Short Pilot Research Articles

Effect of metals poisoning on FCC products yields: studies in an FCC short contact time pilot plant unit

In this work the effects of two metal poisons (Ni, V) on FCC products were investigated in an FCC pilot plant. The most important effects of metals were found on the gasoline, coke and H 2 yields. A comparison study of the metal distribution in the catalyst particles aged in the FCC pilot plant, a CDU and an industrial FCCU was also performed using a SEM–EDS method. SEM results showed that the metal profiles from CDU samples simulate more satisfactorily the profiles of the E-cat than that from the FCC pilot plant.

Effects of hole preparation on screw pullout resistance and insertional torque: a biomechanical study.

The authors conducted a study to assess the effect of a pilot hole preparation on screw pullout resistance and screw insertional torque. Three different screws were tested: cancellous lateral mass screws, cortical lateral mass screws, and pedicle screws. Synthetic bone blocks were used as the host material. Each screw group was separated into two subgroups. The first subgroup of screws was inserted into the test material following pilot hole preparation. Pilot holes were prepared; a drill bit diameter size smaller than the core diameter of the screws was used. The second group of screws was inserted into the test material without pilot hole preparation (a 3- or 4-mm hole drilled for entrance site preparation only). The insertional torque was measured as the screw was advanced into the material. The screws were axially extracted from the host material at a constant speed of 2.5 mm/minute. The pullout resistances and insertional torques for the pilot hole and the nonpilot hole groups were then statistically compared. The authors found that preparation of a pilot hole caused a significant decrease in the insertional torque. The screws inserted without a pilot hole showed greater pullout resistances compared with those inserted following a pilot hole preparation; however, there was no statistically significant difference. The optimum screw insertion technique may involve drilling a short pilot hole and using a drill bit with a smaller diameter than the screw core diameter to increase bone-screw purchase. This applies to cancellous and cortical lateral mass screws as well as pedicle screws.

Clinical decision-support systems for intensive care units using case-based reasoning

The artificial intelligence approach used in this work focusses on case-based reasoning techniques for the estimation of medical outcomes and resource utilization. The systems were designed with a view to help medical and nursing personnel to assess patient status, assist in making a diagnosis, and facilitate the selection of a course of therapy. The initial prototype provided information on the closest-matching patient cases to the newest patient admission in an adult intensive care unit (ICU). The system was subsequently re-designed for use in a neonatal ICU. The results of a short clinical pilot evaluation performed in both adult and neonatal units are reported and have led to substantial improvement of the prototype. Future work will include longer-term clinical trials for both adult and neonatal ICUs, once all the software changes have been made to both prototypes in response to the comments of the users made during the preliminary evaluations. To date, the results are very encouraging and physician interest in the potential clinical usefulness of these two systems remains high, and particularly so in the new testing environment in Ottawa.

Data-aided estimation of carrier frequency forburstdetection of QAM

To overcome large carrier frequency offsets in burst demodulation of quadrature amplitude modulation, a new Viterbi-type algorithm coupled with a data-aided frequency estimation is developed. This algorithm can quickly acquire carrier offset, then remove it during the process of demodulation. Its performance is confirmed as approaching that of coherent demodulation, with little loss of short pilot data.

STD syndrome packets: improving syndromic management of sexually transmitted diseases in developing countries.

To design, introduce, and evaluate "STD syndrome packets" containing recommended drugs for each syndrome, four condoms, a partner treatment card, and a patient information leaflet, with the goal of improving sexually transmitted disease (STD) case management. Packet design evolved around available packaging technology, informed by pilot testing with nurses working in primary care clinics, doctors in private medical practices, and patients with an STD, in Hlabisa, South Africa. Evaluation 1 year later included analysis of distribution records and interviews with 16 nurses and 64 patients. A cheap packet (2 U. S. cents each, excluding contents) compatible with current legislation was designed and introduced to six public sector clinics and as a short pilot to five private medical practices. Four thousand eighty-five packets were distributed to the clinics, equivalent to approximately 115% of the STDs reported over that period. All 16 nurses reported using the packets, but only 63% did so all the time because of occasional supply problems. All believed the packets improved treatment by saving time (75%), improving supply of condoms and partner cards (44%), and making treatment easier (56%). Patients also responded positively, and most said they would buy a packet (up to $5) at a pharmacy (84%) or store (63%) if available. The STD syndrome packets have the potential to improve STD syndromic management by standardizing therapy and improving the supply of condoms, partner cards, and information leaflets. Packets are popular with practitioners and patients, but consistent supply is essential for maximal impact. There may be scope for social marketing of the packets, which could further increase use.

