Application of the ERTS system to the study of Wyoming resources with emphasis on the use of basic data products

Many potential users of ERTS data products and other aircraft and satellite imagery are limited to visual methods of analyses of these products. Illustrations are presented from Wyoming studies that have employed these standard data products for a variety of geologic and related studies. Possible economic applications of these studies are summarized. Studies include regional geologic mapping for updating and correcting existing maps and to supplement incomplete regional mapping; illustrations of the value of seasonal images in geologic mapping; specialized mapping of such features as sand dunes, playa lakes, lineaments, glacial features, regional facies changes, and their possible economic value; and multilevel sensing as an aid in mineral exploration. Examples of cooperative studies involving botanists, plant scientists, and geologists for the preparation of maps of surface resources that can be used by planners and for environmental impact studies are given

Automated Data Management Information System (ADMIS)

ADMIS stores and controls data and documents associated with manned space flight effort. System contains all data oriented toward a specific document; it is primary source of reports generated by the system. Each group of records is composed of one document record, one distribution record for each recipient of the document, and one summary record

Geriatric Hip Fracture Quality Initiative

Introduction: Multiple studies demonstrate increased morbidity, mortality, and loss of independence after hip fractures in geriatric patients. The 1-year mortality rate after a hip fracture has been estimated at anywhere from 14% to 58%. Hip fractures are one of the most common injuries evaluated by the UNM Orthopedic department. Geriatric hip fracture protocols have shown improved outcomes at many other centers with regard to improved functionality and decreased morbidity. The goal of this initiative is to improve outcomes with regard to length of hospital stay, functionality after surgery, and as a result, decreased morbidity and mortality. Materials/methods: All deaths in the orthopedic department were reviewed and analyzed from June 2009 to July 2019. Deaths were identified from morbidity and mortality submissions and NSQIP data. The geriatric hip fracture protocol was developed and implemented in Fall 2019, with non-critical care patients being primarily admitted to orthopedics, with hospitalist co-management. Specific post-operative and pain order sets were developed for efficiency and improved standard of care. Results: Early results of the newly developed geriatric hip fracture protocol demonstrate decreased length of stay in the hospital and earlier time to surgical intervention. It is too early to determine if morbidity and mortality has seen any decrease, however this can be anticipated with earlier time to surgery and decreased time in the hospital. Conclusions: We identified a need and successfully developed an initiative to improve care for geriatric patients with hip fractures. Implementation of this protocol decreased length of hospital stay as well as time to surgery. The analysis of the effect of this protocol on overall morbidity and mortality is ongoing

Forty-Year Analysis of Colonoscopic Surveillance Program for Neoplasia in Ulcerative Colitis: An Updated Overview

C.R.C. was funded by the Derek Willoughby Fund for Inflammatory Research. A.L.H. and T.A.G. were funded by Higher Education Funding Council of England

An improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network for job-shop scheduling

Copyright @ Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009This paper presents an improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network for job-shop scheduling problems. The neural network is constructed based on the constraint conditions of a job-shop scheduling problem. Its structure and neuron connections can change adaptively according to the real-time constraint satisfaction situations that arise during the solving process. Several heuristics are also integrated within the neural network to enhance its convergence, accelerate its convergence, and improve the quality of the solutions produced. An experimental study based on a set of benchmark job-shop scheduling problems shows that the improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network outperforms the original constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network in terms of computational time and the quality of schedules it produces. The neural network approach is also experimentally validated to outperform three classical heuristic algorithms that are widely used as the basis of many state-of-the-art scheduling systems. Hence, it may also be used to construct advanced job-shop scheduling systems.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK under Grant EP/E060722/01 and in part by the National Nature Science Fundation of China under Grant 60821063 and National Basic Research Program of China under Grant 2009CB320601

Protocol for the COG-UK hospital onset COVID-19 infection (HOCI) multicentre interventional clinical study: evaluating the efficacy of rapid genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in limiting the spread of COVID-19 in United Kingdom NHS hospitals

Introduction: Nosocomial transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a significant cause of mortality in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of rapid whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, supported by a novel probabilistic reporting methodology, to inform infection prevention and control (IPC) practice within NHS hospital settings. / Methods and analysis: COG-UK HOCI (COG-UK Consortium Hospital-Onset COVID-19 Infections study) is a multicentre, prospective, interventional, superiority study. Eligible patients must be admitted to hospital with first confirmed SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive test result >48h from time of admission, where COVID-19 diagnosis was not suspected upon admission. The projected sample size for 14 participating sites covering all study phases over winter-spring 2020/2021 in the United Kingdom is 2,380 patients. The intervention is the return of a sequence report, within 48 hours in one phase (rapid local lab) and within 5-10 days in a second phase (mimicking central lab use), comparing the viral genome from an eligible study participant with others within and outside the hospital site. The primary outcomes are the incidence of Public Health England (PHE)/IPC-defined SARS-CoV-2 hospital-acquired infection during the baseline and two interventional phases, and proportion of hospital-onset cases with genomic evidence of transmission linkage following implementation of the intervention where such linkage was not suspected by initial IPC investigation. Secondary outcomes include incidence of hospital outbreaks, with and without sequencing data; actual and desirable changes to IPC actions; periods of healthcare worker (HCW) absence. A process evaluation using qualitative interviews with HCWs will be conducted alongside the study and analysis, underpinned by iterative programme theory of the sequence report. Health economic analysis will be conducted to determine cost-benefit of the intervention, and whether this leads to economic advantages within the NHS setting. / Ethics and dissemination: The protocol has been approved by the National Research Ethics Service Committee (Cambridge South 20/EE/0118). This manuscript is based on version 5.0 of the protocol. The study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications

