Health IT: A Roundtable Discussion with Healthcare Information Technology Executives

Introducing new technology in a healthcare setting is a complex undertaking. In an environment in which accuracy, security, and reliability are critical elements, careful planning is the primary factor in ensuring a successful implementation.     

Meßtechnik zur Charakterisierung von Gas/Flüssigkeits-Reaktoren

Measuring techniques for characterizing gas/liquid reactors . The article considers measuring techniques for the characterization of the phases in gas/liquid reactors. These include the velocity profile and turbulence in the continuous phase as well as holdup, size, and velocity of the dispersed phase. Also, methods for the determination of the specific interfacial area and the volumetric mass transfer coefficients are discussed. Measuring methods have made enormous advances in recent years. In spite of this, there is a lack of reliable methods, especially for use during reactions without disturbing the state of the reactor. It is suspected that probe technique will gradually fall into disuse and more and more attention will be focussed on contractless methods. This calls for further development of ultrasonic methods and methods relying on emission of light.     

Contractor Prebid Planning Principles

Planning is an essential function of project management. Yet, many small- and medium-sized contractors do a relatively poor job of operational planning. Better prebid plans will reduce costs, shorten schedules, and improve labor productivity. Unfortunately, the published literature offers little guidance for smaller contractors on what constitutes effective planning. Most papers describe planning as a macrolevel process for owners. Most emphasize scope definition for industrial projects. This paper describes a microlevel planning process for contractors. It consists of eight steps which are: (1) assess contract risks; (2) develop a preliminary execution plan; (3) develop site layout plans; (4) identify the sequences that are essential-to-success; (5) develop detailed operational plans; (6) develop proactive strategies to assure construction input into design; (7) revise the preliminary plan; and (8) communicate and enforce the plan. The entire process is illustrated with a case study project and is fully illustrated with figures which show how to integrate the work of multiple contractors, keep key resources (crews or equipment) fully engaged with no downtime, provide time buffers so the work of follow on crews can be efficiently done, expedite the schedule using multiple work stations and concurrent work, ways to communicate the work plan to the superintendent and foremen, and how to assess the feasibility of various work methods. The steps are easy to understand and implement. They will yield immediate positive results.     

Dynamic Complexity Theory Revisited

Dynamic complexity investigates the required effort to maintain knowledge about a property of a structure under changing operations. This article introduces a refined notion of dynamic problems which takes the initial structure into account. It develops the basic structural complexity notions accordingly. It also shows that the dynamic version of the LOGCFL-complete problem D₂LREACH(acyclic) can be maintained with first-order updates.     

Modeling language acquisition in atypical phenotypes.

An increasing number of connectionist models have been proposed to explain behavioral deficits in developmental disorders. These simulations motivate serious consideration of the theoretical implications of the claim that a developmental disorder fits within the parameter space of a particular computational model of normal development. The authors examine these issues in depth with respect to a series of new simulations investigating past-tense formation in Williams syndrome. This syndrome and the past-tense domain are highly relevant because both have been used to make strong theoretical claims about the processes underlying normal language acquisition. The authors conclude that computational models have great potential to advance psychologists' understanding of developmental deficits because they focus on the developmental process itself as a pivotal causal factor in producing atypical phenotypic outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing Environmental Risks: Lessons From Superfund

This essay analyzes the use of risk assessment in Superfund, the controversial American hazardous waste cleanup programme. We argue that risk assessment has been used in three ways in discussing policy options in this programme: as a metric for assessing performance; as a means for resolving conflicts; and as a tool for comparing different environmental initiatives. Use of risk reduction as an analytical tool in European efforts to clean up hazardous waste sites is discussed. We conclude that while risk assessment has potential utility for each of these applications, there are also accompanying technical and political difficulties.     

Renal length in sickle cell disease: observations from a cohort study

Renal length has been measured by ultrasound in 237 subjects with homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease, 147 with sickle cell-hemoglobin C (SC) disease, and in 78 age-matched controls with a normal hemoglobin (AA) genotype. As expected, renal length increased with age in all genotypes but mean length was significantly greater in SS disease compared with SC disease (mean difference 4.3 mm after adjustment for height) and significantly greater in both genotypes than in AA controls (SS/AA difference 9.2 mm, SC/AA difference 5.0 mm after adjustment for height). Examination of relationships between renal length and some hematological indices (hemoglobin, fetal hemoglobin, reticulocyte counts, alpha thalassemia status) in SS or SC disease showed only a significant negative correlation with hemoglobin and positive correlation with reticulocyte count in SS disease. Further analysis suggested that the stronger relationship was between renal length and high reticulocyte count. The mechanism of renal enlargement is unknown although glomerular hypertrophy and increased renal blood volume are likely contributors.     

Mechanisms of virus assembly probed by Raman spectroscopy: the icosahedral bacteriophage P22

A microdialysis flow cell has been developed for time-resolved Raman spectroscopy of biological macromolecules and their assemblies. The flow cell permits collection of Raman spectra concurrent with the efflux of small solute molecules into a solution of macromolecules and facilitates real-time spectroscopic detection of structural transitions induced by the effluent. Additionally, the flow cell is well suited to the investigation of hydrogen-isotope exchange phenomena that can be exploited as dynamic probes of viral protein folding and solvent accessibility along the assembly pathway. Here, we describe the application of the Raman dynamic probe to the maturation of the icosahedral capsid of bacteriophage P22, a double-stranded DNA virus. The P22 virion is constructed from a capsid precursor (procapsid) consisting of 420 coat subunits (gp5) in an outer shell and a few hundred scaffolding subunits (gp8) within. Capsid maturation involves expulsion of scaffolding subunits coupled with shell expansion at the time of DNA packaging. Raman static and dynamic probes reveal that the scaffolding subunit is highly alpha-helical and highly thermolabile, and lacks a typical hydrophobic core. When bound within the procapsid, the alpha-helical fold of gp8 is thermostabilized; however, this stabilization confers no apparent protection against peptide NH-->ND exchange. A molten globule model is proposed for the native scaffolding subunit that functions in procapsid assembly. Accompanying capsid expansion, a small conformational change (alpha-helix-->beta-strand) is also observed in the coat subunit. Domain movement mediated by hinge bending is proposed as the mechanism of capsid expansion. On the basis of these results, a molecular model is proposed for assembly of the P22 procapsid.