Terms Of High Levels Research Articles

The inventory management systems of a production unit and some academic institutions: a comparative study

While inventories are necessary to absorb input and demand variations, a balance is needed between blocked capital in the inventories and the impact on production. The rising costs and risks of carrying various types of inventories have focused attention on their proper management and control. Because substantial funds can be at stake, purchasing bears a vital, continuing responsibility for managing inventories prudently. In recent years, significantly improved computer capabilities have enabled companies to cope better with the uncertainties associated with inventories and to reduce inventory costs by setting more efficient inventory levels. In the service industry (academic institutions), where the requirements are more in terms of higher levels of customer satisfaction, the Inventory Management (IM) system should be designed in such a way that it would provide higher customer satisfaction. As some of the systems may not require substantial stores to be warehoused, the best ordering and procurement policies may be at variance with respect to the traditional inventory control system prevailing in the production/manufacturing industry. In this paper I will discuss IM system followed in a production industry and two academic institutions. This study addresses the overall IM system followed in these organisations. The study focuses on understanding and analysing the current inventory system that they are practising. Further, a set of recommendations to improve the system are made.

Antioxidant Levels Represent a Major Determinant in the Regenerative Capacity of Muscle Stem Cells

Stem cells are classically defined by their multipotent, long-term proliferation, and self-renewal capabilities. Here, we show that increased antioxidant capacity represents an additional functional characteristic of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs). Seeking to understand the superior regenerative capacity of MDSCs compared with myoblasts in cardiac and skeletal muscle transplantation, our group hypothesized that survival of the oxidative and inflammatory stress inherent to transplantation may play an important role. Evidence of increased enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant capacity of MDSCs were observed in terms of higher levels of superoxide dismutase and glutathione, which appears to confer a differentiation and survival advantage. Further when glutathione levels of the MDSCs are lowered to that of myoblasts, the transplantation advantage of MDSCs over myoblasts is lost when transplanted into both skeletal and cardiac muscles. These findings elucidate an important cause for the superior regenerative capacity of MDSCs, and provide functional evidence for the emerging role of antioxidant capacity as a critical property for MDSC survival post-transplantation.

Tachyon condensation on separated brane-antibrane system

We study the effect of tachyon condensation on a brane antibrane pair in superstring theory separated in the transverse direction. The static properties of the tachyon potential analyzed using level truncated string field theory reproduces the desired property that the dependence of the minimum value of the potential on the initial distance of separation between the branes decreases as we include higher level terms. The rolling tachyon solution constructed using the conformal field theory methods shows that if the initial separation between the branes is less than a critical distance then the solution is described by an exactly marginal deformation of the original conformal field theory where the correlation functions of the deformed theory are determined completely in terms of the correlation functions of the undeformed theory without any need to regularize the theory. Using this we give an expression for the pressure on the brane-antibrane system as a power series expansion in exp(Cx0) for an appropriate constant C.

Dissociating conflict adaptation from feature integration: A multiple regression approach.

Congruency effects are typically smaller after incongruent than after congruent trials. One explanation is in terms of higher levels of cognitive control after detection of conflict (conflict adaptation; e.g., M. M. Botvinick, T. S. Braver, D. M. Barch, C. S. Carter, & J. D. Cohen, 2001). An alternative explanation for these results is based on feature repetition and/or integration effects (e.g., B. Hommel, R. W. Proctor, & K.-P. Vu, 2004; U. Mayr, E. Awh, & P. Laurey, 2003). Previous attempts to dissociate feature integration from conflict adaptation focused on a particular subset of the data in which feature transitions were held constant (J. G. Kerns et al., 2004) or in which congruency transitions were held constant (C. Akcay & E. Hazeltine, in press), but this has a number of disadvantages. In this article, the authors present a multiple regression solution for this problem and discuss its possibilities and pitfalls.

