2,225 research outputs found
Influence of barium on rectification in rat neocortical neurons
The effect of low concentrations of barium on the membrane properties of rat neocortical neurons was studied in vitro. Potassium currents were examined using single-electrode current- and voltage-clamp techniques. Neurons responded to bath application of barium (10â100 ÎŒM) with a membrane depolarization associated with an increase in input resistance. Under voltage clamp conditions, an inward shift in holding current was observed. The effects of barium were rapidly reversible upon washing and persisted in the presence of TTX. The equilibrium potential for the barium-induced inward current was near â110 mV, suggesting that barium inhibited a tonically active potassium conductance. Measurements of current voltage relationships indicated an inward rectification of this conductance between â50 and â130 mV. These results provide strong evidence that barium blocks a persistent potassium âleakâ current in neocortical neurons that contributes to the resting potential of these cells
Automated Non-Invasive Identification and Localization of Focal Epileptic Activity by Exploiting Information Derived from Surface EEG Recordings
Variational Calculation for the Equation of State of Nuclear Matter at Finite Temperatures
An equation of state (EOS) for uniform nuclear matter is constructed at zero
and finite temperatures with the variational method starting from the realistic
nuclear Hamiltonian composed of the Argonne V18 and UIX potentials. The energy
is evaluated in the two-body cluster approximation with the three-body-force
contribution treated phenomenologically so as to reproduce the empirical
saturation conditions. The obtained energies for symmetric nuclear matter and
neutron matter at zero temperature are in fair agreement with those by Akmal,
Pandharipande and Ravenhall, and the maximum mass of the neutron star is 2.2
Msolar. At finite temperatures, a variational method by Schmidt and
Pandharipande is employed to evaluate the free energy, which is used to derive
various thermodynamic quantities of nuclear matter necessary for supernova
simulations. The result of this variational method at finite temperatures is
found to be self-consistent.Comment: Revised Versio
HUD feedback to minimize the risk of cellular phone use and number entry while driving
There has been considerable public debate as to whether people should be allowed to use cell phones while driving. In several countries, this debate has led to restrictions on cell phone use while driving. Japanese data suggests that answering a call might be the most dangerous task, followed by dialing. Several questions were therefore selected for further investigation.
1. How does the dialing device and its location affect task time, errors, driving
performance, and ratings of workload?
2. How does the location of the display (especially head-up displays) affect those
same measures?
3. For various control-display combinations, how are those measures affected by
driving workload?
The experiment will be comprised of two distinct portions. In the first portion, subjects will drive a simulator on straight roads (implying controlled workload) while dialing a 10-digit telephone number using 6 device configurations with various displays.
During the second test portion, participants will drive a simulator on roads with curves
of different radii while entering phone numbers for 3 different device combinations.
The following device/location configurations will be examined: (1) 10-key keypad on
the steering wheel spoke, (2) 10-key keypad on the center console, (3) joystick on the
steering wheel spoke, (4) joystick mounted on the center console, (5) hand held 10-
key keypad, (6) a cross key on the touch screen, and (7) a 10 key keypad on the touch
screen. These devices will be used for 3 display conditions: (1) head up display, (2)
monitor mounted in the center console, or (3) no display.Nissan Research Centerhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92345/1/102881.pd
Dark Patterns at Scale: Findings from a Crawl of 11K Shopping Websites
Dark patterns are user interface design choices that benefit an online
service by coercing, steering, or deceiving users into making unintended and
potentially harmful decisions. We present automated techniques that enable
experts to identify dark patterns on a large set of websites. Using these
techniques, we study shopping websites, which often use dark patterns to
influence users into making more purchases or disclosing more information than
they would otherwise. Analyzing ~53K product pages from ~11K shopping websites,
we discover 1,818 dark pattern instances, together representing 15 types and 7
broader categories. We examine these dark patterns for deceptive practices, and
find 183 websites that engage in such practices. We also uncover 22 third-party
entities that offer dark patterns as a turnkey solution. Finally, we develop a
taxonomy of dark pattern characteristics that describes the underlying
influence of the dark patterns and their potential harm on user
decision-making. Based on our findings, we make recommendations for
stakeholders including researchers and regulators to study, mitigate, and
minimize the use of these patterns.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, ACM Conference on Computer-Supported
Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2019
The Geometry and Moduli of K3 Surfaces
These notes will give an introduction to the theory of K3 surfaces. We begin
with some general results on K3 surfaces, including the construction of their
moduli space and some of its properties. We then move on to focus on the theory
of polarized K3 surfaces, studying their moduli, degenerations and the
compactification problem. This theory is then further enhanced to a discussion
of lattice polarized K3 surfaces, which provide a rich source of explicit
examples, including a large class of lattice polarizations coming from elliptic
fibrations. Finally, we conclude by discussing the ample and Kahler cones of K3
surfaces, and give some of their applications.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures. (R. Laza, M. Schutt and N. Yui, eds.
On the new economic philosophy of crisis management in the European Union
This essay attempts to go beyond presenting the bits and pieces of still ongoing crisis management in the EU. Instead it attempts at finding the âred threadâ behind a series of politically improvised decisions. Our fundamental research question asks whether basic economic lessons learned in the 1970s are still valid. Namely, that a crises emanating from either structural or regulatory weaknesses cannot and should not be remedied by demand management. Our second research question is the following: Can lacking internal commitment and conviction in any member state be replaced or substituted by external pressure or formalized procedures and sanctions? Under those angles we analyze the project on establishing a fiscal and banking union in the EU, as approved by the Council in December 2012
Dermatological cancer screening: Evaluation of a new community pharmacy service
Background: Skin cancer accounts for one third of all cancers. Prognosis is inversely related to identification stage. Objectives: To describe a novel service, mole scans, performed in community pharmacy, the findings from the first 3.5 years it was in place, and to explore patient acceptability of the service. Methods: Norwegian Boots' pharmacies offer a mole scanning service in cooperation with ScreenCancer. Scans are undertaken within pharmacy consultation rooms. Image interpretation is undertaken remotely by a specialist. Number and result of scans performed from 2010 to 2014 are reported. A satisfaction questionnaire was returned by 10% of participants. Results: A total of 25836 scans were performed on 15777 individuals. Of these, 83.6% had normal scans, 1% had melanoma, and 15.4% had another skin condition. In 2014 the service identified 4.1% of melanoma cases registered in the Norwegian Cancer Registry. Most responders (88%) would use a similar service again. Nearly all (99%) felt the pharmacy was a suitable venue, and 95% would recommend the service to others. In total, 99% of respondents scored their overall satisfaction as âgoodâ or higher. Conclusions: This approach was acceptable among participants who provided feedback. Providing mole scanning through pharmacies enables individuals to obtain a rapid check of moles causing concern, in an acceptable environment with a high level of satisfaction
Lifespan theorem for constrained surface diffusion flows
We consider closed immersed hypersurfaces in and evolving by
a class of constrained surface diffusion flows. Our result, similar to earlier
results for the Willmore flow, gives both a positive lower bound on the time
for which a smooth solution exists, and a small upper bound on a power of the
total curvature during this time. By phrasing the theorem in terms of the
concentration of curvature in the initial surface, our result holds for very
general initial data and has applications to further development in asymptotic
analysis for these flows.Comment: 29 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1201.657
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