Context: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is complex disorder associated with many metabolic abnormalities. PCOS is one of the most common endocrine disorders occurring in women of reproductive age and affects about 6-7% of the population. Women with PCOS have insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, thus increasing their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and endometrial cancer Overall Objective: To compare anthropometric features (weight, BMI, WC, body fat percent), antral follicle count (AFC), fasting glucose and insulin levels, HOMA score, menstrual bleeding patterns, and abdominal adiposity before and after a dietary intervention. Materials and Methods: The work presented herein represents a subset of the data being analyzed in an ongoing study titled "Lifestyle Intervention for Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: The Role of a Pulse-Based Diet and Aerobic Exercise on Infertility Measures and Metabolic Syndrome Risk". PCOS was diagnosed by two of the three diagnostic criteria as defined by the Rotterdam consensus: a history of cycles >35 days in length, hyperandrogenism as defined by a Ferriman and Gallwey score of >6 or hyperandrogenemia, as well as polycystic ovaries (PCO), defined by >25 follicles visualized upon transvaginal ultrasonography (TVU). Participants were randomized to either a 16 week pulse-based diet or to a TLC diet for 16 weeks. All participants were asked to follow an exercise program for the 16 week duration of the intervention. Changes in demographic, anthropometric features AFC, fasting insulin levels, and intervals between menstrual cycles were assessed. Results: Twenty four women completed the 16 week dietary intervention to date (pulse n=13, TLC n=11). Participants were found to be similarly matched for age, weight, BMI, WC, and FAI. Weight (p=0.002) and body fat (p=0.0004) decreased significantly. No significant differences were detected in BMI and waist circumference. Antral follicle counts were decreased in the right ovary (p=0.04) but not the left ovary (p=0.11). There was no change in fasting glucose levels detected. There was a decrease in fasting insulin levels (p=0.02) and in HOMA score (p=0.02). No change in abdominal adiposity was detected (p=0.88). There was a tendency toward a change of fasting insulin levels and HOMA score due to the pulse-based diet. The average interval between menses decreased after the intervention (p=0.04). The longest length of time between menses also decreased after the intervention (p=0.01). Conclusions: Our hypothesis was partially supported. We observed significant decreases in weight, body fat percent, AFC in the right ovary, fasting insulin levels and intermenstrual intervals. In most women, the decreased intermenstrual interval translated into the resumption of menstrual cyclicity. However, the participants' BMI, WC, AFC in the left ovary, and abdominal adiposity were not affected. Consuming food of a lower glycemic index without a calorie restriction may help women with PCOS gain healthier anthropometric profiles, decrease serum insulin levels and insulin resistance, and increase the regularity of menstrual cycles. Further study involving weight reduction and dietary intervention with pulses may prove to be more successful than calorie reduction alone.

RFID technology has attracted much attention due to its wide range of applications, such as inventory control and object tracking. Passive RFID tags are battery-less, mobile and lack intercommunication. Hence, they require a central node (the reader) to power them up, organize their replies, and read their data. In the last decade, several proposals have targeted the channel efficiency in RFID systems to improve time and power efficiencies. While such proposals achieve significant performance improvements, they are limited by the backscattering half-duplex channel in which the reader has to wait for the tag to finish its reply (even if the reply is corrupt or redundant). In this thesis, the Modulation Silencing Mechanism (MSM) is proposed as a novel full-duplex-like communication over half-duplex RFID links. With a simple additional circuit at the tag and upgraded software algorithms at the reader, the reader is capable of terminating the tag's non-useful transmissions. Consequently, we propose three schemes that utilize MSM in key application domains where the tag-reader transaction contains a considerable amount of non-useful transmissions. MSM is utilized to enhance tag identification, tag count estimation and tag authentication. First, we propose a Modulation Silencing Anti-collision (MSA) scheme that targets collision time reduction in time slotted anti-collision protocols. In MSA, the time requirements of state of the art identification protocols are significantly reduced. Moreover, we establish a backward compatibility procedure for proper identification of legacy and MSM-enabled tags. Secondly, a Variance- Modulation Silencing Estimation (VMSE) scheme is proposed to increase tag estimation accuracy and to minimize overall estimation time. Variance-to-mean ratio estimator is proposed to determine the most accurate tag count estimate. VMSE combines both, the accuracy of the variance-to-mean ratio estimator and the time efficiency of MSM and delivers rapid, accurate, and anonymous tag estimation that outperform recent estimation schemes for small and large scale tag deployment. Finally, we propose Unique Hash Sequence Authentication (UHSA) scheme for efficient tag authentication. The UHSA is based on hashed key prefetching algorithm at the reader augmented by the MSM circuitry at the tag. UHSA scheme provides higher time efficiency and robustness against tracking and compromising attacks. / Thesis (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-30 12:38:44.0

