5,646 research outputs found
The hypertoric intersection cohomology ring
We present a functorial computation of the equivariant intersection
cohomology of a hypertoric variety, and endow it with a natural ring structure.
When the hyperplane arrangement associated with the hypertoric variety is
unimodular, we show that this ring structure is induced by a ring structure on
the equivariant intersection cohomology sheaf in the equivariant derived
category. The computation is given in terms of a localization functor which
takes equivariant sheaves on a sufficiently nice stratified space to sheaves on
a poset.Comment: Significant revisions in Section 5, with several corrected proof
Effects of acute lying and sleep deprivation on metabolic and inflammatory responses of lactating dairy cows
Dairy cows that are restricted from lying down have a reduced ability to sleep. In other species, sleep loss is a key risk factor for disease, mediated by changes in metabolic and inflammatory responses. The cumulative effect of lying and sleep deprivation on cow health is unknown. The objective was to determine the effects of lying and sleep deprivation on metabolic and inflammatory responses of dairy cows. Data were collected from 8 multiparous and 4 primiparous lactating cows (199 +/- 44 d in milk, 77 +/- 30 d pregnant; mean +/- standard deviation) enrolled in a study using a crossover design. Each cow was exposed to 2 treatments meant to induce sleep loss: (1) human disturbance (imposed by researchers making noise or physical contact when the cow's posture suggested sleep) and (2) lying deprivation (imposed by a wooden grid placed on the pen floor). Cows experienced a 24-h baseline period (d - 1) followed by a 24-h treatment period (d 0), with a 12-d washout period between treatments. Baseline and treatment periods were imposed from 2100 to 2059 h. Cows were housed in individual pens during the acclimation period (d - 3 and - 2), d - 1, and d 0. Nonesterified fatty acid and glucose concentrations were measured at 0300, 0900, 1500, and 2059 h on d - 1 and 0. Proinflammatory cytokine mRNA [tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-1B (IL1B), and interleukin-6 (IL6)] abundance in whole-blood leukocytes, both nonstimulated and stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, were assessed at 2059 h on d -1 (end of baseline) and d 0 (end of treatment). Nonesterified fatty acids and glucose varied by time of day but were not affected by treatment or day. The abundances of TNF and IL1B from both stimulated and nonstimulated cells were higher following 24 h of lying deprivation (d 0) compared with baseline (d -1). Abundance of IL6 was increased in nonstimulated cells after lying deprivation compared with baseline. In contrast, human disturbance for 24 h did not alter TNF, IL1B, or IL6 abundance relative to baseline levels. These results suggest that a short period of lying deprivation generally increases inflammatory responses but not metabolic responses.Peer reviewe
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Finding Web-Based Anxiety Interventions on the World Wide Web: A Scoping Review
BACKGROUND: One relatively new and increasingly popular approach of increasing access to treatment is Web-based intervention programs. The advantage of Web-based approaches is the accessibility, affordability, and anonymity of potentially evidence-based treatment. Despite much research evidence on the effectiveness of Web-based interventions for anxiety found in the literature, little is known about what is publically available for potential consumers on the Web.
OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to explore what a consumer searching the Web for Web-based intervention options for anxiety-related issues might find. The objectives were to identify currently publically available Web-based intervention programs for anxiety and to synthesize and review these in terms of (1) website characteristics such as credibility and accessibility; (2) intervention program characteristics such as intervention focus, design, and presentation modes; (3) therapeutic elements employed; and (4) published evidence of efficacy.
METHODS: Web keyword searches were carried out on three major search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo-UK platforms). For each search, the first 25 hyperlinks were screened for eligible programs. Included were programs that were designed for anxiety symptoms, currently publically accessible on the Web, had an online component, a structured treatment plan, and were available in English. Data were extracted for website characteristics, program characteristics, therapeutic characteristics, as well as empirical evidence. Programs were also evaluated using a 16-point rating tool.
RESULTS: The search resulted in 34 programs that were eligible for review. A wide variety of programs for anxiety, including specific anxiety disorders, and anxiety in combination with stress, depression, or anger were identified and based predominantly on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. The majority of websites were rated as credible, secure, and free of advertisement. The majority required users to register and/or to pay a program access fee. Half of the programs offered some form of paid therapist or professional support. Programs varied in treatment length and number of modules and employed a variety of presentation modes. Relatively few programs had published research evidence of the intervention's efficacy.
