16,632 research outputs found
Eigenlogic: a Quantum View for Multiple-Valued and Fuzzy Systems
We propose a matrix model for two- and many-valued logic using families of
observables in Hilbert space, the eigenvalues give the truth values of logical
propositions where the atomic input proposition cases are represented by the
respective eigenvectors. For binary logic using the truth values {0,1} logical
observables are pairwise commuting projectors. For the truth values {+1,-1} the
operator system is formally equivalent to that of a composite spin 1/2 system,
the logical observables being isometries belonging to the Pauli group. Also in
this approach fuzzy logic arises naturally when considering non-eigenvectors.
The fuzzy membership function is obtained by the quantum mean value of the
logical projector observable and turns out to be a probability measure in
agreement with recent quantum cognition models. The analogy of many-valued
logic with quantum angular momentum is then established. Logical observables
for three-value logic are formulated as functions of the Lz observable of the
orbital angular momentum l=1. The representative 3-valued 2-argument logical
observables for the Min and Max connectives are explicitly obtained.Comment: 11 pages, 2 table
Treatment of intractable hemicrania continua by occipital nerve stimulation
Hemicrania continua (HC) is characterised by a strictly unilateral continuous headache with ipsilateral autonomic features and migrainous symptoms that is exquisitely sensitive to indomethacin.1 As more than 30% of patients report side effects with indomethacin, there is need for an effective and safe alternative. Although several drugs have been used in open-label studies, none offer the same magnitude of response.
Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) has been performed in headache conditions such as chronic migraine and chronic cluster headache, both conditions with clinical similarities to HC and appears to be a safe, potentially efficacious treatment even in those failing all available medical treatments.2 We report the long-term follow-up of a new cohort of 16 patients with HC treated with ONS
Human immunodeficiency virus rebound after suppression to < 400 copies/mL during initial highly active antiretroviral therapy regimens, according to prior nucleoside experience and duration of suppression
This study evaluated 1433 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients starting highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), 409 (28%) of whom had prior nucleoside experience and achieved an HIV load of <400 copies/mL by 24 weeks of therapy. Three hundred seven patients experienced virus rebound during a total of 2773.3 person-years of follow-up. There was a higher rate of virus rebound among the patients with pre-HAART nucleoside experience (relative hazard [RH], 2.86; 95% confidence interval, 2.22-3.84; P < .0001) and a decreasing rate of virus rebound with increasing duration of virus suppression (i.e., time since achieving a virus load of <400 HIV RNA copies/mL) among both the nucleoside-experienced and naive patients (P < .0001), but the difference between the groups persisted into the third year of follow-up (P = .0007). Even patients who had experienced <2 months of nucleoside therapy before beginning HAART had an increased risk of virus rebound (RH, 1.95; P = .009). It appears that only a small period of pre-HAART nucleoside therapy is sufficient to confer a disadvantage, in terms of risk of virus rebound, that persists for several years
Access to and use of clinical services and disease-modifying therapies by people with progressive multiple sclerosis in the United Kingdom
Background: According to current UK guidelines everyone with progressive MS should have access to an MS Specialist but levels of access and use of clinical services is unknown. Our objective was to investigate access to MS Specialists, use of clinical services and disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) by people with progressive MS in the United Kingdom.
Methods: A UK wide, online survey was conducted via the UK MS Register. Inclusion criteria: age over 18 years, primary or secondary progressive MS and a member of the UK MS Register. Participants were asked about access to MS Specialists; recent clinical service use; receipt of regular review and current and previous DMT use. Participant demographics; quality of life and disease impact measures were supplied from the UK MS Register.
Results: In total 1298 participants responded: 5% were currently taking DMT; 23% had previously taken DMT; and 95% reported access to an MS Specialist. Most utilised services were: MS Doctor/Nurse (50%), General Practitioner (45%), and Physiotherapist (40%). Seventy-four percent received a regular review although 37% received theirs less than annually. Current DMT use was associated with better quality of life but past DMT use was associated with poorer quality of life and higher impact of disease.