Obesity increases the risk of UV radiation-induced oxidative stress and activation of MAPK and NF-κB signaling

Obesity has been implicated in several diseases, including cancer; however, the relationship of obesity and susceptibility to ultraviolet (UV) radiation-caused skin diseases has not been investigated. As UV-induced oxidative stress has been implicated in several skin diseases, we assessed the role of obesity on UVB-induced oxidative stress in genetically obese Lep ob/Lep ob (leptin-deficient) mice. Here, we report that chronic exposure to UVB (120 mJ/cm 2) resulted in greater oxidative stress in the skin of obese mice in terms of higher levels of H 2O 2 and NO production, photo-oxidative damage of lipids and proteins, and greater depletion of antioxidant defense enzymes, like glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase. As UV-induced oxidative stress mediates activation of MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways, we determined the effects of UVB on these pathways in obese mice. Exposure of obese mice to UVB resulted in phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 proteins of the MAPK family. Compared to wild-type mice, the obese mice exhibited higher levels of phosphorylation of these proteins, greater activation of NF-κB/p65, and higher levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6, on UVB irradiation. Taking these results together, our study suggests for the first time that obesity in mice is associated with greater susceptibility to UVB-induced oxidative stress and therefore may be a risk factor for skin diseases associated with UVB-induced oxidative stress.

Five-dimensional supergravity and the hyperbolic Kac–Moody algebra GH2

Motivated by the recent analysis of the E10 sigma model for the study of M-theory, we study a one-dimensional sigma model associated with the hyperbolic Kac–Moody algebra GH2 and its link to pure supergravity, which closely resembles in many ways D = 11 supergravity. The bosonic equations of motion and the Bianchi identity for D = 5 pure supergravity match the equations of the level ℓ ⩽ 3 truncation of the GH2 sigma model up to higher level terms, just as they do for the D = 11 case. We also compute low level root and outer multiplicities in the A3 decomposition, and indeed find singlets at ℓ = 4k, k = 2, 3, … corresponding to the scaling of ERk+1 terms, although the missing singlet at ℓ = 4 remains a puzzle.

Appraisal of the MedDRA Conceptual Structure for Describing and Grouping Adverse Drug Reactions

Computerised queries in spontaneous reporting systems for pharmacovigilance require reliable and reproducible coding of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The aim of the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) terminology is to provide an internationally approved classification for efficient communication of ADR data between countries. Several studies have evaluated the domain completeness of MedDRA and whether encoded terms are coherent with physicians' original verbatim descriptions of the ADR. MedDRA terms are organised into five levels: system organ class (SOC), high level group terms (HLGTs), high level terms (HLTs), preferred terms (PTs) and low level terms (LLTs). Although terms may belong to different SOCs, no PT is related to more than one HLT within the same SOC. This hierarchical property ensures that terms cannot be counted twice in statistical studies, though it does not allow appropriate semantic grouping of PTs. For this purpose, special search categories (SSCs) [collections of PTs assembled from various SOCs] have been introduced in MedDRA to group terms with similar meanings. However, only a small number of categories are currently available and the criteria used to construct these categories have not been clarified. The objective of this work is to determine whether MedDRA contains the structural and terminological properties to group semantically linked adverse events in order to improve the performance of spontaneous reporting systems. Rossi Mori classifies terminological systems in three categories: first-generation systems, which represent terms as strings; second-generation systems, which dissect terminological phrases into a set of simpler terms; and third-generation systems, which provide advanced features to automatically retrieve the position of new terms in the classification and group sets of meaning-related terms. We applied Cimino's desiderata to show that MedDRA is not compatible with the properties of third-generation systems. Consequently, no tool can help for the automated positioning of new terms inside the hierarchy and SSCs have to be entered manually rather than automatically using the MedDRA files. One solution could be to link MedDRA to a third-generation system. This would allow the current MedDRA structure to be kept to ensure that end users have a common view on the same data and the addition of new computational properties to MedDRA.

