Could a Volumetric Display Enhance Decision Making Under Stress?

Recent advances in laser-based display technology are in the form of devices that create 3D images capable of being viewed from a 180 degrees without distortion. These displays are termed “Volumetric” since they represent images and data inside a volume. As such, points within the display are termed “voxels” for volume pixels. A voxel represents a three dimensional point in space (a point with x,y,z coordinates) . One implementation at the Naval Research And Development Lab [1] uses a spinning helical mirror that is struck by three laser scanners tuned to the primary colors (Red, Green, Blue). Thus, the technology provides psychological and physiological depth cues needed for true three dimensional imaging

Hyper Analysis Toolkit (HAT): A Case Study in Faculty Developed Software

The availability of inexpensive, high-powered personal computing environments i.s revolutionizing the business of higher education. The past “textbook-centric”world of academia is rapidly changing into a new “software-centric’’form. As such, many faculty are now interested in creating educational software but, because the process is unlike that of writing a textbook, have little experience with or understanding of the task

An Empirical Investigation Of The Cognitive Fit Of Selected Process Model Diagramming Techniques

This paper describes an empirical investigation of the cognitive fit (defined as the degree to which a particular diagramming technique is representative of a problem space) between four process modeling techniques consisting of data flow diagrams (DFD), process maps (PM), flowcharts (FC), and Resources, Events, and Agents (REA) diagrams. xperimental results indicated some positive associations between three techniques (PM, DFD, and REA) and scores for questions hypothetically pertaining to each, respectively.  Contrary to the hypotheses, PM and DFD outperformed F

An Empirical Investigation Of The Cognitive Fit Of Selected Process Model Diagramming Techniques

This paper describes an empirical investigation of the cognitive fit (defined as the degree to which a particular diagramming technique is representative of a problem space) between four process modeling techniques consisting of data flow diagrams (DFD), process maps (PM), flowcharts (FC), and Resources, Events, and Agents (REA) diagrams. Experimental results indicated some positive associations between three techniques (PM, DFD, and REA) and scores for questions hypothetically pertaining to each, respectively.  Contrary to the hypotheses, PM and DFD outperformed FC

Heart Failure in Hispanic Americans: Improving Cultural Awareness

Hispanic Americans are the largest and fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. Hispanic Americans have high rates of heart failure (HF) risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, obstructive sleep disorders, and dyslipidemia. Certain unique HF risk factors prominent among Hispanic Americans are uncommon in the general population, such as younger onset of valvular disease and Chagas disease. Advanced practice nurses providing care to Hispanic Americans have an ethical obligation to provide culturally competent care and assist these patients in overcoming barriers to health care so that they can effectively manage their HF

Chemotherapy was not associated with cognitive decline in older adults with breast and colorectal cancer: findings from a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: : This study tested 2 hypotheses: (1) chemotherapy increases the rate of cognitive decline in breast and colorectal cancer patients beyond what is typical of normal aging and (2) chemotherapy results in systematic cognitive declines when compared with breast and colorectal cancer patients who did not receive chemotherapy. SUBJECTS: : Data came from personal interviews with a prospective cohort of patients with breast (n=141) or colorectal cancer (n=224) with incident disease drawn from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (1998-2006) with linked Medicare claims. MEASURES: : The 27-point modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status was used to assess cognitive functioning, focusing on memory and attention. We defined the smallest clinically significant change as 0.4 points per year. RESULTS: : We used Bayesian hierarchical linear models to test the hypotheses, adjusting for multiple possible confounders. Eighty-eight patients were treated with chemotherapy; 277 were not. The mean age at diagnosis was 75.5. Patients were followed for a median of 3.1 years after diagnosis, with a range of 0 to 8.3 years. We found no differences in the rates of cognitive decline before and after diagnosis for patients who received chemotherapy in adjusted models (P=0.86, one-sided 95% posterior intervals lower bound: 0.09 worse after chemotherapy), where patients served as their own controls. Moreover, the rate of cognitive decline after diagnosis did not differ between patients who had chemotherapy and those who did not (P=0.84, one-sided 95% posterior intervals lower bound: 0.11 worse for chemotherapy group in adjusted model). CONCLUSIONS: : There was no evidence of cognitive decline associated with chemotherapy in this sample of older adults with breast and colorectal cancer.NIH K08Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93627/1/12.Shaffer.MedCare.Chemo.Brain.pd

Function of von Willebrand factor after crossed bone marrow transplantation between normal and von Willebrand disease pigs: effect on arterial thrombosis in chimeras.

von Willebrand factor (vWF) is essential for the induction of occlusive thrombosis in stenosed and injured pig arteries and for normal hemostasis. To separate the relative contribution of plasma and platelet vWF to arterial thrombosis, we produced chimeric normal and von Willebrand disease pigs by crossed bone marrow transplantation; von Willebrand disease (vWD) pigs were engrafted with normal pig bone marrow and normal pigs were engrafted with vWD bone marrow. Thrombosis developed in the chimeric normal pigs that showed normal levels of plasma vWF and an absence of platelet vWF; but no thrombosis occurred in the chimeric vWD pigs that demonstrated normal platelet vWF and an absence of plasma vWF. The ear bleeding times of the chimeric pigs were partially corrected by endogenous plasma vWF but not by platelet vWF. Our animal model demonstrated that vWF in the plasma compartment is essential for the development of arterial thrombosis and that it also contributes to the maintenance of bleeding time and hemostasis