Association of Researchers in Construction Management

Design errors are claimed to account for 26% of the cost of defects, these in turn are stated to encompass 2-9% of production cost for building and constructions. Lack of knowledge and information has been identified as a major reasons for design errors. Recently Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been considered as a mean for reducing design errors. However, limited research has been conducted on the role of BIM as a means for transfer and sharing knowledge in order to reduce design errors. The aim of the paper is to analyse BIM's role of facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing in order to prevent design errors. The aim is achieved by analysing a case study of design errors in a construction project. By drawing on the concept of boundary object it is confirmed that BIM can serve a mean for preventing design errors by facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing, across discipline, time and space, and professional boundaries. Depending the kind of boundary knowledge and expertise should be shared across, different challenges emerge in organizing the knowledge and expertise sharin

Association of Researchers in Construction Management

Design errors are claimed to account for 26% of the cost of defects, these in turn are stated to encompass 2-9% of production cost for building and constructions. Lack of knowledge and information has been identified as a major reasons for design errors. Recently Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been considered as a mean for reducing design errors. However, limited research has been conducted on the role of BIM as a means for transfer and sharing knowledge in order to reduce design errors. The aim of the paper is to analyse BIM's role of facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing in order to prevent design errors. The aim is achieved by analysing a case study of design errors in a construction project. By drawing on the concept of boundary object it is confirmed that BIM can serve a mean for preventing design errors by facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing, across discipline, time and space, and professional boundaries. Depending the kind of boundary knowledge and expertise should be shared across, different challenges emerge in organizing the knowledge and expertise sharin

Manual lymphatic drainage therapy in patients with breast cancer related lymphoedema

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lymphoedema is a common and troublesome condition that develops following breast cancer treatment. The aim of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of Manual Lymphatic Drainage in the treatment of postmastectomy lymphoedema in order to reduce the volume of lymphoedema and evaluate the improvement of the concomitant symptomatology.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A randomized, controlled clinical trial in 58 women with post-mastectomy lymphoedema. The control group includes 29 patients with standard treatment (skin care, exercise and compression measures, bandages for one month and, subsequently, compression garnments). The experimental group includes 29 patients with standard treatment plus Manual Lymphatic Drainage. The therapy will be administered daily for four weeks and the patient's condition will be assessed one, three and six months after treatment.</p> <p>The primary outcome parameter is volume reduction of the affected arm after treatment, expressed as a percentage. Secondary outcome parameters include: duration of lymphoedema reduction and improvement of the concomitant symptomatology (degree of pain, sensation of swelling and functional limitation in the affected extremity, subjective feeling of being physically less atractive and less feminine, difficulty looking at oneself naked and dissatisfaction with the corporal image).</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The results of this study will provide information on the effectiveness of Manual Lymphatic Drainage and its impact on the quality of life and physical limitations of these patients.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials (NCT): <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01152099">NCT01152099</a></p

Dietary elimination of children with food protein induced gastrointestinal allergy – micronutrient adequacy with and without a hypoallergenic formula?

Background: The cornerstone for management of Food protein-induced gastrointestinal allergy (FPGIA) is dietary exclusion; however the micronutrient intake of this population has been poorly studied. We set out to determine the dietary intake of children on an elimination diet for this food allergy and hypothesised that the type of elimination diet and the presence of a hypoallergenic formula (HF) significantly impacts on micronutrient intake. Method: A prospective observational study was conducted on children diagnosed with FPIGA on an exclusion diet who completed a 3 day semi-quantitative food diary 4 weeks after commencing the diet. Nutritional intake where HF was used was compared to those without HF, with or without a vitamin and mineral supplement (VMS). Results: One-hundred-and-five food diaries were included in the data analysis: 70 boys (66.7%) with median age of 21.8 months [IQR: 10 - 67.7]. Fifty-three children (50.5%) consumed a HF and the volume of consumption was correlated to micronutrient intake. Significantly (p <0.05) more children reached their micronutrient requirements if a HF was consumed. In those without a HF, some continued not to achieve requirements in particular for vitamin D and zinc, in spite of VMS. Conclusion: This study points towards the important micronutrient contribution of a HF in children with FPIGA. Children, who are not on a HF and without a VMS, are at increased risk of low intakes in particular vitamin D and zinc. Further studies need to be performed, to assess whether dietary intake translates into actual biological deficiencies

