Training AAC users in user-centred design

User-centred design (UCD) with a focus on usability provides product developers with a design approach in which users are involved in every stage of the process: when gathering requirements; when evaluating alternative designs; and when evaluating interactive prototypes.The characteristics of people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) make it difficult to follow a truly UCD approach, which in part may contribute to the high rejection of AAC devices. Training workshops have been delivered to introduce users and AAC professionals to the UCD process.Initial feedback indicates that they feel more empowered to evaluate systems and to engage in the design of new systems after attending the workshop

Evaluating Multiple Arthropod Taxa as Indicators of Invertebrate Diversity in Old Fields

Biodiversity, often quantified by species richness, is commonly used to evaluate and monitor the health of ecosystems and as a tool for conservation planning. The use of one or more focal taxa as surrogates or indicators of larger taxonomic diversity can greatly expedite the process of biodiversity measurement. This is especially true when studying diverse and abundant invertebrate fauna. Before indicator taxa are employed, however, research into their suitability as indicators of greater taxonomic diversity in an area is needed. We sampled invertebrate diversity in old fields in southern Michigan using pitfall trapping and morphospecies designations after identification to order or family. Correlation analysis was used to assess species richness relationships between focal arthropod taxa and general invertebrate diversity. Relationships were assessed at two fine spatial scales: within sampling patches, and locally across four sampling patches. Cumulative richness of all assessed taxa increased proportionately with cumulative invertebrate richness as sampling intensity increased within patches. At the among-patch scale, we tentatively identified Hemiptera and Coleoptera as effective indicator taxa of greater invertebrate richness. Although Hymenoptera, Araneae and Diptera exhibited high species richness, their total richness within patches was not associated with overall invertebrate richness among patches. Increased sampling throughout the active season and across a greater number of habitat patches should be conducted before adopting Hemiptera and Coleoptera as definitive indicators of general invertebrate richness in the Great Lakes region. Multiple sampling techniques, in addition to pitfall trapping, should also be added to overcome capture biases associated with each technique

Bottled Water Logistics and Forecasting

CASE OVERVIEW This case presents an interesting and very real dilemma: In 2005, Walmart committed to selling “products that sustain people and the environment.” However, despite environmental and social concerns of the category that include energy required for transport and storage, the plastic used for bottling, the potential lack of purity due to chemicals leeching from the plastic, massive waste, and the cost relative to tap water, consumers want and continue to buy bottled water. Thus the espoused goals of the company are in seeming conflict with its business model. Bottled water is an item under public scrutiny, and producers were already working on solutions such as less plastic in bottles. But what responsibility does Walmart have? Lee Scott provided the answer to this dilemma in his interview with the Wall Street Journal when he said that as long as consumers demanded bottled water, Walmart would sell it. With that backdrop, what can managers do? Overall, the case implies four possible approaches to this challenge: discontinue selling all bottled water products; change consumer demand; redesign the supply network; or Improve forecasting

Bottled Water Mini Case

CASE OVERVIEW This case presents an interesting and very real dilemma: In 2005, Walmart committed to selling “products that sustain people and the environment.” However, despite environmental and social concerns of the category that include energy required for transport and storage, the plastic used for bottling, the potential lack of purity due to chemicals leeching from the plastic, massive waste, and the cost relative to tap water, consumers want and continue to buy bottled water. Thus the espoused goals of the company are in seeming conflict with its business model. Bottled water is an item under public scrutiny, and producers were already working on solutions such as less plastic in bottles. But what responsibility does Walmart have? Lee Scott provided the answer to this dilemma in his interview with the Wall Street Journal when he said that as long as consumers demanded bottled water, Walmart would sell it. With that backdrop, what can managers do? Overall, the case implies four possible approaches to this challenge: discontinue selling all bottled water products; change consumer demand; redesign the supply network; or improve forecasting. This case is not designed for full forecasting analysis

The Effects of Increased Provision of Thoracic Surgical Specialists on the Variation in Lung Cancer Resection Rate in England

