Localization of Metal-Induced Gap States at the Metal-Insulator Interface:Origin of Flux Noise in SQUIDs and Superconducting Qubits

The origin of magnetic flux noise in Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices with a power spectrum scaling as $1/f$ ($f$ is frequency) has been a puzzle for over 20 years. This noise limits the decoherence time of superconducting qubits. A consensus has emerged that the noise arises from fluctuating spins of localized electrons with an areal density of $5\times10^{17}$m$^{-2}$. We show that, in the presence of potential disorder at the metal-insulator interface, some of the metal-induced gap states become localized and produce local moments. A modest level of disorder yields the observed areal density

Standardized field testing of assistant robots in a Mars-like environment

Controlled testing on standard tasks and within standard environments can provide meaningful performance comparisons between robots of heterogeneous design. But because they must perform practical tasks in unstructured, and therefore non-standard, environments, the benefits of this approach have barely begun to accrue for field robots. This work describes a desert trial of six student prototypes of astronaut-support robots using a set of standardized engineering tests developed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), along with three operational tests in natural Mars-like terrain. The results suggest that standards developed for emergency response robots are also applicable to the astronaut support domain, yielding useful insights into the differences in capabilities between robots and real design improvements. The exercise shows the value of combining repeatable engineering tests with task-specific application-testing in the field

History and developement of the plow and reaper

Citation: Cassell, Albert F. Therapeutics of pilocarpine. Senior thesis, Kansas State Agricultural College, 1907.Morse Department of Special CollectionsIntroduction: There is no branch of farm industry in which the improvement has been so marked during the last half century as that shown in the developement of the important farm implements. This improvement has come, largely with the increase in the demand for superior tools, as the progress of civilization has demanded more of the comforts and luxuries of life. However, there was a long period in American farming, as well as that of other countries, in which the hired man was looked upon favorably who had strong arms and sinewy muscles for the difficult manual labor by which practically everything was accomplished. This condition existed until soon after the beginning of the ninteenth century when the increasing population and demand for improvements, called for something better

Improving Trust in Deep Neural Networks with Nearest Neighbors

Deep neural networks are used increasingly for perception and decision-making in UAVs. For example, they can be used to recognize objects from images and decide what actions the vehicle should take. While deep neural networks can perform very well at complex tasks, their decisions may be unintuitive to a human operator. When a human disagrees with a neural network prediction, due to the black box nature of deep neural networks, it can be unclear whether the system knows something the human does not or whether the system is malfunctioning. This uncertainty is problematic when it comes to ensuring safety. As a result, it is important to develop technologies for explaining neural network decisions for trust and safety. This paper explores a modification to the deep neural network classification layer to produce both a predicted label and an explanation to support its prediction. Specifically, at test time, we replace the final output layer of the neural network classifier by a k-nearest neighbor classifier. The nearest neighbor classifier produces 1) a predicted label through voting and 2) the nearest neighbors involved in the prediction, which represent the most similar examples from the training dataset. Because prediction and explanation are derived from the same underlying process, this approach guarantees that the explanations are always relevant to the predictions. We demonstrate the approach on a convolutional neural network for a UAV image classification task. We perform experiments using a forest trail image dataset and show empirically that the hybrid classifier can produce intuitive explanations without loss of predictive performance compared to the original neural network. We also show how the approach can be used to help identify potential issues in the network and training process

Executive coaching as the differentiating patterning of power

Executive Coaching is now widely applied in organisations to bring about improvements in performance through individual focussed development. Coaches work with their clients to agree outcomes for their work together and then use their skills in a structured conversation to bring about change. The change they write of is an unfolding of the limitless human potential that resides within each of us, which is accessed by removing obstacles or interferences. The view that I present in this portfolio is significantly different to this predominant thinking and makes an important contribution to the practice of coaching, as a coach, client or line manager. I see the change that can happen in coaching, or indeed in any conversation, as occurring as movements of power. Patterns of power-relating, I argue, differentiate individual and collective identities. Coaching then, is the patterning of power-relating that has the potential for further differentiating and so transforming the identities of all those involved in the coaching process. I perceive power as ongoing patterns that paradoxically form and are formed by the processes of relating between human bodies. I argue that the complex patterning of power, that enables and constrains the actions of each person, creates identity. Identity is therefore a socially created phenomenon, simultaneously forming and being formed by the processes of relating. The differentiating patterning of power transforms identity through changes in our experience of inclusion and exclusion. From this perspective, the change that occurs in coaching assumes transformative causality instead of the dual rationalist and formative causalities that underpin the predominant approaches to executive coaching. This portfolio explores the nature of change in organisations, focussing more intensely, in each paper, on conversations as organisational change, culminating in the exploration of executive coaching as conversations initiated to create change. Through the methodology of participative inquiry, this research provides a way of understanding executive coaching that is informed by the concept of complex responsive processes and the sociology of Norbert Elias rather that the humanistic and cognitive psychologies that are at the root of the work of most executive coaching

