Factors influencing visual attention switch in multi-display user interfaces: a survey

Multi-display User Interfaces (MDUIs) enable people to take advantage of the different characteristics of different display categories. For example, combining mobile and large displays within the same system enables users to interact with user interface elements locally while simultaneously having a large display space to show data. Although there is a large potential gain in performance and comfort, there is at least one main drawback that can override the benefits of MDUIs: the visual and physical separation between displays requires that users perform visual attention switches between displays. In this paper, we present a survey and analysis of existing data and classifications to identify factors that can affect visual attention switch in MDUIs. Our analysis and taxonomy bring attention to the often ignored implications of visual attention switch and collect existing evidence to facilitate research and implementation of effective MDUIs.Postprin

Enhanced Interrogation: Torture Policies of the United States

Over the last decade the US Government has worked tirelessly to combat terrorists, insurgents, and those who intend harm to the US, its interests, and its allies and their interests. The US Military and the US Intelligence Community have used many tactics as part of a more complex strategy for waging a worldwide war against al-Qaeda, other terrorist organizations, and their base of support. No tactic has garnered as much public attention, media outcry, and political debate as the use of torture, or more euphemistically referred to in US Government documents, enhanced interrogation. The use of this tactic has strained partnerships and prompted tensions, both domestically and internationally, and has raised political, legal, and ethical questions. This paper seeks to explain the issues at the heart of this intense debate and allow the US to continue its world-wide campaign against terror

Opportunities, Race, and Urban Location: The Influence of John Kain

Today, no economist studying the spatial economy of urban areas would ignore the effects of race on housing markets and labor market opportunities, but this was not always the case. Through what can be seen as a consistent and integrated research plan, John Kain developed many central ideas of urban economics but, more importantly, legitimized and encouraged scholarly consideration of the geography of racial opportunities. His provocative (and prescient) study of the linkage between housing segregation and the labor market opportunities of Blacks was a natural outgrowth of his prior work on employment decentralization and housing constraints on Black households. His more recent program of research on school outcomes employing detailed administrative data was an extension of the same empirical interest in how the economic opportunities of minority households vary with location. This paper identifies the influence of John Kain’s ideas on different areas of research and suggests that his scientific work was thoroughly interrelated.

Lattice thermal conductivity of graphene nanostructures

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics is used to investigate the heat current due to the atomic lattice vibrations in graphene nanoribbons and nanorings under a thermal gradient. We consider a wide range of temperature, nanoribbon widths up to 6nm and the effect of moderate edge disorder. We find that narrow graphene nanorings can efficiently suppress the lattice thermal conductivity at low temperatures (~100K), as compared to nanoribbons of the same width. Remarkably, rough edges do not appear to have a large impact on lattice energy transport through graphene nanorings while nanoribbons seem more affected by imperfections. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the effects of hydrogen-saturated edges can be neglected in these graphene nanostructures

Potential economic impacts from improving breastfeeding rates in the UK

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.RATIONALE: Studies suggest that increased breastfeeding rates can provide substantial financial savings, but the scale of such savings in the UK is not known. OBJECTIVE: To calculate potential cost savings attributable to increases in breastfeeding rates from the National Health Service perspective. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: Cost savings focussed on where evidence of health benefit is strongest: reductions in gastrointestinal and lower respiratory tract infections, acute otitis media in infants, necrotising enterocolitis in preterm babies and breast cancer (BC) in women. Savings were estimated using a seven-step framework in which an incidence-based disease model determined the number of cases that could have been avoided if breastfeeding rates were increased. Point estimates of cost savings were subject to a deterministic sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: Treating the four acute diseases in children costs the UK at least £89 million annually. The 2009-2010 value of lifetime costs of treating maternal BC is estimated at £959 million. Supporting mothers who are exclusively breast feeding at 1 week to continue breast feeding until 4 months can be expected to reduce the incidence of three childhood infectious diseases and save at least £11 million annually. Doubling the proportion of mothers currently breast feeding for 7-18 months in their lifetime is likely to reduce the incidence of maternal BC and save at least £31 million at 2009-2010 value. CONCLUSIONS: The economic impact of low breastfeeding rates is substantial. Investing in services that support women who want to breast feed for longer is potentially cost saving

The second virial coefficient as a predictor of protein aggregation propensity: a self-interaction chromatography study

The second osmotic virial coefficients (b2) of four proteins – lysozyme, recombinant human lactoferrin, concanavalin A and catalase were measured by self-interaction chromatography (SIC) in solutions of varying salt type, concentration and pH. Protein aggregate sizes based on the initial hydrodynamic radius of the protein solution species present were measured using dynamic light scattering, and the relationship between b2 and protein aggregate size was studied. A linear correlation was established between b2 values and protein aggregate hydrodynamic size for all proteins, and for almost all solution conditions. Aggregate sizes of 0. The observed b2 trends as a function of solution conditions were very much protein dependent, with notable trends including the existence of attractive interactions (negative b2 values) at low ionic strengths for catalase and concanavalin A, and the highly positive b2 values observed for lactoferrin over a wide range of solution conditions, reflecting lactoferrin’s innately high stability. It is concluded that the quantification of protein–protein interactions using SIC based b2 data is a potentially valuable screening tool for predicting protein aggregation propensity

Inside and outside information

We study an economy with financial frictions in which a regulator designs a test that reveals outside information about a firm’s quality to investors. The firm can also disclose verifiable inside information about its quality. We show that the regulator optimally aims for “public speech and private silence”, which is achieved with tests that give insiders an incentive to stay quiet. We fully characterize optimal tests by developing tools for Bayesian persuasion with incentive constraints, and use these results to derive novel guidance for the design of bank stress tests, as well as benchmarks for socially optimal corporate credit rating

