Flare angles measured with ball gage

Precision tungsten carbide balls measure the internal angle of flared joints. Measurements from small and large balls in the flare throat to an external reference point are made. The difference in distances and diameters determine the average slope of the flare between the points of ball contact

The lived experience of mirror-touch synaesthesia: a qualitative investigation of empathy and social life

This report discusses the findings of the first ever study dedicated to the qualitative exploration of mirror-touch synaesthesia from a first-person perspective. As part of a project investigating the cross-disciplinary resonances of mirror-touch in the context of the broader social trait of empathy, this study aimed to document the lived experiences of people with this form of synaesthesia in order to offer insights into existing and new theoretical models for mirror-touch. Through examination of quotes drawn from first-hand accounts given by participating mirror-touch synaesthetes concerning their unique perceptual, interpersonal, and social experiences, this report demonstrates the value of experimental research, in particular first-person reporting, to enhancing the understanding of the way mirror-touch relates to empathy and social functioning beyond its quantitiavely measurable characteristics. The descriptions point to mirror-touch synaesthetes' automatic feeling into the emotional lives of others and their deliberate attempts to regulate this

Educating and Empowering Elders: Improving the Health of Senior Latino Diabetics through Community Collaboration

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death among Americans.1 As of 2005, estimates indicate 20.8 million people – 7 percent of the population – afflicted by diabetes, 6.2 million of which are undiagnosed. 1 While diabetes is a growing problem for the United States as a whole, older, poverty-stricken Latinos and other minority groups have felt the encumbrance of this trend most intensely.2 In Massachusetts, the burden of diabetes among Caribbean Latinos is 11.8 percent, which is 2.5 times greater than the prevalence for the majority of the population in the state (4.7 percent).3 The age-adjusted rate for Latinos with diabetes is 36.25 per 100,000—76 percent higher than the state rate of 20.56.4 If this trend continues, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes nationwide will skyrocket, as Hispanics constitute the largest and fastest-growing minority in the United States.

Toward an automated signature recognition toolkit for mission operations

Signature recognition is the problem of identifying an event or events from its time series. The generic problem has numerous applications to science and engineering. At NASA's Johnson Space Center, for example, mission control personnel, using electronic displays and strip chart recorders, monitor telemetry data from three-phase electrical buses on the Space Shuttle and maintain records of device activation and deactivation. Since few electrical devices have sensors to indicate their actual status, changes of state are inferred from characteristic current and voltage fluctuations. Controllers recognize these events both by examining the waveform signatures and by listening to audio channels between ground and crew. Recently the authors have developed a prototype system that identifies major electrical events from the telemetry and displays them on a workstation. Eventually the system will be able to identify accurately the signatures of over fifty distinct events in real time, while contending with noise, intermittent loss of signal, overlapping events, and other complications. This system is just one of many possible signature recognition applications in Mission Control. While much of the technology underlying these applications is the same, each application has unique data characteristics, and every control position has its own interface and performance requirements. There is a need, therefore, for CASE tools that can reduce the time to implement a running signature recognition application from months to weeks or days. This paper describes our work to date and our future plans

Cough and reflux esophagitis in children: their co-existence and airway cellularity

BACKGROUND: There are no prospective studies that have examined for chronic cough in children without lung disease but with gastroesophageal reflux (GER). In otherwise healthy children undergoing flexible upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (esophago-gastroscopy), the aims of the study were to (1) define the frequency of cough in relation to symptoms of GER, (2) examine if children with cough and reflux esophagitis (RE) have different airway cellularity and microbiology in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) when compared to those without. METHODS: Data specific for chronic cough (>4-weeks), symptoms of GER and cough severity were collected. Children aged <16-years (n = 150) were defined as 'coughers' (C+) if a history of cough in association with their GER symptoms was elicited before BAL were obtained during elective esophago-gastroscopy. Presence of esophagitis on esophageal biopsies was considered reflux esophagitis positive (E+). RESULTS: C+ (n = 69) were just as likely as C- (n = 81) to have esophagitis, odds ratio 0.87 (95%CI 0.46, 1.7). Median neutrophil percentage in BAL was significantly different between groups; highest in C+E- (7, IQR 28) and lowest in C-E+ (5, IQR 6). BAL positive bacterial culture occurred in 20.7% and were more likely present in current coughers (OR 3.37, 95%CI 1.39, 8.08). Airway neutrophilia (median 20%, IQR 34) was significantly higher in those with BAL positive bacterial cultures than those without (5%, 4; p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: In children without lung disease, the common co-existence of cough with symptoms of GER is independent of the occurrence of esophagitis. Airway neutrophilia when present in these children is more likely to be related to airway bacterial infection and not to esophagitis

