An obstacle problem for Tug-of-War games

We consider the obstacle problem for the infinity Laplace equation. Given a Lipschitz boundary function and a Lipschitz obstacle we prove the existence and uniqueness of a super infinity-harmonic function constrained to lie above the obstacle which is infinity harmonic where it lies strictly above the obstacle. Moreover, we show that this function is the limit of value functions of a game we call obstacle tug-of-war

Auditory Conflict Resolution Correlates with Medial–Lateral Frontal Theta/Alpha Phase Synchrony

When multiple persons speak simultaneously, it may be difficult for the listener to direct attention to correct sound objects among conflicting ones. This could occur, for example, in an emergency situation in which one hears conflicting instructions and the loudest, instead of the wisest, voice prevails. Here, we used cortically-constrained oscillatory MEG/EEG estimates to examine how different brain regions, including caudal anterior cingulate (cACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC), work together to resolve these kinds of auditory conflicts. During an auditory flanker interference task, subjects were presented with sound patterns consisting of three different voices, from three different directions (45° left, straight ahead, 45° right), sounding out either the letters “A” or “O”. They were asked to discriminate which sound was presented centrally and ignore the flanking distracters that were phonetically either congruent (50%) or incongruent (50%) with the target. Our cortical MEG/EEG oscillatory estimates demonstrated a direct relationship between performance and brain activity, showing that efficient conflict resolution, as measured with reduced conflict-induced RT lags, is predicted by theta/alpha phase coupling between cACC and right lateral frontal cortex regions intersecting the right frontal eye fields (FEF) and DLPFC, as well as by increased pre-stimulus gamma (60–110 Hz) power in the left inferior fontal cortex. Notably, cACC connectivity patterns that correlated with behavioral conflict-resolution measures were found during both the pre-stimulus and the pre-response periods. Our data provide evidence that, instead of being only transiently activated upon conflict detection, cACC is involved in sustained engagement of attentional resources required for effective sound object selection performance

A Qualitative Investigation of Users’ Video Game Information Needs and Behaviors

Video games are popular consumer products as well as research subjects, yet little exists about how players and other stakeholders find video games and what information they need to select, acquire, and play video games. With the aim of better understanding people’s game-related information needs and behaviors, we conducted 56 semi-structured interviews with users who find, play, purchase, collect, and recommend video games. Participants included casual and avid gamers, parents, collectors, industry professionals, librarians, and scholars. From this user data, we derive and discuss key design implications for video game information systems: designing for target user populations, enabling recommendations on appeals, offering multiple automatic organization options, and providing relationship-based, user-generated, subject and visual metadata. We anticipate this work will contribute to building future video game information systems with new and improved access to games

Heat-induced Leaf Senescence in Creeping Bentgrass Suppressed by Aminoethoxyvinylglycine Involving Regulation of Chlorophyll Metabolism

Heat stress-induced or stress-accelerated leaf senescence is related to the accumulation of ethylene and loss of chlorophyll in cool-season grass species. The objective of this study was to determine whether foliar-spraying the ethylene inhibitor, aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG), may suppress heat-induced leaf senescence through effects on chlorophyll synthesis and degrading enzymes in creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera). Plants were maintained in environmentally controlled growth chambers under non-stress (22/17 °C day/night) or heat stress (35/30 °C day/night) temperature conditions for 25 days, and turf quality, electrolyte leakage, and chlorophyll content were measured to assess the extent of leaf senescence. Activities of chlorophyll-synthesizing and chlorophyll-degrading enzymes were quantified to determine whether AVG may regulate chlorophyll metabolism. Plants were foliar-sprayed with 25 µm AVG before and during heat stress at 7-day intervals. From 21 through 25 days of heat stress, AVG-treated plants had significantly higher turf quality and chlorophyll content, whereas electrolyte leakage was significantly lower in comparison with untreated controls. The activity of a chlorophyll-synthesizing enzyme, porphobilinogen deaminase, was significantly increased in AVG-treated plants at 21 days of heat stress. The activity of chlorophyll-degrading enzymes was significantly lower in plants treated with AVG from 14 through 25 days of heat stress for peroxidase, from 21 through 25 days of heat stress for pheophytinase, and at 25 days of heat stress for chlorophyllase. AVG may have suppressed heat-induced leaf senescence by regulating chlorophyll metabolic activities in cool-season grass species

