Floor Problems Research Articles

The Casebooks and Journals of a Toronto General Hospital Houseman: J.C. Goodwin MB 1927–1928

two casebooks and two daily journals provide a snapshot of the life and times of J.C. Goodwin, a resident house surgeon or “houseman” in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Toronto General Hospital during 1927-28. No comparable record of that era survives. Ninety-one gynaecological cases have been meticulously recorded in the casebook for September 1927. They are largely concerned with pelvic floor problems, severe infections managed without antibiotics, and invasive cervical cancer. Similarly, 66 cases recorded in the casebook for March 1928 attest to the fact that obstetrical practice was an almost entirely mechanical affair. Even in Toronto, two-thirds of women still delivered at home and maternal mortality was one hundred times worse than today. Obstetric research was in its infancy. There was emerging emphasis on good prenatal care and concern about severe toxemia, but perinatology, neonatology, and sophisticated obstetric anesthesia were unheard of. The daily journals make no nostalgic exaggeration of the fact that a resident in training in the 1920s worked harder and longer than is the case today. Pay consisted of an absurd honorarium. No one could afford marriage. In those days, chiefs and chairmen valued common sense, enthusiasm, kindness, and a capacity for hard work far more than genius and erudition. Perhaps we are so obsessed today by evidence-based medicine, randomized clinical trials, and meta-analyses that we tend to overlook the cultivation of these attributes in our young residents.

Initial assessment: the history in women with pelvic floor problems.

History-taking from women with pelvic floor problems becomes easier with practice. In the time it has taken you to read this chapter, the histories of several patients could have been ascertained. Efficiency during the focused history will assume increasing importance as time constraints tighten. Combined use of written and verbal assessments provides maximum information in a concise fashion. This technique allows the treating physician to educate the patient while being sensitive to her individual concerns, such as her specific preferences for treatment and her social/lifestyle considerations. Efficient medical and/or surgical recommendations can be given within this context. These recommendations can reflect the preferred treatment given the milieu of the entire pelvic floor anatomy and function after physical examination and any appropriate testing.

Management of pelvic floor dysfunction

different surgical procedures were performed in 77 patients (table). The pelvic floor service was established to develop a model to improve patient care, advance science, and train clinicians in new skills and knowledge for the complex pelvic floor problems that cross disciplines. Many patients were able to have a single examination and a single consultation. 20% of patients required combined procedures and avoided the anaesthetic risk and recuperative time of two separate procedures. We suggest that a pelvic floor service model which includes surgeons knowledgeable in gynaecology, urology, and colorectal surgery may improve patient care, convenience, and physician training.

A formal functional characterization of shop floor control

Shop-floor control systems for discrete part manufacturing have been widely described by many researchers. These descriptions have led to several proposed frameworks to solve the overall shop floor control problem. Some terms commonly used to describe these frameworks include: centralized control, hierarchical control, heterarchical control, and hybrid control. However, these frameworks have not provided a formal generic vision of shop floor control. Rather, they have concentrated on specific implementations of the problem, or small classes of similar implementations. As a result, the frameworks which have been developed are applicable only to a subset of the problem domain. By contrast, a solution to the general shop floor control problem is highly desirable. It is only after the general shop floor problem is understood that such a general solution can be developed. In response to this need, this paper presents a formal functional characterization of the general shop floor control problem. Key to our functional characterization of the controller is the use of process plans as part of the control. We use a process plan representation model compatible with the ISO TC184/SC4/WG3/P11 proposed standard as part of the control input. The ISO process plan model is converted to a digraph which provide the task representation for control. In this paper, we illustrate how these digraphs provide the essential requirements for input to and for a functional characterization of shop floor control.

Correlations of the Kahn Intelligence Test and the WAIS—R IQs among Mentally Retarded Adults

Correlations of scores on the WAIS--R and Kahn Intelligence Test: Experimental (KIT) were examined. The 21 subjects were moderately and severely adaptively impaired adults. The WAIS--R is frequently included in the evaluation of moderately and severely retarded adults but its use has been questioned given the problem of statistical floor because institutionalized mentally retarded adults were excluded from the standardization sample. Tasks demand verbal communication and timed performance. The KIT is utilized as a test of intelligence that requires limited verbal skills, is less influenced by cultural/educational factors, and has an adequate statistical floor. Results suggested significantly lower mean scores on the KIT than on WAIS--R. If further evidence supports these conclusions, the KIT may be a valuable instrument in the assessment of moderately and severely retarded adults.

Floor vibrations from aerobics

Recent vibration problems with floors used for aerobics have shown the need for better guidelines for structural design and evaluation. Such guidelines were introduced for the first time in the Supplement to the 1985 National Building Code (NBC), but more recent experience with one particular floor has shown the need for some improvements to these guidelines. The paper describes the investigation of the floor and the use of the floor to estimate the loading function for aerobics, and recommends changes to the NBC design criteria. The paper provides guidance on estimating parameters used in the criteria and discusses repair alternatives related to the floor problem. Key words: floor vibration, aerobics, design criteria, repair.

