Quality management for psychology services in health care facilities.

Describes a model of quality management, designed by a task force of the Canadian Psychological Association, to meet revised standards of the Canadian Council on Health Facilities Accreditation for psychology services. The incorporation of aspects of Continuous Quality Improvement, Total Quality Management, Indicators, and Benchmarking are discussed in relation to their application to psychology services in health care facilities. The Quality Management Model is based on the assumptions that everyone wants to do their job well and improve in their job performance; that the improvement in the quality of services is everyone's responsibility; and that psychological service provision in a health care facility involves complex linkages between providers, suppliers, and customers. The model also assumes that the major problems affecting quality of service are usually those same linkages, or the customers themselves; and that identifying and monitoring these linkages is crucial to understanding how to improve quality. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of a pregnancy-testing protocol in adolescents undergoing surgery

A 14-year-old boy presented acutely with occipital headache, nausea and vomiting. MRI showed obstructive hydrocephalus and marked bilateral cerebellar swelling with increased signal on T2-weighted imaging. Following treatment with oral corticosteroids, the clinical and radiological signs resolved. The clinical course and radiological appearances were consistent with cerebellitis associated with a significant mass effect and hydrocephalus.     

Vitamin E inhibits fish oil-induced hyperlipidemia and tissue lipid peroxidation in hamsters

Previous research has linked hyperlipidemia with increased serum concentrations of lipid peroxidation products; however, a specific association between diet-induced oxidative stress and hyperlipidemia has not been studied. In the present study, the relationship between tissue lipid peroxidation and hyperlipidemia induced by ingestion of fish oil was examined. In Experiment 1, male Golden Syrian hamsters were fed semipurified diets composed of 1.6 wt% safflower oil plus 15.0 wt% of either butterfat (BF), safflower oil (SAFF), or high-cholesterol menhaden oil [MHO(H-CHOL)] semipurified diets for 27 d. The cholesterol contents of the diets were adjusted to 0.088%. The MHO(H-CHOL)-fed hamsters exhibited higher serum concentrations of total cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein B, and lipid peroxides when compared to the BF and SAFF diet groups. In a further study (Experiment 2), hamsters were fed for 27 d three dietary treatments: (i) MHO(H-CHOL) with no vitamin E content; (ii) a low-cholesterol menhaden oil containing high concentrations of vitamin E (2.5 mg tocopherol/g oil or dietary concentrations of 375 mg/kg) [MHO(L-CHOL)+E]; and (iii) the MHO(L-CHOL+E) with added cholesterol (595 mg/kg) [MHO(L-CHOL)+CHOL+E] to match the cholesterol content of the MHO(H-CHOL). The MHO(L-CHOL)+E and MHO(L-CHOL)+CHOL+E diet groups showed lower concentrations of serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and hepatic lipid peroxides than the MHO(H-CHOL)-treated group. Moreover, in contrast to the hypercholesterolemia caused by the MHO(H-CHOL) feeding, the MHO(L-CHOL)+E and MHO(L-CHOL)+CHOL+ E diets did not show a serum cholesterol-elevating action. This study supports the hypothesis that oxidative stress in the Syrian hamster could play a causal role in dietary-induced hyperlipidemia which can be inhibited by high vitamin E intake.     

Adaptive non-linear speed control of induction motors

In this paper we present two adaptive non-linear speed control algorithms for induction motors. They employ input-output linearization techniques for the motor model in the stator fixed reference frame. The first control algorithm directly tracks speed and rotor flux. The second is designed using torque and rotor flux tracking and is extended for speed control. A key point is that this algorithm ensures exact current limitation in the known parameter case. The adaptation based on Lyapunov design can cope with rotor and stator resistance variations. Significant simulations using sampled controllers are presented emphasizing adaptation and current limitation effects.     