Use of the FDA spontaneous adverse event reporting system (SAERS), or why your MedWatch reports really do matter

6089 Background: The purpose of this project is to demonstrate how a publicly available data source is used for safety assessments in cancer drug development and commercialization. Methods: Oxaliplatin was approved in August 2002 for second-line use in metastatic colorectal cancer. Peripheral sensory neuropathy commonly occurs with oxaliplatin, and at least 4 cases of autonomic neuropathy (with Lhermitte's sign and urinary retention), have also been reported. We searched the FDA SAERS database, which is comprised predominantly of MedWatch reports filed by physicians, for reports suggesting either of these frequent or infrequent types of neuropathy. Proportional reporting ratios (PRR) were calculated for oxaliplatin relative to other platinum compounds. PRRs > 3.0 are suggestive of a “signal”, but need a larger context to interpret. Results: Relevant PRRs as of March 21, 2003 are shown for MedDRA High Level Terms (HLT) and various Preferred Terms (PT) subsumed under the HLTs. The PRR for oxaliplatin is statistically significant and lower than for other platinum compounds for “peripheral neuropathy”, but higher for “sensory abnormalities”. Reports of urinary symptoms are few, but appear to be comparable (at the HLT) for all platinum drugs. Conclusions:Oncologists can actively contribute to the drug safety monitoring of all patients by submitting MedWatch reports to the FDA SAERS. Author Disclosure Employment or Leadership Consultant or Advisory Stock Ownership Honoraria Research Funding Expert Testimony Other Remuneration MetaWorks, Inc. MetaWorks, Inc. MetaWorks, Inc.

Use of the FDA spontaneous adverse event reporting system (SAERS), or why your MedWatch reports really do matter

6089 Background: The purpose of this project is to demonstrate how a publicly available data source is used for safety assessments in cancer drug development and commercialization. Methods: Oxaliplatin was approved in August 2002 for second-line use in metastatic colorectal cancer. Peripheral sensory neuropathy commonly occurs with oxaliplatin, and at least 4 cases of autonomic neuropathy (with Lhermitte's sign and urinary retention), have also been reported. We searched the FDA SAERS database, which is comprised predominantly of MedWatch reports filed by physicians, for reports suggesting either of these frequent or infrequent types of neuropathy. Proportional reporting ratios (PRR) were calculated for oxaliplatin relative to other platinum compounds. PRRs > 3.0 are suggestive of a “signal”, but need a larger context to interpret. Results: Relevant PRRs as of March 21, 2003 are shown for MedDRA High Level Terms (HLT) and various Preferred Terms (PT) subsumed under the HLTs. The PRR for oxaliplatin is sta...

THE ROLE OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS IN PROMOTING STUDENT THINKING IN KUWAIT

This study explored how school administrators in Kuwait conceive students' thinking skills and their perceived role in promoting such skills. A random sample of school principals and head teachers was interviewed. A major finding of this study was that administrators understand students' thinking in terms of higher levels of thinking activities. Administrators also indicated that they can play a significant role in this endeavor by giving teachers the opportunity to be creative and encouraging and helping them to be so. However, they believe that their role is hindered by their limited authority, their many managerial responsibilities, and the limited time available to finish the prescribed curriculum.

Language-based querying of image collections on the basis of an extensible ontology

The design of a specialised query language for content based image retrieval provides a means of addressing many of the problems associated with commonly used query paradigms such as query-by-example and query-by-sketch. By basing such a language on an extensible ontology, which encompasses both high-level and low-level image properties and relations, one can go a long way towards bridging the semantic gap between user models of saliency and relevance and those employed by a retrieval system. This paper discusses these issues and illustrates the design and use of an ontological retrieval language through the example of the OQUEL query language. The retrieval process takes place entirely within the ontological domain defined by the syntax and semantics of the user query. Since the system does not rely on the pre-annotation of images with sentences in the language, the format of text queries is highly flexible. The language is also extensible to allow for the definition of higher-level terms such as ‘cars’, ‘people’, etc. on the basis of existing language constructs through the use of Bayesian inference networks. The matching process utilises automatically extracted image segmentation and classification information and can incorporate any other feature extraction mechanisms or contextual knowledge available at processing time to satisfy a given user request.

