Method for increasing the energy efficiency of wirelessly networked ambulatory health monitoring devices

In-home healthcare applications that use wearable devices ordinarily have strict power constraints due to the small size of the battery in the device. The power constraints are a key driver of research to develop new methods for improving the energy efficiency of ambulatory health monitoring devices. The radio-communication components typically consume a large proportion of the available energy in systems such as these. Given that radio transmissions use far more power than on-board processing, it is proposed that energy can be conserved by performing fall detection at the node. The proposed algorithm is intended to be performed at the node and provide a suitable balance between power consumption and detection accuracy. The research and prototype system described in this article focuses on wearable fall detection devices to be used elderly people who are living in non-hospital settings, and discusses considerations arising from the development of a prototype system. The outcomes of the system design and development process are discussed, and conclusions are drawn concerning the potential of the method to improve the energy efficiency of fall detection systems

A novel software-defined networking controller: The Distributed Active Information Model (DAIM)

© 2018 Polish Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved. This paper presents a new OpenFlow controller: the Distributed Active Information Model (DAIM). The DAIM controller was developed to explore the viability of a logically distributed control plane. It is implemented in a distributed way throughout a software-defined network, at the level of the switches. The method enables local process flows, by way of local packet switching, to be controlled by the distributed DAIM controller (as opposed to a centralised OpenFlow controller). The DAIM ecosystem is discussed with some sample code, together with flowcharts of the implemented algorithms. We present implementation details, a testing methodology, and an experimental evaluation. A performance analysis was conducted using the Cbench open benchmarking tool. Comparisons were drawn with respect to throughput and latency. It is concluded that the DAIM controller can handle a high throughput, while keeping the latency relatively low. We believe the results to date are potentially very interesting, especially in light of the fact that a key feature of the DAIM controller is that it is designed to enable the future development of autonomous local flow process and management strategies

STM and Electrochemical Investigation of Homoepitaxial Boron-Doped CVD Diamond Films

Homoepitaxial growth of boron-doped CVD diamond films was carried out on (100) and (111) oriented substrates. Atomic resolution images were obtained for both (100) and (111) surfaces using scanning tunneling microscopy. STM images reveal the presence of a 2x1-monohydride reconstruction for the untreated (100) surface and a lxl reconstruction for the untreated (111) surface. No other atomically resolved reconstructions were observed under a wide range of growth conditions. Non-aqueous electrochemical investigations were carried out on the films exhibiting atomically resolved reconstructions. Evidence for potential-induced surface-reconstruction and surface chemical modification of the (100) 2xl-monohydride surface has been observed

Impact of the European Clinical Trials Directive on prospective academic clinical trials associated with BMT

The European Clinical Trials Directive (EU 2001; 2001/20/EC) was introduced to improve the efficiency of commercial and academic clinical trials. Concerns have been raised by interested organizations and institutions regarding the potential for negative impact of the Directive on non-commercial European clinical research. Interested researchers within the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) were surveyed to determine whether researcher experiences confirmed this view. Following a pilot study, an internet-based questionnaire was distributed to individuals in key research positions in the European haemopoietic SCT community. Seventy-one usable questionnaires were returned from participants in different EU member states. The results indicate that the perceived impact of the European Clinical Trials Directive has been negative, at least in the research areas of interest to the EBMT

Serum Iron Level is Associated with Time to Antibiotics in Cystic Fibrosis

Background: Serum levels of hepcidin‐25, a peptide hormone that reduces blood iron content, are elevated when patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) develop pulmonary exacerbation (PEx). Because hepcidin‐25 is unavailable as a clinical laboratory test, we questioned whether a one‐time serum iron level was associated with the subsequent number of days until PEx, as defined by the need to receive systemic antibiotics (ABX) for health deterioration. Methods: Clinical, biochemical, and microbiological parameters were simultaneously checked in 54 adults with CF. Charts were reviewed to determine when they first experienced a PEx after these parameters were assessed. Time to ABX was compared in subgroups with and without specific attributes. Multivariate linear regression was used to identify parameters that significantly explained variation in time to ABX. Results: In univariate analyses, time to ABX was significantly shorter in subjects with Aspergillus‐positive sputum cultures and CF‐related diabetes. Multivariate linear regression models demonstrated that shorter time to ABX was associated with younger age, lower serum iron level, and Aspergillus sputum culture positivity. Conclusions: Serum iron, age, and Aspergillus sputum culture positivity are factors associated with shorter time to subsequent PEx in CF adults

Minimum triplet covers of binary phylogenetic X-trees

Trees with labelled leaves and with all other vertices of degree three play an important role in systematic biology and other areas of classification. A classical combinatorial result ensures that such trees can be uniquely reconstructed from the distances between the leaves (when the edges are given any strictly positive lengths). Moreover, a linear number of these pairwise distance values suffices to determine both the tree and its edge lengths. A natural set of pairs of leaves is provided by any `triplet cover' of the tree (based on the fact that each non-leaf vertex is the median vertex of three leaves). In this paper we describe a number of new results concerning triplet covers of minimum size. In particular, we characterize such covers in terms of an associated graph being a 2-tree. Also, we show that minimum triplet covers are `shellable' and thereby provide a set of pairs for which the inter-leaf distance values will uniquely determine the underlying tree and its associated branch lengths

