Development of a predictive index for the logistics and distribution industry.

Indices are popular in many sectors of the US economy and are commonly used by businesses when making important decisions. In this research, two new indices are developed; a regional index for the Greater Louisville area and a national index for the United States. Both indices predict changes in the level of the logistics and distribution activity (as measured by employment values) and can be used by various organizations to plan expenditures that effect their logistics and distribution operations. This analysis utilizes two types of data; raw tonnage and economic factors. Local railway and local barge data are reported by the Ports of Indiana. Airway data for the Greater Louisville area is collected from the Regional Airport Authority. Both local and national roadway data come from the American Trucking Association. National data for air transit is collected from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics while barge data is provided by the Army Corps of Engineers. National railway data is provided by the Association of American Railroads. Both local and national employment data is collected from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additional organizations provided secondary data including: the Purchasing Manager\u27s Index (PMI) [y-charts.com], Gross Domestic Product [y-charts.com], crude oil prices [the Energy Information Administration], and the exchange rate of the US Dollar [International Monetary Fund]. Linear regression models are utilized to predict a response variable that is then converted into an index value for both the regional and the national indices. The regression models are tested against historical data to ensure their predictions are valid. Resulting index values are also tested to confirm the changes they indicate coincide with actual changes in employment data. A comparative analysis is completed which verifies that the national index is as useful as (if not more useful than) existing indicators. The regional regression was found to make predictions within 3% of the regional employment values 81% of the time. The national model falls within 3% of the national employment values 67% of the time. These indices are found to be valid, leading indicators of future activity in the logistics and distribution industry, for their specified regions

Inferring Dynamic Signatures of Microbes in Complex Host Ecosystems

The human gut microbiota comprise a complex and dynamic ecosystem that profoundly affects host development and physiology. Standard approaches for analyzing time-series data of the microbiota involve computation of measures of ecological community diversity at each time-point, or measures of dissimilarity between pairs of time-points. Although these approaches, which treat data as static snapshots of microbial communities, can identify shifts in overall community structure, they fail to capture the dynamic properties of individual members of the microbiota and their contributions to the underlying time-varying behavior of host ecosystems. To address the limitations of current methods, we present a computational framework that uses continuous-time dynamical models coupled with Bayesian dimensionality adaptation methods to identify time-dependent signatures of individual microbial taxa within a host as well as across multiple hosts. We apply our framework to a publicly available dataset of 16S rRNA gene sequences from stool samples collected over ten months from multiple human subjects, each of whom received repeated courses of oral antibiotics. Using new diversity measures enabled by our framework, we discover groups of both phylogenetically close and distant bacterial taxa that exhibit consensus responses to antibiotic exposure across multiple human subjects. These consensus responses reveal a timeline for equilibration of sub-communities of micro-organisms with distinct physiologies, yielding insights into the successive changes that occur in microbial populations in the human gut after antibiotic treatments. Additionally, our framework leverages microbial signatures shared among human subjects to automatically design optimal experiments to interrogate dynamic properties of the microbiota in new studies. Overall, our approach provides a powerful, general-purpose framework for understanding the dynamic behaviors of complex microbial ecosystems, which we believe will prove instrumental for future studies in this field

Adult malnutrition: prevalence and use of nutrition-related quality indicators in South African public-sector hospitals

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of malnutrition among adult hospitalised patients in three South African public hospitals and to determine the availability of nutrition-related quality indicators at ward and institutional level. Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional, multi-centre study was used to determine the prevalence of malnutrition, whilst a descriptive exploratory design was used to determine the use of nutrition-related quality indicators for the identification and treatment of malnutrition. A total of 141 adult hospitalised patients in three public hospitals in an urban setting participated. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), body mass index (BMI), and malnutrition universal screening tool (MUST) were used to determine the prevalence of malnutrition or malnutrition risk. A Hospital Nutrition Review Tool (HNRT) determined the use of nutrition-related quality indicators. Results: The overall malnutrition risk according to MUST was 72.3% (48.2% high risk and 24.1% medium risk), whilst 45.4% were malnourished based on MUAC. No routine nutritional screening was conducted in any of the wards to identify patients at nutritional risk. The majority of nurses reported inadequate training or knowledge to calculate patients’ BMI or percentage weight loss, or to perform nutritional screening. Conclusion: Both malnutrition prevalence and malnutrition risk among adult hospitalised patients are high in the public sector. Inadequate resources may lead to delays in malnutrition identification and appropriate nutritional intervention, which may adversely affect both the patient and the institution. This study contributes to baseline data on adult malnutrition in the South African public hospital setting

A need for an augmented review when reviewing rehabilitation research

AbstractThere is a need for additional strategies for performing systematic reviews (SRs) to improve translation of findings into practice and to influence health policy. SRs critically appraise research methodology and determine level of evidence of research findings. The standard type of SR identifies randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as providing the most valid data and highest level of evidence. RCTs are not among the most frequently used research design in disability and health research. RCTs usually measure impairments for the primary research outcome rather than improved function, participation or societal integration. It forces a choice between “validity” and “utility/relevance.” Other approaches have effectively been used to assess the validity of alternative research designs, whose outcomes focus on function and patient-reported outcomes. We propose that utilizing existing evaluation tools that measure knowledge, dissemination and utility of findings, may help improve the translation of findings into practice and health policy

Chiral Symmetry Restoration and Parity Mixing

We derive the expressions of the vector and axial current from a chiral Lagrangian restricted to nucleons and pions. They display mixing terms between the axial and vector currents. We study the modifications in the nuclear medium of the coupling constants of the axial current, namely the pion decay constant and the nucleonic axial one due to the requirements of chiral symmetry. We express the renormalizations in terms of the local scalar pion density. The latter also governs the quark condensate evolu- tion and we discuss the link between this evolution and the renormaliza- tions. In the case of the nucleon axial coupling constant this renormali- zation corresponds to a new type of exchange currents, with two exchanged pions. We give an estimate for the resulting quenching. Although moderate it helps explaining the quenching experimentally observed.Comment: Latex, 15 pages. Several references and one figure added. New discussion of some points has been included. Treatment of the renormali- zation of the nucleon axial coupling constant has been develope

A Comparison of the Upper Limb Lift Test between Women with Breast Cancer and Healthy Control Subjects

Presentation at the World Confederation for Physical Therapy Congress, held May 1-4, 2015, in Singapore. Background: Objective measures of upper limb (UL) function specific to breast cancer survivors (BC) are limited. Motion, strength, and muscular endurance are measurable components of UL function. A clinical test that quantifies these components is needed. Purpose: This study compares the Upper Limb Lift Test (ULLT) between women with BC and healthy control subjects (HC) at baseline, 1-3 months, and 12+ months post-operatively enrolled in a prospective surveillance trial with early intervention. A secondary purpose was to validate the ULLT by comparing findings to self-reported UL function, symptom distress, and shoulder motion in a group of women with BC and healthy control subjects

A Comparison of the Scapular Flip Test between Women with Breast Cancer and Healthy Controls

Presentation at the World Confederation for Physical Therapy Congress, held May 1-4, 2015, in Singapore. Background: The Scapular Flip test was designed to screen for spinal accessory nerve palsy. The spinal accessory nerve can be damaged in breast cancer surgery and treatment, resulting in scapular dyskinesis and upper limb (UL) impairment in women with breast cancer (BC). This test could be useful to screen for UL impairment in BC. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe shoulder impairments as defined by a positive Flip Test in a group of women with BC at baseline, 1-3 months, and 12+ months post-operatively, as compared to healthy control participants