Converter Card Research Articles

Engaging People in Service Improvement: Conversation Cards Dolan Brian Engaging People in Service Improvement: Conversation Cards 52 cards £14.99 Fink in Organisations Second edition 9780992693855 0992693853 [Formula: see text

WITH THE changing context of healthcare provision, organisations are tasked with the increasing demand to ensure patients receive high quality services. Crucial to this is service improvement and in particular having the knowledge of what is required to enhance healthcare quality and safety. Engaging those who work in front line delivery is therefore integral to this since they often have the best idea of where there are gaps and deficits as well as what the best solutions may be.

Putting the 6Cs into Practice: Conversation Cards Holt Lynda Putting the 6Cs into Practice: Conversation Cards £14.99 9780992693848 0992693845 Fink in Organisations Second edition 52 cards [Formula: see text

IN ITS drive to ensure core values are at the heart of the NHS and the public health and care sectors, the Department of Health produced a three-year vision and strategy for nursing, midwifery and care staff aimed at compassion in practice.

Conversation and Object Manipulation Influence Children's Learning in a Museum.

The effects of parent-child conversation and object manipulation on children's learning, transfer of knowledge, and memory were examined in two museum exhibits and conversations recorded at home. Seventy-eight children (Mage =4.9) and their parents were randomly assigned to receive conversation cards featuring elaborative questions about exhibit objects, the physical objects themselves, both, or neither, before their exhibit visits. Dyads who received the cards engaged in more elaborative talk and joint nonverbal activities with objects in the first exhibit than those who did not. Dyads who received objects engaged in the most parent-child joint talk. Results also illustrate transfer of information across exhibits and from museum to home. Implications for understanding mechanisms of informal learning and transfer are discussed.

Join the Conversation! The Development and Preliminary Application of Conversation Cards in Pediatric Weight Management

of children treated for obesity. The idea for the cards stemmed from a United Kingdom–based project in which a deck of cards was created for adults living with diabetes. The cards contained phrases representing common challenges experienced by patients, and were used before clinic visits to help patients prioritize issues they wished to discuss with their health care professional. 4

National Electrical Manufacturers Association NU-4 Performance Evaluation of the PET Component of the NanoPET/CT Preclinical PET/CT Scanner

The NanoPET/CT represents the latest generation of commercial preclinical PET/CT systems. This article presents a performance evaluation of the PET component of the system according to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU-4 2008 standard. The NanoPET/CT consists of 12 lutetium yttrium orthosilicate:cerium modular detectors forming 1 ring, with 9.5-cm axial coverage and a 16-cm animal port. Each detector crystal is 1.12 × 1.12 × 13 mm, and 1 module contains 81 × 39 of these crystals. An optical light guide transmits the scintillation light to the flat-panel multianode position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes. Analog-to-digital converter cards and a field-programmable gate array-based data-collecting card provide the readout. Spatial resolution, sensitivity, counting rate capabilities, and image quality were evaluated in accordance with the NEMA NU-4 standard. Energy and temporal resolution measurements and a mouse imaging study were performed in addition to the standard. Energy resolution was 19% at 511 keV. The spatial resolution, measured as full width at half maximum on single-slice rebinning/filtered backprojection-reconstructed images, approached 1 mm on the axis and remained below 2.5 mm in the central 5-cm transaxial region both in the axial center and at one-quarter field of view. The maximum absolute sensitivity for a point source at the center of the field of view was 7.7%. The maximum noise equivalent counting rates were 430 kcps at 36 MBq and 130 kcps at 27 MBq for the mouse- and rat-sized phantoms, respectively. The uniformity and recovery coefficients were measured with the image-quality phantom, giving good-quality images. In a mouse study with an (18)F-labeled thyroid-specific tracer, the 2 lobes of the thyroid were clearly distinguishable, despite the small size of this organ. The flexible readout system allowed experiments to be performed in an efficient manner, and the system remained stable throughout. The large number of detector crystals, arranged with a fine pitch, results in excellent spatial resolution, which is the best reported for currently available commercial systems. The absolute sensitivity is high over the field of view. Combined with the excellent image quality, these features make the NanoPET/CT a powerful tool for preclinical research.