Introduction:There is a wide variation in the lung cancer resection rate in England. We assessed the effect of the regional provision of thoracic surgery service on the variation in lung cancer resection rate.Methods:A retrospective observational study correlating National Lung Cancer Audit data with thoracic surgery workforce data was performed to review the lung cancer resection rate in England in 2008 and 2009.Results:In 2008, there was a sixfold variation in resection rate, with a higher resection rate in hospitals where surgeons were based (base hospitals) than in peripheral hospitals (20.0% versus 11.6%, p < 0.001). The resection rate was also higher in cancer networks, which were served by two or more specialist thoracic surgeons (14.6% versus 12.7%, p = 0.028), and where surgeons were present in more than two-thirds of the lung cancer multidisciplinary team meetings (14.4% versus 12.0%, p = 0.046). In 2009, the overall resection rate increased from 14.5% to 18.4%. Four units increased their number of specialist thoracic surgeons and had a significantly higher increase in resection rate than units without expansion (relative rise 66.3% versus 19.2%; p = 0.022).Conclusions:The large variation in the resection rate seems, in part, to be related to the local availability of specialist thoracic surgeons. The greatest improvement in the resection rate was in units with expansion of specialist thoracic surgeons. We suggest the expansion of specialist thoracic surgeons will improve the resection rate and thereby the overall survival of lung cancer in England. This has significant implications for the future of training in cardiothoracic surgery and organization of cancer services

Shifts in Southern Wisconsin Forest Canopy and Understory Richness, Composition, and Heterogeneity

We resurveyed the under- and overstory species composition of 94 upland forest stands in southern Wisconsin in 2002–2004 to assess shifts in canopy and understory richness, composition, and heterogeneity relative to the original surveys in 1949–1950. The canopy has shifted from mostly oaks (Quercus spp.) toward more mesic and shade-tolerant trees (primarily Acer spp.). Oak-dominated early-successional stands and those on coarse, nutrient-poor soils changed the most in canopy composition. Understories at most sites (80%) lost native species, with mean species density declining 25% at the 1-m2 scale and 23.1% at the 20-m2 scale. Woody species have increased 15% relative to herbaceous species in the understory despite declining in absolute abundance. Initial canopy composition, particularly the abundance of red oaks (Quercus rubra and Q. velutina), predicted understory changes better than the changes observed in the overstory. Overall rates of native species loss were greater in later-successional stands, a pattern driven by differential immigration rather than differential extirpation. However, understory species initially found in early-successional habitats declined the most, particularly remnant savanna taxa with narrow or thick leaves. These losses have yet to be offset by compensating increases in native shade-adapted species. Exotic species have proliferated in prevalence (from 13 to 76 stands) and relative abundance (from 1.2% to 8.4%), but these increases appear unrelated to the declines in native species richness and heterogeneity observed. Although canopy succession has clearly influenced shifts in understory composition and diversity, the magnitude of native species declines and failure to recruit more shade-adapted species suggest that other factors now act to limit the richness, heterogeneity, and composition of these communities

Observation error statistics for Doppler radar radial wind superobservations assimilated into the DWD COSMO-KENDA system

Currently in operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) the density of high-resolution observations, such as Doppler radar radial winds (DRWs), is severely reduced in part to avoid violating the assumption of uncorrelated observation errors. To improve the quantity of observations used and the impact that they have on the forecast requires an accurate specification of the observation uncertainties. Observation uncertainties can be estimated using a simple diagnostic that utilises the statistical averages of observation-minus-background and observation-minus-analysis residuals. We are the first to use a modified form of the diagnostic to estimate spatial correlations for observations used in an operational ensemble data assimilation system. The uncertainties for DRW superobservations assimilated into the Deutscher Wetterdienst convection-permitting NWP model are estimated and compared to previous uncertainty estimates for DRWs. The new results show that most diagnosed standard deviations are smaller than those used in the assimilation, hence it may be feasible assimilate DRWs using reduced error standard deviations. However, some of the estimated standard deviations are considerably larger than those used in the assimilation; these large errors highlight areas where the observation processing system may be improved. The error correlation length scales are larger than the observation separation distance and influenced by both the superobbing procedure and observation operator. This is supported by comparing these results to our previous study using Met Office data. Our results suggest that DRW error correlations may be reduced by improving the superobbing procedure and observation operator; however, any remaining correlations should be accounted for in the assimilation

