Algorithms for efficient planning and operation of a particular FMS

This article is a detailed case study of a particular FMS that will be operational in 1989. It describes the daily planning and operating problems that will need to be addressed. The algorithms that will operate this system are presented. Given the daily changing production requirements, the algorithms begin with an aggregate planning feasibility check. Then planning, scheduling, inventory management, and breakdowns are addressed. The key problems in operating this system are tool management problems. Detailed tooling data and their analysis are presented in an appendix to address these problems.     

Post-normalization quality assessment visualization of microarray data

Post-normalization checking of microarrays rarely occurs, despite the problems that using unreliable data for inference can cause. This paper considers a number of different ways to check microarrays after normalization for a variety of potential problems. Four types of problem with microarray data that these checks can identify are: clerical mistakes, array-wide hybridization problems, problems with normalization and mishandling problems. Any of these can seriously affect the results of any analysis. The three main techniques used to identify these problems are dimension reduction techniques, false array plots and correlograms. None of the techniques are computationally very intensive and all can be carried out in the R statistical package. Once discovered, problems can either be rectified or excluded from the data.     

自然语言处理技术在生物信息学中的应用

从信息处理的角度来看,生物信息学与自然语言处理中的许多问题是非常相似的,因此,可以将一些自然语言处理中的经典方法应用到生物信息学文字中。本文介绍了自然语言处理和生物信息学中共有的问题,如比对、分类、预测等,以及这些问题的解决方法。通过对两个领域形似问题的分析可知,优秀的自然语言处理技术也可用来解决生物信息学方面的问题,并且一些还未在生物信息学领域得到应用的自然语言理解技术也有其潜在的应用价值。最后给出了一个分类问题的解决方案,演示了如何在生物数据上应用算法进行实验。     

The Unknown Role of Mental Health in Global Development

In this paper, the author contrasts the substantial impact of mental health problems on global disability with the limited attention and resources these problems receive. The author discusses possible reasons for the disparity: Compared to physical disorders, mental health problems are considered less important, perhaps due to lower priority of disorders that primarily cause dysfunction rather than mortality, and skepticism that mental disorders are treatable in low-resource countries. He argues that achieving improved global health and development requires addressing problems causing disability, particularly mental health problems among populations in which the common mental disorders are frequent due to deprivation, war, and disasters. The author contends that services addressing the common mental disorders could be made widely and relatively cheaply accessible if provided by non-professional workers at the community level.     

What is important, what needs treating? How GPs perceive older patients' multiple health problems: a mixed method research study

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: GPs increasingly deal with multiple health problems of their older patients. They have to apply a hierarchical management approach that considers priorities to balance competing needs for treatment. Yet, the practice of setting individual priorities in older patients is largely unexplored. This paper analyses the GPs' perceptions on important and unimportant health problems and how these affect their treatment. METHODS: GPs appraised the importance of health problems for a purposive sample of their older patients in semi-structured interviews. Prior to the interviews, the GPs had received a list of their patients' health problems resulting from a geriatric assessment and were asked to rate the importance of each identified problem. In the interviews the GPs subsequently explained why they considered certain health problems important or not and how this affected treatment. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis and quantitative methods. RESULTS: The problems GPs perceive as important are those that are medical and require active treatment or monitoring, or that induce empathy or awareness but cannot be assisted further. Unimportant problems are those that are well managed problems and need no further attention as well as age-related conditions or functional disabilities that provoke fatalism, or those considered outside the GPs' responsibility. Statements of professional actions are closely linked to explanations of important problems and relate to physical problems rather than functional and social patient issues. CONCLUSIONS: GPs tend to prioritise treatable clinical conditions. Treatment approaches are, however, vague or missing for complex chronic illnesses and disabilities. Here, patient empowerment strategies are of value and need to be developed and implemented. The professional concepts of ageing and disability should not impede but rather foster treatment and care. To this end, GPs need to be able to delegate care to a functioning primary care team. Trial Registration German Trial Register (DRKS): 00000792.     

Behavior problems and personality aspects of 40 children with velo-cardio-facial syndrome

Data are collected with the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL) as well as with the Teacher Report Form (TRF) of 40 VCFS children between 4 and 18 years of age. Half of the group shows very high problem scores in the "clinical" range. The average T-score of the VCFS children as a group are over 60 (one standard deviation above the mean) for the "total problem score" and the "internalising score". The highest scores with the subscales are found with "withdrawn" and "social problems". But also "thought problems" and "attention problems" score over 60. The VCFS children show more behavior problems and personality problems than the matched control children with a craniofacial anomaly. The differences are highly statistically significant.     

Twins early development study (TEDS): a multivariate, longitudinal genetic investigation of language, cognition and behavior problems in childhood.

