LIMITED RESTAURANT SERVICE: WHITSUNTIDE WEEKEND

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

Details of the arrangements to ensure the provision of a restaurant service during the Whitsuntide weekend are given below. On all the days indicated, hot meals will be served from 11h30 to 14h00 and 18h00 to 19h30. DATE RESTAURANT No. Opening times Saturday, June 7 1 08h00 - 21h00 2 and 3 closed Sunday, June 8 1 08h00 - 21h00 2 and 3 closed Monday, June 9 1 08h00 - 21h00 2 and 3 closed SATELLITE CAFETERIAS (Bldgs. 30, 40, 54) and the KIOSK will be closed on 7, 8 and 9 June.

Weekend Compared with Weekday Presentations of Peritoneal Dialysis-Associated Peritonitis

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, David W.; Clayton, Philip; Cho, Yeoungjee; Badve, Sunil V.; Hawley, Carmel M.; McDonald, Stephen; Boudville, Neil; Wiggins, Kathryn J.; Bannister, Kym; Brown, Fiona

2012-01-01

♦ Objective: Management of peritoneal dialysis (PD)-associated peritonitis requires timely intervention by experienced staff, which may not be uniformly available throughout the week. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of weekend compared with weekday presentation on peritonitis outcomes. ♦ Methods: The study, which used data from the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry, included all Australian patients receiving PD between 1 October 2003 and 31 December 2008. The independent predictors of weekend presentation and subsequent peritonitis outcomes were assessed by multivariate logistic regression. ♦ Results: Peritonitis presentation rates were significantly lower on Saturdays [0.46 episodes per year; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42 to 0.49 episodes per year] and on Sundays (0.43 episodes per year; 95% CI: 0.40 to 0.47 episodes per year) than all other weekdays; they peaked on Mondays (0.76 episodes per year; 95% CI: 0.72 to 0.81 episodes per year). Weekend presentation with a first episode of peritonitis was independently associated with lower body mass index and residence less than 100 km away from the nearest PD unit. Patients presenting with peritonitis on the weekend were significantly more likely to be hospitalized [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 2.32; 95% CI: 1.85 to 2.90], although microbial profiles and empiric antimicrobial treatments were comparable between the weekend and weekday groups. Antimicrobial cure rates were also comparable (79% vs 79%, p = 0.9), with the exception of cure rates for culture-negative peritonitis, which were lower on the weekend (80% vs 88%, p = 0.047). Antifungal prophylaxis was less likely to be co-prescribed for first peritonitis episodes presenting on weekdays (OR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.89). ♦ Conclusions: Patients on PD are less likely to present with peritonitis on the weekend. Nevertheless, the microbiology, treatment, and outcomes of weekend and weekday PD peritonitis

The Legal Ethical Backbone of Conscientious Refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Munthe, Christian; Nielsen, Morten Ebbe Juul

2017-01-01

This article analyzes the idea of a legal right to conscientious refusal for healthcare professionals from a basic legal ethical standpoint, using refusal to perform tasks related to legal abortion (in cases of voluntary employment) as a case in point. The idea of a legal right to conscientious refusal is distinguished from ideas regarding moral rights or reasons related to conscientious refusal, and none of the latter are found to support the notion of a legal right. Reasons for allowing some sort of room for conscientious refusal for healthcare professionals based on the importance of cultural identity and the fostering of a critical atmosphere might provide some support, if no countervailing factors apply. One such factor is that a legal right to healthcare professionals' conscientious refusal must comply with basic legal ethical tenets regarding the rule of law and equal treatment, and this requirement is found to create serious problems for those wishing to defend the idea under consideration. We conclude that the notion of a legal right to conscientious refusal for any profession is either fundamentally incompatible with elementary legal ethical requirements, or implausible because it undermines the functioning of a related professional sector (healthcare) or even of society as a whole.

Perl Template Toolkit

CERN Document Server

Chamberlain, Darren; Cross, David; Torkington, Nathan; Diaz, tatiana Apandi

2004-01-01

Among the many different approaches to "templating" with Perl--such as Embperl, Mason, HTML::Template, and hundreds of other lesser known systems--the Template Toolkit is widely recognized as one of the most versatile. Like other templating systems, the Template Toolkit allows programmers to embed Perl code and custom macros into HTML documents in order to create customized documents on the fly. But unlike the others, the Template Toolkit is as facile at producing HTML as it is at producing XML, PDF, or any other output format. And because it has its own simple templating language, templates

Teaching Medical Students about Substance Abuse in a Weekend Intervention Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Siegal, Harvey; Rudisill, John R.

1983-01-01

A weekend program places medical students under supervision in close, intense contact with drug and alcohol abusers and strongly reinforces basic sciences and clinical instruction. Student reaction has been very positive. The program requires no new resources and is cost-effective. (Author/MSE)

JAVA Stereo Display Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Edmonds, Karina

2008-01-01

This toolkit provides a common interface for displaying graphical user interface (GUI) components in stereo using either specialized stereo display hardware (e.g., liquid crystal shutter or polarized glasses) or anaglyph display (red/blue glasses) on standard workstation displays. An application using this toolkit will work without modification in either environment, allowing stereo software to reach a wider audience without sacrificing high-quality display on dedicated hardware. The toolkit is written in Java for use with the Swing GUI Toolkit and has cross-platform compatibility. It hooks into the graphics system, allowing any standard Swing component to be displayed in stereo. It uses the OpenGL graphics library to control the stereo hardware and to perform the rendering. It also supports anaglyph and special stereo hardware using the same API (application-program interface), and has the ability to simulate color stereo in anaglyph mode by combining the red band of the left image with the green/blue bands of the right image. This is a low-level toolkit that accomplishes simply the display of components (including the JadeDisplay image display component). It does not include higher-level functions such as disparity adjustment, 3D cursor, or overlays all of which can be built using this toolkit.

14 CFR 121.586 - Authority to refuse transportation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Authority to refuse transportation. 121.586 Section 121.586 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION... transportation. (a) No certificate holder may refuse transportation to a passenger on the basis that, because the...

Efektivitas Layanan Weekend Banking (Studi BMI KCP PIM .

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rifa Farhah

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The Effectiveness of Weekend Banking Services (Study at BMI KCP PIM. The aim of this research is to analyze the effectiveness of weekend banking services at Bank Muamalat Indonesia. The method that used in this research is linier regression and. The result shown that the value of adjusted R-squared was 0.313409. It means that customer’s preference (dependent variable was influenced by location, brand image, and, product and services in the amount of 31.34% and the others 68.66% was influenced by the others factor. From the paired sample t-test shown that the weekend banking services still not effective to increase the third party funds  DOI:10.15408/aiq.v6i1.1370

Working at the Weekend: Fathers' Time with Family in the United Kingdom.

Science.gov (United States)

Hook, Jennifer L

2012-08-01

Whereas most resident fathers are able to spend more time with their children on weekends than on weekdays, many fathers work on the weekends spending less time with their children on these days. There are conflicting findings about whether fathers are able to make up for lost weekend time on weekdays. Using unique features of the United Kingdom's National Survey of Time Use 2000 (UKTUS) I examine the impact of fathers' weekend work on the time fathers spend with their children, family, and partners (N = 595 fathers). I find that weekend work is common among fathers and is associated with less time with children, families, and partners. Fathers do not recover lost time with children on weekdays, largely because weekend work is a symptom of overwork. Findings also reveal that even if fathers had compensatory time, they are unlikely to recover lost time spent as a family or couple.

Where are the Sunday babies? II. Declining weekend birth rates in Switzerland

Science.gov (United States)

Lerchl, Alexander; Reinhard, Sarah C.

2008-02-01

Birth dates from almost 3 million babies born between 1969 and 2005 in Switzerland were analyzed for the weekday of birth. As in other countries but with unprecedented amplitude, a very marked non-random distribution was discovered with decreasing numbers of births on weekends, reaching -17.9% in 2005. While most of this weekend births avoidance rate is due to fewer births on Sundays (up to -21.7%), the downward trend is primarily a consequence of decreasing births on Saturdays (up to -14.5%). For 2005, these percentages mean that 3,728 fewer babies are born during weekends than could be expected from equal distribution. Most interestingly and surprisingly, weekend birth-avoiding rates are significantly correlated with birth numbers ( r = 0.86), i.e. the lower the birth number per year, the lower the number of weekend births. The increasing avoidance of births during weekends is discussed as being a consequence of increasing numbers of caesarean sections and elective labor induction, which in Switzerland reach 29.2 and 20.5%, respectively, in 2004. This hypothesis is supported by the observation that both primary and secondary caesarean sections are significantly correlated with weekend birth avoidance rates. It is therefore likely that financial aspects of hospitals are a factor determining the avoidance of weekend births by increasing the numbers of caesarean sections.

Toolkit Design for Interactive Structured Graphics

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bederson, Benjamin B; Grosjean, Jesse; Meyer, Jon

2003-01-01

.... We compare hand-crafted custom code to polylithic and monolithic toolkit-based solutions. Polylithic toolkits follow a design philosophy similar to 3D scene graphs supported by toolkits including Java3D and OpenInventor...

An open source toolkit for medical imaging de-identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez Gonzalez, David; Carpenter, Trevor; Wardlaw, Joanna; Hemert, Jano I. van

2010-01-01

Medical imaging acquired for clinical purposes can have several legitimate secondary uses in research projects and teaching libraries. No commonly accepted solution for anonymising these images exists because the amount of personal data that should be preserved varies case by case. Our objective is to provide a flexible mechanism for anonymising Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) data that meets the requirements for deployment in multicentre trials. We reviewed our current de-identification practices and defined the relevant use cases to extract the requirements for the de-identification process. We then used these requirements in the design and implementation of the toolkit. Finally, we tested the toolkit taking as a reference those requirements, including a multicentre deployment. The toolkit successfully anonymised DICOM data from various sources. Furthermore, it was shown that it could forward anonymous data to remote destinations, remove burned-in annotations, and add tracking information to the header. The toolkit also implements the DICOM standard confidentiality mechanism. A DICOM de-identification toolkit that facilitates the enforcement of privacy policies was developed. It is highly extensible, provides the necessary flexibility to account for different de-identification requirements and has a low adoption barrier for new users. (orig.)

Immersion Weekends: The Next Best Thing to Being There.

Science.gov (United States)

Myer, Bettye J.; Wellman, Cheryl A.

A French language immersion weekend housed in an off-campus college lodge and accommodating 12 college students has been successfully implemented by the State University College of New York at Fredonia. The goals of the weekend experiences have been: the development of listening and speaking skills; creation of a cultural atmosphere of the…

The Weekend Intervention Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Siegal, Harvey A.

The Weekend Intervention Program (WIP) at the Wright State University School of Medicine is described in this report. Designed to address severe health and social problems while supporting the university's academic mission, the program began with the goal of addressing the health and social problems of alcohol abusers. WIP is a 72-hour intensive…

Emergency medical admissions, deaths at weekends and the public holiday effect. Cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Stacy; Allan, Ananda; Greenlaw, Nicola; Finlay, Sian; Isles, Chris

2014-01-01

To assess whether mortality of patients admitted on weekends and public holidays was higher in a district general hospital whose consultants are present more than 6 h per day on the acute medical unit with no other fixed clinical commitments. Cohort study. Secondary care. All emergency medical admissions to Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2010. We examined 7 and 30 day mortality for all weekend and for all public holiday admissions, using all weekday and non-public holiday admissions, respectively, as comparators. We adjusted mortality for age, gender, comorbidity, deprivation, diagnosis and year of admission. 771 (3.8%) of 20 072 emergency admissions died within 7 days of admission and 1780 (8.9%) within 30 days. Adjusted weekend mortality in the all weekend versus all other days analysis was not significantly higher at 7 days (OR 1.10, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.31; p=0.312) or at 30 days (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.21; p=0.322). By contrast, adjusted public holiday mortality in the all public holidays versus all other days analysis was 48% higher at 7 days (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.95; p=0.006) and 27% higher at 30 days (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.57; p=0.031). Interactions between the weekend variable and the public holiday variable were not statistically significant for mortality at either 7 or 30 days. Patients admitted as emergencies to medicine on public holidays had significantly higher mortality at 7 and 30 days compared with patients admitted on other days of the week.

Working on the Weekend: Fathers' Time with Family in the United Kingdom

Science.gov (United States)

Hook, Jennifer L.

2012-01-01

Whereas most resident fathers are able to spend more time with their children on weekends than on weekdays, many fathers work on the weekends, spending less time with their children on these days. There are conflicting findings about whether fathers are able to make up for lost weekend time on weekdays. Using unique features of the United…

Caregivers who refuse preventive care for their children: the relationship between immunization and topical fluoride refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Chi, Donald L

2014-07-01

The aim of this study was to examine caregivers' refusal of preventive medical and dental care for children. Prevalence rates of topical fluoride refusal based on dental records and caregiver self-reports were estimated for children treated in 3 dental clinics in Washington State. A 60-item survey was administered to 1024 caregivers to evaluate the association between immunization and topical fluoride refusal. Modified Poisson regression models were used to estimate prevalence rate ratios (PRRs). The prevalence of topical fluoride refusal was 4.9% according to dental records and 12.7% according to caregiver self-reports. The rate of immunization refusal was 27.4%. In the regression models, immunization refusal was significantly associated with topical fluoride refusal (dental record PRR = 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.32, 1.96; P refuse both immunizations and topical fluoride (P refusal of immunizations is associated with topical fluoride refusal. Future research should identify the behavioral and social factors related to caregiver refusal of preventive care with the goal of developing multidisciplinary strategies to help caregivers make optimal preventive care decisions for children.

Association Between Weekend Catch-up Sleep and Lower Body Mass: Population-Based Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Im, Hee-Jin; Baek, Shin-Hye; Chu, Min Kyung; Yang, Kwang Ik; Kim, Won-Joo; Park, Seong-Ho; Thomas, Robert J; Yun, Chang-Ho

2017-07-01

To determine if weekend catch-up sleep (CUS) impacts body mass index (BMI) in the general population. A stratified random sample (2156 subjects; age 19-82 years old, 43.0 ± 14.5; 1183 male) from the general population was evaluated, in 2010, using face-to-face interviews about sociodemographic characteristics, height, weight, habitual sleep duration, and time-in-bed at night on weekdays and weekend, sleep-related profiles, mood and anxiety scales, and comorbid-medical conditions. Weekend CUS was identified when nocturnal sleep extension occurred over the weekend, and this was quantified. Average sleep duration, BMI, and chronotype were determined. The association of BMI with the presence and the amount of weekend CUS was analyzed, independent of average sleep duration, chronotype, and sociodemographic factors. BMI and average sleep duration was 23.0 ± 3.0 kg/m2 and 7.3 ± 1.2 hours, respectively. The weekend CUS group consisted of 932 subjects (43.1%) who slept longer on weekend than weekdays by 1.8 ± 1.1 hours. Weekend CUS subjects had a significantly lower BMI (22.8 ± 0.19 kg/m2) than the non-CUS (23.1 ± 0.19 kg/m2) group, after adjustment for age, sex, average sleep duration, chronotype, other sociodemographic factors, and anxiety/mood status (p = .01) The relationship between weekend CUS and BMI was dose-dependent (p = 0.02): Every additional hour of weekend CUS was associated with a decrease of 0.12 kg/m2 in BMI (95% confidence interval, -0.23 to -0.02). Weekend sleep extension may have biological protective effects in preventing sleep-restriction induced or related obesity. The results suggest a simple population-level strategy to minimize effects of sleep loss. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Denitrification capacity of bioreactors filled with refuse at different landfill ages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Yingxu; Wu Songwei; Wu Weixiang; Sun Hua; Ding Ying

2009-01-01

The denitrification capacity of refuse at different landfill ages in bioreactor landfill system was studied. Three reactors filled with 1-year-old refuse (R1), 6-year-old refuse (R6) and 11-year-old refuse (R11), respectively, were operated in the experiment. Nitrate solution (1000 mg NO 3 - -N L -1 ) was added into each reactor. The results showed that the reactors were all able to consume nitrate. However, 1-year-old refuse in R1 had both a higher nitrate reduction rate and concentration of N 2 . In addition, vertical differences in nitrate removal along the depth of R1 were observed. The bottom-layer refuse and the middle-layer refuse both showed higher efficiency in nitrate depletion than the top layer. Furthermore, N 2 O accumulation was found in R11 with the concentration up to 19.3% of the released gas. These results suggested that 1-year-old refuse, which was partly degraded, was more suitable to use as denitrification medium.

Business/Employers Influenza Toolkit

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

This podcast promotes the "Make It Your Business To Fight The Flu" toolkit for Businesses and Employers. The toolkit provides information and recommended strategies to help businesses and employers promote the seasonal flu vaccine. Additionally, employers will find flyers, posters, and other materials to post and distribute in the workplace.

A narrative review of studies of refusal of psychotropic medication in acute inpatient psychiatric care.

Science.gov (United States)

Owiti, J A; Bowers, L

2011-09-01

This paper offers a narrative review of the 22 studies of medication refusal in acute psychiatry. Because of varied definitions of medication refusal, diverse methodologies and few rigorous studies, it has not been possible to draw firm conclusions on the average rate of refusal of psychotropic medications in acute psychiatry. However, it is clear that medication refusal is common and leads to poor outcomes characterized by higher rates of seclusion, restraint, threats of, and actual, assaults and longer hospitalizations. There are no statistically significant differences between refusers and acceptors in gender, marital status and preadmission living arrangements. Although no firm conclusions on the influence of ethnicity, status at admission and diagnosis on refusal, the refusers are more likely to have higher number of previous hospitalizations and history of prior refusal. The review indicates that staff factors such as the use of temporary staff, lack of confidence in ward staff and ineffective ward structure are associated with higher rates of medication refusal. Comprehensive knowledge of why, and how, patients refuse medication is lacking. Research on medication refusal is still fragmented, of variable methodological quality and lacks an integrating model. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing.

[Refusal of treatments by an adult cancer patient].

Science.gov (United States)

Dauchy, Sarah; Faivre, Jean-Christophe; Block, Véronique; Metzger, Maude; Salleron, Julia; Charles, Cécile; Adam, Virginie

2018-03-01

Refusal of treatment questions the treatment's adequacy as well as the quality of the care relationship. A rigorous analysis of these situations is necessary in order to respect the patient's fundamental right to decide for him/herself while preventing a potential loss of chance. This paper proposes practical guidelines for assessment and management of the refusal of treatment by adult cancer patients. The French Association for Supportive Care in Cancer and the French Society for Psycho-Oncology formed a task force that applied a consensus methodology to draft guidelines. We propose five guidelines: (1) be informed of the conditions most often associated with refusal of treatment so as to reinforce adequate support measures; (2) understand the complexity of the process of refusal and accurately identify what is precisely refused; (3) apply an approach of systematic analysis to refusal, to try and increase the possibilities of finding an agreement while reinforcing the respect of the patient's position; (4) establish a legal procedure to address refusal of treatment that safeguards the stakeholders when no accord can be found; and (5) know the indications for ethical collective decision-making. A systematic assessment procedure of treatment refusal is necessary in order to ensure that all the physical, psychological and contextual aspects of it are taken into account, and to provide patients with the best treatment possible. The setting of good care relationship, the improvement of communication skills training and of comprehensive multidisciplinary care are all crucial elements in the prevention of these situations. Copyright © 2018 Société Française du Cancer. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

School day and weekend patterns of physical activity in urban 11-year-olds: a cross-cultural comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Jurak, Gregor; Sorić, Maroje; Starc, Gregor; Kovač, Marjeta; Mišigoj-Duraković, Marjeta; Borer, Katarina; Strel, Janko

2015-01-01

This multi-center study was conducted to objectively evaluate energy expenditure and physical activity (PA) patterns on school days and weekends in urban 11-year-olds. The sample consisted of 241 children from three cities: Zagreb, Ljubljana (both in Central Europe) and Ann Arbor (United States). Energy expenditure and PA were assessed during two school days and two weekend days using a multiple-sensor body monitor. Differences between the cities were observed for all PA variables. The highest level of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was noted in Ljubljana boys [284 (98) min/day] and the lowest in Zagreb girls [179 (95) min/day]. In Zagreb and Ljubljana, boys were more physically active than girls, while in Ann Arbor the opposite was observed. In contrast, no gender difference in sedentary behavior was observed in any of the cities. A decline in PA from school days to weekends was noted in all city groups in both genders. However, the magnitude of the reduction in daily energy expenditure differed between the cities, with the largest differences being observed in Ljubljana and the smallest in Ann Arbor. In all three city groups, the great majority of boys and girls achieved current recommendations of 60 min of MVPA either during school days or weekends. Weekends seem to be an appropriate target when promoting PA in 11-year-olds in all the cities included in the study. Increasing vigorous activity on weekends seems to be of particular importance in Zagreb and Ljubljana. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

NGS QC Toolkit: a toolkit for quality control of next generation sequencing data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ravi K Patel

Full Text Available Next generation sequencing (NGS technologies provide a high-throughput means to generate large amount of sequence data. However, quality control (QC of sequence data generated from these technologies is extremely important for meaningful downstream analysis. Further, highly efficient and fast processing tools are required to handle the large volume of datasets. Here, we have developed an application, NGS QC Toolkit, for quality check and filtering of high-quality data. This toolkit is a standalone and open source application freely available at http://www.nipgr.res.in/ngsqctoolkit.html. All the tools in the application have been implemented in Perl programming language. The toolkit is comprised of user-friendly tools for QC of sequencing data generated using Roche 454 and Illumina platforms, and additional tools to aid QC (sequence format converter and trimming tools and analysis (statistics tools. A variety of options have been provided to facilitate the QC at user-defined parameters. The toolkit is expected to be very useful for the QC of NGS data to facilitate better downstream analysis.

Characteristics and Outcomes of Elderly Patients Refused to ICU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María-Consuelo Pintado

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background. There are few data regarding the process of deciding which elderly patients are refused to ICU admission, their characteristics, and outcome. Methods. Prospective longitudinal observational cohort study. We included all consecutive patients older than 75 years, who were evaluated for admission to but were refused to treatment in ICU, during 18 months, with 12-month followup. We collected demographic data, ICU admission/refusal reasons, previous functional and cognitive status, comorbidity, severity of illness, and hospital and 12-month mortality. Results. 338 elderly patients were evaluated for ICU admission and 88 were refused to ICU (26%. Patients refused because they were “too ill to benefit” had more comorbidity and worse functional and mental situation than those admitted to ICU; there were no differences in illness severity. Hospital mortality rate of the whole study cohort was 36.3%, higher in patients “too ill to benefit” (55.6% versus 35.8%, P<0.01, which also have higher 1-year mortality (73.7% versus 42.5%, P<0.01. High comorbidity, low functional status, unavailable ICU beds, and age were associated with refusal decision on multivariate analysis. Conclusions. Prior functional status and comorbidity, not only the age or severity of illness, can help us more to make the right decision of admitting or refusing to ICU patients older than 75 years.

[The refusal of nursing care by the families].

Science.gov (United States)

Curchod, Claude; Fisher, Marion

2016-10-01

Caregiving is complex. While it is not easy to admit that the process can be refused by the patient, it is no easier when it is refused by the patient's family. Accepting this fact is however an essential stage in the relational and care processes. The family must therefore be supported by professionals in order to be able to make an enlightened choice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Wetland Resources Action Planning (WRAP) toolkit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bunting, Stuart W.; Smith, Kevin G.; Lund, Søren

2013-01-01

The Wetland Resources Action Planning (WRAP) toolkit is a toolkit of research methods and better management practices used in HighARCS (Highland Aquatic Resources Conservation and Sustainable Development), an EU-funded project with field experiences in China, Vietnam and India. It aims to communi......The Wetland Resources Action Planning (WRAP) toolkit is a toolkit of research methods and better management practices used in HighARCS (Highland Aquatic Resources Conservation and Sustainable Development), an EU-funded project with field experiences in China, Vietnam and India. It aims...... to communicate best practices in conserving biodiversity and sustaining ecosystem services to potential users and to promote the wise-use of aquatic resources, improve livelihoods and enhance policy information....

Supporting LGBT Communities: Police ToolKit

OpenAIRE

Vasquez del Aguila, Ernesto; Franey, Paul

2013-01-01

This toolkit provides police forces with practical educational tools, which can be used as part of a comprehensive LGBT strategy centred on diversity, equality, and non-discrimination. These materials are based on lessons learned through real life policing experiences with LGBT persons. The Toolkit is divided into seven scenarios where police awareness of LGBT issues has been identified as important. The toolkit employs a practical, scenario-based, problem-solving approach to help police offi...

Effects of work stress on work-related rumination, restful sleep, and nocturnal heart rate variability experienced on workdays and weekends.

Science.gov (United States)

Vahle-Hinz, Tim; Bamberg, Eva; Dettmers, Jan; Friedrich, Niklas; Keller, Monika

2014-04-01

The present study reports the lagged effects of work stress on work-related rumination, restful sleep, and nocturnal heart rate variability experienced during both workdays and weekends. Fifty employees participated in a diary study. Multilevel and regression analyses revealed a significant relationship between work stress measured at the end of a workday, work-related rumination measured during the evening, and restful sleep measured the following morning. Work stress, measured as the mean of 2 consecutive workdays, was substantially but not significantly related to restful sleep on weekends. Work stress was unrelated to nocturnal heart rate variability. Work-related rumination was related to restful sleep on weekends but not on workdays. Additionally, work-related rumination on weekends was positively related to nocturnal heart rate variability during the night between Saturday and Sunday. No mediation effects of work stress on restful sleep or nocturnal heart rate variability via work-related rumination were confirmed.

Effect of Weekend Admissions on the Treatment Process and Outcomes of Internal Medicine Patients

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Chun-Che; Huang, Yu-Tung; Hsu, Nin-Chieh; Chen, Jin-Shing; Yu, Chong-Jen

2016-01-01

Abstract Many studies address the effect of weekend admission on patient outcomes. This population-based study aimed to evaluate the relationship between weekend admission and the treatment process and outcomes of general internal medicine patients in Taiwan. A total of 82,340 patients (16,657 weekend and 65,683 weekday admissions) aged ≥20 years and admitted to the internal medicine departments of 17 medical centers between 2007 and 2009 were identified from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. A generalized estimating equation (GEE) analysis was used to compare patients admitted on weekends and those admitted on weekdays. Patients who were admitted on weekends were more likely to undergo intubation (odds ratio [OR]: 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16–1.39; P internal medicine patients who were admitted on weekends experienced more intensive care procedures and higher ICU admission, in-hospital mortality, and treatment cost. Intensive care utilization may serve as early indicator of poorer outcomes and a potential entry point to offer preventive intervention before proceeding to intensive treatment. PMID:26871788

Toolkit Design for Interactive Structured Graphics

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bederson, Benjamin B; Grosjean, Jesse; Meyer, Jon

2003-01-01

.... We describe Jazz (a polylithic toolkit) and Piccolo (a monolithic toolkit), each of which we built to support interactive 2D structured graphics applications in general, and Zoomable User Interface applications in particular...

The weekend matters: exploring when and how nurses best recover from work stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Drach-Zahavy, Anat; Marzuq, Nabil

2013-03-01

This article is a report of a comparative study examining nurses' levels of emotional exhaustion and vigour after a short respite taken on weekends as compared with two midweek days taken off. Recovery from work stress - a respite experience that generates replenishing of psychological and physical resources that have been depleted by meeting effortful demands - is crucial to offset future deleterious consequences to mental and physical health. Longitudinal panel survey. Nurses (n = 400) completed questionnaires during 2010-2011 on three occasions: (1) Before the respite (weekend or midweek), we measured the timing of the respite and emotional exhaustion and vigour; (2) during the respite we measured respite experiences; and (3) after the respite we re-measured emotional exhaustion and vigour. Nurses' emotional exhaustion was significantly lower and their vigour significantly higher after a short weekend respite than after two-midweek-days taken off. Specific experiences during the respite can compensate for the inferior recovery process on weekdays compared with weekends: emotional exhaustion levels of nurses who experienced high relaxation during their respite did not differ whether the respite was at the midweek or weekend. Vigour levels of nurses who experienced control during their respite did not differ whether their respite was midweek or at the weekend. Insights gained on leisure experiences carry important practical implications for nurses and nursing managers. Staff nurses and their managers should be educated in how to recover from work during leisure time, including preferring weekend on midweek respites and engagement in relaxation and control experiences as much as possible. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The right to physical integrity and informed refusal: Just how far does a patient’s right to refuse medical treatment go?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annelize Nienaber

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The article presents a legal analysis of the right to physical integrity as guaranteed by the South African Constitution, 1996, and the subsequent right of a competent adult person to refuse medical treatment under South African law. We consider whether the right to refuse treatment is an absolute right and very briefly reflect on the application of the constitutional limitations clause to this right. Instances in which patients’ right to physical integrity is limited by factors, which detract from (patient autonomy, are considered: these represent a limitation of their right to refuse medical treatment. We conclude that forced medical interventions, for the most part, are not desirable but, indeed, necessary in some narrowly defined circumstances. When a person makes a decision to refuse a medical intervention, which may seem unusual or may be perceived as irrational, it does not mean that person does not warrant the protection of the constitution and the courts. Provided that the patient makes an informed refusal while of sound mind, generally there is no reason to discredit his/her decision, difficult as it may be for others to accept. At all times the right to bodily integrity is pivotal in any health-related context and should not be lightly disregarded.

29 CFR 778.205 - Premiums for weekend and holiday work-example.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Premiums for weekend and holiday work-example. 778.205....205 Premiums for weekend and holiday work—example. The application of section 7(e)(6) may be illustrated by the following example: Suppose an agreement of employment calls for the payment of $7.50 an...

High-risk versus low-risk football game weekends: differences in problem drinking and alcohol-related consequences on college campuses in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Champion, Heather; Blocker, Jill N; Buettner, Cynthia K; Martin, Barbara A; Parries, Maria; Mccoy, Thomas P; Mitra, Ananda; Andrews, David W; Rhodes, Scott D

2009-01-01

Collegiate football games provide multiple social opportunities for alcohol use by students over the course of the weekend. The goal of this study was to examine alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences on football game weekends to determine differences based on characteristics of the game. A random sample of students from two large, public universities in the United States completed a survey on the Sunday-Friday following a high-risk weekend (HRW, important, home game) and low-risk weekend (LRW, no home game or game of importance) (N = 3,238 total). The survey measured the number of days students drank (0-3) and got drunk (0-3) over the weekend and whether 1+ consequences were experienced due to one's own drinking (yes/no) and due to others' drinking (yes/no). Ordinal logistic regression analyses revealed greater odds of drinking alcohol (OR = 1.70, CI = 1.46-1.97) and getting drunk (OR = 1.49, CI = 1.27-1.76) on HRW versus LRW. Logistic regression analyses revealed greater odds of experiencing 1+ consequences as a result of one's own drinking (OR = 1.38, CI = 1.16-1.63) and experiencing 1+ consequences as a result of others' drinking (OR = 1.52, CI = 1.30-1.78) on HRW versus LRW. These findings suggest that additional prevention efforts aimed at reducing risky drinking are needed over HRW and have implications for campus administrators, law enforcement, and substance abuse program coordinators.

Business/Employers Influenza Toolkit

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2011-09-06

This podcast promotes the "Make It Your Business To Fight The Flu" toolkit for Businesses and Employers. The toolkit provides information and recommended strategies to help businesses and employers promote the seasonal flu vaccine. Additionally, employers will find flyers, posters, and other materials to post and distribute in the workplace.  Created: 9/6/2011 by Office of Infectious Diseases, Office of the Director (OD).   Date Released: 9/7/2011.

Differences in Danish children's diet quality on weekdays v. weekend days

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rothausen, Berit Worm; Matthiessen, Jeppe; Hoppe, Camilla

2012-01-01

of energy from added sugars, a lower fibre content and a higher energy density on weekend days v. weekdays. In children aged 4–6 and 7–10 years, the diet on weekend days was also characterized by higher intakes of sweets and chocolate and lower intakes of fruit and vegetables. Overall, the diet on Fridays...

Wastes disposal on board a ship. Crushing and volume reducing apparatus for combustible and non-combustible refuses; Senjo no haikibutsu shori. Kanen funen gomi no hasai gen`yo shori sochi

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kishida, Y. [Hitachi Zosen Corp., Osaka (Japan)

1996-07-25

This paper introduces a refuse crushing apparatus to reduce for storage the volume of refuses produced on board a ship by crushing. Refuses to be crushed are solid wastes including solid combustible refuses such as paper, wood pieces, and cloths, non-combustible refuses such as empty cans, metals and glass, and refuses unsuitable for combustion, such as plastics and stylofoam. Crushing methods include impact system, compression system and shearing system. The shearing system shears and crushes refuses by using blades rotating at a low speed. The system has a wide range of crush ability and excellent versatility, generates low levels of dust, noise and vibration, and is suitable as a marine use refuse disposing apparatus. However, empty cans and PET bottles are more difficult of getting into cutting blades requiring a large amount of time for crushing. Therefore, it is more suitable to reduce volume of refuses by using a compressor or the like apparatuses, and then crush them by using a double-axial shearing crusher. Stylofoam causes its crushed pieces to be electrically charged and deposited onto the apparatus, hence it is more suitable to reduce the volume of refuses and make them brittle by heating, and then crush them by using the double-axial crusher. 2 figs.

Solar Integration National Dataset Toolkit | Grid Modernization | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Solar Integration National Dataset Toolkit Solar Integration National Dataset Toolkit NREL is working on a Solar Integration National Dataset (SIND) Toolkit to enable researchers to perform U.S . regional solar generation integration studies. It will provide modeled, coherent subhourly solar power data

The Reconstruction Toolkit (RTK), an open-source cone-beam CT reconstruction toolkit based on the Insight Toolkit (ITK)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rit, S; Vila Oliva, M; Sarrut, D; Brousmiche, S; Labarbe, R; Sharp, G C

2014-01-01

We propose the Reconstruction Toolkit (RTK, http://www.openrtk.org), an open-source toolkit for fast cone-beam CT reconstruction, based on the Insight Toolkit (ITK) and using GPU code extracted from Plastimatch. RTK is developed by an open consortium (see affiliations) under the non-contaminating Apache 2.0 license. The quality of the platform is daily checked with regression tests in partnership with Kitware, the company supporting ITK. Several features are already available: Elekta, Varian and IBA inputs, multi-threaded Feldkamp-David-Kress reconstruction on CPU and GPU, Parker short scan weighting, multi-threaded CPU and GPU forward projectors, etc. Each feature is either accessible through command line tools or C++ classes that can be included in independent software. A MIDAS community has been opened to share CatPhan datasets of several vendors (Elekta, Varian and IBA). RTK will be used in the upcoming cone-beam CT scanner developed by IBA for proton therapy rooms. Many features are under development: new input format support, iterative reconstruction, hybrid Monte Carlo / deterministic CBCT simulation, etc. RTK has been built to freely share tomographic reconstruction developments between researchers and is open for new contributions.

Salt intake and dietary sources of salt on weekdays and weekend days in Australian adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Nowson, Caryl; Lim, Karen; Land, Mary-Ann; Webster, Jacqui; Shaw, Jonathan E; Chalmers, John; Flood, Victoria; Woodward, Mark; Grimes, Carley

2018-02-01

To assess if there is a difference in salt intake (24 h urine collection and dietary recall) and dietary sources of salt (Na) on weekdays and weekend days. A cross-sectional study of adults who provided one 24 h urine collection and one telephone-administered 24 h dietary recall. Community-dwelling adults living in the State of Victoria, Australia. Adults (n 598) who participated in a health survey (53·5 % women; mean age 57·1 (95 % CI 56·2, 58·1) years). Mean (95 % CI) salt intake (dietary recall) was 6·8 (6·6, 7·1) g/d and 24 h urinary salt excretion was 8·1 (7·8, 8·3) g/d. Mean dietary and 24 h urinary salt (age-adjusted) were 0·9 (0·1, 1·6) g/d (P=0·024) and 0·8 (0·3, 1·6) g/d (P=0·0017), respectively, higher at weekends compared with weekdays. There was an indication of a greater energy intake at weekends (+0·6 (0·02, 1·2) MJ/d, P=0·06), but no difference in Na density (weekday: 291 (279, 304) mg/MJ; weekend: 304 (281, 327) mg/MJ; P=0·360). Cereals/cereal products and dishes, meat, poultry, milk products and gravy/sauces accounted for 71 % of dietary Na. Mean salt intake (24 h urine collection) was more than 60 % above the recommended level of 5 g salt/d and 8-14 % more salt was consumed at weekends than on weekdays. Substantial reductions in the Na content of staple foods, processed meat, sauces, mixed dishes (e.g. pasta), convenience and takeaway foods are required to achieve a significant consistent reduction in population salt intake throughout the week.

Identification and characteristics of vaccine refusers

OpenAIRE

Wei, Feifei; Mullooly, John P; Goodman, Mike; McCarty, Maribet C; Hanson, Ann M; Crane, Bradley; Nordin, James D

2009-01-01

Abstract Background This study evaluated the utility of immunization registries in identifying vaccine refusals among children. Among refusers, we studied their socioeconomic characteristics and health care utilization patterns. Methods Medical records were reviewed to validate refusal status in the immunization registries of two health plans. Racial, education, and income characteristics of children claiming refusal were collected based on the census tract of each child. Health care utilizat...

Wind Integration National Dataset Toolkit | Grid Modernization | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Integration National Dataset Toolkit Wind Integration National Dataset Toolkit The Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit is an update and expansion of the Eastern Wind Integration Data Set and Western Wind Integration Data Set. It supports the next generation of wind integration studies. WIND

Patient Experience Of Provider Refusal Of Medicaid Coverage And Its Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhandari, Neeraj; Shi, Yunfeng; Jung, Kyoungrae

2016-01-01

Previous studies show that many physicians do not accept new patients with Medicaid coverage, but no study has examined Medicaid enrollees' actual experience of provider refusal of their coverage and its implications. Using the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, we estimate provider refusal of health insurance coverage reported by 23,992 adults with continuous coverage for the past 12 months. We find that among Medicaid enrollees, 6.73% reported their coverage being refused by a provider in 2012, a rate higher than that in Medicare and private insurance by 4.07 (p<.01) and 3.68 (p<.001) percentage points, respectively. Refusal of Medicaid coverage is associated with delaying needed care, using emergency room (ER) as a usual source of care, and perceiving current coverage as worse than last year. In view of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion, future studies should continue monitoring enrollees' experience of coverage refusal.

Additional weekend therapy may reduce length of rehabilitation stay after stroke: a meta-analysis of individual patient data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Coralie English

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Questions: Among people receiving inpatient rehabilitation after stroke, does additional weekend physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy reduce the length of rehabilitation hospital stay compared to those who receive a weekday-only service, and does this change after controlling for individual factors? Does additional weekend therapy improve the ability to walk and perform activities of daily living, measured at discharge? Does additional weekend therapy improve health-related quality of life, measured 6 months after discharge from rehabilitation? Which individual, clinical and hospital characteristics are associated with shorter length of rehabilitation hospital stay? Design: This study pooled individual data from two randomised, controlled trials (n = 350 using an individual patient data meta-analysis and multivariate regression. Participants: People with stroke admitted to inpatient rehabilitation facilities. Intervention: Additional weekend therapy (physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy compared to usual care (5 days/week therapy. Outcome measures: Length of rehabilitation hospital stay, independence in activities of daily living measured with the Functional Independence Measure, walking speed and health-related quality of life. Results: Participants who received weekend therapy had a shorter length of rehabilitation hospital stay. In the un-adjusted analysis, this was not statistically significant (MD –5.7 days, 95% CI –13.0 to 1.5. Controlling for hospital site, age, walking speed and Functional Independence Measure score on admission, receiving weekend therapy was significantly associated with a shorter length of rehabilitation hospital stay (β = 7.5, 95% CI 1.7 to 13.4, p = 0.001. There were no significant between-group differences in Functional Independence Measure scores (MD 1.9 points, 95% CI –2.8 to 6.6, walking speed (MD 0.06 m/second, 95% CI –0.15 to 0.04 or health-related quality of life (SMD –0.04, 95% CI �

Additional weekend therapy may reduce length of rehabilitation stay after stroke: a meta-analysis of individual patient data.

Science.gov (United States)

English, Coralie; Shields, Nora; Brusco, Natasha K; Taylor, Nicholas F; Watts, Jennifer J; Peiris, Casey; Bernhardt, Julie; Crotty, Maria; Esterman, Adrian; Segal, Leonie; Hillier, Susan

2016-07-01

Among people receiving inpatient rehabilitation after stroke, does additional weekend physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy reduce the length of rehabilitation hospital stay compared to those who receive a weekday-only service, and does this change after controlling for individual factors? Does additional weekend therapy improve the ability to walk and perform activities of daily living, measured at discharge? Does additional weekend therapy improve health-related quality of life, measured 6 months after discharge from rehabilitation? Which individual, clinical and hospital characteristics are associated with shorter length of rehabilitation hospital stay? This study pooled individual data from two randomised, controlled trials (n=350) using an individual patient data meta-analysis and multivariate regression. People with stroke admitted to inpatient rehabilitation facilities. Additional weekend therapy (physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy) compared to usual care (5 days/week therapy). Length of rehabilitation hospital stay, independence in activities of daily living measured with the Functional Independence Measure, walking speed and health-related quality of life. Participants who received weekend therapy had a shorter length of rehabilitation hospital stay. In the un-adjusted analysis, this was not statistically significant (MD -5.7 days, 95% CI -13.0 to 1.5). Controlling for hospital site, age, walking speed and Functional Independence Measure score on admission, receiving weekend therapy was significantly associated with a shorter length of rehabilitation hospital stay (β=7.5, 95% CI 1.7 to 13.4, p=0.001). There were no significant between-group differences in Functional Independence Measure scores (MD 1.9 points, 95% CI -2.8 to 6.6), walking speed (MD 0.06 m/second, 95% CI -0.15 to 0.04) or health-related quality of life (SMD -0.04, 95% CI -0.26 to 0.19) at discharge. Modest evidence indicates that additional weekend therapy might reduce

A qualitative study of clinic and community member perspectives on intervention toolkits: "Unless the toolkit is used it won't help solve the problem".

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Melinda M; Howk, Sonya; Spurlock, Margaret; McGinnis, Paul B; Cohen, Deborah J; Fagnan, Lyle J

2017-07-18

Intervention toolkits are common products of grant-funded research in public health and primary care settings. Toolkits are designed to address the knowledge translation gap by speeding implementation and dissemination of research into practice. However, few studies describe characteristics of effective intervention toolkits and their implementation. Therefore, we conducted this study to explore what clinic and community-based users want in intervention toolkits and to identify the factors that support application in practice. In this qualitative descriptive study we conducted focus groups and interviews with a purposive sample of community health coalition members, public health experts, and primary care professionals between November 2010 and January 2012. The transdisciplinary research team used thematic analysis to identify themes and a cross-case comparative analysis to explore variation by participant role and toolkit experience. Ninety six participants representing primary care (n = 54, 56%) and community settings (n = 42, 44%) participated in 18 sessions (13 focus groups, five key informant interviews). Participants ranged from those naïve through expert in toolkit development; many reported limited application of toolkits in actual practice. Participants wanted toolkits targeted at the right audience and demonstrated to be effective. Well organized toolkits, often with a quick start guide, with tools that were easy to tailor and apply were desired. Irrespective of perceived quality, participants experienced with practice change emphasized that leadership, staff buy-in, and facilitative support was essential for intervention toolkits to be translated into changes in clinic or public -health practice. Given the emphasis on toolkits in supporting implementation and dissemination of research and clinical guidelines, studies are warranted to determine when and how toolkits are used. Funders, policy makers, researchers, and leaders in primary care and

Energy retrofit analysis toolkits for commercial buildings: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Hoon; Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann; Taylor-Lange, Sarah C.

2015-01-01

Retrofit analysis toolkits can be used to optimize energy or cost savings from retrofit strategies, accelerating the adoption of ECMs (energy conservation measures) in buildings. This paper provides an up-to-date review of the features and capabilities of 18 energy retrofit toolkits, including ECMs and the calculation engines. The fidelity of the calculation techniques, a driving component of retrofit toolkits, were evaluated. An evaluation of the issues that hinder effective retrofit analysis in terms of accessibility, usability, data requirement, and the application of efficiency measures, provides valuable insights into advancing the field forward. Following this review the general concepts were determined: (1) toolkits developed primarily in the private sector use empirically data-driven methods or benchmarking to provide ease of use, (2) almost all of the toolkits which used EnergyPlus or DOE-2 were freely accessible, but suffered from complexity, longer data input and simulation run time, (3) in general, there appeared to be a fine line between having too much detail resulting in a long analysis time or too little detail which sacrificed modeling fidelity. These insights provide an opportunity to enhance the design and development of existing and new retrofit toolkits in the future. - Highlights: • Retrofit analysis toolkits can accelerate the adoption of energy efficiency measures. • A comprehensive review of 19 retrofit analysis toolkits was conducted. • Retrofit toolkits have diverse features, data requirement and computing methods. • Empirical data-driven, normative and detailed energy modeling methods are used. • Identified immediate areas for improvement for retrofit analysis toolkits

SIGKit: Software for Introductory Geophysics Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Kruse, S.; Bank, C. G.; Esmaeili, S.; Jazayeri, S.; Liu, S.; Stoikopoulos, N.

2017-12-01

The Software for Introductory Geophysics Toolkit (SIGKit) affords students the opportunity to create model data and perform simple processing of field data for various geophysical methods. SIGkit provides a graphical user interface built with the MATLAB programming language, but can run even without a MATLAB installation. At this time SIGkit allows students to pick first arrivals and match a two-layer model to seismic refraction data; grid total-field magnetic data, extract a profile, and compare this to a synthetic profile; and perform simple processing steps (subtraction of a mean trace, hyperbola fit) to ground-penetrating radar data. We also have preliminary tools for gravity, resistivity, and EM data representation and analysis. SIGkit is being built by students for students, and the intent of the toolkit is to provide an intuitive interface for simple data analysis and understanding of the methods, and act as an entrance to more sophisticated software. The toolkit has been used in introductory courses as well as field courses. First reactions from students are positive. Think-aloud observations of students using the toolkit have helped identify problems and helped shape it. We are planning to compare the learning outcomes of students who have used the toolkit in a field course to students in a previous course to test its effectiveness.

Children's Weekend Activities in Four Countries: Context for Personal and Social Development

Science.gov (United States)

Ozdogru, Asil Ali

2010-01-01

Out-of-school time constitutes a major context of social and emotional development for children across cultures. Because it is not constrained by school attendance, weekend time allows cultural and gender differences in time usage to emerge. In this study, children's weekend activities, choice, and some of the related emotional outcomes were…

School Refusal: Clinical Features, Diagnosis and Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kayhan Bahali

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Children regularly and voluntarily go to school in order to fulfill the expectations of society from them to continue their education or schooling. School continuation has been made compulsory by laws. Nonetheless, contrary to popular belief, for some children it is distressing to go to school. These children have difficulty continuing school and/or refuse to go to school. Today school refusal is defined as a child’s inability to continue school for reasons, such as anxiety and depression. The prevalence of school refusal has been reported to be approximately 1% in school-age children and 5% in child psychiatry samples. The prevalence of school refusal is similar among boys and girls. School refusal can occur at any time throughout the child’s academic life and at all socio-economic levels. School refusal is considered a symptom rather than a clinical diagnosis and can manifest itself as a sign of many psychiatric disorders, with anxiety disorders predominant. Separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, and adjustment disorder with anxiety symptoms are the most common disorders co-occurring with school refusal. While separation anxiety disorder is associated with school refusal in younger children, other anxiety disorders, especially phobias, are associated with school refusal in adolescents. Children who have parents with psychiatric disorders have a higher incidence of school refusal, and psychiatric disorders are more frequently seen in adult relatives of children with school refusal, which supports a significant role of genetic and environmental factors in th etiology of school refusal. School refusal is a emergency state for child mental health. As it leads to detrimental effects in the short term and the long term, it should be regarded as a serious problem. The long-lasting follow-up studies of school refusing children have revealed that these children have a higher incidence of

Weekend hospitalization and additional risk of death: an analysis of inpatient data.

Science.gov (United States)

Freemantle, N; Richardson, M; Wood, J; Ray, D; Khosla, S; Shahian, D; Roche, W R; Stephens, I; Keogh, B; Pagano, D

2012-02-01

To assess whether weekend admissions to hospital and/or already being an inpatient on weekend days were associated with any additional mortality risk. Retrospective observational survivorship study. We analysed all admissions to the English National Health Service (NHS) during the financial year 2009/10, following up all patients for 30 days after admission and accounting for risk of death associated with diagnosis, co-morbidities, admission history, age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, seasonality, day of admission and hospital trust, including day of death as a time dependent covariate. The principal analysis was based on time to in-hospital death. National Health Service Hospitals in England. 30 day mortality (in or out of hospital). There were 14,217,640 admissions included in the principal analysis, with 187,337 in-hospital deaths reported within 30 days of admission. Admission on weekend days was associated with a considerable increase in risk of subsequent death compared with admission on weekdays, hazard ratio for Sunday versus Wednesday 1.16 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.18; P < .0001), and for Saturday versus Wednesday 1.11 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.13; P < .0001). Hospital stays on weekend days were associated with a lower risk of death than midweek days, hazard ratio for being in hospital on Sunday versus Wednesday 0.92 (95% CI 0.91 to 0.94; P < .0001), and for Saturday versus Wednesday 0.95 (95% CI 0.93 to 0.96; P < .0001). Similar findings were observed on a smaller US data set. Admission at the weekend is associated with increased risk of subsequent death within 30 days of admission. The likelihood of death actually occurring is less on a weekend day than on a mid-week day.

The effect of weekend and holiday sleep compensation on childhood overweight and obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Wing, Yun Kwok; Li, Shirley Xin; Li, Albert Martin; Zhang, Jihui; Kong, Alice Pik Shan

2009-11-01

A growing trend in childhood sleep habits is to compensate for the weekday sleep deficit by longer weekend and holiday sleep duration. We aimed to investigate the effect of weekend/holiday sleep compensation in relation to childhood overweight and obesity. This is a community-based cross-sectional study with 5159 children (49.6% boys), mean age of 9.25 years (SD: 1.78), from 13 primary schools in Hong Kong. Data on sleep patterns, lifestyle, body weight, and height of children were obtained from questionnaires. Sleep durations during weekdays, weekends, and holidays were predictor variables. BMI z scores and obesity/overweight status were the outcome measures. Children slept significantly longer during holidays (mean [SD]: 10.20 (0.92) hours) and weekends (school terms) (10.07 [0.93] hours) than during school weekdays (9.18 [0.95] hours). Children with shorter sleep duration had higher BMI z scores regardless of the sleep parameters used in the analysis. Among children who slept holidays had significantly increased risk of overweight/obesity compared with those children with sleep compensation (odds ratios: 2.59 [95% confidence interval: 1.22-5.48] and 2.32 [95% confidence interval: 1.00-5.53], respectively). There was a prominent difference in sleep duration between weekdays and weekends/holidays among school children. Short sleep duration was associated with higher BMI, but compensation of sleep during weekends/holidays may partly ameliorate the risk of childhood overweight/obesity. Further prospective and interventional study is needed to delineate the risk-benefit effect of these increasingly common sleep habits among children and adolescents.

Biases in detection of apparent "weekend effect" on outcome with administrative coding data: population based study of stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Linxin; Rothwell, Peter M

2016-05-16

 To determine the accuracy of coding of admissions for stroke on weekdays versus weekends and any impact on apparent outcome.  Prospective population based stroke incidence study and a scoping review of previous studies of weekend effects in stroke.  Primary and secondary care of all individuals registered with nine general practices in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (OXVASC, the Oxford Vascular Study).  All patients with clinically confirmed acute stroke in OXVASC identified with multiple overlapping methods of ascertainment in 2002-14 versus all acute stroke admissions identified by hospital diagnostic and mortality coding alone during the same period.  Accuracy of administrative coding data for all patients with confirmed stroke admitted to hospital in OXVASC. Difference between rates of "false positive" or "false negative" coding for weekday and weekend admissions. Impact of inaccurate coding on apparent case fatality at 30 days in weekday versus weekend admissions. Weekend effects on outcomes in patients with confirmed stroke admitted to hospital in OXVASC and impacts of other potential biases compared with those in the scoping review.  Among 92 728 study population, 2373 episodes of acute stroke were ascertained in OXVASC, of which 826 (34.8%) mainly minor events were managed without hospital admission, 60 (2.5%) occurred out of the area or abroad, and 195 (8.2%) occurred in hospital during an admission for a different reason. Of 1292 local hospital admissions for acute stroke, 973 (75.3%) were correctly identified by administrative coding. There was no bias in distribution of weekend versus weekday admission of the 319 strokes missed by coding. Of 1693 admissions for stroke identified by coding, 1055 (62.3%) were confirmed to be acute strokes after case adjudication. Among the 638 false positive coded cases, patients were more likely to be admitted on weekdays than at weekends (536 (41.0%) v 102 (26.5%); Pcoded acute stroke admissions and false positive

Network Science Research Laboratory (NSRL) Discrete Event Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

ARL-TR-7579 ● JAN 2016 US Army Research Laboratory Network Science Research Laboratory (NSRL) Discrete Event Toolkit by...Laboratory (NSRL) Discrete Event Toolkit by Theron Trout and Andrew J Toth Computational and Information Sciences Directorate, ARL...Research Laboratory (NSRL) Discrete Event Toolkit 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Theron Trout

Measuring employee satisfaction in new offices - the WODI toolkit

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maarleveld, M.; Volker, L.; van der Voordt, Theo

2009-01-01

Purpose: This paper presents a toolkit to measure employee satisfaction and perceived labour productivity as affected by different workplace strategies. The toolkit is being illustrated by a case study of the Dutch Revenue Service.
Methodology: The toolkit has been developed by a review of

Planning ahead: Improving escalation plans before the weekend.