The effect of external atmospheric pollution on indoor air quality: A pilot study

This article reports the findings of a pilot field study carried out over a one-week period in winter 1996 to investigate the internal and external air pollution levels of two adjacent buildings, one naturally ventilated and the other air-conditioned in an urban area, to investigate their relative attenuation of external pollution levels, and to compare internal levels with existing air quality guidelines. Ventilation in the naturally ventilated building is not through design strategy, but simply through openable windows. Concentration levels of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide were monitored. Simultaneously, measurements of ventilation rates within the buildings and periodic video recordings of the traffic were also carried out. As expected, the concentrations of external pollutants in the buildings followed the daily external variation, but at reduced levels. Generally, pollutant levels were higher in the naturally ventilated building than in the air-conditioned building. However, on a number of occasions, combustion products from heating boilers were entrained into the air-conditioned building via the high-level air intake of the ventilation system, raising the levels of nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide inside the building to higher than those found externally. A comparison of the results with existing air quality guidelines or standards for exposure showed that, in both buildings, the level of contamination was less than the relevant standard, except during a limited period at the weekend when combustion products were possibly entrained into the air-conditioned building. Based on this short pilot study, there appears to be no clear distinction between the two types of ventilation strategies in terms of providing adequate indoor air quality to the occupants of the buildings.

Dewaterability of alum and ferric coagulation sludges

Ferric sulfate sludges demonstrated superior dewaterability over sludges formed by coagulation with aluminum.Tighter regulations governing stream discharge of coagulation sludge from the primary sedimentation process prompted the University of Iowa Water Treatment Plant to consider sludge‐handling options. This pilot study was undertaken in order to investigate differences in the mechanical dewatering of sludges formed by using either alum or ferric sulfate coagulants. The approach used various volumes of wasted lime sludge produced from the plant's softening process as a filtering aid. After the short pilot study, dewatering data from a bench‐scale plate‐and‐frame filter press indicated that ferric sludge was easier to dewater than sludges formed by coagulation with alum. The addition of lime‐softener sludge increased the dewaterability of all sludges tested, primarily by increasing the sludge feed solids concentration, which may have also decreased blinding.

Developing a best practice model for care of patients with polydipsia.

Some psychiatric patients diagnosed with schizophrenia have a secondary diagnosis of polydipsia which is manifested by consuming excessive quantities of fluids, marked confusion, and disorientation. In most instances, these persons are less amenable to treatment and rehabilitative interventions due to the changes in cognitive and physical processes. A review of our own current practice found that we had a small group of polydipsia patients requiring a large amount of one-to-one staff time for little or no long-term benefit. Further, there was no uniform approach to identify, treat, and monitor outcomes for patients with polydipsia. A TQM team was assembled with the goal of identifying a protocol for assessing the presence of polydipsia and a care map for the treatment of confirmed cases. The outcome was the development of a care map using diagnostic procedures and interventions found in the professional literature and empirical data collected on site. A short pilot study revealed that a number of polydipsia patients on Clozaril along with other interventions were successfully discharged from the hospital.

Do We Need a Hospital-Based Post to Provide a Domiciliary Speech and Language Therapy Service?

An increasing number of our out-patients are unable to avail of the speech and language therapy service offered as they find the journey to the hospital too difficult. Many are relatively young and have communication and/or swallowing problems as a result of progressive neurological disease. For the speech and language therapists, much time is lost in cancelled appointments and non-attendances. A short pilot study was carried out to investigate the need for a hospital-based domiciliary speech and language therapy service as a means of providing a more comprehensive service to patients. The study concludes that a hospital-based domiciliary speech and language therapy service would be advantageous in providing a better quality service to our patients. A longer study is required to investigate outcome measures and cost effectiveness.

Peripheral arterial occlusions: Local low-dose thrombolytic therapy with recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA)

To study the efficacy and risks of local thrombolytic therapy of peripheral arterial occlusions using rt-PA. This open study was performed in one clinic in Munich, Germany. 288 patients suffering from occlusions of the lower limb arteries were subjected to 336 treatments performed with a permanently controlled technique. In a short pilot study 10mg rt-PA/h were administered for 5 h but in the majority of the cases only 2.5mg/h were administered for a maximum of 5 h. The average total dose of rt-PA was 2.97mg and the average time for lysis was 78 min. 43 (84.3%) out of 51 embolic occlusions and 168 (71.5%) out of 235 thrombotic occlusions were recanalised with a cumulative patency of 95% and 79.7% respectively after 2 years. One systemic bleeding occurred in the pilot study with 10mg rt-PA/h whereas with the 2.5mg/h dosage no systemic bleeding or embolism occurred in the 315 treatments. There were no deaths during hospitalisation. Six major and two forefoot amputations were necessary. Thirteen patients required a bypass operation and one an embolectomy. The advantages of our controlled technique are: short duration of treatment, small doses of activating agent, an accurately directed pathway with the possibility of dilating stenoses during the same session, no danger of systemic bleeding or embolism and, therefore, good prospects of success with minimal risk. The use of rt-PA for local lysis substitutes the inadequate tissue activator available for effective spontaneous lysis and is, therefore, almost physiological. The effect of a very low dose of rt-PA was as good as that of higher doses.

