Search

Background: Palliative care in Guatemala has received limited attention and research, resulting in an inadequate understanding of the needs of Guatemalans at the end-of-life (EOL). Guatemala ranks at the bottom of the Latin American Association for Palliative Care Index (Pastrana, Torres-Vigil, & DeLima, 2014). Women in the community have been identified as having an important spiritual role during EOL (Malcom, 2003; Miranda, 2007). Purpose: To understand EOL decision making, family involvement, and cultural/spiritual practices of rural Guatemalans. Methods: We conducted interviews with six Guatemalan families and one community leader in Spanish using a structured interview guide. Responses were translated into English and data was interpreted using content analysis. Findings: Relief from Suffering was the over-arching theme found through three support systems: the family, community rezadora, and priest. The family’s role was one of listening, making decisions, and providing love and care for the dying person. The community rezadora, a lay spiritual leader, was called upon to sing prayers and prepare the home altar, comforting the family and community. The priest’s role included the traditional sacraments. Physicians had some presence in EOL care, whereas nurses had no presence. Conclusions: International EOL training programs with Guatemalan nurses and families may be a valuable next step. Palliative nursing care in the US should consider incorporating cultural partners, such as the community rezadora. Further research on the role of rezadoras in the US would increase understanding of Guatemalan beliefs and practices. References Malcolm, T. (2003). Creating sacred space. National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved from http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2003d/111403/111403k.htm Miranda, I. (2007). Faith formation with Hispanic/Latino families. Lifelong Faith, 1(2), 21-29. Retrieved from http://www.lifelongfaith.com/uploads/5/1/6/4/5164069/lifelong_faith_journal_1.2.pdf Pastrana,T., Torres-Vigil, I., & DeLima, L. (2014). Palliative care development in Latin America: an analysis using macro indicators. Palliative Medicine, 28(10), 1231-1238. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24925578

In this study, we design and implement two algorithms for dynamic spectrum access that are based on survival analysis. They use a non-parametric estimate of the cumulative hazard function to predict the remaining idle time available for secondary transmission subject to the constraint of a preset probability of successful completion. In addition to theoretical performance analysis of the algorithms, we evaluate them using data collected from a long term evolution band to model primary user activity to demonstrate their effectiveness in real-world scenarios, even at fine time scales. The algorithms are run in different configurations, i.e., they are trained and run on a few combinations of data sets. Our results show that as long as the cumulative hazard functions are fairly similar across datasets, the algorithms can be trained on one dataset and run on that of another without any significant degradation of performance. The algorithms achieve fairly high white space utilization and have a measured probability of interference that is at or below the preset threshold.

At 450mm wafer area, the first Cu BEOL module process was demonstrated with a single damascene structure using low-k ILD, TiN metal hard mask and guided 20nm half-pitched lamella BCP DSA patterning. It showed the potential opportunities, technical feasibility and further challenges for coming needs for 450mm equipment.

The time that it takes an occupant population to reach safety when descending a stairwell during building evacuations is typically estimated by measureable engineering variables such as stair geometry, speed, density, and pre-observation delay. In turn, engineering models of building evacuation use these variables to predict the performance of egress systems for building design, emergency planning, or event reconstruction. As part of a program to better understand occupant movement and behavior during building emergencies, the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has collected stair movement data during fire drill evacuations of office and residential buildings. These data collections are intended to provide a better understanding of this principal building egress feature and develop a technical foundation for future codes and standards requirements. Fire drill evacuation data has been collected in 14 buildings (11 office buildings and 3 residential buildings) ranging from six to 62 stories in height that included a range of stair widths and occupant densities. A total of more than 22,000 individual measurements are included in the data set. This paper provides details of the data collected and an analysis of the data. The intention is to better understand movement during stairwell evacuations and provide data to test the predictive capability of building egress models. While mean and standard deviation of the distribution of movement speeds in the current study of 0.44 m/s ± 0.19 m/s are observed to be quite similar to the range of values in previous studies, mean local movement speeds as occupants traverse down the stairs are seen to vary widely within a given stairwell, ranging from 0.10 m/s ± 0.008 m/s to 1.7 m/s ± 0.13 m/s. These data provide confirmation of the adequacy of existing literature values typically used for occupant movement speeds and provide updated data for use in egress modeling or other engineering calculations.