Science.gov (United States)

Zarkali, Angeliki; Black, Duncan; Smee, Elizabeth; Deshraj, Anshul; Smallwood, Nicholas

2014-01-01

Handover is the system by which responsibility for patient care is transferred between healthcare professionals. A significant aspect of handover is the existence of an escalation plan for each patient in case of deterioration over the weekend. According to the Royal College of Physicians, all patients should have a clear escalation plan documented in the notes before a weekend, since parent medical teams (Consultant team in charge of care) are best placed to make these decisions. If left to on-call teams, at a time of deterioration over a weekend, they might not have all available information, the patient might be unable to be involved in the decisions, and the family might not be consulted. With this is mind, we decided to analyse the existing handover process in a medium sized district general hospital, with the aim of improving the process and the documentation of escalation plans. The results from our retrospective analysis of the system in place revealed a significant lack of documentation of escalation plans in the medical notes. Three sample wards were selected to analyse the current handover system and test proposed measures before hospital-wide implementation. After trialling of a physical handover meeting in addition to the existing intranet system and a proforma for the Friday ward round, the documentation of escalation plans in the patients' notes improved from 9.1% to 41.1%. Based on these results, as well as formal feedback from junior doctors and informal feedback from other staff, the physical handover meeting and Friday ward round proforma will be implemented throughout the Trust. Our interventions led to an improvement in the documentation of escalation plans in our hospital, thus saving precious time in the event of a patient's deterioration. This also ensures that families and patients are involved in the decision making process and kept informed, and reduces the burden for the weekend on-call teams.

33 CFR 401.89 - Transit refused.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Transit refused. 401.89 Section... TRANSPORTATION SEAWAY REGULATIONS AND RULES Regulations General § 401.89 Transit refused. (a) An officer may refuse to allow a vessel to transit when, (1) The vessel is not equipped in accordance with §§ 401.5 to...

Sierra toolkit computational mesh conceptual model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baur, David G.; Edwards, Harold Carter; Cochran, William K.; Williams, Alan B.; Sjaardema, Gregory D.

2010-01-01

The Sierra Toolkit computational mesh is a software library intended to support massively parallel multi-physics computations on dynamically changing unstructured meshes. This domain of intended use is inherently complex due to distributed memory parallelism, parallel scalability, heterogeneity of physics, heterogeneous discretization of an unstructured mesh, and runtime adaptation of the mesh. Management of this inherent complexity begins with a conceptual analysis and modeling of this domain of intended use; i.e., development of a domain model. The Sierra Toolkit computational mesh software library is designed and implemented based upon this domain model. Software developers using, maintaining, or extending the Sierra Toolkit computational mesh library must be familiar with the concepts/domain model presented in this report.

75 FR 4565 - Federal Acquisition Regulation; Submission for OMB Review; Right of First Refusal of Employment

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-28

.... Please cite OMB Control No. 9000-0114, Right of First Refusal of Employment, in all correspondence. Dated... ADMINISTRATION [OMB Control No. 9000-0114] Federal Acquisition Regulation; Submission for OMB Review; Right of... previously approved information collection requirement concerning right of first refusal of employment. A...

Improving hospital weekend handover: a user-centered, standardised approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehra, Avi; Henein, Christin

2014-01-01

Clinical Handover remains one of the most perilous procedures in medicine (1). Weekend handover has emerged as a key area of concern with high variability in handover processes across hospitals (1,2,4, 5-10). Studying weekend handover processes within medicine at an acute teaching hospital revealed huge variability in documented content and structure. A total of 12 different pro formas were in use by the medical day-team to handover to the weekend team on-call. A Likert-survey of doctors revealed 93% felt the current handover system needed improvement with 71% stating that it did not ensure patient safety (Chi-squared, p-value RCP) guidelines (2), with direct end-user input. Results following implementation revealed a considerable improvement in documented ceiling of care, urgency of task and team member assignment with 100% uptake of the new proforma at both 4-week and 6-month post-implementation analyses. 88% of doctors surveyed perceived that the new proforma improved patient safety (p<0.01, n=25), with 62% highlighting that it allowed doctors to work more efficiently. Results also revealed that 44% felt further improvements were needed and highlighted electronic solutions and handover training as main priorities. Handover briefing was subsequently incorporated into junior doctor induction and education modules delivered, with good feedback. Following collaboration with key stakeholders and with end-user input, integrated electronic handover software was designed and funding secured. The software is currently under final development. Introducing a standardized handover proforma can be an effective initial step in improving weekend handover. Handover education and end-user involvement are key in improving the process. Electronic handover solutions have been shown to significantly increase the quality of handover and are worth considering (9, 10).

Heroin refusal self-efficacy and preference for medication-assisted treatment after inpatient detoxification.

Science.gov (United States)

Kenney, Shannon R; Bailey, Genie L; Anderson, Bradley J; Stein, Michael D

2017-10-01

An individual's self-efficacy to refuse using heroin in high-risk situations is believed to minimize the likelihood for relapse. However, among individuals completing inpatient heroin detoxification, perceived refusal self-efficacy may also reduce one's perceived need for medication-assisted treatment (MAT), an effective and recommended treatment for opioid use disorder. In the current study, we examined the relationship between heroin refusal self-efficacy and preference for MAT following inpatient detoxification. Participants (N=397) were interviewed at the start of brief inpatient opioid detoxification. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted association of background characteristics, depressed mood, and perceived heroin refusal self-efficacy with preference for MAT. Controlling for other covariates, depressed mood and lower perceived refusal self-efficacy were associated with a significantly greater likelihood of expressing preference for MAT (versus no MAT). Perceived ability to refuse heroin after leaving detox is inversely associated with a heroin user's desire for MAT. An effective continuum of care model may benefit from greater attention to patient's perceived refusal self-efficacy during detoxification which may impact preference for MAT and long-term recovery. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Psychotropic Medication Refusal: Reasons and Patients′ Perception at a Secure Forensic Psychiatric Treatment Centre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olajide O Adelugba

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Poor adherence to prescribed medication regimens can undermine the effectiveness of medications. This study was conducted to determine the demographic profile of forensic psychiatric inpatients refusing medications and to identify the reasons for refusal. Data were collected through interviews using a questionnaire including Drug Attitude Inventory-10. Medication refusal was more common among Aboriginals (68%, n = 34 than Caucasians (32%, n = 16 and was highest among the patients 21-30 years of age (44%, n = 22. Antisocial personality disorder and substance use disorder featured prominently among patients refusing medications. The main reasons for medication refusal were inconvenience (34%, n = 17 followed by side effects (22%, n = 11, ineffective medication (20%, n = 10, illness-related (16%, n = 8, and no reasons (8%, n = 6. Antipsychotic medications topped the list of the major classes of medications refused followed by Antidepressants and Mood Stabilizers.

Transportation librarian's toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

2007-12-01

The Transportation Librarians Toolkit is a product of the Transportation Library Connectivity pooled fund study, TPF- 5(105), a collaborative, grass-roots effort by transportation libraries to enhance information accessibility and professional expert...

Biases in detection of apparent “weekend effect” on outcome with administrative coding data: population based study of stroke

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Linxin

2016-01-01

Objectives To determine the accuracy of coding of admissions for stroke on weekdays versus weekends and any impact on apparent outcome. Design Prospective population based stroke incidence study and a scoping review of previous studies of weekend effects in stroke. Setting Primary and secondary care of all individuals registered with nine general practices in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (OXVASC, the Oxford Vascular Study). Participants All patients with clinically confirmed acute stroke in OXVASC identified with multiple overlapping methods of ascertainment in 2002-14 versus all acute stroke admissions identified by hospital diagnostic and mortality coding alone during the same period. Main outcomes measures Accuracy of administrative coding data for all patients with confirmed stroke admitted to hospital in OXVASC. Difference between rates of “false positive” or “false negative” coding for weekday and weekend admissions. Impact of inaccurate coding on apparent case fatality at 30 days in weekday versus weekend admissions. Weekend effects on outcomes in patients with confirmed stroke admitted to hospital in OXVASC and impacts of other potential biases compared with those in the scoping review. Results Among 92 728 study population, 2373 episodes of acute stroke were ascertained in OXVASC, of which 826 (34.8%) mainly minor events were managed without hospital admission, 60 (2.5%) occurred out of the area or abroad, and 195 (8.2%) occurred in hospital during an admission for a different reason. Of 1292 local hospital admissions for acute stroke, 973 (75.3%) were correctly identified by administrative coding. There was no bias in distribution of weekend versus weekday admission of the 319 strokes missed by coding. Of 1693 admissions for stroke identified by coding, 1055 (62.3%) were confirmed to be acute strokes after case adjudication. Among the 638 false positive coded cases, patients were more likely to be admitted on weekdays than at weekends (536

Create your own website using WordPress in a weekend

CERN Document Server

Moore, Alannah

2013-01-01

Having a website built can be a complicated and expensive undertaking. For large businesses this is a necessary expense, but for the ever-increasing number of independents and small businesses, this can easily be handled by the intrepid amateur. In Create Your Own Website Using WordPress in a Weekend, author Alannah Moore draws on her extensive experience to show how, in just a weekend, almost anyone can create a website in WordPress that looks professional and is entirely tailored to their needs and preferences. Through carefully structured step-by-step tutorials, the book takes the

A Statistical Toolkit for Data Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Donadio, S.; Guatelli, S.; Mascialino, B.; Pfeiffer, A.; Pia, M.G.; Ribon, A.; Viarengo, P.

2006-01-01

The present project aims to develop an open-source and object-oriented software Toolkit for statistical data analysis. Its statistical testing component contains a variety of Goodness-of-Fit tests, from Chi-squared to Kolmogorov-Smirnov, to less known, but generally much more powerful tests such as Anderson-Darling, Goodman, Fisz-Cramer-von Mises, Kuiper, Tiku. Thanks to the component-based design and the usage of the standard abstract interfaces for data analysis, this tool can be used by other data analysis systems or integrated in experimental software frameworks. This Toolkit has been released and is downloadable from the web. In this paper we describe the statistical details of the algorithms, the computational features of the Toolkit and describe the code validation

Increased length of stay and costs associated with weekend admissions for failure to thrive.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Rachel T; Bennett, William E; Finnell, S Maria E; Downs, Stephen M; Carroll, Aaron E

2013-03-01

To evaluate whether admission day of the week affects the length of stay (LOS) and health care costs for failure to thrive (FTT) admissions. Administrative data were obtained for all children aged <2 years (N = 23 332) with a primary admission diagnosis of FTT from 2003-2011 from 42 freestanding US hospitals. Demographic characteristics, day of admission, LOS, costs per stay, number of discharge diagnoses, primary discharge diagnoses, primary procedure code, number of radiologic and laboratory units billed during admission were obtained for each admission. Linear regression and zero-truncated Poisson regression were used for analysis. Weekend admission was significantly correlated with increased LOS and increased average cost (P < .002). This finding was also true for children with both admission and discharge diagnoses of FTT (P < .001). The number of procedures for children admitted on the weekend was not significantly different compared with children admitted on the weekdays (incident rate ratio [IRR]:1.04 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.99-1.09]). However, weekend admissions did have more radiologic studies (IRR: 1.13 [95% CI: 1.10-1.16]) and laboratory tests (IRR: 1.39 [95% CI: 1.38-1.40]) performed. If one-half of weekend admissions in 2010 with both admission and discharge diagnoses of FTT were converted to Monday admissions, total savings in health care dollars for 2010 would be $534, 145. Scheduled FTT admissions on weekends increased LOS and health care costs compared with weekday admissions of similar levels of complexity. Reduction in planned weekend admissions for FTT could significantly reduce health care costs.

The influence of periodic increases of human activity on crepuscular and nocturnal mammals: Testing the weekend effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Nix, Joshua H; Howell, Ryan G; Hall, Lucas K; McMillan, Brock R

2018-01-01

Human recreation can negatively affect wildlife, particularly on weekends when human activity is highest (i.e., the weekend effect). Much of what we understand about the weekend effect is based on research conducted on diurnal species, which have greater temporal overlap with humans. Because nocturnal species generally avoid times when humans are active, they are likely less affected by anthropogenic activity on weekends. Our objective was to test the weekend effect in relation to the degree of nocturnality of mammals in a recreational area. We predicted that as nocturnality increased, the effect of human activity would decrease. To address our objective, we placed 50 remote cameras along the Diamond Fork River in Utah from January to June 2015. We found that three out of the four focal species supported our predictions. Mule deer (crepuscular) reduced activity throughout our entire study area during weekends and avoided campgrounds. Beavers and mountain lions (both nocturnal) did not negatively respond to increased human activity. Raccoons (nocturnal) reduced activity during weekends, but only within campground areas. Our findings indicate that as the temporal overlap increases between wildlife and humans, so does the influence that humans have on wildlife. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cubicle Refusal in Norwegian Dairy Herds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Myren HJ

2001-03-01

Full Text Available In order to survey the behaviour of choosing the alley area instead of a cubicle as a lying place (cubicle refusal, a questionnaire was sent to the 273 dairy farms in Norway known to keep cows in cubicle housing systems. Sixty-six percent of the farmers contacted were included in the study. The median herd size was 18 cows (range 7–118. More than 85% of the herds had sheds providing one or more cubicles per cow. The mean herd occurrence of cubicle refusal was 6%, but showed great variation (range 0–55%. Regression analysis showed a significant association between rearing heifers in slatted floor pens and an increased cubicle refusal occurrence (p = 0.02, R2 = 0.05, while herd size, use of litter, or cubicle-to-animal ratio were not found to be associated with cubicle refusal. The practice of rearing heifers in slatted floor pens accounted for about one half of the observed cubicle refusal (etiologic fraction = 0.51.

30 CFR 77.215-4 - Refuse piles; abandonment.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Refuse piles; abandonment. 77.215-4 Section 77... MINES Surface Installations § 77.215-4 Refuse piles; abandonment. When a refuse pile is to be abandoned... refuse pile shall be abandoned in accordance with a plan submitted by the operator and approved by the...

A Modular Toolkit for Distributed Interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julien Lange

2011-10-01

Full Text Available We discuss the design, architecture, and implementation of a toolkit which supports some theories for distributed interactions. The main design principles of our architecture are flexibility and modularity. Our main goal is to provide an easily extensible workbench to encompass current algorithms and incorporate future developments of the theories. With the help of some examples, we illustrate the main features of our toolkit.

When a Wife Says "No": Wife Sexual Refusal as a Factor in Husband-Wife Homicides in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Adinkrah, Mensah

2017-11-01

In Ghana, wife sexual refusal is a key factor in uxoricides or husband-to-wife murders. Despite this, there is a dearth of systematic research that examines sexual strife as a precipitant of domestic violence and spousal murder. The present article addresses the current lack of research by systematically examining 25 cases of homicides and attempted homicides where wives were lethally and nonlethally assaulted by their husbands following the former's refusal to engage in husband-initiated sexual intercourse. A content analysis was conducted of all print and electronic media news items where a wife's refusal of sexual intercourse with a husband triggered lethal or aggravated violence. The results showed that the victims were aged 23 to 55 years old and were generally of low socioeconomic status. The assailants were aged 28 to 60 years old. Assailants used machetes, knives, and personal weapons to perpetrate the crimes, and extreme violence was a frequent feature of both lethal and nonlethal acts.

Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Venkatesh, Meera; Kapadia, Ravi; Walker, Mark; Wilkins, Kim

2013-01-01

A framework of software components has been implemented to facilitate the development of ISHM systems according to a methodology based on Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). This framework is collectively referred to as the Toolkit and was developed using General Atomics' Health MAP (TM) technology. The toolkit is intended to provide assistance to software developers of mission-critical system health monitoring applications in the specification, implementation, configuration, and deployment of such applications. In addition to software tools designed to facilitate these objectives, the toolkit also provides direction to software developers in accordance with an ISHM specification and development methodology. The development tools are based on an RCM approach for the development of ISHM systems. This approach focuses on defining, detecting, and predicting the likelihood of system functional failures and their undesirable consequences.

30 CFR 816.83 - Coal mine waste: Refuse piles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Coal mine waste: Refuse piles. 816.83 Section... ACTIVITIES § 816.83 Coal mine waste: Refuse piles. Refuse piles shall meet the requirements of § 816.81, the... drainage may not be diverted over the outslope of the refuse piles. Runoff from the areas above the refuse...

30 CFR 817.83 - Coal mine waste: Refuse piles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Coal mine waste: Refuse piles. 817.83 Section... ACTIVITIES § 817.83 Coal mine waste: Refuse piles. Refuse piles shall meet the requirements of § 817.81, the... drainage may not be diverted over the outslope of the refuse pile. Runoff from areas above the refuse pile...

Microsoft BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.1

CERN Document Server

Benito, Andrés Del Río

2013-01-01

A practical guide into the architecture and features that make up the services and components of the ESB Toolkit.This book is for experienced BizTalk developers, administrators, and architects, as well as IT managers and BizTalk business analysts. Knowledge and experience with the Toolkit is not a requirement.

21 CFR 211.50 - Sewage and refuse.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Sewage and refuse. 211.50 Section 211.50 Food and... CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE FOR FINISHED PHARMACEUTICALS Buildings and Facilities § 211.50 Sewage and refuse. Sewage, trash, and other refuse in and from the building and immediate premises shall be...

Medication Refusal: Resident Rights, Administration Dilemma.

Science.gov (United States)

Haskins, Danielle R; Wick, Jeannette Y

2017-12-01

Occasionally, residents actively or passively refuse to take medications. Residents may refuse medication for a number of reasons, including religious beliefs, dietary restrictions, misunderstandings, cognitive impairment, desire to self-harm, or simple inconvenience. This action creates a unique situation for pharmacists and long-term facility staff, especially if patients have dementia. Residents have the legal right to refuse medications, and long-term care facilities need to employ a process to resolve disagreement between the health care team that recommends the medication and the resident who refuses it. In some cases, simple interventions like selecting a different medication or scheduling medications in a different time can address and resolve the resident's objection. If the medical team and the resident cannot resolve their disagreement, often an ethics consultation is helpful. Documenting the resident's refusal to take any or all medications, the health care team's actions and any other outcomes are important. Residents' beliefs may change over time, and the health care team needs to be prepared to revisit the issue as necessary.

An Industrial Physics Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Cummings, Bill

2004-03-01

Physicists possess many skills highly valued in industrial companies. However, with the exception of a decreasing number of positions in long range research at large companies, job openings in industry rarely say "Physicist Required." One key to a successful industrial career is to know what subset of your physics skills is most highly valued by a given industry and to continue to build these skills while working. This combination of skills from both academic and industrial experience becomes your "Industrial Physics Toolkit" and is a transferable resource when you change positions or companies. This presentation will describe how one builds and sells your own "Industrial Physics Toolkit" using concrete examples from the speaker's industrial experience.

Legal briefing: conscience clauses and conscientious refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Pope, Thaddeus Mason

2010-01-01

This issue's "Legal Briefing" column covers legal developments pertaining to conscience clauses and conscientious refusal. Not only has this topic been the subject of recent articles in this journal, but it has also been the subject of numerous public and professional discussions. Over the past several months, conscientious refusal disputes have had an unusually high profile not only in courthouses, but also in legislative and regulatory halls across the United States. Healthcare providers' own moral beliefs have been obstructing and are expected to increasingly obstruct patients' access to medical services. For example, some providers, on ethical or moral grounds, have denied: (1) sterilization procedures to pregnant patients, (2) pain medications in end-of-life situations, and (3) information about emergency contraception to rape victims. On the other hand, many healthcare providers have been forced to provide medical treatment that is inconsistent with their moral beliefs. There are two fundamental types of conscientious objection laws. First, there are laws that permit healthcare workers to refuse providing - on ethical, moral, or religious grounds healthcare services that they might otherwise have a legal or employer-mandated obligation to provide. Second, there are laws directed at forcing healthcare workers to provide services to which they might have ethical, moral, or religious objections. Both types of laws are rarely comprehensive, but instead target: (1) certain types of healthcare providers, (2) specific categories of healthcare services, (3) specific patient circumstances, and (4) certain conditions under which a right or obligation is triggered. For the sake of clarity, I have grouped recent legal developments concerning conscientious refusal into eight categories: 1. Abortion: right to refuse 2. Abortion: duty to provide 3. Contraception: right to refuse 4. Contraception: duty to provide 5. Sterilization: right to refuse 6. Fertility, HIV, vaccines

30 CFR 77.214 - Refuse piles; general.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Refuse piles; general. 77.214 Section 77.214... Installations § 77.214 Refuse piles; general. (a) Refuse piles constructed on or after July 1, 1971, shall be..., tipples, or other surface installations and such piles shall not be located over abandoned openings or...

Legislation and refusal of blood transfusion by a minor Jehovah-Witness in Belgium.

Science.gov (United States)

Deneyer, M; Matthys, D; Ramet, J; Michel, L; Holsters, D; Vandenplas, Y

2011-01-01

The refusal of blood transfusion by Jehovah's Witnesses in critical situations constitutes an ethical and juridical dilemma. The refusal to receive blood products by Jehovah's Witnesses is based on biblical verses. Recurring arguments to sustain this refusal regard the right to self-determination and the right to freedom of faith. If minors are involved, the problem is rendered even more difficult as the parental authority over young children needs to be taken into account. When adolescents are concerned, the situation if even more ambiguous since adolescents might be considered as mature enough to provide autonomous consent. On the basis of three cases, the most frequent bottlenecks that can come up in paediatric emergency services are highlighted: (1) the refusal of a blood transfusion by the parents of a young child; (2) the refusal by an adolescent and (3) prior refusal based on a "No Blood"-document. Regarding minors, the law on patients' rights in Belgium contains safety mechanisms concerning the preservation of physical integrity. Therefore, a key responsibility has been assigned to the physician. A step-by-step plan and a synoptic diagram are presented.

CRISPR-Cas9 Toolkit for Actinomycete Genome Editing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tong, Yaojun; Robertsen, Helene Lunde; Blin, Kai

2018-01-01

engineering approaches for boosting known and discovering novel natural products. In order to facilitate the genome editing for actinomycetes, we developed a CRISPR-Cas9 toolkit with high efficiency for actinomyces genome editing. This basic toolkit includes a software for spacer (sgRNA) identification......, a system for in-frame gene/gene cluster knockout, a system for gene loss-of-function study, a system for generating a random size deletion library, and a system for gene knockdown. For the latter, a uracil-specific excision reagent (USER) cloning technology was adapted to simplify the CRISPR vector...... construction process. The application of this toolkit was successfully demonstrated by perturbation of genomes of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and Streptomyces collinus Tü 365. The CRISPR-Cas9 toolkit and related protocol described here can be widely used for metabolic engineering of actinomycetes....

"No Thank You, We'd Rather Not": The Rights and Policies of Daily Newspapers Relating to Refusals to Accept Advertising.

Science.gov (United States)

Utt, Sandra H.; Pasternack, Steve

A study investigated the types of advertisements newspapers refuse as well as the attitudes of advertising managers about guidelines and laws concerning advertising refusal. Newspapers were selected from the "1985 Editor and Publisher Yearbook" using a systematic probability sampling method, and questionnaires were mailed to advertising…

Penetration Tester's Open Source Toolkit

CERN Document Server

Faircloth, Jeremy

2011-01-01

Great commercial penetration testing tools can be very expensive and sometimes hard to use or of questionable accuracy. This book helps solve both of these problems. The open source, no-cost penetration testing tools presented do a great job and can be modified by the user for each situation. Many tools, even ones that cost thousands of dollars, do not come with any type of instruction on how and in which situations the penetration tester can best use them. Penetration Tester's Open Source Toolkit, Third Edition, expands upon existing instructions so that a professional can get the most accura

The Refusal of Palliative Radiation in Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Its Prognostic Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Stavas, Mark J; Arneson, Kyle O; Ning, Matthew S; Attia, Albert A; Phillips, Sharon E; Perkins, Stephanie M; Shinohara, Eric T

2015-06-01

Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have limited survival. Population studies have evaluated the impact of radiation refusal in the curative setting; however, no data exist concerning the prognostic impact of radiation refusal in the palliative care setting. To investigate the patterns of radiation refusal in newly diagnosed patients with metastatic NSCLC. Patients with Stage IV NSCLC diagnosed between 1988 and 2010 were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify predictors for refusal of radiation and the impact of radiation and refusal on survival in the palliative setting. A total of 285,641 patients were initially included in the analysis. Palliative radiation was recommended in 42% and refused by 3.1% of patients. Refusal rates remained consistent across included years of study. On multivariate analysis, older, nonblack/nonwhite, unmarried females were more likely to refuse radiation (P refusing radiation was three months vs. five months for those receiving radiation and two months for those whom radiation was not recommended. Patients with metastatic NSCLC who refuse recommended palliative radiation have a poor survival. Radiation refusal or the recommendation against treatment can serve as a trigger for integrating palliative care services sooner and contributes greatly to prognostic awareness. Further investigation into this survival difference and the factors behind refusal are warranted. Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Coal refuse reclamation project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zellmer, S.D.

1979-04-06

A 13.8 ha abandoned coal refuse site in southwestern Illinois was reclaimed by recontouring the refuse material and covering it with a minimum 30 cm of soil. The reclamation procedure included determination of the site's final land use, collection of preconstruction environmental data, and development and implementation of engineering plans. The project is demonstrating methods that can be used to reclaim abandoned coal refuse sites, and a multidisciplinary approach is being used to evaluate postconstruction environmental and economic effects of the reclamation effort. Surface water quality has shown significant improvement and plant cover is becoming established on the site. Soil microbial populations are developing and wildlife habitats are forming. The economic value of the site and adjacent properties has increased substantially and the area's aesthetic value has been enhanced. This project is providing valuable design data for future reclamation efforts of this type.

Weekend versus weekday hospital deaths: analysis of in-patient data in a Nigerian tertiary healthcare center.

Science.gov (United States)

Nwosu, B O; Eke, N O; Obi-Nwosu, A; Osakwe, O J; Eke, C O; Obi, N P

2013-01-01

This study aims at comparing weekday deaths to weekend deaths of in-patients of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. This is a 10-year retrospective survey conducted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in which the death records of the hospital were accessed from the various wards and health records department to extract relevant data pertaining to the time of hospital death. Tests of statistical significance were done using Chi-square test at 95% confidence intervals. A total of 3934 deaths were recorded during the period of study. The ages ranged from a few hours to 94 years with a mean age of 38.5 years. The male to female ratio was 1.2:1. An average of 547 weekend deaths and 568 weekday deaths were recorded, giving a ratio of 0.96:1. A ratio of weekend to weekday death rate of 0.99:1 and 0.93:1 for the males and females, respectively was noted. The labor ward, followed by the intensive care unit (ICU) had the highest weekend to weekday death ratio of 1.72:1 ( P = 0.0461) and 1.41:1 ( P = 0.1440), respectively. Weekend deaths were less in the other wards, with the gynaecological ward having the least ratio of 0.63:1 ( P = 0.7360). The rate of hospital deaths was generally found not to vary significantly over the weekends and weekdays in the hospital except for the labor ward which had significantly higher weekend to weekday death rates of 1.72:1. There is therefore need for confidential enquiry into the causes of hospital deaths, especially in the labor ward, in order to identify and prevent avoidable deaths.

Hydropower Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID) Toolkit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, Aaron L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-12-19

Hydropower Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID) Toolkit presentation from the WPTO FY14-FY16 Peer Review. The toolkit is aimed at regulatory agencies, consultants, project developers, the public, and any other party interested in learning more about the hydropower regulatory process.

Context matters! sources of variability in weekend physical activity among families: a repeated measures study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert J. Noonan

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Family involvement is an essential component of effective physical activity (PA interventions in children. However, little is known about the PA levels and characteristics of PA among families. This study used a repeated measures design and multiple data sources to explore the variability and characteristics of weekend PA among families. Methods Families (including a ‘target’ child aged 9–11 years, their primary caregiver(s and siblings aged 6–8 years were recruited through primary schools in Liverpool, UK. Participants completed a paper-based PA diary and wore an ActiGraph GT9X accelerometer on their left wrist for up to 16 weekend days. ActiGraph.csv files were analysed using the R-package GGIR version 1.1–4. Mean minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA for each weekend of measurement were calculated using linear mixed models, and variance components were estimated for participant (inter-individual, weekend of measurement, and residual error (intra-individual. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC were calculated from the proportion of total variance accounted for by inter-individual sources, and used as a measure of reliability. Diary responses were summed to produce frequency counts. To offer contextual insight into weekend PA among family units, demographic, accelerometer, and diary data were combined to form two case studies representative of low and high active families. Results Twenty-five participants from 7 families participated, including 7 ‘target’ children (mean age 9.3 ± 1.1 years, 4 boys, 6 siblings (mean age 7.2 ± 0.7 years; 4 boys and 12 adults (7 mothers and 5 fathers. There was a high degree of variability in target children’s (ICC = 0.55, siblings (ICC = 0.38, and mothers’ MVPA (ICC = 0.58, but not in fathers’ MVPA (ICC = 0.83. Children’s weekend PA was mostly unstructured in nature and undertaken with friends, whereas a greater proportion of parents’ weekend

25 CFR 171.420 - Can I dispose of sewage, trash, or other refuse on a BIA irrigation project?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Can I dispose of sewage, trash, or other refuse on a BIA... AND WATER IRRIGATION OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE Irrigation Facilities § 171.420 Can I dispose of sewage, trash, or other refuse on a BIA irrigation project? No. Sewage, trash, or other refuse are considered...

The Virtual Physiological Human ToolKit.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Jonathan; Cervenansky, Frederic; De Fabritiis, Gianni; Fenner, John; Friboulet, Denis; Giorgino, Toni; Manos, Steven; Martelli, Yves; Villà-Freixa, Jordi; Zasada, Stefan; Lloyd, Sharon; McCormack, Keith; Coveney, Peter V

2010-08-28

The Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) is a major European e-Science initiative intended to support the development of patient-specific computer models and their application in personalized and predictive healthcare. The VPH Network of Excellence (VPH-NoE) project is tasked with facilitating interaction between the various VPH projects and addressing issues of common concern. A key deliverable is the 'VPH ToolKit'--a collection of tools, methodologies and services to support and enable VPH research, integrating and extending existing work across Europe towards greater interoperability and sustainability. Owing to the diverse nature of the field, a single monolithic 'toolkit' is incapable of addressing the needs of the VPH. Rather, the VPH ToolKit should be considered more as a 'toolbox' of relevant technologies, interacting around a common set of standards. The latter apply to the information used by tools, including any data and the VPH models themselves, and also to the naming and categorizing of entities and concepts involved. Furthermore, the technologies and methodologies available need to be widely disseminated, and relevant tools and services easily found by researchers. The VPH-NoE has thus created an online resource for the VPH community to meet this need. It consists of a database of tools, methods and services for VPH research, with a Web front-end. This has facilities for searching the database, for adding or updating entries, and for providing user feedback on entries. Anyone is welcome to contribute.

Pyradi: an open-source toolkit for infrared calculation and data processing

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Willers, CJ

2012-09-01

Full Text Available of such a toolkit facilitates and increases productivity during subsequent tool development: “develop once and use many times”. The concept of an extendible toolkit lends itself naturally to the open-source philosophy, where the toolkit user-base develops...

The self-describing data sets file protocol and Toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borland, M.; Emery, L.

1995-01-01

The Self-Describing Data Sets (SDDS) file protocol continues to be used extensively in commissioning the Advanced Photon Source (APS) accelerator complex. SDDS protocol has proved useful primarily due to the existence of the SDDS Toolkit, a growing set of about 60 generic commandline programs that read and/or write SDDS files. The SDDS Toolkit is also used extensively for simulation postprocessing, giving physicists a single environment for experiment and simulation. With the Toolkit, new SDDS data is displayed and subjected to complex processing without developing new programs. Data from EPICS, lab instruments, simulation, and other sources are easily integrated. Because the SDDS tools are commandline-based, data processing scripts are readily written using the user's preferred shell language. Since users work within a UNIX shell rather than an application-specific shell or GUI, they may add SDDS-compliant programs and scripts to their personal toolkits without restriction or complication. The SDDS Toolkit has been run under UNIX on SUN OS4, HP-UX, and LINUX. Application of SDDS to accelerator operation is being pursued using Tcl/Tk to provide a GUI

Implementing a user-driven online quality improvement toolkit for cancer care.

Science.gov (United States)

Luck, Jeff; York, Laura S; Bowman, Candice; Gale, Randall C; Smith, Nina; Asch, Steven M

2015-05-01

Peer-to-peer collaboration within integrated health systems requires a mechanism for sharing quality improvement lessons. The Veterans Health Administration (VA) developed online compendia of tools linked to specific cancer quality indicators. We evaluated awareness and use of the toolkits, variation across facilities, impact of social marketing, and factors influencing toolkit use. A diffusion of innovations conceptual framework guided the collection of user activity data from the Toolkit Series SharePoint site and an online survey of potential Lung Cancer Care Toolkit users. The VA Toolkit Series site had 5,088 unique visitors in its first 22 months; 5% of users accounted for 40% of page views. Social marketing communications were correlated with site usage. Of survey respondents (n = 355), 54% had visited the site, of whom 24% downloaded at least one tool. Respondents' awareness of the lung cancer quality performance of their facility, and facility participation in quality improvement collaboratives, were positively associated with Toolkit Series site use. Facility-level lung cancer tool implementation varied widely across tool types. The VA Toolkit Series achieved widespread use and a high degree of user engagement, although use varied widely across facilities. The most active users were aware of and active in cancer care quality improvement. Toolkit use seemed to be reinforced by other quality improvement activities. A combination of user-driven tool creation and centralized toolkit development seemed to be effective for leveraging health information technology to spread disease-specific quality improvement tools within an integrated health care system. Copyright © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Does a weekend effect in diurnal temperature range exist in the eastern and central Tibetan Plateau?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

You Qinglong; Kang Shichang; Xu Yanwei; Huang Jie; Fluegel, Wolfgang-Albert; Sanchez-Lorenzo, Arturo; Yan Yuping

2009-01-01

The 'weekend effect' method (defined here as the average for Saturday through Monday minus the average for Wednesday through Friday) has been used to identify fingerprints of anthropogenic emissions. Based on daily maximum and minimum temperature series from the China Meteorological Administration homogenized dataset, the weekend effect in diurnal temperature range (DTR) at 71 stations with elevations above 2000 m asl in the eastern and central Tibetan Plateau (TP) during 1961-2004 is examined, and principal component analysis (PCA) is performed to cluster series into four subregions with similar weekend effect variability. The DTR demonstrates a much stronger negative weekend effect in autumn and shows larger positive values in winter, which provides a strong evidence of anthropogenic activity in this region, especially in the central TP. Analysis by topographic type and degree of urbanization shows a clear weekly cycle which cannot be explained by a microclimate effect. We hypothesize that the interaction with anthropogenic aerosols from local emissions and transported by atmospheric circulation may account for the weekly cycle in the TP. More caution should be paid to the driving mechanism of the weekend effect in the most remote and clear regions in the world.

Personal values and cancer treatment refusal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evert van Leeuwen; Marli Huijer

2000-01-01

This pilot study explores the reasons patients have for refusing chemotherapy, and the ways oncologists respond to them. Our hypothesis, generated from interviews with patients and oncologists, is that an ethical approach that views a refusal as an autonomous choice, in which patients are informed

30 CFR 77.215-1 - Refuse piles; identification.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Refuse piles; identification. 77.215-1 Section... COAL MINES Surface Installations § 77.215-1 Refuse piles; identification. A permanent identification marker, at least six feet high and showing the refuse pile identification number as assigned by the...

The 2016 ACCP Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwinghammer, Terry L; Crannage, Andrew J; Boyce, Eric G; Bradley, Bridget; Christensen, Alyssa; Dunnenberger, Henry M; Fravel, Michelle; Gurgle, Holly; Hammond, Drayton A; Kwon, Jennifer; Slain, Douglas; Wargo, Kurt A

2016-11-01

The 2016 American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Educational Affairs Committee was charged with updating and contemporizing ACCP's 2009 Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit. The toolkit has been designed to guide schools and colleges of pharmacy in developing, maintaining, and modifying their curricula. The 2016 committee reviewed the recent medical literature and other documents to identify disease states that are responsive to drug therapy. Diseases and content topics were organized by organ system, when feasible, and grouped into tiers as defined by practice competency. Tier 1 topics should be taught in a manner that prepares all students to provide collaborative, patient-centered care upon graduation and licensure. Tier 2 topics are generally taught in the professional curriculum, but students may require additional knowledge or skills after graduation (e.g., residency training) to achieve competency in providing direct patient care. Tier 3 topics may not be taught in the professional curriculum; thus, graduates will be required to obtain the necessary knowledge and skills on their own to provide direct patient care, if required in their practice. The 2016 toolkit contains 276 diseases and content topics, of which 87 (32%) are categorized as tier 1, 133 (48%) as tier 2, and 56 (20%) as tier 3. The large number of tier 1 topics will require schools and colleges to use creative pedagogical strategies to achieve the necessary practice competencies. Almost half of the topics (48%) are tier 2, highlighting the importance of postgraduate residency training or equivalent practice experience to competently care for patients with these disorders. The Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit will continue to be updated to provide guidance to faculty at schools and colleges of pharmacy as these academic pharmacy institutions regularly evaluate and modify their curricula to keep abreast of scientific advances and associated practice changes. Access the

Land surface Verification Toolkit (LVT)

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Sujay V.

2017-01-01

LVT is a framework developed to provide an automated, consolidated environment for systematic land surface model evaluation Includes support for a range of in-situ, remote-sensing and other model and reanalysis products. Supports the analysis of outputs from various LIS subsystems, including LIS-DA, LIS-OPT, LIS-UE. Note: The Land Information System Verification Toolkit (LVT) is a NASA software tool designed to enable the evaluation, analysis and comparison of outputs generated by the Land Information System (LIS). The LVT software is released under the terms and conditions of the NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA) Version 1.1 or later. Land Information System Verification Toolkit (LVT) NOSA.

30 CFR 77.215-3 - Refuse piles: certification.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Refuse piles: certification. 77.215-3 Section... COAL MINES Surface Installations § 77.215-3 Refuse piles: certification. (a) Within 180 days following written notification by the District Manager that a refuse pile can present a hazard, the person owning...

Effect of Weekend Admissions on the Treatment Process and Outcomes of Internal Medicine Patients: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Chun-Che; Huang, Yu-Tung; Hsu, Nin-Chieh; Chen, Jin-Shing; Yu, Chong-Jen

2016-02-01

Many studies address the effect of weekend admission on patient outcomes. This population-based study aimed to evaluate the relationship between weekend admission and the treatment process and outcomes of general internal medicine patients in Taiwan.A total of 82,340 patients (16,657 weekend and 65,683 weekday admissions) aged ≥20 years and admitted to the internal medicine departments of 17 medical centers between 2007 and 2009 were identified from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. A generalized estimating equation (GEE) analysis was used to compare patients admitted on weekends and those admitted on weekdays.Patients who were admitted on weekends were more likely to undergo intubation (odds ratio [OR]: 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-1.39; P internal medicine patients who were admitted on weekends experienced more intensive care procedures and higher ICU admission, in-hospital mortality, and treatment cost. Intensive care utilization may serve as early indicator of poorer outcomes and a potential entry point to offer preventive intervention before proceeding to intensive treatment.

Fundamental movement skills in relation to weekday and weekend physical activity in preschool children.

Science.gov (United States)

Foweather, Lawrence; Knowles, Zoe; Ridgers, Nicola D; O'Dwyer, Mareesa V; Foulkes, Jonathan D; Stratton, Gareth

2015-11-01

To examine associations between fundamental movement skills and weekday and weekend physical activity among preschool children living in deprived communities. Cross-sectional observation study. Six locomotor skills and 6 object-control skills were video-assessed using The Children's Activity and Movement in Preschool Study Motor Skills Protocol. Physical activity was measured via hip-mounted accelerometry. A total of 99 children (53% boys) aged 3-5 years (M 4.6, SD 0.5) completed all assessments. Multilevel mixed regression models were used to examine associations between fundamental movement skills and physical activity. Models were adjusted for clustering, age, sex, standardised body mass index and accelerometer wear time. Boys were more active than girls and had higher object-control skill competency. Total skill score was positively associated with weekend moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (p = 0.034) but not weekday physical activity categories (p > 0.05). When subdomains of skills were examined, object-control skills was positively associated with light physical activity on weekdays (p = 0.008) and with light (p = 0.033), moderate-to-vigorous (p = 0.028) and light- and moderate-to-vigorous (p = 0.008) physical activity at weekends. Locomotor skill competency was positively associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on weekdays (p = 0.016) and light physical activity during the weekend (p = 0.035). The findings suggest that developing competence in both locomotor and object-control skills may be an important element in promoting an active lifestyle in young children during weekdays and at weekends. Copyright © 2014 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

30 CFR 77.215 - Refuse piles; construction requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Refuse piles; construction requirements. 77.215... COAL MINES Surface Installations § 77.215 Refuse piles; construction requirements. (a) Refuse deposited on a pile shall be spread in layers and compacted in such a manner so as to minimize the flow of air...

25 CFR 135.23 - Refusal of water delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Refusal of water delivery. 135.23 Section 135.23 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES CONSTRUCTION ASSESSMENTS, CROW... District § 135.23 Refusal of water delivery. The right is reserved to refuse the delivery of water to any...

Pybel: a Python wrapper for the OpenBabel cheminformatics toolkit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Morley Chris

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Scripting languages such as Python are ideally suited to common programming tasks in cheminformatics such as data analysis and parsing information from files. However, for reasons of efficiency, cheminformatics toolkits such as the OpenBabel toolkit are often implemented in compiled languages such as C++. We describe Pybel, a Python module that provides access to the OpenBabel toolkit. Results Pybel wraps the direct toolkit bindings to simplify common tasks such as reading and writing molecular files and calculating fingerprints. Extensive use is made of Python iterators to simplify loops such as that over all the molecules in a file. A Pybel Molecule can be easily interconverted to an OpenBabel OBMol to access those methods or attributes not wrapped by Pybel. Conclusion Pybel allows cheminformaticians to rapidly develop Python scripts that manipulate chemical information. It is open source, available cross-platform, and offers the power of the OpenBabel toolkit to Python programmers.

25 CFR 135.6 - Refusal of water delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Refusal of water delivery. 135.6 Section 135.6 Indians... INDIAN IRRIGATION PROJECT Charges Assessed Against Irrigation District Lands § 135.6 Refusal of water delivery. The right is reserved to the United States to refuse the delivery of water to each of the said...

School Refusal

Science.gov (United States)

Wimmer, Mary

2008-01-01

School attendance is an ongoing concern for administrators, particularly in middle level and high school. Frequent absences affect student learning, test scores, and social development. Absenteeism is often the result of emotional disorders, such as anxiety or depression. Administrators who understand the causes of school refusal behavior and are…

Veterinary Immunology Committee Toolkit Workshop 2010: Progress and plans

Science.gov (United States)

The Third Veterinary Immunology Committee (VIC) Toolkit Workshop took place at the Ninth International Veterinary Immunology Symposium (IVIS) in Tokyo, Japan on August 18, 2020. The Workshop built on previous Toolkit Workshops and covered various aspects of reagent development, commercialisation an...

[Tuberculosis and refusal of treatment: resorting to legislation on serious health threats].

Science.gov (United States)

Bouvet, R; Le Gueut, M

2013-06-01

Clinicians are regularly confronted with the question of refusal of treatment from patients with tuberculosis. For several years, the French public health authorities have been studying the possibility of compelling treatment or isolation, but no plan has been implemented even though European and American experiences have shown the effectiveness of restrictive measures. Neither the statutory exceptions to the principle of consent to medical treatment nor the conditions of implementation of "required care" allow legally binding measures against patients refusing care or isolation. The legislation on serious health threats has recently been applied to the situation of a refusal of treatment in the context of tuberculosis. It allowed the patient to be ordered to observe prescribed care and the possibility of forced isolation in the event of breach of this order. The legislation on serious health threats is a response to the question of refusal of treatment from patients with tuberculosis. However the opinion of the legal authority as to its necessity and proportionality to the risk remains unknown. Copyright © 2013 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Exposure to workplace smoking bans and continuity of daily smoking patterns on workdays and weekends.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunbar, Michael S; Shiffman, Saul; Chandra, Siddharth

2018-05-01

Individuals may compensate for workplace smoking bans by smoking more before or after work, or escaping bans to smoke, but no studies have conducted a detailed, quantitative analysis of such compensatory behaviors using real-time data. 124 daily smokers documented smoking occasions over 3weeks using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and provided information on real-world exposure to smoking restrictions and type of workplace smoking policy (full, partial, or no bans). Mixed modeling and generalized estimating equations assessed effects of time of day, weekday (vs weekend), and workplace policy on mean cigarettes per hour (CPH) and reports of changing location to smoke. Individuals were most likely to change locations to smoke during business hours, regardless of work policy, and frequency of EMA reports of restrictions at work was associated with increased likelihood of changing locations to smoke (OR=1.11, 95% CI 1.05-1.16; pbusiness hours across weekdays and weekends. Smokers largely compensate for exposure to workplace smoking bans by escaping restrictions during business hours. Better understanding the effects of smoking bans on smoking behavior may help to improve their effectiveness and yield insights into determinants of smoking in more restrictive environments. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

20 CFR 401.70 - Appeals of refusals to correct records or refusals to allow access to records.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Appeals of refusals to correct records or refusals to allow access to records. 401.70 Section 401.70 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY... also inform you that you have a right to file a statement of disagreement with the decision. Your...

Mental health consequences of abortion and refused abortion.

Science.gov (United States)

Watter, W W

1980-02-01

There is no scientific evidence to support the hypothesis put forth by Dr. Philip Ney in a recent article published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry that induced abortion is associated with an increase in child abuse. There are, however, numerous studies which support the contention that mandatory motherhood adversely affects the mental health of both the mother and the offspring. Studies conducted in Sweden, Scotland, and Czechoslovakia revealed that women who were refused abortions frequently experienced serious psychosocial difficulties for long periods of time following abortion refusal. Case controlled follow-up studies, conducted in Sweden and Czechoslovakia, of offspring born to women who were refused abortions demonstrated that a higher proportion of the unwanted children required psychiatric services, engaged in criminal behavior, and did less well in school than the controlled children. These studies have implications for the current Canadian law which permits a woman to obtain an abortion if pregnancy continuation will endanger her health. In view of the above statistical evidence, and the fact that mortality and morbidity are known to be lower for abortion than for childbirth, any person who denies a woman the right to have an abortion is increasing the risk that the health of the woman will be endangered. By law, therefore, all abortion requests should be honored.

Application experiences with the Globus toolkit.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brunett, S.

1998-06-09

The Globus grid toolkit is a collection of software components designed to support the development of applications for high-performance distributed computing environments, or ''computational grids'' [14]. The Globus toolkit is an implementation of a ''bag of services'' architecture, which provides application and tool developers not with a monolithic system but rather with a set of stand-alone services. Each Globus component provides a basic service, such as authentication, resource allocation, information, communication, fault detection, and remote data access. Different applications and tools can combine these services in different ways to construct ''grid-enabled'' systems. The Globus toolkit has been used to construct the Globus Ubiquitous Supercomputing Testbed, or GUSTO: a large-scale testbed spanning 20 sites and included over 4000 compute nodes for a total compute power of over 2 TFLOPS. Over the past six months, we and others have used this testbed to conduct a variety of application experiments, including multi-user collaborative environments (tele-immersion), computational steering, distributed supercomputing, and high throughput computing. The goal of this paper is to review what has been learned from these experiments regarding the effectiveness of the toolkit approach. To this end, we describe two of the application experiments in detail, noting what worked well and what worked less well. The two applications are a distributed supercomputing application, SF-Express, in which multiple supercomputers are harnessed to perform large distributed interactive simulations; and a tele-immersion application, CAVERNsoft, in which the focus is on connecting multiple people to a distributed simulated world.

Two-epoch cross-sectional case record review protocol comparing quality of care of hospital emergency admissions at weekends versus weekdays.

Science.gov (United States)

Bion, Julian; Aldridge, Cassie P; Girling, Alan; Rudge, Gavin; Beet, Chris; Evans, Tim; Temple, R Mark; Roseveare, Chris; Clancy, Mike; Boyal, Amunpreet; Tarrant, Carolyn; Sutton, Elizabeth; Sun, Jianxia; Rees, Peter; Mannion, Russell; Chen, Yen-Fu; Watson, Samuel Ian; Lilford, Richard

2017-12-22

The mortality associated with weekend admission to hospital (the 'weekend effect') has for many years been attributed to deficiencies in quality of hospital care, often assumed to be due to suboptimal senior medical staffing at weekends. This protocol describes a case note review to determine whether there are differences in care quality for emergency admissions (EAs) to hospital at weekends compared with weekdays, and whether the difference has reduced over time as health policies have changed to promote 7-day services. Cross-sectional two-epoch case record review of 20 acute hospital Trusts in England. Anonymised case records of 4000 EAs to hospital, 2000 at weekends and 2000 on weekdays, covering two epochs (financial years 2012-2013 and 2016-2017). Admissions will be randomly selected across the whole of each epoch from Trust electronic patient records. Following training, structured implicit case reviews will be conducted by consultants or senior registrars (senior residents) in acute medical specialities (60 case records per reviewer), and limited to the first 7 days following hospital admission. The co-primary outcomes are the weekend:weekday admission ratio of errors per case record, and a global assessment of care quality on a Likert scale. Error rates will be analysed using mixed effects logistic regression models, and care quality using ordinal regression methods. Secondary outcomes include error typology, error-related adverse events and any correlation between error rates and staffing. The data will also be used to inform a parallel health economics analysis. The project has received ethics approval from the South West Wales Research Ethics Committee (REC): reference 13/WA/0372. Informed consent is not required for accessing anonymised patient case records from which patient identifiers had been removed. The findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications in high-quality journals and through local High-intensity Specialist-Led Acute

TRSkit: A Simple Digital Library Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Michael L.; Esler, Sandra L.

1997-01-01

This paper introduces TRSkit, a simple and effective toolkit for building digital libraries on the World Wide Web. The toolkit was developed for the creation of the Langley Technical Report Server and the NASA Technical Report Server, but is applicable to most simple distribution paradigms. TRSkit contains a handful of freely available software components designed to be run under the UNIX operating system and served via the World Wide Web. The intended customer is the person that must continuously and synchronously distribute anywhere from 100 - 100,000's of information units and does not have extensive resources to devote to the problem.

LIMITED RESTAURANT SERVICE : ASCENSION AND WHITSUNTIDE WEEKENDS

CERN Multimedia

Restaurant Supervisory Committee

2002-01-01

Details of the arrangements to ensure the provision of a restaurant service during the Ascension and Whitsuntide weekends are given below. On all the days indicated, hot meals will be served from 11h30 to 14h00 and 18h00 to 19h30.   RESTAURANT SATELLITE CAFETERIAS KIOSQUE No. Opening times Usual opening times ASCENSION Thursday 9 May 1 2 3 08h00 - 21h00 Friday 10 May 1 2 3   07h00 - 21h00 07h00 - 18h00 Bldg. 40 Bldg. 30, 54 Bldg. 864 08h00 - 17h00     Saturday 11 May 1 2 3 07h00 - 23h00     Sunday 12 May 1 2 3 07h00 - 23h00     WHITSUNTIDE Saturday 18 May 1 2 3 08h00 - 21h00     Sunday 19 May 1 2 3 08h00 - 21h00     Monday 20 May 1 2 3 08h00 - 21h00     Restaurant Supervisory Committee Tel. 77551

LIMITED RESTAURANT SERVICE: ASCENSION AND WHITSUNTIDE WEEKENDS

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

Details of the arrangements to ensure the provision of a restaurant service during the Ascension and Whitsuntide weekends are given below. On all the days indicated, hot meals will be served from 11h30 to 14h00 and 18h00 to 19h30. DATERESTAURANT No.Opening times ASCENSION Thursday, May 29 1 2 08h00 - 21h00 3 Friday, May 30 1 2 07h00 - 21h00 3 07h00 - 18h00 Saturday, May 31 1 2 09h00 - 20h00 3 Sunday, June 1st 1 2 09h00 - 20h00 3 WHITSUNTIDE Saturday, June 7 1 08h00 - 21h00 2 3 Sunday, June 8 1 08h00 - 21h00 2 3 Monday, June 9 1 08h00 - 21h00 2 3 SATELLITE CAFETERIAS (Bldgs. 30, 40, 54) will open at the usual hours on Friday 30 May only. The KIOSK will open from 8:00 to 17:00 hrs on Friday 30 May.

Weekend specialist intensity and admission mortality in acute hospital trusts in England: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Aldridge, Cassie; Bion, Julian; Boyal, Amunpreet; Chen, Yen-Fu; Clancy, Mike; Evans, Tim; Girling, Alan; Lord, Joanne; Mannion, Russell; Rees, Peter; Roseveare, Chris; Rudge, Gavin; Sun, Jianxia; Tarrant, Carolyn; Temple, Mark; Watson, Sam; Lilford, Richard

2016-07-09

Increased mortality rates associated with weekend hospital admission (the so-called weekend effect) have been attributed to suboptimum staffing levels of specialist consultants. However, evidence for a causal association is elusive, and the magnitude of the weekend specialist deficit remains unquantified. This uncertainty could hamper efforts by national health systems to introduce 7 day health services. We aimed to examine preliminary associations between specialist intensity and weekend admission mortality across the English National Health Service. Eligible hospital trusts were those in England receiving unselected emergency admissions. On Sunday June 15 and Wednesday June 18, 2014, we undertook a point prevalence survey of hospital specialists (consultants) to obtain data relating to the care of patients admitted as emergencies. We defined specialist intensity at each trust as the self-reported estimated number of specialist hours per ten emergency admissions between 0800 h and 2000 h on Sunday and Wednesday. With use of data for all adult emergency admissions for financial year 2013-14, we compared weekend to weekday admission risk of mortality with the Sunday to Wednesday specialist intensity ratio within each trust. We stratified trusts by size quintile. 127 of 141 eligible acute hospital trusts agreed to participate; 115 (91%) trusts contributed data to the point prevalence survey. Of 34,350 clinicians surveyed, 15,537 (45%) responded. Substantially fewer specialists were present providing care to emergency admissions on Sunday (1667 [11%]) than on Wednesday (6105 [42%]). Specialists present on Sunday spent 40% more time caring for emergency patients than did those present on Wednesday (mean 5·74 h [SD 3·39] vs 3·97 h [3·31]); however, the median specialist intensity on Sunday was only 48% (IQR 40-58) of that on Wednesday. The Sunday to Wednesday intensity ratio was less than 0·7 in 104 (90%) of the contributing trusts. Mortality risk among patients

Outcomes of nighttime refusal of admission to the intensive care unit: The role of the intensivist in triage.

