this paper investigates the performances of artificial neural networks approximation, the translog and the fourier flexible functional forms for the cost function, when different production technologies are used. using simulated data bases, the author provides a comparison in terms of capability to reproduce input demands and in terms of the corresponding input elasticities of substitution esti...

__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Author’s Biography O. Bunes is MSc (1996) from the Department of Marine Technology, NTNU. He is employed as Research Engineer, Division of Machinery and Technical Operations at MARINTEK, an independent research and development company in Trondheim, Norway. Mr Bunes has been working with modelling ...

We evaluated whether age- and gender-based colorectal cancer screening is cost-effective.Recent studies in the United States identified age and gender as 2 important variables predicting advanced proximal neoplasia, and that women aged <60 to 70 years were more suited for sigmoidoscopy screening due to their low risk of proximal neoplasia. Yet, quantitative assessment of the incremental benefit...

GOALS The aim of this paper was to discuss association between adenoma detection rate (ADR) and interval colorectal cancer risk. BACKGROUND Adenoma detection rate is being used as a benchmark quality measure for colonoscopy. There are three studies showing inverse association between ADR and interval colorectal cancer risk. One recent study reports significant impact of increased ADR on decre...

The veri cation of timed systems is extremely important but also extremely di cult Several methods have been proposed to assist in this task including extensions to symbolic model checking One possible use of model checking to analyze timed systems is by modeling passage of time as the number of taken transitions and ap plying quantitative algorithms to determine the timing parameters of the sy...

We introduce the FronTier-Lite software package and its adaptation to the TSTT geometry and mesh entity data interface. This package is extracted from the original front tracking code for general purpose scientific and engineering applications. The package contains a static interface library and a dynamic front propagation library. It can be used in research of different scientific problems. We...

Graphene is a highly promising candidate to replace oxide-based conducting materials for fabrication of transparent electrodes used in flexible displays and electronic devices. However, so far an appropriate method is still not found to provide high-quality, low-cost graphene in a large quantity. To overcome this issue, we demonstrate that massive graphene sheets can be synthesized by electroch...

BACKGROUND Flexible cystoscopy (FC) is one of the most frequently performed urological intervention. Cumulative sum analysis (CUSUM) allows objective assessment of a proceduralist's performance to ensure acceptable outcomes. This study investigated the application of CUSUM to assess a trainee's learning curve and maintenance of competence in performing FC. METHODS A single urology trainee, wi...

Colorectal cancer is the third most frequent cancer, yet screening rates for this cancer remain low. This study was designed to identify factors associated with family physicians' rates of recommending or providing flexible sigmoidoscopy. We applied a behavioral model consisting of three components: physician attitude toward providing the test, facilitating conditions, and reinforcing condition...

A new technique is proposed for paratubal electromyography, using a surface, non-invasive, electrode applied transnasally under nasopharyngoscope guidance. This electrode records activity of the tensor veli palatini muscle during swallowing. This technique is of interest for two reasons: endoscopic guidance offers the possibility to check correct positioning of the electrode recording at tensor...