Key-locked guard prevents accidental switch actuation

Switch guard, which locks in place on a panel, protects individual switches from accidental activation. The guard consists of a cup to cover the switch lever, a standard screw lock tumbler, and a stud that mates with a threaded adapter in the panel

The semantic effects of verb raising and its consequences in second language grammars

This article considers whether highly proficient second language speakers of English can distinguish meaning contrasts associated with constructions where there is a raising be, and constructions where there is a non-raising thematic verb, as illustrated in the difference between (1a) and (1b): 1a. Kim is reading a novel (`event-in-progress/existential ? interpretation

Early Identification of At-Risk LPN-to-RN Students

Nurse education programs are implementing standardized assessments without evaluating their effectiveness. Graduates of associate degree nursing programs continue to be unsuccessful with licensure examinations, despite standardized testing and stronger admission criteria. This problem is also prevalent for LPN-to-RN education programs due to a lack of research on this group of graduates, who by all accounts should be successful in nursing education based on their work experience and prior nursing education. Findings of this quantitative, non-experimental descriptive correlational study are presented to determine the effectiveness of standardized testing from Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) as it relates to identifying at-risk LPN-RN students enrolled in two mid-western private colleges and predicting their success on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®). The sample consisted of 182 students who took the ATI registered nursing (RN) comprehensive predictor assessment between November 2009 and December 2011. Demographic data and scores on the ATI RN Fundamentals Assessment (composite, nursing process, and thinking scores) were compared with performance on the ATI comprehensive predictor and NCLEX-RN® results. Study findings indicate a statistically significant association between the standardized testing scores and pass rates on the NCLEX-RN® examination, but limited relevance of student characteristics

Multi-Task Dynamical Systems

Time series datasets are often composed of a variety of sequences from the same domain, but from different entities, such as individuals, products, or organizations. We are interested in how time series models can be specialized to individual sequences (capturing the specific characteristics) while still retaining statistical power by sharing commonalities across the sequences. This paper describes the multi-task dynamical system (MTDS); a general methodology for extending multi-task learning (MTL) to time series models. Our approach endows dynamical systems with a set of hierarchical latent variables which can modulate all model parameters. To our knowledge, this is a novel development of MTL, and applies to time series both with and without control inputs. We apply the MTDS to motion-capture data of people walking in various styles using a multi-task recurrent neural network (RNN), and to patient drug-response data using a multi-task pharmacodynamic model.Comment: 52 pages, 17 figure

Multi-Task Time Series Analysis applied to Drug Response Modelling

Time series models such as dynamical systems are frequently fitted to a cohort of data, ignoring variation between individual entities such as patients. In this paper we show how these models can be personalised to an individual level while retaining statistical power, via use of multi-task learning (MTL). To our knowledge this is a novel development of MTL which applies to time series both with and without control inputs. The modelling framework is demonstrated on a physiological drug response problem which results in improved predictive accuracy and uncertainty estimation over existing state-of-the-art models.Comment: To appear in AISTATS 201

Multi-Task Dynamical Systems

Time series datasets are often composed of a variety of sequences from the same domain, but from different entities, such as individuals, products, or organizations. We are interested in how time series models can be specialized to individual sequences (capturing the specific characteristics) while still retaining statistical power by sharing commonalities across the sequences. This paper describes the multi-task dynamical system (MTDS); a general methodology for extending multi-task learning (MTL) to time series models. Our approach endows dynamical systems with a set of hierarchical latent variables which can modulate all model parameters. To our knowledge, this is a novel development of MTL, and applies to time series both with and without control inputs. We apply the MTDS to motion-capture data of people walking in various styles using a multi-task recurrent neural network (RNN), and to patient drug-response data using a multi-task pharmacodynamic model.Comment: 52 pages, 17 figure

A controlled trial of the effectiveness of a diabetes education programme in a multi-ethnic community in Glasgow [ISRCT28317455]

