The climates of Costa Rica.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThe reorganization of the Meteorological Service of Costa Rica in 1951, in which the writer took an active part, has made available for the first time an adequate amount of climatologic data on which to base an investigation of the climatic provinces of the country. Former investigators found the lack of statistical data a serious handicap in supplying the necessary evidence for their conclusions. Today with more than 100 weather stations reporting rainfall and temperatures, and in some cases other weather elements, it is now possible to obtain a quite accurate picture of regional climatic conditions in Costa Rica. A brief description of the history of meteorological observation pays tribute to the efforts of former students and allows the reader to gain an impression of the progress which is currently being made in this branch of scientific investigation as well as the plans for future development. [TRUNCATED

Assessing the Impact of Student Learning Style Preferences

Students express a wide range of preferences for learning environments. We are trying to measure the manifestation of learning styles in various learning environments. In particular, we are interested in performance in an environment that disagrees with the expressed learning style preference, paying close attention to social (group vs. individual) and auditory (those who prefer to learn by listening) environments. These are particularly relevant to activity-based curricula which typically emphasize group-work and de-emphasize lectures. Our methods include multiple-choice assessments, individual student interviews, and a study in which we attempt to isolate the learning environment

Case History — Settlement Mitigation for Mat Foundation Using Lean Concrete Columns

This paper presents a case history of Lean Concrete Column (LCC) design, prediction, installation, and monitoring for a 34-story high-rise condominium tower over a five-level underground parking substructure supported on a mat foundation in San Diego, California. The site constraints and the building configuration imposed unusual design and construction challenges, which resulted in high foundation pressures and eccentric loading for the planned building mat foundation. A geotechnical investigation consisting of deep test borings, Cone Penetrometer Tests (CPT), and laboratory tests indicated that formational soils underlying the site did not provide the necessary bearing capacity to directly support the structure on a conventional mat foundation system within acceptable settlement and structural limitations. Design constraints, economics, and constructability issues dictated solutions requiring an integral waterproofed substructural system supported on a mat foundation. A foundation system incorporating conventional piles structurally tied into the mat was not feasible because of waterproofing constraints. A determined practical solution was to incorporate a ground improvement technique that would be separate from the mat foundation, provide improved mat support, and reduce differential settlement to within tolerable limits. LCCs were found to be a viable method of ground improvement for reducing differential settlement of the mat to acceptable limits

Dogmatism as Related to Anxiety and Self-Ideal Discrepancy

This study was concerned with the relationships between the concepts of dogmatism, anxiety, and self-ideal discrepancy. In order to measure these relationships, Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale, Cattell's IPAT Self Analysis Form, and Bill's Index of Adjustment and Values were utilized, Sex differences, as measured on the Dogmatism Scale, were also investigated

Lunar and Martian hardware commonality

A number of different hardware elements were examined for possible Moon/Mars program commonality. These include manned landers; cargo landers, a trans-Mars injection (TMI) stage, traverse vehicles, unmanned surface rovers, habitation modules, and power supplies. Preliminary analysis indicates that it is possible to build a common two-stage manned lander. A single-stage, reusable lander may be practical for the lunar cast, but much less so for the Martian case, and commonality may therefore exist only at the subsystem level. A modified orbit transfer vehicle was examined as a potential cargo lander. Potential cargoes to various destinations were calculated for a Shuttle external tank sized TMI stage. A nuclear powered, long range traverse vehicle was conceptually designed and commonality is considered feasible. Short range, unmanned rovers can be made common without great effort. A surface habitation module may be difficult to make common due to difficulties in landing certain shapes on the Martian surface with aerobraking landers. Common nuclear power sources appear feasible. High temperature radiators appear easy to make common. Low temperature radiators may be difficult to make common. In most of these cases, Martian requirements determine the design

Economic Evaluations Alongside Efficient Study Designs Using Large Observational Datasets: the PLEASANT Trial Case Study

BACKGROUND: Large observational datasets such as Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) provide opportunities to conduct clinical studies and economic evaluations with efficient designs. OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were to report the economic evaluation methodology for a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a UK NHS-delivered public health intervention for children with asthma that was evaluated using CPRD and describe the impact of this methodology on results. METHODS: CPRD identified eligible patients using predefined asthma diagnostic codes and captured 1-year pre- and post-intervention healthcare contacts (August 2012 to July 2014). Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) 4 months post-intervention were estimated by assigning utility values to exacerbation-related contacts; a systematic review identified these utility values because preference-based outcome measures were not collected. Bootstrapped costs were evaluated 12 months post-intervention, both with 1-year regression-based baseline adjustment (BA) and without BA (observed). RESULTS: Of 12,179 patients recruited, 8190 (intervention 3641; control 4549) were evaluated in the primary analysis, which included patients who received the protocol-defined intervention and for whom CPRD data were available. The intervention's per-patient incremental QALY loss was 0.00017 (bias-corrected and accelerated 95% confidence intervals [BCa 95% CI] -0.00051 to 0.00018) and cost savings were £14.74 (observed; BCa 95% CI -75.86 to 45.19) or £36.07 (BA; BCa 95% CI -77.11 to 9.67), respectively. The probability of cost savings was much higher when accounting for BA versus observed costs due to baseline cost differences between trial arms (96.3 vs. 67.3%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Economic evaluations using data from a large observational database without any primary data collection is feasible, informative and potentially efficient. Clinical Trials Registration Number: ISRCTN03000938