The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) focuses on the early development of the three most common psychological problems in childhood: communication disorders, mild mental impairment and behavior problems. The TEDS twins were assessed longitudinally at 2, 3, 4 and 7 years of age in order to investigate genetic and environmental contributions to change and continuity in language and cognitive development; it is multivariate in order to examine the origins of comorbidity; and it uses a large sample in order to study abnormal development in the context of normal development. The twins were identified from birth records of twins born in the UK in 1994-96. More than 15,000 pairs of twins have been enrolled in TEDS and the participating families are representative of the UK. The measures at 2, 3 and 4 years are administered by parents. At 7 years, children are assessed for language and cognitive development using telephone testing, parents and children are interviewed about behavior problems, and teachers also assess behavior problems as well as academic achievement. One set of findings is that the same genes largely contribute to both language and cognitive problems and the same genes affect normal and abnormal development, a result that suggests that general impairment may be a better target for genetic research than specific language impairment independent of nonverbal cognitive problems. DNA has been obtained so far for more than 4000 pairs and is being used initially in molecular genetic studies of language problems and hyperactivity.     

Management of sleeping problems in Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome: a case study

Sleeping problems are common among children with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Extinction may be effective if sleeping problems have been shaped and are positively reinforced by parental attention. The present study shows that extinction was effective in the treatment of severe sleeping problems in a six-year old girl with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Effects were maintained during follow-up.     

Occupational health problems among migrant and seasonal farm workers.

Migrant and seasonal farm workers are one of the most underserved and understudied populations in the United States. The total US population of such farm workers has been estimated at 5 million, of whom about 20% live or work in California. Farm workers perform strenuous tasks and are exposed to a wide variety of occupational risks and hazards. Low socioeconomic status and poor access to health care also contribute to existing health problems in this population. Potential farm work-related health problems include accidents, pesticide-related illnesses, musculoskeletal and soft-tissue disorders, dermatitis, noninfectious respiratory conditions, reproductive health problems, health problems of children of farm workers, climate-caused illnesses, communicable diseases, bladder and kidney disorders, and eye and ear problems. Few epidemiologic studies exist of these occupational health problems. No comprehensive epidemiologic studies have assessed the magnitude of occupational health problems among migrant and seasonal farm workers and their dependents. Although the migratory nature of this population makes long-term studies difficult, the development of standardized data collection instruments for health consequences and scientific assessment of farm work exposures and working conditions are vital to characterize and reduce the occupational health risks in farm workers.     

Revisiting the O complex: urinary incontinence,delirium and polypharmacy in elderly patients

Urinary incontinence, delirium and polypharmacy are common, challenging problems encountered in elderly patients. Review of the literature shows that these conditions are interrelated. For example, polypharmacy can lead to delirium, which, in turn, can lead to urinary incontinence. The drugs prescribed for urinary incontinence can precipitate delirium or contribute to polypharmacy. The underlying causes for these problems in elderly patients are frequently complex, and management in turn must often be multifactorial. The occurrence of these problems should lead to careful evaluation followed by thoughtful, responsive treatment. Brief updates are given with recommendations for management directed at primary care physicians.     

Membrane fusion

The process of membrane fusion in the case of lipid bilayers, as well as induced by influenza virus is reviewed shortly. The methods of studying fusion kinetics in pure lipid and lipid-protein systems are described. The main theories of molecular fusion machines are presented. Open questions and unsolved problems are discussed in details. In conclusion, possible ways to solve the remaining problems are suggested.     

Governing the global commons with local institutions

Most problems faced by modern human society have two characteristics in common--they are tragedy-of-the-commons type of problems, and they are global problems. Tragedy-of-the-commons type of problems are those where a commonly shared resource is overexploited by free riders at the expense of everyone sharing the resource. The exploitation of global resources such as clean air and water, political stability and peace, etc. underlies many of the most pressing human problems. Punishment of free riding behavior is one of the most frequently used strategies to combat the problem, but the spatial reach of sanctioning institutions is often more limited than the spatial effects of overexploitation. Here, we analyze a general game theoretical model to assess under what circumstances sanctioning institutions with limited reach can maintain the larger commons. We find that the effect of the spatial reach has a strong effect on whether and how the commons can be maintained, and that the transitions between those outcomes are characterized by phase transitions. The latter indicates that a small change in the reach of sanctioning systems can profoundly change the way the global commons can be managed.     

Product liability aspects of bioengineering

The introduction of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 brought the problems of product liability directly into hospital bioengineering and medical physics departments. This law makes great demands upon manufacturers, but also on suppliers and maintainers of medical equipment. Departments which manage medical equipment carry a responsibility for ensuring the requirements of product liability are known by all those whose actions may affect the potential of a piece of equipment to injure or damage a patient. This paper addresses these problems from a bioengineering, rather than a legal, viewpoint. The problems of design, manufacture, modification, maintenance and use are discussed and examples of potential problems are identified. The paper concludes that as long as good standards of quality control and professionalism are applied in bioengineering and medical physics departments then there is little to be feared from this piece of legislation.     