Ethical issues in implementation research: a discussion of the problems in achieving informed consent

Background: Improved quality of care is a policy objective of health care systems around the world. Implementation research is the scientific study of methods to promote the systematic uptake of clinical research findings into routine clinical practice, and hence to reduce inappropriate care. It includes the study of influences on healthcare professionals' behaviour and methods to enable them to use research findings more effectively. Cluster randomized trials represent the optimal design for evaluating the effectiveness of implementation strategies. Various codes of medical ethics, such as the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki inform medical research, but their relevance to cluster randomised trials in implementation research is unclear. This paper discusses the applicability of various ethical codes to obtaining consent in cluster trials in implementation research. Discussion: The appropriate application of biomedical codes to implementation research is not obvious. Discussion of the nature and practice of informed consent in implementation research cluster trials must consider the levels at which consent can be sought, and for what purpose it can be sought. The level at which an intervention is delivered can render the idea of patient level consent meaningless. Careful consideration of the ownership of information, and rights of access to and exploitation of data is required. For health care professionals and organizations, there is a balance between clinical freedom and responsibility to participate in research. Summary: While ethical justification for clinical trials relies heavily on individual consent, for implementation research aspects of distributive justice, economics, and political philosophy underlie the debate. Societies may need to trade off decisions on the choice between individualized consent and valid implementation research. We suggest that social sciences codes could usefully inform the consideration of implementation research by members of Research Ethics Committees

Designing comparative effectiveness trials of surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation: Experience of the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network

ObjectiveSince the introduction of the cut-and-sew Cox maze procedure for atrial fibrillation, there has been substantial innovation in techniques for ablation. Use of alternative energy sources for ablation simplified the procedure and has resulted in dramatic increase in the number of patients with atrial fibrillation treated by surgical ablation. Despite its increasingly widespread adoption, there is lack of rigorous clinical evidence to establish this procedure as an effective clinical therapy.MethodsThis article describes a comparative effectiveness randomized trial, supported by the Cardiothoracic Surgical Clinical Trials Network, of surgical ablation with left atrial appendage closure versus left atrial appendage closure alone in patients with persistent and long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation undergoing mitral valve surgery. Nested within this trial is a further randomized comparison of 2 different lesions sets: pulmonary vein isolation and the full maze lesion set.ResultsThis article addresses trial design challenges, including how best to characterize the target population, operationalize freedom from atrial fibrillation as a primary end point, account for the impact of antiarrhythmic drugs, and measure and analyze secondary end points, such as postoperative atrial fibrillation load.ConclusionsThis article concludes by discussing how insights that emerge from this trial may affect surgical practice and guide future research in this area

Early Inception of the Laramide Orogeny in Southwestern Montana and Northern Wyoming: Implications for Models of Flat‐Slab Subduction

Timing and distribution of magmatism, deformation, exhumation, and basin development have been used to reconstruct the history of Laramide flat-slab subduction under North America during Late Cretaceous-early Cenozoic time. Existing geodynamic models, however, ignore a large (40,000-km(2)) sector of the Laramide foreland in southwestern Montana. The Montana Laramide ranges consist of Archean basement arches (fault-propagation folds) that were elevated by thrust and reverse faults. We present new thermochronological and geochronological data from six Laramide ranges in southwestern Montana (the Beartooth, Gravelly, Ruby and Madison Ranges, and the Tobacco Root and Highland Mountains) that show significant cooling and exhumation during the Early to mid-Cretaceous, much earlier than the record of Laramide exhumation in Wyoming. These data suggest that Laramide-style deformation-driven exhumation slightly predates the eastward sweep of magmatism in western Montana, consistent with geodynamic models involving initial strain propagation into North American cratonic rocks due to stresses associated with a northeastward expanding region of flat-slab subduction. Our results also indicate various degrees of Cenozoic heating and cooling possibly associated with westward rollback of the subducting Farallon slab, followed by Basin-and-Range extension. Plain Language Summary The Laramide region in the western U.S. is characterized by some of the highest topography in North America including the Wind River Range in WY and the Beartooth Range of WY and Montana. These ranges have fed detritus to surrounding basins for millions of years and contributed to modern ecosystems. These high topographic features and basins have significantly impacted paleoenvironmental conditions over geological time. The formation of these high-relief ranges has been linked to deep Earth, geodynamic, processes involving subduction of a flat slab under the North American Plate. Models of flat-slab subduction rely on the timing and pattern of deformation and exhumation of Laramide ranges, which remains poorly understood. Our study provides new data on the timing of deformation and exhumation of Laramide ranges in SW Montana and northern WY capable of testing current models of flat-slab subduction.NSF-Tectonics [EAR-1524151]6 month embargo; published online: 9 January 2019This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]