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic data have shown that the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes varies with ethnic origin. Type 2 diabetes is up to four times more common in British South Asians than in the indigenous white population. The aim of this study was to develop a culturally appropriate educational intervention programme for South Asians with Type 2 diabetes. We then investigated whether this intervention could produce an improvement, and finally whether any improvement was greater than background changes in knowledge in comparison groups. METHODS: A multi-site prospective, randomised controlled study was conducted in all day care centres and three general practice registers with high proportion patients from different ethnic minority groups in Glasgow, Scotland. The intervention consisted of 18 educational sessions in 6 separate programmes. A modified questionnaire was used to measure the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of diabetes before and after intervention. RESULTS: Baseline assessment showed that Indian and Pakistani subjects had less knowledge about diabetes, regarded the disease less seriously, and had a lesser understanding of the relationship between control and complications than the white population. No differences in initial responses were found between those who completed the second assessment and those who did not. The intervention group showed significant improvements in scores for Knowledge (+12.5%); Attitudes toward seriousness (+13.5%), complications (+8.1%), Practice (+20.0%). However there were also changes in the ethnic control group scores; respectively +5.0%, +16.3% (significant P < 0.001), +1.5%, +1.7%. The single white control group also showed some improvements; respectively +12.2%, +12.4% (P = 0.04), +6.0%, +25.0% (P = 0.007), but the differences in improvement between these two control groups were not significant. Overall, the improvement seen was similar in both intervention and ethnic control groups and there was no significant difference in the amount of change (P = 0.36 CI -0.9 to +2.6). CONCLUSION: This study has shown that conducting a culturally-competent educational intervention in patients with Type 2 diabetes from ethnic minority groups is feasible and can improve their knowledge and attitudes and practice. However there was no net benefit compared with the control group

Quantum Lattice Representation for the Curl Equations of Maxwell Equations

A quantum lattice representation (QLA) is devised for the initial value problem of one-dimensional (1D) propagation of an electromagnetic disturbance in a scalar dielectric medium satisfying directly only the two curl equations of Maxwell. It si found that only 4 qubits/node are required. The collision, streaming, and potential operators are determined so as to recover the two curl equations to second order. Both polarizations are considered.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Illumination-size Relationships of 109 Coexisting Tropical Forest Tree Species

Competition for light is a central issue in ecological questions concerning forest tree differentiation and diversity. Here, using 213 106 individual stem records derived from a national survey in Ghana, West Africa, we examine the relationship between relative crown exposure, ontogeny and phylogeny for 109 canopy species. We use a generalized linear model (GLM) framework to allow interspecific comparisons of crown exposure that control for stem-size. For each species, a multinomial response model is used to describe the probabilities of the relative canopy illumination classes as a function of stem diameter. In general, and for all larger stems, canopy-exposure increases with diameter. Five species have size-related exposure patterns that reveal local minima above 5 cm d.b.h., but only one, Panda oleosa, shows a local maximum at a low diameter. The pattern of species exposures at 10 cm diameter is consistent with two overlapping groups, of which the smaller (21 species, including most pioneers) is generally better exposed. Relative illumination rankings amongst species are significantly maintained over a wide range of stem sizes. Species that are well exposed at small diameters are therefore also more likely to be well exposed at larger diameters, although two species in the most exposed 25% of species at 10 cm d.b.h. drop to the lowest illumination quartile at 40 cm d.b.h., and three demonstrate the opposite (low-to-high) pattern. Species capable of achieving the largest diameters are generally recorded less frequently in shade than are smaller species, even when compared as saplings, suggesting that species achieving large mature sizes are generally shade intolerant when small. Controlling for phylogeny reveals that this relationship holds across independent lineages. We also find evidence that the range of strategies encountered is influenced by disturbance regimes. We interpret our results as indicating a continuum of strategies that reflect an evolutionary trade-off between a species mature size and its general shade-tolerance, in combination with differentiation based on disturbance based opportunities. Species that appear similar can therefore remain ecologically distinct over their lifetimes