The Problem Realm and the World of Inner Experiences of Upper-Grade Students

In her chapter, the author understands ‘problems’ not as problems of solving learning tasks, but life situations which a young person has to solve. Such situations are often negative experiences. The author claims that problem situations can only be evaluated on the basis of ‘perezhivanie’ associated with them. This aspect is seldom present in psychological-pedagogical research. Most research starting from the 1920’s uses personal diaries or observations as the methods of studying life problems. But they are not able to reveal objectively relations between life problems and their ‘perezhivanie.’ The author introduces two new survey methods called “the world of perezhivanie” and “panorama of problems,” with which primary material is collected for further elaboration of the relation between problem domains and ‘perezhivanie.’ The chapter presents new methods of collecting data. Empirical results are published in other journals and books.     

Applications of statistical analysis in diagnostic histopathology and cytopathology

Corresponding to the rapid increase in the amount of data available for use in clinical diagnoses, there is an increased need for procedures that can provide the diagnostician with meaningful statistical summaries of data and with statements concerning the statistical significance associated with a diagnostic evaluation. It has been demonstrated that multivariate statistical assessment of clinical material can provide consistent, reliable and highly sensitive diagnostic clues, even in instances in which trained personnel are unable to see any change. Several examples of applications of statistical analyses in diagnostic cytology and histopathology are given in this paper. The examples were chosen to be illustrative of the different types of problems for which statistical analyses have been found useful. These problems differ with respect to the extent of the statistical methods thus far developed and the difficulty involved in developing further analyses. For many problems, appropriate statistical analyses are readily available; other problems require definition of custom-made test statistics and, in some cases, also definition of new statistical distributions. The problems discussed here are only a small sample of the existing problems, but they provide at least an indication of the scope of the role that statistics plays in cytopathologic and histopathologic diagnosis.     

Evaluation and propagation of confidence intervals in nonlinear, asymmetrical variance spaces. Analysis of ligand-binding data

Two problems that are often overlooked in studies employing nonlinear least-squares techniques for parameter estimation are confidence-interval estimation and propagation. When the parameters are correlated, the variance space and consequently the confidence intervals are nonlinear and asymmetrical. The presented mathematical method for the evaluation of confidence intervals and error propagation addresses these problems. The examples employed to demonstrate these methods include linear least-squares and the nonlinear least-squares analysis of ligand-binding problems, such as hormone receptor interactions and oxygen binding to human hemoglobin. The mathematical procedures have proven very useful for analyzing the molecular mechanism of cooperativity in human hemoglobin (Johnson, M. L., and G. K. Ackers, 1982. Biochemistry 21:201-211).     

Libido and PTSD

The most frequent PTSD treatment is group therapy. Experiences gained from this kind of work warn us of big difficulties, especially if psychotherapist is an analytically oriented person. He has to do with non-presence of insight. These groups are dominated by projection and catharsis, which is often a source of secondary traumas. However, patients are fond of these group sessions. In the dynamics of such group sessions, what can be recognized is the tendency towards repression of the actual problems a PTSD patient has in his family, at work and in social relations. One of these problems, marked for the intensity of repression and negation, is the problem of libido. Weakness of potency and other libidinous problems are often the source of family problems as well as auto-aggressive acts. Libidinous problems are a taboo topic and the task of a psychodynamically oriented psychotherapeutist is to point out at this problem. Psychotherapeutic process changes its dynamics while directing verbalization to the problem of libido. Apart from readiness for solving the problem, patients with PTSD diagnosis show an interest in the members of their family being involved into psychotherapy. A special dynamics is being developed while solving the libidinous problems of the widows whose husbands were killed in war.     

Applications of fractal geometry to biology

The applications of concepts derived from fractal geometry tobiological problems are described. Three major applicationsare identified: modelling of structures; investigation of theoreticalproblems; and the measurment of complexity. The review concentrateson methods and algorithms, including potential problems, whichcan be used with biological problems. These algorithms are drawnfrom a wide range of literature, including some non–biologicalsources.     

Interaction of water quantity with water quality: the Lake Chapala example

Water quality may be significantly determined by water quantity. Lake Chapala, México is a large lake beset with numerous water quality problems. The decline in water volume over the past 20 years, a serious problem itself, is associated with causing or enhancing several problems of quality. Five such problems are explored herein. These are: extensive infestations of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a declining native fishery, light limitation of phytoplankton production at the base of the food chain, shallow-water algal blooms resulting in water supply treatment problems, and the presence of toxic metals in the harvested and sold fishes.