The author reports a prospective comparative study in two groups of patients with head injuries where the complications of conventional nasal placement of nasogastric tubes are compared to placement by pharyngostomy. Percutaneous pharyngostomy is a simple procedure that eliminates some of the complications associated with the use of nasogastric tubes. It has particular advantages in patients with maxillofacial- and skull base injuries, is well tolerated in patients with a depressed level of consciousness and eliminates some of the infective complications associated with the use of nasogastric tubes.
We introduce a modified version of the disordered Klein-Gordon lattice model, having two parameters for controlling the disorder strength: D, which determines the range of the coefficients of the on-site potentials, and W, which defines the strength of the nearestneighbor interactions. We fix W = 4 and investigate how the properties of the system's normal modes change as we approach its ordered version, i.e. D → 0. We show that the probability density distribution of the normal mode's frequencies takes a 'U'-shaped profile as D decreases. Furthermore, we use two quantities for estimating the mode's spatial extent, the so-called localization volume V (which is related to the mode's second moment) and the mode's participation number P. We show that both quantities scale as ∝ D−2 when D approaches zero and we numerically verify a proportionality relation between them as V/P ≈ 2.6.
SUNSAT is a 62 kg micro-satellite, developed since 1992 by over fifty students participating in a M.Ing programme. The satellite carries amateur radio communications equipment, a 15 m resolution 3colour stereo pushbroom imager, an attitude control system with 1 m a d accuracy, science quality magnetometers, laser reflectors, and a NASA GPS receiver. With launch scheduled for May 1997, the skills pool established in the Electronic Systems Laboratory is now also being applied to industrial work, particularly for process control. Students involved in SUNSAT have obtained graduate course knowledge, as well as practical development experience while working in a team on a complex system. They have also been exposed to systems engineering and project management. 0-7803-3019-6/96/$3.00 0 1996 IEEE.
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