Standard Time Limit Research Articles

Fiber to The Home (FTTH) Network Design Using Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Technology Using Link Power Budget and Rise Time Budget Analysis in Cibeber Village Tasikmalaya

Fiber optic is a transmission medium that can transmit information with large capacity. One of the developments in local fiber access networks is FTTH (Fiber to The Home). The construction of the FTTH network uses Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology so that it can provide broadband services to customers with a wider range. This research was studied by designing FTTH based on GPON technology in Cibeber Village, Manonjaya District. The existing condition of the FTTH network in Cibeber Village is that there are 2 Optical Distribution Points (ODP) for 20 customers with each ODP having 10 subscribers. From the results of the location survey by measuring the distance to each customer, the furthest distance to the customer for the two ODPs was obtained, so that 2 new ODPs were needed for the design. From the design of the new optical network infrastructure, it has been analyzed using the link power budget and rise time budget method based on the customer with the farthest distance before the addition of ODP has a Power Receive sensitivity of -16.631 dBm to -15.631 dBm on the uplink and -16.644 dBm to -15.574 dBm on the downlink, these results are in accordance with the expected standard, which ranges from -8 dBm to -27 dBm. In calculating the value of the rise time budget for customers after the addition of ODP, it has a value of 0.2044 ns to 0.2039 ns on the uplink and 0.2188 ns to 0.21574 ns on the downlink. This value is still below the standard time limit set by PT. Telkom Indonesia 0.56 ns for uplink and 0.292 ns for downlink. So based on this the results of the design are feasible to implement.

Mechanical Thrombectomy in Basilar Artery Occlusion: Clinical Outcomes Related to Posterior Circulation Collateral Score.

Basilar artery occlusion (BAO) is associated with a high risk of disability and mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate prognostic factors in patients with acute basilar artery occlusion treated with mechanical thrombectomy, focusing on collateral status and recanalization time from symptom onset. Eligible patients from January 2012 to October 2019 who underwent endovascular treatment due to acute BAO were reviewed. The baseline posterior circulation collateral status was assessed with the basilar artery on computed tomography angiography score and posterior circulation collateral score. Good outcomes were defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of ≤2 at 3 months and successful recanalization as Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction grades 2b, 3. The associations between baseline and clinical parameters and favorable outcomes were evaluated with logistic regression. Our sample included a total of 81 eligible patients (49 males, mean age 70.3 years) with a median baseline and discharge National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of 12. Patients with good outcomes showed a lower baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, a greater proportion of distal BAO, and a higher basilar artery on computed tomography angiography and posterior circulation collateral score (P<0.001). According to subgroup analysis of patients within and over 6 or 12 hours, the time from symptom onset to recanalization was not correlated with good outcomes. Multivariable logistic analysis showed baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale <15 (odds ratio, 8.49 [95% CI, 2.01-35.82]; P=0.004), posterior circulation collateral score ≥6 (odds ratio, 3.79 [95% CI, 1.05-13.66]; P=0.042), and distal BAO (odds ratio, 3.67 [95% CI, 1.10-12.26]; P=0.035) were independent predictors of good outcomes. This study suggested that good collateral circulation and distal BAO are independent predictors of clinical outcome after endovascular treatment in patients with acute BAO. In particular, patients with good initial collateral status and distal BAO may consider endovascular treatment even if the treatment is started beyond the standard time limits.

Incremental utility of an extended stroop task for identifying subtle differences in cognitive performance among healthy older adults

The Stroop Color and Word Test is a test of processing speed, response inhibition, and executive functioning (EF). This project examined whether extending the Stroop Color-Word trial beyond the standard time limit could more accurately assess performance on EF measures. Cognitively healthy older individuals (n = 198) enrolled in a study of cardiovascular health completed the Stroop as part of a neuropsychological battery. Two scores were computed for the Color-Word trial: the number of items completed within the first 45 seconds (traditional Color-Word score) and the speed of page completion beyond the first 45 seconds (Stroop-Extended score). Criterion measures included the Trail-Making Test Part B (TMT-B), Digit Span Backward, Symbol Digit Modalities Test, Short Category Test, and measures of verbal fluency. Results from hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that the extended Stroop score accounted for small but statistically significant variance in TMT-B (additional 2.6%) and Digit Span Backwards (additional 2.6%) beyond the standard Color-Word score. These findings suggest that extending the Stroop Color-Word trial beyond the first 45 seconds provides a limited increase in predictive power within a healthy sample with restricted range of performance. The extended Stroop requires additional examination in heterogeneous samples, including clinical populations, to determine its predictive utility.