Conclusions: Access to, and use of, MS Specialists was high. However a gap in service provision was highlighted in both receiving and frequency of regular reviews
The Big Opportunity: Advancing a Culture of Interprofessionalism
Historically, education has been siloed by disciplines leaving little room for interprofessional education to take place. Culture within an academic organization determines the strategies, modes of operation, goals, values, and terminal student learning outcomes. Using Kotter’s accelerated change management model, as a worksheet for educational cultural change, is an effective method to break complacency, generate ideas, align people, and overcome resistance to change
Strategies for Integrating Health Literacy into Entry-level OT Curricula: A Comprehensive Approach
Synopsis:
Health literacy is a significant factor impacting the efficacy of healthcare services. Initiatives related to health literacy demonstrate that OTs have unique opportunities to promote health literacy and facilitate its integration into practice. It is therefore critical to explore ways in which health literacy content can be incorporated into entry-‐level OT curricula. Doing so will help ensure that future practitioners are prepared to meet key standards related to health literacy, including those established by ACOTE. This session will highlight strategies and methods to incorporate health literacy into entry-‐level OT curricula
Chemo-enzymatic saccharification strategy of microalgae chlorella sorokiniana
Biofuel production using microalgae attracted much attention because it can be cultured using CO2 and sunlight. With high carbohydrate content, microalgae have the potential to be used as a fermentation feedstock for bioethanol production. In present work, chemo-enzymatic saccharification of Chlorella sorokiniana microalgae were investigated. Chemical hydrolysis of the biomass followed by enzymatic hydrolysis and was also evaluated the effect of combining the two enzymes and the sequential addition. The effect of α-amylase concentrations was analyzed in ranged between 50 and 8000 U/g of biomass and for amyloglucosidase between 90 and 600 U/g of biomass. The higher concentrations showed the highest conversion of reducing sugars. The α-amylase concentration 8000 U/g of biomass presented a conversion of 43.06 ± 2.92% (w/w), while amyloglucosidase with 600 U/g of biomass obtained 76.57 ± 6.42% (w/w). The combination of two enzymes simultaneously was more efficient than the sequential addition for low enzyme concentrations (α-amylase 50 U/g and amyloglucosidase 90 U/g) with a total reducing sugar of 22.78 ± 3.06 and 16.92 ± 2.06% (w/w), respectively. On the other hand, using the higher enzymes concentrations, no difference was observed between the two addition strategies, 58.9 ± 3.55 and 57.05 ± 2.33% (w/w) for the sequential and simultaneous, respectively. Both strategies didn’t present advantage, since the amyloglucosidase enzyme alone produced slightly higher results. Even thought, the obtained results showed successfully performed saccharification of microalgal biomass and clearly point to microalgae use for saccharification and subsequent bioethanol production.Part of this work has been supported by European governments (INTERREG VA-POCTEP- 2014-2020; 0055_ALGARED_PLUS_5_E) and the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) through the grant UID/MAR/00350/2013 to the CIMA of the University of Algarve.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Radiative Transfer for Exoplanet Atmospheres
Remote sensing of the atmospheres of distant worlds motivates a firm
understanding of radiative transfer. In this review, we provide a pedagogical
cookbook that describes the principal ingredients needed to perform a radiative
transfer calculation and predict the spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere,
including solving the radiative transfer equation, calculating opacities (and
chemistry), iterating for radiative equilibrium (or not), and adapting the
output of the calculations to the astronomical observations. A review of the
state of the art is performed, focusing on selected milestone papers.
Outstanding issues, including the need to understand aerosols or clouds and
elucidating the assumptions and caveats behind inversion methods, are
discussed. A checklist is provided to assist referees/reviewers in their
scrutiny of works involving radiative transfer. A table summarizing the
methodology employed by past studies is provided.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, 1 table. Filled in missing information in
references, main text unchange
Quality control of gasohol using a micro-unit for membraneless gas diffusion
This work describes the development of a new spectrophotometric flow technique suitable for monitoring of ethanol content in gasohol fuel. Membraneless gas-diffusion (MBL-GD) was applied with one-step aqueous extraction of gasohol (1:2 gasohol/water). Segments of aqueous extract and color developing reagent were allowed to flow into two separate channels in the MBL-GD device. Inside the device, ethanol vapor can diffuse across a small headspace between the two channels (donor and acceptor). Introduction of an air-segment behind the zone of acceptor reagent to stop dispersion of the colored zone greatly improves the rapidity of analysis using this MBL-GD technique. Two methods were developed for quality control of gasohol by measuring ethanol content. Method I is suitable for direct calibration of E5 and E10. Method II is recommended for E20. These methods have high accuracy with good precision (% RSD: 1 to 4.9, n = 45) and have a sample throughput of 26 samples per hour. E10 samples were compared with analysis using a standard GC method. </p
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