M.Med.(Anaesthesia), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008 / BACKGROUND HIV infection is common in South Africa. The disease often remains clinically latent, despite the patient having severe immune compromise. Clinical preoperative assessment may result in patients with this severe systemic disease going unnoticed. OBJECTIVES The primary objective was to determine the relationship between the preoperative physical status of HIV-positive patients presenting for anaesthesia and the CD4- count. The secondary objectives were to determine the prevalence of HIV infection in this group of patients, to determine the prevalence of HIV infection in selected subgroups, to ascertain what proportion of patients presenting for anaesthesia know their HIV status, and to ascertain what proportion of HIVpositive patients are receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). METHOD A sample of 350 adult patients presenting for anaesthesia at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital was selected. Patients were interviewed preoperatively and were examined, and in doing so their ASA physical status grading was determined. Blood was sampled, and in those who were confirmed HIV-positive, vi a CD4-count was checked. Further data were collected: age, gender, the type, nature, urgency and time of day of surgery, the patient’s knowledge of their HIV status, and whether the patient was receiving HAART or not. RESULTS HIV-positive patients were more likely to be classified as ASA 1 or 2 than ASA 3 or 4 (OR 2.1). HIV-positive patients with CD4-counts above 200 cells.mm-3 were also more likely to be ASA 1 or 2 than ASA 3 or 4 (OR 3.88). However, within the group of HIV-positive patients with CD4-counts below 200 cells.mm-3, significantly more patients were classified as ASA 1 or 2 than ASA 3 or 4 (p<0.0001). Three patients with CD4-counts below 50 cells.mm-3 were classified as ASA 1 or 2. The overall prevalence of HIV infection was 29.4%. Within the various subgroups, the groups with higher disease prevalence rates were females, patients presenting for obstetric surgery, and the younger age groups. The highest prevalence of HIV infection was found in patients aged 30-39 years (43.0%), and the lowest prevalence was found in patients aged 60 years or older (7.7%). CONCLUSIONS Routine clinical preoperative assessment in patients from a population with a high HIV prevalence rate may result in asymptomatic, severe immune compromise secondary to HIV infection being missed in a significant number of patients. Further study into the perioperative outcomes of these patients is warranted.

The estimation of software project attributes, such as size, is important for software project resource planning and process control. However, research regarding software attribute modeling, such as size, effort, and cost, are high-level and static in nature. This research defines a new operation-level software project attribute that describes the operational characteristic of a software project. The result is a measurement based on the s-curve parameter that can be used as a control variable for software project management. This result is derived from modeling the count of artifact instances created by the software engineering process, which are stored by software tools. Because of the orthogonal origin of this attribute in regard to traditional static estimators, this s-curve based software attribute can function as an additional indicator of software project activities and also as a quantitative metric for assessing development team capability.

The estimation of software project attributes, such as size, is important for software project resource planning and process control. However, research regarding software attribute modeling, such as size, effort, and cost, are high-level and static in nature. This research defines a new operation-level software project attribute that describes the operational characteristic of a software project. The result is a measurement based on the s-curve parameter that can be used as a control variable for software project management. This result is derived from modeling the count of artifact instances created by the software engineering process, which are stored by software tools. Because of the orthogonal origin of this attribute in regard to traditional static estimators, this s-curve based software attribute can function as an additional indicator of software project activities and also as a quantitative metric for assessing development team capability.

Thesis ( M.A. ) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Zero inflation occurs when the proportion of zeros of a model is greater than the proportion of zeros of the corresponding Poisson model. This situation is very common in count data. In order to model zero inflated count time series data, we propose the zero inflated autoregressive conditional Poisson (ZIACP) model by the extending the autoregressive conditional poisson (ACP) model of Ghahramani and Thavaneswaran (2009). The stationarity conditions and the autocorrelation functions of the ZIACP model are provided. Based on the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm an estimation method is developed. A simulation study shows that the estimation method is accurate and reliable as long as the sample size is reasonably high. Three real data examples, syphilis data Yang (2012), arson data Zhu (2012) and polio data Kitromilidou and Fokianos (2015) are studied to compare the performance of the proposed model with other competitive models in the literature. / February 2016

The control of introduced mammalian predators in New Zealand forests is crucial for the protection of native species and essential ecosystem services. Possum control in the form of aerial 1080 applications is conducted by TbFree New Zealand to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis, and often has the added conservation benefit of temporarily reducing levels of other mammalian predators such as rodents and mustelids. However, native non-target species such as birds and weta can also be at risk of direct and secondary poisoning following 1080 applications, as well as increased predation risk through mesopredator release. To determine whether the benefits of 1080 applications outweigh the risks to non-target native species, both short and long-term monitoring of populations following aerial 1080 applications is needed. For this study, two forest regions in the South Island were selected for pre- and post-treatment monitoring of non-target species following an aerial 1080 application for possum control. Each region contained a treatment site and a paired non-treatment site. Relative indicies of possums, rodents and other mammalian predators were obtained using tracking tunnels and chew cards, indicies of birds were obtained using five-minute bird counts, and indicies of tree weta were obtained using tracking tunnels and artificial shelters. Monitoring was conducted before the aerial 1080 was applied in August 2012, and over the following 2012/13 and 2013/14 summer seasons. The aerial 1080 applications were successful at reducing possums to undetectable levels at both treatment sites for the two seasons following treatment. Mice were significantly reduced at one treatment site relative to the paired non-treatment site immediately following the 1080 operation, but had increased to pre-1080 levels by the second post-treatment monitoring season. Rats were detected at low levels, and showed no response to the treatment. Mustelids were not detected at either region throughout the monitoring period. No native species showed a decline in a treatment site that was not matched in the non-treatment site. Chaffinches significantly declined at both treatment sites relative to non-treatment sites, likely due to an indirect delayed effect such as competition for food resources. Tomtits showed a positive response to the treatment, significantly increasing in both treatment sites over the post-treatment monitoring periods. Tree weta showed no significant decline in response to the treatment. The reduction of possums to low levels, and the maintenance of possum control with ongoing 1080 operations, is likely to continue to provide an overall net benefit to native non-target species.

Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1939.

Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1939.