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Single Criterion (single + criterion)
Selected AbstractsAssessment of Complete Isthmus Block After Ablation of Typical Atrial Flutter: Can We Rely on a Single Criterion?JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 4 2001FRÉDÉRIC ANSELME M.D. [source] Perspective: Reconsidering the Effects of Antiresorptive Therapies in Reducing Osteoporotic FractureJOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH, Issue 12 2001C. H. Chesnut III Abstract Concepts of what constitutes osteoporosis have evolved from the single criterion of low bone mass to a more inclusive consideration of bone strength, based on both quantity and quality. The evidence driving this shift is drawn from many sources. For example, recent studies of bone geometry have shown what engineers have always known: material properties and structural strength are inseparable. Genetic factors also argue against a one-dimensional (1D) view of osteoporosis. Large-scale family studies present a strong case for genetic influences on bone mass and predisposition to fracture. The contribution of aging to fracture risk has long been known, but we are only now beginning to understand what happens to bone remodeling and microstructure in an aging skeleton. The recognition that osteoporosis is far more complex than previously thought suggests that factors in addition to bone mineral density (BMD) may be useful for evaluating bone fragility and therapeutic effectiveness. Although assessment of BMD is noninvasive and widely available, the degree of increase in BMD alone fails to account for the broader effectiveness of antiresorptive agents in reducing the risk of fractures related to osteoporosis. Indeed, the very multiplicity of factors that determine fracture risk implies that response to therapy may be equally complex. Studies of response to antiresorptive agents and the cellular processes they induce are at best preliminary at this time. Although new technologies have been applied to studying bone microarchitecture, their invasive nature limits wide use. New methods are needed to provide insight into the causes and effects of bone fragility. The definition of osteoporosis, meanwhile, must still be considered a work in progress. [source] Measuring patient assessments of the quality of outpatient care: a systematic reviewJOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2008Tiina Säilä MNSc Abstract Rationale, aims and objectives, The aim of the study was to answer three questions: first, what methods have been used to measure patient assessments of the quality of care? Second, how do outpatients rate their care? And third, what needs to be taken into account in measuring patient assessments of the quality of care? Methods, Systematic review of the literature. Electronic searches were conducted on Medline, CINAHL and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. To be included, articles were to deal with patients' assessments of health care in ambulatory units for somatic adult patients. They were to have been published between January 2000 and May 2005, written in English, Swedish or Finnish with an English abstract, and the research was to have been conducted in Europe. The search terms used were: ambulatory care, ambulatory care facilities, outpatient, outpatients, patient satisfaction and quality of health care. The articles were screened by two independent reviewers in three phases. Results, Thirty-five articles were included. The quality of care was measured using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Only a few studies relied on the single criterion of patient satisfaction for quality measurements. It is easy to identify common sources of dissatisfaction in different studies. Sources of satisfaction are more closely dependent on the target population, the context and research design. Conclusion, Patient satisfaction is widely used as one indicator among others in assessing the quality of outpatient care. However, there is no single, universally accepted method for measuring this. [source] An investigation of the role of scale values in the DS/AHP method of multi-criteria decision makingJOURNAL OF MULTI CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS, Issue 6 2002Malcolm J. Beynon Abstract DS/AHP is a method of multi-criteria decision making based on the Dempster,Shafer theory of evidence and the analytic hierarchy process. Central to the utilization of DS/AHP is the composing of preference judgements on identified groups of decision alternatives (DA) across a number of criteria against all the DA present in the problem in question. This paper exposits a series of results whose objectives are to aid in the development of an effective set of preference scale values for use within DS/AHP. These results relate directly to the concomitant level of ignorance (uncertainty) with the judgements made on a single criterion. Two particular directions of investigation are undertaken, firstly in determining the necessary number of scale values available and secondly finding the necessary differences between scale values, dependent on whether an arithmetic or geometric progression is the basis for the scale values. Through an example, the implications and utilization of these results within DS/AHP are illustrated. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Widespread syn-sedimentary deformation on a muddy deep-water basin-floor: the Vischkuil Formation (Permian), Karoo Basin, South AfricaBASIN RESEARCH, Issue 4 2009W. C. Van Der Merwe ABSTRACT The ,380-m-thick mudstone,siltstone-dominated Vischkuil Formation represents the initiation phase of a 1.3-km-thick prograding basin floor to slope to shelf succession that marks a significant increase in the rate of siliciclastic sediment supply to the early Karoo Basin in the Permian. In the upper Vischkuil Formation three well exposed, widespread (,3000 km2) 10,70-m-thick intervals of deformed strata are encased within undeformed sediments. Such chaotic mass movement deposits that are mappable over areas comparable with seismic-scale mass transport deposits are commonly associated with submarine slope settings. However, the surrounding lithofacies and the correlation of distinctive marker beds indicate that these deformation intervals developed in a distal low gradient basin floor setting. The deformed intervals comprise a lower division of tight down-flow verging folds dissected by thrust planes that sole out onto a highly sheared décollement surface that are interpreted as slides. The lower divisions are overlain by an upper division of chaotic lithofacies with large contorted clasts of sandstone supported by a fine-grained matrix interpreted as a debrite. The juxtaposition of these lithofacies, the distribution of thickness of the divisions, and their close kinematic relationships indicate that the emplacement of the debris-flows triggered and drove the underlying slide, in a low-gradient distal setting. Individual beds in the deformed intervals can be mapped laterally into undeformed strata indicating limited movement of the slide. Therefore, widespread zones of syn-sedimentary deformation in deep-water settings do not necessarily indicate a slope setting and should not be used as single criterion to determine depositional setting. When associated with major debrites they may be developed on a flat basin floor. [source] Short-term lime pretreatment of poplar woodBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2009Rocio Sierra Abstract Short-term lime pretreatment uses lime and high-pressure oxygen to significantly increase the digestibility of poplar wood. When the treated poplar wood was enzymatically hydrolyzed, glucan and xylan were converted to glucose and xylose, respectively. To calculate product yields from raw biomass, these sugars were expressed as equivalent glucan and xylan. To recommend pretreatment conditions, the single criterion was the maximum overall glucan and xylan yields using a cellulase loading of 15 FPU/g glucan in raw biomass. On this basis, the recommended conditions for short-term lime pretreatment of poplar wood follow: (1) 2 h, 140°C, 21.7 bar absolute and (2) 2 h, 160°C, and 14.8 bar absolute. In these two cases, the reactivity was nearly identical, thus the selected condition depends on the economic trade off between pressure and temperature. Considering glucose and xylose and their oligomers produced during 72 h of enzymatic hydrolysis, the overall yields attained under these recommended conditions follow: (1) 95.5 g glucan/100 g of glucan in raw biomass and 73.1 g xylan/100 g xylan in raw biomass and (2) 94.2 g glucan/100 g glucan in raw biomass and 73.2 g xylan/100 g xylan in raw biomass. The yields improved by increasing the enzyme loading. An optimal enzyme cocktail was identified as 67% cellulase, 12% ,-glucosidase, and 24% xylanase (mass of protein basis) with cellulase activity of 15 FPU/g glucan in raw biomass and total enzyme loading of 51 mg protein/g glucan in raw biomass. Ball milling the lime-treated poplar wood allowed for 100% conversion of glucan in 120 h with a cellulase loading of only 10 FPU/g glucan in raw biomass. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2009 [source] | ||||||||||