Actual Courses Research Articles

The Commonly Performed Nerve Sparing Total Prostatectomy Does Not Acknowledge the Actual Nerve Courses

Published postoperative functional data have revealed insufficient nerve preparation for nerve sparing total prostatectomy. In this anatomical study we evaluated the distribution and quantity of periprostatic nerve tissue remaining on the nerve sparing aspect, which might aid in a more objective and accurate evaluation of postoperative function. A total of 47 whole mount serial sections of unilateral nerve sparing total prostatectomy specimens of 10 patients were stained with protein gene product 9.5 and evaluated. The extracapsular nerves were counted and classified into 2 primary groups, including greater than 200 and 200 mum or less. Mean values and percents of the nerve sparing aspects were compared to their corresponding nonnerve sparing side. Compared to the nonnerve sparing side 54% of nerves greater than 200 mum and 56% of those less than 200 mum remained on the nerve sparing side of the prostate. Only on the posterolateral aspect did significantly less nerve tissue remain vs that on the contralateral nonnerve sparing side (17% greater than 200 mum and 44% 200 mum or less, p = 0.01 and 0.09, respectively). Of the 3 prostate levels (base, mid and apex) the highest decrease in nerves greater than 200 and 200 mum or less was noted at the apex (28% and 39%), of which the posterolateral sector had the most effective nerve sparing (10% and 18%, respectively). Common nerve sparing total prostatectomy provides the possibility to preserve around 55% of all periprostatic nerve fibers focused on the posterolateral location, especially at the apex (80% to 90% nerve sparing). However, it does not consider the actual course of the nerve fibers. To further improve the clinical outcome the actual nerve courses must be considered to preserve the nerve continuum. These findings suggest modification of the nerve sparing technique.

Editors' Note

Editors' Note Miriam Fuchs and Craig Howes As readers of Biography probably know, over the past ten or fifteen years, countless books, articles, and reviews in the academic and the public realms have trumpeted this as an age of autobiography, and/or biography. For the most part, though, this has referred to an ever-rising flood of published or recorded lives. But has this first wave produced a second wave of critical and theoretical responses to it? Or to put it another way, are we experiencing a boom in critical work about life writing? A few signs suggest that the answer is yes. Take for example our annual annotated bibliography of works about life writing. In the Fall of 2000, we remarked that "The sheer numbers are impressive: 480 annotated entries make up this installment." In 2005, the same bibliography contained almost 1,000 entries. Clearly, people are writing—and publishing—about life writing. Conferences and announcements of publishing opportunities? A quick look at the archives of IABA-L, the life writing studies listserv which currently has about 500 members, reveals that while in 2001 and 2002 approximately 170 notices were posted a year, in 2003, 2004, and 2005 this number jumped to roughly 230. And another huge surge seems to be taking place right now. As of mid-July 2006, 200 notices have been posted this year. As for publishing venues, the last two or three years have also brought us the new journal Life Writing from Australia, a transformed Auto/Biography: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal from Great Britain, and the new Lifewriting Annual from the United States. Programs, centers, and research initiatives? Biography and autobiography centers have been established in Australia, Austria, and Scotland in the past year or two, with other seminars, research initiatives, and lecture series being proposed, and often funded, on several continents. Institutional presence? We're still not seeing many job advertisements explicitly for specialists in life writing, but the numbers above suggest that many more people, in many more departments, and in many more places, are producing work in the field. Actual courses in life writing are being taught widely; the Modern Language Association will be shortly publishing a very substantial volume on life writing pedagogy in its Options in Teaching series. And when we add to these facts the increasing numbers of Creative Non-Fiction workshops in writing programs; the amount of rhetorical analysis being directed at non-literary texts; the increasing interest in indigenous literature [End Page v] and orature, often including genealogical studies, within a number of disciplines; and the strengthening emphasis on life narrative in so many fields, we think it's fair to say that life writing studies are hardly static, and certainly not in decline. Directions for the future? Life writing studies must become increasingly comparative and global, but as in so many fields, language remains a major obstacle for international discussion and cooperation. Conferences are taking place in a stunning variety of locations, but despite the inherently multi-cultural nature of our field, many gatherings take place with only a few words being spoken in the languages of the host country—or in any language other than the new Lingua Franca, English. We also think that without seeking to establish a canon, the field, and people doing work in it, will benefit from becoming more familiar with the most influential works on life writing theory and criticism. If nothing else, such familiarity leads to a greater sense of possibility. Biography and the Center for Biographical Research hope to continue participating in the discussion, and to suggest new topics and set new directions for the widening field. Copyright © 2006 Biographical Research Center

