of negatively charged glycosaminoglycans might also be significant, resulting in an additional electrostatical exclusion effect. This charge effect may be of importance for drug uptake and suggests that either the glycosaminoglycans or the net charge of macromolecular substances to be delivered may be targeted to increase the available volume and uptake of macromolecular therapeutic agents in tumor tissue. Here, we provide an overview of the structural components of the interstitium and discuss the importance the sterical and electrostatical components have on the dynamics of transcapillary fluid exchange.

Effect of familial sinistrality on planum temporale surface and brain tissue asymmetries.

PubMed

Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie; Simon, Gregory; Crivello, Fabrice; Jobard, Gael; Zago, Laure; Perchey, Guy; Hervé, Pierre-Yves; Joliot, Marc; Petit, Laurent; Mellet, Emmanuel; Mazoyer, Bernard

2010-06-01

The impact of having left-handers (LHs) among one's close relatives, called familial sinistrality (FS), on neuroanatomical markers of left-hemisphere language specialization was studied in 274 normal adults, including 199 men and 75 women, among whom 77 men and 27 women were positive for FS. Measurements of the surface of a phonological cortical area, the "planum temporale" (PT), and gray and white matter hemispheric volumes and asymmetries were made using brain magnetic resonance images. The size of the left PT of subjects with left-handed close relatives (FS+) was reduced by 10%, decreasing with the number of left-handed relatives, and lowest when the subject's mother was left-handed. Such findings had no counterparts in the right hemisphere, and the subject's handedness and sex were found to have no significant effect or interaction with FS on the left PT size. The FS+ subjects also exhibited increased gray matter volume, reduced hemispheric gray matter leftward asymmetry, and, in LHs, reduced strength of hand preference. These results add to the increasing body of evidence suggesting multiple and somewhat independent mechanisms for the inheritance of hand and language lateralization.

Gradient rotating outer volume excitation (GROOVE): A novel method for single-shot two-dimensional outer volume suppression.

PubMed

Powell, Nathaniel J; Jang, Albert; Park, Jang-Yeon; Valette, Julien; Garwood, Michael; Marjańska, Małgorzata

2015-01-01

To introduce a new outer volume suppression (OVS) technique that uses a single pulse and rotating gradients to accomplish frequency-swept excitation. This new technique, which is called gradient rotating outer volume excitation (GROOVE), produces a circular or elliptical suppression band rather than suppressing the entire outer volume. Theoretical and k-space descriptions of GROOVE are provided. The properties of GROOVE were investigated with simulations, phantom, and human experiments performed using a 4T horizontal bore magnet equipped with a TEM coil. Similar suppression performance was obtained in phantom and human brain using GROOVE with circular and elliptical shapes. Simulations indicate that GROOVE requires less SAR and time than traditional OVS schemes, but traditional schemes provide a sharper transition zone and less residual signal. GROOVE represents a new way of performing OVS in which spins are excited temporally in space on a trajectory that can be tailored to fit the shape of the suppression region. In addition, GROOVE is capable of suppressing tailored regions of space with more flexibility and in a shorter period of time than conventional methods. GROOVE provides a fast, low SAR alternative to conventional OVS methods in some applications (e.g., scalp suppression). © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Action of the isolated canine diaphragm on the lower ribs at high lung volumes.

PubMed

De Troyer, André; Wilson, Theodore A

2014-10-15

The normal diaphragm has an inspiratory action on the lower ribs, but subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease commonly have an inward displacement of the lateral portions of the lower rib cage during inspiration. This paradoxical displacement, conventionally called 'Hoover's sign', has traditionally been attributed to the direct action of radially oriented diaphragmatic muscle fibres. In the present study, the inspiratory intercostal muscles in all interspaces in anaesthetized dogs were severed so that the diaphragm was the only muscle active during inspiration. The displacements of the lower ribs along the craniocaudal and laterolateral axes and the changes in pleural pressure (∆Ppl) and transdiaphragmatic pressure were measured during occluded breaths and mechanical ventilation at different lung volumes between functional residual capacity (FRC) and total lung capacity. From these data, the separate effects on rib displacement of ∆Ppl and of the force exerted by the diaphragm on the ribs were determined. Isolated spontaneous diaphragm contraction at FRC displaced the lower ribs cranially and outward, but this motion was progressively reversed into a caudal and inward motion as lung volume increased. However, although the force exerted by the diaphragm on the ribs decreased with increasing volume, it continued to displace the ribs cranially and outward. These observations suggest that Hoover's sign is usually caused by the decrease in the zone of apposition and, thus, by the dominant effect of ∆Ppl on the lower ribs, rather than an inward pull from the diaphragm. © 2014 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology © 2014 The Physiological Society.