The importance of component-wise stochasticity in particle swarm optimization

This paper illustrates the importance of independent, component-wise stochastic scaling values, from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. It is shown that a swarm employing scalar stochasticity is unable to express every point in the search space if the problem dimensionality is sufficiently large in comparison to the swarm size. The theoretical result is emphasized by an empirical experiment, comparing the performance of a scalar swarm on benchmarks with reachable and unreachable optima. It is shown that a swarm using scalar stochasticity performs significantly worse when the optimum is not in the span of its initial positions. Lastly, it is demonstrated that a scalar swarm performs significantly worse than a swarm with component-wise stochasticity on a large range of benchmark functions, even when the problem dimensionality allows the scalar swarm to reach the optima.The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa (Grant Number 46712).http://link.springer.combookseries/5582019-10-03hj2018Computer Scienc

Root canal morphology of primary maxillary second molars:a micro-computed tomography analysis

Aim Successful endodontic treatment of primary teeth requires comprehensive knowledge and understanding of root canal morphology. The purpose of this study was to investigate the root canal configurations of primary maxillary second molars using micro-computed tomography. Methods Extracted human primary maxillary second molars (n = 57) were scanned using micro-computed tomography and reconstructed to produce three-dimensional models. Each root canal system was analysed qualitatively according to Vertucci's classification. Results 22.8% (n = 13) of the sample presented with the fusion of the disto-buccal and palatal roots; of these, Type V was the most prevalent classification. For teeth with three separate roots (n = 44), the most common root canal type was Type 1 for the palatal canal (100%) and disto-buccal canal (77.3%) and Type V for the mesio-buccal canal (36.4%). Overall, 7% (n = 4) of mesio-buccal canals were 'unclassifiable'. Conclusion The root canal systems of primary maxillary second molars were not only complex but had a range of configurations that may contribute to unfavourable clinical outcomes after endodontic treatment

An exploration of knowledge, attitudes and advice given by health professionals to parents in Ireland about the introduction of solid foods. A pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For the purposes of this paper "weaning is defined as the introduction of the first solid foods to infants". Global recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommend that all infants be exclusively breast-fed for the first six months of life. No global recommendations have been made for formula fed infants. In Europe it is recommended that weaning foods should be introduced between 18 weeks and 26 weeks regardless of whether infants are breast or formula fed. In the United Kingdom it is recommended that solids be introduced at around six-months for both breast and formula fed infants. In Ireland official guidelines recommend that breast fed infants should be introduced solids at 6 months of age while for formula fed infants the recommendation is for 4 months. The disparity between these global, European, UK and local recommendations may be a source of confusion for parents and health care professional based in Ireland. Emerging evidence suggests that babies in Ireland are given solid foods before the recommended age but there has been little investigation of the weaning advice provided by health professionals. Since community health professionals have routine parent interactions in the pre-weaning and early-weaning period and hence are in a unique position to positively influence parental weaning decisions, this study aimed to explore their knowledge, attitudes and advice practices about weaning.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A mixed-methods approach was used for the research, commencing with a multi-disciplinary focus group to guide and develop a questionnaire. Questionnaires were then distributed in a postal survey to General Practitioners (GPs) (<it>n </it>179), Practice Nurses (PNs) (<it>n </it>121), Public Health Nurses (PHNs) (<it>n </it>107) and Community Dieticians (CDs) (<it>n </it>8).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results indicate varying levels of knowledge of official weaning recommendations and a variety of advice practices. CDs and PHNs acknowledged a clear role in providing weaning advice while demonstrating high confidence levels in providing this advice. However, 19% of PNs and 7% of GP respondents did not acknowledge that they have a role in providing weaning advice to parents; even though Health Service Executive (HSE) written literature given to parents states that they should seek information from PNs and GPs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Small pockets of misinformation about the introduction of solid foods persist amongst health professionals which may lead to inconsistent advice for parents. Further research is needed.</p