Consensus prevention of crib death. CBO (Central Guidance Organization for Peer Review)

The sudden and unforeseen death of a child in the first two years, usually happening during a sleeping period, is known as cot death. As cot death is a very tragic and dramatic experience for the family, it is important to reduce its incidence. In the period between 1972 and 1987, the number of cot deaths initially increased, but during the last decade a substantial reduction could be observed. This fluctuation can be connected with the position in which the baby is put to sleep. From 1970 the prone sleeping position was strongly recommended. Since then, the number of cot death cases increased. From 1987, a causal relationship between the prone sleeping position and cot death was suspected. As a result the prone sleeping position was strongly advised against. A reduction of cot death cases was then observed. By now, the role of many other factors in cot death has been perceived. The risk of cot death is increased if these factors act at the same time. Some of these factors that promote cot death come from the child's environment and can be influenced when kept in mind. Apart from the prone or side sleeping position, heat congestion, unsafe bed material and smoking in the presence of the child substantially increase the risk of cot death. The main recommendations of the committee which drew up the Dutch consensus report on prevention of cot death are therefore aimed at avoiding the above mentioned risk factors. Continuation of research is necessary to further reduce the current number of some 50 cases of cot death which happen yearly in the Netherlands.     

A specification language for problem partitioning in decomposition-based design optimization

Decomposition-based design optimization consists of two steps: partitioning of a system design problem into a number of subproblems, and coordination of the design of the decomposed system. Although several generic frameworks for coordination method implementation are available (the second step), generic approaches for specification of the partitioned problem (the first step) are rare. Available specification methods are often based on matrix or graph representations of the entire system. For larger systems these representations become intractable due to the large number of design variables and functions. This article presents a new linguistic approach for specification of partitioned problems in decomposition-based design optimization. With the elements of the proposed specification language, called Ψ (the Greek letter “Psi”), a designer can define subproblems, and assemble these into larger systems in a bottom-up fashion. The assembly process allows the system designer to control the complexity and tractability of the problem partitioning task. To facilitate coupling to generic coordination frameworks, a compiler has been developed for Ψ that generates an interchange file in the INI format. This INI-definition of the partitioned problem can easily be interpreted by programs written in other languages. The flexibility provided by the Ψ language and the automated generation of input files for computational frameworks is demonstrated on a vehicle chassis design problem. The developed tools, including user manuals and examples, are made publicly available.     

Decomposition analysis of the multidisciplinary coupling in LED System-in-Package design using a DSM and a specification language

LED System-in-Package (SiP) aims to reduce manufacturing and material costs of LED lighting products through integration of components into one single package, based on semiconductor technology. This introduces multidisciplinary coupling in the system behavior which requires reconsideration of the existing LED design decomposition practice. This paper presents our method to do a decomposition analysis of the multidisciplinary coupling structure for an industry scale LED SiP design problem. The innovative aspect of our method is the use of a specification language to specify the input-output (binary) relationships between design variables, behavioral responses, objective and constraint responses. A design structure matrix, representing the mutual linkage, is automatically generated from the specification. The rows and columns of the DSM are subsequently re-ordered using partitioning and sequencing algorithms to provide insight in the coupling structure. The method is illustrated by means of a simplified example. Subsequently, the results for a recently manufactured LED SiP design prototype are presented.     

Readiness to adopt a self-management approach to cardiac health: Predicting outcomes from cardiac rehabilitation.

Purpose/Objective: To examine whether initial attitudes toward a self-management approach to cardiac health and early-treatment changes in those attitudes predict outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation. Research Method/Design: One hundred eighteen participants took part in a 12-week Phase II cardiac rehabilitation program. Questionnaires to assess readiness to engage in a self-management approach, mood, activity level, and diet were completed at pretreatment and at Weeks 3, 6, 9, and 12. Results: Repeated-measures regressions showed that participants with higher pretreatment levels of readiness to engage in a self-management approach showed more pronounced improvements in mood, activity level, and diet than did those with lower levels of readiness. Those who reported significant shifts in self-management attitudes during the first 3 weeks of the program finished treatment with greater improvements on measures of mood, cardiorespiratory fitness, activity level, and weight than did participants who reported smaller shifts. Conclusions/Implications: Results suggest that pretreatment acceptance of a self-management orientation, as well as early shifts toward such a stance, predicted treatment gains. This information may be used to improve outcomes from cardiac rehabilitation by intervening to enhance readiness in those that start at low levels or fail to engage in the initial stages of treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)