Drosophila Evaluates and Learns the Nutritional Value of Sugars

Living organisms need to search for and ingest nutritional chemicals, and gustation plays a major role in detecting and discriminating between chemicals present in the environment. Using Drosophila as a model organism, we asked whether animals have the ability to evaluate the nutritional value of sugars. In flies, chemosensilla on the tarsi and labellum are the gustatory organs used to discriminate between edible and nonedible compounds [1, 2]. We noticed that Drosophila do not assign nutritional values to all sweet chemicals. D-arabinose is sweet to flies, but it provides them with no nutrition. By contrast, the sugar alcohol D-sorbitol is not sensed as sweet, but flies can live on it. We performed behavioral and electrophysiological measurements to confirm these gustatory and feeding responses. We found that Drosophila can learn the nutritional value of nonsweet D-sorbitol when it is associated with an odor cue. The learning process involved the synapsin molecule, suggesting that a neuronal mechanism is involved. We propose that Drosophila uses neural machinery to detect, evaluate, and learn the nutritional value of foods after ingestion.

Diagnostic system with an artificial neural network which determines a diagnostic information for the servicing of a reparable technical object

In this paper, the features of a diagnostic measurement setup have been determined. The purpose of the setup was registration of diagnostic signals taken from an electronically controlled gasoline-powered engine. Special attention has been paid to the presentation of the features of an analog–digital converter card used, as well as to the possibility of its practical use. Another important aspect is the design and programming of computer software dedicated for action along with the setup. The results of the work have been presented using the example of the engine’s microprocessor control module. A diagnostic analysis was conducted, as a result of which sets of the functional elements of the object and its diagnostic signals were determined. Also, the methodology of the diagnostic examination of the technical system was presented. The result was a functional and diagnostic model, which constituted the basis for initial diagnostic information, which is provided by the sets of information concerning the elements of the basic modules and their output signals.

The financial implications of a conversion from enoxaparin to dalteparin as the LMWH of choice at a comprehensive cancer center

e17566 Background: To assess the financial implications of a conversion from enoxaparin to dalteparin as the low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) of choice at a large, comprehensive cancer center. Methods: A full class review of LMWH's was conducted in September of 2007 resulting in dalteparin replacing enoxaparin as the LMWH of choice. The Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee approved automatic substitution with notification of the prescribing physician. The one exception to the policy was conversion if the patient was on enoxaparin at home, the policy would allow for continuation of therapy. Once the policy was approved, laminated dosing conversion cards and pre-printed order sets were developed. Multiple in-services were held prior to the official conversion date of October 15, 2007, to address any issues and to facilitate the conversion. Cost comparisons were made within individual settings adjusting for utilization levels. Results: In the fiscal year prior to the conversion from enoxaparin to dalteparin the cancer center purchased nearly $360,000 of enoxaparin for the inpatient and infusion center settings. In the year following the LMWH change, the total projected cost for LMWHs is $244,000, resulting in a 32% cost savings of $115,000. Conclusions: The change from enoxaparin to dalteparin resulted in significant cost savings for the cancer center. Additional studies are underway to examine the clinical outcomes of the LMWH change. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Energy Cost and Pole Forces during Nordic Walking under Different Surface Conditions

The purpose of the study was to identify the effect of three different surfaces on energy consumption and the forces acting on the walking poles during ground contact in Nordic walking (NW). Thirteen female NW instructors (age = 26 +/- 4 yr, weight = 58.5 +/- 4.2 kg, height = 168.1 +/- 4.6 cm) volunteered in the study. The subjects walked a distance of 1200 m at a controlled, constant speed of 2.2 m x s(-1) on each of a concrete surface (C), an artificial athletics track (A), and a naturally grown soccer lawn (G). They used NW poles with inbuilt strain gauge force transducers to measure ground reaction forces acting along the long axes of the poles. Oxygen uptake, capillary blood lactate (La), HR, and RPE were measured before and after the tests. Impact forces, maximum forces, force rates during ground contact identified from the registered force time histories, displayed significant differences related to the surface conditions. However, force time integrals did not show surface-related differences. Relative oxygen consumption showed significant differences between NW on C and on G whereas no surface-related differences could be identified between the surface conditions for the parameters La, HR, and RPE. Our data indicate that the impulse that is generated by the poles on the subjects is identical between the varying surfaces. Because there are differences for the oxygen uptake between C and G, the main regulator for the propulsion must be the musculature of the lower extremities. The work of the upper extremities seems to be a luxury effort for Nordic walkers with a proper technique.

