704 research outputs found
Humanasonics: Compositions Inspired by Anthropological Human Universals
Human universals are the commonalitiesthe onenessof mankind, and anthropology is charged with their study. Universals form a general, immutable foundational theory of humanity. The purpose of this thesis is to show how that theory can be used to inspire composition.
Human Universals, Donald E. Browns seminal 1991 work is an exhaustive and comprehensive overview of the subject and provided my understanding of anthropological human universals. Music composition is viewed as the organization of contrasting soundssonics. Humanasonics is a new word that names the concept of deriving inspiration from human universals for music composition.
This suite of program music is structured in four movements, totalling approximately twenty minutes, for jazz orchestra. Each movement is inspired by a human universal trait or condition.
The conclusion asserts that when music is metaphorically based on immutable human universality, it will lead to an inherent understanding, unconscious or conscious, of the work
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Low income as a determinant of exercise capacity in COPD.
Exercise capacity (EC) is a critical outcome in chronic obstructive lung disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)). It measures the impact of the disease and the effect of specific interventions like pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). EC determines COPD prognosis and is associated with health-care utilization and quality of life. Field walking tests and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) are two ways to measure EC. The 6-minute walking test (6MWT) is the commonest and easiest field test. CPET has the advantage of assessing maximal aerobic capacity. Determinants of EC include age, gender, breathlessness, and lung function. Previous research suggests that socioeconomic status (SES), a meaningful factor in COPD, may also be associated with EC. However, those findings have not been replicated. We aimed to determine whether SES is an independent factor associated with EC in COPD. For this analysis, we used the National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT) database. NETT was a multicenter clinical trial where severe COPD patients were randomized to lung volume reduction surgery or medical therapy. Measures used were taken at baseline, postrehabilitation. Patients self-reported their income and were divided in two groups whether it was less or above US$30,000. Patients with a lower income had worse results in 6MWT ( p < 0.0001). We found an independent association between income and the 6MWT in patients with severe COPD after adjusting for age, gender, lung function, dyspnea, and living conditions ( p < 0.0007). One previous publication stated the relationship between income and EC. Our research confirms and extends previous publications associating EC with income by studying a large and well characterized cohort of severe COPD patients, also addressing EC by two different methods (maximal watts and 6MWT). Our results highlight the importance of addressing social determinants of health such as income when assessing COPD patients
A review of the water and energy sectors and the use of a nexus approach in Abu Dhabi
Rapid population increase coupled with urbanization and industrialization has resulted in shortages of water in the Middle East. This situation is further exacerbated by global climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions. Recent research advocates that solutions to the global water security and scarcity crisis must involve water–energy nexus approaches. This means adopting policies and strategies that harmonize these inter-related sectors to minimize environmental impact while maximizing human benefit. In the case of Abu Dhabi, when designing and locating oil/gas refineries and associated power generation facilities, previous relevant decisions were based on simple economic and geographical grounds, such as nearness to oil rigs, pipelines, existing industries and port facilities, etc. The subsequent design and location of water abstraction and treatment works operated by the waste heat from these refining and/or power generation processes was catered for as an afterthought, meaning that there is now a mismatch between the water and energy supplies and demands. This review study was carried out to show how Abu Dhabi is trying now to integrate its water–energy sectors using a nexus approach so that future water/power infrastructure is designed optimally and operated in harmony, especially in regard to future demand. Based upon this review work, some recommendations are made for designers and policy makers alike to bolster the nexus approach that Abu Dhabi is pursuing
Near-field diffraction of fs and sub-fs pulses: super-resolutions of NSOM in space and time
The near-field diffraction of fs and sub-fs light pulses by nm-size slit-type
apertures and its implication for near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM)
is analyzed. The amplitude distributions of the diffracted wave-packets having
the central wavelengths in the visible spectral region are found by using the
Neerhoff and Mur coupled integral equations, which are solved numerically for
each Fourier's component of the wave-packet. In the case of fs pulses, the
duration and transverse dimensions of the diffracted pulse remain practically
the same as that of the input pulse. This demonstrates feasibility of the NSOM
in which a fs pulse is used to provide the fs temporal resolution together with
nm-scale spatial resolution. In the sub-fs domain, the Fourier spectrum of the
transmitted pulse experiences a considerable narrowing that leads to the
increase of the pulse duration in a few times. This imposes a limit on the
simultaneous resolutions in time and space.Comment: 5 figure
THE EFFECT OF VANCOMYCIN DOSES GREATER THAN 2 GRAMS ON SERUM CREATININE AND VANCOMYCIN TROUGH LEVELS
Objective: To assess the effect of vancomycin doses greater than 2 grams on renal function and vancomycin trough levels
Methods: This is a retrospective, pharmacokinetic study performed in a tertiary care level II trauma center. 3579 electronic charts of patients who received vancomcyin at the medical facility between January 2010 and December 2011 were reviewed. Only 30 patients met the inclusion criteria of the study. Included patients were those who were at least 18 years of age who received doses greater than 2 grams of vancomycin for at least 48 hours. Patients in the intensive care units, pregnant or on hemodialysis and were not included in the study. The mean weight for the participants was 154.67 kg.