Science.gov (United States)

Hinds, Nicholas; Borah, Amit; Yoo, Erika J

2017-06-01

To compare outcomes of patients refused medical intensive care unit (MICU) admission overnight to those refused during the day and to examine the impact of the intensivist in triage. Retrospective, observational study of patients refused MICU admission at an urban university hospital. Of 294 patients, 186 (63.3%) were refused admission overnight compared to 108 (36.7%) refused during the day. Severity-of-illness by the Mortality Probability Model was similar between the two groups (P=.20). Daytime triage refusals were more likely to be staffed by an intensivist (P=.01). After risk-adjustment, daytime refusals had a lower odds of subsequent ICU admission (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.22-0.95, P=.04) than patients triaged at night. There was no evidence for interaction between time of triage and intensivist staffing of the patient (P=.99). Patients refused MICU admission overnight are more likely to be later admitted to an ICU than patients refused during the day. However, the mechanism for this observation does not appear to depend on the intensivist's direct evaluation of the patient. Further investigation into the clinician-specific effects of ICU triage and identification of potentially modifiable hospital triage practices will help to improve both ICU utilization and patient safety. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Compensation for Adolescents' School Mental Load by Physical Activity on Weekend Days.

Science.gov (United States)

Kudláček, Michal; Frömel, Karel; Jakubec, Lukáš; Groffik, Dorota

2016-03-09

Increasing mental load and inadequate stress management significantly affect the efficiency, success and safety of the educational/working process in adolescents. The objective of this study is to determine the extent that adolescents compensate for their school mental load by physical activity (PA) on weekend days and, thus, to contribute to the objective measurement of mental load in natural working conditions. A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2013 and April 2014. A set of different methods was employed-self-administered questionnaire (IPAQ-long questionnaire), objective measurements-pedometers, and accelerometers (ActiTrainers). They was distributed to 548 students from 17 high schools. Participants' mental load was assessed based on the difference between PA intensity and/or physical inactivity and heart rate range. The participants with the highest mental load during school lessons do not compensate for this load by PA on weekend days. Adolescents need to be encouraged to be aware of their subjective mental load and to intentionally compensate for this load by PA on weekend days. It is necessary to support the process of adopting habits by sufficient physical literacy of students, as well as teachers, and by changes in the school program.

Estimating the right allocation of resources on weekends and public holidays in Green Zone using hybrid methods

Science.gov (United States)

Yusoff, Nazhatul Sahima Mohd; Liong, Choong-Yeun; Ismail, Wan Rosmanira; Noh, Abu Yazid Md; Noor, Nur Amalina Mohd

2018-04-01

Long patient waiting time and congestion is a major problem faced by Green Zone in Emergency Department at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (EDHUSM) especially during weekends and public holidays. Even though the Green Zone is servicing only the non-critical patients, patient waiting time, causing the department fails to achieve its Key Performance Indicator (KPI). The long waiting time is due to the insufficient resources provided during the weekends and public holidays versus the large number of patients. Currently, only two doctors supported by two nurses are scheduled for every shift during weekends and public holidays. The numbers of patients are higher during weekends and public holidays as compared to weekdays, but the scheduled number of doctors and nurses are the same as weekdays. Therefore, this study presents a hybrid method to estimate the right number of doctors and nurses for improving the services of the Green Zone during weekends and public holidays. Fifty scenarios based on current and proposed schedules of doctors and nurses are simulated and analysed using the hybrid method of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) input-oriented model and Super-Efficiency models of DEA were used to analyse the efficiency of the scenarios. The results show that the best schedule is a combination of four doctors supported by four nurses in every shift during weekends and public holidays for the Green Zone. The findings show that such schedule will not only help the department to achieve its KPI but also enable a more optimal utilization of the resources.

When Mothers' Work Matters for Youths' Daily Time Use: Implications of Evening and Weekend Shifts.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Soomi; Davis, Kelly D; McHale, Susan M; Kelly, Erin L; Kossek, Ellen Ernst; Crouter, Ann C

2017-08-01

Drawing upon the work-home resources model, this study examined the implications of mothers' evening and weekend shifts for youths' time with mother, alone, and hanging out with peers unsupervised, with attention to both the amount and day-to-day consistency of time use. Data came from 173 mothers who worked in the long-term care industry and their youths who provided daily diaries. Multilevel modeling revealed that youths whose mothers worked more evening shifts on average spent less time with their mothers compared to youths whose mothers worked fewer evening shifts. Youths whose mothers worked more weekend shifts, however, spent more time with their mothers and exhibited less consistency in their time in all three activity domains compared to youths whose mothers worked fewer weekend shifts. Girls, not boys, spent less time alone on days when mothers worked weekend shifts than on days with standard shifts. Older but not younger adolescents spent more time hanging out with friends on evening and weekend shift days, and their unsupervised peer time was less consistent across days when mothers worked more evening shifts. These effects adjusted for sociodemographic and day characteristics, including school day, number of children in the household, mothers' marital status and work hours, and time with fathers. Our results illuminate the importance of the timing and day of mothers' work for youths' daily activities. Future interventions should consider how to increase mothers' resources to deal with constraints on parenting due to their work during nonstandard hours, with attention to child gender and age.

Communities and Spontaneous Urban Planning: A Toolkit for Urban ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

State-led urban planning is often absent, which creates unsustainable environments and hinders the integration of migrants. Communities' prospects of ... This toolkit is expected to be a viable alternative for planning urban expansion wherever it cannot be carried out through traditional means. The toolkit will be tested in ...

Effects of a Short Video-Based Resident-as-Teacher Training Toolkit on Resident Teaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Ricciotti, Hope A; Freret, Taylor S; Aluko, Ashley; McKeon, Bri Anne; Haviland, Miriam J; Newman, Lori R

2017-10-01

To pilot a short video-based resident-as-teacher training toolkit and assess its effect on resident teaching skills in clinical settings. A video-based resident-as-teacher training toolkit was previously developed by educational experts at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. Residents were recruited from two academic hospitals, watched two videos from the toolkit ("Clinical Teaching Skills" and "Effective Clinical Supervision"), and completed an accompanying self-study guide. A novel assessment instrument for evaluating the effect of the toolkit on teaching was created through a modified Delphi process. Before and after the intervention, residents were observed leading a clinical teaching encounter and scored using the 15-item assessment instrument. The primary outcome of interest was the change in number of skills exhibited, which was assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Twenty-eight residents from two academic hospitals were enrolled, and 20 (71%) completed all phases of the study. More than one third of residents who volunteered to participate reported no prior formal teacher training. After completing two training modules, residents demonstrated a significant increase in the median number of teaching skills exhibited in a clinical teaching encounter, from 7.5 (interquartile range 6.5-9.5) to 10.0 (interquartile range 9.0-11.5; P<.001). Of the 15 teaching skills assessed, there were significant improvements in asking for the learner's perspective (P=.01), providing feedback (P=.005), and encouraging questions (P=.046). Using a resident-as-teacher video-based toolkit was associated with improvements in teaching skills in residents from multiple specialties.

Young Children's Energy Expenditure and Moderate-to-vigorous Physical Activity on Weekdays and Weekends.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jung Eun; Stodden, David F; Gao, Zan

2016-09-01

Few studies have examined young children's leisure- and school-based energy expenditure (EE) and moderateto-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The purpose of this study was to explore children's estimated EE rates and time spent in MVPA in 3 time segments: at-school, after-school, and weekends. A total of 187 second and third grade children from 2 elementary schools participated in the study. Accelerometers were used to assess children's 5-day EE and MVPA. Multiple 2 (Grade) × 2 (Gender) ANOVAs with repeated measures (Time) were conducted to examine the differences in the outcome variables. Significant time effects on EE and MVPA were revealed. Children's EE rate and minutes in MVPA per day were higher during after school and weekends than at school. Although children were more active outside of school, their MVPA during weekdays and weekends still fell far short of the recommended level of 60 minutes/day.

30 CFR 77.215-2 - Refuse piles; reporting requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Refuse piles; reporting requirements. 77.215-2... COAL MINES Surface Installations § 77.215-2 Refuse piles; reporting requirements. (a) The proposed location of a new refuse pile shall be reported to and acknowledged in writing by the District Manager...

Design-based learning in classrooms using playful digital toolkits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scheltenaar, K.J.; van der Poel, J.E.C.; Bekker, Tilde

2015-01-01

The goal of this paper is to explore how to implement Design Based Learning (DBL) with digital toolkits to teach 21st century skills in (Dutch) schools. It describes the outcomes of a literature study and two design case studies in which such a DBL approach with digital toolkits was iteratively

An Overview of the Geant4 Toolkit

CERN Document Server

Apostolakis, John

2007-01-01

Geant4 is a toolkit for the simulation of the transport of radiation trough matter. With a flexible kernel and choices between different physics modeling choices, it has been tailored to the requirements of a wide range of applications. With the toolkit a user can describe a setup's or detector's geometry and materials, navigate inside it, simulate the physical interactions using a choice of physics engines, underlying physics cross-sections and models, visualise and store results. Physics models describing electromagnetic and hadronic interactions are provided, as are decays and processes for optical photons. Several models, with different precision and performance are available for many processes. The toolkit includes coherent physics model configurations, which are called physics lists. Users can choose an existing physics list or create their own, depending on their requirements and the application area. A clear structure and readable code, enable the user to investigate the origin of physics results. App...

The Lean and Environment Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

This Lean and Environment Toolkit assembles practical experience collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and partner companies and organizations that have experience with coordinating Lean implementation and environmental management.

Differences between "refusers" and "non-refusers" in a psychological study.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoogstraten, J.; Vorst, H.C.M.

1972-01-01

Administered the ABV (Amsterdam Biographical Questionnaire) and the LOS (Leadership Concept Scale) to 98 students. The directions indicated that the Ss need not comply with the requirement to complete the LOS. 21 Ss failed to avail themselves of this permission and were labeled "refusers" (A). Their

Primary care pediatricians' perceptions of vaccine refusal in europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Grossman, Zachi; van Esso, Diego; Del Torso, Stefano; Hadjipanayis, Adamos; Drabik, Anna; Gerber, Andreas; Miron, Dan

2011-03-01

An electronic survey assessing primary care pediatricians' estimations and practices regarding parents' vaccination refusal was sent to 395 members of the European Academy of Pediatrics Research in Ambulatory Setting network, with a response rate of 87%. Of respondents who vaccinate in the clinic, 93% estimated the total vaccine refusal rate as refusing parents.

Persian Speakers' Use of Refusal Strategies across Politeness Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Salmani Nodoushan, Mohammad Ali

2016-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the preferred refusal strategies in Persian. 3047 refusals collected by 108 field workers as well as 376 refusals collected through face to face interviews were analyzed and classified according to the descriptions proposed by Liao (1994) and Liao and Bresnahan (1996). The frequencies of the resulting direct and…

19 CFR 12.114 - Release or refusal of delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Release or refusal of delivery. 12.114 Section 12... delivery. If the completed Notice of Arrival directs the port director to release the shipment of... directs the port director to refuse delivery of the shipment, the shipment shall be refused delivery and...

Lean and Information Technology Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

The Lean and Information Technology Toolkit is a how-to guide which provides resources to environmental agencies to help them use Lean Startup, Lean process improvement, and Agile tools to streamline and automate processes.

Screen-based behaviour in Czech adolescents is more prevalent at weekends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zdenek Hamrik

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Background: One of the main reasons for recent scientific interest in screen-based behaviour (SB is the relationship between SB and risk of being overweight or obese. The primary mechanism for overweight and obesity is an imbalance of energy intake versus energy expenditure and one reason for the interest in SB is its association with reduced energy expenditure relative to other activities. Objective: The aim of this study is to provide a basic overview of the level and structure of SB in Czech adolescents on the basis of age and gender while taking into account the differences between weekday and weekend screen based activities. Methods: Data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC study conducted in May-June 2010 in the Czech Republic were used. The sample consisted of 4365 Czech pupils (48.5% boys; age 11, n = 1406; age 13, n = 1446; age 15, n = 1513. Binomial logistic regression and Chi-square test of independence were used to provide basic comparison on the basis of gender and age groups. Results: The prevalence of SB rise with growing age with the most visible increase in prevalence is between ages 11 and age 13. SB is significantly more prevalent among adolescent boys compared with adolescent girls. Czech adolescents are more likely to not meet the recommendation of 2 hours for watching TV at weekends compared to weekdays. Playing computer games is more common among boys contrary to chatting online, which is more common among girls. The overall patterns of playing computer games and chatting online during weekends were similar to those at weekdays but increased. Conclusions: Most children in the Czech Republic do not meet the limit for total SB time of 4 or fewer hours while the prevalence of SB rises with growing age and at weekends. Interventions and strategies aiming at reducing SB in children focusing on the family and school environment in the Czech Republic are required.

CERN Webfest: A weekend for science on the web

CERN Multimedia

CERN Bulletin

2013-01-01

Are you passionate about science? Do you like communicating that passion to the general public? Then come along to the CERN Summer Student Webfest on the weekend of 3-4 August! It is a grassroots initiative by the summer students, open to all staff and users, and aims to spark new ideas that could innovate the future of web-based education about CERN, the LHC and particle physics.   The CERN Summer Student Webfest is a weekend of online web-based creativity modelled on the gatherings (sometimes called hackfests or hackathons) that energize many open-source communities. You can work with like-minded students and CERN staff to design and build demos of the web apps you would like to see online. Prizes will be awarded to the best projects, with a Grand Prize winner receiving a trip to the Mozilla Festival in London! Participants in the CERN Summer Student Webfest will work in teams and design neat applications that encourage the public to learn more about science and, in particular, CE...

36 CFR 1002.14 - Sanitation and refuse.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Sanitation and refuse. 1002.14 Section 1002.14 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 1002.14 Sanitation and refuse. (a) The following are prohibited: (1) Disposing of...

The SpeX Prism Library Analysis Toolkit: Design Considerations and First Results

Science.gov (United States)

Burgasser, Adam J.; Aganze, Christian; Escala, Ivana; Lopez, Mike; Choban, Caleb; Jin, Yuhui; Iyer, Aishwarya; Tallis, Melisa; Suarez, Adrian; Sahi, Maitrayee

2016-01-01

Various observational and theoretical spectral libraries now exist for galaxies, stars, planets and other objects, which have proven useful for classification, interpretation, simulation and model development. Effective use of these libraries relies on analysis tools, which are often left to users to develop. In this poster, we describe a program to develop a combined spectral data repository and Python-based analysis toolkit for low-resolution spectra of very low mass dwarfs (late M, L and T dwarfs), which enables visualization, spectral index analysis, classification, atmosphere model comparison, and binary modeling for nearly 2000 library spectra and user-submitted data. The SpeX Prism Library Analysis Toolkit (SPLAT) is being constructed as a collaborative, student-centered, learning-through-research model with high school, undergraduate and graduate students and regional science teachers, who populate the database and build the analysis tools through quarterly challenge exercises and summer research projects. In this poster, I describe the design considerations of the toolkit, its current status and development plan, and report the first published results led by undergraduate students. The combined data and analysis tools are ideal for characterizing cool stellar and exoplanetary atmospheres (including direct exoplanetary spectra observations by Gemini/GPI, VLT/SPHERE, and JWST), and the toolkit design can be readily adapted for other spectral datasets as well.This material is based upon work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX15AI75G. SPLAT code can be found at https://github.com/aburgasser/splat.

Outage Risk Assessment and Management (ORAM) thermal-hydraulics toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denny, V.E.; Wassel, A.T.; Issacci, F.; Pal Kalra, S.

2004-01-01

A PC-based thermal-hydraulic toolkit for use in support of outage optimization, management and risk assessment has been developed. This mechanistic toolkit incorporates simple models of key thermal-hydraulic processes which occur during an outage, such as recovery from or mitigation of outage upsets; this includes heat-up of water pools following loss of shutdown cooling, inadvertent drain down of the RCS, boiloff of coolant inventory, heatup of the uncovered core, and reflux cooling. This paper provides a list of key toolkit elements, briefly describes the technical basis and presents illustrative results for RCS transient behavior during reflux cooling, peak clad temperatures for an uncovered core and RCS response to loss of shutdown cooling. (author)

Low-Income Mothers' Nighttime and Weekend Work: Daily Associations with Child Behavior, Mother-Child Interactions, and Mood

Science.gov (United States)

Gassman-Pines, Anna

2011-01-01

This study investigated low-income mothers' daily nighttime and weekend work and family outcomes. Sixty-one mothers of preschool-aged children reported daily on work hours, mood, mother-child interaction, and child behavior for two weeks (N = 724 person-days). Although nighttime and weekend work are both nonstandard schedules, results showed…

When "no" might not quite mean "no"; the importance of informed and meaningful non-consent: results from a survey of individuals refusing participation in a health-related research project.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Brian; Irvine, Linda; McGinnis, Alison R; McMurdo, Marion E T; Crombie, Iain K

2007-04-26

Low participation rates can lead to sampling bias, delays in completion and increased costs. Strategies to improve participation rates should address reasons for non-participation. However, most empirical research has focused on participants' motives rather than the reasons why non-participants refuse to take part. In this study we investigated the reasons why older people choose not to participate in a research project. Follow-up study of people living in Tayside, Scotland who had opted-out of a cross-sectional survey on activities in retirement. Eight hundred and eighty seven people aged 65-84 years were invited to take part in a home-based cross-sectional survey. Of these, 471 refused to take part. Permission was obtained to follow-up 417 of the refusers. Demographic characteristics of people who refused to take part and the reasons they gave for not taking part were collected. 54% of those invited to take part in the original cross-sectional survey refused to do so. However, 61% of these individuals went on to participate in the follow-up study and provided reasons for their original refusal. For the vast majority of people initial non-participation did not reflect an objection to participating in research in principle but frequently stemmed from barriers or misunderstandings about the nature or process of the project itself. Only 28% indicated that they were "not interested in research". The meaningfulness of expressions of non-consent may therefore be called into question. Hierarchical log-linear modelling showed that refusal was independently influenced by age, gender and social class. However, this response pattern was different for the follow-up study in which reasons for non-participation in the first survey were sought. This difference in pattern and response rates supports the likely importance of recruitment issues that are research and context specific. An expression of non-consent does not necessarily mean that a fully informed evaluation of the pros

Insulin therapy refusal among type II diabetes mellitus patients in Kubang Pasu district, Kedah, Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Wei Leong; Asahar, Siti Fairus; Harun, Noor Liani

2015-01-01

INTRODUCTION Diabetes mellitus is a rising non-communicable disease in Malaysia. Insulin therapy refusal is a challenge for healthcare providers, as it results in delayed insulin initiation. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of insulin therapy refusal and its associated factors. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted at seven public health clinics in Kubang Pasu district of Kedah, Malaysia, from March to October 2012. A newly developed and validated questionnaire was used and participants were selected via systematic random sampling. Only patients diagnosed with type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and under the public health clinic care in Kubang Pasu were included in the study. Multiple logistic regression was used to study the association between insulin therapy refusal and its associated factors. RESULTS There were 461 respondents and the response rate was 100%. Among these 461 patients with T2DM, 74.2% refused insulin therapy. The most common reason given for refusal was a lack of confidence in insulin injection (85.4%). Multiple logistic regression revealed that respondents who had secondary education were 55.0% less likely to refuse insulin therapy than those who had primary education or no formal education (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.25–0.82, p = 0.009). There was also a significant inverse association between glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level and insulin therapy refusal (adjusted OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.76–1.00, p = 0.047). CONCLUSION Insulin therapy refusal is common in Kubang Pasu. Educational status and HbA1c level should be taken into consideration when counselling patients on insulin therapy initiation. PMID:25532511

36 CFR 2.14 - Sanitation and refuse.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Sanitation and refuse. 2.14 Section 2.14 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.14 Sanitation and refuse. (a) The following are...

Compensation for Adolescents’ School Mental Load by Physical Activity on Weekend Days

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal Kudláček

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction and objective: Increasing mental load and inadequate stress management significantly affect the efficiency, success and safety of the educational/working process in adolescents. The objective of this study is to determine the extent that adolescents compensate for their school mental load by physical activity (PA on weekend days and, thus, to contribute to the objective measurement of mental load in natural working conditions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2013 and April 2014. A set of different methods was employed—self-administered questionnaire (IPAQ-long questionnaire, objective measurements—pedometers, and accelerometers (ActiTrainers. They was distributed to 548 students from 17 high schools. Participants’ mental load was assessed based on the difference between PA intensity and/or physical inactivity and heart rate range. Results: The participants with the highest mental load during school lessons do not compensate for this load by PA on weekend days. Conclusions: Adolescents need to be encouraged to be aware of their subjective mental load and to intentionally compensate for this load by PA on weekend days. It is necessary to support the process of adopting habits by sufficient physical literacy of students, as well as teachers, and by changes in the school program.

Cinfony – combining Open Source cheminformatics toolkits behind a common interface

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hutchison Geoffrey R

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Open Source cheminformatics toolkits such as OpenBabel, the CDK and the RDKit share the same core functionality but support different sets of file formats and forcefields, and calculate different fingerprints and descriptors. Despite their complementary features, using these toolkits in the same program is difficult as they are implemented in different languages (C++ versus Java, have different underlying chemical models and have different application programming interfaces (APIs. Results We describe Cinfony, a Python module that presents a common interface to all three of these toolkits, allowing the user to easily combine methods and results from any of the toolkits. In general, the run time of the Cinfony modules is almost as fast as accessing the underlying toolkits directly from C++ or Java, but Cinfony makes it much easier to carry out common tasks in cheminformatics such as reading file formats and calculating descriptors. Conclusion By providing a simplified interface and improving interoperability, Cinfony makes it easy to combine complementary features of OpenBabel, the CDK and the RDKit.

Association Between Weekend and Holiday Admission with Pneumonia and Mortality in a Tertiary Center in Portugal: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Cortes, Margarida Barreto; Fernandes, Samuel Raimundo; Aranha, Patricia; Avô, Luís Brito; Falcão, Luís Menezes

2017-05-31

Acute bacterial pneumonia is a common and potentially fatal disease where early recognition and treatment are crucial. Increasing medical literature suggests worse outcomes in patients admitted for medical and surgical conditions during the weekend. Little is known about this effect in patients with acute bacterial pneumonia. Obective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of weekend and holiday hospital admission on the outcomes of acute bacterial pneumonia. Retrospective analysis of adult patients (> 18 years) with acute bacterial pneumonia collected from a tertiary referral center database. Length of stay, total cost, admission to intensive care unit, development of sepsis and organ failure, and mortality were compared between patients admitted on a weekday and patients admitted during a weekend or holiday. We analyzed 53 854 hospital admissions from 42 512 patients (median age 84.0 years, range 18 - 118 years), corresponding to 30 554 admissions during weekdays, 21 222 at weekends and 2078 during public holidays. Weekend and holiday admission was not associated with increased costs, length of stay, intensive care unit admission, development of sepsis, organ failure, and mortality. A weekend/holiday effect in acute bacterial pneumonia was not evident in our series.

Refusal of Curative Radiation Therapy and Surgery Among Patients With Cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aizer, Ayal A.; Chen, Ming-Hui; Parekh, Arti; Choueiri, Toni K.; Hoffman, Karen E.; Kim, Simon P.; Martin, Neil E.; Hu, Jim C.; Trinh, Quoc-Dien; Nguyen, Paul L.

2014-01-01

Purpose: Surgery and radiation therapy represent the only curative options for many patients with solid malignancies. However, despite the recommendations of their physicians, some patients refuse these therapies. This study characterized factors associated with refusal of surgical or radiation therapy as well as the impact of refusal of recommended therapy on patients with localized malignancies. Methods and Materials: We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program to identify a population-based sample of 925,127 patients who had diagnoses of 1 of 8 common malignancies for which surgery and/or radiation are believed to confer a survival benefit between 1995 and 2008. Refusal of oncologic therapy, as documented in the SEER database, was the primary outcome measure. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate factors associated with refusal. The impact of refusal of therapy on cancer-specific mortality was assessed with Fine and Gray's competing risks regression. Results: In total, 2441 of 692,938 patients (0.4%) refused surgery, and 2113 of 232,189 patients (0.9%) refused radiation, despite the recommendations of their physicians. On multivariable analysis, advancing age, decreasing annual income, nonwhite race, and unmarried status were associated with refusal of surgery, whereas advancing age, decreasing annual income, Asian American race, and unmarried status were associated with refusal of radiation (P<.001 in all cases). Refusal of surgery and radiation were associated with increased estimates of cancer-specific mortality for all malignancies evaluated (hazard ratio [HR], 2.80, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.59-3.03; P<.001 and HR 1.97 [95% CI, 1.78-2.18]; P<.001, respectively). Conclusions: Nonwhite, less affluent, and unmarried patients are more likely to refuse curative surgical and/or radiation-based oncologic therapy, raising concern that socioeconomic factors may drive some patients to forego potentially life

Refusal of Curative Radiation Therapy and Surgery Among Patients With Cancer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aizer, Ayal A., E-mail: aaaizer@partners.org [Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Chen, Ming-Hui [Department of Statistics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut (United States); Parekh, Arti [Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Choueiri, Toni K. [Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Hoffman, Karen E. [Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (United States); Kim, Simon P. [Department of Urology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (United States); Martin, Neil E. [Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (United States); Hu, Jim C. [Department of Urology, University of California, Los Angeles, California (United States); Trinh, Quoc-Dien [Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Quebec (Canada); Nguyen, Paul L. [Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (United States)

2014-07-15

Purpose: Surgery and radiation therapy represent the only curative options for many patients with solid malignancies. However, despite the recommendations of their physicians, some patients refuse these therapies. This study characterized factors associated with refusal of surgical or radiation therapy as well as the impact of refusal of recommended therapy on patients with localized malignancies. Methods and Materials: We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program to identify a population-based sample of 925,127 patients who had diagnoses of 1 of 8 common malignancies for which surgery and/or radiation are believed to confer a survival benefit between 1995 and 2008. Refusal of oncologic therapy, as documented in the SEER database, was the primary outcome measure. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate factors associated with refusal. The impact of refusal of therapy on cancer-specific mortality was assessed with Fine and Gray's competing risks regression. Results: In total, 2441 of 692,938 patients (0.4%) refused surgery, and 2113 of 232,189 patients (0.9%) refused radiation, despite the recommendations of their physicians. On multivariable analysis, advancing age, decreasing annual income, nonwhite race, and unmarried status were associated with refusal of surgery, whereas advancing age, decreasing annual income, Asian American race, and unmarried status were associated with refusal of radiation (P<.001 in all cases). Refusal of surgery and radiation were associated with increased estimates of cancer-specific mortality for all malignancies evaluated (hazard ratio [HR], 2.80, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.59-3.03; P<.001 and HR 1.97 [95% CI, 1.78-2.18]; P<.001, respectively). Conclusions: Nonwhite, less affluent, and unmarried patients are more likely to refuse curative surgical and/or radiation-based oncologic therapy, raising concern that socioeconomic factors may drive some patients to forego potentially life

chemf: A purely functional chemistry toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Höck, Stefan; Riedl, Rainer

2012-12-20

Although programming in a type-safe and referentially transparent style offers several advantages over working with mutable data structures and side effects, this style of programming has not seen much use in chemistry-related software. Since functional programming languages were designed with referential transparency in mind, these languages offer a lot of support when writing immutable data structures and side-effects free code. We therefore started implementing our own toolkit based on the above programming paradigms in a modern, versatile programming language. We present our initial results with functional programming in chemistry by first describing an immutable data structure for molecular graphs together with a couple of simple algorithms to calculate basic molecular properties before writing a complete SMILES parser in accordance with the OpenSMILES specification. Along the way we show how to deal with input validation, error handling, bulk operations, and parallelization in a purely functional way. At the end we also analyze and improve our algorithms and data structures in terms of performance and compare it to existing toolkits both object-oriented and purely functional. All code was written in Scala, a modern multi-paradigm programming language with a strong support for functional programming and a highly sophisticated type system. We have successfully made the first important steps towards a purely functional chemistry toolkit. The data structures and algorithms presented in this article perform well while at the same time they can be safely used in parallelized applications, such as computer aided drug design experiments, without further adjustments. This stands in contrast to existing object-oriented toolkits where thread safety of data structures and algorithms is a deliberate design decision that can be hard to implement. Finally, the level of type-safety achieved by Scala highly increased the reliability of our code as well as the productivity of

Refuse derived soluble bio-organics enhancing tomato plant growth and productivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sortino, Orazio [Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche Agrochimiche e delle Produzioni Animali, Universita degli Studi di Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania (Italy); Dipasquale, Mauro [Dipartimento di Chimica, Universita di Torino, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino (Italy); Montoneri, Enzo, E-mail: enzo.montoneri@unito.it [Dipartimento di Chimica, Universita di Torino, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino (Italy); Tomasso, Lorenzo; Perrone, Daniele G. [Dipartimento di Chimica, Universita di Torino, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino (Italy); Vindrola, Daniela; Negre, Michele; Piccone, Giuseppe [Dipartimento di Valorizzazione e Protezione delle Risorse Agroforestali, Universita di Torino, Via L. da Vinci 44, 10095 Grugliasco (Italy)

2012-10-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Municipal bio-wastes are a sustainable source of bio-based products. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Refuse derived soluble bio-organics promote chlorophyll synthesis. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Refuse derived soluble bio-organics enhance plant growth and fruit ripening rate. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Sustainable chemistry exploiting urban refuse allows sustainable development. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Chemistry, agriculture and the environment benefit from biowaste technology. - Abstract: Municipal bio-refuse (CVD), containing kitchen wastes, home gardening residues and public park trimmings, was treated with alkali to yield a soluble bio-organic fraction (SBO) and an insoluble residue. These materials were characterized using elemental analysis, potentiometric titration, and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and then applied as organic fertilizers to soil for tomato greenhouse cultivation. Their performance was compared with a commercial product obtained from animal residues. Plant growth, fruit yield and quality, and soil and leaf chemical composition were the selected performance indicators. The SBO exhibited the best performance by enhancing leaf chlorophyll content, improving plant growth and fruit ripening rate and yield. No product performance-chemical composition relationship could be assessed. Solubility could be one reason for the superior performance of SBO as a tomato growth promoter. The enhancement of leaf chlorophyll content is discussed to identify a possible link with the SBO photosensitizing properties that have been demonstrated in other work, and thus with photosynthetic performance.

Refuse derived soluble bio-organics enhancing tomato plant growth and productivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sortino, Orazio; Dipasquale, Mauro; Montoneri, Enzo; Tomasso, Lorenzo; Perrone, Daniele G.; Vindrola, Daniela; Negre, Michele; Piccone, Giuseppe

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Municipal bio-wastes are a sustainable source of bio-based products. ► Refuse derived soluble bio-organics promote chlorophyll synthesis. ► Refuse derived soluble bio-organics enhance plant growth and fruit ripening rate. ► Sustainable chemistry exploiting urban refuse allows sustainable development. ► Chemistry, agriculture and the environment benefit from biowaste technology. - Abstract: Municipal bio-refuse (CVD), containing kitchen wastes, home gardening residues and public park trimmings, was treated with alkali to yield a soluble bio-organic fraction (SBO) and an insoluble residue. These materials were characterized using elemental analysis, potentiometric titration, and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and then applied as organic fertilizers to soil for tomato greenhouse cultivation. Their performance was compared with a commercial product obtained from animal residues. Plant growth, fruit yield and quality, and soil and leaf chemical composition were the selected performance indicators. The SBO exhibited the best performance by enhancing leaf chlorophyll content, improving plant growth and fruit ripening rate and yield. No product performance-chemical composition relationship could be assessed. Solubility could be one reason for the superior performance of SBO as a tomato growth promoter. The enhancement of leaf chlorophyll content is discussed to identify a possible link with the SBO photosensitizing properties that have been demonstrated in other work, and thus with photosynthetic performance.

Provider perceptions of an integrated primary care quality improvement strategy: The PPAQ toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Beehler, Gregory P; Lilienthal, Kaitlin R

2017-02-01

The Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) model of integrated primary care is challenging to implement with high fidelity. The Primary Care Behavioral Health Provider Adherence Questionnaire (PPAQ) was designed to assess provider adherence to essential model components and has recently been adapted into a quality improvement toolkit. The aim of this pilot project was to gather preliminary feedback on providers' perceptions of the acceptability and utility of the PPAQ toolkit for making beneficial practice changes. Twelve mental health providers working in Department of Veterans Affairs integrated primary care clinics participated in semistructured interviews to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis were used to analyze data. Providers identified several positive features of the PPAQ toolkit organization and structure that resulted in high ratings of acceptability, while also identifying several toolkit components in need of modification to improve usability. Toolkit content was considered highly representative of the (PCBH) model and therefore could be used as a diagnostic self-assessment of model adherence. The toolkit was considered to be high in applicability to providers regardless of their degree of prior professional preparation or current clinical setting. Additionally, providers identified several system-level contextual factors that could impact the usefulness of the toolkit. These findings suggest that frontline mental health providers working in (PCBH) settings may be receptive to using an adherence-focused toolkit for ongoing quality improvement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Knowledge information management toolkit and method

Science.gov (United States)

Hempstead, Antoinette R.; Brown, Kenneth L.

2006-08-15

A system is provided for managing user entry and/or modification of knowledge information into a knowledge base file having an integrator support component and a data source access support component. The system includes processing circuitry, memory, a user interface, and a knowledge base toolkit. The memory communicates with the processing circuitry and is configured to store at least one knowledge base. The user interface communicates with the processing circuitry and is configured for user entry and/or modification of knowledge pieces within a knowledge base. The knowledge base toolkit is configured for converting knowledge in at least one knowledge base from a first knowledge base form into a second knowledge base form. A method is also provided.

Dietary patterns on weekdays and weekend days in 4–14-year-old Danish children

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rothausen, Berit Worm; Matthiessen, Jeppe; Andersen, L. F.

2013-01-01

National Survey of Dietary Habits and Physical Activity 2003–8, where a total of 784 children aged 4–14 years completed a 7 d pre-coded food record. Principal component analysis was used to identify dietary patterns in the age groups 4–6, 7–10 and 11–14 years. Consistently, two dietary patterns, labelled...... patterns may somewhat track between weekdays and weekends, the specific foods actually eaten became less healthy during weekends....

Kekule.js: An Open Source JavaScript Chemoinformatics Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Chen; Jin, Xi; Dong, Ying; Chen, Ming

2016-06-27

Kekule.js is an open-source, object-oriented JavaScript toolkit for chemoinformatics. It provides methods for many common tasks in molecular informatics, including chemical data input/output (I/O), two- and three-dimensional (2D/3D) rendering of chemical structure, stereo identification, ring perception, structure comparison, and substructure search. Encapsulated widgets to display and edit chemical structures directly in web context are also supplied. Developed with web standards, the toolkit is ideal for building chemoinformatics applications over the Internet. Moreover, it is highly platform-independent and can also be used in desktop or mobile environments. Some initial applications, such as plugins for inputting chemical structures on the web and uses in chemistry education, have been developed based on the toolkit.

Validation of Power Output for the WIND Toolkit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

King, J.; Clifton, A.; Hodge, B. M.

2014-09-01

Renewable energy integration studies require wind data sets of high quality with realistic representations of the variability, ramping characteristics, and forecast performance for current wind power plants. The Wind Integration National Data Set (WIND) Toolkit is meant to be an update for and expansion of the original data sets created for the weather years from 2004 through 2006 during the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study and the Eastern Wind Integration Study. The WIND Toolkit expands these data sets to include the entire continental United States, increasing the total number of sites represented, and it includes the weather years from 2007 through 2012. In addition, the WIND Toolkit has a finer resolution for both the temporal and geographic dimensions. Three separate data sets will be created: a meteorological data set, a wind power data set, and a forecast data set. This report describes the validation of the wind power data set.

When "no" might not quite mean "no"; the importance of informed and meaningful non-consent: results from a survey of individuals refusing participation in a health-related research project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

McMurdo Marion ET

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Low participation rates can lead to sampling bias, delays in completion and increased costs. Strategies to improve participation rates should address reasons for non-participation. However, most empirical research has focused on participants' motives rather than the reasons why non-participants refuse to take part. In this study we investigated the reasons why older people choose not to participate in a research project. Methods Follow-up study of people living in Tayside, Scotland who had opted-out of a cross-sectional survey on activities in retirement. Eight hundred and eighty seven people aged 65–84 years were invited to take part in a home-based cross-sectional survey. Of these, 471 refused to take part. Permission was obtained to follow-up 417 of the refusers. Demographic characteristics of people who refused to take part and the reasons they gave for not taking part were collected. Results 54% of those invited to take part in the original cross-sectional survey refused to do so. However, 61% of these individuals went on to participate in the follow-up study and provided reasons for their original refusal. For the vast majority of people initial non-participation did not reflect an objection to participating in research in principle but frequently stemmed from barriers or misunderstandings about the nature or process of the project itself. Only 28% indicated that they were "not interested in research". The meaningfulness of expressions of non-consent may therefore be called into question. Hierarchical log-linear modelling showed that refusal was independently influenced by age, gender and social class. However, this response pattern was different for the follow-up study in which reasons for non-participation in the first survey were sought. This difference in pattern and response rates supports the likely importance of recruitment issues that are research and context specific. Conclusion An expression of non

A Weekend in the Country: The Outdoors, the Earth & Drama Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Chris

1999-01-01

A group of British graduate students in drama and movement therapy spent a weekend outdoors engaging in adventure, dramatic, and creative activities that focused on the symbolism of the Earth and increasing awareness of the self, the environment, and spirituality. (SV)

ARC Code TI: Crisis Mapping Toolkit

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Crisis Mapping Toolkit (CMT) is a collection of tools for processing geospatial data (images, satellite data, etc.) into cartographic products that improve...

Refuses and delays in the transportation by ship of radioactive material; Recusas e demoras no transporte maritimo de material radioativo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xavier, Clarice; Sobreira, Ana Celia [REM Industria e Comercio Ltda., Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)

2011-10-26

Some Class 7 materials can only be transported by ship, making that load and unload activities can be done in a port. In the Brazil, the port of Santos posses the most volume of cargo manipulation, and cargoes which contain radioactive material are always present with all manipulation requisites according to applicable regulations. The transport and manipulation operations of radioactive material are performed in accordance with national and international requisites but, some individuals posses yet a high risk perception according to our experience, involving members of Brazilian port authorities, the Navy and cargoes handlers at the ports. So, exist yet a high quantity of refuses and delays during the transport by ship. Therefore, a communication strategy was developed and applied, to inform the risk perception, supplying information on the very principles of ionizing radiation, legislation and uses of radiation, and so, diminishing the quantity of refuses and delays. From that initial communication strategy on, it becomes evident the necessity of training and conscience making a movement for the problem of refuses and delays be diminished

Factors related to treatment refusal in Taiwanese cancer patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang, Ting-Yu; Wang, Chao-Hui; Lin, Yu-Fen; Chou, Shu-Lan; Wang, Ching-Ting; Juang, Hsiao-Ting; Lin, Yung-Chang; Lin, Mei-Hsiang

2015-01-01

Incidence and mortality rates for cancer have increased dramatically in the recent 30 years in Taiwan. However, not all patients receive treatment. Treatment refusal might impair patient survival and life quality. In order to improve this situation, we proposed this study to evaluate factors that are related to refusal of treatment in cancer patients via a cancer case manager system. This study analysed data from a case management system during the period from 2010 to 2012 at a medical center in Northern Taiwan. We enrolled a total of 14,974 patients who were diagnosed with cancer. Using the PRECEDE Model as a framework, we conducted logistic regression analysis to identify independent variables that are significantly associated with refusal of therapy in cancer patients. A multivariate logistic regression model was also applied to estimate adjusted the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). A total of 253 patients (1.69%) refused treatment. The multivariate logistic regression result showed that the high risk factors for refusal of treatment in cancer patient included: concerns about adverse effects (prefuse treatment have poor survival. The present study provides evidence of factors that are related to refusal of therapy and might be helpful for further application and improvement of cancer care.

Pervasive refusal syndrome. Three German cases provide further illustration.

Science.gov (United States)

Jans, Thomas; Ball, Juliane; Preiss, Maike; Haberhausen, Michael; Warnke, Andreas; Renner, Tobias J

2011-09-01

Pervasive refusal syndrome (PRS) has been proposed as a new diagnostic entity among child and adolescent psychiatric disorders. It is characterized by a cluster of life-threatening symptoms including refusal of hood intake, decreased or complete lack of mobilization, and lack of communication as well as retreat from normal life activities. Active refusal to accept help as well as neglect of personal care have been core features of PRS in the limited number of cases reported in the last decade. There have, however; been cases with predominantly passive resistance, indicating the possibility that there may be a continuum from active refusal to passive resistance within PRS. Postulating this continuum allows for the integration of "depressive devitalization" -- a refusal syndrome mainly characterized by passive resistance -- into the concept of PRS. Here, three case vignettes of adolescent patients with PRS are presented. The patients' symptomatology can be allocated on this continuum of PRS. PRS and dissociative disorders are compared in greater detail and contrasted within this discussion of differential diagnoses at the poles of such a continuum. PRS is a useful diagnosis for cases involving symptoms of predominating refusal and retreat which cannot satisfactorily be classified by existing diagnostic categories, and which can mostly clearly be separated from dissociative disorder.

Refusal Skill Ability: An Examination of Adolescent Perceptions of Effectiveness

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, Tracy R.; Birnel, Sara; Graber, Julia A.; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne; Botvin, Gilbert J.

2010-01-01

This pilot study examined whether refusal assertion as defined by a proven drug prevention program was associated with adolescent perceptions of effectiveness by comparing two sets of coded responses to adolescent videotaped refusal role-plays (N = 63). The original set of codes was defined by programmatic standards of refusal assertion and the…

Sealed radioactive sources toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mac Kenzie, C.

2005-09-01

The IAEA has developed a Sealed Radioactive Sources Toolkit to provide information to key groups about the safety and security of sealed radioactive sources. The key groups addressed are officials in government agencies, medical users, industrial users and the scrap metal industry. The general public may also benefit from an understanding of the fundamentals of radiation safety

The ECVET toolkit customization for the nuclear energy sector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ceclan, Mihail; Ramos, Cesar Chenel; Estorff, Ulrike von [European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Petten (Netherlands). Inst. for Energy and Transport

2015-04-15

As part of its support to the introduction of ECVET in the nuclear energy sector, the Institute for Energy and Transport (IET) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission (EC), through the ECVET Team of the European Human Resources Observatory for the Nuclear energy sector (EHRO-N), developed in the last six years (2009-2014) a sectorial approach and a road map for ECVET implementation in the nuclear energy sector. In order to observe the road map for the ECVET implementation, the toolkit customization for nuclear energy sector is required. This article describes the outcomes of the toolkit customization, based on ECVET approach, for nuclear qualifications design. The process of the toolkit customization took into account the fact that nuclear qualifications are mostly of higher levels (five and above) of the European Qualifications Framework.

The ECVET toolkit customization for the nuclear energy sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ceclan, Mihail; Ramos, Cesar Chenel; Estorff, Ulrike von

2015-01-01

As part of its support to the introduction of ECVET in the nuclear energy sector, the Institute for Energy and Transport (IET) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission (EC), through the ECVET Team of the European Human Resources Observatory for the Nuclear energy sector (EHRO-N), developed in the last six years (2009-2014) a sectorial approach and a road map for ECVET implementation in the nuclear energy sector. In order to observe the road map for the ECVET implementation, the toolkit customization for nuclear energy sector is required. This article describes the outcomes of the toolkit customization, based on ECVET approach, for nuclear qualifications design. The process of the toolkit customization took into account the fact that nuclear qualifications are mostly of higher levels (five and above) of the European Qualifications Framework.

Friday Night Is Pizza Night: A Comparison of Children's Dietary Intake and Maternal Perceptions and Feeding Goals on Weekdays and Weekends.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffmann, Debra A; Marx, Jenna M; Burmeister, Jacob M; Musher-Eizenman, Dara R

2018-04-11

Childhood obesity is a serious issue in the U.S. While obesity is the result of a multitude of factors, a great deal of research has focused on children's dietary intake. While children's eating patterns vary throughout the week, not much else is known about weekday-weekend differences. Therefore, the current study examined differences in the frequency and portion size of school-age children's consumption of common foods and beverages, as well as mothers' perceptions of those items and their child feeding goals, on weekdays and weekends. A total of 192 mothers of children aged 7 to 11 were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Results showed a consistent pattern of more frequent consumption and larger portions of unhealthy foods and beverages on weekends. This aligned with mothers' perceptions of those foods and beverages as weekend items, as well as their feeding goals of health and price being less important on weekends. It is quite possible that weekends are viewed as having less structure and facilitate schedules that allow children to consume more meals away from home. These findings shed light on additional risk factors in children's eating patterns and highlight the serious implications that day of the week can have on childhood obesity.

Multimethod evaluation of the VA's peer-to-peer Toolkit for patient-centered medical home implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Luck, Jeff; Bowman, Candice; York, Laura; Midboe, Amanda; Taylor, Thomas; Gale, Randall; Asch, Steven

2014-07-01

Effective implementation of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) in primary care practices requires training and other resources, such as online toolkits, to share strategies and materials. The Veterans Health Administration (VA) developed an online Toolkit of user-sourced tools to support teams implementing its Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) medical home model. To present findings from an evaluation of the PACT Toolkit, including use, variation across facilities, effect of social marketing, and factors influencing use. The Toolkit is an online repository of ready-to-use tools created by VA clinic staff that physicians, nurses, and other team members may share, download, and adopt in order to more effectively implement PCMH principles and improve local performance on VA metrics. Multimethod evaluation using: (1) website usage analytics, (2) an online survey of the PACT community of practice's use of the Toolkit, and (3) key informant interviews. Survey respondents were PACT team members and coaches (n = 544) at 136 VA facilities. Interview respondents were Toolkit users and non-users (n = 32). For survey data, multivariable logistic models were used to predict Toolkit awareness and use. Interviews and open-text survey comments were coded using a "common themes" framework. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) guided data collection and analyses. The Toolkit was used by 6,745 staff in the first 19 months of availability. Among members of the target audience, 80 % had heard of the Toolkit, and of those, 70 % had visited the website. Tools had been implemented at 65 % of facilities. Qualitative findings revealed a range of user perspectives from enthusiastic support to lack of sufficient time to browse the Toolkit. An online Toolkit to support PCMH implementation was used at VA facilities nationwide. Other complex health care organizations may benefit from adopting similar online peer-to-peer resource libraries.

47 CFR 73.4005 - Advertising-refusal to sell.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Advertising-refusal to sell. 73.4005 Section 73.4005 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations § 73.4005 Advertising—refusal to sell. See 412...

PEA: an integrated R toolkit for plant epitranscriptome analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhai, Jingjing; Song, Jie; Cheng, Qian; Tang, Yunjia; Ma, Chuang

2018-05-29

The epitranscriptome, also known as chemical modifications of RNA (CMRs), is a newly discovered layer of gene regulation, the biological importance of which emerged through analysis of only a small fraction of CMRs detected by high-throughput sequencing technologies. Understanding of the epitranscriptome is hampered by the absence of computational tools for the systematic analysis of epitranscriptome sequencing data. In addition, no tools have yet been designed for accurate prediction of CMRs in plants, or to extend epitranscriptome analysis from a fraction of the transcriptome to its entirety. Here, we introduce PEA, an integrated R toolkit to facilitate the analysis of plant epitranscriptome data. The PEA toolkit contains a comprehensive collection of functions required for read mapping, CMR calling, motif scanning and discovery, and gene functional enrichment analysis. PEA also takes advantage of machine learning technologies for transcriptome-scale CMR prediction, with high prediction accuracy, using the Positive Samples Only Learning algorithm, which addresses the two-class classification problem by using only positive samples (CMRs), in the absence of negative samples (non-CMRs). Hence PEA is a versatile epitranscriptome analysis pipeline covering CMR calling, prediction, and annotation, and we describe its application to predict N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications in Arabidopsis thaliana. Experimental results demonstrate that the toolkit achieved 71.6% sensitivity and 73.7% specificity, which is superior to existing m6A predictors. PEA is potentially broadly applicable to the in-depth study of epitranscriptomics. PEA Docker image is available at https://hub.docker.com/r/malab/pea, source codes and user manual are available at https://github.com/cma2015/PEA. chuangma2006@gmail.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Refusal of curative radiation therapy and surgery among patients with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Aizer, Ayal A; Chen, Ming-Hui; Parekh, Arti; Choueiri, Toni K; Hoffman, Karen E; Kim, Simon P; Martin, Neil E; Hu, Jim C; Trinh, Quoc-Dien; Nguyen, Paul L

2014-07-15

Surgery and radiation therapy represent the only curative options for many patients with solid malignancies. However, despite the recommendations of their physicians, some patients refuse these therapies. This study characterized factors associated with refusal of surgical or radiation therapy as well as the impact of refusal of recommended therapy on patients with localized malignancies. We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program to identify a population-based sample of 925,127 patients who had diagnoses of 1 of 8 common malignancies for which surgery and/or radiation are believed to confer a survival benefit between 1995 and 2008. Refusal of oncologic therapy, as documented in the SEER database, was the primary outcome measure. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate factors associated with refusal. The impact of refusal of therapy on cancer-specific mortality was assessed with Fine and Gray's competing risks regression. In total, 2441 of 692,938 patients (0.4%) refused surgery, and 2113 of 232,189 patients (0.9%) refused radiation, despite the recommendations of their physicians. On multivariable analysis, advancing age, decreasing annual income, nonwhite race, and unmarried status were associated with refusal of surgery, whereas advancing age, decreasing annual income, Asian American race, and unmarried status were associated with refusal of radiation (PRefusal of surgery and radiation were associated with increased estimates of cancer-specific mortality for all malignancies evaluated (hazard ratio [HR], 2.80, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.59-3.03; Prefuse curative surgical and/or radiation-based oncologic therapy, raising concern that socioeconomic factors may drive some patients to forego potentially life-saving care. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Microbial ecology of coal mine refuse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cameron, R. E.; Miller, R. M.

1977-01-01

Baseline microbial and ecological studies of samples obtained from two abandoned coal mine refuse sites in the State of Illinois indicate that the unfavorable nature of refuse materials can be a very limiting factor for survival and growth of organisms. Despite the ''foothold'' obtained by some microorganisms, especially acidophilic fungi and some acidotolerant algae, the refuse materials should be amended or ameliorated to raise the pH, provide needed nutrients, especially nitrogen, and provide biodegradable organic matter, both for physical and biological purposes. Finally, the role of microbial populations, responses, and interactions in acid mine wastes must be put into larger perspective. Acid mine drainage amounts to over 4 million tons per year of acidity from active and abandoned mines. Microorganisms appear to be significantly responsible for this problem, but they also can play a beneficial and significant role in the amelioration or alleviation of this detrimental effect as abandoned mines are reclaimed and returned to useful productivity.

Elemental composition of suspended particles released in refuse incineration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mamuro, Tetsuo; Mizohata, Akira

1979-01-01

Suspended particles released in refuse incineration were subjected to multielement analysis by means of instrumental neutron activation method and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The analytical results were compared with the elemental concentrations observed in the urban atmosphere, and the contribution of the refuse incineration to the urban atmosphere was roughly estimated. Greenberg et al. pointed out on the basis of their analyses that the refuse incineration can account for major portions of the Zn, Cd and Sb observed on urban aerosols. According to our results, the contribution of the refuse incineration for Zn, Cd and Sb is not negligible, but not so serious as in U.S.A. big cities. In Japan big cities there must be other more important sources of these elements. (author)

Antenna toolkit

CERN Document Server

Carr, Joseph

2006-01-01

Joe Carr has provided radio amateurs and short-wave listeners with the definitive design guide for sending and receiving radio signals with Antenna Toolkit 2nd edition.Together with the powerful suite of CD software, the reader will have a complete solution for constructing or using an antenna - bar the actual hardware! The software provides a simple Windows-based aid to carrying out the design calculations at the heart of successful antenna design. All the user needs to do is select the antenna type and set the frequency - a much more fun and less error prone method than using a con

Terrain-Toolkit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Qi; Kaul, Manohar; Long, Cheng

2014-01-01

, as will be shown, is used heavily for query processing in spatial databases; and (3) they do not provide the surface distance operator which is fundamental for many applications based on terrain data. Motivated by this, we developed a tool called Terrain-Toolkit for terrain data which accepts a comprehensive set......Terrain data is becoming increasingly popular both in industry and in academia. Many tools have been developed for visualizing terrain data. However, we find that (1) they usually accept very few data formats of terrain data only; (2) they do not support terrain simplification well which...

Process for producing a fuel suitable for degassing from refuse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sulzberger, J

1975-11-20

Utilization of the heat energy of refuse in waste incineration plants is time-consuming and expensive due to high investment and operation costs. The inventor recommends to process the refuse to a sterile, handy and storable fuel. For this propose the refuse should be crushed, kneaded and pressed. The briquettes produced in this way should be dried.

Autonomy, religious values, and refusal of lifesaving medical treatment.

OpenAIRE

Wreen, M J

1991-01-01

The principal question of this paper is: Why are religious values special in refusal of lifesaving medical treatment? This question is approached through a critical examination of a common kind of refusal of treatment case, one involving a rational adult. The central value cited in defence of honouring such a patient's refusal is autonomy. Once autonomy is isolated from other justificatory factors, however, possible cases can be imagined which cast doubt on the great valuational weight assign...

Higher refusal rates for organ donation among older potential donors in the Netherlands: impact of the donor register and relatives.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leiden, H.A. van; Jansen, N.E.; Haase-Kromwijk, B.J.; Hoitsma, A.J.

2010-01-01

BACKGROUND: The availability of donor organs is considerably reduced by relatives refusing donation after death. There is no previous large-scale evaluation of the influence of the Donor Register (DR) consultation and the potential donor's age on this refusal in The Netherlands. METHODS: This study

Make a 2D RPG in a weekend with RPG maker VX Ace

CERN Document Server

Perez, Darrin

2015-01-01

Make a 2D RPG in a Weekend shows you how to create your very own dungeon crawler game in RPG Maker VX Ace in a single weekend. The entire process, from start to finish, is covered within this book. You will see a variety of dungeon maps and events, all broken down for your convenience. One of the hardest parts of game development is actually finishing a game, but it is also one of the most important steps on the way to becoming a game developer. If you have yet to finish a game, this book will give you the confidence and resources you need to finally be able to create your very own RPG. Once

An Overview of the GEANT4 Toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apostolakis, John; CERN; Wright, Dennis H.

