Methods, systems, and devices for treating tinnitus with VNS pairing

A method of treating tinnitus comprising measuring a patient's hearing, determining the patient's hearing loss and the patient's tinnitus frequency using the measurements of the patient's hearing, programming a clinical controller with the measurements of the patient's hearing, selecting a plurality of therapeutic tones, where the therapeutic tones are selected to be at least a half-octave above or below of the patient's tinnitus frequency, setting an appropriate volume for each of the plurality of tones, repetitively playing each of the plurality of therapeutic tones, and pairing a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with each playing of a therapeutic tone, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

Evidence for Stellar Streaming in the Cores of Elliptical Galaxies: A Kinematic Signature of Mergers?

We present evidence for non-Gaussian velocity fields within the cores of luminous elliptical galaxies. This evidence is based upon high signal-to-noise, medium-resolution spectroscopy of the cores of early-type members of the Virgo and Coma clusters obtained with the WIYN 3.5-m telescope. The Virgo data were acquired using an integral-field unit (DensePak) allowing the velocity field to be sampled over a variety of spatial scales. The Coma data were obtained through single, 2-arcsec diameter fibers. The cross-correlation profiles of luminous ellipticals show considerable structure, often having several features with amplitudes as high as 10% that of the cross-correlation peak itself. This structure is most obvious within a radius of 1.5 arcsec (at Virgo), or < 100 pc, and is nearly undetectable when the data are binned over R < 15 arcsec, or < 1 kpc. Similar features are found in the single-fiber spectra of the luminous ellipticals in the Coma Cluster suggesting they are ubiquitous to giant ellipticals. Interesting, only the most luminous elliptical galaxies show this phenomena; the central regions of lower luminosity ellipticals have regular, Gaussian-like profiles. We interpret this kinematic structure as ``stellar streaming'' and suggest that this phenomena could be a relic signature of the merger history of luminous elliptical galaxies.Comment: Latex, 5 pages, 2 figure

Oligonucleotide that binds nuclear factor NF-kappa-B acts as a lymphoid-specific and inducible enhancer element

The immunoglobulin kappa light chain gene contains a lymphoid-specific enhancer that includes several short protein-binding sequences. The sequence that binds the nuclear factor NF-kappa B was tested for its ability to act independently as an enhancer element by inserting it into test plasmids containing the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene. When analyzed for activity by transient transfection into lymphoid and nonlymphoid cells, a single copy of the NF-kappa B binding site could act as a tissue-specific upstream activating element. Two copies (dimer) showed 10-fold higher activity than did one copy and could act as an enhancer element 2.5 kilobases downstream of the transcriptional start site. The enhancer activity of this sequence was correlated with the presence of the cognate binding protein, NF-kappa B. This sequence acted as an inducible enhancer under conditions that induce NF-kappa B binding activity. Thus, the NF-kappa B binding site acts by itself as a tissue-specific and inducible enhancer element, and two copies show cooperative interaction

Adjoint recovery of superconvergent functionals from PDE approximations

Motivated by applications in computational fluid dynamics, a method is presented for obtaining estimates of integral functionals, such as lift or drag, that have twice the order of accuracy of the computed flow solution on which they are based. This is achieved through error analysis that uses an adjoint PDE to relate the local errors in approximating the flow solution to the corresponding global errors in the functional of interest. Numerical evaluation of the local residual error together with an approximate solution to the adjoint equations may thus be combined to produce a correction for the computed functional value that yields the desired improvement in accuracy. Numerical results are presented for the Poisson equation in one and two dimensions and for the nonlinear quasi-one-dimensional Euler equations. The theory is equally applicable to nonlinear equations in complex multi-dimensional domains and holds great promise for use in a range of engineering disciplines in which a few integral quantities are a key output of numerical approximations

High-temperature LDV seed particle development

The feasibility of developing a method for making monodisperse, unagglomerated spherical particles greater than 50 nm in diameter was demonstrated. Carbonaceous particles were made by pyrolyzing ethylene with a pulsed CO2 laser, thereby creating a non-equilibrium mixture of carbon, hydrogen, hydrocarbon vapors, and unpyrolyzed ethylene. Via a complex series of reactions, the carbon and hydrocarbon vapors quickly condensed into the spherical particles. By cooling and dispersing them in a supersonic expansion immediately after their creation, the hot newly-formed spheres were prevented from colliding and coalescing, thus preventing the problem of agglomeration which as plagued other investigators studying laser-simulated particle formation. The cold particles could be left suspended in the residual gases indefinitely without agglomerating. Their uniform sizes and unagglomerated nature were visualized by collecting the particles on filters that were subsequently examined using electron microscopy. It was found the mean particle size can be coarsely controlled by varying the initial ethylene pressure, and can be finely controlled by varying the fluence (energy/unit area) with which the laser irradiates the gas. The motivating application for this research was to manufacture particles that could be used as laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) seeds in high-temperature high-speed flows. Though the particles made in this program will not evaporate until heated to about 3000 K, and thus could serve as LDV seeds in some applications, they are not ideal when the hot atmosphere is also oxidizing. In that situation, ceramic materials would be preferable. Research performed elsewhere has demonstrated that selected ceramic materials can be manufactured by laser pyrolysis of appropriate supply gases. It is anticipated that, when the same gases are used in conjunction with the rapid cooling technique, unagglomerated spherical ceramic particles can be made with little difficulty. Such particles would also be valuable to manufacturers of ceramic or abrasive products, and this technique may find its greatest commercial potential in those areas

