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Purpose The purposes of this study are to gather and analyze perspectives of people from racial and gender minority groups in order to identify barriers to voice and communication services for these populations. Method In focus groups facilitated by community members, 11 people in racial and gender minority groups discussed their gender-related goals and accessibility of voice and communication services. Salient themes were derived using a grounded theory approach and analyzed using an access to care framework. Results During discussion of voice and communication as it relates to gender presentation, most utterances were speculations on the processes and potential outcomes of interventions for voice and communication; the majority of these were characterized as uninformed or misinformed. Conclusions Future studies will need to overcome barriers related to health literacy and beliefs in order to thoroughly assess potential interest or intentions regarding voice and communication services. Additional study is expected to provide valuable information that can be interpreted using the Levesque et al. (2013) framework of access to care and eventually eliminate barriers to voice and communication services for all.

Granulosa cell tumours are commonly identified in mares, but have rarely been identified in equine neonates. This report describes a septic neonatal foal that presented with haemoabdomen secondary to a ruptured ovarian granulosa cell tumour. The ultrasonographic appearance, successful surgical removal and histopathological appearance of the tumour is described. Juvenile ovarian granulosa cell tumours differ histologically from adult granulosa cell tumours. Ultrasound is a useful way to identify haemoabdomen and abdominal masses in foals. Juvenile granulosa cell tumour should be considered as a differential for this combination in neonatal foals.

We exploit the difference in the thermal contraction coefficients within a device structure to create the strain patterns required to generate a homogeneous pseudo-magnetic field in a suspended graphene membrane. The interplay between supported and suspended metallic contacts creates deformations upon cooling, producing the desired non-uniform strain in the graphene membrane. This work can easily be adapted to produce other strain configurations, providing a route to strain engineering the electrical properties of graphene and other two-dimensional crystals, an area with a large body of theoretical work, but thus far little experimental progress.

A multipass amplifier configuration is described which has potential as a large aperture, high gain driver stage for fusion laser systems. We avoid the present limitations of large aperture switches by using an off-angle geometry that does not require an optical switch. The saturated gain characteristics of this multipass amplifier are optimized numerically. Three potential problems are investigated experimentally, self-lasing, output beam quality, and amplified spontaneous emission output. The results indicate comparable cost for comparable performance to a linear chain, with some operational advantage for the multipass driver stage.

The design and performance of an avalanche transistor switchout are described. The device selects a single pulse from a train of cw or Q-switched mode-locked pulses and introduces less than +/-1% amplitude variation in the selected pulse. The prepulse rejection ratio exceeds 10(7), and a lifetime of greater than 10(7) shots has been achieved.

Although clinical intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering remains the only proven method of preventing the onset and progression of glaucoma, the role of IOP in the development and progression of the disease remains controversial. The biomechanical effects of IOP on the tissues of the optic nerve head (ONH) likely play a central role in the development and progression of the disease. This article focuses on describing the individual susceptibility of a particular patient's optic nerve head to IOP insult in terms of the biomechanical response of the constituent tissues and the resulting mechanical, ischemic, and cellular events driven by that response.

In previous research argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness have been conceptually differentiated. This study sought to determine the effect of each concept on the image of participants in an actual public argument, the CBS news interview of George Bush by Dan Rather in January, 1988. Results indicate that both argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness have a significant relationship to communicator image, but unexpected results occur when comparing the images of the two participants. Verbal aggressiveness negatively affected Bush's communicator image, but positively influenced Rather's. Results also suggest differences in the effects of argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness on specific characteristics of communicator image.

The biomechanics of the optic nerve head (ONH) may underlie many of the potential mechanisms that initiate the characteristic vision loss associated with primary open angle glaucoma. Therefore, it is important to characterize the physiological levels of stress and strain in the ONH and how they may change in relation to material properties, geometry, and microstructure of the tissue. An idealized, analytical microstructural model of the ONH load bearing tissues was developed based on an octagonal cellular solid that matched the porosity and pore area of morphological data from the lamina cribrosa (LC). A complex variable method for plane stress was applied to relate the geometrically dependent macroscale loads in the sclera to the microstructure of the LC, and the effect of different geometric parameters, including scleral canal eccentricity and laminar and scleral thickness, was examined. The transmission of macroscale load in the LC to the laminar microstructure resulted in stress amplifications between 2.8 and 24.5×IOP. The most important determinants of the LC strain were those properties pertaining to the sclera and included Young’s modulus, thickness, and scleral canal eccentricity. Much larger strains were developed perpendicular to the major axis of an elliptical canal than in a circular canal. Average strain levels as high as 5% were obtained for an increase in IOP from 15to50mm Hg.

