Asymmetric properties of long-term and total heart rate variability

We report on two new physiological phenomena: the long-term and total heart rate asymmetry, which describe a significantly larger contribution of heart rate accelerations to long-term and total heart rate variability. In addition to the existing pair of indices, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\text {SD1}}_{\rm d}, {\text {SD1}}_{\rm a},$$\end{document} which are based on partitioning short-term variance, we introduce two other pairs of descriptors based on partitioning long-term (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\text {SD2}}_{\rm d}, {\text {SD2}}_{\rm a}$$\end{document}) and total (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\text {SDNN}}_{\rm d}, {\text {SDNN}}_{\rm a}$$\end{document}) heart rate variability. The new asymmetric descriptors are used to analyze RR intervals time series derived from the 30-min ECG recordings of 241 healthy subjects resting in supine position. It is shown that both new types of asymmetry are present in 76% of the subjects. The new phenomena reported here are real physiological findings rather than artifacts of the method since they vanish after data shuffling

Abnormal Motor Activity and Thermoregulation in a Schizophrenia Rat Model for Translational Science

Schizophrenia is accompanied by altered motor activity and abnormal thermoregulation; therefore, the presence of these symptoms can enhance the face validity of a schizophrenia animal model. The goal was to characterize these parameters in freely moving condition of a new substrain of rats showing several schizophrenia-related alterations.Male Wistar rats were used: the new substrain housed individually (for four weeks) and treated subchronically with ketamine, and naive animals without any manipulations. Adult animals were implanted with E-Mitter transponders intraabdominally to record body temperature and locomotor activity continuously. The circadian rhythm of these parameters and the acute effects of changes in light conditions were analyzed under undisturbed circumstances, and the effects of different interventions (handling, bed changing or intraperitoneal vehicle injection) were also determined.Decreased motor activity with fragmented pattern was observed in the new substrain. However, these animals had higher body temperature during the active phase, and they showed wider range of its alterations, too. The changes in light conditions and different interventions produced blunted hyperactivity and altered body temperature responses in the new substrain. Poincaré plot analysis of body temperature revealed enhanced short- and long-term variabilities during the active phase compared to the inactive phase in both groups. Furthermore, the new substrain showed increased short- and long-term variabilities with lower degree of asymmetry suggesting autonomic dysregulation.In summary, the new substrain with schizophrenia-related phenomena showed disturbed motor activity and thermoregulation suggesting that these objectively determined parameters can be biomarkers in translational research

Narrowing of band gap at source/drain contact scheme of nanoscale InAs–nMOS

A multi-scale simulation study of Ni/InAs nano-scale contact aimed for the sub-14 nm technology is carried out to understand material and transport properties at a metal-semiconductor interface. The deposited Ni metal contact on an 11 nm thick InAs channel forms an 8.5 nm thick InAs leaving a 2.5 nm thick InAs channel on a p-type doped (1×1016 cm-3) AlAs0.47Sb0.53 buffer. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal a band gap narrowing in the InAs at the metal-semiconductor interface. The one-dimensional (1D) self-consistent Poisson-Schrödinger transport simulations using real-space material parameters extracted from the DFT calculations at the metal-semiconductor interface, exhibiting band gap narrowing, give a specific sheet resistance of Rsh = 90.9 Ω/sq which is in a good agreement with an experimental value of 97 Ω/sq

Amortization Requirements and Household Indebtedness: An Application to Swedish- Style Mortgages

Since the mid-1990s, many OECD countries have experienced a substantial increase in household indebtedness. Sweden, in particular, has seen indebtedness rise from 90% of disposable income in 1995 to 172% in 2014. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) has identified mortgage amortization requirements as a potential instrument for reducing indebtedness; and has drafted guidelines that will intensify the rate and duration of amortization. In this paper, I characterize Swedish-style mortgage contracts, which differ substantially from U.S.-style contracts. I then evaluate the policy changes in an incomplete markets model with three types of debt and a novel mortgage contract specification that is calibrated to match Swedish micro and macro data. I find that intensifying the rate and duration of amortization is largely ineffective at reducing indebtedness in a realistically-calibrated model. In the absence of implausibly large refinancing costs or tight restrictions on the maximum debt-service-to-income ratio, the policy impact is small in aggregate, over the lifecycle, and across employment statuses. These results may be relevant for other OECD countries, such as Norway and Canada, that have also not seen a reduction in house prices or indebtedness since the 2007 financial crisis

Enhancing organisational competitiveness via social media - a strategy as practice perspective

The affordances, popularity and pervasive use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have made these platforms attractive to organisations for enhancing their competitiveness and creating business value. Despite this apparent significance of social media for businesses, they are struggling with the development of a social media strategy as well as understanding the implications of social media on practice within their organisations. This paper explores how social media has become a tool for competitiveness and its influence on organisational strategy and practice. Using the 'strategy as practice' lens and guided by the interpretivist philosophy, this paper uses the empirical case of a telecom organisation in Tanzania. The findings show that social media is influencing competitiveness through imitation and product development. Also, the findings indicate how social media affects the practices within an organisation, consequently making the social media strategy an emergent phenomenon