Trail-Making Test Part B: Evaluation of the Efficiency Score for Assessing Floor-Level Change in Veterans.

The Trail Making Test - Part B (TMT-B) is a commonly used executive control measure with a known floor effect, limiting the ability to distinguish impairment among individuals unable to complete this task in the standard time limit. Our group previously proposed the TMT-B Efficiency Score (TMT-Be), which captures performance variability among examinees who fail to complete the task. The present study assesses the TMT-Be in a longitudinal clinical sample. Data were collected via record review of veterans who underwent two clinical neuropsychological evaluations. We identified 30 veterans (mean age Visit 1:69 ± 8.7 years) who were unable to complete TMT-B during at least one evaluation (mean days between visits = 615). Two scoring systems were utilized to examine performance variability: TMT-Be and TMT-B Prorated Score (TMT-Bpr). TMT-Be distribution was less skewed, but more platykuric, compared to TMT-Bpr. TMT-Be and TMT-Bpr were highly correlated. Both metrics correlated with psychomotor speed and another executive task, but not confrontation naming, providing both convergent and discriminant evidence of validity. TMT-Be, but not TMT-Bpr, detected significant decline in performance longitudinally. Age and education were significant predictors of the TMT-Be, but not TMT-Bpr, difference scores. Both metrics captured performance variability in a clinical sample and provided sufficient variance for examining floor-level performance on the TMT-B. TMT-Be appeared to be less prone to creating outliers and more likely to detect change. The results support the utility of the TMT-Be metric in research and clinical settings.

ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ КРИОКОНСЕРВИРОВАННОЙ СПЕРМЫ ДЛЯ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ МАТОЧНОГО СТАДА СТЕРЛЯДИ

The research on the sterlet roe artificial insemination using cryopreserved sperm was carried out in the research base of the RAS Southern Scientific Centre (the Rostov region). Reproductive cells (including cryopreserved cells), larvae, sterlet fry ( Acipenser ruthenus Linnaeus, 1758) were taken as an object of research. A half of the roe (1.7 kg) taken from female starlet was inseminated by native sperm (control group); another half was inseminated by defrosted sperm of two males, which was stored in liquid nitrogen at -196ºC during 3 years (pilot group). Incubation lasted 5 days at water temperature 14.5-18.2ºC, with daily fluctuations of temperature 1.9ºC. Roe insemination in the control group made 90%, in the pilot group - 70%. Roe embryonic growth in the control group was faster, but embryogenesis duration in the pilot group met the standard time limits. Hatching prolarvae in the control group started one hour earlier, than in the pilot group; it made 75% and 60% of all incubated roe, correspondingly. Waste during the period of larvae maturing before they pass to mixed feeding was negligible - 2% in the control group and 3.4% in the pilot group. According to the test results, "open field" of reactivity of the central nervous system in the pilot group fry didn’t change from the control group fry, but more active response to stimuli was noted in the pilot group, which is very important for fry adaptation to the conditions in natural water basins. It was established that sterlet offspring obtained with use of defrosted sexual cells does not differ from the offspring obtained using native sperm and has higher morphometric characteristics. The test results prove the possibility and practicability of using sexual cells stored in liquid nitrogen for artificial restoration and formation of sturgeon fish broodstocks.

