183,678 research outputs found
Combined pubic rami and sacral osteoporotic fractures: a prospective study
No full textBackground - Pelvic osteoporotic fractures (POFs) are often associated with considerable morbidity and mortality mainly as a result of infections and cardiovascular events. Patients usually need prolonged institutionalization, rehabilitation, and follow-up, with a high rate of dependency and cost. The most common sites of POFs include the pubic rami, sacrum, ilium, and acetabulum. Combined pubic rami (PROFs) and sacral osteoporotic fractures (SOFs) have been reported, mostly in retrospective studies, describing the mechanism of injury and incidence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between PROFs and SOFs and to assess the effect of combined PROFs and SOFs on patients’ mobility, discharge destination, and length of stay.
Materials and methods - We prospectively studied 67 patients with low-impact PROFs and/or SOFs. There were 54 (80.4%) female and 13 (19.6%) male patients, and the average age was 87.5 (range 65–96) years. All patients were assessed by the fracture liaison service. Patients had magnetic resonance imaging or bone scan when there was history of low back pain following the injury or lumbosacral tenderness on clinical examination.
Results - The mean length of stay for all patients was 45 (±35) days. Mortality rate was 10.4%. A significant relationship was found between low back pain and a positive finding of sacral fracture. Patients with combined PROFs and SOFs showed significantly longer length of stay than those with isolated PROFs.
Conclusions - The presence of low back pain and tenderness in patients who had low-impact pelvic injuries was highly suggestive of the presence of an associated SOF. There was a high association between sacral and PROFs. The length of stay of patients with PROFs associated with sacral osteoporotic fractures was significantly longer than that of patients with PROFs only. Therefore, we recommend considering the high association between SOFs and PROFs in planning the management and rehabilitation of patients with POFs
Third Radiation Transfer Model Intercomparison (RAMI) exercise: Documenting progress in canopy reflectance models
Get PDFThe Radiation Transfer Model Intercomparison ( RAMI) initiative benchmarks canopy reflectance models under well-controlled experimental conditions. Launched for the first time in 1999, this triennial community exercise encourages the systematic evaluation of canopy reflectance models on a voluntary basis. The first phase of RAMI focused on documenting the spread among radiative transfer (RT) simulations over a small set of primarily 1-D canopies. The second phase expanded the scope to include structurally complex 3-D plant architectures with and without background topography. Here sometimes significant discrepancies were noted which effectively prevented the definition of a reliable "surrogate truth,'' over heterogeneous vegetation canopies, against which other RT models could then be compared. The present paper documents the outcome of the third phase of RAMI, highlighting both the significant progress that has been made in terms of model agreement since RAMI-2 and the capability of/need for RT models to accurately reproduce local estimates of radiative quantities under conditions that are reminiscent of in situ measurements. Our assessment of the self-consistency and the relative and absolute performance of 3-D Monte Carlo models in RAMI-3 supports their usage in the generation of a "surrogate truth'' for all RAMI test cases. This development then leads ( 1) to the presentation of the "RAMI Online Model Checker'' (ROMC), an open-access web-based interface to evaluate RT models automatically, and ( 2) to a reassessment of the role, scope, and opportunities of the RAMI project in the future
Radiation Transfer Model Intercomparison (RAMI) exercise: Results from the second phase
No full textThe Radiation Transfer Model Intercomparison (RAMI) initiative is a community-driven exercise to benchmark the models of radiation transfer (RT) used to represent the reflectance of terrestrial surfaces. Systematic model intercomparisons started in 1999 as a self-organized, open-access, voluntary activity of the RT modeling community. The results of the first phase were published by Pinty et al. [2001]. The present paper describes the benchmarking protocol and the results achieved during the second phase, which took place during 2002. This second phase included two major components: The first one included a rerun of all direct-mode tests proposed during the first phase, to accommodate the evaluation of models that have been upgraded since, and the participation of new models into the entire exercise. The second component was designed to probe the performance of three-dimensional models in complex heterogeneous environments, which closely mimic the observations of actual space instruments operating at various spatial resolutions over forest canopy systems. Phases 1 and 2 of RAMI both confirm not only that a majority of the radiation transfer models participating in RAMI are in good agreement between themselves for relatively simple radiation transfer problems but also that these models exhibit significant discrepancies when considering more complex but nevertheless realistic geophysical scenarios. Specific recommendations are provided to guide the future of this benchmarking program (Phase 3 and beyond)
Bargaining and Search: An Experimental Study
