Hearing aid malfunction detection system

A malfunction detection system for detecting malfunctions in electrical signal processing circuits is disclosed. Malfunctions of a hearing aid in the form of frequency distortion and/or inadequate amplification by the hearing aid amplifier, as well as weakening of the hearing aid power supply are detectable. A test signal is generated and a timed switching circuit periodically applies the test signal to the input of the hearing aid amplifier in place of the input signal from the microphone. The resulting amplifier output is compared with the input test signal used as a reference signal. The hearing aid battery voltage is also periodically compared to a reference voltage. Deviations from the references beyond preset limits cause a warning system to operate

Who is most likely to remain on welfare?

Recent welfare reform legislation imposes a five year limit on federal welfare benefits. This study examines earnings, family structure and race to determine their impact on the associated probabilities of remaining on welfare. Data of families that received AFDC in the first year of a two-year period is analyzed. In the second year, some of these families stopped receiving benefits while others continued on welfare. Based on characteristics from the first year, a logit model develops the probabilities of leaving welfare rolls in the second year. These characteristics include earnings, employment, the average state benefit, age, gender, marital status, children, education and race. The results of the model indicate that low earning, unemployed, unmarried women with children, in high-benefit states are least likely to leave welfare rolls. Findings on education and race show that having a college degree and being black also increase the likelihood of staying on welfare

In the Night, A Song

I wish I had the kind of shadow that would carry my darkness instead of only being its shape

Coalescence, genetic diversity in sexual populations under selection

In sexual populations, selection operates neither on the whole genome, which is repeatedly taken apart and reassembled by recombination, nor on individual alleles that are tightly linked to the chromosomal neighborhood. The resulting interference between linked alleles reduces the efficiency of selection and distorts patterns of genetic diversity. Inference of evolutionary history from diversity shaped by linked selection requires an understanding of these patterns. Here, we present a simple but powerful scaling analysis identifying the unit of selection as the genomic "linkage block" with a characteristic length determined in a self-consistent manner by the condition that the rate of recombination within the block is comparable to the fitness differences between different alleles of the block. We find that an asexual model with the strength of selection tuned to that of the linkage block provides an excellent description of genetic diversity and the site frequency spectra when compared to computer simulations. This linkage block approximation is accurate for the entire spectrum of strength of selection and is particularly powerful in scenarios with many weakly selected loci. The latter limit allows us to characterize coalescence, genetic diversity, and the speed of adaptation in the infinitesimal model of quantitative genetics

Inferring HIV escape rates from multi-locus genotype data

Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) recognize viral protein fragments displayed by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules on the surface of virally infected cells and generate an anti-viral response that can kill the infected cells. Virus variants whose protein fragments are not efficiently presented on infected cells or whose fragments are presented but not recognized by CTLs therefore have a competitive advantage and spread rapidly through the population. We present a method that allows a more robust estimation of these escape rates from serially sampled sequence data. The proposed method accounts for competition between multiple escapes by explicitly modeling the accumulation of escape mutations and the stochastic effects of rare multiple mutants. Applying our method to serially sampled HIV sequence data, we estimate rates of HIV escape that are substantially larger than those previously reported. The method can be extended to complex escapes that require compensatory mutations. We expect our method to be applicable in other contexts such as cancer evolution where time series data is also available

Remedying the Remedy: \u3cem\u3eJohnson v. Uribe\u3c/em\u3e and Determining Prejudice for Sixth Amendment Claims

On November 5, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rehear Kennard G. Johnson’s habeas petition en banc, thus upholding the appellate panel’s decision to vacate his guilty plea for want of effective assistance of counsel, which overturned the district court’s resentencing remedy. The panel worked within the standard of review to establish prejudice during the plea negotiations, which provided not only an appropriate remedy but also a pragmatic framework for lower courts to assess similar claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. In dissent to the denial of rehearing en banc, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski reasoned that the appellate panel abused its own discretion by not showing the proper deference to the district court’s findings and misapplying the test for ineffective assistance of counsel. Ultimately, the Ninth Circuit panel provided a workable Sixth Amendment framework for the lower courts to follow. This framework diminishes the chance that future indigent defendants, like Johnson, will have to suffer the injustice of receiving ineffective assistance of counsel with an inadequate remedy on appeal

Marshall University Music Department Presents a Graduate Recital, Allison Kessinger, flute

https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf/1660/thumbnail.jp