Concerns with AED conversion: comparison of patient and physician perspectives.

When discussing AED conversion in the clinic, both the patient and physician perspectives on the goals and risks of this change are important to consider. To identify patient-reported and clinician-perceived concerns, a panel of epilepsy specialists was questioned about the topics discussed with patients and the clinician's perspective of patient concerns. Findings of a literature review of articles that report patient-expressed concerns regarding their epilepsy and treatment were also reviewed. Results showed that the specialist panel appropriately identified patient-reported concerns of driving ability, medication cost, seizure control, and medication side effects. Additionally, patient-reported concerns of independence, employment issues, social stigma, medication dependence, and undesirable cognitive effects are important to address when considering and initiating AED conversion

Robust study design is as important on the social as it is on the ecological side of applied ecological research

1. The effective management of natural systems often requires resource users to change their behaviour. This has led to many applied ecologists using research tools developed by social scientists. This comes with challenges as ecologists often lack relevant disciplinary training. 2. Using an example from the current issue of Journal of Applied Ecology that investigated how conservation interventions influenced conservation outcomes, we discuss the challenges of conducting interdisciplinary science. We illustrate our points using examples from research investigating the role of law enforcement and outreach activities in limiting illegal poaching and the application of the theory of planned behaviour to conservation. 3. Synthesis and applications. Interdisciplinary research requires equal rigour to be applied to ecological and social aspects. Researchers with a natural science background need to access expertise and training in the principles of social science research design and methodology, in order to permit a more balanced interdisciplinary understanding of social–ecological system

Testing of High Voltage Surge Protection Devices for Use in Liquid Argon TPC Detectors

In this paper we demonstrate the capability of high voltage varistors and gas discharge tube arrestors for use as surge protection devices in liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. The insulating and clamping behavior of each type of device is characterized in air (room temperature), and liquid argon (90~K), and their robustness under high voltage and high energy surges in cryogenic conditions is verified. The protection of vulnerable components in liquid argon during a 150 kV high voltage discharge is also demonstrated. Each device is tested for argon contamination and light emission effects, and both are constrained to levels where no significant impact upon liquid argon time projection chamber functionality is expected. Both devices investigated are shown to be suitable for HV surge protection applications in cryogenic detectors.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures v2: reduced file size for journal submissio

Algorithms for the Numerical Solution of a Finite-Part Integral Equation

The authors investigate a hypersingular integral equation which arises in the study of acoustic wave scattering by moving objects. A Galerkin method and two collocation methods are presented for solving the problem numerically. These numerical techniques are compared and contrasted in three test problems

AfrOBIS: a marine biogeographic information system for sub-Saharan Africa

AfrOBIS is one of 11 global nodes of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), a freely accessible network of databases collating marine data in support of the Census of Marine Life.Versatile graphic products, provided by OBIS, can be used to display the data. To date, AfrOBIS has loaded about 3.2 million records of more than 23 000 species located mainly in the seas around southern Africa. This forms part of the 13.2 million records of more than 80 000 species currently stored in OBIS. Scouting for South African data has been successful, whereas locating records in other African countries has been much less so

Ionization-induced asymmetric self-phase modulation and universal modulational instability in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers

We study theoretically the propagation of relatively long pulses with ionizing intensities in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with a Raman-inactive gas. Due to photoionization, previously unknown types of asymmetric self-phase modulation and `universal' modulational instabilities existing in both normal and anomalous dispersion regions appear. We also show that it is possible to spontaneously generate a plasma-induced continuum of blueshifting solitons, opening up new possibilities for pushing supercontinuum generation towards shorter and shorter wavelengths.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Cooperative Evaluation of Inner Mongolia, PRC, Grassland Germplasm in the Western USA

Replicated dryland studies were established at three USDA, NRCS, Plant Materials Centers in the USA northern intermountain west by Chinese and American scientists. Forty-six Asian and 16 USA grasses, legumes, and shrubs were included. These plantings were evaluated for vigor, percent stand, and foliage height in 1994 and 1995, and for biomass production in 1995. Generally, USA grasses outperformed Asian grasses, while Inner Mongolian legumes show the highest potential for use in the intermountain west

Effects of acute and chronic hypohydration on tolerance to plus Gz acceleration in man. I - Physiological results

Effects of acute and chronic hypohydration on human physiological tolerance to gravity acceleratio

Environmental enteric dysfunction and the fecal microbiota in malawian children

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is often measured with a dual sugar absorption test and implicated as a causative factor in childhood stunting. Disturbances in the gut microbiota are hypothesized to be a mechanism by which EED is exacerbated, although this supposition lacks support. We performed 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing of fecal samples from 81 rural Malawian children with varying degrees of EED to determine which bacterial taxa were associated with EED. At the phyla level, Proteobacteria abundance is reduced with severe EED. Among bacterial genera, Megasphaera, Mitsuokella, and Sutterella were higher in EED and Succinivibrio, Klebsiella, and Clostridium_XI were lower in EED. Bacterial diversity did not vary with the extent of EED. Though EED is a condition that is typically believed to affect the proximal small bowel, and our focus was on stool, our data do suggest that there are intraluminal microbial differences that reflect, or plausibly lead to, EED

Construction and Assembly of the Wire Planes for the MicroBooNE Time Projection Chamber

In this paper we describe how the readout planes for the MicroBooNE Time Projection Chamber were constructed, assembled and installed. We present the individual wire preparation using semi-automatic winding machines and the assembly of wire carrier boards. The details of the wire installation on the detector frame and the tensioning of the wires are given. A strict quality assurance plan ensured the integrity of the readout planes. The different tests performed at all stages of construction and installation provided crucial information to achieve the successful realisation of the MicroBooNE wire planes.Comment: 24 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication as Technical Report in JINS