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ED Emergency department FEV 1 Forced expiratory volume in 1 second
No full textmethod has a number of disadvantages including high cost, need for an external power source, and inefficient drug delivery to the lung. From the Divisions of Study design: In this randomized double-blind trial set in an emergency department, 90 children between 5 and 17 years of age with a baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ) between 50% and 79% of predicted value were treated with a single dose of albuterol, either 6 to 10 puffs (n = 30) or 2 puffs (n = 30) with an MDI with spacer or 0.15 mg/kg with a nebulizer (n = 30). Results: No significant differences were seen between treatment groups in the degree of improvement in percent predicted FEV 1 (P = .12), clinical score, respiratory rate, or O 2 saturation. However, the nebulizer group had a significantly greater change in heart rate (P = .0001). Our study had 93% power to detect a mean difference in percent predicted FEV 1 of 8 between the treatment groups. Conclusion: In children with mild acute asthma, treatment with 2 puffs of albuterol by an MDI with spacer is just as clinically beneficial as treatment with higher doses delivered by an MDI or by a nebulizer. (J Pediatr 1999;135:22-7
Design and Development of a Peripheral Nerve Stimulator to Aid in Testing for Diabetes Design and Development of a Peripheral Nerve Stimulator to Aid in Testing for Diabetes
No full textAbstract Diabetes is a disease that can result in, among other things, a reduction of sensory nerve reception of the skin. This loss of sensation can be detected early and treated to reduce the risk of bodily injury and amputation. Using the industry standard Semmes-Weinstein Monofilament test, detection thresholds are determined by the force of light touch. This force targets the Meissner nerve receptors. Unfortunately, the force exerted by the filaments can weaken over time, thereby reducing the accuracy of the test. One solution proposed to detect the threshold levels by means of sensory vibration. This instrument, the Biothesiometer, has been found to correlate very poorly with industry standards. It is possible that the instrument stimulates a different sensory group, the Pacinian receptors. A new design will attempt to correct problems found in the Biothesiometer and incorporate technology for reducing operator error. To stimulate the Meissner receptors, an appropriate frequency will be targeted. Also, an appropriate amplitude range must allow for detection of all levels of threshold. To eliminate or reduce the human error factor, the design must allow for repeatable test procedures. Of most interest is a common applied force. Hitting these targets will allow medical personnel to more accurately detect the onset and stages of diabetes
Adaptive Phase Adjustment Synchronization Method for Source Voltage Distortion in Electric Ship Application
Get PDFGraphene as Single Layer of Carbon Atoms: Perusal on Structure, Properties and Applications
Get PDFABSTRACT Graphene, has been studied intensively in the last few years due to its unique characteristics. Graphene is a crystalline allotrope of carbon. In graphene, carbon atoms are densely packed in a regular -bonded atomic-scale chicken wire (hexagonal) pattern. Graphene a single layer of carbon atoms, combines several exceptional properties, which makes it uniquely suited as a coating material: transparency, excellent mechanical stability, low chemical reactivity, Optical, impermeability to most gases, flexibility, and very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Graphene is a material that can be utilized in numerous disciplines including, but not limited to: bioengineering, composite materials, energy technology and nanotechnology, biological engineering, optical electronics, ultrafiltration, photovoltaic cells.Graphene is undoubtedly emerging as one of the most promising materials because of its unique combination of superb properties, which opens a way for its exploitation in a wide spectrum of applications ranging from electronics to optics, sensors, and biodevices. Also Graphene-based nanomaterials have many promising applications in energy-related areas. This review aims to provide an overiew of graghene structure, properties and some applications
Case Report Primary Carcinoid Tumor of the Testis
No full textPrimary carcinoid tumors of the testis are a rare entity comprising less than 1% of all testicular neoplasms. Their presence should be considered particularly when evaluating a testicular lesion in an older male patient. Immunohistochemical studies may aid in diagnosis and radiographic evaluation is important to rule out metastatic origin. Primary carcinoid tumors of the testis are associated with an excellent prognosis; however, surveillance is important given rare reports of delayed metastases
Goal-oriented Improvement of Requirements Processes
