bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Using clinical tests of colour vision to predict the ability of colour vision deficient patients to name surface colours
Authors: Cole Barry L. , Lian Ka‐Yee , Lakkis Carol 
Published: June 2007

AbstractPurpose:  To determine the predictive power of commonly used tests for abnormal colour vision to identify patients who can or cannot name surface colours without error.Methods:  The colour vision of 99 subjects with colour vision deficiency (CVD) was assessed using the Ishihara, the Richmond HRR (2002), the Farnsworth D15, the Medmont C100 and the Nagel anomaloscope. They named 10 surface colours (red, orange, brown, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, grey and black), which were presented in two shapes (lines and dots) and three sizes. The surface colours were also named by an age‐matched group of 20 subjects with normal colour vision. The performance of the clinical tests to predict the CVD subjects who made no colour naming errors and those who made errors is expressed in terms of the predictive value of a pass P(P) and the predictive value of a fail P(F).Results:  The P(P) values of the tests were between 0.59 and 0.70 and P(F) values were between 0.77 and 1.00.Conclusions:  A ‘mild’ classification with the Richmond HRR test, especially if no more than two errors are made on the HRR diagnostic plates, identifies patients with abnormal colour vision who are able to name surface colour codes without error or only the occasional error. A pass of the Farnsworth D15 test identifies patients who will make no or few (up to 6%) errors with a 10 colour code, but who will be able to name the colours of a seven colour code that does not include orange, brown and purple. If protans are excluded, the predictive value for a pass P(P) for the Farnsworth D15 is improved from 0.59 to 0.70. The anomaloscope is not an especially good predictor of those who can recognise surface colour codes. However, an anomaloscope range >35 units identifies those who have difficulty in recognising surface colour codes, as does a fail at the Farnsworth D15 test.
Graphics Based Humour: Its Contribution to Learning and Understanding
Authors: BLYTHE‐LORD ROBIN 
Published: June 2007

The educational use of humour, when it is used during live teaching, appears to be mainly that of maintaining attention and improving audience attitude. It may be unplanned, opportunist and driven by events, or consciously worked into a presentation, lecture or demonstration, nevertheless the quality, pertinence and effectiveness of the humour is very much due to the individual's sense of humour, timing and sensibilities.Some teacher's views on humour are that it is in some way divorced from learning (which is a properly serious thing) and only useful to alleviate boredom and stress. A typical response might run as follows:1. Humour is flippant, deconstructive and diverts from the true path of knowledge, 2. If this paper is about humour then it is going to be terribly dull, 3. OK then, make me laugh.This current research, which is at an early stage, is concerned with applications of textual and illustrative humour in teaching materials for 18–22 year old undergraduate students. It will consider the possibility that humour can positively contribute to understanding, creativity and learning, and whether an application model can be constructed to help teachers, authors and learners.
Art Education for Understanding: Goodman, Arts PROPEL, and DBAE
Authors: LINDSTROM LARS 
Published: June 2007

‘What is art for?’ This provocative question was the motto of the 31st Annual Convention of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) held in Atlanta, Georgia, 1991. As a visiting scholar for a semester at Harvard Project Zero, I had rich opportunities to study art education programmes in higher education and public schools all over the United States. As a consequence, I felt complelled to reformulate the NAEA question, and ask ‘What is art education for?’This essay argues for the importance of understanding and meaning‐making in art education. It starts with a review of some common rationales for the teaching of art that stress both the alleged ability of the arts to promote ‘good’– i.e. creative, harmonious, and civilised – characters and the instrumental value of the arts as a means of communication. These rationales are then evaluated within the context of Nelson Goodman's philosophy, which emphasises the primary role of curiosity in the arts.The following two sections discuss the rationales, contributions and limitations of two art programmes that are currently being carried out in the United States: Arts PROPEL and Discipline‐Based Art Education (DBAE). Arts PROPEL has introduced long‐term, open‐ended projects that integrate production (making) with perception (learning to ‘read’ art works and observe the world closely) and reflection (thinking about one's work and the works of others). The DBAE curricula are sequentially organised and integrate content from the disciplines of art creation, art criticism (learning what to look for and how to interpret), art history (studying contexts and alternatives of taste and style), and aesthetics (building a personal philosophy of art).In the final section, Arts PROPEL and DBAE are compared. In the context of previous rationales for the teaching of art, the similarity in aims of these programmes stand out as more important than the differences in approach. Neither do these programmes overstate the humanising power of art, nor do they focus on visual literacy per se. Instead, both programmes emphasise the role of reflection, interpretation, and understanding in art. Productive and analytic art activities are used as important vehicles in making sense of the world and of ourselves. It is concluded that Arts PROPEL and DBAE offer promising and supplementary approaches to promote curiosity and to teach art for the sake of understanding.
The Reform of Support Mechanisms for Upland Farming: Paying for Public Goods in the Severely Disadvantaged Areas of England
Authors: Hanley Nick , Colombo Sergio , Mason Pamela , Johns Helen 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe incomes of hill‐farmers in ‘Less Favoured Areas’ of the UK have traditionally been supported by payments related to their production levels. Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and changes in policy objectives within the UK imply a need to change this basis of support. We investigate the option of paying for public goods produced, focusing on landscape features and habitats. A choice experiment study is used to estimate willingness to pay for different landscape features in four Severely Disadvantaged Areas of England. We find significant differences in the value of landscape features, both within and across regions, and parallel differences in the aggregate value of different policy options for upland areas. We discuss briefly how this information could be included in a spatially differentiated payments scheme.
Randomized Trial to Improve Prescribing Safety in Ambulatory Elderly Patients
Authors: Raebel Marsha A. , Charles Jeanya , Dugan Jennifer , Carroll Nikki M. , Korner Eli J. , Brand David W. , Magid David J. 
Published: June 2007

