State of the Heart: Global Trends in Emotional Intelligence 2016

Are We Losing Emotional Intelligence? One finding from the study: Scores on Total EQ (emotional intelligence) continue to decline globally. Since the 2014 State of the Heart, the biggest losses are in the competencies of .... Navigate Emotions -3.3% (maintaining emotional balance)Engage Intrinsic Motivation -2.9% (motivation from the inside)Increase Empathy -- 2.4% (connecting compassionately with others)So, globally people are more emotionally volatile, less self-motivated, and less compassionate -- but maybe they're starting to think more about their choices. Meanwhile, emotional intelligence scores are massively correlated with performance, with 55% of the variation in four key success factors predicted by EQ

Holographic RG-flows and Boundary CFTs

Solutions of $(d+1)$-dimensional gravity coupled to a scalar field are obtained, which holographically realize interface and boundary CFTs. The solution utilizes a Janus-like $\mathrm{AdS}_d$ slicing ansatz and corresponds to a deformation of the CFT by a spatially-dependent coupling of a relevant operator. The BCFT solutions are singular in the bulk, but physical quantities such as the holographic entanglement entropy can be calculated.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figure

National Trends in Health Care Utilization And Disparities in Pediatric Pyogenic Arthritis

OBJECTNE: To detennine the national trends in health care utilization and disparities in pediatric pyogenic arthritis over a thirteen-year period. METHODS: We determined the trends in length of hospital stay, disposition, and total cost for pediatric patients hospitalized with pyogenic arthritis from 1988 to 2000. Patients were selected using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9, CM) codes in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). The NIS is part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). There were 12,925 cases analyzed by age, prematurity, joint location, socioeconomic status, and race. RESULTS: The average length of stay (LOS) decreased from 10 days in 1988 to 5 days in 2000, with whites having a shorter LOS than non-whites. LOS decreased for both whites and non-whites but the difference in length of stay between the two remained constant. LOS was also shorter for patients with a higher socioeconomic status but differences in LOS between socioeconomic classes decreased from 1988 to 2000. The percentage of patients being discharged to home health care increased from 1988 to 2000. Both whites and non-whites had an increase in percentage of patients discharged to home health care but the increase was much greater for whites than nonwhites. Inflation adjusted total cost increased over time. CONCLUSIONS: There was a trend toward decreased health care utilization but no decrease in cost due to pediatric pyogenic arthritis from 1988 to 2000. Disparities between whites and non-whites exist and have not improved over time. Keywords: length of stay I utilization I arthritis, infectious I costs and cost analysis I patient discharge/pediatrics.Master of Public Healt

Manned-Unmanned Self-Organizing Bursty Networks with Biological Nodes

CRUSER TechCon 2018 Research at NPS. Wednesday 1: SensingAn elusive (hard to detect and hard to compromise) fast morphing network composed of cooperative manned-unmanned short living nodes and links, could be a significant force multiplier in providing an asymmetric advantage for emerging urban and coastal maritime combat. During FY16-FY17, sponsored by CRUSER, our research team made initial successful steps in proof of concept experimental studies of short-living projectile-based nodes for multi-domain mesh networking as well as short-living directional links to enable robust elusive littoral mesh networking. Through incremental experimentation, we've explored promising capabilities of integrating short-living nodes with miniature short-living link models to support very temporary connections between nodes of a multi-domain mesh network, enabled by maneuvering UAV formations, small sets of USVs and UGVs, fast patrol boats, and urban area ground units. Integration of biological aerial and ground nodes, such as falcons in the air and canines on the ground, provides a unique opportunity provides a unique opportunity to expand bursty manned-unmanned mesh networks research into the new level of formation autonomous behavior. In this new line of research we explore feasibility and major constraints for falcons and canines to carry on advanced miniature solutions for bursty links and nodes. We explore the falcons capability to serve as fast moving aerial relays for rapidly stretching the UAV-UGV or/and UAV-USV mesh network into the otherwise denied area, negotiate position and distance with closest UAV-UGV-USV-dismounted operator neighbors, and exercise unstructured autonomous behavior to maintain sensing or attack patterns. Similarly, we explore the capability of canines to maintain "canine nose-UAV/Falcon eye" cooperation in stretching the network to mission area, to enable temporary sensor data bursts collection and transfer, and , certainly their ability enhance UAV-UGV-USV mesh network autonomous behavior

