Processing Wearable Sensor Data to Optimize Deep-Brain Stimulation

Our study suggests that a sensor-based technique might be an important adjunct to existing clinical measures to improve the management of patients undergoing Parkinson's control therapy via deep-brain stimulation. In the future, clinicians could gather accelerometer data for approximately one week before and after outpatient visits for deep-brain stimulation adjustments. An expert system could then merge clinical observations and results of the accelerometer data analyses to recommend optimal settings. Physicians would decide how to apply these recommendations as one option for the clinical management of motor symptoms, including adjustments in medication intake as well as changes in settings for deep-brain stimulation.     

How does processor MHZ relate to end-user performance? I. Pipelinesand functional units

Two processors that compete in the workstation/server markets are compared. The 62.5-MHz IBM RISC System/6000 Model 580 (RS1) exemplifies a moderate clock rate design. As the highest SPECmark89/MHz system it can be viewed as maximizing the work performed per cycle. the 133-/200-MHz DEC Alpha processor represents an aggressive clock rate design. At 200 MHz, the Alpha has the highest MHz rate in the market. The authors discuss clock rate goals, how they influence design choices, and performance implications. The primary advantage for the Alpha design appears to be the high clock rate. The RS1 design includes a significant amount of hardware to increase in superscalar capability, especially on floating-point codes. RS1 has a significant infinite cache CPI advantage on floating-point applications. Infinite cache CPI for the two designs seem comparable on fixed-point codes     

Reactions to unfavorable personal evaluations as a function of the evaluator's perceived adjustment.

"Pairs of Ss listened to two… persons… evaluate the personality of one member of the pair. One of the stimulus persons made derogatory remarks about the 'involved' member, the other was… noncommittal… . In one experimental condition the derogator was pre-identified as… maladjusted, the nonderogator as well-adjusted. In another condition the identifications were reversed." The hypothesis was supported that the combined information, maladjustment and derogation, summate for the bystander to produce a negative impression, but that for the involved S there is a tendency to cancel out hostility that would be arounsed by the derogation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scholarship in psychology: A paradigm for the twenty-first century.

Numerous changes in higher education (e.g., the demand for accountability, threats to tenure, new modes of instruction) and discontent with narrow definitions of scholarship have created the need for a broader and more precise definition of the nature of scholarship psychology. The 5-part definition that we propose includes (a) original research (creation of knowledge), (b) integration of knowledge (synthesis and reorganization), (c) application of knowledge, (d) the scholarship of pedagogy, and (e) the scholarship of teaching in psychology. Scholarly activities require high levels of discipline-specific expertise, are innovative, can be replicated, are documented, can be subject to peer review, and have significance. This broader conceptualization of scholarship will benefit all stakeholders in higher education students—faculty, colleges and universities, the community, and society at large. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lessons learned from a woodstove changeout on the Nez Perce Reservation

A woodstove changeout program was conducted within 16 homes on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho to evaluate the effectiveness of a woodstove changeout in improving indoor air quality. PM_2.5 samples were collected within the common area (rooms where the stoves were located) of the homes both before and after the installation of cleaner burning EPA-certified stoves. During the pre- and post-changeout sampling, indoor PM_2.5 mass, Organic Carbon (OC), Elemental Carbon (EC), and chemical markers of woodsmoke (including levoglucosan) were measured.Sampling results from this study showed that indoor air quality was improved in 10 of the 16 homes following the woodstove changeout and educational training program. Five homes had increased indoor PM_2.5 concentrations following the changeout, while one home did not have final PM_2.5 results for comparison. The median pre-changeout PM_2.5 mass (as measured by TSI DustTraks) was 39.2 μg/m³, with a median post-changeout concentration of 19.0 μg/m³. This resulted in an overall 52% reduction in median indoor PM_2.5, a 36% reduction in mean indoor PM_2.5 and a 60% reduction in PM_2.5 spikes when the old stoves were replaced with EPA-certified stoves. Another significant finding of the project was that targeted education and outreach is a critical component of the overall success of the program. Effective messaging to homeowners on proper use of their new stove is a necessary task of a woodstove changeout.     

High Proton Conductivity in β-Ba2ScAlO5 Enabled by Octahedral and Intrinsically Oxygen-Deficient Layers

Proton conductors are promising materials for clean energy, but most available materials exhibit sufficient conductivity only when chemically substituted to create oxygen vacancies, which often leads to difficulty in sample preparation and chemical instability. Recently, proton conductors based on hexagonal perovskite-related oxides have been attracting attention as they exhibit high proton conductivity even without the chemical substitutions. However, their conduction mechanism has been elusive so far. Herein, taking three types of oxides with different stacking patterns of oxygen-deficient layers (β-Ba₂ScAlO₅, α-Ba₂Sc_0.83Al_1.17O₅, and BaAl₂O₄) as examples, the roles of close-packed double-octahedral layers and oxygen-deficient layers in proton conduction are shown. It is found that “undoped” β-Ba₂ScAlO₅, which adopts a structure having alternating double-octahedral layer and double-tetrahedral layer with intrinsically oxygen-deficient hexagonal BaO (h') layer, shows high proton conductivity (≈10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ above 300 °C), comparable to representative proton conductors. In contrast, the structurally related oxides α-Ba₂Sc_0.83Al_1.17O₅ and BaAl₂O₄ exhibit lower conductivity. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations revealed that protons in β-Ba₂ScAlO₅ migrate through the double-octahedral layer, while the h′ layer plays the role of a “proton reservoir” that supplies proton carriers to the proton-conducting double-octahedral layers. The distinct roles of the two layers in proton conduction provide a strategy for developing high-performance proton conductors.