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether a computerized tool that alerted pharmacists when patients aged 65 and older were newly prescribed potentially inappropriate medications was effective in decreasing the proportion of patients dispensed these medications.DESIGN: Prospective, randomized trial.SETTING: U.S. health maintenance organization.PARTICIPANTS: All 59,680 health plan members aged 65 and older were randomized to intervention (n=29,840) or usual care (n=29,840). Pharmacists received alerts on all patients randomized to intervention who were newly prescribed a targeted medication.INTERVENTION:
Prescription and age information were linked to alert pharmacists when a patient aged 65 and older was newly prescribed one of 11 medications that are potentially inappropriate in older people.MEASUREMENTS: Physicians and pharmacists collaborated to develop the targeted medication list, indications for medication use for which an intervention should occur, intervention guidelines and scripts, and to implement the intervention.RESULTS: Over the 1‐year study, 543 (1.8%) intervention group patients aged 65 and older were newly dispensed prescriptions for targeted medications, compared with 644 (2.2%) usual care group patients (P=.002). For medication use indications in which an intervention should occur, dispensings of amitriptyline (P<.001) and diazepam (P=.02) were reduced.CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a computerized pharmacy alert system plus collaboration between healthcare professionals in decreasing potentially inappropriate medication dispensings in elderly patients. Coupling data available from information systems with the knowledge and skills of physicians and pharmacists can improve prescribing safety in patients aged 65 and older.
Depressive Symptoms in Older African‐American and White Adults with Functional Difficulties: The Role of Control Strategies
Authors: Gitlin Laura N. , Hauck Walter W. , Dennis Marie P. , Schulz Richard 
Published: June 2007