Green and black tea for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease

Background: There is increasing evidence that both green and black tea are beneficial for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. Objectives: To determine the effects of green and black tea on the primary prevention of CVD. Search methods: We searched the following databases on 12 October 2012 without language restrictions: CENTRAL in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (OVID), EMBASE (OVID) and Web of Science (Thomson Reuters). We also searched trial registers, screened reference lists and contacted authors for additional information where necessary. Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) lasting at least three months involving healthy adults or those at high risk of CVD. Trials investigated the intake of green tea, black tea or tea extracts. The comparison group was no intervention, placebo or minimal intervention. The outcomes of interest were CVD clinical events and major CVD risk factors. Any trials involving multifactorial lifestyle interventions or focusing on weight loss were excluded to avoid confounding. Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently selected trials for inclusion, abstracted data and assessed the risk of bias. Trials of green tea were analysed separately from trials of black tea. Main results: We identified 11 RCTs with a total of 821 participants, two trials awaiting classification and one ongoing trial. Seven trials examined a green tea intervention and four examined a black tea intervention. Dosage and form of both green and black tea differed between trials. The ongoing trial is examining the effects of green tea powder capsules. No studies reported cardiovascular events. Black tea was found to produce statistically significant reductions in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (mean difference (MD) -0.43 mmol/L, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.56 to -0.31) and blood pressure (systolic blood pressure (SBP): MD -1.85 mmHg, 95% CI -3.21 to -0.48. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP): MD -1.27 mmHg, 95% CI -3.06 to 0.53) over six months, stable to sensitivity analysis, but only a small number of trials contributed to each analysis and studies were at risk of bias. Green tea was also found to produce statistically significant reductions in total cholesterol (MD -0.62 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.77 to - 0.46), LDL cholesterol (MD -0.64 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.77 to -0.52) and blood pressure (SBP: MD -3.18 mmHg, 95% CI -5.25 to - 1.11; DBP: MD -3.42, 95% CI -4.54 to -2.30), but only a small number of studies contributed to each analysis, and results were not stable to sensitivity analysis. When both tea types were analysed together they showed favourable effects on LDL cholesterol (MD - 0.48 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.61 to -0.35) and blood pressure (SBP: MD -2.25 mmHg, 95% CI -3.39 to -1.11; DBP: MD -2.81 mmHg, 95% CI -3.77 to -1.86). Adverse events were measured in five trials and included a diagnosis of prostate cancer, hospitalisation for influenza, appendicitis and retinal detachment but these are unlikely to be directly attributable to the intervention. Authors' conclusions: There are very few long-term studies to date examining green or black tea for the primary prevention of CVD. The limited evidence suggests that tea has favourable effects on CVD risk factors, but due to the small number of trials contributing to each analysis the results should be treated with some caution and further high quality trials with longer-term follow-up are needed to confirm this

'Mediterranean' dietary pattern for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease

It is well established that diet plays a major role in cardiovascular disease risk. The traditional Mediterranean dietary pattern is of particular interest because of observations from the 1960s that populations in countries of the Mediterranean region, such as Greece and Italy, had lower mortality from cardiovascular disease compared with northern European populations or the US, probably as a result of different eating habits. This review assessed the effects of providing dietary advice to follow a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern to healthy adults or people at increased risk of cardiovascular disease in order to prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular disease and reduce the risk factors associated with it. Definitions of a Mediterranean dietary pattern vary and we included only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions that reported at least two of the following components: (1) high monounsaturated/saturated fat ratio, (2) low to moderate red wine consumption, (3) high consumption of legumes, (4) high consumption of grains and cereals, (5) high consumption of fruits and vegetables, (6) low consumption of meat and meat products and increased consumption of fish, and (7) moderate consumption of milk and dairy products. The control group was no intervention or minimal intervention. We found 11 RCTs (15 papers) that met these criteria. The trials varied enormously in the participants recruited and the different dietary interventions. Four trials were conducted in women only, two trials were in men only and the remaining five were in both men and women. Five trials were conducted in healthy individuals and six trials were in people at increased risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer. The number of components relevant to a Mediterranean dietary pattern ranged from two to five and only seven trials described the intervention as a Mediterranean diet. The largest trial, which recruited only postmenopausal women and was not described as a Mediterranean diet meeting only two of the criteria described above, reported no difference in the occurrence of cardiovascular disease between the dietary advice group and the control group. The other trials measured risk factors for cardiovascular disease. As the studies were so different, it was not possible to combine studies for most of the outcomes. Where it was possible to combine studies, we found small reductions in total cholesterol levels as well as in the harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations. The reductions in total cholesterol were greater in the studies that described themselves as providing a Mediterranean diet. None of the trials reported side effects. The review concludes that, from the limited evidence to date, a Mediterranean dietary pattern reduces some cardiovascular risk factors. However, more trials are needed to look at the effects of the different participants recruited and the different dietary interventions to see which interventions might work best in different populations

Predictors of Increases in Alcohol Problems and Alcohol Use Disorders in Offspring in the San Diego Prospective Study.

BackgroundThe 35-year-long San Diego Prospective Study documented 2-fold increases in alcohol problems and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in young-adult drinking offspring compared to rates in their fathers, the original probands. The current analyses use the same interviews and questionnaires at about the same age in members of the 2 generations to explore multiple potential contributors to the generational differences in adverse alcohol outcomes.MethodsUsing data from recent offspring interviews, multiple cross-generation differences in characteristics potentially related to alcohol problems were evaluated in 3 steps: first through direct comparisons across probands and offspring at about age 30; second by backward linear regression analyses of predictors of alcohol problems within each generation; and finally third through R-based bootstrapped linear regressions of differences in alcohol problems in randomly matched probands and offspring.ResultsThe analyses across the analytical approaches revealed 3 consistent predictors of higher alcohol problems in the second generation. These included the following: (i) a more robust relationship to alcohol problems for offspring with a low level of response to alcohol; (ii) higher offspring values for alcohol expectancies; and (iii) higher offspring impulsivity.ConclusionsThe availability of data across generations offered a unique perspective for studying characteristics that may have contributed to a general finding in the literature of substantial increases in alcohol problems and AUDs in recent generations. If replicated, these results could suggest approaches to be used by parents, healthcare workers, insurance companies, and industry in their efforts to mitigate the increasing rates of alcohol problems in younger generations

Silver Band March

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/3526/thumbnail.jp