The relationship of readiness factors to Jan. first grade reading achievement

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Development and Flight Test of an Augmented Thrust-Only Flight Control System on an MD-11 Transport Airplane

An emergency flight control system using only engine thrust, called Propulsion-Controlled Aircraft (PCA), has been developed and flight tested on an MD-11 airplane. In this thrust-only control system, pilot flight path and track commands and aircraft feedback parameters are used to control the throttles. The PCA system was installed on the MD-11 airplane using software modifications to existing computers. Flight test results show that the PCA system can be used to fly to an airport and safely land a transport airplane with an inoperative flight control system. In up-and-away operation, the PCA system served as an acceptable autopilot capable of extended flight over a range of speeds and altitudes. The PCA approaches, go-arounds, and three landings without the use of any non-nal flight controls have been demonstrated, including instrument landing system-coupled hands-off landings. The PCA operation was used to recover from an upset condition. In addition, PCA was tested at altitude with all three hydraulic systems turned off. This paper reviews the principles of throttles-only flight control; describes the MD-11 airplane and systems; and discusses PCA system development, operation, flight testing, and pilot comments

Large-kernel Attention for Efficient and Robust Brain Lesion Segmentation

Vision transformers are effective deep learning models for vision tasks, including medical image segmentation. However, they lack efficiency and translational invariance, unlike convolutional neural networks (CNNs). To model long-range interactions in 3D brain lesion segmentation, we propose an all-convolutional transformer block variant of the U-Net architecture. We demonstrate that our model provides the greatest compromise in three factors: performance competitive with the state-of-the-art; parameter efficiency of a CNN; and the favourable inductive biases of a transformer. Our public implementation is available at https://github.com/liamchalcroft/MDUNet

Voriconazole Compared with Liposomal Amphotericin B for Empirical Antifungal Therapy in Patients with Neutropenia and Persistent Fever

Background Patients with neutropenia and persistent fever are often treated empirically with amphotericin B or liposomal amphotericin B to prevent invasive fungal infections. Antifungal triazoles offer a potentially safer and effective alternative. Methods In a randomized, international, multicenter trial, we compared voriconazole, a new second-generation triazole, with liposomal amphotericin B for empirical antifungal therapy. Results A total of 837 patients (415 assigned to voriconazole and 422 to liposomal amphotericin B) were evaluated for success of treatment. The overall success rates were 26.0 percent with voriconazole and 30.6 percent with liposomal amphotericin B (95 percent confidence interval for the difference, –10.6 to 1.6 percentage points); these rates were independent of the administration of antifungal prophylaxis or the use of colony-stimulating factors. There were fewer documented breakthrough fungal infections in patients treated with voriconazole than in those treated with liposomal amphotericin B (8 [1.9 percent] vs. 21 [5.0 percent], P=0.02). The voriconazole group had fewer cases of severe infusion-related reactions (P\u3c0.01) and of nephrotoxicity (P\u3c0.001). The incidence of hepatotoxicity was similar in the two groups. Patients receiving voriconazole had more episodes of transient visual changes than those receiving liposomal amphotericin B (22 percent vs. 1 percent, P\u3c0.001) and more hallucinations (4.3 percent vs. 0.5 percent, P\u3c0.001). Parenteral voriconazole was changed to the oral formulation in 22 percent of the voriconazole group, with a reduction in the mean duration of hospitalization by one day in all patients (P=0.17) but by two days in patients at high risk (P=0.03). Conclusions Voriconazole is a suitable alternative to amphotericin B preparations for empirical antifungal therapy in patients with neutropenia and persistent fever. (N Engl J Med 2002;346:225-34.

A Framework and Architecture for Multi-Robot Coordination

In this paper, we present a framework and the software architecture for the deployment of multiple autonomous robots in an unstructured and unknown environment with applications ranging from scouting and reconnaissance, to search and rescue and manipulation tasks. Our software framework provides the methodology and the tools that enable robots to exhibit deliberative and reactive behaviors in autonomous operation, to be reprogrammed by a human operator at run-time, and to learn and adapt to unstructured, dynamic environments and new tasks, while providing performance guarantees. We demonstrate the algorithms and software on an experimental testbed that involves a team of car-like robots using a single omnidirectional camera as a sensor without explicit use of odometry

Candida dubliniensis Meningitis as Delayed Sequela of Treated C. dubliniensis Fungemia

