2,314 research outputs found
Presentation by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas: College of Fine Arts
Program listing performers and works performe
Stars on the edge: Galactic tides and the outskirts of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal
Stars far beyond the half-light radius of a galaxy suggest the existence of a
mechanism able to move stars out of the region where most star formation has
taken place. The formation of these "stellar halos" are usually ascribed to the
effects of early mergers or Galactic tides, although fluctuations in the
gravitational potential due to stellar feedback is also a possible candidate
mechanism. A Bayesian algorithm is used to find new candidate members in the
extreme outskirts of the Sculptor dwarf galaxy. Precise metallicities and
radial velocities for two distant stars are measured from their spectra taken
with the Gemini South GMOS spectrograph. The radial velocity, proper motion and
metallicity of these targets are consistent with Sculptor membership. As a
result, the known boundary of the Sculptor dwarf extends now out to an
elliptical distance of half-light radii, which corresponds to a
projected physical distance of kpc. As reported in earlier work, the
overall distribution of radial velocities and metallicities indicate the
presence of a more spatially and kinematically dispersed metal-poor population
that surrounds the more concentrated and colder metal-rich stars. Sculptor's
density profile shows a "kink" in its logarithmic slope at a projected distance
of arcmin (620 pc), which we interpret as evidence that Galactic tides
have helped to populate the distant outskirts of the dwarf. We discuss further
ways to test and validate this tidal interpretation for the origin of these
distant stars.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to MNRA
UNLV Symphonic Winds
Program listing performers and works performe
Visuohaptic augmented feedback for enhancing motor skills acquisition
Serious games are accepted as an effective approach to deliver augmented feedback in motor (re-) learning processes. The multi-modal nature of the conventional computer games (e.g. audiovisual representation) plus the ability to interact via haptic-enabled inputs provides a more immersive experience. Thus, particular disciplines such as medical education in which frequent hands on rehearsals play a key role in learning core motor skills (e.g. physical palpations) may benefit from this technique. Challenges such as the impracticality of verbalising palpation experience by tutors and ethical considerations may prevent the medical students from correctly learning core palpation skills. This work presents a new data glove, built from off-the-shelf components which captures pressure sensitivity designed to provide feedback for palpation tasks. In this work the data glove is used to control a serious game adapted from the infinite runner genre to improve motor skill acquisition. A comparative evaluation on usability and effectiveness of the method using multimodal visualisations, as part of a larger study to enhance pressure sensitivity, is presented. Thirty participants divided into a game-playing group (n = 15) and a control group (n = 15) were invited to perform a simple palpation task. The game-playing group significantly outperformed the control group in which abstract visualisation of force was provided to the users in a blind-folded transfer test. The game-based training approach was positively described by the game-playing group as enjoyable and engaging
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Aspiration therapy for the treatment of obesity: 4-year results of a multicenter randomized controlled trial.
BackgroundThe AspireAssist is the first Food and Drug Administration-approved endoluminal device indicated for treatment of class II and III obesity.ObjectivesWe earlier reported 1-year results of the PATHWAY study. Here, we report 4-year outcomes.SettingUnited States-based, 10-center, randomized controlled trial involving 171 participants with the treatment arm receiving Aspiration Therapy (AT) plus Lifestyle Therapy and the control arm receiving Lifestyle Therapy (2:1 randomization).MethodsAT participants were permitted to continue in the study for an additional year up to a maximum of 5 years providing they maintained at least 10% total weight loss (TWL) from baseline at each year end. For AT participants who continued the study, 5 medical monitoring visits were provided at weeks 60, 68, 76, 90, and 104 and thereafter once every 13 weeks up to week 260. Exclusion criteria were a history of eating disorder or evidence of eating disorder on a validated questionnaire. Follow-up weight, quality of life, and co-morbidities were compared with the baseline levels. In addition, rates of serious adverse event, persistent fistula, withdrawal, and A-tube replacement were reported. All analyses were performed using a per-protocol analysis.ResultsOf the 82 AT participants who completed 1 year, 58 continued to this phase of the trial. Mean baseline body mass index of these 