Effects of aging on identifying emotions conveyed by point-light walkers

M.G. was supported by EC FP7 HBP (grant 604102), PITN-GA-011-290011 (ABC) FP7-ICT-2013-10/ 611909 (KOROIBOT), and by GI 305/4-1 and KA 1258/15-1, and BMBF, FKZ: 01GQ1002A. K.S.P. was supported by a BBSRC New Investigator Grant. A.B.S. and P.J.B. were supported by an operating grant (528206) from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. The authors also thank Donna Waxman for her valuable help in data collection for all experiments described here.Peer reviewedPostprin

Wheelchair Tire Change

This project consists of a rear wheel wheelchair lift to be designed and created by a Cal Poly senior project team. This project was created for injured veteran Ms. Landeen who has the trouble of tracking mud into her house because of dirty wheelchair tires. The project was presented by the non-profit organization The Quality of Life Plus (QL+) Program. Much like when you remove your shoes coming into your home, Ms. Landeen needs a way to exchange her outdoor wheels for her clean indoor wheels. The expected outcome of this project is a fully functioning device that will safely and effectively allow Ms. Landeen to independently change her tires. The following report details the problem given, background research on current products, initial analysis to define the problem, the ideation process performed by the team, concept and prototype designs, design iteration, manufacturing, design verification, and testing of the final design prototype

Static and Dry Friction due to Multiscale Surface Roughness

It is shown on the basis of scaling arguments that a disordered interface between two elastic solids will quite generally exhibit static and "dry friction" (i.e., kinetic friction which does not vanish as the sliding velocity approaches zero), because of Tomlinson model instabilities that occur for small length scale asperities. This provides a possible explanation for why static and "dry" friction are virtually always observed, and superlubricity almost never occurs

Model of surface instabilities induced by stress

We propose a model based on a Ginzburg-Landau approach to study a strain relief mechanism at a free interface of a non-hydrostatically stressed solid, commonly observed in thin-film growth. The evolving instability, known as the Grinfeld instability, is studied numerically in two and three dimensions. Inherent in the description is the proper treatment of nonlinearities. We find these nonlinearities can lead to competitive coarsening of interfacial structures, corresponding to different wavenumbers, as strain is relieved. We suggest ways to experimentally measure this coarsening.Comment: 4 pages (3 figures included

Dynamical Ordering of Driven Stripe Phases in Quenched Disorder

We examine the dynamics and stripe formation in a system with competing short and long range interactions in the presence of both an applied dc drive and quenched disorder. Without disorder, the system forms stripes organized in a labyrinth state. We find that, when the disorder strength exceeds a critical value, an applied dc drive can induce a dynamical stripe ordering transition to a state that is more ordered than the originating undriven, unpinned pattern. We show that signatures in the structure factor and transport properties correspond to this dynamical reordering transition, and we present the dynamic phase diagram as a function of strengths of disorder and dc drive.Comment: 4 pages, 4 postscript figure

An investigation of dendritic delay in octopus cells of the mammalian cochlear nucleus

Octopus cells, located in the mammalian auditory brainstem, receive their excitatory synaptic input exclusively from auditory nerve fibers (ANFs). They respond with accurately timed spikes but are broadly tuned for sound frequency. Since the representation of information in the auditory nerve is well understood, it is possible to pose a number of questions about the relationship between the intrinsic electrophysiology, dendritic morphology, synaptic connectivity, and the ultimate functional role of octopus cells in the brainstem. This study employed a multi-compartmental Hodgkin-Huxley model to determine whether dendritic delay in octopus cells improves synaptic input coincidence detection in octopus cells by compensating for the cochlear traveling wave delay. The propagation time of post-synaptic potentials from synapse to soma was investigated. We found that the total dendritic delay was approximately 0.275 ms. It was observed that low-threshold potassium channels in the dendrites reduce the amplitude dependence of the dendritic delay of post-synaptic potentials. As our hypothesis predicted, the model was most sensitive to acoustic onset events, such as the glottal pulses in speech when the synaptic inputs were arranged such that the model's dendritic delay compensated for the cochlear traveling wave delay across the ANFs. The range of sound frequency input from ANFs was also investigated. The results suggested that input to octopus cells is dominated by high frequency ANFs

The spiritual distress assessment tool: an instrument to assess spiritual distress in hospitalised elderly persons

BACKGROUND: Although spirituality is usually considered a positive resource for coping with illness, spiritual distress may have a negative influence on health outcomes. Tools are needed to identify spiritual distress in clinical practice and subsequently address identified needs. This study describes the first steps in the development of a clinically acceptable instrument to assess spiritual distress in hospitalized elderly patients. METHODS: A three-step process was used to develop the Spiritual Distress Assessment Tool (SDAT): 1) Conceptualisation by a multidisciplinary group of a model (Spiritual Needs Model) to define the different dimensions characterizing a patient's spirituality and their corresponding needs; 2) Operationalisation of the Spiritual Needs Model within geriatric hospital care leading to a set of questions (SDAT) investigating needs related to each of the defined dimensions; 3) Qualitative assessment of the instrument's acceptability and face validity in hospital chaplains. RESULTS: Four dimensions of spirituality (Meaning, Transcendence, Values, and Psychosocial Identity) and their corresponding needs were defined. A formalised assessment procedure to both identify and subsequently score unmet spiritual needs and spiritual distress was developed. Face validity and acceptability in clinical practice were confirmed by chaplains involved in the focus groups. CONCLUSIONS: The SDAT appears to be a clinically acceptable instrument to assess spiritual distress in elderly hospitalised persons. Studies are ongoing to investigate the psychometric properties of the instrument and to assess its potential to serve as a basis for integrating the spiritual dimension in the patient's plan of care

Photoswitchable Phase Separation and Oligonucleotide Trafficking in DNA Coacervate Microdroplets

International audienceCoacervate micro-droplets produced by liquid-liquid phase separation have been used as synthetic protocells that mimic the dynamical organization of membrane-free organelles in living systems. Achieving spatiotemporal control over droplet condensation and disassembly remains challenging. Herein, we describe the formation and photo-switchable behaviour of light-responsive coacervate droplets prepared from mixtures of double-stranded DNA and an azobenzene cation. The droplets disassemble and reassemble under UV and blue light, respectively, due to azobenzene trans/cis photo-isomerisation. Sequestration and release of captured oligonucleotides follows the dynamics of phase separation such that light-activated transfer, mixing, hybridization and trafficking of the oligonucleotides can be controlled in binary populations of the droplets. Our results open perspectives for the spatiotemporal control of DNA coacervates and provide a step towards the dynamic regulation of synthetic protocells