Space shuttle avionics system

The Space Shuttle avionics system, which was conceived in the early 1970's and became operational in the 1980's represents a significant advancement of avionics system technology in the areas of systems and redundacy management, digital data base technology, flight software, flight control integration, digital fly-by-wire technology, crew display interface, and operational concepts. The origins and the evolution of the system are traced; the requirements, the constraints, and other factors which led to the final configuration are outlined; and the functional operation of the system is described. An overall system block diagram is included

Sir Thomas and Lady Roddick, Their Gates and Clock Tower

This is the narrative of how a determined and resourceful McGill alumni restored the clock tower in the iconic Roddick Gates that span the entrance to the main campus of McGill University

The Falcon: The Statue of a Winged Youth at McGill

The Falcon statue, created by R. Tait McKenzie, stands as a beacon just outside the entrance of the McLennan Library Building on the main campus of McGill University.  The process of acquiring this statue was not straightforward but owing to the persistence of Principal F. Cyril James the statue of the winged youth made its way to McGill

Small business dilemma

In this case study, the problem that the researcher is trying to resolve is whether the opening of a new small business that offers software programming services should be attempted. The researcher must decide, based on this study, whether or not the current market is in such a state that it could support the insertion of another high technology, engineering consulting business. This business venture is not unique to the current marketplace, and as such must be investigated in terms of the saturation level of the relevant industry. The researcher, by thorough analysis, must discern not only whether the proposed business could survive in the marketplace, but more importantly whether or not it would be profitable

Persian as Koine: Written Persian in World-Historical Perspective

Persian emerged as the common language of court life and administration in the Islamic world east of Baghdad in the 8th and 9th centuries (2nd and 3rd centuries into the Islamic era). The process began in Khurasan, the large historical region of southwest-central Asia, which besides the northeast quadrant of modern Iran included most of modern Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, and northern Afghanistan. Persian radiated out from the pre-Islamic cities that became new power centers, filling the vacuum left by the declining political (as distinct from symbolic) role of the Caliphate in Baghdad. Persian spread to its greatest extent five centuries later, under Mongol and Turkic administrations, when it stretched from the Balkans in the west to southern India in the south and along the trade routes into central China in the east. A century later, it began to give way to the rise of vernacular languages—first in the west, where the use of Ottoman Turkish increased in the 15th century. It finally declined significantly in the east in India in the 19th century, where the British replaced it formally with Urdu and English in 1835. Over the past century and a half Persian has undergone a process of functional transformation, passing into the status of a classical language, as locally people began to write in Pashto, Sindhi, Urdu, and other vernaculars in the peripheral territories of the Islamic world. In the 20th century, at the expense of losing its unitary identity and universally standard form, Persian achieved the modern status of national language in three countries—in Afghanistan, (where it was renamed dari), in Iran (as Fārsi), and in Tajikistan (where it was renamed tajiki, or tojiki when transliterated from Cyrillic). It is still spoken widely in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and the southern littoral of the Persian Gulf, and continues to flourish among post-revolutionary diaspora communities in America, Asia, and Europe

Predictive Criterion Validity of the Parsley Symptom index against the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement information System-10 in a Chronic Disease Cohort: Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Approximately 60% of US adults live with chronic disease, imposing a significant burden on patients and the health care system. With the rise of telehealth, patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) have emerged as pivotal tools for managing chronic disease. While numerous PROMs exist, few have been designed explicitly for telehealth settings. The Parsley Symptom Index (PSI) is an electronic patient-reported outcome measure (ePROM) developed specifically for telehealth environments. OBJECTIVE: Our aim is to determine whether the PSI predicts changes in the established Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System-10 (PROMIS-10) Global Health, a 10-question short form. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from 367 unique patients, amassing 1170 observations between August 30, 2017, and January 30, 2023. Patients completed the PSI and the PROMIS-10 multiple times throughout the study period. Using univariate regression models, we assess the predictive criterion validity of the PSI against PROMIS-10 scores. RESULTS: This study revealed significant relationships between the PSI and PROMIS-10 physical and mental health scores through comprehensive univariate analyses, thus establishing support for the criterion validity of the PSI. These analyses highlighted the PSI\u27s potential as an insightful tool for understanding and predicting both mental and physical health dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings emphasize the importance of the PSI in capturing the nuanced interactions between symptomatology and health outcomes. These insights reinforce the value of the PSI in clinical contexts and support its potential as a versatile tool in both research and practice

A prospective evaluation of the predictive value of faecal calprotectin in quiescent Crohn’s disease

Background: The faecal calprotectin (FC) test is a non-invasive marker for gastrointestinal inflammation. Aim: To determine whether higher FC levels in individuals with quiescent Crohn’s disease are associated with clinical relapse over the ensuing 12 months.<p></p> Methods: A single centre prospective study was undertaken in Crohn's disease patients in clinical remission attending for routine review. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the primary endpoint of clinical relapse by 12 months, based on FC at baseline, was calculated. Kaplan-Meier curves of time to relapse were based on the resulting optimal FC cutoff for predicting relapse.<p></p> Results: Of 97 patients recruited, 92 were either followed up for 12 months without relapsing, or reached the primary endpoint within that period. Of these, 10 (11%) had relapsed by 12 months. The median FC was lower for non-relapsers, 96µg/g (IQR 39-237), than for relapsers, 414µg/g (IQR 259-590), (p=0.005). The area under the ROC curve to predict relapse using FC was 77.4%. An optimal cutoff FC value of 240µg/g to predict relapse of quiescent Crohn’s had sensitivity of 80.0% and specificity of 74.4%. Negative predictive value was 96.8% and positive predictive value was 27.6%. FC≥240μg/g was associated with likelihood of relapse 5.7 (95% CI 1.9-17.3) times higher within 2.3 years than lower values (p=0.002).<p></p> Conclusions: In this prospective dataset, FC appears to be a useful, non-invasive tool to help identify quiescent Crohn’s disease patients at a low risk of relapse over the ensuing 12 months. FC of 240µg/g was the optimal cutoff in this cohort.<p></p&gt

Artemether-Lumefantrine to treat Malaria in pregnancy is associated with reduced placental Haemozoin deposition compared to Quinine in a randomized controlled trial

Data on efficacy of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) to treat Plasmodium falciparum during pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa is scarce. A recent open label, randomized controlled trial in Mbarara, Uganda demonstrated that artemether-lumefantrine (AL) is not inferior to quinine to treat uncomplicated malaria in pregnancy. Haemozoin can persist in the placenta following clearance of parasites, however there is no data whether ACT can influence the amount of haemozoin or the dynamics of haemozoin clearance