Establishment of a computer-controlled retroreflection measurement facility to characterize photometric properties of retroreflectors

Determination of photometric properties of retroreflectors used especially on cars, motorways and clothes for safety of traffic is very important. To characterize the retroreflection properties of such materials, a retroreflection measurement system was constructed at TÜBİTAK-UME. The measurement system is composed of a lighting projector, a two-dimensional goniometer, reference and observation photometer heads with transimpedance amplifiers and an analog digital converter card with a developed software. The system is capable of measuring both luminous intensity and retroreflection coefficients of retroreflective materials at observation angles varying from 0.1° to 5°.

Design and Development of A FMCW Ground Based Imaging Radar System

This paper describes the design and development of a ground based Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar system in Multimedia Univeristy (MMU), Malaysia. In this project, a ground-based fully polarometric, C-band, high bandwidth linear FM-CW and real time imaging radar system is to be designed and constructed. The system should have the capability to measure the complex scattering matrices of distributed targets using FMCW system and obtained fully polarimetric signals which can be used to provide more accurate identiflcation and classiflcation of the geophysical media. The purposed system hardware consists of four major sections: an antenna system, a radio frequency (RF) subsystem, an intermediate frequency (IF) electronic, and a data acquisition unit (DAU). The RF section is constructed in-house from several RF components, which include voltage-controlled oscillator, high power amplifler, directional coupler, RF switches, band-pass fllter, isolators, and mixers. In RF section, the received signal is mixed with a portion of the transmitted signal to produce low frequency IF signals. The IF signals are pre-processed in IF section, before they are digitised in DAU. A mobile personnel computer with analog to digital converter card is used to store the measurement data and process the data on real time basics. In paper, the high level design will be discussed and detail design parameters will be presented. It followed by radar electronics design, which outlined the detail in radar transmitter and receiver.

Electronic simulator of atmospheric backscattered signals for high-spectral-resolution lidar

High-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) is a powerful tool for atmospheric remote sensing, which consists of many complicated optics and optoelectronics components. In order to provide a convenient signal source for testing the amplifier following the PMT, the analog-digital converter card, the performance of the data-processing software, and the debugging display software, a novel electronic simulator is developed to generate an electronic signal resembling the atmospheric backscattering signals of HSRL. The amplitude, detection range, and aerosol characteristics of the simulated signals can be adjusted.

Fault Detection and Protection of Induction Motors Using Sensors

Protection of an induction motor (IM) against possible problems, such as overvoltage, overcurrent, overload, overtemperature, and undervoltage, occurring in the course of its operation is very important, because it is used intensively in industry as an actuator. IMs can be protected using some components, such as timers, contactors, voltage, and current relays. This method is known as the classical method that is very basic and involves mechanical dynamic parts. Computer and programmable integrated circuit (PIC) based protection methods have eliminated most of the mechanical components. However, the computer-based protection method requires an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) card, and the PIC-based protection method does not visualize the electrical parameters measured. In this study, for IMs, a new protection method based on a programmable logic controller (PLC) has been introduced. In this method, all contactors, timers, relays, and the conversion card are eliminated. Moreover, the voltages, the currents, the speed, and the temperature values of the motor, and the problems occurred in the system, are monitored and warning messages are shown on the computer screen. Experimental results show that the PLC-based protection method developed costs less, provides higher accuracy as well as safe and visual environment compared with the classical, the computer, and the PIC-based protection systems.

