A time-strain monitoring system fabricated via offset lithographic printing

This paper reports progress in the development of strain sensors fabricated using the Conductive Lithographic Film (CLF) printing process. Strain sensitive structures printed via an unmodified offset lithographic printing press using a silver loaded conductive ink have been deposited concurrently with circuit interconnect, to form an electronic smart packaging system. A system populated with SMT components has proven successful in interpreting and logging deformation incidences subjected to a package during testing. It is proposed that with further development such a system could be printed in sync with packaging graphics using a single printing process to form an integrated time – strain monitoring system

Characterization of lithographically printed resistive strain gauges

This paper reports progress in sensor fabrication by the conductive lithographic film (CLF) printing process. Work describing strain-sensitive structures manufactured using a modified printing process and conductive inks is addressed. The performance of a "single-ink" strain-sensitive structure when printed on six alternative substrates (GlossArt, PolyArt, Teslin, Mylar C, Melinex, and Kapton) is analyzed. Though not intending to compete with conventional gauges in high-tolerance measurement, the structures exhibit properties that indicate suitability for novel applications

Conductive lithographic film fabricated resistive strain gauges

This paper reports progress in sensor fabrication by the conductive lithographic film (CLF) printing process. Work describing strain sensitive structures manufactured using a modified printing process and conductive inks are addressed. The performance of a 'single ink' strain sensitive structure when printed on six alternative polymer substrates (GlossArt, PolyArt, Teslin, Mylar C, Mylar and Kapton) is analysed. Though not intending to compete with conventional gauges in high tolerance measurement, the structures exhibit properties that indicate suitability for novel applications

Prepotency in action: Does children?s knowledge of an artifact affect their ability to inhibit acting on it?

Prepotent actions are actions that are strongly triggered by the environment and so tend to be carried out unless intentionally avoided. Understanding what makes an action prepotent is central to an understanding of inhibitory control. The current study investigated actions made on artifacts because in artifact-dense cultures much everyday behavior is focused on them. A total of 80 3-year-olds were tested on a Go/No-go task that required children to make an action on go trials and to withhold it on no-go trials. These actions were made on artifacts with which the actions were either associated (e.g., drawing with a crayon) or unassociated (e.g., drawing with a hammer). Failure to avoid the go action on no-go trials was taken as evidence that the action was prepotent. Results suggested that an action did not need to be associated with an artifact in order for it to be prepotent (so drawing with a hammer could be prepotent). However, associated actions were sometimes produced even when children had been instructed to make an unassociated action. Children sometimes drew with a crayon when told to hammer with it, but they never hammered when told to draw

The compact, ∼1 kpc host galaxy of a quasar at a redshift of 7.1

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the [C ii] fine-structure line and the underlying far-infrared (FIR) dust continuum emission in J1120+0641, the most distant quasar currently known ($z=7.1$). We also present observations targeting the CO(2–1), CO(7–6), and [C i] 369 μm lines in the same source obtained at the Very Large Array and Plateau de Bure Interferometer. We find a [C ii] line flux of ${F}_{[{\rm{C}}{\rm{II}}]}=1.11\pm 0.10$ Jy $\mathrm{km}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}$ and a continuum flux density of ${S}_{227\mathrm{GHz}}=0.53\pm 0.04$ mJy beam−1, consistent with previous unresolved measurements. No other source is detected in continuum or [C ii] emission in the field covered by ALMA (~ 25''). At the resolution of our ALMA observations (0farcs23, or 1.2 kpc, a factor of ~70 smaller beam area compared to previous measurements), we find that the majority of the emission is very compact: a high fraction (~80%) of the total line and continuum flux is associated with a region 1–1.5 kpc in diameter. The remaining ~20% of the emission is distributed over a larger area with radius lesssim4 kpc. The [C ii] emission does not exhibit ordered motion on kiloparsec scales: applying the virial theorem yields an upper limit on the dynamical mass of the host galaxy of $(4.3\pm 0.9)\times {10}^{10}$ ${M}_{\odot }$, only ~20 × higher than the central black hole (BH). The other targeted lines (CO(2–1), CO(7–6), and [C i]) are not detected, but the limits of the line ratios with respect to the [C ii] emission imply that the heating in the quasar host is dominated by star formation, and not by the accreting BH. The star formation rate (SFR) implied by the FIR continuum is 105–340 ${M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1}$, with a resulting SFR surface density of ~100–350 ${M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1}$ kpc−2, well below the value for Eddington-accretion-limited star formation

Effects of Photobiomodulation Therapy on Regulation of Myogenic Regulatory Factor mRNA Expression In Vivo: A Systematic Review