Juggling with Pattern Matching

In the late 1980s it was shown that juggling patterns can be described by strings of numbers with fascinating combinatorial properties that have since then been studied by many mathematicians and computer scientists. In this paper we propose to study juggling patterns from a pattern matching point of view. Inspired by pattern matching algorithms based on convolution, we propose a fast algorithm for finding transitions between juggling states. Apart from being a fun application of pattern matching theory, it provides a practical tool in the experimental design of (large) juggling patterns. We also provide a compact formula for counting the number of transitions of a given length between two juggling states.     

Complete separation of phospholipids from human heart combining two HPLC methods

The separation of phospholipid classes from human heart was achieved in two steps by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a silica column with an ultraviolet spectromonitor at 206 nm. A complete partitioning of phosphatidylcholines (PC), phosphatidylethanolamines (PE), phosphatidylinositols (PI), phosphatidylserines (PS), cardiolipins (CL), lysophosphatidylcholines (LPC) and sphingomyelins (Sph) was obtained for further analysis.     

Building a platform for growth: Technology advances in electroless nickel provide practical benefits for platers

Electroless nickel offers the engineering community a technology that is as reliable as it is diverse in meeting today's challenging applications. We must remain aware that current EN technology has limitations and maximizing deposit performance requires a cooperative effort between supplier, applicator and the end user. Success of electroless nickel in the future will require a strong commitment from these partners to advance the technology and the continued evolution of the EN family tree.     

Microstructural properties of Nb-Si alloys investigated using EBSD at large and small scale

Texture and crystallographic orientation relationships in arc-melted hypoeutectic and hypereutectic binary Nb-Si alloys are investigated. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) is used here in conventional conditions, i.e., at relatively high spatial resolution (<1 μm) for ∼400×400 μm fields, as well as on very large fields (1.1×1.1 mm), at lower resolution, to get a statistical overview of the microstructure. In as-cast Nb-16Si and Nb-22Si alloys (compositions are in at. pct), [001]_Nb3Si is found parallel to the local thermal gradient, with Nb₃Si + Nb eutectic cells, giving rise to a microstructure similar to that obtained by directional solidification. In Nb-22Si alloy, the following orientation relationships between poles of metallic and silicide phases have been found: (111)_Nb//(111)_Nb3Si (as cast), (011)_Nb//(011) _α-Nb5Si3, and (111)_Nb//(100) _α-Nb5Si3 (heat treated at 1500 °C, 75 hours). This article is based on a presentation made in the symposium entitled “Beyond Nickel-Base Superalloys,” which took place March 14–18, 2004, at the TMS Spring meeting in Charlotte, NC, under the auspices of the SMD-Corrosion and Environmental Effects Committee, the SMD-High Temperature Alloys Committee, the SMD-Mechanical Behavior of Materials Committee, and the SMD-Refractory Metals Committee.     

Testing for multivariate autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity using wavelets

Test statistics for autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) in the residuals from a possibly nonlinear and dynamic multivariate regression model are considered. The new approach is based on estimation of the multivariate spectral density of squared and cross-residuals. A simple wavelet-based spectral density estimator is advocated, which is a particularly suitable analytic tool when the spectral density exhibits peaks or kinks that may arise from strong cross-dependence, seasonal patterns and other forms of periodic behaviors. In several circumstances, the spectral density may have peaks at various frequencies, such as seasonal frequencies, and the wavelet method may capture them effectively. Compared to kernel-based test statistics for multivariate ARCH effects, the weighting scheme offered by the new wavelet-based test statistics differs in several important aspects. An asymptotic analysis under the null hypothesis of no ARCH effects shows that the wavelet-based test statistic converges in distribution to a convenient standard normal distribution. Under fixed alternatives, the consistency of the wavelet-based test statistics is established in a class of static regression models with uncorrelated but dependent errors. In a Monte Carlo study comparisons are made under various alternatives between the proposed wavelet-based test statistics, the kernel-based test statistics for ARCH effects, and several popular portmanteau test statistics for ARCH effects available in the literature.