Some mechanical properties of 10/0 monofilament nylon sutures.

A short pilot study is described which investigates some of the mechanical properties of ophthalmic sutures. The Alcon 10/0 monofilament nylon suture was found to behave in a mechanically consistent manner. Like all nylon it possesses the property of 'creep', which helps to compensate for overtightening of the section during surgery.

Homœopathic veterinary prescribing: A short pilot study

An historical outline of veterinary homœopathy is given together with brief reasons for the recent increase in demand for homœopathic treatment and limiting factors preventing wider acceptance of the discipline. A pilot survey is described in which the six homœopathic medicines most frequently prescribed by homœopathic veterinarians have been identified together with their applications.

Changes with time of the transport rate of sediment mixtures

A novel sediment trap, designed to enable bed-load activity to be related to elapsed time, is described. An account is then given of its use in a short pilot experiment on the armouring of a mixed grain size bed in a small laboratory flume. Despite the limitations of the experiment, significant information was obtained about the variation with time of bed load transport rate and of the composition of the bed load in the early stages of armouring. The changes of composition are presented in terms of log hyperbolic size distributions. It is contended that, for the purpose of validating numerical models of the armouring process, this information about bed load composition has higher value than data on changes in the static bed population, because the latter involve severe sampling problems. Thus the trap provides new opportunities in the development of knowledge about bed winnowing and armouring.

Random Initialization Methods in Simulation

In a steady-state simulation, the initial conditions often bias the estimators, sometimes severely. A common method for ameliorating this is to delete an initial portion of the run, perhaps entailing substantial data loss. We investigate feasible methods for initializing such simulations that lead to lower estimator bias or, alternatively, less requisite deletion. Deterministic and stochastic initialization rules are compared, with appropriately chosen stochastic rules' being preferable in terms of several measures of quality of point estimators and confidence intervals. Forms for the initial distribution are suggested by the maximum entropy principle, the parameters of which may be specified from short pilot runs. These initialization rules are tested on a range of models with analytical tractability varying From complete to none.

Activity analysis of decentralized pharmacists in a unit dose dispensing and drug-administration program

The relative amount of time spent by pharmacists on specific activities related to a pharmacy-coordinated drug administration and dispensing program in a 1000-bed tertiary-care teaching hospital was determined. Discrete activities of decentralized pharmacists involved in the program were defined using information from published reports and a short pilot study. Using a work-sampling technique, two pharmacy residents who had been trained to work as decentralized pharmacists performed instantaneous observations of the activities of pharmacists on five patient-care floors over a one-month period. Neither weekend nor night-shift activities were observed. Approximately 26% of a pharmacist's time was spent coordinating drug administration activities, and another 25% was spent providing clinical consultation or drug information services or performing research. The remainder of pharmacists' time was spent in activities related to drug distribution, interprofessional communication, or miscellaneous tasks. A work-sampling method proved useful in quantifying the amount of time associated with pharmacists' activities in a pharmacy-coordinated drug administration program.

Geometry of the Kapuskasing structure from a Lithoprobe pilot reflection survey

A short (∼10-km) pilot seismic reflection profile recorded in the Kapuskasing structural zone near Foleyet, Ontario, reveals reflections with travel times of at least 5.0 s (about 16-km depth). An event dipping west from about 1.7 to 3.4 s probably corresponds to the Ivanhoe Lake cataclastic zone. The true (geologic) dip on this boundary is calculated to be about 35°-38° west-northwest and is consistent with interpretations of this zone as a west-dipping, crustal-scale thrust fault. East-dipping reflections are observed with longer travel times than the fault-zone arrival and are likely from within the greenstone terrane of the Abitibi subprovince.

Auditory screening of school children: fact or fallacy?

