Global existence of small displacement solutions for Hookean incompressible viscoelasticity in 3D

The initial value problem for Hookean incompressible viscoelastictic motion in three space dimensions has global strong solutions with small displacements

Drug information resources used by nurse practitioners and collaborating physicians at the point of care in Nova Scotia, Canada: a survey and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Keeping current with drug therapy information is challenging for health care practitioners. Technologies are often implemented to facilitate access to current and credible drug information sources. In the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, legislation was passed in 2002 to allow nurse practitioners (NPs) to practice collaboratively with physician partners. The purpose of this study was to determine the current utilization patterns of information technologies by these groups of practitioners. METHODS: Nurse practitioners and their collaborating physician partners in Nova Scotia were sent a survey in February 2005 to determine the frequency of use, usefulness, accessibility, credibility, and current/timeliness of personal digital assistant (PDA), computer, and print drug information resources. Two surveys were developed (one for PDA users and one for computer users) and revised based on a literature search, stakeholder consultation, and pilot-testing results. A second distribution to nonresponders occurred two weeks following the first. Data were entered and analysed with SPSS. RESULTS: Twenty-seven (14 NPs and 13 physicians) of 36 (75%) recipients responded. 22% (6) returned personal digital assistant (PDA) surveys. Respondents reported print, health professionals, and online/electronic resources as the most to least preferred means to access drug information, respectively. 37% and 35% of respondents reported using "both print and electronic but print more than electronic" and "print only", respectively, to search monograph-related drug information queries whereas 4% reported using "PDA only". Analysis of respondent ratings for all resources in the categories print, health professionals and other, and online/electronic resources, indicated that the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties and pharmacists ranked highly for frequency of use, usefulness, accessibility, credibility, and current/timeliness by both groups of practitioners. Respondents' preferences and resource ratings were consistent with self-reported methods for conducting drug information queries. Few differences existed between NP and physician rankings of resources. CONCLUSION: The use of computers and PDAs remains limited, which is also consistent with preferred and frequent use of print resources. Education for these practitioners regarding available electronic drug information resources may facilitate future computer and PDA use. Further research is needed to determine methods to increase computer and PDA use and whether these technologies affect prescribing and patient outcomes

GLOBAL EXISTENCE OF SMALL DISPLACEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR HOOKEAN INCOMPRESSIBLE VISCOELASTICITY IN 3D

The initial value problem for incompressible Hookean viscoelastic motion in three space dimensions has global strong solutions with small displacements

Resolving discrete emission events: a new perspective for detrapping investigation in NAND Flash memories

We report the first experimental evidence of discrete threshold-voltage transients on high-density NAND Flash arrays during post-cycling data retention. Proper choice of experimental conditions eliminates the impact of averaging effects and disturbs on the transients, enabling clear detection of single charge emission events from/to the tunnel oxide of sub-30nm NAND Flash cells. A stochastic model for the discrete emission process was developed from experimental data, demonstrating that number fluctuation of charges trapped in the tunnel oxide and the statistical nature of their emission dynamics strongly affect the post-cycling data retention performance of the arrays. These results pave the way for further analyses of NAND Flash reliability, where the behavior of single electrons and defects can be monitored and facilitate detailed assessments of the fundamental scaling challenges arising from the discrete nature of charge trapping/detrappin

Growing convergence research: Coproducing climate projections to inform proactive decisions for managing simultaneous wildfire risk

We apply a convergence research approach to the urgent need for proactive management of long-term risk associated with wildfire in the United States. In this work we define convergence research in accordance with the US National Science Foundation-as a means of addressing a specific and compelling societal problem for which solutions require deep integration across disciplines and engagement of stakeholders. Our research team brings expertise in climate science, fire science, landscape ecology, and decision science to address the risk from simultaneous and impactful fires that compete for management resources, and leverages climate projections for decision support. In order to make progress toward convergence our team bridges spatial and temporal scale divides arising from differences in disciplinary and practice-based norms. We partner with stakeholders representing US governmental, tribal, and local decision contexts to coproduce a robust information base for support of decision making about wildfire preparedness and proactive land/fire management. Our approach ensures that coproduced information will be directly integrated into existing tools for application in operations and policy making. Coproduced visualizations and decision support information provide projections of the change in expected number of fires that compete for resources, the number of fire danger days per year relative to prior norms, and changes in the length and overlap of fire season in multiple US regions. Continuing phases of this work have been initiated both by stakeholder communities and by our research team, a demonstration of impact and value

Development and validation of the mini-osteoporosis quality of life questionnaire (OQLQ) in osteoporotic women with back pain due to vertebral fractures. Osteoporosis Quality of Life Study Group.

The objective of the study was to evaluate a shortened osteoporosis quality of life questionnaire (OQLQ) in osteoporotic women with back pain due to vertebral fractures. From the longer 30-item OQLQ (four to nine items per domain) we created the mini-OQLQ by choosing the two items with the highest impact in each of five domains (symptoms, physical function, activities of daily living, emotional function, leisure). We administered the OQLQ, the Sickness Impact Profile, the SF-36 and the Brief Pain Index to patients at baseline, after 2 weeks and after 6 months. The intraclass correlations between baseline and the 2-week follow-up for the five mini-OQLQ domains ranged from 0.72 to 0.86. Cross-sectional correlations between the domains of the mini-OQLQ and other health instruments were moderate to large (0.35-0.80) and greater than predicted. The mini-OQLQ items showed moderate to large correlations with items omitted from the shortened questionnaire (0. 44-0.88). Correlations between the OQLQ domains and the other three instruments were greater than those of the mini-OQLQ, and partial correlations between OQLQ items omitted from the mini-OQLQ and the other three instruments after considering mini-OQLQ items were substantial (0.19-0.71) and statistically significant. Sample sizes of less than 200 per group should be required to detect minimally important differences in parallel-group clinical trials. Longitudinal correlations between the mini-OQLQ and the other measures were often significant but generally lower than predicted (0.10-0.49). The partial correlations revealed that the omitted items explained a significant portion of the longitudinal variance in each domain. We conclude that in a selected group of patients with back pain caused by vertebral fractures, the mini-OQLQ demonstrated good discriminative and adequate evaluative properties. The mini-questionnaire should be useful in clinical settings