Rheological behavior of fiber-filled polymers under large amplitude oscillatory shear flow

Small and large amplitude oscillatory shear measurements (SAOS and LAOS) were used to investigate the rheological behavior of short glass fibers suspended in polybutene and molten polypropylene. Raw torque and normal force signals obtained from a strain-controlled instrument (ARES rheometer) were digitized using an analog to digital converter (ADC) card to allow more precise data analysis. The fiber concentration did not affect the torque signal in the SAOS mode, except for its magnitude, whereas the normal force signal was too low to be measurable. With increasing strain amplitude, the magnitude of the torque became a function of time. Depending on the applied frequency and strain rate, the stress in the filled polybutene increased with time, whereas for reinforced polypropylene (viscoelastic matrix), the behavior was opposite, i.e. the stress decreased with time. These effects were more pronounced at high fiber content. In addition the primary normal stress differences were no longer negligible at large deformation amplitude and exhibited a non-sinusoidal periodic response. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis was performed and the resulting spectra, along with Lissajous figures of the shear stress and the primary normal stress differences, are explained in terms of fiber orientation. The experimental results for the suspensions in polybutene are well predicted by the Folgar-Tucker-Lipscomb (FTL) model.

Development of potentiometric urea biosensor based on urease immobilized in PVA–PAA composite matrix for estimation of blood urea nitrogen (BUN)

A urea biosensor was developed using the urease entrapped in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyacrylamide (PAA) composite polymer membrane. The membrane was prepared on the cheesecloth support by gamma-irradiation induced free radical polymerization. The performance of the biosensor was monitored using a flow-through cell, where the membrane was kept in conjugation with the ammonia selective electrode and urea was added as substrate in phosphate buffer medium. The ammonia produced as a result of enzymatic reaction was monitored potentiometrically. The potential of the system was amplified using an electronic circuit incorporating operational amplifiers. Automated data acquisition was carried by connecting the output to a 12-bit analog to digital converter card. The sensor working range was 1–1000 mM urea with a response time of 120 s. The enzyme membranes could be reused 8 times with more than 90% accuracy. The biosensor was tested for blood urea nitrogen (BUN) estimation in clinical serum samples. The biosensor showed good correlation with commercial Infinity™ BUN reagent method using a clinical chemistry autoanalyzer. The membranes could be preserved in phosphate buffer containing dithiothreitol, β-mercaptoethanol and glycerol for a period of two months without significant loss of enzyme activity.

A novel application of capnography during controlled human exposure to air pollution

BackgroundThe objective was to determine the repeatability and stability of capnography interfaced with human exposure facility.MethodsCapnographic wave signals were obtained from five healthy volunteers exposed to particle-free, filtered air during two consecutive 5 min intervals, 10 min apart, within the open and then the sealed and operational human exposure facility (HEF). Using a customized setup comprised of the Oridion Microcap® portable capnograph, DA converter and AD card, the signal was acquired and saved as an ASCII file for subsequent processing. The minute ventilation (VE), respiratory rate (RR) and expiratory tidal volume (VTE) were recorded before and after capnographic recording and then averaged. Each capnographic tracing was analyzed for acceptable waves. From each recorded interval, 8 to 19 acceptable waves were selected and measured. The following wave parameters were obtained: total length and length of phase II and III, slope of phase II and III, area under the curve and area under phase III. In addition, we recorded signal measures including the mean, standard deviation, mode, minimum, maximum – which equals end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2), zero-corrected maximum and true RMS.ResultsStatistical analysis using a paired t-test for means showed no statistically significant changes of any wave parameters and wave signal measures, corrected for RR and VTE, comparing the measures when the HEF was open vs. sealed and operational. The coefficients of variation of the zero-corrected and uncorrected EtCO2, phase II absolute difference, signal mean, standard deviation and RMS were less than 10% despite a sub-atmospheric barometric pressure, and slightly higher temperature and relative humidity within the HEF when operational.ConclusionWe showed that a customized setup for the acquisition and processing of the capnographic wave signal, interfaced with HEF was stable and repeatable. Thus, we expect that analysis of capnographic waves in controlled human air pollution exposure studies is a feasible tool for characterization of cardio-pulmonary effects of such exposures.