The Use of Professional Seminars to Prepare Future Faculty for Teaching Basic Communication Courses

We focus in this essay on three substantive accomplishments of professional seminars that merit attention because of their ramifications for how we teach and learn in basic communication courses: (1) accomplishing teaching, research, and service as inter-related scholarly acts, (2) interlacing stories of our discipline with stories of learners’ lives, and (3) providing institutionalized support for teaching and learning. Additionally, we offer example reading lists and assignment sheets (see Appendices A, B, and C) in hopes that such resources might prove useful for other graduate programs committed to holistic preparation for students entering the academy

Solidarity: For Sale? The Social Dimension of the New European Economic Governances. Europe in Dialogue 2012/01

The Europeans can be proud as they look back on fifty years of peaceful integration. Nowadays many people in the world see the European Union as a model of how states and their citizens can work together in peace and in freedom. However, this achievement does not automatically mean that the EU has the ability to deal with the problems of the future in a rapidly changing world. For this reason the European Union needs to keep developing its unity in diversity in a dynamic way, be it with regard to energy issues, the euro, climate change or new types of conflict. Self-assertion and solidarity are the fundamental concepts which will shape the forthcoming discourse. "Europe in Dialogue" wishes to make a contribution to this open debate. The analyses in this series subject political concepts, processes and institutions to critical scrutiny and suggest ways of reforming internal and external European policymaking so that it is fit for the future. However, "Europe in Dialogue" is not merely trying to encourage an intra- European debate, and makes a point of including authors from non-EU states. Looking at an issue from a different angle or from a distance often helps to facilitate the crucial change of perspective which in turn makes it possible to continue to develop Europe in a meaningful way and to engage in a critical and yet courteous discourse with other civilizations and continents

Total live mangrove coverage and annual NDVI classifications for the mangrove die-off region based on Landsat 5 and 7 transformed imagery.

Dataset: Live area and NDVI measurementsThese data were compiled to better determine when the mangrove die-off began. NDVI values of 0.2 or greater correspond to live mangrove cover. These data suggest the mangrove die-off may have started in 2008 and was exacerbated in following years with some recovery in 2013. Live area was calculated by determining the area of the die-off region with NDVI values greater than 0.2. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the supplemental document 'Field_names.pdf', and a full dataset description is included in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/720270NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-154163

Assessment of pharmacotherapeutic safety of medical prescriptions for elderly residents in a long-term care facility