This report describes laboratory procedures used by the U. S. Geological Survey Kentucky Water Science Center Sediment Laboratory for the processing and analysis of fluvial sediment samples for concentration of sand and finer material. The report details the processing of a sediment sample through the laboratory from receiving the sediment sample, through the analytical process, to compiling results of the requested analysis. Procedures for preserving sample integrity, calibrating and maintaining of laboratory and field instruments and equipment, analyzing samples, internal quality assurance and quality control, and validity of the sediment analysis results also are described. The report includes a list of references cited and a glossary of sediment and quality-assurance terms.

Aims: To characterise lamina cribrosa and anterior scleral canal wall architecture in pressurised (IOP 10 mm Hg) and non-pressurised (IOP 0 mm Hg) normal monkey eyes. Methods: Eight normal eyes from eight monkeys were enucleated before sacrifice and the optic nerve heads (ONH) trephined and immersion fixed in glutaraldehyde (IOP 0). Nine normal eyes from nine monkeys were perfusion fixed in situ with paraformaldehyde at IOP 10 mm Hg (IOP 10), and the ONHs trephined and stored in glutaraldehyde. Each ONH specimen was embedded in glycol methacrylate and cut into vertical or horizontal, 4 μm thick, serial sections. Within digitised images of every sixth section, anterior laminar position and laminar thickness were measured at nine evenly spaced locations across the scleral canal opening. Additionally, scleral canal diameters at Bruch’s membrane (SCD-B) and at the anterior laminar insertion (SCD-ALI) were measured within the 15 middle section images of each vertically sectioned ONH. Results: Anterior laminar position was significantly more anterior (nearer Bruch’s membrane) in the IOP 10 eyes, compared with the IOP 0 eyes (116 (±95% CI; 2) μm v 184 (2) μm, respectively). Also in the IOP 10 eyes, the lamina cribrosa was thinner (195 (2) μm v 264 (2) μm) and the scleral canal diameter was larger (SCD-B: 1751 (23) μm v 1591 (19) μm; SCD-ALI: 1961 (21) μm v 1717 (17) μm), compared with the IOP 0 eyes. Conclusion: The anterior scleral canal wall is expanded and the lamina cribrosa is thinned and more tautly stretched within pressurised (perfusion fixed at IOP 10) young monkey eyes, compared with non-pressurised (immersion fixed at IOP 0) young monkey eyes. The constricted scleral canal and the relaxed and thickened lamina in the non-pressurised eyes may represent phenomena that contribute to optic disc swelling in hypotonous eyes.

Hemlock water dropwort ( Oenanthe crocata ) is perhaps the most poisonous indigenous plant in Britain.1 It is a member of the Umbellifer family and is found in ditches, damp meadows, in steams, by riverbanks, and in marshes. It is a large, stout plant between three and five feet high that flowers in July. The lower stem is usually thick and joins to clusters of fleshy tubers that gives rise to the popular name “dead man’s fingers”. The entire plant is poisonous. The tubers, stems, and leaves contain oenanthotoxin, a highly unsaturated higher alcohol, which is known to be poisonous and a powerful convulsant.2 The majority of the umbellifer family are harmless. These include species of celery, parsley, parsnip, and carrots. The poisonous members are hemlock ( Conium maculatum ), cowbane ( Cicuta virosa ), and hemlock water dropwort.3 Poisoning by hemlock water droplet is an infrequent event. A number of human fatalities have occurred over the years, although animals are its usual victims. A group of eight young adults who were on holiday in Argyll collected what they thought were water parsnips from a small stream. The roots were cleaned, chopped, and added to a curry. All consumed the curry, but the majority of …

Surveillance and spatial awareness systems necessitating the capture of panoramic imagery pose new challenges in respect of latency, data fusion and cost. Array sensor technologies support options to capture panoramic imagery. Fusion of imagery from multisensor arrays may be achieved through data capture and computer manipulation. This approach introduces many forms of latency to imagery of concern to the military, cost implications for volume market, size/power considerations for remote/mobile systems. For an array of image sensors aligned such that their overlapping fields of view share consecutive parts, in azimuth and or elevation, of a common scenario, then by staggering their relative synchronization in respect of line respectively frame, time continuous luminance information may be considered to exist around the array. Data fusion of such time continuous luminance information may be achieved live at source by tapping luminance from consecutive sensors, switching source at image correspondence. When such luminance information is punctuated by the introduction of new sync information then display of the fused and live panoramic imagery may be made on conventional displays. This paper addresses design considerations of such systems, latency, at source data fusion control loops, health monitoring and data rate processing extras.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Book Review: A Guide To Business Research, by Professor Charles B. Smith

