and social issues related to adjustable autonomy and its applications. Second, Dimensions of Adjustable Autonomy discussed the varied dimensions and interpretations of adjustable autonomy, seeking a core definition and theme statement. Third, Future Directions discussed the future research directions for adjustable autonomy systems, including challenge problems, practical applications, and metr...

Patients with inflammatory and ischaemic bowel diseases seem to tolerate narrowing of the gut lumen to a critical degree of stenosis without obstructive symptoms. To determine the physical factors involved in bowel occlusion, we created an experimental model using New Zealand rabbits in acute experiments under general anaesthesia. At operation a loop of small bowel was isolated and canulated, p...

OBJECTIVE To assess whether outcomes of strabismus surgery are improved by using the adjustable suture technique and to determine which subgroups of strabismus patients benefit most from the adjustable suture technique. DESIGN A retrospective chart review. PARTICIPANTS A total of 535 adults who underwent strabismus surgery between 1989 and 2010. METHODS Success was defined as ≤10 prism di...

OBJECTIVE The purposes of this study were to assess the utility of barium studies after adjustments of laparoscopically inserted gastric bands and to identify a threshold stomal diameter for predicting which bands should be loosened because of excessive tightening. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 246 patients with laparoscopically inserted adjustable gastric bands underwent 668 routine band ...

Adjustable suture in strabismus surgery is a way to get accurate alignment of the eyes after operation. This technique is used in cooperative patients, being either adults or children. We report the result of this technique in 120 patients, 70 with esotropia and 50 exotropia. The amount of deviation was between 20 and 60 prismdiopters. The patients were mostly adults and teenagers. and the...

BACKGROUND Several devices are available for transcatheter occlusion of patent ductus arteriosus. Most of these devices either require complicated intracardiac maneuvering, have not been tried in humans, or need a large-sized sheath for implantation of the device. METHODS AND RESULTS During a 26-month period ending November 1992, 14 patients underwent transcatheter closure of patent ductus ar...

Water scarcity is an urgent issue for social and economic development in arid semi-arid areas. Constructing long-distance pressurized water supply projects a commonly used measure to solve problems these With the increasing complexity of projects, hammer protection has become more prominent. Air chambers have been widely accidents. In this paper, we propose novel air chamber with adjustable cen...

In this paper, we introduce the extended affinely adjustable robust counterpart to modeling and solving multistage uncertain linear programs with fixed recourse. Our approach first reparameterizes the primitive uncertainties and then applies the affinely adjustable robust counterpart proposed in the literature, in which recourse decisions are restricted to be linear in terms of the primitive un...

Diameter, blood flow velocity and volumic flow of the brachial artery were measured in 36 patients with sustained essential hypertension and compared with 25 normal subjects. Both hypertensives and control subjects were classified according to age into those younger than and those older than 40 years. For the determinations, a pulsed Doppler velocimeter with an adjustable range-gated time syste...

Diameter, blood flow velocity and volumic flow of the brachial artery were measured in 36 patients with sustained essential hypertension and compared with 25 normal subjects. Both hypertensives and control subjects were classified according to age into those younger than and those older than 40 years. For the determinations, a pulsed Doppler velocimeter with an adjustable range-gated time syste...