58 patients was 41.6 ± 4.5 kg/m2. At the end of first year (at the beginning of the follow-up study), these 58 patients had a body mass index of 34.1 ± 5.4 kg/m2 and had achieved an 18.3 ± 8.0% TWL. On a per protocol basis, patients experienced 14.2%, 15.3%, 16.6%, and 18.7% TWL at 1, 2, 3, and 4 years, respectively (P < .01 for all). Forty of 58 patients (69%) achieved at least 10% TWL at 4 years or at time of study withdrawal. Improvements in quality of life scores and select cardiometabolic parameters were also maintained through 4 years. There were 2 serious adverse events reported in the second through fourth years, both of which resolved with removal or replacement of the A tube. Two persistent fistulas required surgical repair, representing approximately 2% of all tube removals. There were no clinically significant metabolic or electrolytes disorders observed, nor any evidence for development of any eating disorders.ConclusionsThe results of this midterm study have shown that AT is a safe, effective, and durable weight loss alternative for people with class II and III obesity and who are willing to commit to using the therapy and adhere to adjustments in eating behavior
Cluster Hybrid Monte Carlo Simulation Algorithms
We show that addition of Metropolis single spin-flips to the Wolff cluster
flipping Monte Carlo procedure leads to a dramatic {\bf increase} in
performance for the spin-1/2 Ising model. We also show that adding Wolff
cluster flipping to the Metropolis or heat bath algorithms in systems where
just cluster flipping is not immediately obvious (such as the spin-3/2 Ising
model) can substantially {\bf reduce} the statistical errors of the
simulations. A further advantage of these methods is that systematic errors
introduced by the use of imperfect random number generation may be largely
healed by hybridizing single spin-flips with cluster flipping.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
Enrollment factors and bias of disease prevalence estimates in administrative claims data
Considerations for using administrative claims data in research have not been well-described. To increase awareness of how enrollment factors and insurance benefit use may contribute to observed estimates, we evaluated how differences in operational definitions of the cohort impacted estimates of disease prevalence
Rational Drug Design Leading to the Identification of a Potent 5-HT 2C Agonist Lacking 5-HT 2B Activity
The 5-HT2C receptor is an attractive drug target in the quest for new therapeutics to treat a variety of human disorders. We have previously undertaken a structural optimization campaign that has led to some potent and moderately selective 5-HT2C receptor agonists. After expanding our structure–function library, we were able to combine our data sets so as to allow the design of compounds of improved selectivity and potency. We disclose herein the structural optimization of our previously reported 5-HT2B/5-HT2C agonists, which has led to the identification of a highly selective 5-HT2C agonist, (+)-trans-[2-(2-cyclopropylmethoxyphenyl)cyclopropyl]methylamine hydrochloride, with an EC50 of 55 nM and no detectable agonism at the 5-HT2B receptor
Instantons and unitarity in quantum cosmology with fixed four-volume
We find a number of complex solutions of the Einstein equations in the
so-called unimodular version of general relativity, and we interpret them as
saddle points yielding estimates of a gravitational path integral over a space
of almost everywhere Lorentzian metrics on a spacetime manifold with topology
of the "no-boundary" type. In this setting, the compatibility of the
no-boundary initial condition with the definability of the quantum measure
reduces reduces to the normalizability and unitary evolution of the no-boundary
wave function \psi. We consider the spacetime topologies R^4 and RP^4 # R^4
within a Taub minisuperspace model with spatial topology S^3, and the spacetime
topology R^2 x T^2 within a Bianchi type I minisuperspace model with spatial
topology T^3. In each case there exists exactly one complex saddle point (or
combination of saddle points) that yields a wave function compatible with
normalizability and unitary evolution. The existence of such saddle points
tends to bear out the suggestion that the unimodular theory is less divergent
than traditional Einstein gravity. In the Bianchi type I case, the
distinguished complex solution is approximately real and Lorentzian at late
times, and appears to describe an explosive expansion from zero size at T=0.
(In the Taub cases, in contrast, the only complex solution with nearly
Lorentzian late-time behavior yields a wave function that is normalizable but
evolves nonunitarily, with the total probability increasing exponentially in
the unimodular "time" in a manner that suggests a continuous creation of new
universes at zero volume.) The issue of the stability of these results upon the
inclusion of more degrees of freedom is raised.Comment: 32 pages, REVTeX v3.1 with amsfonts. (v2: minor typos etc corrected.
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