Mid-infrared Period-Luminosity Relations of RR Lyrae Stars Derived from the WISE Preliminary Data Release

Interstellar dust presents a significant challenge to extending parallax-determined distances of optically observed pulsational variables to larger volumes. Distance ladder work at mid-infrared wavebands, where dust effects are negligible and metallicity correlations are minimized, have been largely focused on few-epoch Cepheid studies. Here we present the first determination of mid-infrared period-luminosity (PL) relations of RR Lyrae stars from phase-resolved imaging using the preliminary data release of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). We present a novel statistical framework to predict posterior distances of 76 well-observed RR Lyrae that uses the optically constructed prior distance moduli while simultaneously imposing a power-law PL relation to WISE-determined mean magnitudes. We find that the absolute magnitude in the bluest WISE filter is M_W1 = (-0.421+-0.014) - (1.681+-0.147)*log(P/0.50118 day), with no evidence for a correlation with metallicity. Combining the results from the three bluest WISE filters, we find that a typical star in our sample has a distance measurement uncertainty of 0.97% (statistical) plus 1.17% (systematic). We do not fundamentalize the periods of RRc stars to improve their fit to the relations. Taking the Hipparcos-derived mean V-band magnitudes, we use the distance posteriors to determine a new optical metallicity-luminosity relation which we present in Section 5. The results of this analysis will soon be tested by HST parallax measurements and, eventually, with the Gaia astrometric mission.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ, June 27th, 201

Achilles tendons from decorin- and biglycan-null mouse models have inferior mechanical and structural properties predicted by an image-based empirical damage model.

Achilles tendons are a common source of pain and injury, and their pathology may originate from aberrant structure function relationships. Small leucine rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) influence mechanical and structural properties in a tendon-specific manner. However, their roles in the Achilles tendon have not been defined. The objective of this study was to evaluate the mechanical and structural differences observed in mouse Achilles tendons lacking class I SLRPs; either decorin or biglycan. In addition, empirical modeling techniques based on mechanical and image-based measures were employed. Achilles tendons from decorin-null (Dcn(-/-)) and biglycan-null (Bgn(-/-)) C57BL/6 female mice (N=102) were used. Each tendon underwent a dynamic mechanical testing protocol including simultaneous polarized light image capture to evaluate both structural and mechanical properties of each Achilles tendon. An empirical damage model was adapted for application to genetic variation and for use with image based structural properties to predict tendon dynamic mechanical properties. We found that Achilles tendons lacking decorin and biglycan had inferior mechanical and structural properties that were age dependent; and that simple empirical models, based on previously described damage models, were predictive of Achilles tendon dynamic modulus in both decorin- and biglycan-null mice

