Interpretation time of serial chest CT examinations with stacked-metaphor workstation versus film alternator

PURPOSE: Interpretation time of serial staging chest CT cases, which each contained current and previous examinations, with a simple prototype workstation called filmstack was experimentally compared with interpretation time with a film alternator. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The filmstack displayed a "stack" of sections for each examination; user controls allowed rapid selection of preset attenuation windows and both synchronized and unsynchronized scrolling. Eight radiologists were timed as they used the filmstack and the film alternator to interpret four ergonomically complex serial CT cases. RESULTS: All reports dictated on the basis of findings with filmstack and film were of acceptable clinical accuracy. The time to examine a case with filmstack was significantly faster than the time with film, including the time to load and unload the alternator (99% confidence [P = .01]). There was no statistically significant difference in interpretation time between filmstack and prehung film. CONCLUSION: Use of a low-cost stacked CT workstation with a single 1,024 x 1,024 monitor is an effective means of interpreting cases that require comparison of multiple CT examinations.     

Joint power control and user scheduling for backbone-assisted industrial wireless networks with successive interference cancellation

In a backbone-assisted industrial wireless network (BAIWN), the technology of successive interference cancellation (SIC) based non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) provides potential solutions for improving the delay performance. Previous work emphasizes minimizing the transmission delay by user scheduling without considering power control. However, power control is beneficial for SIC-based NOMA to exploit the power domain and manage co-channel interference to simultaneously serve multiple user nodes with the high spectral and time resource utilization characteristics. In this paper, we consider joint power control and user scheduling to study the scheduling time minimization problem (STMP) with given traffic demands in BAIWNs. Specifically, STMP is formulated as an integer programming problem, which is NP-hard. To tackle the NP-hard problem, we propose a conflict graph-based greedy algorithm, to obtain a sub-optimal solution with low complexity. As a good feature, the decisions of power control and user scheduling can be made by the proposed algorithm only according to the channel state information and traffic demands. The experimental results show that compared with the other methods, the proposed method effectively improves the delay performance regardless of the channel states or the network scales.

     

The mismatch negativity to frequency deviant stimuli during natural sleep

Eight subjects spent a single night in the sleep laboratory. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the presentation of two auditory "oddball' stimulus conditions in which tonal frequency was manipulated. In the first condition, 1000 Hz "standard' and 2000 Hz "deviant' tones were presented. In the second condition, the deviant tone was reduced to 1050 Hz. In both conditions, deviant probability was 0.2. Stimuli were presented every 600 ms during wakefulness and stages 2, 4, and REM of sleep. A distinctive N1 wave was visible in both stimulus conditions when the subject was awake. The deviant stimuli elicited a "mismatch negativity' (MMN) that inverted in polarity at the mastoid. In REM sleep, an N1 and a MMN were also elicited in both conditions. In the large deviance condition, the MMN had a slightly attenuated amplitude and was shorter in duration while in the small deviant condition, its peak latency was unusually early. Neither the N1 nor the MMN could be recorded in non-REM sleep.     

HLA-DRB1 genes and disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis. The MIRA Trial Group. Minocycline in Rheumatoid Arthritis

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of alleles encoding the "shared"/"rheumatoid" epitope on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease severity in patients who participated in the minocycline in RA (MIRA) trial. METHODS: Of 205 patients with a week-48 visit, blood was available for typing of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 in 174 (85%) and successfully completed in 169 (82%). Baseline erosions were used to assess disease severity and new erosions at the last visit served as a proxy for progression. RESULTS: At baseline, there was no association between the presence of erosive disease or rheumatoid factor status and the dose of rheumatoid epitope (homozygous, heterozygous, none) or the specific alleles identified. At the final visit, a gradient was observed for the 3 allelic subgroups (and their gene doses) in the occurrence of new erosions among the Caucasian placebo-treated, but not the minocycline-treated, patients. A treatment group/HLA-DR4 epitope interaction was demonstrated in multivariate analyses. Approximately two-thirds of African-American patients did not have the rheumatoid epitope. CONCLUSION: HLA-DRB1 oligotyping may be useful in predicting the progression of disease in some Caucasian patients. Our study corroborates the infrequency of the epitope among African-American patients with RA.     

1996 editorial: 50th Anniversary Issue of the American Psychologist.

Presents an editorial on the 50th Anniversary Issue of The American Psychologist by the CEO and Executive Vice President of the American Psychological Association. An overview of changes to the journal and the developments in electronic communications pare presented, and the implications for international exchange in scholarly publishing are discussed. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of problems,solution techniques,and future challenges in scheduling semiconductor manufacturing operations

In this paper, we discuss scheduling problems in semiconductor manufacturing. Starting from describing the manufacturing process, we identify typical scheduling problems found in semiconductor manufacturing systems. We describe batch scheduling problems, parallel machine scheduling problems, job shop scheduling problems, scheduling problems with auxiliary resources, multiple orders per job scheduling problems, and scheduling problems related to cluster tools. We also present important solution techniques that are used to solve these scheduling problems by means of specific examples, and report on known implementations. Finally, we summarize some of the challenges in scheduling semiconductor manufacturing operations.     

Healthcare foodservice report 1993. Getting ready for reform. Interview by Mitchell Schechter

Hospital foodservice directors & dietitians are facing the greatest challenge of their careers -- to prepare, along with their institutions, for the most thoroughgoing reform of America's healthcare system ever proposed. Healthcare institutions across the country are seeking the means to offer enhanced patient services & gain competitive advantages by forming new alliances, new patient-centered care systems & cost-reduction programs. To aid in these efforts, their foodservices are developing comprehensive cross-training schemes, inter-departmental teams with other service groups & new ways to cut operating subsidies. Here's how five hospital foodservice departments are using cost controls, revenue building, quality management processes & enhanced efficiencies to help their institutions prepare for the changes ahead.