The beginning of time? Evidence for catastrophic drought in Baringo in the early nineteenth century

New developments in the collection of palaeo-data over the past two decades have transformed our understanding of climate and environmental history in eastern Africa. This article utilises instrumental and proxy evidence of historical lake-level fluctuations from Baringo and Bogoria, along with other Rift Valley lakes, to document the timing and magnitude of hydroclimate variability at decadal to century time scales since 1750. These data allow us to construct a record of past climate variation not only for the Baringo basin proper, but also across a sizable portion of central and northern Kenya. This record is then set alongside historical evidence, from oral histories gathered amongst the peoples of northern Kenya and the Rift Valley and from contemporary observations recorded by travellers through the region, to offer a reinterpretation of human activity and its relationship to environmental history in the nineteenth century. The results reveal strong evidence of a catastrophic drought in the early nineteenth century, the effects of which radically alters our historical understanding of the character of settlement, mobility and identity within the Baringo–Bogoria basin

Dive, food and exercise effects on blood microparticles in Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) : exploring a biomarker for decompression sickness

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2016. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of American Physiological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 310 (2016): R596-R601, doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00512.2015.Recent studies of stranded marine mammals indicate that exposure to underwater military sonar may induce pathophysiological responses consistent with decompression sickness (DCS). However, DCS has been difficult to diagnose in marine mammals. We investigated whether blood microparticles (MPs, measured as number/μl plasma), which increase in response to decompression stress in terrestrial mammals, are a suitable biomarker for DCS in marine mammals. We obtained blood samples from trained Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus, 4 adult females) wearing time-depth recorders that dove to predetermined depths (either 5 or 50 m). We hypothesized that MPs would be positively related to decompression stress (depth and duration underwater). We also tested the effect of feeding and exercise in isolation on MPs using the same blood sampling protocol. We found that feeding and exercise had no effect on blood MP levels, but that diving caused MPs to increase. However, blood MP levels did not correlate with diving depth, relative time underwater, and presumably decompression stress―possibly indicating acclimation following repeated exposure to depth.Funding for this project was provided by the Office of Naval Research to MM (ONR Award # N00014-12-10388) and SRT (ONR Award # N00014-13-10614). Additional support was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the North Pacific Marine Science Foundation and the North Pacific Universities Marine Mammal Research Consortium.2017-02-0

ESTS guidelines for preoperative lymph node staging for non-small cell lung cancer

Accurate preoperative staging and restaging of mediastinal lymph nodes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is of paramount importance. It will guide choices of treatment and determine prognosis and outcome. Over the last years, different techniques have become available. They vary in accuracy and procedure-related morbidity. The Council of the ESTS initiated a workshop on preoperative mediastinal lymph node staging. This resulted in guidelines for primary staging and restaging. For primary staging, mediastinoscopy remains the gold standard for the superior mediastinal lymph nodes. Invasive procedures can be omitted in patients with peripheral tumors and negative mediastinal positron emission tomography (PET) images. However, in case of central tumors, PET hilar N1 disease, low fluorodeoxyglucose uptake of the primary tumor and LNs≥16mm on CT scan, invasive staging remains indicated. PET positive mediastinal findings should always be cyto-histologically confirmed. Transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA), ultrasound-guided bronchoscopy with fine needle aspiration (EBUS-FNA) and endoscopic esophageal ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) are new techniques that provide cyto-histological diagnosis and are minimally invasive. Their specificity is high but the negative predictive value is low. Because of this, if they yield negative results, an invasive surgical technique is indicated. However, if fine needle aspiration is positive, this result may be valid as proof for N2 or N3 disease. For restaging, invasive techniques providing cyto-histological information are advisable despite the encouraging results supported with the use of PET/CT imaging. Both endoscopic techniques and surgical procedures are available. If they yield a positive result, non-surgical treatment is indicated in most patient