Pressure Off Research Articles

Effect of Polymer Content to Mechanical Properties of Fly Ash Slurry

In this paper, different polymer dosage in case of mechanical properties of fly ash slurry, through testing studies have shown that low-dosage strength of fly ash slurry has increased the role of high-dosage resulting in lower intensity, but the overall pressure off than reduced, improving the flexibility of fly ash cement, is it has a certain flexibility.

Asynchronous Evolution for Fully‐Implicit and Semi‐Implicit Time Integration

AbstractWe propose a series of techniques for hybridizing implicit and semi‐implicit time integration methods in a manner that retains much of the speed of the implicit method without sacrificing all of the higher quality vibrations one obtains with methods that handle elastic forces explicitly. We propose our scheme in the context of asynchronous methods, where different parts of the mesh are evolved at different time steps. Whereas traditional asynchronous methods evolve each element independently, we partition all of our elements into two groups: one group evolved at the frame rate using a fully implicit scheme, and another group which takes a number of substeps per frame using a scheme that is implicit on damping forces and explicit on the elastic forces. This allows for a straightforward coupling between the implicit and semi‐implicit methods at frame boundaries for added stability. As has been stressed by various authors, asynchronous schemes take some of the pressure off of mesh generation, allowing time evolution to remain efficient even in the face of sliver elements. Finally, we propose a force distributing projection method which allows one to redistribute the forces felt on boundaries between implicit and semi‐implicit regions of the mesh in a manner that yields improved visual quality.

Taking the pressure off in the ICU

Taking the pressure off in the ICU

Employer-sponsored programmes for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS: Recent experience from sub-Saharan Africa

This article examines a sample of employer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa that supplement government efforts to prevent and treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Some of these programmes provide workers with in-house education, voluntary HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment. Others rely on new forms of employment-based group health insurance that include an HIV treatment package. In addition, some enterprises use the workplace as a platform for launching efforts into neighbouring communities to reach spouses, children, sex workers, secondary school students and others. Early evidence suggests that employer programmes maintain the health of large fractions of workers living with HIV who are served by them. They further enable enterprises to avoid productivity losses and turnover costs associated with HIV. At the same time, they take pressure off government agencies that face demands for treatment far exceeding their capacity. The article identifies features of successful employer programmes including “elite appeal”, which mobilizes community leaders and role models to deconstruct stigma, change perceptions and call for behavioural change; and “collateral linkage”, which extends the reach of HIV workplace programmes by linking them to related community concerns: e.g. alcohol abuse, malaria and domestic violence. Looking forward, the potential for expanding employer programmes as well as the restrictions associated with the limited scale of formal-sector employment within sub-Saharan African economies is assessed. Actions by which governments, employer associations, trade unions and international organizations can encourage further development of such programmes and extend their reach are suggested.

Vertical plant production as a public exhibit at Paignton Zoo

Paignton Zoo has undertaken a novel project together with a multinational plant technology group to build Europe’s first vertical growing facility. The project represents the first zoo-based sustainable growing laboratory. It is an example of how zoos and botanic gardens can demonstrate sustainability to their visitors, through reducing their own impacts on the environment and by using plant-based solutions to offset the impact of anthropogenic global change on biodiversity. Urban agriculture and High Density Vertical Growing technology should be seen as a valuable element that can help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, most specifically goal number one: to end poverty and hunger, and goal number seven: to ensure environmental sustainability by taking pressure off habitats to service unsustainable cities through agricultural domestication or otherwise unsustainable land use.

