Five day attachment ECG electrodes for longitudinal bio-sensing using conformal tattoo substrates

State-of-the-art ECG (electrocardiography) uses wet Silver/Silver-Chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes where a conductive gel is used to provide a esistive, low impedance, connection to the skin. These electrodes are very easy to apply, but have a significant number of limitations for personalized and preventative healthcare. In particular that the gel dries out giving a limited connection time. This paper presents ECG electrodes manufactured using the inkjet printing of Silver nanoparticles onto a conformal tattoo substrate. The substrate maintains a high quality connection to the body for many days at a time allowing ECG monitoring over periods not previously possible without electrode re-attachment. The design and manufacture of the conformal electrodes is presented, together with detailed characterization of the electrode performance in terms of the Signal to Noise Ratio and baseline wander. The Signal to Noise Ratio is shown to still be over 30 dB five days after the initial electrode attachment

Construction and evaluation of classifiers for forensic document analysis

In this study we illustrate a statistical approach to questioned document examination. Specifically, we consider the construction of three classifiers that predict the writer of a sample document based on categorical data. To evaluate these classifiers, we use a data set with a large number of writers and a small number of writing samples per writer. Since the resulting classifiers were found to have near perfect accuracy using leave-one-out cross-validation, we propose a novel Bayesian-based cross-validation method for evaluating the classifiers.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOAS379 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The Land and the brand

The Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit at Lincoln University was commissioned to prepare this report assessing the contributions that the agri‐food sector has made to the wellbeing of New Zealanders over the decades and in the present day. The purpose of this research is to indicate how industry‐led initiatives and private‐public partnerships might build on the sector’s historical successes for ongoing economic prosperity into the future. The agri‐food sector continues to dominate the country’s merchandise exports. The dairy sector in 2013/14 generated export revenue of just over $18 billion, followed by meat and wool (more than$8 billion), forestry (more than $5.1 billion), horticulture (nearly$3.8 billion) and seafood (more than $1.7 billion)

Where is the best site on Earth? Domes A, B, C and F, and Ridges A and B

The Antarctic plateau contains the best sites on earth for many forms of astronomy, but none of the existing bases was selected with astronomy as the primary motivation. In this article, we try to systematically compare the merits of potential observatory sites.We include South Pole, Domes A, C, and F, and also Ridge B (running northeast from Dome A), and what we call "Ridge A" (running southwest from Dome A). Our analysis combines satellite data, published results, and atmospheric models, to compare the boundary layer, weather, aurorae, airglow, precipitable water vapor, thermal sky emission, surface temperature, and the free atmosphere, at each site. We find that all Antarctic sites are likely to be compromised for optical work by airglow and aurorae. Of the sites with existing bases, Dome A is easily the best overall; but we find that Ridge A offers an even better site. We also find that Dome F is a remarkably good site. Dome C is less good as a thermal infrared or terahertz site, but would be able to take advantage of a predicted "OH hole" over Antarctica during spring.Comment: Revised version. 16 pages, 21 figures (22 in first version). Submitted to PASP 16/05/09, accepted 13/07/09; published 20/08/0

Complementary patterns of direct amygdala and hippocampal projections to the macaque prefrontal cortex

The projections from the amygdala and hippocampus (including subiculum and presubiculum) to prefrontal cortex were compared using anterograde tracers injected into macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis, Macaca mulatta). Almost all prefrontal areas were found to receive some amygdala inputs. These connections, which predominantly arose from the intermediate and magnocellular basal nucleus, were particularly dense in parts of the medial and orbital prefrontal cortex. Contralateral inputs were not, however, observed. The hippocampal projections to prefrontal areas were far more restricted, being confined to the ipsilateral medial and orbital prefrontal cortex (within areas 11, 13, 14, 24a, 32, and 25). These hippocampal projections principally arose from the subiculum, with the fornix providing the sole route. Thus, while the lateral prefrontal cortex essentially receives only amygdala inputs, the orbital prefrontal cortex receives both amygdala and hippocampal inputs, though these typically target different areas. Only in medial prefrontal cortex do direct inputs from both structures terminate in common sites. But, even when convergence occurs within an area, the projections predominantly terminate in different lamina (hippocampal inputs to layer III and amygdala inputs to layers I, II, and VI). The resulting segregation of prefrontal inputs could enable the parallel processing of different information types in prefrontal cortex