Telemonitoring of home exercise cycle training in patients with COPD

PubMed Central

Franke, Karl-Josef; Domanski, Ulrike; Schroeder, Maik; Jansen, Volker; Artmann, Frank; Weber, Uwe; Ettler, Rainer; Nilius, Georg

2016-01-01

Background Regular physical activity is associated with reduced mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Interventions to reduce time spent in sedentary behavior could improve outcomes. The primary purpose was to investigate the impact of telemonitoring with supportive phone calls on daily exercise times with newly established home exercise bicycle training. The secondary aim was to examine the potential improvement in health-related quality of life and physical activity compared to baseline. Methods This prospective crossover-randomized study was performed over 6 months in stable COPD patients. The intervention phase (domiciliary training with supporting telephone calls) and the control phase (training without phone calls) were randomly assigned to the first or the last 3 months. In the intervention phase, patients were called once a week if they did not achieve a real-time monitored daily cycle time of 20 minutes. Secondary aims were evaluated at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. Health-related quality of life was measured by the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), physical activity by the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ). Results Of the 53 included patients, 44 patients completed the study (forced expiratory volume in 1 second 47.5%±15.8% predicted). In the intervention phase, daily exercise time was significantly higher compared to the control phase (24.2±9.4 versus 19.6±10.3 minutes). Compared to baseline (17.6±6.1), the CAT-score improved in the intervention phase to 15.3±7.6 and in the control phase to 15.7±7.3 units. The GLTEQ-score increased from 12.2±12.1 points to 36.3±16.3 and 33.7±17.3. Conclusion Telemonitoring is a simple method to enhance home exercise training and physical activity, improving health-related quality of life. PMID:27956829

SeaFrame: Building an Affordable Future Fleet. Volume 6, Issue 1, 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

metal alloy combinations, but are up against a long design cycle in getting to know how the complex interplay between new...the heat treatment process. Magnesium silicide nanoparticles come out during heat treatment to strengthen the alloy, and engineers found it...already had valid data we could work with.” To help accurately model the magnesium silicide particles, called a precipitate, in the AA6082

Fwd: Half Empty or Half Full? Florida's Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Standards. Volume: 2, Number: 1. Arresting Insights in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkins, Amy

2005-01-01

In 2002, when its voters approved a ballot measure calling for universal pre- Kindergarten by 2005-06, Florida joined a handful of states in which all children are eligible for free, publicly funded education in the year prior to Kindergarten. The passage of the referendum--which received more votes than Governor Jeb Bush garnered in his victory…

Just-in-Time Employees: UPS and the Knowledge Supply Chain. Tomorrow's Workplace Today: Profiles of Excellence in Business Leadership, Volume 1, Number 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alden, John

All businesses are grappling with knowledge networks--finding the right employees at the right time with the right knowledge and skills. The National Alliance of Business, MIT, and others have been working on an intriguing way to look at labor supply and demand issues called knowledge supply chain management. UPS (United Parcel Service) manages…

Automating the Transformational Development of Software. Volume 1.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-03-01

DRACO system [Neighbors 80] uses meta-rules to derive information about which new transformations will be applicable after a particular transformation has...transformation over another. The new model, as Incorporated in a system called Glitter, explicitly represents transformation goals, methods, and selection...done anew for each new problem (compare this with Neighbor’s Draco system [Neighbors 80] which attempts to reuse domain analysis). o Is the user

Army Library Institute V: Product/Marketing/Service - Volume 2, Supplementary Data

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-11-01

Rinctlons OCLC for Beginners Performance Standards Screening Panel Session 4, Thursday, 21 May 1981 Task Force Group Meetings ADP/Networking...for Library Functions W OCLC for Beginners X Career Programs and Position Classification Standards Y Screening Panel...is non-DLC a librarian will examine it, assign a call number, and do any other editing. For a flowchart , see Appendix 6, but remember that this is a

Aircraft Trajectories Computation-Prediction-Control. Volume 1 (La Trajectoire de l’Avion Calcul-Prediction-Controle)

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-03-01

knowledge covering problems of this type is called calculus of variations or optimal control theory (Refs. 1-8). As stated before, appli - cations occur...to the optimality conditions and the feasibility equations of Problem (GP), respectively. Clearly, after the transformation (26) is applied , the...trajectories, the primal sequential gradient-restoration algorithm (PSGRA) is applied to compute optimal trajectories for aeroassisted orbital transfer