A study of satisfaction in blended learning for small and medium enterprises

Technology-mediated distance learning has become a commercial trend. Blended learning is a form of technology-mediated learning and improves the learning outcome through an alternation of actual courses and internet courses. Currently, blended learning is the innovative kind among all kinds of training courses. Through actual data collected from 'e-Human Resources Training Project', this study examines the effect of learning behaviour and technology quality on learning satisfaction towards a blended learning course among employees in small and medium enterprises. Furthermore, the mediating effect of technology characteristics on a learner's satisfaction is also explored in this research.

Modern mechanics

We consider the goals of the introductory course in classical mechanics taken by physics majors and argue both that these goals are not well met in actual courses and that the goals themselves should be rethought. We propose alternative goals and describe an introductory “modern mechanics” course that addresses these alternative goals. Included in the description are several genres of homework problems that are nearly absent from traditional mechanics courses at both the introductory and intermediate levels. The intermediate mechanics course could be restructured to exploit a broader foundation laid by the introductory course.

Dentists’ perception of their treatment practices versus documented evidence

To compare the quality of real-life treatment practices to dentists' perceptions of treatment rendered. One administrative unit of the Finnish public oral health service. The original oral health records of a randomly selected sample of young adults who received treatment during 1994-1996 provided data on actual clinical examinations (n=208), radiographs (n=312), and root canal treatment courses (n=148) carried out by 50 dentists. Dentists' perceptions of the treatment rendered were obtained through a structured questionnaire completed during their working hours in 1996. Criteria for assessing the quality of treatment practices were based on Finnish health legislation, authoritative instructions, and consensus reports. Based on responses, 77% of the dentists followed the prevailing instructions on oral health record keeping (82%, if partial agreement included). Most dentists (88% fully agreed, 95% at least partly) perceived that their knowledge gained through continuing education was being applied in practice; no one answered no. A gap was found between dentists' perception of the treatment rendered and everyday treatment practices as recorded on patient documents. Overall, dentists' perception of the quality of their treatment practices exceeded that found in patient documents. This gap deserves consideration while planning research, education, or quality-improvement projects that relate to dentists' opinions.

Knowledge and the educative functions of a university: Designing the curriculum of higher education

One of the missions of a university is the creation and dissemination of knowledge. Because this work is traditionally divided among scores or even hundreds of academic and research units for the convenience of the producing scholars and the orderly retrieval of this knowledge, the problem of introducing university students to the world of knowledge is frequently seen as a non-problem, at least in the US. That is, all that is necessary, it is assumed, is for students to be exposed to work in the existing academic units one-by-one, or in some combination. Curricular requirements in US universities generally call for matriculation in a selection of courses oA ered in the various units designated by reference to some general educational rationale or specialized educational purpose. However, an examination of almost any US university’s curricular goals or expectations and the actual courses taken by particular students demonstrates signi® cant discontinuities between the rationale and the actuality, between the intentions of general or specialized education and the knowledge made available in the courses taken. A major reason for the existence of these discontinuities, I contend, lies with the assumption that the organization of the curriculum of higher education should be done in the same manner that the university organizes to do its research and knowledge production. I suggest that this is a faulty premise upon which to organize the curriculum, and that there are better ways to introduce students to a university’s store of knowledge than by this traditional approach, ways that can bring educational purposes and actual learning more in line with each other and, at the same time, maintain

Lessons from the cyberspace classroom: the realities of online teaching

From the Publisher: Authors Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt have written a comprehensive reference for faculty to use to hone their skills as online instructors and for students to use to become more effective online learners. Filled with numerous examples from actual online courses and insights from teachers and students, Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom covers the entire online teaching process. This essential guide offers helpful suggestions for dealing with such critical issues as evaluating effective courseware, working with online classroom dynamics, addressing the needs of the online student, making the transition to online teaching, and promoting the development of the learning community.