The Psychosocial Well-Being of Black and White Mothers Following Marital Dissolution: A Brief Report of a Follow-Up Study

A subsample of divorced/separated Black and White mothers from the National Survey of Families and Households was followed over a five-year period to determine cultural differences in psychosocial well-being. Discriminant analysis, with education and time since divorce/separation controlled, indicated that White mothers at Time 2 differed from Black mothers in terms of higher levels of personal mastery, informal support, and economic well-being. Also, White mothers evidenced significant improvement in five of the six psychosocial domains: informal support, self-esteem, happiness, economic well-being, and depression, whereas Black mothers indicated improvement in informal support and happiness, and evidenced a marginal decline in personal mastery. Cultural differences also were noted in the greater income of White mothers at Time 2 as well as a greater likelihood for White mothers to remarry.

Methods and pitfalls in searching drug safety databases utilising the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA).

The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) is a unified standard terminology for recording and reporting adverse drug event data. Its introduction is widely seen as a significant improvement on the previous situation, where a multitude of terminologies of widely varying scope and quality were in use. However, there are some complexities that may cause difficulties, and these will form the focus for this paper. Two methods of searching MedDRA-coded databases are described: searching based on term selection from all of MedDRA and searching based on terms in the safety database. There are several potential traps for the unwary in safety searches. There may be multiple locations of relevant terms within a system organ class (SOC) and lack of recognition of appropriate group terms; the user may think that group terms are more inclusive than is the case. MedDRA may distribute terms relevant to one medical condition across several primary SOCs. If the database supports the MedDRA model, it is possible to perform multiaxial searching: while this may help find terms that might have been missed, it is still necessary to consider the entire contents of the SOCs to find all relevant terms and there are many instances of incomplete secondary linkages. It is important to adjust for multiaxiality if data are presented using primary and secondary locations. Other sources for errors in searching are non-intuitive placement and the selection of terms as preferred terms (PTs) that may not be widely recognised. Some MedDRA rules could also result in errors in data retrieval if the individual is unaware of these: in particular, the lack of multiaxial linkages for the Investigations SOC, Social circumstances SOC and Surgical and medical procedures SOC and the requirement that a PT may only be present under one High Level Term (HLT) and one High Level Group Term (HLGT) within any single SOC. Special Search Categories (collections of PTs assembled from various SOCs by searching all of MedDRA) are limited by the small number available and by lack of clarity about criteria applied in their construction. Difficulties in database searching may be addressed by suitable user training and experience, and by central reporting of detected deficiencies in MedDRA. Other remedies may include regulatory guidance on implementation and use of MedDRA. Further systematic review of MedDRA is needed and generation of standardised searches that may be used 'off the shelf' will help, particularly where the same search is performed repeatedly on multiple data sets. Until these enhancements are widely available, MedDRA users should take great care when searching a safety database to ensure that cases are not inadvertently missed.