Nonlinear Dynamics Used to Classify Effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-11

evaluate random fractal characteristics, and scale-dependent Lyapunov exponents (SDLE) to evaluate chaotic characteristics. Both Shannon and Renyi entropy...fluctuation analysis to evaluate random fractal characteristics, and scale-dependent Lyapunov exponents (SDLE) to evaluate chaotic characteristics. Both...often called the Hurst parameter [32]. When the scaling law described by Eq. (2) holds, the September 2011 I Volume 6 I Issue 9 I e24446 -Q.384

CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 19, Number 5

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-05-01

Coming Events Web Sites Call for Articles Visit CrossTalk at the SSTC BackTalk Transforming: Business , Security ,Warfighting CrossTalk 76 SMXG CO-SPONSOR...theme “Transforming: Business , Security , Warfighting.” Transformation is not just the current buzzword: Many industries and the military have...systems. Transforming: Business , Security ,Warfighting Characteristic edocfosenilnoillim001-01eziS Number of external interfaces 30-300 Number of

Air & Space Power Journal. Volume 19, Number 3, Fall 2005

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-09-01

5 Lt Gen Luís Evangelista Esteves de Araújo, Portuguese Air Force Origins of the Royal...ESTEVES DE ARAÚJO, PORTUGUESE AIR FORCE DEVELOPING A VISION of the future in a time marked by asymmetries and discontinuities calls for circum-spection...especially to properly per- ceive the constant changes taking place around us and the speed with which they unfold. De - spite the current environment

Military Review. Volume 85, Number 1, January-February 2008

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-02-01

economic.4 Resolution of the so-called “troubles” there has, for the most part, come by way of political agreements encour- aged by economic...fostering will happen when they protect and encour- age local institutions and people who support the rule of law. Their involvement will perhaps be...could encour- age soldiers to talk with the local population, explaining the election process and answering questions, to constructively

Supporting Parents: How Six Decades of Parenting Research Can Inform Policy and Best Practice. Social Policy Report. Volume 30, Number 5

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teti, Douglas M.; Cole, Pamela M.; Cabrera, Natasha; Goodman, Sherryl H.; McLoyd, Vonnie C.

2017-01-01

In this paper, we call attention to the need to expand existing efforts and to develop policies, programs, and best practices in the United States designed to support parents at risk and promote parenting competence. Despite the existence of some services offered to parents of children at risk due to developmental delay or at economic risk, the…

Geonames Processing System Functional Design Specification. Volume 5. Performance Specifications.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-01

Chinese, Japanese , and Thai are the important ideographies to consider for electronic names processing. Chinese and Japanese character sets are...was no written Japanese language. Chinese characters are called Kanji by the Japanese . There are approximately 55(X) Chinese characters of common...Kanji was taken from A.V. Hershey, "Calligraphy for Computers," U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory, Dahlgren, VA, August 1967. AD (-2398. C-1 Japanese

Manned Spacecraft

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-09-14

observed any disorders . In resolution of problems of flight into space Soviet inventors and scientists played a salient role. It is possible to call...cosmonautics, since the volume of this book does not make it possible to do this. Therefore he was restricted to the task of introducing the reader only to...Loads during maneuvering are transmitted directly to elements of construction/design of objects and butt cone, passing/ avoidi .g dampers of damping

NATO Standardization and Licensing Policy-Exploratory Phase. Volume 3. Supplement

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-11-30

Aerospatiale will perform at least half the production of this aircraft.* The concept involves a relatively light- weight advanced interceptor with...a ratio of total thrust to takeoff gross weight of about unity. The technology of the aircraft calls for the use of carbon fiber in selected...presenting a system with operating temperatures, pressure ratios, and thrust-to- weight ratios roughly comparable to U.S. technology. The

CTC Sentinel. Volume 2, Issue 4, April 2009. Defining the Punjabi Taliban Network

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

Province (which has better educational facilities) and urban linkages where internet access and communications equipment are more readily available...calls by using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. sending an e-mail from Afghanistan explaining why he was fighting jihad.49 One of...ascendancy to power and collaborative approach represents to al-Qa`ida’s legitimacy. President Bush’s controversial policies and public persona

Responding To Infectious Disease: Multiple Cases of Staph Infections in a Rural School District. Lessons Learned From School Crises and Emergencies, Volume 3, Issue 3, 2008

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2008

2008-01-01

"Lessons Learned" is a series of publications that are a brief recounting of actual school emergencies and crises. This "Lessons Learned" issue focuses on an incident involving several cases of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at a rural high school. MRSA is a specific strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (often called staph)…

The Laniakea supercluster of galaxies.