Deep, wide-field, multi-band imaging of z approximately equal to 0.4 clusters and their environs

The existence of an excess population of blue galaxies in the cores of distant, rich clusters of galaxies, commonly referred to as the 'Butcher-Oemler' effect is now well established. Spectroscopy of clusters at z = 0.2-0.4 has confirmed that the luminous blue populations comprise as much as 20 percent of these clusters. This fraction is much higher that the 2 percent blue fraction found for nearby rich clusters, such as Coma, indicating that rapid galaxy evolution has occurred on a relatively short time scale. Spectroscopy has also shown that the 'blue' galaxies can basically be divided into three classes: 'starburst' galaxies with large (O II) equivalent widths, 'post-starburst' E+A galaxies (i.e. galaxies with strong Balmer lines shortward of 4000A but elliptical-like colors, and normal spiral/irregulars. Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain enough spectra of individual galaxies in these intermediate redshift clusters to say anything statistically meaningful. Thus, limited information is available about the relative numbers of these three classes of 'blue' galaxies and the associated E/SO population in these intermediate redshift clusters. More statistically meaningful results can be derived from deep imaging of these clusters. However, the best published data to date (e.g. MacLaren et al. 1988; Dressler & Gunn 1992) are limited to the cluster cores and do not sample the galaxy luminosity functions very deeply at the bluest wavelengths. Furthermore, only limited spectro-energy distribution data is available below 4000A in the observed cluster rest frame providing limited sensitivity to 'recent' star formation activity. To improve this situation, we are currently obtaining deep, wide-field UBRI images of all known rich clusters at z approx. equals 0.4. Our main objective is to obtain the necessary color information to distinguish between the E+SO, 'E+A', and spiral/irregular galaxy populations throughout the cluster/supercluster complex. At this redshift, UBRI correspond to rest-frame 2500A/UVR bandpasses. The rest-frame UVR system provides a powerful 'blue' galaxy discriminate given the expected color distribution. Moreover, since 'hot' stars peak near 2500A, that bandpass is a powerful probe of recent star formation activity in all classes of galaxies. In particular, it is sensitive to ellipticals with 'UV excess' populations (MacLaren et al. 1988)

Family Factors and School

One of the most overwhelming issues at Eastern Kentucky University is academic retention. In 2013, Eastern had a four-year graduation rate of 23.5%. Each university has a goal to keep academic retention as high as possible. EKU has one of the highest rates of enrollment from students of the Appalachian region, an area of Kentucky that is diverse both ecologically and culturally than other regions of the state. EKU is also known among its students for being a “suitcase school,” a college or university that is active Monday through Friday, but is quiet on Saturday and Sunday due to students heading home for the weekend. This “suitcase” issue could be a result of familial tethering, which is linked to lower university connectedness and lower academic performance, and may be more prevalent among students from an Appalachian culture. A study was conducted to explore possible factors that may influence higher familial tethering (and, thus, more instances of the campus being “suitcased” on the weekends), and an analysis was conducted to see if Appalachian students are more likely to be be tethered to home, and whether familial tethering affects academic retention and performance

Prosecuting Online Threats After Elonis

In Elonis v. United States, decided last term, the Supreme Court vacated a conviction for online threats on the ground that the lower court erred in its instructions to the jury regarding mens rea. In doing so, however, the Court declined to articulate which mens rea standard would have sustained a conviction. It is thus currently uncertain which mens rea the government must prove when prosecuting online threats under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c). The Elonis Court discussed three potential mens rea standards; as universal standards for online threats, each leaves something to be desired. Fortunately, federal courts need not decide which standard is best for all online threats. Instead, they should adopt libel law’s distinction between public and private targets, and similarly apply a heightened mens rea standard when the threatening speech at issue targets public figures (or implicates “broader public issues”). It won’t always be easy, but drawing this distinction will allow courts to achieve the best balance between freedom-of-speech values and the need to prevent intense psychological harm