Bariatric surgery is an effective procedure type for morbidly obese patients when all else fails. Because obesity is a chronic disease, prolonged assessment and understanding of the credibility of procedure types and their effects on bariatric surgery outcomes are essential, yet current evidence shows decreasing utilization of one of the dominant procedure types. To better compare outcomes of procedure type, this research was designed to control for volume, hospital size, age, gender, season, month, year, and ethnicity. The goal of the study was to compare the outcomes of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) bariatric surgery using the epidemiologic triad model. This study was a retrospective cross-sectional review of Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 2009 to 2014. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were conducted to analyze the data. This study was based on a secondary analysis previously collected from NIS data. A convenience sample of 73,086 patients who underwent bariatric surgery using ICD-9 diagnosis and procedure codes was used. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that LAGB (odds ratio [OR] =.043) and LSG (OR =.030) were positively associated with in-hospital mortality. Similarly, LAGB (OR =.041) and LSG (OR =.425) were positively correlated to length of stay (LOS). Finally, LAGB (OR = .461) and LSG (OR = .480) was positively related to reoperation. LAGB, when compared to LSG for LOS, had a substantial advantage over biliopancreatic diversion. The LOS findings may contribute to patients' value proposition, including cost reduction for third party insurance payers and for the community.

The Great Plains variety of the sharp-tailed grouse Pediocetes phasianellus jamesi Lincoln was the predominant upland game bird during the exploratory and early settlement period in North Dakota (Coues 1874 and 1878 . Larson 1928, and Williams 1926) . Since then its status has diminished as the prairie grassland gradually was converted to intensively used pastures and cropland. Although the sharptail is still abundant enough in its remaining habitat to provide for liberal annual harvests , further demand on these lands by a growing human population will make it necessary to apply game management measures other than hunting regulations if the sharptail is to be retained as an important game bird in the state.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-126). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-126). Also available on the Internet.

Dual-phase (DP) sheet steels are a class of advanced high strength steels which boast a desirable combination of properties for the forming of automotive components, including: high strength, continuous yielding behaviour, and a high initial work hardening rate. The higher strength of DP steels relative to predecessors used to form automotive components allows for a reduction in part gauge, translating to the potential for reduced automobile weight, emissions, and fuel consumption. However, a form of premature failure during component forming known as `shear fracture' has become a prominent challenge to manufacturers' adoption of DP steels. Martensite particles in DP steel microstructures act as nucleation sites for the development of void damage during deformation, resulting in a deleterious effect upon formability and thought to contribute to the observed shear fractures. This dissertation contributes to the overall goal of offering guidance for the improvement of DP steel microstructures for more desirable fracture behaviour. Specifically, the role of non-ferritic phase/constituent (NFP) volume percent and spatial distribution in the accumulation of void damage in DP steels was investigated. Void damage accumulation in ten DP steel microstructural variants tested to failure under near plane-strain deformation was qualified and quantified in three dimensions using an X-ray micro-computed tomography technique. These results were correlated to the microstructural parameters of the variants, which clearly indicated the detrimental effects of NFP banding in DP steels. It was observed that DP microstructures with increased severity of NFP banding (generally aligned in the sheet rolling direction) incurred a reduced strain to failure. Often, microstructural variants with NFP bands aligned transverse to the major loading direction incurred a reduced strain to failure, accumulated a greater number of voids, and exhibited a larger void volume percent than a specimen with oppositely oriented NFP bands. Void damage spatial distribution was generally reflective of the spatial distribution of the most coarse NFP bands through the sheet thickness. In microstructural variants with NFP bands aligned transverse to the major loading direction, accumulated void damage was often observed to be highly elongated in the direction of NFP banding. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-30 11:49:18.645

A potential characterization tool for printer quality is the power spectral density (PSD) analysis of flat-field printer outputs. This thesis explains the relationship between the PSD and characteristics of printer defects using examples of scanned printer outputs. In addition, a protocol is also presented for scanning flat fields and performing a PSD analysis. The protocol considers sampling and windowing issues to best focus on defects or quality issues of interest. The main objective of this work is to determine the interactive relationships of print defect patterns such as graininess, streaking, and banding under flat-field hardcopy outputs. The additive and multiplicative models are considered for describing the interaction between printer defects. Simulated print defect patterns and metrics base on the PSD are used to demonstrate the patterns generated by multiplicative and additive processes. These results are compared the PSD of actual flat-field prints from digital printers to draw conclusion concerning actual artifact interaction. For all defects examined the additive model is shown to be a good model of the interactions between printer defects.

