Preliminary Rovibrational Analysis of the nν6+ν1−nν6 Vibration in HCN⋅⋅⋅HF

A preliminary rotation‐vibration analysis of the n=0 and n=1 subbands associated with the nν6+ν1−nν6 hydrogen‐bonded vibration in HCN⋅⋅⋅HF has been completed. The following excited staterotational constantsB′ and band origin frequencies ν0 have been determined for the complex. The results are consistent with a rotation‐vibration interaction constant α1=−68.3±1 MHz which correlates with an excited stater(N⋅⋅⋅F) internuclear distance of 2.762 Å, a decrease of 0.034 Å relative to the ground state.Excited state lifetimes associated with assigned transitions are demonstrated to be ≥1.8×10− 1 0s while the x 1 6 anharmonic constant is evaluated to be 4.01±0.03 cm− 1

Equipping for leadership: A Key mentoring practice

Previous studies examining predictors of mentoring benefits among pediatric staff nurse protegees representing healthcare organizations across 26 states demonstrated that protegee perception of quality was the single best predictor of mentoring benefits. The ability to identify the mentoring practices that predict specific benefits for individual nurses provides a better understanding of how mentoring relationships can be leveraged within health care organizations to promote the mutual benefits of mentoring. The primary aim of the study was to determine if mentoring practices predict mentoring benefits. In addition, the researchers were interested in exploring the relationship between the subscales of mentoring practices and benefits

Mentoring practices that predict mentoring benefits in a Magnet hospital

Session presented on Saturday, July 25, 2015: Purpose: Although literature uniformly states the goal of mentoring is professional development of the protege, the specific practices predicting mentoring benefits are not clearly defined. Previous studies examining predictors of mentoring benefits among pediatric staff nurse proteges representing healthcare organizations across 26 states demonstrated that protege perception of quality was the single best predictor of mentoring benefits. The study aim of this descriptive, correlational, non-experimental study of nurses at a Magnet recognized, free-standing, pediatric hospital was to determine if mentoring practices predict mentoring benefits. Methods: A convenience sample of 186 pediatric nurses completed an electronic survey containing demographic items and two valid and reliable instruments, the Mentoring Practices Inventory and Mentoring Benefits Inventory in accordance with the Dillman \u27Tailored Design Method\u27. Results: The research hypothesis that mentoring practices predict mentoring benefits was supported. The correlation between total mentoring practices and total mentoring benefits was 0.89 (p\u3c0.01). Stepwise linear regression analysis revealed an overall R = 0.889 with 79% of the variance in mentoring benefits explained by mentoring practices (p\u3c 0.0001). Mentoring practices were positively and significantly associated with mentoring benefits (unstandardized beta=0.81, p\u3c 0.001). For every unit increase in practices, a 0.81 unit increase in benefits is expected. Conclusion: As a result of this study, specific practices on how to mentor are now known. This evidence provides concrete, teachable and measurable mentoring practices and resulting mentoring benefits. Outcomes of this study lay the groundwork for creating a mentoring culture in nursing practice that demonstrates a structurally empowering work environment

Can an Integrated Approach Reduce Child Vulnerability to Anaemia? Evidence from Three African Countries.

Addressing the complex, multi-factorial causes of childhood anaemia is best done through integrated packages of interventions. We hypothesized that due to reduced child vulnerability, a "buffering" of risk associated with known causes of anaemia would be observed among children living in areas benefiting from a community-based health and nutrition program intervention. Cross-sectional data on the nutrition and health status of children 24-59 mo (N = 2405) were obtained in 2000 and 2004 from program evaluation surveys in Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania. Linear regression models estimated the association between haemoglobin and immediate, underlying and basic causes of child anaemia and variation in this association between years. Lower haemoglobin levels were observed in children assessed in 2000 compared to 2004 (difference -3.30 g/L), children from Tanzania (-9.15 g/L) and Malawi (-2.96 g/L) compared to Ghana, and the youngest (24-35 mo) compared to oldest age group (48-59 mo; -5.43 g/L). Children who were stunted, malaria positive and recently ill also had lower haemoglobin, independent of age, sex and other underlying and basic causes of anaemia. Despite ongoing morbidity, risk of lower haemoglobin decreased for children with malaria and recent illness, suggesting decreased vulnerability to their anaemia-producing effects. Stunting remained an independent and unbuffered risk factor. Reducing chronic undernutrition is required in order to further reduce child vulnerability and ensure maximum impact of anaemia control programs. Buffering the impact of child morbidity on haemoglobin levels, including malaria, may be achieved in certain settings