In 1977 we contemplated investigating in local school children a possible correlation between intermittent loss of hearing and their scholastic performance.1 We expected to get much essential information from the school health service, which since its establishment in 1967 has worked on the principle that a school doctor should examine every child at some time during his school life to exclude or confirm the presence of handicap that might hamper his education. With progress in medical and educational science and changes in conditions new priorities have emerged in school child health. During the past decade the importance of normal hearing as a prerequisite for a child's all-round development has been recognised,2 and consequently the school health service has introduced a pro? gramme of audiological screening as a routine procedure. For children whose loss of hearing was identified at screening procedures expert advice was made available in special units and in hospital departments. In local primary schools the auditory screening programme is organised as follows. Pure tone audiometry sweep test (AST) is carried out by a non medical, appropriately trained member of the school health service staff on all school entrants some time after their first school term and before their first school medical examination. According to a DHSS recommendation3 the ambient noise in the testing room should not exceed 30 dB. Children who do not indicate that they hear sounds in selected frequencies at 25 dB of intensity fail the test and should be reported to the school doctor at his next visit to the school or, when necessary, to their general practitioner or to an audiology clinic or unit. It should also be brought to the notice of their teacher. A senior nursing officer supervises the programme. Hearing-for-speech test (HFST) is carried out by a school doctor on each child at the first medical examination, even if he has passed the pure tone audiometry sweep test. Hearing for pure tone and hearing for speech, though closely related, are not identical; the pure tone audiometry sweep test shows the degree of hearing loss, the sound frequencies affected, and the nature of the obstacle, while the hearing-for-speech test provides informa? tion on the child's comprehension of words and sentences, failure of which may or may not be due to deafness. The school doctor thereafter has a choice of referrals to specialist units and is expected to discuss with teachers the child's hearing difficulty and its learning consequences. Clinical findings are recorded by school doctors in the child's medical file either by code (0= further observation; R=referral; NT = not tested, etc) or by description. The frequency and number of each test per child varies considerably, depending not so much on educational or medical as on administrative considerations, such as availability of doctors, school nurses, or session time. This auditory screening programme offered by the school health service seemed to us reliable and adequate and indicated that the bulk of data required for our future study should be contained in the school medical record and that the hospital records would be needed in only a few cases. After some discussion with a few members of local school health service staff we concluded that before embarking on a full-scale inquiry we should carry out a short pilot study to evaluate the retro? spective information in school medical records and the methods by which they were obtained. For this purpose we selected a single school in the London Borough of Lambeth, considered to be a social priority area. Such a school, we thought, would test to the full the degree of efficiency of the school health service in achieving its objectives.4 The school has very few children from classes I and II. Forty per cent of pupils receive free school dinners and another 20% are probably eligible. Nearly half the children do not live with both their natural parents. In an unscientific survey conducted within the school 40% of the parents could not name King's College Hospital Medical School, London SE5 8RX OLGA NIETUPSKA, mfcm, dph, formerly senior lecturer and consultant, department of child health, King's College Hospital, and at present research fellow

Intravenous regional analgesia using bupivacaine

Intravenous regional analgesia using bupivacaine (Marcain) was employed as the anaesthetic technique in a series of 50 cases undergoing a variety of surgical procedures on the upper limb. A short pilot study was undertaken to determine the optimal dosage and concentration of bupivacaine. This was found to be 1-5 mg/kg in 0-2% concentration and proved suitable for all patients regardless of age or physical condition. The use of bupivacaine produced highly successful results in 98% of cases. Onset of analgesia was very rapid (3-5 minutes) and profound muscular relaxation occurred in approximately half of the cases. The degree of muscle relaxation was, however, always adequate for the successful reduction of fractures. Only one patient exhibited an adverse reaction to the dose of bupivacaine used and this was limited to a brief period of slight drowsiness. The results of this series suggest that bupivacaine may provide advantages over previously used local analgesic agents for intravenous regional analgesia and that it may be the agent of choice for this useful technique.

Editorial comments: As we read

Who reads research articles? All classes of readers of such a journal as this should—college professors, because trends that inspire other, more exhaustive research are sometimes detected in short reports and pilot studies; graduate tudents, because it is a way of keeping up with the t hinking of the profession; undergraduate students, because it is a start toward knowledge acquired on a basis other than an authoritarian one and a start toward acquaintance with professional literature and scholarship.

Carbonate and Oxygen Isotopic Analysis of Core 241A

Chemical and oxygen isotopic analysis of a short pilot core from the equatorial Atlantic shows a proportionality between $$CaCO_{3}$$ percentages and paleotemperatures. This proportionality suggests a causal relationship between temperature and the ratio of carbonate to non-carbonate accumulation, without implying temperature dependence for the carbonate production rate. No relationship could be demonstrated between temperatures and the smaller carbonate variations. However, if these are the residue of larger variations partly smoothed out by reworking of the sediment by bottom organisms, they would assume a significance beyond that of noise.