No full textAbstract Software engineering improvement methodologies offer an organizational framework for goal setting, planning, execution, and monitoring of improvement programs as well as technologies for assessing, modeling, and measuring of processes. These methodologies help in the identification of key practices to be improved, but they do not provide guidance on how to improve a specific practice like the specification of software requirements. In contrast, requirements engineering research and practice offers a wide variety of methods and techniques for specific software requirements practices, but little guidance on how and when to establish them within an organization. In this paper, we introduce the requirements-specific assessment and improvement method RE-KIT-FRAIME. This method bridges the gap between improvement and requirements practices in two ways. It ties the building-up of requirements practices to an overall improvement method and it gives guidance on how to choose and design a particular practice
Hazard, risk and agrarian adaptations in a hyperarid watershed: El Niño floods, streambank erosion, and the cultural bounds of vulnerability in the Andean Middle Horizon
No full texta b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Peru's Osmore drainage, also known as the Moquegua Valley, is one of the driest regions on Earth, yet agricultural development has supported complex societies in the basin for almost 4000 yrs because of canal construction and irrigation. We compare the distinct agrarian and settlement systems of three coeval archaeological cultures in this arid region, Huaracane, Wari and Tiwanaku, and how each adapted-or failed to adapt-to geomorphic and climatic hazards. Systematic settlement pattern survey and radiocarbon dating along with geomorphological analysis of flood history and riverine processes permit detailed discussion of agrarian strategies during the Formative (1800 BC-AD 500) and Middle Horizon (AD 500-1000) periods, with distinct settlement "niches" in terms of agricultural practices and longitudinal position in the drainage, and lateral location relative to the floodplain. These adaptive strategies each manifest distinct "bounds of adaptability" to natural hazard, climate events and social stressors, and thus varying risk profiles. Besides the continual risk associated with sustained droughts, the Atacama and Peruvian Coastal Desert and culturally connected highland Altiplano are also vulnerable to the vagaries of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) leading to catastrophic floods in the mid-valley during warm phase ENSOs, in tandem with simultaneous hazards in other regions inhabited by these transregional cultures. By comparing the archaeological record of Wari, Huaracane, and Tiwanaku culture settlements with geomorphic signatures of catastrophic El Niños, we show that the viability of each cultural sequence depended on specific relationships to floodplain streambank erosion, construction and reworking over multiple time scales
In-Game Peer Performance Assessment Role that Fosters Metacognitive Agility and Reflection 1 Reflective Evaluator Role in Multiplayer Serious Games
No full textAbstract. In this paper we describe the development of a method and system for training metacognitive agility (self-awareness and self-regulated learning) in serious games applications. We introduce a unique design that features a novel role for real-time, in-game peer performance assessment and feedback to encourage user reflection and self-explanation. This approach has been implemented in two serious games currently in use today whose focus is intercultural competence and intercultural sensitivity education. Keywords: serious game, metacognitive agility, reflection, in-game performance assessment, peer learning, intercultural competence, sensitivity Reflective Evaluator Role in Multiplayer Serious Games A serious game is defined in this paper as the use of interactive digital technologies for training and education in private, public, government, and military sectors. In multiplayer serious games play is usually followed by a debriefing period in which key learning points and participant performance are discussed in a large group after an exciting game session. It is typical in these cases, therefore, for the reflection and peer learning to occur outside of the game experience, while the game experience focuses on individual task performance Honing one's metacognitive agility and reflection is integral to competence education The reflective evaluator role is based on the Real-time In-Game Assessment, Evaluation and Feedback syste
Shell Texture Functions
No full textAbstract We propose a texture function for realistic modeling and efficient rendering of materials that exhibit surface mesostructures, translucency and volumetric texture variations. The appearance of such complex materials for dynamic lighting and viewing directions is expensive to calculate and requires an impractical amount of storage to precompute. To handle this problem, our method models an object as a shell layer, formed by texture synthesis of a volumetric material sample, and a homogeneous inner core. To facilitate computation of surface radiance from the shell layer, we introduce the shell texture function (STF) which describes voxel irradiance fields based on precomputed fine-level light interactions such as shadowing by surface mesostructures and scattering of photons inside the object. Together with a diffusion approximation of homogeneous inner core radiance, the STF leads to fast and detailed raytraced renderings of complex materials