Online Discrimination of Nonlinear Dynamics with Switching Differential Equations

How to recognise whether an observed person walks or runs? We consider a dynamic environment where observations (e.g. the posture of a person) are caused by different dynamic processes (walking or running) which are active one at a time and which may transition from one to another at any time. For this setup, switching dynamic models have been suggested previously, mostly, for linear and nonlinear dynamics in discrete time. Motivated by basic principles of computations in the brain (dynamic, internal models) we suggest a model for switching nonlinear differential equations. The switching process in the model is implemented by a Hopfield network and we use parametric dynamic movement primitives to represent arbitrary rhythmic motions. The model generates observed dynamics by linearly interpolating the primitives weighted by the switching variables and it is constructed such that standard filtering algorithms can be applied. In two experiments with synthetic planar motion and a human motion capture data set we show that inference with the unscented Kalman filter can successfully discriminate several dynamic processes online

High temperature protective coatings for refractory metals progress report no. 1, oct. 23, 1964 - jan. 23, 1965

Iridium as high temperature protective coating for unalloyed niobium and tantalu

Safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of intravaginal pentamycin

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Intravaginal pentamycin is a polyene macrolide with a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and is effective in various forms of infectious vaginitis. We evaluated the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of escalating doses of this product. METHODS: Nineteen healthy volunteers were randomized to receive double blind one of five doses of intravaginal pentamycin (3, 10, 30, 60 or 100 mg) or the corresponding dose of pentamycin vehicle daily for 6 days. Patients with symptomatic vaginitis received a single dose of 60 (n = 6) or 100 mg (n = 6) of intravaginal pentamycin. Safety and tolerability parameters were monitored throughout the study. Plasma concentrations of pentamycin were measured daily in the healthy volunteers and on the day of drug application in the patients. RESULTS: The most frequently reported adverse events were mild or moderate vaginal discharge and mild symptoms of vaginal irritation (mainly pruritus or burning sensation), which also occurred in women who applied the vehicle. No patient with symptomatic vaginitis reported treatment-related adverse events. The plasma levels of pentamycin were below the quantification limit in all samples. CONCLUSION: Intravaginal pentamycin does not cause adverse reactions compared with vehicle and is not absorbed through the intact or the inflamed vagina

An Examination of Providers’ Awareness, Knowledge of Screening and Treatment, and Perceived Barriers Associated with Intimate Partner Violence-related Traumatic Brain Injury

Introduction: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 10 million men and women are physically abused by an intimate partner. Injuries to the head, neck, and face (HNF) occur at a high rate with survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). HNF injuries have the potential to result in traumatic brain injury (TBI) which may lead to chronic and negative physical (headaches, chronic pain, persistent vertigo) and mental health outcomes (post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression) if left untreated. Providers’ awareness of IPV-related TBI, screening tools and resources, and perceived barriers are important factors when examining IPV-related TBI. Methods: A mixed methods approach was used for data collection. The sample included providers from a variety of domains, including social work, healthcare, legal, and mental health. Three focus groups and two one-on-one interviews with providers were conducted and recorded. Prior to the focus groups and interviews, demographic data were collected via a survey. In the focus groups and interviews, providers were asked a series of open-ended questions and all audio files were transcribed and coded. Results: Several providers noted that the connection between TBI and IVP is valid and that they are more likely to screen for possible TBI in their clients following their participation in the study. Overall, providers were not aware of screening tools for TBI although some were able to name local facilities and resources. Providers noted that symptoms of TBI overlap significantly with other health conditions, which can make identification difficult. Providers discussed reservations, such as a lack of proper training, knowledge, and skills to accurately identify, diagnose and treat IPV-related TBI. Conclusion: The literature regarding IPV-related TBI is in its infancy and many aspects of this condition are still poorly understood. The results of our study support the need for an education-based intervention regarding IPV-related TBI, screening tools and available resources. Future research should examine the perceptions of TBI providers on IPV and IPV-related TBI, address the overlap of TBI symptoms with other health conditions, the efficacy of education-based interventions, and mandatory screening to increase the identification rate of IPV-related TBI