Macpherson paints solve British Corporation floor problem

When British Steel's Shotton Works, Clwyd, decided to add an additional floor area to their annual shutdown maintenance programme at three days notice, it posed a big problem for contractors, Anti‐Corrosion Services, of Ellesmere Port.

Quality circles

Quality circles have been employed in Japan since the early 1960s, but in the UK they have a much shorter history, and it is only in recent times that interest in them has intensified and become widespread. Quality circles are sometimes wrongly seen as the fashionable quick-fix solution to shop floor problems and there have been many failures in practice because of a lack of understanding of “what quality circles are all about”. The attitudes, expectations and experiences of companies that have employed quality circles, as well as those that have not, are examined in the study reported in this paper and results are presented which are based on a survey of 157 UK companies.

A Potential Method for Predicting Coal-Mine Floor Heave: ABSTRACT

Floor or deformation of the mine floor into the mine opening is a problem which has plagued coal mines in this country and others. This paper describes the problem as it was manifested in two coal mines located in eastern Illinois, and reports the results of a U.S. Bureau of Mines-sponsored study conducted by the University of Missouri-Rolla. The ultimate objective of the study was to develop a procedure that could be used to define a potential floor problem during the exploration phase of mine design--before initiation of production mining. Floor within the mines did not occur with uniform intensity throughout each mine or even within mine panels. Floor deformation was often deep-seated and involved two subfloor lithologies. A wide variation in measured strength for each of the subcoal lithologies was recorded during laboratory testing; underclay triaxial compressive strength best correlated with underclay natural water content. The severely heaved areas were not located in the deepest or shallowest portions of the mines. Severe floor occurred in areas of thicker (greater than 6 ft, 2 m) underclay. Severe floor occurred at those sites where the natural water contents of the underclay and claystone were highest. The presence of swelling montmorillonite clay did not seem to be a major cause of floor Triaxial compressive strengths measured from underclay samples from severely heaved sites were not the lowest values measured. A bearing capacity model developed by Vesic was modified so that a heave factor could be calculated using only that information obtainable from exploration core borings; use of the heave factor would have predicted floor at the study sites where severe occurred. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1175------------

Operative Surgery: Fundamental International Techniques, Colon, Rectum and Anus

This excellent treatise is a practical approach to the operative treatment of many common problems in the colon, rectum, and anus. It is a compendium of many contributions from eminent surgeons, mostly of the United Kingdom and Australia, but a few from North and South America. A wide variety of topics is discussed, ranging from hemorrhoidectomy to the total removal of the rectum and sigmoid by various procedures. The relatively short expositions are grouped under nine broad headings: endoscopy, operations for inflammatory bowel disease, operations for diverticular disease, operations for neoplasms, and on through the treatment of combined fistulas. There has been a substantial expansion of the material dealing with pelvic floor problems. Some of the operations are but little used; some are controversial. Several contributors have set forth varying approaches to the treatment of hemorrhoids. The book is unusual in its format. The material of the text is nicely

THE EFFECTS OF INSTRUCTIONS, INCENTIVE, AND FEEDBACK ON A COMMUNITY PROBLEM: DORMITORY NOISE1

A reinforcement system utilizing instructions, modelling, feedback, and group reinforcement was employed in an attempt to reduce disruptive noise on three university residence halls. A fourth hall received the same treatment program without the reinforcement component. Noise scores were determined by recording the number of discrete noise occurrences over a criterion decibel level. On all four residential floors, noise scores during treatment conditions were lower than initial and final baseline levels. Additionally, periods of noise reduction corresponded to the changing criterion multiple-baseline and reversal designs utilized. Pre- and posttreatment questionnaire responses from the three reinforcement floors paralleled changes in objective noise data. At posttreatment, residents reported less noise disturbance of study and sleep and more control over the noise situation and floor problems in general. These results indicated that a comprehensive behavior-modification treatment package was effective in reducing disruptive noise in university residence halls. Difficulties in data collection and anomalies in the data are discussed. Future directions for field-based behavior-modification research are outlined.

A Report of the 2nd Inter-Congress, Pacific Science Association

This is a concise report of the 2nd Inter-Congress, Pacific Science Association, May 20-25, 1973, University of Guam. 136 people attended the conference with successful results in the symposia (1) impact of urban centers, (2) biology and ecology of the crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci, (3) natural area system development, (4) problem of on-land ocean floor, (5) Dengue fever and (6) Amyotraphic lateral sclerosis and Parkinsonism dementia. There were also several scientific excursions. The major program of the 13th Pacific Congress, August 18-30, 1975, University of British Columbia, Vancouver has been determined.

Floor Problems in China

The inclusion of notes on the flood problems of China in this Symposium might at first view not seem helpful toward the solution of certain flood problems of America, for which engineers are striving; nevertheless, there are certain important facts about training rivers to cut their beds deeper where they flow over deep alluvial deposits, recently discovered in the course of the speaker's researches in China, that may prove of practical application in America and in other parts of the world.

Discussion of “Floor Problems in China”

Discussion of “Floor Problems in China”