4,203 research outputs found
Broad-range wavelength tunable chirped fibre grating
No full textA fixed dispersion, wavelength tunable chirped fibre grating is demonstrated. The device which can compensate for 10Gbit/s transmission over 100km of standard fibre is able to electronically track the signal over a 0.51nm wavelength range. Tuning ranges up to 1.7nm have been demonstrated and 10nm is expected
Managing symptoms in patients with advanced lung cancer during radiotherapy: results of a psychoeducational randomized controlled trial
No full textContext. Breathlessness, fatigue, and anxiety are distressing symptoms for patients with advanced lung cancer. Usually managed as isolated symptoms, theyoften can occur simultaneously. Previous research often has addressed management of discrete symptoms rather than considering them as a cluster, which, in reality, is the situation faced by patients.Objectives. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a psychoeducational intervention (PEI) on the symptom cluster of anxiety, breathlessness, and fatigue, compared with usual care.Methods. A pretest/post-test, two-group, randomized, controlled trial was conducted. Education on symptom management and coaching in the use of progressive muscle relaxation were delivered to patients one week prior tocommencing radiotherapy (RT), and repeated three weeks after beginning RT. Symptom data were collected at four time points: prior to the intervention, threeweeks, six weeks, and 12 weeks postintervention.Results. One hundred forty lung cancer patients receiving palliative RT were recruited from a publicly funded hospital in Hong Kong. Doubly multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant difference (time ? group interaction effect, P ¼ 0.003) over time between the PEI and usual care control group on the pattern of change of the symptom cluster. Significant effects on the patterns ofchanges in breathlessness (P ¼ 0.002), fatigue (P ¼ 0.011), anxiety (P ¼ 0.001), and functional ability (P ¼ 0.000) also were found.Conclusion. PEI is a promising treatment for relieving the symptom cluster and each of the individually assessed symptoms. More effort needs to be directed a
Establishing a range of motion boundary for total hip arthroplasty
No full textRange of motion of the hip joint is a major contributor to dislocation post total hip replacement. Impingement is often treated as a surrogate for dislocation and occurs – prosthetically – when the neck of the femoral component contacts with the rim of the pelvic acetabular cup. This impingement is caused by movement of the leg during activities of daily living. This article analyses hip joint range of motion and its implication for impingement.
A systematic literature review was undertaken with the purpose of establishing a range of motion benchmark for total hip replacement. This paper proposes a method by which a three-dimensional range of motion boundary established from the literature can be presented. The nominal boundary is also validated experimentally using a number of configurations of a neutral hip joint coordinate frame
Figure 4: Range and Check Chart--Ranges of Some Planktonic Foraminifera Occurring in the Interval from Early Miocene (Part) to Recent and Check Chart for these Forms Found in Formations of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains
No full textFigure 4 accompanies the article, "Planktonic Foraminifera and Biostratigraphy of Some Neogene Formations, Northern Florida and Atlantic Coastal Plain," by W.H. Akers
Forage Kochia helps fight range fires.
No full textForage Kochia helps fight range fires.DOI:10.2458/azu_rangelands_v24i5_harriso
Simple gain-flattened erbium-doped fiber amplifier with a wide dynamic range
No full textWe demonstrate a simple two-section erbium-doped fiber amplifier with a flat gain-spectrum in the wavelength range 1542-1552 nm, for a 15 dB range of operating gain levels. No passive spectral filtering or active control is needed
Climate change induced range-expanding plants : aboveground and belowground interactions
No full text Burning of fossil fuels has raised the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which contributes to global climate warming. As a result the mean earth surface temperature has increased faster in the past decades than in the previous thousands of years before. This rapid climate warming together with habitat fragmentation and other land use changes puts a major pressure on many plants and animals. They should either adapt to the warmer climate conditions or disperse in order to keep up with their optimal climatic conditions. Range expansion brings new interactions within the ecosystem in the new range. This can lead to potential benefits, for example range shifting species that do not encounter natural enemies in the new range might become invasive. Although invasive species are a well-studied phenomenon, there is relatively little known about the general mechanisms of biological invasions under climate change. In this thesis I focus on plant species that expand range due to current climate warming. I examined how these range-expanding plants interact with aboveground herbivorous insects and - mostly - how they establish belowground interactions with components of the soil food web. I examined how these interactions in the new range may play a role in the successful establishment of climate change induced range-expanding plants in plant communities of the new range. The focus of my study was on riverine (riparian) areas along the great rivers in the Netherlands, which are well connected with southern Europe by the Rhine and Rhine-Danube canal. In the first experiment we examined exotic plant exposure to aboveground and belowground enemies. We used plants that originated from Eurasia (intra-continental range expanders) and plants that originated from other continents (inter-continental range expanders). We compared these exotic plants with phylogenetically related natives. We grew the plants with and without non-coevolved polyphagous (generalist) herbivores, a locust Schistocerca gregaria and an aphid Myzus persicae. We also exposed all plants to a general soil community from the invaded range and compared their plant-soil feedback responses. Then I tested how individual plants responded to aboveground and belowground plant enemies and I compared this to their combined effects. I also tested whether the strength of aboveground control by generalist shoot-feeding insects was indicative of the strength of belowground control by plant-soil feedback. In the next study I examined how the soil nematode community from the new range responds to exotic plant species compared to related native plants species. As a follow up, I determined the rhizosphere community composition of bacteria, fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and fusaria. All groups of microbes were analyzed qualitatively and the non-mycorrhizal fungal biomass and fusaria were also analyzed quantitatively. I tested the hypothesis that range-expanding plant species have a different rhizosphere microbial community composition than natives. Finally, I compared the early establishment of range-expanding exotics and phylogenetically related plant species that are native in the invaded habitats. In a greenhouse I grew five range-expanding plant species and five related natives in sterilized and non-sterile inoculated soils from the new range, both alone and with a background community of plant species present in the invaded habitat. In the field, I grew the same plants species in artificially created sparse and dense plant communities. I tested whether range-expanding exotic plant species establish better under competition with native vegetation than phylogenetically related natives, because exotics may benefit from less negative interactions with the soil community compared to natives.</p
Multiwavelength operation in miniature erbium: ytterbium fiber Fabry-Perot lasers
No full textWe demonstrate simultaneous lasing at 17 wavelengths in a miniature 2mm long erbium:ytterbium fiber Fabry-Perot laser. The wavelengths are separated by 0.4nm (50GHz) corresponding to the free spectral range of the laser cavity
Optically controlled wavelength-adjustable passively modelocked erbium-doped fibre ring laser
No full textAn integrated all-fibre technique has been used to implement wavelength tunability in a passively mode-locked erbium fibre ring laser. A smooth, continuous tuning range of 4 nm controlled simply by varying the power of an optical pump beam has been demonstrated
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