How Slow Is Too Slow? Correlation of Operative Time to Complications: An Analysis from the Tennessee Surgical Quality Collaborative

The Tennessee Surgical Quality Collaborative analyzes NSQIP data from 21 participating hospitals. The Tennessee Surgical Quality Collaborative has reduced surgical complications, but causative factors are unclear. We sought to correlate surgical duration with complications to reveal mitigating strategies. Risk-adjusted Tennessee Surgical Quality Collaborative data on 104,632 general and vascular cases had a standard duration for 35 procedures (eg, breast, colectomy) calculated and NSQIP outcomes complication rates recorded. We derived a marginal time risk for each extra hour of operative time and reported per 1,000 cases. Procedures taking <95% upper confidence standard time limit (n = 99,741) were deemed "not long" and had significantly fewer urinary tract infections, organ-space surgical site infection, sepsis/septic shock, prolonged intubation, and pneumonia. "Long" cases had increased rates of these complications and also deep venous thrombosis, deep incisional infection, and wound disruption. Per 1,000 cases, there were 116 occurrences per operating room hour. Surgical site infections occurred in 14.4/1,000 cases per hour; risk started at 42 minutes of operative time. Death, pneumonia, and prolonged intubation saw their risks begin before the operation. The highest marginal time risk was for sepsis, occurring 16.6 times per additional hour of operative time over standard. Studying only the 25,146 clean procedures, a significant correlation (p < 0.001) to operation duration persisted, despite an occurrence incidence of 4.5%. Duration of operation correlates with complications and time longer than a statewide established standard carries higher risk. To reduce risk of complications, these data support expeditious surgical technique and preoperative pulmonary training, and offer accurate outcomes assessment for patient counseling based on case duration. These data can be used directly to counsel individual surgeons to improve outcomes.

Gaps and Hurdles Deter against Following Stroke Guidelines for Thrombolytic Therapy in Iran: Exploring the Problem

Insufficient information is available on the barriers that explain low rates of thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in developing countries compared with rates in developed societies. By the present study, we aimed to assess the implementation of thrombolytic therapy in the northeast of Iran to explore the gaps and hurdles against thrombolysis as the generally accepted treatment for AIS. In a 1-year cohort study among AIS patients admitted to the second largest tertiary neurologic referral center in Iran, those who met the prespecified selection criteria were treated with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA). Among 1,144 patients admitted with AIS, only 14 (1.2%) were treated with rtPA. The mean onset-to-needle and door-to-needle times were 172 and 58 minutes, respectively; 980 (85.6%) patients were initially excluded from the study because of late arrival. Additionally, 60 patients in total were omitted because of either their high age (3.7%) or passing the gold standard time limit for rtPA therapy after preliminary evaluations (1.6%), and 90 more patients (7.9%) were considered not suitable for thrombolysis because of the severity of the symptoms or the higher risk of bleeding on rtPA. Access to thrombolytic therapy for AIS in Iran is less than in most developed countries but comparable with other developing countries. Awareness campaigns are needed to minimize barriers and improve access to thrombolysis and specialized stroke care in Iran.

Extended time improves reading comprehension test scores for adolescents with ADHD

Objective: To test the hypotheses that reading comprehension difficulties of adolescent students with ADHD: 1) are related not so much to weak verbal abilities or weak basic reading skills, as to impairments of working memory and processing speed characteristic of ADHD; and 2) that extended time on a test of reading comprehension would yield significantly higher reading comprehension scores than would standard time. Method: Charts of 145 adolescents 13-18 years diagnosed with DSM-IV ADHD and no specific reading disorder after a comprehensive clinical and psycho-educational evaluation, were reviewed to extract 1) word reading and word attack subtest scores from the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Test or the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test; 2) Index scores from WISC-IV or WAIS-III IQ tests; 3) scores from the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. Results: Mean index scores for verbal comprehension abilities not including reading were in the high average range, but working memory and processing speed index scores were significantly weaker. Under standard time limits 53% were unable to complete the reading comprehension test and only 42.8% were able to score within 1 SD of their IQ verbal comprehension index (VCI). When allowed extended time, 77.9% were able to score within 1 SD of their VCI. T-test comparisons between standard time and extended time were significant at < 0.001. Conclusions: Allowing extended time for adolescents with ADHD to complete tests involving reading may help to compensate for their impairments of working memory and processing speed, allowing them to score closer to their actual verbal abilities.

