Biomedical Informatics Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8000 words

Biomedical Informatics - Thesis Example his study that it is sometimes necessary for more important information, such as a chest X-rays, physical examination, and health and occupational histories, to be made available in order to make a diagnosis. Lung diffusion capacity testing (DLCO) is a noninvasive test which is used to measure the movement of gases (most specifically oxygen) through the lung into the bloodstream. The single breath diffusing capacity test is the most common way to determine DLCO, whereby the subject is required to blow out as much air as he or she can so that only the residual gas is left in the lungs. Moreover, the subject is requested to take a deep breath in order to completely fill up the lungs. The subject is then requested to hold his or her breath for a very short period of time. The subject is then finally requested to exhale. The analysis of the gas that has been blown out will then be carried out in order to determine how much went into the bloodstream through the lungs (De Boer, 2010). 23 Pulmonary function tests (abbreviated PFT), which are also known as lung functions tests, are tests which are used so as to provide measures of gas exchange, lung volumes, flow rates, and respiratory muscle function. These tests determines the quantity of air that the lungs can hold, how fast air can possibly be moved in and out of the lungs, as well as the lungs’ ability to add oxygen and remove of carbon dioxide into and from the blood respectively. According to Goldman (2005) and De Boer (2010) the pulmonary function tests have the ability to diagnose diseases of the lungs, to measure how sever the lung problems are, and to monitor the treatment of the lung diseases. Since the spirometer was first developed in 1846 by Hutchinson, measurements of the dynamic volumes of the lung as well as of maximal flow rates have been employed to detect and quantify the diseases which affect the airways and lung parenchyma (White, 2004). The lung function may be determined by the use of tests

DNS servers Essay Example for Free

DNS servers Essay Name resolution requests, such as navigating in studentserver. college. edu, can be initiated by both DNS clients and DNS servers. There are two ways to resolve queries in the FQDN: recursive (where the DNS client requires the DNS server to respond with the IP address of the request or an error message that the requested name does not exist) and iterative (which uses zone information and its cache to return the best possible answer to the client and can be referred to another DNS server). The process of resolving DNS to resolve the FQDN involves: 1. sending a recursive query to the local DNS server; 2. checking its local cache to determine whether the name has recently been resolved. If there is an entry in the local cache, the IP address is returned to the client before forwarding the request to a root server; 3. sending an iterative query to a root name server if no entry exists in the cache for a hostname; 4. the root name server referring the DNS server to a name server responsible for the first-level domain within the hostname; 5. referring the original DNS server to second-level DNS servers, and then third-level DNS servers, until one of them can resolve the hostname to an IP address and return the results back to the client. For DNS forwarders, the following process is followed: 1. The DNS server attempts to resolve the request using its local cache and zone information 2. If it can’t be resolved locally, the DNS server sends a recursive query to the forwarding DNS server 3. If the forwarder does not respond in its attempt to resolve the query, the DNS server attempts to resolve the request by contacting the appropriate DNS server, as specified in the root hints.