CONCLUSIONS: This review represents a snapshot of available Web-based intervention programs for anxiety that could be found by consumers in March 2015. The consumer is confronted with a diversity of programs, which makes it difficult to identify an appropriate program. Limited reports and existence of empirical evidence for efficacy make it even more challenging to identify credible and reliable programs. This highlights the need for consistent guidelines and standards on developing, providing, and evaluating Web-based interventions and platforms with reliable up-to-date information for professionals and consumers about the characteristics, quality, and accessibility of Web-based interventions
A New Scintillator Tile/Fiber Preshower Detector for the CDF Central Calorimeter
A detector designed to measure early particle showers has been installed in
front of the central CDF calorimeter at the Tevatron. This new preshower
detector is based on scintillator tiles coupled to wavelength-shifting fibers
read out by multi-anode photomultipliers and has a total of 3,072 readout
channels. The replacement of the old gas detector was required due to an
expected increase in instantaneous luminosity of the Tevatron collider in the
next few years. Calorimeter coverage, jet energy resolution, and electron and
photon identification are among the expected improvements. The final detector
design, together with the R&D studies that led to the choice of scintillator
and fiber, mechanical assembly, and quality control are presented. The detector
was installed in the fall 2004 Tevatron shutdown and started collecting
colliding beam data by the end of the same year. First measurements indicate a
light yield of 12 photoelectrons/MIP, a more than two-fold increase over the
design goals.Comment: 5 pages, 10 figures (changes are minor; this is the final version
published in IEEE-Trans.Nucl.Sci.
Development of FTK architecture: a fast hardware track trigger for the ATLAS detector
The Fast Tracker (FTK) is a proposed upgrade to the ATLAS trigger system that
will operate at full Level-1 output rates and provide high quality tracks
reconstructed over the entire detector by the start of processing in Level-2.
FTK solves the combinatorial challenge inherent to tracking by exploiting the
massive parallelism of Associative Memories (AM) that can compare inner
detector hits to millions of pre-calculated patterns simultaneously. The
tracking problem within matched patterns is further simplified by using
pre-computed linearized fitting constants and leveraging fast DSP's in modern
commercial FPGA's. Overall, FTK is able to compute the helix parameters for all
tracks in an event and apply quality cuts in approximately one millisecond. By
employing a pipelined architecture, FTK is able to continuously operate at
Level-1 rates without deadtime. The system design is defined and studied using
ATLAS full simulation. Reconstruction quality is evaluated for single muon
events with zero pileup, as well as WH events at the LHC design luminosity. FTK
results are compared with the tracking capability of an offline algorithm.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of DPF-2009, Detroit, MI, July
2009, eConf C09072
The Evolution of FTK, a Real-Time Tracker for Hadron Collider Experiments
We describe the architecture evolution of the highly-parallel dedicated
processor FTK, which is driven by the simulation of LHC events at high
luminosity (1034 cm-2 s-1). FTK is able to provide precise on-line track
reconstruction for future hadronic collider experiments. The processor,
organized in a two-tiered pipelined architecture, execute very fast algorithms
based on the use of a large bank of pre-stored patterns of trajectory points
(first tier) in combination with full resolution track fitting to refine
pattern recognition and to determine off-line quality track parameters. We
describe here how the high luminosity simulation results have produced a new
organization of the hardware inside the FTK processor core.Comment: 11th ICATPP conferenc
Mental health and the impact of ubiquitous technologies
This Theme issue focuses on the emerging research of ubiquitous technologies to support mental health. So far, the majority of work presented in the field of ubiquitous healthcare has focused on supporting people affected by somatic diseases. However, increasing number of diseases affecting mental health has prompted research on technologies to support people suffering from these diseases. This Theme issue provides a number of examples of research on the potential impact of ubiquitous technologies in the field of mental health
The changes in hepatic enzyme expression caused by selenium deficiency and hypothyroidism in rats are produced by independent mechanisms
Determination of the Jet Energy Scale at the Collider Detector at Fermilab
A precise determination of the energy scale of jets at the Collider Detector
at Fermilab at the Tevatron collider is described. Jets are used in
many analyses to estimate the energies of partons resulting from the underlying
physics process. Several correction factors are developed to estimate the
original parton energy from the observed jet energy in the calorimeter. The jet
energy response is compared between data and Monte Carlo simulation for various
physics processes, and systematic uncertainties on the jet energy scale are
determined. For jets with transverse momenta above 50 GeV the jet energy scale
is determined with a 3% systematic uncertainty
Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters).
Modern exponents of mindfulness meditation promote the therapeutic effects of "bare attention"--a sort of non-judgmental, non-discursive attending to the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. This approach to Buddhist meditation can be traced to Burmese Buddhist reform movements of the first half of the 20th century, and is arguably at odds with more traditional Theravāda Buddhist doctrine and meditative practices. But the cultivation of present-centered awareness is not without precedent in Buddhist history; similar innovations arose in medieval Chinese Zen (Chan) and Tibetan Dzogchen. These movements have several things in common. In each case the reforms were, in part, attempts to render Buddhist practice and insight accessible to laypersons unfamiliar with Buddhist philosophy and/or unwilling to adopt a renunciatory lifestyle. In addition, these movements all promised astonishingly quick results. And finally, the innovations in practice were met with suspicion and criticism from traditional Buddhist quarters. Those interested in the therapeutic effects of mindfulness and bare attention are often not aware of the existence, much less the content, of the controversies surrounding these practices in Asian Buddhist history
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