2007-01-01

Geant4 is a toolkit for the simulation of the transport of radiation through matter. With a flexible kernel and choices between different physics modeling choices, it has been tailored to the requirements of a wide range of applications. With the toolkit a user can describe a setup's or detector's geometry and materials, navigate inside it, simulate the physical interactions using a choice of physics engines, underlying physics cross-sections and models, visualize and store results. Physics models describing electromagnetic and hadronic interactions are provided, as are decays and processes for optical photons. Several models, with different precision and performance are available for many processes. The toolkit includes coherent physics model configurations, which are called physics lists. Users can choose an existing physics list or create their own, depending on their requirements and the application area. A clear structure and readable code, enable the user to investigate the origin of physics results. Application areas include detector simulation and background simulation in High Energy Physics experiments, simulation of accelerator setups, studies in medical imaging and treatment, and the study of the effects of solar radiation on spacecraft instruments

Situation testing: the case of health care refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Després, C; Couralet, P-E

2011-04-01

Situation testing to assess physicians' refusal to provide healthcare is increasingly used in research studies. This paper aims to explain the relevance and limits of this method. Conducted in 2008-2009, this study was designed to assess the rate of healthcare refusal among several categories of private practitioners toward patients covered by the French public means-tested complementary health insurance (CMUc) when they requested a first appointment by phone. The other objectives were to study the determinants of healthcare refusal and assess the method. The study was conducted on a representative sample of Paris-based dentists and physicians in five categories: general practitioners, medical gynecologists, ophthalmologists, radiologists, and dentists. The method was based on two protocols. In the first scenario, an actor pretended to be a CMUc beneficiary and, in the second one, he did not give information about his health coverage but hinted at a low socioeconomic status. The two protocols were compared and procedures checking the relation between refusal and CMUc coverage were implemented in each of them. In the scenario in which the patient declared being a CMUc beneficiary, the results showed different refusal rates depending on the type of practitioner, physician, or dentist, their specialty, and whether or not, they charge more than the standard set fee. In the second scenario, refusal rates were much lower. The comparison of the two protocols seems to confirm the existence of discrimination based on CMUc affiliation rather than patients' socioeconomic status. The discussion presents the limits of situation testing, which remains an experimental instrument because it does not observe reality but reveals behaviors in situation. The findings cannot be extrapolated and are limited in time. The statistical analysis is only valid if the procedure followed is precise and applied consistently using a preset scenario. In addition, the discriminatory nature of the

[Refusal of nursing care, the legal perspective].

Science.gov (United States)

Fisman, Jérôme

2016-10-01

The refusal of nursing care forms part of the freedom offered to anyone wanting to refuse, consciously and knowingly, any form of nursing care such as washing, the taking of medication or hospitalisation. However, limits are fixed by law as well as by case law. Are we totally free in the expression of our will? Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Relationship between weekend catch-up sleep and poor performance on attention tasks in Korean adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seog Ju; Lee, Yu Jin; Cho, Seong-Jin; Cho, In-Hee; Lim, Weonjeong; Lim, Wonshin

2011-09-01

To investigate the relationship between insufficient sleep and poor attention in Korean adolescents, adjusting for potential confounding factors of depressed mood and habitual snoring. School-based cross-sectional study. Eight high schools in 3 cities in the Republic of Korea. A sample of 2638 urban high school students (42.2% male and 57.8% female; mean [SD] age, 17.3 [0.6] years [age range, 14-19 years]) completed questionnaires and computerized attention tasks during the school term. Weekend catch-up sleep. Self-reported sleep schedules and habits, including sleep duration, bedtime, wake-up time, depressed mood, and habitual snoring. Also measured were numbers of omission and commission errors on computerized attention tasks. The mean (SD) sleep duration on weekdays was 5 hours 42 minutes (1 hour 0 minutes) per day and on weekends was 8 hours 24 minutes (1 hour 36 minutes) per day. The mean (SD) weekend catch-up sleep was 2 hours 42 minutes (1 hour 42 minutes) per day. After adjusting for age, sex, depressed mood (Beck Depression Inventory score, ≥10), habitual snoring, and weekday sleep duration, increased weekend catch-up sleep was significantly associated with more omission and commission errors on sustained attention tasks (P sleep as an indicator of insufficient weekday sleep is associated with poor performance on objective attention tasks. Assessment of catch-up sleep and sleep duration may be useful for physicians to evaluate sleep insufficiency and its adverse effects on attention in adolescents.

Components of Hospital Perioperative Infrastructure Can Overcome the Weekend Effect in Urgent General Surgery Procedures.

Science.gov (United States)

Kothari, Anai N; Zapf, Matthew A C; Blackwell, Robert H; Markossian, Talar; Chang, Victor; Mi, Zhiyong; Gupta, Gopal N; Kuo, Paul C

2015-10-01

We hypothesized that perioperative hospital resources could overcome the "weekend effect" (WE) in patients undergoing emergent/urgent surgeries. The WE is the observation that surgeon-independent patient outcomes are worse on the weekend compared with weekdays. The WE is often explained by differences in staffing and resources resulting in variation in care between the week and weekend. Emergent/urgent surgeries were identified using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Database (Florida) from 2007 to 2011 and linked to the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey Database to determine hospital level characteristics. Extended median length of stay (LOS) on the weekend compared with the weekdays (after controlling for hospital, year, and procedure type) was selected as a surrogate for WE. Included were 126,666 patients at 166 hospitals. A total of 17 hospitals overcame the WE during the study period. Logistic regression, controlling for patient characteristics, identified full adoption of electronic medical records (OR 4.74), home health program (OR 2.37), pain management program [odds ratio (OR) 1.48)], increased registered nurse-to-bed ratio (OR 1.44), and inpatient physical rehabilitation (OR 1.03) as resources that were predictors for overcoming the WE. The prevalence of these factors in hospitals exhibiting the WE for all 5 years of the study period were compared with those hospitals that overcame the WE (P surgery procedures. Improved hospital perioperative infrastructure represents an important target for overcoming disparities in surgical care.

Changes in behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid levels in response to increased human activities during weekends in the pin-tailed sandgrouse

Science.gov (United States)

Casas, Fabián; Benítez-López, Ana; Tarjuelo, Rocío; Barja, Isabel; Viñuela, Javier; García, Jesús T.; Morales, Manuel B.; Mougeot, Francois

2016-12-01

Human recreational activities are becoming increasingly widespread and frequent, a fact that may potentially exacerbate their effects on wildlife. These human-related disturbances on animals may induce behavioural and physiological changes that can ultimately affect their fitness, showing a similar anti-predator response that against natural predator or other threats. Here, we combine the use of behavioural and physiological approaches to assess the potential effect of winter human activities on a threatened farmland bird in Europe, the pin-tailed sandgrouse ( Pterocles alchata). We compared before, during and after weekend variations in human activity rates, pin-tailed sandgrouse behaviour (flocking and flying behaviour, interspecific association in mixed flocks and habitat use) and faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations. Human disturbances, in particular those associated with hunting activities, peaked during weekends. Sandgrouse showed significant behavioural changes (increased sandgrouse-only flock sizes, increased proportion of birds flying and changes in habitat use) during weekends and higher faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations after the weekends compared with during or before weekends. Therefore, physiological stress levels could be modulated by behavioural adjustments such as increased flock sizes and changes in habitat use that may allow sandgrouse to cope with increased human disturbance rates during weekends. Nevertheless, temporal and spatial organization of hunting days among groups of estates might be good strategies to buffer these potential adverse effects on wintering pin-tailed sandgrouse and other steppe species of conservation concern, while preserving a socio-economically important activity such as hunting.

Changes in behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid levels in response to increased human activities during weekends in the pin-tailed sandgrouse.

Science.gov (United States)

Casas, Fabián; Benítez-López, Ana; Tarjuelo, Rocío; Barja, Isabel; Viñuela, Javier; García, Jesús T; Morales, Manuel B; Mougeot, Francois

2016-12-01

Human recreational activities are becoming increasingly widespread and frequent, a fact that may potentially exacerbate their effects on wildlife. These human-related disturbances on animals may induce behavioural and physiological changes that can ultimately affect their fitness, showing a similar anti-predator response that against natural predator or other threats. Here, we combine the use of behavioural and physiological approaches to assess the potential effect of winter human activities on a threatened farmland bird in Europe, the pin-tailed sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata). We compared before, during and after weekend variations in human activity rates, pin-tailed sandgrouse behaviour (flocking and flying behaviour, interspecific association in mixed flocks and habitat use) and faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations. Human disturbances, in particular those associated with hunting activities, peaked during weekends. Sandgrouse showed significant behavioural changes (increased sandgrouse-only flock sizes, increased proportion of birds flying and changes in habitat use) during weekends and higher faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations after the weekends compared with during or before weekends. Therefore, physiological stress levels could be modulated by behavioural adjustments such as increased flock sizes and changes in habitat use that may allow sandgrouse to cope with increased human disturbance rates during weekends. Nevertheless, temporal and spatial organization of hunting days among groups of estates might be good strategies to buffer these potential adverse effects on wintering pin-tailed sandgrouse and other steppe species of conservation concern, while preserving a socio-economically important activity such as hunting.

The development of an artificial organic networks toolkit for LabVIEW.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponce, Hiram; Ponce, Pedro; Molina, Arturo

2015-03-15

Two of the most challenging problems that scientists and researchers face when they want to experiment with new cutting-edge algorithms are the time-consuming for encoding and the difficulties for linking them with other technologies and devices. In that sense, this article introduces the artificial organic networks toolkit for LabVIEW™ (AON-TL) from the implementation point of view. The toolkit is based on the framework provided by the artificial organic networks technique, giving it the potential to add new algorithms in the future based on this technique. Moreover, the toolkit inherits both the rapid prototyping and the easy-to-use characteristics of the LabVIEW™ software (e.g., graphical programming, transparent usage of other softwares and devices, built-in programming event-driven for user interfaces), to make it simple for the end-user. In fact, the article describes the global architecture of the toolkit, with particular emphasis in the software implementation of the so-called artificial hydrocarbon networks algorithm. Lastly, the article includes two case studies for engineering purposes (i.e., sensor characterization) and chemistry applications (i.e., blood-brain barrier partitioning data model) to show the usage of the toolkit and the potential scalability of the artificial organic networks technique. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PsyToolkit: a software package for programming psychological experiments using Linux.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoet, Gijsbert

2010-11-01

PsyToolkit is a set of software tools for programming psychological experiments on Linux computers. Given that PsyToolkit is freely available under the Gnu Public License, open source, and designed such that it can easily be modified and extended for individual needs, it is suitable not only for technically oriented Linux users, but also for students, researchers on small budgets, and universities in developing countries. The software includes a high-level scripting language, a library for the programming language C, and a questionnaire presenter. The software easily integrates with other open source tools, such as the statistical software package R. PsyToolkit is designed to work with external hardware (including IoLab and Cedrus response keyboards and two common digital input/output boards) and to support millisecond timing precision. Four in-depth examples explain the basic functionality of PsyToolkit. Example 1 demonstrates a stimulus-response compatibility experiment. Example 2 demonstrates a novel mouse-controlled visual search experiment. Example 3 shows how to control light emitting diodes using PsyToolkit, and Example 4 shows how to build a light-detection sensor. The last two examples explain the electronic hardware setup such that they can even be used with other software packages.

NOAA Weather and Climate Toolkit (WCT)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NOAA Weather and Climate Toolkit is an application that provides simple visualization and data export of weather and climatological data archived at NCDC. The...

A User Interface Toolkit for a Small Screen Device.

OpenAIRE

UOTILA, ALEKSI

2000-01-01

The appearance of different kinds of networked mobile devices and network appliances creates special requirements for user interfaces that are not met by existing widget based user interface creation toolkits. This thesis studies the problem domain of user interface creation toolkits for portable network connected devices. The portable nature of these devices places great restrictions on the user interface capabilities. One main characteristic of the devices is that they have small screens co...

Geant4 - A Simulation Toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

Geant4 is a toolkit for simulating the passage of particles through matter. It includes a complete range of functionality including tracking, geometry, physics models and hits. The physics processes offered cover a comprehensive range, including electromagnetic, hadronic and optical processes, a large set of long-lived particles, materials and elements, over a wide energy range starting, in some cases, from 250 eV and extending in others to the TeV energy range. it has been designed and constructed to expose the physics models utilized, to handle complex geometries, and to enable its easy adaptation for optimal use in different sets of applications. The toolkit is the result of a worldwide collaboration of physicists and software engineers. It has been created exploiting software engineering and object-oriented technology and implemented in the C++ programming language. It has been used in applications in particle physics, nuclear physics, accelerator design, space engineering and medical physics

GEANT4 A Simulation toolkit

CERN Document Server

Agostinelli, S; Amako, K; Apostolakis, John; Araújo, H M; Arce, P; Asai, M; Axen, D A; Banerjee, S; Barrand, G; Behner, F; Bellagamba, L; Boudreau, J; Broglia, L; Brunengo, A; Chauvie, S; Chuma, J; Chytracek, R; Cooperman, G; Cosmo, G; Degtyarenko, P V; Dell'Acqua, A; De Paola, G O; Dietrich, D D; Enami, R; Feliciello, A; Ferguson, C; Fesefeldt, H S; Folger, G; Foppiano, F; Forti, A C; Garelli, S; Giani, S; Giannitrapani, R; Gibin, D; Gómez-Cadenas, J J; González, I; Gracía-Abríl, G; Greeniaus, L G; Greiner, W; Grichine, V M; Grossheim, A; Gumplinger, P; Hamatsu, R; Hashimoto, K; Hasui, H; Heikkinen, A M; Howard, A; Hutton, A M; Ivanchenko, V N; Johnson, A; Jones, F W; Kallenbach, Jeff; Kanaya, N; Kawabata, M; Kawabata, Y; Kawaguti, M; Kelner, S; Kent, P; Kodama, T; Kokoulin, R P; Kossov, M; Kurashige, H; Lamanna, E; Lampen, T; Lara, V; Lefébure, V; Lei, F; Liendl, M; Lockman, W; Longo, F; Magni, S; Maire, M; Mecking, B A; Medernach, E; Minamimoto, K; Mora de Freitas, P; Morita, Y; Murakami, K; Nagamatu, M; Nartallo, R; Nieminen, P; Nishimura, T; Ohtsubo, K; Okamura, M; O'Neale, S W; O'Ohata, Y; Perl, J; Pfeiffer, A; Pia, M G; Ranjard, F; Rybin, A; Sadilov, S; Di Salvo, E; Santin, G; Sasaki, T; Savvas, N; Sawada, Y; Scherer, S; Sei, S; Sirotenko, V I; Smith, D; Starkov, N; Stöcker, H; Sulkimo, J; Takahata, M; Tanaka, S; Chernyaev, E; Safai-Tehrani, F; Tropeano, M; Truscott, P R; Uno, H; Urbàn, L; Urban, P; Verderi, M; Walkden, A; Wander, W; Weber, H; Wellisch, J P; Wenaus, T; Williams, D C; Wright, D; Yamada, T; Yoshida, H; Zschiesche, D

2003-01-01

Geant4 is a toolkit for simulating the passage of particles through matter. It includes a complete range of functionality including tracking, geometry, physics models and hits. The physics processes offered cover a comprehensive range, including electromagnetic, hadronic and optical processes, a large set of long-lived particles, materials and elements, over a wide energy range starting, in some cases, from 250 eV and extending in others to the TeV energy range. It has been designed and constructed to expose the physics models utilised, to handle complex geometries, and to enable its easy adaptation for optimal use in different sets of applications. The toolkit is the result of a worldwide collaboration of physicists and software engineers. It has been created exploiting software engineering and object-oriented technology and implemented in the C++ programming language. It has been used in applications in particle physics, nuclear physics, accelerator design, space engineering and medical physics.

Geant4 - A Simulation Toolkit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wright, Dennis H

2002-08-09

GEANT4 is a toolkit for simulating the passage of particles through matter. it includes a complete range of functionality including tracking, geometry, physics models and hits. The physics processes offered cover a comprehensive range, including electromagnetic, hadronic and optical processes, a large set of long-lived particles, materials and elements, over a wide energy range starting, in some cases, from 250 eV and extending in others to the TeV energy range. it has been designed and constructed to expose the physics models utilized, to handle complex geometries, and to enable its easy adaptation for optimal use in different sets of applications. The toolkit is the result of a worldwide collaboration of physicists and software engineers. It has been created exploiting software engineering and object-oriented technology and implemented in the C++ programming language. It has been used in applications in particle physics, nuclear physics, accelerator design, space engineering and medical physics.

Field tests of a participatory ergonomics toolkit for Total Worker Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Nobrega, Suzanne; Kernan, Laura; Plaku-Alakbarova, Bora; Robertson, Michelle; Warren, Nicholas; Henning, Robert

2017-04-01

Growing interest in Total Worker Health ® (TWH) programs to advance worker safety, health and well-being motivated development of a toolkit to guide their implementation. Iterative design of a program toolkit occurred in which participatory ergonomics (PE) served as the primary basis to plan integrated TWH interventions in four diverse organizations. The toolkit provided start-up guides for committee formation and training, and a structured PE process for generating integrated TWH interventions. Process data from program facilitators and participants throughout program implementation were used for iterative toolkit design. Program success depended on organizational commitment to regular design team meetings with a trained facilitator, the availability of subject matter experts on ergonomics and health to support the design process, and retraining whenever committee turnover occurred. A two committee structure (employee Design Team, management Steering Committee) provided advantages over a single, multilevel committee structure, and enhanced the planning, communication, and teamwork skills of participants. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Field tests of a participatory ergonomics toolkit for Total Worker Health

Science.gov (United States)

Kernan, Laura; Plaku-Alakbarova, Bora; Robertson, Michelle; Warren, Nicholas; Henning, Robert

2018-01-01

Growing interest in Total Worker Health® (TWH) programs to advance worker safety, health and well-being motivated development of a toolkit to guide their implementation. Iterative design of a program toolkit occurred in which participatory ergonomics (PE) served as the primary basis to plan integrated TWH interventions in four diverse organizations. The toolkit provided start-up guides for committee formation and training, and a structured PE process for generating integrated TWH interventions. Process data from program facilitators and participants throughout program implementation were used for iterative toolkit design. Program success depended on organizational commitment to regular design team meetings with a trained facilitator, the availability of subject matter experts on ergonomics and health to support the design process, and retraining whenever committee turnover occurred. A two committee structure (employee Design Team, management Steering Committee) provided advantages over a single, multilevel committee structure, and enhanced the planning, communication, and team-work skills of participants. PMID:28166897

Newnes electronics toolkit

CERN Document Server

Phillips, Geoff

2013-01-01

Newnes Electronics Toolkit brings together fundamental facts, concepts, and applications of electronic components and circuits, and presents them in a clear, concise, and unambiguous format, to provide a reference book for engineers. The book contains 10 chapters that discuss the following concepts: resistors, capacitors, inductors, semiconductors, circuit concepts, electromagnetic compatibility, sound, light, heat, and connections. The engineer's job does not end when the circuit diagram is completed; the design for the manufacturing process is just as important if volume production is to be

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Virginia Cleans up With Natural Gas Refuse

Science.gov (United States)

Trucks Virginia Cleans up With Natural Gas Refuse Trucks to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center: Virginia Cleans up With Natural Gas Refuse Trucks on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: Virginia Cleans up With Natural Gas Refuse Trucks on Twitter Bookmark Alternative

School Refusal: Assessment and Intervention within School Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Wimmer, Mary B.

Anxiety-based school refusal occurs in 2% of school-age children. The reasons why they refuse to go school range from mental illness and learning problems to general defiance and a desire for attention. Early identification and multi-faceted assessment and interventions are critical to addressing the problem. This book offers concise, practical…

Friday Night Is Pizza Night: A Comparison of Children’s Dietary Intake and Maternal Perceptions and Feeding Goals on Weekdays and Weekends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Debra A. Hoffmann

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Childhood obesity is a serious issue in the U.S. While obesity is the result of a multitude of factors, a great deal of research has focused on children’s dietary intake. While children’s eating patterns vary throughout the week, not much else is known about weekday-weekend differences. Therefore, the current study examined differences in the frequency and portion size of school-age children’s consumption of common foods and beverages, as well as mothers’ perceptions of those items and their child feeding goals, on weekdays and weekends. A total of 192 mothers of children aged 7 to 11 were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results showed a consistent pattern of more frequent consumption and larger portions of unhealthy foods and beverages on weekends. This aligned with mothers’ perceptions of those foods and beverages as weekend items, as well as their feeding goals of health and price being less important on weekends. It is quite possible that weekends are viewed as having less structure and facilitate schedules that allow children to consume more meals away from home. These findings shed light on additional risk factors in children’s eating patterns and highlight the serious implications that day of the week can have on childhood obesity.

A Qualitative Evaluation of Web-Based Cancer Care Quality Improvement Toolkit Use in the Veterans Health Administration.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowman, Candice; Luck, Jeff; Gale, Randall C; Smith, Nina; York, Laura S; Asch, Steven

2015-01-01

Disease severity, complexity, and patient burden highlight cancer care as a target for quality improvement (QI) interventions. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) implemented a series of disease-specific online cancer care QI toolkits. To describe characteristics of the toolkits, target users, and VHA cancer care facilities that influenced toolkit access and use and assess whether such resources were beneficial for users. Deductive content analysis of detailed notes from 94 telephone interviews with individuals from 48 VHA facilities. We evaluated toolkit access and use across cancer types, participation in learning collaboratives, and affiliation with VHA cancer care facilities. The presence of champions was identified as a strong facilitator of toolkit use, and learning collaboratives were important for spreading information about toolkit availability. Identified barriers included lack of personnel and financial resources and complicated approval processes to support tool use. Online cancer care toolkits are well received across cancer specialties and provider types. Clinicians, administrators, and QI staff may benefit from the availability of toolkits as they become more reliant on rapid access to strategies that support comprehensive delivery of evidence-based care. Toolkits should be considered as a complement to other QI approaches.

Risk factors associated with treatment refusal in lung cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Suh, Won Na; Kong, Kyoung Ae; Han, Yeji; Kim, Soo Jung; Lee, Su Hwan; Ryu, Yon Ju; Lee, Jin Hwa; Shim, Sung Shine; Kim, Yookyung; Chang, Jung Hyun

2017-09-01

The incidence of lung cancer is increasing with longer life expectancy. Refusal of active treatment for cancer is prone to cause patients to experience more severe symptoms and shorten survival. The purpose of this study was to define the factors related to refusal or abandonment of active therapy in lung cancer. We retrospectively reviewed the data of 617 patients from medical records from 2010 to 2014. Two groups were formed: 149 patients who refused anti-cancer treatment and allowed only palliative care were classified into the non-treatment group, while the remaining 468 who received anti-cancer treatment were classified into the treatment group. The groups differed significantly in age, employment, relationship status, number of offspring, educational status, body mass index, presence of chest and systemic symptoms, Charlson Comorbidity Index, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score, and tumor node metastasis stage ( P refusal of cancer treatment. Individual factors, such as old age, low educational status, low weight, and poor performance status can influence refusal of cancer treatment in patients with lung cancer, and should be considered prior to consultation with patients. © 2017 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Differences in the intensity of physical activity during school days and weekends in Polish and Czech boys and girls.

Science.gov (United States)

Frömel, Karel; Kudlacek, Michal; Groffik, Dorota; Chmelik, Frantisek; Jakubec, Lukas

2016-06-02

The physical, mental and social development that occurs in young people through physical activity (PA) is primarily through extracurricular activities. Family, peers and social environment, in addition to schools, interest groups and school sports, play a unique role during this developmental period. The objective of the study was to examine the differences in the intensity of PA during school days and weekends and the relationship between PA and physical inactivity (PI) during these days in Polish and Czech boys and girls. In total, there were 816 participants among whom 333 met the requirements of 8 hours of continuous recording of PA (ActiTrainer accelerometers) during at least one school and one weekend day. Boys and girls from both countries engaged in virtually the same amount of PA during school and weekend days, and participated in more PA at lower intensities on the weekends compared with school days. This study surveyed important issues related to global public health, specifically for the school environment and school settings. The important and crucial relations with family were emphasized, which should increase the awareness and understanding of public health problems of this particular research sample. The results indicated that less time was spent in PI, but also that the largest amount of time during the weekends was spent in front of a screen.

Overview and Meteorological Validation of the Wind Integration National Dataset toolkit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Draxl, C. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hodge, B. M. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Clifton, A. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); McCaa, J. [3TIER by VAisala, Seattle, WA (United States)

2015-04-13

The Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit described in this report fulfills these requirements, and constitutes a state-of-the-art national wind resource data set covering the contiguous United States from 2007 to 2013 for use in a variety of next-generation wind integration analyses and wind power planning. The toolkit is a wind resource data set, wind forecast data set, and wind power production and forecast data set derived from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical weather prediction model. WIND Toolkit data are available online for over 116,000 land-based and 10,000 offshore sites representing existing and potential wind facilities.

A field-based community assessment of intoxication levels across college football weekends: does it matter who's playing?

Science.gov (United States)

Barry, Adam E; Howell, Steve; Bopp, Trevor; Stellefson, Michael; Chaney, Elizabeth; Piazza-Gardner, Anna; Payne-Purvis, Caroline

2014-12-01

While alcohol consumption has been consistently linked to college football games in the United States, this literature lacks (a) field-based event-level analyses; (b) assessments of the context of drinking, such as days leading to an event, that occurs in conjunction with a contest; (c) investigations of non-student drinking; and (d) objective assessments of opponent rating. Therefore, the present study: (1) examines the extent to which breath alcohol concentrations (BrAC) among restaurant and bar district patrons differ for low- and high-profile games and (2) explores the relationship between an objective rating of a team's opponent and BrAC levels. Data were collected throughout the fall 2011 football season via six anonymous field studies in a bar district within a southeastern college community. During low-profile game weekends, respondents recorded significantly lower BrAC levels than those during high-profile game weekends. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between opponent rating and BrAC levels, such that mean BrAC readings were highest prior to the game featuring the highest rated opponent. Overall, participants exhibited significantly higher BrACs when a higher-rated opponent was playing that weekend. When resources (money, manpower) are limited, community-based prevention and enforcement efforts should occur during the weekends surrounding higher-profile games.

When does food refusal require professional intervention?

OpenAIRE

Dovey, Terence M.; Farrow, Claire V.; Martin, Clarissa I.; Isherwood, Elaine; Halford, Jason C.G.

2009-01-01

Food refusal can have the potential to lead to nutritional deficiencies, which increases the risk of a variety of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Deciding when food refusal requires professional intervention is complicated by the fact that there is a natural and appropriate stage in a child's development that is characterised by increased levels of rejection of both previously accepted and novel food items. Therefore, choosing to intervene is difficult, which if handled badly can ...

Exploring the role of daily ‘modality styles’ and urban structure in holidays and longer weekend trips

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Große, Juliane; Olafsson, Anton Stahl; Carstensen, Trine Agervig

2018-01-01

comprehensively researched. However, other travel domains (e.g., occasional weekend trips or holidays) have only recently received more attention, despite their environmental impact. The paper investigates whether and how daily travel patterns (‘modality styles’) correspond with non-daily travel behaviour...... in the commuter belt of Greater Copenhagen in spring 2016. First, we identify ‘modality styles’ by grouping the sample based on the respondents’ daily mode choices. Second, we relate the identified modality styles to socio-economic and socio-demographic factors, frequency and mode choice of longer weekend trips...... and holidays, and travel-related attitudes. The results reveal that the urban structure of a residential location (e.g., urban vs. peri-urban) exerts to some extent influence on the constitution of daily modality styles. We found, furthermore, a tendency for more weekend trips and holidays among the urban...

Practical computational toolkits for dendrimers and dendrons structure design

Science.gov (United States)

Martinho, Nuno; Silva, Liana C.; Florindo, Helena F.; Brocchini, Steve; Barata, Teresa; Zloh, Mire

2017-09-01

Dendrimers and dendrons offer an excellent platform for developing novel drug delivery systems and medicines. The rational design and further development of these repetitively branched systems are restricted by difficulties in scalable synthesis and structural determination, which can be overcome by judicious use of molecular modelling and molecular simulations. A major difficulty to utilise in silico studies to design dendrimers lies in the laborious generation of their structures. Current modelling tools utilise automated assembly of simpler dendrimers or the inefficient manual assembly of monomer precursors to generate more complicated dendrimer structures. Herein we describe two novel graphical user interface toolkits written in Python that provide an improved degree of automation for rapid assembly of dendrimers and generation of their 2D and 3D structures. Our first toolkit uses the RDkit library, SMILES nomenclature of monomers and SMARTS reaction nomenclature to generate SMILES and mol files of dendrimers without 3D coordinates. These files are used for simple graphical representations and storing their structures in databases. The second toolkit assembles complex topology dendrimers from monomers to construct 3D dendrimer structures to be used as starting points for simulation using existing and widely available software and force fields. Both tools were validated for ease-of-use to prototype dendrimer structure and the second toolkit was especially relevant for dendrimers of high complexity and size.

The Populist Toolkit

OpenAIRE

Ylä-Anttila, Tuukka Salu Santeri

2017-01-01

Populism has often been understood as a description of political parties and politicians, who have been labelled either populist or not. This dissertation argues that it is more useful to conceive of populism in action: as something that is done rather than something that is. I propose that the populist toolkit is a collection of cultural practices, which politicians and citizens use to make sense of and do politics, by claiming that ‘the people’ are opposed by a corrupt elite – a powerful cl...

Refusal of medical treatment in the pediatric emergency service: analysis of reasons and aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

Gündüz, Ramiz Coşkun; Halil, Halit; Gürsoy, Cüneyt; Çifci, Atilla; Özgün, Seher; Kodaman, Tuğba; Sönmez, Mehtap

2014-01-01

Refusal of treatment for acutely ill children is still an important problem in the emergency service. When families refuse medical treatment for their acutely ill children, healthcare professionals may attempt to provide information and negotiate with the family concerning treatment refusal and its possible adverse outcomes, and request consent for refusal of medical treatment. There is insufficient data about refusal of treatment in our country. The purpose of this study was to analyze the causes of treatment refusal in the pediatric emergency service. We collected data recorded on informed consent forms. During a 2-year-study period, 215 patients refused treatment recommended by acute health care professionals. The majorty of patients were in the 0-2 year age group. Hospitalization was the type of treatment most commonly refused; restrictions regarding family members staying with their children during hospitalization and admission to another hospital were the major reasons for refusal of treatment. Clarifying the reasons for treatment refusal may help us to overcome deficiencies, improve conditions, resolve problems and build confidence between healthcare providers and service users, increasing users' satisfaction in the future.

Book Review: Mac OS X, iPod, and iPhone Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary Kessler

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Varsalone, J. (Tech. Ed., Kubasiak, R.R., Morrissey, S., et al. (2009. Mac OS X, iPod, and iPhone Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit. Burlington, MA: Syngress. 551 + xix pages, ISBN: 978-1-59749-297-3, US$59.95.Reviewed by Gary C. Kessler (gary.kessler@champlain.eduAt last! A quality book about computer forensics for Apple products! Alas, I get ahead of myself.Apple's hold on the personal computer marketplace started dwindling on August 12, 1981, the day that the IBM PC was introduced. As an Apple ][+ bigot myself, I refused to touch a PC for some years. But I was also a command line bigot, so when the first Macintosh was introduced in 1983 and hermetically sealed the operating system from users, I did not go out and buy one. In fact, like many of my era, I did eventually end up on the PC side which, ironically, let me do many of the things that my trusty Apple ][+ had in earlier times -- write code, play with the hardware, and, indeed, get to a command line. And, of course, tons of application developers flocked to the PC because of its open architecture.(see PDF for full review

Why parents refuse childhood vaccination: a qualitative study using online focus groups

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background In high income countries, vaccine-preventable diseases have been greatly reduced through routine vaccination programs. Despite this success, many parents question, and a small proportion even refuse vaccination for their children. As no qualitative studies have explored the factors behind these decisions among Dutch parents, we performed a study using online focus groups. Methods In total, eight online focus groups (n = 60) which included Dutch parents with at least one child, aged 0–4 years, for whom they refused all or part of the vaccinations within the National Immunization Program (NIP). A thematic analysis was performed to explore factors that influenced the parents’ decisions to refuse vaccination. Results Refusal of vaccination was found to reflect multiple factors including family lifestyle; perceptions about the child’s body and immune system; perceived risks of disease, vaccine efficacy, and side effects; perceived advantages of experiencing the disease; prior negative experience with vaccination; and social environment. The use of online focus groups proved to be an effective qualitative research method providing meaningful data. Conclusion Information provided by the NIP turned out to be insufficient for this group of parents. More trust in the NIP and deliberate decisions might result from increased parental understanding of lifestyle and disease susceptibility, the impact of vaccinations on the immune system, and the relative risks of diseases and their vaccines. The public health institute should also inform parents that the NIP is recommended but non-mandatory. PMID:24341406

Current status of research on school refusal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cándido J. Inglés

2015-06-01

Full Text Available School refusal behavior refers to the avoidance of a child attending school and/or persistent difficulty staying in the classroom throughout the school day. Based on a review of the scientific literature, the aim of this study is to describe the current state of research on school refusal, differentiating between the findings and progress made in Spain from those achieved in the international field. For this purpose, the significance of this phenomenon, in addition to associated risk factors and variables, will be reviewed in the child and youth population. In turn, the commonly used assessment methods and most recommended treatment proposals, mainly based on cognitive behavioral therapy, are discussed. The results reveal several gaps and subjects for debate in some areas of knowledge about school refusal behavior, with differences being found between Spanish and international studies. In conclusion, future studies and challenges in this field are required.

Differences in Spatial Physical Activity Patterns between Weekdays and Weekends in Primary School Children: A Cross-Sectional Study Using Accelerometry and Global Positioning System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahel Bürgi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Targeting the weekend to promote physical activity (PA in children seems to be promising given that they tend to be less physically active and, particularly, as the age-related decline in PA is more marked during weekends. Considering the ambiguity of why children are not able to maintain their PA level on weekends, the aim of the present study was to objectively investigate differences in children’s spatial PA patterns between week and weekend days using the combination of Global Positioning System (GPS and accelerometry. Seventy-four second graders (aged 7–9 years and 98 sixth graders (aged 11–14 years wore an accelerometer and GPS sensor for seven consecutive days to determine where children spend time and engage in PA. Time-matched accelerometer and GPS data was mapped with a geographic information system and multilevel analyses accounting for the hierarchical structure of the data were conducted. Differences between weekdays and weekends regarding the total time spent and the absolute and relative level of PA in various settings were found in both age groups. The findings support previous research pointing to the importance of targeting weekend PA, especially when children grow older. Future interventions should encourage children to use outdoor spaces more frequently on weekends, rather than stay at home, and to commute actively to destinations other than school.

A toolkit for promoting healthy ageing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jeroen Knevel; Aly Gruppen

2016-01-01

This toolkit therefore focusses on self-management abilities. That means finding and maintaining effective, positive coping methods in relation to our health. We included many common and frequently discussed topics such as drinking, eating, physical exercise, believing in the future, resilience,

Fragment Impact Toolkit (FIT)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shevitz, Daniel Wolf [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Key, Brian P. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Garcia, Daniel B. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-09-05

The Fragment Impact Toolkit (FIT) is a software package used for probabilistic consequence evaluation of fragmenting sources. The typical use case for FIT is to simulate an exploding shell and evaluate the consequence on nearby objects. FIT is written in the programming language Python and is designed as a collection of interacting software modules. Each module has a function that interacts with the other modules to produce desired results.

Do pharmacists have a right to refuse to fill prescriptions for abortifacient drugs?

Science.gov (United States)

Weinstein, B D

1992-01-01

Some pharmacists opposed to abortion on moral ground are concerned by having to fill prescriptions for abortifacient drugs like mifepristone (RU-486). The issue of the right of pharmacists to refuse to fill such prescriptions depends on the model of the physician-pharmacist-patient relationship. The libertarian model of pharmacy practice holds that physicians, pharmacists, and patients are bound only by the contract that they freely negotiate with one another, thus the pharmacist has no moral obligation to fill a prescription for mifepristone unless he or she has expressly contracted to do so. The American Pharmaceutical Association's 1981 Code of Ethics does not specify what a pharmacist ought to do in particular circumstances. The right to refuse is strongly supported by the principles of nonmaleficence and respect for autonomy. These are principles of the libertarian model of the pharmacist-patient relationship but are also present in the guild or societal models stressing the duty to avoid harming others. Justification for pharmacists right of refusal appeals to their autonomy rights as members of the moral community rather than the profession of pharmacy. Since the professional right to autonomy is not absolute, moral consideration circumscribe it: it is difficult to argue that a pharmacist who believes that homosexuality is immoral has the right to refuse to fill a prescription for AZT. Even if a person who presents such a prescription is homosexual there is no causal relationship between filling a prescription for AZT and participating in a homosexual act. At the opposite end the libertarians reject the notion of even a basic right to health care. A woman in the above situation would not have a right to the abortifacient drug, so a pharmacist has no duty to dispense it. According to the technician model of professionalism, the pharmacist's personal values do not matter, so a pharmacist has a duty to provide the service.

Refusal to medical interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Palacios, G; Herreros, B; Pacho, E

2014-10-01

Refusal to medical interventions is the not acceptance, voluntary and free, of an indicated medical intervention. What the physician should do in case of refusal? It is understandable that the rejection of a validated medical intervention is difficult to accept by the responsible physician when raises the conflict protection of life versus freedom of choice. Therefore it is important to follow some steps to incorporate the most relevant aspects of the conflict. These steps include: 1) Give complete information to patients, informing on possible alternatives, 2) determine whether the patient can decide (age, competency and level of capacity), 3) to ascertain whether the decision is free, 4) analyze the decision with the patient, 5) to persuade, 6) if the patient kept in the rejection decision, consider conscientious objection, 7) take the decision based on the named criteria, 8) finally, if the rejection is accepted, offer available alternatives. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Web-based Toolkit for Dynamic Generation of Data Processors

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, J.; Dascalu, S.; Harris, F. C.; Benedict, K. K.; Gollberg, G.; Sheneman, L.

2011-12-01

All computation-intensive scientific research uses structured datasets, including hydrology and all other types of climate-related research. When it comes to testing their hypotheses, researchers might use the same dataset differently, and modify, transform, or convert it to meet their research needs. Currently, many researchers spend a good amount of time performing data processing and building tools to speed up this process. They might routinely repeat the same process activities for new research projects, spending precious time that otherwise could be dedicated to analyzing and interpreting the data. Numerous tools are available to run tests on prepared datasets and many of them work with datasets in different formats. However, there is still a significant need for applications that can comprehensively handle data transformation and conversion activities and help prepare the various processed datasets required by the researchers. We propose a web-based application (a software toolkit) that dynamically generates data processors capable of performing data conversions, transformations, and customizations based on user-defined mappings and selections. As a first step, the proposed solution allows the users to define various data structures and, in the next step, can select various file formats and data conversions for their datasets of interest. In a simple scenario, the core of the proposed web-based toolkit allows the users to define direct mappings between input and output data structures. The toolkit will also support defining complex mappings involving the use of pre-defined sets of mathematical, statistical, date/time, and text manipulation functions. Furthermore, the users will be allowed to define logical cases for input data filtering and sampling. At the end of the process, the toolkit is designed to generate reusable source code and executable binary files for download and use by the scientists. The application is also designed to store all data

Summer weekend sun exposure and sunburn among a New Zealand urban population, 1994-2006.

Science.gov (United States)

McLeod, Geraldine Geri F H; Reeder, Anthony I; Gray, Andrew R; McGee, Rob

2013-08-30

To describe summer weekend sun exposure and sunburn experience, 1994-2006, among urban New Zealanders (15-69 years) by sex, age group, skin type and outdoor activity type. A series of five telephone surveys undertaken in the summers of 1994, 1997, 1999-2000, 2002-3 and 2005-6 provided a sample of 6,195 respondents with usable data from five major cities (Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin). Respondents were administered a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) questionnaire which sought sociodemographic information, sun exposure, and sunburn experience during the most recent weekend. Overall, 69% of the sample had spent at least 15 minutes outdoors between 11am and 4pm. Weekend sunburn was reported by 21%, and was more common among males, young adults and those with highly sun-sensitive skin than females, older adults and those with less sensitive skin. The head/face/neck was the body area most frequently and severely sunburned. Sunburn was associated with greater time spent outdoors and occurred most frequently during water-based (29%) and passive recreational activities (25%) and paid work (23%). Sun protection strategies could usefully be targeted not only towards at-risk population groups, but also towards those activities and contexts most strongly associated with potentially harmful sun exposure.

User's manual for the two-dimensional transputer graphics toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Graham K.

1988-01-01

The user manual for the 2-D graphics toolkit for a transputer based parallel processor is presented. The toolkit consists of a package of 2-D display routines that can be used for the simulation visualizations. It supports multiple windows, double buffered screens for animations, and simple graphics transformations such as translation, rotation, and scaling. The display routines are written in occam to take advantage of the multiprocessing features available on transputers. The package is designed to run on a transputer separate from the graphics board.

Insulin therapy refusal among type II diabetes mellitus patients in Kubang Pasu district, the state of Kedah, Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Wei Leong; Asahar, Siti Fairus; Harun, Noor Liani

2015-04-01

Diabetes mellitus is a rising non-communicable disease in Malaysia. Insulin therapy refusal is a great challenge for healthcare providers, as it results in delayed insulin initiation. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of insulin therapy refusal and its associated factors. This cross sectional study was conducted at seven public health clinics in Kubang Pasu district, Malaysia, from March to October 2012. A newly developed and validated questionnaire was used and participants were selected via systematic random sampling. Only patients diagnosed with type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and under the public health clinic care in Kubang Pasu were included in the study. Multiple logistic regressions were used to study the association between insulin therapy refusal and its associated factors. There were 461 respondents and the response rate was 100%. Among these 461 patients with T2DM, 74.2% refused insulin therapy. The most common reason given for refusal was a lack of confidence in insulin injection (85.4%). Multiple logistic regression revealed that respondents who had secondary education were 55.0% less likely to refuse insulin therapy than those who had primary or no formal education (p = 0.009, adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.25-0.82). There was also a significant inverse association between glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and insulin therapy refusal (p = 0.047, adjusted OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.76-1.00). Insulin therapy refusal is common in Kubang Pasu. Education status and HbA1c should be taken into consideration when counselling patients on insulin therapy initiation.

A toolkit for detecting technical surprise.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trahan, Michael Wayne; Foehse, Mark C.

2010-10-01

The detection of a scientific or technological surprise within a secretive country or institute is very difficult. The ability to detect such surprises would allow analysts to identify the capabilities that could be a military or economic threat to national security. Sandia's current approach utilizing ThreatView has been successful in revealing potential technological surprises. However, as data sets become larger, it becomes critical to use algorithms as filters along with the visualization environments. Our two-year LDRD had two primary goals. First, we developed a tool, a Self-Organizing Map (SOM), to extend ThreatView and improve our understanding of the issues involved in working with textual data sets. Second, we developed a toolkit for detecting indicators of technical surprise in textual data sets. Our toolkit has been successfully used to perform technology assessments for the Science & Technology Intelligence (S&TI) program.

Refusing The Choice: Balancing Life and Work

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, J.

2012-12-01

The Choice The intellect of man is forced to choose perfection of the life, or of the work, And if it take the second must refuse A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark. When all that story's finished, what's the news? In luck or out the toil has left its mark: That old perplexity an empty purse, Or the day's vanity, the night's remorse. William Butler Yeats William Yeats put forward The Choice that I feel too many scientists feel they must make. Too often, many choose to leave science. How do we refuse this choice and find balance between life and our careers? While I don't know the answer, I will share choices that have lead to not perfection but satisfaction in science careers and lives. The role of mentors, supportive spouses, the luck of the job, and flexibility in research directions have all contributed to being able to refuse to choose.

phylo-node: A molecular phylogenetic toolkit using Node.js.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Halloran, Damien M

2017-01-01

Node.js is an open-source and cross-platform environment that provides a JavaScript codebase for back-end server-side applications. JavaScript has been used to develop very fast and user-friendly front-end tools for bioinformatic and phylogenetic analyses. However, no such toolkits are available using Node.js to conduct comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis. To address this problem, I have developed, phylo-node, which was developed using Node.js and provides a stable and scalable toolkit that allows the user to perform diverse molecular and phylogenetic tasks. phylo-node can execute the analysis and process the resulting outputs from a suite of software options that provides tools for read processing and genome alignment, sequence retrieval, multiple sequence alignment, primer design, evolutionary modeling, and phylogeny reconstruction. Furthermore, phylo-node enables the user to deploy server dependent applications, and also provides simple integration and interoperation with other Node modules and languages using Node inheritance patterns, and a customized piping module to support the production of diverse pipelines. phylo-node is open-source and freely available to all users without sign-up or login requirements. All source code and user guidelines are openly available at the GitHub repository: https://github.com/dohalloran/phylo-node.

Clean Cities Niche Market Overview: Refuse Haulers (Brochure)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shea, S.

2011-09-01

Refuse haulers are ideal for the adoption of alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies. By using fuels like natural gas, propane, or biodiesel, and technologies like hybrid electric and hydraulic hybrid systems, the refuse-hauling sector could substantially decrease its petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions. Fleet managers should explore the benefits of the fuels and technologies available, as well as the individual fleet needs, before adoption.

Differences between weekday and weekend levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in Thai adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Konharn, Kurusart; Santos, Maria Paula; Ribeiro, José Carlos

2015-03-01

Attempts to reduce the decline in physical activity (PA) in adolescence have been the focus of many public health interventions. This study aimed to (1) determine differences in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) levels between weekdays and weekends and (2) identify adolescents meeting current PA guidelines (PAG). To meet these objectives, 186 Thai adolescents aged 13 to 18 years were asked to wear an ActiGraph accelerometer for 7 consecutive days. The results showed that MVPA levels were significantly higher in boys than girls on both weekdays (P youth. This study highlights the need to take weekend-weekday differences into account when developing PA interventions for adolescents. © 2012 APJPH.

Commercial Building Energy Saver: An energy retrofit analysis toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann; Chen, Yixing; Lee, Sang Hoon; Taylor-Lange, Sarah C.; Zhang, Rongpeng; Sun, Kaiyu; Price, Phillip

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Commercial Building Energy Saver is a powerful toolkit for energy retrofit analysis. • CBES provides benchmarking, load shape analysis, and model-based retrofit assessment. • CBES covers 7 building types, 6 vintages, 16 climates, and 100 energy measures. • CBES includes a web app, API, and a database of energy efficiency performance. • CBES API can be extended and integrated with third party energy software tools. - Abstract: Small commercial buildings in the United States consume 47% of the total primary energy of the buildings sector. Retrofitting small and medium commercial buildings poses a huge challenge for owners because they usually lack the expertise and resources to identify and evaluate cost-effective energy retrofit strategies. This paper presents the Commercial Building Energy Saver (CBES), an energy retrofit analysis toolkit, which calculates the energy use of a building, identifies and evaluates retrofit measures in terms of energy savings, energy cost savings and payback. The CBES Toolkit includes a web app (APP) for end users and the CBES Application Programming Interface (API) for integrating CBES with other energy software tools. The toolkit provides a rich set of features including: (1) Energy Benchmarking providing an Energy Star score, (2) Load Shape Analysis to identify potential building operation improvements, (3) Preliminary Retrofit Analysis which uses a custom developed pre-simulated database and, (4) Detailed Retrofit Analysis which utilizes real-time EnergyPlus simulations. CBES includes 100 configurable energy conservation measures (ECMs) that encompass IAQ, technical performance and cost data, for assessing 7 different prototype buildings in 16 climate zones in California and 6 vintages. A case study of a small office building demonstrates the use of the toolkit for retrofit analysis. The development of CBES provides a new contribution to the field by providing a straightforward and uncomplicated decision

Weekend ethanol consumption and high-sucrose diet: resveratrol effects on energy expenditure, substrate oxidation, lipid profile, oxidative stress and hepatic energy metabolism.

Science.gov (United States)

Rocha, Katiucha Karolina Honório Ribeiro; Souza, Gisele Aparecida; Seiva, Fábio Rodrigues Ferreira; Ebaid, Geovana Xavier; Novelli, Ethel Lourenzi Barbosa

2011-01-01

The present study analyzed the association between weekend ethanol and high-sucrose diet on oxygen consumption, lipid profile, oxidative stress and hepatic energy metabolism. Because resveratrol (RS, 3,5,4'-trans-trihydroxystilbene) has been implicated as a modulator of alcohol-independent cardiovascular protection attributed to red wine, we also determined whether RS could change the damage done by this lifestyle. Male Wistar 24 rats receiving standard chow were divided into four groups (n = 6/group): (C) water throughout the experimental period; (E) 30% ethanol 3 days/week, water 4 days/week; (ES) a mixture of 30% ethanol and 30% sucrose 3 days/week, drinking 30% sucrose 4 days/week; (ESR) 30% ethanol and 30% sucrose containing 6 mg/l RS 3 days/week, drinking 30% sucrose 4 days/week. After 70 days the body weight was highest in ESR rats. E rats had higher energy expenditure (resting metabolic rate), oxygen consumption (VO(2)), fat oxidation, serum triacylglycerol (TG) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) than C. ES rats normalized calorimetric parameters and enhanced carbohydrate oxidation. ESR ameliorated calorimetric parameters, reduced TG, VLDL and lipid hydroperoxide/total antioxidant substances, as well enhanced high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and HDL/TG ratio. Hepatic hydroxyacyl coenzyme-A dehydrogenase (OHADH)/citrate synthase ratio was lower in E and ES rats than in C. OHADH was highest in ESR rats. The present study brought new insights on weekend alcohol consumption, demonstrating for the first time, that this pattern of ethanol exposure induced dyslipidemic profile, calorimetric and hepatic metabolic changes which resemble that of the alcoholism. No synergistic effects were found with weekend ethanol and high-sucrose intake. RS was advantageous in weekend drinking and high-sucrose intake condition ameliorating hepatic metabolism and improving risk factors for cardiovascular damage.

"Chase CRP", "Review patient": Improving the Quality of Weekend Medical Handover at a London Teaching Hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Saifuddin, Aamir; Magee, Lucia; Barrett, Rachael

2015-01-01

Clinical handover has been identified as a "major preventable cause of harm" by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). Whilst working at a London teaching hospital from August 2013, we noted substandard weekend handover of medical patients. The existing pro forma was filled incompletely by day doctors so it was difficult for weekend colleagues to identify unwell patients, with inherent safety implications. Furthermore, on-call medical staff noted that poor accessibility of vital information in patients' files was affecting acute clinical management. We audited the pro formas over a six week period (n=83) and the Friday ward round (WR) entries for medical inpatients over two weekends (n=84) against the RCP's handover guidance. The results showed poor documentation of several important details on the pro formas, for example, ceiling of care (4%) and past medical history (PMH) (23%). Problem lists were specified on 62% of the WR entries. We designed new handover pro formas and 'Friday WR sheets' to provide prompts for this information and used Medical Meetings and emails to explain the project's aims. Re-audit demonstrated significant improvement in all parameters; for instance, PMH increased to 52% on the pro formas. Only 10% of Friday WR entries used our sheet. However, when used, outcomes were much better, for example, problem list documentation increased to 100%. In conclusion, our interventions improved the provision of crucial information needed to prioritise and manage patients over the weekend. Future work should further highlight the importance of safe handover to all doctors to induce a shift in culture and optimise patient care.

Texas Team: Academic Progression and IOM Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, Helen; Tart, Kathryn; Tietze, Mari; Joseph, Nitha Mathew; Easley, Carson

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Future of Nursing report, identified eight recommendations for nursing to improve health care for all Americans. The Texas Team for Advancing Health Through Nursing embraced the challenge of implementing the recommendations through two diverse projects. One group conducted a broad, online survey of leadership, practice, and academia, focusing on the IOM recommendations. The other focused specifically on academic progression through the use of CABNET (Consortium for Advancing Baccalaureate Nursing Education in Texas) articulation agreements. The survey revealed a lack of knowledge and understanding of the IOM recommendations, prompting development of an online IOM toolkit. The articulation agreements provide a clear pathway for students to the RN-to-BSN degree students. The toolkit and articulation agreements provide rich resources for implementation of the IOM recommendations.

LAIT: a local ancestry inference toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Hui, Daniel; Fang, Zhou; Lin, Jerome; Duan, Qing; Li, Yun; Hu, Ming; Chen, Wei

2017-09-06

Inferring local ancestry in individuals of mixed ancestry has many applications, most notably in identifying disease-susceptible loci that vary among different ethnic groups. Many software packages are available for inferring local ancestry in admixed individuals. However, most of these existing software packages require specific formatted input files and generate output files in various types, yielding practical inconvenience. We developed a tool set, Local Ancestry Inference Toolkit (LAIT), which can convert standardized files into software-specific input file formats as well as standardize and summarize inference results for four popular local ancestry inference software: HAPMIX, LAMP, LAMP-LD, and ELAI. We tested LAIT using both simulated and real data sets and demonstrated that LAIT provides convenience to run multiple local ancestry inference software. In addition, we evaluated the performance of local ancestry software among different supported software packages, mainly focusing on inference accuracy and computational resources used. We provided a toolkit to facilitate the use of local ancestry inference software, especially for users with limited bioinformatics background.

ECCE Toolkit: Prototyping Sensor-Based Interaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Bellucci

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Building and exploring physical user interfaces requires high technical skills and hours of specialized work. The behavior of multiple devices with heterogeneous input/output channels and connectivity has to be programmed in a context where not only the software interface matters, but also the hardware components are critical (e.g., sensors and actuators. Prototyping physical interaction is hindered by the challenges of: (1 programming interactions among physical sensors/actuators and digital interfaces; (2 implementing functionality for different platforms in different programming languages; and (3 building custom electronic-incorporated objects. We present ECCE (Entities, Components, Couplings and Ecosystems, a toolkit for non-programmers that copes with these issues by abstracting from low-level implementations, thus lowering the complexity of prototyping small-scale, sensor-based physical interfaces to support the design process. A user evaluation provides insights and use cases of the kind of applications that can be developed with the toolkit.

Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit; NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Draxl, Caroline; Hodge, Bri-Mathias

2015-07-14

A webinar about the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit was presented by Bri-Mathias Hodge and Caroline Draxl on July 14, 2015. It was hosted by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. The toolkit is a grid integration data set that contains meteorological and power data at a 5-minute resolution across the continental United States for 7 years and hourly power forecasts.