ASP :: Essays Papers

ASP AUDIENCE: Beginning programmers or web developers. TITLE: ASP INTRODUCTION: ASP or Active Server Pages is a powerful server-based technology from Microsoft, designed to create dynamic and interactive HTML pages for World Wide Web sites. ASP is used to create dynamic or active web pages. Dynamic web pages may change depending on who visits the page, when they visit, or how they got there. Whereas a static web page will always be the same no matter what. The following report will explain what ASP is, discuss how ASP works, outline why ASP should be used ASP, and provide a brief overview of ASP syntax. This topic was chosen to educate myself about where ASP came from and why it is used and to pass what I have learned on to any one willing to read this report. DISCUSSION: What is ASP ASP was â€Å"born† in November 1996 when Microsoft announced its design of an Active Platform. It consists of two parts, the Active Desktop and the Active Server. The Active Desktop refers to the client side: where HTML files are displayed on a web browser. The Active Server refers to the server-side component. This consists of pages that can be interpreted by the server, hence the term Active Server Pages. An ASP file contains any combination of text, HTML tags, and script commands. A script command instructs a computer to do something, such as assign a value to a variable. The script commands in an ASP file are compiled on the server then the output is sent to the client computer for display. The actual ASP code or script commands in an ASP file are not sent to the client computer. The code is first executed on the server, creating HTML. This HTML then replaces the ASP code in the ASP file and then sent to the client to be displayed. ASP code can be any programming language that supports the ActiveX interface including JScript, VBScript, and PerlScript. As people know Microsoft has a tendency to make people use their products. But in the case of ASP people don’t have to. ASP has evolved into an â€Å"open technology framework† meaning it is no necessary to use Microsoft’s products to create code in it, although that’s the best way to go. You don’t have to use VBScript, which is from Microsoft, but PerkScript or JScript can be use, which aren’t from Microsoft.

The Use of Massage Therapy in the Treatment of Anxiety Essay examples -

The Use of Massage Therapy in the Treatment of Anxiety According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition Text Revision (DSM IV-TR) (APA, 2000), Anxiety Disorders can manifest in a number of different ways including Panic Attacks, Phobias, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety. Common threads of symptoms among these disorders include heighted autonomic response, shortness of breath, excessive worry, and of course anxiety. The treatment of Anxiety disorders has included Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Saavedra, Silverman, Morgan-Lopez, & Kurtines, 2010; White, Ollendick, Scahill, Oswald, & Albano, 2009), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (Wilde, 2008), and Pharmacological treatments such as benzodiazepines (Sher, 2009). Based on empirical support, many consider these treatments to be the first line of treatment of anxiety related disorders. However, there is a growing line of research of effectiveness of alternative treatments such as Massage Therapy (MT). The following is a brief review of the history of MT, an investigation of the physiology of how or why MT works, and finally an examination of the application of various Massage Therapies in the treatment of Anxiety Disorders. Brief History of Massage Therapy The application of massage to promote comfort and healing is not a new concept. According to Moyer, Rounds, and Hannum (2004) the practice of MT is traceable back to Ancient Greek and Chinese cultures, as well as Hindu, Japanese and Roman cultures. As early as 400 BC, Hippocrates used rubbing to treat patience with stiffness and even earlier still; the use of MT is recorded in the Chinese tradition as early as the second century (Field, 1998). Although considered a part of... ...ines and the treatment of anxiety disorders in patients with comorbid alcohol and/or drug abuse. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 42(2), 170–171. Sherman, K. J., Ludman, E. J., Cook, A. J., Hawkes, R. J., Roy-Byrne, P. P., Bentley, S., Brooks, M. Z., et al. (2010). Effectiveness of therapeutic massage for generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Depression and Anxiety, 27(5), 441–450. White, S. W., Ollendick, T., Scahill, L., Oswald, D., & Albano, A. M. (2009). Preliminary efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral treatment program for anxious youth with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(12), 1652–1662. doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0801-9 Wilde, J. (2008). Rational-emotive behavioral interventions for children with anxiety problems. Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies, 8(1), 133–141.