Too Much to Swallow: On Terms Meaning "Swallow" in Oceanic Languages

At least seven terms with the meaning 'to swallow' can be reconstructed for Proto-Oceanic, and four more for lower-level protolanguages. All of these bear some phonological resemblance to each other, and also to forms reconstructed for Proto-Austronesian and Proto--Malayo-Polynesian (some of which have the meaning 'to sink, drown, disappear under water'). Only two, however, directly continue earlier terms. The remainder involve change in a single consonant, metathesis, or a process of blending in which the initial syllable of one earlier form combines with the second syllable of another form. Semantic change and Austronesian root theory are included in the discussion. 1. INTRODUCTION. Blust (1988, n.d.) reconstructs the following terms for the verb 'swallow' in high-level Austronesian protolanguages, which incorporate the root [-len.sup.*]: (1) (I) PMP [telen.sup.*], [tilen.sup.*] (doublets, both meaning 'to swallow') PCMP [belen.sup.*] 'to swallow' He also reconstructs (i) PWMP [tunen.sup.*] 'to swallow', and (ii) the following terms meaning variously 'sink', 'disappear under water', 'drown' (which I will represent in this paper by the shorthand gloss 'sink+'), some of which seem to have a possible connection with one or more of the 'swallow' forms: (2) PMP [telem.sup.*] 'sink, disappear under water' PWMP [benem.sup.*] 'sink, drown', [taR-benem.sup.*] 'sink' PWMP [[LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].sup.*] 'sink, disappear under water' It is possible that the following term is also related: (3) PWMP [inem.sup.*] 'drink' (doublet of PMP [inum.sup.*]) In looking at possibly cognate forms in Oceanic languages, it is clear that there is a connection between forms reconstructed with the meaning 'sink+' and forms meaning 'swallow'. It is also clear that there is a considerable number of possible reconstructions with the meaning 'swallow', some of which involve minor permutations on higher-level terms; and there are other forms in certain restricted subgroups that exhibit other permutations. 2. PROTO-OCEANIC RECONSTRUCTIONS. In what follows, a form is labeled POc if it either regularly reflects a higher-order term or if there are cognates in widely separated branches of Oceanic; the label means that the form continues a higher-level term but with a phonological modification that is found with a more restricted distribution. 2.1 POC [P-INITIAL.sup.*] FORM. may have had one [p-initial.sup.*] form meaning 'swallow' (noting that [p.sup.*] continues PMP [b.sup.*]): (4) POc? [polo(m).sup.*], [polom-i.sup.*] 'to swallow'. Blust lists as reflexes of [belen.sup.*] 'swallow' Samoan folo and Rennellese hogo, and proposes a form [polon.sup.*]. (2) Biggs (2000) reconstructs Proto-Polynesian [folo.sup.*] 'swallow, ingest', with exemplary reflexes in 27 Polynesian languages--that is, all languages reflect medial [1.sup.*] and also [0.sup.*] in each syllable. However, the suffixed forms of these verbs (where such exist) contain the consonant m rather than the expected n: for example, Mae, Ifira-Mele, Maoriforo-mia Pilenifolo-mia, Tahitian horo-mi'i, etc. These suggest an earlier form [polo(m).sup.*] rather than [polo(n).sup.*]. I reconstruct this in the form [polo(m).sup.*], [polom-i.sup.*] (following the conventions established in Ross, Pawley, and Osmond 1998:25, 27-28), with final [(m).sup.*], indicating that no reflex has been found with word-final m, and final [m-i.sup.*] indicating that this m is found in suffixed forms. Yapese fuul' is cognate with the Polynesian roots, but it is not clear whether it derived from a root with final [m.sup.*] or final [n.sup.*] Ross (1996:160) suggests that it may be a Polynesian loan, but later (pers. comm.) comments that it may be directly inherited. If it is directly inherited, initial f suggests that the form is more likely to have had initial [blank. …

Finasteride and tamsulosin used in benign prostatic hypertrophy: a review of the prescription-event monitoring data.

To review the results of non-interventional observational cohort studies of 14 772 patients treated with finasteride and 12 484 patients treated with tamsulosin, both studies being of national proportions and undertaken in general medical practice in England. Both studies were undertaken by prescription-event monitoring (PEM), whereby the exposure data are derived from information provided in strict confidence by the Prescription Pricing Authority of the National Health Service. The outcome data are derived from 'green form' questionnaires completed by the prescribing general practitioners (GPs). Additional data are obtained by medical follow-up with the attending practitioners. Adverse experience was measured in three ways; as reports of events which the doctors considered to represent adverse drug reactions; as reports of reasons for stopping the drug; and by studying the incidence density of each reported event. For these purposes a computerized dictionary containing 1430 higher level terms was used. The duration of exposure in the finasteride study was approximately 1 year and was approximately 6 months in the tamsulosin study. The outcome data on the 14 772 and 12 484 patients treated in the finasteride and tamsulosin studies were derived from the 63% and 57.4% of the green forms sent out and returned, respectively. The finasteride cohort included two women and the tamsulosin cohort 70 women. The mean (SD) age of the men in the two cohorts was, respectively, 69.0 (9.2) and 66.2 (11.7) years. Both drugs were well tolerated on long-term therapy and 69.6% (10 274 patients) of the total finasteride and 62.0% (7739 patients) of the total tamsulosin cohort were still receiving the drug at the end of 6 months. In the finasteride study, impotence or ejaculatory failure was reported in 2.0% of the patients still receiving the drug; there were reports of decreased libido in 1.0% and gynaecomastia was reported whilst the drug was still being prescribed in 39 patients (0.3% of the cohort). With tamsulosin, uncommon cases of dizziness, headache, malaise and hypotension (89 reports in 12 484 patients, i.e. 0.7% of the cohort) were common to the findings of reported adverse reactions, reasons for stopping the drug and events of highest incidence density. None of the deaths which occurred in either of these large cohorts was attributed by either the reporting GPs or the PEM medical staff to the drugs examined. Conclusion The GPs rated the drugs effective in most patients; tolerance and adverse experience was consistent with the known pharmacology of the two drugs. No serious, unexpected adverse effects were identified.