Academic Self-Attributions for Success and Failure in Mathematics and School Refusal

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzálvez, Carolina; Sanmartín, Ricardo; Vicent, María; Inglés, Cándido J.; Aparicio-Flores, M. Pilar; García-Fernández, José M.

2018-01-01

The aim of this research is twofold: to analyze the mean differences scores in mathematic self-attributions based on school refusal and to verify its predictive capability on high scores in school refusal. The Sydney Attribution Scale and the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised were administered to 1078 Spanish students (50.8% boys) aged…

Designing a ticket to ride with the Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Read, Gemma J M; Salmon, Paul M; Lenné, Michael G; Jenkins, Daniel P

2015-01-01

Cognitive work analysis has been applied in the design of numerous sociotechnical systems. The process used to translate analysis outputs into design concepts, however, is not always clear. Moreover, structured processes for translating the outputs of ergonomics methods into concrete designs are lacking. This paper introduces the Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit (CWA-DT), a design approach which has been developed specifically to provide a structured means of incorporating cognitive work analysis outputs in design using design principles and values derived from sociotechnical systems theory. This paper outlines the CWA-DT and describes its application in a public transport ticketing design case study. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the process provide promising early evidence that the toolkit fulfils the evaluation criteria identified for its success, with opportunities for improvement also highlighted. The Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit has been developed to provide ergonomics practitioners with a structured approach for translating the outputs of cognitive work analysis into design solutions. This paper demonstrates an application of the toolkit and provides evaluation findings.

FY17Q4 Ristra project: Release Version 1.0 of a production toolkit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hungerford, Aimee L. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Daniel, David John [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-09-21

The Next Generation Code project will release Version 1.0 of a production toolkit for multi-physics application development on advanced architectures. Features of this toolkit will include remap and link utilities, control and state manager, setup, visualization and I/O, as well as support for a variety of mesh and particle data representations. Numerical physics packages that operate atop this foundational toolkit will be employed in a multi-physics demonstration problem and released to the community along with results from the demonstration.

Development of a Multimedia Toolkit for Engineering Graphics Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moudar Zgoul

2009-09-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses upon the development of a multimedia toolkit to support the teaching of Engineering Graphics Course. The project used different elements for the toolkit; animations, videos and presentations which were then integrated in a dedicated internet website. The purpose of using these elements is to assist the students building and practicing the needed engineering skills at their own pace as a part of an e-Learning solution. Furthermore, this kit allows students to repeat and view the processes and techniques of graphical construction, and visualization as much as needed, allowing them to follow and practice on their own.

AutoMicromanager: A microscopy scripting toolkit for LABVIEW and other programming environments

Science.gov (United States)

Ashcroft, Brian Alan; Oosterkamp, Tjerk

2010-11-01

We present a scripting toolkit for the acquisition and analysis of a wide variety of imaging data by integrating the ease of use of various programming environments such as LABVIEW, IGOR PRO, MATLAB, SCILAB, and others. This toolkit is designed to allow the user to quickly program a variety of standard microscopy components for custom microscopy applications allowing much more flexibility than other packages. Included are both programming tools as well as graphical user interface classes allowing a standard, consistent, and easy to maintain scripting environment. This programming toolkit allows easy access to most commonly used cameras, stages, and shutters through the Micromanager project so the scripter can focus on their custom application instead of boilerplate code generation.

AutoMicromanager: a microscopy scripting toolkit for LABVIEW and other programming environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Ashcroft, Brian Alan; Oosterkamp, Tjerk

2010-11-01

We present a scripting toolkit for the acquisition and analysis of a wide variety of imaging data by integrating the ease of use of various programming environments such as LABVIEW, IGOR PRO, MATLAB, SCILAB, and others. This toolkit is designed to allow the user to quickly program a variety of standard microscopy components for custom microscopy applications allowing much more flexibility than other packages. Included are both programming tools as well as graphical user interface classes allowing a standard, consistent, and easy to maintain scripting environment. This programming toolkit allows easy access to most commonly used cameras, stages, and shutters through the Micromanager project so the scripter can focus on their custom application instead of boilerplate code generation.

Windows forensic analysis toolkit advanced analysis techniques for Windows 7

CERN Document Server

Carvey, Harlan

2012-01-01

Now in its third edition, Harlan Carvey has updated "Windows Forensic Analysis Toolkit" to cover Windows 7 systems. The primary focus of this edition is on analyzing Windows 7 systems and on processes using free and open-source tools. The book covers live response, file analysis, malware detection, timeline, and much more. The author presents real-life experiences from the trenches, making the material realistic and showing the why behind the how. New to this edition, the companion and toolkit materials are now hosted online. This material consists of electronic printable checklists, cheat sheets, free custom tools, and walk-through demos. This edition complements "Windows Forensic Analysis Toolkit, 2nd Edition", (ISBN: 9781597494229), which focuses primarily on XP. It includes complete coverage and examples on Windows 7 systems. It contains Lessons from the Field, Case Studies, and War Stories. It features companion online material, including electronic printable checklists, cheat sheets, free custom tools, ...

Delay and refusal of human papillomavirus vaccine for girls, national immunization survey-teen, 2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorell, Christina; Yankey, David; Jeyarajah, Jenny; Stokley, Shannon; Fisher, Allison; Markowitz, Lauri; Smith, Philip J

2014-03-01

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage among girls is low. We used data reported by parents of 4103 girls, 13 to 17 years old, to assess associations with, and reasons for, delaying or refusing HPV vaccination. Sixty-nine percent of parents neither delayed nor refused vaccination, 11% delayed only, 17% refused only, and 3% both delayed and refused. Eighty-three percent of girls who delayed only, 19% who refused only, and 46% who both delayed and refused went on to initiate the vaccine series or intended to initiate it within the next 12 months. A significantly higher proportion of parents of girls who were non-Hispanic white, lived in households with higher incomes, and had mothers with higher education levels, delayed and/or refused vaccination. The most common reasons for nonvaccination were concerns about lasting health problems from the vaccine, wondering about the vaccine's effectiveness, and believing the vaccine is not needed.

VIDE: The Void IDentification and Examination toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Sutter, P. M.; Lavaux, G.; Hamaus, N.; Pisani, A.; Wandelt, B. D.; Warren, M.; Villaescusa-Navarro, F.; Zivick, P.; Mao, Q.; Thompson, B. B.

2015-03-01

We present VIDE, the Void IDentification and Examination toolkit, an open-source Python/C++ code for finding cosmic voids in galaxy redshift surveys and N-body simulations, characterizing their properties, and providing a platform for more detailed analysis. At its core, VIDE uses a substantially enhanced version of ZOBOV (Neyinck 2008) to calculate a Voronoi tessellation for estimating the density field and performing a watershed transform to construct voids. Additionally, VIDE provides significant functionality for both pre- and post-processing: for example, VIDE can work with volume- or magnitude-limited galaxy samples with arbitrary survey geometries, or dark matter particles or halo catalogs in a variety of common formats. It can also randomly subsample inputs and includes a Halo Occupation Distribution model for constructing mock galaxy populations. VIDE uses the watershed levels to place voids in a hierarchical tree, outputs a summary of void properties in plain ASCII, and provides a Python API to perform many analysis tasks, such as loading and manipulating void catalogs and particle members, filtering, plotting, computing clustering statistics, stacking, comparing catalogs, and fitting density profiles. While centered around ZOBOV, the toolkit is designed to be as modular as possible and accommodate other void finders. VIDE has been in development for several years and has already been used to produce a wealth of results, which we summarize in this work to highlight the capabilities of the toolkit. VIDE is publicly available at http://bitbucket.org/cosmicvoids/vide_public and http://www.cosmicvoids.net.

Refusal of emergency caesarean section in Ireland: a relational approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Wade, Katherine

2014-01-01

This article examines the issue of emergency caesarean section refusal. This raises complex legal and ethical issues surrounding autonomy, capacity, and the right to refuse treatment. In Ireland, the situation is complicated further by the constitutional right to life of the unborn. While cases involving caesarean section refusal have occurred in other jurisdictions, a case of this nature has yet to be reported in Ireland. This article examines possible ways in which the interaction of a woman's right to refuse treatment and the right to life of the unborn could be approached in Ireland in the context of caesarean section refusal. The central argument of the article is that the liberal individualistic approach to autonomy evident in the caesarean section cases in England and Wales is difficult to apply in the Irish context, due to the conflicting constitutional rights of the woman and foetus. Thus, alternative visions of autonomy which take the interests and rights of others into account in medical decision-making are examined. In particular, this article focuses on the concept of relational consent, as developed by Alasdair Maclean and examines how such an approach could be applied in the context of caesarean section refusal in Ireland. The article explains why this approach is particularly appropriate and identifies mechanisms through which such a theory of consent could be applied. It is argued that this approach enhances a woman's right to autonomy, while at the same time allows the right to life of the unborn to be defended.

The impact of increased weekend physiotherapy service provision in critical care: a mixed methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, Catharine; Hudson, Megan; Heck, Carol

2015-01-01

At the hospital studied, weekend physiotherapy (WEPT) is routinely provided and in 2013 WEPT was increased from one (PRE) to three (POST) physiotherapists (PTs) to cover intensive care and ward patients. (1) To evaluate the impact of increased WEPT on patient volumes, treatments provided and conditions treated in critical care and wards; and (2) to understand the PTs' perspectives on the new coverage model. A mixed methods design was utilized. The quantitative component consisted of retrospective document reviews of all weekend patients treated January 1-May 5 (PRE) and May 11-December 31 (POST). The qualitative component used a questionnaire to collect staff feedback. PRE-POST comparisons were conducted using χ(2) or Mann-Whitney U tests. Significant (p = 0.00) increases POST were seen in number of patients treated, number of mobility treatments provided and number of post-surgical patients seen in both clinical areas. The majority of survey respondents reported feeling adequately trained, but had concerns regarding the impact of increased WEPT on work-life balance. PTs perceived enhanced service was beneficial for continuity of weekday care and improved patient function. Future studies need to focus on measuring the effect of increased weekend provision on outcomes, preventing complications and length of stay.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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.

The Customer Flow Toolkit: A Framework for Designing High Quality Customer Services.

Science.gov (United States)

New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals, Albany.

This document presents a toolkit to assist staff involved in the design and development of New York's one-stop system. Section 1 describes the preplanning issues to be addressed and the intended outcomes that serve as the framework for creation of the customer flow toolkit. Section 2 outlines the following strategies to assist in designing local…

Central Nervous System Disease, Education, and Race Impact Radiation Refusal in Pediatric Cancer Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Chirayu G; Stavas, Mark; Perkins, Stephanie; Shinohara, Eric T

2017-07-01

To investigate the determinants of radiation therapy refusal in pediatric cancer, we used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry to identify 24,421 patients who met the eligibility criteria, diagnosed between 1974 and 2012. Patients had any stage of cancer, were aged 0 to 19, and received radiation therapy or refused radiation therapy when it was recommended. One hundred twenty-eight patients (0.52%) refused radiation therapy when it was recommended. Thirty-two percent of patients who refused radiation therapy ultimately died from their cancer, at a median of 7 months after diagnosis (95% confidence interval, 3-11 mo), as compared with 29.0% of patients who did not refuse radiation therapy died from their cancer, at a median of 17 months after diagnosis (95% confidence interval, 17-18 mo). On multivariable analysis, central nervous system (CNS) site, education, and race were associated with radiation refusal. The odds ratio for radiation refusal for patients with CNS disease was 1.62 (P=0.009) as compared with patients without CNS disease. For patients living in a county with ≥10% residents having less than ninth grade education, the odds ratio for radiation refusal was 1.71 (P=0.008) as compared with patients living in a county with education. Asian, Pacific Islander, Alaska Native, and American Indian races had an odds ratio of 2.12 (P=0.002) for radiation refusal as compared with black or white race. Although the radiation refusal rate in the pediatric cancer population is low, we show that CNS site, education level, and race are associated with a significant difference in radiation refusal.

Perceived Quality of Informed Refusal Process: A Cross-Sectional Study from Iranian Patients' Perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Farzandipour, Mehrdad; Sheikhtaheri, Abbas; Sadeqi Jabali, Monireh

2015-12-01

Patients have the right to refuse their treatment; however, this refusal should be informed. We evaluated the quality of the informed refusal process in Iranian hospitals from patients' viewpoints. To this end, we developed a questionnaire that covered four key aspects of the informed refusal process including; information disclosure, voluntariness, comprehension, and provider-patient relationship. A total of 284 patients who refused their treatment from 12 teaching hospitals in the Isfahan Province, Iran, were recruited and surveyed to produce a convenience sample. Patients' perceptions about the informed refusal process were scored and the mean scores of the four components were calculated. The findings showed that the practice of information disclosure (9.6 ± 6.4 out of 22 points) was perceived to be moderate, however, comprehension (2.3 ± 1.4 out of 4 points), voluntariness (8.7 ± 1.5 out of 12 points) and provider-patient relationship (10.2 ± 5.2 out of 16 points) were perceived to be relatively good. We found that patients, who refused their care before any treatment had commenced, reported a lower quality of information disclosure and voluntariness. Patients informed by nurses and those who had not had a previous related admission, reported lower scores for comprehension and relationship. In conclusion, the process of obtaining informed refusal was relatively satisfactory except for levels of information disclosure. To improve current practices, Iranian patients need to be better informed about; different treatment options, consequences of treatment refusal, costs of not continuing treatment and follow-ups after refusal. Developing more informative refusal forms is needed. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

BAT - The Bayesian Analysis Toolkit

CERN Document Server

Caldwell, Allen C; Kröninger, Kevin

2009-01-01

We describe the development of a new toolkit for data analysis. The analysis package is based on Bayes' Theorem, and is realized with the use of Markov Chain Monte Carlo. This gives access to the full posterior probability distribution. Parameter estimation, limit setting and uncertainty propagation are implemented in a straightforward manner. A goodness-of-fit criterion is presented which is intuitive and of great practical use.

"How Was Your Weekend?": Developing the Interactional Competence in Managing Routine Inquiries

Science.gov (United States)

Waring, Hansun Zhang

2013-01-01

Given the cross-cultural differences underlying interactional routines such as "How are you?" or "How was your weekend?", managing such routine inquiries can be problematic for second language learners. Based on data from an adult ESL (English as a second language) class, this conversation analytic study shows how learners develop their competence…

Research suggests 'weekend effect' may be all in the coding. Available at.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-10

'Looking at where we are now, you could only describe it as a shambles' Peter Rothwell as reported online in the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/weekend-deaths-nhs-effect-flawed_uk_57305112e4b0e6da49a677c7 [Accessed 2 June 2016]).

A new open-source Python-based Space Weather data access, visualization, and analysis toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

de Larquier, S.; Ribeiro, A.; Frissell, N. A.; Spaleta, J.; Kunduri, B.; Thomas, E. G.; Ruohoniemi, J.; Baker, J. B.

2013-12-01

Space weather research relies heavily on combining and comparing data from multiple observational platforms. Current frameworks exist to aggregate some of the data sources, most based on file downloads via web or ftp interfaces. Empirical models are mostly fortran based and lack interfaces with more useful scripting languages. In an effort to improve data and model access, the SuperDARN community has been developing a Python-based Space Science Data Visualization Toolkit (DaViTpy). At the center of this development was a redesign of how our data (from 30 years of SuperDARN radars) was made available. Several access solutions are now wrapped into one convenient Python interface which probes local directories, a new remote NoSQL database, and an FTP server to retrieve the requested data based on availability. Motivated by the efficiency of this interface and the inherent need for data from multiple instruments, we implemented similar modules for other space science datasets (POES, OMNI, Kp, AE...), and also included fundamental empirical models with Python interfaces to enhance data analysis (IRI, HWM, MSIS...). All these modules and more are gathered in a single convenient toolkit, which is collaboratively developed and distributed using Github and continues to grow. While still in its early stages, we expect this toolkit will facilitate multi-instrument space weather research and improve scientific productivity.

Sodium bicarbonate effects on the anaerobic digestion of refuse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kasali, G.B.; Senior, E.; Watson-Craik, I.A. (Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow (UK). Dept. of Applied Physics)

1989-01-01

Laboratory column and bottle cultures were used to examine the efficacy of NaHCO{sub 3}additions (1%, 2.5% and 5% w/v) to promote the solid-state refuse fermentation. Buffering capacity increase, by addition of 2.5% NaHCO{sub 3}, equivalent to 84 mg NaHCO{sub 3} g dry weight refuse{sup -1}, promoted both acidogenesis and methanogenesis, with the latter accelerating by a factor of six, compared with glass-distilled water controls. Increased addition, with 5% NaHCO{sub 3}, however, mediated partial suppression of methanogenesis and acidogenesis with cation toxicity the most likely cause. Promotion of the refuse fermentation by NaHCO{sub 3} addition, therefore, necessitates careful control of the concentration applied. (author).

Conscientious objection and refusal to provide reproductive healthcare: a White Paper examining prevalence, health consequences, and policy responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Chavkin, Wendy; Leitman, Liddy; Polin, Kate

2013-12-01

Global Doctors for Choice-a transnational network of physician advocates for reproductive health and rights-began exploring the phenomenon of conscience-based refusal of reproductive healthcare as a result of increasing reports of harms worldwide. The present White Paper examines the prevalence and impact of such refusal and reviews policy efforts to balance individual conscience, autonomy in reproductive decision making, safeguards for health, and professional medical integrity. The White Paper draws on medical, public health, legal, ethical, and social science literature published between 1998 and 2013 in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Estimates of prevalence are difficult to obtain, as there is no consensus about criteria for refuser status and no standardized definition of the practice, and the studies have sampling and other methodologic limitations. The White Paper reviews these data and offers logical frameworks to represent the possible health and health system consequences of conscience-based refusal to provide abortion; assisted reproductive technologies; contraception; treatment in cases of maternal health risk and inevitable pregnancy loss; and prenatal diagnosis. It concludes by categorizing legal, regulatory, and other policy responses to the practice. Empirical evidence is essential for varied political actors as they respond with policies or regulations to the competing concerns at stake. Further research and training in diverse geopolitical settings are required. With dual commitments toward their own conscience and their obligations to patients' health and rights, providers and professional medical/public health societies must lead attempts to respond to conscience-based refusal and to safeguard reproductive health, medical integrity, and women's lives. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A plea for uniform European definitions for organ donor potential and family refusal rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Jansen, Nichon E; Haase-Kromwijk, Bernadette J J M; van Leiden, Hendrik A; Weimar, Willem; Hoitsma, Andries J

2009-11-01

Conversion of potential organ donors to actual donors is negatively influenced by family refusals. Refusal rates differ strongly among countries. Is it possible to compare refusal rates in order to be able to learn from countries with the best practices? We searched in the literature for reviews of donor potential and refusal rates for organ donation in intensive care units. We found 14 articles pertinent to this study. There is an enormous diversity among the performed studies. The definitions of potential organ donors and family refusal differed substantially. We tried to re-calculate the refusal rates. This method failed because of the influence caused by the registered will on donation in the Donor Register. We therefore calculated the total refusal rate. This strategy was also less satisfactory considering possible influence of the legal consent system on the approach of family. Because of lack of uniform definitions, we can conclude that the refusal rates for organ donation can not be used for a sound comparison among countries. To be able to learn from well-performing countries, it is necessary to establish uniform definitions regarding organ donation and registration of all intensive care deaths.

A Geospatial Decision Support System Toolkit, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to build and commercialize a working prototype Geospatial Decision Support Toolkit (GeoKit). GeoKit will enable scientists, agencies, and stakeholders to...

Effect of bio-column composed of aged refuse on methane abatement--a novel configuration of biological oxidation in refuse landfill.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Dan; Zhao, Youcai; Xue, Binjie; Chai, Xiaoli

2010-01-01

An experimental bio-column composed of aged refuse was installed around the exhaust pipe as a new way to mitigate methane in refuse landfill. One of the objectives of this work was to assess the effect of aged refuse thickness in bio-column on reducing CH4 emissions. Over the study period, methane oxidation was observed at various thicknesses, 5 cm (small size), 10 cm (middle size) and 15 cm (large size), representing one to three times of pipeline diameters. The middle and large size both showed over 90% methane conversion, and the highest methane conversion rate of above 95% occurred in the middle-size column cell. Michaelis-Menten equation addressed the methanotrophs diffusion in different layers of the bio-columns. Maximum methanotrophic activity (Vmax) measured at the three thicknesses ranged from 6.4 x 10(-3) to 15.6 x 10(-3) units, and the half-saturation value (K(M)) ranged from 0.85% to 1.67%. Both the highest Vmax and K(M) were observed at the middle-size of the bio-column, as well as the largest methanotrophs population, suggesting a significant efficiency of methane mitigation happened in the optimum zone with greatest affinity and methanotrophic bacteria activities. Therefore, bio-column is a potential style for methane abatement in landfill, and the aged refuse both naturally formed and artificially placed in the column plays a critical role in CH4 emission.

Social Skills, Competence, and Drug Refusal Efficacy as Predictors of Adolescent Alcohol Use.

Science.gov (United States)

Scheier, Lawrence M.; Botvin, Gilbert J.; Diaz, Tracy; Griffin, Kenneth W.

1999-01-01

Examines the extent to which assertiveness and related social skills, personal competence, and refusal efficacy predict alcohol involvement in adolescents. Males were at higher risk for poor refusal skills and reported higher alcohol involvement. Youth characterized by poor social skill development reported lower refusal efficacy, lower grades,…

The Visualization Toolkit (VTK): Rewriting the rendering code for modern graphics cards

Science.gov (United States)

Hanwell, Marcus D.; Martin, Kenneth M.; Chaudhary, Aashish; Avila, Lisa S.

2015-09-01

The Visualization Toolkit (VTK) is an open source, permissively licensed, cross-platform toolkit for scientific data processing, visualization, and data analysis. It is over two decades old, originally developed for a very different graphics card architecture. Modern graphics cards feature fully programmable, highly parallelized architectures with large core counts. VTK's rendering code was rewritten to take advantage of modern graphics cards, maintaining most of the toolkit's programming interfaces. This offers the opportunity to compare the performance of old and new rendering code on the same systems/cards. Significant improvements in rendering speeds and memory footprints mean that scientific data can be visualized in greater detail than ever before. The widespread use of VTK means that these improvements will reap significant benefits.

Heart Failure: Self-care to Success: Development and evaluation of a program toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Bryant, Rebecca

2017-08-17

The Heart Failure: Self-care to Success toolkit was developed to assist NPs in empowering patients with heart failure (HF) to improve individual self-care behaviors. This article details the evolution of this toolkit for NPs, its effectiveness with patients with HF, and recommendations for future research and dissemination strategies.

Mortality after discharge from the intensive care unit during the early weekend period

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Obel, N; Schierbeck, J; Pedersen, L

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: As a result of a shortage of intensive care capacity, patients may be discharged prematurely early during weekends which may lead to an increased mortality and risk of readmission to intensive care units (ICU). We examined whether discharge from the ICU during the first part...

LIMITED RESTAURANT SERVICE: ASCENSION AND WHITSUNTIDE WEEKENDS

CERN Multimedia

Restaurant Supervisory Committee

2001-01-01

Details of the arrangements to ensure the provision of a restaurant service during the Ascension and Whitsuntide weekends are given below. On all the days indicated, hot meals will be served from 11h30 to 14h00 and 18h00 to 19h30. RESTAURANT CAFETERIAS PERIPHERIQUES SATELLITE CAFETERIAS KIOSQUE No. Horaire Opening times Horaire : comme d'habitude Usual opening times   ASCENSION         Jeudi 24 mai 1       Thursday, May 24 2 08h00 - 21h00 3           Vendredi 25 mai 1   Bâts. /Bldgs 6 13 17 40Bâts. /Bldgs. 30 54 Bâts. /Bldgs 864 08h00 — 17h00 Friday, May 25 2 07h00 - 21h00   3 07h00 - 18h00           Samedi 26 mai 1 07h00 - 23h00     Saturday, May 26 2   3           Dimanche 27 mai 1 07h00 - 23h00     Sunday, May 27 2   3                   PENTECOTE WHITSUNTIDE         Samedi 2 juin 1 08h00 - 21h00     Saturday, June 2 2   3           Dimanche 3 juin 1 08h00 — 21h00     Sunday, Jun...

Marine Debris and Plastic Source Reduction Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Many plastic food service ware items originate on college and university campuses—in cafeterias, snack rooms, cafés, and eateries with take-out dining options. This Campus Toolkit is a detailed “how to” guide for reducing plastic waste on college campuses.

Refusal of Emergency Medical Treatment: Case Studies and Ethical Foundations.

Science.gov (United States)

Marco, Catherine A; Brenner, Jay M; Kraus, Chadd K; McGrath, Norine A; Derse, Arthur R

2017-11-01

Informed consent is an important component of emergency medical treatment. Most emergency department patients can provide informed consent for treatment upon arrival. Informed consent should also be obtained for emergency medical interventions that may entail significant risk. A related concept to informed consent is informed refusal of treatment. Patients may refuse emergency medical treatment during their evaluation and treatment. This article addresses important considerations for patients who refuse treatment, including case studies and discussion of definitions, epidemiology, assessment of decisional capacity, information delivery, medicolegal considerations, and alternative care plans. Copyright © 2017 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Matlab based Toolkits used to Interface with Optical Design Software for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, Joseph

2007-01-01

The viewgraph presentation provides an introduction to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The first part provides a brief overview of Matlab toolkits including CodeV, OSLO, and Zemax Toolkits. The toolkit overview examines purpose, layout, how Matlab gets data from CodeV, function layout, and using cvHELP. The second part provides examples of use with JWST, including wavefront sensitivities and alignment simulations.

Assessment of musculoskeletal load in refuse collectors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zbigniew W. Jóźwiak

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Background: The aim of this work was to assess the load on the musculoskeletal system and its effects in the collectors of solid refuse. The rationale behind this study was to formulate proposals how to reduce excessive musculoskeletal load in this group of workers. Material and Methods: The study group comprised 15 refuse collectors aged 25 to 50 years. Data about the workplace characteristics and subjective complaints of workers were collected by the free interview and questionnaire. During the survey the photorecording of the workpostures, the distance and velocity by GPS recorders, measurements of forces necessary to move containers, energy expenditure (lung ventilation method, workload estimation using the Firstbeat system and REBA method and stadiometry were done. Results: The distance walked daily by the collectors operating in terms of 2 to 3 in urban areas was about 15 km, and in rural areas about 18 km. The most frequent musculoskeletal complaints concerned the feet (60% subjects, knees, wrists and shoulders (over 40% subjects. After work-shift all examined workers had vertebral column shorter by 10 to 14 mm (11.4 mm mean. Conclusions: The results of our study show that the refuse collectors are subjected to a very high physical load because of the work organization and the way it is performed. To avoid adverse health effects and overload it is necessary to undertake ergonomic interventions, involving training of workers to improve the way of their job performance, active and passive leisure, technical control of the equipment and refuse containers, as well as the renegotiation of contracts with clients, especially those concerning non-standard containers. Med Pr 2013;64(4:507–519

Geomorphic reclmation of a coal refuse pile

Science.gov (United States)

Hopkinson, L. C.; Quaranta, J.

2017-12-01

Geomorphic reclamation is a technique that may offer opportunities to improve mine reclamation in Central Appalachia. The design approach is based on constructing a steady-state, mature landform condition and takes into account the long-term climatic conditions, soil types, terrain grade, and vegetation. Geomorphic reclamation has been applied successfully in semi-arid regions but has not yet been applied in Central Appalachia. This work describes a demonstration study where geomorphic landforming techniques are being applied to a coarse coal refuse pile in southern West Virginia, USA. The reclamation design includes four geomorphic watersheds that radially drain runoff from the pile. Each watershed has one central draining channel and incorporates compound slope profiles similarly to naturally eroded slopes. Planar slopes were also included to maintain the impacted area. The intent is to alter the hydrology to decrease water quality treatment costs. The excavation cut and fill volumes are comparable to those of more conventional refuse pile reclamation designs. If proven successful then this technique can be part of a cost-effective solution to improve water quality at active and future refuse facilities, abandoned mine lands, bond forfeiture sites, landfills, and major earthmoving activities within the region.

Guide to Using the WIND Toolkit Validation Code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lieberman-Cribbin, W.; Draxl, C.; Clifton, A.

2014-12-01

In response to the U.S. Department of Energy's goal of using 20% wind energy by 2030, the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit was created to provide information on wind speed, wind direction, temperature, surface air pressure, and air density on more than 126,000 locations across the United States from 2007 to 2013. The numerical weather prediction model output, gridded at 2-km and at a 5-minute resolution, was further converted to detail the wind power production time series of existing and potential wind facility sites. For users of the dataset it is important that the information presented in the WIND Toolkit is accurate and that errors are known, as then corrective steps can be taken. Therefore, we provide validation code written in R that will be made public to provide users with tools to validate data of their own locations. Validation is based on statistical analyses of wind speed, using error metrics such as bias, root-mean-square error, centered root-mean-square error, mean absolute error, and percent error. Plots of diurnal cycles, annual cycles, wind roses, histograms of wind speed, and quantile-quantile plots are created to visualize how well observational data compares to model data. Ideally, validation will confirm beneficial locations to utilize wind energy and encourage regional wind integration studies using the WIND Toolkit.

Refusal of hemodialysis by hospitalized chronic kidney disease patients in Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Shafi, Salman Tahir; Saleem, Mohammad; Anjum, Roshina; Abdullah, Wajid; Shafi, Tahir

2018-01-01

In Pakistan, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are commonly diagnosed at a late stage. There is little information about the refusal of hemodialysis by hospitalized CKD patients who need hemodialysis (HD) and reasons for acceptance and refusal among these patients. All patients with Stage V CKD who had medical indications to undergo HD and were hospitalized at a tertiary care facility over a six-month period were invited to participate in this study. Patients were surveyed regarding acceptance or refusing of HD and reasons for their decisions. Demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical characteristics of patients were compared between patients who accepted or refused HD. A total of 125 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 47.9 ±12.1 years. The mean duration of diagnosis of CKD was 2.5 ± 0.6 months. Of all patients, 72 (57.6%) agreed to do HD and 53 (42.4%) refused HD. Patients with arteriovenous fistula in place (27.1 vs. 9.1%, P 0.02) and those in the middle- or higher-income group (64.4% vs. 38.6%, p = 0.03) were more willing to undergo HD. Trust in doctor's advice (86.1%) was the most common reason for acceptance of HD. Frequency of HD per week (52.8%), lifelong and permanent nature of HD (50.9%), advice by family members or friends (37.7%), perception of poor quality of life on HD (35.8%), and fear of HD needles and complications during HD (33.9%) were the most common reasons for refusal. Refusal of HD is common among hospitalized CKD patients with medical indications to undergo HD, especially in lower income group.

Innovations and Challenges of Implementing a Glucose Gel Toolkit for Neonatal Hypoglycemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Denise; Pohl, Carla; Jacobs, Peggy J; Kaufman, Susan; Drury, Brenda

2018-05-24

Transient neonatal hypoglycemia occurs most commonly in newborns who are small for gestational age, large for gestational age, infants of diabetic mothers, and late preterm infants. An exact blood glucose value has not been determined for neonatal hypoglycemia, and it is important to note that poor neurologic outcomes can occur if hypoglycemia is left untreated. Interventions that separate mothers and newborns, as well as use of formula to treat hypoglycemia, have the potential to disrupt exclusive breastfeeding. To determine whether implementation of a toolkit designed to support staff in the adaptation of the practice change for management of newborns at risk for hypoglycemia, that includes 40% glucose gel in an obstetric unit with a level 2 nursery will decrease admissions to the Intermediate Care Nursery, and increase exclusive breastfeeding. This descriptive study used a retrospective chart review for pre/postimplementation of the Management of Newborns at Risk for Hypoglycemia Toolkit (Toolkit) using a convenience sample of at-risk newborns in the first 2 days of life to evaluate the proposed outcomes. Following implementation of the Toolkit, at-risk newborns had a clinically but not statistically significant 6.5% increase in exclusive breastfeeding and a clinically but not statistically significant 5% decrease in admissions to the Intermediate Care Nursery. The Toolkit was designed for ease of staff use and to improve outcomes for the at-risk newborn. Future research includes replication at other level 2 and level 1 obstetric centers and investigation into the number of 40% glucose gel doses that can safely be administered.

Integrated System Health Management Development Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Figueroa, Jorge; Smith, Harvey; Morris, Jon

2009-01-01

This software toolkit is designed to model complex systems for the implementation of embedded Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) capability, which focuses on determining the condition (health) of every element in a complex system (detect anomalies, diagnose causes, and predict future anomalies), and to provide data, information, and knowledge (DIaK) to control systems for safe and effective operation.

Detecting short-term responses to weekend recreation activity: desert bighorn sheep avoidance of hiking trails

Science.gov (United States)

Longshore, Kathleen M.; Lowrey, Chris; Thompson, Daniel B.

2013-01-01

To study potential effects of recreation activity on habitat use of desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni), we placed Global Positioning System collars on 10 female bighorn sheep within the Wonderland of Rocks–Queen Mountain region of Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR), California, USA, from 2002 to 2004. Recreation use was highest from March to April and during weekends throughout the year. Daily use of recreation trails was highest during midday. By comparing habitat use (slope, ruggedness, distance to water, and distance to recreation trails) of female bighorn sheep on weekdays versus weekends, we were able to detect short-term shifts in behavior in response to recreation. In a logistic regression of bighorn sheep locations versus random locations for March and April, female locations at midday (1200 hours) were significantly more distant from recreation trails on weekends compared with weekdays. Our results indicate that within this region of JOTR, moderate to high levels of human recreation activity may temporarily exclude bighorn females from their preferred habitat. However, the relative proximity of females to recreation trails during the weekdays before and after such habitat shifts indicates that these anthropogenic impacts were short-lived. Our results have implications for management of wildlife on public lands where the co-existence of wildlife and recreational use is a major goal.

Drinking with mixed-gender groups is associated with heavy weekend drinking among young adults

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thrul, J.; Labhart, F.; Kuntsche, E.N.

2017-01-01

Aims: To investigate how gender composition of the drinking group affects young adults’ alcohol consumption on weekend evenings over and above the effect of drinking-group size. Design: Using the internet-based cellphone-optimized assessment technique (ICAT), participants completed online

pypet: A Python Toolkit for Data Management of Parameter Explorations.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Robert; Obermayer, Klaus

2016-01-01

pypet (Python parameter exploration toolkit) is a new multi-platform Python toolkit for managing numerical simulations. Sampling the space of model parameters is a key aspect of simulations and numerical experiments. pypet is designed to allow easy and arbitrary sampling of trajectories through a parameter space beyond simple grid searches. pypet collects and stores both simulation parameters and results in a single HDF5 file. This collective storage allows fast and convenient loading of data for further analyses. pypet provides various additional features such as multiprocessing and parallelization of simulations, dynamic loading of data, integration of git version control, and supervision of experiments via the electronic lab notebook Sumatra. pypet supports a rich set of data formats, including native Python types, Numpy and Scipy data, Pandas DataFrames, and BRIAN(2) quantities. Besides these formats, users can easily extend the toolkit to allow customized data types. pypet is a flexible tool suited for both short Python scripts and large scale projects. pypet's various features, especially the tight link between parameters and results, promote reproducible research in computational neuroscience and simulation-based disciplines.

Predictors of intensive care unit refusal in French intensive care units: a multiple-center study.

Science.gov (United States)

Garrouste-Orgeas, Maité; Montuclard, Luc; Timsit, Jean-François; Reignier, Jean; Desmettre, Thibault; Karoubi, Philippe; Moreau, Delphine; Montesino, Laurent; Duguet, Alexandre; Boussat, Sandrine; Ede, Christophe; Monseau, Yannick; Paule, Thierry; Misset, Benoit; Carlet, Jean

2005-04-01

To identify factors associated with granting or refusing intensive care unit (ICU) admission, to analyze ICU characteristics and triage decisions, and to describe mortality in admitted and refused patients. Observational, prospective, multiple-center study. Four university hospitals and seven primary-care hospitals in France. None. Age, underlying diseases (McCabe score and Knaus class), dependency, hospital mortality, and ICU characteristics were recorded. The crude ICU refusal rate was 23.8% (137/574), with variations from 7.1% to 63.1%. The reasons for refusal were too well to benefit (76/137, 55.4%), too sick to benefit (51/137, 37.2%), unit too busy (9/137, 6.5%), and refusal by the family (1/137). In logistic regression analyses, two patient-related factors were associated with ICU refusal: dependency (odds ratio [OR], 14.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.27-38.25; p refused patients, and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.28-1.75) for later-admitted patients. ICU refusal rates varied greatly across ICUs and were dependent on both patient and organizational factors. Efforts to define ethically optimal ICU admission policies might lead to greater homogeneity in refusal rates, although case-mix variations would be expected to leave an irreducible amount of variation across ICUs.

The Liquid Argon Software Toolkit (LArSoft): Goals, Status and Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pordes, Rush [Fermilab; Snider, Erica [Fermilab

2016-08-17

LArSoft is a toolkit that provides a software infrastructure and algorithms for the simulation, reconstruction and analysis of events in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs). It is used by the ArgoNeuT, LArIAT, MicroBooNE, DUNE (including 35ton prototype and ProtoDUNE) and SBND experiments. The LArSoft collaboration provides an environment for the development, use, and sharing of code across experiments. The ultimate goal is to develop fully automatic processes for reconstruction and analysis of LArTPC events. The toolkit is based on the art framework and has a well-defined architecture to interface to other packages, including to GEANT4 and GENIE simulation software and the Pandora software development kit for pattern recognition. It is designed to facilitate and support the evolution of algorithms including their transition to new computing platforms. The development of the toolkit is driven by the scientific stakeholders involved. The core infrastructure includes standard definitions of types and constants, means to input experiment geometries as well as meta and event- data in several formats, and relevant general utilities. Examples of algorithms experiments have contributed to date are: photon-propagation; particle identification; hit finding, track finding and fitting; electromagnetic shower identification and reconstruction. We report on the status of the toolkit and plans for future work.

Medication refusal in children with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder and comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: medication history and clinical correlates.

Science.gov (United States)

Demidovich, Mark; Kolko, David J; Bukstein, Oscar G; Hart, Jonathan

2011-02-01

Abstract Objective: This study examines the characteristics of 96 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their families who refused a recommendation for medication as part of their treatment for disruptive disorders. The ADHD cases were taken from a sample of 139 youth (age 6-11) who were recruited for a clinical trial that compared the administration of a modular psychosocial treatment in an outpatient clinic or community settings. Medication management was an optional treatment module for children with ADHD in both conditions. Children who were (vs. were not) taking medication at intake, and children who accepted (vs. refused) medication recommendations during the study were compared on diagnostic and clinical measures related to child, school, parent, and family domains of functioning. Parents of 30% of the children refused study medication for ADHD. Parental medication acceptability and intake correlated highly with both medication history and study refusal of medication. Increased parental self-efficacy and emotional support for their youth correlated with medication refusal. No demographics and few child or school factors were associated with medication refusal. Medication use was associated with reductions in some key ADHD symptoms, but did not affect disruptive behaviors as did the psychosocial interventions. Medication refusers remain poorly understood but certain correlates, such as parental self-efficacy, parental emotional support for their youth, and medication acceptability, warrant further evaluation.

76 FR 29796 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Refuse...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-23

... for OMB Review; Comment Request; Refuse Piles and Impounding Structures, Recordkeeping and Reporting... Administration (MSHA) sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Refuse Piles and Impounding... to submit annual reports and certification on refuse piles and impoundments to the agency and to keep...

Automated prototyping tool-kit (APT)

OpenAIRE

Nada, Nader; Shing, M.; Berzins, V.; Luqi

2002-01-01

Automated prototyping tool-kit (APT) is an integrated set of software tools that generate source programs directly from real-time requirements. The APT system uses a fifth-generation prototyping language to model the communication structure, timing constraints, 1/0 control, and data buffering that comprise the requirements for an embedded software system. The language supports the specification of hard real-time systems with reusable components from domain specific component libraries. APT ha...

Autonomy, religious values, and refusal of lifesaving medical treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Wreen, M J

1991-09-01

The principal question of this paper is: Why are religious values special in refusal of lifesaving medical treatment? This question is approached through a critical examination of a common kind of refusal of treatment case, one involving a rational adult. The central value cited in defence of honouring such a patient's refusal is autonomy. Once autonomy is isolated from other justificatory factors, however, possible cases can be imagined which cast doubt on the great valuational weight assigned it by strong anti-paternalists. This weight is sufficient, in their estimation, to justify honouring the patient's refusal. There is thus a tension between the strong anti-paternalist's commitment to the sufficiency of autonomy and our intuitions respecting such cases. Attempts can be made to relieve this tension, such as arguing that patients aren't really rational in the circumstances envisaged, or that other values, such as privacy or bodily integrity, if added to autonomy, are sufficient to justify an anti-paternalistic stance. All such attempts fail, however. But what does not fail is the addition of religious freedom, freedom respecting a patient's religious beliefs and values. Why religious freedom reduces the tension is then explained, and the specialness of religious beliefs and values examined.

Children with food refusal: an assessment of parental eating attitudes and their styles of coping with stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Seda; Yilmaz, Ayse Esra; Karabel, Musemma; Kara, Semra; Aldemir, Seçil; Karabel, Duran

2012-05-01

In this study, we aimed to assess the eating attitudes and stress coping styles of parents whose children presented to the clinic complaining of food refusal. The parents of 31 children aged ≥3 years, presented to the clinic with the complaint of food refusal. The control group consisted of 30 healthy children with no prior history of food refusal, and their parents. In both groups, birth features, body mass indexes (BMIs), eating attitudes and stress coping styles of the parents were assessed. The parents of both groups were studied, in part utilizing the eating attitudes test (EAT), and the coping styles of stress scale (CSSS). Our study found that body weights and BMI values of the fathers in the study group were significantly lower than fathers in the control group. There was no significant difference in EAT scores between the two groups; however, where the children's body weight and height for age percentile was under 25%, the parents had significantly lower EAT scores. When CSSS scores were assessed, the optimistic approach score of the mother and the self-confident score of the father were found to be significantly high in both groups. The parental perception and definition of eating problems does not necessarily indicate the presence of an eating disorder in a child. In fact, the eating attitudes of the fathers were related to the low percentile weight and height values of the children, and a child's food refusal was not dependent on the stress coping style used by the parent. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Monitoring the grid with the Globus Toolkit MDS4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schopf, Jennifer M; Pearlman, Laura; Miller, Neill; Kesselman, Carl; Foster, Ian; D'Arcy, Mike; Chervenak, Ann

2006-01-01

The Globus Toolkit Monitoring and Discovery System (MDS4) defines and implements mechanisms for service and resource discovery and monitoring in distributed environments. MDS4 is distinguished from previous similar systems by its extensive use of interfaces and behaviors defined in the WS-Resource Framework and WS-Notification specifications, and by its deep integration into essentially every component of the Globus Toolkit. We describe the MDS4 architecture and the Web service interfaces and behaviors that allow users to discover resources and services, monitor resource and service states, receive updates on current status, and visualize monitoring results. We present two current deployments to provide insights into the functionality that can be achieved via the use of these mechanisms

Integrating existing software toolkits into VO system

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Chenzhou; Zhao, Yong-Heng; Wang, Xiaoqian; Sang, Jian; Luo, Ze

2004-09-01

Virtual Observatory (VO) is a collection of interoperating data archives and software tools. Taking advantages of the latest information technologies, it aims to provide a data-intensively online research environment for astronomers all around the world. A large number of high-qualified astronomical software packages and libraries are powerful and easy of use, and have been widely used by astronomers for many years. Integrating those toolkits into the VO system is a necessary and important task for the VO developers. VO architecture greatly depends on Grid and Web services, consequently the general VO integration route is "Java Ready - Grid Ready - VO Ready". In the paper, we discuss the importance of VO integration for existing toolkits and discuss the possible solutions. We introduce two efforts in the field from China-VO project, "gImageMagick" and "Galactic abundance gradients statistical research under grid environment". We also discuss what additional work should be done to convert Grid service to VO service.

Weekday AOD smaller than weekend AOD in eastern China on the basis of the MODIS AOD product

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Jingjing; Xia, Xiangao; Zhang, Xiaoling; Che, Huizheng; Li, Xiaojing

2018-05-01

A weekly cycle of surface particulate matter (PM) characterized by smaller values during weekends and larger values during weekdays was reported in eastern China. Whether column-integrated aerosol optical depth (AOD) showed similar weekly cycling as that of PM was debated. The weekly variation of AOD in eastern China was further studied by using the latest MODIS aerosol product (collection 6) with a fine spatial resolution (0.1°) from 2002 to 2015. We used three statistical methods to determine whether the weekly cycle of AOD was significant. AOD during weekdays (Wednesday to Friday) was lower than that during weekends. The maximum and minimum AOD was generally observed on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. This weekly pattern of AOD was in good agreement with previous results based on satellite aerosol products with a coarse spatial resolution, but it was in contrast to that of PM. Further analysis of the AOD weekly variability in 19 provincial cities suggested that AOD during weekdays was smaller than that during weekends in urban regions. Potential causes for the different weekly cycle of PM and AOD in eastern China were discussed.

Energy Savings Performance Contract Energy Sales Agreement Toolkit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2017-08-14

FEMP developed the Energy Savings Performance Contracting Energy Sales Agreement (ESPC ESA) Toolkit to provide federal agency contracting officers and other acquisition team members with information that will facilitate the timely execution of ESPC ESA projects.

XPIWIT--an XML pipeline wrapper for the Insight Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartschat, Andreas; Hübner, Eduard; Reischl, Markus; Mikut, Ralf; Stegmaier, Johannes

2016-01-15

The Insight Toolkit offers plenty of features for multidimensional image analysis. Current implementations, however, often suffer either from a lack of flexibility due to hard-coded C++ pipelines for a certain task or by slow execution times, e.g. caused by inefficient implementations or multiple read/write operations for separate filter execution. We present an XML-based wrapper application for the Insight Toolkit that combines the performance of a pure C++ implementation with an easy-to-use graphical setup of dynamic image analysis pipelines. Created XML pipelines can be interpreted and executed by XPIWIT in console mode either locally or on large clusters. We successfully applied the software tool for the automated analysis of terabyte-scale, time-resolved 3D image data of zebrafish embryos. XPIWIT is implemented in C++ using the Insight Toolkit and the Qt SDK. It has been successfully compiled and tested under Windows and Unix-based systems. Software and documentation are distributed under Apache 2.0 license and are publicly available for download at https://bitbucket.org/jstegmaier/xpiwit/downloads/. johannes.stegmaier@kit.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

29 CFR 1977.22 - Employee refusal to comply with safety rules.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... WILLIAMS-STEIGER OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT OF 1970 Some Specific Subjects § 1977.22 Employee refusal to comply with safety rules. Employees who refuse to comply with occupational safety and health... Section 1977.22 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH...

Development and formative evaluation of the e-Health Implementation Toolkit (e-HIT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mair Frances

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT or e-Health is seen as essential for a modern, cost-effective health service. However, there are well documented problems with implementation of e-Health initiatives, despite the existence of a great deal of research into how best to implement e-Health (an example of the gap between research and practice. This paper reports on the development and formative evaluation of an e-Health Implementation Toolkit (e-HIT which aims to summarise and synthesise new and existing research on implementation of e-Health initiatives, and present it to senior managers in a user-friendly format. Results The content of the e-HIT was derived by combining data from a systematic review of reviews of barriers and facilitators to implementation of e-Health initiatives with qualitative data derived from interviews of "implementers", that is people who had been charged with implementing an e-Health initiative. These data were summarised, synthesised and combined with the constructs from the Normalisation Process Model. The software for the toolkit was developed by a commercial company (RocketScience. Formative evaluation was undertaken by obtaining user feedback. There are three components to the toolkit - a section on background and instructions for use aimed at novice users; the toolkit itself; and the report generated by completing the toolkit. It is available to download from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/pcph/research/ehealth/documents/e-HIT.xls Conclusions The e-HIT shows potential as a tool for enhancing future e-Health implementations. Further work is needed to make it fully web-enabled, and to determine its predictive potential for future implementations.

PAGANI Toolkit: Parallel graph-theoretical analysis package for brain network big data.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Haixiao; Xia, Mingrui; Zhao, Kang; Liao, Xuhong; Yang, Huazhong; Wang, Yu; He, Yong

2018-05-01

The recent collection of unprecedented quantities of neuroimaging data with high spatial resolution has led to brain network big data. However, a toolkit for fast and scalable computational solutions is still lacking. Here, we developed the PArallel Graph-theoretical ANalysIs (PAGANI) Toolkit based on a hybrid central processing unit-graphics processing unit (CPU-GPU) framework with a graphical user interface to facilitate the mapping and characterization of high-resolution brain networks. Specifically, the toolkit provides flexible parameters for users to customize computations of graph metrics in brain network analyses. As an empirical example, the PAGANI Toolkit was applied to individual voxel-based brain networks with ∼200,000 nodes that were derived from a resting-state fMRI dataset of 624 healthy young adults from the Human Connectome Project. Using a personal computer, this toolbox completed all computations in ∼27 h for one subject, which is markedly less than the 118 h required with a single-thread implementation. The voxel-based functional brain networks exhibited prominent small-world characteristics and densely connected hubs, which were mainly located in the medial and lateral fronto-parietal cortices. Moreover, the female group had significantly higher modularity and nodal betweenness centrality mainly in the medial/lateral fronto-parietal and occipital cortices than the male group. Significant correlations between the intelligence quotient and nodal metrics were also observed in several frontal regions. Collectively, the PAGANI Toolkit shows high computational performance and good scalability for analyzing connectome big data and provides a friendly interface without the complicated configuration of computing environments, thereby facilitating high-resolution connectomics research in health and disease. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

NNCTRL - a CANCSD toolkit for MATLAB(R)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgård, Peter Magnus; Ravn, Ole; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

1996-01-01

A set of tools for computer-aided neuro-control system design (CANCSD) has been developed for the MATLAB environment. The tools can be used for construction and simulation of a variety of neural network based control systems. The design methods featured in the toolkit are: direct inverse control...

A plea for uniform European definitions for organ donor potential and family refusal rates.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, N.E.; Haase-Kromwijk, B.J.; Leiden, H.A. van; Weimar, W.; Hoitsma, A.J.

2009-01-01

Conversion of potential organ donors to actual donors is negatively influenced by family refusals. Refusal rates differ strongly among countries. Is it possible to compare refusal rates in order to be able to learn from countries with the best practices? We searched in the literature for reviews of

Ethnography in design: Tool-kit or analytic science?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bossen, Claus

2002-01-01

The role of ethograpyh in system development is discussed through the selective application of an ethnographic easy-to-use toolkit, Contextual design, by a computer firm in the initial stages of the development of a health care system....

Patient-related factors and circumstances surrounding decisions to forego life-sustaining treatment, including intensive care unit admission refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Reignier, Jean; Dumont, Romain; Katsahian, Sandrine; Martin-Lefevre, Laurent; Renard, Benoit; Fiancette, Maud; Lebert, Christine; Clementi, Eva; Bontemps, Frederic

2008-07-01

To assess decisions to forego life-sustaining treatment (LST) in patients too sick for intensive care unit (ICU) admission, comparatively to patients admitted to the ICU. Prospective observational cohort study. A medical-surgical ICU. Consecutive patients referred to the ICU during a one-yr period. None. Of 898 triaged patients, 147 were deemed too well to benefit from ICU admission. Decisions to forego LST were made in 148 of 666 (22.2%) admitted patients and in all 85 patients deemed too sick for ICU admission. Independent predictors of decisions to forego LST at ICU refusal rather than after ICU admission were: age; underlying disease; living in an institution; preexisting cognitive impairment; admission for medical reasons; and acute cardiac failure, acute central neurologic illness, or sepsis. Hospital mortality after decisions to forego LST was not significantly different in refused and admitted patients (77.5% vs. 86.5%; p = .1). Decisions to forego LST were made via telephone in 58.8% of refused patients and none of the admitted patients. Nurses caring for the patient had no direct contact with the ICU physicians for 62.3% of the decisions in refused patients, whereas meetings between nurses and physicians occurred in 70.3% of decisions to forego LST in the ICU. Patients or relatives were involved in 28.2% of decisions to forego LST at ICU refusal compared with 78.4% of decisions to forego LST in ICU patients (p refused patients (vs. none of admitted patients) and were associated with less involvement of nurses and relatives compared with decisions in admitted patients. Further work is needed to improve decisions to forego LST made under the distinctive circumstances of triage.

The nursing human resource planning best practice toolkit: creating a best practice resource for nursing managers.

Science.gov (United States)

Vincent, Leslie; Beduz, Mary Agnes

2010-05-01

Evidence of acute nursing shortages in urban hospitals has been surfacing since 2000. Further, new graduate nurses account for more than 50% of total nurse turnover in some hospitals and between 35% and 60% of new graduates change workplace during the first year. Critical to organizational success, first line nurse managers must have the knowledge and skills to ensure the accurate projection of nursing resource requirements and to develop proactive recruitment and retention programs that are effective, promote positive nursing socialization, and provide early exposure to the clinical setting. The Nursing Human Resource Planning Best Practice Toolkit project supported the creation of a network of teaching and community hospitals to develop a best practice toolkit in nursing human resource planning targeted at first line nursing managers. The toolkit includes the development of a framework including the conceptual building blocks of planning tools, manager interventions, retention and recruitment and professional practice models. The development of the toolkit involved conducting a review of the literature for best practices in nursing human resource planning, using a mixed method approach to data collection including a survey and extensive interviews of managers and completing a comprehensive scan of human resource practices in the participating organizations. This paper will provide an overview of the process used to develop the toolkit, a description of the toolkit contents and a reflection on the outcomes of the project.