Religious Change Over Time in Latin America and Caribbean Essay

Throughout the years of 1450 to present, the religion of Latin America and the Caribbean went through a number of changes. Although the religious beliefs and practices of these areas were mostly animistic prior to 1450, they proved to be flexible and went through many alterations get to where they are today. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors, the Latin American people had never heard of Catholocism, which would eventually become a dominant religion. In the early centuries of Latin America, the religion was polytheistic. The people known as Aztecs, who lived in towns located along rivers, built sacred temples to honor their many gods. They worshiped at least 128 deities in total, including Tlaloc, the god of rain. Little distinction was made between the world of the gods and the natural world. The temples, some of which still stand today, were made of earth and/or large burial mounds. The burials included art such as pottery, paintings, and carvings and were often accompanied by rituals. These rituals contained human sacrifice, cannibalism, and executions. In the period after militarism, human sacrifice became much more prominent than before. It has been questioned whether the reason for the sacrifice was actually the result of religious conviction, or simply done as a tactic of terror towards rulers and priests. Aztec people had known nothing other than this lifestyle for centuries until a new culture made its way to their land. In 1492, Spanish Conquistadors such as Hernan Cortes sailed to the coast of Latin America, bringing their religious views along with them. Cortes and his army of 600 conquered the land, destroying precious temples in the process. They pulled down all the polytheistic idols, rearranging their stone to replace them with Christian architecture such as Catholic cathedrals. In this time period, art and architecture were prominent and intended to serve the glory of God. Dominican friar Bartolome de Las Casas replaced the Aztec’s long-practiced human sacrifice with Catholic mass. In addition to the conquistadors, there was another group called the Jesuits who sought new followers of their religion. The Jesuits offered special privileges to those who converted to Catholicism, while the Spanish convinced the people that their Catholic God would provide protection from diseases and harm. Although the majority of the people were won over by Catholicism, some chose to remain isolated and continued to practice polytheism. Regardless, all Aztec people remained devoted to their religion. Meanwhile in the Caribbean, Spanish and Italian merchants began to import African slaves to work on the few sugar plantations that operated on the islands. These slaves brought a mixture of religious beliefs along with them, their own pagan views mixing with Christianity. In both present day Latin America and Caribbean, Catholicism is the dominant religion. In modern day Caribbean, the small non- Catholic population consists of various forms of Christianity that were formed with the arrival of African slaves. One of these other religions is Rastafarianism. This is a form of Christianity with a distinct Caribbean style. It uses the Bible as its main text, but interprets it much differently than the more traditional Christian sects. On the other hand, the Latin American non-Catholic population consists of a small group of people who were not converted by the Conquistadors and chose to remain animistic. Throughout all the changing, some Latin Americans have had the same animistic beliefs despite what’s been going on around them. The Latin American people always have and always will be devoted to their religion, as we can tell by the great pyramids mounds they built that are still standing today. Prior to 1450, religious beliefs and practices in Latin America were polytheistic and included human sacrifice. When the Spanish Conquistadors and Jesuits came to the area, Catholicism was introduced and began to spread rapidly. Now, in present day Latin America and Caribbean, it is impossible to avoid Catholicism. It has become the major, dominant religion of the area and its followers are as devoted as ever. In addition to the large Catholic population, there continues to be a mixture of religions and practices of polytheism and voodoo throughout the area. Societies change for a number of reasons, one being foreign influence. If it wasn’t for the missionaries coming into the Latin American and Caribbean society, the people would most likely have remained polytheistic forever, because there would be nothing new introduced. For these reasons, religion in Latin America and Caribbean has changed drastically from its early years, while also staying the same in some ways.

