An Adaptive Feature Extraction Algorithm for Classification of Seismocardiographic Signals

This paper proposes a novel adaptive feature extraction algorithm for seismocardiographic (SCG) signals. The proposed algorithm divides the SCG signal into a number of bins, where the length of each bin is determined based on the signal change within that bin. For example, when the signal variation is steeper, the bins are shorter and vice versa. The proposed algorithm was used to extract features of the SCG signals recorded from 7 healthy individuals (Age: 29.4$\pm$4.5 years) during different lung volume phases. The output of the feature extraction algorithm was fed into a support vector machines classifier to classify SCG events into two classes of high and low lung volume (HLV and LLV). The classification results were compared with currently available non-adaptive feature extraction methods for different number of bins. Results showed that the proposed algorithm led to a classification accuracy of ~90%. The proposed algorithm outperformed the non-adaptive algorithm, especially as the number of bins was reduced. For example, for 16 bins, F1 score for the adaptive and non-adaptive methods were 0.91$\pm$0.05 and 0.63$\pm$0.08, respectively

Occupational health & safety innovations in the hazardous waste remediation industry

As the environmental technology aspects of hazardous waste remediation projects are becoming more innovative, the occupational health and safety aspects associated with these projects have not kept pace. This study was designed to examine a single, long-term remediation project\u27s experiences with this dilemma. Although the project employed a number of traditional strategies to abate occupational health and safety hazards through most of its course, innovations concerning chemical protective clothing, air monitoring/sampling equipment, and the management of physical hazards at the last and perhaps most dangerous site lead to some interesting results. These results suggest that innovative yet practical solutions exist to improve occupational health and safety performance on remediation projects, which is a lesson learned that projects of the future should heed to achieve continuous improvement

Protection of Recreation and Scenic Beauty Under the Washington Forest Practices Act

This comment examines Washington\u27s failure to adequately protect recreation and scenic beauty from the adverse effects of forest practices. It first describes the Forest Practices Act, then discusses the absence of Forest Practices Board regulations protecting scenic beauty and recreation. It then analyzes the preemptive effect of the Forest Practices Act and its interrelationship with other laws and regulations such as the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) and SEPA guidelines, the Shoreline Management Act, and local regulations. The comment concludes that further administrative and legislative action is necessary to protect recreation and scenic beauty in Washington\u27s forests

Development and characterization of a potent free fatty acid receptor 1 (FFA1) fluorescent tracer

The free fatty acid receptor 1 (FFA1/GPR40) is a potential target for treatment of type 2 diabetes. Although several potent agonists have been described, there remains a strong need for suitable tracers to interrogate ligand binding to this receptor. We address this by exploring fluorophore-tethering to known potent FFA1 agonists. This led to the development of 4, a high affinity FFA1 tracer with favorable and polarity-dependent fluorescent properties. A close to ideal overlap between the emission spectrum of the NanoLuciferase receptor tag and the excitation spectrum of 4 enabled the establishment of a homogenous BRET-based binding assay suitable for both detailed kinetic studies and high throughput competition binding studies. Using 4 as a tracer demonstrated that the compound acts fully competitively with selected synthetic agonists but not with lauric acid and allowed for the characterization of binding affinities of a diverse selection of known FFA1 agonists, indicating that 4 will be a valuable tool for future studies at FFA1