Health Care Reform and Health Disparities: Implications for Social Workers

Health disparities, or preventable differences in burden of disease, injury and violence, or opportunities ... experienced by socially disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and other populations groups and communities, remain a serious problem in United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008). The grim figures are well known to social workers (NASW, 2009). Compared with white Americans, African Americans have shorter life expectancies and higher rates of disease and death. Although Hispanic Americans, particularly those born in other countries, are in better than nonimmigrant white Americans for at least one generation after immigrating, they lag behind in some measures (Kimbro, Bzostek, Goldman, & Rodriquez, 2008; Russell, 2009; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2010). Racial and ethnic minorities, including Hispanic Americans, also generally have less access to care than white Americans, and when they get it, it is often inferior (HHS, 2010). Much less is known about disparities from Asian Americans, Arab Americans, and other racial and ethnic groups. During presidential campaign, candidates Obama and Biden pledged to tackle root causes of disparities by addressing differences in access to coverage and promoting prevention and public health (Obama Biden, n.d.). The Obama administration has also pledged to take steps to address disparities (Council on Social Work Education, 2010). Yet, what has been done to date? Thus far, one feat has been enactment of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (EL. 111-148) by Congress in March 2010. This article examines potential impact of PPACA on two kinds of disparities: racial and ethnic disparities and class (as determined or influenced by socioeconomic status) disparities. PPACA AND RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES A central issue facing many racial and ethnic minorities is lack of access to care. In 2008, 10.8 percent of non-Hispanic white Americans lacked insurance, whereas 19.l percent of African Americans and 30.7 percent of Hispanic Americans no coverage (these figures provide a rough measure of uninsured population at a point in time, not entire year) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). If implemented as planned, PPACA ameliorate this problem by providing tax credits and other subsidies to individuals and families earning less than 400 percent of poverty line to assist them in buying coverage through new exchanges (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). Because approximately 80 percent of nonelderly blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians and Alaska Natives (compared with 57 percent of white Americans) had incomes below 400 percent of poverty, new law should help reduce disparities in access (Families USA, 2010). The legislation also extend Medicaid coverage to children and adults with incomes below 133 percent of poverty line. PPACA also should decrease group differences in by expanding funding for community centers, which have played a critical role in effort to stem the nation's growing flood of uninsured (Iglehart, 2010, p. 343). Former president George W. Bush described these centers, which grew out of antipoverty efforts of 1960s, as integral part of a care system because they provide care for low-income, for newly arrived, and they take pressure off of our hospital emergency rooms (cited in Iglehart, 2010, p. 343). In 2008, 61 percent of 20 million people served by community were African American or Hispanic American (National Association of Community Health Centers, 2009). The legislation provide $11 billion over five years, an investment that will approximately double number of people seen in centers (Wakefield, 2010). Also, plans be required to offer free preventive and wellness coverage, which many African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and others with high rates of uninsurance often go without (Health Reform for African Americans, n. …

Get behind it! Taking the pressure off in the Emergency Department

Get behind it! Taking the pressure off in the Emergency Department

Readers panel - Rings the changes

Will the 111 ‘semi-urgent’ number take pressure off emergency services? We asked our readers panel

Policies for reduced deforestation and their impact on agricultural production

Policies to effectively reduce deforestation are discussed within a land rent (von Thünen) framework. The first set of policies attempts to reduce the rent of extensive agriculture, either by neglecting extension, marketing, and infrastructure, generating alternative income opportunities, stimulating intensive agricultural production or by reforming land tenure. The second set aims to increase either extractive or protective forest rent and--more importantly--create institutions (community forest management) or markets (payment for environmental services) that enable land users to capture a larger share of the protective forest rent. The third set aims to limit forest conversion directly by establishing protected areas. Many of these policy options present local win-lose scenarios between forest conservation and agricultural production. Local yield increases tend to stimulate agricultural encroachment, contrary to the logic of the global food equation that suggests yield increases take pressure off forests. At national and global scales, however, policy makers are presented with a more pleasant scenario. Agricultural production in developing countries has increased by 3.3-3.4% annually over the last 2 decades, whereas gross deforestation has increased agricultural area by only 0.3%, suggesting a minor role of forest conversion in overall agricultural production. A spatial delinking of remaining forests and intensive production areas should also help reconcile conservation and production goals in the future.