Discussion Leader Summation

Discussion Leader Summation Discussion Leader Summation The discussions for Unit 4 dealt mainly with the issues facing women as part of the peer review process and as candidates for the Nobel Prize. In all there were eight discussion threads and one Voicethread involving different aspects of these two issues. While much of the discussions were personal opinions and examples, many students were given an opportunity to voice their concerns about the current systems and possible ways of changing them to more equally recognize women scientists for their achievements. A key focus of this units discussion involved the practices of the Swedish MRC and competency scoring for men versus women. Overall, the vast majority of students did not think that the current system of evaluating women in peer review was fair. Interestingly, although there was consensus about the systems capacity for unfairness towards women, an overwhelming majority of students, especially female students, noted that they personally would not be discouraged by the current system. Perhaps this is a testament to the personal character of the students, but there was no denying that the current system presents an unleveled playing field in which women are forced to make up for their gender in other parameters of the peer review process. As a discussion leader, I noticed in several posts that many students were concerned that the system would never be perfect because it was administered by human beings. I took that opportunity to introduce the idea of revamping the system to focus more on complex computer programs for generating the applicants scores. There was a little feedback on this notion. The complexity of the programs algorithms as well as the capacity of a program to produce qualitative analysis served as primary shortfalls of the proposed computer review system. While students entertained the idea of totally revamping the current system, most students agreed that a possible solution to the problem could be to allow for more anonymity for the applicant in the review process. The second major focus of this units discussion involved the Nobel Prize and the lack of recognition of women for scientific achievement. Several questions were asked of the students including why they thought fewer women were receiving the Nobel Prize, if the time-gap issue denied due credit for scientific achievement, and how the students would confront such a time-gap between achievement and recognition. Although there were many individual answers to these questions, I saw trends in the answers. Most students pointed to History to answer the first question. While they acknowledged that women were not receiving due credit for their scientific achievements, many students showed optimism that history and culture are changing in a way that more women will be awarded the Nobel Prize in the future. The trend also showed that many students did not believe that the time between achievement and recognition took away from the accomplishments of the women scientists. When each student was as ked how they would confront the time-gap issue, the interesting aspect I noticed was that many of the answers were similar with respect to promoting awareness, but the answers varied with degree of passion and emphasis. In conclusion, I believe the discussions went very well. All of the students were courteous, thoughtful, and respectful of each others opinions. While I believe that a general awareness of the bias present in both the peer review process and Nobel Prize system has been made, more analysis in terms of solutions to the problems will undoubtedly need to be addressed in the future. For now, bravo to Group A for the willingness to discuss a true problem that faces todays women of science.

real estate valuation Essay Example

real estate valuation Essay Example real estate valuation Essay real estate valuation Essay REAL ESTATE EVALUATION Concepts and definitions 1 . Real estate market Real estate market plays a determinative role in every countrys economy since it is the most important asset in every citizens portfolio. Although real estate represents only a small percentage of G. D. P. , it supports the economy and significantly affects macroeconomic indexes such us consumption and investment. 1 . 1 Characteristics of the real estate market Real estate is considered to be a very heterogeneous product with the following characteristics: l. High costs and low transaction number. II. The supply curve reacts very slowly in comparison with the demand curve due to many reasons such as: land insufficiency, constructing period, license issue. Ill. The options of financing vary from country to country. IV. The tax policy has huge effect on the market. V. In countries with high rate of owner occupancy the market moves in a slow pace. 2. Concepts and definitions 2. 1 Real Estate Real estate is Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water, immovable property of this ature or an interest vested in this. . 2 Real Estate valuation (or appraisal) The act of estimating the value of real estate by a person licensed to do so. A person performing an appraisal must receive authorization from the appropriate body of the state in which he/she resides. A real estate appraisal may take into account the quality of the property, values of surrounding properties, and market conditions in the area. It is important f or determining the property taxes for which the owner is liable, as well as a potential sale price, if the owner wishes to sell his/her property. 3Fair value Fair value is the value of an asset or liability in an arms length transaction between unrelated, willing and knowledgeable parties. 2. 4Market value Market value is the price at which an asset would trade in a competitive auction setting. 2. 5Highest and best use In order for a property to get successfully valuated, its optimal use is taken for granted. By optimal use we mean the best possible way that a property could be exploited, which results in the most profitable outcome. 3. Valuation methods There are 3 basic approaches to the issue of real estate appraisal: the sales comparison approach, the cost approach and the income capitalization approach. In addition to these, there are several more methods. Deciding which one to use must be an accurate procedure. The method should be in accordance with the propertys nature and potential. 3. 1 Basic methods for real estate valuation The most basic methods used for evaluation of real estate are as follows: 1 . Market or sales comparison approach. (competitive market anslysis) 2. Cost approach. 3. Income capitalization approach.