Closed pelvic fractures: characteristics and outcomes in older patients admitted to medical and geriatric wards

OBJECTIVETo investigate the characteristics and outcomes of older patients with pelvic fracture admitted to medical and geriatric wards.METHODSAll patients admitted to medical and geriatric wards with a pelvic fracture over...

Economic Adversity and Criminal Behaviour: Rethinking Youth Unemployment and Crime

This paper argues that in order to understand the impact of youth unemployment on crime it is necessary to specify the particular social location and meaning of contemporary economic adversity. A starting point is an analysis of the collapse of the youth labour market. This has created high levels of youth unemployment, has dramatically worsened the educational situation of those who seek to leave school without high level qualifications, and has had major consequences for the income available to young people. These forms of economic adversity have direct impacts on the social lives of the early school leavers, and create a number of possible friction points with adults, such as conflicts over public space recognisable as the ‘mall problem’. We argue that there are particular forms of economic adversity which impact upon specific groups of young people, and these in turn may have consequences in terms of higher levels of recorded youth crime.

Mo/ller–Plesset perturbation theory applied to vibrational problems

Mo/ller–Plesset perturbation theory is employed to improve the accuracy of static mean field computations in molecular vibration problems. This method is a simple and efficient way to get nearly exact frequencies for few-mode model potentials. For more realistic potentials representing the dynamics of water and formaldehyde, the Mo/ller–Plesset treatment works equally as well. However, we find in general that MP2 level corrections give very accurate energies and additional corrections by higher level terms in the MP series are not substantial. Moreover, we find that for reference states on high energy manifolds degeneracies can result when higher level terms are included in the series. We discuss several ways to remove these degeneracies.

Information processing efficiency and noise. Interactions with personal rigidity

Three information processing tasks (two memory comparison tasks and a computerized version of the Stroop task) were administered to subjects differing in rigidity under noisy and quiet conditions. No main effects from noise were obtained but this factor interacted with the personality factor of rigidity. When noise was applied, rigid persons were generally faster but more inaccurate than in quiet conditions, and the reverse was true for the flexible subjects. Rigid subjects were bothered most by noise compared to the flexible subjects, as was shown by the large increase of state anxiety. The results are discussed in terms of higher levels of arousal in the rigid subjects, hampering performance more than in the more flexible subjects.

Learning Concept Descriptions in a Growing Language

Humans are capable of producing compact high-level concept descriptions built from previously known concepts and attribute values. In the method presented here, initially concepts are described in terms of attribute values. These descriptions are in a probabilistic DNF form. Assuming a growing language, concepts already known to the system can be used in describing new concepts. The order of teaching the concepts is the key to producing their optimal descriptions. By “optimal” we mean the minimum number of occurrences of constants in descriptions. The problem of finding the minimal description for each concept is NP-complete, hence our proposed algorithm has to be heuristic. Our strategy is based on clustering terms in concept descriptions in order to replace them by shorter higher level terms. Results of the algorithm are optimized concepts descriptions in terms of a growing language, and a concept network that can be used for further learning and reasoning within the concept knowledge base.