L-menthol: An emerging athletic performance enhancing aid

Background: L-menthol is an emerging athletic performance-enhancing aid. This review serves as an analytic report of existing controlled trials in the scientific literature that have investigated this compound as a sports aid when administered via the novel method of mouth rinsing followed by expectoration. Methods: Data on menthol mouth rinsing was sourced from EBSCO PowerSearch, Medline, and NCBI. In addition to a systematic review of existing literature, the current review outlines a detailed protocol to evaluate menthol mouth rinsing on a treadmill time-to-exhaustion test. This protocol adds an additional feature of conducting blood work examining any changes in energy substrate availability subsequent to menthol mouth swirling. It will also provide further investigation on whether a pre-exercise mouth rinse administration is sufficient to elicit an ergogenic response, which could then be compared to protocols that implemented more frequent mouth rinsing intervals. Results: Nine controlled trials involving menthol mouth rinsing were found. Data showed that menthol mouth rinsing could provide ergogenic effects when used in heated environments by non-heat acclimated individuals. What exactly causes these ergogenic effects is still not fully known, but it is predicted that menthol activates and then desensitizes ion channels in the mouth known as Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel Subfamily M Member 8 (TRPM8) that subsequently result in a feeling of coolness, while also reducing thermal discomfort and improving breathing comfort. It is still inconclusive whether administration is best prior to exercise, at different intervals throughout an activity, in the latter stages of exercise, or a combination of all. Conclusion: L-menthol is a promising ergogenic aid and swirling it might provide a practical aid for athletes that train and compete in heated environment

Robust Distributed Averaging on Networks with Adversarial Intervention

We study the interaction between a network designer and an adversary over a dynamical network. The network consists of nodes performing continuous-time distributed averaging. The goal of the network designer is to assist the nodes reach consensus by changing the weights of a limited number of links in the network. Meanwhile, an adversary strategically disconnects a set of links to prevent the nodes from converging. We formulate two problems to describe this competition where the order in which the players act is reversed in the two problems. We utilize Pontryagin's Maximum Principle (MP) to tackle both problems and derive the optimal strategies. Although the canonical equations provided by the MP are intractable, we provide an alternative characterization for the optimal strategies that highlights a connection with potential theory. Finally, we provide a sufficient condition for the existence of a saddle-point equilibrium (SPE) for this zero-sum game.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to CDC 201

Adaptive Resource Allocation in Jamming Teams Using Game Theory

In this work, we study the problem of power allocation and adaptive modulation in teams of decision makers. We consider the special case of two teams with each team consisting of two mobile agents. Agents belonging to the same team communicate over wireless ad hoc networks, and they try to split their available power between the tasks of communication and jamming the nodes of the other team. The agents have constraints on their total energy and instantaneous power usage. The cost function adopted is the difference between the rates of erroneously transmitted bits of each team. We model the adaptive modulation problem as a zero-sum matrix game which in turn gives rise to a a continuous kernel game to handle power control. Based on the communications model, we present sufficient conditions on the physical parameters of the agents for the existence of a pure strategy saddle-point equilibrium (PSSPE).Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted to RAWNET/WNC3 201

Mathematical Creativity: The Unexpected Links

Creativity in mathematics is identified in many forms or we can say is made up of many components. One of these components is The Unexpected Links where one tries to solve a mathematical problem in a nontraditional manner that requires the formation of hidden bridges between distinct mathematical domains or even between seemingly far ideas within the same domain. In this article, we design problems that express unexpected links in mathematics and suit students of intermediate and secondary levels. We prove their feasibility through teachers’ testimonies and through introducing them in classrooms and collecting students’ attitudes with respect to understanding and interest. Results confirm that students can sense such component and that designed problems had caught teachers’ and students’ interest

Estimating Potential Infection Transmission Routes in Hospital Wards Using Wearable Proximity Sensors

Contacts between patients, patients and health care workers (HCWs) and among HCWs represent one of the important routes of transmission of hospital-acquired infections (HAI). A detailed description and quantification of contacts in hospitals provides key information for HAIs epidemiology and for the design and validation of control measures. We used wearable sensors to detect close-range interactions ("contacts") between individuals in the geriatric unit of a university hospital. Contact events were measured with a spatial resolution of about 1.5 meters and a temporal resolution of 20 seconds. The study included 46 HCWs and 29 patients and lasted for 4 days and 4 nights. 14037 contacts were recorded. The number and duration of contacts varied between mornings, afternoons and nights, and contact matrices describing the mixing patterns between HCW and patients were built for each time period. Contact patterns were qualitatively similar from one day to the next. 38% of the contacts occurred between pairs of HCWs and 6 HCWs accounted for 42% of all the contacts including at least one patient, suggesting a population of individuals who could potentially act as super-spreaders. Wearable sensors represent a novel tool for the measurement of contact patterns in hospitals. The collected data provides information on important aspects that impact the spreading patterns of infectious diseases, such as the strong heterogeneity of contact numbers and durations across individuals, the variability in the number of contacts during a day, and the fraction of repeated contacts across days. This variability is associated with a marked statistical stability of contact and mixing patterns across days. Our results highlight the need for such measurement efforts in order to correctly inform mathematical models of HAIs and use them to inform the design and evaluation of prevention strategies

Analysis of Deflection Enhancement Using Epsilon Assembly Microcantilevers Based Sensors

The present work analyzes theoretically and verifies the advantage of utilizing ɛ-microcantilever assemblies in microsensing applications. The deflection profile of these innovative ɛ-assembly microcantilevers is compared with that of the rectangular microcantilever and modified triangular microcantlever. Various force-loading conditions are considered. The theorem of linear elasticity for thin beams is used to obtain the deflections. The obtained defections are validated against an accurate numerical solution utilizing finite element method with maximum deviation less than 10 percent. It is found that the ɛ-assembly produces larger deflections than the rectangular microcantilever under the same base surface stress and same extension length. In addition, the ɛ-microcantilever assembly is found to produce larger deflection than the modified triangular microcantilever. This deflection enhancement is found to increase as the ɛ-assembly’s free length decreases for various types of force loading conditions. Consequently, the ɛ-microcantilever is shown to be superior in microsensing applications as it provides favorable high detection capability with a reduced susceptibility to external noises. Finally, this work paves a way for experimentally testing the ɛ-assembly to show whether detective potential of microsensors can be increased