Recursive bifurcation of tensile steel specimens

Failure modes of steel specimens subjected to uniaxial tension are investigated. These modes are well known to display complex geometrical characteristics of deformation accompanied by the plastic instability behavior. As an underlying mechanism of such complexity, we here focus on the recursive occurrence of bifurcations. In the theory, the rule of recursive bifurcation of a rectangular parallelepiped domain is obtained by the group-theoretic bifurcation theory so as to exhaust all the mathematically possible courses of bifurcation. In the experiment, we examine the representative failure modes with reference to the rules to identify actual courses of recursive bifurcation. Three-dimensional finite element analysis of a thin specimen is conducted to observe the recursive bifurcation, in which diffuse necking is formed by the direct bifurcation and the single shear band by the secondary bifurcation. The recursive bifurcation has thus been identified as the mechanism to create the complex failure modes.

Control of L-type calcium current during the action potential of guinea-pig ventricular myocytes.

1. During an action potential the L-type Ca2+ current (ICa,L) activates rapidly, then partially declines leading to a sustained inward current during the plateau phase. The reason for the sustained part of ICa,L has been investigated here. 2. In the present study the mechanisms controlling the ICa,L during an action potential were investigated quantitatively in isolated guinea-pig ventricular myocytes by whole-cell patch clamp. To measure the actual time courses of ICa,L and the corresponding L-type channel inactivation (fAP) during an action potential, action potential-clamp protocols combined with square pulses were applied. 3. Within the first 10 ms of the action potential the ICa,L rapidly inactivated by about 50 %; during the plateau phase inactivation proceeded to 95 %. Later, during repolarization, the L-type channels recovered up to 25 %. 4. The voltage-dependent component of inactivation during an action potential was determined from measurements of L-type current carried by monovalent cations. This component of inactivation proceeded rather slowly and contributed only a little to fAP. ICa,L during an action potential is thus mainly controlled by Ca2+-dependent inactivation. 5. In order to investigate the source of the Ca2+ controlling fAP, internal Ca2+ homeostasis was manipulated by the use of Ca2+ buffers (EGTA, BAPTA), by blocking Na+-Ca2+ exchange, or by blocking Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Internal BAPTA markedly reduced the L-type channel inactivation during the entire action potential, whereas EGTA affected fAP only during the middle and late plateau phases. Inhibition of Na+-Ca2+ exchange markedly increased inactivation of L-type channels. Although blocking SR Ca2+ release decreased the fura-2-measured cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) transient by about 90 %, it reduced L-type channel inactivation only during the initial 50 ms of the action potential. Thus, it is Ca2+ entering the cell through the L-type channels that controls the inactivation process for the majority of the action potential. Nevertheless, SR Ca2+-release contributes 40-50 % to L-type channel inactivation during the initial period of the action potential. However, the maximum extent of inactivation reached during the plateau is independent of Ca2+ released from the SR. 6. For the first time, the actual time course of L-type channel inactivation has been directly determined during an action potential under various defined [Ca2+]i conditions. Thereby, the relative contribution to ICa,L inactivation of voltage, Ca2+ entering through L-type channels, and Ca2+ being released from the SR could be directly demonstrated.

Throwing fracture of the humeral shaft. An analysis of 90 patients.

Ninety patients with humeral shaft fractures sustained during throwing were analyzed to determine what caused their injuries. All patients were recreational baseball players: 89 were men and 1 was a woman. The average age was 25 years (range, 12 to 43). The throwing style, type of pitch, fielding position, and type of ball used varied; however, the patients sustained their fractures while performing a hard throw in 87 (97%) of the occurrences. The actual courses of the balls thrown ranged from sideways to straight forward. All fractures were external rotation spiral fractures; 25 patients (28%) had a medial butterfly fragment, and 14 patients (16%) had radial nerve palsy. Fractures were most likely to have occurred in the distal half of the humerus, although they occurred frequently in the proximal half in patients in their early teens. We conclude that 1) the fracture can occur at any time during the acceleration phase before ball release, 2) this type of fracture can occur in any recreational baseball player attempting to perform a hard throw, and 3) the cause of this fracture is the throwing action itself.

Quality evaluation of oral health record-keeping for Finnish young adults

The objective of this study was to assess the quality of oral health record-keeping in public oral health care in relation to dentists' characteristics. A random computerized selection of 239 subjects, born in 1966-71 and clinically examined during 1994 in an administrative unit of the public oral health service in southern Finland, included 4-5 cases per dentist, the number of dentists being 50. Data concerning actual clinical examinations and treatment courses carried out in public dental clinics came from original oral health records. Criteria for assessment of oral health record entries were based on Finnish health legislation and detailed instructions of health authorities. The results showed that each patient's identity was available in 90% of documents. Recordings concerning continuity of comprehensive care were infrequent; a questionnaire concerning each patient's up-to-date health history was in only 26% of the oral health records. Notes concerning each patient's bite and function of the temporomandibular joint were in 37% of the records, notes about oral soft tissues were in 11%, and the check-up interval was recorded in 21%. Recording of indices on periodontal and dental status varied greatly; the community periodontal index of treatment need was found in 93% and the index of incipient lesions in 16% of the records. Female dentists and dentists younger than 37 years tended to record more information. Dentists should be encouraged to better utilize the options offered by oral health records for individual treatment schemes.