We present a case of Candida dubliniensis meningitis that developed 2 months after apparently successful treatment of an episode of C. dubliniensis candidemia in a heart-lung transplant recipient in Australia. This case highlights the importance of follow-up in patients with candidemia or disseminated infection, especially in immunosuppressed patients

Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management Candidiasis: 2009 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America

Guidelines for the management of patients with invasive candidiasis and mucosal candidiasis were prepared by an Expert Panel of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. These updated guidelines replace the previous guidelines published in the 15 January 2004 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases and are intended for use by health care providers who care for patients who either have or are at risk of these infections. Since 2004, several new antifungal agents have become available, and several new studies have been published relating to the treatment of candidemia, other forms of invasive candidiasis, and mucosal disease, including oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis. There are also recent prospective data on the prevention of invasive candidiasis in high-risk neonates and adults and on the empiric treatment of suspected invasive candidiasis in adults. This new information is incorporated into this revised documen

MXene-Graphene Field-Effect Transistor Sensing of Influenza Virus and SARS-CoV-2

An MXene-graphene field-effect transistor (FET) sensor for both influenza virus and 2019-nCoV sensing was developed and characterized. The developed sensor combines the high chemical sensitivity of MXene and the continuity of large-area high-quality graphene to form an ultra-sensitive virus-sensing transduction material (VSTM). Through polymer linking, we are able to utilize antibody-antigen binding to achieve electrochemical signal transduction when viruses are deposited onto the VSTM surface. The MXene-graphene VSTM was integrated into a microfluidic channel that can directly receive viruses in solution. The developed sensor was tested with various concentrations of antigens from two viruses: inactivated influenza A (H1N1) HA virus ranging from 125 to 250,000 copies/mL and a recombinant 2019-nCoV spike protein ranging from 1 fg/mL to 10 pg/mL. The average response time was about ∼50 ms, which is significantly faster than the existing real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction method ( \u3e 3 h). The low limit of detection (125 copies/mL for the influenza virus and 1 fg/mL for the recombinant 2019-nCoV spike protein) has demonstrated the sensitivity of the MXene-graphene VSTM on the FET platform to virus sensing. Especially, the high signal-to-viral load ratio (∼10% change in source-drain current and gate voltage) also demonstrates the ultra-sensitivity of the developed MXene-graphene FET sensor. In addition, the specificity of the sensor was also demonstrated by depositing the inactivated influenza A (H1N1) HA virus and the recombinant 2019-nCoV spike protein onto microfluidic channels with opposite antibodies, producing signal differences that are about 10 times lower. Thus, we have successfully fabricated a relatively low-cost, ultrasensitive, fast-responding, and specific inactivated influenza A (H1N1) and 2019-nCoV sensor with the MXene-graphene VSTM

Validation of primary metal-on-metal hip arthroplasties on the National Joint Registry for England, Wales and Northern Ireland using data from the London Implant Retrieval Centre: A study using the NJR dataset

Arthroplasty registries are important for the surveillance of joint replacements and the evaluation of outcome. Independent validation of registry data ensures high quality. The ability for orthopaedic implant retrieval centres to validate registry data is not known. We analysed data from the National Joint Registry for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (NJR) for primary metal-on-metal hip arthroplasties performed between 2003 and 2013. Records were linked to the London Implant Retrieval Centre (RC) for validation. A total of 67 045 procedures on the NJR and 782 revised pairs of components from the RC were included. We were able to link 476 procedures (60.9%) recorded with the RC to the NJR successfully. However, 306 procedures (39.1%) could not be linked. The outcome recorded by the NJR (as either revised, unrevised or death) for a primary procedure was incorrect in 79 linked cases (16.6%). The rate of registry-retrieval linkage and correct assignment of outcome code improved over time. The rates of error for component reference numbers on the NJR were as follows: femoral head category number 14/229 (5.0%); femoral head batch number 13/232 (5.3%); acetabular component category number 2/293 (0.7%) and acetabular component batch number 24/347 (6.5%). Registry-retrieval linkage provided a novel means for the validation of data, particularly for component fields. This study suggests that NJR reports may underestimate rates of revision for many types of metal-on-metal hip replacement. This is topical given the increasing scope for NJR data. We recommend a system for continuous independent evaluation of the quality and validity of NJR data. Validation of primary metal-on-metal hip arthroplasties on the National Joint Registry for England, Wales and Northern Ireland using data from the London Implant Retrieval Centre: A study using the NJR dataset (PDF Download Available)