Simultaneous transcranial magnetic stimulation and single-neuron recording in alert non-human primates.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a widely used, noninvasive method for stimulating nervous tissue, yet its mechanisms of effect are poorly understood. Here we report new methods for studying the influence of TMS on single neurons in the brain of alert non-human primates. We designed a TMS coil that focuses its effect near the tip of a recording electrode and recording electronics that enable direct acquisition of neuronal signals at the site of peak stimulus strength minimally perturbed by stimulation artifact in awake monkeys (Macaca mulatta). We recorded action potentials within ∼1 ms after 0.4-ms TMS pulses and observed changes in activity that differed significantly for active stimulation as compared with sham stimulation. This methodology is compatible with standard equipment in primate laboratories, allowing easy implementation. Application of these tools will facilitate the refinement of next generation TMS devices, experiments and treatment protocols

Performance of Glass Woven Fabric Composites with Admicellar-Coated Thin Elastomeric Interphase

Adequate stress transfer between the inorganic reinforcement and surrounding polymeric matrix is essential for achieving enhanced structural integrity and extended lifetime performance of fiber-reinforced composites. The insertion of an elastomeric interlayer helps increase the stress-transfer capabilities across the fiber/matrix interface and considerably reduces crack initiation phenomena at the fiber ends. In this study, admicellar polymerization is used to modify the fiber/matrix interface in glass woven fabric composites by forming thickness-controlled poly(styrene-co-isoprene) coatings. These admicellar interphases have distinct characteristics (e.g., topology and surface coverage) depending on the surfactant/monomer (S/M) ratios used during the polymerization reaction. Overall, the admicellar coatings have a positive effect on the mechanical response of resin transfer molded (RTM), E-glass/epoxy parts. For instance, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of composites with admicellar sizings improved 50 to 55% over the control desized samples. Interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) also showed increases ranging from 18 to 38% over the same control group. Interestingly, the flexural properties of these composites proved sensitive to the type of interphase formed for various admicellar polymerization conditions. Higher surface coverage and film connectedness in admicellar polymeric sizings are observed to enhance stress transfer at the interfacial region.Ye

Estimating Small Area Income Deprivation: An Iterative Proportional Fitting Approach

Small area estimation and in particular the estimation of small area income deprivation has potential value in the development of new or alternative components of multiple deprivation indices. These new approaches enable the development of income distribution threshold based as opposed to benefit count based measures of income deprivation and so enable the alignment of regional and national measures such as the Households Below Average Income with small area measures. This paper briefly reviews a number of approaches to small area estimation before describing in some detail an iterative proportional fitting based spatial microsimulation approach. This approach is then applied to the estimation of small area HBAI rates at the small area level in Wales in 2003-5. The paper discusses the results of this approach, contrasts them with contemporary ‘official’ income deprivation measures for the same areas and describes a range of ways to assess the robustness of the results

Measuring organisational readiness for patient engagement (MORE) : an international online Delphi consensus study

Date of Acceptance: 28/01/2015. © 2015 Oostendorp et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise statedWidespread implementation of patient engagement by organisations and clinical teams is not a reality yet. The aim of this study is to develop a measure of organisational readiness for patient engagement designed to monitor and facilitate a healthcare organisation’s willingness and ability to effectively implement patient engagement in healthcarePeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Tillage and nutrient management influence net global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity in soybean-wheat cropping system

207-214Conservation tillage has proven advantageous in improving soil health and productivity. However, the greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission and intensity from different conservation tillage and nutrient management systems under Indian conditions are less understood. Therefore, here, we compared the effect of tillage and nutrient management on GHGs emissions, net global warming potential (NGWP), and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) from a field experiment under five years in a soybean-wheat cropping system in the Vertisols. The tillage treatments comprised of reduced tillage (RT) and no tillage (NT). The three nutrient management treatments included application of 100% NPK (T1), 100% NPK + 1.0 Mg FYM-C ha-1 (T2), 100% NPK +2.0 Mg FYM-C ha-1 (T3). The results showed significantly higher SOC sequestration under NT (1388 kg ha-1 yr-1) followed byRT (1134 kg ha-1 yr-1) with application of FYM (2.0 Mg C ha-1) (T3) every year. Across tillage, integrated nutrient management(T2 and T3) lowered NGWP and GHGI compared to NPK (T1). The GHGI of NT system was less by 33% compared to RT. The results suggest that GHGs mitigation and sustained food production in the soybean-wheat system can be achieved in NT and RT with integrated use of organic and inorganic fertilizer as the major component of nutrient management

Bianchi Type-II String Cosmological Models in Normal Gauge for Lyra's Manifold with Constant Deceleration Parameter

The present study deals with a spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi-II cosmological models representing massive strings in normal gauge for Lyra's manifold by applying the variation law for generalized Hubble's parameter that yields a constant value of deceleration parameter. The variation law for Hubble's parameter generates two types of solutions for the average scale factor, one is of power-law type and other is of the exponential form. Using these two forms, Einstein's modified field equations are solved separately that correspond to expanding singular and non-singular models of the universe respectively. The energy-momentum tensor for such string as formulated by Letelier (1983) is used to construct massive string cosmological models for which we assume that the expansion ($\theta$) in the model is proportional to the component $\sigma^{1}_{~1}$ of the shear tensor $\sigma^{j}_{i}$. This condition leads to $A = (BC)^{m}$, where A, B and C are the metric coefficients and m is proportionality constant. Our models are in accelerating phase which is consistent to the recent observations. It has been found that the displacement vector $\beta$ behaves like cosmological term $\Lambda$ in the normal gauge treatment and the solutions are consistent with recent observations of SNe Ia. It has been found that massive strings dominate in the decelerating universe whereas strings dominate in the accelerating universe. Some physical and geometric behaviour of these models are also discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure