The 1985 COBOL standard

Includes bibliographical references.The Common Business Oriented Language, COBOL, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in April of next year. The new standard for COBOL compilers, hereafter called COBOL 85, was announced in September of 1985 after seven years of deliberation. This new version of the world's most popular language presents many new improvements which will serve to further promote the efficiency of COBOL's data processing capabilities. However, nothing can be gained without sacrifice. By improving the programming efficiency this new standard had to give up complete upward compatibility.B.S. (Bachelor of Science

Energy Choices Revisited : An Examination of the Costs and Benefits of Maine\u27s Energy Policy

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Colorectal Tumour Microsatellite Instability Test Results: Perspectives from Patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>To determine which individuals with colorectal cancer (CRC) were interested in knowing the results of their tumour microsatellite instability (MSI) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) testing. We were also interested in the patients' reasons for choosing to learn their results and in the impact of those results on overall self-assessed quality of life.</p> <p>Patients and Methods</p> <p>CRCs from 414 individuals were assayed for MSI and IHC for DNA mismatch repair gene products (<it>MLH1</it>, <it>MSH2</it>, <it>MSH6</it>). Individuals were invited to learn their MSI/IHC results. They randomly received either brief or extended educational materials about the testing and a pretest survey to learn reasons for their interest and to assess their pretest quality of life.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 414 individuals, 307 (74%) chose to learn their results. There was no significant difference in interest in knowing test results according to gender, age, educational level, or family history of colon cancer. The level of detail in the information piece received by the patients did not influence their desire to know their test results. Self-assessed quality of life was not altered by receiving results and was not correlated with the test outcome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Individuals with colorectal cancer had a high level of interest in learning their individual MSI/IHC test results and did not seem deterred by the inherent complexity or ambiguity of this information. Regardless of test outcome, results did not significantly affect self-assessed quality of life. Further studies are needed to assess comprehension of results and behavioural changes resulting from the learning of MSI/IHC results.</p

Bilateral Central Giant Cell Granulomas of the Mandible in An Eight Year-Old Girl with Noonan Syndrome (Noonan-Like/Multiple Giant Cell Lesions Syndrome)

A number of conditions can present with lesions that histologically are indistinguishable from the central giant cell granuloma (CGCG) of bone, including brown tumors of hyperparathyroidism, cherubism, and, less commonly, a number of inherited syndromes. We report a case of an eight-year girl who presented with bilateral CGCGs of the posterior mandible. Characteristic facial features, reported increased post-operative bleeding and history of pulmonary stenosis led us to suspect a diagnosis of Noonan syndrome. A medical geneticist confirmed this on further evaluation. This case report will discuss the salient features of this diagnosis

Attributing scientific and technical progress: the case of holography

Holography, the three-dimensional imaging technology, was portrayed widely as a paradigm of progress during its decade of explosive expansion 1964–73, and during its subsequent consolidation for commercial and artistic uses up to the mid 1980s. An unusually seductive and prolific subject, holography successively spawned scientific insights, putative applications and new constituencies of practitioners and consumers. Waves of forecasts, associated with different sponsors and user communities, cast holography as a field on the verge of success—but with the dimensions of success repeatedly refashioned. This retargeting of the subject represented a degree of cynical marketeering, but was underpinned by implicit confidence in philosophical positivism and faith in technological progressivism. Each of its communities defined success in terms of expansion, and anticipated continual progressive increase. This paper discusses the contrasting definitions of progress in holography, and how they were fashioned in changing contexts. Focusing equally on reputed ‘failures’ of some aspects of the subject, it explores the varied attributes by which success and failure were linked with progress by different technical communities. This important case illuminates the peculiar post-World War II environment that melded the military, commercial and popular engagement with scientific and technological subjects, and the competing criteria by which they assessed the products of science