Walk detection using pulse-Doppler radar

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 8, 2013).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. James KellerIncludes bibliographical references.M.S. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."December 2012"Seniors increasingly live more independent lifestyles. This can come with certain safety hazards including deteriorating health, and major injuries from falling. A factor that has been researched and observed to have a relationship to fall risk is changes in walking speed. In an ongoing interdisciplinary research effort at the University of Missouri, one goal is to provide a non-intrusive methodology to perform fall risk assessment on a daily basis for elders. As mentioned, an integral component of fall risk assessment is the determination of walking speed. This thesis will cover methods of using pulse-Doppler radar to detect when walks occur in an elder's apartment. In the future, these walks can then be used for gait analysis. The proposed method of finding walks was tested on data collected in a lab and in assisted living apartments at TigerPlace

The introduction of an holistic design approach through a teaching company scheme

Traditional design approaches separate the various functions of design such as material selection, performance modelling and tolerance specification into discrete entities. Whilst this allows more focused methods to be used at each stage, areas of conflict or benefit may be overlooked, and the designer is left to bring the loose ends together. This paper looks at a synthesis approach that draws upon a number of current design themes. The design process is considered along with various aspects such as product development, design-for-`X' methodologies and material selection. The need for the preservation of design knowledge and reasoning, the so called wh-? questions, within the process are considered along with various models of the design process. The paper draws these various aspects together to form a more holistic approach to design. The application of this technique within the Teaching Company Scheme is briefly discussed

Engagement in group sex among geosocial networking (GSN) mobile application-using men who have sex with men (MSM)

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) remain the group most affected by the HIV epidemic in the United States. At least one-quarter of MSM report engagement in group sex events (GSEs), which can pose a risk for HIV transmission and acquisition. In this study, we sought to identify event-level correlates of sexual and drug use behaviors at GSEs to better inform prevention activities. Methods: For this study, we recruited participants via banner and pop-up advertisements placed on a geosocial networking mobile phone application for MSM to meet. Results: Of the 1,997 individuals who completed the study screener, 36.0% reported participating in at least one GSE in the prior year. In multivariable logistic regression, attendance at a GSE in the past year was significantly associated with older age, full/part time employment, and being HIV-positive. Of the men who attended a GSE, more than half reported condomless anal sex (CAS) with at least one of their partners (insertive: 57.7%; receptive: 56.3%). MSM who indicated drug use had significantly higher odds of having insertive CAS (odds ratio (OR) = 2.45; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.37, 4.39) and receptive CAS (OR = 3.60; 95% CI: 1.96, 6.63) at their last GSE. Conclusions: The high prevalence of HIV-positive MSM engaging in group sex, coupled with their greater odds of CAS, poses a significant risk for HIV/STI transmission within the group sex setting. More research is needed to determine patterns of condom use at these events, and whether seroadaptive behaviors are driving CAS

Young Schema Questionnaire – Short Form Version 3 (YSQ-S3): Preliminary validation in older adults

© 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Objectives: The aim of the current study was to establish the reliability and validity of one of the most used schema questionnaires, Young Schema Questionnaire Short Form Version 3 (YSQ-S3) in older adults. Method: 104 participants aged 60–84 years were recruited. They were administered a battery of questionnaires, including the YSQ-S3, Young-Atkinson Mode Inventory (YAMI), Germans (Personality) Screener, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) and the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS). The YSQ-S3 was completed a second time by 83 participants a median of 12 days later. Results: Satisfactory internal consistency reliability was found for 13 of the 18 early maladaptive schemas (EMS) of the YSQ-S3. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory for 17 of 18 EMS. Convergent validity was evident from significant correlations between the EMS of the YSQ-S3 and the vulnerable child and angry child schema modes from the YAMI. Congruent validity was evident from correlations of the majority of the EMS with the GDS, the GAI, German's (Personality) Screener and the BPNS measure. Conclusions: By and large the YSQ-S3 demonstrates internal and test re-test reliability in as well as congruent and convergent validity, in older adults. This suggests the YSQ-S3 may be of use in work establishing the utility of schema therapy in this population, and that schema therapy with older people warrants further exploration. Notwithstanding this some re-development of some EMS items appears to be required for the YSQ-S3 to be more relevant to older people

Schema in older adults: does the schema mode model apply?

BACKGROUND: The relevance of schema theory to psychopathology, in particular personality disorder, in younger adults is established. Investigations into the relevance of schema theory to older adults, however, is highly limited. AIMS: To consider the relationship of schema modes to psychopathology in older adults and establish whether maladaptive schema modes are associated with unmet needs and that this relationship is mediated by the healthy adult mode of responding in this population. METHOD: One hundred and four older adults were recruited from an established database. Participants completed questionnaires assessing psychopathology, schema modes (YAMI: Young-Atkinson Mode Inventory) and basic psychological needs (BPNS: Basic Psychological Needs Scale - autonomy, competence and relatedness). Ninety-four responses were included after applying exclusion criteria. RESULTS: The healthy adult schema mode was found to be associated with reduced psychopathology, and maladaptive child modes (angry and vulnerable child) to increased psychopathology. The healthy adult schema mode mediated the relationship between maladaptive child modes and needs satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: As predicted by schema theory, the presence of one of the maladaptive child modes makes it difficult for an older individual to have their needs met, but the presence of healthy adult mode works to support this process

