A novel application of capnography during controlled human exposure to air pollution

BACKGROUND: The objective was to determine the repeatability and stability of capnography interfaced with human exposure facility. METHODS: Capnographic wave signals were obtained from five healthy volunteers exposed to particle-free, filtered air during two consecutive 5 min intervals, 10 min apart, within the open and then the sealed and operational human exposure facility (HEF). Using a customized setup comprised of the Oridion Microcap(® )portable capnograph, DA converter and AD card, the signal was acquired and saved as an ASCII file for subsequent processing. The minute ventilation (VE), respiratory rate (RR) and expiratory tidal volume (V(TE)) were recorded before and after capnographic recording and then averaged. Each capnographic tracing was analyzed for acceptable waves. From each recorded interval, 8 to 19 acceptable waves were selected and measured. The following wave parameters were obtained: total length and length of phase II and III, slope of phase II and III, area under the curve and area under phase III. In addition, we recorded signal measures including the mean, standard deviation, mode, minimum, maximum – which equals end-tidal CO(2 )(EtCO(2)), zero-corrected maximum and true RMS. RESULTS: Statistical analysis using a paired t-test for means showed no statistically significant changes of any wave parameters and wave signal measures, corrected for RR and V(TE), comparing the measures when the HEF was open vs. sealed and operational. The coefficients of variation of the zero-corrected and uncorrected EtCO(2), phase II absolute difference, signal mean, standard deviation and RMS were less than 10% despite a sub-atmospheric barometric pressure, and slightly higher temperature and relative humidity within the HEF when operational. CONCLUSION: We showed that a customized setup for the acquisition and processing of the capnographic wave signal, interfaced with HEF was stable and repeatable. Thus, we expect that analysis of capnographic waves in controlled human air pollution exposure studies is a feasible tool for characterization of cardio-pulmonary effects of such exposures

An introduction to classical real analysis

This classic book is a text for a standard introductory course in real analysis, covering sequences and series, limits and continuity, differentiation, elementary transcendental functions, integration, infinite series and products, and trigonometric series. The author has scrupulously avoided any presumption at all that the reader has any knowledge of mathematical concepts until they are formally presented in the book. One significant way in which this book differs from other texts at this level is that the integral which is first mentioned is the Lebesgue integral on the real line. There ar

Office of Saline Water Reports

From Summary: "This report describes the continuing work on HTME distillation plants, the first part of which was reported in Reference 1. Additional factors that affect HTME heat transfer coefficients were investigated, and the magnitude of their influence was determined.

Empowerment of Whom and for What? Financial Literacy Education and the New Regulation of Consumer Financial Services

Financial regulators in many states recently have obtained statuory mandates to enhance consumer financial literacy. This paper investicages the development of policy pursuant to such mandates in the UK and Canada to identify how national regulators in both countries represent financial market place. It finds that regulators in both countries represent financial education as empowerment and responsible consumer behaviour. The paper rekates the tension between empowerment and responsibilization aspects of literacy enhancement to policy goals of expectations of protection. It raises questions about regulators' use of consumer education to responsiblize consumption of financial products and calls for further research on the international growth of financial literacy education as a regulatory project

On the Ramanujan AGM fraction. Part I: the real-parameter case

The Ramanujan AGM continued fraction is a construct enjoying attractive algebraic properties, such as a striking arithmetic-geometric mean (AGM) relation and elegant connections with elliptic-function theory. But the fraction also presents an intriguing computational challenge. Herein we show how to rapidly evaluate R for any triple of positive reals a, b, η. Even in the problematic scenario when a ≈ b certain transformations allow rapid evaluation. In this process we find, for example, that when aη = bη = a rational number, Rη is essentially an Lseries that can be cast as a finite sum of fundamental numbers. We ultimately exhibit an algorithm that yields D good digits of R in O(D) iterations where the implied big-O constant is independent of the positive-real triple a, b, η. Finally, we address the evidently profound theoretical and computational dilemmas attendant on complex parameters, indicating how one might extend the AGM relation for complex parameter domains