Weekend admission to hospital has a higher risk of death in the elective setting than in the emergency setting: a retrospective database study of national health service hospitals in England

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammed Mohammed A

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although acute hospitals offer a twenty-four hour seven day a week service levels of staffing are lower over the weekends and some health care processes may be less readily available over the weekend. Whilst it is thought that emergency admission to hospital on the weekend is associated with an increased risk of death, the extent to which this applies to elective admissions is less well known. We investigated the risk of death in elective and elective patients admitted over the weekend versus the weekdays. Methods Retrospective statistical analysis of routinely collected acute hospital admissions in England, involving all patient discharges from all acute hospitals in England over a year (April 2008-March 2009, using a logistic regression model which adjusted for a range of patient case-mix variables, seasonality and admission over a weekend separately for elective and emergency (but excluding zero day stay emergency admissions discharged alive admissions. Results Of the 1,535,267 elective admissions, 91.7% (1,407,705 were admitted on the weekday and 8.3% (127,562 were admitted on the weekend. The mortality following weekday admission was 0.52% (7,276/1,407,705 compared with 0.77% (986/127,562 following weekend admission. Of the 3,105,249 emergency admissions, 76.3% (2,369,316 were admitted on the weekday and 23.7% (735,933 were admitted on the weekend. The mortality following emergency weekday admission was 6.53% (154,761/2,369,316 compared to 7.06% (51,922/735,933 following weekend admission. After case-mix adjustment, weekend admissions were associated with an increased risk of death, especially in the elective setting (elective Odds Ratio: 1.32, 95% Confidence Interval 1.23 to 1.41; vs emergency Odds Ratio: 1.09, 95% Confidence Interval 1.05 to 1.13. Conclusions Weekend admission appears to be an independent risk factor for dying in hospital and this risk is more pronounced in the elective setting. Given the planned

The Impact of Refuse Dump sites on the Physico-chemical and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Impact of Refuse Dump sites on the Physico-chemical and Microbial Properties of ground Water in some selected areas. ... Journal of Agricultural Research and Development. Journal Home ... The pollution effect of refuse dumps on the quality of wells at Ojota, Lagos, Apete, Ibadan and Odopetu, Akure were studied.

Research standardization tools: pregnancy measures in the PhenX Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Malinowski, Ann Kinga; Ananth, Cande V; Catalano, Patrick; Hines, Erin P; Kirby, Russell S; Klebanoff, Mark A; Mulvihill, John J; Simhan, Hyagriv; Hamilton, Carol M; Hendershot, Tabitha P; Phillips, Michael J; Kilpatrick, Lisa A; Maiese, Deborah R; Ramos, Erin M; Wright, Rosalind J; Dolan, Siobhan M

2017-09-01

Only through concerted and well-executed research endeavors can we gain the requisite knowledge to advance pregnancy care and have a positive impact on maternal and newborn health. Yet the heterogeneity inherent in individual studies limits our ability to compare and synthesize study results, thus impeding the capacity to draw meaningful conclusions that can be trusted to inform clinical care. The PhenX Toolkit (http://www.phenxtoolkit.org), supported since 2007 by the National Institutes of Health, is a web-based catalog of standardized protocols for measuring phenotypes and exposures relevant for clinical research. In 2016, a working group of pregnancy experts recommended 15 measures for the PhenX Toolkit that are highly relevant to pregnancy research. The working group followed the established PhenX consensus process to recommend protocols that are broadly validated, well established, nonproprietary, and have a relatively low burden for investigators and participants. The working group considered input from the pregnancy experts and the broader research community and included measures addressing the mode of conception, gestational age, fetal growth assessment, prenatal care, the mode of delivery, gestational diabetes, behavioral and mental health, and environmental exposure biomarkers. These pregnancy measures complement the existing measures for other established domains in the PhenX Toolkit, including reproductive health, anthropometrics, demographic characteristics, and alcohol, tobacco, and other substances. The preceding domains influence a woman's health during pregnancy. For each measure, the PhenX Toolkit includes data dictionaries and data collection worksheets that facilitate incorporation of the protocol into new or existing studies. The measures within the pregnancy domain offer a valuable resource to investigators and clinicians and are well poised to facilitate collaborative pregnancy research with the goal to improve patient care. To achieve this

Learned Helplessness and Learning Goals: Role played in School Refusal. A Study on Italian Students.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luana Sorrenti

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Literature on school refusal has shown a link between school refusal and poor school performance. However, there has been little investigation into the individual underlying factors, and specifically factors directly related to the learning process, such as the learning goals of students and their expectations of success and/or failure. The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the influence of Learned Helplessness (LH and learning goals on school refusal. We hypothesized that LH and learning goals exert a unique role in predicting school refusal above and beyond the roles of academic achievement, age, and gender. The sample consisted of 201 Italian students with an average age of 11.93, with both low (57.2 % of students and high (42.8 % academic achievement. School refusal, LH, and learning goals were measured by means of questionnaires. The results confirm the hypothesis of this study; in fact, we found that learning goals and, above all, LH play a more predictive role of school refusal than academic achievement. These results extend previous studies on school refusal and, for the first time, they provide additional knowledge about this problem, analyzing the relationship between school refusal, learning goals, and LH, still neglected in the literature. Implications on the psychological well-being of students are discussed.

Risk taking and refusal assertiveness in a longitudinal model of alcohol use among inner-city adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, J A; Griffin, K W; Botvin, G J

2001-09-01

Risk taking and refusal assertiveness have been shown to be important determinants of adolescent alcohol use. However, it remains unclear whether youth predisposed to risk taking would be less likely to assertively refuse. This study examined the relationships among risk taking, refusal assertiveness, and alcohol use in a sample of inner-city minority students (N = 1,459), using a cross-lagged longitudinal structural equation model. Data collectors administered the questionnaire to students following a standardized protocol during a 40-min class period. Based on the tested model, risk taking was more stable over time than refusal assertiveness. Furthermore, high risk takers reported less frequent subsequent refusal assertiveness, and less frequent refusal assertiveness predicted greater drinking. A predisposition toward risk taking appears to be an enduring characteristic that is associated with low refusal assertiveness and increased alcohol use. These findings suggest that alcohol prevention programs that emphasize refusal skills training may be less effective for high risk takers. But programs that focus on enhancing competence or reducing normative expectations for peer alcohol use might be more effective for high risk-taking youth.

Participatory Learning in Residential Weekends: Benefit or Barrier to Learning for the International Student?

Science.gov (United States)

Robson, Fiona; Forster, Gillian; Powell, Lynne

2016-01-01

The context for this research is a residential learning weekend which is embedded into all postgraduate programmes at Newcastle Business School via a management development module entitled "Developing Self". The objective of this study was to identify and explore how participatory learning in multicultural groups enables international…

pypet: A Python Toolkit for Data Management of Parameter Explorations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Meyer

2016-08-01

Full Text Available pypet (Python parameter exploration toolkit is a new multi-platform Python toolkit for managing numerical simulations. Sampling the space of model parameters is a key aspect of simulations and numerical experiments. pypet is designed to allow easy and arbitrary sampling of trajectories through a parameter space beyond simple grid searches.pypet collects and stores both simulation parameters and results in a single HDF5 file.This collective storage allows fast and convenient loading of data for further analyses.pypet provides various additional features such as multiprocessing and parallelization of simulations, dynamic loading of data, integration of git version control, and supervision of experiments via the electronic lab notebook Sumatra. pypet supports a rich set of data formats, including native Python types, Numpy and Scipy data, Pandas DataFrames, and BRIAN(2 quantities. Besides these formats, users can easily extend the toolkit to allow customized data types. pypet is a flexible tool suited for both short Python scripts and large scale projects. pypet's various features, especially the tight link between parameters and results, promote reproducible research in computational neuroscience and simulation-based disciplines.

CERN Summer Student Webfest: a weekend for science and creativity | 29 - 31 July 2016

CERN Multimedia

2016-01-01

Are you passionate about science? Do you like communicating that passion to the general public? Then come along to the CERN Summer Student Webfest on the weekend of 29-31 July! It is a grassroots initiative, open to all, that aims to spark new ideas that could innovate the future of web-based education about CERN, the LHC, particle physics, humanitarian matters and health.   The CERN Summer Student Webfest is a weekend of online web-based creativity modelled on the gatherings (sometimes called hackfests or hackathons) that energize many open-source communities. Participants will work in teams and design neat applications that encourage the public to learn more about science. The projects can range from designing online games for kids to crafting citizen science projects and developing low-cost mobile-phone-based cosmic ray detectors. You do not have to be a software or hardware expert to contribute: many types of skill sets are needed to develop a fun project, from writing and designing ...

Microbial ecology studies at two coal mine refuse sites in Illinois

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, R. M.; Cameron, R. E.

1978-01-01

An investigation was made of the microflora associated with coal refuse at two abandoned mines in the midwestern United States. Information was gathered for both the edaphic and the biotic composition of the refuse material. Emphasis was placed on heterotrophic and autotrophic components as to numbers, kinds, and physiological groups. The presence of chemolithotrophs was also investigated. The relationship between abiotic and biotic components in regard to distribution of bacteria, fungi, and algae is discussed. Information presented in this report will be utilized in assessing trends and changes in microbial numbers and composition related to manipulations of the edaphic and biotic ecosystem components associated with reclamation of the refuse piles.

The impact of a multiple intelligences teaching approach drug education programme on drug refusal skills of Nigerian pupils.

Science.gov (United States)

Nwagu, Evelyn N; Ezedum, Chuks E; Nwagu, Eric K N

2015-09-01

The rising incidence of drug abuse among youths in Nigeria is a source of concern for health educators. This study was carried out on primary six pupils to determine the effect of a Multiple Intelligences Teaching Approach Drug Education Programme (MITA-DEP) on pupils' acquisition of drug refusal skills. A programme of drug education based on the Multiple Intelligences Teaching Approach (MITA) was developed. An experimental group was taught using this programme while a control group was taught using the same programme but developed based on the Traditional Teaching Approach. Pupils taught with the MITA acquired more drug refusal skills than those taught with the Traditional Teaching Approach. Urban pupils taught with the MITA acquired more skills than rural pupils. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean refusal skills of male and female pupils taught with the MITA. © The Author(s) 2014.

BRDF profile of Tyvek and its implementation in the Geant4 simulation toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Nozka, Libor; Pech, Miroslav; Hiklova, Helena; Mandat, Dusan; Hrabovsky, Miroslav; Schovanek, Petr; Palatka, Miroslav

2011-02-28

Diffuse and specular characteristics of the Tyvek 1025-BL material are reported with respect to their implementation in the Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation toolkit. This toolkit incorporates the UNIFIED model. Coefficients defined by the UNIFIED model were calculated from the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) profiles measured with a scatterometer for several angles of incidence. Results were amended with profile measurements made by a profilometer.

Building Emergency Contraception Awareness among Adolescents. A Toolkit for Schools and Community-Based Organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Simkin, Linda; Radosh, Alice; Nelsesteun, Kari; Silverstein, Stacy

This toolkit presents emergency contraception (EC) as a method to help adolescent women avoid pregnancy and abortion after unprotected sexual intercourse. The sections of this toolkit are designed to help increase your knowledge of EC and stay up to date. They provide suggestions for increasing EC awareness in the workplace, whether it is a school…

Informed, advance refusals of treatment by people with severe mental illness in a randomised controlled trial of joint crisis plans: demand, content and correlates.

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Claire; Farrelly, Simone; Flach, Clare; Borschmann, Rohan; Birchwood, Max; Thornicroft, Graham; Waheed, Waquas; Szmukler, George

2017-11-24

In the UK, crisis planning for mental health care should acknowledge the right to make an informed advance treatment refusal under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Our aims were to estimate the demand for such treatment refusals within a sample of service users who had had a recent hospital admission for psychosis or bipolar disorder, and to examine the relationship between refusals, and service user characteristics. To identify refusals we conducted content analysis of Joint Crisis Plans, which are plans formulated by service users and their clinical team with involvement from an external facilitator, and routine care plans in sub-samples from a multi-centre randomised controlled trial of Joint Crisis Plans (plus routine mental health care) versus routine care alone (CRIMSON) in England. Factors hypothesised to be associated with refusals were identified using the trial data collected through baseline interviews of service users and clinicians and collection of routine clinical data. Ninety-nine of 221 (45%) of the Joint Crisis Plans contained a treatment refusal compared to 10 of 424 (2.4%) baseline routine care plans. No Joint Crisis Plans recorded disagreement with refusals on the part of clinicians. Among those with completed Joint Crisis Plans, adjusted analyses indicated a significant association between treatment refusals and perceived coercion at baseline (odds ratio = 1.21, 95% CI 1.02-1.43), but not with baseline working alliance or a past history of involuntary admission. We demonstrated significant demand for written treatment refusals in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005, which had not previously been elicited by the process of treatment planning. Future treatment/crisis plans should incorporate the opportunity for service users to record a treatment refusal during the drafting of such plans. ISRCTN11501328 Registered 13th March 2008.

Knowledge-based fault diagnosis system for refuse collection vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tan, CheeFai; Juffrizal, K.; Khalil, S. N.; Nidzamuddin, M. Y.

2015-01-01

The refuse collection vehicle is manufactured by local vehicle body manufacturer. Currently; the company supplied six model of the waste compactor truck to the local authority as well as waste management company. The company is facing difficulty to acquire the knowledge from the expert when the expert is absence. To solve the problem, the knowledge from the expert can be stored in the expert system. The expert system is able to provide necessary support to the company when the expert is not available. The implementation of the process and tool is able to be standardize and more accurate. The knowledge that input to the expert system is based on design guidelines and experience from the expert. This project highlighted another application on knowledge-based system (KBS) approached in trouble shooting of the refuse collection vehicle production process. The main aim of the research is to develop a novel expert fault diagnosis system framework for the refuse collection vehicle

Knowledge-based fault diagnosis system for refuse collection vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tan, CheeFai; Juffrizal, K.; Khalil, S. N.; Nidzamuddin, M. Y. [Centre of Advanced Research on Energy, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian Tunggal, Melaka (Malaysia)

2015-05-15

The refuse collection vehicle is manufactured by local vehicle body manufacturer. Currently; the company supplied six model of the waste compactor truck to the local authority as well as waste management company. The company is facing difficulty to acquire the knowledge from the expert when the expert is absence. To solve the problem, the knowledge from the expert can be stored in the expert system. The expert system is able to provide necessary support to the company when the expert is not available. The implementation of the process and tool is able to be standardize and more accurate. The knowledge that input to the expert system is based on design guidelines and experience from the expert. This project highlighted another application on knowledge-based system (KBS) approached in trouble shooting of the refuse collection vehicle production process. The main aim of the research is to develop a novel expert fault diagnosis system framework for the refuse collection vehicle.

Can children aged 12 years or more refuse life-saving treatment ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The best interests of the child are paramount, and should the child unreasonably refuse to consent to life-saving treatment, the Minister of Social Development may give consent for such treatment in terms of the Children's Act. Otherwise, should a parent, guardian, caregiver or healthcare provider believe that such a refusal ...

Drug Use among Gay and Bisexual Men at Weekend Dance Parties:The Role of Intentions and Perceptions of Peers’ Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Ramchand, Rajeev; Fisher, Michael P.; Griffin, Beth Ann; Becker, Kirsten; Iguchi, Martin Y.

2013-01-01

Substance use is high among gay and bisexual men attending weekend dance events, yet little research has investigated motivations for drug use and contextual factors influencing use in these settings. We hypothesized that beliefs about peer drug use interact with individuals’ own drug use intentions to predict use. 489 men attending weekend dance events completed an anonymous assessment asking about their own and their beliefs about other attendants’ drug use intentions – 47% completed a follow-up assessment after the event. Forty-four percent reported intending to use ecstasy at the event; intentions to use GHB, marijuana, cocaine, unprescribed Erectile Dysfunction Drugs (EDDs), and poppers were also high. Perceptions about other attendant’s drug use predicted use among those intending and those not intending to use drugs. Normative beliefs are important predictors of drug use at weekend dance events; event-specific prevention strategies should encompass messages that correct misperceptions of drug use among party attendants. PMID:23271598

Guest editors' introduction to the 4th issue of Experimental Software and Toolkits (EST-4)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brand, van den M.G.J.; Kienle, H.M.; Mens, K.

2014-01-01

Experimental software and toolkits play a crucial role in computer science. Elsevier’s Science of Computer Programming special issues on Experimental Software and Toolkits (EST) provide a means for academic tool builders to get more visibility and credit for their work, by publishing a paper along

PS1-29: Resources to Facilitate Multi-site Collaboration: the PRIMER Research Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Greene, Sarah; Thompson, Ella; Baldwin, Laura-Mae; Neale, Anne Victoria; Dolor, Rowena

2010-01-01

Background and Aims: The national research enterprise has typically functioned in a decentralized fashion, resulting in duplicative or undocumented processes, impeding not only the pace of research, but diffusion of established best practices. To remedy this, many long-standing networks have begun capturing and documenting proven strategies to streamline and standardize various aspects of the research process. The project, “Partnership-driven Resources to IMprove and Enhance Research” (PRIMER), was funded through the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) initiative to leverage the collective expertise from two networks: the HMO Research Network and Practice Based Research Networks (PBRNs). Each network has a shared goal of propagating research resources and best practices. Methods: We created and distributed an online survey to 92 CTSA and PBRN representatives in March, 2009 to define critical needs and existing resources that could inform a resource repository. The survey identified barriers and benefits to forming research partnerships, and assessed the perceived utility of various tools that could accelerate the research process. The study team identified, reviewed and organized tools based on the typical research trajectory from design to dissemination. Results: Fifty-five of 92 invitees (59%) completed the survey. Respondents rated the ability to conduct community-relevant research through true academic-community partnerships as the top-rated benefit of multi-site research, followed by the opportunity to accelerate translation of research into practice. The top two perceived barriers to multi-site research were ‘funding opportunities are not adequate (e.g., too few, not enough to support true collaborations), and ‘lack of research infrastructure to support [all] partners (e.g., no IT support, IRB, dedicated research staff). Respondents’ ratings of the utility of various tools and templates was used to guide development of an online

Numerical relativity in spherical coordinates with the Einstein Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Mewes, Vassilios; Zlochower, Yosef; Campanelli, Manuela; Ruchlin, Ian; Etienne, Zachariah B.; Baumgarte, Thomas W.

2018-04-01

Numerical relativity codes that do not make assumptions on spatial symmetries most commonly adopt Cartesian coordinates. While these coordinates have many attractive features, spherical coordinates are much better suited to take advantage of approximate symmetries in a number of astrophysical objects, including single stars, black holes, and accretion disks. While the appearance of coordinate singularities often spoils numerical relativity simulations in spherical coordinates, especially in the absence of any symmetry assumptions, it has recently been demonstrated that these problems can be avoided if the coordinate singularities are handled analytically. This is possible with the help of a reference-metric version of the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura formulation together with a proper rescaling of tensorial quantities. In this paper we report on an implementation of this formalism in the Einstein Toolkit. We adapt the Einstein Toolkit infrastructure, originally designed for Cartesian coordinates, to handle spherical coordinates, by providing appropriate boundary conditions at both inner and outer boundaries. We perform numerical simulations for a disturbed Kerr black hole, extract the gravitational wave signal, and demonstrate that the noise in these signals is orders of magnitude smaller when computed on spherical grids rather than Cartesian grids. With the public release of our new Einstein Toolkit thorns, our methods for numerical relativity in spherical coordinates will become available to the entire numerical relativity community.

37 CFR 1.295 - Review of decision finally refusing to publish a statutory invention registration.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... dissatisfied with the final refusal to publish a statutory invention registration for reasons other than... refunded if the final refusal to publish a statutory invention registration for reasons other than... refusing to publish a statutory invention registration. 1.295 Section 1.295 Patents, Trademarks, and...

Children with pervasive refusal.

OpenAIRE

Lask, B; Britten, C; Kroll, L; Magagna, J; Tranter, M

1991-01-01

Four children are described with a potentially life threatening condition manifested by profound and pervasive refusal to eat, drink, walk, talk, or care for themselves in any way over a period of several months. The multiplicity and severity of the symptoms in these children do not fit comfortably into any existing diagnostic category. Long term and highly skilled nursing and psychiatric care is required to help these children to recover. The possible causes of this syndrome are discussed.

Chemical reagent and process for refuse disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somerville, R.B.; Fan, L.T.

1989-01-01

A process for treating refuse by mixing them with a reactive chemical and a puzzolana-type material. Said chemical includes a retarding agent which modifies the viscosity and an accelerating agent. (author)

49 CFR 219.213 - Unlawful refusals; consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... inconsistent with the employee's health, whether such refusal was made in good faith and based on medical..., as appropriate, also consider the following: (1) Whether the railroad made a good faith determination...

"I No Like Get Caught Using Drugs": Explanations for Refusal as a Drug-Resistance Strategy for Rural Native Hawaiian Youths

Science.gov (United States)

Okamoto, Scott K.; Helm, Susana; Giroux, Danielle; Kaliades, Alexis

2011-01-01

This exploratory study examines the use of explanations for refusal as a drug-resistance strategy for rural Native Hawaiian youths. Fourteen gender-specific focus groups were conducted within seven middle or intermediate schools on the Island of Hawai'i (N = 64). Participants were asked to describe drug-resistance strategies in response to 15…

Weekend catch-up sleep is independently associated with suicide attempts and self-injury in Korean adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Seung-Gul; Lee, Yu Jin; Kim, Seog Ju; Lim, Weonjeong; Lee, Heon-Jeong; Park, Young-Min; Cho, In Hee; Cho, Seong-Jin; Hong, Jin Pyo

2014-02-01

The current study aims to determine the associations of insufficient sleep with suicide attempts and self-injury in a large, school-based Korean adolescent sample. A sample of 4553 middle- and high-school students (grades 7-10) was recruited in this study. Finally, 4145 students completed self-report questionnaires including items on sleep duration (weekday/weekend), self-injury, suicide attempts during the past year, the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). A multiple linear regression model showed that higher SIQ scores were associated with longer weekend catch-up sleep duration (p=0.009), higher BDI score (psleep duration (p=0.011), higher BDI score (psleep duration--which is an indicator of insufficient weekday sleep--might be associated with suicide attempts and self-injury in Korean adolescents. © 2014.

St. Louis demonstration final report: refuse processing plant equipment, facilities, and environmental evaluations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fiscus, D.E.; Gorman, P.G.; Schrag, M.P.; Shannon, L.J.

1977-09-01

The results are presented of processing plant evaluations of the St. Louis-Union Electric Refuse Fuel Project, including equipment and facilities as well as assessment of environmental emissions at both the processing and the power plants. Data on plant material flows and operating parameters, plant operating costs, characteristics of plant material flows, and emissions from various processing operations were obtained during a testing program encompassing 53 calendar weeks. Refuse derived fuel (RDF) is the major product (80.6% by weight) of the refuse processing plant, the other being ferrous metal scrap, a marketable by-product. Average operating costs for the entire evaluation period were $8.26/Mg ($7.49/ton). The average overall processing rate for the period was 168 Mg/8-h day (185.5 tons/8-h day) at 31.0 Mg/h (34.2 tons/h). Future plants using an air classification system of the type used at the St. Louis demonstration plant will need an emissions control device for particulates from the large de-entrainment cyclone. Also in the air exhaust from the cyclone were total counts of bacteria and viruses several times higher than those of suburban ambient air. No water effluent or noise exposure problems were encountered, although landfill leachate mixed with ground water could result in contamination, given low dilution rates.

Chronotype influences activity circadian rhythm and sleep: differences in sleep quality between weekdays and weekend.

Science.gov (United States)

Vitale, Jacopo A; Roveda, Eliana; Montaruli, Angela; Galasso, Letizia; Weydahl, Andi; Caumo, Andrea; Carandente, Franca

2015-04-01

Several studies have shown the differences among chronotypes in the circadian rhythm of different physiological variables. Individuals show variation in their preference for the daily timing of activity; additionally, there is an association between chronotype and sleep duration/sleep complaints. Few studies have investigated sleep quality during the week days and weekends in relation to the circadian typology using self-assessment questionnaires or actigraphy. The purpose of this study was to use actigraphy to assess the relationship between the three chronotypes and the circadian rhythm of activity levels and to determine whether sleep parameters respond differently with respect to time (weekdays versus the weekend) in Morning-types (M-types), Neither-types (N-types) and Evening-types (E-types). The morningness-eveningness questionnaire (MEQ) was administered to 502 college students to determine their chronotypes. Fifty subjects (16 M-types, 15 N-types and 19 E-types) were recruited to undergo a 7-days monitoring period with an actigraph (Actiwacth® actometers, CNT, Cambridge, UK) to evaluate their sleep parameters and the circadian rhythm of their activity levels. To compare the amplitude and the acrophase among the three chronotypes, we used a one-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey-Kramer post-hoc test. To compare the Midline Estimating Statistic of Rhythm (MESOR) among the three chronotypes, we used a Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test followed by pairwise comparisons that were performed using Dunn's procedure with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. The analysis of each sleep parameter was conducted using the mixed ANOVA procedure. The results showed that the chronotype was influenced by sex (χ(2) with p = 0.011) and the photoperiod at birth (χ(2) with p circadian rhythm of activity levels was influenced by the chronotype; second, the chronotype had a significant effect on sleep parameters: the E-types had a reduced sleep quality and

Biometric identification with high frequency electrocardiogram: Unregistered user refusal method and performance evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kyoso, Masaki

2015-08-01

As a new modality for biometric identification, electrocardiogram-based identification technique has been developed. We proposed a technique with high frequency component of electrocardiogram (HFECG) in QRS segment. In this report, an unregistered user refusal algorithm was combined with the artificial neural network based waveform classifier. The refusal function was realized by simple thresholding technique. HFECGs from twenty collaborators were used for supervised learning. Twenty HFECGs from the same collaborators were tested and false acceptance rate (FAR) and false rejection rate (FRR) were evaluated. Ten HFECGs from other collaborators were also tested to find unregistered user refusal performance. The results show that FAR and FRR in the registrants can be kept within 1%, however, unregistered user refusal performance was not acceptable under the same condition.

Behavioural treatment of severe food refusal in five toddlers with developmental disabilities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moor, J.M.H. de; Didden, H.C.M.; Korzilius, H.P.L.M.

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: Young children with developmental disabilities are at risk of food refusal. In case of severe food refusal, children are being fed by nasal or gastrostomy tube. Behavioural treatment may be effective in establishing oral food intake. METHODS: A behavioural treatment package was

Behavioral treatment of severe food refusal in five toddlers with developmental disabilities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moor, J.M.H. de; Didden, H.C.M.; Korzilius, H.P.L.M.

2007-01-01

Background Young children with developmental disabilities are at risk of food refusal. In case of severe food refusal, children are being fed by nasal or gastrostomy tube. Behavioural treatment may be effective in establishing oral food intake. Methods A behavioural treatment package was

Behavioural treatment of severe food refusal in five toddlers with developmental disabilities.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moor, J.M.H. de; Didden, R.; Korzilius, H.P.L.M.

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: Young children with developmental disabilities are at risk of food refusal. In case of severe food refusal, children are being fed by nasal or gastrostomy tube. Behavioural treatment may be effective in establishing oral food intake. METHODS: A behavioural treatment package was

A toolkit for promoting healthy ageing

OpenAIRE

Knevel, Jeroen; Gruppen, Aly

2016-01-01

This toolkit therefore focusses on self-management abilities. That means finding and maintaining effective, positive coping methods in relation to our health. We included many common and frequently discussed topics such as drinking, eating, physical exercise, believing in the future, resilience, preventing loneliness and social participation. Besides some concise background information, we offer you a great diversity of exercises per theme which can help you discuss, assess, change or strengt...

Using stakeholder perspectives to develop an ePrescribing toolkit for NHS Hospitals: a questionnaire study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Lisa; Cresswell, Kathrin; Slee, Ann; Slight, Sarah P; Coleman, Jamie; Sheikh, Aziz

2014-10-01

To evaluate how an online toolkit may support ePrescribing deployments in National Health Service hospitals, by assessing the type of knowledge-based resources currently sought by key stakeholders. Questionnaire-based survey of attendees at a national ePrescribing symposium. 2013 National ePrescribing Symposium in London, UK. Eighty-four delegates were eligible for inclusion in the survey, of whom 70 completed and returned the questionnaire. Estimate of the usefulness and type of content to be included in an ePrescribing toolkit. Interest in a toolkit designed to support the implementation and use of ePrescribing systems was high (n = 64; 91.4%). As could be expected given the current dearth of such a resource, few respondents (n = 2; 2.9%) had access or used an ePrescribing toolkit at the time of the survey. Anticipated users for the toolkit included implementation (n = 62; 88.6%) and information technology (n = 61; 87.1%) teams, pharmacists (n = 61; 87.1%), doctors (n = 58; 82.9%) and nurses (n = 56; 80.0%). Summary guidance for every stage of the implementation (n = 48; 68.6%), planning and monitoring tools (n = 47; 67.1%) and case studies of hospitals' experiences (n = 45; 64.3%) were considered the most useful types of content. There is a clear need for reliable and up-to-date knowledge to support ePrescribing system deployments and longer term use. The findings highlight how a toolkit may become a useful instrument for the management of knowledge in the field, not least by allowing the exchange of ideas and shared learning.

Development of a Human Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK Toolkit for Environmental Pollutants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Ruiz

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK models can be used to determine the internal dose and strengthen exposure assessment. Many PBPK models are available, but they are not easily accessible for field use. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR has conducted translational research to develop a human PBPK model toolkit by recoding published PBPK models. This toolkit, when fully developed, will provide a platform that consists of a series of priority PBPK models of environmental pollutants. Presented here is work on recoded PBPK models for volatile organic compounds (VOCs and metals. Good agreement was generally obtained between the original and the recoded models. This toolkit will be available for ATSDR scientists and public health assessors to perform simulations of exposures from contaminated environmental media at sites of concern and to help interpret biomonitoring data. It can be used as screening tools that can provide useful information for the protection of the public.

77 FR 73022 - U.S. Environmental Solutions Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-07

... relevant to reducing air pollution from oil and natural gas production and processing. The Department of... environmental officials and foreign end-users of environmental technologies that will outline U.S. approaches to.... technologies. The Toolkit will support the President's National Export Initiative by fostering export...

Developing Mixed Reality Educational Applications: The Virtual Touch Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Mateu, Juan; Lasala, María José; Alamán, Xavier

2015-08-31

In this paper, we present Virtual Touch, a toolkit that allows the development of educational activities through a mixed reality environment such that, using various tangible elements, the interconnection of a virtual world with the real world is enabled. The main goal of Virtual Touch is to facilitate the installation, configuration and programming of different types of technologies, abstracting the creator of educational applications from the technical details involving the use of tangible interfaces and virtual worlds. Therefore, it is specially designed to enable teachers to themselves create educational activities for their students in a simple way, taking into account that teachers generally lack advanced knowledge in computer programming and electronics. The toolkit has been used to develop various educational applications that have been tested in two secondary education high schools in Spain.

Developing Mixed Reality Educational Applications: The Virtual Touch Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Mateu, Juan; Lasala, María José; Alamán, Xavier

2015-01-01

In this paper, we present Virtual Touch, a toolkit that allows the development of educational activities through a mixed reality environment such that, using various tangible elements, the interconnection of a virtual world with the real world is enabled. The main goal of Virtual Touch is to facilitate the installation, configuration and programming of different types of technologies, abstracting the creator of educational applications from the technical details involving the use of tangible interfaces and virtual worlds. Therefore, it is specially designed to enable teachers to themselves create educational activities for their students in a simple way, taking into account that teachers generally lack advanced knowledge in computer programming and electronics. The toolkit has been used to develop various educational applications that have been tested in two secondary education high schools in Spain. PMID:26334275

Responding to the refusal of care in the emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Jennifer; Venkat, Arvind; Davenport, Moira

2014-01-01

The emergency department (ED) serves as the primary gateway for acute care and the source of health care of last resort. Emergency physicians are commonly expected to rapidly assess and treat patients with a variety of life-threatening conditions. However, patients do refuse recommended therapy, even when the consequences are significant morbidity and even mortality. This raises the ethical dilemma of how emergency physicians and ED staff can rapidly determine whether patient refusal of treatment recommendations is based on intact decision-making capacity and how to respond in an appropriate manner when the declining of necessary care by the patient is lacking a basis in informed judgment. This article presents a case that illustrates the ethical tensions raised by the refusal of life-sustaining care in the ED and how such situations can be approached in an ethically appropriate manner.

The Automatic Parallelisation of Scientific Application Codes Using a Computer Aided Parallelisation Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Ierotheou, C.; Johnson, S.; Leggett, P.; Cross, M.; Evans, E.; Jin, Hao-Qiang; Frumkin, M.; Yan, J.; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The shared-memory programming model is a very effective way to achieve parallelism on shared memory parallel computers. Historically, the lack of a programming standard for using directives and the rather limited performance due to scalability have affected the take-up of this programming model approach. Significant progress has been made in hardware and software technologies, as a result the performance of parallel programs with compiler directives has also made improvements. The introduction of an industrial standard for shared-memory programming with directives, OpenMP, has also addressed the issue of portability. In this study, we have extended the computer aided parallelization toolkit (developed at the University of Greenwich), to automatically generate OpenMP based parallel programs with nominal user assistance. We outline the way in which loop types are categorized and how efficient OpenMP directives can be defined and placed using the in-depth interprocedural analysis that is carried out by the toolkit. We also discuss the application of the toolkit on the NAS Parallel Benchmarks and a number of real-world application codes. This work not only demonstrates the great potential of using the toolkit to quickly parallelize serial programs but also the good performance achievable on up to 300 processors for hybrid message passing and directive-based parallelizations.

[Maternal refusal to consent to a cesarean delivery, stillbirth].

Science.gov (United States)

Defline, A; Obadia, M; El Djerbi, A; Plevy, P; Lepercq, J

2014-01-01

The doctor-lawyer perspective that we discuss is a maternal refusal to consent to a cesarean delivery for a fetal indication in June 2011. Despite repeated information of the risks during a three-week hospitalization for pre-eclampsia, after being assured of the proper understanding of the seriousness of the situation by the patient and spouse, and after consideration to transfer to another hospital, the reiterated refusal led to a late fetal extraction resulting in term stillbirth. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.

Jehovah's Witnesses and autonomy: honouring the refusal of blood transfusions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bock, Gregory L

2012-11-01

This paper explores the scriptural and theological reasons given by Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) to refuse blood transfusions. Julian Savulescu and Richard W Momeyer argue that informed consent should be based on rational beliefs and that the refusal of blood transfusions by JWs is irrational, but after examining the reasons given by JWs, I challenge the claim that JW beliefs are irrational. I also question whether we should give up the traditional notion of informed consent.

Using a Nonaversive Procedure to Decrease Refusals.

Science.gov (United States)

Spooner, Fred; And Others

1990-01-01

A nonaversive technique was used to teach a severely handicapped woman to decrease her refusals. The technique employed precision teaching via precise daily measurement strategies, environmental analysis, and a focus on building appropriate behavior. (JDD)

Celebrating Benedict Kiely 2007 Benedict Kiely Weekend Keynote Address

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Pierce

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Benedict Kiely (1919-2007 has an annual weekend devoted to his memory as one ofIreland’s leading writers in the modern period. The sixth such event was held in the newly-built Strule Arts Centre in Omagh in September 2007. Kiely lived most of his life in Dublin, pursuing a career as a journalist and a writer, but his roots were in County Tyrone. Educated by the Christian Brothers in Omagh, he embarked on a Jesuit novitiate in the Irish Midlands but this was cut short by a spinal injury, which meant a year of confinement on the broad of his back. Subsequently, he went on to read English and History at University College Dublin. His journalistic career took him first to the Irish Independent and then to the Irish Press, where he was literary editor. In the 1960s he took up visiting professorships at several North American colleges in Oregon and Tennessee. On his return he became well-known on Irish radio for talks and discussion programmes, and he was a regular contributor to Sunday Miscellany. A sharp observer of the Northern scene, he was particularly disturbed by the upsurge in violence in the recent Troubles, airing his grievances in imaginative works such as Proxopera (1977 andNothing Happens in Carmincross (1985. He died in Dublin on 9 February 2007 after a short illness, and after Requiem mass in Donnybrook he was laid to rest in the Dublin Road Cemetery in Omagh. The following is the text of the opening address I was invited to give at the sixth annual weekend. I spoke about Kiely’s sense of connection running through his writings.

The Best Ever Alarm System Toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasemir, Kay; Chen, Xihui; Danilova, Ekaterina N.

2009-01-01

Learning from our experience with the standard Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) alarm handler (ALH) as well as a similar intermediate approach based on script-generated operator screens, we developed the Best Ever Alarm System Toolkit (BEAST). It is based on Java and Eclipse on the Control System Studio (CSS) platform, using a relational database (RDB) to store the configuration and log actions. It employs a Java Message Service (JMS) for communication between the modular pieces of the toolkit, which include an Alarm Server to maintain the current alarm state, an arbitrary number of Alarm Client user interfaces (GUI), and tools to annunciate alarms or log alarm related actions. Web reports allow us to monitor the alarm system performance and spot deficiencies in the alarm configuration. The Alarm Client GUI not only gives the end users various ways to view alarms in tree and table, but also makes it easy to access the guidance information, the related operator displays and other CSS tools. It also allows online configuration to be simply modified from the GUI. Coupled with a good 'alarm philosophy' on how to provide useful alarms, we can finally improve the configuration to achieve an effective alarm system.

A Genetic Toolkit for Dissecting Dopamine Circuit Function in Drosophila

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tingting Xie

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Summary: The neuromodulator dopamine (DA plays a key role in motor control, motivated behaviors, and higher-order cognitive processes. Dissecting how these DA neural networks tune the activity of local neural circuits to regulate behavior requires tools for manipulating small groups of DA neurons. To address this need, we assembled a genetic toolkit that allows for an exquisite level of control over the DA neural network in Drosophila. To further refine targeting of specific DA neurons, we also created reagents that allow for the conversion of any existing GAL4 line into Split GAL4 or GAL80 lines. We demonstrated how this toolkit can be used with recently developed computational methods to rapidly generate additional reagents for manipulating small subsets or individual DA neurons. Finally, we used the toolkit to reveal a dynamic interaction between a small subset of DA neurons and rearing conditions in a social space behavioral assay. : The rapid analysis of how dopaminergic circuits regulate behavior is limited by the genetic tools available to target and manipulate small numbers of these neurons. Xie et al. present genetic tools in Drosophila that allow rational targeting of sparse dopaminergic neuronal subsets and selective knockdown of dopamine signaling. Keywords: dopamine, genetics, behavior, neural circuits, neuromodulation, Drosophila

X-CSIT: a toolkit for simulating 2D pixel detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Joy, A.; Wing, M.; Hauf, S.; Kuster, M.; Rüter, T.

2015-04-01

A new, modular toolkit for creating simulations of 2D X-ray pixel detectors, X-CSIT (X-ray Camera SImulation Toolkit), is being developed. The toolkit uses three sequential simulations of detector processes which model photon interactions, electron charge cloud spreading with a high charge density plasma model and common electronic components used in detector readout. In addition, because of the wide variety in pixel detector design, X-CSIT has been designed as a modular platform so that existing functions can be modified or additional functionality added if the specific design of a detector demands it. X-CSIT will be used to create simulations of the detectors at the European XFEL, including three bespoke 2D detectors: the Adaptive Gain Integrating Pixel Detector (AGIPD), Large Pixel Detector (LPD) and DePFET Sensor with Signal Compression (DSSC). These simulations will be used by the detector group at the European XFEL for detector characterisation and calibration. For this purpose, X-CSIT has been integrated into the European XFEL's software framework, Karabo. This will further make it available to users to aid with the planning of experiments and analysis of data. In addition, X-CSIT will be released as a standalone, open source version for other users, collaborations and groups intending to create simulations of their own detectors.

What happens after a request for euthanasia is refused? Qualitative interviews with patients, relatives and physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Pasman, H Roeline W; Willems, Dick L; Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D

2013-09-01

Obtaining in-depth information from both patient and physician perspectives about what happens after a request for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (EAS) is refused. In-depth interviews with nine patients whose EAS request was refused and seven physicians of these patients, and with three relatives of patients who had died after a request was refused and four physicians of these patients. Interviews were conducted at least 6 months after the refusal. A wish to die remained in all patients after refusal, although it sometimes diminished. In most cases patient and physician stopped discussing this wish, and none of the physicians had discussed plans for the future with the patient or evaluated the patient's situation after their refusal. Physicians were aware of patients' continued wish to die. Patients who are refused EAS may subsequently be silent about a wish to die without abandoning it. Open communication about wishes to die is important, even outside the context of EAS, because if people feel unable to talk about them, their quality of life may be further diminished. Follow up appointments after refusal could give patients the opportunity to discuss their feelings and physicians to support them. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local Safety Toolkit: Enabling safe communities of opportunity

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Holtmann, B

2010-08-31

Full Text Available remain inadequate to achieve safety. The Local Safety Toolkit supports a strategy for a Safe South Africa through the implementation of a model for a Safe Community of Opportunity. The model is the outcome of work undertaken over the course of the past...

Prevention of formation of acid drainage from high-sulfur coal refuse by inhibition of iron- and sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms. II. Inhibition in run of mine refuse under simulated field conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dugan, P.R.

1987-01-01

The combination of sodium lauryl sulfate and benzoic acid effectively inhibits iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in coal refuse and prevents the conversion of iron pyrite to sulfate, ferric iron, and sulfuric acid, thereby significantly reducing the formation of acidic drainage from coal refuse. The inhibitors were effective in a concentration of 1.1. mg/kg refuse, and data indicate that the SLS was in excess of the concentration required. The treatment was compatible with the use of lime for neutralization of acid present prior to inhibition of its formation.

Correlates of Inconsistent Refusal of Unprotected Sex among Armenian Female Sex Workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karine Markosyan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This cross-sectional study assessed the prevalence and correlates of inconsistent refusal of unprotected sex among female sex workers (FSWs in Armenia. One hundred and eighteen street-based FSWs between the ages of 20 and 52 completed a questionnaire assessing FSWs’ demographic, psychosocial, and behavioral characteristics. A total of 52.5% (n=62 of FSWs reported inconsistent refusal of unprotected sex with clients in the past 3 months. Logistic regression analysis controlling for participants’ age and education revealed that perceiving more barriers toward condom use (AOR = 1.1; P<0.01, reporting more types of abuse (AOR = 2.1; P<0.01, and setting lower fees for service (AOR = 0.9; P=0.02 significantly predicted inconsistent refusal of unprotected sex. HIV-risk-reduction behavioral interventions tailored to FSWs working in Yerevan Armenia should address the factors identified in this study toward the goal of enhancing refusal of unprotected sex and ultimately preventing acquisition of sexually transmitted infections (STIs including HIV.

The connectome viewer toolkit: an open source framework to manage, analyze, and visualize connectomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerhard, Stephan; Daducci, Alessandro; Lemkaddem, Alia; Meuli, Reto; Thiran, Jean-Philippe; Hagmann, Patric

2011-01-01

Advanced neuroinformatics tools are required for methods of connectome mapping, analysis, and visualization. The inherent multi-modality of connectome datasets poses new challenges for data organization, integration, and sharing. We have designed and implemented the Connectome Viewer Toolkit - a set of free and extensible open source neuroimaging tools written in Python. The key components of the toolkit are as follows: (1) The Connectome File Format is an XML-based container format to standardize multi-modal data integration and structured metadata annotation. (2) The Connectome File Format Library enables management and sharing of connectome files. (3) The Connectome Viewer is an integrated research and development environment for visualization and analysis of multi-modal connectome data. The Connectome Viewer's plugin architecture supports extensions with network analysis packages and an interactive scripting shell, to enable easy development and community contributions. Integration with tools from the scientific Python community allows the leveraging of numerous existing libraries for powerful connectome data mining, exploration, and comparison. We demonstrate the applicability of the Connectome Viewer Toolkit using Diffusion MRI datasets processed by the Connectome Mapper. The Connectome Viewer Toolkit is available from http://www.cmtk.org/

The Connectome Viewer Toolkit: an open source framework to manage, analyze and visualize connectomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephan eGerhard

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Advanced neuroinformatics tools are required for methods of connectome mapping, analysis and visualization. The inherent multi-modality of connectome datasets poses new challenges for data organization, integration and sharing. We have designed and implemented the Connectome Viewer Toolkit --- a set of free and extensible open-source neuroimaging tools written in Python. The key components of the toolkit are as follows: 1. The Connectome File Format is an XML-based container format to standardize multi-modal data integration and structured metadata annotation. 2. The Connectome File Format Library enables management and sharing of connectome files. 3. The Connectome Viewer is an integrated research and development environment for visualization and analysis of multi-modal connectome data. The Connectome Viewer's plugin architecture supports extensions with network analysis packages and an interactive scripting shell, to enable easy development and community contributions. Integration with tools from the scientific Python community allows the leveraging of numerous existing libraries for powerful connectome data mining, exploration and comparison. We demonstrate the applicability of the Connectome Viewer Toolkit using Diffusion MRI datasets processed by the Connectome Mapper. The Connectome Viewer Toolkit is available from http://www.cmtk.org/.

The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit

CERN Document Server

Kimball, Ralph; Thornthwaite, Warren; Mundy, Joy; Becker, Bob

2011-01-01

A thorough update to the industry standard for designing, developing, and deploying data warehouse and business intelligence systemsThe world of data warehousing has changed remarkably since the first edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit was published in 1998. In that time, the data warehouse industry has reached full maturity and acceptance, hardware and software have made staggering advances, and the techniques promoted in the premiere edition of this book have been adopted by nearly all data warehouse vendors and practitioners. In addition, the term "business intelligence" emerge

National eHealth strategy toolkit

CERN Document Server

2012-01-01

Worldwide the application of information and communication technologies to support national health-care services is rapidly expanding and increasingly important. This is especially so at a time when all health systems face stringent economic challenges and greater demands to provide more and better care especially to those most in need. The National eHealth Strategy Toolkit is an expert practical guide that provides governments their ministries and stakeholders with a solid foundation and method for the development and implementation of a national eHealth vision action plan and monitoring fram

Educator Toolkits on Second Victim Syndrome, Mindfulness and Meditation, and Positive Psychology: The 2017 Resident Wellness Consensus Summit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jon Smart

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Burnout, depression, and suicidality among residents of all specialties have become a critical focus of attention for the medical education community. Methods: As part of the 2017 Resident Wellness Consensus Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, resident participants from 31 programs collaborated in the Educator Toolkit workgroup. Over a seven-month period leading up to the summit, this workgroup convened virtually in the Wellness Think Tank, an online resident community, to perform a literature review and draft curricular plans on three core wellness topics. These topics were second victim syndrome, mindfulness and meditation, and positive psychology. At the live summit event, the workgroup expanded to include residents outside the Wellness Think Tank to obtain a broader consensus of the evidence-based toolkits for these three topics. Results: Three educator toolkits were developed. The second victim syndrome toolkit has four modules, each with a pre-reading material and a leader (educator guide. In the mindfulness and meditation toolkit, there are three modules with a leader guide in addition to a longitudinal, guided meditation plan. The positive psychology toolkit has two modules, each with a leader guide and a PowerPoint slide set. These toolkits provide educators the necessary resources, reading materials, and lesson plans to implement didactic sessions in their residency curriculum. Conclusion: Residents from across the world collaborated and convened to reach a consensus on high-yield—and potentially high-impact—lesson plans that programs can use to promote and improve resident wellness. These lesson plans may stand alone or be incorporated into a larger wellness curriculum.

Educator Toolkits on Second Victim Syndrome, Mindfulness and Meditation, and Positive Psychology: The 2017 Resident Wellness Consensus Summit.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Arlene S; Smart, Jon; Zdradzinski, Michael; Roth, Sarah; Gende, Alecia; Conroy, Kylie; Battaglioli, Nicole

2018-03-01

Burnout, depression, and suicidality among residents of all specialties have become a critical focus of attention for the medical education community. As part of the 2017 Resident Wellness Consensus Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, resident participants from 31 programs collaborated in the Educator Toolkit workgroup. Over a seven-month period leading up to the summit, this workgroup convened virtually in the Wellness Think Tank, an online resident community, to perform a literature review and draft curricular plans on three core wellness topics. These topics were second victim syndrome, mindfulness and meditation, and positive psychology. At the live summit event, the workgroup expanded to include residents outside the Wellness Think Tank to obtain a broader consensus of the evidence-based toolkits for these three topics. Three educator toolkits were developed. The second victim syndrome toolkit has four modules, each with a pre-reading material and a leader (educator) guide. In the mindfulness and meditation toolkit, there are three modules with a leader guide in addition to a longitudinal, guided meditation plan. The positive psychology toolkit has two modules, each with a leader guide and a PowerPoint slide set. These toolkits provide educators the necessary resources, reading materials, and lesson plans to implement didactic sessions in their residency curriculum. Residents from across the world collaborated and convened to reach a consensus on high-yield-and potentially high-impact-lesson plans that programs can use to promote and improve resident wellness. These lesson plans may stand alone or be incorporated into a larger wellness curriculum.

Impact of interventions for patients refusing emergency medical services transport.

Science.gov (United States)

Alicandro, J; Hollander, J E; Henry, M C; Sciammarella, J; Stapleton, E; Gentile, D

1995-06-01

To evaluate the effect of a documentation checklist and on-line medical control contact on ambulance transport of out-of-hospital patients refusing medical assistance. Consecutive patients served by four suburban ambulance services who initially refused emergency medical services (EMS) transport to the hospital were prospectively enrolled. In phase 1 (control phase), all patients who initially refused medical attention or transport had an identifying data card completed. In phase 2 (documentation phase), out-of-hospital providers completed a similar data card that contained a checklist of high-risk criteria for a poor outcome if not transported. In phase 3 (intervention phase), a data card similar to that used in phase 2 was completed, and on-line medical control was contacted for all patients with high-risk criteria who refused transport. The primary endpoint was the percentage of patients transported to the hospital. A total of 361 patients were enrolled. Transport rate varied by phase: control, 17 of 144 (12%); documentation, 11 of 150 (7%); and intervention, 12 of 67 (18%) (chi-square, p = 0.023). Transport of high-risk patients improved with each intervention: control, two of 60 (3%); documentation, seven of 70 (10%); and intervention, 12 of 34 (35%) (chi-square, p = 0.00003). Transport of patients without high-risk criteria decreased with each intervention: control, 15 of 84 (18%); documentation, four of 80 (5%); and intervention, 0 of 33 (0%) (p = 0.0025). Of the 28 patients for whom medical control was contacted, 12 (43%) were transported to the hospital, and only three of these 12 patients (25%) were released from the ED. Contact with on-line medical control increased the likelihood of transport of high-risk patients who initially refused medical assistance. The appropriateness of the decreased transport rate of patients not meeting high-risk criteria needs further evaluation.

Refusal of dialysis amongst patients of chronic kidney disease (CKD)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anees, M.; Khan, J.A.

2014-01-01

This study was conducted to determine the refusal of dialysis amongst patients of chronic kidney disease presenting for the first time for dialysis in uremic condition. Study Design: Cross sectional Study. Place and Duration of the Study: Outpatient department of Nephrology, Mayo Hospital, Lahore from 1 st Jan 2012 to 31 st December 2012. Patients and Methods: Patients of CKD due to any cause presenting with uremia for the first time for dialysis were included in the study. History and physical examination was done and demographic data was collected in pre designed form. Patients were offered for dialysis while explaining to them the advantages of getting and disadvantages of not getting dialysis. Patient's response on the offer was recorded and the reason for the refusal were noted. Results: According to the criteria 150 patients were included in the study. Most of the patients were male 92 (61.3%) and illiterate 78 (52.0%). Major cause of CKD was diabetes mellitus 58 (38.7%) followed by hypertension 38 (25.3%). Mean age of the patients was 42.59 ± 13.72 year and income of themost of the patients 126 (84%) was less than US$100/-month. Most of the patients 126 (77.0%) were asked about the need of dialysis in less than three months, 61 (41.3%) offered for the first time and amongst them 85 (54.0%) were offered dialysis already. Majority of the patients 101 (67.3%) refused dialysis when it was offered to them for the first time. Major reason of the refusal was fear of dialysis procedure in 76 (76%) patients followed by treatment by spiritual 14 (14%) and alternative ways and others 11 (11 %). Middle age persons refused dialysis significantly. (author)

Drinking with mixed-gender groups is associated with heavy weekend drinking among young adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Thrul, Johannes; Labhart, Florian; Kuntsche, Emmanuel

2017-03-01

To investigate how gender composition of the drinking group affects young adults' alcohol consumption on weekend evenings over and above the effect of drinking-group size. Using the internet-based cellphone-optimized assessment technique (ICAT), participants completed online questionnaires on their cell phones every hour from 8 p.m. to midnight on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings during five consecutive weekends. French-speaking Switzerland. Convenience sample of 183 young adults (53.0% female, mean age = 23.1) who completed a total of 4141 hourly assessments. Alcohol consumption and number of male and female friends present assessed at 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m., 11 p.m. and midnight. Results of three-level negative binomial regression analyses showed that women consumed significantly more drinks per hour when drinking in mixed-gender groups (Z-values ranging from 2.9 to 5.3, all P Young adults report consuming more drinks per hour when drinking with mixed-gender groups than with same-gender groups. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Trends in screen time on week and weekend days in a representative sample of Southern Brazil students.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopes, Adair S; Silva, Kelly S; Barbosa Filho, Valter C; Bezerra, Jorge; de Oliveira, Elusa S A; Nahas, Markus V

2014-12-01

Economic and technological improvements can help increase screen time use among adolescents, but evidence in developing countries is scarce. The aim of this study was to examine changes in TV watching and computer/video game use patterns on week and weekend days after a decade (2001 and 2011), among students in Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. A comparative analysis of two cross-sectional surveys that included 5 028 and 6 529 students in 2001 and 2011, respectively, aged 15-19 years. The screen time use indicators were self-reported. 95% Confidence intervals were used to compare the prevalence rates. All analyses were separated by gender. After a decade, there was a significant increase in computer/video game use. Inversely, a significant reduction in TV watching was observed, with a similar magnitude to the change in computer/video game use. The worst trends were identified on weekend days. The decrease in TV watching after a decade appears to be compensated by the increase in computer/video game use, both in boys and girls. Interventions are needed to reduce the negative impact of technological improvements in the lifestyles of young people, especially on weekend days. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Influence of liming and topsoil thickness on vegetative growth and leachate quality on acidic coal refuse

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, R.S.; Daniels, W.L.