Production and Environmental Influences on Soybean Isoflavone Type and Concentration

Environmental conditions can have major impacts on the production of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] metabolites. In two studies, isoflavone type and concentration of soybean seed tissue was evaluated. Study one evaluated the effects of treatments with lactofen; weed control (WC) and white-mold suppression (WM) rates and timings of 217 g ai ha superscript -1 applied at the V1 stage and 122 g ai ha superscript -1 applied at the V5-R1 stages, respectively. Leaf tissue isoflavone concentration for post-lactofen treated leaf tissue was 26% higher for total soybean treated with WC than WM. Yield was unaffected by lactofen treatments, but double crop (DC) averages were ~16% higher than full season (FS). The highest concentrations of seed isoflavones for DC and FS were malonyldaidzin and malonylgenistin. The damage caused to the leaf tissue by lactofen applications did not result in a change in the seed isoflavone concentrations, individually or quantified as total isoflavone. While the Lactofen treatments did not show an effect on isoflavone type and concentration with respect to application timing for the seed tissue, the consistency of the relative isoflavone concentrations for seed are important for cultivar selection. The second study focused on cultivar differences and interaction with elevated tropospheric ozone concentrations. Four cultivars were grown in the field in open-top chambers and fumigated with either carbon filtered (CF) or ozone (O sub 3) enriched air. The two beta-glucosides, daidzin and genistin, and their Malonyl forms, plus one aglycone, genistein were present at detectable levels. The levels of the isoflavones daidzin, malonyldaidzin, malonylgenistin, and genistein were reduced for the seeds produced in O sub 3, 25, 19, 15, and 11%, respectively. Genistin levels were not significantly different, but the data did trend toward lower concentrations for the O sub 3 AQT. Genistein was the only aglycone detected. Williams 82 ranked consistently higher in levels of isoflavones, in some cases regardless of the AQT, than the other cultivars. Cultivar selection is important for the production of high isoflavone soybeans near urban centers. The affects of production and environmental influences on soybean seed isoflavone type and concentration are variable and should be evaluated independently. Total isoflavone concentration is the best measure of overall cultivar isoflavone production

Voices in Exile: Sandra Lorenzano's Saudades and María Teresa Andruetto's Lengua madre

Exile serves as a major theme in two contemporary Argentine novels: Sandra Lorenzano's Saudades (2007) and María Teresa Andruetto's Lengua madre (2010). Both have connections to the Dirty War (Guerra Sucia), and as writing responding to state-sponsored torture, they explore memory, re-creation of the past, and identity. Saudades presents victims of violence and uprooting, following Jews in various centuries, immigrants seeking economic opportunity, and Argentines fleeing military abuse of power. Lengua madre, through letters, explores the lives of protagonists who suffer exile and insilio, the effects of which are mostly visible within linguistic forms of ownership, verbal tenses, and points of view that determine word choice, meaning, and ultimately identity. In both novels, language reveals the effects of exile and calls into question collective response to historical events, and the fractured reality of time and place influences the linguistics of location and identity.Master of Art

THE DESERT IN MARÍA TERESA ANDRUETTO: A LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE SPACE

The desert serves as a crucible for processing and creating truth in the novels, novellas, and short stories by Argentine writer María Teresa Andruetto (b. 1954). Simultaneously a literal and figurative space, the desert embodies Argentine history and economic development with particular focus on the northwest and Patagonia. Response to political turmoil and the introspective search for identity and family coalesce as we view protagonists encountering frontiers; coupled with alterity, gender, and language, this results in a new amalgamation that is a retelling of Esteban Echeverría’s “La cautiva.” The first chapter of this dissertation analyzes spaces as both literal and figurative oases, the interior as a microcosm of Argentina, and movement within the desert related to border crossing. The second chapter presents a macro-level view of geopolitics that focuses on an alternative reading of history in the desert, and the veracity of claims and truth are under a microscope in a manner that questions the official discourse of the Dirty War, as well as the creation of a national mythos. In the final chapter, the sexualized and gendered—but not sensual—queering of bodies, time, and space all connect with linguistic transgressions that break down past, present, and future; this results in a new, nationalized vision of the cautiva, the woman who crosses borders and who challenges a singular, patriarchal view of Argentina.Doctor of Philosoph

Design, Assembly, Calibration, and Measurement of an Augmented Reality Haploscope

A haploscope is an optical system which produces a carefully controlled virtual image. Since the development of Wheatstone's original stereoscope in 1838, haploscopes have been used to measure perceptual properties of human stereoscopic vision. This paper presents an augmented reality (AR) haploscope, which allows the viewing of virtual objects superimposed against the real world. Our lab has used generations of this device to make a careful series of perceptual measurements of AR phenomena, which have been described in publications over the previous 8 years. This paper systematically describes the design, assembly, calibration, and measurement of our AR haploscope. These methods have been developed and improved in our lab over the past 10 years. Despite the fact that 180 years have elapsed since the original report of Wheatstone's stereoscope, we have not previously found a paper that describes these kinds of details.Comment: Accepted and presented at the IEEE VR 2018 Workshop on Perceptual and Cognitive Issues in AR (PERCAR); pre-print versio