Low thrust propulsion in a coplanar circular restricted four body problem

This paper formulates a circular restricted four body problem (CRFBP), where the three primaries are set in the stable Lagrangian equilateral triangle configuration and the fourth body is massless. The analysis of this autonomous coplanar CRFBP is undertaken, which identies eight natural equilibria; four of which are close to the smaller body, two stable and two unstable, when considering the primaries to be the Sun and two smaller bodies of the solar system. Following this, the model incorporates `near term' low-thrust propulsion capabilities to generate surfaces of articial equilibrium points close to the smaller primary, both in and out of the plane containing the celestial bodies. A stability analysis of these points is carried out and a stable subset of them is identied. Throughout the analysis the Sun-Jupiter-Asteroid-Spacecraft system is used, for conceivable masses of a hypothetical asteroid set at the libration point L4. It is shown that eight bounded orbits exist, which can be maintained with a constant thrust less than 1:5 10􀀀4N for a 1000kg spacecraft. This illustrates that, by exploiting low-thrust technologies, it would be possible to maintain an observation point more than 66% closer to the asteroid than that of a stable natural equilibrium point. The analysis then focusses on a major Jupiter Trojan: the 624-Hektor asteroid. The thrust required to enable close asteroid observation is determined in the simplied CRFBP model. Finally, a numerical simulation of the real Sun-Jupiter-624 Hektor-Spacecraft is undertaken, which tests the validity of the stability analysis of the simplied model

Short-Eared Owl Land-Use Associations During the Breeding Season in the Western United States

The Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) is a species of conservation concern in the western USA, with evidence for declining population sizes. Monitoring of Short-eared Owls is complicated because of their low site fidelity and nomadic movements. We recruited community-science participants to implement a multi-year survey of Short-eared Owls across eight states in the western USA, resulting in a program of sufficient temporal and spatial dimensions to overcome many of the challenges in monitoring this species. We implemented both multi-scale occupancy and colonization/extinction modeling to provide insights into land-cover use, and to identify which cover types supported higher occurrence. Short-eared Owls were associated with native and anthropogenic land-cover types, but site occupancy varied among these categories and at different scales. Native grasslands, marsh/riparian, hay/fallow agriculture, and cultivated croplands were occupied most consistently across years. Occupancy rates differed at different scales (e.g., marsh/ riparian was the only land-cover type positively associated with occupancy at both transect and point scales). Contrary to expectations, native shrubland was negatively associated with occupancy at the point scale, and exhibited low colonization and high extinction rates. Our results suggest that conserving native landscapes in general, and grasslands, marsh, and riparian areas specifically, would benefit Short-eared Owls. Furthermore, Short-eared Owl occupancy was positively associated with hay/fallow land-cover types, suggesting that some nonnative land-cover types can function as Short-eared Owl habitat. Lastly, our results highlight how developing a broad-scale community science survey can inform conservation for a species not well monitored by existing survey programs

Development and validation of a self-report measure of mentalizing: The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire

Reflective functioning or mentalizing is the capacity to interpret both the self and others in terms of internal mental states such as feelings, wishes, goals, desires, and attitudes. This paper is part of a series of papers outlining the development and psychometric features of a new self-report measure, the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ), designed to provide an easy to administer self-report measure of mentalizing. We describe the development and initial validation of the RFQ in three studies. Study 1 focuses on the development of the RFQ, its factor structure and construct validity in a sample of patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Eating Disorder (ED) (n=108) and normal controls (n=295). Study 2 aims to replicate these findings in a fresh sample of 129 patients with personality disorder and 281 normal controls. Study 3 addresses the relationship between the RFQ, parental reflective functioning and infant attachment status as assessed with the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) in a sample of 136 community mothers and their infants. In both Study 1 and 2, confirmatory factor analyses yielded two factors assessing Certainty (RFQ_C) and Uncertainty (RFQ_U) about the mental states of self and others. These two factors were relatively distinct, invariant across clinical and non-clinical samples, had satisfactory internal consistency and test–retest stability, and were largely unrelated to demographic features. The scales discriminated between patients and controls, and were significantly and in theoretically predicted ways correlated with measures of empathy, mindfulness and perspective-taking, and with both self-reported and clinician-reported measures of borderline personality features and other indices of maladaptive personality functioning. Furthermore, the RFQ scales were associated with levels of parental reflective functioning, which in turn predicted infant attachment status in the SSP. Overall, this study lends preliminary support for the RFQ as a screening measure of reflective functioning. Further research is needed, however, to investigate in more detail the psychometric qualities of the RFQ