Dynamics of Electrodiffusion Friction Probes. I. Shape-Dependent Potentiostatic Transient

An exact theory is given of the voltage-step transient under limiting diffusion conditions for an electrodiffusion friction probe of arbitrary convex shape. The actual transient courses are given for the strip, circular, elliptic, triangular, and rectangular probes of any orientation with respect to the flow direction. A simple formula for any probe with a single working electrode of convex shape is suggested to facilitate the calibration of electrodiffusion probes based on the voltage-step transient.

PREDICTION OF FLOW RESISTANCE IN COMPOUND CHANNELS AND ITS APPLICATION TO DESIGN OF RIVER COURSES

Laboratory tests were performed to evaluate the interaction of the flow between a main channel and floodplains. In the tests, prismatic channels similar to actual river courses were used. The experimental results showed that the increase in Manning's roughness coefficient due to the interaction could be predicted by estimating an apparent shear stress acting on a vertical plane along a interface between a main channel and flood plain. The mixing coefficient at the interface f can be almost constant and its value is around 0.17. On the basis of the prediction method obtained, the classification diagram for the estimation of the flow resistance in the compound channel was proposed, by which discharge capacity is calculated well in accordance with characteristics of river course, compared with the existing method. Further more, it becomes known how the resistance to flow varies with the change in the cross-section by river improvement works.

Undergraduate health psychology: Another challenge for an ambitious field

Abstract Approaches to teaching undergraduate health psychology are explored drawing on information gathered from a national survey and from an APA symposium. Data from the survey are summarized, followed by brief descriptions of actual courses reflecting a range of approaches. Finally, a hypothetical course which blends the dominant features of existing courses is presented as a mainstream prescription for current development of undergraduate health psychology courses.

A Scientific Approach to Religious Development: Proposals and a Case Illustration

Some treatments of religious development promote ideals more than they describe actual courses of personal religion. Criticizing two well-known theories, this paper offers a conceptual framework for investigating spiritual evolution scientifically. Based on developmental psychology, the theories in question place everyone, regardless of culture or personality, on a single evolutionary path. By contrast, I argue that the diversity and cultural relativity of personal spiritual striving calls for a pluralistic approach, one recognizing many forms of developed religion. Elaborating, I propose a culturally-neutral definition of religious development and an idiographic method and theoretical style. A case study of a rural black Pentecostal preacher illustrates.

Subject matter and related pedagogical knowledge in teacher education

What kinds of knowledge do teachers need in order to be effective in their classrooms? This question has received much attention recently. This paper outlines a framework for teachers' knowledge, consisting of six major categories, namely: general liberal education, personal performance, subject matter, general pedagogical, subject matter specific pedagogical, and foundations of the teaching profession. Suggestions are provided on ways in which three of the categories, subject matter knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, and subject matter specific pedagogical knowledge can be dealt with in teacher education, especially at the preservice stage. These suggestions are based on actual courses which have been taught in various countries. The outcomes of one such course, which was taught and supervised by the author, are reported in terms of the students' perceptions of the knowledge they have acquired.