In Vitro Maturation of a Humanized Shark VNAR Domain to Improve Its Biophysical Properties to Facilitate Clinical Development

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding support for this work from Scottish Enterprise [VNAR_001(2012)] and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/K010905/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Deficiencies in Printed FSS Intended for Application in Smart Buildings

Errors occur in the process of digital printing of frequency selective screens using conductive inks. This paper describes some of the defects observed during the printing process and investigates their effect on the resonance frequencies of arrays that might be fabricated in practice. The elements are simple linear dipoles. The presence of the classes of error described would be serious in the case of elements with complex geometries

A comparison of conductive ink usage optimization techniques used in fabrication of epidermal UHF radio frequency identification tags for medical and sensing applications

The aim of this work is to assess the performance of various inkjet printing techniques. These techniques are aimed at optimizing the volume of conductive ink used in the fabrication of inkjet printed Radio Frequency Identification tags. It is also possible that they can be used in fabricating other electronic and electromagnetic devices and structures. Three ink optimization approaches were examined viz. gridded (meshed) designs, conductive area trimming and selective ink deposition. The volume of conductive ink utilized in tag fabrication and the measured on-body (forearm) read range of the tag were used to develop a figure of merit which determined the best printing approach. Although the longest read range was obtained from the tag with 48% conductive area trimming (Trim 1), the best figure of merit, that is, the tag with the best balance between measured read range and utilized conductive ink, was obtained from the tag that had its surface area trimmed by 65% (Trim 2). It is however suggested that optimum use of conductive ink would be achieved with a combination of 65% surface area trimming and selective ink deposition technique

Cerebrovascular Dysfunction is Related to Depressive Symptom Severity in Young Adults

Cerebral vasodilatory responsiveness is blunted in older adults (~70 yrs) with depressive disorders and is thought to contribute to the link between depressive symptomology and increased risk for neurocognitive (e.g., dementia) and cerebral vascular (e.g., stroke) diseases. In young adults with major depressive disorder (MDD), peripheral vascular endothelial dysfunction is present and graded in relation to the severity of depressive symptoms; however, to date, limited investigations have examined cerebral vasodilatory function in young otherwise healthy adults with MDD. PURPOSE: We tested the hypothesis that cerebral vasodilatory responsiveness to a hypercapnic stimulus would be blunted in young otherwise healthy adults with MDD compared to healthy non-depressed adults (HA). Further, we hypothesized, that the magnitude of impairment in cerebrovascular function would be related to depressive symptom severity. METHODS: Ten HA (7 women; 22±2yrs) and 10 adults with MDD (8 women; 22±2yrs; n=5 tested during a major depressive episode) participated. Depressive symptom severity was evaluated with the Patient Health History Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in both HA and adults with MDD. Beat-to-beat mean arterial pressure (MAP; finger photoplethysmography), middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCAv; transcranial Doppler ultrasound), and end-tidal carbon dioxide concentration (PETCO2; capnograph) were continuously measured during baseline (i.e., normocapnia) and rebreathing-induced hypercapnia. Cerebral vascular conductance index (CVCi=MCAv•MAP-1) was calculated at baseline and at the highest common magnitude of hypercapnia achieved by all subjects during rebreathing (∆PETCO2 = 9 Torr). RESULTS: At baseline, there were no differences in MAP or CVCi between groups (both p\u3e0.05). During hypercapnia, there were no group differences in the increase in MAP (∆3±3 HA vs. ∆4±3 mmHg MDD; p=0.78). Further, neither the hypercapnia-induced increase in MCAv (∆29±7 HA vs. ∆26±8 cm•s-1 MDD; p=0.37) nor the increase in CVCi (∆39±12 HA vs. ∆30±12 %baseline MDD; p=0.13) were different between groups. However, greater severity of depressive symptoms was negatively related to cerebral vasodilatory responsiveness (R2=0.219, p=0.04). CONCLUSION: These preliminary data suggest that cerebral vasodilatory responsiveness to hypercapnia is not impaired in young adults with MDD, despite a negative relation between depressive symptom severity and the magnitude of hypercapnia-induced cerebral vasodilation