4,016 research outputs found
Awareness, interest, and preferences of primary care providers in using point-of-care cancer screening technology
Well-developed point-of-care (POC) cancer screening tools have the potential to provide better cancer care to patients in both developed and developing countries. However, new medical technology will not be adopted by medical providers unless it addresses a population’s existing needs and end-users’ preferences. The goals of our study were to assess primary care providers’ level of awareness, interest, and preferences in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice and to provide guidelines to biomedical engineers for future POC technology development. A total of 350 primary care providers completed a one-time self-administered online survey, which took approximately 10 minutes to complete. A $50 Amazon gift card was given as an honorarium for the first 100 respondents to encourage participation. The description of POC cancer screening technology was provided in the beginning of the survey to ensure all participants had a basic understanding of what constitutes POC technology. More than half of the participants (57%) stated that they heard of the term “POC technology” for the first time when they took the survey. However, almost all of the participants (97%) stated they were either “very interested” (68%) or “somewhat interested” (29%) in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice. Demographic characteristics such as the length of being in the practice of medicine, the percentage of patients on Medicaid, and the average number of patients per day were not shown to be associated with the level of interest in using POC. These data show that there is a great interest in POC cancer screening technology utilization among this population of primary care providers and vast room for future investigations to further understand the interest and preferences in using POC cancer technology in practice. Ensuring that the benefits of new technology outweigh the costs will maximize the likelihood it will be used by medical providers and patients
Dynamics and energetics of the South Pacific Convergence Zone during FGGE SOP-1 and South Pacific Convergence Zone and global-scale
Significant accomplishments (papers published, conference presentations, and education degrees) are presented. The focus of the current research is outlined. Plans for the coming year are discussed briefly
Shaping frontline practices: a scoping review of human factors implicated in electrical safety incidents
Injuries sustained while performing electrical work are a significant threat to the health and safety of workers and occur frequently. In some jurisdictions, non-fatal serious incidents have increased in recent years. Although significant work has been carried out on electrical safety from a human factor perspective, reviews of this literature are sparse. Thus, the purpose of this review is to collate and summarize human factors implicated in electrical safety events. Articles were collected from three databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar), using the search terms: safety, electri*, human factors, and arc flash. Titles and abstracts were screened, full-text reviews were conducted, and 18 articles were included in the final review. Quality checks were undertaken using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and the Critical Appraisal Skills Program. Environmental, individual, team, organizational, and macro factors were identified in the literature as factors which shape frontline electrical worker behavior, highlighting the complexity of injury prevention. The key contributions of this paper include: (1) a holistic and integrated summary of human factors implicated in electrical safety events, (2) the application of an established theoretical model to explain dynamic forces implicated in electrical safety incidents, and (3) several practical implications and recommendations to improve electrical safety. It is recommended that this framework is used to develop and test future interventions at the individual, team, organizational, and regulator level to mitigate risk and create meaningful and sustainable change in the electrical safety spac
Leader Election in Anonymous Rings: Franklin Goes Probabilistic
We present a probabilistic leader election algorithm for anonymous, bidirectional, asynchronous rings. It is based on an algorithm from Franklin, augmented with random identity selection, hop counters to detect identity clashes, and round numbers modulo 2. As a result, the algorithm is finite-state, so that various model checking techniques can be employed to verify its correctness, that is, eventually a unique leader is elected with probability one. We also sketch a formal correctness proof of the algorithm for rings with arbitrary size
Heavy quarkonium 2S states in light-front quark model
We study the charmonium 2S states and , and the bottomonium
2S states and , using the light-front quark model and the
2S state wave function of harmonic oscillator as the approximation of the 2S
quarkonium wave function. The decay constants, transition form factors and
masses of these mesons are calculated and compared with experimental data.
