Factors for Interactive Liquid Perception in Augmented Reality on Mobile Devices

Augmented reality (AR) is one of the hottest things with Apple and Google trying to capture people\textquotesingle s interests and wonder. Given these new needs, there have not been much on what the best thing to do when creating these experiences. Thus in my work, I investigate the best way to bring believable virtual interactive liquids into the real world . Believability is what the user would feel is a more representative of a liquid in real life even when the liquid is virtual. Therefore, I examine three factors for virtual liquids, namely the dynamics and texturing of the liquid and the real world lighting. This works finds that motion models are the most important factor for humans to believe that the virtual fluid in AR is a liquid regardless of angles. This allow developers to focus on the motion models rather than any other factors when creating new experiences in AR

Gravitational Waves from Preheating in M-flation

Matrix inflation, or M-flation, is a string theory motivated inflationary model with three scalar field matrices and gauge fields in the adjoint representation of the $\mathbf{U}(N)$ gauge group. One of these $3N^2$ scalars appears as the effective inflaton while the rest of the fields (scalar and gauge fields) can play the role of isocurvature fields during inflation and preheat fields afterwards. There is a region in parameter space and initial field values, "the hilltop region," where predictions of the model are quite compatible with the recent Planck data. We show that in this hilltop region, if the inflaton ends up in the supersymmetric vacuum, the model can have an embedded preheating mechanism. Couplings of the preheat modes are related to the inflaton self-couplings and therefore are known from the CMB data. Through lattice simulations performed using a symplectic integrator, we numerically compute the power spectra of gravitational waves produced during the preheating stage following M-flation. The preliminary numerical simulation of the spectrum from multi-preheat fields peaks in the GHz band with an amplitude $\Omega_{\mathrm{gw}}h^{2} \propto 10^{-16}$, suggesting that the model has concrete predictions for the ultra-high frequency gravity-wave probes. This signature could be used to distinguish the model from rival inflationary modelsComment: v1:27 pages and 7 figures; v2: typos corrected; v3: references added; v4: matched the JCAP versio

Characterization of chromatin accessibility with a transposome hypersensitive sites sequencing (THS-seq) assay.

Chromatin accessibility captures in vivo protein-chromosome binding status, and is considered an informative proxy for protein-DNA interactions. DNase I and Tn5 transposase assays require thousands to millions of fresh cells for comprehensive chromatin mapping. Applying Tn5 tagmentation to hundreds of cells results in sparse chromatin maps. We present a transposome hypersensitive sites sequencing assay for highly sensitive characterization of chromatin accessibility. Linear amplification of accessible DNA ends with in vitro transcription, coupled with an engineered Tn5 super-mutant, demonstrates improved sensitivity on limited input materials, and accessibility of small regions near distal enhancers, compared with ATAC-seq

Competition as a Potential Motivator for Blood Donation

Introduction. Investigating motivational factors for blood donation is invaluable to understanding how to increase blood availability. Our study evaluates the perceived effect of competition as an intrinsic motivator for blood donation.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1193/thumbnail.jp

Double Red Blood Cell Donation Eligibility and Interest

Introduction: The process of double RBC donation by apheresis (DRBC), which facilitates the donation of two units of red blood cells (RBC) in a single donation session, was estimated to account for approximately 4% of blood donations in 2005, and is believed to be growing at a rate of 40% per year. Blood shortages in this country could be corrected by converting as few as 10% of current single unit whole blood donors to DRBC donors. Advantages of DRBC donation may include reduction in donor-related exposures in recipients, improved cost-effectiveness of the donation process, and improved convenience for donors. The safety profile of DRBC has been found to be equal to, and in some cases better than that of single unit whole blood donation, especially in young donors (/o). DRBC donors have been shown to restore 92% of RBC volume in 4 weeks without iron supplementation, and to have no significant differences in hemoglobin, serum iron, or ferritin when compared with single unit whole blood donors six months after donation. Our study seeks to quantify the number of current single unit whole blood donors who are both eligible for and interested in DRBC donation.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1031/thumbnail.jp

Differentials and Predictors of Food Insecurity Among Federally Qualified Health Center Target Populations in Philadelphia: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, the prevalence of food insecurity declined in the United States but curiously climbed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a sizable metropolitan area where many households experience food insecurity and are dependent on programs like SNAP. Therefore, we aimed to determine the burden of food insecurity among populations near Philadelphia Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) clinic sites. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in North Philadelphia, a populous and impoverished section of Philadelphia with many zip codes reporting 30-45% or more of the population below the federal poverty line. Students and clinicians affiliated with a local FQHC conducted surveys on residents (n = 379) within 1-mile radiuses of three FQHC sites, using the Hunger Vital Sign™, a validated food security tool. Survey data were collected through door-to-door visits in the summer of 2019. We used simple, age-adjusted bivariable, and multivariable logistic regression models to predict food insecurity with independent variables, including age, sex, language preference, and BMI category. RESULTS: Food insecurity in North Philadelphia was much higher (36.9%) than previously reported in Philadelphia and nationwide. Food insecurity was inversely associated with age (AOR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.00), overweight (AOR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.32, 1.06), and obesity (AOR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.33, 1.09). CONCLUSION: In North Philadelphia, the burden of food insecurity is higher than in the greater Philadelphia area, Pennsylvania state, and the rest of the nation and is predicted by age and BMI of residents. These findings demonstrate a need for more locally targeted research and interventions on food insecurity in impoverished urban settings

Muir‐Torre syndrome appropriate use criteria: Effect of patient age on appropriate use scores

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150503/1/cup13459_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150503/2/cup13459.pd

Variants in WFS1 and Other Mendelian Deafness Genes are Associated with Cisplatin-Associated Ototoxicity

Cisplatin is one of the most commonly used chemotherapy drugs worldwide and one of the most ototoxic. We sought to identify genetic variants that modulate cisplatin-associated ototoxicity (CAO). Experimental Design: We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of CAO using quantitative audiometry (4-12 kHz) in 511 testicular cancer survivors of European genetic ancestry. We performed polygenic modeling and functional analyses using a variety of publicly available databases. We used an electronic health record cohort to replicate our top mechanistic finding. Results: One SNP, rs62283056, in the first intron of Mendelian deafness gene WFS1 (wolframin ER transmembrane glycoprotein) and an expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) for WFS1 met genome-wide significance for association with CAO (P=1.4x10-8). A significant interaction between cumulative cisplatin dose and rs62283056 genotype was evident, indicating that higher cisplatin doses exacerbate hearing loss in patients with the minor allele (P=0.035). The association between decreased WFS1 expression and hearing loss was replicated in an independent BioVU cohort (n=18,620 patients, Bonferroni adjusted P\u3c0.05). Beyond this top signal, we show CAO is a polygenic trait and that SNPs in and near 84 known Mendelian deafness genes are significantly enriched for low P-values in the GWAS (P=0.048). Conclusions: We show for the first time the role of WFS1 in CAO and document a statistically significant interaction between increasing cumulative cisplatin dose and rs62283056 genotype. Our clinical translational results demonstrate that pre-therapy patient genotyping to minimize ototoxicity could be useful when deciding between cisplatin-based chemotherapy regimens of comparable efficacy with different cumulative doses

Appropriate use criteria in dermatopathology: Initial recommendations from the American Society of Dermatopathology

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145218/1/cup13142.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145218/2/cup13142_am.pd