Multi Frequency Phase Measuring Profilometry is the most popular lateral contact 3-D Scanning technique. The Phase Measuring Profilometry is limited in resolution by the projector and cameras used. Conventional signal projectors have a maximum of 2000 to 4000 scan lines limiting the projector resolution. To obtain greater detail with higher resolution the PMP technique is applied to a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) having 12000 lines, very large as compared to conventional projectors. This technology can achieve super resolution scans having varied applications. Scans achieved from PMP suffer from a certain type of artifact called “banding” which are periodic bands across the captured target. This leads to incorrect measurement of surfaces. Banding is the most limiting noise source in PMP because it increases with lower frequency and decrease in number of patterns. The requirement for lager number of patterns increases the possibility of motion banding. The requirement for higher frequency leads to the necessity for multifrequency PMP which, again leads to more patterns and longer scan times. We aim to reduce the banding by correcting the phase of the captured data.

Phase Measuring Profilometry (PMP) is the most robust scanning technique for static 3D data acquisition. To make this technique robust to the target objects which are in motion during the scan interval a novel algorithm called ‘Pattern Interleaving’ is used to get a high density single scan image and making Phase Measuring Profilometry insensitive to ‘z’ motion and prevent motion banding which is predominant in 3D reconstruction when the object is in motion during the scan time

The asymptomatic nature of chlamydial infection renders the differential diagnosis of acute and chronic infection difficult. An untreated Chlamydia trachomatis infection can become chronic, result in disease sequelae such as salpingitis and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and ultimately culminate in tubal occlusion and infertility. Diagnostic tests for C. trachomatis such as nucleic acid amplification testing (PCR), antigen detection and serological methods have variable performance capabilities with respect to sensitivity, specificity and stage of infection. The use of PCR as a diagnostic tool is somewhat limited, as specimen collection is routinely sampled from the lower genital tract; hence, infections in the fallopian tube where inflammatory damage is most significant, escape detection. Furthermore, PCR can only detect selected Chlamydia DNA sequences from readily accessible sites of the genital tract, and therefore cannot differentiate between acute and chronic infection. Other serological assays aim to discriminate the various stages of C. trachomatis infection through identification of key antigens. The efficacy of these assays however is impeded due to cross-reactivity between chlamydial species and the subsequent antibody response against the target antigen is not restricted to patients with a specific stage of infection. To identify antibody responses capable of differentiating various states of chlamydial infection, samples were collected from both men and women given the variability of immune responses between the two genders. Samples were assigned to a patient group according to infection status and then probed against protein extracts of HEp-2 cells infected with C. trachomatis serovar L2 and HEp-2 cells pre-treated with IFN-γ and infected with C. trachomatis serovar L2. (persistence cell culture) Serological analysis revealed the presence of five antigens (denoted bands A, B, C, D and M) which were shown to be differential between patient groups. Identification of bands B and C by N-terminal sequencing provided two possible candidates for each antigen, ie. CT727 and CT396 (band B) and CT157 and CT423 (band C). In contrast, band M which was unique to males was a PmpB (probable outer membrane protein B) fragment. The four target antigens (CT157, CT423, CT727 and CT396) were expressed as recombinant proteins using autoinduction media and were subsequently probed by both male and female sera to evaluate their diagnostic potential. Results showed that two chlamydial antigenic targets (CT157 and CT727) have the potential to discriminate between acute and chronic C. trachomatis infection. However, since only a small number of samples (n = 3) were used for this aspect of the study, the findings should simply be viewed as preliminary. In females, sensitivity and specificity values were derived using various combinations of the four target antigens into a panel format for the purpose of detecting chronic C. trachomatis infections. The preferred format was B + C with a sensitivity and specificity of 80% and 84% respectively. Using the IFN-γ-mediated persistence model, only two of the five antigenic targets were shown to be differentially expressed. PmpB in males and CT157 (the most likely band C candidate) in females were shown to be up-regulated to varying degrees in samples across the patient groups. We also demonstrated that no other chlamydial antigens are up-regulated during a persistent C. trachomatis infection. In conclusion, although combinations of bands A, B, C, D and M differentiate between male and female patient groups under normal chlamydial growth conditions, during IFN-γ-induced persistence, only bands C (CT157) and M (CT413 - PmpB) are up-regulated thus suggesting a potential role in chronic C. trachomatis infection.

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) - Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, Sağlık Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Tıbbi Biyoloji ve Genetik Anabilim Dalı, 2006. / Bibliyografya var.