A method to determine arbitrary moments of aerosol size distributions from differential mobility analyzer measurements has been proposed. The proposed method is based on a modification of the algorithm developed by Knutson and Whitby to calculate the moments of electrical mobility distributions. For this modification, the electrical mobility and the charge distribution have been approximately expressed by power functions of the particle diameter. To evaluate the validity of the approximation, we have carried out numerical simulations for typical size distributions. We have found that for typical narrowly distributed aerosols such as polystyrene latex particles and particles that arise in the tandem differential mobility analyzer configuration, the distribution parameters can be accurately determined by this method. For a log-normally distributed aerosol, the accuracy of the distribution parameters determined by this method has been evaluated as a function of the geometric standard deviation. We have also ...

Lifetime data on stress rupture of copper joints made with certain lead-free solders suggest that specimens under 'stress below a certain threshold' run indefinitely without failure. A commonly used model for this type of data is the Weibull inverse power law that includes a threshold. If the threshold is unknown, this estimation problem presents several difficulties for statistical treatment. The largest problem is: as the threshold approaches the minimum of the data (stresses) the likelihood approaches infinity, thus there is no global maximum. A modified maximum likelihood approach, in the spirit of Cohen is used to resolve this problem. The method is similar to Cohen's, but interesting differences occur for censored data. The results show that modifications of the Cohen method produce estimates of the parameters in the Weibull inverse power threshold law.

The transfer function for the Differential Mobility Analyzer (DMA) is derived based on particle trajectories for both nondiffusing particles and diffusing particles. The effect of particle diffusion is assessed by using a Monte-Carlo method for particles of sizes 1, 3, 10, 30, and 100 nm. This approach includes both the effect of wall losses and axial diffusion. The range of validity of the Stolzenburg analysis is assessed by comparing his transfer function, the peak of his transfer function, and its dimensionless width with similar calculations based on the Monte-Carlo. For particle sizes smaller than 10 nm, the Monte-Carlo method indicates large wall losses, which result in a reduction in the peak of the transfer function by as much as a factor of 10 to 30, sensitivity to the flow-field, and skewness of the transfer function. It is shown that Stolzenburg's approximate formula for the standard deviation of the width of the transfer function agrees with Monte-Carlo simulations for particle sizes of 3 nm a...

English This article analyses trends in public employment in Britain since the I970s, comparing them with the postwar pattern of trends up to that period. The most striking development has been the dramatic decline in public employment in ‘industrial’ activities through the reduction of staff in existing industries and, since 1979, the continuing privatisation or contracting out of industrial activities. Decline elsewhere has been less dramatic and far from universal, and is in part due to the transfer of activities to a nominally private, but government-funded and regulated, quasi-public sector. Evidence for a move towards a ‘post-modern’ structure of public employment is mixed. There has been a move towards contracting and quasi-contracting, but in many cases this is a different means of transmitting bureaucratic regulation. There has been a changing relative distribution towards more part-time and casual work, with a heavy gender bias. Britain does seem to be special among OECD countries in the sharp decline in general government employment in relation to total employment since the late 1980s, but this is largely due to the removal of some education functions from local government to nominally private bodies, and the reclassification of most health service employees.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has developed a Standard Reference Material (SRM) to support technology development in metabolomics research. SRM 1950 Metabolites in Human Plasma is intended to have metabolite concentrations that are representative of those found in adult human plasma. The plasma used in the preparation of SRM 1950 was collected from both male and female donors, and donor ethnicity targets were selected based upon the ethnic makeup of the U.S. population. Metabolomics research is diverse in terms of both instrumentation and scientific goals. This SRM was designed to apply broadly to the field, not toward specific applications. Therefore, concentrations of approximately 100 analytes, including amino acids, fatty acids, trace elements, vitamins, hormones, selenoproteins, clinical markers, and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), were determined. Value assignment measurements were performed by NIST and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). SRM 1950 is the first reference material developed specifically for metabolomics research.

The conventional industrial practice to correct (recalibrate) measuring instruments according to a fixed schedule (calibration interval) may waste money when the schedule is too tight or may provide a false sense of control when the schedule is too relaxed. Also, this approach may not generate data on real-time measurement errors that are crucial to draw management's attention to measurement concerns. We propose that the measurement process be interrupted according to an economically sensible schedule to check (interim test) the real-time errors with well-characterized check standards. When the observed error with the check standard exceeds an economic control limit, the measuring instrument should be corrected; otherwise correction is not needed. The proposed approach to limit the uncertainty of a measurement process is simple, sensible and generic. More important, it saves money by limiting the loss due to measurement error and the cost of control.

