Potential Solution Strategies Research Articles

Acoustical criteria for hospital patient rooms: Resolving competing requirements

The acoustical criteria for patient rooms in hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation facilities may be based on several needs. One important requirement is that noise levels in the room be conducive to restful sleep. Also, caregivers must have easy auditory and visual access to the patients, and be able to hear vital sign monitor alarms. This often means that patient rooms are located near central nurse stations and that patient room doors are left open. Further, the recently published federal privacy standards developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require that ‘‘appropriate physical safeguards’’ be put in place to protect the confidentiality of patient health information. The simultaneous and competing requirements for speech privacy, caregiver access, and good sleeping conditions present a serious acoustical challenge to health care facility designers. Specific facility design issues and potential solution strategies are presented.

Applications Demand Class‐Specific Optimizations: The C++ Compiler Can Do More

So far C++ has made few inroads into the realm of scientific computing, which is still largely dominated by Fortran. Of the few attempts that have been made to apply C++ to numerically intensive codes, the results have often suffered from severe performance problems. A careful examination of these problems indicates that they are unlikely to be solved by incremental improvements in compiler optimization technology. The flow of this article will: motivate the discussion by describing a common efficiency problem that arises when numerical codes are programmed in C++; discuss some potential solution strategies that we believe are viable in the near term, but not over the long term; introduce a mechanism by which a compiler can load domain‐specific and class‐specific optimizations on an as needed basis. A simple interface that will enable this feature will be presented. Althoug our immediate motivation is that of numerically intensive codes, our approach is applicable to all application domains.

SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH‐SCORING EXAMINEES ON THE SAT®‐M

ABSTRACTPerformance of high‐scoring males and females on the mathematics section of three forms of the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT‐M) was examined to determine how item content, solution strategy, and speededness differentially affect performance. The mathematical and verbal sections of the SAT were also compared for similarities in the performance patterns of high scorers.Items on three forms of the SAT‐M were classified on the basis of content and potential solution strategies. Male and female performance in the top 5 percent was examined using the Mantel‐Haenszel Differential Item Functioning (MH‐DIF) procedure. A main effect was found for item‐solution strategy, but not for item content. Males tended to outperform females on items requiring logical estimation or insight even when subjects were matched on years of mathematics course taking and average mathematics grades.Conventional measures indicated that the test was not differentially speeded. However, omit rates indicated that females omitted a greater proportion of items requiring estimation. Different patterns by gender were found on the mathematical and verbal sections of the test.

Composite Laminate Components for Robotic and Machine Systems: Research Issues in Design

Composite materials, which have already revolutionized the aerospace industry and are being increasingly utilized in the automotive industry to fabricate lightweight, high-stiffness components are an essential ingredient for the next generation of robotic and machine systems. This trend in the increasing utilization of composite materials has been precipitated by the insatiable demands in the international marketplace for machinery which has superior performance characteristics than the current products. As more stringent performance characteristics are imposed upon the design specifications for the next generation of machine systems, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the conventional metals are already being employed near the limits of their inherent physical properties and the designer must now utilize the superior properties of modern polymeric composite materials. This paper examines the proposition of fabricating machine systems with these advanced materials by reviewing the advantages to be gained from this approach prior to identifying the frontier problems and discussing potential solution strategies.