A reasonable methodology to estimate the relationship between workload and human resources demand in a cancer unit

e17555 Background: Costs of cancer care account for a growing proportion of European health care spending. Despite the rising price of new cancer drugs draws the attention of medical oncologists and decision makers, personnel spending takes the largest share of health care costs. Nonetheless, few data exist about the relationship between workload and human resources demand in a cancer unit. Here we describe an empirical model to determine staffing requirements according to the annual number of patients. Methods: The Department of Oncology at the University Hospital of Udine, Italy, is a computerized Unit within the regional cancer network taking care of about 1,500 pts/year. Each clinical episode is recorded on a centralized database. Standard time limits are set for different types of consultation. We queried the database to obtain the total number of consultations for every pt taken charge of by the Unit during 2006. Considering both the time scheduled for each type of visit and the number of yearly working hours per employee, we could reach a reasonable estimate of the annual physician and nurse hours per pt and of the number of needed personnel. Results: In 2006, each case generated an average of 16 clinical evaluations, with small differences among breast, lung and colorectal cancer. Corresponding physician- and nurse-time per pt was of 8 and 16 hours, respectively. For the first year - in Units with a mean number of 1,500 pts/year - this translates into a global amount of about 12,000 physician- and 24,000 nurse-hours and a needed number of 7 physicians and 13 nurses, respectively. In the second year, the same cases induced a mean of 4.5 consultations; using a similar approach, the demand for additional time and resources could be estimated as well. Conclusions: A preliminary assessment of the time required for different types of consultation, together with a centralized recording of each clinical episode, allows a reasoned estimate of needed time and personnel resources, thus providing a simple tool to determine the total staff expenditure of a cancer unit. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

２級造園技能士検定課題における作業工程の分析

This research analyzes the proficiency improvement of gardening skills by measuring 30 examinees’ time required to complete each practical test tasks in the Grade 2 Landscape Gardening Exam. The examinees are comprised of four college students in 2006, seven college students in 2007, seven college students in 2008 and 12 unspecialized students in the open college course. The findings of this research are threefold. 1. After four test experiences, all the examinees reach to the level to complete the test before the timeout. 2. The degree of proficiency improvement varies in the type of skills. The examinees succeed in reducing their working time beyond the standard time limit in the following six tasks; “Setting up of Posts for Bamboo Fence”, “Installation of Natural Stones”, “Installation of Stepping Stones”, “Tree Supports”, “Planting” and“Ground Leveling”. Meanwhile, the examinees' speed performances are less improved in the following five tasks; “Setting Horizontal Braces for Bamboo Fence”, “Banding Vertical Members Together for Bamboo Fence”, “Karami-musubi (traditional quick and simplified tie) for Bamboo Fence”, Curbing” and“Flat Stone Paving”. 3. More than three times of test experiences fill the technical gaps between college students and unspecialized students.

Effect of Extra Time on Verbal and Quantitative GRE Scores

The Graduate Record Examination General Test (GRE) is a measure of academic reasoning abilities that is intended to be a power test in which speed of responding plays at most a minor role. To test this assumption, we experimentally administered both the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE with standard time limits and with 1.5 times the standard time limit (e.g., 45 min for a 30-min section). Participants volunteered to take an extra section with the experimental timing at the end of their regular GRE test; their incentive was eligibility for a cash payment if they did as well on the experimental section as on their operational sections. Usable data were obtained from 15,948 examinees. Results indicated that extra time added about 7 points to verbal scores and 7 points to quantitative scores (on the 200-800 score scale). Results were comparable across gender and ethnic groups, but quantitative scores were slightly higher for lower ability examinees.

EFFECT OF EXTRA TIME ON GRE® QUANTITATIVE AND VERBAL SCORES

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to test the assumption that the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE®) General Test is a measure of academic reasoning abilities in which speed of responding plays at most a minor role. In addition to completing the operational GRE General Test, participants each completed a research version of either the GRE verbal or quantitative test within either the standard time limit or within one‐and‐a‐half times the standard time limit. Scores obtained from 15,948 examinees indicate that extra time added about seven points (on the 200‐800 score scale) to examinees' verbal scores and seven points to their quantitative scores. Scores under the different timing conditions were generally comparable across gender and ethnic groups, but quantitative scores were slightly higher for lower‐ability examinees who had more time.