Vocal Learning and Auditory-Vocal Feedback

Vocal learning is usually studied in songbirds and humans, species that can form auditory templates by listening to acoustic models and then learn to vocalize to match the template. Most other species are thought to develop vocalizations without auditory feedback. However, auditory input influences the acoustic structure of vocalizations in a broad distribution of birds and mammals. Vocalizations are dened here as sounds generated by forcing air past vibrating membranes. A vocal motor program may generate vocalizations such as crying or laughter, but auditory feedback may be required for matching precise acoustic features of vocalizations. This chapter discriminates limited vocal learning, which uses auditory input to fine-tune acoustic features of an inherited auditory template, from complex vocal learning, in which novel sounds are learned by matching a learned auditory template. Two or three songbird taxa and four or ve mammalian taxa are known for complex vocal learning. A broader range of mammals converge in the acoustic structure of vocalizations when in socially interacting groups, which qualifies as limited vocal learning. All birds and mammals tested use auditory-vocal feedback to adjust their vocalizations to compensate for the effects of noise, and many species modulate their signals as the costs and benefits of communicating vary. This chapter asks whether some auditory-vocal feedback may have provided neural substrates for the evolution of vocal learning. Progress will require more precise definitions of different forms of vocal learning, broad comparative review of their presence and absence, and behavioral and neurobiological investigations into the mechanisms underlying the skills.PostprintPeer reviewe

The effects of stimulus complexity on the preattentive processing of self-generated and nonself voices: an ERP study

The ability to differentiate one's own voice from the voice of somebody else plays a critical role in successful verbal self-monitoring processes and in communication. However, most of the existing studies have only focused on the sensory correlates of self-generated voice processing, whereas the effects of attentional demands and stimulus complexity on self-generated voice processing remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of stimulus complexity on the preattentive processing of self and nonself voice stimuli. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 17 healthy males who watched a silent movie while ignoring prerecorded self-generated (SGV) and nonself (NSV) voice stimuli, consisting of a vocalization (vocalization category condition: VCC) or of a disyllabic word (word category condition: WCC). All voice stimuli were presented as standard and deviant events in four distinct oddball sequences. The mismatch negativity (MMN) ERP component peaked earlier for NSV than for SGV stimuli. Moreover, when compared with SGV stimuli, the P3a amplitude was increased for NSV stimuli in the VCC only, whereas in the WCC no significant differences were found between the two voice types. These findings suggest differences in the time course of automatic detection of a change in voice identity. In addition, they suggest that stimulus complexity modulates the magnitude of the orienting response to SGV and NSV stimuli, extending previous findings on self-voice processing.This work was supported by Grant Numbers IF/00334/2012, PTDC/PSI-PCL/116626/2010, and PTDC/MHN-PCN/3606/2012, funded by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) and the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through the European programs Quadro de Referencia Estrategico Nacional and Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade, awarded to A.P.P., and by FCT Doctoral Grant Number SFRH/BD/77681/2011, awarded to T.C.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cavity Adaptation of Water-Based Restoratives Placed as Liners under a Resin Composite

