18,703 research outputs found
Patient's breath controls comfort devices
Patient assist system for totally disabled persons was developed which permits a person, so paralyzed as to be unable to move, to activate by breathing, a call system to summon assistance, turn the page of a book, ajust his bed, or do any one of a number of other things. System consists of patient assist control and breath actuated switch
Resilience: Accounting for the Noncomputable
Plans to solve complex environmental problems should always consider the role of surprise. Nevertheless, there is a tendency to emphasize known computable aspects of a problem while neglecting aspects that are unknown and failing to ask questions about them. The tendency to ignore the noncomputable can be countered by considering a wide range of perspectives, encouraging transparency with regard to conflicting viewpoints, stimulating a diversity of models, and managing for the emergence of new syntheses that reorganize fragmentary knowledg
The influence of normal stress and sliding velocity on the frictional behaviour of calcite at room temperature. Insights from laboratory experiments and microstructural observations
The presence of calcite in and near faults, as the dominant material, cement, or vein fill,
indicates that the mechanical behaviour of carbonate-dominated material likely plays an important role in shallow- and mid-crustal faulting. To better understand the behaviour of calcite,
under loading conditions relevant to earthquake nucleation, we sheared powdered gouge of
Carrara Marble, >98 per cent CaCO3, at constant normal stresses between 1 and 100 MPa
under water-saturated conditions at room temperature. We performed slide-hold-slide tests,
1–3000 s, to measure the amount of static frictional strengthening and creep relaxation, and
velocity-stepping tests, 0.1–1000 µm s–1, to evaluate frictional stability. We observe that the
rates of frictional strengthening and creep relaxation decrease with increasing normal stress
and diverge as shear velocity is increased from 1 to 3000 µm s–1 during slide-hold-slide experiments. We also observe complex frictional stability behaviour that depends on both normal
stress and shearing velocity. At normal stresses less than 20 MPa, we observe predominantly
velocity-neutral friction behaviour. Above 20 MPa, we observe strong velocity-strengthening
frictional behaviour at low velocities, which then evolves towards velocity-weakening friction
behaviour at high velocities. Microstructural analyses of recovered samples highlight a variety
of deformation mechanisms including grain size reduction and localization, folding of calcite grains and fluid-assisted diffusion mass transfer processes promoting the development of
calcite nanograins in the highly deformed portions of the experimental fault. Our combined
analyses indicate that calcite fault gouge transitions from brittle to semi-brittle behaviour at
high normal stress and slow sliding velocities. This transition has important implications for
earthquake nucleation and propagation on faults in carbonate-dominated lithologies
NICMOS2 hubble space telescope observations of the embedded cluster associated with Mon R2: Constraining the substellar initial mass function
We have analyzed Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS2 F110W-, F160W-, F165M-, and F207M-band images covering the central 1' × 1' region of the cluster associated with Mon R2 in order to constrain the initial mass function (IMF) down to 20M_J. The flux ratio between the F165M and F160W bands was used to measure the strength of the water-band absorption feature and select a sample of 12 out of the total sample of 181 objects that have effective temperatures between 2700 and 3300 K. These objects are placed in the H-R diagram together with sources observed by Carpenter et al. to estimate an age of ~1 Myr for the low-mass cluster population. By constructing extinction-limited samples, we are able to constrain the IMF and the fraction of stars with a circumstellar disk in a sample that is 90% complete for both high- and low-mass objects. For stars with estimated masses between 0.1 and 1.0 M_☉ for a 1 Myr population with A_V ≤ 19 mag, we find that 27% ± 9% have a near-infrared excess indicative of a circumstellar disk. The derived fraction is similar to or slightly lower than the fraction found in other star-forming regions of comparable age. We constrain the number of stars in the mass interval 0.08-1.0 M_☉ to the number of objects in the mass interval 0.02-0.08 M_☉ by forming the ratio R^(**) = N(0.08-1 M_☉)/N(0.02-0.08 M_☉) for objects in an extinction-limited sample complete for A_V ≤ 7 mag. The ratio is found to be R^(**) = 2.2 ± 1.3, assuming an age of 1 Myr, consistent with the similar ratio predicted by the system IMF proposed by Chabrier. The ratio is similar to the ratios observed toward the Orion Nebula Cluster and IC 348, as well as the ratio derived in the 28 deg^2 survey of Taurus by Guieu et al
The AdHOC study of older adults’ adherence to medication in 11 countries
BACKGROUND: Compared with the resources expended developing, evaluating
and making clinical decisions about prescribing medication, we know little about
what determines whether people take it. Older adults are prescribed more
medication than any other group. Poor adherence is a common reason for nonresponse
to medication.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate cross-nationally the impact of demographic,
psychiatric (including cognitive), physical health, behavioural and medication factors
on adherence to medication in older adults.
METHODS: Researchers interviewed 3881 people over 65 who receive home
care services using a structured interview at participants’ places of residence in
eleven countries. The main outcome measure was the percentage participants not
adherent to medication.
