473 research outputs found
New results in feedback control of unsupported standing in paraplegia
The aim of this study was to implement a new approach to feedback control of unsupported standing and to evaluate it in tests with an intact and a paraplegic subject. In our setup, all joints above the ankles are braced and stabilizing torque at the ankle is generated by electrical stimulation of the plantarflexor muscles. A previous study showed that short periods of unsupported standing with a paraplegic subject could be achieved. In order to improve consistency and reliability and to prolong the duration of standing, we have implemented several modifications to the control strategy. These include a simplified control structure and a different controller design method. While the reliability of standing is mainly limited by the muscle characteristics such as reduced strength and progressive fatigue, the results presented here show that the new strategy allows much longer periods (up to several minutes) of unsupported standing in paraplegia
Non-interference for deterministic interactive programs
We consider the problem of defining an appropriate notion of non-interference (NI) for deterministic interactive programs. Previous work on the security of interactive programs by O'Neill, Clarkson and Chong (CSFW 2006) builds on earlier ideas due to Wittbold and Johnson (Symposium on Security and Privacy 1990), and argues for a notion of NI defined in terms of strategies modelling the behaviour of users. We show that, for deterministic interactive programs, it is not necessary to consider strategies and that a simple stream model of the users' behaviour is sufficient. The key technical result is that, for deterministic programs, stream-based NI implies the apparently more general strategy-based NI (in fact we consider a wider class of strategies than those of O'Neill et al). We give our results in terms of a simple notion of Input-Output Labelled Transition System, thus allowing application of the results to a large class of deterministic interactive programming languages
Mesoscopic phase separation in La2CuO4.02 - a 139La NQR study
In crystals of La2CuO4.02 oxygen diffusion can be limited to such small
length scales, that the resulting phase separation is invisible for neutrons.
Decomposition of the 139La NQR spectra shows the existence of three different
regions, of which one orders antiferromagnetically below 17K concomitantly with
the onset of a weak superconductivity in the crystal. These regions are
compared to the macroscopic phases seen previously in the title compound and
the cluster-glass and striped phases reported for the underdoped Sr-doped
cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 5 figures, to be published in PR
Very static enforcement of dynamic policies
Security policies are naturally dynamic. Reflecting this, there has been a growing interest in studying information-flow properties which change during program execution, including concepts such as declassification, revocation, and role-change.
A static verification of a dynamic information flow policy, from a semantic perspective, should only need to concern itself with two things: 1) the dependencies between data in a program, and 2) whether those dependencies are consistent with the intended flow policies as they change over time. In this paper we provide a formal ground for this intuition. We present a straightforward extension to the principal flow-sensitive type system introduced by Hunt and Sands (POPLâ06, ESOPâ11) to infer both end-to-end dependencies and dependencies at intermediate points in a program. This allows typings to be applied to verification of both static and dynamic policies. Our extension preserves the principal type systemâs distinguishing feature, that type inference is independent of the policy to be enforced: a single, generic dependency analysis (typing) can be used to verify many different dynamic policies of a given program, thus achieving a clean separation between (1) and (2).
We also make contributions to the foundations of dynamic information flow. Arguably, the most compelling semantic definitions for dynamic security conditions in the literature are phrased in the so-called knowledge-based style. We contribute a new definition of knowledge-based progress insensitive security for dynamic policies. We show that the new definition avoids anomalies of previous definitions and enjoys a simple and useful characterisation as a two-run style property
The Opportunities and challenges in development of a multi-agency program to monitor and assess reef fish populations in the Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem
Self-diffusion in dense granular shear flows
Diffusivity is a key quantity in describing velocity fluctuations in granular
materials. These fluctuations are the basis of many thermodynamic and
hydrodynamic models which aim to provide a statistical description of granular
systems. We present experimental results on diffusivity in dense, granular
shear in a 2D Couette geometry. We find that self-diffusivities are
proportional to the local shear rate with diffusivities along the mean flow
approximately twice as large as those in the perpendicular direction. The
magnitude of the diffusivity is D \approx \dot\gamma a^2 where a is the
particle radius. However, the gradient in shear rate, coupling to the mean
flow, and drag at the moving boundary lead to particle displacements that can
appear sub- or super-diffusive. In particular, diffusion appears superdiffusive
along the mean flow direction due to Taylor dispersion effects and subdiffusive
along the perpendicular direction due to the gradient in shear rate. The
anisotropic force network leads to an additional anisotropy in the diffusivity
that is a property of dense systems with no obvious analog in rapid flows.