Determining Accuracy of Chondral Lesion Sizing Methods Prior to Surgery

Background: Osteochondral lesions of the knee may require cartilage restoration such as osteochondral allograft (OCA) transplantation or autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI). Although MRI and arthroscopy can offer valuable information regarding lesion characteristics prior to these procedures, no study has compared the use of each in estimating the sizes of grafts used at the time of surgical correction. Hypothesis/Purpose: To compare osteochondral defect size measurements and characteristics across MRI, arthroscopy, and at the time of implantation with OCA or ACI. Study Design: Retrospective Cohort Study (Level III) Methods: Patients who underwent ACI and OCA transplantation at a single institution between 2015 and 2019 were retrospectively identified. Osteochondral lesion characteristics including size were collected preoperatively from MRI and arthroscopy and at the time of definitive open surgical intervention. Subgroup analysis was performed comparing measurement techniques depending on the corrective surgical approach used as well as depending on the mechanism of chondral injury to determine if these had any effect on the ability of arthroscopy or MRI to predict graft size. Results: Overall, 136 chondral lesions were addressed with restoration procedures in 117 patients (mean age 32.5 years). Average difference between final graft size and lesion area measured with index arthroscopy was 116 mm2, while average difference between final graft size and lesion size measured with preoperative MRI was 182 mm2 (P \u3c .001). Depending on surgical technique, measurements with MRI were more similar to final graft size when a patient underwent OCA transplantation versus ACI (P = .007). Depending on mechanism of injury, MRI measurements of lesions were closer to graft area when lesions resulted from trauma (P = .047). Conclusion: Chondral lesion size determined by preoperative MRI imaging is less accurate than arthroscopic measurements. The mechanism injury leading to chondral damage and degree of damage may influence the ability of MRI and arthroscopy to accurately measure chondral lesions and predict the final graft size used in surgical correction. Future studies may be warranted to further investigate influencing factors that alter the reliability of arthroscopy and MRI in measuring chondral lesions. Magnetic Resonanc

Iterative graph cuts for image segmentation with a nonlinear statistical shape prior

Shape-based regularization has proven to be a useful method for delineating objects within noisy images where one has prior knowledge of the shape of the targeted object. When a collection of possible shapes is available, the specification of a shape prior using kernel density estimation is a natural technique. Unfortunately, energy functionals arising from kernel density estimation are of a form that makes them impossible to directly minimize using efficient optimization algorithms such as graph cuts. Our main contribution is to show how one may recast the energy functional into a form that is minimizable iteratively and efficiently using graph cuts.Comment: Revision submitted to JMIV (02/24/13

N=1 Supersymmetric Product Group Theories in the Coulomb Phase

We study the low-energy behavior of N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories with product gauge groups SU(N)^M and M chiral superfields transforming in the fundamental representation of two of the SU(N) factors. These theories are in the Coulomb phase with an unbroken U(1)^(N-1) gauge group. For N >= 3, M >= 3 the theories are chiral. The low-energy gauge kinetic functions can be obtained from hyperelliptic curves which we derive by considering various limits of the theories. We present several consistency checks of the curves including confinement through the addition of mass perturbations and other limits.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX, minor changes. Eqs. (20) and (42) correcte

Testing Models of Intrinsic Brightness Variations in Type Ia Supernovae, and their Impact on Measuring Cosmological Parameters

For spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernovae we evaluate models of intrinsic brightness variations with detailed data/Monte Carlo comparisons of the dispersion in the following quantities: Hubble-diagram scatter, color difference (B-V-c) between the true B-V color and the fitted color (c) from the SALT-II light curve model, and photometric redshift residual. The data sample includes 251 ugriz light curves from the 3-season Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II, and 191 griz light curves from the Supernova Legacy Survey 3-year data release. We find that the simplest model of a wavelength-independent (coherent) scatter is not adequate, and that to describe the data the intrinsic scatter model must have wavelength-dependent variations. We use Monte Carlo simulations to examine the standard approach of adding a coherent scatter term in quadrature to the distance-modulus uncertainty in order to bring the reduced chi2 to unity when fitting a Hubble diagram. If the light curve fits include model uncertainties with the correct wavelength dependence of the scatter, we find that the bias on the dark energy equation of state parameter $w$ is negligible. However, incorrect model uncertainties can lead to a significant bias on the distance moduli, with up to ~0.05 mag redshift-dependent variation. For the recent SNLS3 cosmology results we estimate that this effect introduces an additional systematic uncertainty on $w$ of ~0.02, well below the total uncertainty. However, this uncertainty depends on the samples used, and thus this small $w$-uncertainty is not guaranteed in future cosmology results.Comment: accepted by Ap