St. Francis Hospice: Medicare and health care reform

The St. Francis Hospice Program is symbolic of more than 100 years of Franciscan dedication to the people of Hawaii. Since Mother Marianne's arrival in November of 1883, the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order Syracuse, New York have responded to the calling; "the charity of Christ impels us." It is through this calling that care and comfort for the terminally ill is a part of the mission of St. Francis Healthcare System. The magnificent spirit through which Hospice services have been made possible, is a reflection of God's great generosity to us throughout the years.     

Video-assisted lateral intertransverse process arthrodesis. Validation of a new minimally invasive lumbar spinal fusion technique in the rabbit and nonhuman primate (rhesus) models

STUDY DESIGN: Cadaveric anatomic and in vivo survival animal studies were performed to develop a new arthrodesis technique for the lumbar spine. OBJECTIVES: To examine the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of a minimally invasive lumbar intertransverse process arthrodesis technique using an osteoinductive growth factor (rhBMP-2) delivered in a collagen sponge carrier. The technique was first developed using a rabbit model and modified for the nonhuman primate (rhesus monkey), a larger animal with the most similar bone biology to humans. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The morbidity of conventional posterolateral lumbar intertransverse process arthrodesis includes graft donor site morbidity; paraspinal muscle devascularization, denervation, and scarring and nonunion in up to 36% of patients. Minimally invasive anterior lumbar interbody arthrodesis techniques have been developed, but these often require a metal implant and carry risks to major vessels and development of retrograde ejaculation. A minimally invasive technique for posterolateral intertransverse process arthrodesis has not been described previously. METHODS: In Part 1, we examined seven New Zealand white rabbits and five rhesus monkeys at necropsy and during nonsurvival surgeries to determine the best access routes and to develop special instruments for video-assisted lateral intertransverse process arthrodesis. In Part 2, 38 New Zealand white rabbits underwent L4-L5 intertransverse process arthrodesis: the "OPEN" group (n = 16) underwent a standard open muscle-splitting approach using rhBMP-2 (bone morphogenetic protein) and collagen as a bone graft substitute; the "video-assisted control" group (n = 6) underwent video-assisted lateral intertransverse process arthrodesis with the collagen implant only (no growth factor); and the "video-assisted-BMP" group (n = 16) underwent video-assisted lateral intertransverse process arthrodesis with rhBMP-2 and collagen as the graft material. In Part 3, rhesus monkeys (n = 4) underwent video-assisted lateral intertransverse process arthrodesis using rhBMP-2 and collagen after laminectomy of L4-L5. RESULTS: In Part 1, we identified expedient, minimally invasive routes to the intertransverse process interval appropriate for each species: an intermuscular approach for the rabbit and a lateral, extramuscular approach for the rhesus monkey. In Part 2, all rabbits in the OPEN and video-assisted-BMP groups achieved solid intertransverse process lumbar fusions when assessed at 10 weeks. There were no neurologic impairments nor any difference between the two groups in the frequency of postoperative infection or other complications. None of the animals in the video-assisted control group showed evidence of fusion. In Part 3, exposure, decortication and grafting with rh-BMP-2 and collagen was accomplished successfully in all four monkeys through the video-assisted minimally invasive approach without complications. CONCLUSION: Video-assisted lateral intertransverse process arthrodesis is a feasible, effective, and safe method of lumbar spinal fusion in the rabbit and rhesus monkey. Use of this arthrodesis procedure will minimize the morbidity of paraspinal muscle denervation and devascularization seen with open intertransverse process fusion techniques, and the use of an osteoinductive growth factor will eliminate the problem of graft donor site morbidity and possibly increase the chances for successful fusion.     

软件项目进度控制方法研究

为优化软件项目进度控制过程,使管理者能够对软件项目进度进行有效的跟踪和调整,研究并比较了主要的项目进度控制方法和技术,对甘特图、网络计划技术、关键链技术,对各技术的原理、适用范围、优缺点等进行了分析.为弥补上述技术的不足,引入工业项目进度控制方法--实际进度前锋线法,增强了对软件项目进度的信息统计和工期预测功能.通过对上述几种技术的改进和综合应用,提出了一个高效便捷的进度控制系统的设计方案.     

基于UML的学生顶岗实习管理系统分析与设计

顶岗实习是高职院校重要的实践教学环节,要实现对顶岗实习的有效管理,需要借助网络技术搭建管理平台,实现对参与实习师生的管理与指导。该文在对顶岗实习流程及实习任务分析基础上,运用UML建模方法对系统进行分析建模与设计建模,并提出了系统框架与解决方案。     

文献中的词语分布、词型等级和风格计算

文献的语言风格是作者在语言运用方面的思维定势的体现,对于文献之间语言风格的差异,以前的研究大多采用定性分析的方式加以比较和概括,而在文献检索和文本分类领域需要得到量化的语言风格相似度。该文首先分析文献中词语分布的普遍规律,以先秦八部经典文献为观察语料,发现这些文献中的词语既呈离散分布,又呈集中分布;然后通过计算文献之间词型等级的相关系数,来获取量化的语言风格相似度,构建了八部文献之间的相似度矩阵,验证了语言风格的差异不仅体现在使用的常用词上,还更细微地体现在常用词的使用频率等级上。     

HALT技术在变频器中的应用初探

HALT技术可在产品设计阶段快速消除设计缺陷,缩短研发时间和成本,迅速提高产品的质量和固有可靠性。本文从HALT试验的背景出发,介绍了HALT试验的基本原理和意义。在对HALT箱各方面性能验证的基础上,针对我司11kW变频器,详细讲述了HALT试验的具体操作过程。     

物联网技术在工业自动化中的应用与研究

物联网技术在现今实际应用中是极为普遍的,所谓物联网技术就是以互联网为载体来进行物与物之间信息交换的过程,以及通过互联网将任何物体与物体联系在一起的一种网络,也就是说,物联网实际上就是物物相连的互联网.     

嵌入式车牌识别系统的设计与实现

随着社会经济的发展和城市化进程的加快,全球对交通运输提出了更大的需求和更高的要求。就此,文中提出了一种嵌入式的车牌识别系统设计及具体实现方法,其中具体包括硬件结构、车牌定位算法、字符分割算法、字符识别算法和应用程序的实现。该系统采用DSP数字信号处理器和CPLD芯片来实现系统功能,并保持与PC机之间的高速数据传输,最终提出了一种使用软硬件技术开发的复合USB2.0规范的嵌入式车牌识别系统的方法。可见,嵌入式车牌识别对于维护交通安全和城市治安、防止交通堵塞、实现交通自动化管理有着现实的意义。     

编辑距离算法及其在英语易混词自动抽取中的应用

研究英语单词形态相似度的计算方法.采用可设置编辑距离上限参数的算法实现从指定词汇范围自动抽取近形词.筛选出的易混近形词经消重和分类后可以丰富英语词汇知识库的内容.易混词知识库在教材编写、词汇能力训练设计、词典编纂和真词错误拼写校正等领域具有应用价值.