A new spectrometer for classifying aerosol particles according to specific masses is being considered (Ehara et al. 1995). The spectrometer consists of concentric cylinders which rotate. The instrument is designed so that an electric field is established between the cylinders. Thus, aerosol particles injected into the spectrometer are subjected to a centrifugal force and an electric force. Depending on the balance between these two forces, as well as Brownian motion, charged particles either pass through the space between the cylinders or stick to either cylinder wall. Particles which pass through are detected. Given the rotation rate, voltage drop and physical dimensions of the device, we calculate the probability of detection in terms of particle density, diameter and charge. This is the transfer function. In this work, the focus is on situations where Brownian motion is significant. To solve for the transfer function, the trajectory of a particle in the spectrometer is modeled with a stochastic differential equation. Laminar flow is assumed. Further, attention is restricted to spherical particles with uniform density. The equation is solved using both numerical and Monte Carlo methods. The agreement between methods is excellent.

Consider a workstation with one server, performing jobs with a service time, Y, having distribution function, G(t). Assume that the station is unreliable, in that it occasionally breaks down. The station is instantaneously repaired, and the server restarts the uncompleted job from the beginning. Let T denote the time it takes to complete each job. If G(t) is exponential with parameter A, then because of the lack-of-memory property of the exponential, P (T > t) = Ḡ(t) =exp(−γt), irrespective of when and how the failures occur. This property also characterizes the exponential distribution.

Cell segmentation is a critical step in the analysis pipeline for most imaging cytometry experiments and evaluating the performance of segmentation algorithms is important for aiding the selection of segmentation algorithms. Four popular algorithms are evaluated based on their cell segmentation performance. Because segmentation involves the classification of pixels belonging to regions within the cell or belonging to background, these algorithms are evaluated based on their total misclassification error. Misclassification error is particularly relevant in the analysis of quantitative descriptors of cell morphology involving pixel counts, such as projected area, aspect ratio and diameter. Since the cumulative distribution function captures completely the stochastic properties of a population of misclassification errors it is used to compare segmentation performance.

To evaluate the performance of fingerprint-image matching algorithms on large datasets, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve is applied. From the operational perspective, the true accept rate (TAR) of the genuine scores at a specified false accept rate (FAR) of the impostor scores and/or the equal error rate (EER) are often employed. Using the standard errors of these metrics computed using the nonparametric two-sample bootstrap based on our studies of bootstrap variability on large fingerprint datasets, the significance test is performed to determine whether the difference between the performance of one algorithm and a hypothesized value, or the difference between the performances of two algorithms where the correlation is taken into account is statistically significant. In the case that the alternative hypothesis is accepted, the sign of the difference is employed to determine which is better than the other. Examples are provided.

Let (xi, yi), i = 1, 2,…, n, be data used for developing the calibration curve, y = α + β x . Classically, given a future y′ the associated x′ is estimated by inverting the calibration line, which gives the estimate x ′ = (y′ - α )/ β . This estimate has the deficiency of having an infinite variance. In this paper we use the techniques for solving an ill-posed inverse problem to develop a family of solutions x ′ λ = ( β /(λ + β 2 ))(y′ - α ), λ > 0 , with finite variance. Out of this family we find one that outperforms x′.

Weed management systems using a chloroacetamide herbicide applied preplant incorporated (PPI) and at cracking (AC) plus lactofen applied AC and early postemergence (POST) controlled at least 98% of common lambsquarters. Similar systems using a chloroacetamide herbicide applied PPI and early POST plus lactofen applied early POST and postemergence (POST) controlled less than 70% of common lambsquarters. All sequential lactofen systems controlled common ragweed completely and at least 86% of momingglory species. Highest peanut yields and net returns were obtained with weed management systems consisting of sequential applications of lactofen applied AC and early POST, or systems that used acifluorfen plus bentazon POST, or lactofen plus bentazon applied early POST or POST. Nomenclature: Acifluorfen, 5-[2-chloro4-(tifluoromethyl)phenoxy]-2-nitrobenzoic acid; bentazon, 3-(l-methylethyl)-(lH)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazin-4(3H)-one 2,2-dioxide; lactofen, (?)-2-ethoxy-1-methyl-2-oxoethyl 5-[2-chloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenoxy]-2-nitrobenzoate; common lambsquarters, Chenopodium album L. #3 CHEAL; common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. # AMBEL; Ipomoea spp.; peanut, Arachis hypogaea L. Additional index words: Economic analysis, net retuns, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Chenopodium album, Ipomoea spp., AMBEL, CHEAL, IPOHE, IPOHG, I:POLA, PHBPU.