Association between metabolic syndrome and risk of cardiovascular disease, using different criteria and stratified by sex

AimThe purpose of this study is to determine the association between the components used to define metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk using different criteria stratified by sex. MethodsA cross-sectional study with 608 subjects enrolled at the out-patients department of the Thai Internal Medicine Clinic was performed between October 2006 and September 2007. Included subjects had metabolic syndrome as defined by WHO, NCEP III, or IDF. The demographic and laboratory characteristic of the subjects including BMI, waist circumference, waist/hip ratio, fasting blood glucose, 2h postprandial blood glucose, triglyceride, HDL, blood pressure, and microalbuminuria, were measured and recorded by chart review. Cardiovascular risk was determined by pulse wave velocity. The sensitivity and specificity of the component of metabolic syndrome according to the three criteria were stratified by sex. ResultsThe HDL sensitivity was higher in females than in males. Among the different component of metabolic syndrome, blood pressure gave the strongest association with cardiovascular risk, with odds ratios of 13.6, 11.97, and 10.5 for the criteria of IDF, NCEP III, and WHO, respectively. Moreover, when analyzing by sex, the odds ratio for female subjects were about two times higher than that of males. The rest of the components in each of criteria exceptional HDL gave odds ratios of 2–4. ConclusionsThe appropriate components to predict cardiovascular risks are: high blood pressure and cut off point of waist circumference in females, as defined by the IDF criterion, and high triglyceride in males, as defined by the IDF criterion.

Dorzolamide as an Effective Topical Therapy for Glaucoma in a Case of Nanophthalmos.

To report a case of nanophthalmos in which the intraocular pressure (IOP) off medication was 45 mm Hg and on dorzolamide hydrochloride once daily was 15 mm Hg for many years. No other medication affected the IOP. A chart review of a patient with nanophthalmos and glaucoma. A case of angle closure glaucoma in a nanophthalmic eye which had an unusually great and prolonged reduction of IOP secondary to the use of dorzolamide once daily, was reported.

Diet of Imperial CormorantsPhalacrocorax atricepsBreeding at Central Patagonia, Argentina

Fil: Yorio, Pablo Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Nacional Patagonico; Argentina. Wildlife Conservation Society; Estados Unidos

Comments: The Future Continues

Editor's column A year ago, BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward—amid an environment of a world steeped in recession and oil prices that had crashed more than USD 100/bbl—said that the future had not been canceled, only perhaps postponed a year or so. That prognosis appears to be coming true. Oil prices have rebounded to approximately USD 70/bbl, which appears to please producers as well as operators, and demand seems to be on the rise again. Recent economic data indicate the recession is easing and oil consumption returning, particularly in China and parts of Asia. Global demand is rising for the first time in a year, and Chinese demand grew by 6% in August, with industrial output surging. Those figures have taken the pressure off of OPEC to tighten supply, and it voted during its meeting last month to keep member production quotas unchanged. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said during the meeting that, at least for now, the price of oil would be driven by economic growth. In a report released last month, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) predicted that world oil demand would grow next year for the first time since 2007, and then return to prerecession levels by 2012. The recovery will be quicker than previous industry recoveries because of the strength of emerging markets and lack of adequate alternatives for hydrocarbons. IHS CERA expects oil demand growth to increase 900,000 BOPD in 2010 and return to its 2007 high of 86.5 million BOPD by 2012. That would be a much quicker recovery than from the major collapse that occurred in the 1980s. The futures market currently values oil closer to USD 90/bbl, although there is much industry convergence around a price closer to USD 70/bbl, Paul Horsnell, managing director and head of commodities research at Barclays Commercial, told an audience at the Offshore Europe conference last month. Not only does Saudi Arabia currently favor a USD 75/bbl oil price, but the costs of incremental production, the price that brings about alternative energy investment such as Canadian oil sands, and the break-even price on new investment that generates a 15% rate of return, are all approximately USD 65–75/bbl, he said. The past year may have been a time for the industry to catch its collective breath. This recent rise in demand is good news but a reminder of the daunting predictions that government agencies, analysts, and operators have made about the immediate to long-term future—sharply rising demand, more difficult to find oil, and shortages of technical talent. Recently announced discoveries—Occidental's California find, BP's Tiber in the Gulf of Mexico, and several big discoveries in Brazil—will only help, and are proof that E&P investment in times of both low and high oil prices pays off.

Is it not time for health economists to rethink equity and access?

This article considers two key issues in health economics regarding the question of equity. First, why have health economists not resolved better the issue of what are equity and access? Second, the paper draws attention to the relative lack of analyses of equity concerns outside of health care. The question of whose values should prevail in equity is also addressed. On the first issue, there is an obsession with quantification in economics with the result that in analysing equity, in practice often 'use' has been substituted for 'access'. The problem of defining access has thereby been by-passed. This has taken the pressure off trying to research access per se. Second, what is meant by equity and access are in part culturally determined. The continued efforts of health economists to treat equity as some universal construct are misplaced. The lack of effort on the part of health economists to look at equity more broadly than health care equity is concerning. Certainly, to be pursued in practice, equity in both health and health care need a shift in resources, which will be opposed by those who exercise power over decision making in health care and in society more generally. Currently health economists' analyses say all too little about power and property rights in health care and in society. It is argued that the relevant citizens or communities which a health service serves are best placed to judge the access barriers they face and their relative heights. A useful definition of equity established by a citizens' jury in Perth, Australia is used to exemplify this point. It is concluded that the often all too simplistic equity goals adopted in health economics (and sometimes public health discourse) need to be challenged. For health economists, there is a need for more of us to get involved in the issues around inequalities, class and power and the impact of these on health.

Taking the Pressure Off Bone Conduction Hearing Aid Users

The long-term use of headband-worn bone vibrators has been associated with skin ulceration and, in severe cases, physical depression at the point of contact. The cause for this problem has been poorly understood and a mechanism is suggested for the skin condition. When the pressure applied at the bone vibrator contact area exceeds the capillary closure pressure, blood supply is cut off. This affects skin and underlying tissue. Eleven subjects were tested to measure bone-vibrator pressure on the head. Bone conduction hearing aid fittings result in pressure on the head that greatly exceeds capillary closure pressure. It is recommended that bone vibrator contact area and headband force be chosen to avoid exceeding a maximum contact pressure of 3.7 kPa over an extended period of time, measured in hours. If the headband force holding the bone vibrator against the head cannot be measured, then the bone vibrator should be fitted with only enough force to hold it in place against the mastoid process without excessive movement.

Increased Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity Is Associated With Silent Cerebral Small-Vessel Disease in Hypertensive Patients

Aortic stiffness predicts an excess risk of stroke, supposedly via cerebral small-vessel disease. White matter hyperintensities, silent lacunar infarcts, and brain microbleeds, manifestations of cerebral small-vessel disease on neuroimaging, may precede overt cerebrovascular disease. Therefore, we assessed whether aortic stiffness is also related to such lesions. In 167 hypertensive patients (85 men) without a history of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease, a mean age of 51.8+/-13.1 years, and untreated office blood pressure levels of 169+/-25/104+/-12 mm Hg, we determined aortic pulse wave velocity and office and ambulatory 24-hour pulse pressure (off medication), as well as the volume of white matter hyperintensities and the presence of lacunar infarcts and microbleeds using brain MRI. Linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the relationships between the arterial stiffness measures and brain lesions. Aortic stiffness and pulse pressure were significantly related to each of the brain lesions in univariate analyses (P<0.05). Multivariate analyses, adjusted for age, sex, brain volume, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate, showed that a higher pulse wave velocity was significantly associated with a greater volume of white matter hyperintensities (unstandardized regression coefficient: 0.041; 95% CI: 0.005 to 0.078; P<0.05) and the presence of lacunar infarcts (odds ratio [per SD increase in pulse wave velocity]: 1.78; 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.99; P<0.05) but not with microbleeds. The models for pulse pressure failed to reach statistical significance in multivariate analyses. In conclusion, aortic stiffness is independently associated with manifestations of cerebral small-vessel disease in hypertensive patients, linking systemic large- to cerebral small-artery disease.