Health status, health behaviour and healthcare use among migrants in the UK: Evidence from mothers in the Millennium Cohort Study

The health of migrants in the UK and their access to healthcare is of considerable policy interest. There is evidence of ethnic inequalities in health and access to and use of healthcare but insufficient consideration of the importance of birth abroad and length of residence in the UK. This study examines indicators of health status, behaviour and healthcare use among mothers of infants in the Millennium Cohort Study, according to whether born in the UK or abroad, individual ethnic grouping, and length of residence. Our findings show there are both positive and negative health indicators associated with ethnicity, birth abroad, and length of residence and presenting results on a single factor in isolation could lead to a misinterpretation of associations. For mothers ethnicity has an important relationship with most health indicators independent of country of birth, length of residence and socio-demographic circumstances. Once adjusted for ethnicity and socio-demographic variables, association with birth abroad disappears for most health outcomes suggesting that there may not be an independent migrant penalty in health. There is a linear trend in decreasing health status with increasing length of residence but no independent association between length of residence and healthcare use. This suggests that while there are continuing barriers to good health for migrants in the receiving society as shown in other studies, factors important for one health outcome may not apply to another. Our findings challenge linear acculturation models for migrants' health in showing that a linear trend in improving socio-economic circumstances for mothers in some ethnic groups is not always associated with better health outcomes or changes in health behaviour. Our results point to a need for a comprehensive collection of information and analysis for all categories of migrants for understanding patterns of and factors underlying health and use of healthcare

Глаукома: что необходимо знать каждому пациенту. Часть 2. Факторы, повышающие вероятность развития закрытоугольной глаукомы. Ослепнете ли вы? Лечится ли глаукома? Как помочь своим близким уменьшить вред, наносимый глаукомой?

The first part of the article describes various factors increasing the risk for angle closure glaucoma, such as older age, female sex, being Asian, having blood relatives with glaucoma, having smaller eyes (far-sightedness) and individual features of the eye. It emphasizes that angle closure glaucoma is more a disease of higher than normal eye pressure than is open angle glaucoma. The author explicates in comprehensible anatomic details the process, mechanism and first means of treatment of angle closure, specifics of hyperopic eyes, the nature of pupil block. In the next part of the article the author answers the most pressing question for all glaucoma patients: will I be blind? He explains that though glaucoma presents a real threat to the vision of anyone who develops it, if a person continues to follow the standard care instructions, there is a good chance that he will preserve much of his sight until the end of his life. At the same time the author emphasizes the irreversibility of the vision loss and the importance of adhering with the treatment program, describes several characteristic signs and symptoms of glaucoma, and gives a brief account of the anatomical reasons behind them. Vision loss statistics is also presented. The next section forms of definitive treatment for glaucoma are discussed. Today restoring the lost vision still remains a future hope, however, present treatments can slow the process so much that no meaningful loss might occur in the person’s lifetime. Successful glaucoma surgery can lower eye pressure to a safe level, but it is important to keep having doctor’s exams regularly even when successful surgery has been done. The other kind of successful treatment for most persons with glaucoma is to take daily eye drops indefinitely. Several hypothetic ways of prolonging the effect of glaucoma medicine are discussed, such as long-lasting drugs and virus particles carriers. Current neuroprotection therapy research and the initial steps of nerve cell replacement are also mentioned. The last part of the article gives an account of genetic background of glaucoma and present research of genetic risk factors, and underlines the importance of intrafamilial information sharing and regular glaucoma check-ups.В первой части статьи описываются различные факторы, повышающие вероятность развития закрытоугольной глаукомы, такие как возраст, женский пол, принадлежность к монголоидной расе, маленький размер глаза (гиперметропия), а также индивидуальные черты. Подчеркивается, что закрытоугольная глаукома в большей степени, чем открытоугольная, является болезнью повышенного внутриглазного давления. Автор объясняет в доступных анатомических подробностях детали, механизм развития и первичное лечение при закрытоугольной глаукоме, специфику гиперметропичных глаз и природу зрачкового блока. В следующей части статьи автор отвечает на главный для большинства пациентов с глаукомой вопрос: «Могу ли я потерять зрение?» Он объясняет, что, несмотря на то что глаукома представляет собой большую опасность для зрения, при соблюдении необходимых схем лечения всегда остается шанс на сохранение большого процента зрения до конца жизни. В то же время подчеркивается необратимость потери зрения при глаукоме и необходимость неукоснительного соблюдения назначенного лечения. Описываются несколько характерных для глаукомы признаков и симптомов, дается их анатомическое объяснение. Приводится краткая статистика потери зрения вследствие глаукомы. В третьей части статьи обсуждаются существующие формы лечения глаукомы. На сегодняшний день восстановление уже утраченного зрения остается недостижимым, однако современное лечение может настолько замедлить прогрессирование глаукоматозного процесса, что представляется возможным сохранение большего процента зрения в течение всей жизни человека. Успешное хирургическое лечение глаукомы может снижать внутриглазное давление до безопасного уровня, однако не отменяет необходимости регулярного динамического наблюдения и после операции. Одним из основных способов успешного лечения данного заболевания является пожизненное закапывание глазных капель. Также в статье описываются находящиеся в разработке способы продления эффекта терапии глаукомы, такие как лекарственные средства увеличенной продолжительности и применяющиеся в генной инженерии вирусные частицы-носители. Также упоминаются современные исследования в области нейропротекторной терапии глаукомы и первые шаги в возможной замене нервных клеток при этом заболевании. Заключающая часть статьи рассказывает о возможной генетической предрасположенности к глаукоме и текущих поисках генетических факторов риска, а также подчеркивает важность информирования родственников о диагностированной глаукоме и регулярных обследований для выявления заболевания