Narratives and Events

Few of us would claim to be experts on the history of Zanzibar. Picking up M. M. Kaye's historical novel Trade Wind and finding it to be set in that remote island, we might be led to wonder how far it is historically accurate, whether, by reading it, we should make ourselves better acquainted with Zanzibar's past. Since it is a novel, we should, of course, expect it to contain much that no historian would profess to know -the details of long conversations between characters, intimate moments, irruptions of feeling. Were the novel transposed into a film, any but the most unsophisticated would lower accuracy-expectations even further, not immediately concluding that this is what the historical characters looked like, how they walked, sat, ate, talked, loved. The film-maker, even the novelist, has to make decisions at points where the historian can remain silent, write hesitantly, or present alternatives. The size of Richard III's hump has to be determinate. Nevertheless, the question still remains whether Kaye has accurately described the general character of particular courses of events, which did in fact form part of the history of Zanzibar. Kaye has supplied an appendix to satisfy our historical curiosity. There she tells us that all the major events in the novel really happened, and in the order in which she has presented them. But the sake of the story, she also tells us, she has compressed them into a single year, whereas in fact they occurred over a period of years. Although some of the characters, she adds, are historical personages, others are not. And some actions are ascribed to certain personages which were in fact performed by others. The novelist, then, has taken liberties which no historian would take. Such an appendix at the end of a strictly historical work is unimaginable. Kaye not only, and inevitably, presents us with detail for which there is no evidence; she alters courses of events and the ways in which individuals participated in those courses of events. The events themselves, she nevertheless assures us, did occur and in the order in which she has described them. In making these admissions, Kaye is assuming that there were actual courses of events. She also assumes that, as a result of her reading of documents and historians, she knows what those actual courses of events were, the courses which interest her in their interplay, and could, in principle, have communicated that knowledge to her readers, in the manner of an historian, had she chosen to do that rather than to deviate from what she knows to have happened in order to

Petroleum Engineering Education in the Year 2000

Petroleum engineering education is tied directly to the needs of the drilling and production sectors of the petroleum industry. The demand for petroleum engineering graduates has experienced the same boom-and-bust cycles as the petroleum industry. Since 1956, undergraduate petroleum engineering enrollments have been as low as 1,000 and as high as 10,000. These extreme fluctuations in enrollment have caused severe problems for petroleum educational programs. The article describes undergraduate petroleum engineering programs, effects of new technology and new areas of emphasis in the petroleum engineering curricula.

The realist theory of meaning

The most striking difference between the semantic theory embodied in Jon Barwise and John Perry's Situations and Attitudes and most variants of intensional semantics is the strict realism that situation semantics supports. In intensional semantics an expression has meaning and reference; reference is what it stands for; meaning is the way the reference is determined. This concept of meaning is essentially modal: to know the way the reference is determined is not being right all the time you come across a referent, but rather staying right when things change: a way of recognizing how things turn out in different possibilities. While in intensional semantics referents are (possible) individuals, relations and truthvalues, in situation semantics referents are actual courses of events, which specify which objects stand in certain relations at certain locations. Such courses of events can be classified by their parts, factual courses of events (a course of events in which John smokes and drinks is one in which John smokes), more abstractly by event types (it is a course of events in which someone smokes and drinks), and by schemata (it is a course of events in which someone smokes and drinks or someone is ill). Through this classification certain patterns can be recognized: courses of events contain information that is relevant for other courses of events, courses of events can be meaningful for other courses of events. The world consists of actual courses of events (and events that classify these); it respects certain constraints upon courses of events, which are themselves simply relations between courses of events. Organisms can be attuned to these constraints, and as such they give rise to meaning. Crucial is that situation semantics is not modal: meaning is a relation between actual courses of events, not between possibilities; organisms pick up meaning by repeatedly being confronted with constraints, not by evaluating alter natives. The world respects certain constraints and does not respect others. Now obviously, a distinction should be made between those constraints that can be regarded as natural laws, conventions, relations of linguistic meaning on the one hand, and accidental patterns that happen to hold on the other.

The Effectiveness of Ship Routing off North West Europe

Traffic separation was first introduced on a voluntary basis in the Dover Strait in September 1967, just over fifteen years ago. Compliance with the IMO provisions relating to traffic separation schemes has been mandatory for all ships during the last five years and for some ships for as much as ten years. It may therefore be appropriate to assess the effectiveness of routing off North West Europe by comparing collision statistics for five-year periods since 1957.The results given in the following tables apply only to collisions involving trading vessels of over 100 g.r.t. under way and not engaged in any special activities. Collisions in harbours, rivers and congested port approaches where special circumstances apply are not included. The figures quoted for the Dover Strait have been checked against the results obtained by the National Maritime Institute but are based on different criteria, and there may be some discrepancies.The area covered is the coastal region from the south-western approaches to the Ushant TSS to the approaches to the Elbe including all parts of the English Channel and the Dover Strait, but not including waters off the East Coast of England which are well clear of the traffic separation schemes and deep-water routes.The numbers of collisions are based almost entirely on Lloyd's Weekly Casualty Reports. Information relating to encounter situations is based on voyage data supplemented wherever possible by information received from additional sources relating to the actual courses steered by each vessel. It is not claimed that the figures constitute a precise record but they should provide a good indication of changes in the incidence of collision off North West Europe.