Effect of Tillage Tools on Improving Corn Yields from a Compacted Soil

An experiment was conducted on a 2-5% sloping Mercer silt loam soil on a farm in Bourbon/Harrison Counties where very poor corn was grown in 1984 because of soil compaction and drought. Soil test levels of the experimental area were: pH 4.8. and 99, 316, 2070. and 120 lbs/A of P, K, Ca, and Mg, respectively. Examination of the field showed that the compacted zone occurred uniformly in the 0-5 inch surface layer of soil. Cause of this compacted layer was thought to be due to excessive disk tillage in prior years when preparing the field for tobacco production and to winter grazing of a wheat cover crop. The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the influence of fall or spring plowing with a paraplow. chisel plow, or moldboard plow on plowsole bulk density and corn production

Simulating the Water Requirements and Economic Feasibility of Corn in the Midwest

An evaluation of the economics of supplemental irrigation when using a surface water supply must be site specific in order to account for variations in soil moisture holding capacity, watershed area supplying the runoff, climatic conditions, and proposed irrigation management procedures. With the use of farm specific simulation models to determine grain yields, availability of irrigation water, and economic expenditures involved in irrigation, an economic evaluation of supplemental irrigation can be performed, In the model presented in this report, the Duncan SIMAIZ model is used to predict grain yields using long-term daily weather information. SIMAIZ also determines irrigation water demand for the crop. The Haan Water Yield Model is used to predict flow into a reservoir using the same weather information. By knowing daily water flow into a reservoir and water demand for irrigation, a reservoir size is determined which will supply water at all times for the study period. Simulations are then run by incrementally reducing, by volume, the size of this reservoir, thus limiting the availability of irrigation water, and resulting in reduced irrigated yields. An economic evaluation is performed for each reservoir size. Costs and benefits included are: initial cost of constructing the reservoir, yearly reservoir maintenance cost, yearly irrigation costs of operation, and additional income resulting from the increase in grain yields. After the project life has been assumed, the model determines the capital available for investing in an irrigation system for a given year and reservoir size. By ranking these values, a probability distribution is obtained indicating the probability of making money in any given year. By using the Central Limit Theorem, these results are converted to the probability of making money over the life of the system. A sensitivity analysis examines the sensitivity of capital available for investment in an irrigation system to select input variation. The results indicate that great care should be exercised when assigning values to some inputs, while for others, a reasonable estimate is adequate. This model can be used as a tool for evaluating which irrigation practices, if any, are economically feasible. An example of its use is shown

Attenuated and Protease-Profile Modified Sendai Virus Vectors as a New Tool for Virotherapy of Solid Tumors

Peer reviewe

Influence of solvent granularity on the effective interaction between charged colloidal suspensions

We study the effect of solvent granularity on the effective force between two charged colloidal particles by computer simulations of the primitive model of strongly asymmetric electrolytes with an explicitly added hard sphere solvent. Apart from molecular oscillating forces for nearly touching colloids which arise from solvent and counterion layering, the counterions are attracted towards the colloidal surfaces by solvent depletion providing a simple statistical description of hydration. This, in turn, has an important influence on the effective forces for larger distances which are considerably reduced as compared to the prediction based on the primitive model. When these forces are repulsive, the long-distance behaviour can be described by an effective Yukawa pair potential with a solvent-renormalized charge. As a function of colloidal volume fraction and added salt concentration, this solvent-renormalized charge behaves qualitatively similar to that obtained via the Poisson-Boltzmann cell model but there are quantitative differences. For divalent counterions and nano-sized colloids, on the other hand, the hydration may lead to overscreened colloids with mutual attraction while the primitive model yields repulsive forces. All these new effects can be accounted for through a solvent-averaged primitive model (SPM) which is obtained from the full model by integrating out the solvent degrees of freedom. The SPM was used to access larger colloidal particles without simulating the solvent explicitly.Comment: 14 pages, 16 craphic