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Pattern recognition techniques for cloud type and cloud amount classification were applied to digital infrared SMS-1 data. The cloud classification results were used in a numerical radiation model to determine solar radiation during Phase III of the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment. In order to assess the effects on radiation computations of cloud information derived from both satellite and ship data, cloud analyses based on both data sources were prepared for input into the numerical radiation model. -from Authors

This article describes a theoretical model of reading disability that integrates a wide range of research findings in cognitive psychology, reading, and education across the age and grade span. The model shows how reading disability relates to normal reading acquisition, and includes four possible patterns of reading disability: nonalphabetic readers, compensatory readers, nonautomatic readers, and readers delayed in the acquisition of word-recognition skills. We compare our model to the models of other investigators and argue that our model is especially useful to practitioners. Finally, we discuss some of the educational implications of the model.

Little research has been done to document the value of using nursing diagnosis in home care and the impact that increased acuity levels have had in diagnostic selection. Nursing diagnosis documentation in home care was examined to see whether it had a relation to select client and visit pattern variables. This retrospective chart audit, which piloted a newly developed instrument called the Home Care Audit Tool, utilized a sample of 199 closed records of a large midwestem Visiting Nurse Association. The mean age of the client population was 76 years, with 64% female. There were 269 initial nursing diagnoses cited in the sample records, averaging 1.75 diagnoses per case. The number of recorded visits increased when select nursing diagnoses were cited together in a single case. © 1994, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

When establishing Nursing Ethics Committees (NECs), statewide nursing organizations play an important role in developing and disseminating resources. The Connecticut Nurses Association Ethics and Human Rights Committee surveyed 85 healthcare facilities to identify active NECs. Representatives facilitated other committees by providing guidelines and assistance to those agencies developing NECs — the ultimate goal. © 1994 by Springhouse Corporation.

To describe concurrent engineering, one must remember the old story of blind individuals attempting to characterize an elephant by feeling different body parts. The issue seems not to be just R&D cycle times, but the entire innovation cycle time process from conception of an idea ~ often in marketing not R&D -, to its final delivery to a customer - often through down-stream firms not under the R&D company's control. From the recency of many sources in the literature, this shift to a time orientation is itself rather recent. Two threads seem to have emerged: First, there is a need to address cycle-time reduction on existing products and services, both in manufacturing and administration, as an implementation management issue relating to the order-to-delivery cycle, in which engineering may be a limited associate. Also, necessary is the innovation management issue of reducing the cycle time from marketing concept to proquct introduction into the implementation process, which is the main thrust of concurrent engineering. In late 1991, a survey was conducted, first, to seek to establish a better working definition of cycle time within the two overall areas of current operations and new product development, and second, to determine the relationships between cycle time so defined and company size or profitability. The survey questionnaire was mailed to 99 medium-to-large high technology manufacturing companies in Connecticut, and yielded 48 responses, with 35 of them usable. The results confirmed the impression given by the literature that the concept was better established in current operations than in innovation management. While some do use the concept of cycle time in their new product development sub-cycles, most do not track time spent on either end of the cycle, from idea to design on the near end, or at the far end through shipment and subsequent service to the customer. Measures of size did not correlate with any of the development measures, while they did with some of the operations measures. Thus, while in concept, concurrent engineering appears to be a goal of multi-functional co-operation, a survey of the manner in which a limited number of firms actually operate seems still focused on functional specializations. © 1992 IEEE.

Meeting students’ learning needs in acute care settings is challenging. The authors discuss dual assignment in the pediatric setting with beginning nursing students. © 1992 Lippincott-Raven Publishers.

The backpropagation method is modified by replacing sigmoid function by sinusoidal function. The leaving law is also modified. The modified procedure shows great improvement over the original BP in terms of the number of neurons and the learning time. © 1992 IEEE.

In Experiment 1, the choice responses of 8 pigeons were observed during 50 periods of transition. Each condition began with equal probabilities of reinforcement on 2 response keys and switched to unequal probabilities. With the ratio of the 2 probabilities held constant, preference for the higher probability developed more rapidly when the 2 probabilities were high than when they were low. In Experiment 2, each condition began with 2 equal variable-interval schedules, but later 1 key delivered 60%, 75%, or 90% of the reinforcers. The rate of approach to asymptotic performance was roughly the same with all 3 reinforcement percentages. These and previous results pose difficulties for some well-known models of acquisition, but the results are well described by a simple model that states that the strength of each response is independently increased by reinforcement and decreased by nonreinforcement.

New systolic architectures are proposed for the computation of the Fourier transform based on the generation of the coefficients of the transform during the computation. These architectures require less input/output pins on the chip. The new architectures are also extremely modular and cascadeable, thus, amenable for efficient VLSI implementation. VLSI complexity of the architectures are compared with the existing parallel architectures. © 1992 IEEE.

This study investigated the outcomes of a demonstration project that provided free medical coverage to former Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients who were holding jobs with limited or no health benefits. Data were collected on the Medicaid expenditures of 54 eligible participants and their dependents for up to two years before they exited welfare; the expenditures averaged 56 percent less for adults and 45 percent less for children than the respective AFDC averages for the county. Because only 22 percent of the eligible participants took advantage of the program, telephone interviews also were conducted with 24 people who did not participate in or dropped out of the health plan. The main reasons cited for not enrolling were a misunderstanding of the program, a claim that no notification of the program was received, and a lack of interest. These results and their policy implications are presented in the context of the Family Support Act's mandate that states extend medical assistance coverage to AFDC recipients whose cases are closed because of employment. © 1991 by the National Association of Social Workers, Inc.

There is no abstract available for the item entitled The impact of local tape databases on the library: The M(I)das touch.

To study the effect of teaching decision-making to inmates in a maximum security facility on locus of control 19 adult male inmates who were incarcerated at a community correctional center were pre- and posttested on the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. In this preliminary study there was no statistically significant difference at pretest or posttest so teaching decision-making skills in group settings versus teaching in a group combined and one-to-one contact did not affect locus of control as measured. This personality trait appears stable over time and a more thorough means of intervention is required to effect change.