Get PDFWe study experimentally two versions of a model in which a buyer and a seller bargain over the price of a good; however, the buyer can choose to leave the negotiation table to search for other alternatives. Under one version, if the buyer chooses to search for a better price, the opportunity to purchase the good at the stated price is gone. Under the second version, the seller guarantees the same price if the buyer chooses to return immediately after a search (presumably because a better price could not be found). In both cases, the buyer has a fairly good idea about what to expect from the search, but because the search is costly, he has to weigh the potential benefits of the search against its cost. It turns out (theoretically) that adding search to a simple bargaining mechanism eliminates some unsatisfactory features of bargaining theory. Our experiment reveals that the model can account for some (but not all) of the behavioral regularities. In line with recent developments in behavioral decision theory and game theory, which assume bounded rationality and preferences over the relative division of a surplus, we find that subjects follow simple rules of thumb and distributional norms in choosing strategies, which are reflected in the behavioral consistencies observed in this study.Bargaining, search, outside option, ultimatum game
What Price Fairness? A Bargaining Study
Get PDFOur study concerns bargaining behavior in situations where one party is in a stronger position than the other. We investigate both the tradeoff the favored party makes between pursuing his strategic advantage and giving weight to other players' concern for fairness, and the tradeoff the disadvantaged player makes between pursuing a fair outcome from a disadvantaged position and the cost of that pursuit. In particular, we hypothesize that the degree to which strategically strong players attempt to exploit their strategic advantage depends on their potential costs for doing so. Similarly, the degree to which weak players persist in seeking "fairness" is also a function of how much it (potentially) costs them to do so. Students negotiated in pairs over the division of $HK50 using a finite horizon, fixed-cost (per rejection) alternating offer rule. Each pair consisted of a high-cost and a low-cost bargainer. In accordance with the hypothesis, the willingness of the high-cost bargainers to demand fairness and to persist in their demands was a function of how much it cost them to do so, and the degree to which the low-cost bargainers attempted to exploit their strategic advantage depended on their own cost of rejection. We conclude that "fairness" has a price such that the higher its price, the lower the "demand" for it. This suggests that demands for fairness are subject to cost- benefit evaluation, are in this sense deliberate, and are well thought out.Fairness, bargaining, fixed-cost
Accreditation of vocational learning outcomes: perspectives for a European transfer
Get PDFThe fundamental principle that EQF and ECVET have in common is the description of qualifications in terms of learning outcomes. The background for implementing this outcome-based approach in the European education and training systems, however, is quite diverse. This situation is addressed by the CREDIVOC project, which involves partners from Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Ireland and focuses on the identification, testing and transfer of instruments that can be used for the recognition and accreditation of learning outcomes from initial and continuing vocational education and training for further education. The present publication is the major outcome of the first phase of the project, which aimed at the production of a general overview of the accreditation procedures and instruments in the partner countries. To this end, national case studies concerning the accreditation of vocational learning outcomes in Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Ireland have been carried out by the project partners. In order to allow for comparison between the different national approaches a common analytical framework was adopted. The criteria focus especially on the type of recognition (individual vs. blanket recognition) and the methodology of the assessment tools or instruments used. A synthesis report summarises the results of the national case studies and draws some conclusions as to what types of accreditation procedures and instruments might be appropriate for improving the transparency of qualifications and the mobility between educational programmes in Europe. (DIPF/orig.) Das gemeinsame Grundprinzip von EQR und ECVET ist die Beschreibung von Qualifikationen durch Lernergebnisse. Die Ausgangsbedingungen für eine Umsetzung dieses ergebnisorientierten Ansatzes in den europäischen Systemen der allgemeinen und beruflichen Bildung sind jedoch sehr unterschiedlich. Dieser Problematik widmet sich das Projekt CREDIVOC, das von Partnern aus Deutschland, Finnland, Frankreich, Irland und Österreich durchgeführt wird und die Identifikation, die Erprobung und den Transfer von Instrumenten zur Anrechnung beruflicher Lernergebnisse auf weiterführende Bildungsgänge zum Gegenstand hat. Die vorliegende Publikation ist das Ergebnis der ersten Projektphase, die der Herstellung einer allgemeinen Übersicht über die Anrechnungsverfahren und instrumente in den Partnerländern gewidmet war. Zu diesem Zweck haben die Partner nationale Fallstudien zur Anrechnung beruflicher Lernergebnisse in den Partnerländern durchgeführt. Um einen Vergleich der Ergebnisse zu ermöglichen, wurde ein gemeinsames Vergleichsraster erarbeitet, dessen Kriterien in der Hauptsache die Art der Anrechnung (individuelle vs. pauschale Anrechnung) sowie die Methodik der Verfahren betreffen. Ein abschließender Synthesebericht fasst die Ergebnisse der einzelnen Länderkapitel zusammen und entwickelt Schlussfolgerungen zu der Frage, welche Ansätze und Instrumente der Anrechnung beruflicher Lernergebnisse besonders geeignet sind, die Transparenz von Qualifikationen und die Bildungsmobilität in Europa zu verbessern. (DIPF/Orig.)
Document type: Boo
Jean Fougerat : du sirop Rami au cognac [R 263 Pharmaciens viticulteurs, liquoristes, etc.]
No full textLefebvre Thierry. Jean Fougerat : du sirop Rami au cognac [R 263 Pharmaciens viticulteurs, liquoristes, etc.]. In: Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie, 98e année, N. 370, 2011. pp. 298-299
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
Get PDFBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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