Non-invasive promotion of myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs), through photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), may be a viable method of facilitating skeletal muscle regeneration post-injury, given the importance of MRF in skeletal muscle regeneration. The aim of this systematic review was to collate current evidence, identifying key themes and changes in expression of MRF in in vivo models. Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane databases were systematically searched and identified 1459 studies, of which 10 met the inclusion criteria. Myogenic determination factor was most consistently regulated in response to PBMT treatment, and the expression of remaining MRFs was heterogenous. All studies exhibited a high risk of bias, primarily due to lack of blinding in PBMT application and MRF analysis. Our review suggests that the current evidence base for MRF expression from PBMT is highly variable. Future research should focus on developing a robust methodology for determining the effect of laser therapy on MRF expression, as well as long-term assessment of skeletal muscle regeneration

Travel Surveys: Measuring compliance over an eight week GPS survey

Data on people’s travel behaviour is typically collected using travel questionnaires, travel diaries or Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI). These methods are time consuming for the participant and involve the participant recalling their travel information. This creates problems because human recall is often less than perfect. If the data recall element of a survey could be eliminated it could reduce human error and the burden placed on the participant to remember what they did. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology offers a possible solution as the participants’ movements are automatically recorded. This paper aims to explore the burden experienced by participants of a GPS-survey, of 8 weeks duration and to examine the compliance rates of those participants over the duration of the survey time. A better understanding of burden and compliance is important for survey design. These will affect our recruitment strategies, choice of sample size and sampling strategy and survey protocols

Fast and flexible selection with a single switch

Selection methods that require only a single-switch input, such as a button click or blink, are potentially useful for individuals with motor impairments, mobile technology users, and individuals wishing to transmit information securely. We present a single-switch selection method, "Nomon," that is general and efficient. Existing single-switch selection methods require selectable options to be arranged in ways that limit potential applications. By contrast, traditional operating systems, web browsers, and free-form applications (such as drawing) place options at arbitrary points on the screen. Nomon, however, has the flexibility to select any point on a screen. Nomon adapts automatically to an individual's clicking ability; it allows a person who clicks precisely to make a selection quickly and allows a person who clicks imprecisely more time to make a selection without error. Nomon reaps gains in information rate by allowing the specification of beliefs (priors) about option selection probabilities and by avoiding tree-based selection schemes in favor of direct (posterior) inference. We have developed both a Nomon-based writing application and a drawing application. To evaluate Nomon's performance, we compared the writing application with a popular existing method for single-switch writing (row-column scanning). Novice users wrote 35% faster with the Nomon interface than with the scanning interface. An experienced user (author TB, with > 10 hours practice) wrote at speeds of 9.3 words per minute with Nomon, using 1.2 clicks per character and making no errors in the final text.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, presented at NIPS 2009 Mini-symposi

Importance of Variant Interpretation in Whole-Exome Molecular Autopsy: Population-Based Case Series.

BACKGROUND: Potentially lethal cardiac channelopathies/cardiomyopathies may underlie a substantial portion of sudden unexplained death in the young (SUDY). The whole-exome molecular autopsy represents the latest approach to postmortem genetic testing for SUDY. However, proper variant adjudication in the setting of SUDY can be challenging. METHODS: From January 2012 through December 2013, 25 consecutive cases of SUDY from 1 to 40 years of age (average age at death 27±5.7 years; 13 white, 12 black) from Cook County, Illinois, were referred after a negative (n=16) or equivocal (n=9) conventional autopsy. A whole-exome molecular autopsy with analysis of 99 sudden death-susceptibility genes was performed. The predicted pathogenicity of ultrarare, nonsynonymous variants was determined using the American College of Medical Genetics guidelines. RESULTS: Overall, 27 ultrarare nonsynonymous variants were seen in 16/25 (64%) victims of SUDY. Among black individuals, 9/12 (75%) had an ultrarare nonsynonymous variant compared with 7/13 (54%) white individuals. Of the 27 variants, 10 were considered pathogenic or likely pathogenic in 7/25 (28%) individuals in accordance with the American College of Medical Genetics guidelines. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants were identified in 5/16 (31%) of autopsy-negative cases and in 2/6 (33%) victims of SUDY with equivocal findings of cardiomyopathy. Overall, 6 pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in 4/25 (16%) cases were congruent with the phenotypic findings at autopsy and therefore considered clinically actionable. CONCLUSIONS: Whole-exome molecular autopsy with gene-specific surveillance is an effective approach for the detection of potential pathogenic variants in SUDY cases. However, systematic variant adjudication is crucial to ensure accurate and proper care for surviving family members

Novel Characteristics of Valveless Pumping

This study investigates the occurrence of valveless pumping in a fluidfilled system consisting of two open tanks connected by an elastic tube. We show that directional flow can be achieved by introducing a periodic pinching applied at an asymmetrical location along the tube, and that the flow direction depends on the pumping frequency. We propose a relation between wave propagation velocity, tube length, and resonance frequencies associated with shifts in the pumping direction using numerical simulations. The eigenfrequencies of the system are estimated from the linearized system, and we show that these eigenfrequencies constitute the resonance frequencies and the horizontal slope frequencies of the system; 'horizontal slope frequency' being a new concept. A simple model is suggested, explaining the effect of the gravity driven part of the oscillation observed in response to the tank and tube diameter changes. Results are partly compared with experimental findings.Art. no. 22450