Channel and active component abstractions for WSN programming - a language model with operating system support

To support the programming of Wireless Sensor Networks, a number of unconventional programming models have evolved, in particular the event-based model. These models are non-intuitive to programmers due to the introduction of unnecessary, non-intrinsic complexity. Component-based languages like Insense can eliminate much of this unnecessary complexity via the use of active components and synchronous channels. However, simply layering an Insense implementation over an existing event-based system, like TinyOS, while proving efficacy, is insufficiently space and time efficient for production use. The design and implementation of a new language-specific OS, InceOS, enables both space and time efficient programming of sensor networks using component-based languages like Insense

Do stiffness and asymmetries predict change of direction performance?

Change of direction speed (CODS) underpins performance in a wide range of sports but little is known about how stiffness and asymmetries affect CODS. Eighteen healthy males performed unilateral drop jumps to determine vertical, ankle, knee and hip stiffness, and a CODS test to evaluate left and right leg cutting performance during which ground reaction force data were sampled. A step-wise regression analysis was performed to ascertain the determinants of CODS time. A two-variable regression model explained 63% (R-2 = 0.63; P = 0.001) of CODS performance. The model included the mean vertical stiffness and jump height asymmetry determined during the drop jump. Faster athletes (n = 9) exhibited greater vertical stiffness (F = 12.40; P = 0.001) and less asymmetry in drop jump height (F = 6.02; P = 0.026) than slower athletes (n = 9); effect sizes were both "large" in magnitude. Results suggest that overall vertical stiffness and drop jump height asymmetry are the strongest predictors of CODS in a healthy, non-athletic population

Enhanced Primary Care - A rural perspective

Copyright © 2003 Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.BACKGROUND: The Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) program is designed to promote better management of and improved health outcomes for people with chronic illness. Specific Medicare item numbers provide government funding to encourage general practitioners to take up health assessments, care plans and case conferences. AIM: We investigated elements of the EPC program from a rural general practice perspective. METHOD: Questionnaires summarising experience of EPC for patients and health care providers, undertaken over four weeks at three rural general practices, and observation. RESULTS: The EPC program assisted the management and coordination of care for patients with multidisciplinary care needs. General practitioners were generally positive about the EPC program. The main barrier was the extra time required. The main concern of allied health workers was the lack of appropriate remuneration for their participation. Patients were positive in their responses, but many appeared to lack the motivation and self management skills to take full advantage of the program. DISCUSSION: Strategies seeking to increase the uptake of EPC items need to address efficiency and accessibility, and funding for participating health professionals.Philippa Lewis, Angela White, Gary Misan, Peter Harvey, Jerome Connolly, Joe Noon

Increasing repeat chlamydia testing in Family Planning clinics depends on perception of value and availability of low-burden flexible reminder systems.

Re‐infection after a chlamydia infection is common: 22% of young Australian women are re‐infected within 4‐5months (Walker, et al, 2012). Re‐infections increase the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) by 4‐6 fold (Bowring, et al, 2011). Retesting is an important strategy to detect re‐infection. Clinical guidelines note that repeat testing at least three months after a positive diagnosis be considered. AIM: To understand Australian Family Planning clinicians’ practices and perceptions of repeat chlamydia testing.CONCLUSION: Reminder systems to support repeat testing of positive chlamydia tests had been implemented in some FPCs, with low workload impact. It was too early for evaluation of clinical success. These FPCs could share locally developed systems and positive experiences with FPCs skeptical about their value. This may also enhance awareness of the clinical value of retesting and the consequences of re‐ infection. Audits may help determine if clients are indeed being caught through repeat visits and opportunistic testing

Increasing repeat chlamydia testing in Family Planning clinics depends on perception of value and availability of low-burden flexible reminder systems.

Re‐infection after a chlamydia infection is common: 22% of young Australian women are re‐infected within 4‐5months (Walker, et al, 2012). Re‐infections increase the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) by 4‐6 fold (Bowring, et al, 2011). Retesting is an important strategy to detect re‐infection. Clinical guidelines note that repeat testing at least three months after a positive diagnosis be considered. AIM: To understand Australian Family Planning clinicians’ practices and perceptions of repeat chlamydia testing.CONCLUSION: Reminder systems to support repeat testing of positive chlamydia tests had been implemented in some FPCs, with low workload impact. It was too early for evaluation of clinical success. These FPCs could share locally developed systems and positive experiences with FPCs skeptical about their value. This may also enhance awareness of the clinical value of retesting and the consequences of re‐ infection. Audits may help determine if clients are indeed being caught through repeat visits and opportunistic testing

Uncovering Shakespeare\u27s Sisters in Special Collections and College Archives, Musselman Library

Foreword by Professor Suzanne J. Flynn I have taught the first-year seminar, Shakespeare’s Sisters, several times, and over the years I have brought the seminar’s students to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. There, the wonderful librarians have treated the students to a special exhibit of early women’s manuscripts and first editions, beginning with letters written by Elizabeth I and proceeding through important works by seventeen and eighteenth-century women authors such as Aemelia Lanyer, Anne Finch, Aphra Behn, and Mary Wollstonecraft. This year I worked with Carolyn Sautter, the Director of Special Collections and College Archives, to give my 2018 seminar students the opportunity to produce a sequel to the Folger exhibit of early modern women writers. Special Collections houses an impressive array of first editions from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many of them acquired from Thomas Y. Cooper, the former editor of the Hanover Evening Sun newspaper, who donated over 1600 items to Musselman Library in 1965. Working with Kerri Odess-Harnish, we chose first editions of eight significant works of literature written by American and British women from the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. The students worked in pairs, researching a single book and producing a report that outlines important biographical facts about the author, the book’s publication and reception history, and finally the significance of the book in the years since its publication. We hope that our project will draw attention to the wealth of literary treasures housed in Special Collections at Musselman Library, but especially to these works by eight of “Shakespeare’s Sisters.

Search for radiative pumping lines of OH masers: I. The 34.6um absorption line towards 1612 MHz OH maser sources

The 1612 MHz hydroxyl maser in circumstellar envelopes has long been thought to be pumped by 34.6um photons. Only recently, the Infrared Space Observatory has made possible spectroscopic observations which enable the direct confirmation of this pumping mechanism in a few cases. To look for the presence of this pumping line, we have searched the Infrared Space Observatory Data Archive and found 178 spectra with data around 34.6um for 87 galactic 1612MHz masers. The analysis performed showed that the noise level and the spectral resolution of the spectra are the most important factors affecting the detection of the 34.6um absorption line. Only 5 objects from the sample (3 red supergiants and 2 galactic center sources) are found to show clear 34.6um absorption (all of them already known) while two additional objects only tentatively show this line. The 3 supergiants show similar pump rates and their masers might be purely radiatively pumped. The pump rates of OH masers in late type stars are found to be about 0.05, only 1/5 of the theoretical value of 0.25 derived by Elitzur (1992). We have also found 16 maser sources which, according to the analysis assuming Elitzur's pump rate, should show the 34.6 $\mu$m absorption line but do not. These non-detections can be tentatively explained by far-infrared photon pumping, clumpy nature of the OH masing region or a limb-filling emission effect in the OH shell.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 3 table