Specifically, the diffusivity is supressed along the direction of the strong
force network. A simple random walk simulation reproduces the key features of
the data, such as the apparent superdiffusive and subdiffusive behavior arising
from the mean flow, confirming the underlying diffusive motion. The additional
anisotropy is not observed in the simulation since the strong force network is
not included. Examples of correlated motion, such as transient vortices, and
Levy flights are also observed. Although correlated motion creates velocity
fields qualitatively different from Brownian motion and can introduce
non-diffusive effects, on average the system appears simply diffusive.Comment: 13 pages, 20 figures (accepted to Phys. Rev. E
Topological doping and the stability of stripe phases
We analyze the properties of a general Ginzburg-Landau free energy with
competing order parameters, long-range interactions, and global constraints
(e.g., a fixed value of a total ``charge'') to address the physics of stripe
phases in underdoped high-Tc and related materials. For a local free energy
limited to quadratic terms of the gradient expansion, only uniform or
phase-separated configurations are thermodynamically stable. ``Stripe'' or
other non-uniform phases can be stabilized by long-range forces, but can only
have non-topological (in-phase) domain walls where the components of the
antiferromagnetic order parameter never change sign, and the periods of charge
and spin density waves coincide. The antiphase domain walls observed
experimentally require physics on an intermediate lengthscale, and they are
absent from a model that involves only long-distance physics. Dense stripe
phases can be stable even in the absence of long-range forces, but domain walls
always attract at large distances, i.e., there is a ubiquitous tendency to
phase separation at small doping. The implications for the phase diagram of
underdoped cuprates are discussed.Comment: 18 two-column pages, 2 figures, revtex+eps
Accelerometer-Measured Sedentary Patterns are Associated with Incident Falls in Older Women
Background/Objective: Falls cause significant problems for older adults. Sedentary time is associated with lower physical function and could increase the risk for falls. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Sites across the United States. Participants: Older women (N = 5,545, mean age 79 years) from the Women's Health Initiative Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health study. Measurements: Accelerometers worn at the hip for up to 1 week collected measures of daily sedentary time and the mean sedentary bout duration, a commonly used metric for sedentary accumulation patterns. For up to 13 months after accelerometer wear, women reported daily whether they had fallen on monthly calendars. Results: In fully adjusted models, the incident rate ratios (95% confidence interval) for quartiles 1 (lowest), 2, 3, and 4 of sedentary time respectively were 1.0 (ref.), 1.07 (0.93â1.24), 1.07 (0.91â1.25), and 1.14 (0.96â1.35; P-trend =.65) and for mean sedentary bout duration was 1.0 (ref.), 1.05 (0.92â1.21), 1.02 (0.88â1.17), and 1.17 (1.01â1.37; P-trend =.01), respectively. Women with a history of two or more falls had stronger associations between sedentary time and falls incidence compared with women with a history of no or one fall (P for interaction =.046). Conclusions: Older women in the highest quartile of mean sedentary bout duration had a significantly increased risk of falling. Women with a history of frequent falling may be at higher risk for falling if they have high sedentary time. Interventions testing whether shortening total sedentary time and/or sedentary bouts lowers fall risk are needed to confirm these observational findings
2017 American Heart Association Focused Update on Pediatric Basic Life Support and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Quality: An Update to the American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care
This focused update to the American Heart Association guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and emergency cardiovascular care follows the Pediatric Task Force of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation evidence review. It aligns with the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation's continuous evidence review process, and updates are published when the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation completes a literature review based on new science. This update provides the evidence review and treatment recommendation for chest compression-only CPR versus CPR using chest compressions with rescue breaths for children <18 years of age. Four large database studies were available for review, including 2 published after the "2015 American Heart Association Guidelines Update for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care." Two demonstrated worse 30-day outcomes with chest compression-only CPR for children 1 through 18 years of age, whereas 2 studies documented no difference between chest compression-only CPR and CPR using chest compressions with rescue breaths. When the results were analyzed for infants <1 year of age, CPR using chest compressions with rescue breaths was better than no CPR but was no different from chest compression-only CPR in 1 study, whereas another study observed no differences among chest compression-only CPR, CPR using chest compressions with rescue breaths, and no CPR. CPR using chest compressions with rescue breaths should be provided for infants and children in cardiac arrest. If bystanders are unwilling or unable to deliver rescue breaths, we recommend that rescuers provide chest compressions for infants and children
Dopplervelocimetric evaluation of portal vein as a diagnostic tool for portosystemic shunt diagnosis in dogs
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