5,051 research outputs found
Renal biopsy: it is time for pragmatism and consensus.
To obtain truly informed consent, we must be able to advise our patients accurately about the relative risk and benefit of any treatment plan. Percutaneous renal biopsy remains the gold standard investigation in the evaluation of intrinsic renal disease. There have been significant improvements in practice over the past decades with regards to percutaneous renal biopsy. Across centres, we appear now to have reached agreement on many aspects of this procedure, such as the need for blood pressure control, avoidance of coagulopathy, use of spring-loaded needles under direct imaging guidance and a need to monitor for complications. The authors from Rush University Medical Centre provide reassurance that renal biopsy in the modern era remains a safe procedure with a low rate of significant bleeding. There remain areas of divergence in practice that may have unintended and deleterious consequences: administration of desmopressin and discontinuation of aspirin, for example, both carry a risk of thrombosis. It is our opinion that it is time to reach consensus on our interpretation of the available data and to draw up guidelines to standardize our biopsy practice internationally
Localization Transition in Multilayered Disordered Systems
The Anderson delocalization-localization transition is studied in
multilayered systems with randomly placed interlayer bonds of density and
strength . In the absence of diagonal disorder (W=0), following an
appropriate perturbation expansion, we estimate the mean free paths in the main
directions and verify by scaling of the conductance that the states remain
extended for any finite , despite the interlayer disorder. In the presence
of additional diagonal disorder () we obtain an Anderson transition with
critical disorder and localization length exponent independently of
the direction. The critical conductance distribution varies,
however, for the parallel and the perpendicular directions. The results are
discussed in connection to disordered anisotropic materials.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex file, 8 postscript files, minor change
Critical regime of two dimensional Ando model: relation between critical conductance and fractal dimension of electronic eigenstates
The critical two-terminal conductance and the spatial fluctuations of
critical eigenstates are investigated for a disordered two dimensional model of
non-interacting electrons subject to spin-orbit scattering (Ando model). For
square samples, we verify numerically the relation between critical conductivity and
the fractal information dimension of the electron wave function, . Through a detailed numerical scaling analysis of the two-terminal
conductance we also estimate the critical exponent that
governs the quantum phase transition.Comment: IOP Latex, 7 figure
Modified Petri net model sensitivity to workload manipulations
Modified Petri Nets (MPNs) are investigated as a workload modeling tool. The results of an exploratory study of the sensitivity of MPNs to work load manipulations in a dual task are described. Petri nets have been used to represent systems with asynchronous, concurrent and parallel activities (Peterson, 1981). These characteristics led some researchers to suggest the use of Petri nets in workload modeling where concurrent and parallel activities are common. Petri nets are represented by places and transitions. In the workload application, places represent operator activities and transitions represent events. MPNs have been used to formally represent task events and activities of a human operator in a man-machine system. Some descriptive applications demonstrate the usefulness of MPNs in the formal representation of systems. It is the general hypothesis herein that in addition to descriptive applications, MPNs may be useful for workload estimation and prediction. The results are reported of the first of a series of experiments designed to develop and test a MPN system of workload estimation and prediction. This first experiment is a screening test of MPN model general sensitivity to changes in workload. Positive results from this experiment will justify the more complicated analyses and techniques necessary for developing a workload prediction system
Navigating uncertainty and complexity: Higher education and the dilemma of employability
This paper reinforces growing social and economic demands for graduates who can navigate the uncertainty and complexity of rapidly transforming employment contexts. This aim is first addressed with an overview of the research on employability and the changing nature of work and employment. This is followed with a discussion of employability and career development within higher education. The article concludes by considering the implications for higher education institutions. Recommendations include the development of graduate employability measures that record multiple employments and the refinement of employability models. The authors challenge higher education institutions to place the development of self and career at the core of every program
Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and stable-isotope stratigraphy of cores from ODP Leg 105 site surveys, Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay
Trigger weight (TWC) and piston (PC) cores obtained from surveys of the three sites drilled during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 105 were studied in detail for benthic foraminiferal assemblages, total carbonate (all sites), planktonic foraminiferal abundances (Sites 645 and 647), and stable isotopes (Sites 646 and 647). These high-resolution data provide the link between modern environmental conditions represented by the sediment in the TWC and the uppermost cores of the ODP holes. This link provides essential control data for interpretating late Pleistocene paleoceanographic records from these core holes. At Site 645 in Baffin Bay, local correlation is difficult because the area is dominated by ice-rafted deposits and by debris flows and/or turbidite sedimentation. At the two Labrador Sea sites (646 and 647), the survey cores and uppermost ODP cores can be correlated. High-resolution data from the site survey cores also provide biostratigraphic data that refine the interpretations compiled from core-catcher samples at each ODP site
Scaling of the conductance distribution near the Anderson transition
The single parameter scaling hypothesis is the foundation of our
understanding of the Anderson transition. However, the conductance of a
disordered system is a fluctuating quantity which does not obey a one parameter
scaling law. It is essential to investigate the scaling of the full conductance
distribution to establish the scaling hypothesis. We present a clear cut
numerical demonstration that the conductance distribution indeed obeys one
parameter scaling near the Anderson transition
Stereoscopic electron spectroscopy of solar hard X-ray flares with a single spacecraft
Hard X-ray (HXR) spectroscopy is the most direct method of diagnosing
energetic electrons in solar flares. Here we present a technique which allows
us to use a single HXR spectrum to determine an effectively stereoscopic
electron energy distribution. Considering the Sun's surface to act as a
'Compton mirror' allows us to look at emitting electrons also from behind the
source, providing vital information on downward-propagating particles. Using
this technique we determine simultaneously the electron spectra of downward and
upward directed electrons for two solar flares observed by the Ramaty High
Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). The results reveal surprisingly
near-isotropic electron distributions, which contrast strongly with the
expectations from the standard model which invokes strong downward beaming,
including collisional thick-target model.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted to Astrophysical Journal Letter
Nonlinear Models of Convergence
A sufficient issue in studies of economic development is whether economies (countries, regions of a country, etc.) converge to one another in terms of per capita income. In this paper, nonlinear asymptotically subsiding trends of income gap in a pair of economies model the convergence process. A few specific forms of such trends are proposed: log-exponential trend, exponential trend, and fractional trend. A pair of economies is deemed converging if time series of their income gap is stationary about any of these trends. To test for stationarity, standard unit root tests are applied with non-standard test statistics that are estimated for each kind of the trends
Development of the fast neutron imaging telescope
We report on the development of a next generation neutron telescope, with imaging and energy measurement capabilities, sensitive to neutrons in the 2-20 MeV energy range. The Fast Neutron Imaging Telescope (FNIT) was initially conceived to study solar neutrons as a candidate instrument for the Inner Heliosphere Sentinels (IHS) program under formulation at NASA. This detector is now being adapted to locate Special Nuclear Material (SNM) for homeland security purposes by detecting fission neutrons and reconstructing the image of their source. In either case, the detection principle is based on multiple elastic neutron-proton scatterings in organic scintillator. By reconstructing the scattering coordinates and measuring the recoil proton energy, the direction and energy of each neutron can be determined and discrete neutron sources identified. We describe the performance of the FNIT prototype, report on the current status of R&D efforts and present the results of recent laboratory measurements
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