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether control‐oriented strategies buffer effects of functional difficulties on depressive symptoms over time in older African‐American and white adults with disability.DESIGN: Community‐based, prospective study.SETTING: Baseline and 12‐month data from a randomized trial.PARTICIPANTS: One hundred twenty‐nine African‐American and 151 white older adults with 12‐month data from 319 participants in the trial.MEASUREMENTS: Data were obtained for functional difficulties, the extent that respondents reported using control (cognitive and behavioral) strategies to enhance and maintain independence, and baseline and 12‐month depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; CES‐D).RESULTS: African Americans reported greater baseline functional difficulty (P=.009), fewer depressive symptoms (P=.002) and higher control strategy use (P=.001) than whites. Functional difficulty was associated with depressive symptoms for both groups at baseline and 12 months. Living alone for whites and low spirituality for African Americans predicted higher 12‐month depressive symptom scores. African Americans with baseline functional difficulty and high strategy use had lower 12‐month depression than those with similar difficulty levels but low strategy use (P=.04 for interaction), representing a 28.5‐point CES‐D score differential. Control strategies did not buffer the function–depression relationship over time for whites.CONCLUSION: Control‐oriented strategies moderated the experience of depressive symptomatology over time for African Americans with disability but not for whites. This may explain the paradox of greater functional disparities but less reported emotional distress in African Americans than whites. Results suggest that the use and benefits of adaptive resources to attain functional goals and determinants of depression differ by race. Depression prevention programs should be modified to be suitable for different cultural groups.
Optimal Cash Tender Offers*
Authors: Schnabel Jacques A. , Roumi Ebrahim 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTThis paper develops a contingent claims analysis, a simple decision model for determining the optimal price in a cash tender offer. The implied behavior of the optimal tender offer premium over the market price of the target common stock is also investigated. Those readers interested in applying the model may obtain an interactive computer program written in FORTRAN and implementable on a personal computer from the authors on request.
Solving the Classification Problem in Discriminant Analysis Via Linear and Nonlinear Programming Methods*
Authors: Stam Antonie , Joachimsthaler Erich A. 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTThis paper demonstrates the feasibility of applying nonlinear programming methods to solve the classification problem in discriminant analysis. The application represents a useful extension of previously proposed linear programming‐based solutions for discriminant analysis. The analysis of data obtained by conducting a Monte Carlo simulation experiment shows that these new procedures are promising. Future research that should promote application of the proposed methods for solving classification problems in a business decision‐making environment is discussed.
A Simple Heuristic for Lot Sizing with Setup Times
Authors: Trigeiro William W. 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTThis paper presents an easily understood and computationally efficient heuristic algorithm for the capacitated lot sizing problem (CLSP), the single machine lot‐sizing problem, with nonstationary costs, demands, and setup times. The algorithm solves problems with setup time or setup cost. A variation of the algorithm can solve problems when limited amounts of costly overtime are allowed.Results of experimentation indicate that the most significant effects on solution quality are due to the level of setup costs relative to holding costs and the size of the problems as determined by the number of items. Also affecting solution quality are tightness of the capacity constraint and variability of demand in a problem. When the capacity constraint is extremely tightly binding, it sometimes has difficulty finding solutions that do not require overtime.
Decentralization in Linear Programming Models
Authors: Van De Panne C. 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTThis paper proposes a decomposition of a linear programming problem based on the structure of the optimal basis matrix. If this matrix contains a zero matrix of appropriate dimensions, the problem may be decomposed into a price‐setting problem and a quantity‐setting problem. This decomposition is valid for a set of coefficients of the problem to be determined by parametric programming. It can be applied to problems with common constraints or common variables. An application to dairy production planning is discussed and a comparison with the Dantzig‐Wolfe decomposition principle is given.
The Performance of MRP Purchase Lot‐Size Procedures Under Actual Multiple Purchase Discount Conditions
Authors: Christoph Orinda Byrd , LaForge R. Lawrence 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTSeveral heuristic procedures for purchase lot sizing in material requirements planning (MRP) systems were tested with actual data from manufacturing companies. Information provided by the companies for each purchased item included the estimated requirements and costs, the price discount structure from the vendor, and the actual company ordering policy. Simulation tests for each purchased item involved comparisons of several purchase lot‐size procedures from the research literature along with the actual procedure used by the company providing the data. Results indicate that one of the heuristic lot‐size procedures from the literature consistently outperformed the company policies as well as all other models tested. Another noteworthy result is that, in some cases, the actual company order policy was more cost‐effective than some of the models from the research literature.
Data Driven Modeling: An Application in Scheduling
Authors: Franz Lori S. 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a data driven modeling (DDM) approach to certain types of optimization problems. DDM relinquishes control of the completed model to the user department rather than the operations research (OR) staff. The approach emphasizes development of models that are dependent on data maintained and understood by the users. The data base consists of coded user rules which describe when changes will occur in the problem structure and data which captures the generalization of the problem. Both the rules and data can be updated by user department personnel. These data drive a matrix generator controlled by the rules which uses the data base as input to generate the specific model formulation. This DDM system is designed by OR consultants or staff to allow independence of use along with low‐cost and minimal‐effort maintenance. The DDM approach is illustrated with an application to a real‐world medical scheduling problem.
The Representation and Impact of Information System Reliability on Cost Variance Decisions*
Authors: O'Leary Daniel E. 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTManagement does not directly observe cost variance processes from the production system; instead, management depends on a report from the cost variance information system as to whether a process is in control or out of control. Unfortunately, cost variance information systems are not always perfectly reliable. Accordingly, this paper extends the cost variance analysis model to include reliability of the cost variance information system. Reliability is introduced by distinguishing between the report from the information system and the actual cost variance.Although previous cost variance models do not include reliability, management is still likely to be aware of the lack of reliability in cost variance systems. To account for this lack of reliability, management is likely to use any of a number of heuristics. This paper demonstrates that ad hoc heuristics are unlikely to result in the same solutions suggested by the analytic model. In addition, it is shown analytically that not including reliability in cost variance models can lead to examining variances that do not require investigation and not examining variances that do require investigation.
Decision Making, Scaling, and Number Crunching
Authors: Saaty Thomas L. 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this note is to comment on the artificiality of using known scales of measurement (or conveniently improvised numbers) to make decisions. In particular, the pitfalls of trying to please the decision maker and of using normalization as a number crunching tool are discussed. Finally, an example is given to show what is needed to develop a workable and theoretically sound theory for multi‐criteria decisions and to show that the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) meets these demands.
On the Generality of the PERT Average Time Formula
Authors: Troutt Marvin D. 
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACTIt is well known that the PERT average time formula approximation is related to the Beta distribution assumption. In this note, it is shown that if the formula is modified to use the median instead of the mode, then it becomes a good approximation regardless of distribution assumptions. Applications of the formula beyond project management are highlighted.
Noncatheter‐Based Delivery of a Single‐Chamber Lumenless Pacing Lead in Small Children
Authors: KENNY DAMIEN , WALSH KEVIN P. 
Published: June 2007