Results: Patients were dosed based on the institution's vancomycin dosing protocol such as 15-20 mg/kg per dose where the frequency was determined based on the estimated creatinine clearance using cockroft gault equation. A loading dose of 25-30 mg/kg was administered in few cases. Two out of thirty subjects had shown an increase of serum creatinine of ≥ 0.3mg/dL when receiving maintenance doses greater than 2 grams of vancomycin. A Z approximation test was used where a standard error of 0.043 with an α error equal to 0.05 and a 95% confidence interval of (-0.024-0.144) were found. The use of doses greater than 2 grams of IV vancomycin did not show a statistically significance increase in serum creatinine. The two subjects who did have a significant increase in serum creatinine were receiving concomitant nephrotoxins.
Conclusion: The use of doses greater than 2 grams of IV vancomycin did not show a statistically significant increase in serum creatinine. Patients whom serum creatinine increased were on other nephrotoxin agents that could have contributed to the acute kidney injury that was seen in these patients
Engineering geological models: an introduction: IAEG commission 25
The generation and use of engineering geological models should be a fundamental activity for any geotechnical project. Such models are an essential tool for engineering quality control and provide a transparent way of identifying project-specific critical engineering geological issues and parameters. Models should also form the basis for designing the scope, the method and assessing the effectiveness of site investigations. However, whilst the idea of models in engineering geology has existed for several decades, there has been little published that systematically distinguishes the different model types and how and when they might be used. This paper presents the views of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment Commission C25 on the ‘Use of Engineering Geological Models
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Quasiperiodic predictive filtering for robot-assisted beating heart surgery
Beating heart procedures promise significant health benefits to patients but the fast motion of the heart poses a serious challenge to the surgeon. Robotic motion synchronization to heart movements could facilitate these surgeries, although for intracardiac procedures this requires the development of a predictive filter to compensate for the measurement noise and time delay present in 3D ultrasound imaging. In this paper, we present a quasiperiodic cardiac motion model and apply the extended Kalman filter to estimation of its parameters in real-time. We experimentally demonstrate high accuracy robot tracking to heart motion using this filter.Engineering and Applied Science
Universality in the partially anisotropic three-dimensional Ising lattice
Using transfer-matrix extended phenomenological renormalization-group methods
the critical properties of spin-1/2 Ising model on a simple-cubic lattice with
partly anisotropic coupling strengths are studied.
Universality of both fundamental critical exponents and is
confirmed. It is shown that the critical finite-size scaling amplitude ratios
, , and
are independent of the lattice anisotropy
parameter . By this for the last above invariant of the
three-dimensional Ising universality class we give the first quantitative
estimate: (shape , periodic boundary
conditions in both transverse directions).Comment: 11 pages in latex; no figure
Multiple timescales in a model for DNA denaturation dynamics
The denaturation dynamics of a long double-stranded DNA is studied by means
of a model of the Poland-Scheraga type. We note that the linking of the two
strands is a locally conserved quantity, hence we introduce local updates that
respect this symmetry. Linking dissipation via untwist is allowed only at the
two ends of the double strand. The result is a slow denaturation characterized
by two time scales that depend on the chain length . In a regime up to a
first characteristic time the chain embodies an
increasing number of small bubbles. Then, in a second regime, bubbles coalesce
and form entropic barriers that effectively trap residual double-stranded
segments within the chain, slowing down the relaxation to fully molten
configurations, which takes place at . This scenario is
different from the picture in which the helical constraints are neglected.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
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