RESULTS: 12.5% (n= 456) of people reported they were not fully adherent to
medication. Non-adherence was predicted by problem drinking (OR=3.6), not having
a doctor review medication (OR=3.3), dementia (OR=1.4 for every one point
increase in impairment), good physical health (OR=1.2), resisting care (OR=2.1)
being married (OR=2.3) and living in the Czech Republic (OR=4.7) or Germany
(OR=1.4).
CONCLUSION: People, who screen positive for problem drinking and with
dementia, often undiagnosed are less likely to adhere to medication. Therefore
doctors should consider dementia and problem drinking when prescribing for older
adults. Interventions to improve adherence in older adults might be more effective if
4
targeted at these groups. It is possible that medication review enhances adherence,
by improving the patient-doctor relationship, or by emphasising the relevance of
medications
Strain and order-parameter coupling in Ni-Mn-Ga Heusler alloys from resonant ultrasound spectroscopy
Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility experiments have
been used to characterize strain coupling phenomena associated with structural
and magnetic properties of the shape-memory Heusler alloy series
NiMnGa (, 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5). All samples exhibit
a martensitic transformation at temperature and ferromagnetic ordering at
temperature , while the pure end member () also has a premartensitic
transition at , giving four different scenarios: ,
without premartensitic transition, , and .
Fundamental differences in elastic properties i.e., stiffening versus
softening, are explained in terms of coupling of shear strains with three
discrete order parameters relating to magnetic ordering, a soft mode and the
electronic instability responsible for the large strains typical of martensitic
transitions. Linear-quadratic or biquadratic coupling between these order
parameters, either directly or indirectly via the common strains, is then used
to explain the stabilities of the different structures. Acoustic losses are
attributed to critical slowing down at the premartensite transition, to the
mobility of interphases between coexisting phases at the martensitic transition
and to mobility of some aspect of the twin walls under applied stress down to
the lowest temperatures at which measurements were made.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Inventory Investment, Internal-Finance Fluctuation, and the Business Cycle
macroeconomics, inventory investment, internal-finance fluctuation, business cycle
Growth mechanisms of perturbations in boundary layers over a compliant wall
The temporal modal and nonmodal growth of three-dimensional perturbations in
the boundary-layer flow over an infinite compliant flat wall is considered.
Using a wall-normal velocity/wall-normal vorticity formalism, the dynamic
boundary condition at the compliant wall admits a linear dependence on the
eigenvalue parameter, as compared to a quadratic one in the canonical
formulation of the problem. This greatly simplifies the accurate calculation of
the continuous spectrum by means of a spectral method, thereby yielding a very
effective filtering of the pseudospectra as well as a clear identification of
instability regions. The regime of global instability is found to be matching
the regime of the favorable phase of the forcing by the flow on the compliant
wall so as to enhance the amplitude of the wall. An energy-budget analysis for
the least-decaying hydroelastic (static-divergence, traveling-wave-flutter and
near-stationary transitional) and Tollmien--Schlichting modes in the parameter
space reveals the primary routes of energy flow. Moreover, the flow exhibits a
slower transient growth for the maximum growth rate of a superposition of
streamwise-independent modes due to a complex dependence of the wall-boundary
condition with the Reynolds number. The initial and optimal perturbations are
compared with the boundary-layer flow over a solid wall; differences and
similarities are discussed. Unlike the solid-wall case, viscosity plays a
pivotal role in the transient growth. A slowdown of the maximum growth rate
with the Reynolds number is uncovered and found to originate in the transition
of the fluid-solid interaction from a two-way to a one-way coupling. Finally, a
term-by-term energy budget analysis is performed to identify the key
contributors to the transient growth mechanism
Foundations in Wisconsin: A Directory [32nd ed. 2013]
The 2013 edition of Foundations in Wisconsin marks the 32nd production of the print directory and the 13th year of the online version. The directory is designed as a research tool for grantseekers interested in locating information on private, corporate, and community foundations registered in Wisconsin. Each entry in this new edition has been updated or reviewed to provide the most current information available. Most of the data was drawn from IRS 990-PF tax returns filed by the foundations. Additional information was obtained from surveys, foundation websites, annual reports, and newsletters.https://epublications.marquette.edu/lib_fiw/1011/thumbnail.jp
Spin transition in GdN@C, detected by low-temperature on-chip SQUID technique
We present a magnetic study of the GdN@C molecule, consisting of a
Gd-trimer via a Nitrogen atom, encapsulated in a C cage. This molecular
system can be an efficient contrast agent for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
applications. We used a low-temperature technique able to detect small magnetic
signals by placing the sample in the vicinity of an on-chip SQUID. The
technique implemented at NHMFL has the particularity to operate in high
magnetic fields of up to 7 T. The GdN@C shows a paramagnetic
behavior and we find a spin transition of the GdN structure at 1.2 K. We
perform quantum mechanical simulations, which indicate that one of the Gd ions
changes from a state () to a state (), likely due to a charge transfer between the C cage and the ion
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