Long-term outcome of sacral neuromodulation for chronic refractory constipation

Purpose Sacral neuromodulation has been reported as a treatment for severe idiopathic constipation. This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of sacral neuromodulation by following patients who participated in a prospective, open-label, multicentre study up to 5 years. Methods Patients were followed up at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months. Symptoms and quality of life were assessed using bowel diary, the Cleveland Clinic constipation score and the Short Form-36 quality-of-life scale. Results Sixty-two patients (7 male, median age 40 years) underwent test stimulation, and 45 proceeded to permanent implantation. Twenty-seven patients exited the study (7 withdrawn consent, 7 loss of efficacy, 6 site-specific reasons, 4 withdrew other reasons, 2 lost to follow-up, 1 prior to follow-up). Eighteen patients (29%) attended 60-month follow-up. In 10 patients who submitted bowel diary, their improvement of symptoms was sustained: the number of defecations per week (4.1 ± 3.7 vs 8.1 ± 3.4, mean ± standard deviation, p < 0.001, baseline vs 60 months) and sensation of incomplete emptying (0.8 ± 0.3 vs 0.2 ± 0.1, p = 0.002). In 14 patients (23%) with Cleveland Clinic constipation score, improvement was sustained at 60 months [17.9 ± 4.4 (baseline) to 10.4 ± 4.1, p < 0.001]. Some 103 device-related adverse events were reported in 27 (61%). Conclusion Benefit from sacral neuromodulation in the long-term was observed in a small minority of patients with intractable constipation. The results should be interpreted with caution given the high dropout and complication rate during the follow-up period

Impaired decisional impulsivity in pathological videogamers

Abstract Background Pathological gaming is an emerging and poorly understood problem. Impulsivity is commonly impaired in disorders of behavioural and substance addiction, hence we sought to systematically investigate the different subtypes of decisional and motor impulsivity in a well-defined pathological gaming cohort. Methods Fifty-two pathological gaming subjects and age-, gender- and IQ-matched healthy volunteers were tested on decisional impulsivity (Information Sampling Task testing reflection impulsivity and delay discounting questionnaire testing impulsive choice), and motor impulsivity (Stop Signal Task testing motor response inhibition, and the premature responding task). We used stringent diagnostic criteria highlighting functional impairment. Results In the Information Sampling Task, pathological gaming participants sampled less evidence prior to making a decision and scored fewer points compared with healthy volunteers. Gaming severity was also negatively correlated with evidence gathered and positively correlated with sampling error and points acquired. In the delay discounting task, pathological gamers made more impulsive choices, preferring smaller immediate over larger delayed rewards. Pathological gamers made more premature responses related to comorbid nicotine use. Greater number of hours played also correlated with a Motivational Index. Greater frequency of role playing games was associated with impaired motor response inhibition and strategy games with faster Go reaction time. Conclusions We show that pathological gaming is associated with impaired decisional impulsivity with negative consequences in task performance. Decisional impulsivity may be a potential target in therapeutic management

Comparing Aerodynamic Efficiency in Birds and Bats Suggests Better Flight Performance in Birds

Flight is one of the energetically most costly activities in the animal kingdom, suggesting that natural selection should work to optimize flight performance. The similar size and flight speed of birds and bats may therefore suggest convergent aerodynamic performance; alternatively, flight performance could be restricted by phylogenetic constraints. We test which of these scenarios fit to two measures of aerodynamic flight efficiency in two passerine bird species and two New World leaf-nosed bat species. Using time-resolved particle image velocimetry measurements of the wake of the animals flying in a wind tunnel, we derived the span efficiency, a metric for the efficiency of generating lift, and the lift-to-drag ratio, a metric for mechanical energetic flight efficiency. We show that the birds significantly outperform the bats in both metrics, which we ascribe to variation in aerodynamic function of body and wing upstroke: Bird bodies generated relatively more lift than bat bodies, resulting in a more uniform spanwise lift distribution and higher span efficiency. A likely explanation would be that the bat ears and nose leaf, associated with echolocation, disturb the flow over the body. During the upstroke, the birds retract their wings to make them aerodynamically inactive, while the membranous bat wings generate thrust and negative lift. Despite the differences in performance, the wake morphology of both birds and bats resemble the optimal wake for their respective lift-to-drag ratio regimes. This suggests that evolution has optimized performance relative to the respective conditions of birds and bats, but that maximum performance is possibly limited by phylogenetic constraints. Although ecological differences between birds and bats are subjected to many conspiring variables, the different aerodynamic flight efficiency for the bird and bat species studied here may help explain why birds typically fly faster, migrate more frequently and migrate longer distances than bats

Manganese as a Probe of Fungal Degradation of Wood

Transition state metals, such as manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe), have been reported to be involved in fungal degradation of wood (Ellis, 1959; Shortl