PubMed

Tully, R Brent; Courtois, Hélène; Hoffman, Yehuda; Pomarède, Daniel

2014-09-04

Galaxies congregate in clusters and along filaments, and are missing from large regions referred to as voids. These structures are seen in maps derived from spectroscopic surveys that reveal networks of structure that are interconnected with no clear boundaries. Extended regions with a high concentration of galaxies are called 'superclusters', although this term is not precise. There is, however, another way to analyse the structure. If the distance to each galaxy from Earth is directly measured, then the peculiar velocity can be derived from the subtraction of the mean cosmic expansion, the product of distance times the Hubble constant, from observed velocity. The peculiar velocity is the line-of-sight departure from the cosmic expansion and arises from gravitational perturbations; a map of peculiar velocities can be translated into a map of the distribution of matter. Here we report a map of structure made using a catalogue of peculiar velocities. We find locations where peculiar velocity flows diverge, as water does at watershed divides, and we trace the surface of divergent points that surrounds us. Within the volume enclosed by this surface, the motions of galaxies are inward after removal of the mean cosmic expansion and long range flows. We define a supercluster to be the volume within such a surface, and so we are defining the extent of our home supercluster, which we call Laniakea.

Designing a light fabric metamaterial being highly macroscopically tough under directional extension: first experimental evidence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

dell'Isola, Francesco; Lekszycki, Tomasz; Pawlikowski, Marek; Grygoruk, Roman; Greco, Leopoldo

2015-12-01

In this paper, we study a metamaterial constructed with an isotropic material organized following a geometric structure which we call pantographic lattice. This relatively complex fabric was studied using a continuous model (which we call pantographic sheet) by Rivlin and Pipkin and includes two families of flexible fibers connected by internal pivots which are, in the reference configuration, orthogonal. A rectangular specimen having one side three times longer than the other is cut at 45° with respect to the fibers in reference configuration, and it is subjected to large-deformation plane-extension bias tests imposing a relative displacement of shorter sides. The continuum model used, the presented numerical models and the extraordinary advancements of the technology of 3D printing allowed for the design of some first experiments, whose preliminary results are shown and seem to be rather promising. Experimental evidence shows three distinct deformation regimes. In the first regime, the equilibrium total deformation energy depends quadratically on the relative displacement of terminal specimen sides: Applied resultant force depends linearly on relative displacement. In the second regime, the applied force varies nonlinearly on relative displacement, but the behavior remains elastic. In the third regime, damage phenomena start to occur until total failure, but the exerted resultant force continues to be increasing and reaches a value up to several times larger than the maximum shown in the linear regime before failure actually occurs. Moreover, the total energy needed to reach structural failure is larger than the maximum stored elastic energy. Finally, the volume occupied by the material in the fabric is a small fraction of the total volume, so that the ratio weight/resistance to extension is very advantageous. The results seem to require a refinement of the used theoretical and numerical methods to transform the presented concept into a promising technological prototype.

High-Precision Phenotyping of Grape Bunch Architecture Using Fast 3D Sensor and Automation.

PubMed

Rist, Florian; Herzog, Katja; Mack, Jenny; Richter, Robert; Steinhage, Volker; Töpfer, Reinhard

2018-03-02

Wine growers prefer cultivars with looser bunch architecture because of the decreased risk for bunch rot. As a consequence, grapevine breeders have to select seedlings and new cultivars with regard to appropriate bunch traits. Bunch architecture is a mosaic of different single traits which makes phenotyping labor-intensive and time-consuming. In the present study, a fast and high-precision phenotyping pipeline was developed. The optical sensor Artec Spider 3D scanner (Artec 3D, L-1466, Luxembourg) was used to generate dense 3D point clouds of grapevine bunches under lab conditions and an automated analysis software called 3D-Bunch-Tool was developed to extract different single 3D bunch traits, i.e., the number of berries, berry diameter, single berry volume, total volume of berries, convex hull volume of grapes, bunch width and bunch length. The method was validated on whole bunches of different grapevine cultivars and phenotypic variable breeding material. Reliable phenotypic data were obtained which show high significant correlations (up to r² = 0.95 for berry number) compared to ground truth data. Moreover, it was shown that the Artec Spider can be used directly in the field where achieved data show comparable precision with regard to the lab application. This non-invasive and non-contact field application facilitates the first high-precision phenotyping pipeline based on 3D bunch traits in large plant sets.