Real-time sidewalk slope calculation through integration of GPS trajectory and image data to assist people with disabilities in navigation

People with disabilities face many obstacles in everyday outdoor travels. One of the most notable obstacles is steep slope on sidewalk segments. Current navigation systems/services do not all support map databases with slope attributes and cannot calculate sidewalk slope in real time. In this paper, we present a technique for calculating slopes of sidewalk segments by image data and predict the most suitable route for each individual user through integration with GPS trajectory. In our technique we make use of GPS trajectory data, to identify the sidewalk segment on which the traveler will most probably pass, and images of the identified sidewalk segment. Through edge detection techniques we detect edges of objects, such as buildings, billboards, and walls, in the background. Slope of the segment is then calculated by comparing its line representation in the map with the detected edges. Our experiment result indicates effective calculation of sidewalk slopes

UTILIZATION OF DILATED EYE EXAMS AMONG ADULTS WITH DIABETES

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the utilization rate of dilated eye exams among adults with diabetes, and to examine the differences in receiving dilated eye exams by predisposing, need, and enabling factors. Methods: National survey data from the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Univariate, weighted bivariate, and logistic regression analyses were performed. Independent variables include demographic information. The dependent variable is the receipt of a dilated eye exam. Results: Some characteristics of individuals who were more likely to receive a dilated eye exam include adults 65 or older, non-Hispanic Blacks, individuals with a health plan, individuals who had a physical exam within the past year, individuals with some type of formal diabetes education, and individuals earning at least $50,000 annually. Conclusion: The Andersen Behavior Model that predisposing, need, and enabling factors are positively associated to the receipt of a dilated eye examination was supported. All enabling factors used in our study are strong predictors of receiving a dilated eye examination. Developing effective recommendations and guidelines for dilated eye exam utilization targeting at-risk adults with diabetes may be beneficial for increasing the number of adults with diabetes who receive annual dilated eye exams

Diacetato[N,N′-bis­(2-pyridylmethyl­idene)cyclo­hexane-1,2-diamine]manganese(II) hexa­hydrate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Mn(C2H3O2)2(C18H20N4)]·6H2O, consists of a neutral MnII complex with six solvent water mol­ecules. In the complex, the Mn2+ ion is eight-coordinated in a distorted square-anti­prismatic environment by four N atoms from the tetra­dentate ligand N,N′-bis­(2-pyridylmethyl­idene)cyclo­hexane-1,2-diamine (bpic) and four O atoms from two acetate ligands. The compound displays inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen-bond inter­actions to form various kinds of ring structures and cyclic water clusters

Intensified impact of tropical Atlantic SST on the western North Pacific summer climate under a weakened Atlantic thermohaline circulation

The tropical North Atlantic (TNA) sea surface temperature (SST) has been identified as one of regulators on the boreal summer climate over the western North Pacific (WNP), in addition to SSTs in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. The major physical process proposed is that the TNA warming induces a pair of cyclonic circulation anomaly over the eastern Pacific and negative precipitation anomalies over the eastern to central tropical Pacific, which in turn lead to an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over the western to central North Pacific. This study further demonstrates that the modulation of the TNA warming to the WNP summer climate anomaly tends to be intensified under background of the weakened Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) by using a water-hosing experiment. The results suggest that the weakened THC induces a decrease in thermocline depth over the TNA region, resulting in the enhanced sensitivity of SST variability to wind anomalies and thus intensification of the interannual variation of TNA SST. Under the weakened THC, the atmospheric responses to the TNA warming are westward shifted, enhancing the anticyclonic circulation and negative precipitation anomaly over the WNP. This study supports the recent finding that the negative phase of the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation after the late 1960s has been favourable for the strengthening of the connection between TNA SST variability and WNP summer climate and has important implications for seasonal prediction and future projection of the WNP summer climate

What can one learn from two-state single molecule trajectories?

A time trajectory of an observable that fluctuates between two values (say, on and off), stemming from some unknown multi-substate kinetic scheme, is the output of many single molecule experiments. Here we show that when all successive waiting times along the trajectory are uncorrelated the on and the off waiting time probability density functions (PDFs) contain all the information. By relating the lack of correlation in the trajectory to the topology of kinetic schemes, we can immediately specify those kinetic schemes that are equally consistent with experiment, which means that it is impossible to differentiate between them by any sophisticated analyses of the trajectory. Correlated trajectories, however, contain additional information about the underlying kinetic scheme, and we consider the strategy that one should use to extract it. An example is given on correlations in the activity of individual lipase molecules.Comment: Biophys. J., in press (2005

Migration patterns and winter population dynamics of rice planthoppers in Indochina: New perspectives from field surveys and atmospheric trajectories

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier Masson via the DOI in this record.Rice planthoppers (RPH) are the most serious insect pests of rice production in East Asia, frequently out-breaking in China, Korea and Japan each summer. They are unable to overwinter in temperate East Asia, and summer populations arise anew each year via northward spring migration from south-east Asia. The annual migration cycle is generally believed to be a closed loop with mass returns to south-east Asia in the autumn, but this leg of the journey and the overwintering dynamics are much less studied than the spring immigrations. Previous studies have indicated that the north-central Vietnam (NCV) region is a key location for both the spring colonisation of China and for receiving return migrants from southern China each autumn. However, NCV experiences a three-month rice-free fallow period during mid-winter, and so it cannot be the principal over-wintering region for RPH populations. In this study, the continental-scale migration patterns of RPH in East Asia were explored using data from light trap catches, field surveys and atmospheric trajectory simulations. Our results confirmed that large numbers of return migrants arrive in NCV from southern China each autumn, but that they are unable to survive there over winter. The NCV region is recolonised in the early-spring (mid-February to mid-March) of each year by migrants from winter rice-growing regions in north-east Thailand, southern Laos and south-central coastal Vietnam, which are transported on favourable high-altitude synoptic winds. The following generation initiates the colonisation of East Asia from a large source population in NCV. Our results provide a new perspective on RPH migration patterns and over-wintering dynamics in East Asia, which is governed by crop production, environmental conditions and synoptic wind patterns at a continental scale.National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu ProvinceBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC