A Cryogenic Infrared Calibration Target

A compact cryogenic calibration target is presented that has a peak diffuse reflectance, $R \le 0.003$, from $800-4,800\,{\rm cm}^{-1}$ $(12-2\,\mu$m). Upon expanding the spectral range under consideration to $400-10,000\,{\rm cm}^{-1}$ $(25-1\,\mu$m) the observed performance gracefully degrades to $R \le 0.02$ at the band edges. In the implementation described, a high-thermal-conductivity metallic substrate is textured with a pyramidal tiling and subsequently coated with a thin lossy dielectric coating that enables high absorption and thermal uniformity across the target. The resulting target assembly is lightweight, has a low-geometric profile, and has survived repeated thermal cycling from room temperature to $\sim4\,$K. Basic design considerations, governing equations, and test data for realizing the structure described are provided. The optical properties of selected absorptive materials -- Acktar Fractal Black, Aeroglaze Z306, and Stycast 2850 FT epoxy loaded with stainless steel powder -- are characterized and presented

Effect of biofeedback and exercise type on neural swallowing control

The clinical efficacy of swallowing exercises is well established in swallowing literature, and biofeedback has been shown to augment cortical hemodynamic response (HDR) during normal swallowing. This study compared HDR during swallowing exercises with and without biofeedback to HDR during normal swallows with and without biofeedback. Healthy adult participants (n=6, mean age=50.83 male=2) were recruited and trained on the following conditions: normal swallowing, swallowing exercise in which a specific physiological target was given (skilled), and swallowing exercises in which no specific physiological target had to be achieved (non-skilled). Biofeedback consisted of submental surface electromyography (sEMG) signals displayed visually. HDR were recorded using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Significantly increased early HDR amplitude in the biofeedback conditions was observed only in the cortical sensory areas (pp=.07 and p=.61, respectively). There was a significant difference between the HDR of normal swallows and skilled swallow exercises (pp=.07). However, there was not a significant difference between the two exercise types, (p=.72). Our findings indicate that visual biofeedback and skilled swallowing exercises increase the cortical HDR compared to normal swallowing

Referral source and its relationship with the completion of a 12-week intensive outpatient program and continuing care program

Research suggests that employer referrals to addiction treatment facilities play a significant role in the completion of the treatment programs. Individuals who are coerced into treatment with the threat of the loss of their jobs are more likely to continue treatment. Since program completion is important for the long term process, length of time in treatment increases the likelihood the individual will remain abstinent (Miller, 1994). This particular study consists of an examination of a 12-Week Intensive Outpatient Program, followed by an optional, but highly recommend, Continuing Care Program. A statistically significant difference was determined to exist between the completion rates of the subjects who were referred into the 12-Week Intensive Outpatient Program by their employers, as compared to other sources of referrals. Also, employer referred subjects were more likely to complete the optional Continuing Care Program

Algebra Structures on Hom(C,L)

We consider the space of linear maps from a coassociative coalgebra C into a Lie algebra L. Unless C has a cocommutative coproduct, the usual symmetry properties of the induced bracket on Hom(C,L) fail to hold. We define the concept of twisted domain (TD) algebras in order to recover the symmetries and also construct a modified Chevalley-Eilenberg complex in order to define the cohomology of such algebras

An empirical investigation of hypersexuality

The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of hypersexuality and the personality factors associated with the desire for and experience of high frequency sexual behavior. Participants in the study were 69 male and 93 female university students. Respondents reported on their desire for and experience of masturbation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, pornography, indecent phone calls or letters, prostitution, exhibitionism, voyeurism, as well as providing self-report measures which evaluated their levels of state and trait anxiety, depression, obsessive and compulsive symptoms and fear of intimacy. The results demonstrated that subjects who engaged in high-frequency voyeurism were more depressed than low-frequency voyeurs. Respondents in the high-frequency sexual deviant desire and behavior groups appeared to have more obsessive-compulsive symptoms in comparison to the low-frequency deviant sexual behavior and desire groups. Increased psychopathology was not associated with high-frequency non-deviant sexual behaviors and desires. This finding raised the question of whether labels such as sexual compulsion and addiction are merely pathologizing illegal sexual behavior