1998-01-01

Coal waste materials inhibit direct vegetation establishment due to adverse physical and chemical properties, particularly low water retention and high potential acidity. The Moss No. 1 coal refuse pile is located in Dickenson County, Virginia, and was idled in the late 1980's with little topsoil resource available for final closure. The refuse was acidic (Total-S = 0.38%; pH = 3.6), black, high (70%) in coarse fragments, and had a low water holding capacity (4.5% in 6.0 over a two-year period, which resulted in greater vegetative cover and biomass than the control plots. All topsoil treatments resulted in greater vegetative cover and biomass than plots treated with lime only due to improved surface soil physical and chemical properties. A topsoil treatment of 60 cm gave the thickest vegetative cover and biomass yield. Such a treatment, however, would be cost-prohibitive at this location. Application of 27 Mg/ha of lime to the refuse surface along with 15 cm of topsoil produced acceptable two-year vegetative cover and biomass, and appeared to be the optimal treatment for this particular situation. Both liming and topsoil had no affect on leachate pH and the electrical conductivity in leachates collected below the plots. This suggests that surface revegetation will have little effect on the quality of water draining through the pile, so long term water treatment requirements may not be reduced by successfully revegetating the pile surface

Blood Transfusion in Children: The Refusal of Jehovah’s Witness Parents’

Science.gov (United States)

Conti, Adelaide; Capasso, Emanuele; Casella, Claudia; Fedeli, Piergiorgio; Salzano, Francesco Antonio; Policino, Fabio; Terracciano, Lucia; Delbon, Paola

2018-01-01

Abstract In Italy, both parents have parental responsibility; as a general principle they have the power to give or withhold consent to medical procedures on their children, including consent for blood transfusion; however these rights are not absolute and exist only to promote the welfare of children. Methods The Authors discuss ethical and legal framework for Jehovah’s Witness parents’ refusal of blood transfusion in Italy. They searched national judgments concerning Jehovah’s Witness parents’ refusal of blood transfusion – and related comments – in national legal databases and national legal journals, and literature on medical literature databases. Results In the case of Jehovah’s Witness parents’ refusal of blood transfusion for their child, Italian Courts adopt measures that prevents the parents from exercise their parental responsibility not in the child’s best interest. Discussion In the event that refusal by the parents, outside of emergency situations, exposes the child’s health to serious risk, health workers must proceed by notifying the competent authority, according also to the Italian Code of Medical Ethics. Conclusion When the patient is a minor, the child’s best interest always come first. PMID:29666843

Developing Mixed Reality Educational Applications: The Virtual Touch Toolkit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Mateu

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present Virtual Touch, a toolkit that allows the development of educational activities through a mixed reality environment such that, using various tangible elements, the interconnection of a virtual world with the real world is enabled. The main goal of Virtual Touch is to facilitate the installation, configuration and programming of different types of technologies, abstracting the creator of educational applications from the technical details involving the use of tangible interfaces and virtual worlds. Therefore, it is specially designed to enable teachers to themselves create educational activities for their students in a simple way, taking into account that teachers generally lack advanced knowledge in computer programming and electronics. The toolkit has been used to develop various educational applications that have been tested in two secondary education high schools in Spain.

ProtoMD: A prototyping toolkit for multiscale molecular dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Somogyi, Endre; Mansour, Andrew Abi; Ortoleva, Peter J.

2016-05-01

ProtoMD is a toolkit that facilitates the development of algorithms for multiscale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. It is designed for multiscale methods which capture the dynamic transfer of information across multiple spatial scales, such as the atomic to the mesoscopic scale, via coevolving microscopic and coarse-grained (CG) variables. ProtoMD can be also be used to calibrate parameters needed in traditional CG-MD methods. The toolkit integrates 'GROMACS wrapper' to initiate MD simulations, and 'MDAnalysis' to analyze and manipulate trajectory files. It facilitates experimentation with a spectrum of coarse-grained variables, prototyping rare events (such as chemical reactions), or simulating nanocharacterization experiments such as terahertz spectroscopy, AFM, nanopore, and time-of-flight mass spectroscopy. ProtoMD is written in python and is freely available under the GNU General Public License from github.com/CTCNano/proto_md.

SlideToolkit: an assistive toolset for the histological quantification of whole slide images.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bastiaan G L Nelissen

Full Text Available The demand for accurate and reproducible phenotyping of a disease trait increases with the rising number of biobanks and genome wide association studies. Detailed analysis of histology is a powerful way of phenotyping human tissues. Nonetheless, purely visual assessment of histological slides is time-consuming and liable to sampling variation and optical illusions and thereby observer variation, and external validation may be cumbersome. Therefore, within our own biobank, computerized quantification of digitized histological slides is often preferred as a more precise and reproducible, and sometimes more sensitive approach. Relatively few free toolkits are, however, available for fully digitized microscopic slides, usually known as whole slides images. In order to comply with this need, we developed the slideToolkit as a fast method to handle large quantities of low contrast whole slides images using advanced cell detecting algorithms. The slideToolkit has been developed for modern personal computers and high-performance clusters (HPCs and is available as an open-source project on github.com. We here illustrate the power of slideToolkit by a repeated measurement of 303 digital slides containing CD3 stained (DAB abdominal aortic aneurysm tissue from a tissue biobank. Our workflow consists of four consecutive steps. In the first step (acquisition, whole slide images are collected and converted to TIFF files. In the second step (preparation, files are organized. The third step (tiles, creates multiple manageable tiles to count. In the fourth step (analysis, tissue is analyzed and results are stored in a data set. Using this method, two consecutive measurements of 303 slides showed an intraclass correlation of 0.99. In conclusion, slideToolkit provides a free, powerful and versatile collection of tools for automated feature analysis of whole slide images to create reproducible and meaningful phenotypic data sets.

Using Descriptive Assessment in the Treatment of Bite Acceptance and Food Refusal

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, Sean D.; Perrin, Christopher J.; Lesser, Aaron D.; Perrin, Stefanie H.; Casey, Cheryl L.; Reed, Gregory K.

2009-01-01

The feeding behaviors of two children who maintained failure to thrive diagnoses and displayed food refusal are assessed in their homes. Descriptive assessments are used to identify schedules of consequence provided by each child's care providers for bite acceptance and food refusal behaviors. Assessments reveal rich schedules of praise and access…

Bioethics and religious bodies: refusal of blood transfusions in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajtar, Małgorzata

2013-12-01

The refusal of medical treatment is a recurrent topic in bioethical debates and Jehovah's Witnesses often constitute an exemplary case in this regard. The refusal of a potentially life-saving blood transfusion is a controversial choice that challenges the basic medical principle of acting in patients' best interests and often leads physicians to adopt paternalistic attitudes toward patients who refuse transfusion. However, neither existing bioethical nor historical and social sciences scholarship sufficiently addresses experiences of rank-and-file Witnesses in their dealings with the health care system. This article draws on results of a nine-month (2010, 2011-2012) ethnographic research on the relationship between religious, legal, ethical, and emotional issues emerging from the refusal of blood transfusions by Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany (mainly in Berlin). It shows how bioethical challenges are solved in practice by some German physicians and what they perceive to be the main goal of biomedicine: promoting the health or broadly understood well-being of patients. I argue that two different understandings of the concept of autonomy are at work here: autonomy based on reason and autonomy based on choice. The first is privileged by German physicians in line with a Kantian philosophical tradition and constitutional law; the second, paradoxically, is utilized by Jehovah's Witnesses in their version of the Anglo-Saxon Millian approach. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Are they really refusing to travel? A qualitative study of prehospital records

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Sarah

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Refusal by the patient to travel after calling an emergency ambulance may lead to a preventable waste of scarce resources if it can be shown that an alternative more appropriate response could be employed. A greater understanding is required of the reasons behind 'refusal to travel' (RTT in order to find appropriate solutions to address this issue. We sought to investigate the reasons why patients refuse to travel following emergency call-out in a rural county. Methods Written records made by ambulance crews for patients (n = 397 who were not transported to hospital following an emergency call-out during October 2004 were retrospectively analysed. Results Twelve main themes emerged for RTT which included non injury or minor injury, falls and recovery after treatment on scene; other themes included alternative supervision, follow-up and treatment arrangements or patients arranging their own transport. Importantly, only 8% of the sample was recorded by ambulance crews as truly refusing to travel against advice. Conclusion A system that facilitates standardised recording of RTT information including social reasons for non-transportation needs to be designed. 'Refused to travel' disclaimers need to reflect instances when crew and patient are satisfied that not going to hospital is the right outcome. These recommendations should be considered within the context of the plans for widening the role of ambulance services.

Adsorption of metal ions and acid dyes on brewer's refuse and its crosslinked products; Biru shikomikasu oyobi sono kashikaketai ni taisuru kinzoku ion oyobi sansei senryo no kyuchaku

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shimizu, Y.; Kubota, Y.; Higashimura, T. [The University of Shiga Prefecture, Shiga (Japan). Department of Materials Sceince; Kawaguchi, M. [Seisui Kogyo Ltd., Osaka (Japan)

2000-01-10

To use brewer's refuse as adsorbent adsorption of metal ions and acid dyes on them and their reaction products with 1,3,5-triacryloylhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine(TAF) were examined. The refuse samples used in the present study are protein rich fraction(Pr) and cellulosics rich fraction(Hr) obtained by sifting brewer's refuse. Adsorptive experiments were conducted by a batchwise method at 303 K. Pr adsorbed more metal ions such as Cr{sup 6+}, Ni{sup 2+}, Co{sup 2+}, especially Fe{sup 3+}, Hg{sup 2+} and Cu{sup 2+} than Hr. But both refuses hardly adsorbed Ca{sup 2+}. Also Pr adsorbed more acid dyes, especially more hydrophobic C. I. Acid Red 88 than C. I. Acid Orange 7- than Hr at pH 5. By crosslinking Pr and Hr using TAF adsorption of acid dyes increased markedly, but adsorption of metal ions decreased. Therefore Pr can be used as adsorbent for acid dyes and metal ions as it is. Moreover the crosslinked products are excellent adsorbents for acid dyes. (author)

Graph algorithms in the titan toolkit.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McLendon, William Clarence, III; Wylie, Brian Neil

2009-10-01

Graph algorithms are a key component in a wide variety of intelligence analysis activities. The Graph-Based Informatics for Non-Proliferation and Counter-Terrorism project addresses the critical need of making these graph algorithms accessible to Sandia analysts in a manner that is both intuitive and effective. Specifically we describe the design and implementation of an open source toolkit for doing graph analysis, informatics, and visualization that provides Sandia with novel analysis capability for non-proliferation and counter-terrorism.

Applications toolkit for accelerator control and analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borland, M.

1997-01-01

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) has taken a unique approach to creating high-level software applications for accelerator operation and analysis. The approach is based on self-describing data, modular program toolkits, and scripts. Self-describing data provide a communication standard that aids the creation of modular program toolkits by allowing compliant programs to be used in essentially arbitrary combinations. These modular programs can be used as part of an arbitrary number of high-level applications. At APS, a group of about 70 data analysis, manipulation, and display tools is used in concert with about 20 control-system-specific tools to implement applications for commissioning and operations. High-level applications are created using scripts, which are relatively simple interpreted programs. The Tcl/Tk script language is used, allowing creating of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and a library of algorithms that are separate from the interface. This last factor allows greater automation of control by making it easy to take the human out of the loop. Applications of this methodology to operational tasks such as orbit correction, configuration management, and data review will be discussed

EasyInterface: A toolkit for rapid development of GUIs for research prototype tools

OpenAIRE

Doménech, Jesús; Genaim, Samir; Johnsen, Einar Broch; Schlatte, Rudolf

2017-01-01

In this paper we describe EasyInterface, an open-source toolkit for rapid development of web-based graphical user interfaces (GUIs). This toolkit addresses the need of researchers to make their research prototype tools available to the community, and integrating them in a common environment, rapidly and without being familiar with web programming or GUI libraries in general. If a tool can be executed from a command-line and its output goes to the standard output, then in few minutes one can m...

Marketization of refuse collection in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Busck, Ole Gunni

2006-01-01

  Danish municipalities' outsourcing and contracting of refuse collection are framed by a complex set of ideologies and objectives, besides regulation. Both at EU-level and at national level extreme demands for marketization of the public sector are counter-weighed by demands for social and envir......  Danish municipalities' outsourcing and contracting of refuse collection are framed by a complex set of ideologies and objectives, besides regulation. Both at EU-level and at national level extreme demands for marketization of the public sector are counter-weighed by demands for social...... and environmental considerations associated with the superior goal of sustainable development. In the EU regulative complex developments in normative and legal regulation of social and environmental requirements to member-states' performance have co-existed with tough requirements to ensure open competition...... in public authorities contracting. In the latest edition of the procurement directive it has been clarified that public authorities' commitment of private service-providers to social and environmental requirements by contracting is perfectly legitimate. At national level the municipalities when contracting...

How to justify enforcing a Ulysses contract when Ulysses is competent to refuse.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, John K

2008-03-01

Sometimes the mentally ill have sufficient mental capacity to refuse treatment competently, and others have a moral duty to respect their refusal. However, those with episodic mental disorders may wish to precommit themselves to treatment, using Ulysses contracts known as "mental health advance directives." How can health care providers justify enforcing such contracts over an agent's current, competent refusal? I argue that providers respect an agent's autonomy not retrospectively--by reference to his or her past wishes-and not merely synchronically--so that the agent gets what he or she wants right now-but diachronically and prospectively, acting so that the agent can shape his or her circumstances as the agent wishes over time, for the agent will experience the consequences of providers' actions over time. Mental health directives accomplish this, so they are a way of respecting the agent's autonomy even when providers override the agent's current competent refusal.

Childhood vaccine refusal and hesitancy intentions in Croatia: insights from a population-based study.

Science.gov (United States)

Repalust, Anja; Šević, Sandra; Rihtar, Stanko; Štulhofer, Aleksandar

2017-10-01

Considering that programmatic data suggest a recent rise in vaccine refusal in Croatia, this study, first of its kind in Southeast Europe, aimed to estimate the prevalence, and sociodemographic, and sociocultural determinants of childhood vaccine refusal and hesitancy (CVRH) intentions among Croatian adults. Multi-stage stratified population-based survey included 1000 individuals aged 18-88 years (M age  = 47.7, SD = 17.8), of whom 51.7% were women. The outcome, a categorical indicator, distinguished among individuals who would approve vaccinating their children (vaccine accepting), those who would approve some but not all vaccines (vaccine hesitant), and those who would refuse vaccination (vaccine refusing). A sizeable minority of participants was characterized by childhood vaccine refusal (10.6%) and hesitancy intentions (19.5%). In a multivariate assessment controlling for parenthood, the odds of vaccine hesitancy were significantly increased by a younger age (AOR = 1.96-3.03, p Croatia. Following the social contagion model, future research should move beyond individual-level approach and take into account social interaction and social network effects.

NeuroPigPen: A Scalable Toolkit for Processing Electrophysiological Signal Data in Neuroscience Applications Using Apache Pig.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahoo, Satya S; Wei, Annan; Valdez, Joshua; Wang, Li; Zonjy, Bilal; Tatsuoka, Curtis; Loparo, Kenneth A; Lhatoo, Samden D

2016-01-01

The recent advances in neurological imaging and sensing technologies have led to rapid increase in the volume, rate of data generation, and variety of neuroscience data. This "neuroscience Big data" represents a significant opportunity for the biomedical research community to design experiments using data with greater timescale, large number of attributes, and statistically significant data size. The results from these new data-driven research techniques can advance our understanding of complex neurological disorders, help model long-term effects of brain injuries, and provide new insights into dynamics of brain networks. However, many existing neuroinformatics data processing and analysis tools were not built to manage large volume of data, which makes it difficult for researchers to effectively leverage this available data to advance their research. We introduce a new toolkit called NeuroPigPen that was developed using Apache Hadoop and Pig data flow language to address the challenges posed by large-scale electrophysiological signal data. NeuroPigPen is a modular toolkit that can process large volumes of electrophysiological signal data, such as Electroencephalogram (EEG), Electrocardiogram (ECG), and blood oxygen levels (SpO2), using a new distributed storage model called Cloudwave Signal Format (CSF) that supports easy partitioning and storage of signal data on commodity hardware. NeuroPigPen was developed with three design principles: (a) Scalability-the ability to efficiently process increasing volumes of data; (b) Adaptability-the toolkit can be deployed across different computing configurations; and (c) Ease of programming-the toolkit can be easily used to compose multi-step data processing pipelines using high-level programming constructs. The NeuroPigPen toolkit was evaluated using 750 GB of electrophysiological signal data over a variety of Hadoop cluster configurations ranging from 3 to 30 Data nodes. The evaluation results demonstrate that the toolkit

A flexible open-source toolkit for lava flow simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Mossoux, Sophie; Feltz, Adelin; Poppe, Sam; Canters, Frank; Kervyn, Matthieu

2014-05-01

Lava flow hazard modeling is a useful tool for scientists and stakeholders confronted with imminent or long term hazard from basaltic volcanoes. It can improve their understanding of the spatial distribution of volcanic hazard, influence their land use decisions and improve the city evacuation during a volcanic crisis. Although a range of empirical, stochastic and physically-based lava flow models exists, these models are rarely available or require a large amount of physical constraints. We present a GIS toolkit which models lava flow propagation from one or multiple eruptive vents, defined interactively on a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). It combines existing probabilistic (VORIS) and deterministic (FLOWGO) models in order to improve the simulation of lava flow spatial spread and terminal length. Not only is this toolkit open-source, running in Python, which allows users to adapt the code to their needs, but it also allows users to combine the models included in different ways. The lava flow paths are determined based on the probabilistic steepest slope (VORIS model - Felpeto et al., 2001) which can be constrained in order to favour concentrated or dispersed flow fields. Moreover, the toolkit allows including a corrective factor in order for the lava to overcome small topographical obstacles or pits. The lava flow terminal length can be constrained using a fixed length value, a Gaussian probability density function or can be calculated based on the thermo-rheological properties of the open-channel lava flow (FLOWGO model - Harris and Rowland, 2001). These slope-constrained properties allow estimating the velocity of the flow and its heat losses. The lava flow stops when its velocity is zero or the lava temperature reaches the solidus. Recent lava flows of Karthala volcano (Comoros islands) are here used to demonstrate the quality of lava flow simulations with the toolkit, using a quantitative assessment of the match of the simulation with the real lava flows. The

Toolkit for healthcare facility design evaluation - some case studies

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

De Jager, Peta

2007-10-01

Full Text Available themes in approach. Further study is indicated, but preliminary research shows that, whilst these toolkits can be applied to the South African context, there are compelling reasons for them to be adapted. This paper briefly outlines these three case...

Toolkit for healthcare facility design evaluation - some case studies.

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

De Jager, Peta

2007-10-01

Full Text Available themes in approach. Further study is indicated, but preliminary research shows that, whilst these toolkits can be applied to the South African context, there are compelling reasons for them to be adapted. This paper briefly outlines these three case...

New Careers in Nursing Scholar Alumni Toolkit: Development of an Innovative Resource for Transition to Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Mauro, Ann Marie P; Escallier, Lori A; Rosario-Sim, Maria G

2016-01-01

The transition from student to professional nurse is challenging and may be more difficult for underrepresented minority nurses. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing (NCIN) program supported development of a toolkit that would serve as a transition-to-practice resource to promote retention of NCIN alumni and other new nurses. Thirteen recent NCIN alumni (54% male, 23% Hispanic/Latino, 23% African Americans) from 3 schools gave preliminary content feedback. An e-mail survey was sent to a convenience sample of 29 recent NCIN alumni who evaluated the draft toolkit using a Likert scale (poor = 1; excellent = 5). Twenty NCIN alumni draft toolkit reviewers (response rate 69%) were primarily female (80%) and Hispanic/Latino (40%). Individual chapters' mean overall rating of 4.67 demonstrated strong validation. Mean scores for overall toolkit content (4.57), usability (4.5), relevance (4.79), and quality (4.71) were also excellent. Qualitative comments were analyzed using thematic content analysis and supported the toolkit's relevance and utility. A multilevel peer review process was also conducted. Peer reviewer feedback resulted in a 6-chapter document that offers resources for successful transition to practice and lays the groundwork for continued professional growth. Future research is needed to determine the ideal time to introduce this resource. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

8. European sewage and refuse symposium. Documentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-01-01

The subject of the 8. European Sewage and Refuse Symposium is covered under the following headings: collection and control in sewers, industrial waste water management, pretreatment, combined treatment, special cases, industrial waste water sludges disposal and the European waste business. (orig./BBR)

RGtk2: A Graphical User Interface Toolkit for R

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duncan Temple Lang

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Graphical user interfaces (GUIs are growing in popularity as a complement or alternative to the traditional command line interfaces to R. RGtk2 is an R package for creating GUIs in R. The package provides programmatic access to GTK+ 2.0, an open-source GUI toolkit written in C. To construct a GUI, the R programmer calls RGtk2 functions that map to functions in the underlying GTK+ library. This paper introduces the basic concepts underlying GTK+ and explains how to use RGtk2 to construct GUIs from R. The tutorial is based on simple and pratical programming examples. We also provide more complex examples illustrating the advanced features of the package. The design of the RGtk2 API and the low-level interface from R to GTK+ are discussed at length. We compare RGtk2 to alternative GUI toolkits for R.

A methodological toolkit for field assessments of artisanally mined alluvial diamond deposits

Science.gov (United States)

Chirico, Peter G.; Malpeli, Katherine C.

2014-01-01

This toolkit provides a standardized checklist of critical issues relevant to artisanal mining-related field research. An integrated sociophysical geographic approach to collecting data at artisanal mine sites is outlined. The implementation and results of a multistakeholder approach to data collection, carried out in the assessment of Guinea’s artisanally mined diamond deposits, also are summarized. This toolkit, based on recent and successful field campaigns in West Africa, has been developed as a reference document to assist other government agencies or organizations in collecting the data necessary for artisanal diamond mining or similar natural resource assessments.

Google Web Toolkit for Ajax

CERN Document Server

Perry, Bruce

2007-01-01

The Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a nifty framework that Java programmers can use to create Ajax applications. The GWT allows you to create an Ajax application in your favorite IDE, such as IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse, using paradigms and mechanisms similar to programming a Java Swing application. After you code the application in Java, the GWT's tools generate the JavaScript code the application needs. You can also use typical Java project tools such as JUnit and Ant when creating GWT applications. The GWT is a free download, and you can freely distribute the client- and server-side code you c

The Knowledge Translation Toolkit: Bridging the Know–Do Gap: A ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2011-06-06

Jun 6, 2011 ... It presents the theories, tools, and strategies required to encourage and enable ... Toolkit: Bridging the Know–Do Gap: A Resource for Researchers ... violence, and make digital platforms work for inclusive development.

Vaccine refusal - what we need to know.

Science.gov (United States)

Succi, Regina Célia de Menezes

2018-04-12

Opposition to vaccines is not a new event, and appeared soon after the introduction of the smallpox vaccine in the late 18th century. The purpose of this review is to educate healthcare professionals about vaccine hesitancy and refusal, its causes and consequences, and make suggestions to address this challenge. A comprehensive and non-systematic search was carried out in the PubMed, LILACS, and ScieLo databases from 1980 to the present day, using the terms "vaccine refusal," "vaccine hesitancy," and "vaccine confidence." The publications considered as the most relevant by the author were critically selected. The beliefs and arguments of the anti-vaccine movements have remained unchanged in the past two centuries, but new social media has facilitated the dissemination of information against vaccines. Studies on the subject have intensified after 2010, but the author did not retrieve any published studies to quantify this behavior in Brazil. The nomenclature on the subject (vaccine hesitancy) was standardized by the World Health Organization in 2012. Discussions have been carried out on the possible causes of vaccine hesitancy and refusal, as well as on the behavior of families and health professionals. Proposals for interventions to decrease public doubts, clarify myths, and improve confidence in vaccines have been made. Guides for the health care professional to face the problem are emerging. The healthcare professional is a key element to transmit information, resolve doubts and increase confidence in vaccines. They must be prepared to face this new challenge. Copyright © 2018 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Developing Climate Resilience Toolkit Decision Support Training Sectio

Science.gov (United States)

Livezey, M. M.; Herring, D.; Keck, J.; Meyers, J. C.

2014-12-01

The Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT) is a Federal government effort to address the U.S. President's Climate Action Plan and Executive Order for Climate Preparedness. The toolkit will provide access to tools and products useful for climate-sensitive decision making. To optimize the user experience, the toolkit will also provide access to training materials. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been building a climate training capability for 15 years. The target audience for the training has historically been mainly NOAA staff with some modified training programs for external users and stakeholders. NOAA is now using this climate training capacity for the CRT. To organize the CRT training section, we collaborated with the Association of Climate Change Officers to determine the best strategy and identified four additional complimentary skills needed for successful decision making: climate literacy, environmental literacy, risk assessment and management, and strategic execution and monitoring. Developing the climate literacy skills requires knowledge of climate variability and change, as well as an introduction to the suite of available products and services. For the development of an environmental literacy category, specific topics needed include knowledge of climate impacts on specific environmental systems. Climate risk assessment and management introduces a process for decision making and provides knowledge on communication of climate information and integration of climate information in planning processes. The strategic execution and monitoring category provides information on use of NOAA climate products, services, and partnership opportunities for decision making. In order to use the existing training modules, it was necessary to assess their level of complexity, catalog them, and develop guidance for users on a curriculum to take advantage of the training resources to enhance their learning experience. With the development of this CRT

The DLESE Evaluation Toolkit Project

Science.gov (United States)

Buhr, S. M.; Barker, L. J.; Marlino, M.

2002-12-01

The Evaluation Toolkit and Community project is a new Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) collection designed to raise awareness of project evaluation within the geoscience education community, and to enable principal investigators, teachers, and evaluators to implement project evaluation more readily. This new resource is grounded in the needs of geoscience educators, and will provide a virtual home for a geoscience education evaluation community. The goals of the project are to 1) provide a robust collection of evaluation resources useful for Earth systems educators, 2) establish a forum and community for evaluation dialogue within DLESE, and 3) disseminate the resources through the DLESE infrastructure and through professional society workshops and proceedings. Collaboration and expertise in education, geoscience and evaluation are necessary if we are to conduct the best possible geoscience education. The Toolkit allows users to engage in evaluation at whichever level best suits their needs, get more evaluation professional development if desired, and access the expertise of other segments of the community. To date, a test web site has been built and populated, initial community feedback from the DLESE and broader community is being garnered, and we have begun to heighten awareness of geoscience education evaluation within our community. The web site contains features that allow users to access professional development about evaluation, search and find evaluation resources, submit resources, find or offer evaluation services, sign up for upcoming workshops, take the user survey, and submit calendar items. The evaluation resource matrix currently contains resources that have met our initial review. The resources are currently organized by type; they will become searchable on multiple dimensions of project type, audience, objectives and evaluation resource type as efforts to develop a collection-specific search engine mature. The peer review

24 CFR 3282.354 - Submittal of false information or refusal to submit information.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Submittal of false information or... ENFORCEMENT REGULATIONS Primary Inspection Agencies § 3282.354 Submittal of false information or refusal to submit information. The submittal of false information or the refusal to submit information required...

[Nursing ethics in the face of the refusal of nursing care].

Science.gov (United States)

Dauchy, Sarah; Charles, Cécile; Vérotte, Nelly; Block, Véronique; Adam, Virginie

2016-10-01

Caregivers can find themselves faced with a refusal of nursing care. A number of questions are then raised. While it is firstly important to understand the reasons for this refusal and what is at stake for the patient, there are a number of nursing strategies in place, not least of all dialogue and analysis. The role of the multi-disciplinary team is essential in such situations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A survey exploring National Health Service ePrescribing Toolkit use and perceived usefulness amongst English hospitals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathrin Cresswell

2017-06-01

Conclusions: Interactive elements and learning lessons from early adopter sites that had accumulated experiences of implementing systems was viewed as the most helpful aspect of the ePrescribing Toolkit. The Toolkit now needs to be further developed to facilitate the continuing implementation/optimisation of ePrescribing and other health information technology across the NHS.

Fiscal 2000 achievement report on the followup research on high-efficiency refuse-fueled power generation technology development; 2000 nendo kokoritsu haikibutsu hatsuden gijutsu kaihatsu no follow up kenkyu seika hokokusho

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-03-01

Followup research was conducted using a high-efficiency refuse-fueled power generation pilot plant for interpolating research and development results, improvement on refuse-fueled power generation efficiency, and for introduction and popularization of refuse-fueled power generation. Operation control and safety control were performed in compliance with the pilot plant operation program, when high-temperature high-pressure steam (500 degrees C, 100 atm) was stably generated for approximately 7,600 hours in this fiscal year recording a total of approximately 22,000 hours when counted from the beginning of the verification test. Plant operation data were examined and every part of the furnace was checked and measured while the furnace was at rest, and it was found that the plant satisfied the intended specifications as refuse-fueled power plant facilities. As for its environmental impact, it was confirmed that it fully satisfied the standard values for substances in exhaust gas, which involved soot and dust, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride, and dioxins. Dioxins, in particular, were far below the most rigorous legal level of 0.1ng-TEQ/m{sup 3}N. In the test of superheater materials, long-term data covering three years were acquired. (NEDO)

Implementation of the Good School Toolkit in Uganda: a quantitative process evaluation of a successful violence prevention program.

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Louise; Allen, Elizabeth; Mirembe, Angel; Nakuti, Janet; Namy, Sophie; Child, Jennifer C; Sturgess, Joanna; Kyegombe, Nambusi; Walakira, Eddy J; Elbourne, Diana; Naker, Dipak; Devries, Karen M

2018-05-09

The Good School Toolkit, a complex behavioural intervention designed by Raising Voices a Ugandan NGO, reduced past week physical violence from school staff to primary students by an average of 42% in a recent randomised controlled trial. This process evaluation quantitatively examines what was implemented across the twenty-one intervention schools, variations in school prevalence of violence after the intervention, factors that influence exposure to the intervention and factors associated with students' experience of physical violence from staff at study endline. Implementation measures were captured prospectively in the twenty-one intervention schools over four school terms from 2012 to 2014 and Toolkit exposure captured in the student (n = 1921) and staff (n = 286) endline cross-sectional surveys in 2014. Implementation measures and the prevalence of violence are summarised across schools and are assessed for correlation using Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient. Regression models are used to explore individual factors associated with Toolkit exposure and with physical violence at endline. School prevalence of past week physical violence from staff against students ranged from 7% to 65% across schools at endline. Schools with higher mean levels of teacher Toolkit exposure had larger decreases in violence during the study. Students in schools categorised as implementing a 'low' number of program school-led activities reported less exposure to the Toolkit. Higher student Toolkit exposure was associated with decreased odds of experiencing physical violence from staff (OR: 0.76, 95%CI: 0.67-0.86, p-valueEffectiveness of the Toolkit may be increased by further targeting and supporting teachers' engagement with girls and students with mental health difficulties. The trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov , NCT01678846, August 24th 2012.

Patient-Centered Personal Health Record and Portal Implementation Toolkit for Ambulatory Clinics: A Feasibility Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nahm, Eun-Shim; Diblasi, Catherine; Gonzales, Eva; Silver, Kristi; Zhu, Shijun; Sagherian, Knar; Kongs, Katherine

2017-04-01

Personal health records and patient portals have been shown to be effective in managing chronic illnesses. Despite recent nationwide implementation efforts, the personal health record and patient portal adoption rates among patients are low, and the lack of support for patients using the programs remains a critical gap in most implementation processes. In this study, we implemented the Patient-Centered Personal Health Record and Patient Portal Implementation Toolkit in a large diabetes/endocrinology center and assessed its preliminary impact on personal health record and patient portal knowledge, self-efficacy, patient-provider communication, and adherence to treatment plans. Patient-Centered Personal Health Record and Patient Portal Implementation Toolkit is composed of Patient-Centered Personal Health Record and Patient Portal Implementation Toolkit-General, clinic-level resources for clinicians, staff, and patients, and Patient-Centered Personal Health Record and Patient Portal Implementation Toolkit Plus, an optional 4-week online resource program for patients ("MyHealthPortal"). First, Patient-Centered Personal Health Record and Patient Portal Implementation Toolkit-General was implemented, and all clinicians and staff were educated about the center's personal health record and patient portal. Then general patient education was initiated, while a randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the preliminary effects of "MyHealthPortal" using a small sample (n = 74) with three observations (baseline and 4 and 12 weeks). The intervention group showed significantly greater improvement than the control group in patient-provider communication at 4 weeks (t56 = 3.00, P = .004). For other variables, the intervention group tended to show greater improvement; however, the differences were not significant. In this preliminary study, Patient-Centered Personal Health Record and Patient Portal Implementation Toolkit showed potential for filling the gap in the current

Using features of local densities, statistics and HMM toolkit (HTK for offline Arabic handwriting text recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

El Moubtahij Hicham

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an analytical approach of an offline handwritten Arabic text recognition system. It is based on the Hidden Markov Models (HMM Toolkit (HTK without explicit segmentation. The first phase is preprocessing, where the data is introduced in the system after quality enhancements. Then, a set of characteristics (features of local densities and features statistics are extracted by using the technique of sliding windows. Subsequently, the resulting feature vectors are injected to the Hidden Markov Model Toolkit (HTK. The simple database “Arabic-Numbers” and IFN/ENIT are used to evaluate the performance of this system. Keywords: Hidden Markov Models (HMM Toolkit (HTK, Sliding windows

Abandoned coal mine refuse areas: their reclamation and use

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zellmer, S. D.; Carter, R. P.

1977-01-01

There are over 4,000 abandoned deep coal mine refuse areas in Illinois ranging in size from a few acres to as large as 160 acres. These sites produce quantities of pollutants which affect the environment, have no real land value, and are a scar on the landscape. The Staunton 1 Site Reclamation Demonstration Project addressess these problems. It also is developing and evaluating new cost-effective methods for reclaiming refuse areas of this type. The program involved determining the final land use for the site, development of detailed engineering plans and specifications for the reclamation effort, a prereclamation environmental inventory, and implementation. Post-construction evaluation is now in process to determine the effectiveness of the reclamation effort. Detailed investigations are being conducted to determine surface water quality improvement, the amount of suitable surface cover and amendments required for revegetation, and field evaluation of candidate vegetation species for revegetation. Other research is examining soil microbial populations, soil fauna reactions, and changes in surface material characteristics at the reclamation site. Surveys are being conducted on groundwater quality, effects on the aquatic ecosystem, and wildlife use of the area. An economic evaluation is underway to determine the cost effectiveness of the total effort and of individual reclamation procedures. Preliminary results from the first year's environmental evaluation of various method tested will be described in detail. An economic assessment, including cost effectiveness, of the first year's work is given.

A weekend program model for faculty development with primary care physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Gjerde, Craig L; Kokotailo, Patricia; Olson, Curtis A; Hla, Khin Mae

2004-01-01

Medical teachers are expected to be proficient at teaching students and residents about the changing health care system. The University of Wisconsin established a faculty development fellowship program to better prepare clinical teachers in family medicine, general pediatrics, and general internal medicine. This paper describes our fellowship program, presents data on program accomplishments, and discusses what we have learned. We developed a year-long series of five weekend workshops. A core group of faculty provided 2- to 4- hour sessions on topics including evidence-based medicine, physician leadership, advocacy, doctor-patient communication, quality, technology tools, and teaching skills. Evaluation data were used to shape the program, make improvements, and assess impact. Fellows self-assessed their ability to perform skills at the beginning and ending of the year; paired t tests were used to compare these changes. Attendance and program completion rates were more than 94% for the 84 fellows taught over 6 years. Individual sessions and the overall program were well-rated by fellows. Participants reported improvements in targeted skills; statistical analyses confirmed many significant pre-post improvements. To obtain high ratings, faculty must apply adult learning and active learning principles; lectures were not well tolerated. Initial technology skills were often low; computer labs needed many helpers. Participants needed extensive faculty support on their projects. It facilitated coordination and learning to have a core group of fellowship faculty who did most of the teaching. Graduates have become enthusiastic recruiters for new fellows. Our 5-weekend program has proven to be an effective faculty development model.

Computational Chemistry Toolkit for Energetic Materials Design

Science.gov (United States)

2006-11-01

industry are aggressively engaged in efforts to develop multiscale modeling and simulation methodologies to model and analyze complex phenomena across...energetic materials design. It is hoped that this toolkit will evolve into a collection of well-integrated multiscale modeling methodologies...Experimenta Theoreticala This Work 1-5-Diamino-4- methyl- tetrazolium nitrate 8.4 41.7 47.5 1-5-Diamino-4- methyl- tetrazolium azide 138.1 161.6

Prevalence and determinants of Australian adolescents' and adults' weekend sun protection and sunburn, summer 2003-2004.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobbinson, Suzanne; Wakefield, Melanie; Hill, David; Girgis, Afaf; Aitken, Joanne F; Beckmann, Kerri; Reeder, Anthony I; Herd, Natalie; Fairthorne, Andrew; Bowles, Kelly-Ann

2008-10-01

Reducing people's exposure to ultraviolet radiation is the primary strategy for skin cancer prevention. We sought to provide comprehensive national data on preventive behaviors and risk assessment for Australia. A national survey was conducted in summer 2003-2004. In 8 weekly cross-sectional surveys, adults and adolescents were interviewed about their sun protection and sunburn on the previous summer weekend. Adjustments were made for specific weather and ultraviolet radiation conditions relevant to time and location. Adolescents were relatively homogeneous in their low compliance with sun protection (significantly less use of hats, covering clothing, shade, and sunglasses than adults) on weekends, and consequently were more likely to be sunburned than adults (25% compared with 18%; odds ratio=1.80, Psunburn, as was ultraviolet radiation for adults' sunburn. Using shade, spending less time outdoors, and, for adults, wearing clothing covering were associated with reduced odds of sunburn. The study relied on self-reported behaviors and sunburn. Further improvement in Australians' sun-protective behaviors is needed.

9 CFR 93.806 - Animals refused entry.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Animals refused entry. 93.806 Section 93.806 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE EXPORTATION AND IMPORTATION OF ANIMALS (INCLUDING POULTRY) AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS IMPORTATION OF...

Refusal to pay electricity bill is illegal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermann, H.P.

1979-01-01

Pursuant to a judgement passed by the Lower Court of Hamburg, the author discusses probable legal arguments justifying the refusal to pay one's electricity bill, the so-called electricity bill boycott. Following an analysis of the power supply contract and of the content and the limits of the fundamental right of freedom of conscience, as well as of the concept of free enterprise and of the legal effect of licenses under the nuclear law, his point of view stated in the article is to agree with the decision of the court saying that the operation of a nuclear power plant licensed under the nuclear law does not mean an infringement of the right of freedom of conscience. It can further not be accepted to let people refuse to pay their electricity bill by referring to the right of freedom of speech, by alleging conduct against public policy on the part of the public utilities, or by referring to the right of opposition. (HSCH) [de

School refusal associated with separation anxiety disorder; an adolescent case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mustafa Yasin Irmak

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In literature, there are lots of studies about separation anxiety disorder (SAD and school refusal. Of the patients in these studies, it is generally known to child age group. In this paper, we aimed to draw attention to an adolescent patient with SAD who admitted to our clinic with complaint of school refusal and there is SAD under his unwillingness to go to school. [J Contemp Med 2016; 6(4.000: 357-360

21 CFR 515.21 - Refusal to approve a medicated feed mill license application.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 6 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Refusal to approve a medicated feed mill license... SERVICES (CONTINUED) ANIMAL DRUGS, FEEDS, AND RELATED PRODUCTS MEDICATED FEED MILL LICENSE Administrative Actions on Licenses § 515.21 Refusal to approve a medicated feed mill license application. (a) The...

Risk assessment of chemicals in foundries: The International Chemical Toolkit pilot-project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ribeiro, Marcela G.; Filho, Walter R.P.

2006-01-01

In Brazil, problems regarding protection from hazardous substances in small-sized enterprises are similar to those observed in many other countries. Looking for a simple tool to assess and control such exposures, FUNDACENTRO has started in 2005 a pilot-project to implement the International Chemical Control Toolkit. During the series of visits to foundries, it was observed that although many changes have occurred in foundry technology, occupational exposures to silica dust and metal fumes continue to occur, due to a lack of perception of occupational exposure in the work environment. After introducing the Chemical Toolkit concept to the foundry work group, it was possible to show that the activities undertaken to improve the management of chemicals, according to its concept, will support companies in fulfilling government legislations related to chemical management, occupational health and safety, and environmental impact. In the following meetings, the foundry work group and FUNDACENTRO research team will identify 'inadequate work situations'. Based on the Chemical Toolkit, improvement measures will be proposed. Afterwards, a survey will verify the efficency of those measures in the control of hazards and consequently on the management of chemicals. This step is now in course

Field trials of a novel toolkit for evaluating 'intangible' values-related dimensions of projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Burford, Gemma; Velasco, Ismael; Janoušková, Svatava; Zahradnik, Martin; Hak, Tomas; Podger, Dimity; Piggot, Georgia; Harder, Marie K

2013-02-01

A novel toolkit has been developed, using an original approach to develop its components, for the purpose of evaluating 'soft' outcomes and processes that have previously been generally considered 'intangible': those which are specifically values based. This represents a step-wise, significant, change in provision for the assessment of values-based achievements that are of absolutely key importance to most civil society organisations (CSOs) and values-based businesses, and fills a known gap in evaluation practice. In this paper, we demonstrate the significance and rigour of the toolkit by presenting an evaluation of it in three diverse scenarios where different CSOs use it to co-evaluate locally relevant outcomes and processes to obtain results which are both meaningful to them and potentially comparable across organisations. A key strength of the toolkit is its original use of a prior generated, peer-elicited 'menu' of values-based indicators which provides a framework for user CSOs to localise. Principles of participatory, process-based and utilisation-focused evaluation are embedded in this toolkit and shown to be critical to its success, achieving high face-validity and wide applicability. The emerging contribution of this next-generation evaluation tool to other fields, such as environmental values, development and environmental sustainable development, shared values, business, education and organisational change is outlined. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toolkit for local decision makers aims to strengthen environmental sustainability

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Murambadoro, M

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Members of the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas were involved in a meeting aimed at the development of a toolkit towards improved integration of climate change into local government's integrated development planning (IDP) process....

Open source tools and toolkits for bioinformatics: significance, and where are we?

Science.gov (United States)

Stajich, Jason E; Lapp, Hilmar

2006-09-01

This review summarizes important work in open-source bioinformatics software that has occurred over the past couple of years. The survey is intended to illustrate how programs and toolkits whose source code has been developed or released under an Open Source license have changed informatics-heavy areas of life science research. Rather than creating a comprehensive list of all tools developed over the last 2-3 years, we use a few selected projects encompassing toolkit libraries, analysis tools, data analysis environments and interoperability standards to show how freely available and modifiable open-source software can serve as the foundation for building important applications, analysis workflows and resources.

The IGUANA interactive graphics toolkit with examples from CMS and D0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alverson, G.; Osborne, I.; Taylor, L.; Tuura, L.

2001-01-01

IGUANA (Interactive Graphics for User ANAlysis) is a C++ toolkit for developing graphical user interfaces and high performance 2-D and 3-D graphics applications, such as data browsers and detector and event visualisation programs. The IGUANA strategy is to use freely available software (e.g. Qt, SoQt, OpenInventor, OpenGL, HEPVis) and package and extend it to provide a general-purpose and experiment-independent toolkit. The authors describe the evaluation and choices of publicly available GUI/graphics software and the additional functionality currently provided by IGUANA. The authors demonstrate the use of IGUANA with several applications built for CMS and D0

49 CFR 655.49 - Refusal to submit to a drug or alcohol test.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Refusal to submit to a drug or alcohol test. 655... TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PREVENTION OF ALCOHOL MISUSE AND PROHIBITED DRUG USE IN TRANSIT OPERATIONS Types of Testing § 655.49 Refusal to submit to a drug or alcohol test. (a) Each...

Toolkit for Conceptual Modeling (TCM): User's Guide and Reference

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dehne, F.; Wieringa, Roelf J.

1997-01-01

The Toolkit for Conceptual Modeling (TCM) is a suite of graphical editors for a number of graphical notation systems that are used in software specification methods. The notations can be used to represent the conceptual structure of the software - hence the name of the suite. This manual describes

Improving safety on rural local and tribal roads safety toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-08-01

Rural roadway safety is an important issue for communities throughout the country and presents a challenge for state, local, and Tribal agencies. The Improving Safety on Rural Local and Tribal Roads Safety Toolkit was created to help rural local ...

A cosmology forecast toolkit — CosmoLib

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Zhiqi, E-mail: zqhuang@cita.utoronto.ca [CEA, Institut de Physique Théorique, Orme des Merisiers, Saint-Aubin, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cédex (France)

2012-06-01

The package CosmoLib is a combination of a cosmological Boltzmann code and a simulation toolkit to forecast the constraints on cosmological parameters from future observations. In this paper we describe the released linear-order part of the package. We discuss the stability and performance of the Boltzmann code. This is written in Newtonian gauge and including dark energy perturbations. In CosmoLib the integrator that computes the CMB angular power spectrum is optimized for a l-by-l brute-force integration, which is useful for studying inflationary models predicting sharp features in the primordial power spectrum of metric fluctuations. As an application, CosmoLib is used to study the axion monodromy inflation model that predicts cosine oscillations in the primordial power spectrum. In contrast to the previous studies by Aich et al. and Meerburg et al., we found no detection or hint of the osicllations. We pointed out that the CAMB code modified by Aich et al. does not have sufficient numerical accuracy. CosmoLib and its documentation are available at http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/∼zqhuang/CosmoLib.

Business plans--tips from the toolkit 6.

Science.gov (United States)

Steer, Neville

2010-07-01

General practice is a business. Most practices can stay afloat by having appointments, billing patients, managing the administration processes and working long hours. What distinguishes the high performance organisation from the average organisation is a business plan. This article examines how to create a simple business plan that can be applied to the general practice setting and is drawn from material contained in The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' 'General practice management toolkit'.

Testing Video and Social Media for Engaging Users of the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Green, C. J.; Gardiner, N.; Niepold, F., III; Esposito, C.

2015-12-01

We developed a custom video production stye and a method for analyzing social media behavior so that we may deliberately build and track audience growth for decision-support tools and case studies within the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. The new style of video focuses quickly on decision processes; its 30s format is well-suited for deployment through social media. We measured both traffic and engagement with video using Google Analytics. Each video included an embedded tag, allowing us to measure viewers' behavior: whether or not they entered the toolkit website; the duration of their session on the website; and the number pages they visited in that session. Results showed that video promotion was more effective on Facebook than Twitter. Facebook links generated twice the number of visits to the toolkit. Videos also increased Facebook interaction overall. Because most Facebook users are return visitors, this campaign did not substantially draw new site visitors. We continue to research and apply these methods in a targeted engagement and outreach campaign that utilizes the theory of social diffusion and social influence strategies to grow our audience of "influential" decision-makers and people within their social networks. Our goal is to increase access and use of the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit.

Why do some women refuse to allow male residents to perform pelvic exams?

Science.gov (United States)

Rifkin, Julie I; Shapiro, Howard; Regensteiner, Judith G; Stotler, Jeanne K; Schmidt, Betty

2002-10-01

Many women who receive medical care in residency training clinics refuse to allow male residents to perform their pelvic exams. This study was conducted to identify which women were most likely to refuse and to learn their reasons for refusing. From January to March 1997, a questionnaire was given to all women entering a Tri-County Health office and a Planned Parenthood clinic, both in the Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area, who consented to participate in the study. Data from the questionnaire were analyzed using a statistical software package. A total of 1,437 women entered the clinics during the study period. Of these patients, 1,078 consented to complete the questionnaire. Seven of these 1,078 women did not complete the questionnaire. Women who did not know the training level of the resident performing the pelvic exam were more likely to refuse than were women who knew the training level of the resident (p =.001), but many women preferred a female physician regardless of the physician's training level. Fifty-eight percent said they would allow a male resident to observe a female attending physician perform the exam, compared with 36% who said they would allow a male resident to observe if the attending physician was a man. Common statements from those who would refuse were: "I am just more comfortable with a female," "Women do not want men to examine their private body parts," and "Women explain things better." A woman's knowledge of the resident's training level correlates with her willingness to have a pelvic exam performed by a male resident. Women who said they would refuse a pelvic exam performed by a male resident gave specific reasons for their decision.

30 CFR 253.50 - How can MMS refuse or invalidate my OSFR evidence?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false How can MMS refuse or invalidate my OSFR... can MMS refuse or invalidate my OSFR evidence? (a) If MMS determines that any OSFR evidence you submit... acceptable evidence without being subject to civil penalty under § 253.51. (b) MMS may immediately and...

Comparing the quality of life in insulin recipient and refusal patients with type 2 diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Khalili, Mitra; Sabouhi, Fakhri; Abazari, Parvaneh; Aminorroaya, Ashraf

2016-01-01

Better control of blood sugar and reduction of diabetes complications through insulin therapy could convince people to choose this method. However, patients might refuse insulin therapy due to its painful injection, limitations in daily activities, and hypoglycemia. Thus, insulin therapy could have both positive and negative effects on patients' quality of life (QOL). Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the QOL of insulin recipient and insulin refusal patients with type 2 diabetes. This study was a descriptive and comparative research conducted on 126 patients; 63 were insulin recipients and 63 had refused insulin therapy. Participants were under the care of the Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center of Isfahan, Iran. Data were gathered using the Diabetes Quality of Life (DQOL) questionnaire. In this tool, higher scores indicated lower QOL in patients. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, analysis of covariance, Mann-Whitney, Chi-square, and Pearson and Spearman's correlation. There was a significant difference (P refusal patients (mean = 1.74, SD = 0.41) in terms of mean QOL score. In addition, men and participants with higher educational levels reported a better QOL (P refusal patients had a better QOL. It seems that QOL is associated with the acceptance or refusal of insulin therapy. Therefore, enhancement of QOL could be related to all aspects of the disease, especially its treatment method and solving the therapeutic problems.

Transition Toolkit 3.0: Meeting the Educational Needs of Youth Exposed to the Juvenile Justice System. Third Edition

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Heather Griller; Mathur, Sarup; Brock, Leslie; O'Cummings, Mindee; Milligan, DeAngela

2016-01-01

The third edition of the National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth's (NDTAC's) "Transition Toolkit" provides updated information on existing policies, practices, strategies, and resources for transition that build on field experience and research. The "Toolkit" offers…

Analysis of fouling in refuse waste incinerators

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beek, van M.C.; Rindt, C.C.M.; Wijers, J.G.; Steenhoven, van A.A.

2001-01-01

Gas-side fouling of waste-heat-recovery boilers, caused mainly by the deposition of particulate matter, reduces the heat transfer in the boiler. The fouling as observed on the tube bundles in the boiler of a Dutch refuse waste incinerator varied from thin and powdery for the economizer to thick and

Use for refuse of shale carbonization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1917-09-25

A process is disclosed for using the refuse from the carbonization of bituminous shales in the preparation of light building material, characterized in that the pulverized material is mixed wet with a light filler, formed in a mold, and burned with or without the addition of clay or with the addition of binding and preserving material, preparing the mold from the pulverized material in the cold.

A Study on the Perception of Jordanian EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Transfer of Refusals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ibrahim Fathi Huwari

2015-02-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the perception of Jordanian EFL learners’ (JEFL pragmatic transfer of refusal strategies in terms of contextual and cultural factors. Data were collected using a discourse completion test (DCT and a scaled-response questionnaire (SRQ to elicit perception data from the participants. Data from the SRQ were analyzed based on the speaker’s right to refuse the initiating act. Findings revealed that the right the speaker has to refuse the initiating act was assigned high ratings by the three groups (i.e., M > 3.00 in all social categories. Individually, however, the groups displayed the rating value differently where the AEL1 group’s perception of the speaker’s right was relatively higher than that of the JEFL and JAL1 groups in all the social categories. The JEFL participants’ negative pragmatic transfer criteria were met in the first and third social categories. The study concludes with a discussion of important directions for future research. Keywords: Perception, Refusal, Pragmatic transfer, Pragmalinguistic transfer, Sociopragmatic transfer

An audit of consent refusals in clinical research at a tertiary care center in India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S J Thaker

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background and Rationale: Ensuring research participants′ autonomy is one of the core ethical obligations of researchers. This fundamental principle confers on every participant the right to refuse to take part in clinical research, and the measure of the number of consent refusals could be an important metric to evaluate the quality of the informed consent process. This audit examined consent refusals among Indian participants in clinical studies done at our center. Materials and Methods: The number of consent refusals and their reasons in 10 studies done at our center over a 5-year period were assessed. The studies were classified by the authors according to the type of participant (healthy vs patients, type of sponsor (investigator-initiated vs pharmaceutical industry, type of study (observational vs interventional, level of risk [based on the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR "Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human Participants"], available knowledge of the intervention being studied, and each patient′s disease condition. Results: The overall consent refusal rate was 21%. This rate was higher among patient participants [23.8% vs. healthy people (14.9%; P = 0.002], in interventional studies [33.6% vs observational studies (7.5%; P < 0.0001], in pharmaceutical industry-sponsored studies [34.7% vs investigator-initiated studies (7.2%; P < 0.0001], and in studies with greater risk (P < 0.0001. The most common reasons for consent refusals were multiple blood collections (28%, inability to comply with the study protocol (20%, and the risks involved (20%. Conclusion: Our audit suggests the adequacy and reasonable quality of the informed consent process using consent refusals as a metric.

A GIS Software Toolkit for Monitoring Areal Snow Cover and Producing Daily Hydrologic Forecasts using NASA Satellite Imagery, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Aniuk Consulting, LLC, proposes to create a GIS software toolkit for monitoring areal snow cover extent and producing streamflow forecasts. This toolkit will be...

GENFIT - a generic track-fitting toolkit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rauch, Johannes [Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany); Schlueter, Tobias [Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (Germany)

2014-07-01

GENFIT is an experiment-independent track-fitting toolkit, which combines fitting algorithms, track representations, and measurement geometries into a modular framework. We report on a significantly improved version of GENFIT, based on experience gained in the Belle II, PANDA, and FOPI experiments. Improvements concern the implementation of additional track-fitting algorithms, enhanced implementations of Kalman fitters, enhanced visualization capabilities, and additional implementations of measurement types suited for various kinds of tracking detectors. The data model has been revised, allowing for efficient track merging, smoothing, residual calculation and alignment.

NBII-SAIN Data Management Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Burley, Thomas E.; Peine, John D.

2009-01-01

percent of the cost of a spatial information system is associated with spatial data collection and management (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2003). These figures indicate that the resources (time, personnel, money) of many agencies and organizations could be used more efficiently and effectively. Dedicated and conscientious data management coordination and documentation is critical for reducing such redundancy. Substantial cost savings and increased efficiency are direct results of a pro-active data management approach. In addition, details of projects as well as data and information are frequently lost as a result of real-world occurrences such as the passing of time, job turnover, and equipment changes and failure. A standardized, well documented database allows resource managers to identify issues, analyze options, and ultimately make better decisions in the context of adaptive management (National Land and Water Resources Audit and the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council on behalf of the Australian National Government, 2003). Many environmentally focused, scientific, or natural resource management organizations collect and create both spatial and non-spatial data in some form. Data management appropriate for those data will be contingent upon the project goal(s) and objectives and thus will vary on a case-by-case basis. This project and the resulting Data Management Toolkit, hereafter referred to as the Toolkit, is therefore not intended to be comprehensive in terms of addressing all of the data management needs of all projects that contain biological, geospatial, and other types of data. The Toolkit emphasizes the idea of connecting a project's data and the related management needs to the defined project goals and objectives from the outset. In that context, the Toolkit presents and describes the fundamental components of sound data and information management that are common to projects involving biological, geospatial, and other related data

A cool Web challenge on a hot weekend

CERN Multimedia

Antonella Del Rosso

2013-01-01

The CERN Summer Student Webfest took place last weekend and brought dozens of young web enthusiasts to the Main Auditorium. Fifteen projects were presented in the Friday pitching session and after that the challenge was launched. And the winner is…   Five of the six members of the team behind the “Mother hunting” project during a brainstorming session. Image: Jiannan Zhang. … the “Mother hunting” game! An end-state particle explores CERN to try to reconstruct his (or her) family history of decay mothers and ancestors. Along the way, the particle meets famous physicists who teach it physics. A globe sphinx asks physics questions before the player can progress to various stages (read the game description on the dedicated page). Targeted at high school students, the game features very appealing 3D graphics, which accurately reproduce the layout of CERN. “Mother hunting” was one of the 15 projects presented at the...

A Weekend Workshop on Double Stars for Students

Science.gov (United States)

Brewer, Mark; Estrada, Chris; Estrada, Reed; Gillette, Sean

2016-01-01

A weekend double star workshop was held by Vanguard Preparatory for selected eighth grade students with the purpose of introducing them to astrometric observational science. The students were selected based on an essay provided by their language arts class. Collaboration with local visiting astronomers was established to provide telescopes equipped with an astrometric eyepiece, observational supervision, and expertise. During the workshop students learned how to determine the scale constant of an astrometric eyepiece, and the procedure for measuring separations and position angles of double stars. The students compared their data to past measurements reported in the Washington Double Star Catalog. Three goals were set for the student's outcome: 1) observe, record, and report observations of double stars, 2) write a scientific paper for publication in the Journal of Double Star Observations, and 3) present a PowerPoint presentation to their peers. This paper chronicles the planning, preparation, funding, and execution required to complete a double star workshop at a public middle school.

77 FR 48159 - Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff; Refuse To Accept Policy for...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-13

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-D-0523] Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff; Refuse To Accept Policy for 510(k)s; Availability AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug...

[Refusal of care by a HIV-positive adolescent: role of the cross-cultural approach].

Science.gov (United States)

Bouaziz, Nora; Titia Rizzi, Alice

The refusal of treatment is frequent in human immunodeficiency virus-positive adolescents. The clinical history of a teenage girl presenting severe immunodepression secondary to the virus, a depressive disorder and a refusal of treatment, illustrates the benefit of combined paediatric, child psychiatric and cross-cultural care as proposed by the Cochin-Paris Adolescent Centre. Working on the meaning of the refusal was a prerequisite for the construction of a care project forming part of a life project, as the psychopathological work could only begin once somatic care ensuring the patient's protection was in place. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A Software Toolkit to Study Systematic Uncertainties of the Physics Models of the Geant4 Simulation Package

Science.gov (United States)

Genser, Krzysztof; Hatcher, Robert; Kelsey, Michael; Perdue, Gabriel; Wenzel, Hans; Wright, Dennis H.; Yarba, Julia

2017-10-01

The Geant4 simulation toolkit is used to model interactions between particles and matter. Geant4 employs a set of validated physics models that span a wide range of interaction energies. These models rely on measured cross-sections and phenomenological models with the physically motivated parameters that are tuned to cover many application domains. To study what uncertainties are associated with the Geant4 physics models we have designed and implemented a comprehensive, modular, user-friendly software toolkit that allows the variation of one or more parameters of one or more Geant4 physics models involved in simulation studies. It also enables analysis of multiple variants of the resulting physics observables of interest in order to estimate the uncertainties associated with the simulation model choices. Based on modern event-processing infrastructure software, the toolkit offers a variety of attractive features, e.g. flexible run-time configurable workflow, comprehensive bookkeeping, easy to expand collection of analytical components. Design, implementation technology, and key functionalities of the toolkit are presented in this paper and illustrated with selected results.

Full Random Coefficients Multilevel Modeling of the Relationship between Land Use and Trip Time on Weekdays and Weekends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tae-Hyoung Tommy Gim

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Interests in weekend trips are increasing, but few have studied how they are affected by land use. In this study, we analyze the relationship between compact land use characteristics and trip time in Seoul, Korea by comparing two research models, each of which uses the weekday and weekend data of the same travelers. To secure sufficient numbers of subjects and groups, full random coefficients multilevel models define the trip as level one and the neighborhood as level two, and find that level-two land use characteristics account for less variation in trip time than level-one individual characteristics. At level one, weekday trip time is found to be reduced by the choice of the automobile as a travel mode, but not by its ownership per se. In addition, it becomes reduced if made by high income travelers and extended to travel to quality jobs. Among four land use characteristics at level two, population density, road connectivity, and subway availability are shown to be significant in the weekday model. Only subway availability has a positive relationship with trip time and this finding is consistent with the level-one result that the choice of automobile alternatives increases trip time. The other land use characteristic, land use balance, turns out to be a single significant land use variable in the weekend model, implying that it is concerned mainly with non-work, non-mandatory travel.

Understanding Excessive School Absenteeism as School Refusal Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Dube, Shanta R.; Orpinas, Pamela

2009-01-01

Understanding excessive absenteeism is important to ameliorating the negative outcomes associated with the behavior. The present study examined behavioral reinforcement profiles of school refusal behavior: negative reinforcement (avoidance) and positive reinforcement (gaining parental attention or receiving tangible benefits from not attending…

School Refusal Behavior: Classification, Assessment, and Treatment Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Marcella I.; Miltenberger, Raymond G.

1996-01-01

Discusses diagnostic and functional classification, assessment, and treatment approaches for school refusal behavior. Diagnostic classification focuses on separation anxiety disorder, specific phobia, social phobia, depression, and truancy. Functional classification focuses on the maintaining consequences of the behavior, such as avoidance of…

Is clinician refusal to treat an emerging problem in injury compensation systems?

Science.gov (United States)

Brijnath, Bianca; Mazza, Danielle; Kosny, Agnieszka; Bunzli, Samantha; Singh, Nabita; Ruseckaite, Rasa; Collie, Alex

2016-01-01

Objective The reasons that doctors may refuse or be reluctant to treat have not been widely explored in the medical literature. To understand the ethical implications of reluctance to treat there is a need to recognise the constraints of doctors working in complex systems and to consider how these constraints may influence reluctance. The aim of this paper is to illustrate these constraints using the case of compensable injury in the Australian context. Design Between September and December 2012, a qualitative investigation involving face-to-face semistructured interviews examined the knowledge, attitudes and practices of general practitioners (GPs) facilitating return to work in people with compensable injuries. Setting Compensable injury management in general practice in Melbourne, Australia. Participants 25 GPs who were treating, or had treated a patient with compensable injury. Results The practice of clinicians refusing treatment was described by all participants. While most GPs reported refusal to treat among their colleagues in primary and specialist care, many participants also described their own reluctance to treat people with compensable injuries. Reasons offered included time and financial burdens, in addition to the clinical complexities involved in compensable injury management. Conclusions In the case of compensable injury management, reluctance and refusal to treat is likely to have a domino effect by increasing the time and financial burden of clinically complex patients on the remaining clinicians. This may present a significant challenge to an effective, sustainable compensation system. Urgent research is needed to understand the extent and implications of reluctance and refusal to treat and to identify strategies to engage clinicians in treating people with compensable injuries. PMID:26792215

The Identification of Potential Resilient Estuary-based Enterprises to Encourage Economic Empowerment in South Africa: a Toolkit Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Bowd

2012-09-01

Full Text Available It has been argued that ecosystem services can be used as the foundation to provide economic opportunities to empower the disadvantaged. The Ecosystem Services Framework (ESF approach for poverty alleviation, which balances resource conservation and human resource use, has received much attention in the literature. However, few projects have successfully achieved both conservation and economic objectives. This is partly due to there being a hiatus between theory and practice, due to the absence of tools that help make the transition between conceptual frameworks and theory, to practical integration of ecosystem services into decision making. To address this hiatus, an existing conceptual framework for analyzing the robustness of social-ecological systems was translated into a practical toolkit to help understand the complexity of social-ecological systems (SES. The toolkit can be used by a diversity of stakeholders as a decision making aid for assessing ecosystem services supply and demand and associated enterprise opportunities. The toolkit is participatory and combines both a generic "top-down" scientific approach with a case-specific "bottom-up" approach. It promotes a shared understanding of the utilization of ecosystem services, which is the foundation of identifying resilient enterprises. The toolkit comprises four steps: (i ecosystem services supply and demand assessment; (ii roles identification; (iii enterprise opportunity identification; and (vi enterprise risk assessment, and was tested at two estuary study sites. Implementation of the toolkit requires the populating of preprogrammed Excel worksheets through the holding of workshops that are attended by stakeholders associated with the ecosystems. It was concluded that for an enterprise to be resilient, it must be resilient at an external SES level,which the toolkit addresses, and at an internal business functioning level, e.g., social dynamics among personnel, skills, and literacy

MACH MIT: Deutsches Wochenende am Karlsfluss (MACH MIT: a German Week-End on the Charles River).

Science.gov (United States)

Reizes, Sonia; Kramsch, Claire J.

1980-01-01

Describes a joint high school/college pilot program planned by Massachusetts foreign language teachers and hosted by M.I.T. The success of the program dubbed "MACH MIT Total Immersion German Weekend" is attributed to the concept of active involvement, which was implemented through games, seminars, shows, cooking and other activities.…

The doctor-patient relationship as a toolkit for uncertain clinical decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Diamond-Brown, Lauren

2016-06-01

Medical uncertainty is a well-recognized problem in healthcare, yet how doctors make decisions in the face of uncertainty remains to be understood. This article draws on interdisciplinary literature on uncertainty and physician decision-making to examine a specific physician response to uncertainty: using the doctor-patient relationship as a toolkit. Additionally, I ask what happens to this process when the doctor-patient relationship becomes fragmented. I answer these questions by examining obstetrician-gynecologists' narratives regarding how they make decisions when faced with uncertainty in childbirth. Between 2013 and 2014, I performed 21 semi-structured interviews with obstetricians in the United States. Obstetricians were selected to maximize variation in relevant physician, hospital, and practice characteristics. I began with grounded theory and moved to analytical coding of themes in relation to relevant literature. My analysis renders it evident that some physicians use the doctor-patient relationship as a toolkit for dealing with uncertainty. I analyze how this process varies for physicians in different models of care by comparing doctors' experiences in models with continuous versus fragmented doctor-patient relationships. My key findings are that obstetricians in both models appealed to the ideal of patient-centered decision-making to cope with uncertain decisions, but in practice physicians in fragmented care faced a number of challenges to using the doctor-patient relationship as a toolkit for decision-making. These challenges led to additional uncertainties and in some cases to poor outcomes for doctors and/or patients; they also raised concerns about the reproduction of inequality. Thus organization of care delivery mitigates the efficacy of doctors' use of the doctor-patient relationship toolkit for uncertain decisions. These findings have implications for theorizing about decision-making under conditions of medical uncertainty, for understanding

Evaluating Teaching Development Activities in Higher Education: A Toolkit

Science.gov (United States)

Kneale, Pauline; Winter, Jennie; Turner, Rebecca; Spowart, Lucy; Hughes, Jane; McKenna, Colleen; Muneer, Reema

2016-01-01

This toolkit is developed as a resource for providers of teaching-related continuing professional development (CPD) in higher education (HE). It focuses on capturing the longer-term value and impact of CPD for teachers and learners, and moving away from immediate satisfaction measures. It is informed by the literature on evaluating higher…

[Refusal of care in the intensive care: how makes decision?].

Science.gov (United States)

Borel, M; Veber, B; Villette-Baron, K; Hariri, S; Dureuil, B; Hervé, C

2009-11-01

Decision-making bringing to an admission or not in intensive care is complex. The aim of this study is to analyze with an ethical point of view the making decision process leading to the refusal and its consequences. It is proposed a setting in prospect through the principles of beneficence, non-maleficience, respect for autonomy, justice, and the Leonetti law. Prospective study in surgical reanimation at the University Hospital of Rouen over 9 months (November 2007-September 2008). Systematic collection for each non-admitted patient of the general characters, the methods of decision making, immediate becoming and within 48 h Constitution of two groups: patients for whom an admission in intensive care could be an unreasonable situation of obstinacy, and patients for whom an admission in reanimation would not be about unreasonable if it occurred. One hundred and fifty situations were analyzed. The potentially unreasonable character of an admission does not involve necessarily a refusal of care in intensive care. The question of the lack of place and equity in the access to the care is real but relative according to the typology of the patients. The research of the respect of the autonomy of the patient is difficult but could be facilitated. The Leonetti law does not appear to be able to be a framework with the situation of refusal of care in intensive care. It is not a question of going towards a systematic admission in intensive care of any patient proposed, but to make sure that so if there is a refusal, it is carried out according to a step ethically acceptable.

Vaccination Confidence and Parental Refusal/Delay of Early Childhood Vaccines.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melissa B Gilkey

Full Text Available To support efforts to address parental hesitancy towards early childhood vaccination, we sought to validate the Vaccination Confidence Scale using data from a large, population-based sample of U.S. parents.We used weighted data from 9,354 parents who completed the 2011 National Immunization Survey. Parents reported on the immunization history of a 19- to 35-month-old child in their households. Healthcare providers then verified children's vaccination status for vaccines including measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR, varicella, and seasonal flu. We used separate multivariable logistic regression models to assess associations between parents' mean scores on the 8-item Vaccination Confidence Scale and vaccine refusal, vaccine delay, and vaccination status.A substantial minority of parents reported a history of vaccine refusal (15% or delay (27%. Vaccination confidence was negatively associated with refusal of any vaccine (odds ratio [OR] = 0.58, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54-0.63 as well as refusal of MMR, varicella, and flu vaccines specifically. Negative associations between vaccination confidence and measures of vaccine delay were more moderate, including delay of any vaccine (OR = 0.81, 95% CI, 0.76-0.86. Vaccination confidence was positively associated with having received vaccines, including MMR (OR = 1.53, 95% CI, 1.40-1.68, varicella (OR = 1.54, 95% CI, 1.42-1.66, and flu vaccines (OR = 1.32, 95% CI, 1.23-1.42.Vaccination confidence was consistently associated with early childhood vaccination behavior across multiple vaccine types. Our findings support expanding the application of the Vaccination Confidence Scale to measure vaccination beliefs among parents of young children.

Development of an evidence-informed leisure time physical activity resource for adults with spinal cord injury: the SCI Get Fit Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Arbour-Nicitopoulos, K P; Martin Ginis, K A; Latimer-Cheung, A E; Bourne, C; Campbell, D; Cappe, S; Ginis, S; Hicks, A L; Pomerleau, P; Smith, K

2013-06-01

To systematically develop an evidence-informed leisure time physical activity (LTPA) resource for adults with spinal cord injury (SCI). Canada. The Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II protocol was used to develop a toolkit to teach and encourage adults with SCI how to make smart and informed choices about being physically active. A multidisciplinary expert panel appraised the evidence and generated specific recommendations for the content of the toolkit. Pilot testing was conducted to refine the toolkit's presentation. Recommendations emanating from the consultation process were that the toolkit be a brief, evidence-based resource that contains images of adults with tetraplegia and paraplegia, and links to more detailed online information. The content of the toolkit should include the physical activity guidelines (PAGs) for adults with SCI, activities tailored to manual and power chair users, the benefits of LTPA, and strategies to overcome common LTPA barriers for adults with SCI. The inclusion of action plans and safety tips was also recommended. These recommendations have resulted in the development of an evidence-informed LTPA resource to assist adults with SCI in meeting the PAGs. This toolkit will have important implications for consumers, health care professionals and policy makers for encouraging LTPA in the SCI community.

Treatment for School Refusal among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Maynard, Brandy R.; Heyne, David; Brendel, Kristen Esposito; Bulanda, Jeffery J.; Thompson, Aaron M.; Pigott, Terri D.

2018-01-01

Objective: School refusal is a psychosocial problem associated with adverse short- and long-term consequences for children and adolescents. The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effects of psychosocial treatments for children and adolescents with school refusal. Method: A comprehensive search process was used…

Obstetric Patients Who Select and Those Who Refuse Medical Students' Participation in Their Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Magrane, Diane; And Others

1994-01-01

A survey of 222 obstetrics patients assisted by medical clerkship students from the University of Vermont and 78 who refused student participation found privacy the primary motivation for refusal and a desire to contribute to students' education a primary reason for accepting student participation. Patients frequently erroneously anticipated the…

Consent and assessment of capacity to decide or refuse treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Simpson, Owena

Consent protects the right of patients to decide what happens to them. Before any medical intervention, adults must give valid consent, which must be voluntary, informed and given free of undue influence. When consent is being obtained, patients must be informed about the intervention, why it is being done and its risks; information they are given must be recorded. Every effort should be made to explain the issues in terms that the patient can understand and by providing support and aids to communicate. Consent can be expressed, where patients say they consent or put it in writing, or implied, where a healthcare professional infers from their behaviour that they consent. While different types of consent are valid, some are evidence of stronger proof in court that valid consent has been given. Competent adults have the right to refuse treatment, regardless of the reasons they give for refusal and even if the refusal will result in death; clinicians must respect their decision. In some circumstances-such as when an unconscious person is admitted as an emergency-healthcare professionals can make decisions on behalf of patients, and must do so in patients' best interests.

Parental psychological symptoms and familial risk factors of children and adolescents who exhibit school refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Bahali, K; Tahiroglu, A Y; Avci, A; Seydaoglu, G

2011-12-01

To assess the levels of psychological symptoms in the parents of children with school refusal and determine the familial risk factors in its development. This study was performed on 55 pairs of parents who had children exhibiting school refusal and were compared with a control group. A socio-demographic data form, the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Symptom Checklist-90 revised were applied to these parents. Parents of the school refusal group had higher anxiety and depression scores than the controls. Among the risk factors for school refusal, physical punishment by the parents, a history of organic disease in the parents or children, and a history of psychiatric disorders in the parents or other relatives were found to be significant. Depending on genetic and environmental factors, parents with psychiatric disorders appeared to be associated with development of psychiatric disorders in their children. Moreover, psychiatric disorders in parents negatively affected the treatment of their children and adolescents who exhibited school refusal. It is therefore vital to treat psychiatric disorders of parents with the children having psychiatric disorders, and thus increase parent participation in their children's therapeutic process.

The advanced computational testing and simulation toolkit (ACTS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drummond, L.A.; Marques, O.

2002-01-01

During the past decades there has been a continuous growth in the number of physical and societal problems that have been successfully studied and solved by means of computational modeling and simulation. Distinctively, a number of these are important scientific problems ranging in scale from the atomic to the cosmic. For example, ionization is a phenomenon as ubiquitous in modern society as the glow of fluorescent lights and the etching on silicon computer chips; but it was not until 1999 that researchers finally achieved a complete numerical solution to the simplest example of ionization, the collision of a hydrogen atom with an electron. On the opposite scale, cosmologists have long wondered whether the expansion of the Universe, which began with the Big Bang, would ever reverse itself, ending the Universe in a Big Crunch. In 2000, analysis of new measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation showed that the geometry of the Universe is flat, and thus the Universe will continue expanding forever. Both of these discoveries depended on high performance computer simulations that utilized computational tools included in the Advanced Computational Testing and Simulation (ACTS) Toolkit. The ACTS Toolkit is an umbrella project that brought together a number of general purpose computational tool development projects funded and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These tools, which have been developed independently, mainly at DOE laboratories, make it easier for scientific code developers to write high performance applications for parallel computers. They tackle a number of computational issues that are common to a large number of scientific applications, mainly implementation of numerical algorithms, and support for code development, execution and optimization. The ACTS Toolkit Project enables the use of these tools by a much wider community of computational scientists, and promotes code portability, reusability, reduction of duplicate efforts

The advanced computational testing and simulation toolkit (ACTS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Drummond, L.A.; Marques, O.

2002-05-21

During the past decades there has been a continuous growth in the number of physical and societal problems that have been successfully studied and solved by means of computational modeling and simulation. Distinctively, a number of these are important scientific problems ranging in scale from the atomic to the cosmic. For example, ionization is a phenomenon as ubiquitous in modern society as the glow of fluorescent lights and the etching on silicon computer chips; but it was not until 1999 that researchers finally achieved a complete numerical solution to the simplest example of ionization, the collision of a hydrogen atom with an electron. On the opposite scale, cosmologists have long wondered whether the expansion of the Universe, which began with the Big Bang, would ever reverse itself, ending the Universe in a Big Crunch. In 2000, analysis of new measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation showed that the geometry of the Universe is flat, and thus the Universe will continue expanding forever. Both of these discoveries depended on high performance computer simulations that utilized computational tools included in the Advanced Computational Testing and Simulation (ACTS) Toolkit. The ACTS Toolkit is an umbrella project that brought together a number of general purpose computational tool development projects funded and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These tools, which have been developed independently, mainly at DOE laboratories, make it easier for scientific code developers to write high performance applications for parallel computers. They tackle a number of computational issues that are common to a large number of scientific applications, mainly implementation of numerical algorithms, and support for code development, execution and optimization. The ACTS Toolkit Project enables the use of these tools by a much wider community of computational scientists, and promotes code portability, reusability, reduction of duplicate efforts

Measuring acceptance of an assistive social robot: a suggested toolkit

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heerink, M.; Kröse, B.; Evers, V.; Wielinga, B.

2009-01-01

The human robot interaction community is multidisciplinary by nature and has members from social science to engineering backgrounds. In this paper we aim to provide human robot developers with a straightforward toolkit to evaluate users' acceptance of assistive social robots they are designing or

Pydpiper: A Flexible Toolkit for Constructing Novel Registration Pipelines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miriam eFriedel

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Using neuroimaging technologies to elucidate the relationship between genotype and phenotype and brain and behavior will be a key contribution to biomedical research in the twenty-first century. Among the many methods for analyzing neuroimaging data, image registration deserves particular attention due to its wide range of applications. Finding strategies to register together many images and analyze the differences between them can be a challenge, particularly given that different experimental designs require different registration strategies. Moreover, writing software that can handle different types of image registration pipelines in a flexible, reusable and extensible way can be challenging. In response to this challenge, we have created Pydpiper, a neuroimaging registration toolkit written in Python. Pydpiper is an open-source, freely available pipeline framework that provides multiple modules for various image registration applications. Pydpiper offers five key innovations. Specifically: (1 a robust file handling class that allows access to outputs from all stages of registration at any point in the pipeline; (2 the ability of the framework to eliminate duplicate stages; (3 reusable, easy to subclass modules; (4 a development toolkit written for non-developers; (5 four complete applications that run complex image registration pipelines ``out-of-the-box.'' In this paper, we will discuss both the general Pydpiper framework and the various ways in which component modules can be pieced together to easily create new registration pipelines. This will include a discussion of the core principles motivating code development and a comparison of Pydpiper with other available toolkits. We also provide a comprehensive, line-by-line example to orient users with limited programming knowledge and highlight some of the most useful features of Pydpiper. In addition, we will present the four current applications of the code.

Pydpiper: a flexible toolkit for constructing novel registration pipelines.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedel, Miriam; van Eede, Matthijs C; Pipitone, Jon; Chakravarty, M Mallar; Lerch, Jason P

2014-01-01

Using neuroimaging technologies to elucidate the relationship between genotype and phenotype and brain and behavior will be a key contribution to biomedical research in the twenty-first century. Among the many methods for analyzing neuroimaging data, image registration deserves particular attention due to its wide range of applications. Finding strategies to register together many images and analyze the differences between them can be a challenge, particularly given that different experimental designs require different registration strategies. Moreover, writing software that can handle different types of image registration pipelines in a flexible, reusable and extensible way can be challenging. In response to this challenge, we have created Pydpiper, a neuroimaging registration toolkit written in Python. Pydpiper is an open-source, freely available software package that provides multiple modules for various image registration applications. Pydpiper offers five key innovations. Specifically: (1) a robust file handling class that allows access to outputs from all stages of registration at any point in the pipeline; (2) the ability of the framework to eliminate duplicate stages; (3) reusable, easy to subclass modules; (4) a development toolkit written for non-developers; (5) four complete applications that run complex image registration pipelines "out-of-the-box." In this paper, we will discuss both the general Pydpiper framework and the various ways in which component modules can be pieced together to easily create new registration pipelines. This will include a discussion of the core principles motivating code development and a comparison of Pydpiper with other available toolkits. We also provide a comprehensive, line-by-line example to orient users with limited programming knowledge and highlight some of the most useful features of Pydpiper. In addition, we will present the four current applications of the code.

NREL Evaluates Performance of Hydraulic Hybrid Refuse Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2015-09-01

This highlight describes NREL's evaluation of the in-service performance of 10 next-generation hydraulic hybrid refuse vehicles (HHVs), 8 previous-generation (model year 2013) HHVs, and 8 comparable conventional diesel vehicles operated by Miami-Dade County's Public Works and Waste Management Department in southern Florida. Launched in March 2015, the on-road portion of this 12-month evaluation focuses on collecting and analyzing vehicle performance data - fuel economy, maintenance costs, and drive cycles - from the HHVs and the conventional diesel vehicles. The fuel economy of heavy-duty vehicles, such as refuse trucks, is largely dependent on the load carried and the drive cycles on which they operate. In the right applications, HHVs offer a potential fuel-cost advantage over their conventional counterparts. This advantage is contingent, however, on driving behavior and drive cycles with high kinetic intensity that take advantage of regenerative braking. NREL's evaluation will assess the performance of this technology in commercial operation and help Miami-Dade County determine the ideal routes for maximizing the fuel-saving potential of its HHVs. Based on the field data, NREL will develop a validated vehicle model using the Future Automotive Systems Technology Simulator, also known as FASTSim, to study the impacts of route selection and other vehicle parameters. NREL is also analyzing fueling and maintenance data to support total-cost-of-ownership estimations and forecasts. The study aims to improve understanding of the overall usage and effectiveness of HHVs in refuse operation compared to similar conventional vehicles and to provide unbiased technical information to interested stakeholders.

Rape myth acceptance and rape acknowledgment: The mediating role of sexual refusal assertiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Newins, Amie R; Wilson, Laura C; White, Susan W

2018-05-01

Unacknowledged rape, defined as when an individual experiences an event that meets a legal or empirical definition of rape but the individual does not label it as such, is prevalent. Research examining predictors of rape acknowledgment is needed. Sexual assertiveness may be an important variable to consider, as an individual's typical behavior during sexual situations may influence rape acknowledgment. To assess the indirect effect of rape myth acceptance on rape acknowledgment through sexual refusal assertiveness, an online survey of 181 female rape survivors was conducted. The indirect effects of two types of rape myths (He didn't mean to and Rape is a deviant event) were significant and positive. Specifically, acceptance of these two rape myths was negatively related to sexual refusal assertiveness, which was negatively associated with likelihood of rape acknowledgment. The results of this study indicate that sexual refusal assertiveness is associated with lower likelihood of rape acknowledgment among rape survivors. As a result, it appears that, under certain circumstances, women high in rape myth acceptance may be more likely to acknowledge rape when it results in decreased sexual refusal assertiveness. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Toilet refusal syndrome in preschool children: do different subtypes exist?

Science.gov (United States)

Niemczyk, Justine; Equit, Monika; El Khatib, Diana; von Gontard, Alexander

2014-03-01

Toilet refusal syndrome (TRS) is a common, benign disorder in toddlers defined by the use of diapers and refusal of toilet for defaecation, but has not been described systematically in preschool children yet. The aim of the study was to analyse and identify possible subgroups of TRS. Retrospective analysis of all of the consecutive children with TRS presented as outpatients in a clinic for elimination disorders. Patients had received a detailed paediatric and child psychiatric assessment, including the Child Behavior Checklist questionnaire. Three typical case vignettes are presented of TRS with constipation, oppositional defiant disorder, and sibling rivalry. Twenty-five children (10 boys) with a mean age of 5.2 (3.4-7.3) years were included-representing 2.5% of all of the children (n = 1001) presented. They had high rates of constipation (60%) and elimination disorders (24%-44%). Child psychiatric International Classification of Diseases-10th Edition disorders were common (40%) and heterogeneous, with significantly more boys affected, but no differences between children with and without constipation. This study shows that TRS occurs also in older preschool (and even school) children. At this later age, it is associated with constipation and behavioural disorders. The case vignettes show differences in therapy and may represent different subgroups of TRS. TRS is associated with constipation, elimination disorders, and psychiatric disorders. Owing to this variety of comorbid disorders, different therapeutic approaches are needed. A general screening for behavioural symptoms is recommended.

Magnetometric Studies of Catalyst Refuses in Nanocarbon Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eklund Peter

2008-01-01

Full Text Available AbstractIt is shown that magnetometry can be employed as an effective tool to control the content of a ferromagnetic constituent in nanocarbon materials. We propose a thermochemical treatment protocol to achieve extensive cleaning of the source nanocarbon materials from ferromagnetic refuses.

[Refusal of personal hygiene care and nursing responsibility].

Science.gov (United States)

Peyé, Anne

2013-03-01

Situations of patients refusing personal hygiene care are frequent. Sources of difficulties and questioning for caregivers, they can lead to maltreatment. In order to avoid this pitfall, it is essential to support the teams in their approach around representations of caregiving and nursing responsibility.

Is clinician refusal to treat an emerging problem in injury compensation systems?

Science.gov (United States)

Brijnath, Bianca; Mazza, Danielle; Kosny, Agnieszka; Bunzli, Samantha; Singh, Nabita; Ruseckaite, Rasa; Collie, Alex

2016-01-20

The reasons that doctors may refuse or be reluctant to treat have not been widely explored in the medical literature. To understand the ethical implications of reluctance to treat there is a need to recognise the constraints of doctors working in complex systems and to consider how these constraints may influence reluctance. The aim of this paper is to illustrate these constraints using the case of compensable injury in the Australian context. Between September and December 2012, a qualitative investigation involving face-to-face semistructured interviews examined the knowledge, attitudes and practices of general practitioners (GPs) facilitating return to work in people with compensable injuries. Compensable injury management in general practice in Melbourne, Australia. 25 GPs who were treating, or had treated a patient with compensable injury. The practice of clinicians refusing treatment was described by all participants. While most GPs reported refusal to treat among their colleagues in primary and specialist care, many participants also described their own reluctance to treat people with compensable injuries. Reasons offered included time and financial burdens, in addition to the clinical complexities involved in compensable injury management. In the case of compensable injury management, reluctance and refusal to treat is likely to have a domino effect by increasing the time and financial burden of clinically complex patients on the remaining clinicians. This may present a significant challenge to an effective, sustainable compensation system. Urgent research is needed to understand the extent and implications of reluctance and refusal to treat and to identify strategies to engage clinicians in treating people with compensable injuries. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

The PyRosetta Toolkit: a graphical user interface for the Rosetta software suite.

Science.gov (United States)

Adolf-Bryfogle, Jared; Dunbrack, Roland L

2013-01-01

The Rosetta Molecular Modeling suite is a command-line-only collection of applications that enable high-resolution modeling and design of proteins and other molecules. Although extremely useful, Rosetta can be difficult to learn for scientists with little computational or programming experience. To that end, we have created a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for Rosetta, called the PyRosetta Toolkit, for creating and running protocols in Rosetta for common molecular modeling and protein design tasks and for analyzing the results of Rosetta calculations. The program is highly extensible so that developers can add new protocols and analysis tools to the PyRosetta Toolkit GUI.

An Ethical Toolkit for Food Companies: Reflection on its Use

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Deblonde, M.K.; Graaff, R.; Brom, F.W.A.

2007-01-01

Nowadays many debates are going on that relate to the agricultural and food sector. It looks as if present technological and organizational developments within the agricultural and food sector are badly geared to societal needs and expectations. In this article we briefly present a toolkit for moral

Toolkit for US colleges/schools of pharmacy to prepare learners for careers in academia.

Science.gov (United States)

Haines, Seena L; Summa, Maria A; Peeters, Michael J; Dy-Boarman, Eliza A; Boyle, Jaclyn A; Clifford, Kalin M; Willson, Megan N

2017-09-01

The objective of this article is to provide an academic toolkit for use by colleges/schools of pharmacy to prepare student pharmacists/residents for academic careers. Through the American Association of Colleges of Pharmac (AACP) Section of Pharmacy Practice, the Student Resident Engagement Task Force (SRETF) collated teaching materials used by colleges/schools of pharmacy from a previously reported national survey. The SRETF developed a toolkit for student pharmacists/residents interested in academic pharmacy. Eighteen institutions provided materials; five provided materials describing didactic coursework; over fifteen provided materials for an academia-focused Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE), while one provided materials for an APPE teaching-research elective. SRETF members created a syllabus template and sample lesson plan by integrating submitted resources. Submissions still needed to complete the toolkit include examples of curricular tracks and certificate programs. Pharmacy faculty vacancies still exist in pharmacy education. Engaging student pharmacists/residents about academia pillars of teaching, scholarship and service is critical for the future success of the academy. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The geo-environmental design of a coal refuse impoundment in Illinois

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ripp, B.J.

1997-01-01

The coal refuse impoundment discussed was one of the first permitted under new regulatory standards within the State of Illinois. The new standards go beyond the geotechnial stability of the structure and must address the groundwater quality of the area and the impact of the impoundment on the groundwater system. The geotechnial design of the coal refuse impoundment dam and associated structures had its own particular challenges such as: 1) the construction of the structure over mined workings; 2) the close proximity of seismically active fault zones; and 3) the embankment configuration being controlled by the material balance of the mine refuse. The implementation of the groundwater protection plan included: 1) incorporating the groundwater quality standards and sampling protocols of several state agencies while the standards were being drafted; 2) sampling of the potential sources of groundwater impact; 3) establishing background levels; and 4) establishing the groundwater class. An initial groundwater transport model was developed and used as the basis for recommending a groundwater monitoring design in place of constructing a soil or synthetic liner. 15 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs

Refuses and delays in the transportation by ship of radioactive material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xavier, Clarice; Sobreira, Ana Celia

2011-01-01

Some Class 7 materials can only be transported by ship, making that load and unload activities can be done in a port. In the Brazil, the port of Santos posses the most volume of cargo manipulation, and cargoes which contain radioactive material are always present with all manipulation requisites according to applicable regulations. The transport and manipulation operations of radioactive material are performed in accordance with national and international requisites but, some individuals posses yet a high risk perception according to our experience, involving members of Brazilian port authorities, the Navy and cargoes handlers at the ports. So, exist yet a high quantity of refuses and delays during the transport by ship. Therefore, a communication strategy was developed and applied, to inform the risk perception, supplying information on the very principles of ionizing radiation, legislation and uses of radiation, and so, diminishing the quantity of refuses and delays. From that initial communication strategy on, it becomes evident the necessity of training and conscience making a movement for the problem of refuses and delays be diminished

A Toolkit For Storage Qos Provisioning For Data-Intensive Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renata Słota

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a programming toolkit developed in the PL-Grid project, named QStorMan, which supports storage QoS provisioning for data-intensive applications in distributed environments. QStorMan exploits knowledge-oriented methods for matching storage resources to non-functional requirements, which are defined for a data-intensive application. In order to support various usage scenarios, QStorMan provides two interfaces, such as programming libraries or a web portal. The interfaces allow to define the requirements either directly in an application source code or by using an intuitive graphical interface. The first way provides finer granularity, e.g., each portion of data processed by an application can define a different set of requirements. The second method is aimed at legacy applications support, which source code can not be modified. The toolkit has been evaluated using synthetic benchmarks and the production infrastructure of PL-Grid, in particular its storage infrastructure, which utilizes the Lustre file system.

Srijan: a graphical toolkit for sensor network macroprogramming

OpenAIRE

Pathak , Animesh; Gowda , Mahanth K.

2009-01-01

International audience; Macroprogramming is an application development technique for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) where the developer specifies the behavior of the system, as opposed to that of the constituent nodes. In this proposed demonstration, we would like to present Srijan, a toolkit that enables application development for WSNs in a graphical manner using data-driven macroprogramming. It can be used in various stages of application development, viz. i) specification of application ...

Mocapy++ - a toolkit for inference and learning in dynamic Bayesian networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paluszewski, Martin; Hamelryck, Thomas Wim

2010-01-01

Background Mocapy++ is a toolkit for parameter learning and inference in dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs). It supports a wide range of DBN architectures and probability distributions, including distributions from directional statistics (the statistics of angles, directions and orientations...

TU-F-17A-01: BEST IN PHYSICS (JOINT IMAGING-THERAPY) - An Automatic Toolkit for Efficient and Robust Analysis of 4D Respiratory Motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei, J; Yuan, A; Li, G

2014-01-01

Purpose: To provide an automatic image analysis toolkit to process thoracic 4-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) and extract patient-specific motion information to facilitate investigational or clinical use of 4DCT. Methods: We developed an automatic toolkit in MATLAB to overcome the extra workload from the time dimension in 4DCT. This toolkit employs image/signal processing, computer vision, and machine learning methods to visualize, segment, register, and characterize lung 4DCT automatically or interactively. A fully-automated 3D lung segmentation algorithm was designed and 4D lung segmentation was achieved in batch mode. Voxel counting was used to calculate volume variations of the torso, lung and its air component, and local volume changes at the diaphragm and chest wall to characterize breathing pattern. Segmented lung volumes in 12 patients are compared with those from a treatment planning system (TPS). Voxel conversion was introduced from CT# to other physical parameters, such as gravity-induced pressure, to create a secondary 4D image. A demon algorithm was applied in deformable image registration and motion trajectories were extracted automatically. Calculated motion parameters were plotted with various templates. Machine learning algorithms, such as Naive Bayes and random forests, were implemented to study respiratory motion. This toolkit is complementary to and will be integrated with the Computational Environment for Radiotherapy Research (CERR). Results: The automatic 4D image/data processing toolkit provides a platform for analysis of 4D images and datasets. It processes 4D data automatically in batch mode and provides interactive visual verification for manual adjustments. The discrepancy in lung volume calculation between this and the TPS is <±2% and the time saving is by 1–2 orders of magnitude. Conclusion: A framework of 4D toolkit has been developed to analyze thoracic 4DCT automatically or interactively, facilitating both investigational

TU-F-17A-01: BEST IN PHYSICS (JOINT IMAGING-THERAPY) - An Automatic Toolkit for Efficient and Robust Analysis of 4D Respiratory Motion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wei, J [City College of New York, New York, NY (United States); Yuan, A; Li, G [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States)

2014-06-15

Purpose: To provide an automatic image analysis toolkit to process thoracic 4-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) and extract patient-specific motion information to facilitate investigational or clinical use of 4DCT. Methods: We developed an automatic toolkit in MATLAB to overcome the extra workload from the time dimension in 4DCT. This toolkit employs image/signal processing, computer vision, and machine learning methods to visualize, segment, register, and characterize lung 4DCT automatically or interactively. A fully-automated 3D lung segmentation algorithm was designed and 4D lung segmentation was achieved in batch mode. Voxel counting was used to calculate volume variations of the torso, lung and its air component, and local volume changes at the diaphragm and chest wall to characterize breathing pattern. Segmented lung volumes in 12 patients are compared with those from a treatment planning system (TPS). Voxel conversion was introduced from CT# to other physical parameters, such as gravity-induced pressure, to create a secondary 4D image. A demon algorithm was applied in deformable image registration and motion trajectories were extracted automatically. Calculated motion parameters were plotted with various templates. Machine learning algorithms, such as Naive Bayes and random forests, were implemented to study respiratory motion. This toolkit is complementary to and will be integrated with the Computational Environment for Radiotherapy Research (CERR). Results: The automatic 4D image/data processing toolkit provides a platform for analysis of 4D images and datasets. It processes 4D data automatically in batch mode and provides interactive visual verification for manual adjustments. The discrepancy in lung volume calculation between this and the TPS is <±2% and the time saving is by 1–2 orders of magnitude. Conclusion: A framework of 4D toolkit has been developed to analyze thoracic 4DCT automatically or interactively, facilitating both investigational

The Impact of Age and Sex on the Refusal Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shohreh Shahpouri Arani

2013-05-01

Full Text Available One major problem for non-native speakers is using refusals and because of this, second language teachers and others who communicate in that language should have the cultural differences in mind. When the interlocutors say “no” to a request or invitation, either directly or indirectly, they use speech act of refusal.  Refusal is considered a face threatening act, as there exists a kind of contradiction in it and is always realized indirectly. Thus, a high level of pragmatic competence is needed to realize it. The aim of this study is to find out whether the age and sex of Iranian learners have any effect on their used refusal strategies and if the existence of such an effect was demonstrated which group is more native like in terms of content and form of used strategies. To achieve this end, graduated students (male/female of different age, sex and different fields of study were selected. Three groups of participants participated in this study. The first group includes 30 American English Speakers (A.E.S. The second group consists of participants whose ages were between 22-29 and the third group was a group of 30 participants of both sexes who speak English as a second language (sex is the only variable under study in this group. Using a Discourse Completion Test (DCT, a number of refusal situations were collected, responded by participants and analyzed. The results revealed that the age and sex of EFL learners does not have any significant effect on using refusal strategies.

Othermotherwork: "Testimonio" and the Refusal of Historical Trauma

Science.gov (United States)

Vega, Christine

2018-01-01

This paper is an "ofrenda" (offering), a "testimonio" (testimony) of the healing power of reconstituting severed relationships and reconstructing agentic creation stories in the pathology of soul-wounds where pictures and "cuentos" serve to mend genealogical traumas. This paper is a refusal of neglecting traumas, it…

Predicting risk of school refusal: Examining the incremental role of trait EI beyond personality and emotion regulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filippello Pina

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Research has not yet been deepened in the link between personality factors and risk of school refusal. Furthermore, previous studies fail to verify the direct relation between trait EI and the risk of school refusal. The present study examined personality traits, emotion regulation and trait EI for the contributory role they may play in predicting the risk of school refusal. The sample consisted of 311 participants, 112 males (36% and 199 females (64% with an average age of 14.19 (SD = .60, from a high school in the city of Messina (Sicily, Italy. Results show that the risk of school refusal is positively related to neuroticism and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, while it is negatively related to the extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness and trait EI. Moreover, trait EI can be considered as a strong incremental negative predictor of risk of school refusal over and above personality traits and emotion regulation.

Pediatric Depression: When Does Parental Refusal for Treatment Constitute Medical Neglect?

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Michael

2018-06-01

Depression is a common disorder in youth, and 10% to 15% of individuals have a lifetime prevalence by 18 years of age. Youth who receive treatment typically have a positive outcome, but many remain undiagnosed and untreated. 1 There is a dearth of literature on parental refusal to consent to treatment for pediatric depression and the circumstances under which such refusal could be considered medical neglect. In general, it appears that mental health diagnoses are rarely reported in cases of medical neglect. 2 . Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Professionals' training and refusal of nursing care].

Science.gov (United States)

Bay, Corinne

2016-10-01

A patient's refusal of nursing care concerns the caregivers. Future professionals must be prepared for it and student nurses are trained to deal with such situations. It is also important to empower patients and support them in their choice. This article presents the example of the Haute École Robert Schuman in Libramont, Belgium. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Social Cultivation of Vaccine Refusal and Delay among Waldorf (Steiner) School Parents.

Science.gov (United States)

Sobo, Elisa J

2015-09-01

U.S. media reports suggest that vastly disproportionate numbers of un- and under-vaccinated children attend Waldorf (private alternative) schools. After confirming this statistically, I analyzed qualitative and quantitative vaccination-related data provided by parents from a well-established U.S. Waldorf school. In Europe, Waldorf-related non-vaccination is associated with anthroposophy (a worldview foundational to Waldorf education)—but that was not the case here. Nor was simple ignorance to blame: Parents were highly educated and dedicated to self-education regarding child health. They saw vaccination as variously unnecessary, toxic, developmentally inappropriate, and profit driven. Some vaccine caution likely predated matriculation, but notable post-enrollment refusal increases provided evidence of the socially cultivated nature of vaccine refusal in the Waldorf school setting. Vaccine caution was nourished and intensified by an institutionalized emphasis on alternative information and by school community norms lauding vaccine refusal and masking uptake. Implications for intervention are explored. © 2015 by the American Anthropological Association.

Accelerator physics analysis with an integrated toolkit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holt, J.A.; Michelotti, L.; Satogata, T.

1992-08-01

Work is in progress on an integrated software toolkit for linear and nonlinear accelerator design, analysis, and simulation. As a first application, ''beamline'' and ''MXYZPTLK'' (differential algebra) class libraries, were used with an X Windows graphics library to build an user-friendly, interactive phase space tracker which, additionally, finds periodic orbits. This program was used to analyse a theoretical lattice which contains octupoles and decapoles to find the 20th order, stable and unstable periodic orbits and to explore the local phase space structure

Comparing the quality of life in insulin recipient and refusal patients with type 2 diabetes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mitra Khalili

2016-01-01

Conclusions: Results showed that insulin refusal patients had a better QOL. It seems that QOL is associated with the acceptance or refusal of insulin therapy. Therefore, enhancement of QOL could be related to all aspects of the disease, especially its treatment method and solving the therapeutic problems.

78 FR 100 - Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff; Refuse To Accept Policy for 510(k)s...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-02

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-D-0523] Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff; Refuse To Accept Policy for 510(k)s; Availability AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug...

Use of wet FGD material for revegetation of an abandoned acidic coal refuse pile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mafi, S.; Stehouwer, R.C.

1996-01-01

Wet FGD material has a neutralizing potential of 15% CaCO 3 . These properties may make it a beneficial amendment for revegetation of hyper-acidic coal refuse. In greenhouse and field experiments, coal refuse (pH = 2.5) was amended with wet FGD (300, 500, and 700 tons/acre). Amendment with FGD was as effective as agricultural lime (AL) in increasing refuse pH and decreasing soluble Al and Fe. Addition of compost to the FGD further increased pH and decreased soluble Al and Fe. Downward transport of Ca was greater with FGD than AL, but FGD did not increase leachate concentrations of S. Amendment with FGD increased refuse, leachate and plant tissue concentrations of B. Other trace elements were not increased by FGD. In the greenhouse, plant growth was similar with AL and FGD except during the first three months when AL produced more growth than FGD. The initial growth suppression by FGD was likely due to high soluble salts, and possibly by high B concentrations. During the first year of the field experiment plant growth was greater with FGD than with AL. In both the field and greenhouse experiments compost increased plant growth when combined with FGD. These experiments show revegetation of toxic coal refuse and improvement in drainage water quality is possible by amendment with FGD. Revegetation success will be improved by combined amendment with FGD and compost

Energy efficacy used to score organic refuse pretreatment processes for hydrogen anaerobic production.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruggeri, Bernardo; Luongo Malave, Andrea C; Bernardi, Milena; Fino, Debora

2013-11-01

The production of hydrogen through Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has been investigated to verify the efficacy of several pretreatment processes. Three types of waste with different carbon structures have been tested to obtain an extensive representation of the behavior of the materials present in Organic Waste (OW). The following types of waste were selected: Sweet Product Residue (SPR), i.e., confectionary residue removed from the market after the expiration date, Organic Waste Market (OWM) refuse from a local fruit and vegetable market, and Coffee Seed Skin (CSS) waste from a coffee production plant. Several pretreatment processes have been applied, including physical, chemical, thermal, and ultrasonic processes and a combination of these processes. Two methods have been used for the SPR to remove the packaging, manual (SPR) and mechanical (SPRex). A pilot plant that is able to extrude the refuse to 200atm was utilized. Two parameters have been used to score the different pretreatment processes: efficiency (ξ), which takes into account the amount of energy produced in the form of hydrogen compared with the available energy embedded in the refuse, and efficacy (η), which compares the efficiency obtained using the pretreated refuse with that obtained using the untreated refuse. The best result obtained for the SPR was the basic pretreatment, with η=6.4, whereas the thermal basic pretreatment gave the highest value, η=17.0 for SPRex. The best result for the OWM was obtained through a combination of basic/thermal pretreatments with η=9.9; lastly, the CSS residue with ultrasonic pretreatment produced the highest quantity of hydrogen, η=5.2. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An investigation on the fuel savings potential of hybrid hydraulic refuse collection vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bender, Frank A., E-mail: bender@isys.uni-stuttgart.de; Bosse, Thomas; Sawodny, Oliver

2014-09-15

Highlights: • Driving cycle acquisition in a refuse collection vehicle. • Vehicle modeling and validation for numerical simulations based on the measured driving cycle. • Fuel consumption analysis for a conventional diesel vehicle and a hybrid hydraulic vehicle. - Abstract: Refuse trucks play an important role in the waste collection process. Due to their typical driving cycle, these vehicles are characterized by large fuel consumption, which strongly affects the overall waste disposal costs. Hybrid hydraulic refuse vehicles offer an interesting alternative to conventional diesel trucks, because they are able to recuperate, store and reuse braking energy. However, the expected fuel savings can vary strongly depending on the driving cycle and the operational mode. Therefore, in order to assess the possible fuel savings, a typical driving cycle was measured in a conventional vehicle run by the waste authority of the City of Stuttgart, and a dynamical model of the considered vehicle was built up. Based on the measured driving cycle and the vehicle model including the hybrid powertrain components, simulations for both the conventional and the hybrid vehicle were performed. Fuel consumption results that indicate savings of about 20% are presented and analyzed in order to evaluate the benefit of hybrid hydraulic vehicles used for refuse collection.

An investigation on the fuel savings potential of hybrid hydraulic refuse collection vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bender, Frank A.; Bosse, Thomas; Sawodny, Oliver

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Driving cycle acquisition in a refuse collection vehicle. • Vehicle modeling and validation for numerical simulations based on the measured driving cycle. • Fuel consumption analysis for a conventional diesel vehicle and a hybrid hydraulic vehicle. - Abstract: Refuse trucks play an important role in the waste collection process. Due to their typical driving cycle, these vehicles are characterized by large fuel consumption, which strongly affects the overall waste disposal costs. Hybrid hydraulic refuse vehicles offer an interesting alternative to conventional diesel trucks, because they are able to recuperate, store and reuse braking energy. However, the expected fuel savings can vary strongly depending on the driving cycle and the operational mode. Therefore, in order to assess the possible fuel savings, a typical driving cycle was measured in a conventional vehicle run by the waste authority of the City of Stuttgart, and a dynamical model of the considered vehicle was built up. Based on the measured driving cycle and the vehicle model including the hybrid powertrain components, simulations for both the conventional and the hybrid vehicle were performed. Fuel consumption results that indicate savings of about 20% are presented and analyzed in order to evaluate the benefit of hybrid hydraulic vehicles used for refuse collection

[Remaining a caregiver in the face of a refusal of nursing care].

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchard, Karine; Ménard, Rachel; Corvol, Aline

2016-10-01

Caregivers working with elderly people often find themselves in a difficult position when faced with the refusal of nursing care, whether or not the patient presents cognitive disorders. The nurses from the mobile geriatrics team of Rennes university hospital are regularly asked to help the caregiving teams in such situations. Refusals may concern washing, medication, eating, moving to an armchair, the organisation of physical aids or human assistance after discharge or transfer to a nursing home. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A patient and public involvement (PPI) toolkit for meaningful and flexible involvement in clinical trials - a work in progress.

Science.gov (United States)

Bagley, Heather J; Short, Hannah; Harman, Nicola L; Hickey, Helen R; Gamble, Carrol L; Woolfall, Kerry; Young, Bridget; Williamson, Paula R

2016-01-01

Funders of research are increasingly requiring researchers to involve patients and the public in their research. Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research can potentially help researchers make sure that the design of their research is relevant, that it is participant friendly and ethically sound. Using and sharing PPI resources can benefit those involved in undertaking PPI, but existing PPI resources are not used consistently and this can lead to duplication of effort. This paper describes how we are developing a toolkit to support clinical trials teams in a clinical trials unit. The toolkit will provide a key 'off the shelf' resource to support trial teams with limited resources, in undertaking PPI. Key activities in further developing and maintaining the toolkit are to: ● listen to the views and experience of both research teams and patient and public contributors who use the tools; ● modify the tools based on our experience of using them; ● identify the need for future tools; ● update the toolkit based on any newly identified resources that come to light; ● raise awareness of the toolkit and ● work in collaboration with others to either develop or test out PPI resources in order to reduce duplication of work in PPI. Background Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research is increasingly a funder requirement due to the potential benefits in the design of relevant, participant friendly, ethically sound research. The use and sharing of resources can benefit PPI, but available resources are not consistently used leading to duplication of effort. This paper describes a developing toolkit to support clinical trials teams to undertake effective and meaningful PPI. Methods The first phase in developing the toolkit was to describe which PPI activities should be considered in the pathway of a clinical trial and at what stage these activities should take place. This pathway was informed through review of the type and timing of PPI activities within

Strategie di rifuto in Italiano: uno studio etnografico (Refusal Strategies in Italian: An Ethnographic Study).

Science.gov (United States)

Frescura, Marina

1997-01-01

After reviewing previous research on speech acts, this article describes a study that analyzed the behavior of speakers of standard Italian in refusing an offer of food. The importance of "face" is explained, and the refusal strategies are classified into four categories: explicit, tactical, decisive, and conclusive. (CFM)

Conscientious refusals and reason-giving.

Science.gov (United States)

Marsh, Jason

2014-07-01

Some philosophers have argued for what I call the reason-giving requirement for conscientious refusal in reproductive healthcare. According to this requirement, healthcare practitioners who conscientiously object to administering standard forms of treatment must have arguments to back up their conscience, arguments that are purely public in character. I argue that such a requirement, though attractive in some ways, faces an overlooked epistemic problem: it is either too easy or too difficult to satisfy in standard cases. I close by briefly considering whether a version of the reason-giving requirement can be salvaged despite this important difficulty. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.