Predictions of quantities such as Br are made. The
2S wave function may help us learn more about the structure of these heavy
quarkonia.Comment: 5 latex pages, final version for journal publicatio
Formalising the Continuous/Discrete Modeling Step
Formally capturing the transition from a continuous model to a discrete model
is investigated using model based refinement techniques. A very simple model
for stopping (eg. of a train) is developed in both the continuous and discrete
domains. The difference between the two is quantified using generic results
from ODE theory, and these estimates can be compared with the exact solutions.
Such results do not fit well into a conventional model based refinement
framework; however they can be accommodated into a model based retrenchment.
The retrenchment is described, and the way it can interface to refinement
development on both the continuous and discrete sides is outlined. The approach
is compared to what can be achieved using hybrid systems techniques.Comment: In Proceedings Refine 2011, arXiv:1106.348
The Isgur-Wise function in a relativistic model for system
We use the Dirac equation with a ``(asymptotically free) Coulomb + (Lorentz
scalar) linear '' potential to estimate the light quark wavefunction for mesons in the limit . We use these wavefunctions to
calculate the Isgur-Wise function for orbital and radial
ground states in the phenomenologically interesting range . We find a simple expression for the zero-recoil slope, , where is the energy eigenvalue
of the light quark, which can be identified with the parameter
of the Heavy Quark Effective Theory. This result implies an upper bound of
for the slope . Also, because for a very light quark the size of the meson is determined mainly by the
``confining'' term in the potential , the shape of
is seen to be mostly sensitive to the dimensionless
ratio . We present results for the ranges of
parameters , and
light quark masses and compare to existing
experimental data and other theoretical estimates. Fits to the data give:
,
and [ARGUS
'93]; , and
[CLEO '93]; ${\bar\Lambda_{u,d}}^2/Comment: 22 pages, Latex, 4 figures (not included) available by fax or via
email upon reques
A Precision Measurement of the Neutron Twist-3 Matrix Element : Probing Color Forces
Double-spin asymmetries and absolute cross sections were measured at large
Bjorken (0.25 0.90), in both the deep-inelastic and resonance
regions, by scattering longitudinally polarized electrons at beam energies of
4.7 and 5.9 GeV from a transversely and longitudinally polarized He target.
In this dedicated experiment, the spin structure function on He was
determined with precision at large , and the neutron twist-three matrix
element was measured at \left of 3.21 and 4.32
GeV/, with an absolute precision of about . Our results are
found to be in agreement with lattice QCD calculations and resolve the
disagreement found with previous data at \left = 5 GeV/.
Combining and a newly extracted twist-four matrix element, , the
average neutron color electric and magnetic forces were extracted and found to
be of opposite sign and about 30 MeV/fm in magnitude.Comment: Corrected a typo in the author list and Figure 1 legend. 6 pages, 2
figures, 2 table
The HY5-PIF regulatory module coordinates light and temperature control of photosynthetic gene transcription
The ability to interpret daily and seasonal alterations in light and temperature signals is essential for plant survival. This is particularly important during seedling establishment when the phytochrome photoreceptors activate photosynthetic pigment production for photoautotrophic growth. Phytochromes accomplish this partly through the suppression of phytochrome interacting factors (PIFs), negative regulators of chlorophyll and carotenoid biosynthesis. While the bZIP transcription factor long hypocotyl 5 (HY5), a potent PIF antagonist, promotes photosynthetic pigment accumulation in response to light. Here we demonstrate that by directly targeting a common promoter cis-element (G-box), HY5 and PIFs form a dynamic activation-suppression transcriptional module responsive to light and temperature cues. This antagonistic regulatory module provides a simple, direct mechanism through which environmental change can redirect transcriptional control of genes required for photosynthesis and photoprotection. In the regulation of photopigment biosynthesis genes, HY5 and PIFs do not operate alone, but with the circadian clock. However, sudden changes in light or temperature conditions can trigger changes in HY5 and PIFs abundance that adjust the expression of common target genes to optimise photosynthetic performance and growth
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