Vasopressin in pediatric shock and cardiac arrest

To review the physiology and the published literature on the role of vasopressin in shock in children. We searched MEDLINE (1966-2007), EMBASE (1980-2007), and the Cochrane Library, using the terms vasopressin, terlipressin, and shock and synonyms or related terms for relevant studies in pediatrics. We searched the online ISRCTN-Current Controlled Trials registry for ongoing trials. We reviewed the reference lists of all identified studies and reviews as well as personal files to identify other published studies. Beneficial effects have been reported in vasodilatory shock and asystolic cardiac arrest in adults. Solid evidence for vasopressin use in children is scant. Observational studies have reported an improvement in blood pressure and rapid weaning off catecholamines during administration of low-dose vasopressin. Dosing in children is extrapolated from adult studies. Vasopressin offers promise in shock and cardiac arrest in children. However, in view of the limited experience with vasopressin, it should be used with caution. Results of a double-blind, randomized controlled trial in children with vasodilatory shock will be available soon.

Deep sea in situ excess pore pressure and sediment deformation off NW Sumatra and its relation with the December 26, 2004 Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake

The swath bathymetric data acquired during the “Sumatra Aftershocks” cruise from the Sunda trench in the Indian Ocean to the north of the Sumatra Island imaged several scars and deposits. In situ pore pressure measurements using the Ifremer piezometer and coring demonstrate that high excess pore pressure and sediment deformation was generated by a recent event in the scar of the slope failure zone identified by J.T. Henstock and co-authors. This excess pore pressure is localized in the upper sedimentary layers and is not related to an interplate subduction process. Numerical simulations of the hydrological system that take into account the hydro-mechanical properties of the upper sediment layer show that the excess pore pressure and sediment deformations could be generated at the time of the December 26, 2004 Great Sumatra Earthquake.

Variability and Trend of North West Australia Rainfall: Observations and Coupled Climate Modeling

Abstract Since 1950, there has been an increase in rainfall over North West Australia (NWA), occurring mainly during the Southern Hemisphere (SH) summer season. A recent study using twentieth-century multimember ensemble simulations in a global climate model forced with and without increasing anthropogenic aerosols suggests that the rainfall increase is attributable to increasing Northern Hemisphere aerosols. The present study investigates the dynamics of the observed trend toward increased rainfall and compares the observed trend with that generated in the model forced with increasing aerosols. It is found that the observed positive trend in rainfall is projected onto two modes of variability. The first mode is associated with an anomalously low mean sea level pressure (MSLP) off NWA instigated by the enhanced sea surface temperature (SST) gradients toward the coast. The associated cyclonic flows bring high-moisture air to northern Australia, leading to an increase in rainfall. The second mode is associated with an anomalously high MSLP over much of the Australian continent; the anticyclonic circulation pattern, over northern Australia, determines that when rainfall is anomalously high, west of 130°E, rainfall is anomalously low east of this longitude. The sum of the upward trends in these two modes compares well to the observed increasing trend pattern. The modeled rainfall trend, however, is generated by a different process. The model suffers from an equatorial cold-tongue bias: the tongue of anomalies associated with El Niño–Southern Oscillation extends too far west into the eastern Indian Ocean. Consequently, there is an unrealistic relationship in the SH summer between Australian rainfall and eastern Indian Ocean SST: the rise in SST is associated with increasing rainfall over NWA. In the presence of increasing aerosols, a significant SST increase occurs in the eastern tropical Indian Ocean. As a result, the modeled rainfall increase in the presence of aerosol forcing is accounted for by these unrealistic relationships. It is not clear whether, in a model without such defects, the observed trend can be generated by increasing aerosols. Thus, the impact of aerosols on Australian rainfall remains an open question.

Economic impact of alternative water policy scenarios in the Spanish production system: An input–output analysis

This paper analyses the economic impact of alternative water policies implemented on the Spanish production system. The methodology comprises two versions of the input–output price model: an average cost formulation and a mark-up formulation. The input–output framework evaluates the impact of the various water policy measures on production prices, consumption prices, intermediate water use and private real income. The results show that a tax on the water used by sectors considerably reduces intermediate water consumption and increases production and consumption prices. On the other hand, according to Jevons' paradox, improvements in technical efficiency, which lead to a reduction in the water requirements of all sectors and an increase in water production, raise water consumption. The combination of a tax on the water used by sectors and an improvement in the technical efficiency of water in the production sphere takes the pressure off prices and significantly reduces intermediate water consumption.