Pseudo-synchronous system for recording action and field potentials simultaneously

Large-scale simultaneous recording could help us to understand the complex behavior of neuronal ensembles. Field potentials (FPs) and multi-unit activities (MUAs) are to complement each other. Here, a hybrid multichannel system was proposed to record FPs and MUAs. Firstly, a three-stage signal-conditioning unit was designed that offered low noise, low cost and excellent line-driving capabilities. The parallel architecture of the filter stage, just before the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter card, allowed the MUA and FPs to be recorded simultaneously without further signal processing. Secondly, to obtain a precision map, a 64-channel high-speed A/D card and its software program were purchased, which allowed “pseudo-synchronous” acquisition among different channels. Finally, a practical application of this system in investigating cortical responses showed that it met the requirements of ensemble recording. The detailed design considerations and methods for implementing the system could be valuable to other neuroscience laboratories.

Establishment of a computer-controlled retroreflection measurement system at the National Metrology Institute of Turkey (UME)

In order to characterize photometric properties of retroreflectors, a fully automated retroreflector measurement system is designed in National Metrology Institute of Turkey (UME). The system is composed of a lighting projector, a goniometer, filter radiometers, 100dB transimpedance amplifiers, and 24-bit resolution analog-digital converter card with a special software. The established system provides a new calibration capability to determine the luminous intensity and retroreflection coefficients of the retroreflective materials with the expanded uncertainties of 1.07% and 1.13% (k=2), respectively. The traceability in retroreflection measurements was linked to the detector-based photometric scale of UME.

The cuff method: a pilot study of a new method of monitoring neuromuscular function

A new method of monitoring neuromuscular blockade based on a modified blood pressure cuff that incorporates stimulating electrodes was compared with mechanomyography (MMG) ('gold standard'). Forty adults and 20 children (ASA I-II) underwent neuromuscular blockade monitoring on the contralateral arms and on the same arm using the new cuff method and MMG. Only train-of-four (TOF) ratios > 0.1 and T(1) heights > 0 were studied. Supramaximal stimulation was also assessed. A device based on a PC with an analogue-to-digital conversion card was used to control and synchronize MMG and the cuff method. The agreement between both methods was assessed using the statistical method of Bland and Altman. When TOF ratios were >0.7, the bias between the two methods was -0.04 with the limits of agreement ranging from -0.21 to -0.12 (95% CI -0.06 to -0.02). The T(1) > 0 heights bias was -0.01 with the limits of agreement ranging from -0.26 to 0.24 (95% CI -0.02 to -0.003). The sensitivity of the cuff method was 88%, with a specificity of 85% and an accuracy of 86%. This pilot study indicates that the cuff method could be useful to monitor neuromuscular blockade according to the bias and limits of agreement compared with MMG, particularly when the degree of blockade was evaluated by TOF ratios > 0.7. The new cuff method is easy and simple to use. However, further studies in a larger number of patients are necessary to confirm these favourable preliminary results.

A self-contained wireless wheelchair ergometer designed for biomechanical measures in real life conditions

In the aim of investigating the influence of various mechanical parameters on wheelchair propulsion efficiency during real life displacements, either outside or inside the laboratory, a wireless wheelchair ergometer (WWE) has been designed, which is able to measure the six components (Fx,Fy,Fz,Mx,My,Mz) of the efforts applied by the subject on right and left handrims and on the seat. Wheelchair's kinematics is measured by two angular potentiometers fixed on rear wheels' axles, a 3-D accelerometer and a Y-axis gyroscope fixed on wheelchair's frame. The 24 signals produced by these sensors are sampled at 500 Hz by a 16-bit A/D conversion card slotted into a mini PC fixed under the seat, and data are then sent to a remote computer using the IEEE 802.11b and TCP/IP wireless protocols. A preliminary study with one able-bodied subject who performed a straightforward 60-m's run on the track of an indoor stadium demonstrated that the WWE allows exploring some unknown aspects of wheelchair locomotion directly on the field. The future results obtained with this original research instrument should provide some answers to the numerous questions encountered by clinicians in their practise, and help wheelchair manufacturers to improve their products.