Purpose. To investigate the cavity adaptation of mineral trioxide (ProRoot MTA/MT), tricalcium silicate (Biodentine/BD), and glass ionomer (Equia Fil/EF) cements used as liners and the interfacial integrity between those liners and a composite resin placed as the main restorative material. Materials and Methods. Standardized class I cavities (n: 8 per group) were prepared in upper premolars. Cavities were lined with a 1 mm thick layer of each of the tested materials and restored with Optibond FL adhesive and Herculite Precis composite resin. Cavity adaptation of the restorations was investigated by computerized X-ray microtomography. The regions of interest (ROI) were set at the cavity-liner (CL) interface and the liner-resin (LR) interface. The percentage void volume fraction (%VVF) in the ROI was calculated. The specimens were then sectioned and the interfaces were evaluated by reflection optical microscopy, to measure the % length (%LD) of the interfacial gaps. Selected samples were further evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. Statistical analysis was performed by two-way ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test (a=0.05). Results. MT showed significantly higher %VVF and %LD values in CL interfaces than BD and EF (p<0.05). No significant differences were found among the materials for the same values at the LR interfaces. Conclusions. When used as a composite liner, ProRoot MTA showed inferior cavity adaptation at dentin/liner interface when compared to Biodentine and Equia Fil

Communication calls produced by electrical stimulation of four structures in the guinea pig brain

One of the main central processes affecting the cortical representation of conspecific vocalizations is the collateral output from the extended motor system for call generation. Before starting to study this interaction we sought to compare the characteristics of calls produced by stimulating four different parts of the brain in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). By using anaesthetised animals we were able to reposition electrodes without distressing the animals. Trains of 100 electrical pulses were used to stimulate the midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG), hypothalamus, amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Each structure produced a similar range of calls, but in significantly different proportions. Two of the spontaneous calls (chirrup and purr) were never produced by electrical stimulation and although we identified versions of chutter, durr and tooth chatter, they differed significantly from our natural call templates. However, we were routinely able to elicit seven other identifiable calls. All seven calls were produced both during the 1.6 s period of stimulation and subsequently in a period which could last for more than a minute. A single stimulation site could produce four or five different calls, but the amygdala was much less likely to produce a scream, whistle or rising whistle than any of the other structures. These three high-frequency calls were more likely to be produced by females than males. There were also differences in the timing of the call production with the amygdala primarily producing calls during the electrical stimulation and the hypothalamus mainly producing calls after the electrical stimulation. For all four structures a significantly higher stimulation current was required in males than females. We conclude that all four structures can be stimulated to produce fictive vocalizations that should be useful in studying the relationship between the vocal motor system and cortical sensory representation

A Water Futures approach on water demand forecasting with online ensemble learning

This study presents a collaborative framework developed by the Water Futures team of researchers for the “Battle of the Water Demand Forecasting” challenge at the 3rd International WDSA-CCWI Joint Conference. The framework integrates an ensemble of machine learning forecasting models into a deterministic outcome consistent with the competition formulation. The water demand trajectory over a week exhibits complex overlapping patterns and non-linear dependencies to multiple features and time-dependent events that a single model cannot accurately predict. As such, the reconciled forecast from an ensemble of models exceeds the performance of the individual ones and exhibits higher stability across the weeks of the year and district metered areas considered

Integrating quantitative and qualitative methodologies for the assessment of health care systems: emergency medicine in post-conflict Serbia

BACKGROUND: Due to the complexity of health system reform in the post-conflict, post-disaster, and development settings, attempts to restructure health services are fraught with pitfalls that are often unanticipated because of inadequate preliminary assessments. Our proposed Integrated Multimodal Assessment – combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies – may provide a more robust mechanism for identifying programmatic priorities and critical barriers for appropriate and sustainable health system interventions. The purpose of this study is to describe this novel multimodal assessment using emergency medicine in post-conflict Serbia as a model. METHODS: Integrated quantitative and qualitative methodologies – system characterization and observation, focus group discussions, free-response questionnaires, and by-person factor analysis – were used to identify needs, problems, and potential barriers to the development of emergency medicine in Serbia. Participants included emergency and pre-hospital personnel from all emergency medical institutions in Belgrade. RESULTS: Demographic data indicate a loosely ordered network of part-time emergency departments supported by 24-hour pre-hospital services and an academic emergency center. Focus groups and questionnaires reveal significant impediments to delivery of care and suggest development priorities. By-person factor analysis subsequently divides respondents into distinctive attitudinal types, compares participant opinions, and identifies programmatic priorities. CONCLUSIONS: By combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies, our Integrated Multimodal Assessment identified critical needs and barriers to emergency medicine development in Serbia and may serve as a model for future health system assessments in post-conflict, post-disaster, and development settings