PURPOSE To investigate the age-related differences in the inhomogeneous, anisotropic, nonlinear biomechanical properties of posterior sclera from old (22.9 +/- 5.3 years) and young (1.5 +/- 0.7 years) rhesus monkeys. METHODS The posterior scleral shell of each eye was mounted on a custom-built pressurization apparatus, then intraocular pressure (IOP) was elevated from 5 to 45 mm Hg while the 3D displacements of the scleral surface were measured with speckle interferometry. Each scleral shell's geometry was digitally reconstructed from data generated by a 3-D digitizer (topography) and 20-MHz ultrasound (thickness). An inverse finite element (FE) method incorporating a fiber-reinforced constitutive model was used to extract a unique set of biomechanical properties for each eye. Displacements, thickness, stress, strain, tangent modulus, structural stiffness, and preferred collagen fiber orientation were mapped for each posterior sclera. RESULTS The model yielded 3-D deformations of posterior sclera that matched well with those observed experimentally. The posterior sclera exhibited inhomogeneous, anisotropic, nonlinear mechanical behavior. The sclera was significantly thinner (P = 0.038) and tangent modulus and structural stiffness were significantly higher in old monkeys (P < 0.0001). On average, scleral collagen fibers were circumferentially oriented around the optic nerve head (ONH). No difference was found in the preferred collagen fiber orientation and fiber concentration factor between age groups. CONCLUSIONS Posterior sclera of old monkeys is significantly stiffer than that of young monkeys and is therefore subject to higher stresses but lower strains at all levels of IOP. Age-related stiffening of the sclera may significantly influence ONH biomechanics and potentially contribute to age-related susceptibility to glaucomatous vision loss.

Objective: To identify the impact of co-morbidity on the quality of life (QoL) of patients suffering from head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) during radiation treatment. Methods: A total of 250 patients diagnosed with HNSCC between August 2001 and February 2003 underwent QoL and psychological profile assessment using the University of Washington QoL instrument (UWQoL) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) respectively. The assessment was performed prospectively at the beginning and at two time points during radiation therapy. Co-morbidity burden was assessed retrospectively by case note analysis of 112 patients using the Adult Co-morbidity Evaluation 27 (ACE-27) index, which is a previously described and validated instrument. Demographic and tumour data were obtained from prospective databases. Co-morbidity burden and impact of co-morbidity on QoL were the main outcome measures estimated. Results: All data was analysed using SPSS for Windows V 10. Mean co-morbidity burden in this group was 1.10. Fifty eight percent of patients had some form of co-morbid illness. Co-morbidity grades did not influence the QoL and HADS scores before treatment (one way anova). QoL and HADS scores deteriorated during radiation treatment. The change in scores after treatment was not influenced by co-morbidity in this population (one way anova). Conclusions: This study shows that the co-morbidity burden seen in HNSCC bears no influence on the treatment related QoL and psychological profile during radiation therapy. Severe co-morbidity may have a greater effect on patients QoL and HADS score, but small sample size does not make this statistically significant.

The present investigation provides comparative data on the use of humor, self‐disclosure, and narrative by award‐winning teachers at college and secondary levels. The frequency in usage of these three dramatic style behaviors by award‐winning and non‐award winning teachers at these levels is also compared. Significant differences were found between award‐winning college and secondary level teachers in their use of humor. Award‐winning college and high school teachers did not differ significantly in their use of self‐disclosure and narrative during 50‐minutes of lecturing. However, both award‐winning college and high school teachers significantly differed from award‐winning mid‐high teachers in use of both self‐disclosure and narrative. The results also indicate that the award‐winning teachers consistently utilized humor, self‐disclosure, and narrative in order to clarify course content, and this usage was significantly higher than the non‐award winning teachers from the same educational levels.

This description of a machining process covers a very wide range of machine tools, the actions of different cutting tools, coolants and their application to the sequence of operations necessary to produce a component to the required specification.