Improving the Public Health Information Network through Semantic Modeling

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the Public Health Information Network to advance fully capable, interoperable information systems in public health organizations. PHIN prioritizes public health information systems' functional requirements, capabilities, performance measures, and operational characteristics while letting the architects of those systems choose enabling approaches, methods, and concepts to meet the requirements. PHIN also provides a certification process for public health administrators to evaluate their information infrastructure's quality. The certification process is important because affected organizations often depend on certification for continued funding.     

History of depression and smoking cessation outcome: A meta-analysis.

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of published studies to (a) evaluate the premise that a history of major depression is associated with failure to quit smoking and (b) identify factors that moderate the relationship between history of depression and cessation outcome. Fifteen studies met the selection requirements and were coded for various study methodology and treatment characteristics. DSTAT was used to calculate individual study effect sizes, determine the mean effect size across studies. and test for moderator effects. No differences in either short-term (≤ 3 months) or long-term abstinence rates (≥ 6 months) were observed between smokers positive versus negative for history of depression. Lifetime history of major depression does not appear to be an independent risk factor for cessation failure in smoking cessation treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Etching behavior of CVD zinc selenide in inorganic acid solutions

Chemical interaction between polished surfaces of polycrystalline zinc selenide and inorganic acid solutions of various concentrations has been studied.     

Electromagnetic wave reflection from Fe/Cr nanostructures

The reflection of electromagnetic waves in the millimeter wave band from Fe/Cr nanostructures has been studied. It is established that the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in the nanostructure leads to an increase in the reflection and a decrease in the transmission of microwaves, while the magnetic resonance leads to a decrease in both the reflection and transmission coefficients.     

A high dynamic magnetooptic current transformer with advanced signal processing

In the power industry, current has to be measured for metering and protection purposes. Conventional sensor setups need two transformers to realize the high dynamic range. By the described mixed analog/digital signal processing algorithm, the inherent low photonic noise of the input signals was maintained up to the full sensor output. The system design is based on a rigorous investigation and optimization of the error sources in the signal processing chain. The results are proved by a demonstrator, achieving a dynamic range from 0.05 to 100 times the rated current and a ratio root mean square error of less than 0.5%.     

High-temperature oxidation of intermetallics formed by group IV transition metals with chromium

We have studied the oxidation resistance of chromium intermetallics: TiCr₂, HfCr₂, and ZrCr₂, in the temperature interval 873–1473 K with isothermal holding of the specimens for up to 20 h. We have shown that the intermetallics TiCr₂ and HfCr₂ are oxidized 2–3 times more slowly than pure titanium and hafnium, but more than 1–2 orders of magnitude faster than chromium at T≤1273 K and 4–6 times faster at 1473 K. In this temperature interval, the intermetallic ZrCr₂ is rapidly oxidized at an increasing rate as the heating temperature rises. The scaling resistance of intermetallics of Group IV d metals with chromium is determined by formation of scales in which the major role is played by the oxides TiO₂, HfO₂, and ZrO₂, with weak protective properties.     

Creating a Student Centered Learning Environment at the University of Denver

A team of faculty members at the University of Denver changed the learning environment in key courses in the Department of Engineering from predominately teacher centered to student centered. Through this funded project new grading methods were implemented, classrooms were renovated and wired with studio layouts to facilitate learning, the Engineering Circuits Laboratory was rewired and instrumented for automated data acquisition and reporting, and two new pedagogical approaches were developed. At the onset of the project, six goals were established related to student learning. The introduction of industry standard hardware and software provided students with unprecedented hands‐on experience and project related activities stimulated faculty innovations in other current and future courses. Assessment results indicate that the new grading system improved the clarity of expectations for students before assignments were given resulting in increased reported motivation for learning in many courses. Even though course GPAs did not always reflect higher achievement on graded work, faculty members firmly believe that deeper understanding was achieved because more complex material was assimilated.     

An example of a GAS system which can be destabilized by an integrable perturbation

A construction of a globally asymptotically stable time-invariant system which can be destabilized by some integrable perturbation is given. Besides its intrinsic interest, this serves to provide counterexamples to an open question regarding Lyapunov functions.