The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of elderly using potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) and with occurrence of potentially hazardous drug interactions (PHDI); to identify the risk factors for the prescription of PIM and to evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical intervention (PI) for the prescription of safer therapeutic alternatives. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was performed in a long-term care facility in São Paulo State, between December/2010 and January/2011. The medical records of the patients >60 years old who took any drugs were consulted to assess the pharmacotherapeutic safety of the medical prescriptions, in order to identify PIM and PHDI, according to the Beers (2003) and World Health Organization criteria, respectively. PI consisted of a guidance letter to the physician responsible for the institution, with the suggestions of safer equivalent therapeutics. Approximately 88% of the elderly took at least one drug, and for 30% of them the PIM had been prescribed. Most of the PIM identified (53.4%) act on the central nervous system. Among the 13 different DI detected, 6 are considered PHDI. Polypharmacy was detected as a risk factor for PIM prescription. After the PI there was no change in medical prescriptions of patients who had been prescribed PIM or PHDI. The data suggests that PI performed by letter, as the only interventional, method was ineffective. To contribute it a wide dissemination of PIM and PHDI among prescriber professionals is necessary for the selection of safer treatment for elderly. Additionally, a pharmacist should be part of the health care team in order to help promote rational use of medicines.O presente estudo teve como objetivos estimar a prevalência de idosos em uso de medicamentos potencialmente impróprios (MPI) e com ocorrência de interações medicamentosas potencialmente perigosas (IMPP); identificar os fatores de risco para a prescrição de MPI e avaliar o impacto de intervenção farmacêutica (IF) para a prescrição de alternativas terapêuticas mais seguras. Para tanto, realizou-se estudo transversal em instituição de longa permanência do interior de São Paulo, de dezembro/2010 a janeiro/ 2011. Os prontuários médicos dos pacientes >60 anos e que utilizavam pelo menos um medicamento foram consultados para avaliar a segurança farmacoterapêutica das prescrições médicas, identificando-se os MPI e as IMPP, segundo critérios de Beers (2003) e o critério da Organização Mundial da Saúde, respectivamente. A IF constou de carta de orientação ao médico da instituição, com sugestão de equivalentes terapêuticos mais seguros. Aproximadamente 88% dos idosos haviam utilizado pelo menos um medicamento e, para 30% deles, havia pelo menos um MPI prescrito. A maioria dos MPI identificados (53,4%) age no sistema nervoso central. Entre as 13 interações medicamentosas detectadas, 6 são consideradas IMPP. A polimedicação foi detectada como fator de risco para a prescrição de MPI. Após a IF, não houve alterações nas prescrições médicas dos pacientes que apresentavam MPI e IMPP prescritos. Os dados sugerem que IF realizadas por cartas, como único método interventivo, não são efetivas. Para contribuir com a seleção de farmacoterapia mais segura para idosos é necessária ampla divulgação dos MPI e IMPP entre os profissionais prescritores. Além disso, o farmacêutico deve fazer parte das equipes de saúde para auxiliar na promoção do uso racional de medicamentos.State University of São Paulo Júlio de Mesquita Filho School of Pharmaceutical SciencesFederal University of São Paulo School of MedicineUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Participants’ physical activity levels and evaluations of a school sport programme in Papua New Guinea

In its contemporary form, sport for development has been positioned as an important part of strategic policy for a variety of governmental and sporting organisations. One area that has been targeted by governments and a variety of sporting partners has been the impact of sport on non-communicable diseases (NCDs, sometimes colloquially referred to as ‘lifestyle diseases’ such as obesity). However, relatively little evidence exists for the impact of sport programmes on the reduction of NCDs and future health burden. This study sought to examine the physical activity levels of school-aged children in Papua New Guinea (PNG) during their participation in a targeted sport programme operating during school hours. Data collection methods employed were physical activity recall and pedometer counts, as well as perceptions, intentions, and knowledge of participants. Children in this study were found to have lower physical activity levels during the after-school period than has been reported in the literature for children in other countries. Overall, children were active during the sport programme, completing 1179 steps on average (which constitutes 10% of the suggested daily values for children of a similar age). No profound differences were observed in either the qualitative or quantitative data across different schools, regions, or genders. The responses from children regarding the sport programme were notably positive

Evidence for distinct human auditory cortex regions for sound location versus identity processing

Neurophysiological animal models suggest that anterior auditory cortex (AC) areas process sound-identity information, whereas posterior ACs specialize in sound location processing. In humans, inconsistent neuroimaging results and insufficient causal evidence have challenged the existence of such parallel AC organization. Here we transiently inhibit bilateral anterior or posterior AC areas using MRI-guided paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) while subjects listen to Reference/Probe sound pairs and perform either sound location or identity discrimination tasks. The targeting of TMS pulses, delivered 55–145 ms after Probes, is confirmed with individual-level cortical electric-field estimates. Our data show that TMS to posterior AC regions delays reaction times (RT) significantly more during sound location than identity discrimination, whereas TMS to anterior AC regions delays RTs significantly more during sound identity than location discrimination. This double dissociation provides direct causal support for parallel processing of sound identity features in anterior AC and sound location in posterior AC