Objectives:

The model 3830 lead (SelectSecure™ Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA) is a bipolar, fixed‐screw, 4.1‐F pacing lead designed for site‐selective pacing. Implantation is usually performed using an 8‐F deflectable catheter system. This catheter is not ideal for smaller children because of both the sheath size and the relatively large deflected curves. We describe a simpler noncatheter‐based delivery system in seven children.
Methods:

A 4.1‐F SelectSecure lead was introduced via a 5‐F SafeSheath (Thomas Medical, Malvern, PA, USA) placed in the left subclavian vein. The SelectSecure lead was passed into the inferior vena cava (IVC) and a loop created, which was then withdrawn into the right atrium. Once in position, the lead was screwed into the myocardium, the SafeSheath was peeled off, and the lead connected to the generator.
Results:

From March 2005 until September 2006, five right atrial leads and two right ventricular leads were implanted in seven patients (six female) with a median weight of 15 kg (8.1–19.4). All leads were successfully placed with excellent pacing thresholds. The median screening time was 7.1 minutes (4.8–11.4) with a median radiation dose of 83 cGy cm2. There were no procedural complications and no lead displacements seen on a median follow‐up of 10 months.
Conclusions:

Delivery of the 4.1‐F SelectSecure pacing lead to the right heart is possible using a noncatheter‐based delivery system. This is effective and safe and does not require the use of a larger delivery system. This allows these thin isodiametric pacing leads to be used advantageously in small children.
End‐of‐life Decisions in ICD Patients with Malignant Tumors
Authors: KOBZA RICHARD , ERNE PAUL 
Published: June 2007

Background:

The results of multiple implantable cardioverter‐defibrillator (ICD) studies have demonstrated a survival benefit in specific high‐risk populations, leading to the expansion of ICD implantation rates worldwide. Because the ICD reduces the incidence of sudden cardiac death, patients with these devices more often die of nonarrhythmic causes. For those with a malignancy, little is known about their preferences for disabling ICD therapy.
Methods:

The objective of the present study was to evaluate whether patients with an ICD and a malignant tumor desire deactivation of their ICD in order to have a death without ICD interventions, which are life‐prolonging, bothersome, and prevent a peaceful death. All deceased patients having had an ICD implanted at our institution were retrospectively analyzed with respect to whether the option of disabling ICD therapy had been discussed and whether the ICD had been deactivated.
Results:

Two hundred and seventy‐two patients received an ICD at our institution between January 1, 1994, and January 31, 2007. Thirty‐six of the patients have died, and of these eight had a malignant tumor. In six of these eight patients (75%) the option of disabling their ICD therapy was discussed extensively; none wished to abandon the possibility of terminating a malignant arrhythmia by the ICD.
Conclusions:

With the use of ICDs, patients with heart failure are more frequently protected from arrhythmic death, and consequently treating physicians are increasingly confronted with ICD patients presenting with a malignant tumor or other noncardiac terminal disease. In these situations, dialogue between the treating physician and the patient about the possibility of withdrawing ICD therapy is important to terminal care. The physician must be aware that the